//------------------------------// // June 17th - Part 2 and June 18th // Story: Perils of a Merpony: A Ponies after People Tale // by kitten_girl86 //------------------------------// The campus sprawled outwards from where they stood and looked around. Big open grass areas intersected by concrete paths and mostly white buildings sprawled outwards. Kathryn could hear & feel the ocean breeze even from there as it blew through her coat and she could smell the salty air. Kathryn serenely watched as the breeze drifted through the palm trees that were scattered in the immediate vicinity. The silence was suddenly shattered. “Avast ye landlubbers! Who be in charge here??” Patrick’s booming voice ricocheted off the nearby walls, the RV and few scuttling clouds overhead. A screech much like a hawk answered from a cloud far above them before a large shadow dove down to meet the merponies. The creature landing on paws & claws, Kathryn saw that it was a griffon! It was clearly a she but not much else could be determined just by observation. She had the front claws that acted very much like human hands and she was very apt at sitting on her haunches. She was speaking into a light blue set of headphones with a feminine but scratchy voice and kept tapping the outside with a claw. “Hey Jazz.... got me three ponies at the Head house,” she said into the microphone followed by a pause. “Well, one looks like you but no wings; the other two are totally weird... riding some kind of PVC pipe set up like wheelchairs; he’s got wings and other’s got a pointy thing on her head.” This was followed by another pause by the griffon as she turned away from Kathryn, Sarah and Patrick and stared up at the clouds. “Yeah, yeah, ok.... drop it would ya?” She turned back to the three as she pressed a button on the side of the headphones. “Welcome to Campus City. My name is Griz. I am the co-founder and my other half shall return when she is finished with her chores. May I ask what brought you three here?” she asked in a monotone. Sarah & Patrick exchanged raised eyebrows as Kathryn stepped forward. “We are three merponies who wish to start a colony out in the ocean off your shores.” “Merponies, huh?” Griz asked skeptically. Patrick, starting to feel like this griffon might try to give them the brush off, came forward and threw off the wet towel covering his tail and turned side-on to her. She looked at it like it was nothing exciting, shrugged and then turned to the nearest building. “Meh, alright then... come on inside and we can wait for Jazz to return.” Griz led them down a path and into a nearby building; she then led them to what appeared to be a lounge area covered in so many pillows and cushions from what was probably every couch & bed in the campus! Kathryn watched as Griz opened a fully functioning broken-into vending machine. “What drinks do ya want?” she asked abruptly. “Pepsi,” said Patrick. “Iced tea, please,” said Sarah. “I’ll have a root beer, thanks,” said Kathryn. It had been weeks since any of them had a cold pop and it was very refreshing as Kathryn helped Sarah & Patrick to undo their wheelchair straps and make them comfortable on the couches. Sarah noticed the straw dispenser on a nearby counter and used her levitation to place them in each of the pop cans, including Griz’s Dr Pepper. “So... where are you folks from?” Griz asked looking from Sarah & Patrick on the couch to Kathryn who had curled up on a spot of the floor. “I'm from the Boston, MA colony; renamed Harbor City. Sarah is from Henrietta, NY colony; renamed Farmville. Kathryn, down there, is from Brantford, Ontario, Canada; completely abandoned.” Patrick used his hoof to point to each pony in question and what was left behind. “I'm glad to hear of more people still sticking it out... but why did you three come all the way down here?” she asked. “We’re merponies and we felt like we belonged in the ocean... but the water off the shore of Boston would not remain summer for very long, so we wanted to come down here,” Sarah explained. Those thoughts rolled around in Griz’s mind as Sarah used her magic to pull out the shared tablet to write a quick entry. Griz could not miss the action. “There’s no point to those anymore. Internet doesn’t work,” she said pointing a claw (like a finger) at the device. “How many times do I have to keep telling you, Griz? Tablets are not just for internet! Maybe she’s bored of you already and wants to play Solitaire,” said a new voice from the front entrance. Griz rolled her eyes and the merponies’ shrunk in surprise. The pony was a mare... a pegasus mare with dark purple body, freckles, yellow hoof tips & muzzle; a streaked mane & tail of a slightly lighter dark purple and lighter yellow. She wore a modified red collared sleeveless shirt, matching red rimmed glasses (with no lenses) and a black band watch on her left front hoof. “Kathryn, Sarah, Patrick; meet my co-founder and thorn-in-my-side, Jazz.” The griffon pointed a claw at each merpony as she said their name before gesturing to the new pony. “It’s a pleasure to meet ya folks,” she said nodding to Sarah & Patrick. “I'm sorry... I can see how they are merponies, but you missy, look different.” Jazz looked right at Kathryn, who was forced to glance up. Sarah smiled and Patrick smirked knowingly as Kathryn activated her magic. Kathryn watched haughtily as Jazz’s frames slid down her face and both were frozen with surprise. She allowed herself a good long, full body stretch before turning back. “When I have all four legs, I'm called an Earth pony. Patrick and yourself, Jazz, are pegasi and Sarah is a unicorn. Griz, here, is a griffon and although our first one, not the most outlandish we’ve seen on our journey.” Kathryn proceeded to fill in both griffon and pegasus on their whole entire journey, Patrick helping with the Boston part of the story while Sarah worked on her journal entry; after she explained to Griz and Jazz the purpose of having it. June 17th, 2015 @ 8 PM – Biscayne Bay Campus, Miami, Florida; renamed “Campus City” ~ Written by Sarah Dear Journal, We’ve arrived at what appears to be a former university campus being slowly converted into a colony. There are only two people here so far; a pegasus with interesting fashion sense to compliment her interesting colors (lacking a cutie mark) and a griffon with a sour attitude. If these two, Jazz and Griz, are the ones will be working with to create this merpony colony, this shall be interesting. –Sarah Later that night, Kathryn pulled out all of their food coolers and started sorting everything inside. She pulled out everything she’d need to make a five-pony-salad and brought it inside to the lounge. Griz had disappeared about half hour prior; just as Kathryn began to wash the produce, Griz returned carrying four pre-cleaned & fire roasted fish. The smell almost made Kathryn gag but she managed to hold it down. Jazz trotted over and quickly placed the fish under a meal cover they had scavenged from a hotel. “Yeah, sorry about that; we learned early on that Griz can eat meat but that I can’t and the smell makes me gag. Hence, the meal cover; most times she’ll just eat outside on the roof or something but we kinda wanted to have a meal in here tonight...” Kathryn noticed that the meal cover really did work to hide the smell... at least until Griz would go to remove it and consume. Kathryn prepared a veggie salad with lettuce, carrots, celery, radishes, cauliflower, cabbage, and cucumbers before making a large bowl of mashed potatoes (used water instead of milk for mixing) while Jazz kept herself busy with a sliced fruit salad of apples, pears, strawberries, cantaloupe, kiwi, apricots & dates as well as a large platter of large watermelon wedges and freshly squeezed orange juice (from a juicer that was clearly liberated from a hotel). Jazz directed Kathryn to set the large square table that had been set in the middle of the room while she prepared a few more platters of granola bars, crackers with peanut butter (checking with Kathryn on the possibility of any allergies), and a large dinner plate of plain chocolate Chips Ahoy (most likely for Patrick to make a joke at). Griz raised an eyebrow at the state of the table when Jazz finally called them all to dinner. “Oh sure... we pig out on a feast and then who gets to go salvaging?” she asked rhetorically. “I've told you Griz... I am getting the hang of driving the bus; I can go,” Jazz said as she carefully placed the large jug of OJ on the table. But Griz was already shaking her head. “Nuh uh! I ain’t pulling your sorry arse out of another crashed car! You just got lucky that car you wrecked didn’t have an air bag,” she said as she took off the food cover from her fish and started eating them by claw. The three merponies looked up surprised at Jazz. “You crashed a car trying to drive?” Kathryn asked. Jazz appeared embarrassed. “I had only gotten my beginner’s two weeks before the day I woke up like this.” Patrick & Sarah seemed to pale and while not very adverse on the driving age of the USA, she knew that this meant that Jazz was pretty young. After a pause, Patrick shrugged. “Karen was younger,” he said simply. Jazz & Griz, having already been told about Patrick’s friends, simply nodded with Kathryn & Sarah. “I am obviously able to drive so I can take Jazz out tomorrow for supplies,” Kathryn said casually. Jazz nodded eagerly as Griz nodded agreement. The discussion then turned to other matters more at hoof/claw like sleeping arrangements. Kathryn expressed her desire to keep using her RV until the ocean colony could be built. The other two weren’t as enthusiastic for the idea of staying on land, but at the same time not ready for the ocean. “There is a fitness center inside in the building next door and it's got a pool. The chlorine water has, strangely, long since evaporated through the vents but we have a fire truck that can pump ocean water from our beach and pipe it back into the pool,” Jazz said. “Yes please!” shouted Patrick & Sarah at the same time, making everyone jump and then laugh. At the end of dinner, Patrick & Sarah offered to wash the dishes while Jazz put the leftovers away, Griz went out to refill the indoor pool with the liberated fire truck & open a few of the side windows to let the breeze in; Kathryn disconnected & expanded the RV for her long term comfort, grabbing the tablet on her way out. “I guess we’re here to stay, Raea.” Kathryn spoke out loud but the dog barely looked up from her newly acquired chew bone (from a very nearby pet store while Kathryn had taken her for a walk off campus). June 17th, 2015 @ 9:45 PM – Campus City Dear Journal, We’ve arrived at Miami to find a colony of two. I'm not sure when we’ll be starting the ocean colony but I do know that Patrick & Sarah’s homes will be priorities. I can keep living in my RV for as long as is needed (and maybe even longer). But I don’t think that they’re inclined to remain living in a swimming pool that has to be emptied and refilled each night. :P –Kathryn Early the next morning, Kathryn was woken by an excited Jazz who was eager to get going on the salvaging operation. “The earlier we leave, the sooner we get back,” she had said as she poured a mug of coffee. Kathryn found herself in need of the drink if she knew she was going to be driving a lot. After a quick breakfast of granola bars and an apple, Kathryn, Jazz & Raea loaded up in the Campus City modified medium sized diesel school bus and headed out. Jazz pulled out a map of Miami that showed every grocery store and gas station circled in green and any already scavenged crossed in red. “Looks like we’re going farther out today,” Jazz said as she plucked a gel pen from an inside pocket. “Point me in the right direction of your farthest location. We have lots of time so we might as well go as far as we can,” Kathryn said as she put the school bus into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. Neither pony said much during the drive other than the odd driving instruction. Raea contented herself with chewing her bone in the back seat while the crossbow & quiver sat in the middle between the ponies. At one point the silence was beginning to bug Kathryn so she, habitually, stopped at a red light, grabbed the smaller tablet she only used for grocery lists & music, setting up the latter to play out loud. A random play list of human music came from the tablet as Kathryn put her hoof down on the gas, running the red light. Songs like “Waiting on the World to Change”, “Pocketful of Sunshine”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Macarena”, “Pop 101”, “Radioactive”, and “Sea of No Cares” played out as Kathryn drove and hummed along. Took them about an hour to reach the mall she intended to liberate. The mall contained two groceries and a dollar store. A nearby placed named Neat Meat made Kathryn shiver as she pulled the truck right up to the front doors. Between the two groceries, they managed to salvage 30 cases of water bottles, 21 of the 4L bottles and eight of the water cooler jugs; all of the produce had long gone bad but cereals, crackers, and granola bars were still good. Then, while Jazz collected up the bars & Raea stayed with her, Kathryn wandered the other aisles. She found herself humming along the chorus of “Viva La Vida” while checking cans of food. A thought crossed her mind. “Hey Jazz,” Kathryn said. “Yeah?” came from the other side. “I can’t remember... does that kitchen of yours come with an electric stove top and pots?” Kathryn asked, not taking her eyes off the shelves. “Yeah, we do, why?” came the reply. Kathryn grabbed a few cans of pasta sauce, bags of pasta, and cans of soup including chicken for Griz. “I've got an idea that might provide us with more food options.” Just then, Jazz came around the corner with her own grocery cart already full with the bars, crackers and such. She saw what Kathryn was pulling down. “In the earlier days, Griz would simply go to the ocean and I’d content myself with simple salads and fruits. I didn’t know how to cook anything except chicken strips and fries... and now that chicken was out for me, I didn’t think to make more French fries.” She left her cart and suddenly galloped to the frozen section. Kathryn thought her brave for venturing down there. Jazz came back with four large bags of French fries on her back. “I found these in the freezer room of the back storage. I figure that they might still be good and it could not hurt to try,” she said as she placed them in the child seat of her cart. “Might hurt if they’ve gone bad,” Kathryn said as she approached the cart and tapped a hoof at the bag to find it surprisingly still not just frozen, but frozen-solid! “Well, if the kitchen has some trays, we can give them a shot.” Kathryn had also grabbed every bag of chips & such from the snacks aisle. Feeling impulsive, she grabbed a pack of Skittles, tore them open with her teeth and popped a few in her mouth. She chewed for a moment as Jazz walked up to her. “They ok?” Jazz asked. “Meh,” Kathryn said with a shrug. “Not the best of foods but a sweet treat.” Kathryn found the same for chocolate and gummies. It was not long before Kathryn found herself hoofing a bag of peanuts as the pegasus was appearing to slow down. “Eat. You pegasi ponies burn a lot more calories than the rest of us so you need to eat more often. Patrick pigged out on cookies on the whole way down here.” After loading up the bus from both places, they drove up the street to a third grocery store to grab more of the same. Nearby, Kathryn found a tree nursery and went to check it out. She found three apple trees and carefully loaded them into the bus. “Only a matter of time before our produce runs out and we’ll need to grow more. As an Earth pony, I have some kind of magic to help plants grow faster; Amy from Farmville told me so. Go see if you can find some other fruit trees,” she said pointing a hoof further down the lines of trees. By the end of their search, they had 30 different apples, 17 orange, 18 pear and 15 banana trees loaded into the back of the bus, pots carefully covered in pieces of tarps and the trees lying on their sides. Kathryn’s limited contact had made a few of them to bloom flowers in an instant, surprising Jazz. They backtracked and found a co-op where they could find seeds, soil, and (ironically) a horse drawn plow among other things. Later, they found a store that sold storage sheds. “It’s a good thing you hooked up your flatbed to the bus,” Jazz said as Kathryn used a forklift to load the biggest of the pre-fabricated sheds onto the flatbed. “Hey, even if I had not, all we’d have to do is go next door,” Kathryn said pointing a hoof over her shoulder. Jazz looked to see a lot full of trailers. Jazz had an unnerving urge to give herself a face hoof. They passed over another two malls on their way back mainly because they did not contain a grocery store. The Kmart brought back some memories for Kathryn as soon as they walked in the door. There had been a Kmart in Brantford back when she was a child and she still had memories of getting separated from her mother at six years old. Thankfully, her mother had made sure she was at least a little street smart and knew exactly what to do. She had gone up to the lady at the jewelry display and told her that her mom had lost her. The lady had asked for Kathryn’s mother’s name and got on the PA system to call her mom to come to the jewelry section. Her mom had been so proud of her for remembering what to do; she had been taken out for ice cream as reward and she never had to wear that awful wrist bungee band anymore after that. (3) The store even smelled the same! That Brantford store had closed when Kathryn was in her 12th year and replaced with something else that had not lasted as long before turned into something else. That store no longer smelled or looked like this. “Are you ok, Kathy?” Jazz asked, worry in her voice. Kathryn cleared her throat and rubbed the tears from her eyes. “Oh, it’s nothing... just reliving some memories. Just great that Sarah is passing off her habits,” Kathryn said, a little irritated. “Let’s just get this over with...” They grabbed another 12 cases of water bottles, 7 of the 4L bottles, and 3 water cooler jugs – Jazz explained that this area of town would not likely have many people using those and that they were lucky to find what they did. A Home Depot provided another two gennies for them to use; another 12 gas stations got the fuel stabilizer & stickers (with Sarah’s magic writing pre-dated on each one) on their way back to campus and both gennies were filled to the brim. Kathryn thought about a lot of things but one had been tossed around for a while. She hit pause on her music and turned to Jazz. “All day yesterday, we talked about us merponies... but what about you and Griz? How did you two meet? Who was it that decided to set up the colony at the campus?” “Oh! That was all Griz. I'm actually not from Miami... I came north from Key West two days after I woke on May 30th. Griz has been here since day one. He... err, she... was an employee of the campus before the Event.” Jazz worried that her slip up had been noticed. But it had been. Kathryn stomped her hoof on the brake pedal, letting the tires squeal and the bus slide a little on the pavement. She turned to Jazz very slowly and methodically. “He? HE? Griz is a HE??” she asked incredulously. Jazz sighed. “No, she WAS a he... I'm sorry. He asked me to not say anything to you ponies. He doesn’t want the confusion. He thought that if it stayed between him and me, no one else would need to know. He would not try to mate and the knowledge would die with us.” Silence reigned for a time inside the bus before Kathryn let up the pedals and let the bus continue down the road. “What is his full name?” Kathryn finally asked. “Arthur Grizwald,” said Jazz. “Oh, and before you ask, I really am a girl... before and after.” “So are the three of us, so far as I know,” Kathryn replied. Being gone all day, Jazz & Kathryn were too tired to plan anything special for dinner from their salvaging. Griz, Patrick and Sarah met them at the front entrance to help them unload everything. They were surprised to see a shed on the flatbed and all of the trees in the back of the bus. “I have plans to convert a section of flat land into an orchard,” Kathryn said simply. For the time being, they simply unhitched the trailer, moving it to the side and stand up all of the trees nearby in groups. Patrick & Sarah loaded all of the stuff onto trolleys they had from the campus’ cafeteria and moved it all inside to the kitchen area. They were surprised to see the pasta stuff but said nothing for now. Griz wasted no time at getting one of the new gennies hooked up to a small freezer and setting the second in storage until it was needed. “Jazz, if you and Griz don’t object to it, I’d like to get the orchard planted tomorrow. Sarah, I could really use your help on that. Patrick, if you, Jazz and Griz could fly out and start scouting a spot for the ocean colony, we could start working on that by the day after.” Kathryn had kinda taken charge but Griz did not seem to mind... at least until Kathryn hooked a hoof around her front leg and dragged her into a nearby men’s bathroom. She slammed the door shut, locking it in the process and practically dragged her to the back of the stalls. “Jazz let slip the truth while we were out in the bus. You’re a guy before this all happened,” Kathryn said bluntly. Griz’s wings popped open in surprise and she stammered to explain herself but was cut short by a swipe of Kathryn’s hoof. “I don’t care Griz... this thing did a lot to us and I frankly don’t care. What I do care about is secrets. I made the mistake of keeping one from a pony and I nearly lost him as a friend. I don’t want that to happen between us, land and sea. If you want history to remember you as a girl, that’s fine. We’ll keep using the female pronouns in the journal entries. But if you want, I can refer to you as male. But you must tell the other two the truth and let them decide for themselves.” Griz dropped her wings slowly and nodded her head. “I don’t care which you use in person but I want the history books to show female. It would be less confusion and I had left Arthur behind. And I’ll tell the others,” she said. “Good. I’ll send them in one at a time to see you.” Kathryn walked out of the washroom. Moments later, Patrick walked in, a little lost. And so it began. Patrick was very understanding and loved the idea of having a bro back. Sarah said she needed some time. Jazz had found a tray and made a bag of French fries just fine in the oven, maybe over cooking them slightly just to be sure. Kathryn drowned her's in ketchup while others used vinegar or melted cheese. No one experienced any problems that night after dinner so that meant that they were still good. Griz volunteered to do the dishes by herself so the rest of us could get some sleep early. No one raised a fuss. June 18th, 2015 @ 8:30 PM – RV parked at Campus City Dear Journal, Jazz & I had gone out to salvage; got a bunch of trees to start an orchard tomorrow that Sarah & I are going to plant. We also got a storage shed for the gardening stuff; the fliers are going ocean scouting tomorrow. We learned something surprising about Griz today. We’ve come to an understanding and she’s good with it. Raea seems to like the campus. Lots of trees for her to pee on and squirrels to chase! :P –Kathryn PS. Jazz has already started calling me Kathy. I'm not sure if I'm happy with that or not.