Bagaesh
I still remember it like it was yesterday.
All those countless years ago. After they were driven out of Equestria by the Royal Sisters, they sought refuge in the cold, boreal forests near the zebra kingdom. The unicorns living in those long-forgotten regions learned of the Temnokt's dark magic, and many went to these dragons in search or knowledge and power.
When I first set a hoof in Krussia, I couldn't believe my eyes. A frozen land of pine trees and endless blizzards, it took me three days to reach it's small capital, named Darkhala back then. The Temnokt could barely survive in that unwelcoming land, and when I arrived, they lived in wooden homes and barely ate.
To think that small village filled with starving black dragons became one of the most powerful nations in the whole world.
- Starswirl the Bearded's journal.
Bagaesh
Vasilisa
Velvet
Lightfire
Tinder
Lake Wave.
Catseye
Cold.
Ice.
Blizzard.
It was very surprising how the landscape changed drastically from a treeless, hot steppe to a boreal forest, made mostly out of pine trees, with no sunlight at all, but dark clouds all over the land, as if Celestia's sun refused to share its warm with the Krussians.
As soon as the ponies first took a peek through the window of the train, one day later, they were shocked at the landscape. While it was spring in Equestria, with colorful flowers sprouting from the green grass, fruits growing in the trees and little birds and animals out in the forest, it was still winter in Krussia. Almost everything was covered in snow, and there were no animals to be seen. Fluttershy felt rather disappointed, since she had hoped to see animals in their natural habitat.
When they stepped out of the train, they would have frozen to death hadn't the zebras supplied them with scarves and socks and winter hats. The foals were completely wrapped in miniature winter clothing, but they didn't seem to like it; they constantly attempted to get the hat off their heads.
"I don't understand." Discord commented, looking the snow gathering around the tall buildings. "How can there be snow here when we're in the middle of spring?"
"It's the middle of spring in Equestria." Fukkuteru explained. "Winter here lasts nine months, and the rest of the seasons only last a month. I don't like it, but that's how it is."
"Why don't you simply blow the snow clouds away to let the sunlight in?" Rainbow Dash inquired.
"The Temnokt don't control their own weather." Twilight explained. "Even if they wanted to, climate is unpredictable in this part of the world, just like the Everfree Forest."
"We're supposed to meet ambassador Meteoric Sun now, everypony!" Shining Armor had to shout so that the others would hear him over the howling wind. "But where does he live? Or was he supposed to meet us here?"
"Princess Celestia explained to me that Ambassador Meteoric Sun would go greet us to wherever we would stay! I suppose that we ought to go to Fukkuteru's home and he'll go and see us!"
"He does know we're staying there, doesn't he?" Applejack inquired, barely managing to keep her hat upon her head. "The last thing we need is the Ambassador going to meet us at the wrong place!"
"She said she would write him a letter!"
"Everypony, follow me!" Fukkuteru cried out. "My family's home is this way, but don't separate from the group! Kruscow's streets can be very treacherous, even for us!"
Kruscow was a very large city. Larger than Ponyville. Larger than Canterlot. Even larger than Manehattan. A major part of the city was a labyrinth of narrow streets (in Krussian standards), a few half-timber homes and wide avenues lined with neoclassical stone buildings or bourgeoisie standing. Long, straight, wide boulevards with a few closed cafes and shops made up the streets, sometimes extending far beyond the city's limits. It reminded Rarity of the Marisian streets, in Prance, apparently the Krussians had based their architecture on Hooffmann's design. Around the limits of the city was a massive wall, presumably to protect Krussians from the beasts wandering outside the city walls. Almost every building was colored in dark shades of gray, cream and red, with white timbers and transparent windows. Streets were designed as homogeneous architectural wholes. Buildings themselves were not treated as independent structures, but together created-on a block, if not the same street or even quarter-a unified urban landscape. The Krussian facade was organized around horizontal lines that often continued from one building to the next; balconies and cornices were perfectly aligned without any noticeable alcoves or projections. They looked like ten five stories high-in Pony standards, at least-but were actually two stories high, plus the attic.
Due to the terrible climate, only a few Temnokt were out in the streets, wearing their heavy, colorless winter cloaks and coats. But when they noticed the ponies walking down the streets, they pretended they were not there, some of the youngest accompanying their parents giving them a glance before its mother told him not to look at them directly.
Before long, the group came to one of the houses, colored a dark ivory, with white edges on the stairs. Soon the ponies took notice that the buildings were very large. In fact, they had to hop in order to climb the steps on the stairs. Fukkuteru knocked three times on the door, and before long, a black dragon even larger than him poked his head through the door. Two thick glasses were resting on his snout, but he narrowed his golden eyes at the figure before him.
"Do I know you?" a raspy voice came from his throat, indicating that he was either sick or he was very old.
"Grandpa, it's me!" Fukkuteru replied, containing liquid joy (he had once heard Shining Armor address tears as such, and has been calling them like that ever since). "I'm your youngest grandchild, Fukkuteru!"
After a few minutes, during which the ponies had huddled against each other in order to stay warm, the elder Krussian's eyes widened in wonder upon closely inspecting the younger individual in front of him. "Fukkute, is that really you, child?" The door burst open, and the two Temnokt embraced each other with their wings; Twilight and the others noticed that Fukkuteru's grandfather had first stepped out, and Fukkuteru had stepped back a bit. "Well, I can't really keep calling you child! You're a grown-up drake! Last time I saw you, you were no older than Swift wing!"
The old Twmnokt was thin, and he only had a few muscles along his frontal and back legs. He had a pale purplish blue underbelly, the underneath of his wings were of a more solid tone, and his horns were about five feet long. Unlike Fukkuteru, he lacked any kind of hair, probably due to age. There were dark bags under his bags, and a few wrinkles across his face, showing he was in his last years.
He soon realized they had visitors, but he was taken by surprise when he realized they were much more smaller, and came in different colors as well, but the one who called his attention the most was the tall individual who looked like he had combined various animals to make himself a body.
"And who are these?" he inquired.
"Hello, Mr." Twilight smiled. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and we're here on a diplomatic visit." She extended out her hoof to him...
"GAH!" the elder Temnokt immediately twirled around twice before digging at the stony floor. "Bad luck! Bad luck!"
Twilight stepped back in shock, her pupils shrunk. Rainbow Dash tried to contain a snicker, while Applejack and Fluttershy stared in shock at the Elder Temnokt. Fukkuteru panicked and lowered his head to Twilight's side. "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. If you want to shake sometemnokt's claw, you can't do it through the door. You have to go in, or wait for your host to come out. Shaking a claw across a door it's considered a bad omen."
"And you tell me now?!" Twilight snapped, before looking up at the Elder Kuros. "I'm so sorry, Mr.! I didn't know that! I didn't mean to offend you!"
The Elder Kuros, having already regained his composure, looked down at the unicorn with warmth in his eyes. "Worry not, Lady... Sparkle, right?" Twilight nodded. "I know it's the first time you and your friends have ever come here, so it doesn't matter. But you have to be careful, not everytemnokt can speak Equestrian, and they may... misunderstand it." A smile twisted the old dragon's features. "Where are my manners? My name is Bagaesh. Any friend of my grandson's is welcome in this house!"
The group followed Bagaesh inside before they turned in to icicles, and shook the snow off their coats. While Fukkuteru claimed that the house was of middle-class, to them it seemed as if they had stepped into a four-star apartment. The walls were a simply dark red while the carpet on which the velvety couches of the living room were accommodated was a toned down brown. Through the wide doorway leading to the kitchen, the ponies could see pearl white gabinets, counter-tops and brand new looking cookware, with an old-fashioned oven on one side.
"It's not much, but it's what we have." Bagaesh sighed.
"Not much? Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash flew up to see the Temnokt in the eye. "This is one of the coolest houses I've ever seen! You sure have style!"
"I like it! It's so comfy-comfy and it has pretty colors!" Pinkie Pie suddenly looked upside down from Bagaesh's head (how she had gotten there without anypony noticing, he couldn't explain) with a wide grin. "Do you have cupcakes? I'd like to eat a cupcake right now! I tried to taste a chocolate bar at Greva, but it wasn't sweet, so I figured you had a cupcake here, am I right?"
Bagaesh's eyes were wide, his pupils were almost invisible, and his mouth was agape, showing a pair of sharp fangs. He stared at Pinkie like he was staring at a terrible monster.
"Uh...."
Before the pink mare could send his grandfather into cardiac arrest, Fukkuteru levitated her from his grandfather's head and placed her on the ground before speaking. "Hey, grandpa, are mother and father and my siblings home? I'd like to see them after all these years!"
"Your father and Catseye are out, I'm afraid, but Velvet and your sisters must be upstairs." Bagaesh replied, recovering from Pinkie's unannounced antics. "I must warn you, though. You know how your sisters tend to 'welcome' you."
Fukkuteru grinned. "It's so nice to be back home."
As the two Temnokt spoke, the apparently forgotten group of ponies was looking around the place. Pinkie Pie had attempted to go into the kitchen, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash stopped her; after all, they were only guests, and they didn't want to snoop somekuros's else belongings. Cadence and Twilight were watching as their respective children played with one another, and giggled when Lavender and Blade attempted to do their 'greeting', having witnessed their mothers doing it everytime they saw each other. Rarity was staring at the much larger couches; for a pony to climb onto Krussian furniture would mean to jump. Fluttershy was timidly peeking in search of any sign of pets. Spike gulped upon seeing how large things were in that part of the world, from his perspective, at least. Screwball just sat, waiting for something to happen.
"So, this is what a Krussian home looks on the inside," Discord commented, stretching on the couch before relaxing his muscles and looking towards the ceiling. "Not bad."
"Not bad?" Stormfly repeated as he levitated Mist Wing to the ground, then fluttered into the air to look at Discord in the eye. "Not bad? Can't you be a little more polite with your words?"
"Come on! What's the worst they could react just for hearing me say something about their style?"
"Remember what Fukkuteru said about their customs!" Shining Armor joined the conversation. "They are proud and dislike being criticized."
"Hey, on whose side are you, Shiny?!"
As Fukkuteru went up the stairs to greet the rest of his family, Bagaesh started examining the pony guests, even using his magic to lift Rarity from the ground and sniff her. When he was about to do so with Twilight, Discord appeared in front of her in a flash of light, his arms crossed. "Don't you even dare, pal."
Bagaesh stared at the Draconequus with wide eyes. "Sorry for that, mister..."
"Discord. My name is Discord."
"... Mister Discord. I did not mean to offend you, it's just that I've never seen a female pony for a long time." He started examining Discord as well, not as closely this time. "Now that I think of it, I've never seen a pony quite like you, Mister Discord."
"Excuse me?"
"You look like various animals mixed together. Did something go wrong with a spell or something?"
Discord's eye twitched ever so slightly.
"Well, Mister Bagaesh..." Applejack took the Kuros's attention from Discord. "He's not exactly a pony." They would have to do a lot of explaining.
Fukkuteru poked through the door leading to his mother's room, expecting to see his three sisters in there arguing over the simplest things and asking their mother to decide who was right. The room was surprisingly quiet, but it was not empty. The walls were painted a creamy green with white edges, the wooden boards of the floor were bright brown with tints of a darker shade. Black ebony night desks were on both sides of the bed, along with drawer chests and a wardrobe against the walls. Two windows with white frames were across the doorway, allowing to see the ice-covered street, the crystal tarnished with snow.
A young female Temnokt, apparently in her teens, was lying on top of the bed. Her black scales were shimmering with the faint light of the small spider chandelier hanging on the roof of the middle-sized room, her light blue underbelly contrasting with her dark hide as well. She had a haircut of short, straight icy blue hair hanging on the left side of her face, reaching down to her cheek. When the old wooden floor creaked under Fukkuteru's feet, the female Temnokt whipped her head around, and green met golden in a single glance.
The drady's eyes opened wide, examining the drake in front of her in awe and wonder, like she was in a dream she didn't want to awake from. A gasp of surprise escaped from her lips, and barely managed to speak in a hushed whisper. "B-Brother..." she stuttered. "Is that you?"
Fukkuteru felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he gave his young sister the grin he would give her back when she was only a hatchling. "Hi there, Vasi."
He could not say anything else, for he was soon pinned to the ground by his smaller sibling, and felt Vasi's joyous kisses all over his scales. He couldn't help but smile at her antics. He tried to speak, but she spoke first.
"You're back, big brother!" She was saying. "You're back! I thought I'd never see you!"
"Yeah, Vasi, I know you're happy to see me, but-"
"Mother! Lightfire! Tinder! You have to come and see this!"
"Vasi, I-"
Before he could say anything else, three females rushed to the doorway of the room, curious as to why Vasi sounded so excited. An almost elderly adult, a young adult and a youngling about to enter puberty. The adult's marks were shaped like fire, like her long, straight orange hair and light vermillon underbelly. The young adult's hair was short and colored like a blueberry with sprinkles of purple running down some of the strands; her underbelly was colored of the same purple, and her markings looked like pearlish white water drops. The youngest of the females had no marks yet, but her hair was just like her mother's, except with a few strands of blue, in the shape of a mohawk.
"Look, everytemnokt! My brother is back!" Vasi cried out excitedly.
Fukkuteru was slightly relieved that his sisters were not yet over him as well. Perhaps they wanted to make sure that he was not an illusion conjured up by Vasi. The oldest female looked like she was about to cry, while the young females had their eyes open like plates, like Vasi a few minutes ago. Three pairs of green eyes staring at him soon made Fukkuteru feel rather awkward.
"Mother, I'm home." he simply said.
Suddenly, he felt even heavier burdens upon him as his other two sisters rushed towards him and filled his face with kisses. Lightfire, the young adult, wrapped her wings around her brother's neck, unknowingly pushing Vasi aside, while Tinder, the youngest, comforted with just embracing his head.
"Fukkute..." the oldest female, named Velvet, whispered in awe. "Is that really you, my child?"
Managing to overcome his three sisters' combined weight, Fukkuteru looked up at his mother with a glint of ecstasy. "Considering that my sisters are all over me, I think I am, am I not?"
...
"My baby!" Velvet gently brushed her daughters aside with her wings to wrap them around her male child and fill his face with motherly kisses.
"Mother!" Even thought he was happy to see her again, Fukkuteru felt embarassed when Velvet started licking and kissing him as if he were a hatchling. "I'm happy to see you too, but there's something I need to tell you-"
He was interrupted again when his sisters started bombarding him with questions.
"Where did you live?"
"Are you staying here?"
"How's Equestria like? Is it true winter only lasts three months there?"
"Can you take me there sometime? Please?"
"Did you bring us a souvenir?"
"HEY!" Fukkuteru's yell made his sisters remain silent in surprise, but didn't object his mother still embracing him. "Sorry for that, but I've been trying to tell you that-"
A sudden scream of terror from downstairs made everytemnokt in the room flinch.
Fukkuteru, once free of his mother's embrace, smacked his forehead with his paw in dismay.
Some things would never change, it seemed.
Rainbow Dash trembled at the sight of the wolf snarling at her, baring her teeth from behind the old Temnokt's wing. She would so kill Fukkuteru once he got down the stairs; how could he forget to mention his familly's pet was a wolf?! If were not for Bagaesh interferring, she would have been eaten! To think the Temnokt were able to keep these beasts as pets didn't help much either. Now she would have to sleep with one eye open for the duration of their visit!
"WHERE DID THAT WOLF COME FROM!!" Screamed Rarity, having climbed unto the couch to get away from those gnashing teeth.
"Sorry if Fukkuteru didn't tell you about our... pet." Bagaesh said apologetically as he flapped his wings, nearly sending every furniture in the living room plummeting into the air, and snarled at the wolf. "Down, Fenrir!"
The black-furred wolf's piercing golden eyes glared at the rainbow-haired pegasus, but did as told and sat down, not taking his glare off her. Bagaesh turned his head around to see if the Equestrian visitors had foillowed the white-coated Unicorn's example, but he was surprised to see that they were surprisingly calm. Not completely calm, of course, they had huddled up in the corner of the living room upon seeing the black beast, but at least they were not screaming on top of the couch like a maddrake. The pony with the holes on his legs and a bug-like body- Stormfly the Changeling, as Shining Armor and Cadence had said- was up in the ceiling, curled up like a hatchling shrinking wherever he was being scolded, holding the tiny Changeling in his hooves.
"Everku- pony," Bagaesh quickly corrected himself. "I know this is not the right moment, but this is Fenrir. He's Fukkuteru's wolf, but he couldn't take the poor animal with him when he left, so we have been taking care of him."
"I never saw him when we came in!" Shining Armor cried out in dismay, holding Blade Kiss in his hooves tightl. "Where did he come from?!"
"Fenrir has the habit of sleeping underneath the couch." Bagaesh explained. "I suppose the pegasus stepped on his tail without noticing. I'm afraid Fenrir is going to take it against you, honey." he glanced at Rainbow Dash apologetically.
"He holds grudges?" Fluttershy inquired, glancing at the wolf. "How much time can a wolf hold grudges?"
"Can I play with him?" Pinkie Pie hopped to see Bagaesh in the eye. "I want to play fetch, and tricks, and scratch wolfie's tummy! Then we can all be best friends!"
"Errr...." Bagaesh was about to freeze in shock again, but managed to remain calm despite the mare's... attitude. "I'm afraid Fenrir is too old to play." Pinkie Pie landed on her hooves and drooped her ears in disappointment.
"Well, Mr. Bagaesh, I don't mean to be rude, but we haven't eaten since morning." Rainbow Dash clutched her stomach with a face of hunger. "What do you have to eat?"
"RAINBOW DASH!!"
The rainbow-maned pegasus flinched when every single one of her friends cried out in dismay. Shining Armor trotted closer to the elder Temnokt and bowed his head apologetically. "I'm sorry for that, Mr. Bagaesh, she didn't mean to say something offensive."
"On the contrary, Mr... Shining Armor, right?" Shining nodded. "I'd be more than happy to give you something to eat, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer. My son and grandson are yet to return from hunting, they are the ones who always bring the food." Bagaesh sighed nostalgically. "Ah, I can still recall when I used to take my grandchildren hunting when they were barely old enough to fly."
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the unfamiliar word. Hunting? What did that mean?
Applejack got ahead of her. "What do you mean 'hunting'?"
"Fukkuteru didn't tell you about it?"
Before Bagaesh could explain the meaning of the word, the door opened with a creak. Twilight and Discord quickly picked up their triplets from the floor and stepped aside as two male, much younger Temnokt walked into the living room. The smaller one had lavender underbelly and mohawk, pointing backwards, and his Age Marks were reminiscent of wind breezes, colored a silvery lilac. The older one had brilliant blue violet spiky hair with jaw-lenght bangs framing either side of his snake-like face. His underbelly was colored brilliant indigo; his eyes were a contrasting moderate apple green.
Fluttershy was stunned when she was what appeared to be two dead deer-like beasts resting on the younger Temnokt's back.
The pair of Temnokt, meanwhile, were surprised to find their house overrun with ponies. "Father, why are there Equestrians in our living room?" The black dragon with the bangs inquired calmly, but narrowed his eyes at Bagaesh. "Did you bring ponies here without telling me again?"
"Lake Wave! Catseye! Remember when Fukkute wrote us saying he would bring some friends?"
Catseye's eyes widened. "You mean.... my little bro is back?"
Bagaesh pointed upstairs. "Upstairs with your mother and your sisters, but if you're going up to see them you should leave our dinner in the kitchen."
Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror upon hearing the word 'dinner'.
Cadence took a hoof to her mouth, while Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack stared dumbfounded at the carcasses. Pinkie Pie and Screwball didn't do anything in particular but keep their gaze fixed on the elks; Discord, Shining and Stormfly realized what Bagaesh meant and felt sickness in their stomachs. Spike contained the urge to throw up right then, but the though of feeding on the dead body of an animal disgusted him to no end. Rarity was about to faint, but managed to remain her hoofing.
"D-Dinner?" Fluttershy felt her hooves trembling, tears stinging in the corners of her eyes and the feeling of her stomach aching and feeling sick. "You mean... you k-kill animals t-to..." the shy pegasus gulped. "... Eat?"
Catseye, mistakingly assuming she was impressed of their effort, proudly stuck out his chest and grinned as he levitated the carcasses from his back and held them up in the air to that she could see them, his horns glowing in an aura starting from green and blending to purple, failing to see Discord and Twilight's motions for him to stop. "Yep. And it only took us three hours to catch them and send them plummeting to the ground."
That was it. Before anypony could do anything about it, Fluttershy's eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness, falling into Applejack and Rarity's hooves. Catseye, Bagaesh and Lake Wave stared at her dumbfounded, the carcasses still hovering in front of them.
Catseye commented awkwardly. "Was it something I said?"