Nothing's More Important

“How are you holding up?” Alice inquired, nudging the stallion with her nose, while Amelia cleaned up the rest of the mess. “You smelled a bit stressed. You don’t like crowds?”

Justin perked an ear. "Well, um… My job normally keeps me away from most ponies, at least, at a time…" He rolled his hooves over themselves. "I don't mind one or two, but a group makes me start to get nervous. I keep worrying they'll all notice something wrong and just… stare at me. I know it's stupid! But…"

“Heh, that sounds familiar,” Alice said. “I’m used to trying so hard to make sure people don’t notice me, or if they do that they think I’m just some wild animal, or maybe a pet. But even those can get me in trouble back home. Here it’s so… freeing, to just know your fellow ponies might get a bit nervous at worst. But I’m still not actually used to it, you know?” She shook her head. “Even when I was disguised as a human, I always thought people would see right through it if I gave them half a chance.”

Justin tilted his head. "Well, yeah, you did the smart, brave, thing, and just came out with it. Everypony knows you're a wolf, and they're alright with it." He looked around slowly. "You're going, I mean, we, we're going to have to figure out how to make a lot more of this, or market it differently. If the entire town decides they want it all the time, we can't keep up with that."

“How much did these bottles cost you? We can include the cost of the bottle in the price, and give it back in the form of a discount on the next bottle if they return it,” Amelia said. “We’ll still need more bottles, regardless. I’m sure I can get things going in a streamlined fashion once we decide which flavors we’re going to stick with.” She rubbed her hands together excitedly. “

Rubbing his hooves together fretfully, Justin considered a moment. "Well, if we want more just like these, I usually order them from the city. We don't make glass here in town, so it may take a week or two to get unless we want to pay a lot for rush shipping. Assuming we don't do that, about five bits a bottle. That's why we usually clean them out and reuse them."

“So.. six bits for a bottle, and you get five back if you return the bottle? Or is a bit a drink too cheap? I’m not used to the prices here,” Amelia mused.

“We should make a trip to the city. We should meet the princesses anyways, and it’ll be a good way to get the bottles to bring back,” Alice concluded. “Any reason we can’t go in the morning?”

Perking up and sitting upright suddenly as if called in class, Justin shook his head. "No specific reason. We should make what we can and use the money for the trip and bottles." He sighed softly. "I wasn't expecting this… I didn't have much in the way of savings for two ambitious wives."

“This sounds like a job for a business loan!” Amelia declared.

Alice whined and put a paw over her snout. “Do we have to go into debt at the first opportunity? Why don’t we do like Justin was suggesting? Maybe we can try selling with the bottles we have for a week and see what we can make first?”

Justin bobbed his head in agreement with Alice. "Besides, all the fancy banks are anywhere but here. We could ask the mayor or somepony else that's a bit more well-to-do to lend us something, but then we'd owe them. Mother told me to never buy what you couldn't afford."

“Alright, alright. We just got here in this world, we don’t need to start a business on the first week,” Amelia conceded. “We’ll take it slow. But do we have at least enough to take the trip and get a few dozen bottles? We can always get more with the profits if things work out well.”

“And I want to meet Luna,” Alice added with a wag of her tail.

Which became exactly as they did. Justin's house, previously out of the way, became a new gathering point for thirsty ponies. They made use of the bottles Justin had collected for his potions, but also served many an eager pony with a glass right then and there, which could be cleaned and used again. By the time they had enough to make the trip comfortably and stock up on supplies, they had gained some reputation in the town. Some couldn't even imagine just being able to go home with the stuff rather than hanging out.

This was all to Justin's mild discomfort. His safe places had become much noisier and full of life. On one hoof, he didn't begrudge the sight of neighbors and friends, and they were all having a good time, and paying his new family well, but he looked a tiny bit more agitated by the day without his alone time.

Some of that money had gone into buying a larger bed, one they could all sleep on comfortably. While a larger house was a long term necessity, especially with it serving as a store front, the larger bed was urgent enough and affordable enough to come first, even if it meant stuffing the bedroom with a furnishing far too large for the modest space.

Laying in that large bed the night before they planned to take the train ride, snuggled between his satisfied and sleeping mares, Justin caught sight of the moon through his bedroom window. It wasn’t full yet, merely three-quarters, but it still seemed to be doing something to him. Calling to him, somehow, begging him to come outside and get a better look.

Justin swiveled his ears to his relaxing wives before he began gently sliding forward, pulling himself free of their lovely presence and almost falling to the floor. He landed on his hooves with the faintest of clops and started for the door. He just needed some alone time, and the night? It was a fine time to get some alone time… Eager, he cantered out of the house with head held up high.

Alice stirred lightly for a moment as he passed, but all that came of it was a light wag. Working all day with her new family, day after day, had kept her from slipping into the nocturnal schedule that was natural to her, and a vigorous session with her stallion had drained what energy was left in her.

So Justin was alone when he got out into the moonlight. The moons rays bathing him and filling him with a strange and unfamiliar sense of energy. It made him want to yell at the top of his lungs, and run and jump and hunt. Anything but think clearly.

Of course, hunting for a pony was a bit different than it might be for a human or a wolf, and his nose went right for the ground. He began to sniff along, looking for a treat he couldn't get every day. Without paying attention, he ended up in his friend's garden, chewing voraciously on some of her poor flowers, mmm.

The flowers were a good start. Food, fuel, energy! A small garden snake caught his attention, looking far more appetizing than he remembered snakes being. Well it was green at least? An absentminded lick of his teeth as he observed the slow slither made him aware that his teeth were a lot sharper than he remembered them being.

Confusion came, but passed, subdued by the hunger that grew within him with every gentle thump of his heart. What did snake even taste like? There was only one way to find out. His rump went high and his head low, looking like a predator ready to pounce despite being a pony. Eyes locked on the snake, he waited for it to coil in rest, hunger only growing. It was quiet, all so quiet… then he jumped, pouncing for the creature.

The snake was easy prey, foolishly thinking itself safe in the pony lands, and it was easy enough to slurp down like a noodle after the first, fatal bite. The iron taste of the blood, the fresh raw meat… yesterday it probably would have turned his stomach, but tonight it was delicious. It didn’t take long to finish his food, but by the time he did, and looked up, there was a strange pony sitting in front of him, staring at him quietly.

She was dark brown in fur, mottled with slightly lighter patches not a single solid color like most ponies. She had long fuzzy tufts on her ears, a pair of sharp fangs protruded over her lower lips, and her irises were narrow vertical slits. She looked every bit the part of a lunar pegasus aside from the simple fact that she lacked wings of any kind.

She was lithe, with a build more fitting to a unicorn than an earth pony, though she lacked a horn as well. And her flank was unadorned, likely a sore point as she was clearly an adult in every other sense. Something told Justin she ought to be familiar, that he should be able to remember her, but nothing about her looked like anypony he had ever met.

Justin gave a slow blink at the new predator, even feeling a sudden thrill. Were they competition? He was satisfied, for the moment. With upright ears he looked over the exotic mare. Talking would be logical, and yet, to do so felt so far away from what he could and should do. Instead he approached her, nose dancing, trying to capture her scent.

Her scent! That was where the familiarity lie, he was sure of it, though it was also quite unique. Knowing how pony ‘tribes’ worked, perhaps he knew a cousin of hers? She sniffed back at him, even as he managed to pick out more of the layers of her scent. Wolf. She had a bit of wolf scent on her. It wasn’t hers though, it was Alice’s. He hadn’t noticed at first, since he had plenty of that on him, making it harder to pick apart, but she definitely had Alice’s scent on her somehow.

“Hi,” she finally managed, speaking a bit awkwardly, like she wasn’t used to it. She looked around a bit, like she was struggling for clarity. “Are there any more?” she finally managed, yelping a bit at the end as she bit her tongue with one of those sharp fangs.

Hearing her talk made him jump, and his own words came back to him. "What? Huh? Oh!" He moved right back in, aiming to press his wet snout into her cheek. "Is that you? Wait, is it?" His eyes turned upwards towards the sky, his fog penetrated and mind whirring with wonderment. "Are we?"

The mare before him seemed a bit overwhelmed by the questions for a moment, looking bewildered before she could settle on a question. “Justin?” She had to work through the fog a bit more before she could manage. “It’s me. Amelia! You’re a wolf now? Why am I pony?!” She seemed to be panicking a bit, looking about like she was looking for a place to hide.

He's a wolf? Justin looked at himself suddenly, taking in his changed features, and his new wagging tail. "Oh my… We're… Um… We knew this was coming, don't panic, don't panic…" he said, even as his heart raced and his pupils dilated, doing his best impression of a pony ready to panic. "We… have each other. There's nothing to be scared of."

“Right, right… don’t panic..” Amelia said, looking up at the moon. “It’s not even full yet… and why aren’t I a wolf too? What even am I?” she said, holding up her fuzzy forehooves to look at them. “I was prepared to be a wolf, not… this? Wait, did you just eat a snake?”

"Oh Celestia, I did!" He extended his tongue and pawed at it as if the scrub the filth from it in a manic display of disgust. His eyes turned to her then. "You're not a wolf… but you're… You…" He moved to her and gently bumped noses. "This may not be the right time, but you're amazing." She was everything that could thrill him, sleek and predator. It was rather like Alice, but in a more familiar pony form, still twisted to danger. "You could hunt me any day…" He went bright red almost instantly, realizing what he had said.

“Oh I could, could I?” she asked playfully, reaching in to give his neck a playful nip. She darted back away a moment later, ducking deeper into the flowerbed and vanishing from sight entirely among the taller plants. Even enhanced as it was, Justin’s sense of smell lost track of her among the flowers, and his keen ears couldn’t hear her rustling.

Recovering from the nip and the shameful squeaking growl that came from it, he looked around. Where had she gone? He went towards where she was a moment before. "Are you there?" His new nose twitched, taking in the scents of the night in all their splendor. The world was so different… "Amelia?"

“Rar!” she answered playfully as she pounced his hindquarters, giving his tail a playful swat. When she emerged she seemed to practically pop into all of his senses all at once, suddenly visible at the same moment he heard her pouncing, her scent flooding his nostrils all at once. “How’d I do?” she asked with a giggle.

He put a paw to his chest, trying to calm himself, but he hadn't run, which was a step up on the ole predator prey index. "Y-you did great. How'd you do that? I couldn't see you at all, or smell you even." He frowned. "I'm not used to saying that. I don't normally smell friends before seeing them." His nose danced lightly. "You really are a predator of the night."

“Well, I was hiding in flowers, so maybe they masked my-” Amelia began, before a beam of light suddenly spilled down toward them from a window.

“A-alice, is that you?” came the nervous voice of Willow Whisper, the mare whose garden they were stalking about in. A bit of a recluse, and timid even for a pony, the middle aged earth pony mare had never made it clear to Justin just what it was she did for a living.

Justin tensed, far from the first time of the evening. "Sorry!" He just out and blurted, and bolted right out of the garden, leaving nothing but the remains of a sheepish wolf. On new paws, he rushed for home, his fugue gone, and wanting to be where it was safe and familiar, away from strange eyes, even those of his neighbors.

“Justin?” Willow said more quietly, as she watched a wolf and a pony leave her garden in the moonlight. She watched a bit longer on quiet confusion before accepting her own conclusion as to what just happened, and closing her shutters.

Amelia traced after Justin closely, making it most of the way home before looking down at her hooves and promptly tripping, falling face first into the dirt road. “Ooof,” she said, groaning as she shook herself off. “Do not question the hooves. They know what they’re doing as long as you don’t question them, so don’t ever question the hooves…”

Justin slowed when he heard the thump and was soon at Amelia's side. "Are you alright? Sorry for dashing off like that… I… I kind of panicked there." He leaned in to nuzzle her softly. "I wasn't lying though, you really are kind of… pretty."

Alice opened the front door for them, beckoning them inside. “So you two actually woke up this time? That’s good,” she commented. “Come on in, we need to talk.”

Amelia paused in her response to her stallion, long enough to look up at Alice. “This time?... what have you been hiding from us?” She headed into the living room, even as she said quietly to Justin “I’m your wife, you should leave off the ‘kind of’.”

Justin perked his new ears. "We were turning into things in our sleep?! Why didn't you wake us up." He reared up, balancing on his hind legs in a squat as he held out his forepaws. "Look! I have paws! I'm a wolf! Oh no, do I have my cutie mark?!" He started spinning in place, trying to get a good eye on it in his worry.

Justin’s cutie mark was still on display, even the magic of turning into a wolf hadn’t hidden the magic of destiny’s mark. It looked a bit different on wolf fur than pony fur, but it was still instantly recognizable… to those who could actually get a good look.

“It’s still there, Justin,” Amelia reassured him. “Even if it’s a bit shaggy.” She turned her attention back to the female wolf. “Why didn’t you tell me I was turning into a… were-pony?”

“You both needed a bit of time for your new spirits to acclimatize,” Alice explained patiently. “I was keeping an eye out and making sure you didn’t get into too much trouble. Well, trying. You can be hard to keep tabs on,” Alice said, frowning at Amelia for a moment. “But now that you’re awake… I’d like you two to come with me, please. If you’re ready?” She stood by the door, looking at them questioningly.

Amelia pawed at the rug a bit, looking uncertain. “Care to explain before we go?”

Justin perked an ear, his breathing starting to calm down a little. "Wait, you mean we were running wild?" He glanced around. "We didn't hurt anypony, or anything, did we?" He bumped alongside Amelia. "I'm not sure why you wouldn't tell us, even if we couldn't do much about it." Despite that all, he had been given an order, and he was a good pony, and so obeyed his wife, trott--, er, walking inside.