Equestria Wolves: The Pack is Family, The Pack is Life

by Lord Shadow Eclipse

Chapter 2: Adjusting

Twilight and Fluttershy were running through the forest at a decent speed through the forest they found themselves in. Spike had an easy time catching up with them as he was flying directly behind them. As far as Twilight could see, this was a really average forest. The autumn trees, the rocks, and the birds all looked the same.

Both Twilight and Fluttershy were amazed by the fact that they've been running for a long time and didn't feel the need to stop and rest yet. But this made sense to them, given their knowledge on animals.

Wolves are nature's best marathoners. They can cover up to forty miles in one day when not running at top speed. They can track their prey for miles before reaching the edge of their territory.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike crested a treeless hill and looked around. Spike circled above them to get a literal bird's eye view of the landscape. Despite it now being night, Twilight and Fluttershy could see very well in the dark thanks to their wolfish eyes. Spike landed on Twilight's back.

"Anything, Spike?" Twilight asked.

Spike shook his head. "Nothing. There's nothing but dense forest for miles"

"What do we do now, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"I think we should reunite with the others" Twilight replied.

"And how are we going to contact them if we're miles apart from each other?" Spike wondered.

Twilight's only reply was to lift her head towards the sky and let out a long howl.

"Aaahooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Hopefully, the others should respond. A few seconds later, Twilight got a howl back coming from the East and another howl coming from the West. The pack would reunite back at the den and search the South together.

"Well, we better get back to the den" Twilight said before shooting off down the hill.

Spike and Fluttershy followed suit.

---

With Applejack and Rainbow Dash

Applejack and Rainbow ran through the eastern part of the forest with Rainbow obviously enjoying being a wolf. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"I'd thought you would hate being a wolf since you don't have wings" Applejack said.

"I may not have wings anymore, but being a wolf is so awesome! We've been running for miles and haven't stopped once!" Rainbow replied.

Applejack knew that Rainbow was right. They were covering a lot of ground and haven't made any stops. Applejack could get used to being a wolf until they found their way home.

As the pair continued running, they could hear the sound of a river in the distance. They ran until the sound became more and more clear to them. Eventually they came to a stop at a small canyon-like ravine with a river flowing through it. On the other side of the river was a different forest with entirely different trees.

These trees were all evergreen trees, with their permanently-full branches and needles making the nighttime forest look even darker. Both of them looked into the other forest's darkness with growing anxiety. But they both tried to put on brave faces.

"I-I'm not scared of any d-dark woods!" Rainbow said with a slight stammer.

"N-neither am I!" Applejack retorted.

Just then, the sounds of barking, growling, and something running towards them made their ears perk up. Both of them sniffed the air to make out what it was. The scent they caught was somehow both different and familiar to them.

Out of the darkness of the evergreen forest, a strange copper-colored wolf appeared out of the brush. The strange wolf simply stared at the two for a brief second before looking back to the sounds of growling. The copper wolf then made a flying leap across the river and landed on Applejack's and Rainbow's side of the river.

A trio of black wolves suddenly appeared and halted at the edge of the river. They were all growling and barking at the copper-colored wolf that had eluded them before turning their gazes on Applejack and Rainbow. The black wolves all stared at them for a few moments before the one in the center raised its head.

"You stay out of our territory, Copperhide!!" he shouted in a deep voice. He and his cohorts trotted back into the dark forest.

Rainbow and Applejack didn't know what to make of this. They had just watched three black wolves chasing this copper wolf out of their territory. They turned to speak to the copper wolf.

"Are you alright? Those guys gave you quite the chase, huh?" Rainbow asked.

The copper wolf simply lay flay on the ground with her tail between her legs and her ears flattened. She looked up at the two with pleading eyes.

"Please forgive me! I didn't mean to trespass into your territory! I had to get away from--" the copper wolf said before Applejack put a paw to her mouth.

"It's alright, sugarcube. Why were they chasin' you?" Applejack said.

"They were chasing me because I was in their territory trying to find food" she replied.

"Well, you're safe here. What's your name?" Rainbow asked.

"My name is Lora Copperhide of the Copperhide Pack. And you?" Arina replied.

"I'm Rainbow Dash"

"I'm Applejack"

Lora tilted her head. She had never heard of those names before.

"What pack do you belong to? If you say I'm safe here, may I speak to your alpha?" Lora asked.

They weren't sure how to answer the first question, but since Twilight was a Princess, they could answer the second one.

"Yeah! We'll bring you to our alpha" Rainbow replied.

"Okay. Where's your den?" Lora wondered.

Instead of a verbal response, the sound of a howl in the distance answered for them. Rainbow and Applejack somehow knew that howl came from Twilight. Applejack lifted her head and returned the howl. In the West, another howl sounded.

"Looks like we're meeting up back at the den" Applejack said.

"Alright! Follow us to the den, Lora. Our alpha will want to talk to you" Rainbow said.

"Thank you so much!" Lora said.

They set off back in the direction of the den with a new friend.

---

With Pinkie Pie and Rarity

Pinkie and Rarity stopped to gaze out over a vast plains landscape with scattered rocks. Pinkie looked excited.

"This looks like a great place to play Hide And Seek, Rarity!" Pinkie cried.

She was about to set off and play on the rocks when Rarity pulled on her tail with her teeth. Rarity pulled Pinkie back into the cover of the trees.

"Pinkie, darling, I don't think we should go out there!" she said.

"Why?"

"Don't you smell that?"

Pinkie sniffed the air around her and her eyes popped open.

"I smell wolves. Different wolves, too. Could these plains be their territory?" Pinkie asked.

"I get the feeling that it would be bad for us if we simply wandered into another pack's territory" Rarity replied.

Both of them turned to leave when a voice called to them. "Leaving so soon?"

Rarity and Pinkie turned in the direction of the voice. The voice wasn't threatening, but disappointed. From behind one of the rocks was a wolf.

This wolf was beautiful, with pure white fur and bright blue eyes. And it was small, too. It was likely a pup that started to run with the rest of its pack. She sauntered up to Rarity and Pinkie and sat down before them.

"Hello there! Those woods your territory?" the young white wolf asked.

"I-indeed they are" Rarity replied. "I take it the plains are your pack's?"

"Yep. We make our living on the plains. We're the Ghosts of the Plains, according to some packs" she replied.

"Nice to meet you! My name's Pinkie Pie. What's your name?" Pinkie asked excitedly.

"My name is Phantom of the Snowfoot Pack. What pack are you from?" Phantom asked.

They weren't sure how to answer that without telling Phantom that they used to be magic ponies from another world. They decided to play along with Phantom.

"We're part of the Greenpaw Pack" Rarity replied with a wag of her tail.

Phantom squinted her eyes in thought. "I've walked along the edge of the forest lots of times and met many different wolves of different packs, but I've never heard of the Greenpaw Pack. Did you recently establish a territory in the forest?"

"We sure did! We're new to the area, but we'd like to meet the neighbors" Pinkie replied.

Both of them felt bad for lying to Phantom, but it was the only option they had if they were going to get any information about this world. Besides, Phantom seemed to like their answers.

"Well, if you want to meet the other packs, there's the monthly Lunar Assembly coming up in three days. You get the chance to interact with the other packs there" Phantom said.

"And just where do we go to get to the Lunar Assembly?" Rarity asked.

"You follow Salmon River north until you reach Howler's Rock. You'll know it when you see it" Phantom said.

Before they could continue their conversation, the sound of Twilight howling overcame them. Phantom giggled.

"Looks like your alpha is calling for you" she said.

"Well, we better get going. Goodbye, Phantom! It was lovely to meet you" Rarity said.

"I hope we'll see you again in the future!" Pinkie said.

"I'm sure you will. I'll see you both at the Lunar Assembly!" she cried before she trotted off over the rocks.

Pinkie and Rarity ran off to meet the rest of their pack back at the den. They would bring good new, after all.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this a crossover?

[Lord Shadow Eclipse]

11363281
No. My own original idea.

[Nebbie]

While wolves certainly can run (or at least "trot") for a long time, even beating humans, this is something done for hunting purposes, not simply exploring. It would make more sense if they had stopped at least once to relieve themselves (at which point they would be a bit weirded out by territory marking instinct, most likely, something which could help explain why Lora would think she was trespassing, as she could smell that Rainbow and AJ had marked the area as theirs).

[Lord Shadow Eclipse]

11757409
Please understand that they need to explore this environment to get their bearings.