The beast tensed, his senses suddenly aware. He twitched his tail to find he was not only lying on something soft but was also exposed to fresh air. He opened his mouth slightly to let out the lingering taste of darkness, and took the time to drink in the scents of his surroundings. He distinguished the three closest ones. Two of the three scents were near the same, of a horse. The scent was comforting, reminding the wolf of home.
The third scent was one he had smelled only once, with a less sensitive nose. A vision of the sky, and tall pillars covered in vines. Rain, and a massive shadow flying above. The scent was dragon. The beast let out a low growl, and heard a voice.
"Spike, you woke it up!"
"I didn't mean to!" cried another voice.
"Now, now, hush!" soothed a gentle voice. "Let me speak to it."
"But Fluttershy!" gasped the first voice.
"Let me speak to it." replied Fluttershy.
Footsteps grew closer to the wolf. He growled; the footsteps stopped.
"Um, hello, Mr. Creature. I'm Fluttershy and, um, who are you? Are you ok?" the gentle voice asked.
The beast simply snarled, but still opened one eye a slit. The horse – or rather, pegasus – in front of him was a light yellow, with a long pink mane and tail. Her cyan eyes were full of concern, and three pink butterflies gleamed on her flank.
"I found you in the, um, Everfree Forest and brought you back here because you were, i-injured." Fluttershy explained softly.
The wolf opened the eye completely. He still refused to talk, although he let out a low huff to show he understood.
"Then I called Twilight over to examine you. She found some manticore poison in your bloodstream and got it out. Then we sowed and bandaged you up..." Fluttershy continued, pointing nervously with one hoof – a strand of hair falling across her face – to her companions when she mentioned Twilight.
'Twilight' was a lavender unicorn with wings and a neat, dark blue, streaked mane and tail. An indigo star shone on her flank, and she looked at him with anxious purple eyes. Standing next to her was– THE DRAGON!
The wolf's eyes shot open, he sat bolt upright and lunged at the purple lizard, fear coursing through his veins. The response he got was a pair of terrified eyes and a childlike scream that froze his blood.
"NO!" shrieked Fluttershy, staring in horror at where the beast was pinning the dragon to the wall, neck trapped between two lethal claws. Even the tiniest movement, and he'd have his head taken right off of his shoulders. The beast ignored the pegasus' desperate cry, pressing his muzzle against the lizard's snout, fear fuelling him to kill the creature, reason forcing him to hold back.
The wolf suddenly felt himself being thrown backwards. He landed with a thud, wincing as he felt the gashes on his side rip open, staining the bandages with blood. Upon standing, he felt himself pushed into the floor.
Looking up, he saw Twilight's face, contorted in anger, "NOBODY. HURTS. MY. DRAGON!" She screamed.
The meaning behind the words was what hurt the beast the most. Clearly the lizard meant the world to Twilight. But how could such an innocent-looking creature care about the deadly monster? The beast rose to his paws, ignoring the blood leaking from his side. He'd had worse injuries. With a swift jerk of his head, he bit through the bandages to examine the wound. The stitches were hanging loose. Growling, he grabbed the string and pulled, unwinding the stitches and letting the wound open. He needed to bleed out the shadow's poison.
Fluttershy was staring at the wolf with a mixture of fear and concern. Twilight, however, had no concern for the wounded creature, glaring at him with eyes full of rage. The wolf glanced at Fluttershy and let out a low bark; she seemed to know how to handle animals. The single sound expressed his current situation: unfamiliar surroundings and people, previous encounters with a dragon, and finally, a single, important word. His name: Link.
With that, Link turned on his heels and leapt for the window. It was shut, but the latch was unlocked, meaning it flew open at his touch. He landed outside on all four paws, not even stumbling at the sudden impact. Without missing a beat, he took off. His paws beat at the ground, propelling him forward with great speed.
It didn't take long until he found himself ducking behind some sort of building in the outskirts of a town. Peeking his head around the side of the wall, Link saw more horses, of all colours and species. There were pegasi, unicorns, and some normal horses. The former two he only knew from mythology, but it wasn't the strangest thing to have happened to him.
Link perked up and raised his nose as the scents of home hit him. While not the exact same, he could smell the earthy scents of a barn and other animals. Without thinking too much about it, he began slinking around behind the next row of buildings.
Suddenly he decided to realise what a stupid idea undressing his wound was. The blood flowing from his side would both give any pursuers – namely Twilight – an easy trail to follow, and weaken him slightly. Growling angrily, he ducked behind some bushes and bit off as many leaves as he could. The blood stuck the leaves to his side, creating a makeshift bandage.
Good enough.
~~~~~~~~~~
Slowly at first, Link continued to sneak around behind the houses, towards the farm smells. Soon, he found himself hiding behind a large apple tree, staring out at a large, red barn, complete with stables and orchard. The strong smell of apples invaded his senses: apples, apple pie, apple crumble, apple cider...
Link shook his head to clear it before stalking across the ground towards the structure. So far only Fluttershy, Twilight and the dragon knew he was here, and he was determined to keep it that way. The sound of talking made him throw caution to the wind and take off at high speed, ducking into the stables just as two horses – one a foal – rounded the corner.
"Now, now, Applebloom, I've already heard your cutie mark story twenty-nine times, I really don-" the first horse – an orange one with green eyes, blonde hair tied with red bands, white freckles, a cowboy hat and three apples on her flank – was interrupted by the foal, presumably Applebloom.
"Wha- Sis! Don't you care anymore? I finally got my cutie mark!" Applebloom whimpered. She was pale yellow with red hair, orange eyes and a big pink bow on her head. Her 'cutie mark' was a pink, pale pink and red shield with an apple inside.
"Of course I do!" the first pony told her sister firmly. "I just don't need you to round it out, okay?" Both ponies had a country accent.
"Fine, Applejack." Applebloom pouted.
"Good. Now, go help Big Mac collect in the apples, and then you can go find Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and go play." Applejack smiled warmly. Applebloom grew a grin of her own, and rushed out of sight.
"I love that filly to death, but everypony is getting tired of hearing that story over and over." Applejack sighed. Then she sniffed the air and turned to the stables. "I'm also tired of the stables getting dirty, even when they're empty."
Link wanted to howl his frustration, but swallowed his anger and instead hid behind a large pile of hay. Applejack trotted into the stables, lifted a broom from the corner and began to sweep up the hay. Even from behind the haystack, Link could see the broom caught up every clump of mud and dirt, while leaving the clean hay almost completely undisturbed.
Suddenly Applejack stopped. She raised her head and looked around, before staring intently at the haystack. "Earth pony magic includes sensing other living creatures: plants, ponies or animals. So whoever's back there – Rainbow, Pinkie, whoever – come on out before there's trouble."
She told the haystack calmly. Pony? That would explain the crazy colours. Sorta.
Silently cursing, Link slowly emerged from behind the hay.
Applejack's eyes grew wide with fear, before quickly calming again. "For a timberwolf look-alike, ya'll don't seem hostile." Applejack stated, examining Link from head to tail. "Although, that could just be you playing for sympathy so you can kill us in our sleep." She cocked an eyebrow, pointing firmly at his wounds.
Link rolled his eyes. This pony was definitely a change from Fluttershy and Twilight. She had the best part of Fluttershy – her kindness – and the worst part of Twilight – her distrustfulness. Dipping his head, he padded over to the exit of the stables.
"Hey, wait, I never said you had to leave." Applejack called him back. "I'm a good judge of character, being the Element of Honesty and all. I can tell when somepony's lying. And I can tell you aren't. Ya'll are actually hurt!"
Pausing, Link looked back at the farmpony. There was genuine concern in her eyes.
"I may not be the best medic, but I've dealt with my share of injured animals over the years." This is what made Link reconsider leaving. He'd already figured out that the shadow's poison had somehow left his system. He may as well get the wound fixed up. Link reluctantly nodded, and backed into the stables. He carefully lay down on a thicker patch of hay and gently nosed away the leaves plastered to his side. It took a little effort, as some of the blood had started to dry, but the makeshift bandage was off within a minute.
Applejack examined the wound, very gently using her hoof to figure out how much blood he had lost. Applejack trotted out of the stables, and returned a few minutes later with a small first-aid kit. She lay it down on the ground and clicked it open. She came over to Link with a needle, some thread and a bottle of antiseptic. "Now, this is gonna hurt a bit." She warned.
Link rolled his eyes again. The antiseptic was dabbed against the wound, washing away any remains of infection. When Applejack was sure she'd covered the entire wound, she took the needle carefully between her teeth. The thread was drawn in and out of his skin. Applejack quickly cut away the loose end of the thread and stepped back to examine her handiwork.
She nodded in satisfaction and grabbed some bandages from the kit, trotting back over to Link. He'd had stitches before, on his arm, when he was younger. He knew he had to raise the injured body part so the doctor could wrap the bandages. But this was going to be awkward and fiddly. Link stood up so that Applejack could wrap the clean white cloth around him, but it still took teamwork and some time before she was able to knot the dressing and let him lay down again.
"Ya'll can stay here for a while if you want. Hmm... What do ya'll eat? Well, you're some sort of wolf, so I'm guessing you'd be able to stomach some of Winona's food." Applejack pondered.
Link had to assume Winona was Applejack's dog.
"Well, we'll just have to see. I'll go get some and we'll find out." The country pony decided.
As she trotted away again, Link let his head fall to the ground. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Only now did he realise how tired he was. He was usually able to let his injuries heal at least a little before he had to run off to save the world again. Usually the shadow's poison wasn't forced out of him. It was like taking off a plaster, but the opposite way around. If the poison didn't come out of its own accord, it weakened the victim considerably.
Link coughed, and was somewhat surprised by the coppery taste in his mouth. That was rare.
His head flew up at a new smell. Slightly familiar, full of menace. Suddenly, it mixed with another scent. This one was Applejack's.
"Applejack! Thank Celestia you're safe!" Twilight cried.
"Calm down now, Sugarcube." Applejack soothed. "Why wouldn't I be safe?"
"There is an extremely dangerous creature running loose in Ponyville! I followed its trail up to the outskirts of town, but then it decided to cover its tracks!" Twilight warned, anger creeping into her voice.
Applejack paused, before asking, "What does it look like?"
Link gulped, rising silently to his paws and backing into the space behind the haystack.
"They're about as big as a timberwolf, with black and white fur, blue eyes and a chain around its leg! It was probably chained up by somepony so that it wouldn't kill everyone! It tried to kill Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, not attempting to hide her rage.
Link buried his head in his paws. Was this really how he was going to die? At the hands – uh, hooves – of a talking purple horse?
...No, it wasn't. Even without Midna, he still had his great jumping. He crouched down and aimed at the rafters of the stables, only to be cut off by Applejack – apparently the 'Element of Honesty' – outright lying to who must be one of her best friends.
"Haven't seen anything like that, Twi. Hope you find it though." Applejack told her, and her scent started getting stronger. She was coming back. Link heard an angry grumble and some distant foot – hoof? – steps, indicating Twilight leaving.
Applejack trotted into the barn, carrying something wrapped in a cloth. She set it down beside Link before sitting in front of him. "Now, Sugarcube, is what Twilight said true?" she asked, concern at the edge of her voice.
Link considered lying. Like Fluttershy – but very unlike Twilight – he was starting to care for Applejack.
Kind of.
If one of those 'timberwolf' things were to come in here right now, he'd defend her. There we go.
Finally, he nodded his head.
"Given the chance, would you actually have killed Spike?"
He shook his head. It was true. Eventually, reason would have won out and he'd have let the dragon go.
"Okay, Sugarcube. I believe you. But if ya'll stay here, Twilight'll find ya'll eventually. You can stay here for tonight, but you'll have to leave in the morning. For your own safety." Applejack opened the knotted cloth to reveal a doggy dish of some sort of meat that smelt like beef. She nudged it towards him with a hoof before leaving.
Link felt a smile daring to overcome his lips, but forced it back. He couldn't afford to give out affection outside of Hyrule.
Right?
~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
If you spot any errors, please tell me so I can fix them.
I know Twilight might seem a bit out of character in this, but I can kind of imagine her freaking out if someone ever hurt Spike.