Well, a little before that actually.

With Sigrid gone, Freydis didn’t have any family left. Add in the fact that she was in a coma, and I was in a tight spot. I didn’t know where else to go, I didn’t know anyone outside of Ponyville. Except for Chelly, and while she already hated me enough by then, I didn’t think she would deny medical care to a chick.

“Guards, seize that demon!” Celestia screamed as I walked into the courtroom. Freydis was secured to my back with a few tendrils around her waist and limbs.

“Celestia, please, I don’t want to fight,” I begged, the guards surrounded me but didn’t attack. I heard them murmur to each other about the young gryphon attached to my back, quietly debating whether I was feeding on her or not.

“You think you can waltz into my court and make demands of me? Kill the demon!” Celestia snarled, she couldn’t see Freydis from where she was standing.

“Celestia, wait-” A spear entered my back, still warm with blood that wasn’t mine. I lost control, and by the time I was aware of my surroundings, Celestia, Freydis, and I were the only ones alive in the room. The others either having fled or lying in bloody piles on the floor.

“Kill me and doom the planet,” Celestia snarked as I held her against the wall, my claws wrapped around her throat.

“I didn’t want this. All I wanted was some help for Freydis,” I said sadly, releasing Celestia and gently moving Freydis into my arms for her to see. I spotted the small cut on her side from the guard’s spear and made a note to bandage it later.

“You came to me for help? And for a little gryphon, at that? Too bad, it’s a husk. There’s nothing I can do, not that I would,” Celestia replied, rubbing a hoof at where my claws had cut into her neck.

“A husk?” I asked, dropping into an empty seat.

“Don’t they have schools in Tartarus? A husk is somepony, or in this case gryphon, who has been sucked dry of emotions. They don’t live very long, might as well throw it out now,” Celestia explained, her words hitting me harder than her condescending tone.

“There’s nothing that can be done to help her?” I clarified.

“No, now get out. Next time you won’t get away so easily,” Celestia snapped. I stood and slowly carried Freydis out of the room, thinking of how we had ended up in this position. Those damn bugs had done this to her, but they were dead. I’d seen to that. But this left me without anyone to blame, except myself.

“Hey, demon guy,” a voice hissed from behind the door as I passed it. Turning, I found an orange earth pony standing just outside the courtroom.

“You going to tell me there’s no hope? ‘Cause I already got that hint,” I replied drearily, continuing past the pony.

“What if I told you there was?” the strange pony asked, trotting to keep up with me. Back in those days, I walked with a longer stride. Ponies had a hard time keeping up.

“What’re you, a grief counselor? Celestia already said there was no way for me to help her,” I countered.

“She lied. In the Frozen Plains to the north, you’ll find a city. That city is the capital of the Crystal Kingdom, it’s also their only holding but that’s not important. King Sombra has a soft spot for people like you, and he has a thing for magical artifacts. I happen to know of one in his possession that can return a husk to normal,” the pony continued.

“More likely that you’re trying to send us to die in the snow,” I rebuked, continuing toward the exit.

“Do you have anything to lose? You did come here after all,” the stranger pointed out.

“That...is a good point, I’ll look for this city. But if I don’t find anything, I’ll make you into a fucking hat. Do you understand me?” I threatened, pressing a claw to the pony’s forehead.

“Yeah, yeah. Just remember to tell ‘em that Apple Seed sent you, I don’t get paid otherwise,” the strange pony added before walking away casually, pointedly ignoring the small trickle of blood running down his face.

With nowhere else to go, I set out for this rumored city in the snow. As the air cooled I began to notice Freydis cooling as well, forcing me to stop and find some way of keeping her warm. Fortunately we were still in a forested region and shelter wouldn’t be an issue. While Freydis lay next to a campfire I had managed to make by drawing the water out of a log and hitting a couple rocks together, I worked on forming a shell out of my hand.

“Alright, just like the claw or blade. I just need to imagine how I need it to be shaped….That’s a clam. I mean, it’s close right? Just-oh-twenty times bigger and it’ll work, maybe. Whatever, maybe if I just-woah. That felt weird,” I rambled to no one before feeling my biomass move under my direction for the first time. It’s a slimy feeling, like an uncooked egg running down your arm. Or leg, in your case.

I spent the rest of the night experimenting with this new ability, eventually crafting the cocoon you call Podrick. Now that I had a way to safely carry Freydis the rest of the way, we left our camp with the sunrise. The rest of the trip went smoothly until we reached the edge of the Frozen Plains, where there was nothing for me to hunt.

I had been snatching squirrels and the like off of trees as I walked previously, but there aren’t any trees that far north. No trees, no critters. No critters, no food. I kept walking anyway, Freydis could have my nutrients. She deserved them more. I felt like a failure, I had two people in the world that I cared about and I couldn’t even keep them safe from a handful of bugs. And now that the bugs were dead, I’d seen to that, I didn’t have anyone to blame but myself.

More and more, I removed pieces of myself to be broken down into base nutrients for Freydis until I was just a pair of legs and an eyestalk. That was when I saw a shape through the snow. It wasn’t a grand wall or gate, it was a shadow. I thought it was a flying snake at first, right until it landed in front of my eye and pointed at its ear with a hoof. It was a pony, a stretched out, slinky sort of pony, but it was still clearly equine. And a light blue, almost teal sort of color. It was also yelling at me.

“-an’t just wander out here by yourself, fella’s freeze to death all the time. You got a name or what?” the stretched pony asked, its voice dropping to a normal volume as it saw me grow an ear out of the cocoon I was dragging.

My eyestalk bobbed in the affirmative. I didn’t have enough biomass left to form a mouth, lungs, and voice box.

“Right, no mouth. Name’s Wind Chill, I’m in charge of finding the new arrivals and getting them inside before they freeze. Come on, it’s this way. You’re nearly there,” the pony continued, turning to walk ahead of me and lead me to the gate. The screeching, howling way this weird pony spoke kept me from figuring out its gender, but I was more concerned with getting Freydis some medical attention and finding some biomatter before there was nothing left of me. Preferably in that order.

Wind Chill led me through a modest gate and all at once, the blizzard conditions that permanently assailed this corner of the world disappeared and I could see clearly once more. I nodded thankfully at Wind Chill before looking around curiously, noting that my strange appearance hadn’t drawn any attention from the locals. Indeed, I noticed two other beings that looked similar to my normal form lounging on a bench not twenty feet away.

“Well, welcome to the Crystal Kingdom. Come on, Dirge always gives newbies a free meal. No offense, but you look like you could use it,” Wind Chill offered, waving me forward with a hoof. I followed my new ‘friend’ into a tall wooden building next to the gate, finding what looked like some fucked up cross between a bull, a human and a tub of testosterone; with cloven feet, reverse jointed legs, huge muscles on his chest and arms, and the head of a bull. Whatever it was, it was over ten feet tall, bipedal, and sported some ridiculously sharp horns.

“Chilly, you brought home another stray, eh?” the cow-thing said with a friendly, joking tone as he brought a comparatively tiny meat cleaver down on a salmon, “And just what are you, little one? Never seen anything like you before.”

“Sorry Dirge, this fella doesn’t have a mouth. I’m betting on sentient weed. Remember Potts? Same way,” Wind Chill replied, though I was barely paying attention. My eye was focused on the hog hanging behind Dirge.

“Might not have a mouth, but this guy is definitely carnivorous. Look at that stare, he’s got his eye on some bacon. I’ve got a hundred crowns that say he can eat the whole pig,” Dirge wagered.

“This little plant? You’re on,” Wind Chill replied, a confident smirk spreading across his/her face. Soon bets were being exchanged between the other patrons and even passers by, causing Dirge to relocate all of us into the street so everyone could watch and ensure no one would be cheating them out of their money. The pig was finally dropped in front of me on the small table Dirge had provided, the onlookers falling silent to watch. Without the biomass to form a tendril without sacrificing any more of myself, I pressed my eye into the fresh meat and consumed the entire thing within a second.

“Thank you Dirge, I don’t think I would’ve lasted much longer,” I said, forming exterior lungs to speak while the rest of my body regenerated.

“It speaks, ha ha ha, and it has won me a lot of crowns. What’s your name stranger?” Dirge asked with a deep belly laugh, despite his lack of the requisite stomach size.

“A friend of mine called me Jekyll, my old name doesn’t have any meaning anymore,” I replied, hefting Freydis’s cocoon onto my left shoulder to shake the cow’s hand.

“Well Jekyll, I hope you enjoy it here, I know we do. But I’ll see you around, I need to get back to work,” Dirge said with a dramatic flourish as he stepped back and disappeared into his restaurant.

“You know, I’d be pretty steamed at you if that hadn’t been one of the coolest things I’d ever seen,” Wind Chill warned from my right shoulder, startling me into falling over Freydis’s cocoon defensively, “Woah, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine. Where can I find Sombra? I need his help,” I responded tersely, Freydis’s condition having been pushed into the forefront of my mind.

“You come in, eat our food, and make demands to see our king? Might want to bide your time stranger, we don’t take well to pushy people,” Wind Chill threatened, others falling in behind him/her. I opened the cocoon, “Is that a chick? Oh frost, she’s a husk! Come on, he’s this way!”

I slammed the cocoon closed and sprinted after the pony, who I now noticed was flying close to the ground despite a lack of wings. Wind Chill stopped next to a nondescript house a few blocks away and held up a hoof to signal me to stop as well. After a moment of silence the door opened on its own, a black and gray unicorn appearing a few seconds later.

“Can I help you, Wind Chill? It’s four in the morning,” the unicorn asked tiredly.

“It’s noon, your highness. This...thing-sorry-showed up a few minutes ago, it brought a husk with it, sir,” Wind Chill responded formally. I set the cocoon on the ground and lifted the cover.

“Please, she’s all I have left,” I begged, I didn’t know what else to do, what else I could do. The unicorn I assumed to be Sombra sighed and moved away from the door, motioning for us to come inside.

“What’s your name?” Sombra asked harshly as I entered.

“I’m Jekyll.”

“According to who?”

“Her father gave me the name,” I answered honestly, fighting the nervous urge to form my claws.

“And where is he now?” Sombra continued. Wind Chill stood stone faced in the entryway, blocking the door.

“Dead, her mother followed not long ago. I tried, I tried to keep them safe. I’m a failure, you can kick me out and let me freeze if you want, just help her,” I attempted to compromise.

“Or what?” Sombra challenged hatefully, sounding too much like Celestia had when I had asked her for help. I felt my anger rise.

“You’re just like her, aren’t you? The Celestia of the cold. Well, I’m done playing nice. Either you fix Freydis or I’ll flay you and do it myfuckingself,” I snarled, my claws and blades forming threateningly. This was the first time I had formed a second set of arms, I decided I liked the versatility.

“You’re a shifter,” Sombra noted, unfazed, “My apologies, I give that little test to every newcomer I meet; makes it easy to find Chelly’s spies. Come along, Jay, I keep the heart under the short leg of my desk.”

“Jay? Heart?” I stammered, caught completely off guard by the unicorn’s change of attitude.

“King Sombra has a thing for nicknames, just accept it,” Wind Chill advised, waving at me to follow the monarch into a side room.

“Yo Jay, catch!” Sombra called without warning. I managed to catch the heart shaped crystal after it bounced off my face.

“What’s this?” I asked as my skull reformed.

“Are you okay? You’re not supposed to catch hundred pound magic crystals with your face,” Wind Chill asked, laughing.

“Chilly, you’ll never get a coltfriend if you keep up that attitude. I believe your sister would normally be lecturing you about being a proper mare about now,” Sombra admonished, tipping me off to Wind Chill’s gender.

“Bwahahaha, you needed Sombra to tell you that you had been hanging around a mare,” Luna mocked, holding her sides as she openly laughed at me.

“Have you ever heard a wendigo speak? There isn’t a lot to go on there,” I shot back.

“You could’ve looked,” Luna pointed out.

“I don’t make a point of looking under mares, it’s rude,” I countered.

“Fair point,” Luna acknowledged.

“Great, as I was saying…”

“I asked if he was okay,” Wind Chill responded petulantly.

“Back to business. Jay, the Crystal Kingdom could use someone of your capabilities. We would be honored if you choose to stay with us, though we will hold no ill will if you choose to leave and you would always be welcome to return,” Sombra declared, bowing slightly.

“Thanks for the offer, I’ll let Freydis decide,” I replied tersely, hefting the crystal with one hand for emphasis.

“Of course, just set the little one on the heart and watch it work. The heart is filled with so much condensed love that…” Sombra kept talking, but I wasn’t listening. I was watching streams of light flow into Freydis. When they stopped, my breath caught, I thought it had failed. Again.

“Momma?” Freydis asked weakly. Only her beak had moved, and not by much.

“I’m so sorry kiddo,” I apologized as I gently lifted her to my chest.

“Why? Where’s Mom?” Freydis asked again, becoming panicked as she fully awoke.

“I’m so sorry,” I repeated, unsure of how to tell her that she was an orphan.

“What happened?” Freydis asked.

“Young one, my name is Sombra. How are you feeling? Any nausea or dizziness,” Sombra asked as gently as possible, coming to my rescue.

“I’m thirteen and I’m fine. Did something happen, Uncle Jekyll?” Freydis snapped, all but ignoring Sombra as tears tugged at the corners of her eyes.

“How much do you remember, Freydis?” Sombra continued, turning stoic.

“I remember Uncle Jekyll leaving to go to work, then some pony guards came looking for him. But they said his fake name and Mom got angry, then they hissed and fought Mom. And then she fell down and there were shadows and green and the creepy pony and-and-and…” Freydis recounted before dissolving into tears, her small talons holding my neck as she sobbed.

“It’ll be okay kiddo, I won’t let anything happen again,” I promised. That was something I could do, something I was built to do. A force of destruction could be a force of protection.

“Jekyll, may I have a word with you? Alone?” Sombra asked seriously, gesturing to the door he had entered earlier. I assumed it was his office.

“I don’t know, Freydis-” I began.

“I can watch her, I’ve always been good with children,” Wind Chill offered, interrupting me before I could worry further.

“Uncle Jekyll?” Freydis asked uncertainly.

“It’ll be okay, I’ll just be in the next room. Just shout if anything scary happens and I’ll be there before you can blink,” I reassured Freydis as I set her down and followed Sombra to the other room. As soon as my back was turned, I added a pair of eyes to the back of my head and pointed at them while glaring at Wind Chill. She smirked at my action and leaned over to Freydis.

“Your uncle is pretty cool, huh?” Wind Chill asked. I didn’t get to hear Freydis’s reply, Sombra had started talking. I did see her laugh though.

“Jay, I apologize for being so formal, but there are some important matters to discuss. Firstly, what is your relationship with the gryphon chick Freydis?” Sombra asked, visibly fighting to keep his tone as friendly as possible.

“I see myself as an adopted uncle,” I replied honestly, “Though she has referred to me as her father a couple times.”

“And what specific role have you filled in her life? The more details, the better,” Sombra continued.

“I gathered food while it lasted, worked after that, helped teach her how to fly, tucked her in at night the few times her mother had fallen asleep early, and escorted her to and from school.”

“Awfully tame for someone who crossed the plains alone,” Sombra commented.

“I was awfully determined,” I replied.

“And how did you find us, anyway?”

“Strange earth pony, said his name was Apple Seed.” Sombra nodded and made a note before continuing.

“Living conditions?”

“A cabin I built on the edge of the Everfree Forest. It wasn’t much smaller than your place here, actually.”

“The Everfree. A little dangerous for a chick, don’t you think?” Sombra pressed, his tone turning harsh.

“I haven’t found anything I couldn't bag and bring home,” I bragged, forming a claw for emphasis.

“Evidently, you have. You did show up on my doorstep with a husk, after all,” Sombra criticized, glaring.

“There were extenuating circumstances, and they didn’t come out of the forest,” I shot back, my own temper flaring.

“And how would you know that? You probably just found her discarded husk on the side of the road,” Sombra challenged, leaning forward aggressively.

“I didn’t find shit! I slaughtered every one of those fucking bugs and carried her out!” I shouted back.

“An entire changeling hive? By yourself? Hogwash, you’d need an army to do that,” Sombra replied dismissively. He started laughing at me as my rage continued to grow, though he fell silent when I pinned him against the wall.

“Bitch I eat armies!” I snarled dangerously. Though I was lying, it shut Sombra up for a moment.

“Again I find myself apologizing, though this was no test. I’m truly sorry, Jekyll, taking on an entire hive to save a loved one is no laughing matter. I have enough information to make a decision,” Sombra stated after a few seconds.

“On what?” I snapped, though my own anger was rapidly dissipating.

“Adopted uncle is not a legally recognized relation in the Crystal Kingdom, you wouldn’t be able to enroll her in school or visit her at our clinic. Besides, you’ve been more of a parent to her if I’m reading this correctly. I’m offering to make Freydis your legal daughter,” Sombra declared formally, summoning a scroll and quill as he spoke.

“I-I don’t-Freydis, could you come here for a minute?” I called into the main room once I stopped stammering incoherently. I leaned to my left and slid down the wall as the shock of the situation hit me, Sombra wanted to make me Freydis’s dad. Could I be a dad? He made it sound like I already was, but I’d only known her for six years. Almost half of her life. Would she want me as a parent? Thoughts like these plagued me until Freydis walked in and looked at me curiously.

“What’s wrong Uncle Jekyll? Did something bad happen again?” Freydis asked, scaring herself. I reached over and pulled her into my lap.

“Nothing bad, just sudden,” I soothed, “Sombra wants to make me your dad.”

“Mom told me not to say anything,” Freydis began sadly, “But she once said she was waiting for you to grow some balls and make us a real family.”

“It means courage, little one,” Sombra answered helpfully, “Your mother sounds like a smart hen.”

“Where is this coming from? I never got that impression, Sigrid always seemed indifferent to me,” I asked, more to myself.

“Jay, my boy, gryphons are curious creatures, hens even more so,” Sombra laughed, slapping my shoulder roughly.

“Could you not be so damn happy right now?” I requested.

“Right, sore subject. As Jay here said so bluntly, I intend to make him your legal guardian. You’ll need a legally recognized parent to handle the paperwork involved in placing you in our school system,” Sombra explained to Freydis. Freydis looked at me curiously.

“Is this our home now? What happened to the cabin?” She asked.

“It’s still there, but we couldn’t stay. You were dying and I couldn’t save you by myself,” I replied. I didn’t want to tell her the entire place was covered in her mother’s blood.

“What are-” Wind Chill began from the doorway.

“Chilly, let it go,” Sombra interrupted softly, causing Wind Chill to fall silent immediately.

“Whether we stay here is up to you, we could go anywhere in the world you want,” I finished.

“What if I want to go back to our old home?” Freydis asked pointedly.

“Frey, your mother-well, she was your mother. There’s a pretty big mess waiting back there,” I admitted.

“How many?” Freydis continued, her tone becoming sharp.

“How many what?” I replied, confused.

“How many did she take with her?” she clarified.

“Four,” I answered after a moment.

“I counted twelve shadows, at least the family pride will live on,” Freydis stated, puffing up her chest plumage proudly, “This place seems as good as any, I’m okay with living here.”

“That just leaves finding you a vacant house that fits your budget,” Sombra added happily.

“Uh, we don’t have any money. Is there a bank here that would loan us enough to get a place? I can do any kind of job,” I said, my voice dropping.

“You can live with me,” Wind Chill offered.

“Chilly,” Sombra warned, “I know you only have two beds.”

“That’s fine, I don’t need one. I don’t sleep,” I added, completely missing the point of Sombra’s warning.

“Woot, another mismatched group of parental figures,” Freydis commented sarcastically.

“Frey, Sombra’s a king and Chilly just opened her home to us, show some respect,” I chided.

“Teenagers, am I right?” Wind Chill joked, gesturing toward the front door with a hoof while she floated out of the way. Somehow.

“Thanks Sombra. If you ever need anything, let me know,” I said, moving in to shake the stallion’s hoof gratefully.

“I might just have something, actually. I’ll swing by in an hour or so to fill you in on the details. I think you’ll find this to our mutual benefit,” he replied with a knowing smirk as he shook my hand with both of his forehooves.

“I look forward to it,” I called as I backed out of the room and followed Wind Chill into the street.

“He likes you,” Wind Chill commented idly when I caught up, “Not really a surprise, King S is pretty friendly to everyone.”

“You know I have to ask. Why let us stay with you?” I asked, unintentionally making Wind Chill flinch.

“It’s personal,” Wind Chill shot back.

“No need for hostility, it just left the realm of personal when Freydis got involved,” I pointed out.

“I’m lonely, okay! No one likes wendigos, they blame us for the cold and...other things,” Wind Chill admitted, her anger shifting to grief.

“I’ve heard the Hearth’s Warming tale, but as far as I care it’s just a story. You’ve given me no indication that you want to freeze us, hell, you led me out of the cold,” I replied easily.

“Not that, though that story is true. It was a hard time for us, some tried to take action. They just went about it the wrong way, now most civilized places believe we feed on hate. I’m getting sidetracked, Frost would throw a fit if she saw me. Like I was saying, they don’t like us for a different reason,” Wind Chill explained.

“Which is?” I pried.

“Not suitable for polite discussion. Play your cards right and I might tell you later, after a certain young hen has gone to bed,” Wind Chill said curtly, glancing at Freydis.

“Okay then. Wait, how do you know about cards? I didn’t think they existed here,” I asked, having attempted to play poker with my coworkers back when I worked construction and failing.

“It’s just an expression, don’t read too much into it,” Wind Chill groaned. Well, groaned as well as she could considering her howling speech.

“You’re both fuckin weird,” Freydis commented from my right.

“Language,” I scolded lightly.

“Why? Why should I care about manners? Maybe you haven’t noticed, but my entire life just disappeared in an instant, I don’t have a clue where I am, I’m following this-this stretchy floaty thing to-apparently her-house, and on top of everything else, the fact that I’m never going to see my mom again is starting to hit me. So please, tell me why I should watch my fucking language!” Freydis raged, her voice rising to a scream by the end. Surprisingly, we only garnered a few sad looks from the other people on the street before they returned to what they were doing. I had expected disapproving stares.

“Do what you have to do, Freydis, we’ll be here if you want to talk,” Wind Chill offered gently before I could recover.

“Fuck both of you. You’re well known, right?” Freydis demanded. Wind Chill nodded, “Then I’ll show up eventually.”

“Frey, wait!” I called as she took off, though I was stopped by a hoof on my shoulder.

“She just needs some time to come to grips with everything, she’ll come around. Besides, there hasn’t been any violent crime here in centuries, she’ll be fine on her own,” Wind Chill advised me, pointing to a group of children of all different species running and playing unsupervised, “You’re in the nicest city in the world, and I don’t mean the sights.”

“Can you promise me that she’ll be okay? Can you say with one hundred percent certainty that no harm will come to her?” I asked quietly.

“Anywhere else, the answer would be no. But I’ve lived here since the kingdom was founded, I watched Sombra rise to power, I’ve seen pony strangers bandage a young dog’s skinned knee, and I have watched a caribou and a lycan fall in love and adopt an abandoned viiccon. So yes, I can say with absolute certainty that she won’t get hurt. Any more than she already is, anyway. But that too will ease with time,” Wind Chill reassured, nodding sagely.

“One question. What the everloving fuck is a viiccon?” I asked dumbly, that one word throwing off my entire train of thought.

“A really big minotaur. They have all kinds of problems growing up and are usually scorned for needing more food than their peers, add in that they can’t fit in the mines and kill their mothers when they're born, and you end up with the perfect storm of social rejection. I was talking about Dirge, by the way, I watched him grow up. You might say that I’m his adopted aunt,” Wind chill explained, smiling proudly in the direction of the gate.

“So that’s what a minotaur looks like, I kinda thought he was some sort of cow-thing,” I mused, considering the size of the chef for the first time, “Is he going to be mad you told me this?”

“Nah, he’s the poster colt for this place and he knows it. Why do you think he feeds every newcomer for free? It lets people know that everyone is welcome, even those not considered proper by society,” Wind Chill replied, slowing to a stop outside a modest townhouse.

“He seems like a good guy, and he’s lucky to have a friend like you backing him up,” I praised.

“Friend? Dirge and I aren’t friends, we’re family. Jay, this is true everywhere, but especially up here, family doesn’t mean blood. It’s the people you care about and the people who care about you. Sombra might’ve put it on paper, but you were already that chick’s dad. I heard what you told Sombra about the hive, that isn’t something an ‘adopted uncle’ would do,” Wind Chill rebuked as she wrapped her entire body around my waist before placing her hooves around my neck in a hug.

“Hey Chilly, is this how wendigos always hug?” I asked, a little uncomfortable with the amount of contact.

“Well, it’s modified a little to be more normal. I’d typically place my forehead against yours so we could still see each other, but most find that a bit creepy and sexual,” Wind Chill admitted.

“That is not how wendigos hug. They hug others with their forelegs, just like everypony else,” Luna pointed out.

“Yep, learned that one later on,” I agreed, “I’ll answer pretty much everything in time. Now, back to the story.”

“Bit of an all or nothing attitude, eh? I can dig it,” I replied, not wanting to seem unwilling to embrace other cultures.

“Was that an insult?” Wind Chill asked, pulling her head away from me.

“I don’t understand the question. I can dig it translates to: I am okay with this. Does that answer your question?” I countered.

“Uh, yeah,” Wind Chill responded lamely, sliding off of me like water.

“Say, is there a doctor I could pester? I really want to figure out how I work and the limits of my abilities. But mostly this weird haze I see around people,” I asked.

“Well, there’s Doctor Death, he’s a really old lich and loves discovering new things. But you’re probably sensing their souls, all demons can,” she replied.

“I’m not a demon,” I snapped on reflex, “Sorry, I’m just tired of people making that assumption.”

“Really? No way, that doesn’t make any sense. How can you be a shifter and not be a demon or a changeling?” Wind Chill asked, returning to a normal conversation distance after darting away at my outburst.

“I’m not from this world, for starters. In fact, I’m fairly certain I’m a virus,” I said, shrugging. Wind Chill searched my face for a moment before slamming through the door of the townhouse, I heard water running a few seconds later. I shrugged again before following her into the house.

“Gotta get clean, can’t get sick. Stupid alien disease thing, couldn’t he have told me that before I rubbed myself all over him?” I heard through the bathroom door, even though I was still in the entryway.

“Hey Chilly, I’m not contagious!” I called as I walked past on my way to scout out Freydis’s new room. I figured I might as well get something done while Wind Chill was having a panic attack.

“You’re not?” Wind Chill asked, flinging the door open and letting it slam against the wall. She was soaking wet, obviously having just jumped back out of the shower.

“You’d know. If I am what I think I am, you’d be dead by now. Or worse, that’s an option too,” I replied.

“Define worse.”

“Mutated walking corpse viciously tearing into your friends and neighbors with no control of yourself, eternally spreading the disease as you seek out survivors and new areas to attack. In that order.”

“How do you know that?” she asked suspiciously.

“I haven’t tested anything, if that’s what you’re asking. Kinda why I wanted to talk with a doctor, figure these kinds of things out. As for where I’m getting the rest, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I responded.

“Try me,” Wind Chill demanded, pushing me against the wall with a hoof.

“I bought what was supposed to be a costume prop from a story about a sentient virus and woke up in the Everfree like this. It was not a planned event,” I clarified.

“I believe you, but I have to wonder why you don’t infect everyone around you,” Wind Chill replied, placing her free hoof to her chin in thought while she continued to hold me in place with the other.

“It wasn’t a thing in the story. The guy did it on purpose in the sequel, but it took a different character to infect the city in the original. Back when Mercer wasn’t a prick,” I explained.

“I assume Mercer was the virus guy?”

“The main one, there were a few others.”

“You aren’t planning to follow his example, right?”

“Hell no, I’d much rather live out my days in peace and quiet. My adventuring days ended when I walked through that gate,” I declared confidently.

“You did not say that,” Luna challenged.

“Yeah, I did. Fate makes liars out of the best of us sometimes. I also didn’t know how long I’d live, I expected to die there after a few decades,” I replied, shaking my head.

“Hello? Are you two doing okay? I’ve brought Twilight, if that’s okay?” Fluttershy asked as she poked her head into her own house.

“Yeah sure, bring her on in,” I said, having to talk louder to be heard over Luna’s laughter. Fluttershy opened the door the rest of the way and gingerly moved to sit in her chair as Twilight stormed over to where Luna was laughing on the floor, having fallen off the couch as Twilight walked in.

“Glad at least you are having a good day,” Twilight criticized angrily.

“When one is having a rough day, it helps to savor the pleasant parts as well as you can,” Luna advised seriously, though she refused to move from her awkward position on the floor.

“Could you at least not lay on your back like that? It’s demeaning and mentors, especially princesses, are supposed to be held to a higher standard,” Twilight requested, groaning.

“May I call you Twilight?” Twilight nodded. “Twilight, one of the first things I learned since my return is that social requirements are best considered optional. If I were to follow every rule I have been given over the years, I would sit in an office doing Tia’s paperwork all night with no friends or anypony to talk to. Between that being the very root of where the Nightmare came from and Jay’s intervention, I no longer feel the need to follow those rules.”

“You still look like you’re waiting for a stallion to walk up and rut you,” Twilight pointed out. Luna looked at me for a moment.

“Your student, tell her what you want,” I allowed. Celestia had already caught us, so I didn’t really care anymore.

“Miss Sparkle, a stallion that were so inclined would have to get past my husband first. I do not foresee this happening,” Luna replied with a smirk. Some of the hairs in Twilight’s mane popped out of place with an audible snap.

“What?” she hissed.

“Are you two going to argue all day, or can I continue talking about my old roommate?” I interjected before things could get too heated.

“Not until I learn who the new king of Equestria is,” Twilight demanded, she was starting to get a crazed look in her eye.

“You called him a monster earlier today,” I hinted, “Anyway, Sombra came by a while later and-”

“YOU? You are the king? No, nope, this can’t be happening. I did not hear you claim to be the king of Equestria. Because that would mean that I called THE KING a monster, and I couldn’t do that. Because then I’d be sent back to magic kindergarten for sure, no, the king could send me further back! I’m definitely going back to magic preschool and kept from moving up to magic kindergarten,” Twilight raved, her voice filling with despair.

“Twilight.”

“I’m gonna spent the rest of my life learning basic levitation and horn lighting over and over,” Twilight wailed.

“Twilight.”

“Maybe I’ll get lucky and just get banished, but I don’t know where I’d get banished to. Would it be the moon...or the sun....oh Celestia, it’s Tartarus! It has to be, I’m going to be eaten by demons for su-hu-hu-hu-re!” Twilight sobbed, grabbing the closest object for comfort, which happened to be Luna.

“Twilight fucking Sparkle, listen to me this instant!” I yelled sternly before softening my tone, “That’s how Chelly handles things. In case you somehow didn’t notice, I’m not Chelly. Besides, you’re missing the other side of this revelation, the queen offered to be your mentor.”

“Hello,” Luna said quietly as she looked at the mare clinging to her midriff. Twilight gasped and jumped back to her feet, apologizing repeatedly and attempting to clean the tear stains out of Luna’s coat, “Twilight, I’m trusting you with this private information, I request that you not fawn over me like this.”

“Of course your majesty, anything you want,” Twilight said hurriedly, stumbling back and bowing. Luna sighed and walked over to sit next to Fluttershy’s chair.

“Twilight, come sit with me, I think you need to hear this more than I do. It should teach you how to not panic when speaking to royalty,” Luna ordered gently, patting the space to her right with a hoof. Luna removed all the spiked parts of her outfit as Twilight hesitantly walked over and sat down.

“How’s this your highness?” Twilight asked nervously. There were at least six inches between them. Luna placed a hoof to her chin and hummed for a moment before seizing Twilight in her hooves and dragging her into her lap.

“Isn’t this much better than sitting all by yourself on the cold floor? Relax, Twilight, we’re all friends here,” Luna snickered as she hugged Twilight’s back to her chest as a mother would while reading to a foal.

“As I was SAYING,” I declared pointedly, tossing a light glare at the two mares.

Sombra showed up around an hour later, just like he promised, and gave me the offer he had hinted at earlier. An offer to join the city guard, though it was permanently contracted to The Order of Iron. I learned later that he had to get permission from the order before he could send them a recruit. I accepted and started my training the next day, a week later I was declared a full member, and after a month I had my own squad. The order worked on a system of merit and capability, and they liked my capabilities.

I continued living in Wind Chill’s townhouse with Freydis and, while we had our rough patches, Freydis and I became a proper family. Mostly. You see, Freydis had met another gryphon during her time sulking on our first day in the Crystal Kingdom and they were getting closer than I was comfortable with. Although, Freydis didn’t know that I knew about her new friend until he got brave enough to knock on the door.

“I got it!” Freydis called from upstairs, rushing to beat Wind Chill and I to the door.

“Too late,” Wind Chill shouted back, already opening the door. I slipped behind the door and waited for my moment to strike.

“Uh, hey Chilly, is Freydis-uh-home?” the tawny gryphon asked, clearly nervous and terrified of something. I briefly wondered about what he was so afraid of, sarcastically of course.

“Sure, come on in. Make yourself at home, she’ll be down in a second,” Wind Chill replied, all but dragging the poor gryphon into the house.

“Thanks Chilly. Say-uh-Jekyll isn’t around, is he?” I slammed the door. “EEP!”

“So you’re the one Freydis has been sneaking out to see. She did tell you that I’d know, right? Even if I can’t see you, I can smell you, and I can smell where you’ve been, and I can smell what you’ve done. All without leaving this house, which I do anyway. Like to figure out where you live, or to follow you on one of your little dates,” I accused, my tone calm and relaxed. The gryphon however looked ready to piss himself and dive out the window, “You know who I am, do you know what I do to pricks that hurt my daughter?”

“N-n-n-no s-sir,” the gryphon managed.

“Well, Garalt, I killed an entire changeling hive for touching her. But they’re bugs, nobody cares about bugs. If you hurt her, either physically or otherwise, they’ll have to come up with new words to describe what happens to you. Do we have an understanding?” I threatened. Using the gryphon’s name caused him to stop breathing and shiver in terror.

“Yes sir,” he squeaked.

“Good, and your stutter is gone too. Have some confidence and make sure she’s back home at a reasonable hour, it’s a school night,” I ordered, clapping the young gryphon on the shoulder.

“You’re not going to kill me?” he asked.

“Nope, not right now at least. I haven't lied to you, but this talk was something of a requirement that comes with being a father. Maybe privilege would be a better word,” I replied, internally wondering what was taking Freydis so long.

“Even after we-”

“Imma stop you right there. She’s fourteen, you’re fifteen, as long as she wants to and the two of you are using protection-which I have found in her room-then I don’t want to hear about it. Ever, like, at all,” I interrupted. That was the last time I investigated an odd smell.

“Wow, and I thought I was chill,” Wind Chill commented, having relocated to the living room to listen in without intruding.

“Your name is Chill,” I pointed out, “But seriously, I don’t want to know what the two of you do on your own time. As long as Freydis comes home with a smile on her beak, I’m happy. Just remember, I’m not above peeling your dick like a banana if she comes home in tears over something you’ve done.”

“Yes sir,” Garalt gasped, having stopped breathing again.

“Yo Frey, you fall asleep up there?” I called, not looking away from the suffocating gryphon in front of me.

“Just wishing I was dead. Are you done ruining my life?” Freydis replied, I fought to keep my composure.

“Nah, Garalt and I are good friends now, right Garalt? Yeah, he’s not breathing right now for some reason, I’m sure he’ll be fine. Maybe you should come downstairs and snap him out of his self imposed suffocation. Maybe it’ll be like in one of those stories where he needs a kiss to wake him up,” I teased.

“Daaaad! Would you please stop embarrassing me?” Freydis begged.

“Nope, that’s my job you’re talking about. Now get down here before he dies, I’m seriously starting to get worried,” I ordered, poking Garalt in a weak attempt to get him to breathe.

“Uug, fine. Just don’t scare him any more, he’s had a hard enough life already,” Freydis requested as she finally started walking down the stairs.

“So I’ve heard. We will be talking about that particular detail later, young lady,” I warned, shifting my glare onto Freydis.

“Whatever, you’re not my real dad,” she shot back.

“Freydis!” Wind Chill angrily snapped from the living room.

“Clearly, but I’m the closest thing you’ve got. I want you back for dinner, you can bring blue-beak if you want, and then we’ll discuss your feelings and intentions,” I responded with false calm, internally I was a mess. Anger, disappointment, and sorrow all vied for my attention.

“Yes sir,” Garalt wheezed, grabbing Freydis’s talon and sprinting out the door.

“Didn’t think he’d have enough air to run like that, impressive,” I commented, earning a somewhat sad laugh from Wind Chill.

“Hey Jay, are you okay?” she asked, I closed the door and walked into the living room to join her on the couch.

“Not really, I was pretty torn up when I found those things under her bed. This all just made me realize that Freydis isn’t the little chick that I met in Everfree City anymore, and I wasn’t prepared for her to get a boyfriend. I really wasn’t prepared to find out she was having sex before I even met the guy,” I groaned, dragging my claws down my face.

“I suppose it was a bit of a shock, but didn’t you know she’s in season?” Wind Chill asked.

“What?”

“Season, estrus, in heat? Anything ringing a bell?”

“WHAT?” I roared, shaking the entire house.

“Dude, calm down. It’s not that big a deal,” Wind Chill complained as she picked up a lamp that had tipped over from the force of my shout.

“But that means she’s not in her right mind and he’s taking advantage of her and I’m a horrible parent for letting them leave. Oh my god, I should have seen this coming. I’ve been working with Death to figure out what those hazes are, now I think they’re pheromones. I’m so fucking stupid,” I criticized, driving my fist into the side of my head weakly.

“It’s not that bad, gryphons are only in season for a few days. It’s way worse for wendigos but I’m not jumping your bones, and I’ve been in season for three years now,” Wind Chill admitted, her blue face fading to a dark purple.

“Wait, really? Then it isn’t an overpowering thing?” I asked hopefully.

“No, it’s more like...a slight lowering of inhibitions. For them anyway,” Wind Chill explained, “Honestly, it probably didn’t do anything more than give the kid a chance before she started clawing his eyes out.”

“That’s a relief. What did you mean by ‘for them’ though?” I continued. After some confusion and an altercation with a goat, I learned that ‘kid’ was an acceptable term for children of all races as long as there weren’t any goats around.

“Don’t worry about it, just a stray thought,” Wind Chill replied quickly.

I was the only one without an embarrassed blush when I stopped, “Alright, this is as good a place to stop as any, it’s starting to get late and AJ hasn’t moved. I think we should get her to a hospital.”

“Ah’m fine, sugarcube, jus listenin’.”

“Okay then, anyone hungry?”

“No, keep talking!” Twilight demanded, she was more engrossed than Luna at his point. Though they had shifted so Luna was back on the couch and Twilight and Fluttershy were sharing the chair.

“Yes Jay, you can’t just leave us there, what happened with Freydis after that?” Luna pressed.

“We had a boring and awkward conversation while Chilly kept everything peaceful and filled in the scientific parts,” I replied with a shrug.

“I can’t believe you actually met a wendigo, I’ve read so much about them!” Twilight gushed, gripping Fluttershy in an excited hug.

“I lived in that house for twenty years. I wouldn’t use the word ‘met,’ more like ‘lived with’. Also, everything you’ve read is a lie, the only accurate book on wendigos vanished with the rest of the kingdom,” I replied.

“And what of this Wind Chill? My own knowledge of her kind is warning of some interesting times in the future. Or past, you know what I mean,” Luna asked.

“Yes, things boiled over at one point, but that’s pretty personal and you’ll need her permission before I’ll talk about it,” I stated firmly.

“How bad?” Luna pressed.

“Year three of living there, she lost her damn mind and attacked me. Full on biting and kicking,” I replied, intentionally keeping the others in the dark. Luna winced sympathetically.

“Poor thing,” Luna commented sadly.

“Either tell the rest of us what’s goin’ on or just keep tellin’ yer story,” Applejack demanded from the dog bed.

“Quick question, why were you okay with what Freydis was doing?” Twilight asked, raising her hoof as though she was in a classroom.

“I wasn’t, but I didn’t know how to stop her without making her hate me. I’d followed them a couple times, I saw how much she relied on Garalt for support. Keeping them apart would cause more harm than good and I wasn’t about to do that to her. On top of that, I was already losing my grasp on what sex meant and found myself caring less every day,” I explained, raising a few eyebrows.

“Could ya explain that a bit more?” Applejack pressed.

“I’m an asexual shapeshifter, the different parts of my body change and move every second. You shake my hand and it might’ve been my face or ass ten minutes ago, neither of us will know ‘cause I don’t keep track, it’s all just biomass to me. My way of thinking was already shifting into how it is now and I saw them the same way, just with an added level of parental protectiveness and unease,” I clarified.

“But-”

“Jay, just keep going or we’ll be here for days,” Luna ordered.

“Okay, but after that it get’s pretty boring and I don’t want to sit here for twenty years, so I’m going to start summarizing things. I’ll still hit the major events, but don’t expect me to hand out sensitive information.”

I fell into an easy routine after we got settled in, and you could take one look at my day and see the next couple years. I left the house at sunrise and made my way to Dirge’s for breakfast. I didn’t usually need it, but the company was nice. After that I’d form my armor and meet my team near the central tower for a day of wandering the city looking for nonexistent crime. Seriously, we never found anything out of place besides the occasional pair of teenagers that thought they were being sneaky.

Once my shift ended, I’d meet the Infernus triplets for tea. They were a nice bunch of demonettes I met during my rounds when I first started, and we all liked tea. Once we had finished our third or fourth cup and run out of things to talk about, I’d head over to Doc Death to run some experiments with my powers.

Death was the one who helped me figure out exactly how dangerous I am. He had the great idea of locking me in a sealed room with a pair of cadavers to measure exactly how the virus attacked. He cut the experiment off once the, already autopsied, corpses starting begging for death and clawing at the window. I can understand why.

Death also managed to confirm my ability to see microparticles in the air, what you would call smells. He helped me out more than my trainers in the order during those years, always pushing me further than ever before, always striving to find my limit, that point where I couldn’t do any more. He never found it, but damn did he try.

He always said, “Jekyll, if you don’t know when you need to rest, how will you know if you can win?”

Terrible line, but he preferred taking notes anyway.

Then I’d go home, find a spot on the couch that Wind Chill wasn’t occupying, and read. Novels, history, biology, everything the royal library had to offer. Unlike in Equestria, the entire royal archives are public in the Crystal Kingdom. It’s part of the same mentality of why Sombra lived in a normal house instead of the main tower: even if you’re the king, you’re still a citizen and therefore responsible for your actions.

Sombra was always transparent about everything, from where our taxes went to who he was dating. I expected to learn some juicy details when I briefly became part of his entourage, but there wasn’t anything that wasn’t already common knowledge. It was kind of disappointing, honestly.

Freydis and Garalt slowly became inseparable, the tawny gryphon dropping by the house more and more frequently as he became more comfortable with my presence. Eventually they stopped leaving the house and just hung around the living room or, more commonly, Freydis’s bedroom. Personally, I was happier to have them in the house as it eliminated my chances of happening across their ‘completely normal conversations’ during my rounds. At least Garalt was still too scared of me to try anything while I was around, though I got the impression that he was far from in control of the relationship. Freydis was always dragging her-I refuse to call him her mate-around and yelling at him when he did something she didn’t like. Wind Chill reassured me that the females were the dominant ones in gryphon culture, but I still thought she was going too far.

Everything changed during an event known as the Second Awakening, but it’s considered classified by both Equestria and the Crystal Kingdom for fear that some idiot will try for a third one. Anyway, I was selected to form a team and stop it, we did. I’m sorry, I can’t say any more without permission from Sombra himself. I really don’t care about having Celestia’s permission. Just trust me when I say that we were awesome. When I returned with my team intact, I was told to meet the three leaders of the order at noon the next day. That was the night Wind Chill attacked, if anyone was curious.

The next day, Wind Chill and I were standing outside the room where I was supposed to meet my bosses for the first time, three secretive individuals that hid behind screens and called themselves the Triad. Wind Chill didn’t need to be there, but she had been silently following me around the whole day. She clearly had something on her mind, but wouldn’t talk or look me in the eyes.

“Chilly, just talk to me. I don’t know why they want to speak with me and I’m getting really nervous. You giving me the silent treatment isn’t helping. Please, Chilly,” I begged, having tried the entire morning to get my roommate to talk at all. Wind Chill finally turned towards me and a single tear fell to the ground, more following shortly after as she launched herself into my chest.

“I’m so sorry, please don’t move out, I’ll do whatever you want, please-please-please don’t leave me alone again,” she rambled, her long forelegs wrapped tightly around my stomach.

“I wasn’t planning on moving out, why would I do that?” I asked, confused.

“Because I lost control and-” Wind Chill attempted before I cut her off.

“And we’re cool now. You let your wendigoness take over and I helped you get it back under control, that’s what friends do. They help each other, even when they’re not themselves. Especially when they’re not themselves,” I chided lightly, “What was the first thing you said when you came to your senses?”

“I’m sorry,” Wind Chill replied quickly.

“And what did I say?” I continued.

“You said that it was okay, but everypony says that and then I never see them again and I lose them as a friend and it’s horrible,” she wept into my chest, burying her face deeper as she spoke.

“I’m not a pony, therefore that statement doesn’t apply to me,” I reasoned, “Chilly, you’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. I looked up wendigos a while back, I know how much your kind cherishes friends. I wouldn’t do that to you, I’ll be right here as long as both of us are alive. Oh mortality, you cruel mistress, I’m turning forty this week, now I feel old,” I joked, though Wind Chill just seemed scared.

“How old will you get?” she asked fearfully.

“Dunno. Before I got like this, I had a life expectancy of around eighty or a hundred. Now I don’t really know, might die in ten minutes or ten thousand years. No clue, not even Doc Death can figure it out,” I explained.

“You just ended the Awakening and saved the world, I doubt you’re going to keel over now. Wait, if you looked up wendigos, then you knew! You knew what was happening the whole time!” Wind Chill practically screamed at me, her howls echoing off the walls and down the hallway.

“And I helped my friend through a difficult time in her life.” There was a knock on the door, my signal to enter. “I gotta go Chilly, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Just remember us little guys when they make you a legate,” Wind Chill requested as she released her hold on me and smiled.

“Doubtful, I didn’t do that much,” I replied dejectedly.

“Not that much? You saved the whole frickin world! That’s huge! Now get in there and show ‘em what you’re made of, metaphorically speaking,” Wind Chill encouraged, slapping her hoof against my rear as I walked into the meeting room with false confidence.

Wind Chill was waiting for me when I walked out, nearly two hours later. It was clear from the way she scrambled away from the door that she had been trying to listen in, though the inside of the meeting room glowed with a soundproofing spell the entire time.

“Well?” she asked expectantly, looking at the confident facade I still wore.

“I’ve been reassigned to the thirteenth legion,” I said. Wind Chill’s face fell, concern written on her face. The thirteenth was commonly referred to as ‘Suicide Watch’ due to the types of contracts they were sent on.

“Contracts?” Twilight asked.

“Right, shoulda explained that earlier. The Order of Iron was divided into three sections: the guard, the soldiers, and the supporting forces. Referred to as the Shield, Sword, and Cart, respectively. Chilly was on one of the support teams, specifically search and rescue. I got moved into one of the legions, which are the soldiers. Now, since the kingdom didn’t actually need a standing military, the order rented us out to other nations to handle the problems they couldn’t deal with themselves. The thirteenth legion was famous for it’s above average mission difficulty, success rate, and mortality rate. It was where the best went to die in the glory of battle, or some shit like that,” I explained.

“Oh my, what kind of missions were they sent on?” Fluttershy asked, having never gotten me to talk about this time in my life before.

“Minor demon incursions, large quantities of hostile wildlife, civil wars, things like that,” I clarified, shrugging.

“That doesn’t seem so bad,” Twilight commented.

“Twilight, a minor demon incursion means that there are less than ten thousand of them bleeding out of every vertical surface. It is a small wonder why we still construct buildings with vertical walls instead of angled,” Luna pointed out.

“Small wonder? Ah’d say that’s a mighty big wonder if it’s that much of a problem,” Applejack added.

“Tis small because I already know the answer, my sister and her obsession with making everything seem perfect. I would have thought she’d have learned by now, first her perfect government creates the Nightmare, then she poisons Jay against Equestria, then the dumb walls thing, and now she’s brought a war on our ponies because she just had to pointlessly hunt Jay across the world. Half of these are because he’s not a pretty prancing pony,” Luna groused, holding her head in her hooves.

“How many soldiers are in a legion?” Twilight asked. She had started taking notes at some point, and her quill hovered over a blank section next to the figures depicting a minor incursion.

“One thousand legionaries and one legate, not nearly enough,” I replied.

“Oh, um, please continue,” Twilight murmured as she filled in her notes.

“It’s cool, I’m nearly done for today,” I replied.

“Oh Jay, I’m so sorry,” Wind Chill cried as she threw her hooves around my neck supportively.

“As their new legate,” I finished, still stunned by the news.

“They gave you the thirteenth? That’s amazing, Jay! We need to celebrate,” Wind Chill insisted, becoming ecstatic at the other side of my promotion.

“Okay then,” I muttered, allowing myself to be led outside.

“This is gonna be great, I’ll get Dirge to cater and those Infernus gals for entertainment and all of our friends will be there and it’ll be awesome,” Wind Chill raved excitedly as she drug me out of the order’s headquarters and down the street.

“Why would the triplets be on entertainment duty?” I asked, genuinely confused. Everything else made sense and I knew enough to not try to talk her down.

“Jay, you really are dense sometimes, do you really not know what they are?” she asked, pausing to look at me accusingly.

“They’re demons, right?” I confirmed.

“Well yes. But more specifically, they’re succubi. And more importantly, in this situation anyway, they’re all strippers and prostitutes,” Wind Chill corrected.

“Really? I have tea with them every day, how did I not know this? Does the kingdom have a red light district? Why haven’t I seen it during any of my patrols?” I rattled off, caught completely off guard by this information.

“They don’t talk about it much. No. That’s why. Seriously, it’s necessary for them to stay alive out here and nobody’s complaining, so don’t make a big deal out of it. ‘Sides, they’ll work for free and I’m not made of money,” Wind Chill reasoned, returning to dragging me towards our house.

“What do you mean? Why is it necessary? Do they feed on lust or something?” I continued, becoming increasingly disturbed.

“No, they...they’re distracting. They can’t work normal jobs because the other employees just ogle them instead of working and customers hang around instead of buying things. But no, they can’t feed on emotions any more than I can, they just made the decision to fall back on their natural skills a while back rather than starve,” Wind Chill explained with a sigh.

“Why?” I pressed.

“You know why, you’ve seen them,” Wind Chill replied cryptically. I had no idea what she was talking about. I recognized that the triplets were pretty, but not to any extreme degree.

Once we arrived, Wind Chill immediately started barking orders towards the stairs, “Frey, get your feathered ass down here and keep Jay occupied. Garalt, with me, we’ve got a party to set up.”

“Kinda busy right now, can’t this wait a few more min-never mind, we’ll be down in a second,” Freydis replied, I could almost hear her scowl. An embarrassed Garalt walked down the stairs a few seconds later.

“I think I should just go,” he muttered.

“Chilly, you’re on pep talk detail. I don’t want to hear about it,” I ordered, removing my ability to hear as she led the young gryphon into the living room. I returned it when Freydis started walking down the stairs, she was due a lecture, “Is it necessary to bite the poor kid’s head off every day, I swear you’re like a praying mantis or something.”

“You make it sound like it’s my fault,” Freydis shot back.

“Look, I get that he’s your comfort, relief, and outlet for your emotions all rolled into one, but does he need to be your punching bag too? You aren’t as pissed off as when we arrived, but you’ve always acted like it when Garalt is in the room. I’m not asking for you to change your entire life, just don’t beat the dude up all the time, you know,” I requested.

“Like you have any idea what I’ve been through!” Freydis snapped.

“And I haven’t? I lost my entire family, all of my friends, my entire world, and my body when I got here. Then I lose my only person I could call a friend, but he was just the first person to be fucking nice to me. I lost Sigrid too, and I lost you. Do you have any idea how many changelings I killed to find you? I didn’t even know if you were still alive,” I hissed back angrily. Freydis stepped back in shock, I’d never shown any anger towards her before.

“Then why’d you do it?” Freydis asked weakly, all the anger she’d shown a moment before was gone.

“The same reason you pick on Garalt: I wanted them to suffer and die. The difference between us is that I had the actual murderers to vent my rage on, instead of an innocent cub,” I replied, my voice easing up slightly. I refused to call a male gryphon a chick, it seemed demeaning to me.

“He-you’re right, I’ve been a real bitch to him. It’s not his fault Chilly started shouting for us and scared him into finishing early,” Freydis conceded, causing me to recoil in disgust.

“Too much information. What part of ‘I don’t want to hear about it’ don’t you understand? Frey, I know I’m not your biological father but I still think of you as my daughter, hearing about your love life isn’t exactly comfortable for me,” I admonished.

“Sorry dad, I wasn’t thinking,” Freydis apologized.

“It’s alright kiddo, let’s see if Chilly’s done scarring your boyfriend for life.” I looped a pair of tendrils under her arms and pulled her into a hug before walking with her into the living room.

“You done giving Garalt a heart attack?” Freydis asked harshly.

“Well we actually just started, I made us both tea first,” Wind Chill replied, gesturing towards her cup with her muzzle. Freydis wasn’t paying attention though, she had already crossed the room and shoved her tongue down Garalt’s throat.

“My dad helped me realize how mean I’ve been. I’m sorry,” Freydis whispered once she took time to breathe.

“Glad I could help,” I added.

“Daaaad, a little privacy?” Freydis complained.

“You had your privacy before we got home, now it’s time to get to work. Chilly, you were saying?” I stated, passing the torch to the self imposed party planner.

“Right. Garalt, I’ll need your help getting everything set up in time. Freydis, I need you to stay here and keep Jay from seeing anything before it’s ready. That means keeping him in the house,” Wind Chill ordered, rising into the air as she spoke. I never did figure out how she did that.

“If you move from that couch I will go into excruciating detail,” Freydis threatened, pointing at the spot Wind Chill had just vacated. I wasted no time leaping onto the couch.

“I’ll be good,” I said as quickly as I could. Freydis walked over and sat next to me while Wind Chill and Garalt set off to prepare my party.

“Thanks dad,” she said easily, leaning against my side. I wrapped my right arm over her shoulders and gently hugged her in response.

“Being a parent isn’t about rules or lectures, it’s about love and making sure your child is ready for the future. I pray I’m doing well enough,” I thought aloud.

“I’d say so. But I feel like I owe you an apology as well, I’ve been cruel to you and Chilly too. I just didn’t know what to do when I stopped being angry, I guess I just kept finding things to get angry about,” Freydis admitted.

“You don’t have to apologize to me, I always understood what you were trying to say. But you didn’t figure this out today,” I noted, “Why did it take so long for you to accept it?”

“I-I didn’t know what to do, or how to act, or-or how to make thing right with Garalt. I was scared he wouldn’t accept my apology and leave me. I was scared you and Chilly would lock me away from him or throw me out as punishment,” Freydis sobbed, burying her face in my shoulder as she confessed her fears.

“Frey, look at me. That is never going to happen. I will never keep you from the things that make you happy or throw you away like the shredded corpse of a changeling,” I reassured her, purposefully bringing up her rescue for emphasis. Freydis sat up straighter and slid her left arm around my shoulder to mirror the way I was holding her, though she kept her head on my shoulder. We stayed like that in a comfortable silence until Wind Chill came back to retrieve us.

“Well, aren’t you two adorable. Come on, you don’t want to be late to your own party,” Wind Chill said with a smile when she saw us. Freydis released her hold on my shoulders and made a beeline for Wind Chill, wrapping the wendigo in a hug.

“I’m so sorry Chilly, you took us in and I’ve been horrible to you ever since,” Freydis sobbed, once more in tears as she was overcome with emotion.

“Oh Frey, you aren’t the first to take her time figuring out how to deal with grief, and you are far from the first person to yell at me. This is the moment that makes it all worth it, the moment you let yourself be who you are instead of who the past makes you. You don’t have to apologize, I forgave you for every shout and cruel word before you opened your beak. I once told you that up here your family is the people that care about you, remember? I care about you, and I think of you as a daughter as well,” Wind Chill soothed, gently rocking Freydis in her hooves as she spoke.

“Thank you...mom,” Freydis whimpered, holding Wind Chill as tight as she could without digging her talons into the mare. Freydis never called Wind Chill ‘mom’ again, but it was touching at the time.

“What does that make us?” I asked curiously.

“Oh Jay, the Crystal Kingdom doesn’t require nuclear families. There’s a pony a few blocks over with six mothers and two fathers, and none of them even like each other. The only thing they have in common is their love for that colt. We’re roommates and friends, mostly because I don’t have a name for what we would be otherwise. I mean, we’re not married but I wouldn’t call us siblings either,” Wind Chill replied with an uncomfortable expression.

“Agreed. Come on Frey, let’s get you cleaned up and go have some fun,” I suggested. Freydis continued to hold on to Wind Chill for a few more seconds before giving her a final squeeze and letting go, allowing me to clean the tears out of her feathers with a pass of my hands.

“Do I look okay?” Freydis asked once I had finished cleaning her off.

“You look good. Eyes are a little red, but not too noticeable. It’s still bright enough to justify sunglasses, if you want,” I replied.

“No, I’ll take the hit to my pride. Maybe it’ll show the others that I’m done being angry all the time,” Freydis responded, a resolute look forming.

“Cool, let’s go,” I said. As Wind Chill led us to the main square, I could already hear the typical sounds of a party. The clanking of mugs and calls for toasts, the catcalls directed towards the waitresses and entertainers, and most of all, the roaring laughter of friends having a good time.

Once we were in sight of the party, I was shocked by what I found in the center: a stage had been set up with a single pole in the center. All three of the Infernus triplets danced around this pole at the same time, flowing gracefully around each other as they showed off their naked bodies. Wind Chill had used my promotion party as an excuse to turn the main square into a stripclub.

“Ah, the perks of being bipedal. I could never do anything like that,” Wind Chill mused, eliciting dumb nods from Freydis and I as we watched in awe.

“It’s...impressive,” I agreed, dumbstruck by this side of my daily tea companions, “They certainly know their trade, look at all those crowns on the stage.”

“I feel funny. I think I should find Garalt before I turn gay,” Freydis commented before hurrying off into the crowd.

“Is that a real risk?” I asked, earning a bemused look from Wind Chill, “Hey, I don’t know if there’s some magic going on or what.”

“To put it simply: if I don’t carry one or all of them home tonight, I will be sorely disappointed. I might even be tempted to share,” Wind Chill offered, giving me my answer. Wind Chill was as straight as they get.

“You could’ve just said yes,” I deadpanned.

“Nope, there’s no magic, succubi are just perfect. Mare or stallion, no one can resist their charms,” Wind Chill rebuked.

“I don’t understand. They’re pretty, no doubt, but I’m not compelled to bed any of them,” I commented, hopefully allowing Wind Chill to understand my confusion.

“Seriously? You don’t find them sexy?” I shook my head. “Wow, okay. So those three have the ideal bipedal female form, got it?” I nodded. “And they can contort their bodies in impossible ways, still with me?” Another nod. “This means their species is sexually compatible with literally every other species on the planet and have been for basically forever, thus everyone instinctively sees them as sex symbols. I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t pay thousands of crowns to take them home.”

“Then I’m ‘no one,’ I’m just impressed by their routine. Takes a lot of skill and practice to move like that,” I countered.

“Prove it,” Wind Chill countered, “A hundred, no, a thousand crowns says you won’t turn them down.”

“I can hear your purse screaming already,” I commented as I walked to the stage, other partygoers moving out of my way and shouting their congratulations on my promotion.

“Fat chance,” Wind Chill called after me.

“Hey Cat,” I greeted the sister facing me.

“Oooh, Jay baby, are you here for a good time?” Catrix Infernus asked. While her voice was the definition of sensual, she went the extra mile and moaned every word that could be considered sexual, “Shay and Tyr are waiting on you too, you know.”

“Hmm, tempting, but I have a thousand crowns riding on my ability to turn you down,” I replied, a confident smile crossing my face as everyone else balked.

“If you can baby, I won’t even be mad. I like my males impressive,” Catrix purred.

“Speaking of impressive, that dance though. Two of you I could see, but all three? And without looking? You must have gotten kicked in the face so many times during practice,” I asked, earning a laugh from my friend.

“Oh Jay, you always know how to make a girl smile. Yes, the first couple years were pretty rough,” Catrix replied, moving to sit on the edge of the stage. Rather than sit next to where I was standing, she opted to sit directly in front of me with her legs draped over my shoulders, “Go ahead and look baby, you know you want to. I know what happened during the Awakening, you know how fast word can spread, I can promise a night worth more than a thousand crowns for someone with your new title.”

“Meh, I’m good and that’s classified,” I said, keeping my gaze locked on her eyes.

“You might as well be made of granite. I can’t tempt you at all, can I?” Catrix asked in disbelief, her sentiment mirrored by the small crowd around me. I motioned for her to lean in with a finger.

“Doc Death figured out I’m asexual, I don’t get aroused,” I confessed.

“You naughty boy, cheating on a bet like that. Well, I tried at least. If you ever want to have some fun anyway, you know where to find me,” she offered, laying back to whisper the news to her pouting sisters. I waited patiently for Catrix to release her hold on my shoulders for a few seconds before tapping her leg to get her attention. While I was successful at getting her attention, it had the opposite of the intended effect. Her legs began to tighten and pull my head towards her.

“Nice try, Cat,” I commented as I pulled my head off and tipped it like a hat, allowing my shoulders to hit the edge of the stage pointlessly.

Catrix laughed again before releasing me, “You’re something else, Jay. Enjoy those crowns, you’ve definitely earned them.”

“Thanks. Say, what’s the deal with your voice? I’ve never heard you talk like this before,” I asked.

“They seem to thoroughly...enjoy it,” Catrix replied with a shrug, gesturing towards the multispecies crowd that was eyeing me jealously. I could only laugh at their expressions.

“See you tomorrow Cat, and give my regards to your sisters as well,” I laughed before walking back to where Wind Chill had watched with wide eyes, “Pay up.”

“No way, there’s just no way. It’s impossible, how did you do that?” Wind Chill gasped.

“Like I told Cat, I don’t get aroused,” I replied.

“But-but.”

“Don’t think too hard about it, just go grab one of them before your brain melts. They know you just lost a thousand crowns and will probably be sympathetic,” I encouraged. I left her there and went to find Freydis. I found her near Dirges restaurant, clinging tightly to a confused Garalt.

“Hey dad,” Freydis greeted as I approached, carefully keeping her head turned so she couldn’t see the stage.

“Hey Frey, Garalt, how’re you two doing?” I asked.

“Fine, probably overthinking things,” Freydis replied honestly.

“You missed the show. Chilly bet me a thousand crowns that I couldn’t turn down the triplets, I won,” I bragged, startling Garalt.

“You can resist a succubus? It’s taking everything we have not to rush the stage,” he admitted.

“That’s because you’re teenagers. Between your raging hormones and their species, you’re doing amazingly well for yourselves. Let’s go inside and get something to eat,” I suggested, thinking it would take their minds off what was going on behind them.

“Dirge converted it into a bar and we’re not old enough to drink without a parent,” Garalt complained, his tone darkening.

“That does sound like him, I’ll just have to ask-” I was cut off by Freydis punching me in the arm, “What?”

“The gryphons that I was living with weren’t my real parents, they died a long time ago. And my adopted ones were both in the sixth legion,” Garalt explained sadly. The sixth legion had been wiped out defending a mining town in Minos during the Awakening, Garalt had been orphaned twice.

“Shit,” I swore, “That’s why you’ve been hanging around so much. Have you been sleeping in Freydis’s bed every night?”

“I’m sorry, please don’t kick me out. I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Garalt begged.

“Dad, if Garalt goes, I go,” Freydis challenged defiantly.

“Where is this coming from? Do I seem like the type of person who would abandon a young gryphon that needed my help? Tell you what, I just won a thousand crowns from Chilly, you can choose either another bed or a bigger one,” I offered, silently hoping she would opt for the second bed.

“Really, I can stay?” Garalt asked hopefully.

“I’ll do you one better. Tonight, I’m your dad too; Dirge won’t question it. Come on, let’s get some food and drinks going,” I suggested, though my tone made it more of an order.

“Ah Jay, my brother in arms, what can I do for you?” Dirge hollered as I led my ‘children’ through the door.

“Two beers, a whiskey, and putting down that ax,” I answered jovially. Dirge had been on my team and hadn’t let go of his ridiculous battleax since. The thing was six feet long and double bladed, with spear points at both ends. The blades themselves had an odd double concave grind, resulting in sharp points meant to punch through armor. While this would be considered a ridiculously large and heavy polearm by most, it was barely a two handed ax in Dirges hands.

“Oh ho, you aren’t planning on giving booze to someone else’s kid, are you?” Dirge accused, pointing his thirty pound ax at me threateningly with one hand.

“Put that damn thing down before you hurt yourself. Besides, these are my kids,” I shot back.

“Kay den, If’n dey be yers, den dey’re yer probem,” Dirge slurred sarcastically, batting an already poured glass of whiskey and two beers onto an empty table with the haft of his ax.

Catrix joined us a few minutes later, back in her usual dress and manner of speaking, and ordered a beer for herself. We made small talk and Freydis interrogated the demon about how she could make a straight hen gay, we joked, we laughed, and we drank until Wind Chill showed up with the rest of the triplets and we all made our way back to the house. Wind Chill blocked Freydis, Garalt and I from entering, smiled, and locked the door, leaving the rest of us to wander the city for two hours before I just broke in and kicked Wind Chill and her guests out so the kids could sleep.

“I didn’t see as much of Wind Chill after that, my duties kept me away from the kingdom most of the time. But we were always close when I was there,” I concluded.

“Wait, what about Freydis and Garalt? Or your adventures with the legion?” Luna pressed.

“I said I’d tell you about Chilly, that’s what I’ll say about her. I’ll talk about the legion or Frey another time. It’s almost painful, you know, reliving these memories. Knowing I can’t just go see them whenever I want, or listen to Frey’s complaints while I tuck her into bed,” I explained sadly, though I snickered at the last part.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell us any more if you don’t want to,” Fluttershy replied supportively.

Thanks, Shy. So Twilight, I expect you’ve come to a decision on who you want to be your mentor,” I said, changing the subject.

“I think so. If AJ’s right and you’re telling the truth, then keeping Princess Celestia as a teacher would be irresponsible. I’d like to learn about friendship and magic from you, Queen Luna,” Twilight answered hesitantly.

“Thank you Twilight, I promise to lead your studies as well as I can. But please, just call me Luna. Titles and formalities only get in the way of making friends, Just look at Jay and King Sombra. While he didn’t talk about him much, Jay has told me before that they were good friends despite Jay never acknowledging his title,” Luna replied gratefully.

“Granted, I had an advantage in that. I never cared about titles or rank, even less so when Death and I figured out how durable I am,” I added, earning a scornful look from Luna for undermining her lesson.

“Then I shouldn’t shy away from making friends with high class ponies? They seem really stuffy to me, this is a weird lesson,” Twilight asked, fishing her notes out while looking troubled.

“Not quite, my student. Rather the lesson is that you should make friends based on their character and pay no mind to their status,” Luna corrected.

“Where’s this wisdom coming from, I don’t recall you meeting a god at any point?” I jibed.

“From you of course, when you decided to hang from the ceiling and scare me. An outcast commoner pranking a member of royalty like I were just anyone, surely there are many lessons to be gained from such a brash display,” Luna replied with an excessive amount of formality, even placing a hoof to her chest and bowing as she spoke.

“Isn’t ignorance bliss?” I asked with a dark smile, seemingly out of nowhere.

“What do you mean?” Luna countered, her offended tone turning suspicious, “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I was already a king before we met.”

Author's Notes:

So yeah, sorry about the longer wait, life got in the way for a bit. But I got a lot of the behind the scenes background stuff done too, like character lists and descriptions so Eric, Militia, and I can keep track of who we're talking about. Also, the Second Awakening has been mentioned a couple times now, 20 points for whoever correctly guesses what it is and how it works. I'm the only one who knows at the time this chapter was posted. Other than that, I hope you all enjoyed a look into Jekyll's past.

Militia's Editor's Note: Was fun going down Jekyll's memory lane, hope you guys enjoy it.