They Came from Up There

Chapter two: Stars, Stripes and Blood

Pain.

That was the first thing he could think of.

A creature, blood, falling... And now lying on the top of some tall trees, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Mikar was starting to get scared... Not that he wasn't already scared enough. He had just had half of his chest torn open by a flying lion, and now he was lying in the one place Skykin were forbidden to go... The ground. He lifted his wings, pumped them down-

And more pain coursed through him.

Mikar was even more frightened now... Not only was he in a forbidden area, he was stranded, and dying. He needed to find help. His chest felt like it was made of molten lava, and he dared a look down to it. His head poked through the leaves, and he got a nasty look at what was left of his chest.

"Ooohh... That's bad."

Mikar's chest was torn across from the left shoulder to the base of his ribs. The blood had stopped flowing, but the pain hadn't. He could see his ribs, some of which were broken. He could also see one of his lungs. It too was damaged badly. That explained why he couldn't breathe right. He needed help. He couldn't fly, could barely breathe... And now he heard something.

He perked his head up and looked around for the source of the noise. It sounded like footsteps, but broader- It sounded like bone hitting cloud. His ears were moving in all directions, doing their best to locate the location of the footsteps. First they were here, then there, and now they were just beneath him. His vision swam before his eyes, and he saw stars. He was starting to black out. His eyes shut on their own. He wanted to lift them, but lifting them was as easy as lifting a cumulonimbus with your tail.

The last thing he saw was a striped creature staring back at him.

ONE HOUR LATER

He was awakened by the sound of rhythmic humming. The smell of cooking stew was there, too. He lifted his head, which was throbbing, and took in his surroundings. He was in a clearing in the forest. This isn't where I landed, he thought as he looked around, but his vision was too blurry to make out anything important.

Oh great, He thought. Where am I now? Mikar pulled his arms up to feel his chest. He expected more pain, and a large gash, but instead, he felt something smooth. He peered down, and saw that his chest had been bandaged with some sort of thin cloth. Orange blood seeped through it. He pushed against it, and felt no pain. He remembered it as linen from the books he studied back at the cirrus. He had learned a lot about the ground world from those books- Maybe they would help him here. The humming picked up into a new song, and he heard what sounded like voices coming from inside something. He glanced to the left, and sure enough, a big tree with windows was standing there. On one of the windows was a note. Written on it were some words that he remembered as English.

Big gray creature that comes from the sky,

I brought you here so you would not die.

Do not be scared; I am not mean.

Just be glad that you are not seen.

Well, that's a good start. At least they're not gonna kill me! Mikar started to stand up, but the pain in his head stopped him. More pains? Come on! He boiled as he crashed back into the ground with a deep growl. The growl was enough to make the humming stop, and he heard more footsteps. He wanted to run, hide, do anything to get away from the filthy groundlings that lurked in this forest- But then, the creature emerged.

The creature was small, about the size of the thing that had nearly killed him in the race. Its head was decorated with a Mohawk, and black-and-white stripes adorned its body. It had calm, blue eyes, and a coy smile that offered no threat. Its body was decorated in golden rings and piercings- Mikar remembered it now, it was a Zebra.

"Hello there, my new friend from the blue. I have made for you a wonderful stew." The creature spoke in a foreign, female accent, and her words blended in rhyme.

"W-Who are you?" Mikar asked.

"My name is Zecora, winged one. May I have your name, creature of the sun?"

Mikar hesitated, unwary of whether he should give information away to a complete stranger. But she had saved his life, and now she was offering him soup. She seemed to notice the worry in his face, and laughed a sweet, silky chuckle.

"There's no need to be afraid; I offer only good aid." Zecora's grin widened into a full-fledged smile.

"Well, m-my name's Mikar. Mikar Vulpkin." Mikar was glad to have an ally on the ground.

The zebra's smile vanished, and was replaced by a look of concern. She stared at his chest, which was starting to bleed again. She rushed over and got to work on tightening the bandage. It hurt a bit, but Mikar knew it was for the best.

"Why are you helping me?" Mikar asked, confused as to why a groundling was being so nice to him. The books in the cloud library had said that all groundlings were evil beings, bent on eradicating the Skykin.

"My native land has a golden tradition; To help all the weary is a holy mission." Zecora chimed in her native tone. The rhyming was starting to irritate him.

He took the time to continue looking around. His vision was better now, and what he saw amazed him. He saw birds of many colors, and small, hopping creatures that were white and fluffy. He saw trees of all sorts, from tall, lumbering ones to tiny, colorful ones. This place was also filled with smells and sounds- He heard birds chirping, and more than once he heard what sounded like a quiet, shy voice calling out to someone named "Angel bunny". He smelled sap, sweat and blood. The sweat and blood were probably his. What really, really made him anxious was the smell of cooking meat. Cooked meat was hard to come by on the cirrus, due to the lack of air making it hard to make fire. Zecora let out a foreign curse, and Mikar shot a glance over to her. Instead, he got a nice view of her flanks. His cheeks blushed bright red, and he spoke.

"Is something wrong, Zekiba?"

"Zecora."

"Right. Is something wrong?" He queried.

"Something is surely wrong, my winged friend. The bleeding in your chest just will..." Zecora gave a sharp tug on the bandage, eliciting a yelp from Mikar. "Not..." She pulled harder, and now Mikar was stuffing a paw in his mouth to keep from screaming.

"END!" Zecora gave one final, hard yank on the bandage. Blood squirted from Mikar's mouth as he clamped down on it hard. He whimpered in pain, and Zecora gave him an apologetic look.

"Don't be a baby, it's only some pain. It feels a lot better than acid rain!"

Acid rain? What was this crazy zebra rambling on about? Mikar let go of his paw, which has some small cuts from his sharp teeth. He looked at the now super-tight bandage, which was turning bright orange with his blood. But it soon stopped, and he sighed with relief. He almost started to suffocate because of how tight it was. Ah, now I remember. Acid rain is when we dump our waste into the sky. Oops.

"Now come, Mikar. You must be empty. I have some beef stew, and I have of it plenty." Zecora chimed in. As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly. Zecora let out a melancholy laugh, and stepped into the treehouse. She returned moments later, dragging out a large kettle filled to the brim with hot soup. The smell was epic, and it was all Mikar could do to not dunk his head in.

"Oh, it smells lovely, Zecora! May I?"

"You certainly can, gray-furred Mikar. I have plenty more, so you will not starve.

"Hey, that doesn't rh-"

Zecora cut him off with a sharp wave of her hoof.

Mikar's belly bulged, full of at least four kettles of beef stew. He was filled to the brim, and now starting to become drowsy. The loss of blood had caused his vision to become slightly gray-ish around the edges, but Zecora had told him that he would be fine. The bleeding has ceased completely, and now his gash was starting to heal. The pain had become a small lull, as if someone was pressing in on his chest. The sun was starting to dip below the horizon, and the two exchanged stories about their native lands. Zecora listened in carefully, drinking in his words. He told her of his crush on Alunia, his friend Jule, and about his venomous fangs. Zecora asked to see them.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna poison you... It's quite pot... protest...?" Mikar shuddered at the thought of killing his rescuer, and becoming stranded and alone in the woods.

"Potent, my guest. And the answer is yes." Zecora was quite persistent.

"Well, I guess a quick look wouldn't hurt." Mikar thought that a quick look was harmless. He opened his mouth widely, and his venomous fangs slid from the roof of his mouth.

Zecora then did many inspections on them, prodding them with her hoof. More than once she cringed at his breath, which more than likely smelled of ozone and rotten meat. She extracted a small amount of venom, stating that it was for experiments with her potions. She stared at many parts of his body, checking out his wings and stroking behind his ears. Doing this triggered a strange reflex; It caused Mikar to giggle and wiggle his left hind leg involuntarily. It was a strange reflex, and Zecora called it a 'sweet spot'. She looked at his tail, with the long fur meant for braking mid-flight. She inspected his belly and chest, observing the hollow ribcage and groin. She paused at his groin, wearing a confused look on her face.

"What is it?" Mikar asked, worried that maybe his collision with the creature had damaged his pelvis.

"Oh, It's just a strange apall... I can see your dong, but not your-"

"WELL! Dunno about you, but I'm getting tired. I'm just gonna lay down out here, and... You know, sleep."

It was about 9:00, Mikar judged from the moon's position. He was really tired now, and he wanted to get some rest. Zecora told him that he would meet some of her 'friends' in the morning. He laid his head down on a soft pillow Zecora had brought out for him. He wrapped his tail around his body, curling up in a ball. His wings were folded neatly against his sides. Just before he fell asleep, a question rattled his brain.

Doesn't she know that I don't have any?

P.S. Skykin reproduce via their venom. There, now you know.