Look to the Past

by Evilhumour

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Snarling Fang ducked her head under a branch as Tough Love continued to guide them on a winding path in the forest, with her amazed that he could be this accurate without any type of map or real defining landmarks. Even with her training, she was having a hard time keeping a mental map of the path they were taking and yet Tough seemed to have no issue whatsoever.

Both of them paused at the same time, ears flicking as the noise in the forest suddenly died off and shared looks with each other.

Tough looked at her as she slowly reached for her crossbow, loading a bolt and getting it pointed at a dark patch of greenery. Holding a wing out to keep Tough silent, she squatted low and began to breathe slowly.

A long period of time passed, her ears flicking and she was about to put her crossbow away when there was a crack of twigs and the growl of a predator.

“SIDE NOW!” she shouted at Tough as a bugbear came charging out at them.

An infant bugbear, almost knocking her onto the ground. Tough, poking his head out of a bush, began to laugh as the bugbear started to sniff at her back when Fang glared at him.

“Are you nuts? This is notfunny,” she hissed at him as she tried to squirm away from the bugbear cub.

“Yes it is, Fang,” Tough snickered as he began to step closer to her. “It’s just a little cub all… by… itself…” He trailed off as he realized what was wrong.

Fang gave him a look, seeing he’d figured it out. “Exactly,” she said as she continued to scramble backwards. “Cubs like this are never alone. And I may be a soldier, but even I have no desire to tangle with an angry mother, especially not from this species.”

“Any idea of what it wants?” Tough asked as there was a much louder growling sound behind him.

“The mother’s probably out here looking for food,” Fang replied as the cub pawed at her pack. “Her cub, on the other hoof, is most likely just curious about us and wondering what we are. Regardless, we need to get away from it and here before its mother decides to actually come after us, because when she does, things are going to get ugly.”

“Do you have anything smelly in your pack it could want?” Tough asked with his horn lighting up in preparation to retrieve whatever was required of him to get out of the pack.

“I think so; there is some dried fish in my pack,” Fang said as Tough began to reach into her pack, the little bugbear watching the magic with wide eyes. After a few seconds, he managed to find the fish with the bugbear yapping loudly at the sight. Tough gulped loudly as he tried to unwrap the fish with the cub’s happy noises getting louder.

“By the Ancient Ones just throw it!” Fang shouted at him, with Tough yelping loudly but doing as he was told.

Only for it to smack into the face of a much bigger bugbear, which the cub immediately ran up to and started to nuzzle.

As both ponies began to slowly back away, the mother bugbear looked up at them and growled softly, but as Tough bowed his head to it, the growling quieted. Still, the animal kept an eye on them as Tough approached Fang, waiting until she’d gotten to her hooves again.

“I think we should be good, as long as we keep far enough away from her and you put your crossbow away so she knows you’re not a threat,” he said softly. “She’ll be watching us until we’re far enough away though.”

“How do you know that?” she hissed, even as she reluctantly followed his advice and stowed her weaponry away.

“Nature instincts.” Tough shrugged. “It’s better in some areas than others, but this time I think it’s pretty accurate.”

Fang stared incredulously at him, but she knew better than to argue. Still, she kept a watchful eye on the two bugbears as Tough led her away, on a somewhat winding route that took them well around the pair.

When they’d finally gotten far enough away that she could no longer see or hear the animals, she looked at him again. “So, about how good at that kind of thing are you?”

“Well, I’m no expert at animal communication, if that’s what you mean,” Tough replied as he kept going. “But I have learned how to understand their instincts to some extent, enough to get the basics of what they want. There are others who are far better at it than I am. Besides,” and here he snorted a little, “Thanks to our other abilities, a lot of animals just don’t see Flutter ponies like me as a threat.”

“Convenient,” Fang remarked while wincing a bit and rubbing her chest. “I thought for sure things were going to get bloody there…”

“It still might have, if that adult hadn’t been in a cooperative mood,” Tough told her, giving her a sideways look. “I’m just glad it turned out as well as it did.”

“Yeah.” Fang looked ahead. “So, about how much further is it through here, you think?”

“A fair deal but I would like to examine that chest wound again,” he frowned at her. “That bugbear barely touched you and it could have only weighed about ten to fifteen pounds, and yet you’re in clear pain.”

Fang scoffed at him, her ears flicking to the side. “What can you even do now; we’re in the middle of a forest.”

“I’m still a medic and can treat wounds,” he replied sharply. “And while this may not be the ideal spot to do it, the way you reacted to it means that there’s something worrisome going on, and I’d rather check it now and hopefully keep it from getting worse rather than wait and find out too late that it’s infected with something potentially fatal, especially after all this time has passed.”

Fang growled, but reluctantly sat back to let him examine her chest, sliding her pack off of her with Tough lighting his horn again to send a wave of his magic over her chest like before but going deeper this time. Wincing more, Fang kept an eye on the unicorn's face as he frowned and tilted his head, listening to his magic.

“No infection, that’s good,” he muttered as he climbed onto and placed his hoof on her chest, frowning. “But I think I see something…” he said his lowered his head onto her chest with Fang bushing at his close proximity to her.

“What do you see?” she asked him, wincing in pain.

“It looks like a…” He peered closer, then his eyes narrowed. “You’ve got a metal shard in there. It’s not penetrating your heart or any other organs, but it’s dangerously close, and we’re going to have to get it out, before it does reach some vital spot.”

Fang’s own eyes widened. “How did I not…”

“Notice it? Because you were too stubborn to get full treatment when you needed it,” he replied grouchily. “In any case, I think I can put together something real quick that will at least hold it in place until we can get to the valley and I can do actual surgery.”

Fang nodded. “Do it.”

Muttering to himself, Tough’s horn lit up and some things flew out of his own pack. As he examined his equipment, Fang watched in interest until he’d cobbled together something that looked decidedly odd, but as he affixed it to her chest, he nodded. “That should hold it, as long as I keep it charged.”

“That’s good.” Fang looked up. “So, is it safe for me to move now?”

“Just a moment,” he replied as he climbed down off of her. “Okay, now.” He waited until she’d stood up before he asked her. “How does it feel?”

“A fair deal better than before,” she replied, looking at the contraption on her chest. “You know, you’re really full of surprises.”

Tough just shrugged in response, but she could tell her compliment had made him happier.

Once he’d finished re-packing his things, the two moved on, Tough continuing to lead and Fang keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings.

They’d made a lot of miles by the time the sun was going down that evening, and as the two found a spot to settle in for the night, Fang hoped she’d be able to control herself this time as she took the first watch again.

---

“Ung…”

Snarling Fang let out a groan as she came to the next morning, her eyelids flickering as she looked up to find another pony’s muzzle in front of her own.

A moment later, she realized what had happened, and groaned even louder, her ears falling to the sides of her head. “I did it again, didn’t I?”

“Yes. Yes, you did.” Tough Love looked at her, somewhat bemused from his spot in her forelimbs. “Though at least I wasn’t taken by surprise this time.”

“By the Ancient Ones, I don’t know why I am doing this; it was never a problem when I was with my squad!”

“Some ponies are just cuddlers,” Tough replied. “Back when I was training, one of my fellows mentioned that he was close to somepony back home with the same problem, and he was the one she usually went after in her sleep when they were younger.” He shook his head as he remembered. “Though in their case, they’d known one another since they were young, and everypony who knew about her little cuddling habit also knew there was nothing serious going on between them.”

“Well, at least it’s not just me who is like this.” Fang finally reminded herself to let go of him and get to her hooves. “So, aside from my apparent incessant need to cuddle, did anything happen last night?”

“Nothing,” he told her. “No dangerous wildlife, no ponies passing by… we’re all good.”

Fang nodded. “Good. Let’s grab a quick bite, then get moving.” She paused. “You’re sure there was nothing… more, going on between the two ponies you mentioned?”

“Positive.” Tough smirked. “The cuddler was his little sister.”

“Got it.” Fang nodded her head while making a mental note of this.

A while later, the two had finished eating and packing, and set off once again.

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[Asolem2]

Muttering to himself, Tough’s horn lit up and some things flew out of his own pack. As he examined his equipment, Fang watched in interest until he’d cobbled together something that looked decidedly odd, but as he affixed it to her chest, he nodded. “That should hold it, as long as I keep it charged.”

So she's the Iron Mare now