"I don't care if it makes you feel weird! You sleep with the wolf fur blanket if you don't wanna freeze to death!" Nathaniel told the wolf pup who looked at the blanket weirdly. The young man just sighed and hoped that he could get a fire going soon. He had dry firewood in his "cellar" but it was the spark he needed to ignite it all he missed. Starting a fire was becoming more and more of problem these days, the snow and cold made it hard to survive.

He knew that the forest wouldn't be a great place to live during the winter months and a part of him was scared of the possibilities of death. Nathaniel feared to one day wake up to cold and tired to move, to one day not being able to start the fire he and the wolf pup needed to survive long term in their clearing among the trees.

Nathaniel sighed as he brought out the black rocks and hit them against each other, letting their sides connect before sliding one rock of the other. The sparks created by this hit the firewood that his wolf friend placed in the middle of the stone circle. As he got a small fire going, the pup brought more dry firewood (he hadn't really thought up a name for the wolf, yet) and Nathaniel gave the small animal a pet as a thanks.

When the fire finally lit up the human and the wolf sat down and relaxed by the fire, the crackling of the blaze made the young man calmer than he had been moments before. He would have to worry about things like this later, right now his goal was to last the winter in this fantastical land.

Yet with the constant need to feed both him, and the pup Nathaniel was starting to doubt his chances to survive. Sure he had been here for a few months (why wasn't he mad yet?) and he had gained a few scars, but he didn't think hunting down a deer or a hare during the winter would be this hard.

The human had gained an advantage though, the pup. Yes, the young wolf often gave off his location, with it's howls and yips but without the wolf he would never find the animals in the first place, it's nose always leading him to a source of food. Not that they found food that often to begin with.

Nathaniel looked up at the current blue sky and let the rays of sunlight hit his face, the quiet and still feeling over the camp was one he loved, absolute serenity where he didn't need to focus on survival for a second. Or at least he didn't need to think about death.

If there was one thing he had noticed in his time around these woods, it was to be that he feared being alone. Sure, he hadn't really acted like that during the first months but now when he could lose the pup, the only one he could speak to but himself, it made his chest tighten every time the wolf walked away to hunt for itself.

Another thing he knew was different was how little he spoke. Sure he spoke with the wolf pup from time to time and even himself, but other than that he was very quiet, only making noises to show the surrounding world he was still there.

He could still speak, he just thought so much more these days. One returning thought that has plagued his mind was about those ponies he had seen in the wolves cave, or at least he assumed they were ponies from their size. They had called out for help that day, they had spoken. He hadn't really processed it at the time, gigantic wolf of death and all, but now when he had been relaxing moments alone with his mind? It has terrified him.

If ponies of this world where sentient then what else could think for itself? Has every deer he killed had thoughts? Had he murdered several families to stay alive? The thought wasn't comforting and the first time his mind had came across the possibility he had suffered a nervous breakdown.

Now, after a lot of self convincing he didn't puke from the mere thought of touching his bow. If the deer was like those ponies it wouldn't be acting like it's terran counterpart, it would have a wagon or stay in camps like the ponies in the wolf cave did. He at least assumed that the ponies owned the wagon as they were the only other smart species there that day.

During his pondering on if he was a murderous psychopath or not, the pup had snuggled up into his side, it's head resting in his lap. Almost on command he petted the creature and he felt more relaxed again, his worries washing away. The deer wasn't a thinking creature, or at least it wasn't a sentient creature.

As he let out a relaxed sigh the pup gave off a mewling sound, bumping its head into his stomach before looking at the line hung between Nathaniel's small hut and a tree. The line the human used to hang meat on. Of course the little wolf would be begging for food, it had him cornered with its sheer cuteness! Those puppy eyes have stared at him with an order to get him food!

Nathaniel rolled his eyes and chuckled before standing up and heading to the square shaped hut, the pup sat down and looked at him curiously. He moved to the hole next to the door and climbed down the ladder, his storage room filled with salted meat and his very tidy sewing equipment.

The human took a few pieces of meat (two of which he had yet to rub salt into) and took them back up to the pup by the campfire. Nathaniel gave the pup the freshest meat he had and then bit into a piece of salted meat. The young man laughed at the chewing sounds the wolf next to him made as it ate its meat, the sound reminded him of how his cat had used to chew on plastic.

Well, now he was in a foul mood, remembering the one thing that he cared about was left behind, his cat. The furry little beast had been annoying at times but it had also been his only companion among the cold parents and scared servants. So realizing only now that he would never see that fury beast again made him a bit sad.

As to cheer him up the pup once again snuggled into his side, laying down across Nathaniel's lap before looking up at him. A blazing warmth in the cold winter day, not against the snow, but against his need for contact with other people. How has he lasted for three months without this little guy?

"Blaze sounds like a good name right?" He asked the pup who only mewled in response.

"Yeah, it's a good name" The human man confirmed for himself before petting the pup once again.

The two of them sat there for maybe an hour or two, before Nathaniel finally got up to refuel the fire, Blaze sitting down next to the dying fire for the warmth and light. Something told him Blaze was smarter than wolves back on earth, it was the way the pup's eyes followed him as he moved.

It was when Nathaniel walked back from his cellar that he noticed the new tracks in the woods. He put the new firewood on the burning charcoal and got a new fire started, only to notice how Blaze was looking around nervously. The wolf was walking around the camp like he was guarding it, keeping it safe from something Nathaniel hadn’t been there to see.

Finding the pup's anxiety to be worrying, the human walked to the new tracks just outside the camp site. They were from an animal... with hooves, or rather from a pony. So they knew where he lived now? Should he be worrying or expecting gifts for saving the lives of that pony family?

Blaze walked up to the tracks, standing next to him as he sniffed on the fresh tracks. The wolf growled and gave of a threatening bark into the woods before walking back to the fire, his job done. Nathaniel on the other hand watched the forest for the rest of that day, wanting to know if his mystery "guest" would return.

~Next day~

The young man woke up to the sound of Blaze howling at something, immediately causing him to grab his bow and a few arrows. As he ran outside however all he could see was a figure running off into the snow covered trees and the happy face of Blaze howling triumphantly, the pup's mouth covered in blood.

Whoever had been stalking their camp would be thinking twice about that in the future that was for sure, the pup had taken a good chunk from the creep! As Nathaniel looked over Blaze to make sure he was ok, there were now new tracks all around the pup.

With the blood on the ground and the amount of hoof prints one could clearly see that the wolf had fought of whoever had been there, which meant they now knew of the wolf defending the camp. Nathaniel just hoped that this would not become a regular occurrence, he had enough of night time visitors.

After he made sure Blaze didn't have any injuries, he gave the wolf a piece of meat before heading out to hunt, needing more meat for the coming weeks of ice and snow. The only thing that he could call a vegetable in his new diet was a carrot like thing which grew like mushrooms in his cellar. It tasted good and seemed to keep him alive so he ate it with the meat.

The snow crunched under his shoes as he slowly made his way down the forest path, Blaze following him with his nose up into the air. If it wasn't for the knowledge about the monsters in the woods one could call the white and green landscape beautiful, yet its natural beauty paled in comparison to the feeling of hunger.

When Nathaniel lived with his family he had never been forced to worry about hunger, but now he didn't think about much else. Survival was his reason to exist now, to prove to someone, anyone, that he could do it. That a boy from some soiled family could live through these cold woods. Who he wanted to prove this to, he didn't know.

He wrapped the black wolf pelt cloak around him as they moved further into the woods, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Blaze was still with him. The once head on the leader wolf was now his hood, hiding his face from people as well as the elements. It also seemed to make Blaze listen to each command he gave him. The pup didn't see him as its father did it?

Nathaniel was napped out of these thoughts as he suddenly spotted a hare further along the trail. He grabbed the bow hanging over his shoulder and took an arrow from the little pouch he had made for them. When the young man aimed for the hare he nodded to Blaze who stalked the tree line next to the trail, ready to pounce in case his owner missed.

The moment when Nathaniel aimed was always the best thing in the world for him, the noise around him even in a quiet forest just zoned out. The mark on his right hand glowed brightly as did his eyes, the arrow tip would be caught on fire and the world stopped for a second - then he fired the arrow.

The burning projectile burrowed itself into the hare's neck and Blaze gave a howl of triumph over their kill. The young man made sure to put out the green flames from the arrow before it burnt all the hare's skin, putting the arrow back into the pouch for possible future use.

With some small distractions from the pup (mostly him whining over not being allowed to eat the rabbit like it was) the human managed to skin the animal with his flint-stone knife. He remembered now what the black rocks were called, and it pleased him some facts had stuck with him from boring classes with Mr. Hansen.

Nathaniel stood up and strapped the rabbit to the belt made from deer hide around his waist. The shirt he wore was made from the same material while his pants were made from wolf pelt like the black fur keeping him warm during the night or when he was out hunting.

He felt bad about killing the pup's family for survival. Yet he hoped he had made some sort amends by taking care of the wolf. So far Blaze seemed to like him and the wolf had only tried to eat him once! Which was mostly Nathaniel's fault as he had forgot to get fresh meat for the pup.

The two companions made their way back to their camp with a hare, but also a spy. The human has not noticing the yellow eyes that followed him from a snow covered branch. Blaze did , giving off a growl at the tree which made the eyes disappear. As the human didn't find any trace of anyone he just assumed the wolf has saw a bird.

For some reason Nathaniel felt more and more anxious as he and Blaze moved towards the camp, the woods became almost silent. The snow covered trees moved in the gentle wind as some snow swirled up from the ground on the path, blocking his sight for a second.

The next thing he saw was Blaze ramming into his side, sending him into a pile of snow. As he was about to question the wolf about why it had attacked him he noticed the piece of metal on the ground where he had just stood, it was a long bladed knife.

Panic hit him immediately and Nathaniel got to his feet, putting an arrow on the bow string. His mind was to muddled for him to even begin to use that magic for finding things around him. He needed to be focused to use his magic and he was all but focused at the moment.

Letting out a sigh he tried to relax himself enough to at least punch whatever was trying to kill him. He let his eyes roam the tree line yet the only indication of anyone being here was Blaze's growls and the knife on the ground. It was almost like the assassin was biding their time.

"I have no idea who you are or what you want, but I will not hesitate to shoot you if I have to!" He called out into the woods, Blaze's growls growing stronger and stronger.

There was no response, Nathaniel could swear he had heard a gasp from somewhere but other than that the woods where very quiet. The danger seemed to be over until suddenly another knife flew from the trees, this one would have hit his shoulder in case he hadn't fired an arrow at it, setting it of course.

Nathaniel had no idea how he had even reacted to the knife before finally realizing that he was holding a firm grip of his magic. He had gotten a second extra to react and that along with a lucky shot had been enough to save his chest from any flying knives.

The same couldn't be said for his shoulder though, another knife flying out from the trees and hitting off his body assuring him that a professional threw it. He cried out in pain and dropped the bow, holding his injured arm while Blaze howled and yipped at one of the trees only for the pup to be sent flying into a tree by a red blast of magic.

"Blaze!" The human yelled and rushed for the wolf only for him to be sent flying, hitting the tree next to the unconscious pup.

He groaned in pain before getting up, seeing several figures moving towards him through the trees. He growled and closed his eyes, focusing his magic before letting out a blast from his right hand that he had aimed towards the figures. The act sent him to his knees but the scream of pain brought a grin to his lips. No one was going to hurt his little companion and get away with it.

The figures, which now he realized walked on four legs, hid behind cover of the snowy trees, out of sight. Taking that as his chance Nathaniel picked up Blaze and ran for it, his right shoulder making him cry tears of pain as he hurried towards his camp.

Behind him a tree exploded in a red blast of magic, shards of wood and dirt being thrown up into the air as the old oak collapsed right next to him, making him hurrying up his attempt at escaping from the predators behind him.

The only thing that his mind could focus on was that he needed to get away, he needed to get the fucking knife out of his shoulder and he needed to move his camp in like twenty minutes. It seemed impossible, but so was blasts of green magic and he could make those without breaking a sweat, it made him exhausted instead.

That exhaustion proved to be his worst enemy as his normal stamina was reduced to nothing, the pain in his shoulder and use of magic making him drop to the ground several times as he made his way past familiar trees and large rocks. It didn't take him long to find an opening among the trees, his camp up ahead on the new path.

Running towards the camp he never even thought about the possibility of more attackers being there, to preoccupied with looking over the wolf pup in his arms. It really should have crossed his mind if he wasn't without any weapons (except a small knife) and currently more tired than he had been in his entire life.

The same second his foot crossed the line between woods and his camp clearing a metal rod was put in his way, hitting him in the head. He was flung to the floor, groaning in pain as he looked up to notice it was not a metal rod, but rather the handle of a black scythe.

"What kind of creature are you?." A confused female voice said above the downed human before he blacked out, wondering if Blaze was going to be ok.

Princess Luna's POV

As I looked down on the weird being cradling a wolf up in its arms only one clear question of the hundreds my mind could conjure up slipped out. A thought that all the guards around the small camp and in the trees all wondered with me.

"What kind of creature are you?" I asked (my own confusion making me slip up with speaking like a proper leader) only to be met with a pain filled groan as the being passed out, dropping the wolf pup from its arms.

I lit my horn and the young wolf was enveloped in a blue aurora, stopping it from hitting the ground. I could see the dark burnt patch of fur were a spell had hit its side, the sight making me wanna use the combat mages for melee practice. I ordered them to not use lethal spells yet they had sent a blast powerful enough to rip a tree in half straight into a wolf.

The only reason it was alive from what I could see was because of its breed, its pelt indicating a royal grey-wolf. From what I've heard the fur on the wolves were like magic absorbents, sucking up all the magic from a blast to minimize the damage. Yet the fur couldn't handle all the magic in the world, which meant that he wolf would start to take damage at some point. Case in point, the cub's burnt patch of fur.

"Princess! We have found massive amounts of pelts and salted meat!" A guard called from the hut like building and I held back my disdain for a second, needing to keep my expression professional.

"Art thee sure thee found meat?" I asked and turned to the guard for confirmation, it was rather easy to slip back into speaking with the Canterlot dialect

"Yes your majesty! We are sure this creatures are carnivorous!" The guard said with a salute, his grey fur and white mane a part of the enchantment their armor used to hide their true face.

"That thing is intelligent princess! It called out when I first threw a knife at it" A sanguine mare said and landed next to the strange creature below me.

'So it can speak? This gets more and more complicated' I thought with a sigh as the bat pony mare sniffed the blood pouring from the being's shoulder.

I watched as her eyes slowly took a red tint to them and her fangs grew out, ready to stab into the neck of our new prisoner. It was rather fascinating to see a sanguine preparing to feed, but we needed enough blood in him so he would get up again.

"Lieutenant Rose, art thee feeling well?" I asked the mare who snapped her maw shut and shook her head to clear it.

"Sorry lady Luna, the blood's getting pass the spell again" The bat pony murmured and walked away to stand with the night guards, leaving me alone with the being.

"Very well. Put the creature in the cage until further notice, and someone get me a healer for the wolf cub before I banish that fool, Major Fury to Tartarus!" I yelled and the squad's medic rushed up to the wolf and carried it away to the side.

"Speak of the mad god.." A gruff voice said behind me as I looked at the red furred unicorn stallion, his red eyes looking into my own blue ones.

"Major, art thee questioning my authority? My order was for the wolf to remain unharmed, a lethal spell to its side was not a part of that order" I growled and unicorn who just shrugged, his black tail flickering over the red fireball he had as a cuitemark.

"The little bastard took a chunk out of Osiris! You bet your flank I sent a dose of death its wa.." He started only to be cut of as I picked him up with my magic, throwing him to the ground.

"Thou art dismissed major Fury, go home" I huffed and walked past the Battle mage as I carried the creature in my magical grasp, gently putting him down next to the wolf so his wounds could be treated.

Lieutenant Rose flinched at the look the major gave me, yet it didn't bother me. He would not be dumb enough to do anything in full daylight. It was almost funny how clearly his hatred was felt through the clearing before he walked off with a huff, flanked by two guards.

I was sure he had ordered lethal force on the creature, if it wasn't for Tia's stubborn decision to keep him around for his family ties I would have thrown him out years ago. I could still throw him onto the ground though, which brought a small smile to my lips.

As the medic looked over the creature and the wolf, she got more information for us. Apparently the being was young from what she could see. He had scars across his body from fights with clawed creatures and he was "well endowed" according to the blushing mare as she looked under the cloak covering his body.

He had very little hair for a creature similar to an ape, having long black hair and a stubble of a beard while the rest his body only held some hair at a few places. The clothes he wore were made from animal skin, something which made everyone but Lieutenant Rose shuddering. The bow and knife he had been carrying was of very low quality but he had still survived out here.

"We found a weird rock princess" A guard called for me and I went over to the bolder and saw nothing special at first.

"The creature seemed to keep track on the days your majesty. It has been out here for almost half a year" The golden clad stallion said and I nodded, looking over the situation.

This thing could very well prove itself even more of threat than it already had, its ability to survive seemed to stem from luck yet it was no wonder our scout had problems finding this place, the beast had hidden its tracks well. Like it knew someone was watching him.

Osiris had approached the camp side on orders from Tia, to check out the monster that lived deep into the northern parts of the Everfree. The ponies that had came to us almost two months before had told me and my sister about a how great monster threw itself into battle against a couple of wolves wanting them for dinner.

Tia had of coursed feared the being the same second she heard about it and had made sure to send in scouts to look for it. Osiris was the first one to find his home, only for the creature's pet to attack the master spy and rip chunk out of his lug and throw it to the side.

Now the guards had the creature ready to be transported to the castle where me and Celestia could clear up the situation. So far it only seemed dangerous if threatened, yet that could always change, especially if it could speak and think like other sentient races.

I let my magic wash over the creature to scan for different things and soon opened my eyes in confusion. His magic was like staring into the sun. I had to let go of the scanning spell and take breather. That much raw power in the.. hands? Of a creature like this? Why?

"Princess it's time we go. We have evidence" A guard said and helped the medic stash the wolf and the creature into the cage before two guards started to pull on the wagon the cage rested on. As they moved away I couldn't help but wondering how Celestia would take the news of this creature's powers and luck.

As I left the clearing with the guards I glanced back onto the creature's seemingly well built camp one last time. Perhaps he would be allowed to return here later in his life. As I mused for myself Rose waved at me to follow, and so I did, guarding the prisoners as we took them to the castle for further investigation.

"What are you?" I asked one last time, and of course no response was given.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading the third chapter of Nathaniel's adventures in Equestria! I will try to keep posting as often as possible but you know how it is, life gets in the way somehow each day. I still haven't found an editor sadly Though I might have found someone that can help me.

Update: My editor gave me the edited chapter, letting you be the judges of the thing

I want this as Nathaniel's theme song XD