The Winter Wolf

The Winter Wolf

Chapter 2

By: Wolf

I lead the wolves to the river where I had slain the serpent. The serpent was dead alright. Half of it was laying on the shore with a large pool of blood around it. The wolves immediately ran over to the corpse.

They hitched their claws under the scales and yanked the scales off, and soon enough, we were all enjoying some seafood. We dragged the remainder of the carcass back to the camp for the wolves that were too weak to move.

I noticed all of the scales on the ground. They were a good size, such a size that it could probably fit over my chest. I picked one up and rapped my hoof on it. It made a slight pinging sound, as if it was made of metal. I gathered several of them and displayed my findings to Shadow.

“Interesting...” Shadow mumbled. He tried to clay it the scales, but there wasn’t even a scratch.

“This will certainly tip the odds in our favor...” Angel agreed.

So they gathered up all of the scales they could find. There were a lot. I had to rush them over to a sort of blacksmith like wolf to set up straps and such.

So after several hours of hauling the scales, I had finished. Angel told me to go about The Pack and ‘socialize.’ “Go make some friends,” she said, “it will be easy.” She said. She was wrong. All of the wolves shunned me, even though I basically saved their lives! So I ended up walking through the forest.

I had found a few squirrels and rabbits to catch. As I was stripping the meat off of my las squirrel, I noticed something. A yellow something. I decided to sneak up and get a better look.

I saw a skinny filly. She was a Pegasus with a pink mane. She was curled up in a ball, shivering. She also looked like she was crying. I walked out of my hiding spot and gently poked her. She just curled up further into a smaller ball. I poked her again. This time she spoke, “Wh-who’s there?”

“Ummm... Wolf...” I answered. But instead of growls, I used a smooth and slightly deep voice.

“Who are you...?” She asked in a very soft and timid voice.

“Ummmm....” I didn’t really know what to say, but luckily she changed the subject.

“Can you help me? I fell from the clouds a few days ago, but I can’t fly well enough to get back up!” She pleaded.

“I might be able to help you... but I’d like to know your name first.” I asked.

“My name is Fluttershy...” she told me. She trailed off at the end to an almost inaudible level.

“Well... Fluttershy... I think I can help you, but how did you get down here?” I asked. She then explained the story of how she was being picked on by some colts, how a Rainbow maned filly helped her, knocking her off the clouds in the process, and getting her cutie mark. She’d been walking around, aimlessly, for the last few days.

“So that explains the large rainbow explosion...” I muttered, thinking back to it. “anyways... let me take you to where I live. I warn you though, you might not like what you see...”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” Fluttershy said in an almost speaking voice.

So we walked back to The Pack’s territory. I immediately went to Shadow and Angel.

“Hey, Shadow!” I yelled over to him. He walked over to us and carefully eyed Fluttershy.

“Who is this?” Shadow asked.

“This is Fluttershy.” I explained, slightly pushing her forward.

“Ummm, hi...?” Fluttershy said, but it sounded more like a question.

    “Hello, Fluttershy, how did you get here?” Shadow asked.

    “Errr...” Fluttershy mumbled. She turned to me and asked, “what did he say...?”

    “He asked how you got here.” I translated. She let off a soft ‘ohh...’ and told her story.

    After telling her story to Shadow, he brought his left fore-paw to his muzzle. It looked like he was pondering. After a few minutes of that, he spoke, “fine, she can stay, but you have to get her food, I doubt she can eat meat like you can. “

    “Deal.” I nodded.

    Fluttershy was waiting nearby, looking over the wolf pups. She was contentedly laying down with a small smile on her face, “aren’t they so cute?”

    “I guess,” I shrugged, “Shadow said you could stay.”

    “Thank you...”

    “No problem, let me show you to our den.”

    With that, I brought her over to the den. She wasn’t very interested, but she looked like she was paying attention to be polite. I took her to my room and told her she could take the other mattress.

    “Well, it’s getting late, we should get to bed.” I yawned.

    “Okay...” Fluttershy also yawned, but I barely heard it.

    So we laid down on our respective mattresses and tried to fall asleep. It took us awhile, but it happened, and we drifted off into sleep.

~-<>-~

    I woke up early. I looked to my side and I saw that Fluttershy was still sleeping. I went outside to gather some berries for her. I walked back inside and set them in front of her bed. The entire time my vision was slightly blurry. I rubbed my eyes.

    When my vision un-blurred I noticed the three butterflies adorning Fluttershy’s flank. Her cutie mark. It fit her personality well. Shy and delicate. I looked at mine. The wolf; embodiment of unity. I couldn’t decide if that fit me or not. I guess only time could tell.

    I waited for what seemed like 15 minutes before she woke up. She tentatively ate the berries. She gave a soft thank you and just sat on the mattress, unsure of what to do.

    After several moments of silence, I spoke up, “So... when you go back... can I come?”

    “Ummm... sure...” Fluttershy mumbled her reply.

    A silence started to set in. We just sat there until Angel came in, “You must be Fluttershy. Shadow told me about you, we’ll try and train you to fly so you can get back.”

    “She can’t understand you, Angel. Oh, and I’m coming with her.” I informed Angel.

    “Oh... Well have... fun...?”

    “Can do ma’am.” I nodded.

    I relayed the information to Fluttershy, who nodded appreciatively. With luck, we could be going within the week. I was getting excited, “So, Fluttershy. What’s it like where you came from?”

    “Cloudsdale isn’t too bad... I was bullied a lot, but it’s not that bad...” Fluttershy trailed off.

    “Why were you bullied?” I asked. I could tell I hit a sore spot when she cringed. “Touchy subject?”

    “No... well...” Fluttershy mumbled. She seemed to be deciding if she should tell me.

    “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” I told her with a small smile of my face. I put a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

    “Well... I was never the best flyer but...” Fluttershy trailed off yet again.

    “It’s fine, I won’t judge you for anything.” I told her. I meant it. Whatever she was being bullied for, she didn’t deserve it.

    “I’ll tell you when we get to Cloudsdale...” Fluttershy mumbled.

    “That’s fine, Fluttershy. Want to find something to do?” I asked.

    “Sure... are there any books to read?” Fluttershy asked.

    “Actually, yes. Shadow has taken to collecting things he finds ‘interesting.’” I replied. We left the room and I showed Fluttershy the large pile of books. Most of them were educational, but a few were for entertainment purposes.

    Fluttershy was flipping through a few of the biology books and she was humming a small tune. It made me feel relaxed. I stretched out my wings, “Hey, Fluttershy, I’m going out for a quick flight.”

    I flew out of the den and up to the clouds. I laid down on one of the clouds. I observed the sky. I appreciated my newfound knowledge of a friend I could stay with and city I could live in. I wondered about her family and her one rainbow maned friend.

    After several minutes, I looked down and saw Fluttershy. She looked like she was trying to fly up to me. After her fifth try, she succeeded. She was panting heavily.

    “What brings you up here?” I asked.

    “I... um... just wanted to say... thank you...” Fluttershy mumbled in her usual timid voice.

    “It sounds like you still have a problem, what is it?” I asked.

    “I don’t know if I should go back... it’s not like anypony will miss me...” Fluttershy cried.

    “What about your parents? Rainbow Dash?” I asked.

    “But no one else will!” She let out a deep, heart-wrenching sob. She clamped her hooves around me, pulling me in a hug. I flinched a little, but I relaxed and softly stroked her mane.

    “But THEY will, who cares what anypony else thinks?” I asked.

    “I-I guess you’re right...” Fluttershy said as she choked out a sob.

    “I promise that I will do my best to protect you.” I said softly.

    “Thank you...” Fluttershy whispered.

    She continued to cry into my chest for the next several dozen minuted. I just sat there and tried my best to comfort her. I kept softly stroking her mane while she sat there. She eventually fell asleep on my chest. She must have worked herself up. I contemplated just laying her down so I could get us some more food. I knew she was hungry but not complaining, to be polite, or just too timid to voice her opinion.

    I tried to gently lay her down, but she clamped her hooves around me even tighter, “stay here it is...” I mumbled. I decided to see the sights while I was up here. The forest looked so peaceful from up here, no predators that could kill you, no possibility of freezing to death in the snow, no danger whatsoever. I supposed that view would be normal to normal pegasi like Fluttershy. I then looked towards the sky. Or more accurately, in front of me.

    I didn’t see much, just and endless vast of blue. I saw a few dots, but thought nothing of it. I noticed that Fluttershy had calmed down considerably. So I decided to scavenge for some more berries. I decided I should inform her, so she wouldn’t worry, “hey, Fluttershy.”

    “Mmmmmmm...?” Fluttershy mumbled a soft response.

    “We should get some more food, I know you’re hungry.”

    “No, I’m fine.” Fluttershy denied. Her stomach rumbled, bringing a large contradiction to what she said. I just raised my eyebrows in a ‘suuuuuure you’re not’ manner. Her face lit up red in a large blush.

    “Come on, you can help.”

    “O-okay...”

~-<>-~

    We left the cloud we had been resting on fro the ground below. We had found a large blueberry bush and had started picking it. Soon enough we had plenty of berries for a decently sized meal and headed back to the den.

    We sat at the fire pit. I didn’t really know what to say, but it seemed like Fluttershy didn’t want to talk. I could also see that her eyes were puffy from crying and her cheeks were stained with tears. Although, all in all, she seemed marginally better than she had been a while ago.

    After a while of sitting Fluttershy, surprisingly, broke the silence, “I wish Rainbow Dash was here...”

    “Why?” I asked. I decided to play a few mind games with her to see how accurate the psychology book I was reading was.

    “She defended me when nopony else would... I was miserable before I met her. Then when I was happy for about five minutes. Then I fell of the clouds and got lost in this dense forest here...” Fluttershy sighed. “I just want to see her again.” Fluttershy continued. I softly nodded my head. It seemed reasonable, but there seemed to be something... deeper...

    As if to grant her wish, there was a loud bang in the nearby forest. I didn’t bother asking if Fluttershy heard the loud explosion, of course she did. I got up and asked, “you coming?”

    Fluttershy got up and silently followed me out of the den. It had grown dark. I didn’t realize how long we had been sitting there. We had set out to the forest in the general location of the explosion.

    We had traveled for about ten minutes before we reached a small creator. In the middle of it was a small cyan dot. Fluttershy let out a small gasp and ran towards the center of the creator. I realized that the dot must have been Rainbow Dash. I wondered what she could have possibly done to create such a large creator. However there was time for questions later. I hurried to the center of the creator.

    Fluttershy managed to get to the center far faster than ponily possible. She appeared to be trying CPR, “Fluttershy, I don’t think mouth-to-mouth uses tongue.” I joked. I knew it was a bad time, but I couldn’t help it.

    After several attempts, Rainbow’s chest started rising and falling in a smooth rhythm. Fluttershy and I sighed in relief. Our relief was short lived. We needed to get back to the den.

    “I’m not carrying her.” I complained. I walked over to her side and clopped  my hooves together, near her ears, “wake up!”

    “Five more minutes...” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

    “Get up, it’s dangerous here at night.” I warned her. The sun was setting and I wouldn’t like it if she was killed in these woods.

    “Fine...” Rainbow Dash complained. She got up.

    We set out to get back to the den. Along the way I caught a squirrel. I bit its head off and swallowed. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked like they were about to vomit. I chuckled to myself and said, “what? You want some?”

    Fluttershy passed out. That wasn’t completely unexpected, but I was still surprised. They’re going to have fun when they see the wolves ripping apart a deer. I rolled my eyes and grabbed Fluttershy’s forelegs and started to drag her back to the den.  Rainbow did not look very pleased.

    “You want to carry her?” I asked.

    “As a matter of fact, yes, I do.” Rainbow said. She slung Fluttershy across her back and we continued to the den.

    We walked into The Pack’s territory and were greeted by a few wolves. They looked like they wanted to eat Fluttershy and Dash. I told them to scram, but they wouldn’t budge. I started to draw my sword. This wasn’t going to be fun.

~-<>-~

    I was right. It wasn’t fun. I go several scratches, cuts, and bruises, but nothing permanent. The wolves that I had fought fared far worse. One had a large gash on his chest where I slashed with my sword. Another had broken ribs from when I jumped on him. The last wolf was laying unconscious from when I punched him in the face.

    Rainbow Dash cheered me on throughout the fight, but I wished she would just shut up and let me defend them. She complimented me several times while we walked over to the den.

    We entered and I immediately laid down next to the fire pit. That fight was exhausting. Most of it was just me jumping/dodging the wolves lunges and swipes. Right as I got comfortable, Shadow entered the room.

    “I see you found another one. Oh, and congratulations on winning the fight!” Shadow commented.

    “Thanks... *yawn* I think I’m going to get to sleep...” I mumbled as my eyes drifted shut as I laid by the fireplace.

~-<>-~

    When I awoke I noticed a few things. A blanket that was laying by me, a hare and some berries set out for me, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash cuddling. It was adorable to say the least, but it was understandable, seeing as they were almost eaten yesterday.

    Something must have tried to put the blanket on me. But I probably kicked it off, as I prefer the cold to warmth. The food, however, was a different story. I impaled the hare with a small fire-poker and held it against the still-burning embers of the fire.

    After it was nice and warm, I dug in. It was far better than the squirrel I had the last night, and it agreed with my stomach far more. I ate the berries and got up from my sitting position. I let out a large yawn that woke up Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

    “So, which one of you set out the food?” I asked.

    “Her.” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to a white pup. The pup in question was about my age and had a turquoise collar, eyes, and wings.

    “Who are you?!” I nearly yelled. I didn’t even notice her.

    “Oh, I’m Sierra. Angel and Shadow adopted me.” She explained. I noticed that she didn’t have the underlying growl that most wolves spoke in. I also wondered why she had that collar. It wasn’t like any other wolves wore them. I didn’t even bother wondering why Angel and or Shadow would want her. I also guessed that made her my half sister. Since I was ‘adopted’ by Angel.

    “I guess that makes you my half sister than.” I said with a smile. I didn’t know why, but saying it out loud made me feel happy.

    “Who were your first parents?” Fluttershy asked. I was surprised that she could understand Sierra.

    “I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m just glad I have this new home.” Sierra deadpanned. Her turquoise eyes were dark and devoid of any type emotion. I decided to try something.

    “So... sister... what do you know about ponies?” I asked with a slight growl in my voice, indicating that I was speaking wolf tongue.

    “Not much, enough to know that most don’t eat meat like you.” Sierra replied, the slight growl present in her voice.

    “Stop talking in that language or whatever! It’s annoying me!” Dash complained.

    “Fine, but I think we should all learn a separate language to talk in.” I replied in my ‘normal’ voice/language.

    “Like what?” Rainbow Dash asked. Fluttershy and Sierra nodded in agreement.

    “sicut hic.” I said. I was speaking in a language called ‘Latin’ that I picked up while reading through one of the many books Shadow had collected.

    “What...?” Rainbow Dash asked.

    “Latin.” I said.

    I chose Latin because a dead language is the perfect code language.

    “Cool.” Rainbow Dash said.

    “Well, let’s get started. Not like there’s much else to do.” I suggested.

    “Agreed.” The other three said simultaneously.

~-<>-~

    So for the next several day I taught them Latin. Rainbow Dash was much better than Fluttershy and Sierra at learning it though. I was intrigued. She didn’t seem like one who thought highly of education, but she was good. We followed the same routine every day for the next several weeks.

    We woke up. Scavenged for breakfast. Did some flight training. Then either read or practiced our Latin. After that we went to sleep. It was a fairly boring schedule. I was intrigued that, even though there were two mattresses (since Sierra and I referred the floor,) Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash always cuddled and fell asleep in each others hooves. I found it kinda cute. I wondered if there might have been something between them. However, I dismissed the thought. If they wanted me to know, they would tell me.

    I woke up to another day. We had nothing to do though. We had mastered the language of ‘Latin’ fairly quickly and could speak it fluently. Fluttershy’s flying skills were vastly improved. We had also stockpiled plenty of food. A though hit me. We could leave.

    “Guys.” I announced.

    “What?” The three of them asked.

    “Want to just, go?” I asked.

    “Go?” Sierra asked.

    “Yeah, go. To civilization.” I explained.

    “Oh yeah...” Sierra remembered. This wasn’t the first time we had discussed leaving. We had been putting it off for quite some time.

    “Sure. Let’s go.” Fluttershy said with a hit of boldness in her voice. I was surprised to hear such words from the shy pegasus I had come to know.

    So we set out into the bright blue sky. Rainbow Dash led the way to Cloudsdale. We were making a pretty good pace, we would arrive in two days time, Rainbow informed us.

    I was somewhat nervous about going to civilization for the first time. I was worried about who I’d meet, where I’d end up, where I’d stay. Especially the last one. I knew the school had dorms from all the times Rainbow and Fluttershy told me about it, but what about after school was over? What then? Who would accept a strange foal and his wolf half sister? I pushed these thoughts aside and continued flying. I could worry about that later.

~-<>-~

    We had almost arrived at Cloudsdale when we noticed a strange facility. It had dark smoke that was tinted with red coming out of the smoke stacks. It just looked... evil...

    I told the others about it and we flew closer to investigate. I landed on a catwalk that was bordering the complex. We walked around the complex until we came to a dark metal door. It was slightly ajar so we just walked on in.

    There were several vats lining the wall that were filled with what looked like liquid rainbow. It was all very interesting. Until a guard came up behind us and zapped me with a cattle prod. My body seized up and I fell into a vat. Unfortunately, I had my eyes open.

    I felt the most horrible burning sensation all over my body. Especially my eyes and mouth. I held back the urge to scream, as that would only attract more guard ponies. I jumped/flew out of the vat and back onto the catwalk. I rapidly blinked, trying to remove the horrible burning sensation in my eyes.

    The guard was incapacitated with what looked like a nasty concussion. His head was partially caved in, but he was still breathing. I was tempted to throw him into the vat, but that wouldn’t solve anything. So we just ran away. Out of the facility and back into the skies.

~-<>-~

    “Dude, you need to see your eyes! They’re completely rainbow!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. I was interested by this. I really wanted to see what me new eyes looked like.

    “Yeah, whatever, where’s this school you keep on mentioning?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

    “Right up ahead. We had good timing to, the school year will start in a week!” Rainbow exclaimed.

    “Good, I wouldn’t want to join school in the middle of the year.” Sierra said. She did not sound very excited.

    I chuckled. I had a small smirk on my face that quickly vanished when a newspaper flew into my face. I yanked it off. The title read “The search for two missing fillies has been called off. They are presumed dead.”

    “Hey, look! You guys are famous!” I joked as I passed them the paper.

    “Our moms will be so happy to see us,” Rainbow sighed. “We’re still going to be in soooooooooo much trouble.”

    “Oh... I um... I’m sorry I got everypony so worried about us...” Fluttershy mumbled.

    “You don’t need to apologize, I’m the one who knocked you off the clouds.” Rainbow Dash apologized. That was very, very cliche. I facehoofed

    “Please stop before you guys get into a very emotional argument.” I said. I had read enough cheesy romances to know where this was going. “Let’s just get me and Sierra registered and get you two home.”

    So Fluttershy walked us to her home, we shared a few words with her parents, they thanked me for ‘saving’ her, we left. Nothing interesting. Same with Rainbow Dash’s parents. Although they did not seem very nice, I wondered what was going on with them. I pondered this while me and Sierra walked to city hall.

    “I gotta say, I don’t think Rainbow’s parents are very nice...” I pondered.

    “Fluttershy’s dad didn’t seem to have her best interests either.” Sierra agreed.

    “We’ll deal with that later, let’s just get our living arrangements sorted out.” I suggested.

    Sierra nodded and we continued to city hall. The building was easily distinguishable. It had large white and gold pillars with ornate decoration. The building itself was a plain but very bright white. We walked in through the double doors. The inside was also very, very white. We walked around until we found the registration office.

    I explained our situation and the nice mare gladly helped us. She made a few calls, and after about three or four hours, she spoke, “your foster parents will arrive shortly.”

    “That was easier than I expected.” I told Sierra.

    “Yep.”

    “Now we wait...”

~-<>-~

  Our wait was only ten minutes,  but it felt like an eternity. I wondered what my new ‘parents’ would be like. My pondering was short lived. They walked in through the door we had entered through. The mare had a light pink coat and a long blue and white mane. Her cutie mark was a caduceus. The stallion that, I assumed was her husband, was pure white, except for his eyes, which were red. His cutie mark was a feather that I could barely make out over his white coat. He might have been an albino. There was also a pink filly that came with them. She had a white and mint green mane and matching eyes. Her cutie mark was a lightning bolt on a snowflake.

“Hello.” I said.

“Hi, you must be Wolf and Sierra.” The mare replied.

“Yes, I’m Wolf and she’s Sierra.” I said.

“Well I’m Pink Rose, and this is my husband White Storm and my daughter Snowflake.” The mare said as she pointed out each member of her small family, that I was now a part of.

“Woah! What’s with his eyes, mommy? They’re all rainbow!” Snowflake asked.

“It was an accident.” I lied. It was a very convincing lie, but I winced on the inside. I didn’t want to lie to the ponies that were taking me in.

“Awww, did it hurt? Does it still hurt?” Snowflake asked. Her joyous attitude was replaced with a timid one.

“Yes, it hurt, a lot. And, no, it doesn’t hurt anymore.” I answered.

“Oh, that’s good. The second part I mean,” Snowflake blushed.

“It’s fine, Snowflake. You don’t need to be concerned.” I said. She immediately relaxed.

“Come now, we should be heading home.” White Storm instructed. We nodded and followed him out of the building.

I had been wondering why I haven’t been getting very many strange looks. I was a colt with a deadly weapon, a wolf, and rainbow eyes. They probably thought the sword was fake, Sierra was a dog, and that my eyes were just contacts or something.

Nothing eventful happened on the walk to my new home, other than I noticed Snowflake kept staring at me and looking away when I noticed. Either A. she had a crush on me. Or B. she thought I was interesting/weird.

I shrugged it off. We got to the house. It was fairly normal based off of what I’ve seen so far in the city. We went inside. There was a big open room right when we walked in, that I assumed to be the living room. There was a staircase to the left and a kitchen to the right. I assumed the staircase led to the bedrooms.

“Make yourselves at home. We’ll make dinner.” Pink Rose explained.

“Can do ma'am.” I replied with a nod. She and her husband left the room and went into the kitchen and started to prepare the food.

“So...” Snowflake started to say, but trailed off.

“Why don’t you show us around?” I suggested.

“Ok...” Snowflake trailed off.

She showed us around the house. We ended up in the bedroom. Sierra offered to sleep on the floor while Snowflake and I could sleep on the beds. We went back to the kitchen and had an uneventful meal, one that Sierra was not too happy about. She didn’t want to eat “pony food.” But I just told her to suck it up and eat. Rose examined my eyes and told me they’d heal, to a degree. She said my irises would stay a brilliant rainbow.

We were sent to bed shortly after.

~-<>-~

I woke up with Snowflake intently looking over me.

“Were you watching me sleep?” I asked.

“Yes... you look cute...” Snowflake said. I felt my face heat up. I blushed. “D’awww!”

I was glad Sierra wasn’t awake, I doubt she’d ever let that down. I jumped out of the bed.

“You know that’s kinda creepy, right?” I asked.

“Shut up!” She giggled, sticking her tongue out at me.

We walked downstairs to get our breakfast. We had plain cereal, much to Sierra’s distaste. “More pony food.” She had complained. Rose had told her that they served meat at the school, for the gryphons. She was delighted by this piece of information. I was intrigued. I was glad I would get a bit more variety.

We finished our breakfast and headed out.

“So, watcha wanna do?” Snowflake asked.

“Well, I could introduce you to some friends.” I suggested.

“Friends? Where did you get friends in the forest?” Snowflake asked.

“They... erm... crashed...” I said.

“Crashed?” Snowflake asked.

“Yep.” I replied.

We continued our walk to Rainbow’s house in silence. Snowflake was disturbed by the poor condition of the neighborhood, but she continued walking. We eventually got to Rainbow’s rundown house. I knocked on the door. Rainbow answered it almost instantly.

“Thanks for coming, I needed an excuse to get out of the house.” Rainbow sighed.

“No problem, we needed something to do.” I said, gesturing to Snowflake and Sierra.

“Sierra, I’ve always wondered... how can we understand you, and not the other wolves?” Rainbow asked.

“The collar.” Sierra explained, pointing a paw at it.

“Wow, how does it work?” Rainbow asked.

“Magic?” Sierra suggested.

“Good of answer as any, let’s get out of here, people are starting to stare.” Snowflake said, a hint of worry in her voice.

We all agreed and started walking to Fluttershy’s house. She was apprehensive at meeting Snowflake, but she just hid near Rainbow for a while.

“Ummm... hi...” Fluttershy said once we had sat down at a park of sorts.

“Hey...” Snowflake replied, clearly not knowing where to take the conversation.

After a few moments of silence, Snowflake spoke up.

“Did you know I got struck by lightning?”

“Really?” Rainbow asked.

“Yep, that’s how I got my cutie mark.” Snowflake said, gesturing to her flank.

“Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!” Rainbow complemented.

After some small conversation, we sat in silence for another few minutes. Until Snowflake spoke up, yet again.

“Soooo... what’s with the sword?” Snowflake asked.

“This?” I asked, drawing the blade.

“No, the invisible one...” Snowflake said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“Ha ha ha, I got it from Shadow and Angel.” I deadpanned.

“Who?” Snowflake asked.

“Some wolves that took care of me.” I explained.

“Why did they have swords?” Snowflake asked.

“Shadow collects stuff.” I explained.

“Like?” Snowflake asked.

“Books, weapons, tools, etcetera.” I elaborated.

We got into a conversation over stuff Shadow had. Including all of the books I’ve read. Most of them happened to be about animals, plants, and various medical topics. Seemed likely, nature ponies and medical specialists would probably be explore the forest. I didn’t question the method, or methods, Shadow could have used.

By the time we ended our conversation, it was time for lunch. Rainbow and Fluttershy gave Snowflake a series of numbers. I didn’t have any idea what they were for, but Snowflake held on to them. We headed back to the house.

“We’re home.” Snowflake announced.

“Good, I was starting to worry.” Strom replied.

We had a quick lunch and Snowflake showed me the marvels of technology. I was fairly interested and Sierra was just fascinated with all of the gadgets that were around the house. I kept thinking of the implications I could use for The Pack. It would certainly be easier to use a cellphone than howling. Although I wondered why the cellphones had such small buttons until Snowflake told me that they were developed by unicorns. Now I knew what the numbers were for.

We sat down and watched a few movies and ate popcorn for the rest of the day. For once, Sierra actually liked something us ponies made. The movies were okay, but I was more occupied by Snowflake cuddling up to me once it had gotten darker and considerably colder. She had rested her head on my shoulder and fallen asleep in the middle of the third movie we had watched. I had also grown tired and fell asleep myself.

~-<>-~

I was having a wonderful dream about carving my name into a bone. I know it seems silly, but the bone was super soft and very easy to carve. I was carving my name in some form of cursive. It was looking good until I heard some whimpering. I woke up from the dream. The source of the whimpering was Snowflake.

“Snowflake, what’s wrong?” I asked.

What do you mean ‘what’s wrong?’ You’re biting my ear!” Snowflake whispered furiously.

Now that she mentioned it, I could taste blood. After a brief moment, Snowflake calmed down.

“Well... how does it look?” Snowflake asked.

“What?”

“I could tell you were carving something into my ear.” She explained.

“Oh, right,” I looked at her ear. It was very red and covered in blood, but it did look good. “It looks pretty good... sorry about that...”

“No... it’s ok. Can you do the other one please?”

“Wha-? Why?”

“It just feels funny having it only on one ear! Don’t judge me!”

“Ok, ok! I’ll do it.”

~-<>-~

After I had finished, Snowflake had gotten used to my teeth and was no longer flinching, making it much easier to ‘carve’ my name. After I was done, I licked the inscription clean, much to her enjoyment.

“Mmmmmm...”

I got off the couch and tried to find a mirror. I was wondering why it was so bright, but I realized that the sun was up. I ignored it and found a mirror. I brought it to her and she seemed to enjoy what she saw.

“Oooh, fancy! It looks great, Wolfy! But one question, what does it say?”

“My name.” I simply explained. I forgot that she didn’t know Wolven literature. “Now can we get back to sleep...?”

“Sure Wolfy...”

She pulled me back on the couch and we snuggled until we fell back asleep. From then on, Snowflake slept behind me.

~-<>-~

I was woke up when Snowflake tried to get off the couch. She ended up falling flat on her face.

“You ok?” I asked.

“No...” Snowflake moaned.

I helped her off the floor. We went in the kitchen and made something to eat. It was well past noon when we woke up, so we ended up eating some lunch. The lunch consisted of scrambled eggs and some milk. It was more of a breakfast, but I didn’t complain. Sierra just sat and ate in silence.

“So... you excited for school?” Snowflake asked.

“School?” I asked.

“Oh... you were raised in the forest... well we go there to learn, I have to go to some boarding school in Canterlot. You’ll probably have to come along.” Snowflake explained.

“Hmmm... can you teach Sierra and me how to behave in society. I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret.” I asked.

“Yeah, that may help...” Snowflake said. “For one, don’t hurt anypony– unless it’s in self defense.”

“Wow... we usually just give a good smack upside the head to anyone that bothers us in The Pack.” Sierra complained.

“Violence and theft are looked down on in pony society.” Snowflake said.

“...”

“...”

“Well they are, you could get in trouble!”

“Ehhh...”

“Please, Wolfy... don’t do something you’ll regret...” Snowflake begged.

She gave me a big puppy dog eyed look.

“Ok... for you, Snowy...”

“Oh, get a room you two!” Sierra complained.

“Maybe we will...” Snowflake whispered.

I raised my eyebrows. Snowflake laughed.

“Ha! The look on your face...”

“Ha ha, laugh it up...” I deadpanned.

And laugh it up they did. They laughed for a good ten minutes. I sighed. The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. Snowflake showed us some of their more modern technology, mainly so we didn’t appear stupid to other ponies. She also taught us how to behave in modern society... more or less... It turns out that more and more ponies are starting to wear clothing, even in the summer! Another thing that surprised me was that we had to wear uniforms at Snowflake’s school. Sierra looked like she was about to die when she learned this. I didn’t blame her, the uniforms looked very uncomfortable. The fact that we all had wings made it even worse. We had ordered the uniforms early and tried them on. They were indeed, very uncomfortable. There weren't even slots for our wings!

“How do you wear these things all day?” Sierra asked. She was trying not to scratch her uniform. “They’re so itchy!”

“You get used to it... just like all the idiots that will be there...” Snowflake sighed.

“Sounds fun...” I sarcastically said as I took off my uniform.

“Very...” Sierra agreed.

Snowflake looked like she was struggling to get her uniform off.

“Need some help?” I asked.

“...Yes...” Snowflake dejectedly said.

I started taking her uniform off. It was way too small. It would have been too small for me, and I actually wore a size or two smaller than her! After an amount of tugging on her uniform, it came off. Snowflake took a big breath.

“Thank... you...” Snowflake gasped.

She gave me a small kiss on the cheek. I blushed.

“Um... you’re welcome...?”

After that incident, the rest of our break was fairly uneventful, aside from watching Rainbow’s parents get arrested... four times... It was actually quite entertaining. Rainbow had told me that this was their ‘last strike’ and she had to be moved to a ‘safer environment.’

“Well, I’ll be moving... finally. I’ll be sure to send you the new address.” Rainbow said.

She turned to leave.

The next day Rainbow (rather ecstatically) told me that she got to move in with Fluttershy. She was also going to go to a safer school, that happened to be the same school Snowflake, Sierra, and I were going to. After chatting with her for a few minutes, she hung up and got back to whatever she was doing.

I had neglected to tell her that we were going to the same school, but I could just have it as a surprise. I was about to put the phone in my rucksack that Shadow gave me a long time ago when I heard Snowflake ask me who I was talking to.

“Oh, it was just RD.” I explained.

“What did she want?” Snowflake asked.

“She was just telling me that she moved in with Fluttershy and hat she was going to a ‘safer’ school, that just so happens to be our school.”

“Did you tell her?”

“No, I wanted it to be a surprise!”

“Awww, that’s so sweet of you, Wolfy!” Snowflake exclaimed, using the affectionate nickname she had given me.

“Awww, thanks Snowy.”

We then went into the living room to watch another movie. This one was an action movie. I was very annoyed when somepony had to be revived. They weren’t using the correct procedure! But Snowflake told me not let it annoy me too much. I rolled my eyes and watched the rest of the movie. It turned out to be decent, aside from the malpractice. We then went back upstairs to get to sleep.

There were only a few days left till school at this point. We had also received our scheduals in advance, due to Snowflake's family's economic status. In other words, he family is fairly wealthy, not that you'd be able to tell by looking at them.

Snowflake, Sierra, and myself had near identical schedules, since we all come from the same household. The main differace was I had some Physical Education class, and Snowflake and Sierra had study hall.

We had to spend most of the remainder of out break getting ready for school. It was very tedious, but 'neccicary,' as Storm had put it. We mainly just went around to get school supplies and got acquainted with our scheduals. Something that was not neccicary, at least to me.

~-<>-~

The day had come, we had to go to this 'school.' Other than what my friends have told me, I did not know what to expect. But based off what they've said, I'm guessing it'll suck. We were flying down to the nearby village to catch the train to Canterlot. We said our goodbyes to Snowflake's parents and boarded the train. There were few other passengers on the train, so we set out on finding Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

They ended up being in the third cart. We took a seat next to them and, much to my amazement, niether of them noticed us.

"Hello." I said in a disguised voice.

"Do you mind?" Rainbow replied, stareing out the window.

Snowflake started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, nothing..." I said in my real voice.

"Wolf? Why didn't you tell me you were going to this school?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise." I explained.

"Well I am surprised, but do you think they'll let a flying wolf into the school?" She asked.

"Are you referring to me, or Sierra?" I asked.

"Hmmm... Both of you!"

"Well, we already got our uniforms..." I replied.

"Yeah, it'll be safe to assume they will." Sierra continued.

Our conversation was interrupted by a white unicorn. Her mane was a wonderful shade of red, and her eyes were a deep shade of magenta.

"Do you guys mind if I sit here?" The unicorn asked.

"Buzz off, I don't want any of you posh ponies anywhere near me." Rainbow shouted.

The unicorn was about to trudge off, but I stopped her.

"Rainbow, you shouldn't jump to conclusions," I said as I held out a hoof to stop the stranger. "Ignore her," I said, turning to the stranger. "Take a seat."

She whispered a quick thank you and sat down between Sierra and I. Sierra whispered something to the unicorn that caused her face to turn as red as her hair. She also would not make eye contact with me.

"Remember what happened a year or two back?" Sierra asked.

"You told her about THAT?!" I furiously whispered.

"Mayyyyybe..."

"Well I'm deffinately not interested in you now!"

About that... The wolves have several... Kinky traditions. Traditions I'd rather not talk about... Fell free to ask later.

Anyways... I was seriously thinking about the best way to get revenge when the unicorn tapped me on the shoulder.

"Did she really...?"

"...Yes..."

"That's..."

"Weird? Gross? Kinky? All three?"

"Yes..."

The rest of the trip was met with awkward silence.