As the faint rays of sunshine began to diminish in the horizon, the town of Ponyville fell silent, the fillies and foals were sleeping, older mares and colts, exhausted from a days work hastily tucked themselves into their beds. The trees of Apple Acres shifted quietly in the slow breeze, The Everfree forest stood silent and still.
Applejack lethargically pulled the barn door shut with her teeth and slowly began to hobble towards the stairs leading to her bedroom, but slowly slumped over onto a pile of hay, and began to drift off into the warm embrace of sleep, a smile on her face.
Rarity lay tightly tucked in her bed, a jewel embroidered sleeping mask strapped onto her face.
Pinkie Pie, passed out on a makeshift bed of party streamers and ribbons snored loudly, tired after a long day of partying.
Twilight was overlooking a book in her study, her only light source being a single lit candle which shone dimly. Spike was at the foot of her bed, curled up in a ball in his bed, quietly snoring.
Rainbow Dash was curled up in a secluded cloud overlooking the quiet town below.
Finally Fluttershy, who was asleep in her cozy bed, angel passed out on the edge of her bed.
The two alicorn sisters,however were sitting next to each other in a field of green, on the outskirts of Canterlot gazing at the stars.
Luna, still recovering from her transformation from Nightmare Moon to her normal self, was still young and weak. “Big sister?” She said, hesitantly.
“Yes Luna?” Celestia replying, turning her head towards Luna.
"H-How many stars are there in the sky?”
Celestia chuckled, “I’m not sure exactly, thousands, maybe millions.” Celestia put a hoof to her chin, gazing up at the stars.
“Are there other places where ponies like us can live...like a different planet?”
Celestia looked back to her sister and nodded. “Yes Luna, yes there are other planets like ours”
Luna looked intrigued. “Really?”
Celestia nodded again and smiled. “Yes Luna, really”
Luna looked up to the sky, her eyes darting across the faint white dots that made up the universe.
“They’re far away Luna, very far away”
Luna sighed and looked down to the ground disappointed. “I wanted to see where they lived...are they like us big sister?”
Celestia hesitated and looked to the ground. “No Luna, they aren’t like us.”
Luna looked up at her bigger sister, she seemed saddened, a slight frown on her face. “Well...will we ever get to meet one of them?” Luna asked.
Celestia turned her gaze back to the stars. “No Luna,” She said, slowly shaking her head. “I don’t think we will”
Luna’s eyes fell back to the ground. “Wh-Why not?”
Celestia turned and looked at Luna. “They aren’t like us Luna, They are confused...they don’t know what they’re doing to each other.” Luna looked into Celestia eyes, filled with curiosity. “ What are they doing wrong, what are they doing to each other?” “Ever since the dawn of their race, they've disagreed and hurt each other.”
“They’ve hurt each other?, like they said mean things to one another?”
Celestia shook her head, solemnly. “No, they hurt each other physically, almost every day; somebody dies by the hands of another.”
Luna, shocked, stood silent for a moment until speaking; “B-But why do they do that to each other?
“They’re confused, they don’t have an official leader, they have many different ones, some good, some bad, some leaders fight with others, some people hurt their leaders…”
“People?, like ponies like us?”
Celestia shook her head again. “I don’t know what they are, but they aren’t ponies like us.”
“Is there anyway that we can help them?, like with magic?”
“We can’t Luna, and even if we could, I would leave their destiny up to them, its their choice to do whats wrong and to do whats right, They control the fate of their race, that's how it should be.”
Luna looked down, and thought for a minute or two, before looking back up to the sky. She took her two front hooves and raised them in the air, as if she was holding out her heart to the sky. "I used to be like you once...but I got better....yo-you should get better too!” Luna slowly nodded her head at the end of her sentence, a faint smile on her face.
Celestia looked at her younger sibling, and slowly put one of her hoofs around Luna’s shoulder, and looked up to the sky with Luna, a single tear rolled off her cheek, and hit the green grass below.
Earth: Year 2021. Russia; Moscow
Its been 3 years since the Russian economy collapsed, violent riots and rebellions cascaded across the land.
After the first year of the collapse, blood was shed for the first time. An angry protester pulled a gun on a police officer. He was shot before he could pull the trigger, however the death of the protester enraged the crowd, they charged the line of riot police, punching, yelling, kicking, screaming, it was pure chaos.
Alwin Buskov, a upper class business man, was born and raised in Moscow,he lived a rather luxurious life, big house, two kids, a wife, a job with excellent pay, he was living the dream. Until the economy fell. He lost his home, his wife left him and took his kids with him. He gradually began to lose his money, and soon he was kicked out of his small apartment that barely kept him functional, he was now on the street, alone, hungry, neglected, and cold. The world as he knew it was falling apart before his eyes.
Over the course of two years, looting and mugging became more common in Moscow, buildings began getting torched, stores robbed blind, people murdered in the streets. Moscow was dangerous.
Most of the population couldn’t afford to leave the country, or the city even, Alwin was one of those many. He had set up a small tent in a field outside of Moscow, he stayed alive by hydrating himself with poorly treated lake water, he ate wild berries, and stolen canned goods.
Food was scarce, Alwin only ate once a day, twice if he was lucky. He lived his life like this for a year. Almost everyday was the same, sleep, look for food, eat, and sleep. One day however, was different.
Alwin grabbed a handful of berries from a nearby berry plant that had be fueling him for the past month or so, tucked them into his shirt and hastily ran back to his small tent.
By the time he had gotten back, the moon was high in the sky, shining its dim light onto the dark Earth.
He crawled back under his tent and began to slowly munch on the bitter berries. He finished his last berry, and sighed, he stared at his sweat laced, empty hand, stained red by the juice of the berries. A lone tear slid down his dirt covered face.
“Dammit!” he cried out, suddenly enraged.
He buried his face in his sweaty hands, sobbing. He eventually calmed down, and decided that he needed a drink, he crawled out of his tent and scanned the surrounding area, He saw Moscow, his old home, burning in the distance. He shook his head, and started to hobble off towards the lake.
He reached the edge of the lake, and pulled out a small plastic water bottle from his knapsack which was slung around his back, he bent down and filled the bottle with the sickening water which was tinted a light brown. He screwed the plastic cap back onto the bottle and placed it back in his knapsack. He wanted to stand back up, but couldn’t find the strength to do so, and he slumped back down onto his knees.
He yawned loudly and looked up into the sky, examining the stars. Another tear began to well up in one of his eyes, he scanned the sky once again and then spoke.
“If anyone or anything up there is watching me....why?, why did this happen to me?”
There was no response. He raised both of his hands, palms flat, aimed at the sky and spoke again, louder.
“Why!?”
Suddenly, his heart seemed to skip a beat, and a strange warmness flowed throughout his body, he felt happy, after three years, he felt happy. His eyes widened at the feeling, and he soon found the inner strength that he lost years ago, he was confident again. He sat there like that for what seemed like an hour, until Alwin heard a sound coming from his right side, the sound of metal, sliding along leather.
The feeling halted, and his body become cold again.
“Hey!” Another voice shouted, from the same direction where he heard the sound, the shout was followed by the pitter patter of footsteps,
“You!, Empty out your pockets now!”
Alwin slowly lowered his arms, which fell to his lap. He slowly turned his head to the right. A young man, 18, 20 at most,stood about a foot away from him, he was skinny, and short. Alwin slowly got off his feet and turned towards the kid.
“Empty your pockets!, or I’ll cut you!”
He hesitated at the last bit, Alwin knew he wasn’t ready to hurt anyone nor did he have any intention to, he was just trying to survive.
Alwin looked at him and spoke. “After the crisis, all that we were left with was each other, yet...instead of helping others, you deprive them of their supplies that they need to survive, why?”
The kid looked confused but raised the small steel knife and held it in front of his chest.
“Listen man, just...just give me your money...and no one gets hurt.” Alwin shook his head slowly and took and step forward, ignoring the knife. “I’ll cut you!, I swear I will!” the kid shouted, but Alwin ignored his threats, he raised his right hand, and put it on the kids shoulder.
He stared into the kid’s eyes and spoke to him.
“You don’t want to hurt anyone, put the knife away, and go find your friends, your family, they need you, and you need them, now go.”
The kid slowly lowered the knife, took a step back, and stared into Alwin’s green eyes for a second, he slowly nodded and began to sprint back to Moscow.
Alwin sighed, and began to make his way back to his tent, whatever he had encountered had changed him for the better and he was glad it did.
End.
