Prologue - The Height of Callousness (冷酷の極み - Japanese dialogue)
アズカ：フリークショ - Azuka: The Freakshow
著者: アンディ・ハンター By: Andy Hunter
In 2001, the city of Tokyolt was devastated by the consequences of war. Even though more than 200 years have passed since then, the scars remain.
There are no laws or security; ponies are free to do whatever they want in this world without rules. The harmony and friendship that once characterized Equestria vanished long ago, leaving behind a land of blood and destruction.
Tokyolt, once a technological paradise, has decayed into a ruinous wasteland. Nippony's eight regions lie in ruins, each one heavily contaminated with radiation. Rumors persist of strange occurrences—ponies vanishing into other dimensions, absorbed by dark magic. Over fifty disappearances have been reported, adding to the city's sinister reputation.
In the lonely streets of the Genza district, a Lexas LS-400 lay crumpled against a fallen light pole. Shattered glass littered the ground and the vehicle's dashboard. Smoke billowed from the engine, obscuring the view ahead.
The impact had caused the light pole to collapse onto the car, crushing the roof slightly but leaving it mostly intact. Inside the vehicle, a family of ponies struggled with their dire situation. Two ponies lay unconscious in the back seats, their bodies slumped and motionless.
They had been en route to Shirahema Beach, hoping to find a watercraft to escape Nippony and reach less irradiated cities in Equestria. The accident shattered their desperate plan, trapping them in the wreckage amidst the desolation of Genza.
The first pony to open her eyes was Azuka, a playful and optimistic seven-year-old filly despite the dire situation.
She felt a terrible headache and realized she was bleeding from her forehead after the accident, though she hadn't noticed it at first. Azuka gently touched her forehead, avoiding the path of blood trickling down.
"Nani ga atta no?" (What happened?) Azuka muttered, her voice tinged with confusion. Her vision blurred as she looked up at the vehicle's roof. She wanted her sight to clear before attempting to rise and make sense of the situation.
Azuka, little by little, tried to get up from her seat. Her head throbbed painfully from the strong impact against the left side of the passenger seat, where her mother had been sitting.
"Itai, atama itai!" (Ouch, my head hurts!) Azuka exclaimed. She managed to sit up, looking around in confusion.
As her vision gradually cleared, she shook her head and wiped her eyes with a hoof. The first thing she saw was her father, his head resting against the steering wheel, turned to the right, obscuring his expression.
"Papa, daijōbu ka?" (Daddy, are you okay?) Azuka called out. There was no response, only the eerie sound of the wind filling the silence.
Azuka extended both front hooves, gently shaking her mother's seat. "Mamaa, okite yo." (Mommy, please wake up.) But there was no response.
"Mada nete tte iru ndarou na." (I guess they are still asleep.) Azuka thought, frustration building. Her innocent mind believed her parents were merely taking a nap.
She then turned her gaze to her brother, Tsuki, who was still lying on the seat. Seeing her brother also asleep increased Azuka's frustration, as she couldn't stand being alone. She extended her hooves and began to gently shake her brother, trying to rouse him.
"Tsuki, okite! Hitori wa iya da yo." (Tsuki, wake up! I don't want to be alone.) Azuka pleaded, her voice filled with desperation.
Azuka stopped shaking her brother and stood on two hooves. She turned around and trotted over to the window to get a view of what was outside.
There was nothing, just pieces of paper carried by the wind, like newspapers and empty soda cans. The sky was a bloody red, resembling a scene from hell. Despite it being daytime, it was somewhat dark, and Azuka didn't dare get out of the car alone to explore.
"Totemo kowai." (I'm very scared.) Azuka murmured. The dark view outside filled her with dread. The presence of her family had always comforted her, but now, seeing that everypony was apparently asleep, she couldn't help but feel afraid of what might happen.
"Kuruma ga kowarete shimatta kara, ima kara dō yatte nukeru ka nante, muzukashii na. Watashi ga kikitakoto ni yoreba, soto no jōkyō wa zenzen yoku nai mitai." (I wonder how we are going to get out of here, now that the car is damaged. From everything I have heard, what is out there isn't good at all.) Azuka thought, bringing both front hooves together. She was in front of the Kabeki-za theater, thinking that there was still a long way to go before reaching the beach. The thought worried her, her sense of exploration battling against the fear invading her.
Azuka noticed that she was sweating as the smoke from the vehicle's engine grew more intense. The smoke spread not only through the air but also inside the vehicle.
Azuka began to cough from the smoke slowly accumulating inside the car. With the windshield completely destroyed, the smoke infiltrated easily.
She spread her little wings and shook, trying to get some of the sweat off her. "Minna, mezamete kudasai!" (Wake up, everypony!) Azuka said with frustration. The smoke was not only bothering her, but being the only pony awake made her feel isolated despite her family being right there.
Azuka was beginning to get desperate and tried to open the door to let the smoke escape. She extended one wing, using it like a claw, and tried to open it.
The door wouldn't budge, and Azuka didn't know why. Growing more frantic, she thought, "Kono kemuri, gaman dekinai yo. Mae no mado kara wa denai."(I can't stand this smoke. I don't want to go out the front window.) She pulled the handle with all her might, but it wouldn't open. Her fragile wings began to ache, marked by the pressure of the door, but she tried to ignore the pain.
"Nande konna jikan ni nete n no?!" (Why are they sleeping at a time like this?!) Azuka cried out, her frustration mounting with each passing second. "Otōsan, okāsan, Tsuki, okite!" (Daddy, Mommy, Tsuki, wake up!) She pulled the door handle so hard that she lost her balance and fell on top of her brother.
As Azuka landed on her brother, Tsuki began to cough, still not opening his eyes. Azuka rubbed her head with a hoof, trying to relieve the pain from hitting her brother.
Realizing she was finally getting some response other than silence made Azuka a little happy. "Tsuki, yatto okita ne! Hayaku koko kara nuketekou!" (Tsuki, you finally woke up! We have to get out of here soon!)
Tsuki tried to process what was happening. He had been unconscious for a long time, and neither of them had been wearing seat belts, causing him to hit hard against the seat where his father was.
Tsuki had scratches on his horn and his left front hoof, feeling only a burning sensation that was not too serious. He could ignore the pain without much trouble. "Sore wa nani dattan desu ka?" (What was that thing?) he murmured, remembering what he had seen before the accident, still unaware that his sister was calling him.
Azuka grabbed Tsuki by the cheeks, bringing his face close to hers to focus his attention entirely on her. "Tsuki-kun, hayaku koko kara nigechae!" (Tsuki-kun, we have to get out of here, quickly!)
Tsuki grabbed Azuka's hooves with his own. "Mochiron da yo." (Of course.) he responded. The smoke was beginning to fill the entire interior, making it difficult to see. The siblings could barely look into each other's eyes for a few seconds. For Azuka, it felt like an eternity since she had last had contact with her family.
Tsuki used his magic to unlock the door and open it easily. Azuka realized something the moment her brother opened the door.
"Baka na watashi. Sono te o hipparanakya doa ga akenakatta no wa shiranakatta. Demo, ima wa sonna koto shinpai nai mitai."(Silly me. I didn't know I had to pull that thing to open the door. But I guess that doesn't matter now.) she thought. Her brother was the first to get out of the vehicle, while she simply flew out, shaking her hoof in front of her face to get rid of the smoke.
The smoke began to escape from the vehicle, carried away by the wind. Seeing so much smoke frightened the siblings, as they believed the vehicle might explode at any moment.
Azuka stepped back a little."Okāsan to Otōsan ga okinai! Dōsureba ī no? Okoshite miru toki, kotae ga denai!" (Mommy and Daddy won't wake up. What do we do? I've tried to wake them up, but they don't respond!) she said, worried about the lack of response from her parents. She didn't understand why they wouldn't respond to their desperate daughter's calls for attention and care.
"Watashi ga soko kara dashimasu. Atode mewosamasu kamo." (I'll get them out of there. They might wake up later.) Tsuki said, heading quickly towards the driver's door. He believed the car could explode at any moment and used his magic to open the door.
His father, surrounded by a blue aura, didn't seem to move even though he was being handled roughly. Tsuki unbuckled his father's seatbelt and moved his body out of the car to keep him safe.
His mother was slumped backward in the passenger seat. Tsuki carefully removed her seatbelt and took her body out of the vehicle, avoiding hitting her against any part of the car.
"Koko kara dete ikō, Azuka-chan! Kuruma wa itsu bakuhatsu suru ka wakaranai yo!" (Let's get out of here, Azuka-chan! The car could explode at any moment!) Tsuki said, running at full speed in a random direction. The important thing for him and his sister was to get away from the vehicle.
Azuka flapped her wings as fast as she could, staying right next to Tsuki. She occasionally glanced at her parents, worrying and wondering when they would wake up. They were now completely alone and without anypony to care for them.
"Ano roji ikō yo!" (Let's go to that alley!) Tsuki indicated to his sister, raising one front hoof and pointing to the left.
They both ran or flew towards the alley. Along the way, there were multiple destroyed and rusty bicycles scattered around. There were also vehicles, but they were completely wrecked, some with flat tires and others so rusted that the original paint was unrecognizable.
The siblings arrived at the alley next to the Genza Yamau (ゲンザヤマウ), a commercial building that was once painted a pristine white but was now stained with dirt. The windows were broken, allowing anypony to enter.
However, Tsuki and Azuka's focus was on resting in the small dead-end alley. There was a vehicle that was unusable due to flat tires and broken glass scattered on the asphalt.
Tsuki carefully placed his parents' bodies on the ground, trying to recover his energy after using magic while trotting at high speed.
Azuka was also exhausted from flapping her wings so much. She wasn't used to flying for such a long time due to the time she had spent locked up at home with her parents, who didn't let her go outside because of the countless dangers that lurked.
"Nantena no? Kuruma mo nai shi, tabemono mo nai shi, neru tokoro mo nai! Okāsan to Otōsan mo mada okitenai." (What do we do now? We don't have a vehicle, food, a place to sleep, nothing! And our parents haven't woken up yet.) Azuka said, landing on the floor and resting one front hoof against the wall.
"Wakannai... Ma, ne, tabemono mitsukete, kuruma no tame no tasukete kureru hito o sagashite iru nda yo." (I don't know... I guess first we should look for food and find somepony to help us get a vehicle.) Tsuki suggested, sighing as he sat in a corner.
"Hontō? Oya-tachi wa itsumo, 'shiranai hito ni shinrai shinaide ne' tte itte iru no." (Are you sure about that? Our parents always tell us that we shouldn't trust strangers.) Azuka said hesitantly. The idea of talking to ponies she didn't know didn't please her.
"Sentaku ga amari nai ne. Watashi ga hashitte, anata ga tobu to shitara, bīchi made nan'nichi mo kakarisō da yo. Dareka ni tetsudatte moratta hō ga ī ne." (We don't have many options. Getting to the beach would take us days if I am trotting and you are flying. It's better to have somepony help us.) Tsuki said, looking at the ground and then directing his gaze at his parents, who still did not move a muscle.
"Tsuki-kun, shiranaihito o shin'yō suru no wa... nani ga okoru ka kowai yo." (I'm not sure, Tsuki-kun, trusting strangers... I'm scared of what could happen.) Azuka said, stroking her mother's mane, anxiously waiting for her to open her eyes, hug her, and give her the love she needed.
"Watashi mo kowai kedo, nanimo dekinai yo. Ryōshin ga okiru no matte irarenai." (I'm scared too, but we can't do anything. We can't wait for our parents to wake up.) Tsuki put a hoof on his face, wiping away the sweat. "Koko ni iru to kiken da yo. Tasuke o motomete tabemono mo sagasō. Onaka suita yo." (It's dangerous to stay here. We should look for help and food. I'm getting hungry.) Tsuki said, placing both front hooves on the ground.
Azuka noticed her stomach growling; she was hungry too, and going without food for long was one of the things she hated most. She looked down and put a hoof to her stomach.
She knew she had no choice but to listen to her brother, even though her mother and father had always warned them about strangers. But with both of them fast asleep, as if in an eternal slumber, they had no choice. Who else would take care of two innocent foals completely alone in such a dangerous world?
Azuka glanced at her father's and mother's bodies at the same time and realized she had to do it. She had to not only for herself and her brother but also for her parents and everything they had done for her and Tsuki over the years.
Azuka then looked at her front hoof and squeezed it, determined to survive and reach the beach together with her entire family and escape from Nippony. "Mama, Papa, koko kara dasshutsu suru tame ni ganbarimasu. Hayaku me o samashite kudasai." (Mommy, Daddy, we will do our best to get out of here. I hope you wake up soon.) Azuka thought, stroking her father's and mother's manes. She hoped they would wake up any moment, but for now, survival was the priority.
Prologue - The Height of Callousness (English Only)
Azuka: The Freakshow
By: Andy Hunter
In 2001, the city of Tokyolt was devastated by the consequences of war. Even though more than 200 years have passed since then, the scars remain.
There are no laws or security; ponies are free to do whatever they want in this world without rules. The harmony and friendship that once characterized Equestria vanished long ago, leaving behind a land of blood and destruction.
Tokyolt, once a technological paradise, has decayed into a ruinous wasteland. Nippony's eight regions lie in ruins, each one heavily contaminated with radiation. Rumors persist of strange occurrences—ponies vanishing into other dimensions, absorbed by dark magic. Over fifty disappearances have been reported, adding to the city's sinister reputation.
In the lonely streets of the Genza district, a Lexas LS-400 lay crumpled against a fallen light pole. Shattered glass littered the ground and the vehicle's dashboard. Smoke billowed from the engine, obscuring the view ahead.
The impact had caused the light pole to collapse onto the car, crushing the roof slightly but leaving it mostly intact. Inside the vehicle, a family of ponies struggled with their dire situation. Two ponies lay unconscious in the back seats, their bodies slumped and motionless.
They had been en route to Shirahema Beach, hoping to find a watercraft to escape Nippony and reach less irradiated cities in Equestria. The accident shattered their desperate plan, trapping them in the wreckage amidst the desolation of Genza.
The first pony to open her eyes was Azuka, a playful and optimistic seven-year-old filly despite the dire situation.
She felt a terrible headache and realized she was bleeding from her forehead after the accident, though she hadn't noticed it at first. Azuka gently touched her forehead, avoiding the path of blood trickling down.
"What happened?" Azuka muttered, her voice tinged with confusion. Her vision blurred as she looked up at the vehicle's roof. She wanted her sight to clear before attempting to rise and make sense of the situation.
Azuka, little by little, tried to get up from her seat. Her head throbbed painfully from the strong impact against the left side of the passenger seat, where her mother had been sitting.
"Ouch, my head hurts!" Azuka exclaimed. She managed to sit up, looking around in confusion.
As her vision gradually cleared, she shook her head and wiped her eyes with a hoof. The first thing she saw was her father, his head resting against the steering wheel, turned to the right, obscuring his expression.
"Daddy, are you okay?" Azuka called out. There was no response, only the eerie sound of the wind filling the silence.
Azuka extended both front hooves, gently shaking her mother's seat. "Mommy, please wake up, " But there was no response.
"I guess they are still asleep,"Azuka thought, frustration building. Her innocent mind believed her parents were merely taking a nap.
She then turned her gaze to her brother, Tsuki, who was still lying on the seat. Seeing her brother also asleep increased Azuka's frustration, as she couldn't stand being alone. She extended her hooves and began to gently shake her brother, trying to rouse him.
"Tsuki, wake up! I don't want to be alone," Azuka pleaded, her voice filled with desperation.
Azuka stopped shaking her brother and stood on two hooves. She turned around and trotted over to the window to get a view of what was outside.
There was nothing, just pieces of paper carried by the wind, like newspapers and empty soda cans. The sky was a bloody red, resembling a scene from hell. Despite it being daytime, it was somewhat dark, and Azuka didn't dare get out of the car alone to explore.
"I'm very scared," Azuka murmured. The dark view outside filled her with dread. The presence of her family had always comforted her, but now, seeing that everypony was apparently asleep, she couldn't help but feel afraid of what might happen.
"I wonder how we are going to get out of here, now that the car is damaged. From everything I have heard, what is out there isn't good at all," Azuka thought, bringing both front hooves together. She was in front of the Kabeki-za theater, thinking that there was still a long way to go before reaching the beach. The thought worried her, her sense of exploration battling against the fear invading her.
Azuka noticed that she was sweating as the smoke from the vehicle's engine grew more intense. The smoke spread not only through the air but also inside the vehicle.
Azuka began to cough from the smoke slowly accumulating inside the car. With the windshield completely destroyed, the smoke infiltrated easily.
She spread her little wings and shook, trying to get some of the sweat off her. "Wake up, everypony!" Azuka said with frustration. The smoke was not only bothering her, but being the only pony awake made her feel isolated despite her family being right there.
Azuka was beginning to get desperate and tried to open the door to let the smoke escape. She extended one wing, using it like a claw, and tried to open it.
The door wouldn't budge, and Azuka didn't know why. Growing more frantic, she thought, "I can't stand this smoke. I don't want to go out the front window," She pulled the handle with all her might, but it wouldn't open. Her fragile wings began to ache, marked by the pressure of the door, but she tried to ignore the pain.
"Why are they sleeping at a time like this?!" Azuka cried out, her frustration mounting with each passing second. "Daddy, Mommy, Tsuki, wake up!" She pulled the door handle so hard that she lost her balance and fell on top of her brother.
As Azuka landed on her brother, Tsuki began to cough, still not opening his eyes. Azuka rubbed her head with a hoof, trying to relieve the pain from hitting her brother.
Realizing she was finally getting some response other than silence made Azuka a little happy. "Tsuki, you finally woke up! We have to get out of here soon!"
Tsuki tried to process what was happening. He had been unconscious for a long time, and neither of them had been wearing seat belts, causing him to hit hard against the seat where his father was.
Tsuki had scratches on his horn and his left front hoof, feeling only a burning sensation that was not too serious. He could ignore the pain without much trouble. "What was that thing?"he murmured, remembering what he had seen before the accident, still unaware that his sister was calling him.
Azuka grabbed Tsuki by the cheeks, bringing his face close to hers to focus his attention entirely on her. "Tsuki-kun, we have to get out of here, quickly!"
Tsuki grabbed Azuka's hooves with his own. "Of course." he responded. The smoke was beginning to fill the entire interior, making it difficult to see. The siblings could barely look into each other's eyes for a few seconds. For Azuka, it felt like an eternity since she had last had contact with her family.
Tsuki used his magic to unlock the door and open it easily. Azuka realized something the moment her brother opened the door.
"Silly me. I didn't know I had to pull that thing to open the door. But I guess that doesn't matter now," she thought. Her brother was the first to get out of the vehicle, while she simply flew out, shaking her hoof in front of her face to get rid of the smoke.
The smoke began to escape from the vehicle, carried away by the wind. Seeing so much smoke frightened the siblings, as they believed the vehicle might explode at any moment.
Azuka stepped back a little. "Mommy and Daddy won't wake up. What do we do? I've tried to wake them up, but they don't respond!" she said, worried about the lack of response from her parents. She didn't understand why they wouldn't respond to their desperate daughter's calls for attention and care.
"I'll get them out of there. They might wake up later," Tsuki said, heading quickly towards the driver's door. He believed the car could explode at any moment and used his magic to open the door.
His father, surrounded by a blue aura, didn't seem to move even though he was being handled roughly. Tsuki unbuckled his father's seatbelt and moved his body out of the car to keep him safe.
His mother was slumped backward in the passenger seat. Tsuki carefully removed her seatbelt and took her body out of the vehicle, avoiding hitting her against any part of the car.
"Let's get out of here, Azuka-chan! The car could explode at any moment!" Tsuki said, running at full speed in a random direction. The important thing for him and his sister was to get away from the vehicle.
Azuka flapped her wings as fast as she could, staying right next to Tsuki. She occasionally glanced at her parents, worrying and wondering when they would wake up. They were now completely alone and without anypony to care for them.
"Let's go to that alley!" Tsuki indicated to his sister, raising one front hoof and pointing to the left.
They both ran or flew towards the alley. Along the way, there were multiple destroyed and rusty bicycles scattered around. There were also vehicles, but they were completely wrecked, some with flat tires and others so rusted that the original paint was unrecognizable.
The siblings arrived at the alley next to the Genza Yamau, a commercial building that was once painted a pristine white but was now stained with dirt. The windows were broken, allowing anypony to enter.
However, Tsuki and Azuka's focus was on resting in the small dead-end alley. There was a vehicle that was unusable due to flat tires and broken glass scattered on the asphalt.
Tsuki carefully placed his parents' bodies on the ground, trying to recover his energy after using magic while trotting at high speed.
Azuka was also exhausted from flapping her wings so much. She wasn't used to flying for such a long time due to the time she had spent locked up at home with her parents, who didn't let her go outside because of the countless dangers that lurked.
"What do we do now? We don't have a vehicle, food, a place to sleep, nothing! And our parents haven't woken up yet," Azuka said, landing on the floor and resting one front hoof against the wall.
"I don't know... I guess first we should look for food and find somepony to help us get a vehicle," Tsuki suggested, sighing as he sat in a corner.
"Are you sure about that? Our parents always tell us that we shouldn't trust strangers," Azuka said hesitantly. The idea of talking to ponies she didn't know didn't please her.
"We don't have many options. Getting to the beach would take us days if I am trotting and you are flying. It's better to have somepony help us," Tsuki said, looking at the ground and then directing his gaze at his parents, who still did not move a muscle.
"I'm not sure, Tsuki-kun, trusting strangers... I'm scared of what could happen," Azuka said, stroking her mother's mane, anxiously waiting for her to open her eyes, hug her, and give her the love she needed.
"I'm scared too, but we can't do anything. We can't wait for our parents to wake up." Tsuki put a hoof on his face, wiping away the sweat. "It's dangerous to stay here. We should look for help and food. I'm getting hungry," Tsuki said, placing both front hooves on the ground.
Azuka noticed her stomach growling; she was hungry too, and going without food for long was one of the things she hated most. She looked down and put a hoof to her stomach.
She knew she had no choice but to listen to her brother, even though her mother and father had always warned them about strangers. But with both of them fast asleep, as if in an eternal slumber, they had no choice. Who else would take care of two innocent foals completely alone in such a dangerous world?
Azuka glanced at her father's and mother's bodies at the same time and realized she had to do it. She had to not only for herself and her brother but also for her parents and everything they had done for her and Tsuki over the years.
Azuka then looked at her front hoof and squeezed it, determined to survive and reach the beach together with her entire family and escape from Nippony. "Mommy, Daddy, we will do our best to get out of here. I hope you wake up soon," Azuka thought, stroking her father's and mother's manes. She hoped they would wake up at any moment, but for now, survival was the priority.
