The Mare and the Wolf

Chapters

Conflict
Gossip
Disturbance
Eavesdropping
Departure
Everfree
Wounds
Fatigue
Relief
Flower
Past
Lecture
Healing
Meeting
Landscape
Restore

Conflict

The strong kick sent Winter crashing into the the wooden floor with a sore jaw; looking up, he saw the orange earthpony glaring him with an crazed look in her eyes.

"What the hay are ya doin' here, ya bastard?" She shouted with a fearless voice most ponies would not dare to use in front of a potential predator "Ya think ya can come here and eat my friend? I’ll kill ya!"

Winter had seen a lot of angry ponies in his life; at least they tried to look angry to conceal their fear, while the angry mobs chased him into the woods. Except when he would let a loud growl and they would run for their lives. This particular pony, however, went from seeing him to attack him without skipping a beat.

The wolf got up has quickly as his wounds permitted, preparing himself to dodge a second buck, or at least try to. Luckily for his snout, the angered earthpony was being held back by Fluttershy. Winter then turned to the pegasus "Friend of yours, huh? She has a lovely personality." He jested, thinking a bit of humor was the best way calm his nerves with the situation at paw.

Fluttershy, however, was too occupied with trying keep her enraged friend away from her visitor to even understand the sarcasm in the wolf's voice.

"I know she does." the animal caretaker noted before turning to the orange pony "Please Applejack, calm down he's not trying to eat me. He's just staying here for a while until his injuries heal."

Applejack stopped trying to get pass the pegasus, but didn’t leave her aggressive posture not did she take her angry eyes of Winter while she replied "Fluttershy, it's one thing ta take care of a bird, mouse or rabbit, but takin' in a blood-thirsty wolf is WAY too dangerous. He'll kill you in yer sleep!!"

"He would never do that, would you, Winter?"

"Like I said, I don't kill ponies." He was tired of being treated as a monster and was clearly trying his best to show Applejack that he wasn't the cold-blooded murderer everypony thought every wolf was, even with his temper beginning to get the best of him.

"So what, you're some kind of cuddly, veggie eatin' puppy, huh?" Applejack was pushing her luck, and Winter's patience wasn't exactly at its peak, at the moment.

"No, I do eat meat, bu…"

He was cut off by yet another shout from Applejack "Haha, ah knew it, ya filthy verm…"

It was his turn to interrupt "BUT, the flesh I eat is from other predators, foxes, or wild cats. Wolves don’t kill anything that can’t fight back." He proceeded after raising his voice to a more threatening one.

"Liar! How do ah know ya won't bite ma head off the moment ah turn ma back?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not in the best condition to kill pretty much anything." Only then did Applejack noticed the bloodstained bandages on him, and seemed to calm down, even if just a small bit, as she turned to her yellow friend.

"What were ya thinkin', bringin' him to yer house?"

"He was really hurt, I couldn't just leave him there." She gave her a caring and innocent look, which Applejack was already more than accustomed to.

"And what about Angel Bunny and the rest of yer pets? How are ya goin' ta take care of 'em with him around, they'll be too scared ta even come near this house."

"Oh I'm sure they won't be like that. Look, Angel is already getting out!" She pointed a hoof to the shaking white bunny.

The second Winter turned his gaze, Angel let out a squeak and ran for his life towards the nearest hole., but has stopped by a pair yellow hoofs picking him up into the air.

"Now, now Angel, say hello to our guest." Fluttershy carried him across the room until he was face to face with Winter, who gave him an uncaring look. He didn't care if the bunny was scared of him, that concern had disappeared a long time ago. And all it took was a simple exhale to make the small creature faint.

"Ya'll were sayin'?"

"She actually has a point, Fluttershy. Maybe I should just stay outside, or you won't be able to care for them properly."

"No, stay here, please… I'll just feed them outside, it's really no problem at all." Fluttershy replied as she put Angel down, who ran back to his hole.

"Look Fluttershy, ah know ya can't leave a hurt animal alone, but ah think ya should just let him go back to the forest, where he belongs."

By now Winter was starting to get sick of Applejack's attitude "Who the hell do you think you are to say where I belong?!" Normally, he would just let comments like this one slide, but the mare was seriously starting to test the limits of his patience.

The cowgirl pushed her forehead into his, locking each other into an angry stare "Don't you talk ta me like that, ya rowdy bastard."

"Well, you're one to talk. You think you can just storm in here, and instantly start acting like you own the place?"

While the two angry faces pushed each other, teeth grinding, Fluttershy was becoming more and more consumed by the stress of seeing two friends going at each other's throats.

Suddenly, she reached her peak, at yelled at a tone far louder than any that even Applejack had ever witnessed, and her front hoofs covering her eyes.

"STOP IT!!"

The two stared at her, heads still touching, and Applejack's jaw barely hanging.

"Yikes!" they muttered in monotone at the same time, this would have reminded them of each other and made them argue again, had it not been for Fluttershy's sobbing.

"J…just stop it, please. I ca… I can't ta...take it. Please." Tears ran through her face and onto the floor. Neither Winter or Applejack had ever seen her in such state.

"Calm down Sugercube, I'm sorry ya had ta see that, it won't happen again, will it now?" She turned to Winter, who nodded in agreement.

"P…Promise?"

"Cross ma heart and hope ta fly, stick a cupcake in ma eye."

Winter looked at the orange mare, puzzled "What the…"

"It's a Pinkie promise." She replied

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything later."

"All right, I promise." He wasn't one to make promises just like that, but he couldn't resist the sad image of her newest, closest friend crying because of a stupid discussion.

"Fine..." She with a hollow voice and turned to Fluttershy "Now, about Winona…"

"Oh… I forgot, yes I'll see the poor thing. Can you stay here while I go help her, Winter? If you wouldn't mind, of course?"

He pointed to his bandages "I think that's pretty much all I can do right now."

"Oh.. I forgot… I'm sorry, I…"

"It's ok"

"All right, I'll just leave some fruit here for you."

The wolf thanked her with a smile that showed the least teeth he could.

As the two ponies walked out of the cottage, Applejack turned her head around and mouthed "Ah've got ma eye on ya!" with a gaze of disdain.

"Hugh!" he muttered with a loud sigh escaping his mouth, and a frown in his face.

Gossip

It had only been about twenty minutes after the two mares left for Sweet Apple Acres, and the wolf had already filled his stomach with the colorful mix of fresh fruits Fluttershy left him.

Winter licked his lips and let out a small burp of satisfaction. He tried to get up again, not wanting to just lay in a couch the whole day, but his request was almost immediately refused by his body, which gave him another bolt of acute pain in his leg and torso injuries.

"Damn!" The wolf said to himself "Looks like it's going to be a long boring while until Fluttershy comes back." He let out a small chuckle "When did you start caring so much for company of ponies?"

Winter laid his head on one of the scarlet pillows that rested on the couch, looking at the many mouse holes and bird houses, hoping that some small creature would gather some courage to wander into the living room and break the monotony.

_______________________________________________________________________

"There you go. You're all better now. It was just a little tummy ache." The yellow mare cheerfully said to the brown dog, which was now getting her belly scratched.

"Thanks, Fluttershy, and sorry for tha bother. Ah should a' known she'd been eatin' more than she could handle!" said Applejack, throwing a reproving glance to her dog, to which Winona gave an apologizing whine.

"It's all right Applejack, it's no problem at all."

"Though, ah still can't believe ya took a wolf in yer house." the farmer remarked, giving her friend a sad, yet reproving look.

"Please, Applejack, don't be mad, I couldn't just leave the poor fellow there, he was in such a bad shape."

"Yeah, yeah...Ah know ya can't resist a lost puppy. But Ah just can’t stand him, or any of those cursin' wolves."

"Oh…I'm he isn't like that, he seems like a really nice guy, maybe you would like him if you got to know each other."

"No." Applejack said, struggling to not yell.

Fluttershy sighted, not wanting to start an argument with her friend "All right, I understand… but… could you please not tell anypony about Winter?"

Applejack held her breath for a second, she hated keeping secrets from her friends "Ah don't know Sugarcube, ya know how I am with secrets."

"Oh please, Applejack. If they find out, they’ll think he’s trying to hurt me." the pegasus's glistening, begging eyes finally got the best of the cowmare.

The orange farmpony looked down at her hooves, pensive. Ah don’t think Ah can handle another secret she thought. For a while, the blond pony considered the option of warning her friends and chase the accursed beast out of town and took a few seconds to think of a nice enough way to tell Fluttershy the wolf just couldn’t stay; the chain of thought cut cut short, however, when Applejack looked back up, facing a pair of cyan eyes wide as plates that immediately shattered her will to confront the shy animal carer.

"Aaah chucks! All right, ah won't tell nopony." She finally answered, defeated by her friend's unmatched cuteness.

"Thank you. I should be going back home, Winter must getting bored for me going away. Goodbye, Applejack."

"See ya, Fluttershy." Applejack replied as her friend took flight for her cottage, holding a snort of frustration in, and turned around to attend to her duties in the farm; the orange earthpony soon regretted that action, as a mass of pink fluffy hair and two enormous blue eyes suddenly met her gaze, inches away from her muzzle.

"Boo!!!!" the childish yell sent a full alarm inside Applejack’s mind.

The orange mare gave a jump of fright, defying gravity for a good fifteen feet before coming back down to the ground; her coat was nearly white while she laid on her back, with all of her fur almost shooting out of her skin. The farmer then realized what it was that had scared her half-dead, none other than the pink Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie, who was now rolling on her own back laughing her hind off.

"GOTCHA!" She said, between her laughing and desperately trying to breathe in some air "Bet you didn't expect that, you jumped even higher than me!!!".

Having recovered from the heart-stopping attack, Applejack waited patiently for the party pony to finish laughing, while shaking her head disapprovingly; the chuckles and giggles seemed to be endless, as each time Pinkie would calm down, the mental image of her orange friend’s reaction would give birth to a new burst. The farmer then saw her other friend Rarity cantering down a dirt path towards her, followed by the town celebrity trio known as Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Hi Applejack! The fillies greeted in a chorus fighting to stop giggling from the mare's scare.

"Hi girls, hi Rarity. How was the Cutie Mark Crusaders sleepover? Did ya'll have fun?" she said with a hint of grumpiness in her voice.

Rarity gave a delicate, but annoyed huff "Well, there certainly was a lot of fun on their side, or so I would presume from all mess they made of my boutique. I could hardly get any work done, and I don't even want to talk about my lack of beauty sleep."

The two mares turned to the fillies, ready to find a sight of three regretful faces, instead the girls threw their best "Little Angels" faces. Pinkie was just now getting up, still trying to catch her breath, and suffering from a serious case of the hiccups.

Rarity decided to change the subject to push the uncouth memories of the night before away "So, I saw you talking to Fluttershy a moment ago, what were you talking about?"

The fashionista’s inquiry made Applejack wince of terror. Darn it, Rarity. Already? she thought as she shuffled through her mind, trying to find a good excuse; unfortunately for her, the inner ordeal caused some very noticeable signs on the outside. the mare subconsciously frowned, looking down at no specific point of the ground, pensive.

“Well?” the unicorn asked impatiently, snapping the farmer out of her trance. Eyes shifting, the latter reluctantly answered.

“Huh...Well...Ya know, jis stuff...”

Having both a knack and a bit of an obsession for finding out certain things about other ponies’ lives, Rarity knew that the orange pony’s expression meant that she had struck gold.

"What sort of stuff?" the snow colored pony insisted, driven by her curiosity.

"Well ah…things of huh…animals! Yup! She was huh… talkin' about animals and…she had ta go take care of 'em…Yup, that's it." The lying earthpony concluded with an effort to smile, which succeeded only partially, since another subconscious frown appeared on her face as she remembered the real topic of her conversation with Fluttershy.

Even Pinkie could tell something was off, and Rarity's gossip alert was ringing non-stop in her head "Now darling, you wouldn't be hiding anything from us, now would you?"

"Wha…Nooo…course not."

"Well good, because I can't stand the thought of our good friend Applejack hiding something from her best friends." Rarity teased before pulling her secret WMD of gossip hunting.

"Not to mention her own little sister." she finished, as she pulled Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who were also dying of curiosity, in front of the nervous pony. Little could be done against the filly wide, sparkly eyes, and their killer pouts.

Applejack couldn't take it anymore "Alright! I’ll tell ya." she said, defeated. Ah’m sorry Fluttershy the blond mare apologized with her thoughts “Fluttershy has a wolf in her house.” she confessed.

Like a chorus, Rarity, Pinkie and the three fillies gave a gasp that threatened to exceed their lung's air capacity.

"My Celestia, and you just let her go to a house with such a savage creature?"

"Ah didn’t want him ta stay there either. Ah tried to convince Fluttershy ta send him away but you know how she is with hurt animals."

“Hurt?” the fashionista asked, a hint of relief appearing in her heart; If the beast was hurt, then maybe it wouldn’t be able to hurt their shy friend.

“Yeah, he had a lot of bloody bandages on him.”

"Applejack, how can you stand for this? Have you forgotten what happened what happened two years ago?"

"Course Ah haven't, Ah ain't defendin' him, and Ah don't trust him either. But Fluttershy made me promise Ah wouldn’t tell anypony. Please don't tell her that I told ya about this."

Rarity sighted, there really was nothing that could be done to convince the animal carer to leave the wolf to his fate "All right then."

"Okey Doki Lokey! I'm great with secrets, any secrets, like that one time Rarity told not to t…" Pinkie was interrupted by the white hoof that covered her mouth.

"Oh my! Look at the time, we'll just be going now. Tataa! Come on Sweetiebell." Rarity said in an attempt to cover her friends slip, and pulled the party pony with her as she left, followed by the little unicorn filly.

Scootaloo said her goodbyes and raced on her scooter back home, leaving Applebloom and Applejack alone. The filly turned to her sister, curious.

“AJ, what was Rarity talkin’ about from two years ago? Ya know, besides...” she asked but was interrupted by her older sister’s sudden response to the unfinished question.

“Nothing.” the farmer said with haste, not wanting to get into the subject, and started to walk towards the wooden house in the middle of the farm “Let’s go home.”

Disturbance

Winter took deep breaths, enjoying the feel of fresh air of the grassy plains; a feeling he hadn't experienced since before he moved to the Everfree Forest, where the air always had a dampish feel to it, and the light of day rarely reached the ground, through the leaves of the countless half-dead trees.

A field of marigolds now surrounded him, waving with the passage of the wind, creating a moving green and yellow sea. He felt as if he had been living there his whole life, and didn't want to ever leave.

"Enjoying the view, Winter?" a dark, jesting voice suddenly appeared from behind him. It sounded like two boulders being grinded together.

Winter quickly turned around, no one was there. The colorful field turned to a sad, grayish yellow, as the flowers turned to dust and got swept away by the wind; the grass began to dry until it was nothing more than small gray leaves that would crumble at the softest touch.

The surprise soon abandoned the wolf’s eyes after seeing the last portion of green die off, being quickly replaced by a look that mixed sadness with anger. A dream...again...he thought.

"Ah… much better scenery, if you ask me." The voice now came from right in front of him.

Winter didn't need anything else, he knew what the voice was. The wolf turned away from the cold sound and said with a frown "I should have know it was too good to be true. I thought I told time and time again not to talk to me again."

"Well that's no way to greet an old friend, now is it?"

"Piss off. You know damn well you're not my friend."

"Let's get one thing straight, you don't get to decide anything I do!" the voice was now louder and more aggressive "Try to boss me around again and I'll tear you apart!"

But this didn't even make the wolf flinch, he had heard the threats more than a few times before over the years; they were now little more than an annoyance.

"What do you want?" Winter asked half-heartedly.

“I wanted to talk with you, of course. After all, I’m all you have.” it tried to sound amiable, failing miserably.

“And whose fault is that, again?” the wolf began to get angry.

“Yours, of course,” the sinister voice countered immediately, as if answering the simplest question in the world “Don’t try to blame me for your mistakes.” Winter snarled to this.

“What do you even want with me? It’s not like controlling me is worth a lifetime of effort.”

"Now that...is a surprise.” It giggled “Never mind that, there's just so much I want to discuss. Like your new best friend Fluttershy."

Winter's eyes widened at the name, whatever it was the voice was going to say next, it couldn't be good.

"you leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with us."

"Are you sure? Just moments ago you were desperate for her company."

"Don't you even…" He was interrupted by the voice's insistent tease.

"I sure didn't expect to see a pony becoming your emotional substitute for Snow Bre…"

"DON'T SAY HER NAME!!!" Winter's temper rose to a volcanic level, and he interrupted with a shout loud enough to make the voice stammer for a few seconds, "DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER!!"

The voice having regained its composure and continued to tease the furious wolf, it seemed to move around him for greater annoyance, as it said "I'm going to love seeing you rip her neck off…"

"Shut up." Winter muttered.

"Snapping it into two…"

"Shut up!" Winter said.

"And feed on her…" the voice began to raise its tone, to match the angry wolf's.

"Shut up!!" Winter yelled.

"Until there's nothing left but HER BLOOD IN YOUR TEETH!! Just like HER!" It laughed maniacally, thrilled with the wolf’s growing anguish.

"SHUT UUUUUP!!!" Winter screamed.

Eavesdropping

"SHUT UUUUUP!!!"

Fluttershy stopped her sweet, gentle humming and gave a scared, pinched scream, dropping the bag of animal food she was carrying. She laid on the floor, rolled in herself, trembling, trying to be as small as possible.

Winter quickly opened his eyes at both the sound of Fluttershy's distressed scream, and that of his own yelling. Looking around him, and then at the scared mare, he realized what he had done.

"I-I-I…I'm sorry…I'll s-s-stop humming… I'll stop it… I promise!"

"I'm so sorry Fluttershy, it wasn't your humming, I swear." Winter trended his words carefully, he knew how scared the mare could be of him. "I just…had a bad dream." That's when he understood that he had just terrified the closest thing he had to a friend, all because of a dream, he felt ridiculous.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated.

"Oh…well, don't be. I shouldn't have been so scared, anyway." Fluttershy excused herself, as she rose from the floor slowly.

In that moment, the wolf looked at his own body, which was now covered with a soft, yellow blanket, with three hand stitched butterflies in the corner, just like the mare's cutie mark.

"What is this?" he thought out loud.

"Oh...It's just that when I came back you were sleeping and shaking, and I thought you were cold, but I didn't want to wake, so I just gave you that blanket." Fluttershy explained, finishing with a caring smile.

Winter couldn't believe it, he had been resting in her house, without giving anything in return, shouted at her friend, and now scared her half to death, but she still wouldn't show the slightest sign of hatred towards him. Instead, he saw something he hadn't seen in a long time, a friendly face, one that spelled "You're my friend."

The gray wolf blushed a little. Trying to find a different subject, he looked at the bag and the animal food that fell on the floor.

"Are going to feed the other animals?"

"Well…yes, I was, actually."

"I'm sorry you have to keep them outside."

"It's no trouble at all, really. They are used to be out in the open anyway." She said, as she swept the food back in the bag with her wing. "I'll be right back, excuse me." She went out the door and came back, not even five minutes after.

"So…" Fluttershy muttered, as she shyly scratched her hoof lightly on the floor

"Would you like to ta…Oh my Celestia!"

"What is it?" Winter asked, somewhat worried at her exclamation.

"Oh no… I completely forgot… I was supposed to help Rainbow Dash with her new trick today and I'm late, she's going to hate me now. But I can't just leave."

"Don't worry, just go."

"R-really? You don't mind?"

"Of course not. Go ahead."

"Thank you Winter, I really have to go, goodbye." said the mare as she flew out the door.

"See you later." Winter responded. When Fluttershy was out of sight, he turned to a window "I know you're there. Come out now." He called.

A pink earthpony jumped into sight and into the living room, happily bouncing up and down

"Wow, I can't believe you found us, we were really, really quiet, I didn't think you could hear us, you must be really, really good at hide-and-seek…" she stopped with a big gasp "We should totally play hide-and-seek! Oh can we, can we, can we? It's going to be so much…"

"Pinkie, this is not why we are here, remember?" a new, refined voice interrupted the pink mare. It came from a white unicorn, who had gone all the way around to enter through the door.

"It's not? Then why are we here?" Pinkie responded, confused.

The white mare let out a sigh "We came to see about him." She answered, pointing a hoof at the confused wolf laying on the couch.

"Oh yeah…*giggle* I've never seen a wolf before, do they like parties? Oh of course they do, everyone loves parties, especially mine *GASP* Rarity, we should throw him a welcoming party."

"Pinkie, we are NOT throwing him a party, he is a sav…"

Rarity was interrupted by Winter, who gave a light cough to get the two ponies' attention. While he couldn't make much of Pinkie's fast paced, giggling words, what the unicorn said was enough for him to understand what was going on.

"I take it you're Fluttershy's friends."

"Pardon me, but how do you know that?"

"Fluttershy and her orange friend are the only ponies who know I'm here, so if you two are here then either one of them told you."

"WOW, you're smart, I mean not as smart as Twilight bu…" a white hoof covered her mouth, silencing but not stopping her, since she kept talking through it.

"By the way, how did you know we were here?"

"Fluttershy wasn't the only one who screamed of fright when I woke up."

Rarity blushed, embarrassed, and unfortunately for her, her white coat made it easily visible "Well you shouldn't shout like that, especially with a lady in the room."

"And you shouldn't eavesdrop on your friend."

"We had to come! To make sure Fluttershy wasn't… huh…" the fashionista shifted her eyes away from the wolf's glance, while trying to find the right words.

"Eaten by the big bad wolf?" Winter guessed, and by the look on Rarity's face, he guessed right.

"It's just tha…"

"Don't bother, pony. You don't have to justify yourself."

"Don't call me pony. I am a lady, and so you will address me as Miss, or Rarity, or Miss Rarity, if you please."

"Anyway, I can assure you, Miss, I mean no harm to Fluttershy, you or anypony else."

Rarity couldn't be completely certain he was serious, but at the moment, she wouldn't dare to question him. "Very well then, I suppose that will do for now. Let's go Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie, who hadn't stopped talking through the white hoof, was getting frustrated for not being listened, and freed her mouth to say "Wait, I have to throw you a party, Wolfie."

Winter raised a brow "Wolfie?"

"What kind of parties do you like?"

The question took the wolf by surprise. He waited for a second and responded "First of all, it's Winter, and se…" but was interrupted by a giggle.

"No it's not, silly, can't you see it's the middle of the spring?"

"I meant my name."

"Oh… right." She giggled again.

Winter sighed and continued "And second, don't bother to throw me a party, I've never had one anyway."

In that moment, Pinkie's mind glitched, "No p-p-p-party…N-Never…h-had a…P-P-PARTY?!" and she just fell on her back, flabbergasted at what she just heard, looking into an empty space of the ceiling.

"Oh dear…" said Rarity, not so much as worried as annoyed at the idea of having to carry her out of there. Winter, on the other hand, didn't know the mass of randomness that was Pinkie Pie.

"Is she OK?" he asked, worried about the mare's mental health.

"Don't worry, something like this happens about once every week. Sometimes she starts talking to an empty space, like there is somepony there, watching her. When we ask about it, she says "It's the people at home." Rarity stopped to roll her eyes "Anyhow, we should get going. But we've got our eyes on you." She said, as she levitated Pinkie out of the cottage with her magic.

The mare interrupted her mental breakdown to stare at him, pointing a hoof to her own eyes, and then at his. The two then got outside and closed the door.

"Hugh… Why do all ponies say that?"

Departure

That night, a certain wolf slept uneasily, thinking about an orange cowmare. To him, looks of fear and disdain were not strange. They came with being the kind of creature that all fillies and colts think will gobble them up. Hatred, on the other paw, was something he didn't come across so very often.

"Why?" he kept asking himself. No trivial motives could justify that look she gave him.

The sun rose. For Winter's surprise, Fluttershy was already up when he opened his eyes.

"You're up early." He said, jokingly. "Or did I oversleep?"

"Oh no, I just felt like getting up a little early today." She explained, and started picking the ingredients for the wolf's meal and her own.

When it was ready, she sat next to him and placed the plate on the couch. Usually, he would eat the meal with three or four bites, but his mood only allowed him to nibble at the colorful breakfast.

"Hum…is something wrong? You don't like it?" asked Fluttershy, noticing his lack of appetite. The wolf realized he was being rude, so was quick to answer.

"No, no, it's really good." He said nervously before taking a usual bite, but went back shortly after. "Hey Fluttershy…"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes of course." a worried tone in her voice.

"Why does your friend hate wolves so much?" the Pegasus lowered her head, and threw a poorly faked smile.

"Oh…she doesn't hate them, she's just under stress. I mean, she works a lot."

Winter looked her straight in the eyes, not to scare her, but to make her see this wasn't a casual question.

"Please don't lie to me Fluttershy."

The pegasus looked down to her own plate, defeated, and let out a sigh.

"Well…I can't speak for her but…It might be because of the incident."

"Incident?"

"Y-yes. It happened two years ago, I wasn't there, and Applejack never talks about it, but…from what Big Mac told us, it must have been terrible. In the Autumn, s-something horrible happened in Applejack's farm, t-there was growling, screams, and gunfire. A-And when I got there…" her words were being interrupted by a growing sob "Applejack was p-passed out…later, when I asked her if she was all right, s-she just s-s-said "She's gone, that bas…"" Fluttershy couldn't said the word "G-Granny Smi...w-was on the ground, there was so m-much b-b-bl..." Fluttershy couldn't continue, and drop to the floor, crying at the memory of her friend's suffering.

Winter rushed to her side to comfort her, putting a paw on her back "it's okay, it's okay. You don't have to say anything else." The gesture seemed too whittle the tears down a bit

"I'm sorry I made you remember that."

The wolf didn't need to hear any more of it, while he didn't know who this Granny something was, he knew it must have been someone close to the orange mare, and who had caused the incident, or at least the kind he or she belonged to. It was clear now.

"No wonder she treats me like this." He thought to himself. After a few seconds, Winter got up and put on a happier face "Come on now, show me a smile. I don't like to see a girl crying, you know."

Fluttershy wiped her tears with a hoof, and gave a small giggle. After they finished eating, she took off the bandages from his wounds, they had healed very nicely, and the fur was already covering most of them.

"Nice, I can go back to the forest."

"Yes…b-but…" the sobbing returned "I g-guess this is goodbye…r-right?"

Winter gave a short laugh, sometimes the pegasus's sensibility was just too adorable. He lifted her chin with a paw.

"You silly filly! You really think I could live with myself if I just left like that? You know I'll visit."

"Y-you promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." He promised, imitating Applejack's gestures from days before. The wolf didn't know the dire consequences of breaking a Pinkie Promise, but he had no intention of breaking it anyway.

"Although your coltfriend will probably get jealous if I come by too often." He joked.

Fluttershy blushed fiercely, her face got almost as red as a certain apple bucking stallion's coat.

"W-What… nonono, I don't have a coltfriend."

Winter arched a brow "No way! Not even a crush? You need to get out more."

"W-well, there's…" her words tailed off, she was simply too embarrassed to continue.

"Don't worry, you don't have to tell me. But I hope one of you makes a move." The wolf turned to the Everfree Forest and started walking "A nice pony like you deserves it." he said to himself.

His yellow friend waved a hoof until he was out of sight ad turned back inside the cottage, which was now refilled with bunnies, birds and mice.

A particular white bunny was looking at her like he was saying "What were you thinking getting him here?"

Everfree

"There it is." Winter said to himself when he reached his old resting place. The small pile of leaves and tiny branches was looking the same as when he left to hunt, days ago. The only difference was that spring brought a layer of grass with it and a recently bloomed white flower at its side.

"At least I won't have to fight anyone for it now. Guess I'll take a nap before going back out there." The wolf circled the pile a few times, feeling it with his paws before finally laying down. As he had expected, the grass gave it a softer touch, and he quickly fell to sleep.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Ah still think ya should let me go." said the red stallion to his younger sister. The loud chirping coming from the apple orchard kept distracting them.

"Like hay ah should! Not with that twisted fetlock." Applejack replied, pointing to her brother's bandaged leg "Seriously though, how do ya keep gettin' hurt like that? It's the third time this year."

Big Mac simply gave the mare a shrug "What're ya even goin' ta do in the Everfree anyways?"

"I'm goin' ta see if our friend Zecora has somethin' ta get us rid of these damn vermins!" she had to shout to be heard through the growing irritating sound, and they both turned to the Sweet Apple Acres orchard, which was now crawling with thousands of small, yet noisy crickets.

The insects had arrived that same morning, and were now feasting on the leaves and apples. Applebloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were in the middle of the farm, taking the opportunity to try getting pest swatting cutie marks "If we don't get 'em out of 'ere, the whole orchard is gonna get eaten."

The stallion sighed, he knew that his sister's stubbornness would overcome all his warnings about the dangers of the Everfree Forest. "Fine…just don't take too long, will ya?"

"Don't worry, big brother." Applejack answered "And go get Applebloom, she's knocking off green apples with all that swattin'!"

"Eeyup." Said Big Mac with a nod, and turned to get the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Winter decided to take a walk after he finished eating the now disfigured corpse of the wild hog he caught minutes ago.

By the position of the sun he guessed it should be the middle of the afternoon. In the time he had spent there, he had developed a habit to talk to himself, due to the lack of company.

"This place doesn't look too bad in the spring." He said, looking at the recently bloomed flowers as he walked, and driving his eyes away from the small dead bodies he found along the way.

A loud growl echoed through the trees, the wolf didn't even flinch to its sound. Hearing but not caring was something he had learn to do, if he became nervous with every chirp, growl and roar, he would never be able to fall sleep. But this time it was going to be different.

"Buck off, ya bastards!"

Winter widened his eyes to the sound of the distant southern accent.

"You've got to be kidding…" he ran "What the hell is she doing here?"

"AAAHH!" the voice screamed of pain, the wolf went to full speed, dashing through the trees, and scaring away birds and rodents alike.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Ya damn pests! I'll beat ya to a pulp!" Applejack shouted, in an attempt to scare them away, but the wound in her hind leg prevented the success of the intimidation.

The two bobcats glared at their prey. One of them dashed towards the mare and tried to bite her, but only received a buck in the snout. However, the second one caught her off guard and managed a scratch on her torso, to which Applejack winced in pain.

Said pain, along with the exhaustion of both the fight and running to get there, made her unable to support her own body, and made her fall to the ground. Her sight was getting blurry, and she could barely see the predators bolting to deliver the killing blow.

She closed her eyes and awaited fate "Ah'm comin' Granny.." she murmured.

But fate did not come. She only heard a bludgeoning sound. With an effort, the mare opened her eyes and focused her sight. Before her stood a light gray wolf and, meters away, the two bobcats he had tackled. All three were grinding their teeth, growling.

Winter turned to check on Applejack.

Not good, I've got to hurry this up He thought, before raising his voice and shouting to his foes "I don't have time to mess with you punks!"

One of the said foes jumped to him but was caught in a bite and thrown across the air, hitting a nearby tree and whined in pain. The second one, seeing that the wolf was distracted, jumped on top of him and bit him in the platform. Winter growled in pain and jumped on his own back, crushing the wild cat with his weight.

Applejack never took her eyes from him, and when Winter got up on his paws, she saw something. His sky blue eyes were slowly turning to a sinister yellow. Since one of the big cats was bleeding severely from its neck, and the other could barely breathe with its broken ribs, the two atackers made the decision that a mere pony wasn't worth getting killed for, and turned tail, running as fast as their wounded limbs allowed them to. Winter calmed down, and quickly turned to the wounded mare.

She saw his eyes turning back to their normal color before fainting.

Wounds

The mare's eyes were still closed shut and she was unable to move her legs. She could, however, feel something soft and warm pressing against her belly and neck. Whatever it was, it was moving, shaking and making her weight shift back and forth. A heavy breath accompanied the swinging motion, along with an occasional branch snap.

It took a few minutes to gather the strength to open her eyes. Before her were two long, gray ears and, around her, the quickly moving trees of the Everfree Forest. Applejack then realized that the soft surface she had been laying was in fact the blood drenched fur of someone's back. The memories of the recent events finally reached the conscious side of her mind, and she lifted her head slightly to shout at Winter, or at least try.

"Let me go ya bastard."

wolf turned his head "Good, you're awake. Just hold on, I'll get you help."

"Ah said let me go!" she insisted, between coughs, and trying to shake herself off his back.

"Will you quit that?" said Winter, who was already struggling to keep his balance with both the mare's weight and his injuries.

"Shut up!" Applejack gave a final shake and rolled on the ground before stopping completely. Winter instantly turned around and tried to pick her back up "Get away from me!"

"I'm trying to help you, moron!" Winter snapped "Just hold still so I can take you to a hospital!"

Despite his efforts, the orange mare seemed determined to keep him at a distance, or at least keep him from getting her on his back. Between heavy breaths, she said angrily "Ah d…Ah don't want your damn h…help! I'd rather d…"

"DON'T YOU EVEN…" the angry wolf stopped her from finishing the sentence with a shout, and his expression went from annoyed to furious. He couldn't allow her to speak those words. Applejack became speechless before the yell.

"You think you die and the pain just goes away!? You think you die and everything is sugar and rainbows!? Are you even thinking straight? What about your family? What about Fluttershy? What are they gonna to without you?

"S…shut up…"

"No, you shut up! I'm taking you with me, whether you like it or not!" and with this, Winter placed himself under the mare and lifted her up, ignoring her struggles and taking a weak buck to the muzzle. As they resumed the running, he continued his statement, now in a lower tone. "I'm sorry for what happened two years ago. I know it's hard when you lose someone."

Applejack's eyes widened. In that moment, her mind could only fabricate a question, which she was barely able to ask as soon as she snapped back into reality "How do ya know about that?"

"Fluttershy explained it to me. She couldn't tell the whole story, but I can put two and two together. I'm guessing the killers were wolves?"

"Yeah…" she answered with a weak voice.

"No wonder you hate me. The death of a dear one brings out the worst of us."

The mare went silent

"I'm not trying to make you like me. I just want you to know that I understand where you're coming from. Feel free to hate me for the rest of your life, I really don't care."

Winter turned his head to look her in the face, and realized she was about to faint again.

"No! You have to stay awake!" but Applejack fell back to sleep "Perfect, just damn perfect!" He grunted to himself, and stretched his speed near his limits.

They had wasted a lot of time, and while her wounds were few, they were deep, and were dropping more blood by the minute. The wolf knew she didn't have a lot of time.

When they finally reached the end of the Everfree, Winter looked around, nervously trying to find a hospital. He saw a pink dot in the distance and decided to take his chances with asking Pinkie Pie for help. He dashed towards the mare, who was hopping her way to Sugarcube Corner.

"HEY, YOU! Pinkie!" the wolf shouted, challenging his throat to do more than suck in as much needed air as it could.

Pinkie turned around, recognizing his deep voice, even if it was hidden in heavy breaths.

"HI WOLFIE! Did you come for your p…" shock prevented the mare from finishing the enthusiastic greeting.

"AAAAAAHH…" the pink pony screamed, her mane falling straight "A-Applejack, what happened?"

"Pinkie, listen to me…" Winter was cut off by the mare's stressful stammering.

"What…how…what did you…?"

"PINKIE!!" Winter snapped, knowing he didn't have time to wait for her to calm down on her own. "Listen to me, I'll explain everything later, but right now we have to get her to a hospital!" he shouted, fighting against the exhaustion in his throat. Fortunately, it was enough to get Pinkie's cooperation.

"O…Ok. L-Let's go, the hospital's this way!" she said, between sobbing and tears, and began to run ahead of him, leading him to the hospital.

Fortunately, they reached the white building less than a minute later, and dashed for the counter.

"Quick, this pony need medical care right now!" he said loudly to the nurse behind the counter, who just stood immobile and silent, with a look of terror in her face. That's when Winter realized everypony in the room was completely silent. As he turned around he remembered what he was.

"AAAAAHHHH" a mare in the lobby screamed "A WOLF!". The rest of the ponies began to panic, and soon enough, they were all hidden beneath chairs, tables or their own hooves.

"Damn it!" he grunted to himself before laying Applejack down on a nearby bed and turning to Pinkie.

"Pinkie, tell them to take care of her! I'm going to warn Fluttershy!"

After the wolf left, the ponies came out of hiding and looked at Pinkie.

"What is wrong with you, bri…" the nurse behind the counter was interrupted by Pinkie's angry shouting.

"ME?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? HELP HER!" a mix of anger and fear in her eyes, accompanied by tears. This made everyone remember about the orange mare, who was now coloring the sheets of the bed she was on with a bloody crimson.

After realizing how serious the situation was, the doctors rushed to apply first aid, while taking the wheeled bed inside.

Fatigue

Winter's breath was becoming louder and louder. He could feel the exhaustion coursing through his entire body, from the bottom of his now red chest to the tips of his numb paws.

"If I ever see those two bastards again…" the wolf murmured tiresomely to himself, not even able to finish the angry sentence. His weariness was not limiting itself to affect his body alone, and began to weaken his mind as well.

Winter started to become disoriented and unbalanced. Only a few reference points and a good memory kept him in the general direction of Fluttershy's cottage.

He didn't even realize the terror he was causing with his passing, ponies desperately dodged out of his way, running inside whatever house was closer, a few parents grabbing their curious fillies and colts away from the creature before them.

A scrape to a wagon, which was abandoned with utmost urgency, was all it took for Winter to lose his already diminished balance and fall to the ground. He chose to consider this an opportunity to regain some of his strength, instead of wasting more on an angry outburst.

"You're embarrassing yourself, you know."

Winter looked around, nopony was around. Then it came to him, the mental exhaustion had brought down the psychological barriers he had created long ago to keep the voice from interacting with him outside of his dreams.

"I'm really not in the mood to deal with you right now." He replied coldly, with a thought.

"I must say, your ability to keep me at bay is impressive. It's cruel, but impressive, nonetheless. Then again, I like to see you being cruel." The voice ignored his attempt to send it away.

"I'm glad you like it, because you're going to get much more of it." And with this, Winter closed his eyes and began the hard task of bringing the barriers back up, which exausted him further.

"Just make sure to not get yourse…" the voice faded away as the wolf's thoughts became the only ones he could hear. However, when he opened his eyes again, he saw a pair of hooves coming down on him. It was for a split second that he was able to jump to the side, dodging the violent stomp. His attacker was a red stallion, significantly bigger than the rest of the ponies in town.

"Git outta 'ere ya bastard!" he shouted, to Winter's surprise.

"Happy to oblige!" He quickly answered, turning around and resuming his running, before the stallion could have a second try at smashing his face to the ground. This time, he took the precaution of moving at a slightly slower pace, in order to avoid another unwanted argument. He turned his head and verified that the stallion did not chase him for long.

A few minutes later he reached a hill overlooking a grassy plain where, luckily for him, was the yellow pegasus he had been looking for.

The mare was sitting in the grass looking up to the sky, Winter didn't even bother to see what it was she was watching, and ran towards her.

When he came close her eyes shifted between him and the sky, and waved her front hooves to try to make him stop.

Fortunately, it was enough to make him slow down quickly, and the seven colored blur missed him by a hair, barely scrapping the tip of his nose. The ground shook with the impact, and the cyan pegasus got up on her hooves quickly and took advantage of the wolf's distraction to give him a heavy tackle, which, to Winter's surprise, was very affective, despite the pony's size.

He landed on his side, and the pony began to charge for another attack, but was stopped by Fluttershy, who jumped in front of her and let out a surprisingly loud shout "STOOOP!"

The pegasus dug her hooves in the ground, making an effort to not barge into the yellow mare "Fluttershy, get away from that thing!" she warned.

"No Rainbow Dash, he's a friend."

Rainbow Dash shifted her eyes between the yellow pegasus and Winter while stammering "W-Whaaaa…?" and let her jaw hanging, both with the shock of her timid friend having a potential predator for a friend, and the realization that she had just attacked said friend, who was already injured.

"Fluttershy…" he managed to say, after a heavy breath "Applejack's hurt."

Both ponies immediately turned their gaze to him.

"What!?" they said in synchronicity, though Rainbow Dash's voice made Fluttershy's almost inaudible.

"She's at the hospital." The wolf said, starting to feel dizzy.

The mares were anxiously waiting for more information, but the wolf was losing his conscience. Not because of his injuries, but because his adrenaline had run out, and both the exhaustion and the recent impact were too much for him to stay awake.

"You have such marvelous friends." He murmured to Fluttershy before closing his eyes.

Relief

Pinkie was sitting on a chair of the waiting room. Her mane had not returned to its regular form, having stayed joylessly straight, her chin was trembling as she fought the urge to cry.

"Miss Pie?" the doctor called into the waiting room as he passed the door to the waiting room.

The pink mare jumped off her seat and rushed to face the light blue coated stallion in white coat, giving him a worried glare that begged for news on her friend.

"How is she? Is she all right? What happened? Will she get better? W…" she questioned rapidly before being interrupted by a raising hoof from the doctor.

"Your friend has sustained deep cuts to her torso and hind legs, and she lost a considerable amount of blood. But we were able to act on time. We treated her wounds quickly and she is no longer in any serious danger."

Pinkie's mane seemed to explode as it regained its normal shape, making the blue stallion fall on his hind legs, flabbergasted at the sight "How di…"

The question was cut short by Pinkie as she wrapped her front hooves around the doctor's neck and hugged him tightly "Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!"

The pony blushed and tried to break free from the mare's surprisingly strong embrace

"That's quite all right. Now can you please let go?"

Pinkie backed away from the embarrassed stallion, her breaths were nearly gasps, showing that she was trying to hold back her sobbing and tears of joy were accumulating in the corners of her eyes "Can…Can I go see her?" she asked with a pout.

After regaining his composure the stallion turned his head "Not right now. She is still unconscious and needs to rest for a while." the pink mare dropped her head in disappointment "But we can call you when she wakes up. Excuse me."

The doctor cantered through the doors of the waiting room once more, off to care for other patients. Pinkie wiped her eyes and let out a loud sigh of relief.

"She's gonna be okay." She whispered to herself.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"What happened to Applejack!?" Rainbow Dash yelled at the sleeping wolf with a waving hoof.

"Hum…Rainbow Dash…I think he can't hear you."

The cyan pegasus gave up on trying to get Winter's attention and turned to her yellow friend "We don't have time for this Fluttershy. We gotta get to the hospital!"

"Bu-But what about him?" said Fluttershy, worried about the wolf's well-being "We can't just leave him here."

The energetic pegasus was already in midair, glaring at Winter. The idea of Fluttershy having a wolf for a friend was still trying to find a proper place in her mind. She shook her head and sighted "Ok…look, you stay here and I'll go check on Applejack.

Just…be careful around that thing."

The yellow mare gave a quick nod and turned to examine Winter's wounds, as her cyan friend bolted towards town, leaving a characteristic trail behind her.

To her relief the bite marks on his back were not as serious as the wide blood stain made it seem. "Thank Celestia." She murmured to herself.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The residents of Ponyville had grown accustomed to Rainbow Dash's fast flying around town. Whenever she wasn't taking naps on some small cloud, the pegasus was blowing leaves and papers away with her passing.

That day was different, she was flying at speeds that would impress even herself, if her mind wasn't filled with worry and fear. Small tears began to form. She shook her head and closed her eyes to stop them from flowing, unsuccessfully.

As the mare reopened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a wall of red coat speeding towards her, and the braking was just enough to make the impact less than disastrous.

"What in da hay do ya think ya doin' Rain…" Big Mac reprehended the cyan pegasus as he got back on his hooves, shaking the dizziness away, but stopped when he saw the mare's tears streaming from her magenta eyes to drop from her chin.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worried.

The mare quickly wiped her face, in an attempt to conserve her pride, and jumped back on all fours "I'm fine, but something happened to Applejack, she's in the hospital!"

The stallion's eyes widened and he fell back to his hind legs, shocked at the news. "What? What happened?"

"I don't know. But we have to go see her."

Big Mac got up and ran alongside the cyan mare, ignoring the pain that attacked his injured leg with each step.

Rainbow Dash matched her speed with his and pointed to the bandaged leg "Are you ok?"

"Ah'm fine. Darn it! I knew ah shouldn't have let her go on her own." He said to himself. He couldn't help but to feel guilty for it, and was doing his best to keep away thought of the worst that could have happened "Let's just hurry."

________________________________________________________________________________

It was by pure luck that Big Mac and Rainbow Dash didn't bring down the hospital doors when they ran inside the building.

Fortunately a nurse mare was passing through them just as the two ponies ran inside, quickly opening the door to avoid its destruction.

Once inside the waiting room, the pegasus looked around the room before seeing her pink friend sitting on a chair, who was now more relaxed and decided to eat a chocolate bar from a nearby vending machine.

"Pinkie!" the cyan mare shouted, bolting to her side, as the earthpony took the last bite of the piece of candy.

Pinkie quickly turned around to her friend and hugged her tightly "Dashie! What are you doing here?"

"Pinkie, where is she? Is she alright?" Rainbow Dash interrogated, worried for her friend's well-being.

As Big Mac managed to catch up to them Pinkie gave them a warm, reassuring smile "She got hurt, but the doctor said she was going to be all right."

Both of the worried ponies fell to their hind legs, a great weight were lifted off their shoulders.

"Thank Celestia." Said the pegasus with a loud sigh of relief, and looked at the red stallion "She's gonn…" she stopped when she saw his face.

Having been freed from the worry of losing his sister, his mind was now occupied with finding the one responsible for Applejack's state, and a look of anger came to his face as he came to a conclusion.

"Ah bet it was that damn wolf!" he grunted.

"You saw him too?" cyan pony asked, surprised to see that Big Mac had already met Winter

"I knew he was dangerous. I have to go get Fluttershy away from him."

"Ya left her alone with that thing?" Big Mac turned his gaze to Rainbow Dash, shocked at the idea of Fluttershy alone with a dangerous predator "We have ta go hel…"

"Wait!" Pinkie shouted just as the two angry ponies were about to run outside "He's not a bad wolf!".

"You know him?" The light blue pegasus asked, giving her friend a puzzled look.

"Yeah, he was staying in Fluttershy's house a few days ago, while he was getting better from his wounds."

Both Big Mac and Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie, their jaws dropped and eyes widened to their full extent.

"Ya wanna run that by me again, if ya please?" the stallion asked, flabbergasted at the news.

They all took a seat as the party pony started to explain everything she had learned and experienced with the wolf.

Flower

The waiting room had become practically deserted after the panic caused by Winter's appearance, with the exception of a nurse sitting behind the counter, who seemed to be halfway to sleep, a pink party mare, a silent red stallion and another cyan pony, whose mouth was now getting dry from the time her jaw had been left hanging, as they listened to Pinkie's story.

"And then he left to warn Fluttershy. He should have been back now, I wonder what happened…"

Rainbow Dash snapped out of her trance with a shake of her head and a light blush appeared on her face as she recalled her first meeting with the wolf.

"Well…I might have given him a tiny push and knocked him out." She finally explained, more embarrassed now that she knew what the wolf had done for her friend.

"What? Why would you d…" Pinkie replied, an exaggerated look of shock on her face.

"H-He was running towards Fluttershy, I-I thought he was gonna kill her. I mean, he was covered in blood." The pegasus interrupted, trying to justify herself.

Having noticed the stallion's silence, both mares turned to the red earthpony. During the whole conversation, Big Mac didn't make a sound, lowering his head as the story progressed, and keeping his thoughts to himself.

It wasn't so hard for him to consider the possibility that Winter was actually a kind hearted creature. Unlike his sister, he had managed to hold back an unconditional hatred for all wolves, or so he thought.

When he saw a wolf drenched in blood running around his home town once more, the memories from that night flew back to his mind and he tried to do what he had done to the murderer two years ago.

Nopony dared to judge him, They all knew Granny Smith too well to blame him for his actions, because they knew they would have done the same, had they the necessary courage, it was now a relief to him that he had failed to repeat the act.

"Helloooo…" Pinkie called him, waving a hoof in front of his face.

"Oh, sorry." He said as he snapped back into reality. The stallion got on his hooves with a hop and started to walk towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" Rainbow Dash asked as she landed between the red pony and the doors leading outside.

"Ah'm goin' outside." He answered like it had been the most obvious question in the world, and started to circle around her, only to be stopped once more by the cyan pegasus.

"What about Applejack? Don't you ca…"

"Of course ah care 'bout her! And ah ain't leavin' her!" Big Mac answered, almost shouting, frustrated at the interrupted question "But the doctors told Pinkie she was goin' to be all right, and Applejack wasn't raised a weak pony, so she can go without her big brother for just a little while."

He circled around the mare once again, this time there was no new obstacle in front of him

"Besides, there's something ah need ta take care of." He continued, before the automatic doors closed behind him, allowing the two mares only a distorted view of the stallion through the glass.

"Now, Rainbow Dash was comin' from over there…" he murmured to himself as he started to trot towards the direction the pegasus was coming from, before crashing into him "Ah need ta have a talk with him."

________________________________________________________________________________

"Seriously, you're just pathetic, passing out because of a little push."

"Is it really so hard for you to leave me alone for just a few hours?" Winter replied, annoyed at yet another conversation with the voice inside his mind. The dead plains seemed to become more and more filled with grey sadness.

"What? And leave my good old buddy Winter all alone. That would be terrible!"

You seem to not understand two things, Fenrir. One, you and I aren't even close to being friends, and two, you are nothing more than an annoying parasite that can't find another host, which makes you about ten times more pathetic than me."

"Ahahahah… Oh I'm pathetic, am I? Well, better to be a parasite than a murderer. At least I didn't kill my ow…" Fenrir started to mock him, but was quickly interrupted.

"Don't even go there! You're the killer and you know it!" Winter grunted, knowing where the conversation was going.

The voice snickered, delighted of the wolf's frustration "Oh am I, now? Tell me, whose rage was it that gave me control? Admit it, if you knew how to control yourself, you'd still be living a sweet merry life with the rest of the pack."

"Sh…Shut up!" the gray wolf stammered, lowering his head, and trying to shake away the idea of the voice being right "It was your fault, you should have left when I told you so!"

"Which time? There are too many to remember." Fenrir snickered once again "I still remember when you killed your first animal, you cried like a little pup. Then again, you were a pup. Oh, the look on your face when you saw the disfigured body. It. Was. Priceless."

In a split second, the dark plains were replaced by a white and brown scenery, in the middle of the woods, the white snow on the ground was painted crimson with the blood of a small creature, which laid in pieces on it. Next to it was a small ball of gray fur. The young pup was curled up in the snow, sobbing, blood was still dripping from his snout, becoming mixed with the current of tears. The pup's eyes were in an ice blue state of shock.

"Winter!" a mature female voice called in the distance "Winter where are you?"

The pup barely lifted his ears, the trauma had him frozen in place.

From behind the trees appeared a group a four wolfs, accompanied by a pure white coated female pup. Their eyes widened in shock, no ordinary nine month old pup could have done this.

"Winter!" two of the wolves shouted, running towards their child "What happened here, son?" the father asked, worried, while he shifted his gaze from the scared pup to the ripped corpse.

The young Winter could do nothing but stammer at a tone that was inaudible even to the light gray she-wolf nuzzling the pup's face with her snout.

"Winter…" a new voice called him, this one being a soft, young voice of his snow colored friend, Winter raised his gaze to the worried eyes of a very young she-wolf. Her presence brought a smidge of comfort to his troubled soul, and he was able to raise his volume slightly.

"I-I-I didn't mean to…w-w-we were j-just playing…and t-then… then it was d-de…de…" the child could not finish and closed his eyes tight, hoping it was all just a nightmare.

He felt a soft touch around his neck, and when he opened his eyes, the young pup was being embraced in the small female's hug.

"Don't cry. It makes me sad" she said softly, as she gently stroked the back of his head.

The pup's parents quickly joined them, while the other two wolves hid the corpse beneath the snow.

"I'm sorry…"

"Why are you showing me this?" the grown Winter asked, tears were beginning to form in his eyes, but he managed to hold them back, in order to preserve his pride. Fenrir had brought back a memory he had tried hard to erase, like many others.

"To remember you of what we can accomplish together." The voice answered, as the trees dissolved back into nothing, and they returned to a hill covered in dead grass "No other pup would have been able to do that. Sure, it was just a squirrel, but even so, you killed it flawlessly. That kind of power came from your rage, from me, and you know it."

Winter turned away from the inviting voice "If what you give me is power, then I would rather be a weakling for the rest of my life!"

"Oh, don't be like th…"

"Winter! Oh Winter please wake up." A soft familiar voice interrupted Fenrir's reply.

"Fluttershy?" the wolf called back. He then felt his paw being weakly pushed from the ground. Winter raised it and stared intrigued at the sight before him, a small, yet beautiful yellow flower, it bloomed almost instantly, and a pink butterfly, appearing from nowhere, landed gently on its petals.

"What is this, this shouldn't be here!" Fenrir's voice shouted, annoyed at the plant that defied his dead plain.

"Please wake up." Fluttershy's voice pled once more, and a small light began to shine in the distance.

"Shut up, you bitch! You have n…" the voice went silent, as Winter began to wake up.

Past

Winter felt a hoof poking his side lightly as he started to open his eyes, taking a few seconds to acomodate them to the sunlight of the afternoon, which was now growing a light orange with the sun's descend. By his quick calculations, he must have been out for an hour or so.

Turning his mind back to his surroundings, he raised his head to face the yellow pegasus glaring him closely, a huge relief seemed to burst from her eyes, as he sat on his hind legs, giving her a quick smile to assure her that he wasn't hurt as badly as she had feared.

"Thank goodness, you're all right!" said Fluttershy.

In his face, Winter kept a reassuring smile, but in his mind, he couldn't help but ask why. There he stood, covered in both his and her friend's blood, after telling her that Applejack was in a hospital, and yet, the pegasus stayed by his side, to make sure that he was going to be all right.

"Hey, Fluttershy..." he called, while the mare checked the injuries on his back once more, and found that the cuts had already closed. She sat down and turned to him after hearing her name.

"Yes?" she responded.

"Why didn't you go with the other pony?"

Fluttershy blushed slightly, somewhat caught offguard by the question "W-Well, Rainbow Dash is really fast, so I can't keep up with her. You were hurt too, so I couldn't leave you here alone. Besides, Applejack is one of the strongest ponies I know, I'm sure she will be all right."

"Yeah, she is..." he said "but aren't you w..."

"Fluttershy!" a strong shout cut him off from behind. The mare leaned her head sideways to peek at the red stallion trotting towards them, her face went light red with a blush at the sight of Applejack's older brother.

Winter, however, had a completely different reaction, when he turned around and remembered where he had heard that voice before. With a fast jump, he backed away from the earthpony and took a fighting position, not to attack him, but to be ready to dodge any upcoming stomp.

"You've got to be kidding me!" the wolf murmured to himself.

"Ya can relax, ah ain't gonna hurt ya. Ah just wanna talk." the stallion said, in an attempt to calm him down.

"Sure... because you were such a nice fellow before." the wolf replied, raising a brow.

"Um...Excuse me, Big Mac... b-but I n-need to tell you something." Fluttershy shyly called the red pony "Applejack is h..."

"Ah know. Ya'll don't have ta worry." Big Machintosh interrupted. "The doctors said she'd be fine."

"Oh, really? Thank goodness, everything is going to be all right." the pegasus sighed, taking a hoof to her chest.

"Hold it... You're Applejack's friend?" said Winter, confused, slowly leaving his combat stance.

"Ah'm more than a friend. She's ma little sister." the red stallion answered with a deep, calm voice.

"Well, that explains your greeting. It must run in the family." said the blue eyed wolf, after taking a few seconds to stare blankly into nothing, processing the news in his mind.

"Sorry, but wolves ain't exactly know fer bein' friendly. Especially in this town." The workhorse turned to the yellow pony "Fluttershy."

"Y-y-yes?" she stammered, feeling blood rushing to her cheeks again.

"Could ya go tell miss Rarity and miss Twilight about Applejack fer me? Ah think they need ta know."

Fluttershy's eyes shot wide open, accompanied by a gasp "Oh no! I forgot about them. They're going to hate me for not telling them. What do I do, what do I do? I should do something, but wh..."

"Fluttershy..." the two males said simultaneously, pulling the pegasus back into reality.

"Oh right. I'm sorry." she murmured, grinning sheepishly "I'll just go...".

With that she lifted from the ground and flew off as fast as she could, matching Rainbow Dash's average speed.

As soon as the yellow pony dissapeared behind the hills, Big Mac and Winter traded a gaze, the later trying to predict if the stallion was going say something or buck him in the face, like his sister had, days ago.

"I take it you like having wolves around as much as your sister does." the wolf finally said, breaking the silence that, while short, was begining to feel strangling. "I'll just go back to the forest, don't worry about me coming back."

Just as he turned his back to the pony, he felt a hoof landing on his shoulder. "Wait." called the calm voice behind him "Ah need ta have a word with ya."

"It wasn't me two years ago, if that's what you're going to ask."

Big Mac pulled his head backwards in surprise. "Ah know. Applejack told ya?" he asked.

Winter shook his head "No. Fluttershy told me a little bit. It was enough for me to understand."

"Ah don't think it was. Ya need ta hear the whole story."

"Why?"

"'Cause ah think ya can help ma sister."

The wolf's face turned to an expression of confusion "What do you mean? Help her how?"

"Will ya hear ma story?" the workhorse insisted.

"Fine" he sighted, sitting down next to the red earthpony.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The air had an unusual warm feel to it, especially for the middle of Autumn, and the orchard's leaves barely fluttered at the weak wind blowing through the apple trees.

However, it didn't bother Big Mac the slightest, it felt good to receive a bit of warmth after days of working, surrounded by increasingly cold breezes.

"Heya Big Machintosh!"

The stallion turned his head to the familiar voice behind him. "Hey AJ." he greeted back "Did y'all leave Applebloom at Miss Rarity's house already?"

"Eeyup." Applejack answered with an impression of her brother.

Big Mac gave a small grin and continued on his path, with his sister beside him "It's gettin' dark. Ah'm aheadin' on home now."

"What? Don't tell me y'all afraid of the dark." The orange mare grinned, nudging her brother on the side.

"Nope." the red pony's face went empty with expressions. Applejack lowered her head in dissapointment. Her brother was not an easy pony to tease.

"What's that?" she heard the stallion ask loudly a few minutes later, and lifted her head to see that the older stallion had stopped a few feet behind her and was now fixing his gaze at the darkened horizon. There was a large sinister figure contrasting against the growingly dark horizon, it was slowly moving between the apple trees, heading towards their house.

Applejack also focused her eyes on the moving shadow and shouted "Who's there?".

The figure immediately perked it's head up, turning it's gaze to them with a pair of vicious yellow eyes. The mare held her breath at the sight, and before she could notice, she was starting to hide behind her brother, who didn't move a muscle and stared right back at it, hoping to intimidate it.

The orange pony managed to regain her posture and perked her chest out, mimicking the older stallion, and throwing a stare at the figure. The shadow broke eye contact and dashed towards the house.

"STOP!" Applejack yelled as they both bolted to pursuit it. Only a smidge of orange was left in the sky, being slowly replaced by a dark blue, which made it even harder to see the moving intruder.

Just as they were getting close to the wooden building, the front door swung open, spreading what little light was coming from inside.

BANG

The shot echoed through the farm. The two ponies froze for a second, which gave the figure enough time to dissapear into the darkness. A hanging lantern was lit on the porch, revealing Granny Smith holding a smoking shotgun in the air with her mouth.

"Ya tryin' ta scare me ta death? What's with all the racket?" she said, after focusing her sight enough to regcognise her grandchildren.

"Granny Smith! Get back inside! There's sometin' out there." Applejack warned her, having recovered from the shock, and looked around in an attempt to find the figure.

"What in the hay are y'all talkin' about, youngin'? Get inside, it's gettin' dark." the elder said, walking towards the two alarmed ponies. The weak light of the lantern contrasted with a dark brown silhouette behind Granny Smith. With a jump, it came down on the old mare, immobilising her and tossing the shotgun away.

"NO!" Applejack yelled, dashing to attack the creature, but was quickly tossed aside with a paw. She fell to the ground, and it stared at her for a moment, before turning back to the prey beneath it. She could see it more clearly now, a large brown wolf, easily bigger than her brother.

SNAP

The elder's neck cracked with a vicious bite, the wolf showed a wide grin as its teeth went deeper. It was cleary enjoying the carnage. The orange mare stood up, about to charge the wolf, but was stopped by a yell.

"APPLEJACK, GET OUTTA DA WAY!" her brother shouted from behind, she quickly turned her head to see him holding the shotgun with his mouth. Even with the shock, she managed to quickly comply, jumping out from between the monster and the armed stallion. Another shot echoed through the orchard.

"Damn!" the red pony grunted when he realised he had just grazed the wolf. It lifted it's gaze from the dead mare beneath it and turned to Applejack, who had landed clumsily on the ground and was now trying to get back on her hooves.

Big Mac lined up for another shot, and gasped at the realisation that he was holding an old double barrel shotgun.

The wolf bolted towards the new prey, who froze in place with terror. The stallion threw away the firearm and dashed to save his sister. With all his strength, he turned around and landed a powerful buck in the wolf's snout, making it tumble down on the ground.

Without a moment of hesitation, Big Mac raised his front legs and stomped the creature's head. Applejack didn't move an inch, watching the wolf's skull crack more with each blow.

Six hits were necessary for the monster to stop breathing, its corpse layed there immobile, except for small twiches from the damage to the nervous system. The older workhorse took heavy breaths and walked to her sister.

The mare stared at both corpses, terrified. She winced with the touch of her brother's hoof on her shoulder.

"Applejack!" she heard. For a moment, nothing happened, then she screamed louder than she ever had before, taking her hoofs to her head.

"Applejack, calm down!" Big Mac shouted, trying to hold down the orange mare.

"NONONO!AAAAAAHHH!"

The screams lasted for several seconds. When she ran out of breath, her whole body went numb and she fell to the ground uncouscious.

"AJ!AJ!" the stallion called, trying to shake her sister awake, unsucessfully.

"Big Machintosh! What going...Oh dear Celestia! What happened here?" a familiar voice called from behind. He turned to see Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy running towards them.

"Twilight! Help AJ!" Big Mac shouted the first thought that came to his mind.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Me and AJ have been takin' care of everything in da farm ever since. Applejack never cried about it, not even at Granny Smith's funeral." Big Mac continued.

Winter lowered his head, Applejack's attitude made perfect sence now. "Fluttershy said you had another sister. What about her?" he asked.

"Applebloom." the stallion aswered with a sigh "We all agreed ta not tell her da truth, we told her Granny Smith died in an acident. She's too young to deal with it."

"Right..." the wolf gave a nod "But what does this have to do with me?"

"Applejack tries ta look happy in front of her friends, but at home she barely speaks. When ah try ta talk to her 'bout it she's always angry. But yer a wolf, and ya saved her life, so maybe if ya talk to her, she'll stop thinkin' about that night. If she can make you a friend, maybe she'll go back to her old self."

"You putting a lot of faith on me. Aren't you afraid I'll hurt her?" the wolf asked.

"She's been hurt for two years. If there's a change ya can help fix her, ah'll take it."

Winter glared at the stallion's eyes, confirming that he was dead serious about it.

"Fine." he said "I suppose it won't hurt to try. But I don't think I'm allowed to go see her in the hospital."

Big Mac scratched his chin, pensitive "Do ya have somewhere ya can stay for a while?" he asked.

"I can stay at Fluttershy's house, if she doesn't mind."

"Then go there. Ah'll talk to her. We'll ask the doctors how long it'll take for her to recover."

With a nod, they parted ways. The stallion trotted back to the hospital and the wolf walked to the cottage he had stayed in the day before, already predicting the panicked reaction of the critters living there.

Lecture

A hoof woke the wolf from another unwanted dream. He had washed the blood from his fur on a nearby stream and decided to take some rest. He had meant to only rest his eyes for a while, but the events of the day forced him to fall asleep.

Somewhat relieved to not have to endure any more of Fenrir’s noisy frustration at the sole yellow flower, which persisted in the dead plains of his mind, he offered little resistance and began to open his eyes.

At this point, he already expected to find a smiling yellow face in front of him, when he woke up. However, as he started to blink his eyes open, he started to see a light mulberry blur. Then, a pair of violet eyes glaring him closely.

He quickly raised his head in surprise, pulling it away from the curious mare.

It took a few more seconds of blinking to detect a horn growing out of the purple head before him. It was confirmed that he hadn’t been awakened by the usual pony. A question popped in his head: Who’s this pony?

Said pony tilted her head to get a different point of view at him, narrowing her eyes and scratching her chin, pensive.

“Can I help you?” Winter asked after a few seconds, both confused and annoyed.

The mare quickly got out of her trance and blushed of the realization that she had been staring at him for more than long enough.

“Oh gosh… I’m sorry.” She excused herself nervously “I didn’t mean to stare. I’m sorry, that was rude.”

“That’s… all right.” He answered “Who…”

A door creak interrupted the question, as Fluttershy cantered out of her cottage. The pegasus smiled at him and walk up to the pair.

“Hi Winter. I see you’ve met Twilight already.”

“Fluttershy? When did you two get here?” Winter asked, puzzled at the two ponies’ presence.

“Um… about five minutes ago. I went inside to tell my animals that you were going to stay here for a little while.” The yellow mare answered.

The wolf looked at the sky again, the sun was already setting, and turned to unicorn beside Fluttershy “And who’s… Twilight, was it?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I manage the library here in Ponyville. And this is my number one assistant, Sp…” Twilight began to answer but stopped when she realized that her scaly friend was not by her side, but instead had been hiding behind her, just barely poking his head out to check the wolf’s movements.

“Spike! What are you doing? You’re being rude.” She reprehended the baby dragon and levitated him to her side, only for him to rush back behind her.

“Oh, I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I’m keeping myself alive. I told you we shouldn’t have come here.” Spike answered, shaking behind his librarian friend. He started to pull Twilight tail, in a futile attempt to get her away from the wolf.

“Now I remember!” Winter said loudly, causing the baby dragon to shudder. The whole time the two had been arguing, he had been searching for the unicorn’s name in his mind, knowing he had heard it before.

“So you’re Twilight, Fluttershy talked about you a few days ago. She says you’re the smartest pony in town. And Celestia’s personal protégé, too.”

Both ponies blushed fiercely and traded gazes, before the flattered unicorn turned to the wolf, lowering her head and scraping her hoof on the ground.

“No, no. I’m just well read. I mean… I might have a little bit more knowledge than others but I’m not better than anypony else, I assure you.”

A silence was installed in the group, since no one knew what to say to each other, although Spike was just trying to keep from getting noticed by the wolf.

Seconds passed, but felt like hours as the silence persisted. Finally, Winter managed to find a question in his mind to break the ice.

“So, can I ask you why you were looking at me when I woke up?”

The blush quickly returned to Twilight’s cheeks, as she realized just how lost in thought she had become while examining the wolf while he slept.

“I’m really sorry. I know I shouldn’t stare at ponies… or in this case wolf. It’s just that I once read about your kind but never saw one.” She explained herself, before lowering her voice so a tone inaudible to the young dragon.

“Except… for that night.” The mulberry pony dropped her head, as she started to remember that one night two years ago, when she went to Sweet Apple Acres , only to find both Granny Smith and a large creature dead, and Applejack passed out in her brothers arms.

“Yeah, well I don’t need to see one to know what they do. I’ve read enough books to know that he’ll gobble us up if we don’t get out of here.” Spike snapped once more, not even trying to hide his fear from the wolf.

“Spike! You read Little Red Riding Hoof and The Colt Who Cried Wolf! Those are not real stories!”

“What!?” the dragon asked, flabbergasted at the news.

“That right, Spike. Those stories are just made up to entertain children.” Fluttershy added, giving her first contribution to the conversation, in an attempt to defend Winter.

“Really?” Winter turned to the animal carer with a humorous tone “Then why did you look like you had seen the big bad wolf when we first met?”

The pegasus gained a fierce blush at her own mistake from days before “Oh, I’m so sorry Winter. I shouldn’t have been so scared, it was so ru...” she stopped her nervous rambling as she noticed the cheerful grin on the wolf’s face, and hang her head with a sheepish smile.

“H-How do you know this?” the dragon still couldn’t believe such preposterous revelations.

“Everypony knows that. Besides, wolves almost never attack ponies. Not after signing the Adolphus Treaty.” Twilight answered.

“The Ado-what?”

“The Adolphus Treaty.” Winter and Twilight said, at the same time.

“Um, excuse me Twilight, but I don’t know what that is either.” The pegasus said, before turning to Winter “I’m sorry Winter.”

“That’s all right.” The wolf said with a smile.

“Ahem…” Twilight cleared her throat and sat down to begin her lecture. It was rare for anypony to actually be interested in taking a good lesson from her, so she wasn’t about to let this chance go away.

“Nearly 600 years ago, a violent war raged in Equestria. The nobles in Canterlot wanted to expand their dominion over the land. They tried to occupy the Everfree Forest so that they could rebuild the old Capital around the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters that had been abandoned when Nightmare Moon was banished to the Moon. However, the monstrous creatures that lived there made it impossible to make any progress. So they gave up on it and moved on to another, even greater forest beyond the Everfree, one that they never knew even existed, just outside the borders of Equestria.” She started with a calm and steady voice.

“The Adolphus Woods.” added Winter.

“Yes. These woods didn’t have creatures as dangerous as the Everfree, so they focused the most on it. When the nobles’ forces reached the woods, they were ambushed by a large pack of wolves, who were trying to protect their territory from the intruders. They let a hoof full of soldiers live so that they could tell their masters to never send more troops to the woods.”

“But the nobles were stubborn and kept sending troops to invade our homeland. They didn’t understand how important it was to the wolves. Our kind had been protecting those woods for centuries. All the packs were united to fight alongside each other, led by Alpha Major, the elected leader of the Fang Alliance.” The wolf added.

“And that’s when the Fang War began, for years there were many battles in the borders of the Adolphus Woods. While the ponies had a powerful force from the unicorns’ magic and the pegasus, the wolves were the masters of the night and would ambush the ponies in the dark, taking out small patrols first and then attacking their camps while they slept. But despite all the killing, the nobility of Canterlot refused to give up their obsession with the land. To them, it was a matter of principle, and they kept sending soldiers” Twilight continued.

“Then, on the tenth year of war, Alpha Major’s brother was killed on a violent encounter with the equestrian forces. The Alpha, seeing more and more of his friends and family being killed in the war, along with having to kill thousands of ponies, which was a task few wolves enjoyed, became growingly filled with sorrow. To try to stop the war, he sent his oldest son on a mission. He was to sneak past the equestrian army and head to Canterlot to speak with the pony leader. They didn’t even know who Princess Celestia was, since she had never participated in any battle.”

“I can’t believe the princess would be capable of doing something like this! How could she?” Spike exclaimed, revolted.

“That’s just it, Spike. When the son finally managed to infiltrate Canterlot Castle, he tried to convince the princess to make peace. But Princess Celestia didn’t even know there was a war. The nobles knew she would be against it, so they told her that they were still trying to take control of the Everfree Forest. And she didn’t notice before because they had been using mercenaries to avoid requesting more royal troops. She was furious at them for waging war and hiding it from her all those years. The nobles were thrown to jail and a peace treaty was signed, along with a public apology. In the treaty, it was stated that ponies were to never set hoof on those sacred woods again, unless they had permission from both Celestia herself and all the major pack’s alphas, and if a wolf ever killed a pony, he or she would be immediately executed by his or her pack.”

The dragon and the pegasus had become more and more amazed by the story as it progressed, and, when the unicorn finished the tale, Spike let out an amazed “Whoa…”

“How come you two don’t know this story? It’s one of the most important events in both pony and wolf history.” Winter asked, somewhat surprised at their ignorance.

“Well, not a whole lot of ponies remember or even know it these days. It’s barely history really, it’s more of a folktale now. All information about it is in the Canterlot Archives. I was just lucky enough that the Princess recommended it when I was still studying there. Did you read about it when you were in the Adolphus Woods?” the mulberry pony interrogated, curious as to Winter’s cultural knowledge.

The wolf gave a small wince as memories of home appeared in his head, but he managed to shake them away quickly enough, so that he would not leave Twilight hanging for long.

“No. While we can speak both Adolphurian and Equestrian, wolves don’t dedicate to literature. The only writing we do is in certain small monuments and in our graves, to remember the past and honor the lost.” He answered in a serene, yet serious voice.

“Wow, you’re pretty serious about this stuff aren’t you?” the baby dragon commented. For reasons even he could not quite understand at the moment, he was now somewhat less bothered with the wolf’s presence, to the point of actually speaking to him without shaking all over. However, he didn’t move much closer to him either.

“Yeah, I guess so…” he said, a bit embarrassed by this dramatic behavior. When it came to the history of his homeland, he would start talking like his elders during the lectures, it was something he couldn’t quite control.”

“So, um… how do you know about it? Are there some sorts of ruins that tell the story? I wish I could see one of those.” Twilight asked, tapping her hooves together, already excited at the idea of learning more about ancient history.

“No.” The unicorn showed a disappointed frown “All pups hear and memorize the story at a young age, it’s an old tradition. History is very important to us wolves. I can’t quite explain it, but it makes us feel connected to our ancestors.” Just as Winter finished the explanation, something clicked in his head.

“Wait. Applejack! I forgot to ask you, when will she be getting out of the hospital?”

In an instant, everyone else remembered the orange mare now lying in a hospital bed, resting.

“Oh, right!” Fluttershy said with a quiet squeak “Well… we talked to the doctors and they said if everything goes alright, she can leave by tomorrow, at noon, as long as she doesn’t strain herself.”

“Great.” The wolf sighed, relieved that he wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

“We can’t thank you enough for saving Applejack. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before. By the way, what are you going to do now?” Twilight asked.

“I need to talk to Applejack when she gets out. After that, I’ll just go back to the Everfree.”

“What do you need to talk with Applejack for?” the dragon asked, a bit of suspicion coming back to him.

“Um… Winter just wants to see how she is and say goodbye to her.” Twilight quickly stepped in to mask the truth and threw a discreet wink at the wolf, who quickly caught up.

“Yes, exactly.” He lied

“Spike, you could go back to the library and start dinner, please? I’m really hungry. I’m staying here just a bit longer.”

“Sure thing.” said Spike with a shrug, having his suspicion satisfied. He started to walk away, but stopped and turned back to the wolf to apologize “Listen, um… I’m really sorry about before. I really shouldn’t have acted like that.”

“That’s okay, kid.” Winter assured with a smile. The dragon carried on his way, and the three adult were able to speak more freely.

“I’m guessing you didn’t tell him about that night either.”

“No.” the two mares answered at the same time.

“So, did the big guy tell you about our talk?”

“Yes he did, and his name is Big Mac, by the way. I thought Applejack was just trying to be strong for her family, and she seemed to recover after a few months. I never thought she could be repressing her feelings. That’s not good.”

A light sob began to sound and Fluttershy quickly grabbed Winter’s paw, glaring him pleadingly with her wet eyes “P-Please Winter… Help her.”

The gray male was surprised at first, but gave his friend a reassuring smile “I will. Don’t worry.”

After the pegasus’ tears were cleaned away, Twilight said goodbye and headed back to the library for a meal and rest.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go inside?” she yellow mare asked.

“No, thank you. I wouldn’t want to scare your animals again. Besides, I like to sleep out in the open.”

“Okay, if you say so. Good night, Winter.”

“Good night, Fluttershy.” He answered, and after the door closed, he walked over to a small spot with tall grass, where he finally lay down. It didn’t take more than five minutes to go back into a deep slumber.

Healing

The dead plains still had the same sad grey color as they’d had for many years. Dreaming of being on a beautiful clearing or on the shore of a calm lake was a rare occasion, and it was always Fenrir’s doing.

Every time Winter would open his eyes to a green landscape, covered with blooming flowers, giving him a bit of hope; hope that everything he had gone through with the accursed voice in his head was nothing more than a long and painful nightmare.

Then, just as Winter would become accustomed to his newfound peace, it would all fade away in an instant. Fenrir’s voice would be heard again, taunting him, all just for a few cheap laughs.

This time however, the voice could already be heard loud and clear and it had a furious tone to it. Winter looked at the small yellow flower that stood in the middle of the empty plains; fresh green grass had started to grown in a small circle around the beautiful plant.

“DIE!” Fenrir yelled at the flower, enraged at the sight of his dark landscape being defied by something as small and insignificant as a mere flower. “DIE, DAMN YOU!”

Winter could feel a powerful wind racing through him, attempting to rip the flower out of the ground, but just as it reached the border of the vivid green circle, it would lose nearly all of its strength, merely making the grass rustle a bit as if a summer breeze were caressing the blades of grass.

“Aren’t we cranky?” Winter asked, wearing an expression of mock sympathy. For the first time in years, the tables had turned, and Fenrir was the frustrated one. “You should be proud of yourself. You finally managed to grow something here,” Winter smirked.

“Quiet! I’ve had enough of this! It was already bad enough to see you playing doctor with that yellow bitch, or when you started to give a damn history lecture with that stupid know-it-all,” the voice replied, annoyed at the wolf’s content. “But now you’re acting as a damn psychiatrist for that orange bitch?”

“Sure seems that way, doesn’t it?” Winter said. Having had enough fun for the moment, his attention was turned to the plant responsible for the racket, his curiosity having arisen. What was that flower? Even if he’d tried, he couldn’t have made it bloom, or so he thought at least, and Fenrir obviously wasn’t behind it, judging from how the voice reacted to the symbol of defiance.

Besides, hollyhocks didn’t seem to be Fenrir’s type. In his illusions, there would be either marigolds or just plain daisies. The wolf slowly approached the green circle; when his paw touched the grass, a comforting warmth coursed through his body and as he leaned his head forward, he didn’t feel the strong gusts anymore.

“Now listen to me and listen well. As soon as you wake up, you’re going back to the Everfree; these ponies are a disease to your mind. You’re of no use to me happy, I want you ruthless. Furthermore, disobey me and things will get ugly.” Fenrir threatened.

Winter however ignored said threat, lying down in the fresh grass next to the flower. A small pink butterfly still held onto the flower’s petals, slowly and gently opening and closing its wings, seemingly oblivious to both the presence of the wolf and the angry voice.

“You know something Fenrir? For my whole life I thought I wouldn’t be able to get rid of you, and since you took her from me I’d feared that it would be my destiny to hear your annoying voice for the rest of my life,” spoke the wolf as he took his eyes to the level of the small butterfly, before lifting his gaze again with a trace of a smile on his face.

“But you know what? I don’t need to get rid of you; I now have new voices to listen to, that don’t come from my mind. For the first time in five years, I have friends, of which one needs my help.”

Fenrir made a small choking noise in disgust; the wind stopped blowing on the outside of the circle as the voice decided to give up on trying to remove the circle of paradise. “What is it you gain via friendship?” he asked, before answering the question: “Nothing, I say! Didn’t you learn anything from the years in the forest? One doesn’t survive with giggles and happiness, might is right! By helping that pony you’re just becoming softer and weaker!”

“You should know me better than that, Fenrir. I’m going to help her, whether you like it or not.”

“This is your last warning, Winter! Quit this friendship nonsense at once, or you shall pay for your defiance; if you refuse to leave these ponies, rest assured that they shall die very painfully,” Fenrir warned in a lower, yet much more ominous tone.

“Yeah, and what are you gonna do?” Winter mocked the voice.

At hearing that, the voice suddenly became dangerously relaxed and chilly, sending shivers up Winter’s spine. “Hehehe... you think you know everything about me, don’t you? You may be my host but I never shared all of my abilities with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the wolf asked. He had never considered what the full extent of the voice’s abilities; only now the realisation dawned on him that he knew little about his curses’ real powers.

Fenrir became unusually silent. Winter somehow felt as if he would have to protect it soon, as well as other things, so he huddled himself around it as to shield it from the big bad wolf.

_______________________________________

“Good morning, Winter,” Fluttershy happily greeted Winter while exiting her house, after spotting him arriving across the stone bridge from her living room window. Angel Bunny stood at the door, still casting the wolf a long and suspicious glare while shuddering slightly.

“Hi Fluttershy. What time is it?” he replied with a smile, paying no heed to the edgy rodent.

“Well, it’s about 10 A.M., I think.” she answered, after looking up to the sky, estimating where the sun was positioned.

“Ten in the morning, huh?” Winter asked before sighing; he had overslept and not surprisingly, Fluttershy didn’t want to disturb his rest. “Big Mac will be picking Applejack up in a couple hours. Could you go tell him to have us meet here?” he requested.

Fluttershy gave a little shudder at the thought of the strong, charming red stallion, her cheeks attaining a rosy tint to them. “B-Big Macintosh?”

“Is something wrong?” the wolf asked, confused at the mare’s reaction at first; then he recalled the talk they had had before he left her home the day before.

So he’s the one, huh? He thought to himself, but made the wise choice of not commenting out loud.

“N-No. Nothing at all,” she replied quickly “I can do that.” That being said, the pegasus bid farewell and swiftly flew away, trying to think of what she would say to the red workhorse.

______________________________________________________________________________

Applejack laid the last basket of recently harvested apples onto the floor of the apple cellar, next to the previous dozens. Wiping the sweat off her head, she turned around to see the sky gaining a darker and darker shade of orange.

Guess Ah’ll call it a day, she thought, and cantered back to her house for some rest. In the blink of an eye, the sky turned pitch black, leaving her in absolute darkness, confused; a pale light then suddenly shone behind her, illuminating an endless grassy plain around her. Alarmed, she turned around quickly and saw Luna’s moon glowing low on the horizon, bigger than she had ever seen it before. On a distant hill there was an large shadow in the shape of a familiar wolf contrasting with the moon’s light, with two vicious yellow eyes that seemed to be filled with bloodlust.

“YOU!” she screamed, hate and anger altering her voice and twisting her mind as she charged the figure at full speed. She could see a devilish white grin appeared on the creature’s face as she reached it and tried to tackle the wolf; the dark figure dodged her attack at the last moment with ease, almost like it was specifically taunting her, before pushing the farmer to the ground.

Applejack tried to get up, but was immediately stopped as the wolf got on top of her, pushing her back down and restraining her movements. Only then was the mare able to get a good look at the creature’s face, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat; in the place of the dark brown face of Granny Smith’s killer was the light gray face of Winter Night, wearing the grin of a killer, maniacal yellow eyes glaring at her.

“So...” he whispered to her ear with a voice that sent a shiver down her spine. “What’s the matter, Applejack? Didn’t you say that if you caught me in your farm, you’d make sure Fluttershy couldn’t fix me?” he repeated the threat she had made before “I’m going to enjoy this...” he said with a chuckle.

Applejack was speechless, and couldn’t even try to break away from the wolf’s grip. She remained paralyzed, her eyes filled with terror as she saw the wolf’s mouth open, preparing to deliver a deadly bite to her neck; the yellow eyed wolf brought his snout down swiftly, and the mare managed to scream as she closed her eyes, preparing to die.

The pain should have been unbearable, but instead she felt nothing, just hearing a thud followed by an exchange of growls around her. Applejack opened her eyes hesitantly and saw that the maniacal wolf wasn’t holding her down anymore, instead taking a fighting stance a few feet to her left. Between them was an identical wolf, also prepared to fight, with his back turned to her.

The two wolves were growling at each other furiously, showing off their razor sharp teeth. The yellow eyed one seemed to charge the newly arrived, but as they got closer, the former dodged the latter by mere centimetres, he was going after Applejack, who tried to get away, but tripped over herself, falling on the ground defenselessly. Realising this, the rescuer grabbed the evil wolf’s tail with his mouth, pulling the evil Winter back. The new Winter put his head under the vicious one and lifted it, sending the evil doppelganger flying back to where he was before.

Taking advantage of the enemy’s staggered state, Winter turned his head to check on the frightened mare. His icy blue eyes reflected his feelings of worry, but his look turned to one of relief as he confirmed that the mare, the orange mare was merely shaken, not scarred.

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna be alright,” he assured with a tone as soothing as he could muster, between gasps for air. Applejack felt dizzy, and only saw Winter running to attack the creature before shutting her eyes involuntarily.

Applejack rapidly sat up on her bed while gasping, frightened; only seconds after waking up, she examined her surroundings. She was in a hospital room, which she was sharing with two other sleeping ponies and the familiar nurse Redheart, who had been startled by Applejack’s sudden awakening.

“Are you alright dear?” the nurse asked, concerned.

“Yeah, Ah’m fine...” the cowmare responded. “Jis’ a bad dream”

“Well alright then.” Redheart said, smiling warmly, relieved about her patient not being injured any further. “I just need to replace your bandages and then you’ll be discharged.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Ah can walk mahself outta th’ hospital, y’know,” Applejack grumbled, annoyed at the white coated nurse pushing the wheelchair down the hospital hall.

“I’m sorry Applejack, but it’s hospital protocol. All patients have to leave the hospital in a wheelchair,” the light blue coated doctor explained with an assertive yet apologetic tone, as he cantered alongside the grumpy mare. “You’re actually lucky to get discharged this soon, taking into account the wounds you got. Speaking of which, you must be very careful with those and you are absolutely not to strain your body, do I make myself clear?”

Applejack sighed. She hated to not have anything to do, especially when the farm could use all of the help it could get; she however knew better than to sneak into work early and just risk a worse injury.

“All right, doc,” she sighed and nodded resignedly. Then a memory clicked in her head, and she remembered why she had gone to the Everfree Forest in the first place. The grasshoppers! She thought, alarmed; the farm was still infested by the troublesome insects.

When they reached the hospital’s waiting room, Applejack looked at her brother anxiously; Big Mac was waiting for her with their younger sister, as well as Fluttershy, who was staring awkwardly at the floor, struggling to keep her gaze away from the stallion.

“Applejack!” the filly exclaimed, relieved, as she jumped into the older sister arms, causing the mare to give a wince of pain.

“Applebloom, be careful with yer sister,” Big Mac scolded her, lifting the filly with a hoof and laying her back on the ground.

“Big Macintosh! How’s tha farm? We need to do something or we’re gonna lose everythin’. What d…” Applejack’s flurry of questions was interrupted by a large hoof being calmly raised, motioning her to stop talking; the stallion’s fetlock was still wrapped in bandages, although it didn’t hurt as much as before.

“We got mighty lucky! It rained last night. Those grasshoppers are either miles away from tha farm or squashed on tha ground,” the red earth pony explained with a tranquil smile on his face. Only then did the orange mare notice that the floor circling the front door was wet, as a result of the opening and closing of the automatic doors; she sighed with relief, at least that problem had taken care of itself in her absence.

Applebloom wiped the tears she had been trying to hide until then, trying to look strong for her big sister, and glared at her.

“Yeah, some o’ them couldn’t fly ‘cause o’ tha water in their wings,” the filly remarked happily. “Ah missed ya. Big Mac told me ya had an accident and Pinkie Pie’d brought ya here.”

“Pinkie Pie? What about that w…” the doctor asked, still shaken from the occurrences from the previous day, only to be cut off by Big Macintosh.

“Thanks, doc. C’mon girls, let’s go,” said the stallion as the two mares and filly cantered out of the building with him, Applejack having struggled on to her own four hooves, and leaving the doctor confused and with a hanging jaw.

They walked at a slow, yet steady pace through the town, not speaking a word the entire time, as they either didn’t know what to say, or didn’t even want to talk in the first place. Applebloom would object to the silence, but she was too joyous to merely have her sister back to even notice the silence.

After coming to the outskirts of the most populated part of Ponyville, their hooves’ clopping was replaced by light muffled stomps, as they left the paved roads and started to walk on a dirt road for a few minutes until Big Mac signaled for Applejack to stop by raising a hoof.

“What’re ya doin’?” the mare asked, slightly incensed, being eager to go back home. “This is th’ way home...”

“Yer not goin’ to the farm yet,” the stallion replied authoritively, pointing a hoof to a path that they knew to lead to Fluttershy’s cottage.

Applejack was confused, but wasn’t in the mood to argue; she would see what her brother wanted and would go back to Sweet Apple Acres as soon as they were finished.

It didn’t take a long time to reach the grassy plain the small house was in. In front of the house was a familiar wolf, waiting patiently; the pony and the wolf exchanged gazes, resulting in a subsequent frown from the earth pony.

“Is that a wolf? Ah’ve never seen one before, so co…” Applebloom exclaimed, starting to run to meet the creature, but was immediately halted by a swift orange hoof.

“Applebloom, go back to tha farm.” Applejack said with a commanding tone.

“But…”

“Now!” the mare ordered, almost yelling before turning to her brother, her eyes narrowing. “Ya set this up? How could y…”

“He’s not like that AJ, and ya know it,” the stallion interrupted, knowing what was coming.

“What does that matter? I’ve got nothin’ to say to him,” she countered, angry at her brother’s mischief.

“Then it won’t take long,” Big Macintosh insisted, looking into Applejack’s eyes calmly, yet sternly.

“Fine,” she relented, starting to canter towards the gray wolf, unhurriedly. “Let’s jis’ get this over with.”

Big Mac turned to his youngest sister. “C’mon Applebloom, let’s go home. Miss Fluttershy, care to come with us? I believe those two should be left alone for a while.”

“Oh…Um…ok,” the pegasus answered shyly, accompanying the stallion.

“Now hold on jis’ a minute. What’s goin’ on? Why can’t Ah see tha wolf? Why is Applejack angry? Why won’t ya tell me?” Applebloom inquired, vexed at her elders for them hiding information from her.

“Applebloom,” Mac raised his voice to get the filly’s attention through the wall of inquiries. “Those two need to talk. We’re goin’ back home.”

“But who is he?”

“He’s a friend. Ah’ll explain on tha way,” he ended the conversation; that seemed to be sufficient to hold back Applebloom’s barrage of questions momentarily, so the three ponies turned their backs to the pair, who continued to lock eyes. Big Macintosh began to explain the recent events, using Applejack’s stubborn pride as the reason for her resentment towards the wolf.

After the others were gone, Applejack had already crossed the bridge, slowly approaching Winter; his eyes bore a calm, albeit wary look; the former looked riled up by Winter’s presence.

However, she didn’t feel annoyed or angry at him on the inside; how could she begrudge Winter? The same wolf saved her life the day before, ignoring her protests and the pain of his own wounds and stood right in front of her, bearing no visible grudge towards her, yet she still couldn’t throw a smile his way.

She came closer to him and sat down to rest her body, which was already growing tired due to the walking.

“Are you alright?” Winter asked, noticing the hidden gasps of exhaustion.

“None of yer business. What do ya want?”

“I want to help you.”

“Help me? Look, Ah’m grateful fer ya savin’ me and all, but Ah don’t need yer help, so just leave me alone,” she dryly responded.

“Your brother told me everything about that night,” he said. The mare’s eyes widened for a moment, before narrowing again.

“So what? Ya think hearing the story means ya can understand what Ah went through?” Applejack asked, raising her voice; she picked herself up off the ground after lots of struggling, her body having regained some energy for the journey back home, and turned around to start walking away. “Ah knew this was a waste of time.”

“I do understand.”

The earth pony came to a full stop and turned to glare at him, now genuinely angry.

“Don’t. Jis’ don’t even start. Y’have no idea what it feels like to lo…”

“Lose someone you love?” Winter finished her sentence, confusing her. “Someone you’d gladly throw your life away for, and know that you couldn’t do anything to save them?”

“Wha…”

“And to know that no matter what you do, you’ll never be able to take revenge on the ones responsible,” the wolf continued, his eyes away never straying from the cowmare’s green orbs, now fixed on him as if he were from another world.

“No. Ya don’t know. How could ya know what it’s like? Y’have been alone,” Applejack insisted, shaking her head.

“I haven’t always lived alone in that forest, Applejack.”

“What’re ya talkin’ about?”

Winter sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. In any other occasion he would never talk about his painful past, but she needed help, and it seemed to be the only way.

“I lost the she-wolf I loved years ago. She died right in front of me,” he reluctantly started; as the wolf opened his eyes he saw that Applejack’s face, although much calmer, showed that she needed a better explanation.

“We were hunting snow leopards back home. There were supposed to be two of them, but when we got to their den, we found only one. The other had sneaked past us and ambushed us. We fought back, but they managed to hurt her. The wound wasn’t lethal, but I became furious. I killed them both with mercy,” Winter felt the memories taking effect, and scratched his claws on the ground. “I was so angry, so focused on killing them, making them suffer. When I came to… she was dying. Something…else had attacked her, and I was too late. It was my entire fault,” He shut his eyes tightly to hold back the tears, and took a deep breath to stop an upcoming sob; he needed to be the strong one.

“If I hadn’t been so concentrated on my anger, she’d still be alive. I couldn’t go back to the pack after that, so I just ran away.”

“Ah’m sorry,” Applejack responded, ashamed by her previous behaviour and assumptions; she flashed an empathetic look at Winter.

“What I’m trying to tell you, Applejack, is that you can’t be obsessed with revenge. The desire will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“Ah don’t want revenge. Ah know Ah can’t do anything. Ah’m angry.”

“Angry at who? Me?”

“No. Ah don’t know, Ah’m just angry!”

“Are you angry at your brother?”

“No!” she shook her head in negation.

“Your friends?”

“No!” her head shook even more as she closed her eyes, repressing her urge to lose her temper.

“Then who are you angry at, Applejack? Tell me,” the wolf persisted, concerned for Applejack’s sanity’s sake.

“AH’M ANGRY AT MAHSELF!” the farmpony snapped, violently stomping her hoof on the ground, bringing some pain back into her wounds. “Because Ah shoulda been strong enough to save her! Because Ah don’t know what to do.”

“Let it out,” he coaxed her; Applejack looked up to see Winter staring at her, a serious look on his face as he continued, “Let out all the piled-up anger and sadness; hiding it won’t do you any good.”

And let it out she did, the wounds finally bleeding out the blood they should’ve bled out two years ago; the pain and tears cascaded down her cheeks like twin waterfalls as she fell to the ground, wailing loudly.

Winter approached the crying equine. “That’s it…” he said gently, delicately placing his paw on the back of her neck as to comfort her.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Applejack yelled instantly, almost in a panicked tone, as she threw the wolf’s paw away from her with a violent hoof swing and reflexively backed away a few inches, as if trying to save her life from an attacking predator. The wolf was caught off guard, but decided to give her some space.

Within seconds, the pony came to her senses, realizing her involuntary reaction. Why did she do that? She knew very well that the wolf meant no harm to her. And the shiver she felt as his furry paw touched her neck, it was the same chill she’d felt when the bobcats attacked her the day before, and during that horrible night. Her expression darkened in a moment of enlightenment; she just discovered that she possesses an uncontrollable fear of dying.

“Ah’m sorry,” she muttered, her psyche shattered by that last incident and the subsequent discovery.

“Are you okay?” Winter asked, giving a small step forward.

“Ah’m sorry, Ah… Ah dunno why Ah…” the pony weakly answered between sobs.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I want to help you, Applejack,” the wolf assured.

“Ah know!” she almost yelled, shaking her head. “Ah know yer tryin’a help me. Ah wanna be yer friend.”

“You do?” Winter asked with slight surprise dashing across his face, his heart now gaining a smidge of both relief and hope; now though he was even more confused at the mare’s outburst. “Then... why do you treat me li...”

“Why do Ah treat ya like farm manure? Ah have no idea,” Applejack interrupted, frustrated. “Ah owe ya my life. Ah want ya to be one of my best friends in tha world, Ah know Ah could rely on ya, but Ah jis’ can’t. Every time ah look at ya Ah see that... thing, starin’ at me with those terrible yellow eyes,” she apologetically confessed.

“We can fix that,” Winter said, trying to keep their hope alive. “I can help you get through this.”

“How, Winter? How do ya make th’ pain disappear?” she skeptically asked, hoping that Winter would know.

Winter paused for a second, taken off guard by the question. His mind raced as he recalled everything he had done to try to forget the pain during all those years in the forest; every time he’d bit himself to replace the unbearable heartache with physical suffering, he’d only been left with both. He quickly abolished the thought of mentioning self-harm; if Applejack hadn’t already taken the path he had, he didn’t want himself to be the cause for her to walk on that blood-stained road.

“It doesn’t, Applejack,” he confessed, dropping the mare’s head. “But you must learn to live with it; live and let it go, you only live once and if you allow yourself to wallow in the regret, the only pony you’ll hurt is yourself. Your beloved died, but the show must go on; stop mourning for what you’ve lost, there’s still much for you to live for.”

“What Ah still have...” the orange pony muttered, looking at the grass, her eyes seemingly devoid of emotion. “Ah’ve been lying to my friends fer two years. They must hate me, now that they know everythin’.”

“No, they don’t!” Winter snarled suddenly; he wasn’t going to let Applejack go down that road. “Don’t you dare say that ever again! They all care about you more than anything else, and you know it,” he continued, his eyes narrowed into daggerlike slits with frustration.

Winter stopped and calmed himself down with a deep breath, then speaking with a mild voice. “Just promise me you won’t keep the pain locked inside you. Also, talk to your friends, tell them what you’re actually going through; a true friend shall forgive another, friends stick together right? Especially as you didn’t lie for malicious reasons...”

Applejack sighed; the wolf was had wisdom in his head and was not afraid to show it; he was correct and she know it. Applejack finally turned to the wolf and flashed a small, grateful smile. “Ah will, thank you Winter,” she quietly said after what seemed like an eternity. “Ah’m okay with ya stayin’ in Ponyville...but Ah need some time ta get mah head straight.”

“I know, something like this doesn’t go away quickly,” he responded, smiling; duly, the orange cowmare went back home, bearing some newfound confidence: she felt as if she could, after two years of incessant pain, finally overcome this.

______________________________________________________________________________

Alright, it’s the editor Molotov Delivery here just to say, I inserted an obscure (or not-so obscure) James Bond reference into the text; happy hunting for the easter egg, although oh wait it’s not easter. Speaking of easter eggs, I also added a blatantly obvious LMFAO paraphrase. Problems anyone? *wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle YEAH!*

Also sorry for the possible slow pace of chapters appearing, we’re very busy men.

Meeting

The bear laid dead on the ground, just a few feet away from his bloody paws. His body swayed from side to side.

Unable to sustain his own weight for any longer, he collapsed clumsily in the dirt; luckily, he fell on top of his good leg, saving him from additional torment.

The sight was getting blurry and the colors were starting to become little more than dark green and brown, shaky spots. He just laid there, in the middle of the Everfree Forest; he knew he couldn’t move, so he just tried to fight off the sleepiness. The pain on his leg and neck was excruciating, but he was too tired to scream or even growl. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway.

After a while, new colors caught his eye; small clouds of yellow and pink appeared. They were just dots at first, so he dismissed them as mere hallucinations, but then they grew as they came closer to him.

"Hum…Excuse m-me…are y-you alright" a shy voice stuttered in a lowly tone "D-do you need h…"

The voice faded away as the weight of the eyes became too much to support, and he fell into sleep. Abandoning his consciousness with a tired sigh, he thought Guess this is it for me...that’s okay...I’m ready for Tartarus.

____________________________________________________________________________

To his surprise, he woke up feeling rested. The pain was more subtle than before, and there was something making pressure in his injuries. He raised his head and saw that the pressure came from the crimson colored bandages wrapped around his wounds.

"Where did this come from?" he thought out loud with a quiet tone and examined his surroundings; a small cottage by the looks of it and, wherever he looked, there were birdhouses hanging from the ceiling or nailed to the wooden walls, as well as mouse holes on the ground. Whoever it was, the owner clearly had an affection for animals. But not a single critter could be found in the room.

Not surprising he thought what kind of small creature would stick around with a big scary wolf in the room?

As comfortable as he was on the soft couch, he knew that whoever owned the house didn’t need such a creature staying in their home for long; he tried to stand up, but was stopped by the acute pain of his wounds and let out a snarl in response.

"Eek!" the sudden but low squeal came from a nearby door that seemed to lead into a kitchen.

"Hello?" he called.

The tip of a yellow muzzle peeked, slowly followed by a pink mane and a cyan eye "H-hello, a-are you feeling well?" the yellow mare answered hesitantly.

"Where am I?" the wolf asked, but his deep voice startled her, making her retreat back into into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He changed his tone to a softer one, or at least the softest he could muster "Were you the one who cared for my injuries? I wanted to thank you."

"Y-you're welcome, p-please don't eat me." the pony pled, poking her head through the door, shaking.

"Wolves don’t eat ponies." he tried to explained, his words falling on deaf ears.

"B-but…but…You…" she couldn't even talk.

He gave up. It was like that everytime a pony’s eyes met him, the ignorant equines always thought the big bad wolf was going to devour them and destroy everything them held dear; "All right, I'll just leave you in peace." he said with a sigh.

The wolf stood up with much effort and walked towards to front door, the scared mare still hiding. He lifted his front paw to open it; as the weight of his body shifted to his harmed leg, the pain became too intense and he collapsed to his side.

"Oh my goodness… Don't push yourself, you'll open up your wounds" the pony rushed to his side, only then revealing a pair of wings. The wolf was surprised, the look of extreme fear vanished from the mare's face and was immediately replaced by an expression of concern. She then helped him get to the couch he had been, lifting part of his weight with her wing.

"Thank you" the light gray wolf remembered to use his soft voice and the pegasus suddenly remembered what he was.

"Y-You're welcome...b-but you really shouldn't get up for a while." she suggested shyly, backing away slighty as she remembered what he was. The wolf simply nodded in agreement, not wanting to scare the yellow pony again. A heavy silence fell upon the pair; the shy mare sat on the wooden floor, looking down at her hooves, unable to meet the wolf’s gaze; in turn, he looked around the room, trying his best to not intimidate the delicate creature. The absence of speech began to become too much; someone had to break the ice.

The silence was halted by the loud sound of the gray creature’s stomach aching for a meal. Suddenly, he started to miss the silence.

The look of extreme fear returned, and the scared mare backed further away, almost tripping on her own hooves "Oh no… you're hungry aren't you? Y-You're going to eat me!"

"No,no! I don’t hurt ponies." He tried to calm her "Especially the one who saved me."

“B-but you have to eat something...” she remarked.

“It’s okay...I can eat pretty much anything. Just don’t give me lettuce.” he explained, grimacing as he remembered the time when he had to steal from a farm, due to desperation.

"Y-you promise?" the frightened pegasus asked with a shaky voice.

"I promise." He assured.

Fluttershy hesitantly approached, struggling to keep the thought of being eaten out of her mind and gathered the courage to ask "So… what's your name…huh… if you don't mind telling me…"

The wolf was still amazed at the sudden change, but gave a little smile before answering.

"It's Winter Night."

"N-nice to meet you Mr. Night, my name is Fluttershy."

"My pleasure. And you can just call me Winter."

Once again, a silence invaded the small living room, as neither knew the right words to use. Finally, it was interrupted by Winter's curiosity.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you help me? Or should I say saved me?"

"Oh...huh...Well, I was passing by because I had to get something from my friend Zecora in the Forest, on my way I saw you laying there. I got scared because I had never seen a real wolf before, so I hid, but then I noticed you were bleeding and not moving. I couldn't just leave you there." Fluttershy blushed after the last phrase, thinking it was too dramatic.

"Not a lot of ponies would get out of their way to help a complete stranger, let alone a wolf. Was there really no other reason?" Winter asked, raising a brow; it's wasn’t that he didn't believe her words, but his previous experiences made him think that there had to be a bigger reason behind the rescue.

"Hum...not really...I guess I don't need any more reasons to help someone in trouble."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but you don't even know me. Everypony thinks wolves will eat them up first chance they get."

"Well...I was scared at first, but you were really hurt” Fluttershy answered with a light blush on her cheeks “Besides, you don't seem like a bad wolf to me."

"Thanks" Winter let out a chuckle, and Fluttershy soon joined with a giggle of her own. The joyful moment was suddenly cut short by the sound of the front door swinging open.

"Heya, Fluttershy. Winona wasn't feeling too well and I thought you'd… What the HAY?!!"

Landscape

Two days passed after the fabulous/random duo visited the cottage.

These couple of days consisted mainly of waking up early in the morning, waiting silently for Fluttershy to wake up, greeting her when she did, eat breakfast together, watch her fly away, take a nap, eat lunch, take another nap, wake up when she came back home, talk and eat dinner together, go to sleep, repeat.

On the third morning, however, the monotony was broken by a surprisingly successful attempt to get up, without the pegasus's help. Fluttershy was happy to hear it.

"I'm so glad you're getting better already."

"So am I. I was getting tired of sitting on the couch all day, no offense though, it's a great couch."

Surprisingly enough, Fluttershy took it as a joke and gave a typical quiet laugh, instead of thanking the wolf for the compliment.

"What are you going to do now, um… if you don't mind me asking?"

"I think I'll go for a walk, and tomorrow I should be good enough to return to the forest."

Winter turned and walked out the door calmly, not wanting to push his luck with his wounds. He didn't see the frown that appeared on Fluttershy's face.

"I'll see you later." Said the wolf.

Fluttershy quickly turned on a happy face and said goodbye to her new friend, as he went past the hills around her house.

___________________________________________________________________________

Winter decided to walk along the outskirts of Ponyville, to avoid either scaring the locals or being chased by an angry mob. He eventually stopped and sat sown on a hill overlooking the town, and stayed there for hours, looking at the ant sized fillies playing in a small park, the merchants in the square, and a cyan pony practicing stunts in the distance. He was taking it all in, so that he would have a longer memory of happiness, for when he went back to the forest.

"What are ya doin' here?" a familiar, southern equestrian voice interrupted the silence he was enjoying so much. The wolf turned around to face Applejack, who was pulling a cart full of apples.

"Not much, what about you?" said Winter, as he got up to walk up to her. He didn't like Applejack a whole lot, but he was willing to at least try to get along with her for Fluttershy's sake.

"None of yer business." She responded coldly to the attempt for small talk.

"What's your problem?"

"You're ma problem, I don't like ta see ma friend hangin' out with a murderer like you."

"You don't have to treat me like that, you know. I'm not going to hurt anypony."

Applejack just turned to the landscape and pointed a hoof to Sweet Apple Acres "Ya see that farm?"

Winter though of letting out a "Duh" but decided this wasn't the best time "Yeah, Fluttershy told me you had a farm. So that's it, huh?"

The mare completely ignored his statement and proceeded "If I catch ya anywhere near it, I'll make sure even Fluttershy can't fix ya."

The wolf gave a growl "First of all, don't think I'm scared of you, because I'm not. And second of all, what did I ever do to you to deserve this crappy treatment, anyway?"

Applejack gave him a dark look of despise, like she had spent her whole life hating him "Ya wolves are all the same ta me, cold blooded killers."

While Winter was angry at the mare's offensive attitude, her voice showed something other than anger, sadness. And right before she turned around to walk away, he could swear he saw a tear starting to gather in the corner of her eye. He knew the signs all too well to realize there was a deeper reason for her hatred, so he didn't even say anything else and went back to the cottage.

__________________________________________________________________________

"Hi Winter, your dinner is ready." Fluttershy greeted with a smile when he arrived.

"Thanks, but I'm kinda tired, I think I'm going straight to sleep."

"Um… if you don't mind me asking… did something happen?" the mare asked, worried.

"I ran into Applejack." Winter answered, before laying on the scarlet couch and closing his eyes.

"Oh…" Fluttershy knew the meeting probably didn't go well. After nibbling on her lettuce sandwich for a while, she went to her own bed with a frown on her face.

Restore

Applejack cantered slowly, yet steadily, through the dirt road surrounded by apple trees, her speed was caused by both the fatigue that plagued her body and her caution to avoid any jolt of pain from her bandaged hind legs; while the blond mare only wished to lay on her bed for some much needed rest, she knew that going faster would only leave her even more exhausted, so she continued on with her lagging walk.

When the cowmare reached the fence surrounding the large wooden house, the sky was already darkening and she let out a sigh of relief; as much as Applejack had wanted to get work done in the farm, that desire had gradually vanished during the long walk back home.

The farmer pushed the fence gate gently, careful not to make any noise; she prefered if her arrival was left unnoticed, at least for the moment, a desire that was, however, denied as a friendly yellow pegasus walked out of the house’s front door, closing it as gently as she could.

Fluttershy...Ah had forgot’n about her Applejack thought, fetching the memory of the animal taker walking to her home alongside Applebloom and Big Macintosh. The pegasus noticed her friend just as she turned around to go back to the cottage; Fluttershy showed a caring smile, but also let out a hint of worry in her face.

“Applejack...” the shy pony greeted hesitantly as the farmer swung the door open “A-are you ok? Did you talk to Winter?”

“Ah did...” Applejack answered, somewhat surprised by how quickly her friend got to the point.

“I’m sorry, Applejack. I’m so sorry.” a tiny sob escaped the pegasus’ mouth “All this time you were so sad, an-and I didn’t even realise it. I’m so sorry.” she said again, salty tears flowing down her cheeks and chin before dropping to the dirt bellow.

“Fluttershy, it wasn’t yer fault.” the farmer tried to comfort the yellow mare; Her attempt did little effect, as Fluttershy’s quiet but painful sobbing showed only a short halt.

“Can you forgive me?” the soft voice pled, striking at Applejack’s heart. Fluttershy hung her head low in shame and sorrow. Suddently, she felt a weight on her shoulders, and threw her head back in surprise; her spirit calmed when she realised her dear friend had wrapped her hooves around her neck and was now holding her in a tight embrace.

A warm drip touched the pegasus’ shoulder, only then did she realise that her friend’s eyes were also watering.

“No, Fluttershy. I can’t forgive ya ‘cause there ain’t nothin’ ta forgive.” Applejack said in a lowly tone, her voice almost shivering.

Fluttershy instantly held the orange mare with a strong hug of her own; the two ponies stood there for a few seconds before breaking the embrace, quickly wiping their tears away.

“Sorry...” the shy pony repeated, this time between sheepish giggles “I’m such a cry-baby.”

“And Ah’m guessing yer worried ‘bout Winter too, huh?” Applejack guessed.

“Hum...well it’s just that...”

“Go on. Ah know ya wanna talk ta him. He’s still at yer place.” the blond pony said, pointing to the dirt road she had just come from with a small smile in her face.

Filled with another wave of relief, Fluttershy gave her friend another quick hug and said her goodbyes before heading back home; Everything was starting to get better, Applejack would start recovering, Winter had been accepted.

Everything is going to be allright she thought; No more fights, no more hidden sadness, it would take a while, but everything would be back to the way it was, except for their new friend.

Applejack resumed her slow cantering to her home’s front door; as she gently opened it, she could hear a low conversation from inside, but couldn’t quite understand what was being said. Once her hoof steps began to echo across the rooms, the mysterious chatter came to a full stop, leaving the house in complete silence, followed by the sound of several hooves tapping the wooden floor of the living room.

The farmer entered the room to find her best friends standing next to a small coffee table with many empty teacups on it. The group glared at Applejack with the same hidden sadness in their eyes. The silence was unsettling, as even Pinkie Pie couldn’t muster a word to the blond mare; Twilight opened her mouth to talk, but closed it again when she realised she had no idea of what to say.

The quiet ambient remained the same for a few seconds until Big Macintosh walked in through the kitchen, carrying a large teapot in his mouth that released a sweet aroma into the air; the stallion didn’t even change his pace when he noticed his sister in the room, and quickly set the teapot on the low table and took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak.

“Wait.” Applejack interrupted before the red pony could let out a single word “Where’s Applebloom?”

“She went to my house with Sweetie Belle, darling.” Rarity answered in Big Mac’s place, seizing her chance to break the agonizing silence between them ”It took quite a bit of convincing, I must say.”

“What did ya tell her, Big Mac?” the orange pony questioned her brother again, she had to know just how much Applebloom had discovered that day.

“Tha truth.” the stallion answered plainly. Applejack’s eyes widened with terror, and Big Mac quickly explained before his sister could start to yell at him “Not ‘bout that night, so don’t worry. Ah only told her that ya got hurt on the forest and Winter helped ya. Now sit down with us, tea’s gettin’ cold.” with this the orange mare let out a sigh of relief, mentally scolding her older brother for scaring her like that.

The large pony took a sit on a large sofa at the edge of the coffee table, and began to pour tea into the porcelain cups; the group of mares followed his lead, taking their seats on the soft couch. Another silence threatened to invade the saddened bunch again but to everypony’s fortune, Twilight managed to gather the courage to talk.

“Aplebloom isn’t the only one who learned about something today.” she said, looking down at the steaming teacup “I’m so sorry Applejack.”

“We all are, Twilight.” Rarity added, before turning to the orange mare, who was glaring at her friends with a look of shame “As your friends we should have paid more attention to your feelings. All this time you have been carrying this burden alone, hiding your pain.”

“Rarity, Ah wasn’t hid...” Applejack began but was interrupted by Rarity’s raised hoof, signaling her to stop.

“Don’t say it!” she commanded “You’re the Element of Honesty, Applejack. So please do not lie to us. You know you can always count on us to help you. Friends are supposed to carry each other’s pain.”

The blond pony felt warm tears on her cheeks for the third time that day. “Ah know...Ah should have been honest. Ah’m so sorry.”

“No!” Pinkie Pie yelled, almost making Big Mac spill his tea “No more crying! I don’t want to see anypony sad ever again.” she pled loudly, while her own tears fell from her large blue eyes.

“Pinkie...”

“No excuses! You have to promise you’ll never hide anything from us ever again.” Pinkie demanded, pushing Applejack back against the couch and looking straight at the farmer’s eyes, showing that the answer would have to be immediate.

“Ah...” the orange mare said hesitantly “Ah’ll never lie to ya’ll again”

“You pinkie promise?”

“Ah pinkie promise.” she assured, as she began to make the critical gestures of Pinkie’s special oath. However, the party pony didn’t let her finish, embracing her in a tight hug.

“Thank you, Applejack.” she whispered, as the cowmare returned the hug, in which Twilight and Rarity quickly joined. The group of friends felt a great weight being lifted from their hearts, but at the same time they couldn’t help but to sense something was missing.

“Now wait a damn minute!” Rainbow Dash’s voice broke the endearing moment, leaving everypony’s eyes locked in her angry face “That’s it? She lies to us for two years and you all just let it go with a promise and a hug?”

“Rainbow Dash, calm down.” Rarity asked.

“No! I want an explanation. Heck, I need an explanation. I’m not forgiving you until you tell me why you lied to us!”

“Rainbow!” Big Mac yelled in a tone he almost never used, or liked to use, as he stood on all fours and looked down at the blue pegasus “Don’t talk to her like that! If ya want to blame somepony, blame me. I knew somethin’ was wrong with her, and Ah...”

“Ah was scared.” Applejack interrupted with a sad tone, all eyes turning to her once again “Ah was scared cause Ah let Granny die, and there was nothin’ Ah could do. Ah thought that if Ah showed just how sad and fragile Ah really am, then Ah would never be able to protect mah family and friends.”

Even after the revelation, the angry expression on the weather pony didn’t disappear, in fact, it grew slightly as Applejack spoke “And what about Winter?” she asked “You hated him guts and you opened up to him, didn’t you? What so special about him?”

The faces of her friends were ones of shock, they had expect the wolf to be brought into the conversation, but not so suddently. As much as they hated to see Rainbow Dash so angry, they too wondered what Winter had that made Applejack’s attitude change.

Said mare took a deep breath before speaking. “He’s jist like me. He knows exactly how it feels.” she said, looking into the blue pony’s eyes, silently begging for her to understand “Ah’m sorry Rainbow, Ah really am. But please don’t take it out on him, Ah’ve already made that mistake.”

The pegasus’ angry faced faded into one of confusion and curiosity, just like the rest of the present mares.

“What do you mean, darling? how could he possibly know what you’ve be...” Rarity halted her question as they all put two and two together “Oh dear...”.

“Man...him too?” Rainbow Dash said, scratching the back of her head in shame “I-I didn’t mean to get angry at him. He’s actually pretty amazing. I mean, he saved you.”

“Yeah...he did save me.” Applejack repeated “It’s still hard fer me to believe he risked his life to save mine. Especially after treating him like Ah did. Rainbow?” she called “Ya think you can forgive me too? With time, Ah mean.”

“Well...I’m still a little mad that you lied to us. But yeah, you’re my friend, so I can let this go.” the pegasus responded, wearing an assuring smile on her face.”

Applejack sighed, relieved to see that no more grudges would be held.

Big Macintosh returned to his spot on the large sofa, and took a sip of tea, which sent a cold stream down his throat.

“Great.” he said, annoyed “The tea got cold.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Unlike Applejack, Fluttershy decided to walk back home in a fast paced trot, passing through the apple orchard. As harmless as the trees were, the night’s darkness created an uncomfortable ambient. The pony’s timid nature didn’t make it much better; it was as if someone, or something, would jump from behind the apple trees and do something terrible to her.

Fluttershy sighed with relief as she reached her house’s clearing and looked around for Winter. The wolf was not in the front yard, so the pegasus flew gently to the front door and pushed it open. No one was inside the dark room, which she quickly lit with a few candles.

With the house empty, the only place he could be was the backyard; peeking through the window, she saw Winter sitting in the middle of the grassy hill, turned away from her and looking up in the night sky.

“Winter?” the shy pegasus called quietly from inside the house, receiving no answer; she walked up to him slowly until she was standing right behind him and lifted a hoof to poke his shoulder

“Hello Winter.” she called again, this time successfully.

“Huh?” Winter snapped out of his trance, in which he had been trapped while gazing into the night sky “Oh, Fluttershy. I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you coming”

“Oh no, that’s all right.” Fluttershy said, taking a seat beside him “I should sneak up on anyone like that, anyway. So...what were you doing?”

“Nothing, just...watching the stars.” he answered, pointing his snout to the dark blue sky filled with thousands of white shining dots “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a sky like this.”

“Really? Why?” the yellow pony asked reluctantly.

“Truth is...I’ve been away from home for a long time.” Winter’s face began to become saddened, but he didn’t want to upset Fluttershy, so his frown turned to a light smile and he tried to remember only the good in his old life “You should see the sky from where I’m from. It’s even better than here.”

“That sounds wonderful.” the pony noted “I wish I could see it.”

The two continued to look up in silence for a few moments, Winter heard a tiny sob; looking to his side he saw Fluttershy smiling at him, a tear sliding on her face.

“Thank you for helping Applejack.” she said quietly “You’re a good friend.”

“Winter was shocked at first to see her crying, but her words assured him it was okay and the smile was returned.

“I thought I told you I don’t like to see a girl cry.” the wolf said playfully.

“Sorry. Sorry. I really am a cry baby.” She giggled.

Winter’s eyes turned away from the mare to the edge of the Everfree Forest; something was contrasting with the darkness of the trees, two yellow dots, blinking and moving slightly.

Fireflies? No, they’re too big. he thought. Winter narrowed his own eyes, trying to get a better look; it seemed to be a pair of eyes, and they were looking right at him. Another pair appeared close to it, then another one followed by two more.

“Wha...”

His words were cut off; as soon as Fluttershy turned around to look at what he was staring at, the group of dots started to move swiftly. Five shadows jumped from inside the forest, the moonlight revealing their true form, bobcats. They dashed at the pair and Winter jumped in front of Fluttershy to protect her.

The large cats circled them, the vicious yellow eyes glowing and devilish grins on their faces. Winter’s shock doubled at the sight of familiar wounds on two of the creatures. They were the same that had attacked Applejack the day before.

“Go away!” He growled “Don’t risk your companions just to take revenge!”

This only made the cats burst into laughter; Winter’s mind was full of confusion, bobcats couldn’t talk, let alone laugh. And the laughter itself was very strange. It wasn’t like the sound of a crowd, in which each voice could be told apart from the others; the bobcats’ voices were identical and completely synchronized, echoing on top of each other; it was familiar to the wolf.

“It’s not so much as revenge as it is punishment, Winter.” the cats said in unison.

Winter’s confused expression turned to one of pure shock at the voice. He felt his body petrify and his mind raced as he instantly recognized the evil tone.

“No...” he muttered, pale as a ghost “It can’t be...”

To this, the cats answered by widening their terrifying grins.

“Fenrir?”