//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: With the Help of a Wolf 
// by bronzewolf78 
//------------------------------//

Chapter eleven

Dash still had that look of terror on her face. I tried to inch closer to her, doing my best to not look aggressive. As soon as I got close, Dash bolted for the door.
“Rainbow, hold on a sec!” Due to her injuries, I easily caught up to her, sliding in front of her and putting a hoof on her shoulder. “We need to talk about this!”
The left side of my face suddenly burned as Dash slapped me. “There’s nothing to talk about!” she shouted in her scratchy voice. “Leave me alone!”
“If you would just hold on for one god damned second, I could explain!”
“You don’t need to explain anything! You attacked me! I don’t want to talk to you!” Rainbow looked up at me, tears streaming down her face. He brushed her bangs out of her eye. “You did this!”
The left side of Rainbow’s face had a huge angry welt where four claws had swiped her. The wound went over her eye, going a little over her muzzle. I couldn’t keep the disgust off of my face, but it was mostly disgust with myself. She noticed and slapped me again, making another dash to the door. She made it through before I could catch her. I barged through the door after her.
“Dash, come on! Just gimme a chance!”
Rainbow just ran down the street. Well, hobbled really. I lowered my hoof outstretched towards her when I felt a hoof on my shoulder.
“Just let her go, dude.”
I let out a breath as I looked at the ground. “Why can’t I do anything right, Vinyl?”
“She might just need time.”
“God fucking dammit. I fucking did it again.”
“Did what?” Vinyl cautiously asked.
“I fucked up and lost another friend.” I slammed my hoof into the ground. “I knew this would happen! Aargh, I’m so mad at myself right now!”
“Dude, calm down for a second. Just take some deep breaths.”
I turned on her. “That’s not going to help!”
Vinyl grabbed me, a scowl on her face. “If you don’t calm the fuck down right now, you’re going to lose control again.”
I growled at her, realizing she could be right. I forced myself to sit down. A moment went by without either of us speaking. “…It’s not like those scabs won’t become pretty awesome scars, either.”
“Ain’t gonna lie, those would be pretty badass if she got into the Wonderbolts.”
I sighed. “So what now then? I lose almost everyone I know as friends and I’m portrayed a freak?” I glanced at Vinyl out of the corner of my eye. Her glasses masked most of her expression, and her mouth was a straight line.
“We’ll get through this. Don’t freak too much.”
“Not the best word choice, Scratch.”
“Hey, we got word back from my parents, by the way.”
I looked up from the ground and at Vinyl’s grin. “I forgot about them. What’d they say?”
“They wanted to try the flight goggles again. And if that doesn’t work, ‘find a spell or something’.”
I brought a hoof to my face. “That’s not very helpful.”
Vinyl shrugged. “Oh, and word on the street is that the CMC are looking for you.”
The who? It took a second, but the memory of the three fillies at Pinkie’s party came back. “Those three little troublemakers?”
“Yeah. Good luck with them. One time they decided they wanted to get their marks in music and drove Octavia crazy for a day.” The DJ chuckled at the memory.
I smiled. “That would have been fun to watch.”
“You better believe it was!”
“So what are you doing the rest of the day, Scratch? You and grey sexy over there have a date?” I motioned toward the window, where the mare in question could still be seen sitting at the table, sipping at a drink.
“I wish,” Vinyl said, looking into the window. “I actually have to spin tonight.”
“Is there a club here? I haven’t seen one yet.”
“No, it’s in Canterlot. I was supposed to leave yesterday, but somepony had to discover his gift with perfect timing!” Vinyl looked back at me, a sarcastic grin settling on her features. I gave her my best not amused face. “That was a joke. You’re supposed to laugh,” Vinyl went on, punching me in the shoulder.
“So how are you getting there before tonight? Teleport?”
The DJ barked a laugh. “Hah, I wish. I’m not strong enough for that. The train’ll be fine. But I gotta go, I still need to get my stuff ready. I’ll see you later, ok?”
“Later, Scratch. Have fun.”
After the blue hair turned a corner, I looked back inside. Octavia was looking at me expectantly.
“I still have to talk to you, you know.”
Yeah, I know. Get off my back.
Bronze let out a huff as I opened the café door, settling himself down into a comfortable position. I made my way back to Octavia’s table.
“Well, that certainly could have gone better.”
“I still don’t understand what I did wrong.” I rested my head on the table.
Octavia raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, for starters, grabbing her and yelling at her when she obviously didn’t want to be here probably wasn’t the best of ideas.”
“Can it, smartass.”
Octavia huffed. “Look, I’m trying to be helpful. I might even be able to help you with your wolf side.”
That made me look up at her. “Really?”
She gave me a small smile. “I will not lie to you; it will be a challenge and it will be mostly on you. But I will give my assistance when possible.”
“Awesome! When can we start?”
“I still need to gather appropriate materials. I will meet you out in the field by the library tonight.” She got out of her chair and walked to the door.
“When?”
She answered me with a single word. “Dark.” Then she left.
I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Fuck me.
“Only if you really want me to.” Bronze looked pleased with himself.
Not in the mood for your sass today.
“Well too bad, because we need to talk.”
Fine. Anywhere in particular? I need to be outside right now. I stood up and made my way towards the door. Bronze heaved himself to his paws and followed me.
“Anywhere’s fine with me.”
We ended up in a park. I was stretched out on a bench and Bronze had made himself comfortable on the grass beside it. Is this going to turn into another lecture?
“Probably.”
Good. I projected as much sarcasm into the word as I could.
Bronze growled. “Look. I am not your enemy. We need to work together if we want to thrive here.”
Aren’t you just here to babysit me? Wouldn’t you rather be chasing rabbits or something right now?
“Don’t antagonize me.”
Fine. I rolled over and watched the clouds roll by. What were you going to lecture me about?
“So here’s the deal. You remember when I told you about going to talk to Celestia?”
And you got chewed out by her sister?
“Yeah. Turns out Sunbutt isn’t happy with what Luna told me.”
I snorted. Sunbutt?
“Her cutie mark is the sun.”
That’s hilarious.
“Yeah, it’s what the wolves call her. We don’t like her much. Anyway, Luna told me that we could tell Twilight and the others whatever we wanted. Apparently, at the last meeting, the leaders had agreed to not let word of this get out to the mortal populations.”
Good thing we didn’t get the chance then. Why do you say ‘apparently’?
“Well I wasn’t there. Luna wasn’t either, and neither of us had gotten the memo. While you were out, I went back to the pack and got chewed out by the Alpha.”
Uh oh.
“Pretty much. I had to tell him everything, and he’s pissed at me for letting all of this happen to you. As I was leaving, I was told about the decision I told you about earlier.”
So he didn’t even tell you himself? What a douche.
“Probably wasn’t the first thing on his mind. But this is my last chance. If anything else happens to you or to something that would fuck up relations more, I’m out.”
I sighed. So what do we do now?
“Now? I suggest we work on helping you stay under control. Or we can try to find Discord and fuck his shit up until he agrees to fix you.”
I like the second option better.
“I was joking. We need to work on you right now.”
Aww. We’ve got several hours before dark, so what do we do?
“I really need to talk to Sunbutt and see if we can work something out.”    	
I thought you needed to stay here and watch over me.
Bronze looked conflicted. “Alright, past experience has told me that leaving you by yourself is never a good thing. I really need to go do this, but I have to be here when you’re with Octavia. If I’m not back by dark, do not practice with her. Understand?”
I get that you want to be there in case something goes wrong, but what am I supposed to do if you’re still gone? I can’t just stand her up.
“I don’t fucking know. Go meet her but don’t do anything until I’m back, alright? I should be back by then anyway.”
Fine. Go, you’re wasting time.
“Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone!” Bronze called over his shoulder as he bounded away.
Don’t do anything stupid, huh? I rolled over on the bench. I’ve still got time to kill. What is there to do around here? I put my head down on my hooves. Suppose I could take a nap. Nothing’s ever happened to me here while I was sleeping.
-----
I stood on the plane of white again. I looked around, trying to find Bronze. After a few turns, something appeared a short distance in front of me.
“Hey.”
The way the creature sat there, tail wagging, reminded me of how I first met Bronze. It looked like me. I had grey fur, and a shaggy flame-colored mane, but that’s where the similarities ended. It didn’t have hooves, living flame, my eyes, or wings. No, it had paws, real hair, and yellow eyes. It opened its mouth, and a pink tongue lolled out over sharp teeth.
“I said ‘hey’. Anyone home?” The creature cocked its head.
What are you?
The thing stood up and started walking towards me with the now familiar gait of a wolf. “Wow, that’s harsh. I’m you.”
No, you’re not me. I’m me.
“I’m the part of you that you’re afraid of.” The creature had made its way to me and was now rubbing its shaggy head over me. “You really should let me out to play more.”
I don’t think that’s a good idea. I tried to shy away from wolf-me, but he just relentlessly followed. Wait, more?
“Yeah, more. You already did it once.”
What? I couldn’t have-
“Don’t lie to yourself. I’m you. I know everything you know. That blue mare was a great time to play with.”
I grabbed the wolf by the throat and picked him up, slamming him down on his back and pinning him. I will not let you harm anyone else. I should just kill you right now.
“Killing me won’t solve anything. You’ll only be hurting yourself, after all.” The wolf stopped smiling and sniffed the air. “Hold on, you smell that?”
The stench reached my nostrils a second later. Smoke?
-----
I woke with a start, the smell of smoke overpowering. I scrambled to my feet, looking around. Flames licked trees and engulfed grass and flowers. I bolted towards the entrance I had come through. There was a line of houses on each side of the road just outside of the park. The house closest to the park was the source of the fire, and spread it to the greenery of the park with a favorable wind. A few ponies were standing outside, looking on in terror. Two ponies were holding back a crying pegasus mare who was trying to get closer to the inferno. I slid to a stop next to them. “What’s going on here?”
A stallion looked up at me, then returned his focus on trying to retain his charge. “Fire started. This one wants to go back in there!”
The crying mare choked out a cry that sent a shiver down my spine. “My baby!”
Ignoring the stallions last words, “Ma’am, you can’t go back in there!”, I ran towards the door without a second thought. Someone else called out to me, but the words were lost in the roar of the fire. I slammed through the door, splintering it and smashing it to the ground. Inside used to be a foyer, dining room, kitchen, and living room, with a staircase leading upwards. Disregarding the burning furniture, I made my way towards the steps. I could hear crying coming from upstairs. “Don’t worry, I’m coming to help!” I shouted.
To my surprise, I got a response. “Please hurry!” A young filly’s voice called out. I started to climb the stairs, but as I put weight on the second step, it collapsed into a flurry of embers. I fell heavily into the stairs, breaking the other ones that I fell on, knocking the wind out of me. I looked back up the staircase. With the first half of the stairs demolished, and the other half probably not safe anyway, I needed to find another way to get upstairs. A smoldering beam broke above me and slammed in front of me, breaking me out of my thoughts. This kid doesn’t have time for me to sit here thinking. I quickly glanced around for something I could use. Grey feathers caught my eye as I turned my head. Wings. Duh. I launched myself to the elevated hallway. A shriek echoed out of a nearby room. I skidded to a stop in front of a doorway and threw myself into the room.
Three familiar fillies were huddled around three unfamiliar foals. Two unicorns and a pegasus trembled as the older fillies unsuccessfully tried to reassure safety. Most of them were crying. The room was filled with smoke, some letting out of a broken window. I ran over to them, shouting to get their attention. When they all noticed me, they clung to me, crying. There was no way I could take all six at a time, but taking multiple trips was out of the question. Ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat. 
I struggled to make my way to the window with the weight of the others bearing down. I looked outside, seeing the ponies still sitting around outside. Examining the window closer, I could see that there was still broken glass shards around the edges. I glanced around for something to break them with, but nothing caught my eye. Well, time to earn my man card. Or my idiot card. Might as well be the same thing. I punched the rest of the glass out and poked my head through the portal. I couldn’t just drop them out the window from the second floor. A dark pegasus stallion with a light mane caught my eye.
“Hey, pegasus!” I shouted down. Luckily, he heard me, and looked around until he saw me. He pointed to himself as if asking ‘Me?’
“Yeah, you! Come up here!”
He spread his wings and I brought my head back inside. A moment passed before he hovered outside the window. 
“Here, take this,” I told him, passing one of the foals to him before passing another one.. “And this. Go!”
The stallion departed with his load towards the safety of the ground. I watched as he set the two down, quickly reversing his direction to come back. I gave him the last foal and one of the fillies before taking the other two crusaders and leaping out the window. As my luck would have it, the side of the second level that I was in the process of vacating collapsed. The window folded in on itself, catching my hind leg. With my forward momentum gone, I lurched downwards, slamming into the wall. The impact knocked the yellow filly out of my grasp and dislodged my leg. It wasn’t a soft landing at the bottom. When the birds stopped circling my head, the pegasus stallion was dragging me away from the burning wreckage, calling for a bucket of water. It took a second to sink in.
“Nonono, wait-” That was all I could say before I was drenched in a torrent of cold water.
-----
I looked up at Canterlot Castle again. I was familiar with the setting by this point. I poked at the barrier a few times, essentially knocking on Luna’s door. A moment passed before the being of the night emerged on her balcony again.
“WHAT ARE THOU HERE FOR NOW?” she asked, sounding bored and annoyed.
“I need to talk to Celestia. It’s i-”
“WE KNOW, WE KNOW, ‘IT’S IMPORTANT’. WHAT MAKES THIS TIME DIFFERENT?”
I reeled back what first came to mind as a response, as it wouldn’t have been respectful or helpful. “It’s about the boy. We need to come to an understanding before this all gets thrown to shit.”
Luna looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hmm. IT WOULDST HAPPEN THAT SHE IS NOT BUSY AT THE MOMENT.”
“So you’ll let me see her?”
There was a pause.
“WE WOULD, HOWEVER, THERE SEEMS TO BE A SLIGHT...PROBLEM.”
I held back a sigh. “What kind of problem?”
“WE ARE UNDER STRICT ORDERS TO KEEP THE BARRIER ERECT.”
“From Su-Celestia?” That slip-up would have cost me my life. Calling her Sunbutt around any pony could be a disaster.
“WHO ELSE WOULD WE TAKE ORDERS FROM?”
“I’m starting to lose my patience with you, Luna.”
“THAT’S PRINCESS LUNA TO YOU! KNOW THINE PLACE, MUTT!”
“Calm down, Luna.” A stern, motherly voice joined the conversation as Sunbutt herself joined her sister on the balcony. Luna grumbled to herself as she backed off. Remembering my manners, I lowered myself to the ground.
“Princess Celestia, I have urgent need to speak with you regarding the charge I am currently in charge of here in Equestria.”
“Rise. Come in, we have much to discuss.” Rather than opening the barrier for me, Celestia teleported me up to the balcony with them. I stumbled for a step, disoriented. Celestia was about a head taller than me, and Luna was about a head shorter. My shoulders were almost twice as wide as Celestia’s. Celestia continued on without waiting up.
She led me down a set of marble circular stairs, exiting the tower. A maze of corridors and hallways later, Celestia threw open a set of large doors. Inside the room sat a large circular table surrounded by chairs. Celestia sat in one, and I made myself comfortable on the floor. 
“Sorry, small chairs.”
“You came here to talk to me about your charge?” Celestia asked after casting a spell that sealed the room. I nodded. “Normally I’d offer you food, but in your case I don’t think that would be in my power.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“So what about young Hot Head brings you here today?” Celestia raised a cup of tea in her magic that I hadn’t realized she had.
“My Alpha wanted me to clear up a few things with you.”
“Of course.”
“Contrary to what you may have heard, he does want to keep peaceful negotiations with Equestria. Hot Head is...challenging to keep an eye on, to say the least.”
“Word has it that your charge has my blessing.”
	“That was one of the things I wanted to clear up with you. I assume you know what Discord has done to him by now.”
“I’ve been informed.” Another sip of tea.
“Discord turned him into a living torch, and ponies seem to connect your sun to it for some reason.”
“There is a reason, but that is ancient Equestrian history. You didn’t come here to hear that.”
“Indeed, I had not. However, there is also a connection between your sister and the creatures of the night, am I correct?”
“In a way, yes.” Celestia’s polite smile faded at the topic. “Am I correct to assume that you know the more recent history of my sister?” I nodded. “Nightmare Moon has become the scapegoat for most of what are considered to be monsters. May I ask why you’d bring this up?”
“Hot Head is a lycan. Also Discord’s doing.”
The news made Celestia quiet for a few minutes. “This is a problem. I apologize for not accommodating your request to speak with me sooner.”
“I want to know what you’re going to do about my charge and what you want me to do and not do while I’m staying in Equestria.”
-----
“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?”
I opened my eyes, laying on the flat white plane. The wolf-me sitting beside me immediately caught my attention. God dammit, you again?
“You won’t be getting rid of me that easily. I told you before, we’re one and the same.”
I pushed myself to my hooves. What do you want now?
Wolf-me gave a cheeky smile. “To be let out to play every once and a while.” After seeing the flat look I gave him, he continued. “Oh, you mean this conversation? That wasn’t me, you initiated it.”
You said the first line!
“Yeah,” he cocked his head to one side, “but you called us both in here.”
Fuck this and fuck you. I don’t have time for this.
“Actually, you probably have a long time. You seem to enjoy these ‘near death experiences.’”
This shithead was actually starting to anger me. I decided to ignore him, turning my back to him and sitting down.
“Oh, that’s how you’re going to be? Two can play this game!”
For a while, we ignored each other and there was silence. Eventually something prodded my shoulder.
“Hey.”
I didn’t respond.
“Hey, come on. I’m bored.”
You have a shorter attention span than I do. And that’s saying something.
“Let’s do something. I’m bored. Come on.”
I miss Bronze…
-----
I trudged down the dirt road, lost in my thoughts. No matter where they went, they always came back to Hot Head and that night. The attack kept replaying itself in my mind. I couldn’t get away from it. Maybe Twilight has an amnesia spell or something.
All of a sudden, a rush of ponies galloping the opposite direction almost knocked me to the ground. “What the… What’s going on here?”
Looking up at the sky, I could see naught but smoke filling the air. A roaring fire loomed further down the street. I rushed towards the building, pushing against ponies in my way. Standing near the small house were several worried looking ponies. I followed their gaze to a second story window. I watched as Hot Head crashed through it and onto the ground, holding Sweetie Belle and dropping Apple Bloom. One of the ponies, Thunderlane, rushed forward and dragged them away from the collapsing building. Before I could react, Thunderlane emptied a bucket of water over the unconscious hero, looking proud of himself. 
Good. That’s him out of the way. It’ll be safer without a disaster like him around.
I was actually shocked. How could I think of a friend like that? One look at one of my casts quickly reminded me why. I sighed. I know that wasn’t his fault. But who else is there to blame? I looked back up at Hot Head, laying next to the six foals that he had saved. But dammit, he’s not a bad pony. Maybe he deserves another chance. One last thought was the deciding factor. They call me Loyalty for a reason.
I limped my way over to Thunderlane, shouldering him out of the way. “Move, you idiot!” I tried, unsuccessfully, to lift Hot Head onto my back.
“Uh, Dash? Wouldn’t it be better for him to rest?” Thunderlane asked.
“No time to explain, but I know what I’m doing! Help me!” I yelled back at him. With Thunderlane’s help, I managed to get Hot Head slung across my back. As soon as he was situated, I made a beeline for the wrecked home’s front door, or lack thereof. Intense heat immediately greeted me as I entered the doorway. There was a large flame eating at some furniture in what might have been a living room. I heaved his limp body into the flame, then hightailed it out of there before the heat and flames could do more damage to me.
I ran into Thunderlane again outside. “Look, I ca-” I broke out into a fit of coughs. “I can explain, but can I get some water first?”
-----
“But I’m so boooored!”
I sighed again. Can you stop whining for five minutes?
“This is your head. Can’t you conjure a stick or something?”
I turned to look at wolf-me. Really? You want to play fetch with me?
“It’s better than doing nothing!”
Oh my god. If you’re me, isn’t this technically your head too?
“Yeah, but I can’t make anything happen in here.”
Why not?
“I don’t know! You think I haven’t tried? I’ve been locked up in here forever!”
Wolf-me had been whining about his boredom for what seemed like hours. I guess it was mildly entertaining for him.
“Why do you make it so empty in here?”
I don’t try to do it on purpose. If you really are me, then you have my memories and experiences. You should know why it’s lonely in here. This is where I go to escape.
“How can you stand being alone? I hate it!”
They say that humans are social creatures, but there’s only one person you can trust. Yourself.
“Dude. Why all of the feels all of a sudden?”
It hasn’t been all of a sudden. You just haven’t been paying attention for the past few hours.
“Has it been hours? I have no sense of time in here.”
I didn’t feel like that needed a response. It was quiet for a few moments.
“...I’m bored.”
----- 
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“You didn’t ask a question.”
“You still haven’t answered me.”
“I’m still thinking about it.”
Celestia looked conflicted, rubbing her forehead with a hoof. I wanted to help, but I couldn’t think of much either. I said as much.
“Princess.” She glanced my way as I addressed her. “I’m not here to be your enemy.”
“I know.” Celestia looked out the window, up at her sister’s tower. “My sister isn’t taking these new… arrangements very well, and I’ve had to pick up the slack.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate.”
“You have no idea.”
I shrugged. “Like I said, I’m here to help.”
Celestia sighed again. “You said Discord made him a lycan?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then how the hell is he so close to death so often?”
“Pardon?”
“From what my sister tells me, lycans have almost instant physical regeneration for light to moderate wounds, and super strength and endurance.”
“I don’t-”
“Haven’t you been watching over him since you brought him here?” Celestia finally snapped at me.
I sat up, establishing a bit of height advantage over her in her chair. “With all due respect, Your Highness, I would have been watching him more closely if I hadn’t had to be constantly making these trips to Canterlot and wasting time dealing with Luna.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re doing it again.”
I stood up, hackles raised and teeth bared. “Don’t tick me off.”
The goddess in front of me scoffed. “Yes, I’m well aware of you wolves and your short tempers.”
I was about to lunge at her when a small scroll winked into existence between us, making us realize what we were about to do. Celestia cleared her throat. “Well then. Do you mind?”
I waved her on with a paw. She unfurled the scroll and it was silent for a moment. Her expressions ranged from a small smile to a troubled frown. “It seems that I am needed in Ponyville.”