It was a normal autumn day in Ponyville, the small hamlet was slowly gearing up for Nightmare Night in a few weeks. On Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac was bucking apples as Applejack was hitching up to the wagon that held the stand so she could sell sell some apples and apple-based products in town. Outside of town a stallion with a brown coat and a black mane and tail with silver streaks strolled out of the late-morning haze, a hollow and tired expression on his face.

"Talbot?", Applejack asked recognizing her brother's old friend from school. When the stallion acted like he didn't hear the sister of his foalhood friend, she chimed up again, "It is you! How ya been pardner?"

Talbot shied away from the earth pony mare for a second. "Oh...um...hi there uh...sorry I can't remember your name."

"Ah'm Applejack. Remember? Bright Mac's an' Buttercup's oldest daughter? Big Mac's younger sister?"

Talbot looked at the earth pony mare with the blonde mane and tail and the well-worn stetson on her head. "Oh, tight. Last time I saw you, you were..."

"Still a filly who hadn't earned her curie mark an' was still in pigtails an' a snaggletooth smile?", AJ interrupted, "Ya should see Apple Bloom now, she ain't in diapers anymore an' gets intuh crazy hijinks with her friends." Almost as if on cue the three fillies barreled past with loud squealing giggles. "Eeyup! That's them!"

Talbot almost laughed if it weren't for the feeling of foreboding deep within.

"So where ya stayin'?"

Talbot paused, unsure if he wanted to answer. "Um...I'm thinking of seeing if the old hostel is still open, barring that, maybe in a motel or a bed-n-breakfast."

"Pfft!", Applejack scoffed, "'Taint gonna let an old friend gonna stay in Berry Punch's flophouse, y'all can stay at the house back on th' farm. 'Sides Big Mac'll be happier than a green worm inna fresh apple tuh see ya again. 'Taint like ya got any say in th' matter 'cause Ah ain't takin' no fer an answer."

Talbot waffled as AJ closed up the stand and hung a sign that read "be back soon" with a clock on it, she adjusted the little clock on it to two o'clock. "C'mon! Ah bet that Big Mac'll want tuh talk yer ear off catchin' up."

Talbot walked beside AJ as they headed to Sweet Apple Acres. After nearly twenty minutes they reached the farm and they saw the massive red stallion walking up to the barn. "Hey Big Mac!", Applejack shouted, holding a hoof beside her mouth, "C'mere an' see who's back in town!"

Big Mac turned and began walking towards his sister and when he recognized the brown stallion standing by her, he quickened his pace to a fast trot. "Howdy there Talbot!", he said in a chipper tone as he slapped a hoof on the stallion's shoulder, "How in th' hay ya been?"

Talbot was genuinely happy to see his colthood friend. "I've been better, though I've been worse too. I see you're running the farm now."

"Eeyup!", Big Mac exclaimed, but a raised eyebrow from his sister made him change his tune, "Er...well sorta."
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That evening after dinner, Talbot still felt uneasy, nearly to the point of dread. As the sun set and the farm began settling down he began walking out in the yard and through the orchards. The hair along his spine and haunches prickled prickled as the moon began to slowly slip above the horizon. He turned to face the celestial orb, seeing it was in its first quarter. The fur along his spine prickled again. From behind the tree a ghostly image of a unicorn mare with a sea foam green coat and a midnight blue mane and tail stepped from behind a nearby tree. Large gashes ran along her barrel and bite mark peppered her neck and forelegs, the flesh of her face hung in ragged strips.

"Just two weeks until you kill again Talbot.", the ghostly unicorn mare said in a voice that sounded as if it was drowning in blood, "Do you think that you'll be able to get away from ponies before the moon shines full again like you did last month?"

Talbot clenched his eyes shut, tears stinging them and turned his head away from the unicorn mare he once loved. "Please leave me alone Bright Star."

"You know I can't.", the apparition of Bright Star said, "You know as well as I that the first pony you kill haunts you for the rest of your existence. It's the burden of the curse."

Talbot took in a deep breath to steel himself, still refusing to look at the apparition. "Maybe this coming full moon will be when I can truly die."

The apparition of Bright Star scoffed. "You know as well as I that the only thing that can kill you is lunar silver or the juice of the wolfsbane flower, both are extremely rare. Where would you even think to find them?"

Talbot refused to answer the question and instead locked his gaze on the rising half moon. "Considering that this town sits next to the Everfree Forest, maybe somepony in town knows where some grows." A rustling of leaves caught his attention and he turned around quickly to challenge it. "Who's there?!"

Applejack walked out of the shadows. "It's jus' me Talbot. Ah was out checking some of th' fences when Ah heard ya. Who were you talking to?"

The apparition of Bright Star walked around AJ assessing her. "She's a pretty one. Think she'll make a good meal?", she mocked.

Talbot purposely refused to acknowledge Bright Star. "Nopony. I was just talking to myself. Tell me something Applejack, have you ever heard of a flower called wolfsbane?"

AJ cocked her head in thought. "Can't say Ah have. What's it for?"

"It's a plant that can keep certain monsters away."

Applejack rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Hmm...well if'n it's somethin' like that, maybe Zecora knows where some is."

"Who's Zecora?", Talbot asked.

"She th' resident zebra who's also a skilled alchemist, mystic and healer. She lives in her hut in th' Everfree Forest.", Applejack replied, "Maybe tumarrah Ah c'n take ya tuh see her."

Talbot nodded before turning to walk back to the farmhouse, not taking his eyes off the moon.
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The sun was well above the horizon when Applejack had finished up her morning chores. She gestured to Talbot who was sitting on the porch. "C'mon, Ah'll take ya tuh see Zecora.", she said before putting a hoof to her mouth to holler at her brother who was working on the far side of the orchards, "Me an, Talbot are gonna see Zecora, anythin' ya need from her hut?"

"Nope!", Big Mac shouted from across the orchard.

The two were walking down the path that lead past Fluttershy's as they made their way to the Everfree.

Talbot noticed a butter yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail trot down the path from a cottage made from a hollowed out tree.

Fluttershy ducked behind her long mane when she saw Talbot, peeking out through a gap in the strands of hair. "Applejack...um...a-are you going to s-s-see Zecora?"

"Yup!", Applejack replied. "Where's my manners? Fluttershy, this here's an old family friend, Talbot. Talbot, this here's one o' my best fiends Fluttershy.", she said gesturing her hoof between the two.

"How*ahem* how do you do, Fluttershy?", Talbot said extending a hoof.

Fluttershy hemmed and hawed before nervously extending her hoof. "Um...h-h-how...er...uh...ah...oooh...I hope you're having a nice day*squeak*...m-m-mister Talbot?"

"I can say that my day is doing better now that I've seen a lovely mare such as you.", Talbot complimented which made Fluttershy's cheeks turn three shades of red.

"So what brings ya out this way this mornin'?", AJ asked.

"I...was going to see Zecora for some medicine as several of my animal friends have the sniffles.", Fluttershy responded still tucking her face behind her mane.

"Ah hope it's nuthin' catchin', lest Ah need tuh get some o' that medication fer mah livestock?"

Fluttershy brushed her mane away from her face. "Oh no, it's nothing like that. It's just Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel, their kits have a seasonal cold."

"Well would you mind takin' Talbot with ya?", AJ asked, "He said somethin' 'bout a plant called wolfsbane. Said it was somethin' that can keep monsters away. Caint rightly say Ah heard o' it b'fore."

"Oh?", Fluttershy asked as she wracked, somewhere she had heard of it before, but she couldn't quite place it. She looked up at Talbot and her cheeks flushed again, she thought he looked...nice.

Applejack's mouth turned up slightly at the corners at her shy friend. "Ya know what? Why dun ya take Talbot here tuh see Zecora yerself?"

Fulttershy felt as if her whole head was going to going to burst into flames. "Ummm...ahhh...oohh...er.", she stammered.

"C'mon Flutters, ya got business with Zecora already. Why not show him to her place? Ah'm sure he won't bite."

Fluttershy sputtered, trying to get her mouth to sync up with her brain.

"If she doesn't want to show me, it's fine Applejack.", Talbot said, "You can still show me where she lives, right?"

Fluttershy finally was able to find her words as she ducked behind her mane. "No, I'll show him Applejack."

Applejack let the corners of her mouth curl up even more. "Thank ya kindly, Fluttershy. Ah owe ya one."

In the darkness of the Everfree, Talbot and Fluttershy walked on the path that lead to Zecora's in silence. The mangled apparition of Bright Star strode out from behind a bush and walked around the two ponies. "She's beautiful and I think she's sweet on you Talbot.", the apparition mocked, "I wonder if her meat is as sweet as her tone?" Talbot begged in his mind for the apparition of the mare who once loved before she died during that fateful full moon all hose years ago to go away.

Bright Star laughed derisively. "Maybe you don't have to kill her right away, just mangle her hind legs and toy with her before you kill and eat her." Bright Star ran her hoof down her mangled neck. "What do you think? Feel her hot blood run down your wooden throat as you rip her throat out?" This caused Talbot to shoot the apparition a sharp glare.

Fluttershy noticed him shooting a glare and she looked around to see what he was glaring at. "Talbot? What's the matter?"

"Oh! Um...nothing, I thought I just something,", Talbot replied as he turned his face away from the apparition of Bright Star making biting actions and growling sounds.

"Try all you want to ignore me.", Bright Star hissed as she trotted up next to his side.

Talbot walked alongside Fluttershy in silence as he tried to ignore the apparition of the first pony he killed that taunted and tormented him.

"Well we're here.", Fluttershy said softly stopping outside of a small hut made from a hollowed out tree, several large, oval-shaped carved wooden masks laid propped up outside the door.

Talbot felt his flesh crawl as he approached the house and the apparition of Bright Star refused to come any closer. "Oh my, welcome Fluttershy!", Zecora said in a pleased tone as she opened the door, "And the wind was correct when it told me you were bringing a friend."

"Um...yes. Zecora, this is Talbot.", Fluttershy said softly, "I'm here for some medicine because Mr. and Mrs Squirrel's kits are sick. Oh! Um...have you ever heard of something called wolfsbane? Talbot is looking for some. I th-think it's used to keep monsters away."

"Zecora raised an eyebrow st the mention of wolfsbane. "That herb is rare and is hard to find anywhere. It only blooms when the moon shows it full face, even still there are many who would still for it race. Come inside, there is no reason to stand outside."

Inside Zecora ladled tea from her cauldron into some cups and passed them to Talbot and Fluttershy, then turned to the shelves and dug through them until she found a small vial and hoofed it to Fluttershy. "For their sickness, three drops shall cure it with the quickness."

Fluttershy finished the last of her tea and placed the cup on a nearby small table. "Thanks for the medicine and the tea, I'm sure Mr.and Mrs Squirrel will be happy to see their kits get well." She patted a hoof on Talbot's foreleg. "I'm sorry that Zecora couldn't help you find what you were looking for."

As te two poies stood to leave, Zecora called out, "Stay for a moment Mr. Talbot, do no answer with an if, and, or, but." After Talbot turned back around and sat, she continued, "Tell me why you need this flower and do not take an hour."

"I need it to keep a...monster away."

Zecora hummed in her throat and clicked her tongue. "Even the pony who says their prayers at night may become a timberwolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the moone shines bright. There was a time when ponies heeded the warning in that rhyme. I'm not meek, why is it this poisonous flower you seek? Do you know someone who bears this curse or is it something much worse?"

"There is a monster that has stalked my family for generations and just recently it started stalking me. I remembered my grandma saying that wolfsbane would get rid of it."

Zecora rubbed her chin in thought, then she crushed up some leaves and roots in a mortar with a pestle. She poured the crushed herbs on a metal plate sitting on a tripod and placed a lit candle under it, after a moment wispy blue smoke began to curl up from the mixture. "I am no sayer of sooth, but this smoke will reveal the truth." She blew the blue smoke towards Talbot and where the blue wisps curled past his face, they momentarily revealed the image of a timberwolf.

Zecora leapt back in surprise, shouting in her native tongue. She took a breath to steady her nerves and said, "You bear the curse, this much worse." She felt flustered as her normal rhyming fled, "Depart from here now, if you seek your doom the next full moon is on Nightmare Night. Maybe you can find some lunar silver before then."

Talbot nodded and turned to leave. Closing the door behind him, he started walking down the path that lead back to Ponyville, feeling defeated and said to himself, "Maybe this year I will get lucky and find some wolfsbane."

"Or you can pick up a rock and bash that zebra's head in.", the apparition of Bright Star said leaping from behind a fallen tree. "The big question here is that now she knows your not-so-little secret, how will you keep her from talking?"

Talbot glared at the apparition of his dead fiance. "I don't want to kill her or anypony else."

Bright Star laughed derisively. "You could just let yourself go and have fun. Imagine it, all the pony flesh you could eat between your teeth and the feel of their blood as it trickles down your muzzle."

Talbot gritted teeth and grumbled something incoherently under his breath.

Bright Star put a hoof behind her ear. "Pardon? Could you repeat that?"

"I SAID SHUT THE BUCK UP!", Talbot screamed at the apparition at the top of his voice.

Fluttershy was giving some medicine to the sick squirrel kits as her mind ran over why Talbot wanted wolfsbane, she seemed to know it from somewhere, but couldn't quite place it. Her ears perked up when she heard Talbot screaming for somepony to shut up in the Everfree Forest. 'Did he have an argument with Zecora or did he run into somepony and had an argument?', she thought as a shiver ran down her spine. Once she finished tending to the squirrel kits, she went into her cottage and flipped through the few books on herbal lore she owned. She frowned when she found nothing about wolfsbane. "I'll see if Twilight has something on it.", She said to herself.

Reaching Golden Oaks, Fluttershy raised her hoof and gently knocked on the door. She chewed on her lip nervously while waiting on the front stoop of the library and considered leaving when Spike opened the door.

"Oh, hi Fluttershy."

"Is Twilight in, Spike?"

Spike stepped aside to let the yellow pegasus in. "Yeah, she's downstairs working on an experiment. I'll tell her you're here." The purple dragon with green frills scampered to the basement door as the yellow pegasus mare made her way to the shelves, looking several books over.

The door to the basement open ad closed several times as first Fluttershy heard clawed feet walking across the floor, then the clopping of hooves. She turned her head and Twilight walking up to her, wearing a white lab coat around her body and a pair of goggles hanging from her neck.

"Fluttershy, it's good to see you!", Twilight exclaimed as she pulled off the lab coat and goggles before hanging them on a nearby peg, "Is there something you needed or is this a social call?"

"I know it sounds silly, but have you ever heard of something called wolfsbane?", Fluttershy asked before feeling very self conscious, "N-n-nevermind, now that I hear myself say it, it sounds silly. I'll just go now."

Twilight laid a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Nonsense Fluttershy, it's a perfectly valid question." She brushed the tip of her hoof across her lips in thought. "I've heard of wolfsbane. It's supposed to be a really rare herb. I think I have a book on it." She walked over to a shelf and began glancing over the titles. "Ah, here we go! Rare plants and herbs of the world." she flipped through the pages until she found where wolfsbane was listed and read out loud, "Wolfsbane, a rare flowering herb that only grows naturally in three places in the world, the foothills of the Trotsylvanian mountains, in the isolated glades of the Schwartzwald Forest in Germane and in isolated thickets in the Everfree Forest. It's closely related to Monk's cudgel and is highly toxic. Is held by many who live in Trotsylvania to have properties that ward off evil and said to only bloom only once every full moon." She turned the book around to show Fluttershy. "Is there any reason why you want to know about this rare herb?"

Fluttershy looked over the listing for wolfsbane. "There's this pony who is an old friend of Applejack and Big Mac, his name is Talbot, he was asking about wolfsbane. He said it can keep certain monsters away."

Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin, then went back to the bookshelf and pulled out a book on Trotsylvanian myths and legends. "Hmm...it says here that the ponies who live in rural Trotsyvania used to hang up clusters of wolfsbane, garlands of garlic and wreaths of wild roses because they believed that it would keep vamponies, ghosts, evil spirits and those carrying the curse of the timberwolf at bay, they used to look for weapons made of lunar silver to defend themselves, but those superstitions fell out of practice about six hundred years ago." She flipped the book around for her fiend to read.

"Um, what's lunar silver?", Fluttershy asked.

"According to ancient Equestrian legends, lunar silver was supposed to have fallen to the ground from the moon. The legends say that lunar silver is supposed to be rare and was supposed to have stopped falling to the world shortly after Lna was banished to the moon by Celestia a thousand years ago."

Fluttershy considered this before smiling to Twilight. "Thank you for you help. I'm sure he's just a superstitious pony. I'll see you later." She turned and walked to the door of the library."

"Sure thing, Fluttershy. Feel free to stop by any time.", Twilight said in a chipper tone as she escorted her friend to the door.
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Applejack had noted that Talbot had become paranoid and jumpy over the past couple of weeks, she even brought it up to Big Mac, who had reassured her that he had always been a bit high strung, like an earth pony version of Twilight, but less of a bookworm.

Applejack was popping the last rivets into her Nightmare Night costume of the tinpony when the soft creaking of the barn door caught her attention. Looking up, she saw Talbot walk in with a nervous and paranoid expression on his face. "What can Ah do ya fer, Talbot?"

"What I'm about to ask you may sound a little weird. What is the most secure place you can lock somepony in?", Talbot asked.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want tuh know?"

"Please Applejack, if I wanted you and Big Mac to lock me in until the morning, what place would that be?"

Applejack sighed, she could tell something was bothering him. "Ah guess if'n we had tuh lock somepony away here on th' farm, that would be th' ol' root cellar under th' barn here. Now Talbot, why do ya want tuh be locked in that place?"

"I don't to go out tonight. Lock me in there, please.", Talbot pleaded.

Applejack chuckled. "Scared o' nightmare Night huh? Maybe you could stay over at Fluttershy's, she scared o' Nightmare Night too, maybe you two can hold each other an' be scared together."

"Applejack please!", Talbot snapped before closing his eyes and taking a breath to calm himself, "For my saftey and everypony else's, please lock me in the root cellar and don't let me out until morning."

Applejack could tell that this was a serious subject and that she may have struck a nerve. "Look, I'm sorry Talbot. If you think you'd feel safer tonight in the root cellar, I'll make sure you're locked in an' even make sure ya got plenty o' food soes y'all don't eat Granny's stash o' zap apple jam, she'd skin both of us alive if's ya did that."

Talbot gave a weary smile. "Thank you Applejack."

"So when did ya want us tuh lock ya in?"

"This evening before the moon rises."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that, even Fluttershy waited until the sun was down completely before she locked herself in.

As evening came on Ponyville and the shadows began to lengthen, Talbot nervously began to climb down the steps that lead into the root cellar. Applejack and Big Mac passed him a couple canteens of water, a bundle with some food in it, a lantern and a box of matches. "Thank you.", he said softly.

"No problem sugar cube.", Applejack replied, "Ain't that right Mac?" "Eeyup!" Applejack closed the cellar doors and felt sorry for Talbot being left alone in the darkness. "Alright, we're lockin' y'all in fer th' night. Dun worry, ain't nopony or nothin' gon' mess with ya down there.", she said jiggling the heavy iron latch, but couldn't bring herself to actually lock the stallion in. "Ah feel right terrible an' caint bring myself to actually lock him down there.", Applejack whispered to her brother. "Eeyup.", Big Mac whispered back.

Sitting at the bottom of the stair in the root cellar, Talbot looked up at the slowly darkening sky through the gap between the doors. Sweat began to pour down his body as he could feel the full moon just below the horizon.

"Do you think they actually locked you in or that some flimsy wooden door can hold you in?", the apparition of Bright Star mocked as stepping from the shadows.

"Shutupshutupshutupshutup!", Talbot repeated over and over to the apparition as he clenched his eyes tightly while profuse sweat continued to soak his body. Suddenly his eyes snapped open at the familiar creak of wood...it was happening. The last coherent thought that wen through his mind was a prayer to Celestia that tonight would be the night he would die.

Author's Note

The first chapter in the story of the curse of the timberwolf.

Feel free to leave a comments, criticisma, throw shade or pure bane.

Thank you all for reading and I hop you all enjoy.