Pack
I awaken, with a throbbing headache, from dreams of fire.
The first thing I notice is that my face is cold. This is remarkable because the rest of me isn't. I whimper, murmur, and paw at my muzzle — and my fingers pass through empty air.
I crack my eyes open. No longer is there a ridge of sky-blue scales in front of them, only the stubby silhouette of a nose. I bring my hand to my face, and it is blunt and fleshy. I scramble upright, adrenaline rising — and an enveloping shroud of fabric moves with me. I thrash my way free of the warm, thick fabric square, and find myself in a wide clearing in a familiar, sun-dappled forest.
I am home. How? The last thing I remember is the world of dragons — and the power of Ember's bloodstone blasting my apotheosis away. My hands shoot to my head. No horns. No crown!
I jerk my hands down to my neck, groping for it there. Still nothing. No. No! A wail begins to burble from my throat. I have lost everything.
"Gosh," a human voice murmurs from some distance behind me. "She looks pretty traumatized, Ember. Are you sure she'll be okay?"
I bolt, like prey, not caring where. I crash into the bushes, then once within their comforting cover, whirl around and bare my teeth. On the far opposite side of the glade — making no move — are two humans: one clad in gentle gauzy greens and pink hair over sun-yellow skin, and one with fiery hair wearing thick black-stained animal skins. Then I see the smaller figures at their sides: an all-too-familiar wolf with ice-blue fur, and her misshapen purple companion.
The gentle yellow human turns to the one who spoke first. "Sunset!" she chides. "Of course she's going to be traumatized if you startle her like that!"
Sunset meekly apologizes. The wolf, however, bites back a growl — and I realize to my shock that I can still feel her, a subdued echo of the whispers the crown once murmured into my throat. Not enough to reach into her with, but enough that when she locks eyes with me, the murky churn of her emotions still whisper into my heart.
I can sense, too, that she feels my fear and grief. She wears no crown, either. But it seems that she, like me, was left changed by that frozen moment with the bloodstones.
I WANT to say that, after what she did, she can rot, Ember's voice echoes inside my head. (She is no longer speaking with her muzzle, and yet all the others react to her words. I am beginning to realize how deep the mark is which the combined bloodstones left on us.) Then I feel her frustration soften, and she lets out a breath, and pity churns in her gut. But I can't hate her, seeing her like this. She's just a me I might have been. And more lost than I ever was.
Sunset nods. "I understand. Fluttershy and I will keep an eye on her. We're old hands at dealing with weird consequences of Equestrian magic." She glances back and forth between me and the wolf at her side and chuckles half-heartedly. "Though this is maybe a little weirder than usual."
"Speaking of which," Spike's high voice injects, "is this weirding anyone else out? You're just letting this ... human kid ... run off into the woods and hoping everything will work out?"
"Not into the woods," Fluttershy says, staring toward me with a sad smile. "Back to her home. Her life is out there. Her pack. Her friends. I'm going to make sure she knows we're here for her too, but she'll have to make the decision to trust us. If we had just locked her in a room somewhere to rehabilitate her, we would have scarred her forever."
Well, she won't trust me any time ever, Ember says understatedly. She limps over to Spike, her spine stiff, still favoring one hindleg. But at least the Bloodstone Crown is gone.
My face twists up, in the way that has never quite made up for my lack of ears to lay flat. I need no further reminders of my failure.
I back away until brush obscures my tormentors, then wheel and flee.
Halfway through the long, humiliating walk back to the cave, emotion overtakes me. I stagger over to a tree, sink against it, and throw my head back in a thin, weak, mournful howl. There is no reply.
I ball up, wrapping my legs to my chest, feeling liquid streak down my cheeks and pool up on my knees. And I sit there, rocking back and forth, until my tears are cried out and my mind has nothing to do but race in circles around my defeat.
I unwrap an arm, staring at it and flexing my frail, clawless fingers. Despite some tiny lingering touch of the lost crown inside me — barely enough to sense that my pack exists out there in the distance — I am weaker than I've ever been. Never mind what I did as a dragon; I don't even have the necklace any more which once made me a powerful wolf. There is no way I could ever lead a hunt now.
If only I had strength like Ember's, I think desperately. If only I could do the things she did.
I stew in that self-pity for several minutes. I close my eyes, and an even more relentless thought stabs in: that ice-blue wolf staring at me in pity. And that, finally, stirs up something besides grief. How dare she be more of a wolf than me here, after taunting me about her advantages over pure instinct?
Then my thoughts finally slow as that churning uncovers the gleam of an idea.
I look back down. I flex my fingers again, more thoughtfully.
I glance around the forest floor until my sight settles on a fist-sized stone. Normally they are just obstacles on a hunt, hazards for scampering paws, but the memory of her hurtled boulders is all too vivid. I do not have a dragon's strength, nor its claws … and yet my form, with all its weaknesses, can do things no other wolf's can. Not even Ember's. I close my fingers around the rock, hefting it in my hand, and marvel for a moment at how perfectly these spindly, fleshy fingers curl around it.
My first throw goes wide of the tree I aimed at, but as I scamper to retrieve the stone the thrill of the hunt is beginning to stir, and by the time the shadows have shifted I am hitting the tree more often than I am missing. Later, when a lucky shot sends a stunned bird crashing down to the ground from its perch, I let out a yip of triumph and tear into its flesh with my teeth. Never mind my instant regret as I spit out feathers — I feel ambition blazing within me again, like a fire rekindled.
I hesitate for a moment at that thought.
And ideas begin to whisper inside my brain.
Father bolts to his paws as I finally approach the cave entrance several days later. There is alarm in his scent; his hackles are raised and fangs bared. However, his confusion is equally evident from the way he withholds his growl. He retreats, sidestepping back and forth as light dances around the cave from angles far at odds with the shadows outside.
Finally, he barks sharply. Daughter — an inner whisper translates, as I allow some echo of the bloodstone's power within me to respond to his fumbling attempts to connect — what is the meaning of this?
I square my feet off, and lower the burning tip of the branch I'm holding to the floor of the cave, causing its shadows to dance even more madly. My packmates back away in silence, ears flat.
Hello again, father, I think. (Even though I can no longer insert whispers of need into my packmates, I can still reach out to the surface of their feelings and make certain my message carries to them all.) Tonight you should allow me to lead the hunt.
No request, that. No demand. No challenge. A calm statement of fact.
At that, he does allow a growl to stir up, and circles the fire warily. Do you think threatening the pack with fire changes anything? Leading the hunt is for —
— the biggest and strongest, I interrupt. I bounce the tip of the burning branch to punctuate, watching the shadows lurch and half my packmates scramble back from the light.
This is no threat, I say. It is a demonstration of my strength. I am both wolf and more than wolf, Father. I am flame without fire. I am fangs without a muzzle. I am bloodstone without bloodstone. And I am the hunt without the hunt. Let me lead, and this magic will be the pack's.
Then I straighten up, standing to my full height and spreading my other arm. Were Father fully upright, we would be looking eye to eye, but cowed as my packmates are, I tower over even Father's crouching form. And as far as size — I believe I am tall enough to qualify.
I emphasize this by thrusting my arm upward, whipping the branch in a sudden arc from side to side. The rush of wind extinguishes the thin fire at the end, illuminating the air with a short-lived shower of sparks and leaving the cave in comfortable darkness. I take the stick, now tipped by a gently glowing ember, and plunge its base into the soft ground just inside the cave, watching thick smoke coil up from the tip and chase a motley cloud of insects outside. Then I turn around without explanation and walk downwind.
When Patient-Leap trots after me, ears perked in curiosity, Father begrudgingly follows, the others at his shoulders. And it is not long before they scent the fresh meat my own blunted nose can no longer directly discern.
In the clearing by the sunning-stone, I have taken two of my sharpened sticks and thrust them tip-first into the earth, stringing between them one of the vines I gathered from the thickets by the river. Hanging on the vine are the eight still-moist fish I speared from the water shortly before my return, and at the base of my makeshift pantry are the birds and squirrels I killed earlier that afternoon with the increasingly steady aim of my rocks.
Here is tonight's hunt, I say, feeling the hunger rise in my packmates. A gift from my magic. I crouch — for the first time since returning — deferentially to Father. Tell me to lead the hunt tomorrow, and you will find out what I can do when we run.
His shock quickly dissipates, to be replaced by an all too rare sensation swelling within him.
Pride.
Then he howls for Hunt Leader Ember, and my pack adds their voices.
I join in last, adding the final pitch, the one that joins our sounds together into something greater. And I close my eyes and bask in the sound, all the fire I will ever need burning within me.
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First comment reserved for spoiler-free author's notes!
Contestiture: This was a literal last-minute submission for Imposing Sovereigns II. (Placed in the mod submission queue at 11:59 pm on the nose, managed to get the screenshot proof with about 20 seconds to spare.) This was working on the prompt of Ember and War, though you'll probably note at least a few of the other categories used as spices.
I feel a little bad about working on new content instead of Hard Reset 2, but c'mon … 1) this is a contest with an actual prize pool and stuff!; 2) I now finally have an Ember story published!; (even though there's no gratuitous embrax omg i have failed forever ;___;) and 3) look at the contest pitch: Administrative Angel was cited as a gold standard for the sort of story that could be written, and it's well known that an author's greatest weakness is flattery.
Sequelitis: So here's the deal. Officially, this must be unrelated to any prevously existing stories to qualify for the contest, and I followed the rules. It is 100% standalone, unrelated to any prior works, not requiring any prior reading, and not benefiting from any prior reading.
That said, this definitely shares broader themes with Administrative Angel and Devil May Care, if you squint and look at it the right way — namely, it's a story about a princess-adjacent character confronting the reality of the other side of the mirror and the flaws of their other self. Which arguably makes it something of a spiritual sequel. And if you want to headcanon this story as occurring in the same continuity as the other two, then I will be over here silently agreeing with you.
are you gonna keep trying to seduce us readers with epic pony (or dragon)/EqG self paradox stories
if yes, please continue
I LOVED this story, and I'm not sure I can say that enough. Both Embers were written incredibly well, and the parallels were fantastic. I'm... not sure what else to say at this point, but this is definitely on par with Administrative Angel, and I'm certainly not dropping you, horizon, as one of my favourite authors on this site anytime soon.
9935811
Thank you so much!
I'm glad to hear it's coming across well even in its current form — a few key parts of the story were written in the last few minutes before submission, and I'm definitely planning on doing some low-key later editing for polish. But I was happy with the core concept and how it came together, which counts for a lot :)
As someone who has trouble with action scenes, you don't know how impressive and hooking the extended Soarin/Ember/Ember/Spike fight scene was. Great story! You took what on the surface could have been a crackfic premise and turned it into a legitimate musing on the nature of power, complete with some lovely cross-universe parallels.
Just finished properly. This is amazing, and I love it. Very powerful story about Ember--and, as always, the interaction between the EqG and MLP characters is a wonderful concept.
I especially liked the combat scenes--wonderfully paced, excellently written, with high stakes all around. Amazing!
Favorite line: "Tools, bitch."
Two questions:
While fleeing Ember, Soarin' jabbed an elbow in his side, releasing a stinkbomb of sorts. I feel dumb asking this, but this is an actual stinkbomb, right? And not an exceptionally rancid fart he forced out of his degestive tract with that jab?Juvenile misreading withdrawn.Final question: any thoughts on the origin of Wolf-Ember? I'm curious how she ended up in the woods, where she found the crown, and
why she'shuman instead of a wolf.(answered in a comment below) Though I suppose that's all part of the mystery...Either way, amazing work!! This deserves a lot more attention than it is getting at the moment.
EDIT: Here's my humble review/reccomendation. [Link]
The final chapter leaves me very confused, what happened? Did the Ember of the human world return to her world?
Okay, so I absolutely adore that bite-sized (haha geddit) epic you've got here and the care and earnest world-building you put into your EqG stuff. It really keeps magic on both side of the mirror, and makes each kind feel unique.
I'd 100% get this and other tales in a horizon-words dead tree sequel collection.
"thick black-stained animal skins." Not how Sunset would normally think of her jacket, and I wish I could see her reaction to such a description.
Exquisite work from start to finish. A wonderfully innovative yet eminently logical translation of both Ember and dragons in general across the mirror, while making excellent use of the most useful part of "Spring Breakdown," the revelation that there are other portals between the two worlds.
Gripping fights, gripping drama, really just a lot of gripping in general. Which is appropriate, given how the main character learns to appreciate her hands. Again, outstanding work. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging.
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I'm pretty sure Soarin' deployed the smoke trail usually used in Wonderbolts shows. He is in his uniform, after all.
9936575
Derp. Forgot about those. Thanks for the reminder!!
(For some reason, I thought their smoke trails were just an inherent part of their flying--like Rainbow and her trail.)
9936435
As I'm reading it: Dragon-Ember's last strike knocked Wolf-Ember unconcious. While she was down, they brought her back to the human world, took the Bloodstone crown, made sure she was comfortable (hence the blanket) and had Fluttershy look her over.
9936573
Horizon offers a little explanation for that particular decision here:
9935864
Eh
9936573
Okay, that bit wasn't explained in the story, but I don't care - the rest of it is just too good.
Normally I'd highlight one aspect of the story or another that I liked, but I can't do that here because this story is great all around. And I know I'm biased here, but I really appreciate the detail that went into the portrayal of the lupine PoV.
History like the rest of the comments of others has left me more confused.
Is the ember of the human world, is it a human or a wolf?
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It's actually a slight misdirection. EqG Ember is a human living with wolves, but the Bloodstone Crown gives her the skills/strengths/instincts needed to compete as a wolf.
9935668
As someone who is eagerly awaiting the continuation of Hard Reset 2, I can tell you this detour was well worth it
9936379
Hope you don't mind I quoted you in the story description.
This is super late since I spent most of the week getting sucked into work (and in post-publication micro-edits to smooth out the second half of the story), but thank you so much for the review! I'm thrilled it left such an impression on you!
I can confirm the "uniform smoketrail release" theory. As for your other question, you are correct that they knocked her out and took her back. I made a few wording changes which hopefully hint that a little better, but it's going to be tricky being super clear about that from the perspective of someone who wasn't around for it.
As my other comment noted, I don't have a whole lot to say about the in-universe backstory of that; there's no solid answer in my head. If I revisit this continuity later on that may be something to further explore
Or if my fanfiction inspires anyone else, I'd be tickled to see how they interpret it!
Thank you again! Your engagement with the story was really awesome to see and I'm sorry that I left you hanging.
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High praise. Thank you all so much!
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Just confirming that the answer brokenimage321 already gave was correct in both cases. I've gone back and polished the back half of the story some to hopefully make those things a little clearer.
9936472
Well, as it turns out, that's a thing you can do!
Fang and Flame is not in Songs of the Sisters, but both Administrative Angel and Devil May Care are. I'll definitely keep this one under consideration in the event there's demand for a second collection.
9944049
Seeing as I have the first collection, this was what I was hoping for.
Relevant.
i.imgur.com/DhfNUP7.jpg
9945242
Never having seen this meme before, this was my approximate thought process on viewing it:
1. "Huh. I wonder which Otherkin documentary this is from. Probably a newer one."
2. "I wonder if I know him?"
2b. "... no, those are lighthouses in the background, which probably puts him on American East Coast out of my physical range, and my links to the therian side of the community probably aren't strong enough that I would have run across him online."
3. "... not to mention, if it's a recent meme, he probably cut his teeth on the idea long after I'd stopped being a significant voice in the movement." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
9945763 Golly, that's more thought than I expected from a mere meme.
I did find it interesting that though she was a human, her 'spirit' version that grappled with Ember was still a wolf. So, yeah, on every level except physical... Even when she was in the pony world, she wasn't a wolf...
So a wolf version of a dragon is a human, even though in that universe a dragon became a dog even though he was unofficially a pony, except in the spiritual world where the human was a wolf after all, but the dragon version was still a wolf in the human world...
geekandsundry.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/star-trek-3D-chess-1024x537.jpg
Nice story! I liked it, it was pretty much a constant ramping up of tension throughout the whole thing. Good luck in the contest, friendo!
This was really good, for reasons that have already been said. I think one of the highlights was Soarin being a total badass—that bit where he was running away from the horde of dragons was stunningly evocative.
The other thing I really appreciated was how much care went into the language of the narration. I felt myself nodding and going “yeah, that’s how a wolf would describe stuff” pretty often—though “rocket” felt a bit suspect on that front.
Still, this was really good! Thanks for writing
9967636
Well, at least that one's easy to fix
Thank you for the kind words, and glad you enjoyed!
I wrote a critique/review of this story. It can be found over here.
Congrats on winning the contest.
9998365
Thank you, on both counts!
9945242
derpicdn.net/img/2017/12/29/1619166/large.png
10012374
Specifically Atarka vs. Niv-Mizzet, which may be the best possible way to express the inherent conflict of Ember's character through the medium card games.
(For those unfamiliar with the characters in question, Atarka is an insatiable, animalistic eating machine whose followers must propitiate her lest she devour them, while Niv is equally ancient and egotistical, but is also the smartest creature in his entire universe and has effectively turned Aperture Science into a productive and indispensable part of society.)
This was a great ride. The ending feels exciting and ominous, like Ember's pack (I wonder if she's taken the name Ember now) will be lurking in the background of this universe.
I also kinda wonder if there are any legends in EqG Earth about a wolf king wearing a crown.
10012398
A belated thank you for your kind words! And yeah, as you can probably tell, my headcanon is that there's a heck of a lot more adventure going on in Pedestria than the show ever shows us. In the future of EqG, there is 100% some sort of crazy Princess Mononoke thing going on.
10012387
I'd just like to repeat my earlier comment that I would love to see some sort of Imposing Sovereigns edition of Friendship Is Card Games if you start running thin on official show content. Including the first competition, too; that inspired some magnificent stories I'd love to see translated!
You realize this is gonna turn people into furries, right? :V
10340365
Ssh! Don't give away the plan!
The Death Tag brought my nervous level to a new height while reading this fantastic story, but in the end I don’t think I’ve seen anyone dying. Am I missing something?
10387594
The deer the pack hunted in Chapter 1. It was described graphically enough that I felt the story needed the tag.
10389049
Ah, whenever I see the Death Tag I’d automatically go “character(s) died in this story” and that deer in the human world doesn’t really qualify as a character.
That's racist, yo.
Okay, my inanities aside, it can't be overstated how good the extended battle in the previous chapter was. Apart from that, I'm almost ashamed to say how long it took me to realize that EqG Ember isn't actually a wolf but a feral child raised by wolves. Maybe that was intentional, since she kept referring to herself as lupine, and the portal turned her into a dragon on the Equestrian side and not a pony (though both could be due to her perspective), but you'd think the narration mentioning her "fingers" would've been a clearer red flag.
10606034
Very belatedly: Yeah, I tried to walk the line with that one, giving enough context clues to paint the picture while not actually saying it straight out. In large part that was to drive the theme of not belonging in your own skin in a way that's hard to articulate until your experiences expand you to the point where you have a framework to think about who you are.
Thanks for reading!
You can has review!