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// Expectation Nigh: 6 
// Story: Just Another Cross To Bear: 
// by Ponyess 
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 . 

There had been a build-up of fallen heroes in and around the royal castle of Canterlot for quite some time.  There couldn't be, without an equal and opposite on the other side.

Here is the first down-payment on the debt.  A debt to balance, and it had to be paid.  He is a man, so dark, his kind had spared no effort in obliterating him, His name had been feared, but here it had to be changed once more.  Lord of Lupus.

This would seem the ideal place, since Unicorns was common in the lands known as Equestria.  There was the one problem, just as it always had to be, not only are they sentient on pair with the humans he had been counted amongst, but they were part of a much larger community.

His coat a solid grey, though he had been granted wings as black as night of the Bat variety, which apparently pleased him to a levelled degree at this point.  His features had been changed to those of Lupus, though the muzzle now is but an inch longer than his former nose had been, from the time he actually did have his own face.

Most of his features merely those bland of a Lupus, though he is clearly standing on his hind quarters, just like the man he had once been.

Could he have chosen his castle and its location by himself, he would have put it just about where it now stood, point the far end of the Everfree forest.  Out of sight from both Canterlot and Ponyville.  Away from the Ponies who could see and hate him for whom he was, who he had been and what he was.  His plans would not please the Ponies, he knew it and was wise enough to hide it, while his power wasn't strong enough to face even the villagers.

Soon, very soon this was about to change.  Everything always changed.  It was the one constant.  Even death and fortune could be changed.  If you but know the right spell, had the right ingredients and knew the right friends.

I had had friends where I came from, yet, for all the good they could do for me, I had failed and ended up here in the end.  Where ever here may be, if it is even relevant to me.

A stone castle had been raised where I stand, it is my home and base of operation.  It is basically all I have.  The forest surrounding my lonely castle is the most fiercely hostile I have ever seen.  If I thought I had seen unfriendly woods, I guess that was for the child picnic?

I had heard howls from wolves, the likes I had never dared dreaming of.  The one guidance I have, is a book I had found.  This one book told me of many things.  It told me of the horrors of the Everfree forest.  I had found images and descriptions.  Among them was the Timber wolf.  Aside from several Constellation beasts.

I had been used to see several orders of monsters roaming freely, not just the Trolls, but also Gremlins and Dementors.  There are none of them here by the looks of it, or they should have been mentioned in the book.  Something in the thoroughness make me think it is fairly complete.

If it was not complete, there is nothing I could do about it.  Just as there is nothing I could do about a great many things.  Magic is present, I could feel it.  There is something to be grateful for.   Though I can feel differences great and small in how and what the magic is here.  Exactly what the differences are is too early to point out at this time.

What is important is that I am here, and that I can still use magic.  I would have been crippled severely if I had no magic.  I did get my wand with me, which is also good.  I have no idea what I would have done, if it had not followed me over to the new place to be called my home.

The castle I now call my home had been built out of stone, naturally, but since it is no stone I had seen or heard of, I had to assume it is a local variety, one of Equestrian origin, the book had told me.

I had found, what was to be my bedroom, since I do have need for sleep even in this farm.  I may need some time to get accustomed to what I had become.

Walking the smooth black floor, examining the equally smooth walls, before affording to glance up at the ceiling.

What surprised me the most about my castle, is the great throne room, since I had no followers or subjects, for all I know, though it was a nice touch to it.  Planning ahead is always good, what ever you were about to venture.

The question may be, where could I start, what I had in mind?  I need a base of power, not merely a grand but empty castle out of rock.  Maybe I could find support from whom and what ever dwelled these forbidding forest.  Could I speak to the wolves and beasts of the forest, like I had once spoken to the great snake.  If it is the case, I had a lead on how to set my first stone in motion.

I had even found maps of the lands, including maps of the important communities of the land I had been sent to.  Names listed are; Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehattan, Chrystal Empire, Philidelfia, Vanhoover.  There would be numerous smaller and less important places, but these were listed as important.

Most of the listed communities seem to be great cities, with large population, and some even had a royal palace, but what puzzled me is the one small village named Ponyville.  It is small and had nothing important to it, going by regular standards of which I knew.  I did not like the sound or looks of it.

Then something struck me, just a coincidental similarity?  Was this village the equivalence to the village where a certain Harry Potter grew up, or the Hogwarts school for gifted wizards and witches?  Such a reference would make sense, if it indeed was the case.  It would be logical to have such a place in this realm, since they had where I came from.  Thinking of it, maybe it should have been scarier, if it had been left out.