//------------------------------// // A Cure in Sight // Story: Forever Wolfpony // by WhateverTheHeck //------------------------------// “Moon, are ya sure this is a good idea?” Apple Bloom asked, nervously scanning the dark bushes and shadowed corners of the Everfree Forest. Two other fillies followed behind her, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle acted the same, cautiously looking around dozens of times. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, had a bright smile on her face. Her wings fluttered in excitement. Ahead of the three fillies was a grey-coated pegasus colt named Fullmoon. His expression had more determination than the other three. His amethyst-colored eyes stared dead set ahead of him. He donned a brown and ragged cloak on his back, which covered his wings completely. His ears twitched slightly with every sound echoing in the general vicinity. The slight breeze that slipped through the gaps of the thick leaves made his red mane sway back and forth gently. “There isn’t any other way, Apple Bloom,” he replied, looking back for a second before locking himself back to his previous stance. “If there’s a way to cure me of this… thing, then I’ll do anything to get it.” He ducked under a branch, Scootaloo immediately getting hit by it. She shrugged it off, continuing the trot with the other ponies. “We couldn’t have sent a search party for it instead?” Sweetie Belle inquired. “Yes, find somepony else to get a spell book that they could potentially sell off instead, then tell us that they simply could not find it. Great idea,” he said, rolling his eyes.  “I was just suggesting,” she whined, lowering her ears in shame. Fullmoon reached into his saddlebag, gingerly pulling out a worn out map. He halted, the three fillies bumping into each other. He unfolded the map. “The monument should be around here somewhere…” He began muttering to himself, scanning the piece of parchment for the tiniest detail that he could’ve missed. “Maybe it just doesn’t exist?” Scootaloo suggested, looking in every direction. Sure enough, there was no monument to speak of. Just bushes, trees, and unrecognizable flora. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. Fullmoon’s face contorted in desperation. His eyes wandered around the map more. “No, it has to be!” he shouted. “This can’t all be for nothing… can it?” His ears drooped downwards. He stood up, taking the map in his hooves and putting it back into his saddlebag. “This way,” he stated, pointing to the left and heading in that direction. The group of fillies followed with worried glances. “You’re really scaring me, Fullmoon,” Sweetie Belle confided, catching up to trot next to him. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed suit. “Yeah, ya haven’t been like this before. What makes this one so special outta all the other times we’ve scoured the world?” Apple Bloom questioned, narrowly avoiding a bug nearly the size of her own head. Fullmoon let out a heavy-hearted sigh, stopping their trek. He turned to face them. “Three years,” he began, staring at the trio, “I have been like this for three years. So much pain. So much torment. All because of a stupid mistake I’ve made back then. After all of these years, I may finally have a true lead on something that could cure me. That could set me free from this… this… monster inside of me.” His hooves tensed up, the colt thinking of every time he transformed. All the lives he had taken. “If there’s a way to finally end all of this, then I’m willing to do anything to get it done.”  “What makes this all so different though?” Scootaloo asked. “This map, specifically.” He once more pulled out the chart, laying it flat on the ground. “It has to be decades, maybe even centuries old.” He pointed out the many stitched tears and dry stains on the parchment. “It seems to go all the way back to the ancient times, when wolfponies were a lot more common.”  He slowly traced a couple of the pathways labeled on the map with his hoof. “Some of these trails don’t even exist anymore.” He folded it back up and slotted it into his saddlebag. “That’s why this is more important than anything right now. I might finally have a chance to rid myself of this curse.” He gazed at the three fillies with a look of assurance. “Trust me, we finally have something in our hooves.” “Ah sure hope yer right,” Apple Bloom said, following him as he trotted through a bush. The two other fillies followed close behind.  Hours. At least that’s what it felt like. Hours upon hours of trotting across what seemed to be the same ground. The group’s hooves felt like they would fall off at any moment. And still no sign of what they were looking for. Their spirits had been drained almost completely. Any moment they would all break. Scootaloo finally piped up. “Ugh, we aren’t getting anywhere!” she shouted, falling onto her back. “We should just go back before it gets too dark!” The other two fillies nodded in agreement. “B-But we’re so close!” Fullmoon whined. “Moon, we ain’t close. Ya oughta’ know this by now. Ya’ve said the same ol’ thing, over and over. Every single time,” Apple Bloom said. “We can continue our search tomorra’.”  “Yeah, you’re really worrying us,” Sweetie Belle confided. “This isn’t normal.” “Maybe…” Fullmoon whispered, turning to face them. “Maybe you’re all right.” He placed a hoof on the side of his head. “I’ve been going on and on about these ruins, which may not even exist anymore. Maybe they never existed in the first place.” He let out a sigh. “We’ll search for a tiny bit longer. Then we’ll head back home.” The trio seemed to agree with that notion, nodding their heads in unison. “Finally! I thought we’d never get a chance to go home,” Sweetie Belle admitted, chuckling with a smile. Fullmoon turned back around, heading through another one of the bushes. They walked close behind. “So, Ah was thinkin’, what if we…” Apple Bloom spoke on and on, talking about plans to renovate the clubhouse and about helping some of their ‘clients’, as Sweetie Belle called them. Scootaloo didn’t listen to any of it either way. Rather, she was slowing down her trotting, eventually coming to a stop completely. Her orange ears began to twitch somewhat. She swore she heard… a faint whisper. As if something was talking to her. “Uh, guys…” Scootaloo began. They turned back to face her. “What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle asked, running back to her. “Do any of you hear that?” she replied, her ears rising up as the whispers grew louder. Wherever it was coming from, and whoever it was, it seemed to be speaking in some sort of unintelligible gibberish. None of the four foals could understand it anyway. Fullmoon suddenly turned to the left, growling in that direction. “T-this way…” he muttered between growls, beginning to walk towards the source of the whispers. The others hesitated, but soon trailed behind him as he sniffed the air. He picked up the scent of something… evil and corrupted. He followed it nonetheless, undeterred by the ominous utterances. Eventually he reached a clearing. In the clearing stood many stone pillars; some destroyed; others half-fallen. Chips and cracks of various sizes laced the form of each pillar. A rock path, which had also been ragged by time, lead to a pedestal standing proudly in the center of the clearing. Water surrounded the base of the structure, reflecting anything that dared to pass it. A dark green mist had risen from the pedestal. The sheer sight of it sent a chill down Fullmoon’s spine. Evil energy radiated from the area, powerful enough to give even the bravest of ponies a slight scare. The Crusaders soon arrived from the underbrush, trotting next to him. Their faces contorted at the sight of the area. “W-Woah… this is odd…” Sweetie Belle said, interrupting the silence.  “T-this--” he stuttered, pulling out the chart. In the middle of it was a pedestal. A green swirl drawn roughly on the parchment swirled around the object, very close to the real thing. “This is it!” He threw the paper on the ground, repeatedly poking at the drawing, hoofmarks stamped into the paper as he did. Anxious and disturbed by his behavior, the Crusaders followed behind.  “After all these years…” he mumbled, slowly treading up the rugged steps to his salvation. As he continued to rise up, the green smog that surrounded the area seemed to diminish around the relic. An average-sized book floated perpetually above the monument. A circle of moon phases decorated the leather cover, the spine of the tome lined with expertly woven black fur. An expertly carved fang, seemingly from a wolfpony, hung on a string and acting as a bookmark. The same mist escaped hastily from between the worn pages.  His eyes widened at the sight of it. “Finally…” he mused out loud, stepping gingerly towards the ancient artifact. “I-I’ll be cured! I won’t hurt anypony anymore!” he sputtered, standing directly in front of the pedestal. “Hurry, Moon! Ah don’t like it here…” Apple Bloom begged. Echoes and whispers began to surround the area. “Y-Yeah! There’s something off about this place!” Sweetie Belle added, standing back to back with her two friends. Wolfish eyes appeared  out of the shadows, one by one. More and more appeared, staring intently at the three fillies. The mist seemed to intensify. Their pleas didn’t reach Fullmoon’s ears. All he could hear were the thoughts scrambling in his head. My saving grace lies right in this book. I just need to grab it. He slowly reached out to it. As he did, the mist began to thicken even more. A plethora of mysterious eyes continued to stare at the Crusaders.  “M-Moon, hurry!” Scootaloo called, only to have her shout fall on deaf ears as his hoof touched the book. They shrieked as they watched what happened next. The tome swung open. A beam of bright green light enveloped the area, blinding anything and everything that dared to look at it. Fullmoon stumbled backwards, the book within his hooves, and fell down the steps. He landed on his back with a loud thump, yelping loudly. The eyes watching the quadrio changed to a bright teal, with black pupils shifting onto the colt. The blue eyes became figures, a mix of wolves large and small, black and brown. They charged at Fullmoon with tenacity, circling around him. Their irises stared at him as if he was a snack. “Fullmoon!” the three fillies cried. Sweetie Belle’s horn glowed, her attempting to stampede into the furred barrier. She only succeeded in getting knocked back, slammed against one of the broken pillars.  “Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom shrieked, both her and Scootaloo trotting to her aid. Sweetie Belle groaned as a sharp pain throbbed at the top of her head. She held the spot with her forehooves.  “I-I’m fine… b-but Moon!” Sweetie Belle managed through the pain. Moon, with the book in hooves, tried to escape. However, the wolves weren’t letting up. No escape in sight. He tried to fly up, but only made it a couple of feet before a shock went through his wings. He fell to the ground with a whimper, stretching his wings out. A purple bruise slowly formed it, must’ve been from when he toppled onto the rocky path. He stood up cautiously, tightly holding the tome under his foreleg. “Wait…” Fullmoon opened the book hastily. An index of many different types of spells was listed on its worn down pages. “There’s gotta be something in here!” He scanned the rough parchment, sweat dripping down his face as he read for his life. There were many different spells in the spellbook, all involving wolfponies and related races. Spells about cursing individuals, ancient medicines thought to treat the symptoms of Lycanthropy, and spells to protect the user and others against the savage beasts. He swiped through each page with desperation, starting to breathe erratically as the wolves began to converge. “Come on, come on…” he whispered under his breath.  “Head’s up!” Scootaloo called, running across one of the fallen pillars and leaping off into the fray. She was immediately deflected backwards, landing harshly on her back. She groaned in pain, shakily standing herself back up. “On my shoulders, now!” Apple Bloom commanded, standing on her hind legs. Sweetie Belle climbed up her friend, with Scootaloo following suit. They angled themselves, trying to throw Scootaloo into the middle of the pack. Instead, they lost balance, falling over backwards with a loud thud. The three fillies winced as they hit the hard ground, before standing back up again. “Maybe uhm… Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, the aforementioned filly cringing at the sound of her name. “Why me again!? Didn’t you see what happened to me just a few minutes ago?!” the marshmallow pony whined, ducking her head down. A small red lump was visible on the top of her head. The other two fillies winced. “Do you have a spell that could get them away from Moon? You’ve been practicing with Princess Twilight, haven’t you?” Scootaloo asked. “Uh… maybe?” She spun around, facing toward the pack of hungry beasts. Her horn began to charge up, emanating a bright green glow. Her front hoof scuffed against the ground like a bull, ready to let loose her magic at any moment. Fullmoon continued to peruse the book. His gasping for air sped up swiftly, the wolves forming a tight and cramped circle around him. “H-Here!” He slammed his hoof down onto the page, right under the name of the spell etched in ink. ‘Lupus Sanguine Imperium’ it read. He began to read aloud. “Qui habet. Regere Sanguine Lupum!” His voice echoed with the last word muttered. The circling stampede of wolves came to a screeching halt, their scleras turning from teal to a luminous green. Moon’s did the same, however his pupils shifted from a deep purple to a wolfish yellow. The effect only lasted for a second, before the group’s eyes turned back to normal. The monsters began to whimper before running off back into the depths of the forest. Moon, on the other hoof, fell over and slumped into a heap. The tome in his hooves sunk to the ground, slamming shut. “Fire--Wait!” Apple Bloom shouted, but it was too late. Sweetie Belle expelled a burst of green magic, aimed directly at the weary colt. The spell narrowly missed, scuffing his red mane. She nearly fainted from what had almost happened, the three fillies rushing over to their friend’s aid. “Are you okay!?” Scootaloo asked. “How many hooves am I holding up?!” She raised her right hoof. “Uhn…” Fullmoon groaned, opening his amethyst eyes. “W-What happened?” he asked, standing onto his hooves with a struggle. “We don’t know.” Apple Bloom confided, suddenly pulling him into a tight but warm hug. “We’re just so glad yer safe!” The other two soon joined in, nearly choking him. His frown turned into a smile, wrapping his forelegs around the three of them.    “What was that all about anyway?” Sweetie Belle questioned, splitting from the hug. The other separated along with her. “You grabbed the book and all of a sudden wolves show up?” “Maybe they’re like… guardians of it or something?” Fullmoon let out a small gasp, staring down at the ground. At his hooves was the object in question. A pale green glow came from inside. He plucked it from the ground quickly, opening it once more. The words he spoke previously let out a radiance of light, before slowly returning back to their black colored ink. “The spell…” he muttered, closing the book. “Huh? What do ya mean?” Apple Bloom raised a hoof to her chin. “This is what we were looking for the whole time! The key to the cure! It’s all here, in this one book!” He squealed excitedly, holding the book to his chest. “We’ve got to get to Twilight! She’ll know more I bet!” He lifted the book with his wing, sliding it gently into his saddlebags.  “We better hurry then. It’s getting really late!” Scootaloo pointed out, staring at the sky. The previously azure colored skies were now a dull orange, bathing the land in a dim light. “Right! Let’s go!” Fullmoon commanded, galloping away from the ruins and into the forest itself. The three fillies soon followed, the little daylight they had slowly dwindling.