Ch.23: How it's Done Down on the Farm
Chapter 23: “How it’s Done Down on the Farm”
“You liar!” snarled Applejack, “Princess Celestia wouldn’t murder anypony, even if they were pure evil like you! She didn’t murder King Sombra when she and Princess Luna sealed him away in the frozen north, and she didn’t murder Nightmare Moon when she banished her to the moon for a thousand years! She may not see fit to kill, but her punishments can be far worse than death!”
“As expected, you’re just as blind to your Princess’s true actions as the rest of her ‘loyal subjects’. There’s no question that Celestia is the reason my beloved was incinerated in a massive explosion that created the pit in which we now stand! She intended to kill me that night, as I’m sure her version of the story states, but let me tell you the real story of what happened ten years ago!”
“Really, Starlet? I don’t understand why you think those two are the ideal candidates for establishing a new pack. They’re simple farmers, they don’t yearn for the hunt like I do or to see the world like you,” asked Roneo.
“Oh, hon, trust me, because they’re farmers means they’ll know how to quickly set up a way to feed the rest the group, and nobody is going to miss them because they’re part of that bloody Apple Family. I swear they’re so common they make up like half of Equestria’s population,” Starlet muttered.
Starlet and Roneo, really the disguised alter-egos of Fair Vista and Sable Loam, were sitting at some pastry shop in the middle of some town they’d happened to come across while wandering the world. Using their disguise charms; Vista with an enchanted locket and Sable with a special piece of his old guard armor hidden in his satchel, they were able to freely integrate into this “Ponyville” society. At least as much as possible when one of the local hot-spots was a pastry shop decorated to look like a gingerbread house, the one the disguised werewolves were currently sitting at and eating an ice-cream cake filled with strawberry ice-cream. While Fair Vista had acclimated extremely well to the werewolf way of life, she never let go of her love for strawberry ice-cream and cake. While Sable truly disliked having to go anywhere near modern pony society, he was willing to tolerate short-term visits if it meant making Fair Vista happy.
But he was having serious doubts about her idea about converting the local farmers into the cornerstone of a new werewolf pack. Sure, they were strong, but Sable was concerned about their rather calm temperament. Ponies who didn’t have much anger capacity were never going to make good werewolf warriors; to Sable, being angry fueled part of the hunt. Then there was the other problem.
“Stary, don’t forget the problem with conversion; there are the very rare ponies who can become long-lived werewolves and retain who they are. The weak majority will succumb to lycanthropy and become useless, primal wolves.”
Starlet/Fair Vista laughed, “Oh, please, you said that process takes months. Plus, you found me, and I’m clearly not devolved into a lesser being, right?”
Sable had to admit, it was pure luck that the one mare he’d ever loved also happened to be one of the rare variety who retained her pony mindset and form. He’d love to have an army of werewolves who were immortal like them to take over Equestria. But were farmers really the answer to that wish?
“Honey, just let me handle this. Worst case; you’re right, the farmers are just as good as cattle and will be worthless to us in a few months and we have to start from scratch. At the very least we’ll have learned from our mistakes and can try again. We’re immortal, we’ve got nothing but time.”
“Have I ever told you how glad I am that the mare who joined me for all these decades is also the smartest mare I’ve ever known?” said Sable, leaning in to kiss his love.
A few days later, after nights of stalking the place for the right moment, Fair Vista moved in. She’d caught her targets: a local farming couple by the names of Appleseed and Cornflower, and had made quite a bloody mess of them, but had at least left them alive for the emergency response ponies to deal with. Most importantly, she’d sunk her fangs into their necks pretty deep, so there was no question they had contracted lycanthropy.
A mile away, Sable and Fair Vista were in the middle of “celebrating” the start of their long-term plans when Sable caught sight of a large flash of light. To his horror, he recognized that light despite only having seen it last almost a thousand years ago, when Celestia had called him out for being a would-be usurper.
“Sable?” asked Fair Vista, realizing something was wrong, “what’s that light?”
“Run!” he shouted, turning and nudging Vista to get up. She did so quickly, her pupils shrinking at her lover being in fear. There was only one pony on the planet who he feared, and if she was close by….
The shouts of innumerable Royal Guards sounded out less than a mile away, charging into the forest without abandon. The werewolf couple turned tail and fled as fast as they could. The ground troops were nothing to worry about; after all, they could not match the speed of experienced werewolves. The Pegasus guards, however, were the real concern. They could keep up with a werewolf with ease, and unless they were low-flying there was no way to attack them.
Deciding to split up, the two werewolves promised to meet up later and headed off in different directions. For a few hours this tactic went on, a cat-and-mouse game where the predators were now the prey, all around the forest next to Ponyville. Finally, to Sable’s relief, he could hear the order to retreat being given and all of the pursuing guard noises faded away.
“Man, the guard is nothing like it used to be when I was still in it, and even then it was bad. But at least Vista and I got away. Now to-“
He was silenced in his voiced thoughts by a sight he hoped to never have seen. There, hovering above the ground with her mighty wings beating in concert, was Princess Celestia herself. With an expression of extreme disgust, her horn was channeling unfathomable amounts of magic, and a gigantic ball of pure light was growing from its tip. Then, Sable realized the Princess wasn’t aiming at him, she probably didn’t even know he was here.
“Vista!” he cried out as he moved towards where the Princess seemed to be aiming. But the Princess, oblivious to her true target’s location, had found a werewolf near the scene of the crime and she was going to eradicate its cursed existence out of her kingdom. She swung her head back, and then forward sharply, sending the now-massive light ball crashing into the Everfree and right on top of who she thought was Sable Loam.
As the real Sable Loam rushed towards Fair Vista, he could only watch as the ball simply kept sinking into the ground as he raced towards it, a sudden surge of power rushing past him as it detonated, destroying a large area of the forest and knocking Sable back into a tree, knocking him out.
It was a bright, sunny day when he woke up; he was in his much-hated original form as a pony instead of his preferred wolf form. Shifting back to normal, he rushed to the center of the blast and hoping beyond hope Fair Vista was alive.
Sadly, all he found was a massive crater in the Earth. Everything that had been in it was simply disintegrated. No burned tree-trunks, no chared carcasses of dead animals, and no Fair Vista at all. In fact, all Sable found of his lover was her locket, which she must have somehow dropped right outside the radius of the crater and thus escaped destruction. But the mare herself had been wiped clean away. By the very same Princess who had set him down the path of becoming what he was now.
Sometime later, once Celestia’s terra-forming project had disguised the crater as a natural part of the Everfree, Sable worked up the nerve to return to the site and place a gravestone he’d bought in town. On its surface he used his own claws to carve Fair Vista’s name into the otherwise blank surface, and once done he swore vengeance for her, and everything Celestia had done wrong by him. Years later, he would learn that a pony named Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Celestia and the one who had restored the Elements of Harmony, was living in that same accursed town. He made it his mission to see a new pack created in Fair Vista’s name, with no acceptable outcome other than the death of Celestia and his ascension to ruler of all ponykind...which wouldn’t remain ponies for long.
“Wait, let me get this straight,” said Applejack,” Your whole plan was essentially to get revenge on the Princess by convertin' Twilight into a werewolf under your command, then use her to build up an army of werewolves to overthrow the Princess?”
“Basically, yes.”
“And you think nopony else has ever tried that before?”
“It would be common knowledge if such an attempt was made, wouldn’t it?”
Applejack just stared at her tormentor. Then, starting with a giggle, she suddenly burst out laughing.
“What?!” asked Sable, “What is so funny?!”
“For somepony who likes to hide in public, you sure aren’t up to speed with current events! Tell me; does the name ‘Queen Chrysalis’ mean anythin’ to ya?”
“Uh, no. Why?”
Applejack laughed harder, “Well, it should, since she pretty much did exactly what you wanted to do with her army of Changelings, and she almost succeeded too! You don’t have anythin’ compared to Chrysalis’s resources, yet you think all ya need to do is turn a bunch of ponies into werewolves and lead them in an all-out attack on Canterlot. Ah’m nothin’ more than a simple farmer, no fancy learnin’ an’ all that, and even Ah can tell your plan has more holes in it than one of Rarity’s teabags! You’re just the butt of one long joke, aren’t ya? Ah bet Sable Loam isn’t your real name, it’s actually Butt Stallion!”
Unfortunately for Applejack, her comment ended up striking a nerve deep in Sable’s subconsciousness that hadn’t been triggered in a long, long time.
“I will not be insulted in such a manner!” growled Sable, barring is razor-sharp teeth, “I was relegated to being a stupid scout back when I was in the guard, all because my commanders thought their silly little tactics and diversions were more honorable than being a true killer and facing the enemy head-on! Now I am centuries older, I’ve survived trials you cannot imagine and I will not have the one who will mother my new army think I’m dumber than an uneducated country hick!”
Applejack bared her fangs in return “Are you for real? After all this build-up Ah’ve been force-fed about how you’re supposed to be some kind of immortal nightmare, and now you’re takin’ offense at me sayin’ Ah’m smarter than you? Ah’ve suffered at your hooves…paws…whatever for this long, and you want to play that stupid game with me?”
“I will make you learn your place, bitch!” snarled Sable as he lept to subdue the unruly werewolf in front of him.
“Ah might be a bitch, but no way am Ah’m gonna be your bitch!” retorted Applejack, who in turn evaded and proceeded to launch her own barrage of attacks at Sable. It was a dog-eat-dog situation, where two werewolves had entered, but only one would leave.
Meanwhile, not too far from the crater…
“Yes, finally!” exclaimed Twilight, “I finally found it!”
“Found what?” Iron Will asked.
“The section on werewolves!”
“Oh, right.”
As Twilight read on, however, the smile on her face drooped into a frown as she started to figure out just what was going on with Applejack.
“Find anything useful yet?” called out Sandalwood from the driver’s seat.
“It’s not good!” answered Twilight, “due to the nature of what lycanthropy is, according to this book, Applejack’s only hope of ever being restored to her normal self is if she kills Sable Loam!”
“She has to what?!” exclaimed a horrified Rarity. “Applejack’s not a killer! I mean, sure, she eats meat by the bucketful lately, but she’d never willingly take another pony’s life…would she?”
“That’s what I’m worried about. Normally she wouldn’t, but if she had given in to the point where she will kill…could Applejack truly return back to normal?”
Sable had to admit, he hadn’t been expecting the fight to be this challenging. It worried him, even, that although Applejack was still yet very inexperienced as a werewolf, she was already bobbing and weaving around his attacks like she’d done this for years. It made him wonder just what a rodeo actually was, if this mare had won awards in such things.
He was rewarded for his diverted attention with a claw swipe to the face, as Applejack lashed out.
“How do you like them apples?!” she shouted. Her response was receiving a sudden blow to the chest, followed by a long swipe at her side. Sable’s claws didn’t go deep, but they did leave some sizeable cuts that really hurt, even considering how they were already healing slowly.
“To be honest, I never liked apples,” Sable taunted as he launched into another attack. Applejack tried to block, all she got for her trouble was more wounds on her forelegs as swipe after swipe lay into her. Suddenly, Applejack spun in place, causing Sable to fly past her. She took the chance and moved in, clamping her jaws onto Sable’s hind leg. He screamed as the pain registered in his brain. He got her to let go after landing some more hits, but while it was the most serious wound of the fight so far, Applejack was shocked to see him seemingly just start walking it off.
“Oh, you’re gonna make a great mate once you finally realize you belong to me…” said Sable with a sinister tone.
“Not gonna happen!” replied Applejack.
“But it’s true! After all, your parents belonged to me after Fair Vista turned them into werewolves. How do you think they died?”
The mixed emotions played out over Applejack’s face. “No…you can’t know how mah parents died! Nopony does!”
“Oh get a grip on reality! That howl I used earlier to draw you to me? I used it that night to summon your parents to see if they were worth keeping around. Somehow, it sort of worked, but your mother was worthless and your father was already too far gone towards being a wolf, so I killed them.”
“You…you mean you’re the one who killed mah mom and dad?!”
“I’m surprised I’ve ended up having to explain that, but no worries. You’re far better stock than your parents, and I won’t be making the same mistakes.”
“Your mistake was thinkin’ Ah’d go along with you in bein’ a murderous werewolf!” cried Applejack as she launched into another fury of attacks, Sable doing the same.
Celestia had just sat down to enjoy a late evening cup of tea and to read some more into a new science fiction book Twilight had recommended before she went to bed. While the title, Razorblade Angel, was rather unusual, the content was excellent and Celestia was worried the book would end too quickly.
That’s when the letter appeared in a cloud of magic. Surprised to be getting a letter this late, Celestia opened it up and expected a friendship report. What she got caused both her coat, mane, and tail to instantly pale.
Thirty seconds later Luna found herself being escorted by guards to the royal armory, where she found Celestia putting on her battle armor for the first time in what must have been centuries.
“Sister, just what is the meaning of this?!” inquired the azure alicorn.
“He’s back, Luna, and Applejack is in serious danger!” replied the surprisingly frazzled sun princess as she magically attached a foreleg armor piece. She didn’t need to go into specifics for Luna to understand who “he” was.
“But Celly, what do you hope to accomplish by going out in full battle barding? You’re acting like you’re leading the assault against the Changelings for crying out loud!”
“That’s because I mean to end this tonight, Luna. I made a mistake over a thousand years ago when I didn’t just have Sable executed on the spot for treason, and it’s cost thousands of ponies their lives if not more. Unless I stop that monster now, he might make victims out of more than just one unfortunate mare. Sable Loam will die tonight, with his heart impaled by my horn if need be.”
“But what if he bites you, what if he tries to turn you into a werewolf? Equestria needs us to remain pure, just imagine the chaos that would erupt if you ended up as some kind of abomination?”
“That’s why the battle armor, sister. No bite can break these plates, not even the bite of a dragon. And don’t ask me how I know that.”
Luna was silent for a moment, watching Celestia continue to suit up. Then, she asked, “Should I go with you, and if so, will I need battle armor?”
“I’d greatly appreciate it, Luna,” replied Celestia. “We defeated Sombra together once, we can defeat his creations the same way. But I want you to stay in the air. I’m going to fight Sable on his own terms simply to ensure he dies, but air support is always welcome.”
“Then he shall find no safety under the moon tonight!” declared Luna, appropriately switching to the RCV.
Applejack felt herself get slammed into a tree, then collapse on the ground. She was spent; the running had taken a good deal of energy out of her, but while she’d done remarkably well in fighting off Sable, his superior endurance and skill eventually won out.
“Now that I’ve finally broken you, I guess it’s time to break you in… fully!” said Sable, very huskily. As he slowly moved over behind Applejack, she was scared that he was going to ravish her, and that this truly was the end of her life as a pony.
Or it would have been, had the roar of engine motors not started to echo out of the forest, followed by the car and the truck shooting out from atop the crater edge and almost flying down to meet the werewolves at the bottom.
“What in the hell are-“ started Sable, who was cut off with the sudden appearance of the pink, bushy-maned pony he’d seen earlier in Ponyville. She had a mischievous grin on her face, to which Sable then realized she somehow had brought a cannon into point-blank range against him. He had no time to react before the pink pony pushed a button on the weapon and blew the werewolf back a good little distance from a combination of confetti, glitter, deadhor5 dubstep, and raw force.
Wasting no time, Pinkie leaned over to help the wounded Applejack get up. “You okay, AJ?”
“Not…really…” groaned Applejack as she struggled to get back to her feet. Partly because she was exhausted, partly because she nearly got violated by an ancient horror. “Ah don’t think you’ll appreciate just how close y’all were cuttin’ it there for mah sake!”
Close by, the vehicles finally found places to stop, and unloaded their passengers. Sable, upon recovery, found that what had once been a one-on-one fight had now turned into a one-against-all situation. Along with Applejack, there were now nine additional ponies who looked like they were ready to do some serious damage (that worthless yellow Pegasus naturally was hiding in the background), a baby dragon, and a minotaur, all standing at the ready to defend their compatriot.
“Oh, look, you finally have some help. Too bad you actually need them and couldn’t do it on your own, huh? And here I thought you were the strongest one here, but I must have thought wrong,” taunted Sable.
“Ah don’t know what you’re trying to do, you monster, but Ah am so past the point of caring, nothin’ you say will make me betray mah friends and be your personal toy.”
“But you even have a bloody minotaur!” accused Sable, trying to hide how desperate he was to keep his plans going. He hadn’t known about the ponies having access to strange machines that practically eliminated his ability to outrun them normally, and the odds were stacked against him. “While I haven’t seen one in ages, the last time I tried to hunt a minotaur didn’t end well.”
“What, you got your sorry butt kicked?” said Iron Will.
“Oh, quite the contrary. I did get my prey, but you minotaurs taste nothing like the cattle you’re supposedly related to. And I wasted all that time trying to go after that queen, too, but obviously as I’ve not troubled the Minotaurs for some time it should be clear I learned my lesson from that.”
“Wait…so you’re the werewolf that killed the Minotaur Queen all that time ago?!” realized Iron Will.
“Yeah, and as I said it wasn’t worth it, so I don’t see the big-“
“YOU’RE THE REASON FOR ALL THIS!” Iron Will roared, loud enough to the point everypony else started to back away from him. Normally, Iron Will was actually quite approachable after getting past his showboating persona, but now things had gotten to a head. His eyes turned red, he was breathing heavily, and his muscles started to bulge. Some of the ponies in the audience also noted that his normally blue fur coat looked sort of green in this much angrier, hulking state.
“You think that’s going to intimidate-“ started Sable again, annoyed at being interrupted. He was interrupted again, but this time by Iron Will shooting forward, grabbing Sable by the neck, and slamming him into the ground with a large amount of force.
“IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU I HAD TO DO ALL THIS!” shouted the enraged minotaur, lifting up the stunned Sable only to deliver a punch to the face. “IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU THAT I HAD TO GO THROUGH ALL THIS CRAP SIMPLY TO GET MARRIED!”
“What is he on about?” asked Applejack.
“Oh, um, yeah, I probably should have mentioned this to you earlier,” said Twilight, “Iron Will’s reason for hunting werewolves in Ponyville is because if he catches a werewolf and brings it back to his homeland, he’ll be engaged to the Minotaur Princess.”
“So you’re sayin’ Ah’ve been in mortal danger ever since Iron Will came to town simply ‘cause he wants to get married?!”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Twilight said, oblivious to her friend’s reaction.
Applejack just facehoofed - or facepawed, in this case. While that whole discussion was going on, Iron Will was laying into Sable with blow after blow. Sable couldn’t believe how horribly outclassed he was against just one opponent. Thinking it would change the flow of combat into his favor, Sable managed to land a deep bite into one of Iron Will’s arms.
“AAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!” screamed Iron Will, but to Sable’s dismay it only seemed to make the minotaur angrier as he just shrugged off what clearly should have severed some tendons. Sable then also remembered that he’d learned minotaurs were somehow immune to lycanthropy. The curse created by Sombra so long ago was tailored to fit ponies and ponies alone, and the inclusion of other species hadn’t even been considered.
Then, finally, Iron Will stood in the moonlight, his sweating posture highlighted by the numerous wounds ranging from simple scratches to deep bleeding wounds. But in his clenched fist was the even more severely beaten form of Sable Loam. Originally sleek and proud, it had been broken in so many ways both physically and mentally, as Sable understood this was the end.
“I could kill you right now, then drag your corpse back to my homeland and fulfill the ritual, thus getting my parents off my back about having to get married, “said IW, “but there is another reason why I can not allow myself the right to kill you.”
“Hah…even…after…all…that…you’re…still…weak…” rasped Sable, finding it extremely hard to breathe.
“No, I’m not the weak one.” Iron Will then just let go of Sable, who hit the ground with a loud THUD. “But I’m also not the one who has a curse to break.”
Twilight smiled at that. Iron Will was throwing away the whole reason for his coming out here for Applejack’s sake. “AJ, this might be difficult, but we think the only way to cure you of lycanthropy-“
“-Is to kill this pony once and for all?” finished Applejack, not surprised at the shocked reactions of her friends. “Yeah, yeah, Ah know Ah’m not usually the type to be all dark like that, but here Ah’m makin’ an exception.”
She walked forward, stopping in front of the crippled werewolf in front of her. “Git up.”
Sable cracked a grin. “Make me…”
With one swift motion, Applejack grabbed the bottom of Sable’s head and lifted it up just enough so she was looking him eye-to-eye.
“Ah’m not gonna let you die. Not yet. Not when Ah still need to make somethin’ very clear to you.”
Sable let out a pained laugh. “What? That you’re a better *cough* werewolf than me? Don’t be redic*cough*ulous, you’ll never be worth anything as a werewolf when you need your *cough* allies to help you against a single enemy!”
“And that’s mah point exactly.” Replied Applejack, narrowing her eyes, “Ah’m not a werewolf, Ah never wanted to be a werewolf, and Ah never will be a werewolf. Not like you - never like you. That’s why we’re different, Sable, you’re the wolf, but Ah’m still a pony. And when you’re dead Ah’ll be still alive; because you gave up being a pony so long ago and have never embraced the most powerful force there is in Equestira: the magic of friendship.
“The ponies around me? They are not mah ‘allies’. They are mah family and mah friends. Helping each other out when a friend needs assistance is what ponies like them do. You never had a friend beyond Fair Vista, and even then Ah bet she was more of a follower to you than a true companion. And that is why Ah will never be a werewolf like you.”
Applejack motioned for Big Mac, who understood and tossed Appleseed’s hat to AJ, who swiftly caught it and placed it on her head where it belonged.
“Mah name is Applejack, and Ah am, and will always be a pony!”
She thrust Sable’s head into the air to elevate his chest, and then quickly spun around and with the full force of her hindlegs she bucked him as hard as she could in the chest. The force of the impact shattered Sable’s ribcage, causing broken ribs to pierce his heart and ensure his oncoming death, but also knocked him back into Fair Vista’s tombstone. The old limestone tombstone shattered on impact, allowing Sable to keep flying backwards until he rebounded off the giant tree, collapsing in a broken heap on the ground. As he finally felt death’s embrace start to envelop him, only then did he notice the forms of Celestia and Luna descending from above. The false princesses had indeed gotten the last laugh.
“Damn you…DAMN YOU ALL!” was all Sable could say before death finally claimed him, leaving only a broken husk of a body to commemorate one of the darkest legends in Equestrian history having finally come to an end.
For Celestia, who had just gotten there with Luna and a full regiment of guards, it was the end of a nightmare she’d wanted gone for centuries. Now, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. “At last, it’s over, it’s finally over!” she exclaimed.
For Applejack, the victory was short lived however. The sudden onset of lightheadedness for some reason made her extremely woozy, and moments later she passed out on the ground and oblivious to the world around her.
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Ooo, a cliffhanger at THE WORST POSSIBLE MOMENT!!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! CLIFFHANGERS!
2892774 It ain't half bad to have a pain in the ass cliffhanger here.
2892774>>2892793>>2892864
Yeeesss. I can see the author has embraced the true power of the Cliffhanger.
i.qkme.me/3rob3p.jpg
You sly lad, you.
Cliffhangers are like lemons!
“When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I’m gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!”
Man, that douchebag pretty much dug his own grave in this chapter. Seriously, his mouth was his worst enemy in this case, going on about killing AJ's parents, as well as the Minotaur Queen that forced poor Iron Will to married someone against his will. In the end, he was another delusional fool that bit the dust... Now, we got a cliffhanger in sight, leaving poor AJ's fate in the air.
C&Cs:
...said Applejack,” Your whole plan was essentially...”
> Switch the beginning quotation mark around.
“And you think nopony else has ever tried that before?”
...assistance is what ponies like them do.
> Remove the extra space.
And when you’re dead Ah’ll be still alive;
> Comma after ‘dead’.
Hmm. It appears that Sable Loam didn't know quite as much about wolves as he thought he did, because wolf hunting tactics are all about cooperation, as ten wolves operating alone are nowhere near as strong as a ten wolf pack. Perhaps somepony (Twilight?) could mention that in the next chapter.
YOU MUST FINISH THIS STORY AND MAKE ME HAVE AWESOMENESS SEIZURES WHEN YOU DO.
Can you do an alternate ending where applejack stays a lycan
2894166
It wasn't the queen's fault Iron Will needs to get married (since her death was what made the Minotaur King promise the hand of the princess in return for one of his subjects bringing him a werewolf carcass). He was pressured into it by his parents.
2894900
Not exactly. Sable's been operating as a lone wolf for most of his years, and unlike normal wolves he's got both a military background (he's ex-Royal Guard), high level intelligence, and Earth Pony strength/endurance, so he's far better equipped to take on big threats like say, a Manticore, than the average wolf. That being said, he should have cut his losses and ran as soon as he recovered from the Party Cannon attack, but of course his ego got in the way and eventually led to his demise.
2905200
How do you know AJ won't stay a werewolf? For all anybody knows, the book could be wrong about how to cure lycanthropy.
2906513
Never said it was. At least, not to any large degree. The Queen's death is a stepping stone that caused the series of events to happen, leading to Iron Will's situation with his family, involving werewolves. Basically the domino effect in play. Sure, they probably will still bugged him to go through the mating ritual, regardless, but it was the Queen's death that got him hunting werewolves (and maybe putting a bit more pressure on him by his folks as well).
2906558
Ah, okay, I get you now.
2929641
Actually, the term "werewolf" comes from the old english wording of "werewulf" that, when translated literally, has the word "were" literally means "adult male human". I forget what the actual term would be for a pony who has the same kind of curse, but in this story I use werewolf because practically everybody thinks of the word in the way you describe. I do have an in-universe for the origin of the term "werewolf" towards the later third of the story, since "were" in this context can't mean adult male human.
Hellooooo Handsome (apple)Jack!
I hope they keep the whole thing hush hush and give the body to IW, but I also hope that if the princess doesn't like him the other minotaurs will let her choose her own husband. Also, if the lycathropy isn't gone, whatever is left will be a cinch for AJ to overcome. She might need to take some deep breathing or meditation classes for anger management, but she's strong enough to handle that. My only concern was for the whole liege mind control thing and with her liege dead that's no longer an issue. Regardless, I predict a very happy ending...
Wow: ponies killing their enemies! I tip my hat at you!
And nopony has thought to study this? really? THIS COULD BE THE CURE TO LYCANTHROPY.
So... Butt Stallion was disguising himself as a Crystal Pony?
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130627031905/borderlands/images/e/e2/Buttstallion.jpg
There are certaim moments that make a fic for you and stay with you. For the immortal game its Dash flying off her control, for FOE its when the alicorn went squishy, and for Back on her hooves its the dream fight with Checker. This quote is this fics and ties back into the theme I had noticed throughout the fic. First off, I love a badass boast, second because seeing this in my head is alln kinds of awesome, and then there is the theme. See I noted that Sabel's plan failed because he lacked Vista's mind. He failed because he did not take into consideration how other ponies would feel, he failed because he didn;t remember something else about wolves...the term 'Lone Wolf' is a misnomer, Wolves hunt and are more deadly in packs.
This is something AJ realized and this, in turn, goes back to the theme of friendship and companionship. Throughout it all and here in the final battle, we see that AJ isn't just the strong one because she is the pillar, the support, and the strength of the team. But because of how she allows those connections to her. The others helped her, evn when she didn't think they were coming. This shows the strength of her as she can be badass with or without the others.
3085647 You are right. THIS is why I read fanfics. Bluey, I salute you.
AS THE QUEEN!
I swear to god this is a Portal reference.
Butt Stallion... *ded*
that's because unlike you, they had common sense; you Leeroy Jenkins