A Hairy Problem

by BlueBastard

Rating: teen
Tags: Main 6, Lyra, Applejack, Thriller, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Comedy, Adventure, Horror, Iron Will
Length: 114053

Strange things are happening with Applejack after a mysterious wolf-like creature attacks her when she looks into the aftermath of another CMC incident.

Life in Ponyville, outside of the usual events like a parasprite invasion or a revenge-seeking, all powerful megalomaniac kicking out the town librarian, tends to be laid back and typical. Which Applejack doesn't mind. However, after the CMC cause more problems due to influence from a newcomer in town, Applejack gathers the girls to go fix what the CMC did.

But then a mysterious creature ends up attacking Applejack, and while she survives and seems fine, it isn't long before she starts acting strangely. It's up to the usual group of ponies to figure out what's going on before it's too late.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/6MrWqNZ.png[/img]
*Approved for Twilight's Library on 3/18/14*

Also has a TVTropes page

Published 2013-03-24 00:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-20 22:23:17 UTC

Ch.3: A Questionable State of Mind

Chapter 3

Applejack had slept all night after she had gone to bed early, but right on schedule she woke up around the same time as Celestia’s sun overtook Luna’s night sky. But even for an early riser like her, she couldn’t help but feel a little more energetic, as if she needed to move. Shrugging it off with the rationale it was because of her lack of activity yesterday, she descended to the kitchen to join the rest of the family for breakfast. While talking never was something the Apples did at this time of day, Applejack couldn’t help but feel the atmosphere was significantly quieter than usual.

“Applejack, dear, are you okay?” asked Granny Smith, concerned about her middle grandchild as she trotted up to the table to sit down.

“Ah’m fine, Granny,” replied AJ, her emerald eyes shifting left and right, an involuntary body motion that confessed in meaning what the mare could not in words.

“Be honest with us, sis,” said Big Mac, “Rarity showed up some time after ya went ta bed to check up on ya. She mentioned somthin’ about ya loosin’ yer temper. Ya mind explaining that?

AJ gulped. It was a rare occurrence when Big Mac said more than ten words in one breath, much less multiple sentences. When he did, that meant he intended to get a message across or was dead serious on getting an answer. She figured it was the latter.

“Alright, fine, Ah admit it. Yesterday wasn’t mah brightest moment,” the now ashamed mare said, her fur turning slightly red as she looked down at the table. Worried for Applejack’s health, Granny decided to go plate up her breakfast to make sure she could still eat. AJ gave her a small smile when the plate of food was set before her before continuing, “Ah went ta go see Sandalwood at the Spa to settle this matter about the car thing the Crusaders built.” Apple Bloom noticeably rolled her eyes at the mention of the car. While her interest in pursuing further adventures with the machine was long gone, the fact it was still being brought up annoyed her. AJ glanced over at her younger sister before resuming her tale

“Ah’m not quite sure what happened, but Ah somehow ended up with mah hooves around Sandalwood’s neck and against the wall when Rarity happened to come in.” The rest of the family was, naturally, quite shocked at the idea the normally level headed pony could get so violent as the story progressed. “Come ta think of it, Ah can’t really remember what it was that Ah was originally gonna tell her before Ah lost it beyond it bein’ related to the car” finished Applejack, looking downcast at the memory.

It was Apple Bloom who spoke up next, “But sis, why did ya even need to talk to her? She may have given mah friends and I the idea to build that thing, but she didn’t make us do it.”

“Well…Ah believe Ah wanted to confront her about the whole thing ‘cause Ah needed ta blame somepony for all the trouble. That’s usually how things end up happening around here, it’s always somepony causin’ all the trouble.”

“But it’s not her fault that you were attacked by a-“ interjected Apple Bloom, only to catch herself right before mentioning what she believed to be a touchy subject. The sudden stiffening of both Big Mac and Granny Smith told Applejack they believed the same. Giving her family a smile, she told them “It’s alright, no need ta be all careful around that subject. Apple Bloom’s right, Sandalwood wasn’t responsible for what happened in the forest, Ah’m just trying to find a scapegoat. Hopefully, Rarity might help me find a way to make it up to her.”

Feeling that she was living up to her reputation of honesty about wanting to make amends for her own mistakes, Big Mac gave Applejack a smile and a simple nod of approval. The peace settled, the family resumed the usual routine of small talk around the table. But among it all, Applejack couldn’t help but feel something was off about the food today. As if it had too much apple in it. But that was ridiculous, she’d had apples for every home meal since she was a small filly and even back then she could eat as much as Big Mac was right now. Still, the feeling was enough that the orange mare decided she might get lunch in town, something not based in apples in any way. Yeah, it wasn’t that she didn’t like apples as much anymore, she just needed a little more variety.
______________________________________________________________________________________
“Angel, you’re sure you haven’t been watching these movies without my permission?”

The white bunny, personal pet of Fluttershy, nodded his head vigorously.

His owner sighed as she looked at the crime scene. A recent new development in Equestrian technology was the condensing of movies onto a more portable form that could be played back on small boxes called “television sets” or something, Fluttershy couldn’t exactly remember. Princess Luna, still riding high on the novelty of the technological advances made in her thousand-year absence, thought the whole idea was fantastic and had multiple sets sent out to the bearers of the elements to share the glory that was moving black and white images. However, since the technology was still so new, very few movies existed on the new media form, known as “VHS tapes”. Right now, Fluttershy’s entire collection contained only three movies; The Secret Life of Trees (documentary), Flight School Musical (self-explanatory), and Ponirambo: First Blood (violent action film). Fluttershy loved the first one, and secretly liked the songs of the second, but the only reason she even had the third one was because it came with the whole set-up and she wasn’t about to return part of a gift to the princess, truthfully the rather horrifying level of violence and profanity simply wasn’t her kind of film. The problem was that recently, she’d been finding Ponirambo in the VHS player. Since she’d only tried to watch it one time and had put it back on the shelf after five minutes, she knew it wasn’t her putting the tape back in, and Angel was swearing up and down it wasn’t him, so she didn’t know what to think.

“Hmmm, maybe one of the other animals keeps putting it back in?” mused Fluttershy as she repackaged the tape and put it on a higher shelf than usual. Deciding it wasn’t really worth looking into, since while the movie may have been highly not-safe-for-watching in her opinion, it was still just a movie that couldn’t do any active harm, she walked away to go tend to the animals outside.

Once she was out the door, however, Angel let out a huge sigh of relief. Obviously, he actually had been the one who kept putting Ponriambo back in the player, a process he’d figured out when Fluttershy had left in the middle of the night a month ago to go help her orange friend and didn’t return until the middle of the next day. Personally, he thought the documentary was boring as hell because the narrator kept saying “The Larch” over and over, and the musical nearly made him throw up, but it was different with Ponirambo. To him, the movie was an instant masterpiece. The title character, a muscle bound Pegasus who could pass as Snowflake’s brother, was a no-nonsense badass who fought a one-pony war against the oppressive powers of the Changeling Empire to free all of Equestria. Angel viewed him as a role model.

Of course, what Ponirambo could do that Angel couldn’t was reach the location Fluttershy had moved the tape to. He knew he couldn’t get at it without making some kind of stairway, and if he did then it would reveal he’d been lying. But then again, Angel had already seen the whole movie five times and could replay it in his head, so maybe the tape wasn’t even necessary.

Then an even more novel idea came to him; what if instead of just watching Ponirambo and wishing to be like him, he could go be his own Ponirambo and have his own adventures? A grin emerged on the bunny’s face as the idea grew in appeal. He’d need to make his own costume and figure out how to give himself a five-O’clock shadow, but it could be done. And it would be better than anything the movie could do short of using changelings as bludgeoning weapons against other changelings.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Having spent the early morning doing the usual chores around the farm, namely applebucking and livestock feeding, Applejack went to go talk to Rarity to see if the whole ordeal with Sandalwood could be fixed. After getting her overreaction off her chest to the family, she was in brighter spirits and was optimistic. Today was the day the whole car ordeal would be put behind her, they could finally scrap the infernal thing for parts, and she could get on with her life.

Having met Rarity at her home/business of Carousel Boutique, the fashionista was more than willing to set up a luncheon at a local restaurant and invite Sandalwood so the two ponies could settle things. Soon, Applejack found herself waiting at The Bannered Mare, a recently opened establishment that straddled the line between the typical tavern offerings and high class dining, while Rarity had gone off to fetch Sandalwood. While Applejack personally wouldn’t have minded the atmosphere of a pub in lieu of an outdoor dining experience, she was following Rarity’s read on this since she needed to make a good impression.

As soon as the approaching ponies came in view of Applejack, Sandalwood understandably blanched and slowed her pace.
“Rarity, don’t tell me she’s the third guest at this little get-together,” Sandalwood said, starting to shuffle backwards slowly.
Giving the earth pony a friendly smile, Rarity assured her “Trust me on this, Sandy, she’s one of the best ponies in this town. I do believe I told you why she got a little, ahem, ‘physical’, with you last time, right?”

Sandalwood cautiously nodded. While she hadn’t suffered any lasting injuries from the previous day’s assault, she didn’t know what to expect from Applejack now.

Acknowledging the nod, Rarity continued; “Well, she’s informed me that she wants to apologize to you and make up for yesterday. You don’t need my word to trust her; she’s the Element of Honesty for a reason.”

As the duo approached, Applejack put on the best smile she could to convince Sandalwood she wasn’t in imminent danger. Sandalwood, in turn, gave a nervous smile right back. It was clear this was a situation nopony really wanted to be in.

After Rarity and Sandalwood had sat down, Applejack immediately tried to say something but was silenced by the other Earth pony. “I know what you’re going to say” spoke Sandalwood, “but I just want to let you know I understand why it happened.”

“Ya do?” asked a confused Applejack. Then it clicked and so she gave an annoyed look at Rarity, so gave her an embarrassed smile.

“I’m sorry, darling, but I felt it was only necessary she understand why or else we wouldn’t even be here right now, I’ll bet.”

“Look, Applejack,” interjected Sandalwood, “I think things just got off on the wrong hoof yesterday. You were still thinking about the safety of your sister and I admit I shouldn’t have told them about the car thing. Believe it or not, family is a big thing for me too, so don’t think I’m just saying what you want to hear.”

AJ couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. Noticing the facial expression, Sandalwood sighed; “Let me guess, Pinkie told you about those ‘human fantasies’ where Rarity here is my real mom and I’m adopted by humans or some nonsense?” At that it was Rarity’s turn to react, with rolling her eyes while Applejack nodded, prompting Sandalwood to continue; “The truth is that, while yes, I do agree with Lyra that humans existed and I have an interest in them, I don’t have some deep seated hatred of my own family to the point I want to change species, and I don’t even know where whole ‘Rarity is my mom’ thing came from. Seriously, do we even look related to you?”

“Ah can’t say that ya do,” answered Applejack. Sandalwood was about to go on again, apparently preparing to make a rant on how it was an undeserved reputation, but it was Applejack’s turn to apologize; “Ah get it, Pinkie got her facts wrong. Happens all the time. But when are ya gonna let me do the thing we’re all here for?”

“Oh, right, the apology thing, sorry”

“Anyways, Ah am truly sorry for what Ah did yesterday, there really isn’t an excuse for hurting you the way Ah did. Whatever got into me, Ah promise you it won’t happen again.”

For all her doubts, Sandalwood had to admit Rarity was right. She could tell Applejack was truly sorry, even after it had been said the spa pony didn’t blame the farmer for what happened. If there was one word Sandalwood would use to describe Applejack at that point , It would be “trust” without a doubt.

“Well, if you promise, then I guess I can let you off the hook,” said Sandalwood, the implied remaining animosity obviously nothing more than some dark humor on her part.

Rarity, not having to play the role of peacekeeper as she had secretly feared, was pleased the problem was resolved quickly. “Ah, here comes our waiter with the menus, I hope you ladies brought your appetites, I hear the food here is exquisite,” announced the unicorn. Indeed she was correct; the food was delicious. Applejack secretly happy that her own little issue with food seemed to be fulfilled by eating things not related to apples. Everything was going just fine.

Then came desert.

“I usually don’t have desert, even at the fanciest of restaurants” chatted the unicorn, “a lady must watch her shape, after all! However, I do feel I can afford to indulge myself. Either of you ponies find something you like on the desert menu?”
“Enh, the tiramisu looks alright, but I think I could go for anything right now,” commented Sandalwood “What about you Applejack?”

But while it appeared to Rarity and Sandalwood that their friend was looking at the menu, she was in fact looking slightly above the top edge at something she didn’t realize she wanted more than anything. A few yards behind Sandalwood were none other than the Cakes, out for an afternoon stroll. What was drawing Applejack’s attention; however, were the Cake Twins: Pumpkin and Pound. So young, so full of baby fat, with supple limbs, and so weak and defenseless…

“Caaaaaaake…” droned the semi-hypnotized mare, drool starting to appear at the corners of her mouth as she looked hungrily at the infant ponies.

“Uh, you okay there AJ?” inquired Sandalwood, oblivious to where the mare was staring behind her.

Snapping back into reality, and secretly horrified at what she had just been imagining, it was a stroke of luck that the desert menu happened to have a triple chocolate mousse cake option.

“Ah, uh, sorry ‘bout that, it’s just that this chocolate cake thing looks so darn good!” stated the orange mare, managing to save herself from an awkward and possibly disturbing explanation.

“Actually, you’re right, that cake does look good. I think I’ll go with that too” added Sandalwood.

“Then I guess we’ll all have the triple chocolate mousse cake, then!” exclaimed Rarity, who flagged down the waiter. “If you would be so kind, sir, we’d each like a slice of the chocolate mousse, please.”

The cake was good, Applejack was at least thankful she didn’t choose something that was against her palette lest she try to fake enjoying it. But even after making amends with Sandalwood and heading back to the farm, Applejack just could not stop thinking about how she had legitimately entertained cannibalism as a desert option - with the Cake Twins, no less!

There’s somethin’ seriously wrong with me, no doubt about it! Ah tomorrow Ah’m gonna see Twilight first thing in the mornin’!

Her goals set, the disturbed mare did her best to put those horrible thoughts out of her mind as she set back to doing her farm work. It helped, but only sleep brought any sense of peace to her mind at the end of the day, and even then she was troubled by nightmares from which she only wanted escape.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Big Mac was inert in the physical realm, but lucid in the plane of dreams. The letter he had sent through Spike had been most unusual, for it was a request for Princess Luna to meet with him in his dreams. While the story Scootaloo spoke of that involved Luna visiting her dreams during that camping trip she, her friends, and their sisters had taken to Winsome Falls was questionable, if it was true then help for Applejack could come faster than possible a few years ago.

Scootaloo’s story proved true, as he did not have to wait long. Appearing out of thin air, the Princess of the Night stepped forward to meet with the red stallion, as he had requested in his dreams. As per custom, he knelt before her in respect.
“Thou are Big Macintosh, the one who requested my presence for a matter of most importance?” asked Luna. “I do hope this is actually important and not, y’know, you wanting to ravish me. You have no idea how often that happens.”

“Yer Highness,” said Big Mac as he stood back up, “believe me when Ah say that this here matter is of the utmost importance. Yah see, mah sister Applejack-“

“Yes, I am familiar with her.”

“Ah, well, she and her friends say she got attacked by some ‘wolf-thing’ in the Everfree, and while she seems to have recovered on the outside, Ah think she still needs help on the inside.”

Luna looked incredulously at the stallion, “Then shouldn’t she go to a doctor?”

“Not that kinda problem, yer highness. Ah don’t think conventional medical help can answer why she’s havin’ those nightmares. Ah can still hear her screamin’ about them from down the hall, and Ah’m asleep and here with you!”

The princess merely smiled, “Ah, so she just needs some help in her dreams? I think I can manage that, just let me take a look.” She then vanished, leaving Big Mac alone once again. As he, sadly, expected, Luna was almost immediately back in his head with a very different expression. One of horror, shock, and revulsion.

“By my sister’s beard, what is happening to her?!” exclaimed the Princess, “This is a matter most serious, but for the life of me I cannot fathom what is wrong beyond it being a very powerful dark magic!”

Now Big Mac was concerned, if the Princess of the Night didn’t know what was going on, then perhaps it was already too late for his sister. “Princess Luna, back when you and yer sister were still livin’ in those ruins in the Everfree Forest, were there any ‘special’ kinda wolves besides Timberwolves around in those days?”

Luna had to think for a moment. Even though those memories would be much more recent for her than for Celestia, one thousand years of isolation and sharing a body with Nightmare Moon does funny things to one’s memories. “Now that you mention it, there were some odd wolves that I saw lurking around in the surrounding forest, but always from a distance, never up close. Celestia tended to rebuff my questions about them, too, come to think of it,” her brow furrowing at another memory of being treated as a kid sister by Celestia in the old days. It hadn’t ended well for anypony.

Big Mac only frowned, but his true feelings remained hidden. He knew Celestia knew, after all she’d been present during the aftermath of what happened to his parents. Applejack and Apple Bloom wouldn’t remember, AJ was barely four and the youngest sister was only a foal, still at the hospital natal care area. He tended to avoid Celestia when he had to as a result, hence his absence from the Summer Sun Festival that the farm had catered. But if it was happening again, then there was no choice.

“Princess, could yah perhaps bring yer sister in here as well?”

At that question Luna had to take a step back. “Wha? Why do you want Celestia in here? I mean, I could bridge dreams since she’s asleep, but it would be far easier to-“

“No. Ah can’t really explain why, but if what Ah suspect is true, then none of us can be wastin’ time for comfort while Applejack…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, the mere thought that it was happening again was enough for him to start tearing up.

Deciding that Big Mac wouldn’t accept any alternatives, Luna vanished to go visit her sister’s dreams. It took a long time from Big Mac’s perspective, when it was really just five minutes in real time, but eventually both Luna and Celestia managed to both enter his mind.

“Hello, Big Macintosh,” greeted the sun alicorn.

“Yer highness,” he answered back, bowing once again but quickly getting back up, “Ah believe Ah don’t need to explain the situation.”

Luna, who at this point was getting a little miffed at being left in the dark about this, demanded ,“I have to disagree, somepony is going to tell me what’s going on in Applejack’s head or I’ll-“

“Luna!” The sun princess snapped at her sister. This was a rare occurrence after Luna’s return, but like Big Mac actually holding conversations longer than a minute, when it happened there was something serious going on. Her sister silenced, Celestia sighed before continuing; “I apologize for not letting you know sooner, but what we’re dealing with is no normal dark magic.” Turning to Big Mac, she asked in an annoyed tone “I also believe that when news of this incident was given to me that the assailant was a Timberwolf. That is no longer the case, is it?”

The stallion shook his head. “No, yer majesty, Ah don’t believe that was a timberwolf that hurt my sister. Ah…Ah think…” Once again he couldn’t finish the sentence, but now the waterworks were starting. Walking over to embrace the emotional pony with a wing, Celestia could only hope this didn’t end the same way it did for the Apples so long ago.

On the other hand, Luna’s eye was visibly twitching. She was trying so hard not to break out the Royal Canterlot Voice, namely because nopony was telling her what the buck was wrong with Applejack and so Luna could not do anything to help. What made it especially maddening is that Luna had undergone something similar, more or less, when she was corrupted into Nightmare Moon, and for one of the ponies who had saved her from that fate only to possibly befall it herself…

Her mouth opened and was about to let the RCV fly, when Celestia gave her a sad look that she not dare blast with vocal energy. “Luna…I think it’s time I told you about werewolves.”

Author's Note

Big Mac sure is talkative all of a sudden, isn't he?

Ch.4: Dreams of Days Gone By

Chapter 4: “Dreams of Days Gone By”

“Werewolves,” asked the lunar monarch, “are you telling me they actually exist?” Her skepticism was understandable; she had not heard of such beasts until after she had returned from the moon. The only time she’d even heard the term was when she had asked Scootaloo what her costume was during that one Nightmare Night some time ago.

“I’m afraid so, Luna. I thought the last one of them had been destroyed about a decade ago, but if what is happening here is true then I fear he may still be out there.”

“Sister, could you please stop dancing around the issue and tell me what I want to know so we can stop wasting time?”

“Right, sorry, it’s just that…you’ll understand once I’ve explained it.” A reassuring nod from Big Mac prompted Celestia to proceed with what had to be said; “It all started way back before you first took over the duty as matriarch of the night…”
____________________________________________________________________________
“No no no no no!” repeated a very irate Celestia to an upstart coronet, “We knowest not what thy betters saw in thee to put thee in such a lofty position within the guard, but even thou wilst see the folly in such a request!"

“But your majesty, doth thou not ken such benefits of a proposition?” asked the other pony. Sable Loam, a coronet of the Royal Equestrian Guard, was not a very approachable individual. A coat of dark brown and his mane a two-tone mix of almost black green colors, he’d been allowed to join the guard even though he didn’t really pass the candidate evaluation simply because his colors made for good camouflage; more so than a typical invisibility spell, his colors earned him a place as a military scout. But his cutie mark, a red wolf’s paw, was what really made him dangerous. His special talent was hunting. There was no game he couldn’t catch, no prey that could escape him. Some called him “the wolf in a pony’s coat,” and right now Celestia was sure that had gone to his head.

“What, changing the standing force of able-bodied stallions into a force of vicious beasts? The guard does not exist for thou to live out thy delusions of being a true wolf, soldier, and it is Our belief that thy betters would know the same.”

“I would doubt as such. Thy claim to the throne is only superior because thou art blessed with both wings and horn. Thou hast yet to prove thyself as much a leader as thine mother, who preferred to rule by her tai-“

“KNOW THY PLACE, SOLDIER!” bellowed Celestia in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “Thy shall not speak ill of your former ruler and Our mother. Was it not she who reunited the scattered pony tribes of wing, horn, and earth back under one crown? Who turned Equestria from a loose confederation of races into the strong realm it is today? Who guaranteed all who live within its borders would find harmony while even now the rest of this world squabbles over petty trifles?”

Sable tried to come up with a response, but failed. All he could manage was a growl as he gritted his teeth, looking up at the princess he was forced to be ruled by. She did not understand. Her mother had been a good ruler, yes, but she had failed to implement the most essential policies that would have made Equestria into a true power, to dominate over all the other, inferior races save the wolf itself, for none could top the hunter. But what made the hunter strong was that it lived and died by the belief of only the strong surviving to see tomorrow. The former queen and now the current princess would not, could not, see past the foolish idea that all are born equal as well as refusing to recognize all life must earn the right to live from the moment of birth. I must be the one to set things right, thought Sable, this pretender to the throne must be remov-

Unfortunately for Sable, one of the last things Celestia’s mother had taught her was to detect the tell-tale signs of somebody who wanted to cause her harm, to betray her, and Sable subconsciously was showing all of the warning signs.

“Thou imaginest that We are a feeble ruler, that thee shall claim the throne by violence?” intoned the pink-maned princess. The startled reaction from the now-treasonous soldier brought a small smile to her face. Thy will is known, to your misfortune, thought the princess, before she decided to show off a little to put this peon back in line. Proceeding to stand to her full height, which was about half a head taller than the fully grown Sable even though she was but a child in alicorn lifespans. She unfurled her wings, her horn bursting into color as she intimidated the lesser pony into a cowling position before her. Boosted by the RCV, she boomed “Thy art but a pitiable foal! A hunter you may be, but the only joy you get from it is the feeling of power, of submitting the weak to your total control! But it is We who are hold potency, and thee weakness! Cease these ludicrous ideas of impressing your so called ‘ideals’ of the wolf upon both pony and the Crown, or We shall do it for you!”

The radiant light ended as Celestia resumed her original sitting position, like nothing happened. Sable, reduced to a shriveling mess below her, cast an angry glare at her, as if actually daring her to carry out her words. But soon enough he simply stood up, glared at her, and then proceeded to exit through the stairs opposite the throne.
______________________________________________________________________________
“…I found out the next day that Sable Loam and about an entire centuria of ponies had all gone AWOL, as if in protest to my will. They would make their way up to the frozen north, where the renegade self-proclaimed “King” Sombra would recruit them, promising a chance to storm the Everfree and claim Equestria for themselves. To better ensure their loyalty, he gave them gifts only he could provide through his dark magic. Because they all in one way or another wanted to live like their perceived idol the wolf, Sombra ‘granted’ them with the ability to turn into a monstrous fusion of both wolf and pony. They were the first werewolves.”

Luna could only stand there in shock. This had all happened when she was but a filly, no, a yearling! She’d originally figured that because Celestia had been so young, their mother had set up some kind of stand-in rulership until she could rule properly. Celly had never mentioned anything about having to fill the role of full leadership during her teenage years and while Luna did not doubt she was as able then as she still was now, the thought didn’t escape Luna that had she understood her sister more back then, then Nightmare Moon never would have come about. Still, that was in the past, but apparently not werewolves.

Big Mac, for his part, was as expressionless as usual after he’d wiped the tears away. Luna figured he’d heard this all before, since he seemed a great deal knowledgeable about the signs of Applejack’s condition to begin with.

Sensing her sister’s wish for her to continue, Celestia resumed her story. “As it would turn out, Sombra would never leave the north to threaten Equestria. He spent most of his time building up what we know today as the Crystal Empire. The werewolves served as his elite enforcers and overseers, their brutality and their fearsome, unnatural wolf forms keeping the enslaved crystal ponies working themselves to death. Eventually, you and I grew up and we declared war on the Empire to free the ponies, Sombra not really standing a chance against the Royal Guard with his stagnated armies. I don’t need to go into details about the immediate results, obviously, but even with that many soldiers I’m sure the majority of the werewolves got away, finally retreating back to their true homeland. However, some of them finally realized what Sombra had done to them, as they had become not ideal soldiers but monsters. In a cruel twist of fate, the forms they had wished to shed and to wear became reversed, the annoyance of having to turn back into a pony now having become the fear of becoming what they had once wanted.”

“How do you know all this, sister?” asked Luna, surprised at how in-depth Celestia was familiar with what should have been at best fleeting knowledge.

“Some of them came back to atone for being traitors. After seeing the…things…they had become, I had to pardon those who sought redemption on the spot, as their punishment would be the curse they themselves had brought upon themselves, forced to live isolated lives in the fear of hurting others in their transformed states. However, many of the surviving werewolves did not return, leading to the ancient legends of ponies who were cursed with having to become violent night stalkers, terrorizing towns across the nation.”

“Wasn’t there something about my moon being involved?” interrupted Luna, remembering the one detail about the whole thing that she suspected was totally wrong, “like, they only turn if the moon is full?”

Celestia chuckled, but it was a sad chuckle, traces of regrettable memories in it. “Well, Luna, it was around the first reports of isolated werewolf attacks that you had your, um, ‘incident,’ and became Nightmare Moon. The werewolves went unchecked as the nation suffered ponies who were taking up the cause of, oh, what was it you called your little revolution, the ‘New Lunar Republic’ or some silly nonsense like that. Anyway, I ended up inventing the whole ‘full moon’ connection to try and alienate your psychotic fanbase. I suspect many of the wolves joined up in your armies and would perish bearing your flag in that civil war that broke out, as reports of werewolf attacks pretty much disappeared once your thousand-year stay on the moon had begun.”

Big Mac suddenly spoke up, a look of terror on his face. “Ah ya saying that werewolves don’t need to wait fer the full moon to turn inta monsters?”

Celestia nodded. “I think they have to transform at least once a month, but otherwise it’s a completely voluntary process that can happen at any time, day or night. Unless the afflicted doesn’t know about their condition, or is mentally unstable, then they may not even have control over it. This, come to think of it, probably explains a lot of those attacks seemingly being random and sometimes even during the day, if I remember the reports correctly.”

Then Luna had to ask what was most likely the most heart-wrenching question possible. “Is there not a cure for this?”

Big Mac immediately turned his head away; he really just didn’t want to have to answer that. Celestia couldn’t help but pity him, after what happened with the Apple parents ten years ago and now one of his sisters, it had to be taking a toll on him. Luna merely kept quiet as she waited for an answer.

It was a tense silent moment before Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but to her surprise Big Mac suddenly turned back around, holding back the emotion as he sputtered out; “What ya do is…ya don’t get bit…’cause if…’cause if ya do…the only way out is…is ta die”.

At that point the mighty stallion, the one who had been holding up the family for so long, began to weep for the tragic secret he and Granny had kept away from the younger Apples for so long. Celestia trotted over and embraced the sobbing Big Mac, shedding a tear or two herself.

It didn’t need to be voiced, she already knew, but Luna needed confirmation from Celestia; “Sis…how long ago was the most ‘recent’ werewolf attack, before Applejack was hurt?”

Without turning to face her sister, still comforting Big Mac, spoke the truth; “Ten years ago. The first one in hundreds of years. I’d thought they’d all died out three hundred years after your banishment, but somehow the curse survived, going from host to host in an endless cycle. The victims were…Appleseed and Cornflower…” The mere mention of the names made Big Mac only cry harder into the side of his ruler, letting out all the emotion of not being able to properly mourn the loss and be honest with his siblings about how they would never truly know their parents. A knife in the back only driven in further when he’d learned his sister was the Element of Honesty, and all he could do was lie to her behind his stoic face.

Luna didn’t really want to ask, but she felt the need to know even more; “Oh…but, wait…was it the actual attack that killed them, or…”

“No. They survived the attack, but they had bite marks all over. I remember being so angry about it and not being able to do anything to save them from their fate, I tried to locate where this ancient horror had come from in the Everfree, and when I was sure I’d found the abomination I…removed the issue… by making a crater several acres wide with the biggest magic spell I had at my disposal. If I couldn’t save an innocent couple, then I was going to avenge them. But, even that doesn’t appear to have ended the curse…” The emotion buried in Celestia about the matter was concealed behind her motherly appearance, being strong for the stallion that had no choice but to be strong for so long.

But surprisingly, Luna brightened up a bit at that response. “Sister, what if there’s still hope? What if we can still save Applejack?”

“Luna, didn’t you hear? There is no way to save her. Try to help her live a normal life now is the only-“

“What about the Elements of Harmony?”

That got Celestia’s attention. While the Elements had been useless after banishing Nightmare Moon, they were once again empowered with the spirits of six friends who embodied the virtues of Harmony. Furthermore, if they could cleanse Luna of the corruptive Nightmare Moon, who had taken over both Luna’s body and soul, then this werewolf thing which should only have been lingering dark magic wouldn’t stand a chance. She simply didn’t know for sure, but it was the best option in regards to Applejack’s continued well-being.

“Well then, I guess we have some work to do, don’t we Luna?” said Celestia, her spirits lifted as the outlook for Applejack improved in her head. “But that still leaves the question of what to do about the poor girl in the meantime.”

“Wh-what do ya mean, yer majesty? Ah thought that you just kept the elements in some box locked behind a magic door, that’s what AJ said after that whole Discord thing,” inquired Big Mac, also empowered by the prospect of saving his sister from the same grim fate as their parents.

Luna rolled her eyes. “Well, after the whole ‘Discord thing’, Celly decided to put up tougher defenses so somepony powerful enough can’t just swipe them from right under her muzzle like last time” ending with a sly wink towards her elder sister, who just nickered in annoyance.

Celestia did have to admit that maybe locking the elements in a triple lock box with an added magical seal, then tying it to a cord tied to racks upon racks of magically imbued crossbows inside the southernmost castle tower that, upon any interaction with not coming from Celestia or Twilight Sparkle, would set off the crossbows and blow up the whole tower, might have been slightly overkill now that Discord was back in stone.

“Okay, so getting the elements out of my ultimate death trap might take a day or two…”
Big Mac wasn’t happy to hear that; “Ya mean mah sister has to go through this pain for possibly two more days?!”

A sad look from Celestia was enough to show Big Mac she was just as unhappy about it as he was, “I’m sorry, Big Macintosh, I’ll try to get them out as fast as I can, but in the meantime it’s up to you to make sure she stays safe. Oh, and most importantly; do not inform her or anypony else about what we have discussed here or plan to do until I let you know otherwise”

It was going to be a hard order to follow, while Big Mac was not the Element of Honesty himself, the Apples were known to be trustworthy, and they also had a keen sense of when others weren’t being as truthful. But as it was now both his duty as a brother and an order from his princess, Big Mac could not let anypony down now, “Ah will do mah best, yer highness, both as yer subject, and as Applejack’s bruther!”

Celestia gave the red pony a warm smile, “She’s a lucky pony to have you watching out for her, Big Mac. Keep her safe.” And with that, she and Luna disappeared from Big Mac’s dreams. The whole thing had seemed like it had taken an eternity, but in reality had just taken an hour.

That being said, Big Mac was still uneasy. He found himself waking up to the sound of…nothing. He could have sworn he could have heard his sister making all kinds of noises during the dream talk with the princesses, but now he heard nothing.

Taking slow, careful steps, the large pony walked towards the door at the end of the hall, taking care not to wake up Apple Bloom as he passed by her door. Somehow, she’d slept through the screaming, but then again she was just still a filly, and they slept like rocks. Still, Big Mac thought, better safe than sorry.

At last, he reached the door, and mustering up all his courage, slowly pushed it open.
His heart racing with every creak the door made, he couldn’t recall a time when he’d been more scared. But it wasn’t for the monster he thought might be in the room; it was for the monster who was also his beloved sister that was in the room. The door now open fully, Big Mac cringed at what he saw.

His sister was curled up in the blankets and turned away from the door. All he could see was a vague outline of her shape. Well, at least she’s still shaped like a pony thought Big Mac, taking small pleasures where he could in the face of what might be under there. Creeping closer, he slowly extended a hoof to uncover the blankets and…

No, Ah can’t do it. She needs the sleep, ‘an Ah don’t ‘ave an excuse for bein’ here. Oh, princesses, please let her be alright…

Although Big Mac would never know it, Applejack had finally settled down into sleep and for possibly the first time since her problems started was at peace. A fragile, temporary peace, but it was still something. Big Mac gave the sleeping form of his sister one last look before exiting and closing the door.

“Watcha dooin?”

Big Mac damn near jumped out of his skin before looking to find the source of the voice. Apple Bloom looked up at him.

Okay, he thought, maybe they don’t sleep like rocks. Now how in the hay am I gonna explain this to the one other pony who doesn’t need to know the family history involving evil curses…
_____________________________________________________________________________
“Luna, one more question before I’ll let you out of my head,” said Celestia, the two alicorns having spent some more discussion about the situation away from Big Macintosh, this time in a more attractive setting of the Haywood Tower Hotel penthouse balcony, as Celestia remembered it in her dreams.

“Shoot.”

“Why did you even answer that letter Big Mac sent you? Last I checked these things never end well since every other time the ponies have wanted to-“

“Yeah, I know, but I didn’t really have anything better to do, now did I sister?”

Celestia could only look at her sister slightly slack jawed, unable to come up with a logical comeback. Victorious, the younger of the pair got up and kissed the older on the cheek.
“Now I actually have to do my job now, so have sweet dreams sister, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Princess Luna then turned and entered the elevator, which transported her directly to the dreamlands, leaving Celestia still trying to comprehend Luna’s reasoning.

Ch.5: Monadology

Chapter 5: “Monadology”

It was a new day in Equestria as Celestia’s sun rose in the sky and Luna’s moon went below the horizon. Birds were chirping and the weather team had ensured there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect day that the residents of Ponyville woke up to.

Applejack herself, despite the nightmares she’d been subjected to, woke up feeling just fine. She practically jumped out of bed as she quickly tidied up her hair and went to have breakfast with the family.

“Mornin’, everypony!” greeted her family as they gathered in the kitchen.

“Mornin’ Applejack. Did ya sleep alright last night?” Granny inquired. “You were a-howlin’ and a shoutin’ a lot, like you were havin’ some kinda horrific nightmare or somethin’.” Big Mac stiffened for a second at the mention of “nightmare” after his own dream experience, but nopony noticed.

“Can’t say that Ah did, Granny,” replied the puzzled pony. While Applejack was sure that she’d had some kinda dream last night, none of the details were coming to mind and she certainly didn’t remember having trouble sleeping. “If Ah was makin’ a racket, though, Ah hope it didn’t keep any of ya’ll up last night.”

The family talk broke down into trivial discussion at that point as Apple Bloom helped serve up the table. Topics of all sorts came and went: the price of corn seed, Apple Bloom’s school play that night, what record Rainbow Dash would try to break this week, etc. But hidden under the small talk was Applejack noticing that, despite what she had believed yesterday, eating a meal with no apples in it did not make this meal taste as good as she thought it should. In fact, it was slightly blander tasting than yesterday.

Definitely need to talk to Twilight today,Applejack reminded herself. This can’t keep going on or else Ah may never recognize mahself at the end of this.
______________________________________________________________________________
After breakfast, Applejack went back upstairs to the bathroom to begin the usual ritual of personal cleanliness: a quick shower to refresh one’s self, then brushing the teeth and finally fixing up the mane. That’s what Rarity would think of this, thought Applejack while in the shower. The cascading water felt good on her as she soaped up and worked at her fur until it shone a brilliant orange. Normally AJ wouldn’t bother going the extra mile and just settled for clean, but she was going into town and her coat did need a thorough scrubbing anyway.

Turning off the flow of water, the mare stepped out of the shower to towel off before proceeding to brush her teeth. That’s when she saw them. Normally, pony teeth were almost flush with each other on top, as while they were theoretically omnivores their biology and teeth structure suggested they were much more suited to a fully-vegetarian diet. But what Applejack noticed was that some of her forward teeth had slightly changed to be more fang like,. Running her hoof over one of them and judging it to be real, she was confused as to what that could mean. Not like Ah don’t have enough issues at this point, thought Applejack as she proceeded to brush her teeth, just one more thing to ask Twi.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Hold on, hold on!” shouted an exasperated Twilight Sparkle as she dug through a massive pile of books marked “Twilight Sparkle’s Personal To-Read Pile”. Rainbow Dash had come in and asked for the latest book in the Daring Do series, having finished the last one at a rate almost rivaling Twilight herself.

Well, if she’s the fastest in Equestria, I guess she wants it to apply to books as well, mused the unicorn as she dug deeper into the mountain of paper and words she’d built. Finally, she found the book the impatient pegasus wanted so badly.

“Yes!” exclaimed Rainbow as she flew over to help pull out her friend of the book fortress. Taking the book, she read off the title: “Daring Do and the Philosopher’s Legacy. Interesting. I hope it’s better than the last one.”

Sparkle just rolled her eyes at the comment. The previous book, Daring Do and the Crystal Saddle, had fallen well below the standard quality, and the rabid fangirl Rainbow Dash was still going on about it.

“I mean, come on! The “Turians” as some kind of forerunner race of aliens that created the early pony civilizations, what a joke! You agree with me, right Twilight?”

“Actually, I thought the ideas of challenging the notion our princesses are the most powerful beings on Earth was quite interesting. The execution, though? It...left much to be desired.”

Ever ready to argue -- or rather “discuss” it, to put it in Twilight Sparkle terms -- the finer points of the Daring Do universe, Rainbow was trying to come up with a reply when there was a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” shouted Spike, who found a strangely nervous Applejack on the other side.

“Hey, Twilight?” inquired the earth pony, “Ah need to talk to ya.”

“Oh, what about?” answered the lavender intellectual, always ready to help a friend.

“It’s…sorta about a private matter…”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, “Whoa there, you’re not saying that you’ve got the hots for Twilight, are you?” The pegasus was well aware of Applejack’s sexual orientation being as straight as a ruler’s edge, but the opportunity to rib her athletic rival was too good to pass up.

Applejack’s face immediately turned a shade of red-orange, the blush mixing with her natural coat, “Rainbow! Ya know Ah’m not like that! This is totally different. Ah think Ah need some psychological advice!”

At that the pegasus stopped snickering as her eyes went wide. She was not a fan of Twilight’s “psychological help” after the last time when the unicorn was convinced some minor argument between Dash and another pegasus named Cloud Kicker was born out of unresolved sexual tension due to a bloody catfight that somehow rendered Rainbow unable to have kids. To this day Rainbow didn’t know if the unicorn had been crazy or a genius with that blatantly incorrect statement, as it immediately killed the argument over a five-bit bet Rainbow technically still owed Cloudy. But the bottom line was that this was something to clearly stay out of.

“So, um, yeah…” began Rainbow, “this book is due back at the end of next month, right?”

“That’s correct. Also, don’t be late like you were two months ago, I had to raise late fees and even though you’re my friend I can’t exempt-“

“Yeahthatsgreatnicetalkingtoyougottagookaythanksbye!” was all that Twilight heard as
Rainbow Dash shot out of the library like a bat out of Tartarus before the librarian was even done talking.

“Huh, I wonder what that was all about?” Twilight mused before adding, “Oh, I know, she just wanted to give you some space since you said this is kind of private.”

“Uh, Ah guess so,” replied Applejack, amazed Twilight didn’t remember why Rainbow Dash had a problem with her psychotherapy. Frankly, Applejack didn’t trust it that much either, but it was better than-

“Actually, before we start, let me get some psychology books for reference!” Twilight suddenly said, diving back into the giant pile of books behind her.

On second thought, Applejack mentally lamented, maybe Ah should have gone to somepony other than Twilight…
_____________________________________________________________________________

“Remind me again why you thought this was a good idea, Celestia?”

“Well, at the time it seemed like a good idea. I might have partied a little too hard in celebration of Discord’s re-imprisonment.”

“Are you saying that you actually consumed enough alcohol that it affected your thinking?”

“That is not something you need to know, Luna.”

“Oh, are you going to now say that you’re also pregnant with some random subject’s foal and you don’t know who the father is?”

“Okay, I may have gotten a little drunk, but I’d think by now I’d be showing signs if I was pregnant because of that party, which I almost certainly am not! Plus, as the princess who has ruled over this land for over a thousand years I think I’m allowed to cut loose every century or so at least!”

“Oh, what would the populace think if you actually did have a foal? Blueblood would be furious, especially since I bet he’s been after the throne for years.”

“You have no idea, sister. To be perfectly honest, having a foal just to make sure there’s another heir to the throne in order to aggravate him would be so worth the trouble. But then again, there’s Cadance for that.”

“But I thought that Twilight-“

“I told you Luna, she’s not ready for the book yet. Besides, she needs the Elements for that, and right now that’s our main concern.”

“Right. So, er, how are we getting out of this again?”

The two princesses had somehow managed to make a bad situation worse. The easy part was getting to the hanging box, and removing the locks once they’d secured it on solid ground. The hard part was removing it from the string without setting off the crossbows and blowing the tower to smithereens. Right now, they’d managed to stop the tower from getting blown up, but at the same time now had tethered crossbow lines tying them in a giant ball hanging off of the box containing the Elements.

“Hold on,” Celestia grunted, horn shining with a yellow aura. “Almost got it…there!”

There was a blinding flash of light, which seemed to linger for a few seconds. Then the princesses found themselves on the solid ledge where they’d started the misadventure three hours ago. The entire room had reset thanks to a failsafe spell Celestia had put in for just the occasion. She hadn’t planned on the whole set up being this hard to defuse, however.

“Time to try again, huh?” asked Luna, the hesitancy in her voice clear.

“We don’t have much of a choice. I guess this time we should-“ Celestia began, but was cut off by the door opening and a royal messenger appearing from behind it.

“Your majesties, the emissary from Draconia is here and waiting for you.”

“Thank you, Quick Wind,” said Celestia, giving him a warm smile that hid her current animosity towards her creation in the room. “Tell him Luna and I will be right down to see to him; we’re just finishing up our business here.”

“Yes, your highness,” replied Quick as he left. The moment he did, Celestia dropped the smile and facehoofed. She did not like the Draconian emissary, for he was a fat and pompous boor who thought he was better than ponies - especially the princesses, even though they controlled the orbit of the sun and moon and pretty much ensured the planet was still habitable for anything bigger than a cockroach.

“I wonder if I could negotiate with the dragons for the ability to kill their emissary. I doubt he would be missed,” mused Celestia.

“Then they’ll just send another exactly like him, if not worse. You know what the dragons think of us, sister.” Luna flatly replied.

Mock sighing, Celestia resigned herself to having to deal with politics instead of trying to prevent the potential outbreak of an evil curse which had formerly been sleeping for a thousand years. “I guess you’re right, Luna. We’ll try this again tomorrow. “

She turned to leave her deathtrap room, Luna following suit while asking, “By the way, Celly, is there more to Twilight supposedly being able to become a crown princess beyond her unrivaled magic ability?”

Celestia was about to reply with the true answer, but decided to have a little more fun with Luna instead. “Oh, yes,” she started, the tiniest bit of a grin starting to appear on her face, “she’s actually an extremely distant relative of the alicorn blood line, which is why she’s so powerful. Much more powerful than your daughter Trixie.”

“Oh, I guess that-what?!” Luna exclaimed, “You’re lying, I don’t have a daughter! I’ve been on the moon for a thousand years, how in the hay could I-“

Celestia was doing everything she could to not burst out laughing. This annoyed Luna. Slipping back into her old RCV dialect, she bellowed “Thou shall admit We do not have such a child! How could We even conceive of a foaling in a place where there are no males?! And furthermore, We would feel it would be Our duty as the younger princess to have Our elder sister meet such a suitable male that--”

The explanation having reached ludicrous levels, instead of answering, Celestia decided to just start running away, finally letting the floodgates of laughter spew from her mouth.

“Celestiaaaaaa!” cried out Luna as she gave chase. For all their years and differences, even now the royal sisters acted as little more than foals with the entire castle as their playground. Some would call it a blatant display of immaturity and that they were ill-suited to be co-rulers of the country. But in reality it was just two sisters having fun behind the scenes of the dreariness that was their political lives.
______________________________________________________________________________

It was already getting late when Applejack finally managed to escape the mental asylum that was Golden Oaks Library. Although Twilight truly wanted to help Applejack, she had tended to stick to her books a little too much in trying to diagnose what was going on with her friend. As a result, countless hours had been wasted by Twilight conducting tests that generated completely useless results.

But what was worse is that another strange behavior had made itself known to Applejack during the whole ordeal. Twilight, being too engrossed in her books, hadn’t noticed, but Applejack was understandably disturbed when she discovered she’d been trying to use her hind legs to scratch like a dog. Sure, ponies did it sometimes, but not almost exclusively. She desperately needed help, but the problem was she didn’t know who to go talk to. Nopony would listen to her if she outright stated she was having cannibalistic thoughts, her teeth were physically changing, and now she was acting like a dog.

Oh, hey, Screw Loose, guess what! There’s somebody who is just like you and she’s gonna be your new roommate! I’m sure you’ll be the best of friends! thought Applejack in a mocking impersonation of a psychiatric doctor. AJ meant no offense to the poor mare, but there was a difference between thinking you’re a dog and actually acting like one.

The various thoughts in Applejack’s head kept on going around and around as she desperately tried to fit the puzzle pieces together. But to her, it felt like every single piece was coming from a different puzzle, nothing was fitting together and no clear picture could be made. As Applejack was deeply embroiled in her thoughts, she absent mindedly took the wrong fork in the road and was heading towards a section of Ponyville she usually avoided.

The reason she tended to avoid that part of town was its main attraction: a restaurant called “The Meatery”. Even though Ponyville was still a small town compared to cities like Fillydelphia and Manehattan, its centralized location and close proximity to Canterlot on the rail lines made it a hotspot for other, visiting species to come and go through. In response to this open market of hungry carnivores, The Meatery opened up on the far side of town to cater to that underserved clientele. While half the menu was vegetarian fare in order to serve the majority of its customers, it was the famed "Pack Room,” the separate portion of the restaurant that catered to carnivores and omnivores, that won the restaurant accolades and sobriquets from far and wide, becoming a regional attraction in its own right. Applejack, who was for the most part a natural vegetarian like all ponies, had never visited the restaurant.

However, the fact she had now entered it didn’t seem to register, her mind already too preoccupied with her own problems. She also didn’t react to the greeter’s reaction when she wandered past him, seating herself in the nearest empty booth in the Pack Room, which was very sparse of any ponies inside it save for two; a pegasus who looked like a royal guard soldier on break and one of Luna’s night guards. There was also a griffon there as well, her highlights black and there was also this weird scar that she had. As the server left to go put in her order Applejack turned her head away from the odd trio to try and resume thinking about her own problems. Oddly, she couldn’t take her mind off of something Twilight had mentioned during the “tests” she’d been performing; something about a legend of mythical monsters she’d heard about. Werewolves, ponies who had been cursed by an evil force to take the form of a wolf-like monster during the full moon, whereupon they would terrorize the local settlements. The whole reason she’d brought it up is because the answer to what had bitten Applejack exactly was still up for debate, to which AJ was skeptical as Twilight had even said the last reported werewolf attack was over a century ago, and even that was theoretical.

She thanked the server who had brought her the burger she had ordered, although really her mind was trying to rationalize what was happening to her. She definitely knew her violent anger was a part of it, since she’d intended to talk to Sandalwood even before going into the woods but only after getting attacked at the car crash site did she harbor any feelings of violence and wow this burger was good and then there was the whole wanting to eat the Cake Twins thing which applejack still didn’t understand at all as it had no basis in anything and then while she took another bite of the delicious meat burger she pondered more about what was going on with her between the weird teeth growth and the dog scratching and the openly eating an incredibly amazing meat burger right now and-

The out of control train of thought in Applejack’s head came to a screeching halt as she replayed that last thought. Openly eating a meat burger?

She looked down at the…thing…in her hooves. It was a BLT burger, one of The Meatery’s more famous options.

And it was half eaten.

By her.

She freaked.
______________________________________________________________________________
“Thank you so much, um…” Granny Smith started.

“Private Angel Beats, m’am!” replied the guardspony cheerfully.

“Ah, yes, thank you Miss Beats!”

“Only doing my duty, ma’am!”

The guardspony then turned around and trotted over to where the griffon and the other guardspony were waiting. It was thanks to them that the scene Applejack ended up making at The Meatery wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. While details were not provided, Granny had noticed the griffon still pulling out strands of spaghetti noodle from her feathers, although from that the old mare didn’t know what to make of what really happened with her granddaughter outside of it involving a hamburger of some sort she’d half-eaten without realizing it.

She watched the unusual trio go down the road, back towards the town where they were staying. When they were sufficiently out of sight she turned and headed back inside. Big Mac was waiting at the foot of the steps. He’d taken his sister upstairs and laid her in bed, where she clutched one of her pillows tightly as if her life depended on it. If there was any silver lining to what was going on, it was that Apple Bloom wasn’t present; she’d stayed at the school to help prepare the stage for the play. Nopony knew what her reaction would have been to seeing Applejack have to be carried on the back of a griffoness and then hauled on Big Mac’s back up to her room, the shock of having eaten actual meat still rendering the poor girl numb to the world around her.

“Ah really do not like the idea of leavin’ her alone up there,” said Granny. It was heartbreaking for her to see what had befallen her granddaughter after what had seemed like a miraculous survival from a grievous wound and after losing both her son and daughter-in-law ten years ago, she didn’t know if she could lose another family member so soon afterwards.

“Ah agree, but we gotta go to Bloomie’s play, y’know how much she’s been wantin’ us to see it,” replied the stallion. “Ah also think poor Applejack needs her space, whatever she’s goin’ through must be terribly personal, or else she would have come to us. Unless…”

“Don’t ya dare say what Ah think yer gonna say!”

“Granny, let’s talk on the way to the play, but Ah think Applejack’s problems are much more serious than even you seem to think they are.”

___________________________________________________________________________

After Big Mac and Granny had left, the house was dead silent. For an hour all Applejack could do was lay in bed, tightly hugging the pillow to her chest as her brain tried in vain to process what could possibly be happening to her.

Her anger somehow turning into hair-trigger violence, the indescribable nightmares, the urge to eat younglings, her teeth somehow becoming more jagged overnight, the constant dog-like scratching, and now the piece d’ resistance; she had not only eaten half of a BLT burger, but she had savored it.

What’s happening to me? the confused mare thought. Why am Ah acting so differently? Who am Ah becoming?

The moment it started she immediately regretted even thinking the question.

At first, it was just an itchy feeling on her back, easy enough to scratch. Except scratching it didn’t make the feeling go away. Instead, it got larger. And larger. Soon, she felt itchy all over and it was escalating from an annoying itch into actual pain. Panicking, Applejack started screaming into the pillow, trying to hug it tighter as if it would end the suffering, but it only got worse. As if her whole body was on fire from the inside.

Suddenly, the pain intensified in her head. “Oh, sweet Celestia!” the poor pony cried out as she moved to try and hold her head with her hooves. She started rolling around, eventually falling off the bed and onto the floor, but if there had been any pain from the falling it was masked by the pain her whole body was feeling.

“Ah’m…Ah’m burnin’! AH’M BURNIN’!” wailed Applejack, the screams starting to turn into sobs as her own body turned against her. She knew nopony could hear her, the family was still at the school play, but that didn’t stop her desperate exclamations in the futile hope that they were home early and that they could do something.

The “rolling on the floor in pain” procedure lasted for another minute before Applejack ended up on her side, unable to control herself but the convulsions kept on going. Tears flowed freely from her eyes even as she kept them closed, trying to ride out this pain. Wh-why? she desperately asked nopony in particular in her thoughts. Why me?

As if in response, the pain suddenly lessened. Not gone completely, but just barely enough that she wasn’t appearing to have been electrocuted. But a strange half-pain, half…something feeling began to develop on her front hooves. She feared what was going on, but regardless she slowly opened her eyes.

Looking at her front hooves, she was horrified to see whatever process she was going through had only just started. Where the strange feeling was happening on her hooves, little nubs of flesh were rising. AJ couldn’t believe it; her hooves were turning into paws of some kind! She began to hyperventilate, her mind once again reeling at this new development as it tried to think of anything even remotely close to the situation at hand.

Then it was punished as the body-wide pain rose up again, sending Applejack into a new set of convulsions as she clamped her eyes shut again and screamed as loud as possible. She somehow felt her ears though the pain as they began to change, though she knew not what into. Her front…feet had apparently finished changing just in time for the same sensation to happen to her hind legs so she would end up with two matching pairs of disfigured hooves. All the while she kept on screaming and wailing to no avail, not noticing her sharp intakes of breath beginning to sound slightly raspier with each breath. For Applejack, the pain seemed to go on without end, her body being contorted into some monstrous shape for reasons she could not even begin to fathom.

And yet as quickly as it had started, it was finished. The entire process had in fact only taken five minutes, but even if Applejack had been thinking clearly enough to realize this it would have done little to cushion the maddening stew of feelings she was experiencing at the moment.

Panting heavily, Applejack eventually felt brave enough to try moving her limbs. Carefully, she began moving her limbs gingerly, lest any more movement start the whole parade of pain again. It was a slow process, but at last Applejack was standing on all four legs again. But was she the same Applejack?

There was a full body mirror propped up on the other end of the room, a gift from Rarity to try and encourage her farmer friend to be a little more sensible in appearance. Knowing that it was inevitable, Applejack began to move towards it. She immediately cringed as her new paws went up and down on the floor. It wasn’t pain; Thank Celestia, but the bottoms of her feet felt really strange, like she was walking on pads of some sort instead of the hard-bottom hooves she was accustomed to.

At last, she stood before a mirror, looking at the figure who stared straight back at her. She was a changed mare, alright. Her bright, emerald eyes looked the same for the most part, and she generally still resembled an equine, but now her profile looked more like a jagged outline instead of the well-built working pony she’d been only minutes ago. Her muzzle had extended slightly, becoming a bit more angular like a canine’s but still rounded enough to be reminiscent of what it used to be, her elongated canines now much more noticeable and remained visible even with her mouth closed. Her mane was a mess, blonde hair wildly ruffled up and the tie on her ponytail partially obscured by all the growth. Her actual tail was the same story. The ears on her head had become more pointed and slightly higher up on her head. Her fur had grown thicker as well, at least by maybe an inch, her beloved cutie mark of three apples now looking like three red, blurry dots, their defined shape lost in her now bushy coat.

But as she looked down at the new ends of her limbs, the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. What had once been hooves had now become unmistakably canine paws, padded on the bottom with small claws at the end of the toes.

Looking back at the reflection in the mirror again, she mouthed the answer that explained everything.

Ah’m a werewolf.

She fell back to sit on her haunches, the revelation echoing through her head. Was she even still who she thought she was; Applejack, middle child of the Apple Family, the Element of Honesty, the simple farm mare? The thing that looked back at her through the mirror looked like Applejack, but only just.

Her gaze slowly turned right, and then focused on what was Applejack’s greatest treasure, short of her family and friends. Her trusty old Stetson cowboy hat, hanging in its usual spot on the rack next to the door. It had originally been her father’s before he passed away, she’d inherited it after her misadventures in Manehattan led her back home to the farm, where her family and cutie mark awaited her. She never left home without it, her one remaining connection to her parents.

Getting up, she walked over to the stand and placed the family heirloom on her head. Then, moving once again in front of the mirror, she confronted her new form. For the first time that night, she smiled, for now it was Applejack who smiled back. Fuzzier, more canine-like Applejack, but the combination of colors and hat confirmed it was still the same mare underneath.

One would think that in this situation, after having a crisis of identity just after a horrific transformation into something completely unnatural, the affected would start wondering many things like “Is this permanent or not?”, “How will I break the news to my family and friends?” or even “Am I going to have to worry about fleas now?”

But for Applejack, a werewolf having just gone through her first transformation, only one thing came to her mind in terms of what she should do next: Ah really want to go runnin’!
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“Applejack, we’re hooooome!” shouted Apple Bloom, preceding her brother and grandmother into the house. The play had gone off without a hitch, namely because the CMC had been given bit parts that didn’t actually involve much acting such as a talking tree.

“Ah’m gonna go check on ‘er” said Big Mac, proceeding up the steps. There wasn’t any screaming, no moaning, no anything in the upstairs hallway. However, the stallion could only pray that the worst had not happened.

Reaching the door, he knocked, “Applejack, are ya in there? We’re home.”

No response.

“Applejack? Hello?”

No response.

Maybe she’s just sleeping, he thought, as he opened the door. Had he been a mare he most likely would have screamed at that point, because what he found chilled him far deeper than just to the bone. Applejack was not in her room at all, neither was the Stetson. Instead, there was a rumpled bed with a slightly ripped up pillow, a few strands of fur and mane hair that looked similar to the mare’s colors, and the window on the far wall had been left open.

No…Big Mac internally mourned. It was too late, he knew there was no way it was going to happen faster than he’d expected from his previous experience with werewolves, but he now felt completely and utterly like a failure.

“Big Mac! Is everythin’ okay up there?” hollered Granny at the foot of the stairs. Big Mac didn’t respond, his mind having gone into shock. Not having heard from her one grandson, she ascended the stairs to make sure he was alright. “Did ya hear me, Ah said is everythin-“

Seeing her grandson looking into Applejack’s room with an expression of total devastation, she understood what had happened. She too knew of the real fate of her son and daughter-in-law, and many a time had she mourned them, but she’d expressed skepticism when Big Mac secretly told her of his suspicions that the same fate now awaited Applejack. Celestia herself had destroyed the vile beast, how could it have survived. And yet, as she walked over to see the room for herself, she concluded it was the only answer.

“Big Mac, close this door. Apple Bloom can’t know the fate of her sister. This path we are stuck on will be tragic enough, that filly doesn’t need to join us on it”

Nodding, he drew the door shut, both he and Granny wordlessly walking away. As far as Apple Bloom was told, her sister was sleeping and should not be disturbed. But if Applejack wasn’t back in her room by breakfast tomorrow, how would her absence be explained? It was a question both Big Mac and Granny desperately wanted an answer too, but knew no way of providing it.

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Applejack hadn’t felt this good in a long, long time. Normally, she was already extremely athletic even for a young mare of her size. Years of working on the farm and rodeo competitions had conditioned her to top physical condition. But in her hybridized form, she could go even faster, and she was enjoying every second of it.

Maybe Ah could even beat Rainbow like this, the lycanthrope wondered as her legs propelled her further and further into the heart of the Everfree Forest. She couldn’t believe that a little over a month ago that she’d been scared stiff to come into these woods at night, now that she was rushing through the trees she didn’t have a care in the world, except maybe avoiding Poison Joke. That should always be a priority.

Having lost track of time, Applejack found herself at a location she didn’t think she’d ever return to. Standing at the far end of the chasm, on the other side lay the ruins of Castle Everfree; Where she and her friends fulfilled destiny by restoring Luna and repowering the Elements. Her mind still high on adrenaline, AJ ran across the rickety bridge and into the castle, only slowing just slightly to take a turn up another flight of stairs.

Eventually, she reached the top of the eastern tower battlement, the highest point still standing of the once great fortress. Letting her new wolfish side take control, she inhaled a deep breath before letting out a very non ponylike sound: “AH-WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

She howled up at the moon, which coincidentally was in the full moon phase. As the transformed pony stood on the battlement, the adrenaline began to subside and her thoughts became earthbound once more. Ah’ll need to keep the whole carnivore thing in check, thought AJ, but If Ah can keep mahself in control this whole werewolf thing may not be so bad…

Sure, there were some glaring problems if she was to continue living with being a werewolf. Her family would need to know, and friends, since it would be futile to hide this secret from them. She also would want to know what exactly attacked her that night, which she figured was what turned her into this, as while it would most likely work out for Applejack in the long run, nopony else should have to be turned into a werepony. Applejack even admitted to herself that given the choice she wouldn’t want to live like this forever, but she had to make do. After all, if what little she knew about this condition was true, it was incurable. But that doesn’t mean Ah can’t enjoy the benefits, either, thought the mare as she looked out upon the Everfree, pondering the positive aspects of her new abilities.

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Luna stood upon the balcony just outside her personal quarters, angrily gazing in the sky as her horn burned a beautiful indigo hue. One of the constellations had gotten out of line and was being…difficult…to fix.

Then out of nowhere she heard the unmistakable howl of a wolf, which jolted Luna and caused the constellation she was fixing to explode into morse code that spelled out a very dirty expletive. But Luna paid no attention to her night as she rushed to the railing, trying to pinpoint the noise. The howl did not sound again, but after doing the calculations in her head the night princess figured it had echoed off of the mountains and had come from somewhere in the Everfree. It had also sounded suspiciously simil-

Oh, no.

That was when Celestia teleported in, still wearing a sleeping mask and PJ’s covered in suns with smiley faces. Her expression matched Luna’s as they wordlessly came to the conclusion that something terrible had happened.

“We need the Elements. Now!” Luna cried to her counterpart. Celestia found herself only able to nod, before teleporting both her and Luna to the southern tower. There the Elements remained, bait for Celestia’s madcap answer to Discord one-upping her that one time.

“Luna, remind me once Applejack is back to normal, I’m leaving these damn things in Twilight Sparkle’s care the next time I see her!”

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About three miles from Castle Everfree, Applejack’s howling stirred another from his slumber. Ordinarily such a disturbance would immediately call for their wrath upon the offender, but instead the sound only brought a wide, evil smile to a shrouded face.

“Soon, little one…soon, you will belong to me, and give me all that I want from this wretched world!” stated the dark figure through wicked lips, looking out in the direction of the noise. It had taken over a month, but the plan was finally making some progress. It would take longer for it to reach completion, naturally, as the pieces needed to be set in their final positions, but if there was one thing above all else that had been accounted for, it was patience. Satisfied, the individual settled back down to sleep, for there was much to be done in the morning. Much to be done indeed.

Ch.6: Lies

Chapter 6: Lies

It was a peaceful night, aside from some mysterious howling going on from the Everfree Forest, but for the residents of Canterlot it was not enough to awaken them from their slumber. However, in the very early hours of the morning, long after the howling had stopped, the residents of the mountainside capital were rocked as a huge explosion shook the foundations of Canterlot. Those who immediately rushed out of their homes to investigate the manner were horrified to find that there was smoke billowing from where the southernmost spire of the castle had once stood. Was the city under attack? Were the Changelings returning to get revenge after the failure of their last invasion?

“Everypony, please calm down and return to your homes!” cried out some royal guardponies, a mix between the day and night guards, who were filtering through the streets with all due haste. “There is nothing to worry about, the city is not under attack! It’s only just a training accident! Everypony in the castle, including the princesses, are safe and sound!”

Naturally, the majority of the populace were still worried, but if the guards were saying it was just an accident, then what else could they do besides listen to them and return to sleep? Slowly, the streets of Canterlot emptied as ponies entered their beds once more to try and find comfort in the blankets and pillows.
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Meanwhile, at Ground Zero, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood on what was left of the platform that had once been under Celestia’s infernal trap. They were partially covered in dust which had formerly been ancient masonry work, their coats were singed all over, and Celestia’s pajamas were a total loss. Gripped in her yellow magic was the box containing the Elements of Harmony, finally separated from the devious crossbow-launching cord that had plagued the sisters only hours ago.

“Why did you even set the tower to explode?” coughed Luna.

“Because I figured that if anypony could get this far into the castle to steal the Elements, they would have to have been very powerful and only an explosion of that magnitude would have stopped them,” answered Celestia. “Plus, I never really liked this tower, it was pretty ugly and even if I hadn’t blown it up just now I would have had it replaced eventually. You did say you wanted an observatory, didn’t you, Luna?”

“Why do I get the feeling that even though you’re being accommodating to me, that’s just an excuse to give up on your own trap and scare those stuck-up nobles by blowing up part of the castle just for fun?”

Celestia nuzzled her little sister. “You know me too well, Luna. Now, I need to go clean up so it doesn’t look like I’m dying of a plague and then raise the sun, so if you could get the box open that would be great.”

“Yes, because who knows what would happen if the stuck-up Canterlot elite thought you’d suddenly turned into a black-spotted pinto alicorn?” Luna smirked.

“It would totally be worth it just to see their faces!” laughed Celestia as she teleported back to her private quarters. Luna did the same, Elements box in tow, before setting it down on a table and getting to work on the three locks. It was an unusual set of locks, as instead of keys they had to be unlocked through the turning of dials to spell out words. She had no clues, but from the size the words had to be Luna immediately tried a familiar phrase and got the box open on the first go.

“Heh. ‘Silly nonsense’ indeed, Celly,” Luna chuckled as she looked at the gleaming artifacts within the box. The password to open the box had been “NEW-LUNAR-REPUBLIC.”
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Somehow, even after running almost non-stop from the farm to the castle in the heart of the Everfree Forest, and then again back home before leaping through her open window into the bedroom where it had all began, Applejack woke up feeling rather energized.

She got out of bed and stood in front of the mirror. Although she couldn’t remember doing anything other than collapsing on her bed upon her return, now her body was once again in its original, familiar pony shape. No overgrown mane or fur coat, no paws instead of hooves, those sharp teeth were gone, and her cutie mark was once again a well-defined trio of apples colored bright red. Anypony who looked at her right now would have said she didn’t seem at all different from what a pony mare should look like.

Hopefully, she thought, it’s gonna stay like this, ‘cause tryin’ to hide paws would be very difficult.

“Big Mac? Granny? Is somethin’ wrong? Where’s Apple Bloom?” asked the confused mare, taking her seat.

“Apple Bloom is over at the Carousel Boutique with Rarity and Sweetie Belle. We sent her there because she doesn’t need to be involved in this,” Granny answered, before turning to face her middle grandchild with a concerned look, “Applejack…we need to talk. You’ve been acting all strange like for a few days now, the latest bein’ not only somehow eatin’ half a meat burger without even realizin’ it but you also go missin’ from your room last night? As your family, we’re concerned about what’s happenin’ to you, and we want to help you, but there’s nothin’ we can do if you don’t tell us.”

Big Mac simply nodded with an “Eeyup.” While it wasn’t a case of words flowing out of his mouth, it was still clear to Applejack he was dead serious about this, both he and Granny wanting to know the reason for her recent actions. But she couldn’t tell them, not yet, she was still unsure about how to break the news to them that she was now a werewolf. But she had to say something.

“Ah…Well, Ah…” she started, the other two ponies leaning in to hear better, “Ah’m sorry, but what’s goin on with me…it’s a private matter. Like, real private, so private that Ah can’t tell you. Not yet. Don’t get me wrong, Ah wish Ah could, especially to ya’ll since Ah know the family is willin’ to help with just about anythin’, but this just isn’t the time.”

Somehow, Granny’s age decided to make her mind play connect the wrong dots and make an incorrect assumption when she asked, “What, are you tryin’ to say you’re pregnant?”

Applejack’s pupils shrunk into a very small size as she reeled in shock, “What?! Land sakes, no! Ah am not carryin’ a foal inside of me, Ah can assure you of that right now! Heck, Ah don’t even have anypony Ah’m interested in makin’ mah special somepony right now, so what in Equestria makes you think Ah’ve been seeing somepony so intimately and behind your back?!”

Granny shrugged. “Well, Ah don’t know, just seemed like somethin’ a young mare like yourself would want to keep secret.”

Applejack sighed. “Look, Ah know ya’ll want to help, but Ah really just want to keep this private. We’re a close family and Ah always am open with just about evertythin’ with you, so Ah’d honestly appreciate it if Ah could just deal with this thing by mahself.”

Big Mac, always the silent observer, didn’t know what to do. He, along with Granny, were almost certain at this point of Applejack’s lycanthropy, but Celestia had warned him (and him to Granny, by extension) about the potential risk of destabilizing somepony who didn’t know they were a werewolf by informing them as such, and although there was a small amount of evidence it wasn’t nearly enough to force Applejack into confessing about being a werewolf if she was already aware of it. With a long term plan needing to still be developed, Big Mac had no choice but to let his sister “deal with this thing by herself.” But whatever this problem of hers was, lycanthropy or not, it was still cause for concern and he had to make sure the family knew what was going on at this point. “Now, you do promise that you will tell us what’s going on with you, but only when you feel comfortable doin’ so, right?”

“Of course! Ah really don’t like keepin’ ya’ll in the dark, but Ah’m a grown mare and Ah feel like this is somethin’ Ah have to deal with alone,” replied Applejack. If there was any bit of her lying, she’d gotten significantly better about not showing it, Big Mac noted. Plus, as the Element of Honesty and an Apple Family member, truthfulness was pretty much the definition of her essence, so there was no choice but to accept AJ on her word that she’d deal with this her own way and talk about it later.

Granny, forced to the same conclusion, agreed and got up to get started on breakfast. As for Applejack, she was amazed that she’d been able to talk her way out of explaining about how unpony like she’d been last night. She had been honest in promising to reveal her secrets later on, but only when she’d gotten more comfortable with her condition. Now the only question was if she could hide it from her friends until that point as well. But that was a problem to worry about later. The current problem was having her fill of breakfast (which thankfully wasn’t as apple-heavy as usual) and getting ready for a hard day of applebucking, as the southern field was ready for harvesting.
______________________________________________________________________________

Over in Sugarcube Corner, business was rather light. This was expected, as there was usually a lull in customers after the morning pastry rush. At the moment, Pinkie Pie was busy moving around trays with various amounts of baked sugary goodness on top of them, making way for more to be put in. She was busy trying to walk around behind the counter while carrying two trays of unsold breakfast stock when Pound Cake came running in, his sister Pumpkin chasing after him. As if communicating through a strange, shared consciousness, the twins ended up chasing each other right towards Pinkie. They liked seeing things fall on her head, especially if it was baked goods related, and right now they thought she was setting up to dump a lot of that kind of stuff on her head.

“Hey, what are you-whoa!” exclaimed Pinkie as the twins rushed her legs, attempting to make her fall. Unfortunately, Pinkie knew how to respond to this, and so tossed the trays into the air with the food still on them. Then, she somehow magically appeared in the right spot away from the twins to catch the trays, food unharmed, and slotted the trays into the display below in one swift motion. “Sorry, babies, but Pinkie’s got work to do! I’ll play with you later!”

Nodding in understanding, despite being babies who barely could even talk, the dangerous duo started their chase anew but this time into the kitchen - with their father, Carrot Cake, as the target. Pinkie could hear him go “Whoa!” in there before his surprise was followed by a sound composed of clattering pans and three layers of cake impacting an unfortunate baker pony’s face.

“Honeybuns, are you alright?!” came the worried call from the fallen stallion’s wife Cup Cake, rushing from the stairs and into the kitchen to provide assistance. All Pinkie did was knowingly smile and go back to pastry organization. The twins would be in trouble, but they wouldn’t get that much flak for their antics. After all, they were just infants who didn’t know any better and just wanted somebody to play with.

She’d just combined a tray of strawberry scones and almond cake and put it in the runners when her trademarked “Pinkie Sense” (Pat. Pend.) flared up. She began to shake all over, as if getting the shivers despite the temperature being nowhere near cold. Uh oh! thought Pinkie, There’s a doozy coming about, and judging by the intensity of my Pinkie sense it’s going to be potentially world-shattering! However, when the shuttering stopped, Pinkie just shook her head to clear her mind and then went right back to work, not worried about the potential of something coming that could possibly destroy life as she knew it.
_____________________________________________________________________________

It was already past lunchtime when the princesses, opting to go by the traditional method of guard-pulled chariots instead of just teleporting, were in view of Ponyville.

“I guess you never learned the fate of that Sable Loam character, did you sister?” Asked Luna.

Celestia sighed, “In retrospect, Sable Loam was probably one of my biggest mistakes that I made during those first years on the throne after mother passed. I thought he was just an over promoted upstart who wouldn’t dare risk his position in the guard simply to peruse some crazed obsession, so I let him leave in the hopes he would just cool off and abandon his concept of ponies-turned-wolves. He and his followers were long gone when I learned of their abandonment the next day, they could have been anywhere in the country by then, and since they weren’t causing trouble in any settlements, I paid them no attention as I was too busy proving to the nobles of my ability to rule over the country just as well as mother had. But to answer your question Luna; no, he disappeared after Sombra’s fall. I personally examined all the werewolves whose bodies were taken from the battlefields in secret so I could be sure he was dead, but instead of finding him and that red paw cutie mark of his, all I saw were horribly altered forms that had once been ponies, corrupted not only by Sombra’s magic but also Sable Loam’s insane lupine ideology. Ever since the last of the known werewolves who had been under Sombra’s command was laid to rest in the ground, I’ve hoped Sable ended up perishing in some way that disposed of his remains so he couldn’t trouble my little ponies anymore. But even if he did die hundreds of years ago, his legacy lives on somehow through some poor, tortured soul who has become a host to his love of wolves much in the same way you were a host to Nightmare Moon.”

At the mention of the dark entity that had nearly destroyed Equestria and forced Celestia to become estranged from her for a millennium, Luna couldn’t help but involuntarily shudder. She’d been young then, it had been all too easy for that influence to prey upon her, to steal her form and powers for evil intentions. However, where Nightmare Moon could only feed off of jealousy and hatred generated from her host, what Celestia had described about werewolves sounded a whole lot worse. Perfectly innocent ponies could contract the curse, which apparently was scientifically named “lycanthropy” some few centuries ago, and while the victims could continue being their true selves, they played host to an incredibly violent monster who savagely attacked its enemies and in some reports even ate infant ponies. In comparison, Nightmare Moon was an antagonistic political rival as she at least had standards about being violent and secretly had been quite a fan of vegetarian cuisine. But Applejack was potentially a “lycanthrope” now, so just thinking about how the kind hearted and trustworthy farm pony could be turned into a bloody predator of innocent ponies…Luna shuddered again. As the chariots drew closer to Ponyville, the dusky princess really hoped Applejack wasn’t actually afflicted with something that horrible, or if she was that the Elements could remove it and stop another living nightmare’s resurrection before it was too late.
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Apples fell from the sky, only to land in baskets set below. Tree by tree, the landscape was slowly drained of the red and bright green dots as the industrious farm pony carried out her work. Elsewhere, Big Mac was doing the same while Granny worked on sorting the good apples from the bad in the pile of apples already harvested. Apple Bloom was still absent, having gone “crusading” with her co-conspirators after school let out, but not without first getting a hug from her big sister to make sure she was alright.

The simple, repetitive work that came to symbolize Applejack’s purpose in life, as represented by her cutie mark, allowed her to keep her mind clear. Free of the troubling thoughts that had plagued her recently, the fact she could once again just focus on kicking the crap out of trees until they cried red, round tears made her happy. Sure, life would never be as simple for her anymore, what with being secretly a werewolf, but if she could keep living her life the same way as she always had, it was nothing more than a mere complication.

As she loaded up the barrels into her cart, full enough to be offloaded at the barn, it occurred to Applejack she knew very little about her condition. Sure, she got a lot more dog like in her new alternate form, she had a desire for meat that had taken away some of the appeal apples once held for her taste buds, and it was incurable, but that was about it. Maybe Twilight has some books on werewolves, thought Applejack as she hauled the family crop away, gonna need to be careful enough to not give mahself away, but it wouldn’t hurt to know a little more about it. Ah’l probably stop by the library again after we’re done here in the fields.

She would soon discover her trip to the library would occur much sooner than that. The apples had been unloaded and the orange mare was about to leave to go abuse more trees when she recognized a familiar rainbow moving towards her. Sure enough, it was Rainbow Dash.

“Howdy, Rainbow!” Applejack greeted cheerfully.

“Hey, AJ! I know you’re doing farm work and all, but the princesses just arrived five minutes ago at Twilight’s place and they want all of us to go there. Something about the Elements not functioning right, I dunno.”

“The Elements and the princesses? Gosh, this must be serious. How soon do Ah need to be there?”

“They said as soon as possible, but I’d put an emphasis on soon if you catch my drift.”

“Ah do, let me tell Granny and Big Mac what’s goin’ on first.”

With her family informed, Applejack took off towards town, Rainbow taking a detour over in the direction to Fluttershy’s house, no doubt to deliver the same message.

Ah hope this isn’t another major problem like Discord or Twilight havin’ gone insane again, thought the apple farmer as she galloped down the road, not noticing that her running style was more like a wolf chasing after prey instead of a running equine.
______________________________________________________________________________

When Applejack arrived at the treehouse, she found Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and the princesses already there. Several guards were also hanging around outside, supposedly providing protection but without an actual threat they were kind of unnecessary at the moment.

“What’s the problem?” inquired Applejack as she entered the tree library.

“It is a matter that we’d rather not discuss until everypony is here,” replied Celestia, with a nod from Luna to confirm. They didn’t have to wait long, as a few minutes later the winged third of the Elements entered the door.

“I…I heard there was an emergency, so I came as quickly as I could,” spoke Fluttershy in a volume somewhere between a whisper and normal conversation levels.

With all the ponies gathered, Celestia gave a nod to Twilight, who along with Spike proceeded to cover all the windows and lock the doors before the elder princess addressed the gathered ponies, “While it isn’t an emergency, it could develop into one. You see, there was recently an attempt to steal the Elements from the castle, luckily my elaborate and brilliantly designed trap stopped whoever it was but not before they had somehow opened the box with the Elements in it. Although my trap also ended up blowing up both the would-be-thief and the southern castle tower to Tartarus, so we don’t know what his intentions were.” Looking away, Luna rolled her eyes and shook her head disbelievingly, since Celestia had no reason to lie about what had happened beyond trying to look not guilty about blowing up her own tower in frustration to being defeated by her own trap multiple times.

“So wait, if the Elements are still safe, then why did you need to gather us?” Rarity, who up until that point had been absent-mindedly filing her hooves, asked.

“While the intruder did not steal the Elements, he did manage to break through my defenses and could have potentially done something to them to affect them in some way. Maybe to remove a threat to unleashing yet another evil being I locked away 1000 years ago, although I think Sombra was the last from that time period. Regardless, Luna and I have gathered you here just to make sure the Elements are still functional.”

“Oh, well, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Fluttershy, who had assumed something much worse was going on, such as a giant slug with a skull face and a sawblade hat having come to suck the energy out of the whole planet.

“Well, if that’s what we’re here for, then what are we waiting for?” asked Twilight, opening the chest and telepathically putting the Elements on her friends while setting the Element of Magic on her head like a princess’s crown.

As if silently commanded by their bearers, the Elements began to glow as they had twice before in their recent uses against Nightmare Moon and Discord. After gradually reaching a brightness level just below the point of the bearers and princesses having to squint, suddenly rainbows shot out of them, creating a latticework of color as each Element connected to another. All those present marveled at the beauty, while the guards and half the town wondered what the hell was going on outside due to Golden Oaks shining as bright as the sun from their perspective.

This lasted for a few minutes before the rainbows faded and the Elements returned to their inert states. No words were spoken for a while until Rainbow, ever the impatient one, had to ask, “So…mission accomplished? These things look like they still work to me.” The other bearers were in agreement…except Applejack who suspected something was up.

“Alight, princesses, what is the real reason you’re here?”

Deciding not to bother making something up to the Element of Honesty, Celestia decided to cut to the chase; “Okay, I admit, there never was anything wrong with the Elements, although knowing they still work is always reassuring.”

Confused, Fluttershy started “B-but didn’t you just say somepony tried to-“

“Nopony broke into the castle. I purposely blew up the tower to get the Elements since I couldn’t get to them any other way due to my own trap” said Celestia, cutting off Fluttershy with an embarrassed cringe. “No, what the whole point of this was that we found evidence you might have contracted some kind of evil charm from that wound you suffered a month ago or so.”

“That’s what this is all about?” asked the incredulous Applejack. The princesses were right; she’d probably been turned into a werewolf from that attack, but something in Applejack’s head made her decide this still wasn’t the right time to reveal that just yet. Instead, the farm pony went against her own element and outright made up a story before anypony else in the room could speak up.

“Ah know Ah’ve been doin’ some, well… rather questionable…things as of late, but none of it is because Ah’m some kind of zompony or even a vampony or somethin’ like that. If ya’ll absolutely have to know…”she sighed before dropping the bomb, “…it’s mah time of the month.”

Everypony else in the room immediately made an expression that showed they understood exactly what Applejack had meant...except Spike, since he didn’t know what “that time of the month” meant to those of the fairer sex but, realizing this was probably a private female thing, immediately retreated to the basement.

It was Rarity who next spoke. “Oh, I’m sure I can speak for everypony here that while we know what that’s like, has it really been that bad that you end up at The Meatery of all places and unconsciously find yourself having eaten half of…oooh!” Word had quickly gotten around town about what had happened at The Meatery, an establishment that Rarity thought absolutely barbaric and actually couldn’t think about for too long about before getting violently ill.

“Ah know, but ya’ll have to believe me! It’s been especially bad this time, normally Ah don’t react as badly as this.” It was true, Applejack never really did have strong reactions when that dreaded period came around, but would it be enough to sell the lie her actions were all because of a natural bodily function and not because she’d been turning into a werewolf?

Unbeknownst to her, most of her body language that would imply a blatant lie beyond the pleading smile was not being subconsciously demonstrated, a side effect of whatever it was making her decide to keep the lycanthropy a secret, so to the rest of the gathered party she was being fully honest.

To break the awkward mood, Luna coughed into her hoof before saying “Well, um, Celestia and I are sorry for having to force that understandably private bit of information from you,” glaring at Celestia who also quickly nodded with a smile.

“It’s alright, like Rarity said we’ve all had to go through this on a regular basis, and it’s touching that ya’ll care for me so much-“ Applejack couldn’t finish as she was promptly tackled by a flash mob hug consisting of her five best friends in the whole world.

Luna and Celestia looked upon the pony pile with laughter and smiles, but the telepathic conversation in their heads was of a much graver tone.

“She doesn’t seem like she’s lying, but there’s still something wrong with her and I doubt it’s just a result of…well, you know.” Celestia mentally said to her sister.

“But she’s the Element of Honesty, why would she lie about something she doesn’t have?” responded Luna.

“Because I think she does, but for one reason or another she’s hiding it. Very well, I might add, but something is going on with that mare even the Elements can’t cure.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Look at her tail, Luna, does something seem wrong?”

Luna focused on the movements of the farm pony’s bundled tail as the pile dissolved back into a group of standing ponies. It looked like a normal pony’s tail, just tied up at the end with a red hair tie, nothing out of the unusual. It was even moving normally, flicking back and forth. Back and forth. Back and-

“Why is she moving her tail so much?” Luna questioned. Outside of using it to show more body language or sometimes as an extra appendage, ponies rarely manipulated their tails at any time, especially during conversations, which the group of six ponies was now engaged in.

“That’s what I want to know, especially since it seems to be trying to act like it’s much shorter and thicker than it actually is, almost as if it were a...“ In unison the royal sisters said the same thing in each other’s heads: ...wolf’s tail.

Looking at each other uncomfortably, they knew they had a situation on their hooves. The only thing preventing them from being totally sure Applejack had become a werewolf was that she’d seemed so honest about putting the blame on something she couldn’t have helped. What if she was sure it was on that and still didn’t know what she had become? Her state of mind was still in question, risking an out of control werewolf was something Celestia wanted to all avoid at all costs, but how else would they be able to confirm what they feared was true? As they desperately tried to come up with a new plan, the alicorns could only hope Applejack was in control of herself that, in the event she was a werewolf, she wouldn’t end up spreading it and causing a repeat of the werewolf attacks from hundreds of years ago.

Applejack, for her part, was just glad she was able to hide her condition from her friends. She didn’t want them to leave her if they knew what she was, which is why that secret would be revealed at a later time. A much later time, most likely, but her fellow bearers were her closest friends and once she felt comfortable as a werewolf, they would be informed. They could be trusted.
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Hours later, once the town had gone to sleep, Applejack included (she fought the urge to go on another night-long running spree in her new form in order to reassure her family she was in control of her problems), Derpy Hooves was still waiting for the mail train to arrive. It had been delayed for several hours due to the engine breaking down somewhere close to the edge of the Everfree Forest three miles down the line and getting it moving again with an old style pulling team was a slow process.

Finally, she heard the pathetic whistle of the crippled train and the clattering of sixteen hooves as four strong stallions pulled into the station. Derpy noted that it looked like something had attacked the side of the engine, as the driver rods had been removed and the scratch marks on the drive piston casings had gone deep enough that steam was still pouring out, barely leaving any for the whistle. The wall eyed mailmare had to wonder what kind of creature could do that kind of damage to a speeding locomotive, much less cut through tempered iron, but with such exact precision that the boiler only lost pressure from escaping steam instead of exploding from the sudden release of pressure.

“Excuse me, miss?” called a voice, getting Derpy’s attention. A brown earth pony with a well groomed mustache exited the car behind the engine and approached her. “Are you Mrs. Derpy Hooves, the local mailmare?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Sorry for having to keep you waiting, I’m sure you can see something didn’t want this train making it to the station, but the Royal Equestrian Railway doesn’t keep reserve pulling teams simply to waste the budget! Anyways, if you could sign here please…”

Derpy signed for the mail delivery, which was nothing more than a few bags of letters she could carry in a cart back to the post office and then sort in the morning. As she was writing, however, there was noticeable movement in the corner of her vision. Most ponies wouldn’t have seen it, but Derpy’s namesake eye condition actually allowed her to see things most ponies would miss.

“Thank you, ma'am, just instruct the boys where you want them to put the sacks.”

As the conductor turned to re-enter the train, Derpy trotted over to where both her mail cart and the sack-ladden workers were waiting for her. Once again, she caught movement when she could see in between train cars, and so she shot up into the sky to get a better look. However, her higher viewpoint offered no further clues as to the identity of the thing she was looking for.

“Hey, miss? I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s been a long day and we’d like to not fall asleep with heavy mail sacks on top of us!”

“Oh! Sorry, thought I saw something, but it was nothing!” Derpy called back as she landed at her cart. Whatever she saw couldn’t have been anything important, maybe just a squirrel or a night owl.
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Hidden behind a building on the other side of the station, the dark figure watched the strange pegasus without giving away his position. He was mildly curious, having never seen a pony with a face that stupid looking, but his initial impressions were rejected when she somehow had noticed him darting from the train and almost caught him mid-stride.

Somepony called out for her, causing her to abandon the search and go back to whatever it was she was doing. Allowing for a small sigh of relief, the dark figure began to dart from building to building, always staying to the shadows and only going into as few open areas as possible. It would have been much more safer had he just made the three mile journey by himself through the forest, probably would have gotten here faster, too, but even just involving the train had been a luxury he decided he could afford to rest his legs. There had been plenty of food for him to take and he’d stolen a new satchel to replace his old worn out one.

The food had been alright (no meat, which annoyed him but was not unexpected) and there had been enough for him to carry extra provisions if he’d need them later, but the satchel had been the real prize of the whole endeavor. Few things held any lasting value to him now, but those that did were more valuable than anything. The water canteen, the coin purse, the old photo, the tarnished piece of ancient brass, and the locket; the canteen was purely for survival reasons, and the coin purse was just for money he would need in periods where he’d have to buy what he required, but the rest were irreplaceable treasures chronicling his life to this point, the path that forged him into what he had become. He’d had the old satchel for years but it was going to fall apart before long, so finding a brand new replacement in which to store his priceless trinkets had been a stroke of good fortune.

Judging the coast to be clear, he made a beeline for the forest edge, disappearing in a flash the moment he crossed the border. Now safe in the forest many feared for what he considered its greatest trait, he immediately set off to find a nice cave or something where he could establish a base to which he could return to later if something went south. Hopefully it wouldn’t be necessary but as a hunter he always had to be prepared. After all, the whole reason he’d retreated so far from these grounds a month ago was to ensure nobody would find him so soon after his attack.

It was another hard hour or two of non-stop running before he found such a location near the town he approved of, a gigantic cave in the middle of a tall rock formation just a few hours walk from Winsome Falls. It was close enough to the town that he could get back here easily, but far enough that most would abandon the hunt for him well before getting close. Bunkering down for the night, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep. He would need it, as tomorrow he would begin to reel in his prey in the town known as Ponyville.

Ch.7: Lo the Mighty Hunter

Chapter 7: Lo the Mighty Hunter

In the capital of the Minotaur Kingdom; Heiferton, a very frustrated self-help instructor was finding himself having to deal with his parents as he spent some self-allowed vacation time in his native country.

“Mom, Dad, Iron Will doesn’t understand why you guys don’t think being a self-help motivational speaker isn’t paying the bills! Outside of that one incident in Ponyville with that timid pegasus pony, which considering Iron Will’s successes afterwards with his ‘No Means No’ angle of speaking, Iron Will doesn’t even consider that much of a setback, the money has been more than enough to keep Iron Will and his assistants well sustained on my lecture tours!”

"Will, it’s not the money we’re worried about,” answered his mother, “but we simply want to know: when are you going to settle down and find a cow of your very own?"

"Iron Will doesn't have that kind of time!"

"Son,” intoned his father, Maximum Strength, “when are you going to stop referring to yourself in the third person, complete the ritual and earn yourself a mate?"

Iron Will facepalmed. The “ritual” his family spoke of was an ancient cultural norm all male minotaurs were to engage in when they reached the legal age of consent, to prove that they were worthy of representing their race and also to attract those of the opposite sex to take their hand in marriage. Most of the ritual revolved around simple ceremonies and basic demonstrations of strength, but the final requirement was the doozy. In order to fully establish themselves as a true minotaur, the males had to go out into the world and bring back the body of the most savage animal that they could kill. Iron Will’s problem was that he’d never actually killed anything in his life, because something more important had come up.

“Iron Will has told both of you why that is: the book deal had been approved and the ritual had to be overlooked if iron Will was to make it big as a motivational speaker!”

“Well, now that you say being a motivational speaker is so lucrative, then you should have all the time in the world to hunt down that creature and get hitched to an attractive mate. Who knows, you might even encounter a werewolf!” replied his father.

Iron Will’s pupils shrunk. While in normal circumstances a male was more sexually attractive to potential mates based on how big the corpse was, the modern record was held by the minotaur named Steel Grip who had managed to drag an entire Quarry Eel from the land of Equestria all the way to Heiferton; pretty much every single female candidate in the kingdom had been trying to break the poor guy’s door down to propose marriage ever since. But the one exception to the rule was the legendary werewolf. Due to a savage attack from one that had killed the minotaur queen centuries ago, the distraught king had declared that any minotaur who brought him the corpse of a werewolf would instantly become engaged to the princess. To date, no minotaur had ever killed a werewolf as it was believed they were extinct shortly afterwards (apparently they’d all been involved with the losing side of the Equestrian Civil War at the time), with some believing the king himself had made the whole story up to justify killing his wife. But recently the current princess, Circe, had come of age and her father, a big believer in tradition, had made the announcement that she was fair game - as well as the granting of a dukedom - for anyone who became “the Werewolf Slayer”.

“Yes,” interjected Will’s mother, “that Princess Circe certainly would make a fine mate for you; she is of marrying age after all. Plus, it would also boost your social status beyond a mere ‘motivational speaker’ or whatever it is you do.”

Iron Will blushed. It was true that he’d had a crush on the beautiful Princess Circe since he was a small calf, but it wasn’t out of an unwillingness to actually marry her that worried him.

"Mom! No-one's seen a werewolf in hundreds of years. How can Iron Will hunt a creature that almost certainly is extinct?!"

"Well, that just means you're certain to get a cow when you kill a werewolf, now doesn't it?
Besides, if you can't slay a werewolf at least catch yourself a banshee or helicoprion. While it’s been announced the old declaration still holds, I’m sure something of equal rarity and ferocity would suffice."

Iron Will knew better. A banshee was technically already dead, so they didn’t count, and no way in Tartarus was Iron Will going to learn how to swim simply to hunt a stupid looking shark thing that was also probably extinct. But having run out of options, Iron Will decided he’d have to extend his vacation and take up being a “werewolf hunter”, dragging along his assistants Willy and Nilly if they still wanted to be paid.

“Okay, fine, Iron Will shall go track down a werewolf. But where would Iron Will even start to look for one?”

Then it hit him. While he’d never met her, Twilight Sparkle was well known throughout the world for her intellectual capabilities and as the de facto leader of the Element Bearers. She’d know where to start looking and, if what he had learned during his stay in Ponyville was correct, she was the town’s librarian.

On second thought, contemplated the speaker-turned-hunter, maybe this won’t be so bad after all…
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In Golden Oaks Library, the studious lavender mare was busy engaging in her favorite hobby: reading. Having already put a good dent into her to-read pile, it took a moment for her to realize Spike was calling for her attention.

“Twilight! Twilight! Something’s going on outside!”

“Alright, I’ll be down in a moment!”

Bookmarking her place in her current book, a recent sci-fi thriller titled Razorblade Angel, Twilight left the comfort of her bed and descended down to the ground floor of her library home. She could hear the crowd making noise halfway down the steps, causing her to think Oh no, this better not be Trixie coming back to challenge me again. I thought all of that was water under the bridge between us…

Upon opening the door, she did not find Trixie, nor a crowd being angry at the subject of their attention. Instead, it was a giant, blue minotaur wearing a headset and flanked on either side by two goats, also wearing headsets. The crowd was also cheering, which meant whoever this individual was they certainly had a good impression of him.

“Hello, Miss Twilight Sparkle! Iron Will is my name, monster hunting is my game!” declared the minotaur, giving her a million-bit smile and a thumbs up. At the thumbs up sign, a certain mint unicorn started foaming at the mouth at the back of the assembled crowd and had to be dragged away by her two earth pony friends for medical treatment.

“So, you’re Iron Will?” asked Sparkle. While she hadn’t been in town the last time the minotaur had visited during his lecture tour due to royal student business, she’d heard about what had happened between him and Fluttershy, or rather “New Fluttershy” and what that entailed. Still, the kind pegasus had no mean words to say about him and implied they had parted ways on acceptable terms, so Twilight had to go on her friend’s intuition and not treat the minotaur as a potential problem. “I’ve heard about you. Is there something I can help you with?”

“As a matter of fact there is!” he declared, “Is it alright if, ah, we talked in private?” Having no discernible objections, Twilight let him into the library along with his goat assistants. Once the speaker and his entourage were inside, the crowd quickly dispersed, giving silence as the backdrop for the meeting going on inside the library.

However, the moment Iron Will thought he was out of the public eye, his demeanor quickly changed from that of a confident speaker to somebody who was way in over his head about something. “Look, Iron Will desperately needs your help with something and you’re the only one that can assist him”

Third person, great…thought Twilight, really hoping the similarities between him and another certain blue individual Twilight and friends had had trouble with before ended there. “Okay, Mr. Will, how can I be of assistance?”

Smiling at the fact the unicorn hadn’t tried to do something rash like instantly murder him (along with her reputation for intelligence, her powers when she was mentally driven off her rocker were legendary), he asked the first of what would be many difficult questions; “Well, this is kind of complicated, so Iron Will may take awhile to explain. Is that alright?”

Judging him to be sincere with his request, while his goat pals appeared to be just living statues that didn’t even need to breathe, Twilight answered in the affirmative before having Spike set about preparing some tea and snacks. If the minotaur was going to be cordial then she should be hospitable.

“So, this problem of yours, what does it entail? Don’t skimp out on any of the details, mind you.”

“You have no idea how much iron Will appreciates this, Miss Sparkle. Anyways, Iron Will should explain his current situation in regards to the rituals we minotaurs have in terms of selecting mates…”
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It had been about a week since Applejack had come clean about her strange behaviors, to which she was relieved nopony ever tried inquiring about again, and for her part she’d done her best to try and control the wolf-like mannerisms that still showed through during the day. After that night she had forced herself to remain in her pony form to keep up appearances, almost every night since she’d found the urge to transform into her wolf like body. She’d been thankful none of the rest of her family ever walked into her room when she was decidedly more frightening in appearance, plus her repeated transformations had gotten significantly less painful to the point where she could almost do it by will without feeling anything, even during the day.

On top of that, she was feeling on average even more energetic than she had been before she’d been bitten. Her productivity in apple harvesting had gone up a fair bit due to her increased speed, so much that she was able to finish earlier, which in turn allowed her to work on other things around the farm. Such as painting the barn before the CMC decided to try using the red paint for something else to make it go three times faster or something and helping granny with the cooking of more things to sell at market.

In fact, she’d noticed a lot of things about her that seemed to improve upon fully embracing her new status as a werewolf. Her hearing had gotten a lot sharper, so listening for danger had become a lot easier. Her sense of smell was also greater, to the point that even as far as the edge of the far fields she could still smell the fresh baked apple pie scent coming from the kitchen. She lamented the fact such a smell no longer made her mouth water as much as it used to, but at least she hadn’t completely lost a tasted for the family’s namesake fruit, heck it even still tasted good to her, which was better than suddenly finding them disgusting.

Filling up the last of the apple buckets, she re-hitched herself to the cart and began to haul the crop back to the barn once more. At a trotting pace. Sure, it wasn’t as fast as running, but it was faster than walking, and speed had surprisingly become a big part of Applejack’s modus operandi as of late.

But as she arrived at her destination, she noticed Big Mac had suddenly shown up, looking at her curiously. “Somethin’ wrong, brother?” she inquired.

“Your harvestin’ of apples certainly has gone up recently,” commented the stallion. “You sure you’re feelin’ alright? First a period where you’re actin’ all strange like, then all of a sudden you’re at the top of your game? Ah know it’s none of mah business, but you have to admit it does seem a mite suspicious.”

Applejack just smiled. “Mac, Ah told you Ah’m fine. Mah harvestin’ is just improvin’ ‘cause Ah dealt with those problems Ah was talkin about on mah own. Trust me, brother, there’s nothin’ wrong!”

“If you say so,” Big Mac replied before turning and heading off to go milk the cows. Inside his head, the word werewolf continued to blare wildly and loudly in his head, but once again he had little evidence to force a confession. Plus, maybe he’d just been wrong and Applejack was in fact okay. He’d heard from Pinkie it had been a very “private” matter with which Applejack had been having issues, so Big Mac immediately figured out what they’d really been and had to wonder if there was some truth to that claim.

At the same time, Applejack had retreated into the barn and proceeded to start scratching like a dog at some infernal itch that had developed on her side. Thankful that Big Mac hadn’t noticed, she’d allowed herself to give into her new base need just for a second. Afterwards, she stood back up, regained her composure, and stored the apples in the growing surplus in the silo.
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Iron Will looked incredulously at the store before him, “Iron Will is not so sure about this.”

Next to him, a giddy Twilight Sparkle was positively ecstatic, “What are you talking about?! This place certainly will have what you need to catch a werewolf! Plus, we might find other things, too! I’ve always wanted to go inside!”

The unlikely duo found themselves in front of Ponyville’s largest store: Rich’s Barnyard Bargains. Allegedly, this was the place where one could find anything for an extremely low competitive price, as promised by the store’s proprietor Filthy Rich. Despite his name, Mr. Rich was a reasonable pony who believed his prices should be backed up by quality, unlike what practices his main competitor Stall-Mart reportedly engaged in, cutting corners every chance they got to make a quick additional bit or two. That was the reasoning Twilight had used to decide everything Iron Will could get that would aid in his quest to seek the hand of the fair maiden Princess Circe would be from this store.

It had been to either Iron Will’s fortune and/or dismay that Twilight’s biggest reason for helping him find a mythical monster was because it might get him married to a princess. The pony herself having been involved in a similar circumstance involving her brother and Princess Cadance, the ruler of the Crystal Empire. Twilight had turned out to be something of a hopeless romantic once Iron Will had explained his story to her, so now here he found himself staring straight into the face of modern pony commercialism, all in a play to please his nagging parents and get married by slaying an ancient horror which may or may not exist. He just secretly hoped he wasn’t going to end up dead or permanently humiliated at the end of this.

Finally entering the store, the two were subjected to a sight that just screamed “modernism”. Aisles upon aisles of fiberglass were lined up before them, each pathway formed by them having giant signs marked above them that listed the kinds of things they contained. Aisle 3: bread, Aisle 5; eggs, Aisle 17: breaded eggs, etc. Iron Will had never seen so much commercial retail in one place, but then again he usually just had things delivered by mail order to his hotel rooms during his speaking circuits or just bought directly from the local street markets. Superstores like this one were practically unheard of back home, where despite recent adoption of modern technology like telephones many minotaur families lives in the old traditional ways of self-sustenance and small market economics.

“Over here, Iron Will!” called out Twilight, motioning for her new friend to follow. Aisle 57 is where she led him, a veritable paradise of hunting gear. Bear traps, sleeping darts, all kinds of things a pony could use to track down wild game. Or a minotaur.

“Iron Will has to question why ponies would need such gear as this. He was under the assumption they were a rather peaceful society.”

“Oh, don’t worry, ponies usually don’t even come over here I’ll bet” responded Twilight, “a lot of this stuff seems geared more towards large pest control for other species who aren’t as in tune with nature as we ponies are. I bet Fluttershy would pass out if she learned this place even had as much hunting equipment as it does!”

“Iron Will sincerely doubts that,” replied Iron Will. He was serious, the usually quiet pony had told him about her secret weapon, “The Stare” and, in demonstration, had hit him full force with it in an attempt to be more assertive during her trial period in his self-help program. He knew nothing that lay before him in this store could compete with such mind-numbing power as the piercing gaze of that one pony.

Still, he thought as he handled a strange mechanism marked as a “wolf immobilizing device”, Iron Will may not have the same abilities as that pegasus, but these devices should do just fine in its place.
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Tonight was the night, thought Angel Bunny, as he bid his mistress Fluttershy good night. Once he was sure she was asleep upstairs, it was time for him to get to work. Making sure as to not make much noise he hippity-hopped his way all over the house, picking up the materials he would need for his transformation which he had hidden in secret caches all over. Soon, he had everything he required, and setting up shop in the bathroom in front of the sink mirror, he got to work.

First, the battle dress outfit. Having collected all kinds of scraps of fabric from both Fluttershy’s sewing kit and from extremely late night trade sessions with Rarity’s cat Opalesance that saw various foodstuffs traded for cloth bits (that cat would do anything for food that wasn’t the designer brand cat kibble Rarity fed her), Angel got to work in making his uniform. For a bunny that had no prior experience in sewing clothes, he thought he did a fine job in making himself a pair of roomy camo trousers and a matching camo top.

Then, his weapons. While Ponirambo needed nothing but his wings and brute strength to beat into submission the changeling hordes, Angel knew he’d need some firepower to make up for his lack of strength. The armaments were simple enough; a small dart slingshot that fired needles, a pair of reinforced toothpick nunchaku, and a small emergency combat knife for desperate situations. He also crafted himself a pair of reflective goggles to fight off any cockatrice he might encounter in the woods. Ponirambo didn’t need goggles, his stare alone was enough to freeze cockatrice into stone, but as Angel was so hopelessly below the level of badass that was Ponirambo the goggles were a necessity.

Then, the most important detail of all: the beard. Hauling out a 5 oz. piece of charcoal, Angel dirtied his paws as he applied the sacred substance to his face. He couldn’t figure out how to replicate Ponirambo’s ability to have a reserve hoof be able to shoot out of his beard and punch changeling scum in the face, but a fake 5 O’clock shadow made from charcoal was as close as Angel was going to get. Stepping back to get a good look at himself, no longer was he simply Angel Bunny, for he had turned into something more. Faster, craftier, more sexually appealing to all other bunnies everywhere, he had become...Rambun! Fueled by confidence based on his new appearance and weaponry, he quickly made his way out of Fluttershy’s cottage, screaming bloody war cries as he charged off into the Everfree to go kill manticores by the dozens and any changelings that stood in his way.
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Queen Chrysalis stood on her private balcony, looking out at the night that Princess Luna had created, jealous of the younger alicorn’s powers. She had almost had that power for herself, along with Celestia’s and Cadance’s, but she’d overestimated the amount of love left in Shining Armor. As a result, here she was back in her hive castle, nursing her wounds. They’d healed up for the most part, only her wings had been totaled in the crash as she’d landed on some sharp rocks and until a new set grew in she was forced to remain here in the wastelands, plotting revenge.

Then a shrill, extremely high-pitched noise greeted her ears as it came from the far side of where she thought the Everfree Forest was, and she tensed. “Ponirambo!?” she whispered, fear in her voice. She then quickly abandoned the charade and laughed. She knew of the movie, having sent her minions to go steal one of the experimental “televisions” and all the movies available for it. She was a queen, after all, and she only deserved the best in modern technology. Speaking of which, she thought as she turned to re-enter her private quarters, I think I’m in the mood to watch Flight School Musical again…
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The moon was clear and visible in the Equestrian sky, now a half moon. That didn’t matter to Applejack, though. It had been too long since her last run, too long since she let herself truly go wild and all out. Already she could feel herself give in to her lycanthropy, the changes now all taking place simultaneously instead of one-by-one as they had a few days ago, and no pain this time either. In fact, the only pain she felt was her amplified hearing picking up some weird, shrill cry coming from the Everfree Forest, but she paid it no mind as she let the feeling of her inner wolf alter her body once more.

Her transformation finished, breathing with a slight raspiness that belied her wolfish nature, she grinned eagerly with her emerald eyes aglow as she gazed at the bright half-orb in the sky. Tonight was going to be a good running night.

Ch.8: Hunting Legends

Chapter 8: Hunting Legends

Nighttime in the Everfree Forest was both a beautiful and terrifying period of the day within the realm of its trees. On the one hand, the beauty lay in the fireflies and the semi-bioluminescent flowers that lit up the dark interiors of the forest, becoming an almost surreal experience to just walk through. On the other hand, many of the forest’s most dangerous predators, such as the cockatrice and the manticore, came out to play at night and tended to strike on unwary prey who ventured off the beaten path while deep inside the forest.

For Applejack, she only really cared about the former right now. Letting her legs stretch as she sped along the trail with breakneck speed, all the lights looked like blurry streaks in her vision. She wondered if this was what it was like to be a pegasus, racing across the night sky with the stars whizzing by one-by-one. But Applejack had no interest in gaining wings; she thought they’d just make her look weird. That, and her place was on the ground, just a simple earth pony apple farmer who lived with her siblings and grandmother.

Her pace slowed down as her thoughts became more troubled. She knew that, eventually, she’d have to face up to her lies and admit being a werewolf, but it was just that it would have to happen at the right time. When that time could come she didn’t know, but until then everybody she knew would have to be kept in the dark. Her family, friends - she’d even lied in front of the princesses about this. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that the longer they were unaware of the truth, the worse the repercussions. So Applejack kept on running, lost in her thoughts in an endless attempt to escape them.
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“There, that should be the last of ‘em!”

Iron Will stood back to examine his work. He knew very well that he was not going to catch a werewolf tonight. Heck, he didn’t expect to for his entire stay in Ponyville, it didn’t seem like the kind of place werewolves would hang around. The forests around Hollow Shades, Vanhoover, even Baltimare seemed a lot more likely to have evil shape-shifters lurking about.

But that was to be thought about another day. Right now, Iron Will was in Ponyville simply to self-learn how to hunt in general. Since he was a self-help coach, he figured with enough assertiveness and the right gear this whole hunting thing should be pretty easy. Tonight’s goal: a timberwolf. Iron Will had been surprised when Twilight had explained how normal wolves tended to avoid the Everfree Forest, which he also figured applied to werewolves, so timberwolves were the best he had going for him right now in the hunting seminar.

To prepare for catching a timberwolf, iron Will planned to chase one out. He’d set up traps outside one of the entrances to the forest, to be staffed by Willy and Nilly. Iron Will himself would go into the forest, track down a timberwolf, and then chase it out into the traps where his assistants would activate it, immobilizing the wooden canine. At least, that was the plan.

Iron Will, however, was taking no chances. Having donned a full-body latex sneaking suit (apparently Twilight’s friend, Pinkie Pie, kept these things hidden in caches all over the country in case of full-body latex sneaking-suit emergencies), the minotaur was also equipped with the best stealth technology Barnyard Bargains could sell him. Armed with a compartmentalized belt that held various tools he’d need for sneaking around, he also had a super-strength rope that could be used for repelling, and a special pair of night vision goggles that had three green-lensed scopes positioned as if they were the points of a triangle. He was also still wearing the headset, just in case he needed to contact Willy and Nilly at any time for emergencies.

“Alright boys, Iron Will is going in!” he told his allies before he started to walk into the thick underbrush of the woods, beginning his quest to kill a werewolf. Once he had disappeared from view, the two goats just looked at each other before snickering, then collapsing with laughter. While they held high respect for their boss, they honestly didn’t believe this “werewolf hunting” thing was going to turn out well at all. They were still getting paid for this, though, so they didn’t really have anything to complain about if it just meant sitting around and waiting to spring traps. Once recovered from their laughing fit and figuring it would take some time, Willy rummaged through the sack he’d brought and revealed a pack of playing cards. Nilly did the same, except in his hooves was a bottle of Sweet Apple Acres Reserve Cider, which he’d picked up in town while the boss was at Barnyard Bargains, and two tall steins. Filling up the glasses with cider, then toasting to their boss’s fortune, they settled down to play some rounds of Kemps to pass the time.
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Angel “Rambun” Bunny continued to make his long trek through the forest, looking for the poor sod that would become his first kill. Granted, it had been an hour and he probably wasn’t that far from Fluttershy’s cottage, but when all you can really do to cover long distances is hop, there isn’t much that can be done. The fact he hadn’t even found anything larger than a few ants to try and beat into submission was also sort of a downer.

But would Ponirambo give up in the face of these odds? No! And so Angel pressed on in his desire to be like the larger than life action hero of some movie he’d obsessed over. At something approaching one mile an hour speeds.

This is gonna take a while, thought the rabbit, something interesting could at least happ-
It was too fast for the bunny to see, but whatever just came shooting out of the woods hit him mid-jump and sent him flying backwards a few feet into the underbrush before it disappeared back into the woods.

Dazed, Angel shook his head before he got back up, wondering if this whole “Rambun” thing was a good idea after all.
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It took a good few hundred meters for Applejack to come to a stop after something had collided with her face, kicking up dirt as she slowed to a halt. Once stationary, she brushed off her face with a paw before working her features to make sure they were alright. They were.

Now what in tarnation was that? wondered the werewolf. But she quickly lost interest in following that mystery as she decided to resume her run. The rationale for her running was…well, she just felt like it. As she’d never felt the urge to run this much before her change, she reasoned it was a side effect of being a werewolf. But since it didn’t cause nopony no harm, she didn’t see any problem with feeding the need for speed. The Everfree Forest made a good obstacle course, much better than anything the one back on the farm could be configured to. Along with the leaping and the dodging, the terrain was uneven in places and other natural hazards stood in her way. She’d taken care to note patches of Poison Joke while she was mapping out possible courses for these runs on a previous night, back when being partially a wolf was still an unusual feeling. But now…now it was almost second nature.

The thought of that made the wolf pony frown. Sure, she enjoyed these nightly runs, but they were never going to be worth the cost of her identity. She was Applejack, farm pony, element bearer, part of the Apple fam-

She skidded to a stop, the feeling to run unopposed having left. For some reason, the thought of her parents had made her realize she hadn’t visited their graves recently, not since this werewolf business had started. Feeling a bit teary eyed, she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a sorrowful howl before picking herself back up and taking a route back home. She knew what she had to do now.
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Iron Will was a good bit into the forest when he heard the sad howl. It sounded nothing like the quieter howls from earlier; those which Twilight had said were timberwolves. That meant there was another kind of wolf in the woods. If Lady Luck smiled upon him, it might be the fabled werewolf, but Iron Will didn’t hold his breath. He wouldn’t be that fortunate for this business to be over with that quickly; it would have been far too convenient.

Judging the howls to be coming from his right, he immediately took off at a jogging pace to hunt his prize. He took care to note if there were any patches of a flower called “poison joke” which the unicorn had warned him about. According to her, the plants had some kind of magical effect that played “jokes” on those unfortunate enough to come into contact with the flora. Twilight had also said due to a misunderstanding with a zebra that lived in these woods, the unicorn had come into contact with the plant, but what happened was something she declined to go into detail about. Figuring it to be something horrible, the minotaur took every precaution to ensure he didn’t land in the plant or fall victim to the effects himself.

Unfortunately, in his efforts to avoid the plant, he ended up tripping over a sleeping manticore he’d totally not seen and went flying into a tree. A brief second of recovery later and Iron Will found a very grumpy manticore looking right at him, stringer at the ready. But where this may have scared a pony stiff, Iron Will was no pony. He was not one to back down from a wild animal challenging him simply because of an accident. No, this was time to get…assertive.

“If somepony tries to block…” spoke the minotaur, looking his opponent dead in the eye before shouting “…THEN SHOW THEM THAT YOU ROCK!” and striking a flexing pose. The manticore, surprised and confused, backed away as he was unsure what was going on, keeping the stinger in position should the creature try to attack.

Noticing that his posing confused the creature, Iron Will decided to use that to his advantage. Striking another pose and flexing his big manticore muscles, he declared “Treat me as a push over, and I’ll give you the once over!” while slowly moving his feet to gain a better position. This continued for a while, Iron Will keeping the creature at bay with his flexing and catchy one-liners taken straight from his self-help seminars, the manticore just getting more and more confused as to what his creature was doing. It wasn’t attacking, it wasn’t retreating, it was just…dancing?

Then, unexpectedly, the manticore got up on his hind legs…and began to flex his forearms the same way as Iron Will. They say that impersonation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Iron Will was certainly getting an ego boost from inspiring a manticore to go from possibly trying to kill an enemy to now engaging in a flex-off.

His original mission forgotten, Iron Will took to the challenge to prove this upstart monster couldn’t out flex a minotaur. “You call that flexing? Iron Will shall show you what it means to flex!”
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Having given up on hopping, Angel Bunny was now simply walking at a slow pace on the forest floor. No way was he going back to jumping when things could shoot out and send you sailing out of the blue. He wouldn’t have ever admitted it, but that tragic sounding howl (which had felt pretty close by) was also a reason for staying close to the ground, out of fear. Taking out a fake cigarette (a sliver of paper folded up to look like a bunny-sized cigarette), he pretended to light it before putting it in his mouth, the same way Ponirambo did every time he wasn’t beating the crap out of every single thing that moved.

Hearing a commotion in the distance, Angel went to investigate. It looked like a manticore was…dancing…with some other creature. The other presence Angel had a vague recollection about, but it had been so long ago he couldn’t clearly call forth the memory.

He was stunned at what he found. In a small clearing, the manticore and bull-like creature (which for some reason was wearing a wireless headset) were slowly walking in a circle, never turning their backs to each other. Their arms kept on making strange movements, making parts of them bulge out with visible veins, but not in a decidedly gross way. The “cigarette” fell out of Angel’s mouth as his jaw dropped at the strange spectacle. The strange, yet oddly enough extremely entertaining spectacle.

Deciding that the adventures of Rambun could wait, Angel found a small clear spot next to a tree and sat down to watch. Maybe this might break out into a fight, where Angel could then go in and smack the winner with his nun chucks, claiming both creatures as his first two kills. Nopony would know the truth. He just had to be patient.
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Big Mac had heard the howl. Applejack was once again not in her room, the window open and curtains fluttering. Standing in his sister’s doorway, the oldest child of the Apples had come to a silent decision: this would end tonight.

Taking care to not wake Granny or Apple Bloom, the stallion descended to the first floor of the residence to try and find something to keep himself for what he was hoping would not be necessary. The sweat was visible upon his brow as he entered the kitchen, knowing where the tool he sought was contained. Opening one of the cabinet drawers, he found it; a silver bladed knife. It was not the sharpest knife he had access to, but it was not the edge he was concerned about. He’d heard long ago that wolves have some kind of reaction if they come into contact with an object whose composition was mostly made of silver. Big Mac did not know what would happen if a werewolf came into contact with something made one hundred percent of silver, but if things went south tonight, he’d have to make that discovery.

With his weapon stowed, he inhaled deeply to calm his nerves. Please, sis… begged the stallion in his mind, …please don’t make me use this. He then proceeded to exit the house with the intention to save his sister, one way or another.

He never left the property, much to his surprise. He’d feared the worst and decided to use the fence gate that was the nearest to Ponyville, but he found Applejack well before he reached it. There, sitting in front of the gravestones of the Apple parents in the family graveyard, surrounded by roses, was his sister. Thankfully, she didn’t look like a monster, just a regular earth pony. But Big Mac couldn’t be too cautious.

“Ap-Applejack?” he called out.

Her limp ears perking up, she craned her head around to see her brother standing a few yards off. “Oh, hey Big Mac. What are you doin’ up this late?”

“Ah dunno, might have been somethin’ in mah dreams. But whatever it was, it don’t compare to the scare ya gave me when Ah looked in yer room to find it empty with the window open.”

“Oh, right, that. Ah opened it up to get some air into the room, it was feelin’ stuffy and all.”
It was an awkward few minutes as the siblings, one standing, one sitting, said and did nothing. Finally, it was Applejack who broke the silence; “Ah miss ‘em.”

Walking over to where AJ sat, Big Mac joined her in front of the tombstones and embraced her with one of his forelegs. “So do I, sis. So do I.”

Leaning into the warm embrace of her brother, Applejack nuzzled her face into his side before the tears began to fall. The stallion did nothing other than draw her in tighter into the hug, feeling a tear come to his own eyes, but not allowing himself to fail in his duty to be the strong one, to support the rest of his family. He was just glad he didn’t have to use the silver knife he’d kept hidden.

In front of the combined silhouette of brother and sister sat the two tombstones. While most of the deceased residents of Ponyville were buried in the town cemetery, the Apple Family had been one of the founding families and so had set a small plot of the land aside to be where their deceased family members would be laid to rest, covered in the roses planted in the ground. But while most of the tombstones were of the standard slate style, the two Applejack and Big Mac sat in front of were of significantly higher quality than what most people would expect the Apple Family would normally be able to buy. Their inscriptions read:

APPLESEED

Loving Father

CORNFLOWER

Loving Mother

As Applejack and Big Mac sat in front of the twin graves, the final resting places of their parents, they both felt the inclination to look up to the sky. As they did so, a pair of shooting stars flew across Luna’s sky.

“That’s them…” said Applejack,” They’re watchin’ over us, aren’t they?”

“Eeyup,” he replied with warmth.

The pair continued to sit until the shooting stars had long since disappeared into the darkness of the night, before getting up and returning to the Apple homestead, their respects to their parents paid for the time being, and Big Mac being made a little surer that his sister wouldn’t meet the same fate as Appleseed and Cornflower.
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The dark figure had seen the whole thing unfold. As much as he’d wanted to get involved, it had not been the right time anyway, but the fact she and her brother had been honoring their dead was what kept him chained to his machinations.

He was not disappointed; however, in fact he was rather pleased to see respect given to loved ones who had been lost. Granted, he’d been somewhat responsible for their deaths ten years ago in an extremely indirect fashion, but even so he would not raise a paw to interrupt something as sacred as mourning loved ones.

However, the fact she was still so heavily tied to the family she was born to was also delaying things. He could not intervene until her loyalties to her family were to the point of being questioned that she could be swayed. He would resort to…unrefined methods…if he had to when the time was right, but for now he simply needed to wait. He found it amusing that this had been a plan ten years in the making, but only because of that one split-second decision of opportunity. There would be time to carry out the original plan, of course, but that was a given.
Noticing his quarry and her companion leaving the graves, he too slunk back into the woods of the Everfree to await the time to continue the scheme.
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“I’ll get it!” said a drowsy Fluttershy, throwing on a night robe despite the fact she had nothing to cover up before tuning on the lights and opening the door.

What she found was a pair of extremely exhausted individuals. Namely, Iron Will in a scratched up latex sneaking suit, and Angel Bunny on his shoulder looking like he’d gone to war.

“Ohmygosh, what happened!?” inquired a concerned Fluttershy, trying to imagine what could have happened and completely overlooking the fact Angel had been out at night without her permission.

Hazily, Iron Will replied “It’s a loooooooong story, ma’am, one that involves a pack of angry timberwolves, a needle gun, and wolf traps being operated by the most drunken goats who ever lived!”

He then proceeded to pass out, falling right on top of her doorstep. Angel, still on the big guy’s shoulders, went down with him. It was only then Fluttershy noted Iron Will’s two goat partners looking drunk out of their minds and leaning on the fence near her mailbox.

All the poor pegasus could do was raise an eyebrow and go “Wha?”

Ch.9: Revenge of the Bumpuses

Chapter 9: Revenge of the Bumpuses

The moment she woke up, Applejack had a feeling it was going to be a long day. While she had explained her previous behavior as being to blame on the natural functions of a female’s reproductive system, she actually hadn’t had gone through her time of the month. But it appeared to her that karma was making her pay for her lies now, because there was no question about what was going on. Applejack was going through that monthly hell that all females must endure, for real this time.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem for the farm pony. Sure, she generally had the soured attitude and the cramps and other fun things like every other mare, but outside of the general things females felt during that pleasant timespan Applejack tended to get through them okay. What the issue was this time was that she was going to have to grin and bear it like nothing was going on in that spot between her hind legs. She couldn’t dare make it obvious to anypony else, especially her friends since them seeing her tense up from “those” cramps would expose those lies and she really did not want to try making up another explanation while going through the joys of marehood.

Crawling out of bed, the suffering mare did her best to clean herself up and get ready for the day. Hopefully, she wouldn’t need to go into town for at least the rest of the week. Her friends would be worried, certainly, but there Applejack could hide behind the mountain of work needing to be done on the farm and just avoid telling the real story instead of inventing lies. Frankly, she was still amazed they had believed her reasoning about why she’d somehow ended up in a place she truly did not like to eat food she habitually shunned.

Luckily for her, breakfast was a manageable affair, and the taste of apples appeared to at least be holding steady for now and not falling. Unluckily for her, she was informed that Granny needed her to go to the town market to pick up some exotic fruits like lemons and bananas. Already holding a strained smile because Granny had asked AJ right in the middle of a cramp, there was little the poor pony could do but agree. She just prayed that nopony would notice her act.

However, on her way out to Ponyville, her faithful dog Winona had still been sleeping on a nice comfy spot on the ground, and Applejack couldn’t resist taking a moment to rub her pet’s head before continuing on. Winona had enjoyed the feeling, as it woke her up, but the moment Applejack moved on the dog smelled something extremely alarming. The only problem was it appeared to be coming from Applejack, but concerning what Winona thought the smell was it was an impossible truth. As the smell was fading, Winona just shook her head and decided to say good morning to the rest of the Apple Family. She was the only dog in town Applejack would not be trying to run from by the end of the day.
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“Thank you for the tea, Miss Fluttershy, it is extremely delicious!”

Iron Will took another sip of the tea the yellow pegasus had put out for him and his assistants. It was very, very good. Which was something Iron Will had very badly needed considering how far south last night’s little hunting expedition had gone.

“So, um, if it’s not too much to ask…” began Fluttershy, worried that the minotaur would suddenly launch into another one of his self-help speeches or slogans.

“Let me guess, you want to know why Iron Will, his assistants, and that bunny showed up at your door last night and needed you to bandage them up?” replied Iron Will. Indeed, while injuries from the untold event had been minor, there had still been plenty of cuts and bruises that needed some TLC from the hospitable mare all around.

“Well, yes, pretty much.”

Readjusting his posture for a better position, Iron Will launched into a very embellished tale about how after besting a manticore with his bare hands in single combat, he allied himself with the bunny who had been watching and together the two launched into battle against a rabid pack of timberwolves who had magically appeared. After defeating all of them, the victorious duo had left the forest to find Willy and nilly already drunk in celebration, and together they all went to Fluttershy’s cottage as they had expelled too much energy to make it back to the hotel.

In reality, the only true part was Iron Will besting the manticore, and it was mostly out of sheer dumb luck as the manticore ended up punching itself in the face while trying to copy Iron Will. The moment the manticore was down for the count, Angel as “Rambun” immediately launched himself at Iron Will, attaching himself to the minotaur’s face and repeatedly trying to beat him into submission with the nunchucks. It was a vain attempt, as the muscular half-bovine just pulled the raging rabbit off his face and was probably going to crush Angel with one hand when both of them realized the circle of timberwolves that had shown up and surrounded them, attracted by the commotion. Making an emergency truce, the two then engaged a seemingly infinite number of wooden wolves. Angel for his part actually fared decently, his small size and liberal use of the needle gun helping keep off the giant lumbering lycans when he wasn’t trying to kick them in the snout. Iron Will was also fairly handy, his tough muscular build proving impervious to any deep wounds and giant hands crippling many an enemy by simply crushing their limbs into splinters. But in the end the tow had to retreat in the face of even more timberwolves and eventually found themselves at “base camp” where Willy and Nilly appeared to be trying to sing some kind of bar room dirge, an empty bottle of high grade alcohol near them. They quickly snapped out of their drunken stupor long enough to realize the approaching onslaught of wolves, and the group ran for their lives (except Angel, who had taken to being on IW’s shoulder) lest they become timberwolf chow. Fluttershy’s cottage was the closest thing they could find to shelter, but the wolves had long since given up the hunt by the time they reached her residence.

Fluttershy, for her part, might not see things as clearly as others, but even the heavy embellishment of the minotaur’s story didn’t cover the fact Angel obviously had gotten the inspiration to go all one-bunny army from Ponirambo, which in turn answered why the pegasus had kept finding it in the VCR. After giving Angel a very telling dose of The Stare to let him know just how much he was in trouble, she turned to Iron Will and asked “But that still doesn’t explain why you were in the forest.”

“Ah, yes, that. Iron Will was in the forest so he could hunt werewolves.”

“W-werewolves?!” cried Fluttershy. While she did not relish her memories of Flight Camp, she somehow never could get them out of her head in full clarity. The mention of werewolves brought back a somewhat not-so-traumatic memory of when Rainbow Dash had been going on about some kind of creature that was a pony by day, but at night was a filly-eating wolf monster. She was not comfortable with the idea that Iron Will, who even now still intimidated her, was now hunting them for some reason.

Completely oblivious to his host’s reaction, Iron Will continued on, “Yeah, it’s part of an ancient mate finding ritual we minotaurs have, and the male who first brings a werewolf’s corpse to the king will be engaged to the princess as well as given a dukedom. Personally, while Iron Will doesn’t mind becoming somepony everypony should know, this whole thing is really just so his parents will get off his back for doing what he loves instead, which is motivational speaking to help others be more assertive.”

He then realized just who his host was. Shocked, he made a rare switch to addressing himself in the first person; “Oh, right, you got to experience my self-help first hand. Look, that whole payment thing is beneath us, right? I’m sorry if you’ve been worried the whole reason I’m even here is to try and get you to pay for something you didn’t like.”

Visibly, Fluttershy indicated she had no such thoughts whatsoever. Internally, she mentally took a sigh of relief, because the possibility he wanted to still be paid had been very present in her mind. It was, ironically, the minotaur’s own assertiveness training that helped her keep up appearances.

Pleased that the pegasus didn’t think he was grubbing for money, he slipped back to third person, “Good! Anyway, Iron Will didn’t expect to actually find any werewolves here in the Everfree, so last night was meant to be a practice run in hunting some timberwolves. Which is ironic, come to think of it, considering the whole plan involved leading those things back to where Iron Will came in so they could fall into traps.”

“Wait,” interrupted the animal caretaker, “if you had traps set out for the timberwolves and led them into it, but afterwards you four came here instead of tending to the traps…what happened to the timberwolves in those traps?”

A short distance away, some timberwolves had grown tired of trying to escape from the traps they’d unluckily fallen into and now lazed around waiting for somebody to come and release them. Some of them were even chatting with each other in the language only known to timberwolves;

“So, Barkley, when do you think we’re gonna get let loose from these things?

“Beats me, Birch. Maybe running those weirdoes off wasn’t that smart an idea seeing as how we’ve been trapped here for hours.”

They didn’t have long to wait, as at that moment a very determined Fluttershy landed in front of them, leaving a very surprised Iron Will back at her cottage only seconds before.
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As Sandalwood made her way around the market, she marveled at the quality of the local goods. While most of it was produce, there were some handicraft stalls with wares originating outside Ponyville and sometimes even Equestria itself. Oh, how she wished she could spoil herself a little and buy some of the fancy wall decorations from a vendor who appeared to originate from Saddle Arabia. Alas, she could not, for while she had decided to live in Ponyville due to the surprising and lucrative demand for her aromatherapy services at the spa, she was still living out of a suitcase in a hotel room. The housing market in Ponyville had jumped between her initial research and actually arriving at the town (something about property values going up due to how it was where the element bearers all lived), so she’d have to live without the comforts of a place to herself for a little while longer until she could-

“Hey, Sandalwood!”

Turning to see the source of the voice, she found herself face to face with Lyra, her partner in crime when it came to the human conspiracy scene. “Hey, Lyra, what are you doing here?”

“Not much, just looking for decorations to put up in my room.”

“Lucky” mock-grumbled Sandalwood, “at least you have a room to decorate, I’m still stuck in a hotel until something opens up here in town.”

“Really, you don’t have a place of your own? I’m sure there’s plenty of homes in the eastern section of town that-“

“No, Lyra, the problem isn’t availability, it’s the pricing! I’m still a few bits short of being able to put a down payment on anything.” As if to illustrate her point, Sandalwood dramatically took some bitcoins from her purse and shook them in front of Lyra before unceremoniously dropping them back into the dark unknown.

“Actually, I may know something that could help you out until then.” Seeing Sandalwood’s face perk up, Lyra took it as a cue to continue. “Bon-Bon’s told me that she wants to move out and get her own place with Chocolate Chip, he proposed to her not too long ago so I expect they’ll want some ‘private together time’ if you know what I mean. Since that leaves me with half a flat being unused I’d be more than happy to share the rent with you.”

“That sounds great! Although I wouldn’t be surprised if she just kicks you out instead as payback for all the insanity you’ve caused her over the years.”

Acting as if Sandalwood just slapped her, Lyra overdramatically exclaimed “How could you even imply such a thing?! You know very well Bonnie and I are so madly in love with each other that the fact you even think we could be split up is just…ah!”

Sandalwood couldn’t help but crack up at Lyra’s theatrics, sputtering out “What, does Chocolate Chip like threesomes or something?” This in turn got Lyra into a giggling fit, both mares ending up having to hold each other for support.

It was then Sandalwood smelled it. As an aromatherapist, she generally had a much better sense of smell than the average pony. While it was an invaluable asset for her profession, it also had some side effects of amplifying bad smells to a degree most ponies were blessed to never be able to experience. But it also sometimes picked up smells ponies normally shouldn’t ever be able to detect, which is what alerted her to the developing situation as she tried to find the source from where the offending scent originated.

“Hey, Lyra, why is Mayor Mare’s dog following Applejack?”

Still guffawing at her own implied lesbianism, Lyra turned to see what Sandalwood was talking about. “I dunno, but that certainly is weird. Actually, I don’t think it’s just the mayor’s dog following her…”

Indeed, as the two ponies watched the orange mare make her way through the market, she was for some reason being followed by a growing assembly of dogs from all over town.
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This had to be the strangest trip to the market Applejack had ever taken. She was far from oblivious to the pack of hounds following her, but initially it had just been a few of them, so choosing ignorance the Stetson-wearing pony continued her business of grocery shopping for Granny. Then the group of dogs got bigger. And bigger. And most noticeably all of them were male. Now concerned as to why she was being followed by almost every male dog in town, her “special” complications now completely insignificant in comparison, she seemed to be spending more time looking behind her at the mobile dog display seemingly drawn by magnets to her every movement instead of examining food.

It was also getting the attention of all the other ponies in the marketplace, as everything seemed to just grind to a halt either from just gawking or the gang of mutts pushing their way through ponies in their way. Applejack could feel a nagging sensation slowly build up from all the attention, probably another side effect from being a werewolf as attention to her for a long period of time was not good. She’d so hoped this day would have not involved being the center of attention, but now every pony and every dog in the area was focused on her. Reaching the final vendor and quickly snatching up some cherries and just dumping the exact total in front of the confused vendor, Applejack was ready to leave the market…

…when she came face to face with yet another group of dogs from all over town. Except here they were all female. And very clearly angry at the pony for some reason. For a few tense seconds, not a soul dared to move, pony or canine, as the herd of female hounds drilled into the worried Applejack with their stares. Then as if controlled by a single entity, the entire group of them charged forward in attack.

Out in public, Applejack had to fight hard not to reveal her own canine side, but that didn’t stop her from bolting the hell out of there with her saddlebags flapping all about. Some food was probably not going to make it intact like the bananas, but Applejack would gladly buy replacements with her own spending money for Granny if need be as her top concern right now was escape. For now it wasn’t just the females who surged forward but the males as well, drawn to Applejack for reasons she couldn’t fathom while she concentrated on just trying to lose them.

As Applejack ran off towards the center of town, Lyra and Sandalwood just stood in confusion like all the other ponies still in the market at what just happened. Then the two mares looked at each other with knowing smiles as they ran off to their own goal. Nopony noticed, all of them still recovering from one of the strangest events in recent Ponyville history - recent meaning since the previous week, anyway.
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Rainbow Dash was among the ponies who didn’t comprehend what was happening. She’d been on her way to the library to return Daring Do and the Philosopher’s Legacy (a book she thought more than made up for the failure that was the previous novel) when she spied a familiar orange blur racing through Ponyville and being followed by every single dog in town save, ironically, Applejack’s own dog Winona.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Rainbow pulled a few aerial maneuvers until she was able to fly up to her athletic rival and maintain speed in order to converse.

“Applejack, what in Equestria are you-“

“No time to talk! Get Fluttershy! Maybe she’ll sort this out somehow!”

Sensing the desperation in the earth pony’s voice, Rainbow immediately gained altitude and flew off to Fluttershy. Applejack had to figure that if there was anypony who could stop this mess, it was Fluttershy.

However, the sound of an engine rumble suddenly made itself heard, along with the sound of two shouting mares coming from behind Applejack. As the farmer turned onto Ponyville’s widest road with the entire canine population of the town proper giving chase, the mysterious machine came into view.

“Applejack, get on!” shouted Sandalwood, who was at the front of the machine. Applejack immediately recognized it as matching the rough description of a car as told through Apple Bloom, but unlike the ramshackle wreck still in the Apple Family barn this car was much more built up. It looked nothing like a cart, with four rubber-treaded wheels propelling the creation forward while the goggles-wearing Sandalwood was in what appeared to be the driver’s seat, clutching the steering wheel. As the vehicle came further into view, Applejack could make out Lyra in the back, powering the engine with her magic.

Great, thought Applejack, it’s that cider making machine back for revenge!

But with the dogs gaining, and the road’s end fork rapidly approaching, there was no choice for Applejack. With a combination of rodeo training and werewolf-granted reflexes, she leaped from the street and towards the car. She almost didn’t make it, landing on the back panel of the vehicle and would have slipped off had Lyra not caught her with telekinesis and sat her down in the front seat with Sandalwood.

“Wh-what is this thing?!” shouted Applejack, not feeling completely safe in an unknown machine distantly related to two things that had caused her nothing but trouble.

“This is the car your sister and friends tried to replicate!” Sandalwood shouted back, a bit of pride in her voice, before suddenly turning the wheel hard to the right. Responding immediately, the car made the turn at the fork and was heading down a much narrower road, big enough for the vehicle but small enough that the ensemble of canines was suddenly being forced through a choke point.

“And now to test my theory!” declared the aromatherapist before giving a hoof gesture to Lyra. Having received the message, the unicorn then triggered a hinged trough attached to the back of the vehicle. A mix of stinkweed, bog myrtle, and lilacs spilled out into the street behind the car just in time for it to meet the approaching wave of dogs. The strange smelling mix had an immediate effect, as the dogs were now seemingly blindsided and the few stragglers slowly peeled off their pursuit as whatever they were chasing that involved Applejack was now lost to them.

“Ah don’t know what ya’ll did, but Ah thank ya for it!” said Applejack, relieved that.

“Don’t thank us yet, you still need to explain what the hell just happened back there!” replied Sandalwood.

“But Ah don’t know what-“

“Then you know something connected to what just happened, because if my guess is correct, and I know it is because that ‘aroma bomb’ Lyra dropped back there worked, there’s something very wrong going on with you and for the sake of my olfactory sensors I’m going to find out what it is!”

Applejack could only gulp in worry as her rescuers-turned-captors drove their vehicle off to a location that the farm pony really did not want to go.
______________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy was horrified at the scene Rainbow led her to. Everywhere there were dogs along the street, most of them looking confused and forlorn with some rubbing their noses like something was agitating their ability to smell, while the majority of the females just looked like they were dumped by their boyfriends. As she landed to immediately survey the situation, she had to ask “what exactly happened here?”

All Rainbow could do was shrug, “I dunno, before I went to fetch you it was just Applejack running down this street with the entire mutt population in town giving chase. Even AJ didn’t know what was going on.”

Fluttershy did not give an immediate response as she began to tend to the dogs. For the most part they were all fine, just exhausted from having run so hard. But it was the ones who had something wrong with their noses that got Fluttershy’s attention. Calling upon her unique powers of animal communication beyond what normal ponies could accomplish, she learned that the male dogs had been chasing some kind of alluring scent. The female dogs had also smelled it, but had instead found it disgusting and “problematic”, the exact rationale of what problems the smell caused them remained unclear.

Or at least it had until Fluttershy detected the “aroma bomb” down the street. While the dumped pile from the car had fallen to pieces, as to not leave a giant pile of environmental waste in a public walkway, the odd smell lingered. Taking in a good sniff, Fluttershy had to wonder why this specific mix was needed as it was apparently designed to negate a certain other smell. But having unknowingly reached the same conclusion as Sandalwood through means of animal knowledge, Fluttershy couldn’t make sense of what seemed to be the truth.

RD swooped down to land next to her fillyhood friend, “Fluttershy, do you have any clue what happened here?”

Strangely, the normally timid pegasus looked at her rainbow hued counterpart dead in the eyes as she replied, “I…I think I do, but it just doesn’t make sense. Because between the scent still lingering here and what the dogs told me, the whole chase was due to the male dogs thinking Applejack was…”
______________________________________________________________________________

“…pumping out dog pheromones!”

Both Lyra and Applejack had to step back in confusion and shock. Their current location was the shed Lyra had converted into a garage in which to construct the car, where the trio had arrived through a back way as to avoid crowds. But the moment the garage was closed to the outside world, Sandalwood immediately pressed questions to Applejack.

“Ah’m doin what now?”

“You heard me: dog pheromones. I couldn’t be sure when I first smelled them back at the market, but I made that quick little concoction of plants to be dumped and specifically block out that scent to those dogs. Doesn’t work on ponies, sadly, since I can still smell them and from here I can most certainly say they are coming from you. Those dogs were chasing you because they thought you were, to put it bluntly, a bitch in heat!”

“I actually think I’m going to side with Applejack here in wondering just what are you talking about?!” interjected a very confused Lyra, “I think I’m just having a problem where you’re implying a mare is somehow producing the stuff that tells the males of a completely different species that she wants to screw them, because that’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever heard! And I’ve heard strange - I believe in humans for Celestia’s sake!”

“Well I think they’re real, too, Lyra, and I know my theory sounds weird, but on top of everything else AJ here was done recently it’s pointing to something not being right about her.”

Applejack was about to try and reply, but Sandalwood looked her dead in the eye and silenced her before going in for the kill; “Ever since your recovery from that bite, you’ve demonstrated some extremely unusual behaviors. One; you easily fly off the hook and pin me to the wall at the spa with intentions to try and strangle me even though Rarity tells me you usually aren’t known for your anger, two; whatever you were momentarily distracted by at The Bannered Mare was most certainly NOT that chocolate mousse cake even though it was delicious, three; you somehow end up consuming half of a BLT at the Meatery even though you’re clearly not a meat eater, and four; you’re somehow pumping out chemicals that are inviting every male dog in the town to come and try to impregnate you with ample evidence to prove this despite how impossible that sounds. I’m also certain there are other signs as well that I either haven’t noticed or haven’t been around to notice, but what I’ve said should be enough to prove something is wrong with you Applejack, and you’re trying to hide it, aren’t you?”

Lyra just looked at Sandalwood with an expression best described as a mix between skeptical and having her jaw hit the floor. Applejack, on the other hand, was sweating up a storm and rapidly looking between Sandalwood and Lyra. There had to be some way out of this, some way she could-

No, she thought, Ah can’t hide it from them, Sandalwood already has me figured out already more or less.

Taking a sigh of defeat, Applejack looked at Lyra and Sandalwood with downcast eyes, pleading “Alright Sandalwood, you win. But please, what Ah’m about to reveal to you two, do not tell anypony else, Ah beg of you. Especially mah family and the bearers, Ah’ll tell them when Ah feel the time is right, but they can’t know, not yet.”

Lyra and Sandalwood looked at each other before sharing a nod and looking back at Applejack. “Alright,” spoke Sandalwood, “we promise not to tell anypony else.”

“Ah want you two to Pinkie Promise.”

Sandalwood raised an eyebrow, “Pinkie Promise? The hell is tha-“ Lyra had come over and began to whisper into Sandalwood’s ear, the sign of clarification and understanding evident on the tan pony’s face. “Oh, so that’s a Pinkie Promise, okay. *ahem*Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye”. Lyra followed suit with her own Pinkie Promise.

Satisfied, Applejack braced herself for her first transformation in front of other ponies. “Alright, ya’ll might wanna be sittin’ down fer this…”

Lyra sat down immediately; she’d seen enough crazy shit involving anypony who was a bearer of an Element to heed their warnings. Sandalwood was more skeptical; “Don’t worry, I think I’ll be-WHAT THE FU-?!”

Neither Sandalwood nor Lyra could have prepared to see what was occurring before them. From their point of view, Applejack was somehow physically morphing herself in ways foreign to pony understanding from her regular form as a pony into something that still somewhat resembled a pony, but was clearly also very wolf like in appearance. The shock caused Sandalwood to trip in the process of backpedalling, landing on her keister while still scrambling to get as far away as she could.

The silence was so thick it could be cut with a knife once the transformation was done. Lyra and Sandalwood were still trying to comprehend that a real, living legend had just occurred before them. Werewolves were the stuff of myths, of stories told to tell kids, but they weren’t supposed to exist. Yet here was one now, Applejack having explained everything about her odd behavior in one fell swoop while raising so many more.

Then, in a slightly raspier but still very distinctly accented voice, the creature spoke;

“Ah said ya should have been sittin’ for that, Sandalwood.”

Ch.10: Protein and Perfume

Chapter 10: Protein and Perfume

If there was anything Applejack stood to have gained from revealing she was a werewolf to the two ponies in front of her, it was that she could slightly breathe easier about the whole thing. Sure, it was only letting in two ponies in on the secret, and neither of them were among her five closest friends, but it was a start.

“Th-this isn’t a joke, is it?” Lyra asked shakily, her perceptions of reality shattered after watching something out of her foalhood nightmares emerge from where Applejack had been standing just moments before. “Y-you’re actually a…a…”

“Werewolf? Ah’m pretty sure that’s what Ah am. What else could Ah be, a giant fat were-rabbit or somethin’?” replied Applejack with a toothy grin at her own joke to try and lighten the mood. Unfortunately, she’d forgotten her teeth became significantly scarier looking while in wolf form, so the attempt at humor was lost in the normal ponies just getting freaked out again.

While Lyra’s reaction to the teeth made her lose her voice, Sandalwood managed to find the ability to talk: “Is…is that whole transformation thing like, controllable, or something?”

“Ah think, usually Ah try and hold off on this until nighttime when Ah can let this side of me out without anypony knowin’. Ya’ll are the first ponies I’ve done that in front of, namely ‘cause Ah doubt ya’ll would’ve believed me if Ah’d told it straight up.”

“Okay, that’s…good, I guess. Erm, do you mind turning back to the pony you usually are? To be honest I’m trying really hard not to scream because it looks like a wolf is going to kill us.”

“What are ya…oh, right, sorry,” apologized the werewolf, immediately retracting her form back to that of the farm mare. While still extremely freaky and unnatural looking to Sandalwood and Lyra, the reverse wasn’t as horrifying as the first and the end result was much easier on the natural instincts.

But the truth was there, and both Lyra and Sandalwood glanced at each other nervously. They were now sworn into keeping a secret that, despite what could be presumed to be Applejack’s best intentions to keep herself on a collar, could end up destroying the town if not all of Equestria with a werewolf epidemic. But because they’d Pinkie Promised, they had no choice but to help Applejack keep her lycanthropy a secret from the entire town.

It was then Applejack’s stomach growled loudly, causing her to sit down on the floor out of hunger. Lyra then spoke, out of sheer curiosity: “So, um, as a werewolf, do you still eat like a pony or are the stories true in that you can only-“

“Ah’m not gonna eat ya, if that’s what you’re askin’!” Applejack snapped, her grouchiness due to the one issue she was having which wasn’t related to being a werewolf. “For yer information, Ah can still eat like a regular pony, but recently this whole werewolf thing has expanded mah tastes to include…” she trailed off at the end, unsure of how to word it.

Sandalwood, however, figured it out immediately; “The incident at The Meatery…you were drawn there because you were developing a taste for meat, but didn’t know it until too late, right?”

Applejack nodded sadly, “Ah guess, the whole thing is kinda fuzzy in mah head, all Ah can remember is that burger. Normally Ah don’t go anywhere near that kind of stuff, but just thinkin’ about that burger and how delicious Ah thought it was…let’s just say mah current hunger situation isn’t bein’ helped.”

To both Sandalwood and AJ’s surprise, Lyra seemed to perk up at what was being implied when she asked “You probably haven’t been able to have meat recently and could really go for some right now, couldn’t you?”

“Please don’t tease me about this, Ah haven’t had meat in a long while and it feels like Ah’m starving mahself to death despite trying to eat like Ah regularly used to an’ all…”

“I’m not teasing, Applejack, I just wanted to know. You two give me a moment; I might have something that could help you out.” Lyra then exited the converted shed to fetch whatever it was she was talking about

“Wait, Lyra eats meat?” asked Applejack to Sandalwood, worried that this human obsession of Lyra’s might have gone too far.

“Beats me, though if she does it would be a good thing to know since now I’m probably moving in with her soon,” answered Sandalwood, now concerned about her future housing plans.
______________________________________________________________________________

At an impromptu meeting of friends at Golden Oaks, Twilight Sparkle was of the opinion Fluttershy had either gone insane or accidentally eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms. “Fluttershy, Applejack can’t have been emitting dog pheromones, it’s biologically impossible!”

Standing her ground, mostly out of concern for Applejack possibly undergoing a crisis of species association (to which she was far more accurate than she could have known at the time), Fluttershy was insistent on her points: “I never said Applejack was giving off those kinds of things, but whatever is going on with her somehow made the dogs think she was. Only problem is that I don’t know what else could have caused every dog in town to give chase unless they thought she was in he-“

“Oh, for Celestia’s sake Fluttershy!” said Rarity, cutting Fluttershy off, “Even though we don’t know what’s going on with Applejack, we shouldn’t be implying she’s lost control of her body such that it is somehow resorting to mating habits from before the creation of Equestria and is sending out signals to dogs to come around and, um, ‘get to know’ her hindquarters.”

Pinkie Pie, as usual, appeared to have no grasp about what anything was being discussed beyond simply “Applejack was chased by a horde of hounds through town,” instead throwing out her own wild theories such as; “Ooh! Ooh! Maybe the dogs just wanted to imitate Applejack by trying to herd her around town?”

Twilight, well accustomed to Pinkie’s antics, didn’t even bother looking at the hopping pony as she responded with a flat, “Not likely. Applejack is well-experienced with herding and would have tried to lure the dogs out of town for such an event, anyway.”

“And she certainly didn’t seem to know what was going on!” interjected Rainbow. “I know that all I saw was Applejack running as fast as she could and away from the giant mass of dog going after her at roughly the same speed, if not a little faster. When Fluttershy and I came back, only the dogs were there and a large, scattered mess of various kinds of plants.”

“From the way the dogs were acting, it was like the plants were intentionally dumped there to cover some kind of smell. They were rubbing their noses like they couldn’t use them at all,” Fluttershy added.

Twilight groaned. “This is getting us nowhere. We probably should figure out what happened to Applejack and get the answer from her, though I have a sneaking suspicion she’s been trying to hide something from us.”

“How can you imply such a thing, Twilight?!” cried Rarity, overdramatic as usual. “You know how bad she is at lying - her status as the Element of Honesty notwithstanding - but what on Earth could she be trying to hide from us now? It’s certainly not as bad as the time she just up and took a job at a cherry sorting factory because she couldn’t come home without the money she promised the mayor.”

“Do you have any other explanations for Applejack’s strange behavior now being topped off by every dog in town getting the hots for her?”

“Well, um…no, not really.”

“Thought so,” Twilight said with a grin, although the self-appreciative humor she had did little to reduce the fears of what truly could be cause for her friend’s strange incidents.
______________________________________________________________________________

“What is that?!” asked a very disgusted Sandalwood. Lyra had returned, levitating what looked like a brown disc of…something… and encased inside a bun. Two such discs, actually. There was also a very healthy amount of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and reddish-brown strips inside the strange sandwich. Evidence of a very small bite having been taken of the assumed food-type thing was also visible.

“This, Sandalwood, is a double bacon cheeseburger. I got it from The Meatery some time ago, delivered and all ‘cause I didn’t want to go all the way out there. From my research, humans apparently love these things but I couldn’t even stomach one bite of it, so it’s been chilling in the freezer. Bon-Bon’s been wanting me to get rid of it, but I figure it’s still good to eat once I warm it up with a heating spell.”

Sandalwood could feel her lunch trying to come up when she moaned, “That has got to be the most gut-wrenching thing I’ve -*HURK* ever seen! Just looking at it is mak-*URK*-ing me want to…oh Celestia give me a moment!”, quickly dashing off to find a restroom to relieve her innards.

Applejack, in contrast, stared at the burger as if hypnotized by it, drool coming out of her mouth. “Is…Is that fer me?”

Lyra nodded as she lit the meaty masterpiece up with her magic, warming it up, before putting it back on the plate. “I think you better eat it before poor Sandy gets back, or else she might end up tossing yesterday’s lunch as well.”

Within seconds Applejack was greedily chowing down on the double bacon cheeseburger. She was trying to be polite about it and not gorge herself like a pig in a trough, but here the fight against werewolf instincts was not in her favor and she wolfed it down, noisily and more than a bit disturbingly. Lyra had to look away. She knew Applejack wasn’t purposefully being this…animalistic…in eating but it was still unnerving.

“Oh, that was soooo good,” said the now sated werewolf, smacking her lips until she remembered where she was, “Uh, sorry…”

Just happy both Applejack’s immediate meat problem and disposing of what Bon-Bon called “the thing living in the freezer”, Lyra just gave the embarrassed earth pony a small smile “No biggie, I’m sure this werewolf thing is actually harder than you make it look. Now if I was a werewolf? I’d probably still be freaking out.”

“Has that disgusting thing been removed yet?” called out Sandalwood from behind the door leading into the adjoining flat.

“Yes, the offending foodstuffs has been consumed, it is safe to enter!” answered Lyra, prompting her future housemate candidate to re-enter the garage.

“Lyra, I’m not moving in here if there are more of those, just so you know!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sticking with tofu burgers. I’m not sure that if I was even human I could handle a diet of meat. Although if you think about it, we as an equine species should be able to eat meat, being that we’re technically omnivores and if the meat was sufficiently ground up enough that-”

“I’m not sure how you even managed to take a bite out of that thing! No way am I making something that vomit-inducing take a spot on my favorite foods list! Seriously, you’d have to be some kind of barbaric, savage monster to even like consuming-“

“Excuse me?!” interrupted the insulted werewolf.

Sandalwood then remembered why they all were in the garage in the first place and promptly apologized for indirectly calling Applejack a barbaric, savage monster for reasons beyond the orange mare’s control. Applejack easily forgave, but the truth was in Sandalwood’s words.

“Ah know you didn’t mean it, but ya’ll obviously know what werewolves are like, an’ that’s exactly what Ah’m trying to avoid. Originally Ah thought Ah’d gotten these new, weird habits of mine under control once Ah knew the truth, but as that scene out in town proved Ah possibly am just tryin’ to be normal fer a lost cause or somethin’.”

“What? That’s horseshit and you know it, of all ponies!” declared Sandalwood. “I may still be new to Ponyville, but I know enough about the exploits of you and those five friends of yours to safely say any idea about you not beating this is well and truly wrong! You’re known for being the toughest and the most dependable of the group everypony in Equestria has nicknamed the “Mane Six,” giving up has never been an option for you, so why now?”

“Ya don’t understand, this whole werewolf thing can’t be cu-“

“Yeah, yeah, the whole ‘incurable curse’ or something like that. Read the book, watched the crappy movie, been there and done that. But don’t think of it as some kind of disease. Sure, it will bring about a lot of complications, I don’t even know how you’ll work out getting enough meat to satisfy those carnivorous tendencies, but you can keep this under control. Consider it a disability, of sorts, except I’m sure there are some benefits that go along with the downsides unlike most disabilities like a missing leg or being deaf. But the point is; you’re an Apple, and after everything I’ve heard your side of the family has had to go through a lot, yet you always end up recovering. How is this any different besides being a slightly taller hurdle for you to jump over?”

Applejack had to admit, Sandalwood had a point. Being a werewolf was going to be harder than she’d initially thought that night at Castle Everfree, but it could be manageable. At the very least Applejack had her sense of identity, unlike that one time Discord reversed it so she always lied. Only thing worse than that would be her cutie mark getting switched so she was doing something requiring talents she didn’t have, like making dresses or understanding high fashion.

“Yer right, Ah guess. But Ah don’t know if Ah can keep this a secret for long, Ah’ve already had to tell you two, how much longer until somepony else finds out and alerts the town? Ah can’t even walk around town right now, ‘cause apparently every dog in town either hates mah guts or wants to marry me!”

“Oh, I think I can help you with that. We just need to get to the spa without attracting attention, good thing it’s close by,” Sandalwood answered, a sly smile growing on her face.

“What’s that supposed to mean, exactly?” inquired a now worried Applejack. Her worry only increased when a similar smile appeared on Lyra’s face as the mint colored unicorn made it clear what was about to happen;

“Don’t worry, Applejack, I’m pretty sure you just got yourself a free aromatherapy session.”

Words could not describe how low Applejack’s heart sank. This was not going to end well for her one way or another.
______________________________________________________________________________

Two hours later, the rest of the “Mane Six” had split up and were looking for their lost friend. So far no progress had been made, which was somewhat concerning, but regardless they pressed on.

Rarity, naturally, decided two hours of trotting around town was enough reason to go get a quick hooficure at the spa. While she was there, she could ask Lotus or Aloe if they’d seen Applejack anywhere. She would have also asked Sandalwood but today was her day off, which was a bit of a disappointment as she and Applejack seemed to be getting along quite well and the aromatherapist would have been the most likely of the spa ponies to know the location of the apple farmer.

Hmm, now there’s an idea, getting Applejack to try out one of these aromatherapy sessions, thought Rarity, Sandalwood knows how to make the whole thing simply divine and I bet after all Applejack’s been though she could use one.

So imagine her surprise as none other than Applejack was walking out of the spa, looking around as if she didn’t want to be followed, and then putting on the most fake smile possible when she realized Rarity was coming towards her.

“Applejack, there you are! You’ve had everpony worried sick after that whole thing with the dog chasing!”

“Ah, uh, did Ah now? Well, er, didn’t mean to cause a fuss.”

“Of course you didn’t, darling. But now that I’ve found you we need to…” Rarity then sniffed the air, “Are you wearing Chattelle No. 50? When did you of all ponies start wearing top-tier perfumes?”

Applejack blanched. Of all the ponies who could have found her it had to be the one who knew the most about perfumes. Fancy ones at that. While the work mare usually didn’t mind perfumes, she had a special distaste for Chattelle No. 50 because it had been her mother’s favorite, and after the tragedy that claimed the apple parents the heartbroken filly couldn’t bear being anywhere near that specific perfume because of the memories it brought up. As an adult mare Applejack found the memories weren’t as bad, but Chattelle No. 50 was the one Sandalwood insisted would help cover up the smell of whatever it was Applejack’s body was doing to attract dogs.

“Sandalwood suggested Ah should try wearin’ some, ‘cause, er…”

"Oh, you don’t need to tell me, Applejack, I can already tell why. So...who's the stallion you got your eye on? Don't worry at all, darling, I'll be sure to be discreet."

In addition to the personal problems Applejack had with “Number 50,” the perfume carried one other social trait that was born simply out of how upper-class it was treated. When not worn by a married mare, the presence of the perfume implied the wearer wanted to make a very good impression on somepony they were interested in. This was an issue for Applejack, simply because there was nopony she was interested in at the moment.

"Well, uh, Ah’m not wearin’ it for that reason, actually…”

"Oh, really, Applejack, dear, but you can't fool me. So, perhaps, it's a mare you have your eye on, hmmm?"

"Oh for pete's sake, what is it with ya'll thinkin' Ah'm interested in females?!"

It was at that time Sandalwood exited the spa to try and lend some support to the mare who truly was doing a bad job at covering things up. “Oh, hey, Rarity! What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Sandalwood. Applejack here apparently caused some kind of a ruckus in town involving the entire dog population, so the others and I were going around looking for her, and now she tells me that you suggested she wear Chattelle No. 50 but won’t explain why. Maybe you would be willing to help me understand this, strange change in her concern for outwardly impressions, hmm?”

Applejack glanced over at Sandalwood, the pleading for help clear in her eyes, while that big fake grin remained plastered to her face. Mentally,Sandalwood facehoofed, she hadn’t wanted to do this but it was either that or break a Pinkie Promise. And Lyra said breaking Pinkie Promises was just one rank above “die horribly” on the “things not to do EVER list.”

“Actually, she’s not wearing it for that kind of thing. It’s…actually because of a mistake I made.”

“A mistake?” asked Rarity, shocked at this sudden admittance of guilt for something, “But darling, your skills with perfumes and scents is unmatched! Whatever are you talking about, ‘making a mistake’ with those amazing talents of yours?”

“I asked Applejack here to come help me with an experimental new concoction that I could add to my inventory. However, while my cutie mark says I’m good with using scents and other aromatherapy materials, it doesn’t mean I’m a good alchemist. That whole business with the dogs? They thought they smelled natural dog hormones, the kind that signal when a female dog is in heat, but really it was my attempt at mixing chemicals and testing it on Applejack here that cause the whole mess.”

Applejack made a mental note to send some free apple pies Sandalwood’s way. It was clear how much pride the pony had in her very unique talents with aromatherapy, so to take a minor fall for something she didn’t do was really sticking her neck out here.

“Really? I didn’t even know that kind of thing could be done. As for you, Applejack, apparently you’re due for some good luck after all of these mishaps and such, no?”

Applejack’s grin turned from fake to real at that comment; “Ah reckon Ah do, all this crazy nonsense is makin’ me think Ah stepped in some of that Poison Joke again and this is all a result of that.” In reality, Applejack knew perfectly well she hadn’t stepped in any Poison Joke, she’d learned to avoid those patches of humiliation during her midnight werewolf runs in the Everfree.

“Well, since you’re all spruced up thanks to Sandalwood, let’s go find the others and let them know you’re okay.” With a nod from Applejack and bidding Sandalwood a good day, Rarity turned and trotted off.

Applejack was about to leave, but Sandalwood stopped her. “Look, Applejack, I’m willing to try and help you keep this werewolf thing a secret, and I’m sure Lyra doesn’t have much of a choice but to help as well, but I think I can speak for the both of us in that we’d prefer to not get involved as much as possible. Just…just hang in there, I’m sure things will improve from here.”

“Thanks, Sandalwood, that means a lot.” Applejack then hurried to catch up with her fashionista friend. As Sandalwood watched the two walk off towards town, she couldn’t help but wonder just how deep a rabbit hole she’d inadvertently gotten herself and Lyra sucked into by agreeing to help hide a werewolf in plain sight of everypony.

Ch.11: CMCWH...Y? - Part 1

Chapter 11: Cutie Mark Crusaders Wolf Hunters!...Yay? - Part 1

Once Applejack was finally able to plop down onto the living room couch, she let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know had been waiting to come out. Between having to explain why she was wearing high-class perfume to not only her closest friends but then practically half the town and then her own family (along with why the bananas were slightly beaten up), she had no plans to leave the farm anytime soon. At this point she was sure this whole “dog hormones” thing was tied into the cramps she’d started feeling again, so until she could go around town without having her rear quarters drive her crazy and not have dogs wanting to make her their marefriend, the farm was the only safe place for her. The perfume applications would also have to be done for at least another week, as recommended by Sandalwood who had just outright given her a bottle of Chattelle No. 50, in order to be sure the whole dog chasing thing never happened again.

But then she let out a groan as the realization of the scope of her problems made it clear how much trouble she was in. No doubt she’d still be radiating hormones in her wolf body and it would probably end up attracting timberwolves and other things she really did not want to get to know intimately. That posed a problem as she was going to need a good night run within the next week, but with her special spot still being disagreeable she couldn’t risk going back into the Everfree.

Ah wonder if Ah could just get away with runnin’ around the farm? she pondered. Sure, she knew the lay of the land that the farm covered like the back of her hoof, and it wouldn’t be as exciting as running through the unpredictable Everfree, but it was better than nothing. She just had to take care to not disturb the other residents of the farm, if they got alarmed and reported in there was a wild predator, which they’d probably think was a timberwolf, it could be bad for her.

Her mind made up, she got back onto her hooves and went off to go do some more work around the farm, of which there never was a shortage of.
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The bell on top of the schoolhouse clanged back and forth, as if to tell the world school was done for the day and to prepare for the army of fillies and colts to return home where they would create much trouble. The young ponies all began to disperse from the school, separating into various groups of friends and siblings as they went their separate ways for the day. Naturally, this meant the CMC came together to plan their next misadventure in the eternal quest for their bum marks.

“Hey, Apple Bloom, think we might be able to fix up the car we built and try for car-racing cutie marks?” eagerly asked Scootaloo, who seemed to like the speed of the car a bit too much.

“Ah’d rather not. After lookin’ at it when Applejack and Big Mac weren’t around, the front axle’s broken an’ there’s no way we could secretly fix that. Sorry, Scoot, but Ah think our car drivin’ days are over.”

The young pegasus nickered in annoyance, once again relegated back to her scooter for wheeled speed. Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, proposed a different idea: “What if we tried being armoatheparists? Rarity and Applejack seem to have become good friends with that new pony who works at the spa. Plus, she did suggest we try making the car, so maybe she’ll be willing to help us again?”

“Aromathera-whatits?” inquired a confused Scootaloo.

“Armoatherapits!” Squeaked Sweetie Belle, “From what Rarity told me, they’re ponies who use all kinds of things to generate smells and stuff to help relax ponies! Apparently it’s really popular at the spa and I’m sure she would appreciate some help!”

“Ugh, that doesn’t sound awesome at all, but I guess I’ll go along. Not like I have anything better to do.”

With two crusaders in agreement and one reluctantly participating, it was decided that they were going to get their cutie marks in aromatherapy.
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Sandalwood was in good spirits. After the whole debacle involving Applejack revealing she was a werewolf, the day had gotten much better for Ponyville’s newest resident. As it turned out, Chocolate Chip already had a place of his own and Bon-Bon was in the process of moving out. She was pleased to hear Sandalwood would be taking her place in the flat, as she’d secretly doubted Lyra would find anypony willing to deal with the local human-obsessed pony to the point of living with her. While Bon-Bon was back at the flat and taking the last of her things, Sandalwood was off to the hotel where she’d get her own things and check out before moving into her new shared home.

“Hey, Sandalwood!”

Turning her head to see who was calling for her, she paled slightly as the source of the voice was one of three fillies running towards her. The same three who had expressed interest in the car project she and Lyra had built, then later built their own and crashed it into the forest. While the threat of Applejack throttling her into a wall was mostly gone, Sandalwood really didn’t want anything to do with what mishaps this trio was going to get into next.

“Oh, um, hello girls. Can I help you with something?”

“We want to try getting our cutie marks in armorahethrapy and we were wondering if you could teach us how to be aromatherapists!” said Sweetie Belle.

Sandalwood, who had been trotting at a light pace, came to a dead halt upon hearing the CMC’s plans of becoming aromatherapists. Looking at them incredulously, she had to wonder what gave them the idea they could become the same thing she was.

“This is a joke, right? Please tell me it’s a joke.”

The three fillies, one of each type of pony, shook their heads in unison.

They’re actually serious about this? Thought Sandalwood, I know Rarity told me her little sister and her friends could do some silly things in trying to find their talents, but really? Aromatherapy?

“You three seriously want to learn how to be aromatherapists like me?

Three nodding heads, although the pegasus whose name Sandalwood didn’t know seemed considerably less enthusiastic than the other two fillies.

Much to the CMC’s disappointment, Sandalwood shook her head; “Sorry, girls, but being an aromatherapist isn’t something you just try and do. I’ve always been interested in working with perfumes and scents and stuff, so I was happy when I got my cutie mark and discovered performing aromatherapy was my special talent. It’s actually very complicated to make the right mixtures and applications if you don’t know what you’re doing and isn’t something most ponies can learn.”

Somehow seeing a ray of hope where there really was none, Apple Bloom tried to reason with Sandalwood; “but what if we’re not ‘most ponies’ and we can be aormaparathists like you?”

Sandalwood shook her head again; “Even if you three are, which I honestly doubt, I wouldn’t make a good teacher. Most of what I know has been either instinctual with my talents or learned through years of trial and error. I once made my mother; Burnin’ Sarcasm, smell like rotten eggs for a week when I gave her some perfume I’d made that was supposed to have been the scent of vanilla. I eventually got the mix right, but it took months of experimentation and hard work. From what I can tell, you three think just trying to be aromatherapists will get you your marks, but that’s not how it works. You just need to be patient, your marks will come in time when you realize what you’ve been good at all your life but never noticed before.”

“But that’s what everypony says!” cried the trio in unison.

“With good reason, I’ll bet,” Sandalwood responded, unmoved by the CMC’s desperation to rush things that could not be rushed. “I also have a lot of rare and expensive things, not the kind of materials beginners want to start out with. Let me...um...order some basic materials and you three can come back later and try, okay? Now, I apologize but I really need to go get my things and check out of my hotel before the clerk charges me for staying another night when I’m not.” And with that, Sandalwood bid the CMC’s goodbye and trotted off rather quickly in the direction of the hotel.

“Well, so much for that idea,” Scootaloo moaned, secretly glad that she’d never risk learning her special talent was making other ponies smell better. “What are we going to do now?”

A thought came to Sweetie Bell’s mind: “I dunno, maybe we could try something nopony within a thousand years has tried, like raising the sun? Ponies apparently could do that before the princesses came around to do it for them, according to the Hearths Warming legends.”

Scootaloo was not amused, “Yeah, we’re gonna raise the sun. Do I look like the daughter of Princess Celestia to you? Am I secretly hiding my true identity as ‘Princess Scootaloo’ by magically rendering a horn on my head invisible and pretending I can’t fly?”

“Um…yes?” Rarity’s little sister replied, her face as straight as a plank of lumber.

Scootaloo just stared at Sweetie Belle, rolling her eyes when the tiny unicorn couldn’t keep up the straight face and began giggling.

Apple Bloom once again acted as leader in trying to get the Crusaders back on track: “C’mon girls, we need to come up with some new ideas for getting cutie marks, Ah don’t know about you two but Ah don’t wanna be a blank flank all mah life. We need to have some kinda brainstormin’ session so we can have a whole list of possible talents we could try.”

“What about a sleepover at the clubhouse?” proposed Sweetie Belle, ever a fan of sleepovers. “It’s the weekend, so we won’t have to worry about school and stay up night to come up with new ideas!”

“Yeah!” agreed the flightless pegasus. “Mom and Dad probably won’t mind having the night to themselves instead of looking after me, they’re always so busy around this time of year.” Scootaloo’s parents, Flower Shower and Slipstream, were evaluators for weather teams all over Equestria. As a result of their always being away at their jobs, they tried to spend as much of their free time with their single daughter and were usually not around. While there were a few adults who knew them and watched Scootaloo when they weren’t around, they were so rarely seen around town that rumors had started that Scootaloo was a runaway or an abandoned orphan.

“That sounds like a great idea, Ah’ll go ask Granny if it’s alright!”
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Applejack tried to keep her grumbling to herself. Tonight’s running plans were complicated now not only by trying to not wake the rest of the farm up, but now she had to contend with her sister and friends sleeping over at their clubhouse in a secluded part of the farm. A place she’d wanted to go to because it was the only place on the farm with trees located close enough to best simulate the challenges of the Everfree. Maybe she still could, but unless the Crusaders eventually conked out before she reached there at night she’d have to scratch plans to visit that area of the farm until another night. She was sure the normal fields of apple trees should be sufficient in that situation.

However, another issue Applejack found herself having with the Crusaders on the farm was invoking some major déjà vu feelings she really didn’t like. For one reason or another, Scootaloo suddenly looked really, really delicious to her. As if she was a giant, walking chicken who was both young and supple. A walking chicken dinner just ripe for the-

No no no no no. Applejack rebuked herself as she went off to go offload more harvested apples, She is not on the menu. Period. Ah’m gonna control this werewolf thing, not let it control me!

Meanwhile, at the CMC treehouse, the three fillies were getting ready for their sleepover. Naturally, as is the case with all sleepovers, they had no plans to actually fall asleep. After all, this was supposed to be their big planning night where they would come up with an inexhaustible list of things to try so that they could gain their cutie marks.

“Hey, maybe we’ll get our cutie marks in having sleepovers!” Sweetie Belle chirped happily.

“Sweetie, if that was our special talent then we would have gotten our marks back when we were having a sleepover at Fluttershy’s,” Scootaloo retorted.

“Oh, right…”

Applebloom then poked her head out of the upper floor observatory; “Hey, girls come up here and take a look through the telescope, the sunset is really somethin’ to see!”

A mad scramble between a pegasus and unicorn shortly followed as they ascended their clubhouse fortress to gaze through the telescope. Celestia’s sunset truly was a sight to see as the duty of maintaining the sky fell to Luna once more. Once the night had settled in and Big Mac had come by to check in on the Crusaders before the rest of the Apples went to bed, the trio “went to bed” before checking to see all the lights in the house go out. Upon that moment, the three young ponies got back up and began their true mission of planning their future endeavors. But their next attempt at cutie marks was something they would never have seen coming.
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She had to. Feeling the sensation of her body changing into a more feral form, Applejack could not resist the urges of the night. It was hard enough winning the battle for her mind to not direct her into the forest, because she really didn’t want to know the effect she’d have on the wildlife in there at the moment.

Making her usual leap from the bedroom window to the ground, she quickly darted off to take cover. Couldn’t risk anypony seeing her as she began formulating her plans for the night. She’d start off easily enough, bobbing and weaving through the apple trees. Them maybe a few laps around the practice rodeo track. Finally, if she was lucky, Applebloom and her friends would have fallen asleep and she could run through that area for the greatest thrills. Once done, she could finally go back to her room and shift back, and nopony would be the wiser. Sure, there was the risk of waking up the other residents of the farm, but the risk was part of the thrill, the adrenaline high that Applejack’s werewolf side seemed to crave almost as much as meat.

Her plan set, she quickly dashed off to begin her substitute running course, starting with the groves of apple trees. It wasn’t anything too challenging, but trying to imagine more random obstacles in her way to dodge made things a lot better. But what she hadn’t predicted was her ability to go flat out. Without obstacles and the trees neatly spaced out from one another, she could open her throttle and rush as fast as she could with the source of her family’s income rushing by on both sides.

Then she made a critical mistake. Overcome by the adrenaline, she couldn’t stop herself for letting out an excited howl. Without the thick, dense cover of the Everfree, she sounded very much like a timberwolf who had trespassed onto Sweet Apple Acres looking for an easy meal to steal. So she not only woke up all the other animals on the farm but also Big Mac and Granny. The run hadn’t even really begun and she was already in hot water.

“Damnit damnit damnit!” the werewolf cursed as she frantically looked around for a place to hide. Conveniently, there was a thick patch she could see at the far end of the farm where she could lay low until enough time had passed that she could turn back to pony form and pretend to be trying to track down whatever it is that had spooked everypony.

She’d just gotten into her hiding spot when all of a sudden bright lights came on nearby. To Applejack’s horror, she saw it was coming from the CMC treehouse. And even though it was a stupid idea any sane pony, those there were going to come out here to try and find the culprit for causing all the ruckus if their previous actions fueled by curiosity were any indication. Unfortunately, despite being the most wooded part of the farm, the trees were still too neatly separated to completely conceal Applejack, her orange coat was a dead giveaway. She needed to figure out how she was going to get out of here while still explaining why she was out on the farm at night. And fast.
______________________________________________________________________________

Contrary to even their own expectations, the Crusaders had ended up all falling to sleep rather quickly. They didn’t get much shut eye, however, as the sound of a close by howl followed by a large racket of noise coming from all over the farm made them stir.

“What in the world could that be?” Apple Bloom murmured groggily.

Sweetie Belle yawned. “I dunno, but it seems to have gotten the cows and the sheep all worried about something.”

“Five more…minutes…” half-snored the half-asleep Scootaloo. She did not remain asleep for long as she suddenly found herself in the middle of a three-way hug, the scientifically proven method that had been found to convince Scootaloo to do something she didn’t want to do. “Okay! Okay! I surrender! Just get off me!”

“Well, now that we’re all awake,” Apple Bloom, started, taking leadership charge of the group, “we probably should actually plan what we as the Cutie Mark Crusaders are gonna do to earn our marks!”

“I dunno…” objected Sweetie Belle, “Whatever caused the cows and the sheep to make all that noise out there might still be around, and I don’t feel so safe in here anymore.”

Suddenly, Scootaloo shot up into the air, hitting a hanging light bulb that instantly turned on from the collision. “You mean to say the creature outside is dangerous and could possibly kill us all if we tried to get it?”

The earth and unicorn fillies slowly nodded their heads to the pegasus, not quite sure where she was going with this.

“Well, what if we tried to find it and catch it? We could get our cutie marks in dangerous animal capturing!”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at that, “Scoot, that sounds highly dangerous and most likely we’ll just end up dead and/or the next meal of that thing out there.”

“Yeah, I’ll admit there is some risk. But it can’t be too bad, since back when you had the Cutie Pox you tamed lions, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right!”

And so, without any actual reasons for not agreeing with the plan to hunt down a potentially lethal monster that could eat them, the trio immediately got to work assembling makeshift animal control gear in the hopes of getting their dangerous animal capturing. Nothing could go wrong.

Ch.12: CMCWH...Y? - Part 2

Chapter 12: CMC WH…Y? Part 2

Beams of light danced around the base of the tree that contained the Crusader’s headquarters. With the whole farm on alert for reasons unknown to the fillies, the trio had decided that the best course of action would be to leave the safety of the treehouse. Armed with nothing but flashlights and their capes, the trio bravely, and (more realistically) stupidly, charged forth into the night to track down the monster outside their door. In most circumstances the monster would have either eaten or killed them with little trouble.

Although the three didn’t know it, they were truly in no danger, as the monster was in reality Applejack. However, that just meant the werewolf was the one in danger...of her secret being revealed. By that point, Applejack had reasoned she could get away with her current situation by saying she’d been woken up by the howls and had come over to check on the fillies. That just left the problem of her having to find a place where she could go back into her pony form without the three seeing her. Considering her current hiding spot, which a lucky flashlight would illuminate like a Hearths Warming Tree, her options looked bleak.

Then a stroke of luck came in when Sweetie Belle ended up tripping on the top step just outside the treehouse. She toppled into the two fillies in front of her, sending them crashing to the ground and flashlights spiraling in different directions. Seizing the moment, Applejack immediately rushed out of her hiding spot and instead took up residence in a thicker brush that was positioned so she could see the Crusaders, but they couldn’t see her unless they looked closely. Of course, her “hunters” being easily distracted foals, the odds were in her favor.

“Hey, Ah heard something from over there!” exclaimed Apple Bloom, who had recovered her flashlight and directed its beam towards Applejack’s previous hiding spot.

“Are…are you guys sure about this? I mean, what if this thing is really dangerous? Like, seriously hurt us dangerous?” whimpered a scared Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo was having none of it. “Aw, come on! You’re not a scared chicken, are ya?”

“Well, I’m not you if that’s what you’re asking!”

“HEY!”

The two were about to get into a light scuffle had Apple Bloom not intervened. “Girls, c’mon! You can push each other around later, right now we got us a monster to catch! Who knows, it might even be one of them ‘sparkilin’ vamponies’ Twist was talkin’ about today.”

“Apple Bloom, she was talking about that stupid romance novel series most of the girls at school are going ga-ga over. Everypony knows they’re not real!”

“B-but what if they’re not?” stammered Sweetie Belle.

Five seconds later the CMC had huddled up into a pile and were shining their flashlights all over the place to try and see if anything sparkled. Applejack counted this as her second stroke of good luck as somehow amid the flying beams of light, there was a clear path where she could remain unseen. She bolted towards the tree.

“THERE!” exclaimed one of the fillies, Applejack wasn’t sure who, but the exclamation had caused her a moment of panic. Fortunately, the CMC had just noticed movement from the spot their “prey” had left and were moving towards it, completely oblivious to the scary wolf-pony passing them not five feet away and cloaked in the night.

Those three are so easily distracted, they’d make excellent-NOPE NOPE NOPE thought Applejack, scrubbing away thoughts of the CMC as a midnight snack as she snuck her way into the treehouse. While normally she would have given herself away by the combination of hard hooves clattering on the wooden base of the structure, her werewolf-granted jumping ability enabled her to bypass having to walk the stairs, and her padded paws were deathly silent. Thus, she was able to get into the place undetected. Once inside, she immediately shifted back into pony form before letting out a sigh of relief. “Hard part’s done, thankfully, now to end this and get those three back to bed!”

Walking outside to the railing, the restored mare saw her sister and friends now trying to examine the second hiding spot like the crime scene of a murder. Unable to hold back a snicker due to knowing the truth, she called out “Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo! Are ya’ll alright?”

All three fillies snapped around to see the source of the voice, with Apple Bloom exclaiming “Applejack! What are you doing up there?”

Leaping down from the balcony to the ground, Applejack replied “Somethin’s got the whole farm in an uproar, so Ah rushed out here to make sure ya’ll were alright.”

“Yeah, we’re fine. We were just lookin’ to see if whatever is causin’ all the ruckus was over here.”

Applejack put on her best annoyed face to express her feelings about the CMC putting themselves into a dangerous situation, “An’ what exactly were you three gonna do if this mysterious rabble-rouser was actually around here? What if it was a timberwolf or somethin’? Ya could’ve been hurt, or worse, an’ Ah doubt Ah need to explain mah personal experiences with that kinda thing!”

Apple Bloom was at a loss for words. Her sister was correct in that hunting down something potentially lethal was not a good idea in hindsight. All she could do about it was shoot a nasty glance over at Scootaloo. The pegasus didn’t notice, still looking around at everything with her head moving about like a pigeon, trying to see if the creature was around, not knowing it really stood before her.

It was at that time Big Mac came rushing in; “Girls! Are yah alright! Ah Can’t find Applejack and-oh.”

His “missing” sister just raised an eyebrow at him; “What, did you think I was going to let these three silly fillies be left all alone this far from the house? First thing Ah did when Ah woke up was leap out mah window to check on ‘em. Ah’m assumin’ you an’ Granny went to take care of the others?” By this point the ruckus coming from the other side of the farm had quieted down significantly.

“Uh…eeyup,” Big Mac confirmed with hesitiation. Somehow, Applejack had managed to answer the big question in his head about why she apparently had left her room through the bedroom window. While he knew she could survive the fall, as earth ponies were built tough like that, she’d been doing some weird things at night. Applejack had insisted that it was her own business and that she didn’t want to talk about it yet, so the fact this night had nothing to do with…her “situation”… was a relief.
______________________________________________________________________________

“Ah think we got ourselves a problem,” Granny Smith informed her two oldest grandfoals. The Crusaders, after having been taken back to the main house, had been put to bed in Apple Bloom’s room for safety. In the meantime, Granny, Big Mac, and AJ were sitting at the kitchen table and trying to appraise the situation.

“From the sound Ah heard a-wakin’ me up” replied Applejack, “it sounded like some kinda wolf howl.”

“Timberwolves, maybe?” suggested Big Mac, trying to not show his concerns over whether or not a wolf of some kind was sitting right next to him. Somehow, neither Applejack nor Granny were noticing his small twitches of apprehension.

Granny shook her head, “Nah, can’t be. Those ruffians don’t howl loud enough even during zap apple season to startle the farmhooves and livestock.”

Big Mac wasn’t so sure, “Ya sure, Granny? Moobella said-“

“Ah’m over a hundred years old, Ah think Ah know how loud those stinkin’ timberwolves can howl after all these years!”

Secretly desperate to try and divert suspicion away from herself, Applejack decided to try and force the discussion to keep on the topic of timberwolves: “But Granny, Big Mac could be right. What if a timberwolf let out a howl while it was on the farm?”

Granny was incredulous, “Don’t be silly, Applejack, timberwolves never come out of the Everfree Forest.”

“But what if they are now? If the availability of food in the forest can’t meet the demand of the population, maybe they’re venturin’ out of the forest simply to survive?”

Granny tapped her chin. “Ya got a point there, Applejack, Ah hadn’t thought of that. ‘Course if we do now have timberwolves tryin’ to raid the farm we’ll need to figure out a way to get them back into that blasted forest and keep the place safe for everypony.”

Applejack nodded, answering with, “Ah’ll talk to Fluttershy tomorrow to see if she can do anythin’ to help,” before suddenly turning to face the stairs and shouted, “AND DON’T YOU THREE THINK AH DON’T KNOW YA’LL ARE AT THE TOP OF THOSE STAIRS!”

The sound of what could only be hushed voices and twelve hooved legs hitting the floor came from atop the stairs, as the compromised fillies rushed back to their beds and pretend they hadn’t heard the whole conversation.

Applejack, in response, just shook her head, “Ah swear, if there’s one thing those three won’t try for their cutie marks, it’s sleepin’!” For now, she decided to not chew them out, they were just young ponies who were still curious about the world. So what if they knew about this “problem” of timberwolf intrusions? It’s not like they were going to actually do anything about it…right?
______________________________________________________________________________

“Iron Will does not believe he understands you correctly.”

The minotaur, out shopping at the market for provisions which he would need on his werewolf hunting quest, did not know what to make of the three tiny ponies who had approached him.
The yellow one with the bow spoke up to reply, “Mr. Will, word around town in that you’re huntin’ timberwolves, is that right?”

“Um, yes, but why do you-“

“Well, you see me and mah friends here wanna catch this one timberwolf who apparently is tryin’ to raid Sweet Apple Acres so we can get our cutie marks in timberwolf catchin’, but the only problem is we don’t know how. So we came to you to know if you could teach us!”

Yep. Iron Will had heard them right the first time. They actually wanted him to teach them how to catch savage timberwolves. On the one hand, this probably wasn’t going to be the greatest plan ever devised, since these three were just minors and didn’t have anything that would give them an advantage against wolves made of nothing but leaves and sticks. On the other, after the rather dismal performance he and his assistants had put in the last time they’d gone timberwolf hunting, they did need the practice, so knowing where there would be at least one in advance could prove a far easier starting block for working up to trying to catch a real werewolf. Plus, considering how much more savage werewolves were rumored to be compared to timberwolves, Iron Will needed to know he was up to the task.

Maybe I can just do the whole teaching thing like my assertiveness seminars, thought Iron Will, those generally tend to be very effective in teaching ponies.

“Alright, Iron Will has decided he will help you-“

He was cut off by three simultaneous voices crying out, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WOLF HUNTERS! YAY!”

“However”, declared Iron Will, asserting his superiority, “Iron Will needs to discuss this with your parents and/or guardians first.”

Needless to say, the Crusaders were less than thrilled about the sudden need for their parents, and/or guardians to know about their plans being so reckless and dangerous.
______________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, over at Fluttershy’s cottage, Applejack was getting Fluttershy’s opinion on the matter.

“T-Timberwolves you say? Oh, I don’t know why they’d be resorting to raiding your farm for food. The Everfree Forest is extremely large and shouldn’t be having problems supporting the timberwolf population unless their numbers have grown excessively large. Even then, all that would do is create conflict between different packs of timberwolves over food supply, they never go beyond the edge of the forest.”

“Are ya sure there isn’t another reason for them tryin’ to steal from mah farm?”

“Well, there is one other possibility. Iron Will has allegedly been in the forest trying to catch timberwolves.”

“Now why the hay is he tryin’ to catch timberwolves?” asked a confused Applejack,” There’s nothin’ you can get from killin’ them in a way that stops ‘em from reformin’ their bodies, the wood isn’t even good for burnin’!”

“I asked him the same question, he told me that this is all prep work for his real quest to hunt werewolves.”

Applejack immediately reeled back for reasons only obvious to her. “W-werewolves? He’s huntin’ werewolves?”

Fluttershy, thinking her friend was as scared of the notion werewolves existed, continued, “I know, just the idea those legends could even be true scared me as well. But Iron Will said that he’s only doing it to try and win the hand of the minotaur princess in his home country based on some ancient decree. I didn’t really understand it, myself, but from what he told me he ended up angering an entire pack of them a few nights ago.”

But Applejack was no longer concerned about her “timberwolf” problem, in light of this new one exclusive to her. “Y-you’re sure he’s going after werewolves? B-but those don’t exist! Ah would’ve thought that somepony w-would know if their goal was impossible, an’ it don’t get more impossible than huntin’ somethin’ that doesn’t exist, right?”

Fluttershy sat on her haunches so she could shrug with her front legs, “I don’t know what to say, Applejack. He’s not hurting anypony and you can’t really do much to permanently hurt timberwolves without setting them on fire, so as long as that stays true I don’t see much of a problem with it. But what about your timberwolf raiding issue on the farm? What do you plan to do about that?”

“Oh, right, mah timberwolf problem. Well, Ah was hopin’ you might stay on the farm tonight and see if those ruffians come back. In case they do, maybe you could use your ‘Stare’ on them to get ‘em back in line or somethin’?”

“Oh, I don’t know…well, I guess I could give it a shot. It certainly would be better than harming them, at any rate. I’ll be over a little later once I pack my things so I can stay over on the farm.”

“Great! Ah’ll get the guest bedroom set up for you!”

Applejack bid farewell to Fluttershy before turning back to head to the farm. The news that Iron Will, who AJ was sure was half cow and half pectoral muscle, had come to Ponyville of all places to hunt werewolves was a massive inconvenience to her, since as a werewolf she was still trying to get complete control over her body’s new urges.

As long as he actually doesn’t know anythin’ about tracking werewolves, Ah should be fine, thought Applejack, although it would be for the best if Ah avoided him entirely.
______________________________________________________________________________

“Explain to me how this is going to work exactly?” asked Granny Smith.

In the timeless art of nopony communicating any of their plans, the Apples found themselves playing host to not only the entire CMC again, but also both Fluttershy and Iron Will. Applejack was, naturally, immediately scared out of her wits when the one creature who legitimately wanted to kill her was sitting in the living room and eating some apple pie. Doing her best to hide how uncomfortable she was with his presence, her nervous smile and rushed speech pattern did nothing to hide those feelings. She was lucky everypony else completely misinterpreted her reactions and believed she was just scared of the minotaur’s massively built body. So big, in fact, that he’d have to sleep in the barn as there was no way he was getting up the stairs. He barely fit in the ground floor rooms as it was.

What made things worse, however, was the reason he was even there. Somehow, the Crusaders had convinced him and his two goat assistants to help deal with the timberwolf issue under the guise of them teaching the fillies on how to deal with the problem themselves. How Granny has been convinced to even allow this despite both the arguments from Big Mac and Applejack remained a mystery. When Fluttershy had finally gotten to the Apple homestead, dealing with her needs was a cakewalk compared to trying to fit Iron Will at the dinner table, where Granny insisted on serving dinner to all parties staying the night.

Fluttershy spoke up; “Well, um, Iron Will and I have agreed to try and deal with your timberwolf problem by combining our specialties. If they show up tonight, I’ll try to peacefully convince them to leave the farm alone, then if that fails then Iron Will can-

“Iron Will shall show them that if they think this farm is a push over, all they’ll get is the once over!” shouted Iron Will, once again finding himself trying to interject is seminar quotes into conversations. Somehow, they didn’t really work outside of the context of said seminars.

“Uh, yes, thank you Iron Will,” continued Fluttershy, recovering from being startled and hitting both Big Mac and Applejack in the face with her flared wings, “anyway, we’ll be doing that, and the CMC can watch if they want, they won’t be in any trouble.”

That was when Sweetie Belle interjected with her own contribution, holding up a book titled How to Deal with a Werewolf Problem, by an author named Blue Velvet. “We can help by reading from books like this!”

“Sweetie Belle, where did you get that book?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I found it with Iron Will’s stuff,” answered the tiny unicorn, before opening it up and reading the first few lines, “Do you think your lover becomes a monster at night? Does his fifth leg become rock hard during the full moon? This guide will instruct you on how to turn that savage creature into your greatest toy and give you nights of unparalleled, passion-filled nights of love mak-“

Iron Will, who hadn’t actually been paying much attention, immediately reacted when he realized just which one of his books Sweetie Belle was reading, managing to move just in time to snatch the book away before everypony else figured out what the book really was.

“Iron Will would like to remind everypony that it is very rude to go through the things belonging to others, especially when those things contain items that are very unfit for young minds!”

Applejack immediately grew suspicious at Iron Will’s reasoning for snatching the book, “Unfit for fillies to see? What’s in that there book, exactly? Let me see it, Ah’m a grown mare.”

Deciding to let the book speak for itself, Iron will handed it over to Applejack, who grabbed it and immediately started reading. Five seconds later her face managed to both go pale and break out in a bright red blush as she realized what Iron Will had prevented the CMC from reading. She closed the book and handed it back over to the minotaur, stammering out “Wh-why do you even have a book like that?!”

After placing the book under himself such that the CMC couldn’t get access to it, Iron Will gave out a half-hearted response while not directly looking anypony else in the eye and blushing a fair shade of crimson in his own right, “Iron Will judged the book to be about werewolf hunting from it’s cover. Combined with the extremely low price the vendor was putting on it, Iron Will figured it was worth spending a few bits to see if the book was very good. Iron Will has since regretted that action and has been trying to find a way to dispose of this book so that it can’t offend anypony of sane mind with its, um, “risque’” suggestions for its true intended audience.”

At that point Big Mac, Fluttershy, and Granny also figured out what Iron Will had unintentionally bought and the CMC almost read about, visibly blanching as a result. The CMC were still confused as to what everypony else was trying to keep from them, only knowing that it may or may not have been adult-only material. And Applejack was desperately trying not to start breaking down into hysterics at the situation she was in.

First Ah can’t go runnin’ in the woods because of some hormornal thing involvin’ mah time of the month, then Ah get this timberwolf raidin’ nonsense started ‘cause Ah can’t keep mah damn mouth shut when Ah’m a wolf, and now Mah sister almost found out about ‘the birds an’ the bees’ in the most horrifyingly detailed way imaginable! Applejack lamented silently, can this night get any worse for me?!

Of course, as is always the case of an accidental invocation of Murphy’s Law, it would soon become a night Applejack would never forget for all the wrong reasons.

Ch.13: Closing In

A Hairy Problem Ch.13 “Closing In”

Everything seemed fine and dandy at the Ponyville train station. The newly arrived train belched steam as the conductor announced it was safe to disembark the passenger coaches. And the passengers did, waiting for their luggage to be offloaded for collection so that they could go on their business. The mail was offloaded as new sacks were loaded on. It was simply hustling and bustling no matter where one looked.

For one individual, this was exactly what he’d wanted. Having slipped into the station the previous night, he’d spent at least a couple of hours holed up in a locked stall in the stallion’s restroom in a rather uncomfortable position so the janitor wouldn’t see his legs on the floor. As it would turn out, there had been no janitor, which annoyed the intruder as he really did want to get into a more comfortable position, but dared not risk it in case somepony else came in. Finally, the time arrived when he heard the early morning crowd outside, when he could get out of the blasted company of his porcelain companion. Nopony on the platform noticed the stallion who exited the restroom and blended right into the crowd, to everypony else he had just been somebody fresh off the train and had really needed to go.

But he was not a newly arrived passenger, despite him choosing to say as such for his cover. He had no luggage to pick up, his only worldly possessions stowed in the satchel he wore aside from one, which was hidden in plain sight. Not like anypony would notice, however; they’d be too busy noticing what kind of pony he was.

His coat was a pale, cream color, contrasting his mane of blended dark brown and olive green coloration but not in a bad way. On his flank was a scroll, half open with a feather quill writing scribbles on it. To all the world around him, he looked the part of a scholar who hailed from the Crystal Empire. He did not appear to be crystallized as his kind were known for, but he had an excuse for that in how the effect only showed when within the range of the Crystal Heart.

Ignoring the stares from passersby ponies, the transplanted pony headed straight for what looked like a hotel of sorts. He didn’t actually need a room to stay in due to previousl arrangements, but the hotel was closer to his objective. It would also be much more comfortable than his other arrangement and the “no-questions-asked” demeanor of most room renters possessed would ensure privacy.

His confidence in that belief was shaken somewhat when he entered the hotel and immediately was met with a raised eyebrow from the older pony manning the desk, probably the innkeeper.

“Well now,” said the innkeeper, visually examining the satchel-wearing oddity before him, “you certainly don’t look like any pony I’ve ever seen before. Where are you from?”

“I am a native of the Crystal Empire, my good sir,” responded the younger pony, approaching the desk.

“Ah! So you’re one of them ‘crystal ponies’ are you?”

“I am, although please don’t ask me to turn translucent, we crystal ponies can’t do that trick outside the Empire.”

“Probably to do with that Crystal Heart or whatever it is that makes that weird aura I’ll bet. Anyway, I bet you’re here for a room.”

“Indeed, although if possible I’d prefer a room with a window looking out onto that forest, the ‘Everfree’, I believe it’s called.”
“Why would you want that?” the innkeeper inquired as he began looking for a room meeting the requirement, “it’s nothing much to look at, just a bunch of tightly packed trees.”

“Up in the Empire, we don’t have dense forests, and I find it something interesting to gaze upon.”

“Whatever floats your boat, I guess.” The innkeeper then placed a key with the number 2 etched into it. “Room two should fit your needs. I do require a deposit of five bits, though, before I can check you in.”

“Not a problem,” answered the pale cream pony as he fished around in his satchel and produced three bit coins, placing them on the table.

The innkeeper took the deposit. “Alright, now I just need you to sign in here.” The innkeeper then produced a rather large and ragged guestbook, which he opened to a page towards the back where the other pony could sign in.

The crystal pony couldn’t help but look over the names of some ponies who had signed in before him; “Wildfire,” “Dainty Dish,” “Twilight Sunburn,” “Sandalwood.”

It never ceases to amaze me how strange some pony names can be, thought the checking-in pony as he signed his name below Sandalwood’s.

Taking the book back, the innkeeper examined the signature to ensure it was good. “Ah, so your name is Intellectual Pursuit, eh? Interesting, it’s no business of mine but I have to wonder what somepony with a name like that is doing in a backwater town like Ponyville.”

Pursuit just smiled, saying “There is much to be learned in a new place, no matter where one goes, and it is often the case where the least likely of locations will yield the greatest treasures.” But behind that smile was a grinning predator, one who already knew the treasure he wanted was here, soon to be his.
___________________________________________________________________________________
“Ah never thought Ah’d be so glad for a school night in mah life!” declared Applejack to her friends. She’d invited them over to try out a new pie she’d created; the “caramel apple” pie. She’d also invited them over simply so it didn’t look like she’d become something of a shut-in after the whole incident with the dogs or that Lyra and Sandalwood were taking their places as her greatest friends.

“I do apologize, Applejack, I was supposed to be watching Sweetie Belle over the weekend but I was so caught up in a work order that it seemed like a relief my sister was going somewhere else. I didn’t realize it would cause you so much trouble,” Rarity pled.

“Don’t worry about it, Rarity, this whole weekend was like some kinda annoyance after another.” Indeed, starting with the whole incident involving the dogs and her hormones, she’d had to wear her mother’s favorite perfume and be reminded of some bad memories, then she screwed up her attempt at a run at night in wolf form and nearly got caught by the CMC, then after managing to push Granny to spin events so that it looked like a timberwolf or two had tried to raid the farm she ended up being dangerously close to the one individual in the world who was hunting the very thing she’d become, and then the previous night, no timberwolves showed up and in the end all that happened was the CMC and Iron Will shouting various “assertive” slogans all night. Apparently, werewolves also had improved hearing as Applejack learned the hard way as she barely got any sleep, the shouting ringing in her head as if it was coming from a megaphone five inches away from her face.

“It’s possible that the wolves just got scared off by all the shouting,” suggested Fluttershy, who somehow managed to fall asleep in the middle of all the shouting to the surprise of everypony, including herself.

“Or maybe they thought you’d constructed something that when you pulled a lever in a room full of identical levels there would be a tidal wave of lava that spewed from the ground and flooded the entire landscape and existed just to kill them?” said Pinkie Pie, “Or maybe that just works on elephants, I don’t remember.”

“Pinkie, what does Applejack look like; a dwarf?” asked Twilight. “The physical impossibilities of that aside, why would anypony build such a thing in the first place? It sounds like something that could destroy an entire town!”

“To destroy an unending army of angry pachyderms, of course!” Pinkie Pie stated as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

The six friends just sat there, looking at Pinkie Pie with various faces of confusion. Finally, Applejack broke the silence by saying they all should try the caramel apple pie still unmolested in the center of the table. Everypony agreed.

As Applejack had hoped, the pie was delicious. All the taste of a caramel apple, but condensed into the buttery crust of a pie. The rest of her friends agreed the confection was a success and that other ponies would love it as well. But when Applejack got up to bus the table, Rainbow Dash noticed something odd about her athletic rival.

“Hey, AJ, is it just me or is there something…wrong with your cutie mark?”

“Huh?” responded Applejack, turning to look at her bum mark. To a pony, the cutie mark is a very visible declaration of their identity as a pony. It was the mark of their talent, of what made them especially unique among their peers. If something permanent happened to one’s cutie mark, there was no telling of the kind of psychological breakdown that could occur.

But to her credit, Applejack only showed a little bit of reaction when she saw what had happened to her cutie mark. Generally, nothing had actually happened, it was still three bright red apples with two green leaves apiece. However, what was noticeable to her about the mark is that it appeared to have slightly faded, as if it was an old painted sign bleached by the sun. Applejack didn’t know what to make of this, as once attained ponies wore their marks for life. Even trying to save off the fur wouldn’t remove the mark, as it would just reappear when the fur grew back. Marks weren’t also supposed to fade, Granny Smith’s pie cutie mark was still bright as day even though she was older than Ponyville itself.

“Oh, my!” declared Twilight as she got up from her seat and trotted over to examine AJ’s mark, “I’ve never heard of a cutie mark fading. I mean, your mark is still very clear, Applejack, but it’s certainly not as bright as it usually is.

Ah hope this isn’t part of this whole werewolf business, thought the apple farmer as she tried to think of what caused her mark to fade.

“Why don’t you just look up the cause in the library?” asked Rainbow Dash, “or, failing that, just ask the princesses? Celestia is a zillion times older than us, surely she’s heard of this problem before.”

“I guess that’s the only way to address this,” agreed the lavender unicorn. “Syndrome, fever, internal organ failure…it could be anything!”

“Ah’m pretty sure it isn’t that big a deal, girls” said Applejack, trying to divert attention away from the fact she was pretty concerned herself, “maybe Ah just need to wash mah flank and it’ll come back. Ah have been workin’ pretty hard today.”

“If you’re sure, AJ, then we’ll leave it to you to wash up. However, if it does remain like this, or gets worse and fades more, you probably should go to the doctor.”

Applejack nodded and so the six friends went back into chatting about various topics of no real consequence. At the back of her mind, however, AJ couldn’t shake the feeling her cutie mark actually undergoing a physical alteration couldn’t bode anything good for her in the near future.
___________________________________________________________________________________
It was around dinner time at Castle Canterlot, where Princesses Celestia and Luna were enjoying a nice, seven course meal between the two of them, that the letter came.

“Another friendship report, sister?” asked Luna, before taking a bite of alfalfa.

“Doesn’t look like it…” replied Celestia, “it’s from Twilight Sparkle, but it is asking a rather peculiar question; ‘can a pony’s cutie mark fade?’”

“Oh dear, has she gone and done something completely unnatural with magic again like the time you had to personally intervene?”

“I hope not; Twilight would know I expect better of her. No, what’s going on here is she’s probably doing some side research on how cutie marks come about, with those three fillies the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ having nagged her enough to look into it.”

“You know, I wonder why nopony has ever looked into that, whether or not a pony’s cutie mark could fade.”

“Why, Luna, so you can reduce the size of your cutie mark so it doesn’t look like a miasma covering your plot?” said Celestia, smirking.

Luna’s brow furrowed as the battle lines were being drawn, “Well, at my cutie mark is proportionally bigger than yours, I see no need to try and remove part of it. Besides, I would expect ponies to behave better than to stare at my booty.”

“It’s only that way because you’re the younger sister and are still smaller than me.”

“I’d rather have that then a giant, cake-inflated rear that could collide with some poor pony if I was backing up.”

“Are you saying my butt is fat?”

“Only if you’re saying my cutie mark looks like some kind of horrible disease.”

This exchange of semi-hostility went on for several minutes, the duo having left their places at the table and move to the side, ready to engage in a battle on a level closer than just wits.

“I do believe there is only one way to settle this, Luna.”

“At least we can agree on something, Celestia.”

Silence for a few moments, then Luna charged her sister. Unfortunately, the moment she did so she knew she had lost as Celestia merely teleported away. Sliding to a halt, Luna was trying to figure out where Celly could have gone when the sun princess’s voice whispered in her ear;

“Gotcha.”

Luna was powerless to stop Celestia’s assault, her defenses breached and the attack too powerful to resist.

“Stop! S-Stop! HAHAHAHA-Celly please I-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Even after all these years, Luna, I still know your ticklish spots.”

“AHAHAHAHA-W-we sur-AHAHAHAHA-render!”

Celestia ceased with the tickling and helped her sister up. The “War of Tickles” had been something the sisters had done since they’d come to the conclusion any real fighting between them would end up destroying something on a massive scale. That had proved true a thousand years ago almost when Celestia had to fight Nightmare Moon. The end result of that was the outright destruction of Castle Everfree, leaving it largely in the ruined state that it remained in up to the present day.

“I apologize for insulting your cutie mark, Luna.”

“And I apologize for calling your plot fat.”

The two royals hugged in a rare display of sisterly love, one not bound by the rules and regulations of monarchy. The moment was quickly ruined, however, when one of the royal staffers cleared his throat to get his lieges’ attention.
“Your majesties, are you done with supper?”

“Ah, no, Prix Fixe, Luna and I are still eating. We just got…caught up in a sister moment.”

“Very well then, please continue to enjoy your supper.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
Twilight was frantically looking through all the books on pony healthcare and the like, books flying every which way but in such as fashion that they landed perfectly and were not damaged. Even when in a crisis, Twilight Sparkle was not one to try and damage perfectly good books if she could help it.

“Spike, have you found anything yet?”

“No, can’t say that I-HOLD ON!” replied the young dragon, hefting up a large book with a section he thought relevant on the current page, “Oh, wait, sorry. False alarm. This is just about what happens if your mane and tail start turning white.”

“AAAARRRGHHH! There has to be something in here about cutie marks fading, certainly a higher probability of that being something ponies know more about than dragons!”

It was around that time there was a knock at the library door.

Twilight emerged from a giant pile of books, saying “I wonder who that could be this late at night…Applejack maybe? Spike, can you-“

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

Spike reached the door, opening it to find a pale cream pony with a strange mane coloration waiting outside.

The strange pony spoke up, “Ah, is this the Golden Oaks Library?”

“It is, can I help you with something?” said Spike, flatly. He’d not been in a good mood, what with having to do a library-wide search for something once again.

“I’m looking for a Miss Twilight Sparkle, is she in at the moment?”

“She might be in, is your business with her of extreme importance?”

“Well, no, but-“

*SLAM*

The rudely rejected pony fought the urge to unleash his true power and utterly destroy the offending door, but before he got a chance to do so it opened again. This time, a purple unicorn with a two-tone pink/purple streak in her mane appeared behind it.

“I apologize for Spike, he’s a bit worked up due to me being kind of hard on him for a research project I’m working on.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if I could chat with you, scholar to scholar. I mean, I’m presuming you’re the one and only Twilight Sparkle, protégé’ of Princess Celestia herself, am I right?”

Twilight couldn’t help but blush a little at how well this other pony knew her. “Yes, I am Twilight Sparkle. And you are…?”

The stallion stuck out his hoof, “Intellectual Pursuit. I’m from the Crystal Empire, but I have come down here to Ponyville to see what I can learn outside of the Frozen North.”

“You’re a crystal pony?”

“Indeed, I-WHOA!”

Pursuit found himself drawn into the library by Twilight’s telekinesis, being put down at a table in a room just off of the main library.

“Spike, can you go make some tea for our guest here?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Twilight then hurriedly set up the table before sitting down herself; “So, Mr. Pursuit, what do you want to know about Equestria proper? I’m sure you still have lots of questions since the Crystal Empire has been out of the loop of history for the past thousand years. And then you can tell me all about what the empire was like before Sombra got it all screwed up!”

“Indeed, I do have a lot of questions, and I will try to answer yours to the best of my ability, but first I must ask what the deal is about all these medical texts strewn about.” Intellectual gestured to the pile of books clearly visible just outside the kitchen.

“Oh, those, well…I’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with one of my friends, she’s got this strange…thing going on and none of the books seem to detail what it is.”

Pursuit cocked his head to one side, “Oh? I happen to know some details about obscure medical conditions. Perhaps I can be of assistance there.”

“I’d rather not have to explain it, but since none of the books seem to have any information…okay, have you ever heard of a pony that has their cutie mark start fading, like it’s an old painted sign left in the sun too long?”

The crystal pony cocked an eyebrow, showing some sign of recognition of the description, “Actually, yes, I have. How long has your friend had this problem?”

Twilight reached behind to scratch the back of her neck, “I don’t actually know, I only learned of it today when she had me and the rest of our friends over to try out her new pie recipe.”

Hmmm, I do like pie, thought Pursuit, thinking of the treat he hadn’t partaken of in so long, but I have to keep my eyes on the prize here. There will be plenty of time for pie later.

“Okay, I think I know what your friend has. It’s something called ‘Cutie Mark Mange’.”

“I’ve never heard of that before!”

“Sure you have, it’s actually something close to dandruff. It’s extremely rare, probably genetic but research can’t track down enough cases to study it. Regardless, what is known about it is that as a pony sheds their fur coat, the cutie mark doesn’t grow back as fast in the fur. Thus, it looks like it’s fading. In reality, it will be restored to full clarity a day or two later as the mark grows back. It’s nothing major at all, really.”

“Fascinating!” declared Twilight, who had somehow produced parchment and was jotting down notes with her quill, “Applejack will be happy to hear that!”

“Applejack?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s the friend of mine who apparently has ‘Cutie Mark Mange’ going on. It should be a relief to her to learn it’s not another hapless event she ended up in, what with the dog chasing and the whole deal with The Meatery…”

Interesting, so her name is Applejack thought Pursuit as Twilight went on a long list of things Applejack had dealt with in the past few months. It amused him to no end that while he could see the truth clear as day, the supposed “student of the princess” was completely blind to it. That will be fixed in due time, of course, he thought, but like pie, dealing with her can wait.

“Okay, so now that you’ve answered one of my questions fully, it’s your turn to ask. Seriously, anything you want to know about the Crystal Empire, just ask away.”

He swore Twilight’s mouth made a squee noise as she whipped out a different parchment sheet. This one being long. Very, very long. “I may have one or two questions,” the unicorn said nonchalantly, “but this shouldn’t take long at all!”
___________________________________________________________________________________
“This won’t take long at all!” mock-whined Pursuit as he shambled off back to the hotel. He was seriously in a bad mood, having completely misjudged the favored student of Celestia. The “one or two” questions had taken several hours to answer. While he in turn had learned about what happened to Equestria in the “thousand years” he’d been gone (yeah, like he’d been stupid enough to still be in the Empire when it went bye-bye with Sombra’s first defeat), he had to admit to himself this was a low point for him as he’d learned nothing that could make his objectives be achievable more easily, namely because he actually had known all that crap to begin with. In fact, his secondary goal was becoming even less attractive instead, but the driving reason for that one went beyond a purple unicorn mare who didn’t shut the hay up.

But his mood began to improve once he was safely behind the door to Room 02. Almost instantly came off the satchel, care being taken to not damage the items inside it. Then came the locket. That precious locket that she’d gotten enchanted with the disguise spell for him so many years ago.

As the spell deactivated, returning him to his true form, he tried not to let a tear fall for his beloved. He reached over with a morphing hoof to retrieve the old photo from within the satchel. The only visual reminder of his dearly departed, the one who had stayed by him so willingly. Before that bitch Celestia took her away in some demented act of “justice” that was wholly uncalled for.

His rage building, he worked it back under control before taking note that he was back to his normal form, his true form. He walked over to the mirror to examine himself. Gone was the pretentious Crystal Pony known as “Intellectual Pursuit,” for that was merely a cheap disguise afforded by the locket. But here, here stood the true beast from within. His coat a thick layer of dark brown fur, his mane and tail a messy two-toned tangle of dark greens and his eyes a piercing yellow. On his flank, there was no stupid scroll and quill suggesting “intelligence” or some crap like that, but from a distance it appeared he had no cutie mark at all. Only close examination would reveal the remnants of what could only be a red-colored wolf paw, the mark of a true hunter.

In the mirror, the pony cracked a menacing grin of sharp teeth. He was finally back in play, back on the hunt. And it was only a matter of time before the prey was all his.

Ch.15: SAYS (If Applejack was also a Werewolf) - Part 2

Chapter 15: SAYS (if Applejack was also a werewolf)

As Applejack stared at the massive tower of rocks still being built by the diminutive dragon, she was having trouble figuring out why what should have been the most tiring and dangerous task he’d yet undertaken was the only one that had gone off without a hitch. She had to admit that his work ethic was certainly commendable, but here it was being put to use for the most inane of things.

Rainbow, on the other hand, was the one who would be suffering the most from this plan having backfired. While she did have plenty of athleticism and strength for a pegasus mare to back up her boasting, the whole “smashing through rocks” had naturally not been said with confidence. The look of concern on her face told the whole story, while Spike continued to build the tower almost as high as the average cottage in Ponyville.

“Oh, goodness, If it had been me, I would have just pretended that I didn’t have anything for him to do,” Fluttershy, who happened to walk onto the scene, commented.

“Now why didn’t Ah think of that?” rhetorically asked Applejack, not taking her eyes off of the creation of stone in front of her. It was as if some cosmic entity had been enlisted to help Spike build the abomination, as by all rights the way it was not straight up should have made it topple an hour ago. Yet Spike stood at the top of his reality-breaking monument to serving Applejack.

“IS THIS HIGH ENOUGH?” Spike shouted down from his lofty location. The fact he had to shout was more than enough evidence that it was plenty high already. Applejack called her unwanted helper down by confirming the task was done, fearful that if that thing actually did fall with Spike on top of it, it wouldn’t be pretty for anypony.

“Bad news; he actually ended up building the whole rock tower. Good news…I’ve got a rock tower to knock down” Rainbow moaned as she began her reluctant ascent into the sky. As she began preparing to do the deed, Spike was shouting an unending stream of encouragement and getting a little too much into things. Applejack and Fluttershy, meanwhile, were wisely backing far away into a nearby shelter. That tower was going to fall and nopony wanted to be turned into a pony pancake from the falling rubble. Finally, as the two ponies and one dragon watched, RD shot into the tower and did indeed make it crumble.

Spike, still oblivious to the actual danger he was in by not being under the shelter, was awestruck by the awesome sight of a blue pony smashing into rocks. He was also completely unfazed when a rather large boulder landed not a foot away in front of him. He then asked Rainbow if she wanted Applejack (as in, himself) to rebuild the entire thing so she could do it again.
Rainbow, for whatever reason, actually agreed. To her credit, however, she then passed out from the massive headache a pony would get from smashing into giant rock towers and not instantly dying or sustaining serious physical harm.
Applejack, however, would have none of it.

“NO!” she cried out, rushing up to see if the cyan pegasus needed help. “Ah don’t think she needs any more of your help, and by your help, Ah mean my help. Isn’t that right Rainbow?”

“Yeah, I think I’m good…for now,” Rainbow hazily responded, regaining consciousness.

“And so am I, Ah just can’t think of one more thing Ah need your help with, so you don’t need to do anythin’ else.” Applejack was hoping that was the end of it, the end of Spike constantly following her around and doing everything for her.

Unfortunately, Spike’s dedication to the idea of “lifetime servitude” found a different way out of Applejack not outright telling him to do things. That he could continue to prove he is a noble dragon by helping her with things “she didn’t even know she needed help with.”

Fluttershy stated the obvious: “I think that if Applejack needed help with something, she’d know what she needed help with.”
Spike, however, was having none of it. “What if Applejack needs help realizing what she needs help with? Like, maybe your back itches!” He then jumped proceeded to scratch Applejack’s back.

“Huuuh…that does feel…good,” said the mare as the pleasurable sensation reached her brain. At the same time, her hind leg began to move up and down, an involuntary movement from the stimulation. Neither pegasus noticed, however, as Spike quickly decided Applejack needed help with something else. Like remembering her favorite song, to which he began singing a little ditty AJ had never head in her life (and for the record, her favorite song was “Cotton Eye Joe”). Or that she needed help with breathing.

“Breathin’? Ah certainly do not need help breath-“ Applejack retorted, but was cut off by Spike ramming a bellow pump into her mouth and proceeding to inflate her like a balloon by means nopony would ever know save maybe Pinkie Pie. Thankfully, he pulled the pump out and she deflated back to her normal size.

Spike may as well have been living out his own delusions of servitude at that point when he continued to be obvious of how annoying he was getting; “See? There are plenty of things I can help you with, and you don’t even have to-“

“NO!” shouted Applejack, her patience wearing extremely thin at that point. It was taking every last bit of her self-control to not shift into a wolf and maul the little bastard right then and there. She took several deep breaths, calming herself down, before adding “No, Spike, Ah’ll think of them. Lemme think of ‘em.”

“As you wish,” replied Spike, somehow not concerned with Applejack’s out-of-character anger at him. Her outburst had not gone unnoticed by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, however. They silently agreed she was just getting fed up with him, but they also suspected there might have been something else at play. But for the moment, the main objective was to get Spike to leave Applejack in peace.

Elsewhere, nearby, Iron Will and co. were setting up more timberwolf traps. Or rather, Willy and Nilly were doing it while Iron Will just looked at a giant map detailing the part of the forest they were closest to.

“Uh-huh, yeah…yeah…right there is good” supervised Iron Will. “We’re going to do better this time, boys, Iron Will knows it!”
The plan this time was to test a modification to Iron Will’s tactics of wolf catching. Instead of going into the forest himself, he was going to remove all the dangerous variables such as getting ambushed by hordes of timberwolves like last time. Now the plan was to just lure them out of the forest with various kinds of bait. Stinky cheese, tenderized meat (from The Meatery, of course), even a rather cheesy looking cardboard 2-D mock up of a female timberwolf wearing excessive makeup and a dress so hideous Rarity would think Iron Will was trying to torture the cardboard with bad fashion. Iron Will rationalized that werewolves and timberwolves would behave in similar ways, being just types of wolves as he saw it, so if he could trap timberwolves like this, then werewolves could be attracted the same way. Heck, if he was lucky, he’d catch a pony who had fallen for the bait and be able to snatch up the werewolf he needed to gain the hand of the princess.

“Yeah, like Iron Will is going to be that lucky…” grumbled the minotaur as he put the map down and actually started putting down some traps himself. While it would be nice to get this thing over and done with, his actual concern was what he had to do in the event one of the mythical monsters fell into his traps. The fact he never completed the courtship rituals because of his book deal was actually only half the story. The other half was that he really didn’t like the idea of actually taking the life of another creature. Monstrous or not, they were just as alive as he and any other innocent creature on the planet, and he’d had to learn how to be aggressively assertive during his calf years to hide his secretly non-violent side. The things he’d learned in being aggressive had been the cornerstone for what would become his award-winning self-help programs, and he himself had adopted the persona full time as a result, but as fearsome as he appeared he was truly a gentle giant if given the chance.

Then again, if he had to back up his aggressive nature and start inflicting real pain on enemies for any reason, he wasn’t afraid to put his muscular build to use as a weapon. To him, there was a difference between hurting something and actually killing it, but there needed to be justification for that.

Iron Will had to stop and wonder about that, a wolf trap half-unfolded in his hands. Were werewolves truly innocent? Almost all the stories about them involved horrible, brutal attacks on defenseless ponies, plus if the story was true then one actually had killed the minotaur queen of old. So, in a sense, if Iron Will did find a werewolf, there was almost certainly justification for hurting it, maybe even killing it, in the name of avenging the queen. But there were still other moral questions to be asked, ones Iron will was still trying to find the answers to, so as he pondered he continued to lay down the traps. One thing would lead to another, but as far as he was concerned at the moment, he couldn’t go home until he had a werewolf carcass draped on his shoulder and the battle scars to prove the kill was true.

He actually agreed to it! thought Applejack as she trotted over to Golden Oaks, Spike for once not begging for more slave work. He actually agreed to count every single blade of grass on the farm. Every last one!

Indeed, Spike’s Dragon Code made him cheerfully agree to even do the impossible. On the bright side, he didn’t actually require her to be around while he did stuff for her, so while he was performing a task that simply could not go wrong in any conceivable way, Applejack was going to get Twilight’s side of this story. She’d doubted Twilight would so easily agree to let Spike leave her care, even the unicorn realized that without his help, the library would be a disaster zone every time Twilight was looking for a specific book in the collection.

Letting herself into the tree, Applejack was surprised Twilight hadn’t been there to greet her. Instead, the studious mare was found doing some very intensive reading, isolated from the rest of the world. As evidence when Applejack discovered shouting, even right next to Twilight’s ear, did nothing to get her attention. Changing tactics, Applejack instead went over to a desk where everything was perfectly lined up, and nudged an inkwell one inch out of place.

Twilight’s jumpy reaction made Applejack roll her eyes at how her yelling had failed to do the job done by a simple push of an inkwell, a movement so quiet Twilight couldn’t have even heard it normally. But hear it she did.

“Sorry, Ah didn’t mean to scare you,” Applejack apologized as Twilight finally acknowledged the earth pony’s presence.
“No, it’s okay,” sighed Twilight. “I needed to take a break anyway. What’s going on?”

“Ah know Spike told you that he was gonna follow his Dragon Code and serve me forever after Ah saved him from some timberwolves, and that you were okay with it an-“

“Wait, what?!” exclaimed a shocked Twilight.

“He said he told you all about it. Ah’m guessin’ maybe you were a little distracted when he told you?”
“Maybe a little…”

“Ah knew you wouldn’t have let him go so easily. Anyway, now that you know what’s goin’ on, maybe you can talk some sense into him so he’ll leave me alone?”

It was not reassuring to Applejack that Twilight shook her head before saying “Oh, Applejack, I wish I could, but this is Dragon Code we’re talking about. Surely you know how important the Dragon Code is to a dragon!”

The farmer couldn’t help but look skeptical at the fact Twilight was legitimately treating the Dragon Code like an actual thing that existed. “Twilight, Ah’ve known you for about two years now, both you and Spike, and not once during that period has this Dragon Code ever been mentioned from either of you until today. Furthermore, when Spike was describin’ the code, he held up a card that looks like mah sister drew it in five minutes! In crayon! On top of all that, Ah remember you explicitly statin’ that the night before Spike went on that big ol’ dragon migration thing, neither you nor Spike nor a single book in this library knew anythin’ about dragon culture and behavior, or dragon anythin’! But now you’re tellin’ me that’s not true anymore?”

Twilight closed her eyes, trying to remember where she’d heard about the Dragon Code. She was blushing profusely when she realized where the concept had come from.

“Oh, um, yeah…I guess I was getting my facts mixed up. The Dragon Code was actually something I’d theorized from that all-night session with Spike in trying to learn more about his kind. He must have latched onto it thinking it was actually true. But I can’t go and tell him it’s fake, It would crush him and I can’t allow that to happen, for him to learn the one thing he thinks is his connection to his race is based in nothing but conjecture.”

Applejack nickered in annoyance. The fact today’s main issues had been the result of something only theorized by Twilight just making everything worse in that Spike legitimately didn’t have to do anything AJ ordered him to do. “Well then, if you can remember anythin’ about that stupid code that can get him back to normal, Ah’m all ears. Otherwise, you’re gonna have to tell him the truth because Ah can’t have him tryin’ to help me for the rest of time!”

Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle “Hmm…there’s only one other way Spike is gonna fulfill the debt he feels he owes you.”
Applejack let out a small sigh of relief. There actually was a light at the end of the tunnel, an outcome where Spike would not get mauled by a werewolf pushed beyond her limits of tolerance. Then she realized Twilight probably didn’t know why Spike was even in this position in the first place.

“Okay, great, you can tell me on the way back to the farm. But before we go, Ah need to know just what Spike is supposed to be doin’ today instead of enslaving himself to me.”

“Well, I told him to take the day off. Princess Celestia sent me all these medical texts straight from the Royal Archives that I need to read by the end of the weekend, so I had no need for him today.”

“So what you’re saying is that you have no idea of what he’s been doing today whatsoever, before pledgin' himself to my service?”

“No, I’ve been too engrossed in my books I guess. Why, does it involve how you saved him from the timberwolves?”
It was then the pieces fit into place. Spike hadn’t been trying to recover the balloon, at least not initially. He was the reason it ended up in the Everfree in the first place!

“Twilight, before Ah tell you what he’s been doin’, Ah think you need to give him more ideas about what he can do on his days off that don’t involve puttin' himself and others in danger.”

Intellectual Pursuit was just merrily trotting around Ponyville, taking in stock of his surroundings. Namely, he was marking out exit routes and hiding places in the event his real identity was discovered. Highly unlikely, but he’d underestimated situations before and was only still alive because he’d gotten the lay of the land earlier. He’d been employed in such a position once, many years ago, but in service of cowards who refused to go head first into the unknown. After all these years, being able to discover something new, something surprising was one of the highlights of his life. Even though he’d visited almost every corner of the continent in his long life, the element of the unknown was the thrill that continued to drive him.

In fact, that had been how he’d met her, an unpredicted event that would permanently change his path. Even though he’d planned to meet her for years, as part of his master plan to rise back to power, she hadn’t been what he’d expected. Unlike most ponies who had found him rummaging through their stuff, a monster of horrible legend that was to be feared, she had not been like that. Rather, she found him…interesting. The fact she’d pretty much given him everything he’d wanted at the time was a big surprise, but the most shocking thing had been her willingness to come with him back into the wilds. He couldn’t remember exactly, but she’d been a married housewife, with a school-age foal no less. And she was willing to leave it all behind to be with him. To be like him.

It had been simple enough: together they had ransacked the home to make it look like she’d been attacked by some foul beast. He remembered her blood had tasted so sweet as he sunk his fangs into her neck, the crimson fluid dripping out and staining anything it touched. While they never returned to that home, he knew the scene found by what had once been her family was that of a vicious struggle, one that pointed to her murder and subsequent spiriting away by feral forces to be some creature’s dinner. To some extent it had been true, the pony she had been had died by his work, remaining only in the house by smears of blood and a shattered family portrait.

But the creature she had become was beautiful beyond words. She had accepted the change, the first of his many victims to do so. She couldn’t really even be called a victim, since she’d outright asked him to do it. Rather, she had been a kindred spirit to him, one who loved seeing new things and places, experiencing the unknown, living the way nature had wanted to maintain. She even managed to escape the fate of those whom he had previously bitten, for she remained the way he had made her into, instead of devolving into a beast that, while still noble, didn’t make for good companionship for conversation. Those whom he had also forced into being part of his pack also tended to eventually die soon after, but not her. By some blessing of a higher power, she had turned into the perfect counterpart of him, forever to be loyal and at his side. Together, they were to have made a new empire, one that would have toppled the false throne and ruled over all of ponykind the way it was supposed to be.

At least, until that one night years ago when she was taken away from him. He had hated Celestia since a time even he could not remember, but the actions of that pretender to the throne against him were too much. The proverbial knife in his back was only driven in further when, no less than two years ago, the once rebellious Princess Luna was restored from a millennia of lunar imprisonment. She had been a far worse offender as Nightmare Moon than his beloved had ever been, yet while Celestia had permanently separated him from his love, she’d welcomed her former wannabe-usurper counterpart with love and kisses all the way back to the shared throne.

Neither Celestia nor her equally bastardized sister even call themselves a queen, thought Pursuit. Those false avatars of the sun and moon refuse to take the title from their dear mother - Queen Faust. If that doesn’t show how weak they are, then I don’t know what would!

He then realized he was hyperventilating, out of righteous rage of course, but it would still not do for him to expose his agenda to the loyal subjects of the divided crown. Darting into an alleyway, he calmed himself down and fixed his disguised persona to that of some stupid scholar type. The disguise charm on the locket only worked in the physical sense, one had to maintain a mental state of falsehood to fully hide in plain view.

At that same moment, he saw Twilight Sparkle leaving Golden Oaks along with the orange pony of his interest. Applejack was her name, if he recalled correctly. He smiled as he watched them go by, before proceeding to subtly follow them. He could tell by Applejack’s tail being in an almost constant movement that she was already well on her way to becoming the ripe fruit he so wished to pick. Normally he would have just been satisfied to see her progress in getting turned, but these two were up to something and he felt a little curious as to what it was.

“Well he would be terrifying, if he wasn’t A FAKE!”

Applejack couldn’t believe it. The plan had been perfect. Have her get attacked by the fake timberwolf and stage the whole thing so it looked like she was really in danger. Spike would “save” her, thus making things even between him and her, and she could get rid of him. But somewhere in execution, something was off, and Spike had noticed.

“The roar was spot on, and the detail on the face is pretty good, but you forgot one thing: his breath! You can smell a real timberwolf’s breath from a mile-“ Spike continued, but was immediately cut off when something that was unmistakably timberwolf breath wafted in the air. Spike laughed, thinking it was too little, too late in order to trick him…but then Twilight came running out of the forest and Rainbow declaring there actually were timberwolves.

Applejack looked into the forest, instinctively crouching for fight-or-flight, as the source of the bad odors appeared. Three timberwolves had shown up, the fact is was exactly three made Applejack wonder if it was the same trio from this morning. But no time to worry about that as she quickly chose the flight response and ran away, Spike in hot pursuit.

Conveniently, the spot where the rock tower had been built was right there, so as Spike kept on running, Applejack ascended the rock pile and managed to make a triple strike combo by pushing off a large rock, taking out all three wolves at once. However, right after it looked like the danger was clear, the rock Applejack was on top of dislodged itself and fell, taking the hapless pony with it. Luckily, she landed without any injuries.

The orange mare sighed in relief, “Phew, that coulda been-“

*SNIKT*

“Ow!” she suddenly cried out, a burst of pain erupting from her left hind leg. Wincing in pain, she looked back to find one of the rocks had opened up like a clam, with a spring-loaded metal claw coming out of it and having clamped tightly around her leg.

To make matters worse, the remains of the timberwolves began to glow a sickly green. Applejack and Spike could only watch as the remains formed into a single leg, but with other, giant pieces of timber coming out of the forest and combining into what looked like one giant timberwolf.

“Applejack, c’mon!” cried Spike, not wanting to stick around to see what a giant timberwolf really looked like.

But try as she might, she couldn’t dislodge herself from the trap. “Ah-Ah can’t! Ah’m really stuck!”

“No more messing around! Let’s go!”

It was no use, the claw would not let go. Applejack still didn’t stop trying to get out of the trap, not until very loud and raspy breathing was coming from the giant timberwolf in front of her. The wooden creature roared, sending Applejack’s heightened senses into a cacophony of horror as she smelled things nopony should ever smell. Granted, she probably could take the thing on herself, if she shifted into a wolf right then, but not while Spike was around.

“Forget it, Spike, you gotta get outta here!” shouted Applejack, half out of concern for the dragon, half out of wanting him just to get out of there so she could get loose from the trap without him seeing.

The timberwolf giant stomped closer, knocking Spike onto his back. He made no move to leave.

“Would you forget your Dragon Code already and go?!”

To her surprise, he suddenly leaped up and in between her and the timberwolf.

“No!” he declared, “I have to save you!” He proceeded to throw a small rock he happened to have picked up right into the timberlined maw of fowl breath before him. Amazingly, the rock appeared to get stuck in the creature’s windpipe (if it even had one), and as it tried to dislodge the rock it started to break apart from its coughing.

“Let’s get outta here!” said Spike as he moved to try and free Applejack from the trap. Unfortunately, it would require some fidelity that the situation wouldn’t allow, so instead of running away, Spike just lifted the trap boulder while Applejack limped behind the rock pile. The two made it just in time for the giant timberwolf to explode, bits of enchanted tree and bark falling like rain from the sky.

“I-I think it’s finally over!” exhaled Spike, dropping the prohibitively heavy trap boulder.

“Ah hope so, if that thing has an even bigger cousin, Ah don’t wanna meet the family! Now, can you get your claws workin’ to free me from this thing?”

A third, masculine voice then made itself known: “Iron Will demands that you not touch that trap!”

Applejack paled. How in the world did she end up getting into a trap set by the local werewolf hunter during that whole mess?! She was done for now, that’s all she could think about.

Spike, on the other hand, was incredulous; “Why not? Can’t you see she needs help getting out of it?”

“Ah, but that trap was meant to catch wolves, so the only logical conclusion Iron Will can see of how a pony can be caught in it is if she herself is a werewolf!”

Yep. She was done for. Or she would have been if Spike hadn’t thought fast.

"Does she look like a werewolf to you? I mean, c'mon. I've known her for years! If she's a werewolf, I'm a griffon!"
“Iron Will doesn’t see what you mean-“

“If Applejack here was a werewolf, don’t you think she’d look more like, y’know, a wolf? Like, her coat would be longer, she’d have fangs coming out of her mouth, and she’d have actual paws instead of hooves?”

Iron Will put his hand up to his chin, thinking about what the dragon had said. Coming to the conclusion that Applejack did not look like a wolf, he realized the trap had misfired.

“Iron Will knew he shouldn’t have gotten the cheap ACME brand boulder-camo traps, no wonder the sales clerk said they’re more reliable in catching coyotes. My apologies, miss, let me get that off you.”

Kneeling down, Iron Will easily pulled the claw apart far enough for Applejack to get her slightly bruised leg out. Apologizing once again, the minotaur then walked off with the trap in hand, thinking about what different kinds of traps to try. He was also wondering why the trap hadn’t done much worse to the poor pony’s leg beyond just bruising it, but she looked like a well-built work pony so maybe she was just that tough.

Applejack was just relieved. Spike had managed to save her life not once, but twice within a timespan of five minutes. It was all she could do to say “Thanks, Spike.”

“Hey, no problem. I guess I must have picked up that trap by accident since it, well, looked like a good rock to use for the rock tower. What was with that fake timberwolf attack, though?”

Applejack sighed. “Look, Ah know this Dragon Code thing is important to you, but if somethin’ like this comes up in the future, do you think maybe we can go back to my code, say ‘that’s what friends do’ and leave it at that? Ah promise Ah won’t think of you as any less noble. Ah also probably won’t end up killing you, because Ah swear if you ever try being super-helpful like this to me ever again, Ah seriously will not be able to stop mahself from tearing you a new one.

“Ahahaha…yeah…sounds good to me” Spike cringed, hoping Applejack’s implied death threat was in jest. “But, maybe let’s just try to avoid situations where one of us actually needs the other one to save their life?”

“Deal!”

The two bumped appendages, claw to hoof, before they departed, Applejack slightly limping from the residual pain from the bruises inflicted from the trap, although with each step the pain was lessening.

From a distance away, Intellectual Pursuit had seen the whole thing. He had been rather interested to see what Applejack would do if faced against a larger, much more dangerous enemy. However, between the unexplained clap-trap in the boulder and the intervention of the baby dragon, it had not been a good setup for evaluating her abilities anyway.
But maybe I can set something up to test her, mused Pursuit as he turned to head back to Ponyville proper. There was research to be done. And threats to test the orange werewolf against to arrange.

Ch.16: Extreme Inconvenience

Chapter 16: Extreme Inconvenience

The level of ecstasy that Applejack felt as she went on her first forest run in weeks was impossible to describe. She’d decided to take two weeks off from running after the incident with the dogs, not even trying to go running around the farm after nearly giving herself away the first time, just to be safe. The urge to run had been sated somewhat with an intense race with Rainbow Dash earlier in the week, but she couldn't fully feed the need for speed without the extra traction her padded paws gave her. The hunger to let loose, to indulge that wild side, was finally being met; and Applejack couldn't be happier.

But there were other thoughts nagging at her as she followed the old path from that first night back to Castle Everfree. During the race with Rainbow Dash, the desire Applejack had of winning was in conflict with another desire. One to keep looking at the plot of the pegasus she was racing.

While the idea of her wanting to stare at another mare’s plot was uncomfortable enough simply because Applejack didn't swing that way, it was why Rainbow’s butt was so appealing that truly horrified Applejack. Rainbow had a very tasty looking plot. With “tasty” being used to describe something she actually wanted to eat. Like food.

Applejack ran harder, shaking her head to try and get the horrifying mental images out of her head. But the images of Rainbow Dash being bloodily cut up to be rendered into food just wouldn't leave. To try and make things slightly easier on her psyche, Applejack tried to think of Rainbow Dash being horribly mutilated and turned into cupcakes. However, the idea was no less horrifying, and the result only generated another mental image of Pinkie Pie’s “alternate” mood where she was wearing parts of other ponies she’d murdered like some kind of sick dress.

Worst of all, though, had to be how Applejack envisioned herself in the middle of all this. In her mind’s eye, she could only see herself as the wolf she was now, with a few differences that truly made her look more canine than equine. Internally, however, this Applejack was a much different pony, if she could even be called that anymore. Feral and uncontrollable, there was no trace of the farm pony in the beast rampaging on a bloody mission. Rainbow Dash had only been the first victim, the other element bearers soon found themselves viciously ripped apart by fangs and claws to feed the monster, neither pony nor wolf. Then it was the rest of her family; Granny was easily dispatched, Big Mac soon after. Finally, all there was left in the mental nightmare was a wounded, bleeding Apple Bloom, caught in a corner and begging for Applejack’s mercy. But this monstrosity only saw her sister as food and with a sudden leap the corrupted element of honesty flew at the helpless filly…

…and in reality Applejack slammed headfirst into a tree. It took a few moments to recover from the resulting daze, but otherwise she was unharmed physically.

Mentally, however, AJ knew she was losing control of herself, of this werewolf thing. Surely her friends could help, or maybe Zecora could make some kind of potion that would lessen the urges to eat ponies. Yet at the same time the feeling inside of her, the one that wanted her to keep this werewolf thing a secret, was protesting those ideas.

What am Ah gonna do? lamented the troubled lycanthrope as she sat on the forest ground, torn on what she was to do. She couldn't keep up the lying forever, sooner or later she’d make a mistake and the whole town would fear her, the next monster to terrorize the town. But her friends would need to know, it was bad enough none of them knew while Sandalwood and Lyra, two ponies she didn't interact with nearly as much, had forced the secret from her. There would be a time to spill the beans, that much was true, but there was no way to know when that time would come. And until then, Applejack would be a prisoner within her own body, fighting a losing struggle against the thing she was turning into.

She felt it coming, but did nothing to stop it. Tilting her head towards the moon, she let out a weak howl, mirroring her own self-perception. It was so weak that nothing in the forest seemed to pay it any heed, as if it had never happened. Applejack was jealous of the Everfree Forest for that: if there was anything it wanted to ignore; it could do so without problem. The same could not be said of the poor farmer, not when it her problem influenced her very behavior.

Except she had something the forest did not: she had the smartest unicorn in all of Equestria for a best friend.
Ah gotta stop hidin’ this from mah own friends, thought Applejack, mentally shouting down that other feeling that kept trying to tell her doing so was a bad idea. It’s only hurtin’ everypony the longer Ah keep this under wraps. Tomorrow…the truth comes out. With her resolve boosted, she took off back to the farm to hopefully get some sleep. If everything went to plan, it would be a long day ahead of her, but at least she wouldn't have to fight against her own element afterwards.
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“H-hold on, please!” Fluttershy called out as she descended the steps. She could have simply glided down, but it was extremely early in the morning, Luna hadn’t even lowered the moon yet, so the rudely awakened pegasus wasn't going to risk crashing due to a groggy head. The fact remained, however, that somepony was banging on the door and had rudely awakened her. The most confusing part of it all, though, was that she didn't know who could possibly be calling at this hour.
Opening the door, she found a strangely hyper Twilight standing outside, a letter written on royal parchment floating in midair next to her and surrounded by the unicorn’s purple magic aura.

“Ohthankgoodnessyou’reawakeFluttershyIreallydoapplologizebutrightnowthereisasituationinFillydelphiathatIreallyneedyourhelpwith!”

Before Fluttershy could ask for clarification, Spike, who happened to be standing next to the out-of-character Twilight, provided it; “Princess Celestia sent a letter asking for Twilight’s help. According to the princess, there’s an ursa minor causing problems all along the forest border near Fillydelphia and since Twilight dealt with the ursa here in Ponyville she felt it would be wise for her to handle the problem in Filly.”

“ButI’drathernotresorttoasmuchpropertydamageasIwasforcedtoperformlasttimesoIwashopingyoucouldcomealongandhelpcalmtheursadownbeingthatyourspecialtalentworksongiantcreaturesaswellassmallones,” blurted Twilight, clearly not used to speaking in the same fashion as Pinkie Pie.

Fortunately, Fluttershy had caught enough of the words to understand the situation. “Oh, of course I’ll come! That ursa is probably just distraught over something and can’t find its mother. Just let me go pack some things, but before that…erm…” Fluttershy brushed the ground with her hoof nervously before asking “are you feeling alright, Twilight?”

“WhyyesIactuallyfeelquiteenergeticwellnotinamagicalsenseasIdon’thavethepowerofanalicornoranythingbutmaybeit’smoreofaphyiscialsenseas-“

Spike cut his adoptive big sister off; “Twilight wanted to try coffee so she could be as awake this early as she normally is during the lighted part of the day. Unfortunately, she tried to make the coffee herself and I suspect may have put one too many scoops of sugar into the mix.”

“Scoops?” asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow at her lifelong companion, “Thebookdidn’tsayanythingaboutaddingsugarintothecoffeeonlythatitwasprettycaffinatedexceptIwasn’tsurehowcaffinateditwassoIjustmadethesamebatchofcoffeeoverandovertotryandincreasetheamountofcaffinesoIwouldbeenergeticenoughforthisendevor.ObviouslyIsucceeedno?”

Spike faceplamed and Fluttershy just cringed. This was going to be a long trip with hyperactive Twilight, and then even longer once the energy rush died and made the unicorn into a sluggish mass of fur, horn, and limbs.

Hidden in the woods, out of both sight and hearing, a dark figure overheard the entire conversation. He grinned, revealing his sharpened canines. This was the moment he’d been waiting for, to begin the more “interactive” part of his plan. With Celestia’s favored pupil and the weak-willed pegasus out of the way, there was only one pony who could stop what was in store.

Of course, that was exactly what he wanted. Taking care to not be noticed, the inequine presence made his way to another side of Ponyville. This time, his destination was The Meatery. Oh, how he wanted to partake in the succulent delights that no doubt resided within the kitchens! However, doing so would throw suspicion onto whatever disguise he was using due to most ponies refusing to acknowledge the fact meat was a perfectly good item on the menu, and he was above having to scrounge through refuse for edibles. For materials to enable his plans, however, was a perfectly justifiable reason for dumpster diving. Especially since The Meatery was the only establishment for miles that would throw out the things he needed.

It was harder than he thought. The tantalizing smell of all that meat just inside the back door to the kitchen almost made him go completely feral and just raid the place right then and there. Only the promise of eventually being able to eat such meats to his heart’s content through his current objective kept him focused. On the other hoof, it was exactly what he wanted, because he’d need the best meat smells he could get if the plan was to work. Once again, lady luck was on his side, as the things he sought were still fresh from the preparation work, more than enough was available for his purposes. With his resources gathered, there was no time to lose as he bolted off into the night. He had a long way to travel, longer still when factoring in the return trip, but the end result was going to be so worth the hardship.
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The next morning…

“Sweetie Belle, you’re going to be late for school!” Rarity tapped her hoof impatiently. Normally her little sister was better about being on time for school, but right now the tiny unicorn had taken over the bathroom and had been working on something for a period of time much longer than what she usually devoted to things.

“Alright, alright! I’m done!” called back Sweetie, the sound of her decent following close behind. Yet, the…thing…that came to a stop in front of Rarity, while looking like Sweetie Belle, did not look like Sweetie Belle at the same time.

“Sweetie, have you been trying to use my hair styling tools again?!” intoned Rarity, the answer already obvious. While it was easy enough to see the younger sister had actually tried to replicate the big sister’s hair curls on her own, inexperience and complete lack of knowledge on how to use said tools had turned Sweetie Belle’s mane into a stark parody of Rarity’s hair so horrid that words simply do not exist to aptly describe what sat on top of her head.

“Um…yes?” replied the offender, hoping that honesty would mean less trouble. Rarity just rolled her eyes as she magically summoned the abused tools from the upstairs water closet. Now back in the grip of their master, the devices made short work of restoring Sweetie’s mane back to its usual large curls.

“You know I've told you not to use these things, sister, they’re not meant to be held physically in one’s hooves.” Scolded Rarity, “since we both know your magic hasn't yet manifested itself beyond the occasional spark or two, I suspect that’s exactly what happened isn't it?”

“Yeah…” Sweetie despondently confirmed. “I was just trying to make myself look more fashionable to show up Diamond Tiara! She’s been going on and on about how her daddy got her a private hair stylist and just won’t shut up about it!”

“Don’t let her boasts about how much better she is than you get under your fur, Sweetie. Besides, was she one of three fillies chosen to be a flowerfilly at a royal wedding?”

“No.”

“Does she have a big sister who happens to be an element bearer and so is one of the most important ponies in the entire land?”

“No.”

“And does she always end up late for school?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s what somepony is going to be if they don’t get going!” teased Rarity as she nuzzled her smaller counterpart. Taking the hint, Sweetie just giggled before grabbing her saddlebag and heading out the door, off to another day of adventure in learning and ignoring the biggest brat in the entire town.

Rarity watched her sister leave the Boutique, shaking her head in bewilderment at Sweetie’s antics. “At least she was doing it for reasons other than trying to get her cutie mark in hair styling again.” With Sweetie Belle out for the day, Rarity proceeded to get to what she’d planned for the day. Mostly it was just housekeeping and working on an order of fine tuxedo shirts for Canterlot clientele.

The plans changed when Pinkie Pie came over to visit while Rarity was hanging up some finished tuxedos that had just come out of their first wash.

“Hi, Rarity!” called out the party pony.

“A good afternoon to you, too, Pinkie.”

“Watcha doin’?”

“Oh, just setting out these tuxedos to dry. They’re just the first ones of this order I need to fill for some big name director over in Canterlot. He’s doing some kind of musical, A Chorus Line or something.”

“That sounds…productive!” chirped Pinkie, who really thought it actually sounded kind of boring. But it made for a great subject to change topic from. “At least, more productive than what Twilight and Fluttershy are doing.”

“Oh?” Rarity finished putting up the last tuxedo on the line and turned to focus her attention on Pinkie. “What are they up to today?”

“Actually, they've probably been at it since last night, but considering how long it would take them to get to Fillydelphia I guess it would have already been past sunrise when they actually started doing what they went to do.”

“Which was…?” questioned Rarity. A normal pony would have begun to lose their temper at Pinkie, but having known the excitable mare for so long made Rarity understand that Pinkie eventually would get to her point.

“From what I overheard from Gummy, it would seem Fillydelphia is experiencing a problem with an Ursa Minor and since Twilight dealt with the one Snips and Snails angered about a year ago Princess Celestia requested she go assist Filly. She also took along Fluttershy since she’s good with animals and Twilight theorizes that the Ursa is just cranky, which Fluttershy is usually good at fixing.”

“I see.” Replied Rarity. While the idea that Gummy was a reputable source of information, much less a source at all, was ridiculous, Pinkie worked in ways that nopony could explain and the only resolve for anypony dealing with her was “just go with it”. Plus, as a close friend, Pinkie had no reason to try and fool Rarity with a story like that. Then the fashionista remembered she’d had a planned project that Fluttershy’s absence worked out wonderfully for allowing. “Say, Pinkie, do you know when Twilight and Fluttershy will be returning?”

“I dunno, why?”

“Well, there’s something I want to do for Fluttershy, but you have to keep it a secret, alright?”

Pinkie nodded vigorously. Despite her free spirited nature suggesting otherwise, she was definitely one who could be relied upon as a confidant. Even for such a small matter like this.

“Well, I know Fluttershy could probably use a new light jacket, one with wing slits, for those chilly morning when she tends to her animals, so I was going to make one for her. However, it’s a surprise, so you can’t tell, alright?”

“Okey Dokey Lokey!” answered Pinkie, motioning to indicate zipping her mouth, locking it with the key, digging a hole, burying the key in that hole, building a house atop that hole, and then moving into that house.

“Right. Well, I’d best be getting to work on that before these tuxedos dry. I’ll see you later then, Pinkie!” Rarity then trotted into her house-slash-workplace to begin work on her next generous gift. Pinkie, however, did not leave her spot. The moment Rarity closed her front door, the “Pinkie Sense” (Pat. Pend.) began giving the party pony Sizzerific convulsions, which Pinkie knew to mean “stay right where you are”.

Sure enough, five minutes later a much more distressed Rarity came out and looked like she was at a loss as to what to do.

“Oh, Pinkie, it’s terrible!” lamented Rarity, totally not noticing Pinkie had been standing outside her house for no discernable reason, “I had this fabulous shade of burnt umber that I wanted to use for Fluttershy’s new jacket but I don’t have enough material, and there’s no way I’ll make it to the fabric warehouse in time to get more!”

Pinkie, however, knew there was plenty of time. “Rarity” said Pinkie, sticking out a hoof, “grab my hoof.”

Rarity looked quizzically at the extended hoof. “Why would I want to do that, darling?”

“Trust me on this, Rarity” answered Pinkie, winking.

With nothing to lose, Rarity grabbed Pinkie’s hoof. “Okay, I’ve got your hoof. Now what is suppo-“

The world seemed to grow bright all of a sudden, as if everything began to irradiate light brighter than the sun. Except it didn't instantly blind Rarity. Instead, it was if everything was erased from existence, only for it to suddenly begin reforming in a split second.

“-sed to happen?” Rarity was shocked. Somehow, Pinkie and Rarity were now standing in front of the local fabric warehouse on the other side of town, despite having been in front of Carousel Boutique but a second ago.

The pale gray unicorn looked around to make sure this wasn't a hallucination, that what had just happened, happened. “Pinkie, how did you-“

“Sorry, Rarity, I can’t tell you how I did that. I made a Pinkie Promise not to tell!” preempted Pinkie, giving a shrug of apology.

All Rarity could do was shake her head in disbelief once again. This was turning out to be a very interesting, if not perplexing, day.
__________________________________________________________________________________

If at that very moment, one were to ask Pursuit how his day was going, he would answer “what do you think?”

So far, things had technically gone to plan. He’d made the trip in record time, and of course his simple plan of luring the beast away with the bones had worked, but the lack of available information proved to almost be his downfall once again. He knew the creature was fast, he just didn't know it was just as fast as he was when not in his preferred form.

The creature was also extremely tough, but while he could have taken it on easily that would have defeated the entire point of this misadventure. No, he had to lead it to Ponyville. After all the casing he’d done of the settlement, he was sure the only way to defeat the creature was to have superequine abilities. And to his knowledge, the only two such ponies currently living in Ponyville were himself and Applejack.

The crashing of footfalls behind him prompted him to quicken the pace so that he could keep the cretin behind him on his trail. Just over the horizon of the next hill he could see the familiar windmill just outside of the town. Just a few more minutes running and then he could ditch the bones, still smelling of meat, and run away. A “Boom and Zoom” technique he’d adapted from what he knew of pegasus combat maneuvers in some book he’d read years ago. “War Thunder” or something stupid like that, it had been written in Loshad and he’d never really been good at reading that language.

But it was beside the point. All that mattered right now was getting his charge to the town and seeing if his split second choice months ago had been the right one.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

It had taken some fiddling, but Rarity finally managed to get all her things through the front door of the fabric warehouse. In addition to a fresh bolt of the burnt umber for Fluttershy’s jacket, Rarity had seen fit to pick up some other things she’d been meaning to restock on for the shop. In the end, she was hauling out an entire cartload of goods all with her telekinesis. Following behind her was Pinkie Pie, reared up and carrying more of Rarity’s goods.

“Are you…sure that you…need all this?” groaned Pinkie, although mostly just out of humor. While not as strong as Applejack, Pinkie still had the natural above average strength of all Earth ponies and so really wasn't having problems with the weight.

“You wouldn't believe how much fabric I've had to use lately, Pinkie dear.” Replied Rarity, who unwisely was beginning to behave as if she was just as haughty as a rich countess in Canterlot. “Why, just for the jacket I’m making for you-know-who, I not only need a bolt of the burnt umber but also a few yards of whHHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

Out of nowhere, a fast moving, cream colored blur barreled right into Rarity, knocking her down and causing her telekinesis to fail, which meant all of her stuff also fell to the ground. The rude pony didn’t seem affected; still running even though he dropped a sack of something due to the impact. Rarity instantly could smell something horrid in the sack, but she had little time to react before the burnt umber bolt came loose and covered both Rarity and the sack.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Cerberus was tired, hungry, and angry. Its three heads were all in agreement that there had been something that smelled juicy and absolutely delicious, something irresistible. Thus, it had journeyed a very long way from its home in search of that tantalizing meal.

Now, as it finally caught up to the scent, it was like a dream come true. On the ground lay what was unmistakably a gigantic serving of baby back ribs. The burnt sienna color was unmistakably meat bathed in a delicious barbecue sauce, and the bones sticking out were only further confirmation that this was a perfectly sized slab of meat for the three headed guard dog.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Rarity, having just been knocked to the ground by some rude pony and then having all her goods tossed to the ground, wasn't having a good day. It would have been made worse had Pinkie not quickly grabbed Rarity and dragged her just in time to avoid the crashing paw of Cerberus.

“Wh-hat?!” cried Rarity, still trying to process the sudden turn of events.

“Don’t worry, I got it!” shouted Pinkie, who quickly zipped over to an inconspicuous, hollow tree and began reaching up into it. However, a look of surprise and then frustration washed over the earth pony’s face as she began to try digging harder into the tree.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?!”

“This is supposed to be one of my emergency ball stashes, but the ball isn’t here! I know it’s the yellow ball and the blue stripe with the red star!”

“Well, I’m sure you did something with it but now is not the-“

“Oh! I remember! I gave that ball to a blue dalmatian and a periwinkle cat some time ago! Guess I need to get a replacement, huh?”

Rarity just gave a nondescript annoyed look at Pinkie, “Yes, really, that’s so important to remember something like that instead of trying to help me recover my things from not getting destroyed by that…that…beast!” To underline her point, she gestured to Cerberus, who had already scared off most of the town back into their homes and was now apparently rummaging through the scattered fabric goods Rarity had bought.

“Hmm…okay!” replied Pinkie, oddly cheerful in a situation Rarity would classify as a complete disaster, “I think I know how to fix this!”

“Oh, that’s right, that hoof trick thing!” exclaimed Rarity, now glad that her sugar-blooded friend worked in ways beyond explanation. She stuck out a hoof, expecting Pinkie to take it.

Instead, Pinkie just looked confused. “What do you want me to do, exactly?”

“That thing you did, when you somehow took me and you from my house to the warehouse! Can’t you do it now?”

“Oh, yeah that. Well, erm, I could, but it doesn't work on nonliving things such as your fabrics. Because then I could possibly go invade the private property of other ponies like banks and museums where I could steal things and become rich off of ill-gotten goods that don’t belong to me!”

Rarity rolled her eyes, of course Pinkie wouldn't be able to save her things. And just when this day had been looking so good…

“But there is possibly another way” said Pinkie, determination setting in on her face. “Can you use your magic to hold all of the things?”

“Well, yes, but that would take a lot of concentration and I wouldn't be able to walk more than at a snail’s pace. What good would that do?”

“Speed isn't the problem, believe me on that. What I need you to do is sit on my back.”

“You want me to WHAT?!” Rarity was aghast. The only reason ponies would ever ride another pony bareback is if there was no other option of transporting a pony for a number of reasons, such as leg injury or being infants.

“We don’t have time for this!” countered Pinkie, throwing Rarity’s own concern over the fabrics being destroyed a few feet away against her.

“Oh, alright…” conceded Rarity, who proceeded to climb onto Pinkie’s back. It was a very strange sight; a light gray, purple maned unicorn sitting on the back of the color pink given equine form. It was like something out of children’s entertainment for the level of silly it had.

“Good, now pick up all your stuff!”

Rarity did so, the remains of her shopping trip glowing in a blue aura and rising off of the ground, much to the confusion of Cerberus, whose three heads just looked around trying to understand what had happened. Unfortunately, Rarity’s mental maneuvering of the burnt sienna cloth back into a rolled up bolt was hurried, and so the sack of meat-smelling bones got rolled up inside.

“Now hold on!” announced Pinkie suddenly. Rarity was about to ask why but then felt herself hug Pinkie’s neck tightly as the world suddenly started moving around her at a very fast pace. Pinkie, not being the competitive type, generally didn't demonstrate her natural endurance, which while not allowing speeds on the level of Applejack or Rainbow, did allow her to run at a fairly fast clip with a heavy load on her back, namely one very shocked unicorn.

Cerberus, however, noted the smell of meat moving away and proceeded to barrel down the town streets after it. Having been denied his meat, he was really pissed off and somepony was going to pay.

The chase lasted only maybe three minutes, but to Rarity it was like an eternity. The beast was almost upon the two when Pinkie suddenly made a sliding motion and managed to slip right inside the front door of Carousel Boutique, Rarity and her garment materials in tow.

Slamming the door shut with her telekinesis, Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, at least-“

The ground shook, as something large, heavy, and fast slammed into the side of the building. Luckily for Rarity, Carousel Boutique was actually an experimental building when it was built, years before her family moved into town from Maneiappolis. It was designed to be an extremely study building, able to withstand great abuse from the elements. Right now it was demonstrating its hidden powers by resisting every attack Cerberus made against it. But there was no telling if it would eventually give into the assault.

“Oh, what are we going to do?! That beast is going to destroy the Boutique because we've angered it somehow!” wailed Rarity, her dramatics a little more justified than usual in the face of losing her house.

“Maybe the others can help?” suggested Pinkie, referring to the rest of the Mane Six.

“No, that won’t work, Twilight and Fluttershy won’t ever make it back in time to help!”

“I meant Applejack and Rainbow Dash, silly! I’m sure they can do something to at least buy time until the other two come back.”

“I guess we don’t have much of a choice, but how are you-?”

“Wait right here!” ordered Pinkie, before rushing over to a window, opening it, and diving to the outside through it. It happened to be a back window, one that Cerberus wasn't paying attention to, so she was able to make her escape to seek help for Rarity.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash was lounging around on her bed, reading some new action thriller novel Twilight had recently finished and recommended. As usual, the intelligent unicorn had been right and Rainbow found herself really liking Razorblade Angel. Well, most of it, anyway. The only major problem she had with the book was that it involved the presence of the most obscene monsters that had ever been conceived; giant mutant hornets who were all endowed with bull sized-

“Rainbow! RAINBOW!” cried the unmistakable voice of Pinkie…outside her cloudhouse’s door?

Normally, Rainbow would have rolled her eyes and enthusiastically gone to answer the door. However, the tone of urgency was clear in Pinkie’s tone, which meant something bad had happened. Thus, Rainbow rushed down to her front door to find Pinkie standing on the other side. On the clouds.

“Pinkie, what’s…keeping you on the clouds?” asked Rainbow, concerned about Pinkie’s defying the laws of physics and magic combined.

“No time to explain! Cerberus is back, and he’s going after Rarity for some reason! Twilight and Fluttershy are out of town, so it’s us to save her!”

Rainbow just gave a quick nod and immediately shot off into the sky, heading for Carousel Boutique. She didn't know how Pinkie had gotten up to the cloudhouse, as Twilight’s old balloon was nowhere in sight, and then how Pinkie would get down, but that wasn't important. Plus, since it was Pinkie Pie, the explanation probably would make the situation make even less sense.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Applejack surveyed the part of the farm currently known as “the nursery”. It was where apple tree sprouts were being grown into places where most of the old trees had died and stopped producing. Those expired trees were replaced with saplings, then after being cut down were processed on-site into usable lumber boards. Since the farm was quite large and there was always a steady supply of old trees to harvest, the surplus of lumber was the secret reason why the Apple Family Barn managed to keep getting destroyed almost every year without in turn bankrupting the family, as outside of paint and metal the rest of the necessary materials were already in storage.

But that wasn't really what Applejack was thinking about. Within her head, she was at war with herself on deciding a time to reveal her secret to her friends. And then her family would be an even bigger problem, because while her friends were effectively as close as blood relatives at this point, they at least didn't live in the same building as her. Plus, she suspected that Big Mac might have some suspicions about her, due to his odd reactions to her slightly unusual behaviors before the first transformation.

Does he know somethin’ Ah don’t? wondered Applejack, questioning if her family had buried secrets that, for whatever reason, were being kept from her. It sort of made sense; Big Mac was the only male presence on the farm and had been in charge of running it alongside Granny ever since Appleseed and Cornflower had died of Pneumonia. Or did they?

That chilling thought caused Applejack’s eyes to widen in shock. Pieces of information that were formerly unrelated suddenly began to connect like puzzle pieces. It wasn’t much, since her parents had died so long ago and she barely even school age at the time, but now from the perspective of a grown mare the truth began to unfold.

Mom’s cutie mark…it was fadin’ like mine right before she passed… pondered the pony as she absentmindedly glanced back at her own marked flank. Despite what Twilight had said, the condition seemed to have only worsened as the once bright red was now shifted to a reddish orange. Almost as if her cutie mark was a branding from a hot iron instead of being a purely natural thing. How nopony else, not even her own family, had noticed since Twilight first pointed it out was beyond her, but if it got even worse considerations would need to be made about wearing some kind of covering to hide it.

She knew there was more to the connection between what happened to her mother and the issues she herself was having, but it was interrupted by one of the apple collection buckets suddenly exploding, with apples flying everywhere.

“What in tarnation?!” exclaimed AJ.

“Sorry!” replied the head of Pinkie, which stuck out from the still-half-full bucket, “No time to explain, Rarity’s in trouble and needs our help!”

“What kinda trouble?” inquired AJ, long since used to having Pinkie appear in places and ways that shouldn't be possible. She was also well used to Rarity considering the most minor of problems, such as one of her fake eyelashes go missing, as a national emergency.

“She’s stuck in her house while it’s getting attacked by Cerberus! And no, we don’t know why, either!”

“Cerberus?! Are you sure?!”

“I had to carry Rarity on my back as we were running from him, so I’m super-dooper-upper sure!”

Guess I’ll deal with breaking the bad news to them all later, no point when one of them is dead thought Applejack. “Alright, I’ll be right on my way once I get my lasso!”

“Hurry!” cried Pinkie, sinking into the bucket as if trapped in a bottomless pit of apples. Applejack paid no attention as she raced to the barn, grabbing her trusty rope. She didn't know if it was strong enough to handle a three headed mastiff, but it was the best she had. And if that failed…Applejack shook her head before rushing to Rarity’s rescue, rope in mouth. Ah will not go that far, not unless it’s absolutely necessary!
__________________________________________________________________________________
At that same moment, Celestia was holding day court, listening to the representative from some group of activist ponies go on and on about some reform that needed to be made. She was pretty sure it involved the recent hike in how much the upper class was being taxed, but she’d really just lost interest and didn’t bother. Almost everything that was being brought directly to her attention was written the exact same, to which she only needed to hear the elaborately detailed conclusion to understand what her life was being wasted on. She’d become quite adept over the years of developing a sense of when to tune back in.

But until that time was necessary, she actually liked these periods of giving ponies a warm, seemingly caring smile while simultaneously imagining weird things happening to the current speaker in her head. Right now she was imagining an entire contingent of creatures that resembled bipedal monkeys who were experts in space-set battles, aiming a gigantic railgun at the droning pony holding the floor and preparing to fire a single sand grain at sufficient velocity that would deliver the force of an orbital rainnuke into the brain of the boring stallion before her. For all that she was the epitome of a wise and kind leader; Celestia had never been above imagining how to kill her subjects in increasingly horrifying and complex ways for her own enjoyment.

Regrettably, she could sense the very-still-alive speaker reaching the apex, so now she had to reject her reality and substitute it with the one she was part of. However, right as he was about to go into his conclusion, a Royal Guardspony burst into the room.

“Your Majesty! Your presence is needed at the garrison!”

Oh thank me, thought Celestia, I seriously would prefer a short war over having to listen to rich plotholes complain about a one-percent tax exclusive to them. But she still had some royal duties to do.

“Due to this sudden occurrence, day court has been canceled for the rest of the afternoon.” Announced Celestia, before proceeding to rise from the throne and follow the guardspony out of the room so fast that there wasn't any time for the petitioners and representatives to realize they’d have to wait another day to complain to the sun princess.

Celestia, on the other hand, was just absolutely delighted. “Thank you, Angel Starr, I don’t know how much longer I was going to last in there!”

“I can only imagine it wasn't for much longer, your highness. You may wish you were back there after you see what’s going on, however.”

That brought Celestia’s elation crashing back down to Earth. Angel Starr was one of the veterans of the Royal Guard and one of the few who preferred to remain in their natural form instead of the disguise spell which made all guard ponies look exactly the same regardless of gender. She’d been at the heart of the Changeling invasion a few months back, and many other border conflicts years before. If something was troubling her about the situation at hand, then it couldn't be good.
Luna was already waiting in the garrison with about a half dozen other high ranking officers. It was still taking Celestia a while to get used to not having Shining Armor around, he’d been honorably discharged as Captain so he could take up the role of Prince Consort next to his wife Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire. In his place now was Captain Stonewall, a very gruff but able soldier who had managed to get the guard back in shape after the humiliating failure to deal with Chrysalis’s forces.

“What’s going on?” asked Celestia as she entered the room, assuming the behavior of a concerned national leader. Angel Starr followed behind, locking the door so no eavesdroppers could listen in.

“It’s about that guard dog; Cerberus, your majesty” answered Stonewall, clearly concerned with this sudden added weight of responsibility, “the guard division that’s in charge of the Tartarus prison facility say he’s just up and vanished.”
“Is the prison still secure?”

“Thankfully, it is. The division tightened security once that mutt disappeared, but it’s straining their numbers. It’s hard enough to get troops down there, pushing them past their limits will inevitably-“

“We are well aware of the consequences, captain” interrupted Luna, cutting off Stonewall before he went into detail about what would happen if there was a jailbreak at Tartarus. “However, wasn't there a similar incident not too long ago where Cerberus had only gone to a nearby town for some reason and was later returned without incident?”

“Yes, but from the reports my predecessor filed on the matter the previous incident was just Cerberus following his natural instincts. Even if he’s got three heads, you can’t keep a dog chained up without him wanting to break free and push his boundaries. He was also returned without problem by your protégé’ Princess Celestia, so no lasting damage was done.”

Celestia caught the implication in the captain’s voice that there was a clear difference between then and now. “How is this situation any different?”

The concern was clear in Stonewall’s face, “This time, your highness, some of the guards and even some of the inmates claim to have seen something vaguely resembling a pony prowling around and trying to get Cerberus's attention.”

Luna was taken aback at the idea some information had come from those imprisoned within Tartarus itself. “Why did the prisoners give such information freely? Surely there was an end of the deal that somepony agreed to that would benefit those evils.”

“You won’t believe this, princesses, but from what I was told the inmates exchanged information only on the grounds that the guards do everything in their power to keep this particular pony as far away from them as possible. They may be unwilling captives in any other situation, but the mere mention of the strangest detail about our mystery pony sent them into near hysterics and pleading to not be punished by, and I quote; ‘kicking us out there to fend off the darkest of Equestria’s shadows’. No idea what that could mean.”

Celestia, however, did. There was only one pony she knew of that could scare even the worst of the criminals within the country. But if what she suspected was true, then it could develop into a PR nightmare for the crown at best. She really did not want to consider the worst case scenario.

“Tell me, captain, what was the most unusual detail given to describe this visitor?”

Stonewall reached behind to scratch his neck, “Funny you should ask that, everypony almost universally mentioned he looked far harrier than the usual pony. Almost as if he was part pony and part hairy monster, some statements claim.”
For the briefest moment, the princess of the sun felt lightheaded. Everything had pieced together just as they all began to fall apart. There might still be time, though…

“Captain,” ordered Celestia, “word about this gets out to nopony, ESPECIALLY not anything about the ‘hairy visitor’ who is supposedly responsible for Cerberus disappearing again. All communication from Tartarus is to be funneled directly through Canterlot and not seen by anypony below sufficient rank to see top secret information. If you have guards looking for Cerberus, keep them on the trail . HOWEVER, should they come across anything resembling a hairy half-pony, they are to not engage and get the buck out of there. Am I clear?”

“Yes, your majesty!” saluted Stonewall. He then turned and barked out orders of his own. Shortly, the only two figures left in the garrison were the Princesses.

“What was that all about?” asked Luna, not quite sure what Celestia was so worried about.

“How could I have been so blind, the signs were all there…”

“Celestia!” shouted Luna in the RCV, forcing Celestia to snap back to reality, “What is going on?!”

“He’s back, Luna,” answered Celestia in a voice that rivaled Fluttershy for being the quietest audible expression of words, “that ancient devil who has long sought to overthrow us since practically the day we ascended the throne is once again at large.”

“Who, Celestia, who could possibly be almost as old as us and still think they could overthrow the twin monarchy of Equestria?”

Celestia looked into Luna’s eyes, her own pinkish-purple irises conveying a feeling of worry that she hadn't felt for a little over a decade, before uttering a name that told Luna just how bad the situation had gotten.

“Sable Loam.”
____________________________________________________________________________________

As Applejack smashed through one of the remaining windows in Carousel Boutique, she had to admit the situation was becoming rapidly impossible.

She’d arrived on the scene last, with Rainbow trying to conjure up various weather storms that would force Cerberus to leave while not harming Rarity’s home. However, that only made him angrier. Applejack then tried her luck, employing her rodeo skills to try lassoing one of the three heads and tying the creature up. In return, she felt the business end of a swinging paw and was now resting in an Applejack-shaped indent on the wall.

As she fell out of her hole and tried to make the spinning ducks go away, she could overhear Rainbow try just ramming the creature, possibly to intimidate it.

“You like hitting ponies, do ya? Well, let’s see how much you like it!”

The sound of Rainbow accelerating was broken off immediately by the noise of three dog heads barking simultaneously, as if shouting a spell. in some obscure dragon tongue The result of that was Rainbow crashing through a wall and making a similar indent right next to the Applejack one.

Pinkie, for her part, was doing her best to try and keep Rarity calm while the fashionista was trying not to go crazy at the destruction of her house. In her opinion, there were enough Rainbow Dash-shaped holes in the roof that had been fixed to last a lifetime.

“Ungh…” groaned Rainbow, “We can’t wait for Twilight and Fluttershy to come back from wherever they are, that dog is going to kill us well before then by knocking this place down!”

“Oh, it’s no use, it’s no use!” wailed Rarity, being as unhelpful as the other three ponies expected at this point.

“Well something had to have drawn Cerberus to Rarity, what was she doing right before he jumped her?”

Pinkie spoke up then, to cut off more of Rarity’s whining. “Rarity and I had just gone shopping for more materials for the Boutique, but she got blindsided by some other pony. The other guy seemed to drop some sack, but he didn't come back to pick it up. Then one of the fabric bolts Rarity bought came loose and covered both her and the sack up. After saving her from the falling paw of Cerberus, we made up a plan that managed to get her, all of her stuff, and me safely in here.” Another small earthquake and a shower of ceiling plaster prompted her to add “although this place may not be so safe now.”

“Wait, you had Rarity pick up ALL of her things, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Did she pick up that other pony’s bag as well?”

Rarity managed to stop wailing to say “I-I guess, it might have been wrapped up in the burnt sienna bolt that fell on me. Oh, I never should have gotten it, all I wanted to do was make a nice jacket for-“

AJ was outright ignoring Rarity at that point as she walked over to the bolt of burnt sienna fabric. It clearly needed a wash due to its earlier damage, but there was an odd lump sticking out. In the rush to get to the Boutique, it would have been easy to miss.

Taking the bolt, Applejack immediately rolled it out on the ground. The moment the sack wasn't tangled in the fabric the answer to all their problems was revealed.

“Oh, man ,what is that smell?” complained Rainbow Dash, “is it some kind of dog pheromone or something?”

“It’s not, trust me on that” curtly answered Applejack, not wanting to actually explain why she knew it wasn't pheromones. What WAS in the sack, however, was a collection of bones clearly taken from the garbage bin behind The Meatery.
“Ah know what’s goin’ on, here.” Announced Applejack to the other three ponies.

“Then what are you waiting for?! Tell us so we can save my house!” replied a distraught Rarity.

“Cerberus out there musta thought you looked like a pile of delicious meat, since being draped with this cloth you may have looked like some kind of meat dish, the fact these bones are from The Meatery imply that whoever it was that bumped into you did it intentionally, and originally had led Cerberus here in the first place with the smell of meat.”

The other ponies looked at each other, then back at Applejack. The explanation did make sense, although Applejack’s information on how Cerberus worked was a little suspect. But that would have to be asked later. Right now the problem was saving Carousel Boutique, which kept on shaking due to Cerberus simply trying to tear the place open like a can to get inside it.

“So I guess the way we get Cerberus out of here is one of us takes the sack of bones there and leads him away? I can do that, it’s pretty easy.” Suggested Rainbow.

“No, you can’t.” Applejack responded.

“Why not? We both know that I’m the fastest flyer in town, I can get him away from here in no time!”

“The trick isn't going to be speed, the bones do have to be carried away fast enough to lead him away, but not so fast that he loses the scent. That’s what he’s after here.”

“But if you don’t want Rainbow to do it, who will? I can’t outrun him, Rarity here certainly can’t, and we all know that while you’re fast, you can’t outrun a dog of that size!” reasoned Pinkie, fearing her farmer friend might be trying to run a suicide mission.

“Ah know I can keep mah pace above his, don’t worry about me. Ah should handle this, after all Ah have a pretty good feelin’ Ah know what’s goin’ through his mind.”

“No!” shouted Rarity, switching from tragic stage figure to concerned friend, “I cannot allow you to so recklessly throw your life away simply to save my shop! It can be rebuilt if this does end in it’s destruction, but the important thing is that we get rid of the bones so that…stench…won’t attract Cerberus and he’ll just go away.”

“It’s not that simple, Rarity! You wrapped the cloth around those bones, so until you wash that entire bolt it’s gonna smell like meat as well!”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, her friend was acting really strangely all of a sudden. She wasn't lying, that was for sure, but lying wasn't the same as withholding the truth. “Applejack,” she asked, cautiously, “what’s going on? You seem to know a lot more about this situation than one would expect, but not explaining why. Care to elaborate?”

Rainbow expected Applejack’s infamous “liar face” to make an appearance. Instead, Applejack just looked at her three friends in turn with an expression that made it clear whatever was about to be said was taking a lot of effort to do so. “Fine, Ah’ll come clean. Ah’ve been meanin’ to tell all of you, includin’ Twi and Fluttershy, but there never was a good time. But ya’ll have to let me handle this the way Ah want to in return, alright?”

Rarity and Rainbow nodded, whereas Pinkie was about to nod before experiencing a violent shudder. Uh oh thought Pinkie, realizing what was about to be revealed was an extreme doozy.

Applejack took one last look at her friends, hoping beyond hope she wasn’t about to make a huge mistake. Then she closed her eyes and allowed her friends to see the reason for her strange actions over the past few months. At this point the transformation was painless, but to her friends it must have looked horrific in the few seconds the process took. When emerald eyes reopened, the sight was more or less what the werewolf had expected.

Rarity had, of course, flat out fainted. Pinkie and Rainbow, on the other hand, were trembling and clutching each other as if trying to see which pony could squeeze the other harder.

“A-Applejack, is..is that…” began Rainbow, trying to comprehend what had happened. Within moments, she’d just watched one of her closest friends turn from a strong, hard working earth pony into something much more resembling the form of a wolf. Paws, longer fur and mane hair, slightly different muzzle, even a wet, black nose tip. The only details implying that this was in fact still Applejack was the splotches of what had been a red apple trio cutie mark on the creature’s flank, the orange coat, the yellow, loosely bound mane and tail, and a pair of green eyes that were unmistakably those of the farmer’s.

“Yeah, Ah guess you can’t say Ah’ve been too honest with ya’ll about this, huh?” The wolf Applejack said, in Applejack’s voice except slightly huskier. Rainbow was about to launch into a tirade of questions but was silenced by Applejack raising a hoof (or was it a paw now?), “Ah said Ah’d show ya’ll this only if you let me what Ah need to do. Ah’ll explain later, Ah promise!”

Without another word, the ponywolf picked up the bone sack and lept through one of the broken windows. Rushing to it and taking care not to hit any broken glass, Rainbow and Pinkie saw the form of their transformed friend easily lead the enraged Cerberus away from the broken Carousel and into the Everfree.

Behind them, Rarity came to. “Oh, what a strange, yet silly dream. Between Pinkie doing impossible things, being attacked by a Cerberus, and then Applejack revealing herself to be a werewolf of all things!” She then realized the state her home was now in. “Wait…that actually happened, didn't it? All of it? Even…even the last bit?”

Rainbow and Pinkie could only nod solemnly. The Pinkie Sense had been right, there had in fact been a very big doozy, something beyond expectations. If only it hadn't hit so close to their hearts.

Ch.17: Honesty

Chapter 17: Honesty

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” called out Sandalwood, dressed in a bathrobe as a result of having just come out of the shower. Due to the time of day, it was probably Derpy with the day’s mail. Instead, it was a very distraught Applejack, apparently trotting in place out of nervousness.

“Applejack,” asked Sandalwood, “what are you-“ The tan pony suddenly found herself pushed into the flat as Applejack hurriedly intruded and then shut the door. Considering Sandalwood knew Applejack’s secret, it was rather obvious what had happened. “Alright, fleabag; who, what, and when?”

“About an hour ago, in front of Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, while savin' Rarity’s house from bein' destroyed by Cerberus.”

“Wait, Cerberus was attacking her house? Why?” Sandalwood made a mental note to not take two-hour showers anymore, apparently all the interesting stuff in town happened when she was busy singing her favorite song by the Flying Lotus Blossoms under the showerhead.

“It’s a long story, but right now Ah need your help, yours an’ Lyra's.”

The aroma therapist narrowed her eyes, “Applejack, don’t tell me you bit somebody…”

Thankfully, Applejack immediately sprung into a defense, “What!? No no no no no! It’s just that Ah…Ah don’t know if Ah can ever face mah friends again, not after what Ah did…”

“AJ, sit down, I think you need to tell me everything that’s happened.”

And so Applejack proceeded to tell Sandalwood the events an hour earlier. After briefly letting Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash see her as a wolf, she’d taken some bones that Cerberus had been obsessing over for some reason and led the beast deep into the Everfree forest. There she ditched the bones and so had succeeded in luring the three headed beast away from Rarity’s home. However, due to extreme worries about what her friends would think about the recent development that their friend had been a closet lycanthrope for months, and the fact both Twilight and Fluttershy still didn’t know anything about this, Applejack was scared of whatever action she did next of being the wrong one. So, she’d pretty much just waited for forty five minutes in the forest before going the long way around town and seeking refuge at the flat Lyra and Sandalwood shared, they being the only ones who wouldn’t freak out at the idea of Applejack being a werewolf.

Sandalwood couldn’t help but give Applejack the most “are you serious?” look she could muster. “Applejack, I know you told me and Lyra about your, erm, ‘issues’, but you shouldn’t be running to us! We’re not talking about any group of ponies here, these are the ponies who have stood beside you against some of the greatest threats within recent history! Heck, after Twilight figured out how to restore all of you after Discord reversed your personalities, weren’t you the first one she turned back to normal?”

“Y-yeah…”

Sandalwood got out of her sitting position and walked over to Applejack, putting a hoof on the distraught apple farmer’s shoulder. “Look, you’ve proved that even when in your…’other’…form, you’re still fully the pony you are inside. Why should something as trivial as what amounts to a functional costume change alter how they see you if everything else about you stays the same?”

“Ah just told you that already happened! Right in front of Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity! Rarity, well, her reaction doesn’t count for obvious reasons, but both Rainbow and Pinkie aren’t the kind of ponies who get easily scared. With that in mind, now imagine what kind of fear they had as they grappled onto each other for dear life when Ah only took like, five seconds to simply make mah coat look unshorn and make mah hooves look funny?” To illustrate the last point, Applejack held up a hoof. Although she hadn’t intended to, her subconsciousness made just the lower part of her foreleg shift into its more vulpine form. This freaked out both Sandalwood and AJ, the former because she simply hadn’t expected it to happen, and the latter because she didn’t even know partial limb morphing was even possible for her. Quickly willing her forehoof back to normal, she apologized to Sandalwood.

Nervously waving it off, the tan pony did her best to not start going into hysterics. That was the last thing this situation needed, especially since the already distraught pony was the significantly more dangerous one whether she meant harm or not.

“Well, clearly you might need some more, um, help with controlling this, help that we really can’t give you. Lyra and I can try our best, but you have to agree that now that some of your friends know about this, it’s time to come clean.”

“Ah know, it’s just that…that…Ah don’t know how to even bring up the subject! Before today, there was somethin’ in me, some kinda feelin’, that helped me keep this secret, but now that it ain’t that much of a secret to ‘em that Ah’d end up simply lyin’, and Celestia knows Ah’m not the Element of Lyin’!”

It was just then Lyra came in, bag of purchased goods in her magic grip. “Hey, I didn’t know Applejack was-“ one look at the expressions combined with the overall tone the atmosphere held told the mint unicorn all she needed to know. Setting the bag down, Lyra sighed “This better not involve the entire dog population of Ponyville again.”

“It doesn’t, but you and I need to have a talk,” said Sandalwood, before turning to Applejack. “Just stay here, alright? And, uh, don’t, er, do anything that, um…”

“You’d expect an unhousebroken dog to do?” glumly finished Applejack. “Ah know, you were tryin’ to phrase it in nicer terms, but Ah’ve never been one for constantly tryin’ to sidestep around somethin’. Don’t worry, Ah’m not gonna carve up the sofa or anythin’, as you said Ah’m still a pony regardless of what Ah look like, right?”

“Right,” replied Sandalwood, somewhat relieved that she didn’t need to be so blunt with Applejack. Motioning Lyra to follow, Sandalwood went upstairs to her still-mostly-empty bedroom. Lyra came in as well, closing the door behind her.

“Alright, Sandy, what’s going on?”

“Well, the resident werewolf has managed to botch revealing her secret to the ponies that matter in the worst way possible, although in her defense it was extremely situational.”

The earth pony then proceeded to explain the situation to the unicorn. Lyra, for her part, thought the fact Applejack had managed to avert disaster in more ways than one was enough to make the situation actually seem favorable, but the status of Twilight and Fluttershy complicated the matter.

“Yeah, the absence of Twilight and Fluttershy…had the whole contingent been there, Applejack certainly wouldn’t be as skittish about talking to her friends about the werewolf thing.” Commented Lyra, “But without the raw reactions from most of them, just having Twilight’s response is probably going to lead into a whole bunch of ‘research’ that would be extremely uncomfortable to the poor girl.”

“Uh, what about Fluttershy?” asked Sandalwood.

“What about her? We both know she’s gonna pass out the moment Applejack starts sprouting pointy bits from her hooves.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Remember, this is the same Fluttershy that worked up the nerve to stare a grumpy, smog-breathing dragon in the eye after he knocked her friends back. And then later stared a cockatrice into submission while it was turning her into a stone statue because it had done so to Twilight earlier. She may be timid, but Fluttershy may be the ticket to helping Applejack the most that can be done. After all, Fluttershy is skilled in working with animals most ponies like us would be scared to even be near.”

Lyra nodded in agreement. “I see what you mean, but that still leaves the question of how we’re going to set them all up so Applejack can make peace with her friends knowing about her ‘condition’ so to speak.”

“Her family, too. There’s no way she can keep living with Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom like this. We’ll need to get them all in the same place, probably Golden Oaks since it’s sufficiently large enough.” Suggested Sandalwood.

“I think I know how to get them all together in one place. Bon Bon still owes me a favor or two back when she was residing here. Let’s go talk to AJ so she’s on board with this, but if we’re lucky we can get this settled before the night is done.”

“Thanks for coming with me, Fluttershy,” said an exhausted Twilight Sparkle to her pegasus companion. “I’m not sure I could have handled that ursa without you.”

Indeed, the situation in Fillydelphia had been near disasterous. Twilight’s attempt to calm the angered space bear in a similar manner to how she’d done it before had failed miserably, but Fluttershy had managed to sway the young beast with her soothing “Hush Now Quiet Now” lullaby. By the time the mother bear, the even more fearsome Ursa Major, arrived, she found her child sleeping soundly in the forest a far distance away from Filly, without having done any damage. Of course, the baby space bear had been considerably much older than the one who attacked Ponyville, this one having been close to maturing into an Ursa Major, so it had taken a LOT of Twilight’s magic to move the heavier bear without reawakening it and repeating the whole process.

“Oh, it was nothing, I was just glad I was able to help,” replied Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, you really need to put more stock in your abilities. Sure, most of the time you’re tending after your small animals, but your ability to handle the large and scary fauna of Equestria is no small thing. Heck, just take this incident in Fillydelphia, you didn’t even need The Stare to calm it down!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re-“ started Fluttershy, before the door to the train car burst open, scaring her and sending her crashing into the ceiling as her wings involuntarily launched her upwards.

“Ponyville in ten minutes!” called out the conductor, making his way through the train car to the other side. Once he’d left through the opposite door, Fluttershy fell onto the ground from her perch high above. Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle, an action that would have just humiliated Fluttershy had she not been a close friend. Instead, Fluttershy herself had to join in the laughing, knowing that it had been a rather extreme overreaction on her part.

Soon, the train hissed to a stop at Ponyville station, where Twilight and Fluttershy disembarked. Both were tired and more than a bit hungry. They were soon joined by Spike, who had elected to stay in his sleeper bunk in return for being the pack mule by carrying the bags of his pony companions. Fortunately for him, since Rarity wasn’t one of the ponies who had been on the trip, he didn’t have to move Mount Fashionista.

At that same time, the Fashionista herself along with a rainbow hued tomboy and a moving violation of physics were visible rushing towards the station.

“Oh, hey, here come the others…wait, where’s Applejack?” mentioned Twilight, surprised at the lack of the behatted pony in the welcoming committee.

“Oh, Twilight, it’s horribly, simply HORRIBLE!” lamented Rarity, skidding to a stop in front of Twilight and Fluttershy, clearly distraught over something.

“Yeah, Applejack is a-MRMMNPH!” started Pinkie as she slowed to a stop, before Rainbow Dash quickly darted in front of her and shoved a hoof into the energetic pony’s mouth.

“Wh-what about Applejack?” asked Fluttershy, nerves starting to panic again despite not even knowing what’s going on.

“Look, it’s better if we handled this, erm, privately as it t’were” replied Rarity, suddenly taking on a conspiritual tone. “Trust me, it would be disaster for everypony if they learned the truth.”

“Truth about wha-AAAAH!” cried Twilight, who had no time to react before Rarity took her by the hoof and began dragging her into town. Fluttershy and Spike exchanged glances before proceeding to follow, with Rainbow and Pinkie in tow.

Twilight, for her trouble, didn’t get an answer until all of the ponies plus dragon were inside the security of Golden Oaks.
“I’m sorry, Twilight dear, but it is imperative that you know the truth about Applejack so you don’t have to go through the same trials that Rainbow, Pinkie, and I had to earlier.”

The unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony then launched into a retelling of the day’s events since Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike had left for Filly. Or rather, it was mostly Rarity, who rambled on about how after sending her sister off to learn from the halls of knowledge, Pinkie arrived with her gifts of time and space warping such that she could get to the fabric warehouse on time. However, due to the implied actions of a most heinous and deplorable jackass, she and Pinkie ended up luring a rampaging Cerberus to Carousel Boutique by complete accident. While the monster began to destroy the poor residence, Pinkie went off to enlist the aid of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. But it was when the chips were down and the Carousel seemingly lost, did Applejack reveal her monstrous secret.

“Our dear Applejack, she…she transformed before our very eyes into…into a WEREWOLF!” cried Rarity, rearing up on her hind legs before falling backwards to add dramatic effect, something she’d made into a kind of learned performance art due to her supposed need of fainting multiple times rapidly.

“A-a werewolf?!” answered back Fluttershy, now hiding behind her massive pink mane.

Twilight opened to speak, having been skeptical of the whole thing, but Pinkie raised a hoof.

“Twilight, we were all there. I know I’m usually not the voice of reason in any situation, but I’m being dead serious in that I saw Applejack do something no pony should be able to do. I know the physical limitations of Earth ponies, especially the ones I break on a regular basis that neither you nor I can explain, but even I can’t somehow make my fur grow longer, turn my hooves into paws with sharp bits at the end, or develop a wet dog nose at the end of my muzzle at the drop of a hat, all of those which Applejack DID do!”

Twilight’s mouth remained open, although now more out of complete shock at Pinkie being gravely serious about the matter than contesting the truthfulness of Applejack being a paranormal creature of legend. Either this was Pinkie’s greatest acting job and it was all a setup for Applejack, in a costume, to scare the living daylights out of her, or Applejack actually was no longer fully a pony.

“Okay, since you guys are so sure, I guess I have to believe that Applejack has been…lying…to us this whole time, but there had to have been signs that she was hiding the truth that she was a werewolf,” deduced Twilight.

Surprisingly, it was Fluttershy who pointed out the obvious which everypony had overlooked; “Uh, well, she HAS been having some strange events happen around her…”

“The Meatery!” exclaimed Rarity, finally putting two and two together. “Girls, think about it; that incident that Applejack had because she somehow was eating a burger? It’s honestly sort of bugged me as to how she rationalized it with her being under the influence of the “monthly inconvenience” but if she actually was secretly some kind of carnivorous animal…” she shuddered at the thought.

Rainbow was next to fit more of the puzzle together. “What about that whole deal with every dog chasing her through town?”

“But Sandalwood told me that was because Applejack was coated in some kind of new perfume concoction gone wrong.” Interjected Rarity.

“How do we know Sandalwood isn’t in on the secret?” answered Fluttershy. “That, um, ‘aroma bomb’ scent that Rainbow and I could detect, along with what those poor dogs told me had been the scent they’d been following, had to have been given off by a female dog in heat. Except they were chasing Applejack.”

“And the Chattelle No. 50…it was being used to cover the…you know…that Applejack was giving off, but why?” asked Rarity, still uncomfortable with saying Applejack’s body was doing inequine things.

“Because when Applejack said she was having a particularly bad ‘time of the month’ as explanation for what was going on,” realized Twilight, “she was actually lying through her teeth. The pheromones needed to attract the dogs would only be given off if the female is in heat, and the Chattelle No. 50 if applied heavily enough would drown out the smell.”

“But…but that doesn’t make any sense!” shouted Pinkie, “Applejack is our friend, not to mention the very embodiment of the Element of Honesty! Why would she lie to us about something this big, yet somepony still relatively new to town clearly knows about it? Unless…unless this is some part of a big ‘ol werewolf conspiracy?!”

Just then there was a knock at the door. Everypony inside of the library froze, save Twilight who carefully, slowly walked over to the door and opened it a crack. “Hello?” she asked the pony behind the barrier.

“Ah, good, you’re back!” replied Sandalwood, “Look, I know this might be a bad time, but I must-“

She never got the chance to finish as Pinkie dashed over to the door, yanked Sandalwood through, slammed the door, and then softly slammed the startled aroma expert on the ground.

“We’re on to you Sandalwood!” cried an irate Pinkie Pie, “We know about the conspiracy you werewolves are planning!”

“Wait, what?!” Sandalwood retorted, “Why the hell would you think I’m a werewolf?!”

“Because why else would you know about Applejack being a werewolf and we didn’t unless you yourself were one?!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

One by one, the Mane 6 sans Applejack confronted the still-pinned-down Sandalwood with the evidence, along with three of the five pointing out the pseudo-confession Applejack had made by transforming in front of them.

“Oh, I see. Look, if you let me up, I can explain,” answered Sandalwood, somewhat relieved that the hard part of telling the favored student of Princess Celestia that one of her best friends was a mythical monster known for violent attacks on ponies. With a nod from Twilight, Pinkie let Sandalwood get up.

Dusting herself off, Sandalwood explained her position; “Okay, I admit I’ve been helping Applejack hide her secret, but she only confided in me after that incident involving the dogs. I had no idea about the whole thing beforehand.”

“But why did she tell you, a relative newcomer to town she’d never really met before, and not any one of us?” asked Rainbow, quickly apologizing with “uh, no offense.”

“None taken. As for why she revealed her secret to me, I kind of forced her to explain since having to save her plot from a mob of dogs was only the most recent event that I figured had to be related to something wrong ever since she, well, got bitten in the forest.”

“That’s why she was so, erm, ‘physical’ with you at the spa, wasn’t it?” asked Rarity, she and everypony else starting to question how well they’d ever known Applejack. “But wait, you’re living with Lyra at the moment…she knows as well, doesn’t she?”

Sandalwood sighed. “Yeah, Applejack told, or rather showed, us both at the same time, immediately after we’d saved her from the dogs with the car we’ve been building.”

At the mention of the word “car” it was like Sandalwood had just let out a bad fart judging from the reactions of the rest of the assembled group. “You saved her with WHAT?!” shouted Twilight, “I thought that thing was both still busted and rotting away in one of the Apple Family Barns!”

“As far as I know, THAT car is. But Lyra and I aren’t three fillies who don’t really understand what we’re doing. Our car is actually operable and not just a float engine mounted on an old cart chassis. But we’re getting off topic here, especially me since as you’ve all probably figured I’m here because of the events that occurred at Carousel Boutique.

“I’ll assure your concerns right now: Applejack is okay. But she’s kind of shaken up because, well, she thinks you all will think she’s a monster and not be her friends anymore.”

“You can’t be serious!” argued Rainbow, “She can’t honestly think that just because she’s got some kind of a hairy problem going on that her closest friends would just up and leave her!”

“Deep down, I’m sure she knows that,” replied Twilight, “but considering she outright lied to not only us but also the Princesses…” the purple unicorn’s eyes went wide open as she realized that maybe that whole deal with “checking the Elements” from a few weeks back might have been a cover story for what the Princesses had really been up to.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Sandalwood. “Okay, before anything else gets said, I’m going to explain what’s going to happen. Since you all know Applejack’s secret now, and she knows that you know, she wants a chance to try and explain herself to you all. But in order for that to happen she needs all the ponies she is closest to all in one place. Since we’re already here at Golden Oaks, this is as good a place as any.”

“Who else is coming?” asked Pinkie, her mind racing to decide whether or not to quickly throw together a coming out party for Applejack.

“Well, Lyra’s going to get the rest of the Apples, then once they’re here she’ll bring over Applejack, and we can all get this matter sorted. Oh, and Twilight? She said she wanted Princess Celestia and Princess Luna here, too, as I’m sure they’ll need to know that one of the Elements of Harmony happens to also be a werewolf.”

Spike instinctively, whipped out parchment and a feather pen. Without missing a beat, Twilight immediately began dictating a letter she’d rather not have be sent to the royalty, but once Spike was done she nodded and watched as the scroll disappeared in dragon flame. Even though now everypony in Golden Oaks knew Applejack’s secret, all that had done was raise more questions than answer them, and raise the concerns of five specific ponies as to how changed Applejack would be in their eyes now that they knew the truth.

“Now what in tarnation was that?” shouted Granny Smith to Apple Bloom.

“Ah…Ah think it was somepony drivin’ a car, Granny!” the young filly called back.

A minute earlier, there had been a knock at the front door, to which Apple Bloom had gone to open. What she found was a nicely crafted sweets basket with a note addressed to “The Apple Family” on top. In the distance, the roar of an engine could be heard while a vaguely box-like shape on wheels hurried away.

“Apple Bloom, Ah hope ya didn’t mean somepony somehow fixed up that machine you and your friends crashed into the Everfree and just stole it!” called back Granny.

The bow-wearing youngster tried to respond, but as she was carrying the gift basket in her mouth it came out in a series of mumbles. She placed the basket on the table in the living room, saying “Whoever it was, they left this nice, big basket fulla sweets for the family!”

“Huh, Ah wonder who could of left such a thing for us?”

Just then Big Mac came in, already informed of the situation as he’d heard it from the other room. While Granny and Apple Bloom went into looking at all of the delicious goodies inside the basket, Big Mac figured this kind act had to be covering something. Picking up the discarded envelope, he opened it up to find a note inside;

Dear Apple Family,
Please be at Golden Oaks Library tonight at 6:00 PM. There is a matter concerning Applejack that she really wishes to discuss only to those she knows best.

P.S. Don’t worry about Applejack’s whereabouts, she’ll be at the library by 6.

Normally, Big Mac was just quiet, but upon reading the note the blood visibly drained from his face and he stopped breathing. This was bad. All this time, his suspicions of Applejack possibly becoming a monster like their parents had been slowly slipping away, giving him more peace of mind, but this…

“Big Mac, are you okay?” asked Apple Bloom, both her and Granny now looking concerned towards the noticeably paler work stallion.

Saying nothing, he slowly handed the note over to Granny. As she read the note, Apple Bloom bouncing up and down to try and look at it, Granny’s face also lost some of its color.

“Oh, my…” muttered Granny, flashbacks of the night of Apple Bloom’s play coming to mind. Or rather, just images of Applejack’s bedroom, without a sleeping Applejack.

“What is it? What is it?” the yellow filly asked over and over, curiosity blinding her to the otherwise obvious negative impact the note was having on her family.

“Bloomie…” said Big Mac, “it’s an invitation to one of Pinkie’s Parties, probably for Sandalwood’s birthday.”

“It’s Sandalwood’s birthday?!” exclaimed Apple Bloom.

“Well, no, not today specifically, but since she’s goin’ home to celebrate it with her immediate family Pinkie has decided to throw her a Birthday party today. Why don’t you go upstairs and get ready?”

“Okay!” beamed the filly as she raced upstairs, oblivious to the lies.

Meanwhile, for the two ponies in the know about the situation, Granny gave an approving nod to Big Mac. “Ah know that had to be hard, lyin’ to the poor young’n an’ all, but if you were right and Applejack’s a…a…”

Bottled up emotions started to bubble up and tears began to well up in the old mare’s eyes. This could not be happening to her again. She’d lost two rays of light already, she wasn’t sure a third one going the same way as her parents could be survivable this time. Reacting immediately, Big Mac rushed to comfort his grandmother, being strong when nopony else could.

“Granny…Ah hope it really isn’t what we think it is. Or worse for the same reasons. All we c’n hope for is that maybe we’re still wrong and she’s really…Ah dunno, comin’ out as a mare-lover?” suggested Big Mac, assuming the biggest, most fake looking grin he could.

Granny could have slapped Big Mac right then and there, but through force of will she did not. “Do ya really think Ah’d believe that? Do YOU think you could believe that?!”

Big Mac’s grin immediately faded in defeat. In all honesty he knew the suggestions was crap the second it left his mouth. But as the two waited for Apple Bloom to return so the trio could head over to Golden Oaks, only the filly would be concerned with matters other than if the middle Apple child was lost to what seemed like a family curse.

Meanwhile, at Golden Oaks, the Royal delegation had arrived. And been informed about the nature of the meeting.
Celestia was thankful that Golden Oaks had two floors, for she currently occupied the second and was pacing the perimeter like mad. As the older Princess, she was effectively the “face” of the country of Equestria and it simply would not do for the populace to see their great demigod ruler be reduced to something barely above a nervous wreck.

“Celly, please, calm down!” pleaded Luna, the only other occupant of the room. “I’m sure the matter isn’t as bad as you would think! Applejack is still a strong willed pony, the fact she’s done her best to keep the secret by not giving into whatever is going through her head is testament to that fact alone!”

“Lu-Lu, I wish I could believe you, but this is Sable Loam’s doing that we’re talking about!” retorted Celestia, certain she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

“AND” interrupted Luna, “As much as I dislike making this comparison, but you’re acting no better than a schoolfilly being horribly teased by the schoolyard bully. Think about it; if you’re having this reaction to just ONE of your subjects being turned into a werewolf, what will you do if he steps up the attacks? He’s practically won his war against you already!”

That got Celestia to calm down. “You’re right, Luna, I shouldn’t be letting this be getting to me like that. In truth, I guess it’s fortunate that if one of my loyal subjects had to be turned into a werewolf, it was one of the Elements. No doubt going through such an experience will require strong friendship to pull through, to which there is none greater than that shared by the Elements.”

A third presence cleared her throat, to which the two alicorns looked over to find Twilight Sparkle waiting to get their attention.

“Ah, Princesses? The Apples just arrived. Just so you know, I don’t think they know about Applejack’s…issue.”

A smile came to Celestia’s face. Twilight’s presence always had that kind of effect on her, maybe it had something to do with what was in store for the young mare and how innocent she still was.

“Thank you, Twilight, I will be down to see them momentarily.”

As Twilight nodded in acknowledgement and descended the stairs, Celestia walked over to a mirror to try and tidy up. Somehow, even for having a magical mane and tail that appeared more ethereal than physical, it had lost some of its enchantment and had blended back into reality. Thus, she had a very disheveled look to her mane most ponies wouldn’t believe possible. To that she let out a small laugh, it was very rare that she had the chance to even look like this. But The Apples would need the support only the royalty could give, especially since she truly was the only pony alive who had any real experience with werewolves first hand.

After doing some cleanup to look decently presentable, Celestia descended to the main library portion, Luna not far behind. As she made her way down, she could see the gathered ponies all take note of their leader. The Mane Six were all scattered about the place trying to look busy, but it was clear it was just a cover to try and not expose their concerns. The Apples, sans Applejack, were making small talk with Sandalwood simply to try and avoid discussing the reason they were all there. Apple Bloom, who had figured out it wasn’t really a party to celebrate Sandalwood’s birthday, was trying to make the best of everypony not telling her what was really going on by playing some checkers with Spike.

A quick check of the clock showed the time to be close to 6:00pm. Almost as if in reaction, the ponies began to stop whatever they were doing and looked towards either the Princesses at the foot of the stairs, or the door to the library awaiting the missing Mane 6 member.

“Well, ponies,” said Sandalwood, “she’ll be here any minute. You all ready for this?”

“Ready for what?” asked Apple Bloom, “Nopony will tell me what this is about!”

“You’ll find out soon enough, Apple Bloom,” said Celestia, turning her head to gaze down upon one of her smaller subjects.

Finally, the clock chimed to signal the change to 6:00. Sandalwood then went out the door to wait outside Golden Oaks. As was the usual procedure, there were two royal guardsponies flanking the exterior entrance, but having been instructed to let Sandalwood do as she needed to, they paid her no heed. The Princesses also went back upstairs to carry out their duties of lowering the sun and raising the moon on the library’s upper balcony, but also to watch over the arrival of the dubious guest of honor.

Soon, two figures emerged from the growing shadows. Their bright fur coats seemed to light up in catching what little of the sun’s light remained, revealing the forms of Lyra and a very nervous looking Applejack. Slowly, they made their way to Sandalwood in front of the treehouse.

“You ready for this, Applejack?” asked Lyra, concern on her face.

“Ah got a feelin’ in mah gut that the smart thing to do here is to run off an’ hide, but this has gone on long enough. Mah friends, mah family…they need to know. Ah just hope they’ll still see me the same way afterwards.”

“I’m sure they will, now come on. Let’s get it over with,” said Sandalwood, opening the door to let the unicorn and apple farmer in. Applejack’s gut feeling that this was a HUGE mistake only intensified exponentially the moment she stepped into the library, as everypony who knew her well was there and now looking right at her.

“Uh, howdy, um, everypony…” greeted Applejack half-heartedly, shrinking back and not even trying to hide her violently shaking legs. It was taking all she had not to just break the door down and run away from Ponyville out of shame. But she’d technically done that before, sans destroying Twilight Sparkle’s front door, and it hadn’t worked out. This time, instead of shame from not winning blue medals, she had a semi-controllable wild side that could land her in even bigger trouble, the kind that some ponies would never forgive.

Sandalwood then came in, locking the door behind her before nodding to Lyra. Lyra nodded back before saying, “Okay, just so we’re all clear, who here already has a pretty good idea why we’re all gathered in this place?”

Almost everypony raised a hoof up, including the Princesses who had since come back downstairs. The only hooves not raised up were those belonging to the Apple Family.

Applejack sighed. Even with the majority of the gathered ponies already knowing the truth, or at least informed of it, it was still going to be difficult to do what she had to do in front of her family.

Lyra just turned her head to look at Applejack, implying it was now or never. Applejack nodded in acknowledgement before taking some deep breaths. This was it.

“Alright, Ah’m sure that y’all have noticed some strange things goin’ on with or around me over the past few months.” Out of the corner of her sight AJ noted Rainbow rolling her eyes, but the situation had made Applejack not really care what her friends did as long as they still shared friendship with her. “And then there was that whole deal with the Elements where Ah said the reason for all of that was because of…you know.

“Well, that ain’t the truth, not all of it anyway. In reality, all of the things that have been happenin’ to me is because Ah’m-“

“You’re a mare-lover?” interrupted Apple Bloom, causing the room to go dead still as all attention went to her. “What? Ah’ve heard what these ‘comin’ out’ moments are like, an’ since nopony would tell me just what was goin’ on Ah figured as such.”

To everypony’s surprise, Applejack…chuckled. “Ah wish it were that simple, sis. But no…Ah am so sorry about havin’ y’all in the dark about this, just…just please forgive me if you can, although Ah won’t blame you if you can’t.”

And with that, she decided once again it was better to show then tell, and so right in front of everypony she risked the most important things in her life; the relationship between her, her family, and her friends, all in the name of being honest to both them and herself at last.

Once again, although the transformation took only seconds, it was like an eternity passed for those who hadn’t previously seen a werewolf go through the process. Twilight shot back like a rocket into one of the bookshelves, sending a tidal wave of books crashing on top of her. Fluttershy, oddly enough, didn’t backpedal as hard in reaction, but her wings immediately flared in shock. But it was the reaction of the Apples and the alicorns that were the most surprising. Granny, Big Mac, and Celestia initially jumped when the transformation began, but were otherwise static with nothing but sad looks on their faces. They’d been through this before, so sadness was the only real reaction they had to learning somepony close to them would suffer the fate of those before her. Luna, on the other hand, seemed legitimately curious on a Twilight Sparkle level, while Apple Bloom’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped .

Applejack, transformed, opened her eyes to find all attention directed back to her. Nopony said anything for what felt like forever. The secret was finally, truly out, having been seen with their own eyes, and it was taking them all a while to fully process it.

Yet, it was Apple Bloom, who by all right should have been running for the hills after seeing her sister willingly turn into an unnatural cross between pony and canine, that spoke first. “S-sis? Is that you?”

“Yes, Bloomie, it’s still me,” replied Applejack in her slightly huskier werewolf voice. To the shock of both her and everypony else, Apple Bloom then proceeded to walk towards her transformed sister.

“This…this is because of that creature who attacked you in the Everfree, isn’t it?” said Apple Bloom, “No…this is because of me, isn’t it? If Ah hadn’t gotten Scoots and Sweetie to help me build that stupid car only to wreck it in there, you wouldn’t have needed to go after it, and so you wouldn’t have been bitten, and then you wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble because you’re a werewolf now!”

Applejack was taken aback. Was Apple Boom blaming herself for this whole mess? “Apple Bloom, that’s not-“

“IT’S ALL MAH FAULT!” cried the filly as she suddenly bolted to embrace the werewolf in a bear hug, tears beginning to stream down her face. “It’s all mah fahuhuhuhlt…”

“Now hold on just a second!” declared Applejack, pulling Apple Bloom off her to look in her face, eye-to-eye. “None of this is your fault, do you understand that? The fact Ah had gone lookin’ for that car was nothin’ more than a matter of circumstance, you cannot blame yourself for somethin’ you did not do, understand that?”

“Y-yes, but…” replied the filly, sniffling.

“Whatever it was that turned me into this, it could have attacked me at any time Ah went into the Everfree. Like goin’ to Zecora’s, or helpin’ Fluttershy find her chickens. Heck, the fact it was me who got bit was completely unpredictable, it could have been anypony else who Ah’d taken with me to find that car. But Ah don’t care about that right now, all Ah need to know is that you still love me as much as Ah love you, even now that you know my secret.”

“Heh, even when you’re more hairy than Winona, you’re still a silly pony Applejack” said Apple Bloom, the humor starting to hold back the tears.

“Ah’m a silly pony?” replied a mock-offended AJ.

“Yeah, because you think Ah’d think of you as anythin’ different than my big sis in any situation!”

And with that the sisters embraced, tears starting to well up in Applejack’s eyes. The hug soon expanded to include Granny Smith and Big Mac, who while saddened that Applejack had indeed fallen victim to lycanthropy, she was still the Applejack they knew on the inside and to that end they held on to her dearly.

Eventually, the Apple Family hug dispersed and Applejack turned to face her friends, the rest of the Mane 6 and Elements of Harmony.

“Ah’m sorry that Ah didn’t tell y’all sooner about this, but-“ started the werewolf, but she was cut off by Twilight’s raised hoof.

“Whatever your reasons, Applejack, I believe I can speak for all of us in that we trust you weren’t planning something bad.”

“Well, it’s just that Ah was worried y’all wouldn’t want to be my friends anymore, since who would want to be friends with a pony who craves eating meat?”

“Big deal!” said Rainbow. “So you’re a carnivore, it’s not like you’re planning on eating us or anypony we know, right? Besides that, the only way you’re different like this is that you’re fuzzier, kind of like the time we all got altered by Poison Joke and Rarity looked like a walking, talking mop.” The Pegasus snickered while Rarity nickered, both having very different opinions on what had happened to the fashionista’s fine fur coat during that incident. The rest of the Mane 6 made similar comments, washing away all of Applejack’s fears of losing those she was closest to because of her altered state.

But something still bothered her. Turning to face Princess Celestia, who along with Luna had just been watching the events unfold, Applejack asked “Princess, if you don’t mind me askin’, what aren’t you mentioning?”

Celestia was surprised; “Whatever do you mean, Applejack?”

“Judgin' from your reaction to me turning into a wolf-like pony, y’all have seen this before. Plus, mah cutie mark has been fadin’ much like mah parent’s cutie marks were shortly before they died, Ah’m thinkin’ nopony told me the full story behind the fate of mah parents.”

Celestia looks like she was going to try and divert the issue, but was cut off by both Granny and Big Mac. “Ah knew this day was going to come, just not in circumstances like this.” Said Granny, a forlorn look in her face. “But now that you’re a werewolf and all, and Apple Bloom knows of it, there’s not really much point in hidin’ the family secret any longer.”

“Wait, we’re ALL werewolves?!” exclaimed Apple Bloom, who proceeded to try and assume her wolf form by puffing out her cheeks and concentrating really hard. It did nothing but make her look extra cute.

“Uh, Apple Bloom? Trust me when Ah say you DON’T wanna be like me in this case.” Said Applejack, slightly amused at the innocence her sister still had about the whole matter. The first transformation that night so long ago had been the worst pain Applejack had ever felt, she wouldn’t stand for Apple Bloom to go through the same. “But Granny, as you said, it’s time to reveal the truth. If ma and pa ended up going for some reason involving werewolves, then as one myself Ah think Ah have the right to know.”

“Considerin’ how close y’all are to the family as it is, Ah guess everypony here has a right to know. However, Ah need you all to promise that what you will learn here tonight you will speak of to nopony who is not currently in this building. With a Pinkie Promise,” requested Granny, giving Pinkie Pie a sly look with the last line.

Complying with the request, everypony did the Pinkie Promise mantra, including the Princesses. Satisfied, Granny began to open up old wounds in the hope that they could finally heal now; “Alright, to fully understand, Ah’ll have to go back to when everythin’ started goin’ south for poor Appleseed and Cornflower…”

Princess Celestia slowly walked up to the homestead on Sweet Apple Acres the night after the attack.There were several guardponies, but not of the regular variety. These ponies were encased with a special, impenetrable armor that left no part of their body exposed to attack. After what reportedly happened to a pair of ponies, Celestia had the elite guard stationed all over the farm in the event the perpetrator returned.

Normally, a simple attack on a homestead such as this one would just be handled by the local guard garrison, but it was the nature of the perpetrator that warranted direct crown involvement. According to the one reliable witness, an elderly mare by the name of Granny Smith, her son and daughter in law had been doing some late night harvesting in order to make production quotas when out of the blue a vicious wolf had come out and horribly maimed them. By the time Granny Smith had come out, all she said was she could see a pony shaped wolf look at her through bloodshot eyes before taking off for the Everfree, leaving behind the grievously wounded couple.

Noting their liege was wishing to enter, one of the elite guards knocked on the door, where a normal guard on the inside opened it to let Celestia in. She ascended the stairs, a tight fit due to her height being twice that of a regular earth pony’s, even greater if her horn was factored in. At the top, she entered the master bedroom.

Inside she found an assembly of ponies. On the bed lay the victims of the attack; Appleseed and Cornflower. To look at them now would suggest nothing of how bad the wounds had been, but while the doctors said it was a medical miracle it was only more concerning for the sun princess as it continued to support her worst fears. On one side of the bed stood the chief doctor from Ponyville General Hospital; Dr. Wishbone, and his recently hired intern nurse Redheart. On the other side was Granny Smith and her grandchildren; a young colt by the name of Big Mac and an even smaller filly named Applejack. The youngest Apple; a year-old filly named Apple Bloom, currently lay asleep in the forelegs of her mother Cornflower.

Celestia registered some surprise at Apple Bloom, she had not been told of the infant. But she did not appear to be in any serious danger. “I didn’t know you had a toddler, Cornflower. May I see her?”

“But of course, your majesty,” replied Cornflower, evidently still weakened from the attack but happy to still be alive to be with her family.

Apple Bloom did not stir even though she suddenly began to glow a bright yellow and levitated over to the slightly pink alicorn. Cradled in royal magic, the baby yawned cutely before shifting her position to be more comfortable. The princess just smiled as she held a piece of Equestria’s future in her telekinesis. But, like all good things, the serene moment had to end and reality faced.

“Now, I have some good news, and some bad news, but it is of a private matter that I wish to discuss only with Appleseed, Cornflower, and Granny Smith. I’ll have to ask the rest of you to leave for a moment.”

Complying with their leader’s request, the ponies both big and small filed out of the room, Dr. Wishbone taking the infant into his own magic so the Princess could fully concentrate on the matter at hand. Once the door had been shut, Granny moved to lock it.

“Thank you, Granny Smith” said Celestia, prepping herself for what she’d have to say next. “Now, you three will be happy to know that the culprit who viciously attacked you has been identified and I personally have taken measures to see that he will no longer be a threat to you or anypony else. Permanently.

“However, the nature of your assailant is what brings me to the bad news. You see, you two were attacked by who I believe was the last werewolf alive.”

“W-werewolf?” stuttered Appleseed.

“Yes. His name was Sable Loam, who admittedly has been a thorn in my side for over a thousand years and I am glad to see him go. But I do wish it hadn’t had to be at such a high cost, especially since it will be you two paying it for the rest of your lives.

“What do you mean, Princess?” worriedly asked Cornflower. She trusted her princess to only have the best intentions for any and all of her subjects, so if even Celestia was concerned about something, it was bad.

“You two are the first, and I hope the last, victims of a werewolf attack in almost a millennia. The fact you survived such horrific wounds and are recovering so quickly makes me consider the worst and that both of you are going to become werewolves yourselves.

“Y-you mean we’re going to become like that…thing…that did this to us?” murmured Cornflower, starting to shake with fear at the potential of violence she could inflict on anypony. Especially her own family and children. Without saying a word, Appleseed reached over to give a one-foreleg-embrace to his panicking wife, a silent strength that his son Big Mac would mirror years later.

“Is…is there anythin' we can do to cure ourselves of this curse?” asked Appleseed, continuing to be strong for his beloved.

“I’m afraid not. In a month’s time, you will probably experience your first transformation. However, from what I can remember from the original werewolves who returned to Equestria, you’ll still be in control. Many of those werewolves who eventually tried to return to normal pony life with assistance from the crown did manage to do so successfully, and even though you two may be the only werewolves left, I will not deny you the same support I gave those poor souls centuries ago. Plus, you have the advantage of family, should you choose to share it with them, something many original werewolf victims didn’t have.”

“So, even though you’re sayin' my son and daughter-in-law will become monsters temporarily, there’s still hope for them?” asked Granny, who was willing to do what it took to ensure her offspring and his mate would fully recover as much as possible.

Celestia smiled, “Of course, the original werewolves eventually learned to deal with their lycanthropy as nothing more than a handicap an obstacle to overcome, and I’m sure you will be able to treat it the same way.”

“Unfortunately” said Celestia in the present, “they would only live a few months longer before meeting their untimely end, well before I could mobilize anything to be of assistance to them.”

“So…how did they die?” asked Apple Bloom, who was the only Apple child who couldn’t remember her own parent’s faces.

“To be honest, we never did find that out.” Said Granny, sadly. “It was a few days before Hearth’s Warming when Appleseed just up and walked out of the house and into the Everfree, without even wearing any clothing, not even his special hat.”

Applejack reached up and felt her father’s hat, which for years after his death had called her own head home.

“Your mother, Cornflower, went off to try and see what was the matter.” Continued Granny, “ That’s when the blizzard hit and, as far as anypony ever knew, they got lost in the storm. A search party was organized the next mornin’ to locate them, but they didn’t need to go far. The bodies of Appleseed and Cornflower were found close to the edge of the Everfree, holdin’ onto each other but half-buried in snow and covered all over with scratch marks, like they’d been fightin’. Officially, they were said to have died from a timberwolf ambush, then in order to hide even the brutal nature of their deaths from you youngins Big Mac and Ah agreed to say they died of pneumonia. But the truth is that somethin’ in their natures was influenced by them bein’ werewolves and they possibly came to blows. Ah’ve never known two ponies to have had as much true love between them as Appleseed and Cornflower, so whatever happened to them can’t have been natural.”

The room once again went silent, Applejack’s own shocking reveal being dwarfed by the revelation of the demise of the Apple parents also having been werewolf related, even if it was just in theory.

It was Princess Luna who realized it first. “Applejack, although it is regrettable that it did not return in time to have been of any help to prevent the deaths of your parents, you may have better prospects now that the Crystal Empire had returned.”

That confused Applejack and pretty much every other pony there. “What does the Crystal Empire have to do with mah condition?”

Celestia clarified; “The werewolves were originally a traitorous royal guard unit led by a pony named Sable Loam, an able soldier who had an unfortunate obsession with wolves and hunting. They allied themselves with King Sombra in return for him making them into the first werewolves.”

Luna continued from there; “From then on until the first defeat of Sombra, the werewolves were used as a kind of gestapo who kept the enslaved crystal ponies in line. I have no doubt there are records about the werewolves due to them almost certainly biting some crystal ponies who refused to cooperate, records Sombra can’t have destroyed due to having been locked in ice for a thousand years and not even reaching the castle when he was finally destroyed not to long ago.”

Twilight lit up at the obvious implication. “So what you’re saying is that we need to go up to the Crystal Empire and do a research project on werewolves!”

Celestia frowned. “Well, yes, but I’m afraid you won’t be going, Twilight, as much as I know how you’d love to and get to see both your brother and Princess Cadence. You’ll be needed here along with the rest of the Elements to provide the support Applejack will need in her current state.

“However, the same cannot be said of you two,” continued the solar ruler as she turned to face Sandalwood and Lyra. “I cannot thank you two enough for being active in your support of Applejack, even if you did force the secret out of her. But now I must ask you to perform another task to help her.”

“Go to the Crystal Empire and do our best Twilight Sparkle-in-a-library-doing-research impressions to find info on werewolves?” replied Sandalwood, grinning as she saw Twilight’s annoyed face just off to the side.

“Well, yes. I trust you’d be willing to do it?”

“I’d need to talk to Lotus and Aloe, since I’ve got lots of ponies who booked aromatherapy sessions with me.”

“No, let me talk to them. I’ll just say I’m sending you to go give Princess Cadence some aromatherapy, she could probably use some to considering how much of a hassle it must be getting the Crystal Empire back into Equestrian jurisdiction. Of course you’ll also have to give both Luna and Myself aromatherapy sessions as well, since Rarity says they’re quite nice.”

“Wait, you want me to-to-uhhhhh…..” Sandalwood tried to comprehend the exact boost her business would get once she could say all three princesses had been customers of hers. She failed and passed out, much to the amusement of everypony else, something much needed considering the otherwise downcast mood of the gathering.

Elsewhere, in Baltimare, the bartender noted a newcomer had arrived at his counter top.

“Welcome to the Rusty Horseshoe, mate. What’s yer poison?”

“Give me the hardest thing you’ve got on tap, then make it stronger,” said the pony, much to the bartender’s surprise. However, before he could say anything, a third voice cut in.

“Tapper, don’t do it. You and I can both clearly tell this guy can’t handle that kind of liquor. Give him a sweetened milk or something like that, no way he’s a heavyweight like me.”

The stallion turned to face his opposition; “Oh, you think you can handle more liquor than me, do you? I’ll have you know that I’m the greatest heavyweight of drinking from where I come from for miles around.”

The seated mare narrowed her eyes. “Okay, how about we just cut the insults and get right to business?” She slammed 50 bits on the table, “drinking contest, anything goes. Winner take all.”

Reaching into his own satchel, the stallion plopped his own 50 bits on the table. “You’re on.”

Tapper, eager to see a good old fashioned drinking contest between the resident champion and this upstart, took both wagers and began to mix the drinks.

“Before I kick your plot and take your cash, I’d like to know your name, stranger.” Said the mare.

“Sure,” said the stallion, “the name’s Intellectual Pursuit. And yours?”

The mare smiled as Tapper put the first of what would be many, many drinks in front of the contestants.

“Lightning Dust.”

Ch.18: Anger

Chapter 18: Anger

Angel Bunny had never been so scared in his life. His back to the wall, the rodent was shaking uncontrollably and frantically looking for some way to get out of this situation. But there was none.

Then again, how could he hope to get out of this new situation? Even inside the formerly safe interior of Fluttershy’s cottage, he’d failed to escape the beast who now stared at him with emerald eyes that appeared to glow. He could smell its breath, which smelled like fresh apple pie for whatever reason, but of more concern was the creature’s maw, full of sharp teeth that would tear the flesh from his bones with ease. He could hear its raspy breath, the chest moving up and down in stark contrast to its legs, which were poised to snap into action at a moment’s notice.

Worst of all, however, was the apparent truth Fluttershy, his owner, was in league with this foul offspring of unnatural origin.
“Now, Angel, as you know I highly disapprove of you trying to go out and pretend you’re this…bloodthirsty hero…or something out in the Everfree, but you don’t seem to understand just how dangerous it is for a bunny like you as I keep catching you trying to leave in that silly costume of yours,” said Fluttershy, laying it on thick to Angel with healthy application of The Stare, “So far you’re lucky that you didn’t get killed out there, but even my patience with you is getting pushed to the breaking point.

“That’s why I have my friend Applejack here. She’s a werewolf, if that wasn’t obvious, and if you keep going into the Everfree you’re going to end up getting attacked by some creature like Applejack, only they will actually want to kill you. And, if I even catch you trying to go out into the Everfree, I will have Applejack get it into your little head to never do it again by her own methods. Are we clear?”

Angel nodded, to which Fluttershy motioned for Applejack to leave Angel alone. Grunting, the almost feral form of the orange pony skulked off to the kitchen. Now out of the firing line, Angel just fainted. Satisfied with what had been accomplished, Fluttershy turned and went into the kitchen herself.

Inside the kitchen, she found Applejack laughing hysterically at the ruse she had just pulled. “Did ya see the little guy’s face when Ah was all up in it and pretendin’ to have rabies or somethin’? Ah think he seriously thought Ah was gonna eat him on the spot!”

Fluttershy smiled, even though it had just lasted a few minutes it had concerned the pegasus that Applejack had so easily slipped into a false state of mind. It was relieving to see it really had been an act and not an implication of what AJ might still become. “Yeah, you almost had me worried I’d need to use The Stare on you! Although I am a little concerned, since you were that good about putting on a false image of yourself.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, sugarcube” said Applejack, shifting back to her full pony form, “Ah still suck at lyin’, naturally, but actin’ is a whole different subject an’ somethin’ Ah can do as long as Ah’m not tryin’ to pass it off as honesty. Plus you were doin’ all the talkin’ so it was easier for me. Now, do you think you could help me out with mah hunger problem?”

“Of course,” said the pegasus as she moved to the fridge. After Applejack’s revelation to her family and closest friends, AJ had found their assistance very beneficial. For starters, it turned out Fluttershy imported meat in small amounts to help take care of her animal charges, as some of them were purely carnivores, to which she didn’t need to pay anything for due to being able to classify it as tax write-offs. She’d worked with Applejack to figure out a schedule on how to handle the issue of the farmer being slightly more carnivorous than her fellow ponies and just adjusted the meat order quantities to have some ready to give to the werewolf when need be.

On the menu tonight were some extra burger patties that had been left to chill out in the fridge. Normally, Fluttershy only ordered the patties so that after cooking them through she could cut them up into small chunks for her small carnivore creatures to eat easier. In Applejack’s case, Fluttershy essentially was running a small-time burger joint of her own, although the only customer was one of her best friends and she never insisted on being paid.

“Ah still can’t believe you’re okay with doin’ this for me, makin’ meaty meals an’ all,” said Applejack as she sat at a table Flutters had prepped for her while the pegasus brought over two meat burgers.

“A lot of ponies think that because of my connection to animals, my timidness makes me scared of having to deal with the remains of animals killed for food. But that’s not true, animals kill animals in the Everfree and elsewhere in places where they aren’t cared for by ponies, so while I do personally dislike the idea of killing for food I recognize it is a necessity to keep providing for these animals. And with you, I know you don’t willingly actually want to eat meat, it’s just something you have a need for due to being a werewolf and all, so don’t believe I think any less of you simply because of something you have to do against your will.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy!” Applejack chirped before she started to dig into the burgers Fluttershy had provided.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Wordlessly, Fluttershy moved to greet the unexpected visitor. On her porch she found Rainbow Dash, who had a concerned look on her face.

“Hey, Fluttershy, is um, Applejack here?”

“Oh, yes, but right now she’s, erm, ‘satisfying’ those cravings she gets due to her lycanthropy at all, and although she’d probably say otherwise-“

Applejack interrupted from her seat; “Fluttershy, for Celestia’s sake just because Ah’m eatin’ meat doesn’t mean Ah have to eat like some famished critter or anythin’, especially since the fact these have meat in ‘em is the only thing seperatin’ ‘em from say, tofu burgers, which everypony eats, more or less.”

Unable to put up a defense, Fluttershy just sheepishly grinned and backed away from the door to let RD in. Rainbow did so, approaching Applejack.

“Listen, Applejack, there’s a bit of a situation in the town square that we kinda need your help with.”

Caught in the middle of a bite, Applejack waited to swallow the contents in her mouth before answering “What kinda problem?”

“Well…remember when Trixie came around looking for revenge on Twilight?” asked Rainbow, rearing slightly to allow her forehooves to tap together nervously.

“Are ya sayin’ that pony is back for more revenge? Ah thought Twilight let her off the hook pretty easily in regards to her, y’know, beggin’ for forgiveness after goin’ crazy with the amulet an’ all.”

“No, no, it’s not Trixie, it’s…” Rainbow took a deep breath, before revealing who was the ruckus rouser this time. “...it’s Lightning Dust.”

The utterance of a name Applejack thought she’d never need to hear again caused her to choke on the burger bite that, at the moment LD was mentioned, had been in her throat. She quickly reached for her jugular to try and dislodge it, but RD was faster. The Wonderbolt-hopeful had, within a second, gotten AJ out of the chair into a reared position and began performing the Haymlich Maneuver. After a few thrusts, the burger bite was ejected from AJ and flew across the room…only to hit the still-passed-out Angel in the face.

“Ah…Ah think Ah’ve had enough burger for now….” Applejack gasped, leaving Rainbow wondering why Angel was passed out and Fluttershy wondering how she was going to explain to Angel why a piece of almost-digested meat had hit him in the face.

“Is everything alright?” Lyra asked her companion.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that I never dreamed of ever having to go this far north for any reasons, since around this time last year it was literally nothing but snow and a dead-end train depot out here.”

As per the request of Princess Celestia, Sandalwood and Lyra had agreed to further help Applejack by going to the Crystal Empire in search of any information that would potentially help the poor mare be free of the curse inflicted upon her.

“I totally agree with you there, Sandy. Heck, I didn’t even know there was anything up here until the rumors after the Royal Wedding fiasco started saying they’d have to make up some kind of principality out of nowhere for Princess Cadence to rule over. The fact the Crystal Empire just “happened” to be prime real estate that showed up not too long afterwards didn’t help, but then again maybe it was all ‘destiny’ or something, I dunno.”

“Lyra, you’re just disappointed that there isn’t anything about humans in the Empire, aren’t you?”

“Well, duh, how long did it take you to figure that out?”

Soon, the train pulled into the old train depot that now served to link the Crystal Empire to the rest of Equestria. However, despite being the newest structure for miles around in terms of architectural design, it was dwarfed even on its own platform by the majestic Crystal Castle in the distance.

Dwarfing even that however was the royal delegation waiting on the platform. Already sticking out like a sore thumb due to the small number of Canterlot Guards (on loan from the capital until the Crystal Empire could finish training up an equivalent force to provide more jobs in the Empire), what was most noticeable was the bright pink alicorn dressed in regal regalia and a mane/tail coloration of light lavender, yellow, and more pink. Next to her was a snow white unicorn with multiple shades of blue in his mane and hair, but unlike the alicorn he lacked any royal accessories outside of a little paper sign that said “Lyra and Sandalwood”.

“Wow, a royal welcoming committee!“ chirped Lyra as both she and Sandalwood retrieved their things before heading over to the sign.

Sandalwood, however, was a little less enthusiastic about the whole deal. “Why is Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor meeting us here? I don’t remember being told about any of that when we left Ponyville, and it seems like major overkill to give us this much protection when all we’re doing is going to the library.”

“What’s overkill?” asked Shining Armor, who along with his wife and the rest of the delegation came forward, two of the guards offering to take the luggage from the newcomers.

After being overheard by who was arguably the most powerful unicorn stallion alive (no surprise considering he was Twilight Sparkle’s direct brother), Sandalwood turned a deep shade of red out of embarrassment. “I, uh, m-mean no disrespect, your highness, but Lyra and I are j-just here to look at old books and things in the library. It just seems a little excessive f-for an entire armed guard and the rulers of the Empire to personally greet us.”

“The Library?” Cadence asked, “I thought you were here to look up information about…well, that thing my aunt talked about in the letter regarding Applejack that we can’t discuss in public.”

“We are,” answered Lyra, “why, is there someplace else where we could get the kind of information we’re looking for?”
“Well, for starters you won’t find any info about what Applejack has become in the library, Sombra was smart enough to keep all that info locked away in his personal archives inside the Dark Crystal Castle. Luckily for you, and by extension Applejack, I personally went to the archives to see what was there and he’s got a lot of stuff about his, erm, ‘experiments’ that you might find useful.”

That got Sandalwood to perk up. “Oh, well, that’s certainly better, since all the info is right there. Princess Celestia also said that we would be staying at the Crystal Castle itself?”

Cadence smiled widely. “Of course! Even if my aunt hadn’t asked me to have guest rooms prepped for you, Twilight sent a letter almost demanding that I do so since you’re friends with her and, if I understand it correctly, one of you is going to give both Shiny and I some aromatherapy while you’re here?”

Shining Armor was shocked at his wife’s statement. “Wait, I was told Sandalwood was only giving you an aromatherapy session, Cady.”

Lyra was equally confused. “Yeah, that’s what I’d heard too….” However, one look at the devilish grin that had appeared on both Cadence and Sandalwood’s faces was enough to reveal that maybe there had been some secret communication between the aromatherapist, the ex-babysitter, and the ex-babysat to provide something extra for the son of the Sparkle family.

“Don’t worry, sugar,” said Cadence, leaning into her husband with a sultry look, “Aunt Celestia said she’d cover the bill. Besides, I think you could use a little personal R&R, don’t you?”

“Yeah…sure…” carefully agreed Shining Armor, giving his wife a grin but starting to show signs of fearing just what he was in store for. The fact Sandalwood, the pony he presumed to be the aromatherapist, was smiling just as evilly as his wife was not a comforting sight, however.

If Applejack had one thing to be relieved about when she trotted into the center of town, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying not too high above her, was that it initially didn’t look to be as bad was when Trixie Lulamoon had come looking for a fight some months ago. Whereas the power-mad showmare had been firing magic bolts all over the place to cause magical chaos on a scale that rivaled Discord’s previous, if brief, reign of chaos, here the town seemed relatively calm.

Except for the noticeable bulge that seemed to be forming around The Bannered Mare. As if viewing a large public piece of artwork, there was a large gap between the walking traffic and the front of the restaurant, and for good reason. There, sitting at one of the tables with a glass of water and half a hayball sandwich in her hooves, was Lightning Dust. It was clear that she’d seemingly learned nothing after her dangerous actions at the Wonderbolts Academy got her kicked out by the angry body language conveyed by her having what was probably her lunch, but there was something else about her that seemed off. It took a moment to place it, but after seeing the differences between her pony and wolf forms enough, Applejack realized Lightning Dust didn’t seem to be keeping up appearances too well. Her mane and tail looked like some attempt to smooth them out had been made, although not much of an attempt, her wings were visibly in need of some heavy duty preening, her coat looked dirty in some places, and what looked like the start of rings under her eyes.

The last time Ah saw her was when she got kicked out of the Wonderbolt trainees due to the whole tornado incident, thought Applejack, coming to a stop at the edge of the invisible gap, but that was only a few months ago. She really must have fallen on hard times afterwards, but why is she here? And why am Ah needed?

As if in answer, Dust’s head suddenly snapped to look in the direction of Applejack. “Well, whaddaya know, just the mare I was looking for.” She finished the sandwich in one last bite, left the amount she owed on the table, plus tip, and then got up and exited the fenced off portion of the dining area to get close and personal with Applejack. “So, you’re the one who has been going around and saying I’m inferior to you, huh?”

Applejack had no clue what Lightning Dust was talking about. “What in the hay are you on about?”

Unphased by Applejack’s lack of a reaction, LD began to walk around Applejack, as if sizing her up. “Yeah, now I remember you…the balloon that flew into the tornado back at the Academy, you were one of the occupants weren’t you?”

“Ah still don’t understand what this has to do with anythin’,” said Applejack, raising an eyebrow.

“Stop playing stupid!” Lightning demanded, putting her face about three inches from Applejack’s. “I know the rumors you’ve been spreading about me, about how a ‘certain’ Pegasus who was up for recruitment of the wonderbolts was in fact too much of a wuss to take on even an Earth pony is a straight up race?”

“Rumors?!” retorted an offended Applejack, “Ah’d never spread rumors about nopony! Even if they were somepony like you who put mah life in danger simply to showboat how ‘great’ you were, and even then Ah know you got kicked out of the Academy for that, which seems to be punishment enough to me!”

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. “Oh for Celestia’s sake, go home Lightning Dust, you’re drunk - even though it’s only one in the afternoon! I don’t know what you’ve been hearing, or if this is some massive ploy to try and indirectly hurt me through my friend, but-“

“Opinion noted and ignored,” Lightning Dust interrupted, shooting a death glare at her former compatriot, “I’ve had a hell of a time trying to ignore how somepony I thought was a close pal ended up selling me out simply to get a boost in the Academy, don’t give me a new reason to buck you in the face. The problem in front of me is substantial enough.”

Angered at Lightning Dust’s accusation of Rainbow’s resignation from the Academy having been something against her own nature, Rainbow Dash looked like she could instantly launch into a Sonic Rainboom and send the upstart LD sailing to the other side of Equestria. However, Applejack decided to put an end to the problem before either pegasus did something she would later regret.

“Alright, that’s enough out of you, Dust. Ah don’t know who your friends are, or what they’ve been telling you, but it would appear you believe them enough that nothin’ that Ah or mah friends say will change your mind even though there is no evidence to support those outlandish claims.

“So the only way Ah see settilin’ this is if we have a good ol’ fashioned race. You an’ Ah, through Whitetail Woods on the route used for the Runnin’ of the Leaves. If Ah win, you stop sayin’ Ah’m spreadin’ lies about you and whoever tells you otherwise will have evidence against ‘em. If you win, then we’ve proven that a pegasus who could’ve made the Wonderbolts can beat an earth pony and that’s that.”

“Fine,” said Lightning before spitting on her hoof and holding it out. Applejack did the same, spit-covered hoof touching spit-covered hoof. However, unlike the last time Applejack actually did this with a pegasus, it was with Rainbow Dash and there had been an initial competitive spirit. Not here, where AJ and LD just glared at each other, no friendship to be found.

The Crystal Castle, the shining beacon that spread the auras of good feelings all over Equestria, stood in all its majesty in the center of the Empire’s capital city. To the average newcomer, it was a marvelous monolith that looked far more like a starship that had arrived from some other planet instead of a product of architectural styles from a millennium ago. They would never have suspected the bastion’s true, dark origins, where it was the core of a fortress headed by the False King Sombra and it was more of a massive scar sticking out of the ground, covered in dangerously sharp looking crystal formations.

Then, even with the castle in its current, purified form, it still contained dark traces of its former master within its confines. In a room walled off to even most of the castle’s conventional janitorial staff, the personal archives of Sombra still remained. While rumors spread far and wide as to how Twilight Sparkle had needed to resort to corrupted dark magic to save the Empire, possibly damning her for the rest of time, the truth was Twilight had but used the most basic corruptive spell just two times to make her way to the top. Much more powerful and dangerous magics had been sealed in worn tomes for ages, waiting for a weak willed unicorn to come along and abuse them beyond the point of return.

Fortunately for Lyra and her companion Sandalwood, Celestia had sent some of the royal mage archivists to investigate the tomes and to remove anything even remotely dangerous on those terms. All that remained really was research notes on the more physical “experiments” Sombra had pursued in his dark reign.

“Looking at these notes, Applejack’s…issues… look downright miniscule in comparison to what these poor ponies suffered at the ‘mercy’ of Sombra,” said Lyra.

“No kidding,” replied Sandalwood, quickly tossing a tome aside after deeming it filled with nothing but rather graphic illustrations (drawn by Sombra himself) depicting the results of his attempts to make his slaves no longer need to be fed. Sandalwood was of the opinion that, after looking at just one of the images, it would have made her a strict vegetarian even if she wasn’t already.

“I think it’s safe to say that Sombra was, in fact, insane,” added the mint unicorn as she quickly paged through a book titled “War Thunder: A Beginner’s Guide to Waging Large Conflicts Between Multiple Nations At Once” which didn’t seem to really belong in a room filled with research notes.

“This secrecy thing sucks!” exclaimed Sandalwood, “we’ve been digging through this damn library of nightmares and horrors for almost several hours by this point and all we’ve found is every filly and colt’s worst fears except anything involving werewolves!”

“You sure about that?” cooly replied Lyra, who held up an opened book titled How I Did It, By King Reginald Sombra, “ This whole book is apparently all about his ‘greatest hits’ and stuff, and it has ‘werewolves’ listed as the second most significant thing he did.”

Sandy was stunned, “Really? He thought werewolves were the second greatest monstrosity he’d given birth to? What hellish thing did he conceive that he thought was better than that?”

“Self-generating crystal spells.”

“Of course.”

Walking over to Lyra, the unicorn and earth pony began to read into the texts that hopefully could provide the help Applejack needed to escape a curse created by a mad king.

“You could save us a lot of trouble by just admitting I’m faster than you, even on the ground, and you won’t have to tire yourself in vain” sneered Lightning Dust.

“Right, and avoid actually providin’ an answer to refute or confirm some stupid rumor you believe with all of your being,” retorted Applejack.

Together, the apple farmer and the jaded ex-Wonderbolt trainee stood at the top of the course set up in Whitetail Woods. It was almost like the Running of the Leaves all over again between Applejack and a speedy Pegasus, except this time there were no other competitors, the leaves were green, and there almost certainly would not be a happy ending to this story. In fact, the only thing similar was that the winged competitor had agreed to have her wings tied down.

Twilight, appointed timer for the race, stood facing the two ponies on the starting line. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike stood off to the side, rooting for Applejack. Suspiciously, Rainbow Dash had actually opted not to be a spectator, citing some weather management issue she’d forgotten about. Applejack knew something was up, but at the same time didn’t want to believe her previous opponent would go so far as to rig the race to her benefit. If Rainbow was the Element of Loyalty, then she should be loyal to what Applejack wanted. In this case, AJ didn’t really care who won the race or not, it was such a minor thing that LD was so worked up over that simply running the race was worth getting LD to leave town and stop being a public nuisance.

“Are you sure this is something you really want to do?” asked Twilight, horn flaring to ready the starting shot, but her gut sensing something bad was going to happen. Considering the challenger was a mare who not only seemed partially sociopathic but clearly wasn’t in the best state of health physically or mentally, and the other was a werewolf who still didn’t seem to be in complete control over her physical form, such a feeling was reasonable.

“Yes!” both racers shouted, anxious to get the matter settled.

“Alright, then. On your marks…”

AJ and LD tensed and got low to the ground.

“…get set…”

They narrowed their eyes, Applejack unconsciously having her mental state slip slightly into her more “wild” persona and deciding that although she merely just needed to finish the race, it would be oh so sweet to actually beat this annoying haridelle simply to put her in her place.

“GO!” shouted Twilight, a magic flare shooting out of her horn in place of a starting pistol.

Like a pair of rockets, one orange and the other light cyan, the mares shot into Whitetail Woods, victory now being at the forefront of their minds. Meanwhile, unnoticed by all, a pony-sized cloud began to move along the race path high in the sky, tracking the contestants like a hawk.

Ch.19: Psychopaths "R" Us

Chapter 19: Psychopaths “R” Us

At the Crystal Castle, inside Sombra’s hideaway of horrors, Lyra and Sandalwood just sat in shock as they just stared in the direction of the open book. It had contained everything they’d possibly ever want to know about Sombra’s werewolves and even more things they didn’t want to know. Unfortunately, even Sombra himself hadn’t recorded any kind of cure for lycanthropy, despite apparently being the one who created it. But the truly horrifying thing was a side effect of becoming a werewolf that none of the legends had ever mentioned, possibly because nopony had even conceived of such a thing.

“Hey, girls, you doing alright in here?” asked Princess Cadence, who was peeking into the ancient archive. Due to her being the Alicorn Princess of Love, she was very empathetic to the presence of emotions around her, and while over the years she’d developed strength to resist any chance emotions that would have ill effect on her, Sombra’s pure hatred for the one who would steal his throne (a.k.a. Cadence) remained very strong in the room to the point even just sticking a hoof in caused her one hell of a migraine.

“Yeah, I think we just hit the motherload of ‘why Applejack is in so much trouble’ in here.” Replied Sandalwood.
“Well, uh, I’d love to see it, but I can’t really go into-“

Cadence had no time to finish as Sandalwood simply picked up the book in her mouth (which tasted disgusting) and had Lyra open the door. Then, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, Sandy just walked the book right out of the dark pit it had sat in for a thousand years and into the bright, shiny interior of the Castle proper.

Cadence thought it would be best not to say anything about the simple solution to her personal problem.

“Mhere Mwan Mwah Mmut mwis?” Sandalwood asked.

“Uh, over here…” gestured Cadence upon realizing just how heavy the book actually was and how easily the earth pony was handing it. She motioned towards a large anteroom, where inside was a large circular table inside as if purpose built to hold a large book and for ponies to stand around it, singing happy songs. Except in this case, no happy songs would be sung about Sombra’s own “I Love Me” book.

“Oh…my…” said Cadence, upon looking at the first image in the section depicting a pony halfway between its normal and wolf forms.

“Yeah, it gets worse,” said Lyra, slowly backing up from the book like it was some dangerous creature.

Summoning her resolve, for Applejack’s sake, Cadence read on. “’For all the things that I despise the Alicorns for, I must admit they have also given me some of the greatest gifts imaginable. For instance, some time ago an entire centurion of their guard showed up on my doorstep, fed up with their former rulers and seeking to serve under me. In return for their pledging of eternal servitude under me, they asked for something strange.

“’Their leader, some upstart named Sable Loam, said they were all hunters at heart and wished to be blessed with forms far more suited for hunting like a wolf. It was actually at heart a very simple request, simply use a transfiguration spell to change them into wolves. However, what made it so interesting was the catch that they have control over the ability to turn between pony and wolf, and that their wolf form still bear the advantages of the superior equine body. All the predatory instincts and ferocity of a wolf, but with the nobility and strength of a pony. The prospect of having an entire force of such wolf ponies at my command excited me, and so I agreed.

“’It took a while, and my experiments on the Crystal Slaves tended to be rather gruesome, but eventually I figured out how to grant the gift of what I have referred to as ‘lycanthropy’. It’s actually a nonsense word that sounds vaguely like ancient myths, but the Crystal Slaves won’t know the truth and by the time those morons in Equestria proper know of them, they will be tied with the very feeling of fear.

“’But even better is the name that I came up with that even their young can pronounce properly. I was originally going to call my new troops ‘war wolves’, then I got the idea to call them ‘wary wolves’ as creatures everypony should be wary of. Then, in a stroke of genius, I combined it all into one word: ‘warewolf’. Changing out the a for the e makes it not look stupid and illustrates the simple, yet fearful, art that is the term ‘werewolf’.”

“That Sombra sure had one hell of an ego, didn’t he?” commented Sandalwood, dryly, “but keep reading; the really terrifying part is later on.”

Although Cadence really wasn’t that eager to delve deeper into the mind of a mad king, she did so anyway. “’Continued studies of my new werewolves have been very interesting. As I prepare to launch the first assault from the Crystal Empire against the alicorns, I have found use for my vulpine warriors as a kind of elite enforcement squad. It would appear that due to the corruptive nature of my dark magic, woven into these great beast ponies, it is in fact capable of spreading to other ponies simply by exposing their blood to physical contact with the fluids of a werewolf. Usually this is best achieved by a deep bite to the neck area. The time it takes for the afflicted, if they survive the inoculation wound, varied between almost being able to transform immediately and up to a month for the first side effects to even show up. Psychological effects were to be expected; the test subject slaves showed more signs of being vicious and pack-like, tending to stay in familiar groups than socialize as they normally try to do.’”

“However, over the course of several months, the idea of converting all the slaves into werewolves must be rejected on grounds involving the very aspect of dark magic that allows lycanthropy to be contracted. Unless the victim happens to be of a certain bloodline, the lycanthropy will eventually corrupt their entire body and fully turn them into a wolf. The test subjects who suffered this are irreversibly converted into natural wolves; they show no sign of remembering who they were or any memories they might have had, and attacks from these wolves will not spread the magic. Only when they die does the magic leave their bodies and their normal form restored, although at that point it’s of no use to them or me.”

Cadence had to backpedal hard upon reading the last bit. “Wh-what?! I knew Sombra was a monster, but this…this cannot be condoned by any being that has any respect for their own species! And poor Applejack, is this the fate she’s doomed to incur? Becoming nothing more than a simple beast?”

“Well, no, there is a slight hope for her,” said Lyra, her expression not matching her hopeful words. “just keep reading.”

Now outright scared of what else she might find, Cadence wished she could tightly hug her husband to the point of breaking his ribs as she ventured once more into the dark codex: “For the rare outlier slave who managed to not succumb to the magic due to their bloodline, I decided to play nice in one of my rare benevolent moments and let them become part of my werewolf brigades. Sable Loam, possibly my greatest of the werewolves, protested my ‘interference’ with his own troop organization, but he continuously buys into my bluff that I can easily take away what I have granted him. In reality I have no such power; for I fear I would face a great challenge against him should we ever battle. He has grown almost immune to any dark magic attacks I can throw at him, and his natural skill set only boosts those granted by his lupine enhancements. It may even be possible his sheer force of will can allow him to live forever. Amusingly, he and he alone only has the possibility of immortality, none of his followers nor any of the lucky few slaves who have become werewolves appear to have their lifespans lengthened. The reason for this is a completely natural mutation in the blood of an earth pony, certainly not exclusive to whatever line Sable comes from but only theory propagates other ponies might have it. But as a result, unless he bites a pony with a similar blood mutagen, the victim will eventually become a simple wolf as if bitten by any other werewolf over a course of a few months.”

Cadence stopped there, partly out of simply being overwhelmed by the information, and partly because the rest of the transcript had faded to the point of being illegible.

“W-what happens if the victim does have this, erm, ‘blood mutagen’ Sombra wrote about?” asked the Princess of Love.

“Dunno, we couldn’t find anything else about it, just stuff on how he conducted his tests, which were FAR from proper reading material!” said Sandalwood.

“However,” began Lyra, “I’d have to hypothesize that Sombra’s specification of that genetic mutation allowing Sable’s lycanthropy to keep him alive is rather important. He said it was impossibly rare, but not unique to Sable himself. Which would meant the implication is there in the faded text that should Sable transfer lycanthropy to a pony via a bite, if the victim has the same genetic mutation as he does, then he makes his prey both a werewolf AND immortal, without the whole ‘eventually turning into a wolf in both mind and soul’ bit.”

“So what you’re saying is that while hoping-beyond-hope that Applejack is lucky enough to fall into whatever percent of the population has this genetic mutation in her blood is ill-placed faith, it is still possible by the smallest margin she will avoid a cruel fate of losing herself to be a mangy mutt to instead just be an immortal werewolf?” asked Cadence with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s better than zero, your highness,” simply replied Lyra.

Cadence just shook her head before glancing back at the dark tome on the juxtaposed bright table. “We need to get this information to Twilight. If there is anypony who will know how to use what little of it we have to save your friend, it’s her. In the meantime, you two might want to go back to see if there is anything else of worth to us in that dark study, I’ll send in some trustworthy mages to help you out. They won’t be told about Applejack’s condition, but because this is a matter considered top secret to the crown, they won’t ask questions.”

Sandalwood and Lyra merely nodded and bowed before the alicorn before heading back to their research. If even the smallest thing could be found that would save Applejack, it would be in that room.

The race, in Lightning Dust’s opinion, had started out fairly well. Even without her wings, she was able to keep pace with the grounded earth pony up to the halfway point. By then, both mares were visibly starting to work up a sweat and their endurance beginning to drain, but it was not a question that finishing was possible with either pony a victor.

Or at least it had been until Lightning began to gradually fall behind Applejack. Shocked, she began to try running harder to make up the gap, but that quickly fell through as the miniscule gain she got was far outweighed by the increase in exertion it took.

How is this possible?! Thought Lightning Dust. I trained with the Wonderbolts, I was far more fit than anypony else in the squad including that damn slacker Rainbow Dash, I set academy records! How am I being beaten by a country bumpkin who makes a living by kicking trees all day?!

The truth was that, while much of the training LD had gone through both before and after acceptance into the academy was fresh in her mind, she was forgetting that she really hadn’t done much to keep up her physique upon being kicked out. In the time between having her dreams crushed and now, she’d managed to land a weather support job in Baltimare that paid okay but wasn’t nearly as desirable as simply being paid to have fun flying, and the budget she’d formerly had for buying wonderbolts merchandise had gone straight into paying off the beer tab at the Rusty Horseshoe. She had completely ignored her failing personal health, and the belief Rainbow Dash, possibly the only pony outside of her family she’d considered something close to an ally, had sold her out for a rank promotion, had worsened her sociopathic issues to new levels. Initially, she’d just wanted to win the race to prove the rumors her new bar friend had mentioned to her were wrong, but when faced with the possibility of losing and proving the rumors right, she just snapped. She was going to win this race no matter how low she had to get, but not for bragging rights, simply out of a desperate need to prove to herself that she still had some self-worth left.

Applejack, for her part, had known she was going to win the moment the race had started. Taking to heart Twilight’s advice from the first year the unicorn had participated in the Running and won fifth place, she planned to pace herself. She wasn’t too happy in how it was still stacked in her favor because of her lycanthropy-boosted physical prowess, but she couldn’t really do anything about it. Not like it mattered, the pacing was easy compared to the exertion she normally tended to use on this course, she could have gone at that pace for hours and not stopped. Glancing back at LD, however, she secretly gaped at how bad the pegasus looked. She’d already started falling back despite her best efforts to regain her position, but between the gasps for air and the weird look in her eyes, she wasn’t going to make it 3/4ths of the course before running out of steam. AJ turned back to the course, wondering what on earth made Dust even think she was in competitive condition.

Suddenly, Lighting slammed into Applejack’s side, sending both off the side of the path and into the woods. Applejack had no time to react before the first punches started to collide with her.

“What in-ow!-the hay-OW!-are you doin?!”

Then Applejack caught another glimpse at LD’s face, and she understood the look. It was the look of a mare who stood on the brink of insanity and was doing everything she could to avoid it. AJ figured that once Dust had reasoned she couldn’t straight-up win the race, she’d attack AJ and knock her cold so the shameless pegasus would win by default.

Unfortunately for Dust, Applejack wasn’t about to let that happen. Rolling out of the way of the other mare’s punch, the still-hatted pony was up on her feet in a split second and poised for a fight. “Don’t do this, Lighting Dust, don’t make me have to hurt you!”

Sadly, the words failed to reach their mark as Lightning Dust just charged Applejack once again, “THEN JUST LET-“

A right hook was dodged easily.

“-ME-“

A haymaker nearly missed its mark.

“-WIN!”

With a sudden burst of agility, brought on by desperation and psychotic anger, Lightning Dust wheeled around on her front hooves and bucked Applejack straight in the face. Crashing into a nearby tree, it took a moment for the orange mare to recover. However, the moment she did so, something about her demeanor changed. Her eyes had turned from Emerald Green to a noticeably different golden-green and were practically glowing, her posture had shifted from a typical strength-increasing stance of a fighting earth pony to that of a predatory animal which emphasize speed, and she was…growling?

With horror, Lighting Dust realized just what she was facing, and that even the greatest Wonderbolt couldn’t take on the monster before her. And that she’d just pissed it off.

From her clever cloud disguise, Rainbow watched the race from above. She knew Applejack hadn’t wanted anything less than a fair competition, and although Rainbow’s little lie about not spectating due to work probably left the apple farmer more than a little suspicious, Dash had no intentions of tipping the scales in her friend’s favor. Having raced her multiple times, RD knew Applejack would easily win against the shockingly deteriorating condition Lightning Dust had been in.

Between body language suggesting she was now perpetually drunk, the amount of wind resistance her unpreened wings would create, and Dust’s personal mission to outdo the competition by a wide margin by going beyond her limits, Dash knew the race was over before it even began.

What happened to you, Dusty? Wondered Rainbow as she tracked the runners. You were a great flyer, maybe even better than me, but has your selfishness been the reason you’ve fallen so far down in the world? Even though ties between her and Dust had long since been cut, Rainbow still found it sad the once-hopeful candidate for Equestria’s greatest flying team, somepony she had once been loyal to as a friend, had been reduced to an angry shadow of herself who lived in a drained beer bottle, not having learned anything from her expulsion and seemingly alone in the world.

This was of course demonstrated in real life by the tailing Dust suddenly slamming into Applejack’s back. Horrified, Rainbow broke cover and shot down to help AJ, now being pummeled by Lightning Dust who appeared to have lost all grip on reality. Rainbow’s speed was also not enough to prevent AJ getting bucked into a tree rather hard. Or to intervene in time to stop the very thing Applejack feared about herself.

As much as Rainbow wanted to keep flying in and stop the wolfed-out version of her friend from killing Lighting Dust, she knew there was no way to stop an angry werewolf with just speed and two hooves. So, leaving Lightning Dust to almost certain serious harm, RD shot off to get Twilight before an out of control Applejack really did commit an unforgivable sin.

Applejack, while her temper was sometimes quick to rise when dealing with some ponies, was not the kind whose anger would boil over to the point of wishing or committing harm to other ponies. At least, that’s what Applejack usually was like.

However, due to her lycanthropy and relative inability to control her more primal urges, Lightning Dust found herself facing off against anything but normal Applejack. Her fight-or-flight responses having caused a mental shift into that of a predator, all Applejack could keep clear in her head was that, for some reason, this Pegasus was attacking her with possible intent to kill having already landed a powerful blow to AJ’s face, and that she needed to go down.

Lightning Dust, on the other hand, was of the opinion that getting out of there was the best option. She couldn’t help but feel smug as she quickly opened her wings, the binding ropes having long since been cut by the crazed creature before her, and launched vertically off the ground and out of the reach of Applejack’s hooves-turned-claws.

“Nah nah nah nah nah nahhhh!” mocked Lightning, her boastful nature getting in the way of common sense, a lesson she learned when she turned to fly away and warn the town about the wolf in pony’s clothing. She did not see Applejack rear up and leap high enough to tackle the low flying Pegasus from behind, sending them both crashing to the ground and into a thorny bush.

Applejack, still set in primal predator mode, quickly made her way out of the thorns, ignoring the small pricks of pain.

Lightning Dust, on the other hand, was not so lucky. She slowly dragged herself out from the bush, the thorns going deep enough into her fur to cause multiple small cuts. Those, combined with what felt like a sprained wing from an improper crash position, and sheer exhaustion from both the race and her attempts to take out Applejack, made Lightning Dust feel like absolute crap. But when she noticed the shadow standing before her and its somewhat raspy breathing, her head involuntarily looked up at the werewolf standing right in front of her, and it was still pretty mad. It backed up, as if going to strike hard for the final blow, and Lightning Dust tensed up for the end, tears coming to her eyes as Applejack leapt at her.

Except the end didn’t come. Opening her eyes, tears falling like rain, LD looked up to see a very confused werewolf lit up in a purple magic aura. Suddenly, Applejack was thrown against a tree and a blue aura joined the purple one in what looked like a joint effort between unicorns to keep the transformed pony down. She struggled, but seemed to react upon hearing a demand from a most unlikely voice;

“Applejack, STOP!”

Fluttershy touched down in front of Applejack, apparently trying to calm her. However, this time Applejack had really lost control and barked furiously at Fluttershy, lost in a blind rage and trying to attack anything that would set her free. The yellow pegasus, both shocked and saddened at what the simple apple farmer had been twisted into by fate, shank back with her eyes clenched shut, before stepping forward with eyes wide open.

For all that Sombra had designed his werewolves to be immune to simple behavioral control magic, never in a thousand years could he have predicted a pegasus who had severe vertigo problems would wield something as powerful as The Stare. Caught in Fluttershy’s steely gaze, poor Applejack froze as her motor control over her limbs failed.

“Applejack…” said the animal specialist, trying to do her job while treating Applejack as the pony she still was inside, “stop this. This isn’t what you wanted. This isn’t what any of us wanted. But this isn’t the Applejack we know, this is the Applejack you said you couldn’t let happen. Come back, Applejack, please…”

As the mixture of Stare and soothing yet pleading words began to register in Applejack’s ears, a visible change passed over her even though she remained in wolf form. Her eyes lost their glow, returning to their familiar green shade, and her breathing began to slow down as well.

Finally, Twilight and Rarity ended their magic, letting Applejack fall softly to the ground. It took her a few seconds to realize she was back in control, the memories of what she’d done and almost did still fresh in her mind.

“Oh…oh mah Celestia…” whispered AJ.

“It’s alright, Applejack, you’re back, and we’re here for you.” Soothed Fluttershy, having since ended The Stare and was now walking up to her friend. Upon reaching the werewolf, Fluttershy merely looked at Applejack with her sea-green eyes that just radiated compassion and kindness and all the things Applejack really needed. She then embraced her cursed friend, allowing Applejack to start sniffling and then just open the floodgates in a return hug.

Lightning Dust, both too shocked and too tired to move, just looked on with the horrifying revelation that all of Applejack’s friends had already known about this condition of hers, and had allowed the race to happen anyway. But…did that mean he had known about this as well, and had knowingly suggested something that he wanted Dust to do? Now facing the reality of having somehow been used much in the same way she used to use other ponies, and the fact her latest drinking buddy was not in fact somepony she could call anything close to a friend, she felt nothing but jealousy towards the werewolf that had nearly killed her. She was a monster, a freak, made from the shell of some backwoods hick, yet even after an outburst like that she still had friends who stood by her. But not Lighting Dust, who for all of her previous skill and ability, had anypony to rely upon or even really just talk too freely.

All she had was Rainbow Dash, who walked up from the right side of her vision.

“My, that’s a pretty bad timberwolf attack you had there, Dusty.”

Lightning snorted in annoyance, “Are you crazy? Your ‘friend’ over there nearly just murderized me and if you think for a second that I’m going to-“

“Timber. Wolf. Attack,” enunciated Rainbow, making it very clear to the vulnerable Lightning Dust that not sticking to this cover story was going to end very poorly for her. “Now, I really shouldn’t be nice to you, because the position you’re in was your fault when you attacked Applejack. Oh yes, I was watching. Didn’t I tell you I was Ponyville’s weather manager? Regardless, by all rights we should leave you here to suffer, but against my better judgment Twilight thinks you know something and so it’s off to Ponyville General for you.

“BUT…” uttered Rainbow, sticking her angry face into the now-scared Dust’s face, “before we do that, you’re going to tell me who told you about those rumors, which we both now know were completely falsified. Now.”

Desperately in need of medical attention, Lightning had no choice but to “sell out” her informant.

“I-Intellectual Pursuit!”

Twilight, who hadn’t really been listening until that point, noticeably stiffened upon the mention of the Crystal Pony scholar’s name. It was Pinkie, however, who spoke next.

“Who is Intellectual Pursuit?”

“Supposedly, he was a scholar from the Crystal Empire who came down to Ponyville to do some research on…something, I don’t remember what.”

Pinkie was alarmed, “You mean to tell me there was a new pony in town and I DIDN'T THROW HIM A WELCOME PARTY?! How did I not know of his presence!?”

“Because he didn’t want to be detected by ponies who would make his presence well-known in ways such as throwing him a big welcome party with everybody in town attending. Because he wasn’t a Crystal Empire scholar.”

“Then…then who, or what, is he, Twilight?” asked Rarity, dreading the answer.

While she couldn’t bring herself to say it above a frightened whisper, it was enough for all present (even Lightning Dust, who could tell if something scared the Elements of Harmony, then it was bad) to understand just how blind they’d been to the truth.

“Sable Loam.”

The truth now stated the ponyville residents realized with terror that the werewolf who had converted Applejack into a lycanthrope had in fact been hiding in the town for months in a disguise, and could have easily taken them all out. It was the fact he hadn’t, rather appearing to wait for something that they dreaded because none of them knew what he could possibly have been waiting for.

Meanwhile, not too far from the clearing where the commotion was going on, Sable Loam spied upon the ponies. He’d just lost the disguise of Intellectual Pursuit, but that was okay since he’d checked out of the hotel soon after his Cerberus plan had started to backfire and headed straight for Baltimare. Even though it was of the modernized lifestyle he hated so much, it was the only city of the present day he could even feel remotely safe in. Namely because his beloved had lived here the day they had met. The fact he’d run into a pegasus mare who happened to hold a grudge against a certain other pegasus who was friends with his quarry in the first bar he entered had been pure, simple luck. It had taken a week or two to “buddy up” with the mare, but he eventually fooled her into going to confront Applejack as if defending her honor.

The fact the plan had actually worked this time was even luckier, to which Sable couldn’t have cracked a wider, nastier grin. Watching the enraged Applejack just tear into that idiot wannabe-Wonderbolt had been a fun thing to watch. Sexy, even, if the pressure between his legs said anything. But the bottom line was all his hard work and patience was about to pay off. Applejack would soon be forced to embrace her new destiny…and would belong to him and him alone.

Ch.20: Operation APPLESTALKER

Chapter 20: Operation APPLESTALKER

Lightning Dust was not happy with how things had turned out. First off, the one pony she thought of as an actual friend, or at least her equal at bar drinking, seemed to have set her up to challenge Applejack simply to fail. Second, Applejack had ended up being some kind of bipolar werewolf who had torn her a new one after she’d tried assaulting the farm pony. Third, all of Applejack’s friends not only apparently knew about the orange mare’s lycanthropy but were going so far as to indirectly threaten Lightning Dust to cover the incident up as a freak timberwolf attack. Fourth, and finally, Ponyville General Hospital was extremely uncomfortable for a Pegasus like her who had spent most of her life in the cloud cities of the pegasi and so was more accustomed to the comforts of cloud-based construction. However, with a badly sprained wing and a multitude of physical injuries she wasn’t going to be airborne anytime soon.

But she had to be true to herself: nobody truly would worry about her. Having grown up in an orphanage without parents or even stable relationships to other ponies, LD had always had to fight for herself and burn bridges when necessary. But then again she’d never had the chance to feel how truly alone her path in life had made her ever since the day she had to leave the orphanage. No family, no friends, no nopony.

Well, there was Rainbow Dash, who had come in to check up on her. But it was impossible to know if the cyan Pegasus was there out of pure concern for her fellow wingpony or making sure Lightning Dust kept mum. Because of the latter, Dust couldn’t count on Rainbow’s actions to mean anything, although it warmed her heart a little to know that after everything she’d done to Rainbow and friends, Dash kept a loyalty she shouldn’t even need to keep for any given reason.

But she was surprised when another pony came in bearing a get well gift. Derpy Hooves, the crazy-eyed mailmare of Ponyville, walked through the door with a bag of something in her mouth.

“Wh-wha?” stammered a confused Lightning Dust, unsure of what to make of a complete stranger paying her a visit.

“I heard that you got attacked by some timberwolves and don’t really know anypony from around here, so I brought you some muffins to cheer you up!” chirped Derpy, having placed the bag on the counter.

“Muffins?”

“Yeah! My favorite; chocolate chip!” Derpy’s smile then dropped to a frown, “Oh, let me guess; you don’t like chocolate chip, do you?”

“What? Oh, nonononono! I like chocolate chip!” Dust quickly sputtered. Truth be told, she’d never had muffins of any kind, but here it wasn’t so much her lack of knowledge about muffins then it was about keeping Derpy not feeling bad about what was a purely charitable action. “It’s just that…that nopony’s ever done something as simple as bringing muffins to me, somepony who probably doesn’t deserve any form of kindness.”

“Nonsense! I don’t know who you are, but you’re clearly a pony who has had it rough lately, and sometimes all we need for things to improve is to be shown some kindness!”

That was food for thought, considered Lightning. Here was this pony, somepony who in another situation Dust would have shamelessly made fun of for her weird eyes, but even though this mare had to have known about what Dust had done at the Wonderbolts Academy (it had been a wildly popular story which had spread all over Equestria), where by all rights Dust should have been mocked by this mare, instead she’d brought muffins and was being encouraging to Dust that she could still turn her life around.

But then there was the problem Lightning Dust had encountered: Applejack was a violent werewolf. While granted, Dust had pushed Applejack to the limit and effectively forced her own ass-kicking, the fact the normally mild mannered mare even had such a violent streak hidden inside that was so uncontrollable once unleashed was something that put the whole town in danger. Lightning reasoned that, despite recognizing she was pretty much a bitch through and through, she wasn’t so far gone that she’d leave a danger like Applejack to threaten innocent ponies simply because she didn’t give a damn.

Fortunately for her, Derpy chose to change subjects. “At least, more kindness than those timberwolves showed you. It’s been sort of scary lately, there’s been an increase with timberwolf attacks over the past few months, starting with the grievous injury Applejack got when one of them nearly crushed her throat in its jaws.”

“You sure it was a timberwolf?” asked Dust, secretly skeptical about how Applejack was being played up as an innocent.

“Yeah, there was a lot of blood and everything, from what I heard. Completely random, too, some monster sized timberwolf allegedly just shot out of the woods and attacked her without any provocation. Come to think of it, a lot of the problems with the timberwolves lately seem to involve the Apples in some way."

Gee, I wonder why, thought Dust, although she kept quiet as Derpy continued.

“It’s gotten to the point that Iron Will, some motivational self-help teacher who was in town a long while back, has come to go hunt werewolves or something, because he thinks that’s the problem. Or at least I think that’s what Golden Harvest told me.”

“Wait, you’re saying there’s a werewolf hunter in town?” inquired Lightning Dust, interest peaking. She may have been stuck in the hospital, but if she could talk to this Iron Will guy then she may not be completely helpless to save the town.

“Yeah, although if I remember correctly I overheard a rumor he’s leaving town to go hunt for werewolves elsewhere.”

“What?!” exclaimed Dust, dismayed at her improving prospects almost getting dashed, “Look, um…sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“My name? Oh, I’m Derpy! Derpy Hooves!”

Then what does your eye condition have to do with your bubbles cutie mark? wondered Dust before clearing the thought out of her head. This wasn’t the time to go back into bitch mode. So, LD continued on as if nothing had happened; “Ah, okay Derpy, listen. I need you to go find this Iron Will guy and tell him that before he leaves town, I need to talk to him.”

“Why?”

“Because I have vital information about something he’s interested in. Now, hurry, please!”

“I’ll find him right away!” said Derpy, before turning around and promptly faceplanting due to tripping over her own hooves. Yet, with no dignity lost, she simply stood up, said ‘My Bad!” and continued on her way. Needless to say, Lightning Dust was impressed.

Iron Will put the last of his personal items into his bags, letting out a sigh of disappointment. Ponyville had been a bust for werewolf hunting, as all he’d managed to even catch in his traps and attempts were a few unlucky timberwolves and that one orange pony that’d happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Still, it hadn’t been a total loss. His time in Ponyville had at least set him on the right track about trying to catch his target prey. The lavender unicorn who worked at the library, Twilight Sparkle, had certainly been the most helpful in his endeavors, and his tactics had improved beyond just charging into wooded areas and trying to provoke timberwolves as practice.

However, it was time to move on. He’d originally started in Ponyville because of the rumors about increased wolf attacks, but historically werewolves were told to have been more active in other cities like Baltimare and Vanhoover. Slinging his one bag over his shoulder, Iron Will exited his hotel room and went to the main foyer.

There waiting for him was Willy and Nilly. The looks on their faces were enough to tell they were only too eager to move on from the town after all the failures, but were still willing to help their boss out in his marriage quest. Iron Will had to smile at that; if there was one thing he could rely on it was the loyalty of his two assistants. He’d even have thought of them as friends had he not still been paying them for what he knew was truly a fool’s errand.

Also waiting for him, though, was a wall-eyed gray Pegasus. “Mr. Will, I have a message for you!” she announced.

The minotaur raised an eyebrow at that, for he wasn’t expecting anything. He just hoped beyond hope it wasn’t from his parents, asking him if he’d caught a werewolf yet. “A message for Iron Will?”

“Yeah, there’s a Pegasus named Lightning Dust over at the hospital who wants to talk to you. She wouldn’t say what about, but that it was urgent she pass the info on to you before you left town.”

That was intriguing. Everypony in town had heard about what happened to the rambunctious Pegasus during the race with Applejack, the entire settlement growing ever more concerned about the threat timberwolves were now posing to everypony. However, it was also well known Iron Will was specifically hunting werewolves, so if there was any kind of lead that could yield even proof a werewolf still existed for him to catch, Iron Will couldn’t risk passing it up.

“Alright, Iron Will shall go see this pony. Willy, Nilly, I trust you can handle checking us out from here?” asked the minotaur, receiving twin salutes of acknowledgement from the two goats. Nodding in approval, Iron Will took his bag with him as Derpy lead him off to the hospital. Along the way, he purchased some flowers once Derpy mentioned Lightning Dust didn’t have anypony wishing her for a quick recovery.

Upon arriving at the hospital, a pony by the name of Nurse Redheart informed Iron Will that Lightning Dust’s wing injury had not been a sprain as was commonly rumored, but a serious enough bone fracture that she’d needed a minor operation to set the bones. While she was back in her room, she was still hopped up on anesthesia and wouldn’t be able to talk much. That made Iron Will’s heart sink about getting the lead he’d hoped for, but he told Redheart he would at least deliver the flowers in person. He’d already bought them, so might was well carry out the kind gesture they were meant for.
Indeed, upon arrival, Iron Will found the crippled Pegasus asleep in her bed, heart monitor beeping and an IV pouch hooked up. He wouldn’t be getting any information out of her until possibly a few hours later, but without anything to go on Iron Will couldn’t stay that long.

Well, guess it’s to Baltimare, then, thought Iron Will as he placed the flowers in a waiting vase, already filled with water. Before leaving, he wished to at least express some well-wishing.

“Iron Will doesn’t know who you are, but he hopes that you make a swift recovery so that you can go back to enjoying life in the skies, as your kind was born to do.”

He then turned and made for the door.

“W-wait…” a sleepy voice suddenly asked from behind him.

Turning back, Iron Will found Dust had now woken up to the point of being aware of her surroundings.

“So…you’re the famous Iron Will, motivational speaker, and…and werewolf hunter?”

“Of course Iron Will is,” replied Iron Will. He wisely decided now was not the time for his lengthy slogan promotionals, there was no knowing how long Lightning would be awake.

“Listen, whatever you do…don’t leave town. Not yet.”

“Why should Iron Will not leave town? There are no werewolves here and Iron Will would cover more ground faster by visiting different cities.”

“That’s where you…are wrong. What do you think put me in here?”

“A freak timberwolf attack? That’s what the town is saying happened.”

“That’s what they want you to think, to cover…the truth. All the timberwolf attacks…haven’t you noticed the connection?”

“What connection?” inquired Iron Will. He certainly hadn’t noticed any connections between the attacks. Between the initial one involving the orange apple farmer, the believed raiding parties of timberwolves on the apple farm, and then this attack that happened when Lightning Dust was racing that same orange-

Wait.

“Iron Will thinks he understands now. The orange pony…she is the connection, but how?”

“Isn’t it obvious, peabrain? She’s the werewolf you’re looking for.”

Iron Will was stunned. Looking back at the events surrounding the orange pony, and some of the stories he’d happened to overhear about her, assuming she was a werewolf made it all make more sense.

“But how? And why?” was all Iron Will could ask.

“I don’t know either, all I know is that she’s…the one who put me in here. Admittedly, I got physically aggressive with her and probably was asking…for it, but her friends know. I think they’ve known all along and have been helping her hide it.”

“I don’t believe it!” said Iron Will, more to himself as evidenced by the dropping of the third person narration, “she’s been under my nose the whole time, hell, I even had caught her, but I’d let her go because I didn’t suspect…well, Willy and Nilly aren’t going to like it, but we’re gonna be staying here.”

Lightning Dust, who looked like she was about to pass out, suddenly started looking like she was doing her hardest to not drift to sleep again. “Iron Will, listen; what…whatever you do, promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t…don’t kill her. I wasn’t supposed to tell anypony, but Applejack doesn’t seem…to be in control over that part of herself. She’s a danger to everypony around, so you’re the best…one to deal with her. However, for as much as I still despise Rainbow Dash, I owe her bigtime for trying to get me back on my hooves even after all I’ve done, the least I can do is make you promise not to seriously hurt one of her closest friends.”

“Iron Will shall do his best.”

“Thank…you…” mumbled Lightning Dust before sleep claimed her. Thus, Iron Will was left in one heck of a doozy situation. On the one hand, he at least had the lead he wanted to bagging a werewolf, and it was one of the local ponies no less which should have made it easier. However, in return for the info, he couldn’t actually kill the werewolf due to the promise he just made. And as a businessman, he always honored his promises.

However, even before considering going after the werewolf, he had to make sure this “Applejack” was one to begin with, and that her friends would know about it as well if they weren’t werewolves themselves.

What have I gotten myself into? he thought.

“Here ya go, Pinkie; this week’s shipment of apples to Sugarcube Corner.”

“Thanks a bunch, AJ!”

Applejack unhitched herself from the apple cart as Pinkie brought out the empty barrels. As Sugarcube Corner did a lot of apple buying from Sweet Apple Acres, an agreement had been made that the apples would be brought pre-stored in barrels, and once they were empty the barrels would be given to whichever Apple was bringing the next week’s shipment.

“So, AJ” started Pinkie, two empty barrels in tow, “aside from you wanting more you-know-what because of your ‘condition’ do you find you don’t like other foods as much?”

“What are ya talkin’ about, sugarcube?” replied Applejack.

“I mean, do you enjoy eating the regular stuff you always ate before…you know. Like pastries, cakes, stuff like that?”

“Of course Ah do, Pinkie, frankly me just bein’…you know, all that’s done is add some more things to mah ‘cuisine pallette’ or whatever it is Rarity called it.”

“Oh, that’s a relief!” sighed Pinkie, relieved.

“Ah don’t think Ah understand, Pinkie.”

“Well, I figured it would be really bad if you didn’t like sugary things anymore since everypony likes sugary things especially me and I just can’t imagine how horrible it would be if I didn’t like sugary things anymore and MRRMPH!” rambled Pinkie, stopped mid-sentence by Applejack’s hoof having found its way to Pinkie’s mouth.

“Pinkie! Don’t worry, Ah’m still me!” laughed Applejack. “Ah know y’all have been worried ever since Ah ‘lost mah cool’ with the whole Lightning Dust race, but please, don’t fret. What Ah do want you to do, however, is to get the last two apple barrels sittin’ empty in the kitchen.”

Blushing, Pinkie just turned and retrieved the barrels. With her four empty barrels tied down, Applejack departed Sugar Cube corner and headed home. Unbeknownst to her, a large, shadowy shape began to follow her, concealed by the rooftops that somehow didn’t buckle under its weight. Unbeknownst to the shadowy shape, it too was being followed by a self-propelled bale of hay with a baby crocodile periscope sticking out of the top.

“Thanks for coming, Applejack. I know this is kind of awkward, but since we haven’t heard back from Lyra and Sandalwood yet, we need to know more about your condition, and since you’re the only werewolf we have access too…”

“Why haven’t we heard back from those two? Ah thought Spike could get letters from the Crystal Empire via Princess Cadence?”

At the same time…

“C’mon, you can do it!” cheered Lyra.

At the Crystal Castle, Princess Cadence concentrated hard on the scroll in front of her. The idea was to send this letter via dragonfire magic so Spike could receive it. Contained within the letter was the warning about how Applejack’s sense of self both physically and mentally was potentially in jeopardy.

“Hon,” started Shining Armor, “why do you have to do this yourself? Don’t we have mages who can send mail by dragonfire?”

“We do, Shiny, but the trick with dragonfire when being cast by horned ponies is that they need to know the contents of the letter completely. However, since some of our mages are from the time when Sombra still ruled with his werewolf legions. If they knew there was potentially only one werewolf left, they’d go on some crusade to exterminate it, and we don’t want that happening to Applejack. Besides, I’m an alicorn, one of the three most powerful ponies on the planet, I should be able to get this spell right the third time.” The first two tries had ended up with first just a fried pile of parchment scraps, then the second time the scroll just got teleported five feet in the air, also burned to a crisp.

“Princess,” asked Sandalwood, “have you ever tried sending mail by dragonfire before today?”

“No, but it shouldn’t take more than one more try.”

Her horn glowing a bright blue, Cadence lifted the scroll with her telekinesis. Then, with pure force of will she reduced the letter into burned embers which drifted in the air before heading out an open window.

“There, see? Told you I could do it!” beamed Cadence.

The flame embers then rushed back into the castle and seemed to go straight into Shining Armor’s horn. His pupils shrunk for a second before he felt the need to empty his bowels. Instead of food, however, he threw up blue magic fire and the torn remnants of the letter.

“Erm…maybe it’s harder than I thought…” cringed the princess of love.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll hear from them soon enough,” Twilight assured the apple farmer, her horn glowing and all the window covers, rendering the only light source from the interior lights. “Okay, we’re closed up, go ahead at your convenience.”

“Alrighty, pardner,” replied Applejack, before shifting into her wolf form. Twilight winced, not as strong a reaction as she first had upon witnessing the transformation a few weeks ago.

Spike, on the other hand, finally put two and two together. “Uh, AJ? Remember back some time ago when you said you’d kill me if I ever tried helping you like I did again?”

“Yeah?” replied the werewolf.

“You were serious, weren’t you?”

“Ah’ll be honest, Spike. Ah’d been tryin’ not to hurt you for most of that day. Ah never would want to hurt you at all normally, but between your refusal to leave me alone and…whatever this condition of mine has done to me, Ah, was at the end of mah rope.”

“Noted,” said Spike, somewhat embarrassed.

Twilight, sensing the moment, jumped in with the first of her research questions; “Applejack, I have to ask: does it hurt when you do…that?”

“You mean when ah turn into this version of mahself? It used to, especially the first time. The first time was just horrible.”
“Would…would you be okay with describing what it was like?”

“Ah’ll do it, Twi, but just so you know; it was the worst feelin’ anypony could ever have to endure. Ah’m only lettin’ you know this simply because Ah hope you and nopony we hold dear ever has to go through what Ah have.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The minotaur had to admit there might really be some credence to what Lightning Dust had said. The exchange at Sugarcube Corner between Applejack and Pink…something, he couldn’t remember the full name. Something to do with baked goods. Pink Cake? Pink Sugar?. It wasn’t important at the moment anyway. What was important was he’d been watching the place for about two hours, and he needed to grab some lunch badly. Willy and Nilly would have probably died from hunger at this point had they been with him, but he’d given them the day off. After what he’d put them through in his various attempts to hunt timberwolves they deserved at least that.

Then, the door to the library opened up, and Applejack looked to her left and right before saying goodbye to the ponies remaining in the building and heading off on her way.

Having grabbed a hayball sandwich from a street cart vendor, Iron Will followed Applejack over to Fluttershy’s cottage. Not an easy task since there were very few trees wide enough to hide IW’s girth behind, but he managed to do it without alerting Applejack. The fact she kept on acting as if she was constantly on edge about being followed also pointed towards her being a werewolf, as a pony wouldn’t have that kind of sensory range to detect him from almost 50 meters away.
Eventually, once he figured Applejack felt safe enough inside Fluttershy’s cozy little cottage, he snuck up and peered inside. To his horror, it looked like Applejack was eating hamburgers, which Fluttershy was cooking up.

Normally, Iron Will usually lived up to his secondary nickname, “Iron Stomach”, as one of his lesser known talents was the ability to eat just about anything. But being a close relative species-wise to normal cattle, he couldn’t go anywhere near meat products involving beef. Just the sight of it would make him hurl, which he had to rush off to quickly do. He knew that there were some ponies that ate meat, hell, the mere fact The Meatery existed in Ponyville more as a tourist spot than actual local cuisine was evidence enough, but the fact somepony who raised cattle also ate them…he felt the need to oblige a second gut purge.

It also just strengthened the case of making Applejack out to be a werewolf. The fact she was somepony who normally live harmoniously with cattle on the same farm pointed to her being the kind of pony who would staunchly be anti-meat, and yet there she was having one of her friends secretly prepare burger patties for her. As if she was ashamed of having a need to eat meat. Iron Will was seriously wondering if trying to hunt a werewolf was an even dumber proposition now that he was pretty sure that one did exist on the other side of that window.

Then his watch buzzed. Alarmed, he shot off away from the cottage before either pony, or any of Fluttershy’s animal friends, could realize he was there. On the other hand, it was the alarm reminding him he needed to take his blood pressure meds. He couldn’t help but smirk at the perfect timing, as his blood pressure had to be dangerously high after seeing a pony eating beef and enjoying it.

Later, Applejack was all alone by herself behind the Apple Family barn. Ever since exposing her secret to friends and family, she found these moments of self-reflection helped her truly appreciate how blessed she was to have such understanding circle of relationships.

“Ah just don’t know what Ah’d do without them. Even Twilight’s cut back on her prodding, even though Ah can tell she wants to go as deep as possible, because she knows how personal this is gettin’ for me. Heh…and to think Ah had to put on mah best face when Ah first met her, ah coulda sworn she reeked of ‘Canterlot Snob’ stronger than a rotten apple reeks of bad odor.”

She continued to review the offerings and sacrifices her friends were making to accommodate her, but as the list grew longer and longer, she grew more somber.

“But is it all worth it, Ah mean…”

Almost involuntarily, she shifted into her wolf form and looked down at her now-uncomfortably-familiar hoof-paws.

“Will Ah be stuck like this forever? Some kinda half-monster pony who can’t even take a few hits without loosin’ mah mind and nearly killin’ somepony else? And to think Ah once thought this coulda been a good thing for me, but now Ah understand. This is nothin’ more than a curse. A damn, dirty curse! Sometimes Ah don’t even know who Ah am anymore when Ah change an’ look in the mirror at this other body I inhabit. And why did it have to be me? Ah couldn’t wish this affliction on anypony, but after learnin’ ma and pa had gone this way before they died, is it some kinda family curse? Ah don’t wanna end up as some kinda mindless monster, that’s not who Ah am! But without some kinda cure, maybe that’s who Ah’m doomed to become…”

Due to having gone on her self-inflicted rant, Applejack’s heightened wolf senses failed to notice the minotaur who had been spying on her from the roof of the barn. The one with the gaping jaw as its brain tried to comprehend what it had just seen.

But there was no denying it. Applejack had changed before his eyes, of her own volition, into some kind of wolf-pony hybrid. A werewolf if there ever was one. Lightning Dust had been right, Applejack now presented a real threat to all of Ponyville, if not Equestria itself.

At the same time, Iron Will was conflicted with what to do. His initial mission was to bag a werewolf to please his parents and marry the Minotaur princess, now with the added duty of helping protect Equestria by removing this threat to its safety.

However, Applejack had just admitted she really didn’t want to be a monster, this werewolf she’d become and burdened all those who knew her best with its secrecy, and Lightning Dust had made him promise not to severely harm her. Not to mention the fact Applejack had close ties with the princesses, who also probably knew she’d been a werewolf too, and so capturing her for his own personal glory and advancement would not only kill his motivational speaking career in the land of ponies, but almost certainly send Equestria and the Minotaur Kingdom into war all over a dispute about capturing a werewolf.

What am I gonna do? Helplessly thought Iron Will. Deciding Applejack was at least not going to leave the town anytime soon, he decided to just head back to the hotel. He could think about his choice overnight, but he knew it would not be an easy one no matter which way he went.

The train hadn’t even come to a full stop when Lyra and Sandalwood lept from the coach and raced down the streets to Golden Oaks. They had left their things at the Crystal Empire to be sent by Royal Chariots later, but now time was of the essence.

Spike barely had any time to open the door before Sandalwood nearly headbutted it open, Lyra in tow.

“Twilight! Where are the others?!” gasped Lyra, skidding to a halt and trying to fill her depleted lungs with air.

The lavender unicorn was still recovering from having two ponies burst their way into her domain. “Uh, they’re probably still at their homes, why?”

“Because…” started Sandalwood, “...because Applejack may be in great danger!”

“From what?” replied Twilight, now concerned about the news these two hadn’t sent by dragonfire mail, “or whom? Sable Loam?”

If Lyra and Sandalwood’s faces hadn’t been horrified before, now they were. “Sable Loam is alive?!”

“Yeah, don’t you…oh, right, you weren’t here. Well, while you two were gone-“

“NO TIME!” screamed Sandalwood, having rushed over and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders, “If Sable Loam is still alive, then Applejack is in even more danger than we thought five seconds ago!”

“But how?”

“Remember how in that story about AJ’s parents that they went into the forest for some reason before they died, and that reason was never found? Well, Lyra and I think we found it, and if that menace is still kicking ,then Applejack may fall victim to the same fate, if not worse!”

Ch.21: Dark Purpose

Chapter 21: “Dark Purpose”

It was pretty late at night when the Mane Six, Lyra, Sandalwood, and the rest of the Apples had found themselves once again inside Golden Oaks Library to discuss Applejack’s lycanthropy. Except this time it was Lyra and Sandalwood who had to do some explaining after Twilight retold the story of how Cadence kept failing to send letters via dragon magic.

“So, let’s just start this off by saying that Sombra was a completely twisted and sick individual” cried Sandalwood, “and that he really didn’t know what the hell he was doing when he created werewolves.”

“Well, don’t that bode well for me,” sarcastically commented Applejack, resident werewolf representative.

“It gets worse, sugarcube,” replied Lyra, unwittingly using Applejack’s own endearing term to refer to the farm pony, “from what we could learn up at the Crystal Empire, all ponies who contracted lycanthropy from the first generation of werewolves, the ones actually turned into the monsters by Sombra himself, would eventually degrade both physically and mentally until they incurred a one-way transformation to become full wolves, having no memory or giving off any signs they had been ponies before up until their deaths, in which case they reverted to their original forms.”

Rainbow Dash, already having squicky reactions to that fact, noted Applejack’s legs were beginning to jitter. She was scared, and Rainbow couldn’t blame her. To comfort AJ, Dash unfurled one of her wings to wrap it around the poor werewolf, an action AJ appreciated with a glance and a small smile before both earth and pegasus ponies focused on the speaking mares.

“We did find there to be one exception to this rule, however” Sandalwood noted, slightly perking up Applejack, “in extremely rare cases, a specific blood mutation on the pony-“

“You mean a blood quantum?” corrected Twilight.

Sandalwood just gave Twilight a look before continuing; “Er, yes, a ‘blood quantum’ as Twilight so helpfully points out. Anyway, in the event the victim pony has the trait in question, they will not eventually turn into a full wolf, but will instead remain as a werewolf who also has immortality.”

“Wait” interjected Applejack, “so what yer sayin’ is that Ah’m either gonna end up becomin’ somethin’ no better than a timberwolf with flesh, or ah’m gonna effectively be a dog version of an alicorn? As much as ah want to remain as mahself, who wants to live forever?”

“I’m afraid that’s what it is, Applejack,” Lyra stated. “Sombra never seemed to bother finding a way to revert the curse he created, so unless there’s some kind of catch-all cure that can cure any kind of long-lasting spell, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

“What about Zecora?” piped up Apple Bloom. “She knows all kinds of potions and cures for just about anythin’. It would be worth a shot askin’ her tomorrow, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess we don’t have much of a choice, do we?” said Rarity.

“Well, there is one other thing that may or may not be in play” added Sandalwood, “if this Sable Loam is still around, then he may already have some kind of control over you.”

“Control over me?! Like what?” exclaimed Applejack.

“Well, also in Sombra’s notes, he gave Sable a special power no other werewolf had due to his insistence on being the leader of the werewolf soldiers at Sombra’s employ. It was sort of vague, but from what I could make out it’s that Sable can magically amplify a howl such that it calls all werewolves he’s turned into followers to rally at his side, regardless of where he is. Since we have to believe he’s the same werewolf that turned you Applejack, you may not be able to resist such a howl.”

“Yeah, right! Like Ah’m gonna unwillingly-“

As if timed perfectly for some cosmic punchline, a vicious howl could be heard echoing across miles of the land, especially Ponyville. It shook all ponies down to their cores, as some immensely evil creature wished for its presence to be known. For Applejack, she’d reared up and clutched her ears, inadvertently knocking off her hat in trying to not hear the sound. But to her, it was like a siren’s song, and as her eyes glazed over she almost mechanically turned and headed for the door.
With surprising speed, Big Mac moved to intercept and block her way. However, he couldn’t keep up with his sister’s werewolf agility and she deftly leaped over him and out the door before he could compensate.

Resting inside the cave, just a short distance away from Winsome Falls, Sable smiled. He knew Applejack had heard her master’s call and was on her way. Maybe later he could convert the rest of her friends, having the whole set of elements to turn against the princesses was oh so tempting. But he had to secure the original one first.

As it was, it would still take her a while to get to his location, safely away from the rest of Ponyville. With his plans so close to fruition and no possible way they could backfire, he allowed himself the rare luxury of drifting thoughts. Those thoughts ended up becoming memories, the ones of when he had met the mare he’d loved for so long, and who had set him down this path.

Baltimare, 250 years ago

It disgusted Sable Loam that he should have to burglarize other ponies homes just to survive. The actual stealing part he didn’t have a problem with, he being of the opinion that those who have the strength should take what they please, regardless of true ownership. No, the problem was that he had to stoop as low as a petty thief simply to survive. A werewolf such as he should not need to resort to that kind of action to feed himself. Yet, he’d been having extreme trouble finding enough game in the wild to keep him fed, so here he was in some pony family’s cottage, ruffling through the kitchen and trying to figure out what was edible. He’d been rather sloppy, as he’d bypassed breaking the front door window to disengage the lock in favor of just leaping through said window. It would take more than just a few glass cuts to harm him.

He suddenly detected the presence of another and snapped his head around, a carrot stuck in his mouth between being removed from the fridge and placed into a pillowcase he’d stolen to be used as a bag.

Staring at him was an earth pony mare. Grass green coat, soft yellow and sky blue mane and tail, and pink eyes, all encapsulated in the creature who stood before the monster. Sable theorized she was a resident of this house, but her actions weren’t adding up. This was the first time he’d been caught in years when he had to forage civilization for food, but in previous raids his discovery was met with screams and cries for the Royal Guards who were stationed in whatever backwater village Sable was in at the time. Here, this pony just…stood there, taking in breaths at a controlled pace. There was fear in her eyes, to be sure, but he could tell there was more than the natural gut reaction of an evolved prey animal. There was wonder…curiosity even?

“W-who…are you?” cautiously asked the mare.

Sable was in shock, then in shock at the fact he was in shock. Here was this mare, looking right at what most ponies couldn’t bear to see, much less try to communicate with, and yet the moment she said those words she relaxed a little. Had he desired to, Sable could have killed her easily at that moment, but this unusual pony interested him, and so he decided to entertain the question.

“I…I am Sable Loam, last of the werewolves. You are the first pony in a long, long time to approach me as a fellow intelligent being, the rest simply scream and scatter. Tell me; are you not scared of my form, not bothered by the fact I am stealing your food right in front of you?”

“Not really” replied the mare, coolly, “you’re clearly also a pony of some kind, so you have to be able to talk, and there’s nothing I can do to stop you from raiding the food stores so why should I care?”

“But you did not answer my first question,” intoned Sable, dropping the carrot and rushing up to the mare, holding up one of his claws to her throat. “I could kill you in an instant, not even giving you time to scream. Why does that not bother you? Why are you not scared of me?”

Her eyes hadn’t changed beyond refocusing on him as she said, “If you must know, I find you interesting. I mean, you’re a living legend. It must be exciting to live like you; not tied down to any social norms, the ability to go and do as you please whenever you want to…it sure sounds better than the boring life of a housewife that I am stuck with.”

“Then if it does not scare you that I could be the bringer of death, then how about I make you my personal slave? Every night filled with your screams as I ravish you over and over until I am satisfied, with no hope of ever returning to this safe haven or anypony that you know, forced into serving me for the rest of your life?”

“You think I care about living with ‘safe’ being important?” retorted the mare, letting out a haughty laugh. “Oh, please, how can one enjoy life if all they do is avoid risk and danger? To be stuck in the same place, seeing the same things, doing the same tasks over and over…”

At that, Sable backed off while raising an eyebrow. He’d already planned on letting this pony go after he managed to get her to admit how scared she was, but much to his surprise she hadn’t faltered, going so far as to imply she was jealous of his life. She was of a strong, independent character who seemed to embody everything he’d possibly have wanted in a companion. A mate.

Then he decided to change his own way of life. For almost 800 years he’d been a lone wolf, only relying on himself and nopony else. But this…this hidden treasure of a mare, he felt something towards. Maybe it was that ‘love’ all those hopeless romantics had gone on about since the beginning of time, but whatever it was he was not going to let this mare go.

“What is your name?” asked Sable.

She answered without hesitation: “Fair Vista.” As she said it, she turned slightly, giving him a glimpse at her cutie mark. It was of a sun peeking over a horizon.

“Alright, Fair Vista, what if I was to tell you I could offer you a new life?” She did not verbally reply, but her eyes widening at the mere suggestion confirmed what he’d suspected, prompting him to continue. “As you seem so…uncaring about this life you currently lead,” he continued, “and hold mine in such high regard, what would you say to throwing it all away and becoming my companion…my mate?”

“It sounds dangerous and not in the least bit safe…what’s the catch?” She was probably going to agree to this no matter what the conditions were, which Sable liked.

“As I told you, I am a werewolf, so if you are to have any hope of keeping up with me in any capacity, and I mean any, I will have to turn you into a-“

He didn’t even get the chance to finish before she somehow tried to position her neck right in front of his mouth.

“The stories about you werewolves say you can transform ponies into your own kind with bites to the neck, right? Then go ahead and do it! I want to go with you, to actually live life and not be stuck in this stupid town. Hell, even the prospect of not being fully pony anymore sounds good to me, anything to start over!”

Grinning, Sable obliged Vista. As his fangs were driven into her throat, she of course screamed from the pain, blood cascading from the punctures down into Sable’s mouth and then the floor. He let go after a few minutes, a sizable pool of blood having formed on the ground, next to it now laying the twitching form of Fair Vista.

Then, to both his and her surprise, the twitching quickly turned into thrashing and convulsions as Vista started to change. The bite wounds on her neck instantly vanished as she bit down on her lip to resist the screams. Her entire body felt like it was stuck in a raging fire, but after a few minutes, the new werewolf stood up on shaky legs. She surveyed herself, seemingly pleased with the results, then dashing over to Sable and planting her lips on his, surprising him once again.

When Fair Vista’s husband and daughter returned home that night after a day selling at the market, they found a broken home. The front door was shattered, the front window having been smashed and then the whole thing broken off its hinges. The interior was an even bigger disaster. The kitchen was a complete loss, with all the food having been stolen, but the heart-shattering detail being the large pool of blood on the floor. More of the blood could be seen smeared all over the rest of the house, over furniture and the expensive pictures of the family. The inquiry by the investigating Royal Guard determined something from the neighboring Everfree Forest had broken into the house in search of food, and then after being seen by Fair Vista had viciously attacked her, destroying the interior of the house and letting her bleed to death, before finally taking her corpse as even more food back into the forest.

In reality, Fair Vista had assisted Sable Loam in destroying her former house, taking pleasure in casting away the chains of her former, ordered life. They busted the door together, bag of stolen food in tow, as they raced off into the Everfree. She may have belonged to Sable Loam now, both in mind and soul, but now as a werewolf herself she could always live life as she desired, always seeking something new and exciting without the constraints of society or morality. She would be Sable’s faithful companion for over 200 years following, without having ever left a clue to her grieving family as to her chosen fate.

Sable smiled as he recollected possibly the best decades of his eternal life. True, they had been ended relatively recently in comparison, but that was all about to change. The glory days were going to be here again.

“Oh, this is bad, so very, very bad!” wailed Fluttershy.

While Fluttershy was the speaker, she voiced the concerns of everypony in Golden Oaks.

Big Mac was especially disturbed. Repressed memories flooded back of his father having the same glazed look in his eyes that the red stallion had seen in his sister’s eyes just a moment ago. He also vaguely remembered hearing that same howl the night everything had changed for the Apple Family.

“What happened to her?” asked Apple Bloom. “She’s not herself…Ah mean, she forgot her hat!” The youngest Apple gestured towards the abandoned Stetson, which nopony had noticed after it had been dislodged in Applejack’s flight. “She always wears that hat, since for as long as Ah can remember!”

“Where did she get that hat, anyway?” inquired Rarity. “I’ve always admired the craftsmanship and durability it’s demonstrated and not once during my visit to the finest hat shops in Canterlot have I ever seen a headpiece quite like it.”

“It was Appleseed’s hat,” said Granny, “Ah got it for him when he was just about Applebloom’s age.” She sighed, memories of a happier time coming back to her. “It’s been so long Ah can’t remember where Ah got it from, but he never asked for that info. He loved that hat, it was like a faithful companion comparable to a dog. We’d thought it was lost in the great blizzard ten years ago, the one he and Cornflower went into, but it must have chosen Applejack as she gave me quite the heart attack when she suddenly started wearing it. She said she’d found it resting on its usual peg on the headrest. But now that she’s forgotten it due to werewolf business, the same reason Appleseed left it behind, Ah fear we may lose mah granddaughter to that monster out there just as Ah lost mah son and daughter-in-law.”

“Hold on!” exclaimed Twilight, “are you saying she’s worn that hat every day for almost a decade straight?”

“Yeah, she loves that old thing, it’s the only connection to her father she really has.”

“Then we still have a chance to save her!” declared the unicorn, grasping the heirloom in her telekinesis. “I know a spell that can track down anypony regardless of location, but it requires something belonging to the pony in question that bears their essence in a sufficient strength to be useable. If Applejack has has worn this hat for a full decade, then it should be filled with her essence!”

Her horn flared with magic energy, before lashing out at the hat. The magic seemed to be absorbed by the inanimate object, before being blasted out of it and towards the maps section of the library. From there, a single rolled up map of the immediate area around Ponyville emerged, moving in front of Twilight before unfurling. On the map were two blinking magic dots; one purple and one orange. The purple one sat in the middle of Ponyville, while the orange dot was moving slowly across the map away from Ponyville.

Rainbow quickly realized where AJ was going. “Uh-oh, she’s going straight for-“

She was interrupted by Pinkie suddenly launching from a standstill towards a bookshelf like a missile. Since the start of the meeting, she’d more or less looked like she suspected somepony was listening in to the conversation. Everypony figured it was Pinkie just being Pinkie, a reasoning that everypony dropped when Pinkie opened up a secret compartment concealed behind some old encyclopedias and from a space no larger than a small cupboard she pulled out Iron Will in his entirety.

“How…what…who…” sputtered the stunned Minotaur, unable to figure out how he’d gone from stalking the exterior of the tree library to being pulled from a space smaller than the total surface area of his rock-hard abs.

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!” Pinkie screamed into his face, not giving Iron Will the chance to regain composure, “WHY WERE YOU SPYING ON US?!”

Normally, Iron Will would have asserted his superiority to the upstart pony through one of many methods that he made a living giving lectures about. However, he remembered this particular pony from his last trip, the one that gave him the idea for the “No means No” circuit of speeches. Not only had she done things in front of him that defied all sense of logic or reasoning, but during this specific visit he’d heard that this pony had invented a way to weaponize parties, the so called “Party Cannon”. Iron Will couldn’t even fathom how a pony could fit a social gathering into a portable version of castle defense technology. And then the rumors of this pony’s dark side where she turned a different, more murderous kind of psychopathic compared to her normal psychopathy and also involved turning individuals into cupcakes somehow. So, as a result, he feared this pony, and he was not about to give her an excuse to turn him into a cupcake.

“Okay, okay, Iron Will knows all of it! He knows your friend Applejack is a werewolf and you’ve been helping hide her secret!”

“And how long have you known this!?” accused Rainbow, dashing right up into the minotaur’s face.

“Yeah, and what were you planning to do to her, you ruffian?!” added Rarity, having taken up a book titled Magical Compendium, Vol. 1-36 that looked far larger than any book should have been. Twilight looked similarly angered, not happy at all that the individual she’d help get any kind of clue towards hunting werewolves was now possibly aiming to turn her best friend into a rug.

“Now hold on!” boomed Iron Will, deciding to go for broke and asserting himself. The fact everypony else in the room, including the pink nightmare, took a step back, meant he’d succeeded. “Look, Iron Will is here to hunt werewolves, and unfortunately it seems your friend has become the very thing Iron Will is hunting, but he doesn’t want to kill her.
“Just so you know, Iron Will was only told about Applejack’s lycanthropy earlier today, and the threat she posed to the town due to her lack of control over her, erm, ‘powers’ so to speak.”

“Lightning Dust…” seethed Rainbow Dash. There would be talking between her and LD later, once this whole business here was settled first.

“Hey, look,” argued Iron Will, “she only told Iron Will her concerns because she doesn’t want the town to suffer from a hidden threat that you can’t say was fully under control.”

“Riiiight” sarcastically agreed Rainbow.

“Um, girls?” spoke Fluttershy timidly, usually not put in the position as the voice of reason, “shouldn’t we be more concerned about Applejack right now?”

“Oh, shoot, you’re right!” realized Rainbow, turning mid-air to face the assembled ponies. “The map indicated she’s heading towards the direction of Winsome Falls, at the rate the dot on the map seems to be indicating she’ll be at a clearing we used as a campsite during our hike there in about thirty minutes!”

“But that’s a full day’s hike, there’s no way we’ll be able to catch up with her in time, that brute Sable might have made off with her then and even knowing her location will not mean we can save her!” cried Rarity.

“Not so, Rarity! Lyra shouted in triumph. “The car Sandalwood and I built can make that distance in only a couple of minutes, the only problem is that we can’t take everybody as excluding Dash because she’s a fast flyer, there’s ten of us who need to get a ride including Spike, and the car only has room for five ponies!”

“Ahem?” interrupted Iron Will. “As much as Iron Will knows this is awkward, he would like to come along with you ponies, as even though the exact details will need to be told to him later on, especially who this ‘Sable’ pony is, if you need to restrain a werewolf Iron Will is probably going to be able to do it much better than any of you.”

“Okay, eleven individuals who need to ride in a five seat car,” corrected Sandalwood. “Some of us are going to need to stay behind, and although you probably would be a good bet to take along , Iron Will, I’m not sure the car can handle your weight in addition to five other ponies.”

“What about mah own car?” suggested Apple Bloom. “Yeah, yeah, Ah know if Ah hadn’t had the help of mah friends and built it then wrecked it in the Everfree none of this woulda happened, but we can’t argue about that now. Ah’m sure it would be easy to fix with all of us, and it could allow at least Iron Will to come along since it’s built off of a super-strong cart.”

“Well, we don’t have much of a choice, now do we?” reasoned Twilight. “Big Mac, is Apple Bloom’s car still at the apple farm barn where I put it?”

“Nopony that Ah know of has touched it” replied Big Mac.

“Then come on, everypony, we don’t have a second to waste!” ordered Twilight, motioning for everypony to head out the door. “Lyra, Sandalwood; you two go get your car and meet us at the farm. Iron Will, you come with the rest of us to the farm. We’re going to need your strength.”

“Iron Will’s strength is yours!” answered the minotaur, as the herd moved out to try and fix up the machines they’d need to save their friend. Along the way, Big Mac picked up Applejack’s Stetson and placed it on his own head, he figured it would help later on in keeping Applejack sane if she had something tying her down to her family roots.

When Applejack finally came to her senses, she found herself sliding to a halt in a familiar location. Even though she’d been here only once, she instantly recognized it as the first campsite she, RD, and Rarity had taken the CMC camping on their trip to Winsome Falls.

“But how did Ah…?” asked the werewolf to nopony in particular. The last time she’d done something without any memory was when she’d somehow walked from Golden Oaks all the way to The Meatery and didn’t come to her senses until half a meat burger had gone into her gullet. Although now she was practically eating two meat patties a day, the feelings she’d had at that moment still gave her the shivers, and only reminded her of how far gone she’d ended up in her current state.

Which, on that subject, she noted placed her currently in her wolf form, when she clearly remembered being a regular pony back at the library. That meant there was a worryingly long period of time where she was in her more vicious, feral form and not in control at all. She could only pray nopony had crossed her path and been maimed or killed by her own hooves…paws…whatever they were. Her father’s hat was also missing from her head, but she vaguely remembered seeing it fall of her head back at the library, so it was in Twilight’s possession at the very least.

The question remained, however, of what had caused her to run all the way to this spot, a distance of a day in a normal hike but something she’d covered in just under an hour’s solid running. The answer soon presented itself.

“Ah, there you are, my sweet…” spoke a deep, slightly gravelly voice from behind Applejack. She stiffened, her fur momentarily standing on-end. She had never seen the creature behind her beyond a single encounter months ago, but the feeling she had now was the exact same as of when he had sunk his teeth into her throat. She then turned to look at the other presence, eyes narrowed with a slight golden glow. He may have been a terrifying werewolf, but she was one now as well, a fact she kept in mind as she spoke to him directly:

“Ah don’t know what you want with me, but after all you’ve put me through, if you expect me to be easy to wrangle, then you had better be ready for a ride!”

Author's Note

Apologies for the late update, I spent most of the day yesterday traveling to a relative's house for a family reunion and I was dead tired when I finally arrived at some point after midnight that I didn't get my laptop unpacked until this morning.

Still, happy 4th of July!

Ch.22: Red Paw

Chapter 22 “Red Paw”

Twilight appeared in a puff of magic smoke outside the one lit barn on the farm.

Inside the barn, the rest of the impromptu “Werewolf Rescue Squad” were operating as if they were a pit stop team going for the world record of making car modifications. On one side of the barn, Lyra and Sandalwood were busy tuning their car to what they thought would be the best settings for off-roading, as the trail to Winsome Falls wasn’t as nice as those in Ponyville proper.

On the other side, it was like a complete overhaul project was being done in five minutes. While Iron Will acted as a jack, holding up one end of the car, Big Mac and Rainbow Dash were removing the broken axle and putting in an improvised new one. Rarity was off to the side, trying to make what appeared to be a cramped passenger area be a bit more comfortable. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Spike, Granny, and Apple Bloom were against one wall, ready to help with either project when needed but otherwise trying to stay out of the way.

“Did ya find the book you were lookin’ fer?” asked Granny.

“Yeah” replied the unicorn, “I can’t believe I forgot I had this book!” In her telekinesis was the copy of Magical and Maniacal Monsters of Malicious Mayhem which she’d received around the time Applejack had started exhibiting the signs of her coming lycanthropy, but it had been put aside and only now would its contents possibly provide insight into the situation at hand.

“That’s great, darling,” said Rarity, now standing atop the somewhat fixed car with its new axle, “but do you think you could lend me a hoof and use some of your transfiguration magic to spruce this thing up a bit?”

“How, Rarity? I’m not a mechanic.”

“Oh, I don’t know, do that spell you used on that apple for the carriage we used to go to the Grand Galloping Gala I guess.”

“Worth a shot, I suppose.”

“Wait, the Grand whatsit wha?” asked Iron Will, confused. As the upper class were more or less already pretentious assholes who threw money around when they needed to be assertive, they didn’t pay much attention to the minotaur who went around teaching the lower classes to be that way. Thus, Iron Will’s status among the elite ponies was non-existent and he knew nothing of their greatest gatherings.

“Don’t worry about it,” replied Twilight, levitating an apple from a nearby collection barrel and placing it on the ramshackle car. Everypony backed away as Twilight charged her magic and released it at the apple. The result was…unexpected. Generally, what everypony had expected was just a carriage top made in the shape of an apple but mounted on top of the old cart chassis. Instead, an entirely new vehicle stood where the old one had. It was similar to the other car in styling, namely headlights and presumable location of the engine, but that’s where the similarities stopped. Whereas the car Lyra and Sandalwood had built had its cabin open to the air, this new vehicle had a frame around its cabin in the shape of an apple, with space inside for three ponies. In the back was an open-air bed, with room for maybe three more ponies, or one pony and one minotaur.

“Wow!” exclaimed Apple Bloom excitedly, “that looks so much better than what Ah built with Scoots and Sweetie!”

“What is it?” asked Big Mac. The last time he’d seen anything like the machine before him, the other car in the barn notwithstanding, was the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, but whereas that machine had looked somewhat threatening, this new contraption did not.

“It’s a truck!” shouted Lyra, almost in awe of it. Everypony else agreed to not ask Lyra why she decided to dub it a “truck” as it probably involved humans.

“Well, I guess you get to drive the car, Lyra, because I’m going to have to take that truck out for a spin,” grinned Sandalwood.

“Okay, we don’t have much time!” interrupted Twilight, leaping into the back of the truck. “Lyra, you’ll drive the car and take Pinkie, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and Fluttershy. Sandalwood, you’ll take the truck with Rarity, Big Mac, and Iron Will you’ll ride in the back with me since you can’t fit in the cabin. Rainbow Dash, you’ll fly from above since you’re the fastest flyer.”

“What about me?” asked Spike, everypony else going to their assigned vehicles. His answer was him suddenly lifting off the ground and being deposited in the truck bed next to Twilight.

“Okay, we ready to go?” shouted Lyra, putting on her driving goggles and revving the engine. Sandalwood did the same. Everypony was in consensus that it was now or never. “Alright, then, let’s go save Applejack!”

The two vehicles roared to life, shooting out of the barn with Rainbow Dash taking point, leading the odd convoy onto the path that led to winsome falls. Twilight bucked down in the back and cracked open her book, now was the time to do research that, if the fates were willing, would yield Applejack’s salvation.

Sable laughed. “Oh, please, I’ve been around for centuries, this isn’t, to put it in your terms, ‘my first rodeo,’ so to speak.”

“No…Ah didn’t think so, you’ve probably tortured many innocent ponies ‘cause of reasons that only make sense inside your head, includin’ both of mah parents and mahself!” accused Applejack.

“Your parents? Oh, those two. In all honesty I had nothing to do with them becoming werewolves, not directly anyway, but it is because of those two that I’ve acted the way that I have for the past decade.”

“What, turnin’ me into the same kinda monster as you just to get revenge on a pair of well-meanin’ ponies who never did you harm?”

“I hadn’t actually thought about it that way, though I suppose it could be considered revenge against them. After all, they never were proper werewolves to begin with despite being converted. But no, really I only decided to pass my gifts on to you at the last second. Frankly, you should be more thankful that somepony such as I saw fit to save you from the drudgery of civilization.”

“But if Ah wasn’t meant to be the one you made into a monster, then why did you do it to me? And who were you originally going to put this curse upon?”

Sable sighed. “If you’re going to be so insistent, you might as well know I originally planned to convert that stupid unicorn friend of yours, that boorish Twilight Sparkle.”

Applejack gasped, “B-but why her? What did she do to you to make you want to harm her such as you’ve done to me?”

“Nothing, really, at least nothing she’s directly done. However, she unfortunately happens to be the favored student of that intolerable Princess Celestia you ponies worship like a goddess. She never had the right to take the throne, or to split it with her worthless sister, so she deserves having her favored pupil taken from her. But, after what she took from me ten years ago…taking her pupil is only the start of what I intend to do in revenge against that bitch.”

Ten years ago? Thought Applejack, that’s when Celestia said she killed this…pony…with her magic, even to the point of vaporizing him. But how can he be standing here, unless she didn’t kill him?

Oblivious to the confusion on Applejack’s face, Sable continued. “I’m sure I’ll inform you about the actual reasoning later, but right now you just need to know that with your status as a fellow werewolf, you make the start of the next great age of Equestria.” He evilly smiled as he said that.

“And how exactly am Ah gonna do that?” suspiciously asked applejack, getting ready to make her choice of fight or flight namely out of fear of what he was going to say.

“Why? Because of the reason I turned you into a werewolf instead of Sparkle. You’re by far the best canidate out of the six Elements with your strength and endurance, which will surely be tested sooner or later, and will make a far better mate for me and the next generation of werewolves!”

The horror spread across AJ’s face like wildfire. She’d expected him to just say something like “the first minion of my new army” or something. She wasn’t expecting him to have done this to her simply so she’d be the one giving birth to his new army. “No…NO!” she screamed, turning tail and dashing back the way she came as fast as she could. She wasn’t going to let that old monster take her for his own, away from her family, her friends, everything that mattered to her. Simply being a werewolf was bad enough, but to be the enslaved concubine to that…thing…was beyond unacceptable.

A smirk came to Sable’s face as he watched his future mate run off. He gave her a few seconds before taking off to give chase himself. It was always more entertaining when his prey ran, and he’d never had to hunt another werewolf, so he expected this to be especially fun as it was something unique even to a thousand-year old individual such as himself.

“Ah! Slow down! These turns are slamming me all over the place and ruining my mane!” whined Rarity.

In normal circumstances, the Element of Generosity would have (and had) gone to extreme lengths to protect her friends, and this was no exception as Applejack’s life was potentially on the line. That being said, she would have preferred a much more comfortable ride to the whole “life-saving” part of the journey at hand. Currently, she was the unfortunate one who got the middle seat in the truck cabin, crammed in-between Big Mac and Sandalwood. Stuck between the big, red immoveable object of a stallion, and the naturally tough earth pony mare, Rarity was wedged into a spot she really shouldn’t have been able to fit in. Worse, the trail was full of twists and turns she didn’t remember “hiking” (if getting pushed by Sweetie Belle in a cart counted as that) that Sandalwood kept taking at high speed to keep up with Lyra’s car, the momentum pushing Rarity into either one of the two earth ponies next to her.

“Rarity, I love you as a friend, but for Celestia’s sake can you stop whining?” said Sandalwood, pushing back against Rarity as to have enough room to merely steer the wheel. Big Mac found the situation made worse by Rarity’s whining as well, but as usual he just stuck with it wordlessly.

In the back, Twilight and Spike (who were being held in comfortably by one of Iron Will’s beefy arms while he used the other to keep a steady grip on the truck cabin) were furiously paging through Magical and Maniacal Monsters of Malicious Mayhem to try and find anything of worth inside it. Unfortunately for Twilight, the book was everything she’d hoped for; a database loaded to bear with information about all kinds of creatures. Changelings, Hydras, Jestas, Zakus, every creature imaginable…except werewolves. It was extremely hard for Twilight to resist stopping just to read a paragraph or two.

“C’mon Twi, we gotta keep going!” insisted Spike.

“I’m trying, Spike, but there’s so much interesting stuff here that-“

“LOOK OUT!” cried out Pinkie, suddenly. Reacting fast, both Lyra and Sandalwood immediately slammed the brakes on the vehicles and slid to a stop. However, they did it in opposite directions such that the headlights now illuminated a fifty foot stretch of the path.

No sooner had they stopped then two figures shot out of the dark forest and into the light, time seemingly coming to a dead stop the moment both were in the glow of electric light. The first one was Applejack in her altered beast form, her face etched with horror and fear. The second, chasing figure was more distorted, looking far more like a hairy wolf but still enough like a pony for it to be identified as a werewolf. Its face screamed of almost feral pleasure and lust, as if it was enjoying the chase to levels no sane individual could. But the most telling element of the second figure was the remnants of what could only have been a cutie mark. Highlighted by the headlights, the red splotches on both of the figure’s flanks were seen by the occupants of the two vehicles on either side, forming the vague shape of a red pawprint. There was no question that the second figure was not only a werewolf, but it was none other than the infamous Sable Loam himself, his presence striking fear into the souls of all those assembled.

Then, just as time seemed to stop, it resumed, and both Applejack and Sable had shot off into the night, possibly not even having noticed the two vehicles flanking them.

“Who was that?!” asked Iron Will, confused at the presence of a second werewolf nopony seemed to have ever mentioned in his presence before.

“That…that was Sable Loam!” whimpered Fluttershy, recovering from seeing what could happen to Applejack if she gave into her bestial urges of mindless violence as a werewolf.

“Hey, wait a sec…” started Rainbow Dash, “was it just me, or did Sable look suspiciously exactly like-“

“-The creature that bit Applejack!” finished everypony else, the answer to that eternal question finally answered.

“Will somepony please tell Iron Will who this Sable Loam is?!” demanded Iron Will, getting a little impatient.

Rainbow swooped in front of the minotaur. “Okay, short version: he’s a traitor to the Equestrian crown, had King Sombra turn him and a bunch of his buddies into werewolves except he’s also immortal, he’s probably the one who turned Applejack into a werewolf, and now we have to go stop him before he does whatever he’s going to do to our friend. Got it?”

“Uh…I think…?” answered IW.

“Good! Now, let’s go, there’s no telling where they’re headed now!”

Applejack ran. She ran harder than she ever had run before. Her instincts were going haywire, as they were wired for her being a werewolf predator, not the werewolf prey. She couldn’t even think clear thoughts, the most coherent one being don’t go into town! Indeed, with all the noise coming from behind her, she still couldn’t let the town know about her lycanthropy. She’d be shunned for the rest of her life and Sable would win then.

So she instead changed course and went to the Everfree, back to the routes she used to run when being a werewolf was still a good thing to her. She was certain that at some point she’d gone through the light of headlights, both from that car thing Lyra and Sandalwood and built, but also possibly the resurrected form of Apple Bloom’s car, the accursed machine that had started this whole ordeal. Whether or not the rest of her family and friends had been in those vehicles, she hadn’t noticed, but she hoped they would come to her rescue soon as she could still hear Sable behind her.

Into the Everfree she went, down the old running paths but also improvising and going in-between them at random. The only thing she really looked out for was Poison Joke patches, getting contaminated by that practical jokester of a plant would not be pleasant in this situation. Eventually, after running non-stop for almost forty five minutes, she couldn’t hear her pursuer anymore. She knew better, however, and while she slowed down to catch her breath, she kept an ear open to try and detect him coming towards her.

As she slowed to a slight walk, she noted she was in a part of the forest she’d never been in before. It was noticeably younger than the rest of the forest, the trees in this area were mostly less than ten years old. Having transplanted trees all her life, Applejack knew the young, natural trees and the giant ones that had to have been transplanted from elsewhere in the Everfree.

But why would there be such an odd mix of trees in this area? wondered Applejack, before she realized she was dead-center in a valley, circular to the point that it was like an upside down hill, or there had been a massive explosion here.

Then she saw it. Next to a tree, the tallest tree around (probably placed as to disguise the odd terraforming from a Pegasus flying above the Everfree for some reason), was a single tombstone. She approached it, noting that it looked like it was in poor condition, as if it was just left here to be worn away.

Upon closer inspection, the tombstone appeared to be made of limestone, probably bought cheaply as it looked like one good impact would destroy it. But an even closer inspection revealed a name had once been inscribed upon the face, but years of weather had worn it away to an indecipherable series of scratches.

“Her name was Fair Vista,” said Sable, coming up from behind Applejack. The orange werewolf immediately spun around, but both werewolves knew she wasn’t going to run. She was still breathing heavily from the exertion of having to run, an amazing thing considering her normal athletic ability and the boost from being a werewolf. Sable, on the other hand, looked like he hadn’t broken a sweat.

“Who, the last pony you turned into a werewolf? Did she die of natural causes, or because she eventually devolved into a full wolf, somethin’ Ah’m probably gonna end up becomin’?”

“No, when I turned her, and unlike you she was thankful for what I gave her, she too became immortal and the years we spent together were the happiest of my life.”

“Let me guess, she was your mate? What does that make me, your sad attempt at replacing her?”

“You should be honored that I even consider you worthy of being as good a candidate for filling her role, and you’ll do just fine as part of my revenge plan, since you are the Element of Honesty are you not?”

“Okay, just what in the hay did Celestia do that has you so pissed off?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Celestia murdered the only pony I ever cared about, right here on this spot, and by hell or highwater, I will avenge Fair Vista!”

Ch.23: How it's Done Down on the Farm

Chapter 23: “How it’s Done Down on the Farm”

“You liar!” snarled Applejack, “Princess Celestia wouldn’t murder anypony, even if they were pure evil like you! She didn’t murder King Sombra when she and Princess Luna sealed him away in the frozen north, and she didn’t murder Nightmare Moon when she banished her to the moon for a thousand years! She may not see fit to kill, but her punishments can be far worse than death!”

“As expected, you’re just as blind to your Princess’s true actions as the rest of her ‘loyal subjects’. There’s no question that Celestia is the reason my beloved was incinerated in a massive explosion that created the pit in which we now stand! She intended to kill me that night, as I’m sure her version of the story states, but let me tell you the real story of what happened ten years ago!”

“Really, Starlet? I don’t understand why you think those two are the ideal candidates for establishing a new pack. They’re simple farmers, they don’t yearn for the hunt like I do or to see the world like you,” asked Roneo.

“Oh, hon, trust me, because they’re farmers means they’ll know how to quickly set up a way to feed the rest the group, and nobody is going to miss them because they’re part of that bloody Apple Family. I swear they’re so common they make up like half of Equestria’s population,” Starlet muttered.

Starlet and Roneo, really the disguised alter-egos of Fair Vista and Sable Loam, were sitting at some pastry shop in the middle of some town they’d happened to come across while wandering the world. Using their disguise charms; Vista with an enchanted locket and Sable with a special piece of his old guard armor hidden in his satchel, they were able to freely integrate into this “Ponyville” society. At least as much as possible when one of the local hot-spots was a pastry shop decorated to look like a gingerbread house, the one the disguised werewolves were currently sitting at and eating an ice-cream cake filled with strawberry ice-cream. While Fair Vista had acclimated extremely well to the werewolf way of life, she never let go of her love for strawberry ice-cream and cake. While Sable truly disliked having to go anywhere near modern pony society, he was willing to tolerate short-term visits if it meant making Fair Vista happy.

But he was having serious doubts about her idea about converting the local farmers into the cornerstone of a new werewolf pack. Sure, they were strong, but Sable was concerned about their rather calm temperament. Ponies who didn’t have much anger capacity were never going to make good werewolf warriors; to Sable, being angry fueled part of the hunt. Then there was the other problem.

“Stary, don’t forget the problem with conversion; there are the very rare ponies who can become long-lived werewolves and retain who they are. The weak majority will succumb to lycanthropy and become useless, primal wolves.”

Starlet/Fair Vista laughed, “Oh, please, you said that process takes months. Plus, you found me, and I’m clearly not devolved into a lesser being, right?”

Sable had to admit, it was pure luck that the one mare he’d ever loved also happened to be one of the rare variety who retained her pony mindset and form. He’d love to have an army of werewolves who were immortal like them to take over Equestria. But were farmers really the answer to that wish?

“Honey, just let me handle this. Worst case; you’re right, the farmers are just as good as cattle and will be worthless to us in a few months and we have to start from scratch. At the very least we’ll have learned from our mistakes and can try again. We’re immortal, we’ve got nothing but time.”

“Have I ever told you how glad I am that the mare who joined me for all these decades is also the smartest mare I’ve ever known?” said Sable, leaning in to kiss his love.

A few days later, after nights of stalking the place for the right moment, Fair Vista moved in. She’d caught her targets: a local farming couple by the names of Appleseed and Cornflower, and had made quite a bloody mess of them, but had at least left them alive for the emergency response ponies to deal with. Most importantly, she’d sunk her fangs into their necks pretty deep, so there was no question they had contracted lycanthropy.

A mile away, Sable and Fair Vista were in the middle of “celebrating” the start of their long-term plans when Sable caught sight of a large flash of light. To his horror, he recognized that light despite only having seen it last almost a thousand years ago, when Celestia had called him out for being a would-be usurper.

“Sable?” asked Fair Vista, realizing something was wrong, “what’s that light?”

“Run!” he shouted, turning and nudging Vista to get up. She did so quickly, her pupils shrinking at her lover being in fear. There was only one pony on the planet who he feared, and if she was close by….

The shouts of innumerable Royal Guards sounded out less than a mile away, charging into the forest without abandon. The werewolf couple turned tail and fled as fast as they could. The ground troops were nothing to worry about; after all, they could not match the speed of experienced werewolves. The Pegasus guards, however, were the real concern. They could keep up with a werewolf with ease, and unless they were low-flying there was no way to attack them.

Deciding to split up, the two werewolves promised to meet up later and headed off in different directions. For a few hours this tactic went on, a cat-and-mouse game where the predators were now the prey, all around the forest next to Ponyville. Finally, to Sable’s relief, he could hear the order to retreat being given and all of the pursuing guard noises faded away.

“Man, the guard is nothing like it used to be when I was still in it, and even then it was bad. But at least Vista and I got away. Now to-“

He was silenced in his voiced thoughts by a sight he hoped to never have seen. There, hovering above the ground with her mighty wings beating in concert, was Princess Celestia herself. With an expression of extreme disgust, her horn was channeling unfathomable amounts of magic, and a gigantic ball of pure light was growing from its tip. Then, Sable realized the Princess wasn’t aiming at him, she probably didn’t even know he was here.

“Vista!” he cried out as he moved towards where the Princess seemed to be aiming. But the Princess, oblivious to her true target’s location, had found a werewolf near the scene of the crime and she was going to eradicate its cursed existence out of her kingdom. She swung her head back, and then forward sharply, sending the now-massive light ball crashing into the Everfree and right on top of who she thought was Sable Loam.

As the real Sable Loam rushed towards Fair Vista, he could only watch as the ball simply kept sinking into the ground as he raced towards it, a sudden surge of power rushing past him as it detonated, destroying a large area of the forest and knocking Sable back into a tree, knocking him out.

It was a bright, sunny day when he woke up; he was in his much-hated original form as a pony instead of his preferred wolf form. Shifting back to normal, he rushed to the center of the blast and hoping beyond hope Fair Vista was alive.

Sadly, all he found was a massive crater in the Earth. Everything that had been in it was simply disintegrated. No burned tree-trunks, no chared carcasses of dead animals, and no Fair Vista at all. In fact, all Sable found of his lover was her locket, which she must have somehow dropped right outside the radius of the crater and thus escaped destruction. But the mare herself had been wiped clean away. By the very same Princess who had set him down the path of becoming what he was now.

Sometime later, once Celestia’s terra-forming project had disguised the crater as a natural part of the Everfree, Sable worked up the nerve to return to the site and place a gravestone he’d bought in town. On its surface he used his own claws to carve Fair Vista’s name into the otherwise blank surface, and once done he swore vengeance for her, and everything Celestia had done wrong by him. Years later, he would learn that a pony named Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Celestia and the one who had restored the Elements of Harmony, was living in that same accursed town. He made it his mission to see a new pack created in Fair Vista’s name, with no acceptable outcome other than the death of Celestia and his ascension to ruler of all ponykind...which wouldn’t remain ponies for long.

“Wait, let me get this straight,” said Applejack,” Your whole plan was essentially to get revenge on the Princess by convertin' Twilight into a werewolf under your command, then use her to build up an army of werewolves to overthrow the Princess?”

“Basically, yes.”

“And you think nopony else has ever tried that before?”

“It would be common knowledge if such an attempt was made, wouldn’t it?”

Applejack just stared at her tormentor. Then, starting with a giggle, she suddenly burst out laughing.

“What?!” asked Sable, “What is so funny?!”

“For somepony who likes to hide in public, you sure aren’t up to speed with current events! Tell me; does the name ‘Queen Chrysalis’ mean anythin’ to ya?”

“Uh, no. Why?”

Applejack laughed harder, “Well, it should, since she pretty much did exactly what you wanted to do with her army of Changelings, and she almost succeeded too! You don’t have anythin’ compared to Chrysalis’s resources, yet you think all ya need to do is turn a bunch of ponies into werewolves and lead them in an all-out attack on Canterlot. Ah’m nothin’ more than a simple farmer, no fancy learnin’ an’ all that, and even Ah can tell your plan has more holes in it than one of Rarity’s teabags! You’re just the butt of one long joke, aren’t ya? Ah bet Sable Loam isn’t your real name, it’s actually Butt Stallion!”

Unfortunately for Applejack, her comment ended up striking a nerve deep in Sable’s subconsciousness that hadn’t been triggered in a long, long time.

“I will not be insulted in such a manner!” growled Sable, barring is razor-sharp teeth, “I was relegated to being a stupid scout back when I was in the guard, all because my commanders thought their silly little tactics and diversions were more honorable than being a true killer and facing the enemy head-on! Now I am centuries older, I’ve survived trials you cannot imagine and I will not have the one who will mother my new army think I’m dumber than an uneducated country hick!”

Applejack bared her fangs in return “Are you for real? After all this build-up Ah’ve been force-fed about how you’re supposed to be some kind of immortal nightmare, and now you’re takin’ offense at me sayin’ Ah’m smarter than you? Ah’ve suffered at your hooves…paws…whatever for this long, and you want to play that stupid game with me?”

“I will make you learn your place, bitch!” snarled Sable as he lept to subdue the unruly werewolf in front of him.

“Ah might be a bitch, but no way am Ah’m gonna be your bitch!” retorted Applejack, who in turn evaded and proceeded to launch her own barrage of attacks at Sable. It was a dog-eat-dog situation, where two werewolves had entered, but only one would leave.

Meanwhile, not too far from the crater…

“Yes, finally!” exclaimed Twilight, “I finally found it!”

“Found what?” Iron Will asked.

“The section on werewolves!”

“Oh, right.”

As Twilight read on, however, the smile on her face drooped into a frown as she started to figure out just what was going on with Applejack.

“Find anything useful yet?” called out Sandalwood from the driver’s seat.

“It’s not good!” answered Twilight, “due to the nature of what lycanthropy is, according to this book, Applejack’s only hope of ever being restored to her normal self is if she kills Sable Loam!”

“She has to what?!” exclaimed a horrified Rarity. “Applejack’s not a killer! I mean, sure, she eats meat by the bucketful lately, but she’d never willingly take another pony’s life…would she?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Normally she wouldn’t, but if she had given in to the point where she will kill…could Applejack truly return back to normal?”

Sable had to admit, he hadn’t been expecting the fight to be this challenging. It worried him, even, that although Applejack was still yet very inexperienced as a werewolf, she was already bobbing and weaving around his attacks like she’d done this for years. It made him wonder just what a rodeo actually was, if this mare had won awards in such things.

He was rewarded for his diverted attention with a claw swipe to the face, as Applejack lashed out.

“How do you like them apples?!” she shouted. Her response was receiving a sudden blow to the chest, followed by a long swipe at her side. Sable’s claws didn’t go deep, but they did leave some sizeable cuts that really hurt, even considering how they were already healing slowly.

“To be honest, I never liked apples,” Sable taunted as he launched into another attack. Applejack tried to block, all she got for her trouble was more wounds on her forelegs as swipe after swipe lay into her. Suddenly, Applejack spun in place, causing Sable to fly past her. She took the chance and moved in, clamping her jaws onto Sable’s hind leg. He screamed as the pain registered in his brain. He got her to let go after landing some more hits, but while it was the most serious wound of the fight so far, Applejack was shocked to see him seemingly just start walking it off.

“Oh, you’re gonna make a great mate once you finally realize you belong to me…” said Sable with a sinister tone.

“Not gonna happen!” replied Applejack.

“But it’s true! After all, your parents belonged to me after Fair Vista turned them into werewolves. How do you think they died?”

The mixed emotions played out over Applejack’s face. “No…you can’t know how mah parents died! Nopony does!”

“Oh get a grip on reality! That howl I used earlier to draw you to me? I used it that night to summon your parents to see if they were worth keeping around. Somehow, it sort of worked, but your mother was worthless and your father was already too far gone towards being a wolf, so I killed them.”

“You…you mean you’re the one who killed mah mom and dad?!”

“I’m surprised I’ve ended up having to explain that, but no worries. You’re far better stock than your parents, and I won’t be making the same mistakes.”

“Your mistake was thinkin’ Ah’d go along with you in bein’ a murderous werewolf!” cried Applejack as she launched into another fury of attacks, Sable doing the same.

Celestia had just sat down to enjoy a late evening cup of tea and to read some more into a new science fiction book Twilight had recommended before she went to bed. While the title, Razorblade Angel, was rather unusual, the content was excellent and Celestia was worried the book would end too quickly.

That’s when the letter appeared in a cloud of magic. Surprised to be getting a letter this late, Celestia opened it up and expected a friendship report. What she got caused both her coat, mane, and tail to instantly pale.

Thirty seconds later Luna found herself being escorted by guards to the royal armory, where she found Celestia putting on her battle armor for the first time in what must have been centuries.

“Sister, just what is the meaning of this?!” inquired the azure alicorn.

“He’s back, Luna, and Applejack is in serious danger!” replied the surprisingly frazzled sun princess as she magically attached a foreleg armor piece. She didn’t need to go into specifics for Luna to understand who “he” was.

“But Celly, what do you hope to accomplish by going out in full battle barding? You’re acting like you’re leading the assault against the Changelings for crying out loud!”

“That’s because I mean to end this tonight, Luna. I made a mistake over a thousand years ago when I didn’t just have Sable executed on the spot for treason, and it’s cost thousands of ponies their lives if not more. Unless I stop that monster now, he might make victims out of more than just one unfortunate mare. Sable Loam will die tonight, with his heart impaled by my horn if need be.”

“But what if he bites you, what if he tries to turn you into a werewolf? Equestria needs us to remain pure, just imagine the chaos that would erupt if you ended up as some kind of abomination?”

“That’s why the battle armor, sister. No bite can break these plates, not even the bite of a dragon. And don’t ask me how I know that.”

Luna was silent for a moment, watching Celestia continue to suit up. Then, she asked, “Should I go with you, and if so, will I need battle armor?”

“I’d greatly appreciate it, Luna,” replied Celestia. “We defeated Sombra together once, we can defeat his creations the same way. But I want you to stay in the air. I’m going to fight Sable on his own terms simply to ensure he dies, but air support is always welcome.”

“Then he shall find no safety under the moon tonight!” declared Luna, appropriately switching to the RCV.

Applejack felt herself get slammed into a tree, then collapse on the ground. She was spent; the running had taken a good deal of energy out of her, but while she’d done remarkably well in fighting off Sable, his superior endurance and skill eventually won out.

“Now that I’ve finally broken you, I guess it’s time to break you in… fully!” said Sable, very huskily. As he slowly moved over behind Applejack, she was scared that he was going to ravish her, and that this truly was the end of her life as a pony.

Or it would have been, had the roar of engine motors not started to echo out of the forest, followed by the car and the truck shooting out from atop the crater edge and almost flying down to meet the werewolves at the bottom.

“What in the hell are-“ started Sable, who was cut off with the sudden appearance of the pink, bushy-maned pony he’d seen earlier in Ponyville. She had a mischievous grin on her face, to which Sable then realized she somehow had brought a cannon into point-blank range against him. He had no time to react before the pink pony pushed a button on the weapon and blew the werewolf back a good little distance from a combination of confetti, glitter, deadhor5 dubstep, and raw force.
Wasting no time, Pinkie leaned over to help the wounded Applejack get up. “You okay, AJ?”

“Not…really…” groaned Applejack as she struggled to get back to her feet. Partly because she was exhausted, partly because she nearly got violated by an ancient horror. “Ah don’t think you’ll appreciate just how close y’all were cuttin’ it there for mah sake!”

Close by, the vehicles finally found places to stop, and unloaded their passengers. Sable, upon recovery, found that what had once been a one-on-one fight had now turned into a one-against-all situation. Along with Applejack, there were now nine additional ponies who looked like they were ready to do some serious damage (that worthless yellow Pegasus naturally was hiding in the background), a baby dragon, and a minotaur, all standing at the ready to defend their compatriot.

“Oh, look, you finally have some help. Too bad you actually need them and couldn’t do it on your own, huh? And here I thought you were the strongest one here, but I must have thought wrong,” taunted Sable.

“Ah don’t know what you’re trying to do, you monster, but Ah am so past the point of caring, nothin’ you say will make me betray mah friends and be your personal toy.”

“But you even have a bloody minotaur!” accused Sable, trying to hide how desperate he was to keep his plans going. He hadn’t known about the ponies having access to strange machines that practically eliminated his ability to outrun them normally, and the odds were stacked against him. “While I haven’t seen one in ages, the last time I tried to hunt a minotaur didn’t end well.”

“What, you got your sorry butt kicked?” said Iron Will.

“Oh, quite the contrary. I did get my prey, but you minotaurs taste nothing like the cattle you’re supposedly related to. And I wasted all that time trying to go after that queen, too, but obviously as I’ve not troubled the Minotaurs for some time it should be clear I learned my lesson from that.”

“Wait…so you’re the werewolf that killed the Minotaur Queen all that time ago?!” realized Iron Will.

“Yeah, and as I said it wasn’t worth it, so I don’t see the big-“

“YOU’RE THE REASON FOR ALL THIS!” Iron Will roared, loud enough to the point everypony else started to back away from him. Normally, Iron Will was actually quite approachable after getting past his showboating persona, but now things had gotten to a head. His eyes turned red, he was breathing heavily, and his muscles started to bulge. Some of the ponies in the audience also noted that his normally blue fur coat looked sort of green in this much angrier, hulking state.

“You think that’s going to intimidate-“ started Sable again, annoyed at being interrupted. He was interrupted again, but this time by Iron Will shooting forward, grabbing Sable by the neck, and slamming him into the ground with a large amount of force.

“IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU I HAD TO DO ALL THIS!” shouted the enraged minotaur, lifting up the stunned Sable only to deliver a punch to the face. “IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I HAD TO GO THROUGH ALL THIS CRAP SIMPLY TO GET MARRIED!”

“What is he on about?” asked Applejack.

“Oh, um, yeah, I probably should have mentioned this to you earlier,” said Twilight, “Iron Will’s reason for hunting werewolves in Ponyville is because if he catches a werewolf and brings it back to his homeland, he’ll be engaged to the Minotaur Princess.”

“So you’re sayin’ Ah’ve been in mortal danger ever since Iron Will came to town simply ‘cause he wants to get married?!”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Twilight said, oblivious to her friend’s reaction.

Applejack just facehoofed - or facepawed, in this case. While that whole discussion was going on, Iron Will was laying into Sable with blow after blow. Sable couldn’t believe how horribly outclassed he was against just one opponent. Thinking it would change the flow of combat into his favor, Sable managed to land a deep bite into one of Iron Will’s arms.

“AAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!” screamed Iron Will, but to Sable’s dismay it only seemed to make the minotaur angrier as he just shrugged off what clearly should have severed some tendons. Sable then also remembered that he’d learned minotaurs were somehow immune to lycanthropy. The curse created by Sombra so long ago was tailored to fit ponies and ponies alone, and the inclusion of other species hadn’t even been considered.

Then, finally, Iron Will stood in the moonlight, his sweating posture highlighted by the numerous wounds ranging from simple scratches to deep bleeding wounds. But in his clenched fist was the even more severely beaten form of Sable Loam. Originally sleek and proud, it had been broken in so many ways both physically and mentally, as Sable understood this was the end.

“I could kill you right now, then drag your corpse back to my homeland and fulfill the ritual, thus getting my parents off my back about having to get married, “said IW, “but there is another reason why I can not allow myself the right to kill you.”

“Hah…even…after…all…that…you’re…still…weak…” rasped Sable, finding it extremely hard to breathe.

“No, I’m not the weak one.” Iron Will then just let go of Sable, who hit the ground with a loud THUD. “But I’m also not the one who has a curse to break.”

Twilight smiled at that. Iron Will was throwing away the whole reason for his coming out here for Applejack’s sake. “AJ, this might be difficult, but we think the only way to cure you of lycanthropy-“

“-Is to kill this pony once and for all?” finished Applejack, not surprised at the shocked reactions of her friends. “Yeah, yeah, Ah know Ah’m not usually the type to be all dark like that, but here Ah’m makin’ an exception.”

She walked forward, stopping in front of the crippled werewolf in front of her. “Git up.”

Sable cracked a grin. “Make me…”

With one swift motion, Applejack grabbed the bottom of Sable’s head and lifted it up just enough so she was looking him eye-to-eye.

“Ah’m not gonna let you die. Not yet. Not when Ah still need to make somethin’ very clear to you.”

Sable let out a pained laugh. “What? That you’re a better *cough* werewolf than me? Don’t be redic*cough*ulous, you’ll never be worth anything as a werewolf when you need your *cough* allies to help you against a single enemy!”

“And that’s mah point exactly.” Replied Applejack, narrowing her eyes, “Ah’m not a werewolf, Ah never wanted to be a werewolf, and Ah never will be a werewolf. Not like you - never like you. That’s why we’re different, Sable, you’re the wolf, but Ah’m still a pony. And when you’re dead Ah’ll be still alive; because you gave up being a pony so long ago and have never embraced the most powerful force there is in Equestira: the magic of friendship.

“The ponies around me? They are not mah ‘allies’. They are mah family and mah friends. Helping each other out when a friend needs assistance is what ponies like them do. You never had a friend beyond Fair Vista, and even then Ah bet she was more of a follower to you than a true companion. And that is why Ah will never be a werewolf like you.”
Applejack motioned for Big Mac, who understood and tossed Appleseed’s hat to AJ, who swiftly caught it and placed it on her head where it belonged.

“Mah name is Applejack, and Ah am, and will always be a pony!”

She thrust Sable’s head into the air to elevate his chest, and then quickly spun around and with the full force of her hindlegs she bucked him as hard as she could in the chest. The force of the impact shattered Sable’s ribcage, causing broken ribs to pierce his heart and ensure his oncoming death, but also knocked him back into Fair Vista’s tombstone. The old limestone tombstone shattered on impact, allowing Sable to keep flying backwards until he rebounded off the giant tree, collapsing in a broken heap on the ground. As he finally felt death’s embrace start to envelop him, only then did he notice the forms of Celestia and Luna descending from above. The false princesses had indeed gotten the last laugh.

“Damn you…DAMN YOU ALL!” was all Sable could say before death finally claimed him, leaving only a broken husk of a body to commemorate one of the darkest legends in Equestrian history having finally come to an end.

For Celestia, who had just gotten there with Luna and a full regiment of guards, it was the end of a nightmare she’d wanted gone for centuries. Now, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. “At last, it’s over, it’s finally over!” she exclaimed.

For Applejack, the victory was short lived however. The sudden onset of lightheadedness for some reason made her extremely woozy, and moments later she passed out on the ground and oblivious to the world around her.

Ch.24: Family Reunion

A Hairy Problem Chapter 24: Family Reunion

“Applejack!”

“Applejack!”

“APPLEJACK!”

The orange pony cracked her eyes open. As far as she could tell, for some reason she had passed out shortly after she’d killed Sable Loam.

“Applejack, are you alright?!” sounded out a voice. It was vaguely familiar, but Applejack was still pretty dizzy in the head so she couldn’t place it.

“Unnhh…hol…hold on…” she muttered, slowly rising off the ground. She felt several sets of hooves grab on to her, assisting her back on her own set, letting her know that she was back in her regular form, if not totally back in mental capacity. Blinking a few times, Applejack could finally start seeing her surroundings. Her friends and family were surrounding her, concerned looks on their faces, while Royal Guardsponies were all over the place. Just within her limited field of vision, Applejack could also see a heavily injured Iron Will sitting down and receiving medical treatment from a Guard medic.

“Well, did it work?” impatiently asked Rainbow Dash.

“Did..did what work?”

“Killing Sable Loam! Are you back to normal? I mean, you were glowing after you passed out and you turned from your wolf featured form to your regular pony body, then stopped glowing.”

“Ah…Ah don’t know, really…was that supposed to make me fully a pony again?”

“Yes, at least that’s what the book said,” Twilight mentioned.

“What book?” asked a voice Applejack was surprised to hear. Looking at the direction of the voice, it was in fact Princess Celestia. Both she and Princess Luna were here, fully dressed in battle armor for some reason, but Applejack hadn’t noticed.

In response, Twilight pulled out the copy of Magical and Maniacal Monsters of Malicious Mayhem and telepathically handed it over to her mentor. The magic aura around the book changed from purple to yellow as Celestia examined the book closely, a smile coming to her face.

“I guess in the end he did get his revenge on his former leader,” mused Celestia.

“Who got revenge, sister?” asked Luna.

With her hoof, Celestia pointed out to Luna that the author of the book was one Bronze Shield.

“Bronze Shield? Isn’t he that one pony with the cutie mark mange?”

“The same.”

“Um, Princesses?” sheepishly asked Twilight, “Who is Bronze Shield?”

“Bronze Shield was Sable Loam’s right hand pony back when Sable led his centurion away from the guard and to Sombra’s Empire. He turned on Sable after becoming disillusioned with him and abandoned the werewolves shortly before Luna and I made our move to free the empire. He was the first of the few surviving werewolves of the time to both re-pledge his allegiance to the twin thrones of Equestria and to tell us of the monstrosities Sable had turned himself and his men into. I’d say if there was any writing to be trusted about werewolves, it would be written by him.”

“Wait…cutie mark mange?” asked Applejack, before turning to look at her flank. She was overjoyed to see her triplet of apples, which had faded to almost being nonexistent out of her lycanthropy, had now returned to their full color luster, as bright as the day they had appeared so long ago. “Mah cutie mark, it’s back!”

“That means you’re back to normal, right?” Apple Bloom wondered.

“Only one way to find out” said Applejack, who began to focus on turning into her wolf form. Before the fight with Sable, she’d somewhat worryingly been able to figure out how to shift between forms simply by thinking about it. But now, try as hard as she could, she could not make herself turn into her monstrous form. “Ah…Ah think I’m finally free of that curse!”

“This calls for a party!” immediately declared Pinkie Pie, rearing up to stick her forelegs in the sky. But as she looked up, she asked “why is that star so bright?”

This prompted everypony to look up, and before even the princesses or Pinkie could react, they were hit with what was could have been a falling star, encapsulating all the ponies involved with Applejack’s werewolf secret in a blinding light that outdid anything Celestia was capable of.

Celestia came to, standing on her four legs, in a place she could not recall ever having been in before.

“Celly?” asked Luna, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, “Where are we?”

“A plane of existence above that which we normally can’t even attain…there are powers at work here nopony of even our status can ever hope to achieve, but I don’t know why.”

“Well, that’s kind of a bummer, since I was just about to ask that of you, Princess,” Sandalwood drawled. She, Lyra, the Apple Family, and the Mane Six were all gathered in one group along with the princesses in what appeared to be an otherworldly realm. There was no ground to speak of, but a visible horizon separated the slightly green tinted luminescent floor and what seemed to be a sky made of the night, filled with constellations.

“Are…are we dead?” asked Fluttershy.

“I don’t think so,” added Twilight.

“Well, I would hope this isn’t the afterlife,” said Rarity, going into involuntary critic mode, “as nice as the setting is I do kind of wish it wasn’t so…open and…empty.”

“Don’t worry, this isn’t the afterlife, and you’re not dead.” Said another new voice, once that the Princesses seemed to instantly register as familiar. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, then in the presumed direction from where the voice had come from, together uttering the name of their God;

“Mom?”

As if in response, a large figure emerged as if both materializing from nothing and out of a thick fog. She was an alicorn, much like the Princesses, but unlike Celestia and Luna she wore no crown nor royal accessories. Her coat was off-white, her mane and tail a moderately dark shade of maroon, her eyes a pure blue, and her cutie mark, oddly enough, was an ink well with a feather pen. The regular ponies were stunned at the existence of another alicorn, as counting Nightmare Moon as a separate entity there had been only four true alicorns within the past thousand years, with the youngest being Princess Cadence.

“Princess…” Twilight whispered to her mentor, “you and Luna just asked if this was your mother. If she is, then doesn’t that make her…”

“Yes, my faithful student. This is our mother: Queen Faust.”

Upon hearing their ruler say this new alicorn was of a royal rank higher than even she, they all immediately bowed. Faust just laughed. “Oh, Celly, I haven’t been queen for centuries, do you and Luna still insist on being mere Princesses for the rest of your lives?”

“To be fair, Mom,” Luna commented, “at the time we had to assume the throne after your passing, we were worried immediately assuming the title of queen would make the populace think we were evil.” Luna then looked away as she said “My…incident…with Nightmare Moon a few decades later certainly didn’t help matters.”

Faust merely smiled as she walked up to her youngest daughter, nuzzling her. “Oh, Luna…even in the afterlife I feared the Nightmare had forever changed you, you have no idea how happy I was when you were restored.”

Faust then turned to the Mane Six, saying “And I can not thank you six enough for saving my daughter from herself with the Elements.”

“Uh, pardon me for askin’, but…” Applejack began, taking off her hat and holding it on her chest, “didn’t Princess Luna just say you, um, died almost a thousand years ago?”

“I didn’t ‘die’ as in my heart stopped beating and I fell to the floor instantly, but it was my time to move on from the plane of physical existence into a higher one.”

“Why?” asked Twilight.

“It’s…complicated, to put it simply. Just understand that even as immortals we are allotted a limited amount of time in the physical realm and then we must move on. Though I am not in truth dead, my time in the material world is over and for all intents and purposes I am functionally gone from the world."

“Then, er, could you explain just what is goin’ on and if all of us are actually dead or not?” continued Applejack.

"Think of it...as a vacation," Faust said, the corners of her mouth rising slightly in a smile, and without a doubt those present suddenly learned where the royal sisters' sense of humor came from. “But how rude of me; I didn’t tell you what’s going on.”

Faust backed up a bit and cleared her throat, “This isn’t the true afterlife, but a place akin to the concept of ‘limbo’. A waiting room for the afterlife, if you will. However, while I am in a sense dead on the physical plane, none of you are, so our spirits are free to commune in this plane as long as it is allowed by the higher powers.

“You mean there are beings of even greater power than you, your highness?” asked a bewildered Twilight Sparkle. While she was the only one who voiced it, it was evident enough on all of the ponies that they had been thinking along similar lines.

“Of course, but they’re rather stern with how they allow lesser creatures to access other planes of existence and have only allowed this instance to happen because of the circumstances at hand.”

“Circumstances? Like what?” inquired Apple Bloom.

“Why, isn’t it obvious, young one? It is your sister becoming free of the lycanthropy curse cast upon her by Sable Loam.”

“Then why are you here, mother?” asked a confused Celestia.

“Because I’ve been wanting to talk with you and Luna ever since she was restored, as you both have long since come of age and I am so proud of you, but the powers that be didn’t see that as reason enough for such a meeting to happen.”

“Then why does mah gettin’ cured of mah hairy problem have somethin’ to do with that?” asked Applejack.

“Because my true purpose here is that I am the escort for two special ponies who want to talk to all of you, now that the curse on Applejack has been lifted.”

Big Mac almost immediately figured it out. “You…you don’t mean…”

The eldest alicorn nodded. “Being a psychopomp has its privileges,” she said with a soft smile.

Two more shapes emerged from the fog of nothingness towards the assembled ponies. However, they were regular size ponies, both of them Earth, and were clearly a married couple. The stallion was as large as Big Mac, with dark green fur and a mane/tail coloration of light brown, while the mare had a periwinkle coat with a two color mane and tail of purple and white. But it was the cutie marks that revealed their identities to the majority of the ponies who had never seen them before. The stallion had three seeds, while the mare had a single cornflower on her flank.

“Oh mah stars…” said Granny. “Appleseed, is it…is it really you?”

“Yes, mom, it’s me,” Appleseed answered, a tear coming to his eye.

“And is that you, mom?” added Big Mac, still trying to comprehend the sight of his mother in front of him.

“I would hope you would still remember me, even after all this time,” Cornflower said with a smile, before looking at her daughters. “My, how you two have grown!”

Applejack could say nothing, but Apple Bloom slowly moved forward. She could not remember having ever seen these new ponies before, but deep down she knew that they were the parents she’d never known.

“Wait, are... are y'all mah…Mom? Dad?” the yellow filly asked. Upon the affirmative nods from Appleseed and Cornflower, Apple Bloom launched into a dash and tackled into her parents, trying to hug them both at once. Big, fat tears came from her eyes as a missing part of her life was finally given back to her; the memory of what her parents even looked like, and more importantly what they were like as individuals. The Apple parents, in turn, embraced their youngest daughter, and the rest of the Apples moved in to make it all one giant family hug. For the first time in over a decade, the Apples were once again a family reunited.

“Let us give them some privacy” Faust suggested, smiling at the ill-fated couple finally seeing their children grown up. Her horn glowed a bright blue, and in a flash the three alicorns were whisked away to another location within the plane to hold their own family reunion.

“Look, Bloomie dear, I know you want you cutie mark, but you can’t force it. As the youngest in a family who has lived for generations on letting nature run its course, you should understand that.” Said Cornflower to her youngest daughter.

“Aw, come on, surely you must know some kind of supernatural tricks or somethin’ that Ah could use, maybe even tellin’ me what mah special talent actually is ‘cause y’all have seen the future?” pleaded Apple Bloom.

Appleseed laughed, “Just ‘cause we’re no longer among the livin’ doesn’t mean we’re now oracles or anythin’ Bloomie. Plus, anythin’ we can do now wouldn’t apply to you, since you’re still alive, an’ we want to see you continue to grow up.”

“Awwww…” whined Apple Bloom, “although now at least Ah can tell other ponies that even mah parents tell me and mah friends we gotta stop tryin’ to earn our marks that way.”

The six members of the Apple Family laughed, generating an aura of good feelings that continued to help provide much needed closure for those still living. Off to the side, the Mane Six, Lyra, and Sandalwood had formed their own group for discussion, giving the Apples the space they needed.

Appleseed, however, decided it had been long enough. “Hey, y’all, can you come over here? Ah guess it’s time we told everypony our side of this whole werewolf story.”

“But, we already know about what happened to you ten years ago, from various sources,” Lyra mentioned. Regardless, the other ponies gathered around with the living Apples.

“We know, but there is some information that you can’t possibly have learned from the world of the livin’,” pointed out Appleseed, who proceeded to nod to his wife.

Cornflower in turn steeled herself, taking in a deep breath, before she began to evaluate what the gathered ponies already knew. “Okay, so how much about werewolves do you all know?”

“Well…” started Twilight, “From what we have learned, Sombra was the one who originally created the werewolf curse about a thousand years ago, to grant the wishes of Sable Loam and his centurion to be more like wolves.”

“But more importantly, lycanthropy can be spread when a non-cursed pony’s blood comes into contact with the fluids of a werewolf, usually the saliva with a bloody bite to the neck if most cases are like what happened to Applejack,” added Sandalwood, causing Applejack to cringe at the mention of how she contracted lycanthropy.

“There was also reportedly two ways lycanthropy could end for the victim. Normally, the victim would succumb to the curse and irreversibly turn into a full wolf. In the extremely rare case that the victim was of a bloodline with a specific blood quanta, and bitten by a werewolf with the same effects as Sable, the end result would instead be no degradation into a wolf and they would become immortal.”

“Ah don’t know whether or not Ah was gonna end up a full wolf or not” said applejack, “Ah’m just glad we’ll never have to ever get to finding that out!”

“Actually, honey,” interjected Cornflower, “we know the answer, but we’ll get to that in a minute. First; what does the name Fair Vista mean to you all?”

“Fair who?” asked Pinkie, “I don’t know anypony by that name, and I know everypony’s names in Ponyville!”

“Fair Vista,” Applejack repeated. “Sable went on about her right before Ah fought him. Somethin’ about how ah was supposed to replace her as his mate or somethin’. Makes me wonder how far gone that mare had to have been to allow him to be that close to her, unless she was brainwashed into it.”

“Fair Vista was a pony who only lived for the moment,” Appleseed stated. “She willingly chose at the drop of a hat to not only abandon her established life in Baltimare, leaving behind a lovin’ husband and her own daughter, but also to be turned into a werewolf all to live life as one big adventure.”

“Pardon me asking, but how do you know all this?” asked Rarity, ”I mean, no offense, but you’re…well, dead. Plus, you don’t seem to have any history with that pony.”

“Queen Faust told us,” said Appleseed, “or rather, she showed us with her magic, relatively around the time we did eventually die. She felt that we needed to know the truth behind our deaths, maybe to assure us that it wasn’t our fault that we ended up abandonin’ our children in the hooves of mah mother, the same way Fair Vista abandoned her child to only be raised by her father.”

“But the irony of it all,” added Cornflower, “is that Fair Vista was my ancestor. Her daughter would grow up and continue her bloodline for several generations, long enough that Fair Vista was not even a memory by the time I moved to Ponyville and married your father. But for over 240 years she remained alive and by Sable’s side. Her final, real act, was attacking us and turning us into werewolves.”

“Hold on,” said Twilight, “that means Fair Vista’s bloodline had the necessary blood quanta to be immortal. So if you’re a descendant of her, then you would have been immortal, and so all of your children would be as well.”

“Thankfully, only Applejack fell victim to lycanthropy, and she had been cured by ending the very monster who had caused us so much strife.”

“The same could not be said for me, however,” said Appleseed. “While Cornflower here would have been able to live on, Ah don’t have...whatever that thing you said was the thing allowin’ for that, and Ah was gonna become a wolf. By the time Sable sounded that howl that winter’s night, it was hard enough for me to just say full sentences.”

“That night…” continued Cornflower, “Sable had summoned us against our will into that blizzard to try and use us the way Vista had intended; to act as the cornerstone of his new werewolf army. However, he was so overcome with grief upon seeing us that he attacked us on sight. We did our best as werewolves ourselves to retaliate, and while we did some damage to him, he overpowered us and left us to bleed out in the cold weather. All we could think about was how we’d never be able to see our children grow up, but instead be burdened with the task of keeping the farm alive.” She then looked at each of her children in turn, Appleseed drooping a foreleg around her, as tears began to form in her eyes. “Your father and I…the fact you’ve thrived, grown, and that we can see you all at least once more…it makes us so happy.”
Big Mac moved forward and embraced his parents, with the rest of the Apples following suit. It was a tearful moment, the moment of closure that while not evident, was something the living Apples had badly needed for over a decade.

It fell to the emerging form of Queen Faust to task of breaking the bad news.

“Appleseed, Cornflower, I’m sorry, but the time to send the living home is drawing near.” It was clear she, like the Apple parents, wished there had been more time to spend between them and their still living offspring.

Celestia and Luna then appeared out of nowhere to rejoin their subjects not as rulers, but as children who were bidding their parent goodbye.

“We’ll make you proud, mom and dad!” said Applejack, tearfully.

“Oh, Applejack, you silly little pony!” laughed Cornflower, “you all have already made us proud!”

And with that, there was a sudden explosion of light that enveloped all ponies who were present, closing the connection between the planes of existence and separating the dead from the living once more.

“Your majesties, are you alright?!”

Celestia blinked, realizing they had indeed returned to the plane of physical reality. One of the guards, a unicorn by the name of Glamdring, was frantically waving his hoof just in front of her face, apparently trying to get her attention.

“What? What is wrong?” she asked.

The guard seemed confused by his liege’s response. “The blinding flash of light? Didn’t you notice it?”

“What? Oh, yes, that. Tell me, soldier; how long have we been out?”

“Out? I’m afraid I don’t quite understand, the flash was just a few seconds ago.”

Huh thought Celestia, it felt like we were in that alternate plane of existence for hours, yet no time seems to have passed here. Amazing.

She was going to say something else to the guard, but the noises of all the other ponies snapping out of what must have looked like a momentary stupor. “Ah…don’t worry about the flash of light, it’s of a matter neither I nor Luna am at liberty to discuss.”

“Understood, your majesty.”

Just then, another guard, one of the pegasus chariot pilots by the name of Foe Hammer, walked up and presented a slightly beat-up satchel to Celestia. “Princess, this was found on the body of the dead pony. As you seemed to express great interest in this individual, it seems appropriate that you should see what he had first hoof.”

Celestia thanked and then dismissed the guard, before proceeding to open the satchel. It was a rather unremarkable satchel, similar to those in use by the national mail service, leaving Celestia to wonder who Sable had stolen this one from. The contents were marginally more interesting; a few preserved pieces of food, an old canteen that still was half full of water, a smaller bag full of bits, but then Celestia found the good stuff.

First was the old piece of brass. Celestia immediately recognized the faded carvings on the piece as being a fragment of Sable’s old guard armor from when he still served the crown a thousand years ago. It had been enchanted with a disguise spell at some point, but it hadn’t seen much use recently. Then next was the locket. This too had a disguise spell on it, but in contrast to the old brass this charm had been used recently. Probably to sneak around Ponyville or other cities undetected.

Finally, she pulled out the old picture, and her eyes went wide open in shock. It was an old picture, probably only a decade or two after the technology had been invented, as she could not make out any colors of the subjects. However, she could instantly recognize Sable Loam as he was not disguised for some reason, and she did a double take upon seeing the other pony in the photo. It was Fair Vista, it had to be, but take away that cutie mark and she looked almost exactly like a slightly older version of…

“Hey, it’s Intellect-I mean, Sable Loam’s bag!” said Twilight, trotting over to her mentor’s side. The rest of the non-guard ponies drifted over as well, herd curiosity taking over. “Who’s in the picture, Princess?”

“You tell me, Twilight,” said Celestia, handing off the photo to her pupil.

Twilight’s eyes dilated as she registered who was in the photo. “No way.”

“Let me see, let me see!” shouted Applejack, wedging her way forward and taking the photograph. “Wha? Is this some kinda joke?” she said upon seeing who Fair Vista looked like.

“AJ, didn’t your mother say Fair Vista was an ancestor of your bloodline?” said Rarity.

“Well, yeah, now that you do mention it. Before things went south for him, Sable told me he was originally planning on converting Twilight that night he attacked simply to get revenge on the Princess, but he changed his mind and went for me so I could be his new mate, only he never said why. Ah guess this here is our answer to that.”

In the photograph, Fair Vista was an almost dead ringer for a slightly older Applejack, freckles and all. The only major difference was a slightly rougher mane and tail style and the cutie mark, but without the colors it was a mistake that could be easily made.

“So Sable really did have the hots for you.” Pointed out Rainbow Dash. “That is really creepy, just so you know.”

Applejack responded with a mock vomiting motion, to which everypony laughed. Taking the moment, Celestia turned and headed over to where Iron Will was sitting.

“So let me get this straight,” said the medic. “You were hunting werewolves because your king says if you bring him the corpse of one he’ll engage you to the princess?”

“Yeah, sounds stupid, right?” replied a despondent Iron Will, “Welcome to Iron Will’s life for the past few months. Chasing a legend simply because his parents nagged him to get married, and look where it’s gotten him.”

“I wouldn’t say it was a fruitless endeavor,” said Celestia, walking up and overhearing the conversation. Taking the hint, the medic bowed and walked off. While Iron Will was still beat up, he’d been mostly patched up and even without exposure to healing magic he’d be fine in a day or two with some new battle scars to impress the ladies with. “After all, you did end up getting the werewolf, right?”

“Kinda, sorta, I guess.” Replied the minotaur, dropping the third person as he was in the presence of foreign royalty. “But it doesn’t count, not in the end since I didn’t actually kill him. Applejack did.”

“But you made it easier for her to land the killing blow, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but in minotaur society it doesn’t matter who does most of the work, just who lands the finishing blow.”

“Then why did you let Applejack take your kill?”

“Because she needed to kill him in order to be cured of her own curse, that’s why. I wasn’t about to let something as trivial as an engagement for me, a minotaur who is already well off and living comfortably, prove to be more important than an innocent pony freeing herself from a curse that made her hate herself. I don’t think I could live with myself if I’d chosen to be selfish in that situation.”

“I consider that a very noble sacrifice.”

“Thank you, your majesty, but that doesn’t mean I can’t mope about having to throw away months of work with nothing to show for it.”

Celestia glanced over at the corpse of Sable Loam, still laying when life had left it. Oddly, unlike every other dead werewolf she’d seen, Sable’s body had not morphed back into its original pony form. Rather, it remained in its hairier, inequine wolf-like form.

“Iron Will, who was here to witness the death of Sable Loam?”

“Um, just me and those ponies over there. Why?”

Celestia smiled. “As Princess, I must be a good politician. And sometimes, politicians need to spin the truth. Luckily for you, I am in your debt for saving one of the Elements of Harmony from a threat even I failed to silence years ago, and I believe I can spin this to be advantageous to both of us due to all the witnesses besides yourself being devoutly loyal to me.”

Iron Will smiled back. “Go on…”

Ch.25: Red Wedding

Ch.25: Red Wedding

A Hairy Problem Chapter 25 “Red Wedding”

Wedding bells sounded off in a grand symphony as Castle Heiferton became enshrouded in a cloud of red and white confetti. Crowds of minotaurs lined the streets, cheering wildly, for it was a national celebration. At long last, Princess Circe was engaged to a worthy mate, and not since the international match held in the Estadio Cowcatlan when the National Minotaur hoofball team faced off against the Baltimare Orioles from Equestira had there been a larger crowd gathered in Heiferton.

In retrospect, there wasn’t a single minotaur who would have predicted that Iron Will, seen as something of an outsider to minotaur traditionalists due to him making a living off of giving seminars to ponies, would gain the hand of the princess. Yet, there was no mistaking him when he’d stomped his way in the middle of the royal court to present the body of a werewolf to King Minos. Even more sensational was Iron Will’s claim that the werewolf he’d brought was the same one who had killed the minotaur queen almost a thousand years ago. For him to make such a claim was saying he’d literally fulfilled the ancient king’s decree that would earn him both a dukedom and the princess’s hand.

Even more surprising was the support of his claim from none other than the diarchy of Equestria. In a public release, Princess Celestia stated that the werewolf in question, Sable Loam, had been threatening the state of her country on-and-off for centuries and more recently had made attacks on the Element bearers. Iron Will, in his werewolf hunting quest, had joined up with the Element bearers and several Ponyville locals to track down and end Sable once and for all, with IW doing most of the actual fighting due to his superior strength and immunity to lycanthropy, along with landing the killing blow. King Minos had been so hoping for a potential suitor to complete the task whose credentials were better than “pony motivational speaker”, but because of IW’s backing by Celestia (and by extension the entire upper class of Equestria), he had no choice but to honor the age-old promise.

“Oh, I do love a good wedding!” sniffed Rarity, dabbing her tears on a kerchief. She, along with all of the other ponies involved with Applejack’s ‘werewolf problem’ had been personally invited by Iron Will himself to attend the wedding as VIP guests next to the Princesses. Only Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor declined, citing lingering trauma that stemmed from how far south their own royal wedding had gone.

“Ah don’t know ‘bout y’all, but Ah’m a mighty suspicious of that ‘Princess Circe’,” muttered Applejack. “How do we know she ain’t Chrysalis in disguise?”

“I doubt Chrysalis would even dare try to use mind control on somepony such as Iron Will,” Fluttershy insisted. “Even she can’t have that much control over somepony as assertive as him!”

The cheers and murmurs of the assembled crowds died down as royal trumpets blared. The castle gates opened, letting out an entire regiment of armed minotaur guards dressed in their finest liveries. Following them was a troupe of traveling earth pony acrobats, serving to increase the already heightened feelings of celebration and merriment at the wedding.

Another regiment of guards followed the performers, then came the cart bearing the newlyweds. Pulled by a team of the six strongest minotaurs, hailing from all across the kingdom, the car was a beautiful piece of art crafted from solid white oak and pure gold. It had been specially built decades ago to serve as the vehicle of such weddings, and to ride in it was a true bragging right of the elite. Of course, simply riding in a royal cart paled in comparison to Iron Will’s alleged “slaying” of Sable Loam the immortal werewolf, and the crowds went wild as the recently christened Duke Iron Will waved at the gathered crowds with his new bride doing the same. Rarity was especially pleased to see them in their outfits, as part of Celestia’s agreement with Iron Will to give him the credit for killing Sable Loam was that Rarity be the exclusive designer for all attire worn by the participants of the wedding. It not only proved to make the bride and groom look simply outstanding, but also would generate a lot of advertising and business for Rarity in the international sense. As the cart rolled past the Equestriani VIP section, Iron Will gave his pony friends a wink and his trademark smile, along with a thumbs up. He’d never be able to truly repay them for what they’d helped him with, not the least of which was getting his parents off his back about getting married. The ponies in turn flashed their own winks and smiles with raised hooves, the closest they could get to a thumbs-up without actually having thumbs.

Finally, the last star of the royal procession reared his ugly head, as a cart guarded by Elite Canterlot Guardsponies rolled behind the newlyweds showed off Sable Loam. He was of course still dead, but as per minotaur tradition the beast that the groom had slain as part of his eligibility ritual was to be shown off during the wedding, then taken to be displayed in the married couple’s home as a hunting trophy. Due to King Minos being a stickler for tradition, Celestia had been convinced to allow Sable’s corpse to be taxidermied and publicly displayed. However, due to the unknown properties of Sable’s body as a result of it harboring dark magics over the course of a thousand years, the body was still a well of unknown possibilities, none of them good. It had been agreed upon by all parties that after the wedding, Sable’s body (and all extracted entrails and bodily fluids) would be shipped back to Canterlot under heavy guard to be sealed away, and a duplicate dummy of Sable’s body, virtually indistinguishable from the original if simply looked at, would instead be displayed at the couple’s discretion.

But as the body of Sable Loam trundled along in front of the minotaur masses, it was a humiliating end to the original werewolf who had terrorized Equestria for almost an entire millennium. The beast who had once dreamed of ascending to the throne atop Celestia’s broken corpse and beginning an age of werewolves as its king, now had been reduced to nothing more than a public spectacle that didn’t even give any indication to how Sable’s mind had been far more dangerous than his physical attributes. A fitting end for the disgraced former Royal Guard scout.

One month later…

“Yessir, these here apples are the sweetest, juiciest, and tastiest of their kind for miles around!” said Applejack, beaming with pride towards her crop.

“Seriously, dad,” said Sandalwood, “just get some, I can confirm that Sweet Apple Acres apples are everything she says!”

Sandalwood’s father; Sea Shanty, tapped his hoof to his chin. “Well, what do you think, dear?”

The unicorn next to him laughed. “Shanty, honey, it wouldn’t hurt to get some. I mean, they’re obviously not poison apples or anything.”

Something in the unicorn’s manner of delivery rubbed Applejack the wrong way. “Hey! You sayin’ mah crop is bad or somethin’?”

“What? Oh, no no no no!” apologized the unicorn, “I didn’t mean anything of the sort! My name may be Burnin’ Sarcasm but that doesn’t apply to everything I say!”

Sea Shanty just rolled his eyes knowingly and put some apples into his saddlebags before putting a good little amount of bits on Applejack’s stand. Surprisingly, Applejack moved to push some bits back.

“You’re Sandalwood’s parents, and Ah’m still in her debt after all her help she gave me while Ah was goin’ through some…personal issues. The least Ah can do right now is to give y’all a discount on mah stuff.”

“Well, gee, thanks Applejack!” said Sandalwood. “Now, come on mom and dad, I’ve got to introduce you to Pinkie Pie over at Sugarcube Corner. She’s a real character!”

“From how you’ve described her in your letters, she sounds like somepony I’ll like!” laughed Sea Shanty.

As Sandalwood and her parents walked away, Applejack couldn’t help but feel pangs of jealousy for Sandalwood being fortunate enough for her parents to still be alive. To be able to hug her, to kiss her, to cherish-

No thought Applejack, that’s not being fair to Mom and Dad. While the physical means of expressing love had disappeared for Appleseed and Cornflower a decade ago, they still remained as more than a mere memory. They were still out there, watching from above, caring and worrying about Applejack and the rest of her kin.

The rest of the day was simple enough; the orange farm pony sold some more apples to various locals but not all of her stock. When the time came, Applejack loaded up the unsold crop into the barrels and hitched up to the cart. She began the trek home, taking care at that one fork to go the right way home and not to end up at the Meatery.

As she continued to walk home, she noted it felt almost exactly the same as the night months ago when the CMC had crashed their car into the Everfree, the night it all had begun when Sable Loam, seeing the form of his lover reincarnated with Applejack, deviated from his plans and cursed her with lycanthropy for the longest months of her life. She’d only been free of the curse for about two months now, having last seen Sable’s stuffed corpse during the Minotaur Wedding, but thankfully the only remnants of that condition were her sleeping fits where she kept waking up and fearing she would find she’d transformed back into a wolf, and even those had finally begun to fade away. Long gone were her involuntary actions such as a constantly wagging tail or her need to consume meat, that latter of which she was extremely relieved to have dropped.

Out of habit, after she’d stored the unsold apples, Applejack went to the barn where Apple Bloom’s mechanical abomination had once been sealed. Now it was referred to as ‘the garage’, for the vehicle had permanently changed into the Apple Truck thanks to Twilight, now currently sitting inside and waiting to be useful again.

With the truck not going anywhere, Applejack then turned her attention to another part of the farm, this time a place much more sacred. There, in the rose-covered private cemetery of the Apples, the former werewolf sat down in front of the graves of her parents. Taking caution to avoid the thorns, Applejack plucked two roses and placed one on each grave.
Suddenly, she felt the urge to look skyward. Doing so, she saw two familiar orbs streaking across the sky.

“G’night mom. G’night, dad.” Said Applejack, smiling.

The moment was of course then interrupted by Apple Bloom’s shouts of “APPLEJACK! SUPPER!”

“AH HEAR YA, BE RIGHT THERE!” shouted back Applejack. Then, after watching the shooting stars disappear into the night sky, the restored Earth pony turned and dashed to the kitchen door to take her place at the Apple Family dinner table.

Ch.1: Into The Forest

Chapter 1

It was business as usual in the marketplace as Celestia’s sun began its descent, coloring the sky beautiful shades of orange. Applejack was happy about having sold most of her stock of apples and apple accessories, not only because of the money but because it meant less stuff she had to pack up and carry home with her. It wasn’t the weight that concerned the farm pony, since she was one of the strongest ponies in town save for possibly her brother; the “Iron Pony” incident where she lost to Rainbow Dash did not count at all for...various reasons. No, it was simply getting back to the farm before the night had settled in and Luna’s moon shone from above.

Applejack herself didn’t know why she wanted to be home that early; it was something that apparently developed recently. If you’d asked her a few weeks ago about doing stuff in the dead of night, such as venturing to that old castle where she and her friends had defeated Nightmare Moon, she’d have thought nothing of it. But now, even just thinking about going into the Everfree Forest at night made Applejack shudder as she put the last of her goods into the wagon.

Maybe askin’ Twilight about this might be a good idea, Applejack thought. While the last time the purple unicorn had tried to do that “psychiatric help” thing on Rainbow Dash did not end well, Twilight wasn’t exactly herself that day either judging from how she’d made the whole town go gaga over that old doll of hers.

“Which Big Mac still has for some reason,” the orange mare muttered to herself as she hitched herself up to the wagon and began heading home. It was a fair bit to walk, Sweet Apple Acres being a good little distance away from the center of Ponyville, but AJ didn’t mind. After a whole day of standing behind a wooden stand, it was a real relief to her to get the chance to finally put her leg muscles to work. It wasn’t the same as Applebucking, but it was better than nothing.

As she pulled up to the barn to stow both it and the goods, she could smell the familiar scent of apples coming from the kitchen. One would think that a diet composed of mostly apples and apple-based foodstuffs would get real bland, but that wasn’t the case for the Apple Family. To them, the taste of apples was something that never got old, and right now AJ could hear the rumbling in her stomach, eager for some of Granny’s cooking. By now the sun had set and the stars had begun to sparkle in the sky, but Applejack wasn’t worried. She was home now, where the night couldn’t hurt her.

“So, today was a good day for sellin’ apples, eh?” said Granny Smith. The elderly green mare, the Apple family matriarch, wasn’t able to help with the manual labor aspect of farm operations due to her artificial hip replacement (despite being strong enough to support a full-grown unicorn mare wearing fifteen pounds of makeup on her back), but her skills in cooking were unaffected in her old age which allowed her to still help keep the farm going.

“Yep! Ah even had one of those Wonderbolt fellows show up, Soarin’ was his name Ah think. He ended up buyin’ all of yer pies, saying somethin’ about how he’d been dyin’ to taste one of them after the Gala,” Applejack replied. “He probably would have bought more, the guy was loaded Ah tell ya, but then Rainbow came along and scared him off by wantin’ his autograph.”

“That’s a shame, but Ah hope he’ll be back tomorrow. We need more red paint for the barn y’know”.

“Granny, Ah bought all the red paint we need for that. Don’t you remember?”

“Ah know you did, but now we need more because of what Apple Bloom and her friends did with the paint you did buy.”

Big Mac, whose silent presence still carried all of his weight in the physical sense, replied with a trademark “Eeyup” before looking unhappily at the fourth member of the Apple family, Granny joining in while Applejack had a confused look on her face before remembering what the Cutie Mark Crusaders usually ended up doing with “borrowed” things. All the yellow filly could do was look at the rest of her family with an embarrassed grin.

“Apple Bloom…” AJ started, “…what did you and your friends do with the paint?”

“We, um…Well, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Ah…tried to build a car.” Sheepishly replied the youngest Apple.

“A car?” said the elder sister, raising an eyebrow “What in the hay is a ‘car’”?

At this, the filly brightened up a bit, “Okay, ya know those floats that we built for the harvest parade? A car is somethin’ like that, only it’s about as big as a passenger wagon and is meant for regular use instead of just holiday parades and stuff.”

A passenger wagon built like a float? That sounded dangerous and stupid to Applejack. Which meant there was only one pony that could have given the CMC the idea. “Let me guess; Lyra told you about this ‘car’ thing didn’t she?”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nope, it was Sandalwood.”

Facehoofing, Applejack mentally scolded herself for not realizing the obvious. Sandalwood was a relative newcomer to Ponyville, to apprentice under Lotus and Aloe at the local spa. Her special talent involved making perfumes, although with a name like SandalWOOD all AJ could figure was that she should have been a carpenter instead, a fact her cutie mark seemed to be confused about as it was a sandalwood sprig overlaid with a fancy perfume bottle.

But that wasn’t what made Applejack facehoof. No, it was the fact Sandalwood had jumped onto Lyra’s bandwagon and fully believed in those creatures known as “humans” or something. Worse, while Lyra just believed they existed, Sandalwood went a bit further. According to Pinkie Pie, Sandy had dreams about not only being human, but having been adopted by humans in their world and eventually becoming a famous writer. Oh, and that Rarity was in fact her mother somehow even though Sandalwood’s real parents lived in Fairflanks. The whole thing sounded beyond stupid to any sane pony, especially Applejack, which is why it didn’t surprise her that Sandalwood would give the CMC the idea to strap a motor to a lightweight wagon, most likely claiming it was something the humans used.

“Apple Bloom, why do ya think ponies only use motors on heavy things like floats? Self-propelled engines are still relatively new an’ require the weight so they don’t go crashin’ into things at high speed. Nopony can control ‘em without the counterweight in the frame. Ah’m guessin’ that ‘losin’ control’ is exactly what happened to yer ‘car’, right?”

Her face turning a bright red, all Applebloom could do was look down at her half-finished dinner and reply “Eeyup.”

“So now that we have that established, how does all that paint Ah bought before work into this?”

Now turning more red than Big Mac, Apple Bloom didn’t dare look anypony in the eye as she said “Sandalwood said it would go faster if we painted it red, so we…used all the red paint to make sure it would go as fast as possible”.

“So ya build this ‘car’ thing an’ use up all of our red paint so it will be as dangerous as possible…Apple Bloom, what in Equestria were you three thinkin’?!” While Applejack was angry about all the red paint having been used up (considering how often the barn ended up getting destroyed at least once a year by what seemed like fate, paint expenses were not something the Apples needed to go higher), now she was concerned about her sister doing things that risked life and limb for stupid reasons.

“We thought we could get our cutie marks in car buildin’ or maybe even vehicle racin’, but those don’t seem to be our special talents…”

AJ sighed, it was the only thing she could do. ‘Car buildin’ an’/or racin’, just two more attempts at things the CMC were obviously not talented in. On second thought, Scootaloo might have actually had a shot, but AJ personally thought the orange Pegasus filly was more talented in agility than speed. But that was unimportant, what was important was that if Apple Bloom and her friends were not going to stop doing everything they could to get their cutie marks, then they needed to at least dial down the risk factor. Then AJ realized there was something Apple Bloom seemed to avoiding. “Apple Bloom…what exactly happened to the car?”

Finally looking at her big sister with the most all-knowing grin she could muster, the filly replied “Well…ah don’t actually know”

“How the hay can ya not know what happened to it?!”

“After we tried drivin’ it, we lost control over it an’ ended up goin’ straight towards the Everfree. We all bailed but the car kept on goin’ right into the forest. Ah know it wasn’t goin’ towards Zecora’s, but where it ended up Ah really don’t know”.

AJ repeated her facehoof. The CMC had allowed a mechanical monstrosity to go right into the Everfree. That industrial pet hair dryer, which AJ never could get a straight answer about how the CMC got it beyond “it wasn’t stolen” under the Pinkie Promise of no lying, had been one thing, but at the very least it wasn’t going to blow up and Winona really liked using it for some reason, but this? As much as the ponies preferred to stay out of the Everfree Forest, they at least had the good sense not to leave their garbage in it.

“Well, looks like Ah gotta go gather up the group to go lookin’ for this thing. Don’t want it to explode in there or do somethin’ that would be harm any poor critter in the Everfree. it would be quite a waste of good lumber and parts for next year’s float if anythin’.” Applejack muttered as she got up and immediately headed for the door. She knew her friends were not going to be happy about this, especially Rarity, but they were always there to help her out, and she was going to need it tonight.

Thankfully she was already out the door when she froze. Tonight? Looking up, she could see Luna’s moon was in its full phase tonight. AJ didn’t know why, but this just made it even more frightening. Working up the nerve to keep walking towards the sleeping settlement ahead, she realized that her friends were not only necessary to assist in locating this ‘car’ the CMC sent careening into the worst possible place, but she would need them in order to feel even remotely safe.

The sooner this is over, thought the shaken mare, the better!

“So…this ‘car’ thing, do you anything else about it beyond it having been built like a passenger wagon and painted red?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“Nope. Ah didn’t even know it existed until Granny Smith made Apple Bloom explain to me why we needed more red barn paint.”

“Well I hope it isn’t too far into this ghastly place, I do need my beauty sleep you know” interjected Rarity, who for some reason had taken fifteen minutes to get out of her house much to the annoyance of the others.

A multi-colored blur whizzed past above the group before landing a bit further ahead to wait for them, asking, “Why are we even looking for this thing at night? If it’s as bright red as your barn, AJ, then it would be a lot easier to look for it in the day when it’s not as dark looking as the trees.”

“Because it could cause some serious trouble if we don’t find it sooner than later. The worst case is if it ends up explodin’ because of the engine, but Ah honestly doubt it will. If it was left runnin’ then all the fuel should be used up by now. But we still need to get it outta here ASAP before it hurts something or somepony.”

“Big deal, unless it’s covered in spikes I doubt it could even hurt a parasprite,” responded Rainbow Dash, rolling her eyes at Applejack before falling in line with the rest of the group.

“Y-you never know for sure until it actually does hurt some innocent creature,” spoke the timid voice of Fluttershy, who pretty much only came along because Applejack needed her to help cover more ground and the potential threat the “car” could have in harming the wildlife.

“Oh, don’t worry Fluttershy, I’m sure it’s not that dangerous!” happily chirped Pinkie Pie, who in contrast to the other five mares was bouncing instead of walking, “And if some small creature gets hurt, you’ll be there to make it all better!”.

Applejack couldn’t help but let out a small smile. She was doing her best to hide how absolutely terrified she was of doing this at night, so the willingness of her friends to help her locate this thing her sister had made helped her relax a bit.

Unfortunately, even after all this time, AJ still royally sucked at lying or hiding her feelings. She was involuntarily trembling with every step she took, so much that all of her friends had immediately agreed to go with her into the most dangerous place near town in the dead of night because they could tell something was wrong. Fluttershy had even mentally noted at AJ, normally brave and usually the most level headed, was now far more scared than the normally timid Pegasus was during normal things such as Nightmare Night. But with every step Fluttershy grew more and more concerned as AJ’s condition visibly worsened despite the commendable effort she was putting in to not sounding scared out of her wits, something Fluttershy herself never could do. Finally, her concern overrode her bashfulness. “Applejack, what’s bothering you?”

“W-whatever do ya mean, Fl-fluttershy?” responded Applejack. The instantaneous change from controlled tones to scared ones told Fluttershy that this thing was far worse to the farm pony than most of the things she had faced with the others, with and without the Elements of Harmony. The other four ponies noticed as well, all of them looking at Applejack with concern on their faces.

Realizing the position she was in, AJ knew she had no choice other than telling them. The last time she tried this ended with her nearly getting run over with a train due to not winning any blue ribbons at the Equestrian Rodeo, and while she doubted that would possibly happen again here in the forest, she’d learned her lesson and wasn’t going to repeat the mistake.

“Ah…Ah’m not quite sure how to explain this to ya’ll, but…but recently Ah’ve been gettin’ scared of the night. Ah don’t know why, just…just that it feels like somethin’ is out there, somethin’ that wants to get me. Ah swear Ah’ve never been so scared in all my life, but Ah didn’t mention this to ya’ll ‘cause Ah’m sure it’s just nothin’ that needs to be worried about”.

Twilight looked at her friend incredulously “AJ, the last time you thought something was nothing was when I was freaking out about not having a friendship report to send to Celestia. While I doubt you could cause as much damage as I did with that ‘Want It Need It’ spell, I refuse to let the same problem happen to you. Are you sure you haven’t had these kinds of feeling before?”

Putting her hoof to her chin, AJ thought hard. “Now that ya mention it, Ah might have felt this way before. Mah memory of the time is kinda fuzzy, don’t remember much of it, but you may have a point. Whatever it is causin’ me trouble, it-” Applejack froze mid-sentence. She hadn’t fully recalled the memory, but all she could remember was that it had been traumatic. Something that even to her best friends she felt she couldn’t divulge just yet, this was a family matter.

Twilight, not exactly catching on to the signs AJ was giving off that the memory wasn’t pleasant, was about to inquire further when Pinkie suddenly exclaimed “Hey, what’s that?” and proceeded to bounce off to look at something she’d seen off the side of the path. The rest of the group followed, instinctively making sure they didn’t step in any Poison Joke lest they be the victims of nature’s sense of humor.

The path the ponies had been following went out of view as the group arrived at what Pinkie had found. Stuck in a ditch was a bright red wagon, with an engine attached to the back with belts running through the floor of the wagon and attaching to the rear axle, while the front axle was connected to a series of gears and the steering wheel. The seemingly random patches of gold on the engine suggested it had been salvaged from its previous home inside the golden apple cart the CMC had booby trapped to get revenge on the visiting Babs Seed. That had ended poorly for the CMC when they ended up saving Babs instead, so the fact the same engine had only caused more trouble for the three fillies was unsurprising.

On the other hoof, though, Applejack had to admit for long distance traveling, this ‘car’ could prove useful, but as the engine had no speed control it was easy to see how the vehicle had gotten away from the fillies. It also reminded her of that infernal machine those two brothers had arrived in that nearly ruined the Apples, the “Super Speedy something-or-other 9001”, although that had been powered by unicorn magic and had probably already been abandoned in a ditch as well, the brothers moving on to a new scheme to take over other ponies businesses.

“Twilight, do you think you could lift this thing outta here?” asked Applejack, already knowing the answer.

“I don’t need to think I could, silly,” teased the unicorn as her horn became surrounded by a purple aura. The car became engulfed in an aura of the same color and began to rise out of the ditch as if it suddenly was a helium balloon. Effortlessly, Twilight magically moved the wagon through the air and, with a nod, started walking it towards the path while it floated ahead of her, reorienting itself as to not collide with trees and other obstacles.

Rarity was the one who broke the silence: “So, remind me again why I’m losing beauty sleep over this, a situation where I’m not even needed?” AJ gave her a look that clearly meant she was trying to figure out an answer, but she never got the chance as Rarity’s scowl turned into a teasing smile. While she was rather unhappy about having to come out into the forest for nothing, AJ’s little confession earlier made it clear Rarity’s mere presence has been reason enough to ask her to accompany her into this place, and who was Rarity to deny one of her closest friends that kind of support?

Rainbow, in comparison, was understandably annoyed for the same reasons. While she too was willing to help out a friend in need, it was the fact her earlier suggestion of waiting until morning to find the car would have saved them all some sleep and effort since the only thing that got damaged was some trees. No harmed animals, no explosions, no nothing but a wrecked cart. RD of course made this annoyance clear in mumbling to herself as she followed Rarity back to the forest path, Pinkie and Fluttershy following behind. Applejack was the last to leave, smiling in that nothing bad had happened.

That was when something bad happened.

Out of nowhere, a shadowy figure shot out of the forest and right into Applejack, sending her flying back and hitting a tree. Dazed, she didn’t even have enough time before the creature before her was suddenly right in her face and pinning her down. Then she felt it bite into her neck, to which all she could do was scream.

Everything after that became a blur. The sound of something crashing into the ground a short distance away. Pinkie screaming at the thing biting into her neck. The thing letting go to bark at the location Pinkie had been at. A familiar streak of purple magic blasting the creature away. Something vaguely resembling a pony with purple hair standing above her. Then it was all dark as AJ passed out, a combination of shock and blood loss.

Ch.2: The Beginning of Issues

Chapter 2

Applejack woke up to find herself staring at a blue wall. It was hard enough just to open her eyes, to say she felt like crap was an understatement. But at least she knew she was safe, this couldn’t have been anywhere else other than Ponyville General Hospital. Which would explain why she was in a bed, had something wrapped heavily around her neck, and one of those electronic heart rate monitors attached to her right foreleg. Her vision slowly getting better, she could see her familiar brown hat hanging on the coat rack next to the door, waiting for its owner to wear it again. But she didn’t remember asking anypony to put it up there. Then again, she didn’t remember what-

“Oh no!” exclaimed the orange mare as she sat up in the bed. Her friends! Where were they, what happened?! She only grew more panicked as the hazy memories returned. The amount of time since the attack was unknown, but all she could remember was some creature attacking her in the forest and her passing out when her friends rushed in to help.

Thankfully, as she chanced to glance to her right, she didn’t need to worry. Her friends were very much alive, having kept vigil over her in the room overnight as evidenced by them all having fallen asleep. AJ couldn’t help but chuckle when she saw Rainbow, who was curled up in a chair and sucking on her hoof like a baby. Somehow, that didn’t surprise her.

But that didn’t change the fact there was something in the forest that was dangerous, but more importantly also silent as the night when moving about. Sure, the Everfree forest was full of dangerous creatures such as the Manticore, the Cockatrice, and most dangerous of all the Timberwolves. In fact, AJ was thinking it was a Timberwolf that attacked her, but while extremely vicious they do have the problem of not being as stealthy as they would like since all that wood in their bodies gives them away. They also have extremely bad breath, which this creature that attacked her did not (well, she didn’t actually remember smelling it, but even if it was bad it wasn’t nearly as noticeable as the breath of a Timberwolf). AJ also reasoned that Twilight had come up with this rationale beforehand and sent a letter off to the Princesses to let them know of this new problem.

That was when a nurse pony entered the room. Applejack immediately identified her as Nurse Redheart, who had been at both the temporary emergency clinic after the “baked bads” incident and had been annoyed by Pinkie’s antics when the Cake twins had been born.

“Oh, good, you’re awake!” Redheart said, the relief in her voice showing her concern for AJ’s health. “You gave the hospital quite a scare when your friend over there teleported both you and the rest of her party to our front door. You’re lucky that she acted so quickly, you were losing a lot of blood by the time you arrived last night. Had she not acted as quickly, you might have received permanent brain damage.”

“Nurse,” Applejack asked in response, “does mah family know Ah’m here?”

“Of course. After you were admitted your pegasus friends flew off to let them know. You have some dedicated friends, Miss Applejack, normally visitors aren’t allowed past 8pm but since you six have saved Equestria so many times, you all get to be the exception,” replied Redheart with a wink.

“Thank you, nurse.”

“Of course. However, when you were admitted, all we could get out of your friend's rapid-fire talking was that something had happened in the Everfree Forest involving some contraption called a ‘car’, do you think you could give us a little more information on why that relates to what we’re guessing was a Timberwolf attack?”

“Um….” Applejack had to think on that one. She couldn’t outright say it wasn’t a Timberwolf, she knew it wasn’t but Nurse Redheart probably wouldn’t believe her and/or think she actually had brain damage from blood loss. Then again, whatever had attacked her had been vaguely wolf-like, so it wouldn’t exactly be lying if she said as such, and maybe she could keep this a secret as Twilight would most likely have recommended in the face of a new threat in the Everfree. Making up her mind, Applejack decided to tell as much as she felt comfortable in telling Redheart; “Well, this whole thing started when Ah learned mah sister decided to try inventin’ this thing called a ‘car’ with her friends…”

The hospital staff didn’t know what to make of Applejack’s injury. Or rather, how fast the injury had healed. Most ponies lucky enough to survive a Timberwolf bite to the jugular and not lose enough blood for there to be brain damage take weeks or even months to recover to the point of being able to function normally.

But with Applejack, the wounds had stopped bleeding within twelve hours of her receiving them, and after a full day of her staying in the hospital (the hospital insisted on it in case the wounds were infected or worse) they had completely healed up. Her fur had even grown back, so there was no sign of her ever having been nearly fatally wounded. The doctors didn’t know what to make of it, although a popular theory was that Applejack was in fact granted rapid healing abilities due to her connection with the Elements, objects of power so great even the great Princesses didn’t fully understand them. With the mare herself showing no signs of the injury having any lasting effects, the staff had no choice but to let her go.

Upon arriving home, Applejack was tackled by her family, all of them grateful that she was alright. Apple Bloom especially, who burst into tears while hugging her big sister like she was going to lose her again very soon, since she blamed herself for causing the whole situation in the first place due to building the car. The car itself, which was slightly damaged and been left on the path in the Everfree Forest due to Twilight’s quick reactions to the attack, was recovered a few days later. Applejack and friends, along with a few Royal Guards sent by Celestia to ensure safety, towed the vehicle to the barn where it had been conceived. There it would stay until the Apples decided what to do with it.

As for Applejack, she was just glad that after the whole ordeal, everything was returning to normal. As she returned home after a shopping trip to buy more red barn paint (for which the crown also paid for, much to her relief), she noted that she no longer felt afraid of the night. While she figured she’d been afraid of the thing that had attacked her, the fact she knew what it generally was and had even faced it probably had something to do with her now absent fear.

“Probably somethin' to talk with Twilight about,” she mused as she stored the paint in the barn, this time well out of reach of Apple Bloom in case she tried building something like a larger car with a cardboard Twilight in the back (why Apple Bloom would want another car with a fake Twilight in the back, AJ had no idea, but the idea struck her as funny). Then, drawn by the scent of fresh apple-based food coming from the kitchen, the farm pony locked up the barn to join her family. All was as it should be.
Or so they thought.

Little did Applejack know the horror of what was in store for her. It was about a month after the attack that Applejack started to show signs that maybe something wasn’t right with her after all.

At the time of the car being recovered, Applejack had intended to confront Sandalwood about the whole affair the next day. However, due to family matters, Sandalwood had been out of town for a week to return to Fairflanks. But now she was returning home, much to the joy of Lotus and Aloe, whose business had been markedly improving ever since Sandalwood had lent her perfume expertise to them.

And it pleased one orange earth pony who had a score to settle.

It was the day after Sandalwood resumed her post at the spa, a bright sunny day that would never imply the dark times that were ahead for several of the town’s residents. The tan-and-brown earth pony was busy organizing her stock of perfumes for the aromatherapy options the spa had recently added to their services.

“Hey, Sandy!” called out Lotus, “There’s somebody here who wants to talk to you!”

“Okay, be right there!” answered Sandalwood, wondering who could possibly want to talk to her.

She found Applejack waiting in the lobby, wearing a rather unhappy expression. Sandalwood couldn’t help but think it wasn’t related to how the farm pony normally didn’t visit the spa unless her friend Rarity was also present.

“Can I help you, miss?” asked Sandalwood. Even if the pony wasn’t a regular customer, she wasn’t going to turn her down. No discounts, though, even if she was a friend of Rarity’s, since Sandy needed to prove the aromatherapy was profitable. The perfumes she had to import were not cheap.

“Yeah, we have a little problem to discuss,” Applejack answered. Coldly. That immediately got Sandalwood on edge; she’d evidently done wrong by this pony but for the life of her she could imagine why.

“A problem? I apologize, but I don’t know what you’re-”

“Ya encouraged mah sister an’ her friends to build a wood-and-metal deathtrap ya call a ‘car’!” Applejack interrupted. It was clear she was getting angry about this, more so with every passing second.

“I what? I did no such thing!” exclaimed Sandalwood. She legitimately didn’t know what the other pony was talking about, or more worryingly how she knew about ‘the car’ project. Then again, Sandalwood didn’t even know who this pony was, unless… “Wait, your sister? As in that yellow filly with the red mane?”

“Yes, mah sister Apple Bloom, and her friends; the orange Pegasus and the pale gray unicorn, yah inspired them to make a ‘car’ that nearly killed them, an’ then later nearly indirectly killed me!”

Sandalwood immediately knew what had happened, the expression on her face evidence enough. “Oh, Celestia…look, I’m really sorry if they caused any trouble, but I did not say anything about them building a car.”

“Then what did ya say?!”

Letting out a sigh, Sandalwood did her best to explain; “Okay, I know the fillies you’re talking about. I told them what a car is, Lyra and I are working on making one ourselves, but don’t tell anyone since it apparently involves parts from an incident nobody wants to tell me bout, at least according to Lyra. I had to, I dunno how they found out about it but they wouldn’t leave me alone. They’d also known it was red somehow, so I told them the color made it go faster. At no point did I ever suggest they actually try to make one themselves!”

“LIAR!” exclaimed Applejack, who suddenly rushed forward to throttle the other pony, slamming her into the wall. Sandalwood could only convey fear at the expression of rage on Applejack’s face, which she could only describe as extremely unpony-like.

“Applejack, what are you doing?!” a very fancy sounding voice suddenly shouted from behind her. Turning to see the source of the voice, Applejack was shocked to see it was none other than Rarity, who was also wearing her custom spa robe.

“Ah, um…” answered the orange mare. She then realized she was still holding Sandalwood by the neck and reacted as if she hadn’t known she’d been trying to kill the aromatherapy expert the whole time. “Oh Celestia, Ah’m so sorry!” Applejack said apologetically as she let go of Sandalwood, letting the gasping pony fall to the floor. “Ah...Ah just don’t know what came over me!”

“Sandalwood, are you alright?!” Rarity said as she rushed to the other pony’s side, letting her farmer friend try to reason out her actions from a moment ago.

“Yeah, I’ll…I’ll be fine,” replied the shaken, but not stirred pony. “Look, uh, Applejack is it? I understand your anger, but please understand that if I’d had any knowledge your sister and her friends were actually trying to make a motorized vehicle I would have done everything in my power to stop them. But next time, don’t try to choke anypony, okay?”

“Uh, yeah…” AJ said in response. This wasn’t like her, not at all. Sure, she got angry, but never enough to actually try to choke another pony out of pure rage.

“Applejack, darling, are you feeling okay? Maybe you need to go home and lie down, let yourself relax. After all, you’ve been working those apple trees almost around the clock ever since the doctor said you were okay to go back to work.”

“Yeah…maybe yer right, Rarity, maybe the whole car business went to mah head…”. With an acknowledgement through nods, Applejack slowly turned and left the spa.

“What was her problem?” asked Sandalwood once she was sure her assailant was out of earshot “I was trying to explain what I knew about this car business when she just screamed at me and tried to strangle me!”

“While it is odd for somepony like Applejack to go that far into rage, she’s been through a lot lately. How about I tell you about it while you demonstrate this new aromatherapy that Lotus and Aloe have been just gushing about?”

“Of course, those two have been telling me that of all the ponies in this town, you’re the one who needs to experience my skills firsthand. And then after you tell me why I just nearly died, we can discuss some of your new fashions? I must admit, I’m somewhat of a fan of your work, Miss Rarity.”

“Oh, but of course!” happily exclaimed Rarity as the two headed into the back areas of the spa, “I can tell we’re going to get along just fine, you and I, just fine indeed!”

Meanwhile, at Golden Oaks Library, Twilight was very pleased with a recent arrival to the collection. The book, a rare copy of Magical and Maniacal Monsters of Malicious Mayhem, was one she’d been wanting to look at for weeks, but due to a recent scientific discovery involving the connection between the race known as Changelings and the formerly-believed-to-exist selkies; the water horses of the west, most of the available copies had been checked out and the waiting lists so long that even the Princesses had trouble putting Twilight at the top of the waiting list. It had annoyed Celestia to the point she’d ordered that Golden Oaks to receive a copy to be permanently added to its inventory. “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!” Twilight shouted over and over, bouncing around the library.

“Twilight are you actually going to read that book or just stare at the cover all day?” asked her companion Spike, number one assistant and adopted younger brother.

“I’m sorry, Spike, but I’ve been wanting to look at this book for so long that the fact the Princess was willing to give me a private copy is just so…amazing!”

“I read the letter that came with that book, Twilight, the princess said that book is for the collection, not exclusively for you” smugly commented the purple dragon.

“Honestly, Spike, you think anybody is going to check out a book like this?” countered Twilight, equally smug. As the librarian, she knew the books most of the ponies checked out in Ponyville, and outside of Lyra and the transplant Sandalwood nobody really checked out books dealing with scientific anomalies. And there was no way in hell Twilight was letting those two get their hooves on this book, the crazy ideas they might come up with from the cover alone would be disastrous.

Deflected, Spike just rolled his eyes and went back to re-alphabetizing the “Magic 101 for Young Unicorns” section, noting how poor the condition of many of the books were, no doubt from young unicorns trying higher level spells on them such as setting them on fire or attempting to turn the books into Daring Do fanfiction.

While Spike went back to work, Twilight decided to set her new book aside while she worked on her own reports, which was another summary of the recent letters to the princess both she and her friends had sent in the past few months. Had she given into temptation and read the book then and there, much of the events she would later be involved with could have been prevented.

“LYRA!” exclaimed Bon-Bon. Derpy had just delivered the mail, and much to Bon-Bon’s annoyance another one of “those” letters had arrived.

“Be right there!” called out the unicorn. Bon-Bon just rolled her eyes and dropped the mail on the kitchen table. There needed to be an intervention, now, or else Bon-Bon was going to lose her mind. Finally, Lyra entered the kitchen with a smile on her face, greeting the other pony with a smile.

“What’s up?”

“I’m not sure how much more I can take of this, Lyra. This is the fifth letter in two months from your father. I know it’s to you but don’t pretend we both don’t know what it’s about.”

Lyra’s face fell. Her father had been sending letters about the same subject for some time, but she’d just figured he’d stop after a while. But if Bon-Bon was going to snap before then, Lyra had no choice. “Fine, I’ll call him later when I know he’s home and we’ll settle it right then and there.”

“Please, Lyra, if your father ruins this relationship then…then I don’t know what I’ll do!” Bon-Bon exclaimed while trying to avoid breaking down into tears. Always ready to support her close friend, Lyra walked over and draped a foreleg over Bon-Bon, drawing her into a hug.

“I know how much Chocolate Chip means to you, Bonnie,” soothed Lyra. “Even if he found one of these letters, I know he loves you too much for this to breakup with you.”

“I know, it’s just that…you know the trouble I’ve had with stallions, I don’t want to lose Chip, I know he’s my special somepony and that we’re meant to be together, so for your father to-“

“Bon-Bon, it’s not going to happen. I know my dad thinks we’re a lesbian couple even though I’ve told him many times we’re just flatmates. I think he just wants me to get married, even though he knows I’m straight. I swear to Luna if this one even suggests that you secretly want to have my babies, I’ll have him committed to an insane asylum.”

“I’d do it myself if that was the case. I like you Lyra, but suggesting I’m that much in love with you to the point of physical impossibility, well that’s just crazy. Then again, you believe in humans and managed to convince me to give you the shed outside for that weird-ass machine project, so crazy must run in the family!”

The two friends shared a good laugh. Lyra’s fascination was a point of mockery, but the unicorn took it in stride, and while many ponies insisted she and Bon-Bon were a gay couple they were just extremely close friends.

“Speaking of that thing you’re building in the shed, are you willing to tell me more about why it allegedly nearly got Applejack killed?”

“I told you, Bonnie, the CMC tried building their own car, they crashed it in the Everfree, and when trying to salvage it for parts a Timberwolf attacked her. But this car, well…let’s just say when it’s done, you’ll make the fastest confection deliveries in all of Equestria!”

Big Mac, ever the stallion of small words and stoic expressions, was worried. Something was wrong with his little sister that much was obvious. She’d come home from town earlier today looking down about herself, enough of a character change that Big Mac had to ask what was wrong.

“Nuthin’,” AJ replied despondently before moving on towards the house.

Watching silently, Big Mac watched the light in her room go on and then off, indicating she’d gone to bed. But at this hour? This was very unlike her. The sun was never above the horizon when AJ finally went to her bed, not as long as she’d been alive, not even when she was sick. Or was she sick?

The thought hit Big Mac like a falling anvil. It had been a silent agreement between himself and Granny to never reveal the truth as to why the Apple Family had a grandmother and three kids, but not the parents. As far as Applejack and Apple Bloom knew, along with the rest of the town, the parents had died from an extremely rare case of pneumonia during a freak magical storm. But the real cause of death was something Big Mac felt they never needed to know. He’d been told at the time and it had nearly destroyed him emotionally, and he could not let the same happen to his sisters.

But the last time an Apple Family member went to bed this early…Big Mac feared the worst. There was still time, though, so he had to act fast. Informing Granny and Apple Bloom of his intentions, the red stallion cut loose and turned a fifteen minute walk to town into a five minute gallop. He’d never run so hard in his life, but his family may be on the line and he couldn’t lose them to the same thing that claimed their parents.

Spike was shocked to find the knocking on the door was from Big Mac, who was also uncharacteristically out of breath. Before Spike could even ask what he was doing there, the mighty pony had one request to make of the dragon:

“Spike…Ah need…to send ah letter…to Canterlot!”

Ch.14: SAYS (If Applejack was also a Werewolf) - Part 1

Chapter 14: Spike At Your Service (if Applejack was also a Werewolf)

It was a rare moment of rest for Applejack. No trees needed to be bucked, no gutters to be fixed, no nothing. But idleness was something Applejack wasn’t too fond of, especially now that she was still coming to grips with her lycanthropy. Idleness tended to lead to wandering thoughts.

It had been almost a month now since she had first undergone the transformation, had fully become a werewolf. At first it had seemed like something she could find advantageous, but over time she began to learn the flaws and was questioning the trade-off she’d been forced to make. Originally it had just been a problem of meat, but after having to confide in Lyra and Sandalwood that had become somewhat less of a problem as those two had figured out how to get in some fish for her. It wasn’t as good as a juicy hamburger or a chicken, but seafood meat was better than nothing, even if it did screw up her normal meals as she couldn’t be seen eating fish in public.

Then there was the problem of her altered biology. While at this point she could go back into town easily enough without all the dogs chasing her, it still remained unclear on whether or not she’d have to wear more Chattelle No. 50 the next time her “monthly visitor” came to pass. Coupled onto the worry of what was happening to her body was that her ears seemed slightly different. While nopony had noticed yet, Applejack had detected something was off. The edges appeared to have become a tiny bit straighter, not enough to look significantly different but obvious enough if compared to a normal pony ear.

But the scare about her faded cutie mark still was fresh in her mind. She’d washed her flanks especially hard that night after they were discovered, but while some luster was brought back to the trio of apples, they still remained just that tiny bit faded that bothered her to no end. Twilight had come by the next morning, informing Applejack that what she had was some kind of “cutie mark dandruff” issue, apparently an extremely rare genetic condition she’d heard from a visiting crystal pony who’d talked to her last night. Applejack was relieved to hear the dulling of her identity was only temporary and it should come back. And come back it did, as at that moment her cutie mark appeared like nothing had changed.

But it was the nature of this “dandruff” that Twilight had spoken about that kept Applejack worried. She said it was some kinda rare, genetic thing, thought AJ, but if that’s the case then why has the rest of the Apple Family not even said a word about such a thing? Ah’d expect somepony who’s a relative of mine to have had this happen. Also, what about Big Mac and Apple Bloom? What if they have this problem comin’ their way as well? Big Mac probably won’t make a big issue of it, but Apple Bloom would freak if her cutie mark, whatever it is when she finally gets it, starts to fade away. Maybe it’s somethin’ from Mom’s side of the family? Ah dunno…

Before that line of thinking could be pursued further, something on the edge of her vision drew AJ’s attention elsewhere. A hot air balloon, similar to the model Twilight sometimes used, was somehow drifting away from the center of town and towards the Everfree Forest. This warranted investigation, so Applejack quickly took her things back to the barn before heading off in the direction of the wild woods. Once she was sufficiently surrounded by the trees, however, the mare looked around to ensure the coast was clear before willing herself to change forms. Within a minute, gone was the farmer and in her place was the hunter, who took off like a rocket to track down that balloon. It wasn’t hard at this point, the rope that had been dangling from it must have snared on a branch in a thicket somewhere and anchored the vessel. Simple enough, thought Applejack, just grab the balloon’s rope and walk it back to town.

Or at least that had been the plan had she not heard a distinctly young male voice that could have only come from one particular pony. Or rather, one particular dragon. Almost instinctively, Applejack changed from wolf hybrid back to regular pony while she was still running, subconsciously not wanting him to know her secret. But from what she could tell, Spike was actually yelling in terror, and her heightened sense of smell indicated…

“Timberwolves…“ Applejack snarled. Normally she should have been more concerned about the danger represented by the decidedly foul breath scent in the air, the presence of rotten eggs meaning the walking piles of lumber were nearby, but AJ was no longer a normal pony. She was a werewolf, and right now there were wolves of another sort threatening a member of her “pack”, so-to-speak.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Spike was sweating up a storm as he found himself backed up against a rock ledge. In front of him was a trio of timberwolves, canids somehow magically constructed out of the cast-off pieces of trees and grasses that lived in the Everfree Forest. As he was sure that death was certain, he didn’t know if it was worse that he was going to get eaten alive, or that he was going to get eaten alive while subjected to the stench of rotten eggs.

Then, right as the center lead timberwolf was about to attack, some gray shot from the sky and hit him square in the face. Reeling from the attack, the leader looked up to the source of the offending rock, his two cronies following suit. They found on top of the rock ledge a strange, hat-wearing orange pony tossing a rock up and down with her hoof.

“Come and get me, ya big goons!” taunted Applejack as she tossed up the rock before bucking back right into the face of the same wolf and yelling “RUN!” to Spike, before dashing off herself. Spike did as he was told and ran off in a different direction as the timberwolves chased after their new antagonist.

Now, had Applejack been able to safely morph into her wolf form, she could have easily outrun the timberwolves, but since Spike was still around she couldn’t risk it. Instead, as the wolves easily kept pace with her, she noticed a low hanging branch hanging in front of her. Some quick thinking later and one of the wolves went to pieces when said branch smacked him in the face, but the other two wolves continued to bear down on the pony. That number was quickly reduced to one when applejack found some more small rocks and bucked them right into the legs of one of her pursuers, causing the unlucky doppelganger to crash into the ground and break up under his own momentum.

The last wolf, however, was almost on top of Applejack due to her pausing to kick rocks, so time was running out for her. At least, until she saw a tree straight ahead that had a circular gap in the middle of it. Deciding to risk it, the farm pony called forth all of her rodeo skills and jumped through the hole, the timberwolf following close behind. Applejack made it, but took the landing a bit too hard and ended up rolling a bit, managing to stand up only to see two disembodied forelegs with sharp twig claws rocketing right at her. They landed just short before clenching and crumbling into its individual pieces.

She barely had enough time to take a sigh of relief before Spike came around and exclaimed “Wow, Applejack! That was amazing! I mean, you rocketed those boulders at them like they were…rockets! Pow, pow, pow-pow-pow! You saved my life!” before then saying in a much softer tone, “You…saved…my life…”

Just happy Spike was safe, Applejack simply replied “Aw, don’t mention it, Spike. C’mon, we should be headin’ on back, now.”

“Man, am I lucky you were out here! Uh...why were you out here?”

“Saw the balloon floatin’ by with nopony in it, came out here to investigate. Guess you did too, huh?

“Uh, yeah…I was investigating the runaway hot air balloon, too! So, uh, now that the mystery’s been solved, let’s get outta here, huh?”

Applejack didn’t reply, but simply untied the balloon’s rope from the twig (which she noted looked a little too nice of a knot to have happened naturally…) and started walking alongside Spike and out of the forest. Neither of them noticed the timberwolf pieces behind them reforming in a menacing way.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Later, Applejack and Spike were standing in front of a gate just outside Sweet Apple Acres. Cherry Berry had come to recollect the balloon, none too happy about having to walk all the way out to the farm to collect it.

“Thanks fer walkin’ me home, Spike, that was mighty kind of you. But now Ah have chores that need tendin’ to, so see you later.”

To her surprise, Spike immediately responded “What chores? I’ll do them!”

“That’s sweet, but you don’t have-“

“It’s the least I can do! You saved my life! I need to repay the favor.”

Now getting slightly concerned about Spike suddenly being a little too eager to do her duties, Applejack continued to try and turn him off of the idea; “Shoot, Spike, that’s what friends do for each other. You don’t need to repay the favor.”

“Yes, I do!”

“Sugar, its okay, it’s not necessary.”

“Applejack, you don’t understand! This is something I really need to do!”

Realizing she wasn’t going to convince the dragon otherwise, Applejack conceded to the idea of letting the young dragon help and pointed him in the direction of Apple Bloom, who was cleaning one of the farm’s prized pigs. Spike eagerly dashed off to go assist. Little did Applejack understand how the rest of the day was going to devolve into one massive headache after another simply because she’d saved him from a grisly fate.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, in the archives of Castle Canterlot…

“Celly, where are those medical texts I was going to read? I know I put them somewhere around here…”

“Oh, sorry Luna, I didn’t know you’d set them aside. They’re actually with Twilight at the moment.”

Luna appeared from behind a bookshelf, surprised at her sister’s actions. “Twilight?! What in Equestria were you thinking sending such complex books to her?”

Celestia didn’t look up from the ancient tome she was reading when she replied “You forget, dear sister, I made Twilight Sparkle my personal pupil for a reason. Her magic power being almost as great as yours, mine, or Cadance’s aside, she’s extremely adept at understanding complex texts and picking things out of their hiding places in context.” Celestia then smiled as she recalled a memory of her loyal student when she was in the middle of her studies under royalty, “This was before your return, Luna, back when Twilight was in her teenage years, but she’d gone through the entire library’s inventory of advanced magic spells and was demanding for Head Archivist Leatherback to let her access the restricted portion of the Star Swirl shelves.”

Luna’s expression went from surprise to horror at the mere thought of a filly as powerful as Twilight Sparkle getting her hooves onto things like time travel spells without any mature sensibility or respect for the fragility of time. “I presume Leatherback denied that request?”

“Oh, she went much further than that. Every restricted item from the Star Swirl shelves were immediately removed and stored in a royal vault by her command, simply to ensure little Twilight didn’t access them.” Celestia laughed. “I never said this to Twilight, but when she was that age she was just adorable to see pout, and oh how she pouted when she discovered the guards weren’t going to let her go into the vaults. How she found out they were in the vaults I don’t know, but for almost a year she kept on bugging me to let her read even just one of the books, for ‘light reading’ I think. She finally stopped when I agreed to teach her how to reverse gravity.”

“You taught a filly WHAT!?” Luna exclaimed, forgetting that this was a library she was in.

Celestia just laughed again before continuing “Don’t worry, Luna, her power was still too weak at that age to sufficiently accomplish the spell without my help, so she always was under my supervision. In the end I’m glad I taught her that spell, as she told me it came in handy when trying to locate the Crystal Heart.”

Luna just rolled her eyes, “Yes, yes, although I’d say it was just luck she remembered the spell in the first place. You also have failed to answer the question as to why you sent Twilight those manuscripts.”

“Oh, right, I probably should have told you earlier. It seems Twilight has learned that a condition where a pony’s cutie mark fades does in fact exist. It’s called ‘Cutie Mark Mange’, I think. She wanted some of the texts you’d set out, so I sent them along to her, saying I wanted her to read all twelve by the end of the weekend. Cruel, I know, but her record is actually thirteen books in a day so it shouldn’t be an issue for her.”

Luna immediately heard the bells ringing in her head, “Did you just say ‘Cutie Mark Mange’?”

“I did. Why, is there something about it you know that I don’t? Because I must be honest in saying I’ve never heard of it before.”

Luna walked over to take a seat next to her sister, answering with “Well, it was shortly before my, erm…’tantrum’ I had against you, but I do recall hearing a story about one stallion doctors had created that term for, because his cutie mark was somehow fading in and out.”

Celestia had to raise an eyebrow. Either this was an extreme coincidence, or Twilight had inadvertently stumbled onto something much older than Celestia even knew about, despite seemingly having been around the time “Cutie Mark Mange” had been coined.

“Luna, do you remember anything else about this that you may have heard?”

Luna set her front legs on the table, resting her head on her hooves and concentrating, trying to recall the old fragment of history in her head. “Umm…okay, this pony was…was apparently an ex royal guardsman, earth pony, name was Bronze Shield, I think. Everything else is blurry.”

Celestia knew that name from somewhere. Even after over a thousand years, she specifically knew of the name Bronze Shield somehow. But from where? And why?

Getting up from her chair, Celestia laid out her plan; “Well, if he was a royal guardspony, his name should be in the records. And if this Cutie Mark Mange existed even before your ‘tantrum’ then there should be records of all known cases.”
“I take it you want me to look for something, sister?” asked Luna.

“Yes. Try to find any more information you can on this mange this library may have. I’m going to get the archivists and go over those old recruit rosters from the early days of our reign. I know there’s a connection here that I’m just not seeing, but we’re going to find it one way or another.”

Nodding her agreement, Luna took off on her research assignment. Celestia did the same, but towards where the archivists lived in the castle. In her gut, she had a dreadful feeling that whatever the connection was, it was not good.
___________________________________________________________________________________
What in the hay am Ah supposed to do now? wondered Applejack as Spike eagerly awaited orders to do something else. It was bad enough that Apple Bloom had taken off after announcing the CMC’s plans to get fitted for water skis in another harebrained attempt at getting cutie marks, Applejack was going to be worrying about her all day. But the more immediate problem was that Spike had decided Applejack was the new Twilight Sparkle. For some reason or another, Spike had declared himself forever under Applejack’s servitude for saving his life as stated by some “Dragon Code” he had, complete with a childish looking business card implying as such. As much as Applejack didn’t mind having another set of hooves (or rather, claws in his case) to help around the farm, Spike was as bad as the CMC when it came to “helping others” with just about anything if it wasn’t organization based.

The problems had made themselves perfectly clear when Applejack had sent Spike to go help Granny Smith make some pies. Within a matter of minutes, Spike’s attempt to grab eggs on a high ledge despite some eggs already being on the kitchen counter had quickly turned into a culinary war zone where biological warfare had been introduced. When Applejack tried taking over the situation simply to get Spike out of the place, that was when this whole Dragon Code nonsense got brought into the forefront and Spike’s servitude to her declared for life. Granny pointing out that Spike belonged with Twilight Sparkle had at first seemed to get them out of their hair…until he came back acting like Twilight was somehow okay with her number one assistant pledging himself into what was rapidly becoming foal slavery from AJ’s point of view.

On top of all that, her werewolf instinct were beginning to kick in, inciting anger within her for having to deal with the increasingly troublesome and annoying dragon. She had to wonder if it was blind devotion to this Dragon Code that kept Spike from seeing how hard she was trying to not blow up in his face or show him some “tough love” by going full-out werewolf and making it clear in a physical sense how she was done with his crap. But she wasn’t at that point. Yet.

“What do you need me to do next?” eagerly inquired the reptilian, his voice suspiciously close to sounding a bit like he was desperate for something to keep him busy.

“Ah, well…” Applejack began, she herself desperately trying to hide both her anger and the stench of the mutant pie Spike had baked and set on the windowsill to cool a few minutes ago. She quickly began looking around the immediate area trying to figure out something Spike could do that wasn’t going to end horribly. Field Plowing? No. Fence Whitewashing? No. Firewood chopping? Celestia above, no! Running out of options, and tolerance for that horrible pie she could still smell (amplified by her being a werewolf), she resorted to having to involve one of her friends.

“Er, I want you to…uh…” Applejack began, zipping over to the window and back to fetch the foul thing that was allegedly a pie, “…help me take some of the pie you made to-“

“Rarity?” asked Spike, his pupils noticeably dilating in size at the mention of the target of his affections.

“Uh…sure, why not.” Applejack said, regretfully, as she and the dragon went off to go give Rarity something that should have never existed.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Applejack was amazed at the quick recovery Rarity had made even after having to just taste that abomination resembling a pie. She’d gone from looking as sick as could be do squealing all over the place upon Applejack mentioning Spike submitting himself to indentured servitude, almost as if the fashionista was the one this headache was supposed to be for and not incidentally the werewolf who had her own share of problems.

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have somepony forever in my debt!” said Rarity, still squealing about something that never happened, “I’d get them to organize my clothes, and give me pedicures, and help me with my sewing, and-“

“Okay, Ah get it! Havin’ somepony to do things for you would be a dream come true. But Ah don’t feel right havin’ Spike thinkin’ he owes me somethin’. You tasted that pie. Sometimes his help isn’t that helpful.”

As if to prove her point, the sound of something crashing could be heard, followed by Spike leading a growing mountain of soap bubbles…which he evidently intended to clean up with a broom before the bubbling smooze swallowed him up. Applejack had to wonder just what it was Twilight was teaching him if he thought a broom was the tool for a job. Not to mention he usually did the dishes at Golden Oaks anyway, from what Twilight had said some time ago, so the idea he’d somehow become inept at everything under the sun seemed extremely odd.

Then Rainbow Dash happened to show up. “AJ, Rarity, what’s happening?”

“Oh, nothing much” replied the unicorn, somehow completely ignoring the bubbles continuing to grow in the hallway and probably already having ruined an imported rug or three, “just that Applejack saved Spike’s life and now he’s declared he will serve her forever.”

“Sweet! What are you having him do? Wash your laundry? Clean your room? Help you with your unfinished novel? Mine’s about this awesome pegasus who’s the best flyer ever and ends up being the captain of the Wonderbolts!”

Rarity threw a sarcastic comment on how horribly cliché it all sounded, which Rainbow naturally didn’t pick up on.

Applejack, meanwhile, was still concerned about the dragon trying to help her in ways she didn’t need. “Thing is, I don’t really want him to serve me forever, but I don’t know how to get him to stop.” In truth she did have one way, but it involved sharp claws, razor teeth, and possible psychological trauma, so it wasn’t really a viable option.

Rainbow Dash, however, seemed to be of a different opinion; “That’s easy! Just make him help you with something really, really hard!”

“Ah dunno, Ah don’t want him to get hurt, Ah just want him to stop.”

But Rainbow assured her friend that she was confident her plan would work. The “plan” as it turned out, was to convince Spike to build a giant tower of heavy rocks for Rainbow to knock over, with the idea being he’d stop due to the seemingly impossible workload of the task. At the same time, Rarity was horrified to see Spike’s “solution” to the bubble problem was to remove what looked like a key part of her kitchen plumbing. It was at that point she was re-evaluating whether or not Spike was of good indentured slave material.

“There has to be something here, I know it” said Celestia to herself as she poured over some ancient rosters of the guard from the early days of her reign. Nearby, almost the entire archivist staff was doing the same, all effort devoted to trying to find that one name: Bronze Shield. Even though much of Castle Everfree had been destroyed, along with most of its contents, in the battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, the archives had somehow escaped destruction and were largely intact. As a result, they had been one of the first things to be moved to the then-still unfinished Castle Canterlot, the new capital of Equestria. But Celestia was losing hope fast of finding this mysterious name, wondering if one or two roster scrolls had not escaped destruction or were lost in the move.

“Your majesty!” called out one of the archivists, “I’ve found it!”

Half running, half flying, Celestia hurried over to where the archivist gestured. Around the table the other archivists gathered as well.

“Show me, Ebony Ink,” said Celestia.

Ebony gestured with a hoof to a specific name was written. Sure enough, clear as day it read “Bronze Shield”.

“When was this made?” demanded the sun princess, the sinking feeling in her stomach only growing.

“The date places this roster about a few years into your reign, your highness.” Replied Ebony, “Hmm…there seems to be some kind of notation mark here on the name, something about him being part of the 34th centurion of the Guard at the time. If you don’t mind me asking, Princess, why is this name so-“

“How and why I know of Bronze Shield’s name is of any importance is something that is a private crown matter for the moment, Ebony. The fact he’s part of the 34th doesn’t surprise me, but I don’t know why.”

“I do, the 34th is the only Royal Guard centuria in history that went AWOL as traitors, at least until your sister tried to overthrow you and the subsequent reorganization of the Guard to make all basic groups into regiments.”

Celestia would have snapped at Ebony for the unintentional insult to the younger princess had that been the only detail. But if the 34th was the only rebel regiment of that entire time frame, that meant…

“Who was in charge of the 34th?” asked Celestia, not even bothering to try to hide the worry in her voice.

Another archivist spoke up: “I do believe it was Coronet Sable Loam, your highness, I remember reading about some kind of obsession with wolves that made him so…unique.”

At that moment, all the archivists hid their shock at what could only be Celestia’s face growing visibly pale. Celestia herself couldn’t believe what this information meant.

Sable Loam took his entire centurion up to Sombra, so that means every member of that wolf-loving cult was turned into a werewolf, thought Celestia, the pieces finally falling into place. It’s certain that the majority of the werewolves got out of the Crystal Empire before Sombra made it vanish for a thousand years, so it’s reasonable to assume this Bronze Shield fellow made it back to Equestria proper. But if Luna’s story is true, that the first known case of a fading cutie mark was on a pony who was a werewolf, then…then what?

Celestia realized that she was getting worked up over nothing. It was all coincidence, the fact Twilight was asking something purely out of theoretical speculation that happened to be possibly related to werewolves. Additionally, Celestia realized where she'd heard the name Bronze Shield from; he'd been Sable's right hand pony, which only reinforced the connection as Bronze had been the first of the few werewolves who had sought her forgiveness after Luna's banishment. The big scare with Applejack having been theorized to be one by Big Mac probably didn’t help matters, either. But as long as Twilight wasn’t saying she knew a pony whose cutie mark was fading, then there was no real issue at hoof.

“Your majesty, are you alright?” asked a concerned Ebony Ink.

Celestia snapped back to reality, color returning to her white face “Huh? What? Oh, sorry. I thought something was terribly wrong, but it was just me making connections where there were none to be made. Thank you, all of you, I no longer require your assistance at this present time. However, I would like this specific roster to be kept at the ready should I need to view it again soon.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

Author's Note

Apologies for no update on Monday, college got in the way and it completely slipped my mind.