Chapter 1: Origins and arrival
Chapter 1: Origins and Arrival
Legends. Legends can be as old as time. Vampires, Wizards, Mages, Liches, Lycanthropes, and so many others. They make the past fascinating and frightening. But no one knows for sure if they truly exist. Two mysterious bruises overnight, telepathy, telekinesis, living corpses, the distant howling at the moon when full; all things to support the existence of these creatures and unnatural phenomenons but no solid proof. But one boy is about to discover a fact that makes him consider if all of the fairy tales he was told when he was young were not tall tales at all. But REAL.
Johnny is that very boy. He arrived on the doorstep of his “parents” one night, under very cliche circumstances. Yes, it was raining. The boy arrived in a small wooden cradle with a note being held by the boy. The note held several very simple words. “Beware the Calling of the Moon.”
As he grew up, he had several close calls with the curse. After the first encounter, the frightened parents considered giving him away but reconsidered after some arguing. They learned what triggered the change and moved to prevent it. They discovered that the curse would show in three circumstances: With extreme duress, feeling cornered, or seeing the full moon at night.
But the parents were afraid, yet still loving of the boy. They couldn’t stand to see their son to bear his curse, yet were too afraid to do anything. But as all kids do eventually, he grew up. He was an outcast at his school. At this point, Little Johnny was not so “little” anymore. He was 16 at this point, soon to turn 17. The school bullies loved to pick on him. Teasing him about everything they could possibly think of, just to get under his skin. Johnny put up with it for a long time but today was different. He had had it. The bullies plucked a nerve they never should have touched.
Driven by a blind rage, his sight had red rings around the edges, giving him tunnel vision. Minutes later, Johnny opens his eyes to a gruesome scene. Blood. Blood was everywhere. He knelt in the cafeteria, staring down at his bloodied hands. He looked around to see the tables completely red, a corpse was laying on top with it’s stomach split open. Near the candy dispenser was another body, or so he thought anyway. A faint whimpering was heard from the bloodied student, growing louder as he approached.
The female student suddenly yelled at him. “GET BACK!” Johnny flinched, having no idea what happened minutes before, only remembering himself being extremely angry. Her courage faltered as she weakly continued. “You’re a monster. You killed them all!” Sliding down the candy machine and onto the floor, the now-weeping student laid helplessly. “Just kill me now. No witnesses, right?”
Johnny knelt down next to the emotionally confused student, gently running his bloodied hand through the short blonde hair that the student had. “I’m sorry. I truly am.” He was only half aware of the whole situation. He knew what he was and when he transformed, but was unaware of the full spectrum of abilities that his ‘curse’ had blessed him with.
He stood up, and walked away from the sniveling student who would likely spend a while in a padded white room after this experience. Despite himself not knowing what he was doing, he walked out of the front doors of the school. The doors opened to reveal many flashing lights. Blue and Red. A news helicopter flew overhead, undoubtedly having noticed him by now was shining him with a spotlight.
A loud screeching sound was heard followed by an amplified voice. “SIR! please show us your hands and approach us slowly.” The spotlight from the helicopter followed his every movement. The reason for his next actions were unknown to anybody. He started running, taking off almost faster than the eye can follow. He took off right into the woodlands, away from the police, his movements were unable to be followed by the helicopter.
He was conflicted about his choices. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to make those actions, but he kept running. He was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice a cone form in front of him. As the woodland thinned out, he broke out into an open field, easily miles long. He could no longer hear the helicopter and he smiled, finally noticing the cone in front of him. He sped up even more. Breaking the sound barrier with almost too much ease.
He disappeared. The only remnant of his presence was a long burning section of grass. Johnny continued running, having nearly doubled his speed, the world passed by in an elaborately colorful blur. He felt something as he ran through the colorful tunnel. Almost like passing through a wall made of gelatin, The sensation caused him to trip and be flung through the end of the tunnel. His last conscious thought was of how dark his surroundings were.
[--------]
As Johnny became conscious an undetermined amount of time later, he noticed how badly his head was throbbing. The sensation was making him delirious and incoherent. Closing his blurry eyes and relying on his hearing and sense of smell and touch. From the lack of city noises, he knew he was nowhere near civilization; Which was expected, considering where the last place he remembered being in was a large field. The heightened sense of smell and the feeling of the fresh grass below him seemed foreign. The grass felt like silk and smelled like a freshly cut lawn. He determined that he was possibly in a remote location, far away from civilization. Perhaps even a sanctuary of sorts.
Eventually, his sight had returned to him. His head still throbbed but got up and focused on finding his way out of wherever he was. His eyes relayed information to his brain, telling him that he was in an unusually dense forest. He knew of none near where he lived. The only forests were very thin and could see through very easily. Looking ahead, he could make out a faint shape slumped up against a tree. What appeared to be… is that a pony? He wiped his eyes to be sure. The throbbing in his head became temporarily unnoticed as his brain tried to process what he was seeing.
Before him was a strangely colored pony. A blue coat with a vanilla colored mane. There was a pool of red around the pony. In that moment he realized that the pony was either dead or will be soon. He considered leaving it, but his conscience got the better of him. Deciding to help the pony, he rushed over and picked it up. The pony was surprisingly lightweight. He began to run. He had no idea where he was going, but it was better than here. He suddenly tripped and fell as something caught his eye. It was a blue wing that limply hung from the pony’s side. The sight was so impossible, that he lost concentration and face planted, releasing his hold on the pony as he went down. It was at that moment that he noticed the claw marks on it’s side. Ones he vaguely recognized as either a wolf or a bear, but he couldn’t be sure. He sighed and got back up. He walked over to the pony and picked it back up. He held the pony up to his ear to listen for a heartbeat but was unable to find one.
Putting those thoughts to the side, he studied the equine. Noting what it looked like and everything. He noticed the pony had a feminine stature, indicating it was female. Opening her eyelids revealed both eyes to be clouded. The color was of the eye was cobalt blue, just like her coat of fur. He then focused on her wings, noting how the wingspan was so small in comparison to the rest of the body. There was no way this pony could get airborne. It was impossible. The pony’s teeth suggested a herbivorous nature. The final outstanding detail was a marking on her rump, near the tail. The marking appeared on both flanks. It was a silver cloud that was blocking streams of light, presumably from a hidden sun.
He drew a cross shape on his chest with his finger, murmuring an inaudible prayer to take mercy on the pony’s soul. He picked up the body and began to travel in his original direction. After an hour, Johnny drops the body and makes a hastily made shelter with a small fire pit. mental exhaustion overpowering physical, Johnny taps out for the night, hoping for a peaceful rest.
[--------]
Mentally reinvigorated, Johnny shakes himself awake like a dog. He opens his eyes to find a most unfriendly sight. Before him, lays a wooden pile of twigs and branches, seemingly making soft snoring sounds. To his left, the torso of the pony corpse was torn completely open, The scent of the decaying corpse hits his nose, causing his eyes to water. He looks away from the gruesome sight, noticing that the literal ‘Timberwolf’ was now starting to stir. Johnny takes a look at himself. Blood. Great! Just perfect.
Groaning, Johnny stands up and dismantles the makeshift tent and douses the embers of the fire. He closes his eyes to give a moment of silence for the deceased pony and continues walking.
After three hours of straight walking, the forest begins to thin out. Sounds of civilization cause much anxiety for the young male. Eventually, the sight of civilization greets the humans eyes. A frown forms on his face after a long moment of staring.
"What the hell am I staring at? Some amish settlement?" He smirks at his absolutely horrid joke having no idea how technologically accurate he really was. Upon arrival at the edge of the town, Johnny sees another one of those ponies from before. This one seemed to be an auburn orange color with a long blonde mane. A cowboy hat rests on top of it's head. He ducks behind the nearest building without a second to spare as the pony glanced in his direction. After a moment, the pony seemed to shrug it off and walk away.
Johnny quickly skirts around the building and into a narrow alley between buildings. Surveying the area outside the alley, he begins to notice the extreme lack of humans in the settlement. Had he not known any better, he'd think he had somehow jumped dimensions into a world filled with pastel-colored ponies with not a single human to be found. The sheer absurdity of the possibility made Johnny almost laugh hard enough to be heard but he bit his tongue to stop the giggles.
His silent giggles come to a sudden halt as the air fills with a cheery music. Before his very eyes, a pink pony starts singing as she trots at a rhythmic tempo, matching the beat of the song exactly. The song being sung simply wanted to make Johnny throw up from how absolutely girly It was. He covered his ears to block out the sound but his eyes remained open. He saw a donkey walk past his alley carrying along a wagon full of knick-knacks and oddities.
Not mentally noting the donkey to be of any significance, he waits for the song to end. Soon enough, it finally does. Johnny quickly decides to not stick around incase another song starts. After checking to see if the coast was clear, and it was, He bolted across the street, using his new-found super speed. After almost falling over from the sudden stop, he looked behind him to see a slight distortion in the air. Smiling to himself and figuring that he’d look into what that was at a later point in time, since he needed to find out where he was. He began the epic journey that was a few simple steps through a few bushes and peered out to survey the area.
Great… They’re everywhere. Just perfect… Johnny was about to turn to try to find another way through when he stopped. There IS a way through, and that was to literally go through the crowd to the other side. Watching the crowd and the other side of the clearing for hiding spots, he noticed a large tree decorated with a door, several windows and a overhang with a telescope. He thought that there is no way that is a living space, but the view of inside from the open door changed his opinion on that matter.
Seeing a break in the crowd, he bolted through the street, only seen by the watchful, ducking inside and slamming the door. Breathing heavily, he slumped down and closed his eyes. Proud of himself for accomplish that even though he had a very basic idea of how to use the ability.
The sound of something hitting the ground made Johnny open his eyes. Nearby, stood a small bipedal lizard carrying a bucket of what seemed to be ice cream.
The tension was cut by a feminine voice coming from another room. “Spike! Help me find ‘Starswirl’s Guide to the Art of Summoning’ please! It seems to be missing.” The source of the voice appears in a doorframe as her dialogue ends. Johnny stands up and gets ready to run. “Spike?” The purple pony asks, fear evident in her voice. “Get the oth-!” Her voice is cut off as Johnny sprints past her.
Instinct taking over, Twilight lights her horn and makes an attempt to capture the creature that had just ran past her faster than Rainbow Dash could when flying. Deciding to act quickly, she scribbles out a letter and sends it to Celestia before rushing out the door in pursue of her friends.
Fifteen minutes later, Twilight was breathing heavily after the frantic sprint she just did. She might have just ran the entire stretch of the running of the leaves track just getting her friends together.
“Uh, Twi? can you explain what is going on and why you’re in such a hurry?” The tomboyish Pegasus asks with a bored expression.
“Girls… I… Was… attacked!” Twilight said in an effort to explain the situation with the least words to get moving in pursue of the creature. All five of the gathered ponies gasp. After a moment of shock, A small voice is heard. “Are you hurt?” Twilight shakes her head.
“It’s getting away!” Twilight shouted. “We need to hurry.”
“Okay fine. Where did you last see it?” Rainbow asks.
“Library. I was looking for a book on summoning and I walked into the living room where some creature was standing. Before I could react, it bolted. The speed of this thing can rival Rainbow Dash in raw speed.” Together, the 5 ponies help Twilight get back to the library where Spike was waiting, holding a scroll in his claws.
Opening the scroll, Twilight read the message aloud.
Dear Twilight Sparkle.
Your description of the creature and the abilities it expressed seem strange. After much thought, I believe this creature has the potential to be very dangerous to the ponies of ponyville. If my inner suspicions are correct. Capture this creature before nightfall, or else there will be much tragedy. Please, My Little Ponies, becareful. If I am correct, this creature is a werepony, or variant thereof. Rainbow Dash, as I am aware of your brash nature, take this to heart. After dark, this creature may be hostile. Please be wary.
Her highness, Princess Celestia.
The ponies glance at each other before rushing out of the door. Looking above, the ponies could see that it was atleast 6:00 in the afternoon. They had ONE hour to capture the creature before it hurt everypony!
[--------]
Johnny fled the treehouse and stopped when he came to the edge of the forest, naught 200 yards from the treehouse. He hid behind a tree and waited. Simply sitting down and waiting. After a while, he began to hear voices, but was unable to make out what they were saying.
A loud shout knocked him out of his revere. “I think I see it!” A scratchy, boyish voice yelled.
The one he had briefly met before spoke. “Remember Rainbow! We don’t know what it is capable of!” ‘Which gives me an upper hand on the situation.’ Johnny thought to himself.
As of now, he only knew of one ability. The super speed. Johnny had no idea if he had any more and decided to make a bluff.
Turning his head so his voice would be heard from behind the tree, he spoke. “Ah, thy fair maidens.” He teased coyly. “Thou est not looketh any further, For thee hath foundeth me.” That wasn’t his real voice, but he wanted to put on a show. If he goes down, his last memory should be that of having fun. “Also, I wisheth to know where I am, for I am unfamiliar with thine country. Couldst thou telleth me where I am?”
The werewolf took note of the time. Almost sunset. To his dismay, the ponies did too. “Alright girls! We need to finish this before nightfall. Make it quick and as painless as possible.”
“Oh goodie! Such fun! Lets rip each other to shreds!” He paused briefly to laugh softly. “There is only one way to kill me. I will not be telling you because what kind of villain tells his or her nemesis their weakness? A stupid one.”
Smirking at the pony's unsure expressions, he advanced, deciding to have some fun before spending the night in the forest. Normally he wouldn’t mind, but these ponies have proven sentience. He couldn’t live with himself, if he ate one.
Behind him, the moon began to peek out from the horizon. He felt his body starting to change. He shouted to the ponies who were advancing from all sides. “Get as far away from me as you can!” He roars in pain as his jaw broke and elongated into a snout. His canines grew sharper and longer. Minutes later as the sun fully set and the moon placed itself in the sky, the moonlight shone brightly upon him, forcing the transformation. In a deafening howl of pain, the transformation finished and the area grew quiet. Wolves could be heard howling in the distance.
[--------]
Fluttershy, overwhelm by fear, sprints back into Twilight’s house and shuts the door just as something crashes against the door, sending a few splinters toward the mare. Fluttershy has had experience with wild wolves before and recognized this behavior. It saw HER as the weakest. A fact she knew he friends loved about her and had come to accept it.
Fluttershy had dealt with out-of-control animals before, Angel Bunny can attest to that, but this one wasn’t misbehaving. It was hunting. A familiar-sounding scream of pain caused Fluttershy to snap into action. Throwing open the door and charging blindly into the fray led her eyes to peer upon a gruesome scene. Her best friend, Rainbow Dash, laid on the ground, hooves sticking upward. Thick, red blood dripping from her mouth and onto the leaves below. Multiple cuts were on the pony’s side and stomach, that had came undoubtedly from the werepony.
Fluttershy, worry and care for her friends overpowering her sense of self preservation, bolted out and scooped the twitching pegasus up, not stopping for a second before racing to the hospital, dropping her off and racing back to help.
Returning, Fluttershy saw Twilight fighting fiercely with the werepony, firing magical bolt after magical bolt. In her peripheral vision, A glint of light reflecting off of a metal object caught her eye. Turning, She saw it was made of silver. Remembering the old tales, she knew what she had to do.
It was either the wolf, or her friends. She wanted neither to get hurt, but Rainbow already had gotten hurt.
There didn’t seem to be any choice for Fluttershy. Twilight was beginning to show signs of exhaustion and Applejack’s kicks seemed ineffective against the hulking monster. The frustration in Applejack's face obscured her thinking and continued the fruitless assault.
"How dare you... HOW DARE YOU!" Her anger caught the attention of the wolf who turned toward her and growled menacingly. Fluttershy widened her eyes and dropped the stake, before pouring her emotions into a powerful glare, empowering her gaze as she trotted up to the wolf and peered into it's eyes. The wolf's ears lay back on it's head, a brief look of embarrassment crossed the wolf's expression.
Suddenly, the wolf turned its head and snapped itself out of the trance. Closing it's eyes and turning back toward the pony. It snarled. The shock of this action had an effect on Fluttershy, as it snapped her out of the Stare.
The wolf pounced, its jaws locking around her neck. It was at this moment that Twilight got a burst of adrenaline and fired a magical bolt at the wolf, anger fueling the shot. The wolf was throw off of the pony and both went tumbling a short distance.
"ENOUGH!" A voice shouted from above in the royal capslock. Looking above, the remaining ponies saw the princess of the night. "THY MENACE SHALL BE GONE FROM THIS DIMENSION AND BE BANISHED BACK TO THE REALM OF DARKNESS!" With that, she fired a magical bolt at the beast.
Time slowed for a moment as the wolf looked up at the new threat towards it and dropped the pony from its grip as it's jaw hung open, staring at the embodiment of the moon in all her glory. A moment passed before the bolt connected and blasted the wolf back into the treehouse, crashing through three walls before coming to a stop in the living room. The wolf loses consciousness on a rug in the center of the room.
Meanwhile, outside, the blue Alcorn flew down to the ground. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack ran to Fluttershy's aid, quickly taking out a medical kit that was given to her by Pinkie Pie saying she hid medical kits around ponyville incase of a medical emergency.
Twilight Sparkle wrapped a bandage on the more major injuries before placing gauze around the wounds. After the major injuries were wrapped, Twilight helped the fallen pegasus onto Applejack’s back. After Applejack left, Twilight looked back with tears in her eyes at the royal sister, who looked at the purple unicorn with sympathy.
With an elegant glow of magic, Luna teleported the three remaining ponies to the hospital to be with their friends. After they were gone Luna teleported into the treehouse and found the stirring wolf.
Anger flooded her expression as the wolf opened it's eyes. After a second, it's eyes laid upon the princess. Instead of snarling, it shocked luna by exposing it's neck. A gesture of submission.
A full minute passed before either of them moved. It was the wolf. Howling softly in a sorrowful tone. This confused Luna even further. A thought crossed luna's mind that consisted of a single word. 'Pet?'
The idea was simply absurd, Luna couldn't keep a pet. It was unbecoming. But, this was no ordinary pet. It was intelligent, and a werepony, a creature of the night. What better pet than a creature of the night for the Princess of the night?
It would be sun-up within a few hours, so the alicorn would have to return to the castle shortly to attend to her royal duties. A giddy thought came to her mind of keeping the wolf and smuggling it into her chambers. Normally she would not risk getting caught with something she wasn’t supposed to do, but the adrenaline of the chance of being caught got her excited.
She lit her horn and the two reappeared back at the castle, inside of luna's quarters. A dim light casts shadows across the entire room. From the light, a bed, mirror, desk, door presumably to a bathroom, and a giant double door that would likely lead to the hallway outside, are revealed to the wolf.
A pair of drapes are moved, revealing the sun that was beginning to rise in the distance. Luna stepped onto the balcony and lit her horn, moving the moon out of view as the sun took its place on the opposing horizon. The sun’s brilliant light shone upon the wolf and he sighed in acceptance for his transformation to occur. But after a moment his eyes opened. He was still a wolf, yet the sun was shining directly on him.
An audible whine came from the distressed canine, catching Luna’s attention. She looked toward him and cocked her head. “You are a werepony. Correct?” She asked the wolf.
Instead of saying anything, he nodded his head, ears laid back against his head. Johnny had swapped back into his consciousness as soon as the sun rose but found his surroundings odd. Seeing the princess of the night, he felt an urge to bow but resisted.
What he found to be odd, was the memories of the previous night, all the way up to coming here. Typically, he never retains the memories of his alter ego, but why was this different? Perhaps the sun had a role in who controlled the body?
He wasn’t sure but got up and walked onto the lunar balcony, staring out at the sun. A tingly sensation rippled through him as he unconsciously noted his body was changing back into a human. Luna gasped behind him, who else could it be? She trotted up to him. “What are you?”
“You should already know, I’m a werewolf. A cruel curse that I am forced to bear.” Johnny looks to the ground and sighs, clasping his hands together, bowing his head between his outstretched arms, looking as though he is going to pray.
“Tis not what We- er, I meant, I meant, you do not resemble a pony, what do you resemble?” Luna asked, giving him her full and undivided attention.
Johnny breathes inward deeply as he turns to her. “My name Is Johnny. I am a werewolf as you already know, I resemble a Human. H-U-M-A-N. I look like one, act like one, but I am not one.”
“Fascinating. There are no hyu-mans anywhere on equis, where did you come from?”
“Where shall I begin…”