Izzy watched the passing rock wall on their right, 30 feet up in the air as they trotted through the forest and observed it with wide-open red eyes, when suddenly an unknown voice hoarsely yells, “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!” and Izzy stops trotting and turns her head forward to behold the little green unicorn as her grayish-white wavy mane shook on her head and lightly tickled her shoulders as she lowered her head and the 4.5-inch horn on her head began to glow blue and a small light blue shield formed in front of her and she lowers her head and begins to visibly quiver before the blue unicorn on the right and the orange alicorn opposite to her in the forested area, with many pine and birch trees surrounding the dusty dirt trail.
“Hiii!” Izzy shouts as she leans forward gleefully and the alicorn at her side widens her own cerulean eyes.
“You’re gonna eat me or beat me up and leave me for dead or beat me up and then eat me, as my meat will be tender!” shouted the terrified foal in her raspy voice.
Izzy starts and withdraws her head as she frowns, “Huh? Uh, no? Why would I do that?”
The foal raises her head and opens her wide orange eyes to see the two ponies standing on the other side of the trail, “Uh, I don’t know you! Therefore, you clearly mean me harm!”
Izzy widens her eyes while the alicorn looks over at her, “Uh, why would I hurt you? I don’t even know you!”
The filly frowns with a glint in her left eye and she says, “I’m Jessi! Jessi Trotsky!”
Izzy then loudly exclaims, “Oh, hi Jessi! I’m Izzy and this, “she glances at the orange pony on her right, “is Sunny!” she perks up as her mane vibrates, “Say hi to Jessi, Sunny!”
Sunny brings her mouth to the back of her face as she’s not sure what to say at first before stammering out, “Uh, hiya Jessi!”
Jessi visibly perks up and smiles as she says, “There! Now we’re not strangers anymore, so you’re not gonna eat me!” her eyes widen, “Hiya Sunny and Izzy!”
Sunny frowns as she widens her eyes again, “We weren’t going to eat you before!”
Izzy glances at the orange pony on her right and whispers, “Shh! She doesn’t know that!”
Sunny whispers back out the left corner of her mouth, “Shut up, Izzy!”
Jessi giggles and smiles as she tilts her little head to the left and her mane goes down further that direction while the mane on the other side raises.
Sunny glances back at the filly, “Hey, Jessi! Where do you live?”
Jessi starts, fixes her neck, and says, “Well, I live further into the forest! Tanglewood Forest is my home!” she smiles.
Sunny frowns, “Tanglewood Forest? Uh, do you live in a village of unicorns?”
Jessi nods, “Yeah! My home is on the edge of town, which is good because nopony knows you yet!”
Sunny widens her eyes, “Right! They uh, need to know us first, I guess?”
“Hey, no problem, strange, winged unicorn lady!”
“Uh, just Sunny is fine!”
Jessi enlarges her pupils as she giggles and says, “Okay, Strange Sunny Unicorn Lady!”
Izzy turns her head right to Sunny and nods, “I like her!”
Sunny raises her eyes skyward and says, “Oh geez!” under her breath…
Jessi leans forward with wide eyes and says, “Well, hey! Since we’re all friends now, or whatever, you wanna come to my place and we’ll play games and eat popcorn and watch movies?”
Izzy smiles, “That sounds fun!”
Sunny widens her eyes, “Uh, Scootaloo? You here?”
Suddenly, an incorporeal burnt orange pegasus in a chicken costume materializes out of thin air to Sunny’s right and says in her own croaky voice, “Ugh! Yeah, I see you met somepony new but uh, “she turns to the filly and widens her eyes while calmly saying, “Okay Jessi! I’m a ghost, but I swear, I’m not going to hurt you!”
Jessi starts as she widens her eyes and says, “Oh? Cool!” and looks down to Scootaloo’s orange forelegs and up her body before asking, “Why are you in a chicken costume?”
Scootaloo scratches the back of her neck with her right forehoof in it’s orange covering before lowering it to the ground and stammering, “Uh, it’s a long story!”
Jessi frowns, “I bet you died in the chicken costume, right?” she nods while staring at the spirit, “Yup! You died that way, and now you’re doomed to be a chicken-pegasus ghost for all eternity, or whatever!”
Scootaloo can only stare at this filly dumbfounded as she stutters, “Uh, yeah! Kinda sorta like that! Um, “she frowns, “you jump to conclusions a lot?”
“Eh!” Jessi shrugs, “It’s just how my mind is!”
Izzy turns her head right to Sunny again and whispers, “I like her a lot!” as Sunny can only stare onward at this deranged little unicorn filly…
“Hey!” Scootaloo furrows her brow, “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
Jessi widens her eyes, “Oh, well I just heard my new friend Sunny here call you, and so that makes me think that you’re probably cool! And uh, “she looks down and back up at Scootaloo, “so far, so good!” she bounces causing her mane to vibrate as she leans forward slightly and smiles, “What’s your name?”
“Uh, I’m Scootaloo!”
“Okay!” Jessi nods. She turns her body to address everypony else, “So uh, let’s all go to my place!” she turns her neck left towards Scootaloo, “Sorry, but I don’t have any ghost popcorn or any ghost Ipsi Cola. You can’t have any sodas or snacks I’m afraid…”
Scootaloo grins and chuckles, “That’s fine! Just not being alone after two thousand years is good enough!”
Jessi widens her eyes, “Two thousand years! That’s a long time! What were you doing for two thousand years?”
Scootaloo frowns, “Well, mostly, just chilling in the afterlife! Uh, when Sunny here became an alicorn, that brought me back to Equestria!”
Jessi turns her head right to Sunny, “Wait! So funky winged unicorns don’t just occur naturally? Equestria? Oh wow! I learned about that place to the east in my history class!” she nods, “You know, that’s where unicorns are supposedly from!” she widens her eyes, “Nopony really knows for sure though!”
Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh wow! That’s where my hometown of Bridlewood Forest is!”
Jessi blinks, “Makes sense! Considering almost every unicorn village I’ve ever seen is set up in a forest!”
Sunny then looks at Jessi, “Are there any zebras out here?”
Jessi looks back to Sunny, “Oh, yeah! They were already living here during the Great Migration that happened some time ago when most of the unicorns left Equestria! Uh,” she turns her head back to Izzy, “I guess the ones that stayed now live in Bridlewood?”
Izzy shakes her head as she stares at this brilliant young unicorn, “Um, maybe?”
Jessi smiles, “Yeah! Probably! Well, come on!”
Sunny says, “Uh, are the zebras still here now?”
Jessi looks back to Sunny, “Oh yeah! We get along just great! In fact, a lot of us married each other and now, there are zebracorns!”
Sunny is taken aback as she frowns, “Zebracorn?”
Jessi nods, “Yeah! It’s what happens a lot of times whenever a unicorn and a zebra get freaky.”
Sunny tries to suppress a smirk and giggle as she shakes her head and stares back at the filly, “Well, okay! Uh, “she eyes Scootaloo, “as long as Scootaloo is cool with it, we can take another intermission, and hang out with you, if you really want us to, Jessi!”
Jessi widens her eyes as she’s taken aback, “You kidding? You’re my best friends and I literally just met you! Of course, I wanna hang out and get to know you!”
“Wait!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Best friends?”
Jessi nods again, “Well, yeah! You see, I had no friends before, but now I got you three ponies! Ipso-facto, you’re now my best friends! See how this works?”
Sunny frowns deeply, “Where are your parents?”
Jessi widens her eyes once more, “Parents? Uh, they’re gone now!”
“Gone? What do you mean, gone?”
Jessi blinks, “Well, you know how they were my parents, and they were alive? Well, they’re not alive anymore! They’re dead! I can visit them anytime I like though! They’re right there in the cemetery!”
Sunny widens her eyes, “Oh wow! Who takes care of you?”
Jessi frowns, “Um, well, me! I guess?”
Izzy says, “And you live alone?”
Jessi nods, “Yup! Uh,” she frowns, “You don’t mind crashing in my old parent’s bed, do you? I mean, one of you can take the couch, if you wanna do it like that?”
<*****>
As Izzy sat next to the foal on the green couch, she stared down at her on the right… Her normally dark orange eyes seemed to light up with color as they all viewed the big plasma TV and she grinned with delight as she used her magic to get another bundle of popcorn from the red tub between the two ponies, when she suddenly wondered where she got that? She immediately thinks it’s not important as she watches this happy child enjoying her cartoon movie with the other ponies…
Later, the ponies are all in the lighted room as the fan overhead whirs with it’s typical whoop whoop whoop sound. Sunny says from her position to the right of Izzy and the front door behind her, “So uh, where is your parents’ room?”
Jessi widens her eyes and turns her head to the inconspicuous little door on her left, “Oh, they used to sleep in there together! Uh, they sleep underground now…” she turns back to the other two ponies and leans forward, “So uh, did you girls have a good time?”
Izzy starts when she notices that she’s being addressed and stares at the filly, “Oh, yeah! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of those movies?”
Jessi nods, “Makes sense since these movies are only played here in Zebracornia! Oh, by the way! That’s the country you’re currently in!” she widens her eyes, “You should probably be aware of that!”
Sunny frowns, “Zebracornia?”
“Oh, yeah! You see, when the unicorns first got here, they wanted to call it Unicornia, but the Zebras were already here, and so, they finally settled on Zebracornia! Well, after a few days of arguing about it!” she nods again, “That’s what my history book says!” she looks at Scootaloo at her right, “Too bad you just got here too! I mean, you’d probably know about this stuff if you were around!”
Scootaloo turns her head to the strange filly and frowns, “Uh, probably! Well, maybe?” before blinking…
Jessi turns her head to address everypony, “Okay so uh, I guess it’s time for bed now? I sleep in the futon in the backroom! Uh, “she widens her eyes once more, “there aren’t any stuffed toys that I sleep with, though…”
Izzy starts, “No stuffed friends? Well uh, we need to get you some, don’t we?”
Jessi stares at Izzy like a deer might gaze at an oncoming train, “Uh, no! I’m good!”
Sunny smirks and giggles slightly, “You must have a lot of stuffed animals to sleep with, don’t you?”
Jessi turns to the alicorn and frowns angrily, “N-no! Shut up!”
Sunny snickers some more, “I like you, kid!”
Jessi starts and raises her gaze, “Really? Cool! I like you too, Sunny! Um, hey! Can I come with you girls? I mean, there’s not much for me here?”
Izzy smiles and says, “Sure, Jessi!”
Sunny eyes the unicorn at her left, “Uh, don’t you think we should talk about this?”
Izzy gazes back to the alicorn, “Uh, why? She seems okay? And you gotta admit, having somepony familiar with the area could come in handy?”
Sunny sighs and smiles, “You gotta good point!”
Jessi then excitedly shouts, “Yay! Friends!” as her little body vibrates ecstatically.
<*****>
As Sunny stared up at the ceiling underneath the warm tannish-white flower print cotton comforter with her head on the pillow on the right side of the bed, she suddenly began to wonder why everypony she ever meets is at least a little weird?*
Izzy chimes in from the other side, “I like her!”
Sunny turns her head towards the unicorn, “Yeah but how long has her parents been dead? How does she eat? What does she do with herself?”
Izzy frowns, “Well, she apparently figured these things out, somehow?”
Sunny sighs, “I can’t help but feel sorry for her…”
“Yeah, me too! She must be really lonely? That’s probably why she has stuffed snuggle friends?”
Sunny normalizes her mouth, “Yeah, I mean, it’s cute, sure! But I can’t help but get the feeling that there’s more to it than just that, you know?”
Izzy nods, “Yeah, uh, hey! We were gonna go looking for zebras tomorrow! We should probably get some rest?”
Sunny smiles, “Yeah! Well, now there’s four of us!”
Izzy giggles, “Well, hey! At least she’s a lot of fun?”
“Yeah… Goodnight Izzy!” Sunny says before snuggling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes.
“Goodnight Sunny!” Izzy replied before doing the same.
<*****>
“Hey! Wake up new friends! I made pancakes and there’s also coffee!”
Izzy opens her eyes and moves her head up from the pillow to gaze down at the smiling green filly bouncing up and down in front of the bed in the room. She notices the door is also ajar and she asks, “Pancakes? Uh, do you drink coffee, kiddo?”
Jessi nods, “Yeah! Usually!”**
Izzy frowns, “Uh, Sunny! Time to wake up! We’re looking for zebras today, remember?”
(To be continued…)