Cold Iron, Warm Fur

by ShouldNotExist

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Adventure, Dark, Human
Length: 225257

Turns out that Discord is much worse than most ponies ever imagined. He's back and the only thing that is stopping him from taking over is a lost dog with a penchant for barking up the wrong trees and asking the wrong questions at the right time

Something old and new stumbles into Equestria, an enemy's dark plan unfolds, and past secrets lost to the centuries are revealed. A war is upon Equestria and it's ponies, but after a thousand years of peace and prosperity they will not be ready. He was called, either to be sacrificed or shunned by superstition. And with his past purely hidden in mist, only fear surrounds him. Will the ponies be able to rise above their emerging enemies, or die under a reborn regime of fear? And will this new-found hero be able to overcome his inner demons and resist the meddling of a mad god? Only time can tell what path Equestria will be thrust down.

The human tag is only there because of a technicality, there is no classic HiE story here.

* = Rewritten

Prologue to the Inevitable*
He's a Strange One*
Bad Wings*
The Collection of a Foreigner*
Suit Up*
A Dark Past*

And hey! Is that cover art up there? It is! And who made it? Oh yeah: ME!

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-17 05:37:42 UTC

Prologue to the Inevitable*

Prologue to the Inevitable*

-Prologue to the Inevitable-

Snow fell gently around the three, thickly wrapped figures as they trudged through the already deep banks. They trudged slowly, the snow getting slightly more packed down as they neared the edge of a grey forest and making their movement slightly easier.

One of them turned, his figure towering over the other’s as he made a cutting gesture with his mittened hand, his other arm clutched close to a quarterstaff that criss-crossed with carved lines. A rippling sound echoing from the ice road behind them. They continued forward, following the stout figure that clutched a sawed off shotgun close to his chest. The smallest of them stood closest to the tower of a man, the both of them following several steps behind the other.

The wood was dark, snow falling in a mist around them and creating a small ring of visible ground. It was more like a fog than anything, and it slowed their progress further. Eventually the stout figure stopped, the rest of the small group catching up to him and gathering in a ring so that they could speak.

“I can’t track the path like this.” The stout one said, his voice low and grinding, like a constant ground that made the air shake. “Time for plan B.” He motioned toward the tall one, but never took his hands away from the shotgun.

The tall one nodded and mumbled something about noses, his hand moving under the thick coat and struggling to dig something out. His arm eventually ceased its frantic movement and pulled out a lanyard, more like a string, with a large straight crystal hanging from it.

He took a step back, separating himself by a few long strides. He used his staff to cut a circle into the snow around him, he would have to act fast or else the snow would slowly erode it. He kneeled, his gangly legs poking out from under the long coat as he touched a hand to the circle. He hung the crystal in front of his lips, the wide brimmed fedora that he was wearing hid his eyes and he whispered an incantation over the gemstone.

It pulsed, a bright blue light that illuminated a cheeky smile. He laughed, giving a fist pump when it responded how he had intended. The circle wavered out of existence as the snow fell on it.

The crystal leaned forward, just barely enough to be noticeable. The tall figure stood, his boots crunching into the snow as he turned and started walking. The stout man shared a glance with the smaller girl before they both fell into step behind the tall man. She picked her pace quickly, moving to walk behind the leader of the group.

They walked for a long time, the pulsing of the gem growing steadily more frequent as they went. The would occasionally share a word, she would ask the tall one a question, and he would answer. Like a student to a teacher, a relationship that held them to their own sanity.

The third of the group walked behind them, his pace set in a silent stomping motion. His head turned behind them every few steps, checking their six for followers that weren’t there. Every time he took a breath hot mist would swirl in eddies around his head. He walked carefully, like even just a misplaced foot would cause the ground around him to fall apart.

They walked on, the snow falling around them and growing thicker as they made their way deeper into the winter wood. The flashing of the gem slowly, but steadily, grew faster in pace. Its glow would light the trees in a slightly wider circle for a moment, the effect growing more strobe-like as they continued.

Their pace would progress with the pace of the glowing, until they had broken into a full sprint. They moved fast, dodging through the parthenon of trees and following the lean of the crystal. The snow increased to a practical storm of falling powder as they drove deeper into the trees, and then it stopped.

It was sudden, like emerging from under the water after a long swim. They burst through the trees and skidded to a stop in an untouched clearing. The ground was bare here, absolutely no snow touched the perfectly dry ground. No grass, no mud, no snow. Just plain, dry dirt. The tall man grabbed onto the girl’s coat, stopping her before she could step onto the slab. The other man approached in what would be called a leisurely pace.

The tall one grumbled under his breath as he turned to glare at the other man. “I’m the wizard, I’m supposed have the mysterious knowledge and power.” He grunted, turning back to the clearing as the girl backed away.

There were no clouds either, the full moon was in perfect view. The clearing was a perfect circle, and the trees leaned away from its center. The center did harbor something to avoid, however.

A slab of perfectly flat stone stood in the center, dirt had been blown over it, collectively over the centuries that it had been there. It was covered in cracks, but a closer inspection would have revealed that they were deliberate, markings that projected an unsettling power. At the very center was a small block, a slot cut into it that showed its otherwise unknown purpose. Outside the stone’s perimeter were five blocky pillars, broken at waist level.

The crystal pulsed so fast that it wasn’t even a break in light, it just glowed. The tall figure blew onto the crystal, like blowing out a candle, and the light disappeared. He turned to the stouter figure, his face set in grim determination. “This the place?” He said, but he didn’t expect any sort of answer.

The man nodded, reaching into his leather coat and drawing out a large envelope. He walked forward, handing the manilla envelope to the tall one. But when he grabbed the envelope, the stouter man grasped his hand, holding him in place.

“If you need any more, Peter’s number is in there. Just don’t drain my account, I might actually come back.” He said, ending the comment with a chuckle and shaking his hand. He released his hand and shared a smile with him, but the other man’s died quickly.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.” The tall one said, shaking his head and avoiding the other’s eyes. “We can make the Council listen. We could make a safe place for you, for all of ...” He made a gesture at the stout man. “you.” He finished, dropping his arms to his side and shaking his head.

“Like I said before, my answers don’t lie here.” He said, a sagely smile sneaking onto his face. “This is only evidenced by the actions of your peers and mine. Hell, who knows? I could end up on an island of beautiful women and good beer.” He added lightheartedly, his laugh dying in his throat. He looked out to the slab of stone. “When it starts, get back into the trees.” He said, almost as an afterthought.

He hadn’t even fully turned to the girl, she had already wrapped her arms around his thick frame. He responded in kind, putting his arms gently around her. She looked up at him, her darkly dyed hair peeking from under her hood. She looked at him, not his eyes but his face. She reached a gloved hand into the collar of her coat, pulling on a chain that she unthreaded from around her own neck. Hanging from it, was an intricately carved copper shield that glimmered in the moonlight.

“Harry helped me charge it.” She mumbled, fumbling with the chain in her gloves. “But I made it.” She added quickly, putting it around his neck gently. “It’ll protect you from ... well, from everything I could think of.” Her voice broke, reminding him of how young she still was. She gently let it rest in the muffled hollow of his chest. She quickly swiped at a tear that rolled down her cheek, not letting it linger for very long.

He looked down at it, lifting a finger to push at it for a moment, he didn’t wear gloves. He looked back at her and pushed a lock of her hair out of her face, he leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. “I’ll miss you.” She said quietly, breaking away to join her mentor near the trees.

He watched her go, turning back to the clearing and opening and closing his hands to work up the blood flow in them. He just stood like that for a long time, his neck twitching as he kept examining the circle. He steeled himself, a visible wave of tension rolling up his body as he reached up to his neck with a shaky hand.

He pushed his fingers under the collar of his coat, dropping the shotgun to the floor. He reached under the soft fabric of his shirt, taking hold of a rough leather thong there. He pulled on it, revealing the heavy pouch that hung from his neck. He grasped the pouch, the bladder of a polar bear, one he had killed. He fumbled with the stiff cord that tied it closed, his cold fingers having trouble working it.

But when he finally did get it to open, the clearing filled with light. It was like a golden sun had appeared in his hands, and as the stiffened pouch fell away from the light, it danced. Like fire, the light never went unmoving, constantly shifting in intensity and shape as it left the gem that was its source. He dropped it into the palm of his hand, the teardrop shape fitting perfectly in his calloused hand.

He held it out, watching as the light danced over the clearing. The shadows that it cast made it look like fire had spread behind the trees. He pulled his arm back, shaking the shadows and making the entire clearing seem to shift with his arm. He threw it, the entire clearing shaking as it flew over the stone slab.

And then it stopped.

Just over that center block, sinking to a waist high position and hanging by some unseen force. The light intensified, for only a second, like a camera flash. And when the light left, leaving delicate little streams of its golden luminessence, there were five more beings in that clearing.

The two guests, hiding behind the trees unnoticed, could only stare. They weren’t people, not in a normal sense. Sight, smell and hearing didn’t apply to them.

These were spirits, Faeries, Guardians of the Gate.

At the head, directly across from the now perfectly still man, and standing behind a pillar, was a tall deer buck. He stood proudly, his crown of bones stretching far over his head as he looked across the slab with intensity that made the air waver around him. Around the buck, each placed behind their own glowing pillar, were horses.

Two tall and proud mares stood to his sides, but they were not simply animals in shape. They each bore a horn and wings, holding them like war medals to be proudly displayed. They stared down at the center, seemingly captivated by the crystal there. Past them were two more mares, they stared like the buck did, with heated intensity at the man.

Unlike the two before, they were separate in their own decorations. One wearing a long horn, the other with huge proud wings folded to her sides. The air around the beings shimmered, like light itself was fearful of revealing them. They stood at five points around the slab.

Five points of a star, five parts to a whole.

The man stood entirely still, the only sign that he hadn’t been turned to a statue was the small clouds that drifted away from his face as he breathed. He slowly leaned, a leg stopping his fall and carrying him forward. When his foot hovered over the dirt covered slab, the encroaching dust flowed away from it.

The dirt flowed off of the slab as his foot fell, flowing to return to the earth. And when his foot made contact, like a gunshot in the dark the beings looked up at him. And they started to sing.

Their voices flowed like water, in perfect symphony as the man continued to walk. Their voices were beautiful, but underneath that, a sense of warning fell with each word. He reached the center stone in only a moment, the gem casting flowing light over him as he stared down at it.

He raised his left hand up, the hand that takes, as if he were to strike it down on the gem and knock it from the air. And the being grew silent for a moment, watching him.

And when his arm fell, connecting like a hammerstrike, their singing intensified. And he flinched, like he had been struck by their words. The air around him wavered, like heat rising off of his thick frame. He shook under the pressure of the creatures verbal attack, watching carefully as the gem responded to his touch.

Light flowed, tangible and liquid like slow moving water. It dripped down from his palm, where the gem was firmly pressed. The beings reacted again as they watched it, their voices rising again. He waited carefully, holding back the attack as he suffered under the torrent of a waterfall of power.

He slowly lifted an arm, the movement making the beings around him renew their efforts. Their voices rose in intensity that instantly froze his attempt to move, his arms shaking as he stubbornly rode out the horrid force that they pressed on him.

The light flowed like it was filling an invisible container, taking its shape as it fell steadily from the gem. It spread to create the handle of a sword, dripping down to fill the blade. The man flinched again, his right arm twirling to make his hand face the sky.

It was like a whirlwind, a funnel of distortion, simply broke free of whatever was affecting him and flew out. It connected with a sickening crack to the buck’s chest, pushing him far back onto his rear legs. And his arm darted up, the pressure on him released for an instant as he redirected the attack on him.

His hand grasped onto the sword grip, the chanting and singing of the beings around him suddenly rising, as if they were panicking. The force on him actually cracked the great slab under him, splitting it down the middle in a violent explosion of power. But like a train at full speed, the man wouldn’t stop now, he couldn’t. He lifted up, even as the buck recovered and rejoined the chant. The sword began to slide free, completely formed of tangible light as he pulled it up into the air.

And with the sound of ripping paper and a bright flash of pure white light, he was gone, and the clearing was empty.

The two guests could only stare on in wonderment as the snow slowly picked up again, gently hiding any evidence that anything had ever happened here in this forest.

It could always be said that Princess Luna’s schedule almost appeared backwards to a normal pony’s. After sunset, or moonrise, she would go to the banquet hall and have her breakfast. Occasionally she would wake up early and eat dinner with her sister before the day turned to night, but otherwise that was what she did.

She liked it like that.

Routines were her nectar, they comforted her, made her feel normal. And while she knew she was not, she enjoyed that fleeting feeling. But she was always reminded of how different she was when she held her night court.

Firstly, it was rare to even have a pony come to her, it was rather late for such a thing however. However, as the winter crawled toward its solstice, her court would be earlier and she would be rewarded with more guests.

Sometimes it was nice to try and give her advice where it would apply, but many times she simply found herself lost. The problems of some of her subjects simply did not make sense to her.

This one doesn’t know how to ask a stallion she likes to a date?

Not only is this a trivial manner that the Princess should not have to work with, it was also ridiculous to her. And while she realised that the old ways didn’t apply any more, society had moved past it ... for the most part. In her days, she would have simply commanded the stallion to please her, as would have been his place even if she weren’t royalty.

Luna always advised that those problems be resolved by speaking with those they trusted near them, and as kindly as she could, suggested that more pressing issues be brought up the next time.

The next one wants approval for a new watering hole. Luna wasn’t daft, she did know what he meant. A simple matter, and one she was happy to resolve with city planners. She found a suitable place for the building, near plenty of ponies but far from as many foal concentrated areas as reasonable.

It went on like that for several hours, but she always ended the court before midnight. This was usually fine however, seeing as rarely is there enough ponies up at that hour looking to reach audience with her. She would end the court, and retire to lunch.

After she had satisfied her need for nourishment, she always visited the library. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of new tomes added to the library during her absence. Many had trivial titles and subjects.

This one was about stamp collecting. That one was about ancient history, been there, done that. The magic section had expanded, that was definite. It seemed that many advances in magical applications in medicine had been made, that was always interesting to look at.

She always browsed, she always found something of moderate interest to distract herself with, and she always read on the balcony that faced out to the gardens.

Luna loved looking over the royal gardens in the moonlight, especially on nights like this. It was a winter night, colder than ice and still like time had stopped. The full moon was what she loved most on these nights, its silver glow creating a fairyland of beauty in the dew covered gardens.

She loved those nights, almost wishing they could last longer, but remembering that the next was only a fleeting wait away. After all, what was a month to an immortal?

But something felt off about this night, she felt it the moment she exited onto the balcony. It was warmer that it should have been, that was the first thing. And she had been sure that the weather team had done their work properly, it was scheduled to be a particularly nippy night.

So why was it so warm?

And there were clouds too, large splotches of black highlighted by the silver light of the moon behind them. They blocked out the stars, like somepony had been trying to close the curtains on something they wished not to see. Why had the weather ponies allowed clouds to intrude on the normally open sky?

This was bad, a very bad omen if she had ever seen one. A break to the routine, and strangely ... she welcomed it.

It was far too often that, even though she was comfortable in it, the nights flowed together into months. And those were only interrupted by the occasional dream emergency, or a holiday or celebration that her sister insisted that she participate in.

So, Luna waited. She sat stoically on her cushioned seat, the balcony letting her watch everything as far as the horizon. Whatever these signs meant, it would reveal itself to her when it would. And she would wait until noon if she had to.

But she didn’t.

It was like the sky itself flew apart when it happened, a line of pure white that streaked down from the stars. She stood to examine the falling meteorite. But it moved too slow to be a shooting star, those were fleeting, passing in the time it takes to blink an eye. This, whatever it was, flew slowly and with purpose.

It was a fiery white ball, simply gliding down. A long white tail, like one would see on a passing comet, followed in its wake, tracing the path that it carved from the sky. And it was coming straight for her.

She knew it when the tail disappeared, and the ball of fire seemed to not move for the longest time. It gradually grew larger, and as it grew it gained speed in its growth. For every moment that it went unchanged in its path, it grew faster. Like an exponentially expanding bubble of pure white. It wasn’t until its brilliance illuminated the noble city before her that she finally made her decision.

She wanted it.

Luna had to have it, at that moment nothing else mattered. She needed to know what it was that could seek her out in such an audacious manner, even if there wasn’t much left of it.

She actually felt the power flowing into her horn before she had decided on a plan of action. But she let it build, the huge well of power in her only more intense during her moon’s full brightness, only more effective during her half of the year. She felt her body moving without her, her mind simply using her eyes to watch the captivating glow as it continued on its unwavering path.

She stood on her hind legs, raising her forehooves up, like a lumber-pony ready to strike down. She knew what needed to be done then. She would rip the bright ball of fire out of the sky, so that she could capture it with the ground’s embrace.

She used the movement of her body to give the raw force more control, cracking the marble platform under her ebony gilded hooves as she struck downwards. She could practically feel when the fireball’s course changed, suddenly arcing down toward the gardens.

For a moment she felt bad, even if no one ever visited that half of it, it was too far behind the castle, too close the mountainside. But that moment passed, and she felt almost relieved. The less that was visible of the landing site the easier it would be to cover this up.

And then it impacted, and she was almost disappointed. No brilliant explosion of light, or even that loud of a sound. In fact it was completely silent, even as the gardens flew apart around it in a huge cloud of vegetation, dust, and sod. The light died as soon as it impacted, dropping the night back into silver dimness.

Luna stared for a moment, almost not believing what she had witnessed. A silent meteor strike.

But as awe inspiring as it had been, she had to address this as soon as possible.

“Guards!” She bellowed, but refrained from the Voice. “Wake our sister, and bring her to the north wing of the gardens! Make haste!” Luna commanded, watching as the darkly armored stallions ran off to find the Princess of the Sun.

Luna jumped from the balcony, extending her wide wings to glide gracefully down to the stone platform that connected this area of the gardens to the actual castle. She landed with only the sound of a short clip of her hooves against tile, a hasty landing by her standards. Even here, the garden hadn’t been spared of the spray of sod and mud.

There were puddles and splatters everywhere, the small decorative statues looked like they would be the worst off. The platform would need a new polish, some parts may even need to be completely disassembled to be cleaned properly.

It didn’t take long for her sister to join her on the, literally, soiled platform. Behind her, a large company of guards had followed her. They shared a glance before actually speaking, an unspoken reassurance.

“What happened?” Celestia said, her gentle and maternal voice flowing seamlessly in the cool, night air.

“A meteorite, we think. But something was verily off.” Luna said, nodding out to the destroyed gardens. “It was too slow, too bright. This night, it was too warm, clouds that should not have been.” She said, starting forward with the group, her sister keeping pace.

“An intentional collision then?” Celestia replied, carefully stepping around an uprooted hedge. “An attack? Or a crash?” She finished, turning to her younger sibling to try and determine her intentions.

“We plan to uncover the reason for this event as soon as possible.” Luna said, an unmoving determination etching her words. “This is our kingdom as well. And this happening during our night is only further reason to discern the purpose of this interruption.” She said, walking around a long tear in the sod, they were getting closer to the impact zone.

The rest of the walk was silent, neither sister willing to break the quiet as the edge of the crater. It was long, like the impact had been at a more horizontal angle than Luna could remember. They followed the huge canyon of soil that had been churned away by whatever had fallen there.

It was at least the thickness of a pony at first, gradually expanding to the full size of the steaming crater. The wisps of white, stringy mist flowed out from the absolute center. But when the sisters looked upon the object that had embedded itself within the soft soil of the gardens, it was the sister of the sun that reacted first.

“Lock it up.” She said darkly, her voice barely above a whisper.

“What?” Luna asked, her sister’s sudden response startling her. She had never, ever, heard her sister bring that tone to her words.

“I want that, put in the dungeon, now.” The Princess of the Sun commanded, motioning to the guards who dove quickly down to the crater to retrieve what their princess demanded.

He's a Strange One*

He's a Strange One*

-He’s a Strange One-

Dark, greyness surrounded Rainbow as she lay on the ground.A looming sense of emptiness filled the air, and it felt like something heavy had taken a seat inside her chest.

Wherever she was, it was damp, and humid. She opened her eyes to find a surprisingly mildly lit … place. It wasn’t a room, or if it was she couldn’t see the walls or the roof. Mist, or fog, hung in the air like a heavy blanket, making it hard to breath and slowing the air. The floor was simply covered in dunes of colorless dust, a layer deep enough for her hoof to sink into it softly. Several sharp and blocky rocks drifted in and out of her vision, half hidden by the fog and partially sunken into the dust beneath her.

Carefully, Rainbow pushed herself off of the floor. Her movement shifted the dust, clouds of the grey powder flying in small eddies around her in the thick air. Some of it drifted into her nose, making her cringe as she resisted the urge to sneeze. It was a disgusting smell, too.

It smelled like burnt rotten eggs, not a good combination. That smell hung in the air just as heavily as the fog. Or was it mist?

But, in all honesty … Rainbow was bored. Every rock looked the same, all the dust looked the same. For some reason, the need to notmove had also overtaken her. It almost felt as if a simple movement would bring down that sense of dread, or justify it.

And just as she was starting to become used to it, something new scraped through the air. Claws on stone. It was unmistakable, the scrape and screech of something sharp against something that shouldn’t have any give. Her eyes caught the yellow and orange glow from sparks in the corner of her eye.

She spun around, kicking up more of the putrid dust. “Hey! Who’s there?” she yelled into the fog, a small shake in her voice betraying her. When no response came, she slowly started walking toward where she heard the sound. Each step threw up a small puff of dust, her hoofsteps being muffled by the ever-present layer of dust.

She froze again, another, haunting, sound stretching out of the gloom around her. That’s what it was now, with thatsound slithering through the air. She knew it all too well, and it still sent shivers up her spine.

Scales slithering across stone.

It’s a very distinct sound, and different from a garden snake slithering across a path. It’s a sound like sand falling against your head on the beach, so much similar to that that Rainbow could practically feel the sound. It called out to her like some sick chorus, making every hair on her body stand on end.

She never would have admitted it if somepony asked, but she was terrified. She had only heard that sound once before, when a dragon had nearly covered Equestria with its smoke. She had really regretted kicking him in the nose, and she still got shivers thinking about that day. It had been a very impacting experience, in more ways than one.

She turned toward the noise, this time behind her again. Her heart pounded in her chest as she caught sight of a colorless tail drag out of sight into the fog. The fanned, webbed end flipping up more of the dust as it slithered out of sight. Her breathing was starting to come faster now, her chest pounding with her heart and her lungs working fast.

Very suddenly, her breathing became the only sound, unsettlingly loud in the oppressing silence around her. The air felt like it was getting even thicker, and hotter. She felt smothered, even just standing there.

Another scrape pierced through the silence behind her, violently shattering the stillness. Rainbow spun around, a scowl decorating her face. It instantly dropped off her face as she stared into the glowing eyes that shone out of the cloud of fog before her. Huge yellowed scleras, and ember red irises dug through her.

A huge, colorless, scaled claw rose out of the mist as an almost undetectable smile spread over the mostly hidden face. It loomed over her, each one of the claws as long as one of her arms. A sickly, mocking, wheezing laugh echoed out of the fog, the claws flexing and shifting the heavy air around them.

The claw fell.

She screamed.

~~~

Her eyes snapped open, staring blankly at the flat ceiling above her but not really seeing anything at all.

The scream still echoed through her head, never actually making it out of her throat. A machine made a fast-paced beeping noise to her left, nearly a flat tone at how fast it was going. It actually took several seconds for her to realize that it was her heart setting that pace. It slowly started to slow as she controlled her breathing, countless hours of anaerobic training kicking into action habitually.

As she calmed, details of her environment started to reveal themselves. The ceiling was tiled, a repeating pattern of dots poked into them. A rail curled around a short perimeter, a pale blue curtain hanging from it and hiding whatever was outside. The shape of a window shone onto the curtain, adding its muted light to the small area.

She turned her head, the rough cotton of the blanket and sheets rubbing uncomfortably on her neck. She was tucked tightly into a bed, the metal frame sticking up from the end of it. Beside the bed, a table and a cart sat to the side. A few wires and tubes ran under her blanket, and she could feel the dull pull from them where they attached to her foreleg.

On top of the cart, a small machine beeped. A magical display showed a wobbling line, illustrating Rainbow’s heart rate by one of the wires that connected her to it. A tall pole came out from the back, seemingly attached to the cart even though she couldn’t see how. A small bag of water hung from it, one of the tubes leading under the loose cotton blanket.

With sore muscles slowing her and making her grimace, Rainbow pulled off the blanket. She scowled at the puke green color, carefully revealing her cyan forelegs that lay outside of the sheets. Underneath it she could see where the tube and the wire connected. The wire led to a padded anklet above her hoof, carefully measuring her pulse. The IV drip connected near the crook of her arm, held in place by a piece of medical tape.

She groaned inwardly. Not another visit to the hospital! This time she didn’t stop the groan from crawling out of her mouth. She unhooked herself, the annoying beeping being less tolerable than the single tone that stopped after a few minutes. She didn’t know, or care, if it would give the doctors a scare.

She slumped back into the bed, having sat up slightly to take out the IV tube and to disconnect herself from the machine. A spike of pain lanced up her back, intense and flaming up through her wing and her shoulder. She shot back up into a seated position immediately, twisting around to look at her back and the wing pinned to her side.

“Gah!” she choked out, barely able to make any other sound as the sight of her wing filled her vision. There was a blood soaked bandage wrapped around one of the bends of her right wing, and several of her feathers were missing. A dull ache pulsed alongside her heartbeat, which was starting to get faster again.

She gingerly reached up a hoof to touch the bandages that wrapped around the forward plane of her wing, flinching as her hoof only brought about more pain. She managed a very uncool whimper as she pulled her hoof away.

Rapid hoofsteps cut through the silence of the room, muffled as they approached from behind the curtain and supposedly a door beyond that. A door slammed open, the hoofsteps suddenly growing louder. Without even so much as a warning, the curtain around her bed few open.

A unicorn stallion stood on the other side, panting slightly with one hoof still clutching the side of the curtain. He had a shock of red mane that was cropped short, almost military short but long enough for it not to be. His coat was a mint green, not unlike most hospital color schemes. His eyes were a much darker green, almost blending in with the rest of his coloring. He was stocky, and well built for a unicorn.

The exhaustion on his face suddenly disappeared, replaced by a cheeky grin that seemed almost too wide for his face. “Oh! You’re awake! Had me worried for a second there,” he said. He was loud, not to a point of shouting, though. It was almost like he was trying to talk to her from across the room with the volume he used.

He wasted no more time standing and staring at her. The unicorn dropped the curtain and walked around her to the foot of her bed, a clipboard lifting up in an almost clear, dark green glow. “My name’s Doctor Clean Cut, but you can just call me Doc if that’s easier. You must be recovering well if you’ve gotten the strength to sit up, that’s nice,” he noted, a pen detaching from the clipboard and scribbling on one of the papers on it. “Blood loss isn’t always fun to recover from, especially with the blunt force trauma on your abdomen added on top of that,” he said distantly.

Rainbow paused for a moment, almost hypnotised by the strange faces that the doctor was making as he scribbled on the clipboard. “Blood loss? ‘Blunt force trauma’?! What in the name of Celestia happened to me?!” she yelled. She almost jumped up, but the same magic that held the clipboard pressed her back down with surprising force.

“Three days out hasn’t done your memory well has it?” the doctor asked with a grin as he finished scribbling on the clipboard for the moment. He set the board down on the bed below her hooves, walking back around to her side. “You got cut up, fell a ways. And I think something pushed you if the bruises were any indication,” the doctor said, surprising less loud in his explanation. “You’re in the Canterlot Royal Hospital, by the way!” And then it was back.

Rainbow cringed at his volume, laying her ears flat against her head. “How did I get here? And what about my wing?!” she asked, shooting the doctor a scowl.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “It’ll be fine, and you’ll get away with hardly a scar. You’ll be back in the air by the end of the week, at least. However, a couple of the arteries along your humerus were cut up in a bad way, and you lost quite a bit of blood. But what’s really interesting is how you got here!” he said excitedly, practically hopping in place. “You wouldn’t believe what condition the pony that brought you here was in! He was practically a fountain with all the blood that he spilled on the floor and all over you ...” the doctor rambled, he continued to talk for awhile. A brief mention of a dragon flickered across her perception, but only for a moment.

Somepony carried me in here? she thought, fighting through her memories to try and think of who it could possibly have been. She could remember flying up to Canterlot, she was doing a routine practice session with the other trainees for the Wonderbolt program. If she had passed a few more tests, she could have been put into the reserves. But other than that, she couldn’t remember even getting to the practice fields.

Her thoughts suddenly were interrupted by the underside of a green hoof gently overtaking half her vision. The doctor had leaned up and was pressing his hoof to her forehead, tutting under his breath as he checked her temperature. She heard him mumble something about tricky pegasi before he pulled his hoof away.

How could a pony be so loud and then so suddenly quiet? she thought to herself.

 The doctor pulled away after a moment, turning to the clipboard as it sprung back to life and the pen started scribbling again. A tongue depressor was suddenly presented to her. “Say: Aaaah,’” he instructed, hovering the wooden device in front of her lips.

Rainbow complied, opening her mouth wide and letting the doctor press down her tongue and peer down her throat. He hummed again as more scribbles scratched themselves onto the clipboard. “Any significant pain or soreness? How’s your throat feel?” he asked as he pulled away.

Rainbow smacked her lips a few times, trying to rid herself of the taste from the wood device that the doctor disposed of in a small trash can across the room. “No, it’s fine. What’s my throat got to do with anything?” she asked incredulously.

“You were snoring,” he said flatly, turning back to the clipboard as he intently scribbled on it again.

“I was not!” Rainbow said, scowling down at the doctor from her perch on the bed.

“Well, you didn’t get your own room for being a national hero,” the doctor muttered cheerily as he finished scribbling with a flourish of his pen. The clipboard returned itself to the foot of the bed, hanging from a small hook there. Rainbow growled at him, but refrained from chewing out the doctor, who only smiled wider.

“As far as I can tell, you can go home tomorrow. No flying though, and you should check with your doctor in Ponyville in a week or so,” the doctor said happily. “But I’d like you to stay for at least one more night so we can change your bandages again and let you get a little more rest. Something wrong? Headache?” he asked as Rainbow started to rub at her temples.

“I’m starting to get one,” she grumbled, glaring at the doctor angrily. Any time in a hospital was boring, and she didn’t want to ask for a Daring Do book if she wasn’t going to get the chance to finish it.

“I’ll take that as a n-”

A deep bellow shook through the room, cutting off the rest of the doctor’s statement. The whole room seemed to jump and shake, the two ponies there certainly did. Rainbow jumped up and fell straight out of her bed and onto the floor, new lances of pain driving up her body and into the base of her skull.

“Aha! The guest of honor is awake as well! Perfect!” the doctor beamed as the roar ended. “Do you think you want to see him? Not everyday somepony saves your life after all,” he said, leaning over the bed to look at her with his ever-present grin. She could still hear the ‘guest of honor’ screaming, nearly drowning out the doctor, as loud as he is.

“Wait,” Rainbow said carefully, pushing herself up to her hooves despite the loud protest from her limbs. “‘Saved my life’?” she asked incredulously, seeing the doctor nod. He had already started for the door just outside the curtain. She quickly followed, limping her way behind him. All of her muscles hurt, making her walk funny. And just standing had made her woozy.

“You weren’t the only pony injured in the attack,” the doctor said over the ruckus coming from down the hall, his voice easily projecting over it. “As far as I could tell, he took a hit for you,” he explained as Rainbow fell into step behind him. He walked at a brisk pace, what Rainbow would have called a fast walk for anypony other than herself. The room with all the noise was on the left at the end of the hall, where the hall turned sharply to the right.

“What the hay is going on in there?” she asked, more to herself than the doctor. As she spoke, a lamp flew through the open door, shattering across the floor. Thankfully, it being the middle of the day, the lamp had been unlit. The clear oil in the lamp leaked out from its base, pooling onto the floor without anything to hold it back.

“I was afraid this would happen, especially with somepony as big as him,” the doctor mumbled picking up his pace. How the doctor was able to walk any faster was surprising, Rainbow was practically at a light trot by now. Whoever this doctor was, he walked with a judicial determination toward the room at the end of the hall.

Before they reached the door, Rainbow’s curiosity overcame her. She rushed forward, darting around the doorframe and taking in the scene before her.

Three Royal Guards were swarming around the single bed in the room, obviously struggling to hold down its occupant. The other pony in the room was a clean white unicorn, her horn glowing a light blue to match the tone of her eyes. She was shuffling in place, a large needle filled with some concoction or another floating above the struggling stallions as if she were trying to squeeze it in between them to the stallion underneath.

Parts of the room had been completely destroyed. There was a smashed table on the other end of the room, a distinctly pony shaped dent in the wall above it. The curtain that had once hidden the bed from sight was ripped off of its rail, laying bunched up in a corner of the room where it had been kicked to. The sheets of the bed had been kicked off, bunched up and tangled in the hooves of the guards trying to hold the pony to the bed.

The guards were having an intense amount of trouble holding down the other pony down, hiding his features from view. As she watched, a grey hoof shot out of the fray, landing squarely on one of the guard’s chin and nearly sending him reeling to the floor. While Rainbow didn’t understand a word of what the pony was shouting at the guards, she could definitely tell that it was colorful.

Rainbow shot forward, leaping up and grabbing the needle out of the unicorn’s magical grip. “What’s up with the freaking monster needle, dude?! And would you guys CALM YOUR FLANKS!!!” she yelled, waving the comically large needle in her hoof. Her voice cut through the noise like a knife through hot butter, and silenced the room almost instantly. That’s better, she mused to herself with a small smirk.

All eyes had turned to her, ears pointed directly at her as well. She had their absolute attention now. The guards shared a few glances, carefully releasing the pony on the bed and taking a step back from him. They stayed close though, wary of another outburst. But she was finally able to get a good look at this ‘Hero.’

His coat was the first thing she noticed, not a single color like most ponies’. It was grey, very grey, but splashes of black and darker greys covered his back and even bled over onto his wings. His coat was lightest on his chest and around his stomach, growing darker near his unshorn hooves. The black and darker grey stretched down his muzzle as well, a distinct area around his eyes untouched by the darker colors. It almost looked like he was wearing a mask.

His mane was black, shot through with small locks of grey that gave it an almost salt and pepper look. Or a backwards dalmatian look, depending on how it was perceived.

But he was covered in scars. Fur in various places on his chest, shoulders, and even his neck was thinner, revealing the previous wounds marks. If she had to draw anything from them, it would either be that this stallion had a large amount of bad luck. Or that he was some sort of fighter. Some of the scars were far too neat for them to be from anything other than the leftover of a direct attack.

Three golden colored rings sat high on his right foreleg, clinging tightly to the bulging muscles there. Two white spikes pierced through his left ear, clicking together occasionally when his ear flicked at a small sound. A bandage wrapped around his barrel, practically soaked a deep red along his right side, almost black in color.

His eyes were another thing entirely, green but muted like the rest of his coloration. She swore she could see other colors swimming in them, but whenever she tried to fix on it, it disappeared into the greyness.

It was almost like this entire pony had been grayed out by some artist, to simply be stuck into the background as an afterthought.

The entire time she had been taking him in, he had been doing the same. It felt different for some reason though, like he was sizing her up for a fight. Everyone in the room was still looking at her, waiting for her to continue. But now that she had their attention, she wasn’t really sure what to say. AJ’s way better at doing speeches than I am, she mused, desperately wishing she had the farm-pony with her as back up.

“Alright, let’s just stay calm. Alright?” she said to the room, truly in absence of what to say next. The grey stallion squinted, like he was trying to read something very small and was having trouble making it out. He mouthed a few words that she couldn’t recognise and tilted his head to the side. “Now, somepony please explain what’s going on in here,” she said carefully, looking around at the other ponies.

“I-I was j-just about to give him an injection, f-f-f-for the pain,” the nurse behind Rainbow stuttered, shaking in place as the spotlight suddenly turned to her. “A-a-a-and then he woke up, and st-started yelling, and …” she said, trailing off as Doctor Clean Cut glared at her from across the room.

“Luna’s moon, who told you to do that?” he said in an uncharacteristically angry tone, more of an accusation than a question. The nurse shook visibly, trying to stutter out something but was cut off by the doctor. “Don’t give me excuses! His chart clearly says that he’s to receive no injections or medications of any kind. Go back to the supply closet, take EVERYTHING off the shelves, re-examine them all and then re-label and re-shelve them! Go! Toot sweet!” he yelled, practically hopping in place with anger.

The nurse squeaked out a frighted yelp and fled the room past the doctor. “And don’t even think about leaving that room until you’re done!” he yelled after her. The doctor cleared his throat as he turned back to the room, fixing a tie that wasn’t there with a hoof. His horn lit up as he took the needle from Rainbow with his magic, dropping the entire thing into a basket labeled with a biohazard symbol.

“Uh …” Rainbow uttered, taken aback by the doctor’s sudden change of tone. Perhaps he wasn’t somepony to get on the bad side of. Considering how the nurse reacted under his glare, he might have been going easy on her with that punishment. “Those bandages aren’t … they’re not looking so good, Doc,” she managed, pointing back toward the stallion.

“... not … so good?” a deep voice said, drawing Rainbow’s attention back to the stallion. He was looking at her with a confused expression, tilting his head to the side as his eyes darted over her. It surprised everyone in the room, they were the first words he had actually spoken in Equestrian since he woke up.

“So you do speak Equestrian,” Rainbow said, a small smile coming to her face. She had started to get worried when he had been spouting what amounted to basically gibberish to her. She had wondered if he was actually sane.

“Do … speak,” he said carefully, frowning at the words. “Not … Ee-quest-tree-an,” he sounded out the word carefully, letting it roll around on his tongue for a moment. He looked back at her, as if asking for confirmation from her of something as he muttered something in a staccato gibberish.

“Oh,” Rainbow said, tilting her own head in confusion. If he doesn’t speak it, then how’d he tell me? she thought with confusion. “Why don’t we just get those fixed up, okay?” she said to both the stallion and the doctor. She looked toward Clean Cut and nodded toward the nameless stallion as a silent signal to ‘get going.’

He jumped as he realized that he was needed, his horn lighting up as a few things shifted out of the debris in the room. A sterile needle in a bag floated up alongside a spool of thread in its own bag, sifting out of the destroyed table’s splinters. A roll of gauze found its way to him, a small vial filled with a thick green fluid floated up beside it.

Clean Cut carefully approached the stallion, blanching almost imperceptibly when the stallion’s attention turned to the doctor. When the stallion made no move toward him, other than offering a look of recognition, the doctor came up to his side.

“Oh my, my, my,” the doctor muttered under his breath as he looked at the soaked bandages. Clean Cut gingerly lifted up the stallion’s arm with his magic, holding it in the air so that he had full access to his patient’s barrel. His magic carefully tugged and pulled on the bandages, half the job being already done by his struggle earlier.

The stallion’s gaze moved to the revealed wound as the doctor finished and took a step back to see it for himself. Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat and she had to struggle to keep from losing whatever was in her stomach all over the floor.

It was by no means easy to look at, yet both the stallion and the doctor examined it with mirrored professionalism. But Rainbow was almost ready to run out of the room as fast as she could. There was a limit to how much blood and gore she could stand, even if it was a little higher than most ponies’.

To her, it looked like a part of his side had simply been ripped off. There was so much blood that she couldn’t tell what was supposed to be inside him and what wasn’t. Three large slashes trailed up his barrel, perpendicular to the ground should he have been standing. She could actually see one of his ribs peeking out from the folds of ripped flesh. The edges were jagged, the stitches that had been there pulled apart and ripping where they had joined it.

“Just look at what you’ve done to yourself,” Clean Cut scolded, the small bags containing the thread and the needle ripping open as they assembled themselves. Clean Cut mumbled something about dumb luck and wings, but Rainbow wasn’t able to hear much of it before he started to stitch up the stallion.

The doctor was quick to work, eliciting a few hisses and grunts from the stallion as the flesh was stitched back together. The doctor spread the strange fluid over the closed wound, rewarded with a sigh of relief from the patient as he rewrapped him. His magic gathered up the mess, hovering it over to the same biohazard basket and stuffing it all inside.

“Now,” the doctor said, returning to a more serious tone and lifting a hoof to accentuate his point. “No. More. Moving.” He punctuated each word with a waggle of his hoof in the stallion’s direction. “If you pull out those stitches again, I’ll cauterize it,” he finished, pointing down at the now covered wound with a serious expression.

The stallion seemed to understand well enough, nodding in assent to the doctor. Clean Cut let out a loud sigh through his nose before turning back to Rainbow with his smile returned. “I’m sure that you two have so much to talk about. Him saving you and all. So I’ll be off, ask the guards for anything, you know where your room is, bladdity, blabbity, blah,” he said as he walked out the door, his green toned magic easing it closed.

The stallion turned back to her, a blank expression on his face as he simply looked at her. “Uh … So … What’s up?” she tried, mentally slapping herself. He’s in the hospital, same as you, bird-brian. There’s nothing going on!

The stallion tilted his head to the side as she spoke, listening intently to each word. After a moment he tried to say something. “W- … Wing? … Okay?” he asked, one of his hooves moving up and tentatively tapping one of his own neatly tucked wings before pointing at her.

He looked like he was struggling with his hooves, almost like he was angry that they were there. If the way he glared at them was any indicator. Rainbow looked back at her wing, a small grimace coming back to her face as she was reminded why she was in a hospital.

“Yeah, not too pretty, is it? But it’s cool, I guess. Doc says I can get outta here tomorrow, doesn’t look like you’re gonna be as lucky, dude,” she said, turning back to him to find another inquisitive stare.

“Cool …” he said, feeling out the word like he had most of the others. “... Cool? Wing is cool?” he asked with a confused glance at her. When she responded with her own confused look, he pointed down at the blankets that had fallen from his bed. He motioned with his hooves for her to take them.

“Oh, no,” Rainbow said, taking a step closer to him so that she could try to explain. “I’m not cold. I just meant that it’s fine, that’s all,” she said, seeing him nod. It was strange since he still had his head tilted to the side as he listened to her talk. She was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with his neck.

In fact, now that she was a little closer, she could tell how big this stallion really was. He was huge! He barely even fit on the bed, and she was pretty sure that it was sagging under him. She was pretty sure that if he could stand, he would tower over her.

Is this guy a guard? she thought, glancing over at the earth pony guards that had spread across the room. Each one was almost as large as the stallion, but none of them seemed to have the same amount of muscle that he did. And there wasn’t a scrap of fat on him, unlike the guards, who seemed a little more than well fed.

“You know … I never got your name,” she said after a moment. Realizing how long she had just been looking at the stallion. His ears perked up, and he seemed to sit up a little higher when she said it.

“Name?” he asked, looking at her again with confusion.

“Here,” she said, taking a seat next to his bed and lifting a hoof to point at her chest. “Rainbow Dash,” she said clearly. She moved her hoof around, pointing it at him while raising her eyebrows in question. He seemed to grasp what she wanted after that, tilting his head to the other side in thought.

“Name … hmmm …” he said. One of his hooves lifted up to scratch at his ear, the small spikes clicking against each other as he disturbed them. “... Coalback,” he said confidently after a moment, looking at her with a small smile. “My name is Coalback,” he repeated. He paused in strange places, and he butchered a word or two, but he said it clearly enough.

“Great, dude!” she said, lifting her hooves up in a small cheer. She almost felt like she was treating this guy the same way she sometimes had to treat Derpy, and it made her feel a little guilty. He just didn’t speak the language, he wasn’t dead in the head. “So your name’s Coal-back,” she said, rolling the name off her tongue. He nodded, slowly becoming more excited.

He shifted into a slightly more comfortable position on top of the sheetless bed and lifted a hoof up to tentatively point at her. “Rainbow Dash,” he said carefully, enunciating the word.

“Yes,” she confirmed, rewarding herself with a small hoof pump. She was actually talking to somepony who spoke a different language, and doing it pretty well. I bet Twilight would probably like to talk to somepony in another language. I wonder if she knows what he’s speaking?

“Coalback,” he said, turning his hoof to point back at his own chest. She nodded at him as he shifted excitedly again. “Can Rainbow Dash ... help Coalback?” he asked with a friendly smile, using his hoof to point to her and then to himself.

“Help with what, dude?” she asked, almost startled by the sudden swing in topic.

“Show Coalback to say good,” he said slowly, perhaps trying to find words that would let him show her what he wanted. He looked a bit frustrated as he did, sure that he wasn’t using the right words.

“You want me to … teach you how to speak Equestrian?” she tried, working off what he was giving her. He wanted to ‘say good,’ so maybe he meant that he wanted to learn how to speak it better?

“Yes!” Coalback said excitedly, nodding happily. He said a few more things in that staccato gibberish, but stopped after a moment to listen to Rainbow’s response.

“Okay, sure,” she said after a moment. “I’ll teach you Equestrian … Just don’t expect me to do a good job,” she added as an afterthought. She had always hated her Equestrian classes in school, and now it looked like she was going to have to remember everything she’d ever been taught. “The descent into eggheaded-ness has begun,” she muttered quietly to herself.

Bad Wings*

Bad Wings*

-Bad Wings-

It had taken a few hours, the sunlight sinking into a dull pink and orange as it seeped through the cracks in the curtains. However, that was all it had taken to get Coalback to speak in passable Equestrian. Although, his sentences were still slightly broken, and he paused in strange places when he talked.

“I tell you, I never hear about this place,” Coalback said, stiffly shrugging his shoulders. One of his hooves lay over his stomach, gently holding onto the bandages there in an attempt to alleviate the ache from the covered wounds.

“You learned to speak Equestrian pretty fast for never having heard of it before,” Rainbow said, disbelief accented by her raised eyebrows. “Nopony just picks up a language like that. Not even Twilight, and she’s like the smartest pony I’ll ever meet,” she added, leaning back on her haunches.

It’d been nice talking with him, except that she’d done most of the talking. She’d ended up moving right up next to the bed after a while. For some reason, he’d jumped at her approach and had covered himself back over with the sheets hanging off the bed. He had them wrapped around his lower half at the moment, having relaxed as they talked.

He’d asked the occasional question: How a word was used, what certain combinations of words meant. If a place was mentioned he’d ask about those as well. Some of his questions were hard to answer too, she just didn’t really have the answers. He seemed to have a lot of questions.

“I do, is part of how brain works,” he said, lifting a hoof to tap his forehead. “There is a little- spot, in brain, just for talking. Some has work better. I read once that some born knowing every language, even ones that not used,” he explained briefly, making another stiff shrug. His wings shifted under him as he did, and he turned to look at them with a bit of confusion before he returned to looking at her.

“But … how does that even work? That a baby could know how to speak a bunch of languages even though they’ve never even … you know! How?” Rainbow asked, finding herself drawn in on another topic. He’d had a few really interesting ones too, he mentioned a few things while they had talked. But those had been hard to understand since it was still mostly broken words and not really sentences then.

“Think it,” he said, the hoof on his stomach moving up to pad at the twitching wing on his back as he talked. “Talking is weird. You make funny sound, and then others know what you think. You make- ponies know what you know with funny sound, and then you know what they know when they make more funny sound. Weird,” he finished, the last word seeming to trail off as he continued to twist to look at his wing.

“I guess ...” Rainbow said, shaking her head at the strange analogy. Even if he was right, that was just looking into it too much as far as she was concerned. “So you could just … Go, wherever you want. And you’d be able to understand the ponies there?” she asked, still trying to figure out what he was saying.

He gave up with his wing, leaning back into the pillow that had also been retrieved from the floor. “Yes, I am understand, speak take a little longer,” he said, a frown forming on his face as his wing continued to twitch slightly underneath him.

“Alright,” she said, shrugging as she gave up trying to figure out how he did it. It might’ve been his talent as far as she knew. “So where are you from then?” she asked, simply trying to keep a conversation at this point. It seemed like she was running out of things she could talk about.

“I … Hard to know where from here,” he said slowly, looking toward the ceiling as he did. “Probably very far, I think. It is very different here.” He turned back to look at her, lifting a hoof to scratch under his chin absently for a moment.

“What do you mean? Why’s it different?” she asked. There was the obvious, of course. Another language, and all. But it seemed like that wasn’t what he’d meant.

“Feels different?” he said, shaking his head uncertainly. “Air smells different. Sounds aren’t the same. That stuff,” he tried, looking back down at his hoof as he stopped scratching his chin. He seemed to have that same confused look again, like he wasn’t even sure that it was a hoof. At that point, the conversation very quickly dropped to an awkward pause.

Rainbow found herself simply looking around the room, hoping some epiphany would reveal itself in the green tinted walls. She re-examined the dent in the wall, and the pile of splinters that had been a table underneath it. Eventually her attention turned toward the small side table next to Coalback’s bed, a pair of drawers catching her eye.

She turned on her spot and pulled open the top drawer, deciding that whatever was inside might prove more interesting. The first didn’t hold anything interesting, just a pad of paper, a pen, and a small box of tissues. That presented one option: she could try doodling for a little while, not that she was very good at drawing.

She closed the drawer, moving on to the next one. The bottom drawer only had one thing in it, much more interesting than a bunch of paper. It was a Daring Do book, and one that she wasn’t sure she’d read before. She pulled it out of the drawer and looked at the cover, an illuminated picture of a suspicious looking Daring with a strange shadow looming over her, a full moon taking up the background.

“What is that?” Coalback asked, interrupting her before she could open it. When she looked up at him, he’d leaned over to look at the cover as well.

“It’s a Daring Do book,” she said, turning it so that he could look at the cover more easily. “They’re about this explorer, she goes around the world on awesome adventures and stuff. That’s her right there,” she said, pointing to the pegasus on the cover. “This one’s called Daring Do and the Wolf-Pony,” she read off, pointing at the familiar lettering and offering it to him.

He took it shakily in his hooves, fumbling with it for a moment as he looked over it. He clumsily opened the cover, flipping through a few pages as he scowled at the unfamiliar letters there. Rainbow spotted her mistake at that moment, knocking a hoof against her head as she mentally berated herself.

“Sorry. I guess that whole understanding thing doesn’t really work with reading, huh?” she said, seeing him nod absently as he examined the markings on the page. In the corner of her vision, one of the guards tried to hide a yawn.

“Maybe later I find out how,” he said, continuing to flip through the pages gingerly. “It starting to get dark, so maybe later,” he said, fumbling the book closed again and giving it another examining look.

“It is getting late, isn’t it?” she said, turning to look toward the covered window. The light had become much less now, barely a purple tinge poking its way through the space. She stood up to walk toward it, peeking out to look at the sky. It was strangely pinker than she thought it should have been. “I guess I should go, I need to rest up just as much as you do. It was pretty cool talking with you, Coalback. I’ll see yah around,” she said, letting the curtain fall back where it belonged.

She started making her way to the door as Coalback replied. “I liked it too. Is nice talking to friend,” he said, setting the book down gently on the mattress beside him.

Rainbow paused, stopping just in front of the two guards at the door and turning to look back at him. “I’m your friend?” she said after a moment, looking back at him as he donned a smile.

“Is that right word? Friend?” he asked, a hopeful expression mixed into his features.

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s it,” she said, smiling back at him and keeping her cool. “Thanks. I’ll stop by tomorrow before I take off,” she said, turning back to the door. She nodded to the guard there and pushed open the door, taking one last look back at Coalback.

He was smiling and leaning back heavily into the pillow behind him. And she was almost sure that she saw the echo of a blush on his face as he simply looked up at the ceiling. The door closed behind her and left her alone in the hallway.

In Ponyville, the hospital usually saw a small amount of activity. Usually little things; farmers with small cuts or bruises gained from working on their fields, or a filly with an ear infection. However, in Canterlot, they had an unnecessarily large hospital that was overstaffed and underused. The place was as empty as a ghost town, which left her alone with her thoughts.

She turned blankly down the hall, starting a slow walk toward the door near the other end. Her head was in a swirl, however. I hadn't even realized... she thought to herself. The entire time she’d been in there, she hadn’t even really realized that in reality … she’d just made friends with Coalback.

It had been so simple … she’d just talked ...

“And he was listening to me …” she mumbled out loud. His eyes swirling with color, and static, and unassuming all at the same time, just looking at her. He’d actually wanted to keep talking to her, only a few of her friends could say that they’d held a conversation for very long with her. Not that she’d ever helped that.

A different sort of feeling washed over her with that thought. It was like feathers tickling at the inside of her chest, like her heart had grown wings and was buzzing around inside her ribs. A strange sort of shortness of breath that she couldn’t quite place. And it disappeared almost as fast as she was able to realize that it’d been there. She couldn’t even remember why she was just standing in the middle of the hallway now.

Maybe it had been those bandages, all that blood. It had thrown her off, made her act differently than she would have.

And there was another thing: He’d saved her life?

If he was some sort of hero, then why were there guards posted not outside his room, but inside his room. Was he some sort of escaped convict that had crossed into Equestria to get away? But if that was the case, then why’d he stop to help her?

At this point, she knew there’d been a dragon attack, and that somehow she’d gotten in the middle of it. And supposedly he’d not only saved her from it, but had taken the dragon down as well. He’d risked his life for her? Somepony he’d never even met before, that he couldn’t even talk to?

This stallion simply didn’t make sense.

Her thoughts came to a halt however, gilded hoofsteps echoing down the hall toward her. “Good eventide, Rainbow Dash,” Luna greeted as Rainbow’s eyes landed on her. She stopped a few steps in front of Rainbow, allowing a small smile to her as the pegasus bowed shortly. “Prithee, how fairest thy wing?” she asked warmly, nodding toward the bandaged wing tucked slightly out of place at Rainbow’s side.

“It’s alright. A little sore I guess, but nothing I can’t handle,” Rainbow replied confidently, returning to an upright stance. “How ‘bout you, Princess? Haven’t really seen you in awhile,” she said, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, Luna’s expression had darkened slightly.

“Not so well as before all of this,” she said tiredly, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We still think that the simple shield is not enough, we should have contacted as many of the other nations as we could as soon as he arrived. And closed the city off entirely, as well,” she said, stopping herself as she noticed Rainbow’s confused expression.

“A shield? Like during the wedding?” she asked, starting to become worried. That would be why the sky’s too pink, she told herself.

“Indeed,” Luna affirmed. “A recent arrival has caused quite the stir. We were just on Our way to see if We could speak with him,” she said, nodding down the hallway to the door at the end.

“You mean Coalback? Why? What happened?” she asked, starting to get worried that Luna might want to hurt her new friend. Even if she didn’t know him that well, and she didn’t know if he was some sort of criminal or not. He seemed nice enough, and she’d already told him that she was his friend.

“Coal-back?” Luna asked, her eyebrows trying to rise and furrow at the same time. “A large, grey pony? You hadst words with him?” she asked, worry starting to edge in on the Princess’s voice.

“Well, yeah. I mean, we talked for awhile,” Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes toward the Princess as she tried to determine what was going on. “Why? Is Coalback in trouble or something?” she asked, starting to become more worried. Is he really so dangerous that the Princesses are worried? she thought to herself.

“Be very wary about that pony, Rainbow Dash. My sister fears he may be extremely dangerous. Alas, We fear this also,” she said, a shimmer of anger entering her voice. “Tell Us, what were your thoughts of him?” she asked suspiciously, turning a narrowed gaze back onto Rainbow. For some reason, it felt like the Princess was looking inside her, her gaze was literally piercing.

Rainbow nearly blanched, only keeping herself in place out of determination to show the Princess that she didn’t think that Coalback was dangerous. “I thought he was pretty cool, actually,” she said, standing up straighter as Luna tilted her head in confusion. “Yeah, he was a little weird until he figured out how to talk in Equestrian. But, other than that, he seemed … kinda normal,” she said, shrugging with a small wince as her sore muscles stretched again.

The Princess simply continued with her stare, but after a moment she sighed through her nose and nodded thoughtfully. “Very … interesting,” she said distantly. “We wish you a speedy recovery, and a restful sleep to both of you,” she finished, dropping the conversation and starting to walk around her.

Rainbow’s eyes shot up in surprise at Luna’s sudden change in demeanor, as if the conversation had never happened. “Wait! That’s it?” she asked, turning to follow the Princess with her eyes.

She offered nothing more than another “Good night,” and a glance out of the corner of her eye before she simply kept walking. She didn’t even go into the room like she said she was going to, taking the turn in the hallway and continuing on.

With a confused expression on her face, Rainbow turned around and went into her room. She closed the door, and decided that she was too tired to care why Luna had simply dropped the subject as abruptly as she had. And that it could wait until tomorrow.

Her wing ached horribly, and it was almost impossible to sleep. Rainbow had ended up falling in and out of slumber for several hours. The clock on the wall now reading at three hours after midnight. A dull but insistent stitch of pain dragged her just out of sleep’s sweet reach, a torture if she’d ever known one.

She’d ended up simply staring at the nearly pitch black ceiling whenever she couldn’t sleep. She’d even counted the tiles that lined the ceiling, and she’d counted sheep before that. She’d lost count somewhere in the hundreds on both.

This was much worse than when she’d sprained her wing. At least she’d been able to sleep then.

Three heavy thumps dropped through the air, followed closely by a metallic ringing. The sound shattered the still silence that had plagued the room for the last few hours, making her sit up quickly in the bed and look toward the door. That can’t mean anything good, she thought to herself, gently shedding her sheets and slipping out of the bed. She shook the light sheets off of her wing as it caught on there, hissing as the sore wing complained in the only way it could.

She slinked over to the door, moving as quietly as she could. She didn’t want to freak out a nurse because she dropped a couple towels and dishes. She reached the door, opening it just a crack and peeking out carefully.

She was just able to catch sight of a hospital bed sheet dragging itself past the turn at the end of the cart. A light was on at the end of the hall, the door just before the turn stuck open by a discarded guard’s helmet. That was Coalback’s room.

She quietly pushed open her door, slipping out into the darkened hallway. She moved as quietly as she could, resisting the urge to start flying for the sake of her bandaged wing. She made it to the end of the hall and peeked into the open room.

Rainbow’s eyebrows shot up in surprise: all three of Coalback’s guards were sleeping soundly on the floor around the room. Somehow they’d fallen asleep, and Coalback wasn’t anywhere in the room at all. She turned around and looked down the hallway, seeing the trailing edge of the bedsheets turn around another corner. She followed it slowly, peeking around the corner again.

Coalback was shakily standing outside a set of double doors, his blankets wrapped around him and dragged to the floor behind him. He’d stopped in front of an abandoned cart filled with books, eyeing the titles closely. After a moment, he mumbled something unintelligible before reaching forward and taking a thick book with his teeth.

He abruptly turned his back to where Rainbow was standing, pushing through the doors that separated the hospital from the palace and continuing through. Narrowing her eyes, Rainbow quietly followed him. He would stumble occasionally, one of his hooves rolling out from under him just until he could catch himself. Strangely though, he didn’t look like he was in much pain at all.

She tried to time her hoofsteps with his, following him around two more turns. He stopped at a flight of stairs that were closed off by a small chain, a sign reading ‘Under Renovations’ hanging from it. Without a second thought, Coalback lifted a hoof and pawed at the chain until it came loose and fell out of his way.

And without paying the sign so much as a second glance, he started up the stairs. Rainbow followed him up to the entrance, glancing at the small brass plaque next to the stairwell:

West Canterlot Tower

        Below the boldfaced name was a small paragraph describing the tower’s history. It described how it was the last tower to be constructed, and that it was the third tallest in the entire city. Three covered walkways connected it to other nearby towers, including the main palace’s tower.

Rainbow could remember flying around this tower, and as far as she knew it’d been ‘under renovations’ for as long as she could remember. So, what could Coalback want to do in a tower that was basically completely empty?

One way to find out, she thought to herself, starting to follow the unsteady stallion up the stairs. She passed several floors as she rose, including the level where the tower connected to the others. It was the level above that that she found Coalback.

He was just standing in the middle of the room, looking around it blankly. Rainbow jumped back as far as she could into the stairwell while still keeping him in sight, trying to avoid being caught by him if he turned around. There wasn’t much in the room, the only notable thing being the huge covered mirror on the other side. A few windows had been replaced with simple paper covers, one overlooking a covered walkway and the other looking out of Canterlot toward the countryside.

Something in Rainbow’s gut told her that something pretty big was going to happen. She didn’t normally think that anypony but Pinkie could have a sixth sense like that, but that’s what it felt like. Her wings buzzed, the nerves there telling her that there was a storm even though there wasn’t a single sign of one outside. Her hooves tingled and her withers itched ... if that wasn’t a sign of something freaky then nothing was.

She was starting to get a little scared, Lunahad said that he was dangerous. He’d somehow knocked out all of his guards, and now he was just wandering around the palace. What could he possibly be doing? she thought again, continuing her incredulous observations.

He set down the book, briefly revealing the cover as he looked around the room. It was an anatomy book, specifically one about pegasi considering the diagram plastered on the front. What’s he doing with that? I thought he couldn’t read, she thought to herself.

“YA ne znayu, vy uvereni chto ya sumeyu eto bez vas?” he asked himself, the words managing to reach Rainbow’s ears as he talked quietly and slowly. But there wasn’t anypony there besides her to talk to, and she hoped that he hadn’t noticed her. He drooped suddenly, lifting a hoof to press against his injured side.

After another moment, Coalback moved over to the mirror and pulled down the cover with one of his hooves. The mirror reflected back the room, including Rainbow’s eyes as she peaked over the top stair. But what was most surprising was how his eyes appeared in the mirror. They looked like they were shining, like an animal’s at night.

He simply looked at himself for a while, entranced by his own features. He almost looked … sad. Tired maybe. His shoulders rolled underneath the sheets around him, his wings pushing the thin fabric off of him.

Rainbow sat almost awestruck as she looked at his reflection. Now that he was standing, she could clearly see the thick muscles on his chest. With every breath, the strong muscles designed for pulling down his wings would flex out. The muscles on his legs twitched occasionally as his stance shifted.

And then his wings spread out, spanning far outside of what the mirror could reflect. Rainbow gasped as she saw them, never having realized that they were as large as they were. They were a different shape to her’s though; the only comparison she really had was Owlowiscious, Twilight’s pet owl. But the one on his right side didn’t seem to want to open all the way, still bent slightly and not raised fully. He scowled at the speckled feathers, inspecting the ruffled patterns there.

She jumped back down a few steps as he suddenly turned around, not having realized she’d taken a step toward him. He walked back over to the anatomy book, flipping through the pages and pressing his nose into it.

His wings were still extended, flexing and shifting as his eyes scanned over the pages in front of him. After having spent a few moments examining some diagram on another page, Coalback stood up again and looked at himself in the mirror. He hummed to himself in thought as he compared his reflection with what was in the book.

That foreboding feeling slowly grew as Coalback took a deep breath, seeming to steel himself for something. And with a grunt, his injured wing twisted up and back, fully extending and twisting back with a sickening pop as it properly found its place in its socket. His other wing twitched as the pain hit him, one of his hooves hitting the floor as he spat out a curse that she couldn’t understand.

He spat out a couple more curses, crouching down as he tried to chase away the pain. Some of his bandages had ripped along his barrel, some of the stitches once again pulled out as blood slowly seeped through the tortured skin. He turned his head to look at the retorn injury, making Rainbow have to duck down again so that her brightly colored mane wouldn’t be spotted out of the corner of his eye.

“Nu chto, za delo,” he said to his nonexistent conversational partner, turning back to the mirror with a worried grimace. With a defeated sounding sigh, one of his hooves hooked onto the bandages and pulled at them. With a few tugs he ripped away the bandages from his barrel, leaving the ones wrapped around his flank. More blood flicked onto the floor, the scarlet-tinged bandages joining it shortly after.

His breathing was short now, laboured as he gritted his teeth against growing pain in his side. She could see him shaking, the pain making it hard for him to keep his own muscles under control. “Pozhyaluysta … dolzen byt’ yesche odin put’,” he said, a sort of pleading tone going through his voice. It sounded like he was trying to convince somepony that something was a bad idea.

The next thing he said made shivers run up her spine, a static electricity buzzing along her wings and making her fur stand on end. It was only two words, both incomprehensible to her. He said it once more, blood spurting out of his side as his chest heaved. Then he said it again, and collapsed onto the floor in a writhing heap of pain.

Rainbow almost rushed out to help him, until she saw what was happening to his … skin. Blood squirted out in crimson streams from the wound as his muscles clenched tight, painting the floor at his side a dark red. The flesh writhed and moved all on its own, pushing back together and stitching itself back shut. The bleeding stopped, lines in his flesh pressing themselves closed and sealing there.

It was the most disgusting thing she’d ever seen in her life, it had looked like his skin had come to life. The wound was simply... gone now. Somehow, something had sealed up what should have been a crippling injury for anypony.

He sat there, simply whimpering in pain for a moment. But then he started … laughing. It started as a low chuckle, growing into a deep belly laugh as he rolled back onto his shaky hooves.

When he looked back up into the mirror, his eyes had changed. They were dilated dramatically, the edges of his irises turned deep crimson like the blood on the floor around him. “Was really that bad?” he asked himself, a mocking tone in his voice. He coughed, his eyes closing for a moment as he replied … to himself. “Okay, now get out,” he mumbled, the joviality slowly leaving him. His voice was raspy, as if his lungs had been filled with sand suddenly.

Rainbow didn’t know why he’d switched back to Equestrian, or why he was having a literal conversation with himself but she was starting to get seriously freaked out. She was starting to think that Luna might have been right. He coughed again, spitting a slightly red glob onto the floor beside him. It looked like he’d bitten his tongue.

He shook himself, standing back up shakily and spreading his wings again. He looked into the mirror again and examined the now fully extended wings again with a thoughtful expression. He started adjusting the angles of his feathers, feeling out the different flight muscles carefully and slowly.

“What- do you really do?” he asked himself, turning to glare incredulously at one of his wings. After a moment of staring at it they seemed to twitch on their own, creating a gust of wind that flipped the pages of the book just behind him. He shook his head, staring at the limbs with sudden surprise.

Why’s he look so surprised about his wings? Rainbow asked herself. After all, shouldn’t a pegasus at least recognise a part of himself? And he’s clearly proven that he doesn’t have amnesia, so that couldn’t be it. But he was acting like he’d never even seen his wings before.

A powerful gust of wind passed over Rainbow, shocking her out of her reverie. She looked up in time to see Coalback’s hooves hit the ground again, a strangely giddy expression on his face as he spun in place to look at his wings. He raised them again, bringing them down fast and spreading his feathers so that he could catch as much air with them as he could.

He lifted off the ground, clumsily flapping them again to try and maintain his height but inevitably returning to the floor. He breathed out a laugh, looking back at his wings again with look of foal-like wonder. “Very good!” he said excitedly, turning his head at random odd angles to try and look over his wings. “Very, very good!” he exclaimed, stopping to look toward one of the windows.

His experimental flapping had knocked one of the paper covers on an empty window half off, exposing the night sky and the covered walkway that it overlooked. A spike of concern lanced its way through Rainbow. She knew that she was supposed to stay off her wing, even though it only felt a little sore and she could probably fly pretty easily. But there was no doubt in her mind that Coalback couldn’t be flying.

Whatever that … thing was that he did to his side might have erased the injury, but there was no telling how strong he was after that. She had needed a few weeks to retrain her wing after that bad sprain in Ponyville, there was no telling what sort of condition his flight muscles could be in after that kind of injury. The core was a very important part of flight, it controlled balance and helped pull the wings back during forward movement. Without that control he could wobble right out of the air, or his wings could simply cramp up and he would plummet.

He’d already trotted over to the window, pulling away the last of the paper as he looked along the covered walkway. With a loud clap from his hooves as they pushed off the tiled floor, he leapt past the paper. Rainbow shook herself to steady her nerves and darted up to look through the newly opened window.

Coalback was running full tilt toward Canterlot Tower, kicking up shingles as he went. His body curled in on itself, his rear hooves meeting his front before he exploded forward in a new burst of speed that left a small crater of broken shingles behind him. His wings lifted up above him, spreading like sails as they caught the air and pushed it down. They reached up in front of him and fell in a blur, ripping shingles from their place on the roof and tossing them behind him.

His hooves continued to move for a moment as they left the roof, his wings pumping faster to lift him higher. He climbed slowly, turning upwards in a long arc as he flew up Canterlot Tower. His hooves barely avoided connecting with the tower as his arc sent him straight up the tower, his wings reaching far forward and pulling the air down behind him.

His speed quickly stalled as he neared the top, pulling him to a slow hover just at the top of the tower. He landed clumsily on the sloped roof of the tower, sliding on it for a moment as he scrambled for a spot to stand. Rainbow could see him looking over the city with a mixture of awe and barely contained giddiness.

“That was probably the longest takeoff I’ve ever seen,” Rainbow said with confusion. How could somepony with such large wings need so long to get off the ground? He should have been able to just jump into the air, especially with wings as large as his. “Does he even know how to fly?” she asked herself, shaking her head.

Coalback jumped in place on top of the tower, hopping up and down in excitement. His head lifted up to the clouds, a loud cheer echoing down from him as he did. The sound bounced off of the shield’s ceiling just above him, echoing the long cheer across Canterlot. It stretched on for so long that Rainbow started to wonder if it was more of a howl than a cheer.

He just stood there, open mouthed as he stared out at the city under him. She could see him breathing deeply, his wings still extended slightly. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, if he stayed there, then the guards would be able to get him down. They would have heard all his yelling, so that probably wouldn’t be long.

It hadn’t even been two seconds since that thought went across her mind that a grey blur in the corner of her vision caught her attention. Coalback had dived off of the tower, gaining speed fast as he pumped his wings toward the ground. She could easily see a familiar speed building technique in his wing movements: Only flapping the wings half open and snapping them closed at the end to reduce drag so that he could build speed fast and keep it.

She didn’t have to be a mind reader to know the thought that had made him jump; I wonder how fast I can go? She knew that was what he thought because that was exactly why she would have done it. The image of a pony flattening himself against the near-invisible-in-the-night-pink shield at subsonic speeds graced her mind’s eye, making a pulse of panic flash through her.

“The Doc’s gonna hate me for this,” she mumbled, jumping out the window before she could talk herself out of it. Cold wind whipped at her, her wings taking command of it and propelling her forward. She had to catch up to him and warn him, or else her new friend could end up a pancake … And she’d never get to figure out what he’d done back in that tower.

Her wings spread out painfully, a hot fire poker digging into the elbow of her wing. She fought past it, she’d felt worse before and had flown twice as fast as Coalback was going. He had a head start, but she’d spent her whole life training for fast acceleration and faster speeds. She could catch him, she just had to move fast.

She angled herself into a rough intersecting dive, letting gravity help her pick up speed. Coalback was already at a fast clip, approaching the pull up point quickly. Her wing was slowing her down, the bandages around it ripping as she flapped furiously toward the intersecting point. She glanced to the side to see Coalback’s dive slowly shallowing out, and paled as she recognised a pattern in his movements.

He’d flattened himself into a position that was as aerodynamic as he could get it, squinting as his wings pulled the air from in front of him. At this point, it was impossible for anything living to be able to move faster. However, pegasus magic had a nasty habit of ignoring that fact. His wings wouldn’t even be pushing air at that point, a bubble of pressure centered at his hooves just starting to form as strong magic kept him moving faster.

She knew he wouldn’t stop on his own, she knew that look in his eyes. She knew the thrill of feeling her forelegs burn, the fear while her tail felt like it was going to be pulled off by the winds whipping past her. She knew the adrenaline rush of seeing that elastic band of pressure start snapping in front of her. He was going to go supersonic if she didn’t stop him.

But he was running out of room, if she didn’t stop him soon there wouldn’t be enough room for him to pull away. If he slowed too soon after a supersonic sprint, he’d be torn apart by the pressure wave. The buildings lining the maine streets of Canterlot was approaching fast, a long runway beckoning in its openness. And at the end of the street, the edge of the retaining wall at the drop-off of the city. Beyond that, the immovable wall of the city-wide shield loomed.

She was getting closer, and she could feel the air starting to compress in front of her own hooves. All she had to do was get close enough, just enough so that she could yell at him to stop. She could even just dart in front of him if that failed, that could shock him enough that he’d lose concentration and snap back on that pressure wave in front of him. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would be better than the other two alternatives.

The distance was starting to close, his dive now aimed down the long street outside the wall. She changed the angle of her wings ever so slightly as she flew, pulling up more sharply underneath him and shortening the gap further.

The castle wall passed under them quickly, barely a white blur as they suddenly entered the city proper. A long road stretched out before them as they slowly neared the roofs of the tall houses there. She was getting closer now, about twenty-five meters and slowly closing in.

The pressure wave in front of him was getting more visible now, starkly contrasting against the night sky. If she didn’t hurry, he wouldn’t even be able to hear anything but the roaring of the wind. “Dude! Stop!” she yelled out, turning her head toward him as much as she dared.

She definitely couldn’t get to supersonic safely with her wing dragging her down as it was, and at this point was almost running parallel to him as he started to pass. “Coalback, stop!” she tried again, the wind in front of her keeping her from getting anything more than a whisper to him. She adjusted her angle again, pushing herself closer toward him so that she could grab his attention.

Fifteen meters …

Fourteen meters …

She could see the retaining wall that fell away to open air, and the very solid shield just beyond. “Coalback!” she yelled out again, trying desperately to catch his attention. But she could tell that the pressure wave in front of his was starting to unravel, he was nearly on top of the point of no return. If the pressure wave broke here, the buildings would funnel it after him in a wave of death.

Twelve meters …

At this point, if either of them went supersonic now, the other would be get shaken up. If she got much closer, then a shockwave could shake her out of the air altogether. At the epicenter of the sonic explosion, the one that would soon be chasing Coalback’s tail like a bat out of Tartarus, could crack building foundations.

Eleven meters …

Windows started to flash by as they passed below the roofline. She could see lights coming to life behind them in the very edges of her vision. The sound wave behind them was loud enough to rattle windows and shake flower pots off of their sills.

A sonic boom at close range isn’t exactly a boom anymore, it’s more like a continuous crack. When a pegasus pushes past that point, where not even sound can catch them, they leap through that crack in the air and hope to hell that it doesn’t snap back at them. If a pegasus bulls their way through that crack, like Rainbow does, it leaves behind a spectral pressure wave. That’s what makes her Rainboom possible in the first place.

However, being ten meters from the epicenter of one of those pressure waves is considered … unhealthy. When Coalback found that crack, the leap he took through it caused a pressure wave that caught her wings on the upstroke. They snapped open painfully, if the stitches in her wing hadn’t pulled out already they definitely had now.

She didn’t even hear it, the overwhelming pressure driving out anything but the sound of wind flying past her ears. She was spinning, and she couldn’t tell if she’d been knocked toward one of the buildings or the ground. She fought against the direction of the spin, locking her wings out at their full extension.

She recovered quickly, years of flight training allowing her to pull up just before hitting the sidewalk below. Her hooves scraped across the concrete as she slid to a stop on the ground, glass and dust raining down around her. She looked up just in time to see Coalback approach the edge of the city.

Following behind him in an invisible wave of pressure and wind, dust and debris jumped from the ground and the walls. Flower pots rattled off of sills, smashing onto the street below. Windows rattled violently moments after he passed, lamps lighting inside as the ponies within were shaken awake. Ponies screamed in surprise, rushing down to their doors.

With a twist of his wings, Coalback’s flight pattern rapidly changed. He rolled wide as he approached the retaining wall, dodging just over the stone railing. He smashed through one of the potted hedges lining the wall, continuing through and out of sight.

Rainbow could only stare at the place where he’d disappeared, breathing heavily with her wings hanging heavily from her sides. That was it. He was a gonner. A crash at that speed would do more than kill somepony, they’d be cleaning him up with a mop. She could only stare, thinking: I wasn’t fast enough …

She could hear ponies starting to come out of the buildings around her, trying to find the source of the explosion that had rattled their homes. She couldn’t see anypony glaring at her, but she already knew that she was the prime suspect. She vaguely heard somepony ask if she was alright, and nearly jumped as a hoof touched her arm.

But she couldn’t stop staring at where he’d disappeared, waiting for the inevitable crash. She had just watched somepony die. She’d tried to stop him, and she hadn’t been fast enough. But there was still something that didn’t seem right. That weird feeling in her gut was back, and she could feel the buzz in her wings past the ache of protesting muscles.

She kept waiting for the sound of a body hitting the wall of magic, but the sound never came. Instead, a strange sort of screeching hiss echoed over the retaining wall. It was distant at first, slowly growing as the sound drifted to the right of where Coalback had disappeared.

“Look at that!” somepony yelled, a cream hoof lifting from the crowd in front of Rainbow. The pony pointed up and to the right, Rainbow’s eyes immediately drawn to where she was pointing.

A streak of blinding pink sparks sped along the shield, quickly fading as it chased the hooves of the pony streaking across the surface. With a pump of his wings to keep his speed, Coalback howled out another cheer. Rainbow saw his hooves shift slightly, turning him upwards at a steeper angle along the shield.

His wings remained closed to his back, only moving to boost his speed once he started to slow. He was moving fast enough that he simply slid along the magical barrier, even as he went vertical and began to shift upside down. His hooves skated across the surface, throwing up sparks as his speed slowly bled off from the friction.

The trail of sparks slowly shrunk until Coalback was almost a third of the way back to where he’d started, far above the castle wall. His hooves separated from the shield as gravity finally overcame centrifugal force, and his arc slowly aimed itself toward the castle gardens. A thin trail of smoke followed him, remnants of sparks flying out into step as far as they could before fading fast.

Rainbow launched herself out of the street, blasting the ponies beside her with a wave of wind. She needed answers now. So many had cropped up inside her head that if somepony didn’t start talking, she’d start bucking, and she’d start with this ‘hero’. She didn’t care if he was a stallion, or what anypony would think.

She approached the gardens just as Coalback touched down, or rather, splashed down. He’d aimed himself toward a long reflecting pool, littered with a few shriveled lilly pads. Water spread around him in a wave as he simply collapsed into the water, rolling to a stop on his back in the shallow pool. He relaxed, wings and legs outstretched in the frigid water.

A purple bruise spread out under his fur on his chest, shaped in the distinct shape of the decorative pot he’d rammed into. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath, mouth open wide and puffing out small clouds of vapor in the cool air. His hooves looked burnt, blackened on the bottoms and slightly chipped.

Rainbow landed with an angry stomp next to the pool, glaring in at the stallion as he bobbed slightly in the wake of his splash. When her landing drew nothing more than a twitch of one of his ears toward her, his laboured breathing uninterrupted, she stomped up to the edge. “Coalback!” she yelled, drawing the stallion’s vision up at her. “What the hay was that?” she hissed, staring daggers at the stallion as he continued to stare up at her with a giddy smile.

“Ty simpatichnaya, kogda zlish'sya,” he said with a chuckle, his wings moving under the water to make a few ripples.

“Dude! This isn’t funny! You could’ve killed yourself with that stunt!” Rainbow felt incredibly hypocritical saying that, considering some of the tricks she’d tried before. But she honestly didn’t care. If he was as inexperienced as she’d seen, then there was no way in Tartarus that he could pull off half the stuff that she could.

“But I not die,” he replied sarcastically. How he even managed to make a smartass comeback when he was so unfamiliar with the language, she couldn’t be sure. “Is always as fun as that was?” he asked suddenly, a childlike glee glinting in his grey-green eyes. “I have not felt so … awesome, for until I was run for first time!” he exclaimed, folding his wings in and rolling over onto his hooves. Water fell off of him, creating more ripples in the shallow water.

His explanation went unheard by her as she lunged for him, tackling him back into the water. They rolled over twice in the water, sending a spray out to the side of the pool. Coalback twisted in her grip, suddenly flipping her onto her back and pinning her there with his hooves on her forelegs. Her head was just above the water, the shifting liquid tickling inside of her ears.

She stared up at him incredulously as simply looked down at her, that giddy smile still plastered on his muzzle as he tried not to laugh. He’d shaken off her tackle almost as fast as it had hit him. She’d taken martial arts classes before, passing easily as even her teachers ended up losing to her. And she knew that tackle had been perfect, her grip firm and her stance steady. Yet, he’d practically shrugged it off and flipped her over like she’d weighed nothing.

His expression suddenly dropped, his smile flipping into a frown as worry etched into his features. Almost as fast as he’d pinned her, he backed away from her. The worried expression on his face changed into a frightened grimace. “Rainbow Dash … you are bleeding,” he said shakily, as she stood back up.

She pushed her legs underneath herself, standing up fully before looking up at him incredulously. Her mane hung down in front of her eyes, heavy with water and clinging to her neck. “What?” she mumbled finally. Coalback had backed away, putting a few steps between them in the water that was starting to numb her hooves slightly.

Without saying anything, Coalback shakily lifted a hoof. He pointed just past her, toward her still slightly outstretched wings. Water shed off of him irregularly, splashing back into the water around them. She turned to follow his hoof, freezing in place as her eyes fell on her wings.

She went completely stiff, afraid that even the slightest movement could make it worse. The bandage around her wing was completely gone, revealing the crimson matted downy feathers underneath. Blood pooled out of the ragged wound, meeting the water and rolling down her feathers. The stitches had been ripped free from her flesh, cutting holes before they’d finally broken.

She was afraid to look away, as if just the act of looking at it was holding her wing together. Her heart beat hollowly in her ears, each one coming faster and making her wing shake slightly. She felt like she couldn’t get enough air, no matter how fast she took in air it wasn’t enough. She had to bite her lip to keep from yelling out, trying to reign in her panic even as it grabbed hold of her chest.

She jumped when a hoof rested on her chest, making her drop back to reality. She nearly bumped noses with Coalback as she looked up, his eyes suddenly meeting hers. His hoof pressed into her chest, keeping her in place as she swayed on her numbing hooves. It was a strangely comforting feeling on the otherwise sore muscles there.

“W-what are you doing?” she asked nervously, his hoof offering an anchor for her to stop with. Her thoughts managing to drift away from her wing for just the moment, if only for it to remain in her peripheral vision.

“Just hold still,” he said calmly, the shaking in his voice almost unnoticeable now. Whether he’d hidden it to try and keep her calm, or if he’d pushed it away for some other reason she couldn’t be sure. But it was calming that he wasn’t panicking. If he could be calm about this, then so could she … Right?

She steadied her breathing, the shivers running up her spine intensifying for a moment before gently slowing. She could feel her heart still beating rapidly in her chest, refusing to slow as it seemed to work all the harder. The cut in her wing ached dully, pulsing with each heavy beat of her heart.

Her eyes traced down his neck, examining his features once again. He was so much taller than her, the top of her head only just meeting his chin. She could see his throat move under the thin fur there, patches of paler skin and old puncture marks stared out at her. It was a distant fact, one she wasn’t sure how to respond to noticing. But it was almost comforting knowing that he’d been through worse than a cut on the wing.

“I can make better,” he said gently, his throat moving in her vision and making the pale scars dance. “Do you want me to?” he asked, taking a small step toward her. She wasn’t even thinking anymore, just concentrating on anything but the image of her wing. She couldn’t stand to see it torn and bloody like it was.

Her mind jumped back, once again playing the scene in the tower. His flesh writhing as if it was alive, separate from Coalback as it put itself back together. Had he done that to fix the faded injuries that filled her vision now? He’d taken something that should have crippled him, maybe for the rest of his life, and had jumped right back up as if it had never been there … Could he do that to her as well?

She didn’t look up, if she stopped looking at him she might panic again. She could feel her wing aching, draining the life-giving liquid out of the gaping hole in her wing. She felt herself nod, the motion detached from her actual thoughts. She just knew that she wanted her wing to be better, and that Coalback could do it. Anything to stop her from having to see her wing like that.

Coalback nodded in return, slowly lowering his head toward her wing. She stiffened as his hoof moved up to her shoulder, causing a twinge of stretching pain as her wing opened fully in response to his touch. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his breath move across her feathers, stirring them and causing the slightest sting as it passed over her wound.

She saw a scowl grow on his face from the corner of her vision, her eyes still locked forward in refusal to look back at her wings. His head shook away the scowl, another breath sending a warm wave of stinging up her wing. She jumped as his muzzle brushed against the feathers next to the wound, his hoof keeping her in place firmly.

A white hot poker suddenly pressed into her wing, stabbing through the wound and deep into the bones of her wings. It turned and pulled up inside the wound, pulling the skin tight and making her gasp in pain. Fish hooks dug into the edges, stabbing the flesh and weaving together as they pulled the skin back toward itself. She felt her blood spray from the tensed limb, the pain dissipating just enough for her to realize the actual source of her pain.

Coalback carefully pressed his muzzle against the wound, his nose sliding across the bloody flesh and sending ripples of burning fire down her wings. She hissed as his tongue slid over the wound, slowly cleaning away the blood. He was slow, deliberate and gentle as he moved, never pressing too far into the injury as his tongue soothed the sore flesh.

She shivered as the pain slowly faded into a welcome warmth, drawing her full attention back to her wing. Coalback gently licked at the wound, every pass of his tongue slowly driving away the pain. Between his licks, she could see the wound pulling itself back together. She could see the flesh rippling under her feathers as it made its way back toward itself. It was slower than what she’d seen Coalback do in the tower, but it didn’t seem to hurt as much as he’d seemed to.

It kept shrinking, her feathers following the flesh to fill in the blank space. Soon it was smaller than a bit, then barely a paper cut. Coalback didn’t stop until it was completely sealed, his hoof holding her steady all the while. When he pulled his muzzle away, the only sign that there had ever been an injury was the small parting in her feathers and the blood still clinging to her primaries.

Adrenaline and endorphins suddenly flowed through her, racing to stop the pain that was no longer there. Coalback stepped away as the buzz from the chemicals turned into a flood, making her heart race and her head spin giddily. She almost fell over as Coalback’s hoof left her, her head suddenly lighter than it should have been.

For some reason she couldn’t stop smiling, a detached sort of excitement overcoming her. Even the sight of her blood covering Coalback’s muzzle seemed almost comical, his tongue darting out to clean the blood off of his nose. She just stood there, suddenly having to fight the urge to burst out laughing as her limbs buzzed.

“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment, moving into her line of sight. The blood was gone from his muzzle, save for a few streaks of red that he’d missed. Water still weighed down most of his mane, pinning it to the back of his neck.

“I …” she started, the buzz from the endorphins starting to fade. “I don’t know,” she finished, swallowing against the tightness that was suddenly around her throat. “Is it … I need to get you to tell me what that was …” she said, lifting a hoof to point at him shakily. “... ‘Cuz it was pretty awesome …” she admitted, a chuckle escaping her lips as Coalback tilted his head.

She knew there had to be a simple explanation, she’d just have to decipher it from whatever he was able to say. Her delirious chuckle escalated, quickly turning into a barely controlled cackle as Coalback smiled. He nodded and added his own chuckle to hers.

She couldn’t help but find the scene around her comical. Here she was, splashing around in a frigid pond in the middle of the night with a pony she barely knew. Her wings ached like they would after a long workout that she’d forgotten to end with a set of proper stretches. And it suddenly felt like this entire day could have seemed normal.

“You two!” a regal voice said, cutting through their laughter and halting it instantly. They both turned suddenly, finding themselves face to face with a very irritated looking Princess Luna. Her intricately inlaid Ebony regalia shifted in the dim light of the night, her starry mane flowing around her with erratic waves of anger. She stood in the archway to the gardens, her eyes narrowing as she took in the scene before her.

“Follow,” she said quietly and firmly, the sudden absence to the volume of her voice only adding to Princess Luna’s intimidation. Her eyes narrowed further as she watched them climb out of the frigid pool of water, their heads hanging low as they approached.

Without another word, Princess Luna turned around and began walking back toward the castle’s entrance. Her gilded hooves lightly tapped against the stone as they entered, the hollow sound of guilty hoofsteps duly following behind her.

The Collection of a Foreigner*

The Collection of a Foreigner*

-The Collection of a Foreigner-

“You’ve incapacitated three Royal Guards, trespassed on Royal property, ruined the streets of Our city. And finally, you’ve endangered a national hero!” Luna berated, her voice on the verge of yelling. She paced across the floor of her personal study, glaring down at the large pony cowering before her. The walls shook with her voice, both of the ponies in her chambers reacting by flattening their ears as much as they could.

She crossed the plush purple carpet in front of their noses again, stopping to look across one of the many bookcases lining her study’s walls. She kept a personal collection of both modern and pre-classical texts here for when she decided to follow a tangent in her thoughts. The room was lit by a lone lamp, it’s magically powered light doing little more than making the shadows in the room all the deeper.

“How should we punish such audacious crimes?” she asked rhetorically, glancing out of the corner of her vision toward the two pegasi in her study. “Perhaps you should both spend a fortnight in the dungeons to quell your spirit? Or perhaps that will not be sufficient for your friend, Rainbow Dash. He has, after all, demonstrated a distinct aptitude for exceeding Our expectations,” she finished, turning around to look down at them again.

Rainbow Dash and Coalback had plastered themselves to the floor, still dripping water from their dip in the garden pool. Their faces pressed into the carpet as they tried to ride out the storm of Luna’s anger. She allowed them to stew in their silence for a few more moments, taking the time to curb her anger.

“Rise,” she said simply, turning fully toward them. They followed her order, gingerly climbing back onto their hooves. Their guilty expressions remaining on their faces. Luna nodded to herself, satisfied that her speech had served its purpose. It had nearly been a half hour since she’d led them up here, all the while making her displeasure clear to them. She hadn’t even offered them an opportunity to dry off, and by now they were both shivering with the cold from the water.

A small punishment, extremely small compared to the damage to the city and the the distress they’d caused the ponies there. However, she knew that in this modern age, she couldn’t act too rashly. She’d been taking lessons in lenience from her sister, and wanted to put them to use. She had decided that the potential for a cold would be sufficient; there was no sense in punishing them with anything harsher.

“Now, since you find yourselves well enough to cause such a stir,” Luna started, her voice calmer and able to draw the attention of the ponies without causing them to cringe. “I do have several questions for you, Coalback,” she stated, moving across the room to her desk. Coalback’s ears perked up at her, though his eyes still aimed themselves strictly toward the floor. “Particularly,” she continued, turning her head toward a locked cabinet to her left, “on the subject of your … sudden arrival.”

Her horn glowed a dim blue as the lock’s tumblers turned, clicking into place and allowing the doors to be pulled open. The dark interior revealed little, a few small lock-boxes lining the floor. But the most significant item that was visible was the large chest that took up the majority of the hoof space within. The blue aura of her magic encased the larger chest, pulling it out of the cabinet and setting it down between herself and her guests.

They both looked up at the sound of the chest setting down, eyeing the chest curiously. They remained silent however, not willing to accidentally draw Luna’s anger back on them. It was a heavy chest, darkly stained wood held together with black, cast iron metal bands. A heavy, flat faced lock that appeared to be missing a keyhole kept the chest securely closed.

Luna’s magic once again sifted through the air, glowing around the lock as it activated the tumblers within. With several loud ‘clicks’, the lock opened, dropping off of the chest and thudding against the floor. With another flick of Luna’s horn, the chest opened to reveal its contents.

Piled within the chest were many black opaque bags. Corners and wrinkles dominated their shapes, each tied tightly with a copper string. Luna looked up at them from over the chest, gauging their reactions. When she saw nothing more than honest curiosity on either of their faces, she continued.

“We are most interested in these objects, which were found … near you … after your arrival,” she said carefully, several small black bags lifting from the chest and leaving the largest and bulkiest bags within. “We would like for you to describe some of these items; they are most curious in nature,” she started, carefully examining the bags and selecting one that held a square-like shape within. “This one in particular is vexing to Us, its purpose is lost to Us,” she explained, her magic gripping the copper string and pulling it out.

The bag was pulled away from the square shape within, Luna’s magic quickly taking hold of it before it could fall to the ground. It shone, even in the dim light of the single magical light. It was a square of metal, the edges rounded off and polished to a shine. Small dents and scratches were the only decoration to it.

Coalback’s eyes lit up as he saw it, standing slightly straighter as he examined it from where he stood. Rainbow merely squinted at it, unsure of what to make of the lump of metal that Luna seemed so interested in. “It is to make fire, to light fire … uhm … I think that light-er is good word for it,” he said after a moment, lifting one of his hooves to tap at his chin. He scrutinized the strangely lumped bags within the chest again, changing between looking up at the Princess and back down at the bags.

“Does it have a purpose outside of arson?” Luna asked curiously, setting down the newly proclaimed ‘lighter’ on the desk just beside her.

Coalback nodded, grunting out an affirmative before speaking. “Burn to make smoke” -he took a deep breath, motioning toward his muzzle- “to put in chest,” he explained, patting his chest with a hoof. “Bad thing, though. Bad when doing for long time,” he said, turning his attention back to the chest. “Did find little sticks? Not chalk sticks, they are paper,” he asked, pointing inside the chest at the collection of lumpy bags.

“Indeed,” Luna said, one of the few small bags still floating about her coming forward. A slightly larger square sat within, Luna’s magic once again pulling open the bag. She revealed a cardboard box, warped with water and flattened. Unreadable, blocky letters decorated its surface, a simplified image of a camel proclaimed proudly on the front. Several white rods poked their way out of the missing top to the box: they were wrinkled slightly with the paper wrapping barely starting to unravel.

“Yes. Burn those with light-er, and then breath smoke,” Coalback explained again, nodding at them with a slight look of relief. “Very much taste that needs to be used to, you would not like,” he said, keeping his eyes glued hungrily to the box of white rolls as she set them down on the desk beside the lighter.

“You breathe in smoke? And you like it?” Rainbow asked, finally deciding to put her word in on the conversation. She felt more relaxed now that Luna was only asking questions, she liked that much more than when she was yelling. But to her, the idea of breathing in smoke on purpose didn’t make any sense at all.

Coalback turned to her and nodded, smiling sheepishly and offering a shrug. “It is comfortable, but … what is word? Gross, I think?” he said, shaking his head. “I like it, but is bad for me to do,” he said, turning back to the Princess as she lifted another small bag.

“Does this item present a similar purpose?” she asked, the bag opening to reveal a charred chain. At the end, a lump of melted metal was fused to several links. “It holds small traces of a spell. Not enough, however, to be able to discern its purpose,” she explained, floating it up to Coalback as his expression dropped.

“Nu eto bistro zakonchilos'...” he mumbled dejectedly, one of his hooves reaching up to take the blackened chain in his hoof. His expression had fallen to one of sadness, or perhaps disappointment. “I wish it were not broken,” he said after a moment of looking at it, his expression changing from one of sadness to another neutral one. “Was this on me when you find me?” he asked distantly, staring at the charred lump.

“No, we found these things … around you,” Luna explained, examining Coalback’s expression. “And it would seem you have confirmed the claims from the guards, which is very interesting indeed …” she said, trailing off as Coalback lowered the chain to the plush floor. “We refrained from confiscating your other charms, for fear of breaking them. Pray tell, what are their purpose?” she asked, nodding toward the rings around his arm.

“They protect,” he said simply, switching his gaze to his arm. “Keep away too much energy,” he tried, seemingly struggling with his words. “Like storage, or … Sort of warning system? I am not sure how to explain. I get headache when there is too much, but I can get more by using these,” he tried, squinting his eyes as he tried to think. He shrugged as he turned back to look at the Princess.

The Princess’s eyebrows rose in suspicion, her eyes betraying surprise. “This ‘energy,’ do you refer to magic?” she asked incredulously, continuing to watch him with a disbelieving glare.

“I think that is right word?” he said, shrugging again as Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Anything more complicated than fire is hard, but I … make do? Is that right?” he said, interrupting himself as he looked toward Rainbow Dash for confirmation. He was slightly put off when he was met by another incredulous look from the cyan mare.

“That is impossible,” Princess Luna continued, shaking her head as Coalback looked back toward her. A look of annoyance had quickly grown on her face, making the Princess seem all the more intimidating. “You lack any of the physiology required to manipulate magical energies. We would not make light of this, should we stand where you do,” she admonished, one of her gilded hooves tapping on the carpet dully.

Coalback’s face twisted into an expression of confusion, one of his ears dropping to the side of his head. “I do not understand, why are you upset?” Coalback asked, shaking his head. “I tell truth. Look, I show you,” he said, his hoof lifting up to point toward the desk where his items sat. “Veni che,” he hissed, a gust of wind suddenly spraying across Luna’s desk and launching the package of white paper rolls toward Coalback.

Both of his hooves shot up, clasping the box between them just before it could hit him in the face. He huffed out of his nose, bringing the box down away from his face. He looked toward the Princess again, raising an eyebrow as he fumbled out one of the rolls. He took the white roll of paper in his lips, pulling it fully out of the box and idly twirling it in his mouth.

“You want me show more?” Coalback asked around the paper, tilting his head slightly to accentuate his question. Little in his voice or actions showed his annoyance, but the connotation was clear.

Luna’s eyes narrowed again, considering her answer carefully. Rainbow turned her disbelieving look from Coalback over to Luna, surprised to see the barest hint of fear in her eyes. Rainbow was baffled; The fact that Coalback had somehow found out how to perform magic was already more than unbelievable. But the fact that the Princess seemingly appeared afraid was one of the most frightening things she could think of.

“We … suppose that that matter will have to be discussed later,” Luna said carefully, collecting herself and hiding that spark of fear that Rainbow had hoped she hadn’t seen. “Perhaps you would like to these back as well. However, We are afraid that they seemed to have been destroyed during your travels …” Luna continued, seeming to have shaken off all evidence of her own surprise.

The last opaque bag lifted out of the chest, bulging with unseen shapes inside. It was particularly larger than the other bags had been, pushed wide by whatever had been forced inside it. And rather than opening it herself, Princess Luna set it down in front of Coalback.

His ears perked up as the bag settled before him, his eyes looking to it as if it were some sort of present. He set down his box, settling it between his legs with the piece of charred metal. His hooves fumbled with the bag’s opening, changing to using his teeth to pry open the knot that held it closed. The copper-toned string pulled away from the bag’s opening, allowing him to reach a hoof in and pull out the contents.

“My odezhde!” he exclaimed, pulling out the remains of what looked like a shirt. His face fell as he looked the single garment over however, a disappointed frown forming on his lips. “They are all bad like this? I wonder how?” he said, sifting through the rest of the bag. Several more garments fell from the bag, including what looked like that tatters of a saddlebag.

Rainbow shook herself out of her shocked state, still baffled over the idea of a pegasus using magic like a unicorn. The strange assortment of variably battered clothes catching her attention. She balked as the smell of burning, ozone, and sulfur assaulted her nose, wafting up from the garments that Coalback continued to sort through. “These clothes smell terrible, dude...” she muttered, taking a step back from him and placing a hoof over her muzzle to try and block out the smell.

“Strange, yeah? I was not even wearing some, most in bag. But the bag is all gone, and now all of them are … What did happen?” he asked, looking back up at the Princess as he pulled out a particularly thick burnt and tattered garment. He seemed just as confused as Rainbow was at this point, although for different reasons it would seem.

“Yeah!” Rainbow agreed, turning to the Princess to try and find the answers absent from the stallion himself. “What in the hay is goin’ on, Princess? And how did I end up in the middle of it?” she asked, looking incredulously toward the ruler of the night. She simply couldn’t stand being patient any more. If she didn’t get some answers, or at least a chance to burn off her frustration with a good training session, she would explode.

“Neither of you remember? It was quite the event, We had expected you to have at least heard of it, Rainbow Dash,” Luna said, returning the incredulous look. It seemed that the subject of magic-wielding pegasi had been thoroughly forgotten. “Perhaps you should look to the garden maze?” she suggested, motioning toward her personal balcony that faced the majority of the royal gardens. “We believe it would be most enlightening …” she said, trailing off as Rainbow began trotting toward the glass doors.

Rainbow was more than happy for an excuse to get the blood flowing in her legs again, darting over to the glass doors and pulling them open. She trotted onto the balcony impatiently, darting her eyes over the garden spread out under her. “What am I supposed to be looking … at …” she said, trailing off as her gaze fell on the northernmost side of the gardens.

Only the edges of the hedge maze that had once hugged the border of the mountainside remained, its center no less than destroyed. Chunks of brown sod stood out in the silvery green of the gardens, stone statues painted with the remains of the ground. A ditch stretched along the center of the garden, slashing through the dead center of the maze, a dark wound on the earth.

The roots of hedges had been turned skyward, those remaining upright weighed down with more soil on their leaves. She could see the beginnings of a remodeling project at the very edges of the impact, a few tools left out as the workers abandoned the site. A short path of cleared land led to the head of the ditch in the ground, the only thing remaining there a deep hole where they’d yet to fill it in.

A long whistle pierced through the air, ending as its source walked up behind her. Coalback edged into the corner of her vision, staring out with similar disbelief at the destruction of the gardens. He stared out at it beside her, his mouth slowly falling open in shock at the image presented to him.

“Behold the aftermath of Coalback’s arrival,” Luna said, her wings spreading to indicate the destruction before them. They tore their gaze away from the gardens, looking back at Luna with similar expressions of shock and disbelief.

“I did that?” Coalback asked incredulously, looking back towards the gardens and then back to the Princess. “How?” he asked, his brow furrowing as he waited for an answer. Rainbow reflected his confusion, waiting again for the Princess to give a straight answer.

“You fell from the sky, from hither,”  Luna said simply pointing to the Southern sky in the same direction that the trench pointed. “A ball of fire that was so bright it lit the streets as if it were day again. I directed its fall away from Canterlot and into the gardens, a small sacrifice in exchange for your safety,” Luna said, returning her gaze back to the ponies.

“No,” Coalback said, continuing to look at her with disbelief. “No! I would be dead! For a very long time. I would remember hitting the ground!” Coalback listed off, turning and walking past the Princess and into the room behind her. “And I could not have hurt because of this!” he continued, pulling up the charred chain in his hoof and presenting it to them. “I made friend who make this for me before I leave, she tell me that it protect me! I did not fall!” he said defiantly, waving the slag in front of him.

“It makes sense that you should not remember; you slept for a full day and night after we found you,” Luna said, trying to calm him down. Her wings spread slightly, and her walking came between Coalback and Rainbow as the other pegasus followed her.

“I was in a cage!” Coalback snapped, maintaining his Equestrian even though his own frustration was starting to get the better of him. “I was not welcomed by ponies,” he said with a half-hearted stomp of his hoof, looking angrily toward the Princess. It seemed like he was more confused than angry, but his face was hard to read with the Princess’s wings blocking Rainbow’s view.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked, unnoticed as Luna attempted to continue to calm Coalback.

“Admittedly, our actions were rash. But your arrival caused quite the stir among the castle, we acted as we saw wise in the moment,” Luna said carefully, squaring her stance in between Rainbow and Coalback. “But now we see that you are not as malicious as we assumed, and We are sorry.”

Rainbow paused, once again noticing that tiny string of fear that danced through Luna’s voice. Rainbow finally took notice of the stance the Princess had taken, a defensive stance that placed the Princess as a shield between them. “Princess, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked more loudly.

“Sorry does not feel like word that is strong enough,” Coalback protested, Rainbow’s inquiry ignored as he stared intently at the Princess. “I was in cage. Do you know how confused I was- What is word? Freaking? Yes! I was freaking!” he said, conviction returning to him as he spoke.

“Yet your actions after that show that we were wrong.” Luna responded, her voice carefully cultivated to express calm. She wasn’t trying to goad Coalback into a fury, even if his reactions didn’t fit that goal. “We still continue to hope that we were wrong in assuming how dangerous you are to Our ponies,” Luna tried, only receiving a snort in return from Coalback.

“What in Tartarus are you talking about?!” Rainbow yelled sharply, cutting off Coalback as he tried to respond to Luna. She darted around Luna, aiming a heated glare at the both of them. They both hesitated at the sound of her voice, turning surprised eyes back at her. It was like they’d forgotten she was in the room during their argument.

“You do not remember it?” Coalback asked, the anger in his voice suddenly replaced with confusion again. His brow was still furrowed slightly, and she could see an amount of disappointment painted in his features.

“Remember what? The last thing I remember before being roped into all this was training with the other Wonderbolt trainees,” Rainbow said, only becoming more frustrated as her question was dodged. She didn’t know where they could possibly be going with this, or how she played into Coalback’s existence.

“The dragon attack, Rainbow Dash?” Luna said, shaking her head incredulously. The words struck Rainbow however, making her suddenly freeze. “Perhaps your subconscious mind couldn’t accept the reality presented to you; it simply chose to forget what happened,” Luna continued, her wings folding back to her sides. “With the suddenness of the attack, it would be surprising if you remembered much at all,” Luna said, switching into a tone of voice that Rainbow would have associated with Twilight’s ‘lecture-voice.’

“That’s not the point!” Rainbow grunted, glaring at the Princess in frustration. “I’m a little tired of being left out of the loop. Enough riddles, give me a straight answer and tell me what’s going on!” she said angrily, stomping on the carpet and producing a dull echo from the floor underneath. She was tired of ponies waiting to explain things in simple Equestrian, sick of being left in the dust while everypony else seemed to just get it.

She was met with silence for a while, Coalback and the Princess trading glances as they silently tried to decide who would speak first. But just before Rainbow could burst out with an ‘Oh, come on!’ Coalback spoke up.

“Maybe ... I tell you then?” Coalback suggested, drawing surprise from both of them. Coalback looked between them, clearing his throat before explaining. “I was there, I will tell what really happened,” he explained, looking toward the Princess again. He received a nod of approval, taking a deep breath before starting.

The Hunt of the Furred

-The Hunt of the Furred-

My body hurt like nothing I had felt before, it was like every inch of my being was buried in red hot needles. I could feel something cold pressed up against my side, but had little room to think of it behind the confused energies that swarmed through my mind.

It was a barrage of feelings, sensations and jumbled thoughts. The feeling of unhindered energies both uncomfortable and familiar. Had I cast some sort of spell without properly defending himself against the flow of magical energies? It could be possible, it wouldn’t be the first time that I had mumbled some word of power in my sleep. But if that were the case then I wouldn’t still feel like I had just been in a train wreck.

Whatever the explanation, the feeling started to fade. As the feeling of snakes crawling across my skin and the sound of bulldogs barking disappeared. I slowly tried to open my eyes, and regretted the decision immediately.

The sun shone directly into my eyes, and I shut them instantly. I grunted in protest to the sudden bright light. I had only woken like this once before, after I had run away from mu home and everything with it. My body ached, maybe I had been running for awhile. But then again if I had been running, why would I be laying on smooth cold metal.

My eyes shot open, ignoring the pain from the sudden stimulation. My head shot up to examine my surrounding, ears swivelling in random directions.

I was in a cage, a generously large one, but a cage all the same. I ignored the smell of mold and rat droppings that permeated the air as fear spread like venom through my veins. I stood quickly, wincing as I was met with the tunnel vision that originated from the sudden change in altitude. I looked around again, searching for my captors, but none were present.

Outside the cage, the slightly damp stone brick walls reflected light from a short barred window. On the wall to the right of it was a thick wooden door, it’s hinges rusted with neglect. The other walls remained empty, and equally far from the cage bars. The cage sat in the middle of the room, it’s iron bars far enough away from the walls to let a guard stand far enough away to remain outside of danger from the occupant of the cage.

My mind raced again, bringing back the headache that had only just recently receded. So many questions ran through it, like too many voices panicking in a tight room. Where was I? How did I get here? How do I get out? Why had I let myself get caught AGAIN by some sick torturer or collector?

My racing thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hooves hitting stone. Perhaps they had decided to feed me, or to have me brained by a panicked animal. I made a fast decision, biting into my tongue to draw blood from it. I lowered myself back to the floor, trying to look as dead as possible while my blood leaked out from my open lips. I kept my eyes open just barely, able to see in a small area aimed toward the door.

The door made a clunking sound as some sort of heavy lock fell from it, and it opened a moment later. What stood in the door caught me by surprise, to say the least. A horse stood there, his chest decorated with some golden colored armor. But no one else was there. No master leading a sickly horse to be put to one last use, just the single white horse.

It paused at the door, opening it’s already abnormally sized eyes even wider. Then it turned and, in a very loud manner, called out in some sort of language I had never heard before. He didn’t talk like any other horse I had met before, but then again he wasn’t panicking and begging for mercy either. The meaning drifted to me as he yelled: Urgent, help, come here. The strangely decorated, and apparently distressed horse turned to run away.

I waited not daring to move, biding my time for a chance to leap up and escape. The enclosed space would not bode well for me in a fight, I would have to move fast to escape without delay. And without the gnawing Hunger driving me, I didn’t want to hurt the horses, as strange looking as they were.

A few moments later a larger company of the hooved animals returned, one of them had a horn poking forward from a shocking red mane. I barely kept myself from twitching in my surprise, it had to be a mistake. Some sort of mutated deer, or an antelope. But it wasn’t, what stood before me was a unicorn. Stranger still was the tattoo and dyed fur on it’s flank. It was some cartoon depiction of a knife and an apple, standing out dramatically against his pale green coat.

They approached the door to the cage quickly, one of the armored horses pulled out a key from the collar of his chest piece. He then slid it into the corresponding slot on the barred door to the cage.

As soon as I heard the click of the tumblers sliding out of place, I rose up and made for the door. My legs tingling as I pushed with all my strength to slam into the metal of the cage’s door. I impacted it with my shoulder and threw it open to bang against the bars of the cage, taking the guard who had opened the barrier with it.

I burst through the crowd of horses, vaguely noting that they were just slightly smaller than myself in height. I ran as fast as I could almost silently across the stone floor. Shouting echoed behind me, my escape had been swift enough if they were only just now reacting. I spotted a stairway as I raced down the long hallway. I turned into it, leaping up the stairs five steps at a time.

The stairway ended shortly, presenting an above ground window that revealed the outside world. Without hesitation I ran towards it. Whatever these strange horses were, I would feel much more comfortable observing them from the brush of a forest, at night, three miles away.

I smashed through the delicate glass, shattering it into a spray of prismatic razor edges. They hung around me as I fell surprisingly farther than I had originally expected. I fell to ground, crouching to absorb the impact, and hunching my shoulders to protect myself from the shower of glass that followed.

After my shower in reflective shards, I stood and leapt over the pile of broken glass. I shook off any that was still in my thick coat, and then continued to run.

I had exited into the rear of some decorative garden, small statues and shrubbery surrounding me. I ran forward into the trees, trying to put further distance and greenery between me and my pursuers.

‘Allow us entry! We would tear them apart and feast on their warm meat!’ The deep voice inside my head surprising myself enough to allow me to crash into the bush I was about to jump over.

I lay in the shrubbery for a moment to catch my breath. I growled out my own response to the demand from the baritone in my head. “Not now!” My hushed growl, being absorbed into the leaves of the bush.

‘They put us in a cage! This insult to our strength cannot be allowed! Let us attack!’ The words pushed at my mind with their own power. Pushing white hot pressure behind my eyes.

“You are foolish and driven by anger! I have to be smart with this, if that last scene was any indicator there could very well be an army nearby! You do remember the last time we tried to fight a large trained force!” My mind flashed with the remembered pain, sounds and smells of the old fight.

The pain forced through again, much stronger this time. My eyes burned in agony, my chest vibrating as it let out a snarl on it’s own. But the pain stopped and the Voice did not return, it seemed I had won it’s argument. The Voice had been with me since my eighteenth birthday, and over the years I had learned that he did listen to reason when I forced it down his metaphorical throat. Once I had been able to overcome the feelings he created in me, I regained almost full control of my body over the following years. He had become the mental figurehead of my blood’s power. All of the others who were like me had described something similar.

The sound of shouting finally caught up to me from my position inside the shrubbery. I scrambled back up, untangling myself from the offending bush. I turned around to examine my surroundings, I was near the opposite end of the garden now. My gaze fell upon a tunnel in the white plaster wall that led downward into what looked like a very open space, it only took a moment for me to decide to follow it.

Voices and sounds of bodies in motion reached my ears as I neared the mouth to the tunnel. I slowly made my way down it, opting for silence over speed at this point. I reached the opening and peered out, still using the gloom in the short tunnel to help hide myself. Just outside the exit to the tunnel was a intricate fountain, it’s platforms spilling water down soothingly.  More of those horses were inside the open arena-like space.

The strange things were even more surprising than the unicorn had been. These horses had wings, and flew about the arena in various formations. I was somewhat reminded of a sports team warming up on a field before a big game. And I almost fell over in surprise from the sight of a horse flying through the air. Unicorns and Pegasi? How much stranger could this place get. As my gaze drifted over them I spotted something glowing from a tunnel perpendicular to my own.

Two huge slitted eyes glowed from the gloom in the downward leading tunnel, a huge form lurking behind their green light. I followed the gaze of the newfound predator, meeting up my own to a blue colored pegasus. The appearance of yet another technicolor horse made me wonder how they managed to dye their fur in such a way. Her mane had somehow been dyed to a rainbow pattern, and her form was distinctly female compared to the ones that had been chasing me.

A sudden feeling of anger filled me, I may not know what these horses were but I was sure that they were civilised in some way now. The look in those eyes was something that I had seen far too often. They were of hunger and hate, pure bloodlust. This would not be like a fox catching a rabbit to eat, this would be a massacre. A growl escaped my own throat completely out of my control. I felt the familiar strength flood my limbs, the sensation of crawling skin on my eyes as the Voice poured his power into me.

The blue pegasus looped down low toward the ground, and the glowing eyes leapt forward. I felt my legs move without my own command, I felt the hate toward the thing rushing toward the prismatic horse. My lips pulled back into a silent snarl, my mind running through possible plans of attack.

I jumped up the layers of the fountain to gain the high ground on the enemy. And I leapt from the top of the fountain toward the mare, if I could get her out of the way of the offender’s attack I could fight it on even ground.

I sailed through the air, watching the claws of the red attacker reach toward the mare, who had turned to stare in frozen horror at the huge lizard leaping at her. I impacted a moment later, my shoulder connecting with her side just below an outstretched wing. She couldn’t have weighed much, her body bounced back from my shove almost like a rubber ball would have. But I had not moved fast enough to get the both of us out of the way of its attack.

My side exploded in pain as the giant lizard dug his clawed hands into it, and threw me onto the ground. I landed hard, all the air in my lungs forced out of my chest in an instant. Very few things could affect me like that when the power of the Voice coursed through me, so whatever this thing was it was massively strong.

One thing that you never want to happen in a fight is being stuck on the ground, it is too vulnerable of a position, too easily taken advantage of. I scrambled forwards away from the incoming strike, not even bothering to catch my breath yet. The thick leg of the creature impacted where I had been laying only moments before.

I turned to face my opponent, breathing heavily as I did. I barely had time to gawk at the new ridiculous sight before me. It was more than just some giant lizard, I had dealt with those before. This thing was covered in shining red scales, spikes of dark blue trailing down it’s back. Perched on it’s back were two comically small wings, but I didn’t have much time to examine it. It turned it’s huge, drakonic head toward me opening it’s maw wide while sucking in a huge breath.

‘You’ve gottabe kidding me!’

I reacted immediately, whether or not it was doing what I thought it was, I did not want to be in the line of fire when it happened. My assumptions proved correct as it let out a jet of blue hot fire. The heat that radiated off of the tightly coiled fire blast was enough to start my fur smoking, even from my distance to it. The force of the fire actually tore a rut in the soft dirt and grass of the stadium field.

I knew that if I stayed out away from it it would just cook me with another bout of flame. But if I wasn’t fast enough when I did get close, it would tear me to shreds with it’s claws. And something told me that it’s back would be covered in armor thicker than my claws could get through. I would have to get inside it’s reach and to the soft flesh of it’s neck, before it ripped me in half.

The dragon let out a roar that literally shook the ground around it, I felt the reply in my throat without my thoughts controlling it. My own snarling roar was not nearly as loud as it’s, but I had made my point. This thing definitely had size and weight against me, but I had speed and I was smarter than it.

Wolves usually fight using teamwork, laming their prey as a group. They would surround the target from all sides, and attack it’s legs when it turned to look at the other side. I hadn’t had that advantage for a long time now, I had had to create my own form of fighting for situations like these. It involved a lot of running, mostly in the opposite direction of the fight. But that wasn’t an option anymore, I could feel the animal inside me taking over. I had been issued a challenge, and I was not going to back down now.

It started to pull in another breath, preparing a blast of fire. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me straight at the dragon, dodging just under the deadly blast as it raced from the dragon’s mouth. The heat burned at my hide, for a moment I thought that I was on fire. But I pushed aside that panic and fear, choosing instead to concentrate on my now closer target.

If you study the way an animal attacks, you will notice a pattern that is common among all of them. They have two main targets, the fleshy parts of the body. Mostly consisting of the neck and groin, only the second of which was in reach of me. And in an unfair fight, you can’t afford to be decent or civilized. All things go, even this. I opened my jaws wide to affect as large an area as possible, and bit down on the crook between the legs of the dragon.

My teeth sunk deeply into muscle and flesh with a feeling like biting eggshells, hot blood flowed over my face and down my throat. The effect was immediate, the dragon screamed in an ear piercing wail. I used my momentum to swing under it’s legs, tearing out the chunk of flesh and muscle as I went.

I swallowed the chunk of bloody flesh, my body being fueled by the pure rush of the fight. The dragon fell to the ground, and I didn’t wait for it to recover from the cheap shot. I rushed up, jumping over it to land on top of it’s spiked back. I could feel my claws rip through the leathery skin of his mediocre wings, even if they wouldn’t lift him away I was taking no chances. I opened my mouth and gripped around the snake-like neck that separated from his shoulders. My head fit just between a space in the spikes, allowing me to crush the dragon’s larynx in my powerful jaws.

The dragon thrashed around, trying to shake me from my hold on him, it must have been panicking. It rolled over, trying to crush me between itself and the ground. I adjusted my grip on his neck with my teeth and slid around to it’s front side, they tore long rivulets in his scales as I took the opportunity to reach the much more vulnerable side of the neck.

I was no longer thinking of the fight, the taste of the blood and the rush of the adrenaline had sent me into a full bloodlust fueled rage. I ripped and tore at the exposed throat, not even stopping when I reached the ribs below. I tore away pieces of flesh and meat and swallowed them whole, the dragon thrashing under me the whole time. I was literally eating it alive.

I didn’t stop until I had it’s heart in my teeth, I could feel it beating weakley against my tongue. I had ripped apart it’s throat into a bloody tunnel into its chest. And it had lived through my malicious frenzy, it’s thrashing growing weaker by the moment.

My teeth closed around the heart, and I pulled. The still beating muscle tore free of the flesh that still held it in his chest cavity. It gave a few final spasms, spraying blood from the now severed arteries that fed into and out of it. I Pulled myself from the hole I had created into his body, and swallowed the ball of cardiac muscles.

I pulled my head back and let out a snarling howl of victory, the rush starting to die off. I waited for the my senses to broaden, floating in the aftermath of the rage.

That was what made doing this sort of thing dangerous, that sort of rush was addictive and could turn deadly. If I let myself be taken over completely, I would never be able to come back to myself. It had led to the death of many of my kind.

The sounds of the world started to come back into focus, high pitched screaming, distinctly deeper voices yelling out commands. The horse guards had caught up to me during my fight. But some part of me said to wait, and tend to the horse the dragon had made to attack.

I turned my head, dragons blood dripping from my lips. I scanned the horrored faces of the horses, searching for the blue and prismatically decorated one. She was not among the horror struck, she lay on her side behind them. Several more of the horses were around her, but none of them seemed able to help her bloodied form.

I disentangled myself from the body of the now hollow dragon, it’s steaming corpse would remain a symbol of my dominance on the area for weeks to come. That is, if any other predator came here. I slowly made my way over the short distance to the prone form.

The horses let out more wails of terror, scrambling to get away from me. I didn’t doubt that I looked like hell. The wound in my side was making it difficult to walk, but I didn’t show it. I did not want to appear weak, especially when twenty spears lowered toward me. One of the larger horses yelled out some command toward me. It’s meaning was clear: Stop, or we will attack.

But my pace didn’t waver in the slightest, I let a slow pulse of will leak from my mind. A soothing feeling placed in it’s current, I did not want some nervous rookie getting twitchy with his spear. The horses didn’t lower the long weapons, but it seemed to have worked. Which was good, it meant I still had control over myself.

As I walked forward, they parted in front of me. My vision was narrowing down again, the prismatically maned horse becoming the center of my concentration. I could see the wound now, it was very bad.

The bone had actually been cut into, the tip of the claw had nearly severed half of one of her wings. Blood covered her side, and she was lying very still. But my finely attuned ears could just make out the gentle beating of her heart. I finally reached her prone form.

I could feel the Other again, a rasping voice echoing and talking over itself in my mind. The cacophony unreadable as that same power that had saved me three times before in the past two years filled my mind. It had given me the knowledge assurance to save lives and outwit my enemies, far unlike the Voice of the Wolf. More screaming reached my ears, but it was distant to me.

I lowered my head down to the horse’s wing, the strange power of the Other giving me the instinctive knowledge of what to do. I stopped over the wound, and let my already bloodsoaked tongue slide over the ripped flesh. The magical energies flowing out in a familiar pattern that dictated a healing spell. But something that neither the Voice nor I had expected interrupted the magical flowing energies.

It felt like someone had just slapped my brain with a hot fire iron. That is the only way I could possibly explain it, every nerve buzzed with some sort of backlash. Even the Voice came to a pause, which scared more than anything. I pulled away for a moment, mumbling the mantra that I hoped would save me from some horrible explosion.

“Magic, do as you will. Magic, do as you will. Magic, do as y-” My voice was cut off as I felt the buzzing actually intensify, and I got the sudden feeling that I had made a fatal mistake by giving the forces of nature free reign over my charged body.

On pure impulse, I rose from the crouched position and lifted my head to let out a howl. My head pointed to the sky and the clear deep tone of my howling voice slid out of my throat. The buzzing in my limbs intensified yet again, and I felt something new.

The feeling of bones shifting is a very unique and scarring experience, especially when they move of their own volition. But no pain accompanied the feeling, even as my skull warped with the magic that flowed through me. Everything moved, but the most noticeable change was in my paws, as the bones fused together, and the claws spread out into a flat plate that encompassed the entire area of my former toes. I could feel some sort of new weight on my back, but it was barely noticeable to my ribs and collarbone shifting nearby.

When the shifting finally did end, I opened my eyes. My much larger eyes that is, and saw the glow of magical energies still clinging to my coat.

“The rest gets a little fuzzy after that.” Coalback said, cutting away from the detailed account. “I can recall much more shouting, and running as well. But I was carrying something, and the guard ponies were running with me. So I wasn’t running away. Then I woke up in the hospital bed with a needle poised over my head.” Coalback ended his story there.

He looked up to examine the muted reactions of his small audience. Luna sat behind her wooden desk, sitting in a large pillow behind it. Rainbow Dash had moved over to a couch by the balcony, her face was decorated with a distinct look of awe. They were both looking at him as he sat on the floor across from them. He kept switching between their faces hoping for some sort reaction.

“Empty night...” Luna muttered, Coalback didn’t understand the weight behind the term, but from her tone he could infer that it was some form of curse. “All of that goes through thine head, every day. For how long has thee been like this?” Her tone switched from one of awe to slight concern.

“I have been, as I am now, like this ever since my eighteenth birthday. That was five years ago...” He trailed off for a moment, before his eyes widened as something occurred to him. “That’s right, I missed my birthday...hmm.”

“It was your birthday when you got here?” Rainbow asked, finally finding her voice.

“It was when I left.” Coalback stated carefully. “But I don’t know how long the trip lasted.”

“So you just, up and left? Everything and everyone you knew?” She asked, a small amount of sadness lacing her words. She couldn’t imagine leaving her friends forever, just the thought made her sick.

“I...didn’t have many friends, or a home...or a family.” Coalback said, his voice breaking up as he reached the end of his sentence, but he continued. “They died a little after my eighteenth, I don’t really think I can talk about it right now.” His voice had lowered into a choked whisper, he hadn’t meant to draw up those memories. He fought with his thoughts for a moment to organize them.

“I’m sorry,” Rainbow apologised quietly, realizing that she had brought up the touchy subject. She decided to try and steer the conversation back to another subject. “So, you weren’t a pony when you got here?” The question had come to the front of her mind while she had been listening to him recount his fight with the dragon.

“No.” He stated simply, not bothering to continue. Rainbow could practically feel his negative feelings toward the topic, and dropped it as well.

They sat in silence for awhile, Luna looking at Coalback like one would eye a piece of intricate jewelry. Then she spoke, and what she said surprised both of them.

“Very well, We have made our decision. Coalback, thou may take thine things with thee as thou leaves. You are to report back to this office after sunrise. The Elements will be sent for, we wish for them to meet our guest. For now the both of thee may retire in the suite down the hall, second door on the right.” She said, turning away from them to make her way toward a spiraling staircase near the rear of the study.

“Huh?” Rainbow asked, clearly confused at the Princess’s sudden nonchalance.

“It has been a long night for the two of thee, rest while you can.” She said, her voice quiet and caring. “There are many things we have planned for the morrow.” Her voice slipped into the Old Equestrian again as she continued up the stairs to an unseen room.

Coalback stood, slowly climbing back onto his stiff limbs. He shook himself a few times, and the bandages came loose from around his waist. Rainbow Dash gasped, causing Coalback turned to look at her.

“What is it?” He asked, not sure what to think of the sudden outburst.

“Y-you don’t have a Cutie Mark!” She said, disbelief evident in her voice. Coalback merely looked confused.

“What is ‘Cew-tee mark’?” He asked, rolling the term on his tongue as he said it. It was completely alien to him.

“You know- It’s a symbol of who you are, of your special talent. The thing that makes everypony unique.” She said, trying desperately spark some trail of recognition from him.

“I have never heard of such a thing. To define a pony in such a way, what is it?” He asked, his own disbelief tracing into his words.

“Everypony gets one! They represent your special talent! Look, I have one.” She turned to the side, presenting her flank alongside the cloud and rainbow lightning decoration that clung to it.

“The tattoos?” He asked, a look of confusion twisting his features.

“No,” Rainbow said. “They are not tattoos, they appear when you discover what your special talent is, and who you are.”

“What do you mean? They just appear?” Coalback asked, chuckling slightly as if the thought were humorous to him.

“Yes! And it’s a really important moment for everypony when they get theirs!” She leaned forward as she spoke, trying to emphasize how serious she was.

“Oh,” Coalback said, he muttered something quickly in his own tongue before continuing. “So, does that make me weird?” His voice was tinged with concern, even a bit of fear.

“No no no!” She said quickly. “Not at all! It’s not uncommon, but usually a pony your age would have one by now. That’s all, nothing serious.” Her attempts at reconciling the speckled stallion didn’t seem to completely put him at ease, but he didn’t look nearly as tense.

“Okay, maybe it’ll just come in time?” He asked, some small hope in his voice.

“That’s how it works for most foals.” She said, trying to calm him further. “And since you weren’t a pony before, well maybe you didn’t have one before?” She tried.

“No, I suppose I didn’t.” He said, finally calming down. But it didn’t stop him from draping the clothes over himself in a way that hid the blank spot on his flank.

He gathered the other objects that were spread on the table while Rainbow Dash got up from the couch and stretched her legs a bit. When he turned back to her, she was already waiting by the door for him.

“Let’s just get some shut eye, then we can figure out what’s going to happen.” She said, Coalback nodded in agreement as he followed her down the hall. They entered the suite a few moments later, and Coalback stopped to admire the dimly lit space.

The roof went up to a ridiculous height above them, it was decorated by swirls and designs in the texture of the paint. When his gaze returned to the room he noticed the  cushioned furniture spread before a fireplace. To the right of that was a small kitchen, only a kitchen in the sense that there was a counter and a cabinet stocked with a small amount of food. And to the left was another hallway that led to two other rooms and a single bathroom. All of the colors of the room were gentle and deep, like an open field in the light of a full moon.

Rainbow stopped to chuckle at Coalback’s reaction. “Bet you never seen this kinda stuff before.”

Coalback stopped his inspection to look at her. “I was raised in a house with rooms nearly this big, but never this beautifully intricate.” He said, a small amount of foal-like wonder in his eyes.

Rainbow chuckled again. “Yeah, this place can get pretty impressive. But right now the only thing I can think of is that soft bed.” She started toward the bedrooms. “I’m gonna hit the hay, g’night.” She said between a yawn.

“Goodnight, Rainbow Dash.” Coalback said, turning into his own room after she had disappeared into hers.

Feathers and Teeth

-Feathers and Teeth-

        Rainbow Dash had been awake for a few minutes now, a previous check of the clock showing there were still two hours until sunrise. What had disturbed her slumber was the loud sound of bumping outside the room, but she had stubbornly refused to get up and check on it. And she continued to lay in bed, eyes closed tightly in defiance to the now absent sound that had woken her.

        “Hey, Rainbow,” Coalbacks voice called from the direction of the door. “are wings supposed to do this?” The question came off as strange to her, and she rolled over to sit up and look at Coalback.

        Coalback stood in the doorway, a torn and scorched shirt loosely hanging from his torso. He had apparently slept in it, and his eyes were still droopy with sleep. But the most surprising part of the scene before her were his wings.

        His left wing was partially opened, and covered in misplaced feathers giving it a spiky texture. The other was pointed skyward, the tips of his feathers brushing the doors frame. Rainbow snorted, and began to laugh at the pathetic sight in front of her.

        “BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Her laughs echoed off the walls, and Coalback was still so sleepy that he barely registered the humor, which only made her laugh more. In between breaths of laughter she was able to force out a few words. “You...you..HAHA, you’re fine! That, pfft!...that happens to everypony...” She was able to fight off another bout of laughter and caught her breath.

        “What’s so funny?” He asked in an innocent tone, truly not knowing the humor in his stiffly erect wings. Rainbow barely held off another fit of laughter, and continued.

        “It’s fine, I keep forgetting that you’re new to your wings. They should stop after awhile.” She took a few deep breaths and looked back up at him. “You probably need a preen after all that flying yesterday though,” She hopped out of bed and yawned before picking her sentence back up. “come on, I’ll help you.”

        Coalback stepped away from the doorway, letting Rainbow pass him out. She then turned to the bathroom at the end of the short hallway. She opened the door and began searching the cabinets, the recent laughter had been more than enough to wake her up completely. She found her tools and set them on the floor nearby.

        “Come in and take off that shirt.” She said, indicating a fluffy bath mat for him to sit on. He complied shortly, sitting and then pulling the shirt off his head. “So don’t worry about it when that happens, but try to keep them closed in public.”

        “Why?” He asked, truly curious as to why his wings shouldn’t be open while he was with company.

        “For pegasi, wings are sorta part of the private body. If you know I mean?” She tried, immediately Coalback’s face flushed.

        “So this, is sorta like...” He paused, not daring to say the words he knew were true. Rainbow Dash giggled in a very girly fashion.

        “Yep!” She said, breaking into a short laugh. Coalback lowered his head in a defeated way and groaned.

        “I feel like freaking thirteen year old...” He groaned, this only set Rainbow Dash into another fit of laughter. “Did this happen to you?” He asked.

        “Yeah, this happens to just about all pegasi when their wings hit their growth spurt.” She said, she lifted a brush she had pulled out. She balanced it inside the crook of her hoof and presented it to him, and then explained what she was about to do. “I’m gonna straighten out those feathers for you, then I’ll show you how to clean them.”

        She brought the brush down onto his more rumpled wing, using another hoof to straighten it out further. Coalback jumped at her touch, and even let out a short yelp of surprise. But he stayed where he was sitting and let her work the feathers back into their places.

        “I didn’t realize they were so...sensitive.” He said, his voice quivering a little bit.

        “Are you okay?” Rainbow asked, pulling away the brush and her hoof.

        “Yeah, just didn’t expect that is all.” He turned to look at her, and continued. “It’s just that, all the sudden I have these new, apparently very sensitive, limbs on my back. I mean the change from paws to hooves was a bit strange for a while, but this is a whole new set of limbs.” His skyward facing wing lowered, the spout of stiffness in it finally receding. He looked at it again. “This is gonna be like puberty all over again!” He lowered himself to the floor to rest on his stomach, and buried his face in the fluffy mat.

        Dash giggled again, and continued brushing his wings for him. “You know, it’s alright if it feels a bit strange. After all, you are in a bathroom with a mare, and she just happens to be all over your wings.” She said, only a slight amount of a teasing tone touching her words.

        Coalback’s head shot up, and he turned to look at her. His face was twisted into a half-hearted scowl. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” He said.

        She chuckled. “In more ways than one.” She said, clearly teasing him now. “I’m going to move over to the other wing now.” Her tone changed back to a neutral state, but she kept a smile on her face. She got up and walked around to the other side of the mat, and started on the other wing.

This wing was much less of a mess than the other had been. He must have slept on his side. She was finished shortly and then made another observation.

“Besides, with wings like these, I’d be surprised if the mares weren’t all over you in a heartbeat!” She walked around in front of him as he lifted his head to reply.

“Oh, haha.” He said, still believing she was teasing him.

“I’m serious!” She said, trying to bring back a good mood. “Other stallions would kill for wings like that!” She said, reaching a bottle of what looked like hairspray.

“Weeellll...I sorta did...” He said, though his tone betrayed some amount of amusement.

“Just look at this!” She said, extending one of her own wings and placing it alongside his. It was indeed significantly shorter and stouter than Coalback’s. “And I’ve been told I have big wings, yours are colossal!! I can’t wait to see what kind of wingpower you’ve got in these!”

Coalback just stared at the two wings, looking at the feathers and how they differed. Dash got worried for a second. “Coalback, is something the matter?” She was worried, maybe she had said something wrong?

Coalback jumped, realizing he had been caught simply staring. “Oh, um, I-it’s nothing, really.” He sounded like he was trying to cover up his thoughts. “So what’s the can for?” He quickly changed the subject, and Rainbow folded her wings back against her side before she spoke.

“This is a treatment spray, it’s for after you preen.” She said, a sly smile on her face. “And the best way to preen is with...teeth.” She giggled a bit when Coalback’s face flushed again. “Don’t worry, I won’t bite...very hard.” She was enjoying this too much for her own good.

She walked back around to behind him, getting better access to his wings. He stiffened a bit when she lowered her head down to his wings, her warm breath falling across his wing. She brushed a hoof across some of the smaller feathers at the front of his wings, looking for loose or damaged feathers.

“When you preen your wings you need to look for any feathers that need to be removed, mostly damaged and loose ones.” She paused, grasping a loose feather and pulling out with her teeth. Coalback jumped when it came out, but otherwise stayed quiet. “You also need to make sure that if you find any mites, you get rid of them right away.” She looked up at Coalback when he turned around to meet her gaze.

“Mites?” He asked, some amount of concern on his face.

“Sometimes you get them, it’s not really a problem unless you get lots of them. But if you preen often then you should be fine.” She finished on that wing and then stood up, and pulled over the can of aerosol spray.

“This should help any itching or any uncomfortable spots on your wings.” Rainbow stated, lowering the label for Coalback to see. It read FeatherSpray. There were other labels all over it in flashy stickers, describing how it was organic and good for health. He turned back to her as she pulled it away and emptied some of the spray onto his wing.

He sighed in contentment, small itches and irritated feathers immediately soothed into a comfortable coolness. She looked at him with a smug look on her face, and spoke to him.

“Your turn!” She said, her smile widening.

“Hmm?” Coalback didn’t understand, he was still trying to figure out if she was teasing him.

“Preen. Yourself.” She said, slowly as if to a foal. “I won’t always offer to do it for you. So try your other wing, by yourself.” She nodded toward the other wing.

Coalback looked back at wing, examining it closely. Rainbow turned away for from him for a moment. Putting away the brush, and briefly examining the random soaps and shampoos inside. She hadn’t looked away for more than four seconds before she felt the static crawl up her back.

She turned around quickly, trying to locate the source. Her eyes locked onto Coalback, who was still staring intently at his wing. The Static feeling was intensifying and Rainbow didn’t dare move, for fear that whatever magic was moving through the air would react violently. She had seen too many of Twilight’s experiments go awry, up close.

Coalback very slowly lifted his wing upward, the static increasing in intensity as he did. There was a crack, his wing so fast it almost seemed to simply change position. A blast of wind filled the bathroom and blew the door open, it connecting with the wall behind it a moment afterwards. When Rainbow Dash had blinked her eyes enough to see again, she turned back to him.

Floating in the air next to him, was a perfect outline of his wing, drawn in a few feathers and a cloud of dust. He folded his wings to his side and took a step back from the cloud. He turned to her expectantly.

“How did you...?” She started, the sight before had stolen her voice.

“I had this idea; I wanted to see if I could just grab all of the dust and loose feathers, at the same time. So first I started by finding it all. I used something that was similar to sonar to find everything. Then I had to grasp it, and so I used a shield construct to shape around everything. Then I just moved the wing out of the way, like pulling a tarp out from under the setting of a table.” His rant ended with a deep breathe and was about to begin again, and would have if not for the cyan hoof suddenly shoved into his mouth.

“Woah, woah, woah! Are you telling me that you just came up with that on the fly? I don’t even think Twilight could do that!” She said, keeping her hoof in his mouth. He tried talking around her hoof, and she let him for a moment before removing it.

“Why would the hour between daylight and darkness have anything to do with this?” He asked, clear confusion decorating his face.

“No, Twilight is one of my friends. She-she’s a unicorn, and she is probably the only pony who would understand what you’re trying to say to me.” She said, quickly becoming annoyed at his sudden outburst. “Just, don’t do that again, at least not with me around.” She said, just shaking her head for a second. “Take a shower, you smell like ozone and BO. I’m going to go get something to eat.”

Rainbow left the bathroom, and headed toward the kitchen on the other side of the suite.

Coalback came out of the shower feeling completely refreshed, it had practically been years since he had had a good shower, let alone a hot one. He came out the door, followed closely by a cloud of thick steam, and wrapped with a towel around his flank. Another towel was grasped in one of his hooves as he dried his head and ears, he walked forward on three slightly unsteady legs.

There was an almost unnoticeable clicking noise with every few steps, timed with the movement of one of his rear legs. He reached the arch that marked the entrance to the main room of the suite, and stopped as he took in the scene in front of him.

Rainbow sat at the counter across the room, eating a bouquet. The towel dropped from his hoof and hit the floor with a quiet thump. Rainbow looked up from her colorful meal, and gave a quiet wave before swallowing.

“Hey, want some?” She said, waving to the set of flowers.

“Umm...” Coalback started, still trying to figure out what was happening. “You know those are flowers, right?” He said, pointing a hoof toward her bouquet.

“Yeah...why?” She asked. “They’re perfectly good flowers.” Her voice getting annoyed. She came around the counter, and held a flower up to him. “Go on...” She offered the flower, for him to eat.

He grimaced, pulling back his lips and showed his teeth.

“WOAH!!” She exclaimed, her eyes growing wide and her mouth forming a surprised ‘O’ shape.

It was his turn to be confused. “What?” He asked, not even having the slightest idea of what could have caused the outburst.

“Your teeth! W-what...when did that happen?” She was sputtering, something must have really thrown her off.

“What about them-?” He started, but Rainbow Dash interrupted him.

“They’re sharp!” She yelled, clearly distressed.

He reached up with a hoof and felt around inside his mouth. Surely enough, there were four sharp little points prodding into his hoof, and he could feel the thin incisors shaped for cutting along the front of his jawline.

“Oh...” He lowered his hoof, and looked at her again. Then she carried on.

“Pony teeth are SO not like that! Look!” She reached up and pulled down her lip to reveal her own teeth.

There were several incisors that were flat against each other, and a short space where there was no teeth. Following that were her molars, but there were no sharp canines poking out like his, and he didn’t have a space like that.

“Oh...” Rainbow Dash was looking at him expectantly, and he was shrinking under her gaze. “I think I know what might have happened...”

“Well?” Rainbow encouraged him to go on.

“Well...this wasn’t...exactly...my first...body transformation...” He said, picking his words carefully.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She yelled, another wave of frustration came over her. This was yet another thing that Coalback hadn’t explained, and she was getting extremely tired of it.

“During the other transformations...some things...carried over.” He finished, flinching as if expecting to be struck, after a moment he looked up.

She was looking at him with a thoughtful expression. “How many ‘body transformations’ have you had exactly?” She asked, finally choosing her words carefully.

“Just one before really, but I noticed that some things sort of carried over. But for some reason not to my first body nearly as much, mostly to the second one. It’s really not easy for me to explain right now, you and I are both learning here!” He said, switching to a defensive tone near the end.

“This is all getting really confusing, you seriously owe me a FULL explanation. But the sun is about to rise, so we should get ready to go.” She said, to the relief of the both of them.

Coalback sighed and returned to his room, when he came back out he was wearing a ripped cloth around his flank. She shook her head but didn't question it, she had suffered from the blank flank shyness before. He was also wearing a small bag that hung around his neck, the gentle glow of the crystal almost unnoticeable. Then they started out the door.

Rainbow Dash led the way down the hall, and stopped before it to make one more statement. “When you meet my friends, try not to...provoke them...yeah. They could get a bit excited, or maybe even upset. Just be careful.” She was trying to be encouraging, but it didn’t seem to be working.

Coalback swallowed loudly, and Rainbow pushed through the door ahead of him.

The Predator's New Clothes

-The Predator’s New Clothes-

        Rainbow Dash entered the study of the night princess only to be tackled by a pink blur. It hadn’t even been two seconds before she was on ground and being crushed by the pink mare’s hug.

        “DASHIE!!!” She yelled, hugging her even tighter.

        “Can’t...breathe!” Rainbow choked out, the pink pony jumped off her and started talking quickly.

        “Ohmygosh, we were so worried about you! Celestia sent us a letter, and the second we learned about what happened we all came here as fast as we could. But when we got here you were asleep, and then we heard you woke up. But when we went to visit you, you weren’t there. And we were so worried. And then we heard the Rainboom! And there were those streaks in the sky, and it was so AWESOME!-” She cut off her assault of words when the large form behind Rainbow came to her attention.

        A lavender unicorn sitting across the room spoke first. “Excuse me, who are you?” She indicated the stallion, who had just entered the room. Coalback shied back just a bit, but didn’t move from his spot behind Rainbow Dash.

        “This is Coalback everyone.” Rainbow spoke up, trying to introduce him calmly. “He’s the one who...stopped the dragon.” She finished, choosing her words carefully.

        Coalback looked up, finally taking a moment to look at the gathering in the modest study. Five other ponies were in the room with them, all of them were staring at him. There was the purple unicorn, she sat near one of the bookshelves at the far side of the room. Another unicorn stood nearby, her coat was an ivory white with a styled purple mane. Near the window of the room was a normal pony, her coat was a dull orange and a blond mane hung under her stetson hat. And cowering behind the normal pony was a small yellow pegasus with a pink mane. He had already seen the pink one tackle Rainbow Dash.

        “Coalback, these are my friends. That’s Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.” She said, pointing to them each in turn. It was at that moment that Applejack let out a long whistle.

        “He’s a biggun, ain’t he?” She exclaimed, her southern accent decorating the air. “I’d reckon he’s nearly the size ah Big Mac!” This shook the pink one from her thoughts. Who jumped up and wrapped her hooves around him in a tight hug.

        “OOOOOH!! ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!!” She said exstatically, receiving a choking sound in return from him. “I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if you hadn’t helped Dashie!” Then she let out a loud gasp. “We should throw a party! It’ll be a ‘Thanks for Saving Rainbow Dash and Canterlot’ party!” She was about to continue again when Twilight interrupted her.

        “Pinkie let him breathe!” Pinkie Pie complied and dropped him back to the floor, where he took in a deep breath. “Don’t mind her, she can get...excited when she meets new ponies.” Twilight approached and offered her hoof to him. “It’s very nice to meet you, sir. And we would all like to personally thank you.”

        Coalback took her hoof in his and shook it, gaining a small confused look from Twilight. She had offered it in the expectation of helping him up, but he stayed on the floor. Then he mumbled something in his staccato language.

        “I forgot to mention that Coalback isn’t from around here. He’s from...uh...you know you never did tell me where you were from.” She looked at him, after he was done catching his breath he spoke.

        “I was born in Scotland, but my family moved to America when I was young.” He said, the names sounded like they were from his language, and didn’t roll of his tongue well.

        “I’ve never heard of either of those places,” Twilight pondered out loud. “They must be very far from here. How did you get here? Airship? Or did you fly yourself?” She asked innocently, a small smile on her face.

        “By way of Comet.” He started, chuckling slightly as he rose. “It was a rather sudden trip, I must admit.” He dusted himself off as the other three ponies approached to give their own greetings and their own thanks.

        Rarity approached first. “It’s very good to meet you dear, but I must ask; What are you wearing?” Her voice had a very distinct and proper sounding accent to it, laced by poorly hidden disgust.

        “It’s what was left of my clothes, I don’t like being completely naked.” He said, a small amount of red heating his face for a moment.

        “Oh, well you simply must come by my shop sometime. I’m sure a stallion like yourself would appreciate some good clothes. And the Princess told us that she had something she was going to give you to wear today anyway.” She said, her voice was genuinely happy. She stepped back and let Applejack come up.

        “Well howdy,” She said, grasping one of his hooves in both of hers and shaking it up and down enthusiastically. “I jes’ can’t thank ya enough fer what ya did. And Ah do have one question fer ya.” She started, finally letting go of his hoof. “What did ya do fer a livin’ before you came here? That kinda bulk don’t grow overnight!” She said, nodding toward his chest. He looked down at himself before he spoke.

        “I ran a lot...and I guess you could call me a soldier, of a kind.” He looked like he had begun to continue but shut his mouth again, and looked back to her.

        She nodded. “That’ll do it all right! You should stop by tha farm sometime, we could use an extra hoof and there’d even be a few bits in it for yah.” She said cheerily, but Coalback just looked confused.

        “Bits?” He asked, not sure what she meant.

        “That’s our currency, Coalback. Mostly coins.” Twilight spoke up, realizing his point of confusion.

        “Oh. Thank you, Applejack. I would enjoy some farm work, it would be a welcome break to my normal work.” He said, nodding to her.

        “Well don’t expect it to be relaxing, we work hard at Sweet Apple Acres!” She said before turning around and walking back a few steps. She nudged the yellow pegasus to get her attention. “Go on up and introduce yerself, sugarcube.” She said quietly, pushing her forward in front of Coalback.

        She sat there in a tight ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. She hid her face in her long pink mane and stared up at him with wide eyes. Coalback talked slowly and quietly to her, trying to bring her out of her shell.

        “It is very nice to meet you, you are one of Rainbow Dash’s friends?” He asked calmly and quietly, as if addressing a scared animal. Which he might as well have been.

        She said something quietly into her hair, the voice imperceptible to someone without Coalback’s hearing. “Yes, I’m...my name is Fluttershy.” Her voice was even quiet to him and he could hear an ant’s footsteps from across a room.

        “It’s very nice to meet you, Fluttershy. You have a very nice voice, why are you so quiet?” He asked, perhaps if he could get her talking she wouldn’t be scared of him. She spoke again, this time at a more audible level.

        “Oh, um. Th-thank you, i-it’s nice to meet you too.” She said, Coalback could see a small blush peeking through her fur.

        “What kinds of things do you do at home, Fluttershy?” He asked. If he could get even this timid mare to be somewhat comfortable around him, then maybe he did have some hope here.

        “I take care of the animals in Ponyville.” She said, seeming to relax slightly. “And I like to sit with my friends.” She finally uncurled herself from her ball and looked directly at him. “Do you like animals?” She asked hopefully.

        “I love animals, but some seem just afraid of me.” He said, it would seem he had coaxed her out of her catatonic state thoroughly.

        “You just have to be calm around them.” She said confidently, she stepped back to where Applejack had gone.

        It was at that moment that the Princess of the night entered the room, coming down from the spiral staircase. She was carrying a large chest in her magical aura. It had several streaks of dust on it, as if someone had hastily dusted it off with a hoof.

        “We have found it!” She said, indicating the chest.

        “So what is it, Princess?” Twilight asked. “You haven’t told us anything yet, and we’re excited to hear your announcement.”

        Luna dropped the chest onto the floor with a heavy impact. “This is a very old suit of armor, it was designed by Leonardi Deponi over a thousand years ago. It’s purpose was to give a pegasus full control in flight and to protect his wings during a fight. Unfortunately the design was too heavy for any but the strongest pegasi to wear and use.” She said. “However, we seem to have a particularly strong flyer with us today.

        “Thy tale yesterday intrigued us, and we wish to see thine abilities in person. When thou hast donned the armour, we shall lead thee outside to the sparring ring.” Her voice was becoming particularly excited near the end. They all turned to him expectantly.

        “Show me how to put it on.” He said simply, he had rarely worn armor. The little he had worn had done nothing but to slow him down. But he was willing to humor the ponies while he could.

        Luna smiled, and opened the chest to reveal a pile of black metal. She reached in and pulled out an upside down bowl shape, it wasn’t until she turned it around that Coalback realised what it was.

        Luna held a jet black metal helm in her magical grasp, the magic playing light funnily over the lines of the carved surface. It was a piece of art in and of itself, giving a sense of deadly beauty to it. There were sharp edges and smooth curves, they met together and the resulting shape was the menacing face of the helm.

It was full face, very different from the ones that the pony guards had worn. The eye slots were just that, resembling a grate or mesh more than eyes. The lines along the muzzle of the helm were all sharp, giving it a look like a snarling wolf. The lines ended in a saw like edge around the bottom. It actually split down the middle, articulating so that the jaw could be opened for a pony to use his mouth. There was no space for his ears to poke out, but two slopes came back from the head and opened in another grate at the back.

Everything about the helmet screamed ‘Predator’ and he loved it.

“We feel the armor is quite fitting for the situation, dost thee not?” She asked, smiling at his obvious admiration. “The rest of the armor must be constructed by a unicorn, and applied in a specific order. Twilight, Rarity, watch how this is done carefully. Thee as well, Coalback.” She said, her tone turning serious as she began laying out the intricate pieces of the armor.

The chest piece went on first, the first part of it being a cloth shirt. That was closely followed by a large shirt of chain mail. Over that the princess placed one of the several pieces that made up the chest armor. When she had finished placing it on, he flexed his arms and wings. Just as the princess had said, he had full mobility in the armor.

She started next on the pieces that fit around his stomach and flank, they followed a similar pattern of cloth and then chain mail. They wrapped snugly around his stomach and covered him entirely in black sharp metal.

The leg pieces went on easily, simply being a few pieces that locked around his legs with a click. The princess offered the hoof coverings last, and he stepped into them. At this point his chest, stomach, flank and legs were covered in the intricate armor. All that remained exposed was his neck, head, and wings.

She floated over the piece that wrapped around his neck, it was a single piece made from plates and chainmail that had been woven together. Then she pulled out two large plates, and began to speak.

“These are the parts of the armor that are truly revolutionary. These pieces of metal are intricately woven with magic to make them lighter and stronger than even gemstones.” She said, a clear amount of pride in her voice. “These are the armor of the wings.” She stated as she moved them over to him.

He opened his wings slightly to allow her easier access to them as she connected the new parts of the armor. They fit over the outside of his wings, and were surprisingly comfortable as they rested against them. When she had finished, he closed his wings and turned to examine them.

With the new addition to the armor it was complete, the armor fit together and moved easily. With his wings folded against his side, they were completely hidden by the strangely shaped shields.

He opened them to their full length, causing Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Rarity to take a step back. With his wings unfurled the shields only covered the furthest part of his wing, the tips of which poked out the end. The shield wrapped around the arm of the wing to create a plate near the wrist of it. He made an experimental flap, and then cut them downward through the air as if he were hitting something with them.

It was incredible, the armor moved fluidly with every movement, even the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. The armor also felt somehow...right to him. It was almost like the feeling of walking into a building and knowing you had been there before, but not remembering any of the details of the building.

This was particularly strange, almost enough for him not to notice the other’s voice quietly whispering in the back of his mind. He stiffened suddenly, every muscle tight as a sudden feeling overcame him.

The feeling of the heavy armor remained, he could feel it’s comfortable embrace as his muscles slowly became more fatigued. It felt like his body ached all over, there was a burning sensation is his back right leg. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, pushing him into some sort of battle he could not see. He felt the weight of a weapon at the end of his arm, he could even feel the grip against his skin.

He could feel impacts reverberating through the phantom weapon, feel the muscles in his arm tighten in sync to them. He could feel blows glancing off his armor, and he could hear the sounds of battle. Shouting, screaming, metal clashing, the impact of a ballistae spear as it sunk into the ground nearby.

“Coalback, are you alright?” Rainbow’s voice shook him from his trance. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and he couldn’t stop himself from shivering. Then he turned to her.

“That has never happened before.” His voice was traced with fear and wonder at what he had just felt.

“What happened to you, Coalback” Twilight asked from his other side, he turned to her before answering.

“It was nothing, really. Just started thinking about what this means.” He said, quickly driving attention away from the sudden event.

‘What was that? I will need to look into this later.’

        Coalback turned back to the princess. “Let’s see what this thing looks like with the helmet on, ma’am.” He said, indicating the helmet still floating before her.

        “Very well.” She said, floating the helmet over towards him. She slid it over his head and tightened the straps holding it down. It was surprisingly easy to see out of the mesh in front of his eyes, all the lines blended together and disappeared. She then cast a spell that created a mirror between them so that Coalback could look at himself.

        The armor that was on him was very different from the armor he had seen for horses at home. There was no saddle for one thing, and he was covered in that sharp, dark metal. The armor was decorated with indents, grooves, and carvings. The hoof coverings had claws carves from them, with some sort of slot in the inner face.

The chest of it looked like it was built to be a battering ram, the larger block of curved metal jutting outward almost an inch from his chest beneath. He looked toward the flank of the armor, his eyes falling across the sloped surface that covered his side and tail. His tail fit into a chainmail sleeve that let the tips of the hairs fall out of it.

When he lifted his wings he found two small pouches underneath the right, but under the other something else bristled. Several small handles protruded from cloth sleeves. He raised a hoof to try to pull one out, and the purpose of the slots became clear to him. The slot slid perfectly onto the handles from any direction, letting him simply slide his hoof over his side and pull one of the many handles out from it’s sleeve.

He pulled out the shining silver that shimmered in the dim light of the chamber. He held a knife in his hoof, it’s perfect edge glistening. The blade was shaped in a way that it could be used in close combat, or even thrown judging from it’s balance. He turned back to his side and slid it back into the sleeve that it originated from, twisting his hoof slightly to release it.

All in all, he looked badass.

“Leonardi always had a detailed mind, he designed and made every part of the armor you wear. We enchanted it personally. The blades will never dull. And should a piece of the armor become lost, it shall return by the morn.” She said, remembering a better time. “He called it ‘Arma Lupus’ it means-”

“Armor of the Wolf.” Coalback said, still staring at his reflection.

        Coalback stood in the middle of the sandy arena, as the princess had asked him to. The black armor glinting in the orange light of the rising sun as he waited. The six mares sat in the stands, near them Luna sat on a raised platform.

        It had not taken her long to lead them to the location, she had directed him to go into the arena and wait near the center. She had then led the mares up to the stands to watch him.

        He did not like at all the situation he was in, not only was he in the middle of an arena with black tunnels leading down to the darkness, there were girls watching him. He groaned again, feeling like a child, the girls were curious and he couldn’t blame them, even he was.

        He had grown more and more wary as the sun rose, the rays of light slowly moving downward to the westernmost tunnel. The walls of the arena had blocked the light of the sun from entering any of the tunnels, keeping them in complete darkness. And it wasn’t until the sunlight had finally passed the lip of the tunnel, that he saw the glint off of a spearhead from inside.

The light bounced around inside the white walled tunnel, illuminating a large count of pony soldiers in golden armor. Every guard was armed with a long spear, and they all had their eyes locked on him.

He had to admit, it was fairly intimidating. He had no idea how long they had been standing there, simply watching him. They moved forward slowly, their feet moving in perfect unison as they marched from the tunnel. They spread out along the wall, all thirty of them. They turned back to him after the last had left the tunnel, and lowered their spears.

Five of the soldiers broke off from the group, charging forward with a synchronized war cry. Their yelling bounced off the walls and echoed loudly, the hooves throwing up clouds of dust as they ran. And Coalback stood perfectly still, like a statue in the ring. The soldiers got within three meters before he moved.

He twisted his upper body, throwing a cloud of sand into three of the guards who faltered in their charge for a moment. Using his momentum he spun around, lifting onto his back legs and just dodging the first strike. He completed the turn, and drove the spear into the dirt, which simultaneously vaulted the pony using it into the group that had been caught in the cloud.

The fifth pony got closer, his spear glancing off the shield on Coalback’s wing as he spun. The pony kept moving, launching himself forward to strike Coalback with his other hoof. But Coalback had expected the move and countered it with a swing of his elbow, knocking the hoof aside.

Coalback’s limbs moved at an incredible speed, blurring forward as he struck the pony before him. But every hit only pushed him back somewhat, never leaving a bruise or cut. He was playing with the pony, pushing him backward so that his wings would have the room to move.

In a moment of speed his wings shot forward, striking both sides of the guard pony’s helmet. A sound like gong being struck filled the arena, and the pony fell the ground completely stunned.

Coalback had in but moments incapacitated five guards, it had happened so fast that the ponies in the stands had barely had enough time to register it happening. Coalback’s voice echoed across the arena towards them, slightly tinny coming from the inside of his helmet.

“Is that it?” He called, his voice teasing. “I would have expected more from the army of a Princess as intimidating as you, Your Majesty.” He had turned to look at her podium, and Luna let out a deep laugh.

The other twenty five guards stopped waiting where they were and charged forward. Coalback stopped his teasing and turned back to the fight in an instant. The guards made the mistake of running at differing speeds, it was the more eager ones that fell first.

Coalback moved in a blur, deflecting spears out of the way and knocking the guards to the ground in quick succession. In just moments another ten guards were strewn around him in unconscious heaps. The others stopped a distance from him, opting to surround him in a circle. Their spears pointed inward toward Coalback. He crouched down, looking more like a tiger than a pony.

One of the guards behind him lunged forward, glancing his spear off of Coalback’s armor. Coalback reacted Immediately, kicking upward with one of his back legs and launched the spear straight up into the air. The kick pulled him into a standing position on his front hooves, another guard lunged forward. Coalback pushed off the ground with his hooves and pulled his wings in close as he did, the spear sailed past under him.

Coalback’s rear hoof connected with the flying spear at the apex of it’s arc, causing the both of them to flip around in the air. Coalback gripped into the spear, using his momentum to speed his throw. The spear flew from his grasp and slipped through a the collar of one of the pony’s armor, piercing through the other side and pinning him to the floor of the arena unharmed.

Coalback came back to the ground on top of the the second guard’s spear, snapping it in half. He turned to the now unarmed pony, dragging his wing through the sand and throwing it into the faces of the ponies around him. After that, they didn’t even have a chance to fight back, Coalback moved in a blur through the stunned ponies. He disarmed and incapacitated all but one of them in the time it took for that pony to recover.

Colaback’s wing wrapped around the pony’s neck, putting him into a headlock with it. The pony struggled within Coalback’s grip. Coalback turned his attention back to the princess, his breath coming out heavily.

“Perhaps, your majesty could provide more disposable opponents? Then I would not have to hold back.” He said, a slight tinge of concern in his voice even though he had tried to play it off with the joke. The pony in his wing continued to struggle.

The princess stood, a smile on her face as she spoke. “It has been very long since I have seen a fight like this! Do not worry, your next opponents will not be fighting you.” She said, entertainment making her words bubble. Behind her, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were cheering wildly. The other three settled on stunned silence.

Princess Luna reached behind her and pulled out a brass ring with a red sash tied to it, she threw it across the arena to him with a flick of her wrist. Coalback rose onto his hind legs, releasing the pony in his grip as he did, and caught it in his mouth.

“Connect the ring to thy flank, and prepare thyself for the chase!” She yelled to him.

He slid the ring onto a loop on a belt around his flank, the bright red sash was left to swing in the gentle breeze. It was then that twenty pegasus guards came out of the same tunnel, they all wore blue sashes hanging from a similar place.

“If the sash is caught, then thy flight ends!” She announced. “Thee hast either been captured or killed in flight.” Coalback turned to face the pegasus guards, shaking his wings free and lowering himself to a runners stance.

“Ready thy wings!” She called, the guards went into similar stances and spread their wings up in preparation for take off.

“BEGIN!!” Her voice boomed across the arena, the Royal Canterlot Voice echoing out into the morning sky.

Coalback moved his wings quickly upward in the air, using the momentum to aid his jump up. Then with a crack like a bullwhip he lowered his wings, pushing himself up like a firework rocket into the sky. He was followed closely by the pegasus guards, flying in a high speed formation going straight up.

He leveled off when he reached the top of the walls of the arena, pumping his huge wings quickly to give him as much speed as he could before his pursuers caught with him. He cleared the wall, dodging past one of the empty flag poles that were mounted there. He heard a sound of impact a moment later and chuckled at the sound of ringing metal.

His path took him toward a wide tower, within the ring of closely placed pillars were several large brass bells. He pulled left at the last moment, feeling a full second G of acceleration as he just missed the pillars. Once again he heard the sound of impacts, accompanied by the sound of three long rings from the bells. He laughed out to the ponies still after him, not bothering to check their progress.

Coalback dove, heading straight for the ground. He wasn’t planning a clever trick this time, he was using the dive to gain momentum. He pulled up slowly, his wings passing within inches of a nearby building. He didn’t reach street level, or anything near the speeds of his first night flight, but he heard exclamations from the street all the same. He continued to pull up, turning back to the arena as he did.

While from the inside of the arena, it had seemed that the walls were solid. But in fact they were actually covered in arches, much like a similar coliseum he had seen in pictures at school. The six colorful blurs were standing in them as they followed the flight, Princess Luna had flown up over the walls to gain a better vantage point. Coalback grinned as a thought crossed his mind and he adjusted his flight to match it.

A moment later Coalback blurred past the arch that the six mares had been occupying, quickly followed by the remaining six guardponies. He kept climbing higher and higher in a straight shot upward, glancing backward to check on the six behind him. They had gained more than a few meters on him, almost close enough to grab onto his trailing hooves and tail.

He redoubled his efforts pushing higher and higher. His wings burned with the strain as he worked directly against gravity. He kept an eye on his pursuers as he went, not wanting to overshoot too much. Coalback was slowing down, his momentum and wings no longer gaining speed as the air thinned around him. The ponies behind him seemed to be affected similarly. And it wasn’t long before they had come to a complete stall in the air.

Coalback spread his wings wide and turned around as he began to fall back toward the ground. He had accomplished what he had heard called a ‘Hammerhead’ and was now behind his chasers, precisely as he had planned. They were now in a full free fall, Coalback straightened himself out, and closed his wings with a forceful clap.

Coalback accelerated at a speed that would have made a cheetah’s spots turn green in envy. He quickly approached the other pegasi, his hooves reached out in front of him. He caught all of them off guard, quickly pulling the blue sashes from their belts as he accelerated past them.

He continued the dive, his eyes watered from the air that pushed against them. The ground approached quickly, and with a flare of his wings he slowed himself to a speed that wouldn’t shatter bones and create a crater half the size of the arena. But that didn’t stop it from being a hard landing, and a sudden stop.

Coalback landed on his hooves and absorbed the impact in his knees, a cloud of dust spread out from him. When the cloud cleared, he stood with six sashes in his mouth. His own red sash sat unharmed on his flank.

He spat out the sashes as the six mares began to cheer and rush into the arena, and he removed the helmet from his head. He waited patiently as they made their way over, catching his breath as he did.

The mares crowded around, expressing their praise and amazement in a chatter that was completely not understandable. Rainbow Dash was at the front of the group, spouting her amazement at the show of physical and aerial superiority. Pinkie Pie threw hoofs of confetti around them as she danced excitedly. When the mares finally did settle down the princess approached him.

“We are thoroughly impressed, Coalback!” She said, her praise much more controlled than the previous barrage of words and confetti from Pinkie. “We now think that thee is the perfect choice for the task we have planned.” She said, but continued before Coalback could ask what she meant. “Come with us, we shall meet my sister in the Throne Room.” She turned around and walked toward the gate that marked the exit to the arena.

Debts and Favors

-Debts and Favors-

        Coalback sat in the middle of Canterlot Castle’s throne room, facing toward the two tall chairs at the other end. The room was the most beautiful setting he had ever been in.

        The roof was high, so high he could have flown inside without worry of hitting it at all. The red carpet that he sat on was plush and clean. The marble walls and floor shone with fresh wax. And it was surprisingly well lit, the daylight coming in through the stained glass windows.

        Every window depicted some sort of event, and he had taken the time to examine them. It was surprising to see some ponies in the more recent history that was depicted, the six mares he had met before. He was sure it was them but continued to tell himself that it was impossible. After all those mares probably couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone defeat some sort of chimera.

        The Princess had sent off the girls to find the other Princess, whom he had yet to even hear of. Just the fact that the Princess had an older sister confused him, he wondered what sort of power disputes the two could have between each other. And even wondered if she was simply showing off a new toy, in a sense. Some sort of sisterly competition could be playing out right in front of him.

        And that was another thing; if these two were the princesses, where were the king and queen? All sorts of questions flooded through his head at the mention, but he didn’t let them show on his face.

        The Princess of the night was sitting on her throne just in front of him, and while she had asked him to relax he hadn’t. She had been able to convince him to remove the helmet, shields and hoof coverings. But he remained still, and hadn’t moved for the last hour. And he knew it had been an hour, he had watched the sunlight moving across the floor to be sure.

        All in all, Coalback was bored.

        His gaze drifted back around the room, eventually turning to behind himself. He stopped when he spotted something he had not seen during his first inspection of the room, a piano. It was well tucked away, barely noticeable when entering. But now that he was inside and had turned around he could see it.

        Some instinctive urge pushed him to his hooves, and he began walking toward it. He approached the piano to inspect it more closely, and he was glad he did.

        The piano was a masterpiece of instrumental artwork, dark wood and sloping lines drawing the eye upward to where the pianist would sit. It only took him a moment to walk around to the keys, he couldn’t tell what they were made of but he didn’t mind that. He had never been a particularly picky person about what piano he played, as long as it was tuned properly he didn’t care.

        He tapped one of the keys experimentally, letting out a light ring as he did. He smiled to himself, remembering the days he would play on his nanny’s piano. She had taught him to play, and how to enjoy it as he did. As bittersweet a memory as it was, he floated in it for a moment and sat on the soft bench.

        He had never tried to play with hooves, but he figured that a little practice could help him pass the time as he waited for the princesses. The notes flowed out from him well, and he could feel the stress and tension that he had felt before slipping away.

The song was one he remembered listening to when he was a teenager, although it had not been on a piano then. But he made do, remembering the notes as he played them. Letting his mind concentrate on the keys laid before him. He started off slowly, with more simple patterns that grew more complicated as he went. It wasn’t long before he had finished the song, and he felt better for doing it. Like falling asleep in a warm summer cave after days of constant running, he felt relaxed.

“You were right when you said this one was different, Luna.” A gentle voice echoed lightly across the room. Coalback looked up, surprised that someone had walked in without him noticing.

Princess Luna was still on her throne, a warm smile on her face as she looked down toward him from across the room. The six mares stood near the door, their faces mixes of happiness and wonder. And in front of them stood another of the alicorns.

Her white coat gleamed, and her soft prismatic mane and tail flowed in a breeze that didn’t exist. Her crown and other regalia revealed her to be the other princess Luna had mentioned in passing.

Coalback jumped up from the stool, knocking it over in the process. He bowed his head quickly, an apology escaping his throat on instinct.

“My apologies, ma’am! I did not realize that you had entered and I-” He was cut off shortly by her warm laugh, it rung like gentle bells in the air. She spoke to him again.

“On the contrary, I quite liked your song. It was very nice.” She turned toward Luna as Coalback rose from his bow to look at them. “Come and introduce me to your guest, dear sister.” Her voice was happy, not the kind of fake mask he had seen on those who had considered themselves royalty before.

Luna had already begun to walk over when Celestia had called her.

“This, is Coalback. And we do believe he may be of very good use to us, sister. Perhaps even a solution to many problems.” She beamed, clearly trying to show her sister that she had done something right.

“Luna, this is not the time for such a thought. Have you even considered what that could mean for Coalback?” She asked, trying to drive the conversation away from some topic that had yet to be revealed.

“Of course we have.” Luna said defiantly. “We have thought long this last night of only this. And it is exactly what he needs!” She gestured to him animatedly as she tried to explain. “This single stallion has been through more hardships in the last five years than even you or I have in centuries. He needs something that will help him grow past those dark days. And this is the exact opportunity that could give him that!” She finished, and Celestia looked down at her gilded hooves before answering.

“And you are sure that this stallion could be trusted with such a task?” She turned to look at her sister.

“There is no doubt.” She said, a confident smile on her face.

Celestia nodded slowly, turning to look at the mares behind her. They looked to her with confused faces, laced with worry. They had never heard the princesses talk like that. Then Celestia turned to Coalback, and spoke to him in an authoritative tone.

“Coalback, I have a very important favor to ask of you. And if you accept it, then I would be in your debt.” Her eyes burned into his, a small amount of pressure pressing against both their eyes. “I need you to protect these six mares from dangers that I fear may be approaching us. The Elements of Harmony are very important to all of Equestria. Can you do this for me?” She asked, leaning forward to better hear his answer.

Coalback looked to the side in thought, his mind fighting against itself at the sudden news. Some part of him told him to flee, take the armor that was given to him and run for the hills. But a stronger force held him back, he had never been able to tolerate an unfair fight against a defenseless opponent. And it held him in a stance like a statue, arguing with his morales and his instincts.

He looked toward the six mares behind the god-like Princess. They were looking toward him, mixed expressions of fear and hope on their collective faces. His gaze fell again to his hooves, more jumbled thoughts ripping through his mind. But it was obvious that that single thought had decided it for him. He looked up suddenly, his face set in a determined frown.

He bowed low, crossing his forelegs in front of him. “Ego sum virtus tua, Caesar.” He said, his voice carried a sense of finality to it. He lifted his head and looked directly at her. “My strength is yours, your majesty. I accept.” His deep voice echoed around the rooms, as if to show that he would not sway from his decision.

The princess smiled. “You would do this? Put yourself in danger for ponies you do not even know?” The princess had a sound of praise and sadness mixed into her words. Coalback looked up at her with the same look of determination.

“Princess, I would not be alive today if I did not. I would end my life before I let myself become something that would look to leave those in need without it.” He said, the words seemed to set the princess at ease however.

“Very well,” She turned to the six mares behind her. “Go and prepare for your train, girls. It has been a long and stressful few days for all of you, and you deserve to rest in your own homes tonight.” The mares bowed subtly and were ushered out slowly. “Coalback will meet you at the station in half an hour, don’t worry.”

The girls left and the princesses turned their attention back to Coalback. Celestia began by trying to console the confused look on his face.

“I’m sure you must have many questions right now, but-”

“Just one, actually.” Coalback interrupted, his manners dropping almost instantly. “What are ‘The Elements of Harmony’?”

        The Canterlot Train Station was not the most extravagant or amazingly beautiful station in Equestria, but it was a nice building anyway. The ponies milled about in large crowds, the large city being one of the more active ports of trade and travel. Anypony ranging from a traveling tourist, to a budding entrepreneur eventually made their way here. The main building was separated from the actual train tracks by a thin stretch of garden, and many ponies crossed from the open tracks to the building on the varied paths leading through it.

A group of six mares talked in a huddle at the main train station building. The smallest of them, Fluttershy, cowered among them as she used them as shields from the crowds. Pinkie Pie bounced happily, and Rarity flipped her hair occasionally. They were all talking excitedly to each other, most of the time directed toward Rainbow Dash. They had missed her and were eager to plan activities for when they returned home.

        They all laughed at some undecipherable joke that must have gotten through the collective chattering. Rainbow stopped and waved into the crowd over her friends heads, they all turned to try and see what had captured her attention.

        A very large cloaked figure approached their group, his grey speckled face peeking out from under the deep blue of the cloth. A large bag hung over his side, presumably full of his old clothes and things that the Princess had given to him. He approached the group slowly, having to make his way through the crowd to get to them.

        “Coalback! There you are, we were starting to get worried.” Rainbow called, all of the mares facing him now.

        “I’m sorry, the discussion with the princesses went on longer than she had anticipated. And I had to go collect my things.” He said, his voice shaking barely perceptively.

        “Coalback, is something wrong?” Rarity spoke up, picking out the shake in his voice easily.

        “N-no, I...I’m just not very comfortable in crowds. I’ll be better once we’re out of here.” He said, turning around to look into the froth of ponies behind him.

        “Don’t worry, we can get on the train now.” Rainbow said, waving a couple of tickets at him. “We already have your ticket too.” The group broke into a short line as they moved out toward the train.

        As they walked Rainbow Dash sidled up beside Coalback and began talking to him. “While we’re on the train you can tell me some more about yourself, I’m really excited to hear more about your home.” Her words brought a small smile to his face, but which quickly dropped as he voiced his own comment.

        “I also have questions for you, I want to,” He paused in the middle of his sentence to find the words he was looking for. “get a few things straight.”

        Rainbow nodded, happy that he was finally going to cooperate with her curiosity. Pinkie jumped up and down a moment later, pointing excitedly to a particularly colorful train engine.

        “There it is!” Her bubbly voice called out. “That’s the train to Ponyville!” She hopped forward, actually hugging the train attendant in front of one of the cars. She greeted him happily and talked with him for a moment, laughing with him at some joke she had made.

        “Does Pinkie know him?” Coalback asked.

        “Probably, she practically knows everypony in Ponyville.” Rainbow said matter of factly. “When we get on the train it’s my turn for a question.” She said, bumping him with her shoulder as she hurried up to the train.

        They approached the door, and the now much more cheerful attendant checked their tickets for them. They entered the car, it was simply decorated but was laid out comfortably. The benches were padded, and faced toward each other in repeating patterns. The windows were closed, but let in plenty of light.

Coalback hadn’t actually noticed, but it was still early winter. The air holding a distinct chill to it, perhaps the castle was kept more temperate than he had thought. In fact now that he was looking for it, the ponies outside let out small puffs of fog as they breathed.

The girls walked forward, situating what luggage they had brought with them. They settled into a section that was across from all of them, letting them all sit near each other. Rainbow Dash patted the seat next to her in an indication for him to sit with her. He walked over and tossed his slightly bulging bag onto the compartment above the seat.

“So here’s how this is gonna work,” Rainbow said as he sat down next to her, letting out a small clicking sound from his ankles as he did. “We’ll ask a question, then you, then us, and we just continue like that. Sound good?” She said, he nodded.

“So first question; what was, um, Ah-mare-ih-kah, like?” She said, sounding out the name carefully.

“It probably could have been considered one of the nicer places to live. There weren’t any warlords or famines, like in other places. But it was also one of the most stubborn and unforgiving places in the world. If you were even slightly off in the eyes of others around you, you became a target. Words were their weapons, and they wielded them well.

“In some places, if you angered someone, they could have you put in jail with just a look. That was the main reason I left, I was a scapegoat for everything from soured crops to building fires. No one wanted anything to do with me once they found out who I was.”

The rest of the girls looked at him with mixed expressions of pity, awe, and sadness.

“That sounds terrible.” Applejack spoke up. “Just outright blamin’ ya fer things that have nothin’ to do with ya. That’s outright rude, that is.”

“It’s alright really, it was all superstition driving them anyway.” Coalback shrugged it off. The train let out a long whistle and a moment later it lurched forward. “But despite all the crime, it had a certain beauty to it. The cities had buildings that would reach higher than the clouds, thousands of meters into the air. And there were so many lights that you couldn’t even see the stars! Even from space, the cities stood like beacons in the darkness.”

Coalback pulled back his hood, and let his black mane flow out. The space around his eyes, where the dark splotches never stretched to, made his green eyes much more noticeable than they should have been.

“So now it’s my turn.” He said, looking across at them as the landscape behind the windows started to speed past them. “The Princesses said that you six were ‘The Elements of Harmony’. What does that mean? And why are they important?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight spoke up. “They are only one of the most powerful defenses that Equestria has ever had. Sealed away and then cured Nightmare Moon? Saved the world from Discord and his reign of Chaos?” She said, trying to spark some recognition in Coalback. He shrugged. “We are a link that increases the power of the Elements, making them some of the most powerful relics of magical power in all of Equestria.

“They are represented in all of us, and bound by our friendship. Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, and Magic.” She gestured to each of the mares in turn, finally ending with herself. “They have protected Equestria in dire times, keeping peace for over a thousand years.”

Twilight looked at him, confident in her explanation. But Coalback just looked at her. “You lost me at friendship.” He said, drawing an exasperated sigh from all the mares. “You can’t seriously be telling me that you six, sweet, little ponies have saved an entire nation.” He said, almost laughing at the idea.

“Hey, we have too!” Rainbow interjected, poking him in the chest as she did. “We stopped Discord when he turned ponyville into his personal playground, we stopped Nightmare Moon from plunging the world into an eternal night! And we stopped the Changeling Invasion!” She said. Coalback looked at her, his face now finally showing recognition on it.

“So it was you six in the stained glass?” He asked, slightly exasperated. He had almost presumed that the tales were old legends, told by the glass.

The mares let out their cacophonous answer, their unanimous yes spread into varying degrees.

“You’ll have to tell me more about this sometime.” He said, knowing that information about how important these ponies were would help him in the end.

“Oh, it’s my turn now!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hopping up and coming to sit on the floor in front of him. “How did you get that?” She said, pointing a hoof to his neck.

All the others leaned forward to look at what Pinkie had indicated, and gasped when they saw it. A jagged line of scars showed through his fur and ran around his neck, just poking up over the collar of the cloak. Coalback stiffened for a second, but relaxed afterward.

“I got that a long time ago.” Coalback said, a sad tone in his voice. “On the night my family died.” His voice silenced them, and they waited for him to continue. “My father, he tried to kill me. I had tried to stop him from doing something that only I could see was foolish.

“He saw me as a threat and attacked me.” He reached up and rubbed at his neck, his thoughts on the memory. “He was going to start a war that he could not win, one that would kill millions of innocents. I stopped him, and the rest of the family that supported him. But by the time it was over...” He drifted off, not being able to bring himself to say the words.

Pinkie Pie had lowered her gaze to the floor, her previously jolly demeanor lost at the sad story. She stood back up slowly and embraced Coalback in a gentle hug. Coalback took a moment before returning the hug slowly.

“I’m sorry...” Pinkie said, her voice sad. “That was such a sad story, I’m sorry.” Her voice was breaking, on the verge of tears.

“It’s okay, I’ve gotten over the nightmares, but their memory still makes me...sad” He picked his words carefully, and pushed Pinkie Pie away. He tried to reassure her with a smile, which she returned before walking back to her seat.

None of the other ponies felt like asking their questions, put off by the sudden swing of topics. Rainbow leaned into Coalback, trying to reassure him.

“You don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to, Coalback. It’s okay.” Her words were smooth and calming. She really did want to hear his story, but didn’t want to drive him into some sort of depression.

Coalback stretched his wing out from under the cloak, still in his armor underneath it, and pulled her in close. He smiled at her for a second, and then turned to look out the window. He stared at the passing mountainside just outside the window, eventually the others began to drift into other conversations.

Rainbow Dash just looked at Coalback, wrapped warmly in his unusually large wings. There was still so much she didn’t understand about the stallion, not even how he had made his trip to Equestria. She was still looking at him when he turned to her again.

“Rainbow Dash, can you make me a promise?” Coalback said, his words carrying a certain weight she had not expected. She nodded slowly, wanting to try and draw his mind away from the previous topic. “I have a certain...thing, that happens when I get angry or in a bad fight.” He paused, trying to tell if he had made his thoughts clear to her. She motioned for him to continue.

“If you see me, and my eyes ever-” He paused again, this time rethinking his words. “When those things happen, my eyes will change. The whites will turn black, or my irises will turn yellow. You have to promise me, that if you see that starting to happen to me, you will calm me down. I could hurt somepony if I lose control like that. Can you do that?” He looked at her, not quite meeting her eyes.

“Um...yes. Why do your eyes do that?” She couldn’t place any reason to the strange circumstances.

“I am filled with a poison that will show itself in my eyes, should it start to take affect. Do not worry.” He quickly assured her, seeing her reaction to the news. “It is not deadly, at least not for me. Sometimes I cannot resist it, and it takes me over.”

“Like that voice you talked about?” She whispered, not wanting to make this public news. He nodded.

“Will you help me if that happens?” His eyes were filled with hope, his voice laced with worry.

“Of course,” She said, determination in her scratchy voice. “I won’t let you down. Especially if this is important to you.” She leaned closer to him, feeling his heartbeat under the metal. He smiled at her.

“Thank you Rainbow Dash, it means very much to me.” He pulled his wing a little closer and continued to look out the window.

Dash leaned against him, and started to wonder if his armor was really made of metal. It was softer than that, like a hard rubber, just a little give to it. And it was warm too, like Coalback’s wing was. She could feel her eyes becoming heavier as she leaned into him, his heartbeat like a slow, throbbing lullaby.

She yawned just a little, adjusting her position to something more comfortable. She slowly let her eyes droop down as she fell into the all too welcome sleep.

Scare Tactics

-Scare Tactics-

The cold fog drifted around the arid landscape, the air thick and hard to breath. The sound of dripping water drifted through the air and bounced against Rainbow Dash’s ears.

She didn’t remember how she had gotten to the strange place, her mind felt sluggish and clouded, she could barely even think. Her eyes drifted around the fog, trying to find some sort of landmark to lock onto. Her legs shook despite her efforts to remain still, and her breath was quickening.

There was something very wrong about the quiet of the strange place, her eyes darted faster and faster around her. Then she froze, a sound like grating stones permeated the air, the low growl of a predator.

Rainbow Dash’s limbs froze in fear, every muscle locked as she tried to locate the sound after it had stopped. Her heart was beating in her chest like a mad drummer, too fast and too loud. She jumped when the sound came again, joined by a second deeper one.

Voices, just audible whispers, drifted through the air like the ever present fog, being heard over the growls. She couldn’t even hear what they were saying. Snarls echoed through the fog, the sound of some beast issuing a challenge.

The voices rose, only just, and she began to make out words in them.

“This one...cold...die like the other...”

“Beast...deadly genes...regret...fear...”

The voices went on, becoming more and more frequent. They rose up from the air around her, urgent to be heard in their obscure warnings. The urgency increased, the snarls turned to roars of rage.

The ground vibrated around her feet. She looked down at the tracks she stood upon. Had those been there before? The sound of a train whistle, loud and getting louder.

The vibrations were getting more and more intense, the whistle sounded again. She turned to look down the tracks, a train was pushing it’s way through the fog at a pace that could have put her to shame.

She was frozen, stuck to the tracks as the train approached. Her own body was working against her, she couldn’t move from the unwavering path of the metal battering ram hurtling toward her. The whistle sounded again.

The train filled her vision, she couldn’t look away.

        Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, not even caring that the sunlight burned into her retinas. She wouldn’t dare return to the nightmare, even as the details started to fade. She let out a shaky breath, and jumped at the sound of the train whistle.

        “We’re almost at our stop, Rainbow Dash.” A deep voice told her, originating from just behind and above her. A gentle hoof rested on her shoulder.

        She was laying down across the seat, facing out toward the rest of the car. Her head rested on something soft and thick. The train car stretched out before her, and the light of the late afternoon sun flowed into the windows of the car.

        She lifted her head from the pillow it rested on, and turned to look at the rest of the car. Her head had been resting on a folded cloak. It rested neatly folded on top of Coalback’s knees, who sat in a reclined position. His back was straight, his wings folded against his sides. He almost seemed natural in the position, somehow.

        Her head had been laying across his legs, supported by the soft fabric of his now slightly crumpled cloak. His greenish eyes were trained on her, watching with concern.

        “Are you okay, it looked like you were having...” He paused for a moment to find his words. “an intense dream.” He finished, trying to emulate her type of speech. She smiled, a mask of confidence falling over her inner fear.

        “Please! I’m fine, it was just a stupid dream.” She looked around, as if another topic would be hidden amongst the decorum of the nearly empty train car. “So, uh, how long was I out?” She asked finally settling on something generic to change the topic.

        “About an hour. The train is ahead of schedule, and we will be in Ponyville momentarily.” He said, copying the train conductor’s words. She chuckled at that, bringing a small smile from Coalback himself.

        She hopped off the seat and did a few stretches, making sure she didn’t get a cramp from sitting so long. Coalback unfolded his cloak and draped it over himself again, pulling up the hood once they began to near the station.

        Rainbow Dash jumped up, hovering with her wings as she pulled down her lightweight travel bag. It had been packed for her, the other WonderBolt Trainees had left her stuff for her. Coalback looked out the window, his head never moving as the other ponies gathered their things.

        “Get your bag, Coalback. I want off this train as soon as we pull in.” She said, drawing his gaze away from the window, the train station slowly pulling up beside the train as it came to a stop.

        Coalback stood and leaned up on his hind hooves, pulling the bag he had brought with him down. His height allowed him to take it without having to stretch nearly at all. He came back down, the bag’s handle clutched in his strange teeth.

        Rainbow turned around, seeing the rest of her friends already moving toward the doors on the station side of the train. She trotted over to meet with them, bringing herself into the conversation as she did. Coalback followed, his tall bulk a reassuring presence behind them.

        They exited as soon as the train doors opened, walking onto the wood platform. The small, familiar buildings of ponyville surrounded them. It felt like home.

        Coalback exited shortly after them, putting his bag on the ground. His motions seemed more carefully measured than usual, and she was still looking toward him when a new voice called.

        “You six! Hold it right there!” The voice was male, but not particularly intimidating. Although with the way the voice seemed to be toned, it was meant to be.

        She turned toward the new voice, as well as the rest of her friends. The voice originated from a unicorn stallion, his purple mane blowing in the light breeze contrasting with the blue of his coat. He approached them with his eyes narrowed, his mouth twisted into some sort of satisfied smirk. The rest of his body was concealed in a black cloak.

        Behind him, four others walked. Another unicorn followed near the front of the group, his hood folded strangely over his horn. Two bulkier forms walked just behind him, eagles claws digging at the dirt as they walked. And behind them all, a huge hulk of mass towered.

        The strange and varied group approached with confidence in their steps. The six of them took a short step back, realizing they had been pinned between the approaching group and the train.

        “Surrender yourselves and the Elements!” The leading unicorn commanded, his voice dripping with venom. “Or we burn this town to the ground, and you six with it!” His ultimatum presented, he paused. His eyes dragged hungrily over the mares, like a hungry pony in a buffet line.

        Rainbow Dash had recovered first, and was about to put the stallion in his place. But Coalback’s voice cut through the air with the subtlety of a charging elephant.

        “Girls, inside the station. Now.” His voice was loud and commanding, putting the girls into motion toward the station before they registered an argument against it.

        “I find your proposal interesting,” Coalback said, approaching the lead stallion whom stood several paces in front of his companions. “Allow me to make a counteroffer.”

        Coalback moved so fast that there was a crack like a bullwhip as he connected with the other stallion. His right hoof extended into a locked and extended position, as the stallion simply left the ground. His single strike had launched the stallion over his companions and onto the ground behind them.

        Coalback’s hoof returned to the ground, he squared his stance. His wings moved forward under the cloak, pulling it off in a swift motion to let it fall to the ground. His armor gleamed in the late afternoon sun, throwing stray rays of light onto the ground around him. He had replaced the helmet on his head inside the train, fully encasing himself inside the intricate metal.

        The group reacted only a moment later, the griffons throwing back their own cloaks and bringing to bear some sort of crossbow. The other unicorn threw back his hood, wielding his orange horn with precision as it charged up with a fiery red aura. The last of them stood still, perhaps he was confident in his compatriots.

        They fired in synchronisation, the magical strike followed shortly by a barrage of crossbow bolts. Coalback pulled a shield covered wing in front of him, waiting the short moment for the strikes to hit. Rather than connecting with a violent explosion, the magic simply washed off him like water.

         To a normal pony, the magical blast might have been deadly, but Coalback had a few more tricks than that. If anyone had been listening carefully, they would have heard Coalback’s mumblings just before it hit. But he had no time to recover as the fast flying bolts quickly followed.

        He couldn’t simply wait for them, he had to move fast. He could feel adrenaline in his veins as he moved, sharpening his senses and speeding his actions. His wing changed position, the first bolt connecting with the metal shield and embedding in it. His other wing shot up and slapped the next bolt from the air. He began his advance, the griffons already reloaded and the unicorn preparing another magical attack.

        He barely registered his surroundings now, the power of the Wolf filling his limbs and narrowing his perception to only what was necessary. The next bolts flew toward him, he deflected the first off his helmet. The second imbedded in his chest plate, but not going through fully.

        Coalback reached the unicorn first, his throat vibrated with the roar that escaped it. He connected with him, not even bothering to allow him to retaliate. His wings spread wide as he put his full weight into the strike. He could feel his hoof connect with the orange pony’s neck, vaguely. The neck snapped instantly, the unrestrained magic that he had been gathering spreading forth in a ribbon-like explosion of light.

        Coalback continued his momentum, using it to knock the crossbow from the nearest griffon’s grip. It reacted almost as fast as it happened, the griffon reaching out to scrape it’s talon’s on Coalback’s helmet.

        He ducked under, bringing his wing forward to connect with the griffon’s stomach. The other griffon threw away his crossbow, opting for a club at his side. Coalback could feel the change before it even happened, his instincts taking over as he rolled.

        The heavy club impacted the ground where he had been only a moment before. The other griffon was faster however, it tackled Coalback in the middle of his roll. They struggled on the ground, talons and wings flying in a blur. The other Griffon prowled around them, waiting for his companion to finish off the pony clad in metal.

        Coalback had the advantage, in his armor he was heavier than the griffon and was able to use his greater weight in his leverage. He rolled on top of the heap, the griffon’s exposed neck just in front of his head. In an instant he was on it, the clasp holding closed the armor’s muzzle-like front broke as he opened his mouth wide.

        The metal acted as his teeth did, ripping flesh and tearing meat. He clamped his teeth down on the powerful neck in front of him, and he felt the carotid artery burst under his tongue. The griffon’s blood flowed into his mouth, he tasted the life draining from the griffon under him.

The tables had turned in just moments, and he was now down to one griffon and the other hooded group member. He rose from the tangle of limbs, blood dripping from the dying griffon’s throat and his own mouth. The second griffon, looked at him with horror in his eyes. He clutched at his club like it was a raft in this, the river of chaos.

        “P-paholainen!” He yelled, his native tongue stuttering in his panic. Coalback didn’t let him say anything else.

        A knife protruded from the griffon’s throat, he threw it fast enough to pierce through to the back. Blood dripped from his beak and neck as he choked.

        The other of the group was staring at Coalback, but it’s cloaked figure revealed nothing. Coalback stood in a crouched position, ready to attack or run should he need to. The griffon fell over, his last gurgling breath coming out slowly.

The staredown went on for what seemed like hours to him, he didn’t dare move. With as much bulk as the thing had, it could probably flatten him in a moment’s notice. It rolled it’s shoulders, the cloak coming undone at the front and falling around it. It’s over all shape was very near to a minotaur's, Coalback could remember pictures of minotaurs from school.

        But this thing was nothing like those pictures. It was bipedal, with legs like a bull’s, bent back and ending in a split hoof-like shape. It’s skin was some sort of leathery padding, resembling a shaved bear more than a lizard. The most jarring difference was the head, it was tall and split down the middle by a vertically opening beak. It’s compound eyes stared forward at him, no emotion at all in their fragmented gaze.

        It was the strangest thing Coalback had ever seen, and he had seen some strange things. It opened it’s beak, the head practically splitting in two as it did, and let out a long hiss. Inside the mouth of the thing he could clearly see the two large rows of teeth. They moved on their own, reminding him of an eal. A pharyngeal jaw, if he remembered correctly.

        It jumped forward, the sudden speed surprising on the hulking thing. Coalback jumped out of the way, but the creature clipped his side as he went. And the creature just kept coming, swinging at him with it’s long muscular arms. Coalback was clipped again, his helmet being ripped free from his head.

        He couldn’t afford to be stunned by the blow, his mind raced as it fought the blunt trauma. Coalback reached under his wing, attaching a knife to his hoof and drawing it quickly. The creature lunged forward, a hiss leaving it’s beak as it opened wide. Coalback swung his arm, trying to land a blow of his own.

        The creatures beak closed down on his arm, Coalback’s hoof disappearing into its maw. The beak closed forcefully onto his arm, bending the metal around it. Coalback screamed, his arm being crushed by the beak of the hulking creature.

        It reared up, pulling Coalback with him into an arc. Its arm grabbed onto his back leg, dangling him in between its mouth and its arm. Teeth dug into Coalback’s arm, pulling on it with their own movement as the beak held his arm immobile. He could feel the creature slowly pulling, it was going to rip him in half if it succeeded.

        Coalback struggled, ramming the still attached knife into the throat of the thing holding him. It jerked, the knife sliding up into the roof of it’s mouth. Coalback could feel pulsing greymatter through his knife, and kept pushing it. He wrapped his other arm around the creatures head, like an alligator it lacked the strength to force it’s beak open.

        It redoubled its efforts to rip Coalback in half, but it was already too late. Coalback shredded bone and brain as he struggled within the creatures grasp. He felt a surge of his own strength, forcing the knife up and through the thing’s scull. The brain coming out in chunks after it, the creature jerked on last time and dropped onto it’s back.

        The creature was dead, and Coalback could feel his veins burning with rage. But he didn’t care. He pulled and struck at the still closed beak of the creature, he snarled and grunted as he struggled to get free. He eventually pried it open wide enough to slide his blood covered arm from the creatures beak, and fall to the ground next to it.

        Rage filled him, he could feel it driving him forward. He wanted, needed, to rip apart the bodies with his teeth. Drink the blood, gorge on the raw meat. Another growl cut through the air, he felt his eyes burning in the fiery hatred that filled him. He rose back to his hooves, ready to tear into the creature’s warm meat.

        Something rammed into his chest, halting his progress. He looked down, a growl crawling from his throat as he did.

        “Coalback, stop!” Rainbow’s voice called, he paused. He had not expected the tone in her voice. It was scared, desperate. “Calm down, Coalback! It’s okay, I’m here, you’re safe now!” Her hooves were wrapped around his neck and her face was pressed into his shoulder. There was something he was supposed to remember, it had to do with that voice.

        “Calm...” Coalback said, simultaneously feeling the burning of rage subsiding in his veins. “Safe...” He brought his head down, resting it on her shoulder, and let out a long breath. Oxytocin leaking into his blood, counteracting the adrenaline and Wolf’s blood in him.

        “Coalback?” Rainbow’s voice cracked, she was shaking slightly.

        “I’m okay, I just sort of...lost it there, for a second.” He had to force out the words, but he felt the buzz of adrenaline dying off with every word. And in that moment he remembered where he was, in the middle of a bloodbath at a busy train station.

        He stood straight again, eyes searching the ponies around him. He just had to wait, they would know what he was. Then they would get their weapons. Did ponies have guns? He was shaking now, rapidly looking from pony to pony. He felt his limbs tighten, preparing to run as fast as he could.

        “He just saved those ponies!” Someone yelled, their voice followed by the cheering of all the ponies present.

        Coalback balked, he had never been cheered for his...killing, before. Rainbow looked up at him.

        “That was amazing, Coalback. They just fell over when you got to them!” She said, the fear gone from her voice. “Are you okay?” She asked, not sure how much of the blood on him was his own.

        “I’m fine...why are they cheering?” He was completely confused, he was sure that his actions would have simply driven him onto the path that he was all too familiar with.

        “Those jerks have been terrorizing the town for the past week!” A pony cheered, his voice carrying over the crowd as he pushed through it to see better.

        Coalback looked over the ponies, their faces mixes of disgust and happiness. He must have done something right, as much as he doubted it.

        His ears perked suddenly, there had been five of them.

        He turned around, searching for the fifth stallion. His eyes rolled over him, just a few meters from the body of the beast he had killed. He pulled himself from Rainbow’s embrace and walked over to him.

        He put a hoof on the stallion’s neck, feeling for a pulse. He smiled slightly, still alive.

        “He’s alive.” He called, looking over his shoulder to Rainbow Dash. “Maybe we can get some answers from him.” He had switched directly back to his authoritative voice, not letting doubt seed it. “Someone clean up this mess!”

        The stallion was tied to a chair, his body in an upright position that looked slightly uncomfortable. His horn was in a clamp that Twilight had quickly put on him, explaining that it would render his magic useless. The basement below the library was well lit, and the walls covered in clearly labeled drawers. The floor had been cleared, a table set up in the center.

        Coalback had placed a small burner on top of the table, a hose leading away from it to the wall where the gas came in from. On the floor beside the empty chair was his smashed helmet, a useless lump of metal now. He walked slowly around to the unconscious stallion in the other chair, and spat in his ear.

        “GAH!! Why would you do that?” The stallion woke suddenly, rubbing his ear on his shoulder to try and rid himself of the intruding saliva. He stopped suddenly, his eyes opening wide.

        The six mares stood around the table, their faces set in scowls as they stared down at the stallion. He swallowed loudly, realizing his new predicament. Coalback walked calmly to the other chair at the table, across from the stallion.

        He had yet to clean himself of the blood on his muzzle and arms, his armor and fur stained crimson. He sat in the chair, taking his time before talking.

        “This is how this works; I ask a question, you answer it. If you lie to me, I will take the answers I need. Is this clear?” Coalbacks words came out calmly, matter-of-fact in every syllable. Several of the mares around him grew several shades paler, even taking a step back. The stallion swallowed again, a look of defiance overtaking his features.

        “I’m not afraid of you!” He spat, but before he could follow up Coalback moved. His hoof shot forward and pulled the stallion across the table, chair and all.

        “YOU STINK OF FEAR!” He yelled, his voice echoing in the small room. He let the stallion fall back into his previous position before continuing. “Perhaps you require some convincing, as to how serious I am. Twilight, light the burner, please.” He turned to the other mares.

        “You should leave, things are about to get...messy.” He said, three of the mares left. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie removed themselves from the room. But Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash stayed. Their gazes never wavered, Coalback nodded to them.

        Twilight lifted a flint spark lighter in her magic, turning on the gas as she worked it. The fire burst to life, collecting into a blue cone above the metal. Coalback pulled out one of the knives from under his wing, and placed it over the cone. He watched the fire shape itself around the sharp metal for a moment before turning back to the stallion.

        “Where I come from, terrorism is an act of war, and one of the more...punished...crimes.” He said, almost nonchalantly as he held the dagger over the flame. He reached up with his free hoof, pulling off the chest plate that still had a bolt stuck in it.

        He revealed his chest, pointing to a spot on it before speaking. “Do you see this tattoo?” He asked, the stallion looked.

        On the right side of his chest was a circle of scarred flesh, and in the center was a black mark. The mark had a ‘Y’ shape, but the line split it down the middle. Like the arms of a cross had been pushed upward. Above it was another tattooed symbol, this one an angular ‘n’ shape, similar shapes had been cut around the symbol in concentric circles leaving neat scars. It spread out into a complete ring of twelve, another half ring surrounding that one.

        “The center symbol is given to members of my blood when they reach adulthood. The others are given for each successful hunt, but I have repurposed them. Every one of these symbols in a circle represents a significant death that I have caused, I will never forget a single one.” Coalback motioned toward the circle of scars, there were eighteen of them.

He then brought his hoof over to the arm holding the knife, he pried off the mangled metal. His arm was revealed, it was covered in small cuts from where the teeth had sliced through the metal. The knife attached to his hoof was glowing a dull red now.

“Now that I am in another country, I feel it is time to start again.” His voice grew a tone darker, he moved his now unimpeded arm away from the flame. The knife glowed white hot, he pressed it against the left side of his chest.

It smoked, burning hair and flesh as he pressed it to himself. He grimaced, but did not move. His arm started to move, carving out a new symbol on his chest. The knife moved up and down, creating an ‘M’ shape with outer lines that were too long for a normal letter. When that symbol was done, he pulled away the knife and let the blood from his chest flow out slowly.

He moved the knife up, starting another symbol. Twilight had looked away, trying to block the nausea that she felt. Applejack stared in horror, her knees shaking slightly. Rainbow stood stock still, her mouth open in shock.

The stallion was in pure horror, his hooves shook, his head beaded with sweat, and every hair on his body stood on end. Coalback began carving the angular ‘n’s into his chest, two of them. By now the smell of burning fur, and searing flesh had permeated the room like a heavy cloud.

Coalback placed the still hot knife on the table, twisting his wrist to let it fall on the table. His chest had three new burned cuts in it, the knife had not fully cauterized them and they bled slowly.

“I do not need to ask you for the information I want, that is a formality. I do it out of courtesy, not because it is your privilege of choice.” His voice was low, his words laced with menace. “You will answer my questions, or I will rip them from your skull.” The stallion whimpered, the new smell of piss and sweat joining the cloud of foul smells.

“What is your name?” Coalback said, his first question coming out in a calm voice.

        “W-what?” The stallion stammered, he flinched as Coalback growled at him.

        “‘What’ is a rather strange name, even for a pony.” Coalback began tapping his hoof on the table.

        “R-Regal! M-my n-name is R-Regal Th-Thunder!” He said, stammering out the words quickly.

“Who are you working for, Regal?” Coalback’s voice had returned to a calm tone.

“T-t-th-they are from the south. B-b-but they don’t have a name!” He said, his voice rising in panic as he started to speak.

“Are there more of those things? The thing that walked on two legs.” Coalback said, his voice still equally calm.

“Y-yes! They have an army! There are hundreds of them!” He whimpered as Coalback’s stare intensified. “Their hive is to the south, they listen to their master only!”

“Who is their master?”

“I-I don’t know! I’ve never been told his name! B-but...there is war coming.” His voice changed suddenly, his body relaxing in calm. His pupils dilated, the blackness nearly overtaking his large eyes. “A war is coming, and our master shall receive his revenge.”

“Who is your master, Regal? Or am I still talking to Regal?” Coalback asked, his eyes narrowing. The stallion smiled, and when he spoke his voice had changed.

“My my, you are a clever one aren’t you. I had no idea you were strong and smart.” His voice was very different and held a mocking tone.

“Discord?” Twilight gasped, her voice low and surprised. But the stallion continued.

“A war is coming demon, and you stand in a position to profit from it.” The stallion’s smile widened until it looked almost painful.

“Who are you, what are your goals with this war?” Coalback said, his voice growing darker as he spoke.

“I want justice!” The voice snarled, the smile dropping in an instant. “I am the rightful ruler, the eldest of the royals! But when I took my proper seat of power I was betrayed!” The stallion foamed at the mouth, spittle flying across the table. “All of you damned ponies will suffer, you and your princesses!”

Coalback would have asked more, but the stallion jerked. His chest crushed itself with a sickening sound of breaking ribs and ripping muscles. The stallion had imploded as the presence that had overtaken him vanished. The three ponies stared in horror at the suddenly dead stallion.

“What in tarnation...?” Applejack said, looking in shock at the body still tied to the chair.

“How did-?” Twilight started, looking toward Coalback in the hopes that he had the answers to her questions.

“I should have foreseen this, I should have set up a circle around him. Then perhaps we could have kept him alive.” Coalback tapped the table as he thought.

“What are you talking about? What happened?!” Rainbow spoke up.

“An outside force, some demon or spirit, took his body. When it left, the body was drained of its magical energy. The vacuum caused the implosion.” He stated. “Greater forces are at play here, greater than originally estimated.”

“What do you mean? Did the princesses talk to you about this?” Twilight asked, in response Coalback nodded.

“She feared that there were ponies planning an attack of some sort. She said something about a spy network, but I did not ask about that.” He looked toward them. “These terrorists may not be the last, but from what the princesses told me this town should be clean of them. It’s too small for that, so they were outsiders.”

“Okay...okay.” Twilight said, thinking. “We should inform Princess Celestia of this, she will know what to do. We’ll have to help clean those...bodies...from the road.” She gulped, and turned toward the door. “I’ll go write her a letter, I’m sure I’ll have a response by the end of the day.” She left, the three ponies remained.

“Ah should go too.” Applejack said, her voice sounding a bit shaky. “Ah need tah check on tha farm. Y’all stop by sometime, Ah can get yah some apples for yer trouble, Coalback.” She nodded to the two of them, before taking her leave.

Coalback sat, staring at the body of the former terrorist. Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Are you okay, Coalback? You were getting pretty scary, for a minute there.” Her voice shook, much to her annoyance.

“I’m fine, but the fact that there is terrorism spreading into a small town like this...it is frightening. And where there is one, there are many. This won’t be the first of attacks, and if their master knows who I am, then the attacks will only be more fierce.” Coalback turned to her, his face still covered in blood from the fight.

“But yes, I am fine. The cuts have already stopped bleeding.” He indicated his arms and chest.

“Good...um. Come on, you can stay at my house. Can you fly right now?” Her words were awkward in her mouth, but she had to do something for him.

“Yes.” He said, getting up from the chair. He gathered the pieces of armor he had taken off, and replaced a few where he could. The helmet remained off, completely destroyed during the fight. Then he gathered up the dead stallion, tossing the body over his back.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked, surprised he would even think to touch the corpse.

“There are a few things I need to do first...” Coalback’s trailed off, his thoughts overtaking him as he solemnly walked up the stairs.

Seizures and Censors

-Seizures and Censors-

        Coalback walked up to the edge of the water, his hoof-tips just entering the edge of one of the larger lakes around Ponyville. He clutched a bowl in his teeth, a candle burned in the center of it. The light played over the water in the darkness, stars slowly revealing themselves as the light of the sun was replaced by the moon.

        He lowered it to the water, and let it drift out into the lake. He lifted his head slowly, his face holding a dour mood.

        “All souls, whether in their lifetimes were considered good, or bad, deserve to be respected and honored. We send your bodies back to the earth so that your spirits may go on. I am by no means a priest, nor do I know your traditions. But I hope that my words will be enough to send you in peace. Requiescant in pace.” He ended his speech with some blessing in a tongue he used rarely.

        He looked to the sky, examining the stars as they revealed themselves in the waning night. He felt something soft and warm brush up against him, but he did not acknowledge it at first. He sighed, a wing wrapped around his shoulders.

        “It’s been a long time since I’ve had to do that.” He said, his voice quiet as he remembered some moment from his past. Rainbow Dash leaned into him, trying to comfort him as best as she could.

        “We should go, it’s getting late.” She said, pulling on him with her wing. He followed, giving little resistance as he tore himself away from the rite that he had insisted on performing. “Why did you do that for them? You didn’t even know them, you were the one who...”

        “They were victims, every one of them. That voice, whoever he was, he is the true villain here.” He said, trying to explain his feelings. “A child is not persecuted for being captured and released for ransom.”

        “Okay, but why did you do it? Why not ask someone else to do that?” She asked, steering him over a hill toward her house.

It had been strange watching Coalback. He had carefully wrapped the bodies in clean bandages, turning them into white mummies. He had then tied heavy rocks to them, and sunk them into the deep part of the lake. He did the same thing for all of them, the griffons, even the monster that had nearly torn his arm off. Then he had stacked up a pile of rocks, and lit that candle.

        “When you-...If I am to condemn another to death, then I must guide them in what comes after.” He said, pausing when his words didn’t quite come out the way he wanted. “It is my duty, I feel that I owe dues to those I send to death’s door. Whether or not it was their decision to fight, it was mine to kill.” He swallowed, his voice dropping as he said the final words.

        Rainbow Dash stopped, nodding as she accepted his answer. She looked at the ground, her gaze falling on their luggage that she had piled there.

        “You can carry your things up with you, I’ll show you the way in.” She said, disconnecting herself from his shoulder. Coalback looked around him, confusion covering his features.

        “I thought you said we were going to your house.” He said, looking everywhere but up above him.

        “I am, look up.” She nodded skyward, a large cloud blocking the stars from view.

        “All I see is a particularly low cloud.” He said, confusion still decorating his words like icing on a cake.

        “That’s it!” She said, trying to raise the mood by laughing lightly. “I built my house up there. Come on, I’ll show you.” She bent down and gripped her bag in her mouth, Coalback following suit as she took off at a slow pace.

        She led him up past the edge of the cloud, revealing her house entirely to him. The cloud had been sculpted to form tangible and seemingly solid walls and columns. The theme of it centered around the columns and the waterfalls of prismatic color that fell from it. Coalback gasped, nearly dropping his luggage as he did.

        Rainbow Dash laughed through the handle gripped in her teeth. She waved him over, a door carved from clouds was near her. Then she did something that made Coalback nearly fall from the sky in surprise.

        She dropped down onto the cloud, standing on it as if it were solid ground. She noticed his reaction and patted the cloud with a hoof.

        “Go ahead.” She said, indicating that he should land atop the cloud as well.

He hesitated, looking at what he knew was merely water vapor condensed into a form that could hang in the air. He felt his mind rebelling at the very idea of standing on something that was clearly not solid in any way, but he slowly approached for a landing. He hovered over it for a moment, taking a deep breath before closing his wings and falling.

He landed with a soft noise, like a pillow hitting a hard floor. The cloud felt...fluffy, soft even. But it was definitely solid under his hooves. Rainbow Dash laughed.

“You’re such a foal! You look like a little pegasus taking his first steps, it’s ridiculous!” She laughed again, letting it trail off as she caught her breath. “Pegasus magic let’s all pegasi walk on clouds, even fly. But with wings like yours, you probably need less than most!” She felt her face grow hot, realizing that yet again she had been fixated on his wings. She coughed lightly, and Coalback spoke.

“I never even would have considered that a possibility. Are clouds made of something different here?” He asked, poking at a wispy piece of cloud that had drifted away from the porch area that they stood on.

“Made of water vapor, same as anywhere else.” She said.

“How strange...” He mumbled in response, watching as the cloud drifted apart as he pushed it.

“Let’s get inside, I really want to sleep in my bed tonight. I don’t even know how long we’ve been in Canterlot.” She said, pushing open the door as she did.

Inside the cloud house was almost as impressive as the outside, it being lit by the soft glow of the rainbow streams running through it.. The floor had been sculpted and polished, looking like an almost marble substance. The walls were mixes of fluffy walls and prismatic curtains. There were several doors in the one room, two of which actual wood. They led to a kitchen, some room full of only fluffy clouds with some sort of pedestal, a closet, and a restroom.

On the far end of the room, Coalback could see a staircase leading up to even more rooms. He felt like he was a child again, left to explore a fanciful castle.

Rainbow simply threw her bag into the closet nearby, opting to head toward the stairs.

“Follow me, I’ll show you where you can sleep.” She yawned, letting herself walk slowly along the cloud stairs. Coalback followed, feeling almost as energetic as a puppy.

She led him down a short hallway to two doors that were across from each other. One was a deep purple, with cloudy swirls in the fluffy door. The second door was plain white cloud, and he wondered for a second how she had gotten so many colors of clouds up into her house.

She opened the second of the doors, pointing to a wooden wardrobe that sat against the wall. “Put your things in there, I don’t want anything falling through the floor if we can help it. Bathroom and shower is down the hall, I’m in the room across from yours if you need anything else.” She yawned again. “G’night.” She turned and left, letting Coalback explore the room.

The bed was made of more sculpted clouds. He wandered to the wardrobe, depositing his bag inside. Then proceeding to remove the pieces of his armor, setting them gently inside the wardrobe. He pulled a tattered pair of sweats from his bag, the damage wasn’t bad, mostly just singing.

He pulled on the sweats, ripping a hole in the back as he did. His tail swung freely from the newly modified clothing. It did not take him long to decide that the room could await inspection until the light of the sun could illuminate it.

He fell asleep almost instantly, pausing only to savour the softness of the cloud bed.

        For once, Rainbow Dash was not woken by a nightmare. She felt herself gradually coming up from the depths of her slumber, becoming slowly more aware of her surroundings as she did. Her bed was warm, and the clouds were soft.

        She opened her eyes slightly, the clouds that made up the walls of her room coming into focus slowly. They had turned a lighter purple in the rising sun, but remained in the soothing hue. A stray ray of sunlight fell on the door, one of the clouds acting as a shutter had shifted in the night.

        She smacked her lips, attempting to rid her mouth of the morning taste. She yawned as she swung her legs out from under the cloudy blanket.

        She made her way out of her room, and would have turned to the bathroom. But the sound of choked gasping halted her, she turned toward the guest bedroom door. She pushed her hoof against it, swinging it open to reveal the room she had let Coalback use.

        Coalback lay gasping for air on his bed, the covers thrown to the floor. His eyes were open wide, but he was not seeing anything. They were contracted to a point where it almost seemed that he didn’t have pupils. And they were changing in color; flipping between green, golden yellow, and blood red as fast as one of Pinkie’s strobe light machines.

        She took a sharp breath at the sight, the clouds had been stained red with blood from his reopened wounds. It looked like he couldn’t breathe.

        She ran forward, he could be having some sort of seizure. She had to snap him out of it before something dangerous happened.

        “Coalback!” She yelled, grabbing onto his shoulders. “Snap out of it, Coalback! Tell me what’s wrong! Let me help you!” She pushed his head up, trying to get him to look at her. He took a longer gasp, and spat out a word.

        “WATER-” He gasped again, trying to pull in enough air to think and speak at the same time. “Lots of it!” He stopped trying to speak, the strobe light effect of his eyes becoming more intense as he tried to get more air.

        Rainbow jumped through the window, knocking a hole in the cloud structure as she went. She searched through the sky desperately, locating several fluffy clouds nearby. She flew to them quickly, gathering them into a cyclone as she pushed them into a smaller shape. The more dense clouds turning darker as she increased the pressure around them.

        She compressed them into something slightly bigger than a pony, and began moving it toward her house. She pushed it through the window, hovering it over Coalback’s head.

        “Here goes nothing!” She said, pulling up to stomp down on the cloud.

        Her hooves hit, setting off thunder in the cloud as water fell out of it in waves. She kept stomping, pushing all the water out into the room below. When she finished, every cloud in the room was a shade darker, and the one below her was barely a whisp of collected water.

        Her breathing was ragged as she darted around it to look at Coalback. He had stopped gasping, and was breathing deeply with his eyes closed tight.

        “Coalback?” Rainbow called, trying to see if the impromptu shower had helped at all.

        “I’m okay, thank you.” He let out a long breath, returning his breathing to normal. “Sorry, this never happens, I swear.”

        “What happened to you, Coalback? It looked like you were having a seizure!” She landed on top of the bed, Coalback sat up to meet her gaze.

        “You remember what I told you, about those voices?” He asked, drawing a nod from Rainbow Dash. “We were having an argument.”

        “What do you mean? What was the argument about?” She asked, why an internal argument would cause a seizure like that was beyond her.

        “They caught me by surprise this time. When they work against me at the same time, it can get pretty bad. They were arguing about me...being here, in Equestria that is.” He said, trying to explain the experience to her. “But, thank you. It would have been hard to stop it without that shock.”

        “So, the voices wanted you to leave?” She asked in a hurt tone.

        “No, mostly about what I should be doing here. Hunting, studying, running, learning. It get’s pretty abstract when they get going though.” He got up, his sweatpants thoroughly soaked through and dripping. “I guess I don’t need a shower now, though.” He joked, trying to lift the mood away from the topic.

        But Rainbow intercepted his retreat, hovering in front of his face. “Are there any other sort of things that are gonna happen, like that?” She asked, an accusatory tone laid out in her words like a minefield.

        “Other than losing control of myself to them, no.” He said, his voice carefully measured. He didn’t want to anger the mare that was giving him a roof to sleep under.

        “Good,” She landed back on her hooves. “Get ready to go out, We’re going to go meet up with a few of my friends in a little bit.” She turned to leave, heading for the bathroom at the end of the hall.

        After a few minutes to brush her teeth, and quick check to see if her wings needed a preen, she came back out. She came down the stairs to find Coalback in the living area.

        He was sitting on one of the couches, dressed in a pair of shorts and a ripped t-shirt. The pants had a ragged hole in the back that he had threaded his tail through, his wings poking out of similar tears in the shirt. He was playing with a puff of cloud as he sat.

        “I think we’ll stop by Rarity’s, first.” She said as she descended the stairs, this drew Coalback up from his tuft of cloud.

        “Okay.” He consented, hopping up from the piece of cloud furniture. He followed her out the door, looking back in for a moment in thought before leaving.

        “Just follow me, if you can keep up that is.” She joked.

        “Is that a challenge, Rainbow Dash?” He asked, a smirk decorating his face.

        She didn’t reply, but instead took off from the platform that made up her front porch. Coalback followed soon after, his large wings ripping through the air as he tried to keep pace with her.

        It was during that chase that he got his first real look at Ponyville. The thatched roofs spread out before him, and he could honestly say that he was happily surprised. The surface of everything was covered in a light dusting of snow, just enough to call it powder. The town was beautiful to him in his own mind however, it represented a new beginning to him. He just couldn’t let himself mess it up.

        Rainbow Dash banked, pulling to the left over the town. She landed a moment later in front of a finely decorated building with spirals and statues.

        Coalback landed a second later, or tried to that is.

        He scraped by, his hooves throwing up slush and dirt, digging lines into the snow as he tried to stop. His hoof hit a rock, and he flipped over onto his back. His breath was knocked from his lungs.

        Rainbow Dash laughed, soon joined by Coalback as he tried to get air in his lungs.

        “Still rough on the landings, I see.” She said, pulling him to his hooves.

        “Just a little bit.” He said, trying to brush the snow and dirt off his shirt.

        “Oh my goodness!”

        They turned toward the building, eying the white unicorn that stood there. Rarity stood in the door of the finely decorated building, her hoof was held up to her mouth to mask the gasp on her mouth.

        “Your clothes look absolutely dreadful! Come inside this instant!” She grabbed him with her magic and pulled him inside, surprising him with her sudden assertiveness. “Take off those rags, I simply cannot allow a stallion like yourself to walk around in these tatters.”

        “I am not going to undress in front of...mares.” He said, Rarity stopped.

        “Oh please, Coalback. It will be fine, besides how will I get proper measurements with those on?” She lifted a roll of measuring tape, floating it in front of her. Coalback eyed her, judging her seriousness.

        “I’m keeping the pants on.” He said, narrowing his eyes.

        “That’s fine, Coalback.” She said, waiting for him to take off his shirt before starting to take measurements. “May I ask why it is that you are so...concerned...about that?”

        “Where I’m from, it is a crime to be in public naked.” He said.

        “Really?” She asked, continuing her measurements as she talked.

        “That fact is so ingrained into our society, many are uncomfortable without clothes.”

        “Oh, I can’t even imagine an entire city in clothes. Oh it must be fabulous! What sort of fashions were popular there?”

        “I don’t really know, I didn’t really have the time for that sort of thing.”

        “Oh, well. I suppose you can’t keep track of everything, especially in a big city. What brings you all the way out here, by the way?” She asked, moving away for a moment.

        “I had questions, but they could not be answered there.” He said.

        “Questions about what?” She asked, pulling out several reams of colored fabric.

        “Mostly about...who I am.” He said, looking back at her as she compared the fabrics to his exposed coat. She mumbled to herself as she looked between the colors.

        “Quite the crusade, I hope you find what you’re looking for. Hmmm...I’m thinking something dark, maybe blue? That would bring out your eyes wonderfully. However, we’re going to have to do something about your mane, it’s a dreadful mess.” She reached up and ran her hoof through his messy mane.

        “What do you mean?” He asked, pulling away slightly from her hoof as he did.

        “I know just the thing! Fluttershy is stopping by in a moment, I’ll ask her to take you to the Spa! While you’re there, I’ll work on your clothes!” She said, her voice ecstatic.

        “You think Fluttershy can handle that, ‘cuz I’m not going.” Rainbow Dash said, finally finding something to comment on.

        “If you introduce them to each other, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Rarity said, moving toward the door.

        She opened the door, revealing a patiently waiting Fluttershy at the door. “You really should knock louder, Fluttershy. I don’t mind, really.” She said, apparently her hearing was better than Coalback had thought.

        “I’m sorry, Rarity. Are we still going to the Spa today?” She asked quietly.

        “Something has come up, darling. I’ve been struck by inspiration! But don’t worry, I’ve found you a replacement!” She turned from Fluttershy, and waved toward Coalback.

        “Oh no, Rarity. I couldn’t do that...” She said, hiding under her mane.

        “Don’t worry,” She started, pulling Coalback forward with her magic. “I’m sure Coalback will be a perfect gentlecolt.” She pushed Coalback up to her, and she squeaked.

        “It’s okay, Fluttershy. I’ll come with you guys, at least ‘till the door.” Rainbow said, walking up to them.

        “Good, now get out!” Rarity said, practically spitting the words as she pushed them out and closed the door. They stood for a moment awkwardly on her porch.

        Rainbow cleared her throat. “Welp...no time like the present.” She said, walking out toward the town.

        Fluttershy and Coalback entered the Spa, Coalback just behind her. The light blue earth pony with a pink mane looked up from her desk, and her eyes opened wide. Then she smiled.

        “Hello, Meess Fluttershy!” She said, her voice having some accent that Coalback doubted he could have placed. “The usual for you today, or did you have sometheeng special planned?” Her voice sounded like it was trying to suggest something, and while Coalback didn’t understand, Fluttershy blushed heavily.

        “Oh-oh no, I...I wasn’t- I mean...just the regular for me, but I don’t know if-uhm-if that’s what...” She trailed off into incoherent mumbles, but Coalback picked up after it. He could practically feel her distress in the air.

        “I’m just getting a trim, ma’am. Fluttershy was showing me around the town with a few of her friends.” He said. And while he didn’t hear it well, Fluttershy sighed in relief.

        The mare at the counter smiled again, this time recognition covered her features. “Now I recognize you! You were that stallion at the station yesterday! You saved my seester and I a lot of trouble, you know. I’d be happy to halp you, I’ll even throw een a free massage.” She said, stepping around the counter as she did.

        “That’s not ne-” Coalback was interrupted suddenly as the mare pushed him from behind.

        She pushed him toward an arch where curtains hid the other room. His hooves dragged across the well polished floor, letting off a small constant squeaking as he went. She kept pushing, past a bath house, the large tubs drawing his gaze for the brief moment he could see them. She pushed him through another arch, this one leading to a small room that vaguely resembled a barber shop he had gone to when he was young, although a bit more...girly.

        “Aloe weell take care of you, Miss Fluttershy. She should be out in just a moment.” She called out to the other room.

        “Thank you, Lotus.” He barely heard Fluttershy’s response, his attention then captured again by the blue earth pony.

        She sat him down next to a large mirror with a low countertop below it, not saying a word as she gathered several things from around the room. She stopped in front of him, and lifted one of his hooves in her own before talking.

        “My, my, we have a lot of work to do weeth you, Meester...um...?” She stopped, gesturing for him to introduce himself.

        “Coalback, just Coalback, ma’am.” He said, trying to ascertain what she meant by her previous statement.

        “We’ll start weeth a hooficure. Then while you’re soaking, we can start on your mane and tail. After that I can geet you that massage, and once you’ve relaxed a bit we can preen your wings.” She said, and he wanted to ask a few questions, but was stopped as she pulled him over toward a large cushion.

        She sat him on the cushion, his hooves facing out toward her. She brought out a large pair of clippers first, using them to round out and shorten his hooves. She employed them by grasping one handle in her mouth, the other worked with her hoof. She clipped his hooves, letting the pieces fall to the floor around the cushion. The proceeded to round them down with a large file, working quickly and efficiently as she did.

        She then stood him back up, leading him to a basin on the floor. It was already filled with a slightly bubbling, cloudy water. She instructed him to stand in the basin, completely immersing his hooves in the liquid. They felt wierd, like his hooves were itching all of the sudden. He almost stepped out, but Lotus stopped him.

        “I know that eet feels strange, but thees bath will make your hooves feel fantasteec aftarwards. Just stay there for a moment, I’ll geet you a seat and we’ll start on your mane.” She said, pushing him back into the basin.

        She returned a moment later with a wide bench that stretched across the basin, allowing him to sit with his hooves in the water. His tail draped over the side, the bench stopping it from entering the water.

        The haircut took longer than he thought it would, and without a clock or window nearby, he had no idea how long it really took. But when she was done, he no longer had a messy mop of hair hanging from his head and flank.

She had neatly trimmed them. His tail cut in a way that would hang above his hooves as he walked, even if he lowered his tail as far as he could. His mane was cropped short, the hair barely an inch long above his head. It gave him a rather militarian look, but he was not unfamiliar with that.

        It was then that Lotus let him out of the itching basin, and she had been right about his hooves. He felt like he was walking on the clouds again, and had to check to be sure he hadn’t stepped off onto one. Then she led him over to a cushioned table.

        “Eef you take off those clothes, we can start on the massage.” She said, but Coalback merely backed away from her. “Oh, I see. Shy are we? Well here.” She grasped onto a towel on a nearby rack with her hoof and gave it to him. “You can go behind that screen and put thees on instead, I understand if you don’t want to be naked.” She gestured for him to go.

        Coalback was surprised, most of the ponies he had met were put off by his uneasiness with nudity. But Lotus seemed perfectly fine with his nervousness, perhaps she had seen it before.

        He proceeded to go behind the screen, wrapping the towel around his naked flank to hide himself. He was starting to feel more and more at ease around these ponies, even if he had his doubts about their reaction to his ... show. He hadn’t exactly been subtle about dealing with the terrorists.

        He came back out, finding Lotus right where he had left her. He climbed up onto the table, laying flat so that she could reach his entire back and shoulders. He pulled back slightly when she touched him, but quickly relaxed under her massaging hooves.

        “You are so tense, eet ees like all of your muscles are made of knots.” She said, digging into his sore back as she worked.

        “Tell me about it...” Coalback mumbled, his voice drifting off as she worked out a stiff muscle in his lower back.

        She continued methodically, letting Coalback relax into the message.

Suit Up*

Suit Up*

-Suit Up-

Coalback was in what could only be described of as pure bliss. He never thought that hooves would be able to work so well for their stiff shape, but Lotus had managed to prove him completely wrong. Her hooves had easily found the knotted muscles and had worked out every knot and unnecessarily tense muscle. However he had had to explain that he was not going to be able to relax as fully as any normal pony, marking it off as a medical condition.

However, that didn’t stop the massage from being one of the most enjoyable things he had done in a long time. His entire body was simply relaxed.

Coalback’s ears twitched as a quiet giggle graced the air with its ringing, like little bells. The two spikes in his ear clacked against each other with their familiar weight, the sound coming as a surprise in the otherwise silent room. Lotus removed her hooves from his back, their relaxing touch suddenly absent.

“I think we are done here, meester Coalback. I hope you enjoyed your veesit.” She said cheerily, giggling as he sighed again. She left his side so that he could get up from the cushioned table, cleaning up the various supplies in the room.

He let out a groan of protest as he forced himself up from the table, which had become far more comfortable as the massage had gone along. He eventually forced himself over to the side of the table and gingerly attempted to move to the floor. However, his legs had become so relaxed, that he simply collapsed onto the plush bath mat that was waiting on the floor.

“You really know your stuff, Lotus.” He muttered into the mat, the words coming out like another relaxed sigh. He heard her let out another quiet giggle, continuing to put away the various lotions and grooming implements. He tried again to stand, gaining far more success this time as he pushed himself off of the soft mat.

He gingerly made his way back to the screen, quickly redressing himself and relishing the new a fresh feeling of relaxation that he felt. He knew, in the back of his mind, that it would be short lived, but he rested on enjoying the moment anyway. He reemerged from the screen and followed Lotus back out to the front.

They passed back through the bath house, the large tubs catching his eye again before they passed the curtain and into the front room. Another mare, her coat and mane in opposite color combination to Lotus’s, was talking with Fluttershy from across the counter. The sound of jingling coins just finished their falling symphony as he entered. Fluttershy smiled warmly to the other mare as the conversation quickly drew to a close, Lotus had said something about ‘Aloe’, maybe that was her name.

“Hello again, Fluttershy.” Coalback said as he approached, making sure that his presence was known before he scared the little pegasus out of her horseshoes. She turned, with only a small jump on her part, but relaxed and smiled to him before mumbling a nearly inaudible whisper. “Is there anything else you wanted to show me around the town? Any errands you need to run?” He said, pushing past her repeated shyness and trying to continue the conversation. Or maybe some part of him wanted to leave the spa before he fell asleep or convinced himself to another massage.

“Um … I actually do need to pick up … a few things ... in the market.” She mumbled, speaking up so that he could hear her clearly. She nodded as she tried vainly to hide behind her mane, the warm and soft looking scarf around her neck caressing her face as she tried to shrink away from him ever so slightly.

“Then, if our business is done here, I guess that we should go.” He said, nodding thankfully back at Lotus before following Fluttershy out the door. The Spa mares waved to them as they left, cheery smiles decorating their faces.

Coalback examined his surroundings, a natural habit that he did sometimes without even noticing it. The air was crisp, but not unpleasantly cold. He could smell fresh baked pastries, coming from a bakery nearby most likely. The air, he noted, had small amounts of pony fur hanging in the air, a slight irritant to his nose, but ignorable. His breath came in small wisps in front of his muzzle, the air currents eddying in front of his eyes.

Fluttershy walked daintily beside him, her hoofsteps making the smallest of crunching noises on the light dusting of snow over the cobble street. Even her breathing was dainty, only the tiniest of whispers coming from her nose. Coalback couldn’t help but feel ... lumbering compared to such a delicate pony, afraid that one wrong hoofstep could snap her in half, as morbid as that thought was.

All around them, ponies wandered. The crowds growing slightly as they grew nearer to the market square. If he had to count, there were far more mares walking around than there were stallions, but it seemed like an unnecessary detail at the moment. He noted dully that Fluttershy was walking slightly closer to him, relying on the him to shield themselves from the crowd. He also couldn’t help but notice the mixed looks he was getting, many smiled and waved, but a select few had glares of intensity that he was all too familiar with. He tried not to appear as tense as he was becoming, again. However the massage was still allowing him to remain virtually calm.

They emerged into the square, the small stalls and booths standing alongside the shop’s display windows. The streets were lined with glass street lamps, their luminescence not needed in the daylight. An empty fountain stood proudly in the center of the square, the statue of a dancing pony placed atop it. The ponies milled about, their voices mingling together in that unique sound that comes from a crowd. One voice in particular calls out from the fray, cutting through the air with her southern accent.

“Hey, Ya’ll!” Applejack’s voice called out, drawing their attention over to the apple cart across the way. She had stood up over the stall, her striped scarf waving in the short breeze as she motioned to them. Fluttershy smiled warmly beside him, a skip in her steps emerging as her pace picked up and they made their way to the cart. “Hey there, sugarcube! How ya holdin’ up?” Applejack greeted, directing her question to Fluttershy as they stopped on the other side of the cart.

“Oh, I’m doing just fine. Thank you, Applejack.” Fluttershy said meekly, a warm smile decorating her face as she greeted her friend. “Rarity decided to send Coalback with me, I think she was ‘in the zone’ when we left her. I just wanted to pick up a few groceries after my visit to the spa.” She said, starting to look around at the apples that still decorated her cart.

“That sounds like Rarity, all right. This here is tha last o’ tha harvest from tha end o’ the month.” Applejack said, motioning to the selection of apples before her. Several empty crates sat beside her, she must have been having good business. “And, not to worry Fluttershy, Ah actually already got all yer usual things.” She continued, pulling out a basket that was filled with various groceries and other supplies in it.

“Oh.” Fluttershy gasped, a surprised smile decorating her face as she moved to take the basket. “Thank you, Applejack. I don’t know what to say-” She started to thank the farm pony, but was interrupted by the dismissive gesture that Applejack made.

“Think nothin’ of it, Fluttershy. I decided I would do ya’ll a favor while I was out here, needed to warm up anyhow.” Applejack said dismissively, waving off Fluttershy’s thanks quickly. “And how ‘bout you, Coalback? Yer lookin’ sharp. Just back from tha Barber?” She continued, motioning toward him this time.

“I’m just fine.” He replied, nodding toward her. “I went to the spa with Fluttershy, and apparently massages are more enjoyable than I had expected.” He said, rolling his shoulders and revelling again in the still relaxed muscles.

“Good ta hear.” She said, looking up across the square. “Hey, Fluttershy. Ain’t it feedin’ time over at yer cottage?” She said, motioning across the market to the stout clock tower that displayed the time of day.

Fluttershy jumped, turning quickly to look at the clock herself. “Oh, my.” She said, nervous worry leaking into her words. “You’re right, Applejack. Oh, I hate making the animals wait. I’ll see you tonight at the - ooh!” She stopped suddenly, her hoof darting up to stop the last of the words before they could escape her lips. She looked between Coalback and Applejack with nervous eyes, her previous comment nearly letting slip something she seemingly wasn’t supposed to.

Applejack’s eyes darted around as well, her mouth closed into a tight line. A bead of cold sweat rolled down her head as she noticed Coalback watching her intently. “Well, see ya later, Fluttershy!” She blurted out loudly, the yellow mare instantly darting away at her dismissal. “Say - uh - Coalback? How’s about an apple? They’re the best in alla Equestria!” She said quickly, scooping up an apple and presenting it to him proudly. Her nervous smile nearly cracking as Coalback raised an eyebrow in question.

“Is there something you want to tell me, Applejack? You look a bit … flustered.” He observed, the words not denoting the suspicion that his gaze held.

“Just that ya’ve gotta try some a’ tha Apple family apples! Like Ah said, they’re tha best around!” She repeated, the smile growing more confident as his gaze fell from her face and to the Red Delicious in her hoof.

“Well, if they’re as good as you say they are …” He said, reaching up and taking the apple for himself. Applejack sighed in relief, wiping the cold sweat that had formed on her brow. “But I do have another question.” He said as he took a bite from the apple, crunching down on it thoughtfully.

“A-a question?” She asked, her worry returning that he hadn’t dismissed the topic from earlier. She smiled though, watching as he enjoyed the apple more and more with every bite.

He swallowed the bite he had taken, looking back at the apple with admiration. But when he looked back up at her, his eyes showed concern. “Are you scared of me?” He asked, looking carefully at Applejack.

“Well- uh …” She muttered, caught off guard by the sudden question. One of her hooves moved up to the back of her neck, idly scratching at her mane. “Well, Ah suppose that there would be a good reason to be, if’n we were ta get on yer bad side that is.” She said, looking back at him with a small grimace. “After all, ya were real … quick … ta deal with them stallions yesterday. But Ah suppose Ah actually feel a lot safer knowing that yer tryin’ ta help us.” She said, shrugging her shoulders at Coalback’s confused expression.

“Really? I was worried that my actions would cause …” He looked back over his shoulder, once again catching the mixed looks that had been aimed his direction. “Well, panic. To be honest, I hadn’t expected such a positive reaction to my response to the threats that the terrorists were giving.” He continued, turning back to her with another questioningly raised eyebrow.

Applejack chuckled, shrugging her shoulders again. “Y'all'd be surprised with the kinda strange things that these here ponies have seen. Ah suppose that somepony dealin’ with the new local bullies with … drastic measures, is not that unlike seeing Sherbertus runnin through tha streets.” She nodded, looking back down to Coalback from her thoughts that had taken her eyes to the slightly overcast sky.

“Who?” Coalback asked, his confusion increasing at the mispronounced name.

“Oh, you know. That three headed dog-thing! Tha one that’s supposed ta be guardin Tartarus, and all that.” She said dismissively, watching as his face lit with recognition, and then confusion again.

He opened his mouth to ask another question, but seemed to think better of it, and instead took another bite of the apple he had been holding. She heard him mumble something about lacking surprises around the apple in his mouth as he chewed. She chuckled as his bemused expression changed to one of enjoyment as he savored the apple.

“So, what d’ya think a tha apple?” She said, steering the conversation back to something less frightening. Coalback didn’t answer with anything other than a happy sounding hum and a nod with his head, continuing to savor the sweet juices of the fruit. “Ah guess that means ya like it.” She said with a chuckle, lining up a few more apples for him.

“This place is starting to look nicer and nicer.” He said as he finished the apple, licking his lips to get the last of the juices there. He held the core for a moment, looking around for something to leave it in.

Applejack resolved the issue however. “Ya can just toss that in that barrel over there.” She said, pointing to a barrel over her shoulder, its open top decorated with the few insects that braved the winter air. He tossed the core in, the refuse bouncing off the inside lip of the barrel and falling in. “Are ya cold at all, Coalback. Ah got an extra scarf in here, Ah think.” She said, already starting to root through the crate under her cart.

Coalback looked down at his exposed chest, watching the fur shift in the light breeze for a moment before speaking. “Haven’t noticed it much actually.” He said, halting Applejack’s hunt for the scarf and drawing her gaze back up to him.

“Are ya sure? All ya got on’s those old lookin’ pants.” She said, motioning toward the nearly destroyed pair of shorts around his flank.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I’m actually pretty used to the cold.” He said dismissively, reaching forward to take another apple with hunger in his eyes.

“Huh, wouldn’t a’ thought ya were. Is that a pegasus thang?” She asked, remembering the lack of similar shielding from the cold on any of the other pegasi.

Coalback shrugged as he swallowed another bite of an apple. “Perhaps, but I’ve seen colder.” He said, interrupting himself with another bite of apple. “You tend to get used to the cold when it’s thirty below the zero mark every night.” He said, looking back up at her as he finished off another bite of apple. “Siberia gets very cold, as far north as it is.” Coalback explained, taking the last bite of the apple and throwing it again into the container behind Applejack.

She watched as the apple core bounced around the rim before falling in. “What in tha world were yah doin’ so far North? Ah know that it can downright frozen up near tha Crystal Empire, but Ah can’t imagine livin’ anywhere that cold fer long.” She noted, turning to look back at him again, looking at the thickness of his fur. She had met a pony from Stalliongrad once, they had fairly thick fur.Maybe he’d come from up there? She thought for a moment.

“Well, first I went there as a … A getaway of sorts. Then I spent the majority of a few years up there trying to recover from … stuff.” He trailed off, his eyes falling to the ground as he took another apple. “But they were good times.” He said around the mouthful of apple, refusing to interrupt his enjoyment of the sweet fruit for the sake of old memories that needed not to be thought on.

“Oh, Ah see.” She said, looking down at the basket that Coalback had moved onto after finishing the apples she had set out for him. “Hold yer horses, Coalback! Yer gonna clean me out before Ah can sell any a’ these!” She said, drawing him away from the suddenly half empty basket. “Ah get it, ya like tha apples. But hold off ‘em or yer gonna get yerself a right nasty tummy ache.” She said, pointing at the apple already poised in front of his mouth.

Coalback paused, both caught off guard by his suddenly uncontrolled consumption of the fruit, and by the callow word. He instantly pulled the apple away, polishing the side of it before placing it back gingerly on the cart. He paused with a sheepish grin on his face, the look dropping as he realized something.

“You haven’t found a gem have you?” He asked, motioning toward his neck as he continued. “I had it yesterday, hanging around my neck under the armor. And I know I had it while interrogating that stallion.” He said, drifting off as he tried to recall the night before.

Applejack donned a look of recognition, putting a hoof up to her chin as she did the same. “Ah think that Twi found somethin’ last night. But if’n it’s yer’s, I’d say ya git down there fast or you’ll never wrestle it away from ‘er.” She said, pointing down the market toward a road that led out of it. In the distance, if one peered over the thatched rooftops, the topmost branches of the tree building that housed the library was just visible.

“You’re probably right, Applejack. Thank you for the apples.” He said with another sheepish grin as he started to back toward the path that she had pointed out. He turned around finally making his way toward the library after so many delays, there was work to be done and he was tired of waiting..

He hadn’t even had the thought pass through his head fully before a light blue aura surrounded his hooves and dragged him unceremoniously through an open door. The door slammed closed behind him, the aura dropping him onto the floor of the boutique. He hadn’t even noticed that he was passing it.

“Uh …” He managed to say, interrupted by the pile of folded clothes that were pushed against his chest carefully.

“Oh, Coalback. Good to see you, and at just the right time.” Rarity’s prim and proper voice ringing through the boutique and through his ears. A mock show of nonchalance permeated every syllable. “I was just finishing up on your clothes, but I need you to be wearing them since you have such a unique build.” She said, cantering out up to him from the stage where she had been sitting. A neatly folded suit hung from a metal hanger in her magical grasp floated forward to him, resting itself on his back as the same magic started to push him further into the boutique.

“Uh- What?” He tried again, still trying to understand why he was suddenly in the boutique again.

“You can change in the laundry room, I simply cannot wait to see you in this!” She said giddily, her magic pushed more force as he started to stumble forward. “I am terribly sorry for the rush however. So much to do, so little time. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.” She said, almost laughing nervously as she continued to push him toward the door in the back of the room. “Again, terribly sorry. But I must strike while the iron is hot! I’m still in the zone, as it were.” She said as Coalback finally started to walk again.

“Okay, Okay!” Coalback said quickly, picking up his pace and almost fully running through the door near the back.

Rarity lounged idly in her boutique’s main room, the decorative red couch keeping her in a comfortable embrace as she waited for Coalback. The overall theme she had picked was purple, lighter than royal purple, but fitting well. It was a large room, rounded to create a nearly dome-like shape. It was a large room for the size of the building, almost seeming bigger than the outside. Several doors lined the sides, leading to a kitchen nook, a storage room, and the laundry room that Coalback had locked himself into a few minutes ago.

Stairs traced themselves up one side, curling up to reach a balcony that disappeared into the above living space. The walls were painted with intricate swirls, the roof similarly. The floor was a patterned tile, decorative and easy on the eye. Several vases lined the room, filled with intricate flower designs. Many decorative pieces of furniture lined the room as well, giving breaks to the otherwise continuous pattern and letting clientele rest as they waited for her.

The windows behind her displayed the few dresses she kept on display to attract shoppers. The large windows lined many of the walls, interrupted by the rear side of the room and the door opposite it. Across from her, a stage sat against the wall. Mirrors set themselves at differing angles, aimed toward the stage so that the pony standing on it could see themselves from any angle.

“AAAAAH!” A shrill scream pierced through the air, shocking Rarity into a very unladylike jump. It started her from her idle inspection of her boutique, bringing her eyes down onto the door leading to the laundry room that she had so hastily insisted that Coalback go into.

“Sweetie Belle?” She spouted in shock, both a question and a startled call.

She started to move from the couch, an approach made to the door interrupted as it opened. Coalback emerged from the door, a struggling Sweetie Belle hanging from the scruff of her neck in his mouth as he carried her through. Her struggles did little to loosen his firm grasp, the tiny kicks and desperate thrashing going unnoticed as he walked toward Rarity. He stopped only a few steps from the couch that she sat on, staring with her own mix of fear and concern as he set her down on the ground.

He followed her with his eyes as the tiny white filly ran as fast as she could scramble to hide behind the couch that Rarity was still sitting in. “Does she belong to you?” He asked, breaking the silence and switching his gaze back up to her.

“Yes!” Rarity said quickly, jumping up from the couch and moving around to try and find the filly again. “That’s Sweetie Belle. She’s my sister. I must not have realized the time, she probably just got out of school.” She explained, moving around the couch. She came back around from the other side, pushing the cowering filly around with her head. “Say hello, Sweetie Belle. This is a friend I met in Canterlot, just a few days ago. Sweetie Belle, Coalback. Coalback, Sweetie Belle.” She said, trying to introduce the filly to the stranger that she had stumbled upon.

She sat in a shaking ball in front of him, her eyes staring up at the huge pegasus in front of her. “H-h-h-hello-o” She stuttered, forcing the words out from under her purple and pink mane.

“I’m sorry that I picked you up like that, Sweetie Belle.” He said carefully, leaning down so that he wouldn’t tower over her. “You scared me nearly as much as I must have scared you. Would a magic trick make it up to you?” He smiled as her eyes went wide and one of her eyebrows shot skyward, and she had stopped shaking.

“How? You’re not a unicorn. Are you?” She said, her confusion evident at the suggestion.

“Not many unicorns where I come from, we had to entertain ourselves in a different way.” He said, smiling again at her and standing back up. His attention turned back to Rarity as he reached into the pocket of the coat he had donned inside the room. “I found this on the floor in the laundry room, is it alright if I use it for a few moments?” He asked, pulling out a quarter-bit and holding it up for her to see.

Rarity nodded, looking on with her own interest. “I am curious myself, Coalback.” She said, looking on as he placed the quarter-bit piece in his left hoof.

He presented the coin clearly, showing that it was all that was in his hoof. He carefully passed his hoof over the other, covering the coin for a brief moment. When he pulled his hoof away, the coin was gone as well, presumably into his other hoof. He slowly turned over his other hoof, revealing the empty appendage for them to see.

“Hey! It’s gone!” Sweetie exclaimed, hopping onto her own hooves with her eyes wide. Coalback chuckled, pulling back the sleeves of the suit and clearly showing that he no longer had the coin. She gasped again, jumping forward to look at his empty hoof herself. “It is gone!” She exclaimed, hanging onto his empty hoof.

“Very observant of you.” He said with a chuckle, releasing himself from her hold. “But- What’s this?” He said, reaching down behind her ear. When his hoof came away, the quarter-bit was sitting plainly in his hoof.

“How did you do that?” Sweetie exclaimed, grabbing hold of the coin and examining it.

“Like I said, we came up with other things to make magic.” He said with a wink, looking back up at Rarity as Sweetie Belle turned the coin over in her hooves.

“That was fantastic, Coalback.” Rarity said, clapping her hooves together. She jumped suddenly, a look of realization coming over her face. “Oh! Stand up, Coalback. I need to see the suit.” She said, motioning for him to stand up again.

He complied quickly, pushing himself back up to his hooves and standing up at attention, or as best as he could. He felt the suit hang off him, only fitting slightly loosely. Whatever measurements that Rarity had been able to get earlier seemed to have done her well, he had had hats that fit less well than this suit did. “I couldn’t figure out how to get the tie to work, never really had any time for suits before.” He mumbled, reaching up to prod at the twisted piece of cloth that hung from under the collar of his shirt.

She walked around him for a moment, examining the suit and how it hung off him. She hummed thoughtfully, her horn lighting up with a blue glow as she turned the tie into its proper bow shape. “Go stand on the stage, Coalback. I can get some much better angles if you’re up there, and the lighting is so much better.” She said, motioning up toward the mirrors on top of the stage.

Coalback resisted the urge to roll his eyes, females are the same wherever he went. He trotted up to the stage, standing near the center and turning to look into the mirrors and examine the suit himself. It was dark, but not black. It had a purple tone to it, shining out from the dark silky material as the light hit it. The jacket was long, able to cover his flank and fall over the back of his legs shortly. The tone actually seemed to grow darker as it reached the coattails. The shirt underneath was a deep grey, going well against the dark jacket. The tie was grey toned, matching his coat well.

The sleeves ended just above his unshorn hooves, his grey coat peeking out.  His wings poked out from sleeves cut into the back of the jacket and shirt, a shock of grey against the dark colors. His flank and hind legs were covered in a set of black pants, the color flat in comparison to the jacket hanging over it.

He stood very still as Rarity pulled a pincushion from behind the mirrors, a sewing kit following close behind it and setting down on the stage beside him. She started to adjust the hems of the pants and the sleeves, pinning them in place as she started to speak.

“That was very nice of you, Coalback. Doing that for Sweetie Belle.” She said, watching Sweetie Belle wander toward the staircase. Coalback flinched as a needle came particularly close to his wing.

“I have a- sort of a soft spot for little ones.” He said, continuing to watch carefully as Rarity worked with the needles. “Even if they can be a … hoof-ful?” He finished with a question, still unsure as to how the sayings translated. He was still getting used to all these pony-isms.

Rarity smiled, starting to sew the hems into place properly. “That’s absolutely correct, Sweetie Belle and her friends in particular.” She said with a laugh, pulling the suit flat in a few places with her magic. “I’m almost done, Coalback. You should be able to go on your merry way soon. By the way, where were you going?” She asked, carefully looking over the suit as she kept working with it.

“I think that Twilight might have something of mine, I believe that I dropped it in her basement. The Princess had called it an ‘Arcane Gem’, and I’m a little worried about it.” He said, nodding at the mirrors in front of him as he watched her work.

“You have an Arcane Gem?” Rarity said, a sparkle in her eye as she jumped up to look at him. “Oh my goodness, that would be perfect for the cuffs! The way they would shine.” She said, already starting to picture just how they would look.

“The gem is too important to me to have it cut, Rarity.” He deadpanned, looking back at her with a flat look.

“Oh … hmmmm.” Rarity paused, stopping to think for a moment. “Perhaps a necklace, we could mount it on that without having to cut it. You were carrying it like that before weren’t you?” She suggested, moving back to the suit and starting to finish up her work. Coalback nodded, humoring the fashionista for the moment.

“But its light is too bright.” He said, stopping his nod midway and looking back at the unicorn. “If I walk around with it on display, I’d be blinding ponies left and right.” He grumbled, trying to dissuade her.

“Don’t worry, dear.” She said after a moment, one of her needles twirling as punctuation to her statement. “I know just the thing!” Her needles pulled away, finally relieving him of the anxiety that had started to build with their movements.

He took another look at the suit, moving his arms and legs around to test the fit, it was perfect. “Thank you, Rarity.” He said with a smile, looking over the suit with admiration and nostalgia. “I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve worn a nice suit. How can I pay you for it?” He asked, looking back at her.

“Ah, ah, ah!” She said quickly, waving off his offer. “Unacceptable, I will not accept payment for something as beautiful as this suit, especially from a friend.” She said, shaking her head at him. “And if Twilight does have that gem of your’s, I would suggest you go get it quickly. If she’s decided that it would make a good study subject, then you’ll never be able to get it away from her.” She said, motioning toward the door.

Coalback started to walk off of the stage, taking slow and easy steps as he continued to test the suit’s fit. “Funny, Applejack said something similar.” He mumbled, taking the final step off of the stage and starting toward the door. “Now, are you sure that you don’t want any payment? I’d hate to feel like I’m taking advantage of you.” He said, starting to turn back to her.

“Not at all, Coalback.” She said, walking with him toward the door. “Just be careful with the suit in the snow, it should be fine. And anyway, you need to get your gem from Twilight! Who knows what she’s done with it in all this time.” She said, waving to him as he finally walked out the door.

“Alright, Rarity. If that’s what you want.” He mumbled, taking a final step off the porch.

“Don’t be a stranger, now!” She said cheerily, closing the door behind him.

He stepped carefully onto the lightly snowed ground, making sure the hems of his suit didn’t come into contact with it. His pace picked up as he walked though, the surety that his suit wouldn’t be soiled by his walking.

Finally, he could get to the library like he had planned. There was too much work to do, and he had already had too many interruptions. This was starting to get repetitive, even annoying. How was he supposed to try and find some of the history on these ponies, maybe he could find answers there.

It was during this introspection on his path toward the library, when his thoughts were suddenly halted. His nose twitched involuntarily, an experimental sniff coming of its own accord. His hoofsteps drew to a stop, slowing as he started to smell something. His nose twitched again, the scent tickling the moist flesh on the inside.

It was … different. He hadn’t smelled something like it before. Or if he had, he couldn’t remember where. It wasn’t a bad smell, nor was it a good smell. In the sense that a smell could be good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. In fact, he was unsure of what he could compare it to. It had a certain musty scent to it, with a sort of metallic tickle like an aftertaste. But that was all layered under something that he could only call musky.

He had stopped in front of a house, its features hidden as he closed his eyes to concentrate on the smell and try to place it. The sounds of the street around him almost seemed to fade, tuned out as he started to ‘see’ through a different one of his senses. It wasn’t sight in any way, but like he could home in on the actual parts of the smell. Trying to describe this kind of feeling is almost like playing one of those children’s games, like charades with words.

One of his ears twitched, the sound of creaking hinges startling in the silence that had fallen. He opened his eyes, realizing that he had actually started to wander during his inspection of the strange and new smell. He was standing in front of a door, one to the house that he had stopped in front of. He had made his way over to the door and had simply stopped in front of it.

Standing in the now open doorway, was a very sweaty looking unicorn. Her mint green coat was matted, her mane was a complete tangle. Her eyes seemed distant as well, just sort of looking out at him blankly. Her breathing was ragged, like she had run to the door before opening it. She looked like she had just rolled out of bed, or out of a grave.

“Oh.” Coalback muttered, taking a step back and trying not to recoil as the smell suddenly grew much stronger. “I- uh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I just- uh … Are you okay?” He stopped suddenly, the mare had stopped staring blankly and had donned a grin that would have made the cheshire cat look sane.

“Great, actually!” The unicorn said, that grin only growing. “In fact, I think I just found exactly what I needed.” She said, her voice starting to lower itself into what he could only call … sultry.

“Um …” Coalback muttered again, his words failing him as one of his legs gave an involuntary twitch. The mare had started to move forward, a hungry look sparking itself in her eyes.

“Say, you’re that stallion that saved everypony at the station yesterday, aren’t you? You should come inside! You look cold.” She said, taking a few more steps toward him. He matched her pace backwards, the mare’s behaviour was starting to make him uneasy.

“It is not convenient.” He muttered, an expression he had heard far too often in the North. I have too much work.” He added, starting to back away faster. He took a moment to steal a glance at the street around him, which had become strangely empty.

He heard a growl, not like one an animal would make, but one from the throat of the mare in front of him. Rather than that being a reassuring fact, as it would have been a few years ago, it was all the more disturbing.

He turned quickly back to the source of the noise, greeted with an even stranger sight. The mare had dropped into a crouch, resembling one that a cat would use … before it pounced.

“I said; Come inside!” She growled, completing the image of a feline predator with a jump that matched one. He would have jumped away, in fact she wouldn’t have even come close to him if not for the fact that he was still trying to figure out what was happening.

Spike carefully walked around the random books on the floor, the carefully balanced books in his claws swaying as he made his way over to the other shelf. He stepped gingerly around Twilight, her nose nearly touching the small text printed to the papers there. He made sure not to interrupt her, knowing well that only mischief would come from that.

Spike gingerly placed his tower of books onto the floor, watching nervously as it swayed. He let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow and moving toward the ladder leaning against the stack of shelves inset into the walls. He clambered up the steps of the wooden ladder, moving to the top of the stack of books and picking up the topmost one to place it on the shelf.

The door slammed open suddenly, a loud bang interrupting the serene silence that had permeated the slightly dim library. It closed almost as suddenly as it had opened, a greyed blur swinging in and pressing itself against the door. The impact of the door against its own frame was enough to practically shake the entire room.

Spike jumped, falling back to land precariously on the very edge of the step that he was perched on. His arms windmilled, the book that they had been holding flying away from him as he tried to keep his balance. He inevitably failed, falling to the floor in a heap and being quickly buried by the tower of books. Twilight’s reaction was similar, albeit a less painful one.

The stallion leaned against the door, his breath ragged. He was covered from head to hoof in dirt and snow, as if he had rolled around on the ground before entering. The suit that he wore was bogged down with the soaked in snow.

“Coalback?” She exclaimed, instantly recognising the stallion after she had recovered from her own shock.

“SHH!” He hissed, quickly turning his head to look out the nearby window at an angle.

Hooves slushed through the snow, more ragged breathing sounding in from outside. The hooves slid to a stop, and a face suddenly pressed itself against the glass. “I know you’re in there! Get out here and LOVE ME!” She screamed, her horn scraping against the glass as she turned away.

Coalback visibly flinched, trying to dodge away from the window that the mare had appeared in. Another set of hooves rushed up, and a second voice murmured out through the door. Met quickly by the crazed, green mare’s own voice. After a bit of back and forth from the two voices, the hoofsteps moved off.

Coalback relaxed explosively, sliding down the door and sitting on the floor. He muttered a curse under his breath, moving a hoof to rub at the top of his head. More staccato words flew sharply from his lips, he spat them with a violent vehemence.

“Coalback, what happened? It looks like you were just hit by a cart.” Twilight said with concern, getting up from her book and moving toward him. “And why was Lyra … yelling at you?” She asked, almost not noticing the fact of who the mint green unicorn had been yelling at.

“I was walking … and then … and there was … a-a-a-a smell! I tried to figure out what it was and … I- shejumped me!” He exclaimed, looking back at her with confusion. “Was- was that mare … was she in heat?” He asked, one of his eyebrows rising as he motioned to the door behind him.

Twilight’s face flushed as she realized the situation. “Oh!” She said, looking out the window where the pony had left a short line with her horn. “W-well, yes. I think she was …” She muttered, looking back down at him.

“How?!” He said, his hooves moving up into a desperate gesture as he continued his question. “How? I didn’t- but it’s winter!” He said, that frustrated confusion showing itself on his face.

“W-well, um … With an earth pony, you might be correct in assuming that their- um … heat … wouldn’t cycle until after winter.” She stuttered, a hoof rising to the back of her neck and scratching at her mane nervously. Her face had gone bright red, the topic had gone to a particularly uncomfortable one. And she hadn’t expected to have to go over this topic for a few more years, especially not with a full grown stallion. “B-but sometimes, unicorns and- and pegasi can have slightly- uh ... stranger estrus cycles.” She finished, coughing nervously as she finished. Normally she was fine with lectures, comfortable even, but this was a topic that she found vulgar.

“So why is it alright that she just-” He motioned toward the door, a frustrated look still donning his features. “I don’t want to say ‘assault’, but- that’s almost what happened.” He said with a forced laugh, showing just how ridiculous he thought the situation was.

“Well, I suppose that Lyra might still hold some of those older prejudices.” She said, finally starting to relax from the previous topic. This one was more controversial, but less embarrassing.  “And during her heat she probably wasn’t all there, knowing her. And stallions did only start to get their full rights a few years ago.” She said, finally rolling the embarrassment that she had had off her shoulders.

“Full rights?” Coalback said with confusion, the smile dropping instantly at the mention. “What does that mean? Am I living through the 1920’s?” He muttered, looking out the window again, as if expecting to see something.

“I’m sorry?” Twilight said, unsure as to what ‘the 1920’s’ were. A date, it would seem.

“N-nothing.” He said quickly, turning back to her with more confusion on his face. “What do you mean by that? How does that have anything to do with this?” He said, still trying to understand what he thought that she was insinuating.

“Well …” Twilight started, unsure as to how to approach the topic without insulting him. She knew that her brother was sensitive to the issue, so she didn’t want to say anything wrong. “Three years ago, groups of stallions started to make it more clear to the princesses that they didn’t have equal opportunities to mares. So the Princess started to make sure that as many laws as she could find would define both mares and stallions with them.” She explained, gaining only another raised eyebrow from him.

“Are you saying that- that- jeez …” He said, trailing off.

“There is still a very large amount of controversy on that fact however.” Twilight continued, ignoring the vocalized confusion that he expressed. “There are many mares, and even stallions, who think that it’s unnecessary, even insulting. And before the princesses came around, stallions were more or less … how to put this? Uh- used?” She said sheepishly, unable to find a word that would put the history gently. “There are still pony’s that are pretty sexist on the matter. One example I can come up with insinuates that stallions aren’t really good for anything other than hard labor and … reproduction.” She finished, coughing nervously to hide her embarrassment again.

Coalback looked up at her with a blank expression. “That’s a little bit backwards to what I’m used to.” He said, a sudden calm seeming to wash over him. “I feel so …” He didn’t finish in any language she could understand, degenerating back to his own tongue when he couldn’t find a proper translation. The calm broke as he slumped in pure defeat against the door, no longer bothering to remain upright against it.

“Sorry.” She started, an apology already forming on her lips as she started forward to him. But she was cut off suddenly by a loud groan from the shelf behind her.

Both of them looked toward the pile of shifting books, not expecting the interruption that came with it. Spike gingerly extracted himself from the avalanche site, rubbing at the place on his tail where he had landed. Coalback stiffened at the sight, his eyes going wide as he scrambled to put his hooves underneath himself.

“Wait!” Twilight jumped, putting herself in his line of sight. “He’s not dangerous! That’s Spike, my assistant. Perfectly safe, practically harmless.” She said, relief flowing through her as Coalback visibly relaxed. He mumbled something about surprises under his breath, but she wasn’t able to make out anything.

Spike groaned again, looking over toward the two ponies. “What happened?” He asked, looking around the room blearily as he tried to recover from his fall.

“Are you okay, Spike?” Twilight asked, turning her concern back toward him.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thick scales, remember?” He said, motioning toward the offending bruise. “So, who’s that, Twilight?” Spike asked turning his attention toward the suited stallion.

“Oh, good.” Twilight said with relief, glad that her best assistant hadn’t hurt himself. “This is Coalback, the pony that we met in Canterlot. Don’t worry if he seems a bit strange, he’s not from around here.” She said, motioning back toward Coalback who had returned to slumping against the door.

He lifted a hoof to wave toward Spike, even though it ended up being nothing more than a jerky twitch. “Nice to meet you, Spike. It’s nice knowing that not all dragons are like the one I saw in Canterlot.” He said, nodding appreciatively toward the purple reptile.

“Oh, uh- thanks. I guess …” Spike said, unsure as to what he meant, but not wanting to ask about it. “So where are you from?” Spike asked, more out of curiosity than politeness. Ever since the dragon migration, he had become more interested in geography and always jumped on the chance to find more on the subject.

“Far away.” He said flatly, having the question asked enough of him. “Not sure of where, from here.” He said, starting to stand again. He wiped fruitlessly at the snow and dirt still clinging to his new suit.

“Here.” Twilight said, lifting her horn with it’s purple glow. His suit enveloped itself in a similar glow, the snow and dirt disappearing into the glow. When she was finished, the dirt and snow had completely left his suit unharmed.

Coalback nodded appreciatively, looking back toward Spike as he started to speak again. “If I got you a map, could you find it?” He asked, motioning toward a small podium with a set of scrolls balanced on top of it.

Coalback paused, looking over toward the podium himself and thinking for a moment. “I suppose I could try.” He said, shrugging and looking over toward Twilight for permission to proceed.

“That’s actually a great idea, Spike. I’ve been wondering where you could possibly be from, since I can’t find ‘America’ on any of my maps.” She mused, starting to walk over toward the podium and lifting the map from it with her magic. “And considering how you described some of your cities, I would think that it would be there. Maybe it’s under a different name here?” She finished, opening the scroll and pressing it flat to the floor. She moved several candle holders onto the corners, holding it down so that she wouldn’t have to use her magic.

Coalback hummed with thought, moving forward to lean over the map with an examining gaze. He spent more than a few moments examining the map, taking in as many details as he could and committing them to memory. He kept dragging his gaze up and down it, looking over the parts of the Frozen North that had been mapped out, examining the San Palimo Desert. He carefully picked over the badlands and the detailed portions of the Everfree Forest.

But his mouth closed into a tight line as he started looking further to the East and to the West. His head started to shake from side to side as he looked up from it. “Can’t find anything I recognize. But I never was big on geography, so it very well could be, no promises though.” He said with a shrug. He looked back up at the purple dragon. “Sorry, don’t know what I expected, there’s not much chance that I would have found anything of significance to you.” He said, apologizing as he stood fully away from the map.

“That’s really strange, Coalback.” Twilight said, looking over the map herself to make sure that she hadn’t accidentally picked up an older map. “This is one of the most up to date map that I have, and one of the more detailed ones.” She sighed, looking back up at Coalback. “But really! With the kind of things that you described, you would think that there would at least be footnote! But I haven’t found anything resembling what you described other than Manehattan.” She said, looking back up at him with more confusion.

“It’s fine, besides, I’m not here to criticize your cartographers.” He said with a dismissive wave of his hoof. “I think I dropped something of mine while I was interviewing the stallion. You didn’t happen to find a gem, wrapped in a bag?” He asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a glint of worry in his eyes. “It’s very important to me.” He finished, watching as her face lit up with recognition.

Twilight gasped, glee making her face light up. “That Arcane Gem belongs to you! I was wondering where it had come from, they don’t usually get up and walk around on their own, you know.” She said, jumping over to the table and picking up a familiar looking stiff bag. She quickly levitated it over toward him, letting him take it in his hooves. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of examining it.” She finished sheepily, watching him crack open the stiff package and examining the intense light that shone into his eye. “And another thing, I couldn’t place what it is your bag was made of. Some sort of leaf?” She asked, watching him flinch and quickly close the bag again, draping it over his neck and looking back up at her.

“Oh- Uh … yeah, that’s what it is. We have these big leaves, and we use them to make some of our clothing.” He muttered, hoping that the little white lie wouldn’t come back to haunt him later. “Anyway, what did you find? When you examined the gem that is.” He said quickly, looking back up to her with a look of suspicion.

“It was really strange actually, nothing like I’ve seen before.” She said, looking back at the table thoughtfully and floating a large scroll covered in scribbles over to herself. “At first, it was hard to actually examine it at all. When I began my examinations, it was like the magic was actually pulling away from me. Almost like it was leaking out of the crystal lattice.

“And then it started looking even stranger. It was like … like the magic in the gem was examining my magic, instead of the other way around.” She looked up from her scroll, staring up at him with a confused look. “It almost felt … alive, I guess. There’s not really any other way to explain it, I felt like I was examining a pony instead of a gem.” She said, rolling her eyes with a laugh. “But I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve never even heard of a gem with this much power in it!” She finished, looking back up at him and smiling.

“Interesting.” He agreed, looking back down at the bundle around his neck and letting a knowing smile slip onto his features. “How much power did you find?” He asked, feeling the need to humor the studious unicorn.

“Over twenty thousand uni-jewels!” She exclaimed, tossing the scroll to the side carelessly and taking another step toward him. Spike dove from where he had been looking at the map himself, catching the scroll in midair.

“What’s a ‘uni-jewel’?” He asked, another confused look masking the smile he had donned before.

“A uni-jewel is a unit of stored magic, basically potential energy.” She explained, switching into her lecture mode, as Rainbow had often called it. “It is the standard of magic that can lift a ten gram weight for ten seconds at an average levitation efficiency level. And twenty thousand of them is a lot of magic!” She said, leaning forward with an almost crazed look in her eye. “How ever did you find it?!” She asked, excitement starting to make her shake.

“I didn’t.” He stated simply, starting to back away from her. “You’re not in heat too, are you?” He asked, suspicion narrowing his eyes.

“What?” She asked suddenly, although what she had questioned was unclear. Her face flushed as she realized just how close she had gotten to him and taking a step back.

“I’m … uh … just gonna go … now …” Spike said awkwardly, edging his way to the staircase nearby. As soon as his foot brushed against the first step, darting up it in a blur.

“I would prefer not to be attacked by crazed mares twice, today. And you will not be so lucky as the other one was, I am prepared this time.” He said, taking a step back and spreading his wings slightly.

“Huh? No, no-no-no!” She said quickly taking several steps back. “I didn’t- I wasn’t going to-” She coughed, trying to hide her blush as it slowly dissipated. She took several more steps back. “What I meant was; What did you mean when you said that you didn’t? Didn’t find it?” She asked, trying to look everywhere in the room besides at Coalback.

“Well,” Coalback started, relaxing as the danger of being pounced on by another mare was gone. “It’s a bit of a long story-”

“Then make time!” Twilight suddenly yelled, starting to prance in place as her impatience began to get the better of her.

“Okay, okay!” He said, trying to keep the little unicorn from getting upset with him. Perhaps it would be best to humor her for the moment. “Let’s just- Maybe we should sit down.” He tried, lifting a hoof in a weak placating gesture. Twilight sat forcefully, pressing her mouth into a tight line as she waited with frustration.

“Alright, so I didn’t find the gem, not exactly.” He said, carefully taking his own seat on the floor. “I had heard a rumor about the Northern Lights, and I had already been heading that direction anyway. I was told that the Aurora Borealis was actually the spirits of dead ancestors, dancing in the sky.” He started, gazing upwards as he started to drift back to the memory, the first day that his life had turned around.

“I was told, the ridiculous notion, that if I slept under the lights, the spirits would share their wisdom with me in my dreams.” He continued, smiling and rolling his eyes. “That silly eskimo didn’t know what he was talking about at all. I didn’t have any dreams, in fact, I was on the verge of freezing to death.” He said, sighing forcefully from his nose.

Twilight gasped at that, not realizing that he had come perilously close to death at the time. She looked at him, examining all of the scars she could see under his fur, realizing how hard of a life he must have led, that he still led.

“But then I saw it!” He said, interrupting her brief thought.” At first, I thought that I had slept through winter entirely. It was like the light of the sun was trying to pierce through my eyelids, but the sun couldn’t have come up at all where I was, that was how far North I had been.” He said, closing his eyes as he recounted the memory. Twilight leaned forward in her seat, enraptured by the story and her frustration completely vanishing. “But when I opened my eyes, the light was coming from just in front of me.

“It was the gem. It glowed with amber waves of light that rolled off of it like waves of water.” He said wistfully, his head rolling to the side as a nostalgic smile donned his face. “It was beautiful. Lying on the ice in front of my nose, that’s where it was. It had come to me.” He said, opening his eyes and meeting hers. A pressure formed from his gaze, freezing her in place. “I moved toward it, touching it with my nose.

“And at first, it was warm, like summer sunlight on a beach.” He continued, holding his gaze. “And it kept getting warmer, and warmer.” He said, starting to lean forward and narrowing his eyes, reaching forward with a predator’s stare. “It just got hotter, until I was burning in my entire body. I couldn’t move, couldn’t get away from the gem that was burning me from the inside.” He said, his voice lowering to a whisper, like he was sharing a secret with her. A smile, not one that was warm or inviting, but one that showed off those sharp teeth. “It was like I was being cooked alive.” He said darkly.

“And then, I don’t remember anything.” He finished flatly, backing away and breaking the hypnotic stare he had held on her. His toothy grin shrunk back into a smug smile, he was teasing her.

“Huh?” Twilight jumped, recovering suddenly from his freezing stare. “What do you mean? Nothing at all?” She asked, incredulous nervousness surprising her.

“I don’t remember anything after that.” He said, putting a hoof up behind his head. “I woke up a few weeks later, in a house full of …” He coughed, a his face starting to warm as he remembered one particular detail of his waking. “I later learned that I had gone on some sort of testosterone and alcohol fueled partying binge.” He said, chuckling quietly. He paused suddenly, looking away from her and furrowing his brow. “Shut up.” He murmured, the words directed elsewhere.

“Who are you talking to, Coalback?” Twilight asked, looking on with sudden concern. She wasn’t sure what to make of the change in tone.

“No one.” He said quickly, waving a hoof. “Just clearing my head.” He paused for a moment, running a hoof down his face. “I need a smoke. I’ll come back later, though. I have some research I need to do, and this talk has exhausted me.” He said, standing up and starting toward the door.

“Oh, uh- okay.” Twilight said, standing herself. “What’s ‘a smoke’?” She asked, confusion marking her face with lines.

“Something I do to relax.” He explained, pausing at the door and peeking out the window next to it. “Chemicals from the smoke enter the bloodstream through my lungs.” He finished absentmindedly, opening the door and turning back to her.

“That doesn’t sound very … healthy, Coalback.” She said, cringing at the thought of putting anything in her lungs, or her blood for that matter.

“It’s really not.” He said with a frown. “And you should never do it, either. I do it to relax, and I figure that I won’t live to see the adverse side effects.” He said, rolling his eyes. He took another careful peek around the door. “I’m going to go before that mare finds me again.” He muttered, shuddering and turning back to her. “This has been … educational. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” He finished, nodding to her in thanks.

“Just, Twilight.” She said with a smile. “No need for formalities like full names. We’re friends after all.” She said as he walked through the door.

With a final wave of his hoof and a flap of his wings, he left. She watched as he banked to the side, gliding over the town and toward the cloud home that had been birthed just outside it. She couldn’t stop her eyes as they narrowed, her mind drifting back into thought.

It was so strange, something wasn’t right here. He describes his home, something so overtly obvious that no decent mapmaker would ever have missed it. And then he couldn’t find it. And he fights like a pony straight from Tartarus, and his scars prove that he had done it more than once before. And that gem was even more interesting, especially with how he had supposedly come to own it.

She had never thought that Coalback as a spiritual pony, a bit eccentric perhaps. It seemed that every time the conversation tried to turn toward his past, he would brush it off, or cover it over with as little detail as he could manage. She made a note to try and ask him some more questions, and get some real answers. Maybe she could ask him tonight, if she could get to him.

She smiled as she remembered their plan for the night, it quickly spread to sly smirk. This would be interesting, to say the least.

Surprises

-Surprises-

        Rainbow Dash walked through the door to her house, wrinkling her nose at the smell that wafted around inside it. She recognised the smell, it would be hard to forget one like that. She followed the stink of Coalback’s white sticks. She found him next to the window in his room.

        He had pushed it out wider so that he could sit in it. He was laying in a reclined position, his back against the window frame. He was staring out toward the Everfree forest, the sun cast shadows into the trees. The stick in his mouth was burned down halfway, and his eyes looked toward the forest with thoughtful distance.

        His tie was loosened, the shirt unbuttoned slightly to reveal his light gray chest. He had remade the necklace that held his crystal, it hung down just under where the shirt would cover it. The jacket lay strewn over the top of the wooden wardrobe.

        He let out a breath, the cloud of smoke swirling out the window. “They’re called ‘cigarettes’. I figured out the translation.” He turned to her, breathing smoke out from his nostrils.

        “Do you have to light one of those now?” She said, putting a hoof up to her nose.

        “It helps me think, helps me relax. But no, I don’t have to.” He reached up with a hoof, grinding the smoldering end against it. The smoke stopped as he ground out the end. “What is it?” He asked, turning to her fully. He spat the crushed cigarette out onto a plate sitting next to the window, two other burnt down cigarettes sat on it in a pile of ashes.

        “Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the town hall with me. The mayor wanted to talk to you, about registry stuff or something.” She waved a hoof as she spoke.

        “Okay,” Coalback said, jumping down from the window and starting to button his shirt. “I need to stop by Twilight’s library afterwards, there are a few things I want to look up.”

        “Yeah, sure. She’ll probably still be up for studying after the sun sets.” She said, walking up to him. She put her hooves up to him, tightening the bow tie around his neck. “Now let’s go.” She said as she walked toward the door.

        “Okay, just let me get my jacket-” He started toward the wardrobe, but Rainbow stopped him.

        “You won’t need it! Come on, let’s get this over with.” She grabbed onto one of his hooves and pulling him out the door.

        They walked out to the porch, taking off toward the town. The flight was at a slow, easy pace. And maybe it was just the nicotine in his bloodstream, but he couldn’t stop himself from staring at Rainbow Dash as they went. She cut her wings through the air in graceful arcs, not like his cumbersome flaps. He felt like a stumbling giant around her.

        They banked slightly, dropping in altitude as they passed over the river. The tiered building loomed before them, all the lights off. They landed outside, a few meters from the porch. Coalback did his best to slow down before touching down, but still ended up skidding a short distance.

        Rainbow waited for him to catch up to her at the door, she had her hoof resting against the door handle.

        “Are you sure anyone is here?” Coalback asked, indicating the dark windows.

        “The mayor said to meet her here, so there has to be someone here.” She said as he walked up to her.

        She pushed open the door, letting the darkened room fill the space it once hid. The lights lit suddenly, revealing a large crowd. Ponies were everywhere, in the balconies, on the main floor, even flying in the air. They all called in one unanimous shout.

        “SURPRISE!!”

        Coalback jumped, his wings flaring slightly in an instinctive attempt to flee. Confetti fired from a cannon, startling him further as his eyes darted around the crowd.

        “Now that the super special guest is here,” Pinkie shouted, her form peeking out from behind the confetti cannon. “Let’s get this party started!”

        Her announcement was met with a cheer of approval from the crowd, and the music kicked on. Rainbow Dash moved to his side, guiding him into the party. His eyes roamed around the room, taking in the details of the surprise party. A banner hung across the large room, it read; ‘Thank you, Coalback!’  in large painted letters.

        At the far end of the room, several tables were set up. They were covered in foods of all kinds, but mostly baked sweets and candies. A side of the stage to the right of the door housed a DJ stand, a white unicorn with a jet blue mane worked at it. The lights were many colored, candles burning behind colored lenses and aimed into the crowded building.

        Games were set up at the left of the door, more games than he had thought possible. And ponies mingled, danced, ate and played everywhere.

        Rainbow Dash led him into the crowd, where he was surprised by the general mood of the ponies around him. Every one they passed attempted to greet or thank him in any manner of ways.

        “Hello!”

        “Great party!”

        “You saved us!”

        The requests, greetings, and praise all aimed toward him made him feel flustered, he had been to few parties and none of them had been like this. The music pounded in his ears, some sort of machine generated sound stitched together in a way that resembled music. It wasn’t bad, but it was too loud. Coalback lowered his ears, the sights and sounds overwhelming him somewhat.

        “Coalback, over here!” Rainbow called, he had drifted away from her. She waved to him from one of the supporting pillars that sectioned off an area with tables for sitting.

        He pushed through the crowd, trying not to bolt as even more ponies greeted him. He smiled weakly to them, trying not to insult them by simply ignoring their thanks. It seemed like an eternity before he pushed through the crowd and off the impromptu dance floor.

        “Coalback, the others are over there.” Rainbow said, her voice just audible over the music. She began walking toward one of the tables that held food in overflowing amounts. The other five mares stood around it, examining the crowds around them with smiles.

        Coalback eyed the table of food, his stomach twisting as he remembered how long it had been since his last...meal. He walked with Rainbow Dash letting her guide him toward them.

        “There ya are!” Applejack called as she spotted their approach. “Come on over, Coalback.” She motioned toward the food.

        “Oh, the suit looks even better in this light!” Rarity commented, looking over him as he approached. The others nodded in agreement, Coalback felt his warm and rubbed at his neck.

        “I’ve never been to a party like this.” He said, speaking over the music as it vibrated through the air.

        “Pinkie throws the best parties, I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself if you give it a chance.” Twilight said.

        “Yeah!” Pinkie said, popping up in front of him. “This party is gonna be awesome! Come on, let’s go play some party games!” She grabbed onto one of Coalback’s hooves, leading him back to the crowds and the rest of the party. He looked back in a helpless gesture for support, the others waved to him as he left with Pinkie Pie.

        She pulled him through the crowds, weaving their way toward the games. He tried his best not to look like he was cringing at every pony that thanked him. He didn’t like this at all.

        They reached the area of the building that had been dedicated to party games. They ranged from some sort of pin-the-tail game, to a strange game that involved a mat with dots on it. She walked him over to a group that was gathered around a pile of small bags, they were attempting to toss them into marked rings on the floor.

        “Try this one, Coalback! I bet you’re really good at it!” Pinkie pointed toward the sacks, drawing the attention of the group around the game.

        Many of them were children, but a few adults were also throwing around the sacks. Coalback picked up one of the sacks, feeling the dry rice shift around inside of it.

        “What do I do?” He asked, one of the colts in the group spoke up.

        “Try and throw it into the circle, the smallest circle is worth the most points!” He yelled, his scratchy voice rising above the music.

        Coalback looked back out to the cleared floor ahead of him, several circles were taped out in a seemingly random pattern. The smallest circle was farthest from the pile. He narrowed his eyes, feeling the weight of the bag on his hoof.

        Coalback pulled his arm back and threw the bag. It sailed through the air in a high arc, and landed in the exact middle of the smallest circle.

The colts stared with open mouths at the bag in the circle, Coalback wondered if he had somehow insulted them. Then one of the youngest of the group turned to him.

        “That was awesome!” He yelled, throwing his hooves in the air and cheering. He was quickly followed by the other young ponies. Coalback lowered his ears as they crowded around him, apparently he had been the only one in the entire party to get the bags into the smallest circle.

        “It wasn’t that impressive, really.” Coalback said over the music, drawing another response from the gathered children.

        “I’ll tell you what was impressive! That fight at the station!” The opal colored colt shouted, his shortly cropped orange hair falling in front of his round face. “You were like: Pow! And then you were like: Chop Chop!” He said, mimicking the sounds with movements of his arms. This only started the entire crowd of ponies again on the subject.

        “Coalback! Let’s try another game!” Pinkie Shouted over the young ponies, reaching in to pull him from the crowd.

        “Can I get some food? I’m really hungry, Pinkie.” He said as one of the songs began to die down.

        “Of course we can!” She said. “You have to try a cupcake, they’re extra-special-fantastically-good!” She spun around, pulling Coalback back to the food tables.

        He could feel his stomach gurgling as his nostrils picked out the smell of baked goods. He took the lead, his stomach driving him forward. He could vaguely hear Pinkie continuing to talk to him over the music but he wasn’t paying attention. He sidled up to the table, dropping Pinkie’s hoof as he took a plate.

        He began piling food onto plates, not even bothering to look at what he was grabbing. By the time he had moved through the tables, he had several plates balanced on his wings, back and head. He dodged and weaved through the crowd to find a table in the back, his initial anxiety gone at the prospect of food.

        He slid the plates onto an empty table, the stacks of random foods swaying with the movement. He took a seat in one of the chairs. The seat was low to the ground, obviously built for ponies, and was little different than sitting on the floor, just a few inches higher.

        He looked over the food in front of him, opting to start with one plate and simply keep moving. As he ate he examined the room around him, even if the music was less loud here, he wouldn’t be able to get much with his ears or nose. He stopped suddenly as he noticed a familiar unicorn walking toward him, although she looked slightly less crazed.

        He practically choked on the cupcake in his mouth as he ducked behind the table. He took a moment to realize how childish hiding under a table from a mare was before peeking back out at her.

        She stood at the other side of the table, not looking directly at him. Her light aquamarine coat slightly glowing in the few black lights that were aimed in this area of the party. She rubbed at her arm with a hoof, her face wore a look of guilt as she spoke.

        “I wanted to apologize for...earlier today.” She said, still not looking directly at him. “It’s just that...well, I don’t want to give you any excuses. But my heat sort of snuck up on me this year, and you were so...brave at that station.” She looked up at Coalback, who had stood up at the other end of the table to listen to her. “I’m really sorry about tackling you, and...well...you know.”

        Another pony walked up behind her, the cream colored mare waiting a few steps behind the unicorn.

        “That’s fine, miss. I’ve had experience with instinctive urges before, I can relate...to a point.” Coalback said, nodding as she visibly relaxed.

        “Well, I’m Lyra. But I sorta already know your name. And thanks, for understanding.” She turned around leaving with her friend.

        Coalback coughed. He hadn’t noticed that smell while she had been standing there, but now that she was gone it was obvious. The smell of heat must be a common one to the ponies here, because none of the other ponies seemed to notice.

        “Well that was awkward.” Rainbow said from behind him. “And that is a whole hay bale of food! You must have been really hungry.” She said as she took a seat at his table.

        “My last meal was a dragon heart. Gimme a break here.” Coalback replied, sitting in his own seat and continuing to eat.

        “Jeez, I guess it has been a while since you ate. You weren’t even complaining or anything.” She said, watching as he scarfed down three more cupcakes.

        “I have gone months without food, and while I would never wish to do it again, a couple days is nothing.” He crunched off a part of a caramel apple.

        “Maybe you should take it easy then?” She said, watching with concern as he swallowed the last of a cinnamon bun.

        “No.” He shook his head. “I had a dream last night that I was running in the forests. Not a good omen.” He scooped up several pieces of candy and ate them.

        “It was just a dream, why are you freaking out about it?” She asked, stopping her laugh as Coalback looked at her darkly.

        “Dreams are powerful things, Rainbow Dash. Not even the most ridiculous dreams are without meaning.” He pulled a cookie from the pile. “It is simply what can be determined from the images our subconscious produces that makes them innocent or not.” He stuffed the cookie into his mouth.

        “Deep.” She said, not bothering to question his sudden turn of mood.

        He was in the middle of eating a doughnut when the music stopped and Pinkie’s voice echoed across the room.

        “Coalback! Get your well dressed flank up here!” She yelled, the crowd laughing at her jolly demeanor.

        Coalback jumped, swallowing the doughnut whole. He looked up toward the stage, watching Pinkie jump and wave toward him. Standing behind her was a pale amber pony with a grey mane. He looked back at Rainbow Dash, not sure what to think of Pinkie’s request.

        “Go on. Everyone’s wants to meet you!” She said, gesturing with her hooves for him to go.

        He got up, looking nervously at the crowds as he moved toward the stage. They cheered for him as he moved toward the stage and onto it. He looked out at the gathered ponies, his eyes darting across the multi-colored faces.

        “Hey everypony, what can you say to a pony that, single-hoofed, saved Rainbow Dash from a raging dragon?” She motioned toward the crowd, whose response was a loud mix of cheers.

        “I didn’t catch any of that.” Coalback said, jumping as his voice amplified on it’s own.

        The crowd yelled again, gaining a similar cacophony of random yelling. The voices filled the room, their praise and happiness overwhelming in the enclosed space. Pinkie’s bubbly giggle echoed around the room.

        “I think that means: Thank you!” She said, laughing with the crowd. “Introduce yourself, Coalback.”

        “Uhm...My name is, Coalback. And I’m a pegasus.” He said, imitating a pony at an AA meeting. The crowd laughed, drawing a smile from him. “It’s been very strange coming to your country. Before this I never was able to enjoy myself like this, and it’s been...horrifying.” The crowd laughed with him again. “I just hope that you ponies can forgive me for what I did. I never wanted to have to kill that dragon, or those ponies at the station.” He said, his tone getting more serious.

        The crowd responded with a cacophony of encouragement. “I’m really starting to think that coming here was the right choice.” He finished, the crowd cheering to him.

        “Give it up for our hometown hero!” Pinkie cheered, her voice driving the ponies to another loud cheering. The ponies stomped on the floor, adding the sound of a stampede to their cheers. The entire building shook as the cheering grew almost deafening.

        Something above Coalback groaned, his senses suddenly sharp and focused. He froze listening for the noise again, the sound of the crowd drifting away from his concentration as he listened.

        There was a snap, like a bullwhip striking through the air. Or a support cable breaking.

        He looked up, his eyes immediately locking onto one of the candle lamps as it dangled from its final supporting cable. He looked down, trying to estimate it’s landing site. If the lamp fell, it would fall right on top of Pinkie Pie.

        The cable snapped, Coalback lunged.

        His shoulder pushed Pinkie out of the path of the falling lamp, and put himself where she stood only a moment before. The lamp impacted his back, shattering and spreading fire onto his clothes and the floor around him.

        Coalback let out a dog-like yelp, the fire burning all around him. The heat was unbearable, and he could feel himself burning. The fire stuck to him like glue, sending his whole back up in angry flames. He stomped around, trying in vain to shake the fire from his back.

        A stallion ran up the stage, clutched in his mouth was a bright red fire extinguisher. He emptied the foam onto Coalback, letting it’s coolness soak into him before directing the flow to the burning stage.

        Coalback sighed, the foam slowly dripping off of him and onto the floor. He closed his eyes, trying to take a moment to calm himself. He heard hoofsteps, and then Rainbow Dash’s panicked voice.

        “Coalback! Are you-” She paused, skidding to a halt before she could run into him. She gasped, the sharp sound causing Coalback to open his eyes.

        When he looked up the entire hall had gone silent, every single eye trained on him. He turned to Rainbow Dash, her eyes full of fear and trained onto his flank.

        He turned toward his rear, trying to identify what had caused a reaction like that. Then he took his own sharp breath. On his flank was something he had hoped would not have ever happened.

        The smell of fear is one that is hard to explain. It would be like trying to explain color to a blind man. But Coalback had always compared it to the smell of hot peanut butter, and dried blood. And that smell suddenly filled the room, assaulting his nostrils.

        Somepony screamed, Coalback turned back to them. He took a step away from the crowd, his eyes dilating and darting around the crowd.

        “Listen to that instinct, pup. That may be the only thing that saves us! RUN!”  The voice echoed in his head, stiffening every muscle in response to those words.

        He spread his wings, putting them high so that he could dart away at the first sign of danger. He was shaking, his wings rustling like dry paper.

        “Coalback-?” Rainbow said, her voice cutting off as he jumped. His wings came down in a blur, rocketing him up toward a high window.

He crashed through it, more ponies screamed. The glass fell onto the floor as the panicking ponies ran about in an attempt to hide or flee. Rainbow Dash stood very still, her eyes locked on the shattered window.

“Rainbow, what happened?” Twilight’s voice called, she ran up on stage her horn glowing as she shut off the amplification spell. “What happened to Coalback?” She asked again, Rainbow Shook her head.

“I-I don’t know.” She turned to Twilight, a look of determination firmly fixed on her face. “But I have to find him before he hurts himself!” She turned back to the window, opening her wings to take off.

“Rainbow, wait!” Applejack called, but Rainbow Dash was already to the broken hole that Coalback had left.

        The moon shone over Ponyville, the silver light illuminating the night. Rainbow Dash looked all over the town, calling Coalback’s name as she flew. But she knew that even if he heard her, he probably wouldn’t respond. She stopped, hovering over the town center as she tried to think of where he could have gone.

        Her eyes locked onto the clouds, a particularly dark one hiding among the others. thunder and lightning rumbled from the cloud. There weren’t any storms scheduled for several more days.

        She darted up to it, but banked so that she could approach it from the side instead of from under it. She pulled around the cloud, spotting the pony slouched on top of the stout anvil shape. She turned towards him, and as she got closer she could make out more details.

        He had ripped off the ruined clothes, they lay supported by the thick cloud around him. The crystal hanging from his neck glowed dully through the bag it was stored in. The clouds let out another peal of thunder.

        She landed behind him, giving him a wide berth so that she wouldn’t startle him. His ears perked up and turned toward her, then they lowered back to his head.

        “Go away.” He said, his voice shaking as he spoke.

        “No, Coalback.” She said, her voice soft as she tried to draw him away from his anger.

        “I don’t want you to see me like this, Rainbow.” He said, his voice heavy with sadness.

        She walked along the turbulent surface of the storm cloud, moving to a place where she could see his face. He didn’t turn toward her, but his eyes tracked her. A tear slid from his eye and gave the cloud under him a slightly darker shade as it fell from his chin.

        He sniffled. “I thought...that maybe for just awhile, that I could belong again.” He said, finally turning to her. “That maybe here, I could escape from that.” His voice turned cold, a hint of anger entering his words.

        “It’s okay, Coalback.” She tried, but it only drove him further into his anger.

        “No! It is not okay!” Another tear slid down his face and onto the clouds, thunder rumbled below them. “You couldn’t smell it. The fear that filled that room. They knew as soon as they saw, what I was. That I was to be feared. And maybe they’re right to.” He stood up, fully facing her. The light of the crystal cast dull shadows all over him and the clouds. “When they look at me they see a predator, a monster. To be feared, and not to be cared for.

        “When they look at me they do not see a pony. They see death, and hunger, and incontinence!” He looked at her with sadness and anger shaking him. “They don’t see a hurt soul. They don’t see a scared little kid, looking for a place to fit in. They see something that isn’t worth being called pony, or dog, or human. They don’t see a broken mind. They. Don’t. See. Me.”

He stared at her, daring her to argue with his statement. “And it is the same, everywhere I go. I am chased, burned, and attacked at every turn. All because I am different, than anything else.” His voice cracked, more tears falling from his eyes.

        “That’s not right, Coalback. Not everypony sees you like that.” She tried, taking a step toward him.

        “Look at me!” He said, spreading his wings wide. “I am nothing like you!” He yelled, the clouds rolled under them.

        “But you are!” She said, taking more careful steps toward him. “Two eyes, two wings, and four legs. Same as any pegasis!” She was only a few steps from him now.

        “And what of the teeth, the scars, the voices? Do all ponies have those as well?” He asked, his voice falling as he began to sob again.

        “No...” She said softly, taking the last step to close the distance. “But that’s what makes you, you. And I like you.” She said.

She pressed her lips to his.

        At first Coalback pulled away, and she feared for a moment that he would run again. But he stopped, and leaned into the kiss. The light from the crystal slowly died, and the cloud began to spread to a less volatile size. She pressed harder into the kiss, wanting to make it last longer.

        Coalback wrapped a hoof around her neck, pulling her closer to him. She leaned into him, letting herself become lost in his lips. He broke the kiss, allowing them to catch their breath. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and her own fluttering against her ribs.

        He pushed his nose under her chin, nuzzling her neck as he caught his breath.

        “I don’t think any of those things, Coalback.” She said, her breathing returning to something normal. “Because I think, that you’re a good pony. Whether you, or anyone else doesn’t.” She nuzzled into his neck, feeling his warmth against the chilled night air.

        “We should go inside, you’re cold.” He said, pulling away from her. He moved his hoof to hers, pulling her from the cloud with him.

A Dark Past*

A Dark Past*

-A Dark Past-

The low light of the first rays of morning twilight peaked through an open window. The purple toned cloud that had acted as a shutter had drifted away in the night. It played through the window, the light of the stars still twinkling amidst the gradually brightening sky outside the window. The light that was there danced on the sculpted clouds, and the other items in the room.

The one awake occupant of the room didn’t mind however, the light reminded him of the sleepless nights alone in the wilderness,the peaceful ones anyway. The golden toned rings on his arm sparkled in the light, more so than a metal alone should have. It was just that time of night where a pony could easily see the little details of a picture, not that his eyes made any use of that.

Coalback looked down from the window, a prismatic mane dominating his vision. He had fallen asleep on his back, or at least near enough to it. Rainbow had fallen asleep on his chest, gently rocked to sleep by his steady breathing. Her lips were curled up into a contented smile, sleeping soundly with his heartbeat as her lullaby.

He smiled sadly down at her, gently stroking a green lock of her mane with his hoof. Memories from travels before Equestria plagued him, even those from before everything fell apart. Strangely, a song twittered into the back of his mind, quickly calling itself forward as he locked onto it.

He looked back out the window, memories of hearths and hospital rooms flittering through his head.

“Lay down

Your sweet and weary head

Night is falling

You’ve come to journey's end

Sleep now

And dream of the ones who came before

They are calling

From across the distant shore”

His voice was never the greatest. He had trouble keeping tempo, tune was only loosely grasped in the mediocrity that he called his voice. But it was enough, and it comforted him. But what he didn’t notice in his nostalgic reminiscence, was the pair of rose eyes that fluttered open before him.

“What can you see

On the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Across the sea

A pale moon rises

The ships have come to carry you home

“And all will turn

To silver glass

A light on the water

All souls pass

“Hope fades

Into the world of night

Through shadows falling

Out of memory and time

Don't say: We have come now to the end

White shores are calling

You and I will meet again

“And you'll be here in my arms

Just sleeping

“What can you see

On the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Across the sea

A pale moon rises

The ships have come to carry you home

“And all will turn

To silver glass

A light on the water

Grey ships pass

Into the West”

His voice started grating near the end, congestion quickly turning into a cough that shook his chest. It was far more than enough to shake Rainbow awake, her head shifting up and away from his chest as he recovered.

“Coalback?” she asked quietly, concern tracing through her voice heavily. She pulled a hoof up, placing it carefully on his chest. She could feel his heart slowly calming, the coughing having spiked it for just a moment.

“I’m fine …” he said quietly. He lifted his own hoof and placed it over hers, gently stroking it as his heart returned to the steady rhythm. He smiled down at her after a moment. “When I was little, and I could still visit my mother, she sang that to me,” he said gently, the song returning to the hushed conversation.

“You’re pretty good,” Rainbow smirked, reassured now that she knew he wasn’t hurt at all. “You should sing for me more often.” She chuckled lightly as he rolled his eyes, the light grace of a blush adding to the picture for her.

“I’m not that good,” he dismissed, looking back out the window. “And besides, its … part of … singing’s part of the only thing that I could really call a religion. Means a lot, you know?” he asked. The light of the stars slowly winked out as the sun rose, sparkling off his eyes in a remarkably cheesy fashion, at least to Rainbow.

She snorted quietly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Yeah, whatever, Casanova,” she said teasingly, pushing up and pressing her lips to his as he turned back to her. His eyes opened wide for a second as she surprised him with it, but he quickly relaxed into it.

“And who’s that?” he asked as the kiss broke, a snort of his own escaping his lips.

“How should I know? It’s a thing ponies say. Shut up,” she defended, ending it with another kiss. When she broke away, his smile had dropped. “What’s up?” she tried. His continence had just changed so suddenly; something had to be on his mind.

“I was just thinking …” he muttered, looking away from her.

“A dangerous practice …” she muttered equally, hoping that the lame joke could keep him from closing up.

“Thanks,” he said with sarcasm, but his face softened. “I think … that I need to tell you some stuff. But I should tell everyb- … pony.” He paused again, some sort of translation tripping him up, or something.

“Do you want me to get the others, so you can tell them, too?” she asked, drawing the lines herself. This had to be something that he thought would affect all of them, otherwise, he would have just told her, right?

“Clever girl …” he said with a wink.

“I can be smart,” she said with a shake of her head. He still wasn’t relaxing, but he hadn’t stiffened up again. “What is it, though? You look like you’re pretty worked up over it,” she said with worry, dropping back to lean against him.

“You don’t know who I was before I came here …” he said after a moments hesitation, the words vibrating up through his chest. She was starting to really like that feeling.

“Well … no,” she said reluctantly. She liked to think that she could trust him, even though she didn’t actually know where he came from or how he got here. She looked back down at his chest, idly running a hoof over the markings on his chest and what he had said about them. “Okay, I’ll get them to the library. But you’re not going to do anything stupid are you?” she asked, eyeing him with a glare.

“It’s not smart … It’s the right thing, though,” he said after another short pause. “And … after I tell you, you might not want to be around me anymore …” he said with reluctance, not meeting her eyes.

“Not happening,” she responded instantly, pushing herself back up to look him in the eye. Coalback was her friend, more than that now, and she would stick with him. “If I’m here, I’m here for good.” She marked an ‘X’ on her chest, opting out of a full Pinkie Promise for the sake of her own embarrassment. It got him to smile, though.

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, sincerity warming his voice. He turned back to the window, watching the light slowly creep back into the world. Rainbow set her head down against his neck, watching the sunrise with him. She felt sort of silly, like an old mare or something.

It wasn’t until the sun had fully risen that they started to get ready for the day.

It took a few hours to pull all her friends away from their various chores and duties, eventually guiding them toward the library. It was late in the morning when she finally led Applejack and Fluttershy inside, the last of the ponies who needed to be there.

The sight she was greeted with was unpleasant. Her friends sat around in the library, various expressions on their faces. Sadness, fear, concern. They sat in various places around the main room of the library, the inset shelves around the room untouched by the studious mare. She had already told all of them why they were there, but hadn’t exactly explained what Coalback wanted, not that she knew.

The library was reasonably lit, although the windows were placed on the shady side of the tree. A varying set of lanterns and candles compensated for the lack of natural light however. The wood patterning made it easy to simply stare at the walls and trace the patterns, a good distraction from the imaginations of the mares inside.

“So, Coalback’s okay?” Fluttershy asked meekly, stepping around the door as Applejack closed it behind them. “He seemed so frightened last night.”

“Yeah, he was fine once I got him calmed down. I think he just overreacted a bit,” Rainbow assured, moving further into the library.

“So, what did Coalback want to talk about?” Twilight spoke up from across the room.

“Not sure,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “He was saying something about before he came here. It didn’t sound like he was very happy about it.” The room fell into silence as they waited.

It didn’t take long before there was a gentle knock on the door; Rainbow turned to open it. Coalback stood nervously on the other side, his gem hanging loosely around his neck. He had donned his suit’s coat, the coattails just covering his flanks.

He stepped inside somberly, the door swinging closed behind him. He looked around dartingly at the rest of the room, his head low. Rainbow moved around next to him, offering her presence as a reassurance. They moved forward toward the middle of the room, gathering around in a circle and sitting there.

After a moment, Coalback spoke quietly. “Can we dim the lights, please?” he asked, lifting a hoof to start rummaging inside his coat.

“Sure,” Twilight said, turning toward the windows and closing them with her magic. “Why?” she asked simply, dimming a few of the lanterns and leaving the library mostly in shadow.

He paused for a moment, his hoof catching on something on the inside pocket of his coat. “It’s not good to talk about the dead in the light,” he said quietly. “They like to hear their stories told. To be reminded of who they were, I guess,” he mumbled, pulling out one of his ‘cigarettes’ and putting it in his mouth.

“Coalback-” Rainbow started, cut off by a wave of his hoof.

“This is hard for me to talk about. It’ll help me, okay? And it’ll help me show you …” he explained, pulling out his little metal box. He flipped open the top of the box, revealing the a little wheel and a smaller perforated box.

He lifted his other hoof, using it to spin the small wheel. Sparks jumped from the little wheel, lighting a flame that spat out of the holes in the box. He carefully used it to light the end of his cigarette, slowly filling the room with a thin smoke. He flipped the box closed and put it away in one of his pockets, taking a short puff off of it before talking.

“Alright, I’ll set the scene,” he said thoughtfully, little puffs of smoke coming out with his words. “I lived on a large estate with my family, running our steel company from the scenic little town there. There were two hundred of us there,” he said, taking a thoughtful breath that pulled in smoke.

“Two hundred? That must be one heckova property …” Applejack mused, putting a hoof to her chin as she thought about it. The Apple clan was big, and they only ever all got together once in awhile. She couldn’t even imagine trying to live with all of them, not for more than a few days anyway.

“What’s ‘steel’, Coalback?” Twilight asked, somehow refraining from taking notes.

“Iron has too much carbon in it. Heat treat it enough and you get something stronger. Steel,” he explained, waving a hoof to stop her from asking any more questions. “I’m not here to trade recipes with you. Now where was I?” he mused, taking a deep drag of his cigarette and blowing the smoke out his nose. “It was a nice place, big land with lots of woods, a mountain that caught the sunset. We were a strong, dedicated clan. However I was the outcast,” he said, looking up at the smoke that eddied in the room.

“Outcast, but why?” Rarity asked, surprised that the serene scene that he had described would be ruined by something like that.

“I was a bastard,” he said flatly, huffing out another cloud of smoke. The reaction was one he expected, mostly sympathy. “It’s fine, I had it pretty easy considering,” he said, waving them down into silence again. “More of a blessing than a curse, really. Plus I wasn’t much into their purity that they were so proud of.” He pursed his lips, letting a smoke ring drift up toward the ceiling.

“Purity?” Rainbow asked, trying to figure where that would come in.

“Absolutely disgusting, is what it was. But, I think it was my impure blood that kept the sickness from sticking,” he said with a scowl, pulling the necklace off from around his neck. He opened it after a moment, letting the light from the gem fill the room. Golden streams of light scattered in the smoke in the air, creating a magical light show inside the library.

“On the eve of my eighteenth birthday, my family started to act strangely around me,” he said, pushing the gem into the center of their circle. “They were distant, even my cousins who were usually so kind to me. Only my grandfather really celebrated it with me. But it was that month that I … became part of the clan, and got this tattoo.” He became distant for a moment, old memories resurfacing. “And as the year progressed, things got stranger,” he said darkly, a cloud of smoke drifting out of his mouth and over the crystal.

The mares gasped as the light changed, an image appearing in the smoke. It was a set of eyes on a head that they couldn’t see, eyes smaller than a pony’s. The scleras were bloodshot with black, the yellow eyes staring back angrily. But before anypony could really get a good look at them, they drifted away with the smoke.

“They were sick, they had to be,” he said, staring up at the smoke just as they had. “Some sort of madness overcame them and spread like a plague. Their grandeur was unmatched by any dictator. They sought power like a moth to a flame. Which is how everything ended,” He puffed out another cloud, letting it eddy over the light.

“There was another family, large and powerful like ours. They ran a competing company in the same town, and my family hated them. So, they planned to kill them, then the town, then the state, then the coast, then the country! And who knows where they would have stopped from there!” he snarled, a cloud of smoke whirling from his lips and over the light.

Another image appeared in the smoke, whirling and shimmering as its medium eddied. It was a wolf, snarling and swiping at foes that they couldn’t see. They could actually hear the wolf as it moved and twirled. “I wouldn’t let them,” Coalback added darkly, scowling at the image. “I was young, and stupid, and in love,” he ended sadly, blinking as his scowl faded. “I did something that haunts me ...” Thunder echoed out of the smoke as the image drifted away.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked, worry starting to edge in on her voice. She didn’t want to show it, not with her friends there, but she was scared. Coalback was tougher than anypony she’d ever met before, so if something could really affect him like that, it had to be bad.

“... I killed them, all of them,” he said flatly, almost spitting the words out. “And then I watched the first love of my life die in my arms.” Another cloud drifted over the light, and when the room fell into silence sound echoed out of it. Desperate gasping, gurgling and coughing. And a deep voice, begging desperately in a tongue they couldn’t understand.

He took a shaky breath, blinking his eyes rapidly. “It cost me everything … but it was the only way to save them from themselves,” His hoof moved up to his neck, idly rubbing at the scar around it. “It was the night I got this, and this,” he stopped, moving his jacket off of his left shoulder.

Rainbow had already seen the scars but hadn’t said anything about them earlier. How his fur had ever regrown over them was what was most surprising. The skin there was puckered, a rolling sea of previously rent flesh.

“If I could have … not, I wouldn’t have. But they weren’t themselves. They were nothing more than beasts, monsters,” he finished somberly, replacing his coat. He swallowed hard, taking out the burnt down cigarette and grinding out the glowing end on the floor.

He wouldn’t meet their eyes, he didn’t want to see the what they thought of him on their faces. Shock, fear, horror, tears. Applejack was the first to break the silence that fell.

“Is that what yer cutie mark means?” she asked, her brow furrowed as she refused to allow herself to cry. She knew how important family was, she could tell how hard it was for him to talk like this. She had been to a few funerals herself. “And why ya ran when everypony saw it?”

“... Sort of … Part of the soul, right?” he asked bitterly, cringing down at the floor. “Shows I can’t really get away from it, even all the way out here.” He paused for a few moments, but he pressed on. “Went to prison after that, ten life sentences. High security in the North. Spent a year there, and I only got worse. Kept hurting, kept killing. So I left, seeking my own cure to the madness that was still holding me,” he choked out, his eyes starting to water.

“Y-you broke out of p-prison?” Twilight asked, eyes wide and voice shaking slightly.

“Had to, they couldn’t hold me there without someone getting ... hurt. The only other way was solitary confinement, and that was only a temporary solution.” His eyes darted up to Twilight, quickly replacing their stare onto the floor. “It was the only way. I had to get as far away as possible. So, I hid in the mountains. Even farther North of the prison, for a year, or so.”

There was a short, pregnant pause. The silence hung in the air with its own palpable weight, only broken once Rarity began to speak. “This is … Coalback, this is too much,” she had been crying, he could hear it in her voice. “How could all of this have happened?” she looked at him, but he still wouldn’t meet their gazes.

“I still ask myself that,” he replied sadly. He took a deep breath, steeling himself before he stated his reason for being there. “But now that I’ve told you all of this, I hope that you won’t want me to leave … ?” he said reluctantly, closing himself off from his emotions. He didn’t want to make a scene when they asked him to leave.

The pause was excruciating, it felt like it took hours for something to happen. When the first hoof rested on his shoulder, it surprised him with its tenderness. Quickly following it, more gentle hooves rested on his hunched frame.

When Coalback looked up, the last thing he had expected to see was the sad smiles on the ponies’ faces. “Of course you can stay,” Twilight said, but he couldn’t decipher the emotions on her face. “Just the fact that you’re so worked up over this means you regret what you did. Friends forgive each other,” she finished warmly, motioning to the others with a nod of her head.

The faces of the mares filled his vision: compassion, sadness, forgiveness. It was the last reaction that he had ever expected to see on their teary faces.

Rainbow was the first one that moved, wrapping her hooves around his neck. It didn’t take long for the others to follow, and before he knew it, Coalback was buried under a warm group hug. Coalback didn’t move, holding himself still as their warmth strengthened him.

Over the course of seven years, he had built himself a shelter. A suit of armor that kept him protected from his own emotions, cutting himself off from the world around him. But, like a floodgate opening, it broke. He shut his eyes tight, screwing up his face as tears started to flow out of his eyes. No one had ever had a reaction like this when they learned the truth.

He felt his throat contract suddenly, his diaphragm spasming. He pushed away from their embrace, putting a hoof over his mouth as he coughed. The mares quickly took a step back, giving him room to breath. Whatever had caused the sudden interruption cleared away as rapidly as it had arrived, letting him recover enough to wave off a concerned Fluttershy.

“I’m fine, probably just the cigarette,” he assured, pushing back the irritation in his throat and looking back up. “I really didn’t expect you to be so … accepting,” he admitted, his voice scratchy. “I would appreciate if this stays between us, though.” They nodded, agreeing freely to that.

Coalback paused. He felt … lighter. The feeling was overwhelming, and it felt good. He had spoken sparingly with only a select few about that particular subject, with mixed results. Maybe he had needed it more than he originally thought? A few niggling voices in the back of his head agreed, but he ignored them.

He lifted a hoof to wipe away the tears that had collected on his fur. “I need a drink,” he said after a moment, leaning over to scoop up the crystal and rewrapping it, “something strong.” The ponies around him donned confused faces. “Please tell me you have alcohol in Equestria,” he tried, becoming desperate. But it seemed to work as looks of recognition suddenly sparked among the ponies.

“Well, it’s a lil’ ‘erly fer a drink. But all consider’n, yer in luck,” Applejack said with a forced chuckle, pulling herself up and toward the door. She opened it and filled the dimmed room with light, making its occupants cringe at the sudden change.

Applejack stepped out the door, leaving it open until she returned a moment later. She had a small crate balanced on her back. The sound of glasses clinking together bounced out of it as she closed the door with a rear hoof. She took a step towards them and bent around to set the crate down carefully, revealing its open top and the contents within.

“Applejack, that’s not-” Rainbow started with a joyful smile, cut off by the farm pony.

“It sure as sugar is!” Applejack said with pride, motioning down at the six bottles neatly packaged in the crate. “This here is Big Mac’s special brew a’ apple ale. Picked it up as a present fer ya, Coalback. Meant ta give some a’ it to ya last night,” she said, pulling out one of the simple glass bottles. She set down the unlabeled bottle in front of Coalback, offering it to him. “Mac only ever makes a few bottles a’ this a year. But fer some reason, this year he made a whole dozen. And its a lot stronger than what we normally sell,” she explained as Coalback picked it up in his hooves.

He turned it over in his hooves, examining the dark liquid as it sloshed around inside. He leaned forward and bit down on the slightly protruding cork, pulling it out and dropping it on the floor as the bottle fizzed in the open air. He waited a moment for the froth to die down before lifting the bottle to his lips and taking a short swig.

The taste made him snort, quickly pulling the bottle from his lips. He stared incredulously at the bottle, as if accusing it of a crime.

Applejack chuckled as she pulled out another bottle and hoofed it over to Twilight, who had gathered a few glasses and a corkscrew. “Too strong?” she teased lightly.

“It’s different, I’ll give you that,” he said. He took another careful drink, this time prepared for the taste. In reality, it was one of the weaker things he had ever had. Honestly, he barely even felt the alcohol tickle his throat on the way down. It was more sweet than it was strong. The appley sweetness of it was muted compared to the apples he had tried, but it was far more powerful than the alcohol in it. Ponies must be lightweights, he mused idly.

“Let me have some,” a scratchy voice whispered from his side, a soft presence pressing up against him. He found Rainbow hungrily eyeing the bottle in his hooves, licking her lips in anticipation. He smiled warmly and acquiesced, lifting the bottle for her. She grabbed onto it and tilted it to her own mouth, smacking her lips as she pulled away.

“You know, Coalback, I didn’t really see you as the religious type,” Twilight noted from across the room. She accepted a glass from Applejack, who was pouring out a bottle for the rest of the mares.

Coalback snorted, a smirk decorating his face as he took the bottle back from Rainbow. “That’s because I’m not, about as far from it as possible,” he chuckled, taking another swig from the bottle.

“Then what was all that stuff about spirits? And how you talked about lights yesterday?” she asked incredulously, stopping from taking a sip out of her glass.

Coalback chuckled as he continued to take a drink from the bottle, a few large gulps of it were enough to start to make him feel warm. “I’ve seen what mortals should not see,” he said with a smirk, raising his eyebrows toward her. “My existence, if anything, proves gods don’t exist,” he said flatly, he swished the drink around in its bottle and waved it in front of Rainbow. She happily took the bottle for a drink as she listened.

“What about Celestia? Or Luna? They’re gods,” Twilight offered, taking a smug sip of her drink. She was confident that, Coalback having met them, would realize that she was right.

“No they’re not,” he said flatly, watching her nearly choke on her drink. He broke into laughter as she tried desperately to keep from spraying her drink across the room.

“What?! But you’ve met them!” Twilight said, aghast.

Coalback snorted again, taking back the bottle from an amused looking Rainbow. It wasn’t often that she got to see Twilight so flustered, it was always entertaining. “I’ve met things that can do more sitting in a chair than Celestia can with her silent entrances, or Luna with her shouting,” he said with a grin as Twilight tried to regain her composure. “And I’ve seen something call itself a god before. It died. Gods don’t die, do they?” he asked rhetorically.

“But that doesn’t make any sense! The Princesses are incredibly powerful, they control the sun and the moon!” she tried, nearly spilling her drink again as she tried to punctuate her point.

“So,” Coalback said with another laugh, he took another short drink from the bottle. “Applejack makes the trees grow, that doesn’t make her a god,” he retorted with a grin, draining the bottle and losing the angry look he got, replacing it with a smile as he pulled away the empty bottle. “I don’t like talking about this stuff, always makes someb- somepony angry.”

“Fine, so you’re not religious. Then why’d you talk about all that stuff like that?” Twilight asked, bemused as she sat back and sipped at her drink again.

“Not everything has to be made from gods, or divinity. And because the world is …” he looked at Rainbow out the side of his eye, “awesome,” he finished fatly, setting the bottle down. “Have you seen the tiny, intricate patterns on a dragonfly’s wing? Watched the clouds bend and flow through the mountains? No magic, no gods, just nature. It’s enough to make anything talk with wonder,” he explained.

“Jeez, Coalback,” Rainbow said from his side. “That’s deep, dude …”

“He’s prob’ly drunk!” Applejack said from across the room, filling her glass again. “He drank more th’n halfa that thang. And papa always said, drink’ll make anypony talk their heads off,” she spouted, motioning toward the empty bottle at his hooves.

“I’ll say!” Pinkie popped up, downing a full glass like a shot and burping loudly.

“Not drunk,” Coalback said, calm as ever. “Just telling what the truth to the best of my ability. Learning how big the universe is changed how I look at the sunrise, or at the stars burning in the sky,” he said to her, seeing the frustration drop from Twilight’s face.

“Actually, I think I know what you mean,” Twilight said, sipping her drink. “I decided to study magic after I saw Celestia raise the sun,” she said, smiling at warm memories.

“I wanted to be a doctor,” Coalback found himself saying. Maybe I’m a little buzzed, he mused.

“You studied medicine?” Fluttershy piped up, encouraged by what little drink she had actually had. She had only had one cup, but had barely touched it. Apparently it was enough to loosen her tongue considerably.

“Tried to, family got in the way,” he said, nodding. “Wanted to be a surgeon. Save lives, set bones, heal the wounded. After I broke out of prison I could have lost my arm, didn’t because I knew how to fix it. Hard to do when you’re wandering around the mountains,” he paused for a moment, thinking for a second. “If I hadn’t, it would have taken me a lot longer to figure out how to get here,” he mused.

Memories flashed in front of his eyes, more recent than the ones he had recounted. A shapeshifter, the naagloshii, liquid in shape as it countered his assault. The girl, her arm dislocated. She’d been there a long time with that thing. He remembered his wound, how it grabbed him with those blade-like claws. He could barely remember being able to drive it away, and helping her before he helped himself. The look on her face when he asked her for help-

“Coalback?” Rainbow’s voice pulled him out of his memories. “You got all stiff again, what’s up?” she asked, concern showing through her face.

“I’m fine,” he replied quickly, turning to her with a smile. “I was just thinking again, that’s all. Thinking that I’m too lucky for my own good, is what I’m thinking,” he said, turning to Rainbow and winked at her. “Don’t tell Applejack, but this drink is pretty weak,” he whispered to her so that Applejack couldn’t hear. “Not that it doesn’t taste good,” he added quickly, making her chuckle quietly.

“So, does that mean that there’s harder stuff where you come from?” she whispered back with a raised eyebrow. This was some of the strongest stuff that ponies could buy, most of anything stronger had to be imported, and it was expensive stuff.

“The stuff I used to drink would burn your nose hairs off, if this is the best you’ve got,” he said. She didn’t even bother to hide her laugh, letting it explode out. He had said it with such a straight face, and it might have helped that she’d had a few swigs from the bottle herself.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Rarity’s voice suddenly cut in, interrupting Rainbow’s mirth as they turned to look at the unicorn. She had walked over to them with her drink held in her magic, a small box floating beside her.

“Nope,” Rainbow said, not meeting the unicorn’s playful glare.

“Well, in that case. I have something for you, Coalback,” Rarity said, levitating the box over toward him. “Applejack wasn’t the only one who didn’t get to give you her present. Here you go, dear,” she explained, setting the box down in his hooves.

“Rarity, you didn’t have to-” Coalback started.

“Oh, yes I did!” she cut him off, glaring with disgust at the rags hanging around his neck. It was basically just a ripped up shirt that he had repurposed. He hadn’t wanted anymore questions like Twilight had had about the previous one. He could already assume that these ponies were basically vegans, so it would make explaining the leather, again, awfully awkward.

Coalback shrugged, taking up the box in his hooves. It was a simple, white cardboard box. Sparkling swirls inlaid themselves in the paper of it, revealing themselves as he tilted the box in the low light. It really reminded him of a necklace box.

When he opened it, he was surprised at the contents. The deep black cloth was woven together in a strong pattern that vaguely reminded him of nylon rope. Shining silver-stitched swirls highlighted it, looking vaguely like starlight. It looked more like a very nice … collar to him. How ironic, he thought.

“It’s a new necklace! Something comfortable to hold that absolutely fabulous gem,” she said, motioning with a cringe at his current form of transporting it. “Go on, dear. Put it inside that pocket, there.” She pointed down with her hoof, showing him the small opening near the front.

Coalback looked questioningly between her and the necklace. After a moment, he pulled out the new necklace and held it up. He quickly fumbled out the gem, transferring it to the other necklace with a flash of light. The light instantly vanished into the dark weave of cloth, swallowed by the necklace pocket.

He couldn’t stop staring at it, though. It really fucking looks like a collar … he kept thinking. The image was especially added to now that the gem was there, creating a lump in the cloth that reminded him of a dog tag that would otherwise have hung from it.

The necklace was suddenly pulled from his grip by a cyan hoof, the ratty shirt-made-necklace ripped away from his neck by another. As he tried to figure out why Rainbow had decided to grab it, the collar was already on its way over his head. He reflexively screwed his eyes shut and flattened his ears against his head as the cloth slid over his face and down his neck.

He simply sat, blinking his eyes, after Rainbow had finished throwing it on him. He glanced down at it and suppressed a groan. Great ghosts, it really is a damned collar! The pure irony of it, at least in his eyes, was both hilarious and horrible. He settled on smiling at it, trying not to seem ungrateful.

“Sorry,” Rainbow said snarkily, “you were taking too long. I had to see what it looked like on ya,” she chuckled.

“Yeah. Thanks, Rarity,” Coalback said, nodding to the alabaster unicorn.

“Fabulous!” Rarity beamed, snatching up the torn shirt with her magic. “Now you don’t need this ugly thing,” she muttered, floating it out of the room and toward a trashcan. She nodded to him before wandering off toward the others.

He heard another chuckle from his side, drawing his attention back to the cerulean mare. “It actually does look pretty awesome,” she said, smirking up at him. “Wanna go, or what?” she asked, motioning toward the door with a nod of her head.

“Sure, there’s something else I want to show you, anyway,” Coalback replied, standing with her and moving toward the door. They were able to sneak out without any interference from the others. It seemed that they were distracted, with drink or with unrelated conversations that had sprung with it.

Forgive and forget, it would seem, Coalback thought as he closed the door behind him. It seemed that they were easy to move on from the admittance of his past. He couldn’t be truly sure whether it was their nature, or the drinks that did it. But it was nice that they didn’t linger on it long.

“So,” Rainbow’s voice piped up, drawing his attention away from the now hidden ponies. “What’s so important that only I’m allowed to know about? I know it’s because I’m awesome and all, but why can’t they hear it too?” she asked, starting out strong but quickly growing concerned.

He chuckled at that, lifting his wings and getting ready to take off. “I’ll explain where there are … fewer ears. Come on.” He flapped down, lifting himself into the air forcefully. Rainbow followed him up, fluttering her wings and dodging around the wind Coalback threw from his wings.

They started forward and up, aiming up toward Rainbow’s cloud home in the distance. She heard Coalback mumble something about momentum, the words drowning out as their speed picked up. She made sure to wait for him, he seemed to have a lot more trouble starting out. It made sense, he had had to take a running leap to get off the ground the first time she saw him fly, and he had had to take a high dive to pick up any speed quickly.

This was what she loved, flying. And she could share it with Coalback, which was just icing on the triple fudge cake. Rainbow looped around, spinning behind and back ahead of Coalback. She couldn’t help showing off, just a little.

With a few more loops and rolls, they reached the house. Coalback broke through a cloudbank as he bled off speed, being thankful for the softness of the magical vapor. He crash landed on the porch, spitting out a clump of cloud as Rainbow opened the door.

“You should work on your landings,” Rainbow said with a smirk, barely keeping from laughing again. Coalback shook himself off and muttered something in his language, standing up and walking toward the door. Rainbow turned to him once the door was closed, pressing herself close to him so that he couldn’t back away. “So what is it? Why wait until you’d told me all that and then save one more thing for later?” she asked.

“Because, the others might panic when they see it happen.” He had backed up, flank against the cloud door as he cringed away from Rainbow’s sudden invasion of his personal space. “A soul gaze is strange to watch happen from the outside,” he said quietly, as if somepony could still be listening.

“A what?” Rainbow asked, caught off guard.

“A soul gaze,” Coalback repeated carefully, his confidence returning as he stepped forward. Pressure fell on her eyes as he met her gaze. “You will see the very core of who I am, and in return I will see you. It is something that we’ll both remember, forever. This does not fade into our memories. It stays as vivid and real as if you had only just seen it, forever.” He took a step back, and it took a few moments for Rainbow to realize that she’d been backing away from him. “You should sit down,” he said, taking a seat on the floor himself.

Rainbow lowered herself to the floor, tucking her legs underneath herself on the compressed cloud of her floor. “What happens on the outside?” she asked.

She stiffened as the room filled with a static feeling, it made every hair on her body stand on end. Coalback had removed one of his rings, carefully balancing it on the cloud in front of him. He looked surprised that the ring actually stayed in place.

“You pause,” he said simply, shrugging as he looked back up at her. He didn’t quite meet her eyes, concentrating on her muzzle instead. “It’s like the two people just … stop. They practically become part of the environment, but only for a second. It may only last for a moment, but for us it could be minutes or hours,” he explained, reaching up for the second ring.

“Wait, what are you doing?” she asked quickly drawing Coalback to a confused pause. “You only took off one when you did this to Luna, didn’t you? Why are you taking off another one?” she asked.

“I only let Luna and myself scratch the surface, but you’ll get to see the whole thing,” he tried, flexing his arm slightly as he wriggled the ring down his arm. “They are resistors, remember? They stop magical flow. Their effect is multiplicative; more rings, more resistance,” he explained, pulling the second ring off his arm.

The static in the room increased, making all of Rainbow’s feathers vibrate dully at their base. Coalback carefully balanced the second ring on top of the first, the metal clinking quietly as he did. “Are you ready?” he asked without looking up, keeping his eyes aimed at the rings on the floor.

“Uhm … yeah, sure,” Rainbow said, still unsure of exactly what was going to happen. But whatever Coalback could throw at her, she could take it. She hadn’t made it into the Wonderbolt training program for nothing, even if she had been forced to quit early.

Coalback looked up, his eyes meeting hers.

Voices of the Soul

-Voices of the Soul-

        At first, Rainbow Dash thought that nothing had changed. Coalback hadn’t moved, and she had only felt the pressure of his gaze for a moment. Then it had disappeared, and Coalback wasn’t moving at all. Not even the delicate shake of his ears from his heartbeat, he was a statue in all senses.

        But then her eyes flicked to the air around him, it had definitely changed. And she was not in her house any more.

        That familiar, foggy dreamscape surrounded her. The wisps of vapor swirling forward, toward and around Coalback.

        She stood up on shaky hooves, this place was wrong. Just as it had been in her dreams. She took a step to the side, revealing what lay behind Coalback.

        A pit, its depth unreadable in the fog. It could have been four meters deep, or four hundred. It’s curved edge stretched to either side in a wide circle, and if she concentrated, she could just make out the opposite side of it.

        And as she examined the opposite side, she discovered a true horror. Above the pit, as if they were on some unseen plane, was a wolf and something else.

        Whatever the other thing was, She had never seen anything like it. It was pale, and devoid of fur save for on it’s head. It was shaped like a manticore, but without the bulk or the hooves. Instead it had two wide appendages at the end of its legs. The things at the end of its arms were like claws, but more streamlined, softer. Its face was flat, and twisted into a snarl of concentration. The thick muscles of it’s body were covered in a sheen of sweat as it wrestled with the wolf, who was a monster all it’s own.

        It was not like any wolf she had seen. Regular wolves just looked like bigger, thinner dogs. But this one didn’t, its head was too wide, and its limbs too thick. The claws were humongous, sharp enough to rip through trees, soil, and flesh alike. Its fur was dirty, and clung to its body in its sweat. She could hear the two creatures grunt and snort as they struggled in a locked embrace, a stalemate.

        She stood stock still, a predator and some sort of monster locked in a battle of will and strength lay before her. And she dare not interrupt it.

        “We accept the love we think we deserve.”  A rasping voice echoed in the fog, startling Rainbow Dash from her stillness. She looked around desperately for its source, but found none. “But he still does not believe any would love him, even after you demonstrated it so clearly to him.” The voice said again, its sound coming from her right.

        She turned, and nearly fled for her life. Standing beside her, looking at the struggling monsters, was a phoenix. Its feathers were pure gold and too long, giving it a look like an old pony with beard hair. It turned its glowing red eyes to her, and opened its beak again.

        “You must save him, from himself. Else he will not survive the next fortnight.” The bird’s beak did not move with the words, it merely opened and the words came to be. Rainbow stared at it, waiting for her mind to catch up.

        “Who are you? What are those things? What are you talking about?” Her words barely made it out of her throat, she couldn’t breath properly.

        “I am not important, yet. Those three, are your friend. And that is his ever present battle.” It turned it’s head back to the fighting figures. “You know them as ‘Coalback’.” It ruffled its feathers. “Coalback will die, but only if you let him.” The phoenix’s words rang heavily in her ears, and then it turned away.

        Its steps were measured and it walked away slowly. “Wait!” Rainbow called, she didn’t know what she was going to say, but she didn’t want it to leave yet.

        “You are running out of time, Rainbow Dash. You must earn his trust, not the other way around.” And then it was gone, disappeared into the mist.

        “I don’t understand! Come back!” She yelled, hearing her own voice echo in the fog.

        The fog grew thicker, she felt that pressure on her eyes again. She closed them, trying to stave off the sudden headache.

        And she was back in the living room of her house, Coalback sat in front of her. His rings still sat on the floor, and he was smiling. He reached forward, replacing the rings on his arms and driving away the static feeling.

        He coughed again, his hoof covering it. She looked at him, unable to keep her eyes from watering. She took a shaky breath, his smile wavered and he moved to her.

        She jumped forward, wrapping her hooves around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. He sat with her, holding onto her as she sobbed.

        “I’m sorry.” He said, nuzzling the back of her neck.

        “No,” Rainbow said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I can’t help you.” Her hooves tightened around his neck, pulling him closer. She took another shaky breath. “Tell me about your cutie mark...” She whispered.

        “I think that it appeared during the arena fight.” He said softly, slowly stroking her mane. “I think that the wolf’s head means wildness, and change.” His hoof lowered to her side, stroking slowly. “Those things around it are called ‘hands’. I think that they represent how others would seek to stop change.”

He pulled her toward him, letting her body press against his. “Are you okay? I do not know what you saw, and I will not ask you to tell me. But, can you still stand to be around me?”

        She pulled away from him, looking back into his eyes. The pressure was no longer there, it was gone with that gaze. “I made a promise, and I won’t ever go back on it. I want to stay with you.” She pushed against him, rubbing her head against his. He returned the movement.

        “Thank you.” He rocked back and forth, comforting her with the repetitive movement.

        She smiled softly. “Hmm...” She pushed away from him, standing. He frowned, following her with his eyes as she walked to the stairs.

        “Come on,” She turned her head to him over her shoulder, her eyes half-lidded. She bounced her hip seductively, swishing her prismatic tail over to one side. “I want to show you something.” She teased.

If Coalback’s jaw could have hit the floor, it would have gone straight through it.

        She began walking up the stairs, Coalback rose and followed her. The door to her bedroom closing behind them.

        Coalback was laying on his back, Rainbow Dash lay across his chest. They were breathing slowly and heavily, wafting in the warmth of the others body against their own.

        “You act like a mare in heat.” Coalback mumbled, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. She smiled, humming in her throat.

        She looked up at him, her rose eyes staring into his muted green. “I like it like this, with you. Just us.” She closed her eyes again, leaning into him. They stayed like that for a moment.

        Coalback took another deep breath, letting it out through his nose. “I need to work, I have a duty that must be fulfilled. Reports to write, research to be done.” His words were heavy, his voice sad. He really didn’t want to go, but he had made his promises, and put them off long enough.

        “No, stay here.” She wrapped her hooves around his chest, holding him gently. He pushed her away, sliding out from under the covers of the cloud bed.

        He stood up and stretched his wings out, he turned his head when he heard the covers shift behind him. Rainbow Dash had moved onto her back, splaying her wings out underneath her. She let the light leaking in through the window warm her belly as she stretched her back, her legs spread to show him another part of her.

        “Please, come back to bed Coalback.” She said sleepily, looking at him with her head resting against the cloud. He shuddered, and visibly forced himself to look away.

        “I have to do some work for the princesses, I’ll be back before the moon is high.” He walked out quickly, not looking back for fear that he would not be able to look away. He heard her frustrated sigh as he walked out the door.

        Coalback ran into his room, gathering a few items from the wardrobe and flying out the window. He swung his wings around, aiming himself toward the library and gliding down to it.

He really hated to leave Rainbow like that, duty or not. But his word meant more than a promise, if he went back on his word it would hurt him. His power could evaporate, and he could be overtaken by the beast in him. He shuddered slightly mid flight.

Coalback flared his wings, halting himself in the air and dropping to the snowy ground in front of the library’s door. He walked up to it, but paused.

He hoped Twilight wasn’t still mad, or drunk. If she was, then doing his research and reports would be more difficult. He hesitated, finally deciding to simply knock.

His hoof shook the door, using more strength than he should have. He heard something impact the floor, and someone grumbled inaudibly.

The door opened, revealing the scaly library assistant, his eyes betraying his annoyance.

“Hi.” He said, not motioning for Coalback to enter.

“Um...hello.” Coalback said, looking beyond him and into the library. “I need to do some research, and write to the princesses.” He said, Spike sighed.

“You might as well come in then. Twilight’s upstairs in her study, you should talk to her.” He moved away from the door, leaving it open as he went back to his work.

Coalback stepped inside, wiping the snow that clung to his hooves off on a matt. He walked over to the stairs, watching Spike pick up a pile of unorganized books. He left the small dragon to his work, going up the stairs at the other end of the room.

The stairs ended at a hallway, whose entirety was carved from the wood of the tree. At the end of the hall a round archway led to a room beyond, and the sound of rustling papers came from inside.

He peered around the archway, examining the room beyond. The walls were lined with shelves, each stuffed full with books. Below the windows, countertops served as desks. These were equally cluttered with books and papers. A staircase wound around to a balcony that he could not see, and a telescope was aimed out the window that was above them.

Crouched over the desk farthest from the doorway, was Twilight. Her horn glowed in her colored aura as she concentrated on a spell. His eyes widened, the lines of magical energies appearing before him. He felt as the power she fed into it materialized in the air, in what should have been invisible magics.

He had only ever seen that once before. And that wizards spells looked like a child’s crayon drawings compared to the precision and power with which she commanded the energies. The magic weaved into their intricate shape before her, then falling to wrap around an orange that lay on the desk.

In a flash of brilliant light the orange disappeared, and in it’s place an apple sat.

“Haha! Yes!” She exclaimed, bouncing in the air in celebration. It had taken her weeks, but finally, she had perfected her transformation spell. Even if it was limited to fruits at the moment.

A gentle thud echoed through the room. She stopped her celebration and turned toward the source of the noise. Coalback stood in the entrance to the door, his mouth open. Coalback had dropped the things he had brought with him, an old bound notebook, and several pieces of loose paper piled around his hooves.

“Oh.” Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Hi, Coalback. I hadn’t realized you were there. Was there something you wanted?” She picked up his things for him, holding them in a neat stack with her magic.

He leaned forward nervously, taking the items in his mouth and putting them under his wing. “I wanted to know if you could help me start some research, as well as send some letters to the princesses. You did say you could contact them, didn’t you?” He looked around the room, trying to spot some sort of communication device besides the papers and ink.

“Oh! That’s right! I kept forgetting to tell you about the letter that came in from the princess.” She ran over to a drawer in a repurposed dresser nearby, pulling free a scroll. The seal was already broken, but a stylized sun was still visible. She floated it over to him and unfurled it before continuing. “I wrote to the princess after...well, you know. And her response came a few moments later, but you were already gone by the time I had gotten it. And then with all the other things that had been going on I had completely forgotten about it.”

Coalback looked at the letter, mumbling the words under his breath as he deciphered the swirling text.

‘My Dearest Student,

I have been very upset by this news. As you know, Equestria has not seen war, or crime on this level in over a thousand years. How this could have manifested without our knowledge is the most disturbing fact. If any other events like this should happen, I would like for you to inform me as soon as possible. Take safety as your number one priority. Let Coalback help in any way he can, that is why he is there.

~Princess Celestia

P.S. Luna sends her condolences to Coalback. She understands his predicament.’

        “I wasn’t sure what the last part meant until today.” Twilight said sadly, putting the letter down. “What sort of research did you want to do Coalback?” She asked, putting away several items at once with her magic.

        “Well, I was hoping to look at the history of Equestria,as far back as possible. As well as the geography and political borders of the nations nearby, I did hear mention of griffon countries. As well as a look into magical theory and practice.” He stated, watching as several quills danced across the air and into a drawer.

        “Why would you need to look into magical theory?” She asked, returning her full attention to him.

        “I would think that my demonstration this morning would have been proof enough that I am not unfamiliar with the arcane arts.” He said simply.

        “I thought that was another illusion, like the one Rarity said you pulled off in her boutique.” Twilight shook her head. “And it is such a large subject, but I suppose I could get you the introduction to some of the simpler theories.” She began walking down the stairs Coalback following behind her.

        She reached the bottom of the stairs and immediately began to gather books from the shelves, muttering the names under her breath as she did. She had gathered a sizable pile by the time Coalback had reached the bottom as well.

        “You can start with these. I don’t expect you to read through all of them, but they should get you to a good base of what you wanted.” She set the books down on a table, the wood creaking under the weight of the collective paper. “You can set up here. Just try to stay quiet, it is a library after all.” She left him and his pile of books, walking back up the stairs.

        Coalback sighed, wishing that he had listened to Rainbow Dash. But he did sit at the bench, and he did read, and he did take notes.

        “Twilight! Get down here!” Spike yelled, his voice a mix of worry and fear as he called for her.

        Twilight jumped, she had fallen asleep while reading a book on the effects of magically transforming other living objects. She turned toward the stairs, the tone in Spike’s words worrying her as she ran down them.

        She entered the library, examining the room around her.

        Coalback was on the floor, his body convulsing in violent fits of coughing. Spike was pressing a wet cloth to Coalback’s forehead, steam rising from it softly.

        “He started coughing, and then he got really cold. I don’t know what happened to him.” Spike yelled, desperation shaking his voice.

Twilight rushed back up the stairs, pulling a blanket from a closet and dragging it back toward the library. She draped it over Coalback, and then she turned to Spike.

“Go get Fluttershy, she’ll know what to do. Send her here, and then go get the others.” Spike looked at her, confusion halting him. “GO!” She yelled, opening the door with her magic.

Spike jumped, rushing out the door as fast as his small legs could carry him. Then Twilight turned back to Coalback.

“Coalback? Can you hear me?” Coalback shuddered, his coughing stopping for a moment. “I’m going to move you to the guest room upstairs, don’t move.” She said, trying to keep her voice calm despite her own panic. She wrapped him in her aura, lifting him up.

She grunted, he was a lot heavier than she had expected him to be. Then she floated him up the stairs, her horn’s glow illuminating the way. The door in the hall opened, revealing the guest bed. She lowered him onto the padded surface gratefully. As powerful as her magic was, it didn’t make lifting heavy objects any easier.

He coughed again, mumbling something in a tongue she couldn’t understand in between the loud convulsions. She backed away, trying to think.

‘What was it that you were supposed to do for a pony having a coughing fit? Was Coalback allergic to anything?’

She wrapped more blankets around him. If she couldn’t stop the cough, then she would stop his shivering. He continued to cough, each becoming more rough than the last. It wasn’t long before the blankets around him were covered in mucus, and blood.

Twilight stiffened. Ponies were not supposed to cough up blood, she began to panic. But before she could act on her panic, a pale yellow blur rushed past her and to the bed.

Fluttershy had her medicine bag open before she had even come to a stop. She examined the situation quickly, pulling a small bottle and a small needle from her bag. She stabbed the needle into the vial, pulling the pale liquid inside up into the needle’s reservoir.

Fluttershy turned back to Coalback, flicking the needle gently before pressing it into his exposed neck. Coalback stiffened for a moment, and his body relaxed almost instantly. Fluttershy sighed in relief as she pulled the needle back out from him. She wiped off the small puncture, and bandaged it neatly.

“Do you know what happened to him?” Twilight asked quietly, listening to Coalback’s much more gentle coughs. He was no longer choking on his own throat.

“Yes,” Fluttershy nodded, her expression grim. “one of my beaver friends had similar symptoms earlier this month. It kept him away from his hibernation this year.” She looked down at the floor. “His lungs had gotten infected with something, and they had started to fall apart inside him. He eventually drowned in his own lungs.” She said, her voice cracking and a tear falling from her face.

“Oh no.” Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof, her eyes darting back and forth. “And you’re saying that that’s happening to Coalback?” She asked, hoping that Fluttershy was wrong, that Coalback wasn’t dying in front of them.

“Yes, but if we caught it early enough he should be okay. But he won’t be able to fly or run anymore,” She looked back at the stallion. “ever.”

He mumbled something, but it was either gibberish or a language they didn’t know. He coughed gently again, pulling the sheets around him closer.

“Although,” Fluttershy said, drawing Twilight away from Coalback’s shaking form. “I’ve never seen somepony get this cold before. He should be fevering up, not freezing.” She shook her head. “If he isn’t warm, then his body isn’t working against the infection fast enough. He could already be...be...” Fluttershy shook her head again, not willing to utter the words.

“I should write to Celestia, maybe she’s seen something like this before.” Twilight turned toward the door, a quill and scroll floating in from the rooms beyond. “Maybe you could get him some soup, that could warm him up. Couldn’t it? I’ll stay here with Coalback until Spike and the others get here.” Fluttershy nodded, hurrying out of the room.

“Dear Princess Celestia-” Her frantic scribbles were cut short however, as a cyan blur shot into the building and into the room.

“Twilight, what happened?!” Rainbow Dash asked, her mane blown back and stuck to her sweaty face. “I was with the weather team, and then Spike was yelling that something had happened to Coalback! Please tell me he isn’t hurt!” She was right in Twilight’s face, her words and questions coming faster than Twilight could respond. Twilight pointed at the bed, and tried to explain.

“Coalback stopped by and asked to study a few things. I left him with some books, and then I went up to continue my own work. But then Spike called me down, and Coalback was coughing and cold. And we didn’t know what to do, so I sent Spike to find you all.” She said, watching as Rainbow rushed over to the bed. “Fluttershy says that he might not make it.”

Rainbow gasped when she say him. His face was pale, he was shivering, and his body was cold. The sheets in front of his face were wet with mucus and blood. Her legs buckled, and she sat on the floor besides the bed.

One of her hooves rested on his covered side, her shoulders slumped. “How long is a fortnight, Twi?” She asked, her voice shaking slightly.

“Um...about fourteen days. Why?” Twilight replied, walking forward and resting a hoof on her shoulder.

“He said a fortnight.” She whispered, her head shaking. “There has to be something.” Her eyes watered, but she didn’t move to stop the tears.

“Rainbow? Is there something you want to tell me?” Twilight leaned down to look at Rainbow’s face. “Who was talking about a fortnight?”

Rainbow took a shaky breath, reeling in her emotions before talking. “A phoenix...it was talking about him, and it said-it said...that he was going to die.” She shook her head, tears flowed down her face and she began to sob.

Her head fell to the blankets, her face buried in the wool as she cried.

“Rainbow, I’ve never seen you act like this before.” Twilight said, her voice tinged with concern.

“I’ve never felt like this before,for someone like this.” Rainbow sobbed, her words interrupted and muffled by the blankets. “Can I be alone for a while? I don’t want you guys to see me like this.”

Twilight removed her hoof, walking slowly out the door and shutting it behind her. Rainbow didn’t move, letting her tears and sobs be absorbed by the blankets in front of her.

Everything had fallen apart. She hadn’t heard from the Wonderbolts since she had gotten out of Canterlot. The party had been a disaster. And now, just when she thought that she could have pulled Coalback away from death, there he was at the brink of it. And it had all happened so fast.

She thought about how much Coalback had already suffered. His family, his first love, and his home. He had never been part of anything before, and the one time he was, he had to destroy it. And then at the party, when it looked like he was really relaxing and having a good time. And how everypony had screamed and ran at the sight of his cutie mark.

How must he have really felt, that he couldn’t show or talk about?

She took a deep, shaking breath. Letting it out slowly as her sobbing slowly died away. And in the absence of her sobs, there was silence.

Rainbow lifted her head, Coalback had been coughing earlier. So why was it so quiet now?

Her eyes moved up the bed in front of her, coming to rest on Coalback’s head. He had rolled over, and every breath whistled and struggled in his lungs. His eyes were barely open, but he was looking at her.

His irises glowed, red light moving like light reflected off water and onto his eyes. He took a deep shaky breath, he was fighting for every second of consciousness.

“Rainbow Dash?” His voice was harsh, rasping in his throat after the violent coughing fit.

“Coalback? I’m here. What’s wrong with you?” Rainbow moved up onto the bed, cupping his head in her hooves as she lay down beside him.

“This body is dying.” He said, the words coming out like sandpaper in his mouth. “And when it does, I cannot be a pony any more.” He coughed, his mouth closing as he tried to hold it back.

“What do you mean? You won’t be a pony any more, you’ll change?” She said, her eyes stung from her crying but she didn’t rub at them.

“I will...change, and I will never be able to be a pony again.” He breathed deeply, trying desperately to stay awake. “The catalyst is gone, and my body cannot make any more without a template. You remember what happened in the arena, with the dragon?” He reached a hoof out from under the covers, holding her with the deathly cold limb.

“Yes. When you tried to heal me, you changed.” She resisted every urge telling her to remove the cold hoof. Every instinct telling her that she was holding a dead body.

“No.” He said coldly. “When I healed you, I licked at the wound. And as I did, I drank some of your blood. That is the template.” He coughed again, turning his head away and breaking her grasp.

“You need blood? Then take it! As much as you need!” She reached forward, putting the crook of her arm in front of his muzzle. He turned back to her, sadness in his eyes.

“That will not work, my liver and kidneys have failed. And soon my stomach will cease to function as well. Then my lungs will fill with fluid, and my heart will stop.” His eyes wavered the red turning golden for a brief moment. “I require an intravenous injection.” His eyes fluttered, nearly closing from exhaustion.

“I’ll get Twilight, she can help me do it.” Rainbow turned, making to rush out the door, but the cold hoof held her.

“Bring a dish, a needle, and razor. As well as the things that you will need for the injection.” The hoof dropped from her arm, his eyes finally falling shut.

“TWILIGHT!” She yelled, ramming through the door.

Pack Bonds

-Pack Bonds-

        Coalback held still, letting Fluttershy find a vein in his arm. She pressed gently but firmly as she searched for it amongst his cool flesh. When she did find it, she moved slowly and deliberately to push the needle into his arm.

        The needle slid through his arm, ending within the weakly pulsing vein. Fluttershy lifted the packet of blood up onto the headboard of the bed, the red liquid slowly draining down the tube and into his arm.

        “Coalback, are you sure this will work?” Twilight’s quiet question barely registered in his addled mind. He turned his head to face her, nodding slightly.

        “I know it, but it may take me awhile to recover from the damage that has been done. A few days probably.” His voice was stronger now, but only just.

He had rested for a long time, waiting for Rainbow Dash to have her blood drawn. When he had woken up, Fluttershy fed him hot soup, attempting to warm his core. But anything they gave him just came back up, and he would refuse to try and eat anything else.

        They had come into the room to draw the blood, not wanting to spread any blood farther than that room. Twilight had made a run to the hospital, borrowing several pieces of equipment, and one of the nurses. But Coalback had demanded that the nurse leave, growling about doctors and how they ‘knew too much and too little’. They had been able to fill two packets with blood, that was how much Coalback said she could give him.

        The nurse had eventually left, being convinced by Rainbow’s assurance that Coalback had been a doctor, as much of a stretch as that was.

        “You know I was never a doctor, right?” Coalback said, a smile decorating his pale face.

        “Close enough.” Rainbow said tiredly from the other side of the bed. She had a small bandage wrapped around her forearm, where she had donated her blood to his recovery. She cradled a small bowl under her wing, a needle and small razor blade set inside it. “what did you need these for, Coalback?” She tilted her head toward the wing holding the bowl.

        “I am going to do something to protect you,” He turned his head back over to her, letting his green eyes balance on her. “If you are part of my pack, then I cannot hurt you.” His eyes fogged over for a second. “At least, he won’t.”

        “What are you talking about?” She whispered, even though the others were still within earshot.

        “If I do not make it, then you all will be in danger. But if you are part of the pack, then you will not be.” He lifted his hoof up from under the blankets, resting it on her chest. “You will be,” He moved the hoof away, resting it on the right side of his chest. “Protected.” His eyes hardened, and he looked toward the bowl.

        “Give them to me.” He said, holding out his hoof.

        Rainbow lifted the bowl up, balancing it on his hoof. He pulled it to him, resting it on his covered chest. He took a deep breath, and pushed himself to a sitting position.

        “Coalback, you shouldn’t be sitting up.” Fluttershy insisted, her nervousness gone as she tried to treat him.

        “Do not worry, I will not be long.” His words kept her from forcing him down to the bed again, but she was unhappy with his stubborn response.

        Coalback removed the needle from the bowl, placing it to his side on the bed. He balanced the bowl on his stomach, pulling the razor out with the arm still attached to the impromptu IV.

        “Whatever happens next, you must not interrupt. If you do, you could become targets instead of friends. Is this understood?” He said darkly, his eyes moving over the faces of those present.

        All of the mares had arrived at the library, but many had opted to stay out of the room when blood was mentioned. And he didn’t blame them, things were about to get messy.

        In the room was Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. The mares nodded, their eyes staring back in confusion, and fear.

        “Rainbow, come up here. Lay on your back across my lap, and do not move.” Coalback instructed, motioning toward his covered legs.

        She climbed up slowly and carefully, trying not to step on him. She slowly lowered herself so that her right side faced him.

        “When I start, you mustn’t cry, or scream.” Coalback looked into her eyes, saddened green disks reflecting out. She nodded to him, determination hardening her features.

        Coalback nodded in return, lowering the razor to her breast. He slowly pulled it upward, shearing off the fur that clung there. He carefully cleared a smooth patch of her skin, in his mind noting that it was also blue like her fur. She took in a sharp breath, but didn’t protest.

        Coalback removed the razor from her chest, lifting his other arm so that it hung over the bowl. He stared into her eyes, and as he spoke his irises slowly changed from greyed out green, to deep golden.

        “Into this pack we accept thee, allowing our blood to become part of you, as you have done for us.” He drew the razor across the crook of his arm, slicing through the flesh. But when the blood flowed out, it was not red.

        Thick black liquid flowed from the fresh wound, falling into the bowl. “Our black blood will mark thee, as one of the pack.” His voice echoed, as if two ponies were talking at once. He turned his head to the arm, watching as the flesh sealed itself back together. Not healed, but no longer bleeding the black blood.

        He lowered the stained razor, and took up the pin in his hoof. But he did not grab it like a pony would have. Instead he pushed the sharpened end through the hard part of his hoof, the end poking out the bottom. “The tool.” His echoing voice stated.

        He lowered the needles tip to the blood filled bowl, lifting it out to present the blood soaked end. “The ink.”

        He slowly lowered the tip to her flesh, pressing it gently against her chest. “And the beginning of the mark.” He raised his other hoof, bringing it down on top of the needles end.

        The tip of the needle buried itself in Rainbow Dash’s chest, sealing the blood within her skin and staining it in a small black dot. He pulled the needle free, wiping away the mix of her red blood with his. He lowered the needle into the bowl again, and repeated the process.

        He continued to tap the needle into her chest, staining the cyan flesh with his black blood. He worked for a long time, and by the time he had finished the sun was near it’s setting. The bag on the headboard had been replaced by a second, the previous one drained.

        But when Coalback wiped away the last of her blood on the new tattoo, it was done. The familiar deformed ‘Y’ shape was stained black onto her skin, and would stay even after her fur had regrown.

        Coalback leaned backwards, resting his shoulders against the headboard. He pushed out the needle from his hoof, letting it fall into the near empty bowl. “You are one of the pack now. We fight together, we hunt together, and we stay together. I will protect you, this is my word, and my word is one that does not break.” His speech finished, the yellow leaving his eyes.

        He rested his hoof on the sore tattoo. “This mark is not one to carry with pride, it is a gift and a curse, one that cannot be broken.” He let out a long sigh, His eyes closing for a second. He lifted the hoof away, moving the dry blood covered razor blade into the bowl as well.

        “Twilight, these need to be burned. Incinerated, nothing left.” He moved them to a table beside the bed. He saw her nod from the corner of his eyes.

        It seemed that during the tattooing, Fluttershy had left. Perhaps she had not been able to stand seeing the barbaric ritual, but Coalback couldn’t be sure. Twilight floated the bloody bowl over to the door, walking out after it. Applejack followed her, the farm pony's gaze lingering on the room as she closed the door.

        “Coalback, it hurts.” Rainbow said, moving herself so that she could wrap her hooves around his chest.

        “I know, but the pain will leave, and the mark will stay. And you will be safe...from me.” He wrapped his hooves around her, taking in her warmth.

        “Is your blood really black?” She asked, and Coalback shook his head.

        “My blood is red, but the wolf’s blood is black.” His voice darkened for a moment, and her mind flashed with the image of the wolf that the soul gaze had shown her. She shivered, the dark memory was just as vivid as if she had seen it only moments before and not hours ago.

        “So why did you need to put this here?” She asked, the meaning behind the tattoo was still a mystery to her.

        “I am weak, and if the catalyst is too late, then I will change. And when I do, I will not be in control of myself.” Coalback shivered, holding her closer.

        His heart was beating stronger, and he wasn’t nearly as cold as before. She could only hope that he was actually recovering, and not being burned from inner fire. Coalback put his hoof back on her chest, the sore flesh stinging with the pressure. And he smiled.

        “A pack. Perhaps one that will last.” He looked into her eyes, bittersweet happiness making them water slightly. “I don’t even care if we are a large pack, or a strong one, just so long as it lasts.” She smiled back at him, leaning forward to lightly brush her lips against his.

        He leaned into her, pushing forward into the kiss. Her eyes closed, her concentration fully on the feeling of his lips against hers.

        What was it about a kiss that had the ability to cause such emotions and feelings? The simple touch of soft flesh against another’s. The feeling of two hearts beating with each other, like a pair of drummers playing together. The feeling of warm fur.

        He broke the kiss, leaning to press his forehead against hers. “I want to stay, I don’t care if the entire world drives me away with hot fire and cold, sharp iron. I want to stay with you.” He took a deep breath through his nose, marking her scent to memory.

        “When you get better, there’s nothing holding you back.” She said softly, rubbing against him. “There’s a warm front rolling in from the south, over the Everfree. If you’re feeling better by tonight, there’s a snowstorm scheduled. But over the Everfree, it’ll melt into rain. It would be nice to watch that with you, the snow and the rain falling beside each other.”

        They sighed together, Coalback silently nodded. They held each other close, letting the warmth be shared.

        Coalback looked up, his gaze drifting out the window. Canterlot lay in silhouette against the setting sun. And as the sun set, his mind cleared. His eyes contracted, pupils shrinking to small spots. Glowing red, like heating coals leaked through his eyes. And he heard a voice that he had, until now, not realized how much he had missed it. The voice of the Other.

        “Knight against pawn, knight against knight, bishop against bishop.” His voice spoke in concert with the Other’s through his own throat.

        Rainbow opened her eyes, that was a strange thing to say. She raised her head away from his, trying to look in his eyes. But the second that her head wasn’t against his, he turned to look out the window. And she saw the glow of the red in his eyes and froze.

        “We have yet to see the opponent’s next move. The knight has been put into play.” He blinked once, the glow disappearing as he opened his eyes again. “The game is underway.” He shook his head slightly, the white shards pierced through his ear clacking together quietly.

        “Coalback?” Rainbow said, her voice rising with surprise. That glow had been there when his wound healed, and it had been there in the phoenix’s eyes. “What just happened?” She whispered, as if the words would bring that phoenix down upon them.

        “A prophecy.” Coalback said, drawing out the last word. “And it rarely does that.” He looked back at her, fear in his eyes. “Go get Twilight, and the letters on my workspace. I need to know if I’m correct in my assumption.” He pushed at her, his limbs still weak. “Quickly! Before my thoughts leave me.”

        She jumped up, running toward the door without further delay. She could ask him about this ‘prophecy’ after he had been satisfied. She jumped out the door, ramming the hallway’s other wall as she tried to turn.

        “Twilight!” She yelled, crashing down the stairs and into the main Library’s room.

        “What is it? Is Coalback alright?” Twilight said, jumping up from her seat on the floor.

        The other mares stood as well, all of her friends gathered in one room. Rainbow took a moment to catch her breath.

        “Coalback thinks that something is about to happen. He wanted you to bring the things he was working on, he said he needed the letters from his work.” Rainbow said, letting the words catch up to the others. “He did some sort of...thing, he said that it was a prophecy.”

        Twilight jumped, rushing to a cluttered table near the back of the room. She levitated up several scrolls, each one had a wax seal on it. And in her haste she knocked over several books and papers onto the floor. Twilight didn’t even look back as she turned toward the stairs. She paused long enough to pull a quill and a clean sheet of paper out from a stack on the table.

        “Well come on then! If Coalback has information on what’s going on, I want to hear it!” She yelled as she ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. The others in the room finally broke their static positions, bolstered by the promise of answers to unseen questions.

        They ran up the stairs, nearly getting themselves stuck in the door as they came to Coalback’s room.

        “What was the prophecy, Coalback? Where did you hear it?” Twilight said, dropping the scrolls in front of him and lifting a quill to her own sheet of paper.

        “I was the one who told it, I did not hear it from anyone.” He said, his voice stoic and unwavering even in his current weakness.

        “So what was it?” Twilight said, her own tone becoming frustrated as he dodged the real question.

        “Something about chess.” He said, rubbing a hoof against his head. “It’s always hard to remember the exact words. But the feeling of an impending event is still there.”

        “Knight against pawn, knight against knight, bishop against bishop.” Rainbow said, the words running from her mouth before she could think. All eyes turned to her, and she swallowed before continuing. “We have yet to see the opponent’s next move. The knight has been put into play. The game is underway.” She stood stock still waiting for one of them to respond.

        Twilight’s eyes opened wide. “Game. Games. Twists and turns. I was right, it is Discord!”

        Everyone in the room gasped, everyone that is, except Coalback.

        “Who is Discord?” He asked flatly.

        “How much research did you get done? Discord should have been in those books I gave you. He’s a draconequus, and a spirit of chaos. But how could he have done this. He’s locked away in stone.” Twilight began pacing, her thoughts racing in her head as she wrote down everything that she could think of.

        “How do you know the spirit?” Coalback asked, his words breaking Twilight from her stride.

        “Thousands of years ago, Discord ruled the world with his powerful chaos. The world was dangerous then, and ponies weren’t ever safe.

        “But then Celestia and Luna locked him away with the Elements of Harmony. And he stayed there, up until a few years ago.” Coalback’s ears perked up. “He escaped, stole the Elements and hid them. Then he went on a rampage, turning everything upside down, and loopy, and just plain wrong.

        “But after two days we found the Elements, we regrouped, and we sealed him in stone again. And then everything went back to normal”

        “WHAT!?” Coalback yelled, his chest heaving and his eyes burning with anger. “A demon of chaos, escapes and runs on a two day rampage. Anything that old, doesn’t simply settle for a two day tantrum. If he escaped he would have been planning his rise, not flaunting about and screwing with a bunch of mares! Why didn’t you start investigating? Looking to see where his influence had spread? Did you ever think that he could have created sleeper spies? Or, I don’t know; a hive of demonic, half headed, lizard...things!?”

        His voice was loud, louder than it should have been. He started coughing again. “You damned ponies may have sealed your fate with that ‘everything is back to normal’ nonsense!” He picked up one of the letters, ripping it open and throwing away the seal. He ran a hoof over it, the sound of scratching quills echoed across the room.

        “There! Send them to the Princess.” He pushed them forward.

        Spike edged over to the bed, taking them in his claws and then turning to run out the door as fast as he could.

        “What was tha-?” Twilight started, but Coalback cut her off.

        “A spell I created to write my thoughts directly to the paper. But that’s not important.

“Now you listen to me, if that stallion instigator, the one we interrogated, was at all involved with this, and I think he very much was, then we don’t have time.” He shoved the blankets off of himself, turning to get out of the bed. The IV ripped free, hitting the floor with a dull sound. When he hit the floor however, he collapsed. His muscles were weak, and he could barely hold his head up.

        “Coalback, you can’t stand yet. Just calm down!” Twilight said, her tone pleading. What he had said had hurt her, he had practically called her stupid.

        “We must prepare the town, the ponies need to be ready for anything. For all we know they could be on our back porch as we speak.” He grunted slowly pushing himself back up.

        And as if his words couldn’t have been any more frightening, a roar echoed through the town.

        Every pony froze. Fear shot through their veins and held them as still as statues.

        Coalback was the first to move. His ears swiveled, locking onto a sound that they could not hear. He slowly moved forward, walking towards the door. His fatigue seemed gone, and he moved completely silently. He reached the door and turned back to face the window. His eyes were not his own any more.

        His sclera had turned black, wolf blood bursting the capillaries and staining the white flesh dark. His irises had turned the yellow of a wolf’s, and shone with the brilliance of gold. When he spoke it was in a near inaudible whisper.

        “Stay inside.” The words had barely left his mouth before he launched himself forward.

        And out the window.

        Coalback could hear the creature, whatever it was. It was light, and fast. That roar had been two kilometers away, but he could hear its footsteps coming closer. It was coming from the West, the direction of the setting sun.

        He rose slowly from the floor, his limbs no longer weak or his bones brittle. He had felt the strength of the wolf drive away pain and exhaustion before, but never at this level. He felt like he could tear down a mountain if he had to.

        “And so is the strength of having a pack, pup.” The wolf’s voice rang in his head. “It is what gave you the strength to overcome your instincts and kill your family, despite my efforts.” It sounded angry, hungry.

        He walked to the door of the room, turning toward the window. He could clearly hear the steps of the creature coming forward. The mares were still frozen in their fear.

        It was heavy, two hundred and fifty kilos, at least. And he heard claws digging through dirt, thin claws, cat’s claws. He resisted the urge to growl openly, best not to let it know that he was aware of it yet. It was walking down the streets, confident that it had its prey pinned.

        But Coalback had killed a naagloshii. He had seen the soul of a naagloshii, and he no longer feared them, or their name. And a cat was nothing compared to that. But he knew that unless he hit the cat fast and hard, that fight would not end well for him.

        He crouched tensing his muscles and feeling his eyes burn as the power washed through him fully.

        “Stay inside.” He said, his voice echoing in his super-sensitive ears.

He felt the change start, that sharp, hot pain in the back of his head. He heard the sound of the cat’s claws echo through the wood of the tree as it walked over the root that stuck out of the ground.

He rushed forward, the window becoming huge in front of him in an instant.

He had memorized the layout around the tree, as well as all the windows. And he knew that that root was just below and in front of this window.

He felt the window shatter as his hooves hit it, and he felt the hooves split into four segments. Fire burned in his arms as the bones unfused, separating into the metacarpals and turning the shards of hoof into claws. He felt his wings fuse back into his back, creating a large plate for an instant as they re-fused to his ribs and shoulder blades.

He felt his skull get thicker, his eyes smaller and harder. He felt his muzzle extend, the teeth breaking apart and reforming into the sharp cutting tools that he required. His fur got thicker, the meager mane and fur of a pony was too thin and split too easily. This hide was thick with winter fat, even though he had not eaten enough to make it.

The Wolf was the one who made all of that matter, pulling it from another dimension and shaping it to its will, and then taking it for it’s own. He never woke up with the fat later, but the wolf never returned the matter it had stolen, storing it as ecstatic adrenaline and testosterone afterwards.

That’s what really caused werewolves to go crazy, that deadly mix of pheromones that halted higher thinking.

He landed hard, his claws digging into a bony shoulder. A cat’s shoulder.

It had all happened in an instant, the change, the impact. Less than two seconds, The change had been getting faster, but never this fast. And he had never felt so incredible.

Or maybe he had, years ago.

His head moved on it’s own, driven forward by instinct toward the neck of the huge cat. They rolled, Coalback’s sudden impact tackling the cat to the ground. He shredded and tore with his claws, his head shaking as hard as it could.

The cat let out a feline snarl, twisting and rolling until it scraped Coalback off against a house’s wall. They separated, Coalback kicked away from the wall. Turning quickly to face the cat again.

It stood as his eyes caught sight of her. It was just as large as him, its muscles bulging under the loose hide. Its coat was broken black, the spots of a leopard mixing with the black of a jaguar. Red blood ran down its face and back, it growled in it’s throat.

Coalback returned the gesture, his own much deeper and more hateful than any cat was capable of producing. He barked, the loud sudden sound making the cat tense up. They simply stared at each other for a long time, and then it spoke in a very feminine voice.

“You are faster than I had originally thought, Blaidd-ddyn.” It’s voice was not unpleasant, but it did seem to warp and sounded strange. The words seemed foreign to the mouth that was using them.

Coalback snarled again, feinting a forward rush and pushing the cat backwards. “You do not deserve to use those words!” His voice echoed, the wolf speaking with him as their minds melded into one.

“Is that not what you are?” Her tone had become taunting, wanting him to anger at the words. “Or are you a dog now? Slave to the pony that puts a collar around your neck! Or do you consider yourself a pony? Perhaps you want to fit in with them, protect them? Disgusting!” She spat. “A being as noble and strong as you should not be lowered to such a base position. Join us and you will have power and fortune like none before.”

“Had that, don’t want it!” Coalback snarled. “What is gold, but soft metal? Useless for armor or knives. What is power when another holds greater above yours? Or when you no longer are yourself?” Coalback’s words stung, their bitterness seeded by his truths.

The Cat snarled again. “You will have only one chance after this. And I pray you take it, else the master will destroy you.” Her eyes grew softer, if only slightly. “He sees purpose in you now, but if you refuse Him a third time, He will have to destroy you. Once more I ask; come to the master and surrender your allegiance to him.”

Coalback pulled in a deep breath, and with all his might, he roared. The sound was more akin to that of a lion’s roar among a rockslide. Some mix of deadly predator, and irresistible force. The sound shook every window on the street that they stood upon.

As if by some unseen signal, they rushed forward. Slamming together with the sick sound of bone connecting against bone. They clawed at each other, the cat landing a blow on his shoulders. But Coalback had landed his own strike.

When they separated again, Coalback had his back criss crossed with a hashtag of black blood and ripped flesh. And the cat was bleeding from her stomach. He had not cut through the muscle, or the flesh holding her organs within her body, but she bled.

He could smell it now, blood. It was enough to send shivers of excitement up his legs. It had been too long, an entire week, perhaps longer. He licked his lips, tasting the cat’s blood on them. He growled low and deeply, he wanted her to know that he had tasted blood, and he wanted more.

He bared his teeth, lowering his ears to his head and preparing for another strike. The cat snarled, baring her sharp fangs in the dimming orange light. They ran forward again, connecting at the shoulders and raising up on hind legs.

Coalback snapped with his teeth, at the same time trying to avoid hers. They gripped each other with their claws, digging at the others hide. They struggled and snarled, trying to simultaneously claw at the other and rip the other’s throat out.

Snow and blood and cold mud flew in every direction as they toppled. Their almost static wrestling quickly accelerating to mad thrashing, claws and teeth flashed. One instant Coalback had her throat in his teeth, the next she had his. It seemed like hours before they separated again.

They stood looking at each other again, breathing heavily. Coalback’s left eye was bleeding black, and it looked like he couldn’t see out of it. His left ear was torn at the base, the flesh hanging off like wet rags on a drying rack. His chest and neck were covered in sharp lines where the cat had dug her claws in. His front right arm was torn around the metal rings, staining the grey dappled fur black as night.

The cat was just as bloody and wounded. A long, deep gash had been cut through her stomach by one of Coalback’s back legs as they tumbled, and her organs were plainly visible through the blood. Her throat was soaked in her own blood, her mouth stained black by Coalback’s blood. The cat’s back and shoulders were covered in marks similar to Coalback’s, bloody and crossing over each other.

They had reached equal ground again, they were too evenly matched. They would either both die, or they would keep fighting until the other did. Coalback licked his lips again, his body held still as he stared down his opponent with his one working eye. He sniffed at the air, feeling the sting of his nose as he realized that the skin had split at the front.

But he had found what he was looking for, the smell of feline fear. Fear from a predator is different than from another species, it had a more coppery tinge to it as well as the smell of fresh carrion.

“Blaidd-ddyn!” She snarled. “Bastard! Impure blood!” She spat the words, insults directed toward him.

“Cat...” Coalback growled. “Feline...Delicate...Slow.” He snarled, his red stained teeth flashing. The cat snarled at him, a primal response to a challenge as old as evolution.

Coalback jumped forward, golden light flashed. He was on top of her in an instant, she had barely moved. He had leapt forward with a crack like thunder behind him, every window shattered with the concussive blast. They fell to the ground, Coalback’s grey form perched on top. The cat was deafened, but forced to hear within her ears as her bones cracked and scraped against Coalback’s attack.

He tore at the stunned cat. His chest pinning her arm to her side, his jaws locking onto her neck and digging into the already shredded hide. His rear legs kicked and shoveled out flesh as he dug into her entrails with the strong claws there. She screamed in an animal wail of pain, her innards spreading across the street as Coalback ripped them free of her body.

In one strong motion, Coalback swung his head upward. The neck of the cat stretched and tore, revealing the trachea and muscles beneath the hide. His teeth ripped through the trachea, ripping long shreds of flesh away from it. Blood sprayed and looped through the air, snow and mud splattered around them.

And the cat slowly died. Not from the pain, and not from the absence of her organs. Blood flowed down her throat and flooded her lungs, she drowned. Coalback moved with her body as it died, not giving her an instant of freedom from his deadly grasp.

He tore at the meat of her neck, swallowing chunks of red flesh in a lust fueled hunger. Filling his stomach with her flesh, sating his hunger with her blood.

Coalback untangled himself from the strings of shredded flesh and organ. He felt his muscles start to ache, the power of the wolf spent to it’s near full extent. He looked to the sky, the howl already forming in his throat.

It was a long, saddening howl. A howl for mourning. It stretched long, dipping and rising as it slowly made its way to silence. Coalback ended his howl, the mourning of a defeated enemy finished, he was required to do little else for his fallen foes.

Something porcelain shattered at his paws, small bits of shrapnel cutting at the toes. Someone yelled, a feminine voice that was unfamiliar to him. He turned to the source, his ears flattening against his head, and his one still functioning eye open wide in fear.

A crowd of ponies moved toward him, many armed with potted plants or rocks. He saw a couple of stallions, snow shovels clutched in their mouths. A few unicorns had joined the mob, flaming torches held in their colorful auras.

Another pony threw a pot, it hit his rear and shattered. Dirt and broken clay sprayed across the street and into his stinging wounds.

The wolf had spent itself, its strength and confident instincts gone with it. He was scared.

A flash of an old memory. Tall figures silhouetted by fire, cold metal gleamed in the light. Shouting, curses, profanities. He practically felt the bullets hitting him again.

He yelped, a sound of animal surprise and pain. He backed away from the approaching mob. His eyes darted around, panic driving him to scramble away.

They yelled again, non lingual shouts that pushed Coalback away. Someone threw a bottle, a flaming rag trailing from it. It struck the ground to his left, sending out a small wave of fire. It was nothing compared to the fire he had seen could come out of a flaming bottle of alcohol, but it burned his toes all the same.

He yelped again, jumping away from the fire. He thanked the fact that it was winter, and relished the feeling of cold snow on the burns. A large pony ran forward, a large piece of wood clutched in his teeth. The muscles rippled under his white coat as he swung the log. Coalback just glanced at the tiny wings along his back.

The log hit him like a freight train, and launched him backwards. He felt one of his teeth crack from the impact, the loose piece cutting into his tongue. He impacted the ground, feeling the bark of a tree resting against his back.

Coalback looked up into the boughs of the great tree, the tree that housed a library. He whimpered, it warbled into a howl in his throat. It was a desperate cry for help, animal instincts and fears guiding him, but not showing the way. Fear and desperation filled him, the all too familiar feeling of betrayal.

Even after he had destroyed the predator that had threatened them, they had simply seen him as a monster to be driven away.

Blood flowed into his open eye, and he swiped at it desperately. When he was able to see again, the huge pony stood over him.

And then the crowd’s words reached him, and he felt his mind begin to clear.

“Horrible monster!” A mare swooned.

“A liar, a traitor!” A stallion howled.

“I saw it happen, all of it!” Another mare, her tearful scream driving the mob forward.

“That creature needs to be destroyed!” A different mare again, her voice shaking with hate.

The huge pony reared up, bringing his hooves high into in the air in preparation to crush his skull. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pony to end his existence.

There was a thud, and the sound of air forcefully exiting lungs. There was the sound of a struggle hidden among the shouts of the crowd. He opened his eyes, searching for the reason to his survival.

The mob had redirected its burning stare, upon a white stallion struggling under the merciless beating of a cyan mare.

Rainbow Dash had seen the entire fight, she had watched in rapt horror. When Coalback jumped out the window, time had slowed for her. She had seen him change, the sickening look of bones shifting and muscles reshaping. That image would be burned into her mind’s eye for as long as she would live.

She had never seen anything like that fight. It had been pure unrated violence, blood had been sprayed across the entire street. The body, and the parts of it, were still steaming in the snow.

Her ears had rung with the sound of his howl, and it’s meaning had filled her. How she could possibly have known the meaning of something that abstract escaped her. But that feeling that only a funeral can make, coursed through her. And her mind had left her.

She hadn’t even realized when the townsponies had attacked Coalback, not until he had made that sound. That sound had rocked her to her core, and had made her aware instantly of the situation. She felt more than heard the fear that he was experiencing, and that noise had made her want to help.

It was as if every single fiber of her being, needed to be near him. Needed to help him. Needed to protect him.

Her legs had practically started moving without her, and she was outside of the window faster than she could think. She hovered in the air, her eyes locking onto Coalback, and the stallion ready to strike on him.

She lunged forward, a rainbow colored contrail following in her wake. Her hooves impacted the overly-muscular stallion at almost her top speed. The tackle took them both down to the snowy ground near the front of the library. Without even a grunt of acknowledgement, she started throwing punches.

She just kept swinging her arms, some inner fire driving her forward. Her hooves ached as she tried to keep the stallion from getting back up and hurting Coalback again. She kept swinging, even as hooves grabbed hold of her and pulled her away.

“NO!” She yelled, her voice shaking with anger and tears. “Get off of me!” She kept kicking, ignoring the ponies voices yelling at her.

“Hold her down!” A pony yelled, his voice commanding, and rather familiar. She opened her eyes, locking her stare onto the brown pegasus stallion. His dumbbell cutie mark shone slightly in the nearly gone sunlight, and his face was twisted down into a scowl. “What do you think you’re doing, Rainbow Crash?” He spat, using that nickname that he still refused to drop, even after she had proved him wrong.

“Stopping you from killing an innocent pony!” Rainbow shouted back, struggling against the hooves holding her.

“I don’t see any pony being murdered.” He said, his incredibly annoying voice said. “Just a mad dog, being put down.” He said, looking down at her. “Hold on a second. What is that?” He leaned forward, putting his face close to her chest.

She inhaled sharply, pulling away from him. But it was too late, he scowled again. “He’s marked you? You’re one of...one of him?!” He yelled, looking back at the wolf near the tree.

Rainbow Dash followed his gaze, locking her eyes on Coalback. He was surrounded by several ponies, random items used as weapons to hold him back against the tree’s trunk. He was standing now, but not on steady legs. His wounded leg was held up away from the ground, and his lips were peeled back in a silent snarl. He kept looking between the ponies holding him, and her.

“You’re making a big mistake, Dumb-Bell!” Rainbow growled.

“Oh yeah, is that coming from a pegasus, or a wolf-pony?” He said, poking her chest and the clearly visible tattoo.

“It’s coming from someone who was paying attention to Coalback ripping apart a jaguar! And from somepony who has seen him in action three times before now.” She retorted, pushing her head up as far as she could with the other ponies holding her down. “If he was really going to hurt you, he would have done it by now!” She said, trying to show them how much Coalback had already done.

“That is exactly why he can’t be allowed to live!” Dumb-Bell said in return. “If he’s that dangerous then he can’t be trusted around other ponies! See reason, Dash!” He said.

Rainbow made a frustrated sound. “This is exactly why Coalback was scared at the party! Because of ponies like you!” She yelled, her voice becoming more desperate as she realized how little these ponies were paying heed to her. “He talked about how ponies treated him where he came from. He has more scars from that than he can count!”

“He’s tricked you, Rainbow! He must have hypnotized you, or something. Wolf-ponies are tricky, my dad always said so.” Dumb-Bell said, his words holding a finality to them.

Coalback snarled from near the tree, attracting Dumb-Bell’s attention. They turned to him, watching as he swiped at a shovel that had gotten too close to him. The ponies around him startled, shuffling around and continuing to point their makeshift weapons at him.

“Please!” Rainbow said desperately. “Coalback’s scared, let me help him!” She struggled against the ponies holding her, trying to move toward Coalback.

“Hold her down!” Dumb-Bell commanded, a snarl from Coalback cutting off his next words. “Let’s take care of this thing before it recovers any more!” He turned fully away, walking toward the trapped wolf.

“Wait!” Twilight called, her voice desperate and pleading. Everyone paused turning toward the door.

“Don’t let them interfere, they are all under his spell!” Dumb-Bell shouted, sending several ponies to the door of the library to meet the five mares. He continued to walk toward Coalback, pulling a short blade from under his wing.

Coalback reacted immediately, he stopped snarling. His body dropped low to the ground and his one visible eye shook with fear as he eyed the knife. Desperate whimpering crawling from his throat as he backed away against the tree. He turned, desperately trying to climb up the tree and watch the knife at the same time. His claws dug at the bark of the tree, revealing the white flesh of the living tree.

“That’s right, you know what this is.” Dumb-Bell said around the handle of the knife. “This is asilver knife! My dad’s before he bit it.” He twirled it in his mouth, bringing another bout of whimpers and yelps from Coalback. “And we all know what happens to wolf-ponies when they touch silver.” He smiled, letting the sly grin creep around the blade.

“NO!” Rainbow Dash yelled, desperation shaking her voice and making it crack. “Don’t hurt him!” She yelled, shaking and kicking against the ponies holding her again. “You’re making a mistake!”

Dumb-Bell pushed through the group that was holding Coalback in, and that’s when things started moving fast.

Coalback stopped his scratching and whimpering as soon as Dumb-Bell had gotten to the rear of the group of ponies. He started to turn the second that Dumb-Bell started to push through them. And the absolute moment that Dumb-Bell had cleared a hole for himself, Coalback lunged.

He snarled and ran through the gap that he had created, and kept running. He was past the ponies in an instant, the only evidence that he had come near them was a streak of his blood wiped onto their sides. Dumb-Bell didn’t even have a chance to swing his knife, and the entire group jumped out of the way.

Coalback turned as soon as he was outside of their circle, turning straight toward Rainbow Dash and the ponies holding her. But his eyes were his own, and his actions were smooth and controlled. The ponies holding her panicked, running at the sight of the now free wolf.

She suddenly found herself on the ground, Coalback’s voice jumping into her ears. “Go! Now!” He ran up to her, her movements not satisfying him as he closed his mouth around the scruff of her neck. He pulled her up onto her hooves, waiting for her to start running before letting go of her neck.

He kept running, moving faster and faster as he ran to the forest. But Rainbow stopped, her legs locking as she slid to a stop. Coalback stopped as well, just in front of the barrier that separated the town from the Everfree Forest.

“We need to leave. Fanatics like that will not give up until we are dead.” He said, his wolf lips made the words sound too smooth, and they slid funnily. “We have to go.” His head darted up, the one green tinted eye looking back at the town.

“I can’t...” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head nervously.

Coalback didn’t even pause, his eyes came back to her. “Very well, then there may be only one way that they will not kill you.” Rainbow looked back at him, his eye was sad, and a tear slid down in his fur.

“What are you-?” Rainbow started, but Coalback interrupted her. A low growl exploded from his throat.

His voice was buried in the sound, but she heard it as plain as day. “I’m sorry.” And then he roared, the sound pushing her back onto her flank.

Her eyes watered suddenly, Coalback’s roar was apparent in its meaning to her. It was a signal, a warning. She was not welcome, and she was not part of the pack. It was a roar that said; ‘Go away’. And then Coalback lunged at her, his claws sweeping out to her chest.

White hot fire spread out from her breast. She fell backwards onto the ground, her ears ringing. She yelled out, clutching her chest. She could feel hot, slick blood on her hooves.

Voices shouted from behind her, Their words lost in the ringing left in her ears from the roar. She felt hooves grip her and start to pull her away from the forest.

“No!” She shouted, weakly struggling against the ponies dragging her away. “No!” She began to sob, her words losing meaning as she cried out.

There it was. That feeling of loss, like somepony had ripped off a part of her soul. Coalback had left her, he had hurt her. She could feel the burning of the cleanly cut flesh around her tattoo, the feeling only worsened by the soreness of the flesh.

Gentle hooves laid her out on something warm and soft. But she wasn’t paying attention to anything, even as somepony cleaned and bandaged the wound.

She cried like a foal, for hours all she could do was sob into the soft bed’s cushions. The burning in her chest slowly subsiding as the blood clotted and the healing process began. The storm had started without her, snow blasting against a window that she did not look out.

To her, it felt like days had passed before sleep’s gentle embrace enveloped her. And she could have sworn, that in the distance a sad, long howl echoed among the snow and rain.

Eyes in the Forest

-The Protector We Do Not Deserve-

        “Ah saw ‘im again last night. The ‘peacekeepers’ were runnin ‘im off.” Applejack announced as she entered Fluttershy’s cottage.

        “Was he hurt?” Rainbow Dash asked quickly, rising from her seat on one of the beams in the ceiling. The fur on her chest was ruffled on the right side, uneven there.

        Applejack shook her head. “Winona started barkin’ when they showed up. He ran back inta the forest.” She nodded out the window, the dark trees of the Everfree just a few meters away. “He was markin’ tha trees around tha farm, again.”

        The trees were different than they had been before Coalback had run away. Every tree visible from the town had a  claw mark on it. Three large slashes cut into the bark of the trees, their flesh exposed to the open air.

        During the storm, Coalback had returned, and he had marked as many trees as he could find. And the entire town had turned to Dumb-Bell as a response, the attention had gone straight to his head.

        Dumb-Bell had instantly jumped on the task of ‘securing’ the town against a wolf-pony attack. He had set up his own guard, like the royal guards at Canterlot, only not nearly as noble. They had named themselves peacekeepers. The stallions and mares, mostly stallions, that he had recruited were not even concerned about the ponies that they took their ‘supplies’ from.

        However, the new guards had taken advantage of their newfound power. They had stolen, and threatened everypony in the town. And had labeled the Elements of Harmony as threats to the safety of the town.

        All but one.

        Twilight Sparkle had jumped at the idea of fortifying the town, and Dumb-Bell had been careful to make sure that she didn’t know what had really been going on. Twilight had been locked in her library ever since Coalback disappeared, feeding him information from some newfound source of knowledge.

        They had done strange things around the town. They had buried some strange red bricks near the east border of town, where Coalback had disappeared into. Stolen every single piece of silverware and hung it out on strings across the streets. They spread a stinking liquid all over the streets. Even taking the carcass of the dead jaguar, cutting it up, and using it as bait for traps in the trees near the edge of the forest.

        Rainbow Dash had suggested that they take matters of resistance into their own hooves. They ran anonymous raids on their food warehouses, where the peacekeepers had stored the food that they had bullied off of ponyville. The peacekeepers had decided that food needed to be rationed so that the wolf-pony wouldn’t try to steal it from anypony.

        And they searched for Coalback, but the only sign that he was ever near the town was the claw marks. And even Fluttershy’s tracking skills, used for when she had to locate a sick animal if it ran away, had been of little use other than telling them how old each marking was. He had vanished like a shadow in the light of a torch.

        “How’s yer chest there, Dash?” Applejack said as she walked into the blackout curtained house. She walked over to the coffee table near the couch, dropping her saddlebags onto it. It opened out, spilling loose apples onto the table.

        “It’s growing back,” She said sadly. “Coalback didn’t cut deep, so its healed pretty well too.” She rubbed a hoof absentmindedly on her chest, over the mussed fur. It had been ten days since he left, ten days to miss him. She looked toward the apples on the table.

        Applejack and her family had openly defied the peacekeepers, handing out food from their cellar to everypony in need of it. The peacekeepers had made tartarus of their efforts, and further demoralized the town.

        “Eat up, everypony.” Applejack said tiredly, nodding at Rainbow’s answer. “The last ah today’s giveaway.” She smiled slightly, giving ponies in need what they required always made her happy.

        “How much longer can you keep up the charity movement, Applejack?” A prim voice said as Rarity walked down from the stairs.

        “A couple more weeks, at most. And if this stupid thing don’t end soon...well, Ah just don’ know.” She shrugged, looking toward the white unicorn. “How goes that lead on Coalback’s crystal?”

        “It’s just like Twilight described before the attack. Every time I seem to find something, it disappears again.” Rarity said tiredly, walking over to the table to take an apple in her magical grasp.

        “Could it be too far away?” A quiet voice called from the stairs.

        “Do come down and eat, dear!” Rarity said toward the stairs, Fluttershy soon floated downwards, a rolled up map in her mouth. “Here, you haven’t eaten anything all day. Come take a break.” Rarity took the map from Fluttershy’s mouth, and replacing it with a bright red apple.

        Fluttershy munched on the apple happily as Rarity laid the map out on the table.

“And he is not too far away. If I could find a geode in the mountains then I can find an arcane gem in the forest.” Rarity posed in a prideful stance, remembering her discovery of her cutie mark.

“Did you check on Pinkie and the bakery?” Rainbow called from her perch.

“Yeah. It ain’t goin too well over there. Pinkie’s barely keepin’ the folks from runnin inta tha forest and lookin fer Coalback again.” Applejack said sadly.

“Come down here and take a look at this girls, I think I have found a pattern in the locations that I found the signal.” Rarity said, motioning toward the now flat map.

The map depicted a topographical depiction of Ponyville, the plains to the West, the foothills in the North, and the Everfree forest to the South and the East. Its deep green depiction on the paper taking up the majority of the map. Several red ink circles were marked in the green of the forest.

“Many of the signals that I found I omitted because of the weakness of it. And as you can see, several of the signals came in strange places.” She placed a hoof on the map, tracing over several of the smaller circles near the edge of the map. “There were only a few out there, but the crystal didn’t dodge me until I had gotten much closer to finding its exact position. They could simply be off calculations on my part, but they are becoming too frequent to allow that to be simple chance.

“That means that, not only is Coalback monitoring the town,” She motioned toward the numerous larger circles near the town. “but he is also patrolling the forests.” She moved her hoof over toward the middle of the map. “But, during the middle of the night I decided to try and look for it again. And I found a signal that lasted longer  than any of the others, right here.” She put her hoof on another cluster of tiny circles, all centered near or on the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

The castle sat on a large plateau that sat far above the canopy of the forest. Separated from everything by a rickety wooden bridge.

Rarity tapped the map with her hoof. “I think that this is where Coalback has been going during the coldest part of the night, to rest. And maybe the crystal has been resting as well, and that’s why I have been able to get such a good lock on it.” She lifted her hoof off of the map and turned toward Rainbow Dash. “But Coalback is smarter than that. He wouldn’t simply let me find something as obvious as that. So what does that tell us, Rainbow Dash?” She smiled coyly.

Rainbow Dash jumped down from her perch, a hopeful spark in her eyes, but none of it showed on her face. “He knows that we’ve been tracking him. Could any of the unicorns working for Dumb-Bell track the crystal like that?” She asked, her voice calm, like a natural born leader.

She had taken leadership of their resistance movements the instant that it had been suggested, and she had led them well. But Applejack could instantly see the reckless decision forming in her mind’s eye.

“We can’t go lookin for him yet, Rainbow. We’ll have ta wait fer tha storm that’s rollin inta the forest ta pass before we can do anythin’.” Applejack said, walking toward her.

Rainbow’s face fell, and she sighed. “I really hate it when you’re right, AJ.” She said sadly, kicking the wall behind her half-heartedly.

“Yes, and the snow has been dreadful lately as well. I do hope that Coalback is warm enough in his fur.” Rarity said in reply.

“That’s another thing actually.” Rainbow said sadly. “I wanted to wait for you to get here before I showed it to you guys.” She reached under her wing and pulled out a folded piece of cloth. “I found this on my bed last night...it’s from Coalback, I’m sure of it.” She said around the cloth, dropping it to the floor.

It opened as it hit the floor, revealing it’s contents inside. Marked in charcoal dust were several words.

Hurricane

Army

Evacuate

DON’T LOOK BACK.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Applejack whispered. “A hurricane? That’s rediculous! It’s tha middla winter.”

“If Coalback says that something big is coming, then he’s probably not wrong. He talked about how much he had seen before, he’s probably seen something like this.” She stated simply, striking down the protests with a glare. “We need to warn the townsponies, start an evacuation if we can, and...” She blinked away tears that had come to her eyes suddenly. “We’ll see where it goes from there.”

She scooped back up the cloth, tucking it under her wing carefully. “We can start on convincing them tomorrow.”

“We should go, Applejack. The foals will be let out of school soon, and we don’t want our sisters to be stuck out there.” Rarity said, leaving the table and the map behind. Applejack nodded silently, following her out the door quickly.

The moment they were gone, Rainbow Dash sat forcefully on the floor. “What am I going to do, Fluttershy?” Tears started forming on her face, the dam finally breaking.

“You’ll pull through, just like you always do.” Fluttershy comforted, moving over to embrace her in a gentle hug.

“I don’t know if I can handle him leaving me like this. There one moment, telling me that we’ll be together forever, and then gone the next.” Rainbow put her head onto Fluttershy’s shoulder, not returning the embrace, but accepting it anyway. “I had a dream about him last night, it was about when we first saw each other.” She sniffled.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Fluttershy asked gently, stroking her prismatic mane. Rainbow nodded into her shoulder.

“Coalback was leaning over me, his wolf form that is. And he was licking at the wound in my wing, and then he started to glow. It was amazing, it was like he had turned into the sun right before my eyes.

“He stood up after that, mumbling something I couldn’t understand. Then he howled, he howled in some sort of sad but happy way. Bittersweet almost, how it sounded. It was like he thought that he was dying, or maybe he thought that I was.

“Then he changed into a pony. Right there, in front of all the guards and all the Wonderbolts. Maybe that’s why the WonderBolts haven’t called me back yet, because they saw Coalback. His wings were tilted weird, and he picked me up.

“He balanced me between his wings, the glow surrounded him in some sort of holy light that made the guards jump to attention. Maybe they thought that Celestia had given him strength, or something. He looked at one of them, and I could see his eyes.

“They were glowing completely white, wherever his gaze fell it was bleached by the light. Coalback said something to the guard that I’m sure he didn’t understand, but the guard jumped up, ordering his ponies to surround him.

“They gathered in a protective circle around us, and started herding Coalback out of the arena. Before long they were running full tilt, but Coalback was barely even straining himself. That I could tell from how leisurely he ran, but I could also tell that Coalback couldn’t keep it up for long. Blood still poured out of him from the dragon fight. and he was tiring fast.

“We ran past nobles and maides, the guards yelling at them to get out of the way. It must have been incredible to see from where they were standing. Like a star running past, that’s probably how. Then Coalback collapsed, the glow left him at the same time.

“And that’s when it wasn’t a memory anymore.” Rainbow Dash wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy, the wonder in her words replaced by fear. “He wasn’t just cut by the dragon, He was split in half. One part of him fell one way, the other a different way. I tried to scream, but my mouth wouldn’t open. And I could see the pain in his eyes. Oh Celestia, his eyes!” She sobbed openly, tears soaking into the pink mane in front of her muzzle.

Fluttershy kept still and let her tell her story the whole way through, stroking Rainbow’s mane slowly. She resisted the urge to shudder at the image that her words created.

“Maybe you should stay here tonight, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy whispered. “I have something that can help you sleep, it’ll let you relax. You’ve been so worked up about him lately, we’re starting to get worried about you.” Fluttershy pushed Rainbow Dash up to her hooves, leading her silently to the guest bed on the bottom floor.

        “Hurry up, you guys!” Sweetie Belle whispered loudly, the other two fillies close behind her as they raced toward the forest.

        “This is stupid, the forest is way too dangerous!” Scootaloo exclaimed in an equally loud whisper. Her scarf flipped up into her face and she spat at it, snow flying up from her hooves.

        “Why do we havta be the ones who find ‘im?” Applebloom spoke up, bringing up the rear of the small group.

        “Because, if we can find him, then he can stop the peacekeepers and save the town. We could even get our cutie marks for tracking, or something.” Sweetie Belle responded, looking back to them as they entered the first of the trees. At this point, they were out of sight of the town, and any help that they could offer.

        The sun was running low in the sky, giving everything a slightly orange tint. But it wasn’t late enough to be worrying about night for a few more hours. However, even in the daylight, the Everfree forest was just as dark and spooky as always.

        “Do you even know where he is?” Scootaloo asked accusingly.

        “Rarity was talking to Applejack, and I heard them talking about the castle. What other castle could they be talking about?” Sweetie Belle said confidently.

        “That’s where he is?!” Applebloom exclaimed as they continued to walk. “That’s so far though! And it’s gonna get dark here pretty soon!” She caught up to Sweetie Belle, looking her in the face. “Okay, so let’s say we do find ‘im. Then what? Why would he listen ta a bunch a fillies? Do ya even have a plan at all?” She shook her head, the large bow bobbing around as she did.

        “We just have to convince him, I’m sure we can do it! I’m certain that he’ll rush straight back to town when he hears how bad it is.” She said determinedly, the feeling spread throughout them.

        They continued on in silence, rushing through the overgrowth as fast as they could toward the castle. But after a long run, they had to stop and catch their breath. They burst into a large clearing, stopping after a few steps into it.

        “At this rate, it’ll take days to get to the castle.” Scootaloo complained, huffing out clouds of mist in the cold winter air.

        “It can’t be that far from here, I was sure that we were heading in the right direction.” Sweetie Belle said, collapsing into the snow and continuing to try and catch her breath.

        Applebloom turned back to the trees that they had just past. “Did any a ya’ll hear that?” She whispered back to them, her eyes trained on the trees beyond.

        They all froze, holding their breath as they tried to pick out something. But between the wind and the absorbing effects of the powdery snow, they couldn’t hear anything. Scootaloo twitched a hoof nervously, and a large cracking sound echoed underneath her.

        The sound echoed and twirled metallically, like the sound that a slinky makes when you shake it up and down. The sound of breaking ice over a large pocket of water. Another loud crack and Scootaloo actually dropped in height by several centimeters. They all froze, waiting for the ice to settle before even daring to breath.

        After a moment the noises stopped and it grew almost eerily quiet with the absence. They all let out a unanimous sigh of relief, Scootaloo looked back up at them.

        “That was too cl-!” Scootaloo disappeared suddenly, her words cut off by a loud crack and a splash.

        Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both yelled out, high pitched squeals of surprise. They barely even noticed the huge grey blur as it shot into the hole that Scootaloo had created int the frozen pool. They scrambled backwards to the trees, animal instincts pushing them away from the danger of the ice.

        The icy water in the hole shifted, bits of crystallized water clinking against each other in a slush of numbing cold.

        A dark grey, completely soaked, paw reached out of the water. It’s claws caught grip on the ice almost instantly, pulling the owner of the limb from the icy grip of the frozen water. A huge wolf crawled from the icy hole, and clutched in his mouth was a small orange filly.

        They were completely soaked, frost and snow collecting on them quickly. The wolf rushed over to them, his features thinned by the clinging fur. The wet and cold revealed the coiled muscles under his hide, every one of them shivering in the cold of the recent swim. He ran to directly between the two fear stricken fillies, clearing a spot in the deep snow to rest the shivering form of Scootaloo.

        Her friends rushed to her, clutching each other close and shivering under the towering form of the predator. He took a step back, shaking himself off as much as he could in the snow. Small droplets froze in the air around him, falling gently against the fillies. Then he turned to them and spoke, the words sliding around in his mouth funnily.

        “Hold tight to each other, I’m going to take you somewhere to get warm.” His voice was instantly recognised by the white unicorn filly.

        “Coalback?” She said, attempting to turn her head to him. But her motion was arrested by the mouth that suddenly lifted her by the scruff of her neck, along side both of her friends. Coalback’s hot breath washed over them from where he gripped them, the smell of blood and berries laced his otherwise odorless breath.

        He pushed forward, weaving through the trees like a ghost. They moved faster than Sweetie Belle would have thought, it was like they were flying through the forest instead of running.

Coalback’s paws hit the top of the snow, but never sank farther than his ankles. The pads of his paws spread wide so that he wouldn’t be slowed by deep snow. He turned and dodged through the trees, his warmth counteracting the chill wind that he created.

In almost no time at all they had arrived. The ancient husk of the castle loomed over them, darkness hiding much of it’s features. Coalback never even paused at the huge chasm that separated them from it. His legs bunched under him and he leapt over it, landing on the other side with a short slide.

He pushed through an opening in the wall, pushing the fillies through first. He set them all down before fully crawling through himself.

Scootaloo was shivering uncontrollably now, her small form racked by her efforts to stay warm. Coalback shook himself again, dropping more snow onto the stone floor of the castle. Then he leaned down and gripped Scootaloo by the scruff again.

He padded toward a side of the main chamber, ignoring the monument in the center. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle followed closely, their eyes wandering around the huge castle. But they kept coming back to Scootaloo, her still wet form clutched in the teeth of the huge wolf leading them up a set of stairs.

They entered the bottom of a tall tower, the stairs had broken apart and collapsed long ago. But in the center of the tower a space had been cleared, and a small fire smoldered inside the clutter free area. Coalback set Scootaloo down gently, turning to tend to the dying fire.

He carefully lifted a broken piece of wood from a pile nearby, dropping it onto the embers of the fire and throwing sparks into the air. He gently blew into the embers, coaxing them back to a warm flame. When the fire had grown to his satisfaction he placed two more pieces of wood atop it and turned back to them.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had stopped inside the doorway, watching Scootaloo and the wolf. Coalback walked over to them calmly, pushing them toward the fire with his nose gently. He pushed them up next to Scootaloo, pressing on them so that they would sit next to her.

The fire was close, its warmth welcome after the long trek through the icy forest. Coalback walked around behind them, positioning himself between the cold outer walls of the tower and the fire. He dropped to a sitting position, moving the rest of his body close to their backs before laying down against them.

Sweetie Belle almost gasped at the gesture, and his fur was so soft, it was softer than any of Rarity’s fancy pillows. It was still slightly damp, and Scootaloo was still cold and wet. But he pressed them all close to each other, letting them share their heat with each other. His body grew warm quickly, reflecting the heat of the fire back towards them.

Their fur died out quickly, the embrace turning from soggy to as comfortable as any bed in the world. Sweetie Belle looked back at Coalback, examining him closely.

His fur was the same colors as she remembered, however now the patterns seemed to fit much better. He was fluffy, the thick, soft fur keeping him warm even in the cold of deep winter. His chest rose softly, it pushed them up gently with his breathing. The bands around his arm shimmered with the firelight, still tightly wrapped there. And Rarity’s black collar was wrapped around his neck protectively, a small tear near the side of it marred the otherwise perfect cloth.

His eyes were closed, but his ears kept moving, not missing anything from the outside world. The white shards in his ears clicked when he moved them too quickly, it had a long area missing from the bottom of it, making it flop a little with every movement.

When she looked closer, she could even make out the scars under his fur. She turned around fully, placing her small hooves around one of the scars, examining it closely. She didn’t even notice Coalback when he turned his head to look at her.

“Lightning,” His deep voice said softly. “leaves an interesting pattern in its wake. But usually doesn’t leave a scar. If I hadn’t been holding onto that radio tower it wouldn’t have either.” He lifted his head up, pushing against her with his nose. “You should rest like your friends, tomorrow will not be uneventful.”

She turned toward her friends, placing a hoof to hug onto Coalback’s muzzle. True enough her friends had fallen fast asleep in the warmth of the fire. They had stopped shaking from the cold, and their exhaustion had overcome them. Even as Applebloom fluttered her eyes open for just a moment, keeping herself on the edge of sleep and conscientiousness.

“But...” She started, trying to find an argument against the offer. But Coalback pushed her gently to the floor again.

“Do not argue, or I will simply put you to sleep.” He said, his firm response silencing her.

“Can you tell me a story then?” She said sleepily. His head tilted, surprising her with how similarly dog-like the movement was.

“What kind of story?” He said after a short pause, he had only taken a moment to consider it.

“Something from where you came from. I want to hear what kind of stories ponies from your country tell.” She said softly, trying to not wake up her sleeping friends as she made herself comfortable against them.

Coalback turned back toward the fire, thinking for a moment before looking back at her. And she could have sworn that there was a gentle smile on his face. “I think I know one. It is called ‘The Lay of the Were-Wolf’.” He said quietly, like a filly sharing a secret on the playground. Sweetie Belle’s eyes lit up, her attention completely on him now.

“Amongst the many tales I would tell you, I would never forget the Lay of the Were-Wolf. Such beasts as he are known in every land.” He said, the way he said it was not in a sad way, but in a happy way. As if he were saying that it was good for them to be heard everywhere. “Bisclavaret he is named in Brittany; while the Norman calls him Garwal.” He used the names of the countries directly from the story, the translations not existing.

“What are those places?” Sweetie said during the pause.

“Britain and Normandy are countries across the sea from my home. They have very interesting histories, but I can tell you about them later. Do want to hear this story or not, pup?” He said, she nodded quickly, closing her mouth tightly so that she wouldn’t say another word. “Good.”

“It is a certain thing, and within knowledge of all, that many have suffered this change, and ran wild in the woods, as aWere-Wolf.” He whispered the last word, adding a hint of tension to the words. “The Were-Wolf is a fearsome beast. He lurks within the thick forest, mad and horrible to see. All the evil in that he may, he does. He goes to and fro, about the solitary place, seeking those to devour. Hearken, now, to the adventure of the Were-Wolf, that I have to tell.” He looked at her gently. “Don’t get scared now, this is not a scary story.”

Sweetie Belle jumped, realizing that she had been shaking. “I-I wasn’t scared.” She said in her bravest voice that she could muster, even though it still shook slightly. He smiled with his wolf lips again, the look surprising like a pony’s.

Stories of the Past

-Stories of the Past-

In Brittany there dwelt a baron who was marvellously esteemed of all his fellows. He was a stout knight, and comely, and of office and repute. Right private was he to the mind of his lord, and dear to the counsel of his neighbors. This baron was wedded to a very worthy dame, right fair to see, and sweet of semblance. All his love was set on her, and all her love was given to him. one only grief had she. For three whole days in every week her lord was absent from her side. She knew not where he went, nor on what errand. Neither did any of the house know the business which called him forth.

On a day when this lord had returned to his house, altogether joyous and content, the lady took him to task, sweetly, in this way, ‘Husband,’ said she, ‘and fair, sweet friend, I have a certain thing to pray of you. Right willingly would I receive this gift, but I fear to anger you in the asking. It is better for me to not have it, than to gain hard words.’

When the lord heard this matter, he took his wife in his arms, very tenderly, and kissed her.

‘Wife,’ he answered, ‘ask what you will. What would you have, for it is yours already?’

‘By my faith’ said the wife, ‘soon shall I be whole. Husband, right long and wearisome are the days that you spend away from your home. I rise from bed in the morning, sick at heart, I know not why So fearful am I, lest you do ought to your loss, that I may not find any comfort. Very quickly shall I die for reason of my dread. Tell me now, where you go, and on what business! How may the knowledge of one who loves so closely, bring you to harm?’

‘Wife,’ made answer the lord, ‘nothing but evil can come if I tell you this secret. For the mercy of God do not require it of me. If you but knew, you would withdraw yourself from my love, and I should be lost indeed.’

When the lady heard this, she persuaded that her baron sought to put her by with jesting words. Therefore she prayed and required him the more urgently, with tender looks and speech, till he was overborne, and told her all the story, hiding naught.

        ‘Wife, I become Bisclavarent. I enter the forest, and live on prey and roots, within the thickest of the wood.’

        After she had learned his secret, she prayed and entreated the more as to whether he ran in his clothing, or went spoiled of coverings.

        ‘Wife,’ said he, ‘I go naked as a beast.’

        ‘Tell me, for hope of grace, what you do with your clothing?’

        ‘Fair wife, that will I never. If I should lose my clothing, or even be marked as I quit my covering, then a Were-Wolf I must go for all days of my life. Never again should I become myself, save in that hour my clothing were given back to me. For this reason never will I show my lair.’

        ‘Husband,’ replied she to him, ‘I love you better than all the world. The less cause have you for doubting my faith, or hiding any title from me. What saviour is here of friendship? How have I made forfeit of your love; for what sin do you mistrust my honour? Open now your heart, and tell what is good to be known.’

        So at the end, outwearied and overborne by her importunity, he could no longer refrain, but told her all.

        ‘Wife,’ said he, ‘within this wood, a little from the path, there is a hidden way, and at the end thereof an ancient chapel, where oftentimes I have bewailed my lot. Nearby is a great hollow stone, concealed by a bush, and there is the secret place where I hide my raiment, till I would return to my home.’

        On hearing this marvel the lady became sanguine of visage, because of her exceeding fear. She dared no longer to lie at his side, and turned over in her mind, this way and that, how best she could get her from him. Now there was a certain knight of those parts, who, for a great while, had sought and required her for her love. This knight had spent long years in her service, but little enough had he got thereby, not even fair words, or a promise. To him the dame wrote a letter, and meeting, made her purpose plain.

        ‘Fair friend,’ said she, ‘be happy. That which you have coveted so long a time, I will grant without delay. Never again will I deny your suit. My heart, and all I have to give, are yours, so take me now as love and dame.’

        Right sweetly the knight thanked her for her grace, and pledged her faith and fealty. When she had confirmed him by an oath, then she told him all this business of her lord-- why he went, and what he became, and of his ravening within the wood. So she showed him of the chapel, and of the hollow stone, and of how to spoil the Were-Wolf of his vesture. Thus, by the kiss of his wife, was Bisclavaret betrayed. Often enough had he ravished his prey in desolate places, but from this journey he never returned. His kinsfolk and acquaintance came together to ask of his tidings, when this absence was noised abroad. On many a day, they searched the woodland, but none might find him, nor learn where Bisclavaret was gone.

        The dame was wedded to the knight who had cherished her for so long long a space. More than a year had passed since Bisclavarent disappeared. Then it chanced that the King would hunt in that self-same wood where the Were-Wolf lurked. When the hounds were unleashed they ran this way and that, and quickly came upon his scent. At the view the hunter winded on his horn, and the whole pack was on his heels. They followed him from morn to eve, till he was torn and bleeding, and was all adread lest he should pull him down. Now the king was very close to the quarry, and when Bisclavaret looked upon his master, he ran to him for pity and for grace. He took the stirrup within his paws, and fawned upon the prince’s foot. The King was very fearful at this sight, bu presently he called his courtiers to his aid.

        ‘Lords,’ cried he, ‘hasten hither, and see this marvellous thing. Here is a beast who has the sense of our own. He abases himself before his foe, and cries for mercy, although he cannot speak. Beat off the hounds, and let none do him harm. We will hunt no more to-day, but return to our own place, with this wonderful quarry we have taken.’

        The King returned him about, and rode to his hall, Bisclavarent following at his side. Very near his master the Were-Wolf went, like any dog, and had no care to seek again the wood. When the King brought him safely to his own castle, he rejoiced greatly, for the beast was fair and strong, no mightier had anyone seen. Much pride had the King in his marvelous beast. He held him so dear, that he bade all those who wished for his love, to cross the Wolf in naught, neither to strike him with a rod, but never to see that he was richly fed and kennelled warm. This commandment the Court observed willingly. So all the day the Wolf sported with the lords, and at night he lay within the chamber of the King. There was not one who did not make much of the beast, so frank was he and debonair. None had reason to do him wrong, for ever was he about his master, and for his part did evil to none. Every day were these two companion together, and all perceived that the King loved him as his friend.

        Hearken now to which chanced.

        The King held a high Court, and bade his great vassals and barons, and all the lords of his venery to the feast. Never was there a goodlier feast, nor one set forth with sweeter show and pomp. Amongst those who were bidden, came that same knight who had the wife of Bisclavaret for dame. He came to the castle, richly gowned, with fair company, but little he deemed whom he would find so near. Bisclavaret marked his foe the moment he stood within the hall. he ran towards him, and seized him with his fangs, in the King’s ver presence, and to the view of all. Doubtless he would have done him much mischief, had not the King called and chidden him, and threatened him with a rod. Once, and twice, again, the Wolf set upon the knight in the very light of day. All marvelled at his malice, for sweet and serviceable was the beast, and to that hour had shown hatred of none. With one consent the household deemed that this deed was done with full reason, and that the Wolf had suffered from the knight some bitter wrong. Right wary of his foe was the knight until the feast had ended, and all the barons had taken farewell of their lord, and departed, each to his own house. With these, amongst the very first, went that lord whom Bisclavaret so fiercely had assailed. Small was the wonder that he was glad to go.

        No long while after this adventure it came to pass that the courteous King would hunt in that forest where Bisclavaret was found. With the prince came his wolf, and a fair company. Now at nightfall the King abode within a certain lodge af that country, and this was known of that dame who before was the wife of Bisclavaret. In the morning the lady clothed her in her most dainty apparel, and hastened to the lodge, since she desired to speak to the King, and offer him a rich present. When the lady entered in the chamber, none could have restrained the fury of the Wolf. He became as a mad dog in his hatred and malice. Breaking from his bonds he sprang at her face, and bit the nose from her visage. From every side nobles ran to succour her. They beat off the wolf from his prey, and for a little would have cut him to pieces with their swords. But a certain wise counsellor was the King,

        ‘Sire, hearken now to me. This beast is always with you, and there is not one of us all who has not known him for long. He goes in and out amongst us, nor has molested any, neither done wrong or felony to any, save only to this dame, on only time we have seen. He has done evil to this dame, and to that knight, who is now the husband of her. Sire, she was once the wife of that lord who was so close and private to your heart, but who went, and none might find where he had gone. Now, therefore, put the dame in a sure place, and question her straitly so that she may tell--if perchance she knows thereof--for what reason this Beast holds her in such mortal hate. For many a strange deed has chanced, as well we know, in this marvellous land of Brittany.’

        The King listened to these words, and deemed the counsel good. He took hold of the knight, and put the dame in surety in another place. He caused them to be questioned right straitly, so that their torment was very grievous. At the end, partly because of her distress, and partly by reason of her exceeding fear, the dame’s lips were loosened, and she told her tale. She showed them of her betrayal of her lord, and how his raiment was stolen from the hollow stone. Since then she knew not where he went, nor what had befallen him, for he had never come again to his own land. Only, in her heart, well she deemed and was persuaded, that Bisclavaret was he.

        Straightaway the King demanded the vesture of his baron, whether this were to the wish of her, or whether it were against her wish. When the raiment was brought to him, he caused it to be spread before Bisclavaret, but the Wolf made as though he had not seen. Then that cunning and crafty counselor too the King apart, that he might give him a fresh rede.

        ‘Sire,’ said he, ‘you do not wisely, nor well, to set this raiment before Bisclavaret, in the sight of all. In shame and much tribulation must he lay aside the beast, and again become himself. Carry your wolf within your most secret chamber, and put his vestment therein. Then close the door upon him, and leave him alone for a space. So we shall see presently whether the ravening beast may indeed return to himself.

        The King carried the Wolf to his chamber, and shut the doors upon him fast. He delayed for a brief while, and taking two lords of his fellowship with him, came again to the room. Entering therein, all three, softly together, they found the knight sleeping in the King’s bed, like a little child. The King ras swiftly to the bed and taking his friend in his arms, embraced and kissed him fondly, above a hundred times. When his speech returned once more, he told him of his adventure. Then the King restored to his friend the fief that was stolen from him, and gave such rich gifts, moreover, as I cannot tell. As for the wife that had betrayed Bisclavaret, he bade her avoid his country, and chased her from the realm. So she went forth, she and her second lord together, to seek a more abiding city, and they were no more seen.

        Coalback looked over the drowsy form of the fillies, Sweetie Belle just barely keeping her eyes open. “Now tell me, young one. What was the reason behind the King’s kindness?”

        Sweetie Belle yawned, turning drowsily to look at him again. “Because Biscuit never hurt anypony, right?” She said sleepily, yawning gently again.

        “That is right.” Coalback said encouragingly, ignoring the mispronounced name. “Because Bisclavaret never caused harm to another, the king had reason to believe that he had goodness in him. You must never let fear cloud the truth. Bisclavaret never would have hurt a soul if not for the betrayal of his love, because her fear had clouded her reason.” He said gently, watching as Sweetie Belle finally shut her eyes.

        “That was a sad story, but it was nice too. Even if Biscrevet got hurt.” She said as sleep overtook her. Coalback watched her fall asleep, he watched the tiny fillies for a moment more. His eyes were sad, and his voice came out quietly so as not to wake them.

        “The young are so innocent. It will be a hard time ahead for all, but especially them.” His voice was sad, and heavy with hidden tears. He knew, that without his help, these ponies were doomed. Even if a part of him resented them for what they did, reason told him that they were not doing it out of hate, but fear.

        It had taken him days to realize that again. And he still had not gotten over what he had done to Rainbow Dash.

        He had struck her, and it had shaken him to his core. Every ounce of himself ached over that single action, every voice in his head screaming in grief. A tear slid down his face, landing lightly on the stone floor. He kept telling himself why it had been necessary, he had to make it apparent that she was not involved with him. He had even told himself that it was better if she thought he hated her, even though it was a lie.

He stood slowly, carefully removing himself from the sleeping fillies. He padded silently to the side of the chamber, pulling out a blanket he had snuck away from the Apple farm. He wrapped it around the piled together fillies carefully, making sure they would stay warm by the embers of the fire. He put a small log on the fire, leaving it to fuel the fire for the rest of the night.

He turned away, bunching up his legs before leaping to a platform above the room. It was a small supporting arch for the decrepit stairs, and it led out to a window that overlooked the forest. The glass had long ago broken and fallen away, leaving a chilled opening where the meager stream of smoke from the fire leaked away. Outside it was just enough room for him to sit, and he still had view of the fillies.

He sighed, spreading a stream of fog as he looked up toward the sky, and then toward Ponyville. He would have to fly up high some time, get a good bird’s eye  view of the incoming weather. That storm rolling over seemed too sudden, there had been no pressure change beforehand. That only meant that some powerful winds had blown it off. Perhaps it had floated upward on a lifting draft and into the jet stream.

He looked at the fillies again, a wave of sadness washing over him. They had families, friends. The entire town had that. But he did not. The only thing he had had was Rainbow Dash, and he had pushed her away. He took a deep breath and began to sing.

Even though he couldn’t see it, for his eyes were trained on the boiling clouds and the falling snow, Sweetie Belle had awoken again.

She looked up at him, hearing the sad words. The blanket slid from around her shoulders, making Scootaloo shiver at the sudden cool spot on her fur.

She could feel his grief as it left him and into the sky with his words. He sang loudly and strongly, the words of the song echoing through the increasing snowfall. Even though there were none, Sweetie Belle could almost hear the instruments behind the music, just barely.

A tear slid from her eye on it’s own accord, defying her wonder by expressing the sadness of that song.

And when Coalback had finished, his grief expended in that song, enough to let him go on, he simply stared out into the night. After a moment, he turned back to them, catching Sweetie Belle’s gaze with his green eyes.

He stood up, padding to the edge of the platform and silently dropping to the ground.

“Go back to sleep, Sweetie Belle. I’m okay, I promise.” He padded over to them, gently wrapping his midsection around them again. His warm side pressed against them, lulling Sweetie Belle back into slumber. “There is much to do tomorrow, and we will leave early so that the storm does not trap you out here.” He leaned his head down to meet hers, brushing against her gently.

He used his nose to push back down against his side, and she hugged him tightly. “That was a sad song, Coalback.” She whispered, her breath stirring the grey fr in front of her mouth.

“I know, and I’m sorry I woke you. You didn’t have to listen to that.” He said gently, resting his head on his paws.

Sweetie Belle leaned against his coat, burying her face in its warmth and softness. “Will you come back?” She asked, sleep already weighing her words.

“Maybe some day.” He whispered, watching her eyes slowly close.

“Those stallions have been so mean to everyone, wouldn’t you be able to stop them?” Sweetie yawned, closing her eyes fully. Coalback’s words were the last thing that she heard before she was swallowed by the darkness of sleep.

“I will stop them, this has gone on too long already. But I fear that they are not the true threat to the ponies.”

Return to Tartarus

-Return to Tartarus-

        “Wake up, Sweetie Belle! Ya gotta see this!” Appebloom’s voice called through the darkness of her sleep. Sweetie Belle closed her eyes tighter, willing herself to be left alone. A hoof shook her tiny form, shaking her forcefully from her blissful rest. “Come on, Sweetie Belle. This is amazin!” Applebloom’s accented voice finally drew Sweetie Belle’s eyes open to the room.

        They had slept in the tower’s lowest chamber, but the darkness of the snow and night had hidden the details of the walls. Sweetie Belle would have gasped at the sight revealed by the morning sun, but she settled for silent awe. Scootaloo sat near one of the walls staring at it in a similar way.

        Surrounding them, marked into the walls with charcoal, was an uncountable amount of murals. They were all drawn in extreme detail, and they were of an incredible amount of subjects. She could see the patterns in the fur of the animals, ponies, and other creatures that decorated the walls. Even the eyes held the detail of life captured perfectly in their charcoal images.

        One pony seemed to dominate the walls, as broad a spectrum as the pictures held, Rainbow Dash. And the pictures of her were the most beautiful of them all. Every image of her seemed to create a feeling of grace, strength, and beauty that none of the other images held at all.

        “Wow...” Scootaloo said, putting her hoof next to an image of Rainbow Dash in flight, but not daring to touch it. Rainbow Dash was looking over her shoulder, laughter in her eyes, the wind tousling her grayscaled mane.

        Another image of her was nearby, she was laying down. A grey cloud held her up, drifting around her on unseen currents. Her eyes looked forward with gentle kindness, a small smile decorating her face.

        Surrounding those images were many others. A pack of wolves ran through thick snow, the powder flying around them. A herd of bison, thousands strong, ran across snowy, grey fields. A great bird looked into the distance. A rabbit sat frozen near a blurry bush. A mountain range was hidden in misty clouds.

        But the final image sat alone, all the other drawings around it smudged away. It was another image of Rainbow Dash, but unlike the others, she was crying. Her eyes were bloodshot, even noticeable in the grey of the charcoal. Rivulets of tears marred her grayed out face. And blood flowed from a gash in her chest, black as the charcoal dictated.

        Scrawled around the image, were words. They were written in languages innumerable, so many scribbles that for a moment Sweetie Belle wondered if they were just gibberish. But a single word stood out; Sorry.

        The fillies looked on in wonder at the incredible artwork around them, trying but failing to see everything in full. Their eyes traced the lines and blurs that dictated shapes, translated feelings, and told stories that words could not.

        “Many forget that boredom is a killer in the wild.” Coalback’s baritone echoed in the tall tower, making the fillies jump and turn to him. He wasn’t a wolf anymore, he had turned back into a pony. “I taught myself to draw when I was young, just a little boy trying to impress his father.” He walked over to one side of the tower, his hoofsteps echoing.

        He pulled out a piece of canvas, a green tarp or blanket, and wrapped it around his neck and shoulders. “It was many a night when I found myself drawing with the charcoal of my fire, during my exile.” He smiled at them gently. “And I have discovered many things from my thoughtless scrawlings, feelings I didn’t know I had.” He looked toward the running wolves. “Like how much I truly miss my family.”

        “You drew all these pictures of Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked, childlike excitement spinning in her words. An expectant smile brightened her orange face.

        “Yes, I have missed her these last few days.” He looked sadly at the various images of her strewn about the room. “Gather yourselves, we are leaving for the town in a moment.” He said, walking over to the fire and stomping out the last of the embers still glowing in it.

        The fillies continued to wander about the tower’s base, staring intently at the various images. A metal bird here, fire following it’s wake. Some sort of two legged creature here. One of them was holding a long stick, and a cloud was coming out the end of it, how strange. There was a metal box with wheels. A stone with a sword stuck into it.

        Coalback let them look, they were just pups after all, or fillies as it were. He looked up to the open window above them, examining the cloud layers above them. He had already gone for his flight, and he was very unhappy with what he had seen. The storm was coming much closer than he had first estimated, and there would be no time to move an entire town before it was upon them in full force.

        He sighed quietly, looking back to the fillies and clearing his throat loudly. They turned to him as he stood, moving toward the door. They followed him closely, letting him walk them to the hole in the wall. He shifted through first, clearing any piled snow in front of it.

        The fillies followed him, the light of morning revealing why they hadn’t walked out the front door. Snow piled high to the door, sealing it tightly shut and blocking the way to the bridge.

        Coalback lowered himself to the snow, spreading his wings to create a ramp to his back. “Climb on, we will fly some of the way.” His words were soft, and encouraged them to move. They walked carefully up his wings and onto his back, clutching the blanket for support.

        When all three of the fillies had settled onto his back Coalback stood up, doing a few static stretches with his wings. He took a deep breath, crouching down to prepare for a jump into the air.

        He launched himself gently into the air, the movement much more controlled than he would have been able to do weeks ago. He flapped his wings slowly, pushing the air around him down and back. He kept them just above the trees, not too high and not too fast. The wind was with them, letting them fly with little buffeting against them.

        “Why were you young ones out in the forest, especially during a winter storm?” He called over the gentle wind, he turned his head slightly to look at them out of the corner of his eye.

        “Well...” Sweetie started. Scootaloo whistled innocently, looking around at the passing trees.

        “We were lookin fer ya.” Applebloom said guiltily, her head lowering in expectancy of berating.

        “How noble of you, but why?” Coalback said, genuine curiosity in his words.

        Applebloom looked up in surprise, any other pony would have instantly scolded them for putting themselves in danger. “‘cuz...uhm...well, th-tha peacekeepers! That’s why.” She said, the reason for their expedition returning to her.

        “Yeah,” Scootaloo spoke up. “we wanted to get you to stop them, like you did those ponies that were threatening the town before!” She reared up, striking the air with her tiny hooves.

        “I cannot do that.” Coalback said, turning back to the air in front of him.

Scootaloo sat back down, her mouth open wide in surprise. But before she could say anything, Sweetie Belle tried to convince him.

“But last night, you said that you could!” She said, distress in her voice.

“And my words were in truth!” He said quickly, cutting off an accusation before it could form. “Their regime has gone on long enough. But I cannot simply kill all of them.” His voice voice changed from frustrated anger, to a sad sort of tone. “Those ponies may not be doing good things, but they believe that they are protected their home. Even if they have blamed me for imagined crimes; I cannot, will not harm them for it.”

He turned his head back to them. “Applebloom, has your sister ever done something, that you knew was unfair, but that she believed was to protect you?” He asked sadly, he turned quickly back to the trees before him as he began to descend into a small opening in the snow covered canopy.

“Yeah...” Applebloom said, remembering the first time Zecora had come to Ponyville. “But it weren’t right do that to Zecora anyway!”

Coalback landed gently on the snow covered path leading to Ponyville, their approach hidden by the turn. “But if she had been right?” He asked, continuing before she could interject. “The ponies that have condemned me are not at complete fault. I am a very dangerous being, even if my actions prove otherwise.”

He began walking, slowly coming near the town again. The fillies remained quiet, unable to find a flaw in his argument. His hooves made crunching noises in the snow, sinking much further than his paws would have. He paused at the turn, not quite revealing the town to view.

“You,” He said turning to Scootaloo. “the little ice diver.” She shrunk against her friends, a guilty smile decorating her face under his gaze. “Do you have somewhere to go when you are back?” His eyes softened, concern deeply rooted in his voice.

“My dad.” She said quietly, her gaze lowering slightly. “We take care of each other.” She looked away, hopefully keeping probing questions away.

Coalback nodded solemnly, but he didn’t press her. “Good. I need you to find him, make sure you both are safe. And leave Ponyville, take him to Canterlot.” He waited for the fillies to complete their objections, waiting for a moment to interject. “Ponyville will not be safe. The coming events will make it the epicenter of near catastrophe.” His voice had grown darker, his eyes prying into them to drive the point home.

When they had nodded in consent, he let his gaze soften. He looked at them for a moment more, old memories of his childhood dancing in his eyes.

He stopped himself though. ‘No time for such romantics.’

He turned back to the encroaching clouds above, just peaking out from the bony branches of the winter forest.

Applejack paced in the kitchen of her home, she had been pacing for the entire night. With the disappearance of the fillies she had become distraught. And she would have gone to find them, if not for the peacekeepers.

When they had seen the fillies leave, they had put their families on house arrest. All of them; Rarity and her parents; even Scootaloo’s father, who rarely even was seen in town. They had all been confined to their homes, and it had been driving her mad with worry.

And then she heard the howl, her head shooting up and her ears swiveling toward it’s origin.

It was long and low, it rose a note higher, and then went low again. It sounded twice, and then a third time.

Applejack wished she knew what it meant. She knew, from the ramblings of a particular unicorn, that wolf howls where communication methods for separated packs. If Coalback was howling, did it mean that something had happened?

A darker thought entered her mind, making her prance in place. What if something had happened to the fillies? It wasn’t moments later when a board creaked above her.

“Rainbow’s here, maybe she knows what’s goin on.” She mumbled, more to herself than to anypony else.

Applejack glanced out a curtained window, spotting the two stallions that had been placed there. She walked up toward the stairs, keeping her hoofsteps quiet. She checked out another window, looking out over her snow covered farm. No fresh tracks in the snow, the clouds looked undisturbed above.

She leaned up on her back hooves, grasping a small rope in her mouth and pulling on it gently. A hidden staircase unfolded from the roof, moving on silent hinges. The staircase rested silently on the wooden floor below her.

She stepped carefully onto it, not wanting to alert the guards at the door below. She climbed up silently, emerging in the dusty attic of the barnhouse. When she had fully entered, she turned and folded the staircase behind her.

“You heard it too?” Rainbow’s hushed voice came, a slightly open window behind her turning her into a dark silhouette.

“Yeah. What’sit mean?” Applejack said, her stance low and her eyes shifty.

“I think...that it means we need to go to him. It was some sort of mix between ‘calling young’ and ‘calling pack’. I think he found the missing fillies, but we should hurry. I don’t want Dumb-Bell finding them first” She walked close to her, the words becoming even quieter. “You go get Rarity, I’ll get Scootaloo’s dad. Coalback is by the road to the Everfree.” She turned back to the window, all of her muscles stiff.

“Rainbow?” Applejack said, her tone betraying her worry. “You been actin’...well ya ain’t been yerself ever since Coalback ran off. What’s eatin’ ya?” She knew that the situation was urgent, even more so for the fact that Coalback was here. Rainbow stopped, not taking the final step to the window.

“Coalback made me a promise.” She whispered, her voice heavy with poorly concealed sadness. “And I know for fact, that he never breaks his promises.” Her voice grew stronger as she spoke, her confidence quickly returning.

“Coalback’s kept a whole heckofa lot of secrets. Maybe ya shouldn’t put so much faith in him, Rainbow.” Applejack said, almost balking as her friend turned to her with a look that could have melted dragon’s scales. “Now don’t think fer a second that I’m insulting you, or him. I jist don’ wanna see ya get hurt, not like last time.” She said, trying to bring sense to those murderous eyes. But she regretted her words instantly.

There were few things that could work tears into those rose eyes, many of them were touchy subjects. And Rainbow had had her share of bad experiences with stallions. Contrary to how she talked, she had had few good relationships. Many ending in arguments and insults directed toward her.

She turned quickly to the window, talking quietly and urgently so that she wouldn’t have to stay any longer. “I’m going to get Torusel.” She swung the window open quickly, darting out of it silently.

“Tarnation, Applejack. When are ya gunna lern ta shut yer flap?” Applejack mumbled to herself, closing the window. She turned back to the stairs, shame and a purpose driving her forward.

She was getting her sister back, even if she had to go into the forest herself.

        “Where’s Rainbow Dash? She should have arrived by now, even with Torusel.” Rarity worried under breath, snuggling deeper into her decorative scarf.

        “She could still be mad at me. I said some things I shouldn’of.” Applejack said dejectedly, shaking her head and looking down the path to the Everfree in the distance.

        “I’m sure she isn’t, Applejack. She may be a bit brash at times, but she always comes around.” Rarity reassured, even if the words felt slightly empty. “She said Coalback was here didn’t she, so where is he?” She asked, pulling the topic away and letting a bit of worry seep into her voice.

        “She said that he was here, but we should wait ta go lookin’ fer ‘im until-”

        “APPLEJACK!” A high pitched voice called, drawing their attention back to the forest path.

        “Applebloom!” Applejack called back, her eyes brightening with relief as she spotted the small yellow filly running down the path. She ran forward taking the filly in her arms and embracing her warmly. The next filly ran out as well, just after Applebloom.

        “Oh, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity exclaimed, dropping her manners to embrace her sister as well.

        “We were so worried about ya’ll!” Applejack said, holding her sister closer. “Don’t ya’ll ever run off like that again!” Her voice was slightly chastising, but her own joy at seeing the filly safe made it softer.

        “Sweetie Belle, where’s Scootaloo? She was with you wasn’t she?” Rarity said, her voice rising in worry for a moment.

        “She is with us!” Sweetie Belle said quickly, nodding her head as she tried to disentangle herself from her sister’s suffocating grasp. “Coalback said he wanted to walk her to her dad though. But I don’t know why.” She said, trying to explain.

        “How strange...I wonder what could have possibly prompted him to do that.” Rarity said thoughtfully, loosening her hold long enough that the tiny filly could wriggle free. She stood a few steps away, catching her balance and looking around. She looked back toward the town, smiling and jumping up.

        “Look! Here they come!” She said, pointing back at the town. They turned to follow her hoof, catching sight of the duo moving toward them.

        Torusel wasn’t a large pegasus, not by most standards anyway. His greying mane betrayed his true age, but his dark orange coat rippled with his strong old muscles. He walked with a painful limp, his knees creaking with every movement.

        Torusel had been a hero of his time, as much as the old stallion denied it. Years ago there had been a fire, a big one. Every house had gone up in flames, but Torusel had been there to see it start. To this day nopony knows how the fire started, there have even been rumors that Torusel started it himself.

        But all the same, Torusel had not rested until the entire population of Ponyville was safe. However, his body was too exhausted, he had pushed too far. In the end, arthritis had nearly lamed him fully, almost making the old stallion completely disabled. His wings were the worst, completely frozen by the pain of the arthritis, grounding him for the rest of his life.

        The smoke had done similar damage, soiling his lungs and clouding his eyes. Torusel never complained however, the only time he did was when ponies started to become concerned about him. He had never liked being seen as needing help, even to a point where it irritated him.

        He leaned carefully against Rainbow Dash, using her as support so that they could move faster. His eyes were trained carefully on the ground, his breathing heavy as he concentrated on not tripping. But when he did look up, his cloudy eyes widened, a relieved smile springing to his face.

        “Dad!” Scootaloo exclaimed, running free from the trees. A sullen looking Coalback following.

        “Scootaloo!” Torusel said, relief and happiness bubbling in his croaking voice. He pulled free of Rainbow’s support, galloping to the meet the orange filly. They met near the forest edge, the path turning away shortly behind them after the trees began.

        Scootaloo jumped up, wrapping her arms around her father’s neck and holding onto him. Torusel dropped to the ground, returning the embrace warmly.

        Coalback was not far behind, his eyes darted back and forth between the ground and Rainbow Dash. He stopped when he had gotten just in front of the reunited father and daughter, his shuffling hooves a generous distance from Rainbow’s.

He looked...scared. Which brought Rainbow to pause, a worried expression mixing with all the other feelings she had at seeing him again.

“Coalback? I-”

“NOW!” A stallion’s angry command echoed, cutting off Rainbow’s stutters.

Stallions erupted from the snow, the spray taking them all by surprise. And the next few seconds went by in a blur.

Stallions grabbed onto the mares, pulling them away. They struggled, but were bound quickly. Completely immobilizing them, stallions yelling something about arrest. A spear flew. Coalback jumped up, and blood flew.

Torusel cried out, and Scootaloo screamed.

When the snow settled down again, a grim scene greeted Rainbow Dash’s eyes. Coalback wore a snarl befitting the wolf he hid. His wings were spread, a defensive posture, his left covered in feathery gore. Below him Scootaloo continued her wails, her hooves desperately shaking her prone father.

A spear protruded from his chest, a pool of blood spreading from it into the snow, staining it crimson. Scootaloo wailed, tears pouring freely from her eyes and down onto the prone form of her father.

Coalback snarled, baring the pointed teeth he still had. A line of saliva traced it’s way down from his lips, unbridled rage roaring like a fire in his eyes. His whole body shook with every growl that escaped his chest, a sound like a rock slide in the mountains.

His snarls died down, and his head turned to Scootaloo for a moment. His eyes softened, old memories and their pains resurfacing at the sight of the filly and her father. His mouth shut in a determined line.

The crystal hanging from his neck glowed, the light shining through the fabric. The golden light turned the stained snow orange, it’s intensity increasing.

“Don’t let it’s mind tricks fool you!” Dumb-Bell yelled, he the only stallion without a spear.

The connection was instant, as Rainbow Dash looked on, unable to scream or even move. She could feel the effects of claustrophobia coming on, but she fought through. She had to see what happened, or she would die wondering.

The light intensified, Coalback reared up. A single word echoed from him. The word came out loudly, echoing in that strange other language.

“Iachawdwriaeth!” It echoed proudly, power filling the words in a way that simply speaking couldn’t, he had cast a spell. “Yah-kow-dew-writh … -kow-dew-writh … dew-writh … writh ...” The sounds echoed back, no longer holding the power he had put in them.

The crystal pulsed, something cracked, like breaking glass. Scootaloo and her father glowed in intense light, their golden silhouettes breaking apart and flying into the sky. Their light arced over the town, coming back down behind the buildings.

‘Was that a teleport? It didn’t look anything like what Twilight does.’ Rainbow’s mind raced, trying to find an explanation for Coalback’s actions. Her thoughts interrupted suddenly, her ears catching another snarl from Coalback.

Coalback had turned back to the stallions, his stance a defensive one. His injured wing hung strangely, a string of bloody flesh falling from it, a severed muscle. He growled again, his eyes glowing.

The wing twitched, the string of muscle pulling itself back into his wing. But the wound remained open.

Another crack echoed, and Rainbow’s eyes fell to his ringed arm. If she had not been bound and gagged by a huge stallion, she would have cried out. The first ring, the lowest to his hoof, had cracked. Blood red light pouring out like water and flowing around it. She was sure that she could feel that static feeling again, and she didn’t even want to find out what happened when it broke.

“You killed him ...” Coalback said, his voice surprisingly calm as he spoke, despite his outward appearance. “... you orphaned that child ... you murdered an elder ... I hope you’re damned happy.” His last words spat out, rage spilling over his calm voice.

“Doesn’t matter!” Dumb-Bell replied sharply. “He deserves that for coming to you! And you can be sure that your bitches will receive a similar fate.” Dumb-Bell grinned, thunder boomed from the forest, the storm hidden by the cloud cover. “So, are we gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way.” He lifted his wing, displaying the holster that held the silver knife.

Coalback growled deeply, pulling his head up to display the thick muscles on his chest. He turned quickly, jumping toward the forest and away from Dumb-Bell. He lept over the stallions, kicking one in the head with his rear hooves. He disappeared among the trees instantly, his grey coat blending perfectly with the grey winter plants and the white of the snow.

“What are you waiting for?! Go get him!” Dumb-Bell yelled, darting after him into the trees. The stallions ran forward, jumping into the trees as well.

Rainbow squirmed in her bonds, grinding her teeth against the gag. Warm breath streamed down her neck, and she stiffened suddenly. Her eyes flicked back, locking onto the purple stallion’s nose. He sniffed again, stirring the rainbow mane on the back of her neck.

A low hum started in his throat, he chuckled a bit. Rainbow redoubled her efforts, trying to struggle free.

“Ooh, a fighter!” He said, his voice low. “You and I are going to have some fun, my little pony.” He taunted, and he would have continued if not for the battle cry that suddenly sounded behind him.

“AYAYAYAYAYAYEEE!” The shrill voice sounded, and a pink hoof impacted the side of the stallion’s head. The oppressive shadow over her suddenly gone with a sound like a paper bag crumpling.

The other stallions fled, their bravery gone at the sudden downing of their peer. Rainbow turned her head, trying to get a look at her saviour.

A pink hoof held her however, teeth pulled at the knot tying her gag to her. She spat it out quickly, small strings of wool still stuck to her tongue. Hooves pulled away the ropes around her legs.

Rainbow instantly shot up, turning to the new pony. And pausing with a confused look on her face.

“Pinkie?” She said, eyeing the pink earth pony.

“Hi, Dashie!” She said waving a hoof, the purple cloths tied around them weaving through the air. She was dressed in what looked like her old Mare-Do-Well costume, however it had been cleverly torn up to give her a more rogue look.

“Is that what I think it is?” Rainbow asked, indicating the strange garb. Pinkie nodded spastically.

“Do ya like it?” She asked, twirling a bit. She stopped suddenly, some realization making her eyes widen. “Oh! Wait! I’m supposed to be saving you guys!” She hopped happily. “Come help me untie the others!” She ran off, moving over to the prone forms of the Apples.

Rainbow moved similarly untying Rarity and Sweetie Belle. “Oh, how dreadful!” Rarity exclaimed, holding back from shaking herself. “Let’s get back to Fluttershy’s before those fiends return!” She said gathering Sweetie Belle with her magic.

A howl echoed in the forest, long and rising in pitch quickly.

“No objections here, Rainbow?” Applejack said, tossing the quivering yellow filly on her back.

“There’s something I need to check first.” Rainbow replied, turning her head toward the town. “But I’ll meet you guys there.” She looked back at them, then turned to dart off into the town.

The storm was in full force outside of Fluttershy’s cottage, wind and rain pounded against the side of the little house. The ponies and small animals huddled inside, riding out the storm in the dim light of firefly lanterns.

“Ah’ve never seen a storm this bad before.” Applejack mumbled, sitting on the floor in the middle of the cottage, Applebloom held close nearby. “Maybe Coalback was right, this is a hurricane. It aint even snowin’ any more, it’s rain!” She said, pulling Applebloom into a tighter hug.

“Are Coalback and Scootaloo gonna be alright?” Sweetie belle asked timidly, looking up at Rarity from where she sat on the floor. Rarity bit her lip, thinking her words through before she spoke.

She sighed in defeat. “I don’t know, Sweetie Belle. Anything could have happened.” She looked at the floor from the couch sadly, Sweetie Belle mirroring the action.

“I’m sure they’re all fine. Rainbow has been through a few storms before, she’ll know what to do.” Pinkie said softly, placing a firefly lantern in between them.

Fluttershy sat nearby a shivering beaver, stroking it and murmuring comforting words to it.

The door rattled, a faint voice calling through the rain from outside. “Oh my!” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly, rushing to the door and opening it.

Water and wind rushed in, followed closely by a soaked Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy closed the door behind her, some difficulty in fighting the wind slowing her. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, revealing the orange filly clutched to her.

“I’ll get some towels!” Fluttershy said quickly, running into another room.

“Scootaloo!” Applebloom said, breaking from her sisters grasp to rush to her friend. Scootaloo dropped from Rainbow’s arms, embracing her friend sadly, despite the cold water all over her. Sweetie Belle rushing over an moment later, hugging her orange friend warmly.

Rainbow Dash shivered, but resisted the urge to shake herself dry inside the house. “This is like nothing I’ve dealt with before! It’s a full on summer hurricane!” She looked around at her friends. “This is gonna be a bad storm, especially if nopony can get up there and at least beat off some of it.”

“Please stay, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said desperately, turning to look at her with puffy eyes. Her face clearly showed tears even though it was already covered in rain from the storm outside.

“Here.” Fluttershy said, piling some warm towels around the three now wet fillies and giving several to Rainbow Dash as well.

“Don’t worry, Scoots. I’m staying right here with you.” Rainbow said encouragingly as she dried herself off. Scootaloo visibly relaxed.

“What happened, Rainbow? Did you find Coalback?” Pinkie asked, stepping up from her seat.

“No, I went to the hospital and found Scootaloo there.” She said, dragging the fluffy blanket over her matted mane.

“Is that where she disappeared to?” Rarity exclaimed, her eyes growing wide.

“Yeah, the nurses told me that they ‘rode in on sunlight’, I’m pretty sure that Coalback was the one who did it.” Rainbow confirmed, carefully patting down her wings.

“That’s incredible! A teleportation spell on two ponies, and so accurately aimed, takes an incredible amount of talent! I can barely manage to teleport myself, let alone two others.” Rarity exclaimed, her eyes glazing over as she thought.

“But that’s not the most incredible part!” Rainbow said, abandoning the towel on the floor as she finished drying herself. “Twelve more stallions were teleported in, the same way. And all of them had claw marks on their flanks.” She said, walking forward from the door.

“He got all o’ those stallions?” Applejack said, some mix of horror and awe in her eyes.

“They were alive.” Rainbow reassured, raising a hoof so that she could continue. “But they will have scars, and I don’t think that’s by accident.” She looked around at her friends, glancing down at the fillies. She looked toward Fluttershy meeting her eyes and gesturing at the fillies.

“Girls,” Fluttershy said gently, walking up to them and leaning down to their eye level. “can you help me with these bunnies.” She looked toward a large pile of bunnies, all shaking in fear of the storm. “They’re so scared, and they need somepony to cuddle. Can you do that for them?” She asked, her eyes showing her concern to the fillies.

The fillies nodded wordlessly, following Fluttershy over to the huddled bunnies.

Rainbow gestured to her friends, gathering them closely around her so that the fillies wouldn’t hear.

“Coalback was either trying to teach them a lesson, or he was marking them for … well, being in league with Dumb-Bell, I guess.” Rainbow said, watching as Rarity and Applejack nodded solemnly. Fluttershy joined their group a moment later, keeping herself positioned so that she could watch the fillies.

“And that wasn’t the scariest part.” Rainbow whispered, actual fear leaking into her voice. She shivered before continuing. “Scootaloo didn’t see it, but it was horrible.” She looked at Applejack in the eyes, speaking with dread. “Dumb-Bell arrived a few minutes later, most of him anyway.”

The mares gasped, mixes of shock and horror freezing them in place at the image that Rainbow had produced. “H-he was missing most of his l-legs. And he was babbling like a madpony! But there was something different, he had claw marks like the others, but he also had these-these … crushed parts.” She shivered with the rest of the ponies, Fluttershy actually curled into shaking a ball on the floor, peaking out between her hooves. “Coalback’s arm looked like that, do you remember?”

Realization dawned on the mares instantly.

“I think Coalback and Dumb-Bell ran into more of those … Split-heads.” She said slowly, trying to find a name for the monsters. “Which means that Coalback saved Dumb-Bell’s life.” She teared up for a second, a choking sound coming out from her mouth when she tried to talk again. She shook her head, unable to continue.

They looked down at the floor, all of them realizing what Rainbow couldn’t say; Coalback may have sacrificed himself, to let even Dumb-Bell live.

Their thoughts were interrupted suddenly, the sound of wood scraping calling over even the storm outside. They froze, waiting for the sound again.

It came again, and just barely over the rain, they could hear a dog’s whine. Every animal in the house froze suddenly, looking at the door. But their eyes were calm, even calculating. The sound came again, slightly louder, the scratching slightly more desperate.

Rainbow Dash rushed to the door, flinging it open with a hoof. As the door opened, a familiar rush of wind and water entered the small cottage. Rainbow’s eyes widened, and her breath caught in her throat.

Standing in the doorway, was a very wet, very large, very injured … wolf.

Surgical Feelings

-Surgical Feelings-

        Lightning lit up the darkness of the storm, casting Coalback in an otherworldly light. Thunder boomed almost instantly afterward, wind and rain flew through the door and into the cottage.

        Coalback’s shoulder was covered in gore, bare bone surrounded by shredded flesh. A spear shaft protruded out from his flank, the shaft broken off into a splintered point. He stared ahead blankly, his eyes reflecting the light of the lanterns and making them glow.

        “Coalback!” Rainbow said, moving forward to him. But she balked when he moved himself, taking two steps forward and collapsing onto the wood floor of the cottage.

His breathing was ragged, shaking his entire body with the movements of his chest. Rainbow quickly closed the door, she could hear the fillies scream in terror, and heard Fluttershy giving out orders in rapid fire.

“Applejack, hold him down! Don’t let him move his legs anymore. Pinkie, go get my first-aid kit!” Fluttershy said in a voice that was not at all like her normal quietness. Pinkie saluted stiffly and ran off to another part of the cottage. Applejack quickly wrapped herself over Coalback’s legs, carefully avoiding his claws. “Rarity, get some blankets and towels!” The unicorn rushed off as well, clearly shaken by the sudden entrance. “Rainbow, come hold his head, try to calm him down.” Fluttershy said, putting her hooves around the shaft that stuck out of his flank, drawing a yelp from Coalback.

Rainbow dropped down, wrapping her hooves around his head. His ragged breathing grew more desperate, whines and whimpers coming from his throat. He turned his head toward her, defying her efforts to hold him still. The whines continued as he desperately began to lick her chest, his broad tongue sliding over the nearly healed wound.

“Coalback-” Rainbow’s voice caught in her throat for a moment, taken back by his sudden onslaught of doggy-kisses. “Stop moving, Coalback. You have to stay calm okay, we’re trying to help you!” She said, gripping his head as he moved upward to lick at her chin and neck.

“I’m sorry!” He said between licks, sobbing evident in his voice. “I’m so sorry! There are no words!” He spoke desperately, his sobs finally cutting off anything intelligible.

Pinkie arrived only seconds after she had left, suddenly dressed in a nurse costume. She dropped the humongous case in her mouth, the large cross black in the darkness. Rarity came in, a pile of blankets, cloths and towels floating in her magical aura.

“Rarity, spread the blankets over him carefully, I think he’s gone into shock. Make sure not to irritate any of his wounds too much, and start to dry him off.” Fluttershy said turning to Pinkie. “Pinkie, I need disinfectant and a surgical spreader so that I can pull this out without furthering the wound too much.” Pinkie started to dig through the pack, pulling out a bottle and a long silver pair of locking pliers.

“These?” She asked, Fluttershy nodded an affirmative.

“Pour some disinfectant over the spreading end, then give them to me.” Fluttershy said, keeping the shaft supported with her hooves. “Rarity, put some cloths on his shoulder and apply pressure.” She said, turning back to the unicorn as she finished spreading a blanket over Coalback.

Rarity floated over the piles of white cloths, carefully folding them into wide squares and pressing them against the wounds in his shoulder, immediately staining them a dark crimson.

Coalback yelped again, pulling his head and Rainbow Dash to the floor. His breathing grew more desperate, starting to wheeze in his lungs as he did. Rarity gagged audibly, turning to the fillies in the corner.

They were surrounded by shivering animals, all staring toward them as they tried to help Coalback. “Just stay right over there, girls!” Rarity called to them. “You’re doing a good job keeping those animals calm.” She tried to reassure them, continuing the pressure on Coalback’s shoulder.

Coalback whined again, this time more in pain than anything else. His head lay flat on the floor, and Rainbow Dash had the chance to look over his wounds.

It was as if his whole shoulder was simply gone. Bits of the shredded muscle hung out from the hole, revealing his white bones. She could even see his lungs pumping away to keep air flowing into him. Red blood flowed, streaks of black highlighting it and making it look like a flowing river.

She resisted the urge to empty her stomach right there, the sight being nearly too much for her. Rarity quickly covered the wounded area, the cloth alight with her aura as she applied pressure against the bleeding.

Coalback shivered under Rainbow Dash. She looked back, seeing Fluttershy place the plier-like tool into the wound beside the shaft of spear and spreading the flesh apart. The spearhead simply fell out, Coalback’s contracting muscles no longer pinning it in place. Blood poured like a fountain from the newly cleared wound.

“Rarity! Get more cloths over here, we need to stop the bleeding!” Fluttershy said, Rarity reacted instantly. She placed a thickly folded cloth over the new wound, pressing hard with her magic. “Pinkie, get out the scalpel and the needle-nosed pliers that are in there. Once that’s done, disinfect them like before. Then I need the curved needle that’s in there, and the thread as well.” She moved forward, coming to a slash across his shoulders and pearing in.

Glinting in the dim light was a small piece of silver, the sharp edges cutting further into Coalback with every movement of his chest. The flesh around it blistered and burned as if it were red hot and not cold metal.

Pinkie handed Fluttershy the pliers, disinfecting the other tools as well. Fluttershy didn’t wait a moment more, grasping the pliers in her teeth and moving toward the wound. She grasped the silver with the grip pattern on the iron pliers, a hissing sound like water on a stovetop filled the room as she pulled it out.

Coalback instantly relaxed, slumping onto the floor and bringing his breathing to a normal level. Everyone sighed with him, his breathing slowing to more comfortable pace and his muscles relaxing.

“Few!” Fluttershy said, relieved at his sudden relaxation. She dropped the piece of bloody silver into a dish that Pinkie produced, how she knew that Fluttershy would need it or where she had gotten it a complete mystery.

 “Now we can start stitching him up. Pinkie, we’ll start down here.” Fluttershy said pointing toward Coalback’s flank and the bloodied rags hanging there. “I’ll have to check each cut and make sure that it’s clean, so this is going to take a while. Rainbow, keep him talking, keep him awake.”

“The walls …” Coalback mumbled, his eyes only half open and staring into the distance. “The house is on fire … the ceiling is falling …” His eyes fluttered for a moment, his legs trying to move under Applejack, but they held him still as Fluttershy began  her work. “The bodies … everywhere …” He gasped for a moment, his breathing suddenly ragged.

“Wha’s happenin’ up there, Rainbow?” Applejack called from her struggle with Coalback’s weakened movements.

Rainbow opened one of his eyes with a hoof, taking a breath in as she did. His eyes swam in different colors; the green, yellow, and red flowing like paint clouding in water. “They’re arguing.” She said, gulping audibly.

“They’re what now? Who’s arguin’?” Applejack said in confusion.

“The-” Rainbow groaned in frustration, she hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about this. “He has these - voices, in his head. The wolf and … something else. Sometimes they argue in there and he has to fight them off. But last time it looked like a strobe-light, now it looks different. I don’t know if that means that he’s winning, or if he’s worse than ever!” She said, tears coming to her eyes.

“Stop them … must stop the sickness from spreading …” Coalback mumbled again, struggling against Applejack’s hold again. His breathing started coming out faster again. “My world, my life, my love … all gone …” A sob racked his body. “THEIR BLOOD IS ALL OVER ME!” He exclaimed suddenly, thrashing against Applejack and Rainbow as they tried to hold him still.

“Calm down, Coalback. Please!” Rainbow shouted, the storm and his struggling nearly making her words inaudible. Drool pooled from Coalback’s lips, his control completely gone in the wake of the internal struggle.

“By my claws! By my fangs! IT IS THEIR FLESH THAT FILLS OUR STOMACH!” He wailed, sobs racking his frame again. “End me! … END ME! What left is there for you to take from me!?” He sobbed loudly, his eyes forcefully closing. Tears slid unhindered down his face.

And then he stopped, his sobs becoming quiet whimpers. The crystal hanging from his neck glowed slightly, casting a dim glow onto the underside of his head. “But I am so tired …” He said softly, as if replying to a voice they could not hear. His face twisted into a weak scowl. “And why should I listen to you?” His voice was weak, even as he tried to defy whatever was speaking to him.

A small sound permeated the room, almost inaudible with the storm. But in a pause to the wind they heard it, another voice. “No … We must save our strength.” It whispered, the voice’s sudden presence made all of the ponies pause and look toward Coalback, and the crystal pulsing against his chest. “We must know … We must save our strength …” The voice died away, slowly drifting back into the sound of the storm outside.

“Luna’s moon!” Applejack said grmly. “Yah weren’t kiddin’ about tha voices, were ya?” She said.

“Don’t use that kind of language in front of the fillies!” Rarity said reflexively, but her eyes held the same sort of awe.

Coalback shifted his head slightly, opening his eyes a crack. “I remember when we hunted together ...” He said, his voice weak and his voice sad. “I remember when we ran together … I was so happy then …” He closed his eyes again, the ponies looking on with sadness and concern in their eyes. He was talking about his family.

“I even remember her laugh … I-” His voice cracked, and he took a shaky breath before he continued. “I remember how scared she was … of me …” A tear slid down his face and stopped in the crook of Rainbow’s arm. “And now I’ve hurt you.” He opened his eyes, training his gaze on her with surprisingly sudden focus. Tears formed trails from his eyes to the floor. “How could I possibly live, knowing that?” He said, finality in his words as he slowly closed his eyes again.

The ponies looked on with tears, Rainbow holding his head close to her. She took a ragged breath, her arms flexing as she pulled his head up from the floor. “Because …” She whispered, her mouth close to his ear. “... I forgive you … And …” She leaned her head down against his, her tears flowing down to mix with his. “... I … I love you.” She whispered, the words almost impossible to hear over the storm.

Coalback’s breath caught in his throat, his body suddenly tensing under her. A sound of cracking glass echoed in the room, the sound of the storm suddenly distant and unimportant. His eyes opened wide, filling with red light.

He twitched under her, the cloths on his shoulder falling away to reveal the huge wound. Muscles writhed, moving like snakes as the found their place again. Flesh rolled like a violent ocean, rolling forward to seal the wound again. And as soon as it started, it stopped. His shoulder still bled, but his bones and lungs no longer greeted the open air.

His eyes cleared again, looking at Rainbow Dash as she held onto him tightly. Her eyes were screwed shut, her face gleaming with tears. He leaned up, licking her face and clearing away the salty tears. She opened an eye a crack, the redness of her eyes revealed to him as he licked her cheek.

He stopped for a moment, untangling on of his paws from under Applejack, who simply sat in shock at what she had just seen. He wrapped the paw around Rainbow gently, pulling her closer to him as she continued to sob.

Coalback was lying in the main room, he hadn’t moved from that spot since he arrived. Fluttershy had insisted that he rest where he was, not wanting to reopen any of his wounds with too much movement. But he was not sleeping, his mind raced even as he clutched the mare resting beside him.

Rainbow Dash had refused to leave his side, so they had slept together, waiting out the storm. Fluttershy and the other ponies had gone upstairs, the animals finally calmed enough to return to their respective homes within the cottage.

Pillows and blankets had been wrapped around them, their bodies warming the soft fabrics. It was a scene that normally would have made Coalback happy, if not for his worries.

“Rainbow? Are you still awake?” He asked quietly, the pegasus pressed against his side turned over. Her rose eyes fell on him, concern warping their beautiful spheres.

“Yeah,” She said quietly, nuzzling against his neck gently, careful to avoid the bandages nearby. “What is it?” She asked, her eyes showing concern, encouraging him to continue.

“Did-” Coalback stopped for a moment, regretting the question he was about to ask. “Did you really mean what you said? About how you felt about me?” He said, his voice weighing down at the edge of tears again.

Rainbow sat up slightly, propping herself on her front hooves so that she could look at him fully. Her face was a mask of confusion and further concern, maybe even pained. “Of course I did.” She whispered defiantly. “Why in the name of Celestia, would I say something that I didn’t mean?” She asked, her voice almost turning accusatory.

Coalback pulled her close with his arm, hugging her tightly. “It’s just that … I’ve been taken advantage of before. And I had to be sure.” He said, sobs almost coming through in his voice. “And if I had known you felt the same way I did, I never would have left you. I would have stayed, and I would have fought off all of Equestria if I had to.” Rainbow looked intensely at him, seeing the tears brimming in his eyes.

“What do you mean, ‘taken advantage of’?” She said, her accusations suddenly falling.

“When I was young, my father asked me to go to a school. And my family was very rich, so when that news was known at the school, I suddenly had a lot more interest.” He said, shaking his head as he recounted his schooldays. “I suddenly had females lined up, all wanting to court me. But I discovered later, that all they ever wanted was my family’s money.”

His gaze fell, looking back at Rainbow Dash. “My father had kept the circumstances of my birth an extreme secret, no one outside the family knew I was a bastard child. So all of the school thought that I was to inherit my family’s fortunes, and many wanted a part of that. I never found out until I had already started to love them, and that always made it even more painful.”

He hugged her tighter, as if afraid she would simply disappear. “And I know,” He said quickly. “that you would have no reason at all to think like they did. But … I needed to know, Rainbow Dash. I need to know if you really want to be my Alpha with me.” He set his chin back down on the floor, even the strength to hold up his head gone.

Rainbow leaned forward, pressing her muzzle to the top of his head. She stayed there for a few moments, loving the closeness of the simple act. When she broke away, she nuzzled against the side of his head. “Coalback, I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Not even for full admission to the Wonderbolts! Yes, I do want to be your Alpha with you.” She paused for a moment, thinking. “That’s like, the top leaders of the pack, right?” She asked, looking in his eyes quizzically.

He nodded gently. “The Alpha pair is the male and female leaders of the pack. They are paired for life,” He returned her nuzzles, gently licking the underside of her chin. “and they make every decision for the pack together.” He finished, a warm smile on his face.

Rainbow leaned into him, enjoying his warmth and softness. “Yes, I want to be your Alpha.” She looked back at him, pain returning to her eyes. “I tried to join a herd once …” She said, leaning into him with sadness in her words.

“What does that mean?” Coalback asked, now placing concern in his voice.

“A herd is like … It’s like if you and I started dating, and then somepony else started dating us, together. Like a big group date eventually, you know?” She said, trying to explain it in a way that he might understand. “And it would sorta be like a pack, except there wouldn’t be ranks like in a pack, everyone is equal.”

She pushed against his chin with hers, bringing his head off the floor. “But none of the stallions liked me,” She continued, sadness returning to her voice. “They said I was a … skinny, over muscled, freak.” She finished burying her face in his neck. She cried silently, the painful words returning to her in waves.

Coalback gently licked the fur behind her ear, a surprisingly comforting gesture. He let her finish crying, and when her well of tears had finally dried, he spoke softly.

“I cannot see how they could possibly think that.” He said firmly, keeping his paw around her and holding her close to him. “First off, you are not skinny. You are sleek, and graceful. Skinny, in the way they are using it, usually refers to an … anorexic pony. Someone who doesn’t eat so that they can lose a lot of weight.” He leaned his head, putting a reassuring pressure against her head, which still hadn’t removed itself from the mane of his neck.

“And you are not ‘over-muscled’.” He said, his own anger at the word showing slightly in his words. “You are strong, and that is an admirable aspect in my culture.” He said gently, his words finally pulling her away from hiding in his fur.

“You really mean that?” She said, hope dancing in her eyes, overpowering the underlying pain of those memories.

Coalback smiled gently, leaning in close to whisper in her ear. “Why would I say something I didn’t mean?” He said, gentle teasing bringing a smile to her lips, if only for a moment.

“But what do you mean? Are mares … weaker where you’re from?” She asked, shaking her head as she met his gaze. “‘Cuz here, it’s usually the mare who fights for her stallion, and defends her stallion, and … just is overall the one who looks out for the group.” She said, her words trying to communicate to him. He nodded, understanding mixing with new questions in his mind.

“Where I come from, the culture is mostly monogamous. And many times, polygamy is illegal. And it is the male who protects his female, who fights for his female, who finds his mate among them.” He said, ignoring his own questions, and saving them for later.

“But that’s, like … completely backwards!” She said in surprise. “Almost everypony becomes part of a herd at one point …” She drifted off as she said that, remembering the last of the insults she had used as an example for him.

“But that’s just it isn’t it?” Coalback said gently, catching her change in mood and nuzzling her again. “You are not normal, by any means. You are too beautiful to be normal. You are too amazing to be normal. You are not like them, because you strive to be more!” He said, his voice rising in encouragement. “Just think,” He started again. “Most ponies would never dream of being a hero; saving not just her friends, not just her hometown, but her entire country from disaster.”

Coalback took a deep breath. “When I woke up, and that needle was hovering over me. It was you that stopped me from panicking. It was you that came back, and saw me not as a monster that had just killed a dragon. But as a pony, that had been trying to do the right thing.”

She looked up at him, tears forming at the edges of her vision. “Coalback-” Her voice caught, she couldn’t even explain the feelings that she had at the moment. It was like her heart had leapt into her throat in joy, refusing to move. “That was beautiful, Coalback. I-I don’t know what to say.” She leaned close to him, her joy almost overpowering her.

“Then don’t say anything.” He whispered, rolling onto his back and pulling her on top of him. “Just stay here, and don’t ever let me leave you alone again.” He leaned close to her, feeling her shiver against his chest. “Are you cold?” He asked, concern returning to him.

“No.” She answered quickly, clutching him closer with her hooves despite her knowing that she had to stop. “It’s just that- For the past few days I’ve been … I’ve-” But she stopped, Coalback gently rolling back onto his side as she heard hoofsteps, small hoofsteps.

Coalback raised his head to look at the stairs, his eyes caught the light of a dim lantern, reflecting against the back of his eyes and out into the darkness. His ears perked up, waiting for the pony to come fully down the stairs.

“Um …” A familiarly scratchy voice came, her hooves tapping lightly on the wood floor as she descended the final step. “Is it okay if I sleep with you, Coalback?” Scootaloo asked, her voice quiet and nervous as she looked to the floor. A pillow was balance precariously on her back, just barely held up by her tiny wings.

Coalback wagged his tail slowly, smiling gently to her. “Of course you can, Scootaloo. Come over here, pup.” He said gently, spreading his front legs out so that she could have more room. Rainbow pushed herself to the side, inviting Scootaloo to lay between them.

Scootaloo smiled nervously, but rushed over to them all the same. She climbed in between them, laying her head in line with Rainbow’s. A tiny smile was on her face, and she looked between the two happily.

Coalback stopped smiling, concern replacing the gentle encouragement that he had worn before. He nuzzled the back of her head with his nose, pushing her down onto her pillow. “Are you afraid of the storm, little pup?” He asked, his voice tinged with worry.

“Nah, nothin’ like that.” She said solemnly. Her happy demeanor dropping instantly. “Does it … ever get easier?” She asked sadly, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Coalback sighed sadly. “No.” He said, Rainbow looked at him in shock. That’s not what you’re supposed to tell fillies, not like this. And Scootaloo looked up at him in surprise as well, she had expected him to tell her that everything would be okay, that it wasn’t the end of the world.

“But, you will become stronger. And one day, you will look back at the days you spent with your father in such happiness, that that will be your pain, not in his passing.” He said gently, the encouragement returned in his voice. “I understand, that you lack the gravitas that only years of suffering can create. And you should never have to experience that. But trust me, that pain is your friend.

“Let it be what drives you to be great. Let his memory live on through you, and your children, and your children’s children. Your father deserves a legend to be told, and you will tell it to the world.” Coalback finished, looking into Scootaloo’s eyes, matching her pain with his own.

She darted forward, hugging onto his thin muzzle with her tiny legs. She cried against him, and he let her cry for as long as she needed to. It was important for those feelings to get out, or they could destroy her. “Let it out, cry as long as you need. This is part of the healing, and I will be here with you, the whole way.”

Her crying eventually died down, the only sound in the house besides the ever present storm being her sniffles. She took one final shaky breath before pulling away from Coalback.

She sniffed again, wiping at her eyes. “Uh … thanks.” She said, her face turning a shade darker as she recomposed herself. “Oh, heya Rainbow Dash. Didn’t see ya there.” She said nervously, looking around the room and rubbing the back of her neck.

Rainbow smiled gently. “That’s cool, squirt. I just got here anyway, I wanted to check up on Coalback. Fancy meeting you here.” She said, trying to save the little pride Scootaloo had left.

Scootaloo smiled sheepishly, the motion interrupted by a yawn. “You look tired, Scootaloo. And you will need your rest. Go to sleep, little pup.” Coalback whispered to her, looking up a Rainbow Dash. “We will keep watch.” Rainbow smiled at him, love washing through her again at the meeting of their eyes.

Scootaloo yawned again, putting her head back on the pillow. “Hey, Coalback?” She said sleepily. “Why do you keep calling us ‘pups’?” She punctuated her question with another yawn, opening her mouth wide as she did.

Coalback smiled sadly. “I had a niece like you once,” He said, watching her slowly fall asleep. His smile faded as her breathing grew steady with sleep. “it was my father that killed her.” He finished quietly.

Rainbow looked up at him, her breathing suddenly stopped in her throat. He met her gaze sadly, but a look of rigid determination made his eyes shine like polished stone. “And I will not let you meet a fate like her’s.”

The Calm Before the Storm

-The Calm Before the Storm-

        Coalback sniffed the air in front of him, keeping his eyes closed. He had fallen asleep some time ago, but a new smell had roused him from it. The storm continued outside, but he couldn’t tell if it had gotten worse or better for them.

        He sniffed again. ‘What is that, it’s so familiar ...’ He thought to himself, raising his head to try and get a better sample of it with his nose.He was surprised when he heard hushed giggles coming from in front of him, and slowly opened his eyes.

        Sitting in front of him was a bowl, filled to the brim with scrambled eggs. Behind that the three little fillies sat, poorly concealing their mirth.

        “Good Morning!” They said loudly in unison, their exclamation finally pulling Coalback fully out of his slumber. He yawned, curling his tongue in front of his mouth as he did. “Oooooh.” All three said, staring intently at his rows of teeth.

        “Wow, Coalback. You sure have a lot of sharp looking teeth.” Sweetie Belle said in wonder, not even the slightest amount of fear piercing her smile.

        “Don’t say that!” Applebloom responded before Coalback could. “That’s rude, commentin’ on somepony’s teeth.” She argued, turning to look across Scootaloo and to her.

        “But he does!” Sweetie Belle responded, her voice squeaking.

        “DO YOU LIKE EGGS, COALBACK?” Scootaloo yelled, silencing her friends and asking her question at the same time. They all turned back to him, wide grins painting their faces.

        Coalback looked down at the eggs, a thoughtful expression decorating his wolf features. “That depends.” He started, rubbing his chin with a paw. “Who made these eggs? I don’t just eat anyone’s eggs, you know.” He eyed them, a playful spark shining in his eyes.

        “We did!” Applebloom said first, followed closely by similar responses from the other two fillies.

        Coalback looked to his side, for the first time noticing the empty place beside him. “And did you make these eggs all by yourselves?” He asked, shifting his gaze to a slightly open doorway. He briefly caught the image of two ponies darting out of sight.

        “Sure did!” Scootaloo exclaimed proudly, pushing the bowl closer to him. “So are ya gonna try some, or what?” She said hopefully.

        Coalback smiled, he couldn’t help it. Children always had a way of innocence, even in dire consequences. He leaned down, sniffing at the eggs carefully. He could smell some sort of herbs, maybe some onions.

        He used one of his paws to pull it in front of him and took a small bite of the eggs. He was pleasantly surprised, the eggs were only slightly burnt, just the way he liked them. He happily began eating them, looking up to see the fillies jumping up and down in joy.

        He finished the eggs, licking the bottom of the bowl so that he could get the last of the flavor.

        “So did you like it?” Scootaloo asked excitedly, hopping up and down in front of him.

Coalback pushed the bowl aside, quickly grabbing onto Scootaloo with his other paw and pulling her in close. He held her close while delivering an onslaught of slobbery, egg scented dog kisses.

“Aah!” She squealed, trying feebly to push him away and giggling the whole time. “No, stop!” Coalback only held on tighter, continuing to lick her all over. “Gah! It smells like eggs!” She laughed.

“Scootaloo’s bein’ eatin!” Applebloom yelled playfully, jumping onto his back.

“Get him!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, joining her friend in the impromptu wrestling match with Coalback.

Coalback stopped his licking, rolling onto his side playfully and waving his legs in a mock show of desperation. “Oh no!” He said in a bad acting voice. “My one weakness; tiny fillies!”

Scootaloo, finally free from Coalback’s relentless licking, stood up and shook herself. There was a bright flash, drawing their attention suddenly to the stairs.

Pinkie stood there, beaming happily from behind a large camera. Rarity was standing just behind her, helplessly trying to hide a grin behind her hoof.

“My, my, Coalback.” Rarity said, a mischievous spark in her eye. “I had no idea you were so good with fillies.” Pinkie began waving a piece of paper around, drying the film in the air. “Oh! Let me see, Pinkie.” Rarity said, turning her attention back to the pink mare.

“What are you doing?” Coalback asked, looking at them upside down and staying on his back. The two fillies held a similarly curious look, remaining in place where they had been wrestling with Coalback.

“I’ve been taking pictures!” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice, holding up the picture for him to see.

He turned over, dropping the fillies back to the floor where they gathered around the picture as well. There was Coalback, splayed out on his back with two fillies perched on top of him. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had their faces lit up with gleeful smiles; Applebloom was holding onto one of his arms, and Sweetie Belle was draped over his chest and pressing her hooves into his stomach. A blurry Scootaloo wasn’t very far away, still in the middle of shaking herself.

“That’s a great picture, Pinkie!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, only to be scoffed at by Scootaloo.

“No it’s not! Just look at me! I look ridiculous!” She said, pointing a hoof at her blurry image.

Coalback rose up, leaning to stretch his back, but stopping as he felt a tug on his hide there. He looked back, the fillies bickering falling into the background. His back was covered in stained bandages, one of them stretched funnily as he had moved. He sighed, opting to not ruin the bandages with further stretching and simply stood fully.

“Oh. Coalback, Dear.” Rarity said, her voice looped with concern. “You shouldn’t be moving yet, just sit down and rest awhile.” She came forward slightly, ready to help him back onto the floor if she had to, but Coalback shook his head.

“Just point me to the restroom, Rarity.” He said, scratching behind his left ear with one of his forepaws. The movement produced a clacking sound from the white spikes in his ear.

Rarity paused, a look of realization suddenly hitting her face as she pointed toward the door near the side of the room. He nodded, padding his way carefully over to it. He nosed the door open, slipping his head into the dimly lit kitchen.

“Nah don’t worry.” Came Rainbow’s voice, just behind another door leading out of the modest kitchen. “Fluttershy helped me with her cooler last night.” She said, some amount of awkwardness leaking into the words.

“Honestly, if ya had just told me that that was tha problem, Ah never woulda said those things. Ah’m really sorry about that by the way.” Applejack’s voice called out from the door as well.

Coalback padded over to it, opening it with his paw to reveal the two ponies. They were sitting in what looked like a washing room, a large wooden tub sitting in the corner with a washboard leaning against the wall nearby. Both the ponies turned to him, surprise dominating their features.

“Oo-pf!” Applejack stuffed a hoof into her mouth, cutting off whatever she was going to say before it became understandable.

Coalback’s curiosity was playing him. “What were you talking about?” He smiled, trying to alleviate any sort of concerns.

“Oh … Uh …” Rainbow tried, scratching the back of her head with a hoof.

“We were just … um …” Applejack started, her eyes darting around the room. They locked onto the wash tub. “Talking about wash tubs!” She said quickly, then stopping and smacking a hoof onto her face in a show of pure frustration.

Coalback sniffed, clearing his nose. “If you were talking about, uh-” He thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. “mare … stuff. Then I can just go, I was looking for the restroom anyway.” He said, turning to leave out the door.

“Actually, Coalback!” Rainbow said, returning his attention to her. “When you’re finished, could you come up to Fluttershy’s bedroom? The girls and I wanted to ask you some questions.” Rainbow looked at him nervously, as if she were afraid of his answer.

“Okay, could you actually have her ready with more bandages. I want to change back, and I think it could rip off some of the bandages she put on.” He paused for a moment. “And do you have my cigarettes?” He asked, almost as if he already knew.

Rainbow blushed, pulling out the half full box from under her wing. “Yeah, uh … kinda been carrying it around. You know, just in case.” She clutched it close to her, smiling a little sheepishly.

Coalback smiled at her warmly. “Good, I’ll need one later.” He turned away heading back into the kitchen. When he had disappeared, Applejack turned back to Rainbow with something near a scowl on her face.

“Ya’ll can’t stay that close to ‘im fer much longer before he notices, ya know!” She said angrily. “If this storm don’t clear up by tonight, he’s definitely gonna smell it on ya!” She poked Rainbow in the chest, her scowl ever present.

“It’s fine!” Rainbow hissed back. “Besides, there’s only a few days left before it’s over.” She tucked the cigarette box back under her wing.

“That’s the worst time of it!” Applejack persisted. “I thought you always said that you didn’t want-” She paused, looking at Rainbow’s suddenly flushed face. “Yer not seriously thinkin that are ya?” She said, her expression going straight from protective aggressiveness to shocked concern.

“Well, I want to talk to him first. But yeah, I was sorta …” She trailed off, crossing her legs and shrinking under Applejack’s once more stern gaze.

“This is a really bad time ta be thinkin about this, Dash! And imagine how he would feel! Gah!” Applejack rubbed her temples. “Jus- Don’t do anythin’ rash. Okay, Rainbow?” She said, giving up on arguing with her. After all, it wasn’t her decision.

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to let him know. But I’m afraid of how he’ll take it. I mean, I don’t even begin to know what happens with mares in his country. Everything is sort of backwards there, so he could just shrug it off, or get really angry for all I know.” Rainbow said, her voice going quiet. A hoof gently placed itself on her shoulder, she looked up, meeting Applejack’s gaze.

“Look, sugarcube. Ah don’t know any more than you do. But Ah think that Coalback has shown that he has a pretty level head, on all things.” She shook her head. “Heck, if what ya told us was true, then Coalback didn’ even hold anythin’ against Dumb-Bell. Even after he attacked ‘im, twice.” She said, rubbing Rainbow’s shoulder encouragingly. “Ah would bet mah whole farm, on the fact that that there pony, will never get mad at ya fer somethin as silly as that.”

“Thanks...” Rainbow said, sighing in relief. This talk had really helped, but butterflies still flew nervously in her stomach. “Let’s just get the fillies settled and wait for him.” She collected herself, shuffling her feathers around a bit and walking out the door.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy said, her quiet voice singing with shocked concern as she observed Coalback entering the upstairs bedroom.

“It looks worse than it is.” Coalback insisted, although his twitching wing and forced expression said otherwise.

He was bleeding again, crimson blood dripping to the floor slowly from his side. The shoulder wound had reopened, as well as many of the wounds along his back. And his wing had a completely untreated gouge out of it. He walked with a slight limp, his hooves clicking on the wood in a more hollow sound than usual.

And his fur looked different as well. Probably not noticeable at first glance, or even to somepony unfamiliar with it. But Rainbow Dash had come to closely examine the patterns in his fur, and while they hadn’t changed, his fur was much thicker than before. His eyes even seemed different; sharper, more focused … they were like a predator’s eyes.

Fluttershy rushed over, first-aid supplies in tow, and quickly began to clean, stitch, and bandage his wounds again. “You’ve ripped out a good portion of your stitches, Coalback. What were you doing down there? Um ... that is ... If you don’t mind me asking.” She asked, quickly shrinking back into her quiet self as she continued her work.

“Well, I was playing with the pups.” He said a little guiltily as Fluttershy gave him a glare. “Speaking of; where are they?” He asked.

“They’re downstairs, the bunnies needed to be fed.” Rarity said, cringing at the sound of something heavy dropping to the floor downstairs.

“Didn’t you say that your animals were hibernating at some point, Fluttershy?” Coalback asked her as she pulled on the thread and needle, sewing closed his shoulder.

“Most of them still are.” She said, biting off the thread and beginning to wrap the newly sealed wound. “But I had to wake up a few of them because their houses were getting flooded in the rain.” She said sadly, tying off the wrapping gently. “Th-that’s not too tight is it?” She asked shrinking a little as she realized that Coalback had been staring at her.

“No, but thank you. I would be in a little bit of trouble if it weren’t for your medical supplies.” He said, a reassuring smile teasing his lips. Fluttershy blushed, murmuring something unintelligible as she backed away from his newly bandaged form.

“So … uh … Coalback.” Applejack started, her eyes roaming the room as she tried to piece together her question in a way that would be understandable. “Rainbow told us about the stallions that got teleported to tha hospital.” She gulped, the images that Rainbow’s words had created resurfacing for a moment. “Was that … ya’ll … that did that?” She asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Coalback’s expression fell, his features darkening. “I need a cigarette.” He said plainly, moving to take a seat near the edge of the room and motioning for the mares to gather around him. Rainbow Dash took a seat next to him, extracting the box from under her wing. She offered it to him as the rest of the mares took seats around him.

He tipped the box with his hoof, not taking it from Rainbow, and shook out a single white rod from the case. He grasped it with his lips, pulling it the rest of the way out. He repositioned it in his mouth, motioning for Rainbow to put away the box. He concentrated for a moment, dragging his hoof along the floor as if he was striking a match and brought it to the end of the cigarette.

It sizzled and sparked to life, spreading the stinking smoke that he liked so much into the room slowly. He took a couple of drags on it, letting out the smoke through his nostrils slowly. When he opened his eyes, they seemed much more relaxed. The familiar actions driving away the nervousness and guilt that would have hindered him before.

“First, tell me what happened after I ran into the forest.” He said, his eyes showing concern past the stinking smoke.

“Oh! Oh-oh-oh! Mememe!” Pinkie said excitingly, raising her hoof in the air and waving it wildly. Coalback smiled, nodding at her to continue. “Okay! So I was sneaking around in the bushes by the path, and I was being really sneaky, so nopony saw me. And then when you ran away I saw my chance to break everyone out!” Pinkie jumped up, beginning to mime out her actions as she spoke.

“I started sneaking toward them, and then I saw Rainbow Dash and that really big stallion. And he was leaning on her funny, and whispering something to her. But Dashie didn’t look like she wanted to hear his secret, so I got up and kicked him away!”

She jumped up in the air, performing a flying kick and landing on Fluttershy’s bed. She hopped back up, bouncing on the springy mattress and speaking quickly. “SothenIshowedhermycostume. Andthenweuntiedtheothersandcamehere, andthenyoushowedup. THE END!” She finished, her arms went up in the air, a beaming smile plastered to her face as she examined her audience.

Coalback turned to Rainbow, his face completely straight as he spoke. “So what happened?” Rainbow visibly flinched, becoming stiff as her mind recounted the memory.

“I just told you, silly!” Pinkie called from across the room, ignored by Coalback as he examined Rainbow’s reaction to the topic.

“Rainbow, was that stallion … threatening you?” He said, putting emphasis in his final statement and mixing it with a large portion of concern. Rainbow shrank under his gaze, nodding her head guiltily. “Rainbow this is important,” He said, putting a consoling hoof on her back. “Did that stallion try to make you do something?” Rainbow’s eyes watered slightly, and it was all the answer he needed.

“Tell me who he is.” He said, anger leaking through his words. “I’ll geld him, I’ll make that sorry excuse for a male wish he had never come near you.” He pulled her closer to him, his chest shaking with his rage.

“No, Coalback!” Rainbow said desperately, putting her hooves against his shoulders in a placating gesture. “Please, Coalback. Don’t hurt anypony, it was nothing. Pinkie took care of it anyway.” She leaned into him, weighing her words with the pressure she put on him.

Coalback calmed slightly, his breathing becoming regular again. “Okay.” He said, wrapping a hoof around her. “But Celestia will be informed of this. Immediately after the town is evacuated.” He said matter-of-factly, his words holding the stoic nature of mountains as he looked at her.

“Why again do we need so desperately to evacuate, Coalback?” Rarity interjected, trying to pull Coalback away from the morose topic.

“Hmmm,” Coalback stopped, puffing on his cigarette in thought. “Perhaps if I recount what happened in the forest it will become clear why.” He said, nodding as he continued to think.

He puffed out a ring of smoke, watching it rise to the ceiling and slowly fade away.

My legs burned. My breathing was fast and hard as I pushed forward as fast as I could on my hooves through the snow. Large clouds of vapor flew from my lips and flowed quickly behind me as I continued forward. Snow sprayed away from my hooves, spreading behind me in a wake of flakes and slush.

The sound of a wooden shaft bending in stress graced my ears just before a spearhead glazed across the back of my neck. White hot pain shot through my nerves in the wake of the offending projectile. That pain mixed with the burning in my wing, creating a cocktail of pain that brought a rush through my system.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, every sound and sight growing sharper as it took effect. I could feel endorphins rushing through me in beat to my rapidly pulsing heart, searching to dull the pains so that I could continue. It was a distinct rush as I felt the skin of my eyes crawl.

‘JUMP!’ The Voice roared, it’s echoing voice filling my very being. I complied instantly, the speed of the thought driving my legs under me in a shunt of effort.

I soared upwards, connecting myself to the underside of a tree’s leafless bough. It shook slightly as it took my weight, but the stallions chasing me ran past a moment later, unawares as always.

‘It would seem that your hide has been saved, for now.’ The Voice echoed, no longer as urgent. I heard the stallions skid to a halt ahead, various orders speeding out of the wind. It only took a few moments, sitting in the dark, for a call to pierce the cold air and grace my ears.

“We end this now, WOLF!” Dumb-Bell’s voice echoed. I felt a growl forming in my chest, my lips pulled back in a snarl. Rage filled me at the sound of that voice, nothing but pure hatred for the stallion that had acted in his hatred of me, and hurt another.

“Indeed it does.” I whispered, the voice of the wolf echoing in my throat beside mine.

I felt my body twitch, but the pain was distant. It was almost like being under an anesthetic, not asleep, not fully numb either. It was like a distant tug against my hide as it stirred.

“Spread out and find him!” Dumb-Bell commanded in the distance, the dark of the storm hid them from my eyes however.

I snarled silently, my vocal chords stretching out and ceasing my efforts at creating sound. My muzzle stretched forward, the skin on my nose tightening as it reshaped. My hooves cracked, a familiar feeling now. I felt my pads stretch reflexively, revelling in the feeling of my claws scratching against the bark of the tree.

I could feel the endorphins racing through every part of my being, the feeling even more intense than a simple wound. It was a reflexive action of the body, my studies had told me that. But it was a feeling that could have toppled mountains, and nearly had before.

At last I felt the skin around my wings tighten, the movement causing a reflexive clench. If my body could have moved, I would have been writhing with pure ecstasy. It wasn’t nearly as numb as it had been the first time, or even the few times I had changed in forest.

This time I had complied with the Beast, not fighting against it or commanding it to do my will. We had come to an agreement, and this was always the reward. I shivered in rapture, feeling my body shake against the tree that I still clung to.

My ears swiveled, aiming themselves to the ground. A pony was running below, approaching my perch. My strong claws dug into the bark of the tree, the oversized dew-claws farther up my wrists giving me extra purchase.

I waited, silencing my growls so that I would remain hidden as the pony approached. I turned my head slightly, going completely prone, upside down. I could see him now, a spear was balanced in a tight grip with his horn’s light, he was examining the tracks.

I would have been impressed, if not for the fact that the approach of my prey was not so exhilarating. He was below me moment later, spotting a set of hoofprints that had simply ended. He examined them for a moment more, and I followed him with my gaze. He stiffened suddenly, realizing what the end of the tracks signified, and slowly turned his gaze upwards.

I took a deep breath through my nose, drinking in the smell of hot fear. His eyes widened as I came into his field of view, I heard his piss hit the ground under him as he froze in pure horror. His eyes widened, his body shaking. And I could see myself reflected in those eyes.

It almost didn’t even look like it could have been me. But that’s what all monsters think, isn’t it? Until that final moment of death, where absolution is finally clear, and far from grasp.

I was huge in his eyes. A large, bloody form clinging upside down against a bough. My claws and teeth gleamed in what little light there was. My eyes glowed, reflecting back the light from his horn. My fur was shaggy, rough from the slow transformation. I was terrifying.

But I was also very, very angry.

I snarled, his legs tensing in preparation to flee. But he was already too late, he had sealed his fate the moment that he had followed behind Dumb-Bell, had dared to have the gall to attempt to hunt me. I twisted away from the tree, pushing away from it to intercept him. I could already see his intended path, simply in the direct direction away from me ... stupid, like prey should be.

I landed on top of him, his legs collapsing under my weight. My tightly coiled muscles held him down, my jaws closing around his throat. It would only take one simple movement to take his life, but I stopped.

My jaws were locked tightly against his throat, I could feel his rapid pulse against my tongue, but I did not bite down. His desperate whimpers barely were heard over the constant growl that escaped my chest in rockslide of angry noise. I stopped, a thought crossing before my anger, like a brightly lit sign.

He has thought.

He made this choice. And I was making the choice to end his life, as miserable as it was, it was still his. I felt a part of me defy this, shaking in defiance of the thought. I had killed hundreds like him.

So why was this any different?!

My mind rebelled against me. What had once been fact had suddenly been washed away. My solid ground of determination turned to flowing, sinking, sand at the single thought. That he could think, like me ... like Rainbow Dash.

I shivered, my muscles spasming as I fought myself. Or was I?

I opened my eyes wide, suddenly seeing in clarity again. The Wolf had taken me over, the transformation hiding it as it slipped within and assimilated itself within my thoughts. But at the realization his spell broke, leaving me with a clear mind again.

I looked again at the whimpering, shaking stallion that I had held within my deadly jaws. I couldn’t help but whine quietly, I was going to regret this later.

I released his throat from my jaw, freeing it so that I could speak.

“You are guilty of crimes.” I said, my voice freezing the stallion’s shivering. “But I am not your judge, your jury, nor your persecutor. So I shall mark you for trial, you and your comrades shall answer to your princesses.” I hissed, my back leg rose up forcefully, tearing a long mark across his flank. It was like a large crossing out of his cutie mark, staining it red with his blood.

He cried out in pain, blood flowing down his side and into the cold snow on the ground. I gathered power in myself, drawing from the well of strength that powered the crystal.

“Cartref!” I barked, letting the word carry and shape the power before me. It was like a spider web of light formed underneath me, gathering about the stallion and lighting him with the spell.

Unlike the last spell I had cast, it was only meant to transport, not preserve. With a crack like thunder, and a flash of light that could have blinded, he was gone. The air snapping to replace the suddenly empty space, echoing out into the forest. My ring cracked again, a new fissure opening in it’s brass surface.

“So that’s why you didn’t kill them?” Rainbow asked, her voice quiet as her mind continued to create the images he had described. She looked at his arm, and the nearly destroyed ring there.

Coalback nodded silently, his eyes distant. Rainbow leaned in closer to him, wrapping her wing around him. He blinked rapidly for a moment, turning his head to look at her wing around his.

‘What is it about our two wings next to each other that intrigues him so much?’ Rainbow thought, rubbing his hoof with her own in an attempt to bring him back to the present. It worked momentarily, his eyes finally breaking away from her wing and looking back into her eyes. A small, sad smile peaked out from behind his cigarette.

“Yeah,” He finally replied. “it was pretty similar for the rest of the stallions as well. Tackle, speech about guilt, scratch out flank, teleport to hospital. I also used a bit of a perception spell that will discourage the unicorns from healing it so that there is no scar.” He finished, a small look of pride on his face as he finished.

‘He’s practically like Twilight, sometimes. Spells and thinking of everything. How did he ever get this smart?’ Rainbow’s mind mused, thinking in retrospect to his words.

“What about Dumb-Bell?” Rarity said, nervousness breaking her otherwise perfect mask of indifference with a shaking voice. “He didn’t look anything like the others did, or at least that’s what Rainbow told us.” She finished, her eyes darting over to Rainbow and then back to him, a subtle but sure movement.

“I confronted him fully, I wanted him to learn of what he had put at stake by attacking my pack. And he won’t be a problem to us anymore, he has been ...” Coalback paused trying to find the correct word again. “rehabilitated is almost the right word, so I’ll go with that. He has been rehabilitated.” He confirmed, nodding and taking another long drag on the cigarette.

“How’d ya manage to do that ta such a stubborn pony?” Applejack asked, disbelief shading her face.

Coalback didn’t answer, he simply let out the long breath he had taken. The cloud of smoke collected in front of him, reshaping as he blew out the smoke. The image of a wolf sprung from the cloud, it’s grey claws slashing toward Applejack.

She flinched as it passed through her, it’s attack simply flowing off her when it connected. She let out a sigh of relief when she realised the actual nature of the image, but shrank when she saw the dark glare Coalback held.

“I showed him what I could do, What I have done.” His words weighed heavily on them as they realized that none of them, not even Rainbow Dash, truly knew what he was capable of.

The sudden tension in the room was almost palpable.

“I found him in an old clearing, a snow buried cemetery that had been forgotten years ago.” Coalback continued, taking the break in stride and starting the tale again.

“WHERE ARE YOU!?” His rasping voice called, strain from barking orders and running after my ever elusive form. He turned around in the center of the clearing, trying to see all around him at once.

He held that knife in his mouth, the silver gleaming in the light of the magic orb that was following him. One of the more talented unicorns had done that for the non magical stallions, practically creating beacons for me to follow when I hunted them down.

Light was a strange thing. Almost any creature that has a well developed sense of sight seeks it. We seek it so desperately that we wrap our entire cities in undying lights, keeping daylight even on a moonless night. But in the dark, it is like a large sign reading; All You Can Eat.

It was on his third or fourth pan of the clearing that I revealed myself, my eyes clearly glowing against the black of the storm’s shadow. He froze in place instantly, an angry grimace twisting his face around the knife.

I let him stare me down for a few moments before licking away the blood on my claws, in clear view of his light. I saw his eyes widen as he realized what I was implying, but I decided to make sure.

“We won’t be disturbed.” I said, letting a growl mix with my words. The effect was almost instant, his confidence fading slightly. Whether he knew what I had done to his comrades was beside the point, I spoke what was truth. None of his friends were there to back him up this time.

He glanced down at his knife, he did so quickly, not willing to take his eyes off me for long. I had seen that look before, a scared animal.

“Don’t try to run,” I said quickly, noticing his stance shifting. “you’ll only die tired.” I finished, chuckling in the back of my throat. “Just let me say my piece, and I will let you live.” I said, an almost calming tone in my voice, even if there was a bit of teasing going on there too.

He scowled. “I don’t need to listen to anything those lying lips have to say.” He growled, twirling the knife in his mouth and tossing his head. “And I won’t need to run if I have this.” He said, indicating the knife in his teeth.

“You really think that little thorn will be enough to destroy me?” I asked, beginning to pace around him. He followed me with his head, keeping his eyes locked on me. My jibes were getting to him.

“I know for fact that Wolf-Ponies are burned by silver.” He said darkly, grinding his teeth on the knife hilt.

“And how do you know what I am?” I replied, my voice in actual question, but I continued before he could try and interrupt. “You don’t know anything, not for sure. Do you know my place of origin? Do you know how many lives I have taken?” I growled, baring my teeth. “I was part of the last pack, my family carried the legacy of my kind. All of them were bigger, stronger, and faster than I.” I paused, putting my claws on top of a gravestone that jutted out of the snow.

“And I killed all of them.” I said darkly, pulling my claws across the stone and digging deep lines through the rock, sharpening my claws. “I am the last of my kin, the last of the Blaidd-ddyn.” I snarled, the name of my kind sending shivers through me as it shook the very foundations of the Wolf inside me. “So do not think that I have not seen your kind before.” I said darkly, letting my words echo the eerily still air.

“What’s that supposed to mean? My kind?” He replied, I could smell his fear. I wanted him to drown in it.

“A righteous, self-centered ... murderer.” I said, sharpening my other set of claws. “I know this, because I grew among them. You merely adopted the killer’s instinct, I was born to it.” I jumped over the stone, baring my teeth. I watched him instinctively back away, tripping over a hidden stone under the snow. He landed on his flank, scrambling to get back on his hooves.

I let him rise again, his mane hanging untidily in front of his eyes. He was shaking with barely contained fear, that instinctive need to run blocked out by his pathetic pride.

He growled, something must have snapped in there, because the next thing he did was to rush me. I ducked under his knife, feeling the burning of the silver slide against my fur. I darted away from him, separating us again.

I looked back to where the knife had glazed over my fur, smoke rising gently from the singed fur. I turned back to him, a snarl twisting my face into the very image of rage. I looked at his eyes, and I saw it again. That thing that you see in a trapped animal’s eyes, that sudden mad instinct to strike out at it’s captor. It was all that encompassed his gaze, and I knew I had already won.

This time I made the first move, running at him, teeth bared and claws out. My jaws grabbed onto a lump of hide. I ripped upward, feeling his knife bury itself in my back. I felt it hit my shoulder blade and snap, leaving a shard of burning silver in my back. But I had made my mark as well, the meat of his neck was exposed to the cold air.

I heard thunder overhead as I retreated again.

My shoulder burned with fire, and I watched as Dumb-Bell gurgled in pain and fell to the snow. But he was very much alive, and very conscious. I took this as a chance to make my final demonstration to him.

“Do you know why I wear these rings, Dumb-Bell?” I asked, my tail wagging slightly as I smiled mischievously. He stared back at me, hate and pain in his eyes. He was pawing at the wound with his hooves, trying to stop the bleeding. “It is to protect you, all of you.” I said, letting an ominous tone linger into my words.

His eyes darted up to me again, but I interjected before he could speak. “You see, I was born of impure blood. My father one of the wolf, and my mother was one of the magi.” I flexed my arm, letting one of the rings slip off as it relaxed. It impacted the snow and glowed a dull red. “I am a volatile, cornucopia of uncontrolled power.” I flexed again, letting the second ring fall. I felt that familiar feeling, like being caught in the rapids of a river. “And before I came across my teacher, I was unaware. It was he who taught me how to control it, before it would have caught me by surprise and destroyed me.”

I shook off the last ring, growling at the shivers that ran up my spine. It was a feeling like taking off a restricting garment, or like pressure being released suddenly. It was satisfying to say the least.

“And when the rings are removed, my power is at it’s greatest, and least controlled.” I looked back at him, watching him writhe from the pressure of my uncontrolled energies flowing forth from me. “LOOK AT ME!” I commanded, the words seeded with power that would make him do as I said. His head shakily moved upward, bringing his gaze to meet mine.

He froze, his eyes going wider and wider, until I thought that they might simply burst from his skull. This was very different from a soul gaze. He screamed, a bloodcurdling wail of terror and pain.

I never knew for sure what they saw when I did this, I had only done it twice before. And I had used that distracted horror to destroy them fully, that had been an act of mercy. But I had plans for this one, he would be an example to the rest of his followers.

Thunder pounded through the air, shaking it with energy. Quickly following it, a warm rain pounded against the snow. The ground became slick and icy, slush forming puddles as the snow warped with the warmth of the liquid. All the while Dumb-Bell screamed, his eyes locked with mine as his mind unwound.

I broke the gaze after I had heard enough of his screaming, which quickly died down to maddened murmurings. I put the rings back on, my work and my revenge done. I turned back to him carefully, walking up to him so that I could concentrate the teleport more easily.

I lifted my head, looking about the clearing. Although through the rain, there was little to see. I gathered the energies I would need, finding random strings of energy to weave through the spell and give it structure.

And then the darkness turned to light, and I couldn’t feel my shoulder any more.

The Rain

-The Rain-

        “The next part ... is a little hard to describe.” Coalback said, taking a few experimental puffs on the nearly depleted cigarette. “Everything started happening very fast.” He rubbed a hoof on his temple, massaging a growing headache.

        “If you don’t want to tell us, it’s okay.” Rarity said, her eyes glazing over as she tried to comprehend what he had done to Dumb-Bell. They sat for a few moments, silence dominating the room as the mares thought over what Coalback had told them. Applejack looked up, a confused expression dotting her face.

        “Ah have a few questions, if that’s alright.” Applejack said, lifting her hoof to call attention to herself. “Ya’ll said that until ya met yer teacher, that ya never woulda known about yer ... magic, right?” Coalback nodded, waiting for the actual question to be asked. “So, who was she?” Applejack finished, shrugging slightly as she looked toward him.

        Coalback hummed in the back of his throat, closing his eyes for a moment and leaning back slightly. He reached up a hoof, tapping the hidden crystal hanging from his neck in the nearly destroyed collar. “This is my teacher.” He said finally, opening his eyes and looking back at her. “Although, it has no name, and I am unsure if it has a gender as well. It has never told me, although I always assumed it was male.” He chewed on the tip of his cigarette, watching her reaction.

        “Now that don’ make much sense.” Applejack scoffed, shaking her head and eyeing him. “How coulda glowin crystal teach anythin?” She gave him an incredulous look, waiting for a propre answer to her question.

“It’s true, Applejack. I’ve seen it.” Rainbow confirmed, leaning against Coalback. Applejack gave her a disapproving glare, which she responded to by sticking out her tongue.

Coalback glanced between them, slightly confused at their silent argument. “Yes, it is my teacher.” Coalback said, dismissing their actions for the moment and trying to continue. “It gave me the knowledge I needed to control myself, and that is really the only way I can explain it. It’s sort of like ... like the crystal is part of me, its knowledge is my knowledge. Do you understand?”

        Applejack nodded, a stubborn frown still plastered to her face. Her eyes wandered around the room again, and her frown turned to one of curiosity. “Yeah and, uh, one more thing.” Applejack continued, satisfied for the moment by his answer. She gulped. “Does it always feel tha way you described it? Tha change that is ...”

        Coalback shivered, pulling Rainbow closer to him. “No.” He said, forcing the words out and shaking his head. “The first time ... the first time is always the worst.” He choked, pulling the cigarette from his mouth and grinding it out, the taste of it suddenly sickening him. “For the first two years, every change was Hell. My father always told me; ‘It changes, eventually. Soon the Wolf will work in concert with you, like it has with the rest of us.’” Coalback scoffed, the words like bile in his mouth. “It never gets easier, it’s only those rare moments where the Wolf’s rage runs parallel to mine that it ever feels good. But lately I’ve just been numb, and sometimes ... that’s even worse than when it hurts.”

        Coalback shivered again, burying his nose in Rainbow’s mane as he held her close to him. He breathed through his nose forcefully for a few moments, driving away the memories of those years with sheer will.

        Rainbow shivered next to him, partly because she was worried about him, and partly because she was so close to him. It was like feelings of her love mixed with that horrible fear of losing him inside that abyss that he kept walking around, the one she had seen in him.

“But I should try and tell you what happened out there.” He said after a moment, loosening his hold on Rainbow and letting her lean against him in a loose hug. He looked back up at the shocked faces of his audience, their faces stoic in the severity of Coalback’s admission to his pain.

“I was standing over Dumb-Bell, preparing a spell that would take us back to Ponyville. And then the forest lit up, like a star had sprung into existence at the left of the clearing.” He lifted one of his hooves and indicating the storm outside. “There was a sound, like thunder through a metal tube, echoing and warbling weirdly. And I got hit by something, it didn’t have much mass. If it had, I ... well, I’d be surprised if I walked away from it.” Coalback sighed, returning his hoof to the floor.

“It hit my shoulder, exploding it in pain worse than any wound I had ever been given before. It was like my whole body had just been doused in liquid iron, it burned so much.” Coalback said, flexing his shoulder weakly. “And then it stopped, no more burning, just this dull ache. Oh, I knew I was screwed then. If it didn’t hurt it was either already dead, or broken beyond any repair. This happened in almost an instant, white hot pain, then dull numbness.

“And I wasn’t in the same place either, the impact threw me away from Dumb-Bell, and shattered any hope of completing that spell. I hit a tree at the edge of the clearing, one of the spears that had been thrown around during the chase was there, wedged between the trunk and a bough. I hit it of course, it’s head cutting into my rear and broke off from the rest of the shaft.

“The spell broke apart, random energies flew out, creating light and heat as they translated their energies to the entropy in the air.” Coalback wiped at the sweat forming on his brow, he was breathing heavily. This story must have been drawing out some strange feelings for him.

Rainbow leaned up, nuzzling under his chin to try and encourage him to keep going. He smiled, his breathing calming slightly at her touch. “The light let me see what came into the clearing next.” He said, shivering against her. “Those ... things, I don’t know what to call them.” Coalback shook his head, massaging his temple again. “Those things with the beaks that open vertically, they were there.

“One of them had this ... I don’t know how to describe it to you. It was like a metal rod, and it had these golden decorations all over it. It held it in it’s arms, bracing one end of it against it’s shoulder. The other end glowed a dull white, smoke drifting from it’s far end.” Coalback shook his head, sighing in exasperation. “And it was so different from the only thing that I can compare to it, and there isn’t a word for it here. Like a smaller cannon, small enough to be carried and used easily. But this thing couldn’t have been that.

“First off, it glowed. The weapons I’m trying to describe don’t glow, the weapon usually can’t create enough heat to make it glow. So either this thing was much more powerful than that, or it used a different kind of propulsion for it’s projectile.” Coalback paused looking up at them and making sure they were following what he was trying to say.

They all still seemed confused, Coalback sighed. He put his hoof in some of the ashes on the floor in front of him, smearing it around to create an image. He created a vaguely streamlined ‘L’ shape, adding small smudges along it’s longer line.

“It looked sort of like this, but these things here,” He indicated the random smudges along the long part of the ‘L’. “They looked like sparks were still coming off of them, they were the gold parts. And the end here,” He pointed to the longest end. “This is the part that was glowing.

“I think it was some sort of projectile weapon, but it had no opening in the end for the projectile to exit, so I have no idea how it works.” He leaned back, a defeated look in his eyes as he looked down at the picture. “It scares me, knowing there are weapons like that here too.” He said sadly. “I could only watch as those things started to rip apart Dumb-Bell.” He said, anger returning to his voice. “One of them approached me, that weapon clutched in its hands.

“I couldn’t do anything, and I felt so helpless. It was like that first day all over again.” He said, covering his eyes with a hoof. But then he dropped it looking up with eyes of wonder. “And then they came, thousands of them.

“Wolves.” He said, dragging the hoof down his face and letting it fall back to the floor. “They fell on the monsters like a hawk to a sparrow.” His analogy made Fluttershy shiver, her reaction going unnoticed as he continued. “They didn’t even stand a chance, they fell on them in a way that would have made piranha look like stuffed toys in comparison. They filled the clearing, more wolves than I had ever seen in my entire life.

“They surrounded me, and they surrounded Dumb-Bell. I could just make him out from where I was, they hadn’t touched him. It was so strange, I would have been sure that they would have gone straight for him, but they didn’t. They surrounded me, their golden eyes glowing in the darkness and staring into me. All I could do was wait there. And then, She came into the clearing.

“The rain stopped in her presence, not even that storm daring to mark her. Only incredibly powerful beings could have that effect on their surroundings.” He shivered, and she recognised the reason why he was reacting the way he was.

He was purely terrified, every muscle was clenched, his face had gone pale and he was shaking slightly.

“She sang.” He continued, shaking his head. “And it was like the heavens had opened up. She said that I was a long lost friend, and that she wanted to welcome me home. She had two maidens with her, beautiful as flowers and deadly as poison. They came to me, licking my wounds for me, and leaning against me.

“She told me that she would help me.” He shivered again, the movement more violently fearful than any Rainbow had seen from him before. “She told me that she would let me fulfill the promises I had made, and that she would welcome me with open arms to her empire. That I would be her Knight.” He nuzzled into Rainbow again, trying to hide himself against her.

 She didn’t know what to say, it was like he was having a total breakdown. He took a deep breath, shifting his head so that his mouth was free of her side but kept himself pressed to her. “When a powerful spirit does something for you, it is never for free.” He said darkly, his voice shaking. “A blank check for every one, and she performed three for me that night.

“She stopped those split-headed demons from killing Dumb-Bell and I.” He said shakily. “She healed me enough to allow me to walk back to you. And then she gave me this.” He pulled away from her, sitting back on his flank again.

He poked a hoof under the collar, revealing a leather thong tied around his neck. Dangling from the end of it was a charm of some sort. It was a tuft of long blondish fur and two feathers that spread out like wings from it. They were held together with a golden wire, wound tightly around the three items and the thong.

“This,” He said, swallowing loudly. “would lead me to them. One of her maidens pulled it from around her neck, and put it on me.” He clutched it in his hoof, shaking ever so slightly. “‘Dewch i'n cyfarfod lle y goleuadau cyffwrdd y ddaear, a byddwn yn dangos y ffordd.’ She said. Meet us where the lights touch the earth, and we will show you the way.” He swallowed, gently replacing the charm.

He simply sat for awhile, waiting for the reactions from the mares. Pinkie had mysteriously disappeared. Fluttershy seemed to be in some sort of daze, hovering between shivering horror and rapt awe. Applejack and Rarity sat with similar looks of contemplation.

 “They were marching around the storm, staying at it’s edges as they moved North. And an army of those monsters, is coming in its wake.” Coalback said darkly, looking down at Rainbow Dash. “They will arrive the night of the storm’s passing.” He examined her, trying to discern her thoughts from the strangely determined expression on her face.

She looked up at him. “Then we break a hole in the storm and start the storm and we start the evacuation.” She said, breaking away from him and standing up. Thunder boomed outside.

“What do you mean, Rainbow?” Coalback said, confusion dominating his features as he stood as well. She turned to face him.

“I mean, that I’m going out there, and I’m stopping the storm.” She huffed out of her nostrils, that crazed determination making them dance like fire. Coalback’s eyes widened as he realized just what she meant.

“You mean to fly into the storm? At the apex of it’s passing?” He said, concern and a hint of anger leaking into his voice.

“Of course!” She said, walking forward and pressing her nose against his. “I’ve broken storms before, Coalback. This’ll be like a walk in the park.” Her determination was blind, Coalback growled his frustration starting to get the better of him.

“This is a hurricane, Rainbow Dash!” He said, attempting to spread his wings in an aggressive posture. He winced, closing his wings again before they could complete their motion.

Rainbow Dash didn’t however stop her motion, spreading her wings so that her plumage faced him, the effect making her look bigger and angrier. “I don’t see the difference! A storm is a storm, find the center and reduce the power with counter movements, that’s always the best method of destroying them and it’s easy. Textbook.” She punctuated, flapping her wings toward him. He took a step back, her aggressiveness starting to make him balk slightly.

The wind she created made the ashes on the floor swirl in miniature corkscrews around his hooves. “You don’t understand!” Coalback insisted, his voice becoming strained. “This storm is a tropical nightmare! Not even with the most advanced technologies of my people was it possible to stop one of these.” He pressed his nose against hers again, snorting out a breath loudly as he continued. “If there was a way to stop it, do you think I wouldn’t have stolen that advantage from them? The center of the storm is hundreds of leagues from here, it’s eye barely skirts the shoreline. This storm is so powerful, that it is more than likely to actually push back the shoreline. Do you understand? This storm is possibly destroying the land around it, and you think I’m going to just let you fly into it?”

Coalback stomped forcefully on the floor, shaking the whole room and ripping out several more stitches. His eyes suddenly hardened, no longer filled with fear or trepidation toward Rainbow. “I can allow myself to be hurt.” He said, his voice quiet and dark. “I would let Heaven and Hell destroy one another. I would even let a genocide open up on the streets. But I will not ever allow you to needlessly risk yourself on an impossible venture!” He yelled, but Rainbow stood firm, not letting him intimidate her.

“Then you can just try and stop me.” She said quietly, Coalback’s eyes widened as she darted around him. He turned, attempting to catch her before she could make her way around him. But he was too late, faster than a pony’s eye could track, Rainbow had pushed out the window, leaving a prismatic blur behind her.

Coalback lunged forward, attempting to follow immediately after her, but the window was too small, catching his shoulders as he tried to follow. Wind and cold rain splashed into the room, soaking Coalback as he attempted to close it. He shut it forcefully, turning as soon as it was closed to move toward the door.

A limp slowed his progress at first, but he quickly compensated, pushing the pain to the back of his mind and rushing down the stairs. He vaguely heard the voices of the mares calling back to him. Pinkie was standing downstairs, instantly jumping up and trying to stop him.

“You’re not supposed to get worked up like this!” She sing-songed, raising a hoof to stop him. He never broke stride, simply lifting a hoof and pulling himself over her shoulder.

He grabbed her hoof, pushing off with his back legs and tucking into a roll over her shoulders. His grab ended up flipping her around, but it wasn’t anything to hurt her. Even in an anger addled mind he was able to regret just brushing her off like that, especially sincec he knocked her down. Although, to her credit, she simply looked at him in shock as he threw open the door.

He heard the mares gather behind him as he rushed out, extending his wings and ripping open the wound there again. He winced pushing back the pain and flapping once to test the integrity of his wings. Satisfied, he pumped them forcefully down, drowning out the protests from the mares and shooting into the rain and wind tousled sky.

Even under the fringes of the storm, Coalback was pushed around by the wind. It pushed against his wings, catching on them and attempting to flip him over. He pushed up into the air, reaching the clouds and diving up into them.

Turbulence increased instantly, cold air and hot rising drafts pushing against him. He fought to keep steady, clasping wings closed and then flashing them to full length only a moment later. After only a few tiring moments, he burst through the top layer of clouds. And while the storm wasn’t very tall here, it only continued to slope upwards as it stretched out before him. The air was thinner, forcing him to breath harder to receive the same amount of oxygen.

He glanced around, spreading his wings wide and going into a gentle glide as he searched. His eyes roamed the dim sky, the sun still too low to shine it’s light over the clouds. He spotted her quickly, a prismatic dot against the dark grey clouds that roiled around her. She was moving fast, toward a cliffside of clouds.

Coalback pushed forward, again ignoring the pain in his wings and back. His left wing was weaker, the wound in that shoulder had destroyed the powerful muscles there for the downstroke. Every movement was torture, forcing him to sweat and pant as he pushed himself faster and faster.

“RAINBOW!” He yelled, the words sailing across the clouds. Their soft surfaces absorbed sound like a sponge, and by the time it reached Rainbow Dash it was barely a whisper.

It was enough though, she turned her head to look behind her. She spotted Coalback quickly, her eyes more used to finding ponies among clouds, even a particular grey stallion chasing after her. She scowled, he couldn’t be out here like this, and she was already so close to the storm.

“GO BACK!” She yelled, barely hearing his negative over the wind as they barreled toward the mountain of clouds stretching before her. She turned back to him and his rapidly approaching silhouette. Her eyes widened, realizing that she had slowed down significantly.

She turned back to the clouds before her, she squinted, diving down and flapping hard to accelerate as quickly as she could. In a few moments, the dark clouds enveloped her, and the world suddenly changed.

What had at first been nothing dissimilar to a normal storm had turned into absolutely powerful chaos. The random wind drafts were stronger than anything she had ever tried to fight against, pushing her up and down endlessly. Rain pounded against her from all directions, she felt hail impacting her coat.

Lightning lit up the clouds, and the trees flying inside them. She opened her eyes wide, watching in horror as a tree bigger than Twilight’s house flew past her. She tried to dodge away from it, twisting to the side and instantly losing control. She flipped around, suddenly unable to figure out which way was up.

Part of her was calmly running through protocols, what she was supposed to do in an uncontrolled fall. But her body wouldn’t react, she was panicking. Lightning flashed nearby, deafening her with it’s sudden boom. Rain and hail battered her from all directions, and she couldn’t tell if she was falling or was being kept up by the storms winds.

She yelled out, something wordless, just panicked screams flying out of her throat as she realized how bad she had messed up. It wasn’t just that she had rushed in without thinking, again, but that Coalback had warned her that it was too much to handle. And she had been so stupid, she ran out here angry.

It had been the way he talked about the wolves, that was clear. It had made her scared, she was so afraid of how he was talking. It was like he had just been handed a ticket out of her life, and he was ready to take it too. The worst part though, was that she knew that he really wanted that.

It had been his ticket to finally have a home, and because she had been there he put it down. It made her heart flutter, even as it was panicking from the storm raging around her. She was so lost in her inner turmoil that she almost didn’t hear the voice trying to be heard over the storm.

“... -AINBO- ASH!-” Thunder boomed again, drowning out anything intelligible. But she didn’t care, there was someone here, someone looking for her.

Instinctively she tried to turn toward it with her wings, but he wind of the storm tore at her feathers, tossing her around into a new spin. She tried to scream, but her throat closed up as she spun upside down and felt gravity pull at her stomach. Wind and hail pushed on her back, but whether she was being flung upwards, or back to the ground was yet to be seen.

Something collided with her, and for a moment she thought that a flying tree had hit her. But arms wrapped around her, and she could feel the spinning instantly stop. Rain and hail pelted her, and she could feel the forward momentum taking them down again. The chaos had stopped at the presence of those strong arms wrapped around her, even if one of her wings was twisted up under a heaving chest.

She turned her head around, trying to see who she was attached to. Her eyes widened, and she almost cried for joy at the sight. Coalback held firmly onto her, his strong arms pinning her to his body as his huge wings flexed and spun to channel the air. His wings worked in a blur, instantly adjusting lift and drag on either side as the wind changed.

He was in a shallow dive, the trees of the forest starting to come into view through the darkness and rain. He dodged past flying tree branches, rocks and hail. His movements fast and precise. His eyes faced forward, an eerie calm over his features, examining and calculating. The ground whizzed past them, the side of a mountain approaching them quickly. Coalback shifted, adjusting his ever changing flight path to a dark crevice in the rocks.

“WE’RE TAKING SHELTER IN A CAVE!” Coalback yelled over the storm, his breath warming her ear for a moment. “GET READY FOR A HARD LANDING!” His warning was almost instantly followed by the cave entrance engulfing them.

His wings hit the side of the entrance first, dropping them out of the air. He rolled under, remaining in control even after the impact. They hit the ground hard, Coalback’s breath left him in a wave as he hit the hard stone, absorbing the impact for Rainbow. They slid across the slick floor, water and slush clinging to their fur.

Only an instant after they entered the cave, his back bounced off the back wall of it. He took only a moment to catch his breath, untangling himself from Rainbow’s equally exhausted form and rushing to the entrance. His eyes locked onto a tree that was flying straight for the cave entrance.

He braced himself against the entrance, catching the impact of the tree against one of his hooves and stopping it dead. But that didn’t stop the wind from pinning it against the entrance. His hoof ached, the sudden impact sending shivers of dull pain up his arm. Another bough flew toward the entrance, the end broken into a sharp, splintered point. Coalback braced himself again, catching the bough against himself and not letting it enter the cave.

Rainbow watched in awe, yelling out as the bough he caught ripped through his side and tore a bloody hole in his fur. His muscles flexed, driving the end of it against the stone to the side and bracing the thick bough across the entrance. He looked up again, rain dripping off of him only to be renewed by the blasts from the entrance of the cave.

Rainbow looked on in pure horror as a huge tree, the whole tree, flew toward them. Coalback turned around, bracing all four hooves against the entrance and blocking it with his body. He looked at her for a moment, the storm suddenly dying out as he spoke.

“I love you.” He whispered, his eyes watering, noticeable even over his water soaked face.

The tree impacted an instant later, adding a huge punctuation to the end of his statement. It hit the cave entrance from the side, bending inward as it’s weight drove it in. The trunk cracked in half, stopping as it impacted Coalback’s immovable frame.

He scowled in pain, eyes screwed shut as huge splinters from the still living tree drove into his back and stopped. The weight of the tree pressed against him, creaking and groaning as coalback pushed against it. He kept pushing, knowing that if he stopped the tree would snap in half, and impale both of them.

More impacts rocked the tree against him, his mouth opening in a silent scream of pain. The tree shifted behind him, pressing harder as more weight was piled on top of the entrance. This time he did cry out, his mangled voice screaming in pain as his spine struggled to brace against the continual onslaught of the storm.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the impacts became less and less. The sounds of the storm slowly died out, becoming just a hissing background noise. The only real sound in the dark cave being their fast breathing and the drip of water from their coats.

Coalback let out an explosive breath, his limbs going limp and falling forward into the cave. Rainbow caught him, nearly collapsing under his full weight as she lowered him to the ground. She let out a desperate grunt as she did, her mind racing as it tried to piece together the events around her.

She lowered him carefully to the ground, placing him on his side. His wings were mangled, more than likely broken from all the torture they had just endured. The impact with the cave had probably dislocated them, which might be the only reason they hadn’t been shredded like the rest of his back.

It was covered in splinters from the tree, and in the dim light she couldn’t tell how much he had lost, or how much was his and not the Wolf’s. She wrapped her teeth around a particularly large splinter ready to pull it out.

“DON’T TOUCH IT!” Coalback suddenly shouted, his body convulsing. She jumped away, instantly dropping the splinter from her mouth and backing away slightly. “Don’t fucking touch it!” He yelled again, slowly catching his breath as he writhed in pain. His breathing settled slowly, Rainbow stood away from him, her back pressed against the other wall.

“It’s pierced through my lung-” Coalback choked out, gurgling suddenly. He recovered from it quickly, continuing in a strained voice. “Too close to the heart. If you pull it out, you could put splinters into my heart. I would slowly die as they wormed their way completely through the muscle.” He lifted his head carefully, his ears drooping to the side as he tried to look at her. A weak whine escaped his throat as he tried to move.

Rainbow moved back over to him, gently taking his head in her hooves. “Please tell me there’s something I can do, Coalback. I can’t just sit here and watch you bleed out onto the ground!” She cried, her eyes flowing water out as she tried to think of something, anything, to help him.

Coalback’s eyes started to droop, a sleep starting to fall over him. She panicked, she knew for a fact that she couldn’t let him fall asleep. “Stay awake, Coalback! Talk to me, come on.” She tried, gently slapping his cheek with her hoof. His eyes fluttered open for a moment, but that sleepiness never left him. He was staring past her, not looking at anything as he started to breath more deeply.

His mouth worked for a moment, not speaking but trying to in his hurt and dazed mind. “Just a quick nap, I’ll get up in a minute.” He said, his words slurring slightly. He mumbled something else in his own language, the staccato words running out of him like a river as he tried to close his eyes again.

“No, Coalback! Come on, just stay awake. You look like you lost a lot of blood, and if you fall asleep- I -” She stopped, tears suddenly falling from her and onto his muzzle. “T-talk to me- tell me about your home, Coalback.” She choked out, scooting closer to him. They were both cold and wet, their fur clinging to them and dripping.

Coalback looked at her, his eyes vaguely focusing on hers. He took a shaky breath, she could hear him gurgling as his lungs leaked blood inside of them. “I lived in a big estate,” He started, his voice croaking as he talked. “I had five half-brothers, and two half-sisters. They were pure blood, not like me. But they always made me feel like I was part of the family, even though most of them were already part of the pack.” He coughed, blood spotting his lip.

His head got heavier in her hooves, his neck no longer trying to hold it up. He breathed deeply. “We lived outside a small city, the lights barely were visible at night. I remember spending a lot of nights outside with my niece, watching the stars.” His breathing quickened for a moment, a silent sob shaking his body. “There was a big forest, all around us. The tree stretched out farther than you could see.” He paused again, swallowing. His eyes drooped, a wave of exhaustion nearly sweeping him away. “I’m so tired, Rainbow Dash. ... would you sing for me?” He asked, his voice was so quiet, and weak.

“I- I don’t ... know any songs.” She said, tears starting to fall again as she realized how useless it was. Coalback was dying in front of her and she couldn’t even do anything about it.

Coalback twitched under her, one of his arms hooked itself under the collar around his neck. He pulled down, his arms shaking as he put pressure against it. The back snapped, the fabric ripping as he pulled off the hidden gem. He relaxed again, resting against her hooves as she held him.

“Take it ... and you will know the words.” He said, his voice weak and his face pale. His eyes stared up at her, managing to look distant and focused at the same time.

She looked down at it, unsure of how to proceed. The crystal was under his hoof, glowing ever so slightly. She reached out, grasping it in her hoof and pulling it toward her. She unwrapped the arcane gem, casting it’s glowing light within the tiny cave. She pulled it out with her hoof, gasping slightly as she felt it’s power hum through her.

The humming slowly changed, warming her whole body as Coalback leaned into it. And the humming slowly started to change to music and she just knew the words.

They slowly flowed out of her, surprising herself with how smooth they were even though she had no experience singing at all. They flowed easily, and she felt as every word slowly relaxed Coalback. More tears slid down her face, if she couldn’t save him, she would help him leave comfortably.

She closed her eyes, unable to watch as she slowly stroked his mane with her hoof. She felt him sigh under her, the tension in his limbs leaving smoothly. She sang softly, the song slowly spreading from her like a wave of warmth in the damp cave. And it wasn’t until the golden light started to seep through her closed eyelids that she opened them again.

She almost stopped, her eyes catching glimpse of where the glow came from. But something held her firm, letting her continue. She looked on in wonder as the light from the crystal flowed out from it in glowing wisps. They flowed around, shifting in an invisible breeze. They slowly crawled toward Coalback, wrapping gently around him like a blanket.

They crawled across him, slithering like glowing snakes across his fur as they found his wounds. They circled around every wound, making a glowing halo before slowly sinking into his skin. The glow intensified, his flesh glowing a brilliant white.

And it was like the wounds just melted off of him, light flowing away like water and carrying the wounds with them as they sank into the ground around them. His wings shifted, folding back into place gently, as if nothing had ever happened to him.

She felt the last words flow from her, the humming music dying and the crystal becoming dark in her hooves, giving off just enough light to see by. She dropped it to the floor of the cavern, taking to examine Coalback.

It was as if nothing had happened, and the splinters had melted away. The only thing that would have given away the injury in the first place was all the blood that was still clinging to his coat. She moved over to his head, his eyes closed and he was very still.

“Coalback?” She asked, her voice quiet, hopeful. She brushed a hoof through his mane, cupping his face with her hooves. She pulled him close, grief washing over her. “Oh, Coalback.” She said, her words swelling with tears. “Oh damn ...” She whispered, pressing her face against his neck and nuzzling it.

The muscles under his neck shifted, swallowing. Something warm brushed against her neck, a hot breath. Lips pressed against her neck, slowly moving their way up her neck and spreading warmth into her.

She pulled away, looking down at Coalback, his eyes opened only slightly, a small smile on his face. “You have a beautiful singing voice.” He whispered, leaning forward and planting a gentle kiss on the hollow of her throat. She shivered, the touch of his lips sending feelings of pleasure through her.

She pulled away, caressing his face with her hooves. “You’re ... okay. You’re okay! Oh thank Celestia, you’re okay!” She said, diving in for a hug against him. She pressed her muzzle against his shoulder, holding him tightly against her.

He sighed out, his breath still ragged. She felt something warm and wet soak into her coat from where he pressed against her. He was crying, and it slowly escalated into pure sobs. He shook against her, his whole body racked with joyous sobs. “Yes,” He finally choked out. “I am.”

He pulled back, bringing her head up and pressing his lips against hers. It was a slow, gentle kiss. His lips gently caressed hers, a gentle moan of pleasure escaping her throat at his touch. She quickly broke the kiss, looking in his eyes.

“Coalback ... I-” She grimaced, looking away from his eyes as she spoke. “I’ve been in heat for the last few days- and I wanted to ask you- What I mean is ...” She stopped, more tears slowly forming in her eyes. A gentle hoof held her head, stopping the shaking that she hadn’t even realized was happening.

His lips met hers again, silencing her. His lips parted slightly, his tongue teasing against her lips, coaxing them to open. Her mind just stopped, acting on it’s own as she opened her lips to meet his tongue with hers. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the feeling of his tongue moving against hers. They had never kissed like this yet, not even once.

His tongue was textured, rough almost, the pink muscle gently rubbing along the bottom of her smoother tongue as it slid into his mouth. He used his tongue to gently encourage her, guiding it as she explored the inside of his mouth.

His teeth were different from a pony’s, and while she knew this it was still very strange to suddenly get such an intimate examination of them. His molars were wide, the edges were sharp, not rounded. They felt like they fit together perfectly, like two parts to a whole. They were smooth against her tongue, sliding against it and pulling ever so slightly back.

And then she moved forward in his mouth, feeling around to the sharp canines that dominated the area where a pony’s bar would be. The teeth were sharp, she caught her breath as she felt them, a rush of excitement building as she felt around them. Those teeth, designed for tearing flesh and holding prey, the teeth that she knew would never try to hurt her.

It was that rush, knowing that Coalback could rip into her, but didn’t, that really made her get excited. She felt pleasure racing through her like hot fire. She felt around his incisors, examining the ridged edges, and feeling their smooth faces. She moaned in pleasure again, sending shivers up both of them as their breath mixed and their tongues danced.

Finally he broke away, a string of saliva bridging between them as they caught their breath. He nuzzled up against her, his nose pressing against the bottom of her chin, caressing the soft skin at the point where her neck ended at her chin.

“How hard has it been?” He asked, his breath warm against her throat. She shivered, feeling that warm fire growing inside her.

“It hasn’t been nearly so bad as some.” She gasped, his tongue dancing against her windpipe. “But I wanted you, really badly. I still do.” She shivered again, unable to hold still any longer. She pressed against him, wanting to get closer even though she was already pressed against him.

“Oh, thank the Gray!” He said suddenly, grabbing her in his hooves and flipping her onto her back. “I thought I would have to keep waiting for you to say that.” He said, planting kisses all up and down her throat.

She moaned, waves of pleasure spreading like wildfire from everywhere he touched. “Why did you wait?” She managed to say, that fire spreading from between her legs.

“I felt that-” He planted another kiss on the hollow of her throat, his tongue swirling against her fur, creating little twirls in her coat. “that it would be rude-” He licked her chest, dragging his tongue across her fur, spreading warm breath across her. “to ask you while you were in heat.” He finally finished, slowly working his way down her body.

One of his hooves wandered to her wings, gently stroking a flight muscle with the soft of his hoof. She gasped, wings spreading stiff as board. A shock of sensation rippled through her, the intense feeling of it making her twitch under him.

“Although, I can see that you were holding back quite well. We’ll have to fix that.” He whispered, his breath tickling her belly. “Let me show you something that we did where I come from.”

A Static Feeling

-A Static Feeling-

Coalback paced restlessly, it had been hours since the storm had passed, even fewer since they had returned to the town, and he was in a cage.

“I motherfucking hate cages.” He muttered darkly, swinging a hoof against the bars of the cell and creating a dull tone.

“Save your strength, Coalback.” Rainbow’s voice called, however her tired voice only managed to enrage him further. “It was hard enough convincing the ponies that Celestia should decide our fates, it will be impossible to stop them if you freak now.” She yawned, her own head poking out from the bars of her cell across from his.

Coalback growled, the sound not entirely his own. He continued pacing, literally stomping a groove into the floor. “It’s just the fact that these ... these ponies can see the threat bearing down on them, and that they choose to ignore it!” He ranted, lifting his back hooves and cracking them against a stone wall. He winced pulling back and stretching the muscles in his hip.

“You’re still not healed? Even after all the magic that was used on you?” Rainbow asked, her voice betraying her own annoyance.

Coalback looked at the stream of orange light dancing across the floor between their cells before answering. “It’s fine. I just need to take it easy on hitting things for awhile.” He snorted, closing his eyes in frustration. “I just need to think, maybe if I-”

“Don’t even think about using the crystal again!” Rainbow said quickly, cutting him off in the middle of his thoughts. “You said that you nearly had a blackout last time. And I’m still pretty mad that it wasn’t exactly, you who was there with me either.” She huffed, crossing her hooves and looking back at him crossly.

“I was still there, Rainbow.” Coalback insisted, stopping his pacing to press his side against the bars. “And I’m just as pissed as you that it overstepped its bounds like that, but what’s done is done. And I don’t think that I can convince these ponies without it.” He started, his words degrading to helplessness as he spoke.

“It doesn’t matter!” Rainbow insisted, standing up from her prone position and glaring daggers at him. “If that thing is as old and as powerful as you say it is, then why let it put you through this kind of stuff?” She pointed, referring to the slightly exposed crystal hanging from his neck.

“I told you, it’s part of the contract!” He defended, drawing a frustrated groan from Rainbow Dash as she began her own pacing. “There are rules, regulations, limitations. Ones that even the most mischievous demon’s respect. Andit is no exception, and neither am I.” Coalback continued, his voice starting to slip into that lecturing tone. “I am bound by the exact words of our contract, and so is it. Unfortunately, the topic of total possesion never came up. And yes, I do realize how stupid that is.” He finished quickly, stopping Rainbow from putting in the comment he knew was coming.

She stomped a hoof in anger and frustration, backing up to place a strong buck against the bars of her own cell. She made just as little progress as Coalback had, and only succeeded in falling flat on her face as her knees gave out under her.

She groaned again, lifting her head to glare at him. “Tell me again, why it is that you agreed to let that thing fuck with your head.” She growled, snorting in frustration as she stood again.

“I was exhausted, starved, dehydrated, sick, half frozen, and on the edge of madness. Admittedly it was a very appealing offer at the time, as unwise as it was. But it did help me, Dash.” He said, his tone going soft as he put a hoof up to the bar. She paused, he never just called her ‘Dash’. “While its methods and theories were strange, they were most definitely effective. The Wolf uses its connection to the shadow of the mind to open our perception fully, and the Guardian helped me sort things out. It started introducing myself slowly to my own subconsciousness, where the Wolf had simply opened a floodgate.” He sighed, looking down at the crystal, and the ‘Guardian’ housed within. He had explained once how the Guardian had greeted him, but never gone into full detail.

“Then tell me the whole story, of how you found it.” She said, laying back down in defeat. She couldn’t bear to stand anymore, her own exhaustion finally winning out, and it took a lot to drop the Rainbow Dash like that.

“Okay, but it’s going to sound really strange. You don’t yet have the context to make sense of some of it.” Coalback sighed, settling down himself. He had no more patience for the rage in his heart, and simply pushed it to the side where it could bubble over later. “I had fled very far North, past the place where the ground froze and never thawed. I had been running for months, covering the distance stretched by continents, and found myself in a small village, just below the line that separated land,” He paused for a brief moment, slipping into a dramatic storytelling tone naturally. “from ice.

“It was a tiny place, I doubted it even had more than a single sheriff, if that’s what they called them there. Constable, maybe.” Coalback shrugged. “I decided to risk getting a warm meal, prey was scarce here this time of year. I was swaddled in random skins and clothes taken from victims of my growing madness.”

“Victims?” Rainbow asked, her eyes staring wide at him. “Does that mean that you- you know?” She continued, shrinking as she noticed his visible cringe.

“Yes.” Coalback choked out. “I was not myself, the rage and hunger would take me over, even if I never changed.” He shivered. “I ended up with some money from them as well, and their clothes kept me warm. I hated killing them at first, I hated myself for a long time. Once I tried to kill myself by standing in front of a freight train.” Coalback sighed. “At that point I had just become numb to the deaths of the ones around me. No longer blaming myself, but instead the monster that had taken roost in my skull.

“I heard about the Northern Lights from that village. A traveler from the North, one whose ancestors had lived there for thousands of years, had somehow made his way to that side of the hemisphere. I ended up taking his advice and hopped a train heading to a country that’s Northern shore actually connected with the ice, Russia.” He turned to her, a sad look in his eyes.

“Wait, what were you fleeing from?” Rainbow asked, remembering the words in his pause.

 His face went blank, some distant memory coming back to light for him. He turned away so that she couldn’t see his face anymore, but she could hear the shaking in his words. “There are some things that I don’t think I can ever talk about, Rainbow. Please, don’t ask me to tell you about those days.” He took a shaky breath.

Rainbow stopped herself from saying anything, unsure if she would be able to console him, or only upset him with the effort. She had only seen him cry when he had nearly been on the verge of a breakdown, if just the mention of his travels was enough to do that, then it must have truly been a harrowing experience for him.

“I ate there, filling my belly with meat before I ran as far and as fast North as I could. The ice around me stretched forever, and I ended up so far north that I could not see the sun anymore. It was the time of the noonday moon, fitting really.”

Coalback stood up, grabbing a small jagged white rock in his hoof and moving to the smooth back wall of his cell. He pressed it against the stone and slid it across in a large arc, the white stone creating a line like chalk on a board. He continued to draw as he spoke. “I ran for a long time, the ice and snow slowing me. I used the stars to guide myself farther and farther North, but eventually the sky had become so foreign that I was sure that I simply ran in circles for days.

“I eventually stopped on an ice shore, the cold sea becoming my final barrier.” He finished the drawing taking a step back from it and staring up at it.

He had captured the image in such efficient movement that she had barely registered its creation before it was done. How he had captured such a subtle change in grays and whites with nothing more than a rock was like a magic all its own. It was as if Coalback had simply opened a window to another world on the rear of his cell.

“I didn’t know you could draw.” Rainbow said, her mouth moving on its own as she stared at it.

Coalback turned to her, returning the deformed stone to the floor. “I laid myself there, ready to die in the cold, and be happy for it. I would die, and the world would be free of another monster. But I never saw the lights, and I never got my answers. I closed my eyes, sure that it would be the last time.

“But, I woke up to a voice.” Coalback said, his words shrinking to a whisper as he sat back down against the bars of his cell. “It said, ‘My name is Deo Interficientis, but when I walked among the living they called me, Knight.’ I had no Idea what to make of this, my eyes were closed, but I could still see his. They were a brown color, red streaks running up and down through it. They were soft eyes, gentle and comforting to me after so many disgusted glares. I responded almost unconsciously, some instinct telling me that I had to insert my dominance.

“‘You are omega.’ I said to him, inserting the strongest growl I was capable of making. Which wasn’t all that impressive, looking back on it. Some part of my head had labeled this voice as an exile of a pack, which was ridiculous since I had only just met them.

“Omegas are the lowest rank of the pack.” Coalback explained. “They are the ones that watch the pups, former exiles, sick or old ones. I don’t know why I did, it was ridiculous to assume that.

“But, Knight seemed satisfied, even entertained by my stubborness. He said, ‘Very well. I am your omega. And you, are a guilt tortured shell.’ he was almost sad when he said that, I could see it in the eyes that weren’t actually there. I ended up opening my nearly frozen eyelids, trying to spot the one talking to me.

“However, no being of flesh was before me. But in the snow piled around my face, in plain view over my icy nose was a gem.” Coalback reached up and tapped the object around his neck. “I was captivated by it for the longest time, listening to it talk to me. It explained so much, and still had barely even made a scrape on the vast amounts of knowledge that it held within.

“It eventually offered to assist me. It knew that I sought to recompense for my crimes, and continued to tell me that it wanted just the same thing. But in its current situation it could do little, it told me that it had taken nearly all its strength to come to me as it was. It told me that it knew how to help me, and where we could go to be redeemed of our innocence.

“I thought that this was ridiculous, of course.” Coalback sighed, looking back at his drawing as he continued. “But it insisted that there was an upcoming calamity, and that I might be the only one who could help him prevent it. I dismissed it again, ready to return to my slow death. But it continued, saying that my mixed blood was the only thing that could possibly match it, if not overcome it.

“At first I was confused as to its meaning, but it explained. Any of the magi that he could have chosen, were too weak of the body for his purpose. But mine was strong even after months of hardships. However, any other of my kind, the only ones who could have had the strength of flesh to be useful, were weak of mind and devoid of magical affinity. But because of the circumstances of my upbringing, I was the perfect vessel.” Coalback squirmed in his spot, stopping as he tried to adjust to a more comfortable position and to stretch his back at the same time.

“So it does have a name.” Rainbow mused, staring down at it again with an inspection filled glare. Coalback eventually settled into a more comfortable position again, and turned to look at her.

“Yes, but be careful to say it.” Coalback shook his head. “It was dangerous for me even to mention it to you, even if you never remember it again. Names have extreme power, the older something is, the more they are attached to it. Just saying the name of a spirit thrice is enough to summon it, and they are not always happy about it.” He looked at her, a reprimanding stare in his eyes. “Be very careful with that knowledge.” He warned, watching carefully as Rainbow swallowed loudly.

Rainbow was unsure of what to think. What Coalback was describing was so similar to an old mare’s tale that she had heard as a filly that it was disturbing. About Bloody Maree, and how saying her name three times in a dark bathroom would make her appear in the mirror. It was even scarier knowing that she had actually done it on a dare in flight school.

Coalback continued, obviously satisfied that Rainbow realized the gravity of the knowledge he had given her. “Its words eventually struck a chord in me. I was weak, he could empower me. I was confused and lost, he could to show me the way. I needed his help, and suddenly I was more than happy to take it.

“He spoke an oath, ordering to follow its words in exact. It said that it would help me to control myself, it would grant me the power I would need to continue and to prevent harm to others. And in return I would allow it a new vessel, and the warmth of a body once more. And to help him prevent the past from becoming the present again.

“I never realized that when I touched it that it would burn its power into me like a branding iron. That was the first time it took total control, I wasn’t fully unaware of what it did however. It was my body after all. It wanted to repay me for my cooperation. It took me back to a city, clothed me, and fed me properly. It then proceeded to find as many beautiful females as it could fit in a bed with me.” He chuckled at Rainbow’s sudden jump from her prone position.

“What happened?” She asked, confusion and surprise filling her as she tried to process what he just said. “You don’t mean that you- it- ...” She couldn’t even bring herself to say it, Coalback had never acted like he would be the pony to do that sort of thing.

“Yes, it seduced and then proceeded to couple with as many beautiful Russian females as it could find. It somehow explained to me that I had been holding back too much, telling me that it had actually done me a favor. And honestly, I was much more relaxed afterwards. Although I never did that again, mind you.” He said, noting the almost appalled look on Rainbow’s face.

“Jeez, Coalback. I just never thought that you had ever really done anything like that. I mean, I know that things work differently where you come from, but I wouldn’t think that you would do a one night herd.” She said, looking at him with a new light.

“I assume that is like a one night stand? Except with a group?” He said, switching instantly to his curious innocence that was hidden under a playful smirk. She had to wonder if he was acting at this point for her benefit.

Rainbow crossed her arms and gave him a reproving glance. “Yeah,” She mumbled, annoyance glaring in her words as she finally dropped the subject. “Where is that guard!? I want to talk to my lawyer!” She yelled out, getting up and banging on the bars loudly.

“And here I was trying to save my strength.” Coalback muttered under his breath as Rainbow continued to make as much noise as she could. She was rewarded for her efforts shortly, the door at the end of the hall opening with a loud groan.

An earth mare walked in, her form hidden under a police officer’s uniform. And following close behind her was a familiar lavender unicorn.

“YOU!” Rainbow exclaimed suddenly, jumping at the bars and attempting to strike at her former friend. However, Coalback’s reaction was much more relieved.

“Twilight, thank goodness.” He said, standing as Twilight fled away from Rainbow’s cell. “I take it that you found my note?” He said, drawing Rainbow to pause.

“Coalback?!” She exclaimed, a sudden sense of betrayal sprinting through her at the sight of her stallion openly greeting the traitorous unicorn. “What are you doing? She was the one helping those stupid stallions!” Rainbow yelled, pointing an accusing hoof at the cringing unicorn.

“I know, I told her to.” Coalback said calmly, looking at her with a reprimanding glare. “She has been our inside hoof, she has actually been distracting them more than anything.” He said, giving an approving nod at Twilight as she slowly relaxed again.

“Wh-whuh?” Was all Rainbow could say.

“False leads, inaccurate potions and mixtures, unnecessary tasks, and falsely labeled meanings. Just a bit of misleading and stretching the truth, really.” Twilight said, levitating a ratty notebook out from her saddlebags. “It was exactly where you said it would be, I was able to get in and save most of your things before the stallions got to it.” She levitated the notebook over to Coalback, but he waved it off.

“You hold it for now, did you bring me some clothes?” He asked, watching her carefully pull out the folded underclothes of his armor.

“They wouldn’t let me bring you the knives, but I have the saddlebags. They’re empty though.” She continued, pulling out the empty bags and floating them to him alongside the clothes. Coalback took them gratefully and started to put them on, not pausing when Rainbow Dash finally found her voice again.

“What in the hay is goin’ on?” She exclaimed, jumping up and hovering in the limited space of her cell. She looked at Coalback who merely looked over at Twilight as he continued to struggle with the clothes himself.

“You tell her, she’ll need to hear your side.” He said quietly, going back to the clothes as he struggled with the fasteners on it.

Twilight turned away from him, however she did remain next to his cell and didn’t move toward Rainbow. “Shortly after things calmed down, Coalback sent me a note. It just appeared one afternoon on a parchment I had planned on using to contact Celestia about the whole thing.

“He had left instructions, a rather long list of them. First he asked that I retreive several thing from your house, I was able to teleport up there and use the cloud walking spell to get it before the stallions got to it.” She said, a little bit of a guilty shift in her eyes.

“I thought that they took all those things!” Rainbow said, pressing against the bars.

“Well, they did get a lot of the stuff. I had to run away before they broke down the door, but I got all your important things, Dash.” Twilight said, adding a subtle edge to the mention of her personal belongings, giving her a moment of pause. “You can get them before the evacuation starts. Unfortunately the police want you two to remain under their watch during the hike.”

“Hike?” Coalback asked suddenly, his head threaded through the neck of the shirt while the rest hung around his shoulders. “What about the train? It wasn’t knocked over during the storm was it?” He asked, a pinch of panic slipping into his words.

“I know you planned on packing everypony on the train, but most of the tracks have been flooded and refrozen. The tracks are completely unusable, we’re stuck walking.” Twilight sighed, turning back to him and leaving Rainbow to wonder what was going on. The police mare remained stoic, watching her wristwatch.

“Damn!” Coalback cursed under his breath, twisting an arm as he tried to thread it into the shirt. “This complicates things immensely. The contingency plan is in place?” He asked, looking at her. But he continued before she could actually answer. “How did you convince them to get moving? No, don’t answer that! Just get us moving so that we can go.” He stated simply, finally succeeding in getting his arms into the shirt. He continued fluttering his wings to move them into their own sleeves.

“Not happening.” The police pony said flatly, continuing to glare at her watch. “Five more minutes, Miss Sparkle.”

“The mayor has decided to wait until tomorrow morning.” Twilight said annoyed, rolling her eyes.

“WHAT!” Coalback roared, making them all jump, even the static police mare was shaken. “Even when the other pegasi saw the storm on Canterlot, and the black smoke from the marching army!!!” He said, fury suddenly boiling into every tightly coiled fiber in his body.

“I know I know I know!” Twilight said, putting her hooves up and trying vainly to calm him. “They won’t listen to reason, but I was hoping that if I could get you to show them what those things could do, then maybe-”

“To come to a battle of wits with these brainless mules would be unwise and unsafe!” He said, pacing around his cell again and tossing his head angrily. He returned to that verbose way of speaking that had peeked out while he was in Canterlot. “These facetious fools in the high houses of this infantile nation have outright denied that they have a lion with its jaws around their throat!” He exclaimed, turning around and striking against the bars of the cell again.

The entire hallway shook with the intensity of his strike, the bars that he had kicked bent outward like soft clay under his hooves. Twilight jumped away quickly, backing against the bars that she had previously avoided with the same fear. Coalback yelled out in pain, his hips twisting in an unnatural direction as he fell to the floor and writhed around. Even the police pony started to panic, she had obviously never seen those bars give way.

“We have already lost too much time! If those ponies aren’t in the foothills by sundown, there will be blood in the water!” Coalback growled, visibly fighting past the pain in his hips. He twisted around, the leg moving back into it’s socket with a sickening sound. He let out a strangled yelp and gingerly stood again. He glared at the police pony. “If you don’t open this door, I’m going to flatten this building.”

She jumped as he talked to her, his voice absolutely dripping in perfect rage. Rainbow could actually see the capillaries in his eyes darkening. The mare ended up just shaking in her place, eyes locked in fear onto Coalback. Rainbow dropped to the ground behind her, and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

“You should probably do what he says, I don’t think Coalback is in the mood for unnecessary delays.” She said, fighting past the unnatural feeling of fear that was flowing from Coalback’s raging form. The mare jumped again, reaching back and fumbling with her keys in her mouth.

She rushed forward, her legs shaking violently as she struggled with the lock. Coalback paced back and forth in front of it, keeping his eyes on the pony like a tiger stalking his prey. A low growl was slowly creeping out of his throat.

She finally turned the key in the lock, pulling open the door and darting away from him as he jumped gingerly out from the cell. He was crouched low when he landed, looking more predatory than pony. He turned an eye to the police mare and growled out an order. “Get me the mayor.” He snarled, his mane and the fur on his neck stood up on end, the longer mane bending down but still growing taller.

She turned and ran in a hurry, running into the doorframe as she fled. As she disappeared, Coalback growled loudly, shaking himself to knock off any of the rage that still clung to himself. He stood back up straight, simply breathing loudly for a moment as he collected his thoughts. He looked around, his eyes passing over the other two mares and falling onto a bench on the floor. He limped over to it and wrapped his hooves around it, lifting it up on one end.

“What are you doing?” Twilight said, fear and surprise making her voice rise a few octaves.

“That fucking retarded mare didn’t even unlock Rainbow Dash.” He said, grunting as he pushed it up against the crossed bars of the door on Rainbow’s cell. “These are half-pin barrel hinges. With the right leverage, the door will lift free.” He said, leaning down on the bench, and true to his word, the door lifted free and fell to the floor with a violent crash.

Coalback turned toward the exit of the modest jailhouse, he hadn’t even know that Ponyville had one. He carefully limped toward the exit, the sunlight from the descending sun turning his back golden. Rainbow rushed out, pushing on Twilight to get her moving again. They caught up to Coalback quickly, his right back leg held up so that it didn’t hit the ground.

“Coalback, you can’t be okay.” Rainbow said, hovering over him and placing her hooves gently on his shoulders to try and slow him. “You should just take it easy, we can get this settled ...” She looked over to Twilight, a question in her eyes. “Won’t we?” Actual worry started to creep its way back into her. They were running out of time, and if they didn’t make it there would be consequences that she couldn’t even imagine.

Her mind darted back to the flight out, their view over the entire valley. The clouds had spread like a blanket over everything, small pillars and twists of fluffy white rising on what was left of the updrafts from the storm. They had emerged facing Canterlot, what they could see of it.

It had been shrouded in the storm, its arm had passed only a few hours ago. The boiling shards of dark storm clouds impacting the side of the mountain range and shooting up like an angry sea against a rocky shore. The sight had been sobering, watching the power of a storm, in the dead of winter, rip at the capitol city of the country that she called home.

They had stared at that hallow scene for a while, enraptured by the sheer power of the tempest in full view to them, much different from being buried in it. They had only turned away when the smell had reached them. It was the smell that made all creatures, predator and prey alike, cringe in disgust.

Burning flesh.

They had turned to the source of it, the both of them fighting back the nausea and disgust that came with its pungence. They saw the smoke before they saw its source. It rose like a tall black snake into the sky, scales of billowing shifts accented its shape, giving it a deformed and sickly look. Below it, a mass of bodies and beasts marched, their shapes just visible through the breaking clouds there.

There were thousands, tens of thousands. A mixture of those strange bipedal monsters, and something smaller, something faster. Small flashes of green flame popping into existence for moments at a time. Changelings, she had had to explain to Coalback what they were but he had understood as far as she could tell.

Spread throughout them were larger creatures, their lumbering forms being indentured for the carrying of their freight. They were burning the forest down as they walked, creating a highway for the trail of death that they sought. It was staring into the gates of Tartarus, unable to look away from the suffering and torture that resided there.

Rainbow shook herself, bringing her attention back to the present and the last words of Twilight’s response as they left the prison. “... if we keep them calm, it’ll work.” She finished, her words directed to Coalback as they shambled along.

He had begrudgingly accepted the helping wing from Rainbow that now supported him and sped them along. They lurched forward, moving toward the city hall that was located nearby, but maddeningly far away. Another thought darted through Rainbow’s head, a tangent she hadn’t expected herself to go on.

“I thought you said that you were studying to be a doctor, Coalback. What was all that stuff about ‘half-barrels’ and ‘leverage’?” Rainbow finished, adjusting herself so that Coalback leaned against her in a more comfortable way.

Coalback looked over to her, his ears falling flat to his head as they continued to walk. “Well, that’s what I always wanted to do. And I ended up doing some medical work with the family when I showed interest.

But, with me being an omega of the pack myself, I ended up training with metalwork and engineering more of. I ended up having quite the- uh ... talent for it? That sounds right, talent.” He finished, trying out his words again as he tried to explain. He chuckled under his breath. “I’m starting to become quite the ‘jack of all trades’ it’s taken me five years to realize that.” He stumbled on his left front hoof for a second, his wing extended and rested on top of her on instinct.

“AH!” Rainbow spat, catching the both of them as she tried to support his full weight. “Dude, why are you so heavy?” She grunted, continuing their movement toward the city hall that had grown closer, if only by a third of the way.

“Don’t complain, it’s why Knight and I were able to fight through the storm. My body is more densely created than almost any other creature, so I weigh a lot. One of the gifts of being one of the Blaidd-Ddyn, one of many.” He replied, taking his own weight on the three hooves he could use.

She took another look at him, examining him one last time before they entered the city building. One of his shoulders looked deflated, the muscle that had once been there was gone. The weapon he had described must have knocked out more than he had been willing to admit, every motion of that arm seemed to pain him.

As they approached the door, Twilight asked another question, her curiosity expressed through the excited glimmer in her eyes that she only ever got when a new subject of study presented itself. “That’s something else I wanted to ask you about, Coalback. These notes, while some of them were confusing as the words didn’t decipher correctly like you said they might, the drawings and notes I could decipher were fascinating.

“Like your first account of your first change,” Her neck worked up and down, a silent swallow. “while disturbing, was very fascinating. And the drawings that you created were just as much. I assume that most of them were of the Wolf transformations, some of the bones and muscle structures were completely alien to me.” She opened the door to the building stopping her recounting to look up at him with begging eyes. “Could you help me with some of the details ... later?” She smiled sheepishly, trying her best to look innocent.

He smiled, even if it was a bit forced. “Maybe later, but I should try and explain as much as I can soon. I can tell that ... things ... are about to ...” He sniffed at the air as they walked into the building. “Something smells strange.” He said suddenly, stopping in his tracks as his eyes fell on the mayor.

She was standing near the center of the main hall, shuffling through several reams of parchment and talking to a scrawny looking intern. He sniffed at the air again, directing his nose toward the mare. “What did you say those things were called? Their exact names.” He said, his voice lowering to an almost inaudible whisper.

“Changelings?” Rainbow replied, confusion dotting her eyes at his sudden inquiry. “Why, what’s up?” She asked, trying to divine some sort of reasoning to his seemingly random sniffing.

“I don’t like that smell, that’s not a pony smell, for sure.” He nodded, confirming his statement with another sniff and a nod of his head. “Take me to the mayor.” He finished darkly, his eyes narrowing as he locked onto her.

They complied, moving forward so that he could walk more easily. As they moved forward, approaching the silver dyed pony as she looked up to them. She smiled warmly, opening her mouth to greet them as she waved off the skinny colt.

“Ah, I’d like to say that it’s good to see you, but under the circumstances ...” She paused, her voice quickly dying to a dark tone as she watched Coalback. “Is there something wrong, sir?” She continued, her eyes growing suspicious as she watched him sniff the air again.

“You could say that ...” Coalback said in a low tone, his eyes narrowing. “You look strange, Mayor. Have you been sleeping well? ... eating well?” He finished, turning his low hung head to stare at her with one eye.

“Just fine, if it’s all the same to you. Although having a monster terrorize the town can get to the best of ponies.” She said, and at first her voice seemed offended. But as she spoke, it seemed to take on an almost snide tone.

Coalback jumped up, lifting a hoof and pointing it at her eyes. “Demon of deception, reveal yourself before any more harm has come to these ponies. Release the one you have impostered and leave this place.” He growled, his words taking on a very serious tone, like he was addressing a pony that had insulted him.

The mayor looked surprised, almost insulted. “What are you talking about? This is becoming ridiculous, I think I’ve had enough of this. Now if you don’t mind-” She said, starting to turn away, but Coalback drew her to pause as he blurted out.

“I name thee,” He said, his voice echoing with a force of will that made the mayor stop as if suddenly frozen on the spot. “Changeling.” He said, spitting out the word and making the mayor flinch. “Reveal your true form, Changeling!” He shouted, lunging forward and away from the two mares supporting him.

The mayor screamed out, green flames bursting forth and tearing away parts of her form. She screamed the entire time as the disguise fell away and she revealed her actual, insect-like shape. Coalback tackled the changeling to the floor almost as soon as the transformation was complete, knocking the creature to the floor and using his body as a deadweight to hold her down.

She screamed out, hissing and screeching as she tried to squirm away. Coalback growled in a way that was definitely not natural for a pony to make, instantly silencing the changeling. “So that’s how they are doing it, isn’t it? Influencing the diarchy through disguise and lies, or simply ensuring that prey is available for the army? What was your plan once I showed up?” He pushed a hoof against the chitin covered, pony-like shape of the changeling.

Something made a cracking sound, the changeling reacting with a pained screech. Coalback snarled again, moving to bite onto the more flexible ear of the changeling but snapping his jaws shut just beside it. The changeling flinched by reflex and started breathing heavily. “I shan’t be allowed to tell you!” It responded, squirming again as it tried to get out from under him.

Its head shot back, connecting with a loud crack against Coalback’s chin and breaking the skin there. He grunted, trying to keep his hold as the changeling’s arm broke free. It reached up, and using the holes in its hoof to scratch at his face. Coalback flinched back, shutting his eyes tightly so that they couldn’t be scratched. He snarled again, struggling to regain control of the changeling again.

It was nearly as strong as he was, even if he was injured and weakened. They grappled for what felt like an eternity, their hooves pushing against each other. Coalback reprimanded himself mentally, he never was good with close quarters combat. But then again, nothing had ever matched him, not in a long time.

Rainbow and Twilight could only look on with desperation, Coalback and the changeling struggling on the ground. The horn of the changeling lit up momentarily, but its concentration kept breaking as Coalback struggled with it.

“Twilight! Do something!” Rainbow yelled out in desperation, unwilling to come close to Coalback while he was in the middle of a fight. She had seen him strike out, he might only see her as another threat if she tried.

“I-I can’t!” Twilight stuttered, shaking her head in her panic, that feeling of helplessness washing over them as Coalback locked the changeling in place with one of his arms under its chin. He squeezed down on it, just barely cutting off its airway. They continued to struggle as Coalback rolled back over so that he was on top of the changeling again.

“If you do not tell me, I will take what I want to know.” Coalback said darkly, his lips peeling back to reveal his alien teeth. But when the changeling didn’t respond other than to double its efforts of escape, he used a hoof to knock its head against the ground. “Very well, you have brought this on yourself. You know, it took me a very long time to figure out how to do this. I hope you appreciate the hard work that went into this.” He said, his mouth twisting into a short grin that ended at the surface and never showed in his eyes. In those greyed disks, regret swam like a serpent through water.

He grasped onto the changeling’s head, he lifted it off the tiled floor and held it firmly so that is couldn’t struggle. He pulled his own head back, the muscles in his neck tensing as he coiled like a snake for a strike. “You may feel a slight tingling sensation.” In one fast and lethal movement, his head shot forward, connecting just above the changeling’s horn with a loud snap.

Something sparked, it was like blue electricity shot between them. It arched upwards along the horn, like when something powerful discharges into a nearby object. The changeling screamed, a primal shriek of pain and fear. Coalback’s eyes flashed open just as soon as the changeling screamed, his whole body tensed as the arc disconnected from him.

The entire building had gone eerily silent, the changeling had started to convulse, its compound eyes clouded over. Coalback made a choking sound, his eyes losing their greyed out quality, if only for a moment.

They changed, they weren’t just a dull green anymore. They practically glowed in iridescent, shifting tones. The grey backed away, flowing away like his eyes had suddenly surfaced from cloudy water. But they disappeared back into that grey tone almost as fast, barely giving Rainbow enough time to react as Twilight shouted to her.

“He’s entered the hive mind! We have to break the physical contact before he’s overcome by it!” She yelped, rushing over to Coalback and throwing her shoulder against him but making little progress.

Rainbow shook herself out of her stupor to rush over as well. She barreled into his side, making his body rock over the shaking changeling. They both backed up, ramming into his side again and sliding him sideways over the smooth chitin. “Can’t you use your magic?” Rainbow grunted, backing away again to prepare for another ramming.

“I don’t think that I can, he described his rings as some sort of leaching enchantment.-” She grunted as they pushed against Coalback again, making another few inches of progress. “They would just suck up any magic that I tried to use on his body, both directly and indirectly. I don’t know how it works, and he admitted that he didn’t know either. But either way, I can’t use my magic on him unless he gives me explicit consent.” They rushed forward again, finally pushing Coalback far enough for his body to slide off on his own.

Coalback instantly recovered from his frozen state, he took a loud open breath, his limbs shaking as he finally disconnected from the changeling. The changeling collapsed, its own lungs pumping like bellows as it recovered from the experience. Coalback coughed, a loud, wet noise that ended with him spitting out a discolored glob from his throat.

He continued to cough as he motioned at the changeling, he finally managed to choke out something before the coughing continued. “Restrain it-” He continued to cough, curling in on himself as he tried to recover.

Twilight jumped up, casting a spell that wrapped the changeling in heavy chains as she did. Rainbow moved over to Coalback, putting herself against him so that he would know that she was there. She put a hoof against his strained face, rubbing another along his back.

“I’m okay.” He said, the coughing dying down and stopping as he cleared his throat again. He turned and spat out another discolored glob.

Rainbow backed away as he shifted into a sitting position, his legs tucked under him as he continued to try and catch his breath. “Quick thinking on that.” He mumbled, rubbing a hoof on his temples. “But I did find what we needed.” He said, looking up at the two mares.

“What did you find?” Twilight said after Rainbow remained silent, shifting her gaze between them and the now tied up changeling.

“One thing’s for sure.” He said, smacking his lips together and trying to remove a disgusting taste from his mouth. “That Discord character of yours, has friends in high places.”

The Lightning Strike

-The Lightning Strike-

Coalback shook himself, his back making a small symphony of popping noises as he did. The white spikes in his ear clacked together as he uncurled from the floor. His head was still reeling from his dive into the changeling’s head.

“Coalback?” Rainbow said gently into his ear. It made his ears ring, like a really bad hangover. He groaned and put a hoof to his head, rubbing gently to try and soothe his aching skull.

“I’m fine.” He repeated, pushing himself up onto his hooves unsteadily.

“What did you do to it?” Rainbow asked, gently helping him up. He took a few strained breaths before answering.

“Something that was both extremely dangerous, and absolutely illegal.” Coalback started, smacking his lips together and making a scowl that showed the discomfort he felt. “Mental magic is very dangerous, I could have easily been touched by the black doing that.” He shook himself, a shiver hidden in an attempt to shake it off.

“Coalback’s right, mental magic is something that few ponies can do safely, let alone master. I’m actually very surprised that you knew how to do that, it’s a closely guarded wing of study. How did you ...?” Twilight said, starting to relax now that the changeling was secured.

“My brain is wired differently from a normal ... a normal pony’s.” He said carefully, closing his eyes and concentrating on his balance. “I try to compare it to a ball of yarn. Your minds are like a slightly tangled ball, not messy, but not organized. But I can see mine as easily as a pony reads a book. Makes mind magic as easy as flipping a page, but that,” He said, looking down at the changeling. “was very different.

“It wasn’t like an attack, where an opponent tries to force it’s influence over your own. It was like ... like a thousand ideas, and thoughts all fighting for attention. I think that whoever was doing it, uses that tactic to distract the mind that they are trying to control, and slip in with the noise.”

Coalback nodded, looking back up at Twilight. “Thankfully, their queen doesn’t think differently from most of the opponents I’ve faced. I was only just able to bring up my own defences in time to push her away.” He frowned down at the changeling, a thought crossing his features. “What can you tell me about these things?”

“These are the same things that attacked Canterlot, they feed on love.” Rainbow said, letting Coalback lean against her for support.

“Recent study has shown that changelings might actually be able to feed on other forms of emotion, but love is still one of the strongest emotions they can feed on. Chrysalis is their queen, which I think you know, you may have just met her.” Twilight said, a scroll and quill floating in her magical grip. “I’ll be sure that Celestia knows about this. This is all kinds of bad.” She said, rolling up the parchment and putting it in her saddlebags to be sent later.

“No time for the mail service, Twilight.” Coalback said, shaking his head and looking down at the changeling. “You’ll have to either have to tell her yourself or get a hold of her through magical means.” He said, prodding the chitin covered imposter with a hoof. “The mayor is dead, by the way. They ate her.” He finished darkly.

Twilight suddenly looked like she was about to be sick, but spoke anyway. “I have a way. What are you going to do with it?” She asked, motioning to the changeling as she fought off another wave of nausea.

Coalback hummed in the back of his throat, thinking for a moment before he replied. “Well, I can rightly say that I’m curious. What do they taste like? I’m betting they taste like chicken.” The changeling visibly flinched at his words, pulling against her restraints with the intent of getting as far away from Coalback as possible. “But we should just burn her. Too dangerous to bring it along, it will probably be best.” He stopped, twisting his head around to rub at his recently scarred shoulder with his chin, wiping blood from the open cut there onto himself.

The changeling mumbled around the gag in its mouth, a pleading sound escaping its throat. Coalback leaned down and pulled away the gag so that the creature could speak. it spat out the cloth that had been stuffed into its mouth, catching it on its fangs as it spoke around it desperately. “Please,” It said, in a rather feminine voice that caught Coalback by slight surprise. “Don’t kill me! I didn’t want to kill the nice mare! They did it, those big Dyreswm! Then the Queen made me- GAH!” She convulsed suddenly, her eyes flashing green.

Coalback jumped, looking toward Twilight and shouting an order at her. “Chalk, now!” He said, making her jump as she instantly pulled out a stick of chalk. She floated out it to him in justa moment, he snatched it and limped to the convulsing changeling.

He pressed the chalk to the floor, etching a shaky circle around the changeling. Coalback closed it and threw the chalk away from him. He reached up and placed a hoof onto his chin, mumbling something incoherently. He flicked his hoof out to the circle, spreading blood out in a spray over the chalk, and the changeling stopped her struggling.

“What did you do?” Rainbow asked, even as Twilight gasped and stared down at the air above the circle.

“How did you do that?!” The changeling suddenly shouted, shifting to a sitting position in her restraints and staring intently at Coalback. “How is it possible for you to cut her off like that?! Oh, the freedom! I haven’t thought like this before!” She dropped back to the floor, a content face dominating her insect-like features.

“That is a very strong circle, Coalback. I mean, I know that you’re powerful, but I had no idea you were capable of doing something like this.” Twilight said, leaning down to stare at the air above the circle’s line. “Do you mind if I examine your ley lines?” She said suddenly, her head darting up to look at Coalback with crazed excitement in her eyes.

Coalback balked, falling on his flank as he tried to back away on instinct. “Maybe later, Twilight. We have slightly more pressing issues to deal with at the moment, don’t you think?” He said, his voice cracking as he tried to delay her from a new study.

“What did he do?” Rainbow repeated, moving up to look at the line herself. She couldn’t see anything special about it, it was just a freaking chalk line. She reached out a hoof to try and examine the line further.

“WAIT!” Coalback and Twilight both yelled, freezing her movement just before her hoof could cross the line. She pulled back instinctively.

“What?! What is it?” Rainbow said, darting her eyes around the building before settling them again on the faces of her friends. They instantly relaxed as her hoof moved away from the circle, Twilight spoke first.

“That’s a circle of power, it seals energies inside, and outside of it. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out. If it’s powerful enough that is.” She explained, motioning toward the relaxing changeling who was stretching out like a cat in the sun. “That circle might be the only thing stopping a repeat of the event with the stallion in my basement. And it must be cutting off the hive mind as well.” Twilight finished, making a face as the changeling made a sultry groan of pleasure.

“Okay ...” Rainbow said, raising an eyebrow as the changeling mare continued to writhe in pleasure.

“If you want to keep your new freedom of thought and whatever organs that are important to you, I would suggest that you hold still.” Coalback said darkly, even as his face started to turn red under his grey fur. It seemed to work however, as the changeling instantly froze at his words.

“What?” She squeaked, fear covering those fanged features.

“Last time we caught one of the ponies working for the enemy, he ... died. Violently.” Coalback said, looking over the female again. “Tell me, do you want to feel free like this, all the time?” Coalback asked, a small smile decorating his still bleeding face.

The changeling sat up like a firework rocket again, bolt upright as she looked at him with childlike hope. “You could do that?” She said, something sparking in those segmented eyes. “Cuz, you have no idea how freaking good this feels.” She giggled, bouncing in place again as she stared at him with eager hope.

“Yes, I can.” He said, nodding his head and smiling genuinely. “But if I do that, you have to swear to me.” He said, speaking like a pony to a foal, slowly and enunciating dramatically. “You have to swear to follow my orders, I’ll let you keep your free thought, but I want your loyalty.” He finished, nodding slowly as the changeling followed his motion excitingly. “Repeat after me: ...” He continued, speaking in his staccato tongue for several stanzas of what seemed to be a poem.

The changeling repeated it perfectly, even the sound and tone of his voice was repeated. Coalback looked surprised, his eyes opening and closing several times before he spoke again. “Well, I guess that’s a new feeling. Never had something swear its services to me like that.” He smiled, a prideful look overtaking his smile as he stared down at the smiling changeling again.

“So this is like- like our own little hive.” She whispered conspiratorially, giggling like a foal joining a little club. Coalback rolled his eyes, returning to a neutral expression.

“Minus the brain control.” He mumbled, turning his head toward Twilight. “I’m going to have to go into the circle. Can you close it after me so that her previous masters can’t get to us?” She nodded to him, watching as he took a step toward the circle. “Okay, I want you to imagine a wall.” He said, addressing the changeling again. “I want it to be the most sturdy, airtight wall you can imagine. Because when I step over this line, that hive mind is going to crash down on you all over again.” He said, watching the changeling carefully evolve to a somber expression.

She nodded, squinting her eyes shut as she concentrated forcefully. Coalback watched her for a moment, letting her create the image he had described. Then he stepped over the circle.

The changeling flinched instantly, falling back to the floor. She was visibly fighting whatever force was pressing on her after the barrier fell. Coalback quickly hopped over it, Twilight’s horn lighting as he passed over it and straddled the changeling in the limited space. He ignored the suggestive position and waited for Twilight to finish putting up the circle.

Something in the air snapped, a visible warp in the light blinked into existence for an instant as the changeling relaxed again. She let out another sultry moan, much to Coalback’s discomfort. He reached up with a hoof, concentrating as he dipped it into the blood still coating his chin. It started to flow again, but black like ink. He covered the tip of his hoof in the ink-like blood and pulling it away.

A string of the marbled liquid bridged the distance until it snapped back into place. “Hold still.” He said, his words freezing the changeling in her movements as she looked up at him and his blood covered hoof. He moved it to her face, smearing a circle onto her forehead below the horn. He made four lines that spiked away from it, like the points on a simple compass rose for a map. He finished the symbol with a dot in the center. Above that he placed the same angled cross, muttering something under his breath.

“I don’t recognise that symbol, Coalback.” Twilight said, using it as more of a question than a statement.

“Symbols don’t have to be absolute, just something to lock the power onto. Something to remind the brain of the works there.” He said, his voice drifting off as he concentrated on the mark on the changeling’s forehead. “There, barely even visible on that chitin of your’s, but it should give you a little leeway. Don’t drop your guard though.” The changeling nodded at him, managing to appear to cross her eyes to look at the symbol.

“I don’t understand.” Rainbow said, looking across at the three.  “What’s going on? Is she on our side now, just like that?” She asked, looking as skeptical as she could.

“If she swore an oath like that, then yes. But if she breaks her promise, I eat her.” Coalback said, finishing with a warm smile. The changeling turned to look at her, nodding happily, as if the threat of being eaten was practically desirable.

“Oh,” Rainbow said, her voice rising a few octaves as she realised how serious he was. “That’s nice. So is she like, part of the pack now?” He looked down at the changeling again, her words bringing a thoughtful expression to his face.

“I suppose it does mean that.” Coalback mumbled, looking carefully down at the changeling with an examining gaze. “But you can’t well integrate yourself among the ponies, or the wolves without a name. That’s something else I saw in there, no name, not even a title.

“And as pack leader it’s my job to give you one. Would you like a name?” He asked, looking at her carefully as she nodded in agreement. He hummed in thought. “I’ve always been terrible at names, but a wolf’s name might be simple enough, so ...” He paused to think, looking deeply into the segmented spheres of the changeling.

“Coalback, not to sound really jealous or anything, but you’re awfully close to her right now.” Rainbow said, a small smirk lifting her lips. Coalback’s cheeks flushed brightly and he rolled his eyes. But he opened them again, an idea suddenly revealing itself to him.

“Shadow ... Lost Shadow. How’s that?” He said, looking back at the changeling with a questioning glance.

“I love it! A name, wow!” She said, shivering in her restraints as Coalback stepped off her and broke the circle with a swipe of his hoof. “Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Woohooohoo!” She cheered, rolling over as she writhed in pleasure. She sat up on her knees, looking at Twilight with a crazy grin. “Can I get out now?” She asked, that same giddy noise bubbling in her throat as she looked like a foal asking for extra cake after dinner.

“Um ...” Twilight said in a questioning tone, looking over to Coalback for confirmation. He nodded to her and she lit her horn to flash away the ropes and chains.

“Good.” The newly christened Lost Shadow said, springing to her hooves and lighting with green flame. In the wake of the green firestorm was Mayor Mare, her silver mane and gentle face revealed in the place of the changeling. “I think you guys were talking about an evacuation?” She said, her voice returning to imitate the mayor’s.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow said, jumping toward the disguised changeling. “I thought you were on our side.” She said, pointing an accusing hoof at the changeling.

“I am.” The disguised Lost Shadow said, slipping back into the mannerisms of the mayor. “And who better to institute an evacuation than the mayor herself?” She winked, starting toward the door.

“She has a point.” Twilight said, nodding her head with narrowed eyes at the changeling. “But keep a close eye on her.” She added quietly, a conspiratorial glance waved toward Rainbow. Rainbow nodded back silently as she supported Coalback and followed the faux mayor.

They exited the building to a sun that sat above the horizon, and a huge crowd. The entire town must have shown up, and they weren’t in a good mood. Various shouts and pejorative words cut through the air, stinging in Rainbow’s ears and turning edges of her vision red as she watched where they were directed.

Coalback’s ears were practically glued to the side of his head as he attempted to ignore or push away any anger brought by their words. His eyes flicked onto the forest edge, just visible from the town hall. The ‘mayor’ walked forward, putting herself in between them and the crowd.

“Greetings, fellow Ponyvillians. Please, calm yourselves.” She said, her voice projecting over the crowd and drawing them down to a boiling murmur. Just like the real one had been able to. “New evidence has presented itself, and the importance of an evacuation has become paramount. I ask that you all gather supplies for the long hike, take only the essentials. Coalback has experience here, I am putting him in charge of this evacuation effort.” The rest of her words died as the crowd exploded into a new uproar.

Coalback scowled, his face twisting as he cringed away from the wall of noise that escalated away from the crowd. He took a step back, his wings fluttering against his sides in a show of frustration. He shook his head, finally looking back up with rage on his features. He spoke one word, it echoed with authority and will, commanding those who heard it to follow his influence.

“CEASE!” He yelled, the force behind those words countering even Luna’s Canterlot Voice. And the crowd’s noise died instantly, not even a whisper. He continued, his voice low and clear in the sudden silence. “An army approaches, you’ve seen it. They will be here by the time the sun falls below the horizon, and if you ponies are still here, they will kill, rape, and pillage. There will be no survivors.” He said, his eyes reading the crowd.

“We have precious little time. Gather every pony here, bring only essentials. That means non-perishable foods, water, tools, and weapons if you have them. Load carts. The elderly and injured are priority, if they need to be, load them onto the carts as well.

“Everypony will pull their share, stallions and mares, rich and poor. No exceptions. Anything you don’t want destroyed will need to be hidden, or if it’s small enough, taken with you. Keep your loads light, you have to carry them all the way there.” He finished, motioning to the mayor when the ponies remained static.

“You heard the pony.” She said, recovering herself from his outburst. “Get moving. No time for dilly dally, we leave in one hour.” She said, rolling her hoof in a ‘get moving’ gesture. The ponies reacted, if begrudgedly, and started toward their homes.

The next hour was a blur of movement, the entire town had sprung into action. Ponies ran about, carts loading with materials. The contents varied, camping supplies, family photo books, and even a kitchen sink. Coalback had wandered through the town, his small group directing ponies to try and make the move easier, and faster.

The hour deadline had nearly completed, and the ponies started to gather at the front of the town hall in a foul tempered convoy. Rainbow and her small, strange, gathering met up with the rest of the Elements there, and they gathered around.

“Twilight?” Rarity said, confusion in her voice as she approached, but she refrained from the same reaction Rainbow Dash had had in the cell. “What’s going on, Rainbow Dash? Why is the mayor supporting us all of the sudden?” Rarity continued to look on in a confused tone, speaking for the rest of the group as they looked on.

“Twilight’s been working for us, behind the backs of the rest of the town. Turns out she’s been a lot of help.” Rainbow said, placating the dark looks from the rest of the ponies. They reacted in a way that Coalback expected, and he ignored them as they shared a heartfelt embrace, looking out over the rest of the ponies gathered there.

Many were looking toward him with contempt, angry stares and dark looks. He had seen it before, and it was no surprise. He had just forced them to pack up their livelihoods and move their asses out as refugees. He looked past them, toward the mountain range that would soon be their destination.

He turned back to the forest behind them, a dark gloom had fallen over the place. He filtered out the varied apologies and greetings from the mares and examined the forest thoroughly. It was definitely darker now, and while normally not unusual, it felt like a bad omen. The orange, dimming light of the sun cast eerie shadows into the trees, hiding anything more than a few meters into the treeline.

The feeling alone was enough to make him push directly past the pain in his body. He grunted as his back hoof took his weight again, the hip burning with the echo of the spearhead’s extreme damage. His shoulder burned brightly, magic left over from the various rituals that had attempted to heal the massive damage there working in it’s smoldering patterns. He had already pushed himself too far, extremely so.

Flying through the storm had nearly ripped his shoulder apart again, even with the gem’s power and influence letting him move through it perfectly. And hiking back to the cottage had been just as bad, the head of the spear had carved away at the ligaments and bones, creating damage that no amount of healing magic could possibly heal fully. Only time would tell.

He started walking back into the town, almost unnoticed by the mares before Rainbow called out to him. “Coalback? Where are you going? The town’s about to leave!” She said, her voice started to edge with desperation as he kept walking. “What are you doing?” She said one last time, starting to walk after him.

“The contingency plan.” He said darkly, staring at the moving sun and not turning back to them as he kept walking. This seemed to affect Twilight most of all.

She jumped, some sort of fear starting make her shake in her hooves. “What?! But we can leave, there’s no need!” She said, desperation making her voice high pitched and shaky.

“We are out of time.” Coalback said, starting to break into a trot as the sun suddenly dipped under the horizon.

The disguised mayor mare didn’t even flinch, she turned to the crowd around her. “Move!” She shouted, a commanding tone that got the ponies to start their march instantly. “Let’s go, let’s go! Fast as you can, and don’t look back!” She continued, trotting along behind the last of them as they went.

“Coalback, stop! We have to go with the town!” Rainbow yelled starting her own trot and very nearly catching up to him before something exploded.

Coalback’s arm lit up with golden light, the nearly destroyed ring flying apart and sending red hot metal flying away from him. A bubble appeared, expanding in the wake of the explosion, a golden wave of stringy light that billowed out like a sail. Rainbow hit it even as it continued to expand above and around her, and stopped.

It was like running into a rubber band net, and it pushed her back onto her flank. It stretched upward, glowing like fire and reaching to the sky to flow in an ethereal breeze. But it must have been just in time, because something bigger exploded nearby. An entire house simply disappeared in a cloud of dust, fire, and wooden debris. Afterwards the sound reached her, a screeching, like hooves on a blackboard. And the sound of air suddenly expanding louder than any sonic explosion.

The debris flew past Coalback as he jumped over a fallen tree and stopped, his clothes billowed as the shock wave passed him. He skidded to a painful stop, his legs shaking as he stood up on his back hooves. He stood, using his wings and tail to keep balance on his unsteady hooves. And something rose out of the forest, like Death rearing its ugly head.

Lights, like flares, rose up in a steady arc. Their bright luminescence flew fast, but seemed to crawl due to the distance. Coalback’s head tracked them in their fiery paths, watching the smoke trace their slow approach. He reached up with a hoof, working open the collar around his neck and pulling out the brightly glowing gem.

But he never touched it.

It moved on its own, floating out a few inches in front of his chest and throbbing in a steady beat that slowly accelerated. He pushed his right hoof forward, a gesture that felt more powerful than it looked. The lights continued on their set paths, eventually reaching their apex and starting their screaming descent.

Rainbow rushed back the glowing barrier, hearing her friends race to her side as she swiped at the silky surface. “Coalback! Wait!” Rainbow screamed, watching him tilt his head vaguely in her direction before returning to gaze at the banshee lights. Her mind raced, fear spiking into her veins as she tried to get his attention again.

It was a dream she had had, a nightmare. Coalback had been there, shrouded in brilliant light, like he was now. And he had only been there for a second, his eyes locked on her as he stood, like he was now. Every part of the dream was coming into being before her, and it was starting to really scare her, especially with how the dream had ended.

The lights rained down, falling like meteorites toward Coalback and the shield. Racing and spraying sparks out of their burning white centers. He stood stoically as they came closer and closer to him. Their angles changed as they fell, starting to level into a less steep dive. A roar of air rushing away from the lights.

And then another ring exploded, and the lights halted their movement with a noise that rivalled the Rainboom in its intensity. Coalback’s clothes billowed, the shield behind him reacting in kind. The lights creating a virtual starscape in front of him.

But Coalback was struggling, his arms shaking. And golden cracks traced their way up his arm, splitting it like brittle glass.

“NO!” Rainbow screamed, her voice lost among the roar of the static lights. Her hooves fought against the force pressed against the shield as it flexed. It was happening, just like the dream.

The cracks spread like fire across his body, gaining in intensity as they continued. And eventually he simply flew apart, the pieces of his body flying away in the wind that those unnatural lights created. But she stopped, there was something that hadn’t been in the dream.

There, standing where Coalback had, and rising to his full height, was the creature from the soul gaze. A set of words echoed in her head as she watched the upright creature take Coalback’s place.

‘... something that isn’t worth being called pony, or dog, or human.’

That word, human. It was the only thing he had said that night that didn’t make sense. But it fit, even if her mind screamed that it didn’t.

Coalback’s head turned, that flat face towering above what his previous height had been. His features stood out, every shape accented by the shadows cast by the dramatic lights. His ears were flat, unmoving and expressionless. But she could see sadness in his tiny eyes, and regret in the water that fell from them. He stood like that for a while, half turned to them, arm still extended toward the lights,hand open wide.

She felt herself shake with fear, her body detaching itself from her brain as she stared on at him. It was like staring at a house fire, hard to look away, harder not to feel the flame’s heat.

His eyes hardened, and he turned back to the lights, looking past them and into the forest with rage in his heart. He pushed forward with his arm, taking a step forward and yelling wordlessly. And the lights jumped away, like he had hit them back toward the forest. They flew into motion instantly, screaming back up into the air and streaking above the forest, much faster than when they had arrived.

They flew into the air, their arcs bringing them high over the trees. He raised his arms high, the hands spreading wide and then closing, like he was grabbing something with them. And the sky turned black.

It was a sudden change, like night falling in a wave, but murkier, like lake water. And when Coalback lowered his arm’s to be level to the ground, the lights dive bombed. They flew toward the ground in a blur, and impacted with a brilliant explosion that sent a visible shockwave flying from the forest’s edge, flattening the trees there.

And in the wake of the destruction, hundreds of bodies burned, and the ground melted into shale. Other explosions shook the piles of burned trees and bodies that further minced the already destroyed corpses, the weapons that they had carried were detonating. And everything grew quiet, far too quiet.

More of the army of creatures started to march from the burning wreckage of the once dense forest, and stopping where the edge had once stood. They stopped, brilliantly shining armor glinting in the glow of the huge, flowing shield. It was probably more threatening than when they had fired on the town, but they seemed to be waiting.

And they didn’t have long to do so.

Smoke billowed up from the creature’s cloven feet, flowing up like many wispy snakes as the ground smoldered underneath.  The smoke flowed upward as Coalback lowered his arms and stared on. It flowed into a smoky cloud above the army that continued to march into a pointy wall of death, and then there was laughter.

It was a mocking laugh, one that could have driven ponies mad in earlier centuries. But that laugh mocked everything that ponies believed in: peace, harmony, balance. None of that meant anything to that laugh.

None of that meant anything to Discord.

He swirled out of the cloud like the snake his body resembled, curling around it and taking a seat on top. “Ah, hello!” He cooed, his words holding all the contempt in the world. A glass of wine appeared in his claw, red like blood, or maybe it was. “My, my. I did not expect you to do that, not here. I must admit, I am very impressed.” The draconequus commended in a tone that dripped with mirth. The glass floated away from his hand as he clapped slowly, the crimson liquid untouched by the spirit’s lips.

“Admittedly, though, your performance was lacking.” The spirit of chaos continued, pausing in his applause. “After all, you’ve spent yourself, daemon, on a lightshow. And you can barely even stand, look at yourself.” He said, waving a dismissive paw at the erect standing being that stood in defiance to the destroyer of peace. “So I can hardly say that I actually am impressed, now that I think of it.

“You are weak, and it would only take a wave of my claws to wipe your pathetic ass off this mudball.” He said, finishing the motion with a wave of his paw. “But this has been so entertaining!” He laughed, pointing a claw at the human that stood stoic, mostly. Coalback’s legs were shaking, the long appendage’s muscles flexing in erratic patterns. “You! Of all things, in love.” He mocked, clasping his hands together and them close to his long, goat-like chin. “Oh how romantic.

“It’s like- what is that children’s story from your world? Beauty and the Beast! That’s it, where the beautiful woman turns the raging beast, back into a handsome prince.

“And you actually thought, that that could ever happen to you?” The draconequus was interrupted by his own laughter, howling in delight at the joke.  “You and that damned spirit. An old war criminal, and a kin murdering daemon.” His voice grew dark, those crimson and yellow eyes looking back on the creature that had replaced Coalback, that was Coalback, with malice and hatred.

Coalback took a deep breath, the air hissing as it flew through his nose with force. “Then you do not know who I am.” His voice bellowed, flatter and more staccato than before. Maybe it was the fact that he didn’t have a muzzle anymore, no acoustics. But plenty of power and emotion, he was extremely angry. “Perhaps I should educate you.” He finished, reaching down shakily and grasping onto the destroyed branch there. He lifted it in his hand, pressing one end to the ground and leaning against the burned and splintered wood.

“And what could you possibly tell me, that I don’t already know.” Discord replied, that same scowl and hatred raging in his voice as he finally took an arrogant sip of the drink he had summoned, it turning stringy like spaghetti as he leaned away from the cup and slurped the rest out. He smiled as he turned back to the human, his teeth stained red. “I am everywhere, there is nothing that I do not know. I am a god!” He finished, bellowing out the words and rising from the cloud to flex his arms. “Who are you to know what I do not?” Discord demanded, staring with malcontent at Coalback.

“I am.” He said, whether from rage or from pain, his shoulders shook. “I am Douglass ...” He said, the words starting to radiate power.

“I AM DOUGLASS JAMES COLEBECK!” He roared, lifting the makeshift staff and slamming it onto the ground, the sound echoing like it would in a big entrance hall, unnatural. “Now you know who I am, so who are you?” He yelled, pointing a finger at the spirit of chaos. Discord balked, jumping back in the air as he was attacked verbally.

He let out a roar, completely animal in nature and without that mocking voice that usually graced his features. “Oh no you don’t!” The human yelled, lifting the staff and striking the ground again. “You wanted this! Who are you?” He yelled again, his words screaming across the darkened streets and visibly making the creature of chaos flinch.

A vast sound, like something you’d hear in the deep ocean, moaned through the sky.

“Thrice I command thee!” The human boomed, his hand rising to display three digits aimed high. “Thrice I bid thee! By my name I command thee: Tell me who you are!”

And then, everything became still, deafening silence in the wake of the wall of sound. And Discord, curled in on himself. A serpentine-like fetal position. And a voice rang out, it came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It echoed in the mind of every single sentient being for miles around, and shook the bones of every one that heard it.

I AM THE BRINGER OF CHAOS!

I AM THE MAKER OF DISHARMONY!

I AM DISCORD!

For a moment, nothing moved. And for just a moment, only a second and no more, everything fell into place. For just a moment, he could be understood. For only an instant, the Lord of Chaos had become revealed. But then that moment passed, and Discord slipped back into mystery again.

“Well then, asshat.” Douglass, the human, yelled at him. “Welcome to Hell!” He bellowed, the words overflowing with power that shook the air around him.

The last ring on his arm disintegrated, fire and lightning shooting free in overflowing power as he shouted. “FLAMMAMURUS!” The ground groaned, like a dying giant bellowing its last cry as it fell. And the ground before, and under, that demon army exploded.

Fiery magma, and bright red flame, an unnatural color that burned a black mark into the retina, sprayed from the ground like a geyser. The Direswm closest to the inferno burst into flames from the pure heat that boiled away flesh and bone. Magma flew high into the air, hanging in bright, furious heat as it flowed. The wall of fire spread as far as the forest’s edge went, until even the highest flying liquid rock was hidden.

“INFRIGA!” Douglass boomed, the word echoing intense cold as it swept over the front facing edge of the wall of fire. And the fire turned to black rock, blocking the army from any further forward movement.

Wails of burning, pain echoed from behind the wall of cooling, jagged rock that separated the ponies from the monstrous army. The golden light that had once pulses brightly and lit the street with radiance in the suddenly dull and lightless night, died. Douglass visibly wilted, leaning hard against the splintered tree branch that supported his upright stature.

His chest heaved heavily as his hand darted out, catching the gem as it fell from its invisible perch. He shakily returned the gem to its nearly destroyed holster. He carefully turned, the shield that he now faced started to tear.

Falling away like wet paper and dropping the still stunned Rainbow back down to her hooves, and into a scared, low bow. And the rest of Ponyville followed in example.

And before long, no soul dared look into the iridescent eyes of the being who had stood up against Discord, stared him in the eye, and slapped him down to size.

That Thundering Echo

-That Thundering Echo-

Rainbow could remember the last time the town had been in a position like this. Nightmare Night, the first one after Luna had been freed from the Nightmare. She had shown up, and everypony had instantly dropped into a bow. Cowering at her hooves even as Luna continued to look on in confusion. But this time was different.

There would be no misunderstanding, no realization that the evil that had been there was gone now. This was like one of those stories that ponies told each other by a fireside, to scare each other. They were stories of an old race that disappeared from Equestria after the Fall of Discord

The stories she had heard, and the few she actually considered believable, had said that they were on level with gods. Stronger than the even Princesses themselves are. Their royalty were supposedly unkillable, and infinitely powerful. Their temples and ruins were everywhere, even the old castle in the Everfree had once been one of them.

In the stories, they had fought wars so expansive that the land would be stained red with blood for years. And there had been wars between the ponies and that ancient race, devious wars that had been more horrible than the ones during the age of the city states. They had used tactics thatate at the sanity of ponies, even changing shape with their strange magic. They would disguise themselves and infiltrate the pony cities, and then destroy them from the inside.

It had only been the fight against Discord that had stopped them from wiping out the first civilizations of ponies. They had fought beside the ponies, and any other country that would help, to drive back the spirit and his army, and then they had simply disappeared. Nopony knew what happened to them, but their legend lived past them.

Everypony knew what a Grey Angel looked like, and one was standing over them.

The story behind the name was a strange one. Rainbow knew that that wasn’t their actual name, it was the one that the ancient ponies had given them. She didn’t know the actual name, human was a word that had seemed made up. She only knew that it had to have been something that the ponies of that time couldn’t understand.

Or that those who knew it, never lived to tell it.

The Grey Angels were notoriously secretive, so much so that they were infamous for the incredible amount of deaths that surrounded them. The assortment of tortures that they were famous for was appalling, and extensive. Nothing compared to the almost instinctual fear that they had created during their time.

Hell, he had practically thrown it in her face, spelled it out with words in the sky. His strange magic that never seemed to make sense. His abnormal strength, the change to a wolf. Even his name should have been a tip off, if that was actually his name.

This was a lot worse than when Luna made a surprise visit to Ponyville, and was mistaken for Nightmare Moon. This was worse because it had been Coalback. The pony that had saved her from a surprise attack in Canterlot, who had defended the entire town when a group of terrorists had threatened them. The one who had said that she was pretty, had made her feel like nopony had before.

And now,  a part of her wasn’t sure if any of that was real at all.

Rainbow felt the tears before the actual grief hit her, it was like something heavy had just fallen inside her chest. And she never just cried, ever. Not in front of her friends, and especially not in front of the entire town. But this, she couldn’t handle this.

It was like the rug had been pulled out from under her, the love that had been there could all have been just a trick to make another stab at the ponies of Equestria. And the entire town knew it too. They knew that if Douglass was a Grey Angel, he was here to destroy them, not to save them.

Her body wracked with the silent sobs that just wouldn’t stop, she couldn’t make any noise, her body was too tense with fear. It was a worse feeling than having your wing broken, worse than a buffalo burn, worse than being crushed under a two ton brick.

She heard his heavy steps first, and then she heard his strained breathing. He had stopped in front of her, but she couldn’t bring back that resolve that would have let her face him, tell him how much she hurt because of this. But he spoke first, his words were strained, and flat, but commanding and calm.

“The evacuation is still in effect, nopony dies today.” He said, but even past that flatness of his words, she could hear the fear shaking it.

It wasn’t the sort of shaking that a pony’s voice had when they were seriously angry, she knew that shake like the back of her hoof. But the other shaking she did know, was the one Fluttershy had almost all the time, one of barely held back terror. And that shake seemed to permeate every syllable of Douglass’s voice.

“Start walking to Canterlot, we rest at midnight.”

She didn’t dare move, the tears falling from her eyes going uninterrupted. If this was the end, she didn’t want to see it coming. But that ending strike never came, instead something warm rested against the side of her head.

It was his hand, it was warm and calloused from scrambling for survival all those years ago. She heard the carts start moving, their creaking wheels rolling over the icy snow. It was comforting in the feeling that with the rest of Ponyville leaving behind them, something wanted to stay with her.

But she couldn’t help but feel even more terrified, that touch couldn’t have been sincere. Like when a veterinarian calmed a sick animal, before putting it down.  Her body shook with sobs and terror, it was all about to end. The hand pulled away after she started to shake though, she heard his breath catch in his throat.

She he looked up, surprise and fear shocking her from the prone position. She followed his hand as it came up to his chest, the smooth and muscled limb retreating away from her. His image filled her vision, every detail becoming imprinted in her minds eye in an instant. He was crouched down in front of her, his long legs folded underneath him. His shirt had ripped open, a line splitting it down the middle and revealing the toned muscles underneath. But what really caught her eye, was the scars.

They were easily visible on his almost hairless chest, whatever wiry hair that was there didn’t seem to serve any purpose at all. Peeking out from his right side, was a burn. It looked more like the roots of a purple plant growing under his skin than anything, a lighting burn that etched its pattern into his flesh. There were four thin lines that came down from over his shoulder,  but as thin as they were they must have been deep at the time. The scars around his throat were far more visible now, every mark from the teeth that had once torn at the skin there perfectly defined. Each one of the scars told a new part of his past, written in the blood he had shed.

His tattoo stood out in stark contrast now, the symbols representing milestones of his life easily visible. The other mark, decorating his other breast, had two new symbols on it as well. He must have made them while he was hiding in the forests, committing the recent events to permanent memory.

But the most disturbing of the scars that she could see, was the one that split his stomach into sections. It started just under his ribs, the line disappearing under the hem of the pants. It was a distorted ‘Y’ shape, the line splitting off just below where his ribs were and following them down. They were perfectly straight lines, the flesh folded over more neatly than Rarity’s meticulous sewing. Surgical was the only word that seemed to fit its description, but something told her that it hadn’t been for his health.

His eyes were different too, no longer swimming in the greyness that had dulled them before. They were an infinitely changing green tone, iridescent and practically glowing. They stared at her, the edges of his irises shaking in an almost imperceptible quiver. He was terrified, and looked like he was holding on for everything that he could. Like the floor had fallen out from under him, and he was trying to cling to the bare walls.

“Rainbow, what are you doing?” He said, genuine concern lacing his flat voice, that fearful shaking still present. “It’s just me, I’m not going to hurt you. Now let’s go.” He said, his hand moving back toward her.

She flinched away from him, her lips forming words without thought. “I-I’m fine.” She said quickly, her heart beating like a drum in her chest. “You go on, I-I’ll catch up.” She stuttered finally, listening as he hesitantly backed away from her.

She didn’t move until the sound of his unsteady footsteps had gone out of earshot. When she felt it was finally safe to move, she simply collapsed onto the snowy ground. She felt the tears return, but she didn’t move to stop them, she didn’t want to move at all. She curled herself inwards, making herself into a tight ball in the hope that the sorrow in her chest could be squeezed out if she tried hard enough.

Her mind was a storm of conflicting thoughts and theories, different halves of herself warring within herself. He had lied, one part said. At the same time, another would scream that he couldn’t do that to her. He never wanted to be with her, that side would say with sorrow. But another half would deny that, the memories of how he acted around her springing forward. And then she would remember the other side of him, the one that would yell, and that would hurt ponies. The one that killed, and snarled, and ate the red meat of the living.

She was only able to lose herself in her thoughts for a moment though, a hoof rested on her shoulder gently and pulled her out of her fear stricken mind. She didn’t move to push it away, not willing to stop her sobbing yet, that fear still holding a tight grip on her. But eventually, even that became exhausted, and she ground slowly to a stop. It was then that the pony offering her comfort, spoke.

“Rainbow?” Twilight’s voice said gently, her own sorrowful fear in her voice evident instantly. “I know that this is scary, b-but I think that you need to get up. There’s no point in staying here anymore.” She finished, the short lecture reviving her resolve somewhat. But it didn’t help Rainbow at all.

“Why?” She said, malice and tears weighing the words so much that it was hard to speak. “Why should I? There’s no point in moving either! Coalback’s gone, and I just-” Her throat closed on her, the words catching on the lump that had formed there.

“B-but, he’s not though.” Twilight tried, Rainbow could almost hear the gears in the unicorn’s head turning. “I should have seen this sooner, but I don’t think that he’s one of- of the Grey. It wouldn’t make sense, right? Not even in the stories did they actually disguise themselves as strong, he wouldn’t have protected us all this time just to turn around and destroy us, it doesn’t make sense!” Twilight continued, her voice growing more sure and confident as she spoke, and slowly drawing Rainbow out of herself with the sound logic.

“In the journal he gave me, there were pictures that at first I didn’t understand. They were of things that looked just like Grey Angels, but in situations that ponies would be in.” She said, pulling out the ratty book and flipping it open. She turned several pages before settling on one and floating it in front of Rainbow’s eyes where she could see, almost forcing her to look. “I think this one is of a female that he was interested in for a while, look at it.”

Writing surrounded the picture in blocky text, unreadable to her, and looking more like random scribbles than actual words. “That isn’t something that a merciless Grey Angel would do. This thing is old, just look at the cover! It is literally impossible to fake the kinds of things in here. A-and look here, this one is about you. One of the last ones he wrote in it.” Twilight flipped to some of the pages near the end of the book.

Unsure of Date, Somewhere above Ponyville;

I can’t believe I found this thing again, I thought it had been destroyed when I left. It turns out that the coat had protected it in the obviously harsh conditions I passed through, thank goodness though, now I can record my thoughts again.

Many things have happened in the last few days, but I shall address the thoughts at the forefront of my mind first. Rainbow Dash. She has been almost all I can think about since I met her. When I first woke up after the dragon fight, I was practically within another nightmare. I was strapped to a bed, a syringe hanging over me in an unseen grip. My panic was almost immeasurable, I felt as if I were back in MenSpthatplace all over again, just thinking about it makes me shiver. But she came in, Rainbow Dash, she instantly took charge of the situation, ridding my panic with the removal of the restraining ponies around me and the syringe that revived such old fears.

She is a beautiful pony, as strange as that sounds in my experience. Never had I thought that I would be in a situation like this, but here I am. I suppose I felt this way when I lived with the wolf tribes packs, but I have only just met these creatures ponies, and only just become of similar form to them. All the same, she enraptures me with her presence. She is strong, every movement of her body presents lean muscle and poised elegance that I cannot see in even the royalty of this place. She reminds me of Abigale, so much so that it almost pains me to see her, almost. They are both so brash in how they do things, never saying what they want but expressing it with their actions, a bit like myself I suppose. I feel, well I suppose that I do anyway, safe around her. I always feel like I can trust her to stand by me, even though neither of us have known the other for much more than two days.

Currently, I am only a room away from her. Merely a hallway and two doors, made from cloudsstrangely enough, are what stand between me and expressing how I actually feel about her. But I fear that such an open show of my affections would scare her away, only more so after my brutal display of physical ability at the train station today and the interrogation of one of the stallions afterward. I should not have let anyof the mares stay to watch that, the stallion actually became incontinent on the spot. However, they must be much tougher than I originally give them credit for, as they rarely voiced any concern during the entire exchange.

But now I know, I am absolutely sure, that I am staying here. And I shall follow in my decision to leave behind that past, as bound to my body as it is, in a way that is already in effect. I will no longer bind myself to the name that my family has given me, and if it were possible, I would also renounce my human shape. I know now that I must stay, and that one way or another, I will show her how I feel. And I refuse to allow her to experience the horror that Abigale felt, and I am well on my way to preventing that.

For the last time with this name,

Douglass James Colebeck

“There are only a few entries written in Equestrian, but from what I was able to determine from the rest of his entries, he really is a good pony.” Twilight said as Rainbow finished reading the passage. She looked up, her eyes meeting the unicorn’s as Twilight continued. “E-e-even if he’s different now, it’s only because he was trying to help you. Like when he changed into a wolf, he just looks different, but he’s the same pony that we met two weeks ago.” Twilight encouraged gently.

Rainbow took a shaky breath, Twilight’s steady logic bringing her out of the fear stricken position she had taken. She gingerly started to lift herself from the ground, little clumps of snow catching on her fur as she stood. “You’re right, it’s still Coalback over there. And I was totally cool with him being a wolf, so this is pretty much the same thing, right?” Rainbow said shakily, looking again to Twilight for support.

“Exactly.” Twilight said, helping the pegasus to her hooves.

“Oh, no.” Rainbow groaned, putting a hoof to her head as she thought back to him. “And he probably thinks- I gotta go find him!” She said hastily, hopping into the air for a better vantage point. She looked over the procession of ponies in front of her, trying to locate the towering form of the human.

The ponies stretched out before her like an ocean of darkly lit colors, points of orange lantern light creating virtual constellations among them. But above, the sky had only just started to reveal the pinpoints of light that were supposed to be there. It was smoke, she could smell it now that she was above the ground, those weapons and the fire that Coalback had created must have blotted out the sky with it. But now the sky was slowly lighting up with the stars, and a nearly full moon started to cast it’s silver light.

She spotted the Apple family and their cart, loaded up with barrels of apples and the supplies from the farm that they could carry. She could make out the foals sitting there, some of the other mares walking nearby. And then she saw him, running ahead of the evacuation group by a large margin. He was heading toward a grove of trees to the right of the path that the evacuation would take.

She darted off after him, reaching the trees only moments after he had disappeared into them. She landed softly just inside the treeline, looking down at the tracks he had left in the snow. They were as wide as her hoof, just the five toes digging into the dirt and tearing through the soil. It was deep, a running footprint from something that was heavy. It was his, no doubt about it.

She started forward, adding her own hoofprints beside his trail as she followed them. Her eyes kept moving from the tracks to the trees ahead of her. She followed the tracks, watching as they changed to a less dramatic pace. The print lengthened, the pattern to the bottom of his foot revealed in the dirt and snow.

It was longer than she had thought it would be, his heel, which had once been high up on his leg, now contacted the ground in a deep depression. It looked like a majority of his weight was held there, where before he had used his toes in almost the same way that seemed normal. But from what she thought she could tell from the tracks, he was walking at a calm pace now.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Coalback’s voice echoed out of the trees, the sheer ferocity of the words making Rainbow skid to a halt instantly. It was sudden, breaking her insight to his strange, new form.

There were sounds of branches breaking coming from ahead along the trail that he had left. She started forward again, slowly. Eventually making her way to the edge of a clearing, a lightly frosted pond taking the majority of the area there. One of the most notable aspects of the clearing however, was the huge, overgrown pillar that stood solitarily next to the pond.

Coalback was standing by the shore, facing toward the water as he continued to argue out loud with himself. “Stop! Just shut up!” He yelled again, his whole body shaking with rage as he screamed out to the water and whatever apparition that held his attention. “Don’t try to tell me that you care about how I feel! About the ones I love!” He yelled again, turning away from the water and stomping toward the pillar.

He yelled wordlessly, grabbing at the collar that hung from his neck and ripping off both of the charms that hung from it. He raised his arm into the air and threw them both away from himself, spinning and letting them fly without thought. They landed before the trees, just in front of Rainbow in a small puddle. He turned back toward the pond, yelling out again at the object of his anger.

“Ever since I called your name that night, ever since THEY DIED, you’ve acted like you care, acted like you know what I need. You’re starting to sound more and more like that fucking ROCK!” He bellowed, putting his hands against the cold stone of the pillar. His whole body flexed, his feet digging into the snow as he kept pressed against the huge stone ruin.

It shivered in it’s base, dust and snow falling off it as it started to lean. He yelled out wordlessly as he gave one final shove, pushing a huge brick out of place as the pillar reached the point of no return. Old dead vines ripped off like snapping cables. It fell with a groan, smashing down into the water of the pond and spreading water in a huge outward spray. And in the spray, she could have sworn that she saw an outline. The vague shape of a wolf revealing itself in relief to the spray.

“You damned, parasite!” He yelled at it, swinging his arms back and thrusting his head forward to yell out at it. “This is only a repeat of the path that we’ve walked before! And it’s all because you said to wait. To tell her later, to wait again, and again.” He was starting to sob as he yelled out, the water slowly rolling off of the invisible wolf. She watched as it flinched at his words, it’s mouth moving without sound coming out, but Coalback reacted to it.

“NO!” He yelled, turning away again from the apparition and running his hands through his hair. “I can’t live through that again! I would rather die defending her, than live knowing she fears me.” He said to it, his back turning to her as he fell to his knees. “Just, shut up.” He finished weakly as he curled into a ball and fell to his side in the snowy dirt. The last of the water dripped off of the wolf, letting it disappear again.

Rainbow took a tentative step forward, moving out of the treeline and into view carefully. She looked down quickly to the charms that he had discarded, the gem was completely dark, colorless and void of any of the light that it once harbored. The wolf’s charm was soaked with the cold water, the feathers gone spiked with a coating of water. She gently picked them up in her mouth, careful not to let the gem fall from its pocket in the tattered collar.

She walked gingerly toward him, not wanting to startle him. She took careful steps as she walked around him, his quiet sobs reaching her. It pained her to have to be careful, every part of her wanted to just jump to him and hold him close. But she knew that if she did that, it might scare him into lashing out.

She put down the charms gingerly, the copper wire bouncing off the gem with a quiet clinking noise. And as she raised her head again, her eyes caught the sight of a distortion in the snow that hadn’t been there a moment before. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, a static charge shooting up her spine in an instant. She froze when warm breath stirred the thin fur on the insides of her ear.

“A word, before you go to him.” A deep, scratchy voice whispered in her ear, the sound barely audible. Like it was talking from far away, and fading. Rainbow made an effort to push against her frozen bones, nodding shakily. “Renouncing one’s own name is not something done lightly, even for a mortal. But for us, our names are almost a part of our soul. And now, the rock is asleep, exhausted from trying to keep him together, and from feeding his abilities. So now the task turns to us.” He said, his hot breath stirring the fur on her neck. She felt his wet nose brush against the base of her ear as he continued. “He doesn’t realize it, but I’ve watched out for him since before he was born. Now, you and I are the only things holding him together, so be careful.” He finished, the voice fading as the feeling of a presence in front of her disappeared.

Rainbow flinched at the sudden absence of warmth next to her ear, the cold air biting at her. She let out a breath slowly, not even realizing that she had been holding it. Her body shivered involuntarily, she had practically just talked with the thing that had tormented Coalback for years. And now it was saying that it was protecting him? The more she tried to understand, the more she seemed to be confused.

She trotted carefully around Coalback, his shivering frame gone silent as his sobs finally spent themselves. She came around to his front, looking down at his face. His legs were bent inward, his knees nearly meeting his chest. His feet pressed against each other, the small digits there entwined strangely as he continued to force himself into as small of a shape as possible. His arms were over his head, his hands pressed to his temples. His face was contorted into a scowl, the skin there was red and shining with slowly drying tears.

She leaned down carefully, putting her face close to his. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself. If Coalback was hurting the way she thought he was, then he wouldn’t want to hear her out. She moved forward again, pressing her muzzle under his chin and gently nuzzling against him. He didn’t move to return the gesture, his stiff limbs refusing to give. She pushed up against him, leaning herself against him as she continued to nuzzle against his chin.

She could feel his shaky breath against her side as she wriggled in close to him, his cool skin pressing against her fur. He slowly lowered his arms, small whimpers escaping his throat as he gingerly returned her embrace. The whimpers slowly evolved back into quiet sobs as he held her close, clutching her to him as if she might just disappear at any moment.

She let him continue for a long while, until he had gone silent again. She turned her head, his arms wrapped gently around her neck. She gently placed a kiss under his chin, feeling the texture of the stubble that had formed there with her lips. She ended the kiss by rubbing her head up against his chin. When she spoke, she whispered quietly, not wanting to break the delicate silence that had fallen.

“Coalback?” She whispered, feeling his hand move up to hold her shoulder with a shaky grip. “I’m here, it’s alright. I’ll help you.” She said gently, bringing a hoof up to his chest and running it along the scar that split his stomach into two parts. He shivered under her hooves, his grip firming for a moment, like just her touch there was enough to revive the memories associated with it.

He made a choking sound in his chest, his body not ready to form words yet. His chest shook with another uneven breath, she could hear his lungs wheeze as he did. “I … I got caught.” He said, the words scratchy and broken as he held her close. “It was a bear trap, big metal teeth ... edged with silver.” He said, shaking his head and pressing his chin against her head.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Rainbow said, adjusting herself in his grip, his arms loosening when he realized that she wanted to move. She moved herself so that her sides pressed against his, her head coming even with his so that she could kiss him properly.

She pressed her muzzle against his lips, her nose coming into contact just under his. She held the kiss for a moment, feeling his breath gently tickle her muzzle. He pressed into the gentle movement, but pulled away after a moment. He shook his head in a small movement, forcing it through his fear.

“You know what Post Traumatic Stress is, right?” He mumbled, looking down at her.

She nodded gently, showing him that she knew what he meant, but still left confused. “Y-yeah, yeah. I know that some ponies get that after a bad accident, like a fire, o-or a bad crash. I-uh don’t know what exactly happens to them, but- But I know it’s not anything good. Why?” She said, gingerly tracing her hoof across his chest.

“They-” His voice caught in his throat again, his chest shaking under her hoof. His eyes got distant, his mind starting to trace back to the past. “... did things … cut me up … opened me up, rooted around inside!” His voice rose, his arms clutching her closer and his eyes watering for a moment before he could regain his composure. his hand disentangled itself from her mane, moving down his chest and guiding Rainbow’s hoof over the scar on his stomach. “The anesthetics didn’t work, none of them did.” He muttered, the tears falling from his eyes and onto the ground.

“You can stop, Coalback.” Rainbow said gently, holding his hand close to her. “I know this is hard for you.” She whispered, pressing her cheek against his. But he shook his head again, his lips quivering as he spoke again.

“No.” He said defiantly, his grip loosening slightly. “I need to do this, you should know.” He started to sit up, pulling her along as his abdomen flexed to pull them both. He adjusted himself until he was sitting with her balanced on his lap, one of his hands moving down to hold her against himself. “But it didn’t stop with me.” He started again, the hand that had been holding her hoof moving to his head and running through his ragged hair.

Rainbow gently wrapped her hooves around his neck, his head coming level with her chin as they sat like this. His hand left his head, returning to wrap around her midsection and meet his other hand. “There were others there … in the place they took me. It was called MenSpecter, that’s what they told me anyway. They kept telling me, that I was helping the rest of mankind, even as they cut me open.

“There was so much blood …” He said with shaky unease. “And the others, oh damn … They had tumors bigger than their heads, they were experiments! Based on the things they learned from my body.

“They wanted to make humans stronger, faster, smarter, tougher.” He muttered, his hands shaking. “Seeing them like that … I-it was too much … I was broken. I became a good patient, a good dog … and when they thought they had had enough playtime with my insides, they took me to fight in the war.” He said, his words starting to mix anger into the brew of sorrow and horror.

“A war?” Rainbow muttered, thinking out loud. ‘… you could call me a soldier, of a kind.’ He had said, is this what he meant? “They made you fight?” She asked, this time actually directing her words to him so that he would hear them.

He nodded wordlessly, pressing his face into her withers and sighing roughly. “They packed me up, and the next thing I knew, I was being shipped off to the desert of the world. Where the people don’t even realize what they’re fighting for anymore. They just kill each other, blindly. Even some of the actual soldiers, they enjoyed killing these terrorists, they liked the fight.” His voice started to fail him, falling away as he lost himself in the old memories.

“They put me in a platoon, about thirty others to fight beside me.” He said darkly, the emotion gone from his words. It was almost like he was there again. “I was supposed to fight with them, protect them. They were my friends.” He said, swallowing as a shiver went up his spine. “One day, we were on patrol. An old street, lots of civilians. As our truck passed a car on the road, old beat up caravan, it exploded. It had been packed with explosives and left there for something big to set off as it passed.

“Twenty.” He said, pulling his head away and looking up at Rainbow’s face. His eyes were red from tears, the streaks of wetness staining his pale skin. “Twenty of us died out there. And then- the full moon came.” He said, looking at her with guilt in his eyes.

“But- I thought that was just a myth. The moon thing, I mean, you’ve changed during the day, so that can’t be true. Can it?” She said, confusion and concern pushing at her thoughts like a heavy weight. Every Werewolf myth out there said that they changed during a full moon, and usually to go on a bloodthirsty rampage. He couldn’t have done that, could he?

“If I’m injured, or unable to- to change on my own.” He swallowed the lump in his throat, regretting the words before they had even formed. “The wolf can force it during the full moon, something about a cycle. I don’t know how it works.” He said, the words weighed down with guilt and silent tears as he continued. “I changed … and I killed everyone.” He said with finality, looking up at her with shame in his eyes. “The soldiers, the ‘scientists’, the civilians. Men, women. Males, females. Children.” Another sob interrupted him, shaking his whole body as those iridescent eyes went distant again.

“I was awake the whole time, I saw everything, I heard everything, I tasted everything … Sometimes … when it gets really quiet, and I’m left to just my thoughts, I can hear them … screaming.” He said, his voice dying in his throat as his mouth kept trying to speak.

Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore, he was ready to fall apart right in front of her. And she hated seeing him like this. She liked when he was confident, when he knew what was going on and knew just the thing to do in any situation. But now, now he was lost, tired and confused. And broken up inside.

She pulled him close again, leaning her head down so that she could kiss him. Her lips met his, stopping him from speaking again. They stayed like that for a while, each trying to show all their feelings with the unspoken movement of their lips against each others’. Rainbow could feel the remorse in every word he had spoken, all the fear and horror that he had, for himself.

He held onto her, his body shaking as he tried to stop the sobs that his mind pushed at him with those memories, coming back to him in a flood of remembered pain. When they finally broke apart, keeping themselves close to each other, he kept talking.

“And now, when you looked at me like- like you could see all the horrible things I had done. And the fear-” He choked, another lump forming in his throat. “It was everywhere. I could smell it all over the ponies out there, pouring off of you.” He said, more tears falling down his face. “You were petrified, you could barely make yourself look at me.” He sobbed, pressing his cheek against hers and letting more tears flow.

“But I was scared.” Rainbow said, putting a hoof up behind his head and holding him close. “I had a nightmare that you were going to break apart, shatter like glass. And when you changed, it looked like it was actually happening. I was so scared that I had just lost you. And then, you looked just li- I thought you might have been something else. For a second, I thought that you might have just been lying to me this whole time.” She said sadly, stroking the ragged mane on his head, the short tufts of hair feeling stiff and coarse under her touch.

“I couldn’t lie to you, Rainbow!” He said, pain in his words. “I couldn’t! And I tried my best not to, but I- I just didn’t want to frighten you away. I was so scared, that you would just look at me one day, and all you would see was a murderer. A monster.” He said, shaking his head and taking a deep breath.

“I know you couldn’t, it just took me a second to realize that again. But what really scared me, was that you looked like something out of an old ghost story.” She said, pulling back so that she could talk to him face to face. “There used to be a country full of people that looked like you do. And the fact that you did all that, on your own, all that magic. It was like looking at the old ruins of the places they lived.” She said, trying to make him see that.

“But I didn’t do it on my own.” He said insistently, drawing more confusion from her. “I can barely light a candle with my magic. That wasn’t mine that did all that. Fuck, I could never have gotten here on my own.” He said, shaking his head and looking up at her imploringly.

“But if it wasn’t you that did all that, then who did? Knight? The wolf?” Rainbow asked, looking again at him with confusion showing on her face. He shook his head.

“I did make all those things happen, I was in control.” He said, bringing a hand up and idly stroking her mane. “But I don’t have that kind of power. I just directed it. Most of that power, stolen and stored in those rings. I had four before I came here, used up a whole one just to redirect an attack.” He looked at her with a pleading stare, begging her to believe him. “I’m not strong like that, I’m a magical lightweight. And even then, I don’t always make it happen. Sometimes the magic just- does what it wants.” He finished dismissively, trying to see what she would make of it.

“So- When you healed me?” She asked, looking at him again in confusion.

“That was power stored in the stone, helped along by Knight so that I wouldn’t hurt you by mistake.” He responded, nodding gently.

“And in the tower? Or when you attacked that jaguar?” She asked, starting to see where Coalback was trying to go with this.

“That was all magic that I had taken and stored away, or magic that the gem had made. I practically stole a well of power and filled the rings with it. All that stuff I did, most of the magical things, came from those rings or from the stone.” He explained, starting to calm himself after the dive into his memories. “And with all the magic I had to use to push back those things, it was almost too much. The stone was dormant, Knight is so exhausted now, that he can’t even talk.” He said, looking over his shoulder and spotting the charms, a look of guilt passing over him as he remembered his earlier neglect for their existence.

“Well, okay. So are you going to be okay? You said that that gem was helping you fight off the wolf.” She said, drawing the conversation away from magic and all its confusions. Not that trying to understand some of the things that Coalback did was any easier.

“It’ll be a little harder, but yes, I should be fine. Now that you’re here, I think I can manage.” He said, turning back to her and quickly kissing her.

“Do you want to go back now?” Rainbow asked, gently rubbing her hoof on his shoulder.

He smiled gently, nodding and loosening his grip on her so that she could stand again. “Only if you want to.” He said, letting her step off of his lap and onto the snowy ground.

“We should, the others might get worried if we just disappear like this.” She replied, walking around him as he stood up again. She gently retrieved the fallen charms, taking them in her mouth and turning back to him.

They walked side by side as they exited the clearing, Coalback’s limp only slightly showing as he walked beside her. But neither of them noticed the eyes in the trees.

Their yellowed scleras and red irises, going unnoticed in the gloom. And if anyone had been listening carefully, over the sound of dripping water, they might have heard a laugh.

The Rocky Road, Part I

-The Rocky Road, Part I-

Canterlot, the cantered slopes cliffside city of the rising sun. The most magnificent of pony engineering of the ancient, and current era.The city hung from the side of the mountain, a great spire that separates the Unicorn Range from The Foal Mountains, on the largest cantilever of existence to date. It swung away from the mountain, wrapped around it in a tight embrace, and perched on top of its marble base, like the bough of a great tree.

It was perched atop that marble bough, that the royal city sat. Comfort and excellence dominated the city’s streets, but its ponies had suddenly become far less concerned with this. Instead, every waking eye had turned Southward. Ponyville was distant, but still visible below the horizon. And before tonight, it had barely been a hoofnote in any Canterlot pony’s life, barely worth any mention. But that had been before, before the light show on the horizon, before the attack.

Although, comparatively, the ponies of Canterlot had seen little from their city’s streets. It was from the greatest tower of Canterlot Castle, that the entirety of the events had been observed. Luna and Celestia had finished their nightly ritual, the lowering of the sun to make way for the moon and the night. It had been the exact moment that the sun had disappeared over the horizon, that the lights had arced over Ponyville.

Luna couldn’t be sure if the event had shocked her sister as much as it had her. Celestia had merely sat in silence, staring out at the smoke and fire as the battle raged. It could only have been that, a battle. What else could it have been, a force was sent, and their new emissary had done his job … remarkably well.

How Coalback had held so much power upon his mortal frame was beyond her, how he even knew sanity at all was even farther from her understanding.

She knew the force of will when she heard it, but this had been like a giant’s rage. She feared to fall under the power of that sort of will, somepony that strong could only have will of such magnitude through gravitas that even she did not hold.

She had only seen such displays of power twice in her eternal life time, only twice that she could remember. During the time of Discord’s imprisonment, and her own. But this had been done not to imprison, but to halt. And that made it all the more beautiful to her, even the scar that that battle had left was beautiful.

It was the image of a bird of prey, a phoenix before it struck down on its next meal. Its wings were spread wide along the newly burned curve of the edge of the Everfree, their edges clearly defined by the stone wall. Its feathers splayed out as the ashen aftermath of the blinding red fires that had exploded from the ground.

The body was curled out from the shape that the burning lights had carved from the ground, bending out to meet with the point where the single figure had stood in their way. Their force had split apart around him, separating like water around a stone in the stream, creating the claws of the phoenix’s shape. Its tail was formed from the destroyed building, splaying out like the ashen imprint of its other feathers.

But it was its eyes that were the most daunting feature, their bright red glow of the still intensely burning fires that had created the great wall. Burning on the spot where Discord had revealed himself. They burned beneath where Discord had heard a mortal’s Name, and had been commanded to reply in kind.

She tore her eyes away from the hypnotizing gaze of the fiery mural so many kilometers away, turning to look again at the platform that she shared with her sister. It was late, near midnight now, and yet the sister of the sun had insisted upon staying awake. Their marble platform upon the tallest tower of Conterlot’s magnificent castle was quiet, serene if not for the harrowing sight before them.

Celestia’s eyes reflected where her gaze fell, the sparkling lights from the lanterns of the ponies as they fled their homes. Like an orange constellation, one to reflect the thousands in Luna’s night sky. It was a rough ring shape, clustering together in a pattern of concentric shapes. She could see the carts lit by the lanterns, surrounding the centermost mass of tiny bodies.

“Sister?” Luna said, ending the silence that had fallen over the air between them. When the diarch of the sun did not respond, she continued. “What is to happen now? We art at war, art we not?” She asked, the implications of the sudden and deliberate attack ringing through her mind.

Celestia never moved, her stoic gaze locked firmly on the ponies. The tension in the air grew as Luna continued to wait for the response she desired, only to be broken by a low hum from the white alicorn’s throat. It was a quiet noise, barely even an acknowledgement of her comment.

“We fear for what a war will mean for the gentle ponies of Equestria.” She said with concern in her voice, but continued to try and receive any response from her eerily silent sister. “We fear that the ponies of this era art not capable of fighting, naught as they used to be.” She tried, but continued to receive little response other than another disconnected hum. “Tia, ist thou … alright?” She asked, her sister’s behaviour had become so strange, and this was not the first time.

Ever since the night that the wolf had fallen from the sky, she had been distant to her, and her subjects. Only when the elements had been present did Celestia appear to be herself, but it had fallen away the second they had left. She had become stiff, calculating. Like she had never seen her act before, golem-like. She had questioned the pony that had replaced the wolf with prejudiced efficiency, answering little for him. Luna had had to take the privilege of answering his confused questions, and asking of his cooperation with herself and her sister. It was disconcerting how her normally so calm and collected sister had become so different.

“I am fine.” Celestia spoke, her voice a sudden but relieving interruption to the silence that had fallen. “And you are correct, Luna. Our little ponies have grown weak in these centuries of peace.” She said sadly, emotion finally starting to emerge into her voice.

“Then what shall be done?” Luna asked again, her sister’s response encouraging her.

Celestia’s face fell, a deep sadness softening her features before she spoke. “Things are already in motion, things that shall change Equestria forever.” She said darkly, moving toward a whisper as she spoke. She stood as her voice fell away, standing to leave from the platform. “I should retire, it is a late hour for me to stay awake. I’ll worry myself sick if I do not rest.” She said, turning a weak smile toward the dark alicorn.

“We worry in thy favor, Celestia. Sleep well.” Luna returned, her voice laced with concern. Her sister left the balcony, her ivory white coat disappearing through the door as she made her way toward her chambers. Luna turned toward the nearest tower, listening carefully as Celestia’s hoofsteps disappeared.

She clicked twice with her tongue, the sound coming out as if somepony had tapped their hooves together. Quickly, as if coming from the shadows themselves, two Night Guard appeared. They bowed low, their long ears nearly touching the floor of the platform before they rose to look at her again, awaiting orders.

“Put Our sister under watch, all of the day and all of the night. Three art to be placed to watch her at all times, and any of her behaviours are to be reported to us.” She whispered darkly, watching them nod in return. “Also, be prepared to house the refugees, they will arrive by the morrow.” She said as a final dismissal, starting to turn away.

One of the guards bristled, his ebony colored armor ringing against itself. His ears stood at full attention, the doubled slit at the sides of his throat opening to reveal their black abyss within. It was with their opening that a sound, quieter than anything a normal pony could hear, sifted through the air. Luna’s ears perked up at the sound, swiveling to catch them with senses that differed greatly from her sister’s.

“Nay.” She replied as the slits closed again, turning an eye to look at the guard from the corner of her vision. “Nay, naught ist to be reported to the Sun Guard. We fear that they are too easily gossiped, and would takest too lightly of this. Naught ist to be reported to anypony else, keep this to only the guards to be assigned the task, swear them all to secrecy.” She finished, lifting a wing and motioning for them to leave.

We have much to do, perhaps a prediction is in order. Yes, that should shed light upon the things that are needed. She thought to herself, her horn lighting with deep magics. Her pupils opened wider, spreading until they reached the edges of her sclera and spreading until all of her eye had turned black. “Show me … Show me the truth.” She whispered under her breath, her words slipping away from the royal vocabulary as she cast her spell.

“So much to be done …” Her voice echoed in her head, her vision fading from this reality, as she looked into another.

In his newly revealed shape, the way that Coalback walked was one of the most interesting things that she had noticed. He stood upright and tall, yet he had no tail to keep balance with. And his legs were more evenly proportioned, two long lengths of rippling muscle that ended with his feet.

Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe.

That was the pattern, the ever present drumbeat of his footfalls a comforting and constant sound.

It wasn’t like she had never seen a bipedal creature walk before, she saw Spike walking around town all the time. And there had been that crazy minotaur that had visited. But Spike had more of a waddle to his gait, and minotaurs stomped more than walked. No, when he walked, he just … fell. Like a perpetual motion that he created with the constant forward motion of his body, kept alive by those steady footfalls.

Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe.

Thump, tap. Thump. Thump, tap. Thump.

The wooden shaft tapped the ground in time with his right foot, supporting the torn and tortured hip and keeping it from collapsing under him. The cold iron tip, shining and sharp, flashed by his face with every step. He clutched onto the shaft of the spear with determination, eyes aimed to the ground, examining his footing carefully.

And the motion didn’t end in his legs, either. His whole body went into the motion, leaning forward and twisting with every step. His abdomen flexed as much as his thighs, the motion mirrored by the lean muscles in his back. The thickly corded muscles there twisting and pulling to keep the precarious balance between walking and actually falling.

Even his shoulders, as far from the ground as they were, moved with the motion. Following the pattern of his legs in their swaying, almost like he was walking the way that she was used to seeing, but only on his back legs this time.

Her eyes traveled farther up his erect frame, examining the scars on his now furless skin. There were far more than she remembered, the smallest having been hidden before. She could see several faded lines of closed flesh crossing his throat, drawing up beside the bite marks there. And if she watched his arms carefully as they passed, she could make out more lines like the first, running up and down his forearm.

She wasn’t exactly familiar with the methods of suicide, but much of an understatement as it is, Coalback had lived a hard life before this. And it was fairly easy to draw the lines between. Hadn’t he mentioned something about a train?

She shivered at the thought, the motion reminding her of another aspect of of his new shape. He didn’t have fur, not in any way that would be comparable. He had a light spread of thin hairs that covered his arms and legs, serving little purpose to warm him. The wiry hairs on his chest and stomach only differing in the fact that they were a similar color to his mane of shaggy hair.

“Coalback? Are you cold?” Rainbow asked, moving to fill the space that was still separating them and wrapping a wing around his hips. From here, that was all she could actually reach. She couldn’t lean against him, she would only be pressed against his leg which would only trip him up if she wasn’t careful. And she couldn’t hope to stand and walk at the same pace as him. The only way she would have been able to be at a similar height to him would be to fly next to him. But if she did that she couldn’t wrap a wing around him, and the wind could make him colder. So she settled to just wrapping her wing around what she could reach.

Coalback didn’t respond, but he did halt the movement of one of his hands. He reached down and set it on the back of her head, pressing reassuredly against it. It was enough to let her know that he was uneasy, so much so that he didn’t want to speak. But she had a very good idea what was bothering him this time.

It only took a slight shift of her eyes, enough to catch the lantern lights in the corner of her vision, enough to be sure. There they were, the ponies of Ponyville, following behind Coalback. That was the strange thing, their reaction to him when they had returned to the procession. They had been … happy to see him.

Stallions stood taller as they pulled their carts. Foals stopped crying. The injured ponies from the hospital stopped their moans. Mares donned smiles.

It had been a serious surprise when they had actually looked to him for leadership. He had been reluctant, trying to explain that it was not his place to do so. But it had taken only one look from him to decide to help anyway.

He had called the way that they had been walking, unsafe. He said that if there was a threat, that they would be out in the open, like sitting ducks. He had told anypony that was willing, to take whatever weapons they had and to position themselves on the boxier carts in a perimeter. He positioned them in a ring, ordering the sick, injured, and the foals to the center.

It resulted in a circular pattern, lanterns swinging and metal flashing as they marched. A circle of protection that centered around the foals, and the injured, and the elderly. Now they marched with determination, waiting for his call to rest.

He was scared to death of them.

That was one of the funny things about Coalback. Stand him in front of a giant, drooling, monster, and he’ll stare it down until it’s crying at his feet and begging for mercy. But the second you put a group of scared ponies in front of him, he falls to pieces. Maybe it was like he just couldn’t handle the fact that he could hurt somepony that hadn’t done anything to hurt him? Or that he had seen what scared mobs could do before. It would explain why he reacted the way he did to the ponies after he had finished with that jaguar.

“What about your leg? Do you want to get a cart to sit on? Maybe we should stop early?” She tried, leaning back into his hand and looking up at him with concerned eyes. A small smile sparked to life on his face, his hand lightly squeezing the back of her neck.

“Wouldn’t do much good to get a cart. We should see about finding a place to set up camp though.” He said, his voice quiet.

“What do you mean it wouldn’t do much good?” Rainbow asked, she could understand his second statement, but the first had seemed a little far into left field. “Got something against carts now?” She asked with a smirk, maybe a joke would help him relax.

“What I mean is, that I weigh more than four hundred pounds.” He said as his smile turned into a smirk. “And I would hate to ask somepony to pull that.” He chuckled.

“Haha,” Rainbow laughed sarcastically. “No, really. Why don’t you want a cart?” She finished, his previous answer being ridiculous. Coalback was big, no doubt about that, but he wasn’t that big.

She looked again at the rippling muscles as they stretched and pulled on his skin. There just wasn’t the kind of bulk that could constitute that amount of weight. Snowflake, the local body building pony who had more bulk than wings, was the only pony she knew who weighed anything near that. Coalback was significantly smaller than him though.

However, Coalback had had several intense moments where he had possessed more strength than he should have. She wasn’t sure if that was a byproduct of his strange magic, or if humans were naturally as heavy as rocks.

“That’s really why,” He said in his defense, turning to look down at her. “And I’m considered the runt of the family.” He explained, watching her eyes go wide.

“No way!” Rainbow said incredulously, that didn’t make sense at all. “You’re telling me, that you’re as heavy as a heavyweight hoofboxing champion, and that the rest of your family was heavier?!” She said, continuing to look at him in disbelief.

“Yes!” Coalback defended again, giving her neck a light squeeze. “And I bet I’m stronger than any old ‘hoofboxing’ champ.” He said, his smile turning into a grin.

“How is that even possible? You don’t even look that heavy.” Rainbow continued, still unconvinced as to how Coalback could get so … dense.

“Did I ever tell you the advantages of being … whatever I am?” He asked, finishing as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. He continued when Rainbow’s only reply was another questioning look. “My family legacy is more than just a curse, there are many blessings that come alongside this demon.” He explained, trying his best not to simply bore her to death. “There are many, but I won’t even try to list them off now. Just know that one of them is the fact that my muscle structure is more advanced … Denser, stronger, faster. All that jazz.” He said, looking down to make sure that he hadn’t lost her.

She stared up at him with that surprised look that he was starting to get used to. “That explains a lot, actually.” She said flatly, blinking up at him as a thought occurred to her. “Wait, but what about those times when you were-?”

“Being very careful.” He interrupted, stopping her from actually mentioning the point he knew that she was about to cross. “I didn’t want to hurt you, like I said the first time.” He said gently and winked, watching the blush cross her face.

“Alright, alright. I get it.” She said, turning away to try and hide her flushed face. “We shouldn’t even talk about that stuff, or I’m gonna get all worked up again.” She said as an excuse, trying to pull herself away half-heartedly.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” He muttered under his breath, lightly tugging on her mane and drawing a gasp from her.

"Don't, Coalback." Rainbow reprimanded, pulling away from his hand and retracting her wing. "There's too much going on right now." She said as an excuse, the actual reason for her reluctance starting to guiltily weigh down in her chest. In all honesty, she was still unsure of what she thought of Coalback's new body. Even if it was only another step from him being a wolf, he was just so different now.

It felt like her chest was wrapped in tightening coils of rope, and she didn't know what to do. She had known that Coalback had kept his secrets, and there was no doubt that he still hadn't told her everything. It didn't scare her, far from that. But it still felt like there was a new air of ... intensity, one that she wasn't sure she could keep up with. And that was a scary thought.

If what she had seen him do in a body that he had only had for a few weeks had been any indicator of his abilities, what was he capable of in this one? The Greys had been dangerous because of their difference from everything else, so even if he wasn't one of them, it was close enough.

"I'm sorry," Coalback said after a moment, the joviality that had made his voice lighter gone. "Are you angry at me?" He asked, the hurt that tinged his voice almost making Rainbow cringe. Even if he was more intimidating than before, she still cared about him.

"I'm not angry." She said quickly, trying to alleviate him of the idea. "It's just that ... There's a lot I've gotta think about right now. And everypony's relying on us to get through this, so I need to keep a level head. And so do you." She finished, swallowing the lump in her throat before it choked her to death.

His hand gently returned to her back, resting just above her shoulders.“Maybe something else then?” He started, rubbing his hand gently along her back. “How long has it been since you last preened?” He asked, the suggestion present in his question.

Rainbow sighed, the prospect of having a good preen after all this time was sounding very pleasant. “That sounds ... pretty good.” She said, dropping the frustrated scowl that she had drawn onto herself without really realizing it. “But I don’t know …” She finished with a defeated sound, less of a sigh as it was a groan.

Coalback opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of hooves scraping on the ground drew them both to a stop. They both halted their pace and looking up toward the noise, and the haggard pegasus that was the origin. She had a pink coat, her reddish brown mane falling down in more of a pile than a wave, parting around the flight goggles that sat skewed on her head.

“Airheart?” Rainbow asked, the surprise of her presence evident on her face. “Where are the others in your group?” She asked, panic starting to edge in on her as examined the exhausted pegasus.

Coalback hadn’t just reorganized the ponies, he had taken other precautions. He had chosen the fastest ponies that would go, setting them up in groups of four. Their job was to scout ahead and around the path that the evacuation would take, and to run as fast as they could back to him if they found anything.

So the fact that Airheart had come back as fast as she had, couldn’t mean anything good at all. “What happened?” Coalback said gently, leaning down and calmly trying to get an answer from the pegasus.

“Cart- No. It was a sled!” She sputtered, looking up at him with eyes that shuddered with fear. “Overturned by the … a grove of trees ... Went to … investigate … and then- and then-” She coughed, trying to catch her breath again before speaking. “I-it … It took Dewdrop!” She said finally.

“What did, what took Dewdrop? Talk to us, Airheart.” He continued gently, moving his hand up and down in a calming gesture. The sounds of carts died behind them, the procession coming to a halt shortly after they had.

“It was- A troll!” She said, starting to finally calm from her hard flight. “It grabbed him right out of the air, and then it dragged him into the cave! We didn’t know what to do, so I flew as fast as I could to come and get you.” She started suddenly, jumping and bowing her head almost in a panic. “Uh- Sir Douglass!”

Coalback’s previously gentle movements suddenly hardened, his hand closing into a tight fist. Rainbow felt him stifle a growl, even as it seemed like his whole body bristled. “Show me.” He barked, the gentleness completely gone. He hefted the spear, shifting it from the stance he had used for walking, to one for throwing. It was strange, the stance seemed to just fit.

It made sense though, ponies had been forced to adopt weapons like that. It seemed … built for him.

Airheart jumped, shooting into the air in an instant. Rainbow followed suit sending up a small wave of snow as she hovered in the small hesitation. Airheart pointed behind her, sputtering out a direction as she shot back the direction that she came from.

Rainbow was off just as fast, following closely in her airstream as she led the way. They flew low and fast, following the contours of the land as they flew. It only took her a few moments to realize that there was a new sound had emerged in the wake of their sudden departure, a heavy and fast drumbeat.

She turned her gaze slightly, bringing the source of the sound into view from the corner of her eyes. It was Coalback, and she finally had a chance to see him run, really run.

It wasn’t like anything she had ever seen before, not anything like a pony running. When a pony ran, it could easily have been compared to a charging animal. But when Coalback ran, it was so different. It was hard to explain, something like flight, but different still.That heart-like beat that was so steady and slow before had suddenly changed, becoming an intense crescendo of unending impacts.

His heels never even touched the ground, bending and absorbing the force behind every step. His toes impacted the ground with force enough to make the ground spread under him. With every backstroke of his leg the ground tore apart under his toes, creating that torn footprint she had followed.

And he kept pace with Airheart, following almost as closely as Rainbow was. But it didn’t look like he could have done it for long, he was struggling. Even as she watched, he stumbled slightly in his steps, using the spear to vault himself back into his pace. And he was breathing too hard, his chest heaving as he pounded forward.

“Over there!” Airheart yelled, pointing forward toward an outcropping of rocks.

“On it! Meet ya there!” Rainbow yelled, shunting up and out of Airheart’s airstream and shooting forward in a blur. She was there in less than a second, skidding to a halt and examining the scene around her.

It was a mess, there’s not much else that could describe it. There was an oversized dogsled overturned by the entrance of a cavern, the slope leading into it covered in dragging marks. Blood was all over the area around the sled, dying the snow velvet red. Two other ponies stood nearby, cowering behind a stone. A unicorn stallion and an earth mare, both shaking in their horseshoes.

Rainbow took a few steps over toward them, starting to recognise the ponies. “Brass? Cheerilee?!” Rainbow exclaimed, surprised by the presence of the schoolteacher. She hadn’t even seen her in the groups when they left. “Cheerilee, what are you- What are you guys pointing at?” She asked, her first question interrupted by the teacher’s raised hoof, pointing over her shoulder.

She turned her head, following the direction of the scared ponies’ gazes, and freezing on the spot.

It was a wolf, not like Coalback. This one was smaller, but still just as big as her. It was standing over something next to the overturned sled, its harness still hanging from its back. It was breathing heavily, the growls coming out in between every breath. Drool fell from its tongue, barely revealed past its bared fangs.

“Oh, that’s what …” She mumbled under her breath, putting herself in a low stance and slowly starting to back away.

Unfortunately, the wolf seemed to take that as a signal to follow her. It took a step forward, leaving its guarded position over the bundle on the ground to slowly follow her. Rainbow managed to mouth out an ‘Oh shit,’ as she continued to back away. But the wolf kept moving forward, the torn apart harness pulling free from the cords still attaching it to the sled.

One of Rainbow’s hooves slid out from under her, a slick ice patch that she had stepped onto landing her on her flank before she could catch herself. The wolf snarled, a high pitched bark preceding a rush. It jumped forward, and in her fear frozen state she hadn’t been able to react fast enough to jump out of the way.

The wolves claws were practically on her in an instant.

“BACK OFF!” Coalback’s voice suddenly cut through the wolf’s snarl, as well as his foot. It yelped just as suddenly as it had charged, Coalback’s leg launching it back the direction it had come from. Coalback snarled something else, the words unfamiliar to her but ringing with malice. He raised his spear, ready to attack the wolf when it came back around.

But what she hadn’t expected the wolf to do, was to retreat back to the bundle and cower over it. Coalback’s stance drooped, the threat dropping as he stared at the wolf. It was whimpering, cowering over the bundle on the ground in a poor replication of its previously defensive stance.

Rainbow raised her head, looking past Coalback and taking another glance at the wolf, and what it was standing over. The bundle squirmed, a fuzzy head poking out from under the cloth. A puppy, barely the size of a foal. And it looked scared, shaking like mad as it looked up at the wolf, and across toward Coalback.

Coalback’s spear drooped back to the ground as he saw the pup as well, a saddened look donning his face as he examined the scene around them. That’s when Rainbow noticed it, the struggle that must have taken place. There were still harnesses around the sled, seven of them, and it looked like some were missing entirely. And then there was the stink, the one that was coming from inside the cave.

“There are more of you?” Coalback asked the wolf, none of the gentleness that was there before. It was a simple, cold question.

The wolf looked up, one of its eyes swollen shut. It stared at Coalback for a moment, silent as its shaking slowly subsided. “Were …” It said, its voice dripping with sadness. But it was deeper than the bark had been, barely.

“In there?” Coalback asked, the anger returning to his voice in a growl. He didn’t even wait for the wolf to answer before his grip tightened on the spear, and he stomped toward the cave entrance. He stomped up to the entrance, staring into the darkness with a piercing gaze.

A growl formed in his chest, reverberating out before he yelled wordlessly into the darkness. He waited a moment, the sound echoing and eventually dying entirely. A moment later, a gravely sound, more of a hoot than a howl, echoed back out.

“Hey, Ugly!” Coalback yelled into the darkness, the words dripping with malice. That same hooting howl echoing back out in response. “Get your fat ass out here, and fight like something with a spine!” He yelled to it again, a mocking rotation in his voice bringing about another hoot from within the cave.

“Come inside, so I eat doggy-thing.” A scratchy, and too light voice echoing out.

“Coalback, wait!” Rainbow said, stopping him before he could take the step that she saw forming in his body. He turned at the sound of her voice, his eyes throwing back the light in an green glow for just a moment.

“Get some backup, I’ll draw him out.” Was all he said, jumping down into the cave. The wolf whimpered after him, an attempt to call him back that went ignored as Coalback disappeared into the darkness.

“Oh my gosh.” Rainbow muttered, unmoving in the shock of the fact that he had just gone. A growl startled her out of her shaking, drawing her attention back to the wolf.

He was staring at her with angry eyes, although this time he didn’t bare his teeth. “The lord has given you a command.” He growled, flicking one of his ears in irritation. “So go!” He practically barked, the command finally enough to shake Rainbow back out of her startled staring contest with the cave.

“Right, be back in ten seconds!” She yelled, jumping into the air and flying as fast as she could toward the evacuation group, and hopefully, some help.

The Rocky Road, Part II

-The Rocky Road, Part II-

It had taken less time than Rainbow had actually given herself to get the other ponies, although it had taken them a minute to catch up to her. The extra time had let her help the wolf move away from the cave.

The sled was actually much more detailed than she had first thought, her chance to examine it coming when the wolf suggested to use it as cover near the rock. The sled’s runners, the long flat blades on the bottom, had a thin line of sharp metal that looked like it was used to keep the sled in its groove. And apparently it still worked off the design that ponies used, if not a little larger now.

In the back, a large box acted as a weight, as well as water storage. Below the box was a metal spike on the end of a flexible bar, a cable that seemed to lead to the front was attached to it as well. The basket had at once been filled with the items that had been scattered around the clearing, and what they consisted of was also surprising to her.

There was more than just supplies that were scattered around, things that resembled what the ponies had brought with them in the evacuation. There were books, torn and soaked with snow. There were portraits lying in the snow, the paints smeared and the canvasses torn, all resulting in them being unrecognisable. And there were toys, children’s toys.

There had been a family pulling this sled.

Cheerilee had, hesitantly, accepted to watch the pup as they had pulled it over. She had taken the little puppy over toward the rock, sitting down and huddling in the cold with Brass Blare and Airheart. Now all they had to do was wait, for the pony reinforcements and, hopefully, Coalback’s successful emergence. At the moment, she and the wolf were standing at attention between the rock and the sled as cover.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said, catching the wolf take a fast glance over at her before it returned its icy gaze back to the black entrance of the cave. “I’ve never met a wolf before. What’s your name?” She asked, trying her best to be friendly toward the wolf, even after he had tried to attack her. She didn’t really hold it against him, it looked like he had been scared, and was trying to protect the puppy.

His gaze returned to her for another moment, lingering as he considered her question. “Greyshadow.” He said flatly, turning his eyes back to the cave entrance again. True to his name, he was grey, the tone growing darker closer to his paws. But what really caught her attention had been the strange assortment of tattoos and piercings that he had.

Three white spikes, like Coalback’s, pierced through each of his ears. A small brass ring hung near the very bottom of each ear as well, hugging the small indents at the bottom where they reattached to his head. His cheeks were decorated with black, blocky swirls, highlighting the shape of his narrow muzzle. They extended up the sides of his head, dodging around his eyes in a wide arc to create a blank circle on his forehead.

They all had to mean something, there’s no other reason she could think of for him to have them. Maybe it had to do with some tradition in wolf culture?

“Where’d you come from? Coalback said there had been a lot of you guys, where are they?” Rainbow asked, trying to continue the conversation even though it appeared that he wasn’t so enthusiastic about it.

“Ponies call Macintosh Hills.” Greyshadow said, keeping his eyes on the cave entrance. Although, one of his ears had turned to face her. “Wolf call them, Gaethglud.” He continued, listing off the name. He was talking in a way that reminded her of how Coalback had before he got used to talking in Equestrian, it must not have been his first language. “Empress tell us, great days in future, ancestral home opening its gates. So we gather in greatest pack of all time, and we leave, going North. But my pack get stuck, cords tangled, not good. So they go on, leave us here.” He said, an edge of sadness creeping in on his words.

“They just left you guys like that?” Rainbow asked, unsure of what to think about the fact that the ones they had come out with would just keep going without a second thought. She was sure that if anypony had gotten stuck in the evacuation that they were in, that the entire procession would have come to a halt to wait for them. It just didn’t feel right.

“Yes,” he replied, nodding with a noncommittal shrug. “It is our way. That was when troll came, back from his hunt in woods. He find us, trying to untangle cords. He stomp on us, crush some of the pups, kill Rhian, Moonchaser … All but me, Sharptooth, and Non.” The sadness had turned into an almost full on sob, but he didn’t cry.

“I’m sorry.” Rainbow said, unsure if she could have said anything that would have made him feel better. What were you supposed to say to something like that? She thought to herself, because there really wasn’t an answer.

“Why should Rainbow Dash be sorry? Rainbow Dash is helping Greyshadow now, is honorable thing. And something I am thankful for you doing.” He said, another shrug rolling the sadness off of himself. “Non may still live, troll not kill her yet.” He said with a nod toward the cave.

“Right,” Rainbow said, donning a determined scowl as she stared into the cave, mirroring his stance. They hadn’t heard anything for a while, almost four minutes.

There was a long pause of silence, the distant sounds of hooves in snow starting to grow louder as they waited. “Too quiet …” Greyshadow mumbled, his ear flicking back over to her for just a moment. “Lord is loud fighter, not good for quiet. Maybe we go in too …” He mumbled, a tentative step pulling him forward.

“Nuh-uh,” Rainbow said quickly, stopping him from starting toward the cave. “If Coalback wanted us to come in, he would have told us so.” She said, knowing full well that they’d only get in the way, no matter how fast or how sharp their claws were.

Greyshadow stopped, fully turning his head to look at her. He scowled at her for a moment, but it softened quickly. He nodded in consent, probably realizing her thought process as he considered what she had said. He turned his head back toward the cave, and backed up to his previous spot beside her.

“Rainbow Dash is Lord Coalback’s?” He asked after another moment, his ears flicking back to the growing sound of hooves.

“His what?” She asked, unsure what he meant. It felt like his question had only been half asked, like he had cut himself off, but he hadn’t.

“You belong to him, his gwas.” He tried to explain, turning his eye to look at her from the corners of them. “Servant, yes?” He asked, raising his eyebrows to try and punctuate the question with seriousness.

“What? No!” Rainbow said, donning a scowl of her own. How could he even think that Coalback would have a servant, let alone that it would be her?

“My apologies.” Greyshadow said quickly, shrinking away slightly. “The reason I think this is because of mark, and because you are not wolf or Lord.” He explained, but it had little effect in chasing away her anger.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” She asked. The wolf cringed again, perhaps she had put a little more edge to her words than she had intended.

“Again, my apologies.” He said, lowering his head in something resembling a bow, or cowering. “Omegas, outsiders, only wear wolf marks as sign of ownership. You see?” He explained, although that didn’t help get her any less angry.

“I am one of the alphas in this pack, alright.” She hissed, taking a step in his direction. At this point she didn’t care if she scared him. That was how wolves established dominance after all, right? “That’s what this means,” she pointed at the tattoo on her chest, making it clear what she meant. “Don’t mix that up again, got it?” She said, watching as his eyes grew wide and he stopped cowering.

“My most humble apologies!” He said quickly, his entire body twisting to the side as he bowed. “I beg of your forgiveness, Blaidd-ffrind! I should not have assumed so much, I should have recognised the scents!” He said, actual fear wilting his voice.

This almost brought Rainbow to pause, but she kept it up. “That’s right,” she said, even though she was starting to feel bad for making him so afraid of her. “Relax, I’ll let it go this time. Now, get ready. And don’t freak out when the other ponies get here, just stay with me and they’ll be cool with you.” She said, watching him bow even lower in a wordless thanks. He stood again, a determined look donning his wolven features. Maybe he was trying to make up for his previous mistake, or maybe the mistake meant more to him than she thought.

She didn’t turn to look at the ponies as they shuffled to a stop near them, keeping her eyes on the cave. The familiar presence of her friends warmed her side, comforting in the way that familiarity creates. The sounds of the reinforcements’ heavy breathing fouling the once pristine silence, but their presences welcome nonetheless.

“How long s’it been?” Applejack asked, her voice low, just below a whisper.

“Too long, and it’s been too quiet.” Rainbow whispered in return, remaining where she stood stoically.

“An’ tha wolf?” Applejack asked, the suspicion in her voice more than obvious. It felt more like she had been trying to make the wolf hear it, but Rainbow knew she had to let it slide.

Rainbow paused for a moment, making sure that she knew what she wanted to say. “He’s cool, wants to help.” Rainbow replied, feeling Applejack give another nod in affirmative.

But even after they had arrived, they didn’t have to wait much longer. The moments before felt like they stretched out. Rainbow heard every breath, having enough time to actually count out how many ponies there were. Twenty seven bodies stirring the air with their breath, twenty ponies that had come to help, her friends, the wolves, and what was left of the scouting party.

Twenty seven bodies that stiffened at the sounds that suddenly broke the silence.

First, there was another one of those horrible hooting howles. Then there was a crack, like two stones falling against each other. There was a snap, like dry twigs breaking, followed quickly by another hoot. And then there was a sound she had been hoping that she would never have to hear again.

It was a desperate, pained yelp. The kind of sound a large, injured animal makes. The sound Coalback had made when he had come back torn to pieces.

There was a crash, something had been smashed, and then something that could only be described as a wet thump echoed out. And as suddenly as the noises had started, Coalback emerged …

… bouncing off one of the walls of the cave and landing to slide across the ground toward them. Blood followed him, the side of what was left of his shirt stained in it. The leg of his pants had been torn open, revealing the bruising flesh, and the disfigured limb. Something had been broken, badly.

The sound of heavy footsteps preceded the emergence of the troll. The very large, three headed troll. Their heavy brows covered the tiny, beady eyes that peaked out. A huge nose extended out from its faces like some sort of warty diving board, dividing the ugly faces with the horrid piece of flesh. Its wide mouth was still stained with blood, turned black from the darkness. The hairless top of its scalp almost brushed the top of the cave, towering more than three times as tall as Coalback was on two legs.

“What in tarnation … ?” Applejack mumbled, staring with wide eyes as the creature flinched from the lanternlight.

It was lanky, especially compared to Coalback. Heavy hide hung off of it like one would expect to see from a bear, making it look like it had been wrapped in a wet blanket that had fused with its skin. Its stomach hung in a huge pot belly that resembled a soiled wool sock more than it did skin. Its three toed feet had to spread as wide as ponyhole covers, the cracked and soiled appendages shaking the ground with each step.

Its shoulders twitched with too long, stringy muscles that hefted a huge club. Its four fingered hand clutching tightly to something that would have been more easily called a tree than a weapon. The center head turned to sniff around at them, a toothless, disgusting grin growing on its face.

“More snackies …” It grumbled in that unnaturally light voice, scratching against the back of her skull. “Wait there snackies, Grumble have to crush doggy-thing first.” It said, lifting one of its gnarled fingers and waving it at them.

“Hey, faggot!” Coalback growled from the ground, lifting himself on a shaky arm. “That all you got?” He asked, spitting to the side. It came out in a red spray.

All three heads turned toward Coalback with an audible snap, a scowl mirrored on each face. The heads to the side opened their toothless mouths and wailed in that same hoot, the club lifting far over its head as it prepared to crush Coalback.

Rainbow didn’t even bother to think about what she was about to do, just acting. She darted forward in a flash, a rainbow trail and a gust of powerful wind being the only thing that marked her exit. She twisted around in the air, closing her wings and turning herself into a missile. When her rear hooves hit the leftmost head, it cracked like stone, bouncing off its brothers’ and causing the troll to lose its grip on the huge club while it was still in its upward ark.

It hung in the air, seemingly longer than it should have. Its momentum building slowly as it fell with a crash onto the rightmost head, crushing it in a gorey splatter. What splashed out wasn’t blood though, more like some sort of grainy slime. In the wake of the horrible smelling splatter the other heads wailed in pain, its hands moving to grasp at the injury.

Rainbow ducked out of the way of the arm, a confident smile springing onto her face. “Oh, yeah! Who’s your - WOAH!” Rainbow yelled, a sudden swipe from the grease and stink covered arm of the troll nearly knocking her out of the air. She dodged a second swipe, looping back far out of reach.

“Me kill stupid flying snack for that!” The troll yelled, slimy spittle flying from the center head’s lips. It stomped forward, another off kilter swipe just barely missed her by a few inches. She had to keep moving now, the sudden switch from offensive to defensive throwing her back on edge.

It was a lot faster that she had expected something like that to be. Its swipes barely missed her no matter how fast she managed to move, pulling hairpin turns in instants as she dodged around each one. And with every swing, it seemed that the troll was able to get even closer with his stinking fingers.

“Give ‘er some slack, fella’s!” Applejack’s voice called out, the words almost knocking Rainbow from her concentrated flapping.

It wasn’t a moment later that a spear flew out, not actually stabbing into the troll but managing to knock its hand away. It snarled, stopping to turn both its functional heads toward the source of the spear throw, and finally letting Rainbow finally get out of its reach.

The troll hooted again, starting to stomp toward the spiky group of ponies. It didn’t even bother to wait for another spear throw, one of its arms sweeping down and knocking over the entire mob and virtually decimating their backup. Ponies scattered in various directions, drawing Rainbow’s attention.

In her adrenaline flooded mind, she was able to take in the entire scene in only an instant.

She spotted Twilight first, she hadn’t even realized that she was there when they first showed up. But she had a purple shield over Coalback, several books floating beside her as she performed some sort of spell. Applejack had dodged around toward the fortified stones, ending up right next to the wolf. Ponies had scattered in various directions around the troll, impressively still molesting the troll while staying out of its reach.

The wolf darted from its defensive position near the pup and the scout party that was cowering near the rocks. He jumped over Applejack, drawing a startled protest from her as he liberated her of the ropes that she had brought with her. And maybe it was the adrenaline playing with her vision, but she could have sworn, for only a moment, that the rope trailing behind him was glowing a distinctly pale green glow.

“Goleuadau, dawnsio i mi!” Greyshadow yelled out, a wordy battle cry that was enough to distract the troll, stopping the various stomps for a moment.

That moment was enough for the wolf to dart in between its legs, weaving in and out as he tangled the rope around its stinking legs. He darted in and out, like some sort of dangerous dance. The troll reached down tearing at the rope, but for every knot it undid the wolf made three more. It was almost hypnotizing to watch as the wolf seemed to effortlessly dodge every grab, twisting his way up and down and through his own trail of ropes.

She shook herself out of the shocked hover she had donned, her breathing returned from the high lead it had had on her. She gave one final shunt of her wings upwards, dropping her into a quickly accelerating dive. She could already tell what Greyshadow was trying to do, he just needed a little help.

Almost faster than the eye could see, she spun in the air and delivered a devastating buck to the center head of the troll. With all the momentum she had built in that dive, she was able to stun the troll in just the way she had hoped to.

It stumbled, rocking back as it tried to recoil from the blow. But when it tried to move its legs under it to halt the inevitable fall, the ropes wound tight and caught them fast. The wolf darted out from between its legs, pulling hard on the rope with enough force to trip one of its legs out from underneath it all together.

With a groan like a tree falling, it tumbled down toward the ground. Its impact shook even the air, reverberating in a deep bass as its heavy body bounced off the ground. Dust, most likely from the trolls body itself, flew out in every direction. The dust cloud spread out so thickly that the entire clearing had been obstructed, slowly drifting away in a gentle breeze.

“Hey, you little shit.” Coalback’s voice suddenly echoed out from the cloud, his exhaustion evident in his heavy breathing. When the dust had cleared enough, Coalback was standing over the troll’s center head. In his hand was a huge shard of the club that the troll had previously held, the jagged piece of hardened wood pointed at the troll’s beady eyes. It was big enough that it was nearly as tall as Coalback himself, both his hands having to be employed to hold it steady.

But Coalback wasn’t standing very steadily. Even from the distance that she was at, Rainbow could clearly see the purple flesh on his leg quivering violently as it tried to vainly hold the deformed bone in place to support him. How he had even stood with the femur of his leg like that she wasn’t sure, but either way, the troll froze in fear.

“You dropped something.” Coalback said darkly, all the rage of a charging bull setting his words nearly on fire. He lifted the shard in a swift motion, his entire body lifting as he threw himself into the strike. And with a loud crunch, he struck down on the fallen troll, using its own club to sever the center head from its body.

A spray of that horribly stinking blood spread out from the trolls throat, staining the ground with what could only have been referred to as sewage. Coalback leaned heavily on the shard, unmoving from his strike as he tried desperately to hold himself up. He looked back up, his eyes shadowed by his angry brows. His eyes threw back the orange glow of the lanterns, making them literally burn with rage.

“Make no mistake-” Coalback choked out toward the ponies staring at him. “I may look like them- fuck!” His hand slid on the jagged wood, slicing open his palm. “I may even work for them … But I am not, nor ever will be … a motherfucking Angel.” He growled, making an attempt to push himself away from the troll.

He was only half successful, mostly in the fact that he wasn’t standing over the troll anymore. He fell back in almost exactly the way the troll had, his leg actually folding over underneath him in an unnatural angle.

He fell, and didn’t get up again.

Another Leg to Stand On

-Another Leg to Stand On-

Coalback was … cold. A feeling he had often ignored, but now it seemed different. It seeped into every bone of his body, freezing his core. He didn’t even have to breath, which was kind of nice. He had already tried and it had just hurt, so he didn’t. He didn’t really mind, but it was strange in the fact that what could only be described as death, that he felt anything at all.

He had died before, three days that had felt like four years. It had turned out that death didn’t have the finality that he had expected, there wasa hell. And it had been … different than this.

It was in that reminiscence that he felt another sensation, something tickling on the numb skin of his face. But at the same time, the side of his body felt warm. He opened his eyes for the first time, a surprisingly easy task considering how heavy his eyelids felt. But he didn’t like what he saw.

He was lying in a river, half in and half out. His legs were hanging outside of the water onto the rocky shore, warmed by the sun. He was on his side, half his body warmed by the sun and half submerged in the cold, black water. The cold water splashed up again, tickling his face.

But that serene scene haunted him, a memory that he shouldn’t have. One from a time when he was so young his eyes hadn’t even opened yet. When he was born, like the rest of his family that shared the wolf’s blood, his eyes had been closed, like a pup’s. But he knew where he was.

‘You were born on the shores of a black river ...’ A deep, scratchy basso echoed over the water, describing the scene before him. ‘This is where your name comes from …’ His grandfather echoed again, the voice shaking him to his core with guilt. He remembered when he had been told this, three days after his first change, while he was bedridden. ‘It was your mother who saw your second name, and saw the man you would become ...’ He still didn’t understand that, but he knew what his name was then, the name they had given him.

He wouldn’t think it, it was too painful now to think of his past name. But he remembered what it had meant, an ominous meaning that he hadn’t understood at the time. It came down to a black river, one that supersedes. The two names put together by his father and mother, whom he had never known.

As suddenly as he had heard his grandfather’s harrowing voice, others began to echo out over the water. I can’t stay here, I can’t hear their voices again! He thought, pushing out desperately with his arms, trying to push himself to his feet. But they flailed around in the water and did little to move him, his legs exploding in pain but never moving.

It was like trying to swim in oil, he never made any progress.

The gentle sounds of the rippling waters quickly changed, the roaring of rapids replacing it. A huge tree suddenly uprooted near him, falling over with a crash as its branches crushed his chest and its trunk landed over his legs. He cried out as his ribs exploded again in pain, a desperate plea for the pain to stop.

The water boiled around him, the voices growing in intensity as he struggled. The pain in his legs only doubled as he continued to struggle. He didn’t want to hear those voices again, he couldn’t handle seeing the memories they brought.

“ … oalback! -op!” A voice echoed.

“No! Don’t make me hear them! Don’t make me hear them scream again!” Coalback begged, yelling to the skies and whatever horrible being forced him to relive those voices.

“I can’t -derstand you!” The same voice cried. “I’m -ight here …lback!” The voice cried again.

He struggled harder, pushing at the branches weakly as he tried to pull himself away. But his legs were trapped under the unrelenting weight of the tree. The water steamed around him, obscuring his view of the rapidly flowing water and the dead brambles of the tree atop him. It carried the black of the water with it, quickly turning from a spray, to smoke.

The smoke burned his lungs, the pain piling atop the the others that smothered him. He coughed as the smoke burned his lungs with ash, his forced breathing stirring the smoke. Quickly, the roar changed to a crackle, and the smoke drifted away from his eyes.

He wasn’t in the river anymore, and the water soaking him had turned red and thick. Blood, it was everywhere. Covering him head to toe, and soaking into the ground under him. The weight on his legs grew, the tree turning into a fallen crossbeam. All around him, bodies decorated the ground like horrifying rugs on the marble floor. Their dead eyes stared up at nothing … if they still had eyes.

He wasn’t in the river anymore, he was in his family’s manor.

“No! No!” He yelled out, choking on the smoke as it grated against his vocal cords. But his cries went unheard, his eyes forced to look at the dead bodies of his family. The memories of their gruesome deaths flashed in front of his eyes as he looked at them, he remembered every death in extreme clarity.

He remembered, because he had been the one who killed them.

His ears rang with cries and metal clashing. His body shook from the echoes of fights long past. Sidheag, once his closest cousin, he saw her face as he ripped apart her torso with the jagged edges of a broken bar. Artair, his half-brother, he felt his head crush under the huge metal dumpster, saw as the jagged edges of his skull ripped through his scalp. He tasted the blood of his father as he ate the heart that had once kept him alive. Brighde, his aunt who had snuck him food from the kitchens occasionally, he felt the tug on his claws as her thick hide resisted his assault.

“I can’t see it again! Please!” He begged, flinching at every horrid memory of his family’s death. “Please, stop!” He cried, sobs breaking through as he choked on the thick smoke. The smoldering crossbeam shifted, putting a twisting pressure on his right leg and drawing a wretched yelp from him. “Knight! Please! Protect me! What have I done to lose your protection!” He begged, writhing under the horrid weight of the crossbeam.

He remembered the weeks under the crossbeam that he had suffered through. No fluids save for the blood around him. No food but his family’s meat. And that painful change that had come with the full moon.

He had only been saved when the school district had noticed his absence, only to be arrested for the murder of his family.

“... -ut this in his -outh!” An unfamiliar voice echoed, interrupted by the crackling of flame and the sounds of collapsing wood. He felt the crossbeam shift again, drawing his attention back to the horrid pain in his leg and away from the deaths playing like movie reels in front of his eyes.

“GAH!” He yelled out, feeling the bone breaking and sliding against itself.

A single blue-purple flower sprung into his vision, the smell hitting him like the side of a mountain. And the scene before him sprung away, shimmering out of existence as if the flower warped the air with heat. And as he watched the flower grew, tens more blooms spiralling out from its single stem. And in an instant, he was within a new memory, all his pain gone in a single moment.

He was in a field, blossoming with thousands of the beautiful flowers. The smell was wonderful, incredibly sweet and even bitter, but not overpowering. And it calmed him like nothing else in the world. Nothing compared to it. It was sweeter than any honey. Warmer than a woman’s touch. And it was a greater feeling than sex.

It was wolfsbane.

Not many know what real wolfsbane does to werewolves. Some think that it hurts them, others think it keeps them away. Some even think that it creates them. But few know that it attracts them like a siren’s song, and calms them like cannabis does for humans only more so. It makes them almost docile, peaceful in a way that no living being knows without the aid of a godlike spirit.

He reached forward eagerly with his muzzle, the light breeze playing on his fur as he took the flower in his mouth. He chewed it eagerly, the bitter taste of flower’s petals a meager price to pay for the feeling of ecstasy that the flower created. The fear and horror and guilt simply … washed away. The pain and the tears slowly faded into the back of his mind, barely a buzz at the edge of his perception.

His senses melted away, blending together into a beautiful mural of colors and smells. His mind closed, like falling asleep. And he was free of even his thoughts. Even if the feeling of the flower’s influence was fantastic, it was also fleeting. He swallowed the flower in his mouth, but when he moved toward another, it faded from existence. He eagerly attempted to bite down on more of the blissful flowers, to be met with only air. The scene slowly fell away, revealing the reality around him.

Greyshadow howled, loudly and with cheer. A victory call that he sang for Coalback, even as the man’s leg finally snapped from under him and he tumbled to the ground. Rainbow didn’t wait a single breath when she saw him fall, rushing to him in a blur and landing just next to him.

She pushed him over onto his side, relieving the pressure on his broken leg. She nearly  retched as she saw the injury. His leg was folded in two places above his knee, the flesh stained black and purple where it bruised and stretched. The right side of his torso had turned red with scrapes and bruises, and his breathing was soft and barely there.

Greyshadow growled as soon as he had finished his howl, a vicious snarl that tore her gaze away from Coalback. The wolf jumped forward, springing onto the bulging stomach of the troll. His claws tore into it with a spray of stinking gore that covered him entirely as he ripped into its abdomen. Greyshadow practically dived into the still steaming guts of the disgusting troll, digging through the gore and stinking fluids.

“Bleh!” Rainbow recoiled, the smell of sewage intensifying now that its organs were open to the air.

The wolf stopped suddenly, his tail waving high in the air as he slowly backed out from the troll’s guts. And clutched in his mouth was a tiny, goop covered ball of fur. As she watched the stinking ball of fur twitched, a mouth suddenly spraying away the disgusting goop in a stringy spray and taking a deep breath of the air. She watched as the wolf gingerly stepped down from the troll’s stomach, its loose hide sliding under his paws and making the descent difficult.

He carried the sputtering ball of fur away from the troll, moving beside the dogsled and setting it down gently. “How did you know …?” Rainbow started to say, stunned by the sudden action of the wolf.

Greyshadow spat a glob of the gore out of his mouth, leaning down and using his tongue to wipe away the goop covering the newly revealed pup. He spat out several more globs, cleaning it away from the puppy’s head before answering her. “Lyall,” he gurgled, more of the disgusting goop making him gag as he freed the rest of it from his throat. “Saw troll swallow her, thought was lost until the Lord killed the troll.” He finished, a tired and thankful smile quickly gracing his wolf face.

“How did you know that she would still be alive?” Rainbow asked, starting to turn back to Coalback.

“Trolls have gizzard, no stomach!” The wolf said as explanation, turning to continue cleaning the puppy and ignoring his own stink. He completely tuned her out, dropping the conversation so he could see to his pup. He continued a pattern of licking, and then spitting out the disgusting flavor to the side.

“We need a doctor! And be quick ‘bout it!” Applejack suddenly yelled, startling Rainbow into looking up at her. She had walked up just behind her, her hat still slightly askew from Greyshadow’s sudden use of her ropes.

“What do we do, AJ? I don’t know how to fix a broken leg!” Rainbow pleaded to her, panic starting to set in. She started to move forward toward Coalback, reaching forward to hold him again.

“Calm down, sugarcube!” Applejack said quickly, pulling Rainbow forcefully away from Coalback. “Ah’ve seen a few broken legs on tha farm. We just gotta keep ‘im still ‘till we can get a doctor ta look at it. But it’s lookin’ real bad, so we better not move ‘im.” Applejack explained, turning her head away to bellow out at the other ponies recovering from their tumble at the trolls claws. “What’re yah idjits waitin’ on?! We need a doctor yest’rday!” She yelled out, watching as a few of the pegasi darted off.

Coalback wasn’t moving, it grated on Rainbow that she couldn’t do anything for him either. But maybe there was. Her mind darted back to the cave, where Coalback had insisted that she grab hold of the gem. Where she had somehow performed a healing spell on him.

She wriggled out of Applejack’s arms, fumbling forward to Coalback’s neck. She gingerly removed the soiled and torn mount of the gem, fumbling to remove it with her hooves. But when she revealed it, there was no blinding light like before. It was dark, perfectly transparent. And its touch didn’t even bring a hum of the knowledge she had had before. Whatever had been there before, spirit, or power, or something else, was gone now.

Applejack quickly recovered, pulling Rainbow away before she could collapse on top of Coalback again. “Don’t move ‘im, Rainbow!” Applejack growled, pulling against Rainbow as she resisted every step away. “We gotta wait fer a doctor, or we could make it worse!” She grunted, pulling Rainbow off her hooves and holding her wings down, forcing her to lay on the ground.

They struggled for a few moments on the ground, both fighting for control. But a soft sound of leathery wings cut through the air to them, a small scroll dropping to the ground in front of their noses. They both paused, staring incredulously at the tiny scroll.

The sound of the wings fluttered again, and a huge flying fox landed behind the letter. Its face resembled closely to its namesake, a small fox-like head, nothing like the small bats that flew out of the forests occasionally. Its rear legs grabbed into the branch of a nearby bush, bending the thin extrusion and being forced to support itself with its wings. Around its neck was a dark blue sash, its large dark eyes stared at them intently.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack said with surprise, taking a closer look and seeing the deep blue sash around its neck and the crescent moon printed on it.

“Did Princess Luna send you?” Rainbow asked, seeing the same insignia marked on the bats scarf. It replied hastily with an enthusiastic nod that shook its entire body and the thin branch it clung to. One of its wings lifted from the ground and tapped the scroll twice before rolling it closer to them.

It didn’t wait for them to ask any more questions, pushing the front of its body up with its wings. It spread them quickly, cupping the air with a few leathery flaps before letting go of the branch it clung to. A scraping screech followed it as it quickly departed, heading back toward Canterlot.

“Well?” Rainbow said angrily after a moment. “Are you gonna get off me and read the freaking letter, or are you just gonna sit there and look at it like it’s on fire?!” She yelled furiously, pushing up against Applejack’s much heavier body. She had never been able to quite beat the farm mare at hoof to hoof wrestling, but she did come close every time.

Applejack donned a sheepish smile, laughing nervously as she jumped off of Rainbow and grabbed the letter. She broke the seal quickly, taking charge again as she read over it. But she only looked even more confused. “Rainbow, come look at this. I can’t make hide nor hair o’ this.” She said incredulously, turning the letter to Rainbow as she leaned over Applejack’s shoulder.

Equivocation

Three days before the fortnight, it is difficult having to deal with this mixed-up grandeur without you. Canterlot is your next destination, yes? Double down, find place with an octopus. The sun rises with more mixed-up grandeur without you. Five, nine, six, ten. I hope this letter helps you as it arrives, too.

“I don’t know either.” She said, more as a question than anything. “It looks weird though. Does Luna always write like this? And what’s that?” She asked, pointing at the swirling symbol.

“I don’ know, Dash.” Applejack said, looking back at Coalback. “But maybe we should wait ‘till we’ve got Coalback settled. If’n he don’t get the attention he needs, it could real bad for ‘im.” Applejack said, tucking the scroll under her hat to keep it safe. “We’ll look at it later.”

“Doctors! Comin’ through!” A pegasus yelled out, a white pony clutched in his hooves as he landed carefully. His cry drew their attention, A few other pegasi dropping off their own charges.

“That’s … creative.” Rainbow said distantly, snapping herself into action and running toward the nurse as she recovered from her impromptu arrival. “Nurse Redheart!” She called, recognising the nurse mare from her various visits to the Ponyville hospital. “Can you fix a broken bone?” Rainbow asked desperately, grabbing the other mare’s hoof and dragging her toward the unconscious Coalback.

The white coated earth pony resisted for a moment, her head still spinning from the less than comfortable flight. But when her attention came to the fallen man, she instantly recovered. She darted forward, the emergency kit hanging from her sides as she slid to a stop next to him. “Help me move him onto his back, GENTLY!” She ordered, jumping as Rainbow’s surged toward him.

Rainbow gave a huff of annoyance, but complied. How many ponies are gonna tell me that tonight? She thought irritably as she helped the nurse gently guide Coalback onto his back. Redheart leaned down, putting her ear close to Coalback’s mouth and nose. She stayed like that for a few moments, listening intently.

“He’s breathing,” she announced after a few moments, jumping back up and looking over him again. She dropped the bag on her back as she listed off her observations. “Large bruising on the ribs and abdomen, might be some internal bleeding,” her hoof moved forward and pressed against his ribs for a moment, drawing away quickly. “Definitely a few broken ribs, leg fractured in two places above the knee, they look like clean breaks but we’re not going to take any chances.” She finished, reaching into her bag and retrieving several long, straight bracing pads. They were bright orange and covered with a soft padding that wouldn’t scrape against his skin.

The nurse looked up at Rainbow Dash, offering her the four pads as she spoke. “I need you to help me, Rainbow. We shouldn’t let his leg sit like that for long, there’s probably already a lot of damage to his ligaments. Press them against the sides of his leg for me, don’t worry about being gentle, we have to move the bone pieces back into place.” She said quickly, guiding Rainbow’s hooves to the pads forcefully. The nurse turned away for a moment, a large roll of beige gauze coming into view as she turned back.

She guided Rainbow’s hooves, showing her how to hold the pads against his leg. Rainbow placed the pads to either side of his leg, wincing as the bone slid back into place. She watched the nurse roll out a long length of the gauze, sliding it under the small arc that Coalback’s knee created and wrapping it tightly around the makeshift brace. She wrapped it several times, keeping it tight as she did. After she had finished with those braces she motioned for Rainbow to grab the other two.

“This part isn’t actually really needed, but I really don’t want to have to deal with his leg slipping out of the brace. So we’re gonna put another set on the top and bottom of his leg. Okay, Rainbow?” Nurse Redheart explained, motioning for her to do as she told. The nurse lifted Coalback’s leg slightly, propping it up on her own flank as she started to wrap the second set of braces onto his leg. When she was done, she braided the gauze through a few other wraps and tied a knot in it, pulling it tightly and securely. Redheart gently placed Coalback’s leg back on the ground, shoveling some snow onto his leg as she did.

“What are you doing? Aren’t we supposed to keep him warm?” Rainbow asked, shrinking slightly as Redheart gave her a dark glare.

“We have to stop the swelling, or he’s only going one of two places.” She said, finished her shoveling and starting to gather her supplies. “The hospital, or the morgue.” She finished, her dark glare dropping to something that resembled a tired sadness, one that can only be bred from seeing the situation before. “Just keep an eye on him, I have to go help the others.” She didn’t dwell long though, trotting a few steps to join the other doctors with the ponies that had received injuries from the troll.

Rainbow watched her as she left, staring blankly and without thought as the nurse continued. The nurse quickly found herself near a pony that had been walking with strain, offering her assistance. Rainbow’s gaze drifted, rolling over the other few nurses that showed up. Her eyes continued over toward the makeshift shelter she had created with the wolf, her eyes lingering on Greyshadow and the puppy as they tried to scrub out the last of the troll’s blood from their coats. And then her eyes landed on the shakily standing Twilight only a few meters away.

“Twilight!” Rainbow called, noticing her friends distress with worry. Last she had seen her, Twilight had been performing a spell. Maybe she had overextended herself? She darted over on still buzzing hooves, the blood flow starting to tingle as if they had fallen asleep. She was able to get to her just in time to catch the exhausted mage before she nearly fell again. “What happened, Twilight? You don’t look very good either.” She asked, noting the haggard appearance of her friend now that she was closer.

Twilight’s mane was a total mess, like the days when she got so wrapped up in her studies that she forgot to brush it. Her eyes seemed glazed over, staring at everything and nothing at the same time. Twilight quickly shook herself out of it, though. “I’m fine. Really.” She said, taking a deep breath and reaching a hoof up to press against the base of her horn. Rainbow didn’t think Twilight was being totally honest, the pained look on the unicorn’s face being evidence of that.

“What happened, Twilight?” Rainbow asked again, putting a bit more emphasis in the words.

Twilight sighed in defeat, leaning a bit more on Rainbow as another wave of dizziness caught her off guard. “Coalback- uhm … Well, I’m not sure exactly what he did,” she started, following Rainbow as she was led over to the other ponies. “I was trying to perform a healing spell, but he stopped me. And then he asked me if he could borrow something.” She said, looking up at Rainbow. “He didn’t even wait for me to ask what he wanted before he grabbed onto my horn.” She said irritably, rubbing near the long appendage again.

“He grabbed your horn?” Rainbow asked, not sure what to think of the action. She might have put a small amount of an accusation into her words, just a little.

“It wasn’t like that, I swear!” Twilight said quickly, wincing as she turned her head just a little too fast for comfort. “And it really hurt when he channeled out my magic.” She said with another wince.

“What did he do?” Rainbow asked, concern for her friend returning quickly. Coalback might not have been trying to hurt Twilight, but he could easily have done so without knowing it.

“I think that he took the magic I was gathering up for the healing spell, and a little more too, I think.” Twilight replied, continuing to swim in the headache from the event. “I don’t know how he did it, but rather than healing his leg, he must have used it to get just enough support for his leg to work.” Twilight continued, taking a couple more deep breaths to try and alleviate some of the pressure on her skull. “Never really seen magic work like that, actually. Although, it was really sloppy, I’m not sure how he kept it up as long as he did. Ow …” Twilight paused, a particularly painful throb interrupting her train of thought in time with her heartbeat.

“So … He used your magic, to make a ... crutch?” Rainbow asked, trying to draw the lines. Rainbow actually didn’t know much about magic, but she knew a little bit from having spent time with Rarity and Twilight often enough.

“I think so,” Twilight sighed, coming to a stop with Rainbow once they had gotten nearer to the ponies. Twilight sat shakily, laying down and pressing her temple to a small mound of snow. She sighed happily as the cold numbed away some of the headache before continuing. “I don’t understand, though, He was able to use much more complicated spells in situations like these, so why didn’t he use a healing spell like I was?” She wondered, directing the question slightly at Rainbow.

In the distance, an individual glow from a couple of carts that had detached from the main group lazily wobbled over the hill, they must have thought to bring them to carry the injured. Rainbow’s gaze drifted over to the unnaturally still Coalback, knowing full well that she had to keep away from him to prevent moving him, but wanting to go to him anyway.

“I think I’m starting to know why. But you should wait to ask him.” Rainbow finally said as a response, another thought occurred to her as her mind wandered. “Hey, Twi? A bat came and dropped off this weird note from Luna, do you wanna take a look at it?” Rainbow asked, already flagging down Applejack from across the clearing.

“Huh? Wh- yes! Yes, let me see it.” Twilight said, recovering from her headache slightly now that she had had a chance to lay down.

“AJ, give Twilight that letter.” Rainbow said to Applejack as she arrived, whom complied quickly.

It didn’t take Applejack more than a few seconds to pull it out, flinching slightly as a purple aura snatched it out of her hoof. “And you said a bat brought it?” Twilight asked as she whisked open the scroll with the sharp sound of paper sliding on paper.

“Yep, fox headed thang. Real big, too.” Applejack replied, joining Rainbow as they watched Twilight don the same confused look that they had had.

“Wait a second,” Twilight grumbled, staring harder at the script for a second. “Equivocation … That’s interesting,” the unicorn mused, skimming over the rest of the short note for a moment. “Oh. Oh! Equivocation! I see!” Twilight said suddenly, her eyes popping open with interest.

“Equivo- what now?” Applejack asked, joining Rainbow with a confused look.

“Equivocation!” Twilight said in what almost sounded like excitement. “To call by the same name. It’s misdirection, use of words with double meaning. I think Luna sent us a coded message!” Twilight said excitedly, but her face fell suddenly as another thought dawned to her. “But why would Luna need to send a coded message?” Twilight grumbled under her breath, staring harder at the letter as she read over it a few times.

“So can you decode it?” Rainbow asked, walking up and looking over the paper for herself.

“I think so …” Twilight mumbled, bringing the page closer to her face and looking over it intently. “Okay. So … These first two sentences look like they’re trying to give us the first part. A fortnight is fourteen days, but take away three days and you have eleven days. And the eleventh word in the second sentence is ‘grandeur.’ But if we take out the ‘u’ and mix up the lettering, it can spell ‘danger.’” Twilight said, a spark of fear jumping into her voice as she came upon the conclusion.

“Danger? What kinda danger are we talkin’ ‘bout here, Twi?” Applejack asked, joining her friend in her fear.

“Not sure yet, gimme a second.” Twilight muttered, moving on in the letter. “The next part appears to be ‘Canterlot,’” Twilight said, continuing to examine the letter eagerly. “The next part is confusing, I think she’s asking us to look at the second and eighth word in the next sentence. That comes down to ‘sun’ and ‘danger’ again.” Twilight said, an incredulous look donning her face. “Is Luna saying that the sun is in danger, that Celestia’s in danger?!” Twilight said with surprise, her eyes shooting open again. “The next part is like that one too, if a bit more complex. I think it’s saying that help is coming to us.” Twilight said, looking over the note to try and derive something else. When nothing else seemed to appear out of the scratched script, she sighed in defeat.

“What about that swirly thing at the bottom.” Rainbow said, trying to see if Twilight had missed something.

“That’s nothing,” Twilight said with defeat, shaking her head. “It’s Luna’s mark, from before ponies had a written language. Luna was actually one of the first ponies that made progress on the written word, and this was the mark she used to sign everything back then.” Twilight explained, rolling up the scroll with another defeated sigh. After a moment she donned another thoughtful expression. “But if Luna thinks that Celestia is in danger, then why would she contact us with something so cryptic?”

“Because she is afraid that she is being watched, of course!” A warbly voice suddenly cut from across her shoulder.

They all snapped their heads to the side, catching sight instantly of the large raven perched on Twilight’s back. “Aaah!” Twilight screamed, jumping up and throwing the raven off of her back. It replied in kind with a series of startled squawks, flying in panicked circles above them.

“Where did that come from?!” Rainbow asked with surprise, jumping back to dodge away from the the black bird as it swooped low, still squawking like mad.

“Merletta!” Another voice called out from behind the rock, a hooded unicorn walking out from behind it. His voice seemed familiar somehow, but it was hard to recognise it as his voice crackled with the yelling that he was aiming toward the raven. “Stop scaring the elements before somepony gets blasted! I said stop that insistent squawking!” The stallion yelled, tracking the raven as it circled around to land on his back.

“Who tha hay are you?!” Applejack yelled out, already getting into an offensive stance. The sudden appearance of the stranger seemed to have thrown her off, and after all this, neither of them were willing to take chances.

“Ah. You’ll have to forgive the hood, Luna insisted.” The stallion said, lowering the hood to reveal the pale green unicorn and the obnoxious shock of red hair on top of his head. “And please forgive Merletta, she so loves her mischief. And knows far too much for her own good!” The stallion said, turning to reprimand the raven loudly.

It squawked, raising her wings defensively. “I simply answered Her Majesty's question!” The raven defended, looking toward Twilight. Merletta managed to don a confused look for a moment as she examined Twilight for a moment. “Oh, wait. This is the wrong one, my apologies.” The raven said, nodding in an imitation of a bow toward Twilight.

“Wait a second, Clean Cut?” Rainbow asked, finally recognising the goofy doctor.

“Oh, good! You do recognise me!” Clean Cut said with a smile, but it quickly dropped as he continued. “I would say that it’s good to see you again, however considering the current predicament we find ourselves in, that might not be appropriate.” He said starting to walk past them. “Come on boys, examine the scene!” He called back into the woods.

As if his words had pulled away a curtain, ten darkly armored, bat-winged ponies walked out from the woods behind him. Their cat’s eyes glowed in the darkness, the tall tufts of fur on their ears swayed slightly in the breeze as they walked. Twilight gasped as one passed by her, looking over the grey furred ponies.

“Thestrals,” she mumbled, catching the slitted eye of the night guard that passed her.

The guards quickly spread over the clearing, examining the area as Clean Cut waited next to Twilight and the other’s. Rainbow turned to Twilight, a question poised on her tongue. “Twilight. What’s a thestral?” She hissed to the still stunned unicorn, it was just enough to snap her out of her daze.

“Thestrals are Luna’s dedicated guards, more dedicated to her than dogs to their masters. But they have an incredible cultural history, I looked into them after Luna returned. Fascinating.” She said distantly, watching the thestrals with rapt interest as they worked. Although, her explanation did little to help Rainbow.

Rainbow turned away with a defeated scoff, returning to the doctor. She stifled a groan, she wasn’t exactly looking forward to another interaction with the strange doctor. “So what areyou doing here?” She asked incredulously, waiting for Clean Cut’s reply with unfamiliar patience.

“Why, we’re Coalback’s personal physicians, of course!” He said proudly, the raven on his back cawing in agreement.

“Physician? I think he might not be as excited about that as you are.” She said, looking over toward Coalback. “And shouldn’t you be doing something about that?” She asked, starting to become irritated with the doctor’s nonchalance.

Clean Cut scoffed, taking a fleeting glance over at Coalback. “The nurses have done all we can at the moment, for now we just have to keep him from moving his leg when he wakes up. Besides, its the ones in the cave I’m more worried about.” He finished, his jovial expression dropping as he looked past Coalback and at the cave where two of the thestrals were looking in.

One of them turned, as if keying in on the conversation, despite the distance. “Eight inside, only two hearts beating, though.” It yelled out, catching the attention of six of the other thestrals. They rushed over, leaving whatever they had been examining to join their companions. They rushed into the cave as one, disappearing into its blackness almost as quickly as they had appeared.

“They’re here for extra security, although they won’t be sticking around for sunrise. Sensitive little fellows.” Clean Cut said, shrugging his shoulders with a sheepish smile as one of the remaining thestrals gave him a glare.

“So Luna did send us help. Good timing on the raven’s part though, it was actually pretty funny.” Rainbow said, chuckling as the raven preened at the compliment, not literally though.

“Don’t encourage her.” The doctor said, rolling his eyes.

“And what exactly do you know about Coalback that any other doctor wouldn’t?” Rainbow continued with the previous topic, eying the doctor incredulously. “He said that he wasn’t exactly a fan of doctor’s.” She finished suspiciously.

“But I know of him,” the raven cooed, twitching her head to the side in one of those twitchy movements. “You’d be surprised what birds know that most do not.” Merletta said with a sing song voice, hopping from one leg to another on Clean Cut’s back.

“That saying doesn’t just come from nothing, after all.” Clean Cut agreed, a knowing smirk donning his features as one of his ears flicked toward the cave. “They’ll be out soon,” he sighed with a defeated look. “It’s not good news. I would control your new friend when they come out.” He said, nodding toward Greyshadow, who was rolling in the snow to try and scrub out the troll stink still clinging to him. The doctor trotted off, moving over toward Coalback.

She trotted over toward the wolf, keeping her eyes on the cave as she did. Greyshadow stopped his determined rolling in the snow to look at her, flipping over onto his stomach before speaking. “Greetings, Blaidd-ffrind Rainbow Dash. New arrivals, who are they?” He asked, lifting a paw to let one of the pups scramble up under his chin. It stared up at Rainbow, that distinctive little shake of its ears persistent in the warm embrace of the other wolf.

“Princess Luna sent us some help, their pulling some … bodies out of the cave now.” Rainbow said, trying to sound calm and keep the wolf from freaking out on her. His ears perked up, aiming at the cave, but he kept his eyes on her.

“That is … very good news. Thank you, Blaidd-ffrind. I have much to think about.” Greyshadow said quietly, laying his head down around the little puppy. “Is it within my right to ask you to take care of Lyall and Sharptooth?” He asked, looking up at her. She couldn’t help but notice the sadness in his yellowish green eyes, and the wetness gathering on the edges in the corners.

“Of course, I-I’ll uh- look after ‘em for a bit.” She replied, she couldn’t in good conscious deny his request. And who knows, maybe wolf puppies are better behaved than a certain group of fillies she knew.

The puppy disentangled itself from Greyshadow’s paws, they fell away from her weakly. He must have been taking it harder now that the danger was over, he had lost a lot. The puppy gave a small goodbye lick to Greyshadow’s muzzle, spitting out the still stinking taste of troll that clung to him. The puppy turned away from Greyshadow and gave a two short, high pitched barks.

The other puppy, still sitting nervously beside the other ponies, jumped up. It ran in its short legs to, nearly tripping over its paws a few times along the way. The two puppies quickly greeted each other, the running puppy knocking the other over in a playful tackle. She watched the puppies exchange their playful greeting for a moment, happy to see at least the puppies being happy.

“Hi guys,” Rainbow greeted, leaning down so that she wouldn’t stand over them so much. The puppies stopped their playing, looking up at her from their pile. “I’m Rainbow Dash, what are your names?” She asked, looking at them with a kind smile. Or at least she hoped that’s what it was.

The puppies stared at her, a confused tilt to their heads. One of them jumped, disentangling itself from the other and rolling onto its back, the other followed suit. They stared up at her with an expression she couldn’t quite place, something between nervousness and fear. She donned her own expression of confusion, she couldn’t quite place what they were doing.

“Hey, you guys don’t have to do that …” She whispered nervously, she didn’t really want anypony seeing a couple of kids scared of her. “How about you guys just tell me your names.” She offered, motioning for them to stand up.

The puppies tilted their heads in confusion again, rolling over and trading glances. One of them shrugged before turning back to her. “Lyall,” she said, her voice distinctly female, like a filly’s voice. She had a dark coloring, small flecks of lighter brown following the direction of her fur. One of her ears was a lighter brown than any of her other colorings, giving the impression of a permanently tilted ear.

“Sharptooth,” the other said, his voice sounding like a young colt’s. He was slightly smaller than Lyall, his ears not nearly as high as Lyall’s. His fur was more distinctly patterned, black and white like a zebra’s more than anything. The pattern ran from his tail up to his head, wrapping around his neck and onto his face. It was lighter there, the lines thinner than along the rest of his body. They wrapped around in an intricate pattern, tracing around his eyes and forming a similar pattern to the one tattooed onto Greyshadow’s head.

“We’re supposed to show submission to elders.” Lyall whispered, moving into a low stance, like she was trying to hide from somepony.

“Yeah, especially to Blaidd-ffrind.” Sharptooth agreed, joining Lyall in her low stance.

“Don’t worry about that, it’s not really how ponies do things. So I don’t mind.” Rainbow said, patting Lyall on her head. “You know, you guys speak really good Equestrian. A lot better than Greyshadow, when did you learn that?” She asked, trying to make the pups a little more comfortable by switching the topic back to them.

“Non taught us!” Sharptooth announced happily, wagging his tail in appreciation of the praise.

“Yeah, Non knows everything!” Lyall agreed, wagging her tail and raising from the ground slightly.

“Look, there she is!” Sharptooth said, hopping up and pointing toward the cave with his paw. Lyall jumped up as well, wagging her tail excitedly.

Rainbow turned her head to follow their gaze, her eyes landed on the entrance to the cave. She turned her gaze in time to see the line of thestrals marching out of the cave, the limp forms of wolves draped over their backs. Her breath caught in her throat as she spotted the last two limp forms in the group, a passed out turquoise pegasus stallion, and an injured, alert wolf.

The other wolves were in worse shape, most wrapped in large tarps that hid their forms. But all of them were more than surely dead.

The Wolves That Were

-Mourning at Midnight-

“Oh my gosh,” Rainbow exclaimed, rushing forward and grabbing the puppies before they could rush out to the marching thestrals.

“Hey!” Lyall said indignantly, looking back up at Rainbow with a frustrated scowl.

“I wanna see Non.” Sharptooth said, his expression more of a pleading gesture, his eyes going big as he stared up at her.

“Yeah, and mam and tad!” Lyall agreed, pushing against Rainbow’s hoof to try and move past her.

“No,” Rainbow said quickly, her eyes darting to the approaching thestrals and their packages. They were going to pass right by where they were standing, their slitted eyes were aimed toward Greyshadow. “You guys stay with me.” She insisted, pulling again on the puppies and getting them out of the way.

The thestrals passed by close enough that she could clearly look at the wolves’ bodies. The two thestral’s carrying the survivors broke off and headed toward the group of ponies a little ways away, getting them to doctor’s as fast as they could while carrying them. But her eyes couldn’t tear away from the harrowing sight passing in front of her.

Three of the bodies had been covered with large purple tarps, a crescent moon emblem emblazoned on the fabric. Two of them were wrapped so tightly that she wondered if the entire body was actually inside it, or if some had had to be left in the cave. As she watched, a light brown paw shifted out of its covering, a trail of red blood dripped onto the snow as it passed.

“Mam! Mam!” Lyall called, waving a paw at one of last wolf in the line. The wolf she waved to was a perfect white, or she would have been if not for the blood, dirt, and what was most likely sewage that matted her fur.

Before she could stop her, Lyall dodged through Rainbow’s grip. She stumbled forward on her large paws, tripping over them before regaining her balance and darting off. She caught with the line quickly, hopping beside the thestral as she batted at the wolf’s face with her little brown paws.

Lyall looked on in confusion as her paws did nothing to rouse the other wolf. “Mam, deffro.” She said, her previous joy dropping as she became confused. She started to become more desperate as she hopped along beside them, becoming more tentative in her poking. “M-momma?” She stopped following alongside the thestral, nervously backing toward Rainbow.

“Lyall,” Rainbow said, jumping forward to pull her back. She watched as the thestrals stopped by Greyshadow, the lead thestral leaning down to say something to him. Greyshadow stood after a moment, leading the procession away from the clearing.

“Nani Rainbow Dash?” Sharptooth said from between her hooves, having stooped between them to peak at the passing wolves. “Why don’t any of them have their lights anymore?” He asked, looking up at her with a pleading gaze.

She cringed at his look, the sadness striking at her heart like an icicle. But his question had seemed a little off. “What are you talking about? What do you mean by ‘lights’?” She asked gently, being sure she had a good grip around Lyall with her hoof.

“Whenever I look at everyone else, they have lights. Like little lightning bugs in their hearts. You have them, Lyall has them, even the troll had them. But now they’re gone.” He said, looking up at her with sad eyes, already starting to tear up. “Are they going to be okay, nani?” He said, more of a plea than a question..

Rainbow’s chest tightened, a lump starting to form in her throat as she looked at him. She couldn’t quite tell, but she was fairly certain that Sharptooth might already have started to grasp what Lyall hadn’t. She wasn’t sure where he was going with the lights, but maybe it was a wolf thing, or it had to do with his peculiar markings.

“Peidiwch â siarad fel 'na!” Lyall said angrily, turning away from the procession to stare down at the smaller puppy. Sharptooth crouched low with his tail tucked between his legs as he tried to back away from Lyall, an obviously submissive stance. “Wrth gwrs, byddant yn iawn, maent yn rhy fawr a chryf i- i …” She started, trailing off as her own tears finally started to flow. Lyall slumped as her tears rolled down her face, the resolve that had driven her fading as a part of her realized what had happened.

Rainbow couldn’t be sure what Lyall had said, but she knew it had to be something that denied what Sharptooth had insinuated. She had already been there when Scootaloo had insisted that her dad was fine, even though he had already been pronounced dead. This seemed familiar in its tone.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go over here.” Rainbow said gently, pulling again at the puppies to move toward the group of ponies behind them.

“Dim!” Lyall yelled, ducking under her hooves again. She stood defensive stance, paws spread apart and head low. She shook herself, a few stray tears coming free and falling to the snow. “Not until nani tells me what happened to mam and tad!” She said, starting to shake slightly but all the while keeping an angry stare on Rainbow.

“Oh, geeze …” Rainbow muttered, cringing slightly as she looked at Lyall’s teary eyes. How do you tell a kid that their family’s dead? She thought desperately, trying to kick her brain into a higher gear with a hoof. This is going to be unpleasant for all of us. “Uhm … They … aren’t coming back, guys.” She stuttered, still unsure how to really tell them, or get them to drop the subject.

“N-not ... coming back? What does that mean?” Lyall said, her resolve dropping again.

“W-well …” Rainbow couldn’t think, how could she tell a kid that? “Uhm … They’re in a better place, now.” She tried, eyes darting between the two puppies, whom were becoming closer and closer to tears. “Come on, guys.” She tried again, reaching out to Lyall.

“No,” Lyall wailed, backing away from Rainbow again. “Not until you tell me why they won’t come back! Where did mommy go?” She said, angry tears starting to streak down her face.

Rainbow couldn’t stand to hear anypony like that, and the only reason she had been able to calm down Scootaloo had been because she already knew her. This was so much harder, not only did she not really know these two, they were foreigners. She had no idea what their culture said about the dead, or how their kids were supposed to know that. This was becoming taxing for her, she almost wanted to cry herself it was so frustrating.

“I’m sorry, Lyall. I don’t know what to tell you.” Rainbow pleaded, trying to calm her down again. “The troll- … She’s just gone, okay. Your mom-”

“You mean she’s dead.” Lyall said angrily, her tears falling fast from her eyes. “Mommy’s dead and you don’t want to tell me.” She said, finally breaking down into sobs and curling into a ball in the snowy ground. She wrapped her paws over her face, trying to hide her tears vainly.

“Lyall, peidiwch â chrio.” Sharptooth said, gingerly stumbling out from Rainbow’s hooves where he had stood obediently. He stumbled over his large paws toward Lyall, leaning down and nuzzling her.

Lyall jumped up, knocking over the smaller puppy with a strike from her paw. She let out another strangled sob before curling up again and whimpering quietly into her paws. Rainbow jumped forward, trying to check that Lyall hadn’t hurt Sharptooth. Sharptooth rolled back over and crawled back to Lyall’s side, looking otherwise unhurt despite his tumble. She paused, not saying anything even though she could clearly see four little red lines under his fur.

Sharptooth carefully shuffled over to Lyall again, this time remaining quiet as he put his head on top of Lyall’s. Lyall didn’t react this time, other than appearing to curl in tighter. Sharptooth whined lightly, shifting his head and sniffing at the back of Lyall’s lighter colored ear. He curled his smaller body against hers, comforting her with his presence.

Rainbow’s heart practically dragged her to the ground with the weight that suddenly fell on it, the sight before her nearly drawing her own tears to her eyes. She hated this, having to have been the one to tell them this. She hated even more that she had messed it up so badly. She didn’t really think about what she did next, some maternal part of her taking over her actions.

She gingerly stepped over to them, stepping around them and laying beside them. She sidled her stomach beside them and lifted a wing over them, settling it gently over them. She didn’t know if it helped, but their gentle shaking had stopped, and Lyall slowly stopped crying. She watched them carefully with sad eyes.

Sharptooth had simply tried to stop moving, as much as the little puppy could. He stared up at her wings with wide eyes, but the rest of his expression was hidden in Lyall’s fur. Lyall had a slightly more dramatic reaction when she finally lifted her teary eyes, jumping slightly at the sight of Rainbow’s wings.

A stray thought entered her mind. She wondered if they were having that same fascination that Coalback had with her wings. Maybe it was a wolf thing? Even then, she still didn’t know why. As she wondered that, she also thought about their names.

Sharptooth and Greyshadow had names that, while distinctly belonging to a wolf, seemed fairly normal by pony standards. It was Lyall’s name, and Non’s, that interested her. They were strange, yes, but in their own way she thought they were pretty interesting names. But why did Lyall and Non have such differently styled names than Greyshadow and Sharptooth?

She sighed, pushing aside the thoughts and bringing herself back to the present. “Come on guys, let’s go see if we can find Non.” She said, remembering the other wolf that had survived. She hoped she was right in saying that that was her, she had already messed up once.

Non was a beautiful wolf, she knew that. Her fur had once been a beautiful dark brown, with streaks of lighter brown that followed the flow of her fur. She had been an envy of so many other packs, males and females alike.

But now she stank, and her fur was splotched with a shade of disgusting black from the sewage in the troll’s cave. She stank like goat shit, and rotting plants, and the salt marshes in summer. She hated those smells, hated the way they pressed against her nose and the aching sides of her temples. She wanted desperately to just bury her nose in the numbing snow.

Past her own horrid stink, she knew the troll was worse. Its guts had been revealed to the open air, an act that would have soiled the meat of a hunt, if a troll wasn’t already so disgusting. Its blood and innards still steamed in the nipping, cold, night air. She looked at the troll with a stew of hatred and guilt that made her want to both tear apart the corpse, and simply collapse in defeat.

She should have fought harder, she should have been faster, she should have been stronger.

She pushed aside the smells, tuning them out from the front of her mind. She looked to the pups that had survived, the rainbow pegasus trying vainly to calm them. They had seen their mother and father, their mam and tad, pass by with silence. She knew that they had not understood, that they only wanted to see the ones who had given them life, again. She could tell that the pony was struggling to explain, perhaps trying to preserve their innocence, as ponies were want to do.

The last two of their blessed winter litter of six. It was so rare for a pack to whelp and rear pups in the winter. The empress herself had blessed their pack in the waning hours of their birth, already knowing of the mudres male born to them. A wolf with the divine talent to see and hear their ancestors, a spiritual leader. Rare for them to be male, rarer for them to be born with their gifts.

She had been given the great honor of being allowed to assist in rearing the litter alongside her alpha, an old, white wolf. Rhian, their leader for two generations, almost too old to have been able to whelp a litter. And she, Non, the omega, the outsider, had been humbled to be allowed to assist her alpha. The empress had blessed her with the false pregnancy that allowed her to rear the pups alongside Rhian, their pack had truly been gifted.

Her poor little warrior, Lyall, her cries were like ice inside her ears. The little brown puppy had curled into a tiny ball, refusing her smaller brother’s comfort with a harsh swipe from her paw. She almost smiled as she watched the tiny puppy crawl his way back over to her, comforting her with his presence. Sharptooth was the runt of their litter, but his heart made up for his size. Non had been their protector, nani, and teacher.

But now she was stuck, held away from them by a well meaning pony healer. She lay on her side, belly to the air so that her injured leg was above her body. The white mare was kind enough, but her own sadness made her distant to the stranger. The doctor spoke softly, and with genuine concern in her voice. The doctor was nice, and she held no ill will to her, so she held herself from holding any of her emotions to the mare.

That didn’t stop the fact that she hated the stiff bandages that held her leg in place, even if it was for the best. She had barely missed having the troll rip her leg off, it had grabbed her and dragged her into the cave. The others had been kicked in, like a sick game of pêl-droed, where the pups would knock a dry grass ball into a hoop with their paws.

She couldn’t even bend around to clean herself, not without the pain returning in full. And scrubbing the stink out with the snow would be just as difficult without agitating the injured limb. Maybe she could find a hot spring to soak in? Or perhaps the ponies had hot water, she knew that they bathed far more often like that. It would be a blessing to be clean like that again. They all could use a bath.

She sighed in her frustration. Best not to dwell on what I do not have. She thought, beginning to list off the things she did. It was a calming practice she had adopted since she was a puppy, passed to her by her nani. She was alive, that was to be thanked for. Lyall and Sharptooth lived, as well as sad Greyshadow. It appeared that much of their pack’s supplies had survived, minus the few paintings and books that they had owned. And now, they were in the presence of one of their Lords.

She turned her gaze to the prone man, looking over his body. He had fought for them even before they had introduced their pack. She wasn’t sure whether to think him stupid for risking his life, or to think him more honorable than any wolf she had ever met before for the same reasons. Truly the legends of the Blaidd-ddyn were true, they were incredible creatures.

The events within the cave flashed before her mind’s eye. The troll dragging her by the injured leg into the cave, light waning until the only thing she could make out were the outlines of various objects in the darkness. The troll leaning over one of her packmates, chewing on him but never swallowing him. It had been a nightmare, a night terror.

At first, she thought she had died. She had died, and an ancient Lord had come to guide her. He had crept from the darkness, gently laying his hand upon her neck. She knew that he felt her pulse, watched him place a finger to his lips. Be silent, his motions had said.

And yet, he had never revealed his true shape to them. Never once had he returned to his ancestral form, one of the first Blaidd-ddyn. Maybe it had cost him his strength? Or he had already been wounded from a previous battle. Could he have been sacrificing his strength for the ponies? It would explain why Greyshadow was so quick to allow a pony to care for the pups.

“Nani!” A wail stopped her thoughts, Lyall’s unsteady steps crunching through the powder as she ran to her. Lyall quickly buried her tears in the mane around Non’s neck, sobbing into the slightly matted, but still soft, fur. A silent and sullen Sharptooth gently joined her on the opposite side of her neck, leaning into her fur with his own teary eyes.

“Oh. Shhh, fy drist, babanod bach.” She cooed to them, her silky voice flowing out to the puppies as they leaned against her thicker coat. She reached around with her neck to gently nuzzle Lyall’s back, a gentle back rub to calm her. She stank nearly as much as Non did, but her fur was slightly damp from melted snow, so at least she had gotten to clean herself of some of the smell. “Peidiwch â crio. Nani is here.” She shifted her weight to wrap her large paw around Sharptooth warmly, pulling him closer to her.

Lyall’s sobs slowly ended, her silent crying soaking into her coat. She nuzzled the tiny puppy for a moment, calming her with her touch. “Now, Lyall.” Non said softly, drawing the attention of one of the puppy’s ears. “Tell me what it means to be within the pack.” She encouraged softly, letting her soft voice guide the puppy from her sadness.

She heard Lyall snuffle her stuffy nose for a moment, trying to clear it before she spoke, never moving her face from Non’s side. “O fewn y teulu, rydym hela i …” She started to say shakily, whimpering it into Non’s fur.

“Say it in Equestrian,” Non said gently, pushing Lyall’s head up so that one of her eyes peeked out from her fur. Non lifted her eyes slightly, looking for the one who was supposed to be watching them. She was appreciative to see that the rainbow pony was standing just in front of her, another purple pony standing beside her. They had most likely brought the puppies to her after they had seen the bodies.

“Teach the ponies what it means.” Non encouraged, examining the rainbow pony. She wasn’t sure of her expression, it seemed to be somewhere between a sad guilt, and that look that packmates got when they watched the pups play, a sort of warm smile that was marred by her other expression.

Lyall sniffed again, another weak whimper following it before she started again. “Within the pack we hunt, for no one brings us food. Within the pack we love, for no one understands us.” She squeaked, stopping and whimpering into her coat as her tears started again, but she continued. “Within the pack we protect, for no one brings us shelter. Within the pack we care, for no one brings us love. Within the pack we cry, when one of us is taken.” Lyall pushed her head into Non’s fur more forcefully, burying herself into her mane and holding tightly to her.

She had taught the puppies the poem after their eyes had opened, passing on the lessons that they would need to be able to lead their generation to greatness. She had often used the poem as a way to calm the puppies when they were upset, or angry, or unwilling to sleep. Its effectiveness was evident in the halting of both puppies’ tears, but neither moved to leave her side. If anything, they clutched to her tighter.

The rainbow pony stood there awkwardly for a moment, another purple mare walking up beside her shortly. After a few moments of examining the pegasus and the unicorn, she addressed them. “I am Non, omega scholar of the Geni Llwyd pack. Thank you, for watching our pups.” She greeted them, watching them share a glance.

The pegasus nodded her head to the unicorn, a silent exchange that ended as they turned back to her. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal protege of Princess Celestia, and Element of Magic.” The purple unicorn pronounced, nodding her head in a short bow.

“My name’s Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty … and I guess I should say that I’m Coalback’s ... mate, since Greyshadow seemed to think that was important.” The pegasus said, nodding toward the Lord on the ground. She seemed much less comfortable with the introduction that they seemed to have adopted. Non started to smile at the fact that they had replicated her greeting, but halted herself as what the pegasus said registered.

“You are Blaidd-ffrind?” Non asked with disbelief, torn between inspecting the evidence for herself and continuing to comfort the pups. They seemed to be calming, but she almost couldn’t bare to separate herself from them again, for any length of time.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash said, more as a question than a statement at that point. “Why? What does that mean anyway?” She asked, taking a step forward and raising an eyebrow at Non. Greyshadow had said that as well, but had never explained. She hadn’t said anything about it then, it hadn’t exactly been a priority. But now her curiosity won over, and she had to ask.

“I’ll soon know.” Non grunted, pushing herself up onto her paws and releasing the pups now that they had started to calm down. She struggled for a moment, her legs wobbling after having to have spent the last few hours laying on her side. They were especially sore from the endless running, and her pack’s last fight. Eventually she was able to stand, her injured leg held still and close to her side.

Rainbow donned a concerned expression as she watched the wolf, Non was struggling to even stand. It had warmed her guilty conscience to see the pups hugging tightly to the larger wolf, she felt horrible for having to have been the one who told them that their family had died. Now she felt bad for making the injured wolf stand, but she didn’t protest, unlike the doctor.

Nurse Redheart had returned with a protest on her features, and had been met by an angry growl from Non. She was glad she hadn’t decided to be the one to do it, it didn’t really matter how comfortable she felt, a growl like that shook her to her core. It was an instinctual reaction, a prey reaction that told her to either hold completely still, or start running. Fight, or flight.

The doctor stopped her protest in her throat, settling for watching with concern as Rainbow had. Non hobbled forward on her three uninjured legs, moving to sniff at Rainbow’s chest, the tattoo that was barely hidden under her fur, and the faint scar near it. She held still as Non moved her way down Rainbow’s body, sniffing at her mane and her feathers.

She didn’t know what Non was doing, but writing it off as a wolf thing just wasn’t going to cut it for Rainbow. “What are you- HELLO!” She started to ask, the feeling of a cold, wet nose against a very sensitive area startling her. She practically leapt into the air, the cold of Non’s nose shocking her still extremely warm groin, and coincidentally rekindling the urges that she had successfully repressed for almost the entire trip.

She did, thankfully, avoid accidentally bucking Non. “What was that about?” She asked, more of an accusation than a question. Rainbow wasn’t sure what to think of Non’s sniffing, but it brought images to her head that she wasn’t sure of welcoming.

Non’s ears folded back on her head, following the motion as she lowered herself to the ground. “My humblest apologies, but I had to be sure. You smell like him.” Non replied calmly, the pups returning to her changed position. “Normally, it would be customary for a wolf to show her submission to royalty. Please forgive me for not, I am so tired.” She said, rolling to her side and letting the puppies share her warmth.

“Again with the apologies- Did you say ‘royalty’?” Rainbow asked incredulously, eyes moving back over to Coalback. Clean Cut had finally removed the snow on his leg, and had managed to wrap him in a few of the tarps, but had followed up with putting more snow over the parts covering his leg. She was thankful that somepony had finally decided to keep him warm, mostly.

“It is not so easy to explain, the entire story must be told for you to understand.” Non said, laying her head on the ground but keeping her eyes on them. Her hazel disks examining, piercing in a predator’s examination. “But yes, amongst the wolves, you are royalty now. The Lord has chosen you as his mate, a life pairing I assume? From the way you look at him, you must be.” She said warmly, staring up at her with a gentle smile.

“Yeah … I hope so anyway.” Rainbow said, turning a glance at Twilight before laying herself on the snow. It was cold, numbing that heat that plagued her. Twilight soon followed suit, listening to the conversation, but not seeing fit to participate just yet.

“What’s it like? Is he a pony as well? Was he bred among ponies, or is he from Lle Encil? The place they fled to.” Non asked, a childish wonder overtaking her as she started asking questions to sate that hunger for information that flared within her.

“Oh- uh …” Rainbow stuttered, not expecting the sudden rush of questions. “It’s, uhm … a little scary, I guess. And I never knew Coalback looked like ... that, he always looked like a pony before. I don’t really know where he’s from, or what that place is. Coalback said he was from America, that’s what he called it.” Rainbow tried to explain, unsure of how to answer.

“Amazing,” Non breathed, staring up at Rainbow and feeling like a puppy again. A whole world had reopened to her. “Coalback. What attracted you to him? Or did he take you as a prize through some battle?” The puppies had finally calmed, and seemed to be listening with interest as they wiped away the last of their tears.

“I- uhm … Well, I never really thought about it.” Rainbow admitted, thinking back to how she had met Coalback. She hadn’t even realized what had happened until after she had seen him for herself, and even then she still wasn’t sure exactly what happened that day. She knew that she had liked how big his wings were, but that had been an empty thing to call love.

“I guess it was when I started talking to him, he just sorta … listened.” She started to say, not really caring who she was talking to. The words already started to make her feel lighter, and just left her lips as she thought. “I dunno … it was just different from something that I would have expected, especially with how he looked. He looked like he had just crawled out of Tartarus, but he was so … nice. You know?” She said, flushing slightly as she was reminded of her audience.

“A much less traditional story of conquest, I like it.” Non said, sighing and closing her eyes. “Hold him close, I wish I had mine.” She said softly, her mind drifting to the wolves in her pack, her friends, her love. “He was always so silly, bringing me little parts from what should have been his meal. He always got in so much trouble with the other beta’s for that.” She said, a bittersweet memory making her both smile and forcing a tear from her eye.

She was omega, and he ... had been beta. The beta’s ate from the hunt second only to the alphas, and she was one to eat last. Yet he had kept offering her food that he took from the hunt during his turn, sacrificing the food he should have eaten.

“Hush?” Lyall asked quietly from Non’s arms, where she had curled up against Non’s chest. That had been his name, their best stalker wolf.

“Yes,” Non said, hugging the little puppy closer. She felt Sharptooth crawl over her neck, putting himself into the hug as well. She didn’t want to think about her packmates just yet. “You are too young to see these things, you shouldn’t even be out of the den.” Non said sadly, turning her gaze to the still slightly visible forms of the thestrals and the lightly colored wolf sulking beside them.

“Why are you out here anyway? Greyshadow said you guys were here all the way from the Macintosh hills, and that’s a long way south of here.” Rainbow said, trying to switch the subject. She wasn’t comfortable talking about her feelings, and she didn’t want to make Non relive memories of the ones she lost.

“Hmm … Oh, yes.” Non said, her eyes turning back to Rainbow. She had lost herself in thought, but Rainbow’s question had drawn her back. “The Empress bid us leave, almost three days ago. She told us that our rightful home was coming back to us, that the gates had been reopened. So our Empress gathered every pack, told them this, and now we pull everything we own to the North.” She explained, looking up with a distant expression.

“Empress? So you live in an empire? And what’s your home like?” Twilight asked, finally participating in the conversation as she quietly pulled out her writing supplies.

“Less of an empire as it is a loose union of the packs, but all of us answer to the Empress. And our home is in the Frozen North. The ancient home of our Masters, and then of the Blaidd-ddyn, and lastly of the wolves.” Non said, smiling at the unicorn. “Please, write. I know that our histories, and our dying culture, is completely unknown to the ponies. It would be my pleasure to share our stories, a small amount now, but more after I have had some time … time to sing, time to cry. Perhaps around a warm fire.” She said, lifting her head from the ground.

“Of course, whatever you’re comfortable with telling me.” Twilight said somberly, nodding her understanding to the wolf.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” Non nodded, lying her head back onto the ground. “Where to start? … You know our Masters as the Grey. In ancient times, when the stars were still young, they had a magnificent city. It huddled in the warm embrace of three mountains, and opened to a sea that no longer exists. Their great temple, the King’s fortress, extended far into the sky, and deep into the earth, all the way to its hot blood. What it exactly looked like has been lost over the generations, only the Empress remembers for sure.”

“That’s incredible, to think that those legends could be so parallel between our cultures.” Twilight noted excitingly, scribbling down everything that she heard.

“These are not simple stories, Twilight Sparkle.” Non said, her voice very suddenly dark. “These stories are our history, not just a lesson in disguise. The Grey worshipped the great mother, her power extends to every corner of the earth, even under your city of Canterlot. All around us, in every rock, gem, and speck of dust, she exists. Proof our stories are true.” She said, staring daggers at Twilight. “I understand that it is hard for you to believe, but everything I will tell you is true.”

Non waited, eying the ponies in a way that she would have the puppies if they had gotten themselves into trouble. When they didn’t say anything, she continued. “Before Luna, and Celestia, they were there. Our Masters created the Blaidd-ddyn to aid them in their wars, making them from their flesh, and our blood. Thus they are our Lords, second only to the Masters.” She said, her face remained stoic throughout.

“And this isn’t the whole story? You said that it would take too long to tell, didn’t you?” Twilight asked, scribbling intensely.

“Yes, perhaps around the fire, later, I will teach you the entire story. As best as I can remember it.” Non said, stretching her neck in an arc for a moment. “Now let’s see, I’ll skip most of the part of the war, you only need to know a little about that. The last of our Masters died far to the South, where he destroyed the last of Discord’s army … for the second time.”

“The second time?” Rainbow asked. She knew that Discord had raised an army that had nearly destroyed everything, but she hadn’t ever heard that he had done it before.

“Yes, the second time. The first time was before time began, when the king destroyed the first god of Chaos. Discord was reborn from him many centuries later, when magic began to raise us from simple beasts to what we are today. The last council member cast a spell that destroyed both armies in a last effort to defeat Discord, the place of that battle is called the Badlands now.

“Soon after, the last of the Blaidd-ddyn fell into civil war, until there were only three. The first killed the second in battle, and the third would have met the same fate. But the third became cowardly, and drowned herself in the juices of the holy flower. And it was then that the last Blaidd-ddyn left, through a portal that is lost now. And with none of its rulers left, the city's gates closed, and we were forced into exile."

“So they do die …” Rainbow mumbled, a distant look overtaking her features as she looked toward Coalback. For a while, she had thought of him as invincible, somepony that would always be there. From what he had said, he had lived through things that would have killed ponies, and walked away from them. Now, all she seemed to do was worry that he would simply leave. That through some event, he would disappear. Or that he would change, like Luna had changed into Nightmare Moon.

“Unless they are the last.” Non argued, hearing her words whether or not Rainbow had meant to say it.

“Huh?” Rainbow said in surprise.

“The Masters were very clever when they created the Blaidd-ddyn.” Non said darkly, giving Rainbow that same look. “The very last Blaidd-ddyn cannot die, he would only have died if he was in the presence of another. But yes, everything dies, Rainbow Dash.” Non finished, a sadness overtaking her as she closed her eyes.

“This is incredible, Non. I would love to hear more later.” Twilight said, putting away her writing as she finished it. “Do … Do you want us to leave you alone now?” Twilight asked, unsure whether the wolf would welcome their company if she was going to grieve.

“No … stay. It is never good to be alone in times like these.” Non said drearily, almost sounding like she was falling asleep.

“Nani,” Sharptooth spoke up, his voice weak. “I’m hungry.” He said, nuzzling into her neck with pleading eyes.

“Of course, you both must be.” Non cooed to him, turning her head to lick his ears. Her tongue was nearly as big as the puppies’ heads, pushing the fluffy puppy toward her side.

Non had six swollen nipples along her belly, and alongside her alpha had been more than enough to feed the puppies. Now with only the two, she would have to care for them herself. She gently pushed Sharptooth toward one of the pink nipples so that he could suckle on it, hungrily drinking her milk. Lyall moved on her own to another teat, still sullen in every movement, even her steps seemed to drain her.

“How old are they?” Rainbow asked after a moment, her face flushing slightly as she watched the puppies. She knew there wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about, but she felt like she was intruding, watching them get fed like that.

“They are almost five weeks old, they’ve barely begun to howl.” Non said distantly as she watched over the puppies.

“They’re really smart for only a few weeks old.” Rainbow remarked, watching Non feed them. She felt another shiver running up and down her spine, a brief fantasy flashing in front of her eyes, a reminder of the heat. Her eyes briefly flashed to Coalback before she stifled the urge again. This is getting really distracting. She thought in annoyance.

“Wolf puppies develop more quickly compared to ponies. From what I understand, pony babies are almost completely reliant on their mothers for many months. We start teaching them as soon as they can hear and see, they must learn many things to survive.” Non explained, not looking away from the puppies as she fed them. “Almost all they’ve known is travel, their mother, Rhian, and I have had to switch off with them through the entire time.”

“You know, that’s something that I’ve been wondering about.” Rainbow said, catching Non’s attention. “Why do you and Lyall have names like that? I mean, like how Greyshadow and Sharptooth have names like how a pony would name their kids, but you two don’t.” She asked, catching a confused look from Non that drove away her sadness for the moment.

“You mean- Oh. I see where you are confused.” Non said after a moment, catching onto Rainbow’s question. “You see. It is tradition for the males to have earthly names, named after aspects of themselves or the things around them, and may change as they change. But a female is given a spiritual name, one whose meaning is more representative than literal.” Non explained, turning back to the puppies. “Sharptooth had very sharp milk teeth after they came in, so he was named after that. Lyall was named by her mother, it simply means ‘wolf’.” She said, leaning in to lick at Lyall’s head.

And that’s when the singing started.

Wolf Songs and Sleeping Giants

-Wolf Songs and Sleeping Giants-

It was singing, as distant as it was.

The amount of voices was innumerable, like an entire city had lifted its voices to the skies, and more had joined them. The sound stopped everything. The puppies stopped their hungry suckling, ponies paused what they were doing behind them, even the wind seemed to halt so that it could listen.

There were no words, none that they could hear. And if it didn’t sound as articulated as it did, it would have simply sounded like howling. But, it was more than that. It was beautiful, and haunting, and it felt … important. Rainbow could feel the howls, almost like the sound itself had a hold on her chest, and wanted to pull her toward it.

“Ten miles …” Rainbow heard Non mumble, her attention suddenly ripped from the almost hypnotic noise. “Already so far …” She had become stiff, her ears standing at attention and aimed toward the direction of the howls. The puppies had turned as well, their attention directed to the sky in the North.

“What’s going on, Non?” Twilight asked, the sound of the howling song starting to dissipate, it had only lasted a moment.

“The rest of the wolves are trying to see if we are alright,” Non said distantly, her head turning toward the direction Greyshadow had gone. When Rainbow followed her gaze, she was able to see the scene had changed there. “They expect us to sing in return, and if we don’t they’ll think us dead.”

Greyshadow was barely visible, his back just seen above the slight hill that they had gone over. The thestrals stood around in a large circle, their heads hung low. If she craned her neck, she could just see the wrapped forms of the wolves laid out within their circle. They had all been wrapped in those dark tarps. A neat, military funeral.

“So why don’t you?” Rainbow asked, her voice lowered as some part of her was unwilling to mar the sudden silence that had fallen. “If you’re supposed to tell them you’re here, why don’t you … you know, howl back?” she asked, nodding up at the sky.

“It is not so simple,” Non replied, her eyes locked on the other prone wolf. “A higher rank must start the howl, I could get in a lot of trouble for starting it myself,” she explained her stare turning sour as she looked toward the wolf.

For a long moment, nothing happened. The wind blew gently on the bare branches of trees, creating a slight rustling that tickled at her ears in the silence. If she concentrated, Rainbow could just barely hear the, now slowed, sound of the carts as they closed in on their spot. And just when she thought that nothing was going to happen, the silence was unsteadily broken.

“Dark the stars and dark the moon,

Hush the night and the morning loon,”

A gravelly voice cut through the air with the fluidity of a rock through soil, a sadness weighing it down and breaking it. It didn’t take Rainbow long to recognise it as belonging to Greyshadow, and if he had sounded sad before, now he was practically bawling. The words, only the short verse, was enough to drag at her own heart.

And it wasn’t singing as much as it was being read unenthusiastically from a sheet. He was trying to sing, some part of him stubborn enough not to fully give into his grief, letting him go on. But it wasn’t nearly as loud as the other singing must have been, and it barely reached their ears before fading.

“Tell the horses and beat on your drum,

Gone their master,

Gone their son,

“Dark the oceans,

Dark the sky,

Hush the whales and the ocean tide,”

        Rainbow could clearly see the frustration build on Non’s features, followed alongside her own sadness. She could see the lines of frustration beginning to show on her forehead, but at the same time Non’s lips quivered and seemed to hang heavily from her muzzle. She was either trying to not cry herself, or was frustrated at Greyshadow’s singing, or both.

        Her head lifted slowly, where before it had been almost parallel and low to the ground. Now she slowly raised her muzzle to the sky, and just as it seemed that Greyshadow would have been able to start picking up his voice, hers interceded.

“Tell the salt marsh and beat on your drum,

Gone their master,

Gone their son,”

        Her voice rang out, echoing over the still air and the snow like a perfectly tuned bell. Her voice quickly drowned out Greyshadow’s until it seemed like her voice was the only one in the night. Non took a shaky breath, a tear escaping her eye and rolling down her face. This must have been harder for her than she was showing. It had to be, grieving like this.

“Dark to light and light to dark,

Three black carriages,

Three white carts,

What brings us together is what pulls us apart,

“Gone our brother,

Gone our heart.”

Non’s last words hung in the air and she stopped, and it felt like the world would wait for her. The silence was numbing, minds blanked in the wake of the song. Non swiped a paw at her face, clearing it of the tears that matted the short fur on there.

Rainbow had heard the sadness in Greyshadow’s voice, but Non had truly made her feel it. Even though she had never even known these wolves, she felt like a part of her had died with them, all from Non’s singing.

It took a few moments, the sound having to travel over such a distance in both directions, but there was an answer. This howl was different than the last, starting with a single howl, and spreading into its uncountable numbers. The first howl had changed randomly, making it sound more chaotic, more natural. But this time single howl graced the air, following the cadence of the song, and being slowly joined by a thousand other voices.

The sound ran shivers up Rainbow’s spine, a hauntingly beautiful sound, edged with the knowledge of the danger that it represented. It made her heart kick up in its pace, let her veins buzz with just the slightest amount of adrenaline. It reminded her of how she felt around Coalback, especially when she knew what he could do.

Maybe that was why she had loved him, why she still loved him. The only thing that had kept her from running was her trust in him, and her loyalty. When he had changed, showed what he really was, it had been a whole new level of danger that she hadn’t been prepared for. But he had proven that he hadn’t changed, just looked different.

She had barely blinked at the fact that he had changed before that, turning into a dangerous predator. She hadn’t even hesitated when he had, covered in the blood of another creature, been in danger. How was this different than that? Maybe she could learn more about him, and what he is? Maybe it would help ...

Her eyes turned away from the Non, whom simply sat and stared into the distance. Her eyes fell on Clean Cut, his crazy raven perched on his head as they both looked toward where the sound had come from. Clean Cut seemed to know a surprising amount about Coalback, at least from the way he spoke.

The howls stopped suddenly, their single note having come to an end in perfect synchronization. And in its wake, a deep, hollow, and grating howl pierced the air like a hot knife. It made Non jump in her seat, as if she had been struck. She looked up toward the sky with mortification, as if pleading to it. The howl sounded again, a sharp bark preceding it.

Rainbow had the sudden feeling that Non had been given some sort of order, she couldn’t quite determine what however. It was strange though, it had a different feeling to it than what Non was displaying. It almost felt like how her acceptance letter had read, not that she had ever finished the training.

But, if that was the case, that Non was being given some sort of award, why was she acting this way? “Non?” Rainbow asked after a moment, once the silence had stretched long enough that she knew the howling was over. “What’s going on?” she asked simply, the wolf wilting at her words.

“I have been made pack leader, by order of the Empress herself,” she said morosely, a sigh of mixed emotions escaping her. She looked back at Rainbow with a mix of grief, and that look that somepony could only have once they truly felt abandoned. “It means that we will not be allowed to simply join another pack, and that we must go on.”

“Then come to Canterlot,” Twilight spoke up, drawing a surprised look from Non. “Come with us, you can speak to Celestia,” she insisted, nodding encouragingly at the dour wolf. “All you want to do is reunite with the other wolves, right?” she asked, continuing as the wolf nodded in confusion. “I’m sure that Princess Celestia would be more than happy to help you. Look, you’re injured, you have two babies with you. We can help you, keep you warm and fed. And then we can help you get home.” Twilight motioned with her hoof, trying to work some hope into Non’s expression.

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed, starting to stand. “Let us help you, you’re in the same bind as us. Safety in numbers, you know?” she said, gaining a nod from Rainbow and a contemplative look from the wolf.

“I will come with you, my pack and I. If you and your lord would grace us, by helping us send off our packmates,” she said, looking up at Rainbow with sad eyes.

“Of course, he probably would have insisted on it anyway,” Rainbow said, Non gaining that glimmer of hope in her eyes that they had been aiming for. “Great. I’m gonna go check on him, okay?” She asked, looking between Twilight and her new carnivorous friend.

Twilight nodded in understanding, Non replying with as much of a bow as she could manage in her prone position. Rainbow turned away from them, heading back toward Coalback, and hopefully some answers.

When she arrived, Clean Cut was fiddling with a lantern, stubbornly refusing to use his horn. She stopped to watch him fumble a few matches before finally managing to light it, he lit the lantern at the expense of a few burns on his lips. He closed the glass cover, letting the flickering light play across Coalback’s body. He cursed under his breath as he dropped the smoldering match, rubbing at the burns on his lips.

“How do you know anything about Coalback, or what he is?” Rainbow asked with a scowl, making the strange doctor jump.

“You may be better at sneaking up on ponies than you realize,” Clean Cut said. He placed a hoof on his chest and took a few deep breaths, the action didn’t amuse Rainbow. His goofy grin dropped when he realized that he wasn’t entertaining her. “Perhaps you should sit. The carts will be here soon, so we can load him onto one and move him to where he can get better care.” He patted the ground next to him.

“You better start talking, Coalback’s not the only one who can put the hurt on,” she said with a glare, impatiently taking her seat. She rarely had use for the martial arts classes she had taken, the kick to the troll’s head being one of the few. They weren’t even very good classes, and she had had to go to … other sources in order to really learn anything.

“Okay, okay,” Clean Cut said, the exuberance that was usually in his voice had faded. “First, a question. Do you want to know how we know what he is, which is a simple answer that you won’t like or want. Or, do you want to know what he is? Two questions with very different answers,” he said with a note of seriousness that felt alien on the normally chipper doctor.

Rainbow paused, unsure of her answer. She didn’t care how he knew, at least not at the moment. “Tell me what you know, and then you can tell me how,” she stated bluntly.

“Coalback is not a werewolf,” he started flatly, continuing without addressing the confused look on her face. “He changes into a wolf-like creature, yes. But the fact that he can also change into a something pony-like, instantly changes his definition.”

“Not a werewolf?” Rainbow mumbled. “What does that make him then?”

“There isn’t an … exact definition,” he started, frowning in concentration. “Whatever he is, whatever caused his existence … He is the apex predator. The top of any, and every food chain,” he tried to explain, lifting his hooves and motioning at Coalback in frustration. “He’s like Superpony, there’s no comparison. You read those comics about the spears bouncing off of her, and you think; ‘That’s pretty far-fetched,’ But this is almost exactly that.

“His bones don’t just flex and absorb impacts, they practically reflect it. His muscles, Hah! That would be like comparing twine to rope-” he motioned from her to Coalback. “They’re strong, stronger than anything that a mortal body should be able to create. And the organ systems, don’t get me started on them.

“From just a glance at his digestive track, it looks like he could eat just about anything he can get down his throat. Maybe even rocks, for all I know!” The doctor pulled his hooves up to run them through his red mane. “And his endocrine system is … immensely more advanced than anything that I have experience with, it looks like he could actually replace his blood with adrenaline. Or any other hormone, for that matter.

“And his goddess damned nervous system!” Clean Cut exclaimed, jumping to his hooves and turning to her with a mad glint in his eyes. Merletta squawked as she was launched from his back, hovering in the air until Clean Cut had stopped moving. “I actually ran a few tests while he was unconscious in Canterlot, and I was blown away!” He collected himself, calming the surprisingly sudden jump. “The reaction time is less than instant. He can react to stimuli faster than our eyes can follow. And speaking of eyes! I don’t know exactly what he can see, but he has tapeta lucida!” He pointed at his eye, an excited grin decorating his face.

“A tapee- what now?” Rainbow asked, balking and doing a double take. Clean Cut seemed to be overly excited about this, extremely so.

“Atapeta lucida,” the doctor explained with exasperation, Merletta settling on his horn with an angry glare that went unnoticed by the unicorn. “It’s that reflective film on the back of the eye. Like what cat’s have. You know, the eye glow?” That managed to get a look of recognition from her. “And there’s something different about his rods and cones, but we weren’t able to examine them without- Well, without cutting into his eye. Which would have been totally unacceptable,” he finished quickly, lifting a hoof in a placating manner as Rainbow aimed a glare at him.

“You are about to say too much,” Merletta warbled, patting his horn with one of her claws and drawing an annoyed snort from the unicorn. “You know the rules,” she said darkly, making the unicorn droop.

“Yes, yes,” Clean Cut replied.

“Wait, what rules?” Rainbow asked, sudden confusion dawning on her. Why did Clean Cut have to stop telling her things, this was important. “What can’t you tell me?” she demanded.

“We obviously cannot tell you what we cannot tell you!” Merletta squawked angrily at her, turning and hopping on Clean Cut’s horn and drawing another snort from him. It must not be comfortable having her hop around on that. Of course, Rainbow couldn’t know what that felt like. She just hoped the rumors about unicorn horns she had heard, including the more vulgar ones, weren’t true. For Clean Cut’s sake.

“First off,” Rainbow leaned away from the angry bird, “stop hopping around on his horn, it’s freaking me out.” Merletta complied, dropping off his horn and landing on the ground. “Okay, so you can’t tell me some stuff. Why?” she asked, the situation suddenly overcoming her attention.

The two traded glances, an unseen conversation drifting between the two of them. Clean Cut made a noncommittal shrug, nodding between the bird and Rainbow. The bird turned back to Rainbow, donning an unamused expression. “I see through the eyes of all ravens … everywhere. Even in his homeland.” Merletta nodded toward Coalback. “And for a while, he owned a pet … a raven that he kept in his family’s greenhouse. He would often read over his notes in there, and he had a very particular study subject,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

“He … was studying his family?” She asked, looking toward Coalback with a question on her features.

“Quite thoroughly, in fact. He was indeed, very dedicated to becoming a doctor. He would often talk with his Raven, even before he began to understand our languages. By the way, he often looked at his duties among the family in the smith shop as a chore, just so you know. But you didn’t hear it from me,” the bird added as an afterthought. She then turned away from Rainbow with her beak aimed high, effectively showing that she would say no more.

“So,” Clean Cut continued, a deadpan look on his face. “That means that I effectively have the largest source of street information out there. All wrapped up in one, beautiful bird,” he said, the mentioned raven seeming to soften slightly at his praise. “That, combined with my vast array of contacts, also means that we, collectively, know too much. Simply speaking, that is. So we must be careful what we say, especially out in the open like this. We could accidentally change the course of the future with our words.” He said, nodding toward Merletta.

“All ravens. Past, present, and future ...” the bird confirmed, turning slightly toward Rainbow before returning to her original position.

“Okay …” Rainbow said, that information slowly seeping in. She stored it away for later, returning to her original purpose for even coming over here. “Is he … Is he still the pony that I met in Canterlot?” she asked reluctantly. She absolutely, positively, completely hated herself for asking them that instead of Coalback himself. She just couldn’t stand it if he wasn’t, and it would be easier for her if he wasn’t the one to tell her otherwise, and all the harder to accept.

Merletta turned back to Rainbow, a surprised arc on her avian face. Her face softened for a moment, and she turned fully toward her. “All his life, the only thing he has known is what he is not. But you can be certain, Coalback has never lied about himself to you, in action or in word. Your answer is; yes,” she said. And it was almost like the bird sounded … tender. Like a mother to her daughter, like some sort of caring had revealed itself. “And I’m the wrong thing to ask!” And then it was gone.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash!” a voice called out, drawing their attention away from the blank that the conversation otherwise would have taken. Rainbow turned her head to see the new arrival, and the cart that she was perched on. It was the ‘mayor,’ alongside two large stallions who were strapped to the covered cart. “I take it you need a ride,” the false mayor said, her tone dropping its joviality.

“Very good, Miss Mayor …” Clean Cut said. He hadn’t said anything against her, but it seemed that he already knew of the changeling. “I’ll retrieve a litter so we can lift him onto the cart,” the doctor started to move away, Merletta hopping up with a flap to perch on his back.

“We have a mattress and a litter in the back, Doctor,” Mayor Mare said, ignoring his acknowledgement of her deceit. However, the doctor stopped, changing route and moving to the rear of the cart. “You can load him up now, if you like. We even have a heated kettle and some clean towels, so you can wash him off, Ma’am,” Mayor Mare finished, nodding in an almost-bow to Rainbow.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said, throwing a questioning glance at the disguised changeling. She almost hated the fact that she was allied with her, the thing that had caused the mayor’s death. But, Coalback would take priority for now. She could wait.

Rainbow took a moment to look over the cart as she waited for the goofy doctor to return with his litter. It was a covered wagon, a large white tarp stretched over a looping top and tacked to the low walls of the sideboards. A lantern burned bright on the top of a long pole attached near the front, still swinging idly above Mayor Mare’s head. She stood on the seat, essentially piloting the cart.

But there was something that surprised her about the cart, the stallions pulling it. Both of them had very distinctive bandages on their flanks, little lines of red just barely showing through. These two stallions had been among the ones hunting Coalback, ones that he had caught and marked for trial, as he had put it. And they looked happy to be there.

For a moment, Rainbow was baffled. She could fix that quickly, though. “What are you two doing? Do you realize who you’re helping?” she asked. She put on her best incredulous look, drawing confused glances from the stallions themselves.

“Of course we know who we’re helping,” the brown earth pony stallion said.

“Yeah,” the other, a golden yellow stallion with a bright purple mane said.

“Okay, but why? He’s the one who gave you those, wasn’t he?” she asked, motioning toward the bandages around their flanks. She wasn’t sure why she was pushing this, they were helping after all. It just didn’t make sense, though. They had no reason to want to help him, in fact, they should hate him more.

The stallions traded glances, there seemed to be a lot of that going on today. “It’s complicated …” the gold stallion said.

“He showed us up. It’s sorta one o’ those superiority things. Like how the bigger squirrels gets the most nuts, so all the other ones kiss up to him, you know?” the brown stallion tried.

Rainbow huffed in annoyance, starting to distance herself from the conversation as she heard Clean Cut starting to move around the cart. “Stallions …” she scoffed under her breath. They took too long to get dressed, they kept weird secrets, and were just overall a mystery to her and just about any other mare.

Clean Cut walked back around the cart, a large, flat board held aloft in his magic. He placed the board down next to Coalback, positioning it parallel to his body. Moving Coalback was uneventful, if stressful for Rainbow. She couldn’t help but cringe as Coalback was rolled onto the board, lifted into the air, and carefully floated into the cart. He was carefully returned to his back, resting on the mattress where his feet hung off it, and his head had to be supported by a tightly rolled bedroll.

“There we go …” Clean Cut murmured as Coalback settled into the mattress, the cart creaking under his weight. Clean Cut moved the lantern to Coalback’s side, letting the light play over him. He used his magic to spread a blanket over him, letting it settle over the tarp that Coalback had been wrapped in.

Rainbow hopped up into the cart behind them, looking around the inside of the cart. The mattress was pressed up the back, pushed forward to make room for Coalback’s head. More blankets were rolled up and pressed next to the wall before the mattress, and other various supplies for any others who might ride on the cart. A large kettle with a small trail of steam coming from its sealed top sat near the front corner. Next to it was a wooden bucket of warm water, a few small towels laying over its edge.

“You can clean him, if you like,” Clean Cut said once he had made sure that Coalback was settled. He motioned with a hoof toward the small smears of troll still clinging to Coalback, on his face, his chest and his legs, where it had splashed onto him. “Or, I could do it-” he started, noting Rainbow’s blank expression.

“No,” Rainbow said quickly, cutting off Clean Cut without a thought. “I should do it,” she said, moving over to the bucket and kettle. She felt like she was empty, the gravity of Coalback’s injury starting to seep in. He was crippled, and no amount of stubbornness on his part would fix that, not without doctors and time. His hip had been damaged to a point where he was forced to walk with a limp, and now the same leg had been broken like a twig.

She picked up the towels in her mouth, dragging the bucket and kettle around toward Coalback. There was a thin length of open floor beside his bed, where she sat herself and the clean water. She looked down at him, his face that was too quiet. He didn’t even sleep as still as he was now, it made her heart heavy in her chest.

Clean Cut silently left the cart, Marletta giving a few clicking noises as a goodbye.

She opened the top of the kettle, flinching away from the steam. She set down the towels in her mouth, picking one up and setting it in the hot water, the top hanging out of the kettle. She spread another towel under Coalback’s head, to keep the water from soaking into his bed.

She retrieved the hot towel, folding it over and pressing it against his face. She gently pulled it across his face, wiping away the disgusting troll smears. She could already tell that the smell was getting … less bad. It would take a while to clean him like this, he had a lot more surface area now.

“Alright, Coalback,” she said quietly. She wasn’t sure why, but she had to talk, even if he couldn’t hear her. “I think that I need to tell you something, okay?” she asked, continuing her motions of cleaning. A wave of tiredness swept over her, and doubt seeded into her limbs. She sighed forcefully, “I don’t even know what I’m doing now. Not like I’ve ever had to give somepony a sponge bath before,” she muttered grumpily. “I hate this, just so you know. Seeing you like this is … I wish that I wasn’t such a wimp!” She threw the towel into the bucket, taking her frustration out on the only thing that she could think of.

“If I could tell you how I feel, I would- In a heartbeat!” She said, picking up the towel again and ringing it out. “When you changed … I freaked, okay? And I’m still freaking. But- I want to believe that you’re still you,” she said, dropping the towel again and laying a hoof on his chest. She could feel his heart beating, slow but strong. She could feel his chest rise and fall, ever so slightly, with each breath.

His chest was so much wider now, not like a pony’s. His shoulders were much wider, practically spheres of firm muscle. And covered by tarps and blankets, she would have to take them off to clean him. She, reluctantly, removed her hoof from his chest, moving it to transfer the damp towel to the hot water, letting it soak.

She moved back to him, scooting herself forward and gently pulling the blanket and tarp away from his chest. The wiry hair on his chest gently tickled against her hooves as she pulled back the tarps, she couldn’t help herself as she ran her hooves gently across them. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she pulled the tarp back further, feeling the ripples in his flesh where his muscles and his scars were.

She stopped, though, something unexpected making her pause. He had nipples, pink and soft on his chest. Rainbow simply stared, a bit confused, at the discovery. She didn’t know why he had those, but all the same, she didn’t care. She leaned down, gently brushing against one with her nose, taking in his smell as she did.

Even through the light smell of troll, she could still smell him. That was something that hadn’t changed, even as a wolf he smelled like this. She loved that smell, something that could only be described as his. She shuddered as she breathed it in, not even caring as her heat flared hot again.

She didn’t stop herself when she pressed closer to him, her task forgotten. She just wanted to be close to him, to feel his warmth again. His skin was soft, but far from smooth with all of his scars. “Just show me that you still are … That you still care about me …” she whispered, the soft hairs on his chest stirred by her breath.

His arms twitched, a shaky breath escaping him with a whimper.

Wake Up Call

-Wake Up Call-

“Doc! Get in here!” Rainbow yelled out. Coalback’s face had suddenly scrunched up, every muscle on his body tensed and standing out sharply. Coalback had started to struggle weakly, but every moment strengthened his movement. She had his arms held down to his sides, for now, but his legs were starting to move.

He was mumbling something in his language that she couldn’t understand, pushing against her with increasing desperation. She could feel his heart picking up its pace, thundering against his chest and up through hers. The doctor jumped into the cart a moment later, shaking the entire platform as he settled his weight within it. Clean Cut didn’t even wait for Rainbow to explain before throwing himself over Coalback’s legs and holding them down.

Coalback cried out as Clean Cut held his legs, his struggling suddenly becoming more violent. He struck out with one of his arms, his elbow thudding into the wooden siding of the cart. He screamed out an undecipherable plea in his language, screaming at no one in particular and shaking his head.

His other arm flung out, squarely striking the inside of her thigh with a solid impact. “Gah!” Rainbow flinched, the hit enough to leave a bruise but thankfully not enough to do any real damage. “Coalback! Stop!” she yelled out, trying desperately to halt his struggling.

“If he keeps this up, he’s going to rip off his leg!” Clean Cut growled from where he was, his hooves wrapped solidly around Coalback’s knees and thighs. Clean Cut’s horn flashed to life as Coalback’s uninjured knee shot up and sparked against a shield that the doctor was just able to bring to bear.

Coalback screamed out again, a staccato blur of syllables that jumbled together. “I can’t understand you!” Rainbow yelled back to him, trying to pull him out of his panic with her voice. Maybe if she could just get his attention? “I’m right here, Coalback!” she tried, pushing her face up under his chin as she held tighter to his arms.

His struggling suddenly increased, his back rising off the mattress as he tried to push Rainbow off of himself. She grunted as one of his elbows jabbed into her barrel, nearly knocking her breath away.

Merletta flapped up into the cart, the doctor’s saddlebags gripped tightly in her claws. She dropped down to the floor of the cart just inside the entrance, digging through the bag with her beak and making clicking noises that vaguely sounded like coins being counted.

“What’s your idea, Merletta?” Clean Cut jumbled out, having pressed the side of his jaw against Coalback’s knee as he kept him held down. The raven cried out from her perch on top of his saddlebags, flapping wildly as she searched inside them.

Coalback screamed out again, shaking his head and twisting underneath the ponies. He pleaded, sobbed, in that language that she couldn’t understand. Staccato and enunciated, nothing like Equestrian. And he kept flinching in random directions, as if somepony were striking him.

“Shit!” Clean Cut yelled out, his body jumping with the sound of ripping fabric. Not even a second later, Coalback yelled out wordlessly in pain. He writhed under their grasp, weakly attempting to throw them off.

“Put this in his mouth!” Merletta squawked, using Clean Cut’s flank as a springboard and flapping over to her with a small blueish-purple flower in her beak. She offered it to Rainbow as she dodged around one of Coalback’s clenched hands.

Rainbow twisted around, snatching up the flower in her mouth and quickly turning back to Coalback. Normal flowers were usually sweet in various levels. But, this flower tasted different. It was bitter, and tingled on her tongue strangely.

She looked down at Coalback’s face, his clenched jaw posing an obstacle. She lifted her hooves, consequently releasing his arms from her hold. Clean Cut’s magic grabbed onto them almost as soon as she let go, forcing the strong limbs to freeze as they fought against his hold. Rainbow lifted her hooves to Coalback’s mouth, attempting to pry it open.

“Come on,” she growled around the flower in her mouth. “Opeh your moush.”With a grunt of effort she pulled his lips apart, quickly diving in and pressing her mouth against his. She force-fed the flower to Coalback, pushing it as far back into his mouth as she could. She backed off quickly, just in case Coalback bit down on her tongue.

Coalback froze up, his eyes opened quickly and stared up blankly. His chest shivered under her, as if his muscles ratcheted toward relaxing. After a moment his throat worked up and down, swallowing the flower. He shivered again, slowly blinking but his stare never wavering. He opened his mouth again, a few staccato words fluttering out weakly.

“Coalback,” Rainbow said gently, afraid that if she spoke too loudly she would spook him again. “I can’t understand you. Equestrian, Coalback. Tell me what you need,” she said gently, resting a hoof on the side of his neck.

“More, please …” he mumbled, his brow furrowing as his eyes started to lose their distant stare.

“More flowers?” she asked, turning to look at Merletta with the same question. The bird shook her head, ruffling her feathers and glaring down at Coalback. “I don’t think there are any more. Just stay calm, okay? You’re hurt really badly.” She let out a sigh of relief as he started to relax, his limbs growing limp as he started to scowl.

“Everything hurts,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Where are we?” His eyes closed again as he tried to block out his pain.

“Still near the cave, the wolves are outside,” she said, turning to the doctor. “How’s his leg, doc?” she asked him, seeing the doctor carefully lift himself off of Coalback’s leg, grimacing himself.

“He’s separated the bones again, we’ll have to reset it,” he said grimly, his horn still lit all the while. Coalback’s arms were still held firmly in his grasp. He must have been a fairly strong unicorn to be able to do that. Even weakened with pain, Coalback was still stronger than most ponies.

“Leg? Reset? What are you talking about?” Coalback asked warily, trying to sit up and see for himself.

“Don’t move, Coalback,” Rainbow said quickly, resisting him enough that he stopped himself. “That troll must’ve hit you hard. You’re leg is broken, really badly,” she explained, watching him grow confused.

“Good to see you awake, my less-than-furry friend!” Clean Cut greeted from where he was, his hooves holding Coalback’s leg steady. “I’m going to release your arms now, promise not to throttle me?” he asked with a smile, a caw from Merletta punctuating him.

“The doctor? From Canterlot?” Coalback asked incredulously, lifting his head to look at the doctor’s goofy grin. “Eh ... uh, yes- I mean, I won’t hurt you ... Just, let me go,” he stuttered, the doctor’s appearance throwing off his concentration. The transparent green glow around his arms flickered out of existence, letting his arms fall to his sides.

“I’m gonna do something that’s gonna make you want to. However, please don’t,” the doctor said quickly. “Alright, on the count of three. One-” Clean Cut’s arms jerked, Coalback’s leg suddenly straightening alongside it.

Coalback grunted, his head falling back forcefully to the bedroll under him. “What happened to ‘two’ and ‘three’?” he asked with a growl, his arms pressed firmly to the mattress and his hands gripping it.

“Think of it like a bandaid,” the doctor grinned, starting to rewrap his leg tightly, “except a little less bendy. Better to do it fast, and without warning. That way, there’s no anticipation!” he finished cheerily, nodding toward the bird with an unspoken signal. She cawed in annoyance at him, her tail feathers flexing out.

“So why’d that flower snap you out of it, Coalback? I thought you said you didn’t want to eat any flowers, ever,” Rainbow asked, rolling her eyes at the doctor’s silly grin.

“It was wolfsbane,” he said breathlessly, reaching up with the hand under her and grasping one of her hooves gently.

“Wolfsbane? That flower was wolfsbane?” she asked incredulously. This must be another one of those weird myths that didn’t really affect him, she thought, Like the full moon thing.

“One of the only things that act like an anesthetic for his kind,” Merletta said, hopping up on Coalback’s stomach and making him cringe away from her claws. “I have watched you for a very long time, my warrior,” she said, nodding deeply in an imitation of a bow.

“A raven … has been watching me?” Coalback grumbled through clenched teeth, the pain in his leg making him stiffen.

“Yes, the doctor is this one’s caretaker. My duty as the Watcher has been passed down from my mother, and her mother before her. Discord’s return has thrust us into action, direct orders from the second sister, Luna,” she explained, looking down at Coalback with rapt interest. “To finally see you in the flesh, is … very good,” she warbled, hopping up to the base of his ribs.

She lifted her head and presented her neck for him to scratch, Coalback’s fingers easily complying. She trilled happily as he did, fluttering her wings before backing off again. Apparently the raven was done allowing him to scratch her after only a brief moment, hopping off of him and back over to the saddlebags where she perched patiently.

“Met a little girl like that Raven once ... be careful around her. Knowledge can be a dangerous power,” he whispered to Rainbow, finally looking at her. “Are you okay, Rainbow? You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked, looking carefully over her and pulling her gently closer to himself.

Rainbow shivered at his touch, reflexively moving closer to him. “I’m good. You just bruised me a little, that’s all,” she said gently.

A look of mortification overtook him, concern driving fear into his heart. “I hurt you- ?” he asked desperately, shakily backing away from her against the mattress. He was trying to look at her, to find what he’d done.

“It’s okay,” Rainbow said quickly, following him and wrapping her hooves around him. “It’s okay, you didn’t know what you were doing. And I’ve had worse, okay? It’ll just be a little sore, that’s all. Nothing I can’t handle,” she assured him confidently, letting him relax underneath her.

“Are you sure? I- I keep worrying that I’m going to hurt you, and-” Coalback stuttered. His hands kept moving, unsure whether to hold her or to keep away from her. But his apology was cut off mid-sentence as Rainbow met his lips with hers.

“That’s all I want to hear,” she said. She kissed him again, cutting herself off and keeping him from talking back. “I was- and you were- and when you changed, I was-” She kept interrupting herself, not finding the words she wanted to say and instead trying to show him everything by kissing him.

Every kiss fanned the flame burning in her chest, the heat between her legs intensifying. The details of the cart’s interior slowly faded with each kiss. She didn’t even care that there was some sort of all seeing bird-god-thing, and a loony doctor, in there with them. All that she cared about was the body under her. Every hill of his densely packed muscles, every little ripple in his smooth skin where a scar marred him. Even how different he looked now, she didn’t care.

“I’m torn, Merletta,” Clean Cut said, going unnoticed by the couple. “I want to stay, to make sure that these two don’t get too physical in here. Bad for his leg, you know?” Merletta stared back at him flatly, unresponsive. “But at the same time I feel like I’m intruding. Look at them,” he motioned toward Coalback and Rainbow, “I barely remember when I was that young and stupid …” he finished wistfully.

Or was he trailing off as he noticed the newest occupant of the cart?

A soft whimper graced through the air, somehow managing to make Rainbow pause. She tore herself away from Coalback, letting him take a breath. She turned around, catching sight of the newcomer for herself.

“Sharptooth?” she mumbled, the little pale wolf puppy cowering as he stared up at them. “What- What is it, little guy?” she asked, puffing away the orange forelock that had fallen in front of one of her eyes. She pulled herself up, letting Coalback raise his head to look toward the puppy. The puppy whimpered again, his eyes darting shakily from her to the man she was leaning on top of.

“Non M-Mawr,” the puppy started shakily, shying back until his back paws edged up against the end of the cart. “S-she wanted me to- to ask if … uhm … if Blaidd-ddyn Coalback was ready to help us sing for Mam and Tad …” Sharptooth shrank into himself, somehow making himself even smaller. His ears had fallen flat against his head, and his tail was so closely tucked between his legs that it didn’t even look like he didn’t have one.

“I don’t think-” Rainbow started, her concern for Coalback overtaking her. Coalback needed to rest, to stay right where he was. That she knew for sure. He had only just woken up, there was no way that she was going to let him go out there, let alone so that he could sing.

However, Coalback cut her off. “Come, little hunter. Tell me what we sing tonight,” he said gently, halting Rainbow’s refusal. His hand lifted from her, motioning for the puppy to come up to him.

Visibly shivering, Sharptooth carefully padded past the silent raven. He carefully walked around Clean Cut, leaving a large distance between himself and the green-toned doctor. He carefully pulled himself onto the mattress, sidling closer until he was just behind Rainbow.

“Come closer. Let me hold you, little hunter,” he said gently, encouraging the puppy to come within reach. Once the puppy was close enough, Coalback grabbed onto him and gently pulled Sharptooth onto his chest. “Shh,” he hushed as the puppy whimpered under his hand. He gently stroked the puppy’s fur, calming him with the gentle touch. “Now, let me look at you. Ah, you must be very old, look at this white fur. How old are you, little hunter?” he asked, taking one of the puppy’s ears and gently tugging on it.

“A-almost one moon,” Sharptooth mumbled, pulling away from Coalback’s fingers and letting his ear flop back onto his head. “B-but brodyr and chwiorydd were all brown. And Greyshadow Medrus says he’s going to teach me to be like him,” the puppy sputtered nervously, anxiously shifting around on Coalback’s chest. He would flinch whenever Coalback moved his arm, the muscles in his chest shifting underneath Sharptooth’s paws.

“Oh, I see,” Coalback replied, holding the puppy in a gentle, calming grip with his hand. “Why, you’re almost old enough to follow on the hunts. Aren’t you? Old enough to sing, even,” he said, the puppy’s whimpering returning.

“Coalback, maybe it’s not a good idea to go. You’re really hurt, I don’t think that you should leave,” Rainbow said, putting a hoof down on his shoulder gently.

“I have to at least meet the other pack, Rainbow,” Coalback whispered back to her, quickly returning to the puppy. “Go on, tell me what we’re singing tonight,” he gently encouraged puppy, who swallowed nervously before speaking.

“Sharptooth Medrus says,” he started shakily, curling himself into a smaller ball on Coalback’s chest, “that we have to sing for Mam and Tad so that they can go run, and dance, and sing with hynafliaid,” he whimpered. Coalback’s hand served as a sufficient shield from the world around him, where he curled himself into as small of a ball as he could.

“Oh, I see,” Coalback said quietly, turning back to Rainbow. “the wolves in the cave … Yes, I will sing. Let’s go,” he said, starting to sit up shakily with the puppy.

“Now hold it right there!” Clean Cut said, for once uncharacteristically stern. He had only been like that when he had yelled out that nurse in the hospital, and it was enough to freeze both Coalback and Rainbow. “If you want to get out, let me get you wrapped up in something. Your toes were starting to turn blue out there. Then I’ll move you and you can do whatever,” the doctor said, his horn lighting up as he lifted several of the other blankets sitting in the cart and carefully wrapping them around Coalback’s legs.

“You can lift him?” Rainbow asked incredulously. Her mind darted back a few moments, where the doctor had not only moved Coalback, but had easily lifted him clear off the ground.

The doctor grinned proudly, “It just so happens that I’m one of the top competing telekinetic heavy weight lifters in all of Equestria. Now, that’s just telekinesis, unrelated to actual spellcasting. I could never compare to either of the Princesses, or Miss Sparkle outside,” Clean Cut explained, tugging at the mattress experimentally. “We’ll just scoot you to the edge of the cart, then we’ll move it over there. That’ll be easier on all of us,” the doctor mumbled, starting to pull the entire mattress toward the edge of the cart.

He jumped out, pulling Merletta and his bags along with him.  The Doctor folded the mattress up against the side of the cart, created a seat for Coalback so that he sat across the back edge comfortably. “Alright, Lads!,” Clean Cut called to the stallions hooked to the cart, walking out of Rainbow’s field of view. “Follow me. Yip Yip! And all that. Come on, hup-to!” she heard the doctor encouraging. After a moment, the cart jerked into motion.

The world outside the cart turned, their view reversed of the direction they moved. Rainbow pulled herself over to Coalback, resting up beside him as she watched the ground move away from them. A yawn interrupted her, bringing another thought to the front of her mind. “Sheesh,” she finished with the yawn. “What time is it anyway?” she asked to nopony in particular, looking outside the cart in some vain hope of finding a sign of the time.

Coalback leaned out with her, looking up at the night sky. “Looks like it’s about two hours after midnight, two a.m.” he stated flatly.

“How can you tell?” Rainbow asked, looking up and seeing the familiar jumble of dots that were the stars. She had never really had much of interest in the mechanics of the twinkling lights. Sure, she always thought that, in some way, that they were pretty. But the only good that the night sky had ever done for her was to stop her from flying herself ragged and letting her sleep.

“While I was in the forest last week, I noticed that the stars move across the sky. The same as at my home. There were patterns to it. That star there,” he pointed up at the sky, indicating a single bright star shimmering up there, “it never moves, but the rest do. If you pick another star, like that one,” he said, pointing up at a star slightly off above the first. “It makes the hour hand of a clock. So, I spent a few nights watching them. This looks about like two hours after midnight,” he explained, a distant look returning to his eyes as he gazed up at the stars.

“Woah, that’s pretty cool,” Rainbow said, looking up at the sky with a newfound interest. “Did somepony teach you how to do that, or are you just that freaking smart?” she asked him incredulously.

“My grandfather taught me how, he took me camping pretty often,” he explained, bittersweet memories forcing a frown on his face. He held back the memories, staving off another flashback.

“Sorry,” Rainbow said quietly, shrinking back slightly. She knew very well by now that Coalback’s family wasn’t a topic he was happy to revisit.

“Don’t be,” Coalback said simply, one of his arms moving up to caress Rainbow’s face. His other arm lowered, the puppy carefully balanced in his palm. She shivered at his touch, the alien yet comforting feeling of his hands on her more than enough to spark fantasies in her mind.

Rainbow pushed them to the back of her mind, muscling past her own wants. “Have you ever had to help wolves with a … funeral before?” she asked him, mostly trying to keep her own mind off of the growing need between her legs.

“I’ve seen it once, but I was never part of it,” he said. As the cart swayed over a dip in the ground, his hand moved up from her face. His fingers gently rubbed one of her ears, not helping the uncontrolled images flittering through her head.

She breathed out a moan as his fingers gently stroked across the delicate fur on her ears. He is making it really hard not to jump him right now, she complained to herself, not that she wanted him to stop. From the almost imperceptible grin on his face, he could definitely tell. If that’s the game he want’s to play, I’m gonna win. She would enjoy the attention, but she wouldn’t let it get the better of her … yet.

“S-so,” she stuttered, once again grasping for a distraction. “What happens?” she asked, unconsciously leaning into his hand.

“Mostly just howling and grieving. These wolves could have a more advanced culture to the ones in the that I met wilds, however,” he replied. His hand stopped its teasing as a serious expression overtook his features. “But there is a rule that I am sure of,” he said quietly, looking her in the eyes. “No speaking outside of the song, in respect for the dead. We speak only using-” he tugged on his ear twice, replicating the movement of an ear folding to the side and back.

“What does that mean?” Rainbow asked quietly, tilting her head to the side and attempting to replicate the motion.

He nodded as her ear fell to the side of her head twice before returning to where it belonged. “It is the silent hunter’s language of the wolf,” he explained. “It’s harder to do with this face, but manageable. I’ll teach you some of it later, it’s a very subtle language. Most don’t realize that it even happens unless they’re looking for it,” he said.

“Wow,” she mumbled. Just thinking about it made her head feel stuffed full. The fact that the wolves spoke a second, almost undetectable, language was enough. But the reasoning behind it made her shudder. She didn’t know much about hunting, but if she were trying to give commands, she would want to do it silently so that her quarry couldn’t hear and get away.

Wolves could plan, and execute, an attack completely silently. To her, that was almost as scary as the sheer amount of pointy things on their limbs and inside their mouths.

The wolves came into view, angling into their vision as the cart pulled around. The cart kept moving, angling the rear end so that they would be near the assembly. All six wolves had been laid out equally from each other, two rows and three columns. Their bodies were covered by the deep purple of the tarps, many now stained with the dead’s blood. The Thestrals stood watch in a wide circle, their heads swiveling in overlapping fields of vision. No torch, or lantern-light reached here, it was far away from the ponies just on the other side of the hill.

Non had moved over to them, her leg held up so that it didn’t touch the ground. Greyshadow stood nearby her, staring down at his dead pack blankly. Lyall stood firmly between them, mirroring Greyshadow as she shook with silent sobs. They didn’t even twitch when the cart pulled up behind them.

It took a moment for Greyshadow to collect himself enough to face them, silently turning to them and approaching the cart. The cart’s floor was just below his head level, forcing him to angle up his head to look at them. His mouth opened silently, not widely or in a way that said anything.

Without any indication, or signal from Greyshadow that Rainbow could see, Coalback shifted. He lifted up Sharptooth, moving the puppy closer to the bigger wolf. Again, with a wordless exchange, Greyshadow moved forward and took the puppy in his mouth, carrying him by the scruff of his neck.

Greyshadow turned away from them again, setting the puppy down next to his sister. Without even glancing at his surroundings, the grey wolf walked off. But after a moment, the silence filled by a few sounds of metal bumping against other things, and he returned.

He had four objects with him, straps hanging over his back or carried in his mouth. One, the object in his mouth, was the shape of a flattened basketball. Another, the strap around him letting it wobble in front of his chest, was a drum. Rainbow couldn’t tell what the material on the top of it was, it looked like some sort of veiny paper. It was wider at the top than the bottom, and at its base it opened to the air. Yet another object was strapped to one of his forelegs, a series of boxy looking compartments that let out a hissing sound with every step, like sand falling.

But the most noteworthy instrument, as now she could clearly tell that was what they were, was the one hanging across his back. It was ,essentially, a long metal tube with a guitar’s neck sticking out from one end. But the metal tube was engraved and carved with a mural of intertwining symbols, making it almost seem to change with every shift in the light that fell on it.

Greyshadow paused next to Non, lowering his head and letting the other wolf take the long tube from him. Greyshadow then turned back to the cart where Coalback and Rainbow sat, leaning up to offer Coalback the squashed basketball shaped instrument. Coalback gently took it in his hand, another wordless exchange going between them before Greyshadow moved off again.

Rainbow desperately wanted to ask about what was going on, but was worried what the consequences could be for speaking after Coalback had told her specifically not to. Now that the object was closer, though, she could actually see what it looked like.

It was the shape of a fat lense, a disk that was fat in the middle and came to a corner around its circumference. One side was completely smooth, a hole in the middle revealing an empty interior. Coalback flipped it over, setting the smooth end in his lap and staring at the top with confusion. It seemed that, like her, he had never seen anything really like it.

On the top, as she now knew it was, it was a similarly domed shape as the back. However, the top had no holes in it and instead had a series of flattened areas. A series of flat planes, centered around small indents in the smooth metal, circled the dome of the instrument. Another flat spot, centered around a small raised dome of metal, sat at the very top.

Coalback turned his head back to Greyshadow as the wolf sat with his drum, a slightly more forceful breath from Coalback’s nose drawing his attention. The wolf instantly turned back to him, somehow hearing the nearly inaudible sound and drawing a meaning from it. Coalback made a series of seemingly random subtle movements. A twitch of his nose. A blink. One of his flat ears twitching up in a way that was barely visible.

The entire, completely silent, exchange happened in the span of less than three seconds. Yet, Coalback nodded to the wolf and he turned back to look over the dead before him. Coalback’s hands moved, hovering over the flattened parts of the dome, occasionally twitching.

After a moment, Greyshadow took a deep, silent breath. His paw, laden down with more of that veiny paper and whatever flowed and hissed inside it, raised high over his drum. The instrument sat obediently against his other paw, awaiting its moment. Non positioned herself with her own strange instrument, laying it out in front of her at an angle and resting the neck against her own.

The ponies present could only watch and wait. Neither could they feel the music about to pour from them, nor see the silent maestro's signals. But with perfect synchronisation, they began to play.

Greyshadow beat down on his drum, drawing out a powerful and deep beat that shouldn’t have fit the small drum in his paws. Every hit was accented with the hissing sound of rushing sand, the compartments strapped to his arm moving with every stroke of his arm.

Non began just as quickly, one of her paws plucking at the revealed strings as her other pressed down what was left. The sound it made echoed out against the metal, making it tinny as well as deep. It moved in tandem with the drum, a thick and powerful sound that was absolutely unique to the strange instrument.

Coalback began a moment later, his fingers springing into motion over the lense shaped instrument in his lap. At first, the sounds he played were unsure, but slowly became fluid. It sang out single notes, resembling the sounds of a xylophone and a piano all at once. His fingers danced across the metal, his thumbs striking down on various flat points and ringing out his part to the song.

And, almost imperceptibly, Greyshadow’s coat glimmered in the moonlight. A strange sheen of light that simply … didn’t fit with the silver light of the moon. The only reason Rainbow noticed it at all was because she couldn’t decide which instrument to lock her gaze onto. If she kept looking, she could just barely see little sparks and wisps of the light flow out of the instruments.

The music was powerful, primal. It made her heart race and it had only barely started. But whatever magic was at play, began its own music. A deep, melodic sound. Like a choir and an orchestra melded into one, echoed out from the very light itself.

Greyshadow flipped over his drum, lightly drumming on it with his other paw and halting the hissing sands. Non paused her strumming, letting the last note hang as Greyshadow started to sing.

“Back then I often found myself

running along the road at night,

and the howl was broadcasting the ocean,”

        It was melodic, smooth. It echoed out and played across the night sky, a far reach better than his first attempt that night. Non’s strumming started up again, bringing back a deep beat that gave the song body.

“Warm late spring’s wind whips through my hair,

I am right here, but want to be there,

And no one in this world is going to stop me,”

        Greyshadow’s drum sprang to life, a sound so much deeper and more powerful than what should have been coming from a drum that size. He beat heavily on it, each hit bringing out a new wave of that magical, green light. Every instrument played together, and separately.

It was an intense mixture of simple patterns that was at its core … powerful. Each beat of the drum echoed through Rainbow’s chest, every strum from Non’s instrument buzzed in her ears. And below it all was the delicate sounds of the metal dome in Coalback’s lap, adding a distinct highlight to the music.

“Pale green ghosts at the end of me,

Soldiers of this black highway,

Helping me to know my place,”

        Something glimmered in the corner of Rainbow’s vision, drawing her gaze back up to look across the bodies laid out before her. Her breath caught in her throat at what she saw, nearly breaking the silent rule.

        They were glowing, the bodies laid out before her had taken on a similarly pale green glow. But it wasn’t a uniform light that rolled off of them, it came in waves, rivulettes, and strings that floated in an ethereal breeze. Each glowed and twisted in time to the music that they played. Twisting alongside the drumbeats, jumping with every stroke of the strings, and dancing to the metal dome’s ringing.

“Pale green ghosts must take great care,

Release themselves into the air,

Reminding me that I must be away,”

         His voice trailed off as the music suddenly filled the air, and the light moved with it. It was like the strings and streams of light had suddenly become alive. Greyshadow’s claws worked in tandem with his other paw, creating a sharp sound alongside the hissing of the sands on his arm.

        The lights practically exploded out from the bodies on the ground, swirling and dancing in a tornado that timed itself to their music. But then they started to condense, the huge storm of lights starting to organise itself into small cyclones over each body. And finally, they stopped moving entirely, settling on single shapes.

        Standing above each body, a half meter above the ground, were wolves. They were made entirely of the ghostly light, small wisps of pale strings floating off in an non-existent breeze. The music calmed, the new party simply staring out blankly at them as they listened to the music.

        The wolf closest lifted its head high, baring its throat and howling up into the sky, quickly followed by the other ghostly wolves. But it wasn’t like any howl that Rainbow had heard before. If she had to compare it to something, she would have said that they sounded like trumpets.

        Greyshadow met their howls as they finished by beating down on his drum again, drawing Non and Coalback to increase their instruments’ call as well. The ghostly wolves replied with more trumpet-like howls, echoing out as if they were calling from a great distance. The drum and the stringed instrument played again, calling out an intense sound.

        Non’s strumming stopped as they looked at the ghostly wolves, who seemed suddenly aware of their surroundings. All the while, Coalback and Greyshadow kept their parts of the song going. Greyshadow played a deep, steady pattern, like a heartbeat. And Coalback’s fingers gently accented it with the unique sound of the metal dome.

        Some of the wolves quickly lost interest, returning their stares to the sky. But one began to approach slowly. As the wolf got further from its body, the strings of light that held it together became more and more unravelled. She stopped a few steps away, looking down at the puppies that sat between the two larger wolves.

Their mother … Rainbow thought. She didn’t know how she could tell, but she knew that was who this wolf was. Maybe it was the way that the ghost stared wantingly at the two puppies, sad and guilty for having to leave them. But it didn’t last long, soon the mother’s ghost became distracted, looking back up at the sky as she wandered back to her body.

        Rainbow looked up, following the gazes of the wolves as that strange choir started again. Far in the distance to the North, something played over the dark horizon. A flitting of colorless light that only just made its presence known.

        Non slowly strummed again, adding her beat to the drum. As she did, the light on the horizon grew, until just a sliver of familiar green was visible. And it grew, and grew, until a distinct tendral of ethereal light started to wind its way from the North.

Rainbow immediately knew what it was, whether or not she’d seen it before.The Northern Lights, she thought to herself, closing her mouth forcefully as she realized that it had simply hung open for most of the display.

        The light traced its way closer, so far up and so large. The ghosts of the wolves stared up at it, waiting patiently for it to come closer. The light danced as it approached, revealing the details of its substance. It was practically solid, an actual presence in the sky. The light that played inside it trailed up from its bright bottom, stretching toward the unreachable heavens in a slow dance.

        Once it seemed that the light could grow no closer, still so far away as it hung far above Canterlot, the ghosts started to move again. Greyshadow used both his arms, creating a complicated pattern of sharp impacts with his claws, deep beats from the drum, and shakes of his arm to make the sands create their music. The wolves howled, filling the air with the strange sound.

        And as they howled, they fell apart. The strings of light simply unravelled, falling up in an ethereal breeze that dragged them toward the aurora. They glowed even brighter, the clearing filling with their light as the ghosts became one mass of swirling light that danced and bobbed.

Greyshadow wordlessly called out, a warbling note that intensified the sound.

        The lights detoured, swirling around the clearing. It bobbed and flowed in time to the music that simply seemed to have formed itself now. Sounds and instruments that weren’t even there called out from the air around them.

“Pale green ghosts at the end of me,

Soldiers of this black highway,”

        Greyshadow’s voice called out, nearly drowned out by the music that called out from the air. The lights flew higher, trailing out in a fiery storm of movement as they traced their way toward the similar light of the aurora.

“Pale green ghosts must take great care,

Release themselves into the air,”

As the distance grew, the light changed to look smoother, more solid. It became so similar to the aurora that was so far away that for a moment, Rainbow thought that another had manifested above them. She didn’t even notice the music softly draw to a close as she watched the light slowly crawl back over the horizon.

“Firsts for many tonight,” Greyshadow said quietly, drawing her attention back to the ground. All the wolves had turned around, all staring toward the cart and its occupants. “It is an honor to finally meet you properly, my Lord,” he said. He bowed his head, ears back.

Non followed his example, leaning over her metallic tube of an instrument. “I am Non, once Outsider, now Alpha of pack Geni Llwyd,” she said, raising her head again. “This is Greyshadow, medrus of our pack. And this is Lyall, and Sharptooth, the last of our litter,” she introduced, nodding to each wolf in turn.

“Well met, Geni Llwyd. I am Coalback, and this is Rainbow Dash. But our pack has yet to earn or make a name for itself,” Coalback replied softly, bending in a small bow and lifting the instrument from his lap. “I have many questions. While we return to our convoy, would you answer them?” he asked, gently returning the instrument to them.

“Of course, my Lord,” Non said. Greyshadow received the instrument standing and starting to walk away.

Rainbow leaned out to follow him, trying to find out where he had kept his instruments. As she leaned out, she was able to spot their origin. It was the sled, turned back over onto its runners, and what was salvaged from the clearing packed neatly on top. Coalback leaned out as well, taking in the scene as Greyshadow repacked their instruments below a tarp.

“Your sled will do you little good on the roads, especially with only two of you pulling,” Coalback noted, turning back to Non with a frown. “Perhaps you should ride with us, I can see to it that you receive a new sled,” he offered, turning to Rainbow to see if she agreed.

Rainbow hesitated, having concentrated so hard on being completely silent that she hadn’t realized when it had become unnecessary. “Yeah, you guys must be really tired. Especially with your leg, Non,” she agreed. “I’ll get Clean Cut and he can help us get it all packed,” she suggested, turning toward the front of the cart.

She opened the flap of fabric that separated the inside of the covered cart from the driver’s seat, sticking her head out in search of the unicorn. What she found was three, open mouthed stallions simply sitting in the snow. They stared blankly up at where the light had disappeared, totally frozen in awe.

“Hey guys!” she called, holding back a snicker. She had had a similar reaction, so she didn’t want to rub it in. It snapped them out of it, letting their mouths shut again as they turned to her distantly. “Help us load up the wolves’ stuff so we can get going, they can’t really keep using the sled,” she explained, ducking back inside as they blearily started to move again.

Coalback had started shifting his mattress again, pulling it with one of his hands back into a flat position on the inside of the cart. Rainbow moved over, grabbing onto an edge and helping him move it back to the rear of the cart. It took a lot of fiddling to get it back where it belonged, made no easier by Coalback’s bulk or the fact that any movement on his leg drew new pain from it.

Once that was done, Rainbow started helping Non into the cart. It was done easily enough, she simply let Non use herself as a stepping stool and then passed the puppies up to her. There was a moment, however, when Rainbow nearly threw Non off of her back. Her claws had dug into her spine, right next to particularly sensitive bundle of nerves.

The packing was uneventful, and the wolves had little left to them. A few tarps and fuzzy blankets, stitched closely and thick against the cold. A few small, wrapped boxes that jingled as they moved. The unique instruments, and a few small sacks. The last thing that went into the cart was clearly filled with some liquid, the tight stitching on the strong, smooth material of the bag having a similar texture to the paper that Greyshadow had worn before.

As the last thing was loaded onto the cart, Rainbow jumped in. She carefully stepped over the newly packed cargo, positioning herself so that she could ride next to Coalback on his mattress. Non had curled up around the puppies at the foot of the mattress, her head held up to show her alertness.

“I will walk,” Greyshadow announced from the ground outside the entrance, his nose peeking up over the edge. “Non is very very smart. She can tell you anything that I would,” he assured, the cart jerking into motion again as he finished.

“Thanks, Greyshadow,” Rainbow called, laying against Coalback’s shoulder as his head rested against the rolled up sleeping mat, resting her own head against his neck. The cart trundled on for a moment in silence, until Rainbow continued with a question. “So, what were those instruments you guys were playing? I’ve never seen anything like ‘em. And what were all those lights? And the- the ghosts?” she asked excitedly. I can’t believe I’m actually excited to learn something, for once, she mused to herself.

Non smiled gently, turning to look at the instruments that lay nearby as she spoke. “This one,” she said, lifting a paw and pointing toward the fat lense shaped instrument, “is a hang drum, or hongian drwm. And that,” she pointed toward the decorated metal tube, “is a gitâr caeedig, or closed guitar. It was a gift from one of the metal tribes, made from strong Wolsh steel and brass. These, are tywod siglwr,” she said, pointing to the straps that contained the sands. “And I can be safe to assume that you know what a drum is, can I not?” she asked, smiling back at Rainbow.

“And the ‘lights,’ as you put them, are an integral part of our culture,” she said, drawing Rainbow’s thoughts back. “The aurora is the great manifestation of our ancestors from the very first wolf and from the ones who came before even them. When we sang, we helped our fallen brothers and sisters to see the path to join them. We were lucky that Greyshadow survived to be able to see to their passing, or they would have been left blind to the path, to wander aimlessly forever,” Non explained, becoming distant as she spoke. “Only the medrus has the knowledge and power to truly join them with the light like that,” she finished, turning to look out the rear at the wolf that followed them.

“Wait,” Rainbow said with confusion. “But I thought that auroras came from the Crystal Empire?” she asked. When they had returned the crystal heart the castle had cast out a huge light show, very similar to what they had just seen. However, looking back, it had been ... different from what she’d seen there.

The aurora in the Crystal Empire had been many different colors, spreading out like a web from the tip of the castle’s tallest point. But this one had been many shades of pale green, all in one. And it had looked much larger than the strands of color that had decorated the sky in the Crystal Empire.

“Simple, like the rainbows that your kind create, there is one that exists as physical and one that does not,” Non explained, drawing a confused look from Rainbow. “For example, I learned that ponies keep rainbows in pools, as liquid that can be touched and felt. But there is still the rainbow that simply comes to be, from the rain and the sun. One you cannot touch or get near, yet it is still there. It is the same with the aurora. You ponies make some, but nature has its own as well,” she said.

A look of realization came over Rainbow’s face. “Nopony really remembers how to make a rainbow like that anymore,” she mused. She had done it before, during her attempt to show up a particularly mouthy unicorn. “So ponies make one kind of aurora, and wolves make their own?” she asked.

“Not quite,” Non said, tilting her head as she tried to think of a way to explain it. “It has been there longer than ponies or wolves, the aurora that I speak of. Ponies decided to make their own for some reason, and for a long time most wolves saw it as an insult to the Mother. Part of the reason why we have hidden away from your kind, before now,” Non said sadly, looking down to the side.

“I never really thought of it that way,” Rainbow said distantly. Just the thought that something as amazing and magical as what she saw, if only in the distance, was natural … was simply incredible.

Some ponies didn’t even know what a natural rainbow was, it was so ingrained into them that ponies could control all the aspects of their environment. When nature showed up with its own plan and threw their’s out the window, ponies simply didn’t know what to do. Freak tornadoes, storms that didn’t listen to anypony, the hurricane that blew over from who-knows-where.

Coalback’s arm shifted under Rainbow, wrapping around her barrel and pulling her up onto his chest with a grunt. For a moment she melted into his touch, feeling her chest against his. “Okay, so w-what’s ‘gunnee lewd’?” Rainbow asked distractedly, still trying to win the unofficial game that Coalback had started with a new distraction.

“Geni Llwyd,” Non corrected, smiling at them as she explained and happy for the change in subject. “It means ‘born grey.’ This is significant for a wolf, because a young wolf is black of fur, as I was when I was a puppy. As a wolf ages, their fur becomes lighter until it is grey. I believe it is because of what ponies call ‘albinism,’ that their mother was white, with pink eyes. This is most especially rare for a wolf, especially for her to have become an alpha,” she said, looking down at the puppies curled up against her.

“That would explain Sharptooth’s fur,” Coalback agreed, his voice vibrating up through his chest and into Rainbow’s. “Perhaps some recessive genes cause their fur to be so light at such a young age,” he suggested. Non nodded again, becoming slightly sheepish as she began to speak.

“I believe that is correct,” she said, her ears laying back slightly. “If it is not out of my place, m- … Coalback, would you allow me to ask a question of you?” she asked, her ears laying completely flat as she shrunk back into herself.

“Of course, it’s only fair,” he said gently.

Non instantly relaxed, as if she had been fearing some reprimand from Coalback. “I wished to ask if one of the stories of your kind had been kept in truth,” she admitted. “Many of the things that were once perhaps pure truth, have become legend. Many details lost among tongues as the stories passed from generation to generation. I wanted to know, is it true of your … fertility?”

Rainbow hadn’t realized that wolves could blush, but Non was doing a good job of turning beet red underneath her fur. “... Fertility?” Rainbow muttered under her breath. Just saying the word was enough to fan the flame in her chest, making her shiver against Coalback.

Once again, she became acutely aware of him. How his chest rose and fell under her, lifting her up gently with each breath. How his heart steadily thudded beneath her own, beating almost in sync to hers. She felt the warmth of the arm that curled around her, the firm muscles that flexed and stretched against her back and wings. How his fingers idly massaged the fur on her chest, gently tracing patterns though the downy fur and drawing shivers from her.

Coalback cleared his throat, and Rainbow didn’t even have to look at him to know that a blush of his own had appeared. If the warmth that suddenly spread through the skin on his chest under her was any indication, that is. “I’m not sure, you’ll have to tell me what the stories say,” he stuttered after a moment.

“Perhaps … wine first? You must be thirsty,” Non said quickly, the blush somehow intensifying under her fur as she reached for the tightly stitched bag with her mouth. She pulled the bag over to herself, the contents sloshing inside it as it swung around toward Coalback. She carefully held it over his legs, making sure not to let it hit his injured leg.

Coalback gladly reached forward with his other hand, stretching a bit to grasp onto it. He pulled it over to himself, taking the stopper between his teeth and pulling it free. Rainbow could smell the wine even before the stopper had opened up, the familiar smell of alcohol wafting about. The smell only became stronger as he pulled the stopper away, letting it swing away on the strand that attached it to the bottom side of the container.

Just from that, Rainbow could tell that whatever was in there was much stronger than the brew Applejack had brought them in the library a few weeks ago. It burned her nose and made her eyes water slightly. This isn’t wine, she thought, looking with surprise at the wine bag. This is freaking airship fuel!

Rainbow actually didn’t know much about how airships worked, having spent little time around them for obvious reasons. But she did know that the engines that ran them didn’t burn coal, it was simply too heavy to carry with them. Instead, the boilers were heated with an extremely potent liquid fuel. It was more expensive, by far, but the heat to weight ratio was much higher.

And these guys drinkthis stuff?! she practically yelled at herself, even as Coalback lifted the bag to his lips.

He balanced the large bag along his forearm, lifting it up slowly as his lips pressed against the opening. Two large gulps sloshed their way down Coalback’s throat, a few drops slid down from his mouth and stained his lips with the red liquid. With a long sigh of satisfaction, he pulled the opening of the wine bag from his mouth. He carefully lowered it in front of Rainbow, offering it to her.

“Hoo!” she breathed out, cringing back slightly as the smell burned inside her nose. definitely haven’t ever had anything this strong, she thought to herself, recovering slightly as Coalback held back a chuckle that shook his chest underneath her. I mean, cider is one thing. But this …

“A-alright, just a little,” she said. gently leaning forward and pressing her lips to the bag’s opening. She really didn’t want to get drunk, if she did there was no way she would be able to wait until they got some privacy.

Coalback slowly tilted up the bag, guided by Rainbow’s hoof so that he would stop when she wanted to. She only sipped barely even a mouthful of the wine before stopping, her mouth burning from the pungent drink. It burned its way all through her throat as she swallowed it quickly, the burning shooting into her sinuses and making her cringe.

She coughed a few times, trying to clear the burning from her throat as her eyes started to water. She vaguely heard Non give an apology, and say something about warning her. But Rainbow barely heard her, her head buzzing slightly as her body suddenly warmed up. She could barely even notice the taste underneath the burning until it had subsided, little bursts of berry that faded away like satin and tickled her tongue.

Coalback handed the bag back to Non, the wolf drinking a similarly large amount of the drink before sealing the bag and setting it down. She looked nervous, her ears kept shifting, unsure of whether to be laid flat against her head or up at attention so that she could hear. “In the stories,” she started after a moment, “it was told that … they could have pups outside of their own kind … It was how the wolves were- … became a part of Great Ones’ courts,” she said, stuttering slightly as she spoke.

“Well …” Coalback said after a moment. “I do not know, myself, whether or not it’s true, but there is a story …” he said. Non and Rainbow both perked up their ears at that, the two puppies popping up with wide eyes as well. Coalback cleared his throat, his hand moving up to massage Rainbow’s shoulder. “A long time ago, there was a great wolf. He came to the world with the help of a god named Loki, and was named his son.

“He was strong, the strongest of all the creatures on earth. But the gods feared him, because he was becoming too strong. So they plotted to imprison him, and forged a set of fetters for him and challenged him to break them,” Coalback said, motioning with one hand. He wrapped his fingers around his other wrist, encircling Rainbow in his arms. “He broke the first one, and the second.

“So,” he continued, releasing his wrist and dropping his other arm back to his side, “they made another. And to do the impossible, they decided to forge it out of six impossible things: the sound of a cat’s footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish. and the spittle of a bird,” he listed off, shifting himself slightly underneath Rainbow. “And it worked, the great wolf could not break it, and was trapped in its golden chain.

“But before they trapped him,” he continued quietly. “The great wolf had a son, with a human woman as his mother. And he became the first of the long line of my family,” Coalback paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and steeling himself. “The great wolf’s name … was Fenrir-” he choked off the end of the word, shivering as he said the name.

Rainbow felt his chest seize up, as if his whole body simply froze. For a moment she worried that he was having a flashback, or another seizure. But he let out a shaky breath and calmed himself.

She flipped over in his arms so that she could face him fully, her chest pressed up against his. She looked up at him with concern. She didn’t have to be able to smell it like Coalback could, she could see the fear in his eyes. Just that name terrified him.

‘... Ever since I called your name that night …’

‘... saying the name of a spirit thrice is enough to summon it ...’

His words echoed in her head, lines being drawn between points in her mind. That’s more than a legend, she thought, eyes widening with realization. He called it, and used it to … She couldn’t bring herself to even think it. It must have been torture for him even to say the name, let alone to tell them the story.

“If that story is true,” Coalback said, taking a deep breath and wiping away the sadness and fear in his eyes. “Then that means that your answer is yes,” he finished, a blush slowly returning to him as he looked toward Rainbow. “Why did you ask?” Coalback added with a raised eyebrow, turning his eyes back to Non.

Non shrank back slightly, her ears lying flat as her blush returned in full. “I apologize,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I always become overly curious after my cycle, and it has been especially bad with its ... untimely-ness,” she admitted. Her tail flicked nervously against the tarp flap behind her, creating a gentle sound with each pass.

Rainbow groaned, squirming in Coalback’s arms. “Stop! Let’s talk about something else! I swear, you guys are gonna make me explode!” she said, throwing her hooves over her ears and burying her face in the crook of her own elbows. The cart bumped over a dip on the ground, making her heart jump for a second and spiking the heat in her veins.

“Alright, I’ve got a question this time,” Coalback said after a moment, steering the conversation. “Where were you before you started on this migration? Why were you there?” he asked gently, causing Non to blink with confusion.

Rainbow had to fight to pay attention, though. Coalback shifted his arm around her, pulling her closer as she tried to force her own thoughts out of her head. Her nose pressed up against his neck, his chin resting on top of her head. His breathing stirred her mane, his scent filled her nose. Damp wood, copper, and just a hint of musky flavor. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she nuzzled into him, unable to resist trying to pull herself even closer to him.

Non’s voice was able to pull her out of the haze around her thoughts. “Gaethglud. We survived by settling in the mountains that separate Equestria from the badlands. Our people fled generations ago, hundreds of generations ago,” she started, a strange mixture of sadness and interest both weighing down and lifting her voice. “There wasn’t much hunting land, but most traditions stayed alive because of the mountains alone. However, lack of prey and the proximity to the deserts made life difficult. Things only took a turn for the worse when the Strangers showed up,” she finished with an angry sigh.

“Strangers?” Coalback asked, his voice bounced over Rainbow. His throat moved against her cheek and his chest vibrated, making her shiver as she turned her head to look back to Non and listen.

Non shook her head, unable to find a description that would work. “Creatures. Things that tried to trick us, fight us, break past the mountains,” she described, tilting her head to the side. “They looked like bugs, and tasted like burnt meat. And recently, they gained support, and became nearly impossible to hold back. And then the Empress called all of us to leave, to run back to the North. And now, here we are,” she finished with a shrug.

“There were changelings in the march, and Lost told us that they’re on Discord’s side,” Rainbow said, barely breathing out the words. When the changelings had been blasted out of Canterlot, had they gone all the way to the badlands? And had the only thing stopping them from coming back been a wall of territorial wolves?

“Do many wolves feel angry at these Strangers?” Coalback asked, starting to sound tired.

“I suppose that many do. The metal tribes are especially upset, they feel that the Empress gave up trying to hold them back. The feather tribes aren’t, though. They feel that it is well past our time to return. Why do you ask?” Non said, tilting her head inquisitively to the side.

“Then …” Coalback was interrupted by a yawn, his mouth stretching open widely before he was able to continue. “Then maybe we can convince them to come back and help us …” he trailed off, his eyelids became heavy.

“Help with what, Coalback?” Rainbow asked gently, nuzzling up against him. Coalback yawned again, his eyes falling closed for a moment. She shivered as her body rose up with his chest, burying her nose in the crook of his neck again.

“There’s gonna be a fight,” he murmured. His hand wandered up and down Rainbow’s back, drawing more shivers from her. “When they get around the wall … they’ll attack …” he said, finally starting to drift off into sleep. “... It’s what I’d do …”

Rainbow paused, the haze around her thoughts suddenly cleared as his words rang in her ears. Coalback was right. If anything, they’d only pissed off Discord. Majorly. And those … things, the Direswm, were with them. One had nearly pulled Coalback in half, and a group of them had very nearly killed him. They would need help.

Rainbow’s thoughts paused as a gentle snore came from Coalback, his neck stretched out as his head laid over the rolled sleeping mat. He’d fallen asleep. Rainbow groaned, stretching out on top of him as her needs became evident again. Now what am I gonna do? I’m practically burning inside! she thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she rubbed her cheek along his collarbone.

“Rainbow Dash?” Non asked, pulling her attention back to the cart around her. Rainbow didn’t answer, specifically, more like a grunt as she halted her squirming. “Are you alright?” she asked, concern etched into the wolf’s voice.

“No,” Rainbow grumbled. She rolled onto her back, rubbing her wings onto Coalback’s chest. “Coalback’s right here, and I need him, but I can’t …” she huffed, trying to get some sensation into her wings.

Non’s blush returned as she glanced back out the back of the cart. “Perhaps I could go? I could wait outside, and follow until we stop,” she offered, already starting to stand.

“No,” Rainbow said quickly, sliding off of Coalback’s chest and sitting up. “You don’t have to go,” she said reluctantly, even if it was an attractive offer. She slumped back against Coalback, using him as backrest and stretching again before settling against him. “Might as well try and sleep, too,” she muttered, Non’s confused expression almost going unnoticed.

“Your Majesty …” Non said, trailing off as Rainbow pushed up against Coalback and rubbing her wings on him again.

“Not that it isn’t cool, Non,” Rainbow said distantly, “but, you really don’t have to call me that. It’s a little weird,” she murmured, tucking her front hooves into her chest and spreading her wings up and over Coalback’s front. Even though he had blankets, she really wanted to lay next to him, at least.

“Oh, it’s just that … it looked like you were ... scent rolling, and I was wondering …” Non started, growing quieter as Rainbow continued to drift into the blackness of sleep. Wolves used scents for many things: navigation, identification, and so that they could know where another had been. That’s where scent rolling came in, a wolf would rub themselves onto a patch of grass, or a particular spot in an area so that another wolf could tell where they came from.

 “I wonder how many of the stories really are true …” the wolf muttered under her breath. She sat for a while, contemplating what she saw with a blank stare.

After a moment, some maternal part of her started to act. She stood to take one of the blankets that they had brought, made from several recent hunts. It was soft, warm, and light. The best one they had. She carefully spread it over the two, making sure that the soft side was against them. As she returned to the two curled up puppies, fast asleep in their own dreams, she continued to wonder.

Slowly, the cart’s rocking gently guided her to her own slumber.

Perspective

-Perspective-

Everything hurt, the pain radiating out from her chest as the bone needle was pounded into her skin again. Rainbow yelled out, screaming profanities and wailing in pain as the needle punched through the skin on her chest again. Her screaming had devolved into broken curses and wails of unintelligible rage and agony.

The thick frame of her torturer loomed over her, the needle in one hand and a small mallet in the other. His muscles rippled in a single torche’s light that lit his silhouette. The full moon loomed behind him, looking down with disinterest at this strange ritual. Strong calloused hands held her down against a roughly cut tree stump, the jagged wood tearing through Rainbow’s dress shirt and scraping into her back.

The shirt had been torn open, where her tormenter relentlessly stabbed into her chest with the bone needle. But it wasn’t just some strange torture,  they were using a very old method of applying a tattoo. The needle was dipped into a wooden bowl, returning pitch black at the tip before it pricked into her bare chest again and left its mark.

Even the ink wasn’t what it appeared to be. Rainbow had watched as someone had led a huge wolf to the bowl, using a wickedly curved knife to cut open one of its forelegs and draining black blood into it. The wolf hadn’t even flinched or resisted. It had stared at Rainbow with determined eyes, throwing back the flickering torchlight at her.

Now they were all simply nameless torturers in her eyes, enemies to either be defeated or escaped from. Fight or flight.

“He’ll be a very strong one,” her tormentor noted with his scratchy basso, taking another swing down to complete the mark on Rainbow’s chest. It was a rune, the meaning warped and lost as time went on. It resembled a cross, the arms pushed upwards into a ‘Y’ shape so that it almost resembled a pitchfork.

Rainbow snarled in rage, not even realising her own actions anymore. She was seeing red, her heart pounding and chest aching. Her lips had cracked, her throat was sore, and her ribs ached from having to flex with every scream that she forced from herself. She wanted her captors to know how much she hated them for the pain they gave her.

The pain blossomed in a wave across her entire body, stiffening her struggles as it did. “Stand back! It’s starting!” someone yelled outside of her field of vision. The stinging exploded out from her core again, making her wail in cripplingagony. She tried to curl in on herself, to try and block out the fiery burning that swept through her veins.

The rough hands that held her down retreated, letting her roll off of the stump and onto the soft grass and soil beneath it. She struggled to stand, managing to lift herself up on her hands and toes. She balanced precariously like that for a moment, her pain making it hard to concentrate on her balance. Endorphins and adrenaline flooded through her veins, trying in vain to alleviate the choking fire all over her body.

Rainbow’s bony hands filled her vision, the tendons and vessels just under her tightening skin standing out with every violent beat of her heart. The blood under her fingernails from the struggle that had led to her even being in the forest in the first place turned black in the dim, orange light of the torch. Her fingers clutched at the grass as if it were an anchor, keeping her from being torn away by the agonizing pain that continued to well inside of her.

Her knuckles buckled violently, suddenly popping out of place as the tendons in her hands rapidly tensed. Rainbow screamed out again as her feet did the same, her black dress pants starting to feel tighter as her limbs started to shake and perform their own change. Her metacarpals erratically cracked and shifted under her skin, lengthening and shifting into different shapes. The skin around her wrists cracked and tore as the bones stretched, oozing dark blood onto the dewy grass.

The only thing that kept her standing was the fact that all of her muscles had suddenly gone completely rigid, freezing her in place. All she could do was scream.

The pain in her chest shifted to her sternum, every nerve capable of sending a signal in her chest shooting off like fireworks. With a sickening crack, her sternum shot out from its position, her ribs shifted painfully as they compensated for the difference. She felther heart start to worm its way into a new position, the cardiac muscle spasming and stopping erratically as it shifted and grew. Her lungs ached as they filled in the new space, popping and burning as they adjusted.

Her shoulders dislocated several times as they shifted alongside her chest, the scapulas spreading out flatter over her back. She felt the bones in her upper arm twist and shrink as her shoulders shifted forward, the bone snapping and popping back into place randomly as it shifted.

Her vision suddenly darkened, her eyes growing with pressure that felt like they were about to be crushed by a pair of invisible thumbs. “Look at his eyes! There they go!” a voice called out from the darkness around her. The pain suddenly blossomed until it felt like her eyes would simply pop. She could numbly feel the skin around her eyes stretching, twisting around as her muscles moved without her consent.

The darkness slowly retreated as a new stinging lanced through the tips of her fingers and toes. They writhed as something pushed through the sensitive flesh underneath her nails, cracking them and pushing them out of the way. As her vision cleared, she could see that large black claws had cut through her nails and replaced them.

Her skin was stretching across her fingers, pulling itself up until a short web of flesh separated her digits. Blood turned the grass black around her, shining in silver and orange light.

Her hips bucked forward, the bones shifting and nearly dropping her to the ground. She felt the pelvic bones shift up, making her legs stand slightly wider. Her tailbone cracked audibly with a blossoming of intense, white hot pain. It stretched out, new pieces of bone rapidly shaping themselves from the shards of the others. Her skin stretched as the tail ripped through the last of her clothes, letting them fall to the ground. Nerves burned as they stretched and split to fill the new part of her body, swinging and writhing until it was done growing.

“There’s his tail!” she vaguely heard someone crow. Rainbow’s cries were starting to become weaker as something gripped onto her windpipe. Her throat was very suddenly tight, making it hard to do anything but gasp in pain.

Muscles in her neck suddenly twitched in one direction, lifting her head skyward sharply and dislocatingseveral vertebrae. The bones burned and shifted as they elongated, stretching her neck out as her skull began to change as well. Her skin burned as it stretched and flexed to compensate, itching and writhing as it did.

Her skull cracked as it suddenly shifted, her cheekbones popping outward as her jaw slid forward. She could feel her nose and mouth start shifting erratically forward, creating a thin muzzle. Her lips stretched and cracked, bleeding onto her gums as her teeth started to ache. Her ears twitched and twisted as they crawled up the side of her head until they were sitting near the top. She felt her skin sliding over her as it tried to keep from ripping further.

She couldn’t even scream anymore, her vocal chords stretching and changing as her neck writhed around the stretching bones. Every tooth in her mouth suddenly cracked open, splitting as another, larger fang pushed its way out of her gums in its place. She felt her tongue stretching, a strangely numb experience next to all the unbearable pain coursing through her limbs.

Just as she thought that there could be no end to her pain, it slowly started to subside. All of her skin tingled, and as she watched, small pores opened up as dark fur slowly showed itself out. She numbly felt some of the normally thin and wiry hairs on her arms and legs falling out, creating small lines in the blood around her where they stretched the liquid along themselves. Her skin even seemed a shade darker than it should have.

Below her, her hands and feet no longer supported her. Instead, some sick rendition of a paw held her above the bloody forest floor. They were thin and the claws stretched out unnaturally from the too tight skin. Her knuckles bent and knotted the shape, making them look blocky and malformed.

“It’ll take a little while for him to grow all that in, but it looks like he’ll have a fine black coat,” someone noted, drawing her attention back upward. Standing around her were naked people, all holding a strange familiarity about them. One of them held a torch that lit the small clearing much better than it seemed to have before. And standing among them were several monstrous wolves, much bigger and stronger looking than any normal wolf should have been. Every eye of the people and the wolves around her threw back the light as they looked at her.

“Bring the mirror out for the boy,” one of the wolves said quietly. His voice rang surprisingly clear, even though he spoke barely above a breath.

One of the men broke off, returning with a large mirror framed in sturdy, simple wood. When he turned it toward Rainbow, she could only stare at the creature that was reflected back at her.

It was wolf-like in shape, but clearly far from what the ones around her looked like. It was nearly bald, the fur that it did have was nothing more than a light fuzz that did little to hide its sensitive skin. It was bony and thin, barely much more than a skeleton with skin. It looked emaciated and dehydrated, an animal on the verge of death.

Its eyes had turned into an angular shape,as if the normally almond shape had been twisted up. The irises had dilated to a point where it seemed like there wasn’t anything but the black pool that dominated their place. Its sclera was shot through with black veins that pulsed in time with her aching heart beat, a new shot of pain lancing up through her eyes with each beat.

Its lips parted in an almost permanent snarl, its lips too torn and tight to hide the huge fangs that now stretched out of its blood blackened gums. Its nose had stretched alongside its muzzle, turned forward like a dog’s.

Its ears pointed skyward, pushed into a sharp, pointed shape near the top of its head. They twitched painfully at any slight sound around her, even the gentle sound of the people breathing. Her black hair had shifted from its head, most of it near the top of its neck where it made a scratchy looking mane.

And it was covered in its own blood, the thick liquid slowly clotting in the cracks and tears in its skin. The dark liquid drooled and dripped off of it, anywhere that the flesh had broken was smeared with the life giving fluid. The grass around it was slick with her blood, staining the place where she had changed a deep crimson-turned-black in the night.

It was her, or it used to be. That was her blood on the ground, and those were still her eyes staring back. Or, at least, they felt familiar. Her new tail twitched in the cool night air, pushing a small wave of air over her crotch and sending shivers up her spine. Even that had been changed.

And there was something else, a strange feeling at the edges of her perception. It felt like, just outside of where she could see, there was a huge empty space. Like she was standing with her back to a pit, where it waited for her to take that final step backwards so that it could swallow her.

“Hello, Douglass,” a deep voice said to her clearly. It tore her away from the haunting new image of her body, drawing her to look at the particularly large wolf standing to her side. This wolf was a varying tone of grey, small scars parting his thick fur on his chest and shoulders. A small scar was underneath the wolf’s right eye, another strangely familiar feature. “Welcome to the family, son.”

“Welcome to the pack,” the crowd around her stated in unison. Each of them lifted a hand, or a paw, to their chests. They pointed with the ends of their hands, and their respective claws, to a small mark there, practically glowing in contrast to the people’s pale skin. The same glyph that was now stained into her own flesh.

~~~

‘... The first time is always the worst,’

If that dream had been what she thought it was, then that sentence held much more weight than Rainbow had first given it. She struggled with the memory of the dream, straining to commit every detail she could to memory. Strangely, the details had remained concrete in her mind throughout the day, not fading as a dream normally would.

They had stopped shortly after she had woken up from her fitful sleep, the familiar surroundings of the cart ready to greet her. The company had stopped to rest at midday, resting for a meal before the long climb to the top. Inside their cart, she could hear various conversations drifting in with the smells of woodsmoke and warm food.

At the moment, she rested with her back on top of Coalback, letting him gently preen her extended wings with his hands. It was a blissful experience, his fingers gently stroking through her feathers and delicately turning any feathers that had shifted out of place back where they belonged. It was a massage that no unicorn or earth pony could ever appreciate, the tight coils of nerves in her wings singing with relaxed pleasure.

It had actually taken her awhile to reach that delicate balance of blissful relaxation, only kept together by Coalback’s gentle preening. She had a quick scare in discovering that the extremely comfortable blanket that Non had given them was actually made from rabbit skins. Luckily Coalback had woken up and calmed her down. It had also made her question the contents of the wine she had tried as well, but thankfully that had been made with mountain berries.

But now that she was calm, a sensation enhanced by deciding to accept more of the wine, her mind wandered. With each pass of Coalback’s fingers through her feathers, she drifted further into her own thoughts. She sighed as a particularly bothersome feather was tucked and straightened back into place.

‘... The first time is always the worst,’

That single sentence suddenly held a thousand times the weight it had before, and just the idea of what her dream could mean, if it was connected, formed a nervous lump in her throat. Just the idea that she could have sat in on that horrible moment, was so ludicrous that it … actually sounded possible.

The things that Coalback had shown her with only a look into his eyes was enough to give that theory an actual toehold. And if his first transformation had been anything remotely similar to what she had seen in her dream, then she could finally understand his occasional distance. The memory of the pain that she had felt in her dream made her chest ache, but only for a moment.

She shivered as several feathers on her wing fell into place, Coalback’s dexterous fingers searching for more out of place feathers. A sharp tug of relief shivered down the length of her wing as a feather pulled free from its itching root.

“... Uhm … Did you want this, or something?” Coalback asked her as he moved it in front of her, twirling the cyan feather in between his finger and his thumb. She heard a small twinge of worry in his voice, an unsurity of whether or not the feather was actually supposed to have pulled out or not.

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for that one to fall out for awhile … Why don’t you keep it?” Rainbow suggested after a moment of looking at it, bending her head back to look up at him. “You know, ‘cuz we never really did anything with flowers, or a date, or anything,” she said, seeing a smile grow on his face. It was a good feeling for her, knowing that he could still smile with her.

“Alright,” Coalback said, looking at her thoughtfully. He pulled the feather up to his own face, examining the barbs and running his thumb through the vane. After a moment he tucked the feather behind his ear. “How about that, just until I figure out a better way to keep it,” he said softly, his hand returning to gently caress her withers.

She nodded, leaning into his hand and simply enjoying the feeling. Her heat hadn’t disappeared, and it showed no sign of doing so any time soon, but it wasn’t nearly as intrusive on her concentration as it had been before. She savored in the feeling of being wrapped in Coalback’s arms, the heat in her groin growing to a comfortable warmth.

“You know, this kind of reminds me of a tradition that we had,” he said after a moment, drawing her attention back to his face. His hand moved up to the dark necklace around his thick neck, the dexterous fingers finding their way inside it. When he finished fishing into the strong, frayed cloth, his hand returned with a white spike held between two of his fingers. He carefully held it out in front of her so that she could look at it properly.

It was a fang. Long, white, and slightly yellowed near the base where a few jagged ends marked where it once held itself in his mouth. “I lost this while I was out in the forest. We’re sort of like alligators, I grew a new one the day after,” Coalback explained with a small smirk, twirling the sharp spike between his two fingers. “Sometimes, as a show of respect or … a show of commitment … we give them away,” he said, starting to trail off as he looked at the fang in his hand.

“... Are you okay?” Rainbow asked, lifting a hoof to still his hand. It was almost hypnotizing how the different muscles moved under his skin in his hands, how the shape of his forearm would change subtly with every movement. And the range of movements, it was a kind of dexterity that she wasn’t sure that most unicorns had.

But that kind of wonder was drowned out by an increasing worry that was fueled onward by Coalback’s continued silence. “I’m fine …” he said after a moment, the twirling of his fingers halting. His voice was a relief, even if he had that distant sadness in his voice again. “My grandfather was the only one in my family who ever saw me as worthy of having one of his fangs,” he said hoarsely, gently placing the ivory spike on her chest.

She was lifted up as he took a deep breath. His fingers caged the fang on her chest as they gently massaged her fur there. “You don’t have to pierce your ear if you don’t want to, but I’d like you to keep it for me,” he said quietly.

The stillness of the cart became very evident in that small silence. It seemed like even the sounds of the ponies just outside had been muffled, the light that speared through the tight canvas covering shifting only in the stiff breezes from outside. His arms around her chest felt heavier, his breathing almost forced.

“Of course I’ll keep it, Coalback,” she said hoarsely, holding his hand close to her chest and turning onto her side in his arms. She pressed her cheek against his chest as she looked up at him, her breath disturbing the wiry little hairs there. “Are you really okay? Or are you just saying that so I won’t get worried about you?” she asked after a moment, holding his hand tighter to her chest.

“How’d you guess?” he asked after a moment, a bittersweet smile weakly growing on his lips.

“It’s what I’d do,” she said simply, closing her eyes for a moment as she nuzzled into his chest. His heart nervously beat under her head, that distant stillness of his struggling to place itself again. But she wouldn’t let him, using a hoof to lightly trace the shape of his collarbone. “Can you talk to me about it?” she asked gently, opening her eyes to look up at him again.

“... I have two, my grandfather gave me one of his …” Coalback said after a long pause, turning his head to the side so she could see his ear. It was still slightly mangled from the fight with the jaguar, but somehow not nearly as bad as it seemed it should have been. The two white spikes in his ear swaying slightly and tapping against each other as he did, and now that she knew what they were, she could easily tell they were fangs pushed through the flesh of his flat ear.

“Right …” Rainbow mumbled, turning to look at the fang still pressed to her chest with his hand. It was a strange sort of symmetry between the trade that they had made.

One old tradition of the pegasi was to keep feathers that fell out, since it was a rare occasion for the the durable plumage. It wasn’t luck that had saved her wing from being totally destroyed during her last major crash. It would take a lot more than that to hurt her wings beyond repair.

And teeth don’t just fall out on their own. So, to give each other such intimate parts of … basically themselves, wasn’t something done lightly. It was a sign of commitment.

“The other one is my father’s,” Coalback said distantly, drawing her thoughts back to him once again. “I took it from him before he died,” he said shakily, his heart fluttering weakly in his chest. “... Right out of his bloody mouth. We usually use this … it’s like a big hole punch, to put them in. There’s a layer of cartilage in our ears, basically flexible bone, so it’s harder to pierce that part,” he explained. “Take a close look at them, at the places in my ear where they come through.”

Rainbow looked back up at him, concentrating on his ear. The strangely shaped flesh curled around in a relatively flat shape, the outer edge curling around to direct sound into the center of it. Along that curve, those two spikes punched neatly through, one above the other. Or, at least the top one did.

The lowermost piercing had a strange wrinkle around it, roughly hugging the fang. And then she realized what it was, a very mangled scar. “I used a shard of glass to cut the hole, and then forced it in. It was messy, and painful. But at the time, I felt it had to be done,” Coalback said quietly, his other hand lifting up to gently stroke the scarred ear with his fingertip.

“Does it still hurt?” Rainbow asked robotically, her mouth moving before she could stop it.

“Only when I lay on it, or if they turn inside it,” he replied, unfazed by the suddenness of the question. His hand moved away from his ear and returning to rest on her shoulder, the fingers gently massaging the base of her wing. “We should talk about something else. I think I’ve had enough of being all mopey,” he said with a forced smile.

Rainbow leaned back into his touch, immensely enjoying the feeling of his fingers coaxing the muscles underneath them to relaxation. “Maybe we should go on a date,” she said after a moment, breathing out the words as her tail gave a violent twitch. “You know; dinner, go fly in the park or something,” she said, her eyes starting to drift shut.

“That might not be such a bad idea,” Coalback agreed, his hand working up her wing slowly. “We could fly far away, just you and me, camp out near the mountains. Or we could buy out a train car, you could show me all the countryside,” he suggested, the hand on her chest continuing to gently massage the strong muscles underneath.

“You can do that?” Rainbow huffed, the massage on her wing starting to fan hot flames again. His fingers kept stroking over the sensitive nerve clusters there, putting a new sensation of pressure on them that only succeeded in making her wings flare out stiffly.

“You could back where I was from, get a whole car to yourself. And it wasn’t just a bunch of empty seats either. They’re like their own house in there; a lounge, a bar, a bed, everything,” he said quietly, pulling her wing down toward his head. She gasped as the stiff limb gained a whole new amount of pressure on it, pleasure flooding out of her wing in waves as it tried to resist the movement.

It wasn’t painful, or if it was it was simply washed out with the intense feeling of euphoria that poured out of her wing like a broken dam. His lips gently pressed against the base of her feathers near the end of her wing, sending shivers down it and all along her spine. “You know,” he said, his warm breath breaking her down into whimpers. “If we’re really quiet, and really quick …” he said, trailing off as he gently kissed slightly lower on her wing.

“I’m- F-fuck …” she stuttered, his thumb suddenly pressing into a sensitive spot on her wing. She shivered stiffly as that pleasure filled in where the pressure had started to fade. “I think I’m see-hing a pattern here,” she breathed, twitching as his fingers concentrated on the spot. “Does talking abou-oot this stuff- Mm! Turn you on, or something?” she managed to spit out, quickly melting into his embrace as his hand wormed back down her wing.

“No, sitting with you turns me on,” he chuckled, following his hand with his lips. “And these wings …” he breathed into her feathers, tickling them and making her heart race. The hand on her chest started to move down, but she stopped it with her hooves and pulled it up to her face. She nuzzled into his hand, taking the fang from him and gently setting it onto the mattress with her other hoof.

The fire in her crackled violently to life, urging her on as she clenched her rear legs together as hard as she could. Without another hesitation, her tongue found its way onto his hand. She licked greedily at his fingers, trying to take in his taste. Her tongue danced along the strange lines in his hand, tracing them up to the crooks of his fingers.

The salty flavor of his skin was like ambrosia to her, unusual but far from uncomfortable. She was barely aware of her own actions now, barely realizing that she had started to suck on his fingers until it was already pressed into her mouth. She sucked greedily at it, trying to get as much of that salty, coppery taste onto her tongue.

“Coalback! You need to see this!” someone crowed, quickly breaking both of them out of their motions. Rainbow heard Coalback sigh, her own groan quickly following as his hands moved away from her.

What a wing-tease! she screamed at herself, the pleasure giving way to a dull ache in its absence now that Coalback had released her. “What could you possibly want?!” she yelled out, the stranger’s voice more than bothersome to her. A full day without the attention that she’d been waiting for was starting to make her especially angry, the fire coursing through her veins demanding release.

“I know you two were having a hell of a time in here, but you really need to see this. Like, now!” the voice said, Mayor Mare’s head popping into view from the flap at the front of the cart. “Look,” she said simply, a ghost image of a horn revealing itself as part of the tarp undid itself next to their heads. The pale cloth pulled up, revealing the sky toward Ponyville.

What Rainbow saw turned her blood to ice in her veins, all ideas of pleasure gone. In the middle of the day, bright pink clouds should not line the horizon. Fluffy curls floating far above the tips of the Everfree, a dark rain trickling out of them. There was only one explanation for that.

“Oh shit,” she mumbled, a dark memory of the thick, pink clouds resurfacing in her mind’s eye. Cleaning cotton candy out of her feathers had not been fun.

“I think … that Discord finally got around whatever you did to him. I think that they’re marching again, sir,” ‘Mayor Mare’ said darkly, a flash of segmented blue punching through her eyes for just a moment. Her disguise faltered for a moment, barely perceptible to anypony not paying attention. And for some reason she looked … tired, extremely so.

Coalback grunted, pulling himself up and pushing Rainbow off of himself. “Coalback, wait,” she said harshly, ignored as he pulled himself stiffly to the edge of the cart. A worried grimace spawned on her face as Coalback lifted himself up, his leg held stiff by the tightly wound bandages there.

He tore away the last of the tarp, one of his hands steadying him on one of the bows that curled above them. His eyes trailed across the area around him, darting from detail to detail as he examined the area. Rainbow could see the muscles in his back and arms tighten, each one standing out sharply on his pale skin.

Spread out in a wide, tightly packed mob, were the exiled citizens of Ponyville. Covered with blankets and sipping on warm broth, apples and bread spread as fairly as possible among them. Small campfires, made from what little dry wood they could find created small wisps of grey that floated up and away from them as they warmed the ponies huddled around them.

The hard march showed itself in the huddled masses, exhaustion taking its toll on the gentle ponies. Only a half night worth of sleep, no breakfast, and the shock of events from the previous night weighed on them heavily. Ponies comforted each other, trying to stave off the fear and grief of any possibility that their homes wouldn’t be there to return to.

And the amount of ponies forced to ride had nearly doubled, split hooves and exhausted muscles crippling them. The hospital staff, already stretched far with having to pack up and move everything, was now nearly overwhelmed as they tried desperately to help as many of them as possible.

Despite this gloom, some had found ways to distract themselves from it. A song, a game played with neighbors, even the foals found the energy to play between the wheels of the still wagons. It was almost certain that Pinkie Pie had found a way to keep morale at a relatively even level.

Their protective circle still held, slightly spread out and warped due to the irregularity of the land at the foothills. The ponies who could walk, who would fight, still stood guard. Their wall of boxed carts still surrounded them, watchful of another calamity that might befall the savaged ponies. Now was not the time for a timber wolf attack, or a mishap with a cockatrice.

But, in the presence of those clouds, all had come to a dead stop. Too many still remembered the chaotic days in Ponyville during Discord’s return, the newly dubbed ‘Capital of Chaos’ still a fresh memory. Those strange days had nearly been the end of many a sane pony, both mentally and physically.

Coalback was unsure of what to make of them, their origin far from a mystery however. His lightshow had done little but to buy time, barely a stunning blow. As much power as it had taken to do what he had, basically cutting off their path, was nothing more than an inconvenience. And a temporary one, at that.

But, he did know that he had done one thing. Discord was bound to where he stood, and would have to travel with his army. So there shouldn’t be any special surprises from the self-proclaimed god, he hoped.

But this was an issue nonetheless. Discord was on the move, and their pace had slowed considerably. They were barely at a halfway point and still slowing. The steep climb up a mountain wouldn’t help that either. If they were particularly unlucky, they wouldn’t make it before the army.

“Get us moving again,” he said quietly, his strength gone from his voice. “We need to get to Canterlot as soon as possible, drop anything that we won’t need. Eat while we walk, we can’t afford any more delays.” He carefully lowered himself back into the cart. The Mayor’s voice cut through the air almost as soon as he had finished, a calming relay of the order to move.

Coalback’s sudden stillness was jarring for Rainbow. She could see lines of worry etching into his face. And if he was worried, it meant that it was something important. “Coalback, what’s gonna happen?” she asked, a nervous shaking in her voice drawing his attention.

The cart lurched forward, shouts and scared utterances drifted through the loosely hanging tarp. The sounds of wooden wheels creaking began to fill the air as the group began to move again.

“Before, I thought that they were just cutting their way through. But now …” he said, settling back down onto his mattress. “I think that they’re clearing a path …” he said, shivering as a cold breeze infiltrated the cart.

Rainbow hopped up, her stiff wings swaying around her as she pulled the tarp back into place and secured it. She settled back down next to him, lowering one of her wings enough for it to act as a blanket. “What’s the difference?” she asked, searching with her eyes for a blanket that wasn’t made out of something that once had a face.

“I think that that,” he motioned with one of his hands toward the tarp and the approaching army beyond it, “is only the first wave. I think that Discord plans to keep barraging Canterlot until it either breaks apart from the inside, or he’s able to break through,” he said, starting to grow distant as his thoughts spun through his head.

“A-are you sure?” she asked, the question turning into a plea that he was wrong. Hoping desperately that he would sigh, frown and say that it was only a slim chance. She distracted her suddenly twitchy muscles by reaching up and pulling a thick woolen blanket over them.

“Yes,” he said darkly, his arm wrapping around her again underneath the blanket. “It’s what I would do,” he said distantly, drifting into thought as their cart slowly trundled alongside the rest. The two slowly rocked into a fitful, dream like state. Neither awake or asleep, simply contemplating.

A race had started, and time was very much against them.

Deafening Silence

-Deafening Silence-

‘... He is no longer the last ...’

[size=8]‘... Promise me that ...’[/size]

‘.͞.. ͟Y̛o͟u͡ ̶h͡áv̴è bee̶n͏ ̢a͟ ̨t̨h͟ǫr̕n͡ in̢ ͜my͢ si̢d̛e̡ ̕lon͡g enoúgh͝ ...’

‘... Please don’t leave ...’

‘... Don’t you dare ...’

‘... And the world trembled...’

‘... Don’t make me do this ...’

‘... Feel her song in your bones ...’

‘... ͏Yo͝u҉r k͘i҉nd̸ w͡e̵re bo͡r̸n i̕ņ hat̷r̶ed, y̵ou ́a̧rè ca̸pable ͜of l͜ittl̴e͏ e͠ls͠e …̴’

‘... It happens to all like us ...’

'BE̶ ̧N̢͜O̴̧T̶!͡’

~~~

“Merletta,” Clean Cut said gently. The bird’s eyes opened as her name was called. The voices faded from her perception, the ears of ravens in planes of both the present and the future lost as her concentration broke. She shuffled her feathers in annoyance, the skewed order of events growing into a migraine the more she tried to piece it together.

She warbled out a grating noise in irritation, interruptions in her concentration one of her many pet peeves. She tapped the top of the unicorns head with her beak three times, drawing a small wince from him.

Her claws clutched carefully around the unicorn’s horn, the normally gentle incline added to by the slope of the trail that they marched. Clean Cut had taken a seat on the same cart that held Coalback, riding next to the Mayor-ling as the two stallions continued to pull it. The mountain’s rocky slope slowly trundled past them, glimmering with thin ice sheets in the afternoon sun.

“Sorry. I just wanted you to be with us when we get to the gates,” Clean Cut said, an uncharacteristic tone of seriousness underlying every word. “I can’t shake this feeling, a vibe. I think something is wrong in Canterlot, something very wrong,” he said quietly. A pony who hadn’t known the unicorn long never would have been able to pick out the signs of fear on his face, the slight tremble of anxious magic thrumming within his horn.

“I have seen nothing,” Merletta hissed angrily, leaning down and pecking his poll again sharply. Birds are even harder to read; nopony outside of the two would have realized how worried she was. Clean Cut’s mood was rare for a reason.

“There are very few ravens in Canterlot, none in the palace save for you,” Clean Cut argued, rubbing the pecked spot with a hoof. No matter what Merletta could say, his intuition had always been just as useful as her foresight. “I’m sure of it now.” That ‘vibe’ had also saved them more times than she would admit. It would be an act of foolishness to ignore it, not that he was a stranger to those acts.

“Shall we inform them?” Merletta asked, bending down to look into one of his deep green eyes. She filled half of his vision, carefully keeping her beak away from the delicate spheres.

“Only when Luna is awake, she’ll know better than us what to do,” Clean Cut whispered. “And we should refrain from telling Celestia. We have our orders,” he continued, squinting up at the raven’s beak. “Are you hungry, little bird?” he asked, his ever-present smile returning as he looked back up the path.

“One of the ponies gave me apple slices when we stopped. A bit too sweet for my tastes, but I am satisfied,” she said, returning to her upright position. She resumed to looking over the march, as she had when they started.

Carts and wagons stretched up the rocky path in front of them, a similar scene following behind. The path had bottlenecked their neat circular pattern, and now only a few wagons trundled side by side. The ice and snow made the path slippery and far more dangerous than the march across the plains, increasing chance of injury and slowing them even further.

Ponies huffed and hauled their charges up the mountain. Many yokes and harnesses were left empty, their ponies all but spent from the effort and now having to ride on the carts themselves. Their once fast-paced march had been reduced to a groaning crawl, sweat and pain filling the air around them. It seemed that the march would result in more casualties than the actual attack had.

“There are those pearly gates …” he mumbled, drawing her attention back up the path. Slowly revealing itself, the lowermost retaining wall of Canterlot came into view. The portcullis that separated Canterlot from the steep slopes just beyond, the golden bars drawn shut over the path. However, the shield that once stood over the city was strangely missing.

Two towering turrets stood guard at the gate’s sides, large numbers of guards posted within them. The swirling metal decorations and inlaid murals, once cheerful and greeting, now seemed almost sinister in their nature. Like the guards hovering in the battlements above, they seemed to stare down at the approaching ponies with suspicion.

“Halt!” a guard commanded from over the gate as the first of the ponies drew near, his silver star- and wing-shaped breastplate identifying him as a commanding officer. The guards around him sprung to life, marching to positions within and without the turrets. Unicorns posted themselves behind archer’s loops, their glowing horns just visible behind the small slit. Earth ponies and pegasi held their spears at the ready, pointing them menacingly down at the refugees.

“Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!” Clean Cut yelled out, jumping up as all the carts skidded to a halt. Merletta was launched off of his horn, struggling to remain airborne as she flapped to follow. He ran as fast as his legs could launch him through the carts, dodging past frozen ponies as they started to murmur.

There was a spreading panic among them, growing with each whispered concern to their neighbor. The fact that the guards had immediately halted them when they obviously needed their help, it was extremely unlike the royal guard.

“I said Halt!” the guard yelled again, just as Clean Cut slid to a stop in the slush and ice as he reached the front. “The city has been sealed, by order of Princess Celestia herself!” he yelled, his voice echoing off the sides of the mountain. His face remained stoic and stubborn as Clean Cut began to walk forward again.

“I am Doctor Clean Cut, here by order of Princess Luna to escort the refugees from Ponyville!” Clean Cut yelled up to him, motioning with his hoof at the gathering behind him. “And it’s not just me here, either! The Elements of Harmony are here. And the Princesses’ personal emissary, Coalback,” he finished, eyes settling on Merletta as she alighted on top of one of the turrets.

“I’m afraid that I’ve been ordered not to open the gates, I cannot let you in,” the guard said, his eyes opening wide as he gestured toward the gate with his head.

“Oh come on!” Clean Cut said, his formality suddenly gone. “Can’t you open it this once, I mean seriously! Just look at these guys! They wouldn’t make it back down the mountain, for Sun’s sake!” he said, drawing a frustrated growl from the guard.

“I can’t!” the guard yelled back, one of his hooves reaching up to point down at the gate. “I really can’t open that gate. Those are my exact orders!” he yelled, motioning toward the unicorn and then the gate. Around him, the other guards stood down, retreating back inside and out of sight. “You’ll just have to go through … someplace else,” he finished quickly, walking away as Clean Cut slapped a hoof on his face in realization.

The sound of a lock moving out of place filled the air, the portcullis sinking ever so slightly into the packed snow as it was no longer supported. Clean Cut’s horn lit up almost as soon as it was released, the horizontal bars of the gate glowing with his aura. With a swing of his head upwards, the gate slowly rose, followed by a short cheer from the ponies behind him. Clean Cut’s hooves sank into the snow as a portion of the weight from the portcullis transferred into him.

As soon as the gate was high enough, the ponies started forward again. The first ponies started through, looking up with slightly nervous glances at the sharp points of the steadily rising metal gate. They tried not to think of the trap doors and pouring holes in the ceiling above them as they passed under, quickly working into a trot as they moved inside.

The Mayor’s voice lifted above the slight din as they started toward the first buildings in Canterlot. “Make way toward the castle grounds, the Princesses should be able to direct us from there!” her encouraging voice, calm as ever, led them on.

It only grated slightly on Clean Cut: he knew what she was, but as far as he could tell she was acting completely of her own will. He liked to think that anypony, and any changeling for that matter, had good intentions at heart. At least in the beginning.

He stood very still as the ponies parted around him, concentrating on holding the gate up. He knew that it had a chain mechanism that would have slowed it more than enough for him to catch it again, but he didn’t want to take the chance. He wouldn’t move until the last pony was through, and then he would go and let it fall shut.

Coalback’s cart began to pass, one of the wolves brushing past him as he walked with it. “Hey! Coalback!” he called out, hoping that the strange creature inside would be listening to him. “When you get to the castle, go immediately to Luna. Do not, under any circumstances, see Celestia first! Luna made it very clear that she wanted to see you, first thing!” he yelled, their cart disappearing as more carts and wagons passed him.

If there was ever a place in the palace that ponies avoided, it was the Lunar wing. It wasn’t because of Luna herself, or the thestrals that made their home as her guards there. And it wasn’t because it remained perpetually dark, all the window’s curtains drawn shut. It was simply the feel of the place.

The halls still held a dark aura within them, the feeling of being watched looming around every corner. Tapestries and displays from the Nightmare’s rise were still presented along its walls. Thestrals wandered the darkened halls, midday sentries posted whilst the Night Guard slept. Their eyes glowed with any light that made it into the halls, standing out harshly in the dark.

A set of seven Night guards had been sent to retrieve the Elements once they’d arrived, hooded against the midday sun. They’d insisted that Coalback, the Doctor and even the ‘Mayor’ come as well. Three of the thestrals, each lacking wings and bearing a wickedly sharpened horn, had lifted Coalback from the back of the cart to a rolling bed designed for Minotaurs.

“I don’t remember any of this when we went to see Luna before,” Rainbow said, looking warily at a tapestry depicting Nightmare Moon. The slitted eyes seemed to bore into her, following her every move as their group passed. She stepped closer to Coalback, one of his hands moving to the back of her neck reassuringly.

Clean Cut had quickly caught up to them as they’d entered the castle earlier, dutifully following as they took turn after turn into the darkened halls. “To find a place that doesn’t exist, we’ve gotta get lost first,” he said with a chuckle, trotting along behind Coalback’s bed as it rolled around another corner.

Rainbow huffed in annoyance, ignoring the doctor’s unfitting enthusiasm. Even Pinkie looked uneasy in this place, and he acted like they were taking a walk in the park. Her eyes wandered over the others, trying to distract herself as another bust’s eyes bored into her skull.

Coalback’s bed trundled along at the rear of the group, pulled by two of the winged thestrals. Rainbow and Clean Cut followed it, staying close to the injured human. Ahead of them, another guard carried Fluttershy on his back, the yellow pegasus having frozen in fear almost as soon as they’d entered the halls. Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Twilight walked ahead of that, taking in the dark decor with wary eyes. A single unicorn thestral remained, leading the group at the very front through the halls with a miniscule light glowing at the tip of his horn.

“What do you mean by ‘a place that doesn’t exist’?” Coalback asked warily, turning his head slightly to eye the doctor with a questioning look. It seemed that even he was thrown off by the environment, the frown that seemed permanently plastered on his face attesting to that.

“Not much,” the doctor said with a shrug, a small squawk from Merletta punctuating his short sentence. “It was mostly a joke. We’re going to see Luna in a place that’s rarely used nowadays, though. I like to call it ‘The Chamber of Madness,’” he finished, chuckling darkly as he donned a nostalgic look.

“Why do you call it that?” Twilight asked carefully from the front of the group, taken aback by the ominous name.

“Well, let’s just say that after I spent a day in there, they did a remodel and now it’s completely maddening as well as being almost indestructible,” he said, his laugh bouncing off the walls hauntingly. “It shouldn’t be so bad with so many ponies in it however. Just be careful not to be left alone in there,” he said with a shrug, waving off any concern that might have been associated with that.

“What happens when you’re alone in there? Are there ghosties? Do they try and play with your mane and blow in your ears?” Pinkie asked, suddenly popping up beside the doctor. He shook his head as they turned around another corner, a ramp leading down another level underneath Canterlot yawning out in front of them.

“That room will drive you mad in less than an hour,” he said with a wide smile, shaking his head. “Luna put me in there to test my loyalty once, all you can hear in there is … well, yourself,” he said ominously, finishing by making a spooky sounding “ooooh …” that echoed off the walls again.

“That doesn’t sound so bad, I listen to myself talk all the time!” Pinkie added, bouncing down the ramp and quickly gaining speed. She ended up passing all of them, effectively abandoning the conversation.

“You’ll see ...” he said, smiling to himself. He barely flinched as Merletta pecked his poll, a peeved expression on the bird’s features making itself known.

“This place is creepy enough,” Rainbow mumbled, rolling her eyes as the doctor only continued to laugh. “Now Luna’s got rooms that make ponies go mad just by standing in them? I wonder what’s in there …” she said, drifting off as images of torture devices flitted through her mind’s eye.

The thestrals led them around another turn, revealing a surprisingly small door at the end of the short hallway. The door itself was surprisingly simple for one within the palace, where over complicated decorations were most commonplace. It was a featureless, flat slab of grey, the only indication of the smooth surface being a door at all was the indented handle on one side of it.

Surrounding the diminutive entrance, intricate carvings transitioned from ebony at its farthest and marble just around the door. Lines, swirls, stars, and ponies hid among the indentations in the wall. No consistency seemed to dominate the artwork, as if each detail held no purpose other than to fill the space.

The thestrals walked them to the door, stopping outside it and turning sharply in place. Applejack took Fluttershy from one of the guards, muttering a “Thank ya kindly,” to him as she took the now-quivering pegasus’s weight. Just as the transfer had been made, the thestrals moved quite suddenly. With a clap of black armor connecting with itself, the thestrals snapped to attention with a strong salute. The thestrals looked past the group of ponies, drawing the ponies to follow the their gazes.

Each of them turned, trying to find the source of their attention. Once they’d turned to the hallway behind them, however, they stared in awe at the strange sight. The hallway twisted in on itself behind them, shrinking and flexing as the hallway itself sealed the path they’d come from and revealed a new one of similar design.

As the hallway settled into place, a few creaks and groans leaked out of the walls, twists in the wood and stone shuddering back into place. The source of the thestral’s attention came into view as the floors and walls moved out of the way, Luna’s gilded hooves falling just behind the twists in the floor as they settled.

The ponies turned and bowed toward her as she approached. “No time,” Luna said quickly, stepping through them toward the door. “We should not tarry, lest the door move again,” she said, her horn glowing with magic. The group followed the sound of her magic humming as it moved through the air.

Blue swirls of magical light traced their way through the intricate carvings around the door, the sounds of metal sliding on oiled tracks slithering out from behind the door. The door slid open a moment later, splitting down the middle and disappearing into the wall beside it.

“Hurry,” Luna said quickly, ducking through the door and into the room beyond. “Quickly now, Clean Cut! All of you,” she said, urgency shivering through her voice. It sent sparks of uneasiness through all who heard it, spurring them into motion.

Without a word of warning, Clean Cut’s translucent dark green magic wrapped around Coalback and lifted him into the air. He grunted out a surprised sound, swinging his arms out to unnecessarily try and right himself. Clean Cut silently levitated the man through the door, quickly followed by the others. The ‘Mayor’ hesitated just outside, jumping into motion when one of the thestral’s eyes snapped to her.

Once all eleven of them had entered the room, the door slid shut and locked itself. It was small, almost too small to fit all of them properly. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made from a grate: it was thin but seemed more than capable of holding their collective weight. Behind the grates, spikes of a spongy material covered every surface.

Once the door had sealed itself, silence fell like a blanket over them. They had never noticed the ambient noise that was present outside, but with its absence it became surprisingly blatant. The silence was absolute, the only sounds being that of the ponies shuffling their hooves around on the grate floor.

They shuffled about the room, settling into place to fill it as comfortably as possible. It wasn’t small, but certainly not big enough to fit as many of them as there were comfortably. Coalback floated across the room to one of the corners, Clean Cut sighing in relief as his magic faded. Luna took reign of the rear wall, pacing in the limited space as the rest of the ponies settled around her.

Rainbow pushed through the others, edging her way over to Coalback. She settled with standing near his feet, careful not to bump his wrapped leg. She switched her gaze between the silently pacing Princess and Coalback, who sat silently as he watched the Princess pace as well. Whenever she glanced at him, she couldn’t help but notice the anxiety growing on his face.

The Princess continued to simply pace, indecision clearly frustrating her. Her steps dominated the sounds in the room, echoing out metallically through the room. But as Rainbow’s ears adjusted, more and more sounds came to her attention. Sounds that made the fur on her withers stand on end.

Every breath in the room became louder, as if everypony in the room had leaned in to breath in her ear. Her own breathing became more evident, even the sound of her ribs moving slightly came to her. Next she heard her heart, and slowly the other’s as well. They filled the room with the rushing echo of blood moving through their chests.

“Where to begin …” Luna said quietly, her voice driving back the sounds of the bodies around her. “There are so many questions, concerns …” she muttered, pausing in her pacing and hanging her head dejectedly. “So much to explain. So much to ask!” she continued, her voice rising from a whisper and filling the strange room hollowly.

“Where are we, Luna? I’ve never seen a room like this before,” Twilight interrupted quietly, turning her gaze from the Princess to the grated walls around them. There were no lights, yet the room was filled with an even yellow light. “Is this an … anechoic chamber?” she asked carefully, unsure of whether she should have interrupted the Princess’s thoughts.

“Indeed,” the Princess said distantly, her voice heavy. “I chose this place so that our conversation would not be overheard. My own design from many, many years ago; it was meant to be for secret meetings. No magic or sound can leave this place,” she explained, seeming to have taken control of herself for the moment. Rainbow could see the turmoil that held onto the Princess’s heart, her normally hidden emotions revealed once she had left the company of her guard.

“We will ask first of the attack,” Luna continued, turning to Coalback as her resolve returned to her. “How was it that the wall constructed? And what did you do to Discord?” she asked carefully, warily watching Coalback for his response. Her hooves had stilled, gingerly holding her above the fine grate on the floor as if she were afraid of damaging it.

Coalback hesitated, slightly taken aback that the Princess had decided to ask about Discord himself. “I made the wall with some help from a recipe for thermite that I had memorized. It’s a self-oxidizing fuel, and burns extremely hot. I needed a larger source of power for the scale of the spell, the heat let me use around half of what I would normally need for that,” Coalback said quickly, swallowing a lump in his throat as the Princess nodded thoughtfully.

“And Discord?” she asked, her eyes staring intently at him. Rainbow could practically feel the delicate frame of tension that was holding the Princess’s words. Whatever was bothering the Princess clearly had nothing to do with the wall, and seemed to extend far past Discord as well.

“I … Uhm …” Coalback said, one of his hands clenching as he cleared his throat. His anxiety seemed to have grown, and muscles in his arms had tightened enough to start revealing his veins. Rainbow didn’t know if it was the room, or his own perception of the Princess’s gaze that was bothering him, but she could definitely tell that he was struggling to maintain a sense of calm around himself.

“I think …” he started again, his eyes refusing to meet the Princess’s. “I think that I’ve managed to confine him to a single shape, and I might have slowed him down a bit. But I can’t be certain what exactly I did,” he explained, taking a deep breath as he finished and seeming to relax slightly.

Luna hummed thoughtfully, dropping her gaze from Coalback and drifting back into her own thoughts. “That is good, you have performed remarkably well. We did hear about your struggles in Ponyville, it would seem that dangers present themselves from both sides of this fight,” she said consolingly, turning to slowly continue her pacing. Her hoofsteps no longer dominated the air, stepping with less energy than before.

“Princess, what ever has put you in such a state?” Rarity asked, staring horrifyingly at the her as she paced. “Just look at your mane, and yourcoat!” Rarity continued, nearly crying out as she watched the Princess shake her head sadly.

Rainbow hadn’t noticed it before, but Rarity was right. Luna’s coat, once shining and well groomed, seemed dull now. The dark saphire fur didn’t flow in gentle waves as it once did, mussed and rough as if it had been left without grooming for weeks. Her once flowing mane of ethereal starlight now seemed limp, some strands even seeming to have lost their magical quality.

“We fear of what will come from revealing this … But we still hold hope that we will be incorrect in our assumptions,” Luna said sadly, continuing to pace slowly. “We had hoped … that with his travels in lands far from here, that Coalback would perhaps be of help …” she said, pausing to look at Coalback again. Her eyes swam with sadness, a deep rooted fissure of fear making them shake.

“You’d be surprised by how little I actually know … your majesty,” he said, hesitating at the last moment as he watched her. “But I suppose you’d have to explain further before I could offer any help,” he finished, nodding shakily up to her. Rainbow watched him carefully as he shifted his weight further onto his uninjured leg.

“It is Our sister …” she said reluctantly, causing the others in the room to grow deathly silent. It seemed as if even the sounds of their breathing, once so loud they were hardly able to be ignored, had dulled in the wake of Luna’s words. “It seems she’s … changed …” Luna continued, her voice shaking as she resumed her pacing. The words seemed to pain her, each syllable a heavy weight for her to bear.

“What do you mean?” Coalback asked carefully, following her pacing with his eyes. His arms tensed again as he waited for her answer, the veins in his arms and his neck on display. Rainbow knew that something was grating on him, some sort of fear stirring inside him. She knew that he was shaking it off, dismissing his worries. She could see him fighting that fear in his eyes, something stirring in the back of his mind.

“She is distant, cold to Us,” Luna started, shaking her head as if to deny the thought even as she spoke it. “She speaks, but she holds no love in her voice. And it’s gotten worse since you’ve come to Equestria, she’ll barely even speak to our ponies at all! She doesn’t eat! It seems she never sleeps! And she has grown paranoid of even the smallest things,” Luna listed off, gaining speed as she spoke, as if she’d opened a floodgate.

Tears grew in her eyes, shimmering at the bottoms of her eyes as they fought to overflow through the grate on the floor. Her voice shook with every word she’d spoken, taking its toll on her resolve to keep speaking.

“I assume that is unusual, especially with what good I’ve heard of her,” Coalback said slowly, his eyes narrowing as he began to think. “What do you believe is wrong? This could simply be the result of stress …” Coalback tried, carefully trying to bring reason to her concerns. Rainbow clearly saw suspicion in his eyes, a suspicion that rang of fear even to untrained eyes.

“We fear that … We fear that she has been enchanted,” Luna said shakily, her head falling as she halted her pacing. “But she cannot have been replaced, that We know. So her actions have either been altered, or they are her own,” she said with a choked sob, a few tears falling from her eyes and soaking into the spongy spikes beneath their hooves.

The ponies in the room stood silently, watching their Princess weep for her sister. All the while, Coalback’s eyes shifted from one side of the room to the other in rapid thought. If he ever could have appeared more tense than before, it was in that moment. Rainbow didn’t have to see it to know that Coalback’s thoughts had brought him back to the past. She knew he’d fight it, but he was weaker now and wouldn’t be able to for long.

“Perhaps I know of something that can prove this is wrong,” Coalback declared quickly after a moment, drawing attention back to himself. “Twilight will cast a spell that I know can detect nefarious enchantments and spells, if you’ve been near a spell like that it will show,” he said, motioning toward Twilight with his hand to come over to him.

Twilight moved toward him with nervous steps, balking slightly as she came near. It seemed that she was almost afraid of his touch, the memory of the violent ‘borrowing’ of her magic only the other night jumping to the front of her thoughts. Coalback motioned her forward again, impatiently waiting for her to near.

When Twilight was close enough, he pulled her head toward him so that he could whisper into her ear. He spoke so quietly that even in this room only Twilight heard him. Her reluctance disappearing among a look of intrigue, one that quickly let her relax into a common look of a scholar. After a moment, Twilight hummed and nodded in thought turning back to the Princess.

Her stance squared on the floor, her magic humming to life in her horn. “Alright, Princess, just hold still,” she said firmly, waiting for Luna to square her own stance. “If there’s nothing wrong, it shouldn’t have any affect on you,” she continued, the light of her horn intensifying slightly and growing more consistent in its glow.

With a small grunt from the purple unicorn, a wave of magical light spread outward toward the Princess. It eddied out toward her, catching on some unseen friction in the air and flowing past the Princess harmlessly. It hit the grates around and behind her, fizzling into nonexistence as it came into contact with it.

Twilight simply stood there for a few long moments, brow furrowed in concentration. She locked her eyes onto a singular point just above Luna’s head, examining the point of space there as if it would reveal some long sought secret to the universe.

“Well?” Coalback asked after a moment, tilting his head to the side in an attempt to look around the back of Twilight’s head. He wanted to gauge her reaction for himself, unsure if what she’d found had been too much for her. If his fears had been confirmed, then he would have little time to hesitate in his own actions.

“Nothing …” Twilight said after another excruciating moment, the rest of the room sighing explosively as the tension that had been building dissipated suddenly. “But there was a trace, she’s been around something … funny,” Twilight finished, turning back to Coalback with a small frown.

“Show it to me, like I told you how,” Coalback instructed, lifting his hand in a gesture for her to proceed. His face had gone stiff, all emotion driven away from it as he waited for Twilight to perform the second spell he’d told her.

Twilight nodded, turning around and squaring her stance again facing him. Her horn glowed again, a cloud of magical light drifting into the air between them. Inside the cloud, hanging like rags on some infernal breath, were strange shapes, shifting in geometric patterns that changed erratically, just beyond natural perception, always a shape just beyond description, dark ripples through existence.

“Damn the gods!” Coalback hissed, his hands clenching shut into fists as his whole body stiffened. Twilight’s spell dissipated in the air, the images of the strange shapes disappearing with it. “It can’t be that! Anything but that!” he groaned, his hands coming up to his throat and holding tightly there as if to block some unseen attack.

“You do recognise it?” Luna asked quickly, a flicker of hope shining in her eyes. It faded quickly as she saw Coalback shiver, his hands suddenly moving to his arms and rubbing over them as if to clear them of cobwebs.

“I wish I didn’t!” Coalback protested quickly, a childlike denial permeating his features. “I- I mean it’s a- a little different, not quite the same. But close enough that it might as well be!” he stuttered out, pressing himself against the grate and looking about the room like the spikes could come down and crush him.

“What is it? What’s wrong, Coalback?” Rainbow said, carefully stepping over him and pressing against him. His arms wrapped around her, a relieved sigh escaping him as he pulled her into his chest. He was still breathing faster than normal, nervously refusing to keep his gaze in one place.

“I recognize those shapes,” he choked out, shaking his head slightly to banish an image only he could see. “They’re like the sparks and shapes that you see on the back of your eyelids when you press on them, but more specific. They’re the only sign of its presence …” he said, his voice growing weaker as he spoke.

Rainbow recognised what was happening, she knew that his memories were starting to crowd in on him. She knew that he needed her as an anchor if anything was going to be answered at this point. A look of grief overtook him, but more than that, he seemed overcome with fear. She could practically feel it, the way his chest shook like a ratcheting gate closing, the way he held to her like she could simply vanish.

Whatever it was that Coalback recognized, he was afraid of it. Terrified.

“Coalback, if this is as grievous as you make it out to be … We must know what it is,” Luna said gently, her own anxiety set aside in the pursuit of answers. Luna still wore the expression of distress that had plagued her before, but now she had tried to find a more comforting tone.

Coalback slowly calmed, his face scrunching up as he simply attempted to stop moving altogether. “It got inside them,  it took them and twisted them … it almost got me too,” Coalback finally said, his voice quiet and weak. His chest still shook against Rainbow, despite Coalback’s efforts to reign in his emotions. “I stopped it though ... I saved them …” Coalback muttered gravely, his eyes blank as he tried to ignore the memories. “Every one of them …”

Rainbow paused, eyes opened wide as she simply watched him. The paralyzed stillness in the room around her was the only indication that her friends had, too, remembered Coalback’s words only so many days ago:

‘... I killed them, all of them ...’ Coalback had said, spitting the words out so that he couldn’t feel them cut into his tongue. He’d told them that only a few days after he’d come with them to Ponyville, and even then it had been hard for him to say. But he’d never elaborated on what was truly the cause of their ‘sickness.’

“And it was in me, too …” he continued shakily, almost in a trance as he spoke. “I fought it with the wolf, I forced Fenrisúlfr to fight it!” he spat, the name tearing at him and bringing back horrible images to his mind that made him flinch in Rainbow’s embrace. “I made him use me to kill them so that they would be saved, and then I tried to kill myself … I set the house on fire, and waited for it to fall on me so it could crush me …” he sobbed, tears welling in his eyes and gently overflowing.

“For nearly a week, I was trapped under a huge, burning beam. I nearly died of thirst, and I forced myself to drink the blood that was pooled around me. They tortured me, filling my head with images of Hellfire and things I never knew could be as horrible as they were to me … Only then did that thing stop whispering in my ear …” he said quickly, nearly wailing the words out of his mouth. His head leaned down, burying his face in Rainbow’s chromatic mane to try and hide the sorrow that was etched onto his features.

Rainbow wasn’t sure how she could help him, he only seemed to be falling farther into the fit that had started. The first time, she’d been able to calm him just by being there and refusing to leave when he tried to push her away. But that hadn’t worked the last time, and it didn’t seem to be able to help him by itself this time either. She had to do something now though, she couldn’t stand to see him breaking down like this.

Her mind raced, searching for something that she could use to keep him there with her. She grasped at the first thing that sprung to the fore of her thoughts, nervously sputtering out her reply before she could doubt it. “But- But you beat it before, right?” she asked carefully, using a hoof to lift his head up so that he would look at her face. “And- And you’ve got us now. You’ve got me too. There’s no way we can lose,” she said, her conviction growing as she spoke, “Look … I don’t know what you went through before, I don’t know what this thing is, but if it did what I think it did … your family … One thing I know for sure is that we can kick it’s damn flank this time! You just watch. I know you can do it.”

His face slowly grew out of the sorrow that had overcome it, a flicker of hope showing there. It stayed there for only a moment though, a look of doubt flashing across his face and dashing away the hope that had grown there. “It’s too risky,” he said hoarsely, shaking his head slightly. “It might not work, I don’t even know how we would do it,” he said, the fear slowly receding under a niggling doubt that showed so clearly on his face.

“What do you mean?” Luna spoke up, her voice shaking slightly. “If something has hold over Our sister, We need to know what to do to save her,” she said carefully, drawing a frown from Coalback as she tried to press for answers. His head shook from side to side, a weak scowl covering his features.

“I’m not sure if we can,” Coalback said despondently. Rainbow nuzzled him for a moment, trying to lend him what strength she could, but he stopped her briefly. She jerked back, searching his face, and surprised at what she found. Coalback stared up at Luna, his features set, his eyes sharp as flint. “I don’t know how we can break it this time. If Celestia herself has fallen to it, who knows how powerful it is? Ponies know light, and happiness. Friendship and peace the like of which I’ve only ever dreamed of. But this thing, this Nemesis? It knows fear, it knows pain. It knows how to bring the walls crashing in on you and laying bare everything you ever thought you stood for from within yourself. Those who dare stand against it? They die. They fall. I fell. Only so much of me survived that burning week of hell. Burning from the inside. Now you want to face it down? Can you stare at your own fears and stay calm as still water? This I ask you all, if you want to fight a true demon.”

Coalback was back. Around the man, eight ponies and a changeling stood in rapt attention. His question hung in the silent air, broken only a sharp breath from the impersonation of the Mayor standing amongst them.

“I am a changeling. You may not know this, you may have guessed. But … I watched my hive be destroyed, I was controlled by queens and tyrants, and the closest to peace I know is here, with you. I’ll fight for that, no matter the end.”

Coalback nodded, but his attention was quickly taken by another voice.

“Of course we’ll fight.” Twilight snorted. “We’ve fought monsters before. We’ve fought our nightmares and our own demons.”

“We’ve fought Discord before, too.” Rarity quipped.

Applejack nodded to Fluttershy, saying, “An’ the quietest o’ us has fought dragons, ain’t that right?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash sat just a little taller, “You’ve got the truest ponies Equestria can offer. We’re up for it.”

Every creature in the room looked to another, conviction growing through all of them. The Doctor’s brow furrowed, before he walked forward and bowed low to Princess Luna, “I am at your side no matter the hardship, Majesty, loyal to your decision.”

Luna scanned the gathered ponies, all of them looking to her. Finally, she locked eyes with Coalback, strength seeping back into her voice as she said, “Coalback, for a thousand years, I traced the world through hate-laden eyes. I wished to end that which I loved through spiteful vindictive anger, but it hurt nopony more than myself. If you believe there to be a way to rid my sister of her curse, as I myself was freed, then you have my fullest strength to achieve it.”

Coalback nodded again, a grim smile twisting his lips. “We fight then. But I must warn you … You wish to break the evil that binds Celestia herself? Then you must come as near as breath to breaking her as well.”

And in the silence that shadowed his words. Merletta screeched.

Twilight glared at the bird, before turning resolutely back to Coalback. At a nod from the Princess, she blinked and whispered, “Tell us.” The bird’s beak opening to take a deep breath before she spoke.

Their Legacy

-Their Legacy-

Before you learn of the future, you must first know of the past.

Many thousands of years ago, there were no ponies or Princesses in the world. Magic reigned free under the watch of a single god, her name only meaning ‘Mother’ in this tongue. The world was far different then: lands and seas that have long since moved or dried to this day, the skies and heavens ruled themselves, unfettered and wild.

In those days, Her loved children were men, their kingdoms spreading far across the world. But there was one kingdom, its name long lost through curse or time alone, that held Her heart’s attention more than any other. The people’s name meaning only ‘Angels’ to us, as was the name She gave them. They were great warriors, blessed by the Mother’s power to protect Her sanctuary from those among men who would destroy it.

It was this blessing that gave the hallowed fighters their eyes of fire, and skin of metal that made them so revered. They forged steel to their very being, burning their dedication to the Goddess into their existence. But not all who served Her had these attributes, or were blessed by Her strength. They, the knowledgeable, were weaker without that blessing of the fire-red eyes. She had balanced the strength She had given to the warriors with an equal amount of knowledge in those who didn’t see the world through Her scarlet.

These men’s power was so great that none dared to challenge them, except those already within their ranks. The last true king had two sons, a prophecy telling him that the weaker brother would fall to a darkness that would consume the world. That king foolishly believed that it would be his single son born with the red eyes of the warrior, Axton, who would be able to overcome this darkness, and cast out the other child at birth.

But it was the Prince Axton who fell to that wicked darkness: A greedy god, jealous of the Mother’s beauty, overcame him and blackened his heart with hate. This cursed brother slew his father in his sleep, taking the throne for himself and falling victim to that god’s hate for this world.

But the other brother had never left, not truly. He’d been taken in by a vassal of the loving Mother, and this blooded Angel raised the child to fight, and named him Chevalier. For years he trained alongside the Angels, both in mind and body. And he was foolishly loyal to his false king, just as the others were.

In a flight from his brothers, those who mocked Chevalier for training to fight without the Mother’s blessing, a grave discovery was made. The Mother had been eerily silent for years, only speaking through Axton. But Chevalier found himself fleeing into the forbidden sanctuary, and stumbling upon her great form. He could see the great black scars that held Her imprisoned in her own sanctuary, marring her stone body.

She caught him in her gentle grasp, Her powers weakened by Axton’s corruption and only allowing Her abstract control of Chevalier. She showed him visions of the suffering to come, and the suffering that had already transpired, directing truth into his soul. And before she was forced to hide away once again, she granted him with one blessing, forging her own body around his, so that her strength and her protection could go with him.

Chevalier’s unconscious form was discovered within the sanctuary, his body exhausted from the fires that had fused the Mother’s power to his skin, and taken before the king. Enraged by the blatant breaking of his laws, he ordered Chevalier to be banished from their nation, exiled and hunted by those loyal to Axton’s crown. He ordered Chevalier’s tongue to be cut from his mouth, performing the task himself with a claw-curved dagger.

And so the world fell into twilight, the Mother’s powers finally sealed by Axton’s swift actions. And with her powers locked away, the Mother could no longer care for her beloved men. The world fell into darkness and chaos, as the greedy god watched in glee, and what had once been an Eden, had become a hell on earth.

Banished, hunted, and now knowing the truth of his so-called ‘king’s heresy, Chevalier fled the great kingdom. North he ran, hiding among the treacherous lands that overflowed with ice even in the hottest summers, and wandered by beasts larger than the tallest trees. There he found something unlike any other, the Mother’s one and only daughter, truly born from Her body.

Her name was Deliciae, her form ever able to change from a woman to any animal that she so chose. It was the power given to her by her Mother, a god’s strength and powers in mortal body. She had only ever watched from afar, and was entranced by the man that wandered into her home. She took him in, protecting him and healing him. And she warned him:

It was her words that sank hope deep into his heart, her warnings only serving to drive him on. She told him of the god that had possessed Axton, and that his power had made them unkillable by any mortal magic or metal. And that she was unable to fight him herself because only a god could command her to kill another god, it was not her war to fight.Instead, she told him of a weapon that was hidden in the sea-ice of the South. One forged from the Mother’s great, hot earth-blood, and infused with the magics of creation, thus granted the power of death in balance. It was this weapon, and this alone, that could truly destroy anything that it clove.

He left her then, his sights set South to find this weapon, so that he could free the world of the hold that Axton, the false king, now had. He traveled across the sea of glass, skipping across those mirrored waves on the prow of a wind-swift boat.

He traveled for many days and nights, the darkness of the absent sun driving him forward. He reached a panicked land, the sky’s eternal twilight sowing fear into their chests. Bandits, murderers and pirates ran free, pillaging, stealing and raping as their dark hearts saw fit. It was in that first port town, its wooden harbors greeting him not, that he made his first stand against the darkness.

He drove out the evil men, slaying them with his bare hands in the absence of his weapons that still lay in his home, long left behind. His skin forged in the Mother’s very being ignoring the bitter bite of their swords and arrows. And it was like this in all places he traveled through, his strength besting even the most fearsome foes of magic and might. He marched on, leaving wonder and awe in his wake.

It was on the eve of the anniversary of his fall that he finally reached the sea-ice, a mean feat to travel from the top of the world to its bottom. There he found a temple cared for by men as ancient as the world itself, their magical power capable of matching any nefarious being that crossed them. He told them of his plight, for they were ignorant of it.

Midnight and midday held no meaning to them, for here at the bottom of the world the sun could rise for months, and set for even longer. They were no strangers to everlasting twilights, and knew only that the earth had grown still. Chevalier pleaded them to show him the weapon that Deliciae had told him of, begged for them to help him slay the demon-god that possessed his once king.

They agreed, leading him deep into the ice that never melted. Here the ice was so old that not even the fires of the Mother’s earth-blood could turn it to liquid, the ice as hard as rock and harder still than that. There they showed him the blade. There they bound his soul to it.Only a soul could cut through the shade that Axton had become, possessed by the hateful god. And thus able to rend them both gone forever. No afterlife would wait for them, for they would simply cease. They wove his soul into the metal, folding the hot iron over and over, making it ever stronger and sharper in the Mother’s blood-forge.

Once again he was warned; “Be wary of using this sword,” they told him, even as they laid the black blade in his hands. “Be wary, for the one whom you strike with it will surely die. You must be sure of your decision, and willing to live with the aftermath.” And those were the only words they offered him, sending him back North to his city.

He rushed back to his beloved city, sped forward by the feet that joined him. An army followed him there, grown loyal to him from his greatness. His noble deeds had spread on the winds to nations far and wide, drawing men who would fight alongside him to regain their world. They marched with him to that city faster than the winds could carry them, sped forth by their right to save their great Mother’s stone body.

With his army behind him, a mass of a thousand thousand voices lifting him up, he marched to those gates with fire in his heart. They broke through the gates, finding that the horrid king had transformed his loyal followers into terrible beasts. They were great beaked creatures, standing tall like a man with skin as tough and hard as a bear’s. Their strength was unbound, rage blinding them to pain or reason.

It was with a heavy heart that Deliciae merely watched, unable to halt the destiny that played out before her eyes. She was forbidden by the laws of her nature to interfere; it was outside her power to help in any way as man sieged the city.

The battle lasted days, Chevalier pushing through the beasts and making his way to the castle where the King Axton waited. It was a bloody battle, his hands shaking with the weight of a thousand monsters’ blood, but he carried on with the stubbornness of a boar. His sword cut through the doors, casting them open for the world to see as the brothers confronted each other.

The false king’s armor was black as pitch, dark magic flowing through him, clinging to his bones. They faced each other, and fought with the siege raging around them. Chevalier forgot his fatigue in trade for his anger, tired limbs made strong with rage. None could escape their fury should they stand in their way, blasted away by magic or might alike.

It raged for hours, their great battle, ranging across the palace, the forts, and then into the Mother’s sanctuary itself. There her true body stood for all to see, a crystal red as blood that stretched from the center of the world, all the way to its heart. They fought and fought, their weapons ringing against each other as they met again and again.

Their battle ended there, with a swift strike of his great weapon the brother’s black blade found the chink in the possesed king’s armor and pinned him to the Mother. Like a great beast dying, the king bellowed, his words echoing out for all to hear but none to remember. It was a Death Curse, one that would take the last of his being and use it to destroy All.

It destroyed everything, turning the battle to nothing in its wake. While the city still stood, all within it had died. No one could outrun the crash: It was all reduced to rubble, and then again to ash. Mountains pushed up around the city, drying its ports and fouling its farms, nearly wiping away the glass-smooth sea to the South.

But the Mother’s stone had survived, their battle not waged for nothing, even if the city stood empty now. The king’s curse still held her, trapping her power within her stone body. She found the crown of the king, splitting it into seven pieces and granting the first to her daughter Deliciae. Her duty was to replenish the life that the hateful king had destroyed.

She then gave birth to six more daughters, charging each with a piece of the crown and a duty to match it. Amora, the second oldest, was given the responsibility of love and family, to ensure that even in this fallen age life would flourish and be happy. The third was Gratia, tasked with upholding culture so that it would not fade. Terra was next, her duty to ensure the survivors would sustain themselves from the land that was her Mother’s. Necessaria was to uphold the community and friendship, to work in tandem with the other sisters so that harmony would be achieved.

But the last two, the youngest and yet the most necessary, were not for the people as much as they were for their Mother. Celestia and Luna were given the last two pieces of the crown, and charged with dominion over the moon and the sun, so that the day could herald progress, and the night could let rest with beauty filled skies.

With these seven godling sisters, the world slowly regrew. Magic danced through the land, let loose by the sisters’ births, and brought about the rise of new races from myth. The gryphons, dragons, wolves, zebras, and finally; the ponies, who rose up from nothing but the magic itself. The godlings fell in love with these ponies, born of magic as they were, shaping themselves as they did with both wings and horn, or neither, but with power all the same.

The ponies loved the sisters as parents, and worshipped them as the gods of the world. But it was not to the happiness of one of them: Deliciae was sickened that her Mother had been so easily forgotten, and blamed both the ponies and her sisters for the loss.

She remained loyal to the survivors among men, shaping herself with the wolves and allying with them. Man grew hateful of the ponies alongside her, despising their worship of the Mother’s daughters over the Mother herself. They demanded war, and Deliciae stood by no longer. She helped man create a weapon that could destroy her kin, a way to show that the Mother was the one true Being deserving of praise.

They created the Blaidd-Ddyn, born of man and godling. Deliciae’s womb gave forth a being that was stronger than any mortal, could change its shape, and that could rend the body from a godling’s soul, for they could not truly be killed. They were gods in mortal shape, but remained even after their eternal body’s death. They built their army from Deliciae’s son, hundreds of thousands of them born into a pack that was like no other.

The ensuing war lasted centuries: Ponies were killed, taken from their homes and destroyed. It was Gracia who was the first sister to fall, her hope that peace could be made dashed out from under her with tooth and claw. Amora fell next, her love unable to halt the unrelenting claws of the Blaidd-Ddyn. Terra fell last, her strength and stubborn nature lasting her fight for many days until she was finally overcome.

But before the war could continue, it seemed that their fighting had spawned a new demon: His name was Discord, the chaos of war spawning him from the very souls of the warring races. He raised the beaked monsters again, those sharp-beaked brutes, spawn of far older demons, planning to finish what the last had failed to do.

His armies marched through man’s halls, even the mighty dragons falling under his oppression. That horrid fiend could not be stopped by a single army alone. That devil, the chimera than now ran free, was spiteful to the godlings, tormenting their ponies with deadly jokes and wanton destruction.

Necessaria pleaded to the nations of man, begging them, not to set aside their weapons,but to turn them alongside the pony’s to drive back Discord before they were destroyed as the Angels had been. She pleaded for days, all the while the defenses of man dwindling under Discord’s monstrous siege.

They relented, turning their weapons and teeth away from the ponies and instead fighting with them. Their armies joined together, enemies forgotten as they pushed back Discord’s army. But this was not enough, they needed a weapon, like the black sword lost within the Mother’s stone sanctuary, one to stop Discord once and for all.

The last of the sisters joined with the council of man, forging a tool unlike any other. Before this age, they were called the ‘Sister’s Gems’, and they were indeed beautiful to behold. Forged out of impossible things to trap the impossible creature:

The Ether of the stars, the Love of a mother, the Sweat off a dog’s back, and the Light from the twilight sky. Six pieces were made, each of the three pony sisters to wield them with their magic and to destroy Discord. They mounted the gems in enchanted gold, making them much like their creators, ever able to change shape.

They marched into the battlefield with their new weapon in tow, fighting their way to Discord’s conglomerate form. But under his hateful gaze, the men fell away. The last man fell with a defiant cry, the Death Curse bursting forth from his being and leaving behind a crater that destroyed Discord’s army, but left those godlings there in its wake.

Discord laughed and sung of their failure, even as he slew Necessaria with his claws, mocking the remaining sisters. But as Discord stopped to sing, distracted as he began to descend upon Deliciae, Celestia and Luna struck with the gems. A light like no other sprung forth from them, freezing Discord in stone as he sang.

And so his horror ended, the coupe halted.

But the terror did not end for man there: their beasts, the Blaidd-Ddyn, turned on them in madness. They destroyed the last of man, fighting over the last remaining city of man where a false king once died. They then turned on each other, their rage unchecked as they slew their brothers. Their battles more horrible than any war before that, Discord’s poisonous chaos unable to match their rage.

The three sisters begged them to stop, to see peace as the rest of the world had begun to, but their cries went unheard. Instead, they were forced to retreat into their own cities, sheltering the ponies from the fallout of the Blaidd-Ddyn’s civil war. Deliciae watched in horror as her children shed each other’s blood, her sorrow and guilt growing by the day.

When only one of them remained, the sisters went after him, hoping to make him see reason now that his madness had ended. But he fled, sealing the city from within and disappearing into a tear in the world. He vowed one day to return, and that only his blood could reopen that place.

Deliciae, leading the wolves in a body shaped like theirs, tried to wait for the city to open again, hoping against hope to make amends for her grave mistake. She blamed herself for spawning that terrible war, setting her kin to death by her children’s claws. And after a time, she could wait no longer, and fled into exile with her many followers, the wolves.

And although they mourned the disappearance of their sister, Celestia and Luna took dominion over the ponies, still fearing the hidden dangers of the world around them. They built their new cities, safe under the sister’s protection, the pain of the past slowly fading into legend.

And there was peace … for a time …

~~~

Merletta’s voice flowed smoothly as she told the story, her head bobbing and weaving to an undetectable symphony that only she heard. Her wings spread occasionally, pointing off toward one wall or the other to something only she could see. The past played before her eyes through a thousand others’, she needed only to tell what she saw.

But now she had calmed, deep breaths shifting the feathers of her chest. It had been a taxing experience for her, as it always was when gazing into the past. It was like trying to fall faster than a waterfall; the water above her was easy to read as it fell on her, but try and read the past and she’d have to catch up with it. The future flowed over her, but the past had be sought for and caught before it could be seen.

“Are you alright, Merletta?” Clean Cut asked carefully, her perch shifting slightly as he tried to look up at her. The movement was enough to drag her out of the strange limbo that she always found herself half in and half out of, even when still connecting herself to the present she usually found herself accidentally in a simply blank state.

She made only a few clicks in response, shaking her head to wake herself the rest of the way. “I will be fine, simply getting too old,” she assured, taking into account the concerned looks that the others in the room had donned. “The future holds many dark tidings, death will be the theme of the future. Whatever the outcome, a new kingdom shall rise out of the ashes left from the battle,” she finished grimly.

Their response to her recounting had been muted, enraptured in the dictation. It gave her a small amount of pride to know that she could still capture the attention of the ponies, Clean Cut’s responses having long dulled over the years he’d cared for her mothers before her. She was tired though, her eyes drifting closed as she tried to rest herself.

“Why tell us all of this?” Twilight asked, having taken out a scroll from her saddlebags and taking notes judiciously throughout. “It seems to me that this faded out of history for a reason; a weapon like that could compete with the Elements fairly easily,” she explained, raising her quill in preparation to add to her already sizeable amount of notes. It was a simple question, and a valid concern: If another major weapon existed, and fell into the possession of something the likes of Discord, it could be a threat that was too much for the Elements alone to handle.

“And how does any a’ that concern us anyway?” Applejack put in, looking toward the bird with a skeptical look. “Yah said tha place is shut up real tight, right? So there ain’t a problem. We just gotta hit Discord with tha Elements again and we’ll ‘ave it done,” she added, a look of confidence overtaking her features. She was more than confident; they’d defeated him before and this time they’d simply have to up the security this time.

“I fear that the Elements of Harmony will not be enough this time,” Luna replied coldly, making Applejack all but trip over herself in surprise. When the rest of the ponies turned their surprised looks to her she continued. “If he has escaped not just once, but twice, then Discord may have learned how to circumvent the Elements. They may not be enough, especially with myself being as weak as I am,” she said, drawing more confusion from the ponies.

“You don’t look very weak to me,” Coalback interjected, tilting his head toward her. “More powerful than the thing that gave me the power to make that wall even remotely possible,” he said, nodding toward the door and waiting for her response.

She nodded sagely, taking a moment to collect her response. “After I returned from my exile, I was slightly weakened from the long exposure to the extreme conditions of that place. And when the Elements cleansed me of the hatred and jealousy that had clouded my mind, it also stripped me of much of my power. It is the reason why I appeared more … muted, the first time you saw me,” she explained.

It was true, the first time they’d seen Luna, just after the Elements had cured Nightmare Moon from her, her mane had appeared as any other pony’s would have. She had been an alicorn only in shape, but did not have the same ethereal mane that Celestia had. Now it seemed she’d more than regained those aspects, but still lacked the same size that both Celestia and Nightmare Moon had possessed. If that was somehow an indication of her abilities, then she was indeed much weaker than Celestia.

“The reason that Merletta has told us about this past is so that you can understand: Understand why Discord will have the upper hoof in this battle. Understand why the Elements are now ineffective. Understand why we need your help, Coalback,” Luna continued, turning resolutely to the single man in the room. “The last descendant of the Blaidd-Ddyn has come in our darkest time, a key to the stronghold that holds perhaps our only hope,” she said grimly, her expression darkening as she spoke. “Your kind were once our enemies, but you have a chance to change that now.”

Coalback had been very quiet during Merletta’s story, his eyes drifting in and out of focus as his thoughts raced behind them. Rainbow wasn’t sure what to make of his distance, or how he’d reacted to it. Other than the single comment he’d made, he’d been totally silent. When they’d first met, he’d talked about finding answers, things like who he was. But now that he had that answer, how was he going to react?

“... I need some air,” he said hoarsely after a moment, pushing Rainbow off himself and slowly pulling himself onto his one good leg. His fingers gripped onto the metal mesh around them, pulling himself up into a slouched stand. He stood nearly a head taller than the Princess, easily able to put his hands against the grates above them.

“Coalback-” Clean Cut started, stepping forward to try and stop him. The doctor froze however when Coalback’s fingernails scraped along the mesh, a ringing scrape snaking into their ears. Coalback’s shoulders were hunched, a deep grunt displaying his lack of concern for the broken leg.

He took shaky, limping steps toward the door. They backed away from him so as not to block his path, afraid of the anger that seemed to be simmering under a fragile facade of calm. Even the door seemed afraid to oppose him, opening on greased rails at the touch of his hand. He used his hands to swing himself through the low door, gripping the top and ducking under.

Rainbow only took a moment to hesitate before starting toward the door. Turning around one last time to make sure that the Princess wouldn’t stop her too before darting out the door after him. The room seemed eerily quiet again once they’d left, everypony turning to a dour Princess for the final word.

“We all could use some time to … think about what we’ve heard today,” she said after a moment, her voice weak and lacking the emotion it had held before. Her mussed mane and coat seemed all the more fitting, a fretting sister at the end of her rope, and unsure what to do. “Go, you’ll find your ways to your chambers,” she continued, drawing a circle through the air with her horn. The magic flickered around the room, passing through the newly opened door and out into the world as if it had been funneled out through a barrel.

The ponies began making their way towards the door, Twilight hesitating for a moment before she went through. “Are you sure that it’s a good idea to-”

“Go,” Luna said forcefully, sadness wilting her voice. Sorrow clung to the single word, and meant much more than it said. She didn’t want them to see her like this anymore, it wasn’t fitting for her to be so unraveled in front of her subjects. Thankfully, Twilight didn’t ask again, and followed the others out.

Clean Cut was last to leave, and had begun to turn toward the door when Luna spoke again. “Not you, Clean Cut,” she said, the forcefulness gone from her voice. She couldn’t command him to stay, it wouldn’t feel right. It was a request, though one he was willing to fulfill. “I do want to speak with you: I’m sorry for having been so distant since I came back, I truly did miss you,” she said, waving the door closed again with a minute flicker of magic.

Clean Cut turned back to her solemnly, both he and Merletta bowing to her again. “It was a long, hard waiting, Majesty,” he said quietly into the floor, his voice barely reaching her. “And I should be the one who is sorry,” he finished, bowing slightly lower.

Luna only sighed at the sight, almost unable to stomach his sudden submissiveness, it was too far outside of the character she’d come to know from him. “Do not bow to me, you haven’t bowed to me like that since we first met,” she said sadly, watching him rise with a careful slowness. “It pains me to see you act like this: Tell Us what We have done to make you so … stepford,” she demanded desperately.

This wasn’t truly the subject she should have been concentrating on as she was. She should be thinking over her sister, and whether Coalback would still be willing to ally with them knowing what his true purpose used to be. She should be hatching a plan, she used to be able to make the most intricate plans of such perfection that only she herself was the flaw that had made them crumble.

But this? This was an old wrong that she felt needed to be righted before she could think any further. Especially since he had proven not only loyal, but so persistent as to find a way to wait for her to return. She would need his loyalty in the days to come.

“It is not what you have done, Majesty. It’s what I did ...” he said morosely, his head moving down again.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Clean Cut. In all the many long years I’ve known you, you have never once wronged me!” Luna said angrily, feeling on the verge of cursing at him, but she would never be able to bring herself down to that again. He should be the one I worried about some enchantment over, she thought to herself, unwilling to give the words voice. If the spell Twilight had cast truly worked, it would have found something in anypony in the room. But this constant obedience was ... wrong coming from him.

“But I did, your Majesty,” Clean Cut argued, letting Merletta hop off his head before lifting it slightly to look up at her. “In the time when you needed my support the most, I betrayed you! I should have stood by your side as Ebony Shield did. It was she who was truly loyal to you, pulling in her allies from Thestral Islands. But I ran like a foal, and because of that you got locked up on the moon!” he protested, his formality dropping as he spoke.

He’d stood up again, conviction returning to him in the form of spiteful hate toward himself. The memory played out in front of him, and it made bile rise to the back of his throat. He’d stood by her side as long as he could, trying vainly to follow both his Princess and his conscience. He still felt that his inaction had resulted in her punishments.

“You did what was right, Clean Cut,” Luna said, a consoling wing spreading over him. He looked up in surprise at the Princess, he hadn’t been held like this since he’d been a student, a foal no less. “I can see that; why can’t you?” she asked gently, pulling the smaller pony into a consoling hug.

They simply sat there for a moment, both drifting into a calm from the others embrace. “I’m far too old to be held like this, your Majesty,” he said breathlessly, the anger leaving him in an instant. An echo of a smile appeared on his face, dark memories falling away as the Princess held him as her sister had for her own student so many times only a few years ago. A few warm memories flickering to life in his overstuffed library of thoughts.

“Two old doddering ponies can console each other, can’t they?” Luna asked playfully, loosening her grip at hearing the humor return to his voice.

“I hate it when you pull that dream magic on me,” he said, a smirk growing from the smile as he turned to aim a raised eyebrow at her. “Here I am trying to have a genuine argument and then you just have to go and make it all better don’t you?” he asked, joining the Princess in an empty chuckle.

“You shan’t blame yourself for this any longer then?” she asked quietly, trying to force a more reprimanding tone into her voice and failing for the most part. Her wings returned to her sides as he nodded, both of them rising. “Good, because we may have more … pressing matters to prepare for,” she said, turning toward the door with him.

“Indeed, Majesty,” he said, throwing a teasing grin into the last word for her. “This time I’ll be there to help you save the throne,” he added, finality weighing in with his almost-consistent smile.

Rainbow’s hooves pounded against the carpeted floor, the endless red carpet dulled by the windows that led nowhere. She’d given up flying about three turns and four crashes into her chase. She’d moved faster than the halls changed that way, and had already nearly caught herself inside a twisting wall as a crossroad cut off. Her breathing was ragged, muscles burning, hooves aching, and it’d only been a few minutes.

“How can somepony with a broken leg even get this far so fast?” she mumbled to herself angrily between each carefully controlled breath. She might have forgotten to control her breathing during the initial sprint after Coalback, who’d somehow disappeared into the ever changing hallways, but now she needed to push off hitting her limit before she found him. All the while fretting about him.

She didn’t know what was going through his head, how could she? It must have been big to him though, that she knew. When they’d first met, he’d kept talking about figuring out himself, even after getting his cutie-mark. He might know who he is, but he’d still wanted to know what. He’d spent every moment after losing everything trying to figure that out, that’s what he’d said, it’s what he’d shown her.

How would he react to the cold, hard truth: He was a weapon, bred and born.

He’d never said it, not directly anyway, but Rainbow knew that he’d spent a long time trying to be better than that. He didn’t like killing, he’d more than shown his hate for it, as much as he’d done since arriving. It takes a strong pony to be able to say no to that kind of power, a kind of strength that didn’t come from a set of weights and hours on a track. That took power of will, and if what he’d shown her so far was what she made it out to be, he was stronger than anypony else in that regard.

And it was barely enough to keep himself in check.

How could anypony feel after being told that everything they’d tried to deny about their life, was true. Coalback never wanted to believe that he could only be that, the thing in the darkness. But something told Rainbow that Merletta probably couldn’t lie. Why would she want to? So that meant that every word she’d said was true.

Coalback’s kind, the Blaidd-Ddyn that the wolves loved so much, had been made from a war of hatred. It was the kind of thing that he’d shown to stand against since she’d met him. He’d even told her how he didn’t want to hurt anypony, he never wanted to do any of the things that had made him who he was. But every time he’d been forced into a situation where the only option that he knew of was to fight, and it just spiraled out of control from there.

He must be torn up over it, she thought to herself, taking another twisting turn that changed the floor into the ceiling before she was able to correct herself with her wings. It was incredible seeing the halls move in front of her as she ran, oftentimes overtaking the shifting wave of the hallway and nearly tripping over the suddenly rough, folded hallway’s wall.

But she kept running because she knew she was following Coalback, there were things that the hallway left behind: A knocked over bust that rolled across the floor as the walls shifted, a torn down tapestry or curtain near a window where he’d fallen, a hole in the wall that very closely resembled one of his fists.

Despite that, she couldn’t be sure if she was really following him, or just coming across leftovers that the hallway had yet to fix. It seemed like she’d passed the same turns a hundred times now, for all she knew the hallways were pushing her around in circles. Frustration poked at her mind, heatedly pointing out the variously unnecessary signals from her body.

And every time it did, the hallway would seem to become just as agitated as she was getting.

She shook her head to try and drive away the heat-addled thoughts, angry at herself for not being able to just tough it out and wait. Waiting, postponing, excusing all the time. All she wanted, all she needed was a few minutes alone with him. Then maybe she could start thinking clearly again. It hadn’t just been a few hours, it’d been a whole day since she’d had that moment of release, where she’d simply had him.

“GAH!” Rainbow yelled out, skidding to a stop and throwing her head up in the air in frustration. She pounded a hoof against the side of her head, a vain attempt to drive out the insistent desires and thoughts that kept crowding in on what was important. It only left her with more of a headache as she tried to catch her breath, sitting on the plush red carpeting in the dark.

She was so frustrated, and not just because she’d been holding herself back for so long. Nothing made sense anymore! Nothing seemed tied down in this new reality that she found herself flailing in. Even the Princesses weren’t what she’d thought they were, what she’d been taught they were! She’d always been so confident in her image of the world, so solid in her knowledge that everything would work out in the end. But for once, that didn’t seem like it would be an option.

It seemed that, no matter what they did, how this all ended, nothing would be the same. Nopony would be left without some sort of black mark on their soul after this was over, if there was anypony left to feel it taint them.

The hallway grew still around her as she stopped chasing it down, seeming to pant from exhaustion as much as she did. She’d stopped at a branching off of the hallways, splitting at a rounded corner that sent them off at angles from where she sat. The hallway wasn’t nearly so dark here, a small lantern shining brightly at the top of the rounded corner and spreading its light across the paint sculpted ceiling.

Red carpeting split off to her left, more light obviously visible at the far end. A small breeze flowed down it, tickling at her feathers. She hadn’t noticed how stuffy it had gotten in the hallways, the fresh breeze filling her lungs with cool air. Her wings fluttered at her sides, anxious to stretch out and move again after so much running.

To the right, the hallway darkened again and the labyrinthian place continued on. The carpet darkened again into an ominous red, but something was off about the carpets there. Where the halls and floors had remained nearly pristine save for the few fallen or broken things strewn about them, the carpet here had been disturbed.

Sweeping footsteps traced their way along the wall, a shambling walk that tried to favour one leg. The footstep was wide where it had pressed into the floor, a distinctly inequine shape disturbing the flow of the carpet. Not to mention the small smudges of blood that had been smeared to the wall, five points dragging along before being renewed as weight was put back on them.

Coalback had gone that way, and he’d started bleeding again too. Had he not felt the fresh air, seen the brighter hallway? Or had the labyrinth of hallways hidden it from him, choosing only now to allow Rainbow to join his path that it had created? Or had he simply chosen not to leave?

She stood only for a moment, the desire to stretch her wings again nearly overcoming her. Even if she was fast, a quick lap around the towers, she didn’t know if she could get back at all. She needed to be there for Coalback, the last time he’d run off he’d gone into a full out rage directed at himself, or parts of himself anyway. And she had no idea how he would react to the recent news.

She stomped on the desire to fly resolutely, turning in place toward the darkness of the other hallway. Even if all she was able to do was stand there, it would be better than just leaving him all alone.

It didn’t take long to catch up to him this time, a single doorway that had been broken off its hinges more than enough to show where he’d gone. The room beyond was just as bare and repeatedly decorated as the halls had been, with only one exception collapsed against the far end of the room. A single window provided light into the room from the late afternoon sunlight, partially blocked by the man staring out of it with hunched shoulders.

Stepping through the door, she felt like she’d suddenly been plunged into water. The air was no different, no pressure pressing against her overly sensitive wings. Still, she felt like she’d just spent a week in Cloudsdale and hadn’t conditioned herself for the thicker air back on the ground. It was Coalback, his presence practically filling the room.

She could see the muscles in his neck and arms moving under his skin as he closed his hands into fists and opened them, his head swiveling as he looked out the window blankly. She almost felt like she was watching him hunt, even though she’d never seen it. There was a strange quietness to the way he stood braced against the window, like he was ready to leap out of it.

The tense, coiled strength of a predator stalking its prey.

“Coalback?” Rainbow called gently, carefully stepping into the room. She wanted to be careful, she couldn’t be sure if he’d want her to see him like this. And she didn’t want to be in the way if he struck out. “Are you okay, Coalback?” she asked, unsure where to really begin trying to help him.

She waited, afraid to come too close to him before she was sure that he wasn’t on the edge of his anger. But the oppressive air of the room lessened, and his back relaxed slightly. “I’m fine …” he said weakly after a long pause, a wave of strained relief washing over her. While she was happy to hear him so much calmer than she had expected, he’d said that before too.

“Are you sure? You don’t look so good,” Rainbow said softly, taking a few more steps forward in the empty room and standing beside him. The window lit up his front, casting strange shadows on the sides of his body. A forced and strained calm had overtaken his features, the lines of his tightly clenched jaw betraying the emotions playing beneath the surface.

“I’ll be fine, I have more important things to worry about than my own dilemmas,” he said quietly, a small shake in his voice from the tensed muscles in his chest. “I have to worry about how long it’ll take for the army to march around the wall. I have to worry about the military ability of Canterlot, and consider raising a militia to boost our numbers,” he listed, his head drooping and looking down toward the ground outside the window.

Rainbow followed his gaze, stepping up beside him and pressing against one of his stiff arms. Ponyville massed below them, the pony refugees milling about as guardsmares worked to organize them, find them housing, and provide whatever medical attention was needed. It was a crowd of activity, various pegasi flitting over the crowds with supplies piled on their backs. Food passed among them, a hastily set up soup kitchen providing a hot meal to the tired ponies.

“I have to worry about them,” he continued, a dark expression gently asserting itself over the calm he’d tried to maintain before disappearing again. “I have to worry about the Princesses. I have to worry about your friends, like I promised. And I especially need to worry about you,” he said, the hand she’d been leaning against moving to rest around her neck gently.

She shivered slightly under his touch, an itch crawling up the inside of her thighs. Images instantly flashed through her head as he gently massaged his fingers through her mane. She tried to stop the moan building in the back of her throat and ended up sputtering out a grunt of approval. She huffed as she shook his hand off of her mane, reluctantly looking up at him with a worried expression.

“Don’t tease me right now,” she said quickly, a stiff shake resettling her twitchy wings in a more comfortable position. “Are you sure you’re alright? You looked really twisted up earlier. And what about your leg?” she asked, the shake in her voice only drawing a smile from him.

He sighed, the tension instantly dropping from him. “I wasn’t, and I probably won’t be. The leg will be fine in a few days, a week at most. But that can wait,” he said, the smile slowly defeating the oppressive atmosphere that the room had first held. “Besides, I think I need a bath,” he said, his hand resting on her back, just above her shoulders.

She shivered again, not bothering to hide it as she pushed up against his side with her head to push him up to his feet. He stood shakily, leaning heavily on her as he pushed himself up. He let out a grunt as he settled with most of his weight on the uninjured leg, the other showing a distinct amount of swelling above his knee.

“Alright,” Rainbow said breathlessly, looking carefully at his leg and standing on his other side. “First we’ll get somepony to look at your leg, and maybe more of those flowers. Then we’ll go find a room!” she said as she started to lead him out, her tail wrapping around his good leg as she tried to press against him while they walked. It was taking a lot of concentration not to just jump onto him right then and there, but she could see the strain on his face from the pain from walking.

They shambled down the hall back the way they’d come, agonizingly slowly making their way out of the maze of halls.

The Monster Under the Bed Part I

-The Monster Under the Bed, Part I-

Coalback grunted as the strap around his leg tightened with a jerky pull, pain lancing up his leg and into the base of his spine. It was newly wrapped in a cooling sensation from the gauze tightly wound and pinned over the break, metal supports keeping the bone from shifting again.

“Toughen up, man,” Clean Cut muttered angrily, giving one last pull on the thick straps attaching it to his leg. “I can’t believe you two! Not only did you ruin the last supports around your leg, you-” his eyes shifted to give a glare in Rainbow’s direction “-slept with it like that,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes at the idea. He was thoroughly pissed off, as far as anypony could tell.

“Just go over the plan, one more time,” Coalback growled impatiently, trying to keep himself from throwing the doctor across the room. He wasn’t angry, per se, but he was treading on thin ice with his temper ready to fall through it for him.

He sat on top of a metal reinforced table, the cold polished wood surface pressed against his still bare back. He’d found a bath robe to cover himself with after the rather sudden departure of his pants, wrapped around his waist as the pony designed garb was far too small to fit normally. The table creaked under him as he shifted in discomfort.

The room around them was neat, though covered in various scientific tools and devices. It was also dim, but compared to the rest of the Lunar wing it was much brighter. The floor was clean, interrupted by several tables covered with the tools and materials that Clean Cut needed to basically run his own pharmaceutical laboratory without the hassle of dealing with other doctors.

Rainbow stood beside the table, leaning against it while trying to stay out of the way of the doctor. The other girls sat about the room, faces downcast as they went over their hastily concocted plan again. Luna spoke first, taking the floor.

“The Elements will approach my sister first, and attempt to convince her to release the Elements of Harmony over to them. If she surrenders them to you, you must use them on her immediately, it may be just enough to stun her so that we can detain her,” Luna said quickly, nodding toward the mares and Coalback respectively. “If you are not able to stun her, then it may devolve into violence between the two of us,” she said reluctantly, bowing her head slightly. “The point though, is to get Coalback close enough to … do whatever it is that he will be doing,” she said, pausing reluctantly to aim her gaze at Coalback with concern.

He’d never explained how he’d be able to fix the problem with Celestia. All he’d asked was for them to get him close, and seemed hesitant to say that he would act at all. He was reluctant to go anywhere near what could possibly be the big brother to what he’d seen before, more so than that.

“So that’s it then, just use the Elements and let you two take over … right,” Twilight said in a daze, her mind reeling with the simple fact that they were about to attack the Princess, her teacher. “And if nothing is really wrong, she won’t be hurt?” Twilight asked carefully, turning a questioning glance between Coalback and Luna.

“Although my knowledge of the Elements is more limited than my sister’s, no; If there is nothing wrong with her, then the Elements will have as little effect as they did the first time you attempted to use them on Discord. She’ll barely notice it,” Luna said, nodding sadly toward her. They had hope, but too much evidence pointed toward foul play at this point.

“If it comes down to what I’m going to do, she won’t be the same afterwards,” Coalback rumbled, his voice low as he tried to keep himself from growling. He didn’t want to talk at all, but they all deserved at least a clue in on what he was going to do. “You remember what happened to that stallion in the woods?” he asked, the faces of the mares around him instantly paling at the mention.

Dumb-Bell, the stallion that had made it his mission to drive Coalback, and anypony supporting him, out of the town. He’d caused more disaster than the attack that had come before him, but he still almost hadn’t deserved what Coalback had done to him. Somehow, his gaze had been enough to drive the stallion mad, and they still didn’t know if he had made it through the walk here.

“You’re going to do … that, to Princess Celestia?” Rainbow asked, her eyes widening from where she leaned against the table that Coalback remained seated on.

“It worked on me,” he replied, swinging his legs out to attempt to stand again. “We’re not getting anywhere sitting here. Go ahead and get started. Lost Shadow, stay here please. I may need to have a word with you before all of this,” he finished, waving a hand toward the form of Mayor Mare standing in a corner. The changeling bristled at the mention of her name.

“He’s right, girls. If we’re going to do this, it should be now, before we get second thoughts,” Twilight said, turning reluctantly toward the door. The other four followed, pausing only to let themselves out the door in an orderly fashion.

Rainbow held back longer, leaning up on the table with her forelegs so she could be closer to eye level with Coalback. “Be careful,” she told him, bumping her forehead against his shoulder.

“I should be telling you that,” he replied quietly, rubbing her ear and kissing her forehead. He pushed her down from the table gently, moving his legs under him as he started to stand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him. Just get those Elements,” Clean Cut said, his magic bringing a long metal pole over for Coalback. He took it in his hand, leaning into it as he stood. They’d not been able to find an actual crutch for him, and the pole was the best they could do for him at the moment.

Rainbow trotted to the door, quickly catching up to the others as they made their way down the dim hallway. They almost made it to a corner before Coalback’s voice called them to a stop. “One last warning!” he yelled, drawing them all to pause and look back toward the door. They could see Coalback standing in the door, a grim expression on his face and in his voice. “Whatever you do, don’t look into her eyes.”

“Princess!” Twilight greeted cheerily, any sign of her own insecurities about their plan hidden expertly. Rainbow had had no idea that Twilight was such a good actress.

They entered the brightly lit throne hall just as they would have any other time they’d been summoned by the Princess, happily and rushing to meet her. The Princess stood from her throne with a relieved sigh at seeing them, but it didn’t seem to ever reach her eyes.

The halls were bright, but no amount of light could have made the atmosphere of the room any less electric. Rainbow’s wings were buzzing so much with static that she couldn’t even stay in the air, and she could barely hold her face in a calm expression. She didn’t want to say it, but now that she was looking for it, she could see what Luna had been talking about.

“Hello, my little ponies,” the Princess greeted, leaning down to embrace Twilight. “How good it is to see you, and how terrible it is that you are here,” she continued, pulling away from Twilight to look over the rest of them. Her entire demeanor seemed off as she looked at them, even the colors in her radiant mane seemed just ever so slightly dulled.

“Princess, Discord’s army is coming,” Twilight voiced, a proper amount of distress in her voice to catch her teacher’s attention. It was just enough that there was still room to think that Twilight trusted the Princess to be able to fix everything. “We should get the Elements of Harmony, shouldn’t we?” she asked, just a student seeking refuge in her mentor’s wisdom.

“Of course, Twilight, the guards have already informed me,” the Princess replied, concern painted on her face like thick make-up. It was fake, and Rainbow forced herself to remain silent and hoped that the others would do the same. “This way, quickly,” she instructed, turning away from Twilight to walk around the thrones at the top of the steps.

They fell into step behind her, walking around the throne to where the Elements used to be held. But, while the frame of the door remained with its golden swirls and inset insignias on the rear wall of the hall, the vault had been replaced with a simply decorated door. It opened inward with the Princess’s magic, revealing the changes the Princess had made to storing the Elements of Harmony.

A spherical room opened up to them as they entered. The ceiling curved away high above their heads, smooth and expertly crafted with a swirling cage of golden murals that crawled along its surface like ivy. But it was the centerpiece of the room that truly drew a breath from the six mares.

It was a huge brass box, inlaid with runes that overlapped and swirled around each other. And that was only the corner that they could see, the rest had been sunk into the wall so that only the smallest amount of the box actually penetrated the room. Layer upon layer of decorated brass stared back at them, a single hole was presented forward at an angle on the very corner of the box in a way that would allow the Princess to insert her horn into it easily. The floor was flattened into a large circle around the “keyhole” to the monolithic construction, its only interruption being where the door opened to let them enter.

“This is where I put the Elements of Harmony after Discord’s first escape, I did not want another repeat of his maze fiasco,” the Princess explained, her voice bouncing off the walls and making the golden ivy sculptures ring ever so subtly. It made Rainbow wonder what their purpose really was; if they were meant to drop down like a cage and catch them.

“What is it?” Pinkie asked in awe, her eyes wide as she stared up at the brass behemoth.

“It is an ancient technology, it absorbs and deflects all but a specific tone of magic that shifts and changes every moment. In its own way, this box is alive, and its singular purpose is to protect the Elements of Harmony,” the Princess replied, motioning with a wing in a sweeping motion toward the box. Her voice held a distant tone, one that felt blank and wrong coming from her.

“Wow, I had no idea the castle had something like this in it,” Twilight mused, her eyes alight with wonder as she looked over the box. Rainbow knew it must have been an even more impressive sight to the unicorn than it was to her, but the idea of a cage was still present in her mind. She wondered if the box’s purpose held more than what the Princess was telling them; for all she knew it was meant to trap them and keep them out of the way while Canterlot was sieged.

“It didn’t, I made this only weeks after Discord’s first escape,” Celestia replied, taking a step toward the corner and lowering her horn in preparation for opening it. But she stopped, and her eyes turned to Twilight with a question. “Tell me, Twilight, what are your thoughts on all of these recent events?” she asked, pausing just before placing her horn within the box. Her royal purple eyes turning to look at Twilight, patiently waiting for her to speak.

“I think that nothing will be the same once all of this is over,” Twilight answered respectively, an edge of nervousness creeping into her voice.

Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat. Did the Princess know what they were planning? Could she know? If she did, what would she do? Horrible situations flitted through Rainbow’s mind: Burning in the sun, a magic blast that turned them into dust in an instant.

“How so, Twilight?” the Princess asked flatly, her voice low and careful. It had the sound to it that made Rainbow wonder if the Princess could use her own voice as a weapon, like when Luna’s voice had been so loud that it blew ponies off of their hooves, only worse. Could the Princess’s lungs be powerful enough to blast them away? She was a Princess after all, it seemed like anything was possible.

Twilight swallowed, a nervous bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. “W-w-well, Equestria hasn’t seen war in over a thousand years. N-not since Nightmare Moon was b-b-banished,” she stuttered, a shake in her hooves starting to make its way to her spine.

What is the Princess waiting for? Just get the Elements already! Rainbow screamed in her head, her jaw locked tight to keep herself from jumping to Twilight’s aid. She wanted put herself between the Princess and her friend, as strange a thought as it was to have to defend her friends from the Princess.

For a moment her mind blanched at the idea. This was the Princess she was thinking about, and her friends too. But she stopped that line of thought immediately. This might not actually be the Princess anymore, she could be sick with that thing that had infected Coalback and his family. All she had to do was get the Elements.

“That’s quite right, Twilight,” the Princess said, nodding with an approving smile that only moved her lips. “Nightmare Moon was the last battle ever fought on Equestrian soil. And before that King Sombra was banished, and the Crystal Empire disappeared. But before any of that, there were many wars in Equestria’s youngest days,” the Princess said, and her story was starting to sound eerily familiar.

“Before everything, the humans roamed these lands, and war was their end. I endeavored to halt that pattern of destruction, and finally, after much struggle, I achieved a thousand years of peace once all the threats of the world had been locked away,” she said, her voice seeming to dim as she spoke. The room suddenly felt darker, smaller. “Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, and even Di-”

“You would do well not to speak his name a third time, Princess,” a deep voice said loudly, bouncing through the room with a metallic hum and cutting off the Princess.

They all turned sharply to the door, a tall figure blocking the light from coming through. The bathrobe was still wrapped tightly around his waist, the tall metal pole acting as a crutch for him even though he stood tall. His face was grimly set, deep lines framing his mouth and eyes. Just the edge of a growl scraped through the air, his eyes narrowing at the Princess’s shocked reaction.

“What are you doing here, this place is meant for only the Elements and myself to enter,” Celestia demanded, a frown donning her face as she looked over Coalback. She turned fully toward him from her place opposite the room, horn lowered and eyes boring into him.

“I am doing what you asked me to, Princess,” Coalback growled, hissing out her title as if it stung his tongue to say it. “I am protecting the Elements of Harmony in this moment of danger,” he said, an eyebrow cocking up into the air with the ferocity of a knife blade being drawn. “Or were you counting on something happening to the Elements before then?” he asked darkly, his brow lowering back down to join the rest of his face in a scowl.

“What are you implying?” the diarch demanded, one of her hooves lifting to scrape at the floor once before returning to a squared stance. A dark edge had entered her voice, suspicion narrowing her eyes.

“You know what I am, you knew from the very beginning,” Coalback grunted, readjusting his stance against the metal pole. “You knew that I was a creature meant to kill ponies, and for whatever reason, you let me live. Yet you sent me with them, as if you expected me to kill them too!” he yelled, raising an accusing finger and pointing it directly at the Princess.

“That is absurd!” the Princess argued, anger walking the rim of her voice. “I trusted that my sister had tested you properly, and was proven right when you protected them on arrival to Ponyville. I would never put the Elements’ bearers in harm’s way so carelessly!” she denied, an angry flick of her eyes landing back on Rainbow and her friends.

“But you did, didn’t you?!” Coalback shot back relentlessly, his finger still aimed angrily in her direction. “You said it yourself! I was different from the rest. You knew that I was a killer. For all I know, you set those ponies up to attack us the moment we got there!” he accused again, drawing a gasp from the Princess. But her surprise at his accusation quickly faded into an angry glare.

“I can see how a brute such as yourself could twist the truth like this,” the Princess said, her voice starting to shake with anger. “I fought that monster all those years ago, and now you accuse me of working to advance him? You see how ridiculous this is, do you not?” she asked, suddenly rounding on Twilight. Her eyes bored into the rest of the mares like hot coals into snow, waiting for them to answer.

“It is ridiculous, Princess,” Twilight agreed, a glint of confidence flashing across Celestia’s face. “But we think you might be sick. You’re not thinking for yourself anymore,” Twilight finished quickly, and the spark in the Princess’s eye turned to one of anger.

“You’ve even twisted their own thoughts as well!” she bellowed in frustration, turning back to Coalback with a rage that they’d never seen on the Princess before. It was more frightening than anything Discord could ever have pulled off before, the sight of the embodiment of the sun as angry as she was was one that drove fear like a dagger through each of them. “I should have killed you when I had a chance!” she screamed, her horn exploding into light and blinding them as she cast a spell toward Coalback in fury.

An echoing boom shook the floor as it acted, the metal ivy shaking against the walls. Rainbow’s vision cleared just in time to see the Princess leap through a hole where the doorway had once been. Clean edged and smoking from the blast, the Princess’s regal wings eddied the smoke as she spread them in her leap. Rainbow wiped at her eyes to clear the last of spots left from the flash of light and leapt into the air after them.

She burst through the smoke into the main hall, quickly taking in the situation. Luna had poised herself in the middle of the throne room while they’d argued, her horn alight in a dark magic to create shields that covered both herself, the windows, and the door that prevented any attempt at escape. Celestia stood at the base of the thrones seething with rage that was aimed directly at the man slumped against the shield around Luna.

Luna couldn’t move from her place without dropping all of the shields, and if she did that, then Celestia could simply flee and they’d never be able to catch up to her. Rainbow was a fast flier, but no pony alive could keep up with one of the Princesses. And Coalback couldn’t move with his leg braced as it was.

With a shout, Celestia’s horn crackled and a bolt of lightning as bright as the sun itself leapt toward Coalback. He gave a cry as it struck him, his hand leaping forward to catch the lightning as if it were no more than a snake writhing in his fingers. The lightning wrapped around him, writhing and crackling as it tried to squeeze the life from him. But with a loud, defiant roar, his other hand shot forward and the lightning leapt along the metal pole clutched in his fingers and out into the air.

It crashed into the floor before the Princess in an explosion of marble dust, the floor vaporizing where the lightning touched. Celestia reared back, shocked that her own strike had been used against her so directly. And Rainbow saw her opening.

She raced forward, legs locked straight as she spun around and felt her hooves meet fur and bone. Her rear hooves connected solidly with the back of Celestia’s neck, knocking her already off balance stance away and dropping her to the floor. But before she could strike the ground, her horn flashed and her regal frame simply disappeared.

A clop of hooves on marble was her only announcement as she appeared behind Rainbow, her hooves now firmly planted on the ground. With a growl most unbefitting of a member of royalty, the Princess’s wing smacked into Rainbow’s body, knocking her from the air and driving the wind from her lungs. The alicorn’s wings were strong, huge muscle underneath the downy white feathers that were more than enough to throw Rainbow across the room to slam into one of the magically reinforced windows.

“Traitor!” Celestia yelled. Her voice drove icicles into Rainbow’s heart as she slumped onto the ground and tried to catch her breath. “All of you!” she snarled, aiming a glare at the other mares as they clambered out of the hole Celestia had blasted out of the wall. “And you!” she wailed, turning back to Coalback and Luna. “I should never have let you live when I found you bleeding and bruised in that crater!” she snarled, another lance of magic blasting toward him.

With a yell, Coalback’s arm swung in front of him again, connecting with the magic and deflecting it off at an angle from himself to crash into the wall next to one of the windows. A black scorch mark spread across his chest from it, soot smearing across him as he tried to catch his breath as well. The magic he was using to defend himself was draining him, and he couldn’t even get up to dodge her attacks anymore.

“Stop it!” Rainbow yelled, jumping up and standing between Coalback and the Princess. “Princess, you’re sick! Let us help you!” she yelled, seeing the rage build up in Celestia’s face again. But she didn’t back down, not even under that withering gaze. Rainbow braced herself as she saw Celestia’s horn start to glow again.

A wordless shout exploded behind her, and like a lightning bolt of his own, Coalback’s metal bar flew over Rainbow’s shoulder. It struck Celestia with a resounding crack, the tip bouncing off her horn and knocking the magic away in a blast of light that burned strange lines into Rainbow’s vision.

“Yeehaw!” Applejack’s voice rang out in a challenge, a rope flying around Celestia’s horn before she could recover from the blow to her horn and tugging her head sharply to the the side. Celestia grunted at the sudden interference of another one of the Elements, resisting Applejack’s pulling as she was forced to face her. A loud pop filled the air, a thick ball of confetti slamming into Celestia’s face with a loud cheer from Pinkie.

Celestia recoiled, pulling Applejack off her hooves and dragging her in a wide arc across the floor. But Applejack’s jaw was locked tightly around the rope in her mouth, and she kept the Princess in a harsh game of tug of war. Celestia’s wing shot out just fast as she turned, blowing a gust of wind over Pinkie and sending her stumbling away from her randomly procured party cannon.

“Now, Fluttershy!” Rarity shouted, directing her voice toward the roof. Nopony had noticed Rarity encouraging Fluttershy to fly up to the ceiling of the throne room, and now she floated directly above Celestia’s splayed wings. With a squeak, Fluttershy’s wings tucked in, and she landed with all of her weight onto Celestia’s back, expertly digging her hooves into a pressure point between the alicorn’s shoulder blades.

Celestia grunted as her wings suddenly stiffened, now paralyzed and hanging uselessly at her sides. Celestia shouted wordlessly, bucking against Applejack’s redoubled pulling to try and knock Fluttershy off her back. The butter yellow pegasus gave a quiet “Meep!” as she was thrown free, barely recovering enough to run and hide back behind Rarity.

“Hurry up, Twilight! They can’t hold her for long!” Rarity yelled back into the room desperately, a purple flash from the safe’s room being her only answer.

“What?!” Celestia yelled, a panicked strength returning to her just long enough to pull Applejack off her hooves again. But a pair of pink legs connected with the hock of her left back leg, making it collapse under the sun alicorn. Magic sparked up her horn, singing the rope and making it snap as she pulled away. “Enough!” she shouted loudly, the wave of air from her voice knocking down everypony in the room and shattering Luna’s shields.

With a grunt, Celestia jumped back to her hooves, favouring one back leg. Her horn glowed, a spray of sparks escaping from the tiny chip where Coalback’s crutch had hit her. And as if the ground itself had been its sheath, an ethereal broadsword pulled itself up to Celestia, glowing bright yellow like the sun as she brought it up to bear. Only the meter long blade floated before her, an alicorn had no need for a hilt.

Celestia snorted loudly as she eyed the reactions of the ponies around her, her mane billowing wildly. It was as if she was framed in a rainbow fire, her mane dancing and licking at her as if it were alive and no longer idly swaying in a magical wind. The earth pony pair simply watched on in fear as Pinkie tried to help Applejack back up to her hooves. But Celestia’s eyes, wild with rage that had not burned inside her for thousands of years, landed firmly on Coalback and Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was attempting to help him to his feet, pressing up under one of his arms and struggling to support his weight. Celestia didn’t wait to give out a warning, and raised her sword high above her head. She would cleave their treacherous heads from their shoulders. She took a step toward them and her sword fell faster than a mortal’s eye could blink.

With a rushing smash, the sword hit. But it did not meet with flesh and bone as Celestia had predicted, but instead with another magical shield. It was denser and darker than the ones Luna had cast earlier, taking the shape of a large circular disk, a band of starlight running across it in a cross pattern.

The shield twisted under Celestia’s sword, knocking it to the side as Luna slammed forward with her shoulder. She connected hard with Celestia’s chest, driving out her breath and making her stumble back a single step. But a mass of steely dark magic quickly followed the strike, a dully spiked mace made from the same dark magic that had made Luna’s shield slammed into Celestia’s barrel with its own satisfying thud.

The older sister stumbled, faltering under Luna’s ferocious initial strike. But Luna was at a weight disadvantage, and her strikes were not as effective as Celestia’s would be. She recovered quickly, her broadsword deflecting another strike from Luna’s mace as it swung around its less necessary handle.

“I shall hold her off! Just get Coalback to his feet!” Luna grunted, pressing her magical weight against the mace to hold Celestia’s sword at bay for a moment. It seemed that she wished to say something else, but Celestia’s resistance fell away and Luna was pinned as she faltered. A white hoof wrapped around Luna’s neck, pinning her sister to herself with the edge of her sword held off only by the handle of Luna’s mace and the back of her shield preventing the sword from pulling away.

“Come on, Coalback,” Rainbow grunted, flapping her wings to gain more force to lift him up. Adrenaline buzzed through her, numbing the ache in her side where she’d hit the window. Her forelegs trembled against him and her jaw was locked, her mind only able to fix on two things. His smell, and trying to push him up onto his feet.

She couldn’t help it, her nose was pressed against his side. His sweat, salty and musky. She could feel his muscles tightening under her touch and it sent a shiver down her spine, and a warm twitch into her nethers. But the situation demanded that she not act on the wants stemming from her hormone-drunk mind. She had to get Coalback back in action, not pin him to the floor and-

“I won’t go so easy on you this time!” Celestia’s voice screamed, stressing as she lifted something. Luna cried out as she hit the ground hard, Celestia’s sword clashing loudly with Luna’s shield in the same instant.

And with that, Coalback put one final shove down to put himself solidly on his feet. Rainbow dropped back to her own hooves once he was standing, forcing herself to hold back as she saw his stomach flex to keep him standing. The braces on his leg creaked, no longer caring about keeping weight off the break. He didn’t even seem to notice it anymore, a grim determination set sternly on his face.

“Celestia!” he barked, the sounds of the struggle instantly fading at the sound of his voice. Celestia turned her head from where she had been bearing down on the younger alicorn, her sword’s blade wedged just above the night Princess’s throat only by the handle of her mace. A rabid look dominated Celestia’s eyes, feral and alien on her radiant features. Both Princesses’ manes billowing against each other as if they meant to smother their opposite.

“You picked a fight with me, you glorified breeding stock, not her,” Coalback growled, tilting his head to the side with a loud symphony of pops. A snarl decorating his face, silently daring the Princess to make a move. His fingers clenched into a fist, each knuckle popping as he watched Celestia’s reaction.

Celestia let out snarl of anger, her face shaking with rage. Her mane exploded into motion, there was no longer a question as to whether it looked like fire now. It glowed red around her, burning just as bright as the hate in her eyes. With a kick that knocked Luna across the floor and out from under her, Celestia turned face Coalback and brandished her sword.

Coalback made the first step, the bathrobe falling free from around his waist. The brace cracked and snapped as he strode toward her, breaking apart as concern for the broken limb was completely disregarded. He was naked now, like a Roman wrestler in the coliseum. And this would be life or death, just as it was there. When he was three paces from Celestia, she struck.

Her sword whistled through the air, its arc burning patterns into the ponies visions. Coalback dove inside the strike, falling to his knee and rolling under it. The Princess’s hooves shot out as he entered the inside of her swing, attempting to kick him back out into the range of her sword. Her front leg hit hard with his chest, but his muscled arms wrapped around it, pinning them both chest to chest as he lifted her up.

With a twist of his shoulders Celestia was levered up into the air, her wings windmilling uselessly from the ache in the pressure point between her shoulders. But rather than struggle as he’d expected, her hind legs lifted from the floor and she dragged them both down to the ground with her hooves planted firmly on his abdomen. With a strong buck, Celestia launched him into the air and away from her.

“I’ve fought in hundreds of battles with foes far more powerful than an injured dog. If you think you can best me in a fight you’ll have quite the struggle!” Celestia barked as she stood, watching him land in the middle of the hall again. He hit the marble hard, all the wind knocked from him as he writhed to try and get back to his feet, back to fighting ground. Celestia leapt toward him with a screeching cry, her sword tip aimed at his neck.

Coalback twisted at the last moment, the ethereal sword impaling itself into the marble just next to his ear as she landed on top of him. And his hands were on her in an instant, one wrapping around her horn and gripping hard to stem her magic, the other wrapped around her neck to dig his fingernails into the base of the opposite wing. Celestia cried out, the sword bursting into a fireworks display of broken magic.

“Rainbow!” Twilight’s voice yelled, shocking the pegasus out of her hypnotized stare. She hadn’t been able to stop watching them, her legs clenched behind her in the vainest attempt to stem her own libido. Cold metal slid over her neck, a familiar weight pressing against her chest. “We have to do this now, Rainbow!” Twilight called again, dragging Rainbow’s attention to her for the briefest moment.

Twilight was covered in soot, a deep gash under her left eye bleeding profusely. Her tiara sat snugly on her head, the other mares already having donned their respective Elements and gathered around her. Somehow, Twilight had gotten the Elements from Celestia’s safe.

“Fuck!” Coalback yelled, a sickening crack echoing back out through the hall past the sounds of their struggle that continued uninterrupted. One of Celestia’s back legs had stepped onto Coalback’s broken leg, breaking the bone for another innumerable time. “You ass-licking whore!” he bellowed, a twist of his hand around her wing drawing a grunt of pain from the Princess.

His uninjured knee drove into her barrel, lifting her slightly as she tried to buck away from him again. But his grip held firm, fingers locked in death vice that would not let her shake him. His knee found her barrell again, and again. He drove his knee into her stomach until her hooves fell out from under her, the hand around her horn drove her head to the ground and twisted him onto the dominant position in their deadly grapple.

“Now!” Twilight yelled, a warmth in Rainbow’s chest the only warning she had before she felt the Element of Loyalty activate. An explosion of intense emotion flooded her from where the charm sat on her chest, the warmth spreading like wildfire through her in an instant. She felt her connection to her friends, stronger now than any time without the Elements. She felt her loyalty to them, the place in her heart where she knew they belonged singing in her ears. And she felt her love for Coalback, her unending need to simply be with him.

Rainbow yelled out. In anger, and in joy, and utter ecstasy as the Elements connected. She felt her friends for just an instant, all of them fighting to save the Princess, even if it was from herself. And to save Coalback, her Coalback, from Celestia’s rage. It flowed through her, back out of her, and into Twilight before bursting forth in a ray of prismatic light that bleached out any colors around it. It struck the struggling pair of bodies with a crash of force, the room shaking with the impact.

“LOOK AT ME!” Coalback’s voice yelled out as the light covered them, driving out all other sound in a roar that demanded attention. Rainbow could just see him through the light, limbs tangled with the Princess’s.

And then Celestia screamed.

Just as the beam began to die away, a bloodcurdling scream filled the air. It shook the ground, and pierced through the haze of Rainbow’s mind to the very center of her soul. A window shattered, and then another, and another. Her voice kept climbing, a pitch that threatened to move outside of what pony ears could hear. Rainbow felt something warm and wet run down the side of her face.

Rainbow felt the scream in her bones, and suddenly felt very sick. She could practically feel the Princess’s pain, her fear, her utter agony as she looked into Coalback’s eyes. She felt it shake the foundations of her own sanity, literally feeling herself slipping away from reality just from hearing the Princess’s wail.

And then, just as quickly, it ended. Celestia’s scream suddenly died to a choking gasp, retching onto the ground as Coalback finally released his relentless hold. They both fell to the floor, Celestia’s coughs and heaves the only sound past the ringing in Rainbow’s ears. It was a sickening sound, enough to turn the stomach of anypony who heard the alicorn’s motherly voice twisted in the pained sounds of a stomach trying to empty itself.

Her mane had instantly paled to a dull pink in the wake of the Element’s beam, falling around her in tangled strands instead of the ethereal cloud of light that it had seemed to be before. Her face screwed tight as her stomach clenched, her throat twisting as it tried to force something back up in the wrong direction. She writhed on the floor, her hooves scrambling at the marble as if she could run away from whatever was trying to be expelled from her.

Celestia’s throat suddenly bulged, the retching ending with a final choke. Black slime filled her mouth, sputtering out past her breath and splattering onto the floor in front of her. The bulge in her throat crawled forward, a ball of the black bile flying from her lips. It bounced off the floor twice, slapping against the wall below one of still intact windows and sliding to the floor with a sickening squelch. Wherever the slime had touched, a greasy stain remained as it slowly evaporated.

Rainbow put a hoof to her mouth, fighting the clenching in her own midsection to stop herself from vomiting. She flinched at the sound of one of her other friends unable to keep the contents of their stomachs in check. Rainbow had to fight to bring her mind back to a standstill, finally daring to open her eyes again.

They landed on Coalback instantly, taking in the scene with such clarity that for a moment she actually thought that it wasn’t real. Coalback crawled away from the Princess on his uninjured side, using his hands to drag himself away from the coughing diarch. His broken leg twisted in the wrong direction, the joint swollen and stained black from the inside. Rainbow could see his muscles clenching underneath his skin, writhing like snakes as it tried to pull his bones back together.

Rainbow’s legs made the decision to move for her, running across the floor to Coalback’s side. She grabbed onto his shoulder with her hooves and helped him crawl away from the slimy stains on the floor around the Princess.

 “Oh shit,” Rainbow muttered, setting him down on the floor as he stopped trying to crawl anymore. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” she kept saying, not sure what else she would be able to say or do to help him. His hand wrapped around one of her hooves, firmly grasping despite the hard edged grimace on his face from the pain in his leg. “Oh damnit. Coalback? Coalback, tell me what to do. I want to help you,” she pleaded, bringing herself close to him and pressing her nose into his shoulder. He smelt like dust and blood, and his skin was cold against her muzzle.

His only answer was a grunt, a twist of his body accompanied by a crumpled snap of his leg as the bone’s shattered ends found each other again. She could feel his blood rushing under her nose, fast and thick to carry the black ink of his blood to the injury, to start healing it. “Give me space,” he grunted, his hand moving up to push her away from him.

She relented, shuffling away from him and flinching as his fingernails scraped against her chest. Black claws sat just underneath them, trying to push their tips through. Blackness filled the scleras of his eyes, a yellow shine decorated the irises as if they were made from metal. He stiffened suddenly, his ribs popping and shifting slightly under his skin before settling back into place again.

A groan drew Rainbow’s attention to the other side of the hall, where Luna was picking herself up off the floor. Her mane had returned to its calm drift, hanging around her as if to try and comfort her from her injuries. Her mace and shield faded, drifting apart in the same ethereal wind that moved her mane.

Applejack pulled herself to the Princess, taking some of the night diarch’s weight onto her shoulders. Luna thanked her with a breath, taking weight off of her front right leg. “Not quite so bad, it is all superficial. I’ll be fit to fight again by nightfall,” she announced, letting Applejack hobble them over to Celestia.

Her coughing had abated, and now she simply sat curled in on her midsection. The sickly slime around her and on her lips was slowly evaporating and leaving behind greasy stains wherever it had touched. Twilight was the first to try and approach her.

“Princess?” she asked carefully, taking a careful step to stand next to her. The Princess shied away from her voice, her ears pressed flatly to her dull pink mane. Twilight turned a mortified look back at them, a stone dropped heavily into everypony’s stomachs. “Can you talk to us, Princess?” she tried, reaching forward to try and lay a comforting hoof on the mussed white coat shivering before her.

"DON'T!" Celestia shouted, flinching away from Twilight and scrunching her face tightly. "Please, don't touch me," she whimpered, pulling herself into a tight ball with a shaky breath. "I- ... I can't," she whispered, ending with a choking sound in the back of her throat.

"Well, that's a relief," a mocking voice echoed, coming from all around them at once. They froze at the interruption, wide eyes searching for the source. "I almost thought it hadn't worked," Discord teased. Twilight jumped to attention, turning a frantic eye around the room in an attempt to find where the voice was coming from.

"Where are you!?" Luna shouted, her voice shaking the room as her own fury flared. "What did you do to her!?" Luna demanded, gazing toward the ceiling as if expecting the chimera to drop through it at any moment.

"I didn't do much, really," he tittered, his voice slowly gravitating to one side of the room as he spoke, getting closer to Celestia. "All I did was have a bit of wind blow a little grain of sand into Celly's afternoon tea," he suppressed a laugh, making Celestia flinch again at the sound of his voice. "And look! Talk about stressful work, Princess," he snickered, the ball of slime lifting into the air from where it had landed.

The slime fell away like peeling rubber, revealing a smooth pearl the size of a pony's eye. It floated toward the center of the room, a whirlwind of broken glass, dust and bits of marble following it. The debris from their battle collected into a column, slowly fitting itself together into a vaguely familiar mismatched shape holding aloft the pearl like a trophy.

"What are you doing here!?" Rainbow demanded, stepping back over to Coalback and placing herself between them. Her side pressed against his, her resolve bolstered by his warmth. "You're supposed to be stuck with your army, and they're still days from here!" she said defiantly, giving a loud huff out of her nose and pawing at the floor with a hoof.

"Indeed!" Discord's messy form agreed, turning his broken glass and marble head in her direction. "It seems thatDouglass James Colebeck, has friends in high places," he hissed, saying the man's human name slowly. The hunched form flinched against Rainbow as it was spoken, suddenly stiff and cold. "I am locked in this-" his dusty doppelgänger looked down at itself with disgust, "-single form. But there are other ways to be everywhere at once, my little Cloudsdale protector," he needled, referring to the trick he'd used to make her think a cloud had been her hometown. He knew that she still was angry for letting herself fall for it.

"What do you want, Discord?" Luna spat, her legs finding strength in her hatred of the creature speaking to them. "What's the point to all this? What do you gain from fighting us?!" she demanded, drawing a shattered scowl from the loosely shaped cloud of debris.

“What do I get?” he repeated, as if he thought the question itself was ridiculous. “What do I get? Power. That’s what I get!” he snarled, his glass claws clutching around the pearl and giving off piercing scraping sounds. “I get what you and your sisters stole from me centuries ago! I get to drive the world into chaos and war again! I get to grow while you fade away!” he bellowed, his claw swiping the air as if to swat away an annoying fly. Slowly a smile started to creep onto his face. “And once I am strong enough, not even your precious mother will be able to stop me,” he hissed, leaning forward with his snakelike body and glaring at Luna with a mad smile.

“And I’ll be starting by moving my pawn to the other end of the board,” he continued, turning toward Coalback with a grin. “Are you aware of that rule, Rainbow Dash?” he teased, his fingers scraping across the pearl again as he took a floating step closer to her. “When a pawn makes its way to the end of the board, the player may bring a piece back to the board to replace it,” he said, his voice dropping to a low hum that made the glass in his body ring quietly.

Rainbow reacted again, spreading her wings to make herself look bigger. She didn’t care what Discord planned to do, but she wouldn’t let him get away with it without a fight. The only thing stopping her from jumping at the cloud of broken glass and marble dust was Coalback’s hand, gripping hard on her hoof to keep her still. Discord floated another step closer. He drifted through the air so that he had a line of sight around Rainbow to Coalback, skating a foot above the floor as if he were in an ice rink made of molasses.

“You,” he pointed with his free claw directly at the hunched form behind Rainbow, a piece of marble with jagged edges leaning out of his paw, “whom I plucked from the sky so you could once more hunt these abominations. Douglass. James. Colebeck.” The man flinched again, his hand tightening painfully around Rainbow’s hoof. “Douglass! James! Colebeck!” he yelled, a manic laugh bursting out of his lips. Coalback let out a choking gasp.

“What are you doing to him?” Rainbow yelled, wincing as Coalback’s fingernails pressed into her hoof hard, nearly enough to draw blood. She wouldn’t stop him, if he needed to hold onto her she would let him. Even if it meant he would pull her hoof off. “Stop it!” she yelled at Discord, watching in horror as the grin on Discord’s broken face widened to a sickly degree.

“It was good of you to so willingly give me all of your names, daemon. I, Discord, command thee by the power of your Name,Douglass James Colebeck, to submit,” he hissed, his glass claw scraping over the pearl again as a light slowly grew from within it. He came closer, another step toward them. “I command you to let your inner nature overcome you, and kill again. Kill these ponies, tear them apart and feast. Kill, like how you killed your precious family. Kill, like you did to get out of jail. Kill, like you did in your ‘desert of the world,’’” he hummed, a confident smirk mixing into the open-mouthed smile on his face.

The pearl glowed as Discord completed his command, a rainbow light bursting forth from it suddenly. Celestia flinched, a breathless scream leaving her. As the light faded Coalback screamed, freezing the blood in Rainbow’s viens. His hand moved, pulled Rainbow from her hooves and throwing her toward Luna. She hit the floor hard, head smacking against the unforgiving marble and knocking her vision away from her. She felt herself slide across the floor, her back stopping against a large pair of gilded hooves.

“Rainbow!” Applejack cried, a hoof grabbing onto her shoulder. She didn’t have to look at Applejack to hear the concern for her in her voice, but that didn’t matter so much to her at the moment either. Rainbow shook the ringing in her ears and tried to blink away the fuzziness that the world and looked back across the room.

Coalback let loose with another yell, struggling up to his feet with his hands pressed against his face. He wobbled on his feet, stumbling back a few steps before managing to regain his balance. He hunched over, his fingers clawing at his face. When his hands came away they had red and black blood smeared across them, black claws splitting his fingernails into splinters. His face had long, deep gashes across his eyes and cheeks. And a feral scream tore its way out of his rage twisted expression.

Discord let loose with another laugh, wailing his mirth toward the ceiling and grasping at his sides. He did a twirling somersault in the air as he guffawed, finally twisting around to face them upside down with a smile still plastered across his face. “Oh, and Celestia, thank you for the help. I’ll have to owe you a favour. Ta-ta!” he snickered, his paw waving toward them with an up and down motion.

The cloud of debris that had made up his body suddenly dropped, whatever forces keeping it in the air disappearing. The glass marble pieces pattered back to the floor, the pearl dropping with a much louder clack. And just as fast as he’d come, his presence was gone.

Coalback snarled, black colored scleras glaring toward Celestia. His skin was tight around him, every muscle, vein, and bone pronounced. He turned fully toward her, his feet slamming against the ground with enough force to send shockwaves up his legs and through the floor. He wrenched back in pain with another wail, his ribs jumping forward a full inch from the center of his chest.

A dark blue shield quickly sprung into existence around him, a loud thrum of magic sounding from above Rainbow’s head. Luna leaned forward above her, horn alight with the same magic. She winced when Coalback jumped up and put his hands onto the shield, the wall of dark light becoming slightly more opaque where he touched it. He growled against the shield, his face twisting in pain and anger as he glowered out at them.

“What did he do to him?!” Fluttershy wailed in panic, having curled into a quivering ball in the farthest corner of the room from them.

“He’s still trying to keep himself from changing,” Luna said darkly, her voice strained as Coalback began to hit his fists against the shield. “Discord has used Celestia’s power to trigger a change, a curse! I am extremely surprised that he has resisted for even this long, but it is a losing battle!” she grunted, wincing as Coalback’s claws scraped across the shield for a fleeting moment. “He will change, and he will kill somepony if we cannot contain him.”

“Then we gotta get ‘im away from everypony!” Applejack said determinedly, pointing at Coalback as he writhed in pain again.

He crouched over behind the shield, his heels leaving the floor as his legs twitched wildly. Rainbow watched in horror as his fingers pulled themselves out from their sockets and twisted in unnatural directions. His throaty wails of pain echoed inside the shield, barely muffled at all.

“What about the wolves?” Rainbow asked desperately, turning her eyes up desperately toward Luna. “They were heading North, nothing is up there! If you teleported us far enough away, there wouldn’t be anypony around for him to hurt! Plus, the wolves might know how to help him!” she explained.

Applejack aimed a panicked look at Rainbow. “US?!” she barked, looking toward Rainbow as if she’d just suggested a walk on the surface of the sun. “Ah ain’t goin’ anywhere near him while he’s doin’ that!” she yelled, lifting a hoof to motion toward Coalback to accentuate her point. Coalback’s yells dropped several octaves, but Rainbow refused to back down; she knew this would work.

“Not all of us,” she said, pulling herself to her hooves so that she could look Applejack in the eye. “Just me.”

“That’s crazier than all o’ us goin’!” Applejack protested, swinging her hoof over Rainbow’s head to desperately try to show Rainbow her view. Applejack’s breath came in short gulps, a mortified look overtaking her as she imagined what sort of horrible things that could happen to one of her friends. “What’re we supposed tah do if’n ya’ll get hurt?!” she demanded, fighting back tears of frustration.

“I’ll fly high up,” Rainbow said confidently, her mouth setting itself in a tight frown. “While he’s a wolf he’s fast on the ground, but I can outrun him in the air any day!” And she knew it too. Even when he had wings he was slower than her, and if he was grounded there was no way he could catch her. “Please, Luna! I can get him to the wolves and be back in a day!” she pleaded, turning to the Princess now.

“Rainbow Dash is right,” Celestia’s voice croaked from the other side of the room, Twilight’s gasp quickly following as the Princess tried to rise to her hooves. “Best chance … Can’t risk our ponies … Teleport them …” she breathed out, her barrel shivering with the simple effort of keeping herself sitting upright even with Twilight’s help.

Celestia’s mane no longer held the luster it had before, hanging down in long, dull pink strands. Celestia wobbled as she stood, her legs weak underneath her shockingly smaller body. Where before her shoulders had been far above her student’s, almost higher than Twilight’s horn could reach, now her shoulders were barely two hoof lengths above the purple unicorn’s as the Princess leaned against her.

All the gathered ponies stared in shock at the Princess of the Sun, brought so low. Celestia looked sadly at Coalback, before turning to Luna and whispering:

“Do it.”

The Monster Under the Bed Part II

-The Monster Under the Bed, Part II-

The wing wrapped over Twilight’s barrel was shaking, Celestia’s sides shivered against her. The limp pink mane fell over her shoulders in stark contrast to it's usual ethereal state. She leaned heavily on Twilight and relied almost entirely on her to keep walking. Luna guided her sister from her other side, stoically leading the way farther into the castle and away from the throne room.

“What happens now?” Twilight asked, her hushed voice sounding slightly too loud in the oppressive silence of the halls. She tried to look over Celestia’s shoulder to Luna, but with Celestia leaning on her she was unable do anything more than see Celestia’s withers.

“Now?” Luna responded in a grave whisper. “We must assist our sister in her recovery,” Luna said, the hum of her magic opening a door in front of them. She guided them within, her magic lowering the light inside.

The tall windows glowed with what light was left in the day, cut off by the bright red curtains curtains and casting the circular room into a gentle twilight. Desks lined the outside, all ornate and delicate. Several sparingly filled bookshelves occupied the space along the walls that the desks did not. And in the center a sunken sitting area was filled with cushions, surrounded by several unlit lamps. These were the what was left in the now seldom used reading chamber.

Luna led them immediately to the cushions and Celestia collapsed into the circular depression in the floor, still clutching to Twilight as if her life depended on it. Luna moved quickly after that, jumping out of the pit and rushing to one of the reading desks. Her magic gleamed as she retrieved a small dish from it, and when she returned with it Twilight was able to see that it was an empty clay ashtray.

“What we are about to show you, Twilight Sparkle, can never leave this room,” Luna whispered, settling into the cushions in front of them. “This is something to prepare you for the future as well. You must stay strong, do not look away and do not speak until We utter it to be so,” she said, balancing the ashtray underneath Celestia’s hung head. “Celestia? Dear Sister, can you hear us?” she asked gently, a tender trace of her magic pulling Celestia’s mane out of her face.

Celestia let out a shaky sigh and nodded ever so slightly. Her face was tight, eyes clenched shut and jaw set rigid. Luna spoke again. “Can you tell us what you see, sister dearest?” she asked carefully, leaning close to Celestia’s muzzle with her eyes trained solidly on Celestia’s closed ones.

“He showed me what hides in the shadows of my mind and my memories,” she whispered hoarsely, so quietly that Twilight was sure that if she had been sitting anywhere but directly next to her that she never would have heard the words. Her voice was so weak it was surprising that she’d spoken at all, it was altogether alien on her. Twilight could barely comprehend how the alicorn could have been struck so low. “All my mistakes, all the things I regret. He laid them bare and made them visible to the Other thing inside me.” She shuddered suddenly, her wing pulling Twilight closer in an almost painful embrace.

Twilight saw it then, a single tear. It fell from Celestia’s eye, sparkling in a light that wasn’t there, and landed in the ashtray in the most peculiar way. Instead of an almost silent splash that Twilight had expected, a rather loud clack resounded from the clay. It was crystal, Celestia’s tears were crystal. Luna watched the tears fall intently, her horn glowing as it held the ashtray steady and casting an eerie light over her features.

“And then he showed me how … insignificant my emotions were,” Celestia started again, her breathing coming out even shakier than before.“And then he made those emotions belong to the Other too. He showed me his pain and his anger, it was like I- We were drowning … at the same time.” Another tear fell. Clack. “It was like an ocean of hate, and then the Other fled. It pulled and ripped at me where it was holding me before. I could feel it leaving scars in me as it tore away from Him. They crushed my soul and the Other ran in fear from Him before I could.” Celestia shuddered, unable to speak further.

“That’s right, Sister dearest. Coalback has done a terrible crime to you, but it was to help you. Do you understand?” Luna asked calmly, eyes moving down to examine the crystal tears inside the tray. Celestia nodded slightly, another tear bouncing into the tray. “You have to keep remembering it, make it as a mantra. All those feelings, all of this must be repeated over and over again or else you will never be able to recover,” Luna explained simply, and then turned to Twilight.

“Our tears are powerful, Twilight Sparkle,” she began, a grim expression on her face. “What that power is used for depends on who wields them. They could be capable of wonderful deeds, or horrifying destruction. Celestia needs you, her tears are proof of this. Help her walk through her shock. Methodically, carefully. Just the way that you know how,” she explained.

Twilight was speechless, everything before her was just too much. She’d never seen one of the Princesses cry before. Before any of this she’d hardly seen either of them do more than pout, but never show so much emotion even to her. And it was all weighed on Twilight’s shoulders that Celestia should recover.

“Okay,” she managed to whisper, still unsure how she would be assisting exactly. “Why me, though? I don’t think I’m qualified for therapy on this level,” she added quickly, a sudden bout of self doubt overcoming the unicorn.

Luna sighed, but nodded in understanding. She knew exactly how Twilight felt. “All you have to do is be there for our sister, and keep telling her to move forward. We will do the rest,” Luna explained, surprising Twilight by placing a reassuring hoof on her withers. Luna turned back to Celestia, the glow in her horn brightening as her magical prowess in the aspects of the mind forced Celestia to re-experience her pain.

Celestia reacted instantly. A cry escaped her lips and her body went rigid as a board. Another tear fell from her eyes, falling to join the rest. Celestia slowly came down from her panic, breath coming in short gasps. The hoof on Twilight’s withers pressed against her, a silent plea from Luna.

“It’s okay, Princess,” Twilight said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s okay, you’ll be alright,” it was the best she could come up with at the moment. She struggled to recall whatever she could about psychology, therapy, and study papers on the functions of the brain that she’d read. She vaguely remembered a pamphlet that she’d read about irrational fears, and different methods of treating them. “‘Repetition is the cure to fear,’” she quoted, just catching the reassuring smile on Luna’s face as Twilight spoke. “Just keep going.”

“It’s too much- I can’t,” Celestia choked out, a hiccup interrupting her and shaking free another tear. She cried out again as another wave of the emotions she’d been forced to feel washed over her again, it was like she was being held just inches under the water knowing that air was just out of her reach. And it was Luna holding her under now. “Please- please …”

“You have to keep going, Princess,” Twilight begged, pressing the side of her head against Celestia’s neck. It was difficult to move with Celestia clutching to her the was she was, but Twilight tried all the same to return the embrace gently. “Think of everypony who needs you! Everypony who loves you!” she encouraged, flinching as Celestia cried out again.

The scream died to a whimper, her shaky breathing occasionally interrupted by a hiccup. “But if they- saw- knew what happened-”

“They wouldn’t care,” Twilight said resolutely, cutting her off. “No matter what you did in the past, everypony loves you. A mistake that old can’t change that,” she said consolingly. She was able to wrestle free one of her hooves from where it was pinned against her side and stroked Celestia’s closest hoof reassuringly, offering all the comfort she could to her.

“Not them-” she blubbered, crying again when Luna’s horn flashed. “It- It was my fault that they died-” she confessed. “He found it- found it and made me see what I did. He made me hate her as much as myself, he made me remember my hate. I should have protected them- I could have-But I didn’t!” she wailed, shivering harder as she cried.

“It’s okay,” Twilight repeated, feeling slightly out of place saying it. Her gaze drifted to Luna, who held a similar expression of sadness. It seemed even she was on the verge of tears. “It’s okay. You didn’t mean to do that,” she said carefully, hoping she wouldn’t say something wrong.

“No,” Celestia argued. Her voice had risen but it wasn’t much of an improvement over the nearly incomprehensible blubbering she’d been speaking in before. She shook again as Luna’s horn flashed. “No,” she repeated, continuing a mantra of denial as she flinched again and again from Luna’s magic.

“You did the best you could,” Twilight replied, fighting past Celestia’s weak argument. “Everypony makes mistakes … even you. Everypony thinks of you as some untouchable goddess. Perfect, something to strive for. But you’re just like everypony else; you make mistakes, you care about other ponies, you get sad, you get frustrated. You have to stop and think things out sometimes, and other times you just follow your heart. And that’s something that they would forgive you for,” Twilight said, surprising herself with the revelation.

It was true enough though. Whenever Twilight looked back at the days that she spent being taught by Celestia herself, she saw how much of a pony she was. In court, during speeches, and in front of royals she wore a mask of godly distance and calm. But when she was with the ponies she trusted, the ones she held most dear, she was just another pony. She’d seen it before, but it was this extreme case that really drove that home.

Throughout Twilight’s speech, Celestia’s flinching slowly subsided. Luna’s magic flared and she shivered, but even that was less now. Luna’s magic flared for a final time, Celestia’s only reaction a sharper intake of air.

“Rest, dear sister,” Luna said sadly, leaning forward to press her forehead against Celestia’s. Luna’s horn hummed as a spell worked through it and Celestia slowly relaxed.

“Multas egerunt Necessaria,” Celestia trailed off quietly, sleep quickly overcoming the exhausted Princess. She slumped to the side, her wing sliding off of Twilight’s back as she fell asleep in nest of cushions.

“What did she say?” Twilight whispered, turning to Luna with the question. She couldn’t have been sure, but it seemed like Celestia had tried to tell her something else.

Luna simply smiled knowingly, slowly standing. Her magic wrapped around the half filled ashtray, a magical lockbox forming around it before it was dismissed with a flash. “You are a very special pony, Twilight Sparkle,” she said carefully, motioning for Twilight to get up. “But right now we have more worries than that. Come, we have preparations to make for the coming siege,” she said, her voice becoming stern as she made for the door.

Twilight carefully followed, stepping gingerly around Celestia so that she wouldn’t be disturbed in her sleep. She wanted desperately to ask all about what had happened, but was afraid of what she might hear. Celestia’s words haunted her.

“So,” Twilight said, joining Luna at the door. “What happens now?” she asked for the second time that day.

“Now,” Luna said, the ghost of a scowl on her face, “we ready for war, and rouse a militia.” She stepped through the door, a set of heavily armoured guards already standing guard there. They stood at attention as the Princess passed through the door, salutes snapping into place.

“This is really happening, isn’t it?” Twilight asked, her eyes going wide. The door closed behind them and they made their way back to the Throne room.

“Yes. And hopefully ‘tis the last time.”

That needle.It floated impossibly over my head, mocking me with its impossibility. And I panicked.

Sheets of snow from the wind battered against my face, cold seeped into the webs between my toes. Contrasting that, my shoulders and legs burned with the speed that I put into every hunger fueled leap. I dodged around a tree, a spray of snow blinding me for only a moment as I burst through a thin bush on the other side.

A hundred needles, all staring down at me with men in full faced masks behind them. None of them did anything, just poking holes in my skin and leaving behind a growing hate and fear. Why were looking at me like that? Were they entertained by my struggling against these chains?

I could smell them now. Sour grass, and scat, and just the smallest bit of sweat in thick curled fur. There must have been many, the smell was overpowering. I could practically see it along the almost indiscernible trail of softer snow where they’d packed it down and let new snow fall in. I followed it at a sprint, eager for the chase to come.

Muscled bodies holding me down, a flash of blue and they were gone. Like staring at a ghost, but she spoke in tongues within a blue light. She hadn’t had so many colors in her hair before. What was she doing here? Where was I again? This is all so strange.

A wolf would have followed at an easy pace, biding his time until he could separate a weaker prey and chase it down later. I was not a wolf, I would chase down whichever prey I came to and I would gorge on the fact that I had caught it and it was mine.

I could hear the crunch of hooves in show now. Heavy breathing and grunts of effort to walk through the snow tickled at my ears. I knew them instantly. Twenty elk, four bulls, twelve cows, and four calves. And I had pick of any one I wanted.

Ponies move slow, even when I’m weighed down by the surprisingly agile armour. They moved and my counter move came reflexively. Golden armour glinted, spears flashed, but I did not falter. It took more concentration to keep myself from hurting them than it did to fight them off. It would have been so easy to kill all of them, even easier if I simply changed, but I held back despite that.

The elk screamed in fear as I ran at them, moving in some semblance of a group. The smell of burning pine nuts grew as I closed on them. Their fear only served to spur me on in hunger. I caught up to them quickly, barking and snarling to scare them into splitting from their group. A thin bull broke off suddenly, spinning to swing his antlers at me.

I snarled in anger that it would dare to challenge me, a rage building inside me. It swung its huge head again, and I struck as it tried to hit me again. My teeth found its strong neck in an instant, my body twisting desperately to stay out of the way of the sharp spikes that swung not even a breath’s distance away.

I dragged it down into the heavy snow, the big animal fighting me the whole way. My claws tugged at its thick hide as I held on, refusing to let it roll on top of me or wrestle free. I rolled my jaw, trying to get my fangs to find the jugular and end this.

A horse’s nose broke under my armoured hoof, the rest of the stallion flying back from the sudden impact. A need to kill I’d been holding back since donning the armour and even waking up that morning suddenly given the freedom to feed its lust. I could finally let loose.

I moved with efficiency that had been hammered into me and treated the unicorns as armed individuals, striking them fast and hard on the horn first. His magic exploded just before I could kill him, the rings on my arm burned as they hungrily soaked it up.

Griffon blood tastes like chicken, who would have guessed?

A spray of blood and the animals death keening were my reward as my bottom fangs dug in. I drank the blood as it all flowed out, the elk’s struggling quickly stopped. I began pulling meat from its neck and filling my belly.

Rainbow Dash.

Hot breath, sweat, ruffled feathers. Clouds like pillows. Muffled cries of ecstasy.

I ate. Stuffing myself with coppery meat and salty blood. It was entirely satisfying. The last thing I’d hunted for food had been one of those strange creatures that looked like some mix between a chicken and a giant snake. Not mentioning the dragon or cougar, who I’d hardly had a chance to enjoy.

Gamey, soaked with blood and flavor. Every swallow spread warmth against the cold and satisfaction all through me. I let myself relax as I sated my lustful hunger, the elk’s heavy carcass shifting around with every piece of meat that I tore off. With one final swallow of meat I lifted my head, a new scent suddenly making itself known to me past the blood.

It was not from anything I’d smelled before, but still somehow familiar to me. Like walking into a building that I had been to before but remembering none of the details. It was a strange mix of musty sweat with a sour aftertaste, the heavy smell of urine overlaid it. I swung my head over my kill, trying to pinpoint the direction of the smell.

I turned away from my kill, looking over the smears of blood where I’d spread it with my paws. I’d dragged the body around to cut a wide ‘C’ into the snow and was gently being covered by the constantly falling snow. The smell was coming from a nearby tree, a slightly shallower spot in the snow around its trunk marking exactly where it was.

The only reason I’d noticed it was because of a shift in the wind that had wafted the fading smell in my direction. And now I recognised it for sure: Wolf urine. This was a scent mark, or simply a spot where a wolf had relieved … herself. Another sniff confirmed it was a female wolf.

“Gaethglud,” Non said, but her eyes said “Exile.”

The wolves were going north to an ancient city. Could they be close by?

My head snapped back fast, a deep throated howl flying from my lips. I saw my breath leaving my muzzle in a steadily flowing cloud. I raised the pitch as I turned my head, trying to let the sound spread as far as possible.

That was a feeling I could never get tired of. Just raising my head and letting loose. Wolves howled more often for the joy of it than to talk to one another, and this was why. I felt it in my chest and my throat, all the way to the tips of my fangs. A certain exhilaration coming from the simple act that I’d never be able to explain fully.

‘I am here’ the howl called out. ‘Where are you?’ it asked in equal measure. When the howl came to an end my ears twitched as my voice was thrown back by the mountains hidden in the distance.

I waited for an answer, doing my best to ignore the subtle sounds of the woods around me. I silenced the wind, ignored the gentle sway and swish from the nettles above me, and drove away the creaking of the trees with merely a thought.

And from the silence I heard it, an answer. It was hardly above a whisper. “This is our place” was all I could make out from it. It was not something I had expected, and it felt none too welcoming. The answering howl was gone just as subtly as it had come, and I was alone in the snow again.

A twitch in the air made me rethink that thought though. A branch gave a particularly loud crackle above me. A swirl in the air presented a familiar smell to me, but I reacted without thinking. I turned fast to face the new presence with a snarl. Stance low, legs tensed and ready to move in an instant, senses brought to bear.

Rainbow’s stance widened in preparation to dart away at the first sign of an attack from me as I came around. Her hooves gripped the heavy bough, her muscles taut to keep her balanced but still ready to react in an instant. But it was more the expression on her face than her presence that made me freeze.

Her mouth drew down into a short, strained grimace. Her eyes were wide, and trained directly at me. But she avoided my gaze. I could hear her heart beating at a fast pace, the loud double drum of her chest presented to me through the cold air. And with another breath I was able to find out why.

Fear. It wafted into the air from the shifted wind that was at Rainbow’s back. My nose itched from the nut-tainted scent that flowed from her.

Rainbow Dash was afraid of me.

My nose was assaulted by the smell once the extinguisher noxious fumes fell away. And I knew the burning, nutty scent was not my clothes. I could taste the ponies’ fear there was so much coming from the crowd. And all of it was from a realization that I was not like them, all from a mark I had not wanted appearing on my unfamiliar flanks.

They were afraid of me, and it made me sick that for a moment that I liked it that way.

“C-Coalback? What happened?” she asked me shakily, mortification deep set into her tone. She didn’t dare to take her eyes off if me, and it was with her question that I realized she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at the elk’s blood that was covering me.

“I was hungry,” I am still hungry. “I smelled them,” their fear, “and I couldn’t stop myself,” and I didn’t want to. “It’s okay, though. I’m feeling better now.” Not really, your smell is hard to ignore.

I should have fled the moment I smelled her fear in the air, but now it was too late. If I wasn’t careful the smell would build me into a frenzy, the recent kill might help me though. I’d eaten, but my hunger was rising again with that smell in the air.

“No, no it’s not okay, Coalback,” Rainbow said sadly. “Just-” she flinched, fighting herself as she tried to speak “-Just tell me it was Discord that made you do … that,” she said, a hoof pointing behind me to where my meal sat.

I hesitated. “He only had the power to force the change ... telling you anything else would be lying,” I said reluctantly. I didn’t want to lie to her like that, she deserved the truth from me. I wasn’t sure what exactly she was trying to ask, but I could tell immediately that that was not the answer she had wanted to hear.

“No,” she said defiantly. “No, it had to be Discord. He was doing all that name stuff and it got in your head and then you …” she froze up again, grasping at straws.

“The change is total, Rainbow Dash,” I said quietly, careful to speak slowly to make sure she understood. “When I change from one to the other, nothing follows but me. Look, even my leg is better now,” I explained, slowly turning so she could see my rear leg. “His grip is not strong enough to hold me through that. So don’t worry, I’m fine now.”

“Don’t worry?!” she sputtered, an incredulous look aimed right at me. “Coalback! You just killed somepony for no reason!” she yelled, suddenly angry.

“I haven’t eaten much except pastries since I came to Ponyville with you. I was just hungry, so I found some food,” I said, taken aback by her aggressiveness.

“But you didn’t have to kill anypony to get it! I thought you said that you could eat whatever you wanted! Why’d you have to kill him to eat?” she yelled. The entire time pointing her hoof accusingly between my kill and me.

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from snapping back at her in a similar fashion, it would only make her angrier. “My body needs the protein, Rainbow,” I said, though not as calmly as I had hoped I would. Maybe I could appeal to what she knew of athletics, even ponies needed protein. She looked like she was about to form a rebuttal, but I cut her off sharply. “This is nature! Part of the circle of life! The prey eats the plants, the predator eats the prey. That is how it is, and I am a part of that,” I said curtly, drawing her to a pause.

“Yeah, but you can choose to not be,” she said, her gaze smoldering. And I had to stop myself because she was more right than she probably realized.

I huffed in frustration, leaning down to rub some of the blood off of my face and onto the snow. “We don’t have time to argue about this,” I said quietly. “We’re out here for a reason now, so let’s go. The howl came from that direction-” I nodded my head along the valley’s stretch in the direction I’d heard it “-so we should start moving before it’s too late.”

“We should bury him,” Rainbow said equally as solemn as I had sounded.

“We don’t have time, leave it too a scavenger-”

“It’s the right thing to do, Coalback,” she said shortly, her glare leveled back on me.

“Lots of bodies never get buried in wars, Rainbow,” I said, starting to turn away. “If we can’t get help from the wolves there’s going to be a lot more.” I started walking, satisfied that I could hear her soft wingbeats following. “He was sick anyway, Rainbow. Starving. He wouldn’t have made it through the winter,” I admitted. I caught her surprised look out of the corner of my eye as I started to pick up my pace into a light trot. “Wolves cull the herds of the weak, and in the end it makes the herd stronger as a whole. It’s dirty, and vulgar, and violent. But it’s the way things are in nature, not the happy utopia that you come from.”

I picked up into a run, feeling the exhilaration of speeding over the deep snow despite the dour mood we’d made for each other. It made me feel a little guilty. But the run kept speeding up until I was at a full sprint without further comment from Rainbow Dash, only her wings beating and her breath stirring the air in a controlled pace.

By the time she spoke up we’d already started up the mountain on the other side of the valley. “We don’t know if it’s like that out here, it might not be like what you’re used to,” she said sardonically. “He might not have been just ‘part of the circle of life’. He could have been like you or me, with dreams and hopes … and a special somepony that he cared about.”

I slid to a stop at the top of a pass between the mountains around us, sinking somewhat into the snow and spraying it up. Rainbow came to a halt, surprised that I’d stopped. “Even if he was like you or me, what difference does it make? The animals in Fluttershy’s cottage are obviously more intelligent that I’m used to, but I don’t think that that makes their diets any different,” I argued, truly starting to become irritated with Rainbow now. “Do ponies hate hawks for eating the mice or rabbits or snakes?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Well, no. But-”

“Then what is the difference?” I asked again, a cold edge to my voice. “Even ponies are a part of nature, as unorthodox as your existence is. You live and die, and then you go back into the ground. Wolves in nature in my home buried their dead too, but they respected their kills. They made sure that their deaths were for a purpose: keeping themselves alive. One death for many lives. They thank their kill, and respect it, by eating all of it.

“So, yes. It was wasteful and disrespectful of me to hunt down and kill more than I could eat. But that elk would have died on its own soon enough. If anything I saved it the suffering by giving it the honor of dying defending his herd instead of simply collapsing from the cold and the hunger.” My own glare met hers, and she was subdued by my sharp rebuttal. “No one is in the wrong here, Rainbow. But no one is right either. Winter, especially in a place like this, is a time of death and harshness that cannot be deterred by a kind heart like yours.”

The wind howled in a stiff gust, forcing Rainbow to land in the snow in front of me. She refused to look at me, whether it was because she was ashamed or because her pride would not let her I couldn’t tell. “Why can’t this kind of stuff be simple?” she said, so quietly I almost missed it over the sound of the wind.

I paused, unsure how to react. Around us the wind stirred the few trees and bare bushes around us. The light had gotten brighter as we climbed, revealing the tiny ribbon of orange that was the sun. The tips of the mountains glowed orange that slowly slipped away with the sun, it was barely an hour after noon.

“I know it’s hard,” I said calmly, taking a few steps toward her, “believe me I know.” Her hooves sank in the snow, making her seem much shorter than she was. It was only made worse by the fact that my paws refused to sink more than an inch or so in the powder. “But right now, we can’t afford to let our morals get in the way of our duty. There are innocents waiting at home for us to bring back help.”

I leaned down carefully, the blood was gone from my coat by now but I wasn’t sure if she wanted my comfort. I gently pressed my muzzle against her withers, as much of an embrace as I could offer. Mercifully she pressed back into it, turning her face into the thick mane around my neck. “Canterlot is strong, they’ll be able to hold out for a little while. But we don’t have long …”

Rainbow shuffled closer to me and I let us rest for a moment, I wasn’t sure exactly how far we still had to go. Sound probably wouldn’t travel too far in the mountains here, but the echoes off of them might throw off the direction. I’d have to call out again and hope that the wolves would answer me, otherwise we’d be stuck out here until we could somehow navigate back to civilization.

“Do you know what the wolves are doing right now?” Rainbow asked suddenly. She had pulled away from me just enough that her muzzle was free of my fur.

“No, should I?” I asked carefully. I couldn’t be sure whether or not the question had been rhetorical. And any purpose behind the question was lost on me.

“I guess not,” Rainbow admitted, shuffling her hooves in the snow. They were probably getting cold. “It’s just that I heard you howling and it looked like you heard something come back, but I couldn’t hear it. Did they tell you where they were?” she asked.

“Sort of, I am … not sure what they meant though,” I answered equally carefully. The strangely cryptic howl that I’d just been able to hear on the wind returned to me.

“What do you mean? Were they, like, mumbling or something?” Rainbow asked, trying to lift the mood slightly. I gave an amused scoff that ruffled her mane and melted a bit of the snow clinging to it.

“Not exactly … it was faint so I can’t be sure,” I said, the small smile that I’d gained from Rainbow’s sarcasm dropped. “It just wasn’t as … warm a response as the Geni Llwyd gave me … us,” I tried, not really sure how to explain the mixed feelings that had come up with that howl.

“What? Well … Maybe they didn’t think that it was you? Like … Uhm, maybe they’re trying to keep their numbers low on account of the big group they were travelling with? Maybe they don’t have enough food and they’re not too hot about getting more mouths to feed,” she suggested, pulling away from me to clear the snow from her wings with a shake.

She took to the air, wings stirring the snow in the air. Her arms crossed in front of her while she tried to rub some warmth back into them. She looked out into the snowy valleys spread out beyond the pass we’d stopped on.

I turned my head and howled, catching Rainbow off guard and making her falter slightly in her steady wing beats. It was the same howl as before, but I had to make an effort to keep my doubts out of it. I waited for a few moments again for an answering howl, but when none came I was reluctant to try a third time.

I’m not sure if Rainbow could tell that I was having doubts, or if she simply had the urge to join in. But without giving me a warning, she began to howl. She tilted her head back to try and imitate what she’d seen me do. And while it ended up being off tune and not as loud as it needed to be, but it was about as close as I could have expected her to be able to do without me teaching her anything about it.

When she stopped she looked back down at me. A silent word passed between us, only the look to say what we needed to. At least I hoped that’s what it was. But as one we turned back to the sky and howled together, my deep voice rolling off the snow and ice around us with her own higher pitch.

It touched my heart to know that her voice was risen with me. My heart thudded in my chest, and I wanted to howl with her more. I didn’t want to stop howling with her. It was much nicer than doing it on my own.

When we did stop we looked at each other again, and maybe we both felt a little closer for it. I know I feel that way. And we stayed that way for awhile, just looking at each other with slowly growing smiles. Until another voice rode on the wind.

It started slow at first, more like a song than a howl really. But it was there all the same, and much closer than I had thought it would have been from the first howl I’d heard. But eventually it evolved back into something more intelligible. “I  hear your voice  on the wind,” it called, melodious and beautiful in its sound. “And I  hear you call out  my name.”

Her call, as I was sure it was a female’s voice now, echoed out from the direction our path would have taken had we continued over the pass. And when we looked that direction, trying desperately to see through the heavy snow, we could just make out a dark shape walking through the snow toward us. As we watched her head lifted again and she continued.

“‘Listen, my child,’ you say to me. ‘I am the voice of your history, answer my call and I will set you  free,’” she sang, her voice trailing off into another beautiful howl. She was getting close enough now that we could see more of her.

Through the snow we could see her dappled brown coat, practically shimmering as it fought against the wind and snow beating against her. Yet even against her darker coat I could make out familiar tattoos, but hers appeared to spread across her entire body rather than stopping at the face like Greyshadow’s had. What seemed to be hawk’s feathers were braided into her mane around her neck, catching the wind and pulling her mane upwards as the wind caught them.

By the time she started singing again, Rainbow and I had begun to walk toward her. “I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain,” she sang, swaying from side to side as we came closer. “I am the voice of your hunger and pain.” Before we could truly come face to face with her, she spun around and began retracing her pawprints back through the snow.

Her tail stood high, but not quite flagging. She walked ahead of us without looking back, she was confident that we would follow. She had the walk of an alpha. And as she sang, her pace increased until it matched the cadence of her singing, taking us into an easy run through the snow.

“I am the voice  that always is calling you. I am the voice, I will remain.” She never once looked back to check that we were following, which we did without question.

It felt strangely right to follow that gentle voice as it sang, and I found myself eager to keep pace with this mysterious she-wolf. And out of the corner of my eye I found no protests from Rainbow Dash as she easily remained at my side in the air.

“I am the voice in the fields when the summer’s gone, the dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow.”

Soon the snowy tree dappled mountainsides changed into full forests, where the evergreen canopy was thick enough to shield the ground from most of the snow. The snow cover was, and I could clearly see tracks in the snow.

“Ne’er do I sleep throughout all the cold winter long.” The trees became thicker and thicker, until there was barely space for us to find time to dodge around them and keep up with the wolf. But she never stopped singing, not even short of breath. “I am the force  that in springtime will grow,” once again her words escalated into an ecstatic howl to the sky, I could see her lifting her muzzle through the trees.

And when her howl faded out, and her song came to a pause, I heard something else coming through the trees. Drums. They beat out an enrapturing beat, and I found my paws striking the snow and dirt under me to their sound. And the drums were our only warning to what was revealed when we cleared the trees.

Firelight suddenly broke through the dimness of the storm and shadow of the mountains behind us. Gathered at the base of a steep mountain range that seemed to simply jut from the ground like a wall was what could only be a wolf camp. A huge plume of flame sat at the center of the camp, just under a large rock outcropping that shielded the mountain behind it from the light.

“I am the voice of the past that will always be,” the she-wolf continued, leading us straight into the camp. Wolves, thousands of them, parted to make way for us. Their eyes flickered in the spattering of fires and torches that were spread among them, tracking us as we passed them. No more than shadows in my peripherals, I had eyes only for the she-wolf it seemed. “Filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields.”

She led us directly to the huge pyre, darting ahead of us to turn and face her back to the flame. Several wolves raised their eyes from their perch atop the large flat rock that the wood burned under, curiosity visible even though they were no more than silhouettes with flickering bright eyes. All the while the drums, coming from all around us amongst the wolves in perfect synchrony, continued their intoxicating beat.

“I am the voice of the future,” she sang, her paws never once pausing. Now in a dance she slowly backed toward the fire, paws moving in comment to the drums. We slowed when the she-wolf had turned, eyes watching exactly where the she-wolf was moving. “Bring me your peace,” her voice sang out, drawing the both of us closer and closer even as she backed away in her strange swaying dance.

I wanted to call out, to warn her of the fire that she was so happily about to trip her way into, but found I couldn’t. Her paws danced, the music lifting as voices rose to accent her hypnotizing dance. One of the wolves above lifted their head to the sky and gently howled out a tone not unlike a sad violin that only added a delicate rush to the she-wolf’s dance.

“Bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal.” And with that she stepped into the fire, and it was like a switch had been flipped. The fire exploded into light, where before its light had reached high and was by far an impressive flame, now it stretched toward the sky with such ferocity that I was shocked into a halt. And all the while she danced, even as the fire caressed her fur. And she kept singing.

“I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain, I am the voice of your hunger and pain,” her voice rang out, stronger and more enthralling than ever. The flames licked at her, but they did not burn, as if she’d simply stepped into the arms of a gentle lover. And the fire danced with her, swirling and swaying and twisting and flickering into the sky in a display that would surely catch every eye within the camp.

“I am the voice that always is calling you. I am the voice!” Her lips sang to the sky, her voice accented as other wolves joined to add an orchestra to her performance. And as she danced a figure shaped itself from the flames.

It was a woman, tall and curvy. The flames were her dress and hair and flesh, and she danced with arms spread wide as if to greet me happily. Her lips moved with the she-wolf’s, they were one.

“I am the voice of the past that will always be, I am the voice of your hunger and pain.” The world became still, nothing dared to infringe upon the spectacle before us. “I am the voice of the future! I am the voice!” The woman flickered high in the air, head held to the sky like her wolvish partner. They danced together perfectly, and I felt the power behind every word that they sang.

“I am the voice!” Slowly, the she-wolf stopped dancing and the fire calmed with her. “I am the voice!” Her legs bunched under her suddenly, and with an agility unbefitting her size she leapt from the fire and onto the stony ledge behind the fire. Her voice rose to a howl, full and loud. “I am the Voice! I am the Voice!” her song ended their, her words trailing off with the reluctance of seeing a beloved friend have to leave.

In the wake of her song there was only silence, save for the gentle rustle of the wind and the crackle of the fire. She didn’t lower her gaze from the overcast and gently snowing sky for several moments, but when she did her eyes locked directly onto me. Rainbow’s side pressing against me as she landed drew me out of the hypnotized gaze I held on the wolf.

Wolves milled around us, creating an open space around the fire where Rainbow Dash and I stood. And as far as I could see through the snow in the black of the early night, I was met with glowing eyes of wolves. Their coats were all dulled in their winter coats; greys with streaks of brown or the blacks of young wolves. Some even wore clothing; ranging from simple leather collars, to armor made from metal and leather alike, to wrappings of warm furs from animals as numerous as themselves.

I could see tattoos, some covering the entirety of their faces as Greyshadow’s had, others still with hardly more than a line across their foreheads. Fangs pierced through many ears glinted in the firelight, feathers braided into manes fluttered in the wind. And their many eyes glowed in whatever light there was.

Some circled the clearing with heads low, tails out horizontally, eyes never once leaving us. Seeing so many wolves in one place was one thing, having them size me up as these ones were was a different thing entirely. Maybe I’d been right to think that they wouldn’t be so welcoming. But when the she-wolf spoke, they all stopped whatever they were doing instantly to look to her.

“Brothers! Sisters! Loyal wolves of the north,”  she called out, pausing expectantly.

Like a roar of thunder the wolves around us answered, loudly and proudly. “Land of the Evernight! Land of the Midnight Sun!” they bellowed, shaking the very ground with their voices.

I felt more than saw Rainbow’s confused look directed my way, the wolf had spoken in a language she didn’t understand. The fact that it was so similar to Welsh still startled me even after having heard some of it during my meeting with the Geni Llwyd, but this was far more than a coincidence it seemed. I translated for Rainbow in a hushed tone, drawing curious looks from the wolves around us.

It seemed that had been what the she-wolf was waiting for, as she begun again as soon as I’d finished. “Tonight is a glorious night indeed, my Brothers and Sisters!” When she spoke it was loud, though not to the point of yelling, and I was sure that every wolf could hear her. “Songs will be sung about the coming events for hundreds of generations! For tonight we have returned to our beloved homelands, a place we have only known through the stories of our elders and the Empress herself!” The wolves cheered at the mention of their Empress. Howls, barks and yips permeated the air as the wolves shared their excitement with whomever would listen.

I translated briefly to Rainbow what the she-wolf said as the wolves calmed again. Rainbow nodded thoughtfully at my words, I could practically see gears turning behind her eyes as she looked at the wolves around us. The wolves eventually grew still enough that the she-wolf saw fit to speak again.

“But not only this!” she dictated, a smile growing on her face that never revealed her gums but let her teeth shine in the light. “The ancestors, our guardians of fate, have seen it fit to return to us one of our own! Tonight the Blaidd-Ddynwalk amongst us again!” she cheered, bringing back the howls and cheers from wolves with an all new abundance.

The wolves exploded into motion as soon as the she-wolf had paused. Jumping, barking, howling joy to the snow filled sky, and jumping into the clearing around the fire only to jump back out as if they expected one of us to jump up and follow them back into the crowd. It was less a threatening display as it was a playful one, and I wondered if it was fear or some deep-rooted respect that kept them from rushing toward us.

Another wolf on the rock stood, stepping into the light to reveal his own grey coat that was equally tattooed as the she-wolf. He stood beside her and let out a booming bark-howl that effectively calmed the maelstrom around us. The she wolf glanced to him as a thanks and paused to look at me expectantly.

I translated to Rainbow, who nodded back. She seemed somewhat awed by the wolves, same as me then.

“We welcome you as well, feather-pony,” the she-wolf spoke, in surprisingly good Equestrian. There was hardly any of the slippery quality to her words that I’d heard before from Greyshadow or Non. Rainbow jumped as she realized the change in words from the wolf, already having started to turn to me for a translation before realizing. “I am Esyllt, Alpha of llaw miniogi and the Feather, daughter of the Alphas before and master of The Hunt,” she continued, stopping and staring down at Rainbow from her perch.

It took Rainbow a few moments for her to realize that Esyllt was waiting for her to respond. She gave a fleeting glance to me before turned back to the rock and speaking. “I am Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, fastest flyer in Equestria, Weather team leader and-” she gave another look toward me, this time just to take some confidence from my presence, “-and recently, Alpha,” she announced.

The crowd of wolves suddenly exploded into growls and yips of anger, a low undertone of growls made Rainbow turn her gaze from the wolves atop the rock to the ones around us. Another large male on top of the rock jumped up beside Esyllt, a barely contained snarl on his face. But whether it was directed toward Rainbow or the sudden outburst of the wolves I couldn’t tell.

I barked, as loudly and forcefully as I could. Instant silence was my reward. The bark echoed off of the mountains around us three times before I spoke. “I am Coalback,” I started, making my voice as loud and forceful as I could.“Once Douglass, kin-slayer. And since I have come to this place of magic I have hunted dragon, pony and griffon alike. Discord’s brutes and Discord’s jaguar knight have both fallen under my wrath. But just as much as I have slayed, Rainbow Dashhas protected me, and for that she earned her place beside me,” I announced, a low growl beneath every one of my words.

“This is … unexpected,” Esllyt said, apparently the only wolf willing to make her voice heard now. “We had perhaps expected your companion to be an emissary, an act of goodwill from the ponies after having sheltered you,” she said, turning a glance to the other wolves gathered atop the stone. The other wolf only offered what amounted to a noncommittal shrug. “However … you are welcome here, the both of you.”

And then she smiled, and the wolves cheered.

War Party

-War Party-

Esyllt jumped from her perch atop the monolith of rock, the large grey wolf following closely behind her. Four more wolves followed them, all the wolves walking around the fire to stand before Coalback and Rainbow Dash. Each approached slowly, taking a submissive stance with their tails between their legs.

“I be Brac, Alpha of the Feather clan,” the grey wolf said in a light and song-like accented voice, every vowel stretched out and stressed. He slowly crawled his way forward to Coalback’s paws, his tattoos seeming liquid with the movement of his shoulders and neck. They would morph, forming what appeared to be deer’s antlers draped over his shoulders and then black ribbons wrapped intricately around his neck.

“HeavyHelm, Alpha of the Metal clan, submits before ye,” another male spoke, his coat a light brown. A leather sled harness hugged his sides, chains of copper hanging down like drapes and connecting to tools either strapped to the harness or hidden in pouches. He too bore tattoos, but they wove around his paws and legs like vines.

“I cower, humbled, as Freha the Alpha of Metal clan,” the she-wolf beside HeavyHelm said. Her russet and brown patterned fur was laced through with chains of brightly polished copper, precious stones carefully inlaid into them. A gold chain was daintily braided into her fur where a single fang hung. Her tattoos, while smaller than HeavyHelm’s, were similar to his.

“We are Rhiannon and KeenEdge,” the last black coated she-wolf said, her head little more than bowed. She and her darkly colored mate wore only a wrapping of white fox skins, which Rainbow did her best to ignore. Their ears each bore four fangs pierced through them, and yet more hung from leather thongs around their necks. “Warrior Alphas of Claw clan stand before you, but our pride holds our knees firm,” she finished, both of their heads bowing slightly further.

Coalback’s lip curled up into a silent snarl, but he made no move toward the Claw Alphas.

“Please, honored guests of our pasts, allow us to feed you and dress you in our finest pelts. Tonight I guarantee your warmth, health, and full stomachs!” Esyllt said, her tail slowly starting to wag. She walked her paws out from under her chest, spreading them wide in front of Coalback. A chorus of happy yips and howls of approval roared up from the wolves around them, making Rainbow jump to attention and flinch against Coalback.

It was a nerve wracking sound to hear so many predators all around her, even if the sight wasn’t enough to make her antsy as it were.

“As much as we would be honored to accept your offer, Alpha Esyllt, we simply do not have time to waste. March back with us, fight with us. Canterlot needs the help of the wolves,” Coalback said, leaning reassuringly against Rainbow. She was unable to stop her wings shuddering, both from her nervousness and the slight flutter in her chest - and other places - that she got when Coalback pressed against her side.

“As honored as our warriors would be to fight alongside you, Blaidd-ddyn,” Rhiannon said with a frown, for once showing a hint of emotion in her splayed ears. “It is with great shame that we must refuse, acts of war outside of the Clans is forbidden under penalty of terrible death by the claws of the Empress herself,” she recited, bowing her head sourly.

“Then let us speak with the Empress; it is extremely urgent.” Coalback said, frowning slightly.

“I am afraid that is impossible, fy Argylwydd,” Esyllt said sadly, her paws retreating back under her. “The Empress meditates, and will not return until the moon has gone on high and we have sung our joy until it has turned to grief. Then she will speak with you,” she said apologetically, turning her eyes away from them. The wolves suddenly went silent, waiting with baited breath for Coalback’s response.

“An army is coming, we need reinforcements!” Rainbow growled out, taking Esyllt by surprise. “We can’t wait another minute, we’ve already wasted too much time!” she said angrily, digging a furrow in the packed snow with a hoof.

“It is impossible, fy Arglwyddes,” Esyllt said again, shaking her head. “She is beyond our reach, climbed high to the skies where not even our howls can reach her,” she explained, pressing her nose to the ice.

“Then I’ll get her,” Rainbow said, shrugging away from Coalback and spreading her wings wide so that every wolf could see her plumage. Her wings ached to fly hard; it felt to her like it had been ages since she’d last pushed her wings to their limit. At this point she was ready to take off for anything. And this was exactly what she’d been waiting for. Time to show these guys what a realflyer can do, she thought to herself.

Without waiting for any of the Alphas to protest, she launched herself into the air. She rose quickly, approaching dimly lit cloud’s bellies that had sunk into the hollow of the valley in the cold air. She heard a shout below her, but whether it was one of the wolves or Coalback she couldn’t tell.

Then, again she heard voices, they rose as one and shook the clouds: “CYFFWRDD YR AWYR, RAINBOW DASH!” the wolves below cheered, their voices deafening at even the distance that Rainbow had put between them. “YNA AROS A WLEDDA  GYDA NI!” They yelled, a great cheer that Rainbow couldn’t understand. But it was definitely a cheer, and that she could be happy with.

The clouds barely resisted her entry, a gentle chill the only change she truly noticed. The clouds were dense and slightly turbulent, but nothing she couldn’t handle. And by the time she emerged from the young cumulous she could feel the air thinning remarkably.

As the clouds fell away, they revealed the dark afternoon sky and its bountiful canvas of stars. But a strange new artist had changed what she was familiar with. Most noticeably, the long feathery strokes of ghostly green and blue. But the stars and moon had changed too; the familiar silver disk was absent. An unfamiliar amount of stars spattered behind the ever shifting strokes of ghostly colors.

It took her breath away. She’d never seen so many stars and shapes in the night sky before. But far above, almost farther than she could see, there was a shape silhouetted against the arctic lights. She kept pressing upward, and with every moment the shape grew in detail. After only a few moments she could make out a pair of wings spreading wide from whoever was flying up there.

The Empress, Rainbow realized, doubling her efforts in her climb. The shape grew and grew, she could make out something spiking from the top of her head. Perhaps it was her tiara, the crown that Merletta had told them about.

But with each stroke of her wings, the air gave her less and less acceleration. With every meter she climbed, the air held less of her weight. It was a frustrating situation, one she’d been in before. Climbing high was never easy, her wings were more made for speed than power, which lowered her flight ceiling considerably. She simply hoped that her initial speed might make up for it.

It wasn’t long before she was short of breath and was beating her wings as fast as she could make them move to keep her speed from falling away. The silhouette grew closer and Rainbow could finally truly understand who she was looking at when the Empress’s profile became clear.

Her wolfish features glowed in the ghostly light, huge hawk’s wings beat lazily at the air. A spiky ringlet adorned her head, and above that a set of sharp spiny antlers scraped the sky. The aurora flowed around the Empress like it was made from silk and water, it hugged her sides and caressed her wings and moved on.

And she was too high. Below, Rainbow could make out a ring of mountains, indistinct and jagged. Rainbow could see more of the moon now, the silver disk skirting the bowing horizon line in a slightly steeper arc. The air up here was too thin, Rainbow could hardly keep her breath let alone her speed.

Finally she felt herself reach that point of no return. Her stomach did a flip as she went weightless, her momentum halted. With one last effort she took a deep breath and screamed toward the Empress with as much volume as she could muster. “COME DOWN!” she yelled, her voice cracking harshly from the altitude and the breathlessness that plagued her now.

But the Empress heard her! Rainbow could see it. Slowly, almost painfully so, the Empress’s eyes threw back the light in her direction. And Rainbow could almost see a look of surprise - or maybe it was some sort of detached interest in the mortal that had attempted to reach her. The Empress’s mouth opened, words on her lips, but Rainbow couldn’t hear her past the winds.

Rainbow couldn’t tell if darkness had been pushing in on the edges of her vision or if the stars were going out. Why couldn’t she breath? Wind beat a her back and buffeted her wings, but she didn’t feel that pull on her tail that meant she was flying fast. She was falling. The realization came slowly, and she couldn’t tell how long she’d been falling like that.

Something ghostly green fluttered in front of her: a hoof - no, a hand, reaching out to her. She only knew one being with hands like that, and in her oxygen starved state she reached out to feel Coalback’s touch reflexively.

The fingers wrapped around her hoof, but she didn’t feel the calloused skin or the iron bands of muscle and tendon that she knew made them work. Air filled her lungs again and her eyes opened wide. She’d been mistaken, clarity returning gradually to her. It wasn’t Coalback reaching for her, but instead a mass of swirling aurora was falling with her, a hand just forming from the tendrils and ribbons.

A face much smoother and with features Rainbow could only describe as fairer than Coalback’s stared back at her through the lights, a determined look reflecting one she often wore. She could see the clothes now on this stranger, the world still moving all too slowly with her thoughts as clear as they were. She - for now Rainbow realized that that was what the apparition was - wore metal like a second skin. A confident smile, a wink, and then the specter reached forward with her other hand. The ghostly fingers dexterously wove something into a lock of her mane, but Rainbow couldn’t tear her eyes away from the spirit’s to look at it.

Her lips moved, forming words she couldn’t understand, and then she drifted apart. “Wait,” Rainbow tried to say, “what are you …” Her voice gave out, perhaps like the ghosts she was too exhausted to be heard over the wind rushing past her ears. A sad smile overcame the spirit before she fell away completely, like she knew more than Rainbow did and felt sorry for not sharing it with her before she had to leave.

The last thing Rainbow heard before her short breath robbed the light from her eyes again were thick feathers beating heavily at the air. Cool mist beat at her wings and heavy hooves wrapped around her.

        “Alright, now let’s see here,” Clean Cut mumbled under his breath. “Bring the light closer, Lost,” he said, waving over his shoulder to the changeling.

She took shaky steps toward the looming bookcases in front of them, the dim lantern in her mouth casting its yellow light over the ancient spines and scrolls stuffed into its shelves. “What is this place again?” she asked, eyeing the encroaching darkness all around them. “And why is it so dark?” she asked, knowing the only reason she couldn’t see was because there was literally no light in this place.

“These are the archives,” Clean Cut said wistfully, “here we keep every single bit of recorded information and history. Some of the things in here are older than the Princesses themselves. The darkness is to protect those; light can damage them- Aha!” he said, his horn lighting up as he found what he was looking for.

A stack of wide paper almost the same size as Clean Cut descended in front of him. “There she is!” he said with satisfaction, turning down the aisle of bookshelves. Lost Shadow jumped to follow, catching up with the stallion in an intersection. The thick tome shuddered as Clean Cut set it down on top of a stout reading pedestal. “This,” he said, turning toward Lost to explain, “is an in depth study of changelings and their magic, the only one in existence among ponies. I wrote it myself,” he added with a grin. “Now if I remember right, I was actually present for the trial of the Queen preceding yours,” he said, grumbling under his breath as he looked through the pages.

“There was a Queen before Chrysalis?” Lost said in surprise, her blue eyes going wide.

“Of course, and many more before her. Perhaps Chrysalis wiped out all evidence amongst your kind of the previous rulers to ensure her position and power. From what I do know she’s very totalitarian, it would make sense if- Here it is!” he said, cutting himself off and striking the page in front of him with a hoof. His eyes darted over the page, leaving Lost in a stunned silence.

She waited silently for him to start talking again, but it seemed like after awhile he became lost in his own notes. The wick inside the lantern flickered and burned somewhat dimmer before Clean Cut tore himself away from his own scribbles. “It’s worse than I remember it; I had forgotten just how clever Arachne had been,” he said thoughtfully, his hoof coming up to rub at his chin.

“Who?”

“Arachne was the Queen before Chrysalis, and Pupae had been the Queen before that,” he started, looking back at the text with a frown. “Pupae was by far the more powerful changeling, as would be expected since Arachne was only a worker. However, Pupae was a selfish ruler, all about food and riches for her and nopony else. Arachne wanted her place - for ... whatever her reasons were-” he said with a dismissive wave of his hoof “-so she found a way to cut herself off from the hive and left. She hid herself among the ponies and enlisted in our military. What she did was she found a way to not only imitate us, but replicate our experiences down to the level of muscle memory. This made her an able warrior when she returned to take the throne through deadly combat with Pupae.”

“Woah, okay,” Lost said, surprised at the ferocity with which her leaders had been decided. “Why do I need to know this though? How does it help us?” she asked, staring at his indecipherable scribbles laid out in front of them.

“Because you’re going to do the same thing,” he said matter-of-factly.

“WHAT?! No! I can’t fight the Queen!” Lost panicked, her wings buzzing in fear. She peered into the darkness with a newly kindled fear, she half expected the drones to come for her right this second.

“But you can, Arachne did it and she was no more than you are when she rose to power. I can teach you how to use it too,” he said, gathering up the book in his magic. His horn flashed and several papers appeared from the glow. “Come with me, we don’t have much time and there are a lot of things we need to get done.” he said quickly, returning his book to its space in the shelves as they passed it on the way toward the exit.

“But how does that help?” Lost said, her voice strained with fear and her wings buzzing against her back.

“You kill the Queen and you can take her place,” Clean Cut said simply, continuing in his fast paced walk.

“But if I take her place, how do you know I won’t end up just like her?” Lost asked. The idea of taking a leader’s role in her hive’s future was not one she enjoyed toying with. And she wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to avoid the allure of absolute power if she did take the place of Chrysalis.

“You will, eventually,” Clean Cut said sadly, slowing his pace ever so slightly. “But I think your concern over this is a good sign: The power of the Queen is a corrupting factor; however Coalback has looked at you and determined that you actually care about your hive, not the power itself. It may counteract it.”

They walked silently through the archive’s endless labyrinthian halls, climbing stairs and ducking through runic arches that hummed with arcane power. When they reached the entrance, where the statues of huge pony soldiers stood guarding the extremely heavy door, Lost had come to a decision. She stopped at the doorway, squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath.

 When Clean Cut turned a curious eye to the small Changeling, she looked him in the eye, whispering, “Tell me what to do.”

Clean Cut looked back at her with a smile, deep emotion hidden under the laugh lines on his muzzle. “First, you’ll need Coalback’s armour.”

It was time to sign away the soul Coalback had freed.

The observation tower had been hastily converted into a war room. Maps and papers hung around every available space and the telescope itself had been pushed to one side and walled off with chalkboards. Ponies bustled about the room; writing and rewriting numbers on the boards, taking notes for their superiors, or taking down messages to be sent out to officers in the field. Everything centered around the map table that illustrated the mountain ranges, something that hadn’t been much more than a museum piece for hundreds of years.

“Hath the reconnaissance team returned?” Luna asked evenly, eying the maps and lists before her. Small figurines representing numbers of troops were positioned around the representation of the Canterhorn. Red ink outlined fortified positioned along the only viable paths for an army to march up the mountain.

“They should be returning any minute now, Your Majesty,” Spitfire, the captain of Equestria’s only readily trained air force, replied. She manipulated a few figurines constructed from clouds to represent air forces, switching out a sparrow for an owl. Beside her Soarin, Spitfire’s second in command, shifted a sculpted airship further south of the mountain with a wingtip as he consulted a paper in his hoof.

Luna sighed inwardly, gazing out over the carved map that was their table. Canterhorn, the tallest mountain in the Unicorn Range, was a uniquely fortifiable position. An invading army would be hard pressed to make it up the mountain purely on hoof, and once they got there, there was little space for them to press forward. Countering that was the amount of airspace that Canterlot was vulnerable to on its perch, which called for the large air and anti-air forces that Canterlot had once had.

However, centuries of peace had seen to the reduction of the amount of Airships available for non-Pegasi soldiers. The number of Arc-Cannons that would be in working condition to launch their ‘canned lightning’ at approaching enemies would be low as well, their present conditions still questionable.

For the longest time the Guard had mostly been for show rather  than actual purpose, much to the chagrin of the Lunar Monarch. She looked distastefully at the numbers presented to her. If her assumptions were correct, this would be no small band of terrorists that had drummed themselves up overnight. From what she’d seen at the edge of the horizon, Discord had raised an army that could easily be compared to all of Equestria’s standing forces put together.

She could be thankful that at least their Pegasus troops had remained battle-ready despite the peaceful reign of her sister. For once she was glad that the Pegasi were so war centered in their culture and past. But an air-force alone could not win against the creatures Discord had summoned.

While the “Brutes” - as some of the officers before her had dubbed them - had no capabilities of flight, she knew them too well to say that they had an upper hoof in this. Old memories were shaken loose; she remembered the wild way that they fought, like caged animals when they sensed they were at even the slightest disadvantage; she remembered their deadly strength, beating through lines of shields with nothing more than their blunt claws, their devout destruction.

One was dangerous. A pack could pillage a city and beat it to the ground in less than a day. An army would be nigh unstoppable. It had taken a forbidden spell, at the cost of a hundred thousand lives, to destroy the last army that had marched across the earth under a chaos god’s command.

A voice roused her from her inner turmoil. “Hmm? Please excuse Us, it seems that We have lost Ourself in thought,” she apologized, turning toward the acting Captain of the Guard. Studded Mace had taken Shining Armor’s place shortly after the previous captain’s wedding, a capable mare that he had picked himself.

“I asked if you would like to review the militia numbers we received a few moments ago, Majesty,” she said calmly, though Luna was sure she saw an amount of hesitation in her when she said “militia.”

“Verily Captain. How goes the Draft?” Luna asked, motioning for her to continue.

“To review, our standing ground forces number at about two thousand, seven hundred and sixty trained soldiers: Two thirds Unicorns, and one third Earth pony. Spitfire’s Wonderbolts number in only forty, but their standard forces number in eight hundred and ninety. This brings our active troops to roughly three thousand, six hundred and fifty trained soldiers,” she recited, watching carefully as Luna nodded with a frown. “So far, we have put four hundred volunteers through basic training and are receiving more volunteers by the hour. It is estimated that in two days we can nearly double our numbers if the current trend continues, taking into account a portion of the population is either unwilling or unable to fight.”

A thin unicorn colt rushed into the room, offering a hasty bow before floating a tattered parchment to Spitfire. With his charge delivered, the porter ran back out of the room to whatever tasks his superiors had assigned him.

“My recon team just got back a few seconds ago, ma’am,” Spitfire put in, lifting a curled piece of parchment. She grimaced and Luna could hear the pegasi’s wings flutter nervously against her sides but her voice didn’t waiver. “According to estimates based on the density of their marching pattern, it is assumed that Discord’s army is marching with twelve thousand, nine hundred in total numbers. In order of largest number to fewest this consists of; Changelings and a large mobile platform where it is assumed that Chrysalis commands from; the green Brutes, taking up near half of their numbers; a small band of griffons, but no more than fifty; as well as various other creatures that appear to have either been lured to them from the Everfree or to have marched from beyond the Badlands with them. No more large cats were spotted among the ranks,” Spitfire said, setting down the paper almost as soon as she was finished so she would not have to look at the damning numbers again.

The entire war room turned towards Luna, waiting for her response. Soldiers, Advisers, two Captains and their second-in-commands all stared at her in silent horror, the numbers had never been more out of their favor. Luna did not meet their eyes, to meet their eyes was to invite their fear to become real. Instead she allowed herself a thoughtful and restrained hum, unintentionally letting the moment drag out too long as her thoughts ran wild.

It had been a scant few hours since she’d sent Coalback and Rainbow to attempt to call aid from the wolves; she hadn’t quite been able to comprehend exactly how much they were in need of it until now. There had been no sighting of the wolves as they’d passed, only their mournful singing which she knew would reveal nothing of their actual numbers. But assuming even just one thousand of the wolves were able to come to their aid, it might be enough to level the odds.

It was not much to go on, but if her memory held true to today then the wolves would be a turning factor. Even when the Angels of the North had fallen, the wolves remained extremely capable warriors and strategists. They were not only adept in the formal warfare of flags and lines to charge through, but their guerrilla tactics were the things of nightmares. They had had a distinct talent for breaking through lines and splitting apart charging forces into more manageable pockets of fighting. She hoped that this had not changed.

Warfare was the wolves’ plaything.

And this was all assuming that they would come to the ponies’ aid, the wolves were a strange sort when it came to alliances. She couldn’t breath a word of doubt to them, else fear would spread through the ranks. “With the wolves fighting beside us, we have a chance,” Luna said dryly, not looking toward the ponies around the table.

“Permission to speak freely, your Majesty?” Studded Mace asked suddenly, breaking the gloom with the conviction in her voice. Luna nodded. “I’m not sure that we can trust help from predators, and a promise from this ‘Coalback’ - or whatever his name is - seems unwisely taken.”

“Careful, little pony,” Luna growled, low.

But Studded Mace took no notice, continuing, “We hold the high ground. A siege on Canterlot has never been successful in the thousand years it has called the Canterhorn home. The only way a force has ever come close to overcoming our forces was through trickery and sudden surprise attack from inside our walls. Discord’s brood stands no chance-”

“Still thy tongue, blind-pony!” Luna interrupted, she stood from her seat forcefully and summoned a threatening glow to her horn. “Think not that your inexperienced police force and hastily trained aristocrats will be enough to defend this city. Of all the ponies you should doubt, it is not Our emissary! Be thankful there is even the slightest hope from the Wolves to come to our aid!” she bellowed, coming just to the edge of a thunderous volume. If nothing else, all the ponies at the war table were stunned to silence by her outburst. “Unless you speak of our strategy in defense, then from this moment forward you shall keep thy thoughts from thy tongue.”

“Yes, Majesty,” was the Captain’s immediate, meek reply.

Satisfied that the Guard’s Captain had been put in her proper place, Luna took her seat again. She took only a moment to compose herself, gathering her frustration and anger into a tight ball to be locked away. She would deal with her frustrations at a less critical time, or a more useful one.

“Let us once more review the possible avenues of attack from the base of the mountain, we can let nothing go unconsidered,” she said, shockingly calm in the wake of her previous fury. The others shuffled their papers returning to their duties as quickly as they could to avoid any more of Luna’s harsh words.

When asking after the wolf pack that they’d come in with, Twilight had been directed to a part of the castle close to the observation tower. But she paused when she found their door slightly ajar, and a mournful hum trailed out from within.

She gently pushed open the door and entered the gold trimmed suite, hypnotized by the songlike sound. There was a sacred feel to the room, and Twilight did her best not to disturb the humming with her hoofsteps. She followed the sound past the common room and toward another open door. She could hear water inside, bouncing off the tiled walls of what could only be the bathroom.

She peeked inside, a tiny voice reminding her that she was very much intruding on the wolves’ privacy. The wolves were all inside the large marble bath sunk into the floor, the water lowered so that the puppies could splash around on the bottom. Greyshadow had twisted himself around to groom his flanks near the steps into the tub, humming his song as he worked his tongue and teeth over his fur.

Non lay against on her side at the far end, her head and injured leg propped up above the water. She watched the puppies fondly, nodding sleepily along with Greyshadow. It only took a moment for the she-wolf to notice Twilight through the small space in the door. Twilight made to move away, fully realizing her shameful actions now that she’d been discovered.

But Non motioned with her head, inviting Twilight in with a welcoming, soft growl. Tentatively, Twilight pushed through the door and walked to the side of the bath by Non. “I’m sorry,” she whispered quickly, “I just wanted to check on you guys, we never got the chance to talk again after we got here.”

“Don’t apologize,” Non deplored quietly, her voice unconsciously following the rhythm of Greyshadow’s humming. “We heard the battle in the castle. You bear scars from it!” Non said as she spotted the gauze pad taped to Twilight’s cheek, attempting to twist around.

“It’s not bad, just a scratch,” Twilight assured, laying a hoof on Non’s flank to keep her from standing.

Non settled back onto her side, but smiled at Twilight. “Spoken like a warrior,” Non teased, her tail wagging weakly against the side of the tub. “Don’t deny it,” Non said quickly when she spotted the frown on Twilight’s face, “I think you fight nobly when your friends are in danger,” she growled softly, once more turning to look over toward Greyshadow and the puppies wrestling with his paws.

“What about you? How’s your leg, Non?” Twilight asked after a moment, taking in the neat wrap keeping Non’s back leg stiff.

“A pony doctor changed the bandages and waved his horn at it. I will be fine,” Non assured Twilight, turning her eyes to her again. “Come into the water, Twilight. One of the braver warriors came in and made the water stay hot for as long as we liked,” she said, idly sniffing at Twilight’s closest hoof.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, but Non’s gentle encouragement got her to lower herself into the shallow water beside her. She could feel the heat being radiated magically from the floor, a simple heating spell that drew from sigils built into the palace itself. “Do many wolves like taking baths?” Twilight asked, only to gain a confused glance from Non. She’d knew most dogs didn’t like them, if Winona was any example, but it seemed that these wolves liked it.

“Wolves do not like deep water perhaps, but a shallow creek or hot spring is not always unwelcome,” Non explained, shaking her head. She refrained from explaining the belief that a drowned wolf would never find rest in death. It was not the time for such thoughts.

Greyshadow’s humming grew as he found the climax of his song before sinking back down to the low humming it had been before. Words began to form under his humming, just barely quiet enough that they could not be understood.

“What song is this?” Twilight asked Non quietly, once again afraid of breaking the peaceful atmosphere it created.

“In Equestrian, it is called Mist Covered Mountains,” Non said sleepily, beginning once more to nod along with the song.

Greyshadow opened an eye from his twisted position, an edge of a sad smile on his face as he finished grooming that flank.

“Far over,” he slowly sang, drawing out every word with an underlying growl that added a deep timber to his voice, “the misty mountains cold.To dungeons deep, and castles old,” he hummed, his voice drawing the splashing puppies to a halt. Non followed the song with her own throaty hum, sleepily laying her head against the side of the tub.

“You can sing it in Equestian?” Twilight asked Non quietly, trying not to break the song as it started.

Non nodded, whispering quickly, “Greyshadow and I almost know more Equestrian than we do Wolsh.”

“We must away,” he sang, suddenly lifting his head from the water and toward the ceiling, “ere break of day.” His voice flew across the room, bouncing off the tiled walls hauntingly. “To find our long forgotten home.” Greyshadow seemed to gain a certain gravitas with his singing, suddenly much older and wiser than his five years.

Twilight could feel their song overtaking her, a much more gentle and relaxing feeling than when she was swept up the moment back home. Combined with the steaming water, it was like slipping into a very welcome sleep. And she felt her thoughts floating along with the cadence of the song.

“The pines were roaring, on the height. The winds were moaning, in the night.”

Twilight could picture the mountains now, huge and swooping, buried in snow and blankets of wild clouds. Their stony peaks looked as if they’d burst through the trees and snow one day, somehow new and older than time all at once.

“The war was red, it flaming spread; the trees like torches blazed with light.”

Suddenly Twilight’s mind’s eye shifted, she looking at a wall of trees. Firelight danced ominously within, boots struck the earth in a steady drum. She was as entranced by the flames as she was the song. She could feel something heavy draped over her shoulders. There was a throbbing ache on her forehead as well, one that strangely filled her heart with stony determination that she couldn’t place.

She couldn’t see the glint of ghostly green light playing behind Greyshadow’s eyes. “Ashen mountain, beneath the moon. The words unspoken, we’ll be there soon.For home a song that echoes on. And all who find us will know the tune,”

Her vision shifted suddenly, a mountain range implanting itself on the back of her eyelids. Behind it In that moment, she could have redrawn every crag, rise, and crack in that dimly outlined shape. She could feel the importance of this place, even though she knew for a fact she’d never been there in her entire life.

“Far over  the misty mountains high. From carvings steep, and stone gardens nigh. We must retreat come fall of night. To hide our long past crime,” Greyshadow sang sadly, Twilight’s vision of mountains and fire fading. But once they were gone, a fog rolled over them in her mind and they were gone again.

Suddenly he stopped, his voice catching in his throat. His body stiffened with a nearly audible snap, waves of water rippled out from around him. His eyes locked with Twilight’s in a gaze that burned with so much intensity that she found herself stuck hard between looking for something to appear inside and shrinking away.

Non stiffened as well, suddenly very awake. “What is it, Greyshadow?” she growled, beginning to rise from her seat.

“The lights …” he whined, his gaze turning away from Twilight’s to look blankly at one of the walls. “They speak suddenly- Screaming! The Empress howls with fury to keep them at bay,” Greyshadow whimpered.

Non’s glance toward Twilight lasted only the blink of an eye, but she saw it all the same. “What are they saying?” Non asked urgently.

“The same thing,” Greyshadow mumbled, beginning to recite prayers in Wolsh before a bark from Non brought him back. He took a few breaths to calm himself, apologizing with a whine that was also cut short by a snarl from Non. “The last of the First,” he whispered, as if afraid to speak the words.

Non was shocked into silence, and Twilight let the silence that formed stretch on waiting for an explanation. “Is that bad?” she finally asked when neither of them went on.

Non shook her head, but it was Greyshadow who spoke. “They are talking about the Lord Coalback. But he does not want their interest; to distract the dead from their eternal dance is to invite ruin into your pack,” he said, “to invite the dead back to the earth is to invite great peril.”

Thin Ice

-Thin Ice-

“Something … is very wrong,” Luna said under her breath, the fog from her mouth only acted as a period to her statement. She stared out toward the approaching smoke of the advancing army, barely noticing the icy wind. She’d had the Royal Tower - one of the highest in the entire castle - sealed off hours ago, nopony would set hoof inside without her express and renewed permission.

“Well, that’s a bit nonspecific,” Clean Cut said from beside her, mumbling past his thick scarf and shivering against the cold bite of the wind. He gave her a curious look. “Is it the column of twisting, black smoke that’s blotting out your night sky? Maybe the army of horrible creatures laying siege on the mountain? What about the fact that one of the only creatures actually able to wound a being such as Discord is miles away from here and you and your sister are at only fractions of your full strength?” he rattled off before he could stop himself.

“The horizon,” Luna said sharply, her patience waning. She didn’t want to wait for him to attempt to apologize for the angry quip. “Does it appear different to you?” she asked him.

Clean Cut’s eyes returned to where the stars sat above the black line of the horizon, and narrowed. “I don’t think it’s the horizon,” he muttered, leaning forward over the railing. His eyes widened as he caught sight of what Luna had. “It’s the Canterhorn! The foothills are higher- or the castle has dropped,” he said, aghast.

“Then I was not mistaken,” Luna said gravely, her eyes unmoving from the fluttering ice in the air and the black smoke bearing down beyond. “Discord’s power may not be as limited in his single form as we had assumed. He is bending space to create a ramp right to our gates.” She grimaced, Discord was changing the game before it even started. “He’s biding his time, that’s why the army is moving so slowly.”

“You mean he can still …” he left his statement hanging, Luna could remember the terrors Discord had summoned on her own. The earth had shifted and broken, the world was chaotic and completely unpredictable. Discord had laid waste to not only mortal lives but the earth itself with great abandon.

“I do not believe he is at his full power, if he is changing it now it is because he cannot do it quickly enough to matter during the battle or dramatically enough to cripple us. The wards in the walls will hold against his magic for some time, but he still holds his unique advantage.” She shivered, the scars of her flesh had long faded but she remembered the pain and the terror.

“You never explained to me what Discord … is,” Clean Cut remarked, staring with a newfound fear at the crawling fires approaching. He shivered, but now it wasn’t from the cold.

“You are familiar with what I am,” Luna started.

“The manifestation of an aspect of existence and-or sentience given flesh and blood by the MotherStone after the Fall to reinstate the harmony and balance of the world after the attack of the Fury God and subsequent fall of humanity,” Clean Cut recited automatically.

“Indeed,” Luna nodded, “but that is only half of the truth. This world, like my sisters and I, is the delicate child of my Mother. She broke away from Her existence - a place where even Nothing fails to exist - to become more than She was ever expected to be. But Her own … siblings resented this break in their status quo,” she said, finding it difficult to relate the intricate workings of the universe in a way that a mortal would be able to understand when even she was not fully capable of understanding in her own capacity. “The Fury God and Discord are both as my Mother is. But because they both attempted to enter Her demesne and bring Her back out, by right She was more powerful than them and they were forced to confinement of Her rules.

“But Discord has a peculiar ability to twist and bend Her rules, and I believe he is far more powerful than the first one who tried to take Her,” Luna said. She gave a hard glare to Clean Cut, careful to see his reaction.

Clean Cut frowned, carefully mulling over the rather rushed explanation. “So … Discord is just cutting through the loopholes?” he asked, still surprised when Luna nodded.

“Much like yourself,” she said grimly, making Clean Cut flinch.

His ears shot skyward suddenly and he turned quickly back to the Lunar Monarch. “So if somepony closed some of those loopholes, Discord would lose his power to where it applied!” he asked in a rush. Luna began to reply with a surprised affirmative but Clean Cut was already on a roll. “Could that be what Coalback did when he made Discord declare his name? He must have! He created a constant that Discord would be forced to follow, and if Discord stops being Discord, then he’ll stop existing, so he’s forced to remain in one form or else he’ll simply cease to be able to interact with the physical realm! And even if Coalback were to drift from the constant, Discord would have no way of knowing until he gets back, so he can’t risk breaking that constant either! It’s brilliant!” Clean Cut rambled on, getting louder as he spoke. But again he froze in a moment of epiphany. “I have an idea, but I’ll need to work fast! Oh, I’m going to need a lot of Praecantatio Potions!” he yelled in alarm as he turned to leave the balcony.

He paused at the frosted shut door as he pulled it open forcefully. “Thank you, my Princess!” He bowed his head in a twitch as he stepped back through the tower and began running back to his laboratory.

Luna allowed herself a small smile as she began to return to the warm tower’s interior, one that quickly fell when the moment passed. She closed the door tightly behind her, using her hooves rather than her horn and grunting with the effort of sealing it through the ice around its frame. She stood for a long moment there, and for awhile was unsure if she was watching the smoke and wind outside or her reflection in the glass.

“Your Majesty,” the Commander of the Guard said, breaking her trance. “You said there was a complication in our defenses? Why did Doctor Cut seem so disturbed?” Studded Mace asked cautiously, wary of Luna’s previous warnings.

“It seems our advantage is being mitigated, soon we will no longer hold the high ground,” Luna said, quick to raise a hoof to stop any of the War Council’s questions. “Discord is weakened but not sterilized, his power has been slowed and it may take the rest of the night before the effects are noticeable upon the Canterhorn, but by the time he is done We believe his forces will be able to march directly up to the walls.”

The war council shared pale looks, any plans they made now would be totally on guesswork. It was not a position they favoured at all, so much so they knew that it could spell disaster in the strategy room as well as among the troops.

Their shared terror was cut short however when the adjoining room’s doors slammed open. Standing on shaky legs and breathing raggedly past her matted pink mane, Celestia staggered into the room. Luna rushed to her, ready to lend aid to her crippled sister.

When Celestia caught her breath, holding tightly to Luna with a single feeble wing, she eyed the War Council with a withering glare. She said only four words, and they could not tell if they meant salvation or damnation:

“Get me my Armour.”

Lost Shadow fought to keep her breathing in check as she was drilled by the Sergeant that Clean Cut had left her with. She found it difficult to move in a way she was comfortable with in Coalback’s shape as Clean Cut had instructed her to do, his limbs were far longer and more muscled than she was ever used to and it made her much slower and clumsier than he had ever been.

Sergeant Sharp Feather didn’t seem to care about that though as he knocked ‘Coalback’ onto ‘his’ rear-end for the fifteenth time in just as many minutes. The leanly muscled pegasus guard obviously held a grudge against the wolf, and subsequently the pony it had become, for making the Guard look bad.

Lost shadow groaned, sitting back up as the Sergeant smiled to himself. She was starting to get extremely angry, not just at the Sergeant but at Clean Cut as well, and even Coalback simply for the fact that he was so ungainly a form to take. She felt a growl come unbidden into her throat and a thought that normally would have surprised her came rushing to the front of her mind: She wanted to knock that smile off of the Sergeant’s face, and she knew how to do it.

She got back up, taking the ready stance she’d been taught by the Sergeant. He jumped forward, but strangely the movement seemed slower than before to Lost. She already knew how he was going to attack, which was strange since the Sergeant seemed to have been enjoying himself by throwing as many different methods of knocking her down as he could think of. It was a movement that happened quickly, so much so she wasn’t sure she was the one who’d done it.

‘Coalback’s muscles stiffened and bulged, suddenly with a weight and strength that should have been Lost’s were now from him. The Sergeant’s hoof was knocked aside, and in the same motion both of Lost’s hooves shot forward into his throat. The blow knocked the grey furred pegasus back several feet, choking on his collapsed larynx. Lost was so shocked by the sudden realization of what she had just done that her disguise flickered and failed weakly.

Medics rushed to the Sergeant’s sides, rushing him off of the mat and getting him breathing again. A Thestral Unicorn Guard stepped forward from the side, his horn glowing momentarily as he magically transmitted his message: “We’ve had a breakthrough, Doctor. We will make sure she is fully prepared.”

Lost looked to the Thestral, fear etched onto her fanged face. “Wh- What did I do?” she asked fearfully, shrinking into herself.

The Thestral smirked, a tilt of his head summoning several others from the shadows in the corners of the rooms. “You seem a natural, now we work on how quickly you can empathize,” he said, turning his glowing eyes to the nearest Thestral Guard. “When they attack, you imitate. Use their own strengths and find their weaknesses as such, we will continue without stop until you are proficient at this practice.”

A porter approached the mat, a large jar in his magical grip. He set down the glass container carefully, turning the distinct label toward Lost. The star tipped wand was easily recognisable to her. “I-is that … Praecantatio?” she asked, nearly drooling.

“We have been instructed to … refresh you with this should you become too exhausted to continue. It is my understanding that Changelings require a steady diet of magical energy to remain healthy, magic doesn’t get much purer than a Praecantatio potion,” the Thestral said, his smile growing. “We can ensure you are well prepared for the battle beforehand, and in return for your loyalty to our cause, we will supply you and any other Changelings allied to you for so long as our alliance holds.”

It was an extremely tempting offer, especially to Lost. If Clean Cut was right, then she’d have a huge assortment of hungry Changelings following her. And the promise of so much ‘food’ sitting just in front of her was too much to say no to. She nodded, taking her ready stance again and ignoring the rumbling in her stomach.

“Ready,” the Unicorn Thestral called loudly, answered by a resounding “HYAH!” by every other Thestral in the room. The Thestrals were surrounding her now, all in their own ready positions. “Strike!”

Music filled the air, echoing strangely through Rainbow’s ears. She couldn’t tell if she was too drunk or concussed, but she was definitely buzzed enough not to care which it was. She danced in a haze, spiraling in circles with the wolves around the fire.

The wolven instruments flashed by when she passed the pack playing them. Copper, brass, wood and bone. Their shapes were strange, some with flat shaped mouths and others with strings that bowed out dramatically. They seemed strangely fond of the buzzing trumpets and warbling clarinets, involving the strange sounds in ways that Rainbow had never heard before.

The night blurred by now that she was on the ground, and she found herself growing hotter despite the Northern cold. She wasn’t dancing with Coalback for every song or chant, but when she did she could hardly control herself: She’d already dragged him by his hooves to the side or out of sight several times. The dancing went on for most of the night, but as the moon reached its apex over the mountains in the South.

Soon the dancing turned into storytelling through costume and play between the wolves, tales of great men and wolves passed in front of the bonfire: The Sun Swallower, a legend about a wolf that grew too complacent with his hunger and tried to swallow the sun only for it to swallow him; Bowan the Builder, an origin story from before wolves ever knew how to speak or dance; The Crow and the Fox, a story Rainbow was surprisingly familiar with from some old fable she heard as a filly.

All through the stories, the many wolf packs who came to tell them offered tributes of meat and fur and pieces of art to the Alphas of their Clans. And then they would offer other gifts to Coalback, and then to Rainbow. She found it surprising they were sharing gifts with them at all, in some sleepy part of her brain she’d thought that the wolves would have wanted the both of them to somehow prove themselves.

But they didn’t just accept them into their camp; sitting next to Coalback she was an honoured guest. And they offered the both of them intricate jewelry, crafts of all kinds, foods she’d never even seen before were offered to both of them in turn.

Coalback turned down all but the drinks, sharing them with her when she asked but never seeming any more inebriated than before. In return most of the wolves asked to see his “other faces” and he would change between his furred shapes. By the end of the night he’d stopped refusing the food and settled on remaining in his larger wolf shape.

Rainbow ended up dressed in garlands of winter greens and soft furs faster than she could realize they were being offered, Coalback interjected some of them for her but was happy to let the wolves dress her with their glittering wires and furs. Occasionally she would remember why they were there, but any wolf she asked simply told her to keep waiting. So she kept waiting, ate the greens around her neck, and slowly sobered as the mood did.

By the time the moon reached its apex the wolves were singing again, but the mood had taken a dark and somber mood. Lullabies, grieving songs from wars and battles, and homesick songs all howled through the skies. They would start off with only one or two singing together, and then more would join in a wave of voices. They always sang toward the sky, and Rainbow always found her gaze drawn there. The sound bounced off the frozen cloudlayer, unnervingly still in the shadow of the Mountain behind them.

But eventually, the wolves simply stopped. Caught by the moment and more than a little hazy, Rainbow didn’t notice it until the fires started to burn out. She was about to speak up but froze as a sound reached her ears, one she realized the wolves had been waiting for the entire time: Large, flapping wings.

The Empress had finally arrived.

“GLIR Y MAES!!” a wolf bellowed, howling off several musical tones that the wolves answered in tune. The wolves burst into motion, pounding out what was left of the bonfire and spreading the hot ashes and clearing away the snow. Before ten seconds had passed, what Rainbow could only describe as a landing pad had been created in front of the boulders.

The Alphas rushed up alongside Coalback and Rainbow Dash, ushering them into the center and retreating to join with the other wolves. They gathered closely along a line surrounding the clearing, and just as suddenly crouched down and became still as statues.

The heavy, steady wing beats filled the air. The snow shivered and the clouds bucked with every blast of wind from what could only be a set of monumental wings. Something at the mouth of the valley was stirring the clouds, Rainbow could see the clouds burst from the pressure waves.

It could have hidden in the wind the howl that rose up was so subtle, but it rose steadily and eclipsed even the sound of the wings. The howl circled around to the front of the mountain valley, growing infinitely louder until it was more a wail than a howl. It was just as beautiful as it was frightening, and for a few moments even Coalback was hypnotized by it.

The moment ended with a crash, the clouds above them collapsing and spraying mist out in billowing trails. And like a ship looming out from the fog, the Empress fell toward them. Her wings filled the sky, spotted and striped with a hundred hawk’s colors. Curling spines of bone rose sharply from her head, framing a ring of spiked metal that rested between them. The Empress’s paws slammed into the ground with enough weight to throw Rainbow from her hooves.

In an instant her howl turned to a snarl, and any semblance of beauty or femininity suddenly vanished. Her huge maw closed over Coalback’s neck faster than he could jump away. Coalback’s yelp of protest could barely be heard over the Empress’s growling as her antlered head reared back up, picking up the massive wolf as if he were nothing more than an overly large puppy. She towered over Rainbow, taller than Celestia had ever been.

She turned away from Rainbow Dash without a second thought, huge clawed paws sweeping over the ground silently and moving back toward the mountains. Rainbow scrambled to her hooves, very suddenly fully awake.

“Wait!” Rainbow yelled, moving to follow the humongous wolf. “Hold it!” she tried again, barrelling toward one of the Empress’s legs in an attempt to halt the Empress. She was knocked aside by a flick of the long heavy tail before she even brushed a hoof against the long muscled limb. For the second time in as many moments Rainbow had to scramble back to her hooves. In one last desperate attempt, Rainbow took a deep breath and bellowed:

“DELICIAE!”

The Empress froze, one paw lifted and the other ready to pull her over the boulder that the Alphas had been lounging on. The growl nearly halted, barely a rumble as Deliciae’s eyes turned agonizingly slowly to glare over her shoulder at Rainbow. There was a pause as the Empress seemed to process what she was looking at, her irises slowly contracting.

Rainbow didn’t flinch, a scowl growing on her face. “Put him down!” she demanded as loudly as she could manage, her voice cracking uncomfortably in her throat as she pushed the limits of her volume. Rainbow blew a cloud of steam from her nostrils and spread her wings wide to make herself seem as large as possible, staying in a ready stance to jump away if the Empress tried to attack her.

The gargantuan wolf swung her head fully around, throwing Coalback back to the ground where he slid to Rainbow’s hooves. He stood again, thankfully without having had any of the Empress’s teeth break the skin. They both turned shakily back to Deliciae as she stepped down from the rock until she was facing them full on.

She didn’t say anything, merely leaning down until her massive head was level with them. She took two deep breaths through her nose, taking in enough air for it to stir their fur. She pulled back with a snarl, rearing back like a snake about to strike. She simply stared for a long moment, staring hard at the two of them.

“Strong!” the Empress sang, somewhere between a serenade and a plaintive howl. She took a single step toward them, looming over them and spreading her wings in a canopy above them in the same display that Rainbow had attempted. “No!” Her voice echoed through the valley, filling the air with her presence.

She lifted her head, moaning or howling Rainbow could not tell. The sound echoed and filled her with a sense of equal parts wonderment and fear, it seemed to be more than one voice. “Strong!” she sang again, glaring down at them. “I am … I am Strong!” she said before her last word could finish echoing off the mountain walls.

Her forelegs lifted, slashing the air in front of them with her claws and slamming back into the ground just in front of Coalback. “So Strong so Strong!” she sang, thrusting her maw forward so that Rainbow had no choice but to feel Deliciae’s voice. “Can you hear me at all!” she bellowed, lifting her head back to the sky, “Strong … Wrong!”

The clouds shivered from her voice, stirred into motion. The wolves cowered all around them, echoing the Empress’s song. She looked down at them again, looming with an arcane power shining behind her golden eyes. The ringlet atop her head suddenly flared with wavering heat, in an instant glowing red. Her antlers seemed to pulse as the ringlet floated off her head.

She leaned down close to them, never pausing the song as her wings surrounded them and cut off any avenue of escape. She let out a long, sad sound as the crown leveled between them, melting the ice on the ground. “So strong!” she sang, a frown changing every aspect of her appearance. “So strong,” she wailed looking down at the crown, as if singing to it instead of Coalback and Rainbow.

This close up Rainbow could count all the tiny spikes that rose from it, and the six empty lengths between them. Facing them was round, intricately woven band of metal caressing a blood red gem that simply seemed to ignore the heat. It looked much like the tiaras that the Princesses wore in all but color.

The crown thrummed with the power behind her voice, ringing and vibrating in the air. At the bitterly beautiful sound of Deliciae’s voice it shuddered, and with a flash of light and a shower of sparks, split apart. A smooth ring fell from the bottom, and the looping of metal bands with its precious stone held carefully lifted free from the top. It left a thin loop of seven spiky coronas between them.

Her words became hard to make out, as if they were all mixing together while still managing to be harmonious. Her antlers pulsed with power again, the heat expelled, and the newly forged tiara returning to her head. Both rings flashed in the dim light of the clouds and the fires outside Deliciae’s wings, settling on Rainbow and Coalback’s heads. The simple coronas emerged from Coalback’s mane as if he simply had spikes of silver growing from his skull, and the smooth ring shone surprisingly brightly among her prism of hair.

With a flourish, the Empress pulled her wings away, revealing them all to the wall of wolves’ eyes. For only a moment they remained as still as statues, but only because it took them as long to realize what the Empress had done. They exploded into motion; yowling and barking and jumping in joy, somehow managing to sound marginally symphonic in their unbridled excitement.

Deliciae sang among their cheers, howling up to the sky and splitting apart the clouds. The Aurora Borealis shone down like a spotlight on the valley, letting the new forged crowns positively glow. Deliciae had a surprisingly warm smile as she emptied her heart to the sky.

It took Rainbow a few moments to realize it, but the wolves were cheering for her: Coalback and Rainbow Dash, rejoiced by the wolves. When she looked back at Coalback, she could see the surprise on his face as he stared out at the rest of the wolves, mouth open in awe.

It wasn’t obvious to them, but to the wolves Deliciae had just crowned them as Alphas, equal in power to herself. Alphas among Alphas.

Using her wings, Deliciae motioned the wolves into a sudden halt of their cheers. She trailed off her last notes, looking back to Coalback and Rainbow Dash. As she lowered her wings, the wolves bowed. It spread like a wave through the crowd, but every wolf laid themselves out prone: Each and every one willing to lay themselves out vulnerable before them, and trust them with their lives.

When Deliciae spoke, it was with the same harmonious and beautiful voice: Hypnotizing some of the time, musical only partly, yet somehow lusty and low toned. Underneath it all, a perpetual growl sank into her words sensually.

“There’s much to do. Should you prefer to lead the way?”

The runes in Celestia’s gold toned armour flared as they strained to supplement her failing strength.It was the only way she could manage to walk.

The normally silent armour rattled with Celestia’s shaking, the hoofguards scraping thin trails through the stone and gems within the caverns. The maidservants would be having a fit at the trail she left leading to the entrance through the castle if they weren’t occupied preparing themselves for the coming battle.

Celestia’s armour was intricate, but by no means delicate. Every swirl, cut, seam, and edge were carefully crafted to maintain and gather magic. Each rune was carefully constructed specifically for battle: Some for strength, some for protection, some directly for mass killing. Small chains clinked ever so delicately, both from the fine chainmail and the strings of magically charged superdense gems that hung from her helmet, breastplate and pauldron.

It was not truly made from gold, that would be too weak a metal for any armour that could meet her needs. This metal was the product of a metallurgical process that had long been lost to even her, stronger than any steel and still boasting the enchantment properties of gold. From what little Celestia had discovered of it, some magical process had densified the metal to an extreme point. She’d found during an experiment that without the innate enchantment the metal was extremely unstable; there used to be a castle at the base of the mountain.

The metal was snug, despite her drastic change in stature. That was one of the many unique things about her armour; it was tied to her, body and soul; even if she were to suddenly sprout a second set of wings, it would fit her as if it had always been that way. But none of the strange metal’s strength would ever be lost for it.

Celestia’s claymore was strapped along one of her sides, a second shorter sword gently swayed at her other side. Each one served its purpose in battle, though in truth Celestia never preferred to resort to using her second sword unless faced with more than one olympian opponent.

Beside Celestia, Luna walked cautiously and regally through the caverns, dutifully leading Celestia to the deepest reaches. Her heavier, midnight black armour glided over the stones, its own runes making Luna light as a feather. A physical blade mace hung at her side, a much larger plate shield slung into a wing harness that no normal pegasus would ever have been able to lift.

To their ponies, it might have been a stranger sight even if Celestia was at her full power. To them, Celestia was their shield from the evil of the world, but in reality that duty had always fallen to her sister. Celestia was the unforgiving and unrelenting inferno, Luna the cold unmoving and unbreakable light of the moon. While the light could always push back the darkness, it could never destroy or control it forever. Luna was the regulating force to that, a constant among the darkness that could meet it at its source. Together they could hold off the fires of armageddon if they so chose, and with their own army behind them victory was guaranteed.

But only if they could both fight. While individually either sister would be a force to be reckoned with, standing up against the forces they were meant to would be futile. The Moon could not shine without the Sun, and the Sun’s power was limited without the Moon’s subtle but steady assistance. Like a house of cards, they would fall.

They stepped down one more tunnel before it abruptly ended in a smooth wall of white crystal. The Princesses’ paces never wavered, walking straight up to and through the wall of gemstone. To them, it felt as if they had stepped into a deep pool of water, though they would not have had any buoyancy even without the armour weighing them down.

They trudged through the gemstone, Luna keeping Celestia moving. While the Princesses were in a sense gods, they would need to breathe eventually, so they had to hurry before they were drowned in the liquid crystal. It took hours, or maybe minutes, before the gemstone around them grew a fiery red. And then they were not just standing before the Mother, but within Her stone body.

And they prayed.