"I have never seen anything this strange, even when I accidentally got wasted after prom."
"Accidentally?"
"Well, my abuela made me promise not to but a friend of mine spiked our drinks and didn't mention it. So yeah, that was one hell of a trip. Still not as crazy as this." Raoul gestured at the entourage in front of them as he leaned back to get more comfortable on the mountain slope just outside the door of the base.
The center of attention was a unicorn. More specifically, Mirage trotting through the high grass and sage with a number of smaller equines trotting after him. There was something extremely odd and hilarious about seeing a tall and elegantly dainty unicorn being followed around by five gangly pegasi-looking foals and two short ponies. None of them came up any higher than Mirage's chest. While Arcee and Kup had some dignity and kept to either side of the karkadann to allow him to lead the small herd around, the Aerialbots hadn't yet figured out how to not be in the way or didn't care.
As they kicked their hind legs and scampered around with frenetic energy, Mirage gave a loud huff. Raising his head high, bladed horn slicing the air, the blue and white mech made a quick turn and started to canter. Happy colt squeals answered him as the Aerialbots chased after on shorter legs, wings flapping in glee. A snort could be heard coming from the old pony in the group, Kup amused by the youngsters.
Mirage may have been pretending not to care, trying to hold some dignity, but it was obvious that he was pleased. His hooves pranced just a little bit more than usual, tail whipping about as the mech showed off a tiny bit. It wasn't perfect, as they weren't the same as him. But it was close enough and they were a herd. A strange herd made of a karkadann, an equinid, a pooka, and pegasi colts. But hey, sometimes the best things are the strange things that you never expect and don't understand how you got when you do get them.
Watching the tiny mismatched herd, Raoul and Chip contemplated the weirdness that was now their life. When Air Raid didn't slow down fast enough and nearly knocked over Kup, prompting sudden chaos of hooves and startled whickers, Raoul groaned and flopped back against the ground.
Chip gave him a silent questioning look.
Sighing deeply, as the world had decided to go crazy, the teen explained with one arm tossed over his eyes, "You know, when I was twelve, I told my mom unicorns didn't exist. And now." He waved a hand at the herd that had reorganized itself, mainly due to Arcee shoving the younglings into order. "Giant metal carnivorous unicorn. And everything else. I think I owe her a call and an apology."
A moment of silence. "…... What is my life?"
The ring of metal hooves on ground and Chip's laughter did nothing to answer the question.
.
.
Equinid: A type of wildling related to pegasi and karkadann. Unlike their sibling species, they can neither fly nor use their tails as weapons, don't have horns, or even sharp denta. In fact, the only dangerous thing about them is they kick pretty hard. One of the least threatening and aggressive species of wildling, equinid's are known for being hard to see and easily overlooked as their duller paint schemes tend to blend in with their surroundings.
Kup will tell you all kinds of stories about the Equinid herds on Cybertron, how they traveled over the planet, roamed every inch of open space, bartered and traded with everyone they met. He should know, considering he was there. Of course, once he gets started on tales, it's hard to get him to stop. Mirage wasn't the only one missing a herd.