Katna gripped the bowl in her two hooves, lifted it up and tilted it back to pour the last dregs of milk down her throat. She set the bowl down and burped. She blushed and held a hoof over her mouth. “Excuse me.”
Father Nazar nodded and rose from his seat. “If you’re ready to use the computer, I can show you to it now.”
Ivan nodded.
Nazar stepped to the hallway. “Come with me, please.” Ivan and Katna hopped out of their seats and followed Nazar down the hall.
Father Nazar took the first door on the right of the hallway, leading Ivan and Katna to an office. Several filing cabinets lined the left wall, a grey bureau desk sat next to the right wall, a simple wooden chair in front of it. A window cast light in from the outside.
Walking to the bureau Nazar pulled out a panel from it. He ran his finger along a black line embedded in the top of the desk and an orange light flashed out of the flat top. The light spread over the area above the black line, leaving translucent geometric figures surrounded by writing floating in the air.
He turned to the foals and nodded. "I have to quickly change out of my robes. I'll be back to help you with this soon enough." He stepped out of the room and went down the hallway.
Katna walked up to the desk and jumped up onto the chair. Her mouth hung open as the projected floating shapes rotated in place. Looking below her she noticed two pulsating arrows, one to her left and the other to her right. Six more arrows, two above her head and four in the back combined to form a cubic space within which all the icons resided.
She reached over to the arrows and tried pulling them outwards with her hooves. The cube expanded, along with all its contents. Katna's eyes shined. "Wow..."
Gulping down her excitement she peered at the myriad of icons. "Internet... internet." Several icons zoomed to the front at her muttering. Katna flinched backwards, then settled into her seat. "Google Chrome, Palladion, Opera..." She reached a hoof to the first icon, a half-sphere composed of three interlocking shapes over a circular fourth shape.
Google opened and Katna reached over to the search bar. As her hoof graced the bar a keyboard of solid orange light appeared by her chest. Her eyes scanned over the tiny keys and she pressed a hoof to them. The search bar spat out an incomprehensible stream of letters in response.
"Hey." Ivan pointed to a little box far to her right. "Keyboard settings."
She pressed the button and a list appeared. Scrolling through the different settings she read them aloud. "Classic QWERTY, Dvorak, Alphabetical, Optimized, Equestrian Analogue?" The box labeled 'Equestrian analogue' expanded revealing a description below it, which Katna in turn read. "This setting is modeled after Equestrian hoof-friendly typewriters, mimicking the popular analogue-stick and button combo of the Manehattan Model E."
She pressed on the icon again and an entirely different construction of solid light appeared. It was one joystick with a flattened, hoof-shaped top surrounded by a radial display of letters and, to its left, a button.
Katna placed her hooves on the display and tilted the joystick forward, highlighting the letter 'T'. While holding the joystick over it she pressed the button with her other hoof, causing the selected letter to appear in the search bar. She swiveled the joystick around repeating the same procedure and eventually typed the letters she needed. "T...R...A...N...S...I...T...I...O...N..." A series of links popped down out of the search bar. She reached her right hoof to the first item in the list and touched it.
Following the prompts from the page that appeared to ‘Information’, into ‘Equestrian Transformation’, and then into ‘Course Training Packages’, Katna's smiled widened. She turned to Ivan. "This is wonderful!" She looked up as she heard footsteps down the hallway and Father Nazar returned, wearing a black shirt and pants.
Nodding Father Nazar walked over to the bureau and slid open another panel, revealing a printer. "Please only print what you really need, paper and ink can get quite expensive. In the mean time, I must make arrangements for your traveling south." He looked down at Ivan. "If you wish to listen to the conversation so that I may lay your fears to rest, you can follow me." He looked back at Katna and smiled. "Your sister seems to be taking to the computer readily enough."
"Uh huh." Katna poured over the listings of titles. A stream of white-on-dark orange lettering flowed over her eyes as Ivan and Father Nazar stepped out of the room and closed the door part way. "General Magic, Reasons to Become a Pony, Equestrian Historical Heritage, Basic Anatomy, Unicorn Spells!"
She pressed the button and leaned back, going over the key to the understanding of what she had inherited.
"... This statement however summarizes... Movement, creation, transmutation, mass-energy equivalence..." Katna gasped. "My first spell!"
She leaned forward. "'At the base of a unicorn's horn lies the Carbuncle Organ. Budding students describe their first experience of channeling magic like a tiny lung breathing in the base of their horn, coupled with physical sensations ranging from tightness to tingling...' That's what I did at the house!" Katna licked her lips. "'Inducing magic channeling is the first step of performing magic. The most common trick used is to breath in through the nose, and then visualize the air traveling out the horn while exhaling through the mouth.'"
Katna breathed in and held her breath, trying to push the air into her horn before opening her mouth and releasing a jet of air. The expanding sensation returned.
A grin expanded across her face as she returned to reading. "'Practice of this exercise should lead the student to being able to produce a colored light around her horn. Once the student is able to keep the channel open she becomes able to interact with objects with magic. The breathing is not actually required, but to begin with it is beneficial as it makes the learning process easier.'"
Mouth hanging open Katna scrolled down a little further and found a spell for basic telekinesis. "Focus on the object... students frequently describe the sensation as a part of them forming a liquid that is poured over the object, and in turn the willing of movement will carry the object with it..."
She looked over at the filing cabinets and breathed in through her nose as a grin spread over her muzzle. She opened her magic channel. "Alright, time to practice."
Ivan sat at the dining table with Father Nazar, who was placing a call on his phone. The tones rang out on the other end, and the priest held up a finger.
"Yes, Gleb, I have some news for you... No, it isn't another stop for medicine. I have two ponies in a delicate situation who need to get to the south, and I can think of no other I would trust with this... So you'll stay at the peninsula for an hour instead? Thank you, I understand that this probably will slow your journey... Yes, I will explain the plan to them... May He watch over you as well, my friend."
Father Nazar hung up and looked to Ivan before standing up and opening a drawer. He pulled out an old paper map and lay it on the table before unfolding it. "I have a friend who provides medicine along the Dnieper River. He uses a boat to get along, and is someone I trust. He'll be stopping by the coast tomorrow." He pointed out to the map. "We're here," he said, tracing his finger to a point nearly a hundred miles away from the Black Sea. "My friend can take you as far as Nova Kakhovka. The town there is small, but the people there can take care of you... I won't lie, I hope you stay there... but if you must move on, there is a large irrigation canal that runs south, almost to Feodosiya."
Ivan nodded, getting out of his chair and opening his bag to rifle through the contents. He pulled out a map, spreading it on the floor. "Okay, Feodosiya... That canal..." He nodded. "That... that's actually better than what I had planned." He looked up at Father Nazar. "Are you sure your friend can't take us down the canal?" he asked. The priest nodded, and Ivan hung his head. "Okay, but that still puts us ahead..." He looked back up at Nazar. "Thank you."
The priest smiled, but then looked up at the same time Ivan's ears flicked up. The sound of metal grinding on metal came from down the hall.
"Oh my God! I finally did it! Yes! Yes! It worked! It actually worked! This stupid little horn actually did its job!"
Ivan nodded to the hall and walked down it. Father Nazar trailed behind him.
Ivan peered into the office. Katna was flailing her front hooves, pointing at her horn, and a lone open filing cabinet. She spun her head around, seeing him. "Oh, God! Ivan! I actually used magic! Watch this!"
Katna breathed in and her horn glowed a light translucent rose color. A moment later the same glow surrounded the open filing cabinet, and it slid shut. The glow persisted, flowing to another cabinet, opening it, and then to another.
She looked back at Ivan, the glow snapping out of existence. "This is great! I want to practice on something else, right now!"
"Well," said Father Nazar, "I have explained my plan to your brother, which just leaves getting you both prepared for the trip." He pointed at Ivan's still-browned hooves. "You’re dirty from your travels. The bathroom is the next door down on the left." He pointed out the door. "Can I trust you to clean up any mess you make?"
Katna nodded, her chest heaving in and out as another grin spread over her. "Yes! And that's perfect! But... I want to get a little more practice.” She looked to Ivan. “Brother, would you go ahead and let me know when you’re done?"
Ivan looked behind himself to Father Nazar, who stepped backwards into the hall and walked away. They heard the door to the hall leading back to the church’s nave open, then shut again.
Ivan faced Katna, then nodded. "Be careful now. I don't want you hurting yourself."
He walked out of the room and went to the door Father Nazar mentioned. He gripped the doorknob in his mouth and turned it, pushing against the door as he did so. Toilet, sink, shower stall, yep, it was a bathroom. Ivan scraped a hoof against the sea-green tiles and looked around for the light switch. Finding it behind the cabinet to his left, above the toilet, he reared up and nudged it with his muzzle.
He tapped the door closed with a hind leg, then sagged to the ground, sighing. Ivan mentally went over the map in his mind. They were looking at a month saved in time. A snake coiled in his stomach. It seemed too good to be true... but at least he could clean himself.
He grasped the handle to the shower stall with his mouth and pulled it open, nodding at the dryness of where his lips had been. It was easier than he thought it would be to grip things with his mouth; it didn't cause him to salivate the way it used to. He stepped into the shower and contorted himself in order to turn around. It was a tight squeeze, but manageable. His rear rubbed against the glass before he pulled the glass door shut.
Looking to the shampoo and soap sitting on a small edge built into the shower wall, Ivan sat, wondering. Would he use soap at all now that he was covered in hair? The deep question had escaped him when last he bathed, but now, with things going right—possibly—for one moment... The question stuck in his head.
"Katna!" he called.
There was the immediate sound of hoof beats in the hall, followed by the door opening. Katna poked her head in. "Yeah?"
"Does the computer say anything about grooming? Do we use... well… soap, or shampoo?"
There was silence for a few seconds. Ivan frowned and looked over to see Katna holding a hoof over her mouth, her sides finally giving into their shaking, and she giggled.
"Hey! It's a serious question! I want to know!" He stood up and tried turning inside the shower, causing the door to swing out. "Aah..." Ivan shook his head. "Please?"
Katna nodded, trotting back to the office.
Ivan sat down in the shower again. They were going somewhere safe, Katna was learning magic, they were going to stay together.
His wings fluttered.
He'd stay by Katna.
His wings extended.
He'd keep her safe... Even if it meant not flying.
His wings sagged back to his sides.
Ivan felt moisture rolling down his cheeks. He breathed in, and turned the shower on. A jet of cold water splattered between his wings. His muscles twinged at the shock. He broke into a coughing fit as the water warmed, splashing on his face and hiding the tears.
Katna returned, and Ivan turned the shower off.
"Well?" he asked.
"Shampoo, we use shampoo," Katna answered. "But don't put any on your wings, that just needs water and... preening... with your mouth..." Katna leaned against the door. "So that's what I've been catching you doing late at night!"
A warm flush spread in Ivan's cheeks. "Well, I didn't know there was a word for it, so I assumed there wasn't. So I said 'nothing.'"
Katna rolled her eyes. "Shampoo, none on the wings, then rinse... You want help with the shampoo?"
Ivan's ears perked as Katna's horn glowed. Another translucent rose glow appeared in the corner of his eyes, and he watched the bottle of shampoo float over him.
"Uh, okay," he said. He was immediately met with a wet creamy glob smacking onto his back and sliding down his right haunch, followed by another pelt behind his ears, and finally one that fell between his wings, causing them to flare out again. "Alright, thanks."
Katna lowered the bottle back onto the shelf, then shut the door. Ivan reached up to his head and started kneading the shampoo into his mane, then proceeded to work down the rest of his body before moving onto his hooves. The mud flaked and broke off as he applied pressure to them.
A piece of mud fell to the ground, revealing a red stain. Ivan's eyes widened and he turned the shower back on with his mouth, rinsing away the caked on dirt. The red-tinged mud fell away, leaving pristine, uninjured hoof underneath.
Ivan's ears wilted. The dog. Some of the blood must have stuck to his hoof all that time ago and never came off as heaps of mud piled over it. He shook his head, then slammed a hoof against the shower wall. He bit his lip. He gulped down, and eventually a fresh trickle of blood from his lip joined the mud washing down the drain, the iron smell faded by the water flowing around him.
Ivan licked at his lips, taking in the sickening salty flavor as his sides heaved.
"Ivan? Did something fall?" called Katna from down the hall.
"No," replied Ivan, "I'm fine!"
Ivan held his head in his hooves as his ears filled with the sound of water pattering on the glass.
Katna wiped her hoof on the towel she had lain on the office chair, then reached out to another icon. A flow of white letters reflected off her eyes. "Wow... just... wow." She reached up and adjusted the towel wrapped around her head. She glanced back to Ivan, sitting on his own towel, and running his mouth along his wings, straightening his feathers.
"I've been reading about more complicated magic... and parts of it read like those schoolbooks I have, but the rest... I'm not getting it quite yet." Katna leaned back in the chair, sighing and letting a smile spread across her face. "So... wanna look up pegasus flight? If I can do magic I'm sure you'll be able to do more than just flap once while jumping."
Ivan shook his head. "No, I'm fine."
Clopping her front hooves together Katna turned back to the computer. "Well, I'm bored of working with magic... What else do they tell us about ponies?" She leaned forward, batting at the projection with a hoof like a cat positively entranced by a ball of yarn. "History... culture... map..."
The door to the living area opened and closed, leaving Ivan and Katna to stare at the office entrance as footsteps approached them. Father Nazar peered into the room and nodded, then walked past them. Katna heard the bathroom door open, followed by the sound of running water.
"Do you think we cleaned it up enough?" asked Katna.
Ivan yawned and nodded. "Yes, I used a towel to dry up the floor."
Feeling emptiness in her stomach, Katna asked, "What do you think there will be for lunch?"
"No idea," said Ivan, before he chuckled. "You know, normally the answer would be 'whatever we find.'" Ivan smiled.
Father Nazar returned. “Would you like lunch?” The two foals nodded and he led them to the kitchen, where he set about making tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for the three of them, along with a fourth bowl and plate.
“Who’s that for?” asked Katna.
“For Sister Klara,” answered Nazar, “she’ll be joining us soon.”
“That’s the woman we saw in the hall when you brought us out here?”
Nazar nodded. “She is.”
"So... who are we going with on a boat?" asked Katna.
"A young man by the name of Gleb," Father Nazar answered, placing a few sandwiches on four plates. "He regularly travels up and down the Dnieper."
"What's he like?"
Pouring out the soup, Father Nazar's lips turned downward. "He is a good-hearted individual, but he has trouble forgiving himself. I think it would be better to not say more than that, lest you judge him without even knowing him."
Katna shrugged then perked up when Father Nazar placed a steaming bowl of the sweet-smelling red broth in front of her along with the cheese sandwich. Father Nazar held up one finger in front of Katna's mouth, then placed the rest of the dishes on the four sides of the table. He seated himself across from Katna, with Ivan on his immediate right. Ivan looked over at the entrance.
Smiling at the sound of feet approaching on the other side, Katna eyed her meal, and the spoon beside it.
The door opened and Sister Klara entered, black gown and headdress still in place. She bowed briefly to them and proceeded down the hall, returning a few minutes later in a black long-sleeved smock dress with opaque black leggings. She seated herself, brushed some greying-brown hair from her face and then clasped her hands firmly together, tensed tendons visible. Father Nazar performed the same gesture. Katna and Ivan looked around before bracing their front hooves together.
Closing his eyes, Father Nazar uttered, "Christ, our God, bless the food and drink of thy servants for You are holy, now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen."
"Amen," said Sister Klara.
"Amen?" Katna mumbled afterwards, before shrugging and looking at her spoon. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw Sister Klara looking at her as she blew on a spoonful of soup. Her lips were turned upward in a smile that reched all the way up to her eyes, wrinkling their corners.
Katna couldn’t help but to return the smile. Embarrassed she turned her gaze down to her spoon. The steps came in turn: open the magic channel, sense out the spoon, grab it, and move it. The spoon obeyed her command and she was shortly thereafter sipping her tomato soup, occasionally extending her magical field to grasp a sandwich and lift it to her mouth.
The creamy warmness of the soup flowed down her throat, warming her insides. She lay the spoon down and saw Sister Klara continuing to look at her with a smile.
"You're a very pretty young filly," said Sister Klara, finishing the last of her soup. She stood up and gathered Katna's plate.
"Thanks?" said Katna before burping from her meal. It was immediately followed by a yawn. She stretched out her mouth heaving a great sigh that left her horn feeling like something had flicked it. When she shut her mouth once more her ears folded against her head. "Sorry."
"That's quite alright," said Sister Klara. "If you're tired I can set you up in one of the guest rooms." She placed the dishes in the sink.
Raising a hand Father Nazar spoke. "Please set them both up in my room. I will sleep in a guest bed for tonight."
The sister nodded, then went down the hall. Her dress, caught in the wind of her movement, pinned against her thin frame.
Ivan slurped down the last of his soup, then nodded. "Thank you for the meal... Does the computer have a map? I'd like to look at the route we'll be taking for the trip from a different perspective."
Father Nazar nodded, then walked towards the door leading to the rest of the church. "The icon in the second row from the bottom, far left. I must prepare for confessions, then the afternoon service. Supper will be at seven... And Ivan, Katna?" Father Nazar lay a hand on the doorframe as he stepped partway into the hall.
The foals' ears perked.
"I wish that you keep thinking on your course of action." Father Nazar said, walking out and shutting the door.
Katna and Ivan made their way down the hall and back to the computer room. Ivan hopped into the seat and ran his hoof along the black line in the desk, activating it and bringing up the virtual screen.
He opened up the map, a program that showed the entire world in a three dimensional sphere. He placed his hooves around it as though grabbing a ball and spun it around. He blinked a few times as a blur of blues, whites, greens and tans melted together in his vision before he stuck a hoof into the projection, grinding the globe to a halt. He turned the sphere over slowly. Finding the familiar outline of Ukraine he reached to the zoom button and waited for the image to load, showing before him the distance they traveled, and where they would go.
Katna stared intently at the two conjoined continents in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, like someone had created a miniaturized North and South Americas and pasted them onto the planet a few thousand kilometers to the east.
She yawned again, her vision swimming. "Ooh... I think doing magic for the first time left me pretty tired." She winced and shook her head.
Ivan hopped out of his chair. "Well, if magic tires you out, it's a good thing we'll be traveling by boat for a while. You can get some practice before we have to go back to walking."
Opening her mouth as Ivan walked down the hall towards the kitchen, Katna was left with an upraised hoof. Travel again so soon after finding a safe place. A foul-tasting paste shot up her throat as the image of a bleeding dog flashed before her. Sides heaving, stomach distended and bloated, legs pawing at the air.
Katna shook her head again, tears welling in her eyes. She shivered as blood spurted across the room with a bang. Her ears folded against her head, and she whined a little as she walked out of the room, trotting to the end of the hallway and into Father Nazar's room, where she found Sister Klara fluffing out one of two pillows.
Tears welling in the corners of her eyes, Katna rubbed against Sister Klara's leg, looking up.
Sister Klara immediately set the pillow down and reached down to Katna. Grunting from the exertion, she kneeled down and sat on the floor beside Katna, wrapping her arms around the filly. Klara’s eyes teared up as she looked down and stroked the poor little thing on the head, strangled squeaking noise escaping her throat. "Shh... little one. It's alright... Oh!”
Katna buried her head into Klara's lap, prodding the sister’s stomach with her horn. The filly started sobbing.
Hoofbeats traveled down the hall and Ivan skidded into the room. His eyes fell on Klara and Katna, and he walked over immediately. "Katna, what's wrong?" He lay beside her.
A loud sniff came out of Katna’s nose and she pulled her head away, only to break out into another bout of sobbing.
Sister Klara glanced at Ivan. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
Laying a hand on Katna's withers, Klara played with the end of Katna's mane, twirling her fingers through the fibrous sea-green hairs. Ivan lay a wing across Katna's back, and he hummed a single note intermittently.
The sobbing subsided and Katna pulled away from the warm dampness she had left on Sister Klara's stomach, leaving her own face chilled. She looked up at Klara and sighed at the eased smile that was beaming down on her. Katna closed her eyes and focused on Klara's thumb and index twirling at her mane. Some brief physical contact with someone not her brother. A heady haze grew over her mind as her breathing slowed. Klara stood up and lifted Katna to set her in the bed, then pulled the blue covers over her.
Sister Klara took a deep breath and wiped at her brow before balling a fist and pressing it against her back.
Ivan jumped up onto the bed and lay beside Katna. Sitting by them on the edge of the bed, Klara placed an arm over them both. "Can you tell me what happened on the road?"
"It's been... tough," said Ivan.
Klara adjusted her arm, placing Katna in the crook of her elbow and squeezing gently. Warmed by the surrounding covers Katna felt a... blooming in her chest, like having a warm meal, but without the feeling extending to her stomach. "Thank you," she said, sagging into the mattress.
"Oh, you're welcome, my child. It's who I am." Sister Klara reached over and stroked Katna's mane.
"Why help us?" asked Ivan.
Sister Klara hummed. "Because you need it." Leaning over she pressed her lips to Katna's right ear, making it twitch. Katna felt a lightness in her chest as the warmth grew. The euphoric glaze of contentment that sat on her was something akin to when she had first experimented with her horn... In the attic... But it was okay, that was far away and she was safe.
Removing her hand, Sister Klara lay it on her lap. "Never had any children of my own, instead I take care of those who need me. I hope you find what you're looking for." She stood up, walked to the door and turned off the lights. She turned back, her thin silhouette highlighted in the doorway. "Sleep well," she said, shutting the door closed and placing the two foals in the semi-darkness of the room interrupted only by the light that shafted through the window blinds.
Katna snuggled against Ivan. "Sorry," she whispered.
"Were you thinking about the dog and the cop?" Ivan whispered back.
Katna bobbed her head up and down, and gulped. "I wish things could have turned out differently back then."
"But you're happy with how things are happening now, right?" asked Ivan. His wing pressed down on Katna and slid down her back, stroking her like a firm feather boa.
"Yeah." Katna smiled, shutting her eyes.
Ivan sat staring at the last five steaming carrots on his plate. Their fragrance warmed into his nose, and he turned away from the dish to look at the clock. Eight at night. His eyes wandered to Katna, who was munching down on a piece of broccoli. The puffed green top poked out of her mouth until her pink lips wrapped around it and drew it in.
Then he looked over at Father Nazar by the kitchen sink, nursing a single glass of milk against his flat stomach.
Something prodded his side, and Ivan looked around to see Sister Klara nodding at his plate. "Finish your food, dear."
"Uh... aren't you going to have anything to eat?" he asked.
"No," Sister Klara answered, "I'm not hungry right now."
Ivan bent down, plucking the last carrots into his mouth and mashing them into a fine paste with his teeth. Sister Klara picked up the plate and carried it to the sink.
Father Nazar nodded. "Thank you, I'll wash them in the morning after breakfast, before taking the children to the docks." He placed his empty milk glass in the sink, the thin veil of white dribbling down the sides. He looked to Ivan and nodded. "If you could both be in bed by nine, it would be appreciated," he said, walking to the bathroom down the hall.
Sister Klara followed suit, going into the office. Katna followed the Sister, leaving Ivan in the kitchen.
He got out of his chair and walked to the fridge. Gripping the handle in his mouth he pulled back, opening the fridge door and bathing himself in white light. He looked at its interior in close detail. The contents: one half-jug of milk, some cheese slices, mayo, and some cold cut meats in the drawer. Nothing else lay inside. Ivan let the door shut of its own accord, sealing off the light with a pop.
He sighed. "I'm sorry we couldn't stay here either, Katna," he mouthed soundlessly.
Ivan hung his head low and passed Father Nazar in the hall before stepping into the bathroom himself. A weight bore down on him, and it wasn't just a full stomach.