//------------------------------// // September 9th, 2015 // Story: Perils of a Merpony: A Ponies after People Tale // by kitten_girl86 //------------------------------// Li Lang had settled into U1 quite adequately in the first month. It had not taken her long to learn and take over all of Sarah's on-land chores. She took pride in her abilities of magic and using them for even the most mundane of things. Kathryn, of course, noticed a curiosity and difference between Sarah's magic and Li's. Sarah's aura was yellow while Li's was a perfect mix of black and white. But since they didn't know any more unicorns, they could not be sure of other pony's colors. Patrick vaguely remembered Earl sporting a red aura and Suzie had a sapphire blue that matched her call sign. So in the end, they decided that every unicorn's aura was different depending on their special talent and put that debate to rest. With Li taking over her chores on land, Sarah was freed up to care more for Annie as well as the underwater colony. Sarah had been experimenting on how to modify her shield spell; making it stronger, the up-right sides more invisible to the naked eye and such. Annie had started to take an interest in farming the Bermareda Circle's water crops and discovered that she & Kathryn could add the same kind of magic (as what was being used on land) in the water to make them grow faster. Surprisingly -or perhaps not considering Kathryn's cutie mark- Annie was far better at the water plant's magic than Kathryn was but as Annie put it, "Better than nothing!" Jazz, having recently discovered her own cutie mark's meaning, had raided the university's library on everything she could find on hurricanes; how they form, how they dissipate, the damage they cause and more. When she exhausted the university's library or the books she found were woefully out of date, she would take a car out and raid all of the other public libraries and bookstores within the area. Li would often accompany her but conversation was very one sided. Jazz would talk on end about the stuff she had learned about hurricanes from the resources she had already acquired. Then, when Jazz found out that no one had told Li about how Jazz got her mark, Jazz regaled the storm story from the very beginning: the out-at-sea storm, her Hebe-jebies early warning system, to her actual redirecting of the storm (with help from Patrick, of course) to they discovering her mark and Kathryn figuring out what it meant. Thanks to Jazz's research, she had determined that Beth was a category 2 hurricane. Li was very impressed that only two pegasi could manage to divert a storm that big. "I hope we get another pegasus soon," Jazz commented at one point. "I don't think Pat and I could handle anything bigger than a 2." While they were out getting books, Jazz also raided the local weather stations for equipment like computers that had the hurricane prediction software, a radar dish (to later be installed on the roof of U1), wind gauges, air & water thermometers, and anything else she expected to need to convert one of the smaller offices into a hurricane monitoring center; including six more solar panels Li levitated from the roof and all the equipment manuals Jazz could get her hooves on! It took Jazz about three days with Li's help to get the whole office set up. Kathryn contributed by taking a photo of Jazz's cutie mark and blowing it up to make a poster for the office door: Hurricane Monitoring (Cutie Mark) Authorized Personnel Only Kathryn also contributed by acquiring a new set of six child-sized yellow belts and hung them on a key organizer on the wall inside the office with the label: (i) In case of wing malfunction, use two (2) belts. (/i) Jazz knew that Kathryn had only meant well with that piece; it surprised her at first but quickly understood Kathryn's concerns and it grew on her. The belts also doubled as holsters for her portable weather equipment so they came in handy (?) for more ways than one. Word would come back from Griz while she traveled to Alexandra. Since they were not in dire need of any the information requests they sent with her, she was taking her time getting there. Griz struck Kathryn as very laid-back person and didn't hurry with anything. They all didn't mind; so long as she got there safe, that's all that mattered. Griz did happen across a single pony flying south. She described them as a dark grey bat-pony and no cutie mark. Sarah knew that type from Farmville; those referred themselves to "night ponies" because of their nocturnal habits. Griz had instructed her head towards Campus City and we could at the very least provide supplies and a safe place to crash for a night or two. A significant American anniversary was coming up quickly and Kathryn was sure that the others would want to honor that day. She decided that if they could add a positive spin to that day, it could ease much. "A new flag," she muttered out loud. "A new flag that combines Campus City and Bermareda Circle." She pulled Li into her plan and the unicorn was very enthusiastic at the idea, so long as she could apply a little Feng Shui to the design. *~*~*~*~* The morning of the 9/11 anniversary day had arrived. The American/Canadian flags had been flying at half mast since the midnight before. They now created a color guard of ponies; the land ponies on the left, merponies in their wheels on the right; Kathryn & Li stood at the flag pole waiting to attach and hoist. The brand new flag of U1 had been a labor of love for the pair and it had come out beautifully. Raea carefully carried the new flag, folded, on a plastic food tray down the aisle created by the ponies. Over the months, the dogs had gained more intelligence; these days, Kathryn treated them just like a pony that could not reply. Max, Millie and Lil Mac followed Raea; Lil Mac rode on Millie's back. Gently taking the new flag from the dogs, Kathryn held the flag up while Li used her magic to detach the old flags from the rope, folded them military style and placed them on the tray. Li then turned her attention to the new. Kathryn moved closer to the pole and Li tied it on. None of the other ponies had seen the new flag yet and a hush had fallen over the yard. Dr Jamie stepped forward and carefully raised a military trumpet to his lips, beautifully playing the "Taps" song. They had learned that among his other hobbies, Jamie had played the trumpet in high school and was often called on to perform Taps during local Memorial Day ceremonies in his farming community so this was an easy request and Jamie humbly accepted. (1) As the last notes of the trumpet drifted off on the west-blowing wind, Li carefully took magical hold on the flag pole's rope and raised the new flag to half mast. She and Kathryn had decided to leave it there until midnight when they'd raise it back up permanently. As the wind suddenly shifted to blow off land and back into the sea, a round of "wow", gasps and sighs filled the air as the ponies took in their new flag. The flag was split vertically in half: soft yellow on top, royal blue on the bottom. In the direct middle was a tiny island with a generic plant growing up into the yellow while the roots grew down into the blue. Above the plant in the yellow, a winged unicorn "leaped" facing the right side; wings, horn & hooves dusted with green glitter. Below the roots in the blue, a winged unicorn mer "dove" facing the left side; wings, horn, hooves & tip of flukes dusted with white glitter. (The glitter had been Annie's idea!) Kathryn was glad it had been well received but the feelings were different for Li. While she took pride in something she had helped to create, she also had a feeling of completeness that had been missing in her life since her parents had passed away. Her flank glowed briefly, bringing about more gasps as her cutie mark appeared: an artistic rendition of the yin yang symbol surrounded by a magical aura that matched her mane colors. Fairly quickly, however, the ponies all turned back to the ceremony at hoof. Kathryn and Li each turned to face their counterparts: Li faced Dr Jamie, Jazz and the dogs & kitten; Kathryn sat down on her rump and used her magic to transform back into merpony to face Sarah, Patrick and Annie. "On this day of sad remembrance, we ponies of a new world, gather together to remember about the sacrifices made both 14 years ago this day but also six months." Kathryn began the speech but she and Li took turns speaking, having practiced it in private while working on the flag. "A moment of silence for the sacrifices," Li said, and everyone in the vicinity instinctively bowed their heads. The only sounds that were heard was the east-blowing wind and the snap of the new flag on the pole. When the moment was over, each pony had tears in their eyes. Kathryn had been thinking of her parents and a co-worker who had been killed at 9/11 (on vacation at the time; just happened to be passing through the square when the first plane struck and killed by falling debris). Li continued the speech with words of sympathy, remembrance and perseverance for the future. Next, the ponies all took turns taking a labeled rose from another tray set on the ground at the start of the aisle. Annie placed the yellow one labeled "Friendship"; Jazz took the light pink one labeled "Sympathy"; Patrick placed the red one labeled "Courage"; Dr Jamie placed the lavender one labeled "Enchantment"; Sarah placed the peach one labeled "Appreciation"; Kathryn -transformed back to land pony- and Li stepped back down the aisle and they each took a pair of roses: Kathryn took the red and white labeled "Unity" and Li took the red and yellow labeled "Excitement & New Beginnings". With the ceremony concluded, the ponies all gave final respects and then dispersed. They celebrated Li's cutie mark with Li insisting she make them traditional Chinese food as best as she could, limited as she was to vegetarian. Even Kathryn, who didn't like Chinese much, enjoyed trying new foods. Jazz came out with a box of Chinese cookies for desert; Sarah & Li opened the wrappers and Annie discovered it was fun to crush the cookies beneath her hoof to get at the fortunes. Later, around midnight, when Kathryn & Li went outside to raise the flag to full mast, they found a single blue iris left at the pole with the scrawly written label of "Hope & Faith".