Katie Sinclair wakes up one morning to find herself turned into a Pegasus filly. Along with her new friend Alicia, she must traverse the American South in search of her mother while eluding ponies that want to take them both for their own purposes.
Katie Sinclair was once just a normal 11 year old girl that lived with her mother in Georgia. However one day she woke up to find the world not the same way she had left it, instead she was now a Pegasus Filly and had no idea where she was or what happened to her mom.
Along with a Zebra filly named Alicia Davis, Katie sets out from her hometown to try and find out what happened to the world, and to her mother.
"I'm waking up to Ash and Dust, I wipe my brow and sweat my rust. I'm breathing in the chemicals. I'm breaking in and shaping up And checking out on the prison bus. This is it, the Apocalypse." -Imagine Dragons, Radioactive
My body felt weird all over as my eyes snapped awake, it took me a minute to realize that I wasn't in my bedroom anymore, I really had no idea where I was anymore to be honest. It looked like a house of some sort, but one that no one had lived in for a very long time.
"Mommy? Where are you?" I asked as I struggled to get up, I just found myself falling onto my... hooves?
I looked down at myself, yep, I had hooves instead of hands like the horses my grandpa kept at his farm. Okay, that was weird, I had to be dreaming right? People didn't just turn into horses, right? I'd wake up soon enough and get to see my mommy and everything would be back to normal.
I looked back at myself for a moment and my eyes went wide when I saw a pair of wings growing out of what I guess was my back. I looked like a horse, a small winged horse!
"MOMMY, WHERE ARE YOU!" I cried out, trying to pinch myself because I was always told that it would help you wake up but I wound up more punching myself, it still hurt though.
Nothing, I was still in this weird body! What was going on? How did this happen to me? Where was my mommy?
I just sat there crying for the longest time, I had no idea what I was going to do now. I struggled to get to my hooves once more, I had no idea how I was going to walk on four legs but I was going to manage somehow.
If there was anything I was sure of, if mommy was out there somewhere she'd be looking for me. Maybe she wasn't too far away, yeah, I was sure that she wasn't too far away, I just had to hope that was the case.
I dusted off an old mirror and got a good look at my new body. I was a shade of light blue now, my once dark black hair had turned white with a streak of blue in it, and yeah the wings were still there.
I remembered a picture I had seen in a book mommy had read to me when I was younger of a creature she called a Pegasus. Was that what I was now, a Pegasus? It felt so weird to have wings, I wondered if they really worked.
I wasn't going to get anywhere just staying in what was left of this house so I started heading out onto the road. The area had become covered with plants with just a few homes here and there that looked like no one had lived in them in years.
"Hello? Is anyone out there?" I called out, I didn't think anyone would be able to answer me, but it was worth a try at least. "Mommy? Anyone?"
I was just met with quiet as I moved from house to house. There wasn't anyone anywhere, just a lot of quiet. I sighed and sat down on the ground outside one of the houses and looked up at the sky.
What was going on? Why was this happening to me? Was there even any people left or were they all like me?
My ears suddenly perked up when I heard a crashing sound coming from nearby. I turned towards the source of the noise and saw a small shape darting out of one of the buildings and towards the woods nearby.
Given that it was the first sign that anyone was still alive, I ran after the shape in hopes that it would be someone who could help me.
00000
I followed the shape through the woods as best I could, it looked like whoever it was had a better knowledge of this area than I did. I finally came in for a stop in the middle of a clearing and looked around, whoever I had been chasing was gone.
I sighed a little and sat down, I hadn't had any luck finding my mom and the only living creature I had seen had gotten away from me. I was all alone in the world and it terrified me more than anything.
What had happened to me? Why was I suddenly this weird horse creature? I hated not knowing the answers to these questions and I wished that I had mommy with me, she'd know what to do.
My ears perked up when I heard the sound of someone stepping on a stick. They weren't too far away and I started to head that way when I heard a voice from behind me.
"Hey, get in here!" A girl's voice said and I turned to see a pair of green eyes staring out at me from some sort of trapdoor. "Its not safe, they'll find you and take you away!"
"Who will?"
"The Trappers, come on!" The girl said and gestured for me to join her. "You'll be safe here, I promise!"
I thought about it for a moment before opening the trapdoor a little and entering it next to the girl who shut the door behind us. After a couple of minutes of silence that felt like hours, there was the sound of someone walking just above us.
I was about to say something when I felt a hoof pressed against my lips, I guess that meant my new companion was a horse thing too, that figured really.
"Come on out little filly," a male voice said from above the ground, it was quiet, but we could hear him almost perfectly so he was likely standing near the trapdoor. "Where'd that pony go?"
"Are you sure you saw somepony appear here?" A woman's voice asked, she had a slight accent, not like mommy's, it sounded strange to me.
"Y-y-yes ma'am," a third voice said, the woman said something I couldn't understand which made me gulp a little.
"Come on, we've got another report to check on, we can't go chasing ghosts," the first voice said and there was the sound of them walking away.
After a minute we peeked out from under the trap door just in time to see three more horse things vanish into the forest. Ponies maybe? Were we ponies now? That was what they called us wasn't it?
"Its okay, they're gone now," the girl, or filly I guess that would be said as she closed up the trapdoor and lead me down into the small room bellow.
The room was dimly lit by several candles that were placed in little spots on the wall. I could finally get a look at my new friend, and she wasn't what I expected at all. While she looked like a small horse, her body was marked with stripes that seemed odd, almost circular around her face.
"Thank you," I manage to finally say. "Who were they?"
"I don't know," the striped filly said with a shake of her head. "They seem to be interested in taking ponies when they first appear. I found this old place when I was running from them after I wound up here a few days ago."
"Oh, so you weren't born a..." I said as I briefly tried to figure out what she was. "Zebra?"
"Oh no, I appeared here just like you did I guess," the Zebra said and offered me a hoof. "I'm Alicia Daniels by the way, what's your name?"
"Katie Sinclair," I said with a smile as I shook her hoof. "What is this place?"
"I'm not sure, I think it was a hideout for someone a long time ago," Alicia said with a shrug. "It was still pretty well stocked, but we're going to have to leave soon and find more food."
I looked around briefly, there was some food here and there but it looked like most of it was already gone. It was kind of weird to find a place in practically my backyard, I wondered how long it had been since I had fallen asleep.
"Have you seen an older pony that may be looking for her daughter?"
"Oh, you're looking for your mom huh?" Alicia asked and I nodded. "No, sorry, at least no Pegasi. A few showed up around the same time I did, but they were all teenagers, I doubt any of them were your mom."
My ears drooped a little, of course it wouldn't be as easy as just asking the first creature I met where she was. Maybe she was out there somewhere looking for me, maybe she hadn't even appeared yet, either way I just wished that she was here right now.
I started crying again and was surprised to feel an arm, or well I guess a leg wrap around me. I looked at Alicia who looked at me reassuringly.
"Its okay Katie, I'm sure she's out there somewhere," she said before her ears drooped a little. "Not like me, nopony is looking for me out there."
"Why not?" I asked her. "You have a family don't you?"
"I, was in a foster home before I appeared like this," the Zebra said with a shake of her head. "I mean they were nice enough, but I was always the youngest and the smallest so I tended to not be noticed."
"I'm sorry," I said, it was my turn to hug Alicia, I had always had my mom but she didn't have anyone.
We gathered up some food and started eating in silence. It was kind of stale, but it was at least edible.
"What's your mom like?"
"Oh, she's wonderful, she works hard on her novels, but she's always willing to help me when I need it. Its always just been us and my grandparents sometimes, so she does her best to be there for me. I hope she's okay, wherever she is."
"I'm sure she is," Alicia said reassuringly as she finished eating. "I just wish I knew more about what happened to the world, do you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I do," I said and looked around. "Uh, where are we going to sleep?"
Alicia chuckled a little and nodded to some rough bedding that was in one corner of the small room. "Its enough for the two of us at least."
"Yeah, it something," I said. "Its just weird you know... do you think there are any humans out there?"
"Maybe there are, I don't know," Alicia admitted. "I've only seen a few ponies come through this area that hadn't just appeared. None of them have mentioned humans at all, so, I really have no idea."
"We'll see I guess," I said and looked back at my body again, flexing my wings a little. "I wonder if I can fly."
"Well, you are a Pegasus right? It kind of stands to reason that you can I guess," Alicia said. "Want to go try it out?"
"Sure, why not?"
00000
We moved up to the trapdoor and after being sure that there wasn't anyone, or anypony, in the clearing above we pushed it open and stepped outside. The sun looked like it was going down in the distance.
I stretched my wings out a little, it was weird enough being on all fours but having these things just made it weirder. "How will this even work?" I wondered out loud.
"I dunno, I think I saw one Pegasus just take off, try flapping your wings I guess," Alicia suggested.
"Okay, here goes nothing."
I flapped my wings for a moment without getting any lift, I flapped harder, my wings buzzing a little as I managed to lift a few inches off the ground for a moment, before falling flat on my face.
"Oww, that was not pleasant..." I said with a groan as I struggled to get back up to my hooves.
"Are you okay Katie?" Alicia asked as she helped me up.
"Yeah, I just, I dunno," I said as I flapped my wings weakly. "I guess either its not as simple as just flapping your wings or something else."
"Yeah, I'm sorry I don't know either," Alicia said as she inspected my wings briefly. "They look fine to me, a little small maybe, but I don't actually know anything about Pegasus wings."
"Its fine, its probably nothing, maybe my body just isn't used to them or something," I said with a shrug as I folded my wings at my sides again.
It was weird, I almost felt disappointed by this development. I had only been a Pegasus for a few hours but it felt, weird not to be able to fly, almost like it wasn't normal somehow. I don't know why I felt like that, mostly because I didn't even know how to fly.
It was also at this point when I got my first really good look at Alicia. She was a grey-ish white with pale stripes covering part of her body (though I noticed there was a blank space on her butt, not that I was staring at it or anything, I wondered what that was for). her hair, or mane I guess was tied into a braid that made me wonder how she managed to get it done with hooves.
We headed back out of the woods and into the old neighborhood to try and find anything else. We found what looked like an abandoned vegetable garden with some food still growing in it and gathered up what we could into some bags that Alicia had brought with her.
"I think this used to be a farm or something," Alicia suggested. "I don't know where the ponies who lived here went off to, but it at least gives us something to eat."
I nodded and took one of the bags and slung it over my back after making sure it was closed before we headed back towards the trapdoor. Alicia looked up at the stars for a long moment while I worked to get the door open with my hooves.
"The stars are lovely tonight," she said, I looked up and saw more stars than I had seen in my life.
It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen, the entire night sky was filled with white lights and the moon above. I had seen stars before when I was visiting my grandparents, but never this many.
"They really are," I said with a light smile. "I don't think I've ever seen that many at once."
"Its weird... sometimes it feels almost like they call out to me," Alicia said, which made me look at her strangely.
"What are they saying?"
"I don't know, its probably nothing."
I was a little worried by that, but she was right it probably was nothing. I finally managed to get the trapdoor open and we started down into the hole. Alicia closed and locked the door behind us.
We stayed up talking for a little while, it turned out that we had only lived a block apart growing up but we had never met. Alicia was the youngest of four foster children and the only girl.
I told her a little about myself, I was the only child of a single mom (she never wanted to talk about what happened to my Dad). My mom was a writer who had gotten a couple of books published, though she didn't really let me read them. Finally I yawned and stretched out on the bedding while Alicia blew out the candles and laid down next time me.
"Its weird..."
"What is?"
"This is the first time my mom wasn't here to read me a story..." I said with a sigh as I looked up at the dark ceiling above us. "I miss that the most about her right now, she always told such wonderful stories."
"Well, why don't you tell me one then?" Alicia suggested.
I smiled a little as I thought through the stories mom had told me, I smiled a little as some ideas started to form in my mind. "Once upon a time there was a brave young princess named Katherine. She found herself lost and far from home and her mother when she met a young warrior named Alexandra from a distant land..."
"Hey, I'm not from a distant land!" Alicia said with a light giggle, she was getting the idea.
"Hey, you're a Zebra, just go with it, its my first time trying to tell a story," I said with a laugh as I continued telling the story into the night. After awhile I didn't hear Alicia say anything, I smiled a little when I realized the Zebra filly had fallen asleep.
I hadn't found my mother yet, but I had at least found somepony who could help me figure out this strange new world. I smiled and closed my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.
"And my wasteland soul Never will be truly whole My only remaining goal now to survive Someday the rains will come and wash it all away The heart of the wasteland will awaken on this day." -Miracle of Sound, Wasteland Soul.
"Mommy!" I cried out as I ran forward towards the woman standing in the distance, I could see her, she was here! I couldn't believe it she was actually here!
As I ran forward however I started to stumble and fall forward onto my hands as they shrank down into hooves. My body became itchy as hair covered it and a tail formed behind me, by the time I reached my mom I was a pony again.
I was surprised to feel the sensation of two legs wrapping around me followed by a pair of wings. I looked up to see another pony smiling down at me, I could barely see her face, but she was a Pegasus like me.
"Its okay Katie, I'm here for you my little filly," she said as she held me close. "You don't have to be afraid anymore, I'll always be here for you, no matter what."
I smiled and wrapped my legs around her as best I could.
"You just have to promise me one thing okay?"
"What's that mommy?"
"Promise me you'll stay strong," she said. "I can't be there for you right now, but I'll never stop loving you. Be strong for me Katie and you'll be just fine."
I smiled a little as my mom nuzzled me. "I promise mommy, I'll do my best.
"I know you will, I love you Katie."
"I love you too mommy."
The pony that was my mother smiled and continued to hold me for the longest time before the world around me turned dark.
I snapped awake and looked around, it was still dark, I had no idea where I was. It took me a moment to realize that I was still in the small room lying next to Alicia who snored lightly.
I smiled a little at my new Zebra friend, I wondered if she ever had dreams like that. It was weird, but even though I knew that it wasn't real, it gave me hope that maybe my mom was okay and I'd get to see her again someday.
I laid back in the sleeping bag and stared up at the darkness above my head again. I didn't really feel much like sleeping right now, it was weird really since this was the first night in my new body.
I wondered why there weren't more people, or ponies I guess, in this area. Alicia had said that more ponies had appeared before sure, but they hadn't lasted long as they had been taken away by whoever it was that did that.
Maybe we should consider leaving and trying to make it to one of the bigger towns. If there were more ponies out there maybe they'd be able to give us some answers, at least I hoped they might be able to.
Maybe it was even possible that my mom would be there, or somepony that Alicia knew. I know she didn't seem to care that much about her foster family, but there could always be somepony out there looking for her.
I yawned a little and pulled the covers back over me and closed my eyes and fell back asleep.
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Day two back out in the new world, Alicia woke me up at around dawn the next day and told me that we'd be scavenging.
"Scavenging?"
"I think these houses used to belong to a pony settlement," Alicia said as she opened the trapdoor. "They're too small to have been built for humans and some of them are still untouched."
Yeah, that made sense, now that she mentioned it I thought back to the houses the day before and they did seem a bit smaller than the ones I remembered. Though now I had to wonder what happened to the ponies that had lived there before.
I took a deep breath and headed out of the room with Alicia. She showed me how to best get into the old buildings and where to find the best supplies.
"Honestly I don't know if we should stay here much longer," Alicia said with a shake of her head. "The Trappers are bound to come back here eventually and I'd rather not be taken away to wherever they take ponies, so we need to get as much supplies as we can and something to carry them in."
"Sounds good," I said as we managed to get one of the houses open. "Why do you think they want to take ponies?"
"Who knows," Alicia said with a shrug. "They've never seemed particularly interested in me is the weird part."
"Weird, maybe they're not interested in Zebras or something," I said. "Do you think there are more out there?"
"I don't know, maybe," Alicia said with a shrug. "I've only ever really seen ponies, so I can't really say for sure."
I nodded and we continued to search the house. What was weird to me at least was that it actually seemed to be pretty empty, there was still plates on the table as if whoever had been here had left in the middle of a meal.
I found some more cans and other supplies that still looked okay and started stacking them up. I just had to hope we could find some way to carry them, we didn't really know how far we'd have to walk.
I looked in the other rooms, it felt so, ordinary. I wondered if the ponies who had lived here before had just appeared in the area like me and Alicia did and set this place up to live in like they had before as best they could.
"Hey, I've got something," Alicia said as the Zebra came out of one of the bedrooms with a set of bags slung over her body, she was carrying another set in her teeth and set them down in front of me.
"Saddlebags?" I commented, I had seen things like this before in pictures but these were smaller than they were.
"Yeah, it looks like the family here had a couple of foals, these must have belonged to them," Alicia said. "We should be able to use them to transport food and supplies at least."
I nodded and carried the bags back into the kitchen, we started packing what we could into our bags.
"I hope we can find somepony out there who isn't like the Trappers," Alicia said with a shake of her head. "I just wish I knew where to start."
"Me too," I said. "Lets keep looking, maybe we can find a clue somewhere, like a radio or something."
"Yeah, its worth a try," Alicia said with a smile as we headed back out of the house, I had to hope that we could find something.
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We searched through a few more of the houses and found some more supplies mostly, but no sign of a radio that we could see. We had almost given up when we reached the last house, except it wasn't a house at all.
As we moved forward I stepped on something soft, not soft like the ground, more like a cloth. I looked down and was surprised to see a black flag under my hooves with a golden square around it and a line through three stars.
"Okay, that's a new one," Alicia said. "What do you think it means?"
"I don't know, maybe its a flag of some sort," I said, we carefully folded it up and put it in my saddlebags before investigating the building.
Inside was a pony sized office, there were a few posters lining the wall that said things like "WELCOME REFUGEES" and "FREEDOM IS A RIGHT, NOT A CHOICE." They had been torn in places but I could see images of ponies in the intact parts.
"Weird, I wonder what these posters are for," Alicia commented as she looked over the posters curiously.
"I don't know," I said as we investigated the rest of the building, it seemed like some sort of, welcome center maybe based on a banner that said "WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD" over the desk. "It looks like this was some sort of welcome center."
"Then what happened to the ponies that worked here?"
I didn't have an answer to that, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I opened one of the doors and fell back in shock, lying there was a dead pony that looked like it had been there for a long time. I slammed the door shut and fell against the wall, breathing heavily as I did.
"Are you okay Katie?" Alicia asked as she trotted over to me.
"There's... a dead... pony in there..." I said as I pointed at the door. "Whoever was here, I don't think they're alive anymore." Alicia peeked into the room and shut the door as quickly as I had. "Okay, that's not good, I've been finding some papers around here that may be of some assistance at least."
She showed me some papers and I scanned over them. It took me a moment to realize that these were about ponies that appeared in the town, it sounded like this was a pretty common place in this area at least.
Still no mention of a Rachel Sinclair though, that wasn't helpful. I did however notice a message at the end of the stack.
Cold Water,
We're getting reports of enemy activity near the settlement from our allied caravans that have been passing through. The President is concerned that the Herd's forces are encroaching on Haven territory, and wants a status report as soon as possible.
If needed we can recall all Haven citizens back to Nightingale. If the Herd's activity is getting close to Gateway we may have a serious problem on our hooves. President Note has agreed to send additional troops to fortify your position if needed.
I hope that we won't need them.
Jasper.
"What's the Herd and Haven?" I wondered out loud and Alicia just shrugged.
We didn't find much else in the welcome center, just a map of Georgia with marks on it that I didn't know the meaning of. There were a few pins here and there and I was surprised to see one marked Nightingale in a familiar place.
"Huh, that's Athens."
"Athens?"
"Yeah, Athens Georgia, my mom was born there, we sometimes visit," I said with a shrug. "She sometimes would let me navigate so I recognize where it is on the map."
"Do you think that's where the ponies that worked here are from?" Alicia asked as she examined the beaten up map curiously.
"I don't know, but its worth a try at least," I said with a shake of my head. "Its the closest marked area anyway, I think its at least worth a try."
"Alright, then Nightingale it is," Alicia said with a nod.
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When we finally finished the sun was starting to go down in the sky. We did one last check around the neighborhood to make sure we didn't miss anything and its a good thing we did because we found something that would help a lot.
There was a wagon, a pretty small one all things considered not like one of the ones my grandpa owned, but it was small enough for a filly to pull. It even had a harness that was just our size, we tried it out, and figured out how to make it work.
"Well, that'll certainly be helpful," Alicia said with a smile as we loaded up as much supplies in the wagon as we could pull.
I had noticed that Alicia could actually pull more than me, that was interesting, maybe it meant that Zebras had more physical strength than Pegasi, or maybe I just wasn't as strong as my new friend, who knew really.
"Yeah, good thing we found it," I said with a nod as I removed myself from the harness and we covered the wagon with some branches just in case. "So, is there anything else we need to do?"
"Not really," Alicia said with a shake of her head as we walked back towards the clearing where the trapdoor was. "Do you mind if we stay out here a little while tonight? I find the stars calming."
"Sure, that would be nice," I said as we laid back in the cool grass (was I ever going to have to eat grass? I mean I am a pony now, ponies eat grass right?). "Do you ever wonder about what happened to your foster family?"
"Sometimes," Alicia admitted with a sigh as she flicked her tail a little. "Not as much as you miss your mom, but they at least gave me a roof over my head and fed me."
"Why were you in a foster home anyway?"
"My parents, my birth parents, died when I was a baby," Alicia said with a sad sigh. "I don't really remember them, and I was kind of sent to a bunch of foster homes growing up, no one really wanted to take care of me permanently."
"I'm sorry," I said as I turned my head to look at the Zebra filly. "You seem really nice, I don't know why no one would want you."
"Me neither, some of them just couldn't take care of another kid. They were mostly good people, but I never really felt at home with any of them."
"I never knew my Dad," I admitted to her after a long silence. "My mom had me when she was still in high school, and she and my grandparents did their best to raise me."
"She never got married?" Alicia asked.
"No, she always said she hadn't found the right person," I said with a shrug. "I just kind of got used to it just being the two of us all the time. Now I don't even have her."
"I'm sorry," Alicia said as she looked over at me then back up at the stars, she closed her eyes and her ears twitched a little as if she was listening to something. "Do you hear them Katie? The stars are speaking again."
I looked up at the stars and tried to listen to them, but I heard nothing. They were just little lights in the night sky to me, I wasn't sure what Alicia wanted me to hear.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear them," I said with a sigh. "What are they saying?"
"I don't know, but every time they speak to me it seems to become clearer," Alicia said with a shrug. "I can't explain it, but, something about it makes me uneasy, like I need to be careful."
"They're just stars Alicia, maybe its your imagination, or maybe its a Zebra thing, it might explain why I can't hear them."
"Yeah, I don't know," Alicia said. "I mean I'm not exactly a normal Zebra, unless you can think of any Zebras on Earth that have stripes like mine."
She had a point, her stripes did have an odd pattern to them. I could've sworn I saw something like them before, but I had no idea what it might've been. There was something almost, otherworldly about them, but maybe it was just my imagination.
"I just wish I knew what was going on, maybe there are other Zebras out there that could help me, I just have to find them."
"Alicia, I'd be happy to help you as best I can," I said with a smile as I draped my wing gently over the Zebra filly. "We both have a lot we need to figure out and learn, lets make a pact to help each other out okay?"
Alicia looked at me for a long moment and then smiled. "Okay!"
I smiled a little and we shook hooves, we still had a long way to go before we reached our goals, but we didn't have to go it alone. There was still one question that was bugging me a little though.
"Do you ever have dreams about anyone from your life before?"
"Once or twice sure," Alicia said with a shrug. "Usually they vanish before I even get close to them, why?"
"I had one of my mom last night," I said with a sigh. "Only she didn't vanish, I made it to her and she held me and told me everything would be alright... I was wondering if that was normal I guess."
"I don't know, maybe," Alicia said.
We just laid there in the grass for awhile longer as we stared up at the beautiful night sky. I wondered if somewhere else, my mom was staring up at the same stars wondering where I was.
" ...and the earth becomes my throne I adapt to the unknown Under wandering stars I've grown By myself but not alone I ask no one." -Metallica, Wherever I May Roam
I yawned a little as the sun's light woke me up the next morning, I found myself staring up at the sky and realized that we must have dozed off the night before. I looked beside me and smiled a little at the sleeping Zebra filly next to me.
I quietly got to my hooves and opened the trapdoor as I headed down into the safe room to get us some food. It was weird to think that we were going to leave this place today, it had almost started to feel like home.
I wondered who had lived in here before, if anypony had really, had it been some sort of hiding place in the event of an attack by the, what did that paper call them, the Herd? That was kind of an odd name for a group now that I thought about it, was it because they were ponies or something?
I shrugged, maybe we'd learn more about them later but for now I had breakfast to get. I picked out some things from our supplies before packing the rest of it into my saddlebags and carrying them back up above ground.
Alicia was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with her forehooves when I came back up and she smiled at me. "Hey Katie, what's for breakfast?"
"Same thing as dinner, canned fruits and vegetables," I said with a chuckle as I passed her a can. "If we have to eat this for the whole trip, grass may actually be preferable."
Alicia laughed a little at that. "Hey, don't knock it until you try it, grass can be tasty when made right."
"Really?"
"Heck no, its grass," Alicia said and we shared a laugh. "Really though, we may have to think about it at least so we don't run out of food."
I didn't really like the idea of eating grass even if I was a pony now. I looked down at the grass at my hooves and sniffed it, taking a curious bite.
It didn't exactly taste like chicken I'll tell you that.
"Bleah, how do ponies eat this stuff?" I said as I tried to spit the taste out of my mouth, which just made Alicia roll on the ground laughing. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"
"Okay, okay, I'll stop," Alicia said as we started to eat our vegetables. "I wonder if ponies can eat meat."
"You know I'm not sure," I said with a shrug. "My grandpa is the real horse expert in my family not me, I'm sure he could tell us everything we needed to know."
"Well about you maybe," Alicia pointed out. "I'm not exactly a pony you know."
"Okay good point," I said, I wasn't actually sure what the difference between a pony and a zebra was other than the stripes. "But still, an expert on horses or horse-like animals could be handy if we knew one."
"Yeah, which means my family is pretty much unhelpful," Alicia said. "My older brothers are all... were all in high school when this happened. Its weird, but sometimes I miss them, mostly Ryan really, he was always nice to me even though we weren't related."
"My mom liked to say family is more than blood," I said with a shrug. "Which I think she got from Star Wars or something, she was always into sci-fi series like that."
"Sounds like Ryan," Alicia said with a giggle.
"But what she said it means is that family isn't just about who you're related to. Its about the people you form bonds with, the ones that shape your life in different ways and you are close to."
"Your mom sounds like a smart lady," Alicia said as we finished eating breakfast. "I wish I could've known her."
"Hey, you never know, that still might happen," I said with a smile as we uncovered the wagon and made sure we secured all the supplies we were bringing including the sleeping bag. "If she's out there, I know she'll be looking for me."
"Yeah, I hope so," Alicia said.
We did one last check of the area and after some trying managed to fold up the map of Georgia that we had found in the welcome center. We took one last look at the place that had been our home since we had arrived.
"Its weird, up until I met you I never thought much about where I'd go next," Alicia commented as she closed up the trapdoor for the last time, she left it unlocked so that many somepony else could use it. "This place it kind of feels like home to me."
"Yeah, I know how you feel," I said as we walked over to the hiding spot for the wagon. "Lets just hope we have enough to make it to Nightingale."
"Yeah," Alicia said as she picked up the harness. "Do you want to pull it first or me?"
"I'll do it," I said and slipped into the harness as Alicia secured it as best she could.
"Are you going to be okay pulling it?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said as we started walking forward towards the old road that was near the town.
00000
I hummed a tune to myself as we walked down the road together. Alicia was scouting ahead at the moment, which left me alone with my thoughts.
Waking up a pony had been, surreal to say the least and I still had a lot to get used to. I still had to try hard to avoid tripping over my new legs, but I was slowly starting to get used to them at least, which was good.
Then there was the matter of what we had seen yesterday, if there were ponies still alive out there it seemed that this Haven place was the logical place to start looking. I thought back to the map of Georgia I had seen and remembered that it seemed to be divided more into three groups.
One of them had to be Haven, which was where we were heading now, that was something at least. But then what were the other two? One of them was probably the Herd that the message had mentioned, but there was still that third group.
Maybe I was just overthinking it as mom liked to say, we didn't even know how old the map was, it could be outdated. There was still the matter of where we'd stop for the night of course, maybe there was other places to stay for shelter here and there, that would be nice at least.
I took a deep breath and started up the hill in front of me, it wasn't easy to pull this wagon uphill since I felt almost like it was straining against me with every step. It wasn't even that high of a hill, maybe it was just my small body.
"Are you okay down there?" Alicia asked from the top of the hill.
"I'm fine, I'll manage," I said with a smile, more to reassure myself myself than her. "Did you see anything up there?"
"No, just more road and trees," Alicia said with a shrug as I kept walking up the hill. "This road seems pretty old to me, what do you think?"
Actually now that she mentioned it, it kinda did to me as well. It was cracked and coming apart in several places which didn't make the trek up the hill any easier, did that mean it hadn't been worked on in awhile?
Just how long had it really been since I had gone to sleep? If we ever found any adults that weren't Trappers, that was going to be one of the things I asked them.
"Yeah, it really is," I finally said as I pulled the wagon up to the top of the hill. "So, what do you think the other ponies are like?"
"Hopefully they're nice," Alicia said as she took up her spot next to me. "Do you think there might be other Zebras like me?"
"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "I mean you can't be the only one in the world right? If one Zebra appeared I guess, there's bound to be more."
"Yeah," Alicia said with a nod. "I still have to wonder a little about my stripes though, do you think that's normal?"
I wasn't sure what to say to that honestly, since I hadn't ever met another Zebra, I had just seen pictures of them in books, and she most definitely did not look like one of those. Then again from what I saw, I didn't exactly look like a horse either given that I had these wings.
Now that I think about it, what even happened to normal horses and zebras? Were they still around or did something happen to them too? Darn it this just kept raising questions that I didn't know the answer to, thank goodness there wasn't a pop quiz coming.
"Well, I don't know to be honest," I finally said. "But I do know one thing, I don't care if you're a Human, a Pony, a Zebra, or a Dragon, I wouldn't rather have anyone at my side on this trip."
Alicia's face brightened up as she gave me a hug, I smiled a little, I was glad that I had made the filly smile. She had a nice smile, it really highlighted her facial stripes.
"Thanks Katie, I'm happy I met you too.
As we walked on for awhile longer I couldn't help but think about what this might mean for my future. Well on the bright side this means I didn't have to go to school again, no homework, no math... yeah, I wasn't going to miss math at all.
I looked back at my wings for a moment, it was weird but I had almost forgotten they were there since I had last tried to fly. I wondered if that was just because I wasn't used to my new body or if I never would be able to fly, but right now wasn't the time to think about it.
I felt a drop of water fall on my head and looked up just as the sky opened up and it started to rain.
"Well, that figures," Alicia said with a groan as we kept walking through the rain.
00000
We kept walking for a little while longer as the rain continued to pour down around us. The road was getting slick and we needed to find somewhere to stop and rest soon when we heard the last thing we expected to hear.
Music, there was actual music being played as we heard people (ponies?) laughing and cheering up ahead. We exchanged a glance and started to push forward harder, maybe they'd be able to help us out.
When we came in for a stop we found ourselves next to a field where a group of tents had been set up. There were a few figures playing music and even, dancing I guess, as close to equines could get at least.
It took me a moment to realize that they weren't ponies either, at lest not most of them, they had the telltale black or grey stripes of Zebras. Alicia couldn't help but watch them as they continued.
"What should we do?" I whispered to the Zebra filly.
"Maybe we should wait for them to stop," Alicia whispered back with a shrug. "It might be rude to interrupt them."
"Little ones, come, get out of the rain," a woman's voice said with a strange accent, I was surprised to look over and see that one of the Zebras was looking at us with a smile.
She looked different from Alicia, instead her body had more evenly spaced stripes including some that were connected at her back. She smiled a little as we approached and I slipped out of the harness.
That's when I saw her eyes, they weren't normal eyes, they were purple and clouded. She patted the ground next to her and we sat down.
"Silly little fillies shouldn't be traveling the roads alone," the Zebra said with a smile as we got comfortable. "Especially pony fillies, not when the Herd may still be about. Where may I ask are you going this rainy day?"
"Uh, we're going to Nightingale," I said, I was a little surprised by this woman's questions, but at least she seemed nice.
"Ah, the great jewel of Haven, I have not seen it with my own eyes, but I know its sounds and smells well," the older Zebra said.
"Not, with your own eyes?" I asked as I tilted my head a little.
"Child, I was not born with the gift of sight like you lucky fillies," she said with a light chuckle. "Sickness robbed me of that when I was but a foal."
"So, you didn't re-appear like we did?" Alicia asked.
"Afraid not child, I am a third Generation member of the Zencori tribe," she said. "You two are refugees then?"
"Yeah, I've only been here for three days, Alicia here has been here for longer," I said with a shrug. "We were in... what was the name of that town again?"
"Gateway I think," Alicia said.
"Oh dear, you are fortunate then that you escaped the Herd," the older Zebra said with a look of concern on her face (or at least I think it was, I don't know how to read pony faces yet). "What are your names?"
"Well, I'm Katie."
"Alicia."
"Charmed to meet you both, I shall remember your names, perhaps you will become the focus of a great story of your own someday. I am Daegra of the Zencori, welcome to our camp."
"Story?" I asked, I admitted I was curious about what she was talking about.
"The Zencori, we are storytellers," Daegra said with a smile. "It is our tradition to catalog the stories of the old world and of the new and tell them so that they are not lost to time. I for one am quite fond of the tales of Frodo Baggins and Luke Skywalker, but there are many more out there among the Zencori."
Wow, an entire tribe of Storytellers, that was something I hadn't expected... also, wait, was she talking about Lord of the Rings and Star Wars? Huh, I guess that was one way to preserve human culture.
"We're still kind of new to this whole thing, what exactly happened to Gateway?"
"The War happened," Daegra said with a frown. "Perhaps it is time for a story if you wish to know more."
"Of course, that would be nice," I said with a nod and Alicia agreed.
"Very good then, come around children, it is time for momma Daegra to tell the tale of the three founders," Daegra said as the other foals in the camp, both Zebra and a few ponies gathered around the tent where we were sitting. "Now my children, we have two new friends here with us today, they recently came to this new world so they would like to know more about what is going on. So gather around and we shall tell them."
It was almost a shame that the rains made it impossible to light a fire as we all sat around a fire pit. The other foals seemed to be just as interested in what the blind Zebra had to say as we were.
"Many years ago, long after the event that brought about the end of the old world, three ponies appeared in the city of Atlanta," Daegra said in a dramatic tone. "A religious scholar, a wildman, and a teacher."
I listened carefully, this wasn't like some boring lesson at school, instead Daegra spoke with such passion and such excitement that it was impossible to not be drawn into her story.
"The scholar who came back as a Unicorn, he saw the Event as the will of God, punishing humanity for its sins and crimes against the earth. He saw it as a way to start the world over, rejecting his former humanity and desiring to see the world of man purged from the Earth."
I gasped a little at the very idea, rejecting your humanity? That seemed weird for a human to do, but if it made sense to him I guess, something about that seemed weird though.
"The wildman who came back as a Zebra of the great Roamani Tribe, he saw the new world as a chance to reconnect with nature. He kept his humanity, but he believed that the only way to survive was to embrace the world as it had once been, he agreed with the scholar but believed that he went too far."
The Roamani tribe? That was another new one, I had to wonder how many tribes there were, and what about Alicia, what did she belong to?
"And what about the teacher?" I asked curiously, which made Daegra laugh a little.
"I was just getting to her my silly little filly," Daegra said with a smile, I hadn't expected her to say her. "She came back as a beautiful Pegasus mare they say could outshine the sun itself if she so desired. She saw the ways of both the Wildman and the Scholar and believed that there was no need for such extremes, instead she believed that the focus should be on rebuilding, and preserving the old world. She taught others things that had long been lost to time, and saught to learn more about this new world."
Wow, she sounded pretty cool, I wondered how much of this was actually true and how much was just her telling a story. I didn't even care about the rain at this point, I just wanted to hear what happened.
"Now, all three of them happened to return to the same area of Atlanta and back in those days the city was still mostly empty so they came together to survive. They found an old building that still had a lot of supplies and turned it into Atlanta's first thriving settlement at New Atlanta. As more ponies and other species began to appear in the city, many of them flocked to the settlement and it grew. But sadly, this peace was not to last."
With that her tone became sad, it was clear that whatever Daegra was going to say next wasn't easy to tell, or to hear.
"Over the years, the three came to teach others what they had come to believe, but while the leaders had respect for one another, their followers began to fight amongst themselves until with regret, the founders of New Atlanta had to banish all but their most loyal of followers out into the new world. Lines began to be drawn between the followers of the Scholar and the Teacher as the three groups came to found their own factions, dividing Georgia amongst themselves."
"What happened to the three founders?" I asked Daegra curiously.
"Nopony knows," one of the fillies said.
"Indeed, the tale of the three founders were passed down by our ancestors who had followed the Wildman," Daegra said. "But their influence is still felt to this day, the Wildman taught us how to live off the land and the first Zencori came to know of our great traditions."
"How many tribes are there?" Alicia asked curiously.
"Well, there are the Zencori of course, the Roamani as I mentioned before, then there's the Orah but they don't do much unless they're called on," Daegra answered. "And a few others, why Alicia?"
"I just..." she said and paused a moment. "None of you look like me, I was wondering, what tribe would I fit into?" Daegra was given a brief description of Alicia's stripe pattern and she frowned a little. "I apologize Alicia, but I do not know your Tribe."
Alicia's ears flatted at the news and she sighed a little. I put my wing around my friend gently.
00000
The Zencori were friendly enough, they allowed us to stay in their camp for the night in one of their extra tents. They said that they were nomadic, which I guess meant they traveled a lot, and had been traveling around Georgia for awhile now and were on their way back to their home territory in the Tribelands.
That night once the rain had ended, we all sat around the campfire and told more stories. Daegra and a stallion named Lorus even got into a reenactment of one of the stories they both had memorized, which was surprisingly familiar to me.
"If only you knew the power of the dark side," Lorus said in a deep voice. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."
"He told me enough!" Daegra said back, her voice filled with pain and anger as she did so. "It was you who killed him!"
"No," Lorus said, his voice just becoming scarier and scarier. "I am your father."
The group of ponies and Zebras let out a gasp of shock before they started stamping their hooves in what sounded strangely like applause. I couldn't help but join in, the two had done great and I wondered if maybe someday I could be like them.
The two Zebras finally broke character and bowed to their audience with a smile as Daegra took a seat next to me.
"Star Wars huh?" I asked with a smile.
"It's a very popular story," Daegra said as she smiled back. "My great-grandfather Belius was a fan and he passed the story to his children and so on."
I was starting to understand how the Zencori worked, they passed the stories, the histories from parent to child in order to save them. It was actually kind of funny to think of stories from my time as being passed down like that, but hey if it worked.
I yawned and stretched a little as I looked at Alicia who was already fast asleep. Daegra smiled as I laid down next to my friend and the Zebra storyteller pulled the covers over us with her mouth.
"Good night little fillies, sleep well," she said with a smile as I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
"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.
"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.
"Those that survive Connect with all alive Peace will be returned, We need to praise you, Peace will first be revenged." -Serj Tankian, Peace Be Revenged.
I yawned a little as I got up the next morning, Alicia was still fast asleep next to me and I looked out the window at the city of Nightingale. It was strange, it was like I was back home almost but at the same time it felt too different, I didn't really know what to feel about all of this.
I looked over at Alicia who was curled up and sleeping, it felt weird to think of this new world as being home, but I was getting more and more used to it by the day. My body didn't feel nearly as weird as it had before, I just couldn't seem to fly, but maybe that was normal like Daegra said.
Still, it was weird being a pony instead of a human, I just wished that I knew where my mom was, or my family really. I sighed and sat back down on the bed.
"Hey Katie, is everything okay?" Alicia asked with a yawn as she woke up a few minutes later, shaking her long mane out of her face. "I normally get up before you do."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said with a shrug as I looked at her and gave her a smile. "I was just thinking is all, about everything that's been going on."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Alicia said and gave me a hug. "You're still thinking about your mom aren't you?"
"Yeah, and the rest of my family really," I said with a shake of my head. "Its weird really, maybe its because we reached something of civilization but I'm just now really thinking about it. My grandparents might be out there somewhere too, and I don't even know what they're thinking about all of this."
"Well, where did they live?" Alicia asked curiously.
"Mississippi so I doubt they came back anywhere around here," I said with a shrug. "I guess we don't really know, maybe something to learn about later."
"Yeah," Alicia said as she sniffed the air. "Hey, do you smell that?"
I paused a moment and sniffer too, there was something I hadn't smelled since before I re-appeared as a pony, and I wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. It was a nice smell though, not like anything bad we've smelled since arriving in the new world, this was good.
"Pancakes!" I said excitedly and we headed downstairs for breakfast.
00000
"Hey girls, looks like someponies are hungry," Jennifer said as we took our seats next to the twins who were already eating. "Serenity had to go to work, but she said to say hello and that she'll see you later."
"Okay, sounds good," I said as Jennifer levitated two plates of pancakes down in front of us and we started eating. "So, umm, what are we doing today?"
"Well, first of all we need to get you both checked out by a doctor like we said last night," Jennifer said which made me frown a little. "Don't worry, its mostly painless, the RAA's doctors know what they're doing and will be able to make it go by as fast as possible."
"Well that's good," Alicia said as she took a bite of pancakes. "What else?"
"We're also going to have to get you enrolled in school," Jennifer said, my ears fell a little at that. "Sorry, I know you were probably hoping to get out of that but its the rule for all refugees."
"Even grown ups?" Alicia asked.
"Yeah, even grown ups, its to get them used to the new world and caught up on everything that's been happening," Jennifer said with a smile. "Haven has one of the best education systems in this part of the world. We make sure that all our citizens are well educated and informed of everything that's been going on since the Event happened."
"There's something I've been wondering about actually," I said as I swallowed a bite of pancake. "Everyone, err, everypony has been talking about the Event, but how long has it actually been since it happened?"
"Well, right now we're in about, 314 AE," Jennifer said which made me pause, did I just hear that right, 314 AE? Did AE mean after the event? "So, 314 years since the Event yes. Haven has been around for only around 100 years though."
"Wow... I didn't realize it had been that long..." I said, I was still a bit surprised over this particular reveal, had it really been that long since I had gone to sleep? "I feel like I'm in that... what's the story, the one about the guy who sleeps for 20 years."
"Rip Van Winkle?" Jennifer asked with a chuckle. "Yes that is a common response, you were in essence asleep for the past 314 years. I suppose it could've been worse though, you could've woken up to a nuclear wasteland or something."
I wasn't sure what she meant by that but somehow I didn't feel like I wanted to know.
"Don't worry, school is fine, you might have the same teacher we did when we first appeared," Rose said with a smile as she looked up at me.
We just ate in silence awhile longer, it was actually pretty nice to have what felt like a normal breakfast instead of having to eat fruits and vegetables out of a can or whatever supplies the Zebras managed to put together. There was still something I wondered about though, and I had to admit I was more curious about this than anything else.
"So, I was wondering about something," I said and Jennifer looked over at me. "Names, I've heard and read some strange names like Serenity or Clear Water, but there's also been some normal human names, what's up with that?"
"Oh, that's simple, some people upon returning like to change their names to more pony-like names for some reason, the Zebras do the same only they go with ones that sound more Roman," Jennifer said with a shrug. "Though interestingly enough that seems to be more limited to our area of America, at least the Zebra thing."
Well, that was certainly interesting, maybe it meant something, maybe it was just a strange thing that they did. I found it interesting to be honest, maybe I should consider taking a pony name at some point, but I didn't really know what I'd pick if I did.
"More often than not pony names are tied with their cutie marks," Jennifer continued as she nodded at the symbol on her flank. "That's all about your talent and what you're good at."
"Oh, well, hmm..." I said, honestly I wasn't really sure what to think about that, I still didn't have one so I didn't really know what mine might be, go figure.
"You're wondering what yours would be huh?" Jennifer asked with a light chuckle as I nodded. "Don't worry, everypony figures their talent out eventually, its just a matter of waiting until the right moment."
"Yeah, okay," I said with a shrug, she was right I guess, I didn't really know anything about that so I had to assume that she knew what she was talking about.
"What about Zebras?" Alicia asked.
"Well in your case they're called Glyphmarks, I'm honestly not sure how they work but I think they work on a similar premise," Jennifer said. "Sorry, most Zebras in Georgia live with the Tribelands and the ones that live here already have their's so I don't really know a lot about them."
"Something to ask Daegra later I guess," I said with a shrug as we finished eating, it was about time to get going for the day so we got up and started out.
"Oh, and we're going to need to get you two some clothes," Jennifer added.
"Wait, ponies wear clothes?" I asked, I was a bit surprised by that and I really wasn't sure what to think, mostly because we hadn't seen very many ponies wearing clothes yet.
"Oh sure, mostly during the colder months," Jennifer said as we left the house with the twins. "Don't worry, it won't take long."
I felt like we still had a lot to learn about the pony world.
00000
When we reached the doctor's office we were put in two different rooms, Jennifer said that they had a special doctor for Zebras so she'd be checking on Alicia. I sat on the table a little nervously as I looked around, there were poster with what looked like pony body parts around as well as a few other species.
I noticed something weird, there was one poster that had what looked like, I don't know, some sort of large dog creature that didn't look anything like something from Earth or a book that I had ever read. It was weird, maybe it was something from Equestria? That would at least explain why I didn't know what it was.
"Hello there, you must be Katie Sinclair," a mare's voice said and a Unicorn pony with light pink fur and a short blue mane entered with a smile on her face. "Are you feeling okay, have you had any problems since you first arrived?"
"No, not really," I said with a shrug. "I mean I haven't been able to fly but that's about it, I don't know if that's normal or anything."
"Don't worry about it, most Pegasi are unable to fly when they first appear, its very rare that we get one that can figure it out so its probably nothing, I'll still have to check your wings to be sure though," the doctor said with a smile. "I'm Doctor Lightbringer by the way, how long have you been back?"
"Oh, umm, just a little under a week now," I said as I shrugged a little, I hadn't really thought that much about it, had it really been that long? It felt longer. "So, I might be able to fly?"
"After some time sure, its just a matter of getting your muscles strong enough," Lightbringer said as her horn glowed a light pink and I felt a tingle. "Don't worry, this is a standard procedure, I'm just checking to make sure you're healthy in terms of magic."
I nodded, it didn't hurt or anything so I didn't really think that much of it. The feeling seemed to cover my entire body before it spread into my wings.
"Hmm..." The Doctor said as she moved in closer and examined my wings curiously.
"What's wrong?"
"You have an unusually low amount of magic for a refugee," she said with a frown. "Its not something we normally see in refugees, sometimes in natural born ponies, but its almost unheard of in refugees."
"What does it mean?"
"I honestly don't know, normally it means the pony can't use the normal magic their species can use, like flight for Pegasi," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry Katie, but I honestly don't know if you're ever going to get to fly if these readings are right."
My ears drooped again, never be able to fly? Was she being serious? I couldn't believe it, it was weird to think about it because I had only had these wings for a few days but they may never work?
"Is there any way to fix it? What about that place, umm, Equestria, do they know anything?"
"Not in any of the records we have," the doctor said with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry Katie, I hate being the bearer of bad news, especially to fillies. You might still get to fly, but I don't want you to get your hopes up."
I frowned a little, it was weird even though I had never been able to fly before this obviously it almost felt disappointing to be told this. I couldn't explain it, but it felt almost like I was supposed to be able to fly but now I knew I might never do it, it was weird and kind of sad.
"Well, the good news is that you seem otherwise to be a healthy 11 year old Pegasus filly," Lightbringer said with a smile as she finished her examination.
"So, this doesn't normally happen with refugees?" I asked as I looked at the doctor as she finished.
"No, honestly this is the first I've actually heard of it at least in Georgia, sorry I can't really explain it," she said with a shake of her head. "Anyway, you're all set to go, I'll tell Mrs. Wright that everything checks out and you're good to go," the doctor said with a smile and I headed out.
"Hey Katie, is everything okay?" Alicia asked as she left her own room and looked at me curiously. "Looks like you're down about something."
"I'm fine, I just got some news from the doctor I'm not so sure about," I said with a shake of my head and told Alicia what the Doctor had told me. "How'd your examination go?"
"Oh fine, there weren't any problems," Alicia said as we headed out to meet with Jennifer. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah I'll be fine, hey its not like I ever could fly before anyway, right?" I said with a light chuckle. "Don't worry about me, I can live with not having working wings, its not that big a deal."
"Yeah, of course, well I wouldn't worry about it," Alicia said as we reached Jennifer who was talking with Doctor Lightbringer and a Zebra mare who gave us a nod. "Besides, I think its interesting, makes you more unique if what you said is true."
"Heh, yeah, well still, it would've been cool to fly," I said with a shrug as we headed out of the office.
00000
"This feels weird," I commented as we tried on some clothes, I had to wear a special shirt that allowed my wings to poke out through two holes and the pants felt kinda weird. "Do ponies really dress like this?"
"Yeah, I know it takes a little getting used to, probably why most ponies prefer to go naked," Jennifer said with a chuckle as we went to pay for the clothes.
"Hey, at least you didn't have to wear a dress," Alicia pointed out, she was dressed in an outfit similar to mine with her tail poking out of the rear.
"Yeah, I hate dresses," I said with a shake of my head which just made Alicia laugh as we headed out of the store and down the road. "So what now?"
"Well, for now we don't have a lot to do, I need to check in at the school, but you don't have to be there for that," Jennifer said as we neared a park where I saw a familiar Zebra sitting.
"Daegra!" I said with a smile as I rushed over to the blind storyteller and gave her a hug.
"Oh hey there little filly," Daegra said with a smile as she hugged me back. "How was your first night in Nightingale?"
"It was nice, it felt so... ordinary, almost like I was back home," I said with a shrug as I looked up at the Zebra. "How about you, how are things going here?"
"Oh they're going fine, we're just getting everything ready before we have to leave tomorrow," Daegra said as she nodded to the gathering of tents that made up the Zencori camp.
"Do you mind watching them a little while then Daegra?" Jennifer said as she approached with Alicia. "I just need to get these two ready for school is all."
"Of course not, I'd love to watch these two wonderful fillies," Daegra said with a smile and Jennifer headed off to get everything done. "So, you two are getting settled in here pretty well? Are the twins giving you any trouble?"
"Nah, everypony is fine really," I said with a shake of my head and moved my wings a little. "Well, everything with them at least..."
"Oh, I'm sorry Katie," Daegra said as she looked at me and gave me a hug. "Just don't forget what I told you before, okay?"
"That I don't need to let it define me?" I asked and she nodded. "I know, but its weird, I don't know why since I never really could fly before but it feels almost... sad."
"Well that's the nature of Pegasi, you belong in the sky so when you can't get that it may feel weird even if you've never experienced it," Daegra said with a shake of her head. "Don't worry, you are still who you are and can still make great contributions to the world."
"And we'll be right there with you," Alicia said with a smile and offered me a hoof. "Best friends forever?"
I smiled and took her hoof, I never really had that much of a best friend before, sure I had some friends but none of them I considered a best friend. Maybe it was because of what we were facing together, but I had come to think of Alicia as my best friend.
"Best friends forever," I said with a smile and pulled Alicia into a hug. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Some legends are told Some turn to dust or to gold But you will remember me Remember me, for centuries Just one mistake Is all it will take We'll go down in history Remember me for centuries." -Fallout Boy, Centuries
We spent the evening with Daegra and the other Zencori, after awhile we were joined by Jennifer, Serenity, and the Twins as we sat around the campfire. It was a beautiful night, and the lights of Nightingale weren't nearly as intense in this part of the city which gave us a beautiful view of the stars.
Serenity smiled and took a seat next to us as me and Alicia stared up at the night sky.
"So what are you two up to?" She asked curiously as she followed our gaze up to the stars. "Stargazing huh?"
"Yeah, something like that," I said with a shrug, really Alicia said she was hearing the stars speak to her again, but I wasn't sure what they were saying. "We're just thinking about what's been going on, and about Alicia."
"Oh yeah, Daegra told me you're not sure about what tribe she's from," Serenity said as she looked over at the two of us. "Have you considered asking around at the library? Haven has had access to some records from Equestria, but I don't know how much we have on the Zebra Tribes other than the ones we've already had contact with."
"I see," Alicia said with a sigh as she rolled over to look at me. "We haven't had any more of those weird dreams at least, that might mean something."
"Maybe you should talk to a Bat Pony," Jennifer suggested as she came up with the twins. "They should be able to help with anything related to weird dreams at least."
"What's a Bat Pony?" I asked curiously and Alicia looked just as confused as I was.
"Bat Ponies are, well they're kind of like Pegasi only instead they have bat wings," Serenity said as she rubbed the back of her head, well I guess that meant they were exactly what they sounded like. "They also have the ability to enter dreams and help figure them out, so that might be useful for you at least."
"What kind of dreams are you talking about?" Jennifer asked.
We told them about the shared dream we had before and they frowned a little. That was not a good sign, frowning was never a good sign when adults did it, it meant something bad.
"Well, honestly that's not quite something we're familiar with," Serenity admitted as she rubbed the back of her head a little. "Sorry about that girls, but I think the Zebras know more about this than we do."
It felt weird, for a moment I think it was like they were keeping something from us. Was it possible Haven knew more about what was going on than we did? Something was certainly up, but I didn't have a chance to dwell on it because Daegra came up to us.
"Come, come fillies, its time for stories," Daegra said with a smile as we got to our hooves and headed to the circle where the Zencori were already telling stories. I took a seat next to Daegra and smiled up at her a little bit, the blind storyteller smiled as she started to tell her own story.
I was a bit surprised to hear that it was a historical account, it was apparently part of Naris' journey as she had traveled north and wound up in Michigan where she came across a settlement there called Dragon Rest. I was curious to learn more about Dragons, I had never even imagined that such creatures could be real before all of this.
I wondered about what I had talked with them before, was it possible I could be a storyteller? Could I really get up in front of a group of ponies like this and tell some sort of story? I honestly had no idea, I just sighed a little and kept listening to the story as she told it.
It was kind of strange to think about a dragon being friendly, most things I had ever seen about them portrayed them as monsters. I guess that maybe there was some sort of human thingy or something that changed all of that, or at least made them different here, who knows really.
"That was an interesting story, Daegra," I said as I looked up at the Zebra who smiled a little. "But is it all true, is there really a place called Dragon Rest?"
"Oh sure, you'd be surprised, Naris came back to the Zencori with quite a few stories," Daegra said with a smile. "Dragon Rest, Alexandria, and others she met on her journey. It became a lot of the foundation for what Haven would do to communicate with the other settlements."
I was a bit impressed to be honest, I had no idea that a Zebra had traveled around that much. I didn't know a lot about what she may have had to go through given that was probably before the Herd given that it hadn't been mentioned in the story, so I had to wonder a bit about how long they had been around.
"Well, that's pretty interesting," I said and looked at Alicia who nodded in agreement. "So, what's going to happen now? I mean, we can't stay with Serenity and Jennifer forever, can we?"
"Well, ideally no, usually with fillies and colts you stay with a temporary family until we can find somepony who will take you in on a more permanent basis," Jennifer said. "Sometimes, that would be the temporary family like we did with the twins here, but that's only if they can really."
"Oh, I see..." I said with a shake of my head, I really didn't understand how any of this worked, but at least it meant that me and Alicia weren't going to be out on our own. "So, I guess we're starting refugee school tomorrow then?"
"Yeah, but don't worry about it, you'll be fine," Serenity said as she looked thoughtful for a moment and took Daegra off to the side to talk to her about something.
I perked my ears up a little and tried to hear what they were talking about but I didn't have much luck, maybe I wasn't used to my pony ears yet or they were being too quiet. I felt like I was finally used to this new body strangely enough, it was like I had become more used to it while I traveled, maybe that was a good thing, I don't know.
Daegra finally broke off the conversation with Serenity and went over to talk with another Zebra. Alicia looked at me curiously as she wondered what was going on, but I was just as lost as she was. Finally the Zebra got up and took their spot in the storyteller's position and gave me and Alicia a smile.
"It is very rare that we get somepony connected to one of our stories here among us," she said as she looked over at me, I tilted my head a little, why was she saying that? "As we have Miss. Katherine Sinclair among us this evening, I have been asked to tell one of the stories from her mother."
I blinked a little and looked over at Serenity and Daegra who just gave me a smile. I was a bit surprised that the two had gotten this together so quickly, but I wasn't that surprised that a Zebra here knew one of my mother's books, I just had to wonder what I was in for right now.
"Our story begins aboard the American spaceship Galileo 7 in the old calendar year of 2047," the Zebra started telling the story. "It was finishing its three year mission from Earth as it arrived in the orbit of the planet Jupiter. But its destination was not the Gas Giant itself, instead it was the ice covered moon of Europa. The head of the expedition, Captain Heather Morgan, looked out the window at the ice covered moon. She adjusted the landing thrusters as they went on approach to Europa."
I couldn't believe I was listening to this, while my Mom had always written stories she had never really let me read any of them because of my age. This one in particular I remembered was called Depths of Europa, it was some sort of science fiction story about a manned mission to the moon Europa, but I didn't really know anything else about it.
"Captain Morgan locked in the autopilot before she headed back into the rear section of the ship to check with the rest of the crew. The ship was split up into two sections, the first was built for space as they traveled towards the ice covered moon, and the second was constructed to serve as a submarine. The primary part of this mission was to explore the ocean depths of the frozen moon and investigate the possibility of life."
I kept listening as the Zebra told the story, there wasn't a lot to tell at least in this part. We met the rest of the mission crew that were assigned to the mission and the craft touched down on the Moon's surface with only a minor problem. It wasn't exactly the most thrilling thing I had ever heard, but it was clearly meant to be setting up for something big that was coming later.
But more importantly, this was my mom's story, it was what she created to give to the world, and even after 314 years and everyone being transformed it had still survived. There was something special about it, and the fact that they could all enjoy it actually meant a lot to me. I wondered what my mom would think of this, maybe someday she'd get to find out.
"And as the capsule descended into the ocean depths, there was a brief blip on the sonar," the Zebra storyteller continued with a more dramatic tone of voice. "Captain Morgan and her crewmates exchanged a long look, what they had seen on the screen read as being almost as large as the craft they were piloting. They had come to Europa in hopes of finding alien life, and they may have just found it. Whether or not they'd like what they found, well that's another question entirely."
I was a little sad that the story was over, well at least that part of the story was over. I didn't know what to think about it so far, but I could admit it was at least an interesting story, the fact that my mom wrote it had drawn all my attention so I jumped when Alicia tapped my shoulder.
"Hey Katie, you might want to see who joined us," the Zebra filly said and pointed off to the side, I followed where her hoof was pointing and my jaw dropped when I saw what it was.
Standing off to the side was a Zebra that was wearing an odd outfit and had a pattern I didn't recognize, but what really drew my attention was who she was with. There was a large black dragon seated there, having apparently been listening to the story, and it strangely had grass growing out of the top of its head.
I gasped in shock, there was an actual dragon in front of me! Sure I had heard them mentioned before, but actually meeting one was something else entirely.
“What should we do?” Alicia asked as she looked at me.
“Well, I mean the Zebras don’t seem that nervous, maybe they’re friendly?” I suggested with a shrug. “We could try talking to them…”
Alicia nodded and we got up and walked over towards the Dragon, but the Zebra that was with it moved to block us and looked down at me, and then at Alicia with narrowed eyes.
"State yourselves," she said with a sneer.
“Umm, what?” I asked and blinked a little, what exactly did she mean by that?
"You wish to speak to my leader, my friend? You have to give your reason's to me, the Battle Creek Battalion leader that follows her."
I looked over at Alicia who looked about as confused as I felt, but at least that made a little more sense now. I took a deep breath and looked at the Zebra, there was something about her that scared me a little.
“Well, we, haven’t ever really met a dragon before…” I said nervously as I backed up a little. “We, were kind of curious really.” A soft growl came out of the mouth of the dragon. "Zooni dear, I know you wish to be like your mother, but they’re just children. I doubt they would harm me." The large creature stood on her claws and lifted herself up.
"But.. Ma." The dragon stared at the Zebra who gulped. " I'm sorry children I don't mean to be rude or any harm. It’s just the ones in Battle Creek are very protective of Malla here."
“Oh, it’s okay I guess,” I said as Alicia nodded a little, she was still a bit nervous. It took me a moment to realize I recognized the name Malla. “Wait, Malla? As in the Dragon that Naris met on her journey?”
The dragon smiled and pulled out the flower's from her head. She lowered them down and gave one to each of us before speaking again. "Yes I'm Malla, but I haven't ever seen you two before."
“Well, we only returned about a week ago,” Alicia said and I nodded. “We’re still kind of getting used to the new world.”
“I’m Katie, and this is Alicia,” I said with a smile as I sniffed the flower a little.
A frown formed on Malla's face. "You two are lucky then. I showed up the day it happened, I used to be human like you. Zooni's mother was the same.. "
“Oh… that couldn’t have been easy,” I said as my ears flattened a little. “Was it hard to adjust to being, you know, a dragon?”
"I was lucky, a pony named Lyra from Equestria helped me. Thanks to her I didn't become a angry feral like dragon." I blinked a little at that, while I had heard of Equestria from Daegra, I hadn’t expected to learn that ponies had come to Earth from there. Was it possible there were other ponies out there from Equestria? I would have to ask about that later, right now I just wanted to learn more about Malla.
“Wait, how old do dragons get? I mean, the Event was what, 314 years ago?” Alicia asked as she looked at Malla curiously. Malla just shrugged. "I don't really know. Forgive me tell me your name's again. I enjoy hearing the story of my friend, I do miss her."
I was about to say my name again when what she said registered, she called my mom her friend. My ears perked up and I looked at her for a long moment as I tried to figure out what to say to that.
“You… you knew my mom?” I finally managed to ask.
Malla's eye's grew wide, then they grew soft and gentle. She lowered her arms to gently wrap them around me, I was a little surprised but I let it go. " I didn't know her personally. I got know her well enough that I loved her stories and she told me about her little treasure and joy."
I started to cry as I hugged the large dragon back as best I could. I couldn’t quite put in words what I felt right now, but it I had found something that connected me back to my mom, even if I didn’t know where she was, that was something.
“She’s still missing…” I said as I brushed my tears away after a minute. “Me and Alicia have been trying to figure this new world out together but… I still wish she was here…”
"It's fate sadly, I haven't even found my own family. But if you little one's ever need help, Dragon's Rest always offers others a place to rest and stay. That's kind of why I'm here."
“Oh?” I asked as I looked at her curiously. “What do you mean?”
"You see there is something going on here, I'm sure you heard of something about to go down here? Now I don't know the full story, they never wish to tell me it because Zooni and the others are worried I might get in the middle and will try to stop it. But I am trying to get the weak, the young, and the lame back to Dragon's Rest."
I paused for a moment, I certainly was young, same with Alicia, maybe it would be a good idea to get out of here if something went wrong. Then I thought of something and shook my head a little.
“I want to stay here, in case my mom comes back, she’ll probably come back near where I showed up,” I said with a sigh.
“And where Katie goes, I go,” Alicia said as she smiled at me. “I’m not going to leave my best friend behind.”
Zooni finally spoke up. "That is wise, a lot of the Zebras back at Dragon's Rest are very protective of the citizen's around the town of Battle Creek and Dragon's Rest itself, so they might not be very kind to you. Of course Malla can very easily change their minds, don't ever try arguing with a dragon."
“Yeah, probably not a good idea to argue with a giant lizard that can eat you,” I said with a chuckle as I looked up at Malla again. “Hey, uh, what’s with the plants growing out of your head?”
"I'm a nature dragon. I'm kind of one with nature, but I'm not like ET with bringing things back to life. The soil has to be just right, it has to have the right amount of everything. So if I give my blood to bad soil nothing will happen. If it’s weak it will happen slowly. And f it's very rich it might happen in a month, but it depends. If I am in a green dense area like this I become more one with the tree's. If it’s hot and arid i breath fire. If it’s cold as ice, I breath ice. Sooooo my body acts odd. And...let's not go into what happens during the fall." Malla said with a blush forming on her face.
“Huh, interesting, I don’t really have any cool abilities because I can’t even fly,” I said with a shrug as Alicia yawned a little, I didn’t realize how late it had gotten and the Zebras were starting to head to their tents for bed.
Zooni spoke up again. "Malla I think it's time that the young one's get some rest. Maybe Naris and Charlie are still awake. So let's allow their young mind's to refocus with the sleep." Malla gave a nod.
“Come on you two, let’s get home,” Jennifer said as she walked up with Serenity and the twins who were already asleep, she gave Malla a nod.
“Good night Malla, it was nice meeting you both,” I said sleepily as I waved to the dragon and the Zebra. “I hope we can see each other again soon.”
As we walked off I heard Malla speaking to Zooni again, "Oh Zooni it seems they were happy to see you to." Zooni just snorted in anger at the joke.
Sweet memories Flashing very quickly by Reminding me And giving me a reason why I know that My goal is more than a thought I'll be there When I teach what I've been taught And I've been taught...
I sighed a little as we headed to the Zencori camp the next day. It was hard to believe that after all the traveling we had done together the Zencori were having to leave for now. The Zebras were already working on packing up camp as we approached the camp with Jennifer and Serenity close behind.
"Hello little fillies, are you here to see us off?" Daegra asked with a smile.
"Yeah, we wanted to see you one last time," I said as me and Alicia hugged the older Zebra mare. "Will we ever see you again?"
"Of course silly little filly, we won't be gone forever," Daegra said as she ruffled my mane gently. "You're going to do just fine out here, I promise."
I smiled a little and looked at Alicia who nodded a little. It was actually kind of nice to know that Daegra had faith in us, maybe we would be okay, we certainly had the help we needed to survive.
"When will we see you again?" Alicia asked.
"Maybe after the vote, if we head back this way at least," Daegra said with a nod. "I'm sorry we have to leave so soon, but keep doing your best and figure out who you are. Katie, I think you would make a fine storyteller if you put your mind to it. Alicia, you still have a lot to figure out about yourself but you've got a good friend here who's going to make sure that you make the right decision."
I smiled at that and gave Alicia a nod as we released the hug. "Thanks Daegra," Alicia said with a smile as she looked up at her. "I just wish I knew more about what the Starkatteri was like."
"Well, you never know, there may still be answers out there for you," Daegra said with a nod. "Perhaps the RAA or the local library may be able to help you. Even if you are the first of your tribe, there are always ways to find answers."
Alicia nodded. "Okay, I'll see what I can find out I guess."
"That's the spirit!" Daegra said as she went back to helping get packed.
"You two are looking well," a familiar voice said and we turned to see Malla and Zooni standing there behind us.
"How is a large dragon so sneaky?" Alicia asked as she looked up at Malla who just laughed.
"Dragon secret, but that's not the point," Malla said. "We're about to leave ourselves and I wanted to say good-bye."
"Aww, it was nice meeting you Malla," I said and hugged the large dragon as best I could, its not easy to hug a dragon you know. "Where will you go now?"
"Back to Dragon's Rest probably," Malla said with a nod. "We've done what we can here and will get the ponies who wanted to go back there for now. You two are going to do just fine, just promise me one thing Katie."
"What's that?" I asked with a tilt of my head.
"If you find your mom, let me know okay?" She asked and I nodded.
"Okay!" I said and gave her one more hug before waving good-bye as the dragon and Zebra flew off.
It was hard saying good-bye to Daegra and the other Zebras. They had been the first friendly faces we had really seen after we had re-appeared, but we knew that they had their own things to take care of. I just hoped that we'd get to see them again someday.
"Come on you two, its time to start school," Jennifer said as we walked away from the empty camp. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine," I said with a soft smile as we started back down the road into town, it was time to see what we could learn about life in and around Nightingale.
00000
"Hello, you must be Katie and Alicia," a Unicorn mare with a long white mane and a purple body said with a smile as she shook hooves with the two of us. "I'm Violet, I'll be helping you both get accustomed to life here in Haven and post-Event Earth."
"Its nice to meet you," I said with a soft smile as I shook her hoof.
"Yeah," Alicia said with a nod as the Unicorn looked down at her curiously.
"Hmm, I have to say I've never seen a Zebra with stripes like yours, are you maybe a new tribe?" She asked as she looked at my friend curiously.
"Yeah, I guess, I don't really know a lot about my Tribe yet," Alicia said as she rubbed her foreleg a little. I wrapped my foreleg around her gently and gave her a smile. "I was hoping that maybe we could get some sort of answers here."
"Well, there may be one pony who can help you, I can show you the way there," Violet said as she gave us a nod. "Do you two mind if we start the tour here? When we get to the Library we'll see if we can't get some more information about whatever tribe you're in."
"Okay, that sounds good," I said with a soft smile as we started to walk. I looked curiously up at the large building that we had started by, it looked pretty official. "What's this building here?"
"This is the Courthouse, its where the Articles of the People were written up over 100 years ago that would form the foundation of Haven's government," Violet said as we walked past the steps where ponies were moving in and out of the building. "Since then its doubled as a museum to the history of Haven as well as the offices for several members of the Assembly."
I was a little surprised by this, I had studied American government in school sure, but they had done a lot around here. Maybe this was their way of rebuilding in terms of buildings and government or something, I don't know.
"We've still got a lot of work to do before everything is all set around here," Violet said as she gestured towards some buildings that were still under construction. "Nightingale has served as the capital city of Haven since its founding as I said. In fact, it was actually an early influx of refugees around 213 AE that caused the formation of Haven to begin with. Nightingale was just too small to handle all of them so we moved outwards and formed new settlements around the countryside."
I listened intently to what Violet was saying, it was actually really interesting to learn more about how this place had come to be. I knew a little bit about it from what Daegra told me about the three founders sure, but I didn't know a lot about how Haven itself had started.
We kept walking along the streets of Haven past several ponies and Griffons, some of which waved to us a little. Violet kept talking about everything in the city, she told us about a few places where notable refugees had re-appeared here and there, which was actually pretty interesting.
Then she said something that caught my attention immediately.
"Over here we have where a local band returned about 80 years ago, they're actually still around and will occasionally play music at the local amphitheater," Violet said as she pointed down one street. "They're still going strong and DJ Serenity plays their music pretty often."
"Wait, 80 years ago?" I asked as I blinked a little. "How old do ponies live?"
"Well, it tends to vary from species to species, but generally between 200 and 300 years," Violet said with a shrug as we neared another park, this one was smaller than the one that the Zencori had stayed in and had a statue at the center. "And here we are at the Memorial Park, this is where we honor those we lost during the Great Georgia War."
"That was the war with the Herd right?" Alicia asked curiously as she looked up at the statue which was of a Unicorn mare dressed in what looked like some sort of soldier outfit.
"Yes, it was, it was a dark time in Haven's history," Violet said with a frown as she looked at the statue and shook her head. "We lost a lot of good people in the fighting, it was only ended because the Zebras managed to get a treaty worked out that both sides could agree to."
"Wait, the Zebras intervened to stop the war?" I asked and blinked, I hadn't heard that before.
"Yes they did, the Treaty of Augusta was proposed by the then leader of the Tribelands Selia," Violet said with a nod. "It brought an end to the war, at least officially."
"Officially?" Alicia asked as she looked at the Unicorn mare with a worried look on her face. "What does that mean?"
"Well, Haven and the Herd have been at odds ever since and we've been trying to avoid all out war, but there are some, especially in the People's Army, who are afraid that war is inevitable," Violet said with a sigh. "But that's not important right now, you two don't have to worry about it. The treaty specifies that neither side is allowed to go into the other's territory to take refugees away. That's, something at least."
I nodded as we kept walking and stopped in front of a large building with steps leading up into it. There was a sign above the door that read "New Dawn Memorial Library."
00000
"Well hello there little ones," a mare said in a voice with an accent I couldn't quite place as she looked down at us with a smile. She was colored a creamy white with strange stripes on her body that were colored gold with a gold colored horn sticking out of her forehead. "So what brings you two here?"
"We're, uh here to try and learn more about the Zebra Tribes," I said and the mare looked at us curiously before she levitated a pair of glasses out and placed them on the bridge of her muzzle.
"Ah, I see, one of you is a..." she said and her eyes went wide from behind her glasses as she looked at Alicia carefully. "How long has this one been here?"
"Umm... like here in the city our here on Earth?" Alicia asked with a tilt of her head.
"On Earth, its very important."
"Well, I've been back for a little over a week," Alicia said as she tilted her head a little. She was as confused by the strange Unicorn's behavior as I was, and it worried us both. "What's going on?"
"Goldenrod, is everything okay?" Violet asked as she looked at the mare now named Goldenrod. "What's the problem?"
"She's one of them..." Goldenrod said and leaned in and whispered something to Violet and the purple mare's eyes went wide.
"You're going to need to see something," Goldenrod said as she opened up the desk and took out a key..
"What's going on?" Alicia asked as we followed Goldenrod into the back room of the library. "Why is what I am suddenly so important?"
Goldenrod was quiet as she closed the door. There seemed like there was something that bothered her as she looked around and opened a case as she took out what looked like an old book.
"What's that?" I asked as I looked at the book with a worried look on my face.
"This is the journal that was written by my Grandfather, Goldenblood," Goldenrod said as she looked at Alicia with a worried look on her face. "He was a visitor from Equestria who came to Georgia."
Equestria again, something about this was getting weirder. Sure I knew about Malla meeting Lyra, but I didn't know how any of this might affect us.
"What's in it?" I asked as we got up on a chair and started looking through the journal. It was filled with images of Zebras and script written out. I recognized some information on the Zencori and there were other things listed.
"This is the only existing information on the Twelve and the One, its not something we normally show," Goldenrod said with a shake of her head. "When Goldenblood saw what was happening with the Zebras in Georgia he left it behind because he was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Alicia asked as we turned another page to show information on a tribe called the Sahaani. "What was he afraid of?"
"Of you child," Goldenrod said and Alicia froze at that. "Open up to the ending." We flipped through it and stopped at an image of a Zebra with the same circular markings that Alicia had on her face and body. I looked at the words on the page and froze a little.
Starkatteri.
The Starkatteri are the most mysterious of the Twelve and the One Tribes. The origin myth of the Zebra describes them as being the only one of the Thirteen tribes to have been born of the moon instead of the sun.
What is known about the Starkatteri mostly comes from the stories passed down by the Zencori. Traditional stories depict them as villains and monsters. They are considered cursed because of their connection with the stars. It is unknown if they worship the stars or if they form a connection with them similar to the other tribes and their spirits. Other stories claim they have killed members of the Zebra Empire and are pawns of the Stars.
If this Tribe ever appears on Earth, then they should be approached with extreme caution. It is unknown if they will ever appear, but given the presence of members of several Tribes it is likely that they will appear at one point or another.
If the Starkatteri appear, your only hope is that they can be convinced not to follow the same path as their counterparts in Equestria. If not, then this may spell doom for Earth.
"Wait, so, you think I'm sort of, bringer of doom?" Alicia asked as she read the words over and over again to make sure that she had read them correctly. "That's insane, I'm just a kid!"
"I know, but its the warning we got from my grandfather, he left behind this journal when he returned to Equestria in hopes that the information could be used," Goldenrod said with a sigh as she looked down at her hooves. "I'm sorry, I know this is a lot for you to take in."
"Well, its kind of in line with the dream we had..." I said with a sigh as I looked at the book again. Almost instinctively I draped my wing over Alicia in a protective way. I didn't think she was evil and I doubted that Goldenrod thought it either, but this scared me a little. "What can we do?"
"The Tribes on Earth don't always follow the traditions of their Equestria counterparts," Goldenrod said with a sigh as she picked the journal back up. "The Roamani for example are warriors, they're usually more aggressive than anything else. Most of the time they serve as defenders though, preferring to fight only when absolutely necessary, on Earth at least."
"So, I don't have to become like the Starkatteri back on Equestria..." Alicia said with a sigh as she looked over at me. "You're not going to let me become evil are you Katie?"
"No, and the only way I would is if somehow I went evil too, and I don't think that's going to happen," I said and pulled Alicia in close. "So what do we have to do to make sure that she doesn't try and take over the world or whatever?"
"Well, that's tricky," Goldenrod said with a sigh. "Its all about influences on her. If whatever force is causing the Zebras to be pushed towards certain traits in Georgia is stronger then there might be nothing we can do. Hopefully, there will be some way that everything will be okay."
"Yeah, I hope so," I said with a sigh as I looked at Alicia.
"Come on you two, lets go back out and see if we can't learn some more about the world," Goldenrod said with a smile as we headed back out.
"Umm, Ms. Goldenrod," Alicia said.
"Yes child?" Goldenrod asked as she looked down at Alicia.
"I was wondering, about your stripes," she said as she looked at Goldenrod. "Are you some sort of weird Zebra creature or something?"
"You might say that, I'm a Zony," Goldenrod said with a light chuckle. "My mother was a pony and my father a Zebra from the Logos tribe. I came to Haven to help with the libraries after the end of the war."
"Oh, I see," Alicia said and looked at her curiously for a moment.
I had to admit I was curious too, I didn't know that Ponies and Zebras could make babies together. I didn't want to think too much about it though, for now I just wanted to learn more.
"Is everything okay?" Violet asked as we came into view.
"Everything is fine, just as long as this little one is well taken care of we won't have anything to worry about from her," Goldenrod said as she ruffled Alicia's mane a little. "So, what books do you want to read?"
A little while later we headed out of the library with our bags filled with books on the history of Haven and other information. I smiled a little as I checked to make sure everything was secure.
"So, where to next?" I asked as I looked over at Alicia who nodded.
"Hey, what's that?" Alicia asked as she pointed at what looked like a parade float being set up.
"Oh, you two fillies are in for a treat, we're coming up on Founding Day," Violet said with a smile. "Its sort of a mix of The Fourth of July and Memorial Day. We use it as a time to celebrate the foundation of Haven as well as to look back on everything that we've lost and are still waiting on."
"When is it?" I asked curiously.
"The day after tomorrow, but the celebration tends to last all week," Violet said with a nod. "Come on, lets get back to your tour."
I nodded and we followed her back out into the city.
Your Sons and Your Daughters are Beyond Your Command
“Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, And don’t criticize what you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, Your old road is rapidly aging. So get off the new one if you can’t lend a hand, For the times they are a-changin'.” -Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-changin’.
"Hey out there in Haven, this is your good friend DJ Serenity coming at you from my studio here in Nightingale with today's news. Caravans coming from the Tribelands are coming back with reports of the death of Selia, the respected Zebra leader responsible for the Treaty of Augusta that brought the Great Georgia War to an end in 274 AE. President Charm has declared a day of mourning to remember the Selia and everything she has done to help the cause of peace in Georgia. On a lighter note, don't forget that tomorrow is the 101st Anniversary of the signing of the Articles of the People that laid the groundwork and formed Haven. The usual Founding Day parade will start at 1:00 PM tomorrow afternoon, I'll be there and I hope to see all of you there too. So let's take a moment to slow down and reflect with some music."
"And, that's pretty much the end of the tour," Violet said as we reached an area at the center of town. "This is Liberty Square, more or less the center of Nightingale. It's also where we have a lot of shops and the schoolhouse is over there, where the two of you will be going starting the day after tomorrow."
"Thank you for showing us around Ms. Violet," Alicia said with a weak smile, she looked like she was still a little shaken up by what she had read at the library.
"Of course you two, it's my job to make sure that new arrivals get accustomed to Nightingale," Violet said with a smile as she looked at us. "Are you two going to be okay? I know it's not easy to get settled in, especially at your age."
"Yeah, I think we'll be fine," I said as I looked over at Alicia who nodded a little. "Thank you for showing us around, what do we do now?"
"Well, Jennifer said that she'd meet us..." Violet said and then stopped and waved. We turned to see the familiar face of Jennifer Wright heading our way and she gave us a smile.
"Hey you two, Violet, how'd it go? They weren't any trouble were they?" Jennifer said with a smile as she gave us a look.
"No, of course not these two were perfect little fillies," Violet said with a chuckle as she gave Jennifer a nod. "How are things back at the office?"
"Busy, as usual, we got a sudden influx of refugees the other day and we're still processing all of them," Jennifer said with a shake of her head. "It's been crazy, but at least everything seems to be working out for now."
Violet shook her head a little, but she smiled and gave Jennifer a nod. I wondered how many new arrivals they had seen in their work in the RAA, but I didn't want to ask right now. For now, we were just going to get settled into life in Haven and get used to our new bodies.
"I'll see you two the day after tomorrow," Violet said with a smile as she headed off the way she came.
"She seems nice," Alicia said as she watched the older mare go. "Does she do this often?"
"Pretty much every day," Jennifer said as we started to walk together. "The RAA has a lot of ponies working for it that help acclimate the new arrivals to life here, and Violet is one of the better ones."
I smiled a little as we walked down the street past the storefronts. There were ponies that were buying and selling, of course, Nightingale was full of energy and excitement. I smiled a little when I saw a busy bookstore, my mom would've loved that, she had always pushed me to read more and I admit I enjoyed it.
I sighed a little, it still was weird not having her here with me. I had Alicia sure and Jennifer and Serenity were there to help as best they could, but what about my mom? Somehow meeting Malla and hearing part of her book actually made me miss her more than anything else, and I honestly wasn't sure what to do.
"Jennifer, is there a chance that my mom will return soon?" I asked as I looked up at the Unicorn mare who looked back at me and frowned a little. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"Katie, it’s okay," Jennifer said with a shake of her head. "Honestly, we don't really know exactly how the returning process picks when someone will come back. It's possible that she could return tomorrow, or not for hundreds of years or more."
My ears drooped a little as I looked down at my hooves at that bit of information. It was exactly what I was afraid of, I may never see my mom again or any other member of my family.
Why had this happened? Why had I been separated from my mom like this by Equestria or, whatever force chose who picked what? I shook my head and felt a hoof wrap around me gently and I looked over to see Alicia looking at me with a reassuring smile.
"Katie, don't worry about it," she said softly as she hugged me. "Something tells me that your mom may come back soon, but until then you have me right? You told me you'd be here for me, well I'm going to do the same for you."
I smiled and hugged her back gently. Alicia wasn't family, not by blood, but she and I were getting closer and that was what really mattered. She was what I had right now, and that was what mattered.
"Thanks, Alicia," I said softly as I released the hug after a moment. "You're the best friend I've ever had, you know that right?"
"Same for me," Alicia said as she brushed her mane back a little. "I've never really had much in the way of friends until I met you. I just hope I don't mess it up somehow."
"You won't," I said and looked back at Jennifer. "So, uh, what are we going to do now?"
"Well, I think you two deserve something special, so come with me," Jennifer said with a smile as we started down the road again. "So come on, I know just where to go."
We followed the older mare, curious as to what she was talking about.
00000
I had seen a lot of things in Georgia since I had woken up a Pegasus filly. I'd seen an empty town, a dead body, a traveling tribe of Zebra Storytellers, a town in the middle of a university, and even a dragon. But this was probably the best thing I had seen yet, it was a familiar and welcome sight that gave me hope that things around here hadn't changed that much.
Ice cream!
"Wow, there's a lot of options here," Alicia said as she looked at the tubs of ice cream in surprise.
"Yeah, you can have anything you'd like, my treat," Jennifer said with a smile as she nodded to the Unicorn that was standing behind the counter.
"Let’s see..." I said as I propped myself up so I could see better, it was weird being this small but I was getting used to it. "I'll take some mint chocolate chip please."
"And what about you?" The Unicorn asked as she looked down at Alicia.
"Hmm, I'll take just chocolate please," Alicia said and gave a smile.
"I'll have a Birthday Cake, thank you Soft Serve," Jennifer said as the Unicorn nodded and took out three cones and put the ice cream in them as Jennifer levitated out several coins and placed them on the counter before taking the ice cream and heading over to a table with the two of us close behind as she put the cones in strange holders. "We found its easier to eat ice cream like this until you get used to being able to hold things in your hooves."
"How do you even hold things in hooves?" I asked confused as I looked down at my hooves and Jennifer chuckled as we started to eat our ice cream.
"Honestly, that's one of the big mysteries of this world," she said with a laugh. "I think it's some sort of personal magic personally, but we haven't ever really figured it out."
"Huh," Alicia said as she ate her ice cream. "So, there's a lot of, old world stuff I guess here?"
"Yeah, we're trying to preserve as much of the old Earth as we can," Jennifer said with a nod. "We don't want to forget where we came from just because we're no longer human, you know? If we don't learn from the mistakes of the past, then we're doomed to repeat them."
I looked up at Jennifer and then back at my ice cream. She did have a point, and it was the same reason why the Zencori told stories. I still had to wonder a bit about my wings, it was weird but somehow it still felt like I was incomplete or something just because I would probably never fly.
"So, how did you and Mrs. Serenity meet?" Alicia asked as she looked at Jennifer curiously.
Jennifer chuckled a little as she licked her cone. "That's quite a story, it was when I first arrived in Nightingale, I actually wound up here kind of like you two. The Zebras found me and brought me here and I nearly ran into this Pegasus mare who was on her way to a job interview with Nightingale Radio of all things," she said with a chuckle. "Yeah, this was before she became the DJ, we started to become friends after that and, well one thing lead to another and we started dating and wound up married a few years later."
"Did Serenity appear when she was younger?" I asked curiously, I didn't know a lot about the two mares that had brought us in and I was curious.
"Actually no, she's a second generation pony, born and raised here in Nightingale," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "Her parents actually thought it was weird that she was dating a pony working for the RAA, Serenity's got kind of a free spirit, but I won them over quickly."
I looked up at Jennifer for a long moment and then at Alicia. I actually kind of had to wonder about something since we weren't human anymore, would I date a pony someday? I didn't know what to think about that honestly, I was still not even sure if I liked boys let alone ponies.
Alicia giggled a little as she looked at me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking about and she gave me a smile before she looked at Jennifer again.
"So, is everyone, or everypony, attracted to other ponies?" I asked.
"Not really, it’s pretty much as varied as it was in the old world, with some extra species to make things interesting," Jennifer said. "But you two are too young to be worried about that right now. It usually takes a while for refugees to get used to the whole thing about being interested in a new species, and well you two are still young so you have a few years before you really have to worry about that."
I breathed a sigh of relief as I took a bite of my ice cream cone. "This ice cream is amazing, I don't think I've had any like this before."
"Well, one thing we made sure to make better was ice cream," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "Magic goes a long way to making things just perfect. It still takes a lot of getting used to when you first arrive though, just like flying. Maybe, just maybe, there's a chance that somehow everything will be okay, you know? We still have a long way to go before everything is perfect, but we're not going to give up just yet."
I nodded a little and sighed as I looked out the window at Nightingale beyond. It was like something out of a dream with all these ponies and other species, but I had already come to terms with the fact that it was very real.
"How many settlements are there in Haven?" Alicia asked curiously as she looked over at Jennifer curiously. "I mean, we saw a map of Haven, but that was from an old settlement."
"Oh, there are quite a few actually," Jennifer said. "After Nightingale was founded we had to start expanding outwards and forming new settlements to accommodate the growing population of refugees. It’s why we first came into contact with the Herd, we grew out and eventually, we happened to encounter the Herd."
"Which lead to the war," Alicia said and sighed a little as she shook her head. "I still don't really get the Herd though, I mean we've heard a little bit about them but not a whole lot about why they would even want to do that."
"The Herd is, complicated," Jennifer said with a sigh as she looked between the two of us. "They're something of a mystery beyond their obvious ideology of getting rid of anything of the old world. Frankly, we're lucky that the peace has lasted this long."
"Wow... so we don't know a lot about them?" Alicia asked and Jennifer nodded a little. "Wow, that's not good."
"Don't worry about it," Jennifer said with a soft smile. "You're going to be fine. They're still sticking to the treaty, and they haven't done much beyond some expansion to the west and taking whatever refugees they can. The two of you are very lucky that you were found by the Zencori."
"I almost wasn't," I said with a shake of my head as I looked over and gave Alicia a smile. "But Alicia saved me by getting me into that shelter. I'm just lucky that she was there and was able to help me."
"Shelter huh?" Jennifer asked curiously. "I remember reading that there was one set up in Gateway but nopony got to it in time sadly. I'm glad it saved the two of you at least."
"Yeah, me too," I said with a soft smile as I looked back at my wings and flexed them a little before I went back to eating my ice cream. "So, when do we actually have to start school?"
"Foundation Day is a National Holiday so the school doesn't meet then," Jennifer said. "Though, the two of you will have to learn a bit about some of the history. There's a lot to learn, and you're both going to need to be caught up with the rest of the class, but I'm sure you'll do fine."
I nodded a little and sighed, I just hoped she was right.
00000
"Hey, how'd your first day go?" Serenity asked as Jennifer lead me and Alicia into the house.
"Pretty well," Alicia said with a sigh as we took a seat in the living room. "We got some information on what I am, but it's not exactly good news."
Serenity and Jennifer listened carefully as we told them what we learned when we went to the library. They waited for us to finish as we told them about what the journal had said about the Starkatteri. When we finished they had a concerned look on their faces.
"This is the first we've ever heard of this," Jennifer said with a sigh and Serenity nodded a little. "I'm sorry that we don't have more information about this. The Zebras don't know anything about this."
"Though, it does explain their unease when it comes to the stars," Serenity commented. "What should we do about this? If there really is a threat to Haven..."
"You can't hurt her!" I said in protest as I jumped to my hooves. "She's my friend, she's done nothing wrong, you can't punish her for no reason!"
"Calm down Katie," Jennifer said with a sigh. "We're not just going to throw somepony in jail because they came back as a Starkatteri or whatever. We're worried about this yes, the fact of the matter is that if they are a threat then we have to consider how others may threaten us and the rest of the world."
"So, what am I supposed to do?" Alicia asked softly. "I don't want to be evil."
"Be yourself," Serenity said. "Don't let what you are dictate what kind of Pony... sorry, Zebra you are. You make that choice for yourself, nothing else does."
"Besides, I won't let you become evil," I said and hugged her gently. "You're going to be just fine, I promise."
I just hoped I really could keep that promise.
"Come on, that's enough worrying about such things for now and get some dinner," Jennifer said with a smile as she nodded towards the kitchen.
"Sounds good," I said and Alicia nodded as we headed into the kitchen together with the older ponies.
00000
That night before we went to bed me and Alicia went into the backyard and stared up at the stars together. I sighed a little as I looked over at the Zebra filly who sighed a little as she stared up quietly.
"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked and she turned her head to look at me.
"I'm just thinking about everything you know?" Alicia asked as she sighed a little. "I'm scared Katie..."
"About what Goldenrod told you about the Starkatteri?" I asked and she nodded a little. "You know we're not going to let..."
"What if you can't?" Alicia said as she sat up, interrupting me. "How am I supposed to believe that you really can stop this? What if I'm supposed to be evil? What am I supposed to do then?"
"I honestly don't know," I admitted as I ruffled my wings a little. "But I do know you, Alicia. You're one of the nicest people, ponies... Zebras... things I've ever met. You're not evil, and if anyone tries to make you evil I'm gonna make sure they fail."
"Thanks," Alicia said as she smiled at me and looked back up at the stars. "I... I don't like this Katie. Ever since I came back I felt like the stars were calling out to me, now I'm afraid to answer them."
I looked up at the stars for a long moment. Honestly, I wasn't even entirely sure what to think about that, was it possible that she really was hearing something? This whole thing sounded crazy to me, but then again I got turned into a talking pony.
I closed my eyes and laid back on the cool grass as I thought about that. For a moment I actually kind of wondered if it was possible that I could just lie there and hear what the stars were saying to Alicia. This whole thing felt crazy to me, I doubt I could actually hear them... right?
"Why do you think the stars are trying to talk to you?" I finally asked with a sigh.
"Honestly? I don't know if what we read is anything to go on they might be trying to make me like the Starkatteri in Equestria," Alicia said with a shake of her head. "But at the same time, I don't feel anything particularly malicious from them. I don't know, maybe they're trying to trick me or there's something else going on that we don't understand just yet."
"Yeah, maybe," I said as I looked over at her. "With everything that's going on though, I have to admit I'm just getting more and more worried. Like there's something about all of this that we're missing."
“Yeah, maybe,” Alicia said with a sigh as she closed her eyes. “I’m just glad you’re here with me Katie.”
“I’m glad I’m here too,” I said with a soft smile.
We laid back and stared up at the stars together for the longest time. When I closed my eyes, it was weird, it felt almost like I could hear something just like she said. I didn’t know if it really was from the stars, or if it was just my imagination.
I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting off to sleep.
00000
When I was younger, my mom had taken me to a few parades. I couldn’t remember much about them other than the usual things associated with parades. So when Jennifer and Serenity brought us to Liberty Square the next day I had to admit I was a little excited.
It was kind of weird to see all these ponies in one place. Looking around I saw more than just ponies and Zebras though, I saw what had to be Griffons and other strange species. I had seen them around town already, but it felt different to see them all gathered in one place.
I placed my hoof on Alicia’s gently as I gave her a smile. My friend looked a little nervous in the crowd, I didn’t blame her really. She smiled up at me and I put my wing around her gently.
“It’ll be okay,” I said quietly to her.
“You really think so?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” I said reassuringly as I stayed close to my friend. “I’ll be here for you if you need it.”
“Thanks Katie,” Alicia said with a soft smile.
The parade began as music was playing. I smiled a little as I watched ponies and other species going past. There were floats and the familiar black and gold flag with the three stars that belonged to Haven flying in the wind. There were a few carriages with ponies inside them as well, each of them waving to the crowds.
“There’s the presidential carriage,” Serenity said as she pointed at one of them that was passing by. A mare with a short purple mane and a silver coat was seated next to a stallion. She smiled a little as she waved at the crowds. “That’s President Lucky Charm, she’ll be giving a speech here in the square after the parade.”
I smiled a little as I waved back more on instinct than anything else. I was a bit surprised by this, but this wasn’t too bad.
I kept watching for a while, but I slowly started to lose interest. Eventually as the parade ended, I felt Alicia’s hoof start to pull me away. I smiled as I looked at her and she returned the smile, the Zebra seemed to be a lot calmer now as we started to walk together with our caretakers towards the center of the square where a stage was waiting.
After a few minutes, the same grey and purple Unicorn mare moved up onto the stage where a podium was waiting. She cleared her throat and smiled a little as she looked out at the gathered citizens.
“Welcome every being to our yearly Foundation Day festivities,” Lucky Charm started as she straightened herself out. “I’m happy to see so many new faces here. Some of you recently returned, others come to us from distant lands. I want to welcome you all to Haven, and I’m glad that you could join us for this day. Over a hundred years ago, we came together to form a nation that was founded on principles that still hold us together to this day. Freedom, security, and above all else, peace. Things haven’t been easy for us since that day when our founders wrote up the Articles of the People, but we’re still strong. There are a lot of unknowns as we go forward into the future, but as time passes we’ll only become stronger, better. We’re not going to lose heart even in times like these. Haven will stand strong against those that threaten us. I ask that all of you do your part in…”
Whatever she was going to say next was cut off as another pony dressed in a military uniform jumped up and pushed her onto the stage below just before we heard a loud bang. The crowd erupted into chaos as soldiers filled in, searching for the source of the sound.
Something had just happened, and I got the feeling that our peaceful times in Haven were coming to an end.
