Chapter 3: In Which There's a Giant Wolf
The chariot ride was an uneventful one. Kylar and Twilight made small talk as the pegasi guards pulled their chariot. When it landed on a long, wide balcony, Kylar and Twilight thanked the guards, who nodded and flew off, presumably either to another pony to transport or to perform some other duty.
Twilight led him through the doors. After a short walk through a few hallways, they arrived at the throne room. The guards both nodded greetings. One of them walked to the door and knocked, calling out, “Twilight Sparkle and Kylar Stern here to see you, Princess Luna.”
Kylar was impressed that they knew their names, but he supposed the Princess would have told them that she was expecting them. It was what he’d have done, if he had been in her position.
Both walked into the room to find Luna’s personal chambers. Luna herself was sitting across a small table from a massive wolf with yellow eyes. The wolf turned to Kylar, grinned, and nodded a greeting. His voice was deep and rumbled through Kylar’s chest when he said, “Welcome, Shadow. I was wondering if I’d sent you to the wrong time, perhaps. Then Celestia got young Twilight’s letter in the middle of having tea with me.” The massive beast
Kylar blinked, realizing that it wasn’t a wolf, it was the Wolf. Twilight, meanwhile, had taken several steps backwards in instinctive terror. Kylar poked her on the nose with a wingtip, causing her to snap out of it and stop moving backwards. She almost fell over because she stopped while she was imbalance, but instead stumbled. The Wolf, or Ezra, was grinning madly, obviously holding back laughter.
“So, you came too, Wolf?” Kylar asked.
“Indeed I did. I had to check on the kids of my old friends.” His already deep voice dropped an octave, so it was more felt than heard. “And see if I could find them again.” Luna flinched at that, but didn’t interrupt Ezra. “You, on the other hand… Yeah, you’re stuck here. It’s a long explanation as to why, and Luna wanted to have a lil chat with you.”
Twilight had taken a few hesitant steps forward and sat down next to the Princess of the Night. She kept a wary eye on the wolf, but the princess seemed to ignore him, choosing to quietly and calmly sip her tea. Kylar, however, being trained to notice such things, could tell that she was still nervous about the wolf’s presence.
Well, you they are horses in essence. The ka’kari noted, chuckling darkly, Sentient, yes, but wouldn’t it make sense for them to fear giant wolves?
Kylar admitted it did make sense, but didn’t say so out loud. He sat down next to Ezra, in an attempt to show Twilight there was nothing to fear.
Of course, those efforts were hampered when Ezra excused himself by saying, “I’m off to hunt. This body gets hungry quite quickly.” Twilight’s eyes widened and she recoiled, and Kylar was faintly surprised that hunting would be that offensive. Sure, they might be vegetarians, but were there no carnivorous species here?
Ezra left the room, leaving Kylar with a visibly paler Twilight and a still-serene Luna. Kylar idly wondered if there was some sort of drug in the tea. Probably not; Ezra had called Luna a child of an old friend, so it was likely that she just knew him.
After a minute or two of silence, Kylar asked, “Why did you want to see me?”
Luna looked up, curious. “I was hoping you’d know. The Wolf said that I should talk to you when you arrived, so when Celestia got the letter from Twi I sent the carriage over.” She shrugged, unconcerned. “I have faith in the Wolf. He’s been there my entire life, and never has he been wrong.” She smiled at some memory, then shook her head. Twilight looked somewhat comforted; since a princess trusted him, surely this ‘Wolf’ couldn’t be that bad!
Said wolf chose that moment to appear in the room with a quiet pop, a squirming Royal Guard held tenderly in his jaws.
“News, Luna,” he said, setting the guard down. The guard looked shaken, but quickly walked to his princess. After a moment’s hushed discussion, Luna looked up. She apologized and trotted out of the room, following the guard.
Ezra frowned. “Well, that was unexpected, to say the least. I was hoping we’d get to the topic of souls.” He looked at Kylar. “So, has the ka’kari told you yet?”
Kylar was confused. “Told me what?”
Ezra groaned. “Dammit, ka’kari! Just tell him already. She’s out of the room; I’m certain he can control himself.”
Fine, Ezra. I was hoping to wait for night, but if you insist. Kylar was getting more and more confused by their conversation, and snapped, “Just fucking tell me what you’re on about!”
My, my, such impatience. Very well, Kylar. Have you heard of the idea of a soul? Kylar had, and he nodded. Twilight wondered why. Wonderful! In short, Elenes soul moved from your world to this when she died. It became Luna. I’d give a more detailed explanation, but you wouldn’t be able to grasp the science behind it.
Kylar sat down as he processed the information for a moment. Elene’s soul? In Luna? But they were so different!
Soul, memories, and personality are not one and the same. The soul is the basis for the person, but personality and memories still come from life. After so many millennia of life, Luna’s soul has been largely buried by her experience. Kylar heard a sound like a sigh. It’s difficult to explain with these analogies.
Kylar nodded. “Right.” He frowned. “What, did you expect I’d jump her bones, or something?”
Ezra was fairly surprised by the fact that he wasn’t running to see the mare who was, in essence, Elene. “Yes. You’ve changed quite a bit, Kylar.”
Kylar grinned. “I have. Mostly for the better, I think.” Across the table, Twilight made an aggravated noise somewhere between a groan and a snort. “I haven’t killed anyone in like three years, ‘cept the assassins.”
That made Twilight stare at him. She cut in, shouting, “You’ve killed somepony?!”
Kylar turned and his ears flicked with annoyance at the loud noise. “Yes. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve killed. Most of them deserved it, but I used to take contracts. I was a wetboy.” He smiled. “A bit like an assassin, in the same way a tiger is a bit like a kitten.”
Twilight backed up a few paces as Kylar, seemingly obliviously, pulled a long, wickedly sharp knife from his belt. He idly spun it on his hoof, then slammed it back into his sheath.
“‘Course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have morals. I don’t hurt people who I consider friends.” He smiled gently. “I consider you one.”
Twilight hesitantly stepped back forward, and Ezra barked a laugh. Kylar sat down, no trace of violence in his features.
Luna hurried back into the room with perfect timing, saying, “False alarm.” She sighed. “I wish we didn’t need to be so paranoid about him… Anyway.” She looked at Ezra. “What did you want us to talk about?”
Ezra said, “Mostly getting citizenship, getting a house, paperwork. I figured things would go faster if you helped handle it, and I have a bit of an interest in seeing Kylar settled in here.” He smiled. “He’s got a good sixty years’ experience as a diplomat. I’m sure the griffons would enjoy having someone they could spar with. It’d get him a good bit of respect.”
Kylar was surprised at Ezra’s directness. Normally, he would manipulate things from the shadows, but here he was, out and out stating his goals. That was a first.
Of course, the cynicism Kylar had learned made him realize that, chances are, those weren’t his ulterior motives. Sure, they might be things Ezra wanted done, but they were just steps on the path to his final goal. Kylar had long since given up guessing at Ezra’s plans, and that wasn’t about to change now. He assumed it would be at least workable for him, and dismissed his concerns.
“How about you meet me in my bedroom tonight?” Luna asked. “It’ll take a while and if I’m anywhere else people will distract us.”
Kylar nodded. “Sounds good.” The teenager in him was extremely hopeful, but Kylar shoved that particular set of thoughts away. No, he sternly told himself. Nysos, no.
Luna grinned at him, guessing his thoughts from the slight blush and vaguely horrified look on his face. She made no promises, then said to Ezra, “Is that all?”
Ezra grunted an affirmation, then said, “I’d recommend you get to know Kylar. He’d make an excellent bodyguard as well.” With that note, he left the room, muttering about how now he could actually hunt instead of having to bring back a messenger boy.
Twilight and Kylar glanced at each other. She broke the silence. “So, Princess Luna, should I be going back to Ponyville, or should I stay here?”
“Whichever you want. We have a room here, or you can stay at your parents’ house, if you want to stay here.”
Twilight frowned. “Then I’ll go back to Ponyville. My friends might need me.” Luna called in a guard, who took Twilight… somewhere. Presumably to another chariot. Luna herself beckoned another guard in and told him to give Kylar a full tour of the castle. The guard looked vaguely surprised and seemed about to question the order before he remembered who was giving it.
“Follow me,” he said.
Kylar did follow, and the guard led him to the grand entrance hall. As they walked, they spoke.
“So,” the guard began. “You don’t look like an average pony.”
Kylar decided he’d be nonchalant. “I’m not. I dropped into this world after dying and my normal coming-back-to-life bit didn’t work, so instead, I landed here.” He shrugged. “I now have fangs and wings.” He grinned, showing off his canines, and the guard stared at them.
“Those… OK, those are useful. Can you eat meat?” He looked disturbingly interested in Kylar’s mouth, so Kylar let his lips close again. He stared the guard down. “O-okay, sorry, nevermind!”
Kylar smiled -- without revealing his fangs -- and said, “Tour?”
The guard nodded hastily and doubled his pace. Within thirty minutes, Kylar had gotten acquainted with as many rooms. Turns out the guard’s name was Mercurial, and he was an orphan, picked up off the street. Kylar felt a bit bad for scaring him, but where he was from, getting pick up off of the street meant that you were getting raped, not taken in.
Just over an hour after Kylar left the Princess, the sun set and the moon rose. The guard noticed and said, “Luna wanted you there when the moon set. I’ll take you there.”
Kylar smiled at him. “You’ve done enough. I remember how to get there.” The guard shrugged and walked off, his job done. Kylar cantered through the castle, muffling his footsteps with his Talent. A minute later, he stood in front of Luna’s door, panting quietly. It’d been a while since he’d run that much, and the castle was bigger than it seemed.
He knocked on the door and they opened, encased in Luna’s magical aura. She was sitting at a desk with four stacks of paper, each about half a meter tall, in front of her. The desk faced the window, and would normally provide a beautiful view of the sky and city if it wasn’t blocked by stacks of paper.
She sighed. “Kylar, how long do you think you can stay up?”
“Probably six, seven hours if you let me crash here. Less if I have to go somewhere.”
She nodded. “You can stay here.” She beckoned Kylar over, and he walked to her side. “So, shall we begin?” She smiled innocently. "Oh, and this is just for citizenship."
Kylar groaned.
Eight hours later, the paperwork was finished. Finally. Kylar could hardly thing, and had to boost his muscles with Talent just to drag himself over to the bed. Luna appeared better off, but only somewhat so; her mane was flatter than usual and didn’t billow, and he head sagged. Kylar didn’t even bother with making it under the thick covers; it was hot enough as-is, and they weren’t worth the effort. Luna did the same, and mumbled a good night to Kylar, who returned it. They fell asleep, coincidentally, at exactly the same time.
Kylar had very odd dreams that night. He was being chased by a huge blob of darkness. He knew that it claimed to be friendly, but that its friendliness was exactly why it was so dangerous. Every time he thought he’d gotten away, he looked up and it was in front of him.
Weirdly enough, during those dreams, he was human.
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4517901 I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you can blame Diokno for writing that in.
Side note: I, too, ungently introduced my butt to the ground when I read that. Shortly thereafter, my head made its acquaintance as well.
I love it
4561536 ...I'm slightly confused as to how you found it, but thanks!
And it might not get updated for another month or so, depending on if my plans fail miserably. I'll be out of the country.
Of course, if all goes well, I should be able to update it every few days.
4772022 I'm actually rewriting this story. I need to add a note to the description to that effect.
As of now, I am acting author until further notice.
Okay, just found this, and gotta say.....A crossover-ish with the Night Angel Trilogy? Aw hell yeah! Comment time-stamps say it's not updated often, but hey, I'm a very patient individual. Off to reading land! Next stop, this fic's first chapter thing!
6023245 Thanks Blade Wolf, I'll get around to continuing it at some point. Also, yeah, tis been awhile since I too have read this awesome trilogy
7019966 Thanks dude, sorry I haven´t updated in a long time
Will not you continue the story?