//------------------------------// // Crying Wolf // Story: CCC-To Find Her Place // by Fresnor //------------------------------// Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses, You wouldn’t believe the amount of knowledge is in the library here in New Sionnach. Much of it is rather useless as the information is based on the rules of an entirely different universe but even then I’ve been able to come up with ideas using principles of the magic I am familiar with. It’s just too bad that Twilight will probably never be able to read most of these books as I doubt ponies will ever be allowed here. I have picked out a few books that look interesting enough to get a copy of though, especially one that I know she is desperately in need of. Some of them do bring up some old memories though, especially one I found on illusions that Trixie would have loved to have. Reading through it myself it really shows that she did have potential to be the strongest unicorn ever, even rivaling your alicorn might if I read this right. If she ever delved further into the mental and emotional aspect of illusions she could have accomplished anything. The power to trap something within a prison of its own mind; or even to cause someone to think that they were killed so badly that it actually happens is a very scary power that few think to defend against. That’s enough of teasing Twilight about knowledge she can’t have as I am currently preparing for an experiment that I had been planning for a couple years now. It used to be a thing that was commonly done by the nobles here but it fell out of style centuries ago. Looking at the original rituals I can only guess that it was due to how time consuming it was to go through with it but I’ve been able to use some of the knowledge I’ve picked up on golemmancy, as well as a small bit of necromancy, to improve the ritual to make things a bit easier. Hopefully next letter I write I will have created my very own timberwolf guardian. Your Friend, Flarenza The day had finally come for me to begin putting into effect the experiment that probably had the longest time required for planning to even start carrying it out. I looked up at the rosewood trees that I had been growing ever since I lost my leg and thought back to how difficult it was even getting three of them to grow correctly out of the dozens I planted. One of them did have some problem with it leading to it to barely being more than a few feet tall but I have an idea that might work for it depending on how today turned out. I looked over the circle I had drawn in the yard near the largest of the trees making sure that everything was drawn perfectly so that any potential problems were eliminated. I hoped that the modifications I made to some of the runes worked out well as the old ones for the ritual seemed flawed to me; and also for the fact that I was planning a small addition to it in the form of a decently sized diamond that was about the size of a pony’s eye. I turned to my assistant Oraiste once I was sure that everything was in place. “Right, I think everything is set up correctly for me to do this. Now remember that you, Butch, and Cassidy need to make sure that I am undisturbed for the next hour or two while I channel the spell.” She nods to me before looking hesitant for a moment before responding. “Of course Duchess, but are you sure that this is a good idea what with your condition?” I roll my eyes as I had been getting a bit tired of my leg getting pointed out as a reason for not doing something all the time, even if I was guilty of doing it myself. She did have a point though in that I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen if something went wrong, but I had learned to take precautions with new magic long ago. It was good to see her starting to speak her mind though as she had been terrified to anger me those first few months of serving me. “Well I’m not fully sure if this is going to work or not, but I made sure to have a triple layer of protective wards around the area as well as multiple energy sinks in case something goes wrong. So even if something does go wrong it shouldn’t be bad enough to injure me too badly. I’ll also be heavily shielded as well as a few other precautions so if something does go wrong then it’s most likely something outside of my control.” I wince a little at my wording but at least I acknowledge that there is always a chance of something going wrong and hope that the opposite occurs. I’m not sure if I reassured her though as she just nods and heads back inside to make sure that if something does go wrong it isn’t the fault of her or the other two. Once the door was closed I made sure that all the protective spells were ready and active before turning to the circle near the trees. I calmly started to focus my magic into it as well as the largest of the trees and settled down for a long period of concentration. Immediately I came across a problem as it had been too long since I had to focus with such precision that I found my mind wondering back to old memories of my friends which almost caused me to abort the spell a few times. Luckily nothing went wrong during those periods as I continued the spell linking everything together. Once the spell neared the height of the required power I started to picture in my mind what I wanted to happen as well as the final form. Slowly the tree I had chosen started to glow brighter and its form began to shift as it lifted itself out of the ground and floated towards the waiting diamond. Slowly the diamond began to sink into the wood and, once it vanished from sight, the wood began to start to form the shape I was picturing in my mind. As it started to take on the final shape that I had planned I briefly pondered why the normal timberwolves only were made entirely of wood and little else. This distraction proved to be my undoing as I failed to notice that a small maelstrom of wind had formed around the area and loose objects were starting to be pulled into it. As I started the final part of the spell I felt a sharp pain in the side of my head and the last thing I could remember before everything faded to black was wondering how Rainbow Dash found me out here to once again crash into me. <><><><><><><> I wasn’t sure how long I was out but dreams of some of the pranking antics I got up to with Rainbow Dash filled in the void. So it wasn’t much of a stretch to say that I was disoriented when I felt something wet slide along the inside of my ear. “Darn it Dash, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?” I mutter as I wearily drag myself up from the realm of the comatose and look around in confusion. “Duchess! Thank goodness you’re all right. We were worried when we found you out here unconscious but we couldn’t check on you because of your guest there.” I look up to see all three of my servants backed up to the door while staring at something behind me. Turning I find that I am lying against one of the largest timberwolves I had ever seen, barring the so-called timberwolf alphas from the Everfree. I shake my head, wincing at the sharp pain from doing so, as I try to gather my thoughts on everything that happened. “Well it’s good to see that everything worked out, except for the being knocked out part, but I swear I didn’t finish the spell. Last thing I remember was casting the imprinting spell for applying a personality and then I was hit by something. Last thing I remember was thinking about…” I stop as my eyes widen and I turn to take a closer look at the timberwolf that I had created. Like many of the ones I had seen in Sionnach the wood it was made of moved as if it was flesh, allowing it to have a very expressive face as well as the ability to move relatively silently. The one I created differed in that it was a deep red with a brownish tinge instead of the normal brown of the normal ones. It also had what looked like a mane of thorns around its head and neck area which looked to be un-bloomed roses. Taking in the features I found that it definitely gave off a feminine appearance and poise, but what really threw me off was how she was sitting. Oh frig, she’s sitting in such a showy and arrogant manner just like I remember Rainbow Dash used to. While her loyalty would have been something I would have added; it’s her brashness, arrogance, and liability to pull pranks that worry me. Still I guess I could have thought of a worse personality to imprint her with. Looking from the timberwolf to my servants I realize that I probably should do something to calm them all down, though Oraiste seems to be in a bit of shock over something. Taking a moment I come up with a name for the timberwolf, and curse my lack of imagination for it at the same time. “Rose, you can stand down. Those three work for me and the two diamond dogs are also my guards as well. You two can go back to what you were doing earlier as I think Oraiste might be a bit out of it.” I feel Rose relax from her guarded pose while Butch and Cassidy let out a weak chuckle before heading back inside. I slowly get up from my position as I check myself over to see if anything else is wrong beyond the headache when my assistant finally snaps out of it. “You mean this is what you’ve been working on all this time and what you were injured for?! Something like this hasn’t been done in centuries and it looks like you did something else as I have never seen one of the guardians look like this before!” I look over at her and start to see her fur looking a bit frazzled which brings back memories of Twilight’s panic attacks. “Well of course this is what I had planned, mostly. To be honest I didn’t expect her to turn out looking like this but I think I prefer this look over the boring one of the others.” I look back at rose to see her soaking up the praise which causes me to just shake my head. “Besides, this was all supposed to help me prevent getting injured like that in the first place. I’d been needing something to help with my over-reliance on magic since I’ve been in too many situations where it is a liability.” I look over how the wood shifts as Rose moves around. “Besides, I think I may have gotten an idea on what my next project should be to fix that little mistake.” I think I may have said something wrong as Oraiste just lets out a small shout of frustration as she tosses her paws up before storming back inside. I just turn to look at Rose who just looks at me with amusement before I hobble my way back inside to prepare for tomorrow. <><><><><><><> Things turned out to be amusing as the next day rolled around as I found Oraiste groveling in fear over her actions the previous day. I just chuckled and forgave her as I was glad to see her actually having a spine as that was one of the most important things in an assistant. Part of her job was to do what she can to keep me out of trouble and make sure I took care of myself properly, things that I learned from watching Spike all those years. The real issue came with getting used to Rose as I had no idea about everything that she would require. From how she acted as well as the few habits I’ve already seen it makes it hard to believe that she is just a golem, but is more like a real living being instead. Food isn’t an issue for her but she still drinks water so I can only assume that she still photosynthesis like a plant. The diamond implanted in her chest also seem to be undamaged but seems to do nothing for her which I am relieved about as I had planned to use it as a source to lay protections on her and allow her to control them through it. Still those were all issues for the future as I was expected at the meeting of nobles this week and I was going to arrive in style. Riding atop Rose’s back as I direct her through the city drew many stares of shock to which I just chuckled at internally. I was running a little behind as I wanted all the other 6-tailed nobles to already be there as I made my entrance as I wanted to see all their reactions at the same time. I was sure a couple of them also had personal timberwolves bound to them but I honestly had no idea which of them did though. While it was once a status symbol to have one it fell out of style at some point but I never did find out why. Most of them were old enough to have been from before that time though so it guaranteed some varied reactions. I could already guess how the Admiral would react as, even though he didn’t have one himself, he always enjoyed seeing the others dumbfounded. We arrived at the usual meeting location for the meeting with minutes to spare but almost all of the nobles like to show up early so they can get whatever plotting done with their groups before anything really begins so we head in. I nod to the guards next to the doors as we pass by who each look dumbfounded at my current transportation. I could hear a lot of conversations going on in the meeting room but a couple voices stood out from the others. “Are you sure that she is going to be here this time? It’s hard enough getting anything done without members deciding not to show making it harder to get the required votes on things.” It sounded like Duchess Bhean and it was obvious who she was talking to before he replied as only one knew about my coming. “Why of course, she said she would be here this week and would be bringing a surprise with her as well.” At that moment I entered through the doorway with Rose which drew his eyes directly to me which widened a bit. “And what a surprise it is as well.” His tone of voice caught the attention of the room as soon everyone there was looking at me in various ways. Duke Okami was unreadable to me but the other two faction leaders just looked at me in shock. Reactions from the others were varied though, with everything from being completely dumbfounded to even a bit of fear from some. Approaching my usual place by the Admiral I noticed that he looked even more amused than usual like I expected, but there was something else in his gaze as well. After asking Rose to lie down so I could dismount and take my place I then directed her to the space behind me, where the assistant or guard that each noble was allowed to bring was situated. Once I made myself comfortable I looked around in amusement to find that chaos had taken ahold of the room as everyone broke up into groups to discuss something with each other, though Duke Okami and the other two faction leaders were constantly looking over towards me. Admiral Farraige soon leaned towards me to talk as it looked like things wouldn’t be progressing anytime soon. “Well lassie I said it before and I’ll say it again, you sure do know how to make an entrance. I’m also not the only one entertained by all this either, I haven’t seen Duke Okami look this amused in a long time.” I glance over towards the dark kitsune myself, but fail to see any amusement at all. “I’m not sure how you can tell, I can’t figure out what he might be thinking or feeling right now. He just looks bored or uninterested from what I can tell.” The Admiral chuckles a bit before responding. “Well it isn’t easy, but when he isn’t all loud and boisterous it usually means one of two things, he’s either extremely worried, or he’s holding back from breaking down and laughing like a mad-fox. Since he’s watching you calmly it’s most likely the latter.” I just shake my head as I was hoping to shock him more than anything. “Well I was hoping for a different reaction as he had been annoying me for so long since I wasn’t showing up. Though I’m starting to wonder if I missed something in the books I read. I thought the guardians were just a status symbol, yet everyone’s reaction seems to be a bit overboard for something like that.” I turn towards the admiral and once again see that odd look in his eyes which now looks less amused than before. “Well it is a status symbol in a ways lassie, but not in the way you thought. You see the Prince or Princess is supposed to be pretty powerful and a sign of that power is to be able to create their own guardian. The three faction leaders are the only ones that have one right now so since you came in riding one you pretty much just proclaimed that you were potentially the Lord and Lady’s child.” I just stare at him in horror as I realize the look he was giving me before was one of pity and I just drop my head onto the table before muttering. “Oh frig.” The only response from him is his boisterous laughter.