Author's Note
So, a while back I published the beginning of a story called Weremare. It was based off a spur-of-the-moment idea that i had at 2 in the morning, and was written entirely off the top of my head. The point is: I don't look back on it too fondly.
This short story is essentially an attempt at a more polished version of that , and hopefully provide an idea of where that story might have gone.
As always, let me know if you liked it. Let me know if you didn't like it. Let me know any way I can improve.
Chapter 1
"Just another day like any other," Thought Big Macintosh as he loaded a barrel full of apples into a his cart. Not that he particularly minded of course. A nice calm orchard, a mug of cider, and some time alone with his thoughts was all Big Mac needed. He preferred to leave the more exiting stuff to his sister.
Sitting down for a brief rest, Big Mac looked around at the now empty trees surrounding him. At this rate he'd be done with today's work well before dinner. If he kept this pace up he'd probably have most of the orchard harvested before Applejack got back from whatever shenanigans she and her friends were mixed up in. As he got back to work, Mac wondered to himself what sort of thing it might be this time. Maybe some ancient unspeakable evil, perhaps a misguided sorcerer trying to seize power, or maybe it was a problem that could be fixed with a simple talk to clear up a misunderstanding.
"Ah bet Rainbow Dash would be mighty annoyed if that was it," he thought with a chuckle. Of course, it wasn't as if he didn't appreciate all the work they did. Heck, he and everypony else in Equestria owed them their lives several times over.
But even the greatest heroes couldn't be everywhere at once. As Big Mac filled yet another bushel with fruit his mind flashed back to a fateful meeting in the Everfree forest. He couldn't help but wonder what the odds were that he, of all ponies would've been in just the right place at that time.
Well, in any case, he had more harvesting to get to.
Just as he was getting back to work, a blood-curdling shriek shattered the silence. The sounds of ponies screaming could be heard from town.
"Another one already?" Thought Big Mac, "Ah swear to Celestia, its like those darn things can read my mind."
He looked up and saw a black cat sitting perched on a branch above his head. Not that he needed the reminder. He already knew what he needed to do.
(One year ago)
"Here Winona! Here girl!" Big Macintosh called out for the Apple family dog. He stood at the edge of the Everfree forest where she'd just run in while chasing a cat. Now it wasn't unusual for Winona to chase after some critter, but normally she'd stop short of the forest. This time though, for whatever reason, she just kept on going.
Big Mac hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't just leave Winona in there by herself.
"Here goes nothin'," he thought as he stepped into the trees.
Even with the midday sun overhead, the thick foliage made it seem like dusk. Winona had left plenty of tracks to follow but Big Mac couldn't help but worry that one of the Everfree's many monsters would get to her before he did. Even though she could be a bit of a hoof-full at times, he could bear the thought of her getting hurt out here. After nearly half an hour of searching, he finally heard the sound of excited barking.
Big Mac hurriedly galloped towards the source of the sound. It seemed to be coming from inside a small cave. Cautiously, Big Mac poked his head inside and sure enough there was Winona standing over some sort of lumpy bundle.
"Winona! Oh thank Celestia," Now that he was no longer concerned for her safety, Macintosh adopted a sterner tone, "You know better than to run into the forest by yerself girl. What if Ah hadn't..."
Whatever Big Macintosh was about to say next never came, because he suddenly realized what the dog had found in the cave. A pony.
He quickly scrambled in and to the strange pony's side. The pony, a pegasus mare as he could now see, had clearly been victim to some sort of attack, though by what he couldn't say.
"Miss? Miss can yah hear me?" She opened one eye part way and looked at Big Mac, but said nothing
"Can yah move at all?" Again no response. Realizing this was going nowhere, Big Mac decided to stop wasting time and simply take her to someone who could help.
"Ah'm gonna give yah a lift inta town alright? There's a doctor there who can help yah." But before he could make a move, she held out a hoof.
"Don't bother," She said weakly, "Its too late for me."
Before Big Mac could object, she continued.
"I need you to listen to me. They're coming for Ponyville. You need to stop them."
"Who? What's comin'?" Rather than respond the mare pressed her hoof to his.
"Please promise me." she whispered, clearly struggling to speak. For a fraction of a second, Macintosh hesitated. This whole hero thing was more Applejack's forte. But as soon as that thought entered his mind, he shook it out. He couldn't just shrug off a dying pony's request, especially when the lives of everypony he knew could be at risk.
"Ah promise," he said with a nod. With that, a golden glow surrounded the stranger's body, working its way to the end of her forehoof. Where their two hooves met, the glow spread to Big Mac. As it covered him, a strange tingling sensation engulfed his body.
Finally the light faded and the mysterious mare gave a small chuckle.
"Heh. A stallion. I don't think anypony ever expected this," She looked Big Mac in the eyes, "Thank you."
With that, she closed her eyes and her body simply faded away.
Big Mac took a few steps back, trying to process what had just happened. The tingling sensation was still there, and now he found himself fighting back a sudden wave of nausea. He turned to leave, took a single step forward, and passed out.
With start, Big Mac awoke. He was in his room, lying in his bed. Had that all been a dream? He couldn't remember coming back home, and one look out the window let him know that it was night and had been for some time.
Just as he determined that it must have been an incredibly vivid dream, he felt his stomach lurch.
"Well that was real at least," he thought, rushing to the bathroom.
After vomiting up the remains of yesterday's dinner, Big Mac happened to catch his reflection out of the corner of his eye. But... something seemed off. He turned his head to get a better look.
Staring back at him was the face of a young mare.
"I can see by your expression that you still have questions,"
Big Mac nodded.
"Eeyup," (it sounded weird with this higher pitched voice).
"Very well," sighed Ardent Fire, " I should probably start from the beginning anyway. Tell me, do you know anything about alchemy?"
"Um, a little?" Big Mac scratched her head, trying to recall the information, "Ah know ponies use it to try and turn lead inta gold, 'cept without magic."
"Sort of," replied Ardent, "it combines aspects of magic and science to convert one type of matter to another. And yes, turning lead into gold is one thing you can do assuming you know the formula. But gold isn't the true prize. No, the ultimate goal of any alchemist is Life."
"D'ya mean like a golem? Ah know Twilight can make those."
"No, no, golems aren't truly alive. They move around and obey orders, but that's just due to the magic being channeled through them. There's no actual mind or soul in them. What I'm talking about is taking something entirely unliving and making it completely living, independent of an outside source."
"Is that what those-the Shades are?"
"Yes. Not long after Celestia and Luna began their reign somepony figured out the secret. Nopony is sure who exactly, but they did leave behind some notes..."
Suddenly Big Mac's vision was filled with the sight of an unfamiliar room. To one side was a desk with a somewhat tattered notebook.
"Wh-What's goin' on?"
"I'm sharing a memory with you. Trust me, this will be faster than saying it all out loud."
The vision moved closer to the desk and opened the notebook.
"Day one: experimentation begun. Goal: to create a functional, living being
Day two: have attempted to combine... (unintelligible)... using energy from crystals. was unsuccessful"
So it continued for some time, with some text unreadable, growing more and more frustrated until finally:
"Day 498: I have discovered that... (unintelligible)… with shadow magic produces a promising reaction. will require magical barriers. must keep it alive
..........
Day 507: I'VE DONE IT! ITS ALIVE! IN THE NAME OF FAUST, NOW I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE FAUST!"
Soon enough however it was followed by:
"Day 520: It cannot be controlled. It has attempted escape again today and nearly succeeded. My assistant is dead. I must destroy it. can't destroy it. barriers too strong
Day 521: there are two of them. they are self-replicating. not sure how much longer they will stay contained"
On the final page was written a single sentence in the center of the page:
"To whoever finds this: forgive me."
Big Mac had to take a moment to breath as the vision faded.
"So what happened?"
"Well," said Ardent, "as you might imagine, word of monsters that were immune to magic and physical attacks spread pretty quickly. Celestia and Luna gathered a counsel of Equestria's finest minds to find a way to combat them. Eventually they created an entirely new form of magic: The Undying Light.
The trouble was, in order to get around the Shades' defenses, the spell had to be incredibly specific. So specific that not only could it only be used by a single pony, it could only be used by a specific type of pony: a young mare."
"So that's why Ah'm like this?"
"Yeeesss… I think," for the first time since she'd begun speaking, Ardent didn't seemed so sure of herself, "Like I said, the power was never meant to be wielded by a stallion. When I first showed up at your farm I was hoping to find Applejack. As near as I can tell it compensated by changing you into a form that it was compatible with."
"Am Ah Stuck like this then?!"
"I don't know."
"How can ya not know? Ah thought ya were some kinda ancient magic guardian! But Ah ask fer help and all ya can say 'Ah Dunno'?" Big Mac emphasized the point with an exaggerated shrug.
"Like I said," continued Ardent, rolling her eyes, "This has never happened before and it was never supposed to happen. I'm just as much in the dark as you. Ideally the previous wielder would've trained a replacement before passing the power to her."
"Could Ah do that? Pass it on Ah mean?"
"Unfortunately no. At least, not now. Even if these were normal circumstances, the power is still unstable after the transfer. You'd be just as likely to kill whoever you tried to give it to."
“Ah see…”
“Look, there may be a way for you to change back,” Big Mac’s ears perked up, “At least for a while.”
Big Mac’s ears lowered.
“Well that’s better than nuthin’ Ah guess.” She said, somewhat disappointed but also glad for a fix of any sort.
“Do you still remember the words I taught you earlier?”
“Eyup.”
“Right now you’re in your ‘Powered’ form. Repeating the spell should revert you to your natural form for now.”
“Right,” Eyes closed, Big Mac recalled the words from before,
“By the Power of the Moon.
By the Strength of the Sun.
I vow to defend all life,
From the shadow of evil,
And the monsters that hide in the dark.”
As the last word was uttered, Big Mac felt a bizarre tingling sensation followed by nausea. It wasn’t nearly as bad as before but still, not exactly pleasant.
When the feeling passed, Big Macintosh found himself back to his normal stallion self. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“Ah never thought Ah’d be this happy to see mah own hooves,” he thought, holding said appendages before his eyes.
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” a voice from below remarked. Big Mac turned his head to see Ardent Fire, seeming much smaller now that he was back to his normal size, “Until you master it, you’re going to transform any time a Shade comes to town”
Too relieved to be upset at the moment, Big Mac instead asked a question that had been ruminating in the back of his head.
"Yah said the Princesses helped make this spell right? And these monsters used ta be everywhere right? How come this is the first Ah've heard of em?"
"That's because everypony except the original wielder had their memory wiped."
"?"
"The Shades will attack anything in their path," explained Ardent, "But for some reason they seem to specifically target anypony who knows about them. Even if somepony's never seen a Shade, as long as they know what one is, they will be hunted. In order to minimize casualties Starswirl the Bearded built a memory spell into the Undying Light. That little trick you did after killing the Shade? It didn't just fix the town, it made everypony in range forget that anything had happened at all."
" So Ah can't tell mah family about this?"
"If you value their lives, you won't tell anypony."
Author's Note
And now the chapter where I justify the premise!
Please let me know what you think of this one. I may go back and change some things at a later point.
As always, let me know if you liked it. Let me know if you didn't like it. Let me know any way I can improve.
