The Lost Children

by RuinQueenofOblivion

We're Off to Never Never Land

"Exit: light
Enter: night
Take my hand
We're off to never never land."
-Metallica, Enter Sandman.

When I opened my eyes again, I had no idea where I was anymore.

I was in a city of some sort, it looked almost like a modern city on Earth only it was, different. The buildings were all weird, it looked more like something you'd see at Washington DC or a government building only more modern.

When I looked out at the surrounding city from the balcony I was standing on I saw something I didn't expect. The city seemed to be almost completely be inhabited by Zebras with hills just visible in the distance.

Flying over it was a red flag with a golden trim with a symbol of an eagle with its wings outstretched. I had no idea what was going on, was this maybe just a dream of what the Zebras might be like? Or was I getting a vision of Equestria?

And if I was getting a vision, why me?

"Katie!" A familiar voice said and I turned to see Alicia running up to me. "What's going on?"

"I, have no idea," I said softly as I hugged my Zebra friend gently. "Are we dreaming? How did we get here?"

"I don't know... is this maybe what Daegra meant?" Alicia asked shivering. "She said, the first members of a tribe get some sort of insight..."

"I don't know..." I said quietly, but we didn't have much time to dwell on this as something was happening.

A Zebra dressed in finery stepped forward onto the balcony and past us, he ignored us as if we weren't even there. He stood on the balcony and pressed his hoof against a strange piece of jewelry wrapped around his neck before he began to speak.

"Zebras of Roam, I am here to assure you that the threat the Starkatteri pose to us is negligible," the Zebra said, he seemed important at least, maybe he was their leader or something. "The rumors that they have infiltrated the highest echelons of the empire are..."

That's when he stopped mid-sentence, it was as if a switch had been flipped on him and he wasn't able to talk anymore. His eyes glazed over and he fell over, leaving us both in shock.

There was a bright light and we covered our eyes with our hooves as fires started up around the city. But these weren't ordinary fires, the smoke came together and rose up, forming a face with a smiling mouth and glowing red eyes that stared at Alicia with such intensity that it terrified us both.

"CHILD OF THE STARS, YOU HAVE FINALLY COME TO THIS NEW WORLD!" The voice said in a deep creepy way. "YOU WILL SERVE US CHILD, AND BRING OUR FURY TO A NEW WORLD!"

With that I snapped awake with a scream, Alicia woke up next to me, breathing heavily. The two of us looked at each other unsure of what to do as the tent opened up and Daegra came inside.

"Alicia, Katie, what happened?" The older Zebra mare asked with a worried look on her face. "Was it a bad dream?"
"It was the worst..." Alicia said and I nodded in agreement.

"Come, come, let us to discuss it at my tent," Daegra said and helped us both up to our hooves and lead us to her tent.

00000

As we told Daegra what we had heard she listened intently, she looked worried and I honestly didn't blame her. We were scared, more scared than we had ever been since we had arrived here, and we had no idea what to do anymore.

"What's weird is that we not only had the same dream, we interacted with each other in the dream," Alicia said as she finished telling Daegra what happened. "Is that even possible?"

"It is the shared dream, its a known phenomenon among Zebras, especially ones that are the first of their tribe," Daegra said with a frown. "This may be dangerous Alicia, if you are indeed the first of your Tribe... then you may have seen what your Tribe's nature is."

"Destruction?" I asked softly, I didn't want my friend to be some sort of monster.

"Perhaps, but maybe something else... you said the smoke created some sort of, creature right?" Daegra asked and we nodded. "It may have been a spirit of some sort, but I'm afraid I don't know of any spirits like that."

"Spirits?" I asked and Alicia looked equally confused.

"Its, complicated children, they are... beings that Zebras in Equestria can connect to, we do not quite understand how it works," Daegra said with a shake of her head. "Each tribe seems to have some sort of connection to their spirits, but we have not yet figured out how to make that connection here, if there are even spirits on Earth."

"These spirits felt, wrong somehow," I said shivering. "Like they're evil and just want to destroy everything."

"I know, but I'm more curious about the fact that you two shared the same dream," Daegra said as she looked between the two of us.

"Why's that?"

"The phenomenon is not recorded in Ponies, it seems to be a connection between two Zebras that will help shape the future of their tribe," Daegra said. "It usually only happens between, umm... mated pairs."

"Wait, you mean, couples?" I asked with a blush as I looked at Alicia. "You mean, me and her..."

"Well, normally the first of a Tribe is considerably older than you two are," Daegra said with a shrug. "Its probably nothing, it may just be because you two have traveled together, I don't know."

"So... if I'm the first of my Tribe, what does this mean?" Alicia asked.

"Well, normally it means you set down the traditions that all who come after you adhere to," Daegra said. "So far this has meant that we are in essence what we see in the dreams but..."

"But I don't have to be like them if I don't want to?" Alicia asked and Daegra nodded. "Okay, because I don't want to be evil..."

"And you won't have to be little one," Daegra said as we laid down on the bedding. "Now come on, lets get some sleep. You have a big day ahead of you my little fillies, you don't want to be tired."

We nodded and Daegra pulled the covers up over us and we soon drifted off back to sleep.

00000

The next morning we packed up our stuff and said our goodbyes to the Carnillia tribe. They seemed nice enough at least and it was good to meet more friendly Zebras, but I had to admit I was more curious about what was waiting for us next.

As we went down the dirt road once more we were heading towards Nightingale, the jewel of Haven as Daegra had called it. The Zencori sadly had to move not long after we arrived but Daegra promised that she'd help us as much as she could.

The trip to Nightingale took most of the day to finish but when it finally came into view I stopped and stared in awe. There were lights, actual lights, not the campfires we had seen used by the Zebras, Nightingale actually had working lights like any city I had been to before.

We still had a ways to go as we passed through farmland and smaller settlements with ponies living in them that just waved as we went past. They were friendly enough that much was clear, and each of them had the same black flag with the gold stars in it that we had seen at Gateway.

"Welcome to The Free Nation of Haven," Daegra said with a smile as we walked along the road towards Nightingale. "A bastion of democracy and free thought against the terrors of the Herd."

"Wow, this place is... wow," I said, I honestly had no idea what to say about this place and we weren't even at the capital yet. "Ponies built all of this?"

"Indeed, even without opposable thumbs people can still thrive and build," Daegra said. "The way I've heard it, the daughter of the Teacher I told you about lead her followers East and founded the city of Nightingale in the ruins of an old University. They've been working since then to help rebuild the old world and keep a lot of the knowledge from being lost."

"Kind of like how the Zencori tell stories?" Alicia asked.

"Yes, kind of like that," Daegra said with a laugh. "But they don't just tell stories, they compile as much as they can from the old world in their archives. They have knowledge that was long thought lost to the ages until they uncovered it in the old libraries. Its quite interesting actually, I just wish I could stay longer."

"So, why do the Zencori only stay here for a short time?" I asked the blind Zebra.

"Well, normally we wouldn't but we have to get to Augusta," Daegra said with a shake of her head. "We recently lost our leader in the Tribelands to disease and its time to select a new one from the Tribes."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said softly. "I wish we could travel with you."

"Perhaps someday, but for now the Refugee Aid Administration will be able to help you out," Daegra said with a smile. "I know a mare there who I would trust with my own foals if I had any."

I nodded and smiled as we kept walking towards Nightingale.

00000

Nightingale was amazing! It almost reminded me of the times me and my mom traveled to Atlanta or another city, I mean it was smaller than they were and it was more built for and inhabited by ponies than Atlanta or whatever was, but it was amazing!

Not just ponies either, I saw a few of what I guess are Griffons, they looked like half lions half birds that were living in the city. I even saw some other Zebras, still none that looked like Alicia of course, but there was such a wide variety that I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Nightingale wasn't just some settlement, it was an actual city built in the middle of an older city.

"Come on, lets not just stand around staring, we need to get you to the Museum," Daegra said as we started walking again down the old road.

"The Museum?" I asked curiously.

"The old Museum of Natural History, its where the RAA has been set up," she said as we kept walking. "Do you have everything in your wagon?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," I said and looked at Alicia who was pulling the wagon next to me. "This place is cool."

"Yeah!" Alicia said, she was still a bit in awe of everything around us just like I was, and we kept walking down the road.

"Hey everypony out there in Haven, this is DJ Serenity coming at you with the latest news from around Georgia," a woman, or I guess mare's voice said over a nearby radio. "It seems that the Herd is once again rattling their sabers at Nightingale, but President Charm has assured us at Nightingale Radio that they will not pose a threat to the People's Army. I hope you're right Madam President, the last thing we need is the Herd breathing down our necks. But we have some good news too, the RAA has reported an increase in Refugees being recovered from the area surrounding Haven's territory in recent months. This is a good sign after last year's drought, and suggests that Haven is finally back on track after the war. Now, here's a pre-Event classic for all of you metalheads out there."

The radio started playing music but by then we were already far enough away from the radio that we couldn't hear it anymore.

"So, that was DJ Serenity?" I asked curiously as I looked up at Daegra. "She sounds interesting."

"She certainly is," Daegra said with a light chuckle. "She's quite the character like I said, and she's still the most popular radio personality on the air today."

"How often does she broadcast?" Alicia asked curiously.

"Every so often during the day but she keeps the music playing to help keep the spirits up, ah, here we are," Daegra said as we stopped in front of an old looking building that had a sign above it labeling it as the Refugee Aid Association. "Come on, lets go inside before they close for the evening."

I nodded and we headed inside.

00000

"I'm looking for Jennifer Wright," Daegra said to the receptionist pony who looked more like a normal horse than I did without any wings. "Is she in today?"

"You're in luck, she just got out of a meeting," the receptionist said with a smile as she looked down at me and Alicia. "New arrivals?"

"Yeah, we picked them up on the old road near Gateway," Daegra said which made the mare's eyes go wide. "Don't worry, they're okay, they don't have any of the marks of the Herd."

"Oh good, well I'll tell Jennifer that you're here, you can go on back," the receptionist said with a smile and nodded back.
We went past several old exhibits that hadn't been removed from the Event I guess as we headed back towards a series of offices. We finally stopped at one with the name Jennifer Wright on it and Daegra knocked at the door.

"Come in!" A mare's voice said from inside and we opened the door to find ourselves in an office with pictures and paintings lining the walls, there was a desk on the far side with a pony and I stopped in mid stride.

The mare was yellow colored with a purple mane and some sort of mark on her flank of an olive branch. But what drew my attention was her horn, yeah, this mare was an actual Unicorn, she had the horn and everything.

"Daegra, its so good to see you again!" The mare, Jennifer I guess said as she came over and hugged Daegra tightly. "So what brings you to Nightingale?"

"Its good to see you too Jennifer," Daegra said as she hugged the Unicorn back. "And I'm here because of these two fillies, they're recent refugees that we found along the old road near Gateway."

"Oh thank goodness you're both okay then," Jennifer said with a smile as she looked over at me and Alicia. "Let me guess, you were hoping that we'd be able to help you get settled into the new world?"

"Umm, yeah, that's what you do here right?" I asked.

"Yeah, well we're still kind of getting everything ready with the recent arrivals so it'll be a little tricky to find a place for two fillies to stay," Jennifer said as she sighed a little. "But I think we can figure something out at least temporarily."

"They could always stay with you temporarily," Daegra suggested. "I mean, you've had new arrivals stay with you and your family before."

"Well, maybe, its something that I'll have to talk with them about it first," Jennifer said before she looked at us again. "What are your names?"

We introduced ourselves and the Unicorn nodded with a smile and offered me a hoof. "Its nice to meet you both, I'd like to welcome you to Nightingale."

"Thank you," I said with a smile as I shook her hoof. "We love the city, its pretty amazing here."

"Well, we've done our best to get this city up and running since the Event," Jennifer said as she gave us a nod before looking at the time. "Well, its about closing time, I'll go talk to them and we'll see what we're going to do."

I nodded and we headed back out of the office.

00000

We made our way back through the city as we headed towards a large building in the distance. There were more ponies around that were busy working with each other or talking, the city was still being built here and there as they were expanding out into the rest of the area.

We found ourselves at a two story house that looked like it had been built for ponies more than humans. It was actually pretty nice, I guess this is probably where Jennifer lived with her family.

Jennifer went inside and we waited outside with Daegra, I honestly had no idea what to expect here. It was kind of weird really, but this was the first time I'd ever really get to meet more ponies since all I had met so far were Zebras. Not that I didn't like Zebras, Alicia and Daegra were both really nice, but I had to admit I was curious about the other Ponies.

"So, umm, how long can you stay?" I asked Daegra.

"We have to leave the day after tomorrow," Daegra said sadly as she ruffled my mane a little. "Don't worry, I don't think this'll be the last time we'll see each other. We have to worry about our own problems in the Tribelands I'm afraid, I look forward to seeing you both again sometime."

"Same here," I said with a smile as we hugged the older Zebra. "Are we going to be okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Jennifer and her family are some of the nicest ponies I've ever met," Daegra said with a smile. "I promise, you'll be fine and I'll still be here for a little while longer. I'm just glad I got to meet you both and got a chance to learn some of your story."

"You too Daegra," I said as the door to the house opened and Jennifer trotted out.

"What's the word?" Daegra asked.

"You're welcome to stay with us at least for a few days while we get the rest of it set up," Jennifer said with a nod as she gestured towards the door. "Come on inside."

We nodded and headed into the house and before we could say anything there was the sound of small hooves running as two small ponies tackled Jennifer.

"Mommy Jenny!" They said as they hugged her tightly.

"Hey you two," Jennifer said with a smile as she hugged the two foals with a laugh. "Okay, calm down you two, we've got guests."

"Umm, hi?" Alicia asked as we waved at the two as we finally got a look at them. One of them was a normal pony kind of like the receptionist and the other one was another Unicorn who gave us a smile. The Unicorn had a red body with a pink mane and tail while the normal looking pony was pink with a red mane and tail.

"I'm Lilly," the Earth Pony filly said with a smile.

"And I'm Rose," the Unicorn filly said.

"Okay girls, don't crowd the new arrivals," a mare's voice that sounded strangely familiar said as a Pegasus mare with a golden body and a red mane and tail with a disc on her flank. "You must be the two new returnees that Jenny mentioned, I'm Serenity."

"I'm Alicia," Alicia said with a nod.

"I'm Katie... are you, the DJ from the radio?" I asked curiously.

"DJ Serenity lighting up the airwaves of Georgia," Serenity said with a chuckle as Jennifer came over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Jenny tells me that you came all the way from Gateway, that must've been quite the experience."

"Yeah, it was certainly interesting," I said blinking a little. "So you two are... you know..."

"Married?" Jennifer asked and chuckled a little. "Yeah, one advantage to living in Haven, nopony judges you for that kind of thing. That's, not going to be a problem is it?"

"No, no, I was just surprised is all," I said sheepishly. "So, then they're adopted?"

"Yeah, these two were refugees who showed up about two years ago," Serenity said as they hugged the two fillies. "Their parents returned a long time ago, so we kind of took them in."

"Yeah, they're great moms," Rose said with a smile as she nodded to her two moms. "I mean it hasn't been easy, but we've managed."

"What about you two, are your parents around?" Lilly asked curiously.

"Well, my mom is still missing," I said sadly and Alicia just shook her head. "I mean, unless the name Rachel Sinclair means anything to you."

"Oh, as in the writer?" Jennifer asked and I nodded. "Yeah, sorry, I've seen her old books and that's about it, is she your mom?"

"Yeah..." I said softly as my ears drooped a little. "She's still missing I guess."

"Well, I'll take my leave of you then," Daegra said with a nod. "I'll see you ponies tomorrow, try and stay out of trouble okay?"

"Okay Daegra," we said and gave her one more hug before she left.

"Okay, who wants to play a board game?" Jennifer said with a smile.

00000

It was kind of weird really but even though we were all Ponies (well, and one Zebra) that night felt so, ordinary. We played a board game, ate dinner, and nothing else really different happened, if we weren't all on four legs and had to eat fruits and vegetables it would've felt like a normal evening at home.

It was almost perfect, I just wished my mom was there to enjoy it with me.

"Well, we only have one room for guests so you two will have to share, is that okay?" Jennifer asked as Serenity went out to make sure the wagon was secured.

"Yeah, that's fine," I said with a nod as we entered the bedroom, it was pretty small with just one bed and some nice pictures. "How long do you think it'll be until the RAA will get something figured out?"

"Honestly, I don't know, part of the problem is you two are too young to really be on your own like we normally would have you be," Jennifer said with a sigh. "We'll get it figured out and we'll have to take you to the doctor to get a physical."

"Aww, do we have to?" Alicia asked with a pout.

"Yes you do young filly, its standard for all refugees," Jennifer said with a chuckle as I jumped up on the bed. "Its just to make sure you two are healthy, don't worry, we all had to go through it."

"Okay," Alicia said as she climbed onto the bed next to me.

"Good night fillies, stay safe," Jennifer said and turned the light off before closing the door.

"Good night Katie," Alicia said with a yawn as she drifted off to sleep.

"Good night Alicia."

I looked up at the ceiling for awhile and thought about what was going on. I could see the lights of the city through my window and I honestly was kind of curious about learning more about it, there was still a lot to learn about this strange new world and I was looking forward to it.

I just had to hope that not all of it would be dangerous, I yawned and drifted off to sleep not long after.

Comments

[The Bricklayer]

DJ Serenity? Raises eyebrow So Serenity's crossed universes huh? But in all seriousness, this was a good chapter and I suspect the Herd will play a part in Alicia and Katie's futures...

[Fistfire]

Yeah, I'm wondering about the The Herd myself, and what kind of marks they leave that would have Nightingale concerned about.
On a side note, why are you capitalizing Unicorn, and Earth pony?

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

8484078 The Herd's indoctrination process can be a bit, intense at times and, well honestly other than that I haven't decided yet.

And, I dunno, just used to doing it I guess.

[Randompegasus168]

When is the next chapter

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

8486459 Geez, I literally just posted this yesterday!

I don't know yet, sorry.

[Randompegasus168]

Oh ok sorry don’t mean to rush you

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

8486463 Its okay.