New Faces

We had a feast in celebration of my hunt. One of the cows was cooked, and I got to have the first cut, despite being a child. I hunted it, so I had the right, said father. It was a thing of great honor for me, and I am very happy.

I am stuffed and moving slowly, heading toward the small horses. The sun is setting, just as fast as it had before, but I don’t care for it now. I am even somewhat used to it.

The nights here are bright, much brighter than I’m used to. It is easy to make my way across the camp, and we do not have to use many torches at all. It is nearly… special in some way. As if every night was a strange day somehow. Before I go to sleep, I want to visit the small horses again.

A few of the tribesmen have built an enclosure, and they live in there. They aren’t eating the grass in it, which is worrying me. What if they starve themselves? Maybe they don’t eat grass, even if they do look like horses.

They are upset again, I can see it. The male, the blue one, turns and glares at me, though I can see his tension and fear. The other one moves in front of the small one as I enter the pen.

Time to make friends. I have some vegetables with me, and I toss them to them. They move away from them, but I know that they haven’t been eating. They should be starving, why are thy avoiding food? Maybe they are too afraid.

“Hey.” I say, calmly, doing my best to be soothing like teacher taught me. “Everything is fine. Just some lettuce and those green things I don’t like, nothing to be afraid of.”

They stare at me, their fear lessoning a bit. I move a bit closer, and they do not respond badly.

I reach out, moving as slow as I can, and the male watches me closely. As I move closer he grows more worried, and when I touch him, he jolts and moves away. He was very soft, far softer than a normal horse. I wonder what the others feel like.

I take out my snack as I think and they stop and stare at it. I hesitate, wondering what I should do. It is my snack, and not theirs, but they are very hungry…

I sigh and offer my carrot, and the female looks to the male and softly huffs before looking back. Then she stretches out and bites it. I let it go, and she pulls it back, biting it and letting the foal eat the rest. They are much calmer now, and I move a little closer again.

I touch the male again, and he jolts but doesn’t move away. I slowly rub, and feel the muscles under soft fur, strong and large. He slowly relaxes at my touch, and the female watches. I carefully touch her head, and she leans into my hand slightly, her eyes closing in happiness as I rub. She is softer than the male is and I enjoy feeling her hair.

It is not long before they are at ease with me. They even let me touch the foal, the little one eager and happy. She reminds me a little of Rush when he was smaller, and wiggles when I pick her up. She makes me smile.

Then I hear flapping, and all three brighten considerable and make noise. I swiftly set the little one down and turn to where they are looking. Another small colorful horse, this one green, has arrived in the pen, and for a moment I wonder how it got inside and then I see. Two feathered wings are on its back. It must have flown into the pen! It can fly! I smile widely. A bird horse! It is like something Rush once dreamed up, and I smile at the memory and seeing the amusing sight of it.

It looks to the horses tied up, and then looks back to me. I offer it a carrot, ready to make a new friend.

And then it flaps and rams me hard, sending me flailing to the ground. That had hurt!

All four horses are neighing, and the bird horse comes at me again. I grab it, and feel its strength as it pulls me upright and nearly lifts me from the ground.

It drags me toward the others, neighing, and they are upset, but are not reacting like they should be. They should be panicking, rearing or trying to run away. They almost look angry, scared, or upset, or all three.

The bird horse is suddenly shoved away, and father rips me away from it. It flies away, and several warriors try and fail to hit it with thrown spears.

“Father.” I say, “Father, the bird horse.”

“Calm. It is a dangerous thing Chosen. Are you harmed?”

“It pushed me over.” I tell him. He sighs.

“This place is more dangerous than I have thought.” He turns to look at the warriors. “Gather the bows! I want all of you to keep watch on the skies for more flying horses!”

A short time passes, and I get my own bow, as do most of the others. A few warriors look to the sky, and the tribe moves a little closer together. To be safer in case of flying attacks, as if we are watching for the death birds.

And then one of the warriors cries, and points. High above are two more bird horses. They are very high, and going over the camp.

Father glares. “Bring them down!”

The warriors take aim, and fire. The bird horses are surprised, but the arrows miss, and they move faster. One of them even begins to swoop and twirl in the air.

More and more arrows are shot at them until one is hit, and plummets to crash nearby. The other swoops and curls with grace and is missed every time, until it is almost gone.

“Chosen!” father yells, drawing his own bow. I nod, and aim with him, doing my best. I am good at archery, but I am not sure that I can hit something so small and fast and far. I pull my own arrow out, and nick myself on it before I get it into the bow.

We fire together and our arrows fly fast and high. Father’s passes through one wing, and mine strikes it in the barrel. It wobbles, and begins falling slowly. It will land nowhere near the camp, but I am sure that I have killed it. I feel proud that I hit it, but there is something… wrong. I am not sure what it is.

Father is yelling at the others, angry that they can’t aim better. I go, and find my teacher next to the fallen one, blood seeping from the wound and making yellow fur red. It is hurt, but not dead, and has sacks tied to it.

“Teacher? What is it?” I ask.

“…A bird horse.” I was right then! It is a bird horse! I am happy.

“What do we do with it?”

“I suppose that we should make it unable to fly, and use it like a normal horse. I will need to see if your father agrees.” He picks up the packs, looks inside, and hums. Then he looks back to where the other is still somewhat visible on the horizon as it drops and hums again.

“Teacher? Is something the matter?”

“…No. I am just wondering. You have been getting along with the other horses Chosen?”

“Yes. They are only scared, and like being petted. The little one is fun to hold too.”

Teacher hums again. “Go to your father Chosen. I might have something to ponder.”

I nod and obey. Father finds me a place to sleep, and keeps watch over me like he had when I was very young.

“Father?” I ask, wondering. “Why are you next to me?”

"To keep you safe."

"I am not a baby father." I say, pouting.

He almost seems sad. I have never seen that look on his face, with his eyes seeing elsewhere and his mouth faintly frowning. And then he sighs.

"I know. You are... so close to becoming a man Chosen. And when the flying one attacked you... I..." he sighs again.

"I need to know that you are safe. I know that... that your mother would want me to. I... can hear her saying that even now... You are the only thing that I have left of her Chosen."

"Father..." For a moment I think I see a tear in his eyes, but then it is gone again as he shakes himself.

"Go to sleep, and let your father watch over you. Nothing will harm you so long as I breath Chosen. By my honor, and on my ancestors, I swear it."

I do so. I never knew my mother, but that... that was the first time father had ever spoken of her. And it... it is hard to see father so effected like that. I never saw him like that, never imagined father, the biggest, strongest, bravest warrior could feel sadness.

It had always been just him and me, for as long as I can remember. Father was the one who cared for me in my earliest years, and for a long time never really imagined my having a mother. But now... I wonder what she must have been like. What she might think of me, or father, or what was happening. What she would say to see me bringing the cow back to the camp, what she might say about the bird horse. Everything she might have done in my life and father's.

They are heavy thoughts, and I am still wondering as I fall asleep.

The next day I wake. My dreams had been nice, though I do not really remember them. An impression of someone holding me, back when I was just a baby. It was warm and soft, and I enjoyed it, though I do not remember what was said, or who was holding me. I shake the dream off me, and stretch before deciding to visit teacher. His tent has been finished, and I want to see.

I go to teacher’s tent, a larger tent to accommodate everything he needs. The inside is filled with his things he uses to heal; herbs and gooey stuff and bandages. In one area is his bed and the sick bed, where injured and sick lie to be treated. In another is the stuff he has from his travels, many different things from all over the world.

The bird horse is on his sick bed and father is with teacher as teacher uses a knife to remove the feathers from its wings. It has a few bloody bandages on one side as well.

Father looks to me. “Chosen, come and help Gori.” I nod and teacher moves to let me stand next to the bird horse. It is sleeping peacefully as teacher cuts at its wings.

“It is a simple task Chosen.” my teacher says. “Just cut the large feathers at the base so that she cannot fly, but do not remove the down.” He shows me what he means, and tells me how far I should go. “Make sure that you do not cut her, or she may wake.” he warns me.

He hands me a knife, and I grab the other wing and begin clipping. I snap through the first few before turning to look at teacher. He nods, so I continue, doing far worse than teacher. His hand is steady and experienced, leaving a smooth result. Mine is lumpy, with half feathers and snapped quills. It looks ugly and I frown.

“Not bad.” he says as he puts his wing down. His is featherless and appears fuzzy. “Not bad at all. You didn’t hurt the horse and you left the down. Good work Chosen.” I smile again.

“I do not like them.” Father says. “The winged ones seem aggressive.”

“Do not leap to conclusions Martuk. Perhaps the winged one was defending the others? Take a horse from a herd, and that herd might attack to defend the one. This could be the same.” Father grunts.

“Now Chosen. Take her rope, and lead her to the others. She might flap a lot, trying to fly, but she will be unable to. Expect it, and do not panic.”

I nod, and he puts the horse on the ground, and then gives a sharp tap to its muzzle. It wakes, stands, and its wings do stretch and flap.

And then flap, and flap, and flap really fast, making lots of noise, and she neighs and rears until I control her with the rope. It is scary, the sound of its wings and the strength that they seem to have, but I will not show fear before teacher and father.

“Good, now put her with the others.” Teacher says.

I go with her, having to drag often as she continues making noise and flapping and not walking. I reach the pen, and the others start making noise, and seem upset and worried as I push her inside and shut the gate.

They are making a lot of noise. Much more so than normal horses. Another difference? I put their food, greenery, freshly gathered, in a basket and leave them, wondering what I should call them now. Horse seemed wrong, they were too different than what I knew of. Maybe… not horses?

perspective, pony

Night was falling, and Good and his family were growing very hungry. They had not eaten anything since their capture, and Gentle was whining about the lack of food. They had been in the camp for one and a half days, and even though they were no longer roped they were inside a pen, like animals.

Good sighed. The strange creatures had taken away one of the cows, which helped, but they took it apart as well, which was horrible. Fine had had to nearly sit atop Gentle to prevent her from seeing or hearing the sight. The scent of cooked flesh had lingered until the breeze had mercifully taken it away.

And then the small one returned, the same one that had tried to offer the carrot before. Good perked up at the thought of food, but tried to dispel it. He had to be on guard.

And then the little creature had tossed them lettuce and a few sprouts, and it was all they could do not to eat them. Even if they had landed in the dirt.

It frowned, and then smiled again, and made a few sounds. Harsh, guttural sounds that were somehow softer and gentler than what they had previously heard from the creatures. It was almost like it was speaking to them, and then it carefully stepped closer. It slowly reached out, and Good stared, caught between curiosity and concern.

When it touched him, he jumped away from it. It took out another carrot, and their eyes were drawn to it as the creature lifted it as if it was going to eat it. It saw them, hesitated and then sighed before offering the carrot with a bright smile. Fine turned to her husband with a pleading expression.

“Good… Gentle and I…”

“I know dear. Take it. It can’t be worse than starving.”

She nodded, and grabbed the offered carrot and gave most of it to Gentle who was happy to have food. The little creature offered more, several carrots, and they began feeling more at ease, and some of Good’s fears left him.

When the little guy touched him again, he jolted, but waited. He began rubbing at his shoulder, and it was relaxing, and pleasurable. He was very sure now that the little guy didn’t mean any harm, and that they weren’t about to be killed, at least not by him.

Fine watched, and then the little one reached out and rubbed at her head, and she hummed in pleasure. The feeling of his hands was quite enjoyable for them, and after a time they were at ease with him.

Even when he touched Gentle they didn’t mind too badly. She seemed happy with him, and though he obviously didn’t understand her requests to play, she loved it when he picked her up, both beaming.

“I’m bigger than daddy!” she said, wiggling in the little one’s grasp.

They smiled and laughed with her as she continued to giggle. She looked up and around, and then stared behind her. “Look!” she cried, trying to point in that dircetion.

Good and Fine looked, and they both saw a green pegasus flying overhead and seeming heading their way. Their hopes of rescue rose swiftly, and they gasped in surprised happiness.

“Over here!” Good yelled, his wife soon joining him. “Here! This way!”

The pegasus seemed to hear them and hurried forward, landing near them. “I got this.” he said, perfectly calm as the little one set Gentle down and turned to see him.

For a moment Good worried that he might do something bad, but he smiled hugely. And then he offered another carrot.

Good chuckled. The little guy was really nice. Very different from the others of his kind. He might not even care when the pegasi let them go.

And then the pegasi tackled him, and they gasped when they saw him flail and fall painfully. He was obviously hurt, and it hadn’t been necessary.

“Get it! Now, while it’s down!” the pegasi yells.

“You don’t have to do that!” Fine yelled back. “He isn’t a threat!”

The pegasi opened his mouth to respond, but the little guy began recovering. The pegasi glared, and tried to charge him, hooves first this time. Fine covered her daughter’s eyes.

But the little guy caught the pegasi, and prevented him from ramming him again. Though the pony could have flown away from the grip, he gripped back, and lifted up and dragged him toward them.

“Help me! Now’s your chance!” the pegasi yelled.

Good was stunned, but Fine was a faster thinker. “If you hurt that poor thing dear, you are going to be in big trouble!” she said.

Then the choice was taken out of their hooves as the largest monster arrived and beat the pegasi away. The pegasi flew far and they watched a few of the other monsters throw spears after him, though they all missed to their relief.

Gentle looked at the large monster holding the little one protectively, and looked at her mother. “Is the big one his daddy mommy?” she asked. Fine looked, and wondered.

Now that the little one had tried, she could sort of see how their horrible sounds might be speech. A language very removed from their own. The largest one was obviously protecting the smaller like a parent and she could see the fear in him, the fear of maybe losing a child.
She wondered where the mother was. Why hadn't she rushed to the defense of the little one?

And then the big one fiercely yelled and the creatures scattered as Fine and Gentle jumped a little from the sound.

“Dear, what is happening?” Fine asked.

“I’m not sure...” Good watched the monsters collect weapons, tiny spears and curved wood with string in it. He wondered what they were, but he knew they weren’t good.

A short time passed, and then they hear another terrifying yell from the creatures. The monsters looked up and they saw two mail ponies high above. Good even recognized one of them as Derpy and as he saw the monsters aim their weapons skyward felt his blood run cold.

Fine watched in confusion and as the first volley went skyward she gasped. They watched as the monsters continued to try and strike the pegasi from the sky. To their horror they hit one and she fell somewhere into the camp. But Derpy, flying in her odd way, avoided them all, and Good hoped that maybe she would tell somepony about this.

And then the big one and the small one aimed. And they saw the tiny spears pierce Derpy from a great distance, and watched as she began wobbling, slowly falling from the sky.

“Monsters…” murmured Good. “Nothing but monsters!”

“But why?” Fine asked. “The little one was so kind earlier, why would he do that!?”

Gentle looked at her parents and sighed, drawing their attention. “OH!” Fine cried, realizing. “Gentle, are you alright!? I’m sorry that you had to see that darling.”

“It's fine mommy” the filly said. “But I know why the nice one did that. It was because the pegasi was mean.”

“Sweetie?” asked Good, confused.

“He’s not a pony, and he got hurt by the mean pegasi. So when he saw other pegasi, he thought they were mean, and wanted to hurt him too. Like the unicorn was mean to me in school and I though all unicorns were mean, remember?”

Good blinked, and then realized that his daughter was wiser than he thought. She made a good point. The beings were not ponies, and couldn’t be expected to know about them either. First impressions were the most important, and the green pegasi had ruined his own kind’s impression.

They must think pegasi another species, and while they, earth ponies all, were safe, pegasi had proved themselves dangerous. The green pegasi had attacked what was obviously a child. And the beings had retaliated in their own way, to protect their children.

He sighed and looked to his wife, who understood as well. “What can we do dear?” Fine asked.

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” Good responded. What could they do? What could be done? There didn’t seem to be anything that they could do, except to try and get the little one to understand them somehow.

They slept on the ground again, uncomfortable and unhappy. Ponies weren’t meant to sleep just anywhere. Good and Fine had tried to keep their daughter safe and warm during the nights, but even she had not gotten much sleep. None of them had, not even in the pleasant nights of Equestria.

It was early in the morning when they heard yelling, coming closer, along with maddened fluttering.

“What did you do to me!? Let me go!”

The little guy from before came back into view, dragging a yellow pegasi, the same pegasi from last night, the one that had fallen into the camp. Good gave a sigh of relief, seeing her safe and alive, but Fine gasped.

“Her wings!” Good looked, and winced. The pegasi’s wings were missing most of their feathers, obviously cut into uselessness. But one the other hand, she was alive, still had her wings, and the feathers were cut, not plucked. It was a little odd how one was so badly done while the other was very nicely done, but they didn’t pay too much attention to that.

Both Good and Fine felt a little relieved that their captors were not quite the monsters they had feared. They ate meat, but they didn’t eat pony, or kill one that was helpless. It was a calming revelation for them.

She continued to fight hard, even as the little one opened the gate and tried to shove her inside. She spotted them, and gaped.

“Help! Stop him!” she screamed, even as the little one continued to push and get her to let go of the fence.

Fine left it up to Good, and he thought for a second. “It will be better not to resist.” he said. “He doesn’t mean you any harm, and it is better to be in here, rather than out there.”

The pegasi was shocked, and in her shock the little guy managed to get her inside and shut the gate again. She didn’t even seem to notice.

Good went over to her. “They don’t understand ponies, and,”

“What!?” interrupted the pegasi, her featherless wings not an intimidating sight even when extended. “Means no harm!? I got speared from the sky and my wings are ruined and they mean no harm!?” she screamed at him.

Good winced, and backed a bit away from her. “They… they were acting in defense, and you are alive, and they treated you, right?”

The pegasi just stared at him unable to really respond to that until Fine made her way over.

“The little one left a basket of food dear.” she told her husband before turning to the pegasus. “Hello, I know it must be shocking for you miss…”

“Soft Cloud.” The pegasi said, disoriented.

“Soft Cloud. I and Fine Fur, and this is my husband, Good Growth. The filly stuffing her face over there is our daughter, Gentle Eyes. Are you alright? I have received some training as a nurse before.”

Soft shook her head. “Um… no. It… it doesn’t hurt now…”

Fine nodded. “Good, tell me if it ever does. For now, join us for breakfast. I think it’s a few vegetables and some berry bush branches.”

It was. The little one had left them a basket of greenery, a few vegetables, green grass and flowers, and a few branches with berries on them. Gentle had already eaten the vegetables, and while Fine and Good weren’t batting an eye at the rest, Soft did not want to eat that. That was savage food, the kind of thing ponies ate if they were starving as far as she was concerned.

So instead, she looked around, and then went to the gate. A wooden bar blocked the way, and it was too high for her to easily move, especially since it was on the other side of the fence from her.

She looked up at the fence, and then looked at her poor wings. She couldn’t fly, or even really use them like they were, but she had always been a high jumper.

She crouched, and then leapt, nearly reaching the top but missing the first time. She thumped against the wood, which attracted Good’s attention as he munched on a branch. She jumped again and managed to scrabble atop the wooden wall that time, standing on it and puffing in slight exertion.

“Wait!” screamed Good, running that way.

Soft started before looking over at him, surprised by his outburst. “I’ll get reinforcements, and we can get you out of here in a moment!” she said, not looking behind her.

She didn’t see it, but Good saw one of the large creatures coming at her, eyes glaring and mouth frowning with a spear at the ready. But to his absolute relief, it didn’t impale her on the spear, and instead shoved her back into the pen She fell with a yell and landed in an indignant heap. The creature turned back, and began growling its own tongue behind it.

It turned back to keep watch, and then another began increasing the size of the pen, rising the wall even higher.

Soft got up and glared at Good. “What? You… you let them know!”

Good shook his head. “There’s always one of them watching. You can’t escape without them seeing. Come on. There is no way out, and they don’t hurt us, and now they’re feeding us much better, so just put up with it for a bit.”

Soft was breathing hard. Put up with being a captive? The ponies with her seemed to be acclimatizing to the situation, but she was a pegasus. Pegasi did not like to be trapped in one area, and really hated not being able to fly. The mere fact that her wings had been clipped was near painful for her, the thought of being ground bound horrible. The creatures that had speared her from the sky were the ones that had done everything to her, the same creatures that she felt Good and Fine were making excuses for.

So she argued with them, and it got very heated until both groups were fairly unhappy with each other. Soft was as far from her comforts as possible, and she said a lot of things that she would never dream of saying normally. Good and Fine, both normally friendly ponies lashed out as she did, and soon a hate blossomed between the groups.

A pegasi had threated their tenuous peace, and Soft seemed like she might be another to Good and Fine. Though their lives had suddenly shifted, it was getting better, and they felt threatened by Soft’s actions and words. Fearful of what the centaur might do because of her.

In the end, Soft was at the opposite side of the pen and everypony was upset and angry. Gentle was only confused, and Fine was doing her best to keep her daughter from crying because her parents were mad. Both Good and Fine leaned on each other a bit, comforting the other with their presence.

But while they had family, a husband and wife together, Soft sat alone in her thoughts and anger.