Chapter 4 - New Appleloosa
The next morning was dawning. Appletree, Bubbles and I were up early and getting ready. We would arrive late afternoon or early evening. Cracker also gave us a few supplies and said goodbye. "You're welcome to come back, I could really use your help again, little wolf." He said, waving. I stopped briefly at the wayshrine and said a few prayers in Old Ponic and one in the contemporary language for guidance from the goddesses and a safe journey. Appletree joined in the prayer, I looked at her in astonishment. That was a bit out of character for her. She had done this to me a few times before, but rarely. I looked at her a little surprised, but pleased. "Since when do you pray with me again, my little one?" I said, slightly skeptical, but also touched. "I want Luna and Celestia to be with us. Besides, you're the priestess for the wasteland now, so I want to support you in that, even if it's just by praying with my big sister.” She smiled, I smiled, and Bubbles rolled her eyes a little.

"Are you starting to preach every night now?" she said, mockingly skeptical. "If I'm initiated, maybe," I just replied with a grin. We trotted on towards New Appleloosa. "Initi- what?" Bubbles asked. I giggled; I thought it was funny that I was apparently the only one far and wide who could speak Old Ponic. "When I have received Luna's blessing. But for that I have to visit a temple first, according to the traditions it is only possible there. Luckily there is one around New Appleloosa.” I said with content. After the horrors of the past few days, I finally felt a little more relaxed.

After a somewhat surprisingly uneventful journey, we arrived at the city of containers and railcars. At the gate we were stopped by the sheriff, who was also the mayor. He looked at us in turn. Then he pointed to Appletree, "You're the wolf, right?" Appletree nodded, a little uncertain, and started to hide behind me again. "If you cause trouble, you're kicked out." He said seriously. Appletree nodded and said sheepishly, "I'm not doing this on purpose." The sheriff looked at her for a moment, then looked a little more gracious when he noticed how insecure and shy the wolf was. "I just wanted to officially point this out to you. Security measures have already been taken by Mr. Hooves. Well then, welcome to New Appleloosa, big wolf.” He grinned. Then he turned to me. "So you are the priestess - or witch." He scowled at me. "If it doesn't bother you, kill properly and don't do more harm than necessary."

I looked uncertain. "All I can say is that I'll try." He nodded and grinned again. "Then you are also welcome, Children of the Night." He paused briefly, something seemed to bother him. "What's going on?" I cocked my head; he actually got a little nervous at the question and… a little red. "Are you going to preach too? There's a couple here who would like that, but I don't know if that's such a good idea. There's been a few weird preachers who've passed through here.” I put my front hoof gently on his shoulder. "When I'm initiated, I will preach - not before." The sheriff looked relieved, nodded, but then raised an eyebrow again. "Initi- what?" Bubbles chimed in, "If she dedicated herself to Luna. All she needs is a temple.” The sheriff thought about it. "Good luck little one, I wouldn't even begin to know where to find one." We said goodbye to the gate.

Our first stop was Bubbles' home. We walked through a few alleys of containers and found ourselves in front of the same, slightly rusted example. I knocked and a slightly older, yellow unicorn mare with a green mane opened the door for us. Her cutie mark was a piece of cloth that curled with magic. I smiled at her. "You're Bubbles' mother, right?" I tried to put on my friendliest smile. She looked dejected and nodded. "I'm the one they call Children of the Night," I said softly. Her eyes widened more in fear than awe. "She's not dead!!" she started to sniffle. I gently wrapped my hoof around her to comfort her. "No, she isn't." Her eyes widened again. "Where is she, do you know?" She looked at me almost pleadingly; I looked around the corner.

There Bubbles slowly trotted up. Her problem was that Appletree didn't like being pulled on her new leash. It had gotten dark and Appletree had transformed before we reached Bubbles' house, and Bubbles liked to have her on a leash. Her mother burst into a torrent of tears when she saw her and rushed towards her. She hugged her like there was no tomorrow; then she stopped and looked up and was startled again to see Appletree's fangs.

My little sister always tended to smile shyly. The thing that scared the mare though were the long fangs of our wolf, which were still a little bloody. Luckily, Bubbles switched gears quickly enough when she noticed the anxiety building up in her mother. She took her mother's hoof and placed it on Appletree's fur. "You can pet her, she won't do anything." She said soothingly. Then she quickly added, "Unless you hurt her friends or family, then she'll get angry." Enjoying the hesitant petting, Appletree sat on her hind legs and wagged her tail slightly. Then she sniffed at Bubble's mother and licked her cheek. Bubble's mother was startled for a moment, but giggled and now said in a friendly and relaxed manner, "So you're the little wolf, okay." She smiled, let a handkerchief float over to free Appletree from the remains of the blood. "Your wolf is a little piglet, is that possible?" She smiled. "Yes, my little sister still has to work on her wolf manners." She looked at me, then at her again, then at me - and I sighed and said "I'm two years older than her - so I'm the big sister!"

We said our goodbyes for now and Bubbles gave us some of her chewing gum. Blueberry for me and apple for Appletree. Bubbles’ mother was still so grateful to us that she offered us to sleep at her place for the next few days until we had to move on. But for now we had an appointment that I was looking forward to. We entered the tavern just as the laughter had died down. Apparently someone had asked something incredibly stupid. And I could also see exactly who that had been. The rumors that were being shared around the stable were actually true. Littlepip looked really cute when she blushed and I found myself gasping at the sight as we both looked at each other a little blushed. Then she looked at Appletree and the blush immediately disappeared. Her eyes widened and she shook herself briefly. Was she disgusted, or did the sight of Appletree frighten her? I was approaching the table where Pip was sitting next to a rust colored Pegasus when the bar pony trotted up with a note and a funny box.

"Ok you three, I want a photo of the three angels from the stable." He said with a grin. We posed a bit at his request and he took some pictures with his old pre-war polaroid camera. Appletree was shy in the first picture, but she was actually starting to like it. I smiled as we returned to the table, Appletree with her huge frame placed herself next to me. He gave out a round of Sparkle Cola for the pictures. The one for Appletree even had a colorfully ringed straw. "It's nice to see that you're doing well," I said to Littlepip, who looked at us happily, "Well, you seem to be doing well, but your sister has apparently caught something bad." She turned her gaze from me to my sister. "Or Appletree?" Pip still looked a bit skeptical, but didn't seem to be really scared anymore. Her companion in the Black Desperado hat kept a close eye on Appletree the whole time. She grabbed a piece of wood from the ground and tried to carve something into it with her claws. When the serving pony trotted past again and saw this, she stopped and gave us a small slate and a piece of chalk. "That'll make a bottle cap later," he said with a smile and I nodded. Appletree started writing.

"Yes, it hurt a lot when the Timberwolf bit me and I was very scared. I thought I was going to die and abandon my sister and Bubbles. But I managed to kill the monster.” Pip nodded and hesitantly stroked her mane. Appletree wiped the slate clean. I saw that she searched for the right phrase for a long time, about ten minutes. Then she just shoved on the board, "Want to be friends, Littlepip?" My heart skipped a beat; she had finally dared to ask her after all these years and a few small tears rolled down my cheeks. Pip looked at me confused but no longer skeptical and then said with a smile, "Sure. Having friends out here is important.” She hugged, well, Appletree's front. Her arms were too short to fully grasp her. Then Pip looked at me "You, Stardust, why are you crying?" She looked a little skeptical again and her companion, who had been leaning against the wall near the table, looked just as skeptical.

I thought to myself that this must be her new buddy, I just didn't know his name. I sniffled again and wiped the tears from my eyes "Appletree, may I tell her?" Now she blushed but nodded shyly. I took a deep breath. "She's been trying to make friends with you since you were both little fillies - but well, you know as well as I do how shy she is. And now that we've left the stable, she dared to ask. That just moved me to tears.” Pip also got big eyes and seemed touched. "Then you both must report to each other more often. You can meet in the wasteland to help each other or just to chat. The wasteland is big, as you may have already noticed. And together you're not lonely.” The evening grew later, we talked to Pip and her buddy, whom she introduced to us as Calamity. Then I noticed how Appletree slowly started to pull on the leash. "Do you want to go for a walk?" I looked at her questioningly. She nodded eagerly. "Well, we can take a little walk around town BUT no hunting, got it?" She nodded, whimpering a little.

When we got to the gate, the guard greeted us, "Hey you two, listen. I'll close the gate in two hours, then you have to pay 50 caps to get in. Also, there's been a weird crazy pony with magical energy weapons hanging around here for the last three weeks, be careful. It hasn't attacked anyone yet, but please pay attention anyway.” I nodded. "We just want to walk around the city," I said and also looked longingly into the darkness. I enjoyed this walk. Ever since my vision of Luna, I've had the constant feeling that I was blinded more often than before, but could see better in the dark. I wandered absentmindedly with Appletree on a leash through the little patch of wasteland along the wall. Only my little sister donated a little light, which was pleasantly natural. Then I heard her sniff and growl. Over there under a tree sat a black being, with blue eyes, a horn, insect-like wings, and... A Magical Energy Gatling attached to a battle saddle. He jumped when he noticed us. I raised a hoof in salute and reminded Appletree that it was only a pony; only then did I hear the buzzing. Then the pain flooded my body, brief but violent.

Some of the shots hit my front legs, some hit my side and I collapsed screaming in agony. Appletree leaped at the creature. It opened fire again, hitting Appletree's front legs. I couldn't believe my eyes and cold rage washed over me as her Timberwolf legs dissolved into pink dust and Appletree fell to the ground. He was too far away for my lightning whip and my pain was too great to bridge the distance. I chose a different spell, or rather combined two spells. The bullet stun spell, a very simple entry-level combat spell, and my lightning whip. I was skilled as a spell caster at combining these, even under such stress. A light blue ball appeared over my horn, filled with a bolt of lightning centered on the inside, from which it kept shooting at the outer shell of the spell. I sent the bullet at the creature - it tried to dodge, but was too slow. First his body went limp. I had woven the spell in such a way that he was no longer able to move at will. Then that little beetle danced with violent convulsions. He did that for about a minute, during which time I dragged myself to Appletree. The pain clouded my senses, but I heard a familiar sound through the veil of pain and was relieved. Appletree's timber legs were just growing back. I prayed to Luna that the pain should lessen. Then I felt something cool on the wound on my side. I looked down at it and was perplexed and confused to find that this black something had shed its smoking combat saddle and was now bandaging me.

I stared at him with wide eyes. He giggled and said, almost embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I was scared. I'm Ferrax, and who are you?” It took me a full minute to come to terms with the situation. Then I looked at him blankly, "Why did you just shoot us - and are you going to help us now?" He applied a second bandage, this time to my front hooves. "Your tame Timberwolf startled me. It's big and scary." Appletree, who had calmed down now, glared at him. "That's not a tame Timberwolf, that's my little sister." It took a moment, then the black pony flashed its horn and took a closer look at Appletree. I had to hold the leash very tight because she would have probably smashed him against the container wall behind us otherwise. "In fact, no timber wolf!" he said, seeming intrigued. I saw his fangs, they were in no way inferior to Appletrees.

Then he said to me "Oh yes, I'm Ferrax by the way, nice to meet you." I looked at him confused "You introduced yourself earlier" I said surprised. He just laughed and said "I'm a bit forgetful." Then he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Your sister is beautiful, the spirit that has entered her makes her shine and seems to harmonize well with her." He said, giggling when he had finished bandaging me. He pulled a few small pieces of meat out of his pocket and let Appletree sniff them. She looked at me questioningly and I could already see the flow of saliva running out of her snout. I nodded smiling softly and Ferrax fed her. "Spirits?" I now asked Ferrax. He turned around, startled. "Spirits, where?" I gave myself a facehoof and giggled. He was really forgetful. "You said the spirit goes well with my sister, what do you mean?" It seemed to click in his head. "The zebras believe in spirits of nature, as far as I know, and your sister has the spirit of the timber wolf." He said eagerly. "She seems to be in good control, I've seen others who carried such a spirit that wiped out and devoured entire villages." He said a little more seriously now. Then he looked at me "You're touched by Luna, aren't you?" I nodded slowly "How did you know that?" He giggled slightly madly again. "The glitter in your eyes is like the starry sky, that's what Luna's children are supposed to have - at least that's what I heard. Oh yes, I'm by the way...." I had to laugh "Yes, Ferrax, I now understand who you are."

Then I looked at him deep in thoughts. "But what are you? A mutated unicorn?” He stared at me and then fell to the ground, laughing. "No, dumbass, I'm a changeling." He promptly transformed into a potted plant, his horn flashing green. I was amazed. As he turned back, I heard hooves approaching. It was the mayor and Sugar Crush. He had a revolver in his muzzle, she had a combat saddle with two shotguns and both were aimed at me. She gave me a very angry look, which unfortunately somehow made her even more attractive and drove the warmth back into my abdomen. "What did I tell you about an hour ago?" the sheriff asked me, looking more disappointed than angry. I winced when I realized what I had done. I said nothing and looked down guiltily.

"Last warning, otherwise you are not allowed to enter our area anymore." He was serious. Then he and Sugar Crush saw my bandaged legs and their gaze wandered first to the changeling, then to his battle saddle, which lay smoking under the tree. "Ok, what exactly happened here?" The three of us reported it as best we could. Appletree was handed a piece of chalk and she simply wrote it on one of the wagon walls. Everyone relaxed a bit. "So," the mayor began. "As I said, warning for the Children of the Night, oh yes, what's your real name?" He looked at me questioningly.

I had calmed down a bit now and only a few tears of terror fell down my face. "My name is Stardust" The mayor nodded. "That even suits someone who is close to Luna." He struck a calmer tone again. "You really need to learn to control this cold fury! If you torment other ponies, people might really think badly of you and want to kill you or put bounties on you out of revenge.” I nodded and continued to look down guiltily. Sugar Crush came up to me and gave me a hug. I looked at her for a moment "Did you really want to kill me with that?" She looked at me confused "No, more like that one over there." She pointed to Ferrax, who was taking care of his Gatling. "I just glared at you for going against the mayor's orders. However, it was self-defense, I actually understand that to a certain extent.” The end of the story was that Ferax was not allowed to enter the city and had to give his gun to the mayor. In fact, he did, and then said to my sister and I, "Can we talk again tomorrow?" I nodded and we trotted back to Bubbles' house. Bubbles was already in bed and Appletree and I curled up on some blankets. I hummed the Children of the Night song. I wanted to ask Luna something else.

I woke up again in the Garden of Shadows. I felt that this time I was a bat pony. I gently spread my wings and flapped a couple of times; a strange but nice feeling. I saw Luna lying at the edge of the garden looking at the wasteland. I fluttered over to her, cautiously and awkwardly, and settled down next to her. "Hello, my little Stardust. Isn't it a nice evening?” I smiled happily at her. I just had to be careful not to cut myself with my dream fangs. I was lucky they were so small considering the ones from Appletree or Ferax. "Yes, at least it is here. In the wasteland one can hardly see the splendor of your sky, unfortunatly, because of the dense cloud cover.” I said a little sadly. "Why am I in this shape?" I asked, a little confused. Luna smiled. "Because I sense that our bond will soon grow stronger. So you should have the form you deserve in my kingdom.” She smiled and stroked my mane. "You have something on your mind, don't you? What is it?” I looked down “I tormented another pony again today. It's against your principles, against your love for all the ponies of Equestria. Can you help me stop this?” She looked at me thoughtfully. "Why do you enjoy torturing other ponies?" I collected my thoughts and then began carefully, "Bad ponies need to be punished so that they can learn from their mistakes. And it seems pain is the only language raiders in the wasteland understand, but I'm afraid it'll tear my soul apart and lead me to something…” I stopped abruptly as a new voice spoke from my left. "As I will?"

I winced when I saw another mare on my other side. Her fur black as the deepest moonless night, her teeth were jagged; a helmet lay in front of her on the grass and her eyes were slit like a Batpony's - completed with wings and horn. I panicked and started shaking like crazy and my eyes widened as I realized Nightmare Moon was lying next to me. I looked in panic to see if Luna was still there and turned around once - when my eyes felt even bigger than the moon. Luna was still lying there and looking at me softly. Her tail and Nightmare Moon's were intertwined like a couple. "Take it easy, my little one." Luna said softly. Somewhat roughly, Nightmare Moon's wing pushed me back to the ground. "How... how can that be? You have been defeated and destroyed." She gave a short, mocking laugh. "I can't be destroyed. I am the dark side of the moon, there will always be me. And if you go on like this to torment ponies, you'll use my power more than my counterpart's.” She said in a bored tone now. She didn't even look at me, just rolled her helmet from one hoof to the other, bored. Luna began to speak again. "I wanted to show you what kind of power you have to face. My power and hers are intertwined. I am the gentle healing of the soul.” Luna said calmly, “I am the evil that will tempt you to make others suffer.” Nightmare Moon said now, still rolling her helmet in boredom and not seeming to notice us at all. I realized that I had to face a difficult task.

I turned to Luna and whispered, "Does Celestia have a side like that too?" Luna looked at me in amusement, "Yes, of course she does. And compared to that, Nightmare Moon is a kitten. Do you want to see her?” Luna asked, actually grinning. I looked surprised. "That works?" This time both nodded. Luna continued, "At the same time you and I first met, Celestia also chose a new priestess." Nightmare Moon snorted, "You only ever come in pairs." Luna made a kind of glowing field appear, then a picture formed. A pavilion made of white marble in front of a forest could be seen as if through a window. On some pillows and blankets lay a snow-white unicorn mare with golden-blond mane that had red streaks and chestnut-brown eyes. Where Nightmare Moon was on my side lay a white mare whose mane and tail were made of flame. Her eyes were like a furnace and she too was playing around with a small fireball, bored. On her other side, however, wasn't quite what I expected. It was Celestia, but she was translucent like a ghost. Her mane was also pink and not like the rainbow. I heard Luna gasp, "Sister, what happened?" The translucent Celestia just looked sad, but didn't answer. But the mare in the middle did though. "Hello sister, nice to meet you." She was talking way too loud and waving her hoof very energetically. Then she looked worriedly at Luna. "Princess Luna, Your Highness. I can report that there is something wrong with your sister's soul. A part seems to be missing. This is the part of the soul that is tied to the sun. But the rest seems to be missing.” Luna and Nightmare Moon now both gasped in unison. The white unicorn mare hoofed reassuringly, "My quest is to find her. And I will!” She radiated confidence like Celestia's sun. Then she turned back to me. "By the way, my name is Sunny Day, and what's your name, sis?" she grinned happily.

"My name is Stardust," I replied with a friendly smile. I was just afraid of cutting my fangs again. "We should meet at Chance, outside of a dream." I nodded. "Where are you at the moment? And are you traveling alone? It's dangerous!” She laughed out loud. "I'm a scholar of the Steel Rangers, I can take care of myself. Also, I have the best zebra sniper beyond the zebra empire with me, believe me - Lucky Shot hits everything.” I nodded. "We're just north of the ruins of Canterlot, on our way to Manehattan to the Tenpony Tower. I'll just get in touch when I'm there and just wait there for you, what do you think of that?” I thought about it. "How, only Luna can open such channels." I had guessed in the blue, but Luna nodded. "I've got a pipbuck like you, I'm a stable mare like you too. So don't worry, we'll manage. See you soon, little sister, and if there's something wrong with Celestia, let's keep this to ourselves within the church for now.” The image blurred. I sat down on the floor and first had to digest what I had just seen, when suddenly Nightmare Moon sat in front of me and looked at me with incredibly sad eyes. She cried black tears and grabbed my hooves whimpering "Dusty wake up please wake up" I blinked and was back in New Appleloosa. In fact, there was someone hugging me and whimpering begging me to wake up. It was bubbles. "Are you okay?" I asked sleepily. It was the middle of the night. "I had a bad nightmare," she whimpered on. "The Children of the Night help you with that, don't they?" She looked at me with big eyes full of tears. I smiled softly. Luna's child or not, I've had experience calming children down when they're having nightmares. With two little sisters, there’s no art to that.

I took her out into the fresh air and wrapped my wing around her just to realize I was a unicorn again. I took her in my hooves and wiped away her tears. "What bad dream did you have, my little Bubbles?" She was sniffing. “Of the mad that wanted my horn! But this time you weren't fast enough. I could still see you coming through the door when my horn fell off bleeding and I died.” I gently stroked her green mane. "Everything will be fine. The guy is dead and can no longer be dangerous to you." She calmed down a bit, she snuggled up to Appletree when we were back inside and whispered "I want to be as strong as you. So that no one kidnaps children here anymore.” She fell silent. I could tell she was up to something, just not what. Suddenly her arm jerked into Appletree's mouth, which was slightly open due to her snoring. My eyes widened and my heart started racing. No, she didn't really intend to. I thought about what she just said strong like her. The seconds passed like minutes. I wrapped her in my magic field and wanted to pull her away, but it was too late. She had placed her levitating field on Appletree's mouth and snapped it shut. She screamed in pain. I got tinnitus from this situation. Appletree opened her eyes and saw what had been done to her. She immediately spat out Bubbles’ leg, but it was too late. I saw her standing motionless. She looked at her bleeding leg as her wound began to glow green. Then she looked at Appletree and said, "Strong as a timber wolf." I could already see the wound closing under a tree bark and the familiar creaking sound. Its bark, however, was that of a birch, white with black speckles. She howled when her transformation was complete. Her mother startled awake, staring at her, then at us, then at her again. I thought she was going to faint and got even more confused when I saw what was happening. Her mother had an incredibly relaxed expression on her face. I could still remember her fear of Appletree, but now. She levitated out a tape measure and measured Bubble's neck. Then she got up and just looked at us, shaking her head. "If I had known you were serious Bubbles, I would have locked you in the sewing room." How could she be so calm?

I was so confused, perplexed and actually scared of her. Then I found my language again. "It was a, well, accident? I couldn't pull her away fast enough.” Her mother turned to me. I had tears in my eyes and she just grabbed my hooves. Then she said very calmly "Bubbles wanted to become as strong as you to protect all the children. She was nagging at me the whole time when you were out walking. I thought she wanted to be an apprentice at Sugar Crush, but I didn't see that coming either." I stared at her, aghast. "Your daughter self-harmed to become a timber werewolf and you're just taking it ?” She just nodded. But now I saw that she was biting the inside of her cheek hard the whole time; I could see the blood and tears rolled down her face. She was trying to be strong so we could be strong and not totally freak out. She gently stroked her daughter's mane. Then she got a piece of white leather from a box and quickly made a makeshift collar. "So, my little wolf," she said, trembling. "You are now leashed for your own..." She paused, her chest heaving with suppressed emotion. Then burst into tears howling and sobbing like a waterfall. Her whole body trembled. She held Bubbles with her front hooves and stroked her mane "My little one, why did you do that?" Bubbles snuggled up to her mother. I started cautiously with a comment, "She won't be able to tell you until tomorrow. She can't speak in that form.” Bubble's mother nodded. Appletree still sat there, rooted to the ground. She raised her nostrils and sniffed, then walked over to Bubbles. Her nose sniffed at her just like Bubbles'. Appletree licked Bubbles once and then gave her a violent angry headbutt. Bubbles staggered back and whimpered. Appletree's look almost said, "You just screwed up."

When the rooster woke us up, all the ponies in the wagon were back to normal. Bubble's wound was covered in bark and she looked guiltily into her bowl at the breakfast table. Appletree shook her head. "Do you actually know what you've done?!" She was a mixture of angry, outraged and sad. "I saw how strong you are. I'm just a weak little unicorn. And when someone kidnaps children here, the adults sometimes look the other way on purpose. I want to avoid that, but if I had to apprentice at Sugar Crush first, it would take far too long.” Appletree was still shaking her head. I cast a questioning look over my bowl of oats. "Stupid inappropriate question, but what did you guys actually smell about each other?" I braced myself to either take a verbal slap or notes. Appletree blushed and didn't want to come out, Bubbles hesitantly answered. She pointed to her mother. "She smells like Mama" then she hesitated briefly and then pointed carefully to Appletree "You too." Then she pointed to me "You smell like pack" Appletree now hesitantly opened her mouth, pointed to Bubbles and only said with a sigh "Bubbles smells like daughter, just how you smell like sister, Dusty.” Bubble's mother was calm. I also knew why. I had seen that she had given herself an injection. "Then, sweetheart, you have me as your real mom and Appletree as your wolf mom." Appletree and Bubbles nodded slowly. Then she magically lifted Bubbles' collar onto the table which was now complete. It was made of white leather and decorated with colorful balls that looked like chewing gum. She sighed, "I'll tell the mayor later what happened tonight and that it wasn't your fault. Bubbles my darling." She seemed hesitant. "I'll leash you overnight. Right by my bed. Just please don't bite me in my sleep too, okay?” she smiled. And it was a real sincere smile. For my part, I had planned to carry out a precise magical analysis on both of them the next night.

It had been a tiring day. Sugar Crush and the mayor had been arguing with us and Bubble's mom for three hours. We had agreed that Bubbles should already start her training at Sugar Crush, but with a special extension - namely as a nose for missing people. Everyone was happy with that. She was imposed the same rules as Appletree and we were allowed to stay too. When I told our family what crazy things we had experienced in those days and that our parents were now theoretically grandparents, there was a confused mood. But when Appletree and Bubbles showed up in their timber form in front of the monitor, my family's eyes widened. That evening, Bubbles' mom and I went for a walk with Bubbles and Appletree. It was cute to see the two play. And Bubble's timber legs were cute too. I slowly realized that I had a disturbed relationship to the term ‘cute’. The next morning, after I finished my notes, we left. I had completed the magical analysis. This was a magical being that formed a symbiotic relationship with its host and triggered the transformation from the point of entry. I still hadn't figured out why this only happened at night. But I had figured out why Bubbles had transformed so quickly - the spirit had taken root in Appletree long enough to understand ponies and transfer a small part of itself into a willing new host. Bubbles' ghost was a puppy. There was no danger that she would turn other ponies she bit into timber werewolves. Appletree's spirit had expended much effort in the birth of a new spirit. It would probably take a while before that could happen again. We said goodbye to everyone. Unfortunately, Littlepip had already left, so we couldn't say goodbye to her. I got a kiss on the cheek from Sugar Crush with the statement "Feel free to come back, I'm still available." She said and I blushed. And so Appletree, Ferrax and I headed west.

Author's Note

Yay Chapter 4 is out, i hape you have fun, sorry for the cracy paragraphs