Rich, proud howls filled of hunting Dogs the air as she walked through the lush forest; she could have joined them, had she not been so burdened. It had happened again and her heart could take it no more; a full litter of five, all stillborn. Right now, all the other heavy bitches had given birth and were happily nursing their whelps and here she was, travelling alone, above ground, to the edges of their territory and beyond; the heavy fur bag in her jaws swinging pendulously back and forth with her dead pups, ready for burial.
‘Why is this happening to me?’ She thought morosely as the line of stiff fur that began beneath her golden orbs and trailed around her brindle cheeks and muzzle became wet with new tears. ‘Six litters, twenty four pups, all stillborn. The Barren Alpha, they call me when they don’t think I can hear. They’re right. What good is an Alpha Bitch who can’t even birth a single heir?’ Tears flowed faster now and she gently put her bag down before she started to brokenly howl her sorrow. There was no answer, but there wouldn’t be, she knew. There would be no comfort for her until she returned to the pack after finishing her task.
‘If I return.’ She sighed inwardly as she lowered her nose and picked up her burden once again. There was only so much heartbreak a bitch could take after all. ‘They would probably understand. If I didn’t come back, if I just … vanished … he would be free to find a new bitch; one who could give him the pups he so desperately wants.’ Pausing as she reached the territory boundary, she sniffed the air and noted a small herd of ponies had passed very recently. But she had no appetite, even though she hadn’t eaten since the day before she’d had her litter.
Still sniffling, she continued to walk under the heavy forest canopy with only the chirping of obscenely cheery birds for company. Soon the trees began to thin out and the unforgiving rays of the sun nearly blinded her even though she had ducked her head and squinted her eyes. ‘This was thick forest, last spring. What happened?’ Her vision was sensitive enough to let her see clearly in even the darkest of caves, so the sudden brightness had her in near agony as she stumbled backward into the tree line, whimpering.
It was a long time before she could see again, long enough that the trees she’d taken shelter in were now casting large shadows into the field. Much more cautiously than before, she poked her head out and beheld a strange sight. Thick stones engraved with strange markings were standing vertically in unnaturally straight lines. Her nose told her that ponies had been here only an hour ago, while she had been recovering. Blinking and cocking her head, she sat down. ‘A teaching place?’ She wondered. The Pack had such a place; the Stone Memory was a tunnel deep in the ground where notable events and Dogs who had done extraordinary things were carved into the very walls and used to teach the pups. ‘No … the air here is all wrong. This is no place of learning, this is a place of mourning. Are these stones markers then? Markers for the place ponies bury their dead? That makes no sense.’ She couldn’t grasp the reason ponies did this, why constantly remind themselves of the one they’d lost? Didn’t the act of burial give them the closure needed for them to move on?
She shook her head, the bag swaying in her teeth as she sighed through her nose. How did ponies move forward with these stones anchoring them in the past? ‘Oh well.’ Besides, she had her own dead to bury and, perhaps, she would stay with them. She knew she wouldn’t move on, she couldn’t. She was broken, a burden. Only the strong survived and she wasn’t strong, not anymore. Six stillborn litters had stolen the will to live from her. Eyes narrowed and head bowed, she crossed the grassy mourning place while staying in the long shadow of the trees behind her. It wasn’t far now.
The glade was small and private with only a small opening between the wide tree canopies that allowed a view of the slowly darkening sky. It took only a few swipes of her massive forepaw to dig a perfect hole, the result of far too much practice, unfortunately. Tears once again began rolling from her eyes as she slowly nosed open the bag and withdrew the first limp, cold pup by his scruff. Gingerly, she placed him in the hole before she dug another one and repeated her previous actions, this time with a little female. Three more holes, two more males and one more female; pausing each time to allow her the opportunity to wipe her eyes clear with her foreleg.
“I’m sorry.” She told them as she sat in front of the line of little graves with her spine and shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to keep you all alive. I’m sorry you never had a chance to be named, to know how much I love you.”
Her nose rose upward and pointed to the emerging stars above. “There are many brothers and sisters waiting for you, where you’re going. I’m sure they’ll be gentle with you until you’re ready to try life again and the First Alphas will be there to show you the way.” Her constricted throat was making it difficult to speak, but she fought through it. If she was to gain any closure tonight, she had to make sure her pups knew if not her body, then her heart.
“I think I would have been a good mother; would have taught you to dig, to hunt, to sing and to lead.” She sighed and looked back at the direction she had come from before turning back to them. “Being an Alpha requires more than strength of the body, it requires strength of heart and character. One of you would have been a wonderful Alpha, I’m sure; so wonderful your deeds would have been carved in Stone Memory.”
Then she threw her head back and began to sing. She sang about all the members of the Pack, all their names and all their stories. She sang tales of history, of hunting, of being together. The love she had held for all those she had lost, the love she still held for her mate, her sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews. She sang until she nearly collapsed from sheer emotional and physical exhaustion.
After the last echoes vanished, all was silent in the glade for several long minutes before she sniffed and began to push the loose soil over the tiny bodies. It was difficult, at first. But with each hole filled, her heart became a little lighter and her thoughts a little clearer. ‘I’ll go home in the morning.’ It was her last coherent thought as she yawned and fell into a deep, healing slumber.
‘If she was dreaming, she didn’t want to wake up. If she was dead, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was so happy. The warm scent of new life filled her nose and calmed her turbulent mind; the feel of a tiny mouth vigorously suckling at her teats lifted her heavy heart. Some tiny part of her mind found it strange there was only one mouth but it was ruthlessly shoved aside by the rest of her. One or one hundred, it didn’t matter; her whelp needed her and she groaned in utter contentment.’
‘The tiny mouth pulled away and was replaced with the softness of infant fur wrapped around breathing lungs and a beating heart. She wanted to open her eyes and watch her pup sleep, but they wouldn’t open. That was alright, she decided. Even if she could never open her eyes again, as long as she could feel the little bitch, hear her sweet little noises and smell how healthy she was; she could live with that.’
‘The personal scent of the pup smelled a little strange, like night time, if the night had a scent and a lingering touch of death. Oh well, that just meant it was bath time. Lifting her head, she followed her nose and ears to the bitch’s head and began to clean her whelp. Her tongue found the little one’s nose and licked up, following the grain. But something was wrong. She stopped and tried to think about it, but her mind was strangely muddled on the matter, so she shrugged it off and moved upward. Her nose contacted long fur. Strange for a Dog or a Bitch to be born with a long ruff these days, but it had happened before in her bloodline. Her tongue emerged again and began grooming. As she licked the whelp, she imprinted the bitch’s scent into her mind and made sure the little one was doing the same. After all, if she weren’t able to see anymore, she would need to know the scent of her pup better than that of her mate.’
‘Lick, lick, lick. The whelp needed a name. Lick, lick, lick. A strong name, for she knew her little bitch would be very strong. Lick, lick, lick. Something involving the night, to match her scent; Star? No, no… Lick, lick, lick. Moon …? Almost. Definitely something with Moon in it; that felt right. Lick, lick, lick. Moonpaw? No. Moonray? No. Moon … Moon … Lick, lick, lick. Moonsong? Yes, Moonsong was the perfect name. Lick, lick, li – bleah, feathers!’
‘Wait, what? Feathers? That didn’t make any sense at all. Why would her perfect little Moonsong have feathers? She forced open her eyes …’
And found her gaze meeting that of a pony whelp. A strange looking pony whelp, but a pony whelp nonetheless.
“Wha … Where did you come from?” As startled as she was, her voice was surprisingly gentle. Moonsong– the pony whelp yawned and blinked at her with Dog-like eyes the colour of the brightest sapphires. Confused beyond all reason, because her eyes and her brain were telling her one thing, but her nose and her instincts were telling her the total opposite, she tilted her head and examined Moonsong– the pony whelp more thoroughly.
She looked like that one pony whelp the three herds had been fighting about a couple of hundred years ago, the white one with the wings and the horn; except her fur was the colour of the midnight sky and her eyes were meant to see in the dark. Where was her herd? Why wasn’t she with them? The questions in her brain rattled around as she looked up at the sky and saw the full moon sitting at its peak. She certainly wasn’t more than a few hours old, the scent told her that much. ‘Wait. I smelled death on her in my dream; it made me clean her … oh.’ The pack had been hunting earlier too. The pieces began to fall into place and she sighed.
The pony whelp- Moonsong, nuzzled her, and just like that she made up her mind. Surging to her paws, she watched Moonsong immediately follow her lead.
“Come along Moonsong, time to introduce you to your father and the Pack. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to meet you.” She cajoled her whelp as she began her long walk home, thinking ‘and if they’re not, I’ll be sure to remind them that just because I’m barren, I’m still their Alpha Bitch.’
Author's Note
Written for the March 'World-Building Alliance' group contest. Edited by me. I've got my fingers crossed!
For the rest of the world, the Chaos Time had finally ended. Among the Gem Dogs, it was starting all over again. Infighting was rampant amongst the once united pack. Those the White Alpha had Collared and Tagged of the Diamond, Citrine, Emerald, Sapphire, Amethyst were angry at the lesser rank that she had arbitrarily given them and viciously fought each other, often to the death, to elevate it. These matches led to many orphaned pups, pups that were taken in by the Alphas Black Spinel pack and cared for.
Three whelping cycles after the fighting began, a single pup was born from each of the five quarrelling packs and the Ruby pack. The event was strange enough that the fighting temporarily stopped just long enough for all the Gem Dogs to wonder over the phenomenon. Of all the bitches in heat and bred, only those six had taken? And only a single pup when each bitch was known to whelp any number from four to nine? Then there was the fact that the six were … odd. All six pups were considered abnormal enough to raise a fair number of hackles among the packs.
The bitch-pup born of the Diamonds was an albino and built like a male, short hindlegs, broad chest and long forearms. Her eyes, even weeks after opening, remained a crystalline blue.
The dog-pup of the Citrines was nearly twice the size of the other five at birth and a clear throwback to his ancient ancestors with his thick, silver with gray splotched shaggy double-coat, straight spine and hind legs the same length of his forelegs. But his eyes, upon opening, were a piercing red that seemed to stare straight into your soul.
The bitch-pup of the Emeralds was strangely plain, when compared with the other five. She had a short, normal ochre coat with a straw-yellow ruff around her neck and shoulders. Her eyes at first were a pale green, but within a few weeks shifted to the colour of refined gold.
From sole survivor of the White Alpha’s massacre of the Sapphires came a dog-pup with a blacker than tar coat, a slim, bitch-like body and skin-pink eyes.
The small Amethyst dog-pup had almost comically enormous ears and paws he would never grow into, bright green eyes and a long, flat, silky dusk rose coat.
Out of the Ruby pack was born the strangest pup of the six. A bitch that seemed to be a hodgepodge mix of the traits of the other five. She was a tiny, fragile thing with enormous ears and thick black fur with an ochre ruff. Her eyes, upon opening, were each a different colour. The right one was a piercing red and the left a crystalline blue. To top it all off, she was utterly blind.
Unfortunately, the peace only lasted until the first argument and, five months after the six had been whelped, their mothers all died in defense of their strange pups and the now orphans were taken by the spinels to be raised. The names of the six pups died with their mothers, so they were each renamed to the gem of the pack they had come from. Diamond, Citrine, Emerald, Sapphire, Amethyst and Ruby.
When the six first met in the den of the Alphas, there seemed to be an instant connection between them, as though their differences drew them together. Enormous Citrine bounced not only between the other five his age, but also among the older pups. He put a stop to any fighting or bullying, made sure any wounds were cleaned, that everydog was comfortable and had full bellies. At his side in these tasks was Diamond whom, with her clever forepaws, would weave long grasses into soft mats and made sure none went without. As she grew and more orphans joined them, she would often share her meals with them and taught them to make the soft grass beds without asking anything in return.
Sapphire was always found at the side of Ruby, helping the blind bitch find her way around and making sure she wasn’t taken advantage of. He was often quick to fly off the handle at even a perceived insult towards one of his five pack mates, but when he was amongst them he was relaxed and soft spoken. During those rare times he had to leave her, he always left her in the care of one of the other four, Emerald, Citrine, Diamond or Amethyst, for he trusted no others. Ruby often wandered the caves when she could get away from Sapphire, or one of her ‘Sapphire Assigned Minders’. She would listen with her enormous ears to the world around her. Listen to the fights, listen to conversations and, whenever she could, she would find a tunnel to the outside and listen to nature. She often told anydog that would listen to her that she could hear the whispers of the stars she could not see, but such attempted conversation to any dog not Emerald would always end with her being picked up by her ochre scruff and carried back inside.
Emerald was the most laid back of the six, but by no means was she lazy. She threw her all and then some into any task she was given. Everything she did was performed in silence and for many years dogs and bitches outside the close-knit Six thought her mute. They were all very wrong. She could speak and when she did the words were always well thought out and never untruthful. She never sat and listened to gossip, she never spoke ill of any dog behind their back or to their face. Amethyst with his oversized paws and oversized ears bounced around in the literal sense. As the official pup-minder for the spinels, his boundless energy and determination to make sure the pups remained active and happy served him well. It was his active imagination and Diamond’s skilled paws that allowed the creation of soft toys for the pups to snuggle and play with.
As the Six grew into adults, the time came for them to be separated and returned to their original packs.
“No!” Sapphire barked with flat ears and showing teeth as he stood defiantly between the Alphas and his pack.
“Alphas, could you please let us stay together? We’re all so … different than the other packs and we know it causes … problems.” Few outside the Six had ever seen imposingly large Citrine so submissive, but his quiet plea seemed to soften to hard expressions of the Alphas ever so slightly.
“Save for Sapphire, you all have family waiting - ” The Bitch-Alpha was interrupted by a derisive snort from Emerald.
“The very same families that orphaned us in the first place?” Emerald asked flatly. “Sure we’re grown now, but one of us can’t defend herself.” She turned to Ruby. “Sorry.”
Ruby waved the comment off. “It’s alright.” Her ears swivelled and oriented on Amethyst as he began bouncing in place.
“I know! Why don’t we just all become the new Sapphire pack? That way we can all stay together and then we can use Ruby’s idea and stop all the fighting and everydog will be happy again!” He jabbered as he gave Sapphire a hug, followed by Citrine, Ruby, Emerald and Diamond.
Both Alphas glanced at the small bitch. “Really? You think you, of all Dogs, can stop the fighting when even Our orders and Our enforcement failed?” The Alpha Dog asked with an almost derisive look.
“Now hold on. We think her idea has merit.” Diamond interjected. “We know you’re both excellent Alphas and your spinels have done their utmost best to prevent more deaths. And we know that being Collared like we have by the White Alpha has put an absurd amount of stress on the breeding generation. And … well … go on Ruby, tell them. You thought of it.”
“What?” Ruby yelped, not expecting, nor appreciating, being put on the spot. Her ears drooped as she licked her lips in nervousness. She hemmed and hawed before she found the words she wanted and told the Alphas her idea.
All the dogs and bitches gathered on a lone grassy knoll at the call of the Alphas. The gems of their collars sparkled in the early evening moonlight as they looked upon their leaders and the Six behind them. The silence in the air was heavy and uncomfortable before the Bitch-Alpha broke it with a booming bark.
“We see no Gem Dogs before Us! We see only a large litter of ignorant pups squabbling over a single teat! You expend precious energy that would be better used for hunting or digging by fighting amongst yourselves! And those are not even the worst of your sins.” she growled as she cast a baleful eye on all the now cringing Gem Dogs before them. “You all have, time after time, disregarded our most sacred law. You. All. Endanger. Pups.”
With the entire Pack now thoroughly cowed and finally listening, the Dog-Alpha said his piece. “These Six that stand behind us are true Gem Dogs. They heeded the few lessons their mothers taught them before they were orphaned for their mere appearance; something that should never have happened in the first place! Each was whelped within a different gem-pack and when they first met, their differences brought them together. Each have strengths and weaknesses, and they not only covered for each other’s weakness; they applied their strengths not only amongst themselves, but to all of you as well.”
He paused and took a breath, casting a gentle gaze at the crowd before he continued. “Together they brought comfort, food and healing without prejudice or discrimination. Together, they extoll the virtues of all True Gem Dogs. Honor, Trustworthiness, Joyfulness, Empathy, Altruism and Wisdom. Hear their words and apply them.”
Sapphire took the stage first with his head held high and looked down his nose at the dogs and bitches below him.
“Huh. You know, I thought as soon as I got up here I’d be able to yell at the lot of you. But now that I am here, I only feel kind of sad that I actually have to tell you what you should already know.” With a huff, he plopped his rump onto the grass and continued. “Having others look to you makes you feel strong and getting Collared by that … that … that thieving tyrant takes that all away. I get that. You know what though?” He looked at their now quizzical faces. “That’s exactly what she wants! She wants us go crawling to her with our tails between our legs, begging her to take these off! But we won’t because we are stronger than that! We are servants to none but Our Alphas, these alphas, right here. So we get divided by gems, so what? Pick a Gem-Alpha, the right way, with no more deaths, and stick with them.” Sapphire gave them all a nod before he returned to his previous spot.
Emerald filled the empty place Sapphire left behind on the top of the knoll and cleared her throat. She received a lot of stunned looks as she began to speak.
“I was whelped after the Collars, but I remember the stories my mother told me about how the Pack was before. The way she told it, we survived the Chaos Time because we were always honest with each other. We told no lies to ourselves or to others, so the Chaos couldn’t warp our minds, only our bodies. My silence was a choice I made after my mother was killed because there was so much dishonesty I didn’t want to talk to anydog who didn’t want to hear the truth. I’m speaking now because I think you’re all ready to hear it. Lies will bring the Chaos again; being truthful always has and always will protect us from it.”
Just like that, Emerald was done and replaced by Amethyst whose serious expression looked foreign on him. He twitched his oversized ears and looked at his enormous paws before he began.
“One way or another, I’m sure you’ve all at least heard of me. I mean, come on, I’m the funniest looking dog here. Maybe you laughed with me, maybe you laughed at me and if you did, I don’t care!” Amethyst suddenly became much more active as his speech picked up speed. “I like how I look because it helps me make other dogs and bitches laugh and if they’re laughing, that means they’ve forgotten all the bad stuff that’s been going on lately. Making other Dogs happy is what makes me happy. It’ll make you feel all warm and happy too if only you’ll try it because we’re all alive, we’re all living, and a big part of living is feeling joy and spreading it to others!”
Amethyst finished and Citrine, who was half again taller than the biggest Dog, took his turn to speak to the entire pack.
“Size and strength are all well and good, but it all depends on how you use it. Isn’t that one of the first true lessons we teach the pups? We let them play-fight so they learn when they’re biting too hard and how much strength is needed to gently swat a smaller pup with their paws. It’s a critical part of growing up, but we always stop them when it goes too far. When did we stop doing that with each other? I didn’t have any littermates and it wasn’t until I met my packmates that I learned those lessons. Sapphire, Emerald and Amethyst were always ready and willing to play and it was in this way that I learned I was a lot stronger than they were, that I should always be gentle. Having to be so careful all the time carried over into how I treat everydog. Strength only means something if you use it to stop others from abusing theirs. This is something I’ve tried to show many of you not only when I stop fights, but also treat your wounds and care for you until you’re better. A couple of you did learn, but most simply started fighting the minute they were well again. I hope you’ll take my words to heart. Thank you.”
The fifth to speak was Diamond. At first she hesitated, but the words soon began to flow from her muzzle.
“Way back in our history, before Song, before speech, even before true thought, our noble ancestors hunted. Sometimes they hunted alone and would catch only small prey, barely enough to fill the belly of one. That single hunter, hungry though he or she may have been, would return to their pack and lay their catch before the injured, the ill, or the pups. By giving their catch, they gave the injured time to heal, the ill the nutrients to recover, the pups the time and nutrients they needed to grow. In their own primitive way, our ancestors understood that the strength of the pack was dependant on how many members they had. Over the evolutionary epochs since then, we have changed. We still follow and trust our instincts, but they are often supressed by our thoughts and it is no longer as strong as it once was. Taking its place now are negative concepts such as greed, power lust and selfishness. I bid you to abandon these thoughts, trust the instincts that have led us this far and will lead us further still!” Diamond shouted to the crowd below, eliciting howls of agreement and approval.
The speeches given had swayed the gem-packs, as one they turned to each other and began interacting as they had before the Collars. They cleaned wounds unreachable by the one who bore them, properly submitted to those who were stronger and welcomed the return of the pups their actions had orphaned. Seeing the hostilities had ceased, the Alphas turned to the Six.
“We admit We were wrong Ruby.” The Bitch-Alpha began. “Chastising and punishing the fighters individually wasn’t working. Only by bringing them together and reminding them of all that we once were, without violence, could any change be effected.”
“Indeed.” The Dog-Alpha agreed as he turned to Citrine. “I think it was good for Us to hear as well. For your deed, We grant your request to join together as one pack. You are all now the Sapphire gem-pack.”
At this declaration, the Six rejoiced and joined the other gem-packs below as the gems in their Collars flashed and turned to sapphires.
