//------------------------------// // Ch.15: The Humbling River // Story: A Hairier Problem: Rise of the Furball // by BlueBastard //------------------------------// Rise of the Furball Chapter 15: "The Humbling River" “This feels really weird!” said Babs. “I agree, anypony else feeling really uncomfortable?” added Scootaloo. “How can this feel so…so…wrong? You getting the same impression, Apple Bloom?” asked Sweetie. “Eeyup,” agreed Apple Bloom. The four crusaders were currently seated in front of the malt shop in central Ponyville. With both the schoolhouse being disinfected for any last trace of garlic smells and Cheerilee in the hospital for at least the rest of the week (she’d suffered a heart attack that had somehow been triggered by the excessive garlic smell, nopony knew why yet), the schoolfoals and fillies were allowed to roam free across the town. For the Crusaders, they immediately went to their second favorite treat shop and proceeded to get bored out of their minds with nothing to do. The concept of not having to spend the morning in a one-room educational facility on a weekday that wasn’t a holiday was a foreign concept to them. “ARRRGGHH!” groaned Sweetie. “I’m so bored! Surely there’s something we can do to try and get our cutie marks with these days off from school!” “Hey!” piped up Babs, “Why don’t we try bein’ Cutie Mark Crusaders Bagel Bake-“ “NO!” shouted the other three fillies in unison. The sudden shock of being cut off caused Babs to reel back in shock, sending her off her stool. “I guess you three already tried that and it didn’t work?” the brown filly replied as she got herself back up on her seat. “Like you wouldn’t believe” answered Scootaloo, implying that it was best that the matter stop being discussed. Babs took a sip from her milkshake, already putting the next topic of discussion to mind. “Well, on the subject of things I can’t believe, I’m still surprised Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon still have it out for you girls.” She was answered with collective groan. “You think those two were ever gonna change?” dryly replied Apple Bloom, drinking her own milkshake. “Well, the whole werewolf thing, y’know?” The yellow cousin put her milkshake’s tumbler back on the table with a little too much force. “Babs, Ah swear if you’re startin’ up with that nonsense again…” Babs leaned back and quickly waved her hooves as if trying to ward something off. “No! No no no no! It’s not my stance on the werewolf thing, it’s hers. I mean, why does she think you’re a werewolf? Diamond is the poster child of bein' a rich brat, I should know since it’s what my parents kept tryin' to mold me into, but she wouldn’t spend any more time around you than absolutely necessary.” Scootaloo couldn’t help but chuckle. “Alright, who wants to explain that one?” Sweetie Belle shrugged, “I’ll do it.” She then looked at Babs with a look in her eyes that just screamed this is going to be a doozy. Babs gulped, “This is gonna suck, isn’t it?” “Well, in terms of stupidity; yes. The whole reason Diamond Tiara has some vendetta against Apple Bloom with the whole ‘she’s a werewolf’ thing is that a good while back, she had a nightmare where she claimed there was a monster at her window.” “And that monster just happened to look like a werewolf version of Apple Bloom?” Sweetie nodded as she partook in her milkshake. “Scared her for a few days to the point she couldn’t come to school and the first day she did come back it was like she was a frightened puppy.” “Yeah, then she got some idea about going after Apple Bloom because she actually ‘was’ a werewolf and everything became as it was when you arrived,” nickered Scootaloo, who would have drank some of her own milkshake had she already not finished it. “You think Diamond and Silver might be behind what’s been goin’ on, lately?” suggested Babs, sipping up the last of her shake. Apple Bloom shook her head. “Impossible. Ah don’t see how they coulda gotten every cat in ponyville into mah room without wakin’ somepony up. The garlic thing, too, for that matter.” “But who else would even want to do stuff like that?” None of the crusaders could give Babs a straight answer, so eventually their discussion turned to other minor topics, which continued as the last of the milkshakes were finished and the quartet got up and began making their way to Sweet Apple Acres. “Hey…” started Babs, “that’s a pretty big water tower. I don’t remember it bein’ there last time I was here.” “Yeah, they just put it up,” answered Scoot. “Twilight ended up destroying the old one a few years back to stop an ursa, so they made a new one that holds even more water to accommodate the fact Ponyville has been growing over the years.” “Huh.” Babs looked up at the giant, silver tank suspended in the air. It was built a fair distance away from the town, but when seen from the main road it looked like it was among the other cottages and buildings in that direction. The Manehatten native had to admit; the ponies over there sure were brave in dealing with the leaking water tower. Wait. Leaking water tower? Babs was going to ask if that was normal, but she was suddenly shoved to the side by Scootaloo. Apple Bloom did the same with Sweetie, one half of the Crusaders reacting faster than the others. “We gotta get to high ground!” shouted Scootaloo, the first to have realized just where all that water was going. Luckily, a nearby shopkeep had heard her and, upon realizing what was going on, beckoned the Crusaders into the shop. He managed to get the door barred off right as the runaway water surged into town along the main roads. “Thanks, Mr. Crunch!” the three Ponyville-native Crusaders said in unison. Babs, however, was trying to figure out how the water outside wasn’t getting into the building. Scoot noted her state. “Ponyville is situated at a low point in the river. All the houses are magically charmed so they’re flood-proof.” Babs was going to make a point about why Scootaloo could possibly have known that, but then remembered her parents were weather ponies so she probably just picked it up from them. Toffee Crunch, however, was more concerned with how the disaster outside had come to be. “Any of you see what happened?” “Yeah!” squeaked Sweetie. “The water tower burst while we were looking at it!” Any further discussion was silenced as everypony suddenly heard a very loud but unidentifiable noise. Toffee, however, feared the worst. “Oh dear, I hope that wasn’t the water tower’s hole breaking even further from the pressure.” “Can we go to the roof and check?” asked Apple Bloom. “I don’t see why not.” Shrugged Toffee. And so the four fillies and one stallion headed to the roof. From their vantage point, they could see that the middle of Ponyville had become a giant series of rapids. The wreckage of several vendor carts could be seen floating down, the water tower itself now unquestionably having started leaking from over pressurization as half of the visible face was now releasing the unusual river into the town. Thankfully, there wasn’t anypony caught in the flow, they’d all made it to safety in time. Then Apple Bloom caught sight of Silver Spoon’s glasses coming down the stream, sans Silver Spoon. One of the lenses was cracked, but it was a moot point as the accessory was promptly smashed into a lamppost, reducing it to useless scrap and shards of glass. What the… was all she could say in her head before noticing Silver Spoon herself coming down. She was flailing around, clearly having trouble keeping herself even afloat without her glasses. “Oh, no!” lamented Toffee, “that poor filly!” Apple Bloom said nothing, instead tensing to jump. Scoot and Sweetie instantly noticed. “Don’t do it, Apple Bloom!” said Sweetie. “Don’t be a fool with your life!” cautioned Scootaloo. But it was all for naught. “AH’M A-COMIN’ FOR YA, SILVER!” screamed the Apple as she leapt into the river going through town. “Wha-?! Is she crazy?!” exclaimed Toffee. “No, she’s my cousin.” Replied Babs, who could do nothing but watch as Apple Bloom was swiftly carried downstream. However, in the filly’s attempts to get control of her direction, the water spun her such that Babs got a momentary clear sight of her profile. A sight that sent chills down her spine and confirmed her worst fears. Silver had never before been so scared in her life. Even though she’d been in far riskier situations, never before had she actually been in a situation where she was actually going to die. The raging water flow carted her rapidly through the streets of ponyville, the concepts of what was up and down lost as she tumbled through the semi-transparent fluid. “HEEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP!” she wailed, wasting a precious chance to get air as she barely had any notice when her head would break above the surface. Her glasses had been washed away when she’d been caught in the secondary burst from the water tank, but even if she’d had them they weren’t meant to be used when submerged in water as they weren’t swimming goggles. Silver wished she had some goggles on her, as trying to open her eyes usually just hurt because of the water. Mercifully, she managed to grab onto a streetlamp with a hoof and held her grip long enough to get her other foreleg around to anchor herself. It was hard, as the water still kept gushing forward, but it gave her a chance to catch her breath and open her eyes. “Silver Spoon! Hold on! Ah’m comin’ for ya!” She wished she hadn’t. Smack dab in the middle of the sudden river in Ponyville central was Apple Bloom. Why she was in the rushing water coming straight at her, Silver couldn’t tell and her poor eyesight being worthless at a range beyond how far she could stretch her hooves wasn’t helping. However, when Apple Bloom was close enough, Silver realized with horror that the strange black dot on Apple Bloom’s muzzle was actually a dog nose. It was true, she actually was a werewolf! And no doubt she was taking the chance to deal with one of her tormentors once and for all! “No! S-stay away! Don’t get-AAAAAHHH!” hollered back the distraught gray filly, her tears which betrayed the fear she was feeling lost in the raging waters. But her momentary change of focus caused her grip on the lamppost to fail and she was sent careening off back down the road. She was sure she was going to die now, either from drowning as most of her energy had been burned up trying to fight the current, or from Apple Bloom tearing out her throat. She didn’t care which one actually scared her more, either way her life was going to end and she really didn’t want it to. She had already begun to start blacking out, choking on the water she was taking in as opposed to oxygen as her lungs became desperate, when she felt the spine-tingling touch of what felt like canine paws on her person. Oh no, this is it!” thought Silver, tensing up in preparation for the end. Only…the end didn’t come. She heard Apple Bloom say things, her accent much more husky than usual, but aside from the unusual feeling of oversized dog paws and the other filly’s longer coat of fur, there wasn’t a point where Silver felt the powerful jaws of her captor close around her neck. Instead, she was…keeping her afloat? “BREATHE!” screamed Apple Bloom. Silver, finding her head staying up above the water now that she had help, obeyed and was gradually starting to relax…or would have if it wasn’t for the fact Apple Bloom was still a werewolf. The poor-sighted filly could only imagine the horrible reasons why the werewolf would want to keep her alive, but was interrupted by Apple Bloom following up her early exclamation with “BRACE FOR IMPACT!” The force from the thud was felt by both fillies, Apple Bloom having positioned herself to take the brunt of the blow but due to being very physically fit thanks to both lycanthropy and her usual farm chores, neither filly was seriously hurt. Now, they both had their backs to a building wall in an alley just off the main road, held fast by the flow of water. However, the water was finally beginning to recede, causing the two fillies to slowly slide down until their hooves were on solid (if rather muddy) ground. “Ya alright, Silver?” asked Apple Bloom. The addressed turned to the werewolf, finding she’d already shifted back to her regular form. After all she’d been told about Apple Bloom’s mannerisms while a werewolf, the formerly bespectacled pony had trouble comprehending or voicing this change in reality. “Y-yes, but I d-don’t…aren’t you gonna…” was all she could get out. “Is it because you’re such a pain in the plot along with Diamond Tiara to me and mah friends, ya can’t understand why Ah saved ya?” The youngest Apple just shook her head…then shook herself dry like a dog. “Ah can’t stand either of you two normally, but not enough to simply stand by and let you drown all ‘cause you’re normally a complete jerk to the Crusaders.” “But…but…what about the…” Silver then leaned in on wobbly legs, still recovering from a brush near death, “the whole werewolf thing?” Apple Bloom just nickered in annoyance. “For the last time, Ah am not a werewolf! Ah shoulda known Diamond was still on about that nonsense, but even if Ah was a werewolf, do you think Ah would have bothered to save you?” Silver Spoon didn’t immediately reply. Instead, she took a deep breath and focused her eyes on Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom was denying it, but Silver knew the pony before her was a werewolf. One that had just risked exposing her secret, the exact action the whole “busting the water tower” plan had intended to force out of her, to saving the life of a pony she by all rights probably wouldn’t have minded letting die. Silver knew Apple Bloom had gone ‘wolf form’ in the water, she knew she’d felt that padded paw holding her close to the werewolf’s body, but Apple Bloom hadn’t killed her. The nearsighted pony took another deep breath before looking Apple Bloom right in the eyes when she gave her answer: “Yes.” Apple Bloom only smiled, it was all she had time for as the crowd of ponies approaching would allow. Silver, on the other hand, suddenly felt the exhaustion of her near-death experience come rushing back as the adrenaline quickly wore off, and could do nothing to stop herself from passing out on the spot. Raspberry Beryl and Heliodor did not expect to find Ponyville in worse shape than it had been when they’d left it. “The main thoroughfare…it’s all muddy now…” whispered Beryl in near-shock as she surveyed the damage. Apparently, several hours before she’d returned from her journey into the woods for more gems, the water tower had succumbed to the pressure of water inside it and had burst, flooding the town. While the standard anti-flooding protective spells on the homes had ensured the worst kind of damage; ruined homes and shops that would displace a large portion of the town’s populace, had not happened, many street vendors would need to acquire new carts for their wares. For those who could even salvage what was left of their property, the sheer amount of water had turned the middle of Ponyville into a virtual swamp. “Caio, Ms. Rasperry!” called out a familiar voice that Raspberry immediately identified as that of Pear Blossom. Turning to face the voice, Raspberry was horrified to see the fruit vendor’s cart had been smashed into a lamppost like so many other things caught in the flooding. Not a single pear had survived intact, the cart itself not looking much better. “Oh, no! I’m so sorry, Blossom, all that revenue you could have gotten…all washed away with nothing but a broken cart to show for it.” To the unicorn’s surprise, the pear seller was still rather upbeat. “Ah, you do not need to feel sorry for me, I am still in one piece and that is really all I can ask for. While it is true that I have lost some income, I still have many pears back at my pear farm that were untouched by this event and as for my cart, I can still take it back and salvage what I can.” “But everything above the wheelbase is gone“ “Again, it is no big deal. Mi caro, Knotwood, is a carpenter, so I don’t think he’ll charge his wife for the money that keeps more than pears on his dinner plate!” Blossom gave sly wink to the younger mare. “Wow, that’s really fortunate!” said a relieved Raspberry, “I’d hate to lose the ability to buy your pears, nopony grows them to taste quite like yours!” “Grazie, although it is not me who is the most fortunate. Apparently, one young filly got caught up in the water and would have drowned had it not been for Apple Bloom bravely helping her stay afloat.” “Really? That’s incredible!” The mention of Apple Bloom suddenly reminded the unicorn of the biggest reason she’d been so hasty to return to Ponyville, if only indirectly by association to Sweetie Belle.  “Hey, listen, I’d love to help you get this back home, but I need to make some deliveries on the other side of town.” “Then by all means, go and earn your living! I should be back in a few days to sell you all the pears you could ever eat!  Cioa, bella!” The two laughed and bid their farewells before Raspberry went off towards Rarity’s house. “Guess we won’t be having pears tonight, Heelee,” Raspberry apologized to her pet. He grumbled, as he had been looking forward to having pears. “Hey, maybe Ascot and Cashmere have some pears back at the Traveler’s Retreat?” He cawed happily, looking forward to having pears. “Rarityyyyyyy…” whined Sweetie Belle, “you told me my costume would be ready! Nightmare Night is next week!” Rarity sighed for what felt like the fifth time in the last 30 seconds. “Exactly. Nightmare Night is in a week so I think I have a right to point out the deadline isn’t here yet.” Suddenly, somepony knocked on the door. “Coming!” Rarity found just the pony she’d been hoping for on the other side. “I hope this isn’t a bad time,” said Raspberry.  “I can come back later if need be.” “Oh, nonononono!” squealed Rarity, practically dragging the hapless mare into the boutique. “I can always make time for you, darling! Especially when you can help me deal with a problem that requires your services.” “My…my what?” Rarity motioned with her head to Sweetie Belle, whose attention was drawn elsewhere and hadn’t noticed the unicorn and her phoenix come in. “Ah, okay!” said a relieved Raspberry, getting the point. She removed her saddlebags and reached into them with a hoof, pulling out the same crown frame Rarity had given her not too long ago. The difference this time, however, was that the formerly empty mounting point at the center now was occupied by a stunningly beautiful diamond. Almost a pale icy blue, the perfectly cut gem shined in the light and was certainly something that looked like it belonged to a real princess as opposed to a fake one. “It’s…it’s perfect!” exclaimed Rarity, prompting Sweetie Belle to investigate what was going on.  “Oh, I didn’t know Ms. Beryl and her pet were…wow! Is that my crown?” Rarity nodded, levitating the crown from Raspberry’s hoof and placing it on Sweetie’s head. It was a perfect fit. “And now you see why your costume wasn’t ready,” giggled Rarity, before giving her attention back to Raspberry. “But I think I can speak for both my sister and I when I say you couldn’t have found a better gem for that crown, so let’s talk payment for it, shall we?” “Oh, yes, that…well…” Raspberry nervously kicked the floor, trying to come up with a price. “What about a hundred bits?” “A hundred bits?!” shouted Rarity, her jaw hanging in shock. Raspberry shrunk back, startled by the sudden reaction. Heliodor was as well, moving a wing to shield himself if need be. “I-if that’s too high then I can reduce-“ started the frightened gem seller, but stopped when Rarity merely facehoofed, Razz fearing the worst. Rarity, however, just sighed in exasperation, then for whatever reason laughed softly. “Oh, Raspberry, darling, you need to stop selling yourself short. I’ve worked with gems ever since I got my cutie mark, so much that if I didn’t want to be a fashionista anymore I could probably go into evaluating the value of gems. That diamond my sister is cavorting around with on her head? That is far more valuable than a measly one hundred bits.” “Well, um, yeah, of course, I knew that!” said Raspberry, “But you’re my best customer and probably one of my closest friends I’ve ever had, so consider it a discount.” “I’m afraid I will have to politely refuse such a discount,” declared Rarity with the air of somepony with excessive amounts of class, “I will pay you a minimum of three hundred bits for that diamond, and not a single bit less!” “Gee, thanks Rarity…” half said, half whispered an extremely modest Raspberry. “Furthermore, that is separate from all the other gems I’m sure you’ve brought to me, which we can discuss a bit later. But for now, I insist that we retire to my lounge and have a chat over tea. I simply must know more about you, darling!” Raspberry then froze in silent horror, requiring Heliodor to lightly squeeze her horn to bring her back into focus. She needed to come up with something more about her past she could feel safe revealing, as while it was quickly becoming evident Rarity could be a trusted confidant, actually telling somepony the truth for once required more nerve than Raspberry currently had the ability to muster. “A-are you sure this is going to work?” asked Fluttershy nervously. “Relax, this is Twilight we’re talking about!” confidently exclaimed Rainbow, just as much for both her sake and Lightning Dust’s as it was for Fluttershy. While living with Lightning Dust hadn’t been nearly as bad as the blue pegasus had initially feared (and that was before factoring in the fact she was becoming a werewolf), there still was the problem of having to feed her. As everypony had learned with Applejack, the biggest problem with a werewolf hiding their lycanthropy was the need to subtly consume meat. Since it had worked out with AJ going to Fluttershy’s place for her protein supplements, Rainbow and Twilight had decided to let Fluttershy in on Dust’s fate. Due to Fluttershy’s cottage also being relatively remote from Ponyville, it made the perfect place to try the first of Twilight’s ‘experiments’ as in the event something went wrong the aftermath could be contained. “Indeed, there’s not much to worry about in the first place,” said Twilight, paging through some notes she’d brought to consult. “All I’m doing is trying to examine the extent to which the curse is magically bound to her bloodstream. From there I can calculate what needs to be done to extract a sample, from which a counteragent spell can be made and-“ “In a language we can understand, please,” droned Dust, more annoyed than nervous from her place in the middle of the room. Spike then entered, hauling another box of notes. “Basically, she’s putting you under a metaphorical microscope to examine your bloodstream. Only instead of an actual device, she’s using her magic.” “I’m impressed, you can actually translate nerdspeak!” said Dust, her tone implying it was an indirect insult and getting her a reprimanding look from Rainbow. “Uh, sorry, that came out wrong…” Rainbow just shook her head and then gave Twilight a “what can you do?” look. Twilight barely even registered the indirect insult and Rainbow’s actions, instead having levitated some more notes. A few minutes later, the various items levitated by the alicorn flew behind her, leaving nothing in-between her and Lightning Dust. “Alright, I’m ready to begin. Are you, Dust?” The pegasus merely shrugged. “As I’ll ever be.” “Good. Beginning magical examination in three…two…one…” the aura around Twilight’s horn, already present from the magic in use to levitate her notes, went up a notch in luminosity as it created a duplicate aura around the werewolf-to-be. For the next few minutes, everypony was silent as Twilight peered into a level of physical reality only accessible by trained unicorn doctors. However, it also left her oblivious to the world around her. -ight! Was somepony calling her name? TWILIGHT! The alicorn opened her eyes to find Spike frantically trying to get her attention. “Kill the magic! Kill it!” “Why, I’m so…” started Twilight, not exactly willing to stop so soon after starting, but suddenly was at a loss for words when she realized just what it was she’d accomplished, immediately stopping her magic flow. As the notes all fell around her, she looked on in horror at the scene in front of her. Lightning had collapsed on the floor and seemed to be suffering from the early stages of heat exhaustion. Rainbow was on her haunches in front of her temporary roommate, her hooves holding Dust’s. Fluttershy was conspicuously absent. “What did you do?!” snarled Rainbow at Twilight, “This isn’t any kind of safe examination I know of!” “I…I don’t understand! There shouldn’t have been any adverse reaction to that spell, it’s a common tool used in hospitals all over Equestria!” “To be fair, Twilight, you’re not exactly trained in the medical sciences like the staff in a hospital, even if you are more skilled in magic in general!” “S-so….itchy…” whined Dust, her tightly clamped eyelids doing nothing to prevent the tears coming out from the pain. But it was the itchiness that immediately made all ponies present very, very nervous. “What have I done…” whispered Twilight, the full ramifications of what had happened only now becoming evident. “Out of my way!” said Fluttershy, rushing into the room with some weird kind of padded stick and similarly padded coverings on her forelegs. She motioned for Rainbow to move, allowing the animal caretaker to take her place. “Dust, look at me. Open your eyes to look at me, please.” The suffering pegasus did so, her eyes already starting to become red from the crying. Fluttershy then lifted the stick. “I know you’re in pain” said the yellow mare, not even blinking to ensure total eye contact, “that’s why I have this. Bite into it as much as you have to. It’s not going to lessen the pain, but it will help make it more tolerable.” Lightning gave a quick nod, opening her mouth long enough for Fluttershy to put in the stick. The moment she pulled away the jaws clamped shut like a spring-loaded vice, Dust’s fangs sinking deep into the padding. “The stress stick is something I use to help animals go through internal pains and pose a risk of biting others, namely me.” Said Fluttershy, answering the question she knew had been forming in the minds of everypony else. “Trust me, when you have to help a bear give birth, you learn these things.” Any further discussion was cut off by Dust letting out an unnaturally loud scream, startling Twilight and Spike enough that they backed away. Not Fluttershy, however, who took one of Dust’s hooves in her own, a padded one, while using a wing to toss the padded covering’s twin over to Rainbow. She wasted no time in putting it on and taking Dust’s other forehoof into her own as well. The presence and dedication of the other two pegasus ponies, even in recognition of the sheer amount of danger they put themselves in, touched Dust, who began to get a very in-depth experience as to what Applejack must have felt like when she first transformed. As for the non-werewolves in the room, the involuntary convulsions and unnatural alterations going on with Dust’s body, along with the constant screaming, horrified them as they too knew this is what Applejack had gone through thanks to Sable Loam. Dust didn’t know how long it had been between her collapsing from having spontaneously felt really hot and when the last pains of transformation had ended, but right now all she really felt like doing was laying on the floor and crying for the loss of her status as a pure pony. “Dust…?” cautiously asked Rainbow. “Don’t you bucking dare ask *sniff* if I’m alright…” snapped Dust, the rest of her retort cut by the shock of hearing her voice also having become much huskier. “I’m not stupid, Dust, I clearly saw what just happened. I’m just making sure that you’re still you.” “You mean if I’m still the*sniff* self-serving, egotistical bitch who is crashing *sniff* on your couch? The jury’s still out on that right now, but I’d suggest *sniff*not renting that out until the jury gets back unless you want to learn what it’s like to be forcefully changed into a different species.” Rainbow smiled. “Oh, good, your sense of humor made it through your transformation. So we have that.” “Celestiadamnit, Dash…” said Dust, unable to resist giggling at the inside joke. It came out as a throaty *hur hur hur* but retained enough of her natural voice that it wasn’t totally horrifying. Fluttershy gave Rainbow and approving nod, for it was important to keep Dust in good spirits in light of what just happened. “Hey, Lightning? Are you by chance hungry?” Dust stopped laughing and her eyes went wide. She was pretty hungry now that she thought about it. “It feels like I could eat an entire manticore right now, honestly.” “Well…” started Fluttershy, playfully, “I’m fresh out of those, but I do have some meatburgers I could cook up instead.” “That’d be great.” Without another word, Fluttershy got up and went over to the kitchen. Twilight, meanwhile, slowly walked up to Dust, who herself was shakily getting up on all four of her new paws. “Listen, Dust, I’m so sorry for this…” “Sorry for what?” Twilight’s face immediately turned to that of confusion. “I just triggered your first transformation, it’s because of me you’re a full werewolf now... aren’t you mad at me?” Dust shook her head. “Nah. We all knew this was going to happen to me eventually, all you did was try to help fix it. Nopony could have known how the curse would have reacted to what you did, plus it’s probably for the best to have gotten this whole ‘transformation pains’ thing out of the way as soon as possible, too.” “Well, it’s relief to hear you don’t blame me for this.” “You’re a princess, you think I could get away with trying anything against you?” laughed Dust. “That said, I really feel like stretching my limbs after Fluttershy is done with those burgers.” As she was talking, Dust had unfurled her wings, which actually didn’t appear to have changed at all. “Huh, these babies are still authentic, hopefully they can still keep me afloat like this.” “Yeah, we’re…gonna need to talk about that.” Said Dash. “What are you talking about? Asked Dust, turning her head slightly to the side in confusion. “You’re a show off, Dust. I know, I’m one myself, that’s the main reason we hit it off so well back at the Academy. Now, that means you’re going to want to do low-flying stunts since it gets the adrenaline pumping and is in full view of everypony on the ground.” “What’s the problem with that?” “How do you think the town is going to react when it looks like a werewolf has gained the ability to attack from the sky and is divebombing towards random ponies in the middle of Ponyville?” “…point.” “Moo…MOO!” called out what was totally-a-cow-and-not-Sweetie Belle. Somepony moved within the Apple Family household, disappearing from an upstairs window to the downstairs, where a door was opened. Reluctantly, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo made their way inside, with Babs closing the door behind them. “Where’s Apple Bloom?” asked Scootaloo in a hushed whisper, as to not wake the sleeping Apples. “Not in her room, which is exactly as I suspected.” Sneered Babs, prompting the unicorn and the pegasus to trade uneasy glances with each other. “What do you mean she isn’t in her room?” “Come.” Babs motioned for the duo to go upstairs, making sure to keep the noise down. Sure enough, after leading them into Apple Bloom’s room, the main occupant was conspicuously missing from the bed. “Maybe she’s in the restroom or something?” suggested Sweetie. “Then explain this.” Babs then walked over and brought out a bag hidden from under the bed. It was an empty Happy Puppy dog biscuit package. “She is a werewolf, I knew it!” “But…don’t you think she’d tell us about something like that?” pointed out Scoot, “I mean, we’re her best friends, we tell each other everything! Not to mention she was with us the night Diamond had the nightmare about her being a werewolf, too!” “Well, there’s only one way to find out…” said Babs, moving over to the closet where she took out what looked like a lasso rope. “Apple Bloom said she kept this to try practicing her lasso skills.” “But we tried lasso tossing for cutie marks, it didn’t work.” Pointed out Scootaloo. “It’s not Applejack’s special talent, either, but you’ve seen her skills with it. Maybe Apple Bloom just wants to try being like her big sister? Regardless, we need it more than her now, anyway.” “Wh-what are we gonna do?” nervously asked Sweetie. “We’re going to ambush her by hiding behind this door, so when she comes into the room, we’ll use the rope to tie her up and make it so she has to tell us what’s really going on.” “Uh…” started Sweetie Belle, “if she is a werewolf, doesn’t that sort of put us at risk of being bit-“ “Quickly, hide!” interrupted Babs, pushing the other Crusaders behind the door. The only sound was that of the front door being opened and closed. Then what sounded like padded feet going up the stairs, except halfway through it turned into regular hoof clopping. The tension was thick enough to cut with a silver knife as the sound of hooves went right up to being right behind the door. “Sorry, Babs…” said Apple Bloom. Babs was shocked that Apple Bloom had somehow known she’d been there the whole time, but even moreso when suddenly Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle jumped her and soon had her tied up. Apple Bloom moved to close the door and then looked right at her cousin, but with sad eyes instead of the angry eyes Babs was expecting. “Wh-what’s going-“ exclaimed Babs, only to be shushed by the Crusaders and was forced to maintain a hushed whisper. “*sigh* Okay, what’s the big idea here?” “Do you promise not to scream?” asked the yellow filly, the pleading nature of the request evident in her eyes. Babs merely nodded. With no recourse, Apple Bloom shifted yet again into her wolf form. Babs gasped, but was surprised to see she was the only one to do so. “Waitaminute…Scoot, Sweetie, you two knew about this? Apple Bloom, why did you tell them and not me?!” “Ah didn’t tell them, they were there when…when Ah first turned into this. They’ve known the entire time and been helpin’ me try to hide it.” “But why didn’t I get informed about this?! Why the lies?! I thought I was a Crusader just like you three!” “And you are, Babs, but it was my call not to tell you because…well, because you’re family and Ah couldn’t risk you tellin’ Big Mac or Granny or, above all else, Applejack.” Babs had to wonder why her older cousin was singled out. “Why Applejack, of all ponies?” “You know that whole werewolf business that went down a year ago?” “Yeah?” “It started because Applejack was a werewolf, the one that got killed was the same one who had turned her. It was a really rough time for her, especially since as we all found out later that…well, let’s just say if she found out Ah somehow have come the thing she hated bein’, Ah don’t know what would happen, and Ah’m scared as can be of what that would be.” “I understand, but again; why didn’t you let me know about this?!” Scootaloo then realized what was really going on. “Babs, are…are you angrier about the fact you were kept in the dark about Apple Bloom being a werewolf, then Apple Bloom actually being werewolf?” “Yeah! I thought you guys thought I was trustworthy, aren't the Crusaders supposed to be some kind of secret society or somethin'? Keepin' secrets from everypony but ourselves is kind of the point, isn’t it?” Silence again, then Apple Bloom spoke up. “As Ah said, Ah was the one who wanted to keep you in the dark about all this, but…Ah thought you would be afraid of me. Afraid of this monster that Ah am now.” Feeling it was safe enough, Apple Bloom walked up to the still-tied up Babs and raised a paw.  Babs didn’t quite know what to expect, other than it not being Apple Bloom simply touching the lasso knot and causing the binding ropes to fall off easily, freeing the trapped filly. But Babs' attention was still on Apple Bloom, who despite the more canine like features was clearly still the same pony. “Are you kidding? I think it’s kinda cool having a werewolf for a cousin! Plus, you’re not actively hurtin' other ponies. I mean, you risked exposin' this secret all to save somepony’s life, especially since that pony is apparently tryin' to prove you are a werewolf.” “So you did see mah wolf muzzle when Ah was spinnin’ around. Ah didn’t believe when Scoot and Sweetie told me you had, but…moot point now, Ah guess. Ah’m sorry for wantin’ to keep this from you, as a Crusader and your cousin, Ah shoulda been more open about this to you.” Babs merely moved to embrace her transformed kin. “It’s alright, Apple Bloom, just…let’s promise not to have any more secrets like this again, deal?” “Deal!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said nothing, allowing the cousins to rebuild their bond. “Awww…” said Sweetie, taking in the touching moment. Scootaloo just nickered in annoyance, feeling it was a little too hammy a resolution. Desperate to get free of the adorable moment, she realized something else that the Crusaders needed to address. ‘Hey, girls, Nightmare Night is next week! We still need costumes! And no, Apple Bloom, being yourself as a wolf won’t cut it!”