//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Unexpected Passengers // Story: From a Dying World to New Lands // by Electrician //------------------------------// Chapter 13: Unexpected Passengers Perspective: Eddy Culivin Location:??? Date:??? My head was swimming right now. Confused and disorientated, I wandered around my home a bit. Wasn’t I doing something else? For that matter, wasn’t I not even indoors? How did I end up here? “Hello?” I called out into the barren hallway. Not a sound returned in reply. So let me get this straight; it’s sometime during the day, and I’m home alone…this makes so little sense right now. Giving up on trying to sort this out right now, I headed into my room. The large master bedroom was well-lit thanks to the large, unobstructed, unprotected glass windows. In fact, the sun was so bright, I couldn’t see outside no matter how much I squinted, but somehow the light wasn’t blinding inside the room. As I entered the room, I looked around and immediately jumped a little. “Dah!...Twi? What are you doing here?” I asked. “Why didn’t you answer when I called out?” There was something seriously wrong here. Twilight wasn’t the type to blatantly ignore people, but not only did she ignore my call, she ignoring me now, to my face! She remained eerily quiet, just smiling slightly while giving me a half-lidded stare. Wordlessly, she slipped of the bed, and started sauntering unhurriedly over towards me. Unsure of what to think, and with mixed feelings of concern and slight fear, I just kind of stood there. “Twi, what’s wrong?” I tried questioning, but she still refused to utter a single word. The second she reached me, she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me in for a hug. “Wha-I…Twi! Get off.” I tried to squirm away. She didn’t budge. “Twilight, let go of me.” Nothing. “What’s gotten into you today?” “Eddy…” It was so faint that I barely caught it, but she unmistakably called my name. I immediately ceased squirming. I could feel it, and now that I paid attention, I could hear it as well. She was trembling as she clung to me, her muffled soft crying into my chest finally registering. What could have caused her to break down like this, to fall into such a state? “Twi, what wrong? I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s eating away at you.” She took a bit to silence her crying, then paused. The silence was deafening in the room; seriously, there wasn’t even any noise from outside. Then… “Why did you let me die?” My eyes immediately sprang open. I tried breaking free again, but ashy-grey, mismatched-length arms held me in place with inhuman strength. Fear gripped like a vice as I vainly continued my struggling. I knew those physical traits. They were signs, and I knew what they meant. I looked up. Twi’s grey, slightly-deformed face greeted my sight. Red splotches and tears streaked across it. She stared at me with bloodshot, nearly pupil-less eyes. Her misaligned teeth showed when she shrieked. “YOU LET ME DIE!” “AAAAAAAHHHHHH…” “…HHHHHHHHHHHHH-oof!” The world shifted suddenly, the pitch-black of the room indicative of nighttime. I resigned myself to just lying there, staring up at the now-familiar ceiling of my own room as the adrenaline bled from my system. The cold floor helped cool my sweaty, nerve-racked body, as my brain calmed it down by repeating the same phrase over and over. ‘It was just a dream. It was just a dream.’ Tentatively, I reached out into the darkness, groping around blindly until I found the little plastic unit I was looking for on my night stand. I retrieved the alarm clock and read its display. 3:52a.m 11/9/25 It’s been two weeks since we’ve arrived. Today’s the day we go home. Perspective: Mike Britowski Location: Ponyville Outskirts, Equestria Date: November 9, 2025 5:00a.m. *Beep-Beep. Beep-Beep. Bee-Slam!* “Ugh, why do we have to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn?” I whined to no one in particular. In reality though, I already knew the answer. Today was a special day, and between rechecking our defenses, loading mags, setting up turrets, and deactivating solar panels and wind turbines, we had a lot to do. Oh, and we have to do this all without our pony guests knowing; they’ll be coming over for a last goodbye later. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, only somewhat successfully I might add, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up; if I stayed any longer in that bed, the sweet temptation of sleep would be too great to resist. “Better go wake the others,” I mumbled to myself, if only to motivate the rest of my body to move. Trudging through the still-darkened hallways, I came to Eddy’s room. Knocking softly, I opened the door just a crack. “Eddy, time to get up,” I whispered loudly. “Yea…already up,” the reply floated back. I pushed the door all the way open, and entered. I found Eddy sitting up, no emotion whatsoever on his face. His vision appeared to be unfocused, staring at the wall opposite him without really seeing it. He seemed…I don’t know, tired, despite the fact that he had probably woken up not too long ago. “You ok?” I ventured to ask. “Yea, just a dream.” “I see. Anything to do with what’s happening today?” His eyes now focused on me. “…partly…but forget it, let’s just get this over with.” He threw the sheets off and climbed out of bed. “We have to be sure we’re prepared this time. We got really lucky, but there’ll be no more do-overs. Heh, probably used up all our remaining luck to get here.” “Not like we ever had much to begin with,” I muttered darkly. 7:00a.m. “You smell that boys?” I asked rhetorically, if somewhat sadly. “It’s the smell of clean, non-polluted air, free of the stench of death. Enjoy it while you can fellas; it’ll be a long time before the air’s this clean on Earth.” It was early morning now, the sun beginning its slow arc over the sky. It was fairly cool still; a chilly autumn morning. Despite the fact that all of us probably wanted nothing more than to enjoy the beautiful scenery until we had to go, we had work to do. Who knows, maybe we’ll finish with enough time to sit down and take it all in one last time. But for now… “Alright guys,” Edgar said, interrupting my thoughts. “You woke me up early against my will, so we’d better be doing something useful. What’s the plan?” “We’re going to get ready of course,” replied Jonathon, carrying two mugs of coffee. He handed one to Edgar, the only other heavy coffee-drinker in the group. Edgar graciously accepted the mug, his third one today. “The house’s structure and window plates are fixed, so a simple check on everything will do. After that, we need to load mags and the auto-turret, bring down the wind generators and solar panels so the Infected don’t break them, and make sure we’re mentally prepared for this shitstorm.” “Agreed,” I concurred. “I guess I’ll be stuck loading mags. In the meantime, Eddy, take down the panels and check the Ultracap system one last time. Jon, check that the generator’s fueled and in operating condition. It’ll be our only power source during the standoff, and I don’t want any more surprises. Edgar, check the defenses one last time, the make sure our ‘bail plan’ is still ready to go.” “Sounds good,” said Eddy. “Let’s get to it.” 8:55a.m. The final moments were the hardest. The only thing calling us back home were our friends, whom we felt responsible for. But after getting used to the tranquility and friendliness of these ponies’ lives, going back to shoot something in the face seemed like an impossible task. In these past two weeks, we’ve made new friends. We got to relax for the first time in a long time. We got to share what we know. In these past two weeks, even Eddy, the most reluctant of our group, began healing a past wound. All the suspicion and hate from that fateful betrayal disappearing slowly, all thanks to a particular purple unicorn. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m not sure I want to leave. I’m not sure I want to abandon my new friends, my new life, to leave it all behind and possibly never see any of it again. It was selfish of me I know, but…still. I’m sure the guys felt the same way, at least in some part. We had finished our tasks, and simply decided to sit on the porch and enjoy scenery that we were unlikely to ever see again. The final 5 minutes couldn’t tick down slowly enough. For one final time, two flying carriages came into view. Celestia’s came in for a landing first, the trained pegasi quickly yet smoothly bringing the carriage down. Luna’s followed soon after, touching down with as much grace as Celestia’s. The two Royal Sisters disembarked along with, surprisingly, the six Elements, three to a carriage. Twilight was carrying a satchel slung over her shoulders. Also accompanying the Sisters were four guards, one of them being Sword. “Well, I guess…this is goodbye,” I dejectedly stated. “It was most interesting having you here,” said Luna. “We learned so much thanks to all of you.” “I thank you all for your cooperation. As promised, we will return you to your friends,” Celestia said. “Truth be told, I’m going to miss this place, and everyone here,” Edgar said. “I, no we had a great time here,” Jonathon agreed. “We should be the ones thanking you Princesses, for all the hospitality you’ve shown us.” “Thank you all, for everything.” My ears could hardly believe it. I had to confirm it, and turned my head to the speaker of that sentence. Right where the speaker should have been stood Eddy. That’s right, Eddy had quietly mumbled it, but he said it. The mares smiled in reply. We exchanged our last goodbyes with the group, shaking hands with everyone and once again thanking them for all they’ve done. Celestia and Luna had a weird smile on the whole time, like they were giddy about something. They were probably faking it, to keep everyone in good spirits. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Eddy and Twilight hugging. It was quick, but I saw it, and I was definitely going to tease the crap out of him later because of it! “Goodbye friends!” Luna called out, the other ponies present joining in a chorus of goodbyes as well. “Goodbye!” I responded, closing the door to our home for the last time on Equestrian soil. The last thing we saw was Celestia and Luna powering up their horns. We continued to smile and wave…until the door closed fully. Hanging on the other side of the door, out of sight of the ponies, were our pre-loaded vests. The guns were in the office next to the entryway. I turned around. The smiles evaporated faster than heated alcohol, everyone dead serious. It was time. “Suit up boys,” I instructed. “Do it quickly, do it quietly. Go.” Within a minute, all four of us had dawned our vests and grabbed our primary and secondary weapons. We all checked our weapons, insuring their operation and making sure they were chambered with fresh brass. Both active and passive house defenses were up, having been triple checked to make sure they were in prime condition. We all moved into the living room, having agreed we would split to our pre-determined positions immediately after reaching Earth. All that was left to do was wait; we were ready to go. “Gather round,” said Eddy. “Alright guys, this is it. Reality check everyone. This is our last chance, no more do-overs. Let’s see if we can learn from previous mistakes, and stay alive unassisted this time. If we keep organized, stay calm and do things efficiently, we’ll have the best chance at survival. I can’t be sure that we’ll survive, but I can be sure that we’ll go down kicking and screaming all the way if it comes down to it.” “Wouldn’t go down any other way,” I added chuckling. “Alright then, let’s do-” “I say sister, this house definitely looks much better without the holes ‘decorating’ the walls.” “Thank you Luna. Like I was saying, let’s…LUNA!?” Whipping around as fast as I could without breaking my neck, I confirmed that it was indeed Luna in the room…along with Celestia, Twilight, and four guards. I stole a glance at the guys, with them being as equally terrified as I was. ‘This can’t be happening!’ “W-what are you doing here?” I asked as calmly as possible. Celestia smiled. “We’ve decided, a little last minute I might add, to formally establish contact with your universe,” she cheerfully replied. “Hope you don’t mind us tagging along.” “We mind a lot actually!” Eddy cried, his tone laced with obvious panic. “You can’t go to Earth, you…you just can’t!” “Guys,” Edgar called from the window. “That cloud ring above our heads is now a disk, and is starting to slowly descend!” “Say, why is everyone in battle armor?” Luna questioned. “Was I left uninformed of something?” “And why can’t we go to Earth?” Celestia inquired. All four of us shot each other glances, panic and horror in each one. There was no way around it. “Because, it’s…I mean…just get out!” demanded Eddy. But the princesses remained steadfast in their decision. “We will not leave until we get some answers.” “We can’t tell you, but you have to leave!” “Guys, that disk’s getting closer.” “It’s alright, we’ll just get some answers from someone on Earth.” “No! Please, just go!” “Then tell us.” “Damnit princesses, the images were real!” Eddy all but screamed. All conversation grinded to a sudden halt. “What did you s-” “The images.” Eddy repeated. “All of them, the ones you pulled from my head. They were all real. Do you fucking get it now? We have to go back and fight this God-damn menace, and we certainly don’t need ponies running around and getting in the way!” “The disk’s consuming the top of the house now, hurry,” Jonathon said, having glanced out the window with Edgar. “Sister, what do we do? Should we help these humans?” “No, what you all need to do is evacuate the house, post-haste!” “They have been very generous to us, and kind.” “Please don’t consider this now, just get out!” “And we always help those in need.” “Here comes the disk.” “You’ll die if you end up on Earth, GO!” Celestia and Luna turned to face us, the confident smile a grating clash with our horrified stares. “T’would be a shame if the first alien species we’ve met went extinct because we stood idly by,” Luna declared triumphantly. “We will stay.” An intense light poured into the room from seemingly everywhere. ‘This seems strangely familiar.’ The light got even brighter, until it was blinding even though clenched eyelids. ‘Yep definitely familiar. Shit, here we go!’ For a moment, there was a feeling of weightlessness. Then there was nothing at all.