//------------------------------// // Night Terrors and Sweet Dreams // Story: An American Werewolf in Equestria // by Ron Jeremy Pony //------------------------------// An American Werewolf in Equestria Chapter 2 – Night Terrors and Sweet Dreams (Ponyville Hospital – Room 237 – Six hours later) Nurse Redheart looked at the sleeping creature. From what she had heard it was intelligent, but it had become disoriented, confused, and attempted to escape from Zecora’s hut out in the Everfree before they brought it here. Zecora had created a mixture which knocked it out, and once it was unconscious they had brought the poor being here to be treated. So far it seemed that it had suffered a near fatal bout of hypothermia, but it seemed to be doing well. There were a few scars on its chest and face that resembled timber wolf attacks, but the strange circular scars on its chest were confusing. She had never seen anything like those before. She walked near it and gently touched its forehead. “I bet you’ve been through a great deal huh?” she asked. “Yeah, and right now I’m about ten minutes away from going home, so do me a favor and be good,” she whispered. She looked up at the sky, the wintery weather was slowly picking up, blowing all around, and it looked like it was going to be a huge storm. It was a shame that they wouldn’t be able to see the moon tonight. That was one of the things she loved to see was the moon. Luna always went out of her way to make the moon beautiful. She sighed and began to walk out when the creature whimpered. “No, Alex… run…” he moaned. She raised an eyebrow and touched him again. “Run… get away,” he moaned again. She pressed the call button and a moment later the doctor walked in. “What it is Nurse Redheart?” he asked. “Doctor, he’s calling out in his sleep,” she said. “hmmm, that’s not unusual, but our new Princess did say that if he said anything to call her. Go ahead and contact her. I’ll keep watch over him,” the Doctor said. The doctor waited until Nurse Redheart was gone before he looked back at the creature. “What kind of dreams is that you have?” he asked. Unknown to the doctor, or anyone else inside of the hospital, David was facing something unspeakable. He watched as four demonic creatures gathered the creatures that had found him, and began ripping them to pieces. They screamed, but unlike last time there wasn’t anything holding him back. He ran forward and knocked one of the creatures away from the purple one. It howled and the other creatures stopped their attack and focused on him. “No!” David shouted. They began to circle him. “Damn it I won’t let you hurt anyone again!” he screamed. “They began to howl, and instead of walking on their hind legs they dropped to all four. Their faces were still horrifying parodies of what he assumed his wolf form must look like, but at least they were leaving these poor creatures alone. “I won’t go through this again,” he said. A figure walked out of the darkness from behind him. He felt it near him, stand next to him and finally he turned to see it. It was another horse or pony, but this one was the color of midnight. It’s mane and tail seemed to be composed of the night sky and it studied the creatures ahead of it. “They’ve ran wild in thy dreams David,” she said. “What are you? Where am I? What in the hell is going on?” he asked. “I am Princess Luna and I am the one responsible for the rising of the moon, the night sky, and watching over my subjects' dreams. Thou are in Equestria, and as for what is going on.. It would appear that thou have the attention of thy other self,” she said. It growled at her, but for the moment all four demonic wolves seemed to be resting on the floor. Suddenly the four creatures they attacked began screaming in pain. The purple one cried out as fangs began to grow in her maw. Her hooves began to break apart, bones and muscle began to grow out of them making paws instead of hooves. “HELP ME!!!!” she screamed as her chest began to break apart and extend. “Oh God no… Please God no…” he whispered. “This is something thou fear isn’t it?” Luna asked. He couldn’t answer. Instead all of these creatures, the same creatures that had helped him, were screaming in agonizing pain as they transformed into werewolves. He made himself watch the horror unfolding in front of him. He forced himself to see them decend into the same madness he went into when he transformed. The pain he felt, the absolute horror of having every bone break, rebuild and stretch to match the new form. He looked at the demonic wolves who were now sitting on their haunches watching the transformation with him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. The purple one looked at him. Her eyes looked frightened, pain filled, and uncertain. He took a step toward them. The demonic wolves growled, but they didn’t move. He heard the one that had been wearing the Stetson hat let out a long scream that turned into a vicious howl. “This is my fault,” he said. The demonic wolves moved toward him. They weren’t attacking, but instead they seemed to be circling him. “It is not thy fault David,” Luna said. He turned toward her. “Look at this! Look at what’s happening to them! I brought this here!” he screamed. “Yes, but it hasn’t happened. This hasn’t happened,” she said. The hut disappeared along with the pony like creatures with it. He turned back toward the Princess and watched as something else formed. He could smell coffee brewing and looked around to see them in his home in New York. He looked to see the demonic wolves, but they weren’t here. Instead it was just his old home. He walked around for a moment before he focused on the counter. He walked over to it and found a mug. Without a second thought he poured a cup of coffee into it and took a drink. It was harsh and hot. Basically, it meant his mother had made the coffee instead of his father. He took another drink and looked back at the Princess as she looked around the home. “What happened?” he asked. “I couldn’t stand to see my subjects going through that anymore. It may have only been a dream, but it was too vivid,” she said. The sound of something banging on the door caught both of their attention. Luna turned toward it surprised. She had brought them out of the previous dream, and it appeared that something had followed them. “Don’t answer it,” David said. The words had barely left his mouth before the door burst open. He expected to see the demonic wolves in an almost human form, dressed as Nazis, rushing in and destroying everything. Instead it was the four creatures from the hut that had been turned. All of them were no longer the pony like creatures, but instead they had become wolves. It was odd that they still had the same coloring they had in the hut. The purple one was still purple; the one that had worn the Stetson cowboy had was orange with blond on its head and its tail. The cyan one had a rainbow of color on its head and tail and then there was the zebra. They all growled and began walking toward both of them. “This is not thy fault,” Luna said again. He could tell the urgency in her voice. “I brought this here,” he said again. “Thou may have brought this here, but it has not happened yet! Thou have not harmed anyone, and thou wishes not to harm anyone! This is not thy fault!” she shouted. He shook his head. He wanted to believe that he was blameless, but that wasn’t really true. Even if this hadn’t happened yet the potential was there. He had the potential of passing this curse on to other beings, and he didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to curse anyone else to go through what he had already gone through. “David, thou must realize this is not thy doing!” she shouted. The cyan wolf howled and flexed its wings. He looked at it, and at the others. Before they could attack he walked toward them. He knelt down and looked at the purple one. She growled silently at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” he said. The expression on its face softened. The others in the room circled him and he stood up. He looked at them all as they seemed to study him. “I will try to keep this from happening,” he said. The four of them began to disappear and after a few seconds they were gone. Luna breathed out a sigh and walked toward him. “What happens now is up to thou David,” she said. He put a hand on her shoulder and she stopped. She looked back at him questioningly. “Thank you, and if you really control the night… Do you have to make full moons?” he asked. She laughed and smiled. “They are needed. If they were not needed I would gladly keep them from appearing, but they help ensure certain things happen the way they must. David, take this dream and keep it close to thyself. It has revealed a great deal to thou, and perhaps thou can learn from it,” she said. “Thank you for speaking to me as an equal,” he said. She looked at him and sat on her haunches. “How does thou know that?” she asked. “I got my degree in English, and while creative writing as my main focus I did study old English. Thy and thou are common pronouns. It is what the commoners would use when talking to one another. They would only use you when talking to nobility. In truth most of the nobility only said you when it was a visiting member of a noble house there. Otherwise they used the common pronouns,” he said. She laughed and smiled. “I had given up hope that any of my subjects would ever realize that I was attempting to treat them with respect. By addressing them by the very words they once used for themselves I felt I was attempting to talk to them as any of them would talk to each other,” she said. “It came off as a little pompous huh?” he asked. She nodded. “You must have been out of the loop for a long time to not notice the change,” he said. “Thou has no idea,” she replied. She started to get up and then stopped. She looked at him. “I will put the full moon off for a week. It cannot be allowed to go past that, but I will keep it from being a full moon for an entire week. When that time is up it will rise. It is the best I can do,” she said. “Thank you,” he replied. He groaned as his eyes opened and he took in the room. The purple pony like creature was there again. She seemed to be studying him and right off he noticed that like Luna she had wings and a horn as well. “Are you okay?” she asked. “I’m not dreaming or hallucinating am I?” he asked. She shook her head. He breathed out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. “Our friend Zecora said something about you. It can’t be true though,” she said. “That depends on what she said,” he replied. He could feel the question bubbling up. There was no doubt I was hanging in the air, and at any moment it was going to force itself out and be born. There was no doubt the question was. He was waiting for it. He waited for her to ask him if he was some kind of monster. For a moment it seemed as if she wouldn’t and then finally she cleared her throat. “She said that you may be something that hasn’t existed here in nearly six hundred years. She said that you maybe a werebeast,” she stated. It wasn’t a question, but it was what he was waiting on.