One Small Secret

by MyLittleChangeling

Chapter 5

Entry #1

I'm not really sure why I'm doing this, but Mum insisted I had some sort of record for my own cubs. Just because everyone else did it doesn't mean I have to, right?
Mum read that last bit. She wants me to write in that record-keeping is a skill well worth cultivating, and this is the perfect time to start. Hmph.
Anyway, tonight's my first shift. All the signs have been showing, and Willow Blossom swears it'll be tonight. She and her fancy fiancé came over to help, though how having an annoyingly bigger sister watching will help the shift I don't know. I think she just wants to be here to gloat. Her first shift went wrong, and for the rest of the week she looked like a dog! Apparently her body didn't quite get all the way through to wolf, so she got claws and fluffy fur, but on her pony body. I thought I would never breath again, I laughed so hard.
I hope mine doesn't go that bad. Willow would have a field day, and that posh Lord Trottington (didn't think he'd be a shifter) would tell his family, and then Cloud Rider will never go to the dance with me ... Not that I care or anything.
Dad says the moon's rising. I can feel it.

---

I DID IT! I managed the shift! At first it was weird, like someone brushed my coat the wrong way, but then it took over. It felt right. I can't even begin to explain how amazing it was.
Something else happened. We all shifted except Willow. Mum and Dad were talking with Willow and Trottington for hours this morning, once the sun rose again. I think she's pregnant. Mum said you don't shift when you're pregnant, because the cub inside you prevents it or something.

---

I was right - Dad called a family meeting, and they announced it. Mum was mad at Trottington (Dad said she'd told them to wait for cubs) but Willow begged Mum to forgive them. Personally, I think it would have been nice to see Miss Fancy Pants and stupid Lord Trottington disowned. I bet they'd keep visiting us anyway. Shame.
My necklace cleared this morning. It's accepted my wolf self. Well, it made Mum feel better, and I get all her rants about it helping me control the wolf now at least. Ugh. It's all too complicated for me.

~ Winter Blossom

***

Scootaloo quivered in amazement. Winter Blossom. Cloud Rider. Willow Blossom. Names she'd heard casually mentioned around Ponyville, her own family, were in a journal about ... what was it called? Shifters.
From the note in the cover, this was left to her by her mother. And the dance it mentioned. Scootaloo was sure that must have been the dance her parents began dating after, if her mother wrote about going with Cloud Rider. The only conclusion she could come to was that her parents were shifters, which meant ... Scootaloo couldn't even think about what that meant for her.
What about the necklace that cleared when Winter Blossom wore it? Her hoof brushed the stone at her throat.
That's it. I'm writing to Princess Luna.

***

Dear Princess Luna

I looked through Mum and Dad's stuff, like you said, and found this box with my name carved on it. It's full of paper and stuff! I read some, and it calls me a 'shifter' - furry is my speciality, according to this.
In the box there was this scroll, called 'Controlling the Beast Within'. I haven't read it all, but apparently I can control when I change, although the full moon brings it on too. Oh, and really strong emotions, it said. Most of it was blurred, but from what I could make out there's this potion called 'consumptis de amoveo'? That forces the inner animal out, or something. I even have the recipe ...
Anyway, does any of this help?

Scootaloo

***

"C'mon. Just ask him. That way Ah can prove Ah'm right- or, um, wrong. Whatever. But we won't know until ya've at least tried!'
"No way! I'll believe Scootaloo's some weird monster-"
"Werepony."
"- when I see it. Until then, I trust her to tell us something as big as that."
Applebloom groaned. She couldn't prove Scootaloo was a pony-eating monster until she got hold of some of those letters the filly had been sending to Princess Luna, and she couldn't do that alone. Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle refused to see reason. There was only one option left, and she knew she'd regret it, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Applebloom leapt in front of Sweetie, opened her eyes wide and whimpered.
"Please? For me?"
Try as she might, the pearl filly could not resist the powers of cuteness. "Alright! Alright! I'll go ask Spike!" Mentally cursing Applebloom and her adorable eyes, Sweetie cantered over to the library.

***

Applebloom tapped her hoof impatiently. Sweetie Belle had left over half an hour ago, and yet she still hadn't appeared. She doubted Sweetie even went to see Spike. Probably the filly had just trotted on home to Rarity, and Applebloom was wasting precious werepony-hunting time waiting for her.
Finally Applebloom spotted a white figure clutching a tightly furled scroll in the distance. "Mph moh ih!" The figure managed to choke out few words, but none identifiable to Applebloom.
A damp scroll landed at her hooves. "I got it!" Sweetie Belle nudged her friend. "Go on. Open it!"
Applebloom unfurled the letter apprehensively. As she read on, a plan began to form in her head.
"Now do ya see? She's a monster!"
"This doesn't prove anything!"
"Well Ah doubt she'd send letters saying 'Oh yeah, did I mention I'm a werepony?' Ah'm telling you, Ah saw it with my own eyes. She's one of them."
"I think you just don't like her. You're looking for reasons to hate her!"
"Fine. Ah'll prove it. We'll make the potion ... and then everypony can see."

Author's Note:

Sorry for lack of updates. Been going through some alternate ideas for the ending, but I finally worked it out. Have a read.
Note: 'consumptis de amoveo' is Latin for 'bringer of shift'.

Comments

[flyinggirl]

Great story! Can barely wait for more!