One With the Pack

“Quetzal!” The dark blue unicorn dragon hybrid’s head snapped up.

“Yes, Alpha?”, she asked as the stallions walked into the Den.

“I have a question for you. Don't only Female Alphas eyes turn red?” She nodded once. “Well, Collin and I went to go talk with that Rogue that Mark spotted. I must have said something that made him upset, because his eyes flashed red. Is that a rare occurrence or what?”

She tilted her head to one side in thought. “My only answer for that is that he was treated as a female in his old pack, so it stuck.”

“Makes sense. Where are the girls?”

She tilted her head to a tunnel. “They're with Firefly and Nicky in Nicky’s chamber, Sir.”

“And Speckle?”

“In yours. Said something about having a headache, so she went to lay down.”

“Probably having another one of her episodes. Thank you, Beta.”

“Of course.”

Collin watched as Ember left, before slumping onto the ground in front of Quetzal. She raised an eyebrow, brushing her blonde mane out of her face. “What's up with you?”, she asked.

“Him. That's what's up with me. He's always giving me the short end of the stick.”

“Collin, you've only been in this pack for two moons. Did you really think he would give you all that responsibility right off the bat?”

He shrugged after thinking about it. “Guess not.”

“Exactly. Be glad that you're his Second in command so quickly. It took me five moons as a Delta to finally prove to him that I was worthy enough to become a Beta.”

“Really?”

She nodded as she stood up. “Now, if you'll excuse me, there is a tree out there with my name on it.”

“Ew. TMI much?”

“I have no regrets.”

Nicky sat and watched as the two young ones run around the chamber. She remembered when she had that much energy as a pup, until it had to be transferred to speed and agility when she was ranked as a Hunter. The teal coated unicorn filly with two toned blonde hair came up to her and sat down. “What are you thinking about?”, she asked.

Nicky smiled down at her. “Nothing important, Limelight. It's just that you two have so much energy in you. I'm surprised that you can even sleep at night.”

The filly’s twin sister, a light purple pegasus with navy blue hair with a lime green streak in it, ran up to them, grinning as she sat down as well. “It's maybe because we burn out from running around so much.” , she said.

A voice behind her laughed. The fillies turned and looked at the older dark purple pegasus with flaming orange hair. Limelight walked up to her. “Is your leg doing ok, Omega?”

“It's doing better, thank you for asking, Limelight.”

Her eyes suddenly grew wide, and she turned back to her sister. “Ooh, Crescent! I just realized something. The Elder pack is coming to rank us next half-moon! I hope they rank me a Beta, so I can be as smart as Quetzal is.”

Firefly smiled at her fondly. “Limelight, they'll have to rank you as a Delta first. Then you have to train for at least two moons before you can possibly be promoted to Beta status.”

Limelight pouted. “That's a long time to train.”

Nicky shrugged. “It'll go by faster than you think.”, she noted. “And what about you, Crescent?”

“I don't know for sure yet. Being an Alpha would be cool, but I wouldn't mind being an Omega either.”

“Well, there are pros and cons to both ranks, but I'm sure you'll be great in either one.” Firefly said genuinely.

Ember and Collin were now sitting outside of the cave, trying to have a somewhat pleasant conversation, but as usual, one of them would light the match to a flame war. And without the females to watch them, things could get ugly, fast. Thankfully, Mark showed up just in time to see Collin's eyes turn blue as he snarled at Ember, his wings fully spread and chest fur fluffing out. “Um, Alphas? I'm sorry to interrupt your bickering, but I spotted something on the south side of the perimeter.”

“Is it that Rogue again?”, Ember asked.

“No, Sir. It's two pups, and one of them looks to be hurt.”

“Pups? How did they get this far in this weather? And why didn't you bring them with you?”

“They wouldn't let me. Maybe you should go talk to them.”

“I will.”

Collin had now calmed down enough to ask, “Do you want me to come with you?”

“That won't be necessary. You will stay here and wait till I get back. Besides, if it's pups out there, they will be more willing to talk to one Alpha as opposed to two.”

The snow crunched beneath the dark brown wolf’s feet, his red eyes scanning the area as he moved quickly to the south edge of the perimeter. He then paused, opening his mouth slightly as he breathed in a scent. It confused him for a second, yet he shrugged it off and continued forward. Sure enough, huddled underneath a pine tree, two wolf pups sat side by side, one with light brown fur and the other a pale gray. The elder wolf stepped into their line of sight, changing himself before they could try to run off. Nonetheless, the light brown pup jumped to his feet, trying to nudge the other one up. “Stay where you are.”, Ember called out to them lowly as he drew nearer. “And change yourselves.” The pups looked at each other before doing as they were told, revealing a light brown unicorn colt with curly black hair and chestnut eyes and a pale gray pegasus colt with blond hair and sparkling golden eyes. They immediately dropped to their knees, bowing their heads towards the ground. Ember blinked, trying to understand why that position seemed so familiar to him. Disregarding the thought, he told them to rise. “What are you two doing here? Where are your parents?”

The unicorn colt spoke. “Alpha, my brother here hurt his leg while we were trying to run away from a group of Rogues. As for our parents… our mother died a few moons ago, and our father left us shortly thereafter.”

Ember’s heart ached when he heard this. These poor pups, they didn't look to be more than eleven moons old and yet they probably had been through more than he ever did as a young one himself.

“How about I take you boys in? You could definitely use a place to sleep at night.” Their eyes widened.

“Y-you would do that for us, Sir?”, the colt asked.

He nodded. “Of course. Besides, someone needs to look at your brother’s leg. It could be infected.”

The colt looked over at his twin. “Did you hear that, Mist? We're going to have a new home!” Mist nodded, letting out a small sigh in relief. Ember lowered himself, telling the two to get on his back. Once they were on, he stood up straight and headed back to his home.

The whole pack was outside of the cave at this point, waiting patiently for the Alpha to return. When he did, Quetzal rushed to him, levitating Mist off of his back and then running into the Den. Firefly followed her, going as quick as she could with a bummed out hind leg. The others turned to Ember, starting to ask him and the other colt questions. The colt whimpered and buried his face into the Alpha’s mane as they crowded around him. Ember sighed. “Back up, everyone. You're scaring him. You can all introduce yourselves one at a time later.” They started to filter out back into the cave, Mark going back to his post. Only Speckle remained, and she slowly walked towards them.

“May I speak to him?”

“If he wants to talk.”

The colt sat up, turning his head to look at her.

“What's your name, little buddy?”, she asked in a soft tone.

“Dust Cloud, m’am. And my brother’s is Mist Rise.”

“ It’s nice to meet you, Dust. I'm Speckle. And if he hadn't told you already, the one you're sitting on is Ember. He's this pack’s lead Alpha. He'll make sure that you two are taken good care for. Quite the father figure to the most of us.”

Dust nodded then politely asked Ember if he could get down. Once on the ground, he followed the pair into the Den, where Quetzal was wrapping a bandage around one of Mist’s front legs. “Is he going to be ok?”, Dust asked.

She nodded. “His leg healed up pretty well on its own, actually. It's still bruised, so he shouldn't walk on it for a couple days, but otherwise he'll be fine.”

Firefly gave the pegasus colt a gentle pat on the shoulder and a warm smile.

“Welcome to the injured club. I'm Firefly, by the way.”

The colt nodded and smiled back at her. He then glanced over to Dust and gave him a look.

“Mist says thank you for helping him, Beta.”

Quetzal waved it off. “It's nothing, really. Just part of my job.”

Ember raised an eyebrow. “Is he a mute?”

Dust shook his head. “No, Sir. Ever since what happened with mom, he just… stopped talking. We still communicate mentally, of course.”

“I see.”

Crescent and Limelight then ran into the room, stopping short when they saw the colts. Dust sat up straight, looking around the room when a wave of scent hit him. Mist could smell it too, and looked at his brother, confused.

Limelight walked over to them. “Hi there! My name’s Limelight, and over there is my sister Crescent Wishes. What's yours?”

“Dust Cloud, and Mist Rise my brother.”

“It's nice to meet you both! Dad, may Crescent and I go play in the snow?”

Ember nodded. “Sure, why not? Just make sure someone goes with you.”

They then ran off to go get Nicky. Quetzal was now eying the colts necks curiously, causing them to become a bit self conscious. Ember noticed this and spoke up.

“Does something in them interest you, Quetzal?”

She nodded. “Sir, I think these two are Omegas.”

“Omegas? What brings you to that conclusion?”

“They have Marks. Look.”

The stallion lowered his head to look at them, and sure enough, a patch of pink skin was present on both of their necks. Alpha females and Omega females were the only ones to have Marks, as they were the reproducers of the pack. Male Omegas were rare, especially those with Marks.

“Well there's only one way to make sure. Firefly, stand up please.” She did so. “Show me your eyes and Omega position.” Her orange eyes turned into a bright yellow, and she dropped onto her knees, bowing her head to the floor. Ember then asked the colts to show their eyes. Two pairs of yellow eyes soon stared back at him, and they went into their positions as well. “Hmm. Looks like we found them at the right time. No wonder why there was a group of Rogues after you. They were trying to get you Marked.” Dust looked up at him in slight confusion. Speckle then tilted her head to the side, revealing her own neck. The patch of pink skin had two puncture hole scars on it.

“When someone Marks you, you become mentally and emotionally bonded to the one who does it to you.”, she explained.

Firefly simply shook her head. “But why to these two? They're still pups, for crying out loud!”

“Rogues don't care. They do whatever they please. As long as they don't join another pack, rules don't apply to them.”

The others soon took their leave, leaving just Ember and colts to themselves. Dust hesitated at first, then mustered up enough courage to ask the Alpha a question. “Alpha? Did you happen to smell anything off earlier?”

He shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Why?”

“Well, we did. It happened when your daughters came in.” The stallion looked confused, then his eyes widened in understanding as he put the two together.

“By the stars," he muttered.

“What is it?”

He looked down at them and smiled slightly. “Well, boys. It looks like you found your soulmates.”

The night was calm, and the mist that hung near the tops of the pines made the forest look ominous. The stars dotted the vast expanse of navy blue sky, and the moon’s light draped all in contact with it with an eerie white glow. Ember laid out on his stomach across the flat surface of the cliff top, trying to make sense of all that had happened within the day. His ears then perked up as he heard something coming up behind him. Turning his head, he smiled as Limelight laid down beside him. “What are you doing up here?” she asked.

“And what are you doing not in your bed?”

She shrugged. “Couldn't sleep. I went to see if anyone else was awake, besides Mark of course.”

He turned his head back forward, resting it in between his front hooves, looking up at the stars.

Limelight nudged his side. “Dad, do you think the Star pack is real?”

He sat up at this, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her. “And who told you about that?”

“Mom did. She said that's where Grandma went.”

He sighed, trying to blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes, but they fell anyway. His daughter looked up at him with concern, her dark red eyes now a swirl of yellow, green, purple, and dark blue.

“Are you… crying?” she asked softly.

Her father turned away from her, mentally cursing himself. Lead Alphas didn't cry, period. To them, the action was a show of weakness, as they were the ones who kept their packs in order.

The filly reached out and touched his hoof. “It's ok,” she said when he finally looked back at her.

He smiled a little and hugged her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “This is why I love you girls. You always know how to make me feel better.” She nodded sleepily, eyes now back to red. “Do you want to go to bed now?”

“No. Can I stay with you? Please?”

He nodded. “Of course, dear. Anything for my little flower.”