Love Bites

As with most things, ponies, and werewolves alike, tend to adapt quickly to changing environments and conditions. Yet there are some cases, as is this one, were attempting to adapt is much easier said than done. Soulmate. The word echoed through Obsidian's mind as he sat in place. It was the last thing he would have expected to come so late. At the age of twenty four, almost twenty five, most werewolves would have already settled down and started a pack of their own. This however was not the case with the young stallion. Him being so quiet and reserved usually didn't do well with courtings, as his parents had begun to hook him up with mares in the surrounding areas when he turned twenty, none of whom ever struck his fancy. Eventually they gave up and left him to his own devices, which he for once was glad that they did. The strong smell of lavenders and lilacs came to mind once again, just thinking about it made his cheeks flush. Was it true? Was the mare that lost touch with him for five moons really his mate? There was only one female- rather, two females that could help him with this situation.

“Limelight, Crescent, are y'all home?” A voice called back to him before a figure came into view.

“Well, would you look at who it is. Yo, Beta! Come say hi to our baby bro.”

Obsidian rolled his eyes before sitting down on his haunches. A purple coated pegasus mare strolled calmly out of the cave’s entrance. Her night sky blue mane hung down past her shoulders, frayed at the ends. A lime green streak within it complimented her features, her ice blue eyes stared at him while she smiled at him kindly. “Good to see you too, Crescent.,” he grumbled. Another head peered curiously at him, and a soft gasp came before the rest of the body appeared.

“Obsidian! What brings you all the way up here?”

The owner of the voice was a teal coated unicorn mare, her two toned yellow mane was cut short, stopping just under her neck. Her eyes, reddish orange in color, twinkled as she grinned.

“Oh, you know. I just got bored and decided to trek the fifteen miles it took to get here.,” He said with a drop of sarcasm.

“Look at him, Lime. He’s fallen for someone.”

His body stiffened, and his cheeks grew darker. “I have not.”

“Then what brings you to Goldenleaf Woods for any other purpose than to talk to us about a relationship issue?”

He diverted his gaze from them, instead watching a leaf fall to the ground. “It's Pixel… I ran into her earlier today.” The mares grew silent, looking at each other before turning back to face him. “She… she looks so different than what I remember. Her eyes, they sparkled like the clearest of amethysts against the cool brook that was her face.”

Crescent placed a hoof against her forehead and sighed deeply. “Ok, so we're dealing with a poetic, yet mostly empty, romantic. That's on you, Limelight. You two have fun.”

She turned, retreating back into the darkening tunnels with a calm demeanor. Limelight snorted at her sister's leave, redirecting her gaze to her younger brother. “Continue. Did she say much?”

“Well, no. Nothing of too much importance. And you know me with keeping a conversation…”

“Right. Anything else?”

“She ran off before I could ask her about her father. I'm assuming he had something to do with her sudden rush to leave.”

The mare sighed. “Dad’s been wondering about how he’s doing. I heard he’s planning on having a meeting with all of the Alphas in the area soon. Perhaps he will attend?”

“Perhaps. There's… one more thing though…”

“Is there now? What is it?”

“When I bumped into her, I could… smell her scent. It sounds weird, but I could smell it really strongly at that moment, and I can't get it out of my system now.”

Limelight's face twisted to a look of surprise. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose. “So you mean to tell me that Pixel Bit, daughter of Lead Alpha Collin, is your mate?! I...need a minute, excuse me.” With that she was up and moving, trotting briskly back into the cave. Obsidian frowned, huffing before laying down. If what he said was enough to get that strong of a reaction out of his sister, then this was bad.

A wolf with a soft blue willow coat scurried across the terrain, weaving in and out of trees and leaping over logs to reach her cave. She skidded to a halt when she saw a teal pegasus stallion come towards her, changing her form in a flash. “Soundwave! Did you hear anything from Dad?” The male snorted at the question, rolling his blood red eyes.

“All I know is that you're late. And you know how mad he gets when someone's late.”

Her panic doubled, and she left for the cave's entrance without saying another word to her brother. Her heart rammed against her chest in fear at the sight of her father. His lips were curled in a snarl, wings outspread, casting a shadow on the ground under them. His eyes were borderline white, and his fur stood on end. “Where in Equestria were you? You were supposed to be home a half hour ago!,” He barked, the harshness of his voice making the young mare cower in front of him. She would have to face his wrath, her mother wasn't going to save her hide this time.

“D-Dad, I’m sor-”

“Sorry ain’t going to cut it, Pixel. I let you go because I trusted you to be responsible enough to come back on time. And you can't even do that. How can I trust you to take care of a pack on your own?”

The words stung like thorns, and tears streamed down her face, collecting under her chin and dropping to splatter into the grass below her hooves.

“D-Dad, please… I-I won't do it again, I p-promise.”

His stare didn't waver, yet the corners of his mouth twitched. “I’ll think about it. But you can say goodbye to your casual outings for the next two weeks, because you’ll be on patrol duty with your sister starting tomorrow.”

“B-But-”

“I don't want to hear it. Now off to bed with you.”

The unicorn's head hung low, and she dragged her hooves across the cold stone to the chamber that she shared with her twin. The magenta colored pegasus lifted her head at the sound of sniffling, cocking it at the other. “Hey, Pix. You alright?”

“I don't want to talk about it.,” she muttered, spinning around in a circle before dropping to the floor, shivering slightly. Her tail was tucked at her side, and she rested her head on one of her forelegs, squeezing her eyes shut as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

It was a struggle, the next few weeks were. Obsidian waited day after day for a glimpse, even just for a second, of Pixel maybe wandering around the forest on a hunt. For the first week, he merely hung on hope that she would remember their little spot, she would come see if he was still there. He wanted to see her, to look into her beautiful eyes, smell that wonderful scent of her’s again, gaze upon her shining face. By the end of the second week, that hope had dwindled to a small sliver. He spent his nights out in the open, ignoring the first signs of winter: leaves falling at a rapid pace, birds leaving their nests to travel southward, squirrels and other little woodland creatures storing food. That didn't bother him in the slightest. The third week came and went, the air beginning to become cooler. The start of the fourth week, the trees completely bare of leaves, only the pines still standing tall and full. Obsidian was in his wolf form, curled into a ball on a bed he had made from dead leaves. He was asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly.Snowflakes tumbled from a grey sky, creating patches of white amidst the brown earth. His nose twitched as a smell filled it, forgotten yet familiar. He shot up, standing with his paws planted as his eyes searched. Then he saw her, and his heart skipped a beat.

Her coat was glowing due to the lack of light, and her own eyes widened as she took notice of him. Transforming, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Obsidian, what are you still doing here? I thought you had left for home a long time ago!” He shook his head and whined, pawing at the ground next to the bed of leaves. “You were... waiting for me?” He nodded once, a low growl then rumbling in his throat. “I-I’m sorry! I would have come sooner if I knew you were still here. Do forgive me. You must be cold, would you like to come with me back home? We don't have much, but I'm sure my father wouldn't mind a former pack member to stay for a couple of days.” The black ebony wolf weighed his opinions before nodding, stretching and then shaking himself, following the young mare to her cave, more than ever so slightly anxious about reuniting with her father.

“Absolutely not.”

“But, Dad!”

“Don't 'But Dad' me. I said what I said. We're struggling with food enough as it is. Any more mouths to feed and I will flip my lid. So you can tell this new found fellow to go home, he’s not welcome here.”

“He’s-”

“I don't care who he is, he’s going back to wherever he came from.”

The hot tears welled up in her eyes again and she turned away, head down as she left his chamber. His ears lifted when he heard her faintly mutter, “If I'm supposed to be your favorite, then why don't you listen to a word I say.” He frowned. That cut him like a sharp claw, deep and ragged. In truth, he was scared. Scared of losing the precious little thing he called his child to the chaos of life. It took all that he could not to spend all of his nights awake, thinking, questioning. It hurt him every time he saw her cry, knowing that it was his fault. But discipline must be placed where discipline is needed.

“I'm so sorry, Sidian. I tried to tell him it was you, but he brushed me off.”

“It's alright. I guess I don't have much else to do but return home. My parents must be worried sick with me being gone for so long.”

The unicorn laughed a little at that. “Please. Your father could probably not notice you being gone for a moon.”

“Haha, probably. So, we’ll meet again at the meeting?”

“If we must. I hate having to sit for hours while someone just talks.”

“It's not all that bad, some of the stories told are actually good.” She shrugged her shoulders, looking down for a second, quickly moving forward, stopping in front of him. His nostrils flared as they took in that wonderful scent once again, probably for the last time in a while. And then, something unexpected: a soft pair of lips pressing against his.

He blinked a few times before letting his eyes close blissfully. This wasn't his first kiss, no, but something about it felt so… right. His heart leapt up to his throat, his body surging with an energy he had never experienced before. And a whisper, light, delicate, like a whistle in the wind: “I'm yours.” He wasn't sure if he had imagined it, or if it had been actually said, but at that point in time, he didn't care. The warmth, the rush of blood flooding his face and ears as they grew hot, the very low purr that threatened to escape him, it was too much. He pulled back, turning his head. “I, uh, I-I should really get going. Goodnight Pixel.” She didn't have a chance to say anything back, for he was gone. For lack of a better term, she was confused. She didn't know what to do with what just happened. So she sat, soon ignoring her mother's calls to come home. She sat and pondered.