Chapter 10

Prey walked along the dirt roads towards Fluttershy’s cottage, wanting to see if she needed any assistance. He soon reached his destination as he spotted her cottage with the various creatures playing around her cottage. He crossed the bridged and reached her front door, giving it a knock he patiently waited for his master to answer the door.

The door opened with Prey finding Fluttershy covered in dirt and tears streaming down her face. Naturally he asked about his master’s condition. “Fluttershy, are you okay? What happened?”

“O-Oh Prey, I didn’t think you were coming today. And I’m… I’m fine.”

“Fluttershy, I do not think you are fine. You are covered in dirt and your tears are still present.” He pointed out as Fluttershy’s tears came streaming rapidly from her eyes. She fell to her knees and started sobbing. Prey knelt down in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Fluttershy, is something the matter?”

“It’s *sniff* It’s terrible. There’s an injured fawn in here and I don’t know what to do! She needs medicine but I’m all out and I can’t go to Ponyville because I need to watch over her care and-” Prey interrupted her by clapping both of his hands in front of Fluttershy’s face, cutting her out of her panic phase.

“Fluttershy, may I make a suggestion?” She nodded and sniffed up some snot hanging from her nose. “It might be wise if I go in your place in search of the medicine for the fawn while you stay here and tend to its injuries.”

Fluttershy’s heart felt like it could survive through any illness as she gave Prey a tight hug. “Please” She whispered as Prey bowed to his master and spread his wings.

“Where can I find this medicine? And what kind would I need?”

“There is a building with a large sign that has a red cross and bones on it. That’s the vet, please tell her that I need basic medical pills for a fawn, she’ll know what I need.” Prey bowed once again and took off to the skies towards Ponyville.

Zooming through Ponyville’s skies he spotted the very building Flutteshy spoke of and landed in front of it. He quickly knocked on the door as out came a mare with a light yellow coat and a mint blue mane style. “Yes can I help you?”

“Hello, my name is Prey Striker and I was sent here by Fluttershy. She needs medicine for an injured fawn and she can’t leave its side, so I came in her place.”

“Oh dear, come inside and I’ll look around any medicine for the little fawn.” Prey followed the veterinarian inside her clinic. “What kind is she looking for?”

“She asked for basic medical pills.”

The veterinarian scratched her chin and opened a drawer. She pulled out a few capsules containing pills and placed different pills in a separate capsule. She handed Prey the capsule. “Alright, here’s a cocktail of different pills. There’s a couple of painkiller, anti-bacterial, and vitamin pills in here. They’re color coded so Fluttershy should know it by heart.”

“Arigatoo gozaimasu.” He thanked the veterinarian and soon left in a heartbeat back towards Fluttershy’s cottage. He landed in front and quickly banged his fist on the door. Fluttershy opened with haste as Prey handed her the capsule.

“This is the medicine. The pony at the vet said you knew the medicine by heart from its colors.”

“Okay thank you so much Prey.” She turned away from him and was about to rush to the fawn. “Wait….can you stay here for a bit incase I need anything else?”

“I shall wait down here, do not worry.” Fluttershy quickly rushed up the stairs. Not wanting to stand around all day, Prey walked inside the cottage and took a seat on Fluttershy’s couch. He patiently waited for about half an hour until Fluttershy started slowly walking down her stairs. Prey looked over to see that her face was still in worry, but the tears were gone. “Is it okay Fluttershy?”

“Yes the fawn is okay, at least for now.” Prey raised an eyebrow as the tears soon came flooding back from Fluttershy. “But...But...when she coughed and puked a little bit of blood and I found a piece of thorn berry inside. These are highly toxic and could kill somepony if not treated.” She said with devastation.

Prey stood up, wanting to continue aiding his master. “Should I go back to the veterinarian?” She shook her head.

“Doctor Fauna won’t have the medicine for this, but I know somepony who does. But she doesn’t live in Ponyville.”

“Where is she Fluttershy? I shall find her for you.” Prey stated with a stern loyal tone.

“She’s a zebra named Zecora and she lives in the Everfree Forest.” Prey knew about the Everfree woods. Applejack and Twilight both gave grave information about the woods, a place littered to the bone with all sorts of creatures waiting to devour anypony on site. Yet there were a few silver linings in the forest, and it sounded like Zecora was one of them.

“Where exactly can I find her in the forest?”

Fluttershy lead prey to the window and pointed at a dirt trail leading from her cottage to the further outskirts of Ponyville. On the horizon was a dark patch of brown and swamp green, this was the forest she was pointing towards. “Just down the road and you’ll find it, but if you’re going please be careful. There’s a lot of bad monsters there.”

Prey bowed to his master and summoned his sword to his side. “I shall not fail you Fluttershy. How long with the fawn be okay?”

“She’ll be okay for about three hours, luckily it’s only a 10 minute walk from the entrance of the forest to Zecora’s hut. You can’t miss it because it’s got a lot of her zebra tribe masks surrounding it. Plus she put signs on the road to lead visitors straight to the hut.” Fluttershy explained as Prey bowed once again.

“Okay, I will not fail you master.” He stated formally as he made a mad dash towards the direction of the forest. Upon reached the entrance he placed his on the handle of his blade, ready to take on the forest, and started walking into the woods.

Like Fluttershy said, he followed the numerous signs and eventually found a large tree decorated with hanging bottles and masks. Prey figured this could Zecora’s hut. He walked up to the front door and started knocking on the door. The door opened revealing a zebra, this must be Zecora.

“Are you the one called Zecora?”

“I am the one called Zecora. A master of the Everfree’s flora.” She took a good look a Prey. “You are a changeling yes? It nice to meet you, my new guest.”

“Ah well Hajimemashite, it is nice to meet you. My name is Prey and I was sent here by my master Fluttershy, she requires medicine.”

She raised an eyebrow. “To what ills Fluttershy? Was it something bad to make her tummy cry?”

He shook his head. “She is not the one sick. She has a fawn who ate thorn berries and is in currently ill.” He explained making Zecora nod, understanding the current situation.

“Ah I see, then her body of sickness is not yet free. Come inside, I will find something to keep her alive.” Prey nodded and walked inside the hut. He noticed the vast array of abstract artistic objects around the room. Zecora walked to a few shelves and inspected all the bottles that were there.

She picked out a green bottle and handed it to Prey. “Is this the medicine?”

“This brew is for the thorn berry flu, and all of it should settle for you.”

“Arigatou Gozaimasu. I need to leave now, is there anything I owe you for this?”

She shook her head. “No payment is necessary, now go and cure the sick of the thorn berry.”

Prey nodded and started making his back to Fluttershy’s cottage with haste. On his way back, something wasn’t feeling right. A shiver was slowly crawling up his back, until he heard it. He started to hear growling from the nearby bushes, and he knew what was growling. He placed the medicine in his pocket and summoned his sword.

Just as he thought, timberwolves sprung from the bushes and soon surrounded Prey in a circular pattern once again. Prey calmly took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused mostly on his sense of hearing. He heard a wolf spring it’s paws from behind, he swiftly slashed his sword breaking the wolf apart. As it shattered, Prey continued his blind fighting and listened really closely, but he didn’t hear what he was looking for.

Another tried to pounce him but failed, Prey continued focussing mostly on his sense of hearing until he found the certain thing he was looking for. As soon as the sixth wolf was destroyed, Prey found exactly what he was looking for. He heard a beating rhythm, one that was similar to a heart.

He opened his eyes and saw the glowing green beating heart in his sights. He lunged himself over to the heart to try and destroy it, only to be block by all the wolves creating a barricade of themselves in front of the exposed heart. “Kuso…” He cursed under his breath as he started thinking of another plan.

Another wolf launched itself at Prey as he soon destroyed it. He noticed the pattern on how the wolves would attack. One at a time and one to replace another if it was destroyed, he had to take the offensive. With speed he took on each wolf one by one, like an apex predator taking on the ranks below him. He continued eliminating all the wolves in this pattern, cutting through nearly all of them.

There was one more left, he was about to lunge at it to end this fight until it sat down and started howling into the air. Soon all of the surrounding twigs, leaves, and bark from the already destroyed wolves started to glow green and levitate towards the last wolf. It all piled on top of the wolf until it shaped itself into a massive ten foot tall timber wolf.

He sighed heavily in frustration as he soon spread his wings, flipped up his hood and mask, and launching himself upwards towards the massive timber wolf. He pointed his sword in front of him turning himself into a projectile as he impaled himself right through the chest of the timber wolf and came out of its back. He turned around and quickly landed on its head as he soon stuck his sword inside the wolf’s head. He took out his sword and slashed downwards, decapitating the large timber wolf.

As the head was falling, he jumped to the ground, landing as he started watching the wolf’s body slowly fall apart until the heart came into view. Its heart was only a few centimeters from the cut Prey made. The wolf struggled to reform its massive size, until Prey jumped and threw his sword like a dart at the heart. It penetrated the organ making the wolf scream in immense pain. The whole body of the wolf then exploded in a firework of twigs and leaves as Prey’s sword landed in front of him from the explosion. He picked up his sword and placed it back in its sheath. He took off his mask and hood as he sighed in relief, the fight was over.

“What in the hay is going on around here?!?!” Prey turned around to find Applejack standing there with a shocked look on her face. She rushed over to Prey and noticed the litter of twigs and leaves everywhere. She also noticed Prey lightly covered with dirt and leaves. “Prey, are you alright?”

“Applejack, what are you doing here?”

“Ah went to Fluttersy’s to pick up Winona and Ah found her sadder than expired cider. She told me what happened to her deer and told me where you went. Ah couldn’t sit and wait so Ah went to check on ya.”

“Well that is very kind of you, but I am fine. Thank you.” He paused and pulled out the medicine from Zecora. “This is the medicine Zecora gave me. I must return to Fluttershy as soon as possible before the fawn succumbs to the thornberry.”

“Well then lets get- AGGH!!” Applejack screamed in pain as they both looked down at her leg to find a tiny timber wolf pup biting her leg. “Get off me!” She shook her leg to try and throw the pup off, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried to punch and kick the pup off, only making it bite and chew harder, which made it worse for Applejack.

“Chotto Matte Kudasai.” Prey said as he grasped Applejack’s leg which was still being gnawed on by the pup. Prey held up two fingers and made it glow orange for his stun spell. He swatted his fingers on the pup’s forehead causing it to faint and let go of Applejack’s leg. “Applejack….you’re injured.”

Applejack hissed in pain and held her leg, attempting to pause her pain. “Ah know, and it hurts like heck.” Applejack lifted up her jeans to find the bite marks of the wolf. The bite marks seemed to secrete out a green liquid, needless to say, it doesn’t look normal. “Ah hay biscuits.”

“Timber wolves contain a venom…” Prey said being reminded from a few biological lessons from Twilight. In his current situation he didn't want to leave behind one of his masters, yet he had to complete a task for another master at the same time. He pondered for a bit until a solution came into mind. “Applejack, hold still.”

“Huh?” Prey had to act quickly. He took his fangs and bit into his own arm which drew out his changeling blood. He collected some of the blood in his mouth and eyed at Applejack’s soon. Without hesitation, he soon bit on the exact same area where Applejack was bit, causing her to hiss with intense pain. “Argg...Prey..what….in…” She then noticed that Prey was sucking from her bite wound.

He soon released his bite, spitting out a brighter green liquid. “Yoshi, the venom is gone. And any remnants shall be terminated.” Prey said with Applejack giving him a look of shock and confusion.

“What did you just do?”

“I will explain later Applejack. We must first get to Fluttershy and deliver the medicine.” He then pointed at her leg. “Are you able to move with that bite?”

“Yea Ah’ll be fine.”

“Yoshi, let’s go.” The two continued leaving the forest until they eventually reached outside and later Fluttershy’s cottage. They gave Fluttershy the medicine who was more than grateful to receive the medicine. Prey and Applejack were relieved to know that the fawn would make a full recovery.

Currently Applejack and Prey were downstairs in the cottage as Fluttershy was tending more to the fawn. Prey was resting from his battle with the giant timber wolf as Applejack was lightly bandaging her bite wound. “What did you do to me Prey?” Applejack asked as she finished wrapping a bandage around her wound.

“I learned from Twilight and her books that timber wolf saliva is venomous if injected. So I counter it my own blood.”

“What do you mean?”

“Changeling blood carries counter balance towards venoms and other poisons. So I drew my own blood and injected it into your stream. I may have spat out a majority of the venom but my blood will help eliminate the rest of it.”

“So you….you saved mah life...again?”

“Hai.” The two heard footsteps coming down the stairs to see Fluttershy with a more relaxed expression on her face.

“Hey Flutters, how’s the deer?”

The pegasus gave a long yawn but ending with a smile on her face. “She’s going to be fine. She’s asleep at the moment but she’ll be fine. Thank you so much Prey, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Prey bowed towards his master and felt the essence of honor reinvigorate his body. “It was my honor to assist you Fluttershy. I am glad that you are happy.” He said with sincerity. “Is there anything else that you need Fluttershy?”

“No I’m alright right now. You’ve done more than enough.”

Then Applejack butted in. “And if you’re gonna ask me, Ah’m all good sugarcube.”

“I see. Fluttershy may I ask you of something?”

“Um, S-sure.”

“May I stay outside of your cottage? I would simply like to meditate if that is okay with you.”

“Oh um… that’s okay. If any of the animals bother you please don’t hurt them, I can handle them.”

“Do not worry Fluttershy. No matter what, no harm shall come to your animals.” He said bowing to the two and leaving to go meditate outside.

Prey simply sat outside for nearly four hours and dusk was slowly arriving. The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon with a melting sunset in the distance in front of Prey. Applejack and Winona had already gone home and obviously Fluttershy stayed home with the young fawn.

While meditating, Prey ignored the cold and warm temperatures around him, and barely felt anything from any other minor insects or little critters around him. Prey then felt the presence of Fluttershy in front of him as he opened his eyes to find Fluttershy with a small basket of snacks. Fluttershy was surprised to see that Prey reacted immediately upon her arrival.

“O-Oh hello Prey. I’m glad to see that you are awake.”

“Awake? Ah iie, I was not sleeping Fluttershy. I was simply meditating. Was there something you need?”

“Oh I um, I thought that since you were out here for a long time just doing nothing, I thought you’d get hungry by now. But I guess since you’re not hungry I could take these back inside, I’m sorry for disturbing you like this I can just-”

“Fluttershy, please do not apologize. There is nothing for you to apologize. Actually you came at a good timing because I am hungry now. Thank you for the snacks you brought for me.” He said with a respectful nod towards his master.

“Oh okay, here you go. I brought you some peanut butter crackers, and some apples that Applejack gave me.”

“Nnn Arigato. Would you like to sit with me and enjoy this sunset?” Fluttershy blushed and felt hesitated to answer. Prey could read her expression very clearly, making him sigh. “If you do not wish to I will respect your choice.”

“Oh oh no um, sure I can sit with you.” Fluttershy sad down next to the changeling as she and Prey started eating the snacks.

“Fluttershy, can I ask you something?”

“S-Sure, what is it?”

“What is love?”

Fluttershy blushed deeply and looked down, tapping her fingers together trying to find an answer. But still confused being asked a question as blunt and forward as that. “W-what do you mean?”

“Well, I only know the term love as a sustenance. Such as food for normal changelings to feed on before the reformation of the race. Yet…..I do not understand the feeling behind it. I do not understand what ‘love’ is or feels like.”

“Oh um….love is….um….a feeling when two ponies like each other a lot. And um…...when they have more than just liking each other….they spend time with each other. And um…..oh this is hard to explain.”

Prey held out a hand in pause and shook his head. “If you cannot explain it Fluttershy then it is okay.” She dropped her head down.

“Oh um, I’m sorry Prey. But all I can really say is, love is when two ponies really like each other a lot. Oh but I have an idea.”

“Hmm?” Prey’s ears perked up.

“You can ask Princess Cadence when you get the chance to meet her. She’s Twilight’s sister in law and she’s known as the ‘Princess of Love’. If there’s anypony in equestria that knows love better than anypony else, it’s Princess Cadence.”

Prey chuckled a little bit at her recommendation. “It is funny how you mention that, I have already met her earlier today. Perhaps I will meet with her again later tonight.” Prey’s phone then began to vibrate. He pulled out his phone to find that it was a message from Twilight.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hey Prey, where are you?"

"I am currently at Fluttershy’s cottage meditating and resting right now. Do you need me for anything?"

"Nothing really, I was just wondering where you were. Thank you!"

She hung up making Prey slightly confused. He sighed in slight frustration as Fluttershy placed a hand on his shoulder. “Everything okay Prey?”

“Eeetooo Ma Ma, it is so so. I am just not used to living and being so casual all of the time. Living with no orders all of the time, it just does not feel normal to me. Back before I came to Ponyville, I simply followed orders and almost never made choices for myself. Yet it was the only thing I knew how to do, was to serve a master and never serve myself.”

“Is it wrong now? Are you saying serving for yourself is wrong?”

“Iie, No. I am not complaining, it is just that I am not entirely used to it. Maybe though it would be nice to serve, since it was all I knew how to do. And pleasing a master is what I was born to do….almost in a sense of a cutie mark. Except I have to in order to stay alive.”

“Are you not liking this routine of always constantly requiring honor to live?”

“If I may speak truthfully, I dislike it. Though I have accepted my form of samurai and my need to serve, it makes quite a nuisance to always require honor.”

“Have you ever tried um...reforming like the other changelings?”

“Thorax and I have discussed about this already. I am fully aware that changelings reform by giving and sharing love, yet that is my flaw. I do not understand love. And there are no reports or records of samurai reforming.”

“Well um, would you like to reform?”

“It….would sound nice.” Prey noticed the sky turning darker with night slowly approaching and the moon crawling past the horizon. He stood up and patted down his clothes of any dirt or dust. “I suppose it is time for me to go home. Thank you for the advice and food Fluttershy.” He said with a formal bow towards his master.

“Oh I didn’t really do anything much. Just kind of pointing you to an expert, it’s nothing really.”

“It is more than enough, sayonara Fluttershy.” He said spreading his wings and taking flight back towards Twilight’s Castle. Landing in front and entering the castle, he noticed how quiet it was. He didn’t want to make any unnecessary noise or echoes throughout the castle, so he quietly made his way to his room.

He reached his room and slowly opened his door and closed it behind him with slight creaks in between. He turned on the lights to reveal his room. To his surprise sitting at his table was Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. He gave the two a shocked and confused look as they could only giggle at him.

“Didn’t expect to see us in here huh?” Shining asked as Prey simply shook his head.

“A-Annooo…...Why are two here? In my room?” He asked with multiple confused thoughts swimming in his head.

“Well a little birdie told us you don’t know what ‘love’ actually is. And I think I know the expert who could help you with that. So that’s why we’re here.”

“Ah….well...I….I was planning on it actually.” He admitted with a nervous smile with sweat crawling down his head. “Fluttershy told me you were an expert, with your title being ‘Princess of Love’.”

“Don’t worry Prey, we got your back.” Shining commented as he ducked under the table and pulled out a bottle of wine. Prey gave a sour look at Shining wine bottle and sighed in disappointment. “What’s wrong? Don’t like wine?”

“Mazui…” He said in a croaky tone as he walked over to one of his chests. He opened it and pulled out a bottle of sake and a few cups. “I dislike red wine. This wine would be better. This is sake.” He said setting the bottle and cups for all the ponies. He poured a glass for each of them as Prey took the first sip. “Jaa, what can you tell me?”

Cadence took a sip of her sake and admired it’s taste first. “Wow this is pretty good. *Ahem* Well let’s start with a basic dictionary description of love.” She said as she summoned a dictionary book and opened it to a certain page. “Love is “A profoundly tender, affection towards another pony” She then closed the book and threw it behind her. “At least that’s a small start of looking at it.”

Prey nodded. “Okay.”

“Love can honestly go in a multitude of ways. For example there’s Twilight’s friendship between her friends, she’s very passionate and affectionate towards all of them. A special bond that links the six together in more than simply liking each other, but more of becoming one item in a sense of kinship.”

“I….suppose I see that. They are simply treating each other as if they are siblings almost.”

“In a sense yea. It also helps that they’ve all known each other for years. The same is also applied to family as well. Shining Armor and I have known Twilight for years, and we love her with all of our hearts.”

“I see. Are there more versions or different views of love?”

“Well there’s always loving non-pony kind. Other than loving a griffon, a dragon, or even a changeling, we can all love other things. Such as loving our actions or objects around us.” She stated making Prey raise his eyebrow. “In a sense, it's almost like like having fun, except one can be a lot more expressive or passionate about it for a specific reason. For example, I love pastries because they are very sweet.”

“Or me loving jazz music for it’s style that appeals towards me.” Shining said giving his own opinion.

“Right, like that. Tell me Prey, is there anything you ‘love’ or love doing?”

“Hmm.” He scratched his chin, thinking back on his life on what he did which was more enjoyable than other things. “I suppose I love taking care of my swords. Cleaning, sharpening, and maintaining them, as they are a part of who and what I am. As well as some treats and drinks, like sake.”

“I can see why you love sake.” Cadence commented taking another sip of sake making Prey chuckle a bit.

“I do enjoy sake quite a bit more than other drinks. I have tried beer before and I like it, but I prefer sake more. Is that a way of love?”

“Eh kind of. Loving something like this has to make you feel extremely passionate about it. Like why do you like sake?”

“Ah kore wa yasashi. The reason is because it is smooth and dry, yet sweet and sometimes milky. And can be enjoyed in a multitude of ways. In fact my favorite part of sake is some stories behind the drink.”

“Really, like what?”

“Hah, well this was in the samurai records. Long ago before samurai were plentiful, only a few lived in the kingdom. One day a massive strong dragon managed to best a few samurai and was about to destroy the kingdom. But a lone samurai managed to defeat him not with a blade or brute strength, but with sake.

“He was a special samurai. Like any other he was strong, but his smarts were stronger. He took a specialty to making sake, more powerful than any other sake. He defeated it by simply brewing a powerful sake and offered it to the dragon in terms of surrender. Luckily, the dragon wasn’t smart so he took the bait.

“The dragon got drunk and fell asleep, giving the samurai an easy victory as he slayed the dragon with no effort. And from there, sake was considered almost a sacred drink. Of course this was dated back ages ago, long before Chrysalis. Now and later on after that era, sake would either become more or less sacred. Currently it is a lot less, which is how I have it here. This was given to me by a simple citizen of the kingdom, made it himself and is currently selling it to the public.”

The two ponies could only softly clap at the story. “That’s quite the story, kind of like a children’s story.” Cadence commented with a smile. “But after what you told us, I'm pretty sure you definitely love sake.”

Prey smiled and took another sip of sake. “Well that is good to know, but I feel as if there’s more.”

“Yes, there is.” Cadence and Shining Armor then held a hand together, staring deep into each other’s eyes, smiling. “There is this kind of love, true love. This one is the longest to explain, but it’ll be worth it.”

Prey sighed and grinned as he shot down his cup of sake. “Well then, let us begin.”

Author's Note

Chotto Matte Kudasai = Please wait a moment

Yoshi = Great! or Yes!

Anooo... = Ummmm, or Errrrr, or well...

Mazui = Disgusting

Jaa = Alright, or Well then

kore wa yasashi = That is easy.

Here's another chapter where Prey is still learning. Hope you enjoyed .
This one took me a bit, but I'm still going strong.