Two days had passed since Aran and Applebloom arrived at the tavern. The little filly had spent most of her time outside, but always within earshot of the inn. Though she had finally received some form of recognition, Applebloom still felt largely ignored by Aran, but she had decided to just suck it up and not complain. It did however, make her feel very lonely since the minotaurs wouldn't even acknowledge her with the exception of Volkar, but she knew he was only doing it because she was with Aran. Though she at times regretted her choice to stay with the human, she still came to the conclusion that being with Aran had its perks as well. Back at the farm, she woke up very early to do her part for the Apple orchard and then go to school. Secretly, she hated it. Waking up before the sun had even crossed over the horizon to help her sister and brother, quickly followed by her dashing off to school without a moments rest, only to endure the harassment of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon upon her arrival. The only upside was that she could get a little support and cheering up from her friends. However, it was mostly just temporary. When she was with Aran, he mostly let her do whatever she wanted to do. Unfortunately, this did not help the filly with the predicament of whether she wanted to go back or not. While it wasn't as warm and friendly as Equestria, she did feel more alive and free than she had back home.
Applebloom was making her way back to the tavern where she saw that the caravan that Aran and Volkar had mentioned had finally arrived. Entering the tavern, the filly saw Aran talking to a minotaur who was holding an orange colored drink and had a confident smile plastered on his face. He sat down with the table against his back and resting his left arm on its surface as he faced the human.
"You’re enjoying this a little too much don't you think?" Aran spoke out against the smug posture.
"When I originally gave you the offer, you told me to shove it up my ass, but I knew you would come around. And now that you have, I'm going to make the most of out of it”. he said, ignoring Aran’s comment and taking a sip of his drink. “You need a roof over your head, and I need someone to protect my merchandise from bandits and roadside animals." He said, twirling the drink in the glass and taking another sip.
"Are you really asking me to do what I think you want me to do?" Aran stated covering his face like he was almost about to cry in shame.
Korvax laughed. "Just swallow your pride and do it."
After heaving a great sigh, Aran went down on his knees and lowered his head, gritting his teeth and showing off his canines. "Please, please 'pleease' Korvax, let me work for you." Aran felt how the last remaining ounce of dignity left him as he begged the minotaur.
Korvax took a moment to let it sink in before he laughed and raised his hand, letting Aran stand up again. "See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?" Aran quickly jumped back on his feet and with a very angry scowl stared at the two other minotaurs who were snickering behind him.
"Alright, lets get the fuck out of here, I'm done with this place." Korvax obliged and quickly left the tavern whilst Aran was left behind to grab his small collection of items. Applebloom ran upstairs and put on her saddlebag that weighed even more with the recent added supplies to it. Most of it being pouches of water. The medicine to treat the poison in Aran's body, had almost all been used up and now the question came down to if it had been enough to completely flush the poison out of his system. Running back down and meeting up with Aran, they gave Volkar one last wave before they made their way towards the caravan waiting outside. Applebloom stayed close by Aran's side as he helped her climb up onto the humungous caravan, perfectly sized for minotaurs and humans. Scooching up to a horse who was snoozing in the corner, Aran took his seat opposite from the horse, Applebloom jumped up on the seat, and laid on her stomach.
"Get some rest, it's going to be a long trek towards Magmar." He said, keeping his gaze straight forward. Applebloom did just that and closed her eyes to get some shut-eye, but just as she got comfortable, a chilling wind blew through the holes of the caravan. The little filly shuddered from the cold. This caught the attention of Aran. Taking a long deep breath, he lifted Applebloom with one arm and placed her closer to his lap. "Stay close to me, I'll keep you warm." He said, not trying to make a big deal out of it. Applebloom instantly felt a lot better from the care she was given by him, snuggling closer for warmth.
***
"You can't do this Shining! Have you already forgotten what happened just a week ago?" Cadence protested, with equal parts grief and frustration in her heart.
"Cadence, you know that I have a duty as captain of the guard to protect the citizens of Equestria.” Shining Armor replied as he continued to don his armor. His back was turned to Cadance, with a dark expression of determination on his face. “A little filly has been kidnapped by that thing that almost killed me, imagine what pain she must be going through as its captive!"
At that point Cadence wanted with all her heart to shout at her husband for talking about Aran as if he was some sort of monster, but she knew that she had to keep her knowledge of Aran a secret. "What about me? Are you going to risk making me a grieving widow after just three months of marriage?"
Shining Armor took big offense to Cadence's outburst. "You talk as if I stand no chance against him!" He snapped back at her, snorting a bit.
Cadence sighed. "Thats why I’m worried, You're volunteering because you feel as if you need to prove something, you don’t need to prove anything to anyone, or yourself for that matter!"
The Captain turned his back to his wife."I have to do it Cadence, If you had seen what I saw, you would understand, it’s nothing but a beast, and it will never stop!"
"No, you're throwing away everything for revenge! Don't make the same mistake twice. You volunteered to lead the mission to the Everfree forest because you were hoping to get the opportunity to take him down and you almost lost your life. Do you ever think about how devastated Twilight and I would be if you-"
"If I what? Died!?” shining practically roared at his wife. “I lost 19 good stallions who I've known as long as I've known you, some even longer!" Shining at this point couldn't take it anymore, he had to get out of there before their argument just became a pointless shouting contest.
Cadence, left in their room, stood there in shock as her husband walked away from her. Tears started to hit the floor as she began to sob quietly.
***
Aran was sitting in the lonely cell, feeling rejuvenated, sitting with his legs crossed, he awaited her arrival. It was close to midnight now and still there was no sign of anyone coming to visit him. After a while, doubts started to manifest in his mind, maybe she changed her mind about seeing him. But a few minutes later, his doubts were allayed as a bright blue light appeared from the pitch black darkness. Blinded by the light, he raised his arms to protect his eyes from the intense flash. When the light was gone, Aran removed his hands from his eyes and saw the pink alicorn holding a dim candle along with a basket of food that was even bigger than last time prepared for him. Instantly going into a frenzy state from hunger, Aran threw himself at the bars, trying to reach the basket. Cadence jumped back slightly in shock. She hadn’t expect such an aggressive greeting. After a few seconds, she realized that he was trying to grab the basket rather than trying to attack her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you startled me." She said, trying to laugh it off.
The human snapped out of the hunger induced state and stopped trying to grab the basket in favour of facing the alicorn. "I'm surprised that you showed up, I was almost beginning to think you wouldn't come." He stated with an attempt at nonchalance even though his eyes flickered towards the basket of much needed food.
Cadence grimaced apologetically. "I'm sorry I'm late, I had to be careful not to draw suspicion." An awkward silence fell over the two, as they contemplated each other. "Well, now that I am here, how about I ask you some questions?” Cadence asked. “I stay by my stance from our previous encounter, I'd love to get to know you a little better!" Cadence spoke, with a tone full of something that Aran had almost completly forgotten. Optimism.
"You hand over the food and I'll humor you." Aran spoke, opening the palm of his right hand as a demand. In an instant, the light blue flash returned on a smaller scale and the basket landed on his demanding hand. The moment he got the food, he followed his instincts and proceeded to eat as much as he could.
Cadence took a few steps closer and put the candle closer to the bars to give them both some better vision of each other. She took a seat close to the bars, but still out of arm's reach. "Now that I've fulfilled my part, could you tell me your name?"
Wiping the juices of the recently devoured fruits from his lips, Aran paused in realization. "My name...My name-" Cadence waited in anticipation for the answer. Slightly rubbing his temples, he tried to remember his name. It had been a long time since someone last used it, and with the constant use of magic forced on his mind, it was a challenge just to remember his name. "My name… is Aran." Cadence was slightly let down by the build-up, she had expected something more… well, more. But she wouldn't really complain about an alien's name, especially one she was trying to win over.
"Well then Aran, can you tell me where you live or if you have a family?" She said, starting with the basics of small talk. Aran tried to remember but as he did he felt as if a hot nail was ramming into the back of his skull. Cringing in pain and barely able to keep himself from roaring in agony, Aran grasped his head, squeezing it as hard as he could in an attempt to alleviate his suffering. Cadence quickly saw this and rushed over to heal him, like she had done before. Charging her horn with the same spell as then, but applying more power to it this time, Aran’s body faintly glowed light blue for a short moment until the spell’s effects quickly dissipated.
The human almost fell face first on the ground, barely catching himself while gasping for air as sweat started to pour down, he slowly lifted his head and looked gratefully at Cadence in the eye. "Thank you..." As he spoke. Cadence immediately stepped away from the bars again, Aran was confused by the sudden defensive posture.
Cadence stood in anticipation, waiting for the human to pounce at the bars again. After she stood there for about five seconds, Cadence blinked and took notice of the questioning stare Aran was giving her. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She smiled, taking a few steps forward again. "I thought you were going to do what you-...Never mind!" She said, hoping Aran wouldn't take offense. The tortured, scarred and starved human didn't really prioritize pride in his current situation. "Can you remember anything now?" Cadence asked, hoping to quickly forget her previous action.
Aran carefully tried to remember something from his own world to test out if her spell had done the trick. "Yes, It's much better now." Sitting back down and taking a few bites out of the food that was still lying in the basket, Aran took a long and drawn out breath before he continued. "I lived in a quiet neighbourhood, with my mom and older brother… or at least I did..."
Cadence was surprised at the simple answer, once again she had expected something more dramatic. she started to get a sinking feeling in her gut along with a slight feeling of guilt. The so-called human in front of her seemed completely harmless. she forced the feeling into the back of her mind, maybe she just needed to ask more questions. "Could you specify a bit more?" Cadence once again asked.
It took a few seconds before Aran responded. "I have two older brothers and a sister. I can’t remember much about them other than their occupation and lifestyle." Cadence leaned closer in curiosity, Aran noticed this and answered the question he knew she was going to ask. "My oldest brother has a family of his own to take care of, and my sister is a teacher and lives alone."
Cadence's eyes widened and the sinking feeling returned. More and more she was starting to doubt her previous assumptions about the human and his kind. From what she had heard from her aunt, humans were cruel war mongerers whose conflicts would end in the casualties of millions of soldiers and civilians alike. They could create explosions the size of Equestria that would leave the earth forever poisoned, commit atrocities that even the windigoes would balk at. But now that she was actually talking to him, she realized that Celestia must either have either exaggerated the bad and overlooked the good or, perish the thought, had outright lied about the species. Still she pressed on, determined to find out the truth. "What about you and your other brother?"
"I was a bit too young to leave home, and my other brother...Before I came here, the last and biggest thing that happened was that he got his degree in medicine."
Cadence was just grabbing at straws at this point as she couldn't find out what and why Celestia would treat this seemingly innocent creature like a monster. And as the human began to look more and more like a victim of circumstance, Cadence started to believe more and more that her aunt might not have told her the truth. "And...Your mother?" Cadence asked, barely able to keep her original cheery smile.
"She...-" Aran felt the pain return again, but rather than the hot nails of last time it was more of a slight pinch. However, his mind already knew the answer. Though it still took a moment to respond, once again slightly rubbing his temples. "She works at the post-office." A few seconds passed, Cadence just stood there, staring at the sad creature, before, not being to take it any longer, she cast a teleportation spell. In a flash, Cadence disappeared from the dark cell only to reappear in her own bathroom in front of her toilet with a heavy nauseous feeling about to take over.
***
The caravan rolled on, Korvax leading it on their journey. While the minotaur was busy, Aran was grabbing some shut eye. His new job would take much from him, he would need to be at full strength at a blink of an eye. Applebloom however was barely staying warm, laying close to Aran had helped her a lot. But the cold winter winds felt as if they were cutting right through his arm and straight to her bones.
At this time, the white fur coated horse that was sharing the caravan with them, was starting to wake up. As she gasped for air and slowly returned to the real world, she was surprised to see the human in her caravan, she had seen him before, but not up close like this, what also caught her attention, was the little pony filly next to the big human.
"Howdy?" Applebloom hesitantly greeted.
"Hello there, little one!" The mare returned exuberantly, leaning forwards towards the filly. "I see you two are the new addition to our traveling family, Welcome, welcome!" She said with a very warm sense of joy to see her new traveling companions. The mare quickly moved towards her baggage and took out a box of treats for the little filly to snack on. "Here, take one!" She smiled politely.
"Whats that?" Applebloom asked, taking a small look and sniff at the weirdly shaped pastries.
"Its called baklava, its a treat from my home country. Try one, the squared ones are my favorite." Applebloom took second look at the pastries presented in front of her, they looked like nothing she had ever seen, but she didn't want to be rude towards this very friendly and open mare who just by first glance, was already treating her like family. The filly decided to go with the direction that she was being hinted to and took the one that the mare had recommended. To her surprise, Applebloom was shocked to find out while the treat was very, very sweet, it was also very tasty. "Do you like it...- Oh forgive me, I haven't even introduced myself. I am Anzja, what is your name little one?" She asked, once again keeping her warm and kind smile plastered on her face.
"Ahm Applebloom!" She responded with the same vibe as the horse.
"Well, Applebloom, I'm happy to see that you like my baklava." She took a glance at the sleeping human. "I would be happy to give one to your friend here, but I wish not to wake him and summon his wrath." She said, with a slight hint of humor. The dry blood stained axe was a big ‘Go away’ sign for anyone that wanted to bother the human. "I have to say, I'm surprised, one so innocent would travel with one so dangerous. Not that I disapprove of your companionship, I am merely curious to see you two together on your journey."
Applebloom smiled and glanced at Aran. "He might look scary, but ahm telling the honest truth when I say that he's a nice fella. Ah wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him." The white mare smiled at the poor filly, they were both already growing on each other. "Can ah have another?" Anzja nodded and Applebloom leaned forward to take another treat. However, the caravan came to a sudden stop, causing Applebloom to fall over and hit the floor.
"Whats going on?" One of the others called out from a distance.
Without saying a word, Aran's bloodshot eyes opened up as he quickly jumped out with his axe ready to cleave any who would dare cross him. Aran dashed towards the head of the caravan and saw Korvax and his lackeys carefully studying two huge black bears down the valley, about twice the size of the human and minotaur, the first one was obviously female due to its lacking size, the other a full-grown male. "Jesus, those are some big treefuckers." Aran commented. Korvax turned around with his trademark grin and looked at at the human, expecting him to do his job. "Alright, I'm on it." Taking a big drawn out breath, Aran was already contemplating a plan to take the bears out. Applebloom had also strolled up behind him as the minotaurs and human continued to watch the bears up ahead. "Applebloom, yer up." The filly kicked the ground in agitation, she didn't think she was going to be used as live bait so soon again. "Yeah, yeah, stop whining and let’s go."
It had taken about five minutes for Applebloom and Aran to trek down to the valley and by then, Aran had formed a semi-decent plan in his head. The both lowered themselves in the tall foliage and stared at their targets "By now, they've probably caught our scent. We need to separate the big one and take him out accordingly, if I'd go charge down blindly swinging, chances are they'd get in a clean swipe or bite which would cost me more than it’s worth in the long run." Applebloom nodded, she wasn't in the business of doubting someone who had more experience dealing with these kind of situations. Aran pondered for a second on how he was going to separate the two. "There are two ways this will go down, either the male will let the female do the hunting, or he'll take charge. I need you to position yourself, and if the bears run together, I want you to tire them out, you're a pony so you can run a longer distance than they can, so just tire them out, and when I see one of them fall behind, I'll finish ‘em off. Got it?" Applebloom gulped as she hesitantly nodded and went ahead, down to the bears. Aran's job was to stay out of sight until the hunt began.
Applebloom could already see the bears looking at her from a distance. Her hooves were shivering but she kept her mind focused. If she tripped, she'd become their dinner. Regaining control of her body, she boldly got closer and closer until they started approaching her. She could hear the bigger one roaring as its pace increased. For Applebloom, it was time to start running. She zigzagged but kept at a reasonable pace to keep the two animals interested in her. They weren't that fast, and in fact, they were much slower than the timberwolves that had hunted her a few days ago. But after she had let them get a bit closer, their pace started to drastically increase. Applebloom's previous confidence of outrunning the bears was beginning to fade away. The smaller one was gaining on her, leaving the filly with no choice but to pick up the pace, she was tempted to look back to see if Aran was on his way, but if she did that she could risk tripping over and letting the chase end right there, with a jaw of sharp teeth clenched around her neck. However, her time with the human had taught her to prioritize her objectives, right now, all she need to do was to have faith that he would come when she needed. The pair kept running at an ever faster pace now, the bigger one was looking like it was spriting with all that it had. It was obvious that it was going to catch up with her if she didn't also give it her all. Applebloom ran as fast as her hooves could carry her, sweat dripping from her brow. She kept running in a circle around the entire field, over and over again. But every time she glanced at her side, she saw that the smaller bear had reached its limit and had slowed down, Applebloom was grateful, for this meant that any second now Aran would take care of it. The bigger one however, was still catching up to the filly, even with her top speed. Her heart started to panic as she tried pushing herself harder. It wasn't a question of endurance, but if she could outmatch its sprinting capabilities with her relentless galloping.
“APPLEBLOOM!” Aran’s voice called out.
***
Aran saw how the filly was being chased by the two bears. His time was up, which meant that he had to make his way down the valley to the field. He had already planned his way through the valley, so as to avoid being spotted by the bears. Everytime Applebloom had gone a lap, keeping bears’ backs to him, he jumped from one point of cover to the next. From tall grass, to old rocks just sitting there and to even bushes, large enough to hide behind. Aran took a slight peek to see that while the bigger bear was catching up to the filly, the smaller one was starting to walk back, most likely it had caught his scent and wanted to look for different prey. He understood how the bears’ instincts worked and the patriarchal order of the males eating before the female. and with winter approaching, they were most likely grabbing their last meal before heading off to their long slumber.
Aran looked up from cover and saw that the smaller bear was heading towards him, a grin that would have unnerved a cockatrice spread across his lips as he could practically taste the bear’s blood. Letting the beast’s curiosity bring it closer and closer to the tree, where he was hiding, he waited for the bear to come into range of a quick kill, it with as little risk on his part as possible. When the bear was but meters away, Aran made his move. He immediately threw himself forward from his cover and ran towards the bear with his axe raised slightly above his shoulder. The bear, registering the human as a threat, instinctively raised itself on it’s hind legs in an attempt at intimidating the attacking man. This was however it’s downfall as Aran had anticipated the move. While it was busy trying to measure the threat, the human covered the last of the distance between the two before making a powerful overhead swing with the axe aimed at the bear’s left shoulder. With a normal axe this would have caused a grievous wound but would also have left the axe stuck in it’s flesh, possibly leading to the human losing his weapon. Unfortunately for the bear, this was not a normal woodcutter-axe. The head of the axe traveled through the bear’s thick winter fat and muscle with ease and the bones had little more resistance to offer when the axe met the bone.
The shoulder shattered and the ribs broke with a quick series of wet cracks before the axe left it’s flesh but the damage was done. With a single swing the human had cleaved the bear’s shoulder, completely torn open the left side of it’s ribcage and even sliced apart the lung beneath. The bear leaped back in anguish, giving a weak swing with it’s remaining arm but Aran had already taken a step back, knowing that it was over. The bear tried to go down on all fours to try to get away from the human but as it couldn't support itself on it’s left side or even breathe properly as it’s left lung was cut open and filled with blood, it collapsed almost immediately. Aran wasted no time and walked up next to the bear as it weakly tried to crawl away from him. He raised the axe again and struck the bear’s neck, severing it’s head and killing it instantaneously.
Aran held down the corpse with his foot and pulled out the axe with a wet squelch that would make anyone who heard it think of the color red. Now that the first bear was down, Aran had to take down the other before it would catch up to the filly.
“APPLEBLOOM!” He called out as he saw that the huge bear was just seconds away from reaching her. The young filly quickly took a leap to the side, just narrowly avoiding the bears frighteningly big claws. With Aran in sight, Applebloom felt a newfound strength as she ran faster than before, Aran, also started to run straight towards her. The bear was roaring behind the little filly as it was once again gaining on her, the only edge she had was her stamina. But at last, salvation came as Aran reached her. Jumping over the filly and taking a wide left sided swing against its head, only for the axe to completely miss it’s face, instead nicking its thick shoulder that only wounded it. The bear’s initial reaction like the previous one was to quickly run away from the human to re-asses the new threat.
Aran and Applebloom took a few seconds to catch their breath. As the bear finally stopped retreating, it stood up on its hind legs to measure itself compared to its prey. Seeing it overwhelmed the human in size, it went back on all fours. Aran carefully approached the bear with his axe ready as ever. The bear growled at the human in an effort to intimidate him. However, its threats landed on insane ears as Aran was not backing down. The human responded with a loud and deafening roar that dwarfed the bears growl. The huge beast lunged forward and tried to grab Aran with its massive fangs. But his quick and paranoid reflexes made him jump back and responded with a blind side-strike that missed its target once again. In the bear’s view this looked to it much like when one of the mountain lions tried to steal it’s prey, using it’s smaller and faster body to avoid its attacks while swiping at the bear’s face with it’s claws. But the bear was an experienced fighter, and knew what worked best against such tactics.
The moment his blind strike missed, the bear charged forward with its full body, aiming to pin the human under it’s overwhelming mass and maul him. While this would have worked against a mountain lion, it would prove flawed against the human’s ability to move and attack simultaneously. Aran once again leaped backwards and struck again the same way. This time however, striking the bears neck. Although no major damage was inflicted it caused the bear to falter, stopping the bear’s attack. Blood was rapidly pouring out of its wound, though it wouldn’t be lethal, it would give the human an edge and give the bear a taste of self-preserving fear. Aran went on the offensive, wildly swinging his axe in front of him, all while screaming at the top of his lungs to scare it away. The moment he had been waiting for showed up when the bear turned its massive body to walk away, having come to the conclusion that the prey wasn’t worth the trouble. Aran however wouldn’t let it leave, so he charged towards the bear’s blind spot. The human threw himself forward and swung the axe downwards over his head. With gravity adding to his already considerable strength, he struck it’s spine just below the shoulder blades, cutting through the spine and stopping only when the handle impacted flesh, leaving the blade halfway through its back.
The bear lost control of its lower legs and gave out a disturbing high pitch roar of anguish as it could barely even utter the pain it was experiencing. The bear was defeated, effective lame below the point where he had severed it’s spine and would soon die from internal bleeding and having it’s main artery severed. Still, in a rare act of mercy, Aran took out his axe for another swing, this one aimed at it’s neck. Like the previous one it cut through its thick spine with ease, killing it without any more suffering. Aran stood there a while, legs trembling with excess adrenaline as he let go of the axe with his left hand, holding it only with his right hand. He then dropped down on his hands and knees with the axe still in a tight grip. As the adrenaline left him he started to feel the exhaustion the battle had caused and needed a few seconds to recover. The only thing he could do was stare at the axe in amazement. Any other weapon, like a hammer or sword would have merely scratched the bear if it had even been able to pierce the thick winter fat. But the enchanted axe had sliced through the female bear like butter and would have cut through the entire male bear had the handle not stopped it: the damage that the blow towards the male bear was two feet of fat, muscle and bone. And that was with the handle stopping it.
***
Applebloom had seen her companion do amazing feats, but this was both jaw-droppingly impressive and blood-chillingly terrifying. Even though she trusted Aran, she dared not approach him. “Go back to the Caravan and tell Korvax it’s done!” Aran said between heavy breaths. Applebloom didn’t argue with him or ask question, she just did what he told her to do. Applebloom trotted back up the valley, It took a few minutes until she was back with the others who were anticipating her arrival. Anzja was also there, waiting for her new pony friend.
“Its done.” Applebloom spoke with a slight tone of apathy behind it, like she had gotten used to being in mortal danger. Korvax waved off his companion to go back to their caravans and keep traveling down the zig zag dirt road down the valley. Applebloom went in her Caravan and saw how Anzja had a look of worry about her but right now, all that the the little filly could care about was resting. Being almost caught and eaten by bears had understandably tired her out. Anzja chose not to disturb the filly let her get some rest while the caravan kept moving. A few minutes later, Aran rejoined the caravan and jumped onto the cart after a short stop. The filly was half-way asleep as the human took his seat. He scooped the tired filly up on his lap and put his arm around her.
“You did good Applebloom, you did good.” He murmured tiredly before falling asleep himself.