Big Mac's groans of pain echoed throughout the air as Caramel and Applejack hoisted him into a cart. Without a word, Caramel hooked himself up to the reins and pulled Applejack's big brother off to Ponyville hospital. This was her fault. She'd bought that demon here, she had let it get close to Big Mac and she had let him provoke it. Now, her brother was being wheeled off to hospital with scars that would stay with him for the rest of his days. Yes, he'd get better, but he would never lose those scars . They would stay there, like some horrifying misplaced cutie mark, as a constant reminder of how she had screwed up. Every time she would look at him, her eyes would flick to those teeth marks, and she would recall how she had given them to him. She knew, from the moment she looked upon that unnaturally twisted wound, that she'd never live this down. He would come back, and she had no doubt that he would forgive her instantly, because that's just who he was, but she would never be able to forgive herself. Now, every time they struck up a conversation, every time he offered to bail her out of her chores and every time they made those stupid little brother-to-sister bets, she would look at those scars, and no matter how much she told him she was sorry, and no matter how much he said he forgave her, the guilt, the soul crushing guilt would never leave her alone. She would carry its burden forever, like some irremovable little tumor.
That damned wolf.
She gave it a home, and this was how it repaid her? She should have listened to Granny Smith's stories! She had told her time and time again about how she was chased through Everfree by those rotten things during the first Zap Apple season, and that you should never trust a timber wolf. At the time, Applejack had just written her grandma's ramblings off as old mare's tales, but now, she could see the wisdom in her words. That was no animal she brought home, that was a monster.
What can I say? I'm terrible at first impressions.
Applejack had gone and hog tied me and put me in the barn. Seriously, she actually hog tied me, I mean who hog ties a wolf? *Sigh* The hickness is strong in this one. Anyways, I feel like I'm off to a pretty crap start here, it's been... what? Seven minutes? And the chances are I'm already on everypony's shit-list. Ah well, it's not like I was all that popular back in Everfree, so I'm more or less used to being despised. Bring on the hate, bitches!
...
Well, I'm bored. There's surprisingly little you can do whilst hog tied in a barn. Actually, there's surprisingly little you can do in a barn, period.
Heh heh, period...
...
"YOU"
"HOLY CRAP!"
My heart nearly burst out of my chest and skidded across the floor as a loud and commanding voice roared behind me, or rather, a bark. Let me explain briefly. You know when a dog starts yapping in the middle of the night and refuses to shut up? Well, that's because they're chatting with their pal a couple of blocks away. You see, the Canines of Equestria have their own language, which can be spoken in a variety of ways. Don't try to understand it, this is Equestria, not Everfree forest. Shit starts getting crazy the second you're past the tree line. Clouds stop moving on their own, animals lose all ability to look after themselves (which, in my opinion, is down to plain laziness) and evidently, Canines can talk to each other. End of the day, it happens. Deal with it.
"Y'all listen to me, ah seen what you pulled with Big Mac out there," The voice was stern, and strong, yet at the same time feminine, alot like Applejack's "and ah just wanna say, if you go pullin' anythang like that again," A paw came to rest on the small of my back, it's sharp nails scraping across my carapace threateningly "well, there won't be enough left of you for firewood, understand, partner?"
I could tell from that powerful voice alone that this was NOT someone I wanted to screw with.
"Uh, yes ma'am?"
The paw withdrew from my back, and the mystery speaker circled round, into my line of sight. Woah. Smooth brown and pale white fur, strong leg muscles rippling under her no doubt soft coat, liquid brown eyes glaring at me with contempt, perfectly white teeth formed into a snarl... Somebody call up Jarik, because one of his maidens must have fallen out of heaven and landed right in front of me. Said maiden raised an eyebrow suspiciously when she noticed me gawking at her awe inspiring beauty.
"Why're y'all starin' at me like that?"
Crap! She's talking to me! Quick, think of something awesome to say!
"... You have really nice leg muscles..."
She stared at me, the snarl dropping from her beautiful face and replaced with a look of confusion. She raised an eyebrow suspiciously, her jaw hanging slightly open. What? Didn't dogs get timber wolf pickup lines?
"Ah'm just gonna forget you gone said that." She muttered, turning her back on me and making her way towards the exit. Damn, she's leaving! Quick, hit her with another batch of charm!
"Uum, you look like a skilled killer! Your genes are very admirable! I'm a very experienced hunter!... Uh, if you were a booger I'd pick you first?" She continued towards the barn doors, tensing up more and more with every sentence of pure romance I threw at her. What the hell? My foolproof pickup lines are failing me, this is impossible! Okay, time to break out the heavy hitters.
"Your hips look very adequate for child bearing, our offspring would by no doubt be very healthy!"
She pivoted on her heels, briskly walking towards me. HaHA, success! Man, she looks pissed... And that is so hot. She closes the gap between us, her tail hanging dead between her legs and her eyes a pair of gorgeous mocha slits. Oh yeah, somebody's an angry puppy, and I can so get into that.
Don't judge me, I can get turned on by whatever the hell I want.
Without warning she swiftly cuffs me across the face with a paw. My newly bruised cheek goes numb, and the slight tinge of blood tickles the back of my tongue. My arousal dies away almost immediately. Of all the sick and twisted things that get me horny, being struck is not one of them.
"Y'all better watch yer mouth round here, cuz ah ain't got no time fer foul-mouths, ya hear?"
"Ooow... I guess so... Sorry"
"Apology accepted" She muttered angrily as she slipped out of the half open barn doors.
And I didn't even get her name, damn. Note to self, dogs do not like timber wolf pickup lines. I can't understand why not, though. I merely stated that she was probably a very good killer, that she had good genes, and that she'd make a great mating partner. Boom, romance in a nutshell. I dunno, maybe Equestrian views on pairing differed from the rest of the animal kingdom.
"Is Winona gone?" Whispered a voice from behind a nearby hay bale.
Great, more company.
"Yeah, the coast is clear."
The scampering of little hooves drummed into my ears as two foals and a hooved chicken wandered into my view. The first was a white unicorn with a pink stripe running through her otherwise purple mane (A little sidenote, ponies are really into effed up manes, whether they dye it or are just born with it that way is unknown to me, although neither would surprise me). She bore a striking resemblance to that other pony I saw this morning when I woke up, the one that looked remarkably like a marshmallow. The second one, I noticed almost immediately. It was the same foal who'd asked me to stop mauling her douchebag of a brother. Unlike her two friends, she wore a look of uncertainty rather than interest, she was probably a bit worried that I'd do to her what I did to her brother. Clever girl. The third was some kind of horrifying hybrid of chicken and pony, what the hell were the gods thinking when they whipped up this concoction.
"Scootaloo! Be careful, don't ya remember what it did ta mah brother?" Warned the redhaired little foal.
"Oh relax, it's all tied up, see?" The mutant chicken pointed a hoof towards my restraints "It ain't hurting nopony". The orange coated... Thing slapped a hoof on my shoulder to prove her point. Ouch, my pride felt that one, big time. The chicken-esque filly's bold statement seemed to calm the nerves of her friends, as the unicorn and earth pony both began to close in on me.
"Wow, look at those teeth."
"Forget about those teeth, take a look at those eyes!"
"Do ya reckon he's made of wood on the inside as well?"
"Hey look! He's missing a leg." chimed the white one with a small, bemused giggle, examining the bandaged stump that used to be my leg. Argh! Another sucker punch to my pride. Yes, I'm deformed, I'm broken, I'm a bloody freak! How fucking observant of you. Think I need someone laughing their ass off at me about it? God damnit, I feel so fricking degraded. I used to be a hunter, a fearsome beast lurking through the depths of Everfree, striking fear into the hearts and minds of others. Just look at me now, I'm tied up in the middle of a beaten-up old barn, being laughed at by foals like some kind of sideshow attraction.
I turn my face away from the three foals in a pathetic little attempt to hide my shame, whimpering quietly as I did so. My life used to mean something, I used to have a purpose. Now, I'm useless. I've lost my only true place in this god forsaken world, and the only thing that she can do is laugh. You know what? Laugh. Go ahead and laugh at me, because it looks like being laughed at is the only damned thing I'm ever going to be good at again.
However, no laughing could be heard.
Turning back to the white foal, I find her staring solemnly at me. She wore a frown so large it almost reached the tip of her chin.
"What's wrong with it?" She mused.
"Ah think ya hurt it's feelings." Answered the red haired pony.
"Thats stupid, timber wolves don't have feelings... do they?" asked the orange pegasus uncertainly, retracting her hoof from my shoulder.
"A'hm pretty sure Winona does..."
...
For a little while, everything remained silent, the three foals staring at me with those big, bulbous eyes. Slowly, the unicorn stepped forwards, into the range of my jaws. If I was snappy about it, I could probably get my teeth into her neck before she had time to react. From there on in, I could snap her neck with a quick jerk of my head. Yet, I refrained. She must have known that I was dangerous, so why risk her life by coming closer? It was at that moment she answered my question by throwing her forelegs around my neck and giving me a squeeze.
You know I've never actually been hugged before, I mean, I'm a timber wolf, so as you can imagine comforting others isn't exactly on the top of my 'to-do' list. It feels... warm? Satisfying? Cosy? I can't really explain it, other than it feels good. To hell with Cockatrice meat and all those other hallucinogens, hugging is my high. Gods, that sounded lame. Eventually, the other two decide to join in, and it turns into a good old four-way of love and affection... Wait, that came out wrong. Never mind, you get the point.
After separating from the hug the trio became a lot more, well, 'bubbly'. The pegasus/chicken, who it turns out is called 'Scootaloo', wouldn't stop tugging on my ears, those are non-detachable for a reason y'know. The unicorn, otherwise known as 'Sweetie Belle' (the parents who name these children seriously need a good ass whooping) kept on jumping up and down on my side, which seriously hurt, that girl needs to cut down on the pies, big time. The pony with the bow in her mane would constantly order me me to 'roll over', 'sit' and 'play dead'. Of course, I refused to do any of this, which only prompted her to ask more sternly.
After what seemed of hours of relentless torture, the three foals finally decided to leave me alone. They shot off after screaming something about crusading, or something like that. Thank god, a couple more minutes of that and I would have probably lost my mind.
"Hey."
Oh, great, there's still one left, the torture continues! The little redheaded earth pony, who's name is Applebloom (like I said, pony names are stupid), sat looking at me with those rose-coloured eyes of hers.
"Ah just want y'all ta know that ah forgive ya fer what you did to mah brother, after what ya did ta him ah thought y'all were a bit of a monster" A smile crossed her lips "You ain't no monster, you're a good boy!"
She reached out and began scratching behind one of my ears with a hoof. The sound of a hoof grinding against a block of wood isn't exactly the most pleasant of sounds, especially when said block of wood is your skull. Luckily, the feeling more than made up for it. It felt... ecstatic. She wasn't just scratching my head, she was scratching my freaking soul.
As she took her hoof away I couldn't help but release a satisfied sigh, much to her amusement.
"Ya know, once ya get past the scary eyes, the scars and the mean lookin' teeth, y'all ain't too bad. Ah think ah'll call you splinter, y'know, cuz yer made of wood and all, heh heh."
Isn't that cute? She gave me a moronic name of my own, just what I've always wanted.
She got to her hooves once more and headed towards the barn doors.
"Well, ah got a cutie mark ta earn, ah'll see ya later, mmkay?"
And, finally, at long last, peace.