Luna had never, ever been a morning person and likely never would. Being the vice-principal of a school and second in command of a pack did carry with it certain responsibilities, so needs must and all that, but that still meant that she would gladly maim anyone who stood between her and her morning coffee. Her sister could lead the morning runs with her blessing. She’d take the night runs any moon of the year.

Now, of course, there was Sunset. The odd girl was changing things quite a bit in a very short time, including the household dynamic. Luna, of course, knew it made perfect sense for them to take her directly into the Pack Alpha’s house due to her unique (and pack secret) nature, she needed direct supervision under the very top-most leadership. Fostering wasn’t directly the duty of the Alpha, but it was a job they could do and Celestia had taken to it like a fish to tartar sauce. Not exactly willingly but none-the-less very, very well.

She had her computer open in front of her, a cooling breakfast sandwich sitting next to it, sipping her coffee when a juvenile scream ripped through the air, followed by the rapid thumping of tweenage feet. Luna only barely controlled the spit take, returning the sipped coffee to the mug rather than splattered all over her computer and glared in the direction of the bedrooms. From her position in the breakfast nook she couldn’t see down the hallway to the bedroom doors, of course, but she kept her heated glare on the archway in case their young charge thought Luna might be the person to run to for whatever this new crisis was so they could be dissuaded from pursuing Luna’s intervention.

Fortunately, Sunset chose to go for her sister’s assistance; the rapid, only barely controlled knocking on Celestia’s door joined with the urgent, not-as-quiet-as-Sunset-thought-she-was-being calling of the Alpha’s name.

Luna sighed and returned to her coffee and computer, keeping an ear open for the teen drama occupying her home.

A door opened, “Sunset what is…oh!”

“Celestia, what is this?!’ Sunset’s voice was approaching pitches that only certain omegas, canines, and birds could hear.

“Oh! You’re presenting for the first time!” came Celestia’s motherly sing-song, followed by confused tones, “It’s…didn’t we talk about this last week? I even gave you the booklet.”

“You didn’t tell me I was gonna grow a DICK!?” Luna was mid sip when Sunset’s exclamation announced the nature of the problem. She once again saved her computer a sticky, caffeinated fate, this time prompted by the snickering giggle she was struggling to stifle.

“Yes, I told you that all Alpha females have phalluses…ponies don’t have penises?”

“YES, ponies have penises…male ponies have penises! I’ve never had one in my life!”

Ah, the joys of morning wood. Thought Luna, having gotten her laughter under control and chuckling around sips of coffee. Gonna have to get used to that one, kiddo…

“Oh, I see…well, there’s…several ways you can handle, uhm…” Luna snorted in renewed snickering as she could practically hear her sister’s blush forming, “That is, the situation can be resolved by several methods, though it’s not uncommon to simply go about your morning business and let it settle down on its own.”

Luna paused as she heard Sunset’s mumbled response but couldn’t quite make out the words.

Apparently, Celestia couldn’t either, “What was that, Sunset?”

This time it was just clear enough to make out; “...need to pee…”

There was silence for a moment, then “Stop laughing!” preceded a wave of pheromones she recognized as Celestia’s humor being triggered, …warm sun-baked clay, been a while since she’s released that scent.

“I’m not laughing!” came the reply, the words belied by the telltale hitch in the word ‘laughing’ that proved, yes, Celestia was holding in a belly laugh so hard she was probably getting a stitch in her side.

“Yes, you are! I can smell it…scent it! Whatever! You’re laughing at me!”

“Okay, yes, I’m...enjoying the humor of the situation. I promise you that one day you’ll find it funny, too.”

“Nooo…” Sunset nearly whined in a voice that was approaching her ‘normal.’ It seemed the crisis was over now that she’d made her embarrassment ten times worse by panicking about it. “I want to erase this morning from my memory, I don’t want to laugh at it…”

“Well, put your towel around your waist, even though Luna and I have seen all that kind of thing before, it’s not polite or proper to wander around with it…ah, hanging out like that.”

Some cloth rustling could be heard, “Oh, yeah, this is so much better!” came the grumpy verdict. “It’s like a flag on a pole now!”

This time Celestia did giggle, “And you’ll learn tricks to minimize its profile. For now, just go into your bathroom, sit down, and relax. Think of your homework, I’m sure that will help. Once it’s retracted back into its sheath, you’ll be able to do your business as usual.”

A muttered, “Thank you…” trailed down the hallway, followed by the sound of a door closing.

Her sister’s sigh drifted down the hall before another door closing could be heard.

Twenty minutes, a full mug of coffee, and one breakfast sandwich later, Luna was working on some paperwork for the music department. They were needing far more instruments than last year due to CHS absorbing the students from Canterville Middle and the budget was whimpering because of it. Sunset stomped down the hall, still lightly blushing. She flopped in a chair opposite the vice-principal, crossed her arms on the table in front of her, and rested her chin behind her folded wrists, glaring at precisely nothing. All in all, a fairly expert sulk, given she probably couldn’t sit like that as a pony. Or could she? Might have to ask about their anatomy, if Sunset happened to have studied that…

She let silence reign for a few breaths.

“Sunset…” Luna began.

The girl shifted her eyes from staring into space and glowering to looking at Luna, all without moving her head. “Hmm…?”

“For your breakfast…” she looked Sunset in the eye and let the corner of her mouth quirk up into a grin. “...maybe you’d like some sausage?”

Sunset’s face blossomed into a red brighter than the girl’s hair and she screamed in frustrated teenage angst, “AAAAGH, LUNA!”

Celestia would later assign her a morning run and the night run on the same day as punishment for messing with Sunset. Worth it! was Luna’s only thought in response.

Sunset clutched the straps on her backpack as she stood outside the door to the cafeteria. Saturday’s training had been…invaluable. Scenting, she was learning, was like its own language. If you could speak the language, every interaction was simple, and even walking through a noisy crowd could be easily managed by knowing what conversations to tune out and which to pay attention to. However, if you didn’t even have the alphabet, let alone the vocabulary for said language, even a small number of “voices” could result in a stressful din that could overload even the strongest of willpowers. This room had been the greatest source of overwhelming scents, combined with smells and other stimuli, that she had experienced since arriving in this universe. Every day had been slow torture as she struggled to first identify, then interpret the new feedback in her mind.

And Friday, when she’d lost control…it was worse than any magic surge she’d ever experienced, and it was like she’d briefly been taken over by an entity of pure rage that had been living in her own head. Was it always there, or is that something I gained with this body? She absently glanced up and down the doors, her eyes briefly caught by the sight of a minor difference in the doors; the hold-open arm on one seemed to be…newer than the other. She inhaled deeply and sorted through the smell library in her mind, Metal shavings, probably steel, old paint, a hint of sweat, and a fading scent marker from the maintenance pon…man, Mr. Turnip-truck, petroleum-based lubricant, this last she was remembering the fairly old scent from her time dabbling in steam engine construction during her time at CSGU, as she, fortunately, hadn’t had the misfortune of smelling it with her current, much more sensitive nose up close, And a faint smell of…plastic? To her disgruntlement, she realized that plastic could smell different due to formulation, and she had a theory that it could smell different from batch to batch.

She turned her head slightly and repeated the process, challenging herself to sort out the separate device’s odors without moving any closer to it. It took several deep inhalations, turning her head slightly each time, but she thought she just might have it. Same as the other one, but…slight oxidation, no plastic, and no scent marker from another pon…er, person.

Satisfied that she’d figured out that the modules at the tops of the doors were, indeed, a mismatched pair, she readjusted her backpack faced the door…and hesitated.

Oh, c’mon, Sunset! she berated herself, It’s just a door! Open it, face the…chaos in there like a mare, get your food, and get on with it!

The door didn’t magically disappear, nor did it open itself for her to make it any easier. Her belly rumbled, clamboring for the savory flavors of the meat products that Granny had probably prepared for her again, she sighed. Okay, getting this over with. 3…2…1…go!

Finally reaching out her hand and pushing on the horizontal lever, she opened the door. For all of five seconds, the audible assault on her senses was just as powerful and tumultuous as the olfactory miasma. Then, the babble just…stopped. In moments, it was replaced with murmurs and whispers and not a few furtive glances in her direction. Accompanying that was a sudden dilution into the scent cloud that made Sunset think of nothing less than nervousness, anxiousness, and…is that envy?!

Sighing again, this time in resignation, she made her way through the lunchroom to the food line, doing her best to ignore the attention she was receiving from the other students. A less jovial interaction in the lunch line, but still full of matronly concern on the old Alpha’s part and gratitude from Sunset, resulted in another piled-high tray of food. Once again, she ignored the smothered conversation, the rancid scents, and the furtive (and not so furtive) glances as she made her way to sit at the same empty table she’d been sitting at during lunch hour since she arrived.

She gently dropped her tray on the table, shrugged her backpack off to place it between her feet, and picked up a burger. She was able to look at the food without feeling queasy at the thought of eating cow this time, though she still felt guilty. Heh, Ambassador Bessy would have a heart attack if she could see me now… Any humor she may have been able to muster at the thought was spoiled by the acrid scents from around her. She put the sandwich back on the pile of food and rested her temple on the palm of her hand, leaning slightly to hide the sudden pricks of tears building in her eyes.

I thought…I thought I could start over, she mulled, Nobody would know me as ‘Celestia’s Star Student’ anymore, I’d be just another orphan, no royal houses, no Day Court, no politics. My ‘destiny’ was a wash, no princess-hood for me, no alicorn wings…Tartarus, I’m not even a pony anymore. My plans to hide out here… totaled because I smell different... She flicked her eyes up and saw the suspicious glances and smelled their fearful scents, But here we are again, nobody will even look at me like I’m just another po…person, I mean something again. She rubbed her eyes absently with the back of her hand to banish the tears, And they don’t see me, they see…whatever that something is. Probably some sort of awful demon Alpha from…whatever happened on Friday.

She sniffled, a bit irritated at herself for the self-indulgent pity-party, And here I am, complaining about how my life is “so hard” like a damn teenager…which I suppose I am, again…

Rather than tuck into any of her food, she twisted a little so she could pull the thermal bottle Principal Celestia had bought for her so she would be able to stay hydrated. Apparently, a human Alpha needed significantly more water than a pony did to keep from dehydrating, something about the way there were fewer sweat glands throughout the body to make room for pheromone glands. She was taking a sip when she felt the same small blue body slide up next to her and practically cuddle her the same way she’d done last Friday. Sunset swallowed wrong in surprise and began coughing and choking on the water.

“Whoah, you OK there, Sunset?” chirruped Rainbow Dash.

A tray clattered on the tabletop on the opposite side from Sunset and she sensed the same comforting cloud, trees, and apple scent that had been so pleasant before she lost control with the other Alpha three days prior. “Rainbow, didn’t we just go over this last week?” Fluttershy asked sternly.

“What?” protested Dash, “I’m not introducing myself, she already knows me!”

The scent of apples suddenly amplified by several orders of magnitude as the tall, strong girl Sunset barely remembered being part of the group of girls that separated her and Gilda stepped up to the bench seat and dropped her tray next to Fluttershy’s before she reached across the table and picked up Rainbow by the collar of her shirt at the scuff of her neck, and hauled her over the table. She was casually holding the other girl like one would a kitten or puppy, “Yeah, an’ there’s this thing called ‘personal space’ that y’aint respectin’.”

“Aw, c’mon, AJ!” protested the smaller girl, as though this kind of display were normal. “I just wanted to make our new friend feel at home!” Home, the thought intruded into Sunset’s consciousness, Want to go home, want to get out, want to be a pony, don’t want hands don’t want scents want to go home… Sunset breathed deeply, trying to center herself.

“Yeah,” replied AJ, “You were so eager you ignored yer food.” She set Rainbow on her feet, “Now go get yer tray, and get some red meat!” she raised her voice as the little omega darted off, “Y’need the…oh, forget it.” She sat down and reached across the table to offer Sunset her hand, “Name’s Applejack, don’t figure you were in any condition to respond to a proper handshake last time we were in the same room together.”

Sunset tentatively reached out her hand and gripped Applejack’s doing her best to hide her surprise when the other girl pumped it up and down vigorously. “...Sunset…ow…” the last was said under her breath as she tried to surreptitiously shake some feeling back into her appendage.

Another tray was placed on the table next to Sunset’s, this time being carried by a white skinned girl with wavy, purple hair. “Do forgive Rainbow Dash, darling. She’s one of those omegas that equates, ‘loving and nurturing’ with, ‘mating with every Alpha with a pulse.’” She seemed to realize what she said a moment later, “Oh, that is, well, she’s not a total slut, mind, she just feels that ‘friends’ automatically means, ‘friends with benefits.’”

The hairs on the back of Sunset’s neck started to stand up, bristling against the fabric of the neckline of her shirt and jacket. So many…too many… She’d never been exactly social, preferring the isolation of study and books over interacting with ponies. But human people? Some of whom could potentially attack her, not with just words but with teeth and claws? And these scents were making her nose itch. And she was 99% sure the smell coming off of Rarity wasn’t a scent so much as an applied odor, a perfume of some sort, and the chemical smell was causing all sorts of jangling alarms to go off in her head. Strange, get away, get alone, leave me alone… She shook her head as slightly as possible to try and get the intrusive thoughts to quiet.

Applejack snorted as she picked up her sandwich, “Settle down, Rarity, she’ll tell you to yer face that she’s a slut and proud of it…’course, yer right. She only tries to crawl in the bed of Alphas she knows’ll take care of their omegas. She just wants…more of ‘em than most omegas do.”

“Um…” interjected Fluttershy, “Do we…want to do anything about the…ah…” she pointed to the far end of the table.

Poking up from under the table was a bouncy puff of pink hair only barely held down by a pith helmet with a forehead and pair of eyes visible. As soon as she saw them looking at her, she gasped and “hid,” an action that consisted of dropping about two inches, which was enough to cover her eyes but not enough to cover the pink hair or the hat. “Anthropologist’s log, day 4. The new pack is beginning to form as expected. Study of a pack with three Alphas and a single omega may be the paper that makes my career.” came the bubbly voice from under the table.

Rainbow Dash came back with her tray at this point, “Three Alphas and an omega? I think I saw that on PornHub.”

Rarity blushed at Rainbow’s statement but didn’t otherwise respond to it and rolled her eyes, “Pinkie, darling, please take off the tacky hat and come join us.”

Applejack looked down at Dash’s tray and frowned, “Dash, y’gotta have red meat. Yer gonna be deficient in iron; don’t you remember your last heat?”

“What do you all want from me?!” snapped Sunset.

All five of the girls halted what they were doing and exchanged glances. Rarity, who was closest, noted that Sunset was hunched inward, gripping her inhaler tightly. It was clearly not going to be used, it couldn’t be with the absolute death grip Sunset was holding it with, but Sunset was almost holding it like a particularly small stuffed animal or stress toy. The expression on the girl’s face wasn’t anger or frustration, but mild panic bordering on fear.

“We...don’t want anything from you, darling.” the beta gently reached out and put a hand lightly over the Alpha’s wrist, not gripping, just making physical contact. “On Friday we spoke to Vice-principal Luna, who told us you had been neglected by your previous pack. We,” she hesitated and glanced around the table, “Well, once Gilda had been sent off for punishment we rather…volunteered to…ah…” words seem to have finally failed the fashionista as she glanced around the table.

“You looked sad,” interjected Pinkie, “And not in, like, the way you get sad when you watch a sad movie or read a sad story, but the kind of sad you get when you’ve lost everything and everyone you ever knew and couldn’t get it back…”

“Ah think what they’re tryin’ to say,” interjected Applejack, “Is y’all might be pack with Celestia, but y’need more’n a mom. We’ll be yer pack,” her hand stretched across the table, opened with palm up, “At least, if you’ll have us.”

Sunset took several deep breaths, her shoulders relaxing, as she looked at the open hand. Finally, she said, “Celestia isn’t my mom.”

All five of the girls chuckled at that, “Shee-oot, sugarcube,” replied Applejack, “You know how many times the principal has come down to the cafeteria about a little scuffle between Alphas?” She didn’t wait for a reply, “The lunchroom’s my granny’s territory, t’aint nobody gonna try t’get between Alphas but Granny Smith here…’cept maybe a parent comin’ fer their kid.”

Sunset blushed, still not looking up, but she shifted toward Rarity slightly, “Gilda…the other Alpha…she was punished?”

Now Rarity squeezed Sunset’s wrist gently and nodded, “Yes, she has to inspect and fix the fence around the school’s game field.” Sunset finally looked up to glance up to Rarity in confusion. At the inquiring noise from the Alpha, Rarity clarified, “The field where students are taught to hunt as part of the physical education requirement. The fence keeps wandering Alphas out of the protected range. I know only a few schools do it, but Principal Celestia felt it best to use easier prey for minors to practice on before being taken on a pack hunt.”

Sunset nodded in quiet comprehension before returning her gaze to Applejack’s open hand. A glance up to the farm girl brought another snicker from the table. “AJ is stubborn,” said Rainbow as she picked up a chicken leg, “She’ll wait until you tell her no or take the offer.”

“T’aint bein’ stubborn,” smirked Applejack, “It’s bein’ determined!”

Sunset’s face finally cracked into a small smile. “...you guys are planning on hanging around whether I accept or not, aren’t you?”

Rarity blushed even as another round of chuckling sprang up, and Fluttershy smiled proudly at her. Applejack smirked, “And she’s smart, too!”

Sunset sighed heavily and took Applejack’s hand. A small cheer sprang up around the table and Pinkie ran off to fetch her lunch and a round of deserts to celebrate.

As they began to eat, Rarity spoke between bites, “If you don’t mind me asking, darling, why were you so afraid of us?”

Sunset grimaced, “Back in…er, back where I came from, I was the special apprentice to the pr…ah, the Pack Alpha,” she winced, “Yes, I know it sounds weird, but please don’t ask me to explain, Celestia’s orders.” The girls exchanged confused glances but didn’t interrupt. Pinkie returned with her own tray and a second tray of what looked like cake and ice cream in single-serve containers and set her tray next to Rarity’s as Sunset continued, “It…kinda kept me at arm's length to most other students. Pretty much the only time someone acted friendly was because they wanted something from me…usually to get favors from the Pack Alpha.”

Applejack snorted angrily as she spoke around a bite of hamburger, “That’s jes’ plain despicable. Aint nobody tried t’be yer friend just ‘cause?”

Sunset shrugged, “If they did, I didn’t recognize it as such. After a while I just…ignored people trying to make nice.”

“Aww, that’s just sad!” chirped Pinkie as she gobbled down a chicken sandwich, very messily and much to Rarity’s disgust.

“Pinkie, chew with your mouth closed and don’t talk with your mouth full!”

Seemingly oblivious, Pinkie took a big bite, turned to the beta, and said, “Whut?”

For the first time since Sunset arrived, she laughed.

Students near the entrance of the lunch room, were they inclined to look up to the doors, might notice one was open just enough to allow someone to look through the crack between the door and the frame long enough to allow said observer to watch some interactions among the students. Because the students were all young and untrained in being observant in any surroundings, they could be excused for not realizing that someone was, indeed, there.

Principal Celestia had suppressed her pheromone output significantly and had opened the door as quietly as possible. What little noise it had made wasn’t able to be heard over the din of the students. She had watched the entire interaction between Sunset and the other girls with cautious optimism. When Sunset broke out into laughter, she breathed a sigh of relief and closed the door with a gentle click.

She turned to return to her office to be startled by the irritatingly amused grin on her sister’s face.

She glared at Luna.

Luna simply snorted, not breaking eye contact.

Celestia huffed and pursed her lips.

Her sister’s posture and grin didn’t change.

Celestia growled and absolutely did not stomp away indignantly. Stomping off in apparent defeat like a moody teenager was not something Pack Alphas did, after all.

Author's Note

Not exactly willingly but none-the-less very, very well.

Points to anyone who can name the fic I ripped this line off from!