Berry Punch loved the fizzy bubbles that sparkled in the purple sky. Shooting stars were the best ones; streams of carbonated gas that stirred the air into a frenzied mess of golden ripples. As Berry lay on the grass and stared into the wine up above, she smiled and thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright.
She flicked her eyes over to the stupid ball of ice floating in the middle of it all. It was almost full, with only a sliver of a shadow left on the side.
Her smile slipped away. She closed her eyes and rested against the cool ground. The daisy in her mouth had lost its flavor, but she idly chewed it anyway. It had been a week since she had a good drink, and she needed something to fill that urge. That was the worst part of it all, really. No matter how much she drank, Berry could not get drunk in those final days before the full moon.
Funny. None of the stories said anything about that.
"Uh, miss Punch?"
Berry opened an eye. One of those cutie mark crusaders fillies was blocking out the moon. Memories of being terrorized at an apple stand and a disastrous grape-squishing attempt spilled into Berry's head. She swallowed the mushy dandelion. "Yes?"
"What're ya doing?" The filly's voice twanged like a banjo.
"Stargazing."
"Why?"
"I dunno. Seemed like a fun thing to do." Berry sat up, brushed some loose grass off her coat. She sighed.
"Need any help gettin' up?"
Berry shook her head and waved a hoof at the filly. She stood.
"If'n you don't mind me askin', miss Punch --"
"Just call me Berry, kid."
" -- miss Punch, you having any cutie mark problems?" The kid's hair bow rustled as a slight breeze poured through the park.
Berry cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you think I've got cutie mark problems?"
"Well," the filly drawled, "you've looked kinda... sad every time I've seen ya lately. A lotta ponies me an' my friends help out have that kinda look when they ask us for help."
Berry was quiet for a moment. "Kid," she finally said, "what's your name?"
"Apple Bloom."
"OK, Apple Bloom. You know anything about the moon?"
Apple Bloom scrunched up her face. "Uh, Nightmare Moon was stuck in it, an' Princess Luna moves it across the sky every night. But why d'ya ask?"
"Well, there's a full moon tomorrow."
"So?"
"Something bad happens to me every time there's a full moon. It's been going on for a few months now. No, no, I don't think it's anything you or anypony can help me with. It's just something I've gotta deal with for a few days."
"That doesn't sound too healthy, miss Punch."
"It isn't. But trust me when I tell you that I have to do this alone, alright?"
"You sure abou --"
"Yes. Thanks for your concern, Apple Bloom, but you can't help me." Berry walked away, down the brown path that flowed back into Ponyville.
"I'm telling y'all, miss Punch was the saddest lookin' pony I've seen since Grand Pear came back to Ponyville." Apple Bloom poked the cupcake sitting before her. Much as she hated to admit it, Sugarcube Corner's confectionery was starting to get a little too sugary for her taste buds. The same could not be said for her friend Scootaloo, who devoured her cupcake in seconds. Sweetie Belle did not have a cupcake; instead she picked away at a salad.
Pinkie shoved her head through the kitchen's saloon-style doors at mach speed. "Did you say 'miss Punch'? As in, Berry Punch?"
Apple Bloom tried to ignore how unnaturally stretched Pinkie's neck was. "Uh, yeah."
"I think Rarity called her a 'lush,' once," Sweetie Belle said, undaunted by the insult to physics happening before her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Scootaloo wiped frosting off her muzzle.
"I dunno, she wouldn't tell me."
Pinkie pulled the rest of her body into the dining room, her form snapping back to normal proportions. She yanked an overstuffed manila folder out of her frizzy mane, flipped it open and skimmed over the contents. "Berry Punch is the only pony in all of Ponyville that almost out-partied me," she said with all the gravitas of a judge. She turned to Apple Bloom. Reading glasses had spontaneously appeared on her face. "Her birthday party last year didn't end for a week. A week." She returned her attention to the folder. "Buuuuut, she has been skipping out on a lot of stuff for the last few months."
Pinkie snapped the folder shut and stuffed it back into her mane. She bounded over to the store counter and picked up a small alligator that had not been there a few minutes earlier. "Gummy," Pinkie said, "cancel my six o'clock." She set the alligator down, then zipped off to parts unknown.
Apple Bloom blinked. She shrugged.
"It's gotta be a timberwolf, nothing else howls like that."
"Didn't look like any timberwolf I've seen," Scootaloo said.
Apple Bloom turned to look at her friends. "What're you two talkin' about?"
"The timberwolf --"
"It's not a timberwolf."
"The timberwolf that keeps coming into town once a month." Sweetie Belle waved her fork around with her magic. "It howls all night. I can't sleep when it's out there."
"I saw it." Scootaloo puffed herself up.
"You did not."
"Did too! Hey, Apple Bloom, you gonna eat that?" Scootaloo pointed at the untouched cupcake.
Apple Bloom shook her head.
"Sweet." Scootaloo grabbed the cupcake and bit a chunk out of it. "Anyway, this thing, it was big as a pony. No way it was just a timberwolf."
"Uh, girls?" Apple Bloom slowly asked, "when, exactly does this timberwolf show up?"
"Every full moon, I think?" Scootaloo took another bite out of the cupcake. "And it's not a timberwolf."
Berry Punch glanced at the sky. She had a few minutes before sunset. She adjusted her saddlebags and broke into a gallop. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of all the days for her to run out of groceries, it had to be today. She swore she had restocked her cupboard just the other day. If she was lucky she would have just enough time to get in her house and lock the door.
After that, she just had to ride things out, then get blackout drunk the next day and try to forget everything that happened. She reached her front door, and pulled the key out. The metal burned her tongue. Silver. Why did she ever get a silver key?
The key twisted in the lock, and the door fell open.
Berry rushed inside, and slammed the door shut, locked it. She pulled her saddlebags off and dropped them on the floor.
The lights flashed on.
"SURPRISE!"
Berry froze. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks. She turned around, and saw most of Ponyville inside her living room. "No. Sweet Celestia, no," she whispered.
Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared beside her. "Hey there, Berry! I heard you were feeling a little down in the dumps lately and figured I'd better turn that frown of yours upside down. Cupcake?" She pulled a cupcake out nothing and offered it with a smile.
"You need to leave." Berry gulped down air, her words barely a squeak. She looked out the window -- the sun was just a sliver of orange against the ground. "You need to leave now."
"Why are we going to Berry Punch's house, again?" Sweetie Belle gripped the sides of the wagon as tight as she could.
"'Cause if I'm right," Apple Bloom yelled over the roar of the wind and Scootaloo's buzzing wings, "then everypony at that party is in a whole lotta danger!"
"I told you it wasn't a timberwolf!"
"Now ain't the time, Scoot."
Daylight faded into dull oranges, then yellows, and finally a dark purple.
The full moon floated up over the horizon.
"Berry, are you alright?" Pinkie gently placed a hoof on Berry's shoulder.
The scream that poured out of Berry Punch's mouth silenced the room. She crumpled to a heap on the floor. Started shaking. Pinkie backed away, bumped into a wall.
Berry's coat ripped itself apart.
Bones cracked.
Her muzzle stretched forward.
Sharp, white teeth shot out of a slobbering maw.
Hooves elongated, grew new digits.
Berry's screams distorted. Turned to growls.
The wolf stood, and howled.
Apple Bloom bucked the door. It shook, refused to give. She heard screams inside the house. She tried not to think of the other noises.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo joined her on the next attempt. This time the wood cracked. The fifth time, it caved in. The three fillies fell to the ground.
The wolf charged out. Its jaws snapped shut in the space where Apple Bloom's head had been not a second earlier.
It rounded on them, crouched and ready to pounce.
Apple Bloom saw Berry Punch's eyes on a monster's body. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw tears.
The wolf lunged.
Apple Bloom screamed.