The Mare and the Wolf

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.

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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?!!"