The Lost Children

by RuinQueenofOblivion

Don't Let Hope Be a Memory

"Reveal the thoughts that were tucked away
So that the door can be opened again
Within your darkest memories
Lies the answer if you dare to find it
Don't let hope become a memory
-Disturbed, The Light.

I yawned a little as I woke up the next morning, for a moment I thought the last day had all been a dream, had we really found a traveling tribe of Zebra storytellers? I had to admit that it sounded kind of silly, but no weirder than what we knew about this world so far.

Alicia was already awake and talking with a Zebra colt about our age. I trotted over to them with a smile and gave the colt a nod.

"Hey Katie, it sounds like this colt's a refugee too," Alicia said as the colt nodded.

"Yeah, the Zencori found me up in the Tribelands last month," the colt said with a nod. "They said I'm something called a Propoli, though I'm not sure what that means, they're taking me to the other Zebras in my tribe."

I kind of shrugged a little. "Sorry, we're even newer to this than you are," I said as I brushed my mane back a little. "What's your name?"

"Jack," he said with a nod as I shook his hoof a little. "So, Alicia said you're looking for your mother?"

"Yeah, that's right, as far as I know she's still missing," I said with a shake of my head. "What about your parents?"

"My mother appeared a long time ago apparently, she became one of the earliest Propoli and helped found the Tribe according to Daegra," Jack said. "My father is apparently with the Carnilia at the moment, but they won't tell me any more than that."

"Wow, so many tribes," Alicia said, I could tell she was a little overwhelmed by this whole thing. "I just wish that I knew what my stripes meant..."

"You'll find out someday, I'm sure," I said as I hugged the Zebra filly gently. "If not, maybe you'll be the first member of your tribe, you'll be able to help all other Zebras that appear from your tribe figure out who they are. And I'll be there with you the whole time, I promise."

Alicia smiled and hugged me back. "Thank you Katie, that means a lot to me," she said with a nod.

"You're welcome," I said with a nod. "Whatever you turn out to be, I'm sure whatever it is will be cool."

"Who knows, maybe it'll come to you," Jack suggested. "According to the Zencori the first members of a tribe will get some sort of insight into what their tribe is or something, I don't know."

Well, that was kind of helpful, but I didn't quite know what he meant by that and neither did Alicia. This whole thing was getting weirder and weirder, people were re-appearing as ponies and Zebras, and who knows what else.

Was it possible that there was something more going on? What kind of force could possibly be doing this? Why would they be doing this? I had to learn more, and maybe the Zencori could tell me.

"So, where's Daegra now?" I asked as I looked at the two Zebra children (foals?).

"She's helping get breakfast ready before we pack up camp," Jack said as he motioned towards the same tent where we had eaten the night before.

"Thank you," I said as I headed towards the tent.

I found Daegra inside, she was cheerfully working at getting breakfast prepared with other Zebras. Her ears twitched a little and she looked at me with a smile.

"Hello Katie," she said with a smile.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"When you spend your life in the dark, you learn to see with your ears my little filly," Daegra said with a chuckle. "I recognized your hoofsteps from last night, and you are the only Pegasus in the camp so the rustling of your little feathers was a giveaway."

"Yeah, it would be," I said with a light chuckle, I was amazed by the blind Zebra's ability to tell things without the use of her eyes. "I was wondering if you could tell us anything about how, well, this all happened."

"What do you mean?"

"About, how we became like this, Ponies and Zebras I mean," I said, which just got a chuckle out of the mare. "What's so funny?"

"Everypony wants to hear that story when they first come to the new world is all," Daegra said. "How about this, if you help us with breakfast, we'll tell you on the road to the Tribelands."

"The Tribelands? I thought we were heading to Nightingale," I said, I was a little surprised by this development.

"Oh we are, don't you worry your little head about that," Daegra said with a smile. "We are right on the edge of Herd territory however, and the elders would rather not risk an attack by them that could put Ponies in danger."

"Oh, I understand," I said as I breathed a sigh of relief as I started to help make breakfast with Daegra and the others. "What's it like, being blind I mean?"

"Its a challenge, but I learned a long time ago to not let it debilitate me," Daegra said as she ruffled my mane gently. "Disabilities don't have to define you Katie, they can be overcome and you can help the world despite them."

I smiled a little as I looked back at my wings, flapping them a little. "Thanks Daegra, that was a lot of help."

"You're welcome Katie," Daegra said with a smile. "Perhaps someday your wings may work."

"How'd you know?"

"Like I said, I can listen, plus Pegasi rarely can fly at all after they first appear," Daegra said as I finished cutting up the vegetables. "Have you tried?"

"Yeah, I just fell flat on my face," I said with a shake of my head. "Its weird, its like I want to fly but my body won't let me."

"Maybe you'll fly and maybe you won't, what matters is what you do with your life," Daegra said with a smile. "Don't worry Katie, you'll be fine no matter what."

I couldn't help but smile more at that, Daegra really did know just what to say to help. We finished making breakfast and the tribe sat down to eat together. It was weird eating with a whole room filled with Ponies and Zebras instead of humans, but at the same time it was nice, like we were all in this together.

As a family.

00000

We had to cut into the forest through a trail that looked like it had been there for years, if not longer. Alicia and I stayed close to Daegra, the older Zebra was helping us along as we traveled through the forest.

"So, you said you could tell us about how we became like this," I said as I looked up at Daegra.

"Yes, its quite the story," Daegra said with a smile. "You see, many years ago a Zencori named Naris traveled up to Illinois where she met ponies that told her quite the tale. It seems, that there is another world out there called Equestria that is inhabited entirely by creatures like us."

"Wait, really?" I asked in shock, an entire world inhabited by ponies?

"Indeed, Ponies, Zebras, Dragons, Changelings, Griffons, and the stars only know what else," Daegra said with a smile. "They learned that our world was on the verge of a mass extinction caused by a new type of radiation that was covering the Milky Way Galaxy."

Me and Alicia's eyes went wide, we would've died if this hadn't happened? That was a rather scary thought and I wasn't at all sure what to think of it.

"So, the ponies of Equestria hatched a plan, they created the Event which caused almost the entire human population to become like, well, this," Daegra continued as she gestured towards me and then at herself. "There are apparently some humans still around from what I understand, but most the world is inhabited by the various species from Equestria."

"Wow, that's, quite the story," I said blinking a little, that actually did explain a lot about what was going on.

"It sounds kind of crazy," Alicia said and Daegra just laughed a little at that.

"Crazy perhaps, but it seems to be true," Daegra said.

"What's a Changeling?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, they're a species of shapeshifters that are a sort of, combination of pony and insect, at least that's what I've heard," Daegra said. "It seems that most of the population in Georgia became Ponies and Zebras, at least that we've seen."

I had to admit I was curious about what the rest of the world was like, was there more cities inhabited by ponies? And what about Dragons, did what she said mean that there are Dragons out there? That was something I had never imagined being real, but then again I didn't imagine winged horses being real either.

We kept walking for awhile as we passed through the forest. The Zebras gave us some advice on surviving in the woods, what to avoid and what could be eaten without, you know, dying.

Daegra is a pretty nice, Zebra I guess, she's been lending me a hand (hoof?) with figuring out how to live here. I had to admit I was getting more and more curious about the Zencori's customs.

She reminded me a little of my mom, I really miss my mom right now.

00000

I stretched my wings out as we reached the edge of the forest, we came up on a small village that was made up of a few buildings and surrounded by lush farmland.. The inhabitants of the camp waved to us as we went pass.

"They seem nice," Alicia commented as a Zebra colt with strange stripes waved at her.

"They're Carnilia," Daegra said with a light chuckle. "We usually come through their village for trade for food and other supplies. Well, at least we're not here around the time of one of their festivals."

"Umm... do I want to know why?" I asked as I looked at Daegra.

"You'll find out when you're older silly little filly," Daegra said with a laugh as she ruffled my mane. "You're too young to be thinking about what happens at the Carnilia's festivals right now."

That just left me even more confused than before, I wasn't sure I'd ever understand what she was talking about.

"But that's a story for another day little fillies," Daegra said as we went to help trade with the merchants. "The Carnilia are the best farmers in the Tribelands as well, so its at least a good place to get supplies and a meal."

"Daegra, its good to see you again," a male voice said as we approached one of the stalls he looked at me and Alicia with a smile. "Are these two new arrivals or did the Zencori find them?"

"They're new arrivals Reius," Daegra said as we started getting the items we had come from. "They appeared in Gateway and we found them along the old road."

"I'm Katie, this is Alicia," I said with a smile as we put the stuff in the wagon that we had brought along. "Thank you Mr. Reius."

"You're welcome," the Zebra said with a nod as we continued moving around the village.

I wondered about the Zebra names, honestly they sounded kind of weird to me but I didn't want to question it and risk being rude. As we looked around I was a bit surprised to hear an old radio playing music.

"There's still radio?" I asked Daegra curiously.

"Of course, I've heard some places even have television," Daegra said with a chuckle. "Haven's DJ Serenity is the most popular in the south, though its not like the Herd exactly have anypony themselves, and the Tribelands have one but he usually just plays music."

"Oh, what does Serenity do differently?" I asked curiously.

"She just makes it more energetic, she's almost a Zencori at times," Daegra said with a smile. "Who knows, maybe when you get to Nightingale you'll get to meet her, you never know."

"Maybe," Alicia said as she shrugged and we went to take the supplies to the rest of the Zencori.

00000

That night the Zencori and Carnilia were gathered in order to talk around the bonfire. Apparently this was part of the usual meeting between the two tribes when they met, the Zencori would tell stories to the Carnilia, many of which were stories they hadn't heard before.

Currently a Zencori named Nautrus was telling a story about a man named Jack that traveled to an underwater city called Rapture. Everyone, or, everypony I guess around the fire were listening carefully.

"'A Man chooses..." Ryan said through the pain as Jack slammed the club down onto his head," Nautrus said as he told the story. "'A Slave obeys! OBEY!' he said with his last breath as Jack made the killing blow against him."
While I had missed the beginning of the story, I was getting the basic idea. Jack had apparently been controlled by some words said by someone named Atlas, who had ordered him to kill Andrew Ryan.

Something about this story felt weird, it was like there was something else going on in the story that wasn't obvious. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I was curious to hear what happened next.

"The voice over the radio ordered Jack to take the key to the controls and shut down the self destruct sequence, and as he put it in, a new voice came over the radio," Nautrus said as he put on a new voice with a different accent that I didn't recognize. "'It's time to end this little masquerade. There ain't no Atlas, kid. Never was. Fella in my line a work takes on a variety of aliases. Hell, once I was even a Chinaman for six months. But, you've been a sport, so I guess I owe you a little honesty. The name's Frank Fontaine.'"

A gasp went up from the gathered crowd, many of which were hearing this story for the first time, including me and Alicia. I remembered that Fontaine had been mentioned before as being a man who had tried to take control of Rapture prior to the events of the story.

Why did it feel like all the Zencori stories decided to lead up to an exciting moment and then wait until the next day to continue? It was kind of annoying really, it was like they wanted you to come back the next day.

"Great story as always," Daegra said with a smile as Nautrus took a seat. "So, we have time for one more story tonight, would anyone else like to tell a story?"

"Maybe you should try," Alicia whispered to me. "You're a pretty good storyteller, maybe you can tell them one."

"I don't have a story I can tell right now though..." I said quietly as I shook my head. "Maybe next time."

"Why don't you tell your story?" Alicia suggested.

I just shook my head, really I didn't want to try that kind of thing right now. Sure I was pretty good when it was just me and Alicia, but in front of an entire village? No, I couldn't do that... right?

"Sorry Alicia," I said as I shook my head again. "I promise that I'll try it sometime, I'm just not sure..."

I was a little surprised to feel Daegra wrap her foreleg around me. I looked up at the Zebra who gave me a reassuring smile.

"Its okay Katie, you don't have to try it," she said. "Would you like to learn more about being a Storyteller like the Zencori?"

I was a bit surprised by that, I didn't think she'd make me that offer, but it was actually almost tempting. It was weird, but I almost felt drawn to the idea, and Daegra was a nice Zebra, she'd be able to help me at least.

"I'd like that," I finally said with a nod. "Whenever you're able to do it of course."

"Tomorrow then, but maybe you can get a start tonight," Daegra said with a nod as she held me close. "You don't have to tell a story, just tell me about your family."

I nodded, I liked that idea at least, I told her everything I could about her. She never seemed bored about it either, she listened carefully to every word as I told her about her and about my family.

I admit that it wasn't a story like she told or the other Zencori told, but it still was able to gain the attention of Daegra. When I finished she smiled and ruffled my mane a little.

"Your family sounds wonderful," she finally said. "But of course they gave us such a wonderful filly."

I smiled a little as I yawned a little, it was getting late and it was almost time for bed. The new story was a lot funnier, though I only half listened to it.

"Come on little fillies, its past your bedtime," Daegra said as she eased a sleeping Alicia onto her back and we headed to the tents belonging to the Zencori.

I looked up at the stars for a long moment, thinking about what Alicia had told me before once more. I don't know why, but there was something about the stars that I had to wonder about, maybe it was time to get an answer.

"Daegra, do you know anything about the stars and Zebras?"

Daegra paused for a long moment as she laid Alicia down in the bedding. "Not a lot to be honest, there are some Zebras who do not trust the stars, as if there is something about them that is evil."

"Why do they think that?"

"I'm honestly not sure, its just something that some Zebras believe, it may be because of the Equestria influence," Daegra said with a shrug. "In truth, the Zebras from that world are a bit of an enigma."

"What's an enigma?"

"Oh, something that is difficult to understand," Daegra said. "Its part of the reason we're not sure about all the Tribes such as Alicia's. I'm sorry I can't give you more information."

"Its okay," I said and yawned as I laid down next to Alicia who was sleeping happily. "Good night Daegra."

"Good night Katie, sweet dreams little one," Daegra said.

I wondered what all of this meant, especially for Alicia. What if they were right and there was some sort of evil force in the stars? It sounded weird sure, but it kind of made me worry about my friend at the same time since she said she heard them call out to her.

I looked at Alicia, the Zebra filly didn't seem all that dangerous to me. It was probably nothing, at least I hoped so.

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep not long after.

Comments

[Two Bit]

I'm curious, why do so many people in Georgia come back as zebras? Is there something about their culture that aligns their souls closer to that species?

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

8419807 I have no idea, I'm just making this up as I go and I wanted a sizeable faction of Zebras.

[Starscribe]

Alright, caught up. Still some quite good characterization, nice world building, lots of good things to talk about. But there are some weaknesses introduced as well, that never appeared in the first chapter.

The pacing as slowed significantly since the beginning of the story--more happened in that first chapter than in all three of the others combined. More events in themselves do not a superior story make, but what more happening brings is brevity. What set your story apart from all the others out there right now (in terms of side story) was your fast pacing. It stopped things from getting dull.

On two occasions so far, I found myself thinking "we aren't really going to have to hear all that..." and then we had to hear all that. Specifically, the founding information about the zebra tribes and bioshock. At least to me, both of these sections slowed the pacing to a crawl, and really yanked us out of the narrative to things that we already knew or just didn't matter for what's happened so far.

The advice I've always heard is this: give as little of the backstory as possible, in a story that's as short as possible. Find your core narrative, really focus in on that narrative, and toss everything in the bin that doesn't directly connect with that narrative. We really don't need star wars or Bioshock to understand the core narrative--a single sentence on either subject would've been enough to establish framing for the world and we could've moved right on. On the other hand, the real information about a possible new tribe of zebras and one of our character's backstories only got a few lines near the end of the chapter.

My suggestion for the future is whenever you get a really great idea you just love, think very carefully if it actually helps advance your core narrative or not. If the answer is no, then, as the proper writing cliche' goes, maybe it's time to kill your darlings. I can't tell you how many awesome ideas I had for Last Pony on Earth that never made it in, because they had nothing at all to do with the central drama.

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

8420023 This actually may be a first, usually I get complaints about being too fast paced, this is the first time someone actually complained that I was slowing down.

I admit the little bits from Star Wars and BioShock were a bit much and I could've left them out. I'll refrain from being that much of a nerd from now on, plus they've served their purpose, yes they have a purpose.

I'll focus more on the narrative in upcoming chapters now that I have my intended world building out of the way.

[Starscribe]

8420045
It's a first because of reader self-selection. If your story is too fast for some readers, they're still likely to be at least a little on-board. They want to see the movie you're making, just a little slower.

But when it's too slow, readers just get bored and put it down. They're not likely to feel invested enough to comment.

I'm not saying it's bad in these three chapters, though. I don't want to come off that harsh. (if I really thought that, I just wouldn't comment at all) It's just got a few directions to look at for making the story even better... at least in my mind. Obviously that's just one opinion.

[Dances With Unicorns]

8420023

You should put your awesome yet unused ideas into an Atlas and Encyclopedia of your fictional universe.  Perhaps, other authors can expand upon your ideas, building up the world not touched upon by your main story?