Perils of a Merpony: A Ponies after People Tale

by kitten_girl86

October 31st, 2015

Pumpkins the size of a pony's head had all been grown in time for one of Kathryn's favorite holidays; she personally preferred Canada Day because it was the warmest but now that she lived in Florida, she was looking forward to a hot Halloween.

And hot it certainly was! Even at 9 am, the thermometer reading on Jazz's instruments read +19^oC and she predicted it was only going to get warmer throughout the day.

A section of houses southwest of the campus (2501-2529 NE 135th St) had been ghoulishly decorated for trick or treating; broken back doors had allowed the ponies gain access to the inside and allowed for trick or treating at the front later that night. Each front door had a different carved pumpkin, just waiting to have their battery powered candles lit by one of the unicorns. Some pumpkins and revived chrysanthemums decorated the front entrance of U1 while black streamers had been thrown all over BC Ship, complete with black construction paper bats, cut-up white garbage bag ghosts, newly drawn merpony skeletons (with an anatomy lesson from Dr Jamie) and one bottomless pumpkin floating in the water by a thin rope ["So all the fish can have a Halloween too!" Annie had explained when she dropped the thing down and let the juices drift into the water].

But despite this being Halloween, all the ponies still had chores to do and Annie still had lessons to learn up on BC Ship. Li and Jazz checked on the most recent batch of chicken eggs finding about 2 dozen empties; Kathryn and Dr Jamie took her pickup and a flat bed to yet another farm for hay & straw bales as they were running low again.

Kathryn began to wonder what they would do when the hay bales ran out and/or went bad. Dr Jamie explained that so long as the hay was stored correctly, they would stay ok indefinitely. "Having a barn cat would be really helpful to keep the rodents away," he added as they each carried two bales on their backs at a time.

As if on cue, a slim build black cat sauntered out to see what these strange creatures were doing. They sounded like the bipedal humans but didn't look or smell like them anymore. "Merow?" the cat asked. Kathryn, having already removed her burden, turned to the cat. "Hello there little one.... aren't you so pretty?" she said rhetorically. Then four more cats of the same size came out followed by one big fat grey tabby. Kathryn realized that the black she met was a kitten of the tabby from a previous litter and the tabby was clearly pregnant again. She turned back to the older kittens; probably about 6 months old. "Who would like to come back to our place and live in our barn? We have cows and chickens to protect from mice and rats," she added. The first black, a female, came over and started rubbing her head on Kathryn's leg. Then a slightly larger silver-grey tabby tom cat jumped down from a rafter and he gave a little growl, that said to Kathryn < If she's going, I'm going too, >. The mother cat sat on her haunches and slowly blinked. Kathryn pointed a hoof at each of the two: "Ebony," she said to the black; "Slate," she said to the tom. Both cats meowed agreement and Kathryn led them into the back of the pickup truck. "I guess we now have our barn cats," she said.

On the drive back, the two ponies spoke of the possibility of digging up two of the further parking lots; turn it to grass for now and grow hay later when the bales do run out. They agreed to contact Griz and ask her if she's seen anything like that on her journey and/or ask the ponies of Alexandria about the possibility.

The moment they returned to Campus City and parked the pickup next to the animals' side entrance, Ebony and Slate made a mad dash for the "stable room". Within off-loading the first load of four bales, the two cats had already killed three big rats. Kathryn kindly asked them to take their meals to the forest just across the way and they happily complied as she quickly turned to some nearby bushes and emptied the leftover contents of her stomach. Dr Jamie saw her distress but did not make any jokes; he just stood there and gently rubbed her back with a hoof. A moment or two later, Li came out of the building, levitating a bottle of orange juice, with straw, in front of Kathryn's muzzle. She sipped it gratefully.

For lunch, everypony ate their usual fare of granola bars, cookies, PB & J sandwiches and such but Kathryn decided to play it safe and she made a pouch of plain instant mashed potatoes in the microwave, complete with a small can of ginger ale popped open by Li. Kathryn suspected that Dr Jamie & Li had already told Jazz what had happened earlier and so didn't question Kathryn's choices.

Li & Jazz took over the lunch clean up and Dr Jamie asked Kathryn to go lay down for a while. She tried to argue she was fine but Li suggested Kathryn update the journal for a bit, then she could help Li check on the chicks. Eventually Kathryn agreed and made herself comfortable on the couch. Over the course of the afternoon, each of the ponies came by to drop bits and pieces of clothing for their costumes. Jazz had decided on a hippy; Li had somehow found a kimono and altered it to fit her new body; Dr Jamie did the lazy thing and threw one of his doctor jackets & a stethoscope on the growing pile. Iris had already left a long black dress on the couch to start the pile but Kathryn could not figure the costume out; she herself had left the mermaid tail skirt and accessories on the kitchenette table of her RV earlier in the day. She needed Li's help to fix the headband so it didn't hurt her head while wearing it. Li now sat opposite Kathryn, carefully transferring the headband pieces from the original hard plastic to a new fabric one Kathryn had obtained earlier in the week.

Early dinner consisted of soups and crackers for all ponies; Iris, having been woken a little earlier than usual raised an eyebrow at the meal Li Lang had set up but Dr Jamie quickly took Iris aside and informed her what had happened. Iris, still able to eat meat but knowing what it did to other ponies, completely understood and she dug into her Campbell's beef stew without a word; the other ponies partook in vegetable varieties instead, Kathryn sticking with a cracker-thick tomato. The soup seemed to soothe her hesitating stomach and she felt back to normal by the time the bowl was empty.

Not an hour after finishing dinner, the front door of U1 was burst open by a very excited merpony filly, obviously dressed in a fancy white gown, cheap dollar store angel wings and halo adorned her head. Patrick wore the typical pirate accessories while Sarah had gone for the more dark but fun sea hag look, adorned with sea shells and an old fishing net carefully draped over her back (but not interfering with the wheels of her rig).

Suddenly, the satellite phone began to ring! Annie bolted over and was the first to answer. "Hello? Campus City; Annie speaking," Annie said sweetly. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her face as she heard the response. "Grizzy?!" she cried excitedly. "Yeah, Happy Halloween! The ponies are taking me trick or treating soon!".... "Yeah, really exciting!".... "No, you guess what I am!" Annie giggled playfully. "Nope! Guess again!"..... "Nuh huh!"..... "Silly, no! Patrick is the pirate!" ...... "OK, fine. I'm an angel!" Annie laughed loudly, knowing Griz was only playing with her but still having fun. A long pause followed as Griz spoke on her end and then Annie recited something back. "'Nightmare Night, what a fright; give me something sweet to bite.' E-quest-ria has Halloween too? That's so cool!"

They talked a little bit more before Annie hoofed over the phone to Kathryn. "Hey Kathy.... I'm almost done with the list you guys sent me. Was there anything new you wanted to add?" came Griz's gruff yet girly voice. Kathryn told Griz about Midnight Iris and asked for all the medical on night ponies that could be found for Dr Jamie. "Also, ask around if anypony knows about digging up parking lots for farm fields; I'll explain that one later. Beyond that, I can't think of anything else. Can't wait to have you back at Campus City. Hasn't been the same without you," Kathryn added. "Also, I'm still wearing your necklace," she said in a very quiet whisper that only Griz heard her say. "Thanks Kathy. Can't wait to take it back soon," Griz's quiet response came back. "Come on Kathryn! I wanna get some candy!!" whined Annie as the filly pulled at Kathryn's tail. "Griz, remind me to never have kids of my own," she groaned playfully. Griz chuckled and said her goodbyes, hanging up the phone a moment later.

Halloween

The houses had been set up going from 01 to 29, being assigned to ponies to answer the door and let Annie trick or treat like she used to. The house assignments (Dr Jamie, Li, Iris, Kathryn, Jazz and Patrick) had nothing to do with specific decorations as all had been done in similar manner. They had put Patrick last so that when Annie was done, they'd walk back the way they came, picking up the adults as they went, pile back into the pickup truck and go back to U1 for a costume party for ALL ponies. Patrick and Sarah left most of their accessories behind so they could keep playing at being the adults for the trick or treating.

The pickup truck was left in the driveway of Kathryn's house, both for easy access and for making the neighborhood more authentic but Sarah and Annie had been left just a few yards from the first house (Dr Jamie's) to visit.

The first three houses (Dr Jamie, Li Lang and Iris) were the usual fare of whatever candy the adults had been able to salvage. None if it was real Halloween candy; that stuff had expired a year ago. But they did manage with small bags of potato chips, opened packs of mini chocolate bars, rolls of Rockets, and individually wrapped bubble gum just to name a few. When she got to Iris's house, Annie tried the "Nightmare Night" rhyme instead. Iris was slightly taken aback by it but after a second or two, she treated it as if Annie had said "trick or treat" and the filly went merrily on her way. Sarah held back a moment to whisper, "Something Griz had taught her from her learning of Equestria; the aliens who turned us. I'll explain more later."

Neither Iris, Sarah or Annie noticed the two pegasi, one land and one sea, fly overhead of them as they walked slowly down the sidewalk.

The fourth house was Jazz's place but as Annie knocked on the door, she got no answer. Instead, the door swung open all on it's own, a cereal bowl of five pieces of candy laid on the floor upside down as if the pony holding it suddenly dropped it in mid-air. Annie turned to Sarah, a confused look on her face but Sarah had no answer.

The missing pony in question without warning appeared careening down the street, flying faster than anypony had ever seen her go. And the biggest indicator of what was happening, Jazz's cutie mark was blinking! "Hurricane's a comin'! Stand fast; secure the riggin'!" (1) Patrick screamed in his pirate voice as he raced (on hooves & wheels, his pirate eye patch missing) from the same direction as Jazz came from to Sarah and Annie, followed immediately by Dr Jamie, Kathryn, Li, Raea and Lil' Mac. Jazz and Iris stood side by side outside on the front lawn, staring at the mountainous dark storm front coming right at them. It being already after dark, literately no one SAW it coming, but thanks to Jazz's talent, she got an early warning of it's approach. "It's gonna side-swipe these houses and head west, staying easily south of Campus City," Jazz informed. "Best we simply hunker down then and let it run through," Iris replied, neither pony taking their eyes off of the clouds, oblivious of the wind & debris. "Agreed."

Both ponies turned around and barreled inside the borrowed house and directed everypony downstairs to the basement. Patrick had found a kid's slide in the neighbor's yard; he broke it apart and carried the slide section inside, placing it at the top of the stairs to the basement. Kathryn & Dr Jamie had piled blankets & pillows on the floor at the bottom, and were ready to collect the merponies. Sarah & Annie sent down their wheels first, following close behind face first. The Earth ponies were ready to help them to front hooves as Li replaced the wheels. Patrick, Iris and Jazz all came down after making sure the upstairs was secure.

This basement reminded Kathryn of the one her aunt used to have at one point; there was actually two levels: upper was a playroom/tv room while the lower was storage and place for freezers. The upper was poured concrete but lower was roughly dug out of the ground and only partially finished. Despite that, Kathryn felt safer deeper and she encouraged the others to go, where there was no windows and another, stronger, concrete door between them and the storm. Patrick went down first, carrying the blankets & pillows on his back, easily maneuvering the two steps despite his wheels; the floor slopping slowly downward. Kathryn went next with Li; then Sarah guided a very scared Annie; Dr Jamie & Iris followed with Jazz last to enter, using rope to pull the door shut behind her. Li & Sarah used their horns to light the room and they all gathered in a pony pile on the blankets. Despite being so far down underground, the sensitive hearing of the ponies allowed them to hear the storm raging outside.

Poor little Annie still wore most of her costume but the wings hung haphazardly from her body and the halo was bent over at a strange angle; she had ditched her wheels in favor of laying on the floor, burying her face into Sarah's front chest, crying in fear. "Don't worry, my little angel," Sarah said. "Jazz's talent is for storms and she gave us warning."

Looks of gratitude passed between the merpony and the pegasus laying nearby. Jazz's cutie mark continued to blink but not nearly as bright as before.

No pony knew how much time had passed but just as quickly as it started, the storm moved off away and Jazz's mark stopped blinking; she knew it was safe to go outside again.

The houses were all still in one piece but Halloween was clearly ruined as the decorations were splayed all over the street and much probably being taken away with the storm but no pony seemed to care, least of all Annie. She had cried herself to sleep at one point and just looked exhausted. Sarah knew it was late and so they decided to just head home for the night; deal with the mess in the morning. Sarah lifted Annie up onto Patrick's back and the two trotted back down the road to find the easiest entry to the bay. Li went with them to collect the wheels and bring them back to U1.

Kathryn & Dr Jamie, Raea & Lil' Mac climbed into Kathryn's pickup truck and they rode back to Campus City, picking up Li & the merpony wheels along the way; Jazz & Iris flew up and out to make sure of the hurricane's path. The two fliers came back after about an hour, confirming the storm was gone. "Casper," Jazz said. The ponies all stood staring for a moment before realizing what she was saying. Five seconds later, the common room erupted into laughter and all ponies agreed.

Despite the storm having passed, Kathryn felt much safer crashing out on the common room's couches, simply collapsing on the pile of forgotten costumes & bits of clothing.

Author's Note:

(1) Bonus points if you know where the quote comes from!