Author's Note

This was going to read too much Like a re-skin of Tears.

Life Finds a Way

A rustle in the bramble froze Applejack. Her eyes followed her ears as she tensed to either run or fight. Living on the edge of the Everfree had kept her survival instinct sharp.

Slowly, she turned her head towards the noise. It was a slow dragging sound that she couldn’t place. She held still as the sound edged closer. Adrenalin rang her ears as the outline of a timberwolf dragged itself out of the hedgerow. Her knees bent of their own will, readying her to run, but another instant held her in pace; forced her to watch. The beast was obviously hurt; dying.

Their eyes met, but there was no hunger in the creature, no anger or rage. Instead, there was a sense of pleading coming from the animal. Applejack stood still as the timberwolf dragged itself just a foreleg’s span from her; never breaking eye contact. The creature shook, and its body sagged even more as the light in its eyes dimmed, flickered, then extinguished.

Letting out a breath, Applejack relaxed, but something in the back of her mind would not let her walk away from the corpse. Stepping closer, she jumped back again when it moved.

No, It hadn't actually moved. What was that?

Looking harder, she realized there was a small, but frantic movement coming from inside the corpse. There was something inside it, trying to escape.

This was more a job for Fluttershy, but she couldn’t let whatever poor creature the timberwolf had eaten alive die along with it. Steeling herself, Applejack laid her hooves on the wooden body and poured her strength into tearing it open.

Wood shattered and green offal stained her coat as she dove into the monster’s body. It was only when her hooves met the struggling life within that she realized what she had found. This was not a last meal, clawing back out in an act of revenge. Her hooves were not in a stomach, but a womb.

Applejack held the whimpering newborn at arms length; disgust and amazement in equal measures. Pulled free from the shattered body, the little wooden life clung to her hooves. It was weak and struggling to retain its new life. In dumb awe, Applejack stared at the pup as its green glow flickered and faded. Reflex told her to fling it into the forest and run the other direction.

Its little limbs clung desperately to her hoof as she shifted to pitch the thing. Pausing, she glanced at the little green mess of light and wood. It wasn’t clinging to life, it was clinging to her for life. To leave it alone was as good as snuffing out its light with her own hooves. A life she rescued, she now held out to destroy. The thought sent ice into her bones.

Clutching it to her chest, she looked for anything to replace her as the creature’s savior. Only the pup’s whimpers filled the silence. Applejack placed the little one under her hat and took off at a full gallop. She needed to get to Fluttershy.

“I’ve never seen a baby timberwolf before,” Fluttershy said, looking at the little creature clinging to Applejack’s ear.

Reaching up to her ear, Applejack eased the pup free and held it out to Fluttershy. “What ya suppose it eats?”

“This young... tree sap would be my only guess,” Fluttershy said as she took the pup from Applejack. It tried to protest, but only managed a weak whine. The dim-green magic from the animated twigs flickered and faded as Applejack’s hooves receded from it. “Oh dear!” Fluttershy gasped, pressing the pup back into Applejack’s hooves. “Hold it to your chest.”

Moving by command, Applejack cradled the little one to her chest. Fluttershy sighed in relief as its inner light reclaimed it's weak, but steady glow.

“It’s formed a sympathetic bond,” Fluttershy said, turning to go into the kitchen. “It’ll die if it’s not touching you. At least until we can get it stronger.”

Applejack looked down at the little life pressed against her coat. It really didn’t look like a timberwolf. Just a little ball of magic and wood. Its limbs and head little more than placeholders for what would grow in later.

“Here, give me your hoof,” Fluttershy said.

Absently, Applejack held out one hoof, while holding the little one with the other. She watched as Fluttershy put a few drops of something on her hoof.

“See if it’ll eat this.”

“What is it?” Applejack asked.

“Maple syrup.”

Offering the now-sticky hoof to the little one, Applejack chuckled as it began licking away the syrup. “How long do I need to hold him?” Applejack asked.

“Till the morning at least. If he even makes it through the night.”

“What ya mean if he makes it? He’s weak but eating. That’s a good sign, right?”

Fluttershy gave a weak smile, adding a little more syrup to Applejack’s hoof. “The first night is the roughest for newborn orphans. A lot of babies don’t wake up ... bunnies almost never do,” Fluttershy frowned, giving a little moment of silence to some memory Applejack had no intention of asking about. “I don’t know how delicate timberwolves are. Puppies usually make it... “

Shifting her hold on the little one, Applejack propped it up so it could better lick at the food. “Would it be alright if I sleep here tonight with him? No sense dragging the poor thing around the farm.”

Dawn light woke Applejack from her sleep. The strange room confused her for a moment, before memories of the previous day came back. Her gut sank as she patted herself, looking for the little one. Her hoof was still sticky from the several feedings it had woken her up for throughout the night.

Running out of places she could reach without moving, Applejack checked the space around her head. Between her ears, she found what felt like a twig stuck in her mane. She frowned at the cold stillness of it. Slowly pulling it free of her mane, she placed it on her chest. A smile spread across her face at the dull green light inside the wooden body. Its flickering had stopped, replaced with a steady glow.

Carefully getting to her hooves, Applejack kept the pup against her. “Let's get Shy to have a look at you.”

The sound of hooves downstairs told her Fluttershy was already up. Walking into the kitchen, Applejack found her cleaning up the remains of the early morning feedings. “Morning Fluttershy.”

Turning to greet her friend, Fluttershy’s expression faded from concern to joy at the sight of the pup snuggled into Applejack’s hold. “Good morning Applejack. How’s the pup?”

“Hungry little critter. Woke me up whining every few hours for more syrup. I swear that green light of his rubs off too. I could see a trail of it on me when it was really dark. But I’ll take that over poop.”

The pup stirred, and whimpered at Applejacks voice. Fluttershy laughed as Applejack adjusted her hold on it. “You stay there,” Fluttershy told her. “I’ll go get the syrup.”

“I reckon we should get Twilight to have a look at him too. He’s more magic than critter after all,” Applejack said as Fluttershy floated up the stairs.

“You’re right,” Fluttershy answered from the upper floor. “I’ll go get her after breakfast.”

Looking around the room, Applejack's eyes fell upon her saddlebag. The bundle of fresh cuttings reminded her work she’d have to start over. She’d been in the middle of grafting zap apple trees when she’d found the little one. The branches and their buds had been away from the tree too long to ever grow again, but maybe they weren’t totally wasted. Reaching down, she pulled one of the green twigs out.

“What’s that?” Fluttershy asked, walking back into the room, and sitting the bottle of maple syrup on the table.

“Branch from a zap apple tree,” Applejack answered. Setting the little one in her lap, she opened the bottle and smeared some syrup over the branch and its buds. Picking the whiny pup back up, she offered the glazed green wood to its nose.

Gnawing on the twig, it cleaned it of syrup and green bark alike. Stopping at a leaf bud, the little one tore it from the wood and chewed with obvious delight.

“I think he likes it,” Fluttershy said. “You feed him, and I’ll see about making breakfast for us.”