Chapter 8: Where Wolf?
“Ah’m tellin ya, Sweetie Belle, we could’ve gone in there if it weren’t for that weird pegasus!” Applebloom stated as she paced around the clubhouse.
“I dunno Applebloom. Maybe it was a good thing that he tickled me. You know that Fluttershy is right when she says the Everfree is dangerous.”
“So what?” asked Scootaloo, “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We could have gotten our explorer cutie marks, or even our manticore tamer cutie marks!” She plopped down on her rump and crossed her forelegs, grumbling. “I could’ve even impressed Rainbow Dash when the manticore attacked.”
“You know what ah think?” Applebloom rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Ah think he’s hidin’ somethin’.”
“Oh?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, “Why?”
“Applebloom’s right!” Scootaloo exclaimed, stomping her hoof down. “What kind of pony lives all alone? Nicknames, I understand, but living away from other ponies is suspicious!”
“Well…” Sweetie Belle said, looking away, “maybe…”
“Ah think we should figure him out. This is a mystery!” The three fillies looked at each other, and an eerily ominous silence fell.
Far away, Big Macintosh was pulling a cart of apples, the harvest from the east fields. Few know this about Big Mac, but the only thing stronger than his superb muscular body, that many mares fawned over, was his impeccable hearing. He has long had sensitive ears, which led to him being a stallion of a few words, often having found himself listening carefully to the subtle music of the orchard. The slight whispering of leaves, the chirping of faraway birds, the creaking of good, old, sturdy, Apple family carts, and the beautiful sound of ̶
“CUTIE MARK INVESTIGATORS, YAY!”
Macintosh flinched and nearly tripped. He shook his head, and continued on, ears still splayed back. He sincerely hoped his sister wouldn’t get into too much trouble.
<><><>
The Entity doesn’t like it when too many universes are close together. Especially when a universe like this one involved. It generally complicated things, and despite its intelligence, the Entity was a firm believer in ‘simpler is better’. The worst part is that the entity jumped in without properly investigating the other universes, so it doesn’t know what will come through, and it could not jump out and jump back in, for fear of intersecting with itself in the past. It is quite accurate when it wants to be, but it is a necessary precaution. It has no idea what would happen if it does intersect itself, but the worst case scenario would have negative repercussions throughout existence. And the universe it would do it in would most likely cease to be.
So it has to tread carefully, due to the variety of effects the natural magic of Equestria on creatures from other realms. At least it could pinpoint locations where the incursions would appear. The Deep Badlands, the Everfree Forest, among others on Equus, they all were filled full of violent chaotic magic, thus making the Veil weaker in those areas. However, magical beings would be able to appear in more locations, on ley line intersections.
Which is what happened to Windell.
The Entity hypothesizes that Windell was mostly vaporized when his universe ‘glitched’ and sent him into the Void. However, since his universe was so close to another, the Void was nothing more than a bubble between their Beyonds, and despite the non-eternity he spent in the Void bubble, pieces of him managed to pass into the Beyond. Normally, souls that spend time in the Beyond would eventually or immediately turn into abominations (time exists in the Beyond, but it is wonky). Despite this, Windell’s soul, with a few bits of his original body, managed to come into contact with the Veil. While most Veils would construct a body from bits of organic matter that had found itself in the Beyond, and bind a soul to the body, most would neglect something trivial like memories.
But the Equus Veil was more ‘intelligent’, again due to the inherent and unique magic. So Windell was fully reconstructed, quite similarly regardless of the Veil’s law of averages, with an interesting glitch of his own. And due to Spike’s messages and the proximity of the Everfree, a ley line intersection had formed in the library foliage.
Already, Void bubbles are exceedingly rare, and for one biological sapient to survive the Void is even rarer. Of course, it is more common for the Equus Veil to form full ‘ponies’, but still rare. The Entity had even observed an individual pass from a dying Terra universe to an Equus universe via the Void, carrying a particular hitchhiker with it. So the way Windell passed was so close to impossible, it was practically so. But Windell is not impossible, it muses. Just highly improbable.
Still, the Entity thinks as its black hooves landed on a cloud, it would be so much easier if the Entity knew all that was bound to happen. Nonetheless, even without magic, it had managed to properly eradicate the sapient creature in the Badlands. Creating a wormhole to the surface of the sun gave the illusion of magical energy similar to that of the chaotic energies of the Badlands, and even managed to push the Captain to do something. If only the following incursions would be so easy.
<><><>
“Oh no!” he heard a soft voice say, “What happened to him? The poor dear looks like a house fell on him!”
“Well, Effie,” he heard the prey say, “It kind of did.”
“What!” the effeminate voice squawked, “What did you do?”
“I did nothing. Except try to build a house without a degree in architecture. Or following proper zoning laws.” There was a shuffling, and his nose twitched. His eyelids felt so heavy… “Apparently one of the beams wasn’t properly secured, and it knocked him cold.”
“Poor dear…” There was a pause.
“…I haven’t even finished my house, and I love it already.” There was a gasp.
“How could you say that? He could have died!”
“Wait, is this not a giant carnivore, capable of tearing me limb from limb? My condition may be obscuring the truth from me.”
“Sarcasm is unbecoming of you, Windell.” The lighter voice was curt.
“Sarcasm?” The prey asked. He heard the female sigh.
“Well,” she continued, “I’ve read about his species in books. He looks like a mix between a gray wolf and a direwolf. Or a very odd direwolf. I thought they were extinct!”
“I guess he didn’t get the memo.” There was a bit of shuffling, and he heard something approach. He tried to stir, but his movement was restrained, and his mind was a bit groggy. “Don’t worry about him escaping. I tied him up with Bui-Bui vines, and they’re nearly as strong as steel cable. Only a sharp edge can get him out.”
“The poor dear has a nasty bump on his head. I’m going to have to bandage him, but he needs some rest…Ooooh, I can’t take him home, he’ll scare all of my other animals!” There was another pregnant pause.
“Alright, alright, stop staring at me like that.” The prey took a deep breath. “I’ll take care of him.”
What? The wolf thought as his mind cleared of cobwebs, I knew the prey was strange, but nursing me, the predator that nearly ate him, back to health? He truly seeks his own death.
“I have to start trusting my senses, and although he may seem like a very big wolf to me, he’s still a canine, so he can be moderately intelligent. Or very intelligent, seeing as how he cornered me. But he’s still predictable. So if I feed him enough, while maintaining enough caution, I won’t find myself having dinner with Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.” The prey sighed. “I guess I’ll have to set up a hammock in the trees for me to sleep on. As for feeding him…I suppose I’ll get something for him now.”
The wolf heard the prey walk off into the distance. Meanwhile, the other pony approached him and began wrapping something around his head.
“Don’t worry,” she cooed, “Windell may be a bit rough, and a teensy bit odd, but he’s really kind to a lot of ponies. He’ll take good care of you.”
What is a ‘Windell’? Is that…a name? Do I have a name? How can my prey have one and not me?
“Shhh…Shhh…” the pegasus continued, “Don’t worry. You’ll be okay.”
The wolf found himself relaxing at the touch of her hooves. This…kindness that she shows me…The wolf felt an odd warmth near his center. I would rather starve than hurt this one. I owe my life to her. Suddenly, the demure pegasus paused in her care.
“Wait a second…food for him?”
<><><>
All I want is some seclusion so I don’t hurt anyone, I thought as I wandered about the forest, spear in hoof, But things keep happening. It will be harder to continue building my house with me taking care of that wolf…or whatever it actually is. I stood still atop a branch, spying a rabbit peaking its head out of the den. I grimaced. Not much for the big guy, but it’ll have to do. I slowly spread my wings, waiting for the rabbit to crawl further out of his den. He hopped out, his tiny nose sniffing about, unaware of the danger that lay upwind. The small breeze is working against me here, it’ll slow me down a bit before I get a chance to soar down there and skewer him. Maybe if I diverted more flow to my wings, and constantly emitted the flow rather than releasing it in flaps. I’ll come in quickly and silently. Taking care not to flap my wings, I glided down swiftly. I took aim…Spear ready. The rabbit turned his head. His eyes widened as I came upon him.
And he jumped back into the den, my spear narrowly missing him.
Well, crap. I was silent, but I wasn’t fast enough. It seems like even by diverting the flow, I don’t have enough power. I concentrated on the flow to see where it came from, tracing it back to its source, which was difficult, considering it was like a second circulatory system. A lot of it seems to wrap in and around my heart and my brain, but they just seem to be hotspots rather than where it originates. As I had previously thought, it seems to concentrate around my core when not in use, like a reservoir. But the flow seems to come from my stomach and a bit from my lungs. So I have to figure out a way to increase the amount of flow I receive, so I can store more, and use more.
But first I need some meat for my guest. I frowned. I couldn’t keep calling him ‘wolf’ or ‘guest’. I’m going to need to figure out a name for him. Gévaudan? No, I shook my head, that just doesn’t bode well for me. How about Fenrir? Nah, too cliché. Romulus, Remus, Warg? Eugh, none of them fit. How about White Fang? Ooooh, that’s nice, and although I am a fan of Jack London, it isn’t quite right. Hmmm. Maybe…maybe steel, for the color of his fur?
Steel Fang. That sounds nice. As for your food, Steel, I trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres, circumventing Ponyville, I know where to find a lot of it.
As I made my way to the farm, I couldn’t help but think back on the past. If only I had known, I would have seen the first signs of my disorder then. Think about the mistakes of the past later. Time to focus on Steel’s meal. I came upon an open pasture, surrounded by a wide, wooden fence. In the pasture, the perfect food for Steel stood, milling about, complimenting one another on their hats.
Cows.
I slunk a bit closer, keeping close to the tall grass. My spear was ready. They had nowhere to run. Soon their meat would belong to me, so I could domesticate Steel Fang. I poked my head out of the grass, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. I rose my spear above my head, ready to dive it within the sow closest to the fence, and ̶
“Excuuooooooooooose me, young stallion, but what are you doing?”
I turned to find myself muzzle to muzzle with another cow, a curious expression plastered on her face. Holy crap, I forgot they spoke. Seeing the cow, I diverted the flow to my brain so I would have time to think. And since I knew where the flow originated now, I could divert all non-essential flow to my head. Thank you bullet-time. I thought as time slowed down around me. Okay, I can see how this could help me get out of social faux-pas. Nevertheless, I have to remember time is slowed, not unlimited, so I have more time than usual to craft a believable lie. So wherever I am, my senses are telling me I’m dealing with sapients, and as I’ve learned, they may deceive me, but all of the greatest deceptions hold grains of truth. I may have almost gone on a killing spree. Shit. I can see the headlines now: “Psychopath kills fifty slightly overweight women at McDonalds! Murderer played video games, proof video games cause mass homicide!"
Okay, new rule, no hunting anything that walks on land. Small to medium sized fish are fair game, then. New problem though; what do I say? I’ve got a pointy stick raised towards one of her friends…shit, I’ve got nothing…what if I…
“Uh,” I smiled weakly as time resumed its normal pace, “I was going to…scratch her back?” The sow looked at me, frowning slightly. Shit, shit, shit, shit ̶ Wait, why is she smiling?
“That’s so kind of you, don’t cha know!” She leaned a bit closer, “Could you do me first?”
A half-hour of scratching bovine backs later, Applejack came into the pasture, Stetson and all. She watched me continue scratching their backs with the spear, which was a lot duller than I had originally thought, before approaching me.
“Howdy, Windell!” she greeted, “I learned ya decided to stick around, and now ah find ya helping mah friends in the pastures. It’s nice to see somepony who helps those in need.”
“Sure, Jackie” I laughed nervously, “I just saw they needed a bit of help, and I just happened to have this backscratcher nearby, so I volunteered myself.”
“Well, ah thank ya kindly.” Applejack looked to the cows in the pasture. “I guess ya do know a lot about all sorts of critters, like Fluttershy said, seeing as y’all are helpin’ those that aren’t flexible enough to scratch their own backs.”
“If you want,” the cow I was scratching said silkily, “there’s something else you can help us with.” She turned her half-lidded gaze to me and continued in a sultry tone, “You could scratch me somewhere else, with something a bit…bigger.” I felt the blood drain from my face, and Applejack’s face flushed a bright crimson.
“I…” I started, mouth feeling dry, “I have to…go.” Diverting the flow from everywhere in my body to my wings, I zoomed off in the direction of my hut.
“Consarn’ it, Betty!” I heard one of the cows in the distance say, “I didn’t get scratched yet!”
Arriving at my clearing, I allowed the flow to return down its normal circuits. I found Fluttershy looking at me with a worried expression. I smiled sheepishly, having a lie prepared from my time scratching the cows.
“I went, Effie, but I kind of don’t know what I should get Steel Fang.” Fluttershy cocked her head.
“Steel…Fang?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I waved a hoof dismissively, “It’s what I decided to name him.”
“Ummm…But…what if he already has a name?”
“Then I guess you could ask him when he wakes up.” I stated simply as I walked towards the tied up wolf. “Any idea what I should feed him?”
“Oh!” She perked up. “I suggest that you feed him a few vegetables, some fish, and maybe a bit of milk. I guess you should…um…let him go so that he could walk around.”
“Can you cut off the vines? I’m feeling a bit nauseous and I may be a tad clumsy.”
I had three reasons to make Fluttershy do it. The first was because she may not have actually asked me to free Steel, and I just wanted to be sure. The second was because I ‘knew’, from what my perceptions told me, that the mare could handle (hoofle?) Steel if he got vicious, thus whoever Fluttershy could have been must have been able or trained to do so. Third was because I was actually somewhat green from the mention of milk. Well, more green than normal. I handed the spear over to Fluttershy, and she picked it up nervously. Slowly approaching the wolf, she flew up to Steel’s ear.
“Please be still, okay? I’m going to be using a sharp object to get you out of these vines.” I heard her whisper tenderly.
She carefully sawed off the vines, sticking her tongue out in concentration. How is this more adorable from here rather than from the screen? Once the first vine snapped, the rest of the vines that were taunt and restrictive grew loose, and quite a few fell apart. I’ll admit, I was a natural at accidental knots, and when I tied Steel up in a desperate panic, I may have accidentally created a giant, eight-limbed, four-dimensional Chinese finger trap fit for a direwolf. That thing could have probably held a Hekatonkheires for all eternity. Once Fluttershy removed the vines, she passed my spear back to me.
“Thanks Effie.” I beamed at her, and she smiled and hid behind her mane. “I’ll go get some fish for Steel here.” I flew towards the river, hoping to spear some fish.
<><><>
The wolf blearily opened his eyes. He could move now, but a combination of hunger and dizziness made it hard for him to stand. He shook his massive head, stumbling a bit.
“Ooooh, don’t put too much stress on yourself…” he heard the caring voice say. “You could really hurt yourself.” The wolf blinked a couple times to clear the fog from his vision, and met his savior. A butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane, and soft teal eyes that seemed to pierce his soul. I have to show her my gratitude. Doing what felt right, he leaned forward and gave her a big lick on the face, as if she were one of his pack’s cubs. She giggled mirthfully, and the wolf felt his heart swell. She turned to look at him in the eye, without fear.
“Do you have a name?” she asked. Name? No…I don’t. How do I tell her that? I…shake? Shake my head? Yes. The wolf shook his head sadly.
“That’s okay,” said the pegasus, “Windell, the stallion who will take care of you thought that ‘Steel Fang’ would be a good name. Do you like it?” Steel? It’s…sharp, strong. The color of my coat. Steel Fang. A name for one who had so recently become aware. He nodded. The mare smiled again. Wait a moment. Windell? My prey will take care of me? He gave me a name? What?
“Now,” she mare chided, “You have to remember Windell will be getting food for you, so you can’t eat him. He’s very lonely, like you, so you can keep each other company. He wouldn’t have given you a name or have gone to get some fish for you if he didn’t like you.”
The newly christened Steel Fang stood up on his four paws, trembling slightly. He looked around and tried to walk towards the fire pit, now that he could do so without fear of danger.
“Oh dear,” the savior squeaked, “You seem to need a few nutrients. I think I’ll get some medicine from my cottage. And maybe a bit of ice.” She tapped a hoof to her lips in forethought. “Stay in the clearing Steel, and don’t take away those bandages I wrapped.” Bandages? The things she wrapped around my head? Why? It does not matter. The savior knows best. Maybe I should look inside the hut to see what happened.
His head hanging low from exhaustion, Steel padded into the half-finished cottage, his body framed by the door. Inside, he saw what the prey had been working on. Wood flooring covered the interior, carefully placed so that there was nearly no space between each board. But seeing how there was a very slight give to the floorboards, they were placed over another layer of wooden panels, except these seemed to be more space between each of those. The walls were made of stones cautiously placed in a manner that gravity pushed them into place, likely supported by wooden beams within. There were two triangular windows on each wall, lacking windows, but already with wooden frames. In the center of the single room was a circular fireplace, which extended up high, supporting a series of beams that already held up more wooden columns that braced a tilted, half-finished roof. There was already the main thatching, but it needed a proper ceiling that wouldn’t let rain in. The wolf failed to notice most of this, only seeing the haphazard beam on the floor, and he saw where it once belonged, directly over where he stood the last time.
His ears twitched as he heard something approach the clearing. Ever the eavesdropper, Steel listened in.
“Ah tellin’ y’all, he’s gotta be at his cottage. He got out of the hospital this afternoon, and the ponies we asked in town said they saw him walking back with a buncha bandages 'round his head.”
“I dunno Applebloom, the sun’s going to set soon.”
“Who cares! Investigators investigate! Day or night!” Steel Fang heard a bit of buzzing then.
I could take a peek at what’s coming towards the clearing. Steel slowly walked out of the cottage to see three stunned little fillies just outside of the cottage.
“Applebloom, that’s a really big wolf.” The white one said, nervously backing away.
“Girls, he…” the yellow one stuttered “He has a buncha bandages around his head.”
“I…I…I think I know why Mister Windell wanted privacy” the orange one stammered.
“WEREWOLF!”
“WOLFPONY!”
“WEREPONY!”
They all ran screeching as Steel crouched down and held his paws over his ears in pain. If Steel knew anything about what he had just witnessed, those three meant trouble.
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I felt pretty bad about going on a break after dropping that cliffhanger, so I decided to get this one out early. Also because of Betty.
I put some more exposition in the form of a passage about the Entity, the wolf finally gets a name, but still considers Windell prey, and you guys get to know what I mean by adult language.
Leave me a comment, rating, et cetera. I love it when you do, it makes me feel like a country of cute kilted kittens had settled down in my heart. So really fuzzy with a lot of squeaky noises.
Cheers, Charon
So the entity knows who Windell is.
So when is it going to get off its ass and fix the universe?
Or is it just watching this shit go down with some popcorn?
I think the latter, cause that is what I would do.
Oh my god i expected from the first mention of the wolf onwards that he would somehow end up being Windells companion/pet/something, but the CmC mistaking the wolf for him and now believing that he is a werewolf is hilarious and completely unexpected.
Heh, thanks for the little reference.
5698223 I knew you would get it. I'm going to be doing a bunch of other references, to really define the multiverse.
Oh great. the only reason it hasn't murdered Wendell is because doing so would reveal it's presence.
Oh, I'm watching this story. Lots of interesting ideas.
A mentally trouble HiE, this is very different from other of the sort. I am looking forward to to reed more of this.
Gears of the Void references are always great.
5697070
Hmm... If the kittens are kilted, then it probably means they're Celts. And both Celts and cats are known for being cantankerous.
So what you're saying is...
A country of cantankerous, kilted, Celtic kittens are cuddling your core? Cool.
5697156 I wonder if him and Discord are friends
There wolf. There castle! *Thunderstrike*
just a neat tidbit, the word "werewolf" is derivative of the old-english word for a male human, wer. (man itself in old english is not gender specific) so the word literally means man-wolf. By my convoluted logic the crusader that said "WOLF-PONY" is therefor the most correct.
I tried to look up what pony might be in old-english and had some difficulty because the word pony is pretty french i think and doesn't translate well. Horse is, appropriately enough, "hors," Foal is "fola," mare is "miere," and stallion is "hengest."
from what little I understand of Old-English, I do understand it's a Germanic language and that Germanic languages love their compound words so best translation I can think of for pony is horslȳtel. Which, as is easy to see, translates as little horse. the word lȳtel made me wonder of the suffix -let as in owlet but that ended up being a false cognate. Turns out ling (like in gosling and fledgling) is the old english one so "Horsling" or something like that would be a better translation with the benefit of being easily understood even by modern standards.
In conclusion, the equestrian variety of werewolf might be something like horslingwolf. if there's a word in old english that denotes intelligent being without specifically referring to a species it would probably work better though. Shame our ancestors don't pander to our my little pony fanfiction.
god this has been a weird diversion , thank you!
https://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk/
http://www.majstro.com/Web/Majstro/home.php?gebrTaal=eng
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ling#English