Logan and Carol; The Wolves of Equestria

by JNKing

**Halloween Special** The Night of Howl's Eve

Of course, Twilight thought, resigned. The one time where Logan is happy to celebrate something, and its Nightmare Night.
Yet there was no denying the Lone Wolf’s wagging tail and wide grin as he hopped away from Fluttershy’s cottage in a way that would make Pinkie Pie proud. His white fur was dyed a pitch black, and Twilight noticed with a slight twinge of nervousness that he had made an odd hood in the shape of a dark wolf’s head, which was currently draped over his head. Behind him, Carol walked along, wearing a long red cloak that covered her face. She looked like she was trying not to draw attention, but Logan dashed right over to Twilight with a gleeful expression.
“Sparkle, what’s good!” he howled in glee, before noticing her costume. “Oh, nice Gandalf costume.”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “It’s supposed to be Star Swirl the Bearded,” she whined. “Seriously, two years go by, and no one knows that?”
“Ha, you can’t fool me, Sparkles,” Logan replied, the grin not leaving his face. “Humans, wolves and dragons alike all know who Gandalf is.”
“He made sure they wouldn’t pass,” Carol said quietly.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Who’s… they?” she asked.
“Anyone,” Logan replied. “Everyone. No matter who it is, if Gandalf is around, they shall not pass.” He tilted his head. “Oh! Say the line; say, ‘You Shall Not Pass!”
Twilight looked away. “You’re not the only one that can be defiant, Logan,” she replied.
To his credit, Logan just laughed again.
“I’m too giddy to even care right now,” he replied, bounding away. Twilight then noticed the downtrodden expression on Carol’s face.
“I’m just happy he can be so happy,” he noted. “Despite… everything…”
“Everything?” Twilight asked. “Carol, are you okay?”
“I’m just… tired,” Carol admitted. There were bags under her eyes. “I spent so much time trying to pick out a costume that wouldn’t offend Logan.” She looked down. “So many people from this night… well, are gone now, and… he knew them so much better than I did.”
“This night?” Twilight asked, before her eyes widened. “Wait… you have your own version of Nightmare Night?”
Now, it was Carol’s turn to look confused.
“Nightmare what?” she asked. “On our world, we call it Howl’s Eve.” There was an odd inflection when she said howl, as if she was actually howling when she said it.
The two looked over as Logan bounded right past any houses, ignoring the candy, and seemingly looking for something else; something that he wasn’t finding. Twilight and Carol followed after him.
“So… what happened on Howl’s Eve?” Twilight asked.
“The end to a complicated and very morally gray war,” Carol began, only for her to be cut off by a flash of lightning.
Logan paused, glancing up as a flurry of dark clouds flanked a royal carriage, chauffeured by two Pegasus guards dressed in midnight black armor.
Where before, such a sight might have sent ponies scurrying to safety, now they began to erupt into applause as a cloaked figure leaped from the chariot and landed with a thud in marketplace. The ponies ceased their applause, and bowed in respect as the figure flipped her hood back, revealing… Princess Luna.
Logan’s smile evaporated, as did Carol’s. Luna caught his eye and strode towards him, her cloak disappearing in a flurry of bats that flew off as she extended her wings. The wolf and the alicorn stopped a mere hoof’s length from each other. They glared daggers into each other’s eyes.
“Princess Luna,” Twilight exclaimed, running to Logan’s side. “It’s good to see you again…”
“What is she doing here?” Logan asked, his tone cold as an ice cap.
“Have care how you speak, pup,” Luna replied, her tone just as frosty. “For this is my night…” She grinned at her subjects. “NIGHTMARE NIGHT!” she bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
Again, the ponies, including several foals, got up and cheered for her.
“Every year,” Luna explained to the wolf. “We grace thine tiny village with our presence, so that you may behold the true princess of the night! A creature of nightmare is no longer, but instead a pony who desires but love and affection. Together, we change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!”
Logan’s ears flattened. “Dreadful celebration?” he demanded. He glanced at Twilight. “What is she talking about?”
“Oh,” Twilight exclaimed, jumping over to Luna excitedly. “Princess, he doesn’t know your story… just as we don’t know his. How his kind celebrate Howl’s Eve.” She squeed. “This is the perfect time for cross-species research.”
Logan’s ears briefly flicked in shock that Twilight knew his holiday, only for him to glance at Carol, who waved nervously at him. Luna was a little less subtle about her own shock.
“Howl’s Eve?” Luna asked. “Thou calls their Nightmare Night Howl’s Eve?” She grinned. “We can surely see why.”
“Why, because I howl?” he asked. He scoffed. “Racist. Besides, in my language, that translates out to ‘Eve of the Great One’s Mercy.”
“Mercy?” Pinkie blurted out. “On a night dedicated to fun, candy and terror?”
Logan got a moment of dumbfounded shock as he noticed Pinkie was dressed like a chicken.
“You have the strangest customs,” Pinkie replied, before dipping her head into a bag of candy she was lugging around.
“Says the pony dressed like a chicken,” Carol muttered, causing Logan to crack up. “But, alright; let’s hear it. How did Nightmare Night start up?”
Luna’s smile… flickered. Logan wasn’t sure if she was eager to tell the story, or remembering a foul memory. Either way, she stepped aside, and a familiar zebra strode up behind her.
“Follow me, and very soon,” Zecora recited. “You shall hear the tale, of Nightmare Moon.”
The wolves glanced at each other as the zebra led them out of town, Luna not far behind.
“This should be interesting,” Logan noted.
They were brought to a small shrine on the edge of the town, where the Ever-Free forest bunched up to Ponyville borders. There, they noticed something that had passed their gaze many times before: a statue in the shape of Luna. But this version of Luna was… darker somehow. She wore armor and regalia that was more pointed and threatening. Her teeth were pointed like fangs, and her eyes were slit pupiled like dragons. As they approached, Zecora pulled something green and sparkling from a pouch on her costume.
“Listen close, and it will be clear,” Zecora recited. “Exactly where we get our fear. Of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary; of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary.”
She blew green smoke into the air. Logan and Carol watched in shock as the glittery green mist encompassed the statue. A very real rendition of the statue flew from the mist, flying over them like a bat.
“Every year, we put on a disguise,” Zecora recited, as the mist swirled around the wolves. “To save ourselves, from her searching eyes.”
Eyes poked out from the mist, along with a set of sharp fangs. Logan whirled towards it, snarling, only for Zecora to appear from where the eyes at been.
“For Nightmare Moon wants just one thing,” Zecora continued, conjuring more of the green smoke. “To gobble up ponies in one quick swing.”
The Nightmare Moon vision returned, yet as it swung around, it seemed to pass over the wolves, as if it couldn’t see them.
“Hungrily, she soars the sky,” Zecora continued. “If she sees no pony, she passes by. So, if she comes and all is clear; Equestria is safe another year.”
With that, the Nightmare Moon visage went up to the moon, and dissipated into sparkles. Logan glanced back and noticed Luna giving the moon – and the green vision – a regretful look.
“But be warned, my furry friend,” Zecora added. “Nightmare Moon, you must not offend.” She threw one last bit of green smoke into the air, and the creature returned.
“Fill her belly with a treat or two,” Zecora finished, as the visage bore down on the wolves. “And she won’t return to come eat you!”
The Nightmare Moon vision opened its jaw… and was promptly fed a lightning bolt by Logan, blasting the vision to dust. His ears flattened when Rainbow Dash gave a yell of outrage; his bolt shearing right through the vision and through a thunder cloud she was totting in the hopes of scaring ponies. But he turned back to Luna with a look of confusion.
“So… let me see if I got this straight,” he said. “You… used to be this demon that ate children unless they disguised themselves and gave you candy?”
Luna looked down, the shame now very evident on her face. “It is… much more complicated than that,” Luna noted. “But yes; I let jealousy and envy turn me into a monster. And that monster is rightfully hated and feared by my subjects.” She looked up hopefully. “Every year, I celebrate Nightmare Night along with them, in the hopes of reminding them that, for all the terrors I put them through while under this dark spell… I will never succumb to such urges again.”
Logan still looked confused. “But why, though?” he asked. “Why did you become Nightmare Moon?”
Luna looked away. “It is… something that deeply shames me,” she admitted, turning away from him. “We let jealousy and envy control me… and turn me into something I was not.”
She looked up, only for Logan to be giving her an utterly deadpan look.
“Is that it?” he asked. “You got… jealous, and so you traumatized ponies?”
Luna narrowed her eyes. “Well, then, whelp,” she dared. “What became of your pack on this ‘Howl’s Eve?’” She stomped a hoof. “Tell us of your demons, and of their reasons for what they have done.”
Logan growled. “With pleasure.”
He clapped his paws, and lightning streamed around him, Carol, Luna and even Twilight, who had come to watch the event.
The lightning shifted, channeling around them. The ponies watched, Luna with slowly developing awe, as a white wolf rose from a cluster of storm clouds.
“In the beginning,” Logan said dramatically. “The White Wolf commanded the Kingdom of the North. While far from its ruler, she brought magic and freedom to the demi-wolves of Gaia. She gave homes to weary soldiers, tired of the war and strife that had followed them.”
Yet as the white wolf stood grandly, her form flickered. Her tail tucked, and she looked around as dark shadowy figures rose from the storm clouds.
“However, other things came to steal what she had brought,” Logan growled. “Evil, greedy humans, and their dragon and hound slaves.”
The clouds surged upon the white wolf, scattering her into sparkles. Luna and Twilight gasped.
“They struck down the White Wolf, and took all that she had offered,” Logan growled. “But when light is cast down, shadow grows in its place. And the White Wolf cast a very long shadow…”
From the sparkles that had been the white wolf, dark lightning grew, transforming into a rabid, snarling wolf the size of Luna. The alicorn gasped as the dark wolf paced around her before charging Luna head on.
“Luna!” Twilight yelped as the lightning creature actually knocked the alicorn to her back. “Logan, what’re you doing?!” Twilight demanded, but the younger wolf was gone; vanished into the storm clouds surrounding them.
“The White Wolf’s Son, the Great Wolf,” Logan continued grandly. “He fell upon the evil humans that had stolen his mother and home. And he made them pay for their greed.”
Twilight and Luna flinched as the wolf raced around them. Slowly, it dawned on them that the vision wouldn’t hurt them anymore than Zecora's vision; it was after the storm clouds that resembled humans. Yet even then, Luna found herself grateful that she wasn’t a target. For even in a vision, the Great Wolf was a terror to behold. He tore through the storm clouds that made up the humans. Lightning spurted like blood as the Great Wolf ripped the cloud humans apart. Had they been flesh and blood, Twilight likely would have gotten sick from the results.
“None were safe from his wrath,” Logan said. “None could stand in his path to vengeance… and the time soon came where he struck down the leader of the humans, and gave him the justice that he had attempted to escape.”
A final shot showed the Great Wolf standing above a pile of defeated storm clouds, giving a mighty howl to the sky. Yet, even as his howl faded, he looked down, almost in contemplation. Luna couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew from experience that his stance was one of regret.
“However,”Logan said. “Vengeance and destruction were not all the Great Wolf was. After he had his vengeance, he desired one thing; to settle down. To bask, and enjoy his victory.”
The wolf began to walk, but everywhere he went, storm clouds followed him; fearful humans looking for revenge, or to protect the pile of 'dead' humans that the wolf was now skirting around.
“Yet his reputation hung over him like a shadow. No one could see him as anything less than a monster. Until one day…”
A village of storm clouds rose from the pile of 'dead' bodies. Sparkles shimmered before the Great Wolf.
“The genius of youth abounded. Children, of all three species, left out offerings of sugars and sweets in an attempt to placate the Great Wolf. And with their bold offers, the Great Wolf was finally able to show the one thing he had lacked his whole life.”
The Great Wolf looked up, and even if he was only a projection, Twilight and Luna could recognize the smile that dotted his shimmering face.
“Mercy.”
The lightning retracted back to Logan, who shut his eyes with a sigh. The glow was gone when he opened them again.
“The Great Wolf showed everyone on that day that he had a soul under his brutal appearance,” Logan said with a grin. “And ever since then, the three species of Gaia have celebrated Howl’s Eve; the time when a monster proved that underneath; he was a hurt, yet thinking, feeling animal. Just like the rest of us.”
Luna put a hoof to her mouth. “Logan,” she whispered. “I didn’t…”
“Luna,” Logan said softly, looking up at her. “The Great Wolf was terrifying. But underneath, he had good in him. Just like you do.” He stepped closer, ignoring the look of hope that flared in Luna’s eyes. “His monster came out because he was wronged. Because humans took something from him.” His eyes narrowed. “What was taken from you? Why did you create Nightmare Moon?”
Luna looked up at where the projections had been, and bowed her head. “You would hate me if I told you,” she noted. “Me and my sister both.”
“I already don’t like you,” he said. She gave him a cautious look. “But something I learned out in the outskirts? Not everyone you hate needs to be an enemy.”
Luna took a breath. Emboldened by his words, she shared her story:
“My sister and I have always shared power,” she said. “Celestia raised the sun… and I the moon. And we maintained balance for our kingdom and subjects. Yet…” Luna shut her eyes. “I became… resentful.” She sighed. “It seems so petty now, yet… the ponies relished and played in the day my sister brought forth, yet shunned and slept through my beautiful night.” Her sad expression turned envious. “Why was I so wrong to wish that they could see things like I do? That they should love me… like they did my sister?” She clutched her heart. “The bitterness; the anger; the jealousy… it took hold of me in a way that had never overtaken me before. And…” she pointed to the statue of her demonic visage. “The rest is history.”
Logan looked up at the statue. “A tale of sister rivalry,” he noted. “And Celestia turned you into a bogeyman?” His glower deepened. “You know, there are humans that see the Great Wolf like that. Just some... monster…”
“What I did under the guise of Nightmare Moon was inexcusable,” Luna insisted. “I lacked the righteous motivation of your Great Wolf, and I bear the shame as I rightfully should. I do not tell you this tale to give you more reasons to despise my sister, Wolf; all I ask is that you understand what I have done… and why I seek to right the wrongs of the past, in any way I can.”
Logan didn’t speak at first. He walked by Luna without a word. Twilight briefly tried to stop him, but he gave her a glare, and walked by her as well. Luna and Twilight shared a worried look, while Carol shuffled in the background.
Twilight gave her a cautious look. “Carol,” she asked. “When you said you were nervous, um…”
“The Great Wolf was his father,” Carol whispered.
Luna stared at her, thunderstruck. “He’s… the son of your Nightmare Moon?” she asked incredulously.
Carol nodded. “Everyone from his pack was involved in some way or another,” she noted. She tugged at her cloak. “This costume was of his mother Reaper; the Great Wolf’s greatest warrior.” Carol looked down with a humorless laugh. “She survived so much… and was beaten by your sister. And a portal.”
Luna looked down, shame gripping her tighter than ever. “Perhaps… I share more in common with him than he knows,” she noted.
“Don’t tell him that,” Carol said. “Anyone who has to say something like that to a wolf…”
“Probably doesn’t mean it,” Twilight noted.
Carol nodded. “Exactly.”
She paused, her ears flicking as Logan returned to them. But he had something with him; a bag. Luna tilted her head as he approached. The scent of sugar emanated from the bag.
“Lone Wolf,” she said. “I…”
He paused, giving her a mixed look, before heading to the statue. He placed the bag at the statue’s pedestal, and turned back around to her.
“Wolves can’t eat candy or sugar,” he explained quickly. “Really messes with our digestive systems.” He grinned, looking back at the statue. “So... figured it'd be better for you to have it.”
Luna smiled softly. “If I may be so bold,” she said. “How… exactly… do you celebrate Howl’s Eve?”
Logan’s tail wagged, and a grin tugged at his side. “I can show you,” he said. “It’s not too different from what you got going over there.”
Twilight and Carol smiled at each other as, for probably the first time since they met, Logan and Luna walked side by side, ready to celebrate something they had in common with each other.

Further away, a familiar dark unicorn was dumped into a dark cavern. Tempest Shadow leaped back to her hooves.
“Cowards!” she bellowed, her broken horn sputtering with light. “Come down here and fight me!”
But she got only the cackling hiss of Changelings. Slowly, she became aware of music; whimsical and jazzy, yet ominous at the same time. Her eyes darted around the small, enclosed space. At first, all she could see were shadows. But then… a light shined to the side of her, nearly enough to blind her. Thankfully, someone was silhouetted against the light; bipedal… a human! Yet… something wasn’t right about him. Why did he have a tail? And why were his teeth so bright? They shined against the light, almost as if there were holes in his face.
“Well-well-well,” he said. “What have we here? Tempest Shadow, huh? Oh, I’m real scared.” He chuckled, coming closer, and allowing Tempest to see the scar that distorted his mouth into a permanent smirk. “So, you’re the one that almost killed the Lone Wolf?"
“Came the closest,” Tempest snarled, her horn brightening and lightning up the man’s face. “And I’m happy to do the same for…”
She was cut off by his howl of laughter… before he burst into song.

He seized Tempest by the broken horn, and Tempest yelped as her horn’s magic died. She tried to kick or punch at him, but he easily knocked her blows aside, shaking her like a maraca.

Tempest managed to grab his swishing tail with her teeth, and she yanked him into the air. However, as she went to slam him, a sour taste filled her mouth, and she realized his tail had been replaced with sweaty old ribbons. He cackled again, the shadows concealing him. Tempest tried to light her horn up, but the unstable magic only provided so much light, while the man continued his ominous song.

He dropped down with a grin.

Tempest’s eyes widened, and the man cackled again.
“You should see your face,” he said, copying her open mouth of awe. “Priceless!” He cackled again as changelings briefly appeared, shapeshifting into Tempest’s shocked face.
Tempest ground her teeth, and blasted at one of them with her horn. Lightning flared, catching the man’s attention.
“Release me now,” she demanded. “Or you will face the dire consequences!” She spat. “Tartarus expects you; unless you come to your senses!”
The man laughed again.

He briefly pretended to beg, sobbing, before shaking his head.

He shoved her back to a sitting position.

Tempest glared up at him. “What do you want with me?” she demanded.
The creature smiled that distorted grin again. “A second round,” he declared. “You… against the Lone Wolf of Equestria.”
“Why?” Tempest demanded.
"Why?!"
She rolled her eyes as the man let out a jazz like wail before…

He paused and raised his hands.

Tempest stomped her hoof.
“Release me fast,” she said, “And he will have to answer for his heinous act.”
The man cheered.

He spun for emphasis, while Tempest took over.

Before she knew what she was doing, Tempest followed after the man, an odd light in her eyes.

Tempest looked away at that point, a malicious grin spreading across her face, and her eyes glazed over like a victim of hypnosis. The man, on the other hand, glanced up at his changelings, before they all cackled together, their laughter echoing off the stone walls.