Zipper and Blue Spring trotted along the lakeside path on their way towards the weather team’s office. The pair didn’t actually have any weather duty today, but they still needed to file some paperwork and saw no reason to skip out on their usual daily walk. These were some of Zipper’s favorite moments of the day, it was the time he could spend with his best friend just chatting about whatever came to their heads, and while some might have found the routine boring, Zipper treasured it.
The sun was just barely above the horizon and the sounds of birds chirping filled the air, seemingly casting a peaceful aura over the entire Oasis. As Zipper trotted along his ears would pivot slightly at every little animal sound, pulling his attention away from his companion’s conversation as if he was picking up on some piece of recognizable background noise.
“— it was honestly one of the most beautiful places I think I’ve ever been, we honestly need to take a trip down there sometime, maybe during the winter when it’s nice and chilly out, that always brought in a ton of manatees. Oh, and the walk along the boardwalk is just so peaceful too, you can even get right down by the river in some spots and the manatees are so much fun to watch...” Blue Spring paused for a moment, staring at Zipper who had seemingly zoned out. With a light nudge she tapped his shoulder with a wing, “Earth to Zipper, you there?”
The gray Pegasus shook his head and nodded towards her, “Sorry, I thought I just heard something again.” He twitched his ears again and glanced towards the lake, closing his eyes for a second.
“Is there something wrong Zip? You’ve been so quiet on our walks lately, it’s like you’re not yourself sometimes.”
Zipper shook his head again and sighed, “I’m fine. It’s just, I keep hearing bits of pieces of something I can understand. You hear honking and chirping but I can’t help but hear something else in between.”
“Can’t tune out the animal sounds eh? I obviously can’t understand everything you’re going through, but trust me when I say that it’s normal for this kind of stuff to linger once you actually catch onto what your talent truly is. Some of us get it easy, others need time to adjust. Hell, it took me a couple of months to get used to that whole nature sense I had. It’s like I could just see the air currents around me and everything, I still even feel like I get distracted by it every now and again but you’ll learn to let it fade into the background.”
Zipper nodded, “It’s just… weird. I don’t really know how to put it any better way.”
Blue Spring paused her stride, “What’s it like? Is it seriously that big of a change to get used to?”
“It is,” Zipper nodded. “Like you said, now that I’ve heard something recognizable I just can’t stop hearing it. Do you know how a background conversation can pull your attention away when you hear something familiar? It’s like that. Ever since I got my mark it’s like I just can’t turn off the part of me that can understand the animals. I can’t even explain what it sounds like, and it’s so frustrating sometimes. It’s like they’re talking to each other and I can just barely make out the feel of it.”
“The feel of it?”
Zipper nodded, “Yeah, like I said it’s hard to explain but I can kind of understand what they want and what they’re feeling like.”
“So is it just like when someone else talks to you? Like what we’re doing right now?”
He shook his head, “It's not like they’re actually talking to me, but I can understand what they’re trying to get across. It’s hard to explain but the best way I can put it is like how when a foal cries and the parents can kind of understand what kind of cry it is… just a little more fine tuned to animals.” He glanced off towards the lake, letting out a tired-sounding sigh, “It’s hard to get to sleep sometimes, I can just hear them talking away at night.”
“And they can understand you too?”
“Yeah. I guess it just works. Cal said that there’s a magic spike whenever I talk to them, but it’s like a passive ability most of the time.”
“Well I’ll take your word for it. Does it bother you that much though?”
Zipper nodded and continued to trot along, “It’s just, I don’t know… I feel like I have an actual purpose now, like I was given a gift and I’d just be wasting it by doing nothing, but it’s hard to focus on anything right now.”
“You’re still thinking of making a sanctuary aren’t you?”
“It sounds stupid, but yeah. I know it’ll be a lot of work, but the animals just sound so scared sometimes, it’s like I can’t help but want to give them a safe place to live.”
Blue Spring nodded, “That’s good, I’m glad you care so much about them… but what about your job now? What about the rest of the team?”
“Well… I guess I’ll have to train that replacement I’ve been meaning to train for a while now.”
“That’d be a smart idea… Do you know who you have in mind? And please don’t tell me it’s me.”
Zipper stopped for a moment, “Well of course not—” His eyes widened in embarrassment for a moment as he started to break into a frantic explanation, “I mean it’s not that I don’t think you’re good for the job, I just— well you always seemed like you were busy— oh you know what I mean.”
Blue Spring let out a series of laughs and shook her head, “I’m not the prime candidate Zipper, I know. Trust me, I don’t even want to run the team, it just seems like too much stress you know?”
Zipper nodded, “It is… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the job but it’s gotten so frustrating lately, you know, just with everything.”
“I know… look I think it’s fine to step back for a while, just make sure you know what you’re doing first before you make such a drastic decision, okay?”
“Of course, that’s why I’m going to hold a meeting later with the others, I think they’ll understand too.”
“So who do you have in mind?” She asked with a raised eyebrow, earning a smile from Zipper.
“Atlas, isn’t it obvious? I mean no offense to the others, but he’s always been a step above the rest when it comes to stuff like this. He was one of the only ponies that helped with dealing with the Great Storm at first and I think he’ll be a perfect fit as captain.”
Blue Spring slowly nodded her head as she gazed out towards the lake again, “Atlas… Alright, I can see that. Do you think he’ll be up for the task?”
Zipper nodded, “I guess we’ll find out. I talked with him a little bit about it before but it was never a finalized thing.”
“Well, maybe you should talk to him a little more when we get there? We’re only a few minutes away and he usually doesn’t get started with weather duty for another hour, that gives you plenty of time to get it all sorted out.”
“Alright, but do you think I’m maybe overthinking it?”
“Zipper, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you rarely think things through. I think if you’ve put so much thought into this then maybe you already have your answer.”
The gray pegasus gave a quick nod, “Okay, I’ll talk to him then,” He paused, “Thanks Spring.”
“Thanks? For what?”
“For everything,” Zipper added with a smile, “I don’t think I say that enough, but it means the world to me.”
A smile began to slowly spread across her face, “Anytime Zip, that’s what friends are for. So what do you think Patrick’s going to say?”
“Patrick?” Zipper perked up, “Oh I’m sure he’ll have some choice words for sure.”
The two broke into a fit of laughter as they stepped into the office, earning a confused glare from Golden Atlas, who was in the middle of dictating an email.
“I’m sorry, what?! You’re just quitting out of the blue?” Patrick replied in surprise, “The big hot shot is giving up?”
Zipper looked over towards Blue Spring and shook his head, “Not out of the blue, and it’s not me giving up, I just need a break to pursue some other projects, you know? I’m going to finish training Atlas over the next couple weeks and he’ll take over as weather captain for a few, I’m not quitting permanently, at least just yet, just taking a leave for the time being.”
“And he’s okay with this?”
Zipper shrugged, “Yeah, we had a long talk about it a few hours ago, he could tell I was starting to lose focus and believe me, he’s more than ready to take over. I trust him too.”
Patrick slowly nodded his head, “Right… Okay, so he’s taking over, that’s fine. But what about you? What’s your whole plan? Just go ahead and run this by me again.”
“I want to start taking my talent seriously, and part of that is talking with you and River Breeze and figuring out what needs to be done if I want to get the whole animal sanctuary thing off the ground. I wish I could just explain my side of this in a better way, but I can hear the animals around the Oasis and it’s going to sound stupid, even from me, but they just want a safe place to stay.”
Patrick cleared his throat and started jotting down a few notes, “Alright, so you still want to make an animal sanctuary. Do you know your starting point? I mean I know you had some ideas on paper, but have you sat down and actually thought over the logistics behind it?”
Before Zipper could respond, Blue Spring cleared her throat, earning a confused glance from Zipper, “Yes, we have. At least I have. So back before ETS I was a park ranger in Florida, it wasn’t quite the same as running the kind of thing that we want to do now, but it’s pretty close to what we want to at least start with.”
“Mhmm, so a nature preserve type thing?”
“Yep!” She replied with a quick nod, “And I’ve got River Breeze with us on this too. She’s got a lot of the important stuff figured out and she’s willing to help if it means that she’ll be able to upgrade her facilities.”
Zipper leaned close to her and lowered his voice to a whisper, “We do?”
Spring nodded, “I’ll tell you more about it later.”
Patrick began to speak up again, “Right, and do you guys have funding in mind for this? It’s not going to be cheap if you’re still planning on building the whole visitor’s center thing like you were before.”
“Blue Spring and I have an idea in mind and I think we have what we’ll need for now, and I’ve got something in mind for covering some of the future costs but we won’t have those for a while.” Zipper added, perking up in his seat.
“Okay, so what exactly do you want to leave here with today then?”
“Well, obviously I’m giving you my two week notice on this, but an office space wouldn’t be bad either… you know, so we can have a dedicated space to plan all this all out.”
Patrick looked at Zipper with a smirk, “An office space? Why do you need that?”
Zipper nodded his head, “Yeah! So, that way we can manage it better and be more independent. Right now I’ve just been thinking of everything in my freetime and writing it all down, but we don’t actually have anywhere official to run this whole operation from.”
Patrick let out a chuckle, “An official office building then… I’m going to be real, I didn’t think you’d actually be so invested in this project.”
“Well like I said Patrick, I just want to do something responsible with my talent.”
“And you’re not just asking me now because Silver’s been too busy to run these meetings, right?”
Zipper shook his head, “No, it’s just coincidence, I promise.”
The unicorn nodded, “Alright, I’ll tell you what. I’ll lend you two a spare warehouse down by the lake that we’re not using, and if you actually get this business off the ground and submit formal plans I’ll let you stay there. It’s not an official office building but it’ll probably serve you better than it’s serving me right now.”
“For real? You’re just going to give us a building for free?”
Patrick shook his head, “Okay, maybe not for free, but we can work out payment. It’ll at least be a heavy discount, probably just the basic utilities for now, but that could change later. I’ll go ahead and draft up an official contract, but you two are free to head over there whenever you’re ready.”
Zipper jumped up and excitedly hugged the surprised unicorn, earning a giggle from Blue Spring, “Oh my gosh, thanks! You don’t know how much this means to me Patrick! I’m actually going to do something productive for once!”
Patrick quickly nodded his head and wiggled free, “Okay Zip, I’m glad you’re happy but you wanna give me a second to breathe?”
The pegasus backed off and flashed a nervous smile, “Uhh… sorry about that, I guess I just got a little too overexcited…”
The unicorn stood up and walked towards a large cabinet, opening it with his magic and fishing around in the drawer, “Right, so about that warehouse, I guess it’d be helpful if I actually gave you the keys and told you where you’re going.”
Blue Spring let out a laugh, “Yeah, that might be useful.”
“Mhmm, now let’s see,” He hopped out of his chair and walked toward a filing cabinet on the far side of his office, “I think I have it filed away in this section… aha!” Patrick excitedly exclaimed as he levitated a folder with a set of keys clipped to the side out of the cabinet. “82 Lakeside, It’s a bit smaller, but I think it’ll work just fine for your needs.”
Zipper picked up the folder and smiled, “I think it’ll be perfect.”
The unicorn nodded his head, “Let me know if you need anything, we can discuss all the paperwork later, and some of the extra costs for if you do actually get a business set up, does that sound fair?”
Blue Spring nodded, “Yeah, that’ll be fine. You won’t charge too much I hope?”
“Of course not, just utilities most likely. The building’s relatively new but like I said, it’s just been sitting there empty ever since we built some of the newer infrastructure.”
“Well we really do appreciate this Pat, it means a lot.” Blue Spring added, offering an outstretched hoof towards the unicorn.
He met her gesture and smiled, “Of course. I might be the boring facilities director, but I genuinely want my friends to succeed, and it’s no trouble to me. Just make sure you know what you’re doing before you get started with this. It’s not going to just be a simple walk in the park.”
Zipper smiled, “Oh I know, but it’s going to pay off in the end, I just know it!”
“Oh I’m sure it will, please keep me posted on how everything goes.”
“We sure will Pat, thanks again for everything!”
The unicorn smiled as the two pegasi stood up and left his office, excitedly whispering to each other as they exited.