In the days following my chat with Luna, her words began to come true.  Nearly every night she appeared in the maze close to the statue of the creature called "Discord."  Things started slow, as she taught me to focus and draw from the world around me, but steadily accelerated as she found many flaws in what we thought was my "process."  I could pull energy from nearly any object with magical potential, including the sun, the moon, stars, and the planet itself.  That said, as we found out, pulling from the world around me could have consequences, as a circle of scorched and dead grass proved after one night.

That is when we decided to hold on any further thoughts on how I can draw from the world.  For now.  I had a few ideas I wanted to try, but needed to find an outlet first.  Don't get me wrong, Luna was a great companion and always quick with a smartass comment, but some things I needed to figure out on my own.  So, I thought back to the last time magic had manifested itself around me.  Back to the pain and the rage.  The all consuming rage to watch the world burn for what they were doing to me.  As I touched that well deep in me (dirty hehe) something clicked in my mind and I could barely believe it as I saw small flickering green flames burst to life in the palm of my right hand.

To say Luna was interested in this development was an understatement.  We spent the next several weeks worth of free time focusing on how I managed to draw it forth.  The more I worked, the easier it became until I could call the flames with little more then a thought.  My raw magic had been discovered, but it was nothing more then it appeared.  Just a flame that could do little more then burn.  That's when my ideas came into play.  Back home, lets just say I was more then a lapsed christian.  I was a downright pagan.  I followed several mixed paths that followed my family roots.  A little bit of Druidism, a touch of Vodoun (commonly called voodoo) and a gentle sprinkling of Asatru, otherwise known as the Nordic path.

The point is, there were many things I learned back home, and a few of them I wanted to try here.  As such, I gently asked the Princess to arrange for a few "supplies" to be dropped off with me.  Nothing horrible mind you, but things that would get me started of my crazy idea worked.  The look on her face was rather interesting when I asked for what seemed to be a random assortment of things.  Some metalworking tools, a set of thin metal shackles in my size, an assortment of crystals and chemicals completed the list for a very confused princess.  Either way, she was intrigued at my request.

It took a few days, but my items finally arrived, and both of us took to the garden eagerly that night.

As we walked into the quiet garden at the heart of the maze, there was only one thing on our minds.  Simply, would this work.  Or in her case, what "this" was, and in mine, if it was going to hurt.  Me and my insane plans.

"Luna," I started softly, "no matter what you see, please do not interrupt no matter what I say.  If this will work, I'll probably need silence if you don't mind.  It doesn't bother me if you watch though.  In fact, having someone watching can make things more fun."

I had to chuckle to myself at that comment, as I had really learned to love teasing the somewhat reserved Princess. All she did was nod slightly and completely dodged my comment, so I assumed it was safe to begin my test.  A few weeks back, I had looked for the perfect spot that would be unnoticed for this.  They had laid paving stones around the hideous statue in the heart of the maze, so any dead grass would be unnoticed.  As creepy as it was to do this with a statue staring at the back of my head, there was no better place to do this.  

Out of a small sack, I pulled out the shackles.  At least what had once been shackles.  Their once smooth surface was now marred and carved in a wild series of swirls and recesses.  Small pockets were cut into the metal that now held crystals and gems of an assortment of colors that glimmered in the dim moonlight.  If you looked very closely you could see runes etched around the edges of the metal, carved throughout it like a profane set of bracelets.  One by one, I close the cool metal around my wrists and ankles.  Honestly, I hated the feeling of being constricted, but if this worked it was worth the suffering.

Exhaling, I closed my eyes and willed the flames into my hands.  The soft crackle and pop of the sickly flames comforting me with their presence and the ease of arrival.  So far so good.  With a thought, I started to draw the flames up my arms toward my chest and neck, enjoying the heat as it spread.  A slight push and they began to flow over my body, until I heard a small gasp from the Princess when she saw me enveloped in flames.  Too late to stop though.  Too far to go forward, and too far to go back.

Drawing from within, I forced the flames down, making them pool at my feet.  Both the statue and I flickering evilly in the poor light.  I felt out from my body, small tendrils of flame reaching out, skipping across the rough stone at my feet until they formed a rough circle of flickering hate.  Down they burrowed, into the earth, into the dark, to grab what I sought. Distantly I could feel the bands on my body radiating heat with a dull sizzle, but it was too far away from my mind to be concerning.  Little did I know that a steady stream of blood was issuing from the gaps in the metal and falling to the ground with small bursts of magical flame.  

The earth below was resisting.  My magic finding what I sought, but it tried to slip away.  Tendrils bouncing of shields that suddenly appeared around what I needed.  Too far to go back, I pulled more from within, pouring my hate and rage into the earth, while it was quickly stained with more of my vitae.  Distantly, I could hear yelling.  I could feel pounding against the flames surrounding me.  I would deal with that later.  This was now.  This was all that mattered.  My magic assaulting what lay below me, seeking the tiniest cracks in armor, and eventually finding it, ripping it open and flooding me with the pure essence of what I needed.  

A howl of infinite pleasure and untold pain ripped its way out of my throat as the raw magic of the world tore through me.  From the eyes of Luna, it appeared that I was a dervish of multicolored flames, writhing in agony.  To me, I saw it all.  I saw everything, all of creation laid bare before me as I tapped into the heart of the world.  Lights were beginning to turn on in the castle proper, I could feel ponies awaking, the pounding of guards hooves on the stone floors as they rushed toward the labyrinth and the wolf housed within.  I tried to reach out and delay them, use the maze against them, but the moment I touched the hedges with my mind, something unforeseen happened. My magic flickered and died.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Luna standing over me looking incredibly pissed, and the blood soaked face of discord glaring down at me.

Pain.  All of the world was pain as I slowly awoke.  I had no idea how long it had been since I passed out, but I figured the results were not good.  If the scents assaulting my nose were anything to go by, I had an idea where I was.  Slowly opening my eyes, I was right.  Right back in that damn prison cell.

As I reached up to rub my aching head, I realized three things.  First, the shackles seemed to have fused shut around my limbs.  Wherever the pins that held them together went, I had no idea.  Smoothly carved metal circled my wrists and ankles completely, the gems were even glowing softly in the flickering light of the torches.  Secondly, why did I have black swirling rune tattoos covering my skin.  More importantly, why was my skin showing?  Did I burn off all of my fur?  As my mind wandered, things began to click together.

I was human again...