One With the Pack

The group was now at the river’s edge, watching as the wild waves tumbled, crashing against rocks and taking anything light down with it. Ember took a cautious step into the water, quickly withdrawing his hoof from its icy cold depths. “Ok, so we're definitely going to need to transform for this.” The others agreed, doing so without another thought. Quetzal scanned the river bed to see if there was anywhere that was shallow enough so they could just walk across. When she did, she led the others to it. They all got into a single file line, the two mares carrying the pups in the middle. Holding onto each other's tails so they wouldn't get separated if the current got stronger, they began to cross. Unfortunately, Mist couldn't a good grip on Sirena because of his leg, so when she accidently stumbled on a loose stone, he slid off, getting swept into the frigid waters below.

“Mist!” his brother cried, about to jump into the water after him, but Sirena held him back.

“Everyone keep moving, I'll get him,” Nicky called out, passing the doe to Mark and lowering herself into deeper water, the coldness of it not distracting her from her goal.

She swam out to the pup, who had gotten lodged in between two rocks, struggling to keep his head above the surface. When he saw her, his eyes lit up, but he still looked scared as ever.

“Calm down, kid. I've got you. Now don't move,” she told him softly as she leaned down and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, slowly pulling him out of the crevice.

The others had made it across, and they were waiting for Nicky to make it safely to them. Once her paws touched solid ground, she dropped Mist and shook the water out of her fur. The pale gray pup ran to his brother after shaking himself, pulling him into a tight hug. The females then stood around in a semicircle around them, taking turns to rub themselves against them to help add warmth back into Mist’s body. Dust told them his thanks, and after everyone ate for a little bit, they continued on their way.

The night had fallen, and Ember’s eyes were blue to help him see better in the dark. The others followed him wordlessly, until a low whine made him stop in his tracks. He sighed, turning his head. “What is it, FIrefly?”

“Sir, my leg is starting to hurt really bad. Can we stop for the night?”

“That's fine with me. Go check on her, Beta.”

Once they all transformed, Quetzal was already on it, examining the pegasus’s hind leg while the rest of the pack went into a clearing. When the two approached, they noticed that most of them were laying down in the snow, Sirena’s wings draped over the colts to keep them warm. Only Mark and Ember stood, Mark looking at the Alpha in disbelief. “You want me to what?” he asked, surprised.

“I want you to get some rest. You've been on your feet for as long as I can remember since you were in this pack. You need some time to relax.”

“But, Sir, I'm a Scout. And Scouts don't sleep. It's our job to watch for danger at all times.”

“I know, all the more reason that you need rest. At least for one night. I'll take your shift tonight.”

Mark tried arguing against it, but the other stallion was undeterred. Limelight then ran up to her father.

“Can I come with you, Dad?” she asked excitedly.

He started to nod, then looked up to his mate for confirmation, but she had fallen asleep due to Crescent gently kneading her hooves into her back.

“I'll tell her if she wakes up sometime later.” Nicky said, giving him a nod.

Mouthing a quick ‘thank you’ to her, he turned to walk down the path, the little one right behind him.

“Dad?”

“Yes, Limelight?”

“How come you've never told us what happened to your mom?”

Ember froze, looking at her with wide eyes before sighing. “You're much too curious for your own good, you know that?”

He expected her to giggle, or to say, ‘I know,’ but was slightly surprised when neither came. She instead sat down and stared up at him, her eyes changing to the swirl of colors. He cleared his throat before patting the patch of snow in front of him, sitting down himself as she came over to sit. “Limelight, sweetie. Please don't get mad at what I'm about to tell you, and please, for the love of the moon don't go around telling everyone else about it either. Only your mother knows, and once I'm done, only you will too.” The teal unicorn tilted her head to the side, then sat up straight and nodded. He gulped before continuing. “Honey… Your grandmother is, well…, I-i had kill her.”

Limelight’s eyes went wide, and she only whispered the question, “Why?”

“I didn't do it for no reason, if that's what you're wondering. She was sick, contracted Moon Fever.”

“Quetzal told me about that once. Isn't that when someone who isn't your mate Marks you and the Mark gets infected?”

Ember nodded, glad that this was going better than he had hoped. “There wasn't a Beta in our pack, and the nearest Healer was miles away, too far for us to bring her to him. The infection worked its way quickly, as Marks are close to the brain. After a week, her eyes were sunken in and her coat lost its shine and grew pale. Months later, she started having seizures and hallucinations, sometimes madly running out of the cave, not being seen until a few days later. It was eating her up alive, she wasn't the mom that I knew before. One night, all hell broke loose. She was having another one of her hallucinations, and apparently thought that my father and I were the ones who had done this to her. My dad tried to calm her down, but she ended up breaking one of his legs. The look in her eyes… The angry growls she made… I knew that if we didn't do something, we both would have been killed and she wouldn't even know what happened the next day. So, I made a move. The painful wail that escaped her before she fell to the ground, it just broke my heart. To think that I, her own son, could do that…”

He stopped speaking then, not caring about his reputation anymore, letting the tears fall freely. His body shook, years of holding back these tears taking its toll. His daughter had him lean down, pulling his head against her chest, gently stroking his mane. “I am the worst Alpha who ever lived,” he said between sobs.

“No, Dad. You're not. In fact, I think you're one of the best Alphas around. You take care of all of us. We all love you.”

The stallion sniffled after a while, all cried out.

“Thank you, sweetheart. For not hating me or getting mad.”

The filly shook her head at him. Why would I get mad at you? Or hate you? You did what you thought was best, and that's all that matters. You can't go back and change it.” She leaned forward and kissed his nose. “Promise me something.”

“Anything, dear.”

“Promise me that you'll tell everyone else about this tomorrow morning. If you want to continue to be a great Alpha, you shouldn't be keeping secrets from your pack.”

He stared at her, astonished at her courage to say the least. “I-I can't. Everyone would be so mad at me. Firefly would be devastated, Quetzal would lose her respect for me, Collin would probably give me a good punch in the face… I just can't do that.”

“What if I stood by you? Would that help?”

“I guess, I don't-”

She silenced him by pressing a hoof to his lips. “No, you're going to do it, whether you want to or not. You can't let this burden you.”

Ember sighed, nuzzling her cheek. “You're just like your mother.”, he muttered, before finally agreeing to what she wanted him to do.

“Good. I'm glad that you told me. I don't mean to be nosy, Sir, but once I saw how much it troubled you before, I had to ask.”

“It's alright. I was going to have to tell you girls sooner or later.”

She glanced down to the ground then back up at him. “Hey, Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think I'm going to get Ranked as?”

“Well, based on all that you just told me, most likely a Beta. You know how to get your point across.”

She smiled, raising her hooves above her head as he stood up. Placing her on his back, he started forward. “So, now that you've learned about my past, got any other heart wrenching questions to ask me?”

“No, Sir.”

“Good, cause I'm fresh out of tears to cry.”