I opened my eyes, still feeling the warmth of the orange body in my arms as I stood up. We were stranded in a desert, completely devoid of plant life. The sun hit us hard and woke Scootaloo up. She stretched and squirmed in my arms.
"Are we here?" she rubbed her eyes.
"Looks like it." I replied, looking around for any land marks. There were none.
"Why is it so...?-"
"Empty?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't know. Wasn't what I was expecting." I scratched my head. "Not at all."
I continued peering out until I felt a buzz in my pocket. I reached into it and pulled out my phone. Me and Scootaloo read 'Unknown' under the callers' name.
"Forgot I had this thing." I muttered as I answered it. "Hello?"
"What the hell are you doing stranded in the middle of the desert? Don't you know that's Decker territory?"
"What? Who is this?"
"Someone who's in a good mood today. Now listen up, unless you're lookin' to be spotted, ah suggest ya get your damn ass over here!"
"What? Where?"
I looked around and spotted a small, gleaming mirror. The figure waved at me. I hung up the phone, repositioned Scootaloo and started walking.
"Who was it?" Scootaloo asked.
"No idea, but I think we'll soon find out."
"As long as it gets us out of this desert, I'm all for it." She deadpanned, before stretching her arms again. "I can't wait to see the rest of this world. From what you've told us in class, the place sounds awesome...although it doesn't look very awesome now."
I looked down at her and furrowed a brow.
"Wait...how did you get from crying your eyes out to being so.. I dunno, calm?"
She smiled at me, "I forget things easily after a good, long nap."
I smiled back, "Seems like it."
I walked only a few more steps before the light stopped and revealed a man. He began running down the hill he was rested on and ran over to me.
"Hurry! Up the hill! Ah think some Decker folks are already followin' us!" he ushered.
Scootaloo peeked around my shoulder and gasped.
"What the hay is that!?" she yelled.
I looked behind and saw two men on horses coming down toward us.
"Something we don't want!" I replied as I began running. Scootaloo's extra weight didn't help as I started frantically climbing up the dirt hill in front of me. I slipped and fell forward, getting a mouthful of dirt and nearly crushing Scoots.
"You'll never make it up at this rate! Hand me that orange chicken of yours and get up here!"
"HEY! WHO YA CALLING 'CHICKEN'?" Scootaloo growled.
Not thinking, I did as I was told and handed Scootaloo over. He put her down and she watched over the dune as I got hold of the the top. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up onto the hill. As soon as I got up, the two men behind me pulled out their pistols and started firing away.
"GET DOWN!" The man yelled.
Me and Scootaloo obeyed and covered our ears. After the firing stopped, the man beside us pulled out a revolver and shot twice. We waited a few seconds and uncovered our ears, mine ringing a bit. Scootaloo's flicked as she rubbed one with a hoof.
"You alright?" I asked.
Scootaloo nodded. "Were those guns?"
I nodded, "Sure were."
"Ouch. They are loud."
The man holstered his gun and walked back down the hill to the two bodies.
"Holy hell! Did you, kill them?" I gasped.
He spit on the floor.
"Yeah. What was ah 'sposed to do? Invite them to dinner?"
"No, but you didn't need to kill them! You could go to prison!"
The man looked at me like I was stupid.
"Ha! Ah'm pretty sure the only officers left in this hellhole would'a done the same thing in mah situation!" he chuckled as he rummaged through the bodies. He pulled out their pistols and put them in his pocket, then went through their pockets and began stuffing his.
"What's he doing with those people? Are they...dead?" Scootaloo shivered.
Unable to think of a 'safe' reply, I said, "Yep."
Scootaloo's eyes shot wide open and she clung to me.
"Is he gonna get us too?"
I pondered over that a bit and continued watching him until I thought it was safe to say-
"Naw, you two are fine. Y'all seem like nice folk so ah won't hurt ya." He looked at us and gave a toothy grin. He slung a jacket from one of the men on his shoulder and walked back up here. He pulled out his loot and put it on top of a cardboard box.
And I didn't even notice his camp.
He put down some bullets, the two guns, some cash, cigars, a small can of beans and a pocket knife.
"Damn! That's some nice stuff there!" He pocketed the cash, the knife and holstered another revolver. He loaded up his guns and filled up a magazine for the third pistol. He inspected it a bit before handing it to me.
"Here ya go! Should be able to shoot!" He smiled.
I backed away and held my hands in protest.
"Woah woah, you're giving me a gun!? I don't even have a license!"
He stared at me a second before wheezing out a laugh.
"Ah don't think any of us do! Come now, take it! You'll need it to live around here!"
I gave him a long look before slowly taking the 1911 from him. I set it on the ground and he stopped me.
"Hang on, ah'll go get you a holster." he smiled.
He ran back down the hill, shooed some vultures away and pulled off a holster from a body before running back up.
"Here ya go!" He dropped it in front of me. I picked it up, set it on my right pant leg and slid the gun into it. Just the sight of it made me uncomfortable.
I sat down and picked up Scootaloo in my lap. As I did that, we all heard a long howl a distance away, telling the man to light up his campfire. He pulled out his lighter, lit up his cigar and then the campfire. The fire cracked as he enjoyed his cigar.
He pulled it out of this mouth and nodded at Scootaloo.
"So what's the story with your uh, talking chicken thing there?"
Scootaloo growled and I laughed.
"She's actually a pegasus."
"Huh. How'd ya get 'her'?"
"Long story." I said.
He nodded and continued looking at her.
I spoke up over his smoking.
"I figured seeing something like her would get you more...excited."
He waved me off and chuckled.
"Ah've seen much crazier shit than you could ever count. Even before the bombs fell!"
That b-word caught my attention.
"Bombs?"
"Well yeah, of course? What, did you spend the past thirty years in another dimension or something?"
I laughed dryly, "Of course not!"
"Then you would know about World War III!" he chuckled, a hint of suspicion present.
I shook my head. He scanned me before talking.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty three."
"Ah, okay. So you were born into the war then?"
"I uh, I guess?"
"You guess? You hafta know!"
I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it and just shrugged. He stared at me for a bit.
"You sure are an odd one, aintcha?"
I just forced a smile.
"Ah'll take that as a yes." He picked up the can of beans and popped it open with his knife.
"So what's your name then?"
"James. Yours?"
"Bill. Not Billy, or any other shit names like that; just, Bill."
I nodded and he continued fiddling with his campsite and the can of beans. I inspected him; it looked like he had been through hell and back. He was wearing blue jeans that had lost their color a long time ago, with a plain white button up shirt covered in dirt, accompanied by dark brown hiking boots. He wore a red cap that had faded away as well. He had natural dirty blond colored hair with a beard that had been neatly trimmed along with hazel colored eyes and a face covered in dirt and grime.
He snapped his fingers in front of my face.
"Why don'tcha take a picture? It'll last longer."
I snapped out of my trance and shook my head. He put his cigar back into his mouth and stared at the campfire before him. I stared a while too before I heard a small snore under me. I looked down and saw Scootaloo, sleeping soundly in my arms. I smiled and looked at Bill, who was doing the same thing.
"She's cute. Have no idea what the hell she is, but that is possibly the most adorable thing I've seen in my days." he said.
I looked back down and patted her head, which got a smile from her.
"Yeah. She is."
I wiped my brow of sweat and opened my eyes. The sun out here was unbearable, and I couldn't see how anyone could live in this place...
Except for Bill.
"RISE AND SHINE, SNOWBALL!" He yelled.
Scootaloo, who had been beside me, jumped up, now fully awake.
Bill ran towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. He pointed at some birds above our heads, circling us.
"Come on, now! Get up any later, and these birds'll be peckin' your eyes out before ya know it!"
Scootaloo yelped and hugged my arm. I gave Bill a stern look and he shrugged.
"Sorry."
I turned to her and petted her softly.
"It's fine, those vultures ain't coming near us. And I'm not taking any chances with them, so we're leaving."
"What? Already? It's only been a day!" Bill protested.
Scootaloo's ears perked up.
"Really?"
"Yup."
She stood up and started jumping around.
"When?! When?!"
"Gettin' outta here? How? When?" Bill smiled.
I picked up Scoots in my arms and nodded.
"Now. You've been nice and all, but I don't want to wake up one morning with guns or beaks pointed at our heads!"
I started walking down the hill when he spoke up again.
"You guys ain't gettin' anywhere unless you have a guy with uh, I dunno, maybe years of experience out in the wastes under his belt? Otherwise, you're gonna have a hard time making it out here."
I knew what he was implying. And he was right. I sighed and turned back.
"Will you help us get out of here?"
"My my, I am absolutely flattered you would want me on your team!...Yeah, I'll go. Bout time I ate something besides lizards and cactus." he smiled and started packing his stuff.
I rolled my eyes as me and Scootaloo waited for him to finish on the side of the hill.
"...Could you go any slower? I swear, Apple Bloom's grandma could pack faster than you." Scootaloo frowned.
I started snickering.
"I see what you did there."
"Ah, hold your damn horses!" Bill spat.
Seconds later, he came back with a backpack, filled almost completely to the brim. He walked past me and Scootaloo and took out a map.
"Alright, if we're gettin' outta here, we should go west."
"West?" I asked.
"West." he replied.
"West?" Scootaloo asked.
"West!" he glared at us.
West. It was extremely boring. Of course, though, if you call climbing tons of hills fun, you would've had a blast hearing about that. But eventually we ended up in the beaten up old town of El Paso. It was not at all how I remembered it. I had used to live here as a child and I had loved it; but this, it had looked like a bomb had hit it.
A bomb.
"W-what's that?" Scootaloo asked, pointing a hoof at the broken down city.
"That there, little missy, is El Paso! Now known to us survivors as, 'No Paso'! That's 256.3 square miles of broken down houses, factories, stores and many, MANY Mexican restaurants." Bill grinned.
"That's also where me and my parents used to live."
Bill frowned.
"Still there?"
I shook my head.
"Nope, they moved to Chicago."
"Chicago? Haven't heard of that place in forever! I heard they had a city still standing there."
I perked up.
"Then that's where we're going!"
Bill looked at me like I was stupid.
"Are you stupid?"
Scootaloo snickered.
"NO!"
"Well if you aren't stupid then you'd know how far Chicago is from here, and the odds of actually finding a car that's intact, the odds of gas, rust-"
"Well then why don't we fly there?" Scootaloo squeaked.
"....Fly there? No offense hun, but those wings o' yours are way to small to carry-"
"Not me, you dodo! A plane!" she turned to me, "I remember you told us that planes could carry TONS of people and could go super fast! We could get one we could go there!"
"...Y'know, I do remember there being an airport around here-" I said.
"Okay, hold up, hold up, hold up. First, let's say out of some miracle, we find a plane full of gas and completely untouched...who's gonna fly it?"
"...Well I could!" Scootaloo said.
Bill sighed.
"I'm not sure you've noticed before, but you're missing a big requirement for that job." Bill clapped once, "Hands."
Scootaloo pouted.
"The plane idea is pretty smart though. I'm sure the planes would've had a better chance at surviving than the cars." I said.
"What about gas? What if we can't find one? What do we do then?" he asked.
"We'll deal with it when it comes." I said.
"Welp, I'm the minority here, so there's no hope of changin' your minds, but all I can say is: this is a stupid idea."
"Well aware. So stupid it might work."
"Or get us killed." Bill muttered.
"Alright, let's get moving!" I smiled.
Bill nodded reluctantly and pulled out his revolvers as we walked down the hill. He inspected both of them in front of us and made sure they were loaded to the brim. I looked at the town again nervously and pulled my gun out too, making sure it was loaded and ready to fire. I'd never shot a gun before, and they actually scared me a bit, but I knew anything was possible in a big town like this.
And I knew this trip wouldn't be easy.
James waved sadly as his six best friends walked away from him, teary eyed. They knew he wouldn't get another chance to go back to Earth, but it still didn't change the fact they didn't want him to leave.
Which was why he dreaded this day would come. He watched them all slowly walk away from his view before he turned back to the portal to Earth. How this even existed was a mystery to him, but in a world of colorful magical creatures, you start to wonder what the limits to that were.
He shook his head and held his head up, taking one look back and seeing Scootaloo, tears dripping from her face.
"Please don't leave!" she cried.
His heart shattered and his posture broke as he kneeled down. He wiped his eyes and hugged her.
She sniffed, "C-can't I go w-with you? P-please?"
He knew Scootaloo was just speaking her mind, because there was no way she could come with him to Earth.
..Was there?
"But what about Applebloom? and Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash? Won't you miss them?"
"I don't care! Y-you're the only o-one who truly cares a-about me!" She choked.
"But Scootaloo. I don't even know if it's possible for you to do that. And I think all this was just a big mistake anyways! I never had plans for this, you never had plans for this, and I think this is just a way to correct what had happened."
"PLEASE! I've never w-wanted anything more than t-this!"
James looked at the portal, worried.
"Are you sure you want this?"
Scootaloo nodded, "Y-yes!"
".....Okay then......... let's go."
With that, Scootaloo jumped into his arms and James slowly walked into the portal.