Chapter 1

The scenery is beautiful here, Blackhoof thought to himself. The Everfree Forest was truly a place of fierce natural beauty. Blackhoof was an Earth Pony, with a royal blue coat and jet black hooves, hence his name. His mane was a lighter shade of blue. People often said he bore a striking resemblance to Princess Luna. His most distinguishing features, however, were his eyes: solid red, almost blood red, just like his father, Greymane. He had said it ran in the family when Blackhoof noted that he hadn’t seen anypony else with eyes like him.

Thinking back to his father caused a twinge of inner pain to go through him. Greymane had been dead for several years. He’d often taken trips to the Forest at night. He’d said that it helped him think. One morning, Blackhoof couldn’t find him anywhere in Ponyville; apparently, he’d never come back from the forest. Greymane’s body was found the next day, lying in the middle of one of the paths that ran through the Forest. He’d had slash marks across his chest. The sight of it had made Blackhoof pass out.

Blackhoof suddenly snapped back to reality, as he always did when he passed the Spot, as he’d come to call it. He could almost still see the mound of earth where his father was buried. He closed his eyes for a moment, wishing Greymane could be here with him.

The breeze rippled around him, adding a since of calm to the area. In the distance, a branch was snapped by some unknown presence. Blackhoof wasn’t frightened; he’d always felt a since of security around animals, not fear, even if it was some sort of hideous monster.

Still standing over his father’s grave, Blackhoof realized that it was getting dark. The full autumn moon shone down around him. Blackhoof took one last glimpse around the forest, and then started back to Ponyville.

CRACK. The sudden noise startled Blackhoof, causing him to stumble. The way the sound echoed around the forest, Blackhoof couldn’t be sure if it’d come from right behind him or a mile away. He searched the night for some sort of clue to the sound’s origin, but to no avail. The darkness was complete, and Blackhoof could hardly see his own hoof in front of his face… Not that it surprised him.

He thought he could hear leaves rustling to his right, stalking him. Perhaps he was being paranoid, but he could almost feel the creature’s eyes upon him. He’d never felt fear like this before, especially from an animal. He continued on.

***

The eyes… they followed him. Now he was sure he was being stalked, no, hunted, by some sinister presence. The path ended a few hundred feet away. He could see stars… moonlight… if he could gallop full speed, he might be able to get out before the creature got to him. He took one last glance over his shoulder. The eyes, golden irises streaked with black, the rest the silvery color of the moon, were narrowed, almost as if the animal read his mind and knew what he was going to do.

Blackhoof bolted. Within seconds, the animal was upon him. He felt himself being flipped, then being pinned down face-up by the creature. They were in a patch of moonlight, and Blackhoof could clearly see his attacker now, and what he saw terrified him more than anything he could have imagined. It was a wolf, and yet, it wasn’t. With fur matching the moonlight silver of its eyes, the beast stood as tall as Blackhoof would have if he’d been standing upright… maybe taller. Razor-sharp teeth lined the beast’s snout, and formidable claws protruded from the paws. The paws… something wasn’t right about them. They almost looked like… hooves, or at least what had once been hooves.
Blackhoof knew, even if he didn’t want to accept it, that he was about to die, just as his father had before him.
The creature threw back its head, and howled. The sound sent chills all through Blackhoof’s body. The sound was almost sorrowful, so mournful, and yet, terrible to hear.

The howl ended abruptly. The animal looked straight into his eyes, snarled, and bit down on his right shoulder. Pain exploded in his right side. It felt almost as if he was on fire, slowly burning. The agony was unbearable. A primal terror kicked in; instinct took over. Blackhoof took his rear legs underneath the animal, and kicked with all his might. His hooves dug into the animal’s stomach, causing the creature’s jaws to open. Almost in slow-motion, the wolf was launched off of him. His right front leg was shaky, making it harder to stand. Blackhoof realized that he had blood on his back hooves from when he’d kicked it.

The pain had lessened, if only slightly. As fast as his hooves would carry him, Blackhoof ran back towards Ponyville. He looked over his shoulder; the wolf was nowhere in sight. He breathed a sigh of relief, causing his shoulder to burn. He slowed to a trot, a mere hundred feet outside the city. The streets were empty, illuminated by the moon that still shone brightly above him. He looked around for somewhere to go… something in the animal’s bite must have made him groggy… it was getting harder to think clearly… He spied a nearby building… the library… books… maybe whoever was there would know what to do… Twilight Sparkle, that was her name… she always had an answer.
***

“Thank Celestia, you’re awake,” a voice said. “You’ve been out for a full day.” Blackhoof blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. A purple mare stood over him, her coat a lighter shade, her mane darker, with light purple streaks. The Unicorn had been levitating a thick, dusty book in front of her, but had lowered it when she saw that he’d woken up.

“Where am I?” he asked. The previous night was a complete blur, and Blackhoof jumped when he saw the bandages on his shoulder, red where the blood had soaked through. He tried to sit up, but the pain was too much.

“I… I think the better question is what are you…” a soft, quiet voice answered before the purple mare. A very light yellow Pegasus mare stepped out from behind a bookshelf, gazing down at the floor.

“Fluttershy!” the Purple mare said… Twilight Sparkle. He remembered now. “We need to break the news to him slowly.”

“Break what news?” Blackhoof asked urgently. “What’s wrong with me?!”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened last night,” Twilight said. She glanced at the yellow Pegasus, Fluttershy. “We need to be sure.”

Blackhoof recounted every detail of the previous night, the memory of which was suddenly fresh in his mind. When he got to the part when the wolf-creature had bitten him, Fluttershy gave an audible gasp. He stopped when he entered Ponyville, as he couldn’t remember any more after that.

“You nearly broke my door down trying to get in,” Twilight Sparkle said. “When I opened it, you kept on yelling about wolves. You passed out after a few minutes or so. I took the liberty of bandaging your… injury.”

She looked at Fluttershy. “You going to tell him, or should I?” she asked. Fluttershy took a step forward.

“I’ll… I’ll tell him,” she said. “Could you float the book over here, please?” The book, the title of which was Wildlife of the Everfree Forest, floated down in front of Blackhoof. “Does this look familiar to you?” she asked. The entry in the book showed a large, wolf-like creature, much like the one Blackhoof had seen the night before, except this one was jet black, not silver.

“Yes,” he said. “What is it?”

The two mares exchanged glances once again. “That’s a werewolf,” Fluttershy said, with a shudder.

“And that is?” Blackhoof asked.

“A werewolf is a pony who, under the light of the full moon, transforms into a wolf-like creature like this one,” Twilight said.

“Still not following,” he said, although he was beginning to suspect what she was going to tell him.

“When the werewolf bit you, it passed on the curse,” Twilight explained. “On the next full moon, which is a month away assuming Princess Luna keeps to her schedule, you’ll turn into one. There’s no known way to cure the curse, but believe me, we’re trying our best-“

“DID SOMEPONY SAY ‘WEREWOLF’?!” a pink Earth Pony exclaimed as she bounded through the door.

Twilight grimaced. “Pinkie Pie, keep it down! We don’t want the whole town to know!”

“Know what? What’s to know, huh?” Pinkie asked excitedly. Twilight hesitated. If anyone was bound to spread the word, it was Pinkie.

“I’ll tell you, but you have to Pinkie Promise,” Pinkie nodded. “Cross your heart, hope to die, stick a cupcake in your eye?” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically.

“Fine,” Twilight said. “This pony here…” she glanced at Blackhoof.

“Blackhoof,” he said.

“…Blackhoof, was bitten by a werewolf last night.” Pinkie clearly was having trouble not yelling out, but somehow, she managed.

“Holy guacamole!” she said. “So… he’s gonna become one next full moon?”

“Y- yes,” Fluttershy said. She was staring at Blackhoof with an expression of pity and fear on her face. “You- you can’t stay here in Ponyville when you change, Blackhoof. It’s… it’s too dangerous for everypony who lives here.”

“Where can I go?” he asked her.

“Well… you could always go into the Forest. There’s plenty of room to roam around in there. It’s just that… um…” she suddenly gave a small “Eep!” as if she just realized something. “I live on the edge of the Everfree Forest, and I’m not very… um… well protected against... big things… like werewolves.” She shuddered again and fell silent.

There was a brief silence. “So,” Blackhoof said. “There’s no cure at all?”

“A friend of ours, Rainbow Dash, is checking with somepony as we speak. Zecora’s always helped us before… hopefully, she’ll have something.”

***

After Blackhoof left the library, he decided to go about his daily life as normal. No use worrying over what you can’t change was his philosophy.

Blackhoof owned a coffee shop, one of the many stores in the main pavilion area. Café Greymane didn’t usually have many customers, but he managed to earn enough to get by. Ponies often asked about the café’s odd name, to which he always replied that it was his father’s name. When they noted that they’d not seen a Greymane anywhere in Ponyville, he just gave them their coffee and sent them on their way.

Blackhoof worked for a few hours, but when he realized that even fewer ponies were coming than usual, he closed up shop. Soon after leaving, a cyan Pegasus suddenly swooped down. Her mane and tail both had rainbow colorations, and her eyes were rose red. “Sorry,” he said sadly. “Shop’s closed.”

“Not here for coffee,” she said. “Twilight Sparkle sent me over here, to look for somepony named Blackhoof.”

“You found him,” Blackhoof said. “I assume you know, then?”

“About your… um… problem?” she asked. “Yeah, I know. Sorry, but Zecora- she’s the Zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest- said she didn’t have anything at the moment. Oh, I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way.” She extended a hoof, which Blackhoof shook nervously. He didn’t socialize very much.

“Yeah… Nice meeting you,” he said, and walked away. Apparently Rainbow Dash could tell he was nervous, because he could hear her laughing behind him.

Days went by without event. Blackhoof would occasionally receive a visit by Twilight Sparkle or Fluttershy, saying that there still was no cure, but they were trying their hardest, giving a reassuring but not all that convincing smile.

Days turned to weeks. The wound had almost healed now, and Blackhoof had grown to accept that he had the condition. He was startled, however, when an urgent knocking came from his door one evening. He opened it to see Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash standing there. “What is it?” he asked.

“It’s time, Blackhoof,” Twilight said. “Tonight’s the full moon.”

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