//-------------------------------------------------------// My Little Pony: The Silvermane -by ArgoFlamehoof- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: Magic, Mares and A lot of pain. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: Magic, Mares and A lot of pain. It was mid afternoon by the time that a very bored Paul and a very ticked off Applejack got to the main street of Ponyville. The reason the orange cowpony was quite annoyed was from the irritating whistling the male had been doing for the last twenty minutes, and no amount of patience could last under the non-stop whistling of 'Always look on the bright side of life', which only added to the mare's mood that she didn't even know the tune he was whistling. As Paul took a breath and was about to start the tune all over again for the sixth time, Applejack spun round, waving her left pointing finger under his nose in a threatening manner, "Ah' swear if ya start that whistlin' one more time ah am gonna lay you out ya varmint!" Paul blinked, his eyes going nearly crossed as he looks down at the threatening digit pointing at him, nodding his head before speaking in a low tone, "Yes ma'am..." The farm mare grinned victoriously and turned round, tugging at the thick hemp rope that was wrapped around Paul tightly, pulling the man along once more. The pair turned quite a few heads as they made their way through the quiet street's, as most Ponies had finished their work for the day, filly's and colt's had finished school and everything was generally wrapping up. The few ponies they did walk passed gave a mix of looks, some were curious of the strange, nearly bald and clothed creature, while others were fearful, wondering out loud to those around them how Applejack had managed to catch such a monster. Paul seemed unphased by the whispers he heard, instead, he smirked darkly and began to hum the same tune he had been whistling not long before... Applejack gritted her teeth loudly and stopped, slowly turning around with murder in her eyes, "What the hay did I say?!" She hissed through clenched teeth, the farm Mare seeming to be at the end of her rope. Paul's smirk grew slightly as he stopped humming and leaned close and whispered, "I was humming... Not whistling... Oh, and stetsons... Suuuuuuck..." Applejack's left eye twitched and she was shaking slightly, pure rage visible to all the ponies and Paul who were looking at her. She slowly turned round and started to walk away, leaving Paul with a smug smile, "Heh... Payback's a bitc..." He never got to finish his sentence as a hoof planted firmly on his face with a sickeningly loud snap, the force of the kick sending the human flying backwards off his feet, a jet of blood gushing from his mouth and nose. He landed a few feet away on his back, groaning in agony and writhing around on the ground in his bounds, his eyes rolling around in their sockets comically as he did so. "Gah! Uck! Why you do dish..." He spat, his words slurred as he took an internal damage check, 'Nose? Broken... Teeth? Probably missing a few and a few shattered... Lovely...' He groaned as he thought about the damage, slowly sitting up. Applejack stood where she had kicked him from, panting slightly as she came down from her anger induced adrenalin rush, her eyes wide as she saw the damage she had done, before hastily looking around, seeing other ponies look of shock at what they had just seen, as most ponies were built quite strongly, able to take a kick like that with little damage, but this creature seemed to have been quite badly hurt. Paul broke the awkward silence that had settled a few moments later, his speech sound just a bit better as he felt some of the damage slowly repairing itself thanks to his werewolf resilience, "I was..." He spat out a tooth and a good glob of blood before continuing, "... Joking about the hat... Stetsons are cool, also... OW! Please, tell me my beautiful face is ok?! I know I can survive on my charm and wit, but the handsomeness helps alot!" Applejack blinked a few  times, her eyes on his shattered nose, which was bent out of place as she tilted her head, "Ah... Ah'm sorry sugarcube... I didn't mean ta... Wait a darn pickin' minute... Ya'll are making jokes at a time like this?!" She rushed over to the downed man and helped him to his feet, steadying him as he staggered a little. Paul groaned and shook his head, "It's fine... I will be right as rain in an hour or so..." He hoped, as normally he would have to re align the broken bones before they healed, and bound as he was, he could not readjusted his ruined nose, or remove the damaged teeth so new ones could grow in... He shook his head as he knew how painful that would be. The cowpony raised an eyebrow and gave Paul a 'really?' face, "But... Ah just bucked you in the face... How the hay are ya'll gonna fix that without..." An idea lit up in her head making her smile, "Alright sugarcure, I am gonna be takin' ya'll to Twilight, a friend of mine, she will fix ya up right quick!" Paul merely nodded, not wanting to talk to much with his busted teeth, which he ran his tongue carefully along... his top front teeth were missing, while the bottom two were there still, but shattered along the tops and he was missing his left top left canine. He grumbled as he was led by her shoulder now by the orange mare, giving him a chance to look at her once more while they walked. He noticed that the farm pony was muscular, but not overly so, fitting her tall form quite nicely. After a few minutes of walking, the pair got to a large tree, which seemed to Paul to have a home built into it, "The hell is that?" He commented, raising an eyebrow. Applejack just walked him to the door before saying, "Its the town Library, ma' friend Twilight lives here..." She didn't even bother to knock as she opened the door and, with Paul's rope in hand, tugged him inside. The inside of the Library was what Paul expected, shelves stuffed  to the brim with all sorts of books, of all sizes, colors and ages from what he could tell. To his right from the door was a staircase that probably led up to where ever Applejack's friend slept, while ahead of him were two doors, one leading into what he guess was the kitchen from the faint aroma of food wafting from it, as for the other door, he had no clue. Applejack let go of Paul's rope and started to untie him, tossing the rope back over her shoulder, "Ok partner... Just you wait here a second... Don't be causing nopony any trouble..." As she said this she walked towards the kitchen and out of sight. Paul huffed and decided to at least look around at the books, if only to find out something new about where he was. He spent a few short minutes idly walking along the row's of books, his eyes picking out titles here and there, like 'Magic and you, A unicorn's first magic book.' and 'Equestrian history for Dummies', both books he was slightly stumped at. "Unicorns...? Well, if they have winged horses, and they can all walk and talk, why not... But what the hell is Equestria?" He mumbled under his breath, making note of the books before the sound of a throat being cleared caused him to turn to the kitchen door. In the doorway stood two mares, one he knew as Applejack and another, who  unlike the orange farm pony behind her, had both a horn AND wings. The new mare had lavender colored fur, with a purple mane and tail that had a strip of pink running through them. She had pretty purple eyes and stood at about 5'5", and like every other pony he had met, she was nude, showing of her slim form and her marks on her rear, which was a pink star surrounded by little white stars. Paul gaped for a second at the new mare's appearance and gulped, "Um... hi?" He said nervously as he noticed the wide eyed stare the librarian was giving him. In a flash of white light, the winged unicorn was right in front of him, teleporting from where she had been standing with Applejack, "By Celestia you can talk! Can you say anything else? What are you? Where do you come fro..." Applejack took this time while the lavender mare was bombarding the poor man with questions to walk over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Twi... Darlin', can ya save the tongue waggin' for when ya fix him up?" She said, motioning to Paul's broken nose and teeth. Twilight blushed and smiled sheepishly, "Oops, sorry Applejack, I got a little carried away, hang on..." She turned back to Paul and smiled warmly, "Don't move, this will tingle just a bit..." She put a hand on his bare arm, her fur feeling soft and warm against his skin, as he horn lit up, a purple aura surrounding it as Paul felt a warm tingling sensation course through his body, followed by a numbness around his face. The sound of bone's snapping back into place and small grunts of discomfort from the man as his nose slowly righted itself and was fixed, along with his teeth growing back out and being repaired. When Twilight was done she giggled, "Ooo! I can't wait to find out more about this thing! I needed something to cheer me up after that failed summoning spell earlier..." Paul and Applejack both blinked, Paul because of hearing the word 'Summoning spell', and Applejack at the thought of Twilight going through another mad scientist phase. Paul's features soon turned from surprise to bitterness, "Tell me... Twilight was it?" When the mare nodded, a happy grin on her face still, Paul growled and licked his tongue along his fixed teeth, "So... What were you trying to summon?" He asked coldly, already having an inkling of what this mare was going to say. Applejack noticed the man's change in tone before Twilight, who still seemed to be quite cheerful, and moved to her friends side, not sure what Paul may try to do in his apparent anger. Twilight Sparkle finally let out a sigh and shrugged, "I was using a spell to summon a beast of myth from Tartarus to study it... With the Princesses permission of course! I even had all the protection spells in place to imprison it so it couldn't hurt anypony." She added hastily at the end, the sheepish smile returning. Paul gritted his teeth and moved closer to Twilight and Applejack, his hands balled into fists as the 6'1" tall male stood over them, "And what... Is this beast you tried to summon?" His voice visibly shaking now with barely controlled rage he felt at the idea of being ripped from his home to be used as a simple test subject. Twilight only now noticed the man's anger as he stood before her and Applejack, making the lavender librarian gulp and look up at him, "A... A werepony..." As soon as she spoke those words Paul leapt at the winged unicorn, a loud yell of rage issuing from his lips, but stopped when he found himself suspended in the air by a purple field surrounding his body, stopping his movements, inches from Twilight, who's horn was glowing, even as she had a look of pure terror on her face, while Applejack just glared at Paul, grabbing her rope again. Paul started to struggle against the magic binding him in the air, shouting as he did so, "You stupid bint! You Ripped me from my home, my FAMILY! For some stupid studies! I will end you!" He was stopped when a very heavy old tome, with a thickness of one of the werewolf's arm's, hit him hard in the side of the head, knocking the enraged male clean out, making him go limp in the magical grip. Both surprised mare's turned their gaze to the stairs of the library where the book had been thrown, and there stood the library's other resident, Twilight's assistant and adopted little brother, Spike the dragon. He was about 5'0" and was covered in purple scales that covered his entire body from tail tip to head, with a green underbelly and spines running up his back. He was panting slightly with the effort of throwing such a heavy book at the man. The room was silent for a few moments before Twilight finally spoke in a shaky tone, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, "I... I didn't... I didn't know... I'm sorry..." She whispered as she let Paul down onto the ground where he lay still, watching as Applejack began to tie the man back up with her rope. Spike rushed to Twilight's side and put his hand on her arm, "Twi! Are you ok?! What is this thing?" He asked, concern present in his voice as he glanced over the unconscious male. Applejack sighed and with ease, the strong earth pony lifted Paul up and onto her shoulder, tossing him over it as she stood up with him, "I reckon' we best be making sure this varmint don't get free if he is gonna be trying to hurt folks..." She looked towards the door to the basement and nods. Twilight followed her gaze, wiping the errant tears from her eyes with the back of her right hand, "Y... yes, just... Be careful with him. Leave him in the basement and I will lock the door, we can deal with him in the morning, when we can get all the girls here... And maybe the Princesses?" She asked, before heading to a small desk near the stairs, opening one of the drawers and taking out a key. Applejack nodded and walked to the basement door beside the kitchen and opened it with her free hand, before heading down into the dark room, no lights lighting anything within. Once at the bottom of the stairs the stetson wearing cowpony placed the man down with his back against the wall, before heading back upstairs quickly, closing the door behind her and watching as Twilight slips the key into the lock, making sure the door was locked. Spike at this point was nervously looking from both the mares to the locked basement door, "Is this a good idea Twi? AJ? What if he tries to break out?!" He blurted out, panicking. Twilight just sighed and shook her head, heading to the library door and opening it, looking out at the setting sun as her mentor and said mentor's sister started the exchange of day into night, "If we are lucky... He will be more calm when he wakes up..." She nods and smiles lightly as she turns back to Spike and Applejack. Applejack smiled and walked over to Twilight, giving her friend a firm hug and whispering to her, "Don't be listening to what that varmint said... Ya'll would never hurt nopony on purpose..." And with that backed off, tipping her hat to the young drake and Alicorn, "Well, I best be goin', got ta make sure 'Bloom gets ta bed... Goodnight Twi, Spike..." She then departed, walking towards the farm. Twilight watched her friend leave for a few moments before closing the door and turning to Spike, who still had his eyes locked on the door to the Basement, almost as if he expected it to explode at any moment. "Spike... Take a note... We need to inform the Princesses of this, and hope they can undo what I have done..." She made her way to the small desk and pulled the worn chair out from under it and sat down, a single thought going through her head, 'I tried to summon a werepony... So why did I get some kind of hairless monkey instead...?' As Spike and Twilight wrote their letter to the Princesses, down in the basement, Paul began to stir, his body feeling the moon begin to rise outside, and even though he couldn't see it, he could tell what was going to happen... He let out a loud yell of pain suddenly, his body slowly trying to change, his muscles growing and stretching against the ropes, straining at them until they snapped... Twilight had just finished the letter and had told Spike to send it off when she heard the pain filled yell, her eyes darting to the door where they issued from, before rushing towards it, her hand shooting for the door knob but stopped as she heard a strained voice... "Don't... Open that... Door! If you value... Your lives... Don't... let it... Out..." Twilight felt her body shiver as fear filled her, for she knew the voice belong to the man, but he sounded different, like he was in agony... Then another bout of screams of pain and the loud tearing of clothes could be heard, until the screams turned more into snarls and growls of a wild beast. Twilight quickly put a strengthening spell upon the oak door, and not a moment too soon, as no sooner had she finished then did the  door shudder from the force of something slamming against it, making the door-frame shudder with the force. This continued for several long minutes, the sound of some feral beast growling behind the magically barricaded door, smashing itself against the door and trying to claw its way out. Spike clung to Twilight, who sank to her knee's to better hold the terrified baby dragon, both their eyes locked on the door, praying it held when... Silence, no growling, no assaults against the door, nothing... Twilight whimpered and bit her lower lip, before shakily getting up, walking towards the door, a scared Spike holding onto her wrist and following behind her as she moved, using her to shield against the door. As the Alicorn mare got to the door she pressed her ear carefully against the wood, and heard sniffing, followed by a loud huff of irritation, before the sounds of heavy footpads could be heard descending the stairs deeper into the basement. Both Twilight and Spike gave a sigh of relief and backed away from the door, but were both knocked back onto their rears as the sound of a long, ear splitting howl pierced the air, shaking the library to its foundations with its force. Twilight had landed on Spike, pinning the young drake under her as she gaped at the door, before whispering, "I hope the Princesses get my letter soon..." To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: Understanding and Introductions //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: Understanding and Introductions Celestia's sun slowly began its ascent into the sky, just as Luna's moon made it's descent, bringing the morning light over the land of Equestria.  In Ponyville, the first ponies to rise were usually the Apple family, getting up and sorting out the farm for the day, Mr and Mrs Cake, the local bakers and this morning a certain Lavender Alicorn and her Dragon assistant. Both Spike and Twilight had not moved from their seat's on the floor from the previous night, neither daring to go to sleep, or even move, lest whatever had been growling and striking  at the locked basement door all through the night with animal like rage got out. The noises behind the sealed and warded basement door had been silent for a good few hours at this point, and Twilight finally got up the courage to stand up and walk over to the door and press one of her ears against it. The young Alicorn looked dreadful, with a mix of fear and lack of sleep taking its toll on her, giving Twilight a frazzled appearance. Spike stayed in his seat, shakily reaching a clawed hand out to Twilight, trying to motion his friend back rapidly to her seat and away from a door which he expected to cave in at any moment. The lavender colored mare stayed silent for several moments, the only sound through out the entire library was the soft tick-tock of the clock above the front door, which showed the time had just turned 6:30 in the morning. Twilight took a deep breath, before turning back to the young, scared dragon and nodded, before moving her hand nervously to the door handle, grasping it and... Loud frantic banging on the front door made Twilight more or less jump out of her fur in fright, letting the door knob go as she moved her back against the basement door, staring at the front door, trying to catch her breath. Spike's reaction to the sudden knocking was less inspiring, as he let out a girlish scream and dived into the kitchen like a rocket from his seat. The air was filled with clattering and crashes from the kitchen, which was finally silenced when Spike, now tussled up in make shift armour made out of pan lids and plates,  slowly shuffled his way out of the kitchen a large pot on his head as a helmet and a ladle as a weapon. The hilariously dressed baby dragon made his way to the front door, ladle raised as he opened it... The sight before Spike made him let out a sigh of relief, before a wide grin took to his features, showing of the dragon's sharp, gem chomping teeth, "Princesses!" He let out a thankful cry, throwing the door open wide, showing the equally happy looking Twilight who stood outside. The first of the princesses stood at an impressive 6'5", her fur a brilliant and unblemished white in color, a large white horn stood proud upon her forehead and a set of the same colored wings sat upon her back, folded away. Her mane and tail both flowing as though caught in an otherworldly breeze, both of which had the colors pink, green and blue flowing in equal measure through them. Princess Celestia's purple colored eyes looked down first at Spike, a small giggle pushing passed her sweet, motherly smile, before turning and looking at Twilight Sparkle, her student and friend. "Twilight, I got your message when I awoke this morning and came with my sister as fast as we could, are you all ok?" The white Alicorn asked as she made her way passed Spike, who was blushing at the Princess's giggles and took off his makeshift helmet, before the princess of the sun placed a comforting hand on Twilight's shoulder. "The creature you summoned... Is it still here?" Celestia asked, her eyes hard as she asked, with concern in her voice. "Sister, I still do not see why you would bring me along?" Came a loud, feminine voice from outside the door. Princess Luna stepped into the main room of the library, following her sister. The princess of the night stood slightly shorter then her big sister, standing at 6'3", her fur dark blue, with her wings and horn matching it. Her eyes were also blue in color, while her hair and tail flowed in a similar way to her sister's, although her's was like the night sky, black with tiny little lights in it, glowing softly like stars. "If a werepony has been summoned, then all that is needed is to use the elements of harmony on it and banish it back to Tartarus." The princess of the night said, taking up position beside Celestia, her eye's moving to look at said sister. Twilight chose this moment to speak up, looking up at both the mares before her, "But... He isn't a werepony... At least, not like we know... He was hairless almost, with no tail or hooves..." She turned back to look at the basement door and bit her bottom lip, "And to answer your question Princess Celestia... He is locked in my basement..." Both princesses turned towards the door and nodded, with Luna walking towards it cautiously as Celestia smiled softly to Twilight, "I need you to go get the other element bearers... And bring them back here as fast as you can... Can you do this for me Twilight?" The solar princess asked in a warm, comforting tone. Twilight's own smile grew wide at the mentors words and nodded, rushing over to spike, who by now had removed his 'emergency armour', and took him by the arm, dragging the young drake with her as she set off to find her friends. When they were alone, Celestia's smile immediately dropped, her features taking on a much colder and more focused look, before turning to her younger sister, who's own features had taken on a similar look. "We should deal with this before Twilight and her friends return... I will not risk any of my little ponies being hurt by this beast..." She nodded to Luna who was stood by the door and started over to it herself. Luna sighed and shook her head, "I know you sent her away so she would not have to see us do something of this nature... But she must learn someday that life is not always about 'friendship' and 'happiness'... She must see that a princess must sometimes do such things to secure the safety of her subjects..." Celestia knew her sister spoke the truth, but at the same time did not wish to admit it... The idea of her student, Twilight Sparkle, having to kill another creature, even to protect Equestria, was something she never wanted to see happen. So the two princesses stood before the basement door, both ready to do what had to be done... Celestia's horn lit up and a faint click was heard as the door's lock was flipped open, a faint hissing following as the protection spell followed. Once the door was unlocked, Luna took hold of the door knob and slowly twisted it, opening the door carefully... Inside was still pitch black, as Twilight had never bothered to put a window in the basement, saying that she didn't want any pony looking in on her as she worked on some experiment or other. Seeing the darkness, Luna's horn lit up and a small sphere of light glowed at the tip of her horn, before flying off into the basement lazily, slowly revealing the room. Inside was a complete mess, with pieces of Twilight's research machines and other materials were scattered, torn or completely destroyed. Several books lay in piles with their shattered bookcases around them. "It looks like beast was right... I fear to think what would of happened if young Sparkle had not put that ward on the door... What do you think Tia?" Luna said, but when she heard no response she turned to look at her sister who stood beside her, "Tia...?" Celestia's eye's were locked on the insides of the basement door, her mouth slightly open as she stared at the many deep claw marks that adored the wood. She moved her left hand shakily to the wooden door's scarred side, running her palm over the damage slowly, feeling how deep the damage was, "This is no werepony Luna... This is something much, much worse..." Before Luna could question her sister's words a low snoring was heard, silencing both princesses, causing both to spin round, their horns glowing as they readied powerful offensive spells to deal with the beast... Instead they saw a hairless foot sticking out from under a pile of books, the toes lightly curling as the snoring continued. Celestia raised an eyebrow at this and turned to her sister, who seemed to share her confused look. With a nod, the solar princess made her way down the stairs cautiously, her horn still glowing as she did so, Luna staying at the top of the stairs, ready to help if need be. Celestia soon made her way over to the book pile and, using some levitation magic, lifted the books off the pile one by one, until the sight of a very naked, sleeping male met her sight. Paul was fast asleep, his clothes in tatters around the room, leaving him in the buff, showing off his nearly hairless form to the princess. He was lay on his front, his ass on full show, which was lazily scratched as he slept, making the Princess behind him roll her eyes, turning to her sister Luna who was trying not to laugh. "This is the beast Twilight summoned? This is what did all this?" Celestia asked in an annoyed tone, not sure if Twilight and her friends were trying to play a prank on her, or if her student had just been having one of her infamous 'breakdowns'. Luna let out a small giggle as she observed the sleeping male and made her way down the stairs, "I believe your student has got it wrong this time sister... I mean, this male is obviously incapable of this level of damage..." The princess of the moon looked around the carnage of the basement and sighed, "He is obviously just a monkey she summoned by..." Luna was cut of by a low growl coming from the man, who slowly pushed himself up and onto his knee's, his eyes half open, showing a pair of... feral crimson eyes, which slowly died down to their normal blue appearance as he blinked, staring up at the two giant mare's, a frown on his face. "Who the fuck you calling a monkey, Moon-butt?" He growled, his eyes slowly roaming over each mare, noticing a moon shaped mark on Luna's rear and a sun shaped one on Celestia's, "And where the hell am I... Last thing I remember was trying to throttle that lavender bi..." Paul was stopped mid sentence as his form was encased in a golden glow and slammed into the nearest wall, making the man groan out as his body protested to the pain. Celestia stomped over to him and glared at the man, locking eyes with him, showing him her coldest stare as she spoke. "You will choose your next words very carefully creature... I will NOT tolerate anypony speaking ill of or threatening my subjects, especially my prize student!" She shouted at Paul, her anger oozing out with each word. Luna flinched alittle at her sister's sudden actions, moving beside her and placing a hand on Celestia's shoulder, not looking at the restrained man as she spoke, "Maybe we should ask this creature 'why' he would threaten such a thing... Surely there must be a reason?" Celestia finally broke eye contact with Paul before looking down at her sister in silence for a few moments before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. With that done the princess of the sun let the man down onto the floor, her magic letting him go. "You have five minutes... Why do you wish harm to princess Twilight Sparkle?" Paul slumped against the wall as he was released, sliding down to sit on the floor, his body aching all over, and the starts of hunger pains began to hit him. "Because that bitch more or less kidnapped me to be her lab rat... Stole me from my home... Friends, family..." He winched as he moved his right hand to rub his neck, "I don't know if I will see them again... So yeah... I am not just angry..." The man slowly got to his feet, his bones creaking and cracking slightly from the sudden motion, before walking over to Celestia, standing before the solar mare, who raised her eyebrow his actions. He slowly looked up at her and barred his teeth at her, showing his slightly larger then normal canines, which were still more like fangs then regular teeth. "I. Am. Livid..." He hissed at her, his eyes blazing as he stared up at Celestia. The mare of the sun found herself taking a step back unconsciously, a look of fear momentarily flickering in her eyes, as some part of her brain, the long ago forgotten prey part of her mind alerted her to the dangers of the predator before her... Luna took a step forward as he sister stepped back, blocking off the man from Celestia, she gave the man her own glare, "I understand... You are upset by what has been done to you, I too was once placed somewhere far from my home..." She said sadly before continuing "Getting angry however and threatening ponies is not how you fix things." Her features softened as a small smile graced her lips, "I promise, I will do all in my power to get you home, as will my sister... So please, be calm..." Paul flinched back slightly, as though struck, not expecting such gentle words from any of these 'ponies'. He eyed Luna up and down, not sure if he could trust her, "Fine... But I want names first... I know like, three people here..." Celestia, who had got over her momentary daze, interrupted him mid sentence, "The proper term is ponies... like, 'anypony' or 'everypony'" And while she was still on guard around the creature, she too moved to the man, her horn no longer glowing. Paul gave both of them a deadpan look before covering his face with his palm, "Ok... I am too tired, hungry and naked for this shit..." He sighed and shook his head, "Fine, I know like three 'ponies', and of those three, one is probably terrified of me, one kicked me in the face and the last one kidnapped me... So yeah... Not the best introductions so far..." Celestia and Luna both looked at each other as the male mentioned being nude, not sure what the problem was, as even the two princesses only wore their gold crowns, necklaces and horse shoes, and nothing else. Luna was the first to mention something out of place on this strange 'stallion'. "Why do you not have a sheath? And why is it so small?" Luna asked bluntly, her eyes gazing down at the 6' tall male, who was at this point blushing up a storm and covering his groin with his hands, blocking his package from view. "It... It's not small! It's average sized from where I come from thank you very bloody much! And what kind of question is that to ask?! I don't have a sheath because I am not a freakin' animal!" He growled, not feeling comfortable with the stares the two mare's were now giving him, both princesses having a look of curiosity on their faces.   Celestia was the first of the two to speak next, her eyes quickly darting back up to the man's irritated features, "I apologize for my sisters... Blunt... Question, so I will answer your question. I am princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and princess of the sun." Luna, not even bothering to look up from where Paul was covering his crotch spoke next, "And I am princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and princess of the moon..." Paul just opened his mouth a few times and closed it, not sure how to take this all in. Not only were two princesses of these ponies before him, but the shorter one was being blunt as hell about his junk. "Hey, enough staring at my equipment! My eyes are up here!" He clicked his fingers near Luna's face, making her eyes shoot up to meet his. Celestia sighed and shook her head, before smiling lightly and let out a small giggle, "I apologize, we are just a bit curious I guess... But now then, who... Are you?" She asked, pointing a perfect white furred finger at Paul. The man raised an eyebrow before shrugging and looking at Celestia with a small smile, "My names Paul... Paul Silvermane... And I am a werewolf..." He said casually, closing his eyes as he waited for the sounds of shocked gasps or screams to fill the air... Or even the sensation of another blunt object bouncing off his head. After several seconds of complete silence, Paul opened one eye slowly, seeing not shocked expressions on the two princesses faces, but instead serious looks and questioning eyes on him. Luna spoke first, taking a step away from him and tilting her head to the side, "A 'werewolf'? What is that? Is it like a werepony?" She asked, turning to her sister, who nodded as well. "Yes, explain what you are... For while we have..." The solar princess stopped and cleared her throat, looking away, "... Had, something that sounds similar, it may be best for you to explain..." Paul took a deep breath before starting, "Ok... But I gotta warn you... This could take awhile, since I only know how my family got this curse, so I am not too sure if there are other ways or not." He shrugged and looked up the stars to the library and smiled slightly, "Um... Mind if we head upstairs first, I kinda need to find something to cover myself with... And I need the bathroom..." Both princesses looked at one another, before nodding, Celestia waving the man passed them and up the stairs, which he quickly darted up, with both monarchs following close behind him. Upstairs Paul stopped in the center of the room and gave a good stretch, letting several bones crack. "Ok... So first things first... Bathroom?" He asked, turning to see both Luna and Celestia just arrive, closing the basement door behind them. Celestia shook her head, a smile still on her lips and pointed up the stairs, "First door on the left... Be quick, as I expect Twilight and her friends to be here soon, and they will have to be filled in also." Paul nodded and started over to the stairs at the side of the room, slowly walking up them and out of sight, followed a few seconds later by the sound of a door opening and then closing with a loud click. Luna sighed and ran a hand through her ethereal hair, looking at her sister with a frown, "So he is more then he seems sister...  I trust you are in agreement to keeping an eye on him?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, noticing Celestia had a troubled look on her face. "I agree that he must be watched, but I also agree with what you said about getting him back earlier... I came here thinking we would be dealing with some foul beast of tartarus, brought here by Twilight and was ready to kill and destroy..." princess Celestia took a moment to close her eyes and sighed deeply, "But it seems he is just like any other stallion... Cursed yes, but I see that he may just be misunderstood..." Suddenly the front door to the library burst open as Twilight, and the rest of the mane 6 ran in, each in different levels of being awake, with Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie seeming the most alert and bright eyed, while Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all looked about ready to fall back to sleep... "I got the girls Princess! What now? Are we going to..." Twilight began to say before she was silenced by Pinkie Pie suddenly popping up right infront of the two princesses. "Oooo! Can I see him?! Is he friendly? I wonder what kind of party I should throw?!" The pink party mare bounced up and down on the spot, a huge grin gracing her face, "Maybe a 'Welcome to Ponyville, sorry you were dragged here against your will' party? Oh! No, maybe a 'Sorry my friend beat you up and our other friend knocked you out with a book' party?" Twilight and the others all just stared at the party mare, unsure what to say for a few moments before Spike pushed his way into the library passed the mares, raising an eyebrow at Pinkie. "When did you even find all that out? I guess you could hear about Applejack bucking him in the face from her... But about me throwing the book...?" Spike froze as he heard footsteps on the stairs, making him spin round and look up... Paul was stood on the top step, a white towel wrapped around his waist, covering his modesty as he glared daggers at the young dragon, pointing a finger at him, "YOU! Your the one who threw a book at me?! First off... Who the fuck throws a book?! And second... I am gonna turn you into a suitcase!" The human stopped however when he noticed the many other ponies who were not there when he had left. "Um... Hi?" He managed, raising an eyebrow as he looked over the ponies in the room, noting the three new... "Hey! Ooo aren't you cold with no fur? Why are you wearing a towel? Do you get flea's when you turn?" Pinkie pie was suddenly in the human's  face, wrapping the man in a tight hug and giggling. The others were shocked, not sure what to do as Pinkie hugged the strange creature, but all let out a sigh of relief when Paul merely hugged the mare back, letting out a sigh. "Hugs are nice..." He mumbled, not really caring anymore as he took a sniff of the mare's mane, "Mmm candyfloss... Wait...!" He pulled back and looked down at Pinkie, "How do you know about my change?!" Pinkie Pie just looked up at him with her signature grin and tilted her head, "Huh? What do you mean silly billy? Ooo! Do you turn into different things?! Can you turn into a cake?!" The bright pink mare asked with a strange glint in her eye that told the man that this mare was probably batshit insane... "Ok ok... Just... Lets get introductions out of the way..." Paul sighed and pushed passed the pink mare, heading down the rest of the stairs, "Dear god this is gonna be a long day..." To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4: Learning //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4: Learning Paul sat in the library in silence, trying to get comfortable on a large green beanbag that Twilight had pulled from upstairs, along with several more, enough for all the occupants of the library. Of the eight ponies that had gathered in the main room, Paul knew over half of them, but as the group slowly began taking their seats, their beanbags forming a sort of circle around the males own, he took in the appearances of the three newcomers. The one he found he would probably have the most trouble with was the blue furred, rainbow maned and tailed pegasus mare that had been glaring at Paul since the moment she arrived, and Paul could only guess that the slim, athletic built mare probably wanted to say something to him, but kept her mouth shut with her friends around. Her cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow colored lighting bolt coming out of it. Turning his gaze from the mare he would probably end up calling skittles, Paul looked to the next mare, a unicorn, who had white fur and purple mane and tail, and overall looked very attractive, even to the werewolf. Her mark was that of three diamonds placed around each other, and as Paul looked at them, he felt a pair of eyes burning into him. He turned and noticed the young dragon, Spike, glaring at him as the man looked over Rarity. Paul gave a shrug at Spikes look, not really caring what the drakes problem was and turned to find that the pink mare... Was gone? He could of sworn she was in her seat a second ago... "Your lap is really comfy mister monkey guy!" Pinkie said happily as she sat in Paul's lap, snuggling up to him with a warm grin on her face, the mare Pinkie Pie pretty much lived up to her name appearance wise, her fur, hair and tail were all pink in color, while on her flank was a mark showing three party balloon's. Paul's cheek's blushed up a storm as he was left astounded by the pink mare's actions, not too sure how to even react, but before he could even open his mouth to say something, Rainbow Dash beat him to it. "Pinkie! Get off him, we don't know if he is dangerous or not! Well, not like I couldn't take him if he tried though...!" To back up her claim the rainbow maned mare took to the air, hovering above the rooms occupants, sending jabs at thin air. Rarity nodded, not taking her eyes off Pinkie or Paul as she slightly turned her nose up, "Indeed... Who knows what strange things this... Brute could be thinking of doing to you!" Rarity turned to Spike, who had taken this chance to sit right beside the white unicorn, nodding along with her, a stupid smile on his face as he looked up at her. Paul rolled his eyes, knowing that the unicorn, while seeming like a total stuck up bitch, was kinda right, as thanks to wearing only a towel, he could feel every movement Pinkie made, and the way her fur felt on his skin... "Ok! OFF!" The male shouted suddenly, picking up the pink mare with great difficulty, before slowly staggered over to the free beanbag that Pinkie had originally taken as her seat and plopped her down onto it, panting slightly once he did so, "Damn your heavy... Either that or I need to do more exercise..." He mumbled to himself before heading back to his seat and sitting down. Paul rubbed his eyes and let out a long sigh, not bothering to move his hand away from his face before speaking, "So... Is everyone comfy? Can I begin on my little 'lesson', or does some'pony' wish to say something else?" Paul's question was met by silence, with both princesses sitting quietly in their seats, their eyes never leaving the male, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity watching him with a sense of unease, but also kept silent. Which left Twilight, looking excited at the fact she was about to learn something new, Pinkie Pie, humming a cheerful tune as she bounced slightly in her seat and Fluttershy, doing her best to hide behind her mane as she sat beside Rainbow Dash. Paul, confident he was not going to be interrupted, began to speak, "Ok... I am what is know as a werewolf... Or a lycanthrope if you wanna go old tongue on me...  I am pretty much a human." Paul groaned as he noticed Twilight's hand shoot up at the mention of the word 'human'. "Whats a human?" The lavender mare asked, her wings twitching slightly as her horn lights up, floating a piece of parchment over and a quill. Paul rolled his eyes and pointed at himself, "They look similar to me... Hair on only a few parts of their bodies, feet instead of hooves, and no tails... I am betting a few more things are different but we are here to talk about werewolves, not humans... So!" Paul got to his feet once more and waved his left hand over his body, "I am cursed, along with my entire bloodline, with the affliction. The curse has the unfortunate effect of, when a full moon is in the night sky, turning me and my kin into... Well... Beasts... Wolf men to be precise... Our bodies shift and change, our skin becomes covered in thick pelts of fur, our faces elogate like your own and our teeth sharpen into fangs..." As Paul went on with his description of what happens during his change, the reactions of the ponies (And drake) in the room were varied. Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked unconvinced, both seeming quite bored with all the talking, while Fluttershy was strangely curious, listening to the man speak of his bestial side made her think of her animals, and she wondered if she would be able to meet this wolf creature. Pinkie just kept humming as she nodded her head to every other word out of Paul's mouth, smiling happily as she did so. Twilight was writing away swiftly on her piece of parchment, making sure to get everything Paul had said down and documented, not noticing the reactions of her friends, or more importantly, that of her mentor and her sister... Both Luna and Celestia had grim looks upon their faces, their fears confirmed as Celestia loudly cleared her throat, motioning for Paul's attention. "I... See... Paul Silvermane was it? I am afraid we too had a similar curse in these lands many, many long years ago... Long before the Nightmare Moon incident. Many of my little ponies were afflicted by a cruel curse, placed on them by a mysterious creature known only as 'The Druid'... He claimed my subjects were not giving nature the respect it deserved and..." Celestia looked away, not being able to continue as she closed her eyes tightly, a pained look on the face of the sun princess, as she remembered old, painful memories. Princess Luna however took up the tale where her sister had stopped. "The druid used a strange magic to spread the curse through the earth ponies, forcing those cursed to change under the light of my moon into mindless beasts, who hungered for the flesh of other ponies... We... My sister and I... Were forced to... Put them down, or send them to the depths of Tartarus, where they would no longer hurt anypony." Paul stayed silent, a thoughtful look on his face, while the mane Six looked horrified, staring in shocked silence at their rulers. Twilight broke this silence by placing her parchment down and levitating her quill over to her desk in her magic, then she turned to Celestia and spoke. "Princess... I am sure you and Princess Luna did all you could, if neither of you could stop this druid then..." Paul interrupted by chuckling, an act that made all eyes in the room suddenly snap on him, some in disbelief, while others were filled with spite. The mares could not understand how the male could laugh at such a thing! Paul stopped and sighed when he noticed the mixed looks he was getting and moved his right hand to rub the back of his neck lightly. "Sorry... No disrespect but... Yeah, the same thing happened to my ancestors. We ticked off some grumpy old 'Druid' by killing a white stag in his grove, and he cursed my family's bloodline with Lycanthropy... There is no cure that's worth a damn to our knowledge, well... Other then what your princesses did." Paul shrugged and sat back in his seat, his head resting in his hands as his mind raced, knowing that his life was more or less in these ponies hands... A thought that did not fill the male werewolf with confidence. Paul looked up when he felt a hand gently being placed on his left shoulder, his gaze catching that of Luna's, the princess of the moon smiling softly as she spoke. "I feel we can trust you... For if you did not have some measure of control over this inner beast, you and your kin would of devolved like our subjects of old did... So tell me... Us... Can you control it?" All ears were pricked up at the lunar princess's words, wondering and worrying in equal measure at what the answer may be. Paul locked eyes with Luna and stayed silent for several moments, just sitting there staring deep into her eyes as he thought, before nodding and giving a small shrug as he lay back more in the beanbag, his towel hiking up slightly as he relaxed. "I wont lie and say I have control... But as long as you either keep me chained up on full moon nights or let me loose in that forest... I can say that there will be a greater chance of you all being safe. The beast... I can always feel it, locked up tight in its cage... Angry, hungry, waiting to get out..." Paul's eyes had a faraway look to them for a few seconds as he spoke, before he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, "... But I keep it in check, as long as it isn't a full moon, and I don't lose my shit and get into a rage, I can keep it in check..." Luna gave a nod and moved back to her sister before speaking, "Come sister, Princess Twilight, we must discuss what is to be done with our guest here... I ask the remaining element bearers to keep an eye on him, just in case... You understand I hope?" The last part was directed at the relaxing man, his eyes closed at this point. "Of course... it's cool..." He shrugged and let out a long, loud yawn before snuggling up into the beanbag and trying to get a nap in. Twilight Sparkle, Celestia and Luna all made their way into the library's kitchen, leaving the five remaining mare's and Spike alone with the apparently sleeping Paul. Rainbow quickly moved over to Applejack and whispered in her ear, her voice low, but still audible to everyone in the room. "AJ... I don't like this! A stallion who turns into a monster for a full week every month? That's crazy! I hope the princesses let us use the elements and..." Rainbow Dash blinked as her nose was bopped by Applejack, who had a frown on her features, her stetson flipped back showing her full face. "Sugar cube... Ahm hopin' you aren't fixing to be judging this here fella before we learn more about the guy?" Applejack looked towards the napping male and sighed, "Listen, I don't rightly like this either... But to just up and see the varmint as a threat without giving him a fightin' chance is just plain unfair..." "Yeah! Don't be a meanie pants Dashie!" Pinkie shouted, moving over to sit beside Paul's beanbag, gently stroking the man's hair, making him smile gently as he slept, "He is soooooo interesting! And he turns into a puppy dog every so often?! Thats AMAZING!" Pinkie giggled and grinned at both Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both of whom decided not to argue with Pinkie when she was so dead set on such a thing... But it didn't stop Rainbow from getting Fluttershy's comment on the situation. "Fine! Hey Flutters, what do you make of mister 'I'm a scary wolf man' here? I bet you agree with me on this?" Rainbow asked her shy friend confidently, smirking smugly as she spoke, but the smirk dropped like a ton of bricks as Fluttershy shook her head, before her soft voice could be heard. "Um... I don't think that he is a bad pony... He didn't try to hurt me or my little animal friends when I met him near the Everfree forest, and he seemed very friendly..." The yellow mare blushed slightly and covered her face as well as she could with her mane before continuing, "I am alittle afraid though...  I know I am good with animals, but... This beast he talks about... It doesn't sound like a puppy to me..." Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack were slightly shocked at Shy's words, not expecting the fearful mare to so readily give such a strange creature a chance. The sound of a loud harrumph was heard, making all heads turn to Rarity, who was sitting with one leg crossed over the other, her head upturned and her eyes closed. "This 'Paul' seems to be nothing more then a brute with no manners, a foul mouth and from what I can gather he is fairly dangerous!" She got up slowly from her beanbag and waved to Spike, who had been sitting obediently by her side for a while now, making the young dragon rush off. "Who knows what horrible things he could do to us as this... This beast!" She placed the back of her hand against her brow and swooned, landing on an expertly placed couch, an out of breath Spike having placed Rarity's 'fainting couch' just in time. The entire room had a collective eye roll, before a soft laugh caught everyponies ear. All eyes turned to Paul, who had not moved or even opened his eyes, as he began to speak. "Amazing how open people... Sorry... Ponies, are when they think someone's asleep... Now first... Skittles... Fuck you..." He gave Rainbow Dash the finger, leaving the pegasus mare stunned, "Applejack... Thanks for the vote of not having me imprisoned or whatever, Pinkie Pie, keep doing what your doing." Pinkie Pie gave out a giggle and moved closer, stroking her soft furred hands through the man's hair lightly, making Paul sigh happily, before he continued. "And... I am sorry, the heck is your name? The chick with the stuck up tone of voice and what... Sounds like a yard pole stuck up her ass?" Rarity's jaw dropped at Paul's words, her eyes going wide as she gasped, while Rainbow Dash, over her initial shock, burst out laughing at the man's comment's, hovering in midair, her wings flapping as she did so. Applejack let a small smirk come through but restrained herself from laughing while both Fluttershy and Pinkie kept quiet, both knowing what was coming next... "How... How DARE you! I am Rarity Belle! Dress maker extraordinaire! And I can not stand such-such foul ruffians such as..." The white unicorn was silenced when Paul waved her on with a hand. "Yeah yeah... Rarity. got it. I can be well mannered, hell, I can be a proper gentleman I have been told by... A friend... I just choose to act like that for people... Or ponies now, that earn my respect, and making assumptions about someone you just met? Yeah, not the best way to be around new folks..." Rarity, and Spike from the looks of the slightly ticked off baby dragon, were both ready with some form of rebuttal for the man before the clearing of a throat from the kitchen doorway drew everyone's attention. All three princesses stood in the kitchen doorway, each having a neutral face as they stared at Paul. Paul gulped and gave a sheepish grin, "So... Tartarus or stone? I hear being a statue isn't so bad... Right?" He joked, his voice easily showing his nervousness. Twilight looked to both Luna, and then Celestia, each giving her a nod before the lavender princess turned back to Paul and spoke in a regal tone, "We have come to an agreement on a course of action..." Paul held his breath as he waited for the worst... Which never came as Twilight's normal tone returned as she spoke next, "Welcome to Ponyville Paul... We will set you up with a place to stay while we work on how to get you home." The man blinked and looked at all three princesses, all of which were smiling happily, with Twilight's smile being the brightest, as she moved to Paul and placed a soft hand on his shoulder. "You will stay with me hopefully and..." She was cut off when Paul pulled away from Twilight, a hard look in his eyes as he glared at her, shaking his head. "Hell no... I still haven't exactly forgiven you... And I don't know when I will, so until then, next place?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, turning to each of the girls, not expecting much of a response. Paul did find himself surprised when the yellow mare, who he remembered had been terrified of him when they first met had nervously raised her hand slightly, a small smile on her face that could be seen beneath her mane. "You can... Come stay with me, if that's ok with you of course..." She asked quietly, barely able to be heard, but Paul picked it up well enough. "Well... You haven't tried to beat me up, kidnap me, or knock me out with a book so... Sure, I will stay with you till I can get my own place in this town... But I swear if that bunny starts anything..." Paul growled, making the mares in the room raise their eyebrows in unison at the mention of a bunny. "Angel bunny? What ya'll talkin bout sugar cube? Everypony knows he is a sweet little thing..." Applejack drawled, with her words being met with multiple head nods... If only they all knew what was going to happen next... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5: A Disguise and a Party. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5: A Disguise and a Party. Paul was not feeling all that happy at the present moment... After the Mane 6 had agreed on him staying at Fluttershy's home, he was pulled aside by Princess Celestia and asked the one question he was dreading, and even though she asked in such a low and calm tone so only Paul could hear, he knew she would not let this one thing go... "The wereponies of this world were... Resistant to most forms of damage and could heal from all but the most devastating attacks, sometimes even healing wounds in seconds." The Princess of the sun's eyes narrowed as she whispered to Paul, "So you must understand, I will not hesitate to protect my little ponies. Now my question... In your world, is there anything that your kind have a weakness to? I ask you to be honest, as this could mean a matter of life or death later..." The man gave a defeated sigh and glanced over at the still chattering group of mares across the room, then to the Princess of the night, who was watching both him and her sister with a raised brow. Paul knew if he turned suddenly, be it from losing track of the lunar cycle or if he  lost his cool and let the chains holding the beast inside him grow too loose, many would get hurt... "Fine... So far you ponies have been nothing but rough and annoying, but I don't want to see any of you getting hurt. Ok... Basically, you have the right idea, if you do enough damage in a short amount of time, our bodies cannot recover fast enough, however, if you want to kill me quickly, then..." Paul flinched and sighed, leaning closer to Celestia as he did so, before whispering. "Silver... The merest touch of that metal makes my kind's skin burn, or if they are lucky, just leaves a rash." Celestia gave Paul a serious stare, looking for any sign of dishonesty in him. "What does an allergy to a precious metal have to do with..." Paul cut her off by waving a finger under her nose, catching her attention. "A werewolf cannot heal rapidly from a wound made by a silver weapon, and must instead rely on a longer heal time, similar to a regular person, or in this case, pony... And let me tell you, those kind of injuries leave a scar..." Celestia slowly nodded and stepped away, a warm smile on her face, "I see... I thank you for your honesty, now before my sister and I take our leave, is there anything we can do for you?" "Hmm, well..." Paul glanced down at his towel, the only thing hiding his modesty. "I  could do with some pants at the very least. Oh! And I need to know when you have full moon's here." Princess Luna, at the mention of the moon, made her way over and gave a quick nod to Paul, "You are lucky Paul Silvermane... Last night was the last full moon of this month, and will be so for another three weeks." Celestia smiled softly and giggled at the man's request, before shaking her head, "If what I have in mind will work, you will not be needing those pants..." She gave Paul a wink and made her way over to the mane 6, taking Twilight from the group and taking her aside to talk. Luna moved to stand beside Paul and gave him a small smile of her own as she looked him over, which made the guy slightly uneasy. "Um... I don't have anything on my face or someplace do I?" He asked nervously, not taking his gaze of the Lunar Princess for a second, soon locking eyes with her as she matched his gaze. "No... It is just interesting, how similar your people, these, 'humans' resemble pony kind... Except for fur, tails and hooves, your kind is very much the same as we are... Tell me Paul Silvermane... Do you have magic in your world?" Paul wasn't sure why Luna was asking him questions, as to him, he had already said the most important things, but it decided to humor the Princess of the night. "We do, but not nearly as much as our ancestor's had. Now, only a select few can actually do any kind of spells with magic, and most people do not even believe in it anymore..." He gave a shrug and was about to ask Luna why she wanted to know, when a loud, cheerful 'Squee' noise filled the room, causing all heads in the library turn towards an excited looking Twilight Sparkle, who was bouncing up and down on the spot, doing a good impression of Pinkie Pie by most accounts as she did so. Twilight quickly noticed the silence that had spread over the room and blushed heavily, her lavender furred cheeks going crimson as she gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry everypony... But Celestia said I could use a spell we have been working on for a long while to help P..." The young alicorn froze mid-sentence as she noticed the dark glare Paul was shooting her, his blue eyes locked on her, promising a cruel fate if Twilight finished her sentence. The purple princess flinched and hid behind Celestia as Paul let out a low growl. "Now now Paul... I can personally promise you that this spell will not hurt you... In fact, it will help you greatly in fitting in until we can find a way to send you home..." Celestia's voice was soothing, like a mother's who was trying to calm a child. She glanced behind her at Twilight, her former student and now fellow princess. "Twilight... I ask that you be slightly more careful about what you say around our new friend?" Twilight gave a small nod and then moved her gaze to Paul, who was still frowning, but he had at least dropped the death glare. Twilight took this chance to rush out from behind Celestia and headed down into the still trashed basement, leaving the remaining elements to watch with great curiosity as to what Twilight and Celestia may be planning... They were slightly disappointed when Twilight (Looking fairly annoyed at the state of her basement) returned with a simple amulet in her hand. "What's that for Twilight? Is it like a dog collar for fido here?" Rainbow Dash asked, shooting a smug smirk at Paul, who replied by flipping off the colorful maned mare. "No Rainbow... Its just a part of the experiment, the next part is the hard part..." Twilight said as she made her way back over to Celestia, who held a hand out to Twilight, letting her place the amulet in her open palm. Paul finally got a good look at said amulet as Twilight pulled her hand away... He groaned a little bit at the image imprinted onto the steel amulet. It showed the image of an owl in flight, with a background of a full moon. 'Real original Sparkle-ass...' Paul growled in his thoughts, not sure what this lavender pain in the ass and the all powerful Princess of the sun had planned. He ;looked at Luna and shrugged, which she replied to with a shrug of her own, showing she knew nothing of what was going to happen. All eyes eventually returned to Princess Celestia as she closed her hand around the amulet, and no sooner had she done so, a bright light began to beam through her fingers, making the entire room light up in a dazzling light show, Celestia's horn glowing like a beacon as she poured her magic into some sort of spell... As quickly as it had begun, the spell was complete and the light show died down, first the glowing of her hand, and then finally her horn loosing its glow. The Princess of the sun gave a soft sigh and smiled, opening her hand and showing the amulet once more... "Hold on a second, I don't see nothin' different about..." Applejack tried to say before Pinkie Pie rushed past her in a blur and was standing right infront of the hand Princess Celestia was holding the amulet in, eyeing the item like a puppy waiting for a treat. "Oooooo! Mr owl has turned into a wolfy!" The pink mare giggled and turned to Paul and pointed at him, a wide grin, "Just like you Pauly Wally!" Paul groaned loudly at the nickname, but made his way over to Celestia, just as every other mare in the room moved in to get a look at the change, and for whatever was about to happen. Paul nervously raised a hand and moved it shakily to Celestia's outstretched one, hovering over the amulet, doubt in his mind. "Do not be afraid... Take it, it is for you after all..." Celestia giggled and reached out with her free hand and took Paul's, turning it so his palm was flat and dropped the amulet into his hand carefully. "Now put it on and you will see why Twilight and I thought this might be for the best..." Paul, not really seeing any reason to distrust Celestia, even if he couldn't trust Twilight, shrugged and slowly took the metal chain of the amulet and slipped it over his neck, letting it settle in place over his bare chest. "Huh... I don't see what you..." Paul froze, his entire body locking up as his joints and muscles were suddenly assaulted by what felt like liquid fire, his mouth opened in a silent scream of agony as he fell forwards, landing on his hands and knee's as his body was wracked with pain. Fluttershy and Applejack tried to rush to his side but were stopped by a wall of magic, which was hastily set up by both Celestia and Luna, who had not even took their eyes off the man's agonized form... A low glow began to emit from the amulet as it hung towards the floor from Paul's neck, which slowly flashed once, twice and on the third flash, green flames, akin to those of a changling's flames, shot out from the amulet, along the chain holding it and covered over Paul's body from head to toe. "Princess... Is he going to be ok? We haven't really... Tested this kind of spell yet and..." Twilight began to ask, still stood beside Celestia, her eyes full of worry as she stared at the now blazing humanoid form in the center of her library. Celestia did not answer with words, instead, she placed her right hand on Twilight's shoulder and nodded, watching as finally, the green flames died out, leaving the once human-looking werewolf appearing... Different. "Ow! Fuck fuck ass balls bastard!" Were the first words to leave Paul's mouth as he finally found the breath to speak. his entire body shot thanks to the pain. "Oh god... Why do I feel... Fuzzy?!" He shot to his feet... And faceplanted onto the floorboards... "Wha..." Paul glanced down, not feeling his feet anymore, and saw why. Where his feet had once been, there were now hooves, his skin was covered in a thick coat of grey fur which covered his entire body from what he could tell as he sat up, but jumped slightly as he felt himself sit on something... He found that this 'something' was his tail... Which he flicked several times as he stared at it. "Ok... Two minutes until I lose it and start making everyponies day wo... No... I am even talking like you all?!" Paul grasped his head in his hands and groaned. "At least get me a bloody mirror so I can see how hideous I look...?" Paul glanced at the gathered mares, raising a brow as he did so, as all in attendance were staring at him, each with a different reaction. Applejack and Rainbow dash were both looking him over, as if appraising some kind of prize cattle, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were both slack jawed, their eyes roaming over Paul's new form and apparently enjoying what they were seeing and Fluttershy merely blushed and hid behind her mane, using her wings to hide her entire upper body and head from view. The three Princesses were more restrained with their reactions, with Luna and Celestia both smiling happily at his new appearance, while Twilight, still sporting a blush, gave a sheepish grin as she levitated a mirror over to Paul with her magic, letting him see himself... "Huh... Not as bad as I thought... I still prefer the hairless me..." Paul was still the same height, but his body was now that of a earth pony stallion, his entire form covered from mane to hoof in light grey fur, his tail and mane, both quite long for a stallion, were blond in color and he kept his blue eyes. He quickly noticed he was slightly more muscular then before, probably the whole 'stallion' thing he thought. Paul suddenly felt something else that was new to him... "What the fuck? Where's my dick?!" He shouted loudly as he dropped his towel, showing where his 'family jewel's' used to be was now replaced with a sheath, but that wasn't the only thing he noticed... As he was panicking, Paul noticed something on his ass, and when he snatched the mirror from Twilight's magical grip and used it to get a closer look, he found it was a cutie mark... The same image of a wolf's head on a full moon background that was on his amulet was imprinted on his rear. "Ok... I... I need a minute..." Paul said shakily, his body shaking slightly, "You... You turned me into a pony..." He pointed at Celestia and Twilight, his left eye twitching slightly as he did so. "Yes... But the spell will only last for as long as you wear that amulet..." Celestia spoke slowly, moving towards Paul, her eyes on his as she continued speaking. "... And I must warn you, if you try and take it off, you will feel the same pain as when you put it on... Now, I am sure the Element of Harmony have something they need to get done..." Princess Celestia gave Pinkie Pie a wink, which the pink party mare picked up on immediately, and in the blink of an eye Pinkie had whizzed around the main room of the Library and grabbed each of her friend's, before dragging them all out of the door, leaving a very confused looking stallion, two amused alicorn princesses and one tired looking dragon, who just gave a huff and stomped up the stairs to his and Twilight's room and slammed the door. "Sooooo... Why am I a stallion?" Paul asked casually after a few moments of silence. "I think my sister and Princess Sparkle are thinking this way you will not have as much hassle as you would if you were in your 'natural form'." Princess Luna said as she slowly walked around Paul, her eyes gazing over him in a similar way to how Applejack and Rainbow Dash had done, "Although, I must say that your choice of form is quite... Interesting..." Princess Celestia cleared her throat loudly and moved between both Paul and Luna, a smile on her lips as she hooked her arm through both her sister's left arm and Paul's right arm, linking them together. "I think Pinkie Pie and her friends will have had enough time by now..." Celestia looked down at Paul and gave him a playful wink, before her horn began to glow and in a bright flash, the library was empty once more. A similar flash of light appeared outside Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville's most well known bakery, where three individuals now stood... Well, two of them stood, while the third was busy vomiting into a nearby bush. "Guh... What the fuck..." Paul grumbled, wiping his mouth clean with the back of his right hand as he looked over at an amused looking Luna and a concerned Celestia, the latter of which was stood over him, gently rubbing his back with her left hand slowly. "I am sorry Paul... I was unaware how badly you would react to 'winking' with magic, are you ok now?" "Yeah... Just please warn me next time, the next surprise I get may well just kill me at this rate..." Paul noticed Celestia look slightly nervous as she steps back, moving to stand next to her sister. "Head on inside my little pony... Oh! I am sorry, force of habit... But still, go on inside and get something to eat, my sister and I have to return to Canterlot, lest our nephew or some of the nobles try a power play or something equally silly in our absence..." "Indeed... Not that I wouldn't mind an excuse to banish a few choice ponies..." Luna mumbled under her breath just before both Princesses winked out of sight in a flash of light. Paul sighed and glanced around where he was, easily noticing the gingerbread house style bakery behind him, a town square across from  said building, with a large, fancy looking fountain in the center of it. Houses and miscellaneous shops lined the street either side of him, splitting of in parts into side streets or alleyways. "Hmm, I am getting hungry... Hope they have chocolate here..." Paul pushed open the door to Sugarcube Corner and stepped inside... Darkness, and a lack of ponies, similar to outside. "Hang on... It can't be later then early afternoon, where is everypony...?" Paul got his answer when the lights were flicked on and what looked like most of the town jumped out, shouting "SURPRISE!" at the top of their voices. The new stallion of the hour reacted in the way anyone who was so highly stressed would react to such a thing... He clutched his chest as he felt a heart attack coming on... Seeming to ignore his apparent heart attack, Pinkie Pie bounced over to Paul, not paying attention as several ponies, both mare's and stallions were whispering to each other in worried tones at the very visible discomfort. "So, were you surprised?! Huh? huh? HUH?!" With each word Pinkie got closer to Paul, till her nose was pressed against his own, bopping it lightly as she finished talking. Paul finally felt his body recover, offering a small prayer of thanks for his curse's only real benefit, and sighed, finally speaking to the mare currently pressed up against him, destroying his personal space. "Pinkie... I like you... But I swear to all that's holy, you nearly scared me to death there... And your not paying attention are you?" Paul shook his head as Pinkie started rattling off about the party, pointing out where the food, games and other such things were in the room, before the party mare bounced off into a crowd of ponies and disappeared. "Hey fido... I gotta say, you remind me of a male Derpy Hooves... But a stallion, and a earth pony... And your eye's aren't..." As Rainbow Dash, who had approached Paul from behind began to speak, the door to the bakery burst open, and a very out of breath pegasus mare stood in the doorway, a mail bag slung over one shoulder. Paul stared at the newcomer for a few moments, knowing without a doubt that this was 'Derpy Hooves', who he shared his fur and mane color's with, but what made him stare was her eyes, golden in color, with her right eye seeming normal, but her left eye was looking off in another direction. "Dude, not cool! Staring is rude!" Rainbow Dash elbowed Paul in the ribs, making him grunt and rub his side. "Sorry I'm late Rainbow Dash, but I got lost on my mail route through the Everfree... I always seem to get lost looking for that nice Zebra's house..." Paul felt heat rise in his cheek's as he listened to Derpy and noticed her warm, cheerful smile. "UM... Hello there, miss Hooves was it?" Paul walked up to her, ignoring Rainbow Dash entirely, earning him a glare he could feel burning into the back of his head... But he shrugged it off and smiled warmly at Derpy, who matched his smile with her own, holding out her hand to him, which he took happily, shaking her hand. "Yep! Derpy Hooves at your service! Whats your name?" The grey mare tilted her head to the side and looked over the stallion before her, noticing that he was actually keeping eye contact with her as best as he could, this act alone letting her know he was a polite sort of colt at least. "My name... Um..." Paul realized that  most 'normal' ponies had odd sounding names, or names that worked well with whatever their butt mark's looked like. "My name is... Silver Mane, and I am new in Ponyville... It's a pleasure to meet you Derpy." Paul pulled the mare's hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it, "I hope to see you around." He gave the mailmare a wink and quickly retreated to a quieter corner of the bakery and tried to get his mind strait. "Ok... I just hit on a pony... What the fuck, I don't even..." He groaned and covered his face with his hands, not liking how this place was getting to him. "Not one day here and already I am flirting, acting out of character..." Paul would of happily continued with his crazy sounding conversation with himself, but a small tap on his left arm made him look down, noticing a young unicorn filly stood next to him, looking up at Paul with a happy grin. "Thank you for making my mommy smile Mister Silver... Please make her smile again sometime." With that the young filly rushed off back into the mass of ponies that were still idling around, chatting, partying and genrally having fun, and disappearing. 'Huh... So Derpy's a mother, so she's a Milf? Wait... Or is it a Pilf? Oh god why am I even thinking this?! Damn, I hope Pinkie has alcohol at this thing...' Paul thought to himself as he stalked towards the buffet table, a look of determination on his face... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6: After Party Problems //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6: After Party Problems The party went on for a couple of hours, the first half of which, the 'stallion' of honor had done little but drink and keep to himself, staying near the refreshment table that had been set up in front of the store counter. Any pony watching could tell that, even as he was getting drunk, the pony known to all now as Silver Mane was in deep thought, a blank look in his eyes as he stared off into space. "Whatcha' thinking about Silvy?" An energetic voice broke Paul from his thoughts, making him flinch slightly, the paper cup in his left hand crumpling as he closed his hand tightly around it. Pinkie giggled as she watched Paul's reaction, tilting her head to the side, her poofy pink mane bouncing with the slightest movement. "Pinkie... Christ, I have already had to heal through one heart attack tonight, please don't give me another..." He sighed and turned his gaze from the pink mare beside him and cast his sight over the room. "It's a good party though Pinkie... I just don't get out to many where I come from, and thanks to a few things that are on my mind, I don't think I can enjoy it." Paul froze in place as he heard a sorrowful sniffling from his side, and as he turned, he found Pinkie Pie, who up to this point in his eyes, was the last pony he expected to the kind to break down on a dime... But there she was, her once poofy mane and tail having gone flat and her fur taking on a more depressing shade of pink, her eyes filled with tears all the while.... "You... You don't like my party?" The saddened pink mare whimpered, her big, baby blue eyes staring up into Paul's as she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "NO! I mean, yes! I mean... Gah! I like your party ok? I just don't like being like this... Pretending to be..." Paul glanced down at his grey furred body, his face scrunching up in disgust, "This! I was born the way I was for a reason... And the fact two princesses want me to be like this to calm down everypony has just put me in a bad mood..." He placed his hands gently on Pinkie Pie's shoulders and gave her the warmest smile he could manage. "I would never try to make you cry... Not one so bea..." Paul stopped, his eyes going wide for a second before he stepped away from Pinkie looking concerned, while Pinkie just started getting the color back into her coat, her mane and tail following suit, growing back to its normal wild style. "One so what Silvy?" Pinkie asked in a curious tone, her eyes now barren of tears as she eyed him up. "No... No no NO!" Paul yelled out loudly, causing every head in the room to turn on him, every gaze was filled with something different, some were filled with concern and worry, while other were filled with confusion and annoyance. He didn't notice though, as Paul grasped his head and fell to his knee's... "The words... The thoughts... These are not mine!" While the male was on his knee's, lost to the world as he tried to set his mind in order, Pinkie rushed off to find Twilight, which didn't take long, as the lavender alicorn was already making her way over to Paul through the crowd of ponies that had formed around the 'stallion'. "Twilight! Somethings wrong with Silver Mane! We were just talking and suddenly he started to sound different, like another pony all together, kinda like I was when I had my breakdown! Ooo! Or like you when you go off the deep end once a week!" Twilight frowned at Pinkie's words, but the part about Paul worried her, and from how the crowd of ponies around the party were looking, this could cause a few problems. "I think the spell might be affecting Pa... I mean... Silver's mind, placing stallion habits in where his normal mannerism's should be... Pinkie... Tell me the truth, what did he actually say to you?" "Well... He was standing around, all grumpy looking, and no one should be grumpy at a Pinkie Pie party! So I asked him if he liked my party and at first he said he wasn't having fun..." Twilight nodded at Pinkie's words, knowing how sad the party mare could get if she felt she wasn't making everypony around her happy... Pinkie smiled though and continued her tale, even as Paul could be heard off to the side, groaning, his head resting against the tiled floor. "So I got really sad, but then I was happy again when Pauly Wally told me he really did like his party, then he placed his hands on my shoulders and was about to compliment me, when suddenly a plot development struck and now he is like this!" Twilight Sparkle, Princess of friendship, bearer of the element of magic and former student to Princess Celestia, found herself simply sighing, covering her face with her palm, before asking in a pained tone. "Pinkie... When will you ever be serious..." Both Pinkie Pie and Twilight were broke out of their conversation when a loud thud sounded through the room, easily heard as the party music had stopped the second Paul had began having his episode. The sound had come from the pained looking stallion, who had begun smashing his head against the tiled floor, once... Twice... Three times, a thin trickle of blood running from a cut on his forehead. "No..." Paul groaned out in pain, his left hand slowly reaching for the amulet, but was stopped when a pink aura which he recognized as Twilight's magical aura surrounded his hand, stopping it. Twilight rushed to his side, while Pinkie went to find the others in the crowd of party goers. Twilight glanced all around her as she placed a hand on Paul's right shoulder,  before leaning in to whisper into his right ear. "Paul, no... If everypony sees you like you really are..." Twilight was cut off by a low growl emitting from Paul's shaking form, before a venom laced voice could be heard, speaking loud enough for all to hear. "Either let me take th-this fucking amulet off... Or I let go of the chains... I let the beast out, right here, right now... Your choice 'Princess' Sparkle ass..." He slowly raised his head so he could glare at Twilight, the cut on his forehead already healed over, but the fur on his face was still slick with the blood. Twilight Sparkle sighed, not liking either option at all, as on the one hand, she would have to quell the panic that revealing the stallion that all the town ponies had just met, and more then a few that had been ogling for the last two hours, was actually a creature from another dimension... Or she would have to deal with a very angry werepony going on a rampage in a confined space with so many innocent lives at risk... "Fine... But at least let me get every pony away before you take off the amulet..." "No... If they are gonna see me... They are gonna see me now!" Paul pushed back, sitting on his knee's as he straitened out, moving his free hand to the amulet around his neck and tugging the item up and over his head. No sooner had the amulet left his neck, then did Paul's body once more seize up as the unearthly pain coursed through his body, making him yelled out in pure agony before the green flames encased his body once more. "Changeling!" One mare screamed from the crowd, which was all it took for several other ponies to take up the shout, some already going for the door, but found it blocked by two ponies they didn't expect... Both Rainbow Dash, the local weather team leader, and Applejack, the hard working and honest apple farmer. "Calm ya' britches ya'll,  and just watch..." Applejack said, her hat tipped back as she watched the flames that were still covering the former stallion. "Yeah, chill out! Panicking like this is SO not cool..." Rainbow Dash added, her eyes also on the flaming figure, a small smirk forming on her lips at the anticipation of what would happen next... Sure enough, no sooner had the element of honesty and the element of loyalty finished their words, the flames encasing Paul's form died down, showing a normal looking Paul, his form back to his human one. He panted heavily as the pain began to drain from him, his skin dripping with sweat as he fell forwards once more onto his hands and knee's as he struggled to catch his breath. "Fucking... Magic..." He mumbled angrily before slowly bringing his head up to look at the crowd. "What? Never... Seen a human before?" Paul's sarcasm was lost on the room as a deathly silence descended on the room, which lasted several long moments, till the sound of some pony pushing their way through the stunned bodies of the onlooking townsfolk. Soon a mint green colored unicorn mare pushed her way to the front of the other party goers, her mane and tail a shade of cyan with a white streak running through it, and after a few seconds to catch her breath, her eyes shot up, a huge grin on her face which could rival Pinkie Pie's... Paul felt something at the back of his mind wake up, urging him to run, but in a flash the 5'6" tall mare tackle hugged him to the tiled floor, earning gasps from the crowd and a worried glance from the mane 6, but the reaction that took the cake was Paul's, who found himself with his head pressed between the mare's breasts. "Mgh?!" Paul managed to say, his still recovering muscles not helping him as he weakly flailed his arms about in confusion, but this just made the unicorn, Lyra Heartstrings smile and giggle giddily, her eyes squeezed shut as she cuddled the man close against her, not seeming to mind the feel of his sweat on her fur. "Finally! A real, live and MALE human! Thank Celestia!" Paul, not in much of a position to argue, finally tapped the mare's shoulder after a minute, noticing he was not being rescued by the crazy pony anytime soon. Lyra blinked and pulled Paul's head out from between her breasts, and looked down at him with the same mad grin she had when she tackled him. "Yes my human?" She asked in a sultry tone, her eyes going half lidded as she batted them at Paul. Not happy with the situation at all, Paul gave the mare a deadpan stare and growled, flashing his teeth at her. "First... Get the fuck off me fruit cake, second, Who the hell are you? And finally... Someone say something already?!" Paul cast his glare over the room, noticing all of the ponies in the room were still silent, except for the crazy mare who even as he was looking around was roaming her hands along his chest. "So smooth... Oh?! I forgot, my names Lyra Heartstrings! And I am the leading human expert in all of Equestria!" "You mean the 'only' human expert in all of Equestria... Everypony knows humans aren't real... Well..." A random stallion said, before casting his eyes fearfully over Paul. Paul rolled his eyes, his mind slowly clearing as the pain fled his body fully, leaving him back to feeling normal. "Great... First I get turned into a pony, then have to put up with going gaga over every mare I saw while in that form... And now I have miss 'human-fetish' trying to molest me..." Paul looked thoughtful for a moment, before turning his eyes downwards and looking at his now exposed private area, then up at the mint green mare cuddling him, finding that she too was staring at his junk, a hungry look in her eye. "Ok, my eyes are up here! Now... Someone, or somepony, I don't give a crap, go get me some pants stat, before I end up being raped..." His eyes turned to Lyra and stared at her, a look of great dislike filling his gaze as her eyes locked on his. Lyra was about to speak again when a grey furred hand landed on her right shoulder, making the unicorn shoot a glare up at the pony who would dare interrupt her first contact with a real human. Derpy Hooves gave a glare in return as she looked down at Lyra, her mismatched eyes for the most part trained on her. "Leave him alone Lyra, can't you tell he isn't happy about you grabbing him?" Derpy said calmly, before turning her gaze to Paul, who matched her gaze, a small smile on his lips as he mouthed a 'thank you' to her silently. Derpy blushed slightly when he didn't avert his eye's from her own. Derpy's gaze shot back to the unicorn though when she gave a snort. "What would you know about Humans?! Or any males for that matter? Heck, you couldn't keep your own stallion..." Derpy recoiled as though struck, tears forming at the corner's of her beautiful wall eyes. Lyra gave a triumphant smirk when the pegasus didn't say anything in response, before turning back to the human... And found his right hand wrapped firmly around her neck. Lyra gasped and shot her hands to Paul's hand, trying to pry it off, but found a grip of iron holding onto her throat, and as he began to stand, Paul dragged Lyra up with him, before holding her up once he was on his feet, pure, animalistic rage in his now feral looking blue eyes. "You... Dare?! No one... Be they pony, human or fucking demons for all I care, makes fun of those I deem as my friends... And of all the ponies I have met since I woke up in that shitty forest..." Paul turned his gaze to Derpy, who was staring at him and the still struggling Lyra, who had tears of her own running down her cheeks. "Derpy is in my top three ponies, and I will be damned by your princesses long before I let some fetish freak insult her like that!" Paul flinched slightly as he felt something tight squeeze his heart, making him gasp as he felt his body shake. He turned his gaze to see Twilight, her horn ablaze and a hand outstretched, doing a squeezing motion. "Let. Her. Go..." Was all she said, a cold look in her eyes that matched the iciness of her voice Paul groaned and let Lyra down to her feet, before pushing her away, into the arms of another mare who had been watching the scene in pure terror like the rest of the populace, who quickly pulled Lyra heartstrings behind the other ponies of the crowd, so only the sounds of the mint green unicorn's hacking cough could be heard as she struggled to breath again. Paul felt the pressure on his heart release, letting him function once more. He glared at Twilight, but before he could say anything to her, Derpy slowly made her way over to him, a look of fear still in her gaze, but she had a determined look on her face as she stood infront of Paul. "Thank you... I-I don't have many friends, and most ponies don't stand up for me like that..." She blinked and quickly added, "Not that what you did was good... But... Thank you for sticking up for me... Friend?" Paul raised an eyebrow and looked over to Twilight, who was busy with all her friends, except for Rarity from what Paul could tell, trying to calm the crowd down. He sighed and gave Derpy a soft smile, winking at her. "Hey... Of course we are friends... I wouldn't of said that if I didn't mean it, oh, and the name's Paul... Or you can just call me Silver if you feel more comfortable with a less odd sounding name?" Derpy blushed and nodded, her wings fluttering slightly as she leaned up and kissed Paul on his cheek, before smiling sheepishly, to which he responded by smiling happily a blush of his own building on his cheeks. "Thank you Paul... I hope you get to stay here..." She glanced over to see an older looking mare arguing with Twilight, making Derpy groan, "Oh no... Mayor Mare seems angry..." Paul cut off all conversation in the room as he burst out laughing, the first one he had really enjoyed since he had arrived. "Oh fuck me... Mayor... mare?! Dear god! What is it with you ponies and names..." He wiped a tear from his left eye with his left index finger, "Oh, I feel MUCH better... Now... Pants?!" As soon as Paul had shouted, a pair of make shift shorts were levitated over to him in a light blue aura, followed by a disgruntled looking Rarity, who had her hands on her hips as she watched Paul slip the shorts on, hiding his modesty once more. "I hope you are happy Paul Silvermane?! Making a fashion designer extraordinaire like myself create such a... 'thing' like those..." Rarity made sure to show her disgust of the shorts in the word 'thing', by letting enough venom drip from her words that would make a king cobra jealous. "Well sorry Diamond butt... But I didn't specify that some pants should be made, just get me something... Not create them from... Um, what did you make these from?" Rarity's cheek's were ablaze as her mouth opened and closed a few times before a frown covered her face, "Hooooooooow dare you! My name is Rarity! Not-not 'Diamond rear'! And if you must know, I had to take down some of the Cake's curtains..." Paul shrugged and turned back to Derpy and nodded, "I'm going to slip out for awhile... Would you mind telling Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy I will be hanging out near the forest next to Fluttershy's cottage?" "Um... I am not sure leaving right now would be such a good plan Paul..." Derpy said cautiously, but found herself nodding with a sigh of defeat after looking at his smile, "Ok... I will tell them, but why not tell Princess Twilight?" Paul grinned slyly and made his way to the door, looking over his shoulder at the mess of ponies trying to get words in at the argument going on between the mane 6 and the mayor, then back to Derpy. "Two reasons, I am an asshole, and she is a magically inclined bitch..." He chuckled and exited through the front door of Sugar Cube corner and made his way through the silent street's of Ponyville, heading down the path towards the Everfree forest, stopping only once when he got to sweet apple acres, looking over to see the sun slowly setting, and at the same time the moon beginning to rise... Paul let out a sigh of relief as he noticed it wasn't full. "Right... Time to get a nap in before the shitstorm that is Sparkle butt and party descend on me like a brick house on a wicked witch..." He got to the border of the dark, foreboding forest and looked up at the tree nearest to him and, once trusting it would hold his weight, he climbed up to a low hanging branch and relaxed on it, resting his back against the tree trunk and closing his eyes, letting sleep slowly take him... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7: A lynch mob and a manticore... What else could go wrong? //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7: A lynch mob and a manticore... What else could go wrong? Paul opened his eyes slowly, giving a groggy groan as he did so, finding himself not in the tree he had fallen asleep in, but instead in a beautiful meadow, the air was still, and not a sound rang out over the moonlit scene. He gave a small smile as he sat up from the position he had woken up in, lying flat on his back, before getting to his feet and having a good stretch. "Mmm this place never changes at least... Now I can think in peace." Paul blinked as he noticed the world around him flicker slightly, the night sky flickering like it was made of liquid, before a small tear began to form, and none other then the princess of the night, Luna, floated down to the ground, landing on her hooves without a sound. "Aw for fu... Come on! Not even my dreams are safe?! What is it with you ponies and privacy, and by that I mean your total lack of consideration for it?!" Paul growled, the scenery around the man shifting to match his emotions, with the peaceful field replaced with a dark, overgrown wood, rotten and creepy looking tree's surrounding both the princess and Paul on all sides. Princess Luna raised an eyebrow at Paul's words, and gaze a bored look around as his dream changed. "You speak very casually for being in the presence of a Princess... And for one in such trouble as you are, I would be mindful of my tongue..." Luna's tone was low, her eyes locked on Paul's as the irritated man stared down the intruder. "Well let me answer that with some wise words from my world..." Paul smiled softly and bowed, earning a smile from Princess Luna, which she quickly dropped for a shocked expression at his next words. "Woopity-fucking-do... You are the one invading my head, so I will say what I like. Speaking of, how the frig did you get in here? Are you some kind of... Super princess therapist?" Luna sighed and face palmed, as the last time she had to deal with a being that had such an annoying attitude was when Discord, the god of chaos and disharmony had been up to his evil ways. The princess of the moon huffed and went to open her mouth to retort, when she was forced into a coughing fit as a cloud of smoke exploded out of the ground beneath her hooves. "What twickery is this?!" Luna demanded as the smoke began to clear, but found to her horror that see couldn't use the royal Canterlot voice, and her voice was much squeakier and young sounding. "D'aww... You look so frikkin cute!" Paul had a huge grin on his face as he stood over Luna, looking down at her, his arms folded as he did so. "How... How are you so big?! No..." Luna looked up at Paul before glancing down at herself, finding herself in her foal form, which Celestia had once dubbed as 'Princess Woona'. "Well, this is my head... And I decided you... You..." Paul couldn't continue as he stared down at little 'Woona', her eyes glistening at the corners, giving him the sad puppy dog eyes and to top it all off... She was pouting. There was only so much cuteness a man could take. "Fuck! Fine! I'm sorry!" He shouted, and with that he closed his eyes tightly and a few seconds later, Luna was back in her usual form, looking slightly less cute and very ticked off. "Never, ever, do that to me again..." She waved her left index finger under his nose in a threatening manner, earning a gulp and a fearful nod from Paul. "Good... Now, before you decided to interrupt me... I wish to discuss a few things with you, without my sister or Princess Sparkle listening in." Paul raised an eyebrow, and nodded, closing his eyes once more, his face scrunching up alittle as he whispered under his breath. "Calm, peaceful, relaxing..." Luna rolled her eyes and closed her eyes also, and as her horn began to glow she waved her hand, the scenery around them returning back to the calm, rolling fields, the moonlight and stars shining down on the pair. Paul opened one eye and looked around, before turning his gaze to Luna and frowning. "Show off..." "I am a mistress of both the night and dreams... I do not 'show off', I merely do..." Princess Luna waved her hand once more, a black, steel table and two chairs appeared beside the pair. Luna took one seat on the left side of the table, while Paul slowly took his own seat. "So... Interrogation? If so, I must warn you... I will probably break after the first five minutes, so lets save each other the mind fuckary that would probably take place... What do you wish to know?" Princess Luna looked genuinely hurt by his comment, her eyes locking on his own as she sighed sadly. "We would not... I mean... I would never do such a thing..." Paul groaned as he heard her words, and a simple glance at her body language was enough to show how much he had fucked up. "Aw crap... Listen, Princess Luna, I am a sarcastic kind of guy... And since being brought here (Against my will mind...), I have been going into overtime to compensate for getting 'really' angry." Paul smiled lightly and got up from his seat and moved behind Luna's chair, slipping his hands onto her shoulders gently before she could resist, gently squeezing them, his gaze staring down at her as she tilted her head up to look at him, her wings twitching as her body tensed at the contact. "So far your one of the few ponies that hasn't tried to beat me up, experiment on me or try and molest me... So your cool by me, and lets be honest..." Paul looked left and right in an over the top fashion, earning a small giggle from Luna, before leaning down, getting close to the alicorn of the night, making her cheeks blaze with heat as he whispered to her. "Between you and me... I much prefer the night, well... Except for when its a full moon, in which case my furry side kinda comes out and enjoys it instead." He smirked and pulled back, his eyes softening, "Also, your much better looking then your sister... And less likely to smash me into things..." Paul and Luna shared a laugh, both smiling happily, enjoying the moment of peace. The moment did not last sadly, as the dream scape around them both began to fall apart, fading into darkness, making Paul sigh. "Great... What the hell is waking me up now? A lynch mob or Twilight and friends... I am kinda hoping for the mob..." He mumbled the last part, earning an eye roll from the princess of the night, even though a soft smile graced her lips. "So... I must ask before you awaken... May I return to you once sleep takes you once more Silvermane? I will understand if you decline..." Paul chuckled and rolled his eyes, giving Luna a shrug, "Sure... Just knock next time, so until later..." They both gave each other a simple wave before everything faded to black for Paul. The man shot upright with a start, the sound of angry shouts and hastily approaching hoof fall's made him turn his sight towards Ponyville. "Holy crap, lynch mob was right... Wait, are those... The fuck?! Pitch forks and torches?!" Paul wasn't exactly sure how to take the sight he could see from his perch on the branch, as what looked like the entire populace of the town was heading towards his position, almost all having that look that screamed 'someone's gonna get fucked up'. He considered running, but stopped as he noticed the six mares walking at the front of the huge crowd. "Huh... Either I have a way out of this, or Twinkle Sparksicle has lost her marbles and started a 'Kill the human' cult..." Paul chuckled at his 'witty' quip, before getting back into a relaxed pose on the branch, laying on his side and resting his hand on the side of his face, giving his best 'paint me...' look, while truthfully the human was terrified, knowing he could probably heal up most of what they would do to him, but he knew it was going to hurt... A lot... "Hey Sprinkles, whats up? You seem to have quite the parade behind you, whats the occasion? Ooo! Is it another party, I think we should have another..." Paul found himself silenced as a  purple clamp was locked onto his face over his mouth, silencing him, making his eyes go wide. 'No! My wit! My humor! I can survive with my looks alone but still!' Paul raged inside his own thoughts, all the while Twilight Sparkle looked like she was having a mental breakdown, her mane frazzled and messy, her left eye was continuously twitching and she had a look of pure murder in her eyes. "You... Shut up!" She spun around, pointing a finger at the amassed mob, who all were struck silent by the mere sight of the crazed mare, each citizen knowing how the princess got when she lost it... "The rest of you, I am now going to deliver the punishment deemed fit, decided by both myself, Mayor mare and myself!" The rest of the mane 6 stared at Twilight, not having seen her this far gone for a long while, each unsure what to say or do as an awkward silence descended on the amassed group, the only sound to be heard was the wind blowing softly, rustling leaves on the nearby trees, accompanied by the sounds of several birds and a single, hyper-active cricket, who chirped away noisily. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, both not really sure what to do, made their way over to the tree where Paul was sat, his legs dangling as he pulled frantically at the clamp over his mouth, a humorous look of panic on his face as he did so. Pinkie giggled and climbed up the tree and settled next to him, swinging her legs back and forth as she watched Twilight, who had seemed to be starting to calm down ever so slightly... Until... "Twilight... Darling... You said 'myself' twice..." Rarity chose this moment to pipe up, earning several groans from the mob and one from both Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the latter hiding her face as she tipped her hat down over it. "No I didn't! I'm not crazy, you're crazy!" Twilight pointed at the spot next to Rarity, earning a raised brow from the posh white unicorn. "Princess Twilight... I thought you and your friends said the punishment would only happen if he refused to accept the alternative? That IS what you argued with me for over an hour for..." Mayor Mare dropped in swiftly to the conversation, before the lavender alicorn did something that might cause problems later... Rainbow Dash took the chance that was presented by the Mayor speaking to Twilight and flew up to a nearby cloud, tugging it down next to Applejack near the ground and sat down on it like a beanbag. "This gonna be good..." The rainbow maned mare smirked as she watched, not seeing Applejack roll her eyes as she tipped the brim of her hat back, so she could watch as Twilight was taking deep, and hopefully calming, breaths, before she sighed and looked over to where Paul was sat, a frown as she noticed Pinkie Pie and now Fluttershy were sat on either side of Paul on the branch, both trading looks at him, before returning their looks to Twilight. "Girls... Get down here, this is seri..." A loud snap and two yelps of surprise, along with a muffled yelp rang out. The branch holding the three had finally given out, dropping them all onto the ground, with both mares somehow landing on top of the poor human. Pinkie Pie recovered first, giggling like a school filly, bouncing up and down on Paul's chest where she sat. "Wooo! That was fun, again again!" Fluttershy was next to respond, quickly hopping off Paul's stomach and kneeling beside his head, "Oh my... Are you ok Paul?" She asked timidly. Paul's eyes were comically spinning around for a few seconds before he shook his head rapidly, clearing his thoughts before nodding, but shooting a glare at Pinkie that more or less said 'get off me', which she completely ignored until she was lifted off him and held off the ground by a purple aura that covered her body. Rainbow Dash was laughing her flank off from her seat, rolling around on the fluffy cloud with tears in her eyes, while Applejack moved over to Fluttershy, taking her by the arm gently and leading her over to where the other elements were standing behind Twilight, with the still miffed looking towns folk in the background. "Paul Silvermane... You have assaulted one of the citizen's of Ponyville, and while you did it in defense of somepony, it is still a crime... Luckily for you, Lyra has decided to not press charges against you..." Paul seemed to perk up, and even though his mouth was fully covered by the purple, glowing clamp, every pony could tell he was smirking. The sight of his smug look made Twilight frown as she raised her left hand, a newspaper appearing in her magical aura with a flash, making Paul raise an eyebrow. 'She wouldn't...' *Thwack!* Twilight Sparkle slapped Paul upside the head with the rolled up newspaper and pointed it at him afterwards, "Nothing smart to say Paul?" Twilight asked with a smug smirk, but gasped as Paul gave her the middle finger, which earned the poor guy another smack across the back of his head by the newspaper. "Um... Sugar cube... As much as I reckon' most ponies here are likin' you smackin' our friend around like a bad critter... You were sayin'...?" Applejack, ever the voice of reason, twirled her hand in a circular motion, signalling the young princess to move it along. "oh... Sorry..." Twilight gave a sheepish smile as she looked at Applejack, before turning to Paul once more and clearing her throat. "Lyra will drop the charges if... You apologize...  And give her a hug. If you refuse, then I will give you two choices... Banishment from Ponyville... or Foalsitting the Cutie-Mark Crusaders for a week..." Paul raised an eyebrow and gave Twilight a deadpan look. 'Really... First a fucking newspaper and now terms like that?! And why the hell did the crowd only look worried when they mentioned babysitting some kids? Hell, I know what I am picking...' Paul's inner monologue rolled off as he sighed, tapping the clamp around his mouth and nodding to Twilight, who let her horn's glow die down, causing the clamp to vanish. "Ah god... That's better... Now... BITCH! Who the fuck uses a newspaper to hit someone Twinkle brains?!" "My name is TWILIGHT SPARKLE you hairless ape!" "Yeah?! Well, this ape is gonna break his foot off in your royal ass!" Paul froze when he heard a loud snapping of twigs behind him and the rustles of a bush, followed by a low growl... Paul's eyes stayed staring dead ahead, noticing every pony present had their eyes wide with fear, a few were even slowly backing away. "Fluttershy..." Paul croaked out nervously, a very forced smile on his lips as sweat dripped down his forehead, "What exactly is behind me... And please tell me it is a magical teddy bear that dispenses hugs and happy thoughts... Please!" Fluttershy for her part, gave a small whimper as she moved to stand behind Applejack, along with most of her friends. "Um... It's a-a Manticore... Sorry..." The last word was barely a whisper as her wide, fear filled eyes were hidden behind her mane. "Well..." Paul slowly turned around and promptly restrained himself from pissing his makeshift shorts, as the sight of the huge lion with the wings of a bat and a tail of a scorpion loomed over him, its eyes glaring at the man before it. "Um... nice kitty?" The next thing he knew, Paul was flying through the air, blood jetting from the deep claw marks scrapped over his chest, the Manticore's swipe sending him all the way back to land infront of a very scared looking group of mares... The last thing Paul heard before he blacked out was the screams of panic and the stampeding thuds of dozens of hooves as their owners tried to run from the beast... In a room of pure white, that seemed to stretch on forever, lay a young man, wearing nothing but a pair of makeshift shorts and suffering from a case of mauling. "Awaken my son... It is time we spoke..." Paul groaned as the booming, yet gentle sounding voice roused him from the pain induced unconsciousness, who sat up slowly and clutched at his chest, seeing that the claw marks were still there, four deep gashes that ran from his right shoulder down to his left hip. "Aw fuck... Thats gonna be a bitch to heal..." "If you heal at all my son..." The voice boomed again, making Paul look up at... "Holy crap... Are you... God? Am I-Wait... Am I DEAD?!" Paul began to panic, he had never really expected to die, and not so young. His eyes darted from the glowing white light that he had seen floating above him and looked around the expanses of the white room. "No... No! I am to manly to die! Take Twilight instead, she deserves it more!" The voice slowly formed into a shape, one that Paul had never thought he would ever see again once he was taken to Equestria... There before him, floated a flying spaghetti monster, with a pair of googly eyes staring down at him. "No my son... You are not dead... And I am not god... I am just a figment of your messed up mind as it tries to cope with making sure you don't have to turn in your 'life card'..." Paul blinked and stayed silent for a few moments, before tilting his head. "Ok... Not dead but dying... Better then nothing... And... Really? I see god in my mind as a spaghetti monster? Man I am weird..." "You have no idea my son... Some of the things I have seen while in your mind..." The creature's spaghetti body and tentacles visibly shuddered. "So... me being a messed up ass hat aside... What now? I chill here till my healing is done? Cos I am down for that... Saves me having to deal with those damn ponies..." Paul then heard something... A distant scream of fear, a familiar voice trying to reassure another... "Fluttershy?!" Paul blinked and looked around, the 'god' hovering over to his side as the man frantically looked around. "It seems you care for a few of these 'ponies' a lot more then you let on, my son." Back in the waking world, the mane 6 had their hands full... Rainbow Dash was flying around the Manticore's head, irritating it and keeping its attention as Applejack was struggling with a lasso rope in both hands, the loop fastened around the beasts neck, but the creatures constant thrashing, trying to hit Rainbow Dash was causing the cow pony's muscles to strain as she tried to hold on. Twilight was doing her best with both Rarity and Pinkie Pie to herd the town resident's back towards their homes, doing their best to calm down the infamously skittish ponies of Ponyville, and finding the task to be alot harder then they thought, as many ponies, both stallions, mares and foals crashed into each other, or ended up running in circles... "Damn... We need more help... Fluttershy?! What are you...!" Twilight's words died in her throat as she saw where Fluttershy was, knelt beside Paul, his head in her lap as the yellow colored pegasus looked down at his wounds on his chest worryingly, not sure if he would heal like he said he would... But all thoughts were cut off as a loud roar ringed through the night, as the Manticore batted Rainbow Dash out of the sky and into a nearby tree with great force, knocking the pony out instantly, before turning its attention to Applejack... With another swat of its left paw, Applejack joined Rainbow Dash in a pile on the floor, both mares unconscious... Seeing that the two irritating prey were out of the way, the large creature turned its attention to easier prey, namely the already injured creature and the cowering pony with him. Twilight's eyes went wide as she realized what was going to happened and began pushing her way through the still panicking ponies that were swarming around her, blocking not just her progress, but also Pinkie Pie's and Rarity's too... Twilight prepared a teleportation spell, but as she saw the Manticore pounce at both Paul and Fluttershy, she knew she wouldn't make it... Fluttershy Screamed as the monster landed before both her and her unconscious friend, holding Paul's head close to her, pulling his limp form close against her body as the beast's scorpion tail reared back and shot forward... Paul watched the scene, standing over both his body and Fluttershy's shaking form as time seemed to slow down, giving him a moment to look around, seeing the collapsed forms of both Applejack and Rainbow Dash by the treeline... Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity rushing to get to both him and Fluttershy... "No... Not like this... I wont let some over grown pussy cat fuck with my friends... Even if I have to make them hate me by letting them see what I truly am..." From behind him, Paul heard the sound of rattling chains and a harsh, feral growl, the owner of which was a dark shape coming into view out of the corner of his eye, stalking towards him, weighed down by the chains it bore... Paul smiled sadly and raised his arms up in submission. "I know this is gonna be a bad idea... But fuck it, what else could go wrong?" Fluttershy had slammed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her cheeks as she cradled her friends head close as she waited for the pain to come, but after several moments and nothing happening, Fluttershy opened one eye slowly to see what was going on and gasped... Inches from her face was the stinger at the end of the manticore's tail, while said beast was letting out growls and whimpers aplenty as Paul's left hand held the beasts tail firmly in his grasp. "Fluttershy... Listen carefully to me, while I can still think strait..." Paul's voice sounded out against Fluttershy's fur, making her look down into... Her eye's went wide as she saw his eyes, which instead of their blue color, had taken on a crimson color. "I... I need you and the girls to get to safety... Get every one... gah!" Paul let go of the manticore's tail in a flash, only to bring his right fist flying forward and punching the creature square in in the snout, which issued a loud, sickening snap before the force of the blow sent the beast flying backwards several feet. Paul pushed away from Fluttershy rapidly, crawling to his feet before letting out a pained cry as his muscles visably began to twist and change under his skin. "Go... NOW!" Paul's last word came in a mix of an agony riddled shout and a growl, his face beginning to contort and stretch, as tears burst open all over his skin, showing not blood or muscle underneath, but thick, fur the color of silver... His shouts of pain and rage slowly devolved into animal like growls and howls as his hands, now sporting long, grizzly looking claws, tore at the skin of his body, tearing it off in thick strips, tossing it aside onto the grass until all that stood where Paul once was, was a tall, silver furred wolf creature that stood on its hind legs, its crimson eyes glaring at the manticore that was watching in just as much confusion, and fear as the ponies that had bore witness to it... Twilight was the first to recover from the sight of Paul's grizzly transformation, rushing now passed the utterly stunned town ponies, who were either frozen in place, fleeing back to their homes in fright, or simply feinted in fear. She met up with Pinkie and Rarity, turning to her white unicorn friend first. "Rarity, get over to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, then wink back to the library, I will follow you with Pinkie and Fluttershy!" Rarity, not in any state to argue, gulped and nodded, rushing over to where her friends lay, away from the Mexican stand off between the two creatures... Once by her friend's sides, Rarity's horn lit up and in a flash, she was gone. Pinkie Pie stood watching Paul with wide eyes, her ears folded back and her tail and mane deflated, not liking the idea of leaving any of her friends behind, even if said friend had just turned into a strange wolf monster to fight another monster... "Twilight, we have to help Paul fight that Mean Manticore! He can't..." Pinkie felt her jaw drop nearly to the floor as 'Paul' rushed forward, using his now much more powerful looking back legs to push him forward faster, moving like a silver blur before smashing into the Manticore, wrapping both his arms around its neck, forcing the beast backwards and into the treeline as the momentum of the attack took them both off the ground and out of sight into the darkness of the Everfree forest. Twilight grabbed Pinkie by her arm and more or less dragged her friend to where Fluttershy was sat, eye's wide and staring at the forest, her entire body shaking, one word slipping from her lips as fresh tears poured from her eyes. "Two... Monsters..." Twilight sighed, not liking what they were going to have to talk about later thanks to this, but she shook her head and returned to the task at hand, placing a hand on each of her friend's shoulder, she winked them all back to the library... The werewolf rolled for several moments, with the manticore giving as good as it got, exchanging clawing's, bites and bruises before the two separated, rolling away from each other, the manticore raising to its paws slowly, its form covered in deep bites, scratches and other lesser wounds... While the were-creature stood up swiftly, slowly eying the strange beast before it like any other prey, something that made the manticore consider retreating just from that... But the beast knew it couldn't show weakness, and it knew this wolf thing would not show any either... With a deafening roar, the wounded manticore charged at the werewolf, who answered the roar with a deep, resounding howl, which was taken up in the distance by the forest's timber wolves, sending an eerie echo through the tree's as the wolf man darted forwards, its silver fur coated with blood, but all it's own wound had already healed... The two met head on, and all through the night, the sound of two apex predators fighting for dominance and blood filled the air, causing both pony and animal alike to cower in fear in their homes, preying that the monster's were not going to get them too... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8: Feelings and Wolves //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8: Feelings and Wolves White... It extended on endlessly into the distance, creating a never ending room. Not many things existed in this place... Except a very annoyed looking human, who was sat on the ground with his legs folded, naked as the day he was born, except for several chains wrapped around his body and shackles on his wrists and ankles, restricting, but not stopping his movement. Across from him floated what could simply be described as a floating mass of Spaghetti, with a pair of comical googly eyes attached to it. The reason for Paul's annoyance was the fact that he had been playing a game of 'go fish' with the flying spaghetti monster soon after he had released the beast, thinking that it would be an easy way to pass the time, and it would also help keep his mind off the fact that a murderous wolf man now had control of his body... He had not expected the blasted creature to be so good at the game... "Got any... Four's?" "Go fish my son... Do you have any ace's?" Paul growled and threw the cards into the air, his anger reaching boiling point as he realized he was going to lose again, and did what any sore loser does... Give up and be moody... "Fuck you and your meatball's, asshat..." "Getting angry is not the way to react in such a simple game my son... You should do something for the sake of doing it, and having fun doing so..." Paul rolled his eyes, knowing deep down that the flying spaghetti monster was right... Not that he would ever admit it, so he just shrugged and looked around, deciding to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while. "So... Why are you around anyway? You like my imaginary friend or something? Cos up till this point, the only room mate I had doesn't talk to me and keeps trying to steal my body..." The flying spaghetti monster seemed to consider Paul's words as it used its spaghetti tentacles to tidy away the playing cards they had been using and concealed them somewhere inside its form. "I am a part of you my son... Something your mind created from memories and images in order to help you cope with your mental breakdown thanks to the actions of the one's known as Twilight Sparkle and Celestia..." "whoa whoa whoa! Mental breakdown? When the hell did that happen?!" Paul frowned at his present company, not sure how to take the knowledge about his mental state, even though he could not really argue, since he had no other way to explain why he was having an internal conversation with such a strange being... "When the effect's of the spell within the amulet changed your physical form, it also attempted to rearrange your mind, my son... Upon realizing that your mind was being tampered with, precautions were taken... One of which involved creating a few entities inside your mind to help you cope with it, and to help you combat the foreign influence." Paul listened in silence as the creature across from him spoke, nodding his head slowly as he raised his left wrist, idly looking over the steel shackle and chain attached to it. "So what you are saying is... That I have lost my marbles...?" "No... While you did not have a full bag of them to begin with, you have not..." The spaghetti monster visibly shook, its form seeming to blur and flicker, before slowly starting to fade away, cutting off its speech. Paul sighed and stood up, his chains rattling and clinking against each other with each movement, the man standing with his eyes set dead ahead as he heard a new set of foot falls approach. "Took your time Fido... Take these chains back and give me back my body mongrel..." Paul's only reply to his words was a low, vicious growl from behind him, as the shadowy form that lurked out of the corner of his eye stood behind him. The chains covering Paul's body and the shackles around his wrists and ankles came free, moving with a life of their own as they snaked down his form and down his legs, moving behind him, chaining the beast, just as he had been... For now... The Everfree forest was as it's name said, very much free, with the weather happening naturally without the control of weather ponies and the local wildlife, both dangerous or otherwise, looked after themselves without assistance... And, on this particular early morning, where Celestia's sun had only just risen and Luna's moon had finished its descent, a certain man awoke with a start... He was nude, cold, aching all over and for some reason he felt ill, his stomach issuing loud, disgusting gurgling noises as whatever he had eaten in his other form seemed to be disagreeing with him. Paul looked around groggily and noticed two things that made him wish he had not woken up... One was the ruined remains of the once proud manticore, its body torn apart, missing both its wings, its tail and its front left leg. Blood, gore and fur was coated on nearly everything in the small clearing, being splashed on the tree's and soaking into the grass and soil as well. "Aw damn... Reminds me why I keep the hairy fucker chained up..." He whispered under his breath, trying not to wake up the second thing he had seen... A small pack of timber wolves, six in total, all of varying sizes, lay around the clearing asleep, all seeming quite content with themselves. Paul gulped and slowly began to get to his feet, doing his best to keep as quiet as possible when you are a six foot tall man with the balance of a three legged donkey that was drunk and a stomach that at that moment sounded like an old boiler sputtering its dying gasps. He stood up and swayed slightly, his right leg aching painfully when he put weight on it. He did his best to ignore the pain and took a step forward, heading towards the tree line... And stood right on a previously unseen pine cone, causing a loud crunch to fill the clearing as his bare foot took the full brunt of the object jabbing into his skin... "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-!" Ponyville was unnaturally quiet that morning... The usual hustle and bustle that would be happening throughout the town was none existent, with all the houses and shops being locked up tight, some even having the windows boarded up. In this apparent ghost town, within the local library tree, sat six mares, a dragon and an owl, each either scared, annoyed or just plain confused in the case of the dragon and owl, both of which had not understood the reason for the girls, or the rest of the town for that matter to be scared. "Ok, Twi... Let me get this strait... You and Princess Celestia used a spell to turn this guy into a pony... Something YOU told me could not be done... He goes crazy at his welcome party... And then a manticore attacks, he turns into this wolf-thing and runs off into the woods with the other monster...?" Spike asked the lavender mare, who at the present moment was pacing back and forth, her mane frazzled and her left eye twitching, not even seeming to have heard the young dragon speak. The drake sighed and looked around at the other five girls in the room... Rarity was fast asleep on her 'fainting couch' near the front door, the dress maker having stayed up with the others all through the night, Pinkie Pie was currently in the kitchen, from which every so often a loud clatter, followed by cheerful giggling could be heard and finally, there was Applejack and Rainbow Dash who were trying to comfort a terrified Fluttershy... Spike could not help but feel a great sadness fill him as he saw the fear that had gripped the yellow pegasus mare, the kind of fear that made her shake continuously, jumping at the slightest noise or touch. "Aaaaaaaaaand... DONE!" Shouted a cheerful voice from the kitchen, and after a few seconds Pinkie Pie skipped into the main lobby of the library where the others were, a tray of seven cupcakes in one hand and a small brown bag in the other. Each cupcake on the tray was a different color, which matched up to one of the mare's in the room and one dragon. Pinkie placed the tray down on Twilight's desk under the stairs and hummed happily to herself as she made her way to the door... Only to be stopped as a magical aura surrounded the pink party mare, lifting her off her feet. "Pinkie, where do you think your going?! We need to figure out what to do..." Twilight's voice was shaky as she spoke, her eyes darting from the pouting, magically held Pinkie, to her other friends, looking tense as ever as she did so. Applejack sighed and took her hat off, placing it gently on Fluttershy's head, who quickly moved her hands up to the brim of the stetson and tugged it down further on her head, trying to hide under it. "Well I think it is mighty simple twi'... We go find Paul and we bring the varmint back here so he can explain..." Applejack said lightly, taking a long stretch as she spoke, getting some life back into her muscles after a night of huddling in fear with her friends. "Yeah! Me and AJ may of been dazed for like... A split second, but I don't see what got all of you spooked... 'Oh no! Monkey boy suddenly got hairy and pushed a manticore into the woods! Whatever shall we do while he is being mauled?' Yeah... Not really scary Twilight..." Rainbow Dash's mocking tone made Twilight's left eye twitch, but decided to bite her tongue for the moment, not wanting to start an argument in the group. Pinkie Pie cleared her throat loudly and drew the attention of the room. "Silly Twilight... I was on my way to go wait for Pauly Wally! He should be waking up anytime now if the script is anything to go by..." Four sets of eyes stared at Pinkie Pie for a few moments as a silence fell on the room, which hung awkwardly in the air. The one to break the silence was, surprisingly, Fluttershy, who spoke quietly from under Applejack's borrowed hat. "Um... Do you think Paul is-is ok?" Rainbow moved to Fluttershy's side and gently wrapped a wing around her friend, frowning alittle as Fluttershy flinched at the contact. "What was that Shy? You haven't really spoken since we got back and all but..." The yellow mare shook her head and slowly pulled up the stetson just enough so her eyes could just be seen under the brim as she looked passed them all and stared at Pinkie Pie. "Do you think that Paul is ok...? I know he didn't mean to... To scare us like that but..." Pinkie Pie responded as she usually did, with a huge, happy grin and giggled. "I am sure Pauly Wally is just super duper! I bet he is having no trouble getting back to Fluttershy's cottage..." Paul, unlike popular belief at the time, was not being 'super duper' at all, as he was at that moment being chased through the forest, dodging any tree that got in his way clumsily, as he tried to escape the six very annoyed looking timber wolves that where chasing him down, easily keeping pace with the injured creature that had awoken them... The man gave several sharp, heaving coughs as he ran, his leg muscles, especially in his still hurt right leg burned, and his lungs felt like they wanted to abandon the soon to be eaten ship. Paul groaned as he noticed the tree's were beginning to thin out, which could only mean... "Yes! Fuck you wol... Oh god... Blurgh!" Paul skidded to a stop at the next tree in his path, before vomiting up a mix of bile, undigested meat pieces and what he could only guess was a lung. He stood, head against the tree, his mind emptying for those short moments,  as he tried his best to regain his breath and take a damage report. 'Lungs... Feel like they are full of fire. Legs... Feel like lead and my right foot and leg in particular hurt like a mother fucker... Looks... Dashing as ever and no amount of monsters or wooden wolves can change... Wait...' Paul's inner monologue stopped instantly as he spun around, his eyes growing wide as he found the six wolves surrounding him, each set to pounce at any moment. He reacted in the only way he knew how... He yelled out at the top of his lungs, turned, and quickly, and awkwardly, scrambled up the tree he was next to, making it to the lowest branch just as the wolves began to claw at the tree trunk, glaring up at him with their green bale eyes. "Ha... Ha... Yeah! Fuck you! Stupid wolves... What ya going to do now?!" The wolves looked up at Paul blankly, before the largest of their number, who had decided enough was enough, moved to the tree trunk and sunk its teeth into the bark with a loud crunching sound. Paul froze as the timber wolves soon followed their leader's example and started to chew and bite away at the tree trunk, making the entire tree shudder, leaving Paul with only one more course of action... Pinkie Pie bounced along the path out of Ponyville, humming happily with her eyes closed, not worrying about what was in her path. Following close behind the pink mare were the other element's of harmony, each glancing around nervously, as if expecting the worst to happen at any moment. The sight of the six mares walking through town had at least had one good effect on the town, as the ponies of Ponyville slowly worked up the courage to leave their homes and go about their daily business, even if they were later then usual doing so... Twilight, looking alot calmer, tried her best to look like she was in control of the situation, although she knew deep down she was just as lost as most of her friends were, except Pinkie Pie it seemed. Fluttershy walked close beside Rainbow Dash, gripping her friends arm firmly, hiding behind the rainbow maned mare as best she could, gaining an eyeroll from Rainbow Dash and Applejack both. Rarity let out a small yawn which she muted with her left hand, moving it over her mouth as she yawned, the white unicorn having only been awake a short while now, and was still feeling the fatigue of the previous day on her. "I do not see why all of us need to be here to wait for the brute... Surely you agree with me Twilight, darling?" "I do agree that this is alittle much, but what if we need to do something? What if he is still a were-p... Um... Were-wolf? We should..." Twilight found herself bumping into Pinkie, who had stopped dead in her tracks, the party mare's left ear wiggling as her right hoof twitched rapidly. "Oooooooo! My Pinkie sense is going wild! Something bad is going to happen!" Pinkie looked wide eyed ahead of the group, at the tree line, before tilting her head and raising an eyebrow. "Can anypony hear that?" The rest of the mane 6 stayed silent as they listened out for any noise, but for a few moments it seemed like all was quiet, until the faint sound of somepony... Or someone... Shouting out in a panicking tone. "... God! Jesus! Buddha! Any god help me!" All the mares were dumb struck, not understanding what kind of pony would be dumb enough to be in the Everfree forest at that time in the morning... But soon all six of the girls let out a collective sigh and simply said one word. "Paul..." "Aw come on... Celestia! Luna! Princess Twinkle Sparkles! Help!" Paul clung to his branch like a scared kitten trapped in a tree, as the six timber wolves took it in turns chewing at the now visibly damaged tree trunk, which had began to groan and wobble ever so slightly.  The alpha male of the pack looked up at Paul and growled, before giving him what he could swear was a smug look... The man closed his eyes and sighed, not wanting to see what was going to happen... So he instead went to where he would at least not have to feel himself being mauled, his mind... Paul soon opened his eyes and found himself back inside the pure white room, a smile on his face as he stood up and clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he did so. "Right... Where's that floating main course... I need something to pass the time..." "He isn't here... It's just you and me numb nuts..." The man froze and slowly turned around as he heard the shockingly familiar voice... One he knew only too well... There before Paul stood, for lack of a better word, himself... Although this Paul was fully dressed, a black, plain t-shirt and jeans clothing his body, and his eyes were the same crimson as when he was turned. "Um... And you are...?" Paul rolled his hand around in a circular motion, but this just caused the other 'Paul' to scoff. "My god your a dumb fuck aren't you? I swear your mother dropped you on your head as a child..." "Hey! That was one time... And the doctor's told her it did no long term damage..." The other, clothed Paul sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he did so, not moving at all. "Ok, if you can grasp this I will be amazed... I am you, well... Kind of... I am your conscious..." Paul, still looking like he had fallen out of the abuse tree, hit every branch on the way down, and then landed in a butcher's shop, smirked. "Oh wow... You must fucking hate me, huh?" Paul's conscious simply shook his head, before opening his crimson eyes and glaring at Paul. "No... What was your first clue? The fact your a complete ass to folks who are trying to help you? Or how about the whole 'I hate Twilight Sparkle' thing you have going on?! The poor girl already apologized... And we both know she did not drag us here on purpose... Christ Paul, you are a mess... Your an emotional cripple right now, with the manners of a ferret on crack..." Paul flinched at his doppelgangers words, knowing deep down every word was the truth, but he would be damned if he would admit it... "Hey, fuck you alright... Yeah, maybe I have been abit... Testy, since I got here, and ok... I might have a 'small' problem with Sprinkles..." The man's conscious was in his face in a second, grabbing him by his neck, lifting him effortlessly off the ground as he did so. "There you go again... Making excuses, insulting a pony who was only trying to help... You sicken me... And that's saying something since we are technically the same person..." Paul gasped for breath, not having much success, before giving up and hanging limply in the grip of the thing before him, his blue eyes gazing into the crimson eyes before him. "You... Know what-what we lost coming here..." His conscious sighed and dropped Paul, who landed on his ass, giving a low groan as he did so. "Yes, I do know what we lost... But we both know what she would of said... 'I am sorry Paul, I am happy you feel that way for me, but... You know I love someone else? Right...?' Could you of really handled that? Could you take the pain of her never loving you back?" Paul sat in silence for what seemed like forever, his eyes downcast as he was lost in his thoughts, while the copy of him stood in silence. Soon Paul looked up at his Conscious, his bright blue eyes slightly reddened as tears ran down his face, but not once did the calm look on his face change. "Yeah... I would of supported her even... Whats that gushy old saying? 'As long as the person I love with all my heart is happy... Then I am happy...' So yeah, it would hurt, it would tear me up... But at the end of the day, I would of stood by her..." Paul's conscious gazed at Paul for several moments, his cold, crimson eyes gazing over the battered form before him, before kneeling down, so his face was level with that of Paul's. "You need to wake up... We will continue this talk later, but I leave you with these words... These ponies seem like good people, and I want you to be nice to them, even if it pains you to do so... They only want to help..." Paul was unable to respond, his eyes staring at the ground as he let out a shaky sigh, his mind reeling from the heart to heart he had just had with a deeper part of himself... "Will he be ok...? I mean, hay, maybe he is hurt worse then he looks... He's even crying... So uncool..." Paul groaned as he heard a voice, one which he had come to attach to a nickname that fit it's owner perfectly. "Go-good morning to you too Skittles..." He grumbled, not opening his eyes as he tried to relax, his whole body still hurting, but not as bad as before he had climbed that tree... "I reckon' he is gonna be just fine... Tough son of a mule, that much I can say..." "Ooo ooo! Do you want some breakfast Pauly? I made cupcakes!" Paul chuckled despite himself, recognizing both Applejack's, then Pinkie Pie's voices. He slowly opened his eyes and found the world around him to be blurry and slightly dark. "Huh... I don't remember rubbing myself blind...?" He joked, earning a pair of giggles from the pink blob to his left and the blue blob floating above him, along with groans from the rest of the multicolored shapes that he was having trouble focusing on. He sat up from his lying down position on the forest floor and rubbed his eyes with his hands, as well as blinking once or twice, before smiling as his vision returned... Paul's smile dropped into a frown as he saw the looks he was getting, with concern from Twilight and Pinkie, Suspicion from Applejack and Rainbow Dash and disgust from Rarity. The one look that hurt him the most was from the butter colored mare hiding at the back of the group, her fear filled eyes hurting Paul more then any wound that the manticore could visit on the man... "I... Ok, listen... I am going to say something... And I am not going to repeat myself..." He took a deep breath to calm himself, before looking over the mares again, making sure they were listening before he continued. "I am sorry... For being an asshole, for insulting some of you... And to be honest, not being very grateful for all I have been given. I am a sarcastic kinda guy by nature, that won't change... And neither will the fact that I turn into a-a monster every so often..." His eye's found Fluttershy's and for a moment he saw the fear in them increase at the mention of his other side. He sighed, his eyes glistening as he growled, not even noticing the hot tears as they slid silently down his cheeks anew. "I wish I could be normal, I never want to hurt anyone, or anypony as it now is... But I know that I have no choice, but I guess that's just how the story goes huh? Once a monster, always..." He was cut off as Pinkie Pie tackled him to the forest floor, hugging him tightly, to the point of Paul actually starting to loose his breath. "Pinkie, what the fuck are you..." He froze as the mare looked up at him, her baby blue eyes looking up at him with sorrow, tears running down her face as she kept his gaze. "I don't think your a monster Paul... And no matter what anypony says... I will always be your friend, and friends help each other!" Paul blinked, gazing at the party mare in shock, before looking up at the others, noticing that each were looking away, shuffling in place. He sighed and rolled his eyes before a small smile graced his lips. "Ok... I haven't showered in a few days, I am naked, and I feel like I just went ten round in an asskicking contest against a giant... But if you lot are going to hug me, just..." He was unable to finish as Fluttershy walked over to both him and Pinkie Pie, knelt down, and joined in with the hug, shaking slightly as she did so. "I'm sorry Paul... I am your friend too... If that's ok with you that is..." Paul felt his heart melt alittle at the shy mare's words, his smile growing as he returned the hugs to the two girl's in his arms, chuckling lightly, before looking up at the others. "So... No hugs from any of you? Aw... Spoil sports..." Applejack just shook her head and turned around, heading out of the forest, but Paul caught the sight of a grin on her lips before she walked out of sight. Rainbow Dash was less subtle and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right... Your like, 200% too uncool to get a hug from me! Also, yeah, you smell like a sewer..." Rarity nodded in agreement, her look more neutral now, even if her nose was scrunched up as she spoke. "I must agree with Rainbow, you do smell and look horrendous darling... I suggest a bath and some clothing to cover your... Um... 'Privacy'?" Paul blinked and looked down, before blushing and moving his arms from around Pinkie and Fluttershy and using his now free hands to cover himself, giving a nod to Rarity. "Yeah... Sounds good, that is... If I still have a place to stay?" He asked, looking to Fluttershy hopefully, and grinned when she smiled back and nodded. "Right... Um... Then could I... Please, ask for your help with some clothes?" Rarity looked genuinely surprised at his words, raising an eyebrow and nodding slowly, a look of suspicion on her features, "Who are you and what did you do with that brute?" She asked jokingly, before shaking her head. "Come to my boutique when you are presentable and we will see what we can do..." Rarity turned once she had finished speaking and made her way out of the forest, heading home, followed by Rainbow Dash, who lazily floated beside the unicorn. Paul watched them both until they had disappeared out of his line of sight before looking to Twilight, who was stood in silence, looking at him with a sheepish smile... "Ok... Twilight Sparkle..." Paul got up slowly, careful to avoid bumping Fluttershy or Pinkie, before walking over to the lavender alicorn, who looked at him with a look of shock. "You... You called me by my..." She was cut off as Paul pulled her into a hug, his arms wrapping around her back and under her wings, brushing them slightly by accident as he did so, making Twilight blush alittle, but she soon melted into the hug, returning it with a hug of her own. The pair stood like that for several moments, no words, no thoughts, just hugging... "Ok... I still don't fully forgive you for what you have done Twinkles... But I understand you didn't mean to do anything bad, so... Yeah, I am not AS mad at you anymore..." He pulled back, quickly turning away so she couldn't see his blush, which was seen clearly by both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, both of whom giggled at the display, as Twilight merely shook her head and sighed, a warm smile on her lips. "I understand Paul... And just so you know, I will keep trying to find a way to get you home... And um... I will try and sort out the problems with the town ponies, after last night, it might be hard though..." Paul simply groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. "One thing at a time... First, how the fuck am I not wolf chow right now?" Fluttershy raised her hand slowly, looking like a school filly as she spoke. "I... I was able to shoo them away, but they are still quite mad at you for the name calling..." Paul rolled his eyes and gave Fluttershy the jazz hands. "Woopity doo... Mother nature hates me, story of my life... So, now then... I am staying hidden till the towns people aren't pissing themselves at the sight of me... Or the smell..." He lifted his right arm and gave his armpit a sniff, causing himself to gag loudly. "Fuck me! You could kill a skunk with that..." Twilight ignored him and walked over to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, helping the pair to their hooves before turning to Paul and addressing him. "Yes, until I can smooth things over with the ponies in town, you are to stay indoors at Fluttershy's home... Pinkie Pie, I take it you want to say something?" "Yes! Can I throw Paul a 'Thank you for beating up a meanie manticore for us' party?" Fluttershy, Twilight and Paul all gave a collective eye roll before Paul finished with a face palm. "Oh... before I go, Paul, what made you change your tune? Yesterday you were happy to name call, insult and just be mean..." "Well Twilight... A very handsome, smart and charming guy came to me and told me some home truths..." Twilight gave a slow nod, before smirking, her horn beginning to glow as she spoke. "So... Some pony that wasn't you then?" She teased him before vanishing in a white flash of light, leaving two mares and a human stood in the outskirts of the woods. "Bitch... So... Whats for breakfast?" Paul asked hopefully, rubbing his hands together as he turned to his two companions, both of which had already began walking out of the woods, meaning he had to run after them to catch up, "Hey! I am being serious, I need food here!" To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9: Resting and Reconnecting with Kindness... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9: Resting and Reconnecting with Kindness... Fluttershy's cottage, as all of Ponyville knew, was the second best place to take sick or injured animals, after the main vet in town that was. The inside of her home, much like the outside, was very cosy and had a rather large number of birdhouses, mouse holes and other beds for numerous animals... Today however, Fluttershy was housing a new kind of animal, one that was only just smarter then the average bear... Paul... The werewolf was in Fluttershy's bathroom, which was fairly small, but still had enough room for a toilet, sink and a shower/bath combo, having the first shower he had been able to have since he arrived in Equestia 3 days ago, and to him, it was the greatest thing in the world at that moment... "Dear god! If I could, water, I would marry you... But that would be weird, so... Mmm..." He mumbled quietly, his eyes closed tight, standing under the shower head as warm water cascaded down upon his dirt covered body, washing it all away. He sighed and opened his eyes slowly, looking over the small basket hanging from the shower/bath combo's tube side, seeing a few bottles of soap and a small bottle of shampoo. "'So... Anyone up their wanna shoot the shit while I relax? No? Just gonna bitch at me when I am busy or in trouble? Ok...' Paul growled under his breath as his thoughts went unanswered, but soon his attitude picked up again as he leaned down and picked up the shampoo, popping the cap open and sniffing the contents. "Ooo... Strawberries..." Paul chuckled and poured some of the sweet smelling shampoo into his left palm and then placed the bottle back, before starting to rub the solution into his hair, getting it in deep. He took a moment before stepping under the water head first once more, washing the shampoo away along with some dirt and grim that had been stuck to his scalp and hair. "Much be... Gah!" He winched as he opened his eyes, only for some left over foam to get in his eyes, "Fuck me! That shit stings! No more tears my aunt's ass..." He pushed the shower curtain that had been hiding his figure from view as he bathed and blindly reached around for a towel, which he found being handed to him. "Whew... Thanks..." "No problemo Pauly Waly!" "..." "..." "PINKIE?!" Fluttershy hummed softly to herself as she worked in the kitchen, a pink apron wrapped around her her body, covering her front completely down to her knee's. She busied herself with preparing breakfast for both herself, Pinkie Pie and her new house guest, and had just finished the first batch of pancakes before she head a loud shout coming from upstairs. "PINKIE?!" "Oh my... Maybe sending Pinkie up to see if he was doing ok was a bad..." "Hey Fluttershy! Pauly is doing ok, just got some soap in his eyes is all, other then that he was just being as grouchy as ever... Ooo" Pancakes!" Fluttershy spun round quickly, letting out a sharp 'eep' as she found Pinkie Pie casually sat at her kitchen table, rocking her chair back and forth as she grinned happily at her friend. "Oh... Yes, well... As long as everything is ok..." The butter yellow colored pegasus mare said cheerfully, completely dismissing Pinkie's strange behavior, having gotten used to it over the years.  She carried the serving plate stacked with freshly made pancakes over to the kitchen table and set it down, and turned to get a fork for Pinkie to move some pancakes over to her plate, but froze when she heard a loud munching sound followed by a belch. "Mmm Thanks for the breakfast Fluttershy, but I better get going, the Cake's will be SUPER worried about where I have been, and I don't want to make them sad... Tell Pauly I will be seeing him next chapter!" Pinkie Pie pointed to the coo-coo clock over the kitchen door, the hands reading ten in the morning, before getting up, and bouncing out of the kitchen humming a cheerful tune with a small giggle as she left. Fluttershy turned her eyes slowly to the kitchen table, and noticed the serving dish was empty, even though she had made ten pancakes for them all to share... She sighed before going through her cupboards, getting the ingredients for more food. "PINKIE?!" Paul swiftly began to rub his face with the towel, clearing the soap out of his eyes before glaring around the bathroom, looking for any sign of the Pink party mare... To his great surprise however, she was nowhere to be seen. "Huh... I really must be losing it..." 'I believe the flying main course told you that already dipshit...' He blinked, before sighing and rolling his eyes as he steps out of the shower, turning off the water as he did so. 'Great, your back... Listen, not that I don't like you... Nah, just joking, I hate you, your mean, where's the flying spaghetti monster, at least he was interesting to talk to... Unlike you mister 'Conscience', who is always...' 'I am mean because your an asshole and a tool, so you deserve it... Also I AM you, so really your insults are kinda pointless...' 'Yeah, well... Your pointless!' The voice sighed and even though Paul couldn't see it, he could swear his Conscience must be rolling his eyes. 'Ok, listen here mouth breather... You are going to dry off, put a towel on, get something to eat and then you are going to have a talk with Fluttershy about... Him...' Paul shuddered at the mention of his other side, but used the towel he had grabbed earlier to dry his body off, doing a fairly rushed and half-assed job of it in his haste to get some proper food. He was practically drooling by the time he wrapped the soaking wet towel around his waist and made for the door, opening it swiftly... And slamming it promptly shut. "That was a fucking BEAR!" 'Noooooo? You don't say? I just thought Fluttershy left a stuffed animal outside the bathroom to cheer you up... Ok, now lets be calm and work th-' "FLUTTERSHY! HELP!" Paul managed to cut off the voice in his head somehow, earning him an irritated groan from his Conscience, which he could hear even over the growling and banging on the bathroom door. He slammed his body against the wooden door and preyed to everything holy at Fluttershy would help him... 'Wow... You really are a coward aren't you? Maybe I should call you Paul 'Yellow'mane from now on...' The voice snarked at him, but Paul was ready with a come back as always. 'Yeah?! Well... From now on, your name's Mister Happy, how you like that?!' It seemed his Conscience, or 'Mister Happy' as Paul thought him as now, did not dignify him with an answer. As Paul was about to say another rude comment about his own fucked up brain, he heard a gentle, yet firm voice float through the door to his ears, making him sigh in relief. "Paul...? A-Are you... Ah?! Harry! You shouldn't scare others just because you don't know who they are..." He heard the normally shy mare scold a full grown grizzly bear like a disappointed mother, but what confused him was when he heard a series of growls and grunts... 'Is... Is Fluttershy...' 'Scolding a bear... And seemingly she is able to understand animals... Huh... Neat.' Paul groaned, wondering how any part of himself can just brush off something as odd as this, but then he remembered, 'Mister Happy' was his Conscience, so it was him but without the baggage and emotions... Well, most of them, and had a much more rational view on things. "I don't care if you thought somepony broke in, I want you to apologize to Paul for frightening him like that! He is a good pony, and I want you all to get along with him while he is staying here... If that's ok with you all that is...?" Paul rolled his eyes and opened the door at Fluttershy's words, frowning as he gazed at the apron clad pegasus and then to the now sulking grizzly bear, Harry. "I was not 'frightened'... I was merely shocked by a freaking bear waiting to ambush me..." 'You were totally scared. I mean, if you hadn't used the bathroom before your shower I swear you would of pissed yourself.' "Shut up Mister Happy!" Paul froze the second he realized he had shouted that out loud, and now probably seemed like a mad man... At least if the look that Fluttershy and even the bear were giving him. "Um... I mean, haha... Er... Food?" Fluttershy blinked before her bemused look disappeared and was replaced with a small smile, looking at Paul and then Harry, motioning with her hand towards the stairs. "Oh yes, I made us some pancakes... And I have a nice, juicy salmon for you Harry, once you apologize that is." The bear's eyes nearly bugged out of its head  at the mention of its breakfast being withheld, and turned to Paul, a dark look in its eyes as the bear reared up on his hind legs, stretching his arms wide, causing Fluttershy to giggle. "Aw, he want's to give you a hug Paul..." "Hmm, I don't know... Ah, screw it..." Paul shrugged and moved to the bear, looking up at Harry with a raised brow before hugging the bear, finding the beast's fur was actually very soft... "Huh... This isn't so b-" Then Harry wrapped his paws around Paul's mid section, squeezing him hard, causing all the air in the man's lungs to escape in a long winded gasp, the bear hug threatening to ruin him. "Can't-Can't breath!" Harry huffed and swiftly let Paul go, not even staying to watch as he fell to his ass on the floor, gasping for air, deciding instead to stroll past Fluttershy and down the stairs out of sight.  The yellow mare sighed and moved to Paul, helping him back to his feet with a hand under her left elbow. "I am sorry about Harry, Paul... He is always such a sweetheart, but he is probably just hungry... Maybe..." "Ah, its fine Fluttershy, I have never been all that good with animals, for obvious reasons." Paul shook his head and chuckled, before smiling at the yellow pegasus, "So... Breakfast?" Fluttershy sat across the small square kitchen table from Paul, picking at the few bits of pancakes on her plate, sheepishly looking over at him as he eats, flinching slightly at the ferocity of which he was devouring the stack of pancakes she had made him, making her feel slightly unsettled deep down. "Um- Paul? Can- Can I ask you something... If you don't mind that is.." Paul felt his heart melt when he saw how shy Fluttershy was acting, not able to resist her cuteness as he sighed, smiling warmly at her, bits of ravaged pancake crumbs coating his chin as he rested his chin on his right hand, supporting them both with his elbow on her table. "Sure Fluttershy, please, don't be afraid to ask me anything... Cos so far, your one of four ponies I trust since being here, so we're cool..." Fluttershy blushed alittle and ran a hand through her long, pink mane, covering her face up with it while doing so to hide her expression as she spoke. "Did you- um, did you hurt that manticore badly... When you changed?" Paul felt his blood freeze as he looked at the mare across from him, not sure exactly what to say... Yeah, he could go ahead and tell the truth, but he couldn't bare the thought of any one, let alone Fluttershy, fearing him more then they do now... But if he lied and they found the carcass of the beast later, he would be in even more trouble... 'Trapped between a rock and a hard place... Not the best of situations... I think-' 'I think you should piss off and put the spaghetti monster on the line...' 'Yeah, about that, he is suffering from a bad case of being digested so... Yeah, its just me for now...' Paul felt his left eye twitch slightly as he made a mental note to argue with Mister Happy about the apparent 'murder' of his other insanity induced friend. '... And stop calling me Mister Happy! That doesn't even make sense you freaking dick!' He ignored the voice as he took a deep breath and decided on the lesser of the two evils set before him... "I woke up alone in the woods... There was blood but I didn't see a body, so the manticore must of made it out with just a few scrapes..." Paul felt a small smile come to his lips as he saw Fluttershy give a sigh of relief, happy he had chosen not to terrify her with the knowledge of his brutal killing and possible eating of the beast. "Um- I need to know one more thing... Please?" "Sure Flutter's, what is it?" "Doe's your other side have- um, have a name? Is he named Mister Happy? Because I did hear you shout that name earlier..." Paul gulped and felt put on the spot ever so slightly as he gave a nervous chuckle, his smile growing more and more forced by the second. "Of course it has a name... I mean, who lives with another creature inside them and doesn't bother to name it...?" 'You?' 'You mean 'us' right? You do keep reminding me you are a part of my psyche...' 'Ha, yeah right... I am not claiming any responsibility for your pant's on head retarded actions throughout your life... That's all you big guy.' Paul groaned loudly and tried to think, his eyes staring down at his empty plate before him as he attempted to come up with a name. Fluttershy noticed his change in attitude and folded her ears back, looking slightly concerned for the man across from her, reaching out a soft hand to place on his own hand that rest on the table. "Paul, it's ok if-" "No... It's fine... His name is Silver Mane..." He knew it was a lame choice but he was tired, only just fed, and he was no good with coming up with names, so he waited for her to call him out on it, but... "Oh my! It does make sense, since he is a part of you, he would have a part of your name, right?" "Uh... Yeah! Yeah, sure Fluttershy, you got it in one..." He chuckled nervously and looked towards the doorway to the living room, rubbing the back of his neck. In the doorway was, to Paul's displeasure, Fluttershy's pet rabbit, Angel bunny, sitting with a notepad infront of him, which made Paul smirk and chuckle. "Whats wrong Bugs? Got something you wanna say?" The bunny merely narrowed his eyes at the male and picked up the notepad, holding it up so that Paul could see what was on it... In bold letter's was a simple message... 'Tonight... You...' Following these words underneath was a drawn picture of a skull over a cooking pot. Paul flinched as his eyes went wide, a strange sense of dread filling him as he snapped his head towards Fluttershy, who had gotten up to take their plates to the sink, not looking at the doorway. "Fluttershy... What does he mean... 'Tonight' and 'Me'?" He asked nervously, giving a fearful smile as he looked back to the doorway, only to find the bunny rabbit gone, along with the notepad. "What does who mean Paul? Are you feeling ok? Maybe a little nap would do you some good?" Fluttershy left the pans and plates in the sink and moved over to stand beside Paul, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, which he reached up to slowly with his own hand and squeezed gently. "Yeah... Sleep... Sleep sounds good Fluttershy, your a genius..." "Oh my... No no, that title belongs to ponies like Twilight and Rarity, I-" "Flutter's... Take the compliment..." "Ok..." Paul chuckle, still slightly on edge from Angel's apparent death threat, but felt his heart warm at Fluttershy's actions and words. "Um, if I can be a little childish? Would you... Stay with me while I sleep? I don't trust being alone right now..." He sighed, not really wanting to tell her that he really only feared the idea of waking up in a cooking pot thanks to a homicidal bunny rabbit... "Of course... You go lay on the couch and I will be in with you in just a moment..." He smiled softly and got up, standing beside the shy mare and looking down at her, before slowly leaning down and kissing her cheek, "Thanks Flutter's... I owe you one..." He made his way to the living room, leaving a heavily blushing and stun-locked mare in his wake as he made it to her couch, sitting upon it before lying down upon it, and slowly closing his eyes. 'I don't trust that rabbit... I bet he runs some kind of, I don't know... Bunny mafia or something...' 'Ok, first off, that's stupid, and so are you... Second, I don't trust it either, but I am sure you can handle one rabbit, and finally, get some rest you idiot...' No sooner had the voice of Mister Happy finished then did Paul sigh and begin to drift off into a pleasant little nap... For now... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 10: Dreams and the Animal Mafia. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 10: Dreams and the Animal Mafia. Dreams are funny things... They can help a person sleep peacefully, help them think things through and even help drive a person towards greater things. For Paul however, his dreams of late were fairly boring in his opinion... Especially the one he was having at the moment. "Aw come on! Give me a city, a village, something! Not just... Just..." Paul was sat beneath a a large, old oak tree, who's gorgeous green leaves shaded him from the warm, beaming sun as it shined over the dream scape... Rolling fields of grass lands went off in every direction as far as the eye could see, the only sound was the gentle rustle of the leaves in a light summer breeze and the irritated man's voice. "It's always this or a forest, I mean, seriously... I have no imagination..." "That or you are an idiot..." Paul sighed and turned to see exactly who he expected, himself, although, as usual, Paul was still nude and his doppelganger, 'Mister Happy' was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, along with a pair of black trainers. One other difference between the two was their eyes... Paul's eyes were blue, while Mister Happy's were blood red, and this time for some reason, he looked slightly more pale then the real Paul. "Great... Your here, lovely... Now, help me think up some clothes and then we are going to have a 'chat' about you-" "Eating your imaginary friend, yes yes I know... As for clothes, do that yourself, your not a child, although... Children do actually have imagination." Paul felt his blood boil as the copy of himself smirked smugly at him, Mister Happy now stood over him before the tree, looking down at the man with disdain. "I am not sorry you know... That floating food dish was taking up space, and I don't like sharing..." Mister Happy frowned and looked out over the fields of green and sighed, "When I can help it at least..." He muttered. Paul ignored his other self and got up, his eyes roaming the landscape as well, noticing how peaceful it was. "Yeah, totally need some explosions here, maybe if I think really hard about Michael Bay..." He received a swift clip round the back of his head from Mister Happy, who scowled at him. "We do NOT talk about him here... You know that you hate his movies..." "Yeah but... This place is just so...!" Paul was interrupted when he heard a loud, booming knock ring out over the land, making it shake as though there was an earthquake, leaving both men stunned for a second. "Luna?" "That's 'Princess' Luna you brainless oaf... Now at least cover yourself before letting her in... I will be watching, so behave..." With that said Mister Happy faded away until it was as if he had never been there to begin with. "Bloody bastard... Um- Come in?" Paul said rather loudly, not sure exactly what else to say. He waited a few moments and, when nothing seemed to be happening, he sighed and shrugged, "Guess it must of been a false alarm?" He was answered when a large, jagged crack began to open up in the large trunk of the oak tree, forcing Paul to scramble away, looking at it nervously, before letting out a sigh of relief as the regal form of Princess Luna, ruler of the night and dreams, stepped through the crack. "Why did you not open your mind to me? Do you know how long it takes for me to force my way into such an alien dream scape..." The princess said with a deep frown, her brow furrowed as she cast her gaze around, the sight of the land making her frown slowly turn into a gentle smile. "Um... Yeah, sorry, I am not so well keyed up on the whole, 'Dream talking' thing..." He shrugged and looked her over, noticing she was still wearing her crown and the rest of her royal attire, including her ornate hoof covers and bracelets. "You, yourself, told us that it is rude to stare, and yet you do the same to me as I did to you in Princess Twilight Sparkles library, why?" Paul put a hand over her chest and feigned a look of pain, "Princess Luna, you wound me... I was merely wondering why you ponies never wear clothes... And for the record, you were staring at my equipment just a little too long..." Luna covered her mouth and gave a small laugh before looking at the man with a cheerful smile, "I see you have not changed in your attitude since my sister and I saw you, even after the events that unfolded after we left..." Her mood seemed to darken as she looked at him, a disappointed look on her features as her eyes burned into him. Paul sighed and, while still covering his crotch with his left hand, rubbed the back of his neck with his right, looking away from her, feeling like a child being scolded for doing something wrong. "Yeah, well... Sue me... I did what needed to be done with that manticore, and as for the party, yeah... That amulet sucked, did nothing but mess with my head and made me feel itchy afterwards." Princess Luna's frown slowly turned into a more somber look as she sighed, "We can understand that you were uncomfortable... It is hard trying to fit in, we know this personally... But my sister and Twilight Sparkle just thought-" "That they would help me fit in as best they could... Yeah, nice... Ended up with a lynch mob after me and eating manticore by the end of the-" He slapped his right hand over her mouth as soon as the words left his mouth, his eyes wide as he looked at Luna, who merely raised a brow, but didn't comment. "I... See? Well, I personally commend you for seeking to save the ponies that serve my sister and I... But I will warn you, should you ever loose control again and hurt our subjects..." The dream scape slowly shifted as the Princess of the Moon's horn started to glow, the once blue sky of his dream world beginning to darken as storm clouds rolled in, blocking out the sun and giving the area a very spooky feel to it. "I will personally make sure the beast within you is stopped..." Paul gulped and slowly nodded, licking his lips lightly, before raising his hand in order to hopefully get Luna's attention without earning any of her apparent wrath. She blinked when she noticed the man cowering slightly, a look of fear on his face as he watched her, making her frown. "It was merely a warning... For one with such a savage beast within you, you are quite the cowardly stallion. Now, ask your question Paul, and I will warn you, I will not answer any personal questions you may ask..." He rolled his eyes and let out a forced sigh, dropping his cowering stance and snapping his fingers, "Drat... My plan to ask for your measurements has been foiled..." He looked at her and saw her deadpan stare, making him shrug before chuckling cheerfully, "I am kidding... No, I just wanted to say two things... First of all, we are calling the werewolf 'silvermane' now, and before you ask, it was Fluttershy's idea so... muh..." Paul glanced down to his covered groin and sighed before looking up at Luna with a pleading look, trying for his best puppy dog look, and failing miserably as he asked, "Um... And second, could you maybe, I don't know, help me get some clothing in here? I am having a little trouble getting my mind working how I want it to lately..." The Princess raised an eyebrow and looked at Paul as though he had just told her that the heavens moved on their own, "What do you mean, 'help you get clothing'? Even a foal is in control of their own dreams unless it is a nightmare... Are you truly telling me that you have less control then a foal?" He responded with a sheepish smile and a hopeful look, earning him a groan from Luna, followed by her shaking her head and her horn alighting. When the glow of her horn vanished, he looked down and saw... "PINK?! Pink clothes?! Are you freaking kidding me?!" The male found himself wearing a pink dress shirt and pants, the look of disgust on his face letting her know of his dislike for them. "You never specified what you wanted to wear... And  consider this your punishment for the incident with one Miss Heartstrings..." Paul frowned, folding his arms over his chest, "Pink is really not my color... but These are comfy... And its not like anyone but you will see me in them..." He gave her an over the top pose and winked at her, "... And lets be honest, I make these look good!" Luna merely sighed and shook her head, face palming at the strange man before her, who nearly rivaled Discord in his strange behavior, "I grow weary with these silly antics, I came to tell you that you are still being watched closely, so be careful how you act." She turned to walk back towards the crack in the oak tree, the cloudy sky starting to clear as she did so. She stopped by the opening and turned to him once more and gave him a knowing grin. "Enjoy your wake up call, Paul, I am sure it will be an interesting one..." With her words said, the Princess of the night walked through the opening in the tree, which slowly began to seal up once she walked through, leaving a puzzled Paul and an even more puzzled Mister Happy when he appeared from behind the tree, his eyes however were focused on Paul instead of the tree. "What the fuck are you wearing..." Was all Mister Happy asked as he covered his face with his hands, double face palming at the sight of the man before him. "I, good sir, am busy looking Fabulous!" A groan from Happy was Paul's only answer, but before he could speak again, Paul felt the dream world around them start to fade, the sky's color's beginning to run like a water painting in the rain, "Hmm... Looks like I am waking up like Luna said, huh... Wonder what she meant by a 'wake up call'?" "Guh... Why does my head hurt... And... Why is the entire room upside down?" Paul blinked as he took in his first sights after waking from his nap, and to put it lightly, he was a mixture of confused and scared, but the second he looked down at his feet his fear only grew... For he found his ankles tied together by thick hemp rope, suspending him from the ceiling, and after a quick glance under him, he discovered he was hanging over a large black cooking pot, a small fire under it heating the water inside to a boil. 'Wow... Look's like that rabbit got you good, cos I have to say, you are kinda fucked...' Happy's voice echoed in his head, a cheerful tone to it for once. "Fuck... You...!" Paul mumbled in annoyance as he tried to reach up and get at the rope, but found the task beyond him and he gave up after only two attempts, earning him what he could only guess was a slow, sarcastic clapping from Mister Happy inside his head. "Fluttershy! Help! Man in distress!" He shouted loudly, but found nothing but silence in response, making him sigh heavily, "I fucking hate ponies... Aw who am I kidding, I will forgive her for this..." Paul heard a sharp snap of a pair of fingers and twisted his neck around to try and look around behind him, finding Angel bunny sat on a rather plush pillow, a black fedora and a cigar-like carrot in his mouth. The bunny was not alone, being surrounded by other bunnies, who also wore fedora's, all glaring like their boss at Paul, some holding random cutlery menacingly as they did so. "Oh what the hell... I know I said it but..." 'Hey, look at that, Angel bunny really IS a don... You my friend are boned, but don't worry, I am sure they won't eat you... I mean, they are herbivores after all." 'Thanks, that is so comforting... Knowing the little mob fucks will only boil me alive, cut me up, and leave me out for the bear probably...' Paul was going to continue his fear filled rant, when a loud knocking at Fluttershy's front door caught every creature's attention in the room, the bunnies quickly made themselves scarce, removing their hat's as they did so, while Angel bunny just gave Paul a throat slitting gesture before hopping into the kitchen and out of sight. "Mail mare! Miss Fluttershy? Are you in?" Came a familiar voice from behind the door, giving Paul a brief glimmer of hope. "Derpy! You beautiful mare you! Please, come in here and help me out before I find myself in hot water!" He heard the shuffling of hooves from behind the door, before Derpy's nervous sounding voice floated back through, "Paul...? Um... I don't know, after last night..." "Aw come on! I thought we were friends?! I know I scared you all with the whole, 'Hey, I'm a handsome stallion, oops, actually I am a human! Nope, turns out I am a werewolf! Please accept me?', but right now, I am about to pass out with all this blood pooling in my head, so please... Help me!" A soft sigh was his response, followed by the rattling of the front door's handle, and with it, the creak of the door opening, revealing to him an upside down Derpy, who frowned once she saw the state he was in. "How did...?" "Listen, Derpy, if you get me out of this, I promise to hug the crap out of you and whatever else you want, but please just get me down... After moving the cooking pot or whatever first..." The wall-eyed mare, not wanting to really ask anymore questions, flew up to where he was being suspended, beginning to untie the knot, but stopped when he began to yell. "Wait! Cooking pot! Water! Hot!" Derpy just shook her head and kept undoing the rope around his ankle, but just before gravity took it's toll and dragged him into the boiling water, the grey mail mare grips his feet and flies him a few inches away from the cooking pot and then slowly sets him down. "You are just like Dinky when she needs to take a bath..." Paul stared at Derpy and raised an eyebrow and gulped, looking up at her from his place on his back on the floor, "You... Bathe your daughter in boiling water?" Derpy giggled and shook her head, "Of course not... And I don't know why Miss Fluttershy would let you try and bathe in it yourself...?" He merely shrugged, "Wasn't her... It was her bunny, Angel, turns out he is a mob boss and has plenty of bunny mobsters out for my life." The blond maned Pegasus mare merely gave a slow nod, starting to question his sanity as she stood awkwardly over him, her tail flicking left and right nervously, not sure what to do next. Paul chose for her as he got up from the floor and hugged Derpy close, resting his chin on the crown of her head, his hands gently stroking up and down her back, avoiding her wings as he did so. The mare blushed heavily and just stayed still, not sure what to do as she rested her cheek against his chest. "Um... Paul?" "Hmm? Whats up Derpy?" "Could you, I don't know, let me go? Your starting to poke me..." He let go of her in a flash and looked down, noticing his towel was gone once more... "Fuck! Why?! I... Guh... Sorry Derpy, I don't know why, but you ponies are so cute, and hugging you guys feels soooo good... A little too good at times it seems..." Derpy didn't answer him, her cheeks still crimson as she looked down at the floor boards of Fluttershy's living room, nodding slowly as she avoided looking at him, her hands joining together in front of her, twiddling her thumbs. "It's- It's ok, Paul... I know you don't mean to be rude, and I can't expect any stallion to find me interesting in 'that' way..." Her ears folded back against her head and her eyes went downcast. "Whoa there! I never said you aren't attractive, hell, if I was a stallion I would snap you up... But yeah, different species and all that jazz..." She blinked and gave him a mismatched stare of confusion, "What's wrong with a mixed species relationship? One of my cousins got married to a gryphon... I don't mind, um..." She froze as she watched him, noticing Paul had raised an eyebrow and stepped over to Fluttershy's couch, grabbing a cushion off it and covering himself. "I mean... If you wanted to date a pony... I don't think it would be too weird, I mean, your really silly, but in a good way..." Paul gulped and felt his cheeks burning, not sure how to take her words. 'So... You actually going to try it with one of the locals? Good luck, if our own species didn't like you, what chance have you got with magical, pastel colored ponies who are always being happy go lucky...' Paul growled a little at Happy's words, making Derpy 'eep', not sure if she had upset him at all, but calmed down when she saw his panicked expression, before he moved to her and put his left hand on her shoulder softly. "Derpy, I am sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, just having an argument with some inner demons... But to answer your question... I might think about dating once I get settled in, but until then, I need all the friends I can get... So, friends?" He offered his hand out to her and smiled softly, his eyes locking on her own as well as he could with the wall-eyed mare. Derpy smiled back and nodded, taking his hand in her's gently as she shook it, giggling a little as she did so, "Friends... Um, I know you said you wanted to wait, but-" She never got to finish as the front door slammed open and Ponyville's one and only party mare stood in the doorway, grinning like a maniac, "PAULY! You have to come quick, Rarity said she can fit you in for a fitting, oooo this is going to be so much fun!" She bounced over to Paul and gripped his arm, yanking him away from Derpy, who just stared in disbelief as the man was dragged towards the door. "Wait! Pinkie, I am in no state to go into town again! And am I not meant to be keeping hidden?" Pinkie froze in mid-air, her bounce uncompleted, and turned her head to stare at the now worried looking man. She sighed and floated down to her feet and walked away from him, going around the side of Fluttershy's house and out of sight. Paul groaned and ran his hand through his hair as he poked his head back through the doorway, mouthing a 'sorry' to Derpy, who smiled and huffed a sigh, waving to him in return. Paul chuckled and stepped back outside, a cushion still covering his crotch as he heard Pinkie Pie humming, making him turn towards the edge of the house she had vanished behind and saw something that made him freeze. "No bloody way..." 'She expects you to wear that? Huh, this day keeps getting better, right Romeo?' "Pinkie... That's a barrel... Why do you have a barrel?" To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 12: Enter the Cutie Mark Crusaders. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 12: Enter the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The dream scape of one Paul Silvermane, Equestria's one and only resident werewolf, looked as it normally did, rolling green fields, a large oak tree for shade and the warm, beaming sun... Then the sky turned pink, the grass blue and the tree lost all its leaves. "Fuck! How is it so hard to change a few things in my own dreams?!" Paul stood next to the tree, wearing a pair of (Poorly Made) black shorts and nothing else. He looked up at the now dead oak tree and groaned, running his hands through his hair, before closing his eyes tightly. 'They hurt us... Broke us...' The small, crazed voice was barely above a whisper and went unnoticed by the annoyed man, even the sky cracking slightly, leaving hairline breaks here and there did not catch his attention. "Whats wrong? You don't normally think this much unless its to decided what to eat..." Mr Happy said, his voice having the odd effect of fixing the cracks in the sky and returning everything to 'normal', with the sky returning to a light blue color and the grass back to a lush emerald green. "Yeah, well... I am trying to get this whole 'control your dreams' thing down, and its doing nothing but giving me a headache..." He shook his head and sighed heavily, before turning his gaze to Mr Happy and frowning when he caught sight of his appearance. "Hey... You ok? You look tired..." Mr Happy did indeed look run down, almost all color drained from his face, dark rings under his eyes and his black shirt and jeans torn in places, scratches and bruises hinted at on the exposed skin. Mr Happy sighed and shook his head before slowly walking over to the oak tree and sitting down against it, looking at Paul blankly. "I am fine... Just keeping your mind together and stopping anything from pushing you over the edge. You do however seem to be determined to get yourself killed, what with insulting people or attacking their pets..." "The bitch threw a bloody sewing machine at my head! I could of died... Probably... Maybe..." Paul looked at Mr Happy's unamused expression and groaned in annoyance, "Ok, fine! I over reacted and was a dick, big shocker! The cat was asking for it though..." "Its. A. CAT! Of course it's going to be a little bastard! You did not have to start a fight in someone's home though..." Mr Happy shook his head lightly and leaned it back against the wood of the tree, his eyes closing slowly before giving a small, weary sigh, "Just... I need a rest, so don't fuck up while I am gone, understood?" Without waiting for an answer he began to fade away like a ghost until Paul was once again alone in his little dream scape. The sun rose into the sky lazily on the fourth day since Ponyville's newest resident arrived, and unlike the day before, the residents of the town were more or less back on schedule as though nothing had happened, with only the most cowardly residents still barricaded away from the 'monster'. Stall's were set up in the main square, shops were opened and ponies were on their way to work or school, almost all thoughts of the 'wolf pony' and the party two days previous were completely forgotten, instead, their minds filled with thoughts of how the day would go, and what had to be done. This continued throughout the morning, the street's of Ponyville bustling with life as the time ticked on, and at around mid-morning the door to the Library opened and Twilight Sparkle, along with her assistant Spike, stepped out, glancing around with a warm smile before making her way through the town, greeting ponies she met along the way. "Um... Twilight? Why exactly are we going to Fluttershy's to meet 'him'?" Spike asked Twilight Sparkle, shuddering slightly as he spoke about Paul. "Apparently Paul and Rarity had a little argument yesterday which resulted in our new friend getting hurt... Far too easily if what I heard was right, so I am going to do a small experiment to see if-" Spike stopped dead at Twilight's words, his eyes wide as he stared at her, "Are you crazy?! You saw what he gets like when he loses his temper! I for one don't want to be in the same room as him if your gonna start ticking him off..." The purple alicorn giggled and shook her head, stopping in her tracks and turning around to look at the young dragon with a knowing look, "I am sure if we explain that it is for his own good he will understand, and besides... You could do with making a male friend Spike." "Hey! I have male friends already, Snips and Snails." "Spike... I said 'friend', not ponies you get into trouble with..." Twilight said to him with a frown, before turning back around and continuing on her way, her young assistant quickly moving to follow her. "We also have a job to do, remember? Today is the day Paul has to look after the Cutie Mark Crusaders..." Spike groaned and ran a clawed hand down his face, "Are you sure he wouldn't prefer being turned to stone for a while instead?" He joked, smiling up at Twilight but let it drop when he saw her disapproving gaze, "Sorry for trying to be funny..." Paul stood beside Fluttershy at the sink, drying all the plates and cutlery that she had washed, before placing it in a small pile to be sorted away. He felt the eyes of his hated rival, Angel Bunny on him, just as he had during breakfast and every second since. "I still think we should get Angel neutered... It would make him more peaceful, and it might even be more healthy. I mean, he wouldn't be getting run ragged with all the females for one..." Paul's tone was soft as he tried to convince the pegasus next to him to get his most hated foe 'de-balled' "I-I don't know... Little Angel bunny can be a tad... Pushy, at times, but doing something like that just seems so wrong... I honestly don't know what to do..." Fluttershy sighed sadly, casting her gaze over to the bunny in question, who sat on the kitchen table behind the pair, openly glaring at Paul. "It would be for the best... It would calm him down and maybe help him to be a little nicer?" He turned his head to look at Angel, giving the bunny rabbit his own glare and a dark grin. The sound of knocking from the front door killed any further conversation as Fluttershy set down her dishcloth and made for the door, but was stopped as Paul placed his hand on her shoulder. "Let me... You sort out what you need to, I will see who it is." He gave Fluttershy a smile and made his way out of the kitchen, through the living room and up to the door, opening it wide. "Yes? Oh... Hello Twinkles... Suitcase..." He directed the names with a glance, first at Twilight, and then at Spike. The young dragon blinked and looked around, not getting the name calling, but Twilight picked it up strait away, heaving a small sigh as she walked into Fluttershy's home, passed Paul. "Twilight... Sparkle... You know that's my name, and don't call Spike a suitcase. Now... About your punishment." The alicorn gave a smug grin as she saw Paul's eye's widen, his lips curling up into a sheepish grin. "Oh... Um, my punishment? What were my options again?" He asked nervously, looking from Twilight to Spike as he did so, closing the door once both were in the living room. "Spike? Did you bring the list?" Twilight asked her young assistant, who nodded and held up a small scroll, before opening it up and clearing his throat. "First, you are to apologize to one, Lyra Heartstrings and-" "Nope, next one, Scales..." Spike grumbled at the nickname and went back to his list, "Well, second was you being turned to stone or imprisoned for the period of one week..." "Um... Cool? I don't know, not being able to scratch my nose or my ass for a week is kinda a pain, and I don't think I would last in prison... Too handsome you see?" Paul shot Spike and Twilight a smirk, which both replied to with rolling their eyes. "Finally, you are to look after the group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders for the period of three days..." "Yep, that one, that's the one right there! How hard can looking after a group of teenagers be? I choose that as my punishment!" Twilight flinched slightly at his words, wondering if she should explain who the CMC were, but a look and shake of the head from Spike made her think better of it. 'Let him find out for himself... It's for the best, anyway...' Twilight fixed a smile on her face as she turned to lock eyes with Paul. "Now, about the other thing we came for..." "Twilight... I know what your going to say, and I am sorry, but I just don't feel that way ab-" Paul found himself surrounded in a purple aura and floating off the ground as he spoke, freezing when he saw the annoyed look on Twilight Sparkles face. "Um... I mean, please continue Sprinkles..." Twilight kept him suspended as she continued, "I have noticed that you seem slightly more fragile compared to an average pony... A simple kick being enough to shatter bone and badly injure you, blunt force trauma knocking you unconscious... All ponies have at least a small amount of internal magic that works as a kind of protective measure against damage..." Paul blinked, looking lost as Twilight went on with her talk about magical defenses and how she would need to run tests on him. He glanced at Spike and noticed the young dragon sighing, looking just as confused as he was, before making his way to the kitchen, leaving only Twilight and Paul in the living room. "Um... So... If I have gleamed anything from your little, boring speech, Twinkles, is that I don't get any passive armour?" He looked down at her, still floating in her magical aura as he waited for a reply, 'Thank you D&D and video games... Am I right Mr Happy?' Paul didn't expect an answer from within his head, knowing Mr Happy was off resting, but to his surprise, he got a response... 'Even now she holds us aloft like a child... She treats us like a fool... She makes us angry...' The dark, quiet whispers of the venom laced voice flowed through his head, making Paul flinch, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. 'Who the fuck are-' Paul's question and the whispers were silenced when the sound of a low, warning growl echoed through his mind, followed by the rattle of chains. "Paul? Paul are you ok?" He shook his head and looked at Twilight, noticing that while he was spaced out, he had been placed back on his feet, and now had Twilight stood in front of him, her left hand resting on his right shoulder gently, a look of concern on her face. "Yeah, I-I am fine Twilight, just a little shook up from being dangled in the air... Heh heh..." He nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down at the ground, trying to calm down. "Oh... Ok Paul, I am sorry, I should of put you down strait away... Still, I was saying you were partially right about the protection ponies have. I want to scan you to find out if I can offer the same effect for you or not..." "Nope..." Twilight stared at Paul for several moments before raising an eyebrow and frowning, "What do you-" "Nope... Nope nope nope..." Paul kept muttering 'Nope' as he walked passed Twilight and opened Fluttershy's front door before walking outside. "WAIT! The crusaders are waiting at Sugarcube Corner!" Twilight managed to shout after the rapidly retreating form of Paul as he made his way into Ponyville. "... And your naked!" Twilight saw him stop in the distance, before turning around smartly and strolling back to the cottage, passing by Twilight without a word, ignoring her smug smirk as he passed her. He looked around the living room for something and smiled when he found the bag of clothing from Rarity's. "Finally... Clothes! Now lets see what..." He blinked and pulled out a pair of bright purple socks, before setting them aside and sorting through the bag, "Wait... These are all either pink or purple! What the hell?!" He looked to Twilight, raising an eyebrow when he noticed the princess blushing at the socks, but he merely wrote it off as a 'pony' thing and took a pair of pink boxer shorts, the purple socks and a purple pant's and pink shirt combo. "Right, time to look... Fabulous..." Inside the gingerbread house that was Sugarcube Corner, sat three young ponies, one unicorn, one pegasus and an earth pony. They were seated around a small round table, a milkshake placed before each filly. "So... We get to spend the three days we are banned from school being looked after by that weird guy who turned up a few days ago?" The young unicorn filly asked, looking at her two companions for confirmation, and once they nodded she sighed, "I still wish Miss Cheerilee and the adults let us explain..." All three of them shook their heads, each reminding themselves never to try getting a cutie mark for arts and crafts with a hot glue gun and glitter. "Poor Pip..." The pegasus said quietly, earning a solemn nod from each of them, before the earth pony stood up from her seat and placed her hands on the table, a determined smile on her lips. "Alright then girls! Just cos Twilight told this fella to watch over us, don't mean we can't continue tryin to get our cutie marks. Scootaloo, do you have the plans?" Scootaloo grinned and reached down beside her chair and pulled up a small rucksack, taking a rolled up sheet of paper from within it and placing it on the table between the three of them. "Ok, Sweetie Belle, did ya get the materials?" Applebloom turned to Sweetie Belle and smirked when the unicorn filly nodded. "I sure did Applebloom! I left them by the clubhouse..." The CMC all raised their glasses of milkshake and each took a deep breath, before they shouted as one. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CA-" The door to the bakery slammed open and Paul strolled in, wearing his brightly colored clothes. He frowned as he looked around before ignoring the CMC and walking to the front desk, "Hello? Anyone about?" "PAULY!" The shout was soon followed by a pink blur shooting out from behind the counter, tackling Paul to the ground. "GAH! The fuck Pinkie?!" He looked at Pinkie Pie and groaned, rubbing the back of his head as he looked up at the energetic party pony sat on his stomach, straddling him, only to have his irritation turn into confusion as Pinkie frowned down at him and 'booped' his nose with her left index finger. "Ah ah ah... No mean language around foals Pauly Wally, or I tell on you to Fluttershy..." "She's not my mother..." Paul mumbled to himself as Pinkie got off him and helped him to his feet. 'She may as well be for all the crap she puts up with having you around... Hell, the six of them deserve a medal...' The familiar snarky comments from Mr Happy was heard in his mind, making Paul feel slightly more at ease. 'Thank fuck your back Happy... We need to talk later, but for now, I have a job to do...' 'God help the poor children...' Paul shook off Mr Happy's comment and turned from Pinkie to look at the only other ponies in the store, and sighed, "Let me guess... The Cutie Mark Crusaders or something?" The three girls all gave him blank stares, first looking over his clothing, then his face, before they burst out laughing, rolling off their chairs and onto the shop floor. "Y... Ya'll are the one lookin out for us? Mah sis really DOES have a sense o' humor..." Applebloom managed between giggles, slowly looking up at the now very ticked of male. "Yeah... Rainbow Dash told me he is a TOTAL wimp too... Even Sweetie Belle's sister could beat him up!" Scootaloo added as she wiped a tear from her eye before standing up. "Yeah, even my... HEY!" Sweetie Belle pouted as she got up, before returning to giggling as she look at Paul's attire. "My sister doesn't like you... Does she?" She asked him innocently. Paul, to his credit, only LOOKED like he was contemplating murder, while inside he was only lightly pissed off, 'Damn I hate kids...' 'It was this or stone... And I can't see you lasting more then five seconds without talking before you crack...' "Fuck you..." He mumbled, not knowing he had spoken out loud until a rough clip round the back of his head made him flinch, "OW! What the hell Pinkie?!" "No swearing infront of-" Pinkie began, before Sweetie Belle, who looked slightly confused spoke up. "Um, whats so bad about the word... 'Fuck'?" She asked with child like innocence, and was joined by the other crusaders who turned to Paul and Pinkie for an answer. Paul sighed and ran a hand down his face slowly, ignoring the glare he was getting from the pink mare beside him. "This is gonna be a loooooong three days..." To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 13: Punishment day 1, the one with the catapult and the vet. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 13: Punishment day 1, the one with the catapult and the vet. Sweet Apple Acres, home to the Apple family since the founding of Ponyville, and current home to Equestria's Element of Honesty. A place of hard work and family, it was seen by many in town as the one continually 'sane' place in all of Ponyville's wacky shenanigans... At least, usually it was... "Why the hell did she have to hit me?!" Shouted Paul, Ponyville's newest resident, as he nursed a rather large red hand print on his right cheek, which had swollen up from the hit. "I think Pinkie Pie just didn't like you saying naughty words around us..." Sweetie Belle, the young unicorn of the group, said as she walked through the orchard with Paul and her two best friends, Scootaloo and Applebloom. She looked up at him and gave a small, pity filled smile. "I think she might of over reacted just a little..." Scootaloo, the small winged pegasus of the group scoffed and shot the man a smug grin, "I am surprised she didn't kick his flank all over the bakery! I have never seen Pinkie Pie that mad, other then when somepony breaks a Pinkie promise..." All three of the ponies shuddered at the memory of the few times somepony was foolish enough to break one of the pink party mare's special promises... "Wait... You have pinkie promises here? Yeah, I mean... Where I came from it was seen as a bad thing to break one, but I can't imagine it being all THAT bad?" Paul said, but found himself confused as the three girls stared at him like he was an idiot. "Anyway... Are ya sure the stuff ya got is enough for the job, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom asked her friend, blanking Paul completely as the three walked in front of him, none of them really paying him any more mind. "Of course! Mister Strong Beam said it was the best wood he had!" Sweetie Belle told her earth pony friend with a determined look, nodding her head as she spoke, before turning to Scootaloo, "Are you sure this will get us our cutie marks? I mean... We already tried to get our 'building' cutie marks before, and our sisters DID say we were not to make anything dangerous again..." 'That does not sound like the sort of thing kids should be messing around with... You are supposed to stop shit like this! So do something you lazy fuck!' Mr Happy spoke inside his head, making Paul groan at his consciousness's words. "Ok, fine... Girls?" Paul called to them, causing all three to stop and turn to him, "Right... First things first... You three don't like me, and-" "I like you! Your funny." Sweetie Belle giggled, smiling warmly at him as Applebloom and Scootaloo just rolled their eyes. "Aw... Thank you, um... Sweetie Bloom?" He said, not having actually listened all that closely to the girls names when they were introduced. "Anyway, some of you don't like me, and I am not entirely thrilled about keeping an eye on you three for the next few days. Second, and most important... You three aren't planning on doing anything dangerous are you?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at them all. "Nope!" All three of the girls yelled in unison, innocent smiles adorning their faces even as they each had their fingers crossed behind their backs. "Well, that's good enough for me..." Paul said casually and walked passed them, leaving the cutie mark crusaders confused. "Wait... Ya ain't even gonna question us?" Applebloom asked in surprise, looking to her two friends and back to the man as he walked away, moving to keep up with him. "Your not going to ask us what we are planning?" Sweetie Belle spoke up next, walking in step with Applebloom behind Paul now as Scootaloo rushed forward and passed them all, before stopping before Paul. "Are you stupid or something?! We could be doing anything and you just ignore it? What kind of foalsitter are you?!" The young pegasus frowned up at him as he merely shrugged and walked passed her, seeing the small, white clubhouse the girls used as their HQ, come into sight. "Nope, no and to be brutally honest, I don't care... I ain't getting paid for this, I am bored already and I trust that the three of you can't do TOO much damage if I half ass this job..." He said, not even looking back at the three young mares, who were all staring at him as though he were insane. 'Wow... Top marks dumb ass... Ever thought of opening a nursery or a baby sitting service? What the fuck! You-' Mr Happy began but found himself drowned out as Paul recalled the lyrics to one of his favorite songs back on earth and focused on remembering that instead of listening to a lecture. The group soon stood before the CMC clubhouse, the three girls rushing off into the clubhouse, leaving Paul stood outside, humming the Oogie Boogie song before sitting against the tree opposite to the small tree house. He yawned loudly, slowly closing his eyes as he tried to take a nap, but just before he drifted off he was sure he could hear the sound of power tools... Paul's dreamscape was different this time much to his surprise. Instead of the rolling green fields and a large oak tree, there were golden sands as far as the eye could see, split up only by the emerald blue water of the ocean. The sun shone down on him as he stood in his poorly made dream shorts and sigh, running his hand down his face. "I hate the beach... Who the fu-" Suddenly he felt something hard smack him in the side of his head, knocking him off balance, "Gah! Fucker! Who...?" He turned and saw Mr Happy stood a short distance away, his usual jeans and shirt replaced with a pair of navy blue shorts and a white tank top. "Hey, fuck face, who told you that you were allowed to mess with my dreams?!" "For the hundredth time, I am you, dumb ass... Insulting me doesn't work, and I don't need permission since I 'am' your mind, remember? Who am I kidding, of course you don't." He sighed and looked at Paul, his crimson eyes locking onto Paul's blue ones, "Now then... I am going to teach you to pay attention and put some effort into your work you dead beat!" Paul raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to respond but found no words coming out as he noticed Mr Happy charging towards him with murder in his eyes. He gulped and turned around, starting to run away, "Fuck! Piss off you bastard! Do not make me set Silvermane on you!" He shouted over his shoulder as he kicked up sand as he ran for his life. Mr Happy, who was easily keeping pace, growled as he gained on Paul. "You will find your hairy, other self is in no mood to help your sorry ass." As Mr Happy spoke, both he and Paul looked towards the sea, where a small inflatable raft floated around, the unmistakable sight of Silvermane, Paul's werewolf side, sat inside it looking irritated and still covered in chains. "Aw come on! I had to suffer with him all my life and you stop him by putting him in a fucking raft?!" Paul growled, before letting out a surprised yelp as he tripped, landing face first in the sand. "Grr... I hate sand..." He mumbled as he opened his eyes... Sunlight hit Paul's eyes as he opened them, blinding him for a few seconds. He hissed and grumbled as he rubbed his eyes roughly to get the sun spots to go away. "Bloody sun... Why has my luck been like the Titanic since I got to this hellhole...?" 'Karma... And your lucky that you got away before I could throttle you...' Mr Happy mumbled in the back of his head, but was mostly ignored by Paul, who's eyes were focused on the three young mares outside the treehouse, standing beside... "Is that a bloody catapult?!" His shout caused the cutie mark crusaders to spin around and look at him, each having a sheepish smile on their faces. Sweetie Belle found herself nudged forward to speak for the group, leaving the nervous unicorn looking at a stunned Paul. "Um... We weren't going to do anything bad, honest..." She began to say, but stopped when she saw the corners of Paul's lips curl up into a toothy grin. "That... is... AWESOME! You three actually made this? All by yourselves?" He asked, getting up from his sitting position against the tree and walked passed the girls to get a better look of the contraption. For a homemade construct, it was surprisingly sturdy, even though it did look slightly cobbled together, with nails sticking out here and there, and one or two pieces of wood misaligned. "This is really good for a first try... You girls could do well with woodwork if you keep at it..." Scootaloo rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest, "Pfft, yeah right... We didn't even get our cutie marks... This was a huge waste of time..." She looked to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, who each nodded in agreement, much to Paul's shock. "Wait! Maybe you just need to keep focused on one thing? Not just up and drop something after one try..." He sighed when he noticed his words fell on deaf ears, all three of the cutie mark crusaders were busy looking depressed. "Wait! Maybe if we launch somethin' from this here catapult, we may get our cutie marks in... Um..." Applebloom stopped, scratching her head as she tried to think of what to say next. "Cutie mark crusaders, catapult crew?" Scootaloo said, raising an eyebrow as a grin slowly worked its way onto her features. "Yeah! That could work! What do you think Mr Paul?" Sweetie Belle looked over to Paul, smiling sweetly as she tilted her head to the side. "Aw... You called me Mr... That's cute, but I think-" "Who cares what this old guy has to say, we know what we need to do, so lets do this!" The young pegasus interrupted Paul, her eyes burning with determination, a look that was shared with her fellow crusaders as they all marched off back into their treehouse, leaving an irritated human alone beside their hand made catapult. "I am not old! I am twenty-one years old for gods sake, where I am from, that's JUST an adult!" He shouted to the heavens, flinging his arms into the air in irritation, before turning his gaze back to the catapult, raising an eyebrow as he noticed something on the firing arm. "Wait... Is that an elastic band? What were they thinking... This thing couldn't launch an apple, let alone anything heavy..." He lifted his sock covered left foot and placed it gently on the catapults small launching platform. 'I would tell you what you are doing is retarded, but you would not listen so... Go ahead, just don't go crying to me when you get hurt...' "Shut up Mr Happy, as I said... This thing couldn't fling anything even if it... Uh oh..." He whimpered pitifully as he heard a loud twang and suddenly felt himself getting launched at high speed through the air, flying high over the orchard and towards Ponyville proper, his loud, girlish screaming filling the air as he went... Applejack stood beside her big brother, Macintosh Apple (Or Big Macintosh to most), and sighed heavily as she looked back and forth, dancing from hoof to hoof all the while. "Are ya sure we can trust that varmint with our sister? Ah mean... What if somethin' happens?! What if Applebloom gets hurt somethin awful! Maybe I should head on down to the farm and..." Big mac, standing at an impressive six foot two, his bright red fur, orange mane and  matching tail made him stand out quite a bit, giving no illusions to any mares nearby why he was one of Ponyville's most sought after stallion. He shook his head and put his hand on his sister's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "Enope..." was all he said, but it seemed to calm down the orange farm mare, who smiled softly and nodded up at him. "Yep... Your right Big Mac, I can't be rushing off like that, I have ta give that Paul fella a chance to... Do ya' hear somepony screaming?" Applejack tilted her head to the side as her ears twitched, listening for the direction of the screaming. Big Mac also stopped to listen, before looking up... His jaw dropped as he saw the rapidly approaching missile that was Paul, who was still screaming in pure terror... He was silenced however when he hit the ground, and proceeded to skid a few inches froward on his front before coming to a stop, blood pooling around him from his unseen wounds on his front. He twitched once or twice before going still. Needless to say, the ponies in the marketplace were stunned, not at all sure what to do, at least, all but Big Mac who rushed over and knelt beside the injured human, placing a hand gently on Paul's back. "Ya still alive there?" Big Macintosh asked carefully, looking over to his sister and nodding, which made her snap out of her own shock and rush over. "Guh... Ma... Mah beautiful... Face..." Paul mumbled quietly, his words slurred as he lay still, groaning loudly now as the pain hit him full force. "What was that sugar cube?" Applejack asked softly as she and Big Mac pulled Paul up to his feet and each of the Apple siblings took an arm and supported him by it... The orange mare nearly lost her lunch as she saw the state he was in when they lifted him up, giving a loud gasp at the sight of the deep cuts and bruises that showed through the man's torn shirt, each of which bled quite openly. The worst part though was his face... Which looked as though he had headbutted a belt sander. "Oh gravity... Thou art a heartless bitch..." Paul managed to say before passing out thanks to a mix of the pain and blood loss. Big Mac shook his head and motioned to Applejack to pay attention, "We best be gettin' him to a doctor..." He rumbled quietly, looking around at the small crowd of ponies gathering to see what was going on. "Ah know that Big Mac... But where the hay do we take him? To the hospital or the vet?" Applejack said as they made their way down the road towards Ponyville's hospital. Paul awoke back on the beach that was his dreamscape, making him groan in both pain and annoyance, "Aw come on... First I have to deal with gravity kicking my ass and now I have to put up with sand in the worst places..." "I would be more worried about nearly dying dumbass... You may be able to regenerate most things, but it hurts like hell growing back skin and setting bones back in place..." Mr Happy said casually from where he sat a short way away from Paul, laying back on a sun lounger with a large purple umbrella keeping him in the shade. Beside the lounger, chained to one of the legs of the lounger was Silvermane, who was dozing in the heat, curled up and looking more relaxed. "I nearly bite the bullet and you two just sit around relaxing?! Where the fuck is my sympathy?!" Paul growled, slowly getting to his feet and stomping over to Mr Happy, standing over him and glaring down at his doppelganger. "Ok... I told you that stepping onto the firing platform of a catapult was ass retarded... But no, you had to be mister jack-ass and get yourself launched... Ever injury you have suffered since coming here is mostly your own fault... You need to use your head and be more polite with these ponies..." Mr Happy responded in a calm tone, before reaching down with his right hand and idly started to scratch Silvermane behind his right ear, earning a contented huff from the large werewolf as he slept. "Fuck that, I do what I want... And... Wait... What the hell am I saying?! I was NOT this much of a dick back home. What the hell has happened to my head?" He asked, looking suddenly unsure, his bravado disappearing and replaced with fear. "Am I really that fucked up? I nearly died! What do I do?" He asked pleadingly to Mr Happy who raised an eyebrow and looked up at Paul in surprise. "Well color me impressed, dumbass... You actually noticed, so let me fill you in... I don't know.' "Wait... What? What do you mean, 'I don't know'?! Your my mind right? Surely you keep a track of this kind of thing?!" "Sure, but remember, I turned up after you put on that amulet of mind and body buggery, so I am not too sure what help I can be other then saying... Keep your cool and stop doing stupid things... Now... Your going to wake up, and I want you to stay nice, and calm... Ok?" "O-ok... I can do that, lets get this over with." Paul let out a loud, pain filled whimper as he regained consciousness, keeping his eyes shut for the moment as he tried to get used to the sharp pain that emanated from his face and chest. "Guh... Note to self... Make a parachute next time, or I should just not do something like that again..." He grumbled to himself as the sound of hospital equipment filled his ears, a low, steady beeping telling him he was hooked up to something already. "At least they took me to the hospital..." "Oh! Our little patient has come round I see! Aw, such a poor thing... Who could be so cruel as to shave a poor monkey and launch it into town without a care... Such cruel ponies..." Said a feminine voice, her tone soft and soothing, similar to Fluttershy's voice but slightly more lively. "Wha- wait! Monkey?!" He opened his eyes and looked around, ignoring his bandaged chest and face, along with the fact he was completely naked otherwise. The walls of the room he was in were plastered with posters on how to look after different pets and about different pet care products. "No... They took me to the fucking VETS?!" He more or less roared, before a sharp stabbing pain through his chest and lips caused him to whimper, making him have to lie back down on the vet's examination table. He took a glance at the vet and sighed. The tan colored mare with a two tone light blue mane had ignored his outburst and was busy checking different sheets of paper, which probably had his data on it. "How is this my life... Ponyville sucks..." Paul mumbled bitterly as the vet walked over to a small counter by the table he was lay on and took a rather large syringe. "We just need to give you your shot's and you will be all set!" She chirped happily, ignoring the look of pure horror on Paul's face as she closed in... "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" To Be Continued. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 14: Punishment day 1-2, Recovery and story time. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 14: Punishment day 1-2, Recovery and story time. Fluttershy sat in her living room upon the couch Paul usually slept on, the yellow pegasus mare looking nervous as she twiddled her thumbs and gazed at the old wooden clock on her wall, watching time tick on by. She was getting more worried as she noticed it had just passed by the four o'clock in the afternoon mark and Paul, who should of been back by now, had not turned up. "Oh dear... I do hope everything has gone okay..." Almost as if the universe had decided to answer her question for her, a loud knocking was heard at the front door, catching Fluttershy's attention. She got to her hooves slowly and made her way to the door, opening it ever so slightly and glancing outside, "H-hello, can I..." She began before freezing up and her eyes going wide at what she saw... There, to the mare's utter horror, stood a half bandaged, nude and visibly mutilated figure, whose face, what could be seen through the poorly wrapped bandages, was like something out of a Hellraiser movie, with exposed muscle under torn flesh and missing lips to boot.  Needless to say, Fluttershy's scream could be heard all throughout Ponyville, only ending when she fell backwards and landed on the ground with a heavy thud after passing out from the shock... "Huh... You would think she saw a ghost or something..." Paul mumbled with a slight slur, his face slowly fixing itself even as he spoke, before casually stepping over the unconscious mare's body and tried to close the front door, only to find he couldn't since her hooves were in the way. "Guh... More work..." 'I would hardly call what you have done today work... Exercise that you very much needed, yes, but work...'  Mr Happy snarked at the back of Paul's mind, judging Paul as he knelt down and gently hooked his arms under Fluttershy's and dragged her inside a short way, then let her back down on the ground before shutting the front door. 'You could at least-' "What? She is surprisingly heavy, I spent the last few hours running away from a crazed vet who can't take 'I am NOT an animal!' for an answer and to cap it off... I am hurt, hungry and tired... Not even in that order..." Paul grumbled, speaking out loud, much to the confusion of the one or two critters that had poked their little heads into the living room to see what was going on. One of said critters was Angel Bunny who, upon seeing Fluttershy, went into an almost adorable frenzy, leaping at Paul and latching onto his left leg before sinking his teeth into his ankle... Which seemed to have no effect on the man. Paul glanced down at the bunny and tilted his head to the side, his blue eyes unblinking as he reached down and gripped Angel by the scruff of his neck and lifting him up so they were face to face. "Ah... What have we here? A late night snack for the wolves? Best put you outside where you belong..." Paul said in a cheerful, slurred tone before walking to the door with Angel Bunny still struggling like mad to escape from his grip, but having no luck. After a few moments of exiting Fluttershy's cottage and walking around the building so he got a good view of the Everfree forest Paul looked down once more at his arch-nemesis with a lipless grin, "Next stop... Hell. When you get there, tell em Paul Silvermane sent ya, you little rodent!" 'Paul! No! What the fuck are you doing?!' Mr Happy shouted at the back of Paul's mind, only able to watch on as he held the now terrified bunny up and let him fall... Before punting the white furball into the forest a good distance. Paul whistled loudly and clicked his tongue, "Now... Bed..." He strolled back towards the front door of Fluttershy's cottage, a certain spring in the naked humans step, but stopped as the sound of beating wings reached his ears, making him look up at a certain rainbow maned mare. "What the buck is going on here?! I heard screaming, so you better tell me where Fluttershy you stu-stu-stupid... monkey...?" Rainbow Dash managed to stutter out as Paul looked up at her, his ruined face having very much the same effect on her as it did on Fluttershy. The brave pegasus that had flown down to check on her friend found her courage fail her at the hideous sight below her, fainting dead away mid air and landing with a loud thud a few feet below on the grass. "Huh, my grandmother did say I had looks that could make a girl swoon..." Paul chuckled as he casually gripped Rainbow Dash's legs and dragged her towards the slightly ajar door to the cottage, not caring as the unconscious pegasus smacked her head off the step before placing her on top of Fluttershy in a compromising position. 'Ok, I'll ignore the fact that you probably just killed an innocent animal, and that your leaving Fluttershy on the floor... But why the hell are you leaving Rainbow Dash in a position like that?' "Because, Mr Happy, I only promised to 'try' and act normal again, also, fuck Dash... Monkey my left ass cheek..." He yawned loudly and blinked a few times, feeling his body sway slightly where he stood, "Enough angry time... Time for sleep." He mumbled before staggering over to the couch and face planted onto the piece of furniture and letting sleep take his battered form. The sound of shocked gasps and yelps of panic woke Paul the next morning, the man groaning as he ran a hand over his face carefully, thankful to find that even though it was still tender in places, he was nearly fully healed, even his lips having regrown. "Thank fuck I no longer look like Pinhead's inbred cousin..." He mumbled to himself as he rolled off the couch with a thud, landing on the floor, before getting to his feet and tugging the worn bandages from his body and tossing them on the couch. Paul glanced over to where he had left the two pegasi mares last night and found them both stumbling to their hooves,  their cheeks burning red as they avoided each others gaze. "Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted as her eyes caught sight of him, ignoring the fact he was naked once more, "What the buck happened last night?! I remember hearing Fluttershy screaming and-" She stopped as her reddish-pink eyes caught sight of the torn and discarded bandages on the couch, "Wait a second! You were the one that knocked me out last night!" She started to stomp towards Paul, snorting loudly as her anger increased in leaps and bounds. Paul, noticing the look of murder in Rainbow Dash's eyes, began to back away, flashing a nervous smile, "Um... Listen, yesterday was kinda rough, got shot off a catapult and ended up at a vet of all places... So lets not lose our heads here." He raised his hands in mock surrender as he kept backing away till his back hit the wall beside the kitchen door. 'Oh shit...! Happy, what the fuck can I do now?!' He thought, his blue eyes wide with fear as the irritated pegasus approached him. 'SnAp heR neck LikE a TwiG!' The dark, twisted sound of a new voice assaulted his mind, making him yell out loud in pain as the voice brought about sharp stabbing pains in his head. He clutched at the sides of his head and slide to the floor, groaning loudly as his breathing grew ragged, the room around him seemed to blur and even the sounds of Rainbow and Fluttershy becoming muffled. 'Mr Happy! Wha-?!' He screamed inside his head just as the pain began to recede, his entire body relaxing as he panted, "what...?" Paul mumbled as he glanced around, his vision coming back fully now, his gaze finding Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stood over him, both with looks of concern on their faces. 'You are one lucky fuck, it took a lot out of me keeping that splinter locked away... You really need to sit down with me and work this out sometime, maybe even ask Princess Luna to-' Mr Happy's voice whispered from the back of his mind, his words soothing his psyche as he spoke. 'Who or what was that? It sounded pissed and... Oh god, it wanted me to...' Paul shivered as he slowly staggered to his feet, finding a helping hand from Rainbow Dash hooking around his right arm to help steady him while Fluttershy rushed into the kitchen, saying something about 'medicine'. "Hey, you ok buddy?" Rainbow Dash asked, cocking an eyebrow and looking him up and down slowly as she asked, slowly pulling her hand away from his arm once he was steady. "Y-yeah, just a bit of a headache. It is probably some left over side effect from skidding on my face..." "Well, look on the bright side, at least you can't get any uglier monkey boy..." She said as she flicked his nose before making her way to the front door and taking off into the sky with one beat of her wings. "Bitch..." Paul mumbled under his breath, before making his way over to his bag that still sat beside the couch and tugging it open, pulling out a purple button up shirt and slipping it on. After he slipped on some a pair of black pants and purple socks he made his way into the kitchen, finding Fluttershy sat at the kitchen table, having what looked like a panic attack. "Um... Fluttershy? You ok?" "Oh, Paul... While I was looking around for some pain killers for you, I noticed that Angel Bunny was nowhere to be seen! I have asked my other little animal friends and they don't know where he is either..." 'Aw balls... Why did you let me do that Mr Happy? First you let me kill small animals and then you let psychotic personalities have free reign.' He thought as he moved to stand beside the miserable looking pegasus, who had just began crying, tears running down her cheeks as she sniffled. 'Huh... For some reason I feel like somewhere, somehow, someone is cursing me for making her die...' 'I did try to stop you, but as usual you ignored the advice given... And as for 'him', don't worry too much. He is locked away for now, so as long as you keep calm you will be fine.' Paul felt something twinge at the back of his head, as though he had been clipped round the back of his head. 'No one is out to get you... Well, not yet anyway, but it is still early days. Now, you can either be honest with her and tell her what you did, or you can be a dick and deny any kno-' 'Easy way out it is!' "Fluttershy... I am sorry to hear that, but maybe he just decided to... I don't know, move on?" Paul said softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder as she looks up at him with her glistening eyes. "He is old enough to make his own choices, and maybe he just chose to seek out his own way, you know?" 'You are so going to hell... And I hope you get the worst punishments on offer there, you dick...' Fluttershy looked down at the table for a short time, before taking a deep breath and smiling sadly, "Yes... Maybe your right, he is a grown bunny now, and I am sure Angel can handle himself ok on his own." 'I fucking hope not... My whole story rides on him being dog shit by now...' Paul grumbled in his head while outside he wore a smile, nodding down at her, "Indeed, so lets not get ourselves down, we should celebrate! I think-" The sound of knocking rang out through the house, making both pony and man turn to look through the kitchen door and out at the front door where the noise issued from. After a few moments of silence another series of knocks, these ones more rapid in delivery, landed on the door. Paul rolled his eyes and, after giving Fluttershy's shoulder one more gentle squeeze, he made his way to the front door, opening it wide to reveal the knocker to be none other then Ponyville's resident dragon, Spike. "Can I help you scales, or do you just like hammering away at people's doors at...?" Paul glanced behind him over to above the fireplace at the old wooden clock.  "Eleven in the morning?" "Well good morning to you too... Twilight sent me round to see if you were ok and if so, to take you on to your second day of punishment." Spike said, glancing up and down Paul casually before reaching up and poking Paul's chest with his finger, "You at least look better then last night..." "Wait... You saw me last night?" "Um, yeah? All of Ponyville saw you running through town naked, being chased by the vet..." "So all of Ponyville saw me running away, ass naked and looking like a complete cenobite tit, and not one of you bothered to do anything?! Oh god... Please tell me I can come back from this without looking like an idiot, Scales, please!" Spike chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck while looking away from Paul, "Well..." "Aw come on Paul! It isn't that bad I swear!" The young dragon shouted after the man, who was presently making his way towards the market in the middle of Ponyville, ignoring the manner stares and whispered comments about him. "Spike..." Paul stopped dead in the middle of the street, causing Spike to walk into the back of him. "I am going to go give Applesauce a piece of my mind, then I am going to go and continue my day as though I wasn't stuck in a completely different world, where I am getting karma smacked daily and slowly losing my mind..." "Um, her name is actually Applej-" "It doesn't matter what her name is! That bloody hick took me to a vet to treat what could of been a life threatening injury, who the hell does that?!" "Well, on my birthday last year..." Spike began, looking down at his clawed feet as he spoke, "I kinda lost myself to my greed and Twilight had to take me to the vet too... Paul?" The young dragon blinked as he looked around, noticing that his companion had already continued on his way. "Hey! Wait for me...!" Applejack handed over a large, brown bag filled to the brim with shiny red apples over her stall to Berry Punch, a plum colored earth pony who smiled warmly to the farm pony and handed over the bits for the apples. "Thanks Applejack, hope to see you and your brother down at my bar at some point... Not seen either of you since that party a few months back where Rainbow Dash-" Applejack blushed and shook her head, chuckling nervously as she looked everywhere but at Berry Punch, "Yeah, well... This apple buckin' season has me an' Big Mac working somethin' fierce." She sighed softly before shooting Berry a small smile, "Big Mac an' me will try an get down when w- oh darn..." "Hmm?" Berry Punch followed the apple farmers gaze and turned around, noticing the towns newest resident walking towards them, a neutral expression on his face. "Oh! Its whats his name... Silvermane, right? Wonder what he wants?" Applejack didn't reply, her eyes wide and her pupils shrunk down to pin points as she felt a sinking feeling growing in her stomach at the mans approach. "Hello random pony... Hello Applejack..." Paul said coldly as he stood beside Berry Punch at the stall, his eyes glaring at Applejack all the while, more or less blanking out the other pony beside him. "You and I need to talk, alone, about where to take an injured person in times of emergency..." 'Paul... You need to be careful what you say, as anything you say will-' Mr Happy starts to say but stops suddenly, before sighing loudly, 'You aren't even listening are you?' "What the hell?! The vets? Really? I was missing half my face and chest flesh and you take me to a bloody vet?! That bitch was crazy..." Paul glanced around shiftily, looking uneasy and twitchy for a moment, "I still feel like she is hunting me... Waiting to give me those injections..." Applejack calmed down rapidly as she watched Paul going on with himself, making her raise an eyebrow to his words, "Um... Sugar cube? The vet ain't out ta get you, and what the hay were you expecting Mac and me to do? We don't know nothing about if our treatments are the same as ya own..." The farm pony adopted a frown on her face as she pushed her stetson back before leaning forwards to stare at Paul, "Ya'll should be thankin' me and Big Mac for even botherin to take ya to get seen to, most ponies in their right minds would of left your sorry hide in the street..." Paul flinched a little at Applejack's statement, 'The ponies would of just left me there...?' He thought to himself as he stepped back, nearly bumping into an out of breath Spike who had run up behind him. "Finally! I *huff* caught up with you..." Spike said between breaths, his eyes glancing between Paul, then to Berry Punch and Applejack. "Um, did I miss anything?" "Come on Spike... I have a job to do..." Paul said quietly, not lifting his gaze from the floor as he turned, nodding to the young dragon, "Lead on, because hell if I remember where that club house is..." Spike blinked before heaving a heavy sigh, "Fine, its this way... See you later Applejack!" He waved to her as he walked off, leading Paul off down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres. Berry Punch, who had been standing by the stall silently, watched the young drake and the man leave, before turning her gaze to the apple farmer, "Don't you think that was a little harsh? Yeah, the guy isn't making the best impressions around Ponyville, but still..." The plum colored pony shrugged, "He isn't the worst that I have seen, I will just say that. Thanks for the apples, and remember, I hope to see you in my bar at some point..." She flashed Applejack a wink before turning and walking off, disappearing into the small crowd that milled around the small market square. "Ah know... Ah know he doesn't mean ta act like that..." Applejack said under her breath, a sad look upon her features as she leaned on the stall, shaking her head as she waited for her next customer. It took Spike and Paul a good twenty minutes to make their way to the Crusader's clubhouse, both males having kept to themselves and not talking. Paul wasn't talking, as his thoughts went back to what Applejack had said, and Spike wasn't talking since he still felt just a tad uncomfortable around the werewolf. "Hey! You three in there? No? Oh well, best go home..." Paul said before turning to leave, not even waiting for a response. "Yeah, we're here alright!" Came Applebloom's voice from the clubhouse, seconds before she opened the front door and peered out, smiling cheerfully at both Spike and Paul. "Bugger..." Paul muttered under his breath before taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. 'Keep calm, Paul, You will be-ShOw theM YOur trUe ColorS!' Paul gritted his teeth, his back still to the clubhouse and everyone present as his body shook faintly, his teeth feeling slightly sharper to him as he kept taking short and shallow breaths, slowly calming down and trying to ignore the now terrifying voice inside his head that wasn't Mr Happy. 'Happy... For the love of god, keep whatever is wrong with me in check, at least till I am not around anyone else... Fuck, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I snapped and-' Paul felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and soon the voice of Mr Happy returned, sounding weary, 'I wont let that happen idiot... I would make you suffer brain death before that, I promise you...' "Mr Paul?" Sweetie Belle spoke from beside Paul, her voice laced with concern as she looked up at him, "Are you ok? Your shaking." "Oh come on Sweetie! He is just being a baby because we proved our catapult worked yesterday, isn't that right Grandpa?" Scootaloo teased from beside Applebloom at the clubhouse door, the orange pegasus filly giggling and wearing a smug grin as Applebloom joined her in her amusement along with Spike. Paul sighed and looked down at Sweetie Belle and smiled weakly, "Yeah... Runty is right, I am just feeling a little salty about being wrong, that's all... honest." He kept on a brave face, knowing it wasn't right to lie to them, but what else could he do. "If your sure Mr Paul..." Sweetie said before moving over to Spike and smiling happily, "Are you here to play with us today too?" Spike smiled back at Sweetie Belle and shrugged, glancing to Paul as he spoke, "Twilight gave me the day off to keep an eye on him so he doesn't do anything dumb so... Yeah, I guess I can hang around." "Guh, boring! Lets get this over with, we haven't even come up with anything to do today to get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo said before rolling her eyes and heading back inside the clubhouse, before being followed by Applebloom who just shrugged. "Come on inside, I am sure you will both fit... I think?" Sweetie said as she went up the ramp to the clubhouse and went inside, leaving Paul and Spike staring at the door. "Um... You first, I insist..." Spike tried to say, but found himself being pushed forward as Paul moved behind him and began shoving him up the ramp. "Ladies first, Scales..." "My name is Sp- Oof!" Spike managed before being pushed through the open door and landing on his face. Paul chuckled lightly as he made his way inside, having to duck down and squeeze through the door just to get into the clubhouse, and once inside he had to stay crouched. "Huh... Not a bad place, reminds me of something I had when I was younger." He said more to himself then anyone present, his gaze traveling around the clubhouse interior, noticing the many maps, failed plans and other drawings that were pinned to the many walls. "Hmm... Hey! I've got an idea! Lets all tell stories? Like, funny things that happened ta us or our kin and maybe even some scary like stories?" Applebloom said as she stood at the top of a square table, with Sweetie Belle on her left and Scootaloo on her right. "We could get our story teller cutie marks?" The two other fillies nodded their heads and turned to look at Spike and Paul expectantly, leaving an awkward silence slowly filling the room. "Um... What?" Paul asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the three ponies, unsure what they were doing. "Duh! Your the guest, so you have to tell us a story first, then Spike and then us, its only fair." Scootaloo said, still grinning as the three Crusaders took a seat on the floor and waited, all looking to Paul. "Guh, fine... Ok, story story... Um... OH! I know, there is one legend told through my family, but I think you might all be a little young to-" He didn't bother finishing his sentence as four sets of eyes glared at him, making him raise his hands in mock surrender.  "Ok, fine... Let me tell you all the tale of 'The White Death'..." To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: Arrival //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: Arrival Darkness... The only thing that Paul Silvermane, werewolf and handyman extaordinaire, could see as he opened his eyes. Observing the lightless enviroment around him for a moment, he let out a low groan, his head aching painfully. Paul attempted to raise himself off the ground where he lay, dragging himself onto all fours sluggishly, untill a wave of nausea hit him abruptly, ceasing any further attempt to move. He took a few moments to relax, closing his eyes tightly once more, breathing heavily as he tried to will the pain coursing through his head away, his entire body shaking with effort as he did... Just as suddenly, the pain that had wracked his body, abruptly subsided leaving Paul uneasy and bewildered. A cool breeze began to wash over him, refreshing his senses and bringing the sounds of birdsong and the rustling of leaves. Paul peered out into his surrounds, his eyes adjusting slowly to the poor visibility, he began to make out rough shapes within the shadowy darkness. Bracing himself against a nearby tree while staggering to his feet, still feeling unsteady. Running his hand through his short, dirty blond hair. "Where the heck am I now...?" He mumbled, not sure what to make of the entire situation, trying to remember how he got to this place... He remembered... Leaving his house, heading out in high spirits to meet a girl, who he had been smitten with for a long time, and to finally ask her out. Paul could picture himself walking down the street of his home town and then... A flash of purple? The young man let out a roar of pain forcing him to drop to his knee's, clutching his head whimpering in agony. Sure enough, a few moments of not trying to focus too hard on his memories and the pain vanished. Paul huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger of his right hand, "Great... No idea how I got here, I am lost in some woods and to top it off... I am late for meeting the girl of my dreams!" He let out a heavy sigh and got to his feet, taking stock of his situation. He was wearing a pair of navy blue jeans, which were slightly battered, a white t-shirt and a pair of blue sneakers, and other then his clothes, the 'human' had nothing else on him, not having thought to bring his phone for reasons even he couldn't guess... He took several moments to look around the clearing, sniffing the air, checking for any signs of tracks or even a sort of path, and upon finding nothing and only smelling clean, unpolluted air, he realized he must of been sent to somewhere in the countryside, because how else could the air be so clean and free of the pollution of mankind? Paul remembered talk in his family of what little magic had been left on earth, and of the few werewolf clans, vampire covens and a few human mages that could still call upon the ancient arcane arts... But why would any of the above bother with a simple, slightly average guy like Paul... He shook his head, not wanting to waste too much time on such matters, knowing he needed to find some kind of shelter before the night came, and with it his change... Paul just prayed it wasn't going to be a full moon tonight. Several hours passed as the werewolf male stalked through the thick undergrowth of the woods, pushing through bushes and ducking under low hanging branches, he was getting rapidly tired of nature... All through his walk, Paul noticed that the bird song and general background noise of the forest died out, until there was no sound but the males footfalls. This silence continued for several more minutes, making Paul extremely nervous as he looked around, noticing for a split second a pair of glowing green eyes watching him, before they vanished, "Yeah... Hell no!" He said loudly and took off at a run, causing the forest around him to erupt into life once more as the sound of several pursing pairs of feet filled the air, reaching the young werewolf's ears as he kept running, not daring to look back as he ducked, dodged and weaved his way through the tree's, not stopping till he burst from the tree line after a short while, and only then did he spin round, finally seeing his pursuers... "Wooden... Wolves?" He gaped, staring at the four large, wooden canines that growled at the male from the treeline, none of them taking a step out from it to follow him, but Paul didn't seem to notice as he kept speaking, "Wolves... made of wood?! Really?!" He growled, throwing his arms up into the air, "Of all the things that I have seen, you are the dumbest yet!" He panted and finally caught his breath, leaving the timber wolves staring at the man curiously, not used to their prey going off on a rant about them, before the small pack turned around and disappeared back into the forest, where Paul rapidly lost sight of them. "Well, that happened... And why didn't they follow me?" He said under his breath, slightly confused but deciding to mark it up to being magic, and he knew better then to question such things... A short way away from where the lost werewolf had just broke out of the treeline sat a small cottage, built to look as though it were a natural part of the landscape, with grass, tree's and flowers growing from its roof and the small area around it, with a large garden around the home, where all manners of animals and critters were sat, all staring in the direction of the woods where they could all sense something happening and not one of them liked it... A loud clatter was heard from within the cottage and a few moments later a winged women stepped from the cottage's kitchen's backdoor into the garden, she was about 5'2", had long beautiful pink hair which hid half her face with a matching colored tail, she was covered in yellow fur from head to hoof, and on her back was a pair of feathery yellow wings folded against her back. The mare was not wearing a stitch of clothing, showing off a mark on each of her ass cheeks, which showed three butterflies. She looked around at her animals with concern, moving to a nearby grey furred kitten and softly petting its head, "Oh dear... What ever is the matter..." She mused and moved slowly over to the small fence that surrounded her garden, making sure to timidly hide behind one of the fence posts as well as she could as she observed something she had never seen before... She gazed at the male with a mix of fear and curiosity, not daring to move or even make a sound as she observed him, wondering what this hairless creature was. Paul had finally calmed down and ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it slightly as he turned his back to the forest and looked around, noticing in the distance what looked like a very colorful looking town, like something you would see in a cartoon... He smiled though and nodded to himself, "Finally... Just need to find out where the hell I am and then get back home, easy enough." He stopped though when he heard a loud snapping and someone letting out a girly 'Eep'. He spun round and froze at what he saw, a beautiful women... At least he thought it was a women, as he knew most humans did not have fur, or for that matter wings and a tail, hell, even worse was the hooves. The mare lay on top of the broken remains of a fencepost, which had snapped in two from her leaning on it for too long. The pair stared at each other in complete silence for several long minutes, the male more shocked by the mare's appearance, while she was frozen in pure fear, not daring to move in case the creature before her was dangerous. This continued until a small, white furred bunny rabbit hopped up onto the stunned mare's back between her wings and thumped his left foot into her back, making the mare gasp, and causing her to turn to look at the bunny. "Angel bunny... You know you can't be doing that to anypony..." She said in a quiet motherly tone to the rabbit, Paul completely forgotten for a moment as the irritated looking 'Angel bunny' took her attention. Paul coughed into his hand to regain the Mare's attention, which caused the timid thing to turn back to look at him, her hands shooting up to grip her mane, pulling it over her face to hide behind it, hoping the male would ignore her. Paul let out an irritated growl and moved over to where the cowering mare lay, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow, "Um... Hello?" No sooner had the words left his mouth he found his head snapping back as the bunny launched itself at him, kicking him square in the jaw, sending him staggering back, "Gah fuck!" He cursed, moving his left hand to rub his aching jaw. Angel bunny stood before the yellow furred mare as he landed, giving the werewolf a death glare as he stood on guard. The stand off went on for a few moments before the bunny found himself picked up and held firmly against said mare's chest, resting between her well formed breasts. "Pl-Please... Don't hurt Angel... If that's ok with you that is..." She whispered out, her face still hidden mostly by her mane. Paul blinked, a small blush forming on his cheeks, "So cute..." He found himself mumbling, before shaking the thought from his mind and speaking again, "I mean no harm... I just want to find out where I am so I can get home, I mean no harm to you or..." He growled, showing his teeth slightly, "This 'Angel' of yours..." He slowly let a small smile grace his lips though and sighed, "My names Paul... Paul Silvermane, whats your name?" The mare gulped loudly, her blue eyes looking up at him, fear easily seen present in them as she nodded, still holding the glaring bunny close against her, "My... My names Fluttershy..." she whispered, barely being able to be heard. "Um... Come again? Whats your name beautiful?" Paul asked, looking down at her with a confused expression on his face, but a small smile still graced his lips. Fluttershy blushed at his words, but slowly spoke once more, her eyes staring at the ground all the while. "My names... Fluttershy..." She closed her eyes tightly, her ears folding back against her head, shaking slightly when she finished, clearly terrified. Paul blinked and stepped back, looking from left to right rapidly, not sure what to do, as trying to calm down a women had never come up for him before this point. "H... Hey... No need to be scared, I am harmless... I am sorry if I upset you with my sudden appearance... Please don't cry...!" He said the last part rapidly, seeing the yellow furred mare's eyes start to well up with tears, "Ah jeez... Listen, I am gonna go..." he pointed to the forest over his shoulder with his thumb, "So please calm down..." Paul turned to leave but found something tugging at his wrist, stopping him from leaving. He blinked a few times before turning and looking down at the shy mare who, while still looking away, but had scooted closer to him on her knee's, her left hand was holding onto his wrist while her free hand held the still struggling Angel, "You... Your going back into the Everfree forest? But... it's dangerous in there!" She said in her timid tone, now turning to look up at him, her eyes locking on his own. Paul could tell she was still scared of him, if the shivering her felt from her hand on his wrist was any indicator, so he just sighed and flashed her a grin, "Hey, I can take care of..." He stopped when he noticed her horrified expression, not realizing she had seen his canines when he smiled, shocking Fluttershy, to the point where she groaned and fell backwards from her seated position and onto her back, fainting dead away. He groaned and face palmed, "Really? Damn, I am not that scary..." He shook his head and looked down at the mare, noticing the bunny was still held in her one handed grip, stopping the white menace from moving, "And you... Kick me again, and I swear when the full moon comes around..." He let his threat go without an ending as he turned away, not wanting to get too close to Fluttershy, lest he accidentally make things awkward... with her being nude and all, it could cause problems if he was seen carrying her anywhere. He sighed and moved away from the cottage and its passed out caretaker, not even looking back as he made his way towards the town, "Lets hope someone with some backbone is in this strange little town..." He said to himself, before mentally adding 'I really need to stop talking to myself... Last thing I need is to look like a psychopath...'. The walk along the dirt path towards the cozy looking town was quiet enough, and Paul could not see another soul for as far as he could see, not that he was in a rush to meet another Fluttershy, no, he had quite enough of the people or pony people as he guessed this place may be inhabited by. The male let out a loud yawn as he got to a fence that surrounded an apple orchid on the outskirts of the town, "Huh... Not had an apple in ages, and I am sure they won't miss just one..." He grinned slyly and hopped the fence, stalking towards the nearest tree, where he reached up to once of the lower branches to start climbing up... "Hey! What the hay do ya'll think ya doin'?!" The loud yell made Paul freeze as he spun to look down the long column of tree to where he saw another of the pony people sprinting towards him. This pony was much different from the yellow furred one her had seen earlier, as she stood at about 5'10" and had an orange colored coat, and while she was nude like Fluttershy, she was at least wearing a stetson on her head, covering her blond hair, which was done up in a ponytail with red ribbons, with her tail following suit. Her rear mark was that of three red apples. Paul opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a gasp as the air was knocked out of him as the orange mare skidded as she got to him, before spinning round and kicking him square in the gut, sending the werewolf flying backwards, making him slide on his back for several seconds before he lay still. Paul could swear he had not done anything recently that had warranted such bad karma to hit him like this, but still, he slowly sat up, his hands holding onto his pained stomach, knowing that the mare's kick was going to leave a very nasty bruise, "The... Fuck..." He groaned out, panting hard as he staggered to his feet for the second time that day, leaning against one of the nearby apple tree's for support, "I just... Wanted a god damn apple!" He growled. The stetson wearing mare blinked at him and tilted her head, the scowl she wore on her pretty features not fading though, "What the hay? Ya'll can talk? What are ya', some kinda weird monkey?" That comment made Paul's blood boil, but he knew he needed to stay calm, because unless he was in his changed form, he was useless in a fight. "Listen... Miss...?" He pointed to her and raised an eyebrow, to which she scoffed, still standing in an aggressive stance, glaring at the staggered man, "Ma' names Applejack... And unless ya'll tell me what's going on, I might just find myself bucking the hay out of ya!" Paul flinched, his eyes flicking down to the Mare's hooves, not liking the idea of taking anymore kicks from such things again, so he hastily spoke, his hands moving upwards, in a sign of surrender, "Ok ok! My names Paul... I was heading into town and saw your... lovely apples and decided I would grab one for the road... I am sorry I was going to steal it, but I didn't know it would earn me an asskicking!" He panted and lowered his hands to his stomach again, giving out a whimper as he tried to sooth the aching flesh. Applejack raised an eyebrow at Paul and shook her head, "Well then, ya got just what ya deserved! And I don't go around kicking donkeys, that's just not nice." She gave a stiff nod and folded her arms under her breasts, staring at him still, but this time with a smug grin. He gave Applejack a deadpan stare for a few seconds before bring one of his hands to his face, covering it, "Wha... Ok, I am too far gone to give a crap anymore... Can you at least take me into town if your gonna punish me or something? I don't think my body can stand any more trauma today, and I need to figure out why I am here..." The cowpony stayed still for a moment, moving her left hand to her chin as she thought about something for a moment. "Ok... But ya'll stay here, I need ta go get ma' rope..." And with that she turned and walked off between the tree's, where Paul could just make out a large red farm house and a barn of the same color off in the distance. He sighed and slumped back against the tree he was leaned against, "Great... Not here for all that long and already the locals treat me like a monster... Heck, if this is how they treat me now, god help them when I turn..." He chuckled darkly as he spoke, before shaking his head, not really wishing his other form's actions on anyone... Twenty minutes later Applejack returned with a large coil of rope slung over her shoulder. "Right, come on, ya best be getting up..." She slipped the rope off her shoulder and started to undo it, while Paul slowly got to his feet, the pain in his stomach already more or less cleared up. He stood still as the orange furred pony walked around him, tying his arms to his sides, before knotting it tightly and holding the other end of the rope, "Ok partner', Lets get going..." And with that she tugged the rope, leading the man along, heading out of the orchid and back onto the path into town. 'Well... If this is the reception I have had so far, it can't get much worse... Can it?' Paul asked himself in his inner thoughts, not realizing that he may of just jinxed himself quite badly... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 11: A fashion trainwreck and angry pussy cats... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 11: A fashion trainwreck and angry pussy cats... Ponyville, at precisely one o'clock in the afternoon, was more or less like it usually was, with the colts and fillies in the town's large red school building learning, peddlers and stall owners at the market trying to sell their goods and every pony going about their business like any other day. The only strange thing was Pinkie Pie, who was hopping along on her hooves and giggling happily, and the strange creature beside her, who at that point was wearing... "A barrel... A freaking barrel... Pinkie, I see you as my friend, and I hate to say this... But you are dangerously close to going on my shit-list..." Paul grumbled, holding the large, wooden barrel up over his waist, making sure it covered down to his knee's and reached almost comically up to his chest. "Aw, don't be a grumpy-pants Pauly... oops! I should say, don't be a... Grumpy 'barrel'?" Pinkie Pie burst into another set of gleeful giggles, not giving any notice to the man beside her, who's left eye was twitching wildly. Paul sighed as he tried to calm down, realizing as he looked around he had much bigger things to worry about, namely, the townsfolk who stopped dead in their tracks and stared at him when he and Pinkie came into view. Most of Ponyville's populace had been in attendance when Paul had transformed into 'Silvermane', so they were justified in their fear of him... But the hilarious sight of Paul walking through the streets wearing a large barrel had the townsponies torn between laughter and fearful whispers. Pinkie Pie was herself joining in with the more amused ponies by giggling. "Oh cheer up Paul! Rarity will make you some super, special, AWESOME clothes and then you wont be wearing a barrel anymore..." She grinned and slapped him on the back to back up her cheerful words, but chose the wrong moment entirely to do so... Paul had just went to take his next step forward as the pink party mare's hand slapped his back roughly, making him loose his balance, "Aw... Fuck me!" He yelled as he fell forward, sputtering as he felt his body roll slightly, "Oh noooooooooooooo-!" His yell echoed throughout Ponyville as the barrel around him forced him into a roll through the streets away from Pinkie, slowly picking up speed... "Oooooo! Paul! That looks like fun! Wait for me!" Pinkie shouted before rushing after the rapidly escaping barrel and it's occupant, humming cheerfully with each bounce of her hooves, which touched the ground between each of her high speed bounces. Applejack sighed heavily as she stood behind her apple stall, her gaze lazily shifting left and right, looking around the market place, noticing that there was barely anypony actually buying anything. Most of the ponies were browsing, but a good many were simply buying the essentials and then rushing off back to their homes, the previous nights events still present in their minds. The farm pony flipped the brim of her stetson back and looked up at the sky, wondering if she should call it a day or not. "Not like anything interestin' is gonna happen..." Applejack said to herself as she started to move around the stall and start the process of turning it back into a cart, but stopped when a familiar voice rang out through the market. "-ooooooooooooooooooo!" With this long, loud shout came the sight of Pinkie Pie riding atop a runaway barrel, an insane grin upon her face as with each moment the barrel rolled faster... And then Applejack noticed a familiar sight inside the barrel as it zoomed passed her. "I'm gonna be sick!" The stetson wearing mare sighed and covered her face with her palm, shaking her head as she heard several other citizens shouting and rushing to get out of the path of the barrel as it rolled on, heading towards a certain fashion designers shop and home... Rarity was not having the best of days... After returning back to her home from her little 'adventure' with both the girls and 'The Brute', as she called him, the white unicorn had found that not only had her little sister, Sweetie Belle, left the entirety of the Carousel Boutique in a mess. Rarity's best fabrics and materials lay scattered around the shop front, and past it, within the living area of her store, the kitchen looked like some kind of horrific food based ritual to a dark god had taken place... The white mare shuddered as she remembered having to clean all the mess up by herself, as she had not found hide nor hair of her sister or her two friends. She shook her head and tossed her mane back and forth, smiling happily as her luscious mane kept its well formed shape. "Now then... What ever could be keeping Pinkie Pie from getting Paul here?" Almost as if fate wished to answer her question for her, Rarity heard a loud, distant yell of panic and raised an eyebrow, before slowly walking to her front door at the front of the shop and opening it. The unicorn mare's eyes grew wide and her pupils shrank to pin pricks as she saw Pinkie Pie, Paul and a barrel rolling at high speeds towards her, so without a second thought, Rarity let out a scream of fear and slammed her door shut, before slamming herself against the wooden door, closing her eyes tightly as she did so. A few seconds passed before Rarity was pushed off her door by the force of the barrel striking it, sending her staggering forward slightly, but she regained her balance and huffed, making sure her mane was presentable before opening the door with a frown on her face as she did so. Outside Rarity's front door lay Paul, flat on his stomach and groaning in discomfort, and Pinkie, who sat happily on the male's back, ignoring his groans as she giggled. "I got him Rarity! Ooo! We also made it here in record time!" The pink mare got up and stepped over to Rarity, patting her back, "Come on Pauly, lets get inside so Rarity can-" Pinkie Pie was cut off by Paul throwing up on the fashion designer's door step, his pancakes from earlier making their return as he mumbled, "Told ya I would be sick...' Needless to say, Rarity's scream could be heard throughout Ponyville... As could the sound of a hand connecting with flesh moments later... Paul grumbled loudly as he stood on a small podium in the middle of Rarity's shop floor, his left hand nursing his right cheek, rubbing at a rather painful looking hand print there. He glared down at the white unicorn mare as she stood with a small note pad and pencil in her hands as she used her magic on several tape measures, which were floating around Paul taking all his measurements. "You didn't need to hit me..." He growled at the unicorn, his eyes flicking from tape measure to tape measure, making sure none of them tried any funny business. "You not only nearly ran me down with a barrel, but you also had the gall to throw up on my door step! Do you have ANYTHING you want to say to me because of that?" Rarity said, glaring at him the whole while as Pinkie Pie bounced around the room, poking her head into every little thing. 'I think an apology would be best here... She is going out of her way to make you clothes, so you best not do anything to fuck with her, lest she turn out to be one of those women who holds a grudge.' Mr Happy said inside Paul's head, making himself heard. "I am sorry about the door step... But I would like to point out that this is kinda the barrels fault, and not my own." Paul smiled and nodded down at Rarity, who just shot back a look that was somewhere between disgust and annoyance. Rarity sighed and rubbed her eyes with her right hand as he magically held tape measures returned to her, before being set down on one of her many work tables, "Right darling... I have your measurements and I will see what I can do, I take it you have something in mind you want to wear?" "Hmm..." 'I swear if you ask for a Batman costume I will make sure you suffer an aneurysm' Mr Happy growled at the back of Paul's mind before he could speak, bringing a small sigh from his lips. 'Spoil sport...' "Just some pants and a few shirts would be nice thanks... Maybe something for my feet too if you don't mind? Seeing as I don't have hard hooves like you ponies it would help me alot to not be standing in anything sharp or dangerous with no protection." "Hmm... I am sure I can produce something that would make even a brute like yourself seem... Civilized..." Rarity gave him a nod before walking over to Pinkie Pie, who was standing by one of the mannequins scattered around the shop, drawing silly faces on their blank features with a large pink marker. "Come along Pinkie... I don't trust leaving you alone with him for longer then necessary..." Rarity said, her eyes staring at Paul as he stepped down from the podium and stretched. "Oh please... I know I'm irresistible, but give me some credi-" A pillow surrounded in a light blue aura hit him in the face, shutting Paul up mid-sentence. Rarity left without another word, literally dragging Pinkie Pie along by her arm, who didn't resist but instead just waved happily at Paul until they were both in the other room, leaving him alone... 'So... Why couldn't I get a Batman costume?! I would of looked awesome! All like, KAPOW! And BAM!' 'No... You wouldn't, you aren't even on Adam West's level as Batman.' Paul, with a now bruised ego, sighed and looked around the room, mumbling as he did so, trying to find something to do while his clothes were being sorted out. He noticed the various mannequins, some with posh, expensive clothes on them, while others were bare except for Pinkie's 'make over' on a few. 'My god, that stuck up horse has...' He started to think as he cast his gaze over one of the dresses on show, it was dark blue, with small sapphires placed here and there on the material, giving the illusion of a night sky. 'Interesting tastes? She does seem to put a lot of thought into her work.' "What?! Fuck no! I was gonna say she has a weird sense of taste... I swear if any of my clothes have frills or puffy bits..." Paul found himself saying out loud, making him freeze, not sure why he was having trouble telling the difference between inner dialog and out loud dialog. 'Hmm... Whats the matter numb nuts? You seem worried?' Mr happy snarked but the tone of his voice inside Paul's head had slight concern in it. Shaking his head and running his right hand through his hair, Paul was about to reply when a loud hissing and low growls stopped his train of thought. He turned and to his surprise, on the couch near the front door was sat a cat, with white, well groomed fur and a small ribbon on its head. "Oh fuck... A cat..." 'Now stay calm idiot, do not panic and I am sure-' "Piss off you furry bugger!" Paul yelled suddenly, trying to shoo the cat away, but having no success as the feline merely spat and hissed at him more, lowering its body slightly. "No... Bad kitty..." The man let out a rather girly scream as the cat pounced at his face, latching onto his head and beginning to scratch and bite at his flesh. Paul let out yells of panic and pain as he grabbed hold of the ball of white fur and tried to drag it off his face, but only succeeded in doing more damage as the angry cat went crazy with its claws. "Right, I have finished the fir- what in Celestia's name is going on here?! Why are you assaulting my cat?!" Both man and cat froze in place and turned to look at Rarity, who stood in the doorway to her work room, a very annoyed look on her face as she glared at Paul. He pulled the cat off his face and, with the utmost care, punted the cat towards the boutique's front window, where it slammed into, before slowly sliding down the glass and onto its back, clearly out of it. "THAT was assault, and if you must know, that thing started it... I mean, look at what it did to my beautiful face!" Paul said to Rarity, even as the mare rushed passed him to kneel down and pick up her cat, cradling it in her arms like a new born child. "Oh my poor wittle Opal! Did that mean brute hurt you? Oh don't worry precious, mommy will go open some tuna and fix you right up!" She said with a soft smile, her voice warm and motherly as she looked down at the dazed feline, but her features instantly turned to ones of hatred as she looked over at Paul, "YOU! Take your clothes and get out! If I see you anywhere NEAR my home for the next few days I swear I will... I will... Do something most un-ladylike to you!" "Clothes? Wh-" He tried to ask but found his arm ground by Pinkie Pie, who had a smile on her face as she held a bag in her free hand, "Oh... Well... Thank you, and... Muh, your cats a little bastard..." He made his way to the door, ignoring the enraged face that Rarity was making, her teeth grinding together as he opened the door and turned around, a sly smirk on his lips. "Oh, and if you could, I have an idea for a Batman c-" Paul was cut off as a sewing machine, surrounded by a pale blue aura, connected with his face with a loud thwack, sending him backwards into the street, passed out on his back. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and a small crowd of ponies surrounded Paul as he lay unconscious on the ground outside the fashion designers front door. Rarity looked slightly worried and was lightly biting on her left thumb as she gazed down at the man, watching as a small dribble of blood began to flow from his right nostril. "I didn't mean to do it... Really! I just got so angry and..." Rarity began, sniffing alittle as she turned her gaze to the ponies looking down at Paul curiously and then turned her gaze to Pinkie, who just frowned and knelt down beside Paul, poking him in the side with her left index finger. "I know silly... Paul is just being a silly colt, I bet he will get up aaaaaaaany second now..." The party mare watched him in silence for a moment, not saying anything even as the small crowd around the two mares split off and went about their business, "Any second now..." "Pinkie, now isn't the time for acting like a foal! He may be hurt, what if-" "Ngh... Rarity... Get your pussy off my face, it hurts..." As Paul mumbled this in his unconscious state, a passing tan colored earth pony stallion with a black mane and tail stopped, his eyebrows raising as he overheard what had been said and smirked, before chuckling and uttering a 'Oh my!' before walking on, shaking his head. Rarity did not say anything, instead, her face took on a stony expression, her right eye twitching as she got up and casually walked back inside her home, before slamming the door rather forcefully, leaving Pinkie Pie knelt beside Paul, giggling as she gently began to pat his head. "Silly Billy... Your so funny Pauly..." She whispered before picking Paul up with surprising ease, slinging him over her shoulder before hopping happily through Ponyville, ignoring the odd looks she was drawing, as she made her way back to Fluttershy's cottage, ready to deliver Paul and his clothes back to his temporary home. As the pink earth pony mare bounced away happily with her human friend, three sets of eyes watched from a nearby alleyway with great interest. They watched in silence until both Pinkie Pie and Paul were out of sight before the first of them spoke. "Are you sure that's the guy Apple Bloom? He seems... Really uncool." The purple set of eyes asked, looking to her right at the orange colored eyes beside her. "Of course ah'm sure! Ma sister told me he was a mite... Strange, but he seems fun!" "I agree with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, he might even help us get our cutie marks!" The last pair of eyes, light green in color, said before the three burst out into a cheer. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER HUMAN WATCHER'S, YAY!" With that, the three fillies stepped from the shadow's, one was a unicorn, one was a pegasi and the last was an earth pony. All stood at roughly 4'5", with the earth pony's fur being yellow with a red mane and tail, a large pink ribbon holding her mane in place. The Pegasus's fur was orange with a purple mane and tail, both cut shorter then her two friends, giving her a more tom boyish look and finally there was the Unicorn, whose fur was light grey with a two tone mane and tail, colored pink and light purple. The three looked at each other, each wearing a grin on their features, before rushing off in the direction of Sugercube Corner, a plan for getting their cutie marks already forming between them... To Be Continued... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 15: Punishment day 2, The story continues. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 15: Punishment day 2, The story continues. The Crusader's clubhouse was silence for once, the three fillies and their dragon friend, Spike, were sat around the small table in the middle of the room, each looking up at Paul as he paced back and forth, stroking his chin as he seemed to be in deep thought. "Um... You gonna start or...?" Spike began, tilting his head as he glanced at the man, but stopped when Paul suddenly stopped and spun on his heels to face the table. "The tale of the White Death, after being passed down in my family for generations, is the tale of a beast so terrifying and savage, that it took three werewolf clans, my own family included, four wizards and a group of trained hunters just to slow it down enough to lock it away..." He ran his gaze over the four other occupants of the room slowly, his face serious, "Are you all sure you wanna hear this? Because honestly, I feel like just having a nap and-" He was met with a loud, and slightly irritated shout of 'Yes!' from the three ponies and the dragon. Paul sighed and ran a hand down his face as he sat down, legs crossed, at the table with them. "Fine... Don't blame me if you have nightmares later..." He turned his face away from them, "Or tell your sister's on me, Jesus, that is the last thing I need." He mumbled under his breath. Ignoring the impatient teen's glaring at him from around the small table, Paul glanced up at the ceiling of the clubhouse and closed his eyes, "A long time ago..." 'Don't you dare make a star wars reference!' Mr Happy echoed in the back of his mind, making Paul have to rethink what he was going to say. "A long time ago, long before I was born, the world was quite a bit darker then it is now. Beasts that humans thought were nothing but myths and legends haunted the land, killing and menacing the various isolated villages across the land... But one which caused the most trouble, the one that forced a great number of mortal enemies to band together... The White Death, nearly spelled the end for a great number of innocents..." "Now, to begin with, no one really noticed anything out of the ordinary... Some people going missing, a few animals being slaughtered, the sort of things people of the time put down to random beasts or bandits." He sighed rubbing his eyes, trying his best to recall all of what he was told about the story when he was younger, his four younger charges each listening closely to his every word. "That was, until a small group of hunters, humans trained and geared towards fighting beasts and monsters, arrived to investigate the incidents that had befallen this nameless village... They were four in number when they entered the forest near the village, but only one came out of those woods, and even he died a short while afterwards from his wounds. He described a beast, easily ten feet tall, covered from head to foot in pure white fur, fangs and claws sharp enough to tear a man in two... There was no doubt from that description that it was some kind of werewolf-" "Like you, Mr Paul?" Sweetie Belle asked, raising a hand to interrupt his story, a nervous look on her face as she spoke, one which seemed shared with the others around the club house table. "Well... We think so? It was never discovered what the beast was exactly, but it did seem like a were-beast if word of mouth was to be believed." The man answered, leaning back slightly as he thought on his next words. "In just a few days after that event though, more hunters arrived, each equipped with weapons of silver, hoping it would be enough to bring down the creature. They were not alone though, for you see, my ancestor Martimus Silvermane, leader of our family line, had heard rumours of the White Death as well, and had moved to gain support from others like ourselves, hoping to show the humans we could be protectors and not just wild beasts." "Awesome! So your ancestor rallied an army of guys like you and helped the humans, right?" Spike asked excitably, leaning forward on the table as he looked to Paul for an answer, the smile on his face falling though when the adult laughed heartily, covering his face with his hand to try and stifle the laughing. "Like hell! This isn't a fairy tale or comic book Scales... Most of the clans just ignored him, some liked being feared, while many just wanted to see how things played out..." He noticed the downcast looks of the girls and Spike and sighed, "Two clans did answer the call though, the Laslo clan and the Bettelsworth clan,  two old allies of my family who joined Martimus without another word, and with that they set off to join the hunters on their assault on the beast." Applebloom and Scootaloo both fought to fight back giggles as they heard the names, but Scootaloo did manage to ask a question, "Ok ok... So, what happened when  the two groups met? Did they like, argue or something?" Paul frowned at the girls, knowing what had happened next, but held his tongue as he shook his head, "Arguing is putting it lightly... There were twenty hunters and thirty of my clan and our allies, it nearly turned into a fight right then and there if the wizards hadn't arrived-" "Ok, stop... Ah can't listen to anymore of this!" Applebloom pointed a finger at Paul, a grin on her lips, "Your makin' this all up! Wizards? Ah thought you said there was no magic or such were you came from?" He took a deep breath, Mr Happy in the back of his head telling him to be patient, that they were just kids being kids, "I said there was 'little' magic where I am from, with only a few who could use it... And four such people arrived just as a fight was set to break out, the heavily cloaked and hooded men instructing both hunter and werewolf to focus on the enemy before us, not on each other." "So began a fight that we nearly lost... Hell, even my grandfather didn't go into too many details about how it went, but needless to say, when it was all over the hunters had died to the last man distracting the beast, while both the Laslo and Bettelsworth clan memebers who had joined my ancestor that day had been devastated along with our own..." "Hey, but you werewolves are really tough right? Why didn't you all just heal up?" Spike asked, a skeptical look on his features as he sat with his arms folded across his chest. "We can heal most things, but hit us with silver or devastating amounts of damage like, say... Being ripped in half or having our heads pushed down into our chest cavities and you have us as dead as anyone else..." The three ponies and the young dragon each shuddered at the mental image he had just painted for them, not really wanting to hear any more details, they sat in silence as Paul continued. "So, at a great cost of life, the four magic users managed to throw the beast into a strange, black rift in the air, banishing the White Death to some unknown fate." "Wait... Why not just blow it up? What about those silver weapons you mentioned? Why didn't they use them?" Scootaloo asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. "They did... Whatever that thing was, it was unlike anything that had been encountered before. It healed in seconds, not minutes, and silver, magic and claws did bugger all but piss it off to the point of going into a frenzy..." Paul clapped his hands together, making everyone around the table jump slightly. "Right, end of story, I have watched you guys for the day, so I am free to go right?" He asked happily, but his lips soon curled from a smile into a frown when Spike pointed to the small clock above the door in the clubhouse, which showed only an hour had passed. "Aw come on!" By the time Spike deemed it best to call it a day, it was coming up to five in the evening. Paul and Spike both bid the girls farewell, the cutie mark crusaders heading off together towards the main farm house while the two males set off through the trees towards the main path up towards Fluttershy's cottage. "Paul... You didn't tell your story very well..." Spike said as the pair walked along the path, the young dragon looking up at Paul while tilting his head slightly, "You left out a lot of things and details, or at least, it sounded like it to me..." "Listen, Spike..." He began in reply, causing Spike to glance up at him, noticing the rare use of his real name and not the nickname that he had been called before, "I only told what I could remember, and to be honest, I didn't pay much attention when I was being told the story myself. I got a good whack from a walking stick for it, but I just didn't take much stock in those sorts of stories, so, sorry..." "Its fine, I guess... Still, you seemed a bit calmer then the other times I have seen you, did you have fun?" "Pfft, please, Scales, I was just as bored as you probably were... But us guys have to stick together, or those girls will walk all over us." Paul grinned and glanced down at Spike, who was still watching him, the pair locking eyes, "We could hang out sometime I guess, when I am not under punishment of stoning or whatever, it will be better then hanging around with murderous animals or all alone all day..." Spike's lips curled up into a happy smile, his eyes lighting up at the other males words, "Really? You wanna hang around with me? Just us guys?" He looked back ahead, tapping his chin, "We could read comic books... Clean the library... Ooo! We could-" Paul frowned and shook his head, "Ok, no, we will get some snacks, maybe go fishing and I will teach you a bit about being a real man..." 'So... The exact opposite of you? Please, sure, teach the kid to fish or something, but don't fill his head with crap.' The snarky voice of Mr Happy filled Paul's head again, making him grit his teeth ever so slightly. "Really? That sounds like fun! I will have to ask Twilight though..." Spike said as they arrived outside of Fluttershy's cottage, the lights inside shining through the windows, showing that Fluttershy was home. "Sure, be safe on your way home..." Paul began to make his way to the door, but stopped when he heard the young drake start to walk away, "Hey... Spike..." The purple dragon stopped and turned his head slightly to look at Paul over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised. "Thanks... I, well, I did kinda have fun today, some of the stories you all told were even kinda... Funny?" Spike didn't say anything, but instead just smiled softly and waved to Paul, before making his way off back into Ponyville, leaving Paul to turn and slowly open the door to the cottage, poking his head inside. "Fluttershy? I'm back..." Unknown to the residents of Ponyville, even as they all settled down to sleep as Luna's night blanketed the sky, something stirred within the Everfree forest... Long, black and thorny vines began to creep their way out from the boundaries of the forest, and slithered silently towards the unsuspecting town... A short way from where the vines were beginning to grow from the forest, a rather mismatched figure stood, looking to be made of parts of a pony, goat, lion and drake, stroking his beard as a wicked smile crept across his lips, a snaggle tooth poking out from his lips as he chuckled, "Ooo what fun this little event will bring... I simply cannot wait..." To Be Continued...