In the old foundation of an ancient city, a massive shadow looms over it. As the shadow began to recede, a structure begins to appear. Deep in the shadow a pair of red eyes glares at the surrounding landscape.
“The battle begins anew…. Yes….” a voice spoke out.
Far enough away elsewhere, Applejack, tired from her recent journey’s sent by the Tree of Harmony, slept underneath the shade of a great apple tree, her hat tipped forward to keep the sun’s rays from hitting her face. While summer can bring out a few long weeks of heat stroke, there are a few blessings that help when cherished. Applebloom and the Crusaders left to visit Braeburn at Appaloosa, Big Mac has done a little more to his nightlife than usual such as going to a baseball game with Spike and going on a date with Ms. Cheerilee. Granny Smith did her afternoon walks her and their, usually not going far from Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack’s ear flicked to an unusual sound. Further down the hill, Cosgrove played a homemade didgeridoo. Winona trotted to the sound and cocked her head in confusion. The colt opened one of his eyes and eyeballed the sheepdog as she shuffled back and forth with an occasional bark. He twisted the instrument and rolled his tongue to produce different notes.
Applejack gave a small smirk and slowly went back to sleep. A small circle of light shined on her blonde hair. While okay in a short while, without any wind blowing, she soon shuffled onto her feet. She looked up and found Shnookums pulling back on the tree to feed. Applejack angrily trotted over to the Brobdingnag and bucked him on the leg. The animal merely stepped over and continued feeding. Applejack gave an irritated snarl, bowed her head and-
“Cosgrove!!!!”
That very sound echoed across the farm. Once it ringed into his ear, Cosgrove sputtered out the instrument and looked behind him. Noticing the source of the commotion, he ran as fast as colt legs could take him up the hill.
“Schookums! No! This is not food!”
Schnookums continued to ravenously eat the apple tree as if it didn’t hear a thing. Applejack grabbed the colt and flung him up the tree. Cosgrove climbed up the branches and stuck his head out of the canopy just as Schnookums began to lunge at the next selection of leaves.
“STOOOOOP!!!!”
The colt kept his eyes closed as a slight gust blew his hair back. Opening his eyes, he found Schnookums with his mouth and mask closed. However, instead of giving his surrogate father a sorry look, Schnookums had a rather blank one instead; as an elephant would a mouse. The Brobdingnag looked to his left and walked away out of Sweet Apple Acres. After climbing down from the tree, he is greeted with a harsh look from Applejack.
“This… has gone on… far too long!”
“Hey I stopped him from eating the tree, did I?” Cosgrove said just when a large branch fell behind the farm pony.
“This is the third time he’s done it! And this time he didn’t listen to you the first time.”
“He’s just a kid!”
“He’s a wild animal! Even Fluttershy is having trouble keeping him in line!”
“Because Schnookums doesn’t view her as a parent as her rabbit does!”
Applejack forced his head around to the beast, “Cosgrove, look at him! He’s bigger than the barn, he eats several times that of my livestock, and he was almost killed by that massive lizard! How long are going to keep him cooked up?”
“Until this whole kidnapping thing is solved! Chelsey, Diver, and Zipper were reported missing! For all I know, it could be one of my old Ring Masters trying to get revenge!”
“...You aren’t foolin’ anypony. It’s not the well bein’ of Schnookums, it’s you.”
“What do you mean…?”
Applejack merely turned around with her head aloof.
“That is somethin’ you need to find for yerself. In the meantime, I suggest you leave.”
Cosgrove drew his ears back, looked at the ground and tensed his facial muscles before looking at Applejack again.
“Fine… I need a break anyway.”
Applejack eyed behind her as Cosgrove turned and left the farm. Cosgrove kept looking at the ground as he walked through the town center, not minding the looks the adults gave him as he walked. When he walked to his house, he reared up on his hind legs and smacked the door open.
“Not about Schnookums, it’s just you. Hmph! I’ve been working my rear end off just to keep Schookums off the hit list! It’s just hard enough without being berated like that! If she can’t handle it, fine! I can always find another friend. It’s not like I am the only one with-”
That one last sentence stopped him for a moment. He sat down on the floor and looked at his hooves and the dewclaws that nestle to their sides. He then looked at the photos of him, his friends from both Ponyville and the Barn and Bayly Circus. Grabbing a dry erase marker, he circled their legs. Though he is a pony, all of his pals have just one solid toe. Granted Zipper does have eight legs, but then that is what all Sleipners possess. Cosgrove is the only one that he knows to have more than just on toe on each leg.
“Yet Night Dancer still took me in.”
He looked out the window in the general direction to Sweet Apple Acres. Cosgrove couldn’t come back, not right now given his recent argument. The summer is still long, but there is something he could do. He waited until the evening before walking into the Everfree Forest. Cosgrove continued to along the path until he reached the ruins of the old castle.
Walking into what used to be the library, Cosgrove looked at the books starting with the letter R, but couldn’t find one regarding the races. Stepping away from the shelf, he eyed a book in the A section, high up among the first books. He grabbed a ladder and leaned it onto the shelf. Climbing to the top, he grabbed the book “Almanac of Equestria.” Attempting to read while on the ladder, the thing supporting the pony gave in to his weight. Cosgrove screamed as he fell, his eyes closed shut as he felt something support him. Opening his eyes, he found the object that saved him was Zecora.
“Away from home when it is late to roam?”
“Oh hi Zecora." Cosgrove is placed back on the ground "What brings you here?”
The Zebra opened her saddlebag and showed him some very fresh herbs, “I was gathering herbs for some tea when you I did see.”
Zecora eyed the book. “You have gone very far to discover just what you are.”
As she sat down next to the colt, Cosgrove flipped through the pages, each with a picture and text dedicated to the information of each race.
“Camel, Chimera, Dragon, Elephant, Giraffe, Goat, Griffon, Hipparion, Hippo-”
Cosgrove flipped back a page and found it: his people, his bloodline, his ancestors. The picture was a Renaissance style art. The text read as followed:
Avg. Height: 1.2 meters
Avg. Weight: 300 lbs
Specific traits: Three toes on each foot, slight gracile build compared to Earth Ponies of a similar size, stripes on the back, adult males sport facial hair on the chin, advanced aged individuals do show grey on the muzzle and tips of the mane.
Other notes: Produce a diverse set of vocals aside from language and song. Somewhat adventurous compared to their single toed cousins. While nowhere near as fast as Pegasi or Sleipnir, Hipparion are faster than Earth Ponies and Horses, but because they run only half as far as said races.
History: Like a majority of the races in this Almanac, Hipparion were once widespread all over the land known as Equestria. Their hoof prints were found as far south as Northern Appaloosa. It’s unknown what caused the Hipparion to be missing while other pony kinds and other races have recovered from the cataclysms. I presume that this was the result of competition; the ponies with a single toe have divulged into many forms that could fly, swim in the depths, and most importantly use magic while the Hipparion merely resembled a Zebra from a distance. I do hope that somepony finds a population living somewhere just as their ancestors have several centuries before them.
Cosgrove continued to eye the section. his identity as a race was solved, but now there are now many new questions popping into his head. Since the book is obviously dated, then how does it explain him, the smoking gun of his folk, walking among others? The same question applying just the same with Schnookums and Discord.
“A question’s answer is hard to find, maybe then will you find more of your kind.” Zecora looked up to find the sky become a dark violet. “But the time will have to wait, it is late.”
The two got up from the floor, Cosgrove lifted the book with his mouth and took it with him. Crossing the bridge of the old castle and into the Everfree Forest. Cosgrove had much on his mind, but the first thing to do is to apologize to Applejack. And then it would be finally time… Time to release Schnookums out into the wild, if he hasn’t already...
Suddenly, the two ponies heard rustling.
“Alright men! Time to split up.” Looking from behind the bushes Zecora and Cosgrove saw a pack of mountain goats clad in armor.
“Grogar wants prized fighters this time, so nothing smaller than a Timberwolf! And double the bounty for those who capture the Brobdingnag!”
This is a new upstart for them. There are indeed goats in Equestria, but Mountain Goats, especially those of high muscular build, haven’t roamed Equestria in quite some time. And why would they want fighters? The two ponies began to step back, but as Cosgrove turned around, he was hit hard in the head and knocked out.