It Was A Thursday

Chapters

1: Arrival
2: The First Entry
3: You Have Her Eyes
4: Choice Encounter
5: Break
6: Meetings

1: Arrival

It had been about a week since I had made my way to No Mans Land. It truly was barren as the reports coming from here would say. Towns and small cities abandoned or destroyed, and wildlife taking it back. However, these cities were not my main concern. When I was briefed by my superiors to the area, they said I was looking for anything that could be used as a fortress. What I had not expected was for a compound to be made out of a small neighborhood, one with armed guards everywhere. One spotted me. Thank god I as wearing the flak jacket that said “press” on it. They waved me down as I got closer. To think, this place was in my dreams.

As I was let into the compound, the gunmen and rifle toting ponies, all clad in balaclavas a mishmash of hoodies, armour and combat gear, eyed me with suspicion. It was as if someone put a fortress around a gated community. The patch on their shoulder with its half crescent moon made me realize I was at the right place.

“Hold it,” one of the ponies said as they raised a hoof at me. My heart jumped as he motioned to the human beside him to pat me down with a gloved hand, keeping a firm grip on the clearly Canadian Military rifle, a relic from back before the divide. In fact, the compound guards had a bunch of different rifles from before NATO was still a thing, before the nations stopped existing or were taken over by the Gas Attack events almost fifteen years ago. Those that remained were just hanging on by a thread.

I still find it odd that we have not given a proper name to those events, but they were relevant enough to not warrant one, I suppose. Still, the person with whom I was meeting would probably be able to shed some light on it.

The human guard opened up my jacket as he fished around, pulling out my press badge.

“BBC?” they asked. I only nodded.

“I dunno why anyone across the sea would be here. Isn’t the north end all ponies?”

“It’s dragons,” I responded.“Perhaps its mainland Europe you’re thinking of?” He only grunted as he gave it back finally clearing me for entry, speaking into his radio. The gate opened. From the entrance I saw what looked like was part of a gated community entrance, along with many different pieces of scrap metal. I walked in, clutching my recorder, camera and notebook.

As I looked around I could see ponies and humans, watching me with weary eyes, clutching their guns, a tinge of fear in their eyes. They were, after all, considered lawless individuals. The Canadian government broadcasts called them all bandits. Some would call them mercenaries. This particular band were protecting the one person in the world other journalists would dream to meet and interview. One dream that I would find realized, in a more literal sense.

Oddly, this compound was like it’s own little village- there were children and young ponies all around, playing as I walked by, only to freeze as they saw me. One even mouthed the word “outsider” before getting a hoof to the back of the head.

“Don’t worry ‘bout them, partner,” someone said behind me . “They’re just worried is all.” I found the source of the voice to be… someone I did not expect to see here at all.

“Applejack’s the name. Though I think you’ve seen me before.” There was a hint of shame in her voice. I was immensely surprised to see her all the news reports coming from New Equestria said that she died in an attack. Just seeing her in the flesh was already raising my suspicion of the obvious cover up of the missing princess.

“You’re here to see her, aren’t you?” she asked. Before I could answer, she motioned me to follow her, bringing me to a clean and seemingly untouched house.

“So… you’re a reporter?” the ex-harmony element bearer asked. “My sister was one- Applebloom. The new element of honesty, and all that.” she laughed nervously. “Brings back memories of when her, Scoots and Sweets used to work at their school paper. Now she’s where I was. Runnin her own farm and being Twilights new friend….” she sighed. “I… hope you’re able to get the word out. We all need this, not just people livin’ out here, surviving on the skin of their teeth. I think the whole world needs some answers with how much chaos Celestia caused.” she said as we finally reached the door of the mostly intact house.

Two more guards opened the door, motioning me to step inside. The entire bottom half of the house was a living room, converted into a command center full of computers and radios. There was a family portrait over the fireplace, but it was covered in dust. I was steered by Applejack toward the upstairs. The hardwood floor was worn down from countless hooves and boots At the end of the hallway was a door covered in punk rock posters and anti-authoritarian slogans- a typical teenager setup. Applejack knocked on the door three times.

“Come in.”

I did just that, and what I saw was… magical to say the least. It was just what I saw in my dreams, the missing Alicorn herself.

“P-princess Luna!?” I stammered. She only looked at me with a tiny bit of scorn as she held a rifle, thankfully away from me, with her magic.

“Do not call me by my sister-... by Celestia’s title. I’m not a Princess anymore. Nor do I want to be associated with her.” she said as she placed the rifle on the bed once more, checking the sights and ejection ports, doing something of a maintenance check.

I was still reeling in my mind. I thought this was a dead end going in, but the dreams I had… they seemed so real. So vivid. All I could remember was a blue light in this dark, dark tunnel saying “Come to me if you want to know the truth.” After that it was this force invading my mind, telling me some geographic locations that were vague, but enough research got me here.. After a long time, I couldn’t ignore them anymore. But there she was, sitting right in front of me. The source of those dreams.

“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to take a seat?” she asked, the… well, ex-princess at this point said, pointing me to the couch across from the mattress she was sitting on, inspecting an assault rifle as she quite literally stripped it down with a flurry of magic. “It’s funny, you know. A couple years ago, If you asked me to disassemble this rifle in three seconds I wouldn’t know where to start. I guess you learn a lot of things in this world.” she sighed as I feverishly pulled out my audio recorder, flicking on it and pressing record.

“Date… May 19th, 2025, Patricia Maux of the British Broadcasting Company News Network interviewing the missing Princess- er… Just Luna, sister of Princess Celestia, recording beginning at 8:53 PM.” I said, holding it in her direction. “I just have to say, thank you for this opportunity.”

The large Alicorn only nodded. “Someone needed to tell this story. By the time you get back to report this, we’ll be long gone from this location.” she said.

“I just need to know… Celestia says that you were-”

“Kidnapped?” she interrupted, chuckling. “No. That’s what she wants you to think. I left on my own accord.”

“But how did you do that? Leave, I mean. From what was to be believed, you rarely left the palace and when you were, you were heavily guarded.”

“I had help.” The smile grew.

“From whom?” I asked, trying to piece together what happened in my mind. “From the reports from Equestrian news stations, there was gunfire and three dead guards as well as a repurposed news chopper with mounted guns. There were three humans involved, one died, along with the supposed death of Applejack.”

“Applejack… and a member of the UK’s Special Air Service.” she said. Applejack coughed moment before she spoke up too.

“I got shot, but I think they counted me with the dead because of-”

That made my mind explode with questions, all of which were shouted at both of them with speed. She held up her hoof to shush me. “Listen. To understand what happened, I need to start from the beginning. I was not around for the beginning, not like Twilight, Celestia or Cadence was.” she said.

“I am… not sure what you mean by that.” I said, clearing my throat a little.

“Celestia lies. She lies a lot. A lot of it to save face and cover up what she actually did those years before the gas bombs. Her appearing a couple of months after the initial gassings was not some miracle act. It was deliberate.” she said.

I didn’t know what to say. When a story that had been told a million times before was falling apart at the seams right before your eyes, you begin to realize what got you into journalism in the first place. This was no different. I steeled myself as Applejack looked in from the door.

“This is a story that… made us all who we are today.” Luna said. “Celestia lies to the world from her position of power of what happened, passing off her bullshit as gospel and feats of magic.”

“I’m tired of it too. I just want people to know what really happened. What they… What I helped make happen.” Applejack sighed, pulling out what looked to be some sort of journal stack before handing it to me, one by one, with her mouth. “This is...basically what happened to us for the last couple of years.”

I only nodded, holding the recorder to them as I began to skim through the first one. It was jam packed. Photos, notes, scribbles and sketches, it was going to be a lot to go through. “I… Wow this is a lot to go through-”

Before I could even finish repeating that thought out loud, a radio buzzed to life in the room. “Scouting squad to Lunar-Leader, do you copy?” said the voice on the intercom. Luna picked up the handheld radio that was next to her rifle that lay in parts on the bed. “Go ahead.”

“We have a pack of manticores that are coming to the gates. I think they were following the reporter you got in there, over.” I perked up at the sound of that while Luna looked at me with a frown.

“Ugh, get the meat we have packed for bait to appease them, our guest doesn’t know this area that well.” she said, rolling her eyes as they radioed back with a simple “rodger” to sign off. “Well great, we can’t really send you back where you came from now, can we Ms. Meaux?”

I looked a little nervous at the implication. “W-what do you mean by that?”

“What it means is that there are No Mans Land creatures that are now hunting for you and even though they know to stay clear of this place, they can wait a long time. Maybe a couple weeks at most.” Luna grunted before she picked up the rifle pieces with her magic. “I am sorry. There is nothing I can do to ensure your safety if you do leave, but I can make amends by offering you a place to write this article. It is the least I can do.”

“A couple weeks!? It took me a week to get down here!” I shouted in disbelief. I had to spend a couple weeks here!? How was I going to break this story without my bosses thinking I’m dead? Either way, this entire stack of journals was something to behold as I held them up. The weight of them might as well been comparable to one of my journalism school textbooks.

“I will make arrangements. Applejack, give her the guest room and see if we have an additional solar panel for her room. I suppose you need to charge any of your editorial equipment, correct?” she asked, using her magic to put the gun back together again. “If you need a personal interview with me or anyone here, do not hesitate to ask. However, I need to go check on the perimeter to see if our magic wards are still up.” she said as she loaded the rifle, cocking it with her magic and putting it on the side holster just under her right wing. I didn’t even notice she was wearing body armour until now or that her hooves were covered in bandages, slightly bloodied ones at that.

I only nodded. The smaller orange one led me to just across the hall to what would be the parents guest room, a surprisingly tidy one that looked untouched. “I uh… might have been a bit excited to have an outsider here so I decided to clean this up.” the earth pony said as she looked a little proud of herself. I couldn’t help but pat her as I put my overstuffed hiking backpack onto the bed, getting out my laptop, beginning to write out my notes for the adventure so far, cracking open into the first journal with the name of a human on front as soon as Applejack was gone.

“Subject notes… John Seymour…” I began to type, pulling out the first journal.

Author's Note

I lived bitch. Also if you were wondering about the name, no this is not John from Wubs.

... man why do I fucking reuse names anyways.

2: The First Entry

First entry in John's journal:

I remember the day. I remember the day when the world went to hell in some puff of rainbow coloured smoke.

It was a Thursday. One of those Thursdays that seem to slog on forever for no real reason only to be long and tedious. I was looking at the clock on the wall over the water-cooler while swivelling on my chair.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock....

The sound was maddening. I wanted to scream, I wanted to shout. But I knew if I did, Heather in Human Resources would put another mark on the Workplace Disturbances whiteboard.

God I hated that whiteboard. How many of those marks were my doing? Like... two? I dunno. The last workplace party was a bit of a blur. Only thing I was able to remember was something about the boss and me talking and me consuming large amounts of Jackie Dees and Coke. Worst part is that she colour codes it based off of who does the disturbances. As far I know, I'm red.

4:58 PM it read on the clock. The boss was anal about people leaving early, even if it was like a minute before. Just two more minutes and my long needed three day weekend can begin. One where I can play vidya, play some poker with old college friends and finally be able to finish off that pony fic I was writing.

"Ah, mister Seymour." I flinched at the mention of my last name. It was the boss.

"Sir, I wasn't clock watching at all, sir." Way to be beta, asshole.

"Ah, it's okay there, John. It's only natural on a fine day like this."

Odd. Normally he was one to stay indoors and barely even glance out the window. And he doesn't normally leave his office. What's got him so chipper?

"You know what? You can leave early for today."

Okay, is he dying or something? Cause he's not he one to be nice either.

"Uh, thank you sir."

I grabbed my backpack and placed my laptop within it. When I got to the door he smiled a beaming smile and waved me goodbye. I only did an awkward wave and a half assed smile in return.

"-the 401 is moving slow on the south bound lane towards downtown Toronto due to an accident caused by a delivery van rolling onto it's side. Crews are getting that cleaned up as of this moment."

God, another traffic jam. There is a couple of things that Toronto can export. Dense rush hour traffic is one of them. I think it's up there with deadmau5 and Rob Ford's Mayoral Shenanigans.

"Traffic news is brought to you by Appleoosa brand Sparkling Hard Cider. Get your bottles, two for one at the Beer Store and other licensed alcohol retailers."

Waitwaitwait. Did she say Appleoosa? Christ, did Hasbro get a shite load of money or something? You'd think that they would be going for the non-alcoholic version but there ya go.

Never the less, what the DJ said next unnerved me to no end.

"Coming up next on 102.1 The Edge.. Wait, seriously? Uhm... P-pinkie Pie's Smile Song? What the hell?"

My name is Pinkie Pie,
And I am here to-

I nope'd the hell out when I heard that. I thought Hasbro was one of those companies that have a stranglehold on almost all of their properties. Why the hell are they broadcasting THAT shit?

I pulled out my USB stick and plugged it into the stereo, putting on some good old alternative rock. I'll leave that autistic shit for at home, thank you very much.

"And they all lived happily ever after. Except for Twist. No one likes Twist."

Saved and put into the cloud. I'll upload it to Fimfiction tomorrow. It was getting late. I went downstairs to turn off the TV that I forgot about after dinner. What I saw freaked me the fuck out.

"Michelle Walker here with CTV news where an explosion in a Lakeshore warehouse has-" The female reporter started to cough and gag as rainbow coloured smoke leaked out of the building in the background. The reporters face became featureless before she collapsed to the ground. Her body was violently convulsing as her body... changed.

The way I saw it was her becoming a writhing blob of flesh. But the blob started to take form again. The ex-reporters limbs were forming into hooves. It's head was now beginning to form again but it was in the shape of an Horses... No, pony's head.

It's mane reformed. It was blue with a thin streak of dark purple going down it's bang. Large dark blue eyes were looking into the camera now. The blue pony stretched it's newly formed pegasus wings and beamed a big smile

"This has been Clear Skies with City Television News, The Crystal Empires number one TV station!"

The image cut out to a test pattern.

"Oh shit."

I was sure what I saw was real. I flipped to the other channels to see if there were anything similar. Almost all of the news stations were covering it reporters are in the streets and most of the shots are of people running away from the mobs of galloping ponies, turning into them as they got hugged. The late night hosts are all in a panic as well.

"If you are anywhere NEAR these things you turn into them. Get out of the cities! Whatever you do, just get... Oh god." The hosts face drained of all colour.

"What's got ya down, there?" A voice came from behind the camera. The host tried to book it off screen but tripped on a wire. "It looks like someone needs a huuug!"

A unicorn was trotting over to him despite his protests. The screen then changed to the CBC technical difficulties signage just as he was receiving the hug and started changing.

"OH SHIT!"

I had to get out of here. There was no way in hell I was gonna be one of those... things! I jumped out of my seat and ran upstairs and grabbed a hiking backpack and started stuffing whatever I could into it. Water purification tabs, first aide, whatever the fuck that could be even remotely useful. I grabbed my hiking boots as well as some winter clothes for the long haul of it.

I knew exactly where to go and it was north. My family had a hunting cabin three hours north by car. But knowing the events of any apocalypse, the highways are gonna be clogged in like an hour of the TVs going dead and all of the back roads will be filled with the infected. I had to get out of here. FAST.

I couldn't take my car. The thing was on it's last legs and the engine needed to get fixed. I glanced out the window to the street. I could steal a ride from the other houses. But who's home and who's not? I'm not gonna deny people their chance at getting the hell out. I'm not THAT much of a dick. I poked my head out of my door to see is there were any other suitable vehicles that I could nick.

Now I may not be much of a /o/ fanatic but I need something that could carry a far distance fast and can carry shit. Unless I had a souped up pickup-truck...

Wait... /o/...

I looked to down the street to see my salvation. And what I saw was a beauty. I always pass this guys house on the way down to work. Not sure where he is now. Seeing how he owned a mechanic shop near Lakeshore... Well I just answered my own question, didn't I? And he is... was always working on it.

I booked it to the vehicle in question. He mentioned him working on it for a street race near Oakville at a barbeque. Well, I'm gonna put it to use anyway. When looking at it, I felt bad for me going to steal it. It was a nice car. It was modified to the brim and it looked like there was a lot of time and effort put into it. And here I was, breaking down a door to his house to steal it's key. I'll take it back, I am a huge dickhole.

But then again, the dude did have cops at his house every other week over stolen parts or some shit like that.

"Hey, there he is now!" I heard down the street at my house. I peeked and saw two ponies, a brown unicorn and a dark red earth pony casually trotting down.

"Oh god..." My kicking sped up as I was trying to break the thing off of its hinges. My neighbourhood was an old one and these doorframes were looking pretty old. Two more kicks did it in. While the house alarm was blaring, I ran upstairs to the bedroom and grabbed a bowl filled with keys. I also did a quick check and found a fully loaded shotgun and a high powered pistol with three clips. I knew the dude had troubles with the cops but, Jesus.

I came down the stairs to see that the two ponies were walking up the driveway.

"Hello? Anypony in there?" The unicorn asked.

I raised the shotgun to my shoulder and aimed down the sights as I walked out. I wasn't a /k/omrade but I've had my fair share of hunting trips with my brother.

"Get the fuck back!" I yelled. I was lining up a shot with the unicorn. He's the bigger threat right now.

"Whoa now, let's not get hasty!" The red one said.

"I said get the fuck back!" I can't let them get close. "I'm gonna get into that car and leave, alright? I don't want to shoot you, but if you don't fucking get back, I will blow your fucking brains all over the pavement, got it!?"

"Don't you even want to think about becoming-"

I aimed at his hooves and fired. The pony took two steps back before he started to bolt down the street. I then aimed at the other.

"If you have any sense, I think you'd better fucking run." I ejected the spent shell and looked down the sights again.

It did the same and galloped after him.

After they were both out of earshot I looked at the broken bowl on the ground. There were a lot of keys to go through.

I was on the oncoming lanes heading out north of the city I glanced to the sides of the road to see the chaos around me. The hugboxing ponies were latching onto the fleeing humans and transforming them into more ponies. All of them had these beaming smiles that unnerved me to no end.

I quickly turned to avoid a person trying to jump over a railing to a drainage ditch. Her efforts were in vain as she got hugged from behind by a pink unicorn. I saw some OG wannabe running while firing a Mac-10 or some shit into a crowd but having a purple pony latch onto him from above and a store owner getting glomped on all sides after trying to jump out his stores window.

I kicked it into a higher gear and started onto the highway north. I needed to see if my family is safe, and if they are, get the hell out of here.

I have to say that my neighbour made sure this thing was fast. I was clocking like 60 kilometres over the speed limit. Not like my driving records gonna matter. I just need to find my family and get my ass to the hunting cabin my brother and I fixed up a couple of years back. It's remote, self sufficient with all those solar panels and no one could know where it is.

As I pulled onto the highway I noticed a torn up gay pride flag on one of the cars. I guess the person was here for the pride festival. At the time it didn’t make sense, why was it torn up and why was it on the car if it was three weeks ago?
As soon as I looked into the rear-view, a streak of rainbow went up alongside my car. I looked over to see a pegasus. One that any avid MLP watcher would know.

"Hey there! The name's Rainbow Dash. Wanna race?" She said through the window as we sped along. I hit the gas again and tried to lose her. Why the hell was SHE here!? I am sure as hell not gonna lose my humanity to RainbowCunt McDashfuck. And besides, I thought people were just turning into OC's. Who did she use to be?

She caught up to me again. I'm doing near fucking 165 km/h, there is no way she could keep up!

"C'mon, being a pony isn't so bad! You might get sweet wings like mine! Although, you might not. I'm one in a billion!" She laughed as she looked like she was lying on her back in the air.

That smarmy ass-wipe. I looked to the dashboard and saw there was a button labelled "nitrous."

"Fuck me, I hope he filled this." I said aloud and punched it.

The car revved as the nitrus-oxide was put into the chamber. The speedometer display was clocking in at 205km/h, and yet there she was, barely keeping pace.

"Okay, no cheatsie-doodling!" She shouted over the engine. She fell behind a little as her wings struggled to keep up. "C'mon, it's not fair!"

"So is killing the human race, you ASSHOLE!" I yelled as I opened the car door on her face. The impact sent her off course a little.

"Hey, what was that for!?"

Two more hits with the door gave a satisfying crunch. She veered off course and started rolling on the pavement. I braked and looked behind me to see that the blue pegasus was still rolling. By the time she stopped, she was still breathing.

"Oh, buck... My wing! I-I think I broke my wing..."

I would have walked over to her and put a round in her head, but common sense compelled me not to. She could be faking it, I mean she's survived drops from what? Five, plus, stories? She's not gonna glomp me. It was too easy.

I started to drive. My first stop was Bolton. I needed to grab my sister and my mom. My brother is in Barrie, so that's stop two. Don't know what's to be said about my dad though. He was overseas in China. Wherever he is, I hoped he's alright and not one of them.

I saw the exit and took it. I'm going to be on the run now, wasn't I?

3: You Have Her Eyes

Second Entry of Johns journal:

It had been two hours since my adrenalin rush had worn off. Here I was rolling along the highway looking at Pearson Airport. It was odd. I always saw and heard airplanes going out of that place on my trips to see my mom and sister. It was eerie seeing no activity. I focused my eyes over the airport and saw some pegasi flying around. Most likely waiting for planes to come down to land and getting any unturned humans. I continued on, hoping that some can get out.

The road was empty save for me and my loneliness. It was dark. The streetlamps were doing little to light the drive north. Save for the odd wild animal, there was nothing but abandoned cars and trucks as I drove along. It was getting boring just listening to the engine run. I turned on the radio to my usual station. Hopefully the ponies still kept the files for the human music.
"Welcome back to 102.1 the Edge where I am joined by Rainbow Dash talking on the line about-"

"-and then he smacked my face with the door three times! I broke my wing for the first time in months! Ugh, when I get my hooves on him..."

"Rainbow, you're on the air now."

I guess she didn't die.

"Oh, um..."

"You were talking about how humans should come to the cities and become ponies?" The Dj reminded.

"Oh, oh yeah! Um, yeah. Being a pony is great! I bet humans don't get to fly without having to use planes! One of my friends said that being a pony was one of the greatest things to happen to him!"

"But I heard that there are lots of humans still out there that don't want to be a pony. What can you say that could make them change their mind?"

"Well... you're a unicorn right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Well things around there are a lot easier to do right? You got your levitation, your spells all of that stuff!"

"Well I guess it does make certain tasks easier."

"Not to mention ponies in general are more happy! I met a real grump of a human though."

Ohcrapohcrapohcrap!

"I was relaxing on a car and he was speeding up the highway and he was trying to get out. You know what he did?"

"I think we heard at the beginning of this."

"But still, can you believe it? I was being friendly and showing off my moves, trying to show the great things about being a pony. Next thing you know, he calls me an asshole and how we're KILLING the human race!"

Lord Jesus in heaven, if you're up there and not a pony, you will make that rainbow bitch not say where I am going. PLEASE.

"We're not killing anything! If anything, we're helping humans. I remember my human life." A retching sound was heard over the air. "My pony life is way better! Do me and that human a favour; if anypony sees a car headed-"

I could hear the dial tone on the radio. Praise Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, Allah and Jazz.

"Well, I guess we've lost the call. It's almost time for our next break. But before that, we've got a song!"

My name is-

"FUCK THAT!" I shouted as I put in a random CD. What played was pure dubstep. I didn't mind it. Anything was better than that fucking piece of shit. God damn, Pinkies song is now synonymous with the fucking Holocaust.

I looked at the dashboard to see I was running low on gas. Just my luck, gas station on the next exit. I pulled off the highway to see if the pumps were running. As I got out of the car I raised the shotgun to the little booth that would have had the attendant in it. No one was home but the light was on.

I could hear some sirens in the distance. Either some poor police officer was trying to still uphold the law or someone stole the thing trying to get out. Either way I didn’t want to listen on on the police scanner, that was for sure.

I started pumping gas into the car, my eyes scanning the immediate darkness for anyone. Part of me was confident that hoof steps would be audible, but I paid attention anyway. I then looked at the attendants booth.

I might have been pulling a Fallout here but I think I need some barter fuel. It's a apocalypse and I'm thinking that people are going to want to trade for supplies. And what is better barter fuel are cartons of cigarettes!

"Show me the- OH FUCK!"

I opened the door to the attendant entrance and recoiled at the sight of the dead attendant. Blood and brains were everywhere on the inside with a double-barrelled shotgun resting on his chest. There was a small TV that was playing the pony news. They kept on broadcasting that humans should come back to the cities.

I turned it off. The dude was dead. He didn't need that shit in his afterlife.

I started filling the trunk with cigarettes and some junk food for when the going gets tough. I also grabbed the mini fridge of Redbull. I know power conservation was a thing we needed to discuss when we got there but having an extra fridge for food is always a good thing. Although I don't know how much power 5 solar panels are going to produce.
I took the gun off of the body and rested it on the passenger seat.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" A voice called.

I turned around and raised my pistol at in the direction of the voice. "If you got hooves, get the fuck away!" I was still trying to see what was approaching. "If you're human, put your hands up."

A woman came out of the shadows. She looked like she was about thirty-ish.

"Please you have to help me, I have family up north and my car broke down. Please!"

"Keep your hand where I can see 'em and come over here." I kept my eyes locked on her the whole time, looking for suspicious movements.

"Please, they're in Thunder Bay. I have no other way to reach them!"

She looked like she had walked a long way and desperate. I sighed "I'm not headed up there, sorry." The disappointment on her face was apparent. Still, I had four extra seats. "But I can get you closer. I dunno who's going up that way, but I guess you could get another car or something."

"Thank you, thank you!"

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Her name was Ghita. As we drove along she was telling me about her and her family were recent immigrants from India. She was on her way to see her husband for his birthday in Toronto when the outbreak happened. She said she had a lot of close calls with a purple pegasus. As she said, it was claiming to be her husband.

"Eventually he gave up and went after others. He then said we would be together again. That wasn't my husband. Even he wouldn't try and force this... Sickness on me. On anyone for that matter." She sighed "What about you?"

I told her about my day. Everything including the run-in with Rainbow.

"You know one of them? W-was she family?"

"God no! I don't think anyone in my family is that douchey. Although Uncle Fred could be an exception..."

"But you speak of her like you know her."

I sighed. "You know what a brony is?" She nodded "I watch the show, she's in it."
"You mean the ponys that are attacking and the ones in the show are similar?"

"Not similar. Same." I took a swig of the tall can of the energy drink. "To think the one thing I liked turned against us all."

It was another hour or so to Bolton. One that was spent in silence.

/////////////////////////////

"Anyone in here?" I called to the empty looking house.

It was my childhood home. It was eerie without the people around it. I unlocked it using my key. It was odd not seeing anyone in there. Usually my mom or my sister would be in there, but no. It wasn't looted at all. If anything people would be looting department stores.

I looked around for any signs of life. There was none to be found. I'm guessing they took Lupo with them. I went into the kitchen to find a note on the counter.

John,

I saw what was happening on the news and Mom and I are headed to Mikes house and to the hunt camp. We're bringing what we can to set up for the long of it. I hope you make it there.

Love, Dee.

I folded the note and put it in my pocket.

"Ghita, you okay out there!?" I shouted.

"Yes!" She was standing guard with a the second shotgun outside. I just needed to grab some stuff here and-

"Well howdy there!"

I turned around to see a pony. It was wearing a Stetson and had orange fur. It's big green eyes were staring into mine.

"Ah'm Applejack, pleased ta meetcha!" She had the same beaming smile like the rest.

"Ghita, I need some help here!" I yelled to the lady as I pulled out my pistol.

Instead of running I heard galloping.

"Oh no..."

"Hey there, John! You needed help?" She was now a maroon earth pony.

"Fuck..." I was backing up into the screen door. My aim was still trained on Applejack. First it was Rainbow Dash, now it's her?

"Now Ah heard what'cha did to my friend Rainbow, and Ah hav'ta say that that wasn't nice at all." She started. "But if ya come with me, Ah'm sure she'll accept an apology."

"Fuck." I wanted to pull the trigger. Why couldn't I pull the trigger?

"Seriously, John. This is great! I feel so much better now."

"You were fine before all of this! Everyone was fine! Even you said this was a sickness!"

"You need to try this! It's great, believe me!"

"John, Ah'm sure that things will be alright. Ah think Dee would be-"

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT MY SISTER! " I smashed the window and ran out the opening into the backyard. My hand stung and bled, but I ignored it. I dashed out the gate and ran to the car. I started the car and drove off. Applejack and Ghi- no, not Ghita. Whatever she was now was now in my rear view.

"Come back! Ah swear, everything is gonna be alright!"
I flipped them off. The worst bit is knowing that Ghita is gonna be able to change the rest of her family as well. I looked at my phone. There was still no signal since last night. It doesn't matter. I'm gonna get to the hunt camp, wait this whole thing out, and try to just survive.

It was getting dark again. I was also getting low on gas. If Herman is still human I have to thank him for making this thing. Normally If I were to make it to Barrie it would take almost 4 hours, depending on traffic of course.

I pulled into another gas station. This one was different from the others as it had a mini supermarket in it. I guess I could get some canned food. I filled up my tank and pulled in near the entrance. I went in and filled a cart with boxes of the stuff. If it were just me eating them, it would last about a month. But with the unknown amount of people at the hunt camp, I made sure to grab some more.

I also picked up a lot of medicine as well. I need to raid a pharmacy or something when I get to Barrie. Just grab six of everything. Logistics be damned, I wanted to see my family alive.

I put it into the back seat as I then continued on the road. I thought about how my weekend was supposed to go. I was supposed to have that fic up on Fimfiction. My college friends are probably having that poker game sans-humanity. I guess I could play vidya still. I dunno how the internet is faring though. Most likely the brony sites are up. I dunno about anything else.

For one of the first times in my life, I prayed. I prayed for my friends and family to be alright. I didn't want to do this alone. I don't think anyone does. I pulled over to the side of the road. I was tired. More tired than most. I've spent the last day and a half running. I needed some sleep.

I recline my seat and closed my eyes. Letting the darkness of sleep envelop me.

I was dreaming at first.

I was dreaming I was with my sister. Taking her out for lunch, seeing a movie. The normal family bonding time and such. On the Lakeshore as well. We were walking past a warehouse. I don't know what happened next. I was running. Running away, while pulling my sister by the arm. I looked behind us. A rainbow explosion. I then looked at my sister. She wasn't my sister anymore. She was a dark blue unicorn. I let go and kept running.

I then stopped. I looked down to see that I was still myself. But at figure landed in front of me. A figure of pure white. Her hair was dazzling as it was gassious.

"Hello sister." She said to me. At least I think it was a she.

"I think you got me confused with someone else. I'm not your sister."

"Oh, no I think it is you who is confused. After all, you do have her eyes." It said.

My eyes shot open. I was covered in cold sweat and an instinct to get the hell out dodge. I drove. Drove fast and hard. I don't know why or what I was running from. I just knew I had to. I looked in the rear view.

You know, I never knew what my eye colour was. Every time it would be a different shade of green, grey or blue. I could never tell. But now I could tell. For some reason it was more clear than water.

It was light blue. And now I knew that for sure.

4: Choice Encounter

Third Entry in John's journal:

I sped along the highway, swerving to avoid the abandoned cars. I wanted to get to Barrie before nightfall.

What I didn't like about this situation is that for some reason there are people who are turning into ponies. Hold out on me here; Turning into ponies and are coming after ME. Rainbow Dash seemed like she was waiting for me. But then again she could have been waiting for anyone to be speeding out. But Applejack being in my moms house? To obvious to be a coincidence.

Nothing was boding well with me. I didn't care right now. I needed some music. Just block out the outside world for a bit. I hit random on the stereo.

My brother wasn't home. Nether was my mom or sister. Fuck going in silently, I'm not gonna let them surprise me. I raised my shotgun and shot the lock. A dog was barking in the distance. I had to make this quick. Grab family albums, heirlooms, shit like that. Even in a apocalypse, I don't want to forget where my family came from.

I grabbed a box of albums from the shelf, photo frames and other stuff from our families past. I don't want us to forget how we were a family. And in this situation, it's good to have them close.

"Hey there! My name's-" I spun around and clocked the pony in the jaw with the stock of my shotgun. I heard a crack as he landed on the hardwood floor. Out cold. From the way it's mouth was hanging, I broke his jaw.

I left swiftly before more showed up. I had one more stop I needed to make.

Shoppers Drug Mart was one of those chains that everyone knew about. Get your drugs, cosmetics, lady-part cleaners and your last minute holiday cards/gifts all in one place. What I needed was over the counter stuff. I grabbed a duffel bag that was on a shelf and started stuffing whatever I could. Tylenol, Aleve, Flintstones vitamins. I was lucky enough to find that the shelves were still stocked.

I tensed up as I heard crying. I slung the duffle bag behind my shoulder as I brought up the shotgun. Listening in I could tell it was coming from behind the pharmacists counter. As I got closer I could tell it was a kid. I looked over the counter. There was a body. Three bullet holes in its chest. It looked like it was female, but the way it was slumped, I couldn't tell.

I fought to keep the vomit back. Two dead bodies in the span of three days. I've been lucky so far that they weren't me. The kid wasn't there. He was most likely in he back room.

"I w-want my mommy..." The kid sobbed.

"Shh... Shh... Everything is going to be alright." Another voice I recognized.

"I swear to god that better be Andrea Libman calming him down..." I whispered under my breath.

I cracked the door open. The kid was huddled in the corner, next to a desk. A pony wasn't hugging him per-say. More like rubbing his back. Okay, good to know that just skin contact doesn't turn you, just full on cuddles. He looked around seven to eight years old. Looked like a typical W.A.S.P. Seemed about right for how far north we are.

I shifted to get a look at the pony. Yellow fur, pink mane and butterflies for a cutie mark. I started cursing under my breath. Fuck, fuck fuck! Now SHE'S here. They were fucking following me, and I fucking knew it.

"W-Why did daddy h-have to do that, F-Fluttershy? Why did he have to shoot mommy?" He blubbered into his arms.

I glanced back at the body. I'll find that asshole...

"I'm... I'm not sure why." Fluttershy sighed. "But I can give you something that could make you feel a bit better."

Shit.

"W-what?"

"Want a hug?"

SHIT.

"O-okay..."

"SHIT!" I yelled as I burst through the door, pointing my handgun at the yellow mare. "Kid, get away from her!"

He screamed in fear and backed up into the corner.

"What're you doing!? You're scaring him!" Fluttershy yelled at me.

"Listen to me. If you hug her, you'll turn into one of them. One of those things that messed everything up!"

"W-what?" The kid looked up to me.

"Look, the whole reason people are running is because of creatures like her. You hug her, she'll turn you into the things that we're running away from."

He looked more confused and scared than anything. I couldn't blame him. He was far from home, his dad shot his mom and left him for dead. How is he gonna trust me over the friendly looking pony who was comforting him.

Fuck it. I'm gonna get him out of here. "What's your name, kid?"

"J-James..." he stammered.

"James, If you come with me, I can get you to a safe place. Away from here. My family can take care of you." I extended my hand to him. "Food, shelter, anything you want. You just gotta come with me."

Fluttershy looked at me and then at James. "James, I can offer you the same thing. But If you go with him, I can guarantee the same things will keep happening." She opened her hooves to receive the hug. "But I'll leave it up to you."

She's playing that game? James was looking at us both. He got up onto his feet and looked at both of us with a scared expression. He looked into my eyes for a moment until he looked at Fluttershy.

He started walking towards her.

"James, don't do this."

"Come on, James."

"James, don't do this!"

"Everything is going to be alright, James."

"James, If you do this, you're gonna throw away everything!"

He was almost there.

"I know a lot of foals and fillies you would love to meet!"

"She's lying to you!"

"I'm friends with one of the princesses! Do you want to meet Twilight?"

"THINK ABOUT YOUR MOM! DO YOU FUCKING WANT TO THROW HER AWAY!?"

How stupid was I? Why didn't I just grab him? By the time I said that, he was already in her embrace. As they hugged, she rubbed his back.

"Shhh... No more tears now."

White fur crept over his skin from under his shirt. It was starting to spread across his arm to his hands. His fingers melded together as the fur passed over them. They rounded out as they formed into his hooves. The fur was moving up his neck. His head grew a little as it made way for the changes that were about to be made.

I raised my pistol at him. I had a perfect shot lined up. Put him out of his misery. But a voice in the back of my head nagged, "He's just a kid."

His ears were moving up the side of his head. They looked more and more like a pony's with each inch until they stopped at the top of his head. His eyes grew bigger in their sockets as they made room for his now dark green eyes. His nose sunk into his face as his mouth shifted forward, creating his muzzle and completing his pony head.

My hand was shaking. Just pull the trigger, I thought to myself. End it. It's going to be nothing but lies for him, here on out.

But I didn't want to kill a kid. He may have been the enemy now, but he was still a kid.

The fur was creeping down his exposed lower back. His shorts fell to his ankles as his lower back spasmed as it changed to accommodate his now quadruped form. His leg joints cracked and shifted as they changed to that of a pony, resulting in a whimper of un-comfort from James . His shoes ripped as his hooves formed.

Just put him out of his misery....

Just a kid...

His brown tail popped out of the back of his underwear. He was full pony now... And I did nothing. I could have prevented this. But I just fucking stood there.

"See? It wasn't so bad, right?" Fluttershy cooed as she helped him out of his remaining clothes.

"I-I guess..." he sniffled as she pulled off his Spongebob shirt with her hooves.

"Now we have one other thing to deal with before we go." She looked right at me.

"F-Fuck you..." Tears were fogging my vision. "You didn't change anything. His mom is still dead!"

"He can cope better-"

"How the fuck can he cope!? This is just avoiding the problem and you're saying he's going to be fine!?" This wasn't regular anger. This was rage. "Everything isn't going to be fine! Ever since you assholes came, you started this chaos!" I pointed my gun at her.

She stared at me. This was THE Stare. She knew what I was going to do. This stopped me in my tracks. My anger kept compelling me to start firing until it went click, but I couldn't do it. It felt as if my mind was on fire.

I started to creep backwards. I couldn't do it. These things were killing us and I couldn't do it.

I ran. I grabbed the duffle bag and ran to the door. There were two ponies by my car. They ran at me and tried to hug me. What they got in return was a fist in the eye and a broken wing.

I started the car and sped off.

/////////////////////////

"I just stood there. I fucking just stood there..."

"Shh... It is okay my sister... In time, we'll be together and all the pain will be gone..."

I looked up at the white form and wiped my eyes. "Lady, I don't know where you get this notion that I'm your sister, but A: I'm male. B: I have no blood relation to you. And C: I don't even know you."

"Ah, but you do know me." She replied. "I do believe you have written stories about me on a website."

"That doesn't help me at all."

"Do not worry, sister. All will be revealed."

As the dream faded, I woke up covered in a cold sweat again.

No one found my car in this alley. I started off again. It was another two hours until I hit the camp. I hope to god I find my family in one piece.

5: Break

It turns out I fell asleep. In my stupor it seems the only things I had written down in my notepad were something about the way John wrote about Appleack’s southern accent and how he compared the Pinkie Pie Smile song to something that was akin to the holocaust. I didn’t agree with the sentiment but then again they’ve been through more than I have.

I got up to stretch, cracking my knuckles and various joints as I got up, still in the camouflaged travel wear and flak jacket as I realized I had fallen asleep on the metal rings that bound the journal together, running over the little indents in my cheek. Still, John’s notes were most things we already knew, but seeing as survivors were few and far between to those in the north, it was good to know an insider's perspective.

My stomach growled as I realized I had not eaten in several hours. I sighed as I got up, walking downstairs as I looked around. There was one pony working the HAM radio station that seemed to ignore me as I looked around, a platter of fresh grown fruit, which was odd in the fact that they had it here anyways.

“Howdy Ms. Meaux! How’d you sleep?” the familiar voice of the orange pony startled me, yelping and dropping an apple onto the floor as I turned around.

“Oh christ, don’t startle me like that!” I said, placing a hand on my chest.

“Oh… sorry, got excited is all.” she said looking a bit awkward.

“It’s fine, I just… Fell asleep at the desk.” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “Still, learning about what happened when North America was taken over was… odd to say the least. Disturbing… And you were in the middle of it?”

Applejack sighed and nodded. “Way back when, I was convinced I was going to make the world a better place when Celestia approached me back when I was a human. This was way before Toronto too, I told my human family back then that I was going to Canada on my agriculture degree for a farming convention. Next thing I knew I was helping people make these gas bombs just… choked to the brim with magic and this dust… I-I can scarcely remember what happened.” she said as she put her hoof to her head, taking off her hat. “I regret many a thing back then and now I’m just trying to pick up the pieces. Sure I ain’t going to do much with them, but I’m trying to help anyways. Go north and it’s a bunch of scared folk surviving the winter temperatures. Down south there’s ponies effectively trying to make sense of this new world. Fifteen years later and we’re still trying to figure it out. And us? We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

I nodded as I took mental notes in my mind. This No Mans Land between Canada and New-Equestra had been rocked by many magical phenomenons when it was introduced to the world. Dragons, gryphons, ponies… it was almost too much, but scientists and other researchers found this as a goldmine. New Species, new physics phenomenons… Our entire natural order has been flipped on its head.
I got an actual look as to what Applejack was wearing. Like most of the higher ups here, it looked like she was wearing survival clothing on the top half of her body, with modified police gear for protection, which brought up a burning question.

“You wear all this armour… Who’s shooting at people here?”

Applejack looked sullen as she put her hat back on. “What isn’t shooting at us here? Canada and Equestria call us bandits here but we’re just here trying to survive. Luna takes in the people running away or what would be ‘out of place’ in the south. We give ‘em food, shelter, a warm fire and a community. All we ask in return is to help us out.” Her voice sunk a little as she continued. ”We just protect shipments from charity workers from overseas, help scientists, just try to keep out the bad around this area. Others? They want it for themselves or think we’re hogging it all. They’re the true bandits. We just want some order around here.” She punctuated the last bit by spitting onto the hardwood floor.

“Not once in my years as a human or a pony, Earth or Equestria, have I seen suffering on such a large scale. Celestia ignores it and hopes the humans come to the cities to be converted, Canada doesn’t want to do anything because they have their own stuff to worry about. Crabapples, we got word of riots in Northern Quebec just the other week!” Applejack exclaimed. I raised my hands to try to get her to calm down, thankfully she got the message. “Sorry, I just… Shucks, I need a moment to cool off.”

I smiled. “It’s fine, it’s fine. In fact it’s good you said that, it gives me more insight to what’s happening around here. I mean… Shite, I’m still itching to get back to the journals. There’s just so much information that was unknown to me before.”

Applejack looked up at me with an awkward glance. “Uhm… Actually, I had a question to ask you, if it is at all okay…”

I cocked my brow as I picked up another apple to bite into it, my stomach screaming for the calories it provided. “Sure.”

“Could I… be with you when you are reading them? I trust Luna but, I don’t know the whole story either. I only ever wrote in the one journal she gave me when we were in New Equestria, the other ones I didn’t look at. In fact she seemed to be stubborn in saying that I don’t read them. I just want her to be honest with me, but at the same time I don’t want to pry.”

I thought for a moment. Part of me didn’t want her to be near me when I was writing the thing for fear of it being biased, but on the other hand, her insight would be crucial. I took a long hard moment to think, the apple in my hand now down to it’s core as I finally decided. “I… don’t see a reason not to.”

“Boy howdy!” she jumped up, trying to hug me before moving back. “Right… I didn’t get my shots renewed for that, need to wait for the next shipment coming through here.”

“Don’t worry about it, I had the vaccine before I came down here.” I assured her. That prompted the hug in return. I chuckled, ruffling her hair under her hat. Even if it was dangerous to get hugged by her, the feeling was nice. I was lucky my works insurance let me get the vaccine in question, even if a shot was over a thousand dollars and only worked for three months. I guess they deemed it to be worth it.

After a couple of hours getting some piecemeal interviews with some of the inhabitants of the gated community compound, I was taking pictures and video of the guards, pony and human that were all armed to the teeth. I had several questions, wondering how they got this hardware. None of them gave me a straight answer, but police stations and a military base were the most prominent. This was something to ask Luna about, but they said she was off dealing with an ice dragon. I sighed as I brought my equipment to the guest room, putting my pictures onto my laptop with back ups on everything possible.

There was a human and pony kicking a football of the european kind around, having some genuine fun. A human woman was acting as a teacher to some of these kids, reading from a textbook as the others listened on. I did remember seeing a printer in the house, not covered in dust. Perhaps she was giving them homework. Technology was still heard of, seeing as how there were televisions and a satellite connection to the internet, as well as some kids were playing a video game.

Part of me was wondering why I needed to be here if they had it, however it seemed like both Equestrian and Canadian sites were heavily monitored by their governments. Both were mostly relegated to news checking with a lot of the normal entertainment communication sites being off limits, which was a shame. I wasn’t able to call my superiors and tell them where I was or who I met either as the use of sat-phones were prohibited in the compound for fear of tracing.

There was more pictures of just normal maintenance of the compound here and there, with a lot of them wearing old car repair shop overalls. This place was being run like a tight ship. Applejack came in as I was preparing myself to open the first journal once more.

“How was your tour around the place?” she asked as I leaned on the back two legs of the chair, her hopping up on the bed as it squeaked under her weight.

“I’ve covered wars in the middle east and africa before. This is kind of different seeing as how everyone here is either a pony or human… white too. Then again we are in Canada, there are some things that should be expected in terms of demographics.” I commented.

“It ain’t about race here. We take in all comers.” she said flatly. “Sides, not all of us are here, some are out getting supplies or guarding. This morning I had to help with patrols. We wear the masks so that if any scouting parties from the north or south spot us, they don’t get details. ‘Sides, I’m pretty well the person who invented pony pants. Eat your heart out, Rare.” she said as she stuck her tongue out with a chuckle. “‘Course she prefers style over function but I say it’s a better alternative to the original duct tape idea somepony had.”

I did look behind her, she was wearing track pants! “Huh… and that’s so they don’t see your cutie mark? Smart.” I commented, smiling at the simple solution.

Applejack looked to the stack of journals. “Still, what did you find out?”

I retold the events that happened the day the bombs went off, and how John was one of the lucky few to get out unchanged, and unfortunately her run in with herself. When she heard it and the story with Fluttershy she frowned, then spoke up. “I didn’t like that we were forcing it on people, but Celestia told us it was for the greater good. But she didn’t quite tell us why we were hunting John in the first place. All I knew is that he was the perfect candidate for something. For what I’m not sure. Twilight said it was so she could have her greatest advisor back, but it never made sense.” she explained.

That piqued my interest. Celestia was hiding more from them than expected. I recentered my chair as I pulled the journal from the drawer it was held in, clearing my throat and taking a sip from my canteen as I prepared. “Entry 4…”

6: Meetings

Entry 4:

Jesus christ, no wonder everything was so fucked up when I got to Barrie. I just looked at my phone, still no signal by the way, and I fell asleep in my car for almost two fucking weeks.

TWO FUCKING WEEKS! How the fuck was that even possible!? It makes no fucking sense at all! I should be fucking dead from no food but here we are, I woke up that morning in that car, covered in sweat, smelling like shit and for some reason a full fucking stomach and no thirst at all. Was it the dreams I was having? Were they some pony magic keeping me alive?

It didn’t fucking matter, all I know is that… Barrie was a fucking graveyard. There were flames everywhere, the smell of smoke and fire was getting to me even in my car. I saw what would be the reason. Barrie had this small stadium that was used for a lot of events, one that I forgot the name of and I couldn’t google it. But I was staring at it and it had a fucking dragon. A literal fucking dragon in it.

As to why the town was on fire? Well, guess an armoured regiment came in and tried to evict him, because there’s a bunch of bombed out and exploded tanks near it. Charred corpses holding hunks of metal that were probably guns

Thank fuck it was sleeping, thank the fucking lord it was, because I was able to outrun Rainbow Dash in this thing, I didn’t want to see if I could dodge a five story high dragon. I was just trying to get to my families hunt camp and wait this shit out.

But still, I met someone today, thankfully not a pony. As I was driving away in this car that could give a pegasus a run for their money, I saw what would be described as a green truck. This wasn’t any green truck. This was an army truck, full of supplies.

It was like walking into a candy store pretty well, except here the store is full of guns, MRE’s water purification tablets and ammo. Holy shit it was a sight to see.

I kept the car running just in case I would need to dart in a moments notice as I began to rummage around… That’s when I felt someone put a gun to my head. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” they asked, the voice being female.

“Okay uhh… I would say something nice here but I’m getting supplies to wait this shit out, mostly.” I said, trying to be blunt as possible.

“Turn around.”

I complied, turning to see someone in full combat gear, gas mask hanging off her side as she held a rifle to my head. Army. “Oh… I am so fucking sorry.”

“Sorry for what? The dragon? Don’t be.” she said, finally putting the rifle down. “My entire platoon is dead because of that fucking thing right out of The Hobbit.” she said, her sullen look saying it all. She gave up. “I don’t fucking care, take it all if you want. Everyone probably thinks I’m dead.”

“Whoa, hey, look. I don’t want to be that guy but seriously just chill. My brother and I have a hunt camp just northwest of here. I have a ham radio setup from when a bunch of radio enthusiasts borrowed the cabin and well... never picked it up. Don’t even know where they fucking went, honestly, but we can still get you in contact with the military, hopefully.” I assured her.

She only looked at me, staring into my eyes, giving me the look of someone who’s losing the will to live right then and there. But we both froze as soon as we heard hoof clomping through the ash laden streets.

“Jeeze… I don’t think there would be anyone here to bring back.” a voice said as the both of us ducked behind a crate, clutching our guns like we were going to fall off a cliff if we didn’t. I peeked my head out as I tried to get a glimpse of what was out there.

There was apink pony and a blue one, both, thankfully, not ones I know. Just some OC’s. They were walking closer and closer to the car. “Who left this running?” the pink one asked, tapping on the spoiler of the ash covered car. Both of us didn’t say a word as they looked around inside. “Eugh, it smells like something died in here.”

“Yeah well many people are dying, we’re here to prevent that.” said the blue one, the only thing notable I could make out from it was the cutie mark of a rabbit. They like animals? Or magic tricks?

In my stupor of thinking, my foot nearly slipped, causing my shoe to squeak across the metal flooring of the truck. Their ears perked. “Aw shit…”

“Is somepony there?” the blue one asked as it slowly trotted towards the army truck, the both of us at the ready to blast our way out of here if need be. Well in retrospect I think it was she who was ready, not me. I still haven’t fired a gun to kill, only to scare things off. Still, I would try, that’s for sure.

They started to climb into the back as we were both getting ready to fight until I heard this huge whooshing sound, and then a ear piercing roar.

“IT WOKE UP, RUN FOR IT!” the pink one screamed as it jumped out the back and galloped away, the blue one not far behind it. All it took was for me to see the meer SHADOW of that dragon to nearly faint.

At that moment I knew what shitstorm I stumbled in on. The fact that I was even alive right now was mind boggling. It was nothing but running and running for two weeks… well, two days of the week and then a bunch more sleeping but holy crap, I’m fucking screwed. The soldier put her hands on my shoulder, her looking angry, not at me, thankfully, but at the flying lizard.

“Listen and listen good. I may not know you but we need to reach your hunt camp if that radio station is there. I can’t let more platoons get wiped off the face of the earth with that thing on the loose. I need to warn them and all our equipment is either short range or shot to hell in the chaos.” she said, determination filling her glassy eyes, fiddling with her key ring. “I’ll follow you to the hunt camp with your car, I’ll take this so we can camp out there until rescue comes, you got that?”

I only nodded, her mood doing a complete flip to determined pretty well scared me into action, jumping out of the back of the truck at the same time she did, starting up the truck to speed our way out of there.

It had been about an hour of driving, but we had finally made it. But at the same time, I was worried. None of my family’s cars were there and there as just nothing but the breeze. Even Lupo wasn’t here either.

I searched around, trying for all of my life to see if they were somewhere around here but no signs of life. Dust was on everything, undisturbed. They didn’t make it… or maybe they went further north. I’m hoping it’s the latter. I was worried. I still am.

The army girl told me her name this morning. Lieutenant Hana Song of the Ontario Regiment. Reserve regiment as I found out. I asked her if she was related to the character from the game but apparently that was a sore spot. She didn’t like the game, so I shut up about it.

Right now she’s trying to get the radio working. I hope to god she does.