May 23, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthMay 23, 2015May 23, 2015 Dear Journal. OK, first off, I want to get the fact that I am absolutely freaking out right now off my chest. From what it seems, I apparently slept through the apocalypse. Literally. There is no one here, and the whole town has been deserted! I think I'll keep this Adventure Log going just so I don't lose too much of my sanity, and before you ask, no I am not using Dragon, I am using a neat little program called VoiceNote II on my laptop. What's worse is the physical changes that have happened to me. I think I should probably elaborate more on what happened today and explain it as I found out. It was the Saturday morning of a bright, sunny day when I woke up. Unlike most teenagers, I A) Didn't have a job, and B) Usually woke up raring to go in the mornings. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. If anything it felt like I got hit by a Mac Truck. Staying up till 5 in the morning playing Gemcraft: Chasing Shadows is not a good idea at all. Fun while it lasts, not fun after you pass out from exhaustion. Anyways, when I did wake up, I groggily tried to get out of my bed, only to shortly find my face having an afternoon tea time with the wooden floorboards. I only groaned slightly as my bed is considerably lower than any other bed I've seen, with it literally being just two mattresses with no frame. That, and the layer of clothes strewn all across the floor probably helped. But I did notice that my arms and legs felt weird like they were numb. So when I eventually pushed myself back onto my bed and took a good look at my hand, I nearly jumped out of my own skin!My hand was gone! Not only that but my arm was PURPLE! Scrambling out of my Pj's, I quickly did a body check. First thing I could tell was that I was no longer human. I was some sort of four-legged creature with hooves. I had fur and yes, it was all a deep shade of purple. Almost like... a ripe, purple grape. Long story short I practically gawked at myself for a good half-hour before snapping back to reality. Yeah. Anyways the only reason I did come back at all was one thought 'Well fuck, Momma is going to rip me a new one isn't she?' So I decided it might be best to not wake my mom yet. Yet. So I tried opening the door as silently as possible, thank god my door is right beside my bed so I could use my... hooves to open the door (I don't think I'll get used to that for a bit). Once I did though I face-planted again! I seriously need to re-align my center of balance and figure out how to walk. So I tried grabbing my trusty Big Print Dictionary, only to find that using my ha-... hooves, I meant hooves, was a lot more difficult than I thought, but after a bit of struggling I finally managed to have the huge book on top of my hooves! What I did after though, was something I only did when I was bored and in need of attention. I then proceeded to try to balance the book on my head! Little do most people know, being able to walk with a book balanced on your head made your posture so much straighter and as such, your center of gravity is more central, thus giving you more balance! In my mind, it was simply genius! So after a bit, I finally had the book balanced, and I slowly tried to stand up on all fours. Very slowly. It wobbled and fell off beside me with a loud thud, and I swear I felt my ears swivel to try to pinpoint the source! It was a bit disconcerting, to be honest. But anyways, long story short, I kept going at it until I could walk without tripping over myself. That's when I realized something odd. I live in a small town named Brechin that has the Trans-Canada highway running through it, but... where were the car noises? Or even the train noises Brechin is literally notorious for? We have three railroad crossings in town that are all connected to the same track, all three of which cross the highway, and they are all within a five-minute drive of each other! People who come through here often enough know that when you're stuck behind a train in this town, just shut off your car and pull out a book, you're going to be here for a while. So why was it almost silent? A thought crossed my head as I let the book slide off my head, my heart sinking as I came to a sudden realization. Scrambling over to the window, I lifted the blinds with my head and gasped at what I saw. An empty street, during Saturday, in Brechin. In all of the years that I have lived here, that is a physical impossibility. Scared out of my mind I carefully try something. I tried calling out to my mom. "M-Momma!?" But I didn't get a response. Then it hit me, a realization weighty as a mac truck. My mom would have heard the dictionary thumping against the floor. My eyes dilated in cold, hard fear. My heart was pounding as I frantically scrambled to her room, my only thoughts were on whether or not she was safe. Eventually I got the door open, but unfortunately, I accidentally took the door handle off as I did. My new height barely let me see over the top of the bed, but I saw all I needed to see. Neither my mom nor my step-dad were there. Reality decided to slap me in the face REAL hard today, as I finally connected it. "..." I sighed as I gave up the struggle of reality "It's going to be one of those day's isn't it?" After I had that little spazz attack I decided to see what I really look like and considering there was a mirror on the one dresser in the spare room, I reluctantly decided to use that. Did I forget to mention my house is haunted? Yeah. We have our good ol' ghosty pal Walter. Or at least that's what we named him. My mom and step-dad were the first ones to encounter him, although I've had my own experience with him. Let's just say a door opening and closing on its own for 5 straight minutes is creepy enough when yoUR NOT ON THE CAN WHILE IT'S HAPPENING! Sorry about that, had to yell at Walter. I'm still pissed at him for it in case you haven't noticed. Not only that but I swear he lives in the spare room. I mean... just look at those dull, lifeless eyes on the dolls... *shudder* But anyways back on topic, and I apologize for rambling. It's just I'm kinda freaking out here! But anyways I creep into the room, planning on spending a minute in and running right out... or is it galloping? Either way I never got to find out, because what I saw in the reflection just floored me. I looked like a tiny horse who took a trip to a Crayola party! Not only that, but I had ...have freaking WINGS! The wings were the same shade of purple as the rest of my fur... coat I guess? But my hair... mane, was a GREEN colour! At that point, I had noticed that I had a tail! It was also green but there wasn't really anything to note about. So basically this is what I am in point form: ~ I am a male (Thankfully I kept that much) ~ I am some sort of small horse thing ~ I am around 3 feet tall ~ My hair... mane... thing is green along with my tail ~ My fur... coat... colour is purple ~ My head seems just a bit too big for my body ~ And I have wings, that I don't know how to use. Yeah, I still haven't quite figured out how to use my wings yet, but I'm going to keep trying! Anyways after examining myself in the mirror and quickly dashed out of the room, only to trip and face-plant outside the door. I swear Walter's out to get me or something. Groaning a bit I get up and try to slowly slide myself backwards down the stairs. Halfway down I slipped and landed with my butt on each step. It's no longer sore don't worry. Thankfully there is only one door left to get to the main living area, AKA the dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and back-room. I opened this one a lot easier because it actually has a stick handle. Once I reached the kitchen I decided to do a food check and found that it was all still there! Even down to the lemon juice! I also found that my senses had changed slightly, considering I almost threw up when I sniffed the baloney, but that could have been Walter. After seeing that none of the food was touched I had decided to go outside. It was bright, sunny, and deserted. I walked a bit around town, not really caring about my clothes since I had already come to the conclusion that everyone was gone. And surprise, surprise, I was correct. Not even the corner store had any people in it! After checking the library (which unfortunately is still locked) and my friend Kenny's house, I started noticing how different the animals felt. The normal chirping and singing of the local birds had altered a bit, almost more rather that they were actively communicating! ...Well almost. Still, they did seem to be giving me the stink-eye. Especially the ravens. Dammit, they were creepy enough as is! So yeah, that's pretty much it for today! Really freaky stuff right? Meh. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much. I mean we were going to screw up the planet one way or another so there's that going for us... or at least the planet. Oh! I did come home to find that the power is still working sorta. I have my doubt's on how long it will last though. I guess I better start coming up with ways to write and stuff. I think I'll make a check-list on priorities at the end of each of these journal logs, that way I can at least stay organized. 1: Create a sustainable food/water source 2: Create a mean's of self-defence 3: Create a home base 4: Create a mean's of communication 5: Find other survivors ...I might move it around at a later date but I think this is pretty good. So anyways yeah I'll talk to you all later! Or something... maybe. ~Alex J.
May 24, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthMay 24, 2015May 24, 2015 Dear Journal. Nothing really happened today... well accept me getting ATTACKED!!! Birds are fucking EVIL! *Deeeep breathe* Ok. Let me start at the beginning here. So today I had slept in my bed and consulted the List of Shit To Be Done. Yes, that is the new name for it now. First priority on the List was to scavenge for food. Luckily there's a Foodland just down the road from here, I decided to go there. Since there's also a Timber Mart right beside it, I'd stop by there as well. So for a bit of walking... well mostly crawling, and yes I did keep practicing with the book, I simply tried to tune out the bird chirps. They were starting to sound almost like a pattern! Like a code, bouncing back and forth between the birds! I even saw a robin and a crow use the same bird call! Anyways, I tried to ignore them and their reality-breaking schemes, because that is EXACTLY what those birds are trying to do by the way. I just know it! Quote: Tried. They just kept giving me this creepy death glare the entire time! It was not unlike the death glare Luigi does in the trailer for Super Mario Kart 8! So I finally reach Foodland and managed to get inside without breaking the door, and I push a shopping cart in. Why yes indeed, I did hit my head a couple times! Thank you for asking! Anyways, I managed to grab a bunch of food, I figured out that using my teeth and head is a lot more efficient than using my ha-hooves, and decided to grab a couple of fruit and vegetable seeds! Big Mistake. The minute I got outside I felt the eyes of the birds once more, but this time it was different. They weren't giving me an angry glare, as if I was a bird on the wrong side of Brechin. No, this was the glare of a predator stalking its prey. Thinking fast, I had slowly pulled out one of the seed packets, walked a good 20 feet from the cart and placed it down. And I kid you not, as I was slowly backing away a fucking hawk swoops down over my head and nearly clawed my eyes out! For once these weird-ass ears actually came in handy! After that, though the hawk did something rather strange and kind of creepy. It picked up the seed packet and flew off towards the forest! Scared out of my wits at that point I frantically pushed the shopping cart back towards my house, hoping that if I stayed there the birds won't get me. Thankfully nothing else exciting happened, but when I did reach home I did have to do a lot of back-and-forth walking to get all of it stockpiled inside. Thankfully the bugs decided that they weren't going to bug me today. *snicker* Not even the apocalypse can stop me from making bad puns! Ahhhh... You know... If Josh was here he would have just punched me for saying that... I miss him... I miss all of my friends... Dawson, Simran, Mickeala, Kenny, Raven, Philip, Sargeatook, Harold... and so, so many more... how many of them did I lose? If I'm the last one... then I've lost hundreds of friends... I'm all alone, aren't I...? That's it isn't it? One last human against the world? No... I'm not even a human either... I'm a fucking tiny horse for fuck's sake! So, that it world? This is what you throw at me? You take away my friends, my FAMILY, turn me into some fucking ANIMAL, and fucking expect me to fucking GIVE UP, AND JUST ROLL OVER AND FUCKING DIE!? WELL NEWS FLASH MR. TOUGH-SHOT-GAIA-PERSON! I AIN'T GONNA BE GIVING UP, EVER! *sound of a window opening* HEAR THIS YOU FUCKER! I AM NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP ON THIS WORLD! MY SISTER ALREADY HAS THE FORT MANNED-DOWN IN HEAVEN, AND MY BROTHER HAS HELL LOCKED DOWN! EARTH IS MY FUCKING TERRITORY, SO YOU CAN JUST GET YOUR GRUBBY LITTLE CONNIVING HANDS OFF OF THIS FUCKING PLACE! I DO NOT GIVE ANY SHITS IF YOU'RE AN ALL POWERFUL BEING THAT'S LIKE 50 FEET TALL, I'M STILL GOING TO KICK YOUR FUCKING ASS!!! *sound of the window being closed shut, followed shortly after by sighing* Apologies for that, I may have a wee bit of built-up aggression over the years, let's just say I wasn't exactly the most... liked of people before this shit happened. Anyways I believe that is all that happened so far today, uhhh... Oh! I did figure out that I can still drink milk and eggs so my breakfasts are covered for a bit, although they both are probably going to turn bad by tomorrow... oh well. At least I still have my apples! Man, I love apples. Apples are pretty damn good. You know, there is an old saying tha-... Hold up. Ok wow. That was actually kind of brutal. I just saw a deer being chased by a pack of coyotes! In the middle of town too! The worst part is the deer lost because it got jumped by a couple of coyotes hiding behind the one building. Poor thing didn't even have a chance. When it got jumped one of the coyotes, it got its neck bit. Just snapped like a toothpick... Uuugh... makes me queasy just by remembering it. Although, for some reason they didn't eat their kill right then and there, the one the killed it had dragged it back towards the forest, with the other lupines following it. Yeah, I think I should probably go to bed now. Oh! One last thing though, I found my old stuffed polar bear, Basil! (pronounced: BAH-zill by the way) Oh, he's such a huge comfort right now! He's one of those Discovery Channel ones but unfortunately, I don't have a working camera at the moment so you can't see him. Anyways, guys, it's time for me to hit the hay! So, night everyone, have a wonderful time! -Your truly- AJ
May 25, 2015. Day & Night.View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthMay 25, 2015. Day & Night.May 25, 2015. Day & Night. Dear Journal. Surprisingly, not a lot happened today. Other than me working on a couple things it was actually a slow day today. Not that I'm complaining or anything, it's just... It almost seems criminal to just have a peaceful day after just having the apocalypse happened! But anyway, I might as well say what I did end up accomplishing today. Well, first I decided to walk to the hardware store that's right beside Foodland. I'm getting better with walking and I don't need the dictionary anymore, so there's that going for me! But anyways, on the sidewalk a little ways down the road I saw something... lightly disturbing. There was this dead bird on top of the sidewalk, and it was just crawling with maggots, ants, and other unsavoury creepy crawlies. Normally that in itself would have just made me freak out, but something about watching those little itty-bitty bugs eat the avian corpse was... almost soothing. What made it worse was that... I think it was the bird that attacked me yesterday! After coming to that conclusion, I decided it would be best to just grab some more supplies and just get back home. So while I was in the store I had the brilliant idea of connecting a bunch of shopping carts together with rope! Turns out, it only works well when you only have about 3 carts in one chain. So I loaded up a bunch of my stuff into the carts and started heading home. I grabbed the general basics like 2X4's, Duck Tape, hammer, nails, saws, etc. When I passed the bank, I tried to open the doors only to find that it was locked. Now that I'm thinking about it, my mom worked at CIBC! I think she has the key's to the bank but I'll do that tomorrow. Anyways, I headed back home and put together a little garden, using my hooves to nail in the wooden border, and also to dig up the dirt a bit. Thankfully, plumbing and electricity is still working... note to self: head to Orillia by... what day is it, Monday? Wow... it's already Monday. Time flies when you're not trying to kick it, am I right? Though yeah, I think I'll need to hit the road by about Thursday. There has got to be a store there that will sell electric generators in Orillia. Anyways, I also decided to quickly practice walking again, speeding up this time, so I went to the little elementary school by my house and surprise, surprise. It was locked. More than a little pissed off that the world wasn't allowing me even this small fraction of comfort, I did the most rational thing possible. I kicked in the bottom window on the glass door. Let me tell you one thing. The saying with how horses don't actually feel the ends of their hooves? B, U, S, T, E, D. It fucking hurt like hell! I didn't get any cuts thankfully, just a couple scratches. But walking on glass is not pleasant AT ALL, trust me. But once I was clear of the glass I had carefully picked out any remaining shards and continued onto my goal. And sure enough there they were, gloriously hanging there like they were the most beautiful things I've seen! Backpacks. Small, kid ones. Perfect for a... hoofbeast like me! It was akin to Indiana Jones figuring out which chalice was the Holy Grail! Grabbing some scissors and using the duck tape I had brought, I made the most genius contraption ever! I made some saddle bags! On one of them was a freaking Pikachu bag too! SCORE! So after grabbing my loot, I had also come up with another genius idea. Getting to the south wings doors I had cut off a strip of duck tape and placed it over the metal thing that prevents you from opening it, pushing it down as well so it would not open again. I tested it a couple times and it worked! I unlocked the doors without having the key! Anyways, after that I made sure that I could go in and out of the school at will, I went home for the last time today. That's all that happened so far today. Anyways, night everyone, have a wonderful time! -Yours Truly- AJ Dear Journal. Sorry about writing to you at this point in time, but I had a nightmare and I couldn't go back to sleep. It's been a recurring nightmare, ever since I was little. I think talking about my nightmare will help me go back to sleep. Anyways here goes. So it starts out with me, being a human, and facing down underwater. It's peaceful and quiet for a bit, with just me staring down at the pool floor. But then... a sign phases into view, saying, Look Up. When I wasn't looking up, the scene started shifting, and I could almost swear the sign grew a grin. The scene then shifted to being in a big cave, an underwater cavern actually, and I can feel it moving underneath me, trying to tip me over, to get me to look up at this shining beam of light. I struggle and fight, trying to not look up. This keeps happening for a bit until the dream gets bored of me, and it then it sends a very poorly animated Leviathan after me. The red one from Super Mario 64 I believe. I keep repeating this little mantra in my head over and over It's just a dream, It's just a dream, It's just a dream! Eventually, it will just suddenly turned pitch black, and... this is where it gets really fuzzy. I hear a screeching noise so loud, that my heart could feel it, and I get jump-scared by a... face... I can't distinguish what the features are at this time but... that's when I wake up. I've been having that on-again-off-again recurring dream ever since I was a little kid! Like... 9 years old? Oh, so half my life. Well then. Anyways I think I'm going to go back to bed now. Goodnight everyone! -Yours truly- AJ
May 26-28, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthMay 26-28, 2015May 26, 2015. Dear Journal. I have decided I want to try to go to Orillia. It's a risky gamble but I have decided to at least try to find other survivors. Now, I know what you might be thinking, "What brought on this change in mood?" Well, it's because of what I discovered today. Let me start from the beginning. I woke up same as usual, got out of bed, and made myself some breakfast. From the looks of things, my stockpile of bread and non-perishable fruit cans are going to start running low soon, especially after the bread starts going bad. I then decided to move my temporary home base to the public library. So grabbing my saddlebags and stocking it with 2 apples, a dozen pencils, my laptop plus charger, a pair of scissors, and a roll of Duck Tape. Unfortunately, the library was not a viable option. It was locked and the only way I could get in was by breaking the glass door, just like with Foodland. So after that, I decided it would be worth my time to use the computers for the internet. I haven't used it on my laptop because it was practically useless for the internet, being a Netbook and all... Uuugh. Anyways, when I got on the computer and logged in, what I was met with only shocked me just a little bit. Google Chrome still worked. Not wanting to Look a gift horse in the mouth, I decided to look up probably the most important thing. How to find other survivors. Unfortunately, almost all of the long-ranged ones required a HAM radio, and all the other ways just kinda flew over my head in the explanations. A luxury that I don't necessarily have at the moment, as I have no idea how to A) operate one, nor B) find one. So I decided to use what little time I had left on the internet to quickly find out different ways to collect water and food, how horses walk/run, and even what kind of animal I was. Results: Basically nothing new except the fact that I was most closely related to a Pony. I sighed. Of course, it had to have been a pony. Oh well, at least I have wings unlike a pony, so I wasn't entirely pony. Also that there are different names for the four stages of walking-to-running for ponies. I can't remember the one, but the rest were trotting, cantering, and galloping. But anyways after that, I got the dreaded 503 Error, Service Unavailable. Once I started seeing that, I realized that the internet couldn't hold itself together any longer. After picking up a couple books for entertainment I went to head home. The odd thing was the fact that I could almost feel as though something was watching me... more than the usual feeling I got from the local birds anyways. Taking this as a bad horror movie cliché, I hastened my pace, practicing the "Trotting" technique I had learned from the computer. As I got home I quickly realized why I had that feeling. I was being watched, but not by an ally. No, this was the feeling you get when being stalked by a predator. The feel of being hunted. I was almost to the door when a coyote jumps from out of nowhere! I had managed to duck out of the way just in time and then, giving in to my instincts, I turned around and, using all of my minuscule body weight, bucked it square in the head! I think I even hit it in the neck, due to it collapsing a few feet away from me and not getting up. Not giving time for rational thought I hastily galloped into my house, tripping as I went it. Calming down, I took a look outside my window to see five other coyotes walking away, one of which was carrying the one that I believe I killed. That one took a look back at me and gave me the scariest death glare I had ever seen. It just became personal. Thinking fast I knew I had to set up some form of self-defence, and I realized something. There was an almost certainty that there was a gun shop somewhere in Orillia. So I decided to try to make some defensive armor. I already have a weapon right in the kitchen. It's called a knife, look it up... oh wait... right, you can't... Fuck. Well, anyways I actually upgraded that by cutting a broom handle into fourths and taping a knife to the ends of each of them. Well, anyways the armor is pretty much a shopping cart with another shopping cart grate zip-tied on for a lid to make a big box, with wheels along the bottom. The only way to get in or out is if you cut the zip-tied and push the grate off, and yes I have a bag of zip-ties in case I want to use it again. How do you move in such a contraption? The same way that you pilot a ferry in Venice. You use a big, sturdy stick and propel yourself by pushing against the ground, thus is why it has the wheels. And that brings us to now. I've already stockpiled as much non-perishables as I can in my numerous saddle-bags and I layered the inside of the box with my thick comforter. Of course in my main saddle-bag, I'm going to have my trusty laptop and charger, a couple extra knives, my Oxford Large Print Dictionary, Basil, and my Special Pillow. It's special because I made it... with Grandma... *sighs* I think I should get my sleeping arrangements in order. Night everyone... --Yours truly-- Alex J. May 27, 2015. Dear Journal. I need to keep this short because my battery life is just as such. So I made progress today, I passed by the gas station a couple of hours ago, and boy I am glad I brought extra zip-ties! There was this big-rig there and I could faintly hear the HAM RADIO playing, of course, I couldn't get in because it was bucking locked! In my excitement and frustration, I kept thinking on how much I wanted to just fly up there and kick the window in! then I felt something a bit off with my back and next thing you know, my wings were stretched out! Experimenting with these new muscles I found I learned how to open and close them, but that's it. Bummer I couldn't flap and fly. Oh well. At least I know there's SOMEbody out there playing a looped message. Anyways I got a sweet amount of loot from the gas-station in the form of food and possible weapons. Let's just say I did kinda upgrade the Makeshift Mobile Pony Home (MMPH). Yyyyeah... now it has 8 lighters attached to it at even points on the cart and I just so happen to have one or two aerosol cans in my main saddle-bag now. *snickers* And yes I know how to use both with hooves. Oh, and I picked up these WICKED aviators as well! Anyways I gotta hit the hay, the mutts haven't attacked yet thankfully. Night everybody! --Yours Truly-- Alex J May 28, 2015. THANK! YOU! GAS STATION!!! I got attacked by those coyotes again today, and guess what? THEY'RE SCARED OF FIRE! I'm not going to put down the details but I can safely say that they won't be bugging me for a while. Speaking of which, I think I know where all the bugs have ran off to. Because the closer to Orillia I get, the more bugs I end up finding! After a very itchy experience, I found out that I had a flea! I then decided to use my duck-tape to hold down the aerosol can button and gave myself a nice, hot fire-bath. Basically, I just ended up popping off the lid (I'm starting to run low on zip-ties. I might be able to do re-zip it about 4 more times) and jumping through the stream of flames a couple times, then shook myself like a dog. After that, I think the bugs learned to let me be and I continued on my way. I'm almost at Orillia finally and I know the first place I'm going to. Anyways I gotta hit the hay, Night everybody! --Yours Truly-- Alex J
May 29, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthMay 29, 2015May 29, 2015 Darkness. The screen is a complete blank. A faint voice can be heard, along with an even fainter buzzing sound, getting louder by the second. "Hello, hello? Testing, testing... 1, 2, 3... Oh, wait... here we go!" A flash of light appears before a scene swirls in, showing a purple-furred pony with a green mane and silver eyes way too big for its head, inside a metal, wire-frame box. "Finally! I thought you would never work! Hey guys! it's me, Alex J! Anyways I'm gonna be honest, I HATE writing and stuff, so I had the brilliant idea to grab a couple rechargeable batteries and this thing! Now, I know what you must be thinking, 'Alex, why are we seeing you? Alex, what is the other thing you grabbed? Alex, why are you a horse-pony-thing?' noididntstealthatfromprotomariowheredidyougetthatassumption... Aaaaanyways to answer two of those questions is one answer. I have acquired this neat little thing called a GO-PRO! That's right people! Alex has upgraded to a visual journal! MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!" ... "Aaaaaanyways let me show you the other reason that I wanted to record this on camera, I'm sure you guys remember that I said there were barely any bugs in Brechin? Well, I found where they all went." The view swiftly turns around, now showing a giant cocoon of silk, honeycomb, dirt and moss, various bugs and insects crawling all over it. It was large enough to cover a three, maybe four-story large house! "Yeah. I'm going to explore inside. I know it's hollow because of what building is in there. The Public Library. NO ONE messes with that Library and gets away with it. That was my favourite spot to get away from my parents whenever I was stuck here, waiting for my mom to get off work... And I'm going to find what the bloody hell caused this and just give them what-for." Anger seethed through his words like a hot knife in butter, rage building up inside of him. The view shifted again, this time the view seemed a little elevated as a soft slap sounded behind the camera. Alex's voice came again, but from below "They better not have touched those graphic novels, otherwise I will kill them... if I can that is." The view then swivelled downwards to show that he was propelling the box by pushing a big stick against the ground "This is my patented Makeshift Mobile Pony Home! Or the MMPH! for short. And yes you do need to say it like that because it's not an mmph sound its an MMPH! sound! You know, just like the ShamWOOHOO! It's not a Shamwoohoo or even a ShamWEEHEE! it's a ShamWOOHOO! Seriously people, get with the program! And speaking of ShamWOOHOO!'s I wonder whether or not those things actually work? Well, it should be fairly simple to make. I mean, after all, they don't do that boring old thing where they suck up the mess, nononono. They do something amazing and just push it off the table! I mean, wow! That's fantastic! You wanna know what else is fantastic? Cherrychangas. Ohhhh! And Chilly! OHHHH!! What about a Cherrychanga! ... Nah, doesn't sound right. Chillycherrychanga? ...Nah too mainstream. Oh! Changacherry! ...THATS PERFECT! Plus that's a lot of fun to say. Changacherry~, Changacherry~, Changacherry~, Changacherry~..." Needless to say, he just kept going. And going. And going. Clearly, Alex needed to find another pony fast, he was going off his rocker. He shortly reached the cocoon, and he was still rambling, "And then I said 'Muffins!? Are you crazy!?' And the- oh we're here." He looked around quickly, the camera tied to his forehead so it swivelled with his head, blurring the screen a bit. He then chuckles and cuts the zip-ties on the metal roof, popping it off her a push of his hoof. He then uses the big stick to jam a wheel and rocks the box back and forth, gaining momentum until he tips the whole thing over, quickly stepping onto the side just before it landed with a soft thunk, He then simply trotted out of the box, picking up the lid and placing it over the box. "Heh. This way no coyotes get to my stuff, not that I would even consider bringing anything valuable." He then trots off around the cocoon, looking for an entrance, ironically finding one at the library entrance, the cocoon seemed to have left the sliding doors intact, save for a patch job where a hole was clearly kicked in. "Hmmmmm... I wonder..." He then stopped moving and you could hear his breathing hitch. His usual cheery, delirious voice suddenly dropped, the camera shaking slightly along with him. "N-No... I-It's n-not possible... I-I thought I w-was the only one l-left... I-I was an a-accident... I-I wasn't m-meant to be left b-behind..." He shudders violently "No no no no no no no... T-This can't be real, This can't be real, this can't be real... I-It's j-just a coyote hole... Y-Yeah that's it. Just a coyote hole. He probably just got hungry a-and saw a mouse on the inside! Yeah... Yeah, that makes sense! Heh. Heheheh. Oh silly me~! For a second I almost thought there could be oth-" A loud gasp sounded from behind the camera, followed shortly after by a bag dropping, multiple clangs indicated that cans were dropped. ... ...... .......... The screen starts to turn around and swivels to see another pony, only this one had a FADED BROWN coat along with a DUSTY BLUE mane with TURQUOISE highlights and had a Goliath Bird Eating Spider crawling on top of her head, as well as a couple hornets and wasps circling her. She also didn't have wings, and her mane literally had cobwebs going through it. Oh, and she had glasses that looked a little too big for her. Alex starts stuttering rapidly until you could almost physically hear something snap from in his head and, being unable to cope, the screen suddenly starts falling sideways, picking up the soft thud. The blueish pony blinked a couple times before whispering something to a couple of the bees, who buzzed off somewhere off-screen. The new pony sighs and walks towards the screen and reaches over it, turning it off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Journal. Hey, it's me again! Heh... I guess you saw what happened. Well, basically what followed was this. I woke up inside the library, but I was wrapped in that weird hybrid-web-thing! Or at least enough to make a bed... OK YES, IT WAS COMFORTABLE! DON'T RUB IT IN! ...Sorry about that. Yeah. She was real. There is another survivor. Do you know what this means? Whatever happened to remove all of the humans, left us on purpose. It wasn't supposed to remove all humans, but rather leave a couple survivors and turn them into ponies... It CHOSE to leave all of my friends... my family... I think I need a minute... Ok. I'm good now. So what happened after was me taking a longer nap in the cocoon, and then ripping the thing to shreds once I realized what I was sleeping in... Yes, I regret doing it OK? ... Anyways, she's letting me stay over and giving me a free meal so I can't complain. But one thing that does bother me a little is the fact that neither of us wear clothes anymore. She in-fact burned them first chance she got. But the real thing that bothers me is that she has this... tattoo thing... on her... ass? Flank? Yeah, flank sounds better. So yeah. She has a TATTOO. On her FLANK! ...HOW THE HELL DID SHE EVEN DO THAT!?! But anyways guys, the tattoo is definitely weird. It's a simple picture of a spider with a crown on top of its head. What's truly weird is the fact that it's perfectly mirrored on her other side! Also, Why doesn't she have wings? Some many bucking questions, no bucking answers! Sigh... Oh well. She just rolled her eyes and called herself Chatter Bug. Fitting. Oh right. The last thing you should know about Chatter. She can talk. To. Bugs. She said that she loved bugs so much and she was always fascinated with what they had to say. She was dedicated to being able to talk to them. And when the... Thing... Purge... Event... Cleansing? Alright, I'm good with Cleansing... Yeah. When the Cleansing happened all of a sudden they were literally talking back. Yeah. She also discovered that if she asked nicely, she could get them to do a lot of things! And that's how the cocoon formed. Unfortunately, to her, they seem to have 'Human-Level Intelligence' and what-not. So no, she can't make them all bow down and listen to her every command, she actually has to ask and make friends with the bugs. The only way that she could get that huge cocoon set up so quickly is because all of the bugs and insects that she raised herself had joined in on helping. Thus the seemingly huge swarm on the outside of the cocoon. Yes, she did explain all that to me. Do I find it weird? Yes. How much? Very. Will I tolerate it? ...That remains to be seen. Anyways I gotta go hit the hay again guys. Cya later! --Yours truly-- AJ.
May 30, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthMay 30, 2015May 30, 2015 The screen flickers on, revealing a mirror showing Alex with a camera on strapped onto his head and wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses, sitting down in a sink inside a small bathroom. A static sound erupts for a second, before fading away to a very faint buzzing and barely audible clicking sound. "Finally! OK, first of all, apologies about the background noise. Chatty's bugs just won't shut up. Not that I'm complaining or anything really, as it does make for some nice night-time noise that I have been missing severely. I just REALLY want to hear the sweet, sweet sound of a train again... Yeah... I even miss THOSE things, when they would drive through town like 3-4 times a day! But anyways, I decided that this will now be strictly video-logs with a written/typed recap at the end. So... let's go see what's Chatty's up to! Probably just some more boring bug diplomat stuff though." After that little spiel, he stands up, the camera shaking and then jerking about crazily as he turns around and jumps down off the sink, landing on his hooves with only some unsteadiness. "Hah! I am getting better at this! Take that world!" Alex then walks up to the door and is just about to open it, but then it opens by itself and he gets slammed into the wall, the screen going black as a very loud THUD resonates. The screen flickers back on, showing him in the mirror of the bathroom again, his head wrapped in a couple bandages. "OK, Let's try this again. Sorry about that. Chatty almost broke the camera with that little stunt of hers! She couldn't have at least knocked!? I mean come on! Some people just don't have manners these days... Anyways, why don't I give you lovely viewers a tour of Home Base?" He then turns around and jump's off the sink again, landing a bit less unbalanced than last time. The camera swivels to the door again, showing a pony-shaped dent in the wall and door. "Yeah. When a lady has to go, apparently she has to go." He sighed as the screen shakes a little, showing that he was shaking his head. He then walks up to the door and opens it with no problems, trotting out of the room. The camera swivels around as he walks around the giant library, showing multiple igloo-style cocoons with various symbols above the door frames around the building. He walks forward past them all, explaining what each one was for, the "igloons", as he called them, symbol matching what they were for. The one with a red cross was the medical igloon, the bedrooms have beds with a bubble saying "Zzz" on it, the entrance-way to the electrical supply covering the door upstairs has a lightning bolt, and the entrance-way to the farm has a crossed carrot and leek. After that Alex goes to another igloon with a throne symbol on it, this time going in. When he gets inside, there is indeed a hybrid web throne with Chatter Bug sitting on it, looking very confused at a millipede and a ladybug, who seem to be arguing with each other. Just as he enters, he is immediately spotted by Chatter who waves and apologizes to the critters, then telling a large tarantula to finish the job. "That's Mr. Gobbles, my pet Goliath Bird Eating Spider!" She cheerfully explains. Alex just simply nods, indicated by the up and down motion that the screen goes through. She then giggles and suddenly perks up, "Oh! I just remembered! Let's explain to the viewers what goes on throughout the hive, ok? Ok. So each species of bug, insect, arachnid, etc. each have their own place and role right?" She then goes on a rant about the different roles and responsibilities of each species. The audio cuts out for this part and instead, a list of the comparisons floats onto the screen like a PowerPoint. 1: Construction Team: -Many kinds of web-building Spiders -Most Worker and Honey bees -Most Ants -Caterpillars for the Nursery 2: Demo Team: -Termites -Specialized Ants (e.g. The Leaf-Cutter Ant) -Hercules Beetle 3: Self-Defense Team: -Most Spiders -Fire Ants -Black Widows/Brown Recluses for VIR (Very Important Rooms) -Beetles 4: Search and Exploration: -Basic Flies (that's really all you need to say) 5: Assault Team: (Tuney Likey Alot Team) -Hornets/Wasps -Mosquitoes -Horse/Black Flies (Yeah. If you saw a swarm of THOSE guys coming at you, you'd freak out too right?) The list disappears after a bit and the sound kicks in again to Chatter telling the end of a joke "And then I said 'Muffins? Are you crazy!?' And then he sa-." She gets interrupted rather rudely by purple hoof being shoved into her mouth and Alex simply stating "I think that's enough for today Chatter. Your name is being a little bit too on the nose here. It's kinda creepy." With that he lowers his hoof and turns around and trots to the entrance to the Generator Room, going inside. The Generator Room is surprisingly on the bottom floor of the building, and inside is this big dirt clearing and a giant pipe sticking out of the room, which Alex completely ignores. He instead continues on, going into a tunnel leading to outside. This time there were a bunch of solar panels set up on elevated platforms, which were connected to a transformer. He gives no explanation about it and instead looks around, checking side to side a lot. Then he sighs and sits down. He pulls off the camera and turns it around to show himself. He is on the verge of tears, desperately trying not to cry. He starts mumbling different names and with each one he utters, the more tears form. "Dawson... Mickeala... Simran... Josh... Charlie... Tommy... Even that asshole Trenton... they're all gone... EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!!! ALL OF MY FRIENDS! DEAD! GONE! VANISHED... My family too... Momma... Rudi... William... Dad... Zach... even little Andrew... he was only 10 FUCKING YEARS OLD!!! AND YOU FUCKING GET RID OF HIM!!! I BUCKING HATE YOU WORLD! AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT? I'm not going to do it. I'm going to stay here, right here. I am a Canadian, through and through. We are resilient. We are strong. And we don't fucking back down to anything. Whether that be a human, god, pony, or hell, even a magic spell if that's possible. YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE CAPRICORN CANADIAN!" He pants heavily and sighs, looking towards the camera. He then takes a shaky breath, "Listen. If you really are watching this, then all you need to know is this one thing. Don't EVER fucking give up on living. We may be Ponies, the Canada I knew and loved may no longer be the same, and we may have even less chance of survival than before, but you know what? I don't give a flying feather about that. This is still Canada. I am still a Canadian. The True North, Strong and Free is, and always will be, my home. And I will stay here until the bitter end, even if it kills me." He takes another deep breath and straightens his back, closing his eyes, before looking towards the camera with a will of steel. "Canada is my home, my cradle, and my tomb. It gave me life from it's ever freezing womb. I declare this for the generations to be. We are Canadians! Born True, North, Strong and Free!" His wings flare for that last sentence, creating a rather impressive image as the sun conveniently showed itself from behind a cloud at that moment. He then lets out a deep breath and sighs, silently picking up the camera and turning it off, the screen flashing off. May 30, 2015. Dear Journal It's me again. I'll keep it short this time. The Video Log was a complete success! Nothing else really happened. Yours truly --Alex J--
The AwakeningView OnlineThe First Feather on EarthThe AwakeningThe Awakening Marcellene "Marley-Marcy" Victoria groaned as she got woken up by the soft tip-tapping of talons on the ground, the breeze ruffling her hair and the floor feeling a little too grainy. It almost felt like she had no clo- oh god she was naked wasn't she? Shit. She thought, snapping her eyes open only to slam them back shut and hiss at the blinding sunlight... wait... hiss? Did she really just hiss? Now that she was awake a little bit more she started to notice this odd feeling across her whole body, it felt like her skin was a bit too tight and almost... hard. She groaned inwardly, Ok that's the last time that I accept a drink at a rave party... I just hope to god nothing happened and proceeded to rub her eyes from sleep. This was met however with her arms feeling very different and her eyes being poked by two hard objects. "OW!" She exclaimed, opening her eyes and letting them adjust to the brightness, her raising an arm to help block the sun. She was on the sidewalk definitely with a bunch of seagulls surrounded her between some sort of large road, like a highway and a sort of lakeside park. She looked at her arm to see what was causing it to fell so weird, but at that moment she realized something wasn't right. Her arm was no longer an arm. Now it looked like an over-sized black... rock... thing! Her heart leaped up into her throat. It was a solid black cylindrical mass that was littered with small holes. The holes were kinda oddly shaped though, they sort of looked like swirls were badly cut out of her. The kind of hole you would find in a fancy hole-puncher. She blinked a couple of times and gingerly looked down towards her body, her blood running colder and colder as she quickly saw that her body had also changed. She now had a weird black 4-legged bug body, if anything it looked like a cross between a horse and a beetle. Her legs were turned into a similar-looking thing as her arm was, and the other arm had shared the same fate. She also now sprouted a very wiry tail that was both goldish and pinkish. As if one hair was gold while another was pink. And each strand was about 5 millimetres thick too! And on her back was a shell that made her internally question whether or not she was tripping major balls, because it looked like someone painted a pink-and-gold inkblot picture onto it, but at the same time it was slowly moving and adjusting, giving it a sort of a... ah, damn it... who was that guy from The Watchmen... Roarshank or something? Anyways it had that guys mask sort of feel to it. Then she noticed the thick, wiry strands of hair coming from her own head, each one also the same pink-and-gold colour. At first, she wondered if she was simply still dreaming, starting to warm up to this thought until she remembered something drastically horrible. 'Wait... we don't feel pain in dreams... And it did hurt when I poked my ey-........ Aw for fucks sakes!' It took her a few minutes of her dry heaving on the sidewalk, the seagulls fluttering off with some rather rude squawks. Eventually, she felt her stomach growl and realized that she still hadn't had breakfast. Looking upwards she could see that the sun was high in the sky, it had to have been somewhere around noon, and geez was she hungry. She sighed as she resigned to the crushing feat of reality, and groaned as she noticed that her sigh was underlined by a bunch of tiny clicks. She shook her head a bit and noticed an odd feeling on her forehead, and she groan-clicked again. She cried out in frustration, "What is it now!?" and noticed that she had a small lisp to her voice as well. She clumsily rose her arm... leg... thing up to her forehead and yelped when she felt something sharp hit her leg... yeah let's just say leg for now. She groaned and sighed, "I need a mirror... Badly." And just at that point, her stomach decided to pipe up again and growl even louder, "...And food too." She groaned again and tried to stand up, not even bothering to stand on her rear legs and just tried to stand on all four. After some awkward shifting and using muscles she figured were foreign to her, she eventually got up on her legs and was barely able to balance. She quickly looked around and tried to figure out where exactly was she and just how she got here. Marcy looked around to find that that there was some sort of oddly shaped mound nearby, with what looked like lettering carved in the bushes on top of it. On very wobbly legs, she slowly made her way towards the mound. She, of course, kept falling onto her face, only to get back up faster than the previous time. After the fifth time, however, she noticed a wooden sign beside her. It was really worn, but the lettering was still vaguely legible. J.B. TUDHOPE MEMORIAL PARK O̕͠P̢̧͘E̢҉̧҉҉R͝҉̷̕̕Á̛T̛͏̴E͘̕͢͟͏D̨҉̶ ͢͞B͞҉͜Y̸͟͠҉ ORILLIA Marcy's face blanked as she tried to process this new information. Orillia? She never even heard of it. Just how far away is she? Who was this guy? Sure she wasn't exactly a huge history nut, but someone important enough to have his own park should've been at least mentioned in history class. Right? Sadly, the familiar feeling of her stomach painfully growling snapped her right out of her train of thought. She hissed and looked around some more, wondering where she could find a Denny's at least. Hell, she'll even take an Applebees. Shakily she tries to stand up once again, only for her stomach to angrily disagree, making her collapse onto the grass once again and clutching her barrel tightly. She could feel her body convulse hard with raw, starving hunger. Pain spiked all throughout her body, her chitin itching angrily. Her wings instinctively buzzed and twitched as she could feel her body curling in on itself, her mouth gasping for something, anything to eat. She laid there, quivering and shaking, unable to do anything to sate her hunger as she could feel her stomach start to turn inwards. It was as if her stomach acids had begun to eat away at her own body. She shuddered as her vision started to haze, the hunger gnawing at her soul. She would die here, wouldn't she? Alone, starving, afraid. Seemed fitting to her in a weird way, she always was the kind of person to push her loved ones away. Her mind started to wander, wondering if she'd see her parents on the other side. Her father absolutely, but her mother might've been good enough. Possibly. She chuckled weakly at the thought but then winced into another convulsion. Still, it was a comforting thought. Maybe her mother did finally escape in the end. Marcy sighed softly as she slowly started to relax her body, resigning herself to this cruel and unusual fate. Letting her body drift away from her mind, the insatiable hunger dulling to an ache in the pit of her stomach. That was until she felt a soft nudge against the side of her cheek, waking her from her trance and blasting her nose with this heavenly aroma. Her mind blanked, the smell flipping some sort of internal switch, her base instincts guiding her on how to FEED. And so she did.
June 9, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthJune 9, 2015June 9, 2015. Dear Journal. Welp. Multiple things happened over the past couple days... 10 days to be exact. My camera got busted, a large, midnight blue pony with a horn AND wings showed up in my dreams a couple of times, and I found traces of someone else. I'll have to go find a new one sooner or later. But anyways, let's start with the camera. I was just in our new garage, built just the way I like it thanks to the Worker Team. Jeez for bugs can they work fast. Sorry, bugs, insects and arachnids. But anyways, I was messing around in the garage, tinkering with the MPH to make it more durable and tougher. I was attaching aluminum plates to the sides, not my first choice of metal, but what are you going to do? I made holes in the sides so our defences could still work and I also made holes for the sticks. Which I had improved by placing a rubber "foot" at the end of them, then made sure they don't fall out by drilling a hole and sticking a small metal pipe through it, like plumbing pipe stuff. Cool thing is that it worked. So I was just about to weld the last plate on when Chatty burst through the door, yelling something I can't quite remember. I jumped from shock and accidentally hit the camera, which was strapped onto my head at the time, against the bottom of the MPH, smashing the lens, bending the internal battery compartment, and had broken the battery that was inside of it, the battery acid just destroying the inner workings. Long story short, it is scrap and I'll need a new one. But anyways, when I had successfully taken off the camera and gave her a death-glare she simply wasn't exactly there. She was there, but she wasn't. When she snapped out of her trance, she simply turned to me and asked: "Did you make this... all by yourself?" I looked back at the machine, only now realizing how impressive and intimidating a shopping cart can look when modified correctly. I slowly nodded and started grinning. I slowly asked, "Do you like it?" And when she nodded I grinned ear-to-ear, thinking of all the different ways I could upgra- Oh hey Chatty what's up? BOING! Hey there! My name is Chatter Bug but you can just call me Chatty, Chatters, Chimichanga. Ooohhhh I love Chimichangas! They are so scrumptialicous I can't help but gobble up every single one I see! Heeheehee! Oohhhh I wonder if we still have any, do you have any? GASP! Do you even KNOW what a Chimichanga is!? Chimichangas are the most scrumptialicous, supertastical, nervousitedly, awesmazing thing on the entire planet! Not the cherry ones noooooooo, those I really don't like. They are fun to say though. Cherry, Chimichanga, Chimicherrychangas OOHHHHH! Chimi-Cherrychangas! Chimi-Cherrychangas! Chimi-Cherrychangas! Chimi-Cherrychangas! Chim-Mmphhffthhtpfft! Chatty, stop. Just go work on your diplomatic stuff, ok? Now go back to the colonies, they are probably worried about you. OhmygoshyourrightgottagobyeseeyaaudienceandpossiblyStarscribeandthanksforbeingsoawesomeyouguys! ....I will never understand that girl... Oh well. We also came up with a new name for the library and city now! The library is going to be The Hive Dome, while the city is now Bugtropolis. Yes, Chatty did come up with it and yes I did it to keep her quiet. Trust me, a whining Chatty is worse than an excited Chatty. Anyways, about my dreams. Yes, I did see this "Princess Luna" in my dreams as well, but it was small encounters and I just simply listened as she vented towards me. Yeah, for a Princess she has a lot of problems and worries. One of which was the worry that they wouldn't be able to get an embassy person thingy before our worlds drifted apart. The first time I saw her was almost hilarious. I was dreaming about me being the best inventor in the world when someone comes and takes the title for himself! Then Luna comes along and is in the middle of her short monologue and about to blast him with magic when I just shrugged and said "Nah. He beat me fair and square." The look on her face was absolutely priceless! It actually took her a little bit to register what I had said, but then she was all flustered and confused! She blinked quite the lot and shook her head. We then ran through introductions, her telling me about Cutie-Marks, that ass-tattoo that Chatty has so one mystery solved, and we were hitting it off pretty well. Me saying the sentence that started it all. "It must be tough, being the princess of the night." At that, her eyes looked like they were far away as she mumbled: "You have no idea..." I could almost feel the sorrow and despair of her voice. I knew of multiple people like this and I enjoy letting them vent their frustrations at me. And I gave her the same treatment as I would give any pony. An opportunity to vent their frustrations without judgement. I lied down on my back, dreamed up some aviator shades and looked at her, saying simply "Wanna talk about it? I don't judge." She had laughed and decided to indulge me, knowing that when she told me about her Nightmare Moon thing I would hate her. What I said instead was "Wait. She banished you to the MOON? For a thousand YEARS?" I even lower my aviators at that point to show my genuine shock! The look of frustrated miffed on her face was pure comedy gold! Anyways, I won't give the details but think about it like this. Sibling rivalry, one was in the other's shadow, lashed out, banished to the moon for a thousand years. That's all I will say simply due to me wanting to actually keep her privacy and the fact that she didn't want me telling anyone about what she has told me. And let's just say, I've developed a whole new respect for nighttime. Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, the new pony... This section is not for the faint of heart guys, so kids, look away from the screen. Well, when I said I found traces of another survivor... I meant it literally. I found a body... her guts had been cut open and it looked like someone had performed an old entrails reading ritual. It was fresh too... the blood was still slowly pouring out of the body... I haven't told Chatty about it yet, poor girl's already got a lot on her plate, what with governing all of the insect and bug colonies in Bugtropolis... It's one of the reasons why I've been so patient with her and her... antics. I usually let her vent towards me as well, though usually she just ends up hugging me and crying into my shoulder for an hour, apologizing for everything she has done. But anyways, back to the body. I noticed something strange. Thing is... on her sides, right where wings would be, it almost seemed like something had cut them off, but I couldn't tell for certain because the blood had stained through the coat. Her tail had been cut off and simply thrown to the side of the body. There was one other thing that intrigued me about it. Around the pony, and yes, written in blood, were a bunch of archaic runes of which I had never seen before, but I could tell that whoever was doing this wasn't just doodling. As I tried to read it, I could feel the power seeping from it in my wings. As soon as I felt that power, a chill went up my spine, and years of being a loner who stayed on his laptop all day caught up to me. I was being watched. I bolted from the site, went around a couple corners, and ducked inside a random house. Good thing too because as I hid inside the house I could hear the soft clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop of something trotting leisurely down the sidewalk, while I heard a male voice singing the Freddy Kreugar song. In case you guys were wondering it goes like this. Ahem. One, Two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, Four, better lock your door. Five, six, grab a crucifix. Seven, eight, Gonna stay up late. Nine, ten, Never sleep again.... I'm going to be a man... err... stallion, and say this. I nearly fucking shit my pants there. I nearly had a heart attack as the clopping stopped not too far from the house, and then the most unbelievable thing happened. He stopped singing, and a knife crashed through the window just to the left of me. I stood frozen in shock, as the knife was then wrapped in a strange, almost ethereal, pale white glow, and then FLOATED UP AND BACK OUT THE WINDOW! I had only started breathing again when I heard him continue singing and trotting back down the sidewalk. I had quickly peeked my head out the door-frame just to see who my attacker was. First thing I noticed. He had a horn as well. Also, it looked like he had wings too but... they didn't look right. It was almost as if he had cut off that other pony's wings and taped them onto his own back. It was... unsettling to say the least. I didn't get a good look at him but from what I could tell, his main looked like it had been bleached, while his coat was a blood red. I could hear that he had ended the song, replaced by a burst of maniacal laughter as he trotted out of sight. After that ordeal, I had decided then that it would be best to contact Chatty and tell her to bring the bug-cover. Doing so is surprisingly easy. All I have to do is look for one of her sentry flies and tell it my location and to bring the MPH. Sure enough, I had waited a bit and Chatty comes rolling along in her own vehicle, a literal hamster ball made of webbing, honeycomb, and leaves while tugging along my precious MPH. Do not ask me how that ball gets uphill, even I don't know the answer to that one. But anyways, that was my close encounter with... the third kind! Crrik. Crrik. Crrik. OH SHUT UP WADE! I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY! Yes, the resident asshole cricket is named Wade. Irony? I think not. Oh right! One thing I forgot to mention is that I made a small change to my name! It's now Lovely Tune-Up and you have no idea how hard it is to prevent this voice-to-text program to stop auto-correcting it to Turnip. Anyways, as you can plainly see it's been quite the... eventful 10 days here... Geez. I might even try to make an ice-capp at this point... OH! I just remembered! We finally got a garden set up and the solar generators are doing great! Of course, we'll need to replace them in about 2 years but, meh. Thanks to Chatty's bugs, who are apparently more than glad to help in exchange for colony space, any construction or like things go by at least 10 times faster! I think we should get wind turbines set up soon, that way we can have at least some power at night, cause this is getting ridiculous! I'm partially nocturnal thanks to all the RP chat-groups I used to go to at night... But anyways, I think I should do a recap or something... Alright. So... My camera broke, I spent some time with Luna, who by the way is a really cool pony when you just get to know her, Uhhh... then I found a dead pony, along with the killer, and we progressed with upgrading our base... maybe I should try to make some turrets so that the little guys can operate defensive machinery and protect The Hive Dome better... That's actually a good idea. I think I should probably get right on that. YOU GOT THAT WADE!? Anyways, I guess I should wrap this up, cya everyone! Your favourite mechanic, --AJ--
The RecollectionView OnlineThe First Feather on EarthThe RecollectionMarcy groaned as she woke up, her head spinning. Coughing, she tried opening her eyes, only to be assaulted by a sheet of dull pink and a wicked headache. She gasped and screwed her eyes shut tightly, hissing out at the sharp pain. Surprisingly, there was a soft shifting of weight on her side which didn't quite make sense to her. Just what did she take last night? Joe better not have slipped something stupid into her drink again... Fucker's gonna get what's coming to him eventually. Once again the weight shifted slightly and she could feel it shudder softly, which prompted her to try to see just what was on her side. She braces herself and slowly cracks open her eye. The assaulting of pink was far less painful but her headache didn't lessen one bit. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the soft caress of the morning sun, she noticed that she was lying on the grass and that her body felt off for some reason. Wincing to try to reduce the headache, she noticed that her nose looked weirdly black. Oh, right. She was some sort of bug now, wasn't she? Looking down at her muzzle and at her weird leg-arm confirmed that she was, in fact, a bug. Groaning, Marcy lifted her head to see just what it was that was using her for a pillow. She then realized that the pink sheet obscuring her vision was actually some sort of pink haze drifting off the thing on her body, which turned out to be a grown fox napping happily. She blinked heavily, mouth pressed in a line as she tried to process just what she was seeing. "... I did not think this could get any weirder. First I'm some sort of fucking big ass bug and now there's a fox taking a nap on my side." ... Marcy huffed and laid her head back down "Nope. Not dealing with this. No way, no how. Nooooooooope. I'mma just go ahead and sleep this whole thing away. Besides, surely someone should see me and figure out just what the fuck happened. ...Right?" Her eyes shot wide open, lifting up her head and looking around, realizing with growing horror a very important fact. Where are the cars? Just where is everyone? This is a highway, right? It sure looks like one, but how could there be no activity whatsoever? It's like... Some sort of ghost town. Suddenly, Marcy realized that she smelled something really sweet wafting off from the fox. Her instincts kicked in once more and she found herself sucking in the floating pink stuff that seemed to simply flow off of the fox, who shifted and whined softly. To her surprise, the pink haze tasted extremely good to her. It almost tasted like pumpkin pie. What's more, it was filling her up quite easily! She could feel her strength start to return to her as she greedily sucked in more and more of the tasty pink haze. That was cut off when the fox shifted and yawned loudly, stretching and standing up on Marcy's side, startling her and causing her to belch loudly. The fox jumped a little, blinking at Marcy as she blushed deeply, ears pinning down against her head. Marcy gulped as she saw the pink haze quickly shift to a rather thin, bland blue while the fox started to shake and whimper. Biting her lip, she cautiously lifted up one of her hooves, slowly reaching over to try to pet the fox. The fox carefully eyed her hoof, shaking heavily as it neared her head which caused Marcy to give some pause and gulp down the frog in her throat. She quietly started to shoosh the poor scared fox, whispering softly to it. "Hey, d-don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt you, alright?" She nervously smiled at the fox, trying to reassure it that it was safe. She wasn't sure why she was doing this, she just felt a certain urge to help this fox in particular. The fox seemed to understand her intentions, slowly stopping it's shaking as the haze started to form small wisps of light orange and a dull yellow. Marcy tried once again to cautiously reach over to the fox's head, gently resting her new hoof against the fuzzy head and rubbing it back and forth gently. The haze then started to almost bloom with the tasty, tasty pink once more, though joined by the hint of yellow stripes that once Marcy tried to eat it, actually made it taste just that little bit better. Smiling and slowly setting her nerves down, Marcy started to pet the fox in earnest, pulling the lupine closer up to her head. She held it close, petting and nuzzling it as she would with her dogs, the fox yipping softly but wagging its tail. It started to pant and nuzzle her back, the haze growing thicker and brighter, which only confirmed that the haze was the fox's emotions. Though, she didn't particularly care at the moment, taking this golden opportunity to snuggle and pet some sort of companion. Giggling, Marcy started to more aggressively pet the fox along its back and sides, "Who's a good foxy huh? Who's a good foxy! You are! Yes, you are!" She giggled and kept petting the increasing joyous and pleased fox, finding just the right spots to tickle to have it whine softly, panting happily. Eventually, she slowly stopped with the petting and simply laid there, hugging this panting, fluffy fox, who's emotion haze was practically glowing with a vibrant pink and yellow. She yawned loudly and stretched, finally waking up fully and letting go of the fluffy foxy. "Come on, let's get up. We need to find someone around here who knows just what's going on. Surely someone has to be left, right?" The fox almost seemed to shrug as it rolled over, getting up onto its paws and stretching out. Marcy watched the fox do this and decided that it couldn't hurt to try to mimic it. So she rolled over onto her barrel and shakily stood up onto her four legs, mimicking what the fox was doing as she stretched out her limbs, only to find that she triggered a really unfamiliar muscle. Her wings suddenly popped open, buzzing softly and throwing her a little off balance. Marcy blinked and looked over at her wings only to deadpan at them. "Fucking seriously? Pink and gold? Here too? Fuck, fine, whatever." She took a breath and tried once again to do the stretches, this time without incident and she even found that if she tried not to think about them her wings folded back against her carapace on their own. At least when she was done, she definitely felt much better. For one thing, her headache seems to have disappeared and she was starting to feel a little more comfortable in her new body! She huffed and looked over at the fox, who was staring at her with its head tilted in curiosity. She sighed softly and rolled her eyes "Yeah well I'm new to this body, ok? I woke up like this just yesterday and I've got no idea what the hell it is that I'm doing." ...Marcy groaned and lowered her head "Hey look, could you plus walk around me for a little bit? I need to know what it is that I was doing wrong last night, ok?" To her surprise, the fox yipped a little and nodded, proceeding to walk around her in a calm, casual strut. "... You know what? I'm just gonna accept these sorts of things at this rate." Marcy sighed and began to watch the fox walk around her, before trying to mimic it to the best of her ability. Simply putting one foot in front of the other, but she had to cycle between her front and back legs. Front left, back right, front right, back left, ad nauseam. Slowly, she started to speed up and eventually shortcutting it by moving both legs at once. Though that last part ended up with her falling flat on her face again, much to the snickering amusement of the fox. Marcy huffed as she rolled her eyes "Yeah yeah, yuck it up. We'll take it slow then, 'aight?" With that settled, and with Marcy having a loose grasp on how to actually get a move on, she and the fox started to walk down the highway, towards what seemed to be the center of the city. She chuckled softly as she watched the fox happily walk beside her, rubbing its head against her front legs and grinning up at her. "Now then... If you're gonna stick with me, I gotta give ya a name... How about... "Maxie?"
June 10, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthJune 10, 2015June 10, 2015 Dear Journal, Well, that was... Something. So let's get things in order here. I've started heavily fortifying the base and overseeing the rapid construction of some minor outposts here and there, we found out where this crazy third pony is hiding, there may be some kind of new creature lurking around as well and I've been working on getting these bugs to listen to some of my own commands despite the language barrier. No talk from Luna though, she must've been busy. 'Kay, so let me tell you about the wicked stuff I've been doing to fortify the place. First off, I always thought that those spikes that they placed at the bases of walls were fucking dumb. So I upgraded them by getting the Construction bugs to make them out of sharpened rebar and wrapped in barbed wiring. I've also started to trap the Hive, moving the shelves to create a sort of Labyrinth for the bottom floor and filling the dead-end with literal death traps. Trip-wires connected to a nail-gun with the safety held down by a strip of packing tape, hidden nooks for black widows to drop down and bite into intruders, buckets filled with rocks to be dropped onto their heads yadda yadda yadda. I did leave some subtle clues to guide people to the stairwell and if they do manage to figure their way through the maze... Well, then they're smart enough to listen to reason. Right, so the crazy pony. Let me tell you this, his base is a fucking freakshow. No like, it's like this guy was from the Cult of Rakdos. I'm talking blood and skulls everywhere, sharp metal spikes that were taken straight from a KISS wardrobe and the smell... Holy fuck it's something that would make Nurgle delighted. Though you guys probably don't even understand those references... Oh well, it is what it is. Maybe the next era of civilization will recreate it. Anyways, we've got more important things to worry about, so here's the good news. We can get in and take him out. It looks like a b-rated horror film and it's about as well protected as one. It's got so many holes and security breaches that I wouldn't have been able to count them on my fingers back when I had them! So yeah, we know how to get to the guy. Now we just need to plan out our attack. I told Chatty to send some scouts for recon, see what he's up to and what he's capable of. Oh right, so something cool that I learned she can get them to do is to have a large group of flies form the 3d models of objects. It's like a hologram, just made out of bugs! Kay, so we got that off the list. Let's see here... Oh right, Chatty's been getting reports from the scouts that there's thing large horse thing that's been lurking about. Yeah, apparently it's like a horse but not? Like, they're saying it's some sort of large bug horse. With a carapace and everything. What's more, is that it seems to have picked up a pet fox. So yeah, looks like we gotta deal with that now. I'm going to throw that as a Lower Priority since it (or they. I can't exactly rule that out anymore, now can I?) don't seem to be actively hostile. They are searching for something though I do know that much. Food maybe? I dunno. I do think that I should add "Make signs for others" though. If this bug is intelligent, then they could be another one of us. Human. Or at least used to be... But it brings up the point that there could be others later, and we need to make it so they can find us easily. Or the other way around. Anyways, let us move on to the last topic for today. Oh yeah! The commands! So, me and Chatty came up with a brilliant solution to me not being able to communicate to the bugs like she can. Oh right, yeah that's a thing. For some reason, they can understand Chatty just fine but for some reason that doesn't translate over to me. It's weird. Anyways, we found a work around it. Essentially, we're teaching them to respond to Morse code and basic sign language. Very crude Morse code, but it will work until I can dive into my workshop for a while and make a real comms system. Hmm... Hey, I should go through the kinds of commands with you guys! So, the list goes something like this: Click - Stop 2 Clicks - To Me Click Pause Click - Go where I'm pointing Click Pause 2 Clicks - Scout where I'm pointing 2 Clicks Pause Click - Stay here Click Pause 3 Clicks - Attack Those are just the basics that we've done so far. Oh, look there's Chatty now. Hey, Chatter! Want to add your little segment to today's log? Hello everypony! So good to see you all again! Hope you've been having a good day! Oh and you don't need to worry about little ol' us, we're going to be fine! Tuney Woony here knows what he's doing. I trust him! Oh and sorry Mr Serious Business here is being suuuuch a Debbie Downer, cheer up! Life is short, so let's all make the best out of it, ok? Anyways, I gotta go, hive stuff talk to you all later and thank you for listening to Alex's logs! ... Right. Well, she was right about one thing. We are going to be fine, I just know it. Anyways, I'm not going to take up much more of your time, here's today's to-do list! 1 - HIGHEST PRIORITY: Deal with the scary pony. 2 - Find the odd Bug Horse 3 - Improve Field Comms with bugs 4 - Obtain a sustainable source of water 5 - Obtain a sustainable source of food (We have a lot of canned goods stored as of right now, Chatty raided a food bank before I arrived. However, I want to prep for the future sooner rather than later) 6 - Figure out a way to communicate with the outside world/Find other survivors Things to do in off time: [] Mark the way to the hive [] Upgrade our modes of transportation [] Look into reclaiming some generators for Electricity
June 11, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthJune 11, 2015June 11, 2015 Dear Journal We got him. We... We finally got rid of that guy. Look, I... I'd really like to not to go into too much detail about it. Listen, we did... What we had to do. H-He... He was a fucking monster. He would've killed Chatty if it wasn't f-for Marcy here. Right, yeah, Marcy. I should... I should get her to fill you guys in on today's events. Hey, my turn? Alright, you go hug the spaz alright? Yes, I'm sure I can handle this, you just get your fucking ass over to her ok? 'Sup fuckers? Name's Marcy. So, here's the scoop. So, according to this list that the eggplant left me, they managed to set up a bit of a surround around the building the fucker was at. He had this whole plan laid out and everything too. Real detailed shit here. But, to summarize it, he was supposed to trap the piece of shit in his own base, then immobilize him with a swarm of wasps right? Small flaw in the plan. Dude wasn't even in the building. Somehow he managed to slip away from the base and was on an early hunt for other survivors. Oh right, yeah, fellow human here too. Just I'm some sort of love-eating talking bug-horse. Yeah, weird, I know. Anyways, so like in order to keep Ms Bugs-For-Hair from coming with him, they decided it'd be best to start setting up signs to their home base. I think you can see where I'm going with this. But if you want the long and short of it, they met up, she started to nope the fuck outta there and then bumped into me. It took me all of two seconds to recognize just what was going on and I proceeded to beat the tar outta the asshole. Then I fed his remains to my fox. Right around then was when the eggplant showed up and I passed her back off to him. They invited me to stay and offer up some minor explanations as to what the real situation is here. Honestly man? Shit's straight fucked. Everyone has disappeared. Hell, the Barney rip-off over there woke up in his own house to find his parents completely gonezo along with the rest of the town. We're so far the only survivors and so far half of us are either dead or want to be... Not to mention that my appearance only confirms that humanity is almost guaranteed to be completely gone. I guess we're all horses now. You know what though? Things aren't too bad. Gears-for-brains had the smarts to download basic farming techniques back when we had internet. Plus, we've got time to fuck up and learn so there's that. Oh, speaking of food. It turns out that not only can I actually see emotions, my diet consists of nothing but them. Well, water as well. ...Yeah, that's not gonna be easy to get used to. Oh! But I think I've narrowed it down to me needing to drink love and joy. Which, let's be honest here, is the dumbest fucking shit I've heard all day. And I'm the one who almost barfed when I tried to eat depression! Seriously, it's kind of fucking weird. But hey, that's kind of just how things are, y'know? Just gotta learn to roll with shit sometimes. Anyways, sorry for this thing to be short and all, but it aint exactly my shtick. I'm sure the kids gonna be fine by tomorrow, so he can do his whole "Oh look at me, I'm a survivor of hard times, let's just talked about the day-to-day" thing. For example, he tried to write down a detailed to-do list for what we're going to do. Well I'll give you what I'm gonna make them do. 1: HEAL See ya on the flip-side. Marcy is OUT!
June 12, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthJune 12, 2015June 12, 2015 Dear Journal. Sorry for Marcy yesterday. She was a bit on edge as well from the whole thing. But um, yeah. We really didn't do too much honestly. Me and Chatty just sort of... Wanted to cool off for a little bit, right? Yesterday was... It was rough on her. I think she's b-been repressing her real feelings. Guys, she's scared. I'm scared. Marcy's scared too. We really are all alone here and of the four people to survive the Event, one was that Fucking Bastard. He nearly killed one of the only things that's keeping me moving right now and I couldn't do a fucking THING to stop him! If it wasn't... If it wasn't for Marcy showing up when she did, I would've... L-Lost her... ...I can't let that happen again. From now on, we stick together as a Team. Yes, that includes Marcy. We have nowhere left to go and we only have each other. I owe Marcy big time and I'm not going to squander that. I've... I've decided on something. Not sure how everyone's going to take it, but this has to be done. We need to leave the city. Preferably south. I'm going to talk to them about moving back to Brechin. Large open fields, farmland stretching along the horizon, a couple of small stores including a pharmacy and my old workplace. Brechin Feed and Farms. The Feed Mill. And even more importantly. Direct access to a national rail-line. I'm not going to be looking forward to the conversation but here's the thing. We need to find others. We need a way to quickly travel to many locations in rapid succession and we need a way for us to spread the word that we are Here. What I'm thinking is building a couple crude wagons with large wheels. It's going to have an electric motor attached to one if not two solar panels and on this wagon, there's going to be either a sign or some flyers or something that states. "Follow the tracks ------> You are not alone." It's also going to have this large pole attached to the top, just so that way it'll be almost impossible for someone to miss it. We would then set them down on each side of the track and just sort of, let them run. Probably quite dangerous, but hey, you gotta work with what ya got. Later on, I'll make a manually driven rail trolley so we could send expeditions out there, which will be especially useful since you can't get lost on the tracks. You just turn around. I'm not looking forward to the conversation, but this is something that we just have to do. Even besides the tracks, we simply do not have any place to properly grow crops here in the city. We may have a large stash of supplies for now, but we need to find a way to steadily obtain more and I'd much rather have us do that sooner than later. Not to mention, it's going to be much more noticeable if we make a new Hive-Dome in the Town. I'm going to have to work on getting a carrier up and running, though that might just end up being a couple of wheelbarrows tied together. Or just a large ass wagon. Oooh, maybe a caravan? I'm liking the sound of that... If this goes through, I'm putting all of my resources into the wagon and then we're getting the fuck out of this city. I'm also going to ask Marcy to watch over Chatty and get them to start putting up signs not only to the refuge here but also to put up signs saying that we're relocating the Hivedome to Brechin. Betadome perhaps? What I'm thinking is we have the Betadome located at the old Wild Wing in Brechin, because of it's proximity to not only the tracks but also to a large amount of open field and farmland. Plus, it's a really cozy wooden building that we could easily repurpose into a living area. And by proximity to the tracks, I mean it's literally in front of the driveway to the Wild Wing. Plus, once we're in Brechin we can actually start relieving Chatty of a lot of hassle because we could properly set up growing fields for the herbivorous bugs and set up a proper pecking order for the carnivorous ones. It'll be fantastic! But still, I'm not exactly looking forward to all of this, but I think I've said all that I really can say. So, let's move on to the to-do list, shall we? 1 - I need to convince the girls that we have to move out of the city. It's very clear that we need to head to a more open area with much more growable soil. 2 - Work on creating a cargo wagon, like a caravan for us to easily transport mass amounts of goods. Might try to repurpose some old vans that are probably laying around in a junkyard. Most of the weight of those things are the engines and the fuel tanks really. 3a - Continue to work on acting as a second-in-command to the bugs. 3b - I need to work on that device idea I've been having in my head to help with that. I'm thinking like an audio tape or something to that effect that we can use to train the bugs to specific, basic sounds. 4 - Work on that train wagon, getting the word out that we are here and either need help or can go help others is a very high priority. We need more man/ponypower. End of story. 5 - Work on starting the farms and getting seeds planted into the ground. Start with simple stuff, but we'll need to be careful not to plant the wrong kinds of crops at the wrong times. 6 - Start crafting a water reclamation device. Probably something simple like an eavestrough, but with filters that we can easily clean. Our water bottles are going to run out soon and we can't survive solely on lake water. Especially not the lakes nearby. 7 - See about making signs that point to our new base location, something simple but straight-forward. Your Favourite Mechanic -- AJ --
June 13, 2015View OnlineThe First Feather on EarthJune 13, 2015Dear Journal Hey everyone. It's me again. So, I ended up talking to the girls about the whole moving thing yesterday and well, it was a complete success! They are completely on-board with the whole idea! Well ok, that's a little embellishing. Chatty was quite on board with it, even saying that she wanted to ask if we could herself. Marcy was, of course, nonchalant about it and just wanted to stick with us. She's apparently not even from here, but rather from the US. Honestly, you should have seen her face when I told her that she was in fact in Canada. Oh, it was priceless! Honestly, I kind of needed that laugh and I think Chatty did too. But anyways, I ended up telling them my ideas and they were totally fine with it all. Thankfully Marcy actually does know a thing or two about gardening from her grandma, so she can help out a small bit with that. Not much, but she says she knows what not to do so that'll be good enough until we find a book on how to do it. Though they do think that we should wait on the whole rail wagon thing until we do have a bit more of a place of residence, and we can just launch fireworks at night. Honestly, I do see their point. We'd want to focus on setting up shop and getting everything settled first before we start any large projects. Plus, this way I can start to work on making a water filtration device that can be large enough to support farmland. Which I should probably start brainstorming now that I think about it. Let's see... Well, the simplest way for us to have access to water is to either collect it from the lake an hours walk from the New Base or to collect it on-site. There is a forest that's nearby and I think I'll have Chatty get the bugs to set up a bit of a leaf bag system first, just so we have a little fresh water as an income. Maybe we can almost make a sort of rain collection farm. Have a bunch of wide, metal bowls with some coned filters overtop of them? That could work for a bit, have it piped into a well to keep it cool. I think that could work for our drinking water. For the actual crop water, that we'll have to bring that in from Lake Simcoe. Although, we'll have to filter and clean it like nobodies business. Oh right, that's something else we'll have to do before we move out, dive into the books. We'll need to find what books we'll be needing to keep and read so we can survive and learn to farm properly. So, I guess it looks like we're going to have to do multiple trips back and forth between the new base and here, if only for supplies and other stuff. Though, I really would like to have as many hands on deck for the farming. Err.. Hooves. I just don't like the idea of a single person who has little experience in farming be in charge of the food for us all, even if we bring books about the subject with us. But that's what we have as of now, so let's try to focus on what we can do to make this all work. I'm thinking we start with smaller groups of crops, but we have them a little further apart than what's needed. Call me paranoid as much as you like, but I'm very serious about our situation. If we run out of the food we already have and some sort of flood or plant disease hits our crops. We're completely and utterly fucked. I'm being serious here, we need to keep these kinds of accidents and happenstances to a minimum and keep them fucking contained! Anyways, we'll have things spread out in clumps and we're going to have only a couple different kinds of crops at first. Once we have more confidence in our farming we can start planting more and more until we start to hit a critical mass of food intake. The point in time where we don't eat as much as we grow. We'll make a stockpile, like a cellar, and store food for extra utilities. Maybe we save a couple for fermenting into alcohol? Oh hey, looks like I'm out of time for this entry. Here's the to-do list! GFTO of this fucking city We need to set up the new base in Brechin Start working on a semi-stable water system Get some fucking crops planted in the ground Work on ways to find others and bring them to our base Set up a defensive perimeter, AKA FORTIFY THE LIVING FUCK OUT OF THE NEW BASE See about getting some music up and running! -- Your Favourite Mechanic -- AJ