The Limestone City Bat

Chapters

23-05
24-05
25-05
26-05
27-05
28-05
28-05 [2]
Snapshots 1: What Went Boom in the Night
Snapshots 2: Family
Snapshots 3: Nighttime
Snapshots 4: Home Improvement
Snapshots 5: Wings of... Something

23-05

Dear Diary.

Today, I became adorable. Also a freak of nature. But an adorable one. I look like some sort of vampire cat. With hooves instead of paws. Also, I'm gonna rename you. Saying 'Dear Diary' sounds like something from a tween flick for girls.

Hello my Inanimate Companion. I'll call you Cellie. Like Cellulose, the plant fibre? Clever, right? I think it’s clever!

Hi Cellie! I’m Robin! The sun is in the sky and my eyes are killing me. I need to find some shades or something... On the bright side, I don’t seem to need my glasses any more. They won’t fit my new head anyway, and I don’t know how to work hooves enough to try and rig a work around. Actually, that’s gonna make finding shades hard too. Well, I’ll work on that bridge later.

Besides; these eyes are huge. Like ‘half the size of my new head’ huge. And they are some sort of weird salmon colour. Right, right, it would help if you knew what I looked like. Sorry, Cellie.

Okay! I’m about four feet-ish (optimistically), not including the hair. I’m quite sure how long I am… maybe the same? I mentioned the eyes, but they are cat eyes. Mostly. They have a little hint of a diamond like shape to it. I’ve got four legs, fur, a tail and a pair of wings I have no clue how to work. They are too small to fly with anyway. No hands though, which is a bummer. My fur coat, er, pelt? Hide? I’m not sure about the terminology. Need to look into that. But it’s a faded dark blue, I guess? My hair and tail don’t really make sense. They are mostly reddish orange with darker steaks through it. The wings are weird, bluer than my fur, and webbed like a bats.

So I still have fingers, in a sense. That fact that they are webbed and wings make them hard to use. And where they are. And the size. But whatever. Oh! I have these neat fangs too! So I kinda look like a vampire version of something. The new ears are annoying, though. They twitch and shift around a lot at every little sound.

I wonder if I am a vampire… I don’t really feel like I need to drink blood, and water doesn’t scare me. Nor does garlic, onions or sunlight (aside from being bright.) Perhaps I’m a legendary Daywalking Vampire Cat with hooves!

Yeah…. No.

More likely, I am an odd ungulate species. I don’t think I look like any of the common ungulates I’ve read up on before. I also say odd because Homo sapiens sapiens don’t turn into another species overnight. Well, they are not supposed to. Don’t look at me like that, Cellie, I know I’m a living contradiction of that point, but still. I feel I got the short end of the stick…

Oh, right, sorry Cellie. Let me explain a few things. You may have noticed that I’m sorta sporadic and all over the place? I swear I have a good reason. Well, aside from the turning into a cryptid one. I woke up this morning like this, still wearing my boxers, but I’m alone. Not like ‘everyone already went out’ or the ‘there’s no one else in the house’ alone. Like ‘there’s no one around period’ alone. When I peeked out the windows, the neighbour’s cars were still in the driveways or parked on the street. Everything seemed unnaturally still.

Of course, after I got over the initial transhuman freakout, and the ‘how in the world am I supposed to walk with these?’ (I fell out of my bed. Honestly, I was in the 6 foot percentile. My bed didn’t seem high before and don’t get me started on the stairs), I started up the computer and checked the net.

Speaking of, I’m calling the computer Darcy. Related: it’s really hard to type without fingers. I’m hunting and pecking right now. I got a pair of socks, pulled them over my hooves and stuck a pen in each one. It’s been working but it’s really annoying when I twitch for a key combination like the shift for caps and realize I don’t have the fingers to reach it.

Maybe my wings will be good for something. They twitched sometimes too. Something to practice.

Hmm… tangent: I’m typing this for you on Darcy to print out on paper, so I guess I should address both you and Darcy?

Anyway, I checked the net and tried to get in touch with people but nothing. CTV and CNN didn’t have anything, the local news sites were dead (well, deader than usual). None of my forums had any posts in them for hours. There were no updates on the manga sites either. The weather network page was down. The email servers were having issues. I checked on a few major cities I could think of, their webpages and twitter if they had any. Nothing. Even the gas price app I had hadn’t been updated, and that was user maintained.

Cellie… I don’t think anyone is left. I left posts on a couple forums, tried sending out emails to everyone, texting, calling… I don’t really have much hope someone’s going to respond anytime soon.

But let’s not dwell! My street looks pretty empty; it’s pretty creepy to be honest. Nothing has changed, even though it’s getting pretty late in the day. And since I can’t just stay in the house chasing my tail all the time, I’m going to have to do what might be a really stupid thing. I’m heading out to look around. Walmart’s not too far from here, and it would be the easiest way to figure out if there really isn’t anyone around anymore.

If it turns out it really is the worst case… I can start grabbing stock. I’ve read enough books to come up with ideas and plans. I’ve had a while to think about this, and I won’t bore you with the freak out details. Anyway, I’m heading out Cellie, you and Darcy can watch the house while I’m gone.

Also, I only chased my tail once!

Maybe twice. Um… three times, tops.

It helped me work out how to walk with the new body. I should see if they have any books on animal anatomy. I mean, I still have my bio books in the basement, but those wouldn’t be all that helpful for this in particular. Anyway, that’s not important. See you in a bit, Cellie.

The walk to Walmart took a good twenty minutes. Normally it would have taken about half that time to cover the distant. Fortunately for him his earlier dalliances got him relatively familiar with the way his new legs worked and he was quickly working out the rest. His gait remained stiff and mechanical, but it got him moving. There were still a quite a few rough patches where he stumbled or tripped, hooves catching on places or where he just misjudged distances and the length of his new stride, but he was making progress. He kept to the grass when he could, finding the pavement a bit harsh on his new hooves. Grass was more forgiving when he fell anyway.

Robin squinted from under the shade the ball cap he wore provided. It wasn’t the best fit but it had been the best he could do. In fact, he had fully dressed himself, to the best of his abilities, before leaving. A short sleeved shirt was around his chest, forelegs through the sleeves, the buttons undone because he had no idea how to get hooves to work on them, the shirttails over his barrel and towards his flank. A pair of old shorts covered his rear, worn backwards so his tail could slip out the zipper. A lanyard around his neck held his wristwatch and a small pouch holding his wallet, phone and keys.

As ill-fitting as the arrangement was, it at least said he was no mere animal. All he needed was a sign saying ‘I’m intelligent, or in the very least someone’s pet!’ for others to see.

Robin was becoming increasingly certain his efforts were a waste of time. Despite the number of houses and streets he passed, it was silent. No hum of vehicles, active radios or televisions, no voices of any sort. Stoplights still ran, almost mockingly in the face of the empty streets. Stubbornly, he continued down the road, keeping his eyes focused not on the street, but on the store.

The few cars in the lot gave Robin mixed feelings of both hope and despair. Swallowing nervously, he resolutely continued to his destination, mentally preparing himself. The automatic doors slid open on his approach, the sound of his hoofsteps subtly changing as pavement became vinyl tile. He winced slightly at the light intensity but his vision adjusted with only minor blurriness and he looked around.

No one was there. No costumers roamed the aisles he could see, no workers in their blue shirts and vests could be seen either.

“Hello? Anyone here?” Robin called out a few times, slowly ambling the length of the storefront, going past the registers, the service booth, the McDonalds, the bakery, deli section. Each repetition or his call was louder than the previous, until he was yelling.

“Hello! Somebody! Anybody!” Robin’s yells had gotten frantic in his search. His walking speed built, becoming a slow unsteady trot as he became more and more frantic, hooves beating on the ground. “Please! Someone be here!”

He slipped, hooves and vinyl tile not the greatest combination for traction on top of unfamiliarity with his limbs, tumbling to the ground, jaw and muzzle striking painfully, body sliding a few feet. It was fortunate that he didn’t crash into any of the shelves or counters. Still, he was dazed for a moment.

“Augh,” Robin groaned as he pulled himself together, pushing himself upright and on his haunches with his forelegs. His wings where hanging limp at his side under his shirt, his fall had knocked the hat loose as well. Tears were leaving moist streaks beneath his eyes. He rubbed his face with a hoof, almost poking his eye out. “Gah! Damn it all! Hurt yourself some more, why don’t you?”

He was more careful the second time, rubbing at both the tears and his throbbing eye. Muttering under his breath, Robin slowly calmed down. “Stupid floor… making my eyes water. Stupid bright lights. At least I can cry, that's something.”

With awkward motions, he brought the pouch up to his head. Without hands or manipulator appendages on his limbs, he had to resort to using his mouth and lips to open the Velcro pouch. Fumbling slightly, he pulled out his phone. It was a bit difficult to aim with a muzzle in the way, but big eyes had some advantages.

One swipe got the phone out of standby. He missed a few times, but he got the assistant loaded shortly after and the device chirped.

“Send an email to Self,” Robin instructed.

“What would you like the subject to be?”

“To Cellie.”

The phone chirped again, filling in the line. “What would you like the message to say?”

“Hey Cellie,” Robin started. He closed his eyes. “I’m at Walmart. No one’s here. No one at all. I guess I was right. Everyone really did vanish. I. I don’t have a plan. I didn’t have a plan. Man I feel stupid. And scared…”

He trailed off. After a few moments the phone chirped again. “Would you like to send this message?”

“Message,” Robin said, swallowing the lump that built in his throat. The phone chirped and picked up where he left off. “Sorry about that. Okay. I’m going to pick up a few things. Groceries I guess. Maybe some batteries? Can power keep going without someone to say go? I don’t know. Food, the books I mentioned. Maybe some shampoo for all this fur. I guess the pet aisle? Suddenly I’m glad no one is here. That would be embarrassing.

“Okay, I have a very rough plan now. I’ll come back here tomorrow, Cellie, after I figure some stuff out. Long term plans. Oh, and remind me to download that Wikipedia database. I don’t think the net will last. Long term. Right.”

Robin looked up at the closest register sign. Number 8. The majority of the thoughts running through his head questioned how right it would be to just take things. From what he could infer from all he saw, it had been about a day since the world was active.

His pupils dilated at the realization. The sites he checked had global access. They were still running, but no one seemed to have touched them. Cities hadn’t put anything out in almost a day. News was behind. And this was the kind of news that should, would be major breaking issues. But nothing.

His phone chirped, unnoticed by him aside from an ear twitching in its direction.

It was as if everyone vanished. Vanished without leaving a trace. Just puff. Either vanished or taken. Spirited away. Leaving him behind as some sort of demon spawn creature. Devils sometimes had hooves, didn’t they?

“Damn it, Robin!” he snapped to himself, stomping the ground. “Pull yourself together! You can’t be the only person left. You’re not that special to be the last of seven point ‘nuff billion people! There are others! There has to be!”

“I’m sorry, that command was not recognized,” his phone chirped. Robin blinked, startled from his mini rant. He blushed slightly from embarrassment, ears folding back, wings shifting slightly. The phone continued, oblivious to his reaction. “Would you like to send this message?”

“Send,” he ordered. The phone chirped and the message vanished from the screen. A few moments later, the phone vibrated again, alerting him that an email arrived. Robin carefully started putting the phone back in his pouch. It might be a bit strange at first, but taking from the store without paying wasn’t the issue anymore.

He needed to figure out a few things, but he’d work on surviving, figuring out what was going on in the world. Things like where everyone went, just what exactly he was, was their anyone else.

“I’ll make a list when I get home,” he announced, closing the pouch. He frowned at it. “Actually, I should give you a name too, phone.” Rocking his head from side to side, Robin bounced ideas around. There was Cellie the general record and companion, Darcy his computer, so his phone should be… “Ellen. I’ll call you Ellen. Thanks for your hard work.”

Walking a bit more carefully, mindful of his previous spill, Robin headed towards the trolley bay, thinking about how he would carry things home without hands, and exactly what he needed. Some shades for sure. Particularly since he left his hat behind back where he fell. He sighed. He’d have to pick that up before leaving. Maybe some food would be good. He had been approaching the ‘need to go grocery shopping’ point for a while. Maybe he could find a bag he could use somewhere in School Supplies.

He paused midstep, his eyes locked in the direction of the bay. At one cart in particular: the motorized cart, sitting beside the wall, plugged in and charging. He looked back at the service desk were he knew they kept the keys. Finally, his eyes dropped to his hooves contemplatively. “I think I just had a marvelous idea.”

Hi again, Cellie. I’m back from my shopping trip!

Um… bad news first. It looks like I really am alone. I didn’t see anyone anywhere. Everything seemed to be still running though. Which is neither here nor there.

The better news: I got food, I got a one or two books that looked useful, and I got new shades. I picked up some clothes I think Might fit, but, to be honest, clothes on fur is a bit warm, and chaffs in places. The zipper was riding up under my tail something fierce. I might need to work out a better solution for that issue for next time. Too bad I can’t sew with hooves…

Anyway, you should look in the garage! I got wheels! Well, it’s just one of the motorized shopping carts, but still. It took a while to figure out how to work it, but my hooves/legs (I need an anatomy book to figure out what to call my limbs) have an extra joint just before the actual hoof that lets me wrap around things better.

Plus, I found one of those fancy red wagons in the kid's section when I was looking for clothes that might fit. I always wanted one of those. This one even has decent guards on the side and stuff. I tied it to the back of the trolley and drove it home.

As for plans... I’m not sure. I set the wiki stuff to download. I’m going to hit Walmart again tomorrow, hopefully to get better stuff. I don’t know how much charge the trolley hold. One of my neighbours had an ATV. He uses it in the winter to plow his driveway. I think I remember which house is his, so I’ll see if I can get that tomorrow. If I can drive that, I’ll have reliable transportation.

Need to get gas, figure out how low power might last, hit the library for some better books. I should probably figure out what I can eat. I had beans and bread tonight. Actually, I should add getting a generator and solar panels to my list. I don’t think I can work a can opening with hooves. Even the electric one was a five minute hassle. But I think I should be an omnivore, but I need to take a better look at my teeth. Most hoofed animals are herbivores though.

Then again, most don’t have wings or look like I do. Pretty sure these are predator/omnivore eyes I have. And I read somewhere that intelligent life was more likely found in omnivores. I’m obviously intelligent. As in I retained everything.

Um… what was I saying again? Right. I might go to Canadian Tire too. It’s not that much further from Walmart. Library, Walmart, Canadian Tire, the neighbours place.

Ah! I forgot the shampoo! What if I get fleas! I won’t get fleas right? They are species specific I think. Or ticks… And I don’t have fingers to get rid of them. Maybe I need to practice some more, sweep the house, make sure it doesn’t harbour bugs. Actually, I don’t know what my blood type is anymore.

Hell, I’m rambling. Sorry Cellie, I’m beat. It’s not even that late! Anyway, I’m turning in early. I’ll see you in the morning.

Oh, by the way, Cellie, I was looking over what I wrote earlier, adorable is relative. But I'd like to think I'm good looking. For a furry quadruped.

24-05

Gah… Morning Cellie. I had the weirdest dream. I had been cast into a village of young, relatively I suppose, individuals from different worlds and realities who had yet to mature into their domains and aspects as gods, demi-gods and deities. I made friends with three people, a guy that seemed to have been there for a while and made me think of a turtle horse, a young woman who was a griffon, and another who reminded me of a feathered and cheerful rapture or harpy. It was really strange in the sense that everyone there felt larger than life, having a bigger impact and presence than they were supposed to.

At one point a little spat between two of the friends about where they went for a date turned into a big thing. The sky got dark and weeds and thorns started growing around as they argued over the typical couple issue of who picks where they go to eat on a date. We had been eating some sort of strange purple speckled fish that I swear tasted like avocadoes and rice. I compared it to sushi. That’s what started the spat. Apparently griffon girl wanted to have pizza.

In the end, when the dream was fading I overheard the harpy girl, I really can’t remember what her domain was supposed to be, mentioning to the griffon that she could hear a faint voice talking to me at times. The weird thing is, there actually was a voice, and just before I woke up that voice started talking again. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but it was something about staying calm and… and… I can’t remember…

Gah! This is so frustrating. Do you think I really might be in some sort of test? A proving ground or something that I was chosen to be a part of and my mind only interprets it as something familiar?

It’s only been one day. It’s way too early to be going mad.

Anyway, it’s 3am. I’ve been up almost an hour now and I can’t seem to get back to sleep. Maybe I did go to bed too early last night.

Sleep was awkward to say the least. Everything about my body was new and it took a while to find a comfortable position. I really miss my fingers and toes right now. The fact that I can arch my back like a cat and flex my tail makes stretching different, and not necessarily in a bad way, but what I’m missing is like a void. No, more like something just out of reach.

I think I might have underestimated my wings. They are a lot more like hands in structure than I first realized. I still can’t manipulate them properly, but I’m getting better. Maybe the sleep helped? Even if they were in the way half of the time, I might spend some time today getting a better feel for them. Still, thanks to them I might still have five functional fingers, including a thumb. So what if they are webbed and the digits are longer than I’m used to? People have gotten by for years with far less. Actually, I should see if I can find videos and research on amputees and how they adapted.

Wing practice, research and getting Darcy to download as much things as we can from the internet. I confess I didn’t spend as much time as I might have on how it all came together, but I do know the servers that support the internet itself are scattered across the continents and they all need power and some degree of maintenance.

Game plan for today

Set Darcy to download whatever databases and webpages that might be useful

1a. Music. Get lots of music, maybe movies

Try and acquire the ATV from the neighbour’s place

Find as much as I can (videos, articles, pictures, stories), on amputees and how they adapted

Find videos on how animals walk. Felines, canines, goats, horses and deer might be useful. I’m still very awkward with quadruped locomotion, with good reason

Take the cart (or the ATV) to Walmart and Canadian Tire

5a. Gas maybe useful. Solar panels and charging kits. May raid electronic as well.

5b. A portable speaker would be useful. These ears will work with regular earbuds. Maybe get a set of the expensive headphones and use them like neck mounted speakers?

5c. Perhaps more computers to speed up data acquisition? Now, I have nothing against libraries, and plan to hit it soon, but I’m still a child of the digital age.

5note: I need to visit the college and university at some point

5d. Printers and ink. I’ve only got a low end model here at home, but with the end of everything and all, I can get a five finger discount on one of the pricier ones. Ellen can print over Bluetooth, after all.

5e. Range boosters for wifi. I can set up a home network or local intranet. There’s bound to be a book with instructions somewhere. Maybe get some cameras and set them up to watch for movement? No clue why, it just sounds like it could be useful.

5f. Radios. How did I not think of radios? And a book (or books) on how to set them up. There are two radio stations in town… Actually, there’s a TV station in town. When I set up home base better, I need to get to those. I might be able to contact other survivors (well, perhaps that’s not the best term…) on the standard broadcasting bands!

Spend some time roaming, to see if anyone else is around in my immediate vicinity. The speakers might be useful for that, playing music. I know I would come out if I hear music. Alternatively, maybe I should use silence and listen?

Figure out a good way to carry things. The pouch around the neck was fine for small things, but what about larger things?

The dentist… they have those small X-Ray machines. They have never looked that hard to operate. Detail on my new biology would be amazing. What if I injure myself? What if I break a wing? Jeeze. That might be fatal if I can’t properly apply first aid. Actually, I should bump this up the list.

First aid supplies. I don’t know how I didn’t think of this before.

Speaking of, did I tell you my hearing is more sensitive now? I wasn’t sure at first, with no one else being around, but I didn’t need to turn up Darcy’s speakers as loud when I played some music earlier.

Hmm… this game plan might be for several days rather than just one, looking it over.

Hmm… I know it’s weird, but I’m considering going au natural. Until I get some clothes that properly fit, it’s only going to be confining and irritating. I need proper wing slits and a tail hole in the least. Not to mention that the cut of most outfits do not account for my current morphology. Not like anyone is around to complain about my streaking anyway.

Right; my forelegs have a crazy range of motion, pretty much on par with hands, disbarring the fingers, that is. I can shrug, roll my shoulder, raise a leg above my head, extend them to the side and more. I was pretty pleased with that discovery. Not every animal can do that.

I’m going to grab some breakfast. Eggs I suppose. I might need to find some chickens. Fresh food might be a problem soon. Perhaps I should try to start a garden as well. I’m going to be sticking to the simpler proteins and foods for now. I’m not one hundred percent certain what my new body’s dietary requirements and limitations are, so I’ll have to experiment as I go along. Hopefully I don’t poison myself or get too sick. Still, I spent years doing biology in university. I must have learned something useful!

I’m also aware that that biology student argument also postulates that I should have recognized the wings earlier, but I had other things to focus on. Was postulate the right word to use there?

I should add ‘practice using mouth for things’ to the ‘get familiar with wings’ point. I know it sounds weird, Cellie, but I’ve got to be frank. Hooves are clumsy and don’t have much grip. I might have fingers in my wings, but I have no experience with them. For now, my mouth is the most familiar manipulator I have. People used their mouths all the time as kids. Just need to remember what it was like. Moose, horses and camels have rather powerful and skillful tongues and lips too. They break out of their cages at the zoo all the time with them.

Okay, maybe not all the time, but enough. Did you know I can write with my mouth? Well, of course you did. You’ve got some of my chicken scratches in you. I need to practice a bit more with it though. Okay, a lot more. But it’s proof of concept. My new body’s lips, mouth, jaw, tongue and I think neck, are plenty strong and flexible. I’m a tool using species still! I just need to adapt to the new quirks.

Jeeze, I have a lot of stuff to do.

Oh! I downloaded the song ‘It’s the End of the World’ by Rem. You know; the one they played in the movie Independence Day? It seemed fitting. And….

I got a couple packs of beer. The beer store was right there, so… I’ve never drank before. I used to joke that it would be the end of the world before I started drinking. Well, guess what?

I’m not quite there yet though. So I stuck them in the cupboard.

Sleep is still not coming, so I’m heading out, Cellie. Talk to you when I get back.

Robin whistled a few chords from the song as he made his way down the street, trying to work out which house was the right one. He paused as a realization hit him, a grin spreading over his face. “I can whistle now!” Still grinning, he started walking again, his steps a little lighter. It might have been a little silly, but in the situation, the little pleasures were important. “I wonder what other sounds I can make…”

Oddly, he found the night to be brighter than he expected. He blamed the eyes. They did look like feline eyes. They probably had much better night vision than his old ones. He was just happy he hadn’t seemed to lose any of his colour vision for it. At least, he hoped so. The new eyes were big enough to fit a lot more cells inside than the old ones. Mentally; he added a visit to the optometrist to his ‘to do’ list.

He had rigged a saddlebag from two messenger bags. One of them had been replaced with the other when the zipper broke, but for the moment an open top bag was far better than nothing. He sourced two adjustable straps from the storeroom, likely kept from other bags that were thrown out or replaced when they got old or broke themselves. The straps let the bags rest across his back, just behind his wings, and a loop around the lanyard would help keep it from sliding off, hopefully without strangling him. Not bad for a ten minute effort. Maybe he could find some of those quick release buckles in a craft store and strap it around his barrel.

His current conundrum was which house to do to. While he knew that one of his neighbours had an ATV, and would have been able to recognize them on the street, he wasn’t exactly sure which house was theirs. It should be one of the three on the outside of the avenue’s curve, so he picked one. It quickly resolved into a new conundrum. The door was locked and resisted all his attempts, be it with mouth or hoof, to open it.

“Come on, couldn’t I just have this one?” Robin whined sitting on his haunches dejectedly and staring at the locked door, his saddlebags on the porch behind him. He pawed at it futilely. He didn’t really want to break down a door, partially because he didn’t want to ruin a perfectly good shelter.

“Yeah, yeah, It’s a dumb idea,” Robin muttered to himself as he contemplated the door. Hoofed animals were known for having strong kicks. He thoughtfully rubbed his jaw with a hoof and tapped on the door. Nodding to himself, he reared up on his hind legs, walking his way upright, using the door as a support.

“Easy now,” he cautioned himself as he removed first one hoof, then the other from the door. Instinctively his wings flared out and his tail waved, helping keep his balance. He wobbled slightly and dropped back to all fours, grinning widely. “I can work with this.”

Robin positioned himself before the door and reared up again. Idly, he mused on how his wings worked except when he wanted them to, but squashed the thought before it cost him. Drawing his foreleg to his chest, he kicked out with them, bashing the door and staggering back from the recoil that numbed his hooves momentarily, falling back to all fours. He scowled at the door, the wood marred with the slight imprint of his hooves, but far from compromised. “Stupid door…”

His ears pricked as he heard movement coming from inside the house. Hope of another survivor welled and he pressed his head against the cool wood. Hope was harshly dashed when loud barking and snarling came from the other side. Yelping and letting out an odd sound, he jumped back, his wings flaring and flapping, somehow managing to clear the entire porch and land painfully on the steps, rear hoof catching on the edge and sending him tumbling, his head striking the walkway.

“Ah, son of a gum chewing fudge monster!” Robin swore, cradling his head with his forelegs and wings. He grit his teeth and ground out a series of far less distinct and muffled complaints for a few moments more, hissing to himself as the dogs continued barking. When the pain finally dulled, he awkwardly got back up, rubbing the throbbing spot with a wing. Feeling wetness, he extended his wing to look at it, finding a few traces of blood on his fur and membrane.

“Oh, brilliant!” he exclaimed, glaring at the door. The dog had decided to run around to the breakfast nook window, and was barking his canine brain out and baring his fangs at Robin. Robin flared his wings and hissed back. “I hope you’re happy ya mutt! Now I got a cut.”

Robin fumed, collecting his bags and awkwardly pulling them back on. He checked his injuring with his wing again, pleased to see that the blood flow seemed negligible to none existent. “At least my blood is still red. Yay hemoglobin!” he cheered blandly as he walked to the next house. “Not a Vulcan critter.”

Robin paused and looked at his wing again. He extended it, moved it up and down and finally folded it against his side, fumbling a bit before he found what felt like a natural rest position. “I can move them? When did tha- no! Not complaining! This is awesome!”

He hoped in place, his wings popping open and flapping. He wasn’t sure if he fell any slower or not, but his wings were his now. “So awesome! Alright. One down, one to go!”

-----o-----

This time he didn’t try for front door. He instead tried the garage, hoping that the home owner was one of those that didn’t lock that door. Getting the garage open was tricky, and almost too much for his still developing coordination of the new body, but he managed to get the doors high enough to get inside. The garage itself was more a dedicated store room, and he had to carefully pick his way through the assorted ‘stuff’ on the ground to get to the door.

“Please don’t be dogs, please don’t be dogs,” he muttered as he reached for the handle. Cautiously, he grabbed it in his mouth, using mainly his lips and teeth, rather than tongue, and turned it, letting his body weight push it open. “So far so-”

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP- BEEP-BEEP-BEEP- BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

“Find me in the alps!” Robin growled, his ears pressed flat against his skull in a futile effort to block out the sound that seemed to be piercing into his skull. Moving as quickly as he could, he stumbled over to where the alarm system’s control was mounted on the wall, which was also the source of the wailing. Rearing up again, he tried pressing random buttons, which didn’t do anything towards ending the acoustic assault.

“Ah, forget it!” he winced. A few solid whacks from a hoof broke the entire control from the wall, leaving it to dangle by a few wires. He clamped his teeth on the small box and dropped to the ground, his weight and the sudden force yanking it the rest of the way out and bringing sweet, blessed silence. He sighed and dropped it, kicking it into the living area.

“Ow…” he whined, rubbing at his ear, the ear on the opposite side of his wound. “Note to self; loud shrill noises can hurt. Or just be very irritating.”

-----o-----

“I hate you,” Robin said to the ATV as he poked around it, trying to figure out how it worked and if it had gas. It had been sitting quite comfortably in the garage of the last house he checked, because fortune would have it no other way. The plow attachment was leaned against a nearby wall, along with what looked like a mowing attachment to hitch to the back. Both would be handy in the future.

“You are going to be plenty useful and all, but I really hate you right now,” Robin continued, slightly muffled by the keys in his mouth that he found hanging from a hook on the wall. The ‘insert key and turn’ part was pretty straightforward, but he was still trying to work out what else was needed to get the machine running. “Would it have killed you to be in the first house? No, it wouldn’t. But you just had to let me suffer through dogs, falling off a porch and a blasted alarm.”

The motor finally turned over when he found the right switch. Robin nodded and fumbled to find a position on the seat. His unusual flexibility was about the only reason why he could actually ride the ATV. Hooves and pastern wrapped around the bars, positioned close enough to the cluster of buttons and switches that he could reach them if he needed to. “I am going to make you work so hard to make up for the stress you’ve cause me today.”

It took him a few tried to get the hang of controlling the machine, but he was soon pulling out of the garage, probably looking somewhat comical; wings half flared, speed unsteady as he tried to master how to operate the gas and brakes of an unfamiliar vehicle with unfamiliar appendages. He was even blushing slightly, mostly because he was regretting not working on fixing a set of pants to wear.

“Okay… your name is now Sophia. Sophia Quadri. And we are going shopping.”

Hey Cellie. I love Sophia. She’s the used ATV I added to our family. Today would have been much much more difficult without her. It took a little while to master how to drive her, but once I started picking up on the tricks, it was fun. Sure, having hooves made controlling the gas and brakes dicey, but it helped build my finesse. I can almost hold a pen now!

I can work my wings now too. I’ll also admit I almost flew off Sophia a few times. I tend to flare when I get nervous, and even though they are too small to fly with, they still catch wind. I might be able to glide short distances down from high places with them. So… not a total waste of bio-resources? I’m still working out my new biology. I still think I’m an omnivore by the teeth and the fact that I haven’t had an upset stomach. My spine seems freakishly flexible, same for my neck and shoulders. The wings are too small for real flight and too big to be vestigial, so maybe gliding…

I did stop by the dentist place, but I need a second set of hands to work the system. Um… second set of hooves?

Anyway, back to Sophia. I headed down to Canadian Tire and got one of those trailers and hooked it up after a lot of trial and error. I made so many trips back and forth today. I admit; I didn’t get everything on the list, but maybe half of them? I realized I haven’t really prepared in case power or water cuts out, so I started working on that. Containers of gas stocked up from the stations. I got lots of water, those big bottles made for coolers. Grabbed a cooler too, since I had space. Got a couple solar panels. I didn’t hit the stock in the back, I’ll save that for another day.

I did get a better printer and a few more computers. Spent an hour or two setting them up and putting things to download. The internet in crashing. More and more webpages are down. The wikipedias downloaded, and I’ve started collecting as many maps and academic resources I can. I did get a portable speaker and a headphone from Walmart. I’ll spend some time tomorrow riding around the community for a while looking for people.

I couldn’t find any of the more complicated radios, but I got a simpler one and checked a few bands, but didn’t hear anything. I did get a printer though. Bluetooth and everything. Ellen already printed off the other records for you. As for ink… the best place for that would be Best Buy or Staples. Those are maybe a ten minute drive away. I’m reluctant to head out that far yet. Oh, I found a few things to make a better set of saddlebags. And pants. I used one of those heavy staplers to pin some velco straps to two messenger bags so now I can wrap it securely around my barrel and flank.

I did the same to some soft shorts and shirts after cutting slits in them. I’ve tried them out, and the slits let my slip my wings and tail though while the bits of velco let me close them back. I’m a genius!

Tomorrow I ride through the community then hit the mall. It’s nearing midday and I’m starting to nod off. I figure I’m inclined to a nocturnal or at least crepuscular schedule now. No real reason to fight it I suppose. I’m going to practice my finesse with some eggs and balls I grabbed when I was in Walmart until I get too sleepy.

Night Cellie. Well… Good day? I’ll figure it out. Laters.

25-05

Hey Cellie. I’m getting confused with the new sleep cycle. It’s the wee hours of the morning and I’m getting up. This is going to take some getting used to. Still, I’d like to think I’ve been handling things fairly well, considering the lack of any interaction and the whole species swap thing.

Oh! I found a friend. My next door neighbour’s cat, Trouble. He wandered into the house yesterday afternoon when I was about to go to bed. He seems pretty content to lounge on the chair in the living room or follow me around. He’s actually sleeping in my room right now. I’ve never had a pet before, so it will take a bit of getting used to, but it was kinda nice when I woke up to find him curled up under my wing.

Sleep last night was way better than the night before, now that I’ve started to get control of my wings mastered. They really got in the way before. To give you a summary of last evening: I’ve started working out some of my biology. My wings only have four digits in them, rather than five like most mammals with digits do. Of course, most mammals don’t have six limbs either. I’ve even come up with a name! I got bored so I poked around my old biology books and the database I downloaded.

Going by the obvious hooves and the neck and tail, I’m more of a horse like critter with feline (and other) traits than the other way around. I even started working on a rough phylogenetic structure. Of course, until I can find a genetic lab I won’t be able to tell exactly how related to anything my new species is, but macroscopic observation was the original basis for these classifications.

Anyway, I’m going with the name genus name ‘nupti’, in reference to Neptune and Poseidon, the gods said to have created horses. Nupti sapiens alategus. I’m tentatively placing myself in the equidae family, only because I’m an odd-toed ungulate. The alategus part I got from my Latin to English Dictionary (I got it from my Dad.) Ala-tegus. Skin/membranous/leather wing, if I got the grammar right. So I'm an alatagus. That or neptin, from the nupti part.

Alategus sounds better than alacurium or alacurius and definitely better than ‘alascortum’. Infinitely better, to be honest. Also; it sounds a bit like pegasus. Pegasus was the son of Poseidon, a winged horse. He had feathered wings though. I could have gone with thestral, but why rip off Rowlings when I could come up with my own thing?

I’ve said before that there are definitely other survivors out there, right? I just wonder how many of them are university educated. Mind you, even with my degree I hadn’t exactly worked in my field for a while, not since my internship, but I knew stuff. A better question would be how many people had practical skills? In a way, a lot of my skills weren’t all that practical in this situation. I knew stuff, but that’s it. On the other hand, I knew enough to have a good idea of where to look for more.

Okay, I got side tracked for a moment. It seems the internet is pretty much down. Most pages give me error messages. Maybe the server sites for them have lost power and can’t connect anymore? I really regret not learning more about how the internet works. It looks like I’ll need to head downtown and visit the university after all.

On the bright side, I about finished my downloads. After getting the Wikipedia set and as many maps as I could, I was at something of a loss as to what else to do. I did spend a lot of time on the City’s websites though. It was good practice for using my wing-digits. I’m pretty confident I have saved copies of pretty much every page and document on Darcy.

Including the locations of the water treatment plants, boosting stations, power generators and so on. I’ve added them to my ever growing list of places to visit. So far, I still have power and running water. From what I see, I don’t think they will be going out anytime soon, not with the Kingston Mills Hydro Plant and the Wolfe Island Wind Farm around to keep power flowing into the grid locally.

Ah. It just hit me that I should check the hospitals. They would have medicines and such that might need to be kept on ice or something. And it might be good to have some good aid supplies here at home, rather than all the way across town. I bolstered my medicine cabinet with what I could get from the pharmacy, but those are just over the counter. I might have need for the strong stuff. And they have X-Ray machines and other such equipment.

I think the lack of people is starting to have its effects. On the city I mean, not on me. I heard some dogs howling yesterday. At least, I hope it was dogs and not something like wolves or coyotes. Right… the house up the street has the dogs locked inside. I should leave them … But I’m not heartless. I’ll have to break them out today as well. Hopefully they don’t chase me down for whatever reason. If they get bad I might have to try and make some form of protection.

That aside, I promised I would look for survivors today. I’m taking Sophia out for a complete drive through of my community and the two bordering it. I’ve got a bus schedule that doubles as a city map. I’ll need to plot out my route a bit, but I should be able to cover all the streets. I plan to head out around eight in the morning, giving them enough time that they still wouldn’t be sleeping, or to get up if they aren’t nocturnal like I am. If I strap one of the smaller solar units to the rear luggage rack I can plug it into the speakers I got and pump out some music.

I got a set of ear plugs in case it gets too loud.

After that, I’ll stop by the mall.

Huh.

I just remembered I have an electric stove. If I do lose power, that would be very bad. Okay, change of plans. I’ll swing by Canadian Tire again and get a second trailer, then head to the mall and pick up a gas stove. Hopefully I can manage it. A stove isn’t that hard to move, and a few dings and dents won’t bother me, but that was before I traded in my hands for the hooved model of intelligent life.

I say second trailer because Sophia is harder to control with a trailer attached. Since I plan to ride around a lot today, and controlling her with hooves isn’t the easiest thing, I’d rather not make it harder than it needs to be. Since I’m heading to the mall, I might as well hit the library too. I’ve been talking about it for two days now.

So what will I be doing until then? Gardening. Well, gardening and working a bit more on my biology project. I need to turn the ground for where I plan on planting the seeds for a few fruit bearing plants. Eventually I’ll need to head north or west of the town to see if I can find some farmlands with cows and chickens. And flour. I’ll need flour. It’s a very important foodstuff. Which means wheat… how do you even grow wheat? This whole survival thing is harder than I first suspected. I’ll need to raid the super markets again, put all the flour I can in airtight containers.

This ‘To Do’ list of mine is getting pretty unwieldy. I’ll need to actually put everything on paper and hang it up somewhere so I can keep track of it. See you later, Cellie.

Dressed in an altered pair of cargo shorts and a similarly altered graphic tee, his shades held in place with a sport cord, Robin prepared to head out. His experience with Sophia had secured his like of the machine, but it also made him reluctant to ride her without at least a pair of pants on. He loaded up Sophia with what he figured he would need for his trip, the small solar charger secured to the luggage rack beside the portable speaker he acquired and his MP3 player. A few bottles of water and an assortment of veggies were stored in his similarly secured saddlebags along with a small first aid kit and a few tools.

Ellen was in a cellphone holder around his forearm with a marker to keep her company, and he taped a map of the town just under Sophia’s handlebars so he could quickly refer to it as he rode. His first stop, however, was only a few houses up the avenue. Parking Sophia in the driveway, he walked up to the door cautiously, trying to keep as silent as possible, even with his hooves clipping and clopping.

“Okay, you silly mutts,” Robin muttered as he turned tail to the door. “Don’t make me regret this.” He’d been practicing and experimenting with the range and limitations of movements his form had, and found that he could pull off a decent buck, a double back kick that was stronger than the ‘punch’ he tried the last time.

What was one ruined home on an empty street?

Shifting his center of gravity to his forelegs, Robin lifted his rear legs and hit the door with a bang, the wood rattling in its frame. Immediately the hounds started their racket again. Robin scowled, but kicked once, twice more before it finally gave in, the jam splintering to let the door swing open and slam into the wall.

Robin stumbled slightly when the door flew open, but recovered with help from his flapping wings and quickly whirled. The dogs were rushing towards him, barking their little heads off. His wings flared opening as he stomped the ground, a screeching at the pair in frustration. They aborted their charge, skidding to a halt, tripping over the door jam and tumbling at his hooves.

Robin was momentarily discombobulated. He had no clue that particular vocalization was in his repertoire, but he rolled with it, quickly pushing up his shades and levelling his best glare at the dogs, the kind he normally reserved for dealing with ignorant fools, extending a hoof at them. “No. None of that. Shame on you.”

They actually looked contrite and abashed. He kept rolling with it. “I know you want to be good guard dogs and all, but I broke down that door to let you out, not to get in. I’m just going to go in and check to see if you have food and water, then I’m leaving.”

Without showing his inner nervousness, Robin trotted into the house. The dogs let him pass and only watched as he checked the cupboards for their dog food, dragging a large pack of Purina out when he found it. After that, he pushed a chair to the sink and managed to half fill a few bowls, held carefully in his mouth, and set them on the ground for them.

“There you go,” Robin said, waving a hoof as he left the dogs, their tails wagging.

After his successful, though confusing, encounter with the dogs, Robin started on his major project for the day. A mixed playlist pumping over the speakers, he rode Sophia through the deserted streets of his community, first heading to the outskirts and systematically covering all the streets. Not only was he keeping an eye and ear out for someone’s response, he was also looking for any sighs of another survivor establishing themselves. Once he rode through his little corner of town, he moved on the neighbouring community, and then to the larger one that was south of them.

The somewhat weary good cheer had had built from his early morning projects took a major blow. Aside from the now stray dogs he spotted and the birds that occasionally trailed him, he found no one. He doggedly ignored the sinking feeling in his gut and keep going, even as the sun passed its peak and started sinking again and after stopping by a gas station to add fuel to Sophia’s tank.

“There has to be someone,” Robin muttered to himself. It was a mantra somewhere between a little white lie and a faint truth. He pressed on.

Eventually, he decided to call it a day. He could check again the next day. The last place he checked was an apartment building. He lingered at that one though. Why? It had a pool.

Leaving Sophia parked near the entrance, Robin grinned uncertainly at the water. It hadn’t suffered much from the lack of a caretaker. The water still looked clean and clear and inviting. It had been a while since he had swum. About half a year, in fact. While he hadn’t been the best of swimmers, he was decent enough for a beginner, able to tread water and dive.

“What the hey?” Robin murmured encouragingly to himself before stripping off his clothes. Skinny dipping in a moderately sized pool belonging to a (formerly) well-populated housing area. There was a certain visceral thrill to it, even if it was more furry-dipping. He was careful though. He didn’t just throw himself off the deep end, which would be quite literal in that case, but he clamoured in from the shallow end.

After a bit of experimentation, he found he could pull off a good doggy paddle. Not only that, his body’s unusual flexibility even allowed him to manage a rough approximation of the more common human swim styles. His wings made it even better. Once he dove he could put them to use as large flippers, moving them in an approximation of a breast stroke. Water logged fur or not, it was pretty fun and soon he was laughing and just enjoying the simple pleasure of it all, paddling and swimming back and forth in the pool, avoiding the deep end for obvious reasons.

There was a certain freedom to being in the water. True, it was heavy, comparatively cold against his furless wings and filled with resistance than dragged at his body and wings but he was learning. His water-logged tail did a lot to help direct his momentum, and he worked out how to angle his wings to cut through the water than push it back. Legs kicked mainly for stability and a little extra control, but his let his wings do most of the work.

Laughing, lungs burning pleasantly, he stuck his head above the surface for some air, shaking his hair, well, mane might be a better word, from his eyes. “Okay, I got to come and do this again someday.” He ducked his head so only the top of his muzzle was above the water and slowly started swimming, using only faint flutters of his wings and gentle kicks, mentally humming the tune to jaws in his head and messing around.

Until something hit the water nearby.

Confused, Robin spread his wings wide, the surface area helping keep him buoyant, looking around. A pot was resting on the bottom of the pool. His ear twitched. “O… kay? Where did you come from?”

A bang startled him and his head whipped around so fast it might have caused neck damage. Another pot; well dented from the impact with the ground. “It’s raining… pots? The actual..?” He looked up at the clear sky. “Seriously? What’s going on?”

“Hey!”

Robin’s ear twitched again as a third pot landed in the pool, this one somewhat closer to him. He looked up sharply, and almost sank. Four floors up, standing propped against the railing, was another person. Orange and quadrupedal from what he could tell from the posture, a few more pots on the balcony beside them.

“Hey! Hi! This is awesome!” The voice sounded somewhat young. Young and excited.

“Hey…” Robin said weakly as his own excitement build. Another person! Apparently transformed as he was, but still another person. He waved a hoof eagerly. “HEY!”

The other person cheered and hoof pumped before running back inside the apartment. Robin’s expression fell “Wait! Don’t… what?”

A moment later they reappeared to yell something at him. “Don’t go anywhere! I’m coming right down!”

Robin chuckled and swam to the edge, climbing out of the pool after a bit of fumbling. The day was turning out to be a good one after all. Lacking a towel, Robin resorted to standard quadruped method of drying off: a series of vigorous full body shakes, augmented with some energetic wing flapping. It wasn’t the best of solutions, and left his mane and tail frizzy, but it got the worse of the water out, leaving him damp, rather than dripping.

“I really need to get a good brush,” Robin muttered to himself. He put his shades back on, leaving the rest of his clothes for the moment, until he dried off a bit more, and sat on a dark patch of the deck, letting the sun work a bit at drying his fur out as he waited for the other person to reappear.

I wonder where he had been all this time. What have they been doing to survive? Did they get more accomplished than I did? Did they find anyone else? Augh! I have so many questions!

Robin chewed on his lip impatiently as he waited. His eyes roamed as he did, trying to pass the time faster. It was the only reason he caught the sliding door opening on one of the second level balconies, the orange coated guy scrambling out.

“Oh, hey!” Robin called out. He got up and started trotted over. “How do you plan to ge- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” Robin’s question abruptly derailed into a panicked yell, and with good reason. The other survivor used on the chairs on the balcony as a stepping stool and bounced unto the railing before leaping off.

‘No way I’m letting you fall before I got a chance to meet you!’ Robin picked up the pace, running awkwardly hoping to catch the falling person. Wings Robin hadn’t noticed before spread and flapped rapidly and the fall he expected to come instead turned into an extremely unsteady descent.

“Careful!” the person yelled as their partially powered trajectory had them barreling towards Robin, who for his part was hastily trying to stop. They collided in a tangle of hooves, legs, wings and tails. “Aw, man… got to work on the landings…”

Robin, sprawled on his back with the only other person he had seen in days groaning on his chest, laughed. They awkwardly climbed off him. “Hey, are you okay?”

Robin rolled over, still chuckling, getting back to his hooves. He towered over her. Well, not towered, but she wasn’t past the three foot mark. She was also a girl. Considering she was the only other member of his kind he’d seen, it was understandable that he hadn’t been able to tell before. That and he wasn’t entirely sure she was exactly a member of species. Sure, she had orange fur, wings, hooves and the large eyes, but the differences between them were major.

Her coat was orange, but her tail and mane, two large bangs framing her face, were black. Both seemed to gleam ever so slightly. Her golden brown eyes had an odd glisten to it as well. Her wings were even smaller than his, compared to body size, and feathered. He stared at them for a while.

Feathered wings, compared to his webbed ones.

“Hey!” she poked him with a hoof, jolting him from his introspection.

“You have feathers,” Robin said, a slight tone of disbelief in his voice.

She grinned, shuffling them, rocking the green backpack she had. “I know. Pretty cool huh? Yours are awesome too. Like demon wings! Or a thestral pony!”

Robin flinched. “I’m sorry?”

“What? Thestrals. Like in Harry Potter?” she frowned at him. “You never watched the movies?”

“I read the books. Four times. Way better than the movies if you must know.” Robin snorted. Did no one have respect for good books anymore? He snickered when he realized he was being the arrogant novel reader. “I prefer alategus to thestral. And I was talking about the other part. Pony?”

“What else could we be? Hooves, small, like tiny horses,” she rolled her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Pony. Duh.”

“I was going with neptin,” Robin nodded.

“Luh-aim-muh!” his new companion declared.

“Like calling yourself a pony is any better!” Robin said defensively. He just came up with the name and the first person he met was making fun of it.

“Way better!”

Robin grinned at her. Her eyes widened a little. “Says who?”

“You… have fangs…” she whispered almost reverently.

‘Crap, forgot about those,’ Robin cursed mentally, closing his mouth. He only just realized she didn’t. Her eyes weren’t cat-like as his where either, nor did her ears have the tuffs of fur on their ends. “Well, you see…”

“Wicked…” she grinned.

“Okay, they are kinda cool,” he sighed with relief mentally and decided to poke at the previous issue. “Just like neptin is cool.”

“No way!”

“Says the little orange coated neptin,” Robin teased.

“Orange is my favourite colour. And neptin is still lame. It sounds like something a twelve year old would come up with,” she jabbing a hoof at him. “And I’m the thirteen year old here!”

Robin blinked. Thirteen? What about her parents? She was obviously a fairly competent thirteen year old. She would have to be to be on her own for the last three days. She was on her own right? She did look a little unkempt. “Um… you’re thirteen?”

“Yeah. What of it?” she asked defensively, puffing up slightly.

“What… what happened to your…” Robin trailed off. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything.

“I dunno,” she said, not looking him in the eyes. “I woke up and they weren’t there. My uncles.”

“I’m… sorry,” Robin said, knowing it sounded hollow. He hadn’t dwelled much on who he lost since the first day. Not after realizing everyone was gone. In a way, he was sorta glad. His mother would have lost it if this poni- neptin transformation happened to her.

“Nothing you can do about it,” she said brusquely. Robin heard her sniff a little, thanks to his sharper hearing, but pretended not to. He gave her the few moments.

“How did you do that anyway?” he asked, changing the subject again.

“Do what?” she pretended nothing happened.

“The jumping off the balcony. I swore you were gonna fall and hurt yourself,” Robin admitted. She looked at him like he was a complete doofus. “What?”

She spread her wings, which had the same faint glitter effect the rest of her coat did. “Duh!”

“No way you can fly with those!” Robin protested. He thrust a hoof at her wings. “Those things are way too small!”

She didn’t say anything, just started flapping them, faster and faster until her hooves left the ground for just a moment, held it for a second, then let herself drop back, panting slightly. She grinned at Robin’s dumbfounded expression. “Ha! See? Told ya!”

“But…but… that’s not possible!” Robin stuttered. “There’s no way those could have lifted you off the ground!”

“You weren’t a pony three days ago either,” she pointed out, sticking her tongue out at him. “What do you know about what’s possible?”

“I… I need a moment,” Robin said, pushing his shades up to rub between his eyes.

“Take all the time you need,” she grinned. “I’m Jade by the way.”

“Robin,” he sighed.

Hey Cellie.

I found a survivor! Well, she technically found me. Her name is Jade Mae Yu. She’s from Odessa. O. de. Sa. She walked all the way to town. That’s a couple hours walk normally. Granted, she had her scooter, but still. Odessa! She realized pretty quickly that no one was around, so she decided to come to town. She looked like a pegasus filly. And she thinks my name (neptin) is dumb. She doesn’t know a good thing when she sees it! Wants to call us ponies. Fie, I say!

It’s dumb and you know it!

Hey! You’re messing up my log!

Really? Sorry, thought you were just talking to yourself, Night Wing.

Just go watch a movie or something!

I’m going, I’m going. You can finish your dairy in peace.

It’s not a- forget it…

Okay, I’m back. I switched to typing this entry by wing. That way Jade can’t overhear. Two and a half finger typing using my wing thumbs and the knuckles on the leading finger. Surprisingly easy to pull off, but I’m going to need practice to get back up to a decent WPM count.

Anyway, after I met I offered to let her stay with me or in one of the houses next door. She said she’d rather bunk in my place. I gave her her first proper meal in three days too. She’d been mostly getting by on granola bars and dry cereal. Stir-fry veggies and eggs, with ice cream after. I’m trying to get through the perishables before they go bad. I’m considering moving them to the chilled goods section of the store and putting the chilled meats in the freezer. I might need meat in my diet if the teeth are anything to go by.

Fun fact: Jade’s teeth are closer to human standard, with a rather reduced canine (I think the term is incisiform?), especially compared to my outright fangs. I’ll see if the eggs upset her tonight before deciding how much animal protein to test her on, though.

She also made friends; the two dogs from up the street. We found them sitting on my porch when we got home. They love her. She loves them. They like me, but dog slobber was bad before I had fur. That was just nasty. I’ll stick with Trouble.

According to the collars, their names are Rocket (small one) and Dax. In one day my place went from one lone guy to having a kid and three pets. I’m going to have to start cleaning up. No, I don’t consider her my kid. That’s just weird. Just someone I’m looking out for. A mentor? She doesn’t hate me and I’m really hoping to keep it that way. I know how kids can be when they hate someone.

Typing by wing is tiring and I think I’m getting a cramp. Really weird feeling.

Right! I might actually be able to fly one day, Cellie. Jade jumped off a building and managed to glide with her wings, and they are tinier than mine! It’s… something to look forward to. I’m not sure how to practice flying though… I don’t want to jump off a roof. It might be how Jade figured out how to glide, but still.

I’m going to bed. I’ve got to try and readjust my sleep cycle to day time now that Jade’s around. Later Cellie.

Oh, after looking back over this to fix the numerous typos, I realized that moment with Jade got transcribed. She decided her nickname for me would either by Thestral Pony or Night Wing (the hero name Robin took when he grew up). You can guess which one I preferred.

Later Cellie.

GAH! I didn't get the stove! Stupid, stupid, stupid... Another day...

26-05

Robin’s ear twitched as the door opened and a set of hooves made their way across the room to the bed he lay curled up on, tail resting over his nose, half covered by a sheet. Despite the sun shining outside, his room was mostly dark, thanks to the shade drawn all the way down. The limited light that did slip past the sides did little to brighten the room’s gloom. Trouble had found the little hollow between his legs and under his wing to be the perfect nest and had snuggled in sometime during the night.

“Hey Nightwing,” Jade called. Robin grumbled and sniffed, the tip of his tail twitching. Jade frowned. She poked his neck. “Hey… wake up.”

This time Robin groaned, ears flicking back in irritation, shifting his wing to cover his head. Deprived of the warmth, Trouble half opened his eyes and glared at Jade, hissing in feline displeasure. Jade huffed at the cat. “Don’t get hissy at me.”

Trouble growled slightly and tried to get back to sleep. Jade, for her part, got a bit more physical in her motivations, actively rocking Robin with both hooves. “Come on, Nightwing, it’s late. Get up already!”

Robin lifted his wing slightly, one of his salmon eyes, glowing slightly as it reflected what little light was there, opening with a groan. “What time is it..?”

“Eleven thirty,” Jade said promptly.

“Too early.” Robin let his wing fall back in place. Jade blinked as Robin’s breathing relaxed back into the tell tale patterns of someone sleeping.

“Get! Up! Already!” Jade said, hitting him on the side with each word.

“Hey, hey, no hitting,” Robin grumbled, rolling over in an attempt to get out of hoof’s reach. Trouble, fed up with all the distractions, got up and haughtily padded out of the room to find a new sleeping spot.

“It’s almost noon and I’m hungry and want breakfast!” Jade whined. “Either you get up, or I’m going let the dogs at you!”

“Augh… Fine,” Robin groaned with great reluctance. He fumbled his way out of bed and yawned. “Give me a couple minutes to wash up.”

“Okay! And I want pancakes!” Jade sang out, trotting out of his room.

Robin headed to the bathroom to gargle and take care of morning business, mostly splashing his face with water and trying to get the worse of the sleep out of him. His body was protesting the shift in cycles but was slowly getting into gear. Not wanting to be running around naked around a kid, he donned his pants and headed to the kitchen.

The sounds of a show playing, likely from the computer (not Darcy) he told Jade she could use, trickled in from the next room. She said pancakes, and he was fairly certain he had a box of mix somewhere. “Hey Jade!” he called out suddenly.

“What?” her voice yelled back.

“I thought you said you didn’t have breakfast!” Robin said, a bit miffed.

“I didn’t,” she responded. A couple hoofsteps later she poked her head around the corner.

“Then what’s with the dishes in the sink? The bowl and spoon?”

“That was cereal, not breakfast,” she answered. “Why?”

“Right, cereal isn’t breakfast,” Robin deadpanned. “I’ve been living a lie up to this point.”

“You’re weird,” Jade giggled. “Oh! Those pictures on the wall, are those you before all this?”

Robin blinked. He had forgotten everything about those, to be honest. “Well, yeah. I might need to take some new ones and put them up.”

“Oh…” Jade got a distant look on her face.

Robin pawed at the ground nervously. Should he ask her if she wanted to get some pictures from her house? She had packed a lot of random things in her backpack before heading to town, but pictures weren’t amount them. “Um, Jade, you think-”

“So, are you make the pancakes or not, Nightwing?” Jade asked insistently, cutting him off. The fussy expression that accompanied it fell abruptly and her ears and wings dropped. “It’s been a while since anyone fixed breakfast for me.”

Robin winced inwardly and gave her a weak grin before heading over to the cupboard and the chair he had moved to the kitchen. “Right, pancakes.”

Getting a bowl down took a bit of effort with hooves but he managed, the chair giving him the missing height he needed. He had deliberately avoided taking the easy ways for meals the past two days. He would have to learn how to cope sooner than later, and sooner was better than later.

“Remind me to move these dishes to a lower shelf later,” he grumbled at Jade as he maneuvered the bowls to the countertop. “Or get a proper step ladder.”

“Or learn to fly,” Jade added.

“Hmm,” Robin grunted in a noncommittal fashion, rolling his eyes as he grabbed a tray of eggs in his mouth and added it to the rest of the supplies. He didn’t think that last one was likely anytime soon, and he was still not entirely convinced it was, Jade’s display or not.

“Why are you in pants?” Jade asked suddenly. “Isn’t it hot?”

“Yes?” Robin’s response was muffled by the box he was carrying in his mouth. His tail flicked a bit nervously.

“But we have fur,” Jade pointed out.

“Just… leave me and my pants alone for now, kay?”

“Fine,” Jade sighed dejectedly. She sat by the doorway and watched with slightly disappointed interest, her tail and wings twitching occasionally.

Robin felt self-conscious as he got the rest of the ingredients and supplies from the other cupboards and set them out on the counter. An idea came to him and he grinned slightly. “Jade, you know how to cook?”

“No..?”

“Wanna learn?” he offered, waving a hoof at the supplies.

Robin snickered slightly when her ears perked up and she seemed to sparkle with excitement. “Really?”

“Yeah, well. I was your age when m- I learned how to cook,” Robin reworded his response midway through.

Jade frowned though. “But… how am I supposed to cook? I don’t have hands anymore.”

“That hasn’t stopped my any. Hooves, mouth and wings work well enough, even if some fur sometimes gets in the food. Didn’t I cook for you last night? Um… yesterday evening?” Robin fumbled. He really had lost track of time and hours. He squinted at the window. “It’s noon, right?”

Jade snickered and trotted over to him. “Okay, what do we do? And it’s not that hard to keep track of that time, Nightwing.”

“You haven’t been nocturnal for the past few days,” Robin huffed, motioning her to a bowl and whisk. “And are you ever going to call me by my name?”

“Nope!” Jade grinned. “You’re too old to be Robin. You’re Nightwing.”

“… Only because it means you think I’m awesome enough to be Nightwing.”

“What? No, I didn’t mean that!” Jade protested, her wings half flaring.

“Too late! You think I’m awesome,” Robin (Nightwing?) teased in a singsong voice. “Now grab a whisk.”

“How?”

“Moufth!” he grinned, a whisk of his own between his lips. Jade made a face.

The impromptu cooking lesson worked out well, for the most part. True, Jade had managed to dump half of the pancake batter on Robin’s back, but considering one of his early cooking mistakes involved dish soap, vinegar and nutmeg, he counted it as a win. That wasn’t even one of the more memorable ones. Still; it was his only set of altered shorts and it was out of commission until he could do laundry. His sheets might need washing anyway. He was forced to be pants less until either he did wash or he headed out to get more pants that could fit him and altered them.

That would be at least another day, in the minimum. He wanted to give Jade a chance to get to know him a little, and give both of them a chance to get used to being around someone else after that last few days without. So while Robin worked on expanding his garden space, Jade ran around and had fun with the Dax and Rocket. Dax was a husky, actually larger than she was, though smaller than Robin. Rocket was a curly furred small dog, and lived up to his name, racing around without a care in the world. They found an old soccer ball that Robin had no idea he had and were kicking and chasing it around.

“Hey! Watch it!” Robin complained when the ball bounced off his head, threatening to dislodge his shades. He rubbed the spot with his dirty hoof, though it hadn’t really hurt, and glared at the rambunctious girl. Filly? The ball in question had rolled across the street and into one of the lawns on the other side. Rocket dashed off to retrieve it.

“Sorry, Nightwing!” Jade trotted over, Dax at her side yipping apologetically. The dogs were starting to worry him. They seemed a bit too smart. When Jade told them to do something, they often did. And not just in the ‘dog performing a trick’ way, either. Jade didn’t give him much time to muse, pointing at the turned earth. “What are you doing?”

“Gardening,” Robin responded with a grunt. He awkwardly grappled the rake with his forelegs and pulled it through the dirt again, digging up the grass and soil. He might need to get some of those riding mower attachments if want to make real progress.

“I can see that,” Jade, snorted, rolling her eyes. “Why are you gardening?”

“Because the fresh food in the store won’t last much longer, and we are going to need to eat something aside from canned stuff.” Robin dropped back to all fours and grumbled. “I definitely need those attachments.”

Rocket returned, panting happily as he nosed the ball back. With a head butt, he knocked it in Jade’s direction, and she turned and dipped, pinning it to her side with a wing. Ah, to be young and athletic. “Um… you need my help?”

Robin sighed and rubbed at his maneline, pausing when he realized he was only rubbing dirt into it. “Aw great, going to have to shower again… But no, I don’t think I’ll be making that much progress today, anyway.”

“Huh,” Jade said, confused. “If you say so.”

“Anything you’d like us plant?” Robin asked, grinning at her.

“I dunno. Don’t really like vegetables,” Jade admitted.

“You didn’t mind them last night,” Robin pointed out.

“Huh? Um… well, I was hungry!” Jade fumed. She snuffed and trotted off. “Have fun gardening!”

Robin grinned and got back to work.

After gardening for an hour or so, Robin gave up and napped for a few hours, his sleep cycle still off, leaving Jade to her own devices for the duration. When he woke in the evening, he had been surprised to find that rather than getting herself into some form of trouble as he originally feared, she had kept herself occupied watching the DVDs and listening to the music he had. The fact that he walked in on her trying to dance was quickly put aside and filed away as a memory to dwell on whenever he needed a good laugh. She was pretty accurate throwing pillows with just her mouth though. The longer neck really helped in the throwing motions.

Robin made macaroni salad for dinner that evening. Thankfully he had a chopper to dice the vegetables or it would have taken far too long. Just chopping the boiled eggs took a couple minutes of carefully maneuvering the knife and chasing slippery ovoids around the chopping board. The cheese was easier. Cheese didn’t try to run away.

After mixing everything together, he spooned two portions into bowls, taking them to the table so they could eat. Bowls were easier to eat from with the awkward spoon manipulating skills they had. At worse, they could eat right from the bowl with it.

Jade focused on chowing down for a while, her eating style had a lot in common with Dax, Rocket and Trouble. Robin snickered at the display, a long handled cooking spoon carefully balanced between his fetlock and pastern. True, it meant he was eating slower than Jade was, but he wasn’t making a mess. He would have her clean it up later.

“What are you laughing at?” Jade said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Nothing, nothing,” Robin quickly dipped his spoon in his food nonchalantly. She continued to eye him suspiciously, her wings twitching every time he chuckled a little.

“Whatever. Your movies are lame, by the way,” she added. “Don’t you have a playstation or something?”

“I’m not really a gamer. I’ve got lots of books if you want to read something,” Robin offered. The look she gave him inspired images of what he could do with those books, and none of them were pleasant for the items in question. “Fine. I’m going to the mall tomorrow, hopefully. You can come with.”

“Really?” it was adorable the way she perked up. “Why though?”

“Well, I’m going to the library, finally, and going to look for a camp stove or something, for starters,” Robin explained. “And maybe get some more clothes or anything else useful. There’s a game store in the mall. You can look for something to entertain yourself with. And I might get a speaker system to play some music when I drive around town looking for people.”

“That sounds like it would take forever,” Jade said, making a face.

“It will,” Robin agreed without much enthusiasm, sticking another spoonful in his mouth.

“The radio station is still working, right?” Jade asked suddenly. “Why don’t you use that?”

“I… what?”

“I tried it earlier. It just had that weird off the air sound,” Jade waved her hoof vaguely in the air. “Can’t you, put a recording on loop or something like that? Then turn on the radios in the big stores and the mall so if anyone goes there they know someone else is around.”

Robin stared blankly at her.

“Well, I thought it was a good idea,” Jade grumbled, going back to eating.

“You… are a genius,” Robin managed, shaking his head slowly.

“I am?” Jade’s head jerked up. “I mean, of course I am!”

The image was only ruined by the macaroni bits sticking to the side of her muzzle.

Hey Cellie.

I didn’t head out today. Just stayed home. Turned a bit more soil for the garden, though I’m not sure what I’m planning to plant yet. Something that grows in one season I guess. Maybe some root vegetables? I might need to turn a few more lawns to grow enough to see us through winter. I should see how canning works, or some other form of preservation. I could save a whole lot more of the fresh stuff before they go bad that way. Lord knows Jade and I can’t eat them all.

Speaking of Jade; she gave me the brilliant idea to put a recording on loop on the local radio stations. I know where their offices are, roughly. Just on the edge of downtown. It would be a good thing to head down there, anyway. There are some stores that would be good to clear out. Maybe even raid the Canadian Tire that side of town rather than clear out the one in walking distance.

Hopefully Sophia can get us that far. I’m planning on taking a container of gas with us. Just in case. You might be wondering how I plan to get us all there when Sophia is a one seater, but the answer is not two riders. Instead, I’ll put Jade in the trailer. Don’t worry, I’ve got plans for safety. She’s probably gonna hate it, but it should work.

I found a few of those harness leashes in the dog’s house when I went to get their food today. I can secure Jade in the trailer with. Might take the dogs too. I still don’t like the howling I was hearing.

My list is seriously messed up now. Hopefully I can get some of it done tomorrow. Maybe stop by the dentist and get the X-Rays done?

Umm… there was something else too. Let’s see… Right! I’m watching the power. I skimmed what I had on the city’s power grid. I know I keep talking about it, but I’m worried. The dam and wind farm might keep the juice going, but how many places have power still running? I’m wondering if I should try and figure out how to turn blocks of the city’s grid off. That would ease the load on the dam and farm, hopefully ensure power for way longer.

Or just figure out how to set up a personal solar farm. Need to head to the hospital. Hopefully I’ll have time.

Later Cellie.

27-05

“Why couldn’t we have just used a car?” Jade complained loudly for the umpteen time, voice raised to be heard over the ATV’s engine. Robin had been spot on when he predicted that Jade would be less than thrilled with his arrangement. Even after cutting part of the pet harness and using Velcro straps to secure it, she had protested against the idea. The fact that it was still relatively early only gave her more reasons to complain in general.

“I told you, because I can’t reach the pedals properly,” Robin called back. He wasn’t sure why he was still answering that question. She asked it before they left the house, after the stop at Walmart, after the stop at the Canadian Tire, after Lowe’s and quite a few times in between them. Rocket and Dax weren’t complaining. In fact, they looked positively enthused to be on the road trip.

Their little trailer was getting rather crowded. Aside from Jade and the dogs, there were the other things he picked up. There was no reason to make a trip out of the house and not load up. Among them; containers of gas, few more bags of dog food, various hardware supplies, more Velcro for his stock, some more long lasting food, Tupperware for the bags of flour, a few more electronics and other useful things. Jade added a sizable pile of video games she picked out. He also collected three boxes of pet care supplies, including but not limited to shampoo, flea collars and pet brushes. They weren’t just for the dogs.

Robin slowly circled the mall and pulled up by one of the lower entrances, parking spitting distance from it. It took about a minute to hop off Sophia and unhook Jade and the dogs. Fingered they may be, his wings were still awkward and he hadn’t mastered using his mouth to manipulate things. It didn’t help that Jade was fidgeting impatiently.

“All right, you remember our game plan?” Robin asked once they were out.

“Pharmacy, post office, electronics store, sears and then the game shop!” Jade put considerably more emphasis on the last one. Conversely, she groaned a little on sears. She wasn’t that keen on the clothes issue; an opinion that originally baffled Robin, but he had to admit; clothes and fur did not mix well. The only thing she really wanted was a set of shoes. Apparently the trip to town had left her hooves sore and aching.

Robin chuckled. “Yes, yes, the game shop last. Technically it’s a free for all.” He himself planned to see if he could get into the system at the bell and cogeco offices, perhaps keep the local cell network running. He didn’t have much hope on that point, but it was a start. “Sears and the electronics store might have stuff you’d want too.”

Between the two of them and the dogs, it didn’t take that long to work through Robin’s list. Medicines, maps, supplies, parts for half formed projects Robin had in mind. They all got piled in the trailer. After that, Robin pulled some meat from the food court for the dogs and let Jade loose to find the things she really wanted. For his part, Robin wandered to the library, pushing his shades out of the way once he was out of the sun. It had been a while since he had actually spent time in one.

When he was a kid, he used to spend at least an hour every day after school in the library, most times reading some story or another, other times pulling encyclopedia down or reading on random topics. He never grew out of his love of reading, but as technology marched on and school got more demanding, he had started doing more of his reading digitally.

Now that the internet took a shot to the 'nads, it was a chance to brush up on his old familiarity. His hoofsteps echoed slightly on the tiled floor as he wandered, stopping here and there to brush a wing over an interesting looking title before he pulled a few books out, his thumb tugging it out before carefully carrying it to a table in his mouth. Personal interest sourced a few novels he never got to finish and set them aside. Professional curiosities lead him to pick out two or three more serious books on biology. Potential prospects added a few on power generation and electricity, including a useful manual on photovoltaic systems. He found two books on fuel as an afterthought.

Robin smiled slightly as the tingling, faintly content warmth he felt. He always did like learning. Not necessarily school learning, but finding out random and potentially unimportant information and exposing himself to related information and just following where it went. It was similar to the wiki-trawl game, but the nostalgia of tracking topics and threads of interest in person in a physical library was there.

“You’re not that old, Robin,” he snorted with amusement. He put his reflections aside and turned towards the issue at hand; research. In a way, libraries like these were even more important now than they would have been. Libraries, schools, office work places, they likely held information that few, if anyone, could teach anymore. All that knowledge, waiting for someone to make use of. Mentally he added ‘ensure libraries remain intact’ to his To-Do List before his attention wandered to his reading again.

Concern for his and Jade's future added a few anatomy and care books for both horses and birds to his pile as well. Figuring it was a good enough place to start, he began flipping through those, skim reading for the most part. He moved on to wing anatomy. That led him to looking up feathers, bats and aeronautics. From there he ended up on jets and military technology. Then back to the solar manual and the horse care books when he banged his hoof on the table. His eccentric journey through the library resources added a book on X-Ray technology to his growing collection, joined by one on radio systems.

At one point he found the shelf of local business information. He spent a couple minutes flipping through the little handbooks that had information on local business places. Those were a big help. It turned out that there were quite a few useful stores in and around town. An Equestrian supply store was on the north side, and they specialized in the fancier newer horse gear and horse care supplies. Near to the mall were both an RV company and a company that specialized in off the grid living. He dropped the more useful ones he found in his pile and started reading.

“You don’t plan on reading all those before we go home, right?” Jade’s hesitant voice broke his concentration. He blinked owlishly at her as she nervously shuffled her hooves on the ground. Rocket pranced over to him and sniffed eagerly him.

“Um…” Robin looked around, finally realizing just how large the pile of books around him had gotten. “Man this got out of hand fast…”

“Hoof.”

“Huh?”

“Hoof. Out of hoof.” Jade waved one at him. “No hands.”

“I… huh?” Robin was momentarily stymied, but he shook it off. “Fine. It got out of hoof. But no, I’m going to take all these home with me to read whenever.” He got up and stretched, surprised at how stiff he was. “Yeesh… how long was I here?”

“About an hour,” Jade supplied as Robin fished his watch out from his pouch. “I think. The electronics section in sears had some consoles set up so I was playing for a while.”

“And we still have other things to do today, places to go,” Robin grumbled, mentally admonishing himself for getting carried away with reading. He nudged his scattered books together. “Alright, let me grab one of those book carts to haul this all back to the trailer and we can head home for lunch.”

“Okay!” Jade sat on her haunches, clearly intending to wait rather than help, but jumped up an instant later. “Hey! How’d you get a tattoo, Nightwing! Oh, can I get one?”

“No, I didn’t get a tattoo.” Robin mad a face and cocked his head to the side. “Why’d you think that anyway? And no, you can’t get a tattoo either.”

“So is it a dye job? Why did you dye your fur?” Jade started twitching her wings in frustration. “When did you dye your fur anyway?”

“Jade… I didn’t dye my fur either,” Robin sighed, a bit on the exasperated side as his wings slumped and a hoof pressed on his nose bridge. “Look, can you just get one of the carts for me?”

“Fine, don’t tell me what it is,” Jade grumbled, but she actually did get up to go for the cart, though she didn’t go without grumbling somewhat and perhaps a bit more stomping than needed.

Robin snickered a little when she apparently stomped a little too hard and hurt herself, hobbling for a few steps before she recovered. To be fair, she had actually got him to considering what dying fur would be like, and it played through his mind as he stacked books. The squeaking wheels heralded her return with the cart and they got to stacking moving the books over to it.

“So what brought this line of questioning on anyway?” Robin asked when they got most of the books loaded.

“The ‘not a tattoo’ you have,” Jade said, sinking a lot of sarcasm into it.

“Jade, you aren’t making an- Yeee! Oi! None of that now!” Robin yelped when a hoof jabbed his flank. He rubbed at the spot, thought it was mostly a reflexive action. “What was that for?”

“Your ‘not a tattoo or dye job,’ duh,” Jade grumbled. She even moved her wings, bringing them around and bending the primaries at the tips in a remarkably good substitution for the ‘quote and quote’ hand motion.

Robin snorted and looked at where Jade poked and his jaw dropped. On his flanks was a picture he never saw before. A wheeled triskelion, the arms orange, yellow and green, with a blue wing, much like his own, stretched out behind it. A quick check found an identical image on the other side. “Jade… I have no idea where this came from…”

Robin tried to make little of the spontaneously forming artwork, brushing it off as just another part of whatever transformed them in the first place. Despite her protests, he hustled her and the books back to the trailer and headed home for the morning, still ignoring the issue. Besides, it was getting later in the morning and he still had things he wanted to do before turning in for his midday nap.

They left most of their acquisitions on the trailer to be unloaded at a later as of yet to be decided time. Jade disappeared into the living room with her games, while Robin loaded his saddlebag with tools and supplies from the hardware store to finish up the project he started earlier. In order to avoid as much of the brighter daylight as he could without neglecting Jade, he had finally decided on sleeping for about four hours around midday and midnight.

He worked on his sustainability projects, like most of the gardening and setting up supply caches in the neighbouring houses, in the morning before Jade woke up. It was also the time he was spending working on the mobility issue. While Sophia was a gift he wasn’t planning on getting rid of, and the powered cart was useful for short runs to other houses and the store, they were all single passenger. He needed a car.

Rocket and Dax’s owners had a SUV, and since he had already kicked the door in, it hadn’t taken him long to find their keys in the house. The last few parts he needed to rig it to comfortably fit himself (or another po-neptin driver) had been picked up on the stop at Canadian Tire. Adding some length to the pedals, making the levers and shift stick more hoof friendly and padding the backrest out a bit.

It wasn’t exactly the prettiest of fixes, but it would work. The hardest part was actually using the tools, but he managed, between his mouth, wings and hooves. Throwing himself into the work, he did his best to distract himself from the mystery of the manifesting image. He was only moderately successful, still casting glances at it as he wrapped up.

“And I was starting to think this couldn’t get any weirder,” he grumbled. At least the SUV was rigged. They could start heading out further on their trips. And maybe get another ATV. More importantly; he wanted to visit that equestrian supply store. Something to do for the evening.

As he mused, something brushed against his hind leg. A jolt of panic flooded his mind and he jumped with a yell, wings and legs all pumping. The hood of the SUV let out a solid bang when his hooves landed on it, and he scrambled to the other side before whirling; body positioned low to the car he stood on, wings flared, and a hiss in his throat.

He didn’t see anything. He held his pose for a moment, his heart pounding and the sun warmed metal beneath him. Something touched him. He hadn’t heard or noticed anything approaching or moving in the area. Already he’d been hit with a mark out of nowhere. Was this the culprit? He stole a glance at his leg, but there was no new change to it.

“Who, or what, is out there!” he called out. “I’ve got hooves and teeth and I’m not afraid to use them!”

For a moment, only silence reigned, but his ears twitched as something started growling softly. Robin’s breath caught in his throat. He considered slipping off the other side and high-tailing it, but part of him refused to leave without at least seeing what it was. Carefully, he crawled over, steeling himself before poking his head out.

Trouble glared at him the moment he crawled into sight, voicing his displeasure with a low yowl. Robin sighed explosively and slumped unto the car, only to hop off shortly after.

“Yeah, that’s hot,” he murmured as he rubbed his underbelly with a hoof, mentally adding ‘hot cars’ to the ‘Possible Reasons to Keep Wearing Clothes’ list. Sadly, the ‘Possible Reasons not to Kep Wearing Clothes’ list was still longer. Trouble batted his leg with a lower growling, bringing his wandering thoughts back. Robin looked at him and snorted, shifting his wings. “Well what did you expect? You scared the… was that a whinny in my yell?”

“Rweor,” Trouble responded.

“Fine, whatever, you scared me, though,” Robin repeated. His hoof wavered in the air. “How did you sneak up on me anyway? Do you know how sensitive my hearing is now?”

“Mya?”

“About as good as yours is,” Robin grumbled. “Jeeze, I know cats are sneaky but damn…”

Trouble rolled over, legs in the air and his belly exposed in an invitation as he squirmed slightly. “Mew?”

“Really?” Robin deadpanned. Trouble wiggled a bit more. “Gah, fine.”

While a hoof wasn’t a hand, he still had a ridiculous, compared to what he expected, amount of dexterity and control with it. Trouble was soon purring contently in response to the hoof treatment, and Robin found himself voicing his woes.

“I have no clue where it came from; it just appeared somewhere between me letting Jade loose in the mall to have her fun and hitting the library. I’m certain I didn’t black out and there was no one else around. Not like you can do a tattoo in that short a time anyway. And it’s identical on both sides! Besides, it’s not a tattoo anyway. My fur colour changed to make it. No clue how that one happened.” He paused him his ministrations and Trouble swatted him.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” Robin said, sitting on his haunches and going back to petting Trouble. “Now, don’t get me wrong, I kind of like it. It’s like pretty cool. Triskelion and a wing? Pretty awesome. And it feels right. You ever got that feeling? You found something that you never realized you were lacking before and when you found it you just knew it was yours?”

Robin paused and looked at the expression Trouble was giving him. “Right… of course you haven’t; you’re a cat.” Robin rubbed his hoof on his nose. “Lovely. I’m talking to the cat. I’m officially going crazy.”

“Reow!” Trouble complained.

“No! You got enough petting!” Robin said. Trouble spat and hissed at him. “Hey! Don’t you take that tone with me Mister! I… am still doing it.” Robin groaned and got up. “Whatever. It’s the good kind of crazy.”

He walked a few slow circles, examining the mark again. Was it supposed to mean something? Wings tended to mean flight or freedom. Escape? Maybe release? Freedom from something? No, that wasn’t right. If you had wings, you can fly. Freedom… of? Yeah. And the triskelion… Those had a lot of meanings. Like growth, progress, though, the three fold nature of an individual’s existence. Okay, that one didn’t feel right. The first ones…

“Aw, whatever. I’ll figure it out later,” he said as a yawn interrupted his reflections. “Jade’s really never going to let the ‘Nightwing’ name go now…”

He packed up his gear and carefully got it on his back. Trouble leapt up as well, taking a perch between his wings. Robin turned his head, which also had surprising flexibility, to glare at him. The cat purred back sweetly. “Trouble… I’ll let you, but if you scratch me, knead me or something worse, never again.”

Trouble nodded and reclined.

“Great,” Robin groaned as he walked back to the house. “Not only am I talking to the cat, but he understands me.” Jade had been doing the same with the dogs. In fact, he was pretty sure the dogs listened to him the first day he met them. “So either we got some sort of animal empathy, or they are getting smarter. And considering how helpful they have been, I think it’s the latter.”

Trouble didn’t give him any issues on the way back, keeping his perch even when he dropped the tools in the garage. Heading into the house proper, briefly wondering if it would be worth it to trade out the knobs for levers. He probably should before winter. They might be torture on the hooves and mouth when they were frozen. He couldn’t head to bed without checking up on Jade, but she wasn’t hard to find. He followed his ears; the sounds of her video games were pretty clear.

He found her lying on the ground before the television. A tray beside her had a few stray baby carrots, lettuce bits and chip crumbs on it, so he could tell she had lunch while he worked. She didn’t have any attention to spare for the remains though. Her tongue was sticking out as she frowned, focused on her game. Robin watched her for a while. It looked scifi, with people in armour talking, more than a few of them being aliens.

“So you done, Nightwing?” Jade asked without looking away.

“Yeah, car’s all rigged. It’s a bit low on gas, but it should have enough for a few days of just going around the city,” Robin said, trying to make sense of the game without knowing what was going on.

“So; we going out?”

“Later,” Robin yawned, just thinking about it making him sleepy again. He took a seat beside her and watched her play. “I need some sleep first. Then we can go to the radio station and some of the stores on that side of town.”

“Don’t we have enough stuff?” Jade whined at the thought of dragging more supplies around. Something in the game exploded, making Robin flinch, ears flicking back.

“It’s better to get everything close faster,” Robin pointed out. “And I want to go to the Equestrian store near the bus terminal. I found a booklet with some information about it. Remember how you said your hooves hurt walking all that way?”

“Augh, don’t remind me,” Jade groaned, pausing the game just long enough to press her face against the ground. “Never again… roads suck!”

“Well, yeah, they aren’t really the best for hooves. Grass and dirt; sure. Asphalt and concrete; not so much,” Robin chuckled slightly as Jade shot an enemy and managed to flip them head over heels with the recoil. “They sell horseboots. The horseshoes you can strap on, not nail on.”

“Okay,” Jade said, not all that excited.

“Hopefully we can find some to fit us,” Robin continued, examining his hoof. He looked up sharply, eyes focused on Jade, her hoof and pastern wrapped around the controller, occasionally aided by her wings. “How are you doing that?”

“It’s easy. You need the omnitool first, then you get the upgrade that gets dropped when you-”

“Not the game, how are you playing the game?” Robin interrupted.

“The controls aren’t that hard,” Jade muttered. “Only the Mako was hard.”

“No! Hooves,” Robin waved his own. “Seriously, how are you playing the game without hands!”

“Um….” Jade looked down, dragging out the syllable for a while. Finally she shrugged. “Dunno. Just am.”

“Whatever…” Robin groaned in frustration, slumping to the ground exhausted. “I need sleep. Wake me up around three or so.”

“Okay,” Jade said as he got up and ambled off to his room to curl up. He paused by the door way.

“I need to remember to stop by one of the schools,” Robin murmured.

“Why a school?” Jade called over.

“So I can get a couple syllabus. I need to make up a schedule for your homeschooling lessons,” Robin yawned, ambling off again.

Jade scurried to her feet and stared at his retreating form. “Homeschooling? Nightwing! Please tell me you’re kidding! Nightwing? Come on!”

Cellie! It’s check-up time!

Guess who got new shoes!

Jade and I hit Greenehawk. It’s a specialty equestrian supply store. A lot of the stuff we didn’t want, like the bits and the saddles and stuff, but there were so many that looked useful. First aid supplies, brushes and other care tools. We even got some proper saddlebags. It was really hard finding stuff in our size, since horses are far larger than we are, but we managed.

Most importantly, we got some boots! They are more like hoof sneakers to be honest. They are pretty awesome. They don’t come up very high, just up to the hoof, leaving the pastern and fetlock free, and they have Velcro straps to secure them. Velcro is one of humanities greatest invention. Thank you guy that noticed spurs had little hooks that caught on fur and fabric. The sneakers themselves feel a bit weird. Like the first time you put on really heavy winter boots, or a goulash, but worse. Made me fell skittish for a while, and I think Jade felt it too. It passed, thankfully.

Having something on our forelegs has a bit awkward for manipulating stuff, but we can still manage. And they are pretty easy to get on and off. The hindleg ones will take a bit more practice, but still. I grabbed a couple boxes. Including the bell types that don’t cover the bottom of our hooves.

Why you may ask? House wear! I’ve been messing around with them, I can attach clips and catches to them with some of the resin I got from Canadian Tire. I tested them out too. With them, I can attach things like utensils and cooking tools and even pens for writing and typing! My tests are working out so far too. With the bell boots around my pastern, I can get decent manipulation of things.

I’m still practicing with my mouth and lips, but having something that lets me use my fetlocks and pasterns for control is great. I still don’t know how Jade was playing video games… She pitched controller between her pastern, fetlock and hoof, using her heel, frog, quarter and even walls to work it somehow.

Yeah, thanks to the books from the library, I’ve been learning the proper terms for everything. Library power!

Oh, I’ve started working on lesson plans for Jade. Just because it’s just us doesn’t mean she gets out of getting an education. I’m not planning on following everything the way it was set up, mostly because I think the system was dumb, but I want her exposed to enough things and to be… learned I suppose. I’m not gonna lock her down or anything, maybe just an hour or two each day. Hey, I’ll be taking the first lessons too. Penmanship.

Hold up Cellie, I’m switching to hunt and peck.

Okay… Ha! The bell boots with two pointers is working great for typing!

But back on topic. I switched because I don’t want Jade to hear this part. I’m not sure what to do with her. There are times she seems fine, most of the time, but sometimes I catch her looking so lost. Like when she saw my family portrait on the wall. She’s strong. She’s so strong I can’t help but be impressed. God know I miss my family. Even if they didn’t live in town anymore and I didn’t see them as often, they were still my parents. To know they are gone with everyone else…

I’m not pretending to think they aren’t. I just hope it didn’t hurt, whatever happened to them.

Jade hasn’t told me much, but I’ve figured out she lived with her uncle and aunt. She doesn’t talk about them. But she’s got to be missing them.

Anyway, I’m not sure how to treat her. From the books on birds, I figured out she needed to preen her wings after five days of just letting them go. She didn’t know what she was going, so I had to help her.

It was awkward. It was so very awkward. And it seems like wings are kinda sensitive.

But it was weird, it needed to be done, but it was awkward. I am so glad I don’t have feathers. Taking care of my wings is so much easier.

Should I treat her like a friend? A guess? A part of me thinks treating her like a kid sister is the best way, but… I’m an only child, I got no idea how siblings are supposed to work. And can I just do it? Do I need paperwork? No, that’s dumb. But I need her to know… I’ll try and ask her tomorrow maybe.

I also plan to get our physicals done. With the SUV, I can make it to the hospital with ease. Find the supplies I need, pressure pumps, Diabetes kits, thermometers, scales, scopes, the works. I’m going to jot down everything I can in terms of vitals and keep it on hand. In case of anything.

Yeah, it’s gonna be so awkward…

Anyway, I think that’s all for today. Trouble seems to like me more. Only fair. The dogs like Jade. They sleep in her room with her. She gets the dogs, I get the cat. So what if I talk to him? She’s got two dogs. Higher Crazy Pet Person rating than me.

Quick recap: shoes, SUV, plans, more plans…

Oh! We set up the radio today. It wasn’t that hard. Every half hour we have a recording going out. I sent them to the Walmart, and I left a walkie talky. I keep the other one with me.

I plan to do some more reading on the power issue. I seriously want to make sure I can keep power going. The windfarm generates so long as the wind is at least 5 MPH, the dams been running for decades… But I just want to make sure we’ll keep swimming in power.

Anyway, I’m off. Going to see how many lights are on nearby and shut them off. Later Cellie.

28-05

Morning Cellie!

Jade’s still asleep. It’s around 7:30, but she tends to sleep in a bit. I would too, but my sleep cycle got shot and stuff. We’ve been over that so you should know by now.

Anyway, I’ve stoked. Pumped. Excited. Ready. So doing this. Terrified. Panicked. Pulling my hair out. I swear I’m going to mess this up. Who the hell just up and goes ‘can I be your brother?’ It’s like anime quality cheesy.

I actually had crazy dreams about this. What if she said no, what if she was too excited about it, what if she left. And it just kept getting more and more vivid too, as if I was actually experiencing it. Somehow it calmed down before I woke up though, like I dreamed up a counselor to calm me down.

Anyway, I got up around my regular time and I’ve been so antsy I was all over the place. I took Cynthia and the larger trailers and I headed out on a solo raiding run.

Lords, that was annoying. Anyway, I hit that Off the Grid living place. I did have to break down the door, but I might get around to fixing it. Eventually.

Two words: Gold Mine.

I’m pretty sure the town’s not gonna lose power for a while now. I thought it was just the Wind Farm and the Hydrodam. There are five solar farms in this county and the neighbouring one pumping power into the local grid. I mean, I know Kingston and Frontenac were big on sustainable power, but damn…

Makes me wonder why the power bill was so high…

Hopefully the dam can last a while without maintenance.

Anyway way, I still got one of their solar panels to try and set up. I also found out about their supplier, a place in Toronto that sells alternate power equipment. Their catalog looks promising. I was planning on heading that side anyway, so it’s a place to stop. This is all just in case anything does happen to the grid, so I can still get power to the house.

Huh?

Sorry, back. Thought I heard Jade getting up… Where was I? I got more groceries. Because why not? And I also got three deep freezers. Why? Food preservation. Some of the veggies are starting to go old, and that’s bad. And also meat. I might not need much of it, but I also don’t know where the farms are to get more. Plus; Jade likes cereal, and I like milk, so one is filled with that.

Now that I think about it, I should have gotten some bread too… another trip I suppose.

Anyway, I plan to poke around in some of the other houses on the block today. I’m going to have to learn how to properly maintain and keep a house if we are going to last. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but winter is going to suck. Summer might suck. Either way, I’m going to poke around with a few furnaces. My place ran off the natural gas lines, but I’m sure those are down, so I’m looking at the other furnace types.

Hopefully I can get everything done. It’s starting to feel like a storm is coming into town.

And… yeah, I’m going to go start on breakfast. Maybe the smell of food will get her out of bed.

Jade staggered into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes, a bit surprised to find Robin already in at the sink washing up dishes, grumbling to himself. He wasn’t wearing anything aside from an apron, which left his not-a-tattoo exposed for her to brood over again. Trouble was laying on the counter in the typical cat-loaf, watching both of them from his half closed eyes. The dogs were looking out the window at something.

“Good morning, Jade!” he greeted her cheerfully. “Ready for breakfast?”

She just groaned and shuffled to the table, climbing unto one of the chairs. “Morning, Nightwing… what did you make for breakfast?”

“Berries, fried eggs and cereal,” Robin answered. With the maneuver he was getting a lot better at, he brought her food over. What interested her most was the bowl of mixed berries and she pored over them as Robin settled down with his own food.

“Hold up, we didn’t have these yesterday,” she pointed out. “Did you go and get more groceries again?”

“I made a few stops,” Robin grinned, looking out the window pointedly.

“Jeeze, Nightwing! What were you doing this morning?” she asked, staring at the trio of smart cars parked at the curb, the logo of the dentist office probably emblazed on them.

“I got more stuff. There are three deep freezers in the garage now. One with milk, one with fruit and one with meat. Um, don’t worry about the last one, it’s mostly for me. And the dogs.” Trouble hissed softly, so Robin added him. “And Trouble. The milk and fruit… they would go bad and we kinda need them. I checked out the off the grid living place. Got a solar panel and a battery from their stock and I’ll try to set it up eventually. Make the freezers run off it so we don’t stress the house’s connection. The smart cars… well…”

“Well what?” Jade asked, going back to her food. Most of Robin’s ideas had been good ones, even if he tended to over think and get bogged down in the details. It wasn’t just a few times she had stopped him from over complicated what would have been simple issue.

“I want to teach you how to drive,” Robin finally said.

Jade raised her eyebrows. “Huh?”

“I mean, smart cars are much smaller than regular cars so it’s easier to reach the pedals. And it’s smaller over all. Easier to see over the dash. They have pretty good mileage too, so getting around town with them will be easier,” Robin explained, a wide grin on his face. “I heard they have electric models too, but the one the dentist had was straight fuel, but I know where the dealership is so we can switch if we need to. Plus, they have trailer hitches! So we can carry even more stuff around.”

“Nightwing!” Jade bounced a berry off his face.

Robin snapped out of his little spiel with a sheepish grin. “Sorry. Good aim though.”

“Thanks,” Jade said, taking the compliment, “but what do you mean you want to teach me how to drive?”

“I want to teach you how to drive,” Robin repeat, as if stating something obvious.

Jade raised her eyebrows again. “Why?”

“Why not? It would be convenient, wouldn’t it?” Robin’s ears dropped. “You don’t want to learn how to drive?”

“No, I do, sorta…” Jade didn’t sound one hundred percent convinced. “But… why? I’m only thirteen.”

“I started learning when I was twelve,” Robin said. He stopped hesitantly and filled his mouth with food to forestall talking. He was a bit more sombre when he started talking again, licking his lips nervously. “Jade, do you miss your family?”

“I…” Jade stared at her plate, shuffling her hooves awkwardly. Robin didn’t say anything, quietly eating and letting the silence stretch on. A sniffle she tried to hide broke it. “I do…”

Robin shifted around the table and put his wing around her as silent tears started spilling down her cheeks. “I miss them… my uncle… daddy… mommy… but there’s gone and… and I won’t see them again.” She started crying. “I waited to see if they would turn up, but they were just gone so I, so I left.”

“There, there,” Robin started and promptly cringed. Of all the clichéd things to say… Actually, it gave him an idea. “How about we go back?”

“What?”

The idea started unfolding in his head. “How about we go back to your house move some of your stuff?”

“Why?” Jade narrowed her eyes at him.

“Well, so you can have your stuff with you. And since it doesn’t seem like your parents are coming back fo-”

“What!?”

“Huh?”

“You want me to give up on my uncles? My family?”

“No, that’s not wha-”

“FORGET IT!” Jade’s sudden outburst startled Robin, and he was too stunned to act when Jade raced away from the table. The door opened and moment later and he caught a glimpse of her through the window.

“Wait! Jade!” he yelled, finally shaking off the stunned inactivity to run after her. It was a few moments too late though. By the time he got outside, she was already out of sight, and her scooter was gone. Robin nervously lifted and lowered his legs, unsure what to do. “Jade? Ah, dammit all…”

After looking around for a sign of her for a few minutes, he dejectedly headed back inside. Trouble gave him an exasperated look from his perch on the counter, Rocket was glaring accusingly and Dax managed to look both irritated and understanding.

The fact that he could figure out their expressions so easily would have bothered him more if it wasn’t for the fact that he made Jade run off. He dropped to his haunches dejectedly. “I know, I know, I could have handled that better. I suck at this kind of stuff…”

Rocket marched over and growled softly. Robin flared a wing in irritation. “What did you expect me to do? I don’t even know where she went so fast! Maybe it’s just a teenage girl thing?”

Dax whined as he approached, and Robin couldn’t help but tremble a little. The dog was mild tempered and friendly, but he was still huge. He would be even if he was still human. But as a pony? They were almost at eye level. Dax nudged Rocket and huffed at the little dog. Rocket didn’t look happy, but he left the room without making a scene. Dax nodded and gave Robin a slight grin.

“Uh… thanks?” Robin blinked. Dax licked him. “Ah! Hey, just because Jade lets you lick her face doesn’t mean I want you to!”

Dax huffed in canine laugher a bit more before looking out the open door. Robin sighed. “I’m sure she’ll be back. I admittedly messed up the approach, so she just needs a bit of time to cool off.”

Well… um… Hi Cellie…

So… it turns out that… well… how should I put this?

Jade’s still missing. It’s really late and she’s still not ho- back. I didn’t take my regular nap, just in case she came back, but it’s after five and still no sign of her!

I’m getting really worried. It’s looking pretty bad out there. You would think the sun already set by how dark it is. Not that I really mind it. Though the sky does look pretty threatening. It's really weird how my fur’s kinda fluffing up against the humidity.

I really hope she's okay out there.

And… there's the rain! Jeeze, that thunder literally shook the windows. Also; eee… I think I get why cats and dogs don't always like thunderstorms. It didn't exactly hurt, but it wasn't the most pleasant feeling either.

…

…

I really hope Jade's okay. Maybe she found…. …… …..

You don't think she… I mean, that would be just plain dumb…. especially in this weather…

I mean… you'd have to be… like really… upset….

Well Fuck….

Shit dangle I fucked that up!

…

…

…

…

…

...

28-05 [2]

“JADE!” The sound of the car and the thrumming of the heavy rain fall pretty much eliminated any advantage his hearing would have giving him. He was pretty much soaked as well from all the rain that poured in through Cynthia’s open windows, but he couldn’t exactly call out for her with the windows shut. Flashes of lightning and the almost simultaneous peals of thunder occasionally added their part to the mix.

“JADE! WHERE ARE YOU!” As best as he could figure, she would likely be heading back to Odessa. It was the only thing he could think of that made sense. Unless she decided to just randomly wander about and hole up somewhere? That would mean she could be anywhere and severely lower the possibility of him finding her.

He chose not to consider that possibility. At least, not consider it too much.

He focused on driving and yelling out for her. Highway 2 was pretty sparse between Kingston and Odessa, and didn’t leave her with many places to actually be. He paused by each one, yelling and honking the horn before moving on.

“Come on, Jade, where are you?” Robin groaned, shivering slightly from the chill he was getting, soaked as he was; too worried to care enough to do more than turn the heat on full. In a way, it was a good thing. He had been up some fifteen or more hours by that point, and he spent more of the day doing physical labour, from the gardening projects to trying to dismantle the propane furnace in the house a few up from his to working on rigging the smart cars for neptin use. All of which were attempts to keep from worrying too much about Jade’s absence. Most of which failed.

In short; he was tired both mentally and physically, and running on fumes. He hit the dash with a hoof as he swore to himself. “Dammit, dammit, dammit! JADE! Where did you go?”

Even driving slowly and with frequent pauses, he didn’t have far to go before reaching Odessa. The city limits sign quickly passed, and soon the country side and rolling fields gave way to smaller properties and houses. It hit him a moment later that he was still thinking with a pre-event mindset. While it didn’t bother him much, it was quite dark outside, far beyond the point that someone would need lights if they didn’t have his eyes. And Jade’s vision was far lacking in the dark compared to his.

Rather than stopping at every house, he cruised past looking for lights that might be on. He didn’t find any by the time he reached his destination; Jade’s home. True, she had never actually told him where she lived, but she had giving him her name. It had only taken a few minutes to get an address from the white pages. He did that from the second day. He was banking on the idea that she might be there and hopefully ran to the building.

No Jade. The house was locked, and he didn’t feel right in breaking the door down, so he only spent the time confirming no one was there,; circling the house, listening and looking through the windows for signs of activities, using his wings to shield his head from the rain. All that resulted in was him getting even more drenched than he had been, and the addition of mud, muck and plant matter to his fur.

He made haste in scrambling back into Cynthia, rolling up the window for a brief reprise from the relentless downpour. Starting the engine and positioning himself in the chair, he contemplated his next move as he prepared to drive off. His head dropped, hitting the wheel and setting off a short honk.

“Jade… where are you?” Robin whimpered, breaking down, tears dripping from his eyes. He sat there like that for a while, shivering despite Cynthia’s heater’s trying their best. His hesitant voice broke the silence.

“God… I know… I know I haven’t said anything to you in a while… but… you gotta help me… I messed up… I messed up and it just kept getting worse… could you give me a hand or something?”

Robin didn’t get the divine intervention he was looking for, and eventually realized he had to head back. He was pretty listless as he drove back to Kingston, as if his resolve broke back at Jade’s place. Struggling to keep himself awake, he murmuring more of the same, continuing to berate himself over his mishandling of the situation.

He wasn’t paying as much attention as he should, and the headlights were messing with his nightvision somewhat, so the deer prancing across the road completely blindsided him. They leaped out from the thick plant growth that bordered that stretch of road, heedless of his travel. A small herd of them, leaping out without abandon and from out of nowhere from his perspective, suddenly appeared.

“Shhhiiii-” he yelled, yanking the wheel to one side, slamming a hoof down on the brake hard intending to swerve away. Wheels locked up, but on the rain slick road traction was a premium, and Cynthia started hydroplaning, her momentum taking her into an uncontrolled slide, skidding and spinning out on the empty street.

Robin struggled to get Cynthia back under control, but his unfamiliarity with driving using hooves rather than hands was working against him. It was all he could do to clamp on with grimfaced and wide eyed determination as Cynthia careened. The wild ride was abruptly ended when he barrelled off the asphalt and crashed into the untamed growth.

Robin sat stiff in the driver’s seat, breathing heavily as his heart threatened to pound its way out of his chest. Slowly, he released his death grip on the wheel and, fumbled with the hoof-unfriendly latch. After a struggle, he managed to force the door open, where the plants were trying to pin it shut.

“Hell… the actual hell…” Robin panted as he staggered out into the rain. The deer hadn’t stopped, continuing on their way. Loud bangs spooked him when two more leaped unto Cynthia. He jumped reflexively, wings flared, getting enough height to actually clear Cynthia himself as the deer bounded off into the night. It was the closest to flight he had ever gotten, and as could be expected his landing wasn’t anything near graceful and he slammed painfully into the ground.

And uncertain amount of time passed as he lay in the mud, dazed and half conscious. In his addled thoughts, Jade’s voice rang, speaking and repeating lines to him. Things she had actually said were in the minority, with those imagined by his guilty subconscious being prevalent.

“You want me to give up on my uncles? My family?”

“No… not that…” Robin murmured weakly. A faint image of Jade seemed to loom over him.

“No way I’m giving up on my family!” the spectre snapped with more venom than the original would have managed.

“But… I didn’t mean that…” he tried to protest.

“Forget it!” another one interjected. They both whirled and stalked off in different directions.

“Wait… don’t go…” Robin floundered, trying and failing to get up.

“You’re a jerk, Robin!” one of them shot back.

“I’m s-sorry…” he stammered.

“I don’t want to see you again!” they both yelled.

“Jade… don’t…” Robin whimpered to himself, eyes fluttering. He woke unexpected and abruptly, coughing to get the muck that found its way into his mouth and nose out. Slowly, he struggled to his feet, wincing at the pain that shot through his right foreleg, an effort of will keeping it from collapsing beneath him. His right wing was pained was well, both having suffered from his fall.

Gritting his teeth, he stumbled back to Cynthia, trying to avoid using his right leg. He had to get back. Sitting out in the rain wasn’t helping anything and he was liable to get sick. Even if he did chase off the only other person he found, he still had to get back. Cynthia didn’t seem that bad off, considering. He spotted what seemed to be a few dents in the front bumper, and a more than her fair share of scratches on both the front and sides, but nothing that would keep her from being driven. Her engine was still going strong too.

It wouldn’t exactly be easy getting her out, particularly with his sore limbs, but possible. It would just take a bit of effort. The hardest part was pulling the larger clumps and pieces of branches and brush free from the wheel wells and away from Cynthia’s sides. While grasping them between his jaws was easy enough, largely thanks to their lack of thorns, the taste left much to be desired and backing up with a bum leg was tricky.

Struggling back into the driver’s seat, he did a quick check to make sure his rigged apparatus was still intact before awkwardly shifting her into reverse with his left leg. Even with her 4WD engaged, Cynthia’s tires tended to spin out, getting little traction on the rain sodden soil, only hesitantly jerking free of the embrace of the plants, sliding as Robin struggled to gain her purchase. He was relieved when the rear wheels hit the asphalt and Cynthia pulled herself back unto the hardtop with a jolt.

She felt a bit off as he continued on his way, but Robin chalked it up to the alignment being jarred out of place from the crash. That was a thing that could happen, as far as he knew. Either way, he was still tired, but way to riled up to actually be sleepy. He constantly dwelled on his failing with Jade, and it was the only thing on his mind when he finally limped into the house, like the weight of the world on his back.

His hopes rose when he noticed that the lights were on, and his paced picked up a little. The knob was a minor challenge in his rush, but he hurried inside. “Jade!?”

The dogs ran out to meet him with matching enthusiasm. The dejected expressions that followed when both parties realized who came were also shared. Rocket growled as him before sulking off. Dax was a bit more concerned about his condition, whining and tentatively licking at his shoulder.

“So she didn’t come back?” Robin asked the big dog. Dax whined a negative. Robin laughed sadly. “Of course she didn’t… why would she? I scared off the only other person I found. God… I must be the biggest asshole in the world.”

Dax didn’t look impressed with him, trying to be supporting, playing a paw on his shoulder, but Robin walked away from it.

“Actually… considering the empty city, I really might be. Biggest in Ontario, in the least.” He laughed again, slumping against the wall, silent tears falling. “I’m the idiot. The Idiot.”

He staggered to the kitchen. The world ended, then he ruined the one relationship he had. Yeah. This called for a drink.

The rain had finally slowed from the heavy pouring that had been dominating for the past few hours. Instead, it was a consistent drizzle. Way better than what it had been. Jade looked out the window and figured she should head back already.

She sighed. Maybe she had overreacted. Okay, no maybe about it. Running off and sulking for the entire day? Yeah. She could have reacted better. But Nightwing was telling her to forget about her family!

At least, she thought he was. She had thought about it since she ran off. She hadn’t let him finish. Maybe he wasn’t saying what she thought he was. But by the time she realized that she had already ran off and was too embarrassed to head back. By the time she got over the embarrassment, it didn’t feel… right to go outside.

She wasn’t sure how to explain it, but it just felt… heavy outside. Not just like… she really couldn’t find the right words for it. Anyway, she had stayed inside the unlocked house she found and about two hours later the storm started. And it was a big one. She couldn’t remember seeing a storm that bad. Every time the lightning flashes, she could feel a slight twitch in her wings.

Still, she really wanted to get back before it got later. Ever since she turned into a pony staying up late had been hard. Like really hard. Nightwing didn’t that that problem, but then, he could hardly stay up all day. She wasn’t sure which was worse.

But with the rain having eased back mostly, she figured it was time to head back. She snagged the umbrella she found. Its curved handle let her hold it in her mouth in a mostly serviceable fashion. It only took her about fifteen minutes to get back to Robin’s place. She had honestly considered running all the way home, but part way there she stopped. The thought of home made her feel worse than anything Nightwing said.

Not just said. Scared. She didn’t want to stay in the empty house. It made her feel like crying and screaming at the same time. It was why she left in the first place. And that’s why Nightwing was nice. He let her stay at his place without asking much of her really. And he let her play video games most of the day. Even if he apparently wanted her to do school work, which was lame.

Besides, she didn’t have her shoes, and she wasn’t walking all that way bare footed, er, hooved again.

The rain was just starting to pick up again by the time she was trotting up the drive way. The van gave her pause though. Even in the dark it looked way more beat up than it had in the morning, and there were pieces of a plant or something in the front. She shrugged it off

Light wasn’t exactly spilling from the windows, but she did see one on further inside. She stopped to whip her hooves on the mat, leaving the umbrella on the porch before she headed in.

“I’m back,” she called out timidly. For a moment, there was no response but her ears pricked up when she heard the dogs racing towards the door. They barreled around the corner, both slipping and losing their footing before they tackled her to the ground and covered with sloppy dog kisses.

“Okay, okay! I missed you guys too!” Jade giggled at their attentions tickled her. It was a while before they calmed down, and even then Rocket was yapping happily. “I was only gone for a day. Um… weren’t… where’s Nightwing?”

Rocket huffed and kept on circling her, but Dax’s ears dropped and he whined, pointing a nose to the kitchen. Jade raised an eyebrow, but headed there. The first thing she noticed was the strong smell coming from the room. The second was the smell. It was weird. A bit sour and clingy, strong and sort of irritating. She snorted a little before heading in.

There were bottles scattered on the floor. She was more than old enough to recognize that they were beer bottles. Her wings flared slightly as she realized what it meant. There were a lot of bottles on the floor. And Nightwing was sitting, back against the stove, legs splayed, another bottle awkwardly held in his hooves.

He… was a mess. Most of his coat had mud on it, there were leaves and twigs in his mane and tail, his fur looked ragged somehow, and his eyes had a vacant look to them. Trouble was sitting on the counter nearby, and glared at her, hissing slightly. Nightwing glanced up at the cat before looking over her. He smiled weakly.

“Hilo..!” he croaked.

“Uh,” Jade was confused, so she asked the obvious question. “Are you drinking?”

“Uh huh,” Nightwing agreed. He looked down at his bottle as if to confirm it before taking a swallow. “Beer!”

“Where did you get them?” She was sure she never saw any beer bottles in the house before. Much less that many.

“I… I foun’ them!” Nightwing explained hesitantly. He paused, looking at his hoof contemplatively, then looked up with more confidence. “Had some hidd’n case I needed them.”

“Why?” Jade pressed, edging a bit closer.

“I… I got this one!” He fumbled a bit before shifting his position to something close to the one he generally adopted when he got passionate about an idea, a hoof in the air as he lectured. “I- I heard dat you can ddrunk you sorrows when you get drowned.”

He blinked, cocking his head to the side and lowing the hoof. “Wait, that sounded wrong… sorrow your drown? No… dunk your marrow? Wait, I got this… Drown your sorrows! That one! Anyway, I tried a beer, an’ it tastes bad. Then I remembered that I’mma not human any mores. I’mma a neptin and I don’t know how al’ohol would affect a neptin, so I dids research! A studies on how a neptin handles intoxications!”

He lifted his head proudly, if somewhat unsteadily. “Smart, huh?”

“How… how many of those did you drink?” Jade demanded, looking at the scattered bottles. She could see at least a dozen. She was pretty sure drinking that much was bad for you.

“Oh! I had… um… I finnished a pack… that would be six… plus the more, and I found… and I threw up… and… I…” Nightwing’s eyes widened and he looked around in terror and confusion. “Nononononono…”

“What?”

“I lost count! I gotta start over!” He declared, picking up another bottle.

“No. Nightwing!” she quickly intercepted, holding his leg down.

“Aww…” he groaned, but looked up curiously at Jade. “Hey… my friend calls me that… you kina look like her…”

“It’s me, Jade.”

“Her name was Jade too!” Nightwing marveled, eyes wide.

“No, It’s me!” Jade insisted before letting out a groan of her own. “I’m Jade.”

He peered at her closely before shaking his head. “Nah… you can’t be… Jade said she was leaving and never ever wanna to see me again!”

Jade froze. “I never said that!”

“Really mess’d dat one up, I did. Ha! I’mma my daddy’s boy!” Nightwing declared wait misplace cheer, setting one of the bottles rolling. “Colt? Maybe? If daddy turned into a neptin too. I hope I’m making him proud where ever he is. Just like him!”

“What do you mean?” Jade cautiously inquired. Nightwing smiled and shifted, getting ready to tell a story.

“You see, mah daddy was a consu… consil… um… I know this… counsellor. Yep. A real good one too. Helped tons of people. Real good leader.” He frowned there and sighed. “‘Cept when it came to family. Never could find the right words then. Tied up before being ‘the man of the family’ and helping. Heh. Always said he was great at helping everyone but his imm’diate family. We got into so much arguments. He was a lot like his dad too. Never would admit it though…”

Jade was having trouble following Nightwing’s somewhat slurred ramblings, but she was getting most of it. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, Jade was all sad cause I reminded her about her family, but I missed it up and made it all worse. So see? I’m just like daddy. Got all these big aideas and think I’m awesum and ‘tuff, but when it comes down to it… I just mess everything up! Can’t do the right things right. The im-importan’ ones. Just the stupid ‘tuff.” Robin snagged another bottle in his hooves and was about to take another drink, but Jade knocked it away.

“No!” Jade declared as the beer spilled on the floor. She hesitated at Nightwing’s expression. “No… you’ve had enough, okay?”

“Noo! I wuz gonna drink dat!” Robin whined. He made to reach down and lap it up, but Jade shouldered him aside.

“You’re already all confused! You don’t need more!” Jade insisted. “Maybe some water?”

“Confused? No! Yur confused! I’m a perfectly elo… eloquence bat house. Horse. Pony. Um, strawberry. No, alategus! My words are like… like honey dripping syrup! You’re not making sense!”

Jade groaned. “Just… what did you mean you messed up?”

“Huh? I messed up? Oh, right… that…” His ears dropped and he looked off to the side at a random spot on the wall. “I wanted her to stay. I wanted to take care of her. She was the only person I met. I was talking to everythins from ma phones to the washing machine. Still talk to my phone, but… I… I was gonna ask her if I could be her brother, at leas’ till her family come back…”

“You… were?”

“But screwed that up I did! Like a tart! Hah. Bet she’s off laughing right now. Like I could be anyone’s brothers. I’d just screw them over.”

“No… I think you’d be a good brother…”

“Pah. I’m just an dumby. Mr. McDumdum that thinks he knows things. I tried to find her, you know? Drove to Odessa and back… then some deer made me crash. See? Even more reasons why I suck.” He waved a hoof again. “Deer…”

“You…. Drove to Odessa?” And he crashed? Looking for her? Jade was starting to feel extremely guilty. “Why?”

“Want to tell Jade sorry…” With a sigh, Nightwing slumped to the ground. He started crying silently again. “Didn’t find her. Just I don’t even deserve that much I guess. Like daddy like sonny. Me and daddy got into a fight too. About two weeks ago now. Always wants me to go back to school. Do like a mas’sers. Was real stupid though. We norm’ly make up affa’a bit. Nope. Everyone gone! Never even gotta say sorry for that neither. But now he’s gone. Him and mommy… So just me. Just me since I ran Jade off. Great huh?”

“Jeeze, Nightwing… I never…”

“But… I think I’m… just… tried doing stuff to keep going. Can’t dwell on thinks you can’t change. Wanna leave a note for them. Was gonna have Jade leave one but… but I’m tired… so… I’mma nap…”

Jade shifted nervously. She hadn’t though he would do all that just because she ran off, but looking at the broken Nightwing… She headed to the sink and after getting the step stool, carefully filled a bowl with water and, spilling a little on the way, set it beside him. He blinked and looked up at her.

“Wha..?”

“Just drink some water too, okay?” she asked. He nodded and she sighed.

Um… hi? I’m not really sure how Nightwing does this. I never really paid attention when he did. But… This is Jade, and I’m recording this because Nightwing’s way too out of it to do it. He didn’t take me running off well. I don’t know what he did, but the van’s all messed up and he really needs a shower. He passed out in the kitchen from drinking too much. Jeeze, he started drinking.

Sheesh… But… um…

I took a look at what he did before and I’m sorry I read your diary, but I needed to know, and now I feel really bad.

I’m sorry I ran off before you could explain fully. I… I kinda like the idea of you being my brother. I guess I can…

*muffed noise in the background*

Um… It’s weird doing this. I… I… I can’t do this here!

Some indeterminate time after Jade gave up on the diary entry, a hoof nudged her awake. She blinked blearily at Nightwing, who still smelled strongly of beer and was a mess from the mud now dried and caked into his fur, on top of the messy way it was from being soaked in the rain and now dried off poorly.

“Whadduya want?” She moaned, not wanting to wake up. It sounded like it was still raining and it was still dark.

“I’mma go fly and stuff!”

“Okay…” Jade mumbled, rolling over. Hoofsteps trotted out of the room, and it was a few moments before her drowsy thoughts processed what he said. Her eyes snapped open. “WHAT?”

Nightwing was struggling through the window, having somehow gotten the screen out when Jade found him. She tried to snag his tail, but just missed it. It was still raining and gusting outside, but he still managed to stumble to the edge of the sloped roof, mane and tail whipping in the wind.

“What are you doing!?” Jade demanded, afraid to climb out after him.

“I’m a mighty alategus! I shall use these wings to the glory of the queen!”

“What are you talking about? That doesn’t make and se- NIGHTWING!”

Nightwing had carefully backed up as she spoke before ‘running’ towards the edge of the roof and leaping off with his wings spread wide and flapping, heedless of her yell.

For whatever reason, maybe a fluke or random chance, perhaps something to do with the sharp updraft the positioning of the houses caused when the gusts tried to go around them, Nightwing actually flew. It was hard for Jade to make out exactly, but she could see his salmon mane and tail as his body rose higher then his starting point, wings cupping the powerful gust, and rode it out and away.

His momentous and glorious achievement was short lived though, as he only got enough distance to clear most of the front yard before he crashed into the pine tree with loud and nonsensical swearing.

She raced downstairs, almost tripping on the way down, and hurried outside. Dax, woken by her rush, followed excitedly. The two found Nightwing up in the tree struggling weakly against the branches that had his legs and wings splayed out in awkward positions. He whimpered plaintively.

“NIGHTWING! Are you okay!?” Jade yelled up to him over Dax’s barking.

“I hit the tree…” drifted down at them.

“But are you okay?”

“I’m stuck…” he whined back, struggling again. Jade sighed.

“That was the stupidest thing you ever did!” Jade all but yelled at Robin as he sat dejectedly on the bathroom mat. The crash had done a lot to help sober him up, and the cold spray from the hose Jade hit him with had done a lot to clear most of the rest of his head. True, he was still groggy and muddled of thought, but he had at least been coherent enough to work with her rather than against her efforts to help him down from the tree and into the house.

After that she stuck him in the shower to finally get him cleaned up, with special attention to the worse of his cuts and double checking that he hadn’t broken anything. She was working on dressing them now that he was mostly clean and somewhat dry. It was just fortunate she had taken her school’s first aid class. She paused and pointed. “Left wing out!”

“Sorry…” Robin whimpered and he did what she commanded. Whimpers turned to hisses as she went over everything with peroxide and antiseptic creams. While he hadn’t broken anything, a fortunate thing considering how light and thin the bones in his wings were, his membranes had been pretty well scratched by the branches. And that wasn’t counting the injuries on the rest of his body.

Jade worked silently, and didn’t speak again until she was half way through the right wing. “I’m sorry too…”

“For what? I’m the idiot here…”

“You’re not!” Jade snapped. Robin yelped when she inadvertedly pressed too hard on one of the deeper cuts. “Sorry. You’re not an idiot. I had to listen to you drunk rant about it earlier.”

“I’m never drinking again…”Robin groaned.

“It was kinda funny.”

“Headache's not worth it… though I don’t know what’s from the drinking or the crash…” They lapsed into silence again.

“Yes,” Jade said, breaking it.

“What?”

“I said… um… yes. I’ll be your little sister… if you still want me to, I mean.” Her voice was soft and meek, and she looked away, blushing slightly.

“I… really?” Robin stammered after a moment.

“I… I didn’t think about you missing your family… I… how old are you?”

“Twenty four…”

“I… I didn’t think about how you were feeling… cause you always looked so busy and like an adult… So… I know you said you wanna be my big brother and watch out for me, but can I be your little sister and watch out for you?”

Robin’s eyes watered and he nodded. Mindful of his injuries, he pulled her in close for a hug, one that she returned gratefully, and they cried silently together over lost bonds and new ones.

Lightning flashed again, and the clap of thunder quickly followed, but there was a second resounding whump that seemed to rattle the windows and even set off a car alarm. Even with the sound of the rain Robin could somewhat make out a rumble that seemed to linger far longer than the typical thunder would. They had both flinched and look up in surprise as the sound, but it didn’t seem as if much else was happening in the aftermath.

“We can figure what it was out in the morning,” Robin yawned, the entirety of the day crashing down on him again. The nap he had while he drunk had not done much to chip at the massive lump of fatigue he carried. “Sleep now…”

The yawn was infection and Jade was soon yawning as well. She was still pretty tired herself. “Yeah, sleep sounds good.”

They shared Robin’s bed. Jade claimed it was so she could be around in case he woke up and did something stupid again, but in truth, they both faced their loneliness that day and needed the presence of the other as a comfort and reassurance. Part of it was possibly from what they were. Ponies, rather neptins, were herd creatures, even more so than humans were and did well with the support of others. Trouble was a bit disgruntled that his regular spot under Robin’s wing was claimed, but curled up on his back instead. Rocket and Dax found space on the bed as well.

It was one of the best night’s rest either one had in days.

Snapshots 1: What Went Boom in the Night

Robin’s room being dark wasn’t anything new. In truth, the blinds in his room had not been lifted in days, baring the times he was using the window to look outside. Since the dark did not bother him anyway, where as bright lights could, he didn’t have much in terms of motivation to open them up. Even so, Jade found it even darker than normal thanks to the thick blanket that had been thrown over top the blinds as part of Robin’s stepped up light denial campaign. Even getting the door open was a chore for her, hampered as it was by all the stuff he had shoved against it to block the cracks and the minute glimmer of light they allowed to creep into his room.

Thanks to that barricade, Jade struggled to force the door open far enough for her to slip in before carefully picking her way towards the bed, weaving around the assorted ‘stuff’ that littered Robin’s floor. The light from the doorway the only thing she had to work with, and it wasn’t that much, barely enough to see the obstacles in her way, leading to her tripping over something curved and metallic. It was just enough for her to make out the lump under the covers on the bed. Shaking off a brief moment of déjà vu, she scrambled unto the bed and poked at it.

“Hey Nightwing…” A groan was the only response she got, so she poked again. “Wake up, Nightwing, this is important.”

Groaning his complaints, Robin eventually relinquished his hold on his dreams and started squirming as he tried to find the edge of the sheet he was under. Jade clamoured off the bed as he did. Eventually, Robin poked his head out. Eyes reddened and squinting against the light, a faint glow to them, mane in a state of disarray. He glared at Jade, though it was slightly ruined by the yawn that came out. “What..? I was dreaming… About neptins in the sky, on clouds and starlight…”

He yawned again and shook his head slowly, gingerly rubbing at his mane with a wing. It wasn’t the first time he woke. He’d been hunched over the toilet throwing up earlier in the morning before retreating to his ‘cave’ and barricading the door. “I have a hangover… and a headache… I told you to let me sleep it off…” He blinked owlishly at her. “What time is it?”

“I know,” Jade pouted, though smiling a little inside. “But you said to wake you if something important came up.”

Robin groaned again, burying his face in the covers. He didn’t go back to sleep though, instead fumbling around in a weak effort of getting out of bed, one that ended in him falling with a cry and hitting his chin on the ground. Jade winced, her ears flicking back as Robin yelped. “Ah crapbaskets!”

Jade shuffled her hooves on the carpet as Robin tried to untangle himself from the sheets that followed him down. “You okay, Nightwing?”

“No…” Robin grumbled, finding his hooves and shaking the sheet off, blearily making a visual search for his shades as he tried to free his hindleg and tail. “This better be important…”

“I found a house that collapsed,” Jade supplied meekly. Robin whipped his head around, wincing as the sudden motion set his head throbbing again. Jade grinned sheepishly. “See? Important.”

Robin was still recalcitrant as Jade led him to the house in question. He had read before that hang-overs were mostly a result of dehydration in the system, but even after the jug he downed his symptoms hadn’t eased any. So he was soldiering on, hiding from the light under the little shade the hat he found in the closet cast on his muzzle and swearing off alcohol forever.

It was partially overcast, the sky littered with the remnants of the previous night’s storm, making it all too bright for his hypersensitive vision at the moment, and the air was still humid and had that distinct earthy ‘after rain’ scent to it. While normally it would be pleasant, it was only another item on the list of things irritating him at the moment. Jade seemed to enjoy it, almost skipping at times and fluttering her wings as if she wanted to take off. Her chipper attitude and excitement on the subject at hand was getting to him as well. Everything was annoying him.

He kept his focus on his hooves, clenching his jaw against the pounding in his head and ears, making sure his steps followed the right order. Having to avoid both the worse of the puddles as well as the earthworms that had crawled out of the sodden earth unto the pavement overnight didn’t make his task any easier. To his disgust he missed a step and squashed one with a rear hoof, which ended with him crushing another with a fore hoof when he flinched away from it.

“Aw, come on! That’s just nasty!” Robin yelped. The worst part was that he had forgotten to slip on a set of shoes, so the worm mush was directly on his hooves. He tried to wipe it off on the damp grass, but that only resulted in him getting grass bits and mud on them, in addition to traces of worm mush. “Why does everything hate me today!?”

“Um…” Jade tried, unsure what to say.

Robin scowled, giving up and trumping across the grass, hooves sinking into the sodden earth a little with each step. “Doesn’t matter anymore. The faster I see this, the fast I can get back home. Which house was it?”

“That one,” Jade pointed out. “See?”

She wasn’t kidding when she said the house collapsed. In a sense, she had been understating it. One half of the house had toppled over unto the other. That or one half collapsed in on itself and the other half followed by virtue of being attached. Whichever way you looked at it, it was a wreckage of what used to be a semi-detached residence. The side that was damaged the most had clear markings of where fire chewed away at it before being snuffed out, either from the rain or lack of sufficient fuel.

“… whoa,” was all he managed, eyes flicking back and forth across the disaster, headache and hangover somewhat forgotten. The fire seemed to have started in the collapsed half of the building, but didn’t seem to spread to the other. Even so, the structure was still listing dangerously, with several windows broken. A few birds were already perched on the storm drain still anchored to the edge of the canted roof, looking at the pair in curiosity.

“You think we can go inside and see what it’s like?” Jade asked eagerly. She pointed to the twisted porch, pitched about sixty degrees off from a level setting. “The door is still there. Though kinda busted.”

“Maybe later,” Robin said, shaking his head. “It might be dangerous. Or still burning inside… Later… when it doesn’t hurt to think or move fast.”

“You think this is what made the noise we heard last night?” Jade asked excitedly. “It’s sure big enough. Maybe it got hit by lightning.”

Robin’s wings dropped as he put the clues together. He hadn’t realized exactly which house he was looking at until that moment. He had been in it the day before, back when he had been trying to take his mind of Jade’s departure. In fact, he had a good idea what caused the mess. The propane gas furnace he had been messing around it. Messing around with while lacking training and distracted by other things.

His eye twitched. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Get his mind off things, get an early start on plans for winter, learn something new. Not cause the thing to blow up.

The birds took off in a surprised flurry as the storm drain they were perched on gave in, a sizable section of it breaking off and toppling to the ground. A slew of roof tiles, loosened from the damage, followed it down. Jade yelped and hopped back, but Robin watched with exhausted eyes. He was silence for a while before he snapped.

“COME ON!” he yelled at the sky, regretting it immediately as it set off his headache, a confused Jade looking on.

Snapshots 2: Family

Robin hummed to himself, idly rapping his hooves against the steering wheel, trying to match the beat in the song that issued from his headphones. Eventually, he sighed in frustration and slumped against his chair.

“Yep…” he declared to the empty vehicle. “I’m bored!”

What followed next was him trying to find patterns in the roof lining, humming tuneless song to himself as he did. “I should have brought a book or something… I could have been reading those wiring manuals… or get back to figuring out the chemical processes I need to make soap and get… right… still need to set up the printers to run off the wiki pages… that’s gonna take forever… maybe I should set a specific day aside for that. Printing Day…”

He distractedly scratched at the rapidly recovering wounds on his wings. “Actually… I need to get refreshed on anatomy… Get us both refreshed. And check out the pet hospitals…” he groaned and slumped forward this time, banging his head on the wheel. Wincing, he rubbed the area before redoing the action, though with a bit more caution on the second attempt. After a few more minutes of sweet nothing, he fumbled for his phone, plucking it from the cup holder in his mouth before loading up the voice recorder.

Hey Ellen,

How have you been? This message is mainly for you. I’m not sure if I’ll be putting this entry into Cellie or not considering I found out that Jade had read some of my previous entries when I was out of it and I don’t want her reading this. Right, Ellen, don’t drink. Seriously. Lord no… I mean, I might know the theory of how to, sorta, but heavens and stars… I don’t mind letting that be lost. Mighty not even put it into Darcy either. Well, maybe, just to keep your memory from getting clogged.

Anyway, I’m back in Odessa.

No, I’m not stalking her house or anything like that, jeeze. Is that what you think about me, Ellen? I’m wounded…

But no, I’m waiting for Jade. I brought her back so she could… I guess say goodbye—

No! Not goodbye… It’s more… say, ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’

*dull thump*

I helped her write up a note. Mostly, I set her up with her computer and the printer and left her alone with it. I figured the privacy to write what she wanted without me hanging over her shoulder and judging it would be better.

I did offer to stay, but she said it was fine.

So yeah, I don’t know what’s on that letter. We printed off a few copies, laminated some, put others in ziplocks, and them tupperwares and one metal cash box with the code scratched into the lid. I wrote my own note to them, letting them know I was taking care of her for them.

Either way, I’m letting her have her moment, however long it may need to be.

….

…

…

To be honest, Ellen… I probably should too. I should let my folks know I’m fine. That I’m not, that I haven’t given up. Their place is up in Ottawa, but it’s not that far away. And for all I know, they might be here, just like I am, but not able to travel or get in touch for whatever reason. Seriously, Ellen. I can think of so many reasons.

But I should leave them a note. I should at least do that much. To show that I remember them.

Wherever they are.

*soft sigh*

Whatever they are. I wonder if they have feathers like Jade or more like mine? I still think it’s a boy girl thing. Girls get feathers, guys don’t. Maybe mom’s all fluffy. My wings are bigger than Jade’s, so mom’s would be too…

…

…

…

Anyway! I… I should get plans in place. Organized. Ottawa is not even three hours drive from here. Hell, I should take the trailer and see if I can find some good supplies.

Speaking of supplies! I started clearing out the meat section of Walmart. It is starting to go bad, and since we kinda need the store…

Actually… Walmart has that photo studio… I should take some pictures. Damn, if I thought about it I would have taken them before… No matter. I can work on it later and then come back to drop them off so they can know what she, we look like. And I can hang up new pictures in the house. This is why I need to sit down and think things through more often and not just go spur of the moment…

At least… I… I lost my train of thought… Ugh…

Okay… okay… um… Stawberry milk shakes…

Okay, that made no sense…

Ellen, you think I’d be a good brother? I got no experience with it, from either side. I was a loner. God knows I can be eccentric. I even leave her alone half the time and let her play video games… I’ve got to both be a brother and a parent…

Hell, I’m pretty sure I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. New fangs or not.

Heavens! I spent the first night drunk, and the second night hung over. I’ve been dreaming about her though. No, not in a creepy way. Ew. Just ew. Yeugh… Ugh… she’s my sister! Dammit brain! But she’s been having bad dreams for a while now, but for the last few nights I’ve just been dreaming about being there for her. Just keeping her company. Maybe I should rework my sleep schedule again… So I can keep her company mor-

Crap! She’s coming out!

Pause, pause, pause, pause!

No,wait! No! Stop recording! Not pause! Damn this is hard to do with hoo- WINGS! Right! I have wings!

*rattle-BANG*

Oh Damn! Ellen, you okay!? Of course I’d drop you! Frig- *thump* Ow… that’s the steering wheel… hitting your head isn’t good Night Win- Great… now she’s got me doing it… Aha! Phone! Success!

Night Wing? What are y-

“-ou doing?” Jade asked with a bemused expression. Considering Robin was half twisted on the seat, legs in the air as he fumbled about around the pedal extensions he installed with a leg and wing, it was a reasonable reaction.

“Phone fell! That’s all!” Robin chuckled nervously as he tried to right himself, once again banging his head and muttering. “Ow… What is it with me and knocking my head today?”

“Okay…” Jade said slowly, climbing into the vehicle. Robin ignored the streaks tears left in her fur.

“So, ready to head back?” he asked, mindful of the words chosen.

“Yeah, ” Jade said, smiling weakly, foreleg twitching as she tried not to rub at her face. “Let’s go home.”

Robin grinned. “Yeah, let’s…”

The touching moment was ruined a bit as Jade started panicking as he backed up. “Wait! Let me get my seatbelt on!”

“For the last time: I don’t drive like a maniac!”

Snapshots 3: Nighttime

Robin was still having issues finding a proper schedule to stick to when it came to sleeping. Being caught between his human habits, the nocturnal tendencies his new body came with and the responsibilities of taking care of Jade left his patterns fragmented. Up odd hours of the night, nodding off at equally odd hours of the day. He had been getting pretty frazzled at times.

Case in point; it was near two in the morning and he smothering a yawn yet unable to properly get to sleep. Grumbling slightly, he compared the diagrams in the three books propped open on one side of the table with the collection of electrical parts and equipment on the other, making sure his latest project was, in theory at least, progressing as it should.

“Biology… geography… heck; even chemistry,” he sighed around the screwdriver in his mouth. “Electronics aren’t my forte…”

“Aaaaaah!” Jade’s scream shattered the stillness of the night. Robin didn’t hesitate, dropping everything and racing off, hooves pounding up the stairs to the bedroom she claimed as her own. Almost taking a tumble, he fumbled to get the door open. “What’s going on? Jade, you okay?”

Jade was crying, tears flowing even as she tried to wipe them away, hiccupping occasionally. Rocket was pressed against her side, whimpering, while Dax whined off to the side, offering comfort as best he could. When she realized Robin had come to see what happened, her attempts increased.

“Hey Nightwing,” she said weakly. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, I was still up,” Robin reassured her. Unlike him, her issue was that she consistently found it hard to stay up at night, something that irked her, particularly since she had just recently earned the later bedtime. Robin grinned slightly, though still concerned with her obvious distress as he made his way to her bed. Her room wasn’t as bad as his when it came to litter and detritus, but there were still a lot of scattered comics and games strew about. “Are you alright?”

“What? No, I’m—” Jade was interrupted with a mingled hiccup and sniff, but she soldiered on, “I’m fine!”

“Jade…” Robin’s concerned gaze didn’t ease up.

“It’s nothing,” Jade insisted, stubbornly staring at the wall.

Robin sighed and climbed up on the bed to sit down beside her. “You know, all the time I’ve known you, I’ve only seen you cry once. And this time is worse. This isn’t ‘nothing.’ Come on Jade; talk to me.”

She remained resolutely silent. Robin chewed his lip a bit. “Okay, I’m either going to sit here quietly and wait, tell you about how all my projects are coming, or sing whatever songs I can remember. Either way, I’ll keep it up until you’re ready to talk to me.”

He glanced down and noticed Jade’s ear had perked. “Okay… um… Hmm. Well, I don’t sing well, and I’m obviously talking. I’m still trying to figure out how the radio should work, but I think I’m making progress. Hopefully I don’t have to drive as far soon. Oh! I figured out how to get into the power system. The passwords were stuck to the back of one of the cupboards in the office. I got the power off to the residences downtown. That’s one thing I can cross off the wall. So we can hit the supermarket near the Roger’s Center next. If we clear out the meats we can use it to distract the dogs and hit Action Packed, see if they have any comics you like…”

Robin rambled on for a few minutes more, until Jade’s tears seemed to have dried up and the dogs had settled down, heads on their paws. “—so that’s how I worked out how to use the sewing machine. Still need a while lot of practice, but I’m getting better.”

“But we don’t wear anything,” Jade pointed out. Robin smirked a little. Jade hadn’t spoken up much, so it had mostly been a one sided spiel, but she had made one off comments a few times.

“True enough.” Robin granted with a wing shrug. Yes, they had sat down and made that pro/con list Robin had been working on together, and it turned out to be very extensive. “But it can come in useful for other things like bags, shoes and stuff. And don’t forget winter. I don’t know if we’ll get a winter coat or not, but minus twenty is nothing to sneeze at.”

“I guess…”

Robin nodded a few times and the silence stretched a little more. “So… ready to tell me what happened?”

Jade blushed slightly. That was something else that bothered him. How did you blush through fur? Either way, waited for her to speak up. “It was dumb. I just had a bad dream.”

“Want to tell me what it was about?” Robin asked.

“It was nothing,” Jade tried to evade.

“You woke up screaming,” Robin remarked quietly. “That’s not really ‘nothing’.”

“I…” Jade trailed off. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Scout’s honour,” Robin said, raising a wing.

“You were you a scout?” Jade asked.

“No, but it’s the principle that matters,” Robin responded smugly.

Jade looked skeptical, but she didn’t press. “I… it was stupid. I dreamed that I was… I was human again.”

“… Oh.”

“And when I looked in the mirror I saw myself, pony me,” Jade paused and shot a look at Robin, daring him to interject ‘neptin’. He wisely held his tongue. “I woke up and when I realized I didn’t have fingers I… I panicked… It was stupid.”

“No, it’s not,” Robin said firmly.

“I don’t see you waking up from nightmares and freaking out,” Jade grumbled. Robin snickered. “Hey, it’s not funny!”

“I’m not laughing at you, sorry,” Robin said, waving a hoof at her. “It’s just that I forget you met me a couple days after everything happened.”

“So?” Jade frowned.

“We both woke up with three extra limbs; a tail and two wings. And missing twenty digits.” Robin cast his arm around Jade and drew her in close. “There’s nothing wrong with it. And don’t think all the stuff I do is because I’m super productive. Part of it is me freaking out too. What? You thought I would give you a hard time because you had a bad dream?”

“…maybe,” Jade admitted in embarrassment.

“Silly,” Robin laughed, holding her tighter. “What kind of brother would I be if I made fun of that?”

“I dunno, a normal one?” Jade shrugged, smiling a little.

“Wait, really?” Robin hesitated. “Am I doing this wrong? Should I be a bit more aloof? Should I tease you about it?”

“Nightwing! I was kidding, Duh!”

“Right, right! Kidding! So was I!” Robin wasn’t exactly the most convincing in his response.

“Don’t be a doofus,” Jade punched the part of his arm she could reach. “Um… Nightwing, could you do me a favour?”

“Sure, Jade,” Robin said, resting his head on her’s.

“C-could you stay a little longer? Just till I fall asleep again?”

“Sure, I can do that.” Robin stayed till she fell back asleep, and a little longer, just to be safe, till he too fell asleep.

‘Come on, Nightwing! Use those wings of yours!’ she called down from the clouds they danced among. Nightwing, gliding at a lower altitude than she was, hurried to catch up. It was a good dream.

Snapshots 4: Home Improvement

Penmanship lessons. Robin had managed to find some of beginner level work books in a nearby school and got a couple of them for both himself and Jade. The worksheets themselves had been copied on one of the office printers he had stashed in a garage two houses up. At the moment, he was labouring through the alphabet again, something that was even more tedious than he could faintly remember from his childhood.

It didn’t help that he assigned himself three sheets to complete, one each for mouth, wings and hoof, in order of decreasing dexterity. It showed too, the mouthwriting sheets were scrawled noticeably better than the hoofwritten ones. Since it wasn’t exactly a proper school, a few bowls of snacks were also on the table, sliced fruit mostly, but a few cheese cubes as well as a large bowl of trail mix. What was missing was his fellow classmate, her chair sitting empty and crocked from where she pushed it back when she left some thirty minutes before.

When she finally did return, she was stalking irritably, her tail hanging heavy. It was with a scowl that she climbed back into her chair and awkwardly jerked it back to the table, ignoring Robin’s raised eyebrow and snatching up her pencil to continue work on her mouthwriting as if nothing happened.

“You sure took your time,” Robin commented, moving to his wingwork. He had an advantage when it came to wingwork over Jade. For one; hers were a bit too small to actually be of much use, so he didn’t make her do it as he did the mouth and hoofwriting. The other advantage was the actual finger his had that made holding pens and pencils far easier. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.”

Jade only grunted.

“I know this isn’t the most fun thing to do, but being able to write properly is important,” Robin admitted.

“It’s not the stupid penmanship,” Jade grumbled around her pencil. She muttered the next part, but Robin picked it up easily enough. “Stupid bathrooms…”

“What? Did you fall in or something?” Robin said, trying to joke. His weak laughter dropped when Jade’s face reddened. “Wait… you actually did?” Jade’s embarrassed look deepened. “Again? Isn’t this like fo- ah… are you okay?” Robin shifted his line of questioning as Jade started to look as if she were ready to hit someone, namely him.

“The seat is too high! And it’s hard to use with four legs!” She complained, spitting out the pencil. “They aren’t pony friendly! I gotta balance just to tinkle!”

“Neptin.”

“Ah,what?” Robin’s response throw Jade off guard slightly.

“They aren’t neptin friendly,” Robin explained. He set his own pencil down. “You said pony. I keep saying it’s neptin.”

“What. Ever! Pony!” Jade grumped, crossing her arms. “And I’m smaller than you too! I’m tired of my tail getting wet!”

“Not gonna lie, it has been kinda hard to use them,” Robin said, looking at the wall contemplatively.

“Squat toilets would be a lot easier,” Jade continued to grumble. Robin looked at her before starting to grin. Jade glared at him. “What?”

“Up for another resource run?”

Contrary to Robin’s expectations, none of the hardware stores that they visited had squatting toilets in on display or in their inventory. Robin didn’t let that dissuade him too much though.

“I could’a told you we weren’t going to find any,” Jade grumbled, a bit wide eyed as Robin peeled through the city streets well above the posted speed limit.

“You did, but I was hopeful,” Robin shrugged. “We have a lot of gas around and just us to use it on before it all goes bad. Should find more all electric cars…”

“In Kingston?” Jade spared a moment of worry to give him a skeptical look.

“Fine, we might have to go to Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto for that. Among other things…” Robin’s tone took a shift that Jade wasn’t quite sure what to make of, so she tried to put the conversation back on track even as Robin blew through a red light going around one hundred kilometers per hour.

“So what are we gonna do for the toilets?” she asked, hooking a hoof around the strap and bracing another against the dash again, ears flat in tension.

“Oh, that?” Robin cheered up. “We just need some power tools, maybe a table saw, some measuring stuff and wood. We’re gonna make a framework to put around the toilets. Like a stand.”

“You can do that?”

“It’s not that hard. Basic woodwork. Simple really. Aside from the cutting it to fit the bowl part. And making sure it’s one hundred percent stable.” Robin thoughtfully rapped a hoof on the wheel. “And I suppose sanding down the edges so we don’t get splinters…”

That mental image briefly overrode Jade’s lack of ease in Robin’s driving and she gave him a look of pure horror.

“So… should bump that one up the list, I guess?” Robin offered. Jade nodded.

The duo took to the aisles of the hardware store, the harness Robin had made hooked up to a cart that was quickly filled with a bit more than Robin originally planned as they found other things to take with them.

“Hey! I could use those blinds instead of the stupid blanket!” Robin chattered happily. With a motion he was quickly gaining proficiency in he slipped out of the harness and started checking the tags, looking for one large enough to cover his window.

“You’re gonna make the room even darker than it is? I can hardly see anything in there the way it is now!” Jade complained. Ever since her episode with the nightmare, she had been spending more nights in Robin’s room. “Can’t you get a sleep mask or something?”

“Blinds are better,” Robin said firmly, finding one the right size. They were on their second cart, the first loaded with wood and tools waiting to be transferred to the trailer. As it stood, the second cart already had its fair share of supplies, from lever style handles to replace the existing knobs, to the step ladders Robin has talked about days before. The blinds were added to the pile.

“You know, Nightwing,” Jade commented, eyeing her surrogate brother with a bit of disdain as he reharnessed himself, “with all the stuff you plan to do in the house, it’s gonna take you forever to get through it all.”

“Hmm,” Robin said without much concerned, trotting off again, cart in tow.

“And with all the other stuff you pinned on the wall,” Jade continued as she matched his pace, adjusting the blinds as they sought to slide off. “It’s gonna take you even longer…”

“You don’t say?” Robin replied, rolling his eyes.

“And there’s the garden you’re still working on,” Jade pressed.

“Grab some of those screws please,” Robin instructed, pointing at the packs hanging from the lower shelf. “And what are you getting at?”

Jade pulled two packs and threw them unto the cart with a surprisingly accurate toss of her head before responding. “Can I get my own ATV?”

Robin stumbled, looking back at her in confusion. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing, just seemed like a good time to ask.”

“I…” Robin groaned and took a turn for the plumbing section. “Maybe. Remind me after we finish this project.”

“Sure,” Jade said cheerfully, following after. “Wait, we?”

“What? You’re the one who said it’s a lot of work,” Robin grinned teasingly, his tail doing a little flick. “You didn’t think I’d be going all this by myself, did you?”

Snapshots 5: Wings of... Something

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