There was an aura of calmness, an entrancing peacefulness hovering above that wet parking lot. You'd expect magic to be hiding in ancient stones and fairy circles, but I've come to realize that the less you try to find it, the more present it becomes.
Rain splattered on the concrete, forming shallow puddles that dribbled down between the cracks, reflecting the blurry red and white lights of the junk food signs. Across the street, a liquor store had its ceiling covered in green neon, it tinted the low rain clouds in a radioactive-looking glow. Iowa's finest aurora.
It was a beautiful night in the outskirts of Corning. I'm not being sarcastic; you see, that was the closest thing to freedom we had ever experienced. Out of town, out of sight — at least temporarily — we were safe. And boy, it felt good.
The town wasn't overly crowded, but the cheap-ass motels by the highway had no vacancy whatsoever. The evacuation zone had been expanded by a few miles, and people were gradually moving upstate. Although Corning wasn't anywhere near a major city, it had a fair share of amenities.
It didn't felt wise to spend our money in a hotel room considering we'd be heading to James' house the next morning, so we both agreed to park the car somewhere safe, preferably with bathroom access, and stay there until sunrise. Walmart seemed far too busy, so we moved over to a quieter rest area, near the shade of a Wendy's sign.
"That girl with the red hair creeps me out." Luna said, poking her head out of the window.
"She creeps everyone out." I noted. "The burgers are good, though. It's a shame you don't eat them." The pony's expression made further words unnecessary.
"We'll find something for you. There must be eggs, or some vegetarian menu — crap, I bet even butcheries have vegetarian options nowadays."
"I'm not that hungry. Just tired."
Luna tried to stretch herself on the backseat, but our bags blocked nearly half of the space. Whenever she unfurled a wing, the other one got stuck somewhere else. When she rolled to the side, a seat belt wrapped itself on her hind leg. The pony let out a muffled groan.
"This won't do." Luna sighed. "I'll end up stabbing you with my horn."
"Ah.. Well, that'd be quite undesirable." I chuckled. "Here, come. I have an idea."
We hopped off the car while I tried to make the cabin more alicorn-friendly. Luna's hoofs clip-clopped on the drenched asphalt as she walked around.
"Todd, it's cold!" She whined, shaking the tiny droplets of water from her curled wings and mane.
"I won't take long." I said, pulling up the handle to push the front seats down. After struggling with the rusty hinges for a while, they finally receded.
"Alright, so — it's not a California king bed, but that'll do for tonight." The cabin interior had been partially turned into a flat space; the seats serving as a makeshift sleeping surface, bags as pillows. I grabbed some thick covers, and that was it.
"Finally!" She said, crawling back into the car.
"Whoa whoa whoa, not so fast miss! I don't want your muddy hooves on my covers. Dry 'em first."
"W-what? My hooves are not muddy!" Luna groaned.
"No, but they are drenched and dripping parking lot water everywhere."
Luna rolled her eyes, but agreed to cast a drying spell on her body — which as a matter of fact — made the fur around her neck and chest particularly floofy.
"Satisfied?" She asked.
"Very."
Floof is always satisfying.
The lights had been off for quite some time, I stared at the foggy window, at fragments of clouds, at the starry sky, and distant lights; yellowish floating orbs, dim white flashes, red blurs. They reflected on the low ceiling creating a phantasmagorical show.
I liked it; it calmed my nerves.
"Todd?"
I knew that kind of whisper.
"Hmm?"
"Are you awake?"
"Yeah" I said, turning around to face her.
Luna was cuddling the pillows she brought from the farmhouse. It was hard to see anything else in the dark — but her eyes — boy, they shimmered. I had the impression that some of her physical traits were becoming more vivid as the days passed by.
"I was wondering... It's something you told me, actually."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Why did your brother — uh — why did he tried to kill me?"
One couldn't possibly lie to Luna. Not for too long.
"Well..." I sighed. "That wasn't his plan, to be honest."
"How come?" She said.
"Because it was me, Luna. I was the one who wanted to hunt you, I gave the idea and he agreed to help." It felt weird to admit that. Mostly because she was the one that should be dead. "But I didn't know it was you back then — I mean, I knew it was you, but not the-"
"Don't worry about that. It's alright." She touched my arm with a hoof.
"No, it's not alright. It's not alright to hurt other beings — It's a fucking shame, and I only came to realize this after I killed my brother."
"You shouldn't blame yourself for that, Todd. It wasn't your intention." Luna said almost in a whisper, moving closer to me. I could feel the warmth of her chest near mine.
Her eyes gazed into the empty space between our bodies.
"I had a misunderstanding with my sister once. Actually... It was way more than a misunderstanding." She had one of those smiles with a hint of melancholy; a smile that makes you wonder about all the untold stories behind that expression. "I was imprisoned on the moon for a very long time."
"On the moon?" I raised my eyebrows at that.
"Yeah, but not your moon — you have to understand that most of the places I've been, and the things I've experienced, are not from this world." She stated.
"I know, I know. But... The moon, though?" I shook my head.
"Yes." She nodded. "Other ponies couldn't possibly survive there, but I could. I did." She let her head rest beside mine, as we both quietly appreciated the spectral light show in the dark ceiling. "If there's anything worse than death itself, it's the endless grasp of eternity. Alone."
"You don't look eternal." I told her.
"Not on Earth. You should see me in Equestria — I'm way better than this." She chuckled.
"I like 'this' the way it is." I admitted. It was hard to conceive an enhanced version of Luna, anyway. "And I don't think ponyland would be too fond of me anyway."
"Of course they would!" She nuzzled my neck; I shivered at that unexpected touch. "Ponies can be very understanding."
"Yeah... sure." I chuckled. "Who knows, maybe one day I'll take you home in a magical rocket, powered by rainbows, glitter, and radioactive stuff."
The morning urged us to keep moving. After a quick breakfast that I retrieved from Wendy's drive-thru, and a much needed visit to the restroom, we were both ready to hit the road.
Luna finally agreed to come with me on my quest to find James. We had nowhere else to go, after all, and since we were already in Corning, it shouldn't be a big deal to knock on his door.
If we could find him, that's it.
"All these houses look the same, how are you supposed to find a specific one?" Luna asked.
"James is a quite- well, he's a quite peculiar person. It won't be hard to find his place, be sure of that." As far as I knew, he had never left that neighborhood, and chances were that he had only moved from the basement of his mother to the house upstairs.
It's not that hard to get lost in the suburbs, specially for people like me whose natural habitat is a corn field. It took us nearly an hour to find a suspicious house.
"What about that one?" Luna said, pointing at an anomalously secluded property ahead. Truth be told; the house was an eyesore.
"Jesus... It has to be that one." I turned off the car.
The house was covered in a gray substance; some kind of foam used for thermal isolation which had been sprayed all over the structure, from the porch to the roof tiles. But it didn't stop there.
All windows seemed to be sealed from inside with metal sheets, and its once lovely balconies were now decorated with a dense layer of barbed wire. A decoration that was also present around the porch, where it featured a collection of different warning signs.
"Uh, I'm not sure... I mean — it doesn't seems like this man wants any visitors." She stared at the electrified barbed wire fence with a look of concern.
"I guess we'll have to find out." I let out a nervous chuckle. "Just make sure your invisibility spell is running. You know the rest."
"Don't touch anything, don't speak to anyone, and stay as quiet as possible." Luna rolled her eyes, mocking my usual combo of recommendations.
"That's my unicorn!" I petted her head. "Come over."
I started to make my way through the lawn, which unlike the house itself, didn't seem to have any visible security ornaments. Still, before I reached the front stairs, a raspy voice spoke through an intercom planted between the shrubs.
"Don't you fucking move."
I halted, only a few steps away from the porch. I felt Luna's breath on the back of my hand.
"C'mon James; are you forgetting your old pals?" I said, showing my open palms. "Todd." I told him.
"There are many Todds."
"Todd McRaven — dude — what the hell. It was me who found you crying on that bathroom stall after the prom night!" Some memories never fade. "Camille Brooks, remember? You tried to ask her out, but only managed to puke a mix of diet coke and Doritos on her stupid dress."
"Enough!" The voice said.
There was static coming from the intercom. If I knew James, he was staring at his microphone calculating which words would be spoken next. The cameras around the house moved on their bases and focused on me.
"Approach the front door carefully."
We did so, but stopped on our tracks when the electric fence dry-fried an unsuspecting squirrel. Luna covered her eyes and looked away.
"Ah... You might want to turn that off." I said, hoping he'd hear me.
There was a beep.
"Keep moving" Said the intercom.
Step by step, we walked into the porch. Aside from the huge spherical camera planted above it, the front door was plain white. Nothing out of the ordinary. So normal-looking in fact, that it made me uncomfortable.
Then I heard it; this heavy, deep sound — of metallic grinding or dragging. A duct coming out on the wall coughed a puff of black smoke. The wooden beams on the floor started to tremble to the hum of a diesel generator.
Something massive slid behind the walls. You could feel the weight shifting.
It lasted for about fifteen seconds, before it all wheezed back into silence.
James opened the door.
"Dude." He said. It was a long and boringly-tuned word. That was the way he spoke; as if he either didn't cared, or didn't felt like talking to you. Good guy, James. "Don't talk about Camille Brooks again. My therapist said I developed post traumatic stress disorder because of that incident." He scratched his eyebrow.
"I doubt you have ever been to a goddamn therapist in your life." I said.
"My point still stands." He said. "Look, the blast door is scheduled to close in twenty seconds, you better come in."
Luna wasn't convinced about James yet, and I couldn't blame her. But that was our chance, so we hopped into that suburban fortress and hoped it was as unicorn-friendly as my car.