Chapter 39: All the strange, strange creatures
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear over the small BC town. Over the course of the night decisions had been made, plans had been laid out, and forces had begun to gather. The sun cleared its path over the Kitimat Ranges to shine down upon the town, and as it did several changes happened in the world it began to brighten and warm.
The first change was the blurring and shifting of several small equine forms back into those of five young children, and two adults. Only Lynn Harding and Foxfire remained as ponies, but no one noticed at the time as everyone had spent a busy night and sleep held tight in the face of the growing day.
The second change would only have been seen by someone standing in the woods near the town. If they happened to be standing in amongst the trees, near the outline of an old building where there was a partially filled in hole that had been dug several weeks ago. If they were standing in just the right spot they would have seen a small sapling, barely a meter in height, greet the sun by bursting into leaf.
The observer would have been shocked to see the tree follow that display by beginning to rapidly grow. Not in a single massive thrust upwards, but in a slow but steady rate. Gradual enough so as not to disrupt the life around it, but still quick enough to be preternaturally fast. Fast enough however that our anonymous observer would be able to watch the tree thicken and grow at roughly the rate of one centimeter every minute.
As the tree grew, the sun continued to rise until its light shone directly into the face of Foxfire, waking the pony up from a sound sleep. The pony opened her eyes and lifted her head up from where it had spent the night pillowed on a large male chest. Foxfire reached out with her magic and twitched the drapes of her bedroom closed, blocking out the rising sun.
“Not feeling like getting up?” Arnold asked, with a murmur from deep within his chest.
“It’s just… I’m still a pony, Arnold,” Foxfire said, laying her head back down with a depressed sigh. “Am I stuck like this now? Forever?”
“Would that be so bad?” Arnold replied, running his hand down Foxfire’s neck in what he hoped was a calming gesture. “You have magic, speed, and you’re damn cute like this.”
“Arnold,” Foxfire huffed. “I’m carrying a child. Our child. I have to ask myself if I’m going to give birth to a baby or to a foal. When the time comes, will I be a mare or a mother?”
“Yes,” Arnold said. “The answer is ‘yes’.”
“It’s not that simple,” Foxfire argued back, stretching out her neck a bit to give Arnold easier access. “I can’t be both.”
“Yes, you can,” Arnold answered, his smile a thing of gentle love. “You can be both mare and mother. With what’s been happening here, our child can be both foal and baby. You won’t be alone through any of it.”
“Arn?” Foxfire asked, a universe of worry held in a single syllable.
“I know what you told me last night,” the big man replied, his voice calm and steady although Foxfire could feel the tension in the hand touching her. “What you had to do, why you had to do it. The prices you paid. I swear, you will never have to stand alone against the world like you did back then.”
“Easy for you to say,” Foxfire huffed back, knowing she wasn’t being reasonable but unable to help herself. “I’m a meter high unicorn who’s most devastating weapon is cuteness. You’re twice my height, five times my weight and can pick up engine blocks with your bare hands.”
“Good point,” Arnold admitted, pausing for a long moment as he came to a decision about something he’d been thinking about since last night. “Let’s balance the scales a bit. Change me.”
“Wait? What?” Foxfire sputtered, lifting her head up to look the big man in the eye. “Change you? You mean into a pony? Right now?”
“Right here, right now,” Arnold confirmed, nodding. “Considering what Lynn did last night, I can probably do it myself. But I’m asking you to do it, because I trust you… and I love you.”
“You, you don’t have to,” Foxfire said, eyes welling up with emotion and unintentionally increasing her cuteness to near astronomical levels. “I love you too. You don’t have to be a pony for me to love you.”
“I know,” Arnold said, with a warm smile. “But how can I say I’m willing to share your life if I’m not willing to share your species. Do it. Make me into a little pony.”
“There is absolutely nothing ‘little’ about you,” Foxfire replied back, humour at the old joke cheering her a bit. “But okay then. Brace yourself.”
Less than a minute later, the now familiar chant was done and a second pony now lay on Jean Pedersen’s bed. Foxfire took a moment to admire the form of the deep chested stallion who now lay beside her. His blacker than black coat, which seemed to drink in the light. The incredibly deep and soft fur layering his chest, the dark streamers of his mane that flowed from the back of his neck in a cascading wave of night.
“Foxfire,” Arnold’s pony form rumbled, amused. “My eyes are up here.”
“Sorry,” Foxfire murmured, tearing her eyes away from the soft depths she wanted nothing more than to snuggle up against. “You make for a pretty impressive pony.”
“Which is why for as long as you’re a pony,” Arnold rumbled again, leaning down to rub the bottom of his head on the top of Foxfire’s. “I’m going to be a pony.”
“You can’t know that,” Foxfire gasped, shaking off the pleasant warmth that being in contact with Arnold gave her. “We still don’t know how a person does or doesn’t stay a pony.”
“I’m like a piece of iron about this,” Arnold said. Confidence, love and support for Foxfire radiating from him like heat. “Magic and love has shaped me like a piece of metal. Metal that can endure whatever it needs to. Iron strong. All we need to do is cast the spell again each day to make me a pony. Besides, do you think it's a coincidence you look at me the way you do whenever I’m like this?”
“Intent, desires and emotion,” Foxfire said, eyes growing wide as she remembered her own description of how the magic worked. “I made you into this. Into what I thought a perfect stallion should look like. Oh Goddess, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Arnold replied, giving Foxfire another reassuring nuzzle. “I shaped the magic you cast just as much as the others did when their forms manifested. I’ve chosen this. To be with you. Now, and forever.”
“So mote it be,” Foxfire declared, feeling a burst of magic well up in the room as she spoke the ritual words of agreement. “I am yours, my Iron Heart.”
“Iron Heart,” the black stallion repeated, smiling. “I like that. Iron Heart and Foxfire. Fire and Iron, together.”
Iron Heart bent down, intent on kissing his lady to seal the pact. He had only just touched his lips to hers, when the universe decided to interrupt.
“Mom! Mom!” Rowan shouted, bursting into the room. “We’re kids again! Oh… oops.”
“It’s okay,” Foxfire laughed, breaking the kiss as love, joy and above all, confidence filled her whole being. What needed to happen would happen. There would be trials, tests and even tribulations, but with her Iron Heart beside her, she would weather the storm. No matter what its form. “Iron Heart and I were just talking. I need to tell you and your sister something important. Get her for me, will you?”
“Sure thing, Mom,” Rowan turned, and without stepping an inch away bellowed out, “ROMY! GET UP HERE! MOM WANTS TO TALK TO US!”
“Could you get Billy too?” Iron Heart asked, chuckling as he knew what was about to happen. He was not disappointed as the young girl again demonstrated an impressive lung capacity, and within a minute the bedroom was occupied by two ponies and three children.
“Hey dad,” Billy said, greeting his father. “Wow, you look awesome as a pony. What did you want?”
“Well, I think Foxfire should go first,” Iron Heart replied, inclining his head to his lady.
“Thank you, Iron Heart,” Foxfire responded, noticing the three children each mouthing the name she had dubbed her stallion with. “Girls, there isn’t any slow way to say this so I’ll just tell you. I’m going to have a baby.”
The eyes of both girls went as wide and round as saucers as the news hit them. Rowan recovered first, as was typical of the two.
“I… I thought you said you couldn’t have kids anymore,” Rowan said, her expression a cross between troubled and astounded. “That we were your special girls because we were your only girls.”
“You and your sister will never be anything less than the most precious and special gifts the Goddesses could have given me,” Foxfire answered, reassuring her brave and bold daughter. “But you won’t be alone anymore. Magic, and Iron Heart here have seen to that.” Two sets of young female eyes tracked to Iron Heart’s face.
“I know I can’t replace your actual father, girls. But I hope one day—” was as far as Iron Heart got before his well-muscled frame went down under the powerful embraces of Rowan and Romana. Both girls wrapping their arms around the pony in hugs that would have done an anaconda proud.
“Um,” Billy commented, biting his lip as he looked over at Foxfire. “Does this mean I have to call you ‘Mom’?”
“Not unless you want to,” Foxfire responded, doing her best not to giggle at the look on Iron Heart’s face as her girls began to list off all the things they wanted to do to Iron Heart’s mane. “You’ve been a fine apprentice to me when it comes to learning the ways of the forest, and I hope you and I keep growing closer. But you never have to call me by any name you don’t feel comfortable using.”
“But, we’re gonna be a family now, right? Like Thunder and Windweaver, and their kids?” Billy asked, looking a little reassured.
“Thunder and Windweaver?” Iron Heart asked, finally being allowed to sit back up by the two girls who still each had an arm looped around him.
“Mister and Missus Harding picked their pony names,” Romy supplied, still holding onto Iron Heart’s neck as she stretched her other arm out toward a large brush on her mother’s nightstand.
“Uh, you don’t have to brush my mane,” Iron Heart reassured the girl, a little bit of nervousness in his voice. “The pony magic makes it come out all straight.”
“Only when you first change,” Foxfire commented, smirking a bit. “Your mane and coat will need daily brushings to keep them at their best. Trust me on this.”
“But… but,” Iron Heart sputtered, head tilting to one side as Romy began drawing the brush through his mane in the first of what promised to be a great many strokes.
“Did you not just swear yourself to me? O, stallion mine?” Foxfire asked rhetorically, her smile showing teeth now. “Did you not promise to share my life and my form?”
“I just didn’t realize that this was part of it,” Iron Heart replied, smiling a bit himself as it began to sink in what it meant to have women as part of his family again. “Fine girls. Go nuts, but no painting my hooves. I’m a work horse, not a prancer.”
“YAY!” both girls burst out as they began looking around for supplies.
“There’s another brush in the bathroom, girls,” Foxfire told the girls with a giggle. “Windweaver probably has some ribbons you can borrow.”
“Oh! And bells, too!” Rowan exclaimed. “C’mon Romy, let’s go! You’re gonna have the best mane ever, Iron Heart!” Both girls hurtled out of the room and down the stairs, their footsteps almost dopplering in their wake.
“Anyway son,” Iron Heart said, a few moments later as things quieted in the room. “I know this is all kind of sudden, but I hope you’re okay with it.”
“Dad,” Billy replied, reaching out to put a hand on his father’s hoof. “I’ve known Mrs Pedersen for years. The girls too. We’ve actually been kinda wondering if this was gonna happen for awhile now.”
“With your father’s permission, I would like to give you something,” Foxfire interjected, waiting until Iron Heart’s face showed understanding and he gave her a nod of permission.
“You don’t have to,” Billy stated, words warring with curiosity as Foxfire’s magic opened her closet door and took a box down from the top shelf. “It’s okay.”
“Your father and I made this for you,” the unicorn continued, as she floated a well crafted wooden box onto the bed. “It was going to be your birthday present, but with current events I’d like to give it to you now. As a thank you for becoming part of my family, and letting me into yours.”
“What is it?” Billy asked, hand hovering over the lid.
“Go ahead, open it up,” Iron Heart told the boy, edging a bit closer himself.
Billy Kye opened the lid of the box. Resting on a bed of purple fabric was a small knife. Stag-horn handle shaped to fit a growing hand, provided a home for the tang of a metal blade that held a rippling black and white pattern in its forged depths. The boy reached in with all the care he was capable of and drew out the seven inch length of blade and bone.
“The blade is silver, mostly,” Foxfire supplied. “The apprentice of a witch should have a blade that can be blessed, after all.”
“It wasn’t easy to make a decent knife out of silver,” Iron Heart added in. “I had to use a Japanese method called ‘Mokume Gane’ to layer silver with nickel without melting either so that they would stay separate. Foxfire supplied the handle from some antlers she found in the woods. I hope you like it.”
“It’s awesome,” Billy breathed. “It’s the best thing ever.”
“There’s a belt sheath underneath the fabric too,” Foxfire added, very pleased at her son’s obvious joy at the gift. “If you take care of it, that knife should serve you well for a long, long time.”
“Thank you!” the boy exclaimed, hugging both adult ponies. “You two are the best!”
“We’re back!” yelled Rowan, kitchen door downstairs slamming behind her and her sister. “We got ribbons, and bells, and beads, and a curry comb, and all kinds of stuff.”
“I’m doomed,” Iron Heart declared, dropping his head theatrically. “Doomed.”
“Be strong, my stallion,” Foxfire commanded with a laugh. “The consort of a queen must look his best, after all.”
“The things I do for my lady,” Iron Heart responded, as his doom approached with armfuls of things for his mane, tail and coat.
In the woods, not too far away, the tree continued to grow.
“We’ll get them all. Pay them all back,” Godwinson muttered, as she chewed on a piece of roast venison she had pulled up from her freezer and cooked. “Make Jean pay, make her children suffer like we suffered…”
“Feed on them, eat their strength, drain their warmth,” added a voice only the woman could hear. “Take away their town, isolate them, make them fear us and only then, only then do we eat the meat and crack the bone for the sweet marrow.”
“Yes, split them apart. All of them,” Dora crooned, before gulping down another slice of deer meat. “Smash their town apart, like they smashed my family.”
“We will break them, and feed on their strength,” the spirit of the wendigo sighed in chorus with the woman. “You and I, we are the only ones that matter. The only ones to be warm and well-fed.”
Silence, unbroken except for the sound of chewing, filled the frost covered room for several minutes as the woman demolished the remains of the roast. It was her third full meal of the day and it wasn’t even noon yet.
“What are you?” Godwinson asked, bringing herself from pleasant dreams of vengeance to cold lucidity. “What are you doing to me?”
“I am a spirit of rage, hunger and vengeance,” the wendigo answered. “I have dwelled in these lands since man first came here, and I am eternal.”
“You’re from here?” Godwinson responded, seizing on the words the spirit had spoken. “You’re a native? You aren’t from some weird other dimension like the ponies?”
“I am of this world and this place,” the wendigo replied with an icy breath. “These ponies. You have spoken of them before. Tell me about them.”
“Why should I?” Godwinson demanded, her tone a frosty match for that of the immaterial spirit. “I’m not your servant. You came to me.”
“No, you are not my servant. You are my partner,” the wendigo assured, savoring the cold core of hatred and loathing the woman had for others. “My physical shell. I will give you power and strength beyond what you can imagine, and in return you will provide me with direction and guidance in this reborn world. Does becoming my equal and sharing in my power satisfy you?”
“No,” Godwinson snarled. “Nothing is ever enough. Not until I see that woman lying at my feet and begging me for mercy.”
“And when they beg for mercy,” said the spirit, very pleased indeed with Godwinson, “will you give it to them?”
“No,” Godwinson growled back, the sound like two icebergs rubbing against each other. “No mercy for her, no mercy for the ponies, and no mercy for the town that sided with them and against me.”
“A good hunter knows their prey,” breathed the wendigo, as it felt itself and Godwinson becoming more and more a part of each other. “Tell me about our prey. About these ponies we shall hunt.”
For the next half hour, as woman and spirit became one, Godwinson told the wendigo all she knew or suspected about the ponies. Who they were, what powers they had, where those powers came from. When the explanation was over, the creature snarled in frustration.
“They are too strong,” the spirit growled. “Even merged as we are now, they are too bright and too warm for us to be able to bring down.”
“No,” Godwinson snarled in a bestial tone. “I won’t let her get away again. Can we get stronger? Can you give me magic like theirs?”
“My powers are already yours,” the Cold part of Godwindigo answered. “The only way for us to become stronger would be take power from others and make it our own.”
“Then let’s do that!” the Warm part declared. “Hunt them down, one by one, and take their power.”
“Other than the ponies, they are all too weak to be of any use,” responded the Cold side, who began casting around, looking for another option. “We would need… oh, OH, By the North Winds that spawned me!”
“What?!” demanded the Warm part, frustrated. “Tell me what!”
“Use the senses we now share,” Cold hunger said, with a smile like a razor. “Look to the soil near where the traitor who calls himself ‘Mayor’ works.”
“W-what is that?” Warm asked, astonished. “I can see heat and warmth pushing up from the ground. It’s like a volcano, pushing up from the old mine entrance.”
“Power,” crooned Cold, greedy hunger in each syllable. “Power, and warmth, rising up through the earth like gophers climbing up a burrow.”
“I thought you said we weren’t strong enough,” accused Warm. “These ones are even stronger. How do you expect us to get them?”
“They do not, and cannot know we are here,” Cold responded, frost licking away Warm’s anger. “We can ambush them as they emerge. Like a fox going after mice when they come up for food.”
“Yesssss,” Warm hissed. “Ambush them, take them down, take their power. And then… and then…”
“And then we take down the ponies and make them beg,” Cold declared. “Make them beg like you want them to.”
“And when we have made them beg,” Warm sighed, “We will end their miserable existence. Except for maybe the woman. We might keep her as a pet. Just so we can make her suffer even more, later on.”
“As you wish, my host,” Cold commented, very satisfied with its choices.
“No,” Warm corrected. “As we wish.”
The creature that had been Dora Godwinson continued to lay its plans and eat as the day continued. It was unconcerned by the goings on in the rest of the town, except for the concrete cap over the long abandoned mine entrance.
Which is why it failed to notice that the tree continued to grow...
I couldn't think of any better piece of music to frame this chapter with than Murray Gold's epic score for the 10th Doctor. Things are certainly building now. Powers are rising. The debut of the diarchs draws closer. But will Luna and Celestia emerge into triumph or tragedy?
And around our ponies continues to grow the most powerful magic of all. The Magic of Friendship, and of Family. Cherish your family, whether they be the family you were born with or the family you chose to be with. Hold special every moment you have with them, because when it's gone, it's gone, and no magic can bring it back.
If you want to drop me a line I can often be found hanging out on the Discord server run by Damaged. Here is a invite link to it. Just be aware, the entire server is considered NSFW and is very much restricted to 18 years of age or older
If you like this and other stories of mine, you can support me on Patreon for as little as a dollar a month. Patreon is probably one of the best things ever for keeping content creators like me in keyboards, coffee and chairs. Your support is what keeps me going.
A big shout out to the ongoing support through Patreon by:
Canary in the Coal Mine
Damaged
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A.P.O.N.I
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Well... that escalated quickly
Yeah.... that won't be a mouse coming out of that hole...
Eeeek! All the excitement and building tension. Seems like the showdown is coming quickly. So excited to see it all come together after following this chapter by chapter. Thank you for writing such a compelling story!
That windigo will be very shocked when it finds out it Dora is actually the only one in that whole town it can actually feed on, as she is the only source of Hate in Brightly. Everyone else in Brightly is full of Friendship.
BC is poor hunting for a windigo. DC is where it should go.
im wondering if this will be a sequel......id love to see how the town and equestria get along and try to keep their new pony friends and the new magic the humans have secret
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As editor... I give thee popcorn
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I can say a couple of things.
And together they will help reforge the world into something new.
This is your ship; sail it into gentle waters,
Do you mean a show horse?
That's Japanese for Wood Grain, i think
Hello, sudden dark twist!
Don't do it, Dora. The demon always gets the better side of the deal. And most of them lie like cheap rugs!
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Perhaps, but this is a wendigo, one of the cannibal spirits of the deep north. It doesn't care overmuch about hate, it just wants fear, pain, and marrow. It can get that no matter how friendly its victims may be.
Ambushing Celestia and Luna? Without knowing who or what they are and so bringing no specific anti-Princess worf devices?
... I've heard better plans.
This is a great story I think more and more people will be joining the herd
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Gives you cake
It may or may not be a lie
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Sorry, but even cake cant make me break my NDA with Penalt
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It is indeed. It's a way of getting a damascene pattern in a forged object without using true Damascus steel metals. Wikipedia Link to Mokume Gane
And yes, I wanted to say 'show horse' but Iron Heart used the term 'prancer.' It's the term that popped up in his mind for a horse all dolled up.
Well then, I have no Idea on where to even start on how to guess the next chapter.
I guess I'll have to resort to waiting happily to find out.
Well, that was different. The evil spirit going after Luna and Celestia to gain their power. Now the mystery of the Tree is getting interesting (and who is going to Feed The Tree).
I just realized. Does it mean all humans would be healed if they Turned into a pony?
Like when one got pregnant when they Should be sterile. And a sterile Male human as we.
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That, is a very good question...
Thank you.