Birthday Gift From the Zebras
Dazed Visions woke up to the smell of sweet brown sugar and oats. He rolled out of bed as and walked around his toys a bunch of miniatures of Corgnack the barbarian. And a bunch of other little action figures. He walked into the bathroom and grabbed his brush. He looked in the mirror at the little earth pony looking back at him, and started combing out the tangles from his gray mane and tail, before he started softly brushing all of purple fur. After a couple of minutes he was finished. He spun around in a circle several times to make sure that he was well combed so that mommy would be so proud of him.
He headed to the kitchen just as mommy was moving the oatmeal into three big bowls. The pot was glowing in her magic as she poured the oatmeal. Dazed Visions' smile widened as he counted the bowls several times. "Is daddy coming home this morning?"
"Actually he came home last night." Mommy smiled as she put the three bowls on the table. Suddenly Dazed couldn't see anything. He heard his mommy giggling.
"Guess who my little trooper."
"DADDY!" Dazed cheered as he was pulled into a hug by a large earth pony who was still wearing his Equestrian military uniform with it's three pointed bars. "Your home!" Dazed turned and hugged his dad for the first time in eight months.
"I am." He nuzzled his colt before putting him down and walking over to the table. "I would never miss your birthday. Though, I do owe my major a lot for giving me three months leave. So I get to be with you for how many parts of a year?" Dazed paused for a second doing the fraction in his head.
"A quarter." He said after a minute sitting up. The smile on mommy and daddy's faces told him he had gotten it right.
"So what do you want for your birthday?" She asked.
"I already got my birthday present Daddy's home!" Dazed cheered. "That's all I wanted." Dazed stopped as his parents started tearing up. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No nothing." Mommy nuzzled him softly.
"Your just our wonderful little colt." Daddy said. "I know how about we go get you a special present you're ten now so how about." Daddy tapped his hoof to his chin. "A pipbuck."
"A Pipbuck!" Dazed sat straight up.
"Well I mean if you're upset."
"That would be so. Awesome!" Dazed began bouncing up and down in his seat. "Can we go now? Can we go now?" He looked between Mommy and Daddy.
"Now I think we should eat the tasty breakfast that your mom made for us shouldn't we?" Daddy asked.
"It is your favorite after all." Mommy sat down and started eating her oats. Dazed began devouring his breakfast. In hopes that eating it faster would mean that they could get to the store faster. "So do you want to go to the zoo after we get your pipbuck?"
"Yeah the zoo we haven't been there since daddy had to go away the first time." He looked up from his oatmeal. "Daddy are you going to have to go away for a long time again?" he asked. Daddy only smiled sadly at him.
"I wish that I knew," he answered. "I wish that I knew. But after my three months are over I will have to leave again." Daddy put a hoof on Dazed shoulder. "But I promise that I'll be back. I'll always come back." They ate the rest of breakfast in silence. The inevitability that this wouldn't last seemed to make it to sacred for words to despoil the family's moment together at the dinner table.
After they finished breakfast talking recommenced. Dazed Vision was given a pony back ride by daddy as they walked down the stairs of their apartment. Even now at this early morning hour Fillydelphia was a busy place. They moved along the sidewalk Dazed riding on daddy's back and mommy walking next to the two of them. Ponies in Fillydelphia were always really nice to daddy. They gave him big smiles and nodded to him as they walked down the street. Normally to go anywhere in such a big city Dazed would have to take the trolley like he took with mommy everyday to go to school and back. But the big store that sold the pipbucks was right next to their apartment, just a few city blocks away. As they approached the building Dazed hopped off of daddy's back and galloped ahead of them. And then he stopped. Daddy and Mommy did too.
"What's that noise?" he asked as a high pitched whining noise filed the early morning air of Fillydelphia. The normal noises of the city died down to an ominous hush. Dazed looked around.
"Dazed come here," daddy said looking around mommy was holding on to him. Dazed started to head back when there was a boom, a flash of blinding green light, and a giant cloud of necrotic black zebra magic filled the sky. The three of them were thrown off of their hooves as the shock wave hit them.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Dazed screamed as his lighter body was flung across the street and to the sidewalk on the other side.
"Dazed." They both got up and tried to get to him, but that was when the sky started to rain glass from all of Fillydelphai's tall building. And that had caused the tens of thousands, the millions of ponies that called Fillydelphia their home to stamped. The wave of bodies hit the colt as fast as the sonic boom had. The results were the same his light body being pulled by the stampeding tide away from his parent.
"Mommy! Daddy!" he screamed as he did his best to avoid being trampled by the wave of bodies. New sounds filled the city sounds he had never known. Sounds of bodies being tramped. Screams as ponies were skewered by spears of glass, he body began to bruise as he was kicked and stomped a hindered times. "MOM-y! Dad-y." He began to cough his voice already going hoarse from his crying. There was a crunch and he felt his leg bones snap. He fell and screamed. And then he was kicked into an alley way. He lay there for minutes sobbing. His cries for his parents falling on the deaf ears of the countless mob. "All I want is mommy daddy." He repeated over and over again. As the twin killers Radiation and Exhaustion set in. Two ponies fell next to him wrapping him in a hug he could barely feel. "I just want mommy and daddy this year."
"That's good." Daddy's voice was just as hoarse.
"I don't think think we can get you anything else." Mommy said. There was a wet cough. And they were silent.