The Mare and the Wolf

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.

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"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.

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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.

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"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.