Stranger-Sunset kept coming over. No matter how much Spike growled and barked to warn his pack of the danger that they could not feel, they let her in every time she appeared. Twilight called her friend, and smelled of happy whenever she was there, and the two danced around each other in the weird courtship that two-legs had, just as Shiny-brother and Cady-sister had. Sunset wanted to be Twilight’s mate.

Spike did not approve. She stank of The Bad Thing, of guilt and pain, and she knew it. She seemed the only two-leg that felt what he did. His Twilight deserved a mate who didn’t bring those things to the den. Not that any of the pack listened to him.

No…Mother-Velvet-Soft treated Stranger-Sunset like a lost pup that was now hers, and Father-Night-Wise showed careful kindness, as if he believed he might make her afraid. Cady-sister smelled of nothing but happy, and from what Spike saw, encouraged the courtship between Twilight and Stranger-Sunset. Even Shiny-brother, who also protected the pack, welcomed her without more than passing concern.

The moon changed her face twice over and Stranger-Sunset-Who-Smelled-of-The-Bad-Thing came over more and more, and nothing Spike did seemed to discourage her. Or convince Twilight that the one she saw as a potential mate was a threat. Their courtship didn't stop, instead advancing at the slow pace of two-legs, and always away from any eyes but his own. It was as though they knew it was a bad idea.

So Spike waited. He watched. Stranger-Sunset knew he was watching. Eventually something would happen, and he would do his job and drive her away, once Twilight saw that she was connected to The Bad Thing.

And then It happened.

Twilight had been restless for days, her sleep broken and full of bad dreams…she called out in her sleep, sometimes for Stranger-Sunset, other times with a voice that was not her own, in a language that Spike did not speak but that he could feel. It was a cry of desperation and despair, of great pain….

…and that’s when he felt it. The same tingle in the air, the heaviness and discomfort in his tummy like he’d eaten bad meat.

The Bad Thing had returned, bigger than before. There was danger…danger that Twilight felt too.

It built and built for three more days, until he thought he might collapse from being on alert without rest…and then something Changed.

It happened when Twilight took him out back to potty.

Something fought the Bad Thing.

It was a New Thing, made of Pack-Love and the Choosing and the way the seasons turned and the moon changed her face, of the life hidden in stone and dirt and the song of the stars at night. It was powerful, and it rang with the Voice of All-Those-Packs-Before, of hoof and paw and wing and claw, and it denied The Bad Thing.

Spike stopped sniffing the bushes and bolted to be next to Twilight when it did, turning towards the feeling, hackles raised and on edge in case The Bad Thing ran towards them.

It did not. It broke apart as the world cried in relief, and the New Thing…The Good Thing…passed over and through them, leaving Spike feeling as though he had just woken from a good sleep on a fully belly. The touch of The Good Thing, he noted, lingered around Twilight, sinking into her the way a scent might sink into the couch.

Yet she did not seem to notice, only stared at the small brick that made noise, mumbling about Stranger-Sunset.

Spike urged her back inside all the same—the outside was too open, and in the den was safe, especially with the rest of the pack-family gone for a while. He had to keep Twilight safe this time.

Which he did, for a long while as the sun went to sleep and the moon rose…

Then the brick made noise and Twilight spoke to it, even as Stranger-Sunset’s voice came out the other side. He growled, grumbled, and was summarily ignored by his two-legs as she told Stranger-Sunset, “Come over.” Spike had hoped that The Good Thing had chased Stranger-Sunset away too.

Spike was not that lucky. All too soon, he heard the beast with two ball-feet roaring, and then go silent in the yard, followed by the knocking. Twilight opened the door to let Stranger-Sunset in, despite the reek of The Bad Thing in the air…

But then Sunset came in…and Spike froze. Something was different. He sniffed and watched. She smelled still of The Bad Thing, it clinging to her skin like smoke and water, but…it wasn't coming from her. Instead, coming from her, and fighting the remnants of The Bad Thing…was part of The Good Thing. Not the whole of it, but part…like one member of a pack of many. And when Twilight touched Sunset-Stranger-Stinking-of-Bad, The Good Thing part was stronger…

He watched. Waited. Followed on quiet paws as Twilight made Sunset take a dreaded bath, made her eat stinky water made with plants--not as good as the tasty meat water, in his opinion--oh, and bread. Bread was good, and Sunset-Stranger even dropped some for him. She did do that sometimes, dropping him food he wasn't supposed to have. He observed and smelled, and looked deeper and thought harder than most of his kind ever had to, hard enough that it hurt a little.

Sunset…was hurt. Inside, outside. Tired. Hungry. And she was covered in The Bad Thing like she had rolled in it…but inside her was part of The Good Thing, small but strong. She smelled of a pack of others, all reeking of the same stress-tired-pain-triumph.

Spike jumped up to the bed as he reached a conclusion. He had been wrong. Been fooled by a hunter’s tactic—Sunset had not been The Bad Thing. She hunted The Bad Thing. She was not Sunset-Stranger-Who-Brought-The-Bad-Thing…She was Sunset-Protector, and she had stopped the Bad Thing twice now. Protected Twilight from it, when he could not.

That made her a friend. An ally in keeping Twilight safe.

Curling up between the pair, he wagged his tail at her as she talked with Twilight, resting his chin comfortingly on her leg as she cried and cuddled with his two-leg, more convinced than ever that he had figured out the strangeness. The guilt-pain-fear had been because she was hunting something dangerous, and she was young, like Twilight. That was probably her first hunt without her Mother. With her own pack, all young and new to hunting, especially against The Bad Thing, which was a lot bigger than the small chittery prey he chased in the yard.

Sunset-Protector fell asleep, and Spike decided that he would keep watch for her. She worked hard to protect his pack, his Chosen two-leg, so he would protect her when she needed to rest and heal. Twilight scratched his ears and told him he was a Good Boy—maybe she had not been as unaware as he had assumed.

And maybe…just maybe, Sunset-Protector was a good mate for Twilight after all.

Author's Note

This has been in the works a while. Two more chapters to go on this short. More background to what Spike witnesses...

Bruhahaha.