Siblings at the Edge

Chapters

Once Upon a Time... In Subzero Kiev
Off the Edge of Known Things
By the Road and Into the Woods
Finding a Frying Pan and Making a Fire
Rest, Relaxation, Ruminants and Rottweilers
Together and Forsaken
Right Amidst Rites
Precious Cargo
Deeper Down the Dnieper
Fly the Coop
Into the Nova
Two Threads in a Tapestry

Once Upon a Time... In Subzero Kiev

A figure grunted along the yards of several buildings.

The street urchin’s feet crunched against the frosted grass. The quilting and padding and insulation of its parka, snow pants, hoodie, mittens and scarf impeded its movement to a strangled waddle as intermittent puffs of breath escaped from the top. Enveloped in its arms were newspapers and a black plastic bag that warmed its arms and filled its nostrils with the scent of gravy.

It stopped. The wind whipped at its hood and scarf, revealing a mildly masculine face with a shock of towhead-blond hair. He winced against the wind, wrinkling his features.

He looked at the highway beyond the alley. Sleek cars shining with chrome and halogen lights flashed by noiselessly under the power of silent electric engines.

The exception was a bulky utility truck that zoomed by in the nearest lane. A small screwdriver flew off the tool box of the utility truck and landed a few feet from the gutter. The boy stared at the screwdriver. He could use that, he could always do with one more thing to use.

Looking from left to right, he edged towards the road, his attention split between the load in his arms, the screwdriver on the ground, the oncoming cars, and the path he had been on before. A jet of steam blew forth from his mouth. He dropped the papers between his legs, nestling them against the wind before planting the bag on top of them so as to secure the precious fuel.

Waddling to the edge of the road, he blinked away the disorienting streaks of light from the cars’ headlights. He reached down for the screwdriver but his short stubby arms didn’t make it two feet past the curb. Pulling back as a sedan honked at him, he stretched, turning about so his arms had as much movement as possible. The boy grasped for the screw driver again, and then threw one arm back as he nearly face-planted onto the road, and underneath a bus.

A whine escaped from his mouth as he stomped on the ground. He looked down the road and gauged the distance and speed of an oncoming car by the headlights in the fog. As the distance seemed safe enough he dashed out into the road, leaned over, picked up the screwdriver and made a mad dash for the safety of the curb. The boy tripped on the curb as the squeal of braking tires reached his ears. He tumbled over the bag knocking it off the pile of papers and sending the precious strips of words and wood pulp into the wind and towards the traffic.

Lifting himself on one knee he took a half step, grabbing at the papers but not catching a single one. Looking down he let out a sob at the black bag, now ruptured, and the several half-eaten steaks, burgers, and salads strewn about on the cold concrete. Sniffing he grabbed the refuse, stuffed it into the bag's hole and picked it up, waddling back to the path, grumbling.

As he walked, the buildings slowly shifted from general businesses to massive slivers of steel and mirror that jutted up into the sky. Nestled between two such skyscrapers was a glowing box of advertisements and news reports, the day's events and products lined up.

A woman with a sleek metallic arm and clad in a sports bra and jeans stepped onto the largest screen. She walked up to a construction-site sized bolt partially embedded in a girder. Smirking she punched towards the girder; her hand morphed and new bits flipped into position until a drill bit was grinding the bolt into the girder. The woman pulled back, her arm morphing back as it grabbed a glass of wine from off-screen. Her head tilted and she leaned in to admire her work.

A mauve unicorn approached the girder. Her horn flashed brilliant yellow for a moment and the girder turned into gold. The unicorn floated out her own glass of wine, tapping it against the woman's. They drank and laughed soundlessly as the screen faded to a pale celadon green. Bold face words flashed onto the screen, "Now offering industrial grade cybernetics and transfiguration! Details inside!"

The boy walked up to the screen, bracing a hand against the cold glass screen. An asterisk appeared next to his hand with a message in tiny white print, "Must be twenty or older."

The boy’s gloved hand smacked into the glass, balled into a fist.

He stalked down the alley for another block. Reaching the entrance to an underground parking lot he descended three stories, arriving at a corner that led to a maintenance panel. The lights above the panel were dead, but the boy walked past it and pulled back a piece of loose grating. Peering inside he walked in, tossing the bag to the ground.

A girl scurried out of the shadows, her blond, somewhat muddied hair reflecting the light from the open entrance. She looked up, her eyes darting from the boy to the screwdriver clenched in his hand and back at him. She scuttled towards the bag and started scrounging in it for the food she knew would be, must be inside.

His eyes followed the girl’s scuttling on the floor then drooped to the ground "I lost the paper I gathered for the fire," he said.

The girl grabbed a rib eye, locked it in her jaw and walked over to the boy, wrapping her arms around his waist, her head reaching up to the top of his stomach. "Ivan..." she managed to say before breaking into a fit of coughing and doubling over on the floor. Ivan reached down for her but she held out a hand. "I'm..." she hacked, "just..." She heaved and a spray of blood smacked against the wall. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve she looked up at Ivan, bags of loose discolored skin hanging under her eyes, lips quivering.

"Katna..." said Ivan. He looked over at the corner. A dozen empty bottles with labels such as Isoniazid, Rifampin, Ethambutol and other unpronounceable antibiotic names lay strewn about, together with a few syringes and several stolen ampoules of the expensive bacteriophage strains only the rich could afford.

"We're out, brother," Katna wheezed, a hand pressed against her side as she leaned against the wall.

Ivan turned the screwdriver in his hand before lifting it up in front of his face. "I found a tool."

Katna looked up, nodding. "That's good."

Ivan reached to the bag of food he’d plumbed from a dumpster and passed a rib to Katna. She took it and suckled the meat and gristle that still clung to it while Ivan took out a half-eaten hamburger, joining his sister in meal-time. He rested his back against the wall, squirming away from the drop of moisture running down nearby. He kept eating and staring at the wall, his brow curled into a knot of muscle as hard as the concrete surrounding them.

He tossed the screwdriver towards one of the corners, landing it in a pile of purses, water bottles, pliers and even a car battery. Anything that might be useful.

A shiver traveled down Katna’s back. She coughed and rolled away from Ivan. Good morning, concrete walls! Good morning, defunct electrical panel! Quietly crawling to one of the darkened corners so as to not disrupt his sleep, she pulled out a book. Stamped on the plain green paper front in gold ink was the title: “Tales from the Thousand and One Nights”.

Katna flipped open the book and found her spot, going over the words silently:

Once upon a time in Baghdad, there lived a poor porter named Sinbad…

Katna reached to the corner again and found a world atlas. Flipping it open she traced her fingers over the map. Northern Europe, with the formation of the British, Dutch and Netherland Archipelagos, then central Europe, past to the Ukraine… Ah, Baghdad, in the middle of the desert past Turkey, just like the last time she checked.

Her mouth scrunched up to the side as she examined the rest of the world map. Salt-water inlets snaked their way through the low-elevation areas of Russia to the north. The Mediterranean, spared from flooding thanks to a few well-placed dams. Africa, the northern half was alight with red lines to mark borders in dispute, just as was the case further east with Pakistan, India and China. There, the area of Bangladesh that had filled in with water. Past that, in the middle of the Pacific, two island-continents attached by a small land-bridge like a miniaturized parody of the North and South Americas further east. That was where the ponies had come from, apparently. She’d never had the chance to ask one of them. The occasional newspaper she read before Ivan burned it for warmth described other creatures too, but nothing she had seen in real life, only in pictures of her story books.

She closed the atlas and resumed reading, her foot tapping on the concrete to an imagined epic confrontation between brave sailors and savage beasts.

“How many times have you read that?”

Katna gasped and slapped the book onto her lap. She looked over at Ivan as he got up. “This will be the fourth time.”

“How are you feeling?”

Katna breathed in and winced at the raspiness towards the end of it. She broke into a coughing fit, shoved the book to the side and let loose the hacking demands of her lungs into her lap. When finished she pulled away and shook her head at the little red droplets spackled on her jeans. “Not good.”

Ivan stood, walked to the garbage bag of food and fished out a half-eaten steak. His teeth tore into it and he looked at the entrance to their shelter. “There’s a pharmacy ten blocks away that I haven’t been to, they might have something. There’s a legal office across from it too. They might have some shredded documents or cardboard boxes in the dumpster.” He smiled at Katna. “We’ll have a fire tonight,” he said, then bit again into his cold steak.

Picking through the garbage Katna retrieved a few leaves of lettuce and munched on those. She swallowed them down, burped and coughed again, placing her fist over her mouth to cover it. When she pulled it away out of the corner of her eye she spotted Ivan looking down at her.

Ivan inclined his head to the book corner then sat. “Do you think the medicine will still work?”

Katna shook her head and shrugged. “Maybe… the bacterio… phages… they’re tiny animals that attack the other ones that are making me sick, but they only work on really specific types. If we find the right one, it’ll work.”

Ivan clutched his knees and pulled them to his chest. “And if I don’t?”

Katna looked down at the ground and shrugged.

Grunting Ivan stood up then paced the room gathering and slipping into his winter-wear. He walked to the electrical panel, pulled it back letting in a breeze from the parking lot and took a step outside, turning to Katna before leaving. “Keep warm Katna. I’m bringing fuel for a fire and medicine. Promise.” With that he left, bending the panel back into place. The pit-pat of footsteps reached Katna’s ears for a few moments, then nothing.

Ivan walked among the tall strangers shuffling along the sidewalks, alternately swinging out his fists in time with the opposite legs and turning his torso to squeeze between people as he strode to outpace those around him. His eyes locked on the pharmacy, occasionally darting to the office building on the opposing side. Grab the papers, stow them away, come back, grab the medicine.

Ivan walked past the pharmacy to a crosswalk, then doubled back to the office building, two stories of concrete blocks dotted with windows. In the back there were two dumpsters. He searched them and found a half-dozen cardboard boxes pressed flat. He fished them out, laying them beside the building. Easy to pick up on the run.

Ivan returned to the pharmacy, a little white building that blended in with the sky and snow, a single large orange neon light sign to make it stick out.

A man walked out of the pharmacy through the glass doors, fumbling with a blue and white box. He stuck out a finger and a silver blade jutted out of it. He ran the blade over the packaging, then pulled out some pills. The blade receded back into his hand and he popped the two pills before holding out the augmented limb and smiling as he wiggled his five matte-finished fingers.

Ivan leaned to the side and observed a mare with a tan coat and red mane walking to the door. No wings, no horn. She turned at the door and entered. Ivan quickly followed suit. Always enter with someone else. As he passed the first set of glass doors he scanned the shelves. Full, good!

The earth pony mare pushed open the second door and Ivan squeezed past her. He immediately turned to the right and went to the farthest aisle, his eyes darting to the ceiling’s corner. Camera, pull scarf over face and keep eyes down. Ivan turned left down the aisle and inspected the contents.

Painkillers, cold remedies, echinacea, cough medicine... Ivan grabbed a box of cough medicine and tucked it into his jacket then turned around to the next aisle. Family planning, nothing for him there. He quickly went through the next aisles, nothing immediately concerning the cure of more serious illnesses.

Ivan bit his lip, walking across the aisle to a corner where a blood-pressure cuff sat next to a stool. He looked over as the earth pony reared up and placed her front hooves on the counter. Ivan leaned out from his place, examining the counter and the shelves behind it. He squinted as he scanned the shelves, his gaze occasionally darting to the woman at the counter. Her pale skin stood out against her black hair, and contrasted even more with the metallic globe stuck in her right eye-socket.

“Excuse me,” said the earth pony, “but I don’t suppose you supply anything compatible with ponies?”

“It depends, what are you looking for specifically?” asked the woman.

Ivan’s eyes widened as his eyes settled on a familiar brand name, Omnineca Myco, right behind the pharmacist. He leaned back, sighed and leaned out again. No door blocking the way behind the counter. Walk in, grab the boxes and dart out while the pharmacist panics over a theft.

“Ah, grooming products would be on the back wall,” the pharmacist said pointing to the opposite side of the store.

“Thank you!” replied the earth pony. She turned around, walking to the back. The pharmacist watched as she meandered down the aisle.

Ivan left his spot bending his legs and slouching so as to appear shorter and walked to the entrance behind the back counter, rounding it as though he owned the place. The pharmacist looked down and blinked, shaking her head. “Excuse me! Boy? You’re not allowed back here. Are you lost? Is your mommy near? Excuse me?”

Ivan’s arm darted out as he walked by her, snatching two boxes off the shelf and then knocking over the rest of the row to the ground.

“Hey!”

He broke into a run and vaulted over the counter and out the front door. Alarms blared as he passed by. His shoulder slammed into the last door. Ivan slammed it shut behind him and grinned at the click that came with it. He looked down the street both ways and dashed across. He heard a weak thud and looked back to see the pharmacist wrangling with some keys at the door.

Ivan made his way to the other side of the road and continued down the alley. He quickly grabbed the cardboard boxes beside the office building and was off into the distance. Some medicine and a warm fire. That was what his sister needed. That was what he would give.

Tiny hands rubbed against each other, then against pink-sleeved arms. Katna’s teeth chattered as she wiggled her feet. She reached over to a hoodie hanging on a pipe and pulled it over to her, where she then put it on, savoring as the soft fleece inside held the warmth that tried fleeing out of her. She hummed, closing her eyes and spinning her torso in place.

Taking one of her books she leaned over her hands as they pressed the pages flat, her breath keeping them warm. “And th-the vagabond w-was f-forced b-by Jafar to…” Katna slammed the book shut and set it aside. She stood up and started pacing. Movement. Her muscles made heat when she used them, that would keep her warm until Ivan got back. But God was it cold! The tiny hairs on the back of her hands stood on end as goose-bumps spread over her entire body.

Her pace quickened, her knees bending sharply as she lifted up her feet higher, working more muscle groups for more heat. Katna breathed in to keep pace with the extra physical exertion.
She crossed that line in her chest, that amount of air she could take in before her body expelled it out. She bent over double, bracing a hand on the wall, hacking and wheezing.

Katna vaguely made out the sound of the entrance creaking open as her eyes watered.

“Katna!”

Something tumbled to the ground and she was jerked from the wall, rough arms pulling her by the shoulders. She was forced to sit on the ground, her back against a warm presence. The grip on her shoulders massaged, then moved towards her back.

“Katna, listen to me! You’ve got to breathe!”

Katna gave out another cough.

“Breathe…” The hands continued to press, shifting pressure up to her neck from the bottom, as though trying to push the sickness out of her. Whatever she was leaning against shifted up and down in a slow rhythmic tempo.

“Katna, focus on how I’m breathing! Deep, slow. In, out. Come on, breathe!”

The warmth, the pressure and the voice calmed her spasming lungs, and settled into a great inhalation. Katna broke into another cough and a trail of blood spurted out of her mouth, flinging itself into the middle of the room.

Katna leaned forward, resuming her breaths. Shallower, but easier. She turned her head to the side as Ivan’s face slid down into her field of vision.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I was trying to keep warm…”

Ivan pursed his lips and got up. He walked to some cardboard piled near the entrance and shoved them to the center of the room. He stood up, removed a shirt hanging over a hole in one of the pipes, pulled a lighter out of his pocket and pressed it to the cardboard, starting a fire that soon reached a peak. The smoke trailed up to the hole in the pipe. He then picked a few items of meat from the old garbage bag.

He waved the brown and red lump of animal muscle in front of his face, bringing it up to his eyes before pushing it away. Finding food in the cities wasn’t a problem. Not so on the road. If they could even get on the road. His eyes darted to Katna.

Shaking his head Ivan placed the meat and the remaining burgers next to the fire to warm them up, then walked to the medicine. He picked it up and brought it to Katna. “I found some more of that medicine.”

Katna twirled a finger in the air. Ivan spun the box around and held it down, its back in front of her face. Her eyes scanned over the tiny writing. She nodded then leaned back. “Bring me one of the older boxes, please,” she said. Ivan obliged, fetching one and presenting it for her to read. Again Katna nodded. “It’s meant for a different series of strains. It might work,” she commented.

Ivan wasted no time in tearing open the box and popping the pills out of their individual pockets before putting them in Katna’s palm. She pressed her hand to her mouth and pulled it away, leaving nothing. Ivan sat down, reaching over for a burger, grabbing it and putting it in Katna’s hands. He looked down at the splatter of blood on the floor next to him.

“Katna… Even if the medicine is the right one it will take a while before you get better.” Ivan licked his lips.

Katna nodded.

“And snow has already come… We’re going to have to move soon, and there’s the chance you might not get well… I think now is the time.”

Katna smiled, brought the burger to her mouth and bit into it. "So, you think we can do it?" she asked, "Is it real?"

Ivan crawled on all fours to Katna, nodding. "Yes, it's real, didn't you read the pamphlet I gave you back then, the first time I tried to get us potion?"

Katna chewed her bite before swallowing and nodding. She pointed to a book across from her in the cramped little compartment, a biology textbook. Ivan grabbed it and placed it beside Katna. She ate and flipped through the pages until she got to a picture of the human body. She pointed to the lungs, then swirled her finger on the page. "The thing that's making me sick is in me. The pamphlet says that the potion uses my body to make a new pony body. But what if it uses the germs? Won't I still be sick then?"

Ivan scrambled through the garbage near where the textbook had laid until he found the pamphlet. He opened it up near to the back. Tracing his finger over the bulleted points he stopped at one of the last. "The total reconstruction of the body also eliminates all malignant organic particles, making species transfiguration the universal cure to all physical human diseases." He pointed at another bullet point. "Memories and self... actualizing identity are preserved." He flipped through a few more pages and read the line that sounded really smart, hoping it would convince Katna. "It is essentially like taking the data of an old computer and installing it on a new computer for a... holistic... a-and vitalizing fresh start to tackle the world, all provided for by the Equestrian Crown Corporation, Morphic Distributions."

Ivan looked to Katna, who had finished one leftover burger and moved onto another rib.

"Please, Katna, we have to get out of the city, move south, and we won't have enough food unless we can eat the grass, we'll tire out. But ponies, some of them can fly! We could fly out of here!" Ivan grabbed Katna by the shoulder and shook her slightly. “Don’t you see?” The sudden movement caused another spasm of coughing. Ivan fell backwards as a fleck of blood hit his cheek.

When the coughing stopped Katna looked at her arm and the solid crimson stain that ran up its length. She rested her head back against the wall, nodding weakly. "Do what you have to, brother, if you really think this is the only way."

Ivan nodded, grabbed two pieces of steak and his headgear and left, heading back to the surface, the screwdriver he found the previous day nestled amidst the folds of his clothing.

Author's Note

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Off the Edge of Known Things

Ivan sat against a dumpster looking out at the street, waiting for a mass of doctors and ponies to step out of the building for closing time. His eyes would occasionally dart to the side of the building when it dimmed between commercials, expecting the four-sided television of a clinic was being powered down. Instead he would be met with another tease of what he wanted and his sister needed, followed immediately by a message saying he couldn't have it.

He wrung his hands, trying to keep them warm as the chilling evening wind pierced his gloves, the screwdriver balled up in his fist.

The endless, unfeeling, monotonous stream of words kept flashing on the screen. Ivan wondered if it was trying to say he wouldn't have it, couldn't have it or shouldn't have it. How were those words supposed to know any of that? They were just that, words, but still they kept flashing onto the screen, black squiggly teeth in a meaningless smile.

Ivan brought the screwdriver into the dumpster, bludgeoning it and leaving a dent, but in no way coming close to piercing it.

"Hello?"

Ivan stopped his frustrated beating in order to listen. Someone was poking into his business. He didn't need help, he needed to be unimpeded. He held still, not wanting to be dragged away for more empty words. His breath steamed the forest green paint of the dumpster.

"I know you're behind there, I can hear you breathing."

"Pewter Pot?" another voice joined in. "Come on let's go! If they need help they can ask for it."

Ivan's hand tightened around the screwdriver. The sound of snow crunching as the two walked away gave Ivan the resolve to let out his breath. Pewter Pot! The first voice's name was Pewter Pot, a pony name! Which meant that the employees were leaving.

He waited a minute before leaving his spot then darted around the building to the opposite side, finding an empty alley. The screens still flashed brightly but his eyes locked onto an emergency exit and a vent taking air into the building. The vent was about his height, and affixed only with screws. Holding the screwdriver to his eyes he smiled as the ends matched. It was short work to get rid of the grating and clamber inside. The thunderous cacophony of his passing blended with the sound of rushing cars outside.

In the silent building however, every one of his movements sounded like an explosion making his heart race. Ivan looked up, and gave a short chuckle at the sight of vent grating along the side of his path. He squirmed along the steel vent to the center of the building. Gazing out from each grating as he passed them he bared his teeth in a grin as he read the signs on each door: "Waiting room. Reception. Surgery. Storage. Ponification-Catalyzation chamber."

He stared out at the hall, where cool-steel paneling stood in stark contrast against the fluorescent lights in the ceiling. More grating separated him from the room but this time the screws were on the other side. Ivan pressed his face against the grating, impressing a diamond pattern in his cheek as he looked down the hall. Nothing but more paneling, doors and signs.

Scrunching himself into a ball Ivan turned himself about in the cramped space until his feet faced the grating. He kicked out rattling it, but not feeling the faintest give to it. He shook his head then let out another kick, and another. Soon he was wailing, legs flailing against the grate like he was sprinting. Sweat broke out on his brow, ragged breaths tearing at his lungs as he returned to kicking the grate with one leg. The grate fell out of place, clanging on the floor, and Ivan gulped for breath before pushing himself down into the hall.

He walked up to the door. It slid open, clicking as it locked into place and revealed a slough of cabinets, medical supplies and examination tables all cast in the shadows of the off-hour lights.

"Identification please," requested a clipped electronic voice.

Ivan froze. He had expected to just find the door locked, something he could pry open or remove with his screwdriver. But no, it was a computer demanding he identify himself.

"Identification please," chirped the voice again.

Shaking his head he stepped towards a set of cabinets that looked promising.

"Identification failed, emergency responders have been notified. Please get on your knees and place your hands on your head."

Ivan opened up the first cabinet revealing sets of painkillers and antibiotics, all useless in impeding Katna's illness at its current stage. He scrounged through the other cabinets using the screwdriver to take apart the lock assembly that lay over some of them. Throwing a door open he stared for a moment.

A red drum, about the size of Ivan's head and set just as high. It was covered in biohazard signs written in several languages. A spigot jutted out of the bottom, its handle arched over the top.

"Intruder still present, lockdown protocols engaged."

He reached to the spigot and squeezed it. Ivan smiled as a few drops of purple fluid fell onto the shelf. He grabbed the drum, tucked it underneath his arm and dashed to the door...

Only to smack right into a solid panel of steel, the drum escaping his arms and clanging on the metal floor. He banged his fist against the door. "Open!" He brought his fist against the door again. "Open!" he shouted, desperate. Looking around the room his eyes settled on the red drum. He grabbed it by the handle and swung it at the door. The drum clanged against it, leaving a dent, but bounced back towards him dragging him to the ground.

"Vandalization of transition clinic properties will be met with criminal prosecution. Please get on your knees and place your hands on your head."

"No!" Ivan screamed, bashing at the door again until his arms fell like spaghetti at his sides.

He turned, leaning his shoulders against the door when he saw something he had missed the first time: another vent. He grabbed the drum of potion, ran to the vent and set about undoing the grating. His shoulders ached, his vision blurred through hot tears as he fumbled with the screws. The panel came off and he scrambled in, the red drum smacking against his side. His progression through the vents to the exit was a noisy loop of pained yelps, whines and clanging metal.

Ivan slid out to the sounds of sirens approaching. He grabbed the drum and did as he always did when trouble came near. He ran.

Katna braced a hand against the floor, her fingers clasping at the broad moist concrete as her chest heaved. It settled, and Katna was left to stare at a few of her books. She reached to a chemistry book and leafed through the pages. She smiled as she reached the periodic table of elements. The blues and greens and yellows all stacked on top of one another in a neat little order.

Her finger traced over a few of the boxes, playing a little game. Choosing two elements at random she added the numbers in the box together then tried to find that number in another box. Carbon and silicon, six plus fourteen, twenty, and that would give... calcium. That meant that calcium normally had... twenty protons. Iodine and copper, fifty-three plus twenty-nine, eighty-two, which was... lead, eighty-two protons...

Katna lay the book to the side. A year ago it had simply been a pretty picture with letters and numbers in them. Then in idle curiosity from waiting for Ivan she had noticed the pattern and began reading the rest of the book to figure out what the pattern was, and what it meant.

The entrance to their personal creche creaked open and Ivan slid in, panting as a giant carbuncle-red cylinder knocked against his legs causing him to fall and drop the drum. It rolled over to Katna, falling short of striking against her legs. She pulled herself away from it and crawled to Ivan.

"Is that it?" Katna asked turning her head to peer at the red drum that had nearly smashed her brother's legs.

"Whatever... it is," Ivan panted. "It looks... just... like potion," he finished, pushing himself up onto his knees, still breathing heavily. "Grab the biggest pill bottles you can."

Katna's eyes widened and she arched her brows, wondering what use... She smacked the side of her head. Empty pill bottles to drink with, of course! She scuttled to the plastic mound and fished around for what she could find. She pulled out two massive Tylenol bottles and stuck her hand in each, flexing her fingers inside them both to assure herself they were empty. She brought them to Ivan, who had righted the potion container and was balancing it on his knee.

He grabbed one of the bottles and held it underneath the spigot. A thin stream of purple liquid poured out. To Katna it seemed to glow.

"Is it radioactive?" Katna stepped back.

"I read the pamphlet again last night. It didn't say anything like that. We just drink it, fall asleep, and wake up as ponies." Ivan set the first pill bottle down.

Katna scrunched up her face. "What happens to our clothes?"

Ivan looked up from his pouring at Katna, mouth hanging open. "Uh... it says that we shouldn't be wearing anything which might cause... what was the word? Strange...ool...ation?"

"Strangulation?" Katna picked up the pamphlet and flipped through it. She looked up and gasped. "Ivan! The bottle!"

Looking down Ivan rapidly released the spigot as he realized the pill bottle was about to overflow. He set it aside and inhaled shakily. "O-okay... haha..." Ivan stepped away from the bottles and reached to his brow. He inspected his hand, making sure none of the gunk had spilled on him. Seeing nothing he wiped his brow and planted himself on the ground staring at the two bottles, one for him, the other for his sister.

"So... that's all there is to it then?" Katna asked.

"I believe so." Ivan shed his gloves and lay them beside him. "Katna," he said, removing his jacket as he kept staring at the bottle. "I'll go first, to see if it's safe. If something goes wrong, go find someone." His skin goose-bumped at the cold brisk air of their improvised shelter.

Katna scuttled towards Ivan grabbing his arm as he tried to remove his shirt. "No! They'll put us in another home, and then that will just shut down or run out of food in another few months!" She shook his arm, gripping it firmly as Ivan tried to pull his shirt over his head without the use of one arm. "What if they don't believe you're my brother after you’re a pony? I don't want them to separate us!"

Ivan used his free hand to grip Katna's shoulder. "It's just in case, I'm sure this'll work. I don’t want to be away from you either." Katna's grip loosened, and Ivan used the slack to slide free of his shirt and his sister.

"Now, I'll drink the potion; don't drink it until I've woken up and figured out it's safe." Ivan's hands went down to his fly when he looked back at Katna. "Could you... turn around?"

Katna raised an eyebrow.

"Just, please?" Ivan pleaded.

Katna shrugged and turned around. She listened to the sound of more clothes falling to the floor, and then the soft smack of feet against the concrete. The feet went to the pill bottles, and then back to the clothing pile.

"Okay, Katna, I'm taking it now. Remember, don't take it until after I've woken up and we've talked, okay?" With that there was a brief slurping sound followed by a series of gulps, then silence.

Katna sat still for a few seconds, focusing her attention to the corner of her eyes. "Ivan?" The sound of an empty bottle hitting the concrete met her, and she turned around. "Ivan!"

Ivan lay on his side, eyes closed, the bottle just a few inches from his outstretched arm. He was just sleeping, like he said he would be. Katna breathed out, calming herself, when a loud snap came from his direction.

Inhaling too quickly Katna broke into a coughing fit as another snapping sound came from her brother. That sounded like something had broken! "Ivan!?" she asked frantically, breaking into another spasm of coughing. Ivan’s response was a set of burbling noises, like times when she hadn't eaten for days.

Katna got on all fours, dry heaving from all the coughing, specks of blood flying unobstructed from her mouth onto the paved ground. It was bad. Lemon juice might as well have been poured down her throat and it wouldn't have matched the burning and sloshing sensations in her own chest.

"Ivan! Help!" she cried, taking air in what she was sure were mere spoonfuls. Her arms gave way, and she looked at Ivan as her right shoulder hit the concrete.

Ivan felt a dozen somethings poking his palms... and his feet. The poking stopped on his right hand, then on his left foot, then he realized we was bent over and walking on all fours. He looked down and saw two limbs. The light grey stumps swung forward in time with his legs, contrasting against the grass beneath them. They didn't have fingers, they didn't have anything except for fine hairs and a shiny cap on the end. Legs, they were legs of some kind, the connection drawing itself in Ivan's mind. They were legs, and they were his.

He stopped and looked around. It was astonishingly easy as his neck swung about, letting him look behind. Shoulders, back, rump... tail. He had a tail, a scraggly grey thing that twitched a bit as he laughed.

That's when something other than his tail moved. A flap on his back shifted and fluttered at his side.

Ivan stopped his mirth and stared at the differently-textured limb stretching out of him. Wings, he had wings! Ivan tried reaching back towards them with a hoof and wobbled a bit as he remembered that he was using all four of them to stand. He reached back a little further with his neck, tentatively trying to flex the muscles in his back which he had felt shift when he laughed.

His lips made contact with the feathers and he started lipping them, adjusting and putting them into place. His nostrils flared as a feather pushed its way up his nose and he pulled back, sneezing.

He sat down folding his tail underneath himself and stared at his hooves. He flexed his front legs, twisting them and testing their range of motion when something suddenly prodded him in the back.

Ivan turned on his hooves by pure reflex, wings flaring out. His mouth hung open at what he saw.

Katna’s eyes locked at what she could make out through her tears, and didn't let go as her vision cleared.

Ivan's skin was... waxy, as if he had been sweating profusely, but it seemed his body was trying to drink the moisture back in through the skin. His arms and legs had shrunk, and the toes and fingers had fused together. Something that looked like his knees were now nestled up against his hip, or was that the thing bent back the wrong way? The cracks had subsided into a continuous drone of creaking as Ivan's jaw jutted out of his face, and his ears, once obstructed by his hair, now poked out of the top of his head.

Attempting to breath Katna found herself in another bout of coughing. Tears smacked against her fists as her vision swam and she fought against the pull of gravity. She couldn't breathe! Her lungs weren't working! And Ivan wasn't there to help her through, he was unconscious and in no condition to help. More sloshing, liquid flecks of blood. There was a brief respite and Katna tried to breath, only to swallow before another spasm struck.

She couldn't wait. She wanted to, she should have, but terrified of not being able to breath she dragged herself to where the second pill bottle lay, a soft purple emanating from the open top. One hand groping the concrete, another at the buttons on her shirt, Katna fumbled through the three things she needed to do: get the bottle, make sure she could drink it the moment she did, and not get strangulated by her own clothes. Knees scrabbling, Katna undid the last button on her shirt. She threw her arm up, ineffectually trying to get the shirt off as it clung to her.

No time! She was at the bottle, she undid her pants and let her last push towards the purple glow drag the clothing off of her. Her other hand gripped the bottle and she brought it to her lips, gulping it down as quickly as she could, sputtering bits of potion out onto her hand as the rest went down. She fell on her side, a pleasant warmth spreading in her chest. She felt tired, the racking in her body leaving her unable to resist the chance to rest.

Another pony was smiling at Ivan as a dozen others trotted towards them. Some had wings, some had horns, and some had neither, but they all stopped, threw their heads about, reared up, and whinnied before continuing to trot in his direction, approaching and pressing up against him, muzzles and ears and sides pushing and rubbing on flanks. They were together, they cared for him. He stood back up letting out a cry of happiness to them.

The herd dispersed trotting alongside Ivan as he moved along, tossing his own head about as the wind played with his mane. He let out a whoop as he ran towards one of the other herd members, and laughed as he flared out his wings at the last moment, mockingly making himself appear larger. They all ran along the vast plains, under the overcast skies, marking their direction by a mountain in the distance as the time passed.

They reached a coursing river that snaked its way across their path, and the herd settled to munching on grass or drinking from the river.

Ivan looked down at the ground, tilting his head before looking between himself and the others. He lowered his head, gripped a patch of grass in his teeth, pulled his head up tearing the grass off, and chewed before swallowing.

A pegasus mare in the herd whinnied drawing the others towards her as she forded the river, the water reaching up to her belly. The others followed suit and Ivan was soon left gazing at the black depths of the flowing water.

He reached with a hoof, slowly dipping it into the water. It was warmer than he imagined, and he soon found himself up to his neck in its depths. He struggled to cross over, the other ponies looking at him from across the river. His hooves clambered on wet stones, his wings flapping about and sending droplets of water up into the air, but his balance held and Ivan slowly dragged himself up to the shore. He was cold at first, but felt an instinctive impulse to shake himself, after which he felt dry. The other ponies walked a little ways further, and laid in the grass.

Ivan mimicked them, feeling like he finally had a place.

Katna breathed.

For the first time in months breathing felt full and painless. Her sides expanded, the air flowed in without any stinging or burning, and her lungs filled. There was a crackling noise in front of her, but also warmth. The crackling made Katna's ears twitch. They moved in a circle, a great mighty heave that messed with her hair and ended with her ears bent backwards.

Katna opened her eyes and blinked. A small fire was surrounded by a set of stones, the orange flames lapping upwards to a... blue hole set against a vibrant purple velvet ceiling. She followed the contours of the gold thread embroidered fabric down the wall. It looked like some scene from the tale of Aladdin! The wall ended in a rug that covered the ground, which she followed until she was staring at her... arms?

Her arms were gone! Katna started breathing heavily as she twisted around their facsimile replacements. Overtly pink stubs stood in place for her once pale and spindly fingers. She pushed against the ground, trying to put some distance between her face and the rounded ends of her not-hands.

"What are—woah!"

Katna fell over as she realized her tongue and teeth were very different. She rolled on her back and laid staring at the ceiling as she scrunched up her face, feeling around with her tongue. A flash of Ivan's shifted face crossed her vision and she remembered the potion.

"Oh no! What was I thinking!?" Katna whined, rolling over on her side. She stared at her weird new arms. "These are... pony legs," she said, wiggling them a bit. Looking down the length of her body she also noticed her hind legs. She took a deep breath, smiling at the continued absence of pain, and rolled on her stomach, shifting her hind legs and stretching them out before doing the same with her front legs. Katna looked around the tent, still smiling. "I wonder where I am?" She turned around, facing the fire and the entrance to the tent.

"Hello!?" she called out.

Her ears flicked and twitched at each snap and pop from the fire. Katna took a deep breath, inhaling the crisp scent of wood smoke. She walked back to the fire and sat, holding her hooves up to it, feeling a slight warmth build up on their bottoms. Sweeping her vision from her front hooves to her chest, flank and tail, Katna wiggled a bit in the cushions and blankets by the fire.

"Brother was right. I feel a lot better."

Katna's eyes widened as she gasped. "Brother!"

Something poked at Ivan's back, earning a dissatisfied grunt. Had he rolled onto some piece of garbage while sleeping with his herd? Ivan brought his hand to his face with a dull thud. Dream. It was a dream, he was still...

Grimacing Ivan rubbed his face. He could only feel a massive singular digit in each hand and whatever was touching his face was not warm flesh, but something hard. His face for that matter wasn't matching up either. He could feel it, but from how much he bent his elbows Ivan judged that the tip of his nose and teeth stretched farther out than before.

That was when Ivan noticed feelings in his arms, the massive digit of his hand making up a disproportionate amount of what he could call his 'arms'. Ivan flexed them, scrunching his eyes as we waved them in whatever way they wanted to. Bones and muscles slid and glided and pushed and pulled until that darn poking sensation returned, forcing Ivan onto his belly.

As his hands hit the ground with a resounding clop Ivan's eyes snapped open. His mind made the immediate connections when he saw the little keratinous caps at the ends of his arms. Hooves, he had hooves! And he was wide awake, the potion had worked! He could not wait to tell—

He had been moving around but Katna hadn't said anything.

Ivan heard soft breathing to his left. His ears swiveled to point at its source. It was light, effeminate and unlabored, coming steadily and without any quality of raspiness to it.

"Sister?" He ran his tongue along all his teeth and flexed his jaw. Interesting, he could speak even though his mouth was incredibly different. Maybe he was just making animal noises and thought he was talking? "Sister?" he called again. "I think it worked..."

Ivan bent his neck, directing his gaze to the source of the breathing.

There lay a small salmon-colored filly with a teal mane and tail. A pink undershirt and faded jeans clung to her figure. Beside her an empty pill bottle dripped purple fluid on the concrete.

"Katna, no!" Ivan crawled towards his sister, ears flicking about as his face scrunched up. She hadn't listened! In all the years he had trusted her to behave, it had to be in this, the most dangerous thing he had ever done, that she didn't wait for him to be ready to catch her?

Ivan looked at Katna's face. She was smiling. A piece of her mane fell downward, revealing a fluted protrusion of... something. It looked a bit like her hooves, but Ivan drew his head back. Katna had come out as a unicorn. His ears drooped as he swung his head around to look at his wings. They fluttered expectantly.

"Brother!"

Ivan scuttled backwards from the outburst, looking at its source.

Katna stared at Ivan, blinking. She tilted her head, then looked down, gasped and bit her lip, returning to look at Ivan. She tucked her hooves under herself and her eyes watered. "I-I... I couldn't breathe..." she said. “You weren't there, and I was scared, and you'd kept telling me this would cure me..."

A worm bit into Ivan's heart as his jaw clenched. He hadn't been there when she needed him. He lurched forward then looked down at his legs. In the process of scuttling about he found himself standing up.

Ivan shifted his legs a bit, recollecting the dream where he had galloped with a herd. The simple motion of walking on four legs came to him as he shifted his weight and lifted his front right hoof up. He placed it pointing towards Katna and performed the same action with his left hind leg. Soon he was standing over Katna, who had tucked her head underneath a foreleg and was whining.

Ivan leaned over and... pressed his head against Katna's side. Katna poked her head out and looked at Ivan. "I'm sorry," she cried.

Ivan lay down beside Katna. The salmon filly flinched at the sudden motion then sighed as Ivan lay his neck over her own. "No, no, I wasn't there for you when I should have been. I know you were scared." Ivan adjusted himself, blowing on Katna's mane. She giggled as he continued nuzzling her. "I promise I won't leave you again," he breathed.

Katna hummed, stretching out a hoof and wrapping it around Ivan. "I know."

Pulling back from Katna Ivan looked her over, still covered by her human clothes. "How does breathing feel?"

"No pain." Katna looked over Ivan and smiled. "A pegasus. I'm sure you'll have wonderful tricks to show me soon."

"I'm sure you will too, little unicorn sister," Ivan replied, chuckling as Katna reached up to feel her head. "Do you think you can stand?"

Peering at her hooves Katna nodded. "I had a dream where I walked a little. I remember it so clearly. I was in a tent, alone, but there was a fire." Continuing to speak Katna tucked her hooves below her. "I was scared at first, regretting what I had done, but then I kind of enjoyed feeling warm and healthy. What about you, brother?" Katna looked down seeing that she had managed to stand while talking. She glanced back at Ivan, eyes shining.

"I had a dream too, although I was running through a field with other ponies." Ivan glanced around their concrete hovel taking account of their supplies. The empty pill bottles would be good for carrying things they found in their travels, along with a myriad of used and run-down purses and backpacks Ivan had 'borrowed' from loading trucks across the city.

At last his eyes fell upon the pile of clothes in the corner, the last vestiges and proof that the dilapidated maintenance area had once housed two street urchins. Ivan looked over to his sister, her shirt still laying on her shoulders, front legs poking out of the sleeves. Her pants hung awkwardly off of her back legs, the tail poking out and obstructing the pants from being hiked up any higher.

Though they planned to move south, there was still the need to keep warm.

Author's Note

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By the Road and Into the Woods

Katna bent over to the ground and bit off a few blades of grass before looking around Ivan to the map he had stretched out in the ditch. On the map the Dnieper river snaked its way South-East through Kiev down to Dnipropetrovs'k, where it then wound South-West until it emptied itself in the Black Sea. From there it was a relative stone's throw to Sevastopol, where she and Ivan could get lost in the crowd once more, or simply retreat to the forests and live in peace amidst the plentiful vegetation in the South.

Those places were however a distant dream compared to the empty one and two-story buildings that loomed around them here. Katna's ears swiveled about to train on anything that might be the noise of a foot falling upon grass, gravel or even broken glass. Her eyes remained still. Her sight—while still very much binocular, colored, and reliant on daylight to let her see—now provided her the very opposite of tunnel vision. It did not blur at the corners as it had before. There had to be something about that in her books.

Katna sighed. Sitting down she reached to her chest with her mouth and unclasped a clip that ran around the bottom of her neck, then another around her belly. She then shrugged her front legs to slide off the backpack. Gripping the zipper in her teeth she pulled the pack open revealing her books, a half-dozen water bottles, a few blankets and paper for kindling. Ducking her head inside the bag for a moment Katna gripped her biology textbook in her teeth and pulled it out. She balanced it out on a foreleg and used her other hoof to turn through the pages.

The bottom of her hoof had a big squishy pad in the middle that let her get enough grip on the pages to turn them. Her lips turned downward as she leafed through a few dozen pages that spoke about human organs, human bones and human cells, but exceedingly little that allowed her to understand... herself.

She closed the book, sniffing in the scent of the glue binding the pages, and nestled it in the crook of her joint between her hoof and the rest of her front leg. It was quite flexible and let her grab a few objects. She tossed the book back into her bag, zipped it up and wiggled it back into place in the small of her back before fastening it into place. She looked over the rest of her body. A dark blue parka covered her torso, and a pair of jeans covered her legs; a horn-made hole to accommodate her tail frayed at the edges. Glancing to Ivan she smiled slightly at the hoodie that he had found sufficiently warm.

Even then Ivan had shirked off the lone article of clothing when there was no wind. Katna had offered that it was probably very cold where pegasi flew and so he was probably better at handling the cold than she was.

On that note, Katna reached over to Ivan and prodded his wing.

"Huh? Did you hear something Katna?" Ivan turned from the map and faced Katna.

"No." Katna shook her head. "I'm just wondering. We've been traveling for three days but I still can’t use magic. Is this normal?"

Turning back to the map Ivan grumbled, "I don't know. Maybe it's just because we're young?"

Curling her tail around her Katna stroked it with a hoof, looking amidst the forlorn grey buildings looming up into the grey sky above. "Ivan, where are we?"

"Outside Cherkasy. We're making good time, but..." Ivan leaned over, folding the map with his mouth. "I'm stuck on whether to try going through or around... We'll probably be seen if we go through... Two foals eating grass out in the front yards of factory workers and former farmers?" He picked up the map in his mouth and tucked it into his own bags.

"Does the town have a transition clinic?" asked Katna, rubbing her forehooves together. Ivan looked at her, and her eyes darted around. "I was hoping they might have some books on how to live as a pony."

Ivan shook his head. "No, the town isn't big enough for transfiguration, and certainly not rich enough for augmentations."

Katna huffed, stamping her hooves into the ground to a small plume of dust. "Around then?"

Nodding Ivan walked down the road, Katna following close behind. Humming to herself Katna would swing her head down at particularly tall tufts of grass, pulling them up and chomping on the grass. It tasted like bread to her, but moister and sweetened if not rather stringy. She swallowed a wad of it and licked her lips, trotting to catch up with Ivan.

"It feels good to be able to travel again," she said, looking between the houses. Her eyes lingered on the shattered glass and press-board in the windows. "Do you think anybody lives in them?"

Ivan lifted his head up, his ears swivelling to point to the nearest home. His nostrils flared as he sniffed. "I don't hear or smell anyone, and we'd be running if I saw anyone."

Katna nodded. "Right... it's strange being able to smell things like that." She pressed her nose to her jacket, inhaling. A mix of odors, human and equine, filled her mind as she closed her eyes briefly. Salt, fresh soil and antibiotics mixed with the hefty scent of unwashed child, slowly fading to a smell that reminded her of the grass she ate. Katna's ears drooped downward. She hadn't even thought of the small things she had given up when she poured that potion into herself, but she had one thing with her that wouldn't be taken away.

She leaned into Ivan's side, ear twitching against the hair that now covered his shoulder. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For giving me this chance." Katna removed her head from his side and trotted alongside him. She once again glanced at the houses. "What do you think happened to all the people?"

"Couldn't afford the houses, or maybe they moved to bigger cities to find jobs."

Katna scrunched up her face, glaring at one of the houses.

"I know, it seems a waste to leave them laying around," said Ivan.

They traveled onward, keeping Cherkasy to their left and a sparse hedge of hornbeam and ash trees to their right.

Ivan winced moistening his eyes. He looked up from the ground and stopped. His wings stretched out, and Katna grazed his outstretched feathers. He pointed a hoof ahead, and worked his jaw as he folded his wings. A trail of dust rose out along another road that joined theirs. Focusing on the trail’s leading end Ivan grunted when all he saw was the hillock obstructing the other road.

Ivan and Katna walked fast to the nearest ditch and crouched down. Stealing a glance at his sister Ivan nodded as Katna pressed herself close to the ground, trying to hide her pink body in the stiff grass.

The plume reached the edge of the intersection. Ivan stood stock still, his legs ready to bound towards the trees, or down the road. A pickup truck pulled out of the other road and started down the one away from them. Ivan stood up and trotted in its direction.

"Hey!" he yelled, flapping his wings. "Heeeyyy!" He broke into a gallop as Katna stood up and started trotting after him.

"Stoooop!" shouted Ivan, nostrils flaring as he kicked up a few pebbles in his wake. He squinted his eyes against the wind. "Stop, please!" He jumped up in the air, his wings outstretched, and tumbled back into the road, his bags sliding off of him and skittering along the gravel.

"Ivan!" Katna caught up to him, grabbing a bag's strap in her mouth. "A'e yoo a'ight?" she asked.

"No." Ivan shook his head. "That could have shortened our trip; he was going in our direction." He stomped a hoof into the ground, then looked over to Katna, whose eyes had widened. "What?"

Katna jabbed her head down the road, pointing with her horn. "'ook!"

Ivan turned to see the tell-tale white lights of a vehicle in reverse. His ears perked up and he scrambled to hook all the bags onto his hooves. "Let me talk to whoever it is Katna."

Katna nodded and trotted to the side of the road, the bag still hanging from her mouth, while Ivan dragged the the ones he had picked up to the side of the road and stood waiting as the cream pickup skidded to a halt in front of them. The door opened and slammed shut, and boots crunched against the gravel. A heavy-set man with a few dregs of long black hair hanging off his head came into view. His eyes immediately scanned over the two foals.

His mouth hung open, a puff of fog escaping intermittently as he looked down the road both ways. He blinked and licked his lips. "Ponies? Out here?"

Ivan nodded.

"And..." The man stepped towards the two foals looking them over. "They're... tinier than I thought they'd be." He reached behind his head and scratched. "I wonder how they got all the way out here."

"We were taking a bus to Khersons'ka when my sister had to go pee. When she finished at a pit stop we found the bus had gone on without us. Please, sir, we have to get there in a few days to catch a boat back to Equestria." Ivan widened his eyes and lowered his head.

The man blinked and licked his lips for several seconds before taking a step back to his truck. "Oh... shit, yeah, bus drivers don't much give a shit whether or not their passengers get to where they're going." He pointed to the back of his truck. "I'm going about as far as Kremenchuk. If you don't mind bumps you can ride in the back."

Ivan nodded again. "Thank you very much." Tossing the bags into the back Ivan hopped up as the man got back into the driver seat.

Katna swung her head and let go of the bag, sending it flying into the back of the cab. The man inside flinched, peering back and reaching to the glove compartment. His eyes met Ivan's and he then rolled them as he shook his head. His hand pulled away from the glove compartment.

Ivan looked to Katna who splayed her ears out. "Sorry." She reared up and placed her hooves on the tailgate. Finding no purchase Katna kicked off the ground. Flailing for a second she smacked her chin on the metal, biting her tongue. A whine escaped her lips as she winced.

The man rolled down the window. "Time's a-wasting!"

Ivan shook his head. Looking around he grunted as he backed up towards the edge of the trunk. He sat down, his tail dangling over the edge. "Grab it," he instructed.

Katna scrunched up her face.

"Grab it!"

Katna closed her eyes and bit down on the hairs of Ivan's tail, who in turn stood up and walked forward, dragging Katna up and over the ledge. He heard spitting and coughing noises, and turned to see Katna leaning against the wheel well, rubbing her tongue on her hooves.

"You know, that's probably even dirtier than my tail." Ivan smirked as he reached a hoof to the back window and knocked against the glass.

Katna's eyes widened, looking at her tongue pressed against hooves that had just spent the past three days trudging through dirt. She pulled away just as the pickup lurched forward, causing her head to smack against the side before she lay down and pouted.

"It's not so bad," Ivan said. "After all, you've been eating grass for the last three days."

"But your tail!" Katna protested.

"I didn't pee all over it when I first tried going to the bathroom." Ivan chuckled.

"Eugh, I had almost forgotten! I stank to high heaven before I was able to soak myself in the river!" Katna's nostrils twitched.

Brows raised Ivan pointed to Katna. "You're lucky I got enough twigs for a fire for you to dry off, and that you didn't come out smelling even worse!"

Katna sneezed. "Ah... that... speaking of worse, this truck smells like pee as well! And rotten eggs!" Katna clamped her hooves over her nostrils, lending a nasal overtone to her following statement. "And window cleaner…allergy medicine... matches... paint thinner?"

Ivan sniffed as well, picking out the smells Katna had mentioned, and even more. His stomach sank at the prospect of riding in a smelly car, but he gritted his teeth and looked to Katna.

"Hey, if you could have kept one thing from being human, what would it be?" asked Ivan.

"My sense of smell!" Katna said, "At least I'd be able to ignore this smell then. I think I'm going to have a headache..."

Ivan lifted up his hooves. "Hands... you're lucky you're a unicorn... I think Kremenchuk has a transition clinic. Maybe I can grab something for you to read, yes?"

Ears perking up Katna lifted her head and smiled. "That would be wonderful! Perhaps you could find some book to teach you how to fly as well!"

Ivan felt warmth spread over his cheeks as he looked out at the passing countryside. "Yeah, flying, it could be useful. But the countryside looks good enough from the ground level."

Katna stared at Ivan as the truck went through a corner, exposing yet more abandoned bungalows on the outskirts of Cherkasy.

"Eh... maybe it will be more so near Sevastopol."

Ivan winced at the intermittent flash of yellow and purple as the truck passed under streetlamps and light streamed through his eyelids. Ivan practiced turning his ears to focus on the nearest car, tracking it as the truck passed it and then moving on to the next vehicle. His activity was interrupted by the sound of a hoof tapping on glass.

The man slid open the back window. "Yeah?" he asked Katna.

"Mister, is your truck damaged?" she asked.

"No, why'd you ask that?" The man glanced down the road.

"Well, it kinda smells funny. Is it leaking gas?"

"No."

"We're getting close to where you'll drop us off, right?" Katna hooked her hooves over the window, dangling them on the passenger headrest.

"You know you speak the language pretty well for being foreign. How long have you been here?" The man used his turn signal and took a right.

Ivan gulped. "Uh, five years."

The man turned in his seat part way, looking over Ivan. "You see, you sound rather young. How old are you?"

Coughing Ivan turned away. "Well, I'm a pony; I suppose I would sound younger to most."

The man turned back to face the road. "Huh-sheet!" he yelled, slamming on the brakes. The pickup skidded to a halt, sending Katna to dangle half-inside the cab and Ivan's head to smack against the rear-cab window.

A mile ahead a police roadblock sat flashing red-and-white lights down the road. The man put the pickup in reverse and started turning the vehicle around. He placed a hand on Katna, pushed her out of the cab and slid the window closed again. The whites of his eyes bulged out as he drove away from the roadblock. He pulled his hand away from the glove compartment to wipe his forehead. Katna patted the front of her jacket and looked back to the roadblock. A set of red-and-white lights parted from the group to follow the pickup down the road. The truck sped up, making the two siblings lurch a bit.

The police cruiser eventually caught up to them forcing the man to pull over.

An officer stepped out of the cruiser and walked towards the driver-side window. His eyes met with Ivan's and he blew out a heavy breath, the fog coalescing and running over his face. The man rolled down the window.

"Good afternoon sir, how are you today?" the officer asked.

"Good, I'm just headed down to Kermenchuk to do some grocery shopping," replied the man. He licked his lips.

The officer looked towards Ivan and Katna. "And them?"

"Wha-the ponies? They were heading in the same direction so I gave them a ride." The man leaned against the center console as his fingers stretched to the glove compartment.

"That true?" the officer asked, nodding to the two foals.

"Yes sir," Ivan answered.

Returning his gaze to the man the officer propped an elbow on the window. "Can I see your license and registration please?"

The man reached into his pocket. "Sure thing." He pulled out a wallet, and in turn plucked out a few cards. His tongue shot out to moisten his lips.

"Thank you," said the officer, taking the cards with him and walking back to his car.

The man leaned towards the glove compartment again, his hand gripping the latch to open it. Katna and Ivan simply turned to stare at the white glow that contrasted the officer's face against the rest of his vehicle in the overcast day.

The officer returned holding the cards out in front of himself. "How long have you owned this vehicle?"

"F-five years, bought it used." The man licked his lips again.

"Registry says the plate's been expired for two years." The officer tucked the license in his back pocket as the man's mouth clamped shut. Looking over to Katna the officer frowned. "How old are both of you?" he asked, nodding to Katna and Ivan in turn.

"She's fifteen and I'm eighteen," answered Ivan, a complete and utter lie. "Yes, we know we're rather small, even for ponies."

The officer nodded to Katna. "Would you care to show me your cutie mark then?"

Flinching Katna looked to her covered flank. Ivan squinted, gritting his teeth as he glared at the officer. What sick perversion was he feasting for this? His wings twitched before something in his head clicked: fifteen was probably too old to not have a cutie mark. A cold knot formed in his throat, bobbing around and jabbing at his neck as he tried to swallow.

Katna reached a forehoof to her pants and slid it down, exposing the blank salmon-colored coat of her flank. Her ears splayed out, and the officer tutted.

"Expired plate, and driving foals around?" The officer turned back to the man, who had stuck a handgun out of the window.

The gunshot rang out to a spurt of blood from the officer's neck, its echo sounding out with Katna’s screaming. Ivan stumbled a bit, his ears ringing, making out only the muffled shouting of the driver and the revving of the engine. The ground slid out from underneath Ivan as he tumbled out of the pickup’s back. A bag fell onto his side making him cough.

The ringing subsided and Katna ran in front of Ivan, holding his face in her hooves.

"Ivan! Get up! Come on!" She tugged at his head, coaxing Ivan to stand up as he looked back down the road. One way, the truck was getting ever smaller amidst the cloud of rocks and dust, leaving only a trace of its acrid chemical odor. The other way revealed the officer with blood pooling around his head, and police cruisers coming up the road.

Ivan shook his head, caught sight of a bag and snaked his head through the straps, looping it around his neck. His eyes settled on the forest by the side of the road and he galloped in its direction. "Katna, grab a bag and follow!"

He broke through the branches feeling them latch onto his ears and mane. Twigs slashed at his eyes as dirt clods flew out in his wake. He skidded to a halt as he looked behind him; Katna caught up to him carrying her own bag and dragging one of his along the dirt.

Ivan grabbed his bag from Katna and helped secure her bag onto her back. "Let's keep moving!"

They ran through the forest brushing against trunks and shrubs, keeping their eyes to the ground and making sure not to trip up. As their fleeing wore on them they settled into a trot, sweat breaking out on their brows. By the time the sun was setting their hooves scraped through the dirt with each step.

An ash tree surrounded by a number of leafless saplings stretched up into the sky before them. Bare branches snaked and curled around each other to form a cracked, wrinkled and vein-riddled fist as the roots ran along the ground and formed a series of deep hollows. Ivan collapsed into one hollow leaving the bags on the cusp of it. Katna sat down and leaned against a root.

"Why do I still smell the..." Katna looked to Ivan "Blood?" She stared at him, her ears perked as her pants shifted with the tensing muscles of her legs.

Ivan reach up with his right foreleg and rubbed it along his cheek. Something tacky and crusty rubbed against him, strengthening the odor. "Ugh," he said.

Katna's tail curled around her leg and she stood up, walking in a tight circle. "We shouldn't have run, they'll be looking for us now. Ivan, why did that man shoot the officer?"

Ivan shook his head, snorting into the dirt as he tried to find some sanctuary from the gory scent billowing off of his cheek and into his nostrils. "I don't know, maybe his truck was stolen? The officer said the plates were expired."

Katna stopped pacing and sat down again, unclipping her bag and letting it slide off to land on her tail. She winced for a moment then sighed. "Do you think things would have been different if I had my cutie mark?" She closed her eyes, leaning her head against the root.

Ivan reached out with a hoof, grazing her cheek. "Katna, he would have figured out what we really are eventually." He scooted over and put his other forehoof under her chin. "He would have found out we were human, that I broke into a transition clinic to steal potion, and then arrested me, and separated us."

Katna gasped.

"We've got to be even more careful with where and when we travel now." Ivan removed his hooves and lay his neck along Katna's. "We got lucky, and I'm not letting luck decide if we stay together or not."

Recoiling from her brother Katna stared at Ivan, her pink eyes filling with tears. "Ivan? You're not saying what happened is good? Are you?"

Ivan looked down at the ground then backed away from Katna, lowering himself into the hollow a second time.

Katna walked to another hollow and lay down in it, tears dripping down her muzzle.

An icy spike of wind drove its way down Katna's parka collar, stabbing her to wakefulness. Her eyes watered at the cold night air, and the sound of wind whipping above her made her press deeper into the ground. Her head spun over the images and apocryphal statements made over the day by her brother. Her mind reeled at what he said, and her stomach flopped around at the idea of being separated from him. A chill erupted from within her chest as she looked over to him.

The exposure, the tut of disapproval, the bang, the spurt of blood, the remainder of the day spent running in the trees like a hunted beast. Tucking her head against the howl of the wind Katna listened to her racing heart as another sensation pushed in her belly. She had to pee.

Katna stood up and the wind blew her mane back, its sickly teal strands fluttering wildly under gusts of air while twigs and leaves stuck out of it. Her ears stung from the cold lances that licked at her ears and robbed them of heat. She took a few steps away from her hollow and reached her hooves back. She bit her lip as she pulled down her pants and wiggled for a moment, wresting her tail from the pant hole and lifting it up and to the side.

She rolled her eyes and bounced in place a bit while the wind contented itself with accosting her rump. At last she relieved herself and waddled forward. Sitting back down she dragged her pants back up as best as she could in the night and walked towards her hollow.

Katna shivered as she reached the edge of her sleeping space hoofing the dirt and grass. Finding it cold and hard from her absence she looked at her brother and walked over to him. She nuzzled his side and he flinched. The whites of his eyes shined against the moonlit night. He nodded and stretched out a wing, and Katna tucked herself underneath, letting his wing fall over her shoulders, warming her.

Ivan's ears twitched to the scraping of leaves nearby and his eyes snapped open as his head rose above the edges of his hollow. He panned the area focusing his ears wherever he looked, and saw the culprit. A grouse stood twenty feet away stark still and staring at him. Vibrant red streaked over its eyebrows as it bobbed its head and continued walking, pecking at the ground.

Looking to his sister Ivan lifted up his wing and crawled out of the hollow. Katna curled up tighter and frowned, but it soon faded to a smile again as Ivan picked up his bags and retrieved his map while examining what else he still had of his own supplies.

He grimaced, prodding in one bag at a lone candy bar, a few water bottles and a lighter. The other had kindling and numerous pill bottles. The pan he had used to boil water was no more, ditto for a bit of soap, a knife and an extra scarf.

Ivan spread out the map and looked around him. Finding the tell-tale flash of the sun to his right to mark the East, he looked at the map. "We were in that truck for about an hour, and I had seen a few towns. We're in some consistent forest so..." He pointed to the map. "South of Kremenchuk. We head straight East to follow the sun, we'll cross the highway, get back to the river... and then we can keep heading to Dnipropetrovs'k..."

Folding the map back up Ivan tucked it away and put it in his bag while taking out the candy bar and a bottle of water. He lay them to the side as he walked around the tree grazing counterclockwise, chomping on the grass and enjoying the taste. His wings flapped pantomiming a bird as he did so and a smile stretched on his face. What was so wrong with this that his country thought he had to wait? Cleanliness? He had gone through dumpsters before. Decency? His tail and legs hid everything his clothes had.

His lips locked around a few pieces of grass and his nostrils filled with an ammonia-rich scent. He pulled back, sneezing as he looked over to Katna, brows arched. So that's what she was doing before snuggling against him in the dead of night... the cold night. Ivan's eyes softened as he walked over to Katna's bag. Grabbing it in his mouth he brought it over to her and set it down.

Her ears twitched and her eyes opened as her long neck unfolded. Her eyes met Ivan's and she smiled. "Good morning," she said.

Ivan nodded. Turning back he walked over to his bags, grabbed the candy bar in his mouth and tucked the water bottle in the crook of his hoof. He carried them to Katna and nodded. "Eat up. I'll graze a bit more and then we can head out.

Katna grasped the candy bar in her two hooves and tore off the wrapper with her sharp incisors. "Pthah!" She looked back up at Ivan. "Thank you."

"No problem, you need that. We really pushed ourselves yesterday..." Ivan looked back behind him, to the North where they had come from. "I'm... sorry if I scared you with what I said last night... What happened back there. You're right, it wasn't good."

He lowered his gaze to the ground, listening to the wind whistling through the trees...

“So, Khersons’ka, then Equestria, huh?” asked Katna.

“Huh?” Ivan turned back to Katna, confused.

“What you said to that man who gave us a ride. That we were going to Khersons’ka, then Equestria,” replied Katna.

“Oh, that. Just a story so he wouldn’t ask too many questions,” said Ivan. “We’ll probably head to Kherson, then move along the coast until we’re in Crimea. There we’ll find plenty of grass to eat and be able to live safe in the woods.” Ivan leaned forward to Katna. “I can find some solid logs, build us a shelter once I get tools from Sevastopol, maybe even a hearth...”

Ivan felt two warm moist lips press against his cheek, the one without the officer’s blood on it. He looked back over to Katna. He grinned at her and chuckled. "Thanks."

Author's Note

And that's the first three chapters of this long journey! Thank you all for reading this far and be sure to check back for updates. I have a cue of pre-written and edited chapters to keep releasing chapters regularly, along with a backlog of chapter drafts.

Don't forget to comment, give an up-vote or add the story to your favorites list if you've enjoyed the story so far.

Want to help out with the development of the story? Pre-readers are invaluable to a writer. Send me a personal message and you might be able to contribute to making this story shine!

Finding a Frying Pan and Making a Fire

"Five hundred ninety eight, five hundred ninety nine, six hundred!" Katna called as her hoof connected with a pebble on the game trail she and Ivan were following. The bare forest branches stretched overhead and the tightly packed trunks left her with the feeling of delving into a cave.

"So what's the plan on the way to and past Dnipropetrovs'k?" she asked, trotting ahead of Ivan and walking backwards to face him.

Ivan blew a lock of his cloudy-grey mane away from his eye. "We stick by the river and try to get something new to boil water in. Once we get to Dnipropetrovs'k we go through it as fast as we can, trying our best to stay out of sight while getting what we need, or at least what we can." He glanced down at Katna. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you a book about being a pony."

Katna spun in place, joining Ivan by his side as she resumed walking forward. "That's okay... Do you want to talk about—"

"No," answered Ivan, plodding along.

"Oh..." Katna looked at the tree trunks and sighed. "When do you think I'll get my cutie mark?"

"If the few things I remember about ponies are to be believed, when you find your special talent." Ivan coughed and hopped, adjusting the bags draped over his back.

"How am I going to do that?"

"I am sure you will figure that out."

Katna glanced downwards, eyes moving from left to right as though reading a book. "Think I'll... get it before Sevastopol?"

"Maybe."

Katna rolled her eyes. "Well what about you? Think you'll get your cutie mark before Sevastopol?"

"Katna, I don't think I'll even be able to fly before then." Ivan chuckled. "How are you feeling? Not too hungry?"

"I'm fine," said Katna. "Thanks for the candy this morning."

"Again, no problem." Ivan's ears perked up and he turned his head.

Mimicking him, Katna heard the rush of cars driving down a highway. She smiled and trotted ahead of Ivan. "That means we're getting close to the river again, right?"

"Something like that," answered Ivan, joining her as they followed the noise through brush and foliage.

They broke through the tree-line into a ditch. Vehicles zoomed past on the asphalt to a warbling thrum and either the ashen odor of gas engines or no odor at all for the passing hydrogen and electric cars. The halogen headlights left streaks in Katna's vision, prompting her to blink as Ivan caught up to her.

Placing a hoof on her back Ivan pushed downwards on Katna until she sat. Stepping forward he looked back at her. "Let me check it out."

He climbed up to the edge of the road and looked both ways, vehicles passing from left to right. His mane billowed in the wake of each passing vehicle, along with his hoodie's drawstring. He backed up as a car honked at him and returned to Katna. "Okay, it's a four-lane highway here, but the traffic looks light and we have a median."

Standing up Katna nodded and followed Ivan to the cusp of the ditch, looking over to where the vehicles were rushing from. Katna winced at the wind blasting her face and the roar of engines, but when Ivan shouted, "Now!" she bolted across, bag slapping against the small of her back as her mane whipped in the winds and her eyes teared up. She ran over the other edge of the road and hit the ground below with a grunt beside Ivan.

She grinned at him as she stood straight again. "One more?"

Ivan nodded, leading them to the second road, this time the vehicles passing them by from right to left. Katna faced the oncoming vehicles, tracking them as they pushed towards her and Ivan. Several instances passed where she had bent her legs, ready to dash out on Ivan's word, only for none to be given. Katna relaxed her posture, and Ivan extended a wing.

"One moment..." he yelled. A chrome-grilled semi-truck passed them by. "Go!" Ivan shouted.

Katna sprinted across the pavement, jumped at the end not considering what drop might be on the other side, and fell further than she anticipated. She shifted towards her side and slammed into the ground, rolling over her back before coming to a rest.

"Ow..." Katna braced a forehoof against the ground and propped herself up.

Ivan trotted up to her, lowering his head. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Katna nodded, wincing as she twisted around to stand up and removed a hoof from her side. The pain subsided and Katna hung her head to the ground. "Tough part is over for today?" she asked, earning a nod from Ivan. She reached a hoof over to her bag and shifted it back into place.

The two foals were travelling through sparse forest when Katna's stomach rumbled.

Ivan turned to her as she grinned. "Uhm... I guess I should have grazed with you a bit?" she offered.

Looking up Ivan squinted at the sun glaring back at him from straight above. "Yeah, it's about time we stop for lunch; next clearing we graze."

They continued down the path, bobbing their heads as the trees cleared. At its bottom they found a soft incline dotted with ash saplings, their leaves fringed with yellow. Ivan prodded a sapling, bending it over as the leaves brushed against the bottom of his hoof.

Katna inhaled deeply, smelling ripe fruit. Her eyes followed a trail leading to a garden ahead of them. Cracked and faded concrete gnomes stood amidst ground-hugging shrubs and light green leafy vines of goat-weed. Yellow narcissus flowers bowed down amidst the other plants, weary from the chilling winds. A crab apple tree jutted out of the middle, its branches laden with fruit and its trunk thickly knotted. The silence was only broken by Katna's stomach hurling into the air its hungered protest at its neglect.

Walking to the tree Katna's legs quaked as she licked her lips. Nearly four days of grass and roughage, and here was something sweet, sweet and scrumptious! Something that she would have eaten as a human, and would continue eating as a pony. She walked up to the tree, lifting her legs high to avoid tangling them in the goat-weed. Having reached it she craned her neck and reared up to grab a low-hanging apple.

Her teeth clamped shut on empty air a few feet short of the lowest fruit. Katna frowned, shedding her bag onto the ground by a garden gnome whose eyes had been chipped out by years of weather. Katna reared onto her hind legs and jumped, chomping her teeth together as she passed by the apple, and again failing to grip its tender red skin in her teeth.

Again she jumped, and again she failed, her mouth lunging upwards at the sweet sustenance being denied her. She hit the ground a second time, stumbling forward with her front left hoof catching another gnome in the stomach and with her momentum pulverizing the concrete into a dusty little crater.

Katna winced as she looked up, then closed her eyes as something wet rolled down her cheek. It was right there, nobody was using it, she just wanted to grab it, why couldn’t it just...

Her eyes snapped open. She moved her head, pointing her horn right at the apple. "Come on!" she grunted. "Please! Just one!" Katna tried clenching every muscle in her head and face but felt nothing in her horn to indicate she was even approaching the problem the right way.

Her muscles released at once as she sighed, hanging her head to the ground as her stomach growled again. She examined the goat-weed around her. Cream edges of the leaf darkened to a tantalizing green near the stem. She bent over and chomped down on it. Her stomach quivered as she masticated the leafy wad, swallowing it and tucking into it again as she looked over to the now empty spot where Ivan had been standing.

Lifting her head up Katna swallowed. "Ivan!?" she called. "Where are you?" Her question was answered with hoof falls on the grass and Ivan trotting around the garden plot.

"Right here," he said, looking at Katna as she bent her head down to the goat weed again, then at the tree. He licked his lips as his ears perked up. "Oh man! Katna, are you sure you wanna spoil your lunch with leaves?" He stepped towards the tree and jumped up, his mouth falling just short of the lowest apple.

"Unless you can get it," Katna answered, "this is all we've got and, well, any food tastes good when you're hungry."

Ivan examined the tree trunk. It branched out to form a 'Y' shape very close to where the first fruit-bearing branch jutted out. He reared up, bracing his hooves on the trunk, and pushed off with his hind legs trying to scrabble up to the branches. He scuttled up the trunk then hit his chin on the edge before sliding back down.

"Ow!" Ivan shouted, flexing his jaw as he looked between Katna, the apple, the tree trunk and himself. He trotted away from the tree and turned to face the trunk. "Katna, stand back."

Obliging Katna walked out of the garden then lay in the grass to graze on it as she watched Ivan.

He ran at the tree and jumped, tucking his hind legs forward. He hit the tree square in the trunk with all four legs. The tree shuddered at the action. He kicked off again, twisting around and biting at the air as he again passed just short of the apple. He landed on the grass and trotted away as he turned around in time to watch a few crab apples jiggle on their branches but stay in place.

Ivan grunted, shaking his head as his wings stretched out. He looked at them, then the hoodie he had draped over himself. "Katna, help me get this thing off?" he asked.

Katna stood and walked to him. Grabbing his hoodie's collar in her mouth, she pulled as Ivan backed up. Ivan stretched out his wings and front hooves, allowing the hoodie to slide off. Katna looked over his light grey coat, slightly matted and... longer? Katna spat out the hoodie and walked around Ivan as he stared at a tuft of hair sticking out from his chest.

"Is your coat... thicker?" asked Katna.

Ivan poked at himself, nodding. "I think so. I thought the hoodie was rubbing more uncomfortably than usual."

Katna smiled. "You're growing your own winter coat!" she giggled. "My brother's going to be a big hairy monster!" She stomped a hoof on the ground as she sat, throwing her head up in the air to continue giggling in amused mirth. Ivan glared at Katna, lifting up a hoof defensively as he looked along himself, several other patches of thickened hair covering him. His mouth caught up in a sneer.

Squinting her eyes Katna sighed contently. "So that's why ponies are always underdressed for winter! They just grow a—Wait!" Katna stared down at her own jacket covering herself. She reached down and lipped its buttons until she managed to open them, revealing her own winter coat coming in. She huffed at the splotchy pink hair sprouting thickly over her.

"Ugh, can't wait for it to come in properly," she said, shaking herself as she snaked out of her jacket leaving only her jeans for clothing.

Katna looked back at Ivan, patting at herself with her hooves. "Are you going to get us some apples, or are we just going to spend the day staring at ourselves?"

Ivan shook his head and turned back to the tree. "Right, uh, hang on." Ivan flapped experimentally, hopping up and down for a moment before lowering his head to the ground.

He charged at the tree again. Jump, hit the trunk, jump off again, twist around, flap wings. As Ivan pumped the muscles in his back he stretched his neck towards the apple, but feeling himself pushed upwards by a gust of breeze he panicked, twisting around and grabbing the branch with his four outstretched hooves.

"Woah!" shouted Ivan, bobbing up and down as the branch supported his weight. Hanging upside down his wings flailed out of sync and his mane hung downwards, the wispy trails of thick hairs obstructing his inverted view of the world.

Katna walked back to the tree and looked up at Ivan. "Wow, how did you do that? Your wings are so small." She tilted her head as she sidestepped to Ivan's right. "You must have gone up another foot when you flapped."

Ivan looked up, seeing the branch he was holding and all the apples surrounding him.

"Shake the branch, I'm sure a few of them will fall!" shouted Katna. "Come on, just one!" she yelled.

"Uh... okay," answered Ivan, heart racing. He threw his head up and down, and pushed and pulled himself against the branch using his weight to rock it. The branch groaned but held, unlike the dozen crab apples whose stems snapped, sending the delicacies down to the ground.

Katna leaped on one, shovelling it into her mouth with her hooves as she bit into it. Sweet heavenly juices flowed on her tongue as she swallowed half the apple in one bite and finished it off with another. She bit into another apple, not caring for the small dribble of intoxicating sweetness trickling down her chin. She could eat nothing but this for days and not grow tired of it. Her eyes rolled upward as her stomach came to life with the tangible food coming from the skies as more crab apples fell to the ground.

"Hum! Ivan! Oh goodness. Argmph! Thank you!" Katna said between bites.

A heavy thud shook the ground and she looked up to see Ivan standing in place, hooves shaking. "Oh, thank God!" he collapsed to the ground. "I didn't think I'd be able to make the landing!"

Katna plucked another apple off the ground with her lips then walked to Ivan. She placed the apple between her hooves and bit into it. She looked up at the tree, then to the surrounding clearing, and finally at Ivan as he bit into an apple. "Why do you think this garden is here?"

Ivan crunched into his morsel and snorted. "Oh, uh, about that. I saw an abandoned house down another little trail, tucked in with the trees." Ivan hummed, licking his lips as he finished off another apple. "I was just looking at the front door when you called. I'll show it to you when we're done."

Katna looked at the half-eaten apple tucked between her hooves. "Another abandoned house? Are you sure it was... well, abandoned?"

Ears rotating, Ivan looked around himself. "Well, all those saplings," he pointed his hoof out to the bottom of the hill, "they look like they're growing on what used to be lawn. The house's driveway didn't have a car in it, and the garage door was open; the whole thing there was empty." He stood up and grabbed another apple. "But you're right, this is very good find," he concluded, choking down another apple.

Katna looked up at the tree again, eyes lingering on all the branches still laden with crisp, red and yellow apples. Her stomach growled and she ducked her head back down to keep eating. She moved onto a few more apples, the heady, saccharine musk of their smell filling her nostrils as they filled her stomach. After finishing the fifth apple Katna flopped onto her side. Ivan joined her and the two of them lay there, bellies heaving as they gasped against the meal they had gorged themselves on.

Katna stared half-lidded towards a gully in the distance, her ear twitching. "Ivan..." she breathed.

"Yeah?"

"Was it just me, or did those apples taste even better than the ones we had as humans?"

Ivan sniffed. "I think they might have tasted better. I mean, we can smell things better now, I figure good food will taste stronger."

Katna batted a hoof at him. “You remembered what I told you about taste and smell!” she giggled. Sighing and wincing she brought a hoof to her stomach. "And the way you got the apples, do you think you'll be able to fly?"

Ivan rolled onto his back, his hooves kicking at the air for a moment as he stared up at the sky. "I don't know. I kinda panicked when I shot up like that. I probably would have crashed into the ground if I hadn't grabbed the branch."

“Hmmm.” Katna shut her eyes and listened to the leaves rustling and her brother breathing.

Ivan rolled over and stood up, shaking his mane of a leaf that had stuck in it. "Let's go check the house."

They donned their bags and stuffed their clothes in them then made their way around the garden, Ivan's eyes setting on the house. White plastic siding clung to the house, a few panels having been ripped off or damaged to reveal the bare puffy and molding pressboard underneath. The curled, grey-black shingles all sat atop the roof as though ready to fly off, and the window and door frames were adorned with a dark—if heavily chipped—green paint.

Attached to the right was the garage, the doors hanging open, breathing out an inky dead-grey air that made Katna huddle against her brother. The driveway of cracked asphalt curved around the right side of the house, over to the front.

Katna and Ivan examined the back of the house finding two empty windows and a screen door. Ivan walked up to the door and gripped the handle in his mouth. He pulled back but the door rattled in place, refusing to budge.

"Are you sure nobody lives here?" asked Katna.

Ivan backed up from the door shaking his head. "I'm not entirely sure, but you saw how the garage was empty.”

They walked around the left side of the house and halted when they saw on the ground a square patch of garden with two rhubarb plants, two entire rows of zucchini plants and a solitary, twisted lump of leaves with a few mashed pieces of tomato pulp on the ground.

Katna walked to the garden and sniffed around the Zucchini, finding a few untouched fruits, though most had been nibbled on by passing critters judging from the scraped skins, small teeth marks and animal droppings at the garden’s edges. She looked over at Ivan. "There are a few plants, want me to put them in my bag?"

Ivan nodded, wandering over to the other end of the garden as Katna took off her bag and started twisting the remaining zucchini free, placing them on top of her jacket. She watched Ivan as he sniffed at a few green shoots coming out of the ground.

"These plants look pretty healthy," he commented. "I don't think there's been a bad frost here yet." He sat by a bundle of the leaves, their spindly stalks billowing in the breeze created as Ivan sat down. "These look familiar." Turning and lowering his head Ivan gripped the plant stalks in his mouth and pulled straight up.

With a grunt, pop, and shower of dirt the plant gave way to reveal the thick orange roots that had been huddling in the ground. Katna's eyes widened as a grin spread over her face. "Jackpot!" she said as she moved to harvest the next zucchini. "Carrots?" she called over to Ivan.

Ivan nodded, shook off a few clods of dirt from the carrots and walked over to Katna. He lay them in her bag. "Leave the rest of the plants, we'll explore the rest of the house and take what we need when we go."

"Go?" Katna looked at her bags. “Oh…” Sevastopol, Ivan's promised land. She looked up to see Ivan already going around the corner. She scrambled to zip up her bag and dragged it along the ground until she managed to drape it over her back.

Going around the corner herself Katna looked over the driveway as it snaked its way back down the other side of the hill to a gravel road and, on the other side of it, a pond. Gazing over to the house again Katna saw Ivan peering at the front door.

"Hey!" she trotted over to Ivan. "There's a pond down there, we can get water."

"Yeah." Ivan walked to the door and prodded it with a hoof. The doorknob was missing and the the green door hung half open. "I think we're near the Dnieper River again, should make figuring out where we're going quite a bit easier."

"That's great, but... water?" Katna pressed. Ivan opened the door and Katna recoiled from the acrid odors that came from inside. It was the pungent, warm smell of rats and other things that dwelled in the city. "Ugh, it stinks!"

Ivan stepped inside leaving her behind, and Katna hung her head low before trotting in after him.

The odor stayed strong as she entered the house, and puffed up into her nostrils as her hooves struck the dusty carpet. Apart from the bare walls, absence of any lights and the occasional leaf or twig jammed into a corner, the house looked alright, or at least better than a hollowed out nook in some maintenance space in a city parkade, but the stench persisted.

The entrance hall extended forward, a door on the right leading to a bathroom and another on the left to the garage. Katna peered through the garage to look at the crab apple tree outside before pressing on.

The end of the hall split to a hallway that went down the right and to a kitchen ahead where Ivan sat, his ears turning about.

"Have you heard anything, Katna?" Ivan stood up. "If something was still here we should have heard it, right?"

Katna stood still, eyes following where her ears focused on. No scratching, no squeaks, only the occasional whistle of a bird outside or of the wind blowing against the house.

But still that strong smell of rats. Where had they gone?

Katna shook her head. "I can't hear anything."

Ivan fluttered his wings and sighed. "Do you mind checking the bottom cupboards while I check up top?" He nodded to the counter and the cupboards.

Katna nodded and Ivan clambered on top of the counter. They scrounged through the cupboards, Katna occasionally glancing behind her to the empty, featureless dining room attached to the kitchen.

"This place doesn't have any furniture," said Katna, "do you really think we'll find anything?"

Ivan opened a cupboard and shook his head. "Never know. If whoever lived here before moved they might have missed something."

Katna opened the last cupboard by the hole where the washing machine would go and sighed. Sitting in the absolute last place she looked was a half-empty bottle of combination hand-dish soap. "Soap," she called, ducking her head inside and pulling it out. The faint smell of lemon suffused the air around it, and she placed it on the ground.

Ivan hopped down from the counter, head shaking. "Nothing. Let's keep looking."

Ivan stepped out of the kitchen, then turned to look over his shoulder at Katna. “Hey, come on.” Katna stood to follow him and they made their way back down the entrance hall. Ivan went through the door to the garage. His hooves clopped as they hit the concrete. When he stopped the silence that ensued contrasted sharply with the noise of his entrance. He grunted and walked in a few more paces as his wings twitched.

The far corner on the left reached out with dull black. Ivan lifted a forehoof, stalling to take another step. He shook his head then struck the hoof down hard on the concrete. He stepped to the corner, chest puffing out as he got closer. His eyes adjusted to the light allowing him to see the silver-grey of a stepladder. He nudged it with his nose and pulled back, then returned to Katna in the entrance hallway.

Ivan headed right to the bathroom across from the garage. He prodded the faded beige door with a hoof and pulled back gagging and coughing when the putrid odor wafted to him from the disturbance to the air. Oh God, the stench was in his mouth as though someone had force-fed him a dead body in a sewer! His tongue stuck out of his mouth as he heard Katna join him in his retching.

He shut his mouth as his eyes watered. Saliva gathered in it washing the taste around. He spat to the side, earning a reprieve from the foul rot. Coughing Ivan pressed into the room. Looking around he found a few balls of twigs mixed with rags and a few brown lumps on the floor, along with a streak of blood on the wall.

Backing out of the room Ivan braved opening his mouth to grab the door handle and slam the door shut. A final plume of rancid air ran over him, making it all but impossible to keep his eyes open.

Struggling to open his eyes Ivan looked through his tears to the blurred blob that was Katna, bowled over as she was on the ground, gagging. “What in the name of everything was that!?” she exclaimed, standing up.

“Old rat’s nest.” Ivan gasped and hobbled away from the door, finally cracking his eyelids open. He gulped down some air and sagged to the ground. “All empty. No sign of rats.”

“Why wouldn’t there be rats?” asked Katna.

“Maybe they’ve left because they ran out of food.”

“But…” Katna sat on her haunches and gestured to the door leading outside. “There’s still the garden.”

“Then something ate them,” said Ivan. “There was blood inside, and it was all fairly old. Whatever did it is gone.”

“What do you mean, ‘fairly old’?” Katna got up and took a half-step to Ivan. Her right forehoof was partially raised, her nose quivering slightly as the glint in her eyes danced worriedly.

Ivan squinted his eyes at the posture. A stray dog had approached him like that in Kiev months ago when he had hopped out of a dumpster with food… He coughed, blinked hard a last time and nodded, taking a few more gulps of air. “Old enough that I don’t think it’s coming back.” He stood up and they walked down the hallway next to the kitchen.

Wincing to clear his eyes once more, Ivan made his way down the hall. He peered through the first doorway, then the next. Both were small, with enough space only for a bed, a dresser and a standing person. Sage green paint covered the lower half of the walls, and a line of torn wallpaper their middle. Above the paper, clinging to the walls, yellow-grey paint offered little cheer to the room.

Katna looked into the second room. “Think they were going for the look of a sunny meadow?”

“Maybe, it’s too old to look like that now.” Ivan continued to the next room.

The same tired paint work covered the walls of this room, larger than the others. A stucco ceiling with clumps of dust dangling on cobwebs hung over the grey carpet. To the right, an open door frame exposed a tile-floor bathroom with a large sink set in a counter and a white porcelain tub with streaks of grey and brown filth on it taking up the corner.

Ivan walked over to the bathroom while looking at an open closet door. Inside a lone quilt sat on a shelf. He looked into the tub and scrunched up his face at the accumulated layer of dust in the bottom. To the right, past a small door, sat a toilet readily partitioned from the rest of the bathroom.

“Must have been the owner’s room,” said Ivan, walking out of the bathroom to see Katna sitting in the hallway, looking up.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There’s a trapdoor in the ceiling.”

“What?” Ivan walked back to her then followed her eyes. Framed in lacklustre-white a small hatch was indeed embedded in the ceiling. A loop of cord with a piece of wood tied to the end hung from a small alcove in the hatch.

“L-let’s just leave it, I mean, there’s probably nothing in there to worry about,” said Katna. Ivan unzipped Katna’s bags and stuck his head in. “H-hey! What are you doing!?” Katna pulled away as Ivan wrapped his lips around something and pulled it out.

He balanced the water bottle on his hoof then forcefully pushed it up towards the loop of cord, as though throwing a shot put. The bottle flew up, struck the cord and knocked it down, leaving it dangling within jumping height.

Ivan extended a wing and draped it over Katna before squeezing her. "I'll check the attic, you stay down here."

Walking from Katna he stared at his target, bent his legs and leaped, catching the string with his mouth. He pulled it down, dragging the hatch open with a deafening crack and a shower of dust as it hit the ground. Ivan coughed then looked behind himself, nodding at the stairs. He walked to their bottom and looked up into the dull grey of the attic. Ivan climbed up the stairs, peeking his head up. He smiled and entered into the attic.

Boxes, at least a few dozen of them, along with a few pieces of furniture: a bookshelf, trunk and rocking chair, all laying beside one another at the far end of the attic. Opposite them a lone window let the daylight stream right over the attic’s entrance, illuminating the dust motes floating through the air. Ivan stepped towards the furniture at the far end, prodding the floor with a hoof before putting weight on it.

He crept up along until he saw something moving in the corner of his eye. His heart skipped a beat and he dived behind a cardboard box with a crash of clanging metal.

"Ivan!?"

Ivan winced and gritted his teeth as he called out. "Katna! Stay down there!"

He looked around to see what he had crashed into. A shiny metal pot lid settled in front of him. Kitchenware, he'd finally found kitchenware! Right as he was in an attic with something else. How had it been in there without him hearing it? Smelling it? Ivan looked around, a weapon, something solid to put between himself and whatever it was. He gripped a pot handle in his mouth and peered around the corner.

Again something moved, and he ducked back behind the box. He blinked, ears splayed back as his chest heaved, his heart pounding. He had to remain calm, paying attention to see if it moved towards the exit, towards Katna!

"Ivan?"

"Katna just be quiet!" Ivan screamed, spitting out the pot to another clang. His ears searched for any sound as he brought lungfuls of air into him. Don't come up, Katna, don't come up, just stay out of the way! He had to make a run for it, shut the door behind and leave. And why wasn't it moving!? It knew they were there! It had to have seen him! Heard him! But there was no sound, it was hiding better than even Ivan's equine senses could detect.

The rush dissipated and Ivan soothed his breathing. He looked around the other side of the box but didn't see any movement. He ducked back into cover, leaned over and grabbed another pot in his mouth. Run around, charge, throw the pot to distract, and run for the exit. Ivan nodded and proceeded to follow through with his plan. He bolted out from behind the box running towards where he had briefly seen the moving figure. He saw another flash of movement and swung his head, releasing the pot before catching sight of a flapping wing exactly where he had detected movement before.

The pot clanged against the desk and Ivan stared at where the movement had been. He sagged to the ground, the figure miming his action.

He broke out into a laugh. "Oh, God, a mirror! It was just a mirror... Katna! Come up! Everything's fine!"

Ivan stared at himself, smiling dumbly as he stepped toward the pale image. The light was low but the reflection was still better than any he had seen in the river water or in some pane of glass.

Katna joined him, ears down and eyes wide, and looked at the mirror. "Wow... I knew we weren't exactly taking the best care of ourselves but... yuck!" Katna’s reflection blanched as its ears perked up and it stuck its tongue out.

They were a sight; Ivan nodded at the sentiment. The small streak of blood from the officer still stood out on his cheek. Their hooves were both caked with a thin layer of mud. Both their manes and tails were streaked with grime.

"So... that's what we look like." Katna stood and walked to her reflection, then turned. Her hoof tucked into her pants' waistband and she pulled it off. She frowned as the frayed denim hit the wood boards with a thump, leaving her to stare at her blank flank. Her tail curled, covering her as she looked at Ivan's face in the reflection. She stared at herself, sides moving in and out, ears folded downward.

"Katna?" asked Ivan.

"You were right, it would have happened anyway." Katna shook her head.

"Katna..."

"If we were still human, the officer would have known we were kids right away."

"Katna..."

"Even if I had my cutie mark, the officer would have asked you." Her eyes moistened.

"Katna..."

"If we both had it, we'd still be too short, and he would have kept asking questions, and that man still had a gun—"

"Katna! Don't talk about it!" Ivan yelled. He walked forward and wrapped his forehooves around Katna’s shoulders, grabbing her and tearing her away from the mirror. She struggled for a minute, but Ivan wrestled her back towards the attic entrance. He held her still in his hooves and stared in her eyes.

"We are not. Going. To talk. About. That... Understand?" Ivan shook Katna. She nodded, tears welling in her eyes.

Ivan removed his hooves from his sister. "Go back to the closet in the master bedroom and... set up that quilt; we're staying for the night. I'll check these boxes and see what I can find." He nodded to Katna and pointed down the stairs. "Now... do that, and have a nap. Brother has work to do, understand?"

Katna nodded, turned around and went down the stairs, head hung low, her moist eyes vacant and glazed, while Ivan went searching through all the boxes.

Ivan looked at the twin piles of his efforts. To his left stood a pile of cardboard boxes, newspapers, plastic wrap, styrofoam packing beans, clothing too big to wear and any other items he deemed of no use. To his right stood two nineteen-liter jugs for water coolers, a plastic tote big enough for himself to sit in comfortably, some wood from an unbuilt chair, three pocket knives, a pile of rubber bands, a compass, a fire grill for cooking things over an open fire, one working lighter, bungee ties, nylon rope and four duffle bags.

Biting his lip Ivan rubbed a hoof on his side and shook his head. “I don’t think the people here moved of their own accord, this stuff is all way too useful,” he mumbled.

“Useful? What is it he’s found that’s so useful?” Katna said downstairs.

Ivan rubbed a hoof to his forehead. It would be awhile before he’d get used to their newfound senses of smell and hearing. “I’ll show you in a minute when I take it downstairs! Just have one last thing to look through!”

“Fine!” Katna yelled back, adding to herself at a more personal volume, “... Whatever.”

Ivan shook his head.

Stepping to the last box he blinked at it. The box only came halfway up his legs in height. He opened it to the sight of styrofoam packing bits. Digging through it exposed a small plastic black container with two clips fastening it shut. He tilted his head, reading off the embossed letters that shone against the rest of the container. "Makarov?"

He leaned over and undid the clasps with his teeth, nudging the box open.

His eyes widened and he jumped back, wings flapping, tripping over himself as he tried to get away from what he saw. He stared at the box. Sitting on a sheet of foam like they were insignificant: a pistol with a brown grip and blue-tinted barrel, and beside it two magazines.

Ivan gulped, walking back to the box and shutting it. He grabbed the case handle and carried it to the junk pile, burying it amidst silverware, clothes and burnt out lamps.

He gathered the items he thought useful and ferried them downstairs next to the quilt where Katna lay. She tilted her head as Ivan grabbed two duffel bags, a thick woollen sweater, three bungee cords and a towel.

Ivan scrunched up his face then looked at Katna. Her face was plastered in a sagged and dejected countenance, her ears bent downward.

“Come over here, please,” said Ivan.

Katna obeyed, her hooves dragging along the ground as she walked to him and then sat, head down. Ivan pinched two corners of the sweater with the lowest joints in his forehooves and then held it up to Katna’s horn. She looked up and he looped a thick thread on the point of her horn then pushed it forward. The space between the lone thread and the rest of the sweater widened.

“Ivan, this sweater smells, and it’s too big for me.”

“Shh, you’ll understand in a bit.”

The thread pulled out and hanged off of the sweater. Ivan lowered it near the ground and smiled as he put his hoof on the loosened thread. “Okay, Katna, I need you to grab the sweater and then walk away from me.”

Katna shrugged, bit the sweater and walked with her head inclined slightly to the right so she could look at the string, her eyes lighting up in understanding as the sweater unravelled. Ivan grabbed one of the pocket knives and unfolded it by grasping it in his hooves, then grabbing the dull edge of the blade that stuck out of the handle with his teeth. He cut off a section of the wool thread and set it to the side.

Ivan took the towel, laid a bungee-cord about a quarter of the way and poked a series of holes in the towel on either side of the cord. Next he took the towel and fed the thread through two of the holes, laid the bungee cord back in place, then took the two loose ends of the thread in his mouth. Forming an ‘X’ with the two thread ends in his mouth, he then used his tongue to push one loose thread into the loop that formed. He stuck one loose thread out of his mouth, gripped it between his two front hooves, then pulled, securing the knot.

He repeated the process with all the holes and all three bungee cords so that the towel had three of the cords secured to one side. He then grabbed one duffle bag and hooked the three bungee cords onto the handle at one end, and followed by doing the same with the other duffle bag and the remaining bungee cord ends.

Ivan then snaked his head under the towel and scooted forward, sliding the construct onto his back. He stood up, feeling the cords grow taut and keeping the bags in place. Finally he turned around, smiling at Katna. “Saddle bags, like we saw the ponies in the city wear sometimes.”

Katna’s mouth hung open, her legs straightened and her ears perked. “You tied knots with your mouth…” Her eyes crossed up in the direction of her horn. “What am I supposed to use this for, then?” She pointed to the pink stick jutting out of her head.

Ivan laid down and crawled out from underneath his hoof-made, or more accurately mouth-made, saddle bags and walked to Katna. “Hey, you helped out, and grabbing stuff with their horns isn’t the only thing unicorns can do.” He bent his head down and kissed Katna on the forehead. “It’ll come.”

Coughing as he gazed out the window Ivan smiled at the still-present daylight. He nodded and clopped his hooves together. "Now, how does a bath sound?" he asked, grabbing one of the water cooler jugs and securing a piece of cloth over its top with a rubber band.

Katna's eyes lit up with a smile. "That sounds wonderful!"

Ivan chuckled as her tail bobbed up and down. "Alright, you want to help?"

Katna nodded. "Anything to have it sooner!"

"Right! Could you go outside and grab some wood while I go get water at that pond at the bottom of the hill?"

Katna nodded and he looked over to the bathroom. Ivan gripped the fire grill with his mouth. His tongue salivated, trying to dilute the smell of rust as he dragged it over to the stone tile and grout bathroom floor.

"Pile the wood under here when you've got a bit, and don't wander too far into the forest." Ivan walked to the jug, Katna following close behind. "And if you see someone, come in here and hide in the linen closet." He extended a wing over Katna and hugged her.

Ivan grabbed the jug's narrow neck in his mouth, tucked its plastic cap underneath his wing and set out.

Katna leaned over to the left. Her lips peeled back. She giggled as Ivan dumped the last pot of boiled water into the tote. Ivan reached up with a hoof and rubbed at his forehead before turning to look at Katna.

Ivan nodded. "Come on, I'll help you get in."

Laying on the ground as Katna walked over, Ivan grunted as she braced her forehooves on his flank. Katna pushed her head over the edge of the tote before putting her back hooves on her brother as well.

"Okay, now, I'm going to stand up. You keep your balance, and then hop in," said Ivan, earning a nod from Katna. "Three, two, one." Ivan stood up, and Katna wobbled, shifting her hind hooves a bit as her ascension halted.

She looked down at the warm, steaming water in the tote. She reached her front hooves in, submerging them up to her chest. She breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of wood-smoke before she held her breath, and plunged in as she let her back half fall into the water.

Her head rose back up, mane slapping against her neck. "Ahhhh," she sighed, closing her eyes and sitting up to her chest in the water. A soft smile tugged at the edge of her lips as she experimented with moving her tail in the water. It soaked into her hairs, seeping warmth into every inch of her weary body.

She turned to look at Ivan, his face cast in shadow against the light of the fire and the dark of night.

"This is wonderful, this is even better than those crab apples we had," Katna said. Her eyes widened, and she blinked. "How long has it been since I've... well, had a proper bath?"

Ivan sat back, leaning against the bathroom counter. "Let's see, I stopped moving you around two months ago when your coughing got worse, and before that, the last time we were able to sneak anywhere with hot water was... Chernihiv." Ivan's mouth hung open as he reached a hoof up to his face.

"That was... back in the spring," said Katna, blinking. "I... God." Katna stared down at her hooves, splashing them a bit as a flake of mud floated in the water. She looked back at Ivan, who was plucking another bundle of sticks she had gathered earlier and spreading them over the fire. She dunked her head underneath the water, blowing bubbles out of her nose, and came back up again, gazing at the open window as smoke trailed out of it.

Katna rubbed her hooves together under the water, scraping off the mud before rolling around in the water to wet her coat again.

Ivan poured out another few potfuls of water to be boiled for when Katna needed rinsing. He smiled, then reached over to the bottle of soap they had found in the kitchen, grabbing it with his hoof. "Have you been rinsing and scrubbing?" he asked.

Lifting her front hooves out of the water, showing the mud falling off of them, Katna smiled. "Yes!"

Nodding Ivan grabbed a cloth with his other hoof and poured out some of the soap onto it. "Now, I'm going to do your face and back, don't let any in your eyes."

Katna nodded in turn, and her face wreathed itself in mirth as the wet cloth smacked into her and Ivan began scrubbing out the dirt, dust, grime and oil that had seeped into her. His hooves massaged the soap in, and he would occasionally squirt some more soap on before scrubbing Katna lower down her back.

When he'd finished with her back, belly and legs Ivan hoofed the cloth to his sister. "You'll handle the rest?"

"Mhmm." Katna nodded, reaching down to finish scrubbing as Ivan grabbed the rinsing water, now quite hot, off of the fire and balanced them between his forehooves as he pivoted around on his hind legs.

"Does it hurt? Grabbing the pots like that?" asked Katna.

"Not really, the hooves kind of... muffle the heat I guess?" replied Ivan. "Ready?" he asked, dangling the pot over Katna's back. She nodded, and Ivan poured the water over her, washing out the suds and soap scum clinging to Katna and earning another sigh from her.

"Can we stay here, Ivan?"

Ivan stopped mid-pour, looking at her.

Gulping Katna searched her mind for reasons. "There's still those crab apples in the back, and some of the zucchini and carrots in the garden. We have wood and water. The weather's nice." She reached over to Ivan, putting a hoof on his grimy foreleg.

"The weather is going to get worse," Ivan started pouring the water over Katna's legs.

Katna's legs shot away from the water as she scrambled inside the makeshift tub. She draped her front hooves over the edge of the tub, dripping water onto the floor in two puddles. "No, come on Ivan, it's always been the next city, the next meal, the next day." Tears mixed with the water dripping from her mane. "Just when we find something good, we've got to move on... Ivan, please, we're far enough south now."

"Not far enough from where that cop—" Ivan clamped his mouth shut, wincing.

Katna shook her head, letting out a breath. "Ivan."

"Just drop it," Ivan said, sagging as he dumped the rest of the water over Katna. "A few more days, or when there's frost on the ground, whatever comes first." He looked at Katna. "Okay?"

Katna nodded, pursing her lips.

Ivan backed up from the tote Katna was standing in. "I'm serious, don't think I'll just forget and we'll settle in."

Again, Katna nodded.

Ivan walked over to a pile of clothes and pulled out a woolen sweater and a thin t-shirt. He walked over with the two objects in his mouth, and put the t-shirt on the floor by the tote.

Katna braced her hooves on the edge of the tub and Ivan gripped her underneath her forelegs, lifting as she pushed herself out. She landed with a thump onto the shirt and Ivan draped the woollen sweater over her back.

"Dry yourself off and then come to bed. I'll clean up." Ivan set about picking up the pots and pans he had been using to heat up the water and placing them in a corner to dry.

Katna used her hooves to kneed the sweater into her coat, absorbing water as the fibers rubbed against her and leaving a faint itch that caused her skin to spasm occasionally, like she had seen a horse's do when a fly landed on it. Leaving the sweater sopping wet, and herself slightly damp, she walked into the bedroom and settled down on the quilt.

Fed, warm, bathed, comfortable, and assured with the promise of a few days rest, Katna grabbed a corner of the quilt and dragged it over herself, forming a little bundle with her head poking out of the middle. Ivan shut the window and stared at the fire as he lay down on his half of the quilt.

The last tongues of flame lapped at the grill before it died down to a few smoldering embers. Laying his head on his hooves, Ivan closed his eyes.

Katna lay there, staring at the dregs of the fire. She winced as a phantom gunshot rang out in the house. Her eyes shut tight and her ears pinned against her head, her body trying to blot out the invisible flash and its accompanying, deafening silent noise. Her breath caught in her throat, strangling her to sleep.

Rest, Relaxation, Ruminants and Rottweilers

"Mmmm." Katna squirmed amidst the downy softness enveloping her. Something delicious suffused the air, worming into her nostrils. She crawled out from her blankets half-awakened, pursuing the tangy earthen smell until her hoof struck tiling and she started opening her eyes.

Ivan was leaning over a steaming pot with a wooden spoon in his mouth, stirring the contents. He looked at Katna and let go of the spoon. "Good morning." He pointed at the pot and smiled. "I'm, uh, boiling some carrots and zucchini."

Katna stood up, stretching herself out as she gazed over Ivan's fluffy, storm-cloud coat. She blinked. The grime that had been on Ivan stayed off. "You cleaned?" she asked.

Ivan nodded.

"Oh." Katna sat back down, rubbing at her eyes with her hooves. "I slept through all that?"

Ivan continued to nod, adding a smile as he reached over to the spoon with a hoof and started stirring again.

Katna pulled her hooves away and smacked her lips together. "I sleep like a log."

"Mmm, you always did." His tail flicked and he pointed to a corner. "I found a brush, didn't think of bringing it down last night."

Katna looked over to the corner and saw a pink little hairbrush with a bright sticker on the back. Walking up to it she saw several cartoon women on the back. One of them was white with jet-black hair and a blue-and-yellow dress complete with red trim. Another had rather dark skin and wore an aquamarine tank-top that left her belly button exposed. Yet another was a blonde woman in a periwinkle hoop-dress and a tiara. The rest of the sticker was torn, and the word 'Dis—' was written above the women's heads. Below their faces, at the height of their collective waists, were the words, 'You too can journey—'

Katna shrugged. "All I ever do."

"What's that?" asked Ivan. "I wasn't paying attention. There is a hot meal coming after all."

"Nothing." Katna faced Ivan as she clasped the brush handle between her two hooves. She looked around and frowned at the barren wall above the bathroom sink. "I'm just going to head to the attic to use that mirror we found, okay?"

Ivan nodded. "Should only be a few minutes, come when I call you back."

"Okay." Katna nestled the brush in a leg-joint then walked three-legged to the attic, the stairs creaking as she moved. Stale dust stung at her nostrils as she walked to the mirror and gazed into it. A pretty, salmon-colored filly stared back, her mane the greenish-blue shade of a lake or reservoir. Katna turned her head, flicking her ears and winking.

She clasped the brush between both her hooves and ran it along her mane, smoothing out the tangles and tugging out the knots. She then ran it along her neck and chest before staring at the rest of her body, including the fluted horn that jutted out from between the locks of her curled mane. Katna rolled her eyes, staring at her head-bulge trying its best to look pretty and nothing else. It'd probably look nicer if it was doing something.

Katna pressed her lips together except for an inch on the side of her muzzle. She blew upwards, tickling her horn, and feeling something inside the base of her horn expand. Katna blinked as a tingling sensation washed over her. She dropped the brush, bracing herself against the floor as her heart pounded. Was that magic? Had something happened? Katna looked around herself to see if something was glowing, but nothing was. She looked back at her mirror image.

Katna breathed over her horn again and watched to see if it glowed. Nothing, not even the feeling of expansion inside her skull. She prodded it, breathing on it as she did, and felt the little whatever-it-was move again. Katna gasped, straining to keep the thing locked in place. Her forehead tingled, like someone was massaging her brain with a breath mint, but no light emanated from her horn.

Her chest heaved for air and her concentration broke leaving her feeling dizzy as she went cross-eyed. Katna smiled as she looked down at her brush and grabbed it in her mouth. She contorted her neck and back to brush her flanks, then switched back to using her forehooves to grasp the brush so she could get at her tail. Her lips turned upward, baring her teeth.

It was small, ineffectual, and left her feeling strange, but it was the strangeness of knowing there was something about being a unicorn that was real, that could be felt.

And she felt alive.

The knots untangled and soon Katna looked over herself in the mirror, smiling at how her mane curled over itself like a model's hair as she stepped out of a brightly lit salon. She was a pretty pink pony who could brush herself, and soon—

"Katna!" called Ivan.

And soon she would eat. She breathed out, smiling, then grabbed the brush and went down the stairs, looking through the bedroom door to see Ivan scooping out carrots and zucchini onto two plates. She walked in and spat the hair brush back onto the pile of supplies in the corner.

He slid a plate to Katna. "Okay, now, it's hot, so blow on it and don't chomp into it right away." Ivan served out his own dish, then grabbed two bottles of water from their bags.

They sat on the floor, blowing on their food before tentatively lipping it. Katna smiled as she wrapped her tongue around one of the carrots. The tang she had smelled earlier filled her mouth and exploded as she bit down. Her ears waggled about as she choked down the rest of the carrot and moved onto a zucchini. Her teeth cut through the boiled skin filling her mouth with a crisp-tasting biting sensation that was hardly unpleasant, like someone had been flavoring water.

Katna pulled her head from her plate sucking down the last carrot and smiled. "Ivan... is it just me... or do even vegetables taste better now?"

Ivan munched through a zucchini the size of one of his legs. He looked up and swallowed. "I don't know, but it feels good to finally feel full." He lowered his head back to his meal, his lips producing a wet smack as he assaulted his food again.

Katna walked over to the quilt and flopped onto it, batting at the white and sage-green patterning. "So, any plans for the rest of the day?" She reached a hoof over to her stomach and rubbed it.

Swallowing the last of his food Ivan nodded, closing his eyes as a lump traveled down his throat. "Yeah." He walked over to Katna and lay down beside her. "I'm going to gather the rest of the vegetables, clean them, pack them in our bags. Then..." Ivan snorted and shivered. "I'll try to get more crab apples, hopefully without nearly launching myself head-first into a branch."

Katna giggled. "Anything I can do?"

Ivan looked around and shrugged. "Rest," he said, "we'll be moving quickly once we do leave." He rolled over onto his legs and stood, stretching out as he pursed his lips. "But you know, there is one thing we can do together first."

Katna followed Ivan to the garage, passing the two single-person bedrooms, the kitchen and the main bathroom before they reached their destination. Once there Ivan pulled out the ladder in the corner, creating a cacophony as the metal ground along the concrete. Katna winced at the noise, sat down and clutched her head in her hooves. Ivan dropped the ladder and nodded to her.

"Help me carry the ladder to the tree." Ivan grasped the ladder with his front hooves and tilted it upwards. "Under... now!" he grunted. Katna ducked underneath the ladder and Ivan lowered it onto her back. "Thanks," he said, and ducked underneath it, balancing his end on his shoulders. "Okay, now to the tree."

Katna sidestepped, glancing out of the corner of her eye and keeping track of Ivan's movements as she positioned herself behind him so he could walk straight out of the garage and towards the crab apple tree. They made their way and Ivan sat down, using his hooves to push the ladder up against the tree. Soon it formed a ramp up to where the trunk split into a myriad of branches.

Ivan nodded at the ladder's placement then turned to Katna. "Okay, that's all I'll need. You can head inside if you wish." He walked up beside his sister and hugged her with his wing once more.

Katna trotted inside and quickly went up to the attic. "Now..." She walked over to the bookshelf and grinned at the dusty hardcovers and paperbacks. "Let's see what I can learn today!"

Ivan shook the last crab apple branch vigorously, rocking it up and down as it creaked and moaned.

"Come on... hold..." breathed Ivan as the last apple fell. The apple split itself on top of a gnome's hat with one half falling over to dangle on the gnome's pickaxe. The position coupled with the juice-spattered grin of the gnome made it look like the lawn ornament had taken some devilish pleasure in the harvest.

Ivan draped himself over the branch and let his legs dangle beneath him. A morning spent hauling water, picking vegetables and assaulting an apple tree left his eyelids feeling heavy. The sun beat through the tree leaves, warming his back. Gathering the apples could wait. Katna was safe, clean and fed. Ivan needed rest, and a moment's peace, and a bit of praise.

His eyes drifted shut, fluttering against the gnawing doubts normally running through his mind. Katna would get hungry for lunch. She could have some grass outside or even have a few more apples. Ivan would fall asleep, and tumble out of the tree. He wouldn't get hurt at that height.

The back and forth lulled Ivan's mind as he relaxed, the thoughts eventually turning to self-congratulations. Halfway across the country in less than a year, and a fair amount of that distance had been in the last few days! Katna was alive because of Ivan, and he was able to carry supplies for most of the day without his feet feeling like they should explode. The air smelled cleaner and more welcoming as they worked their way South. He had made a decision, and it had worked out for them.

Something kicked a leaf at the edge of the field. Ivan's ears pointed to the far end, focusing. And he had almost been able to sleep! Ivan licked at his lips, breathing through his nose as something coming up the hill towards the house approached the tree. Ivan held his breath as the intruder stepped into sight from behind the branches: a doe.

Its beady black eyes scanned around as its nose twitched. Jaw flexing, the doe looked upwards and stared right at Ivan. Lifting his head Ivan waved a hoof.

The doe took a few steps, its head lowering, and lapped at the garden gnome's face before moving on to the apple spiked onto the pickaxe. Ivan grinned, things were looking up.

The doe's tail lifted up and a few dozen brown pellets poured out of its rear, and onto a group of three apples.

Ivan rolled his eyes and grunted, lifting himself from his branch.

The backdoor to the house opened and the deer bolted back into the woods.

Katna trotted into view, looking about. "Ivan?" she called.

"Up here," he answered, drawing her to look into the apple's branches. "You see the deer?"

She nodded, walking over to the apple tree.

"D-don't eat the apples quite yet!" Ivan lifted a hoof and scuttled back along the branch, towards the ladder. "Let me gather them."

Katna's ears flicked and she contented herself with bending her head over to the grass and chowing down. Ivan climbed down the ladder, balancing his hooves on each rung, before hopping down to the ground. He dragged a duffle bag to the garden and started piling the apples inside, giving the area where the deer had been a wide berth... a very wide berth. He occasionally stuffed an apple down his mouth, or tossed one to Katna. After filling one bag with apples, and the other with apples, carrots, and zucchini, Ivan leaned back and let a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

He closed his eyes, letting the sun warm his face, falling onto the ground and crunching the grass underneath him before rolling onto his side. "Aaahh... Katna... How have you been this morning?" he asked, opening his eyes.

Katna gulped down another bite of an apple and smiled. "Good. I read some books from the attic."

"Really?" Ivan's mouth hung open as he peered over to Katna. "What were they about?"

Katna grinned, giggling. "There was one about... dinosaurs. They found some stuff that let them grow dinosaurs and they made a park."

"Sounds dangerous," Ivan commented.

Twisting at her hips and swinging her forelegs around, Katna nodded. "Yeah, well, there's a big storm where I'm at, and the power's gone out."

"Sounds scary." Ivan grinned. "Is that why you stopped reading it?"

"No!" Katna stomped her hooves into the ground, frowning indignantly.

Ivan just broadened his smile, and Katna rolled her eyes.

"Okay, maybe. But there was this other book about horses." Katna looked around at the sky. "I figured I'd learn some stuff."

Ivan raised his eyebrows and stood up, brushing off a few leaves off of himself. "Did you?"

Nodding Katna walked to Ivan. "Well, when I say horses I really mean horses, not ponies like us, but I figure they probably have the same names for a few things." Katna giggled. "Except horns and wings." She pointed at her forehoof, flexing it. "You know this join here? The first one in our legs? That we use for grabbing stuff? Apparently it's called a pastern." She pointed to the top of Ivan's back, where his mane ended at the bottom of his neck. "And this spot here, where we drape our bags on ourselves, are called our withers..." Katna's hoof traced along his back towards the small of it. "Back..." The hoof continued out of the small. "Loin..." her hoof drew a circle around the top of his butt. "... And croup."

Ivan nodded. "So, what else did you learn?"

Katna led Ivan inside, then up to the attic and read him the book, teaching him about their different parts. When she finished with the first few chapters Ivan asked for Katna to let him read a bit of her other book to her. She gladly retrieved the book and they spent the afternoon pressed up against one another, Ivan flipping through the pages, stumbling over the words.

“In fact, the vel… velocity…” Ivan flexed his jaw. “The velociraptor conveyed precisely the same impression of deadly, swift menace Grant had seen in the ca… cassy… cassowary, the clawed ostr...rick? No, that’s ostr—”

Katna twisted around and prodded Ivan in the chest. "Velociraptor, cassowary and ostrich!" she giggled, earning a coy grin from Ivan. "They’re not that hard to say!" Katna guffawed, standing up. "Okay, can we get something to eat?"

Ivan's ears perked up and he spun towards the window, witnessing the sun set. "No..." he said. "I-I..." Ivan walked over to the water jug. "I was hoping to boil some more water for us to drink on the trip."

"Well, do it tomorrow!" Katna shook her head, looking over her shoulder to the door.

"No, we're leaving tomorrow." Ivan walked past Katna.

"What!?" Katna grabbed at Ivan's leg. "You said a few days!"

Ivan tugged his leg away from Katna. "Or until the first frost came."

"Yeah!" Katna looked around, stretching out her forelegs. "Look around, do you see any frost?"

Ivan grimaced. "There was frost on the ground before you woke up."

Katna's forelegs snapped to her chest as she gasped. Her ears splayed against her head.

"I wanted you to have at least one day, and I needed it to work." Ivan shook his head.

Tears welled at the corners of her eyes as she looked back at Ivan. "Please?"

Scrunching up his face Ivan winced. "Just... Help me by getting firewood, and I'll think about staying one more day." He tossed his head stamping a hoof in the ground. "But only one more day, understand? Maybe."

Head hanging low, Katna walked out of the room.

"Understand?" yelled Ivan.

"Firewood, yes, getting it!" Katna shouted back.

Ivan bit his lip, closing his eyes. The door to the house slammed shut. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Sighing, he grabbed the jug with his mouth and headed down the hallway.

Ivan stared out at the pond at the bottom of the driveway. He looked down the road both ways, noting the absence of any cars, and trotted across to the pond shore. The water cooler jug bounced along beside him as he dragged it, producing a continuous ‘bong-bong’ sound as it struck the ground.

His hooves splashed through the water and sunk a few inches into the mud, the cattails shuddering at his passing. Ivan dunked the jug under the surface, letting the water filter through the cloth he had stuffed over the jug’s opening.

It wasn't much, but between the improvised filtering, the boiling, and the pony immune system lauded by the pamphlet in Kiev, Ivan was willing to go through the trouble of carrying the extra water for their journey. He grunted as he hauled the jug back to the shore, half gripping it with his mouth, half tucking it underneath a leg.

Thirst could slow them down more than any detour to keep out of sight.

Ivan hissed as a sharp pain pierced his front right leg just as he reached the shore. Dragging the bottle a few more feet he turned his hoof over to investigate the pain.

A crusty old nail hung limply out of an inch long gash above his hoof’s coronet.

Ivan bit down on the nail and tugged it out, wincing as he felt the scaly rust tug at his skin as it exited. Swinging his neck he released the nail, sending it sailing back into the pond, where it dropped in with a soft plink.

Ivan turned his hoof over again, noting the mud that caked to it and the fresh line of crimson. His nostrils flared, filling with a heady scent of salt and iron. Fixated on his hoof and injury he gasped as a black mass seemed to walk out from behind it, making his heart skip a beat. He slowly lowered his injured hoof and gulped.

Barrel chest, black coat, orange facial fur, a slobbering box snout, and drooping ears. Dog, rottweiler.

Ivan blinked.

The dog panted, lowering its head, its nostrils flaring, sniffing.

Its tail stood up, and its hackles raised. Its sides heaved, showing its ribs through the baggy skin.

"Woof!" it boomed.

Ivan scuttled backwards, prompting the dog to take a few steps forward. He skidded to a halt, sending pebbles out behind him.

"Woof!" the dog barked again, masticating some unseen foodstuff as it stared at Ivan.

Flaring his wings out Ivan stomped on the ground. "Hyeah!" he shouted, flapping his wings. He reared up, kicking at the air. "Hyeah! Scat! Get out of here!" he yelled.

The dog tilted its head.

Ivan breathed out, staring at the dog. Its eyes met his, but neither blinked. Ivan glanced up at the house and gasped as the dog took that moment to charge. He flapped his wings again and reared up, but the dog stopped just short of him.

It circled to Ivan's right, standing between him and the house. "Woowwoofooboof!" it howled, tossing its head up.

Ivan hoofed at the ground, scowling. "Come ah! Get! Go!"

He ran at the dog, and it turned around and ran...

Straight for the backyard of the house.

Ivan's eyes widened, his legs shaking as a bit of vomit shot up his throat and sweat beaded at his brow. "Katna!" he screamed, chasing after the dog as it sped around the corner. Ivan didn't stop. Blasting into the back yard he looked around frantically. "Katna!?" he yelled.

He ran into the garage, and from there into the house. It was quiet except for the pattering of claws tapping against flooring... upstairs. Ivan crept down the hall, staring at the attic entrance, ears flicking about as he approached their room. "Katna!?" he whispered.

He rounded the corner, looking around and finding his supplies untouched plus a pile of fresh wood in the bathroom.

"Katna!" hissed Ivan.

"Over here..." the linen closet door opened, revealing Katna.

Ivan headed for her, continuing his hushed whisper. "I think it's in the attic."

"I know." She backed up from the door. "I ran in here when I heard you yelling down the driveway."

Ivan nodded. "Okay, stay here, I'm going to see if I can't trap it in the attic and--"

"Woof ruffowoofwoof!" The barks rushed down the stairs with the skittering of claws on wood and Ivan spun around.

His pupils shrank as the dog charged. Katna gasped. Ivan shot a back leg out to kick the linen door shut again.

Ivan ducked to his left, grabbing a pot in his mouth and hurling it towards the dog. It bounced ineffectually off of the jet-black fur. Ivan pivoted on his front hooves, swinging his back legs around. He kicked out, feeling something skid along his back left hoof.

He kept turning, pushing the dog away as hot breath lapped at his neck.

Ivan pushed off the ground and galloped up the attic entrance. He turned again, rearing up to bring his hooves down on the rottweiler, but it was closer behind him than he thought and barreled into his chest sending them both tumbling into the mirror, smashing it as it dashed against the floor.

Slobber and spittle sprayed at Ivan as he held the dog away from him. He bashed it across its jaw, and it in turn raked at his stomach with its claws, scratching him. Ivan brought another hoof into the side of the dog's face.

They rolled along the ground and the dog mounted itself on Ivan's back, snapping at his neck as he bucked and jumped into the air, his wings flapping erratically. Ivan's wing smacked against the dog's head and his hooves connected with the dog, sending it flying off of him. Ivan turned to see the dog roll back onto its feet and charge once more.

He glanced at a shard of mirror on the ground. He ducked down, clasped it between his hooves and held it out as the dog leaped at him.

A strangled yelp escaped the dog as it crashed into Ivan and skidded along past him, leaving a trail of red.

The dog stood up, wobbling on its feet as it turned to face Ivan. A line of reflective silver shone through the gore of its chest wound.

It hobbled down the attic, past Ivan, away from the entrance, its eyes glazed over. Its sides heaved and it fell over, crashing into the ground with a thud that sent tremors through the attic.

The dog breathed in and out, its sides shuddering as it kicked its paws and whined.

"Oh, God! Look at its stomach! What’s wrong with it?"

Ivan turned around to see Katna poking her head into the attic. He walked over, blocking her view. He glanced over at the dog, its belly bulged out, its teats visible. A sob caught in Ivan's throat. The dog had been trying to find a safe place for its puppies... Ivan coughed as the smell of putrescent iron filled his nostrils.

"I-it's sick, a-and starved, Katna, th-that's why it attacked," he said. "Go back downstairs." Ivan ran back to the stairs following Katna, trying to ignore the wheezing from the back of the room.

They lay on their quilt, backs facing each other, eyes closed, as their ears pressed against their heads, pressing against the wheezing, pressing against the wheezing and whining upstairs, and eventually, pressing against the sound of continuous dripping.

Katna yawned as she stood up.

Ivan stirred, swinging his head up and looking at her. "How'd you sleep?"

"Terribly." She sniffed at the air and blanched at the smell of moist death. "Ugh, can we go?"

Ivan nodded and went to gather their supplies. He placed the duffle bags of apples over his withers, then some water and cooking ware in another set of bags further down his back. Lastly, he had Katna draped a set of bags with the rest of his possessions: hoodie, compass, map, lighter, pocket knives...

"Wait," said Ivan, shrugging off his bags and grabbing one of them in his mouth. "There's one thing..." He gulped and limped up the stairs to the attic.

The wearying scent of blood and sweat permeated the air, pressing itself against Ivan as he entered, trying to push him back. Ivan breathed through his mouth leaving it tasting of iron. He held his breath as he walked past the still form in the middle of the room. He reached the pile of items he had deemed 'useless' two days prior and rifled through them, finding the little black plastic Makarov box again.

Opening it Ivan stared at the gun, gulping down the knot in his throat. He glanced back at the dog, then gulped again. "Katna, I hope you learn how to use magic, but I really hope you never have to use this."

He reached to the box lid and shut it. Grabbing it he stuffed it in amongst his other things and closed the bag, bringing it back downstairs with him.

Securing his bags once more he helped Katna put on her own and they walked down the hall, where the odor became stronger again.

Ivan stared at the reflective crimson pool spattered in the middle of the hall, and looked up to the red splotch above them. Katna whined, crossing her forelegs together.

Ivan extended a wing over Katna. "Come on, hold your breath and walk around it."

Katna gulped down some air, her cheeks bulging out as she walked past the puddle, staring straight ahead. Rustic odors snaked into their nostrils, stirring their stomach contents as Katna broke into a gallop out the front door. Ivan settled into a hobbled trot that kept his aching hoof off the ground.

Stopping at the side of the driveway Katna bent over, heaving out a watery paste of grass and browned apple chunks. She lifted her head up as Ivan caught up. Katna backed away before sitting on the crack-riddled pavement. "Sorry," she said.

"It's fine." Ivan walked over, sat beside Katna and patted her back with his good hoof as she coughed, sending spittle onto the grass. He opened her bag and pulled out a water bottle. Twisting the cap off with his mouth he held the bottle out in front of Katna.

She clasped it in her two hooves and tilted her head back, gulping down the water. Her lips pulled from the bottle with a wet smack and she held the bottle out for Ivan to take. He took it, secured the cap back on and placed it back in her bag. Katna turned to him and buried her face in his chest, crying.

Ivan extended both his wings, surrounding Katna and hiding his face.

Tears rolled down his eyes too.

Katna sniffed. "It's too bad we don't have anything to bury it with."

Ivan nodded. "I’m sorry." He stared back at the house then closed his eyes, shaking his head.

Together and Forsaken

Ivan grunted behind Katna. Her ears swivelled back to listen to his bags bouncing around as he shifted his stance on the slick slanted concrete by the highway. Rain pelted the tips of her ears, adding to the haze of noise given by the drizzle.

Looking behind her Katna saw his right duffle bag crumpled in on itself. The duffle bag opposite it, once filled with carrots, zucchini and apples, hung off of him with no heft, empty of anything useful. She tilted her head to look at his chest. The two lines of red that had marked Ivan’s fight with the ravenous dog were hidden under his thick downy coat of winter pony hair.

Ivan panted for a few moments, looking at his hoof as Katna did the same. The swelling that had frustrated their travel over the last few weeks was a distant memory now, just like the apples, as witnessed by the lines of his ribs faintly poked out of his barrel.

“How’s your hoof?” asked Katna.

“It’s fine now…” Ivan panted again. “It’s just that... walking on this angle for so long...”

“We could try the shoulder of the highway.” A deluge of water splattered down into the the incline, soaking their pasterns. Katna sighed. “Nevermind… We’d get soaked.”

They walked along the incline. Katna peered over to the drainage canal and rushing waters. The paved ditch they were in was by far the best terrain they had travelled over in the last few weeks.

They had stayed off roads, away from houses, avoided open spaces and only ever ate at midday to avoid slowing themselves down with other mealtime breaks. Ivan had hobbled along as his hoof healed. It didn’t slow them down for long, only a few days, but when it had finished healing the rains came. Thick voluminous sheets of downpour for the winter season, broken up only when they woke up in the morning to a frosted meadow, culvert or long-abandoned shack. They walked and trotted along the Dnieper River. Wherever they reached a straight stretch of water Katna could swear she saw the faint outline of ice forming far behind them. Looking to put on weight for energy and warmth they rapidly ate through the apples and the rest of their provisions, greatly reducing the weight they carried. That was practically two weeks ago, and since then it was grass and roughage once more.

Katna stuck her tongue out, letting the rain wet it. As she did so she felt he patter of droplets grow stronger as the water splattered onto her back. She looked over her shoulder to see Ivan nodding.

“We have to get out of this!” he yelled over the downpour. He broke into a trot, slowing only to adjust his footing briefly.

Katna followed, eventually making out a storm drain attached to the canal. “There!” She pointed to the pipe that jutted out into the canal.

They walked into the drain and found a patch of concrete that wasn’t submerged. Ivan lay down in front of the rusted grating and Katna beside him.

Katna hunched over as another splash of water from the highway overhead cascaded next to where she and Ivan sat, sprinkling her with a fine mist on top of what had already soaked into her coat. She scooted over to Ivan and he adjusted his wing, sheltering her slightly more from the elements. Katna tucked a hoof closer to her body as a white plastic bag floated past them and down the storm drain. Her eyes trailed upward, looking at the magenta and cyan graffiti sprayed on the low-hanging concrete.

Three feet of makeshift roof was provided courtesy of the hanging lip of the storm drain. The sides were raised up a few inches, which gave the two foals a few square inches of ground not submerged in water from which to observe the rest of Dnipropetrovs'k.

Towering shards of steel and one-way windows jutted out to the sky, many capped off with the intermittent red glow of a signal relay tower. Hundred-feet wide screens spanned the sides of some buildings, displaying newscasters against the backdrop of busy news offices, and bands of numbers and Cyrillic lettering, telling the day's events across the world. The date, plastered onto a little red tag floating next to the Asian newscaster's head, informed Ivan that they hadn't traveled far enough south to keep ahead of winter: November seventh. A year was an incomprehensible length of time for Katna. The time of 2053, and the orphanage, was a distant memory.

She huddled against Ivan. "Two months to ‘55," she said.

He bent over and kissed her at the base of her horn.

A wet lock of mane fell over and landed over Katna’s left nostril as Ivan pulled away. She sneezed as cold rainwater flowed to her lips.

He shrugged and resumed looking past the storm drain grating behind them.

Katna sighed, her eyes panning the cityscape. A transit rail rushed between buildings in the distance. She looked down further and saw a transition clinic, just on the other side of the drainage canal. The rain jetted down to the ground, forming an oppressive wall of wet and cold between them and it.

"I wonder how many ponies are in this city," she said.

Ivan shifted position, dragging Katna closer to him with his wing. "A few hundred, maybe?" Ivan offered, looking over at the transition clinic. "Try to get some sleep, Katna. I'll go in there when the rain dies down, see if I can find a pamphlet or book on unicorn magic."

Katna prodded Ivan in the chest as she lay down her head. "Pegasus flight too."

"Sure thing," he said as he closed his eyes.

Ivan gulped as he stared across the fractal polygonal building sitting across the street. Humans with metal and plastic body parts traipsed across the screen as even more of the same huddled around the building. He scanned for blue jackets with yellow stripes and white letters spelling out 'police' on the shoulder, starting at the left, moving right, and repeating several times. He placed a hoof outside the alley, then pulled it back, eyes darting over the crowd one more time. Just one more time... And another time, just to be certain.

Breathing inwards Ivan puffed out his chest and held his head aloft. He'd walk in and grab some pamphlets. He'd even walk up to the front desk and ask for stuff. He stomped a hoof out of the alley and looked back to Katna, who was hiding behind a dumpster. "I'll be back, be ready to move."

He continued forward, looking both ways along the streets. Seeing no cars he crossed the road, taking the first few steps up the clinic, focusing on the doors. As he reached the top of the first flight of stairs he glanced over at a spherical topiary bush. It was green with absolutely no twigs sticking out of place.

Ivan shook his head looking straight ahead at five men atop the next flight of stairs. He kept walking until one of them, their back facing him, threw off his jacket revealing two cybernetic arms and a metallic spine. Ivan hopped back, the jacket brushing against his hoof.

The man rubbed his forearms. "Check it!" he declared, earning nods from the other men. He spread his arms, entering a slow turn. "JP jus' got an upgrade!" He flexed his arms and stuck out his thumbs to point at himself. "Integrated spinal support! And a reflex booster! Let's see those Flies try to take the piss out of this!"

"Yeah! Now you'll really be able to 'lift with your back', right man?" One of the other men nodded to the topless man.

"Shit! That is what my boss would always holler at me way back!" the augmented man gripped the other man's arm and pulled him into his embrace as he chuckled. "Though I suppose all those guys spew that out like recorder on a pole!"

"Yeah, a pole shoved up their ass!"

Ivan kept walking, his hooves clopping against the concrete, and his ears flinching at each resounding sound of hoof hitting the ground. He breathed out as he looked up to the clinic door, and gulped once more before stepping up to them. The door slid open and he proceeded through a short hall, turned right, then left, and walked into a waiting room. He blinked as he stared at the room. The floors and walls were white with a green-tinged overtone giving the feeling of a sanitized room, while the ceiling was a dark grey except for the fluorescent lights.

Plastic chairs lined up along a glass partition in the middle of the room, and on the left a line of cushioned upholstery sat in front of a few coffee tables, with a television hung from the wall above them, the same newscaster from the massive building-spanning televisions smiling out at her audiences.

A man with a tablet computer sat in a chair below the television. He pressed a button on the device and the contents of the device exploded out in an orange hologram above the screen. He gripped the faded image and swung it around, Ivan recognizing it as the city's skyline

At the end of the partition, a shelf of pamphlets sat on display. Ivan walked to them, keeping an eye on the front desk and on the two women sitting behind the shatterproof glass until he was right at the shelf. He browsed over the pamphlet's titles: 'Augmentations and You', 'Living with Augmentations', 'Anti-rejection Drugs', 'Yaku-Heisenberg Catalogue 2054'. Ivan frowned, the entire shelf was filled with nothing but pamphlets pushing for things he didn't want.

He walked to the service counter, reared up, rested his hooves on the small desk edge, and poked his head up. "Excuse me."

The woman at the desk smiled. "Good evening, young sir, can I help you with anything? Are you lost?"

Ivan shook his head. "No, I was just interested in grabbing some information on ponification..."

The woman raised an eyebrow, her eyes darting to Ivan's hooves.

"I-it is for my mom. W-well, she's not really my mom, she's a woman that my dad is going out with, a-and she's been talking about it. But she's shy, so my dad asked me to pick up some pamphlets and books so she could read about it, see if she really wanted to go through with it." Ivan nodded, smiling.

The woman nodded, and frowned as her hands moved over to her computer. "I'm sorry, but this clinic doesn't carry pamphlets for ponification as we don't offer that program here." Her hand hovered over the keyboard, looking at Ivan as his expression sagged. She bit her lip, then hit the enter key. "But if you have a phone or a tablet or something else, you can easily find that stuff over the internet."

Ivan shook his head. "I... I don't have anything like that... and neither does my d-dad."

The woman's eyes glanced downward. She reached for the mouse and started clicking. "I can print out some things for you here. It won't be the prettiest, but it should help."

Ivan's ears perked up. "That would be most pleasant!"

The woman nodded and worked on her computer some more, then walked to the back office. A minute later she returned. She took her seat and slid the papers underneath the panel partway when the other woman tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the screen.

"Look! They caught that guy!" she whispered.

Ivan turned around to look at the screen, focusing on the newscaster's voice.

"After a manhunt spanning nearly a month, police have finally apprehended Martin Dolinsky, the man wanted for the murder of police officer Les Miklashevskiy. He was found in an abandoned apartment building in Kharkiv, over 200 kilometers from where he committed the murder outside Kremenchuk. He was found just two hours after his vehicle had gone off the nearby road and into a shallow road-side lake. Police recovered over five kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from the vehicle. Police also believe that two ponies were present at the shooting, given tracks that were found at the shooting site leading into the nearby forest. On this basis, police believe that Mr. Dolinsky was involved in trafficking for criminal rings. Mr. Dolinsky's lawyer claims that the allegations are erroneous, with only circumstantial evidence to support it, given that no gun was found on Mr. Dolinsky's person at the time of his arrest. Catherine Fukumi, UBC News."

"Wow, I'm glad they finally caught that guy," commented the woman holding Ivan's papers.

Ivan reached over with a hoof and slid the papers away from the woman, making her flinch. "Thank you," he said, grabbing the papers in his mouth and trotting to the door.

Exiting the building, heading down the stairs and crossing the street with his eyes darting around and his heart racing left him back with his sister in the alley. Her ears perked up and she smiled before looking between his teeth. "That's it?" She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head.

Ivan dropped the papers on the bag, propping them open. "The clinic doesn't offer ponification, but the lady at the front printed out some stuff she thought would be useful."

Katna hoofed through the papers, reading out some of the text. "Ponification for Familial Relations... Relationships with Ponies... Species Transfiguration Explained... Ponification: An Overview. Ivan! This doesn't even begin to talk about magic!"

Smacking his face with a hoof Ivan groaned. "Ugh, I... I said it was for a woman our dad was interested in... She must have thought—Nevermind that, she said we could get that kind of stuff off the Internet and put it on a computer, or phone."

Tossing her head Katna flipped her mane over her horn. "Oh, a phone! Well, that's easy; we'll just go into one of those stores that gives stuff for free! Oh, wait! I'll just magic us some money to pay! Oh, wait! Maybe we can get a job! Oh, wait!" Katna stomped her hooves into the ground, throwing her head upwards and screaming to the sky. "Tiny, can't do magic, and on the run! I just want things to be the way they’re supposed to be!"

"Husheesh!" Ivan pressed a hoof over Katna's mouth. "Quiet down, they caught that man that shot the cop too, and they know two ponies were there."

Katna's eyes widened, then relaxed as she nodded and backed away. "Great... great... so now what do we do?"

Ivan grabbed the papers in his mouth and stuffed them into his bag, smiling at the warmth they would later provide as kindling. "We, uh... we try finding a place we can use a computer for free, try to print out some things, and..." He sagged to the ground, his barrel smacking into the wet pavement. He shook his head. "I don't know... Sevastopol and Crimea is still far away, and..." He looked up at Katna. "I'm beginning to think you're right, that we're going to need to use everything we have to get there." He pounded a hoof into the pavement. "Now... if we're going to do this, we have to put our heads together. Where would we find a computer that we can use to print?"

Katna kicked at the ground, then walked to her bags to begin the process of putting on her impromptu saddlebag, shaking her head all the while. "Think you could sneak into an office? Maybe steal something?"

"A computer?" Ivan looked up. "Steal an entire computer?"

"Or a phone!" Katna pulled on a strap, fastened her bag and stood up. Her ears perked and she gasped. "A library!" she said. "Libraries have computers, and they even have printers... that just leaves the question of... money." She bit her lip and hung her head low, closing her eyes. "Begging?"

Ivan shook his head. "Begging for money won't work. Stuff is so expensive people just use cards these days... It is easier than carrying it." He stood up and began sliding on his own saddlebags. "For now... we need to find shelter before the rain picks up again." He looked to the sky, his ears twitching to track the distant sound of sirens and car horns. Vibrant yellow lights snaked up the side of a skyscraper, contrasting against the grey sky. Ivan blinked back some tears. "Or snow."

Katna dragged her hooves behind her, scraping them against the wet sidewalk, eyes darting to the magenta, cyan, red and cobalt lights that reflected dully off of it. Her stomach growled and she looked up to Ivan's tail. "I miss the countryside, we could stop to eat just about anything, as rough as it was."

"I think we're almost out of the densest part of the city," he answered.

"What about rest?"

"When we find a place to rest, it will be for the night."

Katna hung her head down again. "I wonder what it's like, where ponies come from."

"Equestria? I don't know, but I'm sure they manage well enough wherever it is." Ivan looked behind him. His tail flicked up catching Katna in the face. "Hey, chin up, I'm sure things will get better. I mean, we found that house after..." Ivan licked his lips, looking ahead again. "Nevermind."

The conversation was cut off by a great clanging noise prompting the two foals to fall to the ground and clutch at their ears. The cacophony continued for another minute, the air filling every six seconds with an intermittent boom. Katna sobbed at the assault to her ears. Tears flowed down her cheeks. Painful memories of a gunshot gushed into her mind as she bit her lip. Anything to distract her from the pain, even more pain.

As the ringing subsided she opened her watery eyes and looked to her left.

A massive church with cream-yellow domes and spires sat on the other side of the street. Its ochre red brick planted into the ground like a fat man taking a nap.

Katna blinked, staring at the soft warm glow that filtered out into the night from the windows.

Ivan stumbled in front of her, a hoof still grinding into his left ear. "AAAAAAH!" he screamed, hissing as he sat down and winced. "Why!?" he yelled, pulling his hoof away and starting to huff.

Katna poked his shoulder and Ivan turned to her. "What!?"

She pointed to the church. "Guess it's a pretty late hour."

Looking over to the church Ivan's mouth hung open. "Oh... that's what that noise was." He stood up and kept walking.

"H-hang on, we've hidden in churches before," Katna trotted after him. "I'm sure the bells are quieter on the inside." Ivan turned to look at her and she glanced back. "And it's warm..."

He tapped a hoof to the pavement, pursing his lips and letting his eyes wander for a few seconds. "You know this means going to sleep hungry, right? And that we'll have to walk in the morning before we eat?"

Katna nodded.

Sighing he returned the nod. "Alright, we'll see if there's a corner where we won't be seen."

Katna followed Ivan across the road and up the steps to the church. Reaching the front door he braced a hoof against it and pushed. The door gave way and Katna breathed out.

Past another set of heavy oak doors the two foals managed to look at the interior, their eyes wandering across everything as their mouths hung open.

Cushioned wooden pews spanned the width of the red-carpeted hall ending just shy of the white columns that jutted up the arches and domes overhead, iconography plastered over their interior. Men and women and angels marched forward on the ceiling, ending at the opposite end of the nave with the sun and a glowing cross. Below that an altar stood raised a few feet above the pews, surrounded by a small wall of paintings. Behind that, a wooden screen supported by yet more columns. Light bulbs crowned the tops of every pillar, illuminating the interior as they shone in every direction. To the right of the altar was a set of choir benches and an organ. To the left of the altar another branch of the church jutted out. In the dead center of the pews was a small pool and fountain, trickling water into the pool in an endless stream.

Katna rose up on her hind hooves and spotted only three people sitting among the pews, all of them facing the altar.

Her eyes wandered up again. "It's kinda pretty." She shook out her mane sending out droplets of water onto the carpeting.

"You were right, it is warm in here," said Ivan, prodding Katna in the side with his muzzle. "Let's see if we can find a place to sleep."

They crept along the left side of the of the church and went down the hall that branched off from the main area, walking past a curtain stretching over the entrance. Past it they found a small alcove with a painting of a woman in a blue robe and a white hood holding her right hand in the air and her left hand over her heart. She gazed down at the ground, a soft smile accentuating her features.

Ivan walked into the alcove and unbuckled his bag, letting it fall onto the ground with a light thump as Katna joined him. They each lay their heads on their bags, and he extended a wing over her.

Katna's stomach rumbled and she winced. "Ivan?" she asked, keeping her eyes shut.

"Mmm?"

"Why did that man shoot that police man?"

"The news report said he had drugs in his car. They also think he was trafficking us," answered Ivan.

Katna frowned. "Do you think he was going to take us? He didn't even know we were foals."

"You're... you're right, he didn't. Maybe he really just wanted to give us a ride."

"That's strange, doing that and then doing... the other thing." She opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him.

His black brow scrunched up. "Well, I guess we live in a strange world... Katna, can I ask you a question now?"

"Mhmm."

"What did you mean, back in that alley, about wanting things to be the way they’re supposed to be?"

"Oh." Katna's ears wilted as she placed her head on her bag again. "I... I want to learn magic so I can do things, and fully experience being a unicorn. I want to have a place."

Ivan smiled, keeping his eyes closed. "Having a place doesn't make you complete," he said. "That's stuff outside of yourself."

Biting her lip she looked over to him. "Okay..." She shut her eyes again and let herself fall asleep, a frown creasing her forehead.

"Father, I ask for absolution, for I have sinned."

Katna's ears flicked about and her eyes fluttered. Too early to wake. No, Ivan’s wing was comfy and warm. Stay. Just a few more minutes...

"Tell me your sins, child."

She rolled away from Ivan, hooves thumping against the carpet as her stomach renewed its urging to be fed. The carpet was so soft, and the surrounding walls kept any wind outside. There was a pleasant hum of all the little steps and movements echoing into infinity.

Her stomach growled again and Katna frowned at the additional pressure in her midsection. She rolled over once again and sat up, holding her stomach as it made an uproar over her movement. Hunger or going to the bathroom, eating or toilet. Why couldn't her gut just pick one?

Standing up, Katna grunted as she walked to the curtain concealing her. She poked her head out from underneath it and looked around.

A man in robes and a woman in a business suit stood by the altar. The priest had one hand on a cross around his neck and his other hand was on the woman's head. Katna ducked between the pews and weaved her way amongst them, behind the fountain in the middle of the place. The constant trickle of water swam into her ears. She whined, walking a little faster and agitating her stomach further.

Katna walked out to the opposite side of the church, next to the choir seats, and looked around, crossing her hind legs. "Please," she said, biting her lip. "Please be nearby!"

She half hobbled down the space when she saw a glaringly white door set against the rest of the decor. Walking up to it, Katna pushed it open and sighed with relief as she saw the familiar tiles, sink and stalls of a restroom.

"Oh thank God!" she said, pushing open the nearest stall with her head and closing it behind her with a hoof.

She glanced at the toilet and her face sagged into an expression of pain as tears gathered in her eyes. How was she going to balance on this?

Her stomach rumbled again and her eyes bugged out; no time to bemoan how difficult it would be! Do. Business. Now!

She reared up, placing her front hooves on the seat before kicking off the ground and clambering until all four hooves were on the seat. Lift tail, lower bottom.

Katna blinked as one problem took care of itself, leaving only the issue of hunger to contend with. She sighed. After weeks of going in ditches and forests there was a dignity to going in a proper restroom that made the awkward position comfortable.

The bathroom door swung open with a squeak and Katna heard someone step in. She gasped as she heard the hinges to her stall door grind open, swinging her head around to see the woman from the altar, hand braced against the door, blinking rapidly, head shaking.

"Ummm... a little privacy?" asked Katna, raising an eyebrow. The stall door slammed shut and Katna realized what her discovery meant. "Wait!" she yelled, jumping off the toilet and skidding along the tiled floor.

The bathroom door shut and she heard the woman yell on the other side, "Father!"

Katna stood amidst the white tiles; a big pink target set against a glaring backdrop, no longer able to hide. She ran around the room, her head swinging every which way. It was over, she’d been found out! She peered under the sink. Finding no hiding spot she ran to another corner of the room and then another. Please let there be a way out! There has to be!

She skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, her chest heaving in and out as she looked around, pupils shrinking before she collapsed to the ground, closed her eyes and shivered as tears started flowing.

They were coming. There wasn’t any way around it. The muffled conversation came in through the door, over her sobs, and soon the door swung open. Dragged out, kicked from shelter and sent to wander again.

Instead, Katna heard the muted 'frump' of clothing folding in on itself.

Her eyes quivered beneath her lids as more tears streamed out.

Nothing.

She opened her eyes and unfolded her neck, blinking the tears away. She saw the priest crouched down, his goatee stretched around his broad smile.

"Hello? I know you can talk." He extended a hand towards Katna.

"I'm sorry for sneaking in here." She looked down, ears folding forward.

The man exhaled sharply from his nose, his smile broadening. "All are welcome here," he said. "You must have come here very late last night. Where have you been sleeping?"

Katna kept her mouth shut.

The priest sighed. "Why will you not speak to me?"

Staring into his eyes Katna pursed her lips. Ivan said before that their help was no good, like a police officer's, that they would be held, sent off to an orphanage, and maybe even separated. There was still a chance to avoid that, but how? Ivan would know, she just needed to get back to him. Katna sighed and stood up, her head hung low, then walked past the priest and back into the main area of the church.

She walked back to where Ivan and she had slept the night before and sat down in front of the curtain.

"Ivan," she called. "I got caught."

Something tumbled around behind the curtain and Ivan jumped out from behind it, frantically looking around. His eyes settled on the priest and narrowed.

The priest folded his arms into his robe's sleeves.

Ivan's stomach growled, and then Katna's responded in turn.

The priest nodded then reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a cellphone. He dialed in a number, then held it for a moment. "Yes, Sister Klara, could you come to the front please? I have two people in need of assistance, and I'll need someone else to handle any parishioners who come in... Thank you."

He pressed at the screen with a thumb and then looked back to the two foals. "There is a living area in the back, with food. You are welcome to have something if you wish."

Katna looked between Ivan and the priest and bit her lip. "Ivan... we could use the food."

Ivan sagged from his posture, sighing. "One minute." He stepped behind the curtain and dragged out their bags, the straps held in his mouth.

The priest nodded. "Would you allow me to carry them?"

Ivan shrugged, releasing the straps. The priest bent over, grabbed the bags and stood up. He walked back towards the bathrooms, the two foals following him, and through another door which opened to a hall with white painted walls and linoleum flooring, leading to the back of the church.

A woman in a black gown walked up to them in the hallway and nodded to the priest before stopping when she saw Katna and Ivan. She looked back at the priest and smiled before walking on.

They continued down the hall. The priest led them through another door to a small kitchen with an attached dining room, and past that there was another hall with doors leading to other rooms. The kitchen and dining room kept the plain white decor of the hall behind them, but the rest of the home had a light-brown carpet instead of linoleum.

The priest set the bags by the dining room table. He walked over to the kitchen and fetched two bowls, milk and cereal from the cabinets and fridge. He opened up a drawer that tinkled with the sound of silverware, then shook his head, closing it. He brought the items to the table and looked over to Ivan and Katna, still standing in the doorway. He pursed his lips and poured out the cereal and milk before taking a seat at the table, looking over at the two foals.

"I am Father Nazar Gura," he said. "What are two foals doing here, alone?"

"We're not alone," said Ivan.

Father Nazar raised an eyebrow. "Young man, you make it difficult for others to help you when you lie."

Ivan hung his head low. "Our parents abandoned us."

Katna frowned, looking at Ivan. That was incorrect, he'd told her that they had become sick.

"And your parents, they would have to have been born as ponies in order to have children as old, or rather, as young as you are now." Father Nazar placed his hands on the table. "Which begs the question, why would two ponies from Equestria abandon their children? I have gone there myself as part of a mission, and I have to say that everything I saw pointed to ponies being more than happy to take a lost child under their care, even at their own cost. But tell me anyway, what are your names then?"

Ivan's lips turned downward, and Katna looked back to the priest. "It's Katna, and my brother is Ivan."

Father Nazar inclined his head, and lifted an arm towards the two bowls, sweeping his hand across the table. "Well, Ivan, Katna, it would do me well to know that you are not starving. Please, come and eat."

Katna and Ivan shuffled to the table, climbed onto the chairs and looked at the cereal.

Katna's eyes darted upward, looking at Father Nazar. "You'll let us go after we eat, right?"

"You could leave right now if you wanted to, but I implore you to stay."

Katna resumed staring at her bowl. The bowl. A bowl. It had been so long since she actually ate from something. Had it been months? Her stomach quivered and she dived into it, dunking her muzzle, lapping up the sugary lumps of cereal and quaffing down milk. Creamy cool sweetness rolled along her tongue and cheeks; the pleasure was the crab apples all over again!

In an instant she was lapping at the bowl's sides and her own lips, searching for an extra drop. She opened her eyes. The priest was leaning back in his chair, nodding. "Want another one?"

Katna belched, instinctively raising up a hoof to her mouth. She coughed, then nodded. "Yes, please."

Father Nazar reached over and plucked the dish out from in front of Katna. He shot a glance over to Ivan, who had his head dipped in his own bowl but kept eye contact with the priest the whole time.

Walking to the counter Father Nazar set about making another bowl. "So..." He walked to the fridge. "Would you care to tell me where you're from?"

"East," replied Ivan. Katna frowned at him, and he shrugged.

"And where are you going?"

"South," Katna answered.

Father Nazar nodded, twisting off a cap from a milk jug. "Ah, the coast. May I ask why?"

Katna answered, "It doesn't get as cold there." She looked back at Ivan, who was glaring at her. "We'd be able to last the winters there."

"Is that why you've chosen to walk the road you have?" He turned around with the bowl and set it in front of Katna.

"I don't know what you're asking." Katna crunched through some more cereal, keeping her eyes on Nazar as he took his seat once more.

The priest licked his lips and braced his fingers together to form a steeple. "You were human children, yes?"

Katna looked to Ivan, and he sighed. "Yes." Ivan pushed his bowl away.

Father Nazar shut his eyes, bringing his lips to his hands, moving his lips.

"If you don't want us here, just say so." Ivan hopped down from his chair. "Don't try to guilt us into going by being all nice!"

Father Nazar removed his hands, his smile gone. Katna pulled her head away from the bowl, feeling queasy, and Ivan looked away.

"I want what's best for you,” said Nazar. “I'm going to call up the police department, and then they'll be able to find you a home."

"WHERE DO YOU THINK WE CAME FROM!?" Ivan yelled. Father Nazar flinched. "They'd tell us we'd be taken care of, and then the plates get a little smaller, the rooms a little colder, and you hear the TV in one of the front rooms talking about money being in short supply!" Ivan stared up. "A-and then they try taking us apart. No... We're going south, and we'll be able to finally live!" He looked over to Katna. "Like we’re supposed to. Together!"

Ivan walked over to his bag and started buckling it back on. "Katna, come on, we're leaving. Thank you for the food, Nazar."

"Wait!" Father Nazar's right hand shot out towards Ivan and Katna. "If you stay another day I can help you go south."

Ivan shook his head, looking at Father Nazar. "How do I know you won't just call the police when we agree to stay?"

"You don't," said Father Nazar, "it would be a matter of faith."

Ivan looked to Katna, and she looked to the priest. She breathed deeply, expanding her chest, and breathed out through her mouth as she looked at her remaining cereal. She gulped.

Ivan could be right, he had told her all about why they had to hide. Transferring and fleeing from three different orphanages told her this was true, but Nazar...

She looked at Father Nazar. "We need something for traveling south. Can you let us have it... right now?"

Nazar's eyebrows rose. "What is it?"

"I... I don't know how to do magic. There are books online about it, can you let us... use a phone? Or a computer and printer?" Katna stared to the left, down the carpeted hallway.

Father Nazar nodded and stood up from his chair. His eyes glanced over to Katna’s bowl, and he sat back down. "This is something I can and would gladly do. But first, Ivan, would you take a seat while your sister finishes her cereal?”

Ivan looked between Katna and Nazar. His eyes narrowed but he walked back to the table and took a seat.

Nazar smiled. “Do you want some more cereal?”

Ivan shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Nazar leaned back in his chair and started murmuring a prayer. Ivan’s muscles relaxed and he sagged into his own seat. They both glanced to Katna’s progress with her own bowl.

Right Amidst Rites

Katna gripped the bowl in her two hooves, lifted it up and tilted it back to pour the last dregs of milk down her throat. She set the bowl down and burped. She blushed and held a hoof over her mouth. “Excuse me.”

Father Nazar nodded and rose from his seat. “If you’re ready to use the computer, I can show you to it now.”

Ivan nodded.

Nazar stepped to the hallway. “Come with me, please.” Ivan and Katna hopped out of their seats and followed Nazar down the hall.

Father Nazar took the first door on the right of the hallway, leading Ivan and Katna to an office. Several filing cabinets lined the left wall, a grey bureau desk sat next to the right wall, a simple wooden chair in front of it. A window cast light in from the outside.

Walking to the bureau Nazar pulled out a panel from it. He ran his finger along a black line embedded in the top of the desk and an orange light flashed out of the flat top. The light spread over the area above the black line, leaving translucent geometric figures surrounded by writing floating in the air.

He turned to the foals and nodded. "I have to quickly change out of my robes. I'll be back to help you with this soon enough." He stepped out of the room and went down the hallway.

Katna walked up to the desk and jumped up onto the chair. Her mouth hung open as the projected floating shapes rotated in place. Looking below her she noticed two pulsating arrows, one to her left and the other to her right. Six more arrows, two above her head and four in the back combined to form a cubic space within which all the icons resided.

She reached over to the arrows and tried pulling them outwards with her hooves. The cube expanded, along with all its contents. Katna's eyes shined. "Wow..."

Gulping down her excitement she peered at the myriad of icons. "Internet... internet." Several icons zoomed to the front at her muttering. Katna flinched backwards, then settled into her seat. "Google Chrome, Palladion, Opera..." She reached a hoof to the first icon, a half-sphere composed of three interlocking shapes over a circular fourth shape.

Google opened and Katna reached over to the search bar. As her hoof graced the bar a keyboard of solid orange light appeared by her chest. Her eyes scanned over the tiny keys and she pressed a hoof to them. The search bar spat out an incomprehensible stream of letters in response.

"Hey." Ivan pointed to a little box far to her right. "Keyboard settings."

She pressed the button and a list appeared. Scrolling through the different settings she read them aloud. "Classic QWERTY, Dvorak, Alphabetical, Optimized, Equestrian Analogue?" The box labeled 'Equestrian analogue' expanded revealing a description below it, which Katna in turn read. "This setting is modeled after Equestrian hoof-friendly typewriters, mimicking the popular analogue-stick and button combo of the Manehattan Model E."

She pressed on the icon again and an entirely different construction of solid light appeared. It was one joystick with a flattened, hoof-shaped top surrounded by a radial display of letters and, to its left, a button.

Katna placed her hooves on the display and tilted the joystick forward, highlighting the letter 'T'. While holding the joystick over it she pressed the button with her other hoof, causing the selected letter to appear in the search bar. She swiveled the joystick around repeating the same procedure and eventually typed the letters she needed. "T...R...A...N...S...I...T...I...O...N..." A series of links popped down out of the search bar. She reached her right hoof to the first item in the list and touched it.

Following the prompts from the page that appeared to ‘Information’, into ‘Equestrian Transformation’, and then into ‘Course Training Packages’, Katna's smiled widened. She turned to Ivan. "This is wonderful!" She looked up as she heard footsteps down the hallway and Father Nazar returned, wearing a black shirt and pants.

Nodding Father Nazar walked over to the bureau and slid open another panel, revealing a printer. "Please only print what you really need, paper and ink can get quite expensive. In the mean time, I must make arrangements for your traveling south." He looked down at Ivan. "If you wish to listen to the conversation so that I may lay your fears to rest, you can follow me." He looked back at Katna and smiled. "Your sister seems to be taking to the computer readily enough."

"Uh huh." Katna poured over the listings of titles. A stream of white-on-dark orange lettering flowed over her eyes as Ivan and Father Nazar stepped out of the room and closed the door part way. "General Magic, Reasons to Become a Pony, Equestrian Historical Heritage, Basic Anatomy, Unicorn Spells!"

She pressed the button and leaned back, going over the key to the understanding of what she had inherited.

"... This statement however summarizes... Movement, creation, transmutation, mass-energy equivalence..." Katna gasped. "My first spell!"

She leaned forward. "'At the base of a unicorn's horn lies the Carbuncle Organ. Budding students describe their first experience of channeling magic like a tiny lung breathing in the base of their horn, coupled with physical sensations ranging from tightness to tingling...' That's what I did at the house!" Katna licked her lips. "'Inducing magic channeling is the first step of performing magic. The most common trick used is to breath in through the nose, and then visualize the air traveling out the horn while exhaling through the mouth.'"

Katna breathed in and held her breath, trying to push the air into her horn before opening her mouth and releasing a jet of air. The expanding sensation returned.

A grin expanded across her face as she returned to reading. "'Practice of this exercise should lead the student to being able to produce a colored light around her horn. Once the student is able to keep the channel open she becomes able to interact with objects with magic. The breathing is not actually required, but to begin with it is beneficial as it makes the learning process easier.'"

Mouth hanging open Katna scrolled down a little further and found a spell for basic telekinesis. "Focus on the object... students frequently describe the sensation as a part of them forming a liquid that is poured over the object, and in turn the willing of movement will carry the object with it..."

She looked over at the filing cabinets and breathed in through her nose as a grin spread over her muzzle. She opened her magic channel. "Alright, time to practice."

Ivan sat at the dining table with Father Nazar, who was placing a call on his phone. The tones rang out on the other end, and the priest held up a finger.

"Yes, Gleb, I have some news for you... No, it isn't another stop for medicine. I have two ponies in a delicate situation who need to get to the south, and I can think of no other I would trust with this... So you'll stay at the peninsula for an hour instead? Thank you, I understand that this probably will slow your journey... Yes, I will explain the plan to them... May He watch over you as well, my friend."

Father Nazar hung up and looked to Ivan before standing up and opening a drawer. He pulled out an old paper map and lay it on the table before unfolding it. "I have a friend who provides medicine along the Dnieper River. He uses a boat to get along, and is someone I trust. He'll be stopping by the coast tomorrow." He pointed out to the map. "We're here," he said, tracing his finger to a point nearly a hundred miles away from the Black Sea. "My friend can take you as far as Nova Kakhovka. The town there is small, but the people there can take care of you... I won't lie, I hope you stay there... but if you must move on, there is a large irrigation canal that runs south, almost to Feodosiya."

Ivan nodded, getting out of his chair and opening his bag to rifle through the contents. He pulled out a map, spreading it on the floor. "Okay, Feodosiya... That canal..." He nodded. "That... that's actually better than what I had planned." He looked up at Father Nazar. "Are you sure your friend can't take us down the canal?" he asked. The priest nodded, and Ivan hung his head. "Okay, but that still puts us ahead..." He looked back up at Nazar. "Thank you."

The priest smiled, but then looked up at the same time Ivan's ears flicked up. The sound of metal grinding on metal came from down the hall.

"Oh my God! I finally did it! Yes! Yes! It worked! It actually worked! This stupid little horn actually did its job!"

Ivan nodded to the hall and walked down it. Father Nazar trailed behind him.

Ivan peered into the office. Katna was flailing her front hooves, pointing at her horn, and a lone open filing cabinet. She spun her head around, seeing him. "Oh, God! Ivan! I actually used magic! Watch this!"

Katna breathed in and her horn glowed a light translucent rose color. A moment later the same glow surrounded the open filing cabinet, and it slid shut. The glow persisted, flowing to another cabinet, opening it, and then to another.

She looked back at Ivan, the glow snapping out of existence. "This is great! I want to practice on something else, right now!"

"Well," said Father Nazar, "I have explained my plan to your brother, which just leaves getting you both prepared for the trip." He pointed at Ivan's still-browned hooves. "You’re dirty from your travels. The bathroom is the next door down on the left." He pointed out the door. "Can I trust you to clean up any mess you make?"

Katna nodded, her chest heaving in and out as another grin spread over her. "Yes! And that's perfect! But... I want to get a little more practice.” She looked to Ivan. “Brother, would you go ahead and let me know when you’re done?"

Ivan looked behind himself to Father Nazar, who stepped backwards into the hall and walked away. They heard the door to the hall leading back to the church’s nave open, then shut again.

Ivan faced Katna, then nodded. "Be careful now. I don't want you hurting yourself."

He walked out of the room and went to the door Father Nazar mentioned. He gripped the doorknob in his mouth and turned it, pushing against the door as he did so. Toilet, sink, shower stall, yep, it was a bathroom. Ivan scraped a hoof against the sea-green tiles and looked around for the light switch. Finding it behind the cabinet to his left, above the toilet, he reared up and nudged it with his muzzle.

He tapped the door closed with a hind leg, then sagged to the ground, sighing. Ivan mentally went over the map in his mind. They were looking at a month saved in time. A snake coiled in his stomach. It seemed too good to be true... but at least he could clean himself.

He grasped the handle to the shower stall with his mouth and pulled it open, nodding at the dryness of where his lips had been. It was easier than he thought it would be to grip things with his mouth; it didn't cause him to salivate the way it used to. He stepped into the shower and contorted himself in order to turn around. It was a tight squeeze, but manageable. His rear rubbed against the glass before he pulled the glass door shut.

Looking to the shampoo and soap sitting on a small edge built into the shower wall, Ivan sat, wondering. Would he use soap at all now that he was covered in hair? The deep question had escaped him when last he bathed, but now, with things going right—possibly—for one moment... The question stuck in his head.

"Katna!" he called.

There was the immediate sound of hoof beats in the hall, followed by the door opening. Katna poked her head in. "Yeah?"

"Does the computer say anything about grooming? Do we use... well… soap, or shampoo?"

There was silence for a few seconds. Ivan frowned and looked over to see Katna holding a hoof over her mouth, her sides finally giving into their shaking, and she giggled.

"Hey! It's a serious question! I want to know!" He stood up and tried turning inside the shower, causing the door to swing out. "Aah..." Ivan shook his head. "Please?"

Katna nodded, trotting back to the office.

Ivan sat down in the shower again. They were going somewhere safe, Katna was learning magic, they were going to stay together.

His wings fluttered.

He'd stay by Katna.

His wings extended.

He'd keep her safe... Even if it meant not flying.

His wings sagged back to his sides.

Ivan felt moisture rolling down his cheeks. He breathed in, and turned the shower on. A jet of cold water splattered between his wings. His muscles twinged at the shock. He broke into a coughing fit as the water warmed, splashing on his face and hiding the tears.

Katna returned, and Ivan turned the shower off.

"Well?" he asked.

"Shampoo, we use shampoo," Katna answered. "But don't put any on your wings, that just needs water and... preening... with your mouth..." Katna leaned against the door. "So that's what I've been catching you doing late at night!"

A warm flush spread in Ivan's cheeks. "Well, I didn't know there was a word for it, so I assumed there wasn't. So I said 'nothing.'"

Katna rolled her eyes. "Shampoo, none on the wings, then rinse... You want help with the shampoo?"

Ivan's ears perked as Katna's horn glowed. Another translucent rose glow appeared in the corner of his eyes, and he watched the bottle of shampoo float over him.

"Uh, okay," he said. He was immediately met with a wet creamy glob smacking onto his back and sliding down his right haunch, followed by another pelt behind his ears, and finally one that fell between his wings, causing them to flare out again. "Alright, thanks."

Katna lowered the bottle back onto the shelf, then shut the door. Ivan reached up to his head and started kneading the shampoo into his mane, then proceeded to work down the rest of his body before moving onto his hooves. The mud flaked and broke off as he applied pressure to them.

A piece of mud fell to the ground, revealing a red stain. Ivan's eyes widened and he turned the shower back on with his mouth, rinsing away the caked on dirt. The red-tinged mud fell away, leaving pristine, uninjured hoof underneath.

Ivan's ears wilted. The dog. Some of the blood must have stuck to his hoof all that time ago and never came off as heaps of mud piled over it. He shook his head, then slammed a hoof against the shower wall. He bit his lip. He gulped down, and eventually a fresh trickle of blood from his lip joined the mud washing down the drain, the iron smell faded by the water flowing around him.

Ivan licked at his lips, taking in the sickening salty flavor as his sides heaved.

"Ivan? Did something fall?" called Katna from down the hall.

"No," replied Ivan, "I'm fine!"

Ivan held his head in his hooves as his ears filled with the sound of water pattering on the glass.

Katna wiped her hoof on the towel she had lain on the office chair, then reached out to another icon. A flow of white letters reflected off her eyes. "Wow... just... wow." She reached up and adjusted the towel wrapped around her head. She glanced back to Ivan, sitting on his own towel, and running his mouth along his wings, straightening his feathers.

"I've been reading about more complicated magic... and parts of it read like those schoolbooks I have, but the rest... I'm not getting it quite yet." Katna leaned back in the chair, sighing and letting a smile spread across her face. "So... wanna look up pegasus flight? If I can do magic I'm sure you'll be able to do more than just flap once while jumping."

Ivan shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

Clopping her front hooves together Katna turned back to the computer. "Well, I'm bored of working with magic... What else do they tell us about ponies?" She leaned forward, batting at the projection with a hoof like a cat positively entranced by a ball of yarn. "History... culture... map..."

The door to the living area opened and closed, leaving Ivan and Katna to stare at the office entrance as footsteps approached them. Father Nazar peered into the room and nodded, then walked past them. Katna heard the bathroom door open, followed by the sound of running water.

"Do you think we cleaned it up enough?" asked Katna.

Ivan yawned and nodded. "Yes, I used a towel to dry up the floor."

Feeling emptiness in her stomach, Katna asked, "What do you think there will be for lunch?"

"No idea," said Ivan, before he chuckled. "You know, normally the answer would be 'whatever we find.'" Ivan smiled.

Father Nazar returned. “Would you like lunch?” The two foals nodded and he led them to the kitchen, where he set about making tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for the three of them, along with a fourth bowl and plate.

“Who’s that for?” asked Katna.

“For Sister Klara,” answered Nazar, “she’ll be joining us soon.”

“That’s the woman we saw in the hall when you brought us out here?”

Nazar nodded. “She is.”

"So... who are we going with on a boat?" asked Katna.

"A young man by the name of Gleb," Father Nazar answered, placing a few sandwiches on four plates. "He regularly travels up and down the Dnieper."

"What's he like?"

Pouring out the soup, Father Nazar's lips turned downward. "He is a good-hearted individual, but he has trouble forgiving himself. I think it would be better to not say more than that, lest you judge him without even knowing him."

Katna shrugged then perked up when Father Nazar placed a steaming bowl of the sweet-smelling red broth in front of her along with the cheese sandwich. Father Nazar held up one finger in front of Katna's mouth, then placed the rest of the dishes on the four sides of the table. He seated himself across from Katna, with Ivan on his immediate right. Ivan looked over at the entrance.

Smiling at the sound of feet approaching on the other side, Katna eyed her meal, and the spoon beside it.

The door opened and Sister Klara entered, black gown and headdress still in place. She bowed briefly to them and proceeded down the hall, returning a few minutes later in a black long-sleeved smock dress with opaque black leggings. She seated herself, brushed some greying-brown hair from her face and then clasped her hands firmly together, tensed tendons visible. Father Nazar performed the same gesture. Katna and Ivan looked around before bracing their front hooves together.

Closing his eyes, Father Nazar uttered, "Christ, our God, bless the food and drink of thy servants for You are holy, now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen."

"Amen," said Sister Klara.

"Amen?" Katna mumbled afterwards, before shrugging and looking at her spoon. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw Sister Klara looking at her as she blew on a spoonful of soup. Her lips were turned upward in a smile that reched all the way up to her eyes, wrinkling their corners.

Katna couldn’t help but to return the smile. Embarrassed she turned her gaze down to her spoon. The steps came in turn: open the magic channel, sense out the spoon, grab it, and move it. The spoon obeyed her command and she was shortly thereafter sipping her tomato soup, occasionally extending her magical field to grasp a sandwich and lift it to her mouth.

The creamy warmness of the soup flowed down her throat, warming her insides. She lay the spoon down and saw Sister Klara continuing to look at her with a smile.

"You're a very pretty young filly," said Sister Klara, finishing the last of her soup. She stood up and gathered Katna's plate.

"Thanks?" said Katna before burping from her meal. It was immediately followed by a yawn. She stretched out her mouth heaving a great sigh that left her horn feeling like something had flicked it. When she shut her mouth once more her ears folded against her head. "Sorry."

"That's quite alright," said Sister Klara. "If you're tired I can set you up in one of the guest rooms." She placed the dishes in the sink.

Raising a hand Father Nazar spoke. "Please set them both up in my room. I will sleep in a guest bed for tonight."

The sister nodded, then went down the hall. Her dress, caught in the wind of her movement, pinned against her thin frame.

Ivan slurped down the last of his soup, then nodded. "Thank you for the meal... Does the computer have a map? I'd like to look at the route we'll be taking for the trip from a different perspective."

Father Nazar nodded, then walked towards the door leading to the rest of the church. "The icon in the second row from the bottom, far left. I must prepare for confessions, then the afternoon service. Supper will be at seven... And Ivan, Katna?" Father Nazar lay a hand on the doorframe as he stepped partway into the hall.

The foals' ears perked.

"I wish that you keep thinking on your course of action." Father Nazar said, walking out and shutting the door.

Katna and Ivan made their way down the hall and back to the computer room. Ivan hopped into the seat and ran his hoof along the black line in the desk, activating it and bringing up the virtual screen.

He opened up the map, a program that showed the entire world in a three dimensional sphere. He placed his hooves around it as though grabbing a ball and spun it around. He blinked a few times as a blur of blues, whites, greens and tans melted together in his vision before he stuck a hoof into the projection, grinding the globe to a halt. He turned the sphere over slowly. Finding the familiar outline of Ukraine he reached to the zoom button and waited for the image to load, showing before him the distance they traveled, and where they would go.

Katna stared intently at the two conjoined continents in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, like someone had created a miniaturized North and South Americas and pasted them onto the planet a few thousand kilometers to the east.

She yawned again, her vision swimming. "Ooh... I think doing magic for the first time left me pretty tired." She winced and shook her head.

Ivan hopped out of his chair. "Well, if magic tires you out, it's a good thing we'll be traveling by boat for a while. You can get some practice before we have to go back to walking."

Opening her mouth as Ivan walked down the hall towards the kitchen, Katna was left with an upraised hoof. Travel again so soon after finding a safe place. A foul-tasting paste shot up her throat as the image of a bleeding dog flashed before her. Sides heaving, stomach distended and bloated, legs pawing at the air.

Katna shook her head again, tears welling in her eyes. She shivered as blood spurted across the room with a bang. Her ears folded against her head, and she whined a little as she walked out of the room, trotting to the end of the hallway and into Father Nazar's room, where she found Sister Klara fluffing out one of two pillows.

Tears welling in the corners of her eyes, Katna rubbed against Sister Klara's leg, looking up.

Sister Klara immediately set the pillow down and reached down to Katna. Grunting from the exertion, she kneeled down and sat on the floor beside Katna, wrapping her arms around the filly. Klara’s eyes teared up as she looked down and stroked the poor little thing on the head, strangled squeaking noise escaping her throat. "Shh... little one. It's alright... Oh!”

Katna buried her head into Klara's lap, prodding the sister’s stomach with her horn. The filly started sobbing.

Hoofbeats traveled down the hall and Ivan skidded into the room. His eyes fell on Klara and Katna, and he walked over immediately. "Katna, what's wrong?" He lay beside her.

A loud sniff came out of Katna’s nose and she pulled her head away, only to break out into another bout of sobbing.

Sister Klara glanced at Ivan. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

Laying a hand on Katna's withers, Klara played with the end of Katna's mane, twirling her fingers through the fibrous sea-green hairs. Ivan lay a wing across Katna's back, and he hummed a single note intermittently.

The sobbing subsided and Katna pulled away from the warm dampness she had left on Sister Klara's stomach, leaving her own face chilled. She looked up at Klara and sighed at the eased smile that was beaming down on her. Katna closed her eyes and focused on Klara's thumb and index twirling at her mane. Some brief physical contact with someone not her brother. A heady haze grew over her mind as her breathing slowed. Klara stood up and lifted Katna to set her in the bed, then pulled the blue covers over her.

Sister Klara took a deep breath and wiped at her brow before balling a fist and pressing it against her back.

Ivan jumped up onto the bed and lay beside Katna. Sitting by them on the edge of the bed, Klara placed an arm over them both. "Can you tell me what happened on the road?"

"It's been... tough," said Ivan.

Klara adjusted her arm, placing Katna in the crook of her elbow and squeezing gently. Warmed by the surrounding covers Katna felt a... blooming in her chest, like having a warm meal, but without the feeling extending to her stomach. "Thank you," she said, sagging into the mattress.

"Oh, you're welcome, my child. It's who I am." Sister Klara reached over and stroked Katna's mane.

"Why help us?" asked Ivan.

Sister Klara hummed. "Because you need it." Leaning over she pressed her lips to Katna's right ear, making it twitch. Katna felt a lightness in her chest as the warmth grew. The euphoric glaze of contentment that sat on her was something akin to when she had first experimented with her horn... In the attic... But it was okay, that was far away and she was safe.

Removing her hand, Sister Klara lay it on her lap. "Never had any children of my own, instead I take care of those who need me. I hope you find what you're looking for." She stood up, walked to the door and turned off the lights. She turned back, her thin silhouette highlighted in the doorway. "Sleep well," she said, shutting the door closed and placing the two foals in the semi-darkness of the room interrupted only by the light that shafted through the window blinds.

Katna snuggled against Ivan. "Sorry," she whispered.

"Were you thinking about the dog and the cop?" Ivan whispered back.

Katna bobbed her head up and down, and gulped. "I wish things could have turned out differently back then."

"But you're happy with how things are happening now, right?" asked Ivan. His wing pressed down on Katna and slid down her back, stroking her like a firm feather boa.

"Yeah." Katna smiled, shutting her eyes.

Ivan sat staring at the last five steaming carrots on his plate. Their fragrance warmed into his nose, and he turned away from the dish to look at the clock. Eight at night. His eyes wandered to Katna, who was munching down on a piece of broccoli. The puffed green top poked out of her mouth until her pink lips wrapped around it and drew it in.

Then he looked over at Father Nazar by the kitchen sink, nursing a single glass of milk against his flat stomach.

Something prodded his side, and Ivan looked around to see Sister Klara nodding at his plate. "Finish your food, dear."

"Uh... aren't you going to have anything to eat?" he asked.

"No," Sister Klara answered, "I'm not hungry right now."

Ivan bent down, plucking the last carrots into his mouth and mashing them into a fine paste with his teeth. Sister Klara picked up the plate and carried it to the sink.

Father Nazar nodded. "Thank you, I'll wash them in the morning after breakfast, before taking the children to the docks." He placed his empty milk glass in the sink, the thin veil of white dribbling down the sides. He looked to Ivan and nodded. "If you could both be in bed by nine, it would be appreciated," he said, walking to the bathroom down the hall.

Sister Klara followed suit, going into the office. Katna followed the Sister, leaving Ivan in the kitchen.

He got out of his chair and walked to the fridge. Gripping the handle in his mouth he pulled back, opening the fridge door and bathing himself in white light. He looked at its interior in close detail. The contents: one half-jug of milk, some cheese slices, mayo, and some cold cut meats in the drawer. Nothing else lay inside. Ivan let the door shut of its own accord, sealing off the light with a pop.

He sighed. "I'm sorry we couldn't stay here either, Katna," he mouthed soundlessly.

Ivan hung his head low and passed Father Nazar in the hall before stepping into the bathroom himself. A weight bore down on him, and it wasn't just a full stomach.

Precious Cargo

Ivan yawned as he dragged his hooves along the pavement, following Father Nazar.

The priest tucked his hands into his grey jacket’s pockets. His head hunched over a little more as a gull flew overhead.

Katna trotted beside Nazar. Her head swayed and bobbed as she hummed with a smile on her face.

Ivan winced as the sunlight poked out between the skyscrapers and his breath fogged his vision with each exhalation. His skin tingled as a clip from his bag brushed against his barrel, spreading a shiver over him that left him shaking his head to clear the daze. His nostrils flared out, and he smiled at the fresh odor of running, untreated water. They were getting close to the river.

Raising his head Ivan looked around at the metallic façades of the buildings. Every few seconds a doorway spat out a person trekking down the road, their heads hunched over with their hands shoved into their pockets. A few cars drifted along the pavement, crawling around corners back out of sight.

The coast loomed on the opposite side of a highway as they walked towards a set of traffic lights. They stopped, waiting for the signal to change.

“Almost everybody is still inside,” said Katna.

Father Nazar nodded. “They’ll start coming out soon enough.”

The signal switched from a red palm to a white man walking. They crossed a highway along the river shore and then a bridge, which led them to a dirt road winding down a thin peninsula that jutted into the river. A plume of dust rose in their wake, and Ivan looked back to the looming buildings and the thrum of vehicles zooming along the highway.

He looked ahead and saw a boat, a line of scum caking its underside as it heaved atop the waves. A man in green wading pants stood in the boat, waving, and Ivan gulped as they approached.

The man was waving with his left—and only—arm.

Father Nazar picked up his pace, heading for the shoreline and leaving Ivan and Katna to sit on the dusty trail. "Gleb!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms wide open.

'Gleb' gripped the boat's side and vaulted over it into the water with a splash. He waded to the shore and his feet broke the surface again with a spray of muddy flecks of water. He threw his arm around Father Nazar, who returned the hug.

Ivan tilted his head, listening in on the hushed exchange between the two men.

"Yeah! It’s great to see ya again, Father," said Gleb.

"Likewise, my friend." Nazar ran a hand through Gleb's blond hair, pushing the young man’s red beanie askew. Nazar patted him on the back. "Did you make your delivery yet?"

Gleb nodded, pulling out of the priest's embrace and adjusting his beanie back into place. He pointed his thumb back to his boat. "Two months worth of medicine, and no troubles travelling the river." He flicked a lock of hair sticking out from underneath his beanie.

"This is good, and I will pray for continued safe travels." Stepping to the side, Father Nazar swept a hand towards Katna and Ivan. "For you and for them."

Inclining his head towards the foals, Gleb asked. "Is that them? I was expecting adults."

"No, two foals, looking to reach Crimea," Father Nazar said.

"Crimea..." Gleb nodded, taking a long stride toward the ponies. He swung his arm in front of him, stopping it mid-swing as though grasping at some object. He turned briefly to Father Nazar. "Not Nova?"

Nazar Shook his head. "Not Nova Kakhovka, no, but I sincerely hope they decide to stay there instead."

"What's at Kakhovka?" asked Katna.

Gleb raised his eyebrows, smirking at Father Nazar. "Didn't bother telling them what's there?" He shook his head, chuckling as he stepped closer to Katna and Ivan. "Nova Kakhovka was a very small town down the river quite some ways. It was abandoned, and eventually reclaimed by the government. Then, about a decade later, some people bought the land to try farming it... now, with ponification, it's about…” Gleb wiggled one finger, then a second finger. “It’s about two thousand ponies in and around it, drawn in from the entire country."

Katna was aghast. "Is there really a town full of ponies there?"

Gleb smiled. "Absolutely, as sure as there is a horn on your head."

She turned to Ivan, her face bright. "A town of ponies! Do you think any of them would be able to take us in? I could continue learning magic! A-and you could learn to fly!"

Ivan gulped and looked down the peninsula they stood on... "Well... if they'd take us in..."

Katna stomped her hooves into the ground and sent a pebble bouncing across it into the river. "We have to look when we get there! I mean, with so many adults, there'd have to be someone!"

Continuing to nod, Ivan stood up. "Okay, we’ll see if it’s even possible to stay."

Pressing herself against Ivan Katna rubbed her head against his neck. "Oh, this will be wonderful!"

Extending his hand towards the foals, Gleb bent over double. "Yeah, a whole town of ponies. Brought a few of them there myself over the last three years..." He wiggled his fingers. "Hi. I'm Gleb, though I'm sure Father Nazar told you that already."

Ivan placed his hoof in Gleb's palm and shook it. "Ivan."

"Katna," his sister replied. "It will be nice to not have to walk for a while," she said.

Gleb reached over to Katna and tried tousling her mane. She flinched back, her horn smacking against his hand.

"Sorry," she said quickly, “I brushed my mane this morning.”

"It's fine," replied Gleb straightening out and rolling his shoulders. He held his hand in front of him and flexed it. “Just be careful, I don’t have a spare.”

Ivan stared at the missing limb before noticing that Gleb had started staring right back at him. "If you take off your bags I can put them on the boat," said the young man.

There was a high-pitched ‘squee’ and the immediate unclasping of Katna's buckles, followed promptly by her bag sliding off her back and hitting the dust. She grunted as the glow from her horn faded and the bag fell over on its side, pinning her tail. Katna grinned, pulling away from the bag to dislodge her tail. "Yes, please!"

Gleb bent over and grabbed the bag, then marched back into the water to place it inside his boat.

Ivan bent his neck to clamp down on one set of buckles with his teeth, while undoing the second set with his hooves. He shrugged off the bag, then waited for Gleb to take it.

Looking to Father Nazar Ivan said, “Um, thank you for helping us… even though we’re ponies.”

Father Nazar bent over and patted the side of Ivan’s neck. “I know to show kindness to all my neighbours, and surely if you have spent so long taking care of your sister on the road, then there is no reason for me to suspect that you do not have the image of God in your soul.”

Pulling back Ivan inclined his head to Father Nazar. “Again, thank you.”

"Alright!" said Gleb as he returned to the shore. "Bags are loaded, anything else?"

Father Nazar's eyes widened as he took a step to the shore, reaching into his pants’ pocket. "Ah! Gleb, I have to ask, do you still have that solar-charger?"

"Of course," Gleb replied, starting to move back to the boat. "Did ya need it?"

"No," he said, pulling out his phone and nodding towards Katna and Ivan. "But they will. They are still trying to learn things... their... situation left them without guidance. They should be able to find what they need with this." Father Nazar leaned forward, whispering. "And if something should happen if they decide to travel further, they can call for aid from the police."

Ivan snorted.

Father Nazar turned to look at Ivan, handing the phone to Gleb. The colt snorted again then coughed. "Ah, uhm, sorry, just, there's something strong-smelling in the water."

Ivan looked at the water separating them from the boat. Gleb waded back to the shore and bent over in front of Ivan. "Come here, wrap your hooves around my neck, I'll carry you."

Ivan complied. Gleb stood, grunting profusely. "Oh man! You're big for not knowing how to fly! What did Nazar feed you? Bricks?" he commented stepping back into the water. He reached his arm back and pushed up against Ivan's bottom, keeping the colt in place. He hobbled forward, breathing deeply as he reached the boat. Ivan hopped in to a final groan from Gleb.

Turning back around, Ivan's ears wilted. "Sorry, I should have just waded in..."

"Nah, you'd have gotten water in the boat and it would have taken forever to dry." Gleb gasped, clutching his side. "Oh man, Miss Turkovitz didn't like that one."

"Who?" Ivan asked.

"Nobody important, just... whew!" Gleb straightened out then went back for Katna. "Now, little lady, promise me you don't weigh as much as Gigantor back there?" he asked, earning a giggle from Katna. She shook her head, and mounted Gleb in the same way Ivan did. Gleb made his way to the boat, pink filly hanging off of him like a backpack.

Father Nazar waved from the shoreline. "Safe travels to you three, may God keep you!" he called.

Gleb placed Katna in the boat then waved back. "You too, Father! Make sure there's still a place for me to come back to in a week!"

Laughing Father Nazar put his hands back into his pockets. "Don't worry! I'm careful with the candles!"

Hoisting himself into the boat with a wet slosh Gleb got in and dribbled water into the boat. He walked over to the front, sat in the lone seat and turned the key in the ignition. The engine thrummed to life and he nodded. "Ah, nothing like an engine starting with a purr." He slapped the dash in front of him and, working a few pedals, got the boat to roll forward amongst the waves.

Gleb turned back, looking at Ivan. "So, something nasty-smelling in the water? Smells the same as it usually does to me."

Ivan shook his head. "It was something near the shore... So, candles?"

Grinning Gleb looked back at the river as they pulled past the peninsula. "Yeah, once knocked over a candle and set some drapes on fire in the church by accident."

Nodding Ivan looked at the empty sleeve hanging limp from Gleb's right side. He bit his tongue and looked back to the city, counting off the cars passing along the highway.

"What happened to your arm?" asked Katna.

Ivan's ears wilted and he winced. A hoof drew up to his face, and he planted his muzzle in it.

Gleb glanced back, then looked to his right. "Oh, that... that's a long story."

"How long is the trip?" asked Katna.

"Heh, do you really want to waste all my interesting stories in the first day?"

Katna shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Ah, that reminds me though." Gleb reached into his pocket, leaving the steering wheel to turn the boat with the waves. Ivan's ears perked up and he scrambled on his hooves to make his way to the front. Gleb pulled out the phone and held it in front of Ivan. "Father Nazar wanted you to have this. If it runs out, I have a charger."

Ivan nodded, eyes wide. "Steer please!" he said, gripping the phone in his mouth and turning to head back to Katna as the boat drifted off course.

The boat veered back to a straight line as Gleb corrected its course. Ivan placed the phone on the bench next to Katna. She hooved at the screen, which came to life. She pressed her hoof to the icons and seven applications opened up in sequence.

"Uh..." Katna's ears folded over. "Hold on..." Her horn glowed, wrapping her magic around the phone and holding it aloft. The field petered out and the phone dropped back on the bench. She wobbled over to the side of the boat and hung her head over the side. "Ugh... what was that?" she asked.

Ivan's ears perked along with his eyebrows and he joined Katna at the side of the boat. "What's wrong?"

"I was... I was holding the phone in my magic, and... Well, holding it feels like... you have this big squishy arm that feels everything in that object... W-when I..." Katna wretched, heaving a stream of chunky white fluid over into the river. Ivan patted her on the back, and she broke into a cough as her body stopped quaking. "Oh... goodness. That... When..." Katna pulled away from the edge of the boat, then leaned over again to spit into the river.

"You okay back there?" asked Gleb.

Lifting her head up Katna nodded. "Okay... I'm fine, I'm not sick with anything... just really dizzy..."

Ivan's ears flicked about as he kept staring at Katna.

"Umm... yeah, so when I 'gripped' the screen... I 'felt' the screen cave in a little, and then touch something else. Then there was... this energy that just erupted along the screen... I think it was electricity?" Katna gulped nodding to the phone. "L-let's try that again!" she said.

Her horn glowed and her magic wrapped around the phone a second time. It looked exactly the same as it did before, but without the subsequent vomit-trip made by Katna. "Okay... I think..." The phone beeped, opening it’s panel. "Alright! So I just have to apply pressure on the screen when I want to select something. Close those down... Okay... Still feel... okay. Ivan? Are you feeling anything when I push buttons?

Ivan raised his eyebrows. “Why should I feel something?”

Katna tutted. “Ivan, you're a pegasus. Pegasi manipulate lightning. Lightning is electricity."

He shook his head. "No... not getting anything. Are you sure you're not sick?"

She laughed. "What? No! I'm just... I feel the electric current passing through the phone."

Ivan tilted his head, squinting his eyes and smiling. "You're weird."

Sticking out her tongue, Katna blew a raspberry. "Jealous!"

"W-what!?" exclaimed Ivan. "There is little you could do that would leave me jealous," he said, scoffing.

Rolling her eyes Katna continued onto the Internet and, finding the guidebooks on magic again, her lips tugged upward at the corners.

Katna's heart pounded as she scrolled through the guides’ titles, each link a passage to some little extra thing she and Ivan had gained a month ago. Her magic: picking up ten objects from across the room, carving a name into the side of a needle, teleporting, turning lead into gold. Katna leaned back, resting her head on the boat's hull as she pressed the phone to her chest. She breathed out shakily, staring up at the sky. And Ivan, Ivan would be able to fly far and fast and manipulate the weather.

Katna went back to the list of titles smiling as she scrolled through them.

"So... Ivan?" asked Gleb, turning in his seat to look back.

Katna squinted at a title, mouthing the words. "Mental Illness and Transformation." She pressed on the document, and started reading.

"What is it?" Ivan responded.

"You and Katna... where are you from?"

"Pavlohrad," answered Ivan.

Katna frowned shaking her head. That was wrong, she had seen the maps herself as they walked. The lakes and forests and towns. To say nothing of the time spent at the orphanages. They were from Chernihiv. She shook her head again and continued scrolling through the document.

"Really?" Gleb asked. "I ah... I had an aunt that used to live there until a few years ago. Larisa?"

Ivan shook his head. "No... where did she live?"

"By the west end, near the forest," Gleb replied.

"Oh, that must be why. Katna and I were really more in the middle." Ivan reached over and touched her shoulder. "Isn't that right Katna?"

Katna folded her legs against her, shrugged, and grunted.

Ivan pulled his hoof back and frowned. "So yeah, we were right in the middle of the town..."

Katna folded her ears against her head, continuing to scroll through the document, eyes glazed over in a haze as a list of incomprehensible gibberish and statistics rolled over her vision.

"With a fresh brain and endocrine system, many psychiatric disorders enter remission, including clinical depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, drug addictions, and others related to chemical imbalances in the brain. However, disorders caused typically through environmental or social factors may persist, including narcissism, pathological lying..."

Katna looked up at Ivan.

"So yes, we managed to get a ride to the main highway, and were dropped off just at the edge of the river. We were going to walk straight through the city, but I saw the church and convinced Katna..."

Katna gulped, closing the site and entering in the letters for her new search 'pathological lying'. She hit the first result and started reading. Eyes working down the explanation and symptoms, she gulped again, eyes darting between the screen and Ivan. Her sides heaved out as she went further. Tears welled in her eyes as she gasped for a breath, closing the site and placing the phone beside her. She grimaced, scrunching up her face at the feeling of snakes writhing in the pit of her stomach. She bit her lip, holding her hooves over her ears, blocking out the rest of the conversation.

The conversation wasn't going to have anything real. Ivan needed help. She floated the phone over and opened up the site again.

"It is important that, should any problems persist, professional help be pursued."

Katna shut her eyes. Professional help, the kind Ivan kept telling her was dangerous.

Gleb rapped on the boat's dash twice, looking to Ivan as he turned the boat towards a dock. "Alright, I've got to go do something on the shore. Are you and your sis good to stay in the boat?"

Ivan looked at Katna, and she looked away. The squirming in her stomach gave way to the feeling of emptiness. "I could do with some grazing for lunch," she said.

Gleb grinned. "Grazing, right! That's good!"

The boat pulled up to the dock and Katna eyed the third-to-last plank, dangling broken into the water and bobbing up and down with the river. Up the dock, a small path stretched to a lonesome and sagged house covered in yellowing stucco. An awning fluttered over an open window, and a bicycle sat in the ground, wheels half-buried in the dirt. The dirt surrounding the bike formed the beginning of a path to the varnished wood door.

Gleb threw a rope around the post, tightened the cord, then walked past Katna and tucked a brown cardboard box under his arm. It rattled with the sound of plastic knocking against itself as he stepped onto the dock and towards the path.

Ivan hopped onto the dock and Katna followed him. Finding the boards wet against the bottom of her hooves, she lifted them extra high while walking until they reached the trail. Stepping onto the grass, Katna lowered her head and started eating. She looked upwards, eyeing Ivan as he ate as well.

"Ivan?"

"Mhmm?" Ivan lifted his head, swallowing a mouthful of grass.

"Why were you lying to Gleb?"

Ivan shook his head. "He doesn't need to know where we're from, but I couldn't just tell him no."

"Why tell him it was your idea to go into the church?" Katna pressed.

"It was my idea!" Ivan hissed.

Katna shook her head. "No, I suggested heading inside, that the bells would be quieter inside, that it would be warm. You said it would mean falling asleep hungry, and I accepted."

Ivan bobbed his head around, pursing his lips. "O-okay... I-it's not exactly that important of a detail... What?"

Katna shook her head taking a few steps away from Ivan and resuming her graze.

Looking out the corner of her eye Katna saw Gleb hand the box to a man in the doorway. His shirt was partially undone, and a white strip of raised flesh snaked down his chest. He nodded, and Katna's ears perked.

"Thank you... I-I always worry you're not going to be able to come. S-so I hold off on using the treatment so I'll have extra if there's a delay."

Gleb reached a hand to the man. "Mark, don't do that to yourself, man. You know? It ain’t healthy to skip out on this. What if something happened to you, then who'd take care of Katja?"

The man looked downward, grasping at his chest. "I... I d-don't know. You're right."

"One dose every five days, no scrimping." Gleb patted the man on the back and turned back, walking down the path towards Ivan and Katna. He twirled a finger in the air. "Alright, done, let's go!" he declared, stocking past them to the docks and boat.

Ivan and Katna followed suit, getting back onto the boat and sitting next to each other as Gleb cast off again. The engine sputtered on and the boat drifted away from the dock before Gleb steered it back into the main flow of the river.

"What kind of medicine are you delivering?" asked Katna. "And don't tell me it's a long trip."

Gleb let out a short chortle, shaking his head. "You're sharp, I'll give ya that... Go ahead and open one of the boxes."

Katna used her magic to peel off the tape from one of the boxes and opened the flaps. Reaching forth with her magic, she sensed a stack of pill bottles and floated one bottle out. She balanced it on an outstretched hoof, reading the white-on-red brand name. "Qu-Quatromas..." She floated it in front of Ivan. "Any idea what it is?"

"It's some kind of drug for augments… Umm… Let me think." Ivan reached a hoof to his head and rubbed it while squinting at the bottle. "The transition clinics used to run ads for this on the building screens… Something about preventing immune system complications? I haven't seen an ad for this since—"

"2048," Gleb finished. "The company was bought out by another, and they started gathering it and locking it up so they'd only sell the slightly more expensive one, Neophin. But luckily, yours truly has friends who can get a hold of that, and that way, I can give it to folks..."

"So you smuggle drugs," said Katna.

"And give it to folks who need it," answered Gleb. "Emphasis on give. That man back there? Chemical accident turned both his lungs into mush, got augmented with mechanical lungs. He can't exactly have them removed."

Katna looked down at the ground. "Oh... How are you able to get that drug?"

Gleb sighed. "Well... guess it would come up again... Seeing as how your brother told me all about what you've been through, might as well return the favor."

Katna winced.

"My arm?" started Gleb. "Used to have one, then I started getting involved in drugs. Hard ones. Ones that nobody should take. Drugs that will mess you up." He turned back to look at Ivan. "Don't ever do drugs, alright? It will mess you up, and it'll only hurt you and your sister. Understand?"

Ivan and Katna nodded.

“Okay...” said Katna, unsure why Gleb felt the need to talk like her brother and she were three years old.

"Good," said Gleb, "because I got lucky, and I don't want either of you getting involved because you think it will turn out as well for you... Pretty soon, I got involved in trafficking..." Gleb nodded to the box. "I can't go any further on the who, but that's where I met my suppliers that get me that stuff. But in trafficking, you've gotta have something to flex, show off that you can't be messed with. Used my money to get augmented... Then the money started getting less compared to the cost of doing business."

"Augment rejection, it's not pleasant. You start getting tremors, it's hard to think. Eventually I botched a job. I panicked and ran. That's when my boss came visiting." Gleb stared into the distance, head bobbing up and down with the waves. "She stabbed me—”

Katna gasped, then coughed and shifted on her seat.

Gleb continued. “I stumbled around, mind half-addled. Ended up being found by Father Nazar. He got me to a hospital, paid for that, even paid for my augment to be removed when I asked. Money was more available back then... not so much now. Been helping out like this ever since."

"Your boss," said Ivan, "the one that stabbed you." Ivan gulped, and Gleb turned to look at him. "Was it that Miss Turkowitz you mentioned?"

Gleb nodded, looking back ahead. "Yeah."

"What happened to her?" asked Katna.

"Nothing I want to talk about," he answered.

"Why no—" Katna was cut off by Ivan pressing a wing against her side. He shook his head, and Katna sighed, dropping the subject.

Katna and Ivan sat on the shore, watching as Gleb spread a blanket on the ground, followed by a sleeping bag beside it. Gleb stood up straight with a grunt, then walked to their beached boat, reached in over the side and pulled out a small shovel. He scraped off the top layer of grass and dirt in a small circle, then looked over to the copse of trees, then to the blue sky overhead.

“Say, weather’s been nice. I think we could find some dry wood over in those woods.” Gleb raised the shovel with his hand and pointed to a group of trees just a few hundred feet away.

Ivan stood up. “We’ll go find some.”

“You sure?” Gleb tossed his shovel down to the side.

Ivan nodded. “Of course, then while you make the fire we’ll have some time to graze.”

“Alright. So… Don’t wander too far off.”

Katna rose as her brother turned around. “We won’t,” she said. Turning around she trotted alongside her brother and floated out her phone. She turned it on, and then hastily closed the tabs on mental illness she had still open. She unzipped a side pocket of Ivan’s bag and took the time to float a stick into it.

“Thanks.” Ivan leaned over, unzipped one of Katna’s bags with his teeth and grabbed another stick to put in it. “Say, Katna, want to tell me what you’ve learned about Equestria while you’ve been reading? Or ponies?”

“Uh…” Katna looked about, grabbing another stick and placing it in her own bag. “Sure, what did you want to know?”

“How old is it?”

“About 3200 years,” said Katna. “But that’s when the tribes united: pegasus, earth pony and unicorn. It wasn’t until 3000 years or so ago that Princess Celestia and Luna started ruling over it.”

“Wait, Celestia and Luna, aren’t those the names of--”

“Equestria’s princesses…” Katna nodded and pursed her lips. “Old.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth. What were ponies like before Equestria?”

“The tribes lived separately, and things were pretty miserable…” Katna shuddered. “Pegasi controlled the weather, earth ponies grew food, and unicorns moved their sun and the moon to control day and night.”

“W-wait, moved the sun and moon? That can’t be right!” Ivan looked to Katna and shook his head.

“Well, that’s how it worked in Equestria before it appeared on Earth. The ponies moved the sun and moon, but eventually Celestia and Luna started doing that on their own.”

“Okay, that really can’t be right.” Ivan shook his head. “There’s got to be something more than that, you don’t just move the sun or the moon, let alone both.”

“Ivan.” Katna leaned over and rested her head on his flank as they passed a group of mushrooms inside a glen. “Equestria wasn’t like Earth before it came here. Maybe their sun was smaller and closer.”

“Well, alright.” Ivan collected another few sticks for the fire. “Uh… What other countries allow ponification?”

Katna flipped through her phone, she hadn’t thought of finding that out. “Hmmm…” Going through the first few links she found a straightforward answer on a forum. “The UN as of 2054 recognized 186 nations, 126 allow ponification in some form. However most have restrictions like only allowing it in medical emergencies, requiring psychological evaluation, or age of consent.”

“Guess we know which country we’re in.” Ivan smiled, and Katna giggled in response. Ivan’s smile faded.

Katna’s ears focused on him as she lifted a bundle of sticks into her bag. “Ivan, what is it? Another question?”

“Yeah… Nova Kakhovka has a lot of ponies, can you find anything out about that?”

“Okay!” Katna turned her attention to her phone as Ivan gathered more firewood, his ears trained on his sister. “Pony… town… Nope, just a website for an Equestrian town outside Canterlot. Pony, Earth, town… Hmmmm…”

Ivan glanced to Katna. “Hmmm?”

“The first result is about a community of transformed humans in South Africa, and the second page talks about it happening in other places… No, wait; it’s just comments to the news story. Huh, ‘Transit Towns: Friend or Foe, Facts and Figures’. This looks like a promising article.”

Turning her attention from the phone as the page loaded Katna pilfered a few more sticks from the ground. Glancing back to her phone she cleared her throat.

“Although the number of communities collectively referred to as ‘Transit Towns’ globally varies according to definition, the general consensus is that it is a town or part of a town within which a large number of ex-humans take residency. Typically located at the edge of a city and extending into rural areas, such communities have drawn the curiosity and condemnation of other residents.

“When asked why they chose to move to a new location, the most often cited reasons by the humans-turned-pony, sometimes called ‘cata-ponies’ after the means for transformation--trans-species morphic catalyst--, were better economic opportunities, easier access to those they’d met in preparatory classes, and avoiding social violence in their old homes.

“Between earth ponies’ ability to grow plants, mineral deposits and tame animals for resources, pegasi’s weather manipulation and flight for transportation and unicorns’ magic for tooling and manufacturing goods, such communities generally have the basic necessities of life given a sufficient population and a fair time-frame. Critics however call the tendency isolationist, speciesist, and a symptom that belies deeper societal issues.”

Katna’s eyes scanned over the next few pages on her phone. “Most of the rest goes into details: pegasus weather scheduling, pony participation in markets, concerns of housing regulations and zoning.”

“Sounds boring,” said Ivan.

“Yeah, well, we’ll have plenty of time to learn about where we’re going to live.”

“Uh huh, yeah, sure.” Ivan turned around and glanced at his stick-laden bags. “Hmmm… I think we have enough for a fire now.”

Katna pursed her lips. “Okay, head back to Gleb?” Ivan nodded and turned around. She trotted to keep up with him and they returned to Gleb’s camp a few feet from the shoreline.

Gleb walked over, grabbed a bundle of sticks from Ivan and Katna’s bags, laid them on the patch of bare dirt he had made and set about unsuccessfully lighting it with a lighter. He grabbed a few dried leaves from a pile next to him and added them to the sticks. When he next tried to light it he succeeded, producing a small flame that cast a small circle of warm orange light at their camp.

Katna’s stomach growled and she looked up to the nearby hillside. “Ivan? Can we go get supper before it gets too dark?”

Ivan nodded, shed his saddle bags and stood up. Katna mimed him and they walked up the hill partways, bending their heads to the grass.

Gleb lay half-ensconced within his sleeping bag beside the small fire.

Katna and Ivan lay atop the blanket on the opposite side of the fire. Ivan rested his head and gave a contented sigh, his stomach full from two hours of grazing the surrounding hillsides. Katna had her eyes enamored with the phone, reading with a smile on her face.

Gleb munched on a few energy bars. He stuffed the second-to-last one into his mouth, then held out the last bar to Katna. "Want this?" he asked.

A rose glow surrounded the bar and it pulled away from Gleb's hand. The wrapper peeled back and the honey-soaked oats, cranberries and almonds disappeared in Katna’s mouth. “Thank you.”

Gleb smiled leaning back. "Heh, that must come in handy."

Katna nodded, taking another bite as she set down the phone. "Yes it does," she said, the pun flying right over her head. "So... You give out medicine to people with augmentations who can’t afford it?”

“That is what I said I do,” answered Gleb. “I travel everywhere from Kiev to Kakhovka. Pick up medicine near Dnipropetrovs’k, head north, then back south to pick up more medicine, then further south.” He smacked his lips together. “Full round takes me two weeks I’m guessing?”

“I bet it’s more pleasant in the summer.” Katna turned off her phone and lay it beside herself. “I bet the grass and leaves would taste better too.” She lay her chin on her hooves.

“By the river, away from the cities? No doubt, pines as far as you care to look. Of course the light shows the big cities have at night, nothing to dismiss either.”

Katna shivered, remembering looking at the lit up skyline of Dnipropetrovs’k from the shelter of a storm drain. “I have not really had a chance to enjoy the sights of the city.” She caught Ivan eyeing her, and she looked away. “A-and Pavlohrad, I didn’t much pay attention to it.” Katna’s tongue twisted in her mouth as though she were trying to scrape off some foul paste. “So, any other interesting cases of augments who really can’t get medicine?”

“A few,” said Gleb, “it’s a bigger problem where there’s more cybernetics.”

“Well, do you want to talk about it?” asked Katna.

“Sure, but if I get a little too detailed feel free to tell me to stop.” Gleb adjusted his position so his arm stump braced him up in his reclined position. “A lot of the people I make deliveries to the south were augmented over the course of construction projects in Crimea. Employers offered the augmentation with the pay, and so long as they were employed they got the medicine that prevented immune response problems. Then the construction projects finished, and a lot of them moved back north, expecting there to be jobs. A few of them got the augments removed, but that just left them crippled. I know one man had full limb and spinal replacement. Eventually he got tired of having to pop pills. When he got his augments removed, he had family to take care of him. But… there was nothing left in him, he just ate, and ate. His family not wanting to say no. Eventually he went to a transition clinic and became a pony himself.”

Gleb licked his lips. “Another fellow I regularly make deliveries got blinded in a fire during a riot several years back. Then there was that one woman where the hospital gave her an augmented heart after a car accident. It was supposed to be covered by her insurance, but then they withheld her coverage when they learned she was drunk during the time of the crash.”

“Those are the ones that stick out for me…” Gleb drummed his fingers against his side.

“What happened to the construction worker that ended up as a pony?” asked Katna.

“His uncle was a hard-liner on what he considered right and wrong, ended up threatening to cut off his entire immediate family if he stuck around.”

Katna lifted her head up. “That’s terrible!”

“Yeah, it is, but eventually he made arrangements to live on his own. He came out as a unicorn and was able to get a job at a machine parts factory. Hard work, but he’s no longer a burden on his family. I could tell when I visited him that that was what bored at him when he was there.”

“Hmmm, I guess I understand,” said Ivan, joining the conversation. “I kind of like not eating out of the garbage anymore.”

Katna slumped down to the ground, sighing. "You know what would be nice?" she asked.

"What?" Ivan lifted his head and looked to Katna.

"If when you took potion, they let you go to Equestria, no questions asked. Just bring a boat and pick us up." Katna threw her hooves in the air. "A big boat, for anyone."

Ivan chuckled. "I doubt that'd really work."

"Why not? I mean, ponies evolved in Equestria, right? Made cities and lives that work for them." Katna rolled back onto her stomach. “It’d make sense to live there.”

"Yeah, but the other countries, they would not appreciate the people leaving," said Ivan.

"Well, they aren't doing much to make me want to stay." Katna flopped onto her side.

Gleb shifted, poking his arm out at Katna while looking at Ivan. "Yeah, your sister, she's got a point, not that everyone'd take it, but a ticket there? That'd probably be good for some folks." Gleb tucked his arm back into the sleeping bag and yawned. "Uhewhewee! Late night conversations, where do they end up!"

"So... Gleb." Ivan scrunched up his face. "Why did you decide to keep helping Father Nazar after you had your augmentation pulled out?"

Gleb's brows raised and he pursed his lips. He let out a sharp breath that petered out to a popping sound with his mouth. "Well... at the time I, uh... I guess it was because I felt like I owed him a debt, but..." He glanced over to the boat. "With how long I've been doing this and other things to help, it's long since paid. So... I don't know, I should? I mean, I'm good at it, people need it... what else is there?"

Ivan nodded. "Fair enough... What was it like being augmented?"

"When I had that arm? Ohoh..." Chuckling, Gleb shook his head. "When I had that baby, I felt like I could punch out God, take what I wanted, and get what I deserved. It was like... someone had injected me with a million bucks, and it was only going to get better." Gleb pursed his lips. "Well, that turned out to be me telling a big fat lie to myself..." He blinked for a few moments. "What was it like waking up as a pony?"

Ivan's ears folded downward, and he caught Katna's doing the same. He clenched his jaw.

"Uhm... It was kind of scary," said Katna. "But we have each other, and as I keep learning it gets more...” Katna lifted a hoof to her chin. “... exhilarating."

"Exhilarating," said Gleb. "Now that ain't a word you hear very often."

Ivan chuckled. "Katna's the big learner between us."

"Ah..." Gleb nodded. "So, what, is that why you don't feel like flying? Don't want to read up on it or practice?"

Extending his wings, Ivan looked at them, flapping slightly. "No, I just... don't really see the use."

"See the use!?" exclaimed Gleb, cracking an incredulous smile. "Come on, be real, you don't see the use of flying? Get anywhere without traffic, get a look at things from above."

“Well…” Ivan flexed his left wing and winced. “Before we found Nazar I fell on my wing funny; it’s still a little sore. No point in hurting myself right when I’m learning right?”

Katna gave Ivan a nonplussed expression of incredulity.

Gleb raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Ah, I get it, nevermind then." Rolling onto his back, Gleb yawned. "Well, it's time we sleep. I'll wake you both early so you can eat your breakfast. Traveling with ponies... I don't have to carry a bunch more food."

Ivan folded his wings, resting one across Katna's back.

"Ivan, I really think you should learn how to fly," whispered Katna.

Pulling his head back, Ivan coughed. "What?" he replied in a hushed tone.

Katna looked at him, blinking. "Managing to do magic was... being able to do magic... it's... the happiest I've been in a while." She put a hoof over Ivan's. "Happy, not just content or relieved or not sad, happy... You know what I said before? About things being the way they should be?"

Ivan moved his other hoof, sandwiching Katna's. "Yes... does it... does it make you feel that way?"

Biting her lip, Katna looked back into the fire. "I... it feels like a step in the right direction, just like going to Nova... We are going to stay there if we can, right? No lying."

Ivan frowned. "Lying? Katna, I said we’ll see and if it’s possible we’ll stay, and I mean it."

Returning her gaze to him, Katna stared right into his eyes. He tracked the minute movements of her pupils as she scanned him. What was she doing? Ivan's pulse elevated. Why did she doubt him? He was always trying to take care of her; that's what he did. It was what kept him going. Couldn't she see that?

"Promise." Katna squeezed Ivan's hoof. "Promise me that if there's a home at Nova for us we'll stay, and that you'll learn how to fly."

Ivan looked down at Katna's hoof, the fine salmon-colored hairs mixing with his grey fetlocks. He'd stay with her, even if she demanded he fly away. "I... can't promise to fly."

Katna's ears twitched downward, her pupils constricted, and she pulled her hoof out from between Ivan's. She shuffled away from him, out from under his wing, and lay her head down on the blanket.

Ivan breathed in and out, looking at his sister as she closed her eyes, the trembling in her sides easing to the smooth motion of restful sleep. He grimaced.

Why didn't she want him around?

Deeper Down the Dnieper

Katna stared up from her phone for a brief moment. Seeing Ivan looking down at her from up on the grassy hillside she immediately resumed scrolling through a guide on magical manipulation at microscopic scales.

What was there for him to be afraid of from flying? It was a part of him. They had both had so little in life, and now that they finally had something to help them get by, he didn’t want to use it! He'd plod along on the ground with her, and then come up with elaborate lies for anyone they met who would listen. What if the priest had kicked them out because Ivan lied? Did he think lying would get them what they needed? How can you get what you need if you don't talk to others truthfully?

And why did all the magic guides have such startling connections to her science books?

Katna pursed her lips and rolled her eyes as she set down the phone.

Ivan needed help, that much was clear to her. He lied, and was convinced it was always to help keep them safe. Many times it really was. But why he thought he had to do it all the time was another matter. He wouldn't try to fly either. He had two problems: lying, and not flying. He would likely never see a psychologist like the guides recommended, leaving herself to help him. The flying, she didn't even know why he wouldn't fly.

Was he scared of heights? No, unlikely. He had been quite willing to go up that tree in order to get the crab apples. That left… Katna's head sank, resting her chin against her chest. That was the only reason she could think of. There must have been some mental line Ivan was drawing between flight and merely being high-up. Maybe…

"Hey, Ivan… Remember those skyscrapers in the city with the massive television screens on the side?"

"Yeah, what about them?" replied Ivan.

"Well…” Katna stood and walked up to Ivan. “I was just thinking about how wonderful the view would be from up there if we climbed one of them.”

"I suppose, if we could get through without any troubles. The view would be nice, but we'd be spotted, and a security guard would take us." Ivan worked his jaw and looked downriver.

"Yeah, but…" Katna threw her hooves in the air. "What if we could? Looking down on the world from there, wouldn't it be nice?"

"Like I said, I suppose." Ivan returned to looking at Katna.

"And you… you could just step right off and fly there," said Katna.

Ivan shook his head. "I told you, I'm not going to fly."

"But why not?" Katna prodded Ivan's chest again. "What if I could fly with you?"

Ivan swiped Katna's hoof away from him. "Don't blame yourself for how you came out—"

"I don't." Katna's ears perked up. "I just want you to fly.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” growled Ivan.

“Well I do. So why don’t you want to fly?”

Ivan glared at Katna. “Drop it.”

“No! You’re a pegasus and I want you to be able to enjoy it!”

“It’s just flying Katna!” Ivan tossed his head and stomped a hoof to the ground.

“Then why are you so scared of it if it’s just flying!?” Katna’s brows arched down in a scowl.

“Scared of flying? I’m not!”

“Then why do you keep resisting and making excuses when I bring it up?! Just tell me what it is about flying that scares you!”

Ivan reared up and extended his wings. His hooves flailed inches from Katna’s face before stomping down to the ground. “It’s not the flying part that scares me!” He leaned over and growled. “It’s the leaving you behind!”

Katna shied away from the combined act of aggression and revelation, cowing her head towards Ivan before taking a deep breath. “You consider flying leaving me?”

“Yes!” Ivan sneered.

Katna pursed her lips. “But it’s not! I know you'd stick around."

"How?" growled Ivan.

"W-what do you mean?" Katna tilted her head, eyes wide.

"How do you know I'd stick around?" Ivan bent over slightly to place his eyes level with Katna's.

Katna stepped back, her head recoiling from Ivan as she let out a small gasp. "Because you're my brother! Isn't that obvious?”

Ivan leaned back, then rubbed the side of his head with a hoof. "I…” His brow creased again. “No. I’m not learning to fly.” He turned about and stomped away.

Inarticulate strangled noises escaped Katna’s lips as her mouth hung open. She stared as Ivan galloped off down to the bottom of the hill.

Ivan scowled down at the shore where Katna was helping Gleb pack the boat for another day of travel and deliveries. He wasn’t going to leave her, it didn’t matter what. He left her when he had taken that potion, and she nearly drowned in her own illness. He left her to fetch water at the house, and that dog had showed up. He left her to learn magic, and had missed… one of the most important moments of her life. No more. They were travelling, and he would stay on the ground with her. That was it! But she kept obsessing about it. Demanding he fly away.

Ivan grimaced and then winced at a nagging thought in the back of his mind. Katna was obsessing out of concern, that much was clear, but concern for what? He just didn’t want to be away from her, which was what he was going to be if he learned to fly!

But… she wasn’t happy with that. Why? What did she care about that? She wasn’t even a pegasus!

Ivan stared off into empty space at the wispy trails of clouds along the horizon. His wings fluttered, and he smacked his lips together. He was thirsty, he just needed to get some water. He groaned as he caught sight of his bags being lifted into the boat down below. He stood up, and then stood still.

Katna thought being able to fly would make him feel better. How would she know!? Yes, she had said being able to do magic had made her feel better. And he had magic too, just like her, it just did different things. Maybe...

Ivan turned his head from the river and resumed frowning. His sides heaved as his mind flailed inarticulate protests, until his frown faltered into a look of dejection.

“Oooouuuagh!” he moaned as he sagged to the ground. Why did he think he had to leave if he flew? There was the temptation to run, but, he was her brother. He could keep a perch on a cloud up above, keep an eye on her. If he could fly, he could look ahead for danger to avoid… “Ugh!” Ivan rolled onto his back, wings splayed out in the grass. “Why do I feel like I’ve been drinking raw sewage?” he questioned to the sky.

Finding no answer he tucked his hooves to his chest and gulped, ears folding forward. “I don’t want to leave her in danger if I fly… but… I guess I could keep her safe if I fly…” Ivan licked along his teeth, feeling the gummy and thick saliva. He was very thirsty. Ivan rolled back onto his stomach, folded his wings, stood up, shook the leaves from his feathers and mane and then walked down the hill with his head hung low to the ground.

At the shore Gleb lifted Katna into the boat, then turned to Ivan as the pegasus colt approached. “Hey there, perfect timing.” Gleb pursed his lips, scanning Ivan’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Well… alright.” Gleb held out his hand to act as a step for Ivan.

Taking the assistance Ivan clambered into the boat and sat next to Katna. The filly rested her chin on the side of the boat, eyes drifting left to right as Gleb pushed the boat back into the river and hauled himself into the boat with them.

“Katna, pass me a water bottle?” asked Ivan. Horn glowing Katna retrieved a bottle and passed it to Ivan. He took the bottle in his hooves as Gleb turned on the boat’s ignition and started down the river. He twisted open the bottle with his lips and then sipped at the water. It tasted almost sweet, and he swished it about inside his mouth before swallowing and taking in another gulp.

Replacing the cap on the bottle Ivan looked to Katna. “Uh… do you think you could find those guides on pegasus flight again?”

Katna’s head whirled to face Ivan. She blinked a few times.

Ivan nodded.

A massive grin split Katna’s face as she floated out her phone.

Ivan's eyes glazed over as he yawned, synaptic firings leading to a series of buzzwords in time with Katna's motions, her lips letting loose an incomprehensible slough of terms that barely stuck together. Euler equations, drag, thrust, weight, lift, magical aeronautic manipulation, gravitational and quantum locks. From what he gathered, a pegasus couldn't fly without magic, the wings were too small, but pegasus magic caused the air surrounding him to move and create the thrust and lift needed to fly. Was gravity involved? Or was that in the part she mentioned about ‘myths’? Or maybe that was when she talked about a few difficulties in translating the nuances of magic into human language. His wings were the controls of the magic—whatever the magic did—somehow.

Snapping his jaw shut, Ivan shook his head and placed a hoof on Katna's outstretched foreleg. "Katna, this is a bit much for me to absorb. How do my wings stop gravity?"

Katna rolled her eyes. "Your wings don't 'stop' gravity, they overcome it!"

Ivan stared at Katna, then looked over at Gleb. "Help me out here?"

"Hey, I learned all that stuff in highschool, then promptly forgot it," Gleb answered. "But we're reaching another house, and you two can go chew on some lawn."

Katna's stomach rumbled. "Eheh..." Katna put away the phone and coughed. "Lunch sounds great, Gleb."

With that Gleb steered the boat toward an inlet by their right, and kept it going as he looked back to the two foals. "This stop doesn't have a dock, so I'm going to have to carry you two to shore." He scrunched up his face, focusing on Ivan. "Lucky me, huh?"

Ivan drooped his head, ears wilting.

"Hey, it's fine. Rome wasn't built in a day." Gleb glanced forward, adjusted his steering, then looked back to Katna. "So, how's the magic coming along?"

"Well enough," answered Katna.

"Nice." Gleb killed the engine and the boat floated on for a few more feet. He walked to the back of the boat, grabbed the anchor with his one hand and lobbed it into the shallows before securing the rope on a steel loop sticking out of the boat's side. Tugging the rope he smiled as the line went taut. He reached over to a box of medicine and tucked it under his arm. "First things first," he said, swinging a leg over the edge of the boat and sitting on the edge.

He swung his other leg over and plunged into the water... past his head.

He came up, sputtering and swearing. "Agh! Waters too—The medicine!" He shouted, flailing towards the soggy cardboard a few meters away just as it sunk underneath the surface.

Katna's horn glowed and she reached out with her magic. She pulled her head back, eyes crossed. She shook it and looked over at Ivan. "I can't!" she yelled.

Ivan bit his lip, then jumped off the boat, diving head-first into the river. The frigid water smacked against his lips as the mud suspended in it stung his eyes. He flapped with his wings, pushing himself deeper as he groped around for the box.

His left fetlock caught a square edge, and his right hoof immediately homed in on another side of the box.

He flapped again, sending himself deeper. He froze. Which way was up? He turned about, searching the disturbed waters for any light from the sky. Laying still, he felt himself tugged upwards, his legs straining to keep a hold of the box. Carefully rotating his wings, Ivan adjusted his flaps and saw light filter down to him again. His back broke the surface, and he gasped.

"In my hooves!" he yelled. Something snaked under his belly and tugged the box from him, and he bobbed up to the surface completely, his legs dangling beneath him.

Looking to his right he saw Gleb bobbing next to him, pushing the box along the side of the boat and back in. He pulled himself up, and his arm flailed wildly. "Oh please let the meds..."

Gleb's mouth shut, and he gulped. "I-It's ruined."

"What!?" shouted Katna. Her green mane bobbed into Ivan's view before diving out of sight beside Gleb.

Ivan looked at his sides, eyes widening as water beaded off of him. He flapped his wings a few times, then frowned. The initial shock of the cold water was gone. He kicked his back legs a bit.

"The water seeped into the syringes, the pills are half-dissolved in muddy water..." Gleb threw his arm in the air. "Dammit!"

His hand swung downwards producing a loud slap. Ivan snapped out of his preoccupation with his position in the water and shook his head.

"Dammit! This... this was supposed to be sealed tight... but..." Gleb sat down, his hand wiping at his chest. "Hard to smuggle stuff in full packaging." He tossed his hand up in the air again, letting it strike the boat hull.

Katna poked her head over the edge of the boat, eyes widening as they set on Ivan.

"Anything to get it out, then just toss it back in. You know?" Gleb coughed, then turned around to look at Ivan. "You tried, you really did, but..." Gleb bit his lip, then reached over and scratched the back of his neck. "Man... you're floating in the water like a duck, aren't y-you freezing?"

Ivan stretched out his wings, shaking his head. "I... no... the water just slid off when I got to the surface."

Gleb pointed to the anchor rope. "Could you grab that and tug the boat a little closer to shore?" He tucked his arm against his chest and rubbed.

Ivan did so, grasping the yellow nylon cord in his mouth and diving down, wings working as paddles to drag the boat until he felt his hooves scrape against the sandy bottom.

Hopping out of the boat Gleb chattered his teeth as he tested the depth, nodding his head. "Th-that's pretty g-good."

Katna pushed a fresh box towards the edge of the boat, which Gleb grabbed. She then wrapped her hooves around Gleb's neck, and he walked to the shore.

Ivan kicked with his hooves, also pushing himself onto the shore, the water dripping off of him. Standing next to Katna his skin twinged again, coaxing him into a shiver, then a full-bodied shake.

"Hey!" Katna rolled away from him, hooves flailing at her coat where water spattered against her.

"Sorry," said Ivan, sinking to lie down in the grass. "What happened there?" he asked.

"Reaching into the water... I wasn't expecting it to feel like that..." Katna's ears wilted. "It felt really heavy too." She sat down, looking at Ivan. "I'm sorry," she said.

Gleb stretched out, placing a balled fist in the small of his back and leaned into it. "N-no, you t-tried. T-that's t-the important t-thing. Whew!" Gleb shook and picked up the box again. He nodded to the road. "I've g-gotta g-get this to the house. You two eat..." He shivered again. "I might b-be a while. I need t-to dry off... Keep an eye on t-the boat. Alright?" He started walking to the road, his legs shaking and moving at a jilted staccato pace as he did so.

Ivan and Katna set about grazing, picking between the dead leaves and twigs lying amidst the grass.

"I was worried about you when you dived into the river like that," said Katna.

"I know." Ivan pulled up a tuft of grass and chewed it a few times.

"I... I didn't want to say anything, but... you looked ridiculous floating in the water like that. Like an oversized duck… just like Gleb said." Katna grinned then giggled. "Could you imagine if someone saw us from a distance? Just this giant duck pulling a boat. Like Thumbelina!"

"Heh, I'm sure we'd be a sight for most people no matter what we did." Ivan extended a wing over Katna again.

"We'll probably fit right in once we get to Nova... I really feel like this is going to go right. Since the church... things have been falling into place." She leaned into Ivan and hummed. Her eyes widened. "Do you think mom would have become a pegasus?"

"W-what!?" Ivan sputtered. "Uh, if mom and dad were alive I don't think things would have gone quite this way."

"Well..." Katna's eyes wandered. "I'm... I kinda like it when you hug me like this... but... I'd like it if mom was around to do it to... T-tell me what she was like again?"

Ivan bent over and bit off another mouthful of grass. He chewed, eyeing Katna as he did so, then swallowed.

"She was... caring," said Ivan. "She tried helping me in school, learning things. Like you. She had your..." he stared at Katna's bulbous light-blue eyes. "Uh... she had what your eyes used to look like, and... she was blonde." Ivan coughed. "U-uh. She used to tuck me into bed. And she'd always kiss me above the left eye on my forehead, and I would try turning my head at the last moment so she'd kiss the other side by accident..." He chuckled. "One time I held my hands over the left side of my face, and she started tickling me until I removed my hands."

Ivan blinked back a few tears and gulped.

"She..." he stared off, sides expanding and contracting with each breath. "Whenever I had a headache, she'd give me a head massage, just... rub away the pain." Ivan sniffed, then turned away from Katna. "I... was there..."

Katna repositioned herself and leaned against Ivan. "Do you think Gleb and Father Nazar were right, that there'd be a family to take us both in?"

Ivan lay his neck over Katna's. "I don't know, but... I hope so."

Katna's breath warmed up a patch of his coat. She moved her head up to look at him. "What do you think our cutie marks will be like?"

Smirking Ivan looked down at his sister. "Yours? I'm guessing a giant booger!" He raised a hoof and used it to tousle Katna's mane as she backed away.

"Stop it!" she giggled. She turned and trotted away.

"Oh, I think you should try and make me!" he shouted, chasing after her.

They bounded around on the hillside for a long time, laughing as they rolled in the grass and had their fill of it.

Ivan rolled onto his back, sweat beading on his brow. "Haha! I... that felt good." He smiled up at the overcast skies. "I... it felt like back when I dreamed, when I first took that potion."

"Yeah... you were running with a herd... right?" Katna gasped out.

"Yes." Ivan sniffed. "What was your dream again?"

"I was in some fancy tent," answered Katna. "Were there any buildings in your dream?"

"No." Ivan shook his head. "Weird. Do you think it meant anything?"

"I don't think so," said Katna, rolling back onto her hooves. "The guide says that the dreams can vary a lot, but it's mostly a time for the brain to make the connections needed for walking and stuff."

Ivan twisted around to look at Katna, eyebrows raised. "Potion does that? I thought it was just because... well, because walking on all fours is like crawling?"

Katna walked in place. "Fair enough, but not exactly."

"Does the potion do anything else?" asked Ivan. "To the brain, that is."

Katna bit her lip and looked away. “It varies a bit, depends on the person. People react to being a pony differently. If you can suddenly fly, that would change anybody’s personality I guess. Potion cures mental illness as well.”

Ivan nodded. “Okay… Uh, Katna, I’ve noticed you’ve been looking at me funny on the boat more often. Are you alright with these changes? You’re not regretting it are you?” He crawled over to her, keeping his head low.

Katna’s face curled up in confusion and then she sighed as Ivan settled beside her. "Ivan, do you know that it's bad to lie?" she asked.

Ivan felt something warm and moist against his coat. "Uhh... where did this come from?"

Katna pursed her lips, bit them, then sighed. "You lied to Father Nazar, and you even lied to Gleb about where we're from."

Guffawing, Ivan stood. "What makes you think I lied to them?"

"You told Father Nazar our parents abandoned us, and you told Gleb we were from Pavlohrad," answered Katna. "We've never been to Pavlohrad, and you told me our parents died in a car crash!" Katna pulled away from Ivan's hug. "I'm worried about you!"

"Katna, I do that to keep us safe!" Ivan backstepped and stomped his hooves. Wasn't this obvious to her? Did she have some sort of block in her head preventing her from seeing the truth?

"How!? How is lying about those things keeping us safe!?" she cried back. "People who are willing to help us, and you don't even tell them who we are!" Katna pointed a hoof towards the road.

Ivan backed away. Wasn't it obvious? Of course he couldn’t tell! If the priest knew who they were, he could tell the... If anyone found out about them... "Argh! What is it you want from me, Katna!?"

"I want you to know you don't have to lie all the time! That you can be truthful! That… that it isn’t the world against us! Start by telling Gleb the truth, and please, please, please don't lie to anyone who wants to keep us safe!" Katna set her hoof back down and stared at Ivan, tears flowing from her eyes, her sides moving in and out with her breaths.

Ivan blinked a few times, his jaw flexing. His wings fluttered as he turned from Katna. Could he risk it? Could he just… tell the truth?

He heard a rock skittering across the road at the same time Katna's gaze twitched up into its direction. Turning Ivan saw Gleb running down the hill. "Wh-what is it!? I heard shouting!" He slowed his pace and stopped in front of the two foals, setting his hand on his knee and gasping for air. He looked at Katna and Ivan. "Well... what happened?"

Katna listened to Ivan go over the last month of their journey as the three of them walked to the next delivery spot, the medicine tucked underneath Gleb's arm. She nodded intermittently as he went over each point of particular importance.

"So that was when I found out that the man who shot the officer was a drug dealer," said Ivan.

Gleb scrunched up his face. "Woah, that's tough. That could have gone a lot worse for both of you." He swallowed. "You know I wouldn't do that, right?"

Ivan looked out to the river for a few moments, then nodded. "Yes."

Biting his lip Gleb looked down at the gravel road.. "I uh... if you want... I can tell you what I've been holding back about my past... There was one detail I left out."

Ivan shrugged. "If you want to."

"Yeah... my boss, Miss Turkowitz, the one who stabbed me? She..." Gleb's lips slid over his teeth, and he winced. "Her first name was Anna, and... we were close... like... really close… at first."

Katna tilted her head. They were friends? Why did Gleb say that they were close like it was something strange then?

"She ended up tracking me down when I started this, didn't appreciate me using old contacts," Gleb drummed his fingers on the medicine box.

"How did you convince her to leave you alone?" asked Katna.

"I didn't," Gleb answered. "I made her."

Katna flinched back, mind reeling as she connected the word 'made' to a much more disturbing equivalent.

Ivan coughed. "So... uh, Nova Kakhovka is where you're going to be dropping us off, right? Who are you going to be leaving us with?"

"A family of former doctors that ponified. They all took ‘Swift’ as a first name to get across that they’re related. Swift Stitch, Swift Stretcher, and Swift Salve.”

Katna's ears flicked about. "They changed their names to ones like those of native Equestrians?"

“Wait,” interrupted Ivan, “don’t ponies have their own language? How would that work?” He scrunched up his face, remembering the ‘Pewter Pot’ that nearly discovered him before he could acquire the potion.

Gleb nodded to Ivan. “Ponies translate their names according to who they’re talking to. They like conveying exactly what they see themselves as to others, so if that means using a different language, they take it.” He then looked to Katna. "As for the Swift’s, yes, they did change their names, or at least announce that they’d prefer to be called something else, even if legally their names are unchanged. Some people like choosing a new name to use when talking to strangers. Some want to keep their old name for the way things used to be, others like the idea of a literal name, others... others just want to be able to move on from what made them decide to become ponies in the first place." Gleb drummed his fingers against his leg. He shrugged.

"Are any of them pegasi?" asked Katna.

"Stretcher and Salve are pegasi, but not Stitch," answered Gleb. “She’s a unicorn.”

Katna glanced to Ivan. “I like the idea of being with them already.” A grin spread on her face. “Hey, Gleb, since ponies have… literal names, what do you think our names would be if we were native Equestrians?”

Gleb looked down at Katna and licked his lips. “Umm Pink Seaweed? Because you’re pink, and your mane does look like seaweed.”

Katna giggled. “Ah.. no, I don’t think it works. What about Ivan?”

“I don’t know.” Gleb glanced to Ivan. “Most pegasi names I know are related to the sky, so, let’s see… some sort of cloud? He’s certainly the right color for it.”

“Hmmm.” Katna inspected her brother. “Cumulus? Nimbus? No, they’re missing something.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” asked Ivan. “I think I’d prefer it if some other trait about me besides the fact that I’m grey and a pegasus went into my name.”

Katna scanned over her brother. Was there anything else that was rather telling about him? His eyes were a shade of amber that she’d never seen of a human’s eyes. But amber didn’t really go with anything cloud-based. Her eyes drifted to his mane. It was a pale grey, but with just the slightest hint of cyan that matched the sea-green of her mane, alternating in intensity to form a flecked and striped pattern.

“Well,” she started, “your mane has stripes. Something with ‘Stripes’?”

“Any kinds of clouds that start with an ‘S’ sound?” asked Ivan.

“Uhhh…” Katna squinted her eyes as she looked up. “Stratus, stratocumulus, cirrus, stratocirrus… There’s another but I can’t think of it.”

Ivan licked his lips. “Never mind. Uh, cirrus, what kinds of clouds are those?”

“They’re the wispy-looking ones that seem a bit like a tail.”

“So they look like stripes.”

Katna’s ears perked. “Yes.”

Ivan tilted his head. “How do you think Cirrus Stripes sounds as a pony name, Gleb?”

“Cirrus is an uncommon enough word in conversation, and it’s pretty direct you being a pegasus.” Gleb shrugged. “It would work. I don’t know if just a name would let you pass as a native Equestrian though.”

“Okay, so back to my name,” said Katna. “I don’t really have a cutie mark to work off of. So… Pink Glow? Pink Shine? Sunset Scarlet? Hmmm…”

“You don’t really have any red in your coat though, Katna,” said Ivan. “Scarlet wouldn’t really work.”

Katna glanced at her coat. “Hmmm, but I do like using my coat color. Just not pink.”

Gleb nodded. “Siblings and other close relations do tend to share a theme in their names.”

“So other names for pink...” Katna lifted a hoof to her chin, switching easily to a three-legged gait. “I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.” She floated out her phone and began searching. “Thulian, cerise, salmon… I don’t really look puce, do I?” She glanced at herself again. “No… puce is too drab… so is thulian…”

Ivan leaned over to Gleb and simply smiled, restraining an amused snort.

“Cerise is too vibrant, same with magenta… I guess I’m a sort of a deeper shade of salmon.” She looked to gleb. “Would a pony have salmon in their name? It is the name of a fish as well.”

Gleb looked out into the distance for a few moments. “Well, like your brother’s it is a fairly distinctive word that isn’t used too much in normal conversation.” Gleb leaned over to take in the phone, which displayed a wallpaper background of salmon pink. “And I suppose that is a fairly accurate color description if you’re not going to go with just ‘pink’. Though I don’t think you want to be called just ‘Salmon’.”

“Right.” Katna closed down her phone. “Salmon something… Maybe something to do with my mane? It doesn’t really look like seaweed, does it?”

“Well in darker lighting it does look like pictures of really pristine water in some mountains or seas. A bit like some kinds of seaweed in terms of color,” offered Gleb.

“Yeah, it’s just the color, the texture is way off,” said Ivan.

“Hmm, really good looking water. Salmon Sewer is right out.” Katna giggled. “Sea Salmon, that might make ponies think I’m into fishing or taking care of fish, which I’m not. Uh, how about…”

As Katna began rattling off bodies of water before finding them wanting, Gleb leaned over to Ivan. “She’s not using the phone this time, how does she know that?”

“Slough Salmon?” said Katna. “Blegh, no, slough is a kind of swampland, I wouldn’t want to be called that.” She crossed in front of her brother and Gleb, continuing her free stream of thought.

Ivan smiled to Gleb. “Like I said last night, Katna is the big reader between us. She holds onto this stuff like it’s going to be important some day.”

“Well, this is figuring out what she’d have been named if she was Equestrian. I guess it’s an interesting question, if not important.” Gleb stood up straight as Katna crossed their path again.

“Wait, you said mountain water? Like glacial meltwater or a mountain spring?” Katna’s ears perked up. Her sides shook. “Salmon Spring.” Her tongue moved around in her mouth, testing it as she inflected the combination a few times. “Salmon Spring, Salmon Spring, Salmon Spring… It can refer to a water source, jumping, or the season.” She wiggled as a smile spread across her face. “I like it! Think that would have been my name if I was born a pony?”

“I think you gave it a lot of thought, and it sounds good,” said Gleb.

Ivan nodded. “It has a very positive feel about it: pristine water, bouncing, flowers blooming. It suits you.”

Gleb looked to his right past a copse of trees by the side of the road. "Well, I won’t presume to know your sister that well but I think the name does—Oh shit!"

Katna looked over as a police cruiser pulled out from the road behind the trees and joined the road they were on. Gleb looked forward and kept walking, angling away from the street. Katna followed suit, looking straight ahead. The whine of sirens started briefly, and Katna winced as the vehicle rolled up beside them. Gleb stopped and Katna sat down with Ivan as the police cruiser door opened, then slammed shut.

The officer that walked out from the vehicle wore a tight-fitting uniform, a massive ceramic-insert set of body-armor covering his chest. His head bore an ushanka hat rolled up above his intensely staring brown eyes. His brows arched downward, but a wan smile spread on his features as his fingers tapped his holster.

"Good afternoon sir, ponies," he said, reaching up and rubbing his narrow nose and then his thin moustache. "Why are you walking a road this far away from..." He slapped his left thigh and laughed. "Well, to be perfectly honest, much anything of importance."

Gleb looked around, then settled his sights back down the road. "We were riding with a friend when his engine conked out. He's trying to get someone on his phone while we look for help."

"Is that a fact?" asked the officer. "You know, I could radio a tow-truck and give you a ride back to your friend," he said.

"Oh no," said Gleb. "We wouldn't want to impose, Mr..."

"Dopkil," the officer answered. "What's in the box?" He tilted his head to the side.

"Oh, this? Garbage, and we can use it to carry stuff back once we get it." Gleb hiked up the box into his armpit.

"Hmmm… Mind if I take a look inside?"

"As a matter of fact, I do; you don't really want to smell what week-old Funyun wrappers smell like when you've mixed it in with soda." Gleb inclined his head forward.

"I'm sure I could handle the smell," Officer Dopkil replied. "Mind setting it on the ground?"

Gleb grinded his teeth together then obliged, bending over and placing the box at his feet. Officer Dopkil motioned for Gleb to move away from it, prodded the box with his right foot then looked at Katna. "What's your name?"

“K...Uh!” Katna leaned back. Her brother had warned her many times about not talking to police officers. What should she do? She turned to Ivan, eyes wide with worry.

The officer’s lip pulled up. “Your name, little miss.”

“Salmon Spring!” interrupted Ivan. He coughed and took a step to the side. “My sister’s name is Salmon Spring! Please excuse her, she’s nervous around strangers. And I’m Cirrus Stripes.”

The muscles in Dopkil’s jaw clenched. His eyes flashed to look at Gleb. “And yourself?”

“Gleb Wargo.”

“Well Gleb...” Dopkil leaned over to the box and unholstered his pistol. “I very much appreciate your putting down the box.” He opened up the flap to look inside, nodded and stood back up. “Quatromas. Company that made this discontinued its distribution back in 2048. Mind telling me what you’re doing hauling that stuff?”

Gleb licked his lips and shrugged. “Found it.”

Inclining his head towards the cruiser’s back door, Dopkil reached into his left pocket as he pointed his gun at Gleb. Pulling out a key the officer unlocked it with a chirp of the car’s horn and a flash of its headlights. “For lying to a police officer and smuggling a corporate-controlled substance, I’m placing you, Gleb Wargo, under arrest. Get in the damn car.”

Gleb walked to the door, pulled the handle, and clambered inside.

Dopkil looked to the two foals and nodded to the door. “You two as well. Get in.”

Katna blinked a few times and looked at the cruiser door. Her brow twisted into a knot and she looked to Ivan.

“On what charges?” asked Ivan.

“I don’t see any travel papers on you. That means I can detain you for at least twenty-four hours.” Tilting his head Dopkil clicked his tongue. “Part of living in civilization, ponies. There are rules.” He waved his gun towards the vehicle’s still open back door. “Get in.”

Ivan and Katna stared at the officer, occasionally looking to the car.

“Now.”

Gulping, Katna walked to the car and climbed inside. Ivan followed after her. Dopkil walked to the door and slammed it shut before walking to the driver’s side door and getting in. He turned on the ignition and started down the road.

Officer Dopkil reached to his car’s dashboard and touched one of the floating orange icons near the steering wheel. “This is Officer Dopkil, 10-19 to Kherson headquarters to bring in three 10-15s southbound on T0403. Persons are adult white male 10-29 name ‘Gleb Wargo’ in 11377 of Quatromas; male blank flank grey pegasus youth 10-29 name ‘Cirrus Stripes’ and female blank flank pink unicorn infant 10-29 name ‘Salmon Spring’. Possible 207A of 10-91P. 10-98 out.”

Fly the Coop

Ivan wrapped his wings around Katna, enveloping her and blocking her view of the the police precinct they were in as she shuddered. The hubbub of a precinct office clammered around them as people walked by, typed away on computers—some still bound to a non-holographic screen—and chatted with one another.

“Shhhh… shhhh… it’s okay sis.” He lay his muzzle over so his mouth was right next to her ear. Between a shivering, crying filly and a pegasus sticking to her side, the two of them had been left together as Gleb was brought to a room just down the hall. “Remember, we were just with Gleb, there’s nothing else they have on us. We just have to wait.” Ivan shifted a wing and poked his head out, speaking more loudly. “It’s going to be alright, Salmon, we won’t be late on our trip because of this.” He once again concealed their heads with his wing. “You’re young, just say I was planning all of the trip to visit a family and friends in Nova Kakhovka. If they ask you anything else don’t answer, repeat that we were visiting family and friends, that you don’t understand the question, or that you want to see me. No matter what they say, do that, okay?”

Ivan pressed a hoof to her lips and stuck his head up again. “No! Salmon, please, take deep breaths. What are you afraid of?” He once again shielded them with his wing.

Katna sniffed. “Okay, don’t answer, tell them you were planning it all, I don’t understand, and that I want to see you… Iv-Cirrus… I also have to call you Cirrus... Are you sure this is what we should be doing?”

Shifting his wing out of the way, Ivan kissed Katna at the base of her horn. He positioned his wing.

“I stole potion. They find that out this is over. We are orphans. They find that out this is over. We’re almost there, Katna. We just have to get through this.”

Gulping, Katna asked, “Who do I tell them we’re going to visit?”

“If we make someone up, that could bite us later… Swift Stitch. Tell them Swift Stitch and a few others you can’t remember the names of.”

Looking up to him Katna nodded.

A door down the hallway opened and Gleb was shoved out, three police officers filing out behind him. “Come on, now you get your phone call,” the first officer said, pushing him down the hall and away from Ivan and Katna.

The second and third officers walked towards them. As they strode by the third officer pointed to Ivan and Katna. “Stay right there.”

The officers turned to a counter set into the side wall, poured themselves some coffee and set another batch to brew before continuing among the chest-high cubicles. The second man leaned against the cubicle wall while the third man removed his jacket and took a seat, obscuring his face.

Ivan focused his ears in that direction, as did Katna.

“Sorry about that, boss,” said the third man.

“The man was caught with an entire box of contraband.” The boss rested a coffee mug on his paunch sighed. “It’s going to be an open-and-shut case. At this point it’s just a matter of finding out where it came from and where it was going.”

“And I failed.” The third man rose up from his seat.

“Hey.” The boss nodded to the man. “I said it’s going to be open-and-shut. Don’t beat yourself up, Bilinski. The con was a tough nut.”

“Yeah...” Bilinski leaned back and formed a steeple with his hands. “Which leaves the two ponies they were with. Blank flanks.”

“Excuse me?”

“They don’t have their cutie marks,” said Bilinski.

Katna lowered her head as her tail curled over her flank.

The boss lifted a hand off his mug. “Man was carrying drugs, takes two ponies along with him. Two blank flanks, so... that means they’re foals.”

“Dopkil said the two of them said their names were Cirrus Stripes and Salmon Spring, brother and sister.”

Catching the twitching on the boss’s neck muscles Ivan averted his eyes before the officer looked at him and his sister. “Eh, the mane colors bare some resemblance… Bit of cyan on both. So how does it happen?”

Bilinski shrugged. “Well we do have Belarus to the north, and we know they were very angry when they found they couldn’t just wave a contract at the UN when they decided they wanted to keep a unicorn engineer in their country indefinitely to work in maintenance.”

“Trafficking? Into Belarus?”

“Not saying Belarus specifically, but hey, when someone can manipulate the weather, or fix an engine without any power tools...” Bilinski inclined his head towards the two foals.

“So we get them to tell us what happened, and we can pin this drug-runner with person-trafficking as well.” The boss drank his coffee. “I miss the old days when it was just called ‘human-trafficking’.”

“Which one do we ask first?”

“They’re both young, but we don’t know what that man’s told them.”

“The younger one then?”

“Yes.” The boss drank his coffee.

As the two men left the cubicle Katna huddled against Ivan.

Leaning down to Katna, Ivan kissed her on the cheek. “Remember, I’m Cirrus Stripes, you’re Salmon Spring. We’re traveling to see Swift Stitch in Nova Kakhovka. You don’t know anything else, and you want to see me,” he whispered.

Bilinski and the boss walked in front of them.

Crouching down in front of where Katna sat, the boss smiled. “Hi.” He extended a hand towards her. “I’m Yuri. What’s your name?”

Katna looked between Yuri’s face and hand. She extended a hoof towards his palm and lay it there. “Salmon Spring.”

“Salmon Spring...” Yuri shook Katna’s hoof and smiled. “That’s a very pretty name.” He glanced over to Bilinski. “My friend and I would just like to ask you a few questions. Mind coming with us?”

Katna glanced at Ivan, who nodded and lifted his wing from her back. Looking back to Yuri, Katna nodded and hopped off her seat.

Katna and Yuri walked down the hall. She looked over her shoulder to see Bilinski rifling through a pastry box on the counter with the coffee maker.

Yuri opened a door and ushered Katna into the room. Fluorescent lights beamed down onto a grey carpet that wafted up the scent of spilled coffee. The wall opposite them was a mirror. In front of her sat a desk pushed up against the left wall with a chair on each of the three sides that weren’t pushed against the wall. As she stepped inside the sound from the offices outside grew muted. Bilinski entered the room carrying a plate with three donuts, and shut the door behind him. Katna’s ears twitched in response to the electric hum coming from the lights.

“Well, take a seat little lady,” said Yuri. He walked beside her and tugged on her mane, guiding her to the chair closest to the mirror and furthest from the door. She hopped onto the seat and looked on as Yuri sat on one end of the desk and Bilinski sat opposite her, placing the plate of donuts between them.

“Want a donut?”

Katna looked at the donut, then up to Bilinski. “Yes, please.” Her horn glowed and floated a donut to her mouth. She bit in, feeling sweet jelly squish out onto her tongue. Her stomach growled as she bit in again, and finally popped the entire baked good into her mouth.

“Was it good, Salmon?” asked Yuri.

“Mhmm.”

Yuri leaned back in his seat. “So, Salmon, interesting name for a filly such as yourself. How’d you get it?”

Katna scanned the officer’s face, thinking for a moment. Tell them nothing but a name, who they were going to visit, and that she wanted to see her brother. She shrugged. “I never really thought about it. Maybe you could ask my brother?”

“In a minute.” Yuri held up his hand. “So can you tell me how you and your brother met Gleb?”

Katna shrugged again. “My brother said he could help us reach who we’re planning to visit.”

“Oh? And who’s that?”

“A pony in a town that’s supposed to be close, Swift Stitch.”

Bilinski shifted in his chair. “Do you know why you’re going to visit Swift Stitch?”

Turning her head to the other officer Katna blinked a few times. “We’re going to visit her, that simple. Can I be with my brother now?” Her tail twitched.

“In a minute,” said Bilinski. “I noticed you did magic. Do you like magic?”

Katna’s eyes widened and she nodded. “Yes! Very much!”

“I imagine your teacher was very proud when you started magic,” said Yuri.

Left ear turning to Yuri, Katna closed her mouth. “I guess.”

“Why don’t you tell us about your school? You like math? Science?” Yuri leaned forward in his chair, his left hand on the table.

Katna gulped at Yuri’s questions. She connected the lilt in his voice with the one Dopkil had used, and with the officer who had been shot weeks ago.

“Something wrong?” asked Bilinski. “You know you can tell us if something is up.”

“I just want to see my brother, please he’s just—”

“In a minute,” interrupted Yuri, leaning back in his chair. “Let’s talk about Gleb, what do you think of him?”

Katna shrugged and licked her lips. “He’s helping us travel. Can I see my—”

“Not right now.” Yuri clapped his hand to the table. “Did you ever talk to Gleb?”

“Not that much.”

“Not that much? Did he speak to you?”

“Can I see m—”

“We still have questions,” said Bilinski.

“Did Gleb ever tell you to do something odd? Hide somewhere from others? Stay put when you wanted to follow him?”

Katna shook her head. “No. Now please, can I—”

“Did he ever threaten to hit you?”

“No!” Katna slammed her hooves on her chair. Ears pressed against her head, her tail twitched. “I want to see my brother!”

Yuri and Bilinski looked at each other, then stood from their chairs. “Come on, you can see your brother now.”

Katna hopped out of her chair and followed on the heels of Bilinski, Yuri following behind her. When they stepped into the hall Katna trotted eagerly to Ivan. He sat on his haunches and held his fore hooves abroad to catch her as she jumped to him. She nuzzled against his chest, letting her pulse slow down from being in that… interrogation room. Lifting her muzzle to Ivan’s ear, she whispered, “Said nothing,” followed by the louder, “love you.”

Ivan tightened his hug around her. “Me too. Love you sis.”

Yuri snapped his fingers. “Alright, alright, now come on, Mr. Stripes, my friend and I have some questions for you.” He placed a hand on Bilinski’s shoulder.

Ivan placed Katna back on the ground. Standing up he nodded to the two officers. “Of course.” He walked to them, joining them as they walked down the hall and into the interrogation room.

Katna gulped as she watched the door slam shut.

“Have a seat, Mr. Stripes,” said Bilinski. “Have a donut too.”

Ivan walked towards the chair and held up a forehoof, shaking it as he shut his eyes briefly. A small smile extended on his features as he shook his head. “Thank you, but I’m not hungry. And please, just call me Cirrus.” He clambered onto his chair and looked at Yuri sitting at the chair in front of him. Ivan smiled at the officer. He looked over to Bilinski, leaning against the door, arms folded. “So how can I help you today?”

Yuri returned the smile. “We’d just like to ask you a few questions. First off, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and your sister?”

“Oh! Where do I begin?” Ivan batted a hoof in the air. “I’m twelve and she’s eight, we came here to visit a friend named Swift Stitch.”

“Visiting? Where in Equestria did you live?” asked Yuri.

“We didn’t, we lived just past the Polish border. Our parents moved there with our uncle just before we were born. Just a small group of ponies in the middle of nowhere really. There aren’t even any phone lines near it,” answered Ivan.

“And why are you visiting Swift Stitch from all the way over from Poland?”

“She’s a friend of our uncle.”

“Ah, a friend, like the man you were with?”

“I wouldn’t be able to say if Swift Stitch and Gleb know each other,” replied Ivan.

Yuri leaned back in his chair. “So how did you end up with Gleb?”

“My sister and I needed a ride towards Kakhovka, and Gleb and his friend offered it.”

“And what was the name of Gleb’s friend?”

Ivan’s wings fluttered in a shrug. “He was really quite quiet. I never caught his name, and mostly talked to Gleb."

Yuri lifted his left hand as his eyes glanced over to it for a brief moment. “You see, that’s the issue. Your friend Gleb told Dopkil about his friend with the car that ran out of gas, but our cruisers couldn’t find any car along that stretch.”

Ivan’s ears swivelled towards Yuri. That was wrong, Gleb said the engine had conked out on the imaginary car. “Actually, that’s not right, the engine broke down. Gleb told Mr. Dopkil that.”

“Then how does a car with a broken engine just…” Yuri held up both his hands and waved them, making a whooshing sound with his mouth. “... vanish?”

“I wouldn’t know. As a pegasus I don’t know too much about spells, but I do know that at my home the unicorns loved to move things around with teleportation. Maybe this is what happened to the car?”

Bilinski’s jaw dropped momentarily, then he rubbed his forehead and the bridge of his nose while letting out a small grunt.

“You see, here’s the thing, that place is really isolated. Honestly it was just luck that Dopkil found you three out there. It wouldn’t have been hard to find the car if there was a serious effort. Plus, your friend hasn’t contacted police, which you’d think he would if three of his ‘friends’ went missing.” Yuri put his elbows on his desk, holding his hands out towards Ivan.

Bilinski coughed. “What my friend here is trying to say is that we think Gleb is lying to us, but we need your help.”

“Here’s what I’m thinking, Cirrus: Gleb threatened you and your sister to come with him and his friend, and threatened to hurt you if you said anything to anybody.”

“No, he never thr—”

“Let Yuri finish,” commanded Bilinski.

“So you and Salmon play along, thinking they’ll let you go eventually. Their car ‘breaks down’ and Gleb takes you with him rather than letting his partner share a stake. You’re really close to the coast after all. Your mutual friend finds out, manages to fix the car, and hightails it out of there.”

Yuri leaned forward. “But that begs the question, why no police reports of missing foals? Unless…” Yuri waved his finger at Ivan. “You weren’t always foals.”

Ivan scoffed. “Don’t be ridic—”

“Let Officer Yuri finish, Cirrus,” growled Bilinski. He stood straight and walked over to the other chair in the room. Leaning against it he stared at the side of Ivan’s head.

“You wouldn’t understand, but there are a lot of places in the world where they like taking young people in.” Yuri formed a steeple with his hands. “Getting them while they’re soft, turning them into laborers. They call them workers, but let’s be honest, they’re really slaves. And a pegasus and a unicorn? That’s useful. So Gleb and his ‘partner’ get a hold of some potion, doesn’t matter how, find two vulnerable looking kids, take them. And you wake up and you’re scared. You’re a different species, you don’t know what’s happening, so you agree to cooperate with them.” Yuri placed his left hand on the table. “But you’re with us now, we can keep you safe. You’ve just got to tell us the truth.”

Ivan stared at Yuri’s hand for a few moments. There was the promise of safety and a home, but he couldn’t throw Gleb under the proverbial bus for that. The country taking care of him and his sister was something hollow.

Ivan looked the officer in the face. “I have to say your story is just that, a story.” His wings fluttered. “Now, as you can probably guess my sister doesn’t like being away from me; I would like to be with her again.”

Yuri sat straight in his chair. His brow furrowed and his lip curled. He opened his mouth—

And the door swung open. A man in broad-rim glasses poked his head in. “Yuri! We need you at the front desk, there’s a lawyer on the line demanding that we stop all questioning until he arrives.”

“What?” Yuri stood up from his chair. “Gah…” He glanced over to Ivan and then to Bilinski. “Keep an eye on them, I’ll handle this.” Yuri stepped out of the room with the other man.

Bilinski stood straight, waiting for another minute before saying, “Alright, come on.” He walked to the door and held it open while Ivan got off his chair and walked out. Bilinski escorted him back towards Katna, who was looking down the hall at them, a bright smile on her face.

Trotting towards her Ivan returned the smile and jumped up on the chair beside her.

At the other end of the office Yuri took a phone from a secretary and began a stream of mollifying comments to some man on the other end of the line.

“... Yes we understand your clients’ rights.”

“Then you know that you’re not supposed to question them without a lawyer present.”

“We assure you that we at no point overstepped any boundaries in executing our duties.”

“I should hope not. Am I to understand that you’re holding the two foals for not having travel papers?”

“Yes, the charge against the foals is travelling without proper documentation...”

The conversation continued for almost an hour, a back-and-forth to which Ivan and Katna lay privy to. There were more than a few instances of eye rolls, tongue bitings and exasperated waves of the hand to some of the others in the office. Eventually Yuri nodded, hung up the phone and took a seat when the secretary offered her chair. The officer sighed, drumming his fingers on his belly. He winced hard, ran a hand through his thinning hair, and stood up.

Katna pointed with a hoof to the far end of the office, where three ponies and a man had just entered. Yuri walked up to shake the man’s hand, and nodded to the ponies.

The ponies gathered behind the man, tan and waving a metallic arm about as he spoke rapidly, scolding Yuri.

The pony for which they had the clearest view was a roan unicorn mare with a needle and scalpel cutie mark. Her deep burgundy mane reflected off the lighting of the office. Beside her a pink pegasus mare with a duller cinnamon mane. The pegasus mare’s cutie mark had a light-green ceramic jar with the lid tilted to expose a green paste inside. The pink pegasus extended a wing over the unicorn’s back.

Katna snuggled up against Ivan, who extended his wing over her in acknowledgement of the shared gesture.

The last pony was a blue pegasus with an ambulance stretcher on his flank. Ivan tilted his head, trying to determine if it was a mare or stallion. He couldn’t catch a sight of the muzzle, but the stifle, the part of the rear legs near the flank, looked a bit more toned and less inflated compared to the mares. Ivan guessed it was a stallion.

Turning his attention to the man who was talking to Yuri, Ivan focused on the conversation.

“They’re children, and you’re going to hold them for a whole day just because they lost their papers?” questioned the man, frowning. His head had a cybernetic augmentation. A third of his face, including his left eye, was covered in a chrome-like sheen that shifted to match his fleshy brow’s scornful arch. The red glow of his artificial eye dimmed as his other eye narrowed.

Yuri stood looking at the man. “They were found with a man carrying drugs. It’s fully possible the foals were entrapped in some criminal task.”

“That a fact? What kind of drugs were they?” asked the man.

“I’m not at liberty to say at this point, it’s still under investigation.”

“I think we both know—” The man pointed a metallic finger at Yuri. “—that if you really had legal quandaries about disclosure, you wouldn’t have said drugs. Besides, do you think children would even recognize drugs at that age? Equestria has been trying to crank out those PSA’s, but for kids they’re just that boring thing between shows.”

The man with the glasses from earlier tapped on Yuri’s shoulder, holding up a phone. “Sir? Chief of the department.”

Yuri grabbed the phone and held it to his ear. Cirrus focused on the electric tones coming from the other side of the line. “Not worth it Yuri, if you need a follow-up, Kakhovka is a stone’s throw away.”

The tendon’s in Yuri’s fist tensed as he nodded. “Understood.” He hung up and looked to the augmented man. “Give me a while to get the release papers filled.”

The three ponies: the two mares and the stallion, for the third had indeed proven to be a stallion, were staring down the aisle of cubicles towards Ivan and Katna. Seated on their haunches their shoulders were arched over as their tails twitched and swayed along the ground. Their expressions were knotted with concern, but with a hopeful smile, like people standing on the opposite sides of a canyon.

Ivan and Katna stared right back, held from bounding down the aisle by legal formality as Bilinski stared ahead from his seat beside them.

Yuri stepped up to Bilinski and the foals, and inclined his head down towards the aisle.

Katna’s eyes brightened. She hopped off her chair and trotted down towards the other ponies beside her brother. The ponies stood, ears perked and pointed forward. Behind them, the augmented man sat on a chair with his arms folded, smirking.

Katna stopped in front of the roan unicorn mare, and turned her head to the side. “Ummm… hi? I’m…” She caught sight of Yuri and Bilinski. “Salmon Spring… Is it normal for visits to go like this?”

The roan mare smiled. “Good evening, Salmon Spring, I’m Swift Stitch, and this is my family.” She turned her head towards the pink pegasus mare. “This is Swift Salve.” She then pointed her horn at the blue pegasus stallion. “And this is Swift Stretcher.”

Yuri snorted, then turned and walked away from the gathering.

Swift Salve walked up to Katna and held up a fore hoof. “Hey there, squirt! Ready for an awesome visit?” She winked at Katna.

Katna looked at the hoof, then to Ivan. What did she do with hooves? With humans she could let them grip her hoof and shake… Katna extended a forehoof and tried resting it on top of Swift Salve’s hoof, but the pegasus mare deftly moved her hoof to bump it’s bottom against Katna’s producing a prominent ‘clop’ noise upon contact.

Katna’s eyes widened. “Oh!” She bumped her hoof against Salve’s again, nodding as the mare giggled.

Swift Stretcher stepped forward, clearing his throat. “Well, that introduces us, little filly.” He looked over to Ivan. “And I’m guessing you’re Cirrus Stripes?”

Ivan nodded.

“Ah, I can see the light cyan stripes in your mane, it’s a good name.” Stretcher extended a wing towards the augmented man. “Cirrus, this is Mikhael Orel.”

Mikhael nodded, stood up from his chair and walked to Ivan. “Good evening. I hope this little detour in your travels wasn’t too stressful.” He extended his hand out, enclosed in a fist.

Cirrus bumped his hoof to the man’s knuckles, and nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Sir!? Keep using words like that and I won’t be able to put on my hat my head will be so big!” Mikhael laughed and turned around, walking towards the elevators.

Stretcher and Salve walked to either side of Katna and Ivan, extending their wings around them and ushering them towards the elevators as Swift Stitch led the way. They entered the same elevator Mikhael entered, packing in against each other.

Katna looked over at Stitch, who eyed her worriedly, then gave a half-hearted smile.

The elevator lurched to a stop and the doors opened, releasing the group into the lobby. It was quiet save for the secretary at the front desk taking calls and the line of people seated against one of the walls, a few of them tapping their feet against the black granite floor or fussing over a phone.

The group exited the building through the double set of sliding glass doors, releasing them to the streets of Kherson. The sun set among the buildings to the west.

Mikhael led them down the road.

“Are we going to have to walk all the way to Nova Kakhovka?” asked Katna.

Stitch leaned over and kissed Katna on the brow. “No, Sweetheart, we have transportation, don’t worry.”

Katna’s ears pointed forward as she blinked for a few moments, processing the kiss and the term of endearment.

“Is something wrong?” asked Stitch.

“No.” Katna shook her head. “That just caught me by surprise.”

Stitch exchanged a glance with Stretcher, a slight frown creasing both of their faces.

Katna’s stomach growled, and Swift Salve walked beside her. “Hey, we might not be walking all the way but we still have some distance to go. Wanna climb up on my back?”

Katna glanced over to Ivan, raising an eyebrow as she did. Her brother nodded and she obliged the pink pegasus mare, wrapping her salmon hooves around the adult’s neck, and hoisting herself onto Salve’s back.

“There you go!” Salve cooed.

“So…” Ivan licked his lips. “What about Gleb?”

Mikhael looked over his shoulder to glance at Ivan. “He’s been charged with drug trafficking and obstruction of justice… He didn’t have his bail hearing yet, so we couldn’t get him out. Did the police question you?”

Ivan nodded. “Yes.”

“And…” Mikhael glanced around the group at the depopulated streets of the evening. “They didn’t find out?”

Ivan looked at Mikhael, scanning the man. Even without the robotic eye Ivan got the distinct sense the man was very carefully assessing him and his sister. All of them were for that matter. At least in his opinion.

“They suspected, but they didn’t have enough to keep pushing the issue before you intervened.”

Stretcher nodded. “Impressive. How’d you do it?”

“I told K…” Ivan looked over to Katna and pursed his lips. “I told Salmon Spring what to say, plus a lot of planning on my part.”

The group turned around a corner, breaking the line of sight with the police building. Ivan blinked for a moment as he thought he saw a white flash behind him. He turned about and inspected the street. He turned back to see Katna perched atop salve, wide eyes staring at him. Her eyes were directed at his flank.

“Iva—!” Katna clamped her mouth shut and pointed. “C-Cirrus, you got your cutie mark!”

Ivan looked over, and allowed his jaw to drop. An image had imprinted itself on his flank: a canvas painting of a bird in a cage, and behind that, an image of an actual cage with the door open, and the bird flying away. If the image were viewed as a three-dimensional object, a full frontal view would have shown only the painting of the caged bird, while the actual bird flew free.

Cirrus sighed, feeling a warm tingling sensation crawl across his skin. He’d flown the coop, and earned his mark for it.

Into the Nova

Katna flexed her jaw up and down as she stared at Ivan’s flank. She looked up to his eyes. “Iva--!” She glanced around at their group, then to the surrounding street. “You got your cutie mark!”

Looking again to their group of rescuers, Katna saw them all joining her in looking to Ivan. Stitch held a matronly expression, Stretcher nodded approvingly, while Salve was grinning widely like Katna.

Mikhael’s brows pulled upward as he nodded. “Impressive. Looks like you know how to spin a tale.”

Ivan blushed, tucking his tail between his legs as he glanced over to Katna.

“What’s wrong?” asked Stretcher.

“Uhh…” Ivan looked over his shoulder as they turned a corner. He looked back to Stretcher and flexed his jaw. “Salmon doesn’t like it when I lie,” he said quietly.

Stretcher nodded. “Well, we can talk about it more when we get back to Nova Kakhovka.”

Salve gasped before nudging Stitch in the side. “And make plans for his cuticineara!”

Stitch glanced over to the pink pegasus, who smiled exuberantly. “It’s a big occasion in his life, and I think we could do with a celebration before winter sets in.”

“Uh… what’s a--” Ivan clamped his mouth shut, looking about again.

Katna held up her hoof then cleared her throat. “It’s a party to celebrate when you get your cutie mark.”

“A party?” Ivan’s mouth moved soundlessly. “I… You would do that?”

Salve nodded. “Of course!” She gave a massive wink. “There’s no reason for you not to have a cuticineara just because you’re not in Equestria!”

“Uh… thanks.”

The group turned another corner, arriving at an empty lot. There a group of ponies milled around a blue but rusted city bus. The front bike rack had been replaced with a wooden harness in which two earth ponies were bound with thick padded ropes and harnesses.

Katna tilted her head, inspecting the vehicle. “You pull the bus?”

Mikhael strode forward. “With earth ponies around it ends up being cheaper than continuing to pay for fuel. We’d get one that works with electricity, but we’re still working on our generators.” He turned around to face the group. “Here is your ride to Kakhovka. Had a group from the transition clinic coming back from some classes.” He walked around the group of ponies and entered the bus, taking the driver’s seat.

The group of ponies looked over to the new arrivals. A green earth stallion walked forward. “So these are the ones you went over to pick up? Where were they? They seem kinda young.”

A blue unicorn mare stepped forward, a pie cutie mark on her flank. “Oh goodness! The filly is just so cute!” She walked around Salve and Katna, clicking her tongue. “You are just going to have to stop by my home so I can make you a nice wholesome meal!” She leaned in close to Katna, inspecting her sides. “Thin as a bone! Don’t worry, you’re in excellent hooves now!”

“Thank you for the offer, Mariya. Though the colt got his cutie mark recently, so we could definitely do with planning out food for a party.”

Mariya reared up, pressing her front hooves to her mouth as she squeed. “Oooh! I’ll make sure and think of something.” She set her hooves back to the ground and looked to Ivan. “Interesting, very detailed. How did you earn it, dear?”

“It’s a long story,” said Ivan.

Stretcher stepped away from the group crowding around the foals and headed towards the bus. “Alright, they’ve been through a long day, and I’m sure you all want to be able to make it to Kakhovka without being any later.”

A few ponies broke away from the group and followed Stretcher. The others allowed Swift Salve and Swift Stitch to guide Ivan and Katna to the bus, with the group following them in.

Where Katna expected seat she found a series of low-set upholstered benches separated by stalls, all wooden and bolted onto the existing interior of the bus. The mix of plastic, metal and wood made it appear as though a renaissance fair had been set up there. Going to the back Ivan sat between Salve and Stitch. Katna slid off of Salve’s back and then nestled herself between her and Ivan. Stretcher sat across the aisle on another bench.

Glancing over to Ivan’s wing, Katna poked it with her muzzle. Ivan looked over, smiled and stretched his wing out to press it against Katna’s back. The bus lurched forward as the ponies gathered inside talked and discussed the day’s events, occasionally looking back to the foals.

In the driver’s seat Mikhael assisted with steering, turning the wheel towards where the earth ponies aimed. He also pumped the brake pedal when there was a need to stop. Soon they were outside of the town of Kherson, rolling down the empty highway.

Ivan leaned over to Swift Stitch. “Gleb told us about you before the police found us.”

Stitch nodded, continuing to look ahead. She leaned over and whispered. “Yes, Father Nazar was able to get a message to us as well.”

“Does that mean you know our real…”

Stitch nodded, leaning to Ivan’s ear. “Ivan and Katna; it’s okay if you don’t want to tell us your last names.”

“And you three used to be human. What were your names?”

Stitch raised a hoof to point at herself, then Salve, then Stretcher. “Larisa, Alla, and Adam.”

“And you’re all doctors?”

“I was a surgeon up in Dnipropetrovs’k, while Salve and Stretcher were ambulance workers here in Kherson.”

Ivan’s ears perked. “So did you know Father Nazar before?”

“Only a year before I came down here. I performed the surgery that removed Gleb’s augmentations when I was still human. A little later I found out my sister, Salve, had been laid off alongside Adam, and had ponified. I came down to visit, and the town needed some more people with medical knowledge. Eventually I ponified, and have been training under a Doctor Stable from Equestria since then to learn about pony medicine.” Stitch sighed, turning her hoof over and looking at its frog. “It’s wonderful.”

“Can we stay with you?” asked Katna.

Stitch, Salve and Stretcher looked to the salmon-colored filly, their brows and lips varyingly conveying concern.

Salve stretched out her wing, joining Ivan in hugging Katna. “Absolutely! We’ll make you a nice warm supper, set up another bed for you two…” Salve looked over to Stitch. “Hey sis, do we want to get them a check up with Doctor Stable?”

Nodding, Stitch smiled to the two foals. “That sounds like a good plan. For tomorrow.”

“There’s plenty more for getting you two settled in your new home,” said Stretcher, looking over the aisle. “Bath and grooming, getting you well fed, introducing you to the town’s school teacher Mr. Evra--”

“Planning your cuticineara!” Salve craned her neck to peck Ivan on the cheek with a kiss.

Ivan blinked a few times, staring ahead.

“That too,” said Stretcher. “By the way, can you fly or do magic?”

Ivan shook his head. “No, I haven’t learned to fly, but…” Ivan coughed, “... but Salmon can pick things up with her magic.”

“That’s wonderful.” Salve leaned over to Katna and rubbed her cheek against the filly. “I think you’ll love having Stitch take some time teaching you what she knows about magic.”

Katna reciprocated the gesture of affection, wrapping her hooves around Salve’s withers and hugging her. “That sounds great!”

“And Salve and I would be more than happy to teach you to fly, Cirrus,” said Stretcher.

Ivan looked to Katna; she was staring at him, awaiting a response. Ivan then focused on Stretcher. “Well, I am a pegasus. And if we’ll be staying for a while I might as well learn.”

Nodding, Stretcher turned to look out the window. Yellow lights set among the dark outlines of a building ran alongside the bus before it slowed and turned to the right, reaching Nova Kakhovka.

“Well, we’re almost there. Get a little bit of rest before we have to get off.”

Katna nodded, leaning against Salve and closing her eyes. Ivan shifted his legs, locking his front knees, and then closed his eyes to rest.

A cornflower blue earth mare stepped off the bus, leaving only the Swifts, Mikhael and the foals remaining inside.

Mikhael stood up from the driver’s seat and walked towards the back of the bus. “Well, we’re here and there isn’t too much of a crowd. You can take the kids to your place.” His eyes panned over to Katna, who lay curled up against Salve’s chest, her ribs visible as her sides rose and fell. “Make sure to get something in them before bedtime though. They look famished.” He turned and exited the bus, before poking his head back in. “We can talk more about this tomorrow, Stitch, Stretcher.”

Ivan grunted as he unlocked his knees and began clambering out of his seat. Stitch used her magic to float Katna onto Salve’s back, and Stretcher led the way down the aisle to the bus door.

The rest of them followed out the door, where they spotted Mikhael speaking to a lilac unicorn mare and a man, his portly frame held within a set of grease stained overalls. Both the man and the mare had sets of duffle bags slung over his shoulders and her back.

The mare looked over and smiled as she saw Stitch. She walked over as Mikhael and the man continued talking. “Stitch! We haven’t seen each other in a long time!”

“Miss Pelech! Too true!” Stitch stepped forward and lay her neck alongside Pelech’s.

“Mrs. Pelech. I owe my husband that much, God rest his soul.”

“Of course. I’m sorry, Mrs. Pelech.”

Mrs. Pelech reached up to her deep violet mane and flicked a wayward lock back into place as she pulled away from Swift Stitch. “Don’t go beating yourself for it, now.” Mrs. Pelech’s horn glowed an iridescent purple that encased the bag on her back. Ivan’s eyes widened as he recognized the cobbled-together towel, sweater and bungee-cords of his saddlebags.

Mrs. Pelech glanced over to Ivan and smiled. “I take it this is yours? We were able to find Gleb’s boat hidden at the river shore a bit of the way upriver.” She pointed with her horn to the man Mikhael was talking to. “Jacob here was able to get it back to town. We saw some of the bags and figured they belonged to the foals.” She placed the bag across Ivan’s back. “I take it you’re Cirrus, and that positively adorable filly that Salve has on her back is Salmon?”

Ivan blushed. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh goodness, I haven’t been called ma’am by a young one in a long time! Manners like that and you’ll be making mares swoon when you grow up!” Mrs. Pelech reached a hoof to Ivan’s cheek and cupped his jaw, wiggling her hoof so she squished and shifted the skin on his face.

Ivan pulled away from the contact, scrunching up his face. Mrs. Pelech chuckled and nodded to Stitch. “You take good care of the colt and filly now.”

“We will, Mrs. Pelech, and thank you for the foals’ things.”

Mrs. Pelech backstepped as Jacob looked over to her, holding out Katna’s bags. Mrs. Pelech took the bags in her magic and set them on Stitch’s back. With that Mrs. Pelech, Mikhael and Jacob made their way down the road, shouting farewells and goodnights.

Ivan looked up to the darkened sky above, flecked as it was by white stars shining. “So this is where ponies live?”

“Among others,” said Stretcher, walking to Ivan’s side.

Ivan’s brow creased as he looked to where Mrs. Pelech, Mikhael and Jacob had gone off. “Mrs. Pelech mentioned she used to have a husband. How old is she?”

“Seventy four,” answered Stretcher.

Ivan’s jaw dropped. Looking between Stitch and the empty space where Mrs. Pelech had resided, he shook his head. “Wait, no, that makes no sense. How old is Stitch?”

“It’s rude to ask a mare her age!” piped up Salve.

“Thirty four,” answered Stitch. Salve looked to her sister and scoffed, while Stitch stuck her tongue out at her rambunctious sister.

“But they both looked the same age.”

Stretcher nodded, extending a wing to Ivan and guiding him across a field towards a cluster of houses in the distance. “If they looked the same, why’d you ask about Mrs. Pelech’s age?”

“Because she was acting like an old woman,” Ivan responded.

Stretcher nodded. “She was born before Ukraine was even independent of Russia. Now as a pony she is looking to at least another century and a half of life.”

Ivan’s ears perked. “Princess Celestia and Luna are over a thousand years old…”

“And there are dragons that are even older,” Stretcher responded.

“Wow, Salmon and I hadn’t gotten to that part of the guides.”

Stretcher laughed as he guided Ivan down a trail towards the cluster of houses, a few with yellow light leaking out into the night from their windows. “Ponies just normally don’t think about how long they live.”

“So that’s why the history mentions a thousand years of banishment like it’s nothing.”

“Hmmm, that’s one possible thing that explains.” Stretcher stopped in front of one of the houses. It was an old decrepit husk of a suburban home, buttressed and held together by fresh timber, with plywood on hinges serving to cover the windows. “Well, here it is, your home for now.” Stretcher walked to the door and turned the knob with his mouth, pushing the door inwards as he did so.

Behind Ivan Katna yawned atop Salve, smacking her lips together. “Where are we?” she asked.

“We’re home,” cooed Stitch, walking into the house with her horn aglow, casting the room in a dull pink glow. The floor was clean, and the walls were as well, although the drywall was chipped and was marked by poorly removed wallpaper. Stitch lifted Katna and Ivan’s bags and floated them to a closet where she put them. “We can go over your stuff in the morning. For now let’s get you something to eat.”

Katna lifted her head and blinked. “Our bags?” Her ears folded downward. “I wish I had left my phone with the bags.” Her stomach growled, and she focused on Stitch. “What was that about food again? What are we having?”

“How does tomato soup and hay cakes sound?” Stitch bounded in place, keeping the filly safely cradled between outstretched wings.

Katna felt an illusory rush of warm liquid filling her stomach and an approving smile of Sister Klara. “Tomato soup sounds wonderful.” Her stomach growled.

Giggling, Stitch walked to an open doorway leading to a kitchen as the others followed. A fireplace lay dormant near the sidewall, hemmed in by a series of metal trash cans welded together to form a chimney. Two coffee tables, the perfect height for a pony to dine at without a chair, sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by six pillows. A counter rimmed the room on the right side, providing shelves and a large sink, but no fridge, stove or dishwasher. Stitch’s hooves clopped on the linoleum floor.

“Here you go.” Stitch lifted Katna off Salve and lay her on one of the pillows by one of the tables.

Katna yawned again. “Sorry.”

Salve kissed Katna by her horn. “Don’t be, it must be well past your bedtime.”

“I don’t have a bedtime,” said Katna. “Ivan and I just sleep when we’re too tired to travel.”

Salve looked over to Ivan, eyes scanning him.

Katna blinked for a few moments. “Cirrus!” she gasped. “I meant Cirrus and--”

“Shhhh.” Salve pressed her wingtip to Katna’s mouth.

“You’re safe here, you can use your real name if you like,” said Stitch.

“Unless it’s Butthead.” Salve leaned down to Katna’s face to look her in the eye, her stone face the image of seriousness. “No filly as cute as you gets called that while I’m around.”

Katna laughed at the expression, and soon Salve’s face split into a massive grin as she reached a hoof and tried tickling Katna’s belly. The little unicorn rolled onto her back, flailing her hooves as she giggled.

Ivan walked to a pillow opposite from where Salve, Stitch and Katna lay. Stretcher soon joined him.

Turning to Ivan Stretcher’s ears focused on the colt. “She raises a good question. What would you like to be called?”

“Uh…” Ivan looked to Katna as Salve pulled away, his sister still squirming as tears rolled down her cheeks and her laughter subsided. He looked to Stretcher and nodded. “I guess I don’t really mind either way.” He glanced over to his sister.

Katna sniffed. “What would I like to be called? Umm...” Katna looked to the ground, blinking a few times. “Well, I’m a pony, with parents with pony names, in a town that’s just full of ponies. And I do like the new name. I chose it myself with Ivan and Gleb’s help. I think I’d like to be called Salmon Spring on a regular basis. That’s an okay name for a pony, right?”

“Of course it is!” Salve tousled Salmon’s mane.

Ivan gulped, looking to Stretcher. “Well, I don’t see a point in being the odd one out. I’m okay with you calling me Cirrus Stripes.”

Stitch walked off to some of the shelves, pulling out bowls, tomatoes, onions and spices.

“So, do you want to talk about how you got here?” asked Stretcher.

Cirrus looked to Salmon, then back to Stretcher. “Ummm, not now…”

Salmon coughed, drawing Cirrus’ gaze back to her. She raised eyebrows and nodded to Stretcher.

“Oh…” Ivan cleared his throat. “Ummm… Swift Stretcher. We can stay here?”

“In our home with us.” Stretcher extended his wing and patted Ivan on the back. “Of course. As for not telling us how you met Nazar, you can take your time.”

Stitch looked over to Salve. “Sister, get me some milk from the storehouse for the soup while I prepare the base.”

“Got it, Sis.” Salve nodded and trotted out the door while Stitch diced up the onions and tomatoes.

Looking over to the two foals, Stitch smiled. “We can’t exactly use beef or chicken stock for soup, so we figured out pretty soon that some creamy milk works a lot better than just plain water.”

“Sounds delicious,” said Cirrus.

Salmon, left alone on her side of the tables, walked to Stretcher’s side and sat beside him.

Stretcher leaned down. “Can I help you with anything?”

“How did you convince the police to let us go early?” asked Salmon. “He said that because we didn’t have our papers, they could hold us for a whole day.”

“Oh? That? Well, that’s complicated.”

Salmon cocked her head to the side. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

Salve returned with a jug of milk tucked under her left foreleg. “By putting their butts to the grinder over holding two children, and making a voluntary contribution to the Kherson police retirement fund.”

“Huh?” Salmon looked to the returned sister.

“How we got you out. The stick and the carrot?”

Salmon pursed her lips and shook her head.

“She means that they made noise and paid off the police to let us go early,” said Cirrus.

“Yep!” Salve released the jug of milk as Stitch floated it over to herself, mixing in the contents into a pot and then placing it on a grill over the fire.

“So you bribed the police to make sure we got here safe,” said Cirrus in an even inflection equal parts question and statement.

“We did,” said Salve, sitting next to Salmon and embracing her with a wing. “You two are probably the most expensive arrivals to date.”

Katna looked downward. “You should have gotten Gleb out.”

“He was charged with trafficking. Getting him out would be bail, and that would still mean he’d likely end up in jail once he has his trial.” Salve used her other wing to lift Salmon’s chin. “But if we take our time, we can put together a defense for him when he goes to court.”

Sniffing, Salmon’s eyes met with Salve’s. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“Oh…” Salve wrapped her wings and forehooves around the filly, rocking back and forth. “I know it’s a tough decision, and it just isn’t right in the first place that he’s in prison, but I don’t want to think about you stuck in some jailhouse.”

“We’re not exactly something a court would know what to do with,” said Cirrus, earning a look from the adults.

Salmon looked to him, eyes inspecting his features.

Cirrus scrunched up his face as his sides shook. “If y-you’re going to be taking care of us, you should know how we got here.” He looked up to Katna and gulped. “All the truth.”

“... and that’s when the officer pulled up and after some questions I gave him our fake names, and he took us in with Gleb.” Cirrus leaned down to lick the last dregs of his tomato soup, the spicy and salty paste going down his throat and making it water from the luxurious taste. He breathed out with a shaking sigh. He looked to the door feeling like he needed to bolt from the house. Grab Salmon and run for the hills once more. He breathed, waiting for some sort of response.

“Well, you’ve gone through a lot to keep you and your sister safe,” said Stretcher. “But now that’s behind you. You’re with us.”

Cirrus gave a twisted, doubtful smile. His heart tugged between the life he knew and the life he could have, with his sister, and… whatever these ponies were to him. “Thank you.”

Salmon let out a huge yawn. “‘m tired,” she pouted, rubbing her head against Salve’s chest and belly.

“Oh dear, I recognize that tone of voice.” Salve looked at Cirrus and the others. “I’m going to tuck her into our bedroom. If I waste any time she’s going to start getting cranky.” She stood up and guided Salmon down the hallway that led off from the kitchen. Salmon’s head bobbed up and down as she hobbled beside Salve.

Stitch floated the dishes from the tables into the sink. “We should all be getting to bed, come on.”

Cirrus followed Stitch and Stretcher down the hall that Salve went down, reaching an open door by their right. Inside Salmon lay on her side on the floor while Salve pushed three mattresses together, grunting.

“How does… Nggh! Three double mattresses… sound?” Salve looked up to see her work, smiling at the three mattresses dominating half of the room.

Stitch floated Salmon onto the central mattress before laying down beside her. Stretcher lay beside Stitch while Cirrus and Salve took their positions on Salmon’s other side.

Stitch craned her neck and ran her lips through Stretcher’s mane. The stallion leaned into it and shut his eyes.

Cirrus tilted his head and his ears swiveled about as he cocked an eyebrow.

“What is it?” asked Salve.

“Uh… nothing?” offered Cirrus.

“Oh! The grooming…”

Cirrus turned to Salve, who was licking her lips.

“Uh… ever play with your hair when you were a kid?”

Cirrus shook his head. “No, but my mom did.”

“Well…” Salve lifted up her hooves. “These aren’t much good for that. So ponies use their mouths.”

Nodding, Cirrus licked his lips. “I used my mouth to sew together our saddlebags.”

“Yeah, like that,” said Salve. She leaned over and nuzzled Cirrus on the side. “I’m sure there’s still a lot about being a pony for you two to learn.” She pulled back with a grin on her face.

“But we’re honored to be the one’s to help guide you through it,” said Stitch.

“Tomorrow, though,” said Stretcher. He opened his mouth and let out a loud yawn.

Stitch giggled, laying beside Stretcher and shutting her eyes.

Cirrus smiled. “Again, thank you for everything.”

Salve’s wing stretched out to cover his muzzle. “Shh, bedtime.”

Laying his head down, Cirrus obliged and shut his eyes.

Two Threads in a Tapestry

Salmon Spring awoke, squeezing the hoof her legs were wrapped around. She smiled and opened her eyes, spotting the pink limb of Swift Salve. She rubbed her cheek on the limb and hummed.

“Good morning,” said Salve.

Stretcher and Cirrus yawned, their wings stretching out as Stitch shuffled and rolled out of bed.

“Mmmm...” Stitch smacked her lips together and stood up. She walked to Salmon and nuzzled her out from under Salve’s leg. “Come on, sweetie, you’ve got a whole town to see.”

Salmon wiggled to the edge of the bed and looked up at Stitch. “Okay!”

Cirrus flapped his wings and lifted one leg at a time, easing up the muscles. He bowed, bringing his face to the floor while flicking his tail and yawning again. Stretcher crane his neck, popping the joints, an action that caused Salve to cringe.

Cirrus looked around once he was finished stretching. “What about me?”

Stretcher slapped his wing on Cirrus’ back. “I’m thinking I’ll show you to our weather team first before I meet with Stitch to talk with Mikhael.”

Salve patted Salmon on the head. “I’ll be taking you to see Doctor Clearance first. Make sure you’ve got all the bits and pieces you need to be a pony.”

Stitch nodded. “Hmmm... breakfast for you guys first, but I’m not putting Mikhael off any longer. I’ll meet him a bit before you arrive then, Stretcher.” She leaned in towards Salmon, kissed her at the base of her horn, then walked out of the room.

Stretcher’s stomach groaned and he chuckled. “Aheh... come to think of it, breakfast would be a good idea.” He clopped his hooves together. “How do pancakes sound?”

Salmon looked at Cirrus. Pancakes, white fluffy little pads of absorbent sugary goodness. Salmon licked her lips in memory of the meal she had the luxury to have a few times back... before... Salmon nodded. “Yes please!” she said, following after Cirrus, Stretcher and Salve to the kitchen.

“You two do look undernourished,” commented Stretcher, balancing two pans and a spatula between his wings. “It must have been hell to get as far south as you did.” He walked over the fireplace, set the pans over the grating, and then gritted his teeth. “Nothing more nutritious than grass to keep you going.”

Wincing, Salmon nodded, looking to her sides where the ribs still stuck out slightly. “It gave me stomach aches too after a while.”

“Well, I’m sure Clearance will know if there’s any long lasting damage from that.” Stretcher gripped a fire poker in his mouth and prodded the fireplace’s coals, resuscitating the flames into something that could cook their meal. Flames lapped at the bottom of the pan.

In a coordinated movement of muzzle, forehooves and wings, Salve deposited a wad of butter on the pan, sizzling the greasy yellow substance into an enchanting aroma. Salmon’s eyes fluttered at the smell as she watched Stitch float a brown paper bag towards the sink, and mix the powdery white flour from the bag in with a bowl of milk.

“Where do you get this stuff?” asked Cirrus, shaking his head.

“Flour, the town grows the wheat for that,” said Swift Salve as she stirred the batter. “An earth pony at the edge of town has a penchant for growing a salt crystal that supplies the town. Eggs and milk, we get from some other farms. Sugar, baking soda and the like, the pegasi and unicorns buy from the town with the money they make.” She hobbled towards the fire with the bowl of pancake batter tucked under a leg and poured it out onto the pans before setting it to the side.

The pancakes were cooked and the four ponies sat at the table. Syrup and more milk was brought out, and soon they were all having their fill.

Salmon tucked into her third pancake, lapping at the sugary brown liquid that pooled at its edges. She looked at Cirrus, still poking at his first pancake, then to Stretcher, who laughed as he nodded to Cirrus.

“Your sister has quite the appetite,” Stretcher said.

Cirrus smiled. “Yes, she’s kind of scary when you let her near food.”

Salmon lifted her head from her plate and stuck her tongue out, immediately lapping at her chin to catch a few dribbles of syrup. She then leaned over and, in a few moments, had all but inhaled the last of her meal. She leaned back from the table and hummed.

Salve looked up from her own meal and smiled at Salmon. “Bet it’s really neat to see things come together for a group of ponies, huh squirt?”

Salmon giggled and inclined her head as Salve finished off her own meal.

Salve walked up to Salmon and lipped at her mane. “Ready to see Dr. Clearance, dear?”

Nodding, Salmon stood up and turned to the pink mare. She leaned in and nuzzled Salve before following.

Casting a glance over her shoulder, Salve smiled at Stretcher. “We’ll meet you and Stitch at Mikhael’s in a few hours, okay?”

“Yes dear!” called Stretcher, before he bit down on a plate and carried it to the sink.

At the front door, Salve held the door open for Salmon, and the filly stepped out into the daylight.

The grass was greener than the faded lawns and fields Salmon had walked through, the sun was already shining through a small cloudless patch in the sky, save for two nimbus clouds floating by the right. She tilted her head. The clouds looked lower to the ground, didn’t move along as the clouds higher up did, and looked more... solid, tightly packed, at least to her.

“Those are the clouds the pegasi formed to water the fields,” said Salve, poking Salmon’s side as she walked along.

Salmon shook her head, then followed, eyes wandering the town in the morning. Stallions and mares tended house exteriors and lawns, or applied themselves to garden plots in the backyard. In one garden, an earth pony was bent over a sapling, whispering a lullaby while a nearby unicorn was floating out bulbs and inserting them in garden boxes hanging from a window sill. Pegasi flitted about overhead, wings outstretched and zooming along, often with a set of bags draping off their backs. One house had an earth pony sitting by the side, mouth wrapped around a drill, its tongue pulling the trigger and pushing the screw into some wooden planks as a unicorn floated another screw in place for him.

Gulping, Salmon’s ears wilted as she looked all around, an appreciable gap in the demographic. While there were a fair number of adults, there were only a few foals, and all of those looked to be appreciable younger, their massive heads like balloons compared to the rest of their bodies, the whites of their eyes still rather small. She winced, no ponies her age. She pressed against Salve’s side.

The pegasus mare followed Salmon’s eyes as they kept walking, and nodded. “I know, nobody your age.”

The crowd eventually became a mix of humans and ponies, and Salve turned towards another house with a plank of wood nailed to the door frame, the name ‘Dr. Clearance’ painted onto it with such fine detail it seemed to Salmon to have been typed. Soft yellow curtains lay behind the intact glass windows.

Salve opened the door and ushered Salmon inside. She shut the door behind them and called out. “Dr. Clearance!”

“Coming!” shouted someone from deeper inside the house. Salmon kicked at the linoleum floor, examining her shadow. She looked up as a door on the right opened revealing a brown unicorn stallion in lab coat and a stethoscope dangling from his neck. “Ah! Salve, wonderful to see you... and...”

“Salmon Spring,” said the filly.

“Hello, Salmon Spring, how are you doing today?”

“I’m doing well enough now that I’m here, I guess,” Salmon answered.

“Ah!” Dr. Clearance walked to Salmon’s left and raised a hoof before looking to Salve. “Erm, I have to say, her Ukrainian is impeccable, how old is she?”

“Eight,” said Salmon, a slight huff to her voice. “Isn’t it rude to talk about others like they aren’t there?”

Dr. Clearance brought the raised hoof to his mouth for a moment before pointing it to Salmon. “Right… Salmon, are you a native Equestrian?”

Salmon looked to Salve. The mare nodded, and Salmon looked back to Dr. Clearance, shaking her own head. “No.”

Dr. Clearance’s ears perked up as he turned his head to look at Salve. “What? How? Oh, did she travel somewhere with fewer regulations? Equestria perhaps? Then she came back? Not without precedence, a lot of humans go to other countries to have experimental medical procedures performed when they’re desperate. Huh!” Dr. Clearance flinched away from Salmon even as he looked back to her. “You wanted this right? It wasn’t an accident?” His vision snapped to Salve. “Who found her? I sincerely hope she wasn’t forcefully transformed. I think that would be the first time in the Ukraine...”

“Dr. Clearance!” Salve talked over the stallion, “Please, one session of interrogation is enough within two days. Two foals were coming here with Gleb, but they got caught by the police. Mikhael, my sister, Stretcher and I were able to get the foals out of there. Hadn’t Stitch told you we were expecting arrivals?”

“Oh.” The doctor looked over his shoulder. “Was she going to tell me after one of our teaching sessions? If so, I may have brushed her off a bit too quickly last time for her to get a word in edgewise.”

Salve tittered. “That... I can believe. Anyway...” She stepped to the side and waved her wing before Salmon. “I present to you Lady Salmon Spring of the Dnieper River, sister to Sir Cirrus Stripes.”

Salmon giggled at the dramatic flourish.

Dr. Clearance’s expression remained flat. “You never are going to forgive me for having mistaken your name for that Equestrian noble, will you?”

Salve shook her head. “Nope!”

“Nevertheless.” Dr. Clearance’s ears wilted. “Given that she’s among the catalyzed...” He lifted a hoof towards Salmon. “This certainly complicates matters. But come! In! In! We can discuss it in my office.” He turned around and led Salmon and Salve back through the door he came and into a tightly packed office crammed with a holodesk with a multitude of wires running up to the ceiling, two bookshelves stuffed, one devoted to pony and the other to human physiology, three chairs on one side of the desk, an office chair opposite it, and a plastic tote container filled with glassware.

Dr. Clearance however led them right through the back door into another room, its white linoleum holding up an examination table in one corner and a counter in another. His horn glowed and a switch flipped, causing the examination table’s hydraulic system to lower it. “Go on up on that, Salmon,” he instructed.

Looking to Salve, Salmon raised an eyebrow. When she nodded, Salmon shrugged and did as told, sitting on the bench and looking to the doctor. He set up his stethoscope then pressed the metal disk to her chest. Cold!

Dr. Clearance smiled at Salmon, then pursed his lips. “So, Salmon, you... took potion... willingly?”

She nodded.

“Where did you find it?”

Salmon bit her lip. “Promise not to tell anyone?”

Sighing, Clearance turned to Swift Salve. “Care to leave the room? Patient/doctor confidentiality.”

“N-no.” Salmon reached a hoof to Clearance. “Just promise not to tell anyone.”

“So you’re alright with Salve knowing?” asked Clearance.

“I already do,” said Salve.

“Ah, I see, just want to make sure I don’t go telling anyone else. Well, patient/doctor confidentiality has it that I do not share the details of our discussions or my examination with anyone without your consent, unless if I believe there is a clear threat to the safety of you or someone else that relates to that.” Clearance nodded at Salmon. “In other words: any secrets are safe with me.”

Salmon leaned forward. “My brother took some from a clinic. I was very sick,” she whispered.

Dr. Clearance nodded. “Did you dream immediately afterwards?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Dr. Clearance removed his stethoscope and floated a blood-pressure cuff to Salmon’s foreleg. “Can you tell me what your real name is?”

Salmon frowned. “I want to be called Salmon Spring.”

“Of course, dear, but please, you do know your other name then?”

Pursing her lips, Salmon looked past Dr. Clearance. Her brother wouldn’t want her talking about such things to a stranger. Sometimes she thought he didn’t like talking about such things at all. She glanced over to Swift Salve, who was smiling gently. Salmon trusted her, and she trusted Dr. Clearance. She didn’t like it, but she was willing to oblige.

“Katna Pribula.” She rolled her eyes.

“How old are you, Salmon?”

“Eight.”

Leaning over to the side, Dr. Clearance nodded at Salmon’s blank flank. Her tail curled, covering it.

“And can you tell me any of the specifics of your life before you transformed?” He raised his eyebrows while removing the blood-pressure cuff.

Salmon grimaced, then sighed. “Our parents died, then my brother and I went from orphanage to orphanage until we got out and started heading south. Then I got sick in Kiev and that was it. Can I go now?”

Floating out a popsicle stick towards Salmon’s mouth, Clearance cleared his throat. “Would you care to open your muzzle and say ‘ah’ for me please?”

“Ah!”

Clearance stuck in the popsicle stick and pressed her tongue down. “We’ll be done in just a little more time. Think you can be patient until then?”

“Oochay, huh he kich,” said Salmon, keeping her mouth open.

“Thank you, I’ll be as quick as I will be thorough. Hmm… a bit of plaque build-up, but I think regular brushing and a visit to a cleaner should have you right as rain.” Clearance tossed the popsicle stick into the garbage, then brought out an otoscope and checked her ears with its bright light. “Do you make sure to dry inside your ears thoroughly after bathing?”

“Uh, Cirrus was thorough with that after my bath a month ago,” answered Salmon.

Clearance then shone the light up Salmon’s nose. “What color would you describe your mucus?”

Salmon scrunched up her face. “Ew, why do you want to know?”

“All part of the check up, and it’s clear by the way.” Moving the otoscope to point at her eyes, Clearance smiled. “Mind showing off your pretty eyes and opening them wide?”

Salmon held her eyes open as wide as possible, tearing up as the light shone at them.

“Pupils react to light, no sign of foreign bodies in the eye.” Clearance hanged up his otoscope and then looked to Salmon’s hooves. “Stand please.”

Salmon sighed, but obliged. He then inspected her hooves individually. “No cracking in the hoof walls, no deep punctures in the frog, relatively clean. You do a very good job taking care of your body, don’t you Salmon?”

Blushing, Salmon nodded. “The guides online really helped.”

“One of the more useful things on there if I say so myself,” he nodded. “Have you performed any magic?”

“Yes, I can lift a few things. Nothing too heavy though.”

“Wonderful! Self-taught?”

Salmon nodded. She channeled her magic briefly to tug on the collar of Clearance’s lab coat. “With the help of those guides.”

Floating over a notebook and pen from a desk, Clearance jotted down a few notes. “Well, Salmon, I’m happy to say you’ve suffered no ill consequences from the potion, and have been doing a wonderful job taking care of yourself given the circumstances.” He leaned over, inspecting her sides. “Barring a minor case of malnutrition, but I take it Salve and the others are correcting that?”

“Yes! She made us pancakes this morning!” Salmon looked over to the switch that operated the table she was on. “So is that it?”

Horn glowing, Clearance flipped the switch and sent the examination table ascending. “Yes.”

Salmon hopped off the table and wiggled about before trotting to Salve. “I think that stethoscope needs to be warmer.”

Dr. Clearance laughed. “Me too, me too.” He looked over to Salve. “So, when can I expect to see her brother?”

“We’re going to meet up with my sister at Mikhael’s, after which you can expect to see him.” Salve looked to the clock hanging by one of the bookshelves. “Though we might have lunch first.”

Dr. Clearance nodded, then led them to the examination room’s exit, bringing them back into his office. He took a seat in his office chair, and a hologram flickered to life before him. “Do either of you have any questions?”

Salmon glanced over to Salve and jumped onto one of the chairs. “Am I going to get sick from what I had when I was human?” she asked.

Clearance raised his brows. “What were the symptoms? Or do you know what you were sick with?”

“I had a really bad cough. It was painful to breath, I could barely walk, and before I got potion I was coughing up blood.”

“How long had that been going on?”

“It started getting noticeable by Kiev? So over a few months?”

“Hmm… bit slow for pneumonia. Any rashes?”

Salmon shook her head.

“Not Red Skin, definitely too slow for that anyway. It might have been tuberculosis. But really, without having seen you at the time it’s an educated guess at best, and any number of things these days cause lung troubles. For all we know it could have even been lung cancer.”

Clearance inclined his head. “But, you now have a pony body and we’re so different from any Earthly organism that disease transmission isn’t possible. And if you’re worried about Equestrian diseases, the potion has several vaccine cultures suspended in it which activate the body’s immune system over the following two weeks. That covers some of Equestria’s nastier diseases. Is that all you have for questions?”

Salmon pursed her lips. “I-I think so.”

“Something wrong?” asked Clearance.

“No.” Salmon shook her head and took a deep breath. “I just… like the idea that I’m not going to have to worry about getting that sick again.” She took another breath, shakier this time. “Thank you, Dr. Clearance.”

“You’re most certainly welcome…” Clearance glanced over to Swift Salve. “Lady Salmon Spring of the Dnieper.”

Salmon smiled and giggled.

Staring up into the wide blue sky, Cirrus let his jaw hang loose as fifteen pegasi, Stretcher among them, flew overhead pushing a cloud around the town. Intermittently, another pegasus or two would dart up to it, embrace the mass with their hooves, and with a few flaps, break off a chunk of cloud to carry it over a garden plot. There, they would proceed to stomp on it, prompting a downpour onto the garden or, for a few, into a funnel that led into haphazardly constructed water-towers.

Swift Stretcher took off from the cloud and glided back down to Cirrus. The colt blinked for a few moments, stretching out his wings. He looked at them, then back to the cloud as it moved on, Stretcher's place filled in by a butterscotch pegasus mare.

Cirrus looked to Stretcher and smiled. “So... did it take long to learn?”

Stretcher’s wings fluffed up in a shrug-like gesture. “It was about a month before I was confident flying without others nearby, but...” He reached a hoof to his head and knocked on it for a few seconds. “It came to me like a fish to water. Part of the things a potion does to ease things over.”

Cirrus bent his head back and preened a few feathers, then folded them back up. “Do you think I’ll be able to?”

Stretcher walked around Cirrus, using his hooves to stretch the colt’s wing out again. “How old are you?” he asked, looking up and down Cirrus’s legs.

“Twelve,” answered Cirrus.

“Well, I don’t see you having any troubles except getting the muscles back in shape,” said Stretcher. “So yes, I think you’ll be able to fly, but we’ll check in with Dr. Clearance before we make our first try. He used to work at the transition clinic in Kherson, he’d monitor the transformations.”

“Why’d he leave there?” asked Cirrus, beginning to follow Stretcher down the road after the wing inspection was done.

“Officially, to give him time to have a leave to Equestria for rest and relaxation. Unofficially, to help out here.” Stretcher took a left, leading them towards a building that was constructed purely from logs that looked to be from the forest. Windowless, it appeared more like something had placed a great, brown rough-surfaced brick at the end of the road and carved out a door as an afterthought. “Come on, we’re supposed to meet Salve, Stitch, and your sister at Mikhael’s.” Stretcher broke into a trot, and Cirrus followed suit, stopping at the outside of the house.

A faint mumbling came out through the walls, and Cirrus walked to the door.

“Just wait out here until Salve comes with your sister,” said Stretcher. He opened the door and stepped inside.

Cirrus shrugged, then pressed his ear to the door. This ‘Mikhael’ had played an important part in gaining the freedom of his sister and him. He was honestly curious as to his relation with Gleb, Father Nazar, and potentially the future of his sister and himself.

“Ah, good day, Stretcher.”

“Please, just continue where you were before I got here.”

“Ah… Well, frankly, this is bad, very bad. Gleb is in custody. Drug trafficking, interfering with police business, and as I understand it they’re still looking for an angle to nab him for kidnapping. At least the two kids are safe here with us.” There was a loud thump following the masculine voice’s declaration.

“I know it is bad; do you think we can get him bail?” asked Stitch.

“That’s assuming he’s even allowed... Have we considered letting the foals come out with what happened? Might lessen his sentence, remove the kidnapping charge.”

Cirrus’s eyes widened. He felt his blood chill as it sank to his hooves.

“Briefly, but he’d still be put in jail, unless he gave up his connections where he got the medicine.”

“So, sell the foals and axe our medicine providers, and maybe, maybe get Gleb out after only, what? Three years?” asked Mikhael.

“It seems like that’s one option,” replied Stitch, “but we can’t do that to the foals. If they were separated, I... none of us could stand to live with that.”

Cirrus sighed in relief.

“It’d be a stupid thing to do anyway. Just putting it out there so we know we’re all in disagreement about that.”

“Which leaves how we tell any of the augments in town...”

“Ugh... Exactly, and what I’m going to do myself...”

“Is it possible for the town to start a collection of money for them? Pay for the medicine through the transition clinic’s augment branch?” suggested Stretcher.

“Well... the earth ponies and pegasi pretty much cover food until the four horsemen of the apocalypse arrive. We have the generators for electricity, but they still aren’t providing power to every house. So the money unicorns bring in from working at the factories is almost pure profit for getting supplies from the city... But that cuts into the funds for getting Nova officially recognized on a map again... Recognize the people here.” There was some slow clapping from within the building, and Mikhael continued. “What was that figure Dr. Clearance estimated for how many people have gone pony in the last four years within the country?”

“Fifty thousand,” Salve replied.

“That’s... another forty-five thousand spread across the country. Most of them formerly homeless, unemployed, or destitute after illness. If we worked together, we could get a recognized municipality, organize a town government that the country would have to recognize, and we could start constructing a real infrastructure without the government pulling crap like requiring permits that take months to get approved. Establish businesses to sell what we produce across the country... How is food production coming along? Hold that thought, I’ll calculate... Carry the four... Yeah, about thirty percent of what we grow ends up going to waste because we’re not a recognized agricultural combine so we can’t legally sell, and that number gets bigger the more people we manage to get here!”

There was another thump inside, and Mikhael laughed. “Welcome to the future! The singularity they called it! When scarcity could be dealt a death blow! For the people that managed to get these augments!”

“Mikhael...”

“But, hey, even if we have robots able to manufacture everything, there’s still the matter of who gets what and how much of the everything. Am I right?”

“Mikhael, I can smell that you’re stressed.” Hooves clopped in the interior. “I know you’re scared. We’re here for you; you know you can talk to us,” said Stitch.

Cirrus lifted an eyebrow, sat on the doorstep and shifted his head to the right a little.

“I’m thinking that we might end up really having to do it alone, the town, everything, and just hope nobody up top takes notice,” said Mikhael.

“Well, we can make it as a community, that’s for sure,” said Stretcher.

“Hmmm... I’m just worried that if they don’t leave us alone, and I end up transforming, that I’m not going to find any of them willing to listen.”

“Is that what you’re worried about? Not being able to help if you change?”

“It’s what I do? Isn’t it? I’m a blood-sucking lawyer right now, who’ll sue entire departments into the red at present. But some day someone is going to call the bluff.”

Cirrus clenched his teeth and swivelled his ears to cup the door as he tried to listen as the conversation grew hushed.

“You’re being cynical. You become a pony, we start organizing this place to get back into the world. Build our own generators, make the power lines, build the houses, find jobs, live and thrive. What are they going to do? Say no? Cut the power, tear down the walls, fire us to be replaced by robots? Tell us, ‘No, you’re animals now, you’ve abandoned the life we promised you, go into the forests and hide from us?’ Nothing like that is going to happen. Not to fifty thousand of us. Not when we laugh and love and can take care of ourselves if they just clear out of the way, right?”

Gulping, Cirrus waited for the pause to be broken. Instead, it became pregnant in the intervening seconds.

“You’re right,” said Mikhael, joined with the sound of a chair squeaking. “It’s like Father Nazar said, I’ve got to keep faith that society will know when not to act as much as when to act. When’s the next trip into town scheduled?”

“Richard and Marsh Marcher will be pulling that old school bus to town tomorrow morning,” answered Salve.

“Richard, how long has he been an earth pony?” asked Mikhael.

“Two... and a half years,” replied Salve. “Why?”

“I’m going to have to talk with him about arranging to take me to the clinic over the next two weeks,” said Mikael. A short laugh, practically a bark, bit the air a moment later. “Welcome to the singularity! Where nobody can predict the future! I never imagined it would mean going four-legs instead of machine-man!” There was another thump, presumably Mikhael taking a seat. “Stitch, your sister Salve’s coming over with the filly soon, right?”

Cirrus caught the sound of his sister giggling in the distance, and he scuttled back from the door and sat beside the path leading to the door.

As Salmon and Salve approached, the pink pegasus mare tilted her head and tutted. “Had your fill of listening in on other's conversations?”

Cirrus looked away from Salve, only to see Salmon’s own brow curled up in disappointment. “Cirrus…”

“Uhm... yeah...” stammered Cirrus. Eugh, that felt nasty, that face she gave, I don’t want to see it again. “Uhm... Salve, promise me you’ll never keep anything from me that deals with our being here?”

Salve nodded. “That’s why I’m not angrier with you,” she sighed. “Next time, just ask.”

Cirrus inclined his head, then looked over to the house as the door opened letting Stitch, Stretcher and Mikhael walk out. Mikhael’s augmented arm still glinted despite the overcast sky. He looked over to Cirrus and nodded, smiling, then turned to walk around his house, and out of sight.

Stitch walked up, pursing her lips. She looked up at Cirrus, smiled weakly, then lay her neck across his in a hug. “Gleb’s in prison... We’re... we’re going to be taking care of you and Salmon.”

Cirrus bit his lip. “Stitch,” he said, prompting the mare to look back at him. “I...” Cirrus breathed out his nose and shut his eyes for a moment. “I listened in on your conversation with Mikhael.” He opened his eyes, looking to his sister. “Do you think that if Salmon and I came forward, it would help?”

Salve stopped and backstepped to Cirrus’ side, embracing him with her wing. “I don’t know, but even then, he was trafficking drugs.”

“Medicine!” protested Salmon, shaking her head. “It was medicine, and it was to help people!” She frowned.

Salve sighed. “You’re right, it was medicine, and it was going to be used to help people. But he got it the...” Salve flexed her jaw as though she had just bitten into a piece of dirt. “... wrong way.” She bit her lip and rolled her eyes. “Ugh!” she grunted, sending out a bit of saliva into the air. “This shouldn’t happen!” she exclaimed. Turning around, she tossed her head and huffed. “Come on, let’s get some lunch, then a checkup with Dr. Clearance for Cirrus.”

Lowering his head to the plate before him, Cirrus nibbled on the hay cake in front of him, then looked around the dining room of the Swift’s home once more.

His examination with Dr. Clearance, while uncomfortable for all the questions, most of which he let Salmon answer along with a nod of confirmation, had given him a clean bill of health, leaving only the question of what he and Salmon would do. He ran the checklist through his head, a myriad of options that distracted from the flavorful meal he partook.

The first option, to keep moving south, was immediately undesirable. Nova was a place to live, not just survive. Stitch and Dr. Clearance could teach Katna magic, and Stretcher and Salve could help him fly. There was food, shelter and, as Cirrus watched Swift Stitch and Salve dote upon Salmon by sharing some of their vegetables into the bottomless hole of the filly’s stomach, he realized there was love as well.

After that, there was the choice to stay, which opened a slough of options regarding Gleb, the Swifts, and the government.

With Gleb, if they went to the police, and told them straight-up that they had been human children, that Cirrus had gone into that clinic, stolen potion and used it unlawfully on both of them, Cirrus and Salmon stood to lose each other, and the Swifts. The food stuck in his throat as Cirrus thought of that word, unlawfully. He wondered what it would be like, walking up to the stand and saying that he had done something illegal so that he and his sister might live with some dignity.

Cirrus coughed, his hoof coming up to his mouth. He shook his head when Stretcher reached out to him with a wing. He lapped up some water from a bowl, then sighed.

He wasn’t a human, he was a pony, and would never be otherwise, but the struggle to be more than an animal was still present. Cirrus blinked, staring forward for a few moments in thought. He shrugged and continued eating, the sweetness failing however to register, and he winced at the thought of leaving Gleb to false accusations for his sake. For Salmon however... he couldn’t ruin her life for that.

“Salve, do you have any idea when Gleb is going to have his bail hearing?” asked Cirrus.

The pegasus mare looked away from Salmon and swallowed. “I’m not absolutely certain,” she said, “but I imagine it would be within a month... Why?”

“Uhh...” Cirrus licked at this inside of his mouth, so dry. “Well... Salmon?”

Salmon looked up from her meal.

“I... don’t want to leave Gleb... but that might mean we get separated...” said Cirrus.

Salmon looked down at her plate. “I know.” Licking her lips, she looked back up at Cirrus. “I can’t decide whether or not to...”

“Help him,” finished Cirrus. His ears wilted, and he rested his jaw on the table. He looked over at Stretcher. “What should we do?”

Stretcher flinched. “Stay with your sister, of course!” He looked around the table to Stitch, Salve, and Salmon. “We have to face facts. He isn’t going to be released just because these two came forward, and even if he was, I don’t think Gleb would stand knowing he was the reason these two got separated. And for what? Becoming ponies younger than they should?” He brought his front hooves onto the table and shook his head. “We... should probably try to do something though, even if it’s just to help him feel better.”

Salmon’s ears perked up. “Could we write to him to let him know we’re alright!?” she asked, a smile forming on her face.

“That’s a great idea,” said Swift Stitch. “He is probably worried sick.”

“Mikhael can give it to him tomorrow when he goes into town,” added Salve. “Make it anonymously though. No names in the letter.”

Cirrus gulped. Mikhael, augmented, and in need of the drug that kept his body from rejecting the foreign element of his enhancements, which Gleb had been delivering. Cirrus glanced over to a corner of the room, his brows arched downward. “Mikhael and the others who needed medicine, what’s going to happen to them?”

“Well,” said Stitch. “We could try buying them medicine, or paying for the augmentation control-chip removal, though a few of them would be left crippled without that. They also could try finding some other way to get the medicine...” Stitch shuddered. “If that doesn’t work, some of them might try just toughing it out until... nevermind. And then there’s what Mikhael plans: going pony. It restores all the body parts without running the risk of the dozens of complications from a healing spell.” Stitch crossed her eyes and looked at her horn. She shook her head. “You know, sometimes I really wish you played nice with regenerating human tissue.” Returning her gaze to the others, she shrugged. “Ahem, regardless, things will work out in some way, and I’ll be helping where I can.”

Cirrus nodded. “And what about us? Do we try to make you our official parents?”

Salve coughed. “Well... the police all saw you and Salmon. I’m worried that if we try anything right now, somebody might put two and two together. So... for now, we wait. You live with us, and we take care of one another.” She leaned over and nuzzled Salmon. “Does that sound alright with you, sweetie?”

“Mhmm!” Salmon floated some steamed broccoli to her mouth and chomped on it.

Smiling to Cirrus, Salve continued. “So, this afternoon Stretcher and I are going to be patrolling, making sure nobody gets injured while working, which leaves you two to the house with yourselves and Stitch, though she’ll likely be doing some filing over at Dr. Clearance’s.” Stitch nodded to this, and Salve continued. “So... make yourselves at home, and tomorrow we’ll have off, which means we can start teaching you some more things about being ponies!” she said, grinning to expose her teeth.

Swallowing the last of his meal, Cirrus cleared his throat. “That sounds good.”

Salmon looked down to her plate, blinking a few times. It was all coming together, and she began feeling like she just... belonged. “Thank you,” she said.