Chapters Passed out in my lab. Timber woke me up. My phone had dozens of missed calls.
The situation has gotten out of hand.
The plants are breaking up through the ground now. They... they're hunting. There's no other word for it. They're hunting. Most of Applejack's livestock are gone. So is her dog. Drained. I've examined some of the corpses. The husks. Each one tested positive for an anesthetics agent no one's ever seen before. These plants break through the ground under their prey and inject them with this poison with a touch. It's fast acting. Scarily fast acting. AJ said she saw one of her cows just standing there, chewing cud, with her legs completely covered in vines.
She figures Winona must have been asleep in the yard when they got her.
This shows a level of intelligence, something I hadn't realistically considered. Something I didn't want to consider.
I... I don't know how to fix this. If I could just figure out the pattern. Figure out how they escaped from the quarantine zone. Figure out their direction of spread.
I've asked Sunset to write to her pony friends for help. I'll take one magical fix-all with all the trimmings, thank you very much.
I need to lie down, Journal.
I'm so tired.
I don't want to write, but I have to. If I don't, I'll go mad.
I've spent the last few days postulating what's to come.
The way I figure it, the CO2 levels in the atmosphere will continue to rise at an exponential rate. The rapid change in temperature will cause most mammal and marine organisms to quickly die out. Subterranean organisms are likely gone already. Eaten. Next the fresh water and shallower seas will begin to turn green, if they haven't already. Internet is spotty down here. The green comes from newly abundant algae. It will bloom in ocean waters, suffocating bottom dwellers and killing all coral. Global warming will dramatically accelerate.
Mass extinction on a global scale...
No more fauna. The flora will conquer the earth.
Timber could still be out there. They won't let me go look for him. Say it's gotten too dangerous.
Say the vines are moving faster now. And not recoiling anymore.
We can hear them moving down here. It's like they're swimming in the soil. Maybe they're looking for us.
We're in their territory now.
Prey for the new masters of the Earth.
Last night was amazing, Journal. Timber was so sweet and gentle. The stars were shining, and the meteors were absolutely stunning. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure one of them got pretty close to us before it burned up completely. Can't be sure because I was a little distracted at the time. It really was a night that I'll never forget. That's for sure.
I said it a lot last night, but I'll say it again here. I love you, Timber Spruce.
I love you.
Gloriosa's report was on the money. Something definitely landed near Camp Everfree. The impact site wasn't that big, so it the object itself must have been small. Going by the impact site and surrounding burn damage? I'd say it was around... four feet in diameter. Gloriosa suggested that it was one of the meteors, and that gave me a giggle. But the more I think about it... maybe she's not that far off. No, I don't think it was a meteor. That'd be ridiculous. But maybe there was something inside a meteor? Something that survived the descent through our atmosphere. If true, it would have to be a material far more resilient than any on our planet.
I'm preparing a proposal for the university to get funding for a full dig. It can't have gone that far underground.
This could be something very special, Journal. I can feel it.
The university approved! My team and I will be heading out first thing in the morning. Timber is already suggesting we call the new metal Twilightimite. But that's silly.
Twilightanium sounds much better.
Three full days of digging, and we still haven't found it. Yesterday we reached the end of the initial downward impact. The object should have been right there. We could even trace the outline in the soil. But there was nothing. Just a few stupid roots. I insisted we keep digging a little deeper, but I think at this point we all know we'll be going home empty handed.
I just don't understand. The only possibility I can see now is that the object somehow survived the impact, but then broke apart afterward? But what kind of delayed reaction would that be?
Whatever. I'm sore, I'm embarrassed.
I'm disappointed. I'm so disappointed.
This is why you don't get your hopes up, Twilight.
Sorry. I'm gonna go cuddle with Timber. Maybe that'll make me feel better.
Gloriosa called during dinner at Timber's place. Said that her campers have reported some strange new plants near Camp Everfree. I asked her to collect some samples. Timber will be running out to the camp tomorrow and bringing them back to me.
She says the plants were not too far from our dig site. Not far from the impact area.
I'm thinking of those roots, and a new possibility is starting to form.
Must investigate further, but not tonight. Hard enough to write with Timber snoring beside me.
My friend the botanist confirmed it; these plants don't match anything in the natural record! This is amazing! I went out there hoping to find some new metal, but this is even better. I think these plants might be extraterrestrial in origin! Genuine organic life from beyond our own solar system, brought here by the meteor shower! It's a shame these samples are dead. I'll have to ask Gloriosa if she picked all of them or left a few in the ground. Timber said she's not answering her phone. Probably busy getting the last campers home. Can't believe school is already about to be back in session.
I've got a feeling that this year is one that none of us will ever forget.
The alien plant samples have been destroyed. My entire team has been tested and isolated for seventy-two hours. None of us show any signs of any kind of infection. Now I just have to get Camp Everfree quarantined. Shouldn't be hard now that Timber is the sole owner.
After really thinking about it, I've narrowed down the possibilities of what happened/what is happening to two options.
Possibility 1- The pod/object struck the surface and dispersed spores on impact into the air where they scattered into the atmosphere. Air currents then carried the pollen through the lower atmosphere and the seedlings were released within the precipitation over the next few days.
Possibility 2- The seedlings spread into the soil directly from the impact point.
Given that the area of environmental impact seems to be small, I'm leaning towards Possibility 2. If that's the case, then a large area of Camp Everfree will have to be burned and the soil salted.
It's going to break Timber's heart, but if what I believe happened to Gloriosa actually occurred, then it has to be done. If I'm right, then we are all in grave danger and have to act fast.
It's a girl!
Oh, little Flurry Heart is so cute. Lucky little thing takes after her mother, thank heavens. I've never seen Shining Armor so happy.
Timber seems better these days. Maybe he's finally ready to stop mourning. Seeing him holding Flurry, it made me feel... I don't know. It's way too early to be thinking about that, obviously. But still... it's nice to think about.
It's hard to believe it's almost Christmas already. Especially since it hasn't cooled down much yet.
Have to get to bed. Applejack asked me to come out to the farm tomorrow. Says there's something strange going on with some of her trees. I'm no arborist, but I can at least take a look.
I'm sure it's nothing.
Not nothing, Journal. So much worse.
They've spread. How? How could they have spread all the way to Sweet Apple Acres? How fast can these things spread if they...
No time to think about it. If they've spread to Sweet Apple Acres, then they've spread elsewhere.
Applejack's trees are dying. These new plants are attacking their roots. Draining them. Like they drained Gloriosa.
Have to get to work. Have to figure out how they're moving. What direction.
And how fast.
The charts don't make any sense! I've found eight more infection sites so far, and there's no pattern at all! Zero. Even if these things were intelligent (and isn't that a terrifying thought) this patten of spread still wouldn't make any sense at all!
I can't think in this weather. The A/C is on the fritz and it's so humid. What is going on with this heat?
It...
No. No that's stupid, Twilight. They can't be connected. If that were the case, then...
No. No. We'd be dead already.
I have to find the answer.
I will find the answer.
Oh Flurry. Oh, I'm so sorry. I hadn't considered they'd get bolder. I didn't even entertain the idea that they could move like that. You sweet, little thing. You didn't deserve this.
I should have predicted this. I should have told Cadance to keep your window shut, no matter the heat.
I should have known better.
I'm sorry, Flurry.
I'm sorry, Cadance.
I'm sorry, big brother.
Oh God, I'm so sorry.
We've been abandoned.
Sunset was going to go through the portal to get help, but she couldn't get through. The door was sealed solid. She got a message in her book afterwards. It seems that my pony doppelganger can't risk these things getting over to their side right now. She says they'll send help as soon as they can.
I don't blame her. Not one bit.
It's getting hotter and hotter. And the heat is making them bolder and bolder. They're not chasing us. Yet. And they haven't figured out how to break windows.
But they have figured out that our air conditioning units are outside. And shockingly fragile.
It's not just here anymore. There are reports coming in from all over the country. It's all over the news. There are even unconfirmed reports of other countries having the same issue. But that's ridiculous. Even if they've gone that deep under the crust, they couldn't have spread across the ocean.
...
Could they?
I was a fool. It was always a two-pronged attack. A two-force invasion.
Both of my possibilities were fact. Spores and seedlings. Seedlings and spores. Working together in tandem. The spores went airborne on impact. Went into the air. Left behind the seedlings and started to change things. They must also have carried smaller seedlings with them. Let them fall in the rain. That's how they spread to other countries.
They were pre-heating the oven, Journal. Isn't that funny? Because they couldn't move above ground until the temperature was right.
Losing contact with more and more people every day. So tired, but afraid to go to sleep. So hot, but afraid to leave the window open.
There's an old fallout shelter at the school. I found it after I transferred over, but didn't tell anyone. My little secret. My little underground science lab. I'm going to check it out thoroughly.
Figure out how many people I can safely take in with me.
Just finished getting the last supplies. Figuring out the air filtrations was the hardest part. Got to keep cool breathable air going without those things blocking the pipes. Got more people down here than I thought we would. Managed to get the girls, their families. Just waiting on Timber before we lock the door. Vines keep inching closer, but recoil when we strike back. For now, at least.
He should have been here by now.
Not answering his phone.
He
All around us. Walls are denting. Soil already pouring in. Bigger. They've gotten bigger. Stronger.
Hungrier.
I don't know how much time I have before it's over. I don't know why I'm writing this. It's over. Everything's over. But I have to put this down so someone knows that I at least figured it out before the end. I know how they escaped the quarantine. I know where they spread from.
Gloriosa. They must have left seeds in Gloriosa. And we buried her.
We planted the seeds of our own extinction.
Screams. I hear screams.
Screams aren't the worst.
It's the quiet. The quiet means they've touched you. That they're eating you.
I'm not here. It's Christmas Eve and I'm helping Shining Armor with Flurry's gift from Santa and Timber is watching me and smiling and it's not hot outside it's cold it's so cold spreading through me i didnt kno it wou be c
Journal was found beside emaciated remains of human, presumably Twilight Sparkle. Identification difficult due to the condition of the corpse.
Entire planet covered in dense foliage. Predatory. Subsisting on surviving reptiles, amphibians, and insects.
Flora keeps attempting to attack, but our magical shields are working for now.
Per the Princess' command, samples have been collected and will be returned to Equestria at once for study.
This concludes this report.
Well, hello again, Journal. I can't believe you've been lost since the move. So much has happened since then. I'll have to summarize the events some other time.
No time today. Why? Because it's my birthday!
This is really shaping up to be the best birthday ever. Had breakfast with the family. Cadance looks ready to pop any day now! Pinkie's throwing a party later at her place, and then later tonight Timber and I are going up Canterlot Mountain to see the meteor shower. And not just any meteor shower. Astronomers are saying that this is going to be the longest and most visible meteor shower in fifty years.
You know, journal.... maybe... maybe tonight's the night. On a mountaintop, under the stars, during the most visible meteor shower in the last fifty years? I mean, Timber's not pressuring me or anything, but we have been dating for a few months now and...
Yeah. Yeah, this might be the best birthday ever.
Hey journal. Sorry I haven't had time to write anything down since the funeral. Timber is still upset, still not talking much. I hate that he was the one to find her out there.
It was a closed casket. The funeral was, I mean. Small mercy for us, at least. I can't imagine what kind of shape she was in after two days out in the woods. The police have decided that she was taking a walk after sending the last bus of campers off when it happened. The coroner had it down as a brain aneurysm, but her body was...
Wait.
I just went and got the copy of the coroner's report. I asked Timber to verify, and it took a minute but he did. Gloriosa's body didn't look like she'd been out in the elements for two days.
It looked like it had been there for weeks. Her body wasn't so much a body, but a withered husk.
Like she'd been drained.
But it's the location that's really got me worried.
Timber says that he found her not far from our dig site.
Happy Halloween.
Well, not very happy at all, actually.
I think Timber and I might be
No. Don't even write it down. Don't even put the thought out into the universe. Yes, he's been distant since most of Camp Everfree was razed. But he has to understand. I don't think Gloriosa died of a brain aneurysm. I think she had some kind of fit, yes, and I think she passed out.
But I think those plants... I think they drained her while she was unconscious.
I can't tell him that, though. How would you handle your girlfriend telling you your sister was eaten by alien plants?
You'd leave. Just like I think he's
No. Stop it, Twilight. Just stop it.
We're going to Pinkie's Halloween party. We've had our costumes ready for months. My Dragon Mistress costume was a bad choice, though. But you can't predict the weather.
It's way warmer than I thought it would be this time of year.
