//------------------------------//
// Law of the Everfree 
// Story: The Dimensional Wolf 
// by Lupus 
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	Remulus stood at the edge of the dark forest and looked over his shoulder in the direction of the library. I cannot believe that worked a second time, he thought to himself. From his observations of the mountain city and this small village, he concluded that those six ponies were strange to say the least. There weren't many in any world who would take the time to try to understand an unknown like himself. Not only did they give him the benefit of the doubt, but even went so far as to call him a friend.
"New friends have to part with a smile!"
Thinking back to Pinkie Pie's words, Remulus sighed. The way he was now, there was no way that he could consider any of the as friends. The most he felt towards them was curiosity at best, however he did intend to keep his promise. A "Pinkie" promise, huh? Remulus lifted and looked down at his right forepaw.

The little girl lifted her pale right hand with her smallest finger extended, "Pinky promise?"
He sighed, "Aw c'mon, Sil. I already did the 'cross the heart' thing..." The boy leaned back against the moth-eaten couch, and did his best to ignore the looks from the adults moving through the dilapidated room. "Can't you just trust me this once?"
The little girl whined, "Noooo! It has to be official!"
The boy turned his head away with a click of his tongue. He stayed that way until he heard the girl sniffing. Against his better judgment, he glanced over at her. The girl's blue eyes were filling with tears, even as she glared at him, and her shoulders were shaking as she tried to hold in her sobs. Thing is, the boy knew it was all an act, but everyone in the room, including the two children, knew that the boy was powerless against her. He sighed in defeat and interlocked his little finger with hers.	
The little girl named Silvia smiled brightly and shook their hands up and down, her tears vanishing immediately. Afterword she embraced the older boy with a giggle, "Now try to remember, 'cause I know you can be dumb!"
"Hey!" The adults around the two children laughed at the display. The boy glared at them indignantly, but returned the young girl's hug.

Remulus shook himself out of the unwanted memory. He lowered his paw, a bit unsettled. Never before had memories of his first life surfaced so soon after entering a world. Remulus took one more look at the pony village and wondered just what kind of world he was in. With one more sigh, he stowed his concerns in the back of his mind and turned back to the forest in front of him. He took one step past the tree line and froze. Outside the forest he could feel the magic around him. It flowed through the ground beneath his paws and through the air in a predictable pattern. Almost as if something was holding it to a certain order. But as soon as he crossed the border into the forest, that feeling of order was replaced by chaos.
The magic of the Everfree ran wild from the roots of the trees to the skies above. If the ponies lived and thrived in a world of controllable, predictable magic, then Remulus could not blame them for their fear. However, if Remulus was being honest with himself, he preferred the untamed feeling of the Everfree. It felt more natural to him. 

Several minutes of trekking through the Everfree had convinced Remulus that he had made the right choice when he decided to make his home here. At first he tracked the scent of spices and burning wood to a small residence built into a tree. Twilight Sparkle had said that a zebra by the name of Zecora was the only other being she knew that chose to live in the Everfree. After committing the scent of the zebra's hut to his memory he moved on, deciding to avoid Zecora for the time being.
The few creatures he encountered intrigued him. After a minute or so after leaving Zecora's hut behind, a curious pink puffball with four insect-like wings flew in front of him. It's eyes made up a good portion of its body, and it buzzed around his head before landing on the tip of his muzzle. Remulus blinked, and the creature blinked back and seemed to smile. With a small shrug Remulus snapped up the little creature before it could fly off. The thing was quite soft for what he assumed was an insect, and he concluded that it would take several dozen of the puffballs to make a dent in his hunger, so he decided that they wouldn't be his source of food in the forest. It was just as well as the thing was quite bland.
Passing an old, rotting log, Remulus spied a medium sized, white and fuzzy spider. The arachnid looked up at Remulus for a moment, and then waved one of its legs back and forth as if in greeting. Remulus blinked once before nodding his head in acknowledgement and moved on.
The next creature he encountered wasn't nearly as friendly. It had the head of a chicken, but the body of a lizard. Remulus thought it looked quite comical really, right up until it glared at him with shining red eyes. Remulus began to feel parts of his body go stiff and a quick look told him that his hind legs had been turned to stone. Turning back to the still glaring creature, Remulus thought, So this world has cockatrices as well. Cute. With a small flex of his legs, Remulus shattered the stone that began to encase his torso, sending the tiny hybrid creature into a fluster. To his disappointment, the cockatrices of this world in fact did not taste like chicken.
At one point he caught the scent of deer, but the trail seemed to vanish almost as soon as he began tracking it. Curious. After an hour without seeing anymore of the forest's inhabitants, Remulus decided to find shelter and continue hunting in the morning. Raising his head, Remulus sniffed the air. The smell of spices that marked Zecora's hut was faint, about an hour and a half's walk away from where he was. The scent of Ponyville was just a small tendril, so he decided that he was far enough away from the town. In  his search for a suitable shelter, his hackles began to rise. Something was watching him. He could smell nothing but forest in his immediate area, but he could feel their gaze.
Remulus continued forward until he came to a small clearing. There he sat on his haunches and waited. Soon enough the brush around the clearing parted, and several wooden forms surrounded him. The creatures resembled wolves made of wood, but like most things in this world, Remulus dwarfed them. They all shared glowing yellow eyes and a tuft of moss on their chests. Each were growling and bearing their fangs at Remulus, save for one who stood taller than the rest. It was this one that Remulus gave his attention. 
The wooden wolves around him hadn't yet attacked, so he decided to take a chance. Keeping his attention on the tallest wolf he bared his neck and said, "I bring you greetings, brothers-and-sisters-of-wood. Do you run this day, or does the call of the hunt move your claws?" Though Remulus didn't really "speak" as much as gave vague expressions to convey his thoughts. Throughout his travels, Remulus had only encountered one world where the wolves couldn't understand his "wolf speak." With luck, this wouldn't be the second.
The wolves around him stopped growling and glanced at each other before turning to what Remulus assumed was the alpha. The larger wolf blinked once before baring its own neck, "Greetings to you as well, brother-of-flesh. 'Tis the hunt that moves us this day."
"Then I wish you all luck in finding worthy prey."
With the formalities out of the way, the alpha sat on its haunches and made a sound that Remulus could only interpret as a laugh, "It has been some time since I have heard such a greeting. You do not smell of the woods. Where do you run?
"I have run through forests of both wood and metal. I have run across dry sand and frozen earth. However it was not by my own claws that I have found these woods."
One of the smaller wood wolves stepped forward and growled threateningly, "He smells of the hooved ones. He is tame, which makes him prey!"
Not even sparing the smaller wolf a glance, Remulus said, "I smell of the hooved ones for it was a horned one who called me here."
Also ignoring the small wolf, the alpha raised one of the twigs that served as its brow, "For what purpose?"
"Curiosity." With a low growl at being ignored, the small wolf stepped back in line with the others.
The alpha grit its teeth, "Aside from our Great Lady of the Night, the horned ones are as cubs with the Great Power. 
Tell me, have you hunted any of them?"
"The hooved ones are unworthy prey."
The alpha made its laughing sound again. It looked around at its pack before giving Remulus what he could only assume was a smirk, "My children believe that you have been tamed by the hooved ones, brother-of-flesh. Care to prove them wrong?
In answer, Remulus stood.
The alpha followed suit, "Then run with us. We will find you worthy prey.

Though he wasn't a real wolf, Remulus still felt a primal thrill in running with a pack. Being unused to how the trees of the Everfree seemed to twist and bend randomly, he observed the wooden wolves from the rear of the pack. He was fascinated with how the wolves seemed almost vanish into the background of the forest, and with the way they would disappear completely in the underbrush. In most other worlds their abilities would have made them better suited as ambush predators rather than pack hunters. Remulus felt that he had a lot to learn about this world.
The wolves led Remulus to a large plateau. Halfway up the cliff face was an outcropping of rock large enough for the pack of wooden wolves to stand comfortably, and a large hole was cut into its side. The tree line stopped several feet away from the plateau, allowing for an unobstructed view of the night sky. Remulus stared unblinkingly at the large, pale moon that shined down upon them, and he had to suppress another primal urge.
The alpha stepped up to Remulus' side and gestured at the cave mouth, "It is there that you will find your prey, brother-of-flesh. A beast of fur, and leather, and venom dwells within. Remulus looked into the alpha's yellow eyes, "It controls the territory from here to the den of the hooved ones. Emerge victorious, and the territory is yours. Fail and..." The alpha trailed off as it and the pack merged back into the trees, laughing all the way.
Remulus snorted, Trial by fire then, he thought to himself while facing the plateau. After stretching out his limbs, he ran at the cliff and began his climb. Fortunately he needn't have bothered as the cliff face provided enough purchase to just jump from outcropping to outcropping until he landed in front of the cave. From this height Remulus could see over the trees that bordered the plateau and decided that this would make a good home for his stay in this world. He could even catch the scent of Ponyville in the air. There was just the small matter of its current occupant.
Speaking of which...
Remulus' hackles rose and he turned to the mouth of the cave. From the dark opening came the sound of a low grow, the scraping of claws against stone, as well as the sound of flaring wings. The beast stepped into the moonlight, and Remulus could only stare at the creature. Until now the only creature who stood equal to him in stature was the pony princess, but the beast that stood before him was easily three heads higher.
The words of the alpha echoed in Remulus' mind, "A beast of fur... the creature's black coat was crisscrossed with old scars, but it's grey mane stood proud. "...and leather..." Its bat-like wings flared as it growled threateningly, "...and venom." The beast's tail, reminiscent of a scorpion's, was pointing directly at Remulus, the tip beginning to drip with venom. The manticore let loose with a deafening roar, one that Remulus had to brace himself against.
The manticore spread its wings, and Remulus bent low to the ground with his ears flat against his head. The beast launched itself at Remulus at a speed he was unprepared for, so he could only jump to evade. Unfortunately this brought him within range of the beast's tail which was aimed directly at his heart. Remulus twisted in the air and managed to miss the stinger, but the bulk of the tail crashed into him, sending Remulus off the ledge the forest floor. He landed bodily, but was quickly back on his paws. Remulus jumped several feet away just as the manticore landed heavily where he was mere moments ago. Before Remulus could launch an attack of his own, the manticore was in the air once again. Remulus watched as  it circled above and gave a thought to unbinding himself, but decided against it.
This was exactly what he needed. During his time running from the ponies, he could feel it building inside him. He was brought into this world blank, emotionless, but certain feelings began emerging. Feelings that he suppressed to prevent himself from becoming a monster. Feelings of anger at being summoned against his will, frustration towards Rainbow Dash for relentlessly pursuing him. The feelings of fear and desperation he felt at his weakest point. All of that he kept inside while he was around the ponies, but at this moment he was no longer around the ponies. He was in a fight to the death.
Remulus finally surrendered to the urges that have been building within and roared his defiance at the flying manticore.
Remulus charged at the cliff and began to climb. The manticore took this opportunity and sped towards Remulus with its claws poised to strike. Remulus was counting on this though, and launched himself from the cliff to meet the manticore in mid-air. They collided in a tangle of fur and claws and they both sunk their teeth into each other's flesh. The pain was but a distant feeling in Remulus' mind as he was focused on taking the manticore down. The two hit the forest floor with a loud crash, the force of the landing separating the two. They were both back on their paws in moments.
Before the manticore to take flight again, Remulus pounced on the beast's back and tore into the membrane of its right wing with a claw. The manticore roared and stabbed at Remulus with its tail, only for it to hit air as he leapt off its back. Not missing its chance, the manticore took a swipe at Remulus, leaving three bloody grooves in his side.
With an involuntary yelp, Remulus rolled away as he hit the ground, leapt to his paws and faced his opponent. With that hole in its wing the manticore was grounded, but Remulus had only removed one weapon in the beast's arsenal. Its tail was the most dangerous thing about the beast, so Remulus had his next target.
Unfortunately for Remulus, it seemed that the scars across the manticore's body were a testament to how many battles it survived, for it kept with a combination of claws, teeth, and tail. Though it couldn't use them to fly, the manticore was still able to use its wings to gain distance with a couple of flaps, or launch itself at Remulus when it pressed its attack. Remulus was forced on the defensive as the manticore's attacks were relentless, only able to take small swipes with his claws which were small gestures at best.
That was until Remulus remembered he had a certain advantage. Keeping on the defensive, he waited for the right moment. He didn't have to wait long, as the manticore struck out with its tail Remulus struck out with his own. Remulus' tail wrapped around the manticore's and guided it to his side where he trapped it between his jaws. Jerking his head back, Remulus tore the manticore's tail in half. The manticore roared and thrashed around in pain, the stub of its tail spraying red blood on the trees and grass.
Remulus tossed aside the remains of the manticore's head with a flick of his head and pounced on the beast, forcing it on its back. He then took the manticore's throat in his jaws and squeezed. In desperation, the manticore placed its paws on Remulus' chest and shoved him off. Unfortunately for the beast, Remulus had a firm hold on its throat, so when Remulus was lifted was lifted from its body he took its throat with him. The beast gurgled and thrashed as blood began to fill its lungs. Remulus stood by panting , knowing the fight was over. The manticore grew still, and it locked eyes with Remulus. In its last moments, Remulus felt as if a sense of understanding passed between them. With one last breath, the manticore closed its own eyes before its entire body grew limp. Remulus sagged a bit as he came back to himself, and the exertion of the battle took its toll. Though the manticore wasn't his first kill in this world, he still felt gratitude towards it. Worthy prey indeed.
Walking up to the body of his fallen opponent, Remulus placed a paw gently upon it and gave a silent thanks. The wooden wolves emerged from the trees, the alpha leading them with its strange smile, "Well done, brother-of-flesh. We have lost quite a number of glory seeking cubs to this beast. So on their behalf, I thank you."
Remulus nodded in acceptance before looking at each of the wolves. Most seemed to be eyeing the corpse almost longingly, but none dared to make a move. Feeling indebted to them, Remulus said, "Join me, brothers-and-sisters-of-wood. The beast is too much for one."
Remulus' offer took the wolves by surprise, and the smaller wolves whispered amongst themselves and the alpha asked, "You would share your kill with those not among your pack."
Remulus nodded, "Consider it a victory feast over a bargain struck." Remulus continued before the alpha could ask, "The beast's territory now belongs to me, but I wouldn't mind you and your pack hunting within it. However, while inside my territory, the hooved ones are off limits."
"Want them for yourself?"
Remulus shook his head, "I owe them a debt."
"Fair enough. We agree to your generous terms, brother-of-flesh.
"Then let us eat."

After eating his fill, Remulus climbed to the cave that would be his new home. He sat at the edge of the ledge and glanced below to where the wooden wolves were finishing the last of the manticore. He then turned his attention to the sky where the moon was full and bright. He once again felt an urge welling up inside him.
Ah, what the hell? he shrugged dismissively, and began howling. Unlike how most wolves howl in a single, continuous note, Remulus howled almost as if he was singing. The wooden wolves below joined him in his melody, and in the distance he could hear the howls of several different packs who made up the harmony. For the first time since Ponyville's founding, the Everfree Forest came alive with wolf song.