An American Werewolf in Equestria
Chapter 5 – All you need is Love
(Candace’s Castle – Crystal Empire – the following day)
The train ride had been a bit faster than it had been before, although David supposed that Twilight explaining to the engineer that there was a werewolf on board who couldn’t be held responsible for his actions if they failed to reach the Crystal Empire before the rise of the moon may have helped. So now he stood in the grand hallway of a castle that looked similar to Ming’s castle in Flash Gordon. He remembered Jack insisting that he come along. Apparently Debbie Kline had a crush on one of the stars, and Jack was wanting to get into her good graces.
The movie was horrible, but the set designs were amazing. Ming’s castle had been an elaborate fortress made of marble and crystal. It was extremely ornate, but at the same time because of how it was built supposedly it could reflect and dispel laser fire. David could only guess that this castle could do something similar. A moment later he heard Twilight laughing.
“BBBFF!” she shouted.
“Twily! It’s good to see you. Is this your friend?” a white unicorn asked as he neared them.
“Shining, this is David,” Twilight said.
“How are you doing sir?” David asked.
“How I am is quite well, but from what I understand you have a problem that is going to be watched over, closely,” Shining said.
“BBBFF, what are you talking about?” Twilight asked.
“He has a point Twilight. We don’t know how much, if any, control I have when the transformation happens. They’re going to need to have someone there to stop me,” David replied.
“Good, I’m glad that you have realized that. We do not want to use lethal force; however, some of the research done by our information team tells us that normal pony lethal levels aren’t the same as werebeasts. Oh, they can be killed easily enough, but such things as poisons, or an overdose of sleeping potion won’t kill one. At best it may buy a couple hours,” Shining Armor said.
Twilight stood looking surprised and then shook her head.
“You can’t be serious!” she exclaimed.
“Twilight, I’m sorry, but my first responsibility is for the ponies here and all of Equestria. I have to ensure their safety,” he replied.
David knew what he was talking about. It was something he was trying to do when he tried to get arrested by the police in London. He wanted to be put away somewhere that he couldn’t hurt anyone. Shining Armor had actually had his people look into the history of the werebeasts of their world and learned a great deal about them. He looked at Twilight who looked upset.
“Twilight, your brother is doing what’s right. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I don’t want to cause anyone else pain, and if things don’t go according to plan I want to be put somewhere that I can’t hurt anyone else,” he said.
Shining Armor nodded and lead them into the castle. Twilight followed them and looked up at David. He wasn’t exactly what she would consider handsome. After all he was a completely different species, but he was kind and decent. She had even part of that in him when he became a wolf, which she needed to talk to Pinkie Pie about serving him Yin and Yang’s herbal tea. She had learned that it contained Wolf’s Bane, and that caused him to transform. Still, as she watched him she noticed something else about him. He was willing to put everypony else’s needs ahead of his own.
It made her look past the outer layer of who he was and instead into who he really was. A small dopey smile crossed her face and she quickly shook it off. She couldn’t be doing this right now. She was a princess, and she couldn’t be starting to really like him. She closed her eyes hard. She couldn’t be starting to feel this way about him. She tried to focus her thoughts onto helping him learn to control the wolf or the transformations. She ran into something and opened her eyes to see that she had ran into David’s blue jean cladded bottom.
“Twilight, you okay?” he asked.
“Y…yeah, I’m fine,” she said.
Candace smiled and trotted down from the throne to the floor.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves…” Candace began.
“and do a little shake!” Twilight said as they did a quick dance together.
David watched them. He had seen his own sister do something similar with her friends. He was surprised to see the slightly bigger pony walking toward him. She had a soft smile on her face as she neared him. He felt her place a hoof on his chest as she looked into his eyes.
“You’ve experienced so much loss haven’t you? I can see it there deep inside of you. It’s not just loss, but there’s been love, longing, all of it burns so bright inside of you,” she smiles and guides him toward the throne. She takes a seat and looks at him has he continues to stand.
“Wolves are interesting creatures. My husband has researched the threat all werebeasts pose. He has expressed to me different facts of what could happen if one was to run rampant throughout Equestria. I however have researched on what you are specifically. Werewolves are very much like normal wolves. An animal that I regret to say no longer exists in Equestria. Werewolves and normal wolves pick one mate. It is a single female that is their life mate, and they will never choose another,” she floated a cup that was sitting next to her throne up to her and took a drink, “If anything happens to this mate they never choose another. Often they go into seclusion and let themselves wither away.”
He looked at her trying to grasp what she was saying. Her gentle smile stayed in place as she motioned for him to come toward her.
“I see not only what you have experienced, but what your other self has experienced. There is violence, but I do not fault it. It has loved, and loved greatly. In truth before you came here it tried to save somepony it loved very dearly,” she said.
David nodded. He remember running away from Alex, trying to keep her finding him, trying to get locked up, trying anything to ensure that she would be safe. He couldn’t remember anything after the theater. It had went black, and he had felt any control he did have slip. Although, that wasn’t completely true. There was a brief image that he could see if he focused long enough. He could see Alex, standing in front of him, pleading with him to let her help him.
“The wolf inside you can be reached through love, and we’re going to try to reach it when you transform,” Candace said.
“Wait, is that a good idea? “ David asked.
“There will be several of us here to help make sure that you don’t act out,” Shining Armor said.
“I’m not so sure that would be a good idea. Jack had told me that I… I attacked and killed a lot of policemen back in London when I was turned. I don’t remember any of it, but I don’t want to do that here,” David replied.
“I’ll stay and help,” Twilight spoke up.
They looked at her.
“You listened to me last time. When you transformed you listened to me. You didn’t kill a griffin, and you didn’t kill me. You could have done either at any time, but you didn’t,” she said.
Candace cocked an eyebrow toward her sister-in-law and let out a little giggle.
“Oh? He listened to you did he?” she asked.
“It doesn’t mean that!” Twilight exclaimed.
Twilight felt her face blush. The truth was she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t completely sure why the wolf had listened to her. At first she thought it was because somewhere inside of it David had heard her and was trying to control it. If that was true then why did he hear her? She liked him as a friend, and he had proven himself to be extremely knowledgeable. The last few nights they had stayed up discussing literature, how something could be interpreted, and what the author may have meant.
It was so nice to have someone to talk to who had studied literature. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy talking to any of the others, but Rainbow Dash’s literature experience didn’t go past Daring Do. Rarity had been well read, but mainly in romance novels and fashion news. Applejack read western literature, and Fluttershy like reading well, she wasn’t sure what Fluttershy liked reading.
David was like a breath of fresh air. He challenged her, and he had the ability to look at every piece of literature through so many different theories and lenses. It made her readdress a few of her favorite books, but she didn’t think that it made him anything else than a good friend. She looked toward Candace who was beaming brightly.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Nothing, but I agree that you should be here,” Candace said.
“Wait, are we certain about this?” Shining Armor asked.
Candace turned toward him and smiled.
“Of course we’re sure. Oh this is going to work so beautifully!” Candace exclaimed giddily.
“Am I missing something?” David asked.
Shining Armor shook his head and looked at David.
“No, I think we both are,” he said.
The next few hours seemed to pass by so slowly. David walked with Shining Armor down into a large circular room. He asked if there was something they could to do make sure he was withstrained. Shining nodded and pointed to a collection of crystal chains and cuffs. He began explaining how the chains and cuffs would be magically charged and that it would be hard pressed for anything to escape them.
David nodded and then cleared his throat.
“Not to mean anything but… I really don’t want to shred another suit of clothes, and being naked… While I’m getting more used to it running around naked is kind of a taboo where I’m from,” he said.
Shining looked at him and shook his head.
“I don’t know what to tell you then. It’s likely that you’ll shred your clothes when you change, so if you want to save them you’ll need to take them off,” Shining said.
“I know, I know, I just don’t know about being naked around Twilight. Where I’m from a man and a woman don’t really see each other naked unless they’re going to swap some genetic material,” David said.
“Unless they’re going to...” Shining’s eyes widened.
“Okay, that’s not happening! You just need to get over this, and know that is not going to happen at all,” Shining said.
“I agree man…” David said.
“Twilight said that you’re called a human. I mean besides being a werewolf, but really, you humans are weird,” Shining said.
“I felt the same way about you ponies when I first arrived,” David replied.
“You’ve got about an hour before the moon rises. David, I respect your decision to want to protect everyone. I’ve got several guards ready to come down here and help make sure you don’t escape. I thought that I would let you know so you don’t have to worry,” he said.
“Send them down, but remind them not to get too close,” David said.
He nodded and trotted off. David took a breath and looked around himself. There was about an hour before the moon started to rise. The first time it happened the sky had darkened, and the moon was completely visible. He could only guess that the reason for this was because of the fact this was a curse. Twilight had told him that magic, all magic, had to have certain conditions that had to be met for them to work. This curse was magic. There was no getting around it. It wasn’t supposed to exist in his world, but it did. It was a piece of very old magic, and from what he gathered the moon had to be completely full, and it had to be visible.
He breathed out through his mouth and began to disrobe. The t-shirt slid off of his back easily enough and he tossed it toward the side. He then removed his new pair of shoes Rarity had made, his jeans, and finally he grabbed the waist band of his new boxers. He pulled them off and tossed them to the side as well. He had to admit that right now he felt more than just exposed. He felt vulnerable. He looked at the chains and began sliding them on. The sound of foot, or hoof rather, steps stopped him.
He looked up in time to see Twilight standing there. Before he could say a word, or cover himself, her jaw dropped. He could see her eyes bulge a little at what she saw.
“Wow,” she finally said.
He covered himself and looked at her.
“Sorry, sorry, I was just coming down to tell you that everyone is getting prepared… David, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of there,” she said.
“Yeah, but I’ve got your brother to worry about,” he said.
She looked at him.
“Trust me I explained what it meant in our world for a man and woman to see each other undressed. It usually ended up with them getting to know each other in every way possible,” he said.
She blushed and looked away from him.
“It doesn’t quite work that way here…” she said.
He quickly pulled the other chains and cuffs on.
“Twilight… Promise me that if this starts to go south you will get out of here,” he said.
She looked at him strangely.
“You’ve become a really good friend to me. I don’t want to lose another one, or make you end up like Jack was,” he said.
She walked toward him and touched his hand with her hoof. There was a sort of comforting smile on her face.
“You’ve become a good friend to me too, and I believe that you won’t hurt me. David, that other side of you didn’t hurt me,” she said.
He nodded and soon the sound of dozens of hooves trotting down the stairs could be heard. He looked up to see them all coming down. He knelt down and soon the chains and cuffs began to glow a bright purple. He could see Shining Armor charging it. The captain of the guard nodded to him and smiled.
He nodded and waited. For a moment there was nothing, and then there was pain. It was horrific, terrible pain that shot through him with more force than a thousand lightning bolts. He let out a terrible scream as his hands began to stretch out. Twilight looked at him and spoke softly.
“David, I’m right here. It’s going to be okay,” she said.
He fell to his knees as claws ripped through his fingernails. Some of the guards stepped back as his face began to stretch out into the form of a wolf. A few of them actually began to get sick as they heard the sound of his bones breaking, stretching, and reforming. Shining looked on horror as it continued. Finally when it was all said and done there was a large wolf like creature standing there.
It was larger than what normal wolves had been reported being, and it looked far different. It almost looked demonic. Candace let her horn glow blue and a bit of love magic charged as she directed it toward him. She let it float down to him and touch him.
At first it appeared that he was calming down. Or he was until one of the guard began nearing Twilight. He went from being withstrained to pulling hard against his bonds. He viciously growled and snarled at the guard.
The guard stepped back and he calmed down again.
Twilight neared him.
“David, do you hear me?” she asked.
The wolf tilted its head at her and finally it gave a nod.
Shining started to approach her and he growled at her. He stepped away from Twilight and the wolf stopped growling.
“I thought so… Twilight, sister, it would appear that you are his voice of reason,” she said.
Twilight looked to her and back at the wolf, at David who was sitting there looking at her. Suddenly her mind was filled with a thousand questions that she had no answer for.