Moonlight, Moonlight, Let my Fangs Gleem Tonight

Chapters

The traveler with the Fedora
What Do You Do With a Salted Sailor?
One Hunt
Beast takes a Bath
The Past
Hunters and the Hunted
Beauty be gone
Storming the Prison Holds
The Beast in a Cage
Somethings Just Don't Change

The traveler with the Fedora

Lyconthrope: a werewolf or alien spirit in the physical form of a bloodthirsty wolf.

It was a cold night and the moon was up. The moon was half full and the sky was almost clear except for a few clouds. Rarity was at Twilight's reading a book. The book was a long book about a prince finding his princess and falling in love. She didn't like such fantasies but she couldn't resist reading them because she kept on imagining that a prince would save her from some disaster one day, every story she read changing her wish on what types of prince and what type of danger. She sighed and asked Twilight who was organizing book "Twilight do you think that people find true love like in the fairy tales?"

"I don't think that love is such a thing that can be found so easily by climbing a tower of fighting a dragon" Twilight said chuckling at her friend's imagination and hopes. Thinking that she is so sophisticated and smart yet she could be as imaginative as a child. She heard Spike stick his ear out of the door upstairs. She sighed and muttered a small spell that would block Spike's hearing of their conversation. She turned to her friend in and said "Look, I not an expert on love but I do know that things in fairy tales are called fairy tales for a reason. They aren't real and they are meant entertain kids. Things like a charming prince, fairies, pixies, mermaids and werewolves don't exist for a reason.

"I do know that hard work will bear the fruit of success in whatever you're working on, be it love or other personal gain. You find the one eventually "she finished putting the book away with her magic and patting her friend on the back.

"Well I see that I must be going, do have a good night's rest, and thank you for the pick me up. Good night" Rarity said exiting the library with a heavy coat on and a very comfortable hat on, thinking about what Twilight had said.

On a side of a mountain a lone stallion was climbing down, taking his time making sure he didn't slip or mess up. The stallion was big and had a copper colored mane, his fur was a dark blue and his tail was an orange color. At first glance he would seem like an ordinary stallion. But there was one thing that would hit you in the face if you looked at him for too long. He didn't have a cutie mark. This made him a curious figure to every town he walked in onto. The stallion real name was Trust Spirit Harenger, but he almost never used it. He was a roamer, a nomad, a wanderer. He was never at any town or village for longer than two weeks. He didn't have money and so slept out on the street or where ever seemed comfortable. All he carried was a guitar, and a black fedora with white stiches of a wolf. He was a silent person, never talked much. Although he never talked much he made many friends on his travels, never making any serious relationship, just friend and bud. There was another problem he had, one that he would never tell anyone.

A wolf jumped onto the path in front of Trust Spirit. They starred at each other for a while, both not moving, only breathing. The wolf sniffed the air around Trust Spirit, looked into the eyes of Spirit and did a nodded gesture and left him alone. He nodded his head towards the wolf. The wolf knew that he was kin, not a threat but kin. He sighed and continued his way down the mountain, trying not to fall. He heard the wolf howl into the night at the moon, crying for company. Spirit couldn't help but to feel the loneliness the wolf, and so Spirit howled with the same meaning. They howled like this for a while, eventually the both stopped. Spirit then continues on, not knowing where he is going. As he continues down the mountain the wolf walked up to Spirit and walked with him. Spirit kept walking and the wolf followed him, Spirit turned to the wolf and said "Please don't follow me" the wolf didn't falter and kept following him. So Spirit didn't do anything about, he knew that the wolf would eventually leave because of the lack of food.

Spirit and the wolf continued down the mountain and through the valley. They eventually end up in a farm, an apple orchard. Spirit stakes his guitar of his back and he slumps down on a tree, putting the guitar next to him. He looks at the wolf that instead of running off to find food, walks up to him and curl up next to him and lay there waging his tail.

"You're not going to leave are you?" Spirit said. The wolf said (not speaking but through certain motions of his nose and ears) "You need a pack brother, and so do I"

"Do you know what I am?" Spirit asked him. The wolf looked up and said " You are wolf and you are pony." Then they both drifted off into sleep.

Yes, Trust Spirit was a werewolf, which might have been one of the reason he didn't have a cutie mark. He obtained lycanthropy at the age of 8, he had obtained by saving another life. Saving the life of the werewolf. What people do not understand about lycanthropy is that it isn't like a disease where if it touches them, they become a werewolf. It is more of living curse between the werewolf curse and the person getting it. The person is possessed by the curse and the curse then inhabits your body, turning you into a werewolf using magic and science in unison to change the person. There are ways to get rid of the curse but those required the death of the host, but Spirit had meet a man who was nice to him a lot, when he figured out that the man was a werewolf, he was sad and his curse. Eventually he decided to rid the man of his curse. By talking to the curse (the curse is a live one, talking and having the ability to think) he got it to release the man who it possessed and take control of him.

From then on he was a werewolf. Running away from home so that his parent would have to feel the horrible fear that everyone had when they found out he was a werewolf. So he went on with life away from his parents and the beast living inside him, traveling to town to town, never staying for to long. One day however his luck changed. At the age of 12 he discovered a witch doctor that lived in the Dark Thorn forest alone. She had saved him from almost dying of starvation, and brought him to her home. Apparently she knew that he was a werewolf and had been wanting to try something that might break the curse and make it so that the curse will die, not being able to latch onto a new host. So Spirits let her try this experiment, but the results were different than what was hoped. The experiment confounded the beast form timer and control so that Spirit could become a werewolf whenever he wanted to while keeping in control. Spirit control, however, is lost on the full moon. So Spirit travels and never stops traveling and never stops wondering what his life would have been if he didn't take up the curse.

In the time when the sun was rising, Trust Spirit woke up due to small pains on his ear. The wolf had woken up by giving small bites to his ear. Spirit groaned a "I'm up, I'm up" and did so. He picked up his guitar and said to the wolf who was looking at him "Well let's see what this town is like, huh?"

What Do You Do With a Salted Sailor?

*Rarity was walking in town to the local vet. Opalescence wasn't looking too good and didn't seem to be eating much. Rarity wasn't sure what was the matter and so had decided to pay a visit to the vet. Today was a cloudy day, and Rainbow had mentioned something about rain and Rarity was beginning to think that she should've have brought a umbrella. The Opalescence gave a shriek and hissed very loudly in the direction of a stallion that was on the ground next to a very big dog. The stallion looked up at the cat and chuckled. Rarity put the cage in the ground and tried to calm Opal down before she cause to much of a commotion.

"Opal, please be quite, mummy is trying to get you to the vet. Please quite down Opa-" at that moment Opalescence's cage door broke up and she raced across the street. She was running down to the –not the big dog- but the stallion with the fedora. Opalescence jumped and would have clawed the stallion's face if Rarity hadn't caught the cat using her magic. She ran to the cat and gave her a stern looked before turning to the stallion sitting on old cardboard box. The stallion hadn't flinched or even taken notice of the small furry projectile that Rarity had stopped. Rarity coughed to get the stallion attention; it took him a while to realize that someone was trying to talk to him. As he looked up he dropped his at next to the big down with the inside facing up. Rarity took a while to say anything, stunned by the stallions handsome yet scary features, "I am terribly sorry, my good man, for my cats behavior. She seemed to have tried attacking you and I am terribly sorry for that"

"No problems miss. I think you should get it looked as though, it seems to be having some indigestion problems" said the stallion, who began tuning his guitar.

"How do you know it has indigestion?" Rarity asked puzzled at the statement. The stallion shakes his head towards the big dog saying "He knows his way around cats. And he reckons that the smell is indigestion". Rarity looked at the big dog and wondered if dogs could smell illnesses. She then remembered her appointment and said "Well thank you and again I'm terribly sorry for this inconvenience", she turned and went to the cage she had left on the other side of the street. She stuffed Opalescence back I her cage and magically put it on her back when she heard the strum of a guitar. She turned and was hypnotized by the musical poetry. The song the man was playing was not only slow but joyful, something that not all common guitarist can do. Rarity not consciously walked to the sound till she was around a 4 or five yards from the stallion who she had apologized to. Eventually more people gathered around the guitarist, keeping a good 5 yards way due to the sight of the big dog. As the amount of people grew, the tempo of the song quickened little by little. After about a minute of the tune there was a great deal of people around the guitarist. Then the stallion said something to the big dog. The dog did what could be considered a disapproving growl, but the stallion said it again and the dog got up. Walked aver the fedora that was beside the stallion and flipped it up in the air. He caught on his head and began to sway and jumped to the rhythm of the music. The crowd laughed, cheered and clapped to the scene as the dog dance and jumped with the hat. The song after five minutes of the nice tempo and dancing the dog began to stop dancing and dropped the hat on the ground. Flipped it over so that its inside would face up. The dog then proceeded to walk around the crowd of people, to which people deposited a couple bites. As the dog came closer to Rarity, she reached into her purse and took twenty bits and dropped them into the hat. Once the dog had gone around the crowd the song stopped abruptly. The stallion looked inside the hat, and then wolf whistled. He then in a loud voice so that everyone could hear "Please feel free to sing if you know the words" and began to strum a song that Rarity knew well. She remembered how when her father was out to late on Saturday afternoons, how her mother would tell Rarity to fetch him, and how he was drunk off salt. She remembered what they sang every time she arrived there. The song was known as 'What do You do with A Salted Sailor'. It was quite a funny song and when the stallion began the strum the chords of the song, she couldn't help humming the words to herself. Others, however, had taken in his invitation to sing and to stallion; one a pegasus and a unicorn walked into the middle and began singing the lyrics to the melody. Eventually those two were joined by four more who were at least in their forties. Rarity was now biting her lip to stop herself from singing. They were getting closer to her favorite part, about another two choruses away.

'What do you do with a salted sailor?
Oh what to you do with a salted sailor?
Oh what to you with a salted sailor?
Earl-eye in the morning

Put him in a long boat till he's sober
Put him in a long boat till he's sober
Put him in a long boat till he's sober
Earl-eye in the morning

What do you do with a salted sailor?
Oh what to you do with a salted sailor?
Oh what to you with a salted sailor?
Earl-eye in the morning'

Rarity couldn't help it.

"Put him in the hold with the captain daughter,
Put him in the hold with the captain daughter,
Put him in the hold with the captain daughter
Earl-eye in the morning" She sang stunning all the one who had been singing before. They all cheered at this and they all sang. Rarity sang and sang till the song ended. She could remember when she felt joy and happiness like this and it was great. The guitarist stood up and said to everyone still there, "Thank you all for being so kind, have a nice day". Everyone cheered for one last time and began to go back their separate ways. Rarity was still full of the alighted joy she had felt singing that song, this was quickly extinguished when she saw the time on her watch. It was 10 after 7. She was late. She ran to the vet's, dodging people cart and old ladies taking too long to cross the streets. When she got to the vet it was 7:15. She walked up to the counter and rang the bell. In a couple seconds the vet was there and he said, "Ah, Miss Rarity you finally arrived"

"I'm terribly sorry for being late its just-"

"There is no need to tell me I saw you enjoy yourself with the crowd, I must say you are quite the singer" the vet interrupted taking Opalescence. Rarity went red with embarrassment, and sat down in the waiting room and waited.

Spirit walked out of the supermarket and took another bit from his sandwich. It was sunflower and gorgonzola cheese. The wolf got up from where it was sitting next to the supermarket and walked up to Spirit, a plea of hunger in his eyes. Spirit reached into his bag and pulled out two cans of dog food, "Here you go, you're reward for dancing today". Spirit toke out a paper bowl and dumped the contents of the two cans. The wolf looked at what was in the bowl and looked back up at Spirit. Spirit sighed and bent down and whispered into the wolf ear "Look, I know that stuff sucks but once were out into the open I'll hunt with ok? So just eat this stuff till I've had my fill of being here." The wolf looked and the food and then said "This better be good". Spirit laughed and looked up at the sky, and frowned. He looked around and saw a small store, turning as he walked he said to the wolf "Saying I'll be back" he went into the shop and found what he was looking for. He came out of the store with a small umbrella, he walked towards the wolf who was on his last bite was reluctant to eat. Spirit looked at him and sighed saying "Ok you funeral" this got the wolf to eat the last bit.

It was at least an hour and half after their performance, and they were scouting for a place to stay. They had found a map of PonyVille and they had used to search for a good spot to sleep in. they had looked all throughout the northeast part of the town and the south west part of the town. What they were looking for was either an Inn or a good spot in between the apartment that would provide cover from the rain. It was around 8:30 when the rain came down, and it came down hard, it was heavy enough for every pony in the town to flee for their homes. Spirit and the wolf were under the umbrella still looking for good place to stay at. Then Spirit saw something that wasn't right, there was a lone mare under a balcony, avoiding all drops of water as possible. She looked familiar and he felt that she didn't belong there and so went to her. He heard the cats high pitched hiss over the sound for the rain which was saying something. The mare turned to shush the cat and then turned to see why she was so angry.

"Oh hello" said the mare, stunned by his appearance. Spirit looked at the umbrella and then at the rain and then made a gesture that indicated the road. She looked confused. He sighed and the wolf made what could be called a chuckle. Spirit coughed and said trying to sound as polite as possible "Do you need help getting home?"

Rarity was walking down the street, with company she would describe as unusual, a mostly silent guitarist and his big dog. This was already uncomfortable for Rarity for she was still remembering about Opalescence trying to claw his face, which she was still trying to do. Opalescence had been quite since he had offered to walk her home. Rarity wished that she would be quite, it was really embarrassing her. She made a embarrassed smile towards the stallion direction, but he didn't seem to notice. He looked as if he was trying to remember something yet it was impossible to remember. They walked on for a little and the dog slowed down just a bit and caught back up so that it was in between the two of them. It shook its head a bit splashing a little water. She looked up at the umbrella the stallion was holding and saw that it was covering her entirely, not letting a single drop of water hit her. She looked over at him again and saw that part of his side was dripping wet. This made her feel guilty and at the same time thankful. She smiled and looked at him again, he still looked like he was trying to remember something. She turned to Opalescence to try to get her to be quite.

"Now I remember" said the stallion which made Rarity jump a bit, he hadn't talked for so long she thought he would never. The stallion smiled and said "You know, you have a very nice voice". Rarity was taken aback. She stammered a bit before answering to the statement " W-W-We- Well you are a really great guitar player, where did you learn how to play?"

"Where did I learn how to play? Hmmmm. Well its kinda hard to say"

"Why is that?"

"I've been to so many places I don't remember what I did there"

"You've been to a lot of places then have you?"

"Yup, the farthest I've been from the border is Moria"

"Moria, are you serious, that's almost of the continent. You went there?" Rarity was now intrigued by this stallion who has travelled the world and comes to see PonyVille as a new place. Rarity then inquired "What is Moria like, exactly? I've only heard of what come out of there, I never heard what it's like"

"Well I would tell you but we have seemed to be at your place" said the stallion. She turned and saw her house. She thought she would be happy but she felt disappointed, as if a really tasty looking candy was placed in front of her and she ate it, only to find out it wasn't that good. Then she asked "How did you know this is my house, I mean it is but I didn't tell you where it is?"

"My friend here is really good at finding places" he said gesturing to the dog.

"That is a very smart dog then" Rarity said patting it on the head. The stallion laughed, Rarity was annoyed and asked "What is so funny?"

"That's not a dog, it's a wolf" Rarity almost screamed in fright. She stepped back slowly forgetting it was raining outside, the stallion moved with her to make sure she didn't get wet. Rarity said stammering in fear "but wolves are vicious and vile creatures aren't they? And you're walking around with one as a pet"

"Hey he isn't my pet, he is my pack brother" the stallion said sternly and then said, calming his voice "Well miss, have a nice day, it has been a pleasure talking to you"

"The same goes for you… um… my I get your name please?"

"Spirit" and with that the stallion and the wolf walked back into the rain looking for something she wouldn't know.

One Hunt

Rarity was walking down the street, relaxing from a long day and a half of work. A very famous model had stopped by I Ponyville the day after the heavy storm because her ride was soaked and needed to dry and resupply before starting it voyage again. The model had found Rarity's shop and liked two outfits that Rarity had just finished and asked for two of each in different colors by tomorrow after noon. So Rarity had worked all day and into the night, doing some final touch ups this morning and had decided to walk because she could sleep. Not really knowing it herself, she was really hoping to see Spirit again. The stallion had traveled the world and she was very interested about other places outside of the Equestrian border. She had gone to the street where she had first seen him but he wasn't there, and she decided to go looked around town a bit.

She decided to quit at around 3. She had looked everywhere in Ponyville for the traveling guitarist and his wolf and she was somewhat dejected about not finding him. She subconsciously walked into the town market, and she heard a voice call her name.

"Rarity how are you doing? Where have you been, I didn't see you at all yesterday?" Applejack said when Rarity approached her stand. Rarity smiled thinking that she at least meet one of her friends today and said "Oh nothing much, just wandering around. I've been working all day yesterday and this morning and so I felt like relaxing a bit"

"Are you sure, you have that one look in yer ey' like you're looking for somebody?" Applejack said putting a hint of the childish crush. Rarity smiled at her and thought she might just tell her because she knew that she would blab to anyone, "Fine if you must know, I was looking for a guitarist. The one with the fedora"

"Oh yeah, he was here yesterday right next to this stand actually. Him and his dog were doing there act with the guitar"

"Wolf"

"Excuse me?"

"The 'dog' is a wolf"

"Really and how would you know?" said Applejack with a tone that you would use when trying to see if your friend was lying or not. Rarity smiled and said "Remember the day before yesterday, Tuesday. How it rained cats and dogs" Applejack nodded, giving some apple to a customer, "Well that was the day I took Opalescence to the vet. After the appointment it had begun to rain and he helped me get back home. We had a nice little conversation." Applejack smiled, loving the fact that her friend had a good conversation with someone who wasn't highly sophisticated and rich.

"And so now yer looking for him again because?"

"He is a very interesting person to talk to. Did you know he has gone all the to-" Rarity was interrupted by a familiar shriek of fear. Fluttershy was racing adown he road, screaming in fear. Rarity jumped in front of her and was nearly tackled by her. Fluttershy was as pale as she could get and her eyes were filled with unnatural fear.

"Fluttershy please calm down" Rarity said trying to hold her friend down. Rarity looked at Applejack and asked "Do you have some water?" Applejack took a bottle of water out of a small cooler next to her. Rarity took and unceremoniously dumped it on Fluttershy, which shook her enough to stop her from screaming. Rarity pulled her friend up and asked "Fluttershy, now that you calmed down please tells us what has frighten you so much?" Fluttershy took a while to answer "M-m-mo-mo-mo-mon-monster". Rarity looked at Applejack and they had the same idea.

(Some time later, around 10-15 minutes)

"Hi guys, wha- are you ok Fluttershy" Twilight asked. Rarity, Applejack ad dragged Fluttershy to Twilight because she wouldn't describe the monster. Rarity dragged Fluttershy into the house and said " Twilight, it seems we have a problem but Fluttershy her is to frighten to describe the beast that she has seen and we were hoping that you could tell what monster Fluttershy thought she saw"

"Ok, she won't need to describe it, I just learned a new spell that might help us out here." Twilight said and turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, I'm going to need you to calm down ok?" Fluttershy calmed down by taking a few deep breaths. Twilight then placed her horn of Fluttershy's for forehead; a small glow appeared there when Twilight removed her horn. Twilight then said "Ok, now I want you to close your eyes and just remember what you saw. There is no need to tell us just remember". Fluttershy's face showed focus and from the glow on her forehead, a projection appeared on the opposite wall. What they saw scared them; even knowing that it couldn't help them. Fluttershy opened her eyes and fainted at the sight of the beast. Applejack and Rarity looked over at Twilight who was shocked and in disbelief.

"What is that, Twi?" asked Applejack

"Werewolf" Twilight said.

Spirit was walking down the street with the look on his face that you would associate with someone who had had a great feast. Spirit was in a considerably good mood, this morning and the wolf was walking with a satisfaction in his walk. What made them happy as the fact that their bellies where full with food that could be considered good. Spirit hadn't had a good haul in yesterday and so could only buy one thing today. He decided to buy something for the wolf but he started barking at Spirit when he picked up the can of dog food. Spirit went outside and asked the wolf he wanted, the wolf responded by asking if they could hunt this morning. Spirit didn't want to admit it but he wanted to go on the hunt to. One problem about having some control over the beast inside is that you begin to have a hunger for meat. Needless to say Spirit had missed the taste of meat, and felt that he should feed to keep himself alive. After the sun had fully risen he finally agreed to the hunt. He left his stuff in his tree and him and the wolf went into the woods. When he was sure that he was far enough in the wood and was sure that no one would see he him. He transformed into the beast. Once he was transformed, he and the wolf went on the hunt.

Most of the morning was spent on the hunt. They had hunted two rabbits and one full grown buck, the wolf at the two rabbits while Spirit ate the buck leaving only the fur and some of the bones. He had thought that someone had seen him but he didn't believe it because he was so deep in the woods. The hunt had filled both of them up and made them feel warm inside, walking down the road looking for a good place to set up for today's performance. Though something wasn't right, the people were heading toward the town hall. He decided to follow out of sheer curiosity, and went on with the crowd.

"Is everybody here?" the mayor was saying "Good. Everyone please be quite, I have a very important announcement. I regret to inform you that there is a werewolf somewhere around or here." At this everybody in the crowd resonated fear. There were muttering everywhere, people whispering about werewolves, what they did, who they might be.

"Everyone, everyone please, calm down. We are taking precaution to ensure our safety, a curfew shall be installed, and the curfew start once the sun goes down. You will be warned once the sun hits the horizon. We ask you all to accommodate anyone who can't reach their house in time. Princess Luna and Celestia are both sending their elite guards to protect us in this dangerous time. Anyone who is still out after the sun is down is asked to go into questioning and the guards have been authorized to use force if you defy them. Now we ask you to go home seeing as the sun is almost at the horizon, unicorn guards will set up wards around our homes once they arrive. Please remain calm and have a good day."

The place wasn't safe anymore. Thought Spirit, remembering the first time a town had found out about the werewolf. It was a full moon and Spirit had transformed at almost reached a town, the moon was gone before he reached it but someone had seen the werewolf and warned the town. Once Spirit had entered the town he was thrown into questioning. Spirit denied being the werewolf but they seemed to know it was him. They tortured him, trying to get him to confess to it so that they could erase him from the world. They did many in human things; submerging him in freezing water for minutes, pouring burning charcoal over him, shock him with electricity, letting the people beat on him for hours on end. They never went too far, stopping just before he could die but making sure he stayed there. Eventually Spirit knew that they would never let him go, and so he did the one thing that still haunts him to this day. He slaughtered the entire town, every stallion mare and filly, leaving none alive. He knew that leaving just one alive would mark him as a wanted man. After he made sure everyone was dead, he burned the whole town down to the ground, making sure that no one would ever know about the town. This was something that Spirit wished he had never done, something that was still haunts him today, making him wake up screaming in the middle of the night.

"Spirit, are you alright?" a voice said, breaking him from the clutches of his dark and horrible memories. Spirit turned to see the mare that he had walked home two days ago, looking at him, worried. The mare looked him closer and said "You seem to be crying, are you alright?" Spirit hadn't realized that he was crying, he wiped his eyes and nodded. He gave a salute like gesture to the mare and began to walk away.

"Wait, do you have a place to stay. The last time we meet, you said that you are a traveler and I don't believe travelers usually don't have a place to stay." Spirit and the mare laughed at this and Spirit said "Well you are correct miss; I don't have a place to stay and thank you for caring. Now if you will excuse me, me and my pack brother will look for a nice alley way to fall asleep in"

"You've been sleeping in an alleyway! Ugh! Come with me" the mare said in a tone that made Spirit obeyed. She summoned up some magic and turned it into a lasso like thing, which she wrapped around Spirit and dragged him with her to Rarity's place.

Beast takes a Bath

Rarity didn't know what she was doing when she began to drag the reluctant colt with her to her place. She didn't not know at all. She had summoned some of her magic into a lasso like object and wrapped it around his neck and dragged him to her house. She hadn't really thought of what she was doing until she actually got to her house. She never had any colts over for the night, yes she had some colts over for the day but never for the entire night. What should I do? What should I cook? I can't be the first one to actually let him on his travels?

She had entered her house once the weeds of uncertainty began to grow in her minds. She had heard of travelers that would be invited into home and, if given some drinks, would attack and rape the inhabitance of the house. She also heard when the owner of the house woke up the next day all their valuables were gone. She was worried for her things and Sweetie Belle, but then she turned to the colt and saw him standing tentatively in the doorway, as if waiting for something, and knew that he wasn't the kind of colt.

"You do know that you may come in, right?" Rarity said unsure what she was saying.

"Much obliged miss" said Spirit, and walked in with the wolf following suite. On entering the place, Opalescence ran and jumped into the air, claws out, flying towards Spirit's face. Rarity turned and begun to summon her magic but wasn't in time to stop the furry projectile. Luckily Spirit seemed to have that under control; he pulled out his guitar and used the back as a shield to the oncoming attacker. The at rebounded of the guitar and ran around to go again, this time at a blind spot. However, this time she was stopped by the wolf two front paws on her tail. Opalescence was still hissing and shrieking, a killing intent in her eyes.

"Opalescence, what are you doing? You don't attacked guest! Now get back into your cage Go. Now." Rarity said, embarrassed by her cats behavior. The cat sulked away and went into her cage glaring at Spirit on the way there. Rarity turned to Spirit to apologize for the sudden attacked but then was lost in his eyes, which were a kind of green that you would see in the fields. Spirit had a sudden look of worry on his face and broke the silence by asking "Miss, are you alright?"

"What?" she said in that dreamy voice se used when she read those romance novels to herself. She caught herself and quickly added "Oh, no. I'm alright" and that when she remembered what she was doing and why she brought him there in the first place. She summoned her magic lasso and wrapped around his neck. As she did so, he had a face on that projected pure blusteriness. She dragged him to the bathroom and said "Please clean yourself up. Dinner shall be ready once you are done" She walked away into the kitchen where Sweetie Bell was setting up the table.

"Hey Rarity, why did you bring the fedora colt here" Sweetie Bell perked up.

"The what?" Rarity asked taken aback.

"The fedora colt. You know, the guy that sits at street corners and plays really good music" Sweetie Bell said as if it was old news.

"Please do not call him that when you meet him, his name is Spirit, and you will respect his name." Rarity said as she began to chop carrots and put them into a pot that would hold a creamy sapphire stroganoff. Rarity, stirring the pot as she listened to Sweetie Bell describes her day at school, hanging with her friends and helping Cheerilie after school. She was removing the pasta from another pot when she heard a yell that sounded more surprised than scared.

"Gwaaaah" Rarity and Sweetie Bell looked at each other and ran to bathroom, where the scream had come from. Rarity threw open the door and almost laughed at the face Spirit was making. His head was soaking wet and he had his hand on the cold nob for the shower head.

She walked over Spirit, still smiling, asked "Do you need some help?" The colt brought his head up and shook his head like a dog would when wet. Rarity and Sweetie Bell attempted to shield themselves from the water that came spraying from the stallion. Once he was done he looked at Rarity and chuckled "I might" Rarity and Sweetie Bell laughed. Rarity explained how her shower worked while Sweetie Bell picked soaps and shampoos that would work for the stallion dirty mane.

Rarity's shower was a very complex piece of work. It was not only a shower but also a tube with jets and a steam room. Depending on what the user wanted the contraption could alternate at a simple press of a button. It was very complex and Rarity had got it for a steal, only 25000 bites and it was one of the only one that was still working now. Apparently the other ones sold had some sort of problem with the magicka core that heats the water up to become steam. Somehow Rarity's stayed intact and didn't malfunction for the entire time she had it. It took a while for her to completely instruct him on how to turn on the shower and turn the hot water on. After about three minutes, he finally manage to understand how to use the shower. When Rarity was sure that he understood how to use, and Sweetie Bell was sure what shampoos to use they began to step out.

That is when Sweetie Bell accidentally stepped on the wolf's tail. The wolf yelped, Sweetie Bell jumped in fear, the wolf who was already annoyed with the smell of the place and the closed space, growled at the small frightened girl. Rarity didn't know what to do, she knew how dogs worked thanks to Applejack's pet dog, Winona, but a full grown wolf was an entirely different story.

A loud bark was heard throughout the house, yet the bark didn't come from the wolf but from colt behind Rarity who was giving the wolf a stare that could be affiliated with an inner beast. The wolf turned to him and made some low growls, ear movements and nose twitches. The colt nodded and asked "Ma'am would it be much trouble to opened a few windows. My brother is annoyed because of the smell of the place which I must say I am not very fond of either?"

"O-o-of course, it wouldn't be any trouble at all b-b-bu-bu-but how do you know what he said?"

"Let's just say that I have a knack for understanding dogs and wolves." He looked down at Opalescence "Not cats though. Now I will try and take a 'shower'" he closed the door, leaving Rarity and her sister with the big wolf.

Spirit was in the bathroom looking at the elegance around him. The sink was cleaned to a shine, and the shampoos and conditioner were all in an orderly. He hated it. The order, the prissiness, the clean glow. He was more or less born and raised outside in the wilderness and so wasn't used to a sudden change in the scenery. He turned the bath on and waited for the cold water to fill the tub, and took the shampoo and conditioner that Sweetie Bell had recommended. Mane and Shoulders. To Spirit it sounded cheesy. He stepped into the tub and shivered a bit. The water was cold, cold enough to be ice.

**Spirit wasn't into taking bath. As mentioned before, once taking on the curse of the werewolf will gives wolf-like characteristic; one of those is a dislike of baths. Spirit didn't mind getting wet it was just getting wet with soap on him that made him feel awkward. As he fully immersed himself in the water and felt his body adjusts to the temperature. He came up, rolled around in the water a couple of time and began to wash himself resentfully. He put the shampoo and his head and had a violent shiver. It felt horribly wrong doing this but he did for her sake. It took ten grueling minutes to finish and for him it was more like 40 minutes. As he got out of the bath he grabbed a towel and dried himself, resisting the urge to shake himself dry. He felt clean which in turn makes him feel horrible, clean for a dog means no scent, no scent means that no dogs knows it's you in your territory which in turn means you're not you. He hated that and in a way your made fun of by other dogs or wolves. Spirit walked out felling disgusting and not himself, he looked at the wolf, he snickered at Spirit said "Haha laugh it up. I might just wash you up" this shut the wolf up. The wolf licked himself once and said "I'm clean" Spirit laugh as he walked into the dining kitchen just as Rarity placed the pot of stew on the table. He smiled at the image in front of him, Rarity was wearing an apron and was cutting some bread and Sweetie Bell was just done setting up the table. For some reason he started to cry, but he didn't realize it till Sweetie Bell asked "Mr. Spirit are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine" Spirit said whipping his tear.

"Then why are you crying?"

"Memories. Some old memories"

**Rarity was unsure how to start the conversation. At the moment Rarity and Sweetie Bell were watching Spirit scarf down food as if there was no tomorrow. He was eating faster than the wolf next to him, who was eating some cat food that Rarity had put in a bowl for him. As Rarity watched him have his fourth severing, she couldn't help notice that he had a feral looked to him at the moment. As if he was not entirely pony. However that thought was put aside when he finished his fourth serving and said, whipping his face with a napkin "This food is amazing. I had never had food like that in a while"

"Why thank you, Spirit….. But my I ask what is your full name" Rarity said again being taken back by Spirit uncanny ability to compliment anything will making sound as if he really meant it (he did).

"Trust Spirit Harenger." He said almost with a certain displeasure that meant he didn't like the name. But then Rarity remembered something.

"Harenger, as in the famous Firm Hoof Harenger, the world renowned crystal shaper?"

"Yup that my grandfather. He was the best I knew at that stuff. He taught a couple of his tricks"

"But if your grandpa taught you this why don't you have any money or place to stay?" asked Sweetie Bell.

"Well for me, I don't find comfort in money, and besides, I had family issues"

"What do you mean 'Family issues'?"

"My parents… uh, they wanted to send me to a….um… a boarding school. I didn't want to go but they wanted me too" Spirit said. Rarity could not have known that he was lying but Spirit felt bad about lying to people that had just let him into their home, but as his ways goes 'lie once, you gotta lie once more'.

"Well why didn't you go? I'm sure you would have gotten used to it" Sweetie Bell asked

"Because… I wanted to see the world which was the most I could ever ask for." Spirit said with a glow in his eyes. "to go to places like Moria and Kensu are just wonderful seeing the different culture and people are amazing"

"Where Morai and what is it?"Sweetie Bell asked with growing curiosity. She had never heard of those places meaning that they were outside Equestria's borders.

"Morai is a miner's Heaven. It is amazing what the Diamond dogs did to a simple cave-"

"Did you just say Diamond Dog?" Rarity said with a bit of fear in her voice, she never really like them and they didn't like her either.

"Yeah, why?"

"You said the Diamond dogs created Moria"

"They did"

"But Diamond Dogs don't do that" Rarity said in a tone of disbelief.

"Sure they do. Do diamond dogs live around here?"

"Yes but they would rather make you look for diamonds then design beautiful architecture"

"Oh so their that tribe"

"Tribe?"

"Yeah, turns out there are two main tribes of Diamond Dogs which are different from each other. One tribe is all about greed, collecting diamonds just for the sake of having them. The other tribes collects the diamonds and jewels and turns it into art or something helpful that everyone can admire. In the case of Moria, Moria itself was designed by a very creative and imaginative Diamonds. The place in underground but that doesn't stop you from looking at the night sky"

"What do you mean, if your underground how do you see the night sky" Sweetie Bell asked puzzled

"the architect had found a bed of diamonds, and so built the city under it every once and while chipping the under belly of the diamond bed so that it looks like stars"

"Wow that sound so cool" Sweetie Bell said "Where is this place and is there a fast way to get there?"

"The place is almost three weeks travel from the border of Equestria and the only fast way to get there would be dragon hiking"

"Dragon hiking?"

"Its where you hoop on a sleeping dragons back and when he leaves, you leaves with him"

"That sounds-" Rarity was about to say dangerous but Sweetie Bell cut off with "Awesome" Spirit laughed. "Trust me you wouldn't want to try it, some dragons have got horrible issues about people on their backs" Silence issued. Rarity could tell that Spirit was remembering the wonderful places he had gone too and Sweetie Bell was wondering how they could manage to dragon hike. Then something crossed Sweetie Bell's face that Rarity hadn't seen in a while. Fear. The fear that little boys and girls have about the monster living in their closet.

"Rarity" Sweetie Bell asked in a quiet voice "What are Lycans?" Rarity smile in a reassuring way that she reserved only for her little sister, and started on the explanation that Twilight had given her at the Library "Lycans are ponies that have contracted a dieses that can be transferred from through a scratch or bite from another Lycan. The unfortunate pony that contracts this disease will become a werewolf, will grow an unsayable thirst for blood and will go kill to quench it."

"That's not right" Spirit said. Rarity was surprised, and irate at the sudden interruption of her explanation. She was angry at the traveler for berating her friend's explanation of what a werewolf as. Rarity looked at the man and asked in a harsher tone then she meant it "Well then, Mister Spirit, what is a Lycan?" Spirit winced as if he was hit, showing that he was sorry, and started "A Lycan is a pony who has obtained the curse known as lycanthropy. The curse is a living curse, which means it has its own thought process and emotion. It is a parasitic cruse which means that it latches on to its host to survive. Calling lycanthropy a disease is and insult to the creator. The thing you said about the kill rage. That isn't wrong it's just not the reason why Lycan go killing. The one that is in control once the pony transform is not the pony but the curse and the soul reason they kill is because it there only way to live for them. When ponies die, they release some essence that the curse feed on known as ether. It's the only reason why Lycan kill people." Rarity was astounded and confused. She was astounded at what Spirit knew about the creatures, but she was confused on what he meant about certain things such as the 'living curse' and 'parasitic curse' part.

"Can you kill a Lycan?" Sweetie bell asked, more curious then scared. Rarity cut in and said "Well of course you can, Sweetie, you must use a silver object and use it to pierce his heart." Spirit then burst out laughing, as if Rarity had told a hilarious joke.

"What so funny?" Rarity asked again in an angry tone.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just, silver." He was laughing again saying "The most stupidest things I've ever heard" Rarity could have kicked him out but something kept her from doing just that, and it wasn't the fact that he was guest. He began to subside and composed himself saying "well 'm sorry for correcting you but I believe that it is time for use to hit the sack. I don't want to give anyone nightmares, I sleep on the couch." he got up and went towards the living room. Rarity had many question to ask but it seems that he was right, it was very late and he was sure that anymore conversation of werewolves would provoke nightmare in Sweetie Bell's vivid imagination.

As Rarity but Sweetie Bell to sleep he heard Spirit say something downstairs. She could only catch the end of the sentence which was "they won't know and I'll be gone". Rarity wondered who he was talking too as she continued down stairs. Himself, he doesn't seem like the insane type though, but then she remembered something that she wanted to asked him because she thought that it might brighten his day. As she hurried down the stairs she heard him say "no, you had your share right, now get some shut eye, tomorrow we go for another round"

"Um Spirit, I was wondering something?"

"Shoot" Spirit said putting his hat over his eyes.

"Well since you have a wolf as a pet, I was-"

"Pack-brother"

"Oh, yes excuse me, pack brother, wanted you to join me to go to a little get together with some friends of mine. You wouldn't have to stay there for the entire day but it would be appreciate" Rarity realized that there was a hint of desperation or yearning. She then hated herself for letting that emotion slipped through her lips. She looked at the big colt on the bed and watched his expression. He went from a usual sadden expression to a surprised one. He stammered on trying to get his response out, "w-w-w-we-we- we-well, sure. I guess I can do it."

"Then I will see you tomorrow at around 1 in the afternoon around the tallest tree in the park" Rarity leaving the room in somewhat in hurry. She felt like a school girl that just tried to ask out their high school crush. School crush, Rarity your better than that right?

The Past

Snow.

The forecast didn't call for it but it's here.

** Spirit was used to the cold. In fact he was more built towards colder environments, having a thicker coat and powerful hooves. He was outside in the park, playing his guitar for the little kids that came out early to go play in the snow. He had been out earliest and wasn't surprised by the sudden change in weather. In fact he was the cause of it, Spirit had notice that weather patterns would change do the power of the curse. If a place was rainy a lot, when Spirit arrived the clouds would part and the sun would shine through. If he went to a place that was warm a lot, a sudden and unexpected drop in the temperature appeared. If you went to the snowy mountain up in the north, the sun would then blaze stronger on the town. It would never work if he was on the move though, it would only work of he had stayed there for longer than a day. He knew it was a bad thing but he always preferred the snow to a sunny day. If the weather was just right, you could go outside in the snow and the sun would light it just right so that you can see a multitude of colors on the snow.

At the moment he was leaving the park, seeing as the kids had almost tired themselves out, by throwing snowballs, making snowmen and sledding down hills. He figured that the he could go to town and pick up good rock salt (alcohol) to drink. It was one of his guilty pleasures and he was sure that the money he had obtained from the day before could help him out. He checked his shadow for and a proximate time, 10:30. I could find something before I have to meet up with Miss Rarity.

He went into the town which wasn't as crowded as the day before, but there were still some ponies walking around doing errands. Spirit and wolf headed down the road looking for a place that would sell some alchool. It took him a while to find one but he finally manage to find one, and he got a nice size bottle of imported vodka. As he was walking out the store, he pulled out his newly bought bottle and took a swing. He walked down the street with his pack brother in tail thinking about who Rarity's friends were when, as he turned the corner he bumped into some pony. The collision was felt more by the other pony then by Spirit who merely stepped back. The pother pony however was knocked onto his ass and whatever he was holding flew into the air.

"My pies" said the pony who felt like he ran into a wall. Spirit looked into the sky and saw the two pies, suspended in the air for some tenths of a second. He dived and manage to get one, but the other was still falling outside his reach. Wolf jumped off of Spirits back and sank his teeth into the pie catching it in his jaws. Spirit got up and took the pie from the wolf reluctant jaws and help the other pony up.

"Sorry about that" Spirit said, "I didn't see you there"

"No, no, it's fine, it's actually my fault for not looking were I was going" said the Pegasus. He took the pies and looked Spirit and said "Do I know you?"

"I don't believe you do sir" said Spirit wanting to get going to Rarity's get together, trying to past the Pegasus. The Pegasus however was intent on trying to remember who Spirit was and wasn't letting him get past. The Pegasus was staring intently into Spirits face and scratching his head, as he actually knew Spirit.

"Trust Spirit?" the Pegasus said. Spirit was shocked; this Pegasus knew him, but how come he couldn't remember him. The Pegasus in front of him smiled and took a bit from his pie, saying "it is, isn't it? You got to be him, there is no way in Discord's rule would I forget that face". Now it was Spirit turn to rack his head trying to remember who this Pegasus was.

"Come on its go to be you" the Pegasus said again, looking at Spirit hopefully. Spirit nodded, in bewilderment, not knowing to be impressed or frightened.

"My stars, where have you been man? I haven't seen you in ages. And by Celestia's mane you've gotten big" the Pegasus said cheerfully. Spirit couldn't remember who this Pegasus was; he hit his head in frustration. The Pegasus saw this and asked "You remember me right?" Spirit shook his head apologetically, "Well neither would I, I mean you're not the only that's changed since we were kids". The Pegasus took the hat off of Spirit head and said "This will jog your memory". He threw it like a Frisbee into the air in front of them. Instead of flying to get it however, he used his wings to create a small tornado that swept the hat back towards the Pegasus. As the hat was just above his head, he blew it and it continued onto the head of Spirit.

"Come on. There is only one person I know who you know, who could do that" the Pegasus said. Spirit smiled as all the memories of his childhood came back from the place in his mind he had forgotten about. He went in and hugged his best friend.

**Rarity was worried. Spirit was very late as was Rainbow Dash. She was looking around for either of them, which wasn't a very 'Rarity like' thing to do. It was usually Twilight who made a huge fuss about people not being there or being late. She heard a swooping noise and small engine, she noise turn to see Rainbow Dash swoop down with her pet turtle, Tank. As she swooped down, she blasted some snow on everyone.

"Sorry it took me so long guys" Rainbow said, "the weather team had to work overtime due to this weird snow storm"

"Who cares if it's weird or not, it's fun" said Pinky Pie who had just pooped her head out of a snow drift. She looked around a bit then pooped her head back down into it. Apple Jack asked Rainbow "You guys know it's the middle of summer. How can you schedule a snow storm now? My apples are gonna be all confused weather to grow or to just fall of the trees now."

"it's not our fault, we didn't even schedule this, the clouds apparently were tampered with"

"You can do that?" asked Twilight, bringing her head up from a book titled 'The Nights Terrors'.

"The chief says that to do that you would have to be a wiz and magical engineering, but he doesn't think and unicorn didn't because there would be signs of leftover magic or something" Rainbow explained.

"Well can you fix this and bring back the summer heat?" Apple Jack said in an annoyed tone.

"Yes can you, because the animals are confused whether to hibernate are to forage for food." FLuttershy said. Rarity was only half paying attention, she was busy looking for her big guitarist. She was worried that he had already left and almost stop looking and turn around to her friends when he heard his loud booming laugh. She quickly turned back around and went up the trail a bit and saw Spirit walking down with a Pegasus. She trotted towards the two and said "You are late, Mr Harenger, and I see you have brought a friend"

"I'm sorry for being late I just meet up with an old friend. Miss Rarity this is S-" Spirit started to say but then a girly squeal erupted from Rainbow as she saw who Spirit was traveling with. She sequeled another high pitched girly squeal which was unlike Rainbow Dash, "SOARIN, ITS SOARIN. IN PONYVILE"

"OH MY GOD, SOARIN" said other girls and they began to run from all direction towards Soarin.

"Luna blast it" said Soarin, "Well Spirit I guess I'll see you later?"

"Sure, man I'll meet you in Canterlot"

"Sweet, alright gotta fly"

"Wait, man let's see if we remember the handshake" Spirit said, they both smiled. Rarity watched in confusion, they bumped hooves then they did from side to side the then jumped back and turn both of their back hooves connecting in midair. They both laughed and Soarin blasted off in the sky, leaving a small whirlwind of powdered snow behind. Spirit looked somewhat annoyed but happy. Rarity was still confused.

"You are friends with Soarin of the Wonderbolts?" Rarity managed to blurt out.

"He's a Wonderbolt now? Haha he made his wish come true. When will mine come true?" Spirit said this last part more to himself then to Rarity. She however heard and felt sorry the big colt. Then girls were crowding around them asking question about Soarin and pestering them about Soarin. Rarity was pushed out of the crowd, as they crowded around Spirit. He towered over all of them and he was to polite move them away, so Rarity decided to help him out.

"Look, its Sorain he at the SugarCube Corner" Rarity screamed. The girls all turned and ran towards the cake shop. Spirit was left sprawled on the floor with his hat covered with snow, and his pack bother upside-down in a snow drift, which Pinkie Pie appeared in and helped the wolf out.

"Thanks" said Spirit, Rarity smiled and helped him up using magic and replied "Any time dear". They walked towards the group of girls that were somewhat confused by the whole situation. Rarity coughed a bit to gather the attention of her friends. They looked at Rairity who said "Everyone, I would like you to meet, Trust Spirit Harenger. Spirit, this is Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, and Pinkie Pie with their pets, Tank the turtle, Gummy the toothless crocodile, Winona, Owloysious the owl and Angel the rabbit."

"Good afternoon ladies" he said with a bow to all of them. Everyone was now starring at the size of Spirit which was a few inches taller than Big Mac. He looked kind of sad seeing as no one was responding to him. Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence by asking the question that Rarity had asked a couple minutes ago, "You know Soarin?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say I do" Spirit said embarrassed.

"From where?" asked Twilight was intrigued just a bit.

"We were the oldest of buddies, we went to school together, played a lot games together, got in soo much trouble. he is probably one of the only pegasi that can infuse his wings with magic" he said.

"But i thought he's a pegasi. Pegasi dont have magic in then" Rainbow said.

"Not true, everyone is magical, its just that unicorn have a better time controlling the magic in them. Soarin was actually the only pegasus in his entire family, which were all very powerful unicorns. he took on some of the magical control" Spirit all were surprised at this and were about to ask more but were interrupted when Spirit said in a booming voice "Hey, get out of there!" All the pets all shrank behind their master's and Fluttershy shrank behind Rainbow Dash. Spirit walked across the group and pulled the wolf out of the pick-nique basket. The wolf had a pie in its mouth and was snacking on it greedily. Everyone laughed while Spirit apologized for the behavior of his pack brother.

"That's a really big dog you have, what breed is it?" asked Pinkie Pie was looking at him upside down.

"That not a dog" said Spirit, "he is a wolf". Everyone froze except Rarity and Apple Jack who were the only ones who knew about it.

"An actual wolf?" asked Twilight who was both scared and fascinated. Spirit nodded finishing the pie that his pack brother had started, in three bites.

"And i-i-i-i-i-i-is h-h-h-h-he domesticated?" FLuttershy asked, still too scared to make eye contact.

"Excuse me?" Spirit said in the tone that makes you believe that he is stupid.

"You know, house trained" Twilight said, for the first time closing her book.

"I found him bout five days ago, so not really"

"well then how come he isn't attacking us? Aren't wolves supposed to be hostile?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We got a, mutual understanding"

"Meaning'" asked Apple Jack.

"I got away with talking with dogs and wolves?"

"Really?"

"Yup"

"Prove it" says Apple jack who had the skeptical face on. Rarity saw Spirit walk up to small dog, she was shaking from head to toe but she stood her ground. Spirit chuclked and said "eh don't worry, I aint gonna hurt ya'" At this the dog suddenly, to everyone surprise, the dog stop shaking and yipped in excitement.

"Ok, ok, don't get so wound up now, what are you hungry for right now?" The dog didn't bark or anything, it yipped once and stood what the other could say was still. Spirit laughed and said "You know I don't they got that right now, I'll tell her to get you some later but what about right?" the dog yipped twice, the second one is what Rarity thought was annoyance. The dog stood still again and Spirit smiled and said "Yeah I know, that stuff is good" he turned to Apple jack and said "Winona here would like some pie, the one you got in that basket"

"How do you know that?" Apple jack said

"She told me"

"Fluttershy is he right?"

"I don't kn-kn-kn-kn-kn-know" the Pegasus said, "I don't really talk to animals I just understand what they feel, ac-ac-ac-actually understanding what they say is something i-i-i-i-I can't do"

"How, all she did was stan' there and yip once r' twice"

"Dogs and wolves don't talk using their voice, they use their nose and ear movements" Spirit explained taking out a bottle of vodka and took a swig. He shook his head after the swing and said "So give him a piece of pie and see what happens". Apple Jack still with her skeptical face said to Winona "I want you to nod at what you want ok?" Winona yipped once and Apple jack pulled out a Frisbee. The dog shook its head. Apple Jack then pulled out a chew toy. The dog shook its head again. Finally Apple Jack pulled out a piece of pie and the dog yipped and nodded his little head excitedly. Apple Jack gave the dog the pie and watched it scarf it down hungrily. Everyone turned to the big stallion as he took another bit of pie.

"As you can see he is no ordinary dog whisperer" said Rarity "But he is excellent guitar player"

"I'm that that good, this woman gives me way too much credit" Spirit said modestly.

"Can you really play that well. I haven't actually heard you play, I only heard about how you played" Twilight said.

"He is the best player I've ever heard" Apple Jack said. Rarity looked over to Spirit who blushing, only visible if you looked hard into his face.

"Come on then, play us a tune?" Rainbow asked who propped her pillow behind her and laid her head to rest on it. Spirit sighed and pick up his guitar which he had place beside him to not get on the way and strum it three times to think of something. Then he thought of a fast pace and then made some chords for it. He then played the songs out on the guitar and song the lyrics that just came to his head.

A couple minutes later, once the song had finished, Spirit looked at the group who were stunned by the song's intensity and grace the song had. Spirit put his guitar down and took another swig of vodka and said "Well? How was it?"

"That was very-" Twilight started,

"amazingist stupendously bestest singing and guitaring ever" Pinkie Pie said. Everyone laughed at the silly, saying that it was exactly that. Spirit laughed as well which made Rarity happy inside, to which she couldn't give a reason why. Spirit then said "Why don't we walk around, I'm getting kinda of tired of sitting around and so are the pets"

"Great idea" sad Twilight as she pulled out her book. They all began walking around the park, Spirit being forced to ask question about Soarin from Rainbow and AppleJack. Rarity was happy about the turn of events, her friends accepting this newcomer without so much as a thought. Rarity saw Spirit hang back a bit too look over Twilght's shoulder, and then he 'harrumphed'.

"What's wrong?" Twilight said, without looking from her book.

"Oh its nothing, I just think that book is a pile of dog -" a loud bark from Winona interrupted. Spirit looked over and called "Sorry". Twilight stopped in her tracks, no one had ever said anything bad about the books in her library. She was infuriated and flabbergasted, and all of her friends, including the pets saw the fury emitting from the mare.

"Why do you say that?" Twilight asked in obvious attempt to repress her anger. Spirit stopped, picked up the book and flipped to a random page, and he read a small passage.

'Lycan's height can be up to 6'5 feet tall, though their height is impressive they tend to hunch over in a four point stance for maximum mobility, at this stance they are usually 4 feet tall. They can go up to 25 miles per hour and they can jump around 5 feet into the air, they tend not to jump however do to their horrible balance. Their fur will always be black but there will be a tint of the color that comes from the pony's mane. They can lift up to half a ton only using their upper body strength and other full ton using their entire body' Spirit read as if he was a dressing a class, yet he said it all in a very snotty voice which got everyone but Twilight laughing. He gave the book back to Twilight who looked as she could strangle him. He turned to her and said "Most of that information is bull shit"

"What info? Because all I heard was some detail description of what Lycan are by a scientist" Twilight said in a very angry tone.

"Who has probably never seen a Lycan in real life?"

"and how would you know that?"

"Because I have had my share of Lycan experience" Spirit said quieter then how he had been normally responding. He turned to her again and said "Lycan can lift one tone using just its upper body it can lift a bit more than two tone and half using all of it. They can run up to 40 miles an hour and they can jump more than 10 feet in the air. They don loose balance once they jump and they are usually 7 to 8 feet tall. The only true thing that that cracks pot said was that they get most of their mobility on four which is obviously true"

"Well, why should I believe a homeless guitarist who plays for his dinner" Twilight yelled very offended at the man's outburst. The group was shocked at Twilight violence and she seemed surprised herself, even the animal shied away from her. Everyone looked at the giant colt, he hung his head and it began shaking. Rarity went to the him and put her hoof and his shoulder and asked her friend "Twilight Was that really necessary?"

"I'm terribly sorry it just slipped out I really didn't mean to-" Twilight said but was interrupted by a loud booming laughter from the stallion. Rarity turned to the stallion who was laughing as if he had heard a great joke. In between his laughs he said "Well thats the way I like it, I wouldn't be the person I am without it" Rarity looked at him, she somehow knew that he was lying and she wondered why he did it. As he was laughing he continued walking down the road, but then stopped as they all heard the town bell ring.

"Wonder what this one is?" said AppleJack.

Hunters and the Hunted

"Everybody please calm down. Please calm down everyone. Now I know everyone is anxious about the Lycan that has been sighted around two days ago but thanks to Princess Celestia and Luna, we have a fighting for against the terrible beast. I am pleased to give you the Hunters" the Mayor said as she stepped down from the podium and a large pony wearing, not armor but a leather padded vest. This pony was large, not as big as Spirit or Big Mac but he was certainly big for the average pony. He had a very weird looking cape on and a top his head there was this large almost cowboy hat but not. His coat was a dark green and his mane and tail were a blood red which made Rarity a little queasy. She was never one for blood and the color would always stand out to her and it would make her feel queasy.

"Hello, citizens of Ponyville, my names is Boulder Strong and I am the leader of the special forces group known as the Hunters. Our duty to the princess is to protect her subjects from monster and beast such as demons, rouge dragons and even cursed beast. With us around you will have no need to fear about anything, we have been trained to able to fight against rock golem. This will be nothing in a matter of time. however we will keep tabs on everyones comings and going and we will need to set up a barrier at night. This is only to make sure that the Lycan isn't one of us. I thank you for your time." the pony walked down the podium and made his way to a tent that was set up as a small barrack.

At around this time everyone was had started to leave the square and Rarity turned to her friends.

"Well thats settling things up here. I'm going home. This talk of Lycan is beginning to put me on the edge." Twilight said. She walked away, Rainbow Dash turned to the group and said "Well I'm definitely not spooked or anything but maybe I should head home, FLuttershy, you wan- ouff" Rainbow Dash's last words were cut off by Fluttershy running to her and almost tackling her.

"please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, can I go home with you tonight. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please,!"

"Ok, ok, you can come with me tonight, just stop this." Rainbow and Fluttershy flew away. Apple jack had already left to go find Apple Bloom. It was just Spirit and Rarity, left in the own square. Spirit, nodded to looked away and began to walk away.

"Wait" Rarity she said loudly, "Where are you going now?"

"Somewhere away from here." He said without looking at her and walking away.

"Why are leaving now?"

"Because its not as as safe as it was before."

"But before there was no protection what so ever and you decide to leave now?"

"These people really aren't gonna protect you. They're hunters. They're here to hunt it down, not protect"

"So you're just going leave just like that without telling everyone or anyone good bye?"

"Yup" Spirit said in a very Big Macintosh manner.

"Why?"

"Because good bye's hurt. An' I ain't one to hurt people"

"Please Spirit wait" Rarity yelled, Spirit stopped but didn't turn around. Rarity, seeing she got his attention continued "Just stay with us for one more night please, then you can leave tomorrow morning. I just don't want you going out tonight, when you could get attacked." what she ment was ' I don't want you to go', but Rarity had a composure to keep up and she didn't want her feeling's messing things up. Rarity walked behind him and summoned her magic lasso again and wraped it around his neck and tugged. This wasn't the forceful tug, it was a sad tug, a tug that meant I don't want you to leave just yet. Rarity looked at the stallion and saw one, shadow-covered side of his face, which had a mask of blankness. Rarity knew she was pleading with the traveler but she didn't care, she just wanted him to be safe one more time in her home. The big stallion turned to her and sighed, at that moment Rarity knew she had won him over. She felt like she had to brighten the mood just a bit so she added as the began to walk back into the center of town towards her house, "This time you won't have totake a bath" she smiled and looked at the big colt. He was laughing, genially laughing and it made Rarity even happier.

**Spirit was ashamed with himself. He had years of practice of avoiding people and keeping his feeling locked up. Yet this mare had done and broken it all, with a simple sad look, pleading voice and a pretty good joke. He barraged himself for the entire walhe back to her place. It wasn't help by the wolf constants ant snicker and snide comments. He really didn't know why heAsa's so ingrossed on keeping this mare smiling. To her it might be welcomed or even enjoyed, but to him, this was a liability. One he knew, he wouldn't be able to get rid of so easily. Why am I trying so hard to make her happy, this isn't normal.

It didn't long for the to reach her place and when he got there, he knew that something was going to end up wrong. Rarity stopped at the front door and he stopped behind her.

"I am very sorry about what happened today. I didn't know Twiight would lash out at you like that, I am also sorry for stopiping you and taking you back here. I am really sorr-" her last word were cut off by Spirit's lips falling onto hers. You see, three different things happend at around the same moment. Firstly, Spirit had decided for that one moment, he would let his emotions out of the small recess in his mind and see what they would have done. His deep emotions however, jumped out with a burning passion and made him move forward. Secondly, Rarity had begun to pull her head up at the moment he began to move forward. Lastly, the wolf's tail had been close to one of Spirit's hooves. Wolf moved his tail at the very moment Spirit's emotions told him to move forward, causing to fall. These events all led up to this one. Life is funny that way huh?

Rarity's thought process: "This is wonderful"

Spirit's thought process: "Oh by Celestial puggy tail, what have I done"

No one talked at the dinner table that night, even Sweetie Bell who would usually be asking question after question after question, was silent. She could feel something in the air but she couldn't tell what it was. Rarity was as red as Big Mac and Spirit seemed to be avoiding her gazz as best he could, the wolf that was next to the cat's cage was what she could call smilling. To her little mind, this seemed like a recipes for either love or disaster. She had already had her experience with love, and thanks to that experience she hoped what was going on wouldn't end up as disastrous as the first time.

Spirit finally made the first move and said, "I believe at this is the time for me to hit the sack. Thank you again, good night"

"Night Spirit" Rarity and Sweetie Bell said simultaniously. After he left the room and Sweetie Bell heard the squeaks of the couch, she turned to her sister and asked "Rarity, are you two all right?"

"What makes you asks?"

"Well, you two seem... Not well"

"What do you meam 'not well'?"

"Well, you look like you have a really bad fever and Spirit looks likes he trying to follow a pixy with his eyes. Its not right and i think something happened between the two of you." the last part wasmalmost wrenched out of her by her sister's glare/stare.

"Sweetie Bell, didnt you learn your leason about messing with these things?" Rarity asked in a very demanding questionable voice.

"No, no, no, no, no we did its just we dont want another one of those things happening again. We dont want anyone to get hurt and I dont want to see you hurt like last time" She said in a sad tone. It made Rarity remeber the first time she was going out wth anoter colt. He was a smart man of elegancehe knew where and how to compliment women and he was a charmer for sure. Yet there was something always off about him, never seeming to keep all of his attention on her and sometimes just stopping mid sentence to think about something. Eventually Rarity found out what he that thing was, the correct term would be someone. He was cheating on Rarity with a pegasus. Rarity remebered the heart break she felt at this tragic news. She avoided everyone for two weeks straight, never coming out of her room and snapping anyone who come even near the door. Consiquently enough it was Sweetie Bell wh tried so hard to take her out of her misery, coming in everyday to check up on her and give her meals despite Rarity's constant stream of insults. She was probably the only person who Rarity considered to bring her out of her horrible mood. Rarity had apologized to her but she knew that wasn't enough, so Rairy had tried to avoid and big romance to protect her little sister and she had been doing great... until Spirit walked in. Rarity took a deep breath and said "Sweetie Bell, your my sister, I will never do anything big with out your concet but this is something that I cannot control. My heart is telling me something and I have to listien to it this time. But know this, if this end badly i will never again hurt you." Sweetie Bell smiled at her sister and they walked over and hugged each other.

"Now come on, we got to tidy up." Rairy said, realesing her little sister. They both magically gathered the plates and went into the ktchen to wash up.

**What s wrong with me? Spirit was having his own mental battle. The battle he was having however was abit more serious, on one side it was seeming happiness that would last for at least a week, on the the side was the idea of staing alive to live for another day. This battle wasnt hard to him it was just that in a long time he never remebered being so happy in the time he had been cursed. Spirit knew tat he was going to leave but he wasn't sure if he could. He knew that if he stayed here any longer, his feeling that he kept locked away for so long would break free and control his life. H knew that if that happened people wil die and he didnt want another massacre. Spirit really wanted to stay but he knew that nothing good would come out of it, but he also knew that his life right now wasn't forfiling either. His life was basically move from town to town and play music and then move to the next one. He loved playing music becuase it brought out something in everyone, be it sadness to get rid of or hapines to share. He couldnt make up his mind and he knew that he had to do it soon. He looked to his pack brother and askedd him " What do you think i should do? Choose happines or life?" it took a while for the guy to answer.

"Life is about the pursit of happiness and joy, if you dont want it, to bad. But everyone wants some. Why do you think I walk with you?" the wolf said. Spirit thought about what he said and made his decison. He knew that Rarity would be happy with him, but he knew she would be happier without him, becuase he causes alot of pain to anyone that gets to close. So he decided the choice that seemed best for him.

He picked up his guitar, put on his hat and left.

**Rairty was walking to the living room. Something didnt feel right to her. She enterd the room to find it empty. Something inside her told her this would happen but she didn't belive it, she didn't want to belive it. Sweetie Bell came into the room too and saw what her sister saw, she turned to her and said "Rarity, will you be alright?"

"I dont know sister. I dONT KNOW!" she cried the last part. Sweetie Bell went over to hug her and Rarity held on to her dearly. Later on into the night, she was still crying. She cried for hours on end. Sweete Bell had retired to her room to give her some space. Rairty didnt know why but she could still feel his pressence right outside the door, as if he was waiting for Rarity to let him in. She wanted to see him again, she wanted him.

*KNOCK KNOCK* Knocks on the door. Spirit might have come back, he might need her just as she needs him. Maybe..Maybe...

"Hello Mule! Remeber us?" said a very familiar Diamond dog.

Beauty be gone

Spirit was far away when he saw the smoke rise from the little village. He looked at the little town covered in snow and saw the smoke rise from the it. He was tempted to go back down to see what had happened but then thought against it. If he went back, he would have to see her again and he thought that he wouldn't be able to leave her again without hurting her for good. He wrenched his eyes away from the scene and kept walking, his mind still trying to wonder what made him do these things for her. He had stayed there for two extra days after he knew he was being looked for which he would never do. He tried to think of what is that little emotion that always seems to make you do the craziest things for someone else. For years he had never felt this emotion on his travels. He had shut his emotions away from people for years now, just moving along form town to town making friends here and there yet he didn't let his emotion slip. Now in a town that wasn't that special he lost control. Why?

"The black air smells familiar" the wolf said. Spirit stopped and looked up at the smoke. He took in a long sniff of the smoke. He couldn't smell what ever his pack brother could smell so he took another wiff. There was something. He sniffed again, this time standing on his hind hooves. He was sure there was something there yet he couldn't tell what it was. He tried again.

No...

He began to run back towards the town as faster than he could have ever remembered. He almost ran as fast as when he was in his beast from. It was middle of the night when he stealthy got out of town avoiding the guards around town. It was mid day when he smelled the smoke from the town. It took him about two hour to get back to town. He ran through the town, running through obstacles and almost barreling people over. He was oblivious to his own tiredness and everything around him. Once he got to his destination, he stopped and felt his heart break. The house was almost gone. Only half of the house remained standing and the rest was a pile of rubble and ash.

Spirit didn't know what to think. He didn't even know how to feel. There was definitely something there in his heart but he didn't know what it was. He didn't move from there for a while, he stood there just looking at the wreckage of the house. Why? Why?

...

Rarity woke up feeling a bit groggy. She felt like something had happened but something had made her memory of last night. She tried to stand up and realized that she felt a bit heavier than she had remembered, it took her a while but she got up. It was too dark too see anything so she tried to summon up some magic to see if it would lite up the room to see a bit. She waited for the magic to glow yet it didn't come. She began to panic, she willed the magic to come to her but something was keeping it from coming to her. That however called upon some of the memories of last night. She remembered the conversation that she had with Sweetie Bell. She remembered the feeling of longing. She remembered the sadness. She remembered Spirit leaving. She began to sob in the darkness, she thought that if she cried enough, the pain would begin to decrees so that she could deal with it better. Then she heard a noise. The sound of a rusty gate opening , and then light burst into what she know saw was a cell.

"Well well, look who woke up!" said a very familiar voice. Rarity turned around to see the face of one of her tormentors when she was forced to collect diamonds for the dogs. It was the tall lanky one, he seemed to have a new air of prowess about him that was definitely not there the first time they meet. Rarity turned to see that she was strapped to the wagon that they had given her on her last visit.

"Why have you ruffians brought me back down here? Do you not remember what happened last time?" Rarity said with as much authority she could muster, which wasn't much.

"Oh yess, we remember well!" he said extend his arms out wide.

"Then you know that I can escape my predicament when I so chose, just as the time before" Rarity said this time adding some defiance to the words.

"Thatss where your wrong mule" the lanky dog said, he grabbed her throat and pulled out of the little cell. Once the dog had let her go she look around and saw that she was very deep underground as there was no sunlight reflecting off of the diamonds.

"If you decided to whine or complain. This foal will get a nice new golden coat." the lanky dog said and pointed to a corner of the cave. Rarity was horrified at what she saw, Sweetie Bell was in a cage above a vat of molten gold.

"So much as a peep" he said and nodded to wards the big dog next to the cage. he began to lower the chain and Rarity screamed "NO PLEASE! i wont complain just don't hurt her please!"

"Then get to work!" the dog yelled at her and she pulled the crate going along the cave marking the places where the diamonds lay. She wondered if she was going to root in the cave forever.

...

"Hello, Spirit?" a voice said behind Spirit. He turned to see one of Rarity's friends, what was her name?

"Twilight right?" he said. She nodded, she asked " Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

"No" he replied

"Then would you like to come to my place? the guards will be coming soon and-" she was cut off by the cry of rage that erupted from the guitarist. Twilight recoiled at the ferociousness and animosity of the roar the he emitted.

The reason the stallion roared at this point was that he finally realized what one of the things in his heart was. One of the two things he finally understood was rage, anger, fury. He knew that they weren't going to protect anyone from a werewolf or anything but he knew that there wasn't another werewolf around so its was their fault for her being gone. He looked at the wolf and said " Find her scent brother I shall be back by sun rise meet me back here then" the wolf nodded and began to look for a small trail.

"Wait Spirit what are you doing? Curfew is almost here we have to get back to my place" Twilight said trying to keep pace with Spirit who was briskly walking towards the barracks. Twilight had a hard time keeping up an with the large stallion who was walking through everyone.

"I am sorry citizens but we cannot allow you to enter the barracks" said a guard who raised his spire to stop Spirit from entering the tent. Spirit turned to look at the solider and said calmly"Where is your captain?" the soldier didn't hear it but there was some restraint in his voice. The soldier repeated "I am sorry citizen but we-"

"WHERE IS YOUR CAPTAIN?' Spirit said furiously with a yell. The soldier recoiled in obvious fear and hastily said "H-h-h-he is in the b-b-b-back of the barracks", Spirit broke the spear in the soldiers hand and walked past him leaving him in fear and shame. Spirit walk through the barracks radiating anger and an animal like presence that no one tried to stop him or even get in his way. All the guards avoided him as he moved towards the small section of the barracks that was the Captain quarters. Spirit threw open the flap to the the Captains quarters, the captain who was in a meeting looked at the stallion said "Excuse me sir but I am in a very important meeting so could u-"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HER?" Spirit yelled into his face. The captain sighed an nodded to the others in the room, as they left he turn to Spirit and said " I am sorry but to save her... What was her name again?"

"RARITY" he yelled slamming his hooves onto the table breaking all four legs. Boulder Stong didn't recoil which surprised everyone who was watching through the flap of the room. Boulder Strong waited a minute then said " I am sorry that we couldn't save her but the guards say that they didn't see anything out the ordinary and the guards that did see something, there were too few to any-"

"DRAGON SHIT!" Spirit interrupted " there were guards everywhere last night, how could there have not been enough to save her?"

"There might have been a lot of guard but that doesn't mean that there is little space to for them to occupy. And the fact remains that who ever took this mare is not who we are here for!" Boulder retaliated.

"You are the princess' hired guard, your job is to protect her people with your lives. You call yourself guards yet you don't even bother yourself with some small creature that holds a grudge. You should be ashamed of yourself. Let me tell you, if she inst found alive, I am coming for you bastards" Spirit said and walked out of the barracks followed closely by Twilight. Boulder Strong turned to a soldier and said "Keep an eye on him would ya?"

...

"What was that?" Twilight said looking at the guitarist. He let a long held breath and said "A threat,"

"to the royal guards?" Twilight asked disbelief written all over her face.

"yup, now I believe this is your house" Spirit said, Twilight looked up and said "Wow it is. Wait how did you know?"

"Rarity mentioned you lived in a tree." Spirit said with some sadness in his voice. He opened the door and let the lady through, from inside Spirit heard a voice yell "Twilight were have you been, your dinner has been getting cold and... Who's this?"

"Spike this is Spirit, he is the one that Rarity talked about yesterday" Twilight said

"oh" Spike said with some disdain, he turned to Twilight and asked very hopefully "So is there anyway news about Rarity?"

"No not yet, Spirit did have a talk to the captain about their jobs"

"What did he say?" Spike said making an bad emphasis on the 'he'.

"He told them that they did do their job right and that they should have protected her"

"Don't give advice you don't follow" Spike said in a low voice which was intended to be to himself but Spirit heard this and with his already angered state he said "What is your problem?" speaking to Spike. He laughed, "Well considering that you were there you should have saved her!" Spike yelled.

"Spike please? he is just as sad as you are bu- "

"No let him hate, i understand his feelings but i wasn't there to do anything" Spirit said his sadness overcoming his rage.

"Then why did you leave her? Alone? By herself when there is a Lycan on the lose!" Spike yelled.

"Because I have some secrets that can hurt others" Spirit said quietly, ended the conversation. Twilight looked at Spike with a 'why did you do that!' look and they watched Spirit get up on the coach of the library and put his hat down over his eyes. He would go hunt in the morning

Storming the Prison Holds

Spirit woke up to the sound of a howl. A very familiar howl. Spirit got off the couch and did a small stretch, once done he picked up his guitar and went for the door. *CRASH* Spirit turned to see a vase broken on the floor. He sighed and thought that he would have to come back to pay for it later. He turned and left the small comfortable house, thinking that he probably wont be back so it would be a good time to check the Alcohol shop for another good drink.

The morning was quite as no one was up and about, but Spirit felt anxious and violent. He arrived at the broken and burnt house and the wolf jumped on him. He was licking him all over and Spirit forgot everything, just basking in the idea that he wasn't really alone. He could walk away from this all and just keep wondering the world with wolf and his curse. Then he thought of the mare. The mare that changed him from a wanderer to something else. He didn't know what he had become but he knew that it was different. He also knew that if he left, he would never live it down and he would never be happy again. He knew that he had to right his wrongs. His father always taught him that once you commit a wrong, you have to do it right, this could be anything from lying to stealing. Spirit took this to heart as a young colt and he kept it alive within him, always correcting his wrongs (the one he can at least). He licked the wolf back a couple of times and got up and got serious.

"Where did the people take her?" He asked the wolf. At this the wolf got serious and replied, "Time to save pack sister, the dogs of shiny things took her" Spirit didn't ask about the pack sister thing but he did feel hotter around the face which baffled him. The wolf led Spirit deep into the forest which then broke out into the mountains area that Spirit and the wolf had meet on. They continued up the path towards a cave. The wolf stopped and said " I could not proceed because they would have got me too"

"I am glad you didn't" Spirit said, "I don't know what i would do if I lost you as well" The wolf gave him and affectionate lick on his leg and Spirit scratched the back of his head.

"Now the hard part" Spirit said "Brother i want you to stay here and watch my things OK?" The wolf nodded as Spirit took off the guitar from his back and put it against a wall and placed his hat on the guitar. Spirit took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He went into his mind and found the feral part of him, he saw the curse there as well, a well dressed being that wasn't pony. He had red leathery skin and had long hands. He stood on two legs and his legs look like those Spirit would have once transformed; reversed. He was very tall yet he was always hunched over as if it pained him to stand up straight. The most interesting part about him was the face. His face was always changing never one versions for too long, changing from a plumb face to a bony face to a scared insane looking face. The one thing that didn't change however no matter how long Spirit looked at him, was his eyes. His eyes were always the same size, same shape and same color which was a bright green; like the venom from venomous snake in the black night. He looked at Spirit and said in a very deep yet soothing voice "Going to take beast for a spin or are you doing it for a noble reason?"

"none of your business" Spirit said.

"Your right, it isn't, but I must say that I don't know what you see in that girl. Not much curve" He replied and shrouded him self deeper into Spirit's mind. Spirit looked at where he stood for a while then turn back to the feral part of him. It wasn't anything to be exact it was just a ball of red light that was frighting and violent. Spirit plunged into it and in the world outside his mind. He transformed.

The transformation didn't take long since Spirit s body was used to the physical changes. It took him around a minute to transformed. Once the transformation was complete Spirit sniffed the air. He smelt her distinctive smell of Strawberries and fabrics. He looked at the wolf and nodded.

"Go save sister, brother" the wolf replied as he laid down next to the guitar. At this Spirit got down to all four and howled his warning which said 'I hunt for blood. Those who wished to be alive stay out of my way'. At this he heard the scurries of small animals to find a hiding spot and bird flapping there wings to escape to a farther place away from the raging monster. Spirit ran down into the cave at his top speed which was around 38 mph. In took him an hour and a half before there was any other distinct smell, the smells where meat and fruits which he figured where in some sort of other part of the cave devoted to those who weren't digging. After another ten minutes he met his first prey, a wondering guard with a spear and a nice helmet. Spirit growled to give it time to either run or prepare an attack, the diamond dog, being the idiot he was, decided to attack. Spirit pounced on the dog and bit into his throat, feeling the gush of blood in his mouth. Spirit didn't want to feel good but he did and that is what scared him even more. Once the dog was dead he got up and continued. It didn't take him long before he reached a large room where there were many dogs every where, digging, collecting diamonds and standing guard. He wished he didn't feel as happy he was too see an entire room full of people to kill but he did. He smiled with a devilish smile as he saw the dogs get ready for there slaughter. Once they began to attack he pounced in the middle of the crowd. Why do I love this so much?

...

Rarity was covered in grim and sweat. She was very tired but she knew if she stopped then Sweetie Bell would be dropped lower into the pit of molten gold below her. She was forced to not only find the jewels but to also to dig for them, which she found surprisingly hard. The worst part was that they hadn't actually feed her anything edible. They did give her a drug that allowed her to get some energy, but she found out that it was just a hallucinogen which gave an illusion of getting energy when really she was just using up all of the energy that was in her body. How ever she did work hard, and who wouldn't do so to keep a precious family member alive. She was told that would get a break after she had finished that section of the smaller cave but she was beginning to wonder if she would ever finish. They hadn't check her in a while, so maybe she could get some rest...

Rarity heard a blood curdling scream as she was nodding off into sleep. She sprang up and tugged her cart up the small cave she was forced to work in. She ran out of the cave only to stop in her tracks as the Lycan was standing above her, his claws and teeth covered in blood. She looked up into the eyes of the giant beast and saw, rage that was being calmed. Then the Lycan lifted it claw high in the air. She closed her eyes hoping that this was just a dream as she heard Sweetie Bell scream "No".

A clang was heard. Then Rarity felt like lighter and a bit more energetic. She opened her eyes to see that the Lycan had cut the chain that attached her to the cart that she was pulling. She looked up again to the Lycan and took a deeper look into the eyes, they seemed familiar. The Lycan then went up to Sweetie Bell's cage and tore through some of the bars, leaving a very open door to jump out of. The Lycan turned again to Rarity, it walk up close and reached with its hand to grab a very large lazulite which was the half of Sweetie Bell's size and ran off, back the way she thought he came from. It took them a couple of seconds for Rarity or Sweetie Bell to do anything since the were still in shock but then Rarity regained her bearing and called "Sweetie Bell come down here,we need to get out of here". Sweetie Bell hooped down from the cage and she ran to hug her sister. Rarity hugged her sister tightly, relishing the fact that her sister was alive and well in her arms. They stopped hugging after a long time, and Rarity checker Sweetie Bell for bruises, she had one on the back of her head. Rarity sighed in relief that they hadn't hurt her more.

"Sweetie Bell please wait here for a second"

"Where are you going?" she replied

"I am going to check ahead. Just in case" Rarity said. She went up the small corridor of ground till she saw a sight that all most made her throw up. There were two or three diamonds dogs, all dead. Each one had died of a different injury; one died of a torn neck, another had his innards spread across the floor, the last one was decapitated his head no where to be seen. She saw that one of them had a jacket, she tore it off his dead body and thought of an idea.

"Sweetie Bell come here." Rarity called walking down away from the crime scene. Sweetie Bell walked towards her and Rarity turned the jacket into a blindfold and put it above her little sisters eyes.

"Whats this for?" Sweetie Bell asked looking confused and trying to see.

"There are just some thing that the Lycan did that I don't want you you to see"

"What is it? Did he go to the bathroom? Did he write his name?" Sweetie Bell asked excited, her curiosity over coming her fear.

"Just promise me that you wont take it off ok?" Rarity said, chuckling at the idea of pooping. Sweetie Bell nodded and they began to walk out of the cave. Rarity saw very grousom scene with small packs of two or three dogs murdered. Around half of the way there Sweetie Bell said " I think we know the Lycan"

"What?" Rarity said who hadn't really thought she heard what she did.

"I think we know the Lycan" Sweetie Bell said in a serious tone.

"Why do think that?" Rarity asked very curious about her response.

"Because he didn't attack us " Sweetie Bell said in a mater-of-fact tone.

"So? Maybe he didn't feel like it." Rarity said liking the idea of a conversation.

"No because if what Mr Havenger said is true than he would have killed us, but he didn't. That means two things"

"Which are?" Rarity asked.

"One; that the Lycan is someone that we know or knows us or option #2 is that the Lycan has a heart and seeing you made it remember something. But think that its number one" Sweetie Bell said, saying the last part with confidence.

"What makes you think it knows us?" Rarity said, not one to believe it because she knew she did.

"Because it just feels like it" she said with a far away kinda of way. Rarity didn't want to say it but she did feel like she knew the pony behind the beast. There was a moment before the Lycan had decided to take the lazulite and leave that she felt when they stared into each other eyes that there was something very familiar in them. A loneliness that was very familiar. They continued to walk in silence. It was a long time before they reach the blood bath that Rarity wished she never saw or could be wiped from her memory.

The room was large, enough to hold at least a small battalion of the princess royal guards. The room's size only made the blood bath larger then it should have been. There was a small pool of blood in the middle of the room that was at least three to four feet across. There were body parts scattered across the room, impossible to tell which body part belong to which body. The dead body were also scattered across the room, all torn up and disfigured. There were bodies impaled on stalagmites and stalactites, some whole and others not. Rarity had a hard time not throwing up, the gore was every where. She lead Sweetie bell through all the gore and they continued through the cave. The images however didn't stop. She saw all of the faces of the dead dogs, full of fear and despair. There were a couple more dead bodies up the path up the but they weren't as horrible and traumatizing. Eventually they arrived outside. The nice cool air refreshed Rarity and she smiled as the sun shun through the clouds. Rarity removed Sweetie Bell's blind fold and said "Lets go home."

...

Running. Running in fear. The fear of being attacked, the fear of being noticed. Spike ran as fast as he could back to the town. He had followed the strange guitarist through the forest and into the mountains because Spike didn't feel right about him. And Spike was right, he was a bad person, he was a Lycan. The one that was terrorizing the town. Spike was scared for his safety, the safety of his friends but most of all he was worried for Rarity. The Lycan had lived in her house, what if he was trying to turn her into one of them. Turn his poor Rarity into a vicious killer. He couldn't have that. He wouldn't have that. But what to do? He knew that the full moon wasn't until two days so he wouldn't be trouble till then would he? But he just saw him transform at what looked like at his own will. What if wasn't trying to turn Rarity into one of them? What if he was trying to protect her? NO! Why was he defend the monster. The killer. Spike knew that he would be rewarded by the guards for giving them information about the Lycan and he would be rewarded from Rarity for saving her life. That was the turning point in Spike's mind. He stood in front of the barracks, with a look of duty in his eyes.

The Beast in a Cage

Spirit walked out of the Blacksmith's holding a wrapped gift, tired and sooty. He had been working in their ever since he got back from his excursions into the diamond dogs caves. After the blood bath he had created down into the caves he went to a river to wash away the blood that almost covered him entirely. He wasn't proud of what he did but he did feel relieved, he hadn't killed something in a while aside from the deer, he hadn't killed anything that could fight back. For some reason he had a horrible desire to do this every once and a while. He would never give into it however but it would eat at him, when ever he was in large crowds for example. He felt relieved that that specific desire was silenced within his mind. Once he had cleaned himself off after the killings he went to the town blacksmith who let him work on the lazulite crystal. It took around 3 to 4 hour to perfectly shape the diamond into the shape he wanted, but he had done it. He was pleased of his work and the fact that he hadn't lost any of his talent for it either. He plan was deliver his gift to Rarity's friend and then leave town, he had written a not inside too just encase she went looking for him. She knew he would. The lazulite would give him away and the fact that he didn't do anything to her in the cave as well must have tipped her off. Spirit looked at wolf who had waited patiently outside and said "Well tonight gonna be our last night here. Hope you enjoyed the ride" the wolf puffed in a 'doubt it!' manner. Spirit laughed and he started down the road, he remembered where exactly where Twilight house had been because out of all they houses, it was the only on that was basically memorable, aside from Rarity's house which was now half a pile of ash. He got there and knocked on the door.

"Hello? Oh Spirit! You left so early this morning. I was worried, whats the matter?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry I worried you but I have a gift for miss Rarity. Please give it to her when she get to town." He said giving her the package.

"Wait how do you know Rarity will come back? we don't know who took her or anything." Twilight asked perplexed.

"Don't worry, she'll be back." He said, putting his hat on and tuning to the road. Twilight looked confused but shrugged and went back inside.

Before taking off Spirit decided to at least stock up on some food for the road. He went to the local supermarket and decided to get some bread. Once he purchases the items he starts to head out of town, and notices two guards tailing him. They weren't close enough to grab him but they kept a distance of around 5 to 6 feet. When Spirit tried to look back and see them, they would try to blend into the crowd but the wolf wasn't fooled so easily. Spirit decided to just ignore them, they couldn't possibly know that he was the Lycan but he knew that they couldn't take him anyway, at least not two.

He continued walking, getting closer and closer to the edge of town with less and less ponies around as well, except for the two guards that we tailing him. He was beginning to get exasperated with them because if they were gonna follow him, he would at least like them to give him a valid reason or just it over with already. After a bit longer, he stopped and so did they, he turned and they knew that hiding themselves was useless and so stood their ground. They looked at him through their visors and he looked at them, with the same intensity but adding his own ferocity with it. The he heard a noise and heard the wolf growl. He turned again to where he was heading and saw that there were three more guards, two of them pegasi and the other a unicorn. They looked at him like hunter would a prey.

"Trust Spirit Havenger. You are under arrest for being a Lycan" One of the said to him, in a solid tone. Spirit laughed for two reasons; one because the phrase didn't really make sense, being a lycan wasn't your choice so how could you arrest someone for something they cant choose to be. The second reason was the fact they had found their target but he knew that they wouldn't catch him.

"Please, lets just get this over with." Spirit said, stretching his limps out. They all attacked at once, but Spirit had one major advantage over them which was his brute strength. He took one by the scraps of his armor and chucked him across into the pond. He turned and hit another in the face, hard enough to dent his helmet. The last two jumped onto him, tackling him down to the ground. He threw on of but the one wit the dent helm replace him. Spirit thought that this was planed out and this was a capture thing which was why the unicorn wasn't doing anything, he was there to knock him out. Spirit also knew that the wouldn't be able to win this one. He had wasted to much energy in the caves, he didn't enough left to manage to get them off and escape. And turning into a wolf would only loss time and give the unicorn ample amount of time to fire the paralysis beam. He decided to just get captured and then break out later and so called out to the wolf who was keeping the unicorn busy by trying to bite him viciously "Brother go find sister. I shall find you later." The wolf barked in retaliation but Spirit just barked out "GO!" The wolf, after one last attack at the unicorn left. Spirit managed to throw off one of them again and then hit the one with the dented helmet in the ribs causing him to keel over in pain and lose of air. He then got up and threw the last one at the unicorn who dodge it and shoot out his paralysis beam which struck Spirit straight between the eyes, which also knocked him out cold.

Rarity was walking leading Sweetie Bell through the forest at a moderately fast past. She knew that they should be going slowly due to her state and Sweetie Bells but she needed to find somepony. She had to ask that specific pony a very important question that would solidify her emotions and make sure that she was right about it. She also knew that this specific pony was a bit of an idiot with his emotions and following them so he would need help understanding them. She figures that she could drop Sweetie Bell at Twilight place because she was probably closest to the forest seeing as her library was almost at the literal edge of town. She knew that she should be worrying about her own well being but she knew she wouldn't be able too sleep easy without that one questioned answered.

The town was surprisingly quiet for it being in the middle of the afternoon. There was almost no one in town and the people who were were running in the direction they knew to be where home was. Rarity was beginning to feel tired and she knew that she had to get Sweetie Bell to Twilight's.

"Who is it?" Twilight asked, as she began to open the door. She stopped upon seeing Rarity and her eyes filled with tears, she hugged Rarity and said in a loud wail of happiness "We were so worried about you? Rarity, What happened?"

"Whats with all the racket?" Spike said in an annoyed tone. Then he saw Rarity and stopped half way done the stairs and his eyes grew with obvious joy as he jumped the final steps as he ran towards Rarity and bear hugged her leg. He was wailing something but it was completely incoherent because of the wailing and because Rarity had begun to realize that her loss of energy was greater than what she would have thought and she began to sway violently. She only barely heard Twilight's yell of surprise and Sweetie Bell worried calling of her name was nothing more than a very soft whisper. She was passing out and she knew that, the only thing she could remember from arriving at Twilight's house was seeing a package on the coffee table with her name on it.

Spirit woke up in a cage, with not much light but a small candle outside the cage. Not the first time eh! Spirit got up and stretched his aking muscle which did hurt him a lot, stretching muscle right after use was not a good idea. After a bit more stretching he went around to check the bars on his cage. Cages were a very interesting concept seeing as it was supposed to keep somepony in and at the same time keep somepony out. He decided to check the bars seeing as the was usually an inconsistency that guards tended to over look when setting up the cage. He hit the one in the middle of the sides, the ringing suggested that they were pretty thick. He gave the corner bars a good thwack, the sound that reverberated off of them was even weaker then the ones in the middle, suggesting either a different more durable metal or was thicker then the other ones. He figured that he would have to bend open the middle bars to escape, he then reached up to straighten his hat. But there was only air. Dammit, he thought. They could at least kill me with my hat really! Give me some dignity at least! He decided that he would try the bars again, this time he listened in more carefully and he heard something, a small hissing. He looked at the bar and saw it glow very faintly. It was magically repairing itself.

"Hah these guards have thought of everything haven't they!" Spirit said out loud, expressing more of his surprise to this precaution.

"Well looks like the beast has risen" a voice had said from the darkness. Spirit turned to see the commander of the Hunters; Boulder Strong.

"So what do I call you? Commander Strong or Commander Boulder?" Spirit asked more out a cheesy joke then an actually question.

"No, you can call me Commander."

"Well, commander, are you here to ask me some question or are you going to read me my rights before you execute me?"

"No, we aren't going to be executing for another two days now. But I am here to listen to you beg for you life before your death."

"Wait, I am supposed to plead for my life? I thought you were smart"

"Oh were smart all right, how did you think we found you?

"Helpful tip" Spirit said, with a deadpan look, "But if you were smart you should know that breaking out of this place is easy"

"Of course it would be, but you wont because your not going to be leaving here and seeing as your not I might as well torture you for what you have done to me"

"Done to you?" Spirit said in a exasperated tone, "I don't even know who you are? I am pretty sure we have never meet"

"Oh is that what you believe?" Boulder Strong said, "Tell me if this doesn't look a little familiar". He pulled his cloak off of him revealing a very large scar in parallel from one another. The scar was all to familiar to Spirit and he thought hard on to who he might have attacked during his transformation.

"Here is a hint, its been five years and almost most three month since I've had it." He said smiling. Spirit froze, if he thought back, that was when he had murdered an entire town.

"How did you survive?" Spirit said in a very soft voice.

"Well I thought my name gave it away." He replied with a chuckle, "I guess you thought one well place slash would finish me off but, well, I am pretty sturdy if you ask me."

"Well I am sorry that I didn't kill you" Spirit said.

"Which is exatly why I am going to keep you here, torturing you for everypony from that little town that you slaughtered. But i do have one question"

"Which is?"

"Who was in control? I assume the beast but if you had guided it..." He didn't finish. Spirit took a deep breath and said "I cant say that the beast slaughtered the town, because I controlled the beast, that time." Boulder Strong laughed out loud and continued so hard he began to cry.

"Now that I know that. You shouldn't be alive after the torture I am going to do to you" He laughed. Great, Spirit thought, so much for the element Honesty. Boulder strong took four small orbs from a pocket and rolled them into the cage. Spirit looked at them with his hairs on ends. Then they all propped themselves up on a tri stand they came out of them. Then one of them glowed a bright red, which then stopped after about five seconds, the glow went out as a blast of flames was emitted from the orb, burning Spirt who screamed in pain as the fires continued to burst out in a steady stream for around thirty seconds. Then another one of the orbs glowed a deep blue, which then also went out within five seconds, emitting a globe of water which surrounded Spirit for around a minutes. Spirit tried to move from the bubble of water that surrounded him but the bubble moved with him. Once that one was done, the third orb glowed a bright yellow, which went out after emitting an electrical pulse through the cage's metal bars, electrifying Spirit in the process, sending his nervous system ary. The last one glowed a dark purple color which when extinguished, caused Spirit to feel a massive pressure upon him, forcing him down to the ground. The entire time Boulder Strong was laughing at him.

"How do you like em? I thought of it myself, specifically for you. And the best part is that they will keep going until i feel like stopping them." He said walking out of the room. Spirit got up before he was electrocuted again. He screamed in pure agony.

Rarity woke up in a fright, bolting straight up. She had a very intense and realistic nightmare that caused this sudden reaction. The dream involved the Lycan going around destroying everything in sight, and then without warning the Lycan would transform into Spirit and he would continue on the rampant destruction. The dream had woken her up when Spirit was half way turning into the Lycan as he was above her a killer intent in his eyes, his hoof raising up into the sky. That where the dream had ended leaving Rarity a bit traumatized. She looked around the room she was in not remembering what had transpired over the day before. She tried to remember watching Spike snore as he leaned on one of the couch legs. She looked around the room again this time taking in her surroundings. She was in a library, which led her to believe that she was at Twilight's house. Then she saw the package on the table and everything came back to her in a blast of images and emotions. She remembered the diamond dogs capturing her and forcing her to work in the caves, she remembered the Lycan coming in a saving her and her sister. She remembered the bloodbath he had created, she remembered the question that she wanted to ask Spirit. She got up quietly, being careful not to wake Spike. She went to the package and took into the kitchen to which she bumped into Twilight.

"Oh Rarity, are you OK? You had quite a fall once you arrived and we thought you where sick or something" She asked

"Oh no Twilight, though I am very famished. Do think that you could wipe up something hearty?"

"Of course, anything specific?"

"No, just please make it hearty"

"OK then, I'll be finished in about 30 minutes." Twilight said turning to the stove, summoning things from the fridge and cabinets. Rarity sat down on the table and opened the package to find a large box and rolled up piece of paper. She looked at the rolled up then decided that it couldn't be bad to look at it. She opened to see that it was a letter from Spirit, it made her heart speed up and at the same time retreated into the depth of her mind. She knew something about him yet she wasn't sure of it, there was also the question that she wanted to ask him. She thought that maybe this would carry the answer that she wouldn't want. She put the not down, not knowing what to do.

"Aren't gonna open it?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know if I want to know whats inside" Rarity replied.

"What if its good news?"

"What if its bad?" Rarity almost snapped. Twilight said and sat down in front of Rarity and said "Rarity, no matter what you do, your going to read it because you want to know what Spirit thinks of you."

"How did you know?" Rarity said surprised.

"You just seem like your having some fairy tale related problems" Twilight said, "You want to know if he feels for you the same way that you feel for him. The worst that could happen is that he rejects you but do you think that would happen? And if that the case you will be able to move on and go forward with your life. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest with who ever you want, be it friends or family. You will read it." She finished, setting up the table using magic. Rarity sighed and opened the letter. It read;

'Hello Ms Rarity. I am sorry for contacting you like this. I am sure that you are a bit shocked by the Lycan coming in and rescuing you. I am also very sorry for those images that you must have seen coming out of the cave. I am very sorry for all of this. As you can probably guess I am the Lycan. I didn't mean for anyone to know this but seeing as you saw both of my forms there was probably no way of keeping it a secret any longer. I didn't mean for you to figure this out like this but it is impossible for me to continue to live here without someone else knowing. This brings me to my conclusion, I know i can't be with you. This isn't my choice but I must, if not I but you want to survive. If I could choose i would choose to stay with you but I don't want to put your life at risk as well as the others. Please don't follow me, by the time you read this I will probably far away. Don't send anyone after me as well, they will probably be hurt trying to find me. Please. I am very sorry about this. Have a great life.

From the Beast, Trust Spirit Havenger'

P.S I have made smaller crystal garments out of what remains of the lazulite. They should be worth enough to get your place back with the craftsmanship alone'

Rarity sighed in exasperation. Even while leaving he couldn't give her a straight answer to her question. Why was he so hard?

"Not the answer you wee expecting, I supposed?" Twilight said, serving Rarity an omelet.

"Worse." She replied. "He didn't even give an answer!" She almost yelled. "DO you think stallions know how our minds work but just don't listen to it or are they just oblivious?"

"Rarity if I had known that answer..." Twilight said chuckling to herself as she left the sentence hanging. Rarity began to eat the omelet, fuming at the stupidity of this Stallion's mind. Did he think that a bit of money and gems would woe her over him and make her forgive him. As she ate using her hooves she took the package and began to open it. What was inside made her mouth drop which was most un-lady like considering it was still full of food.

What was inside was a bust of Rarity. But it was no ordinary bust. Looking at on closer inspection it was a bust that was made with extra care and precision. Rarity head was in front of what was a large flame which surrounded her head like a mother would hold her child. The diamond was perfectly smooth, unlike most diamonds or crystal they had geometric like shape so that they have a face there attached to another face. This little statuette wasn't like that, it was smooth and detailed. It gleamed with a strange shine that didn't seem natural.

"Wow, what is that?" Twilight said. Rarity shook her head is disbelief. She tried to magically hold it in the air but something interesting happened. The magic that she used to try to levitated the statuette was absorbed by the statuette to which it glowed brightly with an soothing orange glow. Out of the statue came the sound of a guitar strum. Then it continued to a song that was very familiar to Rarity. She began to cry, remembering him clearly. His mane, his size, his sense of music.

"Its alright Rarity. Its alright" Twilight said.

"No it isn't!" She sobbed. "Spirit has left with out talking to me. I am now alone. The stallion I love had left me to keep me safe from himself. How can it be alright?" Then there was a thud on the door. Rarity stopped crying as she herd another thud on the door.

"I got it!" she herd Spike said. There was the sound of the lock opening then the sound of door opening. Then there was a yell of "What the b-" and then sound of Spike crashing to the ground. Rarity and Twilight walked into the room to see a familiar wolf on top of Spike. The wolf got up and shock itself as if he were wet. Then it turned to Rarity and barked happily running up to her began licking her face.

"What? Wolf!" Rarity yelled. The wolf stopped and howled in delight bouncing around at something Rarity couldn't understand. But then she thought, if Wolf was here then that would mean that Spirit had to be near by. Which could mean that he could be found.

"Is that Spirit's Wolf?" Twilight asked.

"Yes it is Twilight! That means that Spirit should be around" Rarity said her excitement growing.

"How do you know that?" Spike asked in somewhat of an disbelief and annoyance.

"Since when has Spirit ever been away from Wolf here without a good reason" Rarity said. "Come on Twilight!" She screamed with renewed vigor zooming out the door with Wolf and Twilight behind her.

"Wait!" Spike yelled thinking that he should tell them what he had done.

"AAAAAAArgh" Spirit yelled in pain as the electricity jolted through his mind. He was lucky that he had a small 30 second break in between the separated torture orbs or else it would he would have died a long time ago. Spirit felt that sometimes that dying would be easier and faster then trying to wait for the best time to break out. Yet the curse insisted on keeping him alive, feeding him magical energy which kept him going. Spirit tried to think which was crueler. The torture or the idea of keeping him alive through it. Boulder Strong wouldn't let him die and Spirit knew, he would come around at least three time every 5 hours. Spirit knew that he didn't want him dead yet, it would look like he killed a random person for no reason. Spirit did wonder why he waited two days for his execution, it would be easier to just turn up the voltage or publically stab him. That would easier, efficient and wouldn't cause much of a scene, well at least one of them anyway. Spirit couldn't tell how long he had been in the cage and how long he had been tortured for because where ever they where keeping him was under a tarp that was died black and didn't let any light in. He was forced to be keep awake do to the abnormal torture, and due to both the electrical shocks and what Spirit thought to be a gravity intensifier he was extremely tired cause both made him use his physical energy to a point of exhaustion. He had found a way to pass the time however, talking to the curse. He wouldn't give his name but he had let Spirit ask question about him and answered most.

He had figured that the curse was just about three thousands years old and he has had over two hundred host. However he never like allot of the host because their body structure had already been set due to allot of them adults or old stallions and mares. This surprised Spirit because it meant that he has had hostesses. He had asked if the feeling was any different and the only thing the curse had said in return was that the experience was different due to the fact that the mare were usually slender and less muscle mass meaning that it was harder to break through things due to the lessen muscle mass. He had said that he was his favorite host yet because had become a host at such a young age meaning that he had liberty to alter his body as he growed, turning him into the large Stallion he was now. He also told Spirit about the places he had destroyed and the people he had killed. He had killed many people and strangely enough has had duel with what was the Knights of the Round. He said that he had killed three of them before they cheated in the last duel and managed to kill him. Of course, he added, the downside to that was they were now dead. The curse had a surprising amount of honor, meaning that he would listen to people before killing them and agree in to duels. To Spirit it was strange, to have a curse have its own sense of honor and sense of respect. The curse had said that has respect of some people, Knight Lancelot was one of them as was Spirit for confronting him when transformed. Spirit was drowning when he saw the guards come in.

There was more then just one, there was two unicorns and three earth ponies. They came in and surrounded the cage. Once the orb water finished, a unicorn removed the orbs and then stored them away in some sort of storage container. Then the two unicorns levitated the cage as the earth ponies made a sort of formation around it. They walked out of the tarp and Spirit saw that it was night out. Then he saw the crowd of people waiting by some sort stage as he heard the last lines of Boulder Strong's speech which ended with the obvious "Here is your beast! In a cage where he belongs! Your beast who decides to kill he who he pleases him without any remorse for what he does! Your beast! Your Lycan!"

They brought the cage with Spirit in it onto the stage and shown light upon him to show his face to everyone. So it has been two days already? Spirit thought. Huh? Might as well play along. Spirit got himself up after one or two tries, and faced the audience and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry guys" Spirit said "I didn't mean to stay here for as long as I did. And I really had no intention of killing anyone. The time some pony did see me transform was when I was hunting for some meat. You guys do know that I don't own any money and that day I didn't get a good haul so, when life gives yo lemons make some lemonade. I didn't mean to scare anyone of you and I certainly didn't meant to hurt any pony. I wanted to leave after a two days but lets just say that I found my beauty as I was the beast. I am very sorry and I say-" Spirit stopped because of a very familiar feeling. A very bad feeling. Something that he dreaded every time he felt it but now he dreaded as he realized Boulder Strong's plan and saw an important flaw within.

"RUN!"

Somethings Just Don't Change

Rarity had been horrified when she saw Spirit held up in that cage. Twilight and Rarity had been looking for Spirit everywhere for the past two days. They had searched everywhere from AppleJack's farm to the Everfree Forest. Wolf had helped out every step of the way as well trying to track his scent but something always seemed to get in the way. Rarity hadn't given up either she had gone even through the night going around looking at every corner and every alley way. She was sad to not have found him and then she was scared as the guard had called a town assembly. Well she had found him and she was distrot. He was giving a small speech before what he knew as his soon to be death. She was about to cry as she heard his small speech and mention of her as Beauty as he was the Beast. Then something changed in Spirit and she saw it, he changed from collective and almost ready for death look to a scared and almost dread of something look.

"RUN!" Spirit had yelled. Every pony started muttering to one another about what he had just said in such a tone. They seemed to be in disbelief of what was going on. Rarity also didn't understand what Spirit was getting at, he made a very sad and kind speech to be interrupted by a sudden change to fearful horror movie like quarantine thing.

"Please!" Spirit continued, "Please! If you value your life, you will run as fast as you can away from me!"

"Why should we listen to you? You just want to kill us!" said some pony. Other cheered in agreement at this and some pony threw what looked like a rock. It hit with a thud on Spirit's head but he didn't seem to care. Rarity winced as she heard it resound against his head. This seemed to only give the other ponies reason to keep bombarding him rocks.

"Please! Please run away from me! Look up if you don't believe me! If you see the-" Spirit was saying before a bottle flew in a hit him square in the mouth, stopping what he was about to say. Rarity winced again, watching him getting hurt wasn't as easy as very. Yet Spirit as still trying speak to the crowd as if they would listen to him, "Please i beg of yo-RRAARGH". He tries to say something but it was as if an animal had growled in his place of words. Rarity turned away again as this time some one had thrown another bottle but some of hit hat stuck and dug into his face. She looked up in an attempt to think of something happy. The night is so lovely tonight, Rarity thought trying to drive out what was going in. Wait the moon,Rarity began to remember what Spirit had said 'The beast kills to survive, feeding off something called ether'. Then she remembered where it came from, she turned to Twilight and said "We have to get out of here now!"

"Why? He is behind bar, there is no way he could-" Twilight was saying but then there was a loud and metallic thud and every stood silent. Another yell that turned into a loud growl, Spirit felt the magic begin to brew under the skin and within the bones. He felt the magic flatten his shoulder blades. He felt his arms growing in length, the magic breaking his hooves and turning in to claws. He felt his fur darken and his face both spread out and wide and his eyes change to view the night better. His ears grew larger and became more pointed. Pain erupted from his jaws as his normally flat teeth became sharp and pointed. The magic began to elongate his spin and he felt the muscle in his already large body grow even more and become more solid. His legs were becoming longer and thing but there was only muscle. The transformation continued for another minute as the final touches were added such as the nose and the added muscle to the tail. Once the transformation was finished, Spirit could feel his mind being pushed back into the small void were the curse lived in his mind.

Inside Spirit mind.

Spirit was being strapped in a strait jacket and being thrown into the cage he knew so well, but this time was different. This time he struggled for what he could remember as the first time ever. The curse looked at him and smiled, "You know it is my turn don't you?"

"Please. Just not these people. Please don't hurt them."

"Hurt them. Or hurt her?" The curse said, his face changing into a face that could be called the epitome of evil grins. Spirit smashed his shoulder into the side of the cage and roared with defiant anger. The curse laughed and said "Like I said. It's my turn to drive. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a show to perform."

The Real World.

The wolf was out and Rarity knew that it wouldn't stop till the sun came up. She turn to leave but a voice stopped her.

"See. Do you people see the beast that wished to kill you. Do you see its vulgarity. Does it not fill you with fear and angry and its disgustingness." Boulder Strong voice boomed over the crowd's murmurs. The Lycan, as if to add emphasize to what he said, gave long and loud howl raising his head towards the moon. Boulder Strong took a sword from one of his soldiers and said "Well people of Ponyville. I shall rid you of this menace and give you freedom of fear. With this silver blade, I shall free you." He took the sword and impaled it right through the heart of the creature. The Lycan stopped and gave a small yelp of pain and then slumped over and landed on his knees and bowed his head. There was no movement. Rarity realized that he had died. He had actually died. And the worst part was that he didn't die as himself. Rarity thought about it and realized that she would have to start living her life without his cool head. His abnormal way of complimenting people. His straight forward attitude and ability to just tell the truth and do what it take to do what's right. She started to cry, it began with the usual small sobs but then it grew to actual tears. She tried to keep them inside but they wouldn't stop. Twilight turned to her friend and said "Rarity, I'm sorry. It will be fine Rarity. Don't worry." Then there was a chuckle. Just audible enough for everyone to hear. Everyone started to turn and look from where it was coming from. Then the chuckling became a laugh, a full hearted laugh. And then the Lycan stood up and roared at the crowd. Then all hell broke loss.

Everyone began to panic and they all began running. Boulder Strong called for more soldiers to back him up but they were too scared to do anything. They had been taught about how the Lycan would react, move and fight but actually seeing it was something entirely different. The Lycan pulled his hand back and then punched the wall of the cage. The cage wall broke and there Lycan casually walked out of the cage and roared at the soldiers. They all charge but this was a vain attempt at stopping the beast and they knew it. The beast swiped once with his claws and manages to take out three guards, all of them dead before they hit the ground. The guards after before the first then began to scare and that is what the Lycan was waiting for. He immediately pounced on one soldier, ripping his jugular with his fangs, then with his claw he reach out and swiped and another two guards knocking them to the ground. Then he jumped on another soldier and clawed his face a couple of times. Then he took another soldier and threw him into a building. Them out of nowhere, Boulder Strong came up with the sword and tried to swing at the Lycan. The Lycan didn't even flinch as he grabbed the sword and broke with his hand. Then he took Boulder Strong who was in shock, and threw him as hard as possible facing the apple orchards.

On the other side of the square Rarity and Twilight were running, running away from the giant beast that could if he wanted to rip their hearts out with one claw. Rarity was very confused, so he had not died. That was a relief, but now he wanted to kill them. Well at least it was an improvement. Now she knew that he was alive they had to deal with a new problem. Spirit wasn't Spirit. Spirit's body was being used to kill other to sustain itself, trying to kill them and suck their life essence as food for himself. There was no way they could escape. He did say that Lycans could run very fast. Then Rarity heard a familiar voice.

"Twilight, Twilight" she heard. She stopped Twilight by grabbing her shoulder and asked "Where is Spike?"

"Oh Celestia I almost forgot about him in the panic. Spike!" She began calling out. A couple seconds later Spike appeared before them. Spike looked up "Twilight are you alright?" then he saw Rarity "Oh thank god you're alright Rarity. I didn't know that they would catch him so quickly. To think the soldiers saved you."

"Catch who so quickl-. Spike you found out that Spirit was the Lycan. And you told them!?"

"Well yes. He was getting close to you and he let you get captured and then I thought that he was with th-" Spike was silenced with a slap.

"We will talk about this later. Right now we need to run. Spirit isn't in there and he will kill us all."

"Actually. Rarity that why I thought of finding Twilight." Spike said slowly still holding the spot where Rarity's hoof had hit. He turned to Twilight and said "We need to try it?"

"No, Spike I haven't even tried the spell. We don't know if its permanent or not. Spike I don't think we should do it"

"But Twilight it is the only way to at least kill time before the moon goes down."

"What are you two talking about?" Rarity asked. They had ignored her however and continued "Are you sure you want to do this Spike?"

"It's the only way isn't. Lets do it." Twilight sighed, and her horn started to glow. She began to chant something that Rarity could to tell was the ancient tongue. Her eyes began to glow and her purple glow was beginning to surround Spike. Spike began to grow. Grow very large. Eventually Spike grew to the size of an ordinary house. Rarity stepped back in fear as he finally stopped growing. Rarity looked up at the giant dragon and said tentatively "Spike?" The dragon shook his head and growled "I am sorry" then he jumped off toward the place people were running from.

"Twilight what did you just do?" Rarity asked Twilight helping her up as she had collapsed. She took a couple of deep breath and then replied "An aging spell. It ages Spike around a couple decades older for a couple of minutes or so to give him control over the body he has now. It was his idea the first time we heard the Lycan was in town. I am sorry but the Lycan might die, Spirit might die. I don't think anything could survive against full grown dragon!"

"Lets hope not!" Rarity said following Spike wanting to see and if needed stop the fight. Twilight followed her trying to keep her friend safe. On the other side of the square the Lycan was killing many soldiers to which he was getting bored of.

"Why do they keep coming? Don't they know that they will die?" The curse said. His face switching from bored face to bored face. Spirit was still smashing his shoulder against the cage trying to escape, "Well what do you expect? People will always fight for something. If they believe its worth protecting then they will die to protect it." Another smash against the cage, "If your so bored how bout you go find some entertainment"

"Haha. No need. It's found me" the curse said this time with a smile. Spirit looked and saw the dragon that had appeared almost out of nowhere.

"You really goanna go against a dragon? That's insane even for you"

"Yup. But it aint my first time so, let's see if this brute even knows how to dance." The curse and smiled his 'this is going to be fun' smile.

The Lycan swatted a couple of soldiers that were in his way and ran down on all four towards the dragon. The dragon with his big size couldn't really run up to the Lycan nor could he move as much since was just entering the square. The Lycan jumped and lands heavily enough on the dragon's head to slam it down to the ground. The dragon lifted his head up and threw him into a house. The Lycan smashed into the house and almost blew out then entire wall. He gets back up and jumps up immediately as the dragon launches a fireball in the direction of the Lycan. The Lycan lands on the house and uses it to propel himself towards the dragon and overhead smashes his head. Again the dragon's head was smashed to the ground. However this time the dragon was ready, he swung his tail around and smashed it into the Lycan. The Lycan was thrown into the house across the square, he smashed the house to the ground. He got up and saw the dragon move the rest of its body into the square. Now he had room to move, it had room to kill. The Lycan roared and the dragon roared back. Then the dragon took in a deep breath.

"Oh god were goanna get roasted" Spirit said.

"Hey don't count your eggs before they hatch. And don't worry I got plan. Ever heard of the three little piggys?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I am going to blow his house down"

In the house, the Lycan also took a deep breath and looked straight at the dragons eyes. The dragon released his breath in a green jet of flames. Right before the jet of flame got the Lycan he blew the air he held in. The jet of flames were then stopped by the stream of air that was shoot out of the Lycan. The fire would not go any further yet it licked the edges of the Lycan's fur. The Lycan kept on pushing his air out with all the force he could muster keeping the fire from touching him best he could. Eventually the dragon stopped blowing and the both regained their breath. Once that was done the Lycan then ran towards the dragon and then smashed his head down with both hands. The head of the scaly beast actually managed to bounce off the ground. The for good measure the Lycan threw upper-cut the head of the dragon. Then, when the dragons head was in the air and was dazed by the smashes, the Lycan began furious clawing at the dragon's chest wildly, yet keeping it so that they all cross a specific point that all of the cuts made. The dragon recovered fast however and made a furious swipe with his clawed talons. The Lycan was smashed into another house but this time he was scared, three large cut that were around two inches deep. However the Lycan just waved his hand over the cuts which then heal crudely. He then got back up and then jumped high, landing down on the dragons head. The dragon was beginning to feel the repetitive blows to the head and it as taking its toll. The dragon this time had to take more time to recover. This was what the Lycan needed to finish him off. The Lycan then took his claw and impaled his claw into the center of all the slashes he had made. There was a breaking sound and then a sickening squelching sound. The Lycan's claw was around shoulder deep into the dragons gut. The game was over. The Lycan pulled his arm out and got reached back for another impaling blow but the spell had run out. The dragon slowly shrunk and become Spike again. The Lycan watched as the baby dragon slump on the ground.

"He was a KID!" The curse said.

"Huh. No wonder the thing looked familiar" Spirit said and resumed his banging on the cage door. He had stopped during the fight just to see the clash of two beast that cause terrible damage. Spirit smashed again and then asked "You gonna kill him?" The curse thought for a second and then acted. The Lycan moved his hand over the stab wound on the dragon and summoned the dark magic and healed him. The curse smiled and said "He might be worth a fight in the future." Then the Lycan Jumped and top of a house and howled a victory howl.

Rarity feeling a complex stew of emotions, for one she was happy that Spirit was not killed. Two she felt sad and hurt at the sight of Spike who had been defeated by the Lycan. Three she was definitely surprised that the Lycan won over the dragon. And four which was felt more now than before, fear of what was going to happen next. She had decided that now would be a good time to run and so turned and grappled Twilight by the hoof and ran. She drag her around the house and through a small alley way. There was a thud above them and heard a growl. Rarity looked up and saw the Lycan looking down at them, an evil grin on his face.

"Pickaboo! I found your new lover!" the curse said.

"NO. NO. I WILL KILL YOU!" Spirit said actually ripping the straight jacket. And begin slamming his hooves against the cage.

"Oh-ho, that's interesting. You broke through his first defense but that is not goanna stop me"

The Lycan jumped down and slowly walked towards the two mares. He sniffed the air and smelled the fear and flowing blood. He looked at the two mares wondering which one to kill first, the white had much emotion in her which would be delicious, but the purple one emotion were defined fear and sadness which to the Lyan where like tender steak with side order of mac n cheese. This was going to be a difficult decision. The Lycan just decided to kill them both. He raised his clawed hand and raised it high.

"Spirit" Rarity said in a low scared voice that dripped with fear. At that point rage blew up with Spirit. He screamed in a fight of rage and managed to break the second mental defense and smacked the curse down. Spirit took the curse and put him into the cage. Then he smashed the key hole for it to become harder to open. He then began to take control of the body. He began to transform his body back, which was harder than expecting.

"Hey Rarity. How is it going?" Spirit said halfway through transforming back to a pony. He smiled which was kinda wierd seeing as half of his face was still a Lycan.

"How is it going?" Rarity repeated in a low tone, "How is it going? HOW IS IT GOING?" she began to yell, "HOW CAN YOU ASK THAT QUESTION AT A TIME LIKE THIS? HONESTLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE ANSWER WILL BE? OH I DON'T KNOW WE WERE JUST ATTACKED BY YOUR LITTLE PET WHO MANAGED TO DESTROY CLOSE ENOUGH TO HALF THE TOWN?"

"To be fair I don't think it was half the town" Spirit manage to so say but that only seems to make Rarity only angrier.

"TO BE FAIR? TO BE FAIR? OH EXCUSE ME FOR NOT BEING FAIR! I WAS ALMOST KILLED BY A LYCAN! DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT I WOULD BE FAIR IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS!" She finished. Spirit was still fighting to stop the transformation but he knew that it would come back and he would be in control again. He stood up with one of his legs still in the Lycan transformation and his face half pony and half Lycan and said, "Look I am sorry about all of this but I am not going to be here for very long and I really don't want to give the other guy control, so please I need your help getting out of here." He smiled and looked at the white mare. He then felt a pang of the curse trying to take control of the body, he made a painful gasp of air and Rarity came to his side. He looked at her and smiled and then he looked at Twilight, "Can you do it? Can you get me out of here?"

"O-o-o-h course. Where do you want to go?" Twilight asked getting the spell ready.

"Anywhere but here" He said, his voice growing into a growl. He look at Rarity and said "I am sorry for this." He looked at Twilight and nodded, she began to chant and Spirit began to float slowly.

"Wait Spirit! I have to ask you a question" Rarity said. He smiled and said "Go on". She took a deep breath and asked "Do you love me?" Spirit smiled and said "Well, what do you think?" And he vanished.

Epilogue

Spirit walked into the orchards and pick an up from the ground and bit into it. He had been on a long journey away from Ponyville. It had been three years since he had destroyed around half of the place and no one remembered it much. Wolf barked at the barn that they were passing up on. In the past two years, Spirit had noticed the Wolf and Winona had started to see each other more often then dogs and wolves do. Spirit had decided not to mention it to him but he knew he would have to draw a line eventually. He had actually been looking forward to this return because his last couple of months was spent in a desolate part of Equestria and he missed some company. Not that Wolf was nice it was just that he missed some nice pony company. He threw the apple core away on the ground and sighing with pleasure. He missed it. He missed his home. Then a loud voice came from the barn, "Spirit, you'v got some explainin' to do!"

"Hello AppleJack, what am I going to have explain?" Spirit said in utter confusion, for one thing he expected to be greeted by the usual 'hello's and 'where did you go this time's. Not being greeted by an angry farmer. Spirit sighed and walked towards the angry mare, once he got there AppleJack grabbed his ear and dragged him towards the barn. Once inside the barn she dragged him even further into the barn till they were next to the work bench. She points downwards and says, "Explain. Now." Spirit looked down and saw Winona with a liter of puppies, with a familiar color tone and longer snots that normal. Spirit looked down at Wolf who gave Winona an affectionate lick, "Come on man, didn't I tell you to use protection?"

"Not like you used it. You got sis pregnant. Figured I cou do the same" Wolf replied indignitly. Spirit laughed. AppleJack wouldn't take any of it, "What did that darn canine say?"

"Easy lady, easy. He really didn't mean too. He told me she tempted him and- Aw who am I kidding, Wolf did it, he likes the lady, what can I say. He gave her some milk, brought the snow early, delivered his goods on time. He-"

"I don' need the details just tell me that I don' have to keep al' of 'em."

"Eh, I don't know if Rarity will allow it. I mean she might not want it with the kid around, but I'll talk to her, you will have my word tomorrow after noon." Spirit said, making it a mental note to tell Rarity about the liter. AppleJack sighed but then realized what Spirit had said "Wait, what kid? You mean Sweetie Bell Right?"

"No, she didn't tell you? She's pregnant. Almost ten months, how did you not see it?"

"SO that's why she hasn't come out in a while. You got her pregnant! Shame on you" she yelled bonking Spirit on the head. Spirit rubbed he spot on his head, "Ow, what was that for?"

"You got a good mare like Rarity pregnant without the marriage. Shame on you!" Apple said mimicking Wolf's indignation. Spirit rolled his eyes saying "I don't think marrying a high class criminal is a bad idea." The one thing that no one had forgotten, except for the residence of Ponyville. He was still a fugitive, murder is still murder even you did or someone used your body to do it. The people of the small town had seen that he wasn't a person to be feared and that he was basically like any other pony, just with a few problems. He looked down and patted Winona on the head, then he bent down further looked down to look at the pups. They all had the familiar smell to them, and they all had a dark fur some of them having blotches of brown. Spirit smiled and decided that it was time was to head home, Rarity might ripe his head off if he was late and forget her gifts. He said goodbye to AppleJack and told Wolf to get back before the sun goes down. He walked down the streets and waved to everybody who said hello. Then Big Macintosh called "Hey there Spirit, did AppleJack get to you?"

"Yeah she did, I am sorry bout Wolf. He is a dog and well, what are going to do?"

"OK thanks, oh and I was just wondering if you got the time could you help rebuild the school."

"Why what happened?"

"Well Applebloom and her friends had decided to try chemistry and managed to get their hands on some very volatile stuff and managed to blow up half the school?"

"OH ok then, figure they would try that. Well I'll see if Rarity will let me go tomorrow. See ya then!"

"Cool, see ya!" Big Macintosh said carrying a cart full of crates. Spirit sighed, he would have to talk about that with Sweetie Bell later. He knew that they used some of Perrisian Frost and Fire salts that he had given her from on of his trips. He had given it to her as one of the makeup accessories since it was used for that where it came from, but she must put some in by accident. Spirit walked up to the door and knocked on it a couple of time. The was a muffled "Coming!", then the door opens and Sweetie Bell appears, "Spirit!" she jumps up and hugs him. Spirit hugged her back, "We missed you! And Rarity is getting cranky and worried at the same time. We are all worried!" Spirit put her down, and reached into his backpack saying, "Well first let me give you something fun souvenir" he pulled out a gemmed horned skull, "This is what the people of Engonma call a Dream Replier. They believe that dreams are the gate way to knowing the answer to all the question, so this focuses your dreams to answer questions."

"Does it really work?" Sweetie Bell asked.

"Well try it out tonight. What you have to do is place your hoof on the skull close your eyes and think of the question you want answered hard, and the got to bed." Spirit gave it to her and she went off to her room, saying to herself "Maybe I can find out if Spike likes me!" Spirit over heard her and smiled. Love can be found anywhere Sweetie, just gotta find it' Spirit thought. He went upstairs and knocked on the door.

"Come in" Rarity said. Spirit opened the door and smiled at her, "Spirit, you finally returned. Where did you go this time?"

"Engonma, it's a pretty bad place, but had a great religious beliefs and items. How are you doing?"

"Oh I am fine. The little ones however is giving me trouble, they're always hungry and its making me look big. I don't like it." Rarity whined the last part. Spirit smiled and said "Come on Rarity, you look beautiful just the way you are." Rarity smiled and hugged Spirit. Spirit thought that the line would make a pretty nice song if done right. Rarity released him and felt her stomach, "Oh ho, they're is kicking! Come feel, come!" Spirit bent down and listen the soft thuds of the babies moving. Spirit then thought and realized what she had just said, "Wait. They. There are more than one."

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. I went to get a sonogram and I found out there they are two." She smiled, "You're a father of twins" Spirit fell back onto the chair, thinking about him being a father of two little foals. Wow. Rarity reached for him and held his check in her hoof, "Did you get me anything?" Spirit pulled out two little trinkets; one crown and a circlet. Both jewel encrusted and obviously for the young foals. Spirit hastily said "I didn't know what the baby would turn out to be so I just got something for the both the sex." He then pulled out a necklace gemmed with black and red pearls, each one having a different rune, "This is an extreme Mood Necklace, it will also soothe you if you get to emotional."

"Aww thank you" Rarity said. Spirit got down close and tied the necklace around her neck. Then he kissed her again. They both smiled and they hug each other. It had been three years and time will go on for them, knowing that they would be together till the end of their days, hopping, Loving, cherishing memories, creating new ones, preserving the past while creating a future.

The End.