A Shadow of Myself

Charlotte had spent many an hour over the years in Sunset Blessing's office, fruitlessly trying to get her magic to work. During that time, Charlotte had gotten glimpses of the various subjects that caught her other self's interest. One such subject that had garnered Sunset's interest was questions about the similarity between humans' and ponies' technology and society. Why did both societies develop trains, and why were they so similar? Why were tools and architecture similar? Why did clothing, once you adjusted for species, seem to follow similar styles? Anthropologists and sociologists had made these the most significant questions in their fields since the meeting of the two worlds.

They would have a field day with this.

They were standing on what could have been the main street in any small town in America– the main street if it had gone through the apocalypse. Most of the buildings were wrecked and collapsed, and many burnt down. The road, while asphalt, was heavily cratered and broken. There were bones in corners like the residents had tried to take shelter against buildings and died doing so. Litter and debris were everywhere. The air felt stale, even though it still carried the foul stench of pollution. This was a place that had gone through a war.

However, strip away all the signs of past carnage, and it still didn't blend in perfectly with the towns back home. This looked like it was something that would have been around a hundred years ago, about thirty or forty years before she was born. Perhaps whatever had happened here had happened a hundred years ago. Even then, there was something slightly off about the town. Doorways and windows seemed too wide and low, not so much to be immediately noticeable, but she took notice the more she looked. The street seemed slightly too narrow. Shops, or what remained of the shops, had photograph signs without a hint of writing, aside from some stray numbers here and there. It was like a version of home copied by someone who saw it once and did their best to mimic it.

"It seems my mother's assessment of this world's military capabilities was faulty," Phobia said as she looked around.

"What assessment?" Luster asked, looking at Phobia in confusion.

"You wouldn't have seen the report. It only circulated among the highest ranking government officials," Cadence explained as she frowned at their surroundings. "I can't fault her for having limited information to work with, but it was definitely incorrect. This is troubling."

"Did a nuke or something go off?" Andrea asked.

Sapphire shook her head. "No, I've seen that kind of devastation before. What happened to Riverview wasn't a nuclear bomb, but it had similarities. The damage would all radiate out from a single location. The buildings here seem to have been destroyed randomly, and everything else is tossed around with no clear pattern. This was no bomb. An army or something big went on a rampage through here."

Sweetie Belle walked over to a stone wall and examined it closely, rubbing her hoof over several small holes. "There are scorch marks around these holes. They're like really concentrated unicorn blasts."

"Or laser blasts," Charlotte suggested. "Lasers are hot, right?"

"I don't think that bear I fought could pull off something like that with his belly. Otherwise, he would have been using that instead of a gun," Andrea said grimly. She closed her eyes for a second and then shook her head. "Still not detecting any magic but ours."

Empathy made a bunch of noises, and Phobia listened carefully before passing on the gist of what he was saying. "He doesn't know what could have done this. The bears shouldn't be able to do this, according to him."

Apple Bloom felt at the ground and kicked some rocks. "Ay don't think anythin' has been disturbed here for a long time. Ay reckon we're the first creatures to come through in years."

Cadence took a few seconds considering in silence. "We'll still take it safe for the time being. Josie will lead us to where she found shelter. Once we have set up a camp, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Luster Dawn shall go out in pairs and explore the town. Always keep your partner near you. Sapphire and Bursa will each take to the air and scout where the roads exiting the town lead to. If any of you find anything, return to camp immediately. Also, return after an hour if you haven't. Stay on guard at all times. We have no idea what we are facing here."

"What about the rest of us?" Charlotte asked.

"We stay at the camp," Cadence answered. "You, in particular, always need to be in a position the rest of the team is aware of. We can't have you wandering. Your sister's job is to stay with you and guard you. Once our camp is set up, Josie and Phobia can get some rest, and Phobia can start assessing the dream realm."

"Where is the enact building?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Josie pointed a wing down the street. "Short distance that way. It was a toy shop. Guessing whoever came through here didn't think it worth the effort to destroy. Quick warning, they have plush care bears in the shop, gave me a fright when I was checking it over."

"So we get to be surrounded by visual reminders of who killed Kristin," Charlotte muttered.

Bursa snorted. "Look around you, kid; we already are." She then flashed and turned into a pegasus with black fur and a red mane.

"Do you have to keep the whole black and red thing? It looks tacky. It makes you look like a cartoon villain," Andrea said, looking the changeling over.

"Black and red are my primary colors," Bursa protested. "Anyway, it blends in with this darkness."

"She's not wrong," Luster said in the changeling's defense as she looked around and shuddered. "Dark in more than one way. So many dead here. I couldn't imagine this ever occurring in Equestria."

The changeling snorted again. "You don't know what you ponies are capable of. You call me a monster? I've been in the depths below the Hallowed Shades. I know what is down there. I hear they're still pulling the bodies out."

"Let's try to be civil and get along," Cadence said wearily. "We're going to be spending a lot of time together and depending on one another. We need friendship. I know that can't be forced, but snarling at one another isn't going to help us. Bursa, I understand your resentment of ponies, and you're right; none of these others have seen the things you have or been mistreated by ponies the way you were, but we aren't Doctor Rossman, and we aren't your enemy." She turned her gaze to Andrea. "I don't think I need to give you much reminder that you could be viewed as monstrous by some for your natural appearance, and it hurts you. If Bursa wishes to maintain some of her natural coloring, I believe you're the last one who should be judging her for it."

Andrea's ears sagged. "Sorry, Bursa. I was out of line."

Sapphire frowned. "Now isn't the time, but later on, I want to hear about what Rossman did to you…if it isn't too painful to talk about. It took you mentioning him a few times for me to remember that name, but I do remember it. I only have secondhoof knowledge of the guy, but I heard about some of the crap he was into. If I knew he was hurting people, I would have helped track him down."

"Old age beat him in the end. He and his machinations are no more," Cadence said.

"Doctor Lair too?" Bursa asked, snarling again despite the warning. "She wasn't the one giving the orders, but she was an accomplice."

"I am unsure of her fate. I promise to look into it for you when we return home," Cadence answered.

"I can answer that," Sapphire cut in. "I had my own run-in with her a few years back. She was arrested, and as far as I know, she's still jailbait. I doubt it will make you feel any better, but I know she was repentful of her work by the time the feds came for her. I'm sure that would include whatever was done to you."

Bursa sneered. "Her feeling sorry doesn't undo anything. Let her rot in jail till she dies."

Josie opened and snapped her wings closed. "Back on track, people! Follow me so that we can set up camp. I'm tired and want to get some rest."

Charlotte stayed surrounded by several of the team as they walked down the street. She shuddered a little as she saw more and more bones covered in ragged clothes along the way. Empathy was practically hugging her leg as he walked beside her and probably getting his fill of empathy from her at the moment, judging by his fearful looks at their surroundings. She wasn't sure what Josie had been talking about earlier.; those bones in the wreckage seemed human.

Looking past the damage, the town didn't have anything she felt was truly alien. A shop with a hammer and nails for a sign was either a construction company or a hardware store. There was a shop with various nuts and berries on its sign that was clearly a grocer. It was hard to say what most of the rest were. Many of the buildings had walls caved in or the ceiling or both; some were nothing but rubble. It was uncomfortably silent, with only their steps to break it. There were no stray dogs, cats, birds, or even insects. She wasn't sure if she would be thankful or not to hear something else make noise. It would break the eerie silence, but it would mean someone else was here, and with the way things looked, she didn't want to meet whoever that was.

"Here it is," Josie announced as they reached the first building in town that seemed to have miraculously escaped unscathed. The sign had a doll and a toy train, and it had a display window that included dolls, toy trains, toy boats, board games, and care bear stuffed animals. There were more stuffed care bears than anything else.

"Seems strange that the bears would turn against these people," Sweetie Belle said as she looked at the window. "Look at that. The humans here loved the bears. Why would they do this?"

Empathy made a bunch of noises.

"The elephant insists that No Heart did something to the bears," Phobia interpreted.

"And we hope to find out how to undo it," Cadence said firmly.

Josie walked up to the door and pushed it open. "No lock. Seems strange. You would figure that even in a peaceful society that at least the shops would have locks. Kids will try to steal a toy if no one is watching. It doesn't mean kids are bad, but they have a want-it-take-it mentality. They are all about want-fulfillment up to a certain age. The shop should have a lock."

Luster Dawn shook her head. "We don't know anything about their society. It might look similar but function by very different rules."

"I don't think it is functioning by any rules right now," Charlotte muttered.

"We can try to determine details of how society worked as we search, but our goals for the search should be finding out how this happened and where the attackers went," Cadence said.

Sapphire pointed a wing up. "Isn't Care-a-lot up there somewhere? It's been a long time since I watched a care bears' cartoon, but I remember that."

"We haven't verified the bears did this. It doesn't seem like something the bears who attacked the manor could do," Andrea objected. Empathy nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps," Cadence said. "But we need to find out if it was No Heart himself or if he has other allies that we don't know about. Let's go inside and set up camp. Hopefully, we'll start to find answers quickly."

Charlotte looked around at the street one last time. It seemed like they had more questions than they had before in the short time they had been here. She asked herself again what had happened here, but the street provided no answers other than carnage.