Children of Oonte

by sevenofeleven

Chapter 5

Children of Oonte: Chapter 5
Set with stripes, Birdsong and breakfast.

Rich aka Leonard Harris's Flashback:

Rich looked at the clock again, just thirty minutes more and he could go home. Man, was he tired! Doing two shifts was hard at Sheckey's Pizza Shack but then again he would have more money in his paycheck next week. Just have to keep going for a few more minutes. Someone was cleaning up front, he just had to clean the equipment and put the unused supplies back in the cabinets. By then it will be ten pm and he could go home. He was off for two days, plenty of time to hang out with Anna. After what seemed to be a year Rich's shift ended and he went home. The bus ride was uneventful except for the crazy guy. The weirdo sat next to him and said, "Blessings to you from Oonte." Rich just stared at him as he got up and left the bus at the next stop. Rich just closed his eyes, should not do that, and opened them again. Finally it was his stop and he got off and went up to his apartment and crawled right to bed.

Rich woke up and heard voices in his head, "Welcome to the Herd!" the voices joyously said. It was not only the voices it was also the feeling of being wanted and being welcome. Then the voices faded but one said "Come visit us at 1353 Haskel Avenue, we will be waiting." What the heck was that about? He looked at his arms, they were covered with black and white stripes. Great, I am a zebra. Wonder if they will accept me at work, when I go back? He thought, the job kinda sucked but being unemployed was worse. At least zebras and ponies were not uncommon in that area. Yesterday two zebra girls were in his pizza shop and they looked pretty fine.

Wonder if Anna will like him as a zebra? Well, will see her later on today after six thirty pm when her shift ended.
Rich checked out his shiny black hooves, crap! Can't wear any of his fancy sneakers. They kinda fit but he could not walk with them it was like wearing clown shoes, too big. Also the sneakers kept sliding off, there was nothing to keep them on his hooves. Maybe I can sell them and get some money back, too bad, they were nice sneaks. Other than not wearing his favorite sneaks and cutting holes in his pants and underwear for his striped tail, the day seemed pretty good.

At around six fifteen pm, Rich got off the bus and walked toward Anna's job. It was a Jimba Juice, a place that catered to ponies and people that liked fancy fruit smoothies. Five more blocks to go. Rich felt like he could just fly down those blocks, maybe he should have cut slits in his jacket for wings! Yeah, today was pretty good but tonight was going to rock! He looked down the block and saw the Claw Combine ship floating there, the red and black made his eyes water so he could not get a good look. Way down the block there was a big explosion and Rich looked down the block. The area around Anna's store was covered in flames! Rich started running but an explosion knocked him down. Rich got back on his hooves but had to stagger around as people pushed past him.

The explosions were so loud, it was all Rich could do to keep standing, smoke was blowing up the street also and making it hard to breathe or see. Rich stumbled up the block and went down a side street, it was quieter here and less smoke and people. Now he could get his bearings and think about getting to Anna's store. Rich decided to go over and then head down but there were no side streets heading south. While he was heading west, he saw a purple unicorn and a bunch of people under some sort of purple shield. The shield was blocking most of the flames and explosions. Rich decided to meet with the unicorn because the explosions were getting closer.

Rich Present Day

Rich woke up and looked into the face of a Pegasus pony with light brown fur and brown eyes. She was holding a towel in front of her body with one hand and using the other one to shake Rich awake. "Darling, we had some fun but now we gotta go to work! You do not want to get the trainer angry," She said with a smile. Now Rich remembered where he was, he had spent the night with one of the ponies he was training with. They were part of the militia that defended the DC Herd. Lilla Hanley had picked him up at the cafeteria late one night. The trainer was an ex Marine weapons trainer and would yell at people who were late. Rich sat up and then got off the bed and went looking for his clothes. After he got his clothes on he gave Lilla a kiss and raced out of her apartment to the training grounds.

Ashley woke up to birds singing but it was not just regular birdsong and it was not random chirps. It sounded like a real song sung by different birds. Whats going on? Ashley put some clothes on and looked out the window. Fluttershy was leading the birds in some sort of singing practice. This she would like to see up close outside. There was a small crowd of people and ponies around a big tree with different species of birds and Fluttershy was leading them in a song. She was using her hoof like a conductor's baton. After the song, Fluttershy took a bow and people applauded. The birds flew off to find food and Fluttershy glided down next to Ashley.

"Wow, that was so great!" Ashley said enthusiastically. "I have never seen you fly either, that was cool too," Ashley said with excitement. Fluttershy smiled at the comments and they went to the cafeteria to get breakfast.

The cafeteria was just an area with some awnings and benches. There is a unicorn on duty to make food for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This one had white fur and a dark brown mane and eyes. She was fussing with her iPhone. When Ashley and Fluttershy walked up she asked a question, "You are the unicorn that knows a lot about tech. Right?"

"I know some stuff about tech, what do you want to know?" Ashley replied, she hoped not to get involved in anything complicated too early.

"My name is Merinda Morelli and it would be cool to be able to surf the web again," Merinda introduced herself and hoped she could get some help. Ashley at the last minute stopped herself from scanning the area for wireless signals. I have been sleeping for four days, lets take it easy for a bit. She told Merinda that she would look into it unless something more important came up.

"Can I get some scrambled eggs and two biscuits for breakfast?" Ashley asked. Merinda concentrated and there was the eggs and biscuits on a plain white plate.

"Do you want butter and grape jelly too?" Merinda asked.

"That is fine." Ashley said, feeling her stomach grumble about late breakfasts. She grabbed a tray and found a table. Fluttershy's breakfast appeared next to Ashley. It looked like oatmeal in one bowl and tea in another bowl.

"I asked Merinda about what food the ponies here eat for breakfast and she made me this," Fluttershy replied when Ashley asked why she picked oatmeal. Rich ran by the cafeteria and they waved at him and went back to eating. Fluttershy buried her muzzle in the bowl of oatmeal and came up for air once in a while. Ashley could tell she liked it. Fluttershy finished her breakfast and said goodbye to Ashley after she wiped Fluttershy's muzzle clean of oatmeal. There was not too much to wipe off, Fluttershy's tongue had done its job pretty well. Then she was off to the gate to help with greeting. Ashley leaned back on the bench and thought about just taking it easy but she knew she was being watched.

That feeling of having a lazy day evaporated when Gunnery Sgt. Avery Stiles sat next to Ashley and said, "We need to talk." Goodbye lazy day, time to work. It was still a nice day and there was birdsong somewhere in the DC Herd Enclave.