Logan wasn’t able to sleep that night. He was at a real crossroad; everyone had recommended that he ask for Celestia’s help, and, in a way, he finally had. So, if this idea of Celestia’s didn’t work, he was likely going to have to stay in Equestria forever.
He got out from bed early and put on his leather jacket. Even with the armor enhancements he had given it, it still settled easily against his fur like an old friend.
Entering the main hall brought him before Princess Cadence, Shining Armor… and Princess Luna. For a moment, the alicorn and the wolf stared at each other.
“Hello, Lone Wolf,” Luna said nervously.
“Luna,” Logan said frostily.
For a full minute, the two stared at each other, nervousness warring against irritation. Cadence was the one that broke them up.
“Don’t break the palace, guys,” Cadence said. “Luna’s just here to help, Logan.”
Logan tore his eyes away from Luna to look at the love alicorn.
“So, you guys aren’t jerking me around?” Logan noted, “We’re gonna do this?”
Cadence and Shining exchanged a look before Cadence turned her attention back to Logan.
“We talked about it all night,” she admitted, “About how best to go about combining our magic with the magic of the Crystal Heart.” She glanced back at Shining and shifted. “Of course, there are a few reservations. I’m not quite sure what that much magic will do to the Heart.”
“That’s ignoring the fact that we’re not even sure what the odds of success are,” Shining pointed out. “It’s a dangerous game you’re trying to play, Logan.”
Logan just wagged his tail. “I’ve played a dangerous game for two years now,” Logan replied. “After all I’ve done… everything I’ve went through.” He shook his head. “I can’t give up now.”
“Indeed,” Luna said. “Your resolve is above question. But you should know our concerns. This isn’t as simple as a beam or levitation spell…”
Logan snickered. “Bet a beam spell ain’t simple to an earth pony…” he muttered.
“Take it seriously, Lone Wolf,” Luna chastised. “There are many unknown variables here.”
Logan nodded, but brought his own paw up. “I have my own brand of magic too,” he reminded them, “I’m going to do what I can to make sure the heart isn’t damaged.”
Cadence smiled softly. “Just as we’ll do everything we can to get you home.”
Logan nodded at that. “You’re doing my pack and me a great service,” he said. “Even if this doesn’t work out… you have my thanks.” He avoided Luna’s hopeful gaze as he said the last part. The darker alicorn fluffed her wings, partially irritated and partially resigned.
“Well…” Cadence shifted again. “I mentioned that we were talking about how best to use the Crystal Heart. We think that it would be best to work together: you, me and my aunts will combine our magic, and see if it opens the portal.”
“Understand this, Logan,” Celestia’s voice noted, drawing their attention as she walked into the room. “We will only attempt this once. Should it not work…”
“I know,” Logan said quickly, not wanting to risk his heart tearing from his chest in nervousness.
“So, with that being said…” Shining said, “The princesses are going to need time to prepare, and we need to make sure the Heart won’t be damaged.” He looked up at a clock. “Give us an hour.”
Logan nodded, even though his mind was racing. He had been on Equestria for two years, and now he was an hour away from reuniting with his pack. It was exhilarating, and yet terrifying at the same time. Who knew how much his pack had changed? What his world would even be like?
Logan mumbled something about taking a walk, and he didn’t face any resistance upon leaving the castle. For a while, Logan just walked. He probably looked like he was deep in thought, but his mind felt like static. He was relieved when someone broke him out of it.
“Logan?”
Logan turned, and his tail wagged when he saw Fluttershy.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” he said. “You okay?”
“Oh... I’m good. I guess,” she replied.
The two started walking together.
“You know,” Logan said, “I never feel I actually repaid what you did for me.” Fluttershy glanced at him. “Standing up to your own friends… giving me a home… trying to make me feel comfortable.” He glanced up at her with thankfulness in his eyes. “I was really lucky to meet you.”
“And I was happy to get to know you too, Logan,” Fluttershy replied, though her smile faded as she looked away. “Though… I’m curious about something.”
“Name it.”
“Well…” Fluttershy was quiet for a second. “I just…” She stopped and turned to him. “I don’t know a lot about your world, Logan. The only things I do know are what you told me and my friends. I also know that I don’t know about how the portal works, but… how do you know that the world you left and the world you’re going back to will be the same.”
Logan’s ears flattened, and he looked down. “They won’t be,” he admitted. “But it’s where my pack is.”
Fluttershy gave another uncomfortable grimace there.
“Logan, I hate to play Discord’s advocate, but you’re stronger, scarred, deadlier… how do you know that you’re going to fit in?”
Logan just wagged his tail.
“Fluttershy, my pack included a deer-hound who set herself on fire as a method of fighting.” He smiled at Fluttershy’s look of shock. “I’m pretty sure they’ll help me fit in.”
“And, well…” Fluttershy’s gaze traveled to the ground, and she flattened her ears. “Don’t you think… that maybe they think you’re dead?”
“They definitely think I’m dead,” he replied. “But…?”
Fluttershy sighed. “They’re your pack,” she finished for him. He frowned at her sad tone.
“You really want me to stay, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said quickly, “I know you want to see them again. And maybe it’s just the Element of Kindness talking, but…” She looked up at him with big doe eyes. “Logan, I’ve seen you get hurt so many times trying to get home. I let you go when you left Ponyville, and during your story… I hated myself for letting you endure everything that happened. I just don’t know if I could bear seeing you get hurt one more time… and I don’t want to know if you can either.” She nuzzled his neck. “I’ve always had a special spot in my heart for you, and even if you didn’t think we were pack… it couldn’t stop me from caring about you.”
Logan’s tail wagged, and he smiled softly. Even with what Twilight had said the other day, it was a new feeling for Logan. To know that… even after having not seen these ponies in two years, they still cared about him. They cared despite everything he had done to push them away. Made him feel like kind of a jerk, too.
So, Logan curled his head around Fluttershy, and licked at her mane. “You’re a good mare, Fluttershy,” he said. “I’m glad I got to meet you.”
They held the embrace for a second. Two seconds. Just as they separated, a voice broke them away.
“Hey, Wolf,” Rainbow Dash called. Logan glanced around to see Rainbow Dash with two jousting lances. “You up for one last challenge?”
Logan gave a small grin at Fluttershy, before noticing the Crusaders behind Rainbow Dash.
“Hoping to get one over me before I go?” Logan asked, approaching Rainbow Dash with a playful grin. “You’re gonna be disappointed.”
Apple Bloom nudged Scootaloo with a grin, while Scootaloo’s grin just widened. Rainbow Dash, for her part, looked pleased with Logan’s trash talk.
“During the fair,” Rainbow Dash explained, indicating the jousting sticks. “We had a jousting tournament. Pretty simple; just try and send your foe flying with these sticks.” She tossed one to Logan, who caught it easily.
“Should I assume you’re fine not tasting my claws again?” he asked good naturedly.
Rainbow Dash laughed. “I’m just curious to see if you can lose with something other than your teeth,” she replied.
“Alright, Rainbow Dash,” Logan said, as she led him back out to a field. “You’re going down hard.”
“And don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash added, indicating bales of hay on opposite ends of the field. “I’ll try to send you for the hay bales… when I get you.”
Apple Bloom pulled Logan to the end of the field while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy smiled softly as Apple Bloom offered Logan armor, only for him to decline, indicating his jacket.
“I’ll be honest,” Fluttershy said. “I’m glad to be on the outside of this match."
“Oh?” Logan asked. “Did you have to joust?”
“While you and Twilight were looking for the Crystal Heart,” Fluttershy admitted. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who had decked herself out in silver armor. “It wasn’t fun.”
The implication hit Logan, and his grin became a little more forced. “I’ll give her one for you,” he whispered to her.
“Good luck, Logan,” Apple Bloom said. When he looked down at her, his tail wagged at the lack of hurt in her expression. “I kinda bet Scootaloo half of my family’s acres, so…”
“I better win,” Logan noted with a grin. “Count on it.”
He glanced up at Rainbow Dash, who gave him a salute. Logan repeated the gesture, and they took up positions, much to the delight of the others. A flugelhorn sounded (Logan spotted Pinkie waving at him), and as Rainbow Dash charged him, Logan hefted his lancing spear and rushed her.
At the last second, Logan ducked right in front of Rainbow Dash’s path. As the cyan mare skidded to avoid trampling him, his lance crashed into her armor and sent her right into the hay bale. She rolled with the fall and shook herself off.
“Best two out of three!” she said before Logan could howl in victory.
The mare had a reputation to maintain; a fact she made clear when she copied Logan’s motion and sent him into the hay bale. Scootaloo cheered Rainbow Dash on, while Apple Bloom called for Logan to recover.
With one last battle in mind, Logan adjusted his spear, and glared Rainbow Dash down. The mare and wolf charged each other again. And seconds before they clashed, saw Rainbow Dash lift up off the ground.
We playing for keeps? Logan pondered. Cuz I can play for keeps. His barrier flared up around him, and as Rainbow Dash and Logan hit each other. Their jousting lances splintered, popped, and broke against their armor.
But Logan’s barrier was stronger, and as their lances disintegrated against each other, Logan barreled right into Rainbow Dash, sending her flipping through the air. However, the mare caught Logan by the jacket, and the wolf was taken for a ride, with the two smashing into the hay bale and scattering it to the wind. The mare and wolf fell in a heap on the ground, as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cheered their approval.
“Logan did it!” Apple Bloom insisted. “He won!”
“But Rainbow Dash got him into the hay bale!” Scootaloo insisted. “It was a tie!”
Scootaloo’s logic was sound, but the fact that it was Rainbow Dash’s hay bale gave her little room to argue. Logan picked himself up and dusted off his jacket, and offered a paw to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked at his paw for a moment, before letting him help her up.
“Y’know,” she said approvingly. “You’re not bad, Wolf.”
Logan nodded. “You’re a protector, Rainbow Dash,” he said before he could stop himself. “You be sure to look out for Fluttershy and the others… if I can’t, alright?”
Rainbow Dash smiled and gave a nod. “Always,” she promised.
With the feeling of tension gone from the two, Logan was left to endure Apple Bloom and even Pinkie’s cheering, while Fluttershy restricted herself to polite clapping.
#
Not long after Logan’s jousting match, it was finally time.
Logan joined Celestia, Luna and Cadence as they headed towards the Castle, and they were joined by the Mane Six. Nobody said a word as they walked through the halls. No one was sure what to say. Not even Logan could think of anything, with mere minutes separating him from his home and pack.
“You okay, Logan?” Fluttershy asked as they walked to the room housing the Crystal Heart.
“Just reflecting,” Logan replied.
“Worried that the past years might be for nothing?” Pinkie asked without thinking.
“Pinkie!” Twilight scolded, though Logan for once didn’t look offended.
“No,” Logan admitted. He chuckled. “I’ve had incredible experiences that shaped me in ways I’m not sure I would’ve had back in my own world.” He paused. “Well, I might have had them back in my own world, but… when you go through something like that, and come out better and stronger for it, then it's never really a waste.”
With that, they arrived in the throne room of the castle, where the Crystal Heart was resting on a large pedestal in the middle of the room. A prism of color glowed faintly around it, warming the room and giving it the feel of a cozy den.
Logan took a deep breath, and let his magic dance across his claws again. “So…” he said, turning to Celestia. “What do we do?”
“Now,” Celestia said, “I try my portal magic. With the help of you, Luna, Cadence and the Crystal Heart. I know that we will have more than enough strength to create the portal, but there are two things I cannot promise.” She turned to Logan with a grim expression. “I cannot promise that you will be able to go through, and I cannot promise that the world that appears will be beyond the link the humans made.”
Logan nodded. “I understand,” he replied. He rose to his hind legs, readied the surviving blades made from his mother’s ribs, and charged up his magic in his other hand.
But then he turned back to the Mane Six.
“Well,” he said to them. For a moment, he struggled to find the right words. “Thanks,” he settled on, his tail wagging. “For better or worse… I’m glad I met you guys.”
The girls smiled at him. Fluttershy wiped at her eyes.
Logan looked back at the Heart. Celestia gave him a hopeful look, but he didn’t even glance her way.
“Let’s do this,” he said, resisting the urge to add in, “I still don’t know about you, Celestia.”
Celestia’s ears flicked, still picking up his silent gesture, but she didn’t make a scene. She instead turned to her little ponies.
“You girls may want to stand back,” she told them.
The ponies nodded. With one last look at Logan, the ponies filed out of the room.
Together, the three princesses ignited their horns. Logan extended his paw. The magic combined, a sparkling mixture of aura and lightning, and fired into the Crystal Heart, which glowed even brighter. A bright blue beam shot from the heart, and stopped in front of the throne. The ends of the beam expanded, and Logan’s chest constricted as the portal reformed.
“It’s ready,” Celestia said.
Keeping his link to the others locked, Logan strode towards the portal. And, with his paws extended, he let one final breath loose.
The Crystal glowed with the light of a sun, and Logan vanished in a blaze of light.
#
Celestia, Luna and Cadence shielded their eyes as the light enveloped the Lone Wolf. Briefly, the light became too bright to look at. The alicorns turned away as the force of a supernova warmed their bodies. Then, the feeling faded, and so did the light.
Celestia blinked the blobs of light from her eyes, unsure what she would find. Would Logan be gone; returned to his world. Or would he still be here, angry and disappointed.
At first, her fear seemed to lean towards the latter, as she made out Logan’s form standing there, still among them. But as she backed up, ready to deal with his disappointment, she noticed another, sprawled out on the ground. A form that Logan stared at with fully perked ears and tail.
The light faded from the Crystal Heart, and it briefly looked like normal quartz before feebly gaining its prism of color again. Logan stood before it, staring down with growing awe as a second wolf rose to her paws. She had fiery red fur, some of it messily hanging over her eyes. Her body was outfitted in teal blue armor, like the kind Celestia’s guards wore. She had a slightly ‘softer’ aspect than Logan; there was a rounder curve to her ears contrasting with Logan’s sharp, angular points. Also, as Celestia’s eyes flicked over the new wolf, she noticed that the new wolf had back hooves in place of paws, and small bumps poking out from the top of her head like doe horns. If Celestia combined a reindeer with a wolf, she’d have the fiery red creature that stood before Logan.
Yet as the Lone Wolf gazed into the new girl’s faded green eyes, Celestia saw everything he had gone through – all the pain, all the tribulation, all the doubts – all of it faded away, replaced but shock and cautious hope.
“Carol?” he whispered.
Carol’s own eyes widened under her messy red fur. She pulled herself up, staring into his eyes.
“L-Logan?” she stammered.
Their noses touched, their nostrils twitching and flaring against each other. And then… Celestia and her fellow princesses had to resist getting their hearts melted by the greeting the two wolves gave each other.
Their high-pitched cries of happiness echoed off the high ceiling in the throne room. Logan kept jumping back from his companion, but would just as quickly jump back to her side. Carol struggled to keep him reigned in, her tongue lathering over his neck and shoulders while also offering her own neck for him. They pushed, tussled and wrestled each other, all while crying out in pure, undiluted happiness. Their tails were wagging hard enough that Luna had to duck back before Logan’s swiping tail knocked her regalia sideways.
Eventually, the two exhausted themselves out, and simply lay there, snuggled up to each other and giving small whimpers of joy.
Celestia motioned to the other princesses, and they made to back away. The Lone Wolf may not have found his way home – heck, he may not have found his entire pack – but for that shining moment, it appeared that he had found what he was really seeking this whole time.
Logan briefly looked up at her, pure happiness in his eyes, but they flicked back to continue his reunion with his pack mate.
He had done it.
For better or worse, he had gotten back to the pack.