CCC-To Find Her Place

by Fresnor

Getting a Paw Up

Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,

You would think that with all the time I spent around Twilight that I would have remembered that books have one huge flaw to them. More often than not they are lacking in the most important bits of information either because they are out of date or the information is supposed to be common knowledge. I finally finished up with that experiment I was doing and now have my own timberwolf companion. What the books failed to tell me was that having one is also synonymous with declaring yourself as the potential child of the Lord and Lady which means I now have to deal with those wanting to ride on the coattails of success. Denials about the issue just fall on deaf ears so I’ve taken to trying to find alternative ways of discouraging them from bothering me. Unfortunately I don’t want to fall into the ways of certain royalty I’ve known so it really limits what I can really do. Mostly I have taken to hanging around more with the so-called commoners of the city which has helped to some extent. While it hasn’t helped my popularity with the nobles much I have come to enjoy how hardworking they are and have even learned a thing or two. In fact I’ve become almost a regular at the schools as I have found the children to be more mature than the nobles and have even started sneaking in lessons on some of the languages I know. That actually turned out to be entertaining when I found that a couple of the children were relatives of some nobles and they had taken to having conversations in equestrian common to hide what they are saying. That really didn’t help the opinion of the nobles towards me with few exceptions; the Admiral being the obvious one but Duke Okami also seemed to be amused with my antics as well strangely enough.

Now the timberwolf that I mentioned… Well things have been a bit odd since she has joined my little household. The first thing I should probably mention is that I made a mistake during the ritual bringing her into being which caused her to develop a personality I’m sure many of you would recognize. I could go on a long rant to describe all the things I have to deal with but I think I’ll just sum it up in two words, Rainbow Dash. Yes I accidentally made it where she has many of the mannerisms of our old friend and the only real relief is that she can’t talk so I don’t have to listen to her bragging all the time. Still, it is nice to have a reminder of her after all this time and you can’t deny that loyalty is one of the most important aspects of a companion and guardian. I still could do without all the little pranks she likes to pull though.

As a side note my trips to the library are going to start happening less often than usual. Apparently I had been in there so much lately that even Lady Ogitsu was starting to worry about me and got involved. I’m sure Twilight can understand how it feels to get kicked out of a library but at least it’s not permanent. I now have to schedule through the librarians when I will be showing up so that they can keep track of how often I use it. This means I need to find other ways to use my time but I may have an idea for that. Unfortunately before I can do those things I might have to delve into some rather dodgy magic that I’ve been studying so I’ll need permission from the rulers before even attempting anything. Still if things go well I might have just found something to surpass even your medical sciences which is rather hard to do.

Your Friend,
Flarenza

I was a bit nervous about what I was going to request of Lady Ogitsu but I had made a promise to be careful with some of the less-than-savory branches of magic that I knew. What I had planned may not be something directly from those schools but it did draw elements from a few of them. I thought back to when I didn’t bother checking in with others over my activities and wondered if the change was good or bad. At the very least it was always god to have someone else check over my work in case I made an error somewhere.

While I waited I watched Rose as she had her fun with the guards by toying with one of the spells I put on her as protection. Granted an aversion spell was usable in other ways, but it seemed a bit petty using it to see how close you could sneak up on someone before they saw you like she was doing. It would probably only get worse once I fully worked out that displacement enchantment I read about. There were a few others that could cause some problems but at least Rose was mostly harmless.

When I was finally called in I was surprised that Rose was also invited in as well. “Ah Flarenza, how nice to see you again. I see your guardian is as interesting as I’ve heard as well.” I hadn’t really paid much attention to it before, but with Rose in the room it was thrust in my face how large Lady Ogitsu was in comparison to me. Going by how much bigger Rose was than a normal timberwolf I was guessing that she was to Princess Celestia as to what I was to Twilight normally.

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me Lady Ogitsu. I do admit that she didn’t turn out like I expected, but I wouldn’t change a thing now. The guards around the city probably would argue with me on that point though.” The Lady chuckles at that. “Yes, I had heard about some of the antics that she had been getting up to. I think they’re still finding feathers in the barracks from one of her last pranks. It’s fine though since they have been getting a bit lazy.” I look at Rose who tries to look innocent before I bring a paw up to my face. Ugh, I hadn’t heard about that one yet.

I make a note about trying to get Rose to lay off the pranks for a while, though it’s nice to know that the spells work. “Anyways I needed to ask about you a couple things in regards to the magic you didn’t want me to be using here.” I pull out a sheet of parchment with the full details of what I had planned as well as where I got the information for each part from. “I don’t think I would have been able to put something like this together without all that information from other universes. Though I understand why you don’t want some of it getting out, I can’t even believe how horrible necromancy and blood magic can get. I’ve had to fight against the former and the latter mostly makes me feel sick thinking about it. It’s almost a miracle that I found a way to use them that wasn’t blatantly evil.”

Through all this she had been examining the notes that I had given her, though she looked amused about something. “You do know that when you give others something to read you should make sure they know how to read it.” I look down at what I gave her and realize that I forgot that I was writing In Equestrian Common again. “Of course I’ve made it my business to know every language that comes through our library.” She chuckles at my look of shock at her little prank.

“Still I don’t see anything too bad about all this, but I would like to know why you feel that this is all necessary.” I sigh before responding. “Well it also has to do with a request I had. I was looking into training with a weapon so that I don’t have to always rely on magic if I get into trouble.” She nods in understanding. “Yes, I can see why this would be required for you to go through with this before then. Just make sure that you are careful about who you talk to about this though.”

I let out a sigh of relief before bowing to her. “Thank you for allowing me to do this. I’m pretty sure this will work, though I hope I don’t have to do it too often.” After the usual goodbyes I was on my way to the palace armory to look for ideas for something I could use. I decided to look into the portals and others worlds connected by them considering how much stuff they seem to have pulled from them. I was treated with an eyeful of such things when the doors to the place opened.

“Wow, is this supposed to be an armory or a museum?” I look around in wonder at the variety of implements of destruction that are being stored in the palace armory. While some of the common weapons were stored in racks like I expected; there were many that were displayed like trophies along the walls and in display cases. “I said I wanted ideas, but this is ridiculous. I have no idea how half of these would even be used.” I look over some weird metal thing shaped like a seven with a needle-like bit sticking out of the end which was named after an insect.

“Right, I’m starting to wonder what kind of sick creatures would even use some of these things.” I pass over some kind of giant cross, a set of twelve keys, and even what looks like a rat connected to a stick by a chain. As I was looking over a staff while thinking back to some of the things that Zecora used to do with one I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was just a set of large beads but on a closer look it turned out to actually be a weapon that looked to be used like a whip.

“Rosary Beads? Not a very informative description but there is something about it.” I look over the weapon a bit more closely. “I think this is supposed to be used like a whip, a rosary whip maybe? I’m not sure if it would have the same impact as a regular whip but I think I see some potential in this.” Examining the strap used to hold the weapon I pictured how it would be used by me both with and without magic. I can see me wielding it both from my mouth as well as using my tails. Adding in a bit of magic and I could make this a really unpredictable weapon if I need to use it.

Taking out my journal I start to make a few simple sketches of the weapon as well as a couple preliminary notes as well. Looking over the material I note that it looks to be of some kind of ceramic or metal, but I most likely will use wood in my design. After finishing with that I look over a few other things, like a three-bladed sword and odd throwing ring, before heading out once again with Rose. “Well Rose I found something but I was hoping for a few more ideas. Still, I think I can make this one work and I think I have a few ideas to add to it.”

Hopping up onto her back we made our way back to the house to prepare for what I had gotten approval for. I flexed the remains of my missing limb in anticipation to this while I thought out the plans while looking for any flaws. When we arrived I made sure that I had everything prepared as I gave out orders to my servants. “Now be sure not to interrupt me no matter what you hear unless Rose comes to get you. This is going to be very delicate work so anything interrupting me could be catastrophic.” The three nod to me before splitting up to their respective areas.

Heading down to the basement I start setting up the wards to contain anything that could go wrong as well as keep out anyone from interrupting. After verifying that only those keyed to them could bypass them, I then added another layer of spells just to misdirect anyone that may have bypassed the wards in some way. “Everything seems to be ready there, just be sure that you’re ready to stop everything if anything goes wrong Rose.” Turning to the center of the room I examine the circle and the stunted tree that I had moved into a pot down here.

Starting up the spell I begin the first part which is easy compared to the rest of it. Taking the small tree and reforming it into the shape I desired. The tree was larger than I needed so I worked a little harder to compress it down to increase its final strength. Before the process was finished I started in with the difficult part of the process. Looking down to the remains of my leg and bring up a second tendril of magic and use it to reopen the wound allowing my blood to flow freely into a bowl below it.

While trying to hold the fresh wound closed I gather up the blood and start to wrap it around the tree and start to bond them together. Using a combination of blood magic, for its power through blood, and necromancy, for its power over life and death, I imbue the wood with a portion of my own life. Once I start to feel the object start to give off an aura similar to my own magic I begin the final portion of the spell.

Taking a deep breath I bring the shape closer to my body, and with a final inhalation, bring it into contact with the opening in my missing limb. As soon as it comes into contact I begin weaving a spell combining both necromancy and golemmancy. Trying to keep in mind how I read how a mechanical limb is connected I use that as a base while using necromancy’s flesh crafting style to connect the limb to my body. I focus as much as I can on the spell itself and not what is going on as my body’s nerves start getting connected to it and the pain begins. Luckily by that point all that was left were the stabilizing spells to keep my body from rejecting it as the pain was much worse than I thought and as soon as I finished all I could do was scream.

After an indeterminate amount of time the pain becomes bearable enough for me to begin focusing again. I hear whimpering above me and look up to find Rose hovering above me. “Well Rose, that could have been worse but I’m not sure how yet.” I shift a bit and feel something odd and look down at my leg to see its wooden shape that looks remarkably like my old one while having the same realistic aspects like Rose. “But I think things are going to be looking up now that I can walk on my own without being at risk of falling over all the time.”

Author's Note:

Bit short and might need a bit of work, but here's another chapter. Please let me know of any problems, typos, and comments so I can improve on things.

Comments

[Cascadejackal]

Does this mean Flarenza's bark is worse than her bite?
...
I'll see myself out.

[Fresnor]

5383824 Ugh, I walked right into that one didn't I?
I guess I deserve it for some of the silly references I left in that chapter though so I really don't have a leg to stand on.

[Crescent Glaive]

5383824
5388018
*tries to hold in laughter*

*attempts failing*

[DerpTape]

There were a few others that could cause some problems but at least Rose was mostly harmless.

At least her status was updated