Chapter 69: Parting Gifts
I looked at my packed bags before me. "Alright, did I pack everything that belongs to me?" I asked myself as I peered around the living room of Star's and Arcana's living room that has been my place of occupation for the past few days for any remaining that belongs to me.
"I believe you did Aceiro." I looked up at the mention of my name to see Fe making her way into the living room from the hallway with her bags already packed and strapped to her back. "Because you didn't brought much with you as well as didn't purchase a lot of things here in Ponyville."
"You're right on that Fe," I said as Fe stopped in front of me. "But I sometimes have a tendency that when I'm sure that I've packed everything I need or own and leave, halfway along the way the trip, I suddenly remember that I forgot my tooth-brush by the sink, my money on the dresser, or most important of all; my towels."
"Why are towels important?" Fe asked me with a raised eyebrow.
"There are many useful applications you could do with just a simple towel," I said to her. "But I'm not going to get deep into that subject right now, because right now, all I am concern is making sure that I've packed everything before we leave Ponyville."
"Well if you forgot something, you'll probably have to ask Arcana or Star to mail it you, because we need to meet up with Star and Arcana at the Deer camp so that we could say our goodbye's before boarding our train." I contemplated over what Fe said and reluctantly nodded in agreement with her as I picked up my bags and placed them on my back.
When then made our way from the living room and towards the front door, I opened and held it to allow Fe to leave first with a thank you and then with me following after her, but I soon stopped and lifted up my back hoof and sure felt the door slam into it with a thunk. What is up with this door? I thought as I gently guided the door with my hoof till it closed shut with a soft click. I made my way to Fe's side and we started making our way towards the fields outside of Ponyville that has been the home the nomadic tribe of the deer for weeks now.
When we finally made it to the outskirts of Ponyville and then made our way towards the campsite, we saw Star and Arcana conversing with Shadow and Fluttershy a little away from the deer camp that looks like is shrinking as the inhabitants are slowly packing their possessions and homes up. As we got nearer to the two couples, Star probably sensed us coming for he straightway away looked our way and smiled as he gave us a wave with a hoof, causing the others to look in our direction just as we walked up to them all.
"So I take it that you're all packed and ready to go back to Cantorlot," Arcana said as she took note of mine and Fe's bags on our backs.
"Yup, I had a wonderful time here in Ponyville," Fe replied back. "And I also want to thank you again for your help in keeping my customs sacred."
"What happened?" I asked concerned, thinking that something bad might have happened.
"It was nothing serious," Arcana answered, calming my worries. "Pinkie had almost tried to give Fe a hug and a welcome party when she saw her while you, Star, Shadow and Shining were in Los Pegasus and while us girls were hanging around Ponyville, but I quickly cast a shield spell around Fe before Pinkie could make contact with her. She wasn't happy about that, but after I explained to her about Fe customs and beliefs, she was okay with that and apologized before bounding off somewhere."
"Huh, I guess she must've picked up a lesson or two in respecting others' personal space from Doodle then," I commented about the party pony's behavior. "Then I have to thank you as well Arcana for keeping Fe safe, even if it's from an innocent hug."
"Okay stop, it was nothing. So leave it at that and no more apologizing from anypony else or I'll freeze them in Time," Arcana threatened, clearly now annoyed.
"You can actually do that?" Shadow questioned.
"Well... no, at least I don't think so," Arcana answered. "I haven't practiced with my abilities to that extent with Time."
"You've been practicing and when?" Star asked as he looked towards the Time bearer. "Because I haven't seen you using your abilities since the exorcism of Nightmare from Trixie."
Arcana gave Star a look that clearly said 'really?'. "Just because that there's no special effects attached whenever I use my talents doesn't mean that I'm not using them. Surely you must have noticed something weird whenever any of you were around me."
When she said those things, I remembered all of the unexplained things that happened whenever we were around her; suddenly stopping in mid step just as a store sign crashed right in front of her, catching a crate in her magic just as it fell from other stacked crates and from crushing me, even telling Star to move a foot to his left before a cart of cabbages landed on him that fell from the cliff in town, all the while not looking surprised as if she already saw it all coming. "I thought it was all just of Star's bad luck rubbing off onto us and Arcana is the good luck counter force."
"Well that explains- hey, wait minute here!" Star exclaimed but couldn't help laughing as he joined with everypony else in laughter.
When everypony gained control of their laughing, Arcana resumed talking. "I also been practicing other skills with my abilities."
"Like what?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well Fluttershy, do you know the saying 'Time flies'?" Arcana asked the yellow Pegasus and she nodded in response. I saw a small grin appear on Arcana's face before disappearing before our eyes and then suddenly reappearing next to Fluttershy, nearly causing Fluttershy to jump into the air in fright. "For me, I can fly
with
Time," she said as she vanished and appeared next to Star once again, but I noticed this time that she looks slightly tired. "Unfortunately though, it requires of me to have a quite large amount of stamina to keep it up, so I get really tired if I use it for long periods of time or consistently without rest."
"That was a very neat trick there Arcana, how did you do it?" We all looked ahead and there we saw the recognizable doe storyteller of the tribe standing there in front of us. Story walked up to Arcana and stopped right in front of her, where I then saw that she has packs and bundles loaded up on her back. "I didn't see you using any kind of magic for that spell. So tell me, how did you so it?"
"Um, it's kind of hard to explain it fully," Arcana hesitantly said to the doe.
She probably doesn't want to accidentally reveal that she was a human
, at that thought, I glanced at Fe to my side, I wonder what she'll do if she ever finds out that I was a human. The sound of Story's voice drew my attention back her and Arcana.
"Really? The way you did it looked as if you could do it very easily." Story relentlessly continued to get Arcana to reveal the secrets of her abilities.
"Leave the interesting unicorn alone Story," a voice called out, causing all of us to look towards where it came from to see Avian approaching the crowd with similar packs and bundles on his back, but as he came closer all of our attention was drawn to his antlers, for there's a small flock of Murphy birds that's using the bird keeper buck as a roosting rack, I then realized that every single of them are looking in the same direction. I followed their gazes and saw that they're all looking at Star. He must have noticed that as well, for I saw him raise a hoof towards his goggles in preparation for a fast warp if needed. "It is her choice to whether tell you her secrets or not."
"But I'm intrigued here on how she was able to use move from one place to another without the use of spells or magic," Story responded back to the bird keeper as she looked back at him.
"It's still her secret to tell you or not though. So let it go and leave her alone," the bird keeper stated as he finally joined our group. "And besides, if she was willingly to tell her secret to you, there wouldn't be time for it, because we all finished packing up camp and are ready to go."
I looked towards the deer camp at his words and sure enough saw that the only left thing left the once immense deer camp is now a large herd of deer with packs and bundles on their backs while most of the bucks have a small flock of Murphy birds roosting in their antlers like what Avian is doing. The sound the bird keeper buck's voice drew my attention back to him. "All we are waiting for now is for you Story, and you know how Ten-point gets when we overstay at a single site for a single hour."
"Fine, you win, but it's because I don't want to see Ten-point getting his antlers all rattled up." Story stood up and started to make her way to Avian's side. "So are you going to do it already?"
"I'm getting there," Avian responded back to the doe as the Murphy birds looked away from Star and towards Shadow and Fluttershy.
"Do what?" Shadow nervously asked as the buck stepped up to them.
"Well it is customary in our tribe to leave a very special gift at a couple's wedding, but since it was in the clouds and we deer aren't able to walk on clouds, we weren't able to present it to you two right there and then." He reached around to the bundles on his back, causing the small roosting flock of Murphy birds to let out in tintinnabulation from the sudden and removed a small bag from among them in his mouth and placed it in front of the recently married feathered ponies. "So, in representing the whole deer tribe, I give you this gift and wish you both have a wonderful marriage together."
"Why thank you very much," Fluttershy thanked Avian as she sat down and picked up the bag in her front hooves, which caused the drawstring on it to give away and fall down, revealing a cyan colored object with a range of colorful specks on it as if a rainbow had spit on it in the animal caretaker's hooves, however the most notable feature of the object is its recognizable oval shape.
"Is that an..." Shadow trailed off, sounding unsure as he leaned in closer to get a better look at it before looking back at the buck. "An egg?
"Indeed it is," Avian proudly stated with a smile on his face. "And it's a great honor for me to present it to the both of you newlyweds."
"Well thank you Avian," Shadow replied as he looked back at the egg in his wife's hooves. "But may I ask what kind of egg it is? Because I traveled throughout Equestria and I never seen this kind of egg before."
"Well I'll be surprised if you did," Avian said as he made his way back to Story's side. "Because Murphy birds aren't a species of birds native to Equestria and we keep the eggs that they laid till they hatch."
"So wait, you gave us an egg from your tribe's flock of birds?" Shadow questioned, now looking at the colorful egg with a hint of fear in his face and then I remembered what Story told me on how he and Star had accidentally insulted the birds and they responded back with a personal vendetta towards them both, this might cause some problems for Star latter on in the future when that egg hatches.
"Yes we have," Avian confirmed. "We usually present an egg to those that recently got married in our tribe in sign of starting a family, but I have this to say though, they don't usually allow us to give an egg of their flock to others outside of our tribe, so this is quite odd for them since it was them themselves that gave us the egg to give to you as a wedding gift."
"Well that is very kind for you all to do this," Fluttershy thanked the roosting birds in Avian's antlers and they responded back by covering their faces with their wings, I noticed that they all look a little more redder than usual and realized that it's blush and that they're trying to hide it from deer and pony.
"Well I guess that we all now know the reason behind this strange behavior of theirs," Avian commented as he peered up at them with raised eyes as a smirk formed on his face. "I think they that they might like you Fluttershy, because they're never this bashful to any deer or pony." This caused the brightly colored birds to drop their bashful attitude and to give their caretaker a series of bells and clangs, as if they're denying what he said.
"Well that is very sweet of you all," Fluttershy thanked them, causing them to fall silent as she covered the egg in the bag and tying off the drawstring before looking back at the birds and saying, "and once again, thank you for this lovely and wonderful gift." This caused the birds to become even more red as they once more tried to hide their bashful faces in their wings, causing everyone to start laughing at the sight.
"Alright, it's now time for us to leave," Avian said when he regained his composure. "So goodbye and may we meet again sometime in the future." Avian and Story then gave all of a small bow, and then turned to face their herd, but before they even made a step, one of the birds suddenly took off into the air and shot towards Star, causinuĊhim to call out in surprise before the lone flew into his face and latched on.
"Got off of my face you feathered pest," we heard Star yell through the feather body of the Murphy bird as he swung his face around to rid one the causes of his bad luck. Star reached up and grabbed the bird in his hooves and pulled it away from his face, but there we all saw that bird now has the front of his goggles in its peak, causing it to be stretched to its max. The bird let go of the goggle and it quickly snapped back into Star eyes, causing all of us to wince at the assault before us as Star let go of the bird and is now holding his face while letting out cries of pain. Before we could do anything else, the bird that assaulted Star quickly landed on top of Star's head, causing him to faceplant into the grass as we saw the Murphy bird make itself comfortable in the Star's mane, not realizing or maybe just not caring the pain it just caused to the Pegasus its roosting on.
"Get the heck off of me!" Star angerily yelled from the grass before disappearing in a flash of light and reappeared several feet in the air above us, now with the bird in his hooves as he tossed it away from him, but the bird quickly caught the breeze in its wings and swung around and landed on Star's head once more, annoying him some more. "Why are you doing this to me? You already got your vendetta with me and you'll be leaving soon, so why?" Star asked the bird atop his head, but all he got in response was a small chorus of bells.
"Well I'll be buckedshot," Avian said surprised when he heard the chorus of bells and then a smile formed on his face. "Bird lover, do you know what that singing means?"
"I don't know what it means, but what's up with this bird?" Star asked as he once more grabbed the bird in his hooves and threw it away from him, but with the same results of the bird landing on his head. "And willl you stop calling me that already?"
"This has to be the most strangest behavior that any of our birds has ever done," Avian said as he tapped his chin with a cloven hoof. "But then, you're not just a normal Pegasus by any means if I'm correct."
"Please explain to us normal hooved creatures so that we can understand what's going on here please?" Story asked her friend.
"Well to put it simply, that bird has grown quite attached to Star."
"Say what?" Star said stunned as he landed in front of the deer. "Ah heck no, these birds has caused me enough trouble and pain as it is, there is no way I'm going to have a source of bad luck near my already worse luck as it is. You got to take this thing far away from me as possible," he said as he pointed to the mentioned bird on his head.
"I'm sorry," Avian said with a look of defeat on his face. "But there's nothing I, nor any deer or pony, can do when a Murphy bird grows attached to one. You see here Star, even if we were to take the bird with us when we leave, it'll just fly off and make its way back to you, because afterall, they are our source of navigation and thus are able to find their way to almost anywhere if they wanted to."
"This seriously can't be happening to me now." Star shook his head in disbelief as the bird flapped its wings to on his head.
"Don't look at this as some kind of misfortune," Avian spoke up, causing Star to look up at the buck. "Look at this as an honor, for there's something that you should know about these birds Star. We believe that these birds might be more special than they might seem to be."
"More special than being a colorful pain in my rear?" Star sarcastically responded.
"No, not that," Avain said, unfazed about Star's remark. "The reason why we believe these birds are special because even though these birds may appeared to look like normal birds to the naked eye, beneath their colorful feathers and behaviors, they seem to know something about each and every one of our destinies that we might not even know ourselves."
"Why do you say that?" I asked him.
"That I can explain," Story answered me before clearing her throat. "You see here, on that day when our tribal ancestors were lost in lands unknown to them and then came across these birds ancestors, but here's the part where our ancestors weren't sure or not, but when they found them it appeared as if they were waiting for them to arrive."
"That's very interesting," Fe commented.
"But here's the thing that our ancestors were sure about," Story continued. "When our ancestors were guided back to Equestria, that's when they learned that they had instead of leaving our homeland of Equestria, they had somehow left this world entirely."
"Your ancestors left this world," Star repeated as he voiced our thoughts. "How did they know?"
"Well," Story contemplated as if trying to piece something together in her mind. "From what the stories they'd passed down, they described that they felt lost when they were in unknown lands. Now, not physical lost mind you as they're already lost by then, but it was more kind of a spiritual lost as if a piece of themselves were missing. You know what I mean by that right?"
"We believe so," I answered for everypony else and they nodded in agreement.
"Good, now after our ancestors came across these birds and were guided back to the lands of Equestria, they told that they were filled with warm feelings as if a mother had momentarily lost her child before finding it and embracing. We were as if that child and that is were they realized something had occured to our ancestors."
"You left this world somehow," I answered before the doe and she responded back with a nod.
"Correct, but there is also something else that our ancestors realized."
"And what is that?" Fluttershy asked.
"These birds ancestors were not able to get back home to their own world and they knew it, which means that they gave up their home so that we could get back to ours." When Story said that, I noticed that birds in Avian's antlers and on Star's head now have a sad appearance to them as if they're remembering stories of them homeland that their ancestors had probably passed down to them. "That is why we take care and respect them, for if it wasn't for their act of kindness and sacrifice, we and our tibe wouldn't be standing here talking with you all."
"Well I could now see the source of the Murphy birds strange behavior whenever they're around Fluttershy," Arcana spoke up. "Fluttershy currently holds the Element of Kindness and these birds have a connection to it."
"Well I'll be sniped, so that's why the birds are acting bashful around you," Avain said with a smile right before the birds retorted back with a series of bells as the ones on the lower branches of his antlers that's closer to his head started to peak at it at, causing him to wince in pain but never letting the smile fall.
"I'm glad to see that strong bonds of friendship have been made here." We all were startled by the sudden gruff voice, which also caused the birds to stop their barrage on Avian's skull. We all looked towards to where it came from and there we saw Ten-Point, the leader of the deer tribe standing there with a smile on his face. "But unfortuneately, it is time for us to leave for we have prolonged our time to leave Ponyville, and you two all know to well how rattled I can get when we overstay our visit. Was every deer able to say their partings?"
"Yes sir," both Avian and Story said in unison, even the Murphy birds added a few bells in agreement along with them.
"Good, now come. It's time for us to leave." He then look at every one of us before adding with a smile. "But don't worry about your new friends though, for with such strong bonds of friendship I just saw witness here, I'm sure that you all will still remain great friends when we return again to Ponyville and this time our trip isn't going to take a long one like it did before."
"Yes, yes, I know you're filled with joy with that piece of good news," Ten-point said to them before they can say a word as he waved a hoof in the air as smiles lit up on Avian and Story's faces. He looked up into the sky and took note of the sun hanging in it. "But it seriously time for is to leave now."
"Alright sir," the doe and the buck said in unison once again with a joyful smile as the birds ringed in with them. Story and Avian turned back to us all.
"Well, it is time for us to get going and since we don't like saying goodbyes, as it tends to leads to us never seeing each other again." Story said as she bowed to us with Avian following her lead.
"So till we meet again, we wish you luck as you live through your endeavors and lives," Avian finished. We all bowed back to them in return as they straightened themselves and started making their way to the rest of their herd with their chief leader in the lead.
"Wait a quick question," Arcana called out to them, causing them to pause and look back at her. "How long ago was it when your ancestors had themselves lost on another world?"
"It was about close to five hundred years ago give or take," Story answered back. "Oh and before we leave, here's a random funny fact about these birds' ancestors, they could only look in a single direction even if you would be going the opposite way."
"That is interesting," Fluttershy said with a smile.
"Yes it was," Ten-point agreed. "But also a little annoying back then as well since they would only look southward when we needed to go in a different direction. Well see you all till we meet again."
"Till we meet again," Avian and Story voiced back was they waved at us, and we responded back with waves of our own. The three deer made their way to the rest of the herd and there we saw Ten-point motioned towards Avian's birds and they responded by giving a loud horn like call that resonated throughout the nomad deer tribe as other birds in the herd joined in the choir, causing does, bucks, and fawns to look towards where the call generated from. We all saw Ten-point motioned to the birds again and they grew quiet which they were soon followed by the rest of the flock, he then look towards his tribe and there we saw him making an address to the herd, but I couldn't make out what he's saying as the wind took it away before it could reach us.
All of a sudden, we heard a loud cheer coming from the deer tribe as Ten-point said something that they liked and agreed, compelling him to raise a hoof for silence. After the cheering had died down, Ten-point started walking towards them with Story and Avian behind them. As he neared his tribe, we saw them starting to part ways for him like a sea, which they then started to follow their leader as soon as he had walked past them, soon enough the whole nomadic deer tribe was following behind Ten-point. When Ten-point and his tribe was about to go over one of the many hills surrounding Ponyville, he stopped and looked back at us before yelling, "till we meet again."
We then heard every deer repeating his words, "till we meet again." They all faced forward and resumed walking and a few minutes later, we saw the last deer of the deer tribe disappearing behind the hills, leaving me and my friends in the once more empty fields of Ponyville.