//------------------------------//
// Finding a Frying Pan and Making a Fire 
// Story: Siblings at the Edge 
// by Westphalian_Musketeer 
//------------------------------//

"Five hundred ninety eight, five hundred ninety nine, six hundred!" Katna called as her hoof connected with a pebble on the game trail she and Ivan were following. The bare forest branches stretched overhead and the tightly packed trunks left her with the feeling of delving into a cave.

"So what's the plan on the way to and past Dnipropetrovs'k?" she asked, trotting ahead of Ivan and walking backwards to face him.

Ivan blew a lock of his cloudy-grey mane away from his eye. "We stick by the river and try to get something new to boil water in. Once we get to Dnipropetrovs'k we go through it as fast as we can, trying our best to stay out of sight while getting what we need, or at least what we can." He glanced down at Katna. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you a book about being a pony."

Katna spun in place, joining Ivan by his side as she resumed walking forward. "That's okay... Do you want to talk about—"

"No," answered Ivan, plodding along.

"Oh..." Katna looked at the tree trunks and sighed. "When do you think I'll get my cutie mark?"

"If the few things I remember about ponies are to be believed, when you find your special talent." Ivan coughed and hopped, adjusting the bags draped over his back.

"How am I going to do that?"

"I am sure you will figure that out."

Katna glanced downwards, eyes moving from left to right as though reading a book. "Think I'll... get it before Sevastopol?"

"Maybe."

Katna rolled her eyes. "Well what about you? Think you'll get your cutie mark before Sevastopol?"

"Katna, I don't think I'll even be able to fly before then." Ivan chuckled. "How are you feeling? Not too hungry?"

"I'm fine," said Katna. "Thanks for the candy this morning."

"Again, no problem." Ivan's ears perked up and he turned his head.

Mimicking him, Katna heard the rush of cars driving down a highway. She smiled and trotted ahead of Ivan. "That means we're getting close to the river again, right?"

"Something like that," answered Ivan, joining her as they followed the noise through brush and foliage.

They broke through the tree-line into a ditch. Vehicles zoomed past on the asphalt to a warbling thrum and either the ashen odor of gas engines or no odor at all for the passing hydrogen and electric cars. The halogen headlights left streaks in Katna's vision, prompting her to blink as Ivan caught up to her.

Placing a hoof on her back Ivan pushed downwards on Katna until she sat. Stepping forward he looked back at her. "Let me check it out."

He climbed up to the edge of the road and looked both ways, vehicles passing from left to right. His mane billowed in the wake of each passing vehicle, along with his hoodie's drawstring. He backed up as a car honked at him and returned to Katna. "Okay, it's a four-lane highway here, but the traffic looks light and we have a median."

Standing up Katna nodded and followed Ivan to the cusp of the ditch, looking over to where the vehicles were rushing from. Katna winced at the wind blasting her face and the roar of engines, but when Ivan shouted, "Now!" she bolted across, bag slapping against the small of her back as her mane whipped in the winds and her eyes teared up. She ran over the other edge of the road and hit the ground below with a grunt beside Ivan.

She grinned at him as she stood straight again. "One more?"

Ivan nodded, leading them to the second road, this time the vehicles passing them by from right to left. Katna faced the oncoming vehicles, tracking them as they pushed towards her and Ivan. Several instances passed where she had bent her legs, ready to dash out on Ivan's word, only for none to be given. Katna relaxed her posture, and Ivan extended a wing.

"One moment..." he yelled. A chrome-grilled semi-truck passed them by. "Go!" Ivan shouted.

Katna sprinted across the pavement, jumped at the end not considering what drop might be on the other side, and fell further than she anticipated. She shifted towards her side and slammed into the ground, rolling over her back before coming to a rest.

"Ow..." Katna braced a forehoof against the ground and propped herself up.

Ivan trotted up to her, lowering his head. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Katna nodded, wincing as she twisted around to stand up and removed a hoof from her side. The pain subsided and Katna hung her head to the ground. "Tough part is over for today?" she asked, earning a nod from Ivan. She reached a hoof over to her bag and shifted it back into place.





The two foals were travelling through sparse forest when Katna's stomach rumbled.

Ivan turned to her as she grinned. "Uhm... I guess I should have grazed with you a bit?" she offered.

Looking up Ivan squinted at the sun glaring back at him from straight above. "Yeah, it's about time we stop for lunch; next clearing we graze."

They continued down the path, bobbing their heads as the trees cleared. At its bottom they found a soft incline dotted with ash saplings, their leaves fringed with yellow. Ivan prodded a sapling, bending it over as the leaves brushed against the bottom of his hoof.

Katna inhaled deeply, smelling ripe fruit. Her eyes followed a trail leading to a garden ahead of them. Cracked and faded concrete gnomes stood amidst ground-hugging shrubs and light green leafy vines of goat-weed. Yellow narcissus flowers bowed down amidst the other plants, weary from the chilling winds. A crab apple tree jutted out of the middle, its branches laden with fruit and its trunk thickly knotted. The silence was only broken by Katna's stomach hurling into the air its hungered protest at its neglect.

Walking to the tree Katna's legs quaked as she licked her lips. Nearly four days of grass and roughage, and here was something sweet, sweet and scrumptious! Something that she would have eaten as a human, and would continue eating as a pony. She walked up to the tree, lifting her legs high to avoid tangling them in the goat-weed. Having reached it she craned her neck and reared up to grab a low-hanging apple.

Her teeth clamped shut on empty air a few feet short of the lowest fruit. Katna frowned, shedding her bag onto the ground by a garden gnome whose eyes had been chipped out by years of weather. Katna reared onto her hind legs and jumped, chomping her teeth together as she passed by the apple, and again failing to grip its tender red skin in her teeth.

Again she jumped, and again she failed, her mouth lunging upwards at the sweet sustenance being denied her. She hit the ground a second time, stumbling forward with her front left hoof catching another gnome in the stomach and with her momentum pulverizing the concrete into a dusty little crater.

Katna winced as she looked up, then closed her eyes as something wet rolled down her cheek. It was right there, nobody was using it, she just wanted to grab it, why couldn’t it just...

Her eyes snapped open. She moved her head, pointing her horn right at the apple. "Come on!" she grunted. "Please! Just one!" Katna tried clenching every muscle in her head and face but felt nothing in her horn to indicate she was even approaching the problem the right way.

Her muscles released at once as she sighed, hanging her head to the ground as her stomach growled again. She examined the goat-weed around her. Cream edges of the leaf darkened to a tantalizing green near the stem. She bent over and chomped down on it. Her stomach quivered as she masticated the leafy wad, swallowing it and tucking into it again as she looked over to the now empty spot where Ivan had been standing.

Lifting her head up Katna swallowed. "Ivan!?" she called. "Where are you?" Her question was answered with hoof falls on the grass and Ivan trotting around the garden plot.

"Right here," he said, looking at Katna as she bent her head down to the goat weed again, then at the tree. He licked his lips as his ears perked up. "Oh man! Katna, are you sure you wanna spoil your lunch with leaves?" He stepped towards the tree and jumped up, his mouth falling just short of the lowest apple.

"Unless you can get it," Katna answered, "this is all we've got and, well, any food tastes good when you're hungry."

Ivan examined the tree trunk. It branched out to form a 'Y' shape very close to where the first fruit-bearing branch jutted out. He reared up, bracing his hooves on the trunk, and pushed off with his hind legs trying to scrabble up to the branches. He scuttled up the trunk then hit his chin on the edge before sliding back down.

"Ow!" Ivan shouted, flexing his jaw as he looked between Katna, the apple, the tree trunk and himself. He trotted away from the tree and turned to face the trunk. "Katna, stand back."

Obliging Katna walked out of the garden then lay in the grass to graze on it as she watched Ivan.

He ran at the tree and jumped, tucking his hind legs forward. He hit the tree square in the trunk with all four legs. The tree shuddered at the action. He kicked off again, twisting around and biting at the air as he again passed just short of the apple. He landed on the grass and trotted away as he turned around in time to watch a few crab apples jiggle on their branches but stay in place.

Ivan grunted, shaking his head as his wings stretched out. He looked at them, then the hoodie he had draped over himself. "Katna, help me get this thing off?" he asked.

Katna stood and walked to him. Grabbing his hoodie's collar in her mouth, she pulled as Ivan backed up. Ivan stretched out his wings and front hooves, allowing the hoodie to slide off. Katna looked over his light grey coat, slightly matted and... longer? Katna spat out the hoodie and walked around Ivan as he stared at a tuft of hair sticking out from his chest.

"Is your coat... thicker?" asked Katna.

Ivan poked at himself, nodding. "I think so. I thought the hoodie was rubbing more uncomfortably than usual."

Katna smiled. "You're growing your own winter coat!" she giggled. "My brother's going to be a big hairy monster!" She stomped a hoof on the ground as she sat, throwing her head up in the air to continue giggling in amused mirth. Ivan glared at Katna, lifting up a hoof defensively as he looked along himself, several other patches of thickened hair covering him. His mouth caught up in a sneer.

Squinting her eyes Katna sighed contently. "So that's why ponies are always underdressed for winter! They just grow a—Wait!" Katna stared down at her own jacket covering herself. She reached down and lipped its buttons until she managed to open them, revealing her own winter coat coming in. She huffed at the splotchy pink hair sprouting thickly over her.

"Ugh, can't wait for it to come in properly," she said, shaking herself as she snaked out of her jacket leaving only her jeans for clothing.

Katna looked back at Ivan, patting at herself with her hooves. "Are you going to get us some apples, or are we just going to spend the day staring at ourselves?"

Ivan shook his head and turned back to the tree. "Right, uh, hang on." Ivan flapped experimentally, hopping up and down for a moment before lowering his head to the ground.

He charged at the tree again. Jump, hit the trunk, jump off again, twist around, flap wings. As Ivan pumped the muscles in his back he stretched his neck towards the apple, but feeling himself pushed upwards by a gust of breeze he panicked, twisting around and grabbing the branch with his four outstretched hooves.

"Woah!" shouted Ivan, bobbing up and down as the branch supported his weight. Hanging upside down his wings flailed out of sync and his mane hung downwards, the wispy trails of thick hairs obstructing his inverted view of the world.

Katna walked back to the tree and looked up at Ivan. "Wow, how did you do that? Your wings are so small." She tilted her head as she sidestepped to Ivan's right. "You must have gone up another foot when you flapped."

Ivan looked up, seeing the branch he was holding and all the apples surrounding him.

"Shake the branch, I'm sure a few of them will fall!" shouted Katna. "Come on, just one!" she yelled.

"Uh... okay," answered Ivan, heart racing. He threw his head up and down, and pushed and pulled himself against the branch using his weight to rock it. The branch groaned but held, unlike the dozen crab apples whose stems snapped, sending the delicacies down to the ground.

Katna leaped on one, shovelling it into her mouth with her hooves as she bit into it. Sweet heavenly juices flowed on her tongue as she swallowed half the apple in one bite and finished it off with another. She bit into another apple, not caring for the small dribble of intoxicating sweetness trickling down her chin. She could eat nothing but this for days and not grow tired of it. Her eyes rolled upward as her stomach came to life with the tangible food coming from the skies as more crab apples fell to the ground.

"Hum! Ivan! Oh goodness. Argmph! Thank you!" Katna said between bites.

A heavy thud shook the ground and she looked up to see Ivan standing in place, hooves shaking. "Oh, thank God!" he collapsed to the ground. "I didn't think I'd be able to make the landing!"

Katna plucked another apple off the ground with her lips then walked to Ivan. She placed the apple between her hooves and bit into it. She looked up at the tree, then to the surrounding clearing, and finally at Ivan as he bit into an apple. "Why do you think this garden is here?"

Ivan crunched into his morsel and snorted. "Oh, uh, about that. I saw an abandoned house down another little trail, tucked in with the trees." Ivan hummed, licking his lips as he finished off another apple. "I was just looking at the front door when you called. I'll show it to you when we're done."

Katna looked at the half-eaten apple tucked between her hooves. "Another abandoned house? Are you sure it was... well, abandoned?"

Ears rotating, Ivan looked around himself. "Well, all those saplings," he pointed his hoof out to the bottom of the hill, "they look like they're growing on what used to be lawn. The house's driveway didn't have a car in it, and the garage door was open; the whole thing there was empty." He stood up and grabbed another apple. "But you're right, this is very good find," he concluded, choking down another apple.

Katna looked up at the tree again, eyes lingering on all the branches still laden with crisp, red and yellow apples. Her stomach growled and she ducked her head back down to keep eating. She moved onto a few more apples, the heady, saccharine musk of their smell filling her nostrils as they filled her stomach. After finishing the fifth apple Katna flopped onto her side. Ivan joined her and the two of them lay there, bellies heaving as they gasped against the meal they had gorged themselves on.

Katna stared half-lidded towards a gully in the distance, her ear twitching. "Ivan..." she breathed.

"Yeah?"

"Was it just me, or did those apples taste even better than the ones we had as humans?"

Ivan sniffed. "I think they might have tasted better. I mean, we can smell things better now, I figure good food will taste stronger."

Katna batted a hoof at him. “You remembered what I told you about taste and smell!” she giggled. Sighing and wincing she brought a hoof to her stomach. "And the way you got the apples, do you think you'll be able to fly?"

Ivan rolled onto his back, his hooves kicking at the air for a moment as he stared up at the sky. "I don't know. I kinda panicked when I shot up like that. I probably would have crashed into the ground if I hadn't grabbed the branch."

“Hmmm.” Katna shut her eyes and listened to the leaves rustling and her brother breathing.





Ivan rolled over and stood up, shaking his mane of a leaf that had stuck in it. "Let's go check the house."

They donned their bags and stuffed their clothes in them then made their way around the garden, Ivan's eyes setting on the house. White plastic siding clung to the house, a few panels having been ripped off or damaged to reveal the bare puffy and molding pressboard underneath. The curled, grey-black shingles all sat atop the roof as though ready to fly off, and the window and door frames were adorned with a dark—if heavily chipped—green paint.

Attached to the right was the garage, the doors hanging open, breathing out an inky dead-grey air that made Katna huddle against her brother. The driveway of cracked asphalt curved around the right side of the house, over to the front.

Katna and Ivan examined the back of the house finding two empty windows and a screen door. Ivan walked up to the door and gripped the handle in his mouth. He pulled back but the door rattled in place, refusing to budge.

"Are you sure nobody lives here?" asked Katna.

Ivan backed up from the door shaking his head. "I'm not entirely sure, but you saw how the garage was empty.”

They walked around the left side of the house and halted when they saw on the ground a square patch of garden with two rhubarb plants, two entire rows of zucchini plants and a solitary, twisted lump of leaves with a few mashed pieces of tomato pulp on the ground.

Katna walked to the garden and sniffed around the Zucchini, finding a few untouched fruits, though most had been nibbled on by passing critters judging from the scraped skins, small teeth marks and animal droppings at the garden’s edges. She looked over at Ivan. "There are a few plants, want me to put them in my bag?"

Ivan nodded, wandering over to the other end of the garden as Katna took off her bag and started twisting the remaining zucchini free, placing them on top of her jacket. She watched Ivan as he sniffed at a few green shoots coming out of the ground.

"These plants look pretty healthy," he commented. "I don't think there's been a bad frost here yet." He sat by a bundle of the leaves, their spindly stalks billowing in the breeze created as Ivan sat down. "These look familiar." Turning and lowering his head Ivan gripped the plant stalks in his mouth and pulled straight up.

With a grunt, pop, and shower of dirt the plant gave way to reveal the thick orange roots that had been huddling in the ground. Katna's eyes widened as a grin spread over her face. "Jackpot!" she said as she moved to harvest the next zucchini. "Carrots?" she called over to Ivan.

Ivan nodded, shook off a few clods of dirt from the carrots and walked over to Katna. He lay them in her bag. "Leave the rest of the plants, we'll explore the rest of the house and take what we need when we go."

"Go?" Katna looked at her bags. “Oh…” Sevastopol, Ivan's promised land. She looked up to see Ivan already going around the corner. She scrambled to zip up her bag and dragged it along the ground until she managed to drape it over her back.

Going around the corner herself Katna looked over the driveway as it snaked its way back down the other side of the hill to a gravel road and, on the other side of it, a pond. Gazing over to the house again Katna saw Ivan peering at the front door.

"Hey!" she trotted over to Ivan. "There's a pond down there, we can get water."

"Yeah." Ivan walked to the door and prodded it with a hoof. The doorknob was missing and the the green door hung half open. "I think we're near the Dnieper River again, should make figuring out where we're going quite a bit easier."

"That's great, but... water?" Katna pressed. Ivan opened the door and Katna recoiled from the acrid odors that came from inside. It was the pungent, warm smell of rats and other things that dwelled in the city. "Ugh, it stinks!"

Ivan stepped inside leaving her behind, and Katna hung her head low before trotting in after him.

The odor stayed strong as she entered the house, and puffed up into her nostrils as her hooves struck the dusty carpet. Apart from the bare walls, absence of any lights and the occasional leaf or twig jammed into a corner, the house looked alright, or at least better than a hollowed out nook in some maintenance space in a city parkade, but the stench persisted.

The entrance hall extended forward, a door on the right leading to a bathroom and another on the left to the garage. Katna peered through the garage to look at the crab apple tree outside before pressing on.

The end of the hall split to a hallway that went down the right and to a kitchen ahead where Ivan sat, his ears turning about.

"Have you heard anything, Katna?" Ivan stood up. "If something was still here we should have heard it, right?"

Katna stood still, eyes following where her ears focused on. No scratching, no squeaks, only the occasional whistle of a bird outside or of the wind blowing against the house.

But still that strong smell of rats. Where had they gone?

Katna shook her head. "I can't hear anything."

Ivan fluttered his wings and sighed. "Do you mind checking the bottom cupboards while I check up top?" He nodded to the counter and the cupboards.

Katna nodded and Ivan clambered on top of the counter. They scrounged through the cupboards, Katna occasionally glancing behind her to the empty, featureless dining room attached to the kitchen.

"This place doesn't have any furniture," said Katna, "do you really think we'll find anything?"

Ivan opened a cupboard and shook his head. "Never know. If whoever lived here before moved they might have missed something."

Katna opened the last cupboard by the hole where the washing machine would go and sighed. Sitting in the absolute last place she looked was a half-empty bottle of combination hand-dish soap. "Soap," she called, ducking her head inside and pulling it out. The faint smell of lemon suffused the air around it, and she placed it on the ground.

Ivan hopped down from the counter, head shaking. "Nothing. Let's keep looking."





Ivan stepped out of the kitchen, then turned to look over his shoulder at Katna. “Hey, come on.” Katna stood to follow him and they made their way back down the entrance hall. Ivan went through the door to the garage. His hooves clopped as they hit the concrete. When he stopped the silence that ensued contrasted sharply with the noise of his entrance. He grunted and walked in a few more paces as his wings twitched.

The far corner on the left reached out with dull black. Ivan lifted a forehoof, stalling to take another step. He shook his head then struck the hoof down hard on the concrete. He stepped to the corner, chest puffing out as he got closer. His eyes adjusted to the light allowing him to see the silver-grey of a stepladder. He nudged it with his nose and pulled back, then returned to Katna in the entrance hallway.

Ivan headed right to the bathroom across from the garage. He prodded the faded beige door with a hoof and pulled back gagging and coughing when the putrid odor wafted to him from the disturbance to the air. Oh God, the stench was in his mouth as though someone had force-fed him a dead body in a sewer! His tongue stuck out of his mouth as he heard Katna join him in his retching.

He shut his mouth as his eyes watered. Saliva gathered in it washing the taste around. He spat to the side, earning a reprieve from the foul rot. Coughing Ivan pressed into the room. Looking around he found a few balls of twigs mixed with rags and a few brown lumps on the floor, along with a streak of blood on the wall.

Backing out of the room Ivan braved opening his mouth to grab the door handle and slam the door shut. A final plume of rancid air ran over him, making it all but impossible to keep his eyes open.

Struggling to open his eyes Ivan looked through his tears to the blurred blob that was Katna, bowled over as she was on the ground, gagging. “What in the name of everything was that!?” she exclaimed, standing up.

“Old rat’s nest.” Ivan gasped and hobbled away from the door, finally cracking his eyelids open. He gulped down some air and sagged to the ground. “All empty. No sign of rats.”

“Why wouldn’t there be rats?” asked Katna.

“Maybe they’ve left because they ran out of food.”

“But…” Katna sat on her haunches and gestured to the door leading outside. “There’s still the garden.”

“Then something ate them,” said Ivan. “There was blood inside, and it was all fairly old. Whatever did it is gone.”

“What do you mean, ‘fairly old’?” Katna got up and took a half-step to Ivan. Her right forehoof was partially raised, her nose quivering slightly as the glint in her eyes danced worriedly.

Ivan squinted his eyes at the posture. A stray dog had approached him like that in Kiev months ago when he had hopped out of a dumpster with food… He coughed, blinked hard a last time and nodded, taking a few more gulps of air. “Old enough that I don’t think it’s coming back.” He stood up and they walked down the hallway next to the kitchen.

Wincing to clear his eyes once more, Ivan made his way down the hall. He peered through the first doorway, then the next. Both were small, with enough space only for a bed, a dresser and a standing person. Sage green paint covered the lower half of the walls, and a line of torn wallpaper their middle. Above the paper, clinging to the walls, yellow-grey paint offered little cheer to the room.

Katna looked into the second room. “Think they were going for the look of a sunny meadow?”

“Maybe, it’s too old to look like that now.” Ivan continued to the next room.

The same tired paint work covered the walls of this room, larger than the others. A stucco ceiling with clumps of dust dangling on cobwebs hung over the grey carpet. To the right, an open door frame exposed a tile-floor bathroom with a large sink set in a counter and a white porcelain tub with streaks of grey and brown filth on it taking up the corner.

Ivan walked over to the bathroom while looking at an open closet door. Inside a lone quilt sat on a shelf. He looked into the tub and scrunched up his face at the accumulated layer of dust in the bottom. To the right, past a small door, sat a toilet readily partitioned from the rest of the bathroom.

“Must have been the owner’s room,” said Ivan, walking out of the bathroom to see Katna sitting in the hallway, looking up.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There’s a trapdoor in the ceiling.”

“What?” Ivan walked back to her then followed her eyes. Framed in lacklustre-white a small hatch was indeed embedded in the ceiling. A loop of cord with a piece of wood tied to the end hung from a small alcove in the hatch.

“L-let’s just leave it, I mean, there’s probably nothing in there to worry about,” said Katna. Ivan unzipped Katna’s bags and stuck his head in. “H-hey! What are you doing!?” Katna pulled away as Ivan wrapped his lips around something and pulled it out.

He balanced the water bottle on his hoof then forcefully pushed it up towards the loop of cord, as though throwing a shot put. The bottle flew up, struck the cord and knocked it down, leaving it dangling within jumping height.

Ivan extended a wing and draped it over Katna before squeezing her. "I'll check the attic, you stay down here."

Walking from Katna he stared at his target, bent his legs and leaped, catching the string with his mouth. He pulled it down, dragging the hatch open with a deafening crack and a shower of dust as it hit the ground. Ivan coughed then looked behind himself, nodding at the stairs. He walked to their bottom and looked up into the dull grey of the attic. Ivan climbed up the stairs, peeking his head up. He smiled and entered into the attic.

Boxes, at least a few dozen of them, along with a few pieces of furniture: a bookshelf, trunk and rocking chair, all laying beside one another at the far end of the attic. Opposite them a lone window let the daylight stream right over the attic’s entrance, illuminating the dust motes floating through the air. Ivan stepped towards the furniture at the far end, prodding the floor with a hoof before putting weight on it.

He crept up along until he saw something moving in the corner of his eye. His heart skipped a beat and he dived behind a cardboard box with a crash of clanging metal.

"Ivan!?"

Ivan winced and gritted his teeth as he called out. "Katna! Stay down there!"

He looked around to see what he had crashed into. A shiny metal pot lid settled in front of him. Kitchenware, he'd finally found kitchenware! Right as he was in an attic with something else. How had it been in there without him hearing it? Smelling it? Ivan looked around, a weapon, something solid to put between himself and whatever it was. He gripped a pot handle in his mouth and peered around the corner.

Again something moved, and he ducked back behind the box. He blinked, ears splayed back as his chest heaved, his heart pounding. He had to remain calm, paying attention to see if it moved towards the exit, towards Katna!

"Ivan?"

"Katna just be quiet!" Ivan screamed, spitting out the pot to another clang. His ears searched for any sound as he brought lungfuls of air into him. Don't come up, Katna, don't come up, just stay out of the way! He had to make a run for it, shut the door behind and leave. And why wasn't it moving!? It knew they were there! It had to have seen him! Heard him! But there was no sound, it was hiding better than even Ivan's equine senses could detect.

The rush dissipated and Ivan soothed his breathing. He looked around the other side of the box but didn't see any movement. He ducked back into cover, leaned over and grabbed another pot in his mouth. Run around, charge, throw the pot to distract, and run for the exit. Ivan nodded and proceeded to follow through with his plan. He bolted out from behind the box running towards where he had briefly seen the moving figure. He saw another flash of movement and swung his head, releasing the pot before catching sight of a flapping wing exactly where he had detected movement before.

The pot clanged against the desk and Ivan stared at where the movement had been. He sagged to the ground, the figure miming his action.

He broke out into a laugh. "Oh, God, a mirror! It was just a mirror... Katna! Come up! Everything's fine!"

Ivan stared at himself, smiling dumbly as he stepped toward the pale image. The light was low but the reflection was still better than any he had seen in the river water or in some pane of glass.

Katna joined him, ears down and eyes wide, and looked at the mirror. "Wow... I knew we weren't exactly taking the best care of ourselves but... yuck!" Katna’s reflection blanched as its ears perked up and it stuck its tongue out.

They were a sight; Ivan nodded at the sentiment. The small streak of blood from the officer still stood out on his cheek. Their hooves were both caked with a thin layer of mud. Both their manes and tails were streaked with grime.

"So... that's what we look like." Katna stood and walked to her reflection, then turned. Her hoof tucked into her pants' waistband and she pulled it off. She frowned as the frayed denim hit the wood boards with a thump, leaving her to stare at her blank flank. Her tail curled, covering her as she looked at Ivan's face in the reflection. She stared at herself, sides moving in and out, ears folded downward.

"Katna?" asked Ivan.

"You were right, it would have happened anyway." Katna shook her head.

"Katna..."

"If we were still human, the officer would have known we were kids right away."

"Katna..."

"Even if I had my cutie mark, the officer would have asked you." Her eyes moistened.

"Katna..."

"If we both had it, we'd still be too short, and he would have kept asking questions, and that man still had a gun—"

"Katna! Don't talk about it!" Ivan yelled. He walked forward and wrapped his forehooves around Katna’s shoulders, grabbing her and tearing her away from the mirror. She struggled for a minute, but Ivan wrestled her back towards the attic entrance. He held her still in his hooves and stared in her eyes.

"We are not. Going. To talk. About. That... Understand?" Ivan shook Katna. She nodded, tears welling in her eyes.

Ivan removed his hooves from his sister. "Go back to the closet in the master bedroom and... set up that quilt; we're staying for the night. I'll check these boxes and see what I can find." He nodded to Katna and pointed down the stairs. "Now... do that, and have a nap. Brother has work to do, understand?"

Katna nodded, turned around and went down the stairs, head hung low, her moist eyes vacant and glazed, while Ivan went searching through all the boxes.





Ivan looked at the twin piles of his efforts. To his left stood a pile of cardboard boxes, newspapers, plastic wrap, styrofoam packing beans, clothing too big to wear and any other items he deemed of no use. To his right stood two nineteen-liter jugs for water coolers, a plastic tote big enough for himself to sit in comfortably, some wood from an unbuilt chair, three pocket knives, a pile of rubber bands, a compass, a fire grill for cooking things over an open fire, one working lighter, bungee ties, nylon rope and four duffle bags.

Biting his lip Ivan rubbed a hoof on his side and shook his head. “I don’t think the people here moved of their own accord, this stuff is all way too useful,” he mumbled.

“Useful? What is it he’s found that’s so useful?” Katna said downstairs.

Ivan rubbed a hoof to his forehead. It would be awhile before he’d get used to their newfound senses of smell and hearing. “I’ll show you in a minute when I take it downstairs! Just have one last thing to look through!”

“Fine!” Katna yelled back, adding to herself at a more personal volume, “... Whatever.”

Ivan shook his head.

Stepping to the last box he blinked at it. The box only came halfway up his legs in height. He opened it to the sight of styrofoam packing bits. Digging through it exposed a small plastic black container with two clips fastening it shut. He tilted his head, reading off the embossed letters that shone against the rest of the container. "Makarov?"

He leaned over and undid the clasps with his teeth, nudging the box open.

His eyes widened and he jumped back, wings flapping, tripping over himself as he tried to get away from what he saw. He stared at the box. Sitting on a sheet of foam like they were insignificant: a pistol with a brown grip and blue-tinted barrel, and beside it two magazines.

Ivan gulped, walking back to the box and shutting it. He grabbed the case handle and carried it to the junk pile, burying it amidst silverware, clothes and burnt out lamps.

He gathered the items he thought useful and ferried them downstairs next to the quilt where Katna lay. She tilted her head as Ivan grabbed two duffel bags, a thick woollen sweater, three bungee cords and a towel.

Ivan scrunched up his face then looked at Katna. Her face was plastered in a sagged and dejected countenance, her ears bent downward.

“Come over here, please,” said Ivan.

Katna obeyed, her hooves dragging along the ground as she walked to him and then sat, head down. Ivan pinched two corners of the sweater with the lowest joints in his forehooves and then held it up to Katna’s horn. She looked up and he looped a thick thread on the point of her horn then pushed it forward. The space between the lone thread and the rest of the sweater widened.

“Ivan, this sweater smells, and it’s too big for me.”

“Shh, you’ll understand in a bit.”

The thread pulled out and hanged off of the sweater. Ivan lowered it near the ground and smiled as he put his hoof on the loosened thread. “Okay, Katna, I need you to grab the sweater and then walk away from me.”

Katna shrugged, bit the sweater and walked with her head inclined slightly to the right so she could look at the string, her eyes lighting up in understanding as the sweater unravelled. Ivan grabbed one of the pocket knives and unfolded it by grasping it in his hooves, then grabbing the dull edge of the blade that stuck out of the handle with his teeth. He cut off a section of the wool thread and set it to the side.

Ivan took the towel, laid a bungee-cord about a quarter of the way and poked a series of holes in the towel on either side of the cord. Next he took the towel and fed the thread through two of the holes, laid the bungee cord back in place, then took the two loose ends of the thread in his mouth. Forming an ‘X’ with the two thread ends in his mouth, he then used his tongue to push one loose thread into the loop that formed. He stuck one loose thread out of his mouth, gripped it between his two front hooves, then pulled, securing the knot.

He repeated the process with all the holes and all three bungee cords so that the towel had three of the cords secured to one side. He then grabbed one duffle bag and hooked the three bungee cords onto the handle at one end, and followed by doing the same with the other duffle bag and the remaining bungee cord ends.

Ivan then snaked his head under the towel and scooted forward, sliding the construct onto his back. He stood up, feeling the cords grow taut and keeping the bags in place. Finally he turned around, smiling at Katna. “Saddle bags, like we saw the ponies in the city wear sometimes.”

Katna’s mouth hung open, her legs straightened and her ears perked. “You tied knots with your mouth…” Her eyes crossed up in the direction of her horn. “What am I supposed to use this for, then?” She pointed to the pink stick jutting out of her head.

Ivan laid down and crawled out from underneath his hoof-made, or more accurately mouth-made, saddle bags and walked to Katna. “Hey, you helped out, and grabbing stuff with their horns isn’t the only thing unicorns can do.” He bent his head down and kissed Katna on the forehead. “It’ll come.”

Coughing as he gazed out the window Ivan smiled at the still-present daylight. He nodded and clopped his hooves together. "Now, how does a bath sound?" he asked, grabbing one of the water cooler jugs and securing a piece of cloth over its top with a rubber band.

Katna's eyes lit up with a smile. "That sounds wonderful!"

Ivan chuckled as her tail bobbed up and down. "Alright, you want to help?"

Katna nodded. "Anything to have it sooner!"

"Right! Could you go outside and grab some wood while I go get water at that pond at the bottom of the hill?"

Katna nodded and he looked over to the bathroom. Ivan gripped the fire grill with his mouth. His tongue salivated, trying to dilute the smell of rust as he dragged it over to the stone tile and grout bathroom floor.

"Pile the wood under here when you've got a bit, and don't wander too far into the forest." Ivan walked to the jug, Katna following close behind. "And if you see someone, come in here and hide in the linen closet." He extended a wing over Katna and hugged her.

Ivan grabbed the jug's narrow neck in his mouth, tucked its plastic cap underneath his wing and set out.





Katna leaned over to the left. Her lips peeled back. She giggled as Ivan dumped the last pot of boiled water into the tote. Ivan reached up with a hoof and rubbed at his forehead before turning to look at Katna.

Ivan nodded. "Come on, I'll help you get in."

Laying on the ground as Katna walked over, Ivan grunted as she braced her forehooves on his flank. Katna pushed her head over the edge of the tote before putting her back hooves on her brother as well.

"Okay, now, I'm going to stand up. You keep your balance, and then hop in," said Ivan, earning a nod from Katna. "Three, two, one." Ivan stood up, and Katna wobbled, shifting her hind hooves a bit as her ascension halted.

She looked down at the warm, steaming water in the tote. She reached her front hooves in, submerging them up to her chest. She breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of wood-smoke before she held her breath, and plunged in as she let her back half fall into the water.

Her head rose back up, mane slapping against her neck. "Ahhhh," she sighed, closing her eyes and sitting up to her chest in the water. A soft smile tugged at the edge of her lips as she experimented with moving her tail in the water. It soaked into her hairs, seeping warmth into every inch of her weary body.

She turned to look at Ivan, his face cast in shadow against the light of the fire and the dark of night.

"This is wonderful, this is even better than those crab apples we had," Katna said. Her eyes widened, and she blinked. "How long has it been since I've... well, had a proper bath?"

Ivan sat back, leaning against the bathroom counter. "Let's see, I stopped moving you around two months ago when your coughing got worse, and before that, the last time we were able to sneak anywhere with hot water was... Chernihiv." Ivan's mouth hung open as he reached a hoof up to his face.

"That was... back in the spring," said Katna, blinking. "I... God." Katna stared down at her hooves, splashing them a bit as a flake of mud floated in the water. She looked back at Ivan, who was plucking another bundle of sticks she had gathered earlier and spreading them over the fire. She dunked her head underneath the water, blowing bubbles out of her nose, and came back up again, gazing at the open window as smoke trailed out of it.

Katna rubbed her hooves together under the water, scraping off the mud before rolling around in the water to wet her coat again.

Ivan poured out another few potfuls of water to be boiled for when Katna needed rinsing. He smiled, then reached over to the bottle of soap they had found in the kitchen, grabbing it with his hoof. "Have you been rinsing and scrubbing?" he asked.

Lifting her front hooves out of the water, showing the mud falling off of them, Katna smiled. "Yes!"

Nodding Ivan grabbed a cloth with his other hoof and poured out some of the soap onto it. "Now, I'm going to do your face and back, don't let any in your eyes."

Katna nodded in turn, and her face wreathed itself in mirth as the wet cloth smacked into her and Ivan began scrubbing out the dirt, dust, grime and oil that had seeped into her. His hooves massaged the soap in, and he would occasionally squirt some more soap on before scrubbing Katna lower down her back.

When he'd finished with her back, belly and legs Ivan hoofed the cloth to his sister. "You'll handle the rest?"

"Mhmm." Katna nodded, reaching down to finish scrubbing as Ivan grabbed the rinsing water, now quite hot, off of the fire and balanced them between his forehooves as he pivoted around on his hind legs.

"Does it hurt? Grabbing the pots like that?" asked Katna.

"Not really, the hooves kind of... muffle the heat I guess?" replied Ivan. "Ready?" he asked, dangling the pot over Katna's back. She nodded, and Ivan poured the water over her, washing out the suds and soap scum clinging to Katna and earning another sigh from her.

"Can we stay here, Ivan?"

Ivan stopped mid-pour, looking at her.

Gulping Katna searched her mind for reasons. "There's still those crab apples in the back, and some of the zucchini and carrots in the garden. We have wood and water. The weather's nice." She reached over to Ivan, putting a hoof on his grimy foreleg.

"The weather is going to get worse," Ivan started pouring the water over Katna's legs.

Katna's legs shot away from the water as she scrambled inside the makeshift tub. She draped her front hooves over the edge of the tub, dripping water onto the floor in two puddles. "No, come on Ivan, it's always been the next city, the next meal, the next day." Tears mixed with the water dripping from her mane. "Just when we find something good, we've got to move on... Ivan, please, we're far enough south now."

"Not far enough from where that cop—" Ivan clamped his mouth shut, wincing.

Katna shook her head, letting out a breath. "Ivan."

"Just drop it," Ivan said, sagging as he dumped the rest of the water over Katna. "A few more days, or when there's frost on the ground, whatever comes first." He looked at Katna. "Okay?"

Katna nodded, pursing her lips.

Ivan backed up from the tote Katna was standing in. "I'm serious, don't think I'll just forget and we'll settle in."

Again, Katna nodded.

Ivan walked over to a pile of clothes and pulled out a woolen sweater and a thin t-shirt. He walked over with the two objects in his mouth, and put the t-shirt on the floor by the tote.

Katna braced her hooves on the edge of the tub and Ivan gripped her underneath her forelegs, lifting as she pushed herself out. She landed with a thump onto the shirt and Ivan draped the woollen sweater over her back.

"Dry yourself off and then come to bed. I'll clean up." Ivan set about picking up the pots and pans he had been using to heat up the water and placing them in a corner to dry.

Katna used her hooves to kneed the sweater into her coat, absorbing water as the fibers rubbed against her and leaving a faint itch that caused her skin to spasm occasionally, like she had seen a horse's do when a fly landed on it. Leaving the sweater sopping wet, and herself slightly damp, she walked into the bedroom and settled down on the quilt.

Fed, warm, bathed, comfortable, and assured with the promise of a few days rest, Katna grabbed a corner of the quilt and dragged it over herself, forming a little bundle with her head poking out of the middle. Ivan shut the window and stared at the fire as he lay down on his half of the quilt.

The last tongues of flame lapped at the grill before it died down to a few smoldering embers. Laying his head on his hooves, Ivan closed his eyes.

Katna lay there, staring at the dregs of the fire. She winced as a phantom gunshot rang out in the house. Her eyes shut tight and her ears pinned against her head, her body trying to blot out the invisible flash and its accompanying, deafening silent noise. Her breath caught in her throat, strangling her to sleep.