CARAMEL TREAT'S CHANGE
by
De Writer
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Under the dappled shade of the looming trees of the Everfree Forest, a neat cottage sat in the midst of a foal's tidily fenced play yard. There were also, inside the fence, a kitchen and herb garden.
Besides the quiet setting, there were four mean looking stallions at the door, led by the ugly brown earth pony, Sawnax. Brightmane opened the door with complete confidence. She was wearing her Han Fu black belt. She quietly dropped into a combat stance while asking in a polite voice, “What brings you and your lumber yard workers to the Everfree, Sawnax?”
Rudely, he attempted to shove his way into the cottage. He was met by an angled sweep kick followed by a punch to the side of the neck and a foreleg smash that slammed his head against the side of the door frame. That was followed by a simple double buck to kick him out of the doorway. The lower half of the double door was shut solidly and a bar dropped across it.
Leaning her head out of the door and looking down at the overweight but burly pony on the ground, Brightmane said in an utterly calm voice, “It is rude to try entering a home without invitation, Sawnax. You have never had any welcome here before. Be assured that you do not have any welcome here now, after trying to bully your way in.”
One of his workers, a blotched yellow in color, growled, “We just come out here to see your danged freak of a filly! What's your foal got, three eyes or something? Why you hide her out here in the Everfree? Can't answer that, can you?”
Brighmane smiled sweetly as she pointed out, “Now that your wind bag seems to have stopped blowing, I CAN answer that. I am out here because I WAS in town. Both Dray Hackamore and Doctor Red Mane tried to murder me for my money.
“Others, like your stupid lot, were making fun of me and my foal over the fact that because I was poisoned by poison joke potion during one of the murder attempts, my filly was too, before she was born. I came out here, where there are wild Everfree Ridgeback wolves for company in preference to your slimy behavior.
“Besides my yard and garden, you should know that you are trespassing in the hunting territory of the Everfree Stone Ridge Wolf Pack.”
Brightmane turned her head back to the cottage's interior. “Nurse Fields, is Caramel Treat safe in her room?”
The voice of Nurse Fields replied, “With the pack hunting so near, today, I did put her in her room. I made sure the window was shut.”
“Thank you, Nurse Fields.”
Turning to the four, she saw that Sawnax was getting shakily to his feet. Smiling widely, she suggested, “This was a bad day for you fools to come visit in any case, Sawnax. We saw one of the Stone Ridge Pack in the woods out back a little bit ago. We were just shutting up for safety.”
She shut the upper half of the double door and the four ponies heard the sound of a second bar dropping into place, securing the door solidly.
Sawnax thumped futilely on the barred door. He was just shouting, “We came to see your freak and we are gonna! If you don't open up, we can buck the door down!”
His tirade was interrupted by the low thunder of a growl. A big Everfree Ridgeback Wolf was slinking around the corner of the cottage. Its golden eyes were slitted, focused on ponies. Prey. Its tufted ears were laid back into a shaggy ruff, almost a mane, of black fur that stood out starkly from the dark gray of most of its coat. From the mane to the base of its tail was a dark black, almost spiky ridge of fur like a crest. Its tail, gray to a black tip,laid out menacingly low.
Its lips were curled back from a set of razor sharp teeth and huge canine fangs like daggers. It was creeping up, belly low, ready to spring.
Sawnax's three cohorts turned tail and ran, kicking up leaves in their flight! They left their boss behind for the wolf! Sawnax suddenly realized that he was facing the wolf alone! He screamed and ran, the wolf at his heels!
It leaped after him, claws leaving scrapes in his rear! His speed almost magically increased enormously!
The monster turned about, letting him flee. Its tongue lolled out in canine laughter. It trotted with a light, springy step, back to the cottage and pawed at the door. In the voice of a filly, it said, “It's OK, Mom! They're gone!”
The that was followed by the sound of door bars being lifted out of their braces. The upper half of the door opened. The big Everfree Ridgeback wolf leaped through the opening, and landed gracefully on the rug of the main room's floor.
Nurse Fields and Brightmane were waiting. Brightmane wrapped the wolf in a delighted hug! Nurse Fields, smiling widely at the prank, scritched the monster under the chin and then held out a small bright red dangerous potion bottle.
The wolf obediently opened its mouth for the dose of potion. Nurse Fields carefully poured it into the massive jaws. As she did, she commented, “This stuff makes me a lot more nervous to use now.”
After swallowing all of the dose, the wolf shivered all over, and began to change. In only a few moments, Brightmane's sweet caramel colored filly stood in its place.
Young Caramel Treat nodded. “Auntie Zecora says that it was their own fault. Those bad ponies from Manehatten Biomedical Laboratories should never have stolen that bottle of her potion. If they had not stolen it, no pony would have been hurt at all. They should never have tried to clean up that spilled potion by putting water on it. We know better.”
On the table lay the recent Ponyville Prancer Newspaper, the headline screaming, “26 Killed in Manehatten Disaster!” Just under it the sub headline said in slightly smaller type, “Manehatten Biomedical Laboratories destroyed by deadly fumes and fire.”
~THE END~