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Chapter 5

Wolves Fang looked around. ‘I know this place,’ he thought, ‘but how did I get here?’ he began to walk, knowing this as his ancestral home, the manor he lived in as a child. What had his name been then? He could no longer remember, but he could recognize the portraits on the walls. One of his grandfather, his hair grey, but still a burly man, firm jaw, dark eyes, seemingly full of rage. Another of his father, mid-forties, but looking much like he did now, grey hair and weathered skin. The one thing that every portrait in the hall seemed to share was a look of rage. They all also seemed to be watching him, but that was how most artists made portraits. But as he continued down the hall, he could feel them staring at him, almost feeling like they were accusing him of something. He began to pick up his pace, trying to get to the door at the end of the hall, but it seemed to go on forever. He broke out into a sprint, trying desperately to get away from the portraits, but the more he ran, the farther away the door became. “How could you do this to me? ME! Your father! I gave you EVERYTHING! And this is how you repay me? BY THROWING IT ALL AWAY IN SOME SORT OF SELF RIGHTEOUS ACT OF RETRIBUTION? IS THAT IT? YOU THOUGHT YOUR ACTIONS WOULD MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?” yelled the portrait of his father, which seemed to be following him down the hallway. This made him run faster, hoping that he could escape this nightmare by speed alone. He tried to change into something faster, but his magic would not work. “oh, you think your fancy magic will save you, do you? Well lets see how that works out for you….” the portrait said as it faded away. Suddenly Wolves Fang ran headlong into the door. He opened it and ran through with out a second thought and without looking back. “I hereby find the accused GUILTY of all charges!! Gods have mercy on your soul!” this voice caught him off guard, he looked around to find himself in a court room, standing at the defendant’s pedestal. “No, NO! you don’t understand! I’M INNOCENT! I’M TELLING THE TRUTH! I‘VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!” he yelled as the guards seized him and began to drag him away. He fought with them as best he could, but to no avail. “I SWEAR TO THE GODS IM INNOCENT!! YOU MUST BELIEVE ME! PLEASE!”

“I’M INNOCENT!” he yelled, bolting upright. He was soaked in sweat. He looked around him, realizing that he was no longer in the courthouse of his nightmares, but what seemed to be a hospice. There were ponies fast asleep in beds to either side of him, some covered in bandages, others hooked up to strange machinations that would occasionally let out a sharp beeping noise. The lights were off, so he could not gather much more information. Suddenly he heard a frantic sound of hooves on linoleum, coming closer to the door on the other side of the room. He saw it crack open, and then suddenly blinded as the lights turned on. “Oh sweet Celestia, your awake! How are you feeling?” asked a feminine voice, dripping with concern.

“I’m fine, really. Just magic exhaustion. May I ask where I am?”

“Oh, you’re in the Ponyville Urgent Care, we brought you here after you collapsed.” the light was no longer as blinding, and he could now see that he was addressing a white unicorn, he couldn’t discern the color of her mane though. “I’m nurse Redheart. Now Twilight and Applejack seemed to know who you are, but they didn’t give me your name.” she said.

“My name is Wolves Fang. I appreciate your care nurse Redheart, was anyone seriously hurt during my fight with the hydra?”

“Thankfully, no. We’ve got a few ponies who are going to need to rebuild their homes, and one Pegasus whose thanking her luck stars she got away with little more then chewed up leg, when she should really be thanking you.” he nodded. And that’s when he noticed that Applejack was sleeping in a chair next to his hospital bed, her body slumped over to the point that, if he wished to, he would only have to move his hand inches to touch her mane

“How long as she been here?” he asked

“She hasn’t left that chair since we brought you in. She’s been real worried about you, best let her know you’re ok.” she said, reaching to shake Applejack awake.

“No. Let her sleep. I’ll be sure to let her know when she wakes.” he said. Nurse Redheart simply nodded and began to walk away, when he asked “Nurse? How long have I been here?”, she turned to him and said, “You’ve been out cold for a little over a week.”, then she turned the light off as she left the room. Wolves Fang laid back down, grateful that he had not woken her, because then there would be no escaping the truth, she would discover his one and only lie. He opted not to think about it, and instead chose to get some more sleep. He soon fell into dreams of mares and apple trees.

The next morning, when he awoke, Applejack was still sleeping. He decided that now would be a good time to wake her, and grabbed her shoulder and lightly shook her. “huh? Wuh? Ah’m awake, ah’m awake.”

“It’s about time, you sleep like a hibernating bear!” he joked, earning him a kick to the shoulder.

“Like you got any room tah talk, Mr. ‘Ah’ll be fine’, you had me worried sick when yah just kinda passed out. Not wakin’ up for a week didn’t help none either, yah jackass.” she said, still beating on his shoulder.

“Well then, in that case maybe I should go back to sleep, at least the ponies in my dreams were less abusive!” he said, trying to defend himself from the flurry of hooves. “But, in all honesty, I am sorry I made you worry so. It took more energy then I thought, and in my age, that is energy I don’t have.”

She stopped hitting him, content with the apology, but now curious. “How old is ya, anyway?” she asked.

“I’m almost twenty-five.” he said, much to Applejacks disbelief.

“Yer kiddin me! How can ya be that young and look so dang old?!” she asked, more confused about this than anything else. How could he have grey hair at twenty-five?

“Well, in addition to the fact that some spells take more out of you than others, being a druid alone has it’s toll, and requires great amounts of wisdom and knowledge. Acquiring some of that knowledge ages you. Throw living in a forest into the mix, and you have yourself an explanation.” he said with a slight laugh. “Anyways, I believe I’ve had enough bed rest for quite some time. I need to stretch my legs.” he said as he slowly got out of the bed. His legs were extremely stiff, as was to be expected from a lack of movement for a week. Just then, Nurse Redheart walked in.

“Good to see you’re up and moving. I take it you’re feeling well enough to leave?’

“Yes Nurse Redheart, thank you. Come on Applejack, I believe we should pay miss Sparkle a visit, let her know I’m awake.” he said as he walked towards the door to leave. Before he was even five steps out the door, he was knocked to the ground by a blur of pink. “Hi! My names Pinkie! I saw you the day you were fighting the hydra, at first I was all like ‘oh my gosh, it’s a hydra!’ but then you showed up, and you were all like ‘Leave!’ and it was all like ‘make me!’ and then you completely kicked it’s butt with your awesome magic! By the way, what’s your name?” Wolves Fang didn’t exactly know what was going on, as the pink pony spoke to fast for him to understand. He only managed to catch the last sentence. “Uh, my name is Wolves Fang, pleasure to meet you. Now, would you please get off of me? I think you may have cracked one of my ribs.” he said, only half joking. She apologized profusely as she got off of him, sincerely worried that she had injured him, but after he reassured her that, even if his ribs were cracked, he’d be fine, she ran off. “What was that all about? I’ve seen skooma addicts calmer than her, and that’s saying something.” he said as he got up off the ground, checking his ribs for any serious injury. ‘Yep,’ he thought with a wince, ‘Definitely cracked. I’ll take care of that when I get the chance’ he turned to see Applejack giving him an evil look.

“Now I don’t rightly know what this ‘skooma’ stuff is, but it weren’t nice to compare Pinkie to some kinda addict.” she said, “Now, I’m gonna let it slide this time, but it happens again yer gonna be missin’ some teeth, ya understand me?” despite her size, compared to his own, he was actually very intimidated by her.

“Yes, I understand. I meant no disrespect, I was simply making a jest, and I assure you, it will not happen again. Admittedly, I didn’t exactly think that through before I said it.” he said, with sincere regret. Despite all his training and wisdom, he knew he still made mistakes. He was, after all, only human.

“Ah know yah was just tryin’ to make a joke, but I don’t exactly appreciate when somepony talks bout mah friends like that. It ain‘t nothing‘ personal though, trust me, I‘d do the same if somepony was talkin’ bout you like that.” she said in an attempt to lift his spirits. She had to admit, she was a bit harsh initially, but at the same time she was being honest, as always.

“I appreciate that, but I doubt it will be necessary, as I don’t plan on making many enemies. Of course some will be made, it is inevitable, but I will try not to make to many.” he said, for the first since they met he was being dead serious, no hints of sarcasm, no subtle jokes. This worried Applejack to some extent, but she did not have time to express this as they were already at Twilight’s library. Wolves Fang knocked on the door, which was answered by a shuffling sound from within. When the door was answered, it was not by Twilight, as was expected by the druid, but by a small purple and green dragon. At first he seemed thoroughly bored, but when he noticed just who was at the door, his mood immediately picked up. “Hey! I know you! You’re that…. Thing, the one who fought the hydra! That was awesome! Anyway, my names Spike, what can I do for you?” he said, seeming very enthusiastic at the prospect of aiding his apparent idol.

“Well, my name’s Wolves Fang, and actually, Applejack and myself were looking for miss Sparkle, I don’t suppose you would know where I can find her?”

“Yeah, give me a moment.” said the young dragon, then he turned around and yelled for Twilight, telling her that the “Hero of ponyville” was looking for her. This was responded to by a slight gasp, and the sound of hooves moving quickly on wood flooring. Before long, Twilight was rushing towards the door, and, when she got there, unceremoniously knocked Spike out of the way.

“Oh sweet Celestia, you’re alright! I was beginning to think you’d never wake up, and then all my research would’ve been for nothing!”

“Thank you miss Sparkle, I missed you to. Really nice to know you were worried about more than your research.” he said, sarcasm thick on his tongue.

“What? Oh! Oh, no, don’t get me wrong, I was terribly worried about you as well, just more so based on the fact that all this research revolves around you. Please, come inside, I’ll explain everything.” she said, stepping aside so that her guests could enter her home, concerned that she had offended Wolves Fang in some way. He noticed this, and laughed lightly, causing some pain to him, though he did his best to hide it.

“I was joking with you, relax.” he assured her, putting her somewhat at ease. “But, speaking of your research, how is that coming along? Have you discovered how I entered your world?”

“Actually yes, I believe I may have figured it out. But before I can confirm my theory I need to know something…”

“And what’s that?”

“Well actually, it’s a couple things. First off, what were you doing just before you found yourself here?” she asked him, much to his amusement.

“Well, if you must know, I was dieing, I had been stabbed, and not even healing magic could save me.” he said, with an uncomfortable laugh. This news, however, brought a much different reaction to the two ponies in the room, especially Applejack.

“What the hay!? So yer some kinda, zombie thing?”

“No Applejack, gosh, you’re almost as bad as spike when it comes to zombies. Zombies don’t exist. It simply means he was given new life so he could fulfill a certain purpose in our world. Anyway, next question. Do you have anything you feel you need to make up for?” she asked. This caused his heart to drop into the pit of his stomach. How could he explain?

“Applejack?”

“Whatdya need sugercube?”

“Could you leave us for a moment? This is something I need to explain to Twilight… alone.” the request shocked her. Was there something he was keeping from her? What didn’t he want her to hear? These thoughts ran through her mind as she agreed, saying she had business to take care of anyway. As soon as she left, Wolves Fang turned back to Twilight, a grim expression on his face. “Alright, before I say anything, I need you to swear to me that nothing I say goes any further. No one else must know of this, especially Applejack. If she discovered this, I don’t believe I could face her again. Do you understand?” he asked. She was confused, but understood how this must be important to him, and immediately went stated; “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Hey, I remembered to close my eye that time!”

“I’ll just assume that what you just did is a very solemn oath. Am I right?”

“Yes, if somepony does that, you should have the utmost faith in them.”

“Good, because I tell you this only out of necessity, but I hope I can trust you. I do have something I must atone for. A crime for which I have yet to pay…” he said, his expression becoming sadder and sadder as he continued.

“And what’s that?” she asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know.

“I…I…. I killed my father.”

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