//------------------------------// // Out of the Vortex // Story: The Dimensional Wolf // by Lupus //------------------------------// The dimensional vortex. A space of swirling green-blue energy that connects every world in reality, and a few outside reality as well. This was a space that only a few could travel, and fewer still could reach beyond the parallels of their own world. It was an infinite space of endless possibilities. And he knew it well. While traveling inside the vortex he has no name. There is no need for one as here in the vortex there was only him, and his two companions. He sat comfortably inside his large, three chambered ship that hurdled through the vortex seemingly on its own power. He watched the vortex within the center chamber with indifference.Every now and then he would see his reflection in the large window of his chamber. The traveler kept his black hair short, and his dark brown eyes stared coolly back at him and whenever the man shifted his weight, the metal cuffs around his wrist clinked loudly in the silence of the ship. A slightly raspy male voice rang inside his chamber, " That was fun!" it said before laughing. "I love being underestimated!" "You would think you'd be used to it by now," a different voice, this time a young female, teased. "It's easy to underestimate you, Sid." Sid scoffed, "No need to be jealous, Essi. Next time I'll save you a few." Essi gagged. "I've seen enough blood to last twenty lifetimes, thank you." "Could've fooled me with how you acted in the last world." The man in the center chamber couldn't see the two speaking, but he has been traveling with them long enough to know their features by heart. Sid, who sat within the chamber to the man's right wore dark clothes that made his pale skin seem even paler. His dark hair was long enough to be tied back,revealing a pair of red, mischievous eyes. In the chamber to the man's left, Essi sat in a white shirt black shorts and a blue short skirt. Her pinkish blonde hair flowed down her back, and a small fang-like tooth could be seen anytime she would talk. At the mention of the last world, the man looked into his right, dark skinned hand. The man's right hand was covered in blood. He looked up into the pained face of the woman who the traveler had in his grasp. He smiled as he tightened his grip around her neck, and with a quick twist of his wrist, her neck snapped and she went limp. "NOOO!" a voice cried. Moving the now quite dead woman slightly to the side, the man smirked at a group of three men dressed similarly in dark clothing with neon blue highlights. Each were carrying spears made of hard light. The spear man in the center glared at the traveler with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry. Did this," the traveler gestured with his head to the woman, "belong to you? Totally my fault. Here, you can have it back," the traveler tossed the body unceremoniously to the ground. Clearly only whatever training the spear man went through kept him on his feet at the sight of his lover-or his sister?-who now lied at his feet. The spear man's grip tightened around his weapon, and, at a gesture, the other two spear men rushed behind the traveler to flank him. The lead spear man leveled his spear at the traveler, "You will pay for what you have done here!" The traveler's grin widened. Without any noticeable command, the three spear men charged silently, which the traveler thought was interesting. In any other world, in the same situation, these men would be yelling like animals. The traveler found time to admire the training it took to keep a basic instinct like screaming while charging an enemy down, until he felt his body being pierced by three hard light spears. The traveler's grin never left his face, until his eyes glazed over and he went limp. The lead spear man smiled, "I hope Ardat rapes you well in hell, you son of a bitch!" The lead spear man began to pull his spear from the traveler's body, but froze when the traveler gripped the spear at the point where it entered his body. The other two spear men backed away quickly, their fear overcoming their training. The lead spear man stared up in terror as the traveler's smile returned. "So," he said, "who's Ardat?" the traveler's eyes regained their luster, and they stared directly into the spear man's own. "She sounds hot." The lead spear man succumbed to his fear and quickly backed away from the traveler, "W-what are you?" The traveler merely lifted his right arm, and snapped his fingers. A shadow descended on the spear man to the traveler's right. With a scream, the spear man's arm was severed by a man in dark clothes, and red eyes wielding a curved hard light sword. With a shift in stance, and another swing of his sword, the red-eyed man decapitated the spear man. "NARU!" cried the spear man on the traveler's right. Before he could rush to his friend,he was spun around by a girl with pinkish blond hair. The girl smiled sweetly at him, "Hello!" she then quickly thrust her arm forward and pierced the spear man's chest. "Ooooh," the girl pulled her arm back, and pulled the spear man's heart out of his chest. She stared at the heart in her palm like it was a treasure, and didn't give the now dead spear man at her feet a second thought. "The humans of this world have such pretty hearts. Like snowflakes, each one is so unique. Master, can I take all of their hearts?" The red-eyed man shouldered his sword, "Our ship doesn't have enough room for that many. Just pick out one or two and be done with it." The girl's face fell, but quickly perked up when she eyed the remaining spear man. Tossing the heart over her shoulder, she approached the spear man with hunger in her eyes. "A heart filled with loss. A heart filled with despair. Pain, sorrow, anger, hate. His heart must be beautiful!" The traveler pulled a spear from his body, and stopped the girls advance, "No," the girl was about to protest until the traveler continued, "This world has an afterlife, yes?" The red eyed man scoffed, "Yeah, but it's...boring." The traveler pointed the spear at the red eyed man, "Not the point," he moved the spear to the spear man, who at this point had backed himself into a wall, "You see, I've been watching this one for a while. He's the 'noble' type. Always rushing to help someone with little thought of himself, or reward. If he dies, he goes to the good place. Now I ask you both, why should he be rewarded after what he has done to us?" The girl's face scrunched up in deep thought, while the red eyed man grew a knowing smile. "Sid. Essi. Injection." "Oh, that's what you meant!" cried the girl. The traveler sighed, and made a "get on with it" gesture with his free hand. The girl grinned sheepishly before pointing to the spear man with her left index finger, while the red eyed man did the same, but with his right. A second later both their fingers extended quickly, and pierced either side of the spear man's neck. Just as quickly, their fingers returned to their normal size. The spear man rubbed his neck while staring at the three in confusion, "What...what did you do?" "Well,we gave you a little gift. Now before you assume, no. It's not really a gift. I know how you people are with not understanding sarcasm. Do you know how difficult it is to build a reputation as a funny man, when more than half of your jokes go over everyone's heads? So annoying! And another thing...!" "Master, you're ranting again," the red eyed man said. "Right, right. Anywho, there are some things you need to know now." The traveler pulled another spear from his body, "First," before the spear man could react, the traveler rushed forward and pierced his shoulder. The spear man cried out in pain, but soon after the traveler pulled back, he stopped and his eyes widened in surprise. "There's no more pain..." the spear man wiped away the blood on his shoulder, only to reveal that the stab wound had healed itself without a scar. "First, you can no longer be killed by any weapon," the traveler dropped the spear, and nonchalantly pulled the last from his body, "Secondly, you will not die from any poison. Third,you will not...okay let's just say that you are not going to die. Ever." "W-what?" The traveler smiled, "Yep. Everyone around you will age and die, while you will stay the same. You will outlive your friends, your family," with each sentence, the look on the spear man's face grew more horrified. "Any children you may have, their children, so on and so forth will all die before you. You will even outlive this planet." the traveler shuddered, "Exciting, isn't it? Maybe next time you'll think before you get my food order wrong." he spread his arms wide, "Welcome to immortality, brother!" "Um..Master?" Essi's faux sweet voice snapped the traveler back to the present. Even though he couldn't see her, the traveler glanced in her direction. "Do you think that maybe we could...um visit a world with...um...unicorns?" Sid laughed harder than was necessary, "Are you kidding?" he asked between chuckles. "What?" Essi asked indignantly, dropping her cute facade. "It's been so long since we've been to a world with one." "What are you talking about? We saw one four worlds ago." "Yeah, but that one was..." The traveler could hear Essi shiver. "The coolest unicorn ever?" Sid offered. "The way that thing loved to impale people with its horn? Awesome!" Essi gave a disgruntled sigh, "Anyway Master, what do you say?" Before the traveler could answer, Sid said, "Screw that! Master, we need to head to an H-world. You and I both know how long it's been since you've..." "LALALALALALA not hearing this!" "Baby." "Pervert!" "Agreed, but honestly any world would be better than one with sissy, no-impaling unicorns." "Master agrees that we should go somewhere nice this time. Right, Master?" "To use a stupid phrase to counter your stupid argument, 'When pigs fly.'" Essi's voice turned triumphant, "There was a flying pig twenty worlds ago, remember?" "That pig was only in the air because of the power of the rooster on its back, and you know it." The traveler responded in a monotonous voice, "To be fair, said pig was shooting lasers from its eyes." "You're not helping, Master." "Wasn't trying to." After a few moments of silence Essi said, "So Master, about that world..." "I'm curious, Essi," he wasn't really, but he knew what to say that would give him a few minutes of silence. "Why are you so adamant about visiting a world of unicorns?" "Because where there are unicorns, there are usually princesses!" Essi exclaimed, suddenly becoming wistful. "And when Master and the princess meet they'll fall in love, and get married! Then she'll treat me like her daughter, and let me ride her pegasus, one that she's had since it was a foal..." Essi trailed off into silence, but the traveler knew she was still fantasizing. "And she's gone," said Sid. "So now that that is over with..." "I haven't decided what kind of world to land in," the traveler said, cutting Sid off. Sid let out an exasperated sigh, "Master, you are sooo boring when you're blank." Blank. That was the best way to describe the traveler's state of mind while traveling the vortex. Not only did he lack a name, he lacked any emotion. He only felt a slight attachment to his two companions. Other than that, nothing. He chose to be this way, though. Whenever he would land in a world, his ship would implant a personality onto him, and he would use that personality for the duration of his stay in the world. When he would return to the vortex, his personality "dies" and left blank once again with all the memories and experience the personality had while in the world. He called this state, the tabula rasa. Sid and Essi also changed, but subtly. Their personalities largely remained the same, but a few traits would change to match the traveler's, keeping them close no matter what kind of man the traveler turned out to be. This was the life of the three. They roam all of reality, jumping from world to world. All in the name of staving off boredom. Meanwhile outside of the vortex, in a world close to the three travelers. A purple unicorn, her rainbow maned pegasus friend, and a small dragon trotted up to a set of large gates separating the city of Canterlot from the large castle. The two identical pegasi standing guard on either side of the gate smiled at the young unicorn, and let her and her friends pass unhindered. Once the three were out of sight of the main gates, and with no other ponies around, the unicorn's mane became disheveled and her eyes shrank. She began to babble on about the princess and how disappointed and angry she must have been with the unicorn to summon her to Canterlot. The rainbow maned pegasus rolled her eyes while the dragon gestured to the unicorn and gave the pegasus a look that said, "I had to deal with this all morning. Your turn." The pegasus sighed and flew down to the unicorn and grabbed her face with both hooves, "You need to calm down, Twilight." Twilight's eye began to twitch, "Calm down? CALM DOWN? Rainbow, I almost destroyed Ponyville, AGAIN! And now the Princess called me here, probably to punish me for what I did. So what exactly should I be calm about?" Spike mumbled, "The why is Rainbow here?" Twilight glared at him, causing Spike to hide behind Rainbow Dash. Last night in Ponyville. The streets of Ponyville were a bustle of activity. The sun was just beginning to make its descent over the horizon, and the shop vendors were packing away their wares. Parents were collecting their children from their day of play, and most ponies began their trips home for dinner and to rest in preparation for the next day. It was once again the beginning of a beautiful evening for the denizens of the small town. So it was only a matter of time before it all went to Tartarus. An explosion and a demonic shrill shattered the tranquility of the early night. Ponies froze in the the streets and all turned to the source of the disturbance. The Ponyville library, a hollowed tree and home of Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and the most likely cause of the current situation. Another screech echoed through the night, and a figure shot from the library, and spread it's leathery wings. Another cry from the creature snapped the ponies below from their curious stares, and sent them scattering in a panic. The purple unicorn burst from her home in a panic, a thick tome floating next to her wrapped in a purple aura. She followed the creature's path towards the town's center, while simultaneously flipping through the tome. An orange mare in a stetson hat joined Twilight's side,"Twilight, what in tarnation is goin' on? What is that thing?" The two ponies stopped in front of town hall where the creature roosted on one of the beams. It resembled a withering bald monkey, but its head was akin to a dog. Snakes writhed on it's head like hair, and it's exposed skin was black as coal. The creature stared at the two mares with bloodshot eyes filled with rage. A white coated unicorn joined Twilight and the other. The newcomer took one look at the creature, and balked at the site, "Dear Celestia, what is that thing?" Twilight stepped forward without taking her eyes off the creature, "It's called a Fury. It's a creature that existed in ancient Equestria, long before even the princesses born. Its purpose was to seek out and punish wrongdoers." The orange mare glanced at Twilight, "Wait, are ya sayin' that this critter's good?" Twilight shook her head, "No, Applejack. For a fury something like stealing a piece of candy is the same as murdering somepony." The fury hissed, "A wrong is a wrong, there is no big or small," it pointed a gnarled claw at the mares, "Applejack, you're stubbornness has caused so much trouble for so many ponies, and lying to young Applebloom when she asked about your parents." Applejack took a step back, "No...th-that's not...," her voice cracked a little. The fury turned its claw to the white unicorn, "Rarity, your single minded determination is admirable to be sure, but it often goes too far. Putting your social standing in front of your friends, ostracizing your younger sister from your life and driving her away with your selfishness." Rarity's eyes widened, "I-I..." "Girls, don't listen to it!" cried Twilight, "Everypony makes mistakes, and we've all made amends. This creature preys on any lingering guilt from our past mistakes, but as long as we can remember the lessons those mistakes have taught us, then we can send this monster back to where it belongs!" Rarity and Applejack both smiled, as did the fury, "And Twilight Sparkle, the eager student. At the mere mention of anything undiscovered you forget yourself and dive headfirst into any book. Celestia sent you that tome along with explicit instructions to not cast a single spell found within, but you couldn't help but take a peek," Twilight's ears folded against her head, the guilt plainly written on her face. "Your insatiable thirst for knowledge has cased more trouble for this town than anything." A whip made of fire appeared in the monster's claws. "You all must be punished " The fury spread its wings and launched itself from its perch. Back in Canterlot The three friends found themselves waiting at the entrance to the audience hall. Rainbow Dash shrugged, "I don't see what the big deal is. We took care of that monster in no time." Spike nodded, "Yeah, the thing only destroyed Carousel Boutique, a few dozen trees at Sweet Apple Acres, part of Sugarcube corner, the spa, part of the library, and Town Hall." Twilight groaned , "The princess is going to banish me for sure this time." The traveler's ship still hurdled through the vortex. With Essi still in "fantasy mode" as Sid called it, the ship was quiet. The traveler was as content as an emotionless being could be with sitting in silence, but Sid was bored out of his mind. So when a red light began blinking in his pod, he grinned like a madman, "Master!" he called out a bit more enthusiastically than he intended. After clearing his throat, Sid continued in a more subdued tone, "We are approaching a world heavily concentrated in magic." "WHAT?" Essi screamed, snapping out of her daydream. She then began typing furiously at the console that appeared in front of her. After a few minutes she shook her head, "It's not just one," she said, sounding worried, "but all of them. Every alternate, every parallel of the world is so steeped in magic that just one of them could rival..." she trailed off. "The god-child," Sid finished, unable to hide the smile in his voice. The traveler's eye twitched slightly at the mention of the god-child. Despite his "blank" state, the traveler still felt a lingering trace of resentment for her. Every version, every alternate, every parallel of that world were subject to the whims of a high school girl, oblivious to her own powers. The traveler drifted to close to her world and was pulled, ship and all, into it against the traveler's will. However, that was now all irrelevant. "Calm yourselves," the traveler said, "I have taken the necessary steps to prevent a repeat of what happened with the god-child. The ship is shielded against all magic. Arcane, spiritual, divine, infernal, and many other types of magic that can reach the vortex will not be able to touch the ship, and by extension us." "What if the magic bypasses the shields instead of breaking them, and just affects the interior?" Sid asks. "To do that would require the powers of a god and more. It is improbable that the world we're approaching has a being like that, or one who cares enough to try." "But not impossible,Master," Essi said, "I recommend we avoid this world." The traveler glanced her way, before turning towards Sid's pod, "Sid, your thoughts?" Sid shrugged even though the traveler couldn't see him, "I couldn't care less either way. On one hand it would be nice to stretch my legs. On the other, a world with that much magic has even chances of being incredibly cool, or incredibly girly. Mmmm, I'm gonna vote that we pass." "It's rare to hear you two agree," the traveler mused while placing a finger on the near transparent screen to his left. "Very well, we shall avoid this world." He moved his finger across the screen. The ship jerked, and began moving in the same direction. The giant doors leading to the audience chamber opened seemingly on their own. With a nod from the guard, the three friends made their way into the chamber with only a few minutes hesitation on Twilight's part. The long walk to the throne did nothing to alleviate Twilight's mood. Even looking into the princess's ever present smiling face made her imagine all the different ways that Twilight would be punished. After nodding respectfully at kneeling subjects, the princess's serene voice echoed in the hall, "Twilight, my faithful student, it's good to see you again." Twilight hesitantly met he teacher's eyes, "It's good to see you, too, Princess Celestia." After greeting the others, Celestia's eyebrow raised slightly, "I had thought that your other friends would accompany you, but.." she trailed off, giving Twilight a chance to respond. Spike spoke up, "Well they wanted to come with us, but..." Rainbow interrupted, "But they decided to stay behind to help with the clean-up." At the mention of Ponyville, Twilight's face fell. Celestia nodded in understanding, "I see. Now, Twilight, as you may have already guessed I summoned you here for an important reason." Twilight gulped audibly, "Y-yes, Princess?" "First, I must apologize for the trouble I have caused you." The three stared dumbstruck at the princess, before Twilight found her voice, "Apologize? To me?" "Yes, in my haste I had forgotten how...enthusiastic you can be." Twilight giggled shyly, "I had originally planned to visit Ponyville, so I could guide you slowly through the spells held within this tome," Celestia's horn glowed in a golden light, and the ancient text appeared floating next to her wrapped in the same light. "However, before I could esca...uh, finish my duties, a small crisis delayed me for a day. Since then I've been unable to get away, so instead I called you here." "So..you didn't call me here to punish me?" Celestia giggled, "Of course not. Although I must say that the spell you chose to cast in Ponyville, was the very spell I had intended to teach you, but it seems you managed to figure it out on your own. You never cease to amaze me with your progress." Twilight's cheeks flushed at the praise, but she raised an eyebrow at what her teacher said, "Why would you need to come all the way to Ponyvile to teach me a simple summoning spell?" Celestia shook her head, "This is no simple spell, my dear student, Normally summoning spells are used to transport inanimate objects a short distance to the caster," the glow around Celestia's horn brightened slightly, and One of the many vases bordering the hall appeared at her side, before flashing back to its pedestal. "Now this spell can be used to summon live creatures, like so." With an impish grin, Celestia's horn lit up like a flare, and in the air before her, her sister, Princess Luna appeared. Asleep, and dressed in moon print pajamas, complete with a nightcap. After the initial shock of seeing the princess of the night in her sleep wear wore off, Rainbow Dash and Spike tried to hold in their laughter. Luna rolled over and mumbled in her sleep, "No sis...that's my cake..." Rainbow and Spike burst out laughing. When Luna began to stir, Celestia returned her to her room. After allowing herself a few laughs, Celestia returned her attention to her student, "This can be an incredibly difficult spell, especially if you don't have a specific target in mind. Even though you were able to reach all the way to Tartarus,let's begin with something a little closer to home shall we?" Twilight's ears perked up, "Right now?" "Yes as this hour is all I was able to keep free for you." Twilight nodded, "I understand, Princess. How should we begin?" Celestia turned her attention to Rainbow, "Rainbow Dash, would you mind being Twilight's subject?" Rainbow saluted, "I'd love to, Princess. I'm always willing to help a friend." Celestia smiled, "Then wait at the end of the hall, if you will." Without another word, Rainbow sped off to the entrance of the hall. When Rainbow indicated that she was in position, Celestia said, "Whenever your ready, Twilight." After a few moments hesitation, and after an encouraging smile from her mentor, Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated on her spell. The traveler's ship suddenly stopped. Odd, he thought to himself. Screens appeared in front of him. He turned to a screen that showed him a readout of the ship's status. They have indeed stopped, which should have been impossible. "Master?" Essi called, fiddling with the screens in her own pod, "It seems that we've stopped." "Really?" Sid said, his pod overflowing with sarcasm. Essi didn't retort, an act the traveler found more odd. "Take a look," she said instead, sending the results of what she found to Sid's and the traveler's pods. A new screen appeared in each, allowing them to read the results for themselves. "Well that's unsettling," Sid said. "That world seems to be pulling us back." "Maybe the world itself is alive, and took an interest in us?" Essi offered. The traveler folded his arms, "It's possible, but unlikely. This is a problem." "Master," Sid deadpanned, "You could at least act worried at the fact that we're being abducted...again. You know, for Essi's sake." Essi scoffed and the traveler said, "We'll be fine," he forced a grin to make his tone sound more upbeat, "What are the odds that world has a being powerful enough to penetrate our shields. Silence fell on the ship. "Sid...!" Essi began. "Way ahead of you!" Sid interrupted. The traveler listened on in silence while his two companions bickered over the best way to escape the current situation. He knew they should be able to measure the power holding their ship as he had, but he learned long ago that nothing short of an exploding planet would stop their arguing. The power holding the ship was strong indeed, , but it would take a lot more to bypass every safeguard the traveler had set up. He leaned back in his pod,completely content to let them figure that out on their own. Something was clearly wrong. Celestia had taught this spell to many unicorns in the past, but Twilight's face was beginning to scrunch up in concentration, or pain, "Twilight, you may stop now," Celestia said with concern evident in her voice, "We can try again at a later date." Twilight's face began dripping with sweat, her teethe were bared and the light of her horn flickered unstably. She made no sign that she had heard her teacher. "Twilight, did you not hear me? I said you could stop now." She didn't move. Spike walked up to her side, "Twilight?" he placed a claw on her shoulder, and was immediately blasted back by a shock wave of power. Composing herself after the wave had passed, Celestia called out, "Twilight that is enough! Stop the spell immediately!" Twilight managed to croak out, "I...can't...!" before her horn lit up like a beacon. Celestia rushed to her student's side. Lighting her own horn, she scanned Twilight's form. This is bad, she thought, Something is interfering with her spell, some sort of outside influence, but how? If this continues, Twilight will be completely drained, "Twilight, you are dangerously close to being drained. I'm going to add my own power to your spell to prevent that from happening." The traveler doubled over in pain. His body felt as if it was being torn in two, rejoined, then torn again. This pain was familiar. Whatever was in the world the three had tried to avoid, was trying to bring the traveler to it. Whether accidentally, or by design remained to be seen, but the traveler knew that he had to resist. No matter how painful it became. The traveler tried to suppress a grunt, but Sid had heard, "Master, what's wrong?" He tried to speak in order to reassure his companions, but all that escaped him was a small scream. Essi gasped, "No, nononononono! No! Master, hold on!" Essi typed frantically at her screens. She re-routed as much as the ship's power as she could into moving the ship, while Sid threw up all the shields the ship had. It wasn't enough. The traveler's vision began to split between his ship inside the vortex, and a white space within a large hall. Sid punched the side of his pod, "Nothing! Essi?" She remained silent. The traveler knew it was inevitable. Obviously there was a form of magic that he hadn't accounted for, and this oversight would cost him. The traveler struggled to lift his arm, most of his energy being spent resisting the pull of the world for as long as possible. He managed to touch two icons on his center screen. The first caused the screens in Essi's and Sid's pods to disappear. As soon as her screens vanished, Essi cried out, "Master no, there's still time! Please...!" she continued pleading with the traveler while banging on the side of her pod. The second icon set the traveler's ship into autopilot. He couldn't have it land in a world without him, after all. "S-Sid...Essi..." he managed to say, his resistance beginning to weaken. "Until I...can bring you in..." Sid growled, "Master no! Don't do it! "Please!" the traveler could hear the tears in Essi's eyes, "We can make it! Don't...!" Their pleas fell on deaf ears, "Until I can bring you into the world. ...Standby." Immediately the screams and banging stopped. The traveler could imagine the two of them slumped over in their pods, almost like they were sleeping. The traveler forced a small smile at the image, before allowing the magic to take him fully. He was floating inside that white space within the large hall. The pain didn't lessen as the traveler had expected, so he did the only thing he knew that would. "Shift," The traveler felt his body begin to change. The commotion of Twilight's spell had drawn the guards into the hall, and the half dozen of them formed a semi-circle around the princess and Twilight. Unable to do anything, the guards watched the white sphere that had appeared above Twilight, awaiting whatever might appear from it. Soon a silhouette came into view from inside the sphere. It's form flickered in and out of existence, and seemed to be struggling as if it were in pain. It's body shape brought images of the apes of old to Celestia's mind, but she couldn't make out anymore details than that. Twilight's magic aura pulsed and shone brighter. As a result the creature's form solidified, and no longer winked back to wherever it came from. Only a few moments later did the creature's body begin to change. It grew in size by a few inches, its body widened, while what Celestia assumed to be its face elongated into what appeared to be a muzzle, but one unlike a ponies. The appendages at the end of its arms appeared to grow into claws, and its backside sprouted a bushy tail. It was a truly monstrous form. Another pulse of magic emanated from Twilight. All unicorns, even Celestia herself felt a sudden drain in their energy, and the creature's form began to change again. Its claws shrank down into paws, its tail grew in length, and its body hunched as if it wasn't meant to stand on its hind legs like its previous forms. With one final shock wave that knocked everypony, save for Celestia, off their hooves, Twilight's spell finally ended. Celestia helped a drained Twilight back onto her hooves before turning her attention to the other ponies in the hall, "Is everypony alright?" The guardsponies were already back on their hooves, and had surrounded something. Celestia assumed that it was the creature. Rainbow Dash and Spike also seemed unharmed. "Wh-what happened?" Twilight asked. Rainbow answered, "That spell of yours just went crazy!" She began to go into more detail, but a hoof on Twilight's shoulder caused her to look up into the eyes of her mentor. "Princess, I'm so sorry I..." Celestia interrupted, "It's alright, Twilight." "But.." "Something interfered with your spell, and as a result you nearly died. You are not to blame for this." Twilight felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted off her back, but then her curiosity took over, "So what came through?" Celestia turned her head and Twilight followed her gaze. She noticed the guards, and letting her curiosity get the better of her once again, made her way to them. "Be careful, Twi," she heard Rainbow say. Twilight acknowledged Rainbow's warning, but she had to know what she almost died for. At a word from Celestia, the guards parted to make way for Twilight, who froze at the sight of the creature at their hooves. "It kinda looks like a timberwolf," Spike said, startling Twilight as he appeared next to her. Rainbow, who was hovering overhead, said, "Except it has fur instead of bark. And look at the size of it," Twilight had to agree, even lying down, she could tell that it was about the same size as Princess Celestia. The wolf's fur was black, and on its foerlegs were metal cuffs. Its breathing was slow and steady, and Twilight was sure it was asleep. "Did I accidentally summon somepony's pet?" she asked herself. She walked closer, her inquisitive nature outweighing her fear. Its face wasn't near;y as ferocious as what Twilight would expect a wolf's to look like. In fact, despite the longer muzzle and smaller eyes, Twilight thought the wolf looked almost gentle in its sleep. She reached out with a hoof, overcome with a need to pet this creature, but froze when she noticed its brown eye looking directly into hers. "I-it's awake," was all she could say.