Animal

Apple Bloom found herself wandering around deep within the Everfree forest. She didn't know how long she had been there or even how she got there. All she knew was that their was something watching her and she was scared. With every step she took she could hear another one behind her, one belonging to something else; something that was breathing deeply and growling with each exhale. Her curiosity started overwhelming her fear, she had to know what was behind her. Apple Bloom stopped moving and so did the thing that was following her. Slowly, she turned around to face her stalker. She felt her heart skip several beats, almost as if it were trying to stop right then and there to save her from this beasts gaze. It stood almost three feet taller than her with impossibly dark skin, its body was twisted and jagged with rough edges randomly about its figure, it stood on hind legs with feet like talons, the entirety of its arms looked as if they belonged to a skinless dragon with long metal blades sticking out from them, its head was as rough as the rest of its body complete with black spike-like additions to its skull and no no lips to cover its large monstrous teeth which hung out freely with blood staining every inch of them. Apple Bloom stared for what felt like hours into its black eyes, but stopped when a light was reflected into her eyes. She squinted at the small light puncturing her eyes and followed it's glare to the beast's throat. Hanging around its neck was a small metal plate that seemed to have something engraved on it. She leaned close to try and read what was on it, but the moment she started moving so did the creature. It reached out and grabbed Apple Bloom in one of its large hands, pulling her up to its head and holding her in front of his teeth. The smell of blood rot and death traveled from it's jaw to her nostrils, making her gag. It opened its mouth to reveal several more rows of long sharp teeth coated in blood and a second smaller mouth deep within its throat that opened its jaws and flew out, swallowing her whole. Apple Bloom screamed as she woke up in a cold sweat on her bread, panting heavily as she tried to convince herself that she was safe and still alive.

Apple Bloom checked her clock and sighed. It was only six o'clock and something told her that she wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. She figured it was better to be up and doing something rather than nothing, so she got out of bed to shower, brush her teeth, and braid her mane. Overall, it only took her an hour to complete, and she was surprised to find Scootaloo actually up and about. "Hey Scoots. What are y'all doin up so early?"

Scootaloo was fresh out of bed and had to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "I could ask you the same thing."

"You could, but I asked first." Apple Bloom retorted.

Scootaloo chuckled at her friends words. "Alright, you got me on that." She let out a soft yawn before continuing, "I don't know, I had a really weird dream last night and it kept me up all night."

Apple Bloom tilted her head at Scootaloo, "What kind of weird dream?"

"I'm having a hard time remembering it," Scootaloo began, "but I think I was being followed by something." Scootaloo watched Apple Bloom's expression shift from curious to fear. She wanted to question what it was that was bothering her, but decided against it. "Hey, I was thinking that we could all go to the swimming hole today. We've never taken Oliver swimming before, so maybe we could teach him."

Apple Bloom shook of her fears to listen to her friends idea. "The reason we haven't taken him is because he keeps sayin he doesn't like how the water makes him feel. Don't ya remember how hard it was for us to give him a bath?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes at Apple Bloom, "Yeah, yeah, I remember. But he's older now; I'm sure once we get him in the water he'll realize that he's perfectly fine."

"Alright, but if he starts goin' nutty or gettin an attitude ah'm pointin my hoof right at you." She warned.

"Cool, I'll wake Sweetie Belle up, better we get there early so we won't have to worry about sharing it with anypony for a while." She said and set off to wake her friend.

Apple Bloom shrugged and figured that she might as well go wake up Oliver. As she traveled down the stairs she could hear the stirs of her beloved human child in the basement. He was having another nightmare. It pained her to know that he suffered like this every night, but what could they do about it. They couldn't take him to a doctor for help, his genetic makeup was too complex for them to find something to help and they didn't know how magic would effect his body, so they were advised to steer clear of that. Once she finally reached the bottom she saw Oliver in his bed tossing and turning. She let out a sad sigh before trotting over to his bedside and putting a hoof on him. As she gave him a few light shoves she started to see his eyes slowly opening. Suddenly he screamed, causing Apple Bloom to flinch as he shot up. She saw his arm start to move and her direction and she dropped to the ground as quickly as gravity would let her, letting a long shining metal bar fly over top of her head. She looked up to see that she had just barely dodged the blade currently sticking over four feet out of Oliver's arm and stabbing into the concrete wall behind her. She slowly rose, moving over to the side slightly as to not touch the metal.

Oliver watched as his mom came up from beside his bed and the blade retracted as quickly as it repulsed as he tackled her to the ground and released a title wave of apologies for several minutes straight. Once everything was straightened up between the two they went upstairs to wait for the others so they could head to the swimming hole, Oliver refusing to go in, but willing to join trek.

When they arrived Apple Bloom and Scotaloo wasted no time jumping in and having splash fights, Sweetie Belle however sat next to Oliver and watched the two roughhouse. "So, why is it you hate the water so much?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't really hate it," He explained, "I just don't like the way it makes my body feel.

"What do you mean?"

"It makes my skin crawl and I feel tingly all over. I really don't know how else to describe it."

"I guess that makes sense." She replied, "I can understand not wanting to feel that sensation all of the time. I get that feeling when I hear ponies using sand paper on wood."

He smiled, looking over the water hole. "How deep is this thing?"

"I'm not sure. Some ponies have said that its like thirty feet, maybe more."

Scootaloo's attention was caught as she heard their conversation about how deep it was. "Thirty feet, that's it?"

"That's pretty deep Scootaloo." Apple Bloom stated.

"Not even!" She argued, "In fact, I bet I can swim to the bottom and come back up, no problem."

"That doesn't really sound like a good idea."

"Stop being such a foal and just watch me." Scootaloo took a deep breath and dunked herself under, swimming further and further down until they could no longer see her.

Not even half a minute later Apple Bloom started freaking out. "Why hasn't she come back up yet?"

"Maybe it's deeper than we thought," Sweetie Belle commented, trying to calm her friend down. "I'm sure she'll be back up soon, even if it is too deep, she'll need air."

"Ah'm goin down there to see what's keepin her." Before anyone could protest Apple Bloom dunked down to search for Scootaloo.

"Do you think Scootaloo is okay?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I hope so." Oliver said, just as worried about his ma as they were.

Apple Bloom soon came back up, her panic worse than before. "I got all the way down, but I can't find her!"

"What!?" Sweetie Belle shouted in a high squeaky voice.

"I just can't find her, I don't know what to do."

Oliver could picture it already, his ma sitting at the bottom of the water slowly choking to death on water, dying cold and alone down there, never to be seen again. Something in him clicked and he jumped high into the air, diving straight down into the water. He could feel the tingling sensation coursing through every inch of his body, his insides shifting around, it was almost like he was changing.

Scootaloo barely clung to life as water started to fill her lungs. When she had made it to the bottom she had bumped a loose rock causing it to fall from the side of the pit and land on her hoof, pinning it and her to the ground and making her incapable of swimming back to the surface. As her eyes started to close she noticed something swimming at her, something strange. The only thing she could make out was its humanoid figure with fish spines from its head to its tailbone, that and the blades in its arms stabbing rapid;y at the rock holding her down. After that everything went black.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle waited impatiently at the top of the water hole, staring deep into it with fear and worry filling their bodies. They both flinched as and orange pegasus was suddenly launched out of the water, landing just inches from the two. They stared hopefully at their friend as she started gagging and coughing up all of the water that she had inside of her. They both dropped down and hugged their friend as she started recollecting air.

"Oh mah gosh!" Apple Bloom yelled, "Ah thought you were a goner!"

"Me too!" Sweetie Belle followed.

Scootaloo coughed a few more times before responding with a question. "What was that thing?"

Before the two could answer there was a loud splash as something else came flying from the water hole, landing right in front of the mares. They could tell it was Oliver without so much as a second glance, but this time he was different. His eyes were glassed over for some reason and he had a strange webbing between his fingers and toes. His neck had three long slits on both sides and from his head to his tail bone was a long set of dark grey fish spines.

Oliver soon fell onto his rear as air started filling his lungs. The gills he had grown on the trip down sealed themselves shut, allowing him to breath normally again. The rest of his body soon followed suit and adapted back to its original form. He looked up at his mothers, fearing they might find him as some sort of freak because of the change his body made. He had known all along how his body reacted to water, he just didn't want them to know out of fear that they might find him to be weird. He closed his eyes, waiting for the criticism to strike, but surprisingly he felt himself being embraced and when he opened his eyes he saw Scootaloo holding him tightly.

"I thought I was going to die.." She started, "but you came down and saved me; Thank you!"

He stared down at her and looked up at his other mothers. "You guys don't think I'm weird, that I'm a freak?"

"Oliver, you are anything but normal." Apple Bloom stated, "You're body shifts and changes, you have giant knives comin out of yer arms, and you turn into a fish when your under water. Ah think that you are the weirdest thing to ever show up on Equestrian soil." She explained, causing Oliver to lower his head, until he felt another set of hooves wrap around him, "And I absolutely love that about you. You're not a freak Oliver, you're unique. And that only makes us love you more."

Oliver smiled, wondering why he would ever doubt his family. He knew they loved him, and he loved them in return. He would never doubt them again and that was a promise. The sound of water splashing immediately caught their attention and they turned toward the water hole just in time to see Sweetie Belle surface.

Sweetie Belle looked back at them with a smile on her face. "Does anypony want to join me on a non-exploratory dip in the water hole?"

The three looked at each other and smiled before jumping in. Oliver forcing his fish spines out before he even touched the water. Minus Scootaloo's near death experience, today was a good day. Oliver and his mothers got to go on an enjoyable trip to the water hole and the mares learned something new about their special boy. He was, hooves down, the oddest creature they had ever seen. He was an abomination, a freak, but it's like they used to say; A family of freaks is better than no family at all. A lot of ponies hide things about themselves from their families due to their fear of being judged. Being criticized for who you are can be rough, but you shouldn't let it become something that makes you feel miserable. Ponies should embrace who they are and show the world that their aspects are what make them unique. They shouldn't hide something and feel ashamed, they should use it to drive them and find a way to utilize it for bigger and better things. A lot of ponies don't know it, but even their smallest aspects can change the world.

Oliver shook his head, trying to get that philosophical side of his mind to quiet down and let him enjoy the time he was having with his mothers. He swam out to join the mares, but stopped as an unfamiliar scent found its way into his nostrils. He quickly turned around and saw the silhouette of a stallion standing a great distance away from them. He rubbed the water out of his eyes and when he put his hand back down the silhouette was gone. "What the hay?"