The sound of hooves crunched on fallen leaves in the dense forests of Equestrian wilderness, as three figures trekked through the overflowing vegetation of the forest floor. The figures traveled as quickly as the thick foliage would allow them, in the bright daylight and fresh smell of morning. Although, one could probably reason that taking a pre-constructed path through this forest would’ve yielded better results, since that’s what the road through the forest had been made for.

While that may be true, these three equines were on the run from a possible mob. But who are these equines?

Well, that would be me and my siblings.

Hello, my name is Razor Horn, or rather, that’s the name my family calls me. Nobody else I’ve met knows it, though I’ve made it a priority to not meet any ponies outside of my family, save for perhaps a shopkeeper or two. I have my reasons, I assure you, but I’ll address that later.

Judging from my name, you can probably guess that I’m a unicorn. You’d be correct. I’m a brown unicorn stallion, with a grey mane that I hardly groom, which usually ends up falling down either sides of my head and around my ears. My tail is of the same style, but it’s not like I care about it anyways. I’m 28 years old, almost ten years older than both of my siblings, so I’m the largest built one out of the three of us. My cutie mark is a jagged shield; not quite fearsome, but yet not quite… usual to normal ponies. I usually keep it hidden whenever I can; again, I have my reasons.

Naturally, I’m the head of the family, and also, at the moment, the head of our little runaway party. Right behind me, staying consistent in their efforts to keep up with me in the dense trees, is my sister, Velvet Wing, and behind her, my little brother, Fang.

Velvet, or Vel for short, is a maroon colored pegasus mare, her coloring similar to that of a red velvet cupcake (her favorite treat, ironically enough). Her mane and tail are a deep gray, almost a full black, which she loves to curl loosely on day to day occasion. Her cutie mark depicts a small robin, covered with brighter colors than Velvet’s natural tones, wings spread in flight. Though she is actually older than she looks, Fang and I have a long standing joke that Velvet is actually 19 years old, both from her appearance and her maturity. I swear, after years of living with her, she hasn’t changed one bit.

The last member of my family, Fang, is a dimly-hued olive green, earth pony. His coloring is sort of odd, I admit, having not seen anything quite like it before I first met him, but it more or less reminded me of the color of pistachio ice cream. Fang’s mane is light brown color, similar to the color of my own coat, and both his tail and mane were always kept short and wildly groomed in their respective places. The symbol of his cutie mark resembles a moon, a half-moon to be exact; the moon’s phase directly between a full and a new moon. Even though Fang is going on 18 years old, he’s still just about as childish as colt who just went into a comic store, but thankfully he can still be responsible when I need him to be.

Now that you know who my family is, I suppose you’re wondering why we’re fleeing for our lives through the middle of a dense forest, in broad daylight, no less. Well, let’s just say our past residence in the town of Hollow Shades had been… er, revoked, to put it lightly.

Fang sighed from his place at the rear of our trek, “Never thought we’d get chased out of town after ten years.”

“Nine years, actually.” I corrected him, “Nine years, and ten months.”

Fang rolled his eyes, “Yeesh, you don’t have to keep track of every single detail, you know?”

Velvet laughed at the comment, speaking in an old Baltimare accent, the kind that you would’ve heard about 200 years ago, “Sorry, Razor, but I have to admit, he’s got a point.” Her expression drooped a bit afterwards, though, “But I agree with Fang. After nearly ten years of living in that town, I didn’t think anybody would figure us out…”

“…even though we all knew getting run out of town was a very likely possibility.” I finished. I had to sigh as well. Hollow Shades had served as a nice hideaway from the rest of Equestria. It was a small town, hidden in the middle of a dense forest, with a very little population, most of which were as superstitious as children after a horror film. That superstition was probably the only reason we had been able to hide there for so long. It was easy to manipulate ponies who are ready to believe anything, and even more so when you have more means to do it than the average pony.

We easily hid ourselves inside Hollow Shades, making minimal contact with anypony and surviving mostly off of the land…

But now that was gone, because the town had learned the truth about us; the truth that my family and I are dangerous around normal ponies. Now we were homeless, without anywhere to hide. We were walking in plain sight, and if we happened across the wrong pony, and new mob would be after us in a minute or two, and whether we could outrun them all depended on when they found us. In the day, we needed to keep to ourselves at all costs.

But at night, we are like smoke, uncatchable, but everywhere at the same time.

It was inevitable, fleeing our home, which had been so good to us for the last 10 years, but I was at least grateful that we had stayed hidden for this long. Now the only task at hoof was to find a new home, someplace where the three of us could live in peace.

Blasted nunnery of Tartarus! Travelling through these woods was just as difficult as walking through a marsh, though thankfully not as messy. It seemed like every branch and root wanted to cling to our hooves and hold us there. It didn’t help the fact that each of us were carrying saddlebags that easily caught on loose branches.

But we couldn’t afford to lose the saddle bags, because they were filled with what belongings we managed to grab from the old house before that mob showed up.

Another branch snagged onto my bags, provoking a groan from me. There’s a reason why I like being a pegasus, and that includes the benefit of being able to fly over any hard places like this. But I was grounded at the moment, since I wasn’t going to leave Razor’s or Fang’s sides while we ran for our lives from a mob of crazed, superstitious ponies.

Of course, I shouldn’t be one to complain. We all needed to keep hidden, because of said mob. Honestly, those ponies in Hollow Shades could be so dense. I mean, it was just so absurd living around them. Every other day, some poor fool or another would go around town, ranting on about some ghost in the forest that didn’t exist. Ironically, the town wasn’t haunted at all, and the only supernatural beings in the whole forest were living right under their noses for the last ten years… though they did have some good cupcakes… hm, I’m going to miss those.

Oh wait, I’m getting off topic. Sorry about my rambling. My brothers say that I tend to do that often, but I think that could be because I don’t get to talk to other ponies very much. What do you expect? I’m just a mare who likes to socialize, not sit around between some trees all day.

Anyways, my name is Velvet Wing. Yes, I admit, it’s not the name I was born with, but it’s still mine. Tartarus, only Celestia knows that I’d even be able to remember my birth name. Oh well, two hundred and sixty-seven years of living will do that to you when you live a life of seclusion.

Yes, I said my age, even though I hear it’s just as uncommon these days for a lady to tell her age. I am two hundred-sixty-seven years old, but that doesn’t mean much to me anymore. It just means that I’ve seen more than the average pony.
Although, as far as Razor or Fang are concerned, I’m still nineteen, but that’s mostly because old habits die hard. I never really matured physically or mentally since my nineteenth birthday, right after the time I was…

…

Oh, sorry again, just a little bit of a flashback. It happens a lot when I don’t want to remember a bad memory. You’d be surprised how often it happens. One minute I’ll be just fine, then my mind will wander, then the next thing you know, I’m as still as a statue, sometimes crying even. It’s not that bad, since I think I started doing it as a kind of coping mechanism to get over my past.

But I’m not the only one who’s like this. Bad memories haunt each member of my family. Razor has his, Fang has his own, and so do I. We all know each other’s stories, and though we don’t talk about what happened anymore, we’re all still there for each other when the memories come back and someone needs a shoulder to cry on.

As a family, we’re all that we have, together and bonded forever because we all can relate with each other. We’re outcasts, and that’ the cold, unmistakable truth.

Just saying that reminds me why I’m trudging through weeds; it reminds me who we are and what we’ll always be.

Fang quietly muttered, “The moon’s about to rise.” From his place behind me, I could hear his fur bristle in anticipation as his heartbeat accelerated slightly. I’ve had acute hearing like this for over two hundred years, and experience with it told me that this signaled that Fang was nervous. He had every reason to be. This was the first time in ten years he’d have to transform away from any sort of safe home. That was sure to bring back a bad memory tonight.

I glanced up into the sky above the forest’s canopy, only to see the orange and pink lights of twilight. We’d been walking all day, and we’d be nearing the end of the forest, just in time for the night to cover us.

I looked back towards Fang, “What phase is the moon in tonight? I keep forgetting.” What, It’s true! I might be old and experienced, but that doesn’t mean I can’t forget things.

Fang rolled his eyes at that, “It’s three nights before a full moon. I’m going need my potion tonight if we want to get anywhere before dawn.”

Razor nodded as he stopped and sat down on a tree root, while Fang and I did the same, “Okay, let’s take a break here and wait for mine and Fang’s shift to finish, then we’ll keep moving.” He looked to me, “Did you grab Fang’s potions?”

I nodded, picking a glass bottle full of white liquid out of my saddlebag, “Yup, one Wolf’s-bane potion, coming up.”

I hoofed the potion over to Fang, who uncorked the bottle and downed the liquid in a flash. From what he’d told me, the potion really tasted horrible, but after having to depend on it for days whenever the full moon drew close, he had learned to deal with the taste.

With Fang’s potion safely down his gullet, the three of us gazed at the sky above the treetops, quietly watching as the sky began turning dark.

Any traveler would wait until morning to travel through a forest, in case he got lost in the darkness. But not my family, because at night,

The darkness is our domain.

As soon as the colorful sight of dusk was gone and began fading into the violet, Equestrian night sky, Razor let out a sharp gasp as his curse took ahold of him. He grabbed his chest with a hoof, out of reflex rather than pain, as he groaned loudly. His mane and tail began to wave in the nonexistent wind, like smoke coming from a fire. His fur instantly grew into a darker shade of murky brown, changing his cutie mark in the process. The mark of the jagged shield faded, only to be quickly replaced by the picture of a knife, the mark of a killer. Out of his mouth, a pair of fangs grew out of his mouth, as did the rest of his mouth, making him a carnivore. His horn was the final change. Like rubber, it curved upwards into a shape like a knife’s blade, changing color from a dark brown to a burning red.

Once the change was finished, Razor looked back up at me and Fang, coughing slightly, “I always hate that last part.” His voice, usually calm and firm, was now like a distorted form of speech that would’ve been better suited for a giant. Any pony would’ve stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of it.

Fang gave a tiny chuckle, “Don’t sweat it. At least you don’t have to grow paws.” He glanced up at the sky, frowning slightly, “Speaking of which…”

I glanced up as well, only to see the top of the moon beginning to rise over the horizon, which signaled it to be Fang’s turn to shift.

Upon seeing the moon, Fang doubled over forward and collapsed onto the forest floor on his stomach. He cried out with closed eyes and clenched teeth, which were now growing into fangs, like Razor’s. His hooves flailed about against the dirt, clawing at the ground as tiny stubs began growing out of their hard, bony surfaces. It wasn’t long until Fang’s hooves became two pairs of pale green paws, raking at the ground with sharp claws as the painful change continued.

Fang’s fur grew rapidly and wildly, becoming bristly clumps of hair across his body, much like a wolf’s. His cutie mark became a blurred form underneath the mass of fur, and his mane and tail became disheveled as they grew furry as well. The transformation finally ended as Fang’s muzzle stretched out into a narrow snout, with which he instinctually let out a long, skyward howl to the moon, the signal that the transformation was complete.

Fang shook his head as his senses came back to him, his new canine features flapping about as he stretched them out. The lycan yawned a tiny bit as he did, “Well, looks like the potions in effect. I don’t have any preemptive urges to kill anything, so it looks like I’m in control.”

Razor nodded, speaking in is otherworldly baritone voice, “Good. Velvet, you’re up next.”

I shrugged, “I know, I know. But you also know how I am. Since you guys don’t have a say in the matter of when you can change, I like to wait for you guys before I shift.”

Fang pawed the ground anxiously, “Yeah, we get it. Now come on, Vel! This wolf wants to start running!”

I rolled my eyes at him and allowed myself to change.

The familiar feeling of my transformation soon overtook me, as it had for countless times before. It started with my wings, with my feathers that suddenly contracted against my limbs until they were all one solid mass. My wings then turned to leather as they became a pair of scarlet bat wings. Next my front teeth grew into fangs, two of which stuck out of my mouth like my brothers’ did. My ears grew a little longer and furry, resembling a thestral’s ears. My fur and mane/tail grew paler in color, and for the final part of the shift, my cutie mark changed from a robin in flight, to a red bat, with its wings spread out in the same manner.

After that, our little clearing in the forest no longer held a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony. Now all that remained was a daemon, a vampire, and a werewolf.

Spreading my bat wings out, I glanced towards Fang, “Happy now, wolfie?”

He only shrugged, “Not until we get going.”

“I agree.” Razor added.

I nodded, just about to take to the sky, but then I noticed something. My saddlebag seemed a bit… light. Granted, I get a bit more physical strength in my vampire form, but my bags seemed too feather-weighted.

“Wait, hold on a moment, please.” I started leafing through my bags, only to look back at Razor and Fang with a worried look.

Razor, being a half-demon, instantly picked up on what tiny amount of fear I’d accidentally leaked. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

I groaned slightly, “It seems that I only grabbed four Wolf’s-bane potions back home before we left, and that’s including the one Fang just drank.” I swear I grabbed more than that. But then again, we were in a hurry at the time.

Fang and Razor knew what they meant, and since I had been the only one to grab the potions back home, neither of them had any on their person. That wasn’t good, not good at all.

Fang frowned in annoyance, “Oh, that’s just great. The full moon’s in three nights! We have enough potions for the night of the full moon, but I’m going to need more for the rest of the nights until half-moon comes again.”

“Don’t worry.” Razor replied, pulling out a map from his bags, “We only need to find a wormwood tree in order for me to make more potions.”

The bark of the wormwood tree is the main ingredient for the Wolf’s-bane potions, but they’re not easy to make. For one thing, the bark will spoil if taken off the tree for too long, which means it has to be close to the cauldron used to make it with. Our last home in Hollow Shades had a wormwood tree right beside it, so we didn’t need to worry too much about having enough potions to control Fang’s werewolf side. But then we lost our home to a mob and the rest is history.

“Wormwood trees are typically found in dense forests like this one.” I added, “Though, when we find one, will that be our new home?”

“Perhaps.” Razor answered as he unrolled a map of Equestria onto the ground, “That will depend on whether or not the place is safe enough for us.”

“But what if we really like a place nearby and want to stay?” Fang asked, his tail wagging slightly.

Razor shook his head, “No. If it’s too risky that someone might discover us, we aren’t staying there, even if we like the place.” He chuckled darkly, “Of course, when we bunkered down in Hollow Shades, you didn’t exactly have a say back then, Fang, since you were only eight at the time.”

“So where should we go first to look for a worm-wood tree?” I asked as I looked down at Razor’s map, “Do we stay and search the forest here or search another one.”

Razor frowned as he looked at the map too, “Hm… Well, after all the time we’ve spent here, we know of a few wormwood trees, but they’re too close to town for us to use without somebody potentially stumbling across us. For our safety, but mostly theirs, I suggest we move to the next closest forest where wormwood can grow and search there. We have three more nights at most, which leaves us plenty of time to scout out a tree to use for Fang’s potions.”

Fang peered over Razor’s shoulder at the map, “And that forest would be…?”

Razor pointed a green blot of forest on the map, “The Everfree Forest.”

I frowned, “But that is right beside Ponyville, isn’t it?”

Razor nodded, “Yes, but from what rumors I’ve heard about the town and the forest, nopony dares go in there. It’s more dangerous and magic-ridden than the forest around Hollow Shades, which means we should be able to navigate through the Everfree easily, assuming nopony sees us before we reach it.”

Fang used a paw to measure the distance, perking up a bit when he got a result, “Hey, what do you know about that? If we run now, we can probably make it to the edge of the Everfree before the sun comes up.” His tail wagged furiously, “Come on! Come on! I’ve been itching for a long run like this for months!”

I giggled playfully, “Alright, Fido. Just hold your horses for a bit and we’ll-“

Bu-bum Bu-bum

I froze as my ears twitched at the sound. It was faint, but I could still hear that sound anywhere, even if I were standing on the other side of a brick wall from it.

Bu-bum Bu-bum

That… was the sound of another pony’s heartbeat. True, Razor and Fang were standing right in front of me, but I knew the sound wasn’t coming from either of them. For one thing, Razor’s heartbeat was muffled, due to the demonic blood in his veins, and Fang’s heart beat faster than the regular pony’s.

This new heartbeat was a familiar tempo of an ordinary pony, and they were close by. I relayed the new presence to my brothers, and they fell silent.

Fang lifted his snout to the air, sniffing it for any scent. A moment later, he announced, “Yeah, someone’s out there. The smell isn’t all that strong, but it’s still there. In fact,” He took another whiff, scrunching his nose in mock disgust as he did, “Oh, phew! I thought I recognized that scent. It’s old pony Hedger, and I think he rolled around in a dung pile to mask his scent.” Fang laughed a bit, “Not the best combination in the world for a nose this strong.”

So a pony had followed us this far into the forest? Tartarus, and Mr. Hedger was a gardener for Celestia’s sake. That stallion was always stubborn about doing jobs he couldn’t handle.

I wasn’t the only one who was mildly impressed though. Razor let out a half-hearted chuckle, “He certainly is persistent, I’ll give him that.” The daemon looked out into the dark forest, “And he apparently knows what he’s up against. I can taste his fear from here… it’s…”
Razor’s mouth began watering at the sides as his features began twisting into a cruel grin, “It’s delicious… I must… I want mor-“ Thwack!

Razor flinched as Fang gave him a quick slap to the back of the head with his paw, bringing the half-demon out of his trance before he went into a fear-feeding frenzy, like a shark in bloody water.

Razor quickly shook himself back into the present, smiling sheepishly, “Oh, that was a close one. The fear was a bit more than I am accustomed to, considering it was coming from a Hollow Shades pony.”

I couldn’t argue there. The ponies in Hollow Shades were always fearful of one thing or another, but it was just below the point that drove Razor into a fear-lust state, where his daemon nature took over. But now that everypony knew we weren’t like them, their fears were basically realized, and now they were feeling the fear in nearly full force.

Shaking my head, I replied, “It’s fine. Let’s just get going. If a gardener has made it this far into the forest, then it’s safe to assume the real hunters could be anywhere nearby.”

Razor nodded, “I agree, let’s head out for the Everfree.”

Fang pumped a paw to the air, “Oh, yeah! Finally!” With that, the green werewolf turned paw and shot off like a bullet through the forest, thankfully in the right direction.

Rolling my eyes, Razor and I shared a similar look. No matter what his age, Fang was always going to be that little eight year old colt we found out in the cold. He hadn’t changed a bit since then, but then again, I haven’t really changed for the past two hundred years either. Either way, all of us knew our family wouldn’t change either, and I was grateful for that.

Razor sighed, though he wore a smile that betrayed his current, demonic appearance, “Let’s go, Vel, before Fang gets himself stuck between two trees again.”

I giggled, “That happened five years ago, Razor. Are you ever going to let him hear the end of it?”

Razor merely shrugged, “I am his older brother. Hanging embarrassing moments over his head is a perk I deserve to benefit from.”

I rolled my eyes, “Alright. Just don’t expect me to be as playful when you mention something embarrassing about me.”

Razor smirked, “You mean like that time you-“

“Never again!” I cried as I quickly flapped my wings, taking to the sky in a flash with the speed that could literally match the Wonderbolts’. I took off into the night, following after Fang.

Behind me, I heard Razor’s chuckle in the wind, before his body dissolved into wispy, black smoke, which took off into the sky after me as well.

At last, we were on our way to start our journey for a new home. Though I had to wonder, how long would it take before we found another place where we could live in peace?

Author's Notes:

Yes, the first chapter of almost every story, the only time when the author can be vague about everything!

Hey, everypony, or everybody if that's what you prefer. I'm glad to finally have started on this idea for a story, but before I continue, I would like some things to be known.

First, I realize that it would be highly unlikely that a werewolf, a vampire, and a half demon could live together as a family, or at least, without having their claws and fangs at each other's throats all of the time by nature. But if that were to be true in this setting, I think the story would end quickly next chapter with one of them killing the other two. But where's the fun, great story in that? Besides, from what I know, people like reading the extraordinary things, or the comical mundane things. This story, Outcasts: Of Monsters and Equines, is supposed to be a bit of both.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading. If you want to see this story keep going in an awesome way, remember to go ahead and click that like button and favorite the story for updates on following chapters, because that would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading,
-Shadowflame