Same World, Different Realities

by Mocha Star

Supplemental Chapter: Discovered

Author's Note:

Supplemental chapter series inspired by Batling. Thank them!

We were found, the day we’d all heard would come to pass had happened, yet not like the way it was foretold. The unihorns send a grounder with wings like a flapper to speak with us in the holy language of the unihorn. Then shortly after the grounder flapper, as we call them, shouted at us and flew away in fear in warning so we took refuge in our huts.

A unihorn in body and flesh graced us with her mighty presence and blessed two of our foals with her holy light. The parents of Hook and Branch didn’t understand the blessing imparted by the living embodiment of grace and beauty until after I had spoken with them. As grounder village Wildtree shaman it is my task to carry the knowledge of the past to the future.

The next group of grounders arrived and being friendly and the same pitiable subspecies as our village we were able to trade motions and noises as we aren’t blessed to speak the language of unihorn kind or wear clothing of true metal surely gifted to them for obedient service to her holiness.

We followed them from our homes, the ground we walked on a holy site created by the first generation to survive the journey through the forest from The City of the Castaway that we maintained as per ritual said and says.

The sky leaf the unihorns arrived in returned to the sky and moved over the forest, back to the holy land, from our ancestors were birthed. Other sky leaves arrived and we showed our fealty to the unihorns amongst the grounders with flappers and without by prostrating ourselves as low as we are compared to them.

I led the group in prayer as we worshipped them and their kindness and generosity for allowing us in their presence when I was stopped by a hoof under my chin and even though I do not speak the language of the Divine, I dared to open my eyes, beholding the eyes of the most beautiful mare I had ever seen.

My senses lost to me I was reverted to a young colt in love for the first time in years by the embodiment of the rising sun upon the moving waters. I ate my tongue like a foal for a moment before I remembered my place and attempted to lower myself again.

My chin was lifted and I understood the words without knowing them, standing as high as we were allowed. With a word the others rose with me, and we offered our right hooves for binding, but none came. Instead we were guided to a hut large enough for one grounder each. Worry flowed through my tribe and I calmed them by letting them know I would receive punishment first. If I survived, which I had hoped, that they would follow me so as to not anger the deities.

I stood taller than I should have as I walked into the shadowed hut and out the other side as clean as any grounder after a long play in the moving waters, only this was different. Better. I turned back and hopped happily with a whoop, shouting I was worthy!

“For the first time in my life I belonged. I have been accepted into her majesty's hooves. Her heart touched me and cleansed me of the filth I was to become one of her chosen!” I remember shouting and falling to my brand, tears dripping on the ground between my legs as I cried the same as I had when my father died, only this time with joy instead of sorrow.

My heart mended.

The light around me was a blessing I’d never known, nor could ever know, as I was dried from her baptism. I hugged the first mare to walk through and she burst into tears when she galloped through the baptism hut, cleaned of her sins and the sins of our past. We hugged and even though I wasn’t ready, I moved her aside and let the light dry her.

I took my place, hugging each grounder that passed by me until the last tail hair was made whole again I was dried again and I finally looked at the warriors and others before looking back on my people. “We, those worthy, are no longer the lowest of the low. The castaways must bow to us when we see them again, for we have ascended to serf’s! We will sow her majesty’s lands again as we were born to do!”

The sound of cheering and happiness from my friends, neighbors, family rejoicing made me cry again and with the smiled of our fellows as approval we began to mingle with them. Hugs, kissed, mares chose stallions to celebrate with and stallions chose mares to court them. From their reactions I could tell the divine warriors were not used to such affections so suddenly so I called celibacy to reign them in.

We gathered again, with me in the lead to speak for us. One stallion wearing the robes of a high mage of her highness and coat of orange approached and bowed his horn to us. A truer honor I’d never had before that moment until he spoke.

“Greetings. We are friends, you are friends.”

I had to restrain myself from embracing him with a hug. He’d graced us with his voice a greeting in our words. “G-greetings, we are friends, you are friends. Us, together.”

He smiled with teeth shiny as a foals’ in approval and motioned for me, us, to follow him. I could hear the tribe whispering happily as we went to a leaf, like some of the others still hovering in the sky, and were allowed to climb onto it. It was terrifying, beyond words could ever be conveyed in a thousand generations.

I met with part of the tribe and heard familiar screams in fear from other leaves. The orange high mage approached me after walking from the air itself and the tribe with me went silent. “You safe. We are going home, no harm will befall you.”

At his words we relaxed and felt the leaf moving and with several shouts in the divine language noises hummed like bees. We nearly fell over as the leaf began to float through the sky with the other leaves close behind. Though I’d never been so far I could tell we were moving through the mountains, away from everything we thought we knew and on toward a new life.

---

---

Comments

[Crescent Glaive]

Yay! The earth ponies got good things!!

And did i see Sunburst there?

[Mocha Star]

8599864
Oh yeah! Sunburst was the only, closest, pony that could speak Old Ponish, I guess.
Didn't really think why he'd be chosen instead of one of the many more qualified academic ponies with confidence and diplomatic skills.

But Ce la vie.

[Crescent Glaive]

8599874
It's "c'est la vie" :P

[Mocha Star]

8599895
It's not in my phone, but now it is! Thanks.

[Cross Lament]

8599874
His extremely diplomatic beard, obviously.

[Batling]

Yay, I was hoping we get to see some snipets from the rescued ponies' perspective.

And dang, for the first moments I assumed that something had gone wrong with spellcheck ... then I realized that since we are reading from first perspective, we are actually seeing the elder's thoughts. And that just reinforces the impression of how poorly off the earth ponies are. If the smartest one of them can barely string together coherent sentences, I have to wonder if they aren't halfway feral. And to think the unicorns keep them around like this as some sort of a zoo attraction ... yeah, that's messed up. And I think it's safe to assume that none of the previous generations survived the trip through the dense forest.

At least these ones are safe ... and while I don't hold high hopes that they will ever truly integrate or even understand modern society, at least their children will have a future that doesn't involve living in literal shit, malnutrition and death in the forest. It's pretty sad to see how they are pretty much looking towards looking down on other non-"elevated" earth ponies now that they think the unicorns have chosen them to be serfs or whatever. That's going to be one hell of a learning process ahead of them ...

I do hope we get some more of these snipets about them as the story goes on

[Mocha Star]

8601857
I think I have 4 made up already, including this one, with two more planned to be interjected at random.