Paw and Ring

by Teotle

Chapter 5 Burning of Timber

Princess Luna and everypony else watched as the younger Luna cradled who would be the king of the wolf country. After falling from the sky, the young cub demonstrated a surprising sense of calm, despite his injuries; it kind of made everypony wonder what form of life he really was. This carried on for a while, until the ark then said, "prepare for the next transition."

With that, another flash of light appeared and brought everyone back to Luna's old bedroom. Younger Luna could be seen treating Shadowflame's injuries, cleaning and bandaging them as she did her best to help him.

Twilight looked at Luna and asked, "At any point when you were doing all that, didn't you notice the symbols on his exposed bones?" The Princess, not looking away from the scene, answered; "I did. The symbols are from a very ancient dialect, one of which nopony has the ability to decipher. Not even our old teacher Starswirl could read it."

"The language that the symbols are from can be described as a one way window." Celestia added.

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked.

"It's simple." Scarlet Rose replied. "The dialect can only be read by a being who has the videre eyes. It's basically a condition where one witnesses forces beyond our realm."

Twilight tilted her head in confusion and asked, "why don't Spike and I have this condition? We have been to the human world after all."

"Yeah", Scarlet Rose replied. "Spike told me back when I first moved in with you. However, that human world is too similar to ours to give off this effect."

Twilight was still confused. "You make it sound like there's more than one human world."

"Yeah, there is", Scarlet Rose added. "In fact, there are multiple numbers of every possible dimension. In order to get the videre eyes, you have to see a dimension that developed with a completely different set of events and/or other possible events that can take place."

Twilight looked at Scarlet Rose, and then back at the young Luna and Shadowflame. "So what you mean to say is that Shadowflame is from an entirely other world?"

Scarlet Rose walked over to the bed where Shadowflame laid, staring down at the symbols. She sighed as she added; "This cub was unlike anything any of us had ever known."

All attention shifted back to the memory as the younger Luna began to ask the cub several questions. "Do you have a name?" Luna asked, as the cub simply stared at her, tilting his head. "You don't speak?" Shadow tilted his head again, after Luna spoke what seemed to be a foreign language to him. "Well then, if you don't have a name, I'll just have to give you one." Shadowflame's ears perked up as he began to wag his tail in excitement.

Young Luna snickered and said, "Your eyes are so bright right now, they might as well be stars in the night sky. You also have a nice black coat of fur," Luna noted. She thought about it for a moment, and then made a wide smile. "That's it, Your new name will be a symbol of what you are; a light in the darkness. I shall call you Shadowflame. Do you like that name?" The cub then barked loud with glee, only to be stopped by a hard knock at the bedroom door. "Princess, is everything alright? What was that?" It was a guard for the night watch. He heard the cub barking and was wondering what it was.

"Everything is well. I was just trying to see how a dog would bark if i ever saw one."

"Oh, well, you were spot on, your highness," the guard responded as he walked back to his post, from beyond the door. The young Luna sighed with relief, looked back at the Shadowflame, who wore a sad look on his face. He felt like he was in trouble because of his happy outburst. He flattened his ears and put his tail between his legs. The Young Luna held him in her hooves, and hugged him tightly. His fur was soft and plush, even after it was slightly burned from the long fall he had. "It's ok, Shadowflame," she said. "You're not in trouble, I will protect you."

The Arc then announced the next transition and sent the group to another part of the projected memory. The scene was set with a beautiful night sky; and atop a cloud at that. Luna was sitting on the cloud with Shadowflame, with her wing draped over him. As she sat there, she pointed to the different stars in the sky that formed the many kinds of constellations. The group sat a few feet away from the cloud, simply floating in the air.

As they continued to view the memory, Luna spoke up. "I remember this. This is when I first brought him outside of the castle." Celestia turned to the Arc and raised her hoof in question. "Why would you take us to this part of the memory?," to which the Arc replied: "Luna should know this. She was there for the significant part of this point in time." Celestia turned to Luna. "Is this true?" She asked, as Luna nodded. Directly after, a cry for help could be heard from below the clouds. Luna and Shadowflame turned toward the Everfree Forest. She picked up Shadowflame, broadened her wings, and soared down into the trees.

As Luna landed, they witnessed a foal surrounded by timberwolves; angrily growling and snapping. Before Luna could act, Shadowflame leaped off of her back and charged at the threat, full speed ahead. When they saw him, a few broke off in an attempt to stop him, though were unsuccessful. As such, Luna had destroyed almost all of them, except for one who was getting dangerously close to the foal. Luna squinted her eyes in fear as Shadowflame grabbed the last one by the tail. As he was thrashed violently by the timberwolf, it began to smell of cinder and smoke. Without warning, it suddenly combusted and began to fall apart.

The young Luna grabbed and cradled the foal, shielding her eyes of the burning timbertwolf as it was reduced to a smoldering pile of charcoal.

Twilight and the others looked with faces of awe as Shadowflame pranced to young Luna, wagging his tale.