//------------------------------// // Discord's Cruel Joke // Story: Predatory // by Crazy Laughter //------------------------------// This took a while to make because of real life things and a new job and all kinds of things. Enjoy. Discord’s Cruel Joke    He had lost the wolf for approximately an hour last night. The speed and stealth the gargantuan wolf could move was surprising and after the wolf’s tail disappeared into the darkened forest, it was impossible to track him. Kamos would not be pleased at his slip up, but he would have to report it when he was relieved from guarding the frightening beast. At least the wolf had come back to sleep in the barn again, sparing him from whatever Kamos would do to him if he would tell him he had lost the wolf completely. He would have to be extra diligent from now on, the wolf had slipped by him after he’d let his guard down the first time the wolf laid down to rest.      “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier…” Fenrir came out of the barn, while growling out some kind of rhyme. It was nowhere as melodic as it was supposed to be, since his words were strung together from growls and barks. He had to strain his ears to make out what the wolf was saying at the altitude he was surveying Fenrir. Fenrir slunk out of the barn and started to jog back toward the forest. The moon had set and the sun was going to rise in a few moments, but the forest was still dark enough for the surveying pegasus to lose the wolf in the undergrowth of the forest. He pushed his cloud gingerly to make it float closer to the edge of the forest. He would have to get down onto the trees to keep the wolf in sight.      The wolf jogged into the forest and the pegasus on the cloud witnessed the canine disappearing into the long shadows of the forest yet again. His fur was such a dull grey and his gargantuan frame seemed so out of place being anything other than part of the scenery that it became hard to make the wolf out in the forest. This time the pegasus was able to keep his eyes on Fenrir by jumping from his cloud and onto the twisted and moss covered branches of the forest. The great wolf’s form disturbed the trees just enough for him to make out his position without getting too close.      “I used to rule the woo-rld, seas would rise when I gave the word…” The pegasus flinched as the wolf suddenly muttered out another rhyme in his distinctive growl. The dark and silent forest made the peculiar words even creepier. The wolf couldn’t have been powerful enough to upturn seas in the old days, could he? The pegasus had to jump a few branches forward to spot the wolf moving through the forest again. Following the wolf as close as this and without any back-up was going against Kamos’ teachings, but he couldn’t lose the wolf again. Kamos had made it clear there were enough reasons to suspect the wolf’s motives, so just letting the wolf do whatever it wanted for another hour was unforgivable.      “Hush, little baby, don’t say a word, and never mind that noise you heard; it’s just the beast under your bed, in your closet, in your head…” The wolf growled out yet another strange rhyme. If you just ignored the aggressive growling the words were muttered out with, then they sounded like lyrics to creepy and fragmented songs.      “Exit Light, Enter Night!” As if to solidify his point, Fenrir howled out the rest of the strange lullaby he had been muttering. The pegasus pressed himself against the branch he was balancing on, while the rest of wildlife around them panicked and started running. There were things small and large hissing, quacking, clucking and screeching around them as they tried to get away from the huge predator intruding in their territory. The pegasus strained to keep the wolf in his sights, but things running out of the tree he was in were rattling the branch he was on and he lost the wolf’s dull grey coat in the ancient forest.      Had the wolf planned this? The pegasus wouldn’t be surprised if the wolf knew he was being followed, seeing as even Kamos had been unable to stay hidden from him, but could Fenrir really have planned to use the creatures in the forest to distract anypony following him? The pegasus quickly jumped down to the ground and to where Fenrir had been standing just a moment ago, in hopes of catching a trail to follow, but despite the wolf’s size and apparent weight, there was nothing to point him to any direction.      “Everyone’s a critic… Damn, I love that song…” Fenrir’s distinctive growl muttered out to the pegasi’s right. The pegasus flew back up into the forest’s foliage and cursed his stupidity for giving up his position so easily. At least it sounded like the wolf hadn’t seen him yet. The pegasus strained his ears to catch any other sounds the wolf would make, but after muttering out those words, he couldn’t hear the wolf at all. As much as he dreaded it, he would have to re-establish visual contact with his mark. He started jumping from branch to branch, careful not to disturb the trees while doing so, making his way toward where he’d heard Fenrir.      Just as he started to wonder if Fenrir had moved on beyond where he could track him, the branch he was balancing on was torn asunder as Fenrir’s frighteningly powerful jaws snapped shut mere inches from his rear hooves. The pegasus tried to get airborne, but Fenrir flexed his neck and threw the remainder of the destroyed branch at the stealthy pegasus. The pegasi had to retract his wings to protect them from the splintered pieces of wood and crashed into the foliage under the tree. Instead of trying to fight his way out of the bush, the pegasus crawled deeper into the underbrush. Things were hissing and clucking around him again, but he ignored the distractions and only fought to get away from the huge wolf attacking him.      It must have been the panic that made him forget the reason why he had been told to watch out for anything that hissed and clucked in the Everfree Forest. He didn’t think twice about extending a hoof to try and push the strangely scaly chicken out of his way.      His last thought was that he had never seen a chicken with red eyes before.     Fenrir        “Well, that was a hassle…” Fenrir mumbled as the sneaky pegasus was turned to stone by the cockatrice that had hidden in the bush from him. He could have snuck into the dragon’s lair unnoticed, but there was the chance that the pegasus would think to check if he had done so. The smell of magic on the pony’s clothes was pungent, so the death of the pegasi spy could alert others. This way, what happened here could be explained away with his bad temper and the pegasi spy’s carelessness.      Fenrir lunged his head into the bush and crushed the cockatrice’s body in his jaws. As much as it had in common with a chicken, it definitely did not taste like one. Now the ponies couldn’t use Fluttershy’s Stare to have the abomination undo its own magic, but surely the Element of Magic could figure out a way to unfreeze the pegasi spy, given enough time. The most important thing was that the pegasus would not tell anypony of his attack on his person, or relay information about his movements any time soon. He had a few hours, at the most, to do what he had to without anypony catching wind of it.      Fenrir started jogging in the direction of the dragon’s corpse and felt the more savage part of him taking over and speeding him into a full run. Either the urgency of their situation had not escaped the beast’s notice, or the savage hunter was excited about leading a pack again. The great wolf ran through the thick forest with nearly impossible agility and stealth for something of the size their body was. Fenrir’s body might not have any flamboyant magic ability, but the way he could hide his body so well in shadows and the speed he could move in while doing so was supernatural.      He urged his gargantuan body to slow down to a careful walk when the clearing the dragon had died on got closer. His feral side might have wanted to storm in and bark at the significantly smaller dogs viciously, but this side of him had also promised to adhere to his directions. He was glad to see the ease his body moved from shadow to shadow and the heightened awareness he had of his surroundings. He could smell a large gathering of canines that smelled of earth and fear, among the thick scent of a rotting dragon. The Diamond Dogs were there, but there was still the possibility of some kind of ambush.      It would be better to tear into any obstinacy before it began, but if he could disarm their feeble attempts at rising up against him without any collateral casualties, the dogs’ loyalty would be unquestionable from then on, instead of being based on the fear of being torn limb from limb. He pushed his body to sneak around the clearing several times, checking the clearing and the surrounding area for any Diamond Dogs in hiding, finding none, he walked out into the clearing quietly.      “Atten-ti-on!” Fenrir roared and was pleased to see the dogs freeze in place instead of freaking out because of his voice. Still, they only scampered out of his way as he walked through them and toward the two surviving alphas. He would have to beat in some discipline into the mutts if he were to use them.      “We are here, as you asked, Great Wolf.” The larger of the two deviant dogs spoke. Fenrir wasn’t sure if this was Spot or Rover, but he had definitely killed Fido last night. He was relieved to see that the dogs had burying rites, instead of some barbaric custom of presenting the body to him. It had not been very probable, but the option alone had unnerved him. He didn’t like the fact that the mass of Diamond Dogs in front of him shivered at his frightening appearance. He had to establish something other than fear to effectively control this pack of dim-witted canines.      “You have all seen what I did to Fido, one of the three dim-wits that lorded their intelligence over your raw power and instincts. You think you fear me for my capacity for violence and my eagerness to show it to prove a point.” Fenrir started, the rough image of what he wanted to get across forming in his mind. He had to remember to stay consistent with his backstory and use the tidbits of mythology he had spread among the ponies to influence these abominations. “You are wrong…”      He could see how his statement slowly sunk into the slow minds of his audience as he paused. Some cowered, expecting an attack for being wrong, but most perked their ears, eager to please. The two deviant alphas were looking straight at him from the front row, the bigger of the two scratching their head at the confusing statement, but the smaller simply arched a brow. He liked the small one better, if he needed to make a point again, then it would be the other one.      “True, I hold within my person the power and ferocity to tear you all to shreds. I trust in the power within my claws and fangs, but that is not why you feel the dread you feel now. You have all but forgotten the trepidation you feel when tearing into a new tunnel, that alien presence in the unknown of an unlit tunnel. You shield your bodies with armor and light your way, consoling your weak little minds, thinking you are safe in the Light!”      Fenrir stopped his speech and observed his audience once again. Every single ear was pointed toward him and he could see recognition in their dull and beady eyes. They had known fear of the Dark as small runts, or had become frightened by unfamiliar noises in the Dark at some point. It had been a small gamble on his part, but one with odds he gladly took. He was talking to a group of dogs that were brought to heel by an annoying unicorn, after all. Now that he had led them to thinking of something otherworldly and common to them all, it was time to give it a name and use Fenrir’s Dark to sway them to his side.      “You live under the ground, hiding away from the world of True Light, but you still drag Light where Dark should rule! You feel the fear of Dark and cling to Light. This is where you are wrong, Diamond Dogs! You have been led astray by the sun-loving ponies and their success, yet you do not hold their magic, or their spirit!” Fenrir sat up and started pacing in front of his attentive audience. “You think the ponies will help you chase your gems? No, they will manipulate you and steal them for themselves; you have all seen this and taken it as prey, when you should have hunted! Their Light cannot help you where Dark permeates the halls you walk and holds what is dear to you within its womb!”      Fenrir stopped his pacing and slowly and deliberately turned toward his audience. He stood tall and hunched his head to look as threatening as possible. He hoped Fenrir really had a way to exude this “Dark” he had been talking about, but if that was not the case, then he just had to re-label the fear they felt of him as religious reverence.      “You fear the Dark, yet you live surrounded by it! You cling to Light, yet you hate those who revere it! You have been led astray long enough, Diamond Dogs! Embrace the Dark and shun the Light! Fear me and listen, as I speak the Truth you have been denied so long!” Fenrir ended his speech by stretching his neck up and letting out a howl similar to the one Fenrir had used the night before to frenzy the wildlife of the forest. He smiled inwardly as he heard the gathered Diamond Dogs howling and barking in excitement with him. He had succeeded in turning their fear into loyalty, something that was much easier to work with.      “Now, silence your fretful hearts and listen, subjects of Dark. Light looms in the horizon and we have much work ahead of us…”   Applebloom        It was strange to see Fenrir gone from the barn so early in the morning. The last time he had been sleeping well into the day in that tight ball that looked way too much like a rock. He had explained it away as his kin being nocturnal by nature, but Applejack said it was just because he was lazy. Applejack had ensured her that Fenrir had been in the barn when Big Mac stumbled back from the festivities. It was not like the wolf was hard to spot, big as he was.      “Do you think he had to go hunting again? He couldn’t eat anything at his own party, after all.” Scootaloo asked the other Crusaders as she inspected the circular indentation Fenrir had left on the floor of the barn.      “He did carry us and the other kids around enough to work up an appetite, that’s for sure.” Applebloom reasoned, remembering the thrilling rides he had given them as an apology for scaring the three of them. Eventually he had relented on giving the other fillies and colts the same privilege. He was very adamant on calling it a privilege, muttering some weird things about lights and stuff.      “What do you think he’ll eat?” Sweetie Belle asked aloud while pressing her hoof on one of the huge paw prints on the ground in front of the barn. Sweetie bell proceeded to stand within the paw print and press her front hooves on two of the claw marks. Fenrir’s sheer size didn’t really come across when he acted so friendly and goofy most of the time. Sweetie Belle actually had to strain her hooves to reach the claws on opposing sides of Fenrir’s paw.      “Meat, Sweetie Bell, he was pretty insistent on that point when he was apologizing to us. He’s probably hunting down some poor rabbits and stuff over beyond the mountain.” Scootaloo answered, secretly glad to be the know-it-all for once.      “Yeah, I know that, but what will he eat, specifically? He had to kill a dragon the last time, so what else is there around here?” Sweetie Belle asked aloud, throwing a hoof toward the forest starting at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo raised a hoof and opened her mouth to answer, but stopped herself before speaking. Applebloom watched as a wrinkle formed between her violet eyes and saw her hoof slowly drift down. There really wasn’t anything that could rival a dragon near Ponyville, in terms of size or ferocity.      “Maybe it was just because he was just out of Tartarus. He must have been famished after being stuck in there for so long…” Scootaloo countered, seeing a chance to argue with the white unicorn. Applebloom watched as Sweetie Belle tilted her head, considering Scootaloo’s argument fairly, not catching any of the playful hostility in the orange pegasi’s voice.      “Yeah, I guess he would be…”      “Hi girls!” Applebloom jumped and shrieked at the sudden voice behind her. She pedaled back into the barn and the blur of pink that had surprised her followed her in. “Do you know where Fenrir is?”      “What’s up with your eye?” Scootaloo asked, pointing at Pinkie’s left eye, which was twitching and had a constant stream of tears coming out of it. Pinkie Pie pressed a hoof at the edge of her eye and looked at the drop of water for a moment before answering in an even more hyper tone than normal.      “I don’t know, but I have to find Fenrir. I have to get to him before… I don’t know what, but I have to find him. Have you seen him? He’s big, kinda scary and fairly hairy, you can’t miss him. Are these his tracks? They seem to be the most fresh and going this way. Okay, thanks, gotta fly!” The Pink mass of nervous energy chattered out and charged into the forest, messing up the set of prints she had been talking about as she went.      “Uh… What just happened?” Sweetie Belle asked looking quite perplexed. Applebloom would have gladly answered the white unicorn, but she wasn’t all that sure either. It was common knowledge that Pinkie Pie was weird and some things she did nopony understood. Even her big sister was of the mind to just ignore any perplexing thing Pinkie did, but now there had been a strange kind of urgency to the usually random mare.      “Cutiemark Pinkie Pie Trackers… Yay?” Scootaloo suggested, obviously also aware of the strange air of desperation Pinkie had had about her. If Pinkie Pie had gone to find Fenrir as he was hunting, then the three of them trotting into the scene with an annoyed and hungry wolf would be a spectacularly bad idea.      Then again, tracking another pony through a thick forest could get them a particularly awesome cutiemark.      “Cutiemark Crusaders GO!” Sweetie belle yelled and hopped in the air in excitement. The three fillies then proceeded to charge into the dark forest, following Pinkie’s clearly visible hoofmarks.     Princess of the Night, Luna          A thousand years of prosperity and magical breakthroughs and there is still not a single piece of research or a discovery that deals with separating intertwined souls or personalities. Luna had access to every single piece of research and the accumulated spells that were discovered and researched during her absence, but it seemed that the kind of magic she was looking for had slowly become forgotten at her continued entrapment in the moon.      She had taken a great risk in using the kind of magic she had. To change one’s very person was not something to do lightly, but to see Fenrir put down because of Discord’s cruel joke was something she was not prepared to witness. The strong and fierce warrior she had known would not bow down to Celestia’s peace-keepers, nor would he understand the need to continue his imprisonment. Why couldn’t the great wolf have the same chance for redemption she had? Fenrir would not have been imprisoned at all, if Luna had not coerced him and his kind into fighting a pointless war.      It was all her fault, everything the foreign mind inside Fenrir was subjected to was another sin on her part. She had to fix it, there had to be a way to make it right! Luna levitated yet another row of old scrolls and knit tomes in front of her, checking them for any kind of hint to solving her problem. They touched on things like transfiguring animals into non-living objects and keeping living organisms functional after a drastic metamorphosis. It was all theory and research that had been incorporated into the spells ponies used today, but if she could dig deep enough, then there might be something that could help her, a fresh perspective she could work from.      The soul that she had transfixed into Fenrir’s psyche was a separate entity, but still irreversibly joined with Fenrir’s body and psyche. Simple psychiatry spells that dealt with mending fragmented psyches would not work, she had to find a way to separate two intertwined psyches without causing any more harm to either one. The only spells that even touched on things like that in her sister’s peaceful reign was the theory behind advanced transfiguration spells. She was one of the last ponies alive that knew enough of the link between the psyche and soul to even attempt utilizing the concepts of physical magic into spiritual matters.      Yet, she was pressed for time and every avenue she pursued and found nothing to help in her nearly impossible task frustrated her even more. The human inside Fenrir was not of this world, so what would happen if she were to separate him from the wolf’s psyche? Fenrir’s dominant soul had been corroding the human’s sense of self, but what would happen if he was torn from the soul he had all but fused with already? Would there be anything resembling the thing that had pleaded her for help left?      Luna levitated another row of books and scrolls from the shelves and felt her magic waver and fizzle out as her concentration faltered. The collection of old dusty books and fragile scrolls clattered on the ground, the older tomes and scrolls tearing apart or unfolding from their bindings. She looked at the mess in front of her, she didn’t know which scroll was which, what was a short scroll or a piece of a book and if there had been anything that could have helped her among them.      She could feel her lip tremble and her vision blur as she tried to gingerly lift an intact looking scroll from the pile, maybe she would get lucky and there would be something to help her there still. She let out an involuntary sob as the pile shifted and the fragile papyrus tore before she could pull it free. This was hopeless, the aggressive spirit of Fenrir had been corroding at the human’s sense of self for weeks already.      “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry… I just don’t know…” Luna muttered as she slid to the ground, further disturbing the fragile pile of documents. She looked forlornly at the pile and let her tears fall as she stared at the blurry sign of her failure.      “Luna? Luna, I know you’re here, those night guards outside are a dead giveaway.” Luna heard her sister trot into the old archives and felt her radiant power far before she rounded the corner to the nook of the archives she was wallowing in. She didn’t bother greeting her formally, they were past the need for such formalities and she really didn’t know if she could summon the strength to do so. Her sister enveloped the pile of documents in her sunlight and lifted them off the floor. Luna sniffed and blinked to clear her eyes to observe what her sister would say.      “Theory of transforming living creatures via the use of an intermediary form of magic between the school of Transfiguration and Alteration…” Celestia read the title of the first scroll she came upon aloud and turned to Luna with a look on her face that expected her to cheer up, but turned back to the pile after Luna only looked away. She continued on reading the titles of what Luna had gather and her face grew more serious after each increasingly technical title.      “I couldn’t let him die; I did not want to see another life snuffed out because of my ancient mistake. I did not want him to die revering the mare that led him to the death of his kind…” Luna raised her head to meet Celestia’s compassionate eyes. It would have been easier to see her angry and shouting at her, the quiet sadness only told Luna that Celestia had not been surprised at her failure. Luna cast her eyes down again and forced down a sob. If she was going to admit to her latest sins, then she would do it clearly and without question.      “He had battled and waited for a thousand years, Celestia, I could not let such devotion be met with lies and inaction veiled as compassion. I had to do something; anything to make it right, to change his cruel fate.” Luna fought to keep her voice steady and clear, fighting down sobs as she made the depth of her sin clear, even to herself. She hiccupped and swiped her nose frantically. Despite her conviction she was becoming an outright mess. “Discord… Discord gave me a spell, showed me a way, for old times’ sake... I believed him… I didn’t want Fenrir to die believing in a lie and… Now Fenrir shares his hate and the truth with another life Discord had me affix to his soul. I’ve committed a grave sin and horribly hurt two souls, when I only tried to help one… I’m so sorry, Sister…” Luna slid down to weep on the floor as the last word of her damning confession bled out of her. All she had wanted to do was give Fenrir a chance for a happier end than the one she had forced him into with her foolish arrogance so long ago. Now, she had only been able to make an already bad situation into something that could turn the ponies that had accepted Luna back into the diarchy against the Princess of the Night. Reviving the dying general of Nightmare Moon's army was not a very assuring thing to do.      “Luna… you kind-hearted fool…” Celestia said as she bent her knees to nuzzle her sister close. Luna froze for a second, not expecting Celestia to comfort her so readily, but then she bawled into her sister’s neck at another one of Discord’s cruel jokes.