The Mare and the Wolf

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.