December 25,
Twilight and Candle had spent the past few hours just talking and walking. Twilight was enjoying herself more than she had in months. Her date was almost too perfect. He was smart, fun, intelligent, handsome, knowledgeable...
I might ask him out on a real date, she thought to herself. Rainbow Dash does keep saying I need to get laid. She turned her head to hide the blush that colored her face. Oh, Celestia, I can't believe I just thought that.
“So... um, Candle Light, I was wondering, if you're not too busy I mean, if you would, by any chance, like to...” her Fluttershy impression was cut short by a low growl from their left.
Twilight looked and saw a pair of eyes staring back. She froze, her instincts screaming at her, warning her to the danger. Without even thinking, she took off like a bolt, yelling behind her, “Run!”
The two shot towards town, hoping the crowd would scare it away. Adrenaline pushed the two forward at breakneck speed.
Twilight saw Shiro by the library, paralyzed with fear as he watched the sight.
“Acck.” Twilight turned and froze. She could only watch as the thing crushed the bookseller’s skull right in front of her.
The monster let out a low growl as it abandoned its prey and turned on the purple librarian.
“Help...” she tried yelling but all that came was a whimper.
It closed in on her.
“DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!” Twilight’s eyes shot open, her fear growing as a part of her brain realized what was happening. She looked over at the source of the voice and saw Shiro facing down the creature. He had a fire in his eyes that scared Twilight as much the beast he faced down.
Seeing this new threat, the barghest turned its attention away from the terrified mare.
Shiro stood on his hind legs with his forehooves out in front of him in some kind of awkward pose, his right hoof up in front of his face and his left by his stomach.
“Come here so I can kill you.” The pure rage in his voice caused Twilight to flinch.
The hellish canine obliged him. Twilight closed her eyes, not wanting to watch another friend die. She still heard the impact and it was enough to bring tears to her eyes.
“Hoho, you done FUCKED UP NOW!”
Twilight’s eyes opened, confused at the voice that shouldn’t be, and slowly looked at her friend. Where he stood only moments ago was large, white tiger.
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I stood there with the barghest's mouth held at bay in my paws. You heard right, paws. I was a tiger again, and this thing was going to be my first prey. My knee rose up, colliding with its jaw, slamming it shut just as my paws pulled away, sending it tumbling to its back. I chased it down and grabbed its tail before swinging it over my head, flinging the thing away from Twilight.
It landed hard, yelping as one of its forelegs bent in an unnatural angle with an audible snap several yards away. I was back on top of it in seconds. I pounced on it and started ravaging it with my claws, streaks of blood flying with each blow. Finally, I dug both claws into it’s throat and tore it open. I was greeted by a river of blood pouring onto the snow.
One last gargle and it stopped, never to move again.
I turned and saw most of Ponyville watching me. That's when it hit me; the potential problems that could arise from being a powerful predator in a town of herbivores. I pushed those those thoughts aside in favor of something more important.
“Twilight?” I said as I approached her. “Are you okay?”
She looked at me and scooted away. She was afraid of me.
“Twi, it's me, Shirotora. I told you about this.”
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” she screamed as she got to her hooves and ran back to town.
That hurt more than anything the barghest could have done to me. I sat in the snow and looked down at my blood covered paws. I conjured a mirror and saw it was the same all over. Even the scarf Pinkie had given me just that morning was ruined by the crimson liquid. I looked like a monster.
I grabbed paw-fulls of snow and rubbed them all over me, trying to wash the blood off my coat. Tears were steadily flowing as I tried to clean myself. When I first saw I had changed back, it felt so right, despite only having been a tiger for a minute or two. Now, though, I could only see sharp claws, perfect for rending a pony’s flesh.
“Shiro?” came a voice behind me. “Is that really you?”
I turned around and saw Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash standing behind me. Dash and Rarity looked ready to run at any moment, but Pinkie just looked concerned. She looked me in the eyes and a smile spread on her face.
“It is you!” She latched onto me harder than the ever had before but it didn't hurt. I reached my arms around the pink puff, as a collective gasp came from the watching crowd, and held her.
Maybe it was the thought of losing my friends, or perhaps the realization that I didn’t, but all of this brought all the pain from losing my family and home I had hidden away back to the surface. I didn't want to admit it but I needed this.
“Let it out, Darling,” Rarity said as she joined us.
“It's alright, Stripes, we'll never leave a friend hangin'.” Dash threw a hoof around me as well.
We sat there for what was about five minutes before Mayor Mare approached, hesitantly.
“Are you really Shirotora?” I nodded. “My... this is unexpected.” She shuffled her hoof for a second. “You're not going to eat anypony are you?” Pinkie shot her a glare that would make Chuck Norris shit himself. “Well, um... It’s just... Nevermind.”
I released my friends and walked over to Candle Light's body. I sat there looking at the mangled stallion.
“I could have saved him,” I said.
“Oh, Shiro, it's not your fault.” Rarity tried to comfort me, but I wasn't having it.
“No. It is my fault! I sat there and watched him die! I could have saved him but I was a frightened little bitch!” I didn't mean to yell at them. I was mad at myself. “I could have saved him but I didn't. He's dead because of my inaction.”
The crowd was starting to come closer to see the killer who had saved one of their own.
I sat there looking at him for several minutes. “Never again.” The crowd went silent as I spoke. I pulled a knife and held the blade in my right paw. “Never again will I sit by and watch when someone needs help. I swear to you,” I grabbed the grip of the knife with my left paw and jerked, “on my own blood. I will do whatever I can to protect the citizens of Equestria.”
“Why would you do that to yourself?” I turned to see Twilight standing there with a sad and confused look on her face.
I turned away from her. “Because I owe it to him.”
I was caught off guard by the impact of Twilight throwing herself on me, wrapping her hooves around my neck. “I don't care what you say, it's not your fault. You were scared and didn't know what to do. You were scared when you saved me, too, but if you didn't I would be dead right now.”
“Thank you, Twilight, I really would be lost without you,” I said.
Twilight took one last look and her fallen friend and pulled me along. “Now, let's get that cleaned up, and you're not allowed to have knives anymore.” I smiled appreciatively at her attempt to cheer me up.
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December 26
I had spent the past two weeks wishing I was still the tiger I was for those few minutes when I first arrived here. Now I just wish I had my pony form back again. Fucking chaos magic.
I sat on my bed staring at my paws. I still had flecks of blood on my claws. It was unsettling. Last time I had this form I thought I was dreaming, now that I look at it knowing it's real...
What am I suppose to do? I'm trapped in this world where I'm now a monster. Where will I go? How will I live? The ponies won't let me stay here. Why would they, I'm a dangerous predator. Being eaten by carnivores is the leading cause of pony death other than old age. My thoughts ran wild with questions, yet no answers came.
Hoofsteps came from the stairs. Twilight appeared with a plate of pancakes in tow.
“I brought you breakfast.” She set them down on my desk. “How's your paw?”
“It's fine, thank you for asking. Are you doing alright?” I asked.
She nodded, “I've dealt with death before. It's hard, though, I’ve never seen anypony die right in front of me. I was really starting to like him.”
I put an arm around her as she cried a little.
“Thank you.” She smiled weakly. “You're a good friend. Are you going to come up?”
I shook my head. “I have to work out what I'm going to do.”
She looked at me questioningly. “What do you mean?”
“Where I'm going to go. I can't stay here. I'm a predator; I'll scare everyone.”
“They just have to get use to you. Griffins come through here all the time. Rainbow Dash even dated one.”
“I've been meaning to ask: is that normal? I mean for two beings of different species dating?”
Twilight gave me a playful smile. “Got your eye on somepony special do you?”
I chuckled. “Not particularly, no. Sorry to disappoint you.”
She returned the chuckle. “It's rather uncommon but nopony cares if a pony dates outside of their race. Now come on. Ponies can't get use to you if you stay down here. Besides, Rarity has a couple things for you.”
I let her drag me upstairs as I ate my pancakes. Spike was playing with Mephisto but jumped as he saw me.
“Woah, Twilight wasn't kidding. Dude, you look awesome!” he said as he jogged up next to me.
“Thanks. Hey, could you watch Mephisto for me?” I asked.
“Sure, we're having fun anyways, right boy?” Spike said.
“Woof,” Mephisto answered.
“Be good,” I told the pup. He just wagged his tail and smiled (I still haven’t gotten use to that).
We walked out the door and I greeted my first day as a monster. I found that walking on two legs was just as natural as all four in this form, but decided to go quadruped. I figured it'd be more comfortable for both Twilight and myself if we were at eye level.
As we walked, I quickly noticed the utter lack of running and screaming. Someone must have forgotten to tell these ponies that tigers eat them. It was like they didn't mind. I couldn’t figure it out, so I did what anyone would do when they didn’t understand something; I asked Twilight.
“The whole town saw you save my life last night,” she said. “That and that oath you made. I've never seen anypony so serious before, but I could tell by the look in your eyes you meant every word. As could everypony there. In fact we all feel safer with you here after that.”
I looked at my bandaged paw remembering what took place. A new wave of guilt washed over me. Apparently Twilight saw it written all over my face because she immediately stopped my dark thought.
“You need to stop thinking like that. What happened, happened. You can't change the past, so worry about the here and now.”
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why they call it the present,” I said with a smile. “I guess I forgot the wisdom of tortoises.”
Twilight giggled at that. “At least you’re still strange. I’d worry if you suddenly went normal.”
When we got to the boutique, Rarity was busy with a dress on her form. It was, as is usual for her, covered with gems. It was gaudy and too bright, but that’s what ponies like.
Without even looking she greeted us. “Come in, Twilight. I'll be right with you, Shiro.”
I could smell her, I realized. She didn't stink or anything, I could just smell everything: her, Twilight, Sweetie Belle, breakfast. It was strange.
Twilight saw me sniffing the air. “Still getting use to your senses?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I answered, “I've never had a very good nose, even for a human, and humans have a terrible sense of smell.”
“You have to be able to track somehow,” she said.
“Wait, does that mean I'm going to have to eat meat now?” I do love meat but I don't want to scare my friends.
“Yes, meat will probably have to be included in your diet now.” She was hiding her nervousness in her expression, but I could smell it. “I'm sure we can figure out how you'll do that.”
“I could always go deep into the Everfree,” I offered. “I know it's dangerous, but I don't want to be anywhere near Ponyville when I hunt.”
“As much as I hate the thought of one of my friends going in there, it's probably best. I doubt you'll have trouble, though, if you can take a barghest so easily.”
I didn't realize it at the time but I really did beat that thing rather easily. I didn’t have long to ponder the ease of my victory, as Rarity had finished her work and walked over to join us.
“Thank you for waiting. Shiro, I cleaned and repaired your scarf, and I made you a new vest. I thought you might like one seeing as humans wear clothes so much, and the one you have on fits you so well.” The clothes I had when I got here reappeared when I transformed. I hadn’t even really noticed with everything that happened, though. “Of course, the color was terrible, so I fixed that.” She passed me a box. “Try it on.”
It was identical in design as the one I had on, but it was a brilliant red with black stripes that matched my real ones perfectly.
She smiled. “It looks fabulous. Simple is definitely your look. Those trousers are horrid though, take them off.”
“Take them off? Right here? In front of everyone?” I asked. I was rather surprised that her request wasn’t as off putting as I would have thought.
“Of course. You can't still see nudity as taboo, you've been nude for weeks now.”
She has a point... Fuck it. I shrugged. “Might as well.” dropped ‘em and tossed ‘em aside.
“Feel better?”
“I do. How's it look, Twi?” I asked, giving a little turn to show it off.
“You look very handsome in that,” she said as she moved closer to the clothing maker. “Rarity, now that you're done with him I need my dress. You know, for my thing at the palace,” she whispered.
“You know, Twilight, you should probably tell him. He saved your life after all.” They tried to speak quietly, but my keen hearing picked it up.
“I don't know. What if he treats me differently?” Twilight asked.
“If he treats Princess Celestia and Luna like any other pony I'm sure he'll treat you the same,” Rarity said.
“What's so bad that I would treat one of my best friends any differently?” I said.
Twilight looked momentarily stunned, but facehoofed when she realized an important fact. “Right, you have a predator’s hearing. Okay, I'll tell you if you promise not to act differently around me.”
“No,” I said, plainly. “I'm not promising that, because I shouldn't have to. You know me well enough by now.”
She sighed. “You're right, I'm sorry. You remember how I told you that Celestia took my brother and I in?” I nodded. “Well, that's only part of the truth. The other part is that she adopted us.”
I sat for a moment digesting what she told me. “So that would mean Celestia's your mom. Which means...”
Twilight finished my thought, “...Which means that, technically... I'm a princess.”