The Mare and the Wolf

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.