-Mourning at Midnight-

“Oh my gosh,” Rainbow exclaimed, rushing forward and grabbing the puppies before they could rush out to the marching thestrals.

“Hey!” Lyall said indignantly, looking back up at Rainbow with a frustrated scowl.

“I wanna see Non.” Sharptooth said, his expression more of a pleading gesture, his eyes going big as he stared up at her.

“Yeah, and mam and tad!” Lyall agreed, pushing against Rainbow’s hoof to try and move past her.

“No,” Rainbow said quickly, her eyes darting to the approaching thestrals and their packages. They were going to pass right by where they were standing, their slitted eyes were aimed toward Greyshadow. “You guys stay with me.” She insisted, pulling again on the puppies and getting them out of the way.

The thestrals passed by close enough that she could clearly look at the wolves’ bodies. The two thestral’s carrying the survivors broke off and headed toward the group of ponies a little ways away, getting them to doctor’s as fast as they could while carrying them. But her eyes couldn’t tear away from the harrowing sight passing in front of her.

Three of the bodies had been covered with large purple tarps, a crescent moon emblem emblazoned on the fabric. Two of them were wrapped so tightly that she wondered if the entire body was actually inside it, or if some had had to be left in the cave. As she watched, a light brown paw shifted out of its covering, a trail of red blood dripped onto the snow as it passed.

“Mam! Mam!” Lyall called, waving a paw at one of last wolf in the line. The wolf she waved to was a perfect white, or she would have been if not for the blood, dirt, and what was most likely sewage that matted her fur.

Before she could stop her, Lyall dodged through Rainbow’s grip. She stumbled forward on her large paws, tripping over them before regaining her balance and darting off. She caught with the line quickly, hopping beside the thestral as she batted at the wolf’s face with her little brown paws.

Lyall looked on in confusion as her paws did nothing to rouse the other wolf. “Mam, deffro.” She said, her previous joy dropping as she became confused. She started to become more desperate as she hopped along beside them, becoming more tentative in her poking. “M-momma?” She stopped following alongside the thestral, nervously backing toward Rainbow.

“Lyall,” Rainbow said, jumping forward to pull her back. She watched as the thestrals stopped by Greyshadow, the lead thestral leaning down to say something to him. Greyshadow stood after a moment, leading the procession away from the clearing.

“Nani Rainbow Dash?” Sharptooth said from between her hooves, having stooped between them to peak at the passing wolves. “Why don’t any of them have their lights anymore?” He asked, looking up at her with a pleading gaze.

She cringed at his look, the sadness striking at her heart like an icicle. But his question had seemed a little off. “What are you talking about? What do you mean by ‘lights’?” She asked gently, being sure she had a good grip around Lyall with her hoof.

“Whenever I look at everyone else, they have lights. Like little lightning bugs in their hearts. You have them, Lyall has them, even the troll had them. But now they’re gone.” He said, looking up at her with sad eyes, already starting to tear up. “Are they going to be okay, nani?” He said, more of a plea than a question..

Rainbow’s chest tightened, a lump starting to form in her throat as she looked at him. She couldn’t quite tell, but she was fairly certain that Sharptooth might already have started to grasp what Lyall hadn’t. She wasn’t sure where he was going with the lights, but maybe it was a wolf thing, or it had to do with his peculiar markings.

“Peidiwch â siarad fel 'na!” Lyall said angrily, turning away from the procession to stare down at the smaller puppy. Sharptooth crouched low with his tail tucked between his legs as he tried to back away from Lyall, an obviously submissive stance. “Wrth gwrs, byddant yn iawn, maent yn rhy fawr a chryf i- i …” She started, trailing off as her own tears finally started to flow. Lyall slumped as her tears rolled down her face, the resolve that had driven her fading as a part of her realized what had happened.

Rainbow couldn’t be sure what Lyall had said, but she knew it had to be something that denied what Sharptooth had insinuated. She had already been there when Scootaloo had insisted that her dad was fine, even though he had already been pronounced dead. This seemed familiar in its tone.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go over here.” Rainbow said gently, pulling again at the puppies to move toward the group of ponies behind them.

“Dim!” Lyall yelled, ducking under her hooves again. She stood defensive stance, paws spread apart and head low. She shook herself, a few stray tears coming free and falling to the snow. “Not until nani tells me what happened to mam and tad!” She said, starting to shake slightly but all the while keeping an angry stare on Rainbow.

“Oh, geeze …” Rainbow muttered, cringing slightly as she looked at Lyall’s teary eyes. How do you tell a kid that their family’s dead? She thought desperately, trying to kick her brain into a higher gear with a hoof. This is going to be unpleasant for all of us. “Uhm … They … aren’t coming back, guys.” She stuttered, still unsure how to really tell them, or get them to drop the subject.

“N-not ... coming back? What does that mean?” Lyall said, her resolve dropping again.

“W-well …” Rainbow couldn’t think, how could she tell a kid that? “Uhm … They’re in a better place, now.” She tried, eyes darting between the two puppies, whom were becoming closer and closer to tears. “Come on, guys.” She tried again, reaching out to Lyall.

“No,” Lyall wailed, backing away from Rainbow again. “Not until you tell me why they won’t come back! Where did mommy go?” She said, angry tears starting to streak down her face.

Rainbow couldn’t stand to hear anypony like that, and the only reason she had been able to calm down Scootaloo had been because she already knew her. This was so much harder, not only did she not really know these two, they were foreigners. She had no idea what their culture said about the dead, or how their kids were supposed to know that. This was becoming taxing for her, she almost wanted to cry herself it was so frustrating.

“I’m sorry, Lyall. I don’t know what to tell you.” Rainbow pleaded, trying to calm her down again. “The troll- … She’s just gone, okay. Your mom-”

“You mean she’s dead.” Lyall said angrily, her tears falling fast from her eyes. “Mommy’s dead and you don’t want to tell me.” She said, finally breaking down into sobs and curling into a ball in the snowy ground. She wrapped her paws over her face, trying to hide her tears vainly.

“Lyall, peidiwch â chrio.” Sharptooth said, gingerly stumbling out from Rainbow’s hooves where he had stood obediently. He stumbled over his large paws toward Lyall, leaning down and nuzzling her.

Lyall jumped up, knocking over the smaller puppy with a strike from her paw. She let out another strangled sob before curling up again and whimpering quietly into her paws. Rainbow jumped forward, trying to check that Lyall hadn’t hurt Sharptooth. Sharptooth rolled back over and crawled back to Lyall’s side, looking otherwise unhurt despite his tumble. She paused, not saying anything even though she could clearly see four little red lines under his fur.

Sharptooth carefully shuffled over to Lyall again, this time remaining quiet as he put his head on top of Lyall’s. Lyall didn’t react this time, other than appearing to curl in tighter. Sharptooth whined lightly, shifting his head and sniffing at the back of Lyall’s lighter colored ear. He curled his smaller body against hers, comforting her with his presence.

Rainbow’s heart practically dragged her to the ground with the weight that suddenly fell on it, the sight before her nearly drawing her own tears to her eyes. She hated this, having to have been the one to tell them this. She hated even more that she had messed it up so badly. She didn’t really think about what she did next, some maternal part of her taking over her actions.

She gingerly stepped over to them, stepping around them and laying beside them. She sidled her stomach beside them and lifted a wing over them, settling it gently over them. She didn’t know if it helped, but their gentle shaking had stopped, and Lyall slowly stopped crying. She watched them carefully with sad eyes.

Sharptooth had simply tried to stop moving, as much as the little puppy could. He stared up at her wings with wide eyes, but the rest of his expression was hidden in Lyall’s fur. Lyall had a slightly more dramatic reaction when she finally lifted her teary eyes, jumping slightly at the sight of Rainbow’s wings.

A stray thought entered her mind. She wondered if they were having that same fascination that Coalback had with her wings. Maybe it was a wolf thing? Even then, she still didn’t know why. As she wondered that, she also thought about their names.

Sharptooth and Greyshadow had names that, while distinctly belonging to a wolf, seemed fairly normal by pony standards. It was Lyall’s name, and Non’s, that interested her. They were strange, yes, but in their own way she thought they were pretty interesting names. But why did Lyall and Non have such differently styled names than Greyshadow and Sharptooth?

She sighed, pushing aside the thoughts and bringing herself back to the present. “Come on guys, let’s go see if we can find Non.” She said, remembering the other wolf that had survived. She hoped she was right in saying that that was her, she had already messed up once.

---

Non was a beautiful wolf, she knew that. Her fur had once been a beautiful dark brown, with streaks of lighter brown that followed the flow of her fur. She had been an envy of so many other packs, males and females alike.

But now she stank, and her fur was splotched with a shade of disgusting black from the sewage in the troll’s cave. She stank like goat shit, and rotting plants, and the salt marshes in summer. She hated those smells, hated the way they pressed against her nose and the aching sides of her temples. She wanted desperately to just bury her nose in the numbing snow.

Past her own horrid stink, she knew the troll was worse. Its guts had been revealed to the open air, an act that would have soiled the meat of a hunt, if a troll wasn’t already so disgusting. Its blood and innards still steamed in the nipping, cold, night air. She looked at the troll with a stew of hatred and guilt that made her want to both tear apart the corpse, and simply collapse in defeat.

She should have fought harder, she should have been faster, she should have been stronger.

She pushed aside the smells, tuning them out from the front of her mind. She looked to the pups that had survived, the rainbow pegasus trying vainly to calm them. They had seen their mother and father, their mam and tad, pass by with silence. She knew that they had not understood, that they only wanted to see the ones who had given them life, again. She could tell that the pony was struggling to explain, perhaps trying to preserve their innocence, as ponies were want to do.

The last two of their blessed winter litter of six. It was so rare for a pack to whelp and rear pups in the winter. The empress herself had blessed their pack in the waning hours of their birth, already knowing of the mudres male born to them. A wolf with the divine talent to see and hear their ancestors, a spiritual leader. Rare for them to be male, rarer for them to be born with their gifts.

She had been given the great honor of being allowed to assist in rearing the litter alongside her alpha, an old, white wolf. Rhian, their leader for two generations, almost too old to have been able to whelp a litter. And she, Non, the omega, the outsider, had been humbled to be allowed to assist her alpha. The empress had blessed her with the false pregnancy that allowed her to rear the pups alongside Rhian, their pack had truly been gifted.

Her poor little warrior, Lyall, her cries were like ice inside her ears. The little brown puppy had curled into a tiny ball, refusing her smaller brother’s comfort with a harsh swipe from her paw. She almost smiled as she watched the tiny puppy crawl his way back over to her, comforting her with his presence. Sharptooth was the runt of their litter, but his heart made up for his size. Non had been their protector, nani, and teacher.

But now she was stuck, held away from them by a well meaning pony healer. She lay on her side, belly to the air so that her injured leg was above her body. The white mare was kind enough, but her own sadness made her distant to the stranger. The doctor spoke softly, and with genuine concern in her voice. The doctor was nice, and she held no ill will to her, so she held herself from holding any of her emotions to the mare.

That didn’t stop the fact that she hated the stiff bandages that held her leg in place, even if it was for the best. She had barely missed having the troll rip her leg off, it had grabbed her and dragged her into the cave. The others had been kicked in, like a sick game of pêl-droed, where the pups would knock a dry grass ball into a hoop with their paws.

She couldn’t even bend around to clean herself, not without the pain returning in full. And scrubbing the stink out with the snow would be just as difficult without agitating the injured limb. Maybe she could find a hot spring to soak in? Or perhaps the ponies had hot water, she knew that they bathed far more often like that. It would be a blessing to be clean like that again. They all could use a bath.

She sighed in her frustration. Best not to dwell on what I do not have. She thought, beginning to list off the things she did. It was a calming practice she had adopted since she was a puppy, passed to her by her nani. She was alive, that was to be thanked for. Lyall and Sharptooth lived, as well as sad Greyshadow. It appeared that much of their pack’s supplies had survived, minus the few paintings and books that they had owned. And now, they were in the presence of one of their Lords.

She turned her gaze to the prone man, looking over his body. He had fought for them even before they had introduced their pack. She wasn’t sure whether to think him stupid for risking his life, or to think him more honorable than any wolf she had ever met before for the same reasons. Truly the legends of the Blaidd-ddyn were true, they were incredible creatures.

The events within the cave flashed before her mind’s eye. The troll dragging her by the injured leg into the cave, light waning until the only thing she could make out were the outlines of various objects in the darkness. The troll leaning over one of her packmates, chewing on him but never swallowing him. It had been a nightmare, a night terror.

At first, she thought she had died. She had died, and an ancient Lord had come to guide her. He had crept from the darkness, gently laying his hand upon her neck. She knew that he felt her pulse, watched him place a finger to his lips. Be silent, his motions had said.

And yet, he had never revealed his true shape to them. Never once had he returned to his ancestral form, one of the first Blaidd-ddyn. Maybe it had cost him his strength? Or he had already been wounded from a previous battle. Could he have been sacrificing his strength for the ponies? It would explain why Greyshadow was so quick to allow a pony to care for the pups.

“Nani!” A wail stopped her thoughts, Lyall’s unsteady steps crunching through the powder as she ran to her. Lyall quickly buried her tears in the mane around Non’s neck, sobbing into the slightly matted, but still soft, fur. A silent and sullen Sharptooth gently joined her on the opposite side of her neck, leaning into her fur with his own teary eyes.

“Oh. Shhh, fy drist, babanod bach.” She cooed to them, her silky voice flowing out to the puppies as they leaned against her thicker coat. She reached around with her neck to gently nuzzle Lyall’s back, a gentle back rub to calm her. She stank nearly as much as Non did, but her fur was slightly damp from melted snow, so at least she had gotten to clean herself of some of the smell. “Peidiwch â crio. Nani is here.” She shifted her weight to wrap her large paw around Sharptooth warmly, pulling him closer to her.

Lyall’s sobs slowly ended, her silent crying soaking into her coat. She nuzzled the tiny puppy for a moment, calming her with her touch. “Now, Lyall.” Non said softly, drawing the attention of one of the puppy’s ears. “Tell me what it means to be within the pack.” She encouraged softly, letting her soft voice guide the puppy from her sadness.

She heard Lyall snuffle her stuffy nose for a moment, trying to clear it before she spoke, never moving her face from Non’s side. “O fewn y teulu, rydym hela i …” She started to say shakily, whimpering it into Non’s fur.

“Say it in Equestrian,” Non said gently, pushing Lyall’s head up so that one of her eyes peeked out from her fur. Non lifted her eyes slightly, looking for the one who was supposed to be watching them. She was appreciative to see that the rainbow pony was standing just in front of her, another purple pony standing beside her. They had most likely brought the puppies to her after they had seen the bodies.

“Teach the ponies what it means.” Non encouraged, examining the rainbow pony. She wasn’t sure of her expression, it seemed to be somewhere between a sad guilt, and that look that packmates got when they watched the pups play, a sort of warm smile that was marred by her other expression.

Lyall sniffed again, another weak whimper following it before she started again. “Within the pack we hunt, for no one brings us food. Within the pack we love, for no one understands us.” She squeaked, stopping and whimpering into her coat as her tears started again, but she continued. “Within the pack we protect, for no one brings us shelter. Within the pack we care, for no one brings us love. Within the pack we cry, when one of us is taken.” Lyall pushed her head into Non’s fur more forcefully, burying herself into her mane and holding tightly to her.

She had taught the puppies the poem after their eyes had opened, passing on the lessons that they would need to be able to lead their generation to greatness. She had often used the poem as a way to calm the puppies when they were upset, or angry, or unwilling to sleep. Its effectiveness was evident in the halting of both puppies’ tears, but neither moved to leave her side. If anything, they clutched to her tighter.

The rainbow pony stood there awkwardly for a moment, another purple mare walking up beside her shortly. After a few moments of examining the pegasus and the unicorn, she addressed them. “I am Non, omega scholar of the Geni Llwyd pack. Thank you, for watching our pups.” She greeted them, watching them share a glance.

The pegasus nodded her head to the unicorn, a silent exchange that ended as they turned back to her. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal protege of Princess Celestia, and Element of Magic.” The purple unicorn pronounced, nodding her head in a short bow.

“My name’s Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty … and I guess I should say that I’m Coalback’s ... mate, since Greyshadow seemed to think that was important.” The pegasus said, nodding toward the Lord on the ground. She seemed much less comfortable with the introduction that they seemed to have adopted. Non started to smile at the fact that they had replicated her greeting, but halted herself as what the pegasus said registered.

“You are Blaidd-ffrind?” Non asked with disbelief, torn between inspecting the evidence for herself and continuing to comfort the pups. They seemed to be calming, but she almost couldn’t bare to separate herself from them again, for any length of time.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash said, more as a question than a statement at that point. “Why? What does that mean anyway?” She asked, taking a step forward and raising an eyebrow at Non. Greyshadow had said that as well, but had never explained. She hadn’t said anything about it then, it hadn’t exactly been a priority. But now her curiosity won over, and she had to ask.

“I’ll soon know.” Non grunted, pushing herself up onto her paws and releasing the pups now that they had started to calm down. She struggled for a moment, her legs wobbling after having to have spent the last few hours laying on her side. They were especially sore from the endless running, and her pack’s last fight. Eventually she was able to stand, her injured leg held still and close to her side.

Rainbow donned a concerned expression as she watched the wolf, Non was struggling to even stand. It had warmed her guilty conscience to see the pups hugging tightly to the larger wolf, she felt horrible for having to have been the one who told them that their family had died. Now she felt bad for making the injured wolf stand, but she didn’t protest, unlike the doctor.

Nurse Redheart had returned with a protest on her features, and had been met by an angry growl from Non. She was glad she hadn’t decided to be the one to do it, it didn’t really matter how comfortable she felt, a growl like that shook her to her core. It was an instinctual reaction, a prey reaction that told her to either hold completely still, or start running. Fight, or flight.

The doctor stopped her protest in her throat, settling for watching with concern as Rainbow had. Non hobbled forward on her three uninjured legs, moving to sniff at Rainbow’s chest, the tattoo that was barely hidden under her fur, and the faint scar near it. She held still as Non moved her way down Rainbow’s body, sniffing at her mane and her feathers.

She didn’t know what Non was doing, but writing it off as a wolf thing just wasn’t going to cut it for Rainbow. “What are you- HELLO!” She started to ask, the feeling of a cold, wet nose against a very sensitive area startling her. She practically leapt into the air, the cold of Non’s nose shocking her still extremely warm groin, and coincidentally rekindling the urges that she had successfully repressed for almost the entire trip.

She did, thankfully, avoid accidentally bucking Non. “What was that about?” She asked, more of an accusation than a question. Rainbow wasn’t sure what to think of Non’s sniffing, but it brought images to her head that she wasn’t sure of welcoming.

Non’s ears folded back on her head, following the motion as she lowered herself to the ground. “My humblest apologies, but I had to be sure. You smell like him.” Non replied calmly, the pups returning to her changed position. “Normally, it would be customary for a wolf to show her submission to royalty. Please forgive me for not, I am so tired.” She said, rolling to her side and letting the puppies share her warmth.

“Again with the apologies- Did you say ‘royalty’?” Rainbow asked incredulously, eyes moving back over to Coalback. Clean Cut had finally removed the snow on his leg, and had managed to wrap him in a few of the tarps, but had followed up with putting more snow over the parts covering his leg. She was thankful that somepony had finally decided to keep him warm, mostly.

“It is not so easy to explain, the entire story must be told for you to understand.” Non said, laying her head on the ground but keeping her eyes on them. Her hazel disks examining, piercing in a predator’s examination. “But yes, amongst the wolves, you are royalty now. The Lord has chosen you as his mate, a life pairing I assume? From the way you look at him, you must be.” She said warmly, staring up at her with a gentle smile.

“Yeah … I hope so anyway.” Rainbow said, turning a glance at Twilight before laying herself on the snow. It was cold, numbing that heat that plagued her. Twilight soon followed suit, listening to the conversation, but not seeing fit to participate just yet.

“What’s it like? Is he a pony as well? Was he bred among ponies, or is he from Lle Encil? The place they fled to.” Non asked, a childish wonder overtaking her as she started asking questions to sate that hunger for information that flared within her.

“Oh- uh …” Rainbow stuttered, not expecting the sudden rush of questions. “It’s, uhm … a little scary, I guess. And I never knew Coalback looked like ... that, he always looked like a pony before. I don’t really know where he’s from, or what that place is. Coalback said he was from America, that’s what he called it.” Rainbow tried to explain, unsure of how to answer.

“Amazing,” Non breathed, staring up at Rainbow and feeling like a puppy again. A whole world had reopened to her. “Coalback. What attracted you to him? Or did he take you as a prize through some battle?” The puppies had finally calmed, and seemed to be listening with interest as they wiped away the last of their tears.

“I- uhm … Well, I never really thought about it.” Rainbow admitted, thinking back to how she had met Coalback. She hadn’t even realized what had happened until after she had seen him for herself, and even then she still wasn’t sure exactly what happened that day. She knew that she had liked how big his wings were, but that had been an empty thing to call love.

“I guess it was when I started talking to him, he just sorta … listened.” She started to say, not really caring who she was talking to. The words already started to make her feel lighter, and just left her lips as she thought. “I dunno … it was just different from something that I would have expected, especially with how he looked. He looked like he had just crawled out of Tartarus, but he was so … nice. You know?” She said, flushing slightly as she was reminded of her audience.

“A much less traditional story of conquest, I like it.” Non said, sighing and closing her eyes. “Hold him close, I wish I had mine.” She said softly, her mind drifting to the wolves in her pack, her friends, her love. “He was always so silly, bringing me little parts from what should have been his meal. He always got in so much trouble with the other beta’s for that.” She said, a bittersweet memory making her both smile and forcing a tear from her eye.

She was omega, and he ... had been beta. The beta’s ate from the hunt second only to the alphas, and she was one to eat last. Yet he had kept offering her food that he took from the hunt during his turn, sacrificing the food he should have eaten.

“Hush?” Lyall asked quietly from Non’s arms, where she had curled up against Non’s chest. That had been his name, their best stalker wolf.

“Yes,” Non said, hugging the little puppy closer. She felt Sharptooth crawl over her neck, putting himself into the hug as well. She didn’t want to think about her packmates just yet. “You are too young to see these things, you shouldn’t even be out of the den.” Non said sadly, turning her gaze to the still slightly visible forms of the thestrals and the lightly colored wolf sulking beside them.

“Why are you out here anyway? Greyshadow said you guys were here all the way from the Macintosh hills, and that’s a long way south of here.” Rainbow said, trying to switch the subject. She wasn’t comfortable talking about her feelings, and she didn’t want to make Non relive memories of the ones she lost.

“Hmm … Oh, yes.” Non said, her eyes turning back to Rainbow. She had lost herself in thought, but Rainbow’s question had drawn her back. “The Empress bid us leave, almost three days ago. She told us that our rightful home was coming back to us, that the gates had been reopened. So our Empress gathered every pack, told them this, and now we pull everything we own to the North.” She explained, looking up with a distant expression.

“Empress? So you live in an empire? And what’s your home like?” Twilight asked, finally participating in the conversation as she quietly pulled out her writing supplies.

“Less of an empire as it is a loose union of the packs, but all of us answer to the Empress. And our home is in the Frozen North. The ancient home of our Masters, and then of the Blaidd-ddyn, and lastly of the wolves.” Non said, smiling at the unicorn. “Please, write. I know that our histories, and our dying culture, is completely unknown to the ponies. It would be my pleasure to share our stories, a small amount now, but more after I have had some time … time to sing, time to cry. Perhaps around a warm fire.” She said, lifting her head from the ground.

“Of course, whatever you’re comfortable with telling me.” Twilight said somberly, nodding her understanding to the wolf.

“Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.” Non nodded, lying her head back onto the ground. “Where to start? … You know our Masters as the Grey. In ancient times, when the stars were still young, they had a magnificent city. It huddled in the warm embrace of three mountains, and opened to a sea that no longer exists. Their great temple, the King’s fortress, extended far into the sky, and deep into the earth, all the way to its hot blood. What it exactly looked like has been lost over the generations, only the Empress remembers for sure.”

“That’s incredible, to think that those legends could be so parallel between our cultures.” Twilight noted excitingly, scribbling down everything that she heard.

“These are not simple stories, Twilight Sparkle.” Non said, her voice very suddenly dark. “These stories are our history, not just a lesson in disguise. The Grey worshipped the great mother, her power extends to every corner of the earth, even under your city of Canterlot. All around us, in every rock, gem, and speck of dust, she exists. Proof our stories are true.” She said, staring daggers at Twilight. “I understand that it is hard for you to believe, but everything I will tell you is true.”

Non waited, eying the ponies in a way that she would have the puppies if they had gotten themselves into trouble. When they didn’t say anything, she continued. “Before Luna, and Celestia, they were there. Our Masters created the Blaidd-ddyn to aid them in their wars, making them from their flesh, and our blood. Thus they are our Lords, second only to the Masters.” She said, her face remained stoic throughout.

“And this isn’t the whole story? You said that it would take too long to tell, didn’t you?” Twilight asked, scribbling intensely.

“Yes, perhaps around the fire, later, I will teach you the entire story. As best as I can remember it.” Non said, stretching her neck in an arc for a moment. “Now let’s see, I’ll skip most of the part of the war, you only need to know a little about that. The last of our Masters died far to the South, where he destroyed the last of Discord’s army … for the second time.”

“The second time?” Rainbow asked. She knew that Discord had raised an army that had nearly destroyed everything, but she hadn’t ever heard that he had done it before.

“Yes, the second time. The first time was before time began, when the king destroyed the first god of Chaos. Discord was reborn from him many centuries later, when magic began to raise us from simple beasts to what we are today. The last council member cast a spell that destroyed both armies in a last effort to defeat Discord, the place of that battle is called the Badlands now.

“Soon after, the last of the Blaidd-ddyn fell into civil war, until there were only three. The first killed the second in battle, and the third would have met the same fate. But the third became cowardly, and drowned herself in the juices of the holy flower. And it was then that the last Blaidd-ddyn left, through a portal that is lost now. And with none of its rulers left, the city's gates closed, and we were forced into exile."

“So they do die …” Rainbow mumbled, a distant look overtaking her features as she looked toward Coalback. For a while, she had thought of him as invincible, somepony that would always be there. From what he had said, he had lived through things that would have killed ponies, and walked away from them. Now, all she seemed to do was worry that he would simply leave. That through some event, he would disappear. Or that he would change, like Luna had changed into Nightmare Moon.

“Unless they are the last.” Non argued, hearing her words whether or not Rainbow had meant to say it.

“Huh?” Rainbow said in surprise.

“The Masters were very clever when they created the Blaidd-ddyn.” Non said darkly, giving Rainbow that same look. “The very last Blaidd-ddyn cannot die, he would only have died if he was in the presence of another. But yes, everything dies, Rainbow Dash.” Non finished, a sadness overtaking her as she closed her eyes.

“This is incredible, Non. I would love to hear more later.” Twilight said, putting away her writing as she finished it. “Do … Do you want us to leave you alone now?” Twilight asked, unsure whether the wolf would welcome their company if she was going to grieve.

“No … stay. It is never good to be alone in times like these.” Non said drearily, almost sounding like she was falling asleep.

“Nani,” Sharptooth spoke up, his voice weak. “I’m hungry.” He said, nuzzling into her neck with pleading eyes.

“Of course, you both must be.” Non cooed to him, turning her head to lick his ears. Her tongue was nearly as big as the puppies’ heads, pushing the fluffy puppy toward her side.

Non had six swollen nipples along her belly, and alongside her alpha had been more than enough to feed the puppies. Now with only the two, she would have to care for them herself. She gently pushed Sharptooth toward one of the pink nipples so that he could suckle on it, hungrily drinking her milk. Lyall moved on her own to another teat, still sullen in every movement, even her steps seemed to drain her.

“How old are they?” Rainbow asked after a moment, her face flushing slightly as she watched the puppies. She knew there wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about, but she felt like she was intruding, watching them get fed like that.

“They are almost five weeks old, they’ve barely begun to howl.” Non said distantly as she watched over the puppies.

“They’re really smart for only a few weeks old.” Rainbow remarked, watching Non feed them. She felt another shiver running up and down her spine, a brief fantasy flashing in front of her eyes, a reminder of the heat. Her eyes briefly flashed to Coalback before she stifled the urge again. This is getting really distracting. She thought in annoyance.

“Wolf puppies develop more quickly compared to ponies. From what I understand, pony babies are almost completely reliant on their mothers for many months. We start teaching them as soon as they can hear and see, they must learn many things to survive.” Non explained, not looking away from the puppies as she fed them. “Almost all they’ve known is travel, their mother, Rhian, and I have had to switch off with them through the entire time.”

“You know, that’s something that I’ve been wondering about.” Rainbow said, catching Non’s attention. “Why do you and Lyall have names like that? I mean, like how Greyshadow and Sharptooth have names like how a pony would name their kids, but you two don’t.” She asked, catching a confused look from Non that drove away her sadness for the moment.

“You mean- Oh. I see where you are confused.” Non said after a moment, catching onto Rainbow’s question. “You see. It is tradition for the males to have earthly names, named after aspects of themselves or the things around them, and may change as they change. But a female is given a spiritual name, one whose meaning is more representative than literal.” Non explained, turning back to the puppies. “Sharptooth had very sharp milk teeth after they came in, so he was named after that. Lyall was named by her mother, it simply means ‘wolf’.” She said, leaning in to lick at Lyall’s head.

And that’s when the singing started.