//------------------------------//
// Pony's Best Friend 
// Story: Fur and Feathers 
// by Nexas 
//------------------------------//

	Six Timberwolves circled the herd of cows, the cows in dire straits, were pushing their young behind them into the middle and away from the beasts. The wolves growled in their language to one another, each of them scanning the shaking crowd for the right meal to take on.

Right before the pack could strike though, a loud barking reached their wooden ears. Those more experienced in the pack recognized the sound; it was the small bark-less one that lived with the hooved ones. It had always tried to interfere with them but six Timberwolves were more than a match for it now. A few of the wolves turned from the cows and to the direction of the sound, barring their jagged teeth and growling ferociously.

They weren't prepared for when an unknown pony, about twice as tall as a dog and three times as strong, came charging at them, barking frantically with the same kind of ferocity in her eyes as the wolves. 

The pony slammed into two of the wolves, sending the three of them tumbling along the ground in a heap. The pony quickly scrambled to her hooves and charged at them again, punching one of them square in the face and simultaneously kicking one of them behind her.

"That pony's good." Applebloom noted as the three watched.

"Either she's good," Big Mac considered, "Or she's just plain lucky."

Applejack didn't say a word, she was too busy worrying.

The pack was now extremely confused. The scent of the unknown pony was incredibly familiar but at the same time not. It baffled the pack leader, who was charging at the pony nonetheless. While Winona was distracted the pack leader ran around to the back and lunged at the pony, sinking his wooden teeth into the pony's back leg. Winona emitted a high pitched cry and dropped to the ground in pain; the Timberwolves were beginning to move from the cows and were converging on the pony.

"Oh no!" Applebloom cried. "What do we do Applejack?" She turned to her sister for answers but found nothing but air. "Applejack?"

"PAWS OFF MAH DOG!!"

Applejack, with renewed vigor from seeing her dog take a blow, charged at the wolves herself. When she reached the wolves, she stopped fast in front of them, digging her front hooves into the damp earth, spun around with legs outstretched and slammed them into the wolf that was within reach, feeling a very satisfying crunch as her hooves connected with the wolf's face.

The pack leader was the one to take the blow and he felt it. The sound of splintering wood filled the air as the wolf was knocked back by the force of Applejack's legs. The Timberwolves watched in fear as their leader landed in the mud behind them with a splash. They backed away quietly from the two.

Applejack knelt beside her pet and inspected her wound; the jagged teeth had fortunately not punctured the skin but had left behind quite a few splinters. Winona looked up at her owner with a pained expression that infuriated the farmer even more, if that was possible.

"Listen up toothpicks!" She shouted at the Timberwolves and surprisingly, they all looked at her, either comprehending her, or because she was just loud.

"Ah don't know if those walnut brains of yours can understand me, frankly Ah don't even care." She said calmly, just barely masking her anger. "So Ah'll say this only once...."

Building herself up, Applejack rose up on her hind legs and took in a deep breath. She slammed her hooves into the mud, her face glowed with hot rage.

"You beasts get away from mah farm right now or so help me Ah will take you all out and turn you into firewood!!"

Either they had actually understood her rant and sensed her rage or they had simply understood the word 'fire' but the Timberwolves had taken off back towards the forests with their twig tails between their legs. The pack leader had stopped though to look back at them and issue a growl one more time before taking off with the others. In a moment, there were no signs that the wolves were even there, only a few twigs and dead leaves.

Applejack looked on at the spot where they had last seen the Timbelwolves; she was breathing heavily and red in the face. With a few deep breaths her anger subsided and returned her gaze to Winona who had found a large puddle and was staring in wonder at her reflection, sniffing at it cautiously.

"Yeah," Applejack said, "That's a little hard to explain."

Winona looked back up at her owner and jumped at her, knocking the both of them to the ground. She began showing her owner in affection, licking her entire face. At this point the cows were calming down and moving back to the buildings. One of them looked back at the two.

"Thanks again Applejack. And I love your marefriend."

Applejack pushed Winona away. "She's not mah...oh forget it."

Applebloom and Big Mac finally ran down to Applejack and Winona, the little filly jumped up and down in excitement.

"That was awesome sis! You really beat those wolves!"

"This friend of yours wasn't bad either." The red stallion stated.

Applejack looked up at the two and nodded. "She should be, she's our dog after all."

Applebloom cocked her head in confusion at that. "What?"

"So..." Macintosh drawled, looking over the pony on the ground, Winona stretched her head and sniffed the stallion confusedly. "This was what that wave of magic did."

"You saw it too?"

"Ah watched it push away the storm clouds." He replied. "Ah didn't think it would do something like this though."

"Winona?" Applebloom looked at the pony. "Is it really you?"

Winona turned to her on the ground and smiled happily, giving the filly an affectionate lick on the cheek the way she always did, causing Applebloom to laugh.

"This is amazing!" She cheered.

"It's plain odd." Her sister added. "What should we do about it?"

"Right now?" Big Mac observed the pony's wound. "Ah think we should go back to the house and remove these splinters before they cause an infection."

They agreed and helped hoist the dog-turned-pony onto the stallion's back. The effort of the act caused Winona's hurt leg to press into Macintosh's side, causing her to flinch in pain and accidentally strike Applejack clean in the nose.

She stumbled backwards, temporarily disoriented. "Tarnation!" She cried.

Winona watched in wonder. "Tar...tarnation!" She said in the same tone.

Everypony froze in shock at the pony's sudden, and first, spoken word. Big Mac and applejack stared at the pony, mouths agape.

"Cool!" Applebloom said. "Mah dog can talk!"

***

Rarity slowly found her way back into consciousness, her senses returning one by one. She lazily felt around her and came to the realization that she was laying on one of her velvet couches.

"Oh, you're finally awake." A voice stated.

"What...Spike...is that you?" Rarity groaned. She couldn't find the energy to sit up but was able to force her heavy eyelids open.

The first thing she saw was a dark shape hovering over her and a bright light behind that. Her eyes slowly adjusted and the dark shape began to show more and more detail until Rarity was able to make out the form of a small dragon.

"Rarity?" Spike looked down at her, his face filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, it was horrible Spike! I had the strangest dream." She said while Spike helped her up. "I dreamt I was in my boutique, working on the new clothes for the celebration and suddenly; my Opal was turned into a pony!" She scoffed at the idea. "A pony, can you believe it?"

Another voice spoke up. "Oh I don't know, I think that might be possible."

Rarity turned her head to the voice and gasped. "It can't be!"

Opal gave a smug grin as she looked down at Rarity. "And yet, it is."

Rarity backed away in fear from the pony, accidently falling off the couch onto a hard wooden floor. Looking around, Rarity very quickly discovered that she was actually in the middle of Twilight's library, the area around her couch covered in black scorch marks.

She quickly stepped back. "Back you monster!" She shouted.

"Monster." Opal repeated the word, rolling it around in her mouth. "Yeah, that's exactly what a pet wants to be called by its owner."

"Is everything alright in here?" Twilight stepped into the room, a tray with glasses of tea floated after her and Owlowiscious after that. She smiled happily when she noticed Rarity. "Rarity! You're finally awake!"

"Twilight..." Rarity spoke slowly. "What in Celestia's name is going on here?"

"Yes, well..." Twilight's horn glowed bright and a small table materialized on the floor. Twilight placed the tray atop it and sat down. "That requires some explanation."

Everypony else also took a seat around the table and the conversation was started. Twilight told the entire story to Rarity, Spike and Owlowiscious chiming in at some moments. The expression of confusion on the designer's face cleared up only to be replaced with exasperation.

"...And that's what happened. Well, up until this point."

"Twilight," Rarity took a sip from her tea and set it down. "What have we, and the princesses, told you about messing with nature?"

Twilight shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. "...Not to do it?"

"I tried to stop her." Spike stated, shaking his head.

"So did I." Owlowiscious added, sipping from his cup with a straw. "Unfortunately none of you speak owl so my cries went unheard."

Rarity pointed a hoof at the Pegasus. "So you're actually Twilight's pet owl?" She looked over to the unicorn that sat beside her. "And you're my Opal?"

"Both of those are true." He nodded.

"Yay, you win one point." Opal cheered sarcastically. "Good for you."

"You know..." Rarity said. "You really could try to be a little considerate."

"Why? I've never done anything for anypony and look at me; living the high life."

The less fortunate owl at the table mumbled quietly and angrily.

Rarity looked to Twilight. "But I still don't understand. Why is my little cat a unicorn?"

"It could be because cats are superior to other animals." Opal deduced with a smug grin. Owlowiscious glared back at her with narrowed eyes.

"I believed it has something to do with the spell. It seems to have something to do with how the owner sees their pet or feels about it or something."

"You mean she gave me this unsightly thing?" Opal pointed at her horn angrily.

"Unsightly thing?!" Rarity shot up. "I'll have you know that a unicorn's horn is a symbol of pride!"

"Is that your excuse for that huge thing?" She said.

Rarity gasped. "That's it!"

She lunged at the now rightfully terrified pony but was caught by an unseen force. Twilight Sparkle, horn glowing with power, carried Rarity to the other side of the table and plopped her down. "Stop this both of you!" She scolded them. "How do you two even get along?"

Opal thought about Twilight's words for a moment and shrugged nonchalantly.

Twilight sighed and was about to say something before Owlowiscious stopped her, pulling her into a conversation. They whispered to one another for a minute in what looked like a very rapid conversation. They finally stopped, nodded to one another and stood up from the table.

"Spike? Shouldn't you be looking after Peewee?" Twilight asked.

Spike gasped. "You're right! He's probably setting upstairs on fire right now!" He jumped up and ran up the stairs. "Does anypony smell smoke?!"

Spike left the scene and Twilight turned back to the others.

"Rarity, come with me." Twilight motioned for the unicorn to follow her.

"You too, feline." Owlowiscious said to Opal.

The two unicorns followed without a word and went with the two to the opposite sides of the room.

"I can't believe it Twilight." Rarity whispered. "I can't believe that my cat said that my horn was big and called the collar I made for her tacky!" She stopped talking and sighed. "I can't believe I just said that."

"It seems to me that you and Opal weren't the greatest of friends to begin with."

"What? That's preposterous! I gave that lump of fur the best life it could ever have!"

Twilight shook her head. "Yes but I think it has something to do with love."

"Love?" Rarity repeated quietly. She looked at Twilight with an appalled expression. "But I love my Opal very much."

"Yeah," Twilight looked over to the other side of the room where Opal and Owlowiscious seemed to be having their own discussion. "I don't think she does though."

Across the room the two pets-turned-ponies were in fact having a discussion much like the others.

"Why are you acting like that?" He asked the unicorn. She didn't even look at him, instead looking out one of the windows to the street.

"Acting like what?" She replied calmly.

"You've done nothing but be rude to the rest of us since we found you." He explained. "Especially to Rarity!" 

She tilted her head at this. "So?" She asked confusedly.

"I'm just saying that you should try to be a bit... nicer." Suggested the Pegasus.

"Hmph. Where has 'nice-ness' ever gotten somepony? I've always enjoyed my life and I have never had to be nice to anypony."

Owlowiscious looked into the window with her. "But now we're ponies and we need to act as such."

Opal took her eyes off the window and what was outside for the barest of moments to risk a glance at the Pegasus; looking away the moment he might have saw her.

"How many of us do you think were affected?" She asked sullenly.

He shrugged with his wings. "Who knows, it's all too random to figure out. All we know is that the wave of magic probably affected anypony with a pet near them."

A thought shot through Opal's mind like a bolt of lightning at this. She looked over at Owlowiscious, slight nervousness in her voice.

"Do you know the pony that lives on the outskirts of town? She's a Pegasus or something."

"Fluttershy." He guessed correctly. "A very kind Pegasus, she fixed my wings one time before I met Twilight. In fact she takes care of hundreds.... of... animals..."

Both of them turned their eyes back to the window; the Everfree Forest loomed in the distance with Fluttershy's cottage not to far from that.

"Oh dear..." He murmered.

"Twilight, darling?" Opal called. "You thought you were panicking before, wait until you and Rarity hear this!"