"I'm going to ask you to pause your recollection of moving into college to ask a question."
I sighed with relief. The little man had been just sitting there for hours without saying a word, while I just talked and talked and talked. He was honestly kinda creepy due to how silent he was. The fact he was wearing a medical mask, glasses, and gloves made me feel like he was a doctor getting ready to dissect me. We were in a metal room with no decorations or windows, which didn't help me feel any more at ease. It was so hard to tell what he was thinking or feeling. I liked Luna better than the Warden of Order; even Phobia Remedy wasn't this uncomfortable to speak to.
"What is it?" I asked.
He had turned his recording device off right before he spoke; so, whatever this question was, it was off the record. "Do you feel closer to humans than you do your fellow ponies?"
One of my ears laid back. "I don't think so. I don't think I treat humans and ponies any differently."
"Yet, you were raised by humans," he replied in a neutral tone. "Most of the places you lived as a foal had you surrounded primarily by humans; your best friend is a human; you connected quite quickly with Jessica Middleton; you also showed arousal at a human man. I am wondering if your foalhood dispositioned you to engage more with humans."
I considered my answer. "While a lot of that is true, I think it is more a case that I like the outsiders. Jess is unusual, and Maggie was a human surrounded by ponies. Sure, my parents are humans, and I spend a lot of time around humans, but I like to think of everyone just being part of the whole."
"And the arousal?" He questioned, in the same dead tone.
I blushed and was tempted to lie about it, but this was part of my extended interview. I was flustered by the subject, though. "Give a mare a break. I was on my time of the month, and Russell'd been sweet to me more than once. It's not that hard to feel a little attraction in that case. If he'd been a stallion instead of a man, I'd have reacted the same way. I don't see a difference between the two."
"I see." His tone never changed. The only thing I could pick out of his voice was he was from Eastern Europe somewhere, based on his accent.
I tried to figure out what he was thinking, but I couldn't even properly see his face due to his dark glasses and mask. "Do you think there's a difference?"
He clasped his hands together and set them on the desk. "I think humans have many concerns that ponies do not. While the world may seem normal to you, for those of us who are human and older, we see a world barely recognizable to the one we were born into. Even now, fourteen and a half years after ETS, there is much fear and uncertainty. I advocated for humanity's concerns among the Dreamwardens since I am the only one of us who was never a pony, and the only one who can truly understand what it is like to be someone without magic wondering how forces they can't master will continue to change the world further. As an advocate for my species, I am inquisitive about your feelings regarding us and our concerns about how ponies are continuing to change our world."
I could only shrug. "Humans, ponies, whatever, we all have things we struggle with and worry over, but we all share this world and need to be able to get along with one another. If one group persistently has concerns about something, it is worth talking about those concerns. Persistent concerns about something means there's a problem, and we need to figure out together how to fix it. That doesn't mean just changing things back to the way they were, because we can never go back, but we can find ways of helping everyone feel safe and secure."
He nodded. "That is a fair answer, although not one I thought you would have so ready to give with no hesitation."
I blushed. "I spent a while talking to Lántiān, and she has a lot to say about that stuff."
He reached over to his recording device. "I assume you will get to that later in your tale. Are you ready to continue?"
I groaned internally but smiled. It wouldn't be over till I caught him up to date. "Yes, please."
He started the recording again.
After lunch, Julie and Meadow took Sunflower and me on a tour around the school. Nightscape had gone to bed since she had her first class that evening. Ashley needed to visit her advisor about an issue with one of her classes and said she would catch up with us later.
We wandered around campus for at least two hours. It would have gone faster, but both Sunflower and I kept stopping to look at the murals that seemed to decorate every inch of space on every wall. The entire campus was like one giant painting that displayed the history of Skytree and Riverview. Julie, as a living witness to this history, ended up acting as our guide to what all was depicted, and we ended up getting an extended history lesson about the city and the notable ponies and humans that lived here. Meadow, who probably got this same tour last year, took it all in stride but seemed a little bored by it.
"I've seen this unicorn in a photo at Phobia Remedy's house. Who is she?" I asked as we came up to a mural depicting a red unicorn standing at a podium.
Julie walked over and looked at the mural. "That's Sunset Blessing; she practically built the city, at least the old city. She was the old mayor, a skilled mage, and the preacher that canonized many Shimmerist beliefs. She also had a huge role in the Cataclysm."
"Was a big-time Shimmerist," Meadow corrected and looked at the mural with admiration. "She abandoned Shimmerism after the Cataclysm and laid the foundations of what became the Blessingists. She's a great mare."
Julie's face hardened. "Meadow, I don't have anything against Blessingists, but Sunset Blessing is part of the reason my home was destroyed. I'll never forget that, and others shouldn't either."
Meadow raised her nose and sniffed. "You wouldn't have even had your home to begin with without her. I know her past is a little spotty, and I'm not going to deny she played a role in what happened, but she has done everything she can since then to make things better. You should forgive her."
"Never," Julie replied, nearly spitting. "I don't want to fight about this again. Let's agree to disagree and move on."
"I still don't know what a Blessingist or a Shimmerist is," Sunflower complained.
Julie and Meadow looked at one another, and Julie gave a shrug and pointed a wing at Meadow. Meadow took that as a sign she was to explain.
The green pegasus smiled. "Well, I'm a Blessingist. We believe that everyone, humans and ponies, should have access to magic and that we can make the world a better place by advancing our understanding of magic. Honestly, I think that it is so obvious that everyone should agree with us, but a lot of people don't. We believe everyone has a right to magic and support all efforts to bring magic to everyone."
Julie stepped forward. "Shimmerists, in contrast, are a bunch of speciesist bastards that think everyone needs to be a pony, and humans are inferior. Most of the first Blessingists were Shimmerists, but they figured there was no need for everyone to be a pony if you could give humans magic too. Most Shimmerists didn't accept the idea humans gaining magic was a good thing. I can deal with Blessingists, even if they are named after the pony that blew up my home. Shimmerists, I can't stand, though."
Meadow hung her head. "My parents used to be Shimmerists and were part of the original group that broke away. They didn't originally think they hated humans, but Sunset Blessing’s confession made them realize looking down on humans was a form of hate. They said they tried hard to convince their fellow Shimmerists to give up their hatred for humans, but they were rejected. I don't understand how ponies can cling to hate like that. They hated us too, and call us traitors."
Julie grabbed Meadow and pulled her into a tight hug. While they were hugging, I gave the mural one last look. Sunset Blessing was Lántiān's godmother. Did that mean Lántiān had similar beliefs? I wanted to be friends with her, and anything I could learn might help.
After being released from her feathery bonds, Meadow looked around. "Maybe we should go see if they have set up for the campus party. We could spend all day looking at all the art on the walls and still have to go looking at the galleries."
Sunflower perked up. "There are galleries too?"
"It's an art school; we have art everywhere," Julie replied with a chuckle. "I'm in favor of taking a break. It would take forever to show everything, and you're going to be here all year. There's plenty of time to see everything."
The layout of the campus had all the buildings surrounding a central large reflection pond. The pond was a vast square with an area equal to the largest buildings on campus. It wasn't deep, any adult pony could easily wade through it without it coming up to their shoulders, and it had a large fountain in the middle. There were green grassy areas on all sides, with benches and a few scattered trees for students to relax among. I spotted a human on one of the benches, who looked like they were sketching the pond. I also saw a fair number of one of the most dreaded creatures to walk the Earth, geese.
I apprehensively stared at the devil birds. "Um, is it safe to be around the pond?"
"Yeah, it's perfectly safe," Julie assured me.
At that moment, a human started running as a pair of geese pursued. They were flying up and attacking his head.
Julie chuckled sheepishly. "Just as long as you give the little raptors their space." She looked up. "And whatever you do, don't be eating food by yourself out here. The gulls will come, even if the coast seems to be clear. It is as if they can smell food from miles away. They don't care if you're holding it; they'll try to snatch it right from you. They avoid large crowds, though "
Meadow fluffed her feathers, and I could tell she was reading the weather. "It's going to be a cold winter this year. We might even get snow. Hopefully, that will make all the monster birds migrate down to Charleston for the winter."
Julie also fluffed her feathers to check the weather. "Well, the party should be crowded enough that they'll all leave us alone. They have no problem going after one or two isolated people but will avoid hundreds."
The vendors and clubs were still setting up their stands all around the green areas, and there weren't many other people about yet. The four of us decided to walk around the pond, keeping our distance from the geese. After walking down one side, we stopped at a bench with a nearby tree to admire the view. I sat on the edge of the concrete border of the pond and gazed out at the fountain.
Something small, possibly goose-sized, came up and touched me, making me do a startled jump away from it.
SPLASH!
"Hi, I'm Drizzle, and you're wet!"
Water dripped from my soaked mane into my eyes as I looked at who had scared me. To my surprise, it was a little pegasus filly, maybe somewhere between five and seven years old. She had blue fur and a black mane and reminded me a lot of Lántiān.
"You okay, Rebecca?" Julie called out from the bench.
I climbed out of the pond and shook myself off. "I'm fine!" I then turned my attention to the little filly who was still smiling at me. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."
She didn't seem perturbed by being chastised. "Okay. Look at the bug I found!" She then bent down and used her mouth pick to up the most gigantic roach I had ever seen in my life by one of its wings. It was still alive and squirming to try to get away.
"Qīng Yǔ! I told you to stay by the table." Lántiān came up and glared down at the filly. "And put that thing down; it’s dirty."
The filly dropped the bug and pouted. "Call me, Drizzle, Mama!"
Lántiān huffed. "Of course, my mistake, Drizzle. You still need to stay by the table, as I told you. You can't go wandering every time I turn my head."
Drizzle pointed a wing across the pond. "Can we go look at the big birds? I wanna see the big birds."
"No, you may not," Lántiān said firmly. "Those birds are mean and will peck at you. Stay by the table, or I'll take you home, and you won't get any cake."
The filly looked put out, but turned and started walking. "Okay, Mama."
Lántiān followed her daughter's progress with her eyes until another pony, standing by a table, took command of the filly. Lántiān then turned and looked at me. "Apologies, Rebecca Riddle. My daughter is inquisitive and has a touch of wanderlust, always on the move. I would not have brought her, but her foalsitter canceled at the last minute."
"She's definitely-" I tried to find the right word. "-intrepid."
Lántiān frowned and fluffed her wings irritably. "She needs to learn to be more cautious and not wander off. There are still those who would happily foalnap her for my homeland, and they have tried before, yet she is too young to understand the danger."
Julie walked over and grabbed Lántiān into one of her patented hugs. "Hey, Sour Wings, ready for our first day of practice this weekend?"
Lántiān, somewhat surprisingly, returned the hug. "Dirt Nap, I shall be, if Drizzle's foalsitter doesn't cancel again."
Sunflower looked at the pair curiously. "Dirt Nap?"
"That's my flight team nickname," Julie explained. "We all have them, just for use among the flight team members. They're all kind of insulting, but it is a show of affection and friendship."
"Julie got her nickname because she tried to hug the captain in midair, missed, and ended up on the ground taking a nap," Lántiān explained.
"And Lántiān got hers because she reached to pick up an apple to eat and grabbed and bit into a lemon by accident," Julie continued. "Or so I've been told; it was before I started here. Don't be calling us those names; it is for flight team members to use among ourselves."
I noticed then that Meadow was standing back, away from the rest of us. She was looking fearfully at Lántiān's flank. Lántiān took notice of her around the same time as I did, and covered her flanks with her wings. "I must be going. I shall see you at practice, Julie. Apologies again for you getting soaked, Rebecca Riddle."
After Lántiān walked off, Julie glared at Meadow. "Why'd you have to go and scare her off? She gets self-conscious about her mark."
Meadow chewed her lip for a second. "It's a Shimmerist mark."
Julie gave an exaggerated sigh. "Do you know who her godmother is? It's that unicorn you hero-worship so much. She's not going to get on you about being a Blessingist. Even if she would have, which she wouldn't, she has no way of knowing you're a Blessingist."
Meadow's eyes went wide as she stared off in Lántiān's direction. "Her godmother is Sunset Blessing? The Sunset Blessing?!"
"Yeah, so don't go judging a pony by their mark," Julie scolded. She then turned back towards me. "Sounded like she already knew you. You two friends?"
My ears folded. "Well, I'm trying to be friends with her. I'm not sure she likes me that much yet, or if she'll ever like me. I just met her the other day, but we kinda have a history I just found out about recently. It's a long story."
Julie blinked. "Alright, well, I'm sure she'll get over it, whatever it is. Lántiān's a good pony, even if she's always busy with her art, her club, and her daughter. She's also the best cloudbuster on the team, probably one of the top five best cloudbusters in our conference. If she had time to practice as much as the rest of us, she could probably make a go at the top cloudbuster, but as I said, she gets busy."
"I hope so," I replied. There'd been signs of hope that Lántiān might decide she liked me, but it wasn't at a point yet where I was sure of it. I really shouldn't have been bothered by it because not everyone was going to like everybody, but her reasons for not liking me stung. I wanted to make things right.
Meadow pointed off in the distance. "Hey, I see a food vendor that just opened to start taking orders. Let's get some. It's time to party and enjoy ourselves, because come tomorrow we'll all be busy with classes."
Julie grabbed me into a one-wing hug. "Come on, eat while you can. Starting next week, we start workouts!"