Perils of a Merpony: A Ponies after People Tale

by kitten_girl86

October 20th, 2015

Over time, things had mellowed out somewhat. Griz had arrived at Alexandria and was given permission to begin her research.

One discussion, however, over an average pancake breakfast, had lit a bit of a fire under the pony's rumps. Sarah had noticed that as the season was slightly changing, there were more clouds in the sky and that meant less solar power was being produced. They knew the coal & nuclear power plants were out so they started checking directories until they found a pair of wind farms not far from them. Was there a way they could go to the former Quantom & East Wind Farms LLC*, get them running again and somehow send the power directly to Campus City?

After traveling to the City of Miami's maintenance facility and perusing the manuals, Dr Jamie and Li Lang were able to figure out how to turn off the grids to only the sections they needed to go directly from East Wind Farm to Biscayne Bay University but left them alone for now. They also found industrial battery charger and batteries that could be hooked up to store excess power for emergencies and vehicles; those returned immediately to the animal building and another smaller conference room was converted. Dr Jamie & Li also went around to other unused buildings in the campus to shut them off the grid, saving time later.

As it turned out, East Winds was also a show rider training facility so when the ponies finally made the trek, Dr Jamie was ecstatic to get his hooves on everything he might need to keep the ponies all healthy.

Sadly, they find in a back field a large line of what appear to be large hoof-scraped graves. Kathryn could feel a sadness from that area of the farm and she knew that those were the horses that had not survived being without humans to care for them. Some late blooming flowers had already sprung up from the graves. A few of the more wild and young horses were still running around the paddocks and meadows, just enjoying the early autumn sunshine.

Stall doors had been bucked off their hinges and lay haphazardly inside the stable. Li immediately began removing them to stack neatly against an outside wall.

One tack room had clearly been emptied by a pony and had been temporarily converted into a bedroom, with a large trough of hay covered with a horse blanket and another trough of water placed near the door. The water trough had a thick layer of dust on it so it had been a long time since any pony had come this way. Jazz made quick work to making the room more comfortable, including leaving behind a 4L water bottle and emptying the water trough, thoroughly cleaning it and covering with a dust cloth.

The farm house had a swimming pool but the water had long gone bad and evaporated. A thick layer of scum and algae coated the pool from the bottom up, giving off a stink that made the ponies back away from. The doors of the house were solid oak and even Kathryn & Dr Jamie had a hard time breaking one down; it was no wonder the random pony had slept in the stable; especially if they had not been earth ponies. Once inside however, they found no deceased pets and lots of canned preserves in a large pantry of the basement. As Sarah & Li carefully collected the cans into crates, Kathryn left a note on the kitchen table for any returning ponies, telling of what happened, why their food was missing and where to find Campus City.

(Patrick, Jazz and Annie had been left behind at U1 to keep an eye on the place as well as go around the neighborhoods, following a grid map Li had printed out of where to disconnect the houses & buildings from the grid they were going to need. One of the fliers would lift Annie to the switch and she'd use her earth pony-side strength to pull it down, shutting it off. Despite her small size, she's very strong! wrote Jazz in the pony journal later that night. Not all houses could be shut off from the grid and they were left with a long string of houses, businesses & other buildings just down the street and opposite from the entrance to Campus City, from the south end of that street ALL the way to the junction west of East Winds, and then east to the farm.(1) Kathryn had said that was ok but didn't say why at the time. She'd write in the land pony journal later: At some point in the future, I would hope that Campus City would expand out of the campus and back into the real houses again. But I also have a little something else in mind, a little closer to now.)

When everything was ready, Dr Jamie & Kathryn flipped the switch at the Farm sending the power (from only three turbines) down the single line to the main power grid station where Jazz & Li flipped their switch to send it to Campus City. Patrick, Sarah, and Annie waited outside of U1 with baited breath, having turned off the supply from the solar panels. Everything was dark one minute, and when the signal went out, everything lit up bright as day again! Sarah practically screamed excitedly into their radio that it worked. More pony shouting and cheering could be heard in return. The dogs barked and howled at the excitement from the ponies.

All the lights in U1, animal building; the street lights from there to the Farm were glowing bright and the whirring sound of the industrial battery charger could already be heard sending extra power to the new Coast Guard boat batteries. (Replacement bulbs for the street lights would be found at a warehouse not that far from the main power grid station and could also be taken from unused side streets. Jazz would add that to her occasional patrol checks, making sure they were all in good working order.)

Man-made light had been returned to Campus City, six months after "man" vanished from Earth.

---

By October 19th, the night pony Griz had met on her journey had not yet shown up at Campus City but the mysterious blue irises still continued to appear. Kathryn began to wonder if it was the night pony leaving them behind but she could not see why. In the end, it was decided that the night pony was shy and nervous being around other ponies after being alone for so long. Griz had informed them that night ponies could eat fish so every couple of nights, Dr Jamie* would use Griz's BBQ and make some cooked fish and they'd leave it on a dinner tray outside at night for her. _{*(the only one with the stomach to do it)} By the next morning, the fish would be picked clean and Max would be found burying the bones out in the forest.

The morning of October 20th found the land ponies & Kathryn at the front door of U1 staring wide-eyed at a dark grey haired, bright royal blue eyes, black night mare with no cutie mark. She wore a pair of children's backpacks poorly tied together over her back and a blue iris flower was carefully placed in the crook of her left ear. "I was once called Maria Theresa but now I only answer to Midnight Iris, or simply Iris for short. I was told to come here by a bird-lion named Griz, and I do thank you for making me the fish; I will be taking care of that from now on. Does your building, by chance, have a dark windowless basement?" Her voice was indeed feminine but also very tired.
That was when Kathryn remembered that night ponies were nocturnal and it was likely Iris's bed time. Poking Jazz & Dr Jamie to wake them from their staring, Kathryn came forward and took the backpacks in her mouth and started to lead Iris inside.

Swinging the heavy backpacks onto her own back, and barely feeling any weight to them, Kathryn started speaking to Iris about the few basement offices they could easily convert for her. Dr Jamie ran off to one of the storage offices and piled a pair of dorm mattresses onto his back. Li made a quick tray of a salad, granola bars, an apple and a cup of orange juice and carried this in her magic.

The room Iris picked had the smallest window of the bunch and it was fairly close to the main stair case. The room had once been a janitorial staff room complete with a futon couch that Kathryn easily dropped down. Dr Jamie replaced the futon mattress with the two he carried and Li left the tray on a nearby table. Kathryn gently set the backpacks on the futon bed and turned to Iris. "We hope you have a good day sleep. We will talk more tonight," Kathryn bowed respectfully and ushered the other two out.

In the hall, Jazz had been watching the whole thing. "Will the stranger be staying?" she asked. "At least for the day," Kathryn said as Li used her magic to close the door. "No one is to disturb her unless there's a fire in the building or Jazz senses a hurricane coming."

The other land ponies got on with their chores while Kathryn went down to Bermareda Circle to tell Sarah, Patrick and Annie about the new pony. Ever since the flag ceremony, the merponies had been spending all of their time under the ocean; only venturing to U1 when they needed any supplies. A special underwater speaker had been set up at BC ship so the land ponies could warn BC if a hurricane was coming but only to be used in emergency. In this case, Kathryn decided to check in herself to see how things were going.

Being back in the water was a strange sensation to Kathryn. "Perhaps I'm spending too much time on land?" she wondered to herself as she sped through the canal. Upon arriving at the circle, Annie raced out to meet her.

"KATHRYN!! Where have you been?? I haven't seen you in forever!" the small merpony squealed in delight. Annie's forward speed caused them both to drift back a few meters before a powerful flick of Kathryn's tail reversed the action. "Has there been any word on my mom and dad?" she whispered, carefully making sure Sarah could not see her face. Kathryn sadly shook her head no; Annie gave a single nod and then plastered on a happy face before turning back to Sarah and Patrick.

"Actually, I come bearing other news. The night pony Griz met has finally arrived. She goes by Midnight Iris and she's nocturnal," Kathryn said. "What does noct-urn-al mean?" Annie asked. "Nocturnal means they sleep by day and awake at night.... just like bats and hermit crabs and the barracudas, remember?" Patrick said as he swam close enough to take hold of Annie and tickle her playfully. "Oh yes! I remember now. 'We merponies are diurnal, we are awake in the day; the eels are nocturnal, they are awake in the night.'" Annie recited as if from a school lesson. Patrick rewarded her with more tickles along her belly.

Kathryn and Sarah exchanged a look; Annie was a very smart girl and Sarah was clearly continuing her schooling despite the situation. Kathryn gave Sarah an encouraging nod; Sarah blushed in response. Kathryn found out later that it was Jazz who provided the reading material to Sarah via the BC Ship, which Sarah was using as a school. Kathryn promised to keep an eye out for more things while she's out and about, agreeing to send it with Jazz.

Kathryn told the group to come to dinner at U1 that night to meet Iris and bring some fish. "Iris is like Griz.... needs her meat," she said with a laugh. "Ah yes, we got some annoying invasive (species) of Red Lionfish schools swimming around here.... maybe if we thin out the herd, they'd get lost?" Patrick said with a gleam in his eye. He wore an impressive fishing spear strapped to his back between his wings. Annie clearly knew what an invasive species was and she joined in the laughter.

Satisfied that the merponies knew of Iris and would be more than happy to help provide fish for her diet, Kathryn took her leave and headed back to U1. She paused by a pod of dolphins and waved a hoof in their direction. Like all animals on land, aquatic animals had gained much more intelligence and this pod was common to the area. They recognized the merponies as a new species to the world's oceans and gladly accepted them as their own. Sharks and orca sadly only saw mer/ponies as a new food source.

Late in the evening, Midnight Iris emerged from her basement room, walked past all ponies in the common room and made her way outside. Standing in the grass, bathed in the light of a first quarter moon, Iris fully stretched and breathed in deeply of the cool night air, finishing with a full body shake - the same kind the dogs use after getting wet.

Suddenly, light filtered outside from the front open door and all the ponies came outside, carrying various objects on their backs, in magic fields or in mouths. Li Lang carefully laid out a HUGE black and white checkered picnic blanket on the grass; Jazz carried a big basket of mixed fruits including apples, oranges, pears, grapes and slices of watermelon; Kathryn & Dr Jamie each bore a large tray of plain French Fries; Annie came along with a basket in her mouth, the contents including condiments such as ketchup, vinegar, salt, pepper, and hot sauce just to name a few; Sarah's wheel cart carried two baskets of dishes and glassware, her magic carried each a pot of coffee & pot of tea; Patrick's cart had napkins, a jug of orange juice, one of the 4L water bottles, three pre-wet towels draped over his back and a small Styrofoam container sat on top of the towels.

Iris stood in surprise as all the ponies laid everything out on the cloth, making sure her spot was down wind from them before Patrick presented the Styrofoam container, Li opening it with her magic to reveal two identically sized Lionfish, cooked to perfection. Then Sarah, Patrick & Annie all took off their wheel sets with help from Li and draped the wet towels over the tails. Jazz began handing(?) out the cheap plastic plates and the plastic cups for everypony to start digging in. Sarah brought out a small pickle jar of sea water actually containing sea weed she had been growing. She, Patrick & Annie added them to their plates as a side dish.

With the merponies already chowing down, Dr Jamie, Jazz, Li and Kathryn all joined them and Li used her magic on a spatula to dish out the fries to each plate. Sarah used her own magic to levitate the coffee and tea pots around, then doing the same for the OJ and water. Kathryn finally noticed that Iris still stood standing in surprise. She got up and hurried to Iris's side. "I know this feels a little overwhelming but it was little Annie's idea to make it a moonlight picnic party to welcome you. She doesn't understand that you might not stay but please, join us. We will make introductions after we fill our bellies," Kathryn said, gently steering Iris to the last pony-sized place on the blanket, directly in front of the container of fish.

The smell of the cooked fish made Kathryn nauseous but it finally snapped Iris from her confusion and reminded her of her hunger. She looked down at the fish, then to Patrick who smiled, nodded her thanks and then dug in. Li floated over a plate of fries to go along side. "Condiment?" Jazz asked, pointing her hoof at the basket Annie carried. "Vinegar, please," Iris said. Sarah floated the bottle of pure white vinegar over to the plate and started pouring until Iris motioned to stop. "Drink?" Kathryn asked. "Coffee, please," Iris said. A cup floated over in one magic sheen and the coffee pot in a second, both working perfectly in tandem to pour the black coffee without a single drop spilled. "Sugar? Cream?" asked Annie, again pointing to the condiments basket. "No thanks," Iris said.

The meal continued quietly in the cool night air. At some point, Kathryn brought out some glow sticks. Annie had fun showing Dr Jamie how to activate them and Li entertained them with a kind of light show by levitating the glow sticks in many different patterns and shapes. Patrick relented and took out one of the flares from the Coast Guard ship that was about to expire and he had set it off. The bright red light launched into the air and exploded in a shower of sparks. Annie ran around in her wheels, laughing with glee. "Other ponies will think we are in trouble," Jazz said. "No way; they'll come here to get out of trouble," Li replied with a laugh.

It was at that point Kathryn began introductions, simply pointing out Patrick and Annie running around with the dogs. She introduced herself, showing her transformation ability & talent, the others by name and asked Iris about herself.

"I was Search and Rescue helicopter paramedic before the event happened. I only woke about two months ago looking like this: being able to see perfectly at night and can fly for miles without tiring; awake at night, sleep in day. I've been traveling a while to find a place I can be useful." At that point, Annie grew tired of running and she came back over to Sarah and re-applied the towel that Li re-wet with the partially used 4L water bottle, Patrick doing the same.

They had come back in time to hear Iris's comment. "If you're a paramedic, you can help Dr Jamie keep us all healthy," Annie pointed out. "Not if she's sound a sleep in the day time, silly," Jazz said. "True, but she can watch over us if we have another of our surges," Kathryn pointed out, then proceeded to tell Iris about the surge sickness herself and Jazz experienced so far. "Yes, that would be a sensible option since I can stay awake all night..." Iris said hesitantly.

Kathryn knew, that kind of job would be few and far between.... Midnight Iris would need something else. Jazz's early warning hebie-jebies would be a far better early warning system to hurricanes than having Iris sit in front of a monitor all night. "Well, we know one thing for sure... if we got a hurricane at nighttime, you'd be able to help me clear it far better with your night vision.... and identifying any street lights needing replacement," Jazz pointed out. Iris had already been told of Jazz's talent and agreed to helping there as well.

"Kathryn, you're a rescue pony too... if a rescue like mine comes at night, Iris can do the driving so you don't fall asleep at the wheel," Annie pointed out with a giggle, knowing how much Kathryn hated driving at night. Kathryn rolled her eyes at Annie but concurred the idea had merit.

"Night time call out assistant?" Li Lang asked haltingly. "Helps Kathryn with night rescues; Jazz with night hurricanes & street lights; Dr Jamie with night medical emergencies?" Sarah asked, easily summoning up what they had discussed so far. "And you can night paw patrol!" Annie said excitedly. "Night paw patrol?" Iris asked. "It used to be the dogs taking turns walking the fences, making sure no bad animals get into the paddock or sneak into the buildings. If you do it, the dogs can sleep at night instead!" she said, beaming her big smile. "Um, that would be up to the dogs if they're willing to turn over night to Iris," Kathryn said uncertainly as Dr Jamie sent out a loud whistle.

The dogs all hurried back, Lil Mac following as quickly as he could behind. "Paw Patrol! We have a new pony joining us. This is Midnight Iris. She looks scary but she's nice; she's a night pony. We want her to do night patrol so you can sleep more," Sarah said to Raea, Millie and Max. Lil Mac had already started curling himself around her foreleg, purring. "She sleeps in the day and awake at night; like the owl and bats," Annie added. Kathryn felt some confusion leave the dogs but not all. "None of you are in trouble," she said gently. "Iris just wants a job that only she can do. If she's on night patrol, you guys can sleep with the animals in the shed! And Raea, you can come back sleeping with me." "And of course, if I need your help, I can howl!" Iris let loose a very impressive wolf-like howl that made the furs on the back of Kathryn's neck stand up.

With that last promise, the dogs all bobbed their heads and bowed in Iris's direction. "So Iris will take over night patrol; if one of us needs her help with something like a hurricane, medical emergency or rescue, she will howl and the dogs will take back patrol until it's passed," Li Lang said with satisfaction. All the ponies concurred, the dogs surprise-piled Iris slobbering her in kisses and Iris simply laughed, just glad to be finally needed and welcomed.

"And one last bonus, Iris is already scary enough for Halloween!" Annie said laughing.

"Oh yeah...um... I forgot to mention... I have a partner who can help me on my night shifts. His name is Merlyn," Iris said sheepishly before letting out an especially loud, undulating whistle. A small shadow moved over the group of ponies as it passed under the moon and it landed on Iris's back as she stood up on four legs. Kathryn immediately saw that Merlyn was a Merlin.(2)

Author's Note:

*I really hope anyone from there reading this knows it's only for reference sake; so readers know where the wind power is coming from and not meant to break any copyright use laws, if any.

(1) Again, not sure if this is even possible let alone feasible but let's just go with artistic license and call it a day! lol

(2) Merlin Falco columbarius. Species: Once known as the "Pigeon Hawk", feeds mostly on small birds, larger insects and some mammals. (Not a pet; more of a partnership)