Twin Night Terror's

by FluffyDoom

The Curse of Curiosity

Chapter 13: The Curse of Curiosity.

The day of her sixteenth birthday was upon her, and the package she got from Shimmer was the best yet.

Hi sister! I suppose I can drop that formal letter stuff with you, huh? Anyway, in one weeks time you will see me after the full moon, and don’t worry, I plan on sneaking away before the two ponies can catch me, and Ashta (the Unicorn). Anyway, Ashta has grown slightly friendlier, but she is still pretty cold, and can be kind of hostile when Song and Poet walk up and try to talk with her. The only word she has ever said to them was, “Shimmer is smart, you brainless idiots.” I kind of felt bad she said I was superior to them, and I had to explain to her not to treat me above them because I have a control problem, but she just shrugged it off.

Off that topic, happy birthday! They are throwing me a party, well, not Ashta, but she wants to talk about something super important afterwards. Wonder what. Anyway, it was like I hit a growth spurt this past month, and as the full moon grows nearer, I feel more certain in my actions.

Lots of love, Shims.

P.S. There is a thing from where I live in the box as a present.

Astra squeed, and dug further into the box to find a strange rune carving. She poked and prodded at it with her Vampire powers, considering her Unicorn ones were shot and only good for levitating objects like pencils or silverware.

The information she managed to glean from it increased her curiosity. The stone the rune was carved on looked like a crescent moon, and the power in it suggested a type of special protection. But what? Maybe Eclipse would know.

“Eclipse, come check out my cool birthday present, Shimmer never explained what it was!” She called upstairs.

Eclipse trotted down the steps, placing her hooves with care. Earlier that day she had stumbled upon a thorn patch, and it and it had been the most unforgiving of plants. “What can you tell me about it?” She inquired softly as she reached for it.

“Well, from what I can tell, it is a rune of protection, but I have never encountered this type before.” Astra admitted.

Eclipse let a large grin split on her face. “Astra, lets go into town tomorrow, my treat.” She chuckled.

Astra was abruptly taken aback. “Huh?! What is that rune, Eclipse!”

“Protection from the sun, silly. Just fuel it with your Vampire powers.” Eclipse handed it to her. “Though it was originally made for Bat Ponies, I think it will work for you too. Same base power, after all.”

Astra nodded. She called the pure power within her and carefully threaded it into the rune until it was about to burst. Grinning, she ignored the light sheen of sweat on her face, as she was still practicing her powers. With a giggle, she spoke .“Oh, this will be the best birthday ever! But, will the ponies in town activate my need for blood?”

“No they won’t.” A male voice spoke, annoyingly familiar.

“Ah, this was totally worth the bits!” Song sighed happily.

“She did give us a discount.” Poet reminded her.

“Can we please not talk money on my birthday?” Shimmer pleaded.

“Of course, dear!” They agreed in unison.

Shimmer grinned happily and shoved a slice of cake in her mouth. It was a tiny cake, but it was delicious, and a rare treat that everypony enjoyed. Even Ashta had grabbed a slice and wished Shimmer a happy birthday before walking off. The gift she gave Shimmer was a silver necklace found in the old ruins of the castle.

“Not a penny spent on it.” Heartsong had complained. “Zero thought at all. She literally just scrounged it up.”

“Oh, dear, at least she was nice enough to give her a present. She only glares at us.” Poet had protested.

“Fine, whatever.” She shrugged.

Shimmer did admire her present for its beauty, but she didn’t like it much. It didn’t burn her hooves exactly, but it was uncomfortably warm when she held it. Putting a warm object around her throat seemed like a bad move. She thought it would explode into burning heat any second.

“Thanks, Ashta!” She had grinned anyway. “I will have to put this on later when I find a mirror.” Shimmer set it down near the cake so it wouldn’t get lost.

That day was a day for feasts, and though Shimmer had to alter her sleeping schedule a bit to hang out with her new friends, she didn’t mind. The homeless ponies pranced around, joked, and Paper Poet even wrote her a poet! As the drew to an end though, Ashta began to come out of her shell once more.

“Shimmer, when your party is done, meet me in Luna’s old room.” She instructed and walked off to Celestia knows where.

“Marcus, you are a real pain, you know that?” Eclipse snapped. “Getting Astra drunk off blood, and you are still stalking the twins!.”

“Changelings are stalkers, get over it.” He growled, and let himself in. “Besides, I want to help Astra, and if she gets drunk off my blood, well, don’t blame me. She needs it. I can tell, because she kind of looks like a starved changeling.” He inspected her.

She flinched. “No I don’t! Go away Marcus, I acted like an imbecile after that feeding incident.”

“Yeah, and you turned my eyes ed, and I couldn’t change them back for two days.” He snorted. “A changeling needs to change, and I couldn’t change the color of my eyes. You are lucky I am offering you my blood right now.” A flash of green and he was replaced by Shimmer. “So what do you say, sis?” Her voice rocked in Astra’s ears.

“Love for blood, I am having no part of this. Come get me Astra, when you are done here.” Eclipse sighed and ran upstairs.

“Well…” Astra trailed off and gulped.

20 minutes later Eclipse and Astra set off, a still-woozy changeling flew off into the distance.

“He was write, I am sorry.” Astra murmured, finally getting the stench of blood from her mouth.

“It’s ok.” Eclipse sighed. “You can only hold off your thirst for so long. Now lets hurry, only a few places are open this late. Besides you wanted to see if you could handle being around a few ponies.”

“Yeah, because during the day, Ponyville is packed to the seams.” Astra nodded.

They walked to the town in complete silence, wondering what would happen when Astra finally meet a pony, and not a changeling who was like a pony.

Shimmer climbed the old stone stairs, trusting them not to fail her, and even if they did she had wings. Descending the last step she went right, and to two large obsidian doors that were now open. Curious as to why Ashta even wanted this meeting, she walked in.

“Are you wearing the necklace?” A voice greeted her.

“Oh, uh, no.” Shimmer admitted, though she held it in one hoof.

Ashta walked from the shadows, her face curious this time. “Why not don it on top of thou head?”

Taken slightly aback she studied Ashta. “Um, why are you speaking like an old timey pony.”

Her eyes grew hard. “Old time? I am young, I simply assumed you were old. The power you have is ancient, and I know ancient powers.”

Shimmer held up a hoof. “Sorry, but I am confused here. What is ancient power?” She demanded. Surely Ashta didn’t know about her Lycanness… Lycan curse, disease? She would have to think upon it.

Ashta sighed. “Put on the necklace, and I will explain.”

Her fur stood up. “Did you curse it!” She spluttered, throwing it at the ground.

The glare intensified, seeming as she had few other expressions. “No, you idiot.” She growled. “I only wanted to confirm my theory, but I think I have all the proof I need.”

Shimmers fur began to prickle. “Explain yourself!” She growled. “I have no idea what you are even talking about, and it is making me angry!”

A worried glint finally entered the eyes of Ashta. “Calm down, Lycan!” She hissed, rushing up and scooping up the necklace. “You are no longer a pup, you could hurt somepony with that anger!”

“Explain yourself then, before I hurt you!”

Ashta snorted. “I do not like threats, moon child, but I shall explain. You have a power, and this at least makes me curious.” She straightened up and threw the silver necklace against a wall, out of reach. “I am truly called Ashta, but I am not a Unicorn, well, at least not a full blooded one.”

Shimmer cocked her head and sniffed the air. “Your scent, I can’t place it. What are you, Ashta?”

“I am the distant relative of pure darkness, hate, and evil. I am a shadow pony, in a sense, and now I carry her curse.”

Shimmers ears fell back as a legend played through her mind.

“Some ponies say that when Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, she didn’t get all of her. Some say, that some of her power remains in the old castle to this very day, and she is the Shadow Pony! She will lead you into the castle and make you her unwilling slave, forever stuck there until you die and become a husk also!”

“I am not going-!” She began to shriek, but a hard hoof clamped over her mouth.

“Oh shut your mouth, will you?” Ashta spat. “I don’t even have the powers they did, the blood has been diluted by ponies for generations now. All I have is information, and to my knowledge, I am the only pony who does.”

Shimmer shook her head. “Luna knows what I am!” She gasped as she pulled her muzzle away.

“Luna does not know what I do.” Ashta answered smugly. “She doesn’t even know how to check for the Lycan curse like I do. Which is how I found out about your predicament, of course.”

“Ok, one, why even check me? Two, how do you know all this!”

“When you flew in here, I sensed your power. Living in the Everfree for most of my life has given me an advantage, and I am more tuned to check for odd unique powers, rather than the normal everyday ones. You were practically humming with Lycanthropy, which meant you were close to becoming a Lycan adult. For your second question, I already told you. I am the x10 great great great granddaughter of the Shadow Mare, or Pony. Everypony in my bloodline is female truthfully.”

“Lycan adult? And, I didn’t even know the Shadow Mare had a physical body.” Shimmer sighed and sat down, her head slightly swimming as the anger passed.

“Originally she didn’t, but as time passed her energy began to naturally purify itself. She longed for a real life around the half-mark time of Luna’s banishment, so she gave up her immortality and became a pony over a few years. When she got a physical body, she married, settled down in the ruins, and thus began the Shadow Mare pedigree.” She gave a small shrug. “Yet… She was not a true pony, no one with my blood, no matter how diluted it is, is ever going to be a true pony. That is a curse, for if we let even the slightest bit of dark magick influence us, we turn back into a shadow pony.”

Shimmer gave her a sympathetic look. “I can’t have power.” She murmured. “The first time I actually had control over my life, I turned into the biggest jerk ever, and was influencing those around me to do mean things, mainly my twin. Though I suppose that can’t compare with your curse.”

Ashta nodded. “Well, now that we are done with sharing things about our lives… How did you become a Lycan, and how many times have you transformed?”

“Two times, and my sister and I read about a mysterious power. It never said what it was, but we went for it anyway. It also promised knowledge and wealth, and we got both. That was about three months ago. My sister became a Vampire, and I a Lycan. Eclipse was the pony who helped us, and never got the power, but I ended up turning her anyway on accident. Princess Luna thought I wasn’t going to turn into a Lycan, but she was wrong.” It ended with an indifferent shrug.

“Book? I thought they had all disappeared under Discords rule.” Shadow tapped her hoof to her chin.

A stray thought popped up in Shimmers mind. “Wait… Your bloodline is older than discord, yet you came from Nightmare Moon?”

She gave a tiny jolt. “Oh, well, sort of. See, Nightmare Moon was originally a parasitic demon who looked for a godly host, not wanting to settle for the normal mortal. So in a sense, Nightmare Moon actually started my family when our power was separated from her. We are clean now, though! I promise.” Ashta assured her. “Natural process took care of it. Besides, magick is only evil if you make it evil, like any tool.”

Shimmer shrugged. “Confusing, we should clear that up later. Why are you confronting me on this?” She changed the topic.

“I…” A flash of shadow seemed to cross her face, and it made her fur prickle in distaste. “I need to find the olden powers to break my curse. If I am even tempted in the slightest by dark forces, I shall become the original Shadow Mare once more. That, or I need to somehow give birth to a stallion, which is impossible. Everypony who has been born into this family is a mare. I don’t know why, and the only known way is to give birth to a stallion.”

“Odd, and kind of disturbing.” Shimmer made a face.

Ashta shrugged. “That is elder magick for you. Anyway, I was hoping there was a male of your kind. I might curse my child with Lycanthropy, but it wouldn’t show until she, hopefully he, is thirteen. Three is a very magickal number.”

Shimmer backed up a step. “You keep your weird need for Lycan stallions to yourself, please. I am still trying to clean up my own act without helping you with your family curse.” She snapped. “I ask you kindly not to involve me.”

Ashta let a slightly hurt look on to her face. “Shimmer, I know we barely know one another, but you are the first person I have ever reached out to.” She pleaded. “Please, just find me a male of your kind, I can do the rest!”

Shimmer let cold eyes fall on Ashta. “I can’t find you a male. I mentioned that only Eclipse, Astra, and I found that cave. Only Eclipse shares my curse, and until I feel I am cured of any possible desire to become a lunatic control freak again, I don’t plan on sharing my Lycan powers.”

Astra and Eclipse had slept at an inn in town, deeming that Astra was safe in public. The night before had been fun, even if they had mainly hung out in the hotel lobby, now though, they were up and Astra was ready to test out her new rune.

Tucking it into a saddlebag she now carried, Astra exited the room with the noon-light streaming in.

“Oh Eclipse!” She whispered. “I am soso happy!”

Eclipse chuckled. “I know, so I figured, you can get a little treat at the best cake-making place in town…” She winked.

“Sugar Cube Corner!” Astra squeaked. “Oh Shimmer will be so jealous.”

They trotted out of the hotel and went on their way.

The mares entered the bakery a few minutes later. Luckily it was a slow afternoon, so they only had to wait five minutes for the line to end.

Ashta ground her teeth in anger as the stuck up Pegasus left her, sitting there on the ground begging. No pony made her beg! Any yet, that bitch had the cure, and wouldn’t even help ponykind! Instead nooo, she had to go and deny her, her cure! Why? Because she was having some stupid mid-life crisis!

Well that little pony wasn’t going to get away with it! As Shimmer left her, Ashta began cooking up a devious plan for her own form of revenge, and cure.

The night of the full-moon was upon Shimmer, and she nervously approached the married couple. She prayed to Luna that they would understand her, and so she began.

“Hiya, Heartsong, Paper Poet.” She greeted them in a casual manner, yet her body posture betrayed her feelings.

“What’s up, hun?” Song asked, her eyes weary.

“I need to ask you two a favor, and not question it.” She nibbled her lip. “It isn’t anything illegal, but I have a secret, and I wish for it to remain that way.”

Song raised an eye and leaned over, placing her pony elbows on the table. Both adults had been sitting down. “Well Shims, it depends what the favor is.”

“Just… Whatever you hear, do not come after me tonight. I will come back safe tomorrow, I promise, but you can’t come looking for me tonight. Just stay here, please.” Shimmer pleaded, her eyes begging.

Poet took a turn to speak. “That is a very odd, and suspicious favor. How do we know you aren’t doing anything illegal?” He accused. “We like you Shimmer, but you make it sound like we will be in danger from your, “secret”.” He informed her.

“You won’t be!” She promised, anxiously glancing up at the sky. Soon the moon would begin to rise, and that was when she would have to start running. When it peaked it would be too late. “I must go soon though. Please, just stay here?”

Song studied her for a while before answering, and when she did, Shimmer let out a loud sigh of relief. “We will stay here, and we won’t ask questions.”

“Thank you!” Shimmer said fervently. “Now, I gotta get going, bye you two!” She opened up her wings and flew from the ruined castle.

Ashta took her que and stepped from the shadows as Shimmer fled. “You really won’t go after her?” She deadpanned. “She could be getting blackmailed.” Being an expert at hidden feelings, she easily made both voice and posture seem uncaring. “And if she got hurt, well, you two adults would be to blame.”

Surprised, Song swiveled her head at the Unicorn. “What’dya mean?” She demanded. “Shimmer promised she would be safe.”

“So will a shady pony!” Ashta snapped. “Listen,” She went on in a calmer voice, “All I am saying that Shimmer is probably getting into something over her head. You should follow her.” The married couple failed to see the slight shimmer around the horn of Ashta.

Paper Poet nodded his head. “We should follow her.” He agreed.

Song seemed to only be halfway convinced. “Yeah, but don’t we trust her?”

The dark pink-purple glow became stronger. “Yeah, but rather safe than sorry, no?”

Song gained a determined look. “Point taken, we should follow her, but how? You simply can’t track a Pegasus from the air unless you two are a Pegasus.”

“Or a Unicorn who has strong tracking magick.” Ashta switched from subtle mind-influence to tracing the Lycan energy that was practically gushing from the young Pegasus. She gave a grin when she found her target, the young idiot had not flown too far, in fact it was just a mere twenty minute run away. “Bingo.” She said and hid the grin once more as the Earth ponies shoke free of the last of her mind-influence.

“Ok…” Song nodded slowly. “Lead the way?” She asked, still slightly unsure of what was happening.

“Of course, though we shouldn't engage with whatever activities she is doing if they really are harmless.” Ashta really hoped these two didn’t die tonight, she needed them to unwittingly spread the curse to some ponies so she could break her curse.

Shimmer didn’t know what was going on, the pains were happening early. Why was that? Already she could feel her wings shrinking as she fled from her friends, attempting to get deeper into the woods, but finding it more and more immpossible with each wing-beat, until she suddenly crashed into the ground, which was thankfully close by.

“Ow…” She complained as she accidentally scratched her hoof and it began to trickled blood slowly. “Good thing I was flying low to th-” It was cut short as a spasm of pain shook her body.

She gritted her teeth, but found it wasn’t as bad as before, and it actually started to feel good. Sadly though, the good feelings were still battling with what pain remained. Was her cursed body growing used to the transformations, or were her Lycan powers growing stronger? She was unable to tell as the shifting began.

She felt odd as her muzzle began to elongate. From the last two transformations, she knew she usually lacked out around then, but she felt as if some of her mind still remained, and she held back a loud grunt. What was happening this time? Shimmer didn’t hate the changes, but she was slightly annoyed that they were there. Couldn’t she get a break from changes?

As he ears began to grow longer and shaggier she hear a hoof crack a twig in the distance. In a panic, she turned her head with wide and fearful eyes. She sniffed the air, and the all-too familiar scent met her nose.

They had followed her when she begged them not to, Paper Poet and Heartsong had followed her. But what was that third scent?

Ashta.

“Noooo!” She growled.

Author's Note:

Soooo, just finished the book today, well I am working on the epilogue thingy. Other than that though, here ya go. Sorry it took forever, and I am sorry it is rushed. I promise, the second book will be better. I will let the plot in the second book go at a better pace, I suppose I only wanted to make the first book to give your background information though :P
Yeah, that's right, I am making you read background information so when the second book comes around you know the characters, their history, and those fun shenanigans -.-
Hehe, oh well, at least the second book will be action packed, have a good plot this time, and lots more emotions! Cause I WANT to do better than this.