Fool Moon, Part 4 (Even Monsters)

>Always full.
>"Twilight? Twilight are you okay?"
>ALWAYS.
>FULL.
>"Fluttershy, dear, step back, you're crowding her!"
>She was lying.
>She had to be lying.
>There wouldn't be....no hell, no Tartarus, no void of infernal design could possibly exist.
>Surely there was no world on which the full moon rose every night, was there?
>Your hands start shaking, and you sit down heavily as Rarity and Fluttershy move towards Twilight.
>If you were more well-read, you might recognize a panic attack for what it was, but you had a simpler way of describing it.
>You were freaking the fuck out.
>Which leaves you completely unprepared to deal with reality for the next few minutes.
>Twilight's eyes snap open, and she starts breathing heavily.
>"Twilight? Twilight it's Rarity. Are you alr-"
>The purple pony starts screaming.
>And then comes the blood.

>Twilight sits straight up, letting out a gurgling growl from deep in her throat.
>She opens her mouth, teeth cracking as they shift and lengthen.
>And then blood burbles out of her throat, vomiting over her lower lip onto the bed.
>Rarity gasps and backs away at the sight of her friend, and Fluttershy puts her hooves to her mouth.
>You?
>You're busy panicking.
>Twilight bends forward in her hospital bed, still growling, as more blood, thick and black, pours from her mouth.
>She chokes, coughing, and one of her ears flicks and stretches, growing thick with fur before returning to normal.
>"What's...sweet Celestia Fluttershy what's happening to her!?"
>Fluttershy only turns and glares at you as you sit there, hands clenched, in your seat.
>The yellow pony opens her mouth to say something, and then a few things happen at once.
>Rarity starts screaming.
>You finally realize what the fuck is going on.
>Twilight's growl transforms into a shriek of agony.
>Fluttershy whirls on you, those cyan eyes full of anger and accusation.
>And a nurse bursts into the hospital room.
>"What is going on in h-OH MY CELESTIA, THE PATIENT! WHAT HAPPENED?"
>Fluttershy points a hoof at you and starts yelling, but you don't pay much attention to what she's saying.
>You just know you have to get out of here.
>Visions of a jail cell and an eternally full moon dance in your mind.
>You get out of your chair, pick it up, and hurl it though the nearest glass window.
>And then you follow it out.

>You are Fluttershy.
>And you have never been so angry in your entire life.
>Rarity glances after "Anonymous" as that monster jumps out of the window.
>He must be happy now that his little poison worked.
>How could you have trusted him!? Fluttershy, you can be so slow sometimes!
>You glare at Rarity as you put your hooves into the task of holding a convulsing Twilight Sparkle down as the nurse goes to get the hospital doctor.
"Rarity...ummm...I really need you to..."
>She's not listening.
>Still staring at the broken window.
>Right, Fluttershy, be assertive.
"Rarity!"
>She jumps and turns around.
>"Yes, dear?"
"I need you to help me hold her down with your magic. And then we need to talk."
>Rarity gulps, and you feel bad for making her worry, but this is serious!
>Twilight bucks and vomits again, and you shriek a little as it spreads on her bed.
>This time it's...different.
>Black and red sludge, blood and something...else, flow out of the purple pony's mouth and pool on the bed sheets.
>Twilight stops convulsing.
>In fact, she goes completely still.


>No no no no no she couldn't! She can't!
>You feel your eyes start tearing up, and you forget your anger.
"Twilight?"
>You put your head to her chest, ignoring the blood, vomit, and unnameable ichor that's spilled out on her bed.
>You don't say anything, your ear straining against her chest for the sound...that vital sound...
>There! One heartbeat....two...three!
>Twilight gasps and starts coughing.
"Twilight, I'm so glad you-"
>"MISS, GET AWAY FROM THE PATIENT!"
>Oh shi-
>Both you and Rarity are practically tackled by a storm of nurses and hurled out of the establishment.
>Thankfully, not through a window.
>You turn your fiercest glare on Rarity, who looks like she's in the first stages of shock.
"Rarity....we need to talk about your new friend."

>The white unicorn continues to stare off into the distance.
"RARITY!"
>You yell as loud as you can, which is really more of an adorable squeak, but to you it was really loud!
>She looks over at you, her eyes wide and shocked.
."Fluttershy. You...dear you need a bath. Your mane is-"
"Your monster friend just poisoned Twilight and jumped out of a hospital window! And you're thinking about my mane?"
>You stare at her, incredulous, even as you chide yourself internally. Too assertive, Fluttershy.
>Rarity closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
>"I'm...I'm sorry...Fluttershy. I'm just...shocked, is all. And he's not a monster."
"Really?"
>"He called himself a 'human.' And he said whatever it was he gave Twilight would heal her. I don't think he expected...whatever that was."
"The window?"
>"He's...errr...lived an interesting life. Fluttershy, I'm sorry, really, I just...it's all a bit much to take in."
>She takes another deep breath.
>"Let's find a place to sit, and talk."


>A half hour later, you are sitting in Rarity's boutique, nursing a cup of tea in your hooves.
"Rarity, please, just talk to me. I've...I've never seen an animal like that before...it scares me, and after what happened to Twilight..."
>Rarity glares at you sharply.
>"Anonymous wasn't the cause of what happened to Twilight! He doesn't have claws, or fangs, or anything! He'd never HURT anyp0ny!"
"How did you..umm...meet him?"
>"I met him on the road, while Spike and I were looking for gems. He was...robbing me."
"So he IS a monst-"
>"But he's not a bad pony...err...person, I swear to Celestia! He's desperate, Fluttershy! Poor and destitute and desperate! One of his best childhood memories is about the time he stole a piece of unburnt bread, for Celestia's sake!"
"That's still stea-"
>"He has no home, no family, no real friends, nothing but the rags on his back and knives. He's rough and dirty and, well, barbaric, but I can change him, Fluttershy! I can fix him!"
>"Fix" him?
"Why would you even want to, Rarity? Even if you could?"
>She looks down at the table between you for a moment.
>"Because no one deserves to have their fondest memory be about bread theft. No one deserves to be destitute. No one deserves to find joy only in taking..."
>She trails off, and you stare at her, your eyebrows knotting together.
>"But he's still a monster, Rarity! Still a thief! A criminal, even by monster standards! Why would you take in a monster? Why give a monster an opportunity?"
>Rarity is quick to answer you.
>"Because monsters need it the most."


>This was a bad idea.
>This whole fucking thing was a bad idea.
>The horses, Rarity, trying to keep her friend alive, everything.
>You should have just stolen the gems and ran the second you had an opportunity.
>Even if she was a fucking horse wizard, the worst she could do is kill you.
>There are things worse than death.
>You needed to get home. Out of this moon-filled hell.
>You fell down from the hostpial window, rolling to soften the fall.
>You had a plan now. Steal gems, get the hell out of town, find that trapped necklace and force it to take you home.
>Good plan.
>Holy shit you are so fucked.
>Shut up, brain.
>You tip-toe your way toward's Rarity's house, staying low and sticking to alleyways.
>You don't want anyone to see you make it back there. After that stun with the window, you were pretty sure you'd be a high-profile target.
>No more breaking glass. Just a gentle tap and some leverage gets her window open, and you slip inside.
>Now to just find the gem-
>"Welcome back, Anonymous."
>FUCK.


>She's lying there on her fancy couch-thingy, smiling at you with that smug little smile of hers.
>Not even angry! Not even mad or disappointed at you for running! For possibly hurting her friend!
>You aren't sure if it's hatred or gratitude that fills you as you straighten and close her window.
"....Rarity. I'm...listen, I'm sorry about the cure. I knew it was dangerous, but I went ahead with it anyway. I just didn't want her to suffer....what I...it's just..."
>Words fail you. You can't tell her. Can't own up to it being your fault that one friend of hers is probably dead, and the other hospitalized.
>The white mare keeps giving you that small smile.
>"She's okay, Anonymous. Whatever you gave her, she threw it right back up. It's not your fault."
>She gets off her couch and trots over to you.
>"I'm sure that 'cure' of yours works fine on...humans. Ponies are a different species, after all. Perhaps that mixture is just poisonous to us. Your intentions were good, at least."
>Your shoulders slump, and you brace yourself.
>"I forgive you."
>There it was. She forgave you. Again.
>You feel sick. Like dirt, like trash. Like nothing more than muck next to this white horse.
>You want to tell her, then. Tell her it was you who slashed Applejack's back to ribbons. You who tore a chunk out of Twilight with your teeth and cut her with your talons.
>You want to tell her about the sickness.
>You want to confess your sins to her, this paragon of perfection, this ever-so-generous mare.
>Just so she'll stop forgiving you. Stop smiling at you with that smug little grin.
>That's not what you say, though.
>Instead, you open your mouth like the greedy, ungrateful bastard that you are, and say,
"Thanks, Rarity."

>"Anytime, Anonymous."
>You still feel sick. How could you be such a worthless, lying cu-
>"But, you're still not off the hook. You, sir, have been breaking windows all over Ponyville! That doesn't pay for itself, you know! You are paying all of that back, the LEGAL way."
>What a nagging, bitchy, c-
>"Next morning, eight o' clock sharp! Get up early and get ready to dig!"
"I...but...I thought I was forgiven?"
>"Forgiven doesn't mean you're weaseling out of your punishment, Anonymous. The first gems you dig up will go towards repairing that window."
"Where would they go otherwise?"
>"Well, for starters, part of them would go towards your salary. You're being punished, not enslaved. I DO plan on giving you bits for your work."
"Bits?"
>"Errr...currency, dear. Money?"
"Oh, you mean dosh. That sounds-"
>"Unfortunately, since you broke the windows, YOU are going to pay for the repairs. It's only fair, after all."
>What. But you....and the gems...
"I don't....FUCK."
>You raise your hands to your head and growl in annoyance.
>None of this is important! Stick to the plan, stick to the plan!
>"Good night, Anonymous. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning. I, for one, am exhausted."
"Good night, Rarity."
>She starts upstairs, and you get ready to do some stealing when her words hit you.
>Good.
>Night.
>A shudder runs through your body.

>Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
>You always lose track of time on the days when...IT happens.
>And that would be EVERY day from now on, until this ended.
>You race out of Rarity's front door, half-hopping, half-sprinting as you make your way back towards the woods.
>That forest you came out of when you fell here, that's where you'd go.
>You'd go deeper this time.
>Surely, if you went deeper, it'd stay there, right?
>Nopony would get hurt?
>There must be plenty things to kill and eat in that forest.
>You desperately repeat this inside your head, a mantra, a prayer to the dark half, to stay in the forest.
>To leave the ponies alone.
>It's only reply is a grin, a flashing of teeth inside your head.
>Then it sends you an image. White fur, purple mane, that smile.
>No, you furry bastard. No, stay in the God damned woods like the animal you ar-

>You wake up in the forest.
>The weak half had made it, it seemed.
>You bared your fangs in disgust.
>Did it really think you'd abandon fresh, easy prey to hunt in the woods?
>This wood was too strange. Green smells and earthy loam reached your nose from it's depths.
>You could hear the roars and hissing of beasts, and half-glimpse the black carapaces of fey things that flittered through the trees.
>Hard prey, here. Hard, but still prey. You would hunt them after the soft prey was ea-
>A scent catches your nostrils, and you whirl around, shocked.
>A quiet 'eep,' as loud as thunder in your enhanced ears, comes from the tree your gaze rests on.
>That familiar smell...
>The yellow one.
>With the eyes, the one that stopped you before.
>You bare your fangs and drop to all fours.
>Tonight would be a hunt to remember.

FLUTTERSHY'S POINT OF VIEW.
>You'd left Rarity's after that conversation of yours, upset, but willing to hide it for her sake.
>You didn't trust this monster, this "Anonymous."
>You remembered Iron Will.
>How you'd went crazy on the advice of a monster.
>Well, a minotaur. His advice was good, you'd just taken it a bit too far.
>But Anonymous...
>You knew what you'd seen when you looked in his eyes. On the surface, unreadable, like a pony.
>Like Rarity. But beneath...
>Beneath it was a monster, an animal. More savage than any bear, more cruel than any dragon. Hungry and mean and wily and OLD.
>That was what scared you the most. It was cruel, and old, and evil, and because you saw it, you followed Anonymous as he ran into the woods.
>You'd been watching Rarity's house for most of the day, waiting for him to come back so you could give him a piece of your mind.
>And then you'd followed him when he left, watching him run, sprint, really, towards the Everfree Forest of all places.
>Then you'd watched him throw his clothes off as he ran. You were still embarrassed about that...but it was all for Rarity's safety!
>Then you'd watched him change...
>And the thing was out here with you, old and cruel and hungry, and it was circling you.

"Anonymous..."
>It growls at that, a growl you understand. It was an animal, after all. Cruel and twisted and monstrous, but an animal.
>It hated that name.
"Oh...I'm sorry! I just...I wanted to talk to you..."
>Silence. It continues to circle.
"I saw what you did to Twilight. I can't let you do that to anymore ponies. Please, please stop hurting ponies. It's not nice..."
>You trial off as the creature snarls.
>It didn't care about nice. It was hungry, so it fed. It was bored, so it played. It was cruel, so it killed. Nice was as foreign to it was the sun to a blind mare.
"I'll stop you."
>You say that with a confidence you don't really feel.
>It growls again, and the message is clear.
>How?
>You turn and follow it, ready to Stare it into submission.
>It slips away, keeping those yellow eyes away from yours, dancing around you, laughing without laughing.
>Fool me once.
"I'll still stop you. You aren't hurting anypony else. Not as long as I'm here."
>It chuffed, breath misting the night air, and came right towards you.
>That one didn't need translating.
"I'm sorry. Really, really sorry. If you had just talked..."
>It roars and lunges at you.
>You flinch and close your eyes as another roar answers it.
"...I wouldn't need to call my friends on you."
>A massive shape looms over you and hurls itself as the oncoming wolf thing.

>Bear and monster clash in a snarling ball of fang and fur, the massive wolf-beast colliding with the bear and being hurled away.
>You smile up at the big grizzly.
>Barry might not own a house or play volleyball, but he was your friend, and he'd promised to help you if things turned rough.
>And he'd brought friends of his own.
>Two black bears come out of the woods, flanking you and Barry and roaring at the monster.
>With your animal friends helping, you'd keep this...whatever it was contained. It wouldn't hurt anypony again. Not like Twilight. Not like Applejack.
>Barry gets on his back legs, roaring at the wolf thing as it gets back on it's feet.
>The wolf thing circles, and Barry shifts to keep it in his eyesight.
>The monster comes to a stop, and gets to it's back to legs, going bipedal and roaring at the grizzly.
>The two black bears lumber forward, but Barry huffs, and they stay still.
>It could handle this thing on it's own.
>You close your eyes again.

Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjoPdhhrOBM
>The wolf-thing lunges first, taking the grizzy bear in the stomach with it's talons.
>Barry drops on the monster, trying to crush it into the dirt.
>It gets its feet underneath it and holds the heavy bear up, snapping at the grizzly's stomach with it's teeth.
>Barry bats it away, and the two things meet in a howling storm of fang and claw.
>Yips and snarls greet your ears as your bear friend and the monstrous wolf-human tear into each other.
>You gasp as the wolf thing lunges and rips a chunk of meat out of Barry's back leg.
>The bear howls and bats the wolf away, and it falls back on it's four legs, circling.
>Your eyes widen as you note the two animal's wounds. Barry was scarred and cut deeply, covered with bites, claw marks, and missing a chunk of leg.
>The wolf...
>Scratches and bites and gaping wounds were closing before your very eyes, and soon, the only blood that dripped from it was bear blood, running freely along claws and muzzle.
>The wolf circles again.

>The two come together for one last clash.
>Barry lumbers at the wolf monster, and it lopes for him, the pair of them snarling, roaring, bleeding.
>You can't look.
>Barry opens his jars to roar, and the wolf comes forward, coming off its front legs until it's bipedal again.
>Both of it's clawed hands shoot out, grasping Barry's muzzle. Bear teeth pierce furred hands as the wolf sticks it's hands INSIDE Barry's mouth, grabbing his upper and lower jaws.
>The bear struggles, bucking up and trying to go bipedal to shake the wolf off, but its crippled leg keeps it from going to its full height.
>The wolf bears down on the bear and begins to pull at its jaw.
>The grizzly's fanged maw is forced wider, and wider, and wider....
>There is a loud CRACK, and Barry the grizzly bear gives a wordless gurgle before slumping to the forest floor.
>The wolf grabs the top jaw, and with a brutal shove, forces the bone of the bear's muzzle into it's skull.
>Then it bends over, and begins to eat.
>The only thing that drowns out your crying is the roaring of the black bears.

Anon's perspective
>You wake up to a splitting headache and a full stomach.
>The first thing you notice, like always, is the blood.
>This time, you're covered in the shit, and God above do you STINK!
>Blood and bits of...what you think is some kind of meat cover your fo-
>Wait.
>You jump, and then look around as you take in your surroundings.
>Two bear corpses lie on the ground around you.
>One's been nearly picked clean, and the other looks...almost fresh.
>But that's not what keeps your attention.
>What freezes you in place, and turns your heart to ice, is the scarred, bloody black bear glaring at you.
>And the yellow pony cowering at the sight of you behind it.