//------------------------------// // In Memory // Story: Uncharted: Equestria // by Rayvinne //------------------------------// "Forget thy troubles, gorge thyself with cake." -Princess Celestia Uncharted: Equestria In Memory The desert. An endless expanse of dust and grit, highlighted by nothing. Water was nonexistent, and thus, no life was to be found. No life, that is, except an ancient Willies Jeep that was hurtling itself across the dunes, loaded with human and ponies alike. The infamous explorer, Nathan Drake, took a rare moment to reflect upon the odd events that had transpired across the past few days. Nate whistled as he wandered through the massive vault of human items. The assortment of weapons, vehicles, random bits of scrap, and even cans of food were strewn about. Luna’s speaking snapped him out of his amazement. “We do not know if any items in this chamber are of any use, our most esteemed scientists made most of it out to be junk.” The other ponies nodded in agreement, lost in amazement over the items. Doctor Whooves took advantage of the moment to speak. “Why one would make a metal cylinder with pictures of food on the outside, I could never understand, but, if the records are right, we came up with several inventions based on items that we have seen here. Perhaps, Mister Drake, you could shed some light on these oddities?” Now all the ponies who had been distracted and Nate looked about the items. Apparently, when Luna said there had not been humans in Equestria for ages, she didn’t include objects. Looking deeper into the piles, Nate found more modern items. Cellular phones, pocket knives, a dead laptop, and a large pile of canned goods. He chuckled and smiled as he grabbed a coca-cola from the top of the stack, then he held it up for others to see. “This, back on our planet, is called a soft drink, and this particular one is called Coca-Cola. Luna, do you have two cups to spare, preferably with ice? I think you may enjoy this.” Luna eyed the can, unsure of why anypony would drink a metal cylinder, but complied, and summoned two fancy glasses with her magic, making sure they were filled with ice. The dark alicorn’s eyes grew in amazement as he pulled a tab on the top of the cylinder, which then let out a brief hiss. A dark bubbly liquid poured from the can, filling each glass about half way. “Cheers.” Nate held out his glass, and they tapped them together with a clink. Stalwart rushed to Luna’s side as she started giggling uncontrollably. “Princess?!” Stalwart gave Nate a brief evil look, then brought his attention back to his ruler. “Luna, are you okay?!” Her response was to force his mouth open and pour the liquid down his throat, and soon he was giggling too. By the time Luna recovered, the other ponies were wanting to try some of this magic laughing liquid. “What is that substance again, Drake, it tickled my throat as it went down!” Luna giggled as she tried to lick the remaining droplets of the Coke from her glass. “It’s called soda, and it tickled because my race had found a way to infuse gas into the liquid, it tastes great, and makes for fantastic pranks.” Luna’s eyes narrowed mischievously, being a prankster at heart. “Would there happen to be more of this ‘soda’ left? And how exactly does one prank with this substance?” Nate whispered how exactly one would prank with a can of soda, and she whispered back a plan. Both of them putting on a faux innocent smile, they set about gathering items. Luna summoned a few more glasses, for the other ponies, and Nathan struck it rich as he found a two liter bottle of Sprite, and a normal can of Dr. Pepper. Nate returned to the rest of the group, who all had taken up seats on various pieces of humanity. He poured each of them some of the Sprite after handing the Dr. Pepper to a giddy Luna, who shook it vigorously. Stalwart, who had been skipped with the Sprite asked about this, Nathan replied that he had found another soda that me might enjoy better. Luna levitated the can-under-pressure to Stalwart, who, with instruction from Nate managed to get the tab with his hoof and open the can. The can, which had been shaken beyond belief, sprayed a very impressive cloud of soda into the air, covering a very shocked guard in a layer of wet stickiness. The irate guard stomped off to get cleaned, and everypony, plus human, burst out laughing. Rainbow Dash even chuckled at the sight. Over the next hour, Nathan collected all the stuff he thought he might need, and loaded into the only working vehicle present, the Jeep. Tools, extra gasoline, an old film camera, and a large stack of non-perishable food items, along with fresh foods from the survivor’s stocks loaded down any extra space in the vehicle. Despite the constant questions about human objects, Nathan had some time to explore the stacks of artifacts before they set off. One of the most fascinating things he found was an old American space probe, with the word Viking III marked on the side. ‘That’s one mystery solved, I suppose.’ He thought to himself. On the way back to the stacks, one more thing caught his eye. A large wooden chest sat under the charred remains of a Toyota Prius. After some amount of effort, he got the chest out of the pile, sending the horrid hybrid’s skeleton crashing to the ground. Nathan’s eyes went wide as he rubbed the dirt off the rusted brass nameplate, which had the word ‘Blackbeard’ etched into it. ‘Make that two mysteries.’ Shaking his head, he went and joined the ponies, who were probably ready to leave by then. They had been on a steady decline the whole trip, and now there were buildings starting to poke up through the dunes, and the forest could be seen in the distance. The jeep slowed as it rolled onto what used to be a street, the sand level to the second story windows of the windblown buildings. The sand dropped sharply as they reached the town’s square, and in the middle sat a large stone monument. Doctor Whooves shouted to Nate to stop, straining to be heard over the rumbling engine of the jeep. The jeep rolled gently to a stop, and Nathan cut the engine. The occupants clambered out and stretched their sore bodies. Willies Jeeps weren’t exactly made for comfort. Nathan, being used to riding in uncomfortable vehicles in awkward positions, made his way directly to the monument, out of curiosity. The stone depicted a large alicorn, much larger than Luna, accompanied by an average sized unicorn. Both were in attack stances, which enraged looks forever etched into their faces. The base of the monument had what appeared to be names etched into it. Here stands Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle, who became trapped in stone by an unknown attacker. This is a monument to everypony killed in the event, as they were known by their friends and family He rubbed some grit off the stone, and read down the list of names. Caramel Apple Berry Punch Colgate Aloe Lotus Thunderlane Cherilee Big Macintosh Filthy Rich Granny Smith Twist Mrs. Cake Silver Spoon Cloud Kicker Rarity Sweetie Bell Apple Bloom Apple Fritter Cotton Cloudy Pipsqueak Snips Snails Pinkie Pie Vinyl Scratch The list went on. Ponies who attempted to stop the mare, and those killed by collapsing houses or trying to save others. Below the names was a description of what happened that day. Nathan read over the names. He didn’t know any of them, but they didn’t deserve to die. No pony needed to die like that. He wasn’t one of them, but being killed by a cold, calculated killer wasn’t right on any world. He knew, he’d been pretty close to it happening to him several times. The group eventually got back together, having mourned their lost friends and family members. The Jeep sputtered, then roared to life, and they cruised into the forest, leaving their friends to rest in peace. Once in the forest, the group had to slow dramatically, less they break their spines from the rough ride. According to the Doctor, is was about time to get some sleep, and by a stroke of luck, they came across an old shack, which Rainbow identified as belonging to a zebra named Zecora. They started unloading a few items to make a meal out of, then a voice shouted out from the bushes. “Hey, who’re you?!” It shouted, rough, but defiantly female. Rainbow Dash had thought it sounded familiar, and when she turned around, she was tackled by an orange and purple blur. “RAINBOW DASH OMYGOSH YOU’RE ALIVE!” Rainbow let out a genuine smile as she hugged the newcomer. “Heya Scoots, how’ve ya been? OKAYPLEASEDONTKILLMEILOVEALLTHOSECHARACTERSTHATWEREKILLED!!!!!!!!!!!! But anyways, I’ve gotten an editor, and I’ll have him start working on the chapters ASAP. This one wasn’t edited, as I wanted to get it out, but beyond this chapter or the next, they will be edited by my super perfectionist cousin. (No offense bro) Please leave your feedback on this chapter! I tried to use the soda bit to balance out the fact that half my favorite characters being labeled as ‘dead’. (Again, don’t kill me, but just in case, I’m sleeping with a knife under my pillow for the next few weeks)