The beast roared, the guards charged, the battle began. The guests retreated, giving the combatants plenty of room, not wishing to be caught in it. Even with superior numbers, the guards were in for a fight, the beast's unnatural strength apparent to all who looked on. Equally evident was the level of preparation the guards went into in means of protecting the royalty, they made a course of action, and carried it out, with unbelievable speed.

@#@#@#@#@#@

He smelled a trick. Just as one guard in front was swinging, he felt a heavy impact to his left leg. He snarled in pain, weaved around the descending weapon, that was a minor fracture, at least. Another blow, to the his ribs this time, he swung, his claws connected with steel. The smell of blood hit his nose, encouraging him, he shot his leg out, hitting one square in the chest. There was a noise of pain accompanied with the sound of buckling metal.

The lycan turned his head in time to see a mace land square in his muzzle. He barked at the sudden agony, his eyes watered slightly. Another blow, he swung, again and again, he missed several times. His foes didn't. They brought their weapons down repeatedly, pummeling relentlessly. A mace slammed in the side of his neck, his ears barely registered the sound of a clasp breaking before his vision went red.

#@#@#@#@#@#

Nopony would have guessed that after all the guards had put the beast through, a blow that by all means should have brought it to surrender or death, would only make it mad. With a deafening roar, the creature was back to its feet, ready to pounce. It jumped over the guardsponies, escaping from the circle they had formed around it. While it was true the beast had technically been on the defensive, that had changed, with renewed energy, it set about ending those in front of it.

It lunged, using its mouth for the first time, catching a Pegasus on her wing. Wrenching its head, it tossed her to the side, the tearing of muscle was horrifyingly loud. An Earth pony bucked it in its already injured leg, and was rewarded with snarl, one that wasn't pained. The stallion suddenly found himself underneath the beast, on his back. Its jaws were stretched wide, sharp teeth ready to tear soft flesh.

The beast descended, and stallion prepared to lose his life, hoping it wouldn't be in vain. A yelp brought that train of thought to an end. The creature released him, all pressure leaving his body. The Earth pony rose, looking around. The monster was being magically pressed into the ground in front of him, encased in the white aura of Princess Celestia herself. The beast attempted to stand, only to be crushed once more, while strong, it was nowhere near a match for the sun goddess.

“Get the injured medical attention, I'll personally escort this thing to the dungeon.” Celestia's voice held authority that nopony dared to oppose, certainly not in a situation like this. Her authority didn't extend to the beast her magic held, that struggled relentlessly against her. Applying more pressure didn't help, it only increased its actions, growling the entire time. “Luna, I expect to see you in my chambers upon my return.”

“Of course.” Luna knew when her sister was serious, and those times were never good. “I'll be up straight away.”

With a nod from Celestia, she and her guards began to move to the massive dungeon beneath the castle. Once the Princess of the Sun was out of sight, Luna turned to the gathered ponies, “I'm sorry for all the commotion, perhaps next year will be better.” She tried to give a calming smile, as her sister would do in this situation, but she barely managed to change her already shaken expression. “I certainly hope you all have a safe trip home, and bid you goodnight.” She half-bowed politely, then turned to leave.

She stopped only to pick up a small, silver chain, and the ring it held. Her concern only grew as her magic enveloped it. The chain itself wasn't anything special, just plain silver. The ring on it, however, was entirely different, it held power, a power that the Princess had only felt on one other thing in existence: Discord. The ring didn't feel like one of his creations, no, it felt like him, as if the two had the same origin. Luna shivered at the thought.

@#@#@#@#@#@

The particular cell Celestia had chosen for the beast was rather high-tech. With a heated floor, a toilet, and cot, a sink with hot water, and bars with enough electricity flowing through them to cook a pony, it was all the Princess could give to feel like a gracious host. Celestia had put the thing to sleep, he, as she observed, was putting up more of a fight than expected. He was stronger than one would expect something of his size to be, he would easily be able to over-power a manticore, an Ursa Minor would likely have trouble, but would in all possibility kill him.

Celestia paused her thoughts, was the beast waking up? She gasped as she heard its bones popping. He raised himself to a crouching position, whimpering slightly. His feet shortened, along with his claws and forelegs, tail receding into his spine, muzzle compacting in on itself, broken and missing teeth being replaced by new ones. His fur vanished, save for the patch on his head, black turning into a medium brown. Whatever the creature was, the Princess had never seen anything of the sort in her entire existence. He collapsed back onto the floor, panting, covered in sweat.

He turned his head to the side, towards Celestia and her guards. His tired expression quickly changed to one of shock.

#@#@#@#@#@#

He floated in darkness, a transparent, red wolf enveloping him in its embrace. He was under the blood lust, his body no longer under his control, and the man hadn't a single care in the world at the moment.. He and the wolf flinched at every blow that impacted, both feeling the full effect of them. The man reached up and scratched the wolf under its chin, offering some small amount of comfort to the whimpering animal, and himself. The wolf wasn't an actual wolf, merely an extension of himself, his bestial instincts given form, but still, it made good company, often appearing in his dreams.

The blackness before them began to shift, turning first into a white and gray blob, then into the blurry pattern of floor tiles. His consciousness moved forward, taking control of his now normal, weakened body. Indeed, he was on the floor, likely in a cell, if his memory of the night, before giving in to the blood lust, served him. He tried to get up, but settled for turning his head.

Once more, he expected to see guards, maybe the Queen, standing there. He never thought he'd be looking at horses, let much less horned and winged ones. His vision shifted slightly as he looked to the tallest of them, its mane and tail multicolored and flowing with nonexistent wind. One eye saw the horse, the other saw Jarl Elisif the Fair, of Solitude. Putting the pieces together, he came to the conclusion that he was not in Skyrim anymore, and he had likely crashed this horse queen thing's party. Never one to panic, the lycan said the most tactful thing he could think of at the moment.

“What the hell are you?” The horse thing must not have expected that, maybe it didn't know he could talk? The horses must have been intelligent, they had that spark in their eyes the all men, mer, and beastfolk possessed, so was it far-fetched to think they had language? “Was it something I said?” Gods he hated dealing with royalty.

“You can talk?” One of the smaller ones asked, armored, likely one of the royal horses guards. The lycan smiled a little, on the inside of course, reminded of a certain dog he had run into outside Falkreath, and defaulted to the hounds wise words.

“Yes, I just spoke, and I am continuing to do so, perhaps we can move this conversation along, please?”

“Just what are you.” That voice came from the tallest horse, feminine, regal, definitely royalty, just great.

“My dear, the correct term is 'who' not 'what', as you can see, I have a mind, and am apt to use it.” Perhaps he was a jackass, he didn't really care.

“Alright then, who are you?"

@#@#@#@#@#@

Now time for me to actually make the character.