//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: First Steps Taken 
// Story: Witchcraft is Magic 
// by wingdingaling 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 15

First Steps Taken


In the stillness of the night, Fluttershy's house sat silently. Not a single animal stirred, no grass or flowers were roused by a breeze, not even the regular sounds of the night were heard there. To anyone who was walking  by, it would have seemed like time itself had stopped on the property.
From the Everfree Forest, a shadow drifted to the house, and took notice of the abnormal state of affairs. Nothing was as it should have been since the last time it visited. The ominous silence permeated the conscience of the visitor, who began to grow wary of the atmosphere.
It was almost like she had come to a different house than the one last night. This was not the cheery, gentle place where animals abounded, but a dreary, dark place that looked like it had been abandoned.
Sensing that something was amiss, the visitor hurried to the front door. Halfway down the walk, the door began to open on its own, and another shadow ran out to greet the first.
"Molly," came the familiar voice of the tiny silhouette.
"Sweetie Belle," the visitor said, "What are you doing here? You should be at home."
"Come on! Everypony's waiting for you inside!"
"Am I expected for something?"
"You'll see when we get there! Let's go!" The filly excitedly pulled on the leafy mare's hoof and led her through the front door.
Inside, it was even darker than the yard, further lending to the feeling that something was amiss. Suddenly, with no warning at all, the lights turned on to reveal Fluttershy in the room, but she was not alone.
With her were all of the animals that Molly had expected to see when she arrived. Also there were the mares she had seen that night at Zecora's house. The pink one with the candy floss mane, however, was now bound to a wheelchair. Scootaloo was there as well, though Apple Bloom was noticeably absent, as was her older sister.
"SURpriiise..." Pinkie tried to shout as she stood up in her chair, only to be hit with a horrible vertigo that made her fall face first onto the floor.
"What's happening," Molly asked as her gaze went between each pony.
"It was supposed to be a surprise party," Rarity explained as she approached their arriving guest, "Until my sister decided it would be more prudent to greet you in the yard and tell you about it."
"A party? But, why?"
"I told you you'd get one last night, you silly filly..." Pinkie swooned as Fluttershy helped her back into her seat before she fell.
"But, we only just met. This is so..." Molly observed all of the baked goods and party props that had been set up as she thought of a word that Courtney would use, "Grandiose."
Pinkie tried to get up and explain again, only for Fluttershy to gently help her back into her seat when she started swaying.
"We wanted to make you feel more welcome than we did last time," Fluttershy explained. "We realized how much it must have hurt when we called you a monster, so this is Pinkie's way of making up for it."
"Since she wanted to make you feel like you were one of us, Pinkie invited all of us too. Actually, that was Scootaloo's idea," Rainbow Dash added as she ruffled her filly's mane.
"I'm one of you," Molly asked.
"Of course you are," Sweetie Belle said, "You might be from a different world, but you have everything that makes you a pony. You have friends that you care about, and you have a special talent that you use to make others happy."
"And my sister tells me that you're quite the showmare," Rarity added. "If it were ever at all possible, could you put on a show for us?Wearing one of my dresses, preferably?"
It was all so wonderful. Never before did Molly feel so welcomed or accepted by others. Only onstage did she feel like anyone desired to be around her, for whenever she was off, others avoided her or gave her strange looks. Now, in this little cottage, she was facing more friends than she ever had her entire life.
"Well, don't be a party pooper. Dig in..." Pinkie said as she indicated the treats that had been laid out, once she was rolled out of the way.
Once she was moved, Molly could now see a new treat that she hadn't noticed before, but immediately recognized. "Is that blood pudding," she gasped in quiet awe.
"Absitutely...Posilutely...Made by yours truly..." Pinkie said as she showed her bandaged hoof.
Blood pudding was Molly's favorite. It was rare that she ever came across it, as barely any shops made it. Now, here she was faced with the largest serving of the stuff she had ever seen.
With an excited shout, Molly rushed past any of the ponies and animals in her way, and stuffed her hooves in the bowl.
First, she lingered in the savory bliss of the dessert, before she began absorbing it through her skin. It was the purest rush of delight and ecstasy that she had ever felt. All over, her body tingled as she felt her fronds unconsciously ruffle ever so slightly atop her head.
The flavors of blood, onions, pepper, and just a hint of oats flooded her body from head to hoof. Next to becoming a performer, it was the greatest feeling in the world.
Sweetie Belle turned green as she buried her face in her sister's leg. Despite her nausea, she dared to peek out, and what she saw stunned her.
No doubt about it, Molly was a very beautiful mare. The kind who could stop a stallion cold with a single glance. But, as she drank the bloody treat, she underwent another physical transformation.
Before, she became more colorful and vibrant, and her withered skin turned green and healthy again. Now, her proportions began to change as well. Her legs, hips, waist, shoulders, chest, stomach, neck, face, everything, began to become somehow much more shapely with more curves than a normal pony had on their body. It also may have been the onlookers' imaginations, but the swore that her legs were becoming longer as well to match their more curvaceous look.
All the while, her skin gradually built up a glossy sheen until she practically glowed. All the mares in the room looked on with equal amounts of disgust and awe at the transformation she had undergone.
The bowl was emptied by the time Molly had finished. As satisfying as it was, she wished she had saved such a pleasure for last. "That was..." Molly let out a satisfied sigh, as no words she could think of could describe the experience. Instead, she simply let her emotions flow.
Her front legs extended unnaturally far to ensnare Pinkie, and pull her towards herself in a tight, enthusiastic hug. "You sugar-hearted, puppy-faced little angel," Molly giddily squealed before the force of Pinkie's momentum made them both fall to the floor.
Everypony present watched as their guest snuggled Pinkie like she was a kitten. Strange? Yes. A little scary? That too. But it was clear that she meant no harm to their pink friend. But, the party had to carry on, and that couldn't happen while their host was in a stranglehold of a hug.
"Hey, how about a game of pin the tail on the pony," Scootaloo suggested.
Molly let go of her newest friend when she heard that. There was a similar game she knew back home, where a tail was pinned on a night mare, but she hadn't played it since her sixth birthday. Reliving one of the few pleasant childhood memories she had may just have been better than the copious amount of blood she just drank. "Alright. So, which of you wants to go first," she asked.
"You, of course," Fluttershy said, reminding Molly who this party was for.
The next thing Molly knew, she was blindfolded and being spun around. She laughed merrily with the ponies around her, knowing now that her short time in this world had been completely worthwhile.



"Well, I'll be danged," Applejack muttered to herself as she flipped through the book. Once the day's work was over, and not a moment too soon, as the sun was just about to go under the horizon, Applejack went inside to the fire lit living room to read her newly discovered book.
As it was with Apple Bloom before her, everything from the opening page to the one she was on elucidated a whole new plethora of information that staved off the superstitions she clung to since her foalhood.
She read each page carefully, and discovered ways to protect herself from magical attacks. Many of them involved simple, everyday items that she had lying around the house, which bode well for her. However, some of them involved luring spirits and creatures to the area where any powder or herbs were spread. Applejack skipped over these, for fear of bringing unwanted monsters to the house, even though the book said they were protective, and generally welcomed. One page even informed her that if she was ever chased by an evil being, the safest place she could turn was a cemetery, where the good souls would protect her from evil. But, she had no desire to consort with ghosts, no matter how good they may be.
Some of the things, she could have done that very moment, as everything was ready at hoof, but they would not do her any good at the moment. Things like throwing rose water on a fire was only for curing magically-induced illness, and all she had recently was a sore throat.
But, what if that was cast on her by witchcraft? What if the illnesses that she and her family felt that time of year were always sent to them by some vengeful creature of the night, casting its evil magic on their unsuspecting heads!?
"Nah. Get a grip, Applejack. That's paranoia talkin'," Applejack thought to herself before she kept reading. Still, she was going to keep a bottle of rose water at the ready, just in case.
On and on she read the pages, finding only solutions to minor problems that she had around that time of year. Eventually, she began simply scanning the pages for a brief second before turning them to find something of substance. She was about to give up, until finally, Applejack had hit pay dirt. What she had found was a perfect solution to all of the family's problems.
According to the page she was on, if one wanted to protect themselves from nearly anything, be it a monster, a spirit, a magic spell, or simply an intruder in their home, nothing worked better than common, everyday iron.
"Iron," Applejack whispered to herself. That was how that stranger escaped from the creature he met, because the antiquated coin he carried was made of iron. It was the reason she was able to fight off the two monsters at her house: the knife she used was made of iron!
When she continued reading, she found the next few passages to be instructions to properly handle iron, as it was highly dangerous to the wielder, and may cause unwanted burns to themselves or their family.
That was a bit of an oddity. Everypony she knew was around iron all the time, and she herself used tools made from it daily. She looked at the cover of the book, to find out who could think of something that strange, and discovered the author's name to be Elias Parsifal.
It was a name that Applejack had never heard before. She wondered where the pony who wrote it could have been from to have a name like that. But, it occurred to her: what if it wasn't a pony who wrote the book? Maybe it had been written by one of the monsters she was trying to defend herself against!
She recalled how Apple Bloom said she had gotten them for Nightmare Night, but she never questioned who or where she had gotten them. The idea that Apple Bloom was borrowing these from some dark monster chilled her. Something was seriously going to have to be done about her sister consorting with demons like them, and she would begin first thing in the morning. However, her sister was now closer than she knew.
With nary a sound, Apple Bloom had sneaked out of her room with Winona, and were now making their way to the kitchen as quietly as they could.
Keeping low and always to the shadows, the two crept down the stairs, avoiding every spot that Apple Bloom knew squeaked when she stepped on it. Slowly, they descended with an eye ever turned to Applejack, who had only to turn her head to discover them.
As Apple Bloom crept, she felt as if the stairs had suddenly grown longer, like they were consciously trying to impede her progress to the kitchen and allow her to be caught by her sister.
She bit her lip as she watched Applejack shift slightly in her seat. Then, she felt Winona's muzzle placed under her leg before she could place her hoof on the next step.
Looking down, Apple Bloom saw that she was about to step on a part of the stairs that wasn't properly nailed down, and would have created a horrible creaking noise if she had applied the slightest pressure in that spot. She would have thanked Winona, if not for the objective to stay quiet, and finally made it to the bottom of the stairs to the open downstairs area.
There was an outcropping of wall at the bottom of stairs that was able to hide the two prowlers. Applejack wouldn't be able to see them where they were now, but as soon as they went into the kitchen they would be back in Applejack's range of vision, and ran the risk of being caught once more.
With a quiet breath, Apple Bloom and Winona both crawled across the floor, gliding like a pair of errant shadows run free from what was casting them.
In the kitchen was the objective of their mission. The pie that Apple Bloom had made earlier was resting atop the counter, ready to be placed on the front porch for any of her nighttime friends to enjoy.
She was only just tall enough to peer over the edge of the counter, but she could see that the pie was well within her reach, and she wouldn't need to create any more noise by grabbing a stool.
Slowly, she reached her hooves over the edge of the counter and slid the pie toward herself, while Winona kept an eye on Applejack. The dog nudged Apple Bloom with her nose, cuing her to duck behind the counter as Applejack cracked her neck, turning it toward the kitchen as she did so.
Winona peeked out from around the counter, and saw that Applejack was once again absorbed in her book. She then nudged Apple Bloom back to a standing position to retrieve the pie.
It was close enough now for Apple Bloom to grab in her teeth, which she did so, and placed it on her back, before running back to the outcropping of wall where they could hide. Now, there was one last obstacle to pass.
In order to get to the front door, they would have to pass by Applejack and hope that she somehow wouldn't notice them. Apple Bloom peered around from the wall that hid her, and saw how Applejack was engrossed in her book. She thought that maybe if she went really fast and really quietly, she wouldn't be noticed. But, knowing her dumb luck, she would likely trip on something in the process. Still, it was a risk worth running.
She backed away from the edge of the wall, and psyched herself up for the mad dash she was about to make.
"Yer supposed to be in yer room," Applejack said, without even looking in her sister's direction.
Apple Bloom's heart raced as she shrank into the corner at the bottom of the stairs. She had spent so much time making that pie, and wanted her friends to have it. Anything that special had to be enjoyed. Now, of all the luck, her sister was going to prevent that.
Seeing her filly so distressed made Winona decide that she should do something about it, and walked ahead of the filly, and peered around the corner.
"Hey there, girl," Applejack greeted her dog. "Keepin' that troublemaker where she belongs?"
Now that she was taken away from her book, she became aware of the late hour, picked up her lantern, and decided to call it a night.
As she walked to the doorway, Apple Bloom's nerves sparked all at once, as the dread of being caught took a hold of her. Little did she know, Winona already had a plan to take care of everything.
The dog rushed ahead of Apple Bloom to the stairs, and folded her ears back as she flickered her tail.
Applejack recognized that look as the one she made when something was wrong. Sensing for certain that her sister was out of her room, Applejack burst into the hallway, unwary of anything else besides her objective.
Apple Bloom crouched low into the shadows as her sister ran past her, the dim light of her lantern barely illuminating her in her hiding spot. Seeing that Winona was luring Applejack upstairs, she took the window of opportunity to complete her own objective and put the pie on the front porch.
Once she was upstairs, Applejack had the worst feeling that she was going to find her sister's bed empty again, only to see her dog run past Apple Bloom's door to her own. In turn, Winona was able to make Applejack rush past her sister's door without realizing that it was open a crack.
When she arrived in her room, she found that the window was wide open, letting in a chill breeze that nipped her face. "Thanks fer showin' me this, Winona," Applejack thanked her dog as she shut the window.
During her reading, she learned that an open window at night was the worst thing one could do when they were trying to prevent evil spirits and creatures from wandering inside. Now, if there were any in the house, she was sure that Winona would be able to alert her. Since that was taken care of, she decided that she had better check on her sister, just in case.
Quietly, she went to Apple Bloom's door, and cracked it open. Inside, she saw her sister sleeping quietly in her bed. With a slow breath, the filly turned her back to Applejack, hiding the sly smile she had from getting away with breaking the rules.
Applejack was satisfied with how things were, and closed the door after Winona ran inside and hopped on Apple Bloom's bed.
"Mission accomplished, girl," Apple Bloom whispered as she scratched her dog's ears. She quietly got out of bed, and looked out her window to try and get a good view of any nighttime visitors that may come to take the pie.
"I know they're out there, Winona," Apple Bloom said as her dog took her place next to the window. "It's just a matter o' time 'til they come here fer their pie. But, I wish we were out there with 'em..."
Hearing how Apple Bloom sighed made Winona's ears droop. Of anyone living in the house, she was the only one who understood Apple Bloom's feelings of the dark world. She was the only one that the filly had spoken openly about her new friends, or the world she had visited, and saw the spark in her eyes whenever she did. Though it hurt her that she couldn't say anything back, she allowed Apple Bloom the pleasure of talking about it to her heart's content to the one creature who would listen, as a good dog should.
A glimmer of light caught the filly's eye. Looking to its source, she found her gaze drawn to the moon in the sky.
As she looked at the moon, she realized that she didn't think once about Princess Luna. Her mind went immediately to the blood red moon of the dark world, and its ever changing, amorphous surface. 
To her, the shapes that appeared to her on the dark moon were far more meaningful than the alicorn silhouette she saw now. Even though it was ever changing, the swirling shapes to her seemed to have taken the shapes of the ponies she held dear. Specifically, her family. As much as she appreciated the lunar princess for everything she did, she would never be as precious to her as Applejack, or Granny.
Deep in her thoughts, she barely noticed when the clouds passed over the moon, hiding it from view. But with the glow of the moon gone, a new light shone.
Once more, in the Everfree Forest, Apple Bloom saw lights dimming and fading in the very same spot she had seen them before. "The Wicker Man," she thought to herself, dreading the idea of the monster coming back to the property to finish her off.
The filly's eyes locked on the light, hoping it would stay in the forest where it couldn't get anypony. But, the longer she looked, the more she felt she may have been mistaken about its source.
The lights of The Wicker Man moved as its glowing body did, and remained lit, unless it was feeding. These lights remained in one singular area, and dimmed and brightened, lending to the idea that it may have been something else entirely. Still, Apple Bloom didn't feel any desire to go and investigate, though the idea they may be benign had settled firmly in her mind.
A gust of wind rustled the leaves below, and blew past the filly's face. "Apple Blooooooom..." she swore she heard the wind beckon as it blew past her.
This was an all too familiar call to her. Somewhere, out there in the dark forest, a witch was calling her to her side. Somewhere, there was the answer to her curiosities.
Winona watched ponderously as Apple Bloom fashioned a rope from her sheets and tossed it out her window to the ground below.
Her mind made up, Apple Bloom began climbing down. Tonight, she was going to find out what made those eerie lights.
Walking through the house would make too much noise, and likely alert Applejack. Rather than risk the long journey to the door, the filly chose the shorter, quieter, albeit more difficult route.
She began to slowly descend down to the ground, but looked up when she felt the rope above her jerk, and saw that Winona had somehow managed to clutch the blanket in her paws and teeth to slowly start climbing down.
They both moved slowly at first, until Winona started to slip.
"Hang on, girl," Apple Bloom whispered, "It's just a little further to the ground."
With a whimper, Winona slid down the makeshift rope, and her weight pushed Apple Bloom down to the ground.
"Okay, let's go," Apple Bloom said, undeterred by the setback.
She had no light to carry, and the moon was hidden above. The only thing that kept her from getting lost was that she memorized the layout of the apple orchard.
At the edge of the woods, she hesitated to enter. Without a light, she would be at the mercy of the nocturnal predators within the trees. But she couldn't stop here. She had to know what was making those lights. Far in the distance, she could barely see the lights through the trees, but they strengthened her resolve to see through her decision.
She exchanged a look with her dog, and steeled herself for what was to come.
Without even a thought, or a breath, they walked into the forest, and disappeared into the shadows.