June 26, 2015
Dear Journal,
Moriah isn’t out of bed yet, but she woke up just like anyone else this morning and she’s been difficult ever since. She’s practically demanded we make clothes for her immediately, which is understandable though it entirely fails on the priorities. Sky took her measurements, and I’m gonna pick up what I can today while I’m out doing my usual salvage. She can join the backward pants club with Joe, or perhaps she’d prefer athletic shorts with me. I guess she’s decided not to be a nudist, that’s a decision I can get behind. Eh, see what I did there?
It’s funnier when you say everything out loud. Text-to-speech programs never appreciate me.
Today’s salvage agenda: become a criminal. Well, trespass on federal land. Los Angeles Air Force Base, baby. Back again, though not the way mom always wanted. Officer training, balls, that whole deal. She got a loser and a mechanic instead. Whatever. I got in after all!
Needless to say, the security was considerably more lax than it used to be (not that a single checkpoint was ever very strict). What were we looking for? Hardware. The shooty kind. What are we going to shoot? How are we going to shoot? No idea, but at least the option’s open now. Stored it all in the basement in a locked room, crates and crates of these import guns that I’m sure nobody in the air force actually wanted to shoot.
Ever heard of a p90? Probably not, since there aren’t nations and stuff anymore. It’s a little baby gun, light enough that I could easily carry it on my shoulder and with basically zero recoil. I don’t know if we’ll ever need guns again, but it seems like the perfect weapon for a pony. Small, light, with box magazines even hooves can get undone. Aiming will still be a problem, but I’ll work on that. Maybe. If I have time. Not starving is still first priority. I’ll just sleep a little sounder knowing I’ve got these little guys in the basement. Plenty of other toys too, things we’ll probably never need. Brought in as much as Sky’s pickup could carry. Honestly, she wasn’t too happy about using it for that.
But we got a good inventory of what the base had in terms of supplies: not very much. I want to find the huge crates full of thousands of MREs, so we can get them frozen and stored ASAP. Those meals might be a critical supply for us when we’re trying to build a colony one day.
Of course, to have any hope at a colony, we need the hooves building it. Having another female will be a huge blessing, but it’s nowhere near enough. We need more diversity than just a few can provide. We also need strong, hardworking ponies. Will Moriah work hard, or will she stay inside and build a mesh network all day? Will she be another Joe?
Oh, he’s done with that now, and I guess those are pretty cool. Okay, more than just “pretty cool.” Maybe I can excuse him for a little of his time-wasting if we can actually get this whole system to work for us (how long?). The idea incorporates the local network in our house with a connection to the Iridium satellite network.
You wanna talk about a system we can’t rely on indefinitely, that’s a good one. But whatever, use what we can while we can. You’ve got these little box-lookin’ things, which Bluetooth with your phone and give it satellite connectivity so long as you’ve got a clear sky. He’s got the house set up to look like another peer on the network, and he’s written an app and blah blah blah computers.
Don’t you have to pay for satellite phone service? How did he get this thing to work? How are the satellites still working with all their ground stations offline? So many questions! I didn’t understand any of his answers, and he got frustrated and just said “I used my unicorn magic, okay!”
We tested the system today though and I was able to make a call back to him while out getting the supplies with Sky. Way more delay than I’m used to, but he said that part was normal. It’s better than the cellular service we were getting before, which was nothing.
Apparently if we want to use it long term we’re gonna have to bring power back to at least one of its offices and do a thing. Something to do with GPS or something. According to him, the nearest one is in Sacramento. It’s not a terribly long trip, but if we don’t get it done, the system won’t last nearly as long. I don’t understand all the technical details, it’s beyond me.
Point is, he wants to make a trip north, and for once I’m having a hard time coming up with ways to say no. Satellite phones, if we can get them working, would enable communication worldwide. Granted, nobody’s called us using the system (yet), so if there’s anyone operating this whole technical mess, they haven’t noticed us abusing their services.
That’s another advantage to finding the office, though. From there, we’ll be able to look at usage worldwide. Make calls to any units we want. He says we could camp there a few days, and he could call every customer in the world using a program. All we have to do is figure out a way to get power to the building.
Lots of other advantages to the trip, besides just this phone thing. Sacramento is a big city, another population center. The chances of finding other survivors have to be pretty good. Okay, it wasn’t nearly as big as LA. Maybe we should visit San Diego and see if anyone’s gone crazy yet from being alone for a month. Future trips, maybe?
Is it safe, though? That I’m less sure about. What if we break down going up the grapevine or something? I used to be able to fix anything, but that was back when I had hands. We might be stuck walking fifty miles through emptiness. Not a positive prospect.
If we were willing to wait, we might be able to use another resource we only just got our hooves on: a pilot. Moriah clearly had a less than successful flight the last time she tried it… but could she do better with a few weeks of practice? There are plenty of tiny planes nearby she could play with, see if she can find one to her liking. Having a pilot could change the game, at least while there is still high-octane fuel to burn in our engines. Ponies everywhere would see the plane flying, would know that there were other survivors. It could bring information to cities all over the country much faster than we could drive (and safer too).
But Moriah can’t get out of bed yet. Joe’s not at the top of the list of the ponies I’d like to take a trip alone with. He’s too smart, he’s awkward, and he’s a stallion, an obvious drawback in people I’m going to be alone with for long periods. Granted, the choices here are limited. He’s the one who knows what to do. Sky’s the one who knows how to keep the farm machinery churning, and Moriah is still new enough that changing over her caregivers might not be a good idea. Sky’s still the closest pony we have to a real doctor.
So maybe one advantage then; if he’s with me, he isn’t going to be alone with Sky. I think I know what might happen if they were alone together. Even if it might be better for us if they did.
Not taking my new car for this trip. We’ll be in a new environment, with all new potential dangers. Finding a new place to live would be one of the worst of those. As silly as it feels to be driving it so far, I think it’s the RV’s time to shine again. We’ll bring a nice long siphon to refuel at gas stations along the way. Toss a few of those new guns in there just in case, along with fully loaded saddlebags in case we’re forced to abandon it. Should be a great field test of the phones, if nothing else. Joe’s so sure it’s going to work he’s not going to bring any music to listen to during the drive: he’s going to stream it all from his computer back home.
Whatever Joe, we’ll see. We know you’re smarter than us. Let’s see just how much smarter.
—A
June 27, 2015
Dear Journal,
Today was the day. Today began THE GREAT SATELLITE HUNT.
It didn’t take long to get all the supplies we wanted into the RV, since we’d already packed it pretty good. Mostly came down to topping off the water, refilling the fridge, and stuffing some saddlebags for trail-living should the need require it. It’s already got solars on the roof (not enough to run everything, but enough to keep the fridge running or pump water every now and then).
Joe (and for once I’m glad he’s such a typical stallion) thought the gun thing was way cooler than it is. He insisted in taking the thing out to shoot, which was okay I guess. He’s honestly way more likely to hit anything than I am with his cheating magic, so better he know how anyway. I walked him through it (though I’d only learned anything from reading the instructions that came in the boxes, I’ve never shot a gun like this before). He’s pretty okay I guess. They’re not terribly long-range weapons, but at least I know if a mountain lion or something comes at us we’ll be able to put it down.
After those were safely stowed under the dining room seats and a satellite receiver was bracketed to the roof, our RV was ready to go. Sky saw us off, regretted she couldn’t come, but promised she would keep the base from burning down while we were gone. Said she would keep her new phone on her at all times and tell us if even something minor happened.
My buddy Huan wanted to come, and I was glad for that. He’s one big dog, bigger than me (but not stupid Joseph), and big enough to scare off lesser predators. I hope? At least we’ll be warned by the barking. Much to Joseph’s chagrin, my dog got the passenger seat. My car, my rules.
We drove until evening, but it was already pretty late when we left. Must be most of the way to Sacramento now. Lots of fields, but I’m sorry to report that the only life I saw was animal. Apparently some of those huge beef herds escaped their enclosures, because we saw them roaming around everywhere, grazing and stuff. Horses were out too, though there were fewer of them. Most of the animals stopped and stared at us as we passed down the road. I wonder if they could see the pony and the dog through the big glass windows in front. Maybe they were just startled to see another car pass by after so long.
Didn’t want to be tired when we got into town, so I didn’t keep going the rest of the way. Parked in a rest-stop, between a pair of semis that look like they’ve got about a month’s dust. How are they still here? Whatever.
Tomorrow we’ll make it into town, find this office. We’ll have to get it power, which might involve a few days work. Not sure. We’ll find out when we get there. Seems like Joseph may’ve been right about these phones, because we called back to Sky and she was able to talk to us. Still an annoying delay compared to the way phones used to be, but I guess there’s no getting around that.
Tomorrow, adventure!
—A
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That is awesome.
Oh, that's really, really clever. Joe might have the social grace of a rock, but there's no denying he's one smart cookie.
And yeah, it seems clearer and clearer A is a mare that used to be a man, but currently in rather deep denial. Can't say I blame him for that.
6095228 :(
I really, really, really love those pictures. Pretty sure a lot of others do as well 'cause they're great.
Just realized I've not commented on them so far (or have I?) Easy to forget, regrettably.
Please keep it up, they add a ton of flavour to the story!
I laughed at the image, a lot.
6095349 Really? I don't see it... huh.
I think the new mare was a man originally, as evidence by asking if she was a girl, then going silent.
6095371 Agreed
And agreed again because it's good
6095395
Lot's of little things starting to add up, so I can't point to specifics.
How A keeps talking about Joe and the lines about not wanting to be alone with him was what clenched it for me this chapter, though.
Heck, the way Joe keeps flipping between 'Gha! People!' and 'Behold my genius!' seems to fit rather well with a unsocial geek finding himself alone with a pretty girl.
Granted, he could 'just' be gay, but either way it seems to me A is uncomfortable due to noting that Joe has a crush on him/her.
6095407 I still don't see it, but *shrugs* to each their own. You could be right, though I think Joe is just socially awkward, and A just dislikes him. I could be wrong.
I DO however find it strange that "A" never reveals his full first name. Could it be that it is a woman's name unbefitting of his new body?
6095416
Think that way around works too, actually.
Still, you are onto something with that Dragon Ball Z parody. The survival stuff is neat, but I do hope this little road-trip actually brings in some actual answers because all this fumbling in the dark is getting a bit stale.
The hunt for satellites!
Also guns, yeah, I can't see THAT not turning out well.
6095349 It sounds like A might have gotten the short end of the stick with the age thing too, if they're smaller then Huan too.
6095634
Actually, long term that would be quite the boon.
If the world keeps being a place you want to actually continue living in, that is.
Still, interesting point. Hadn't thought of that.
6095636 I never really thought about it until today, but considering the references to the size difference and all... Might also be by the strength difference between A and the others isn't quite as pronounced as it could have been and the cutie mark thing. The expanded lore Scribe gave pushes it up on the list of possibilities.
So I think "A" could be saying this for one of two different reasons.
1. She's a mare, but isn't up for the idea of having foals and would rather Sky be the first mare to have one.
2. He's a stallion, but thinks it would be better for Joe to have foals with Sky because they could be unicorns.
I'm still leaning more towards Stallion.
That may be my favorite piece of art yet. Indiana Day, much better than Lonely Day.
This satellite plan sounds like a really good idea. Narratively it's also a good excuse to pick up more characters faster than before. Some from Sacramento, some along the way, possibly some more in LA by the time they get back, etc.
A bit more background on A. His mother wanted him in the military? Interesting.
Also, maintaining a bit of the tech base definitely seems like a good idea. No sense in abandoning all of the advantages of modern living, especially not the ones that will be nigh-irreplaceable once they break down. Here's hoping Joe knows what he's doing.
Today: More dakka, more lag, and a road trip!
On the downside: Strangerhorse is alone with Cloudy. This may either end badly, or end in +1 hippie.
Also, as the speculation on A's gender continues, I'm going to reject ALL your guesses and postulate that A's hermaphroditic.
6095106
To Be Fair, I didn't figure out the key. Well I figured out the pattern to the Keys, but that is beside the point. Nor did I figure out how to use the keys. Either way, frequency analysis wouldn't be useful with such short messages, especially since they used different keys. Though it was a fun little side-project all said.
A wouldn't have a reason to know this, but for all you survival-minded people reading this, freezing MREs is generally a bad idea. Reason being, the material that makes up the layers of the retort pouches respond to temperature changes (freezing/thawing) by expanding and contracting in different amounts. Eventually, this will destroy the pouch's integrity and ruin the food inside.
Source: https://www.longlifefood.com/about_mre.asp
Freezing MREs also makes them brittle, and less able to withstand impact; MRE boxes often have "DO NOT ROUGH HANDLE WHILE FROZEN" printed on them for exactly this reason.
Source: http://mreshelflife.com/freezing-extend-mre-shelf-life
I hope this helps all you survivalists out there.
Evidence mounts that A is female...'typical male' isn't something that a guy usually says about another guy, in my experience.
But the Emperor appreciates them!
And for the drawing
IMO it would have been better if it was "India Days and The Quest for the Lost Satellites"
6096020 the I hope Moriah doesn't know about the guns if they left a few in the basement.
Same here but having A just being genderless.
6096243 Don't forget that A and Sky were in charge of cleaning Moriah. I doubt Sky would have let A do that if A was male. Better yet... Hey Starscribe! Is A male or female?
I could have an idea to carry guns
You can make a sattle with attachted guns on it, but there should be a mechanism lever thing where you bite down on something to fire
A displacement gun would be better, all you down is pull at it with a string attached to a lever so it could have better focus
You don't need to go around shooting things guys jeez. Except maybe the aliens that are probably after you. You had bear mace. Anyway adventure time!
It seems like everyone who survived just happened to be a genius in one way or another. Well I guess Sky's pretty normal...by comparison. Still more useful than I am. I feel like I would just be wandering aimlessly and grazing on grass and cans of beans.
6095228
Maybe I'll add them to the author's notes on those chapters retroactively. That way they're not in-universe, but future readers will still see them...
6095347
Definitely one of my favorite in-story drawings.
6095349
I wish I was allowed to comment on theories like this. Seems like people are getting more and more sure about it, though.
6095416
I think this upcoming week is going to answer a great deal of questions. Maybe even Lonely Day's real name. Who knows?
6095636
Hah, age thing. I wish I had little emogi faces for A I could use.
6095684
Which is one of the reasons I hesitated to include information on that extended list. I was afraid people would meta. But if I didn't provide the list, side-stories might unknowingly be going far and away from my eventual canon. That concern eventually won out.
6095787
Given A's feelings about missing hands, it seems like the second possibility might be true even if A was a mare. Let the child not have to suffer not being able to do anything.
6095896
[youtube=_JUCfX1P1ik]
Though if A really started going by Indiana Day, it might be more like becoming this world's Daring Do than A's real personality.
6096020
Hermaphroditic?
media3.giphy.com/media/KZvT5AWF4ADAI/200_s.gif
6096243
I think if Lonely Day wants to freeze them, it's probably to freeze them and keep them there long term to extend the shelf life, not to allow them to freeze and unfreeze over and over. Chances are the plan would be to keep them all frozen until it's time to take them to wherever the future "colony" would be. Considering how little time they last at high temperatures, like those routine in LA...
6096345
I think I'll probably leave the error in a drawing. Unlike the story, the drawings weren't made by a computer program, so typos and mistakes are fairly likely. Unless the artist decides to do another version.
6096551
Oh, people have asked that one before. I can only promise that, if nothing else, everybody will know by the epilogue, since it's written in third person limited. I don't think I could spend the whole thing avoiding gendered pronouns without sounding terrible.
I'd say it's now more or less confirmed that A is a mare. What she was beforehand is still up for debate.
6096345 I'd honestly say that from a practical standpoint in the situation they're in, a P90 is probably a better choice for ponies than anything on the AR-15 line, if only for the sake of size and recoil (the "strength" of Joe's magical field still being untested). Of course finding the 5.7x28mm ammo for it would be more difficult in most places, but with California's gun laws (strictest in the nation) even finding standard 5.56x45mm rounds isn't very likely. If they manage to get out of the state, however, then yeah- places like Nevada are far more likely to have ammunition and parts for the AR line.
6096735
When in doubt, throw a curveball, through a window, then leap through that window and steal all the snacks while people are confused.
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Wait a minute, what does he mean Indiana??? Is that Day's real name??? sort of like Indiana Jones??? definitely interesting
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I can tell. A collision between Earth and Equestria is imminent. The only question is when it's going to happen.
6096345 Most common riffle in Air Force is the AR 15 and its varriants.
Just realized... its a stallions' day out and a mares' day at home...
that will be fun (unless moriah was rule 63ed)
I'll admit a lot of the social gender nuances and some of the other minor details fly over my head at first read. That said,
doesn't make much sense if two thirds of the trio were mares... denial aside.
6097570
It's a gag on Indiana Jones.
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Is joe frowning, or is that hair?
6098072
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6096687
See someone else agrees with me!
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/le-miiverse-resource/images/f/fd/Ancient-aliens-guy.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140915005854
6096750 Then who is Indian B? You need more individuals for casting....
I don't usually comment on stories, but this was so good that I feel a need to say something.
First of all, Good Job! I'm loving the story so far, and the little doodles really help this story feel different and special. It's a shame that they don't show up in the downloaded HTML files, or else I could have read the whole story on my Kindle.
6096750
IndianA, hah! That's pretty good. I bet "she" might like that name better than lonely day. Way less depressing.
6097329
True statement. Only thing to do now is read on and see what happens! At least it's a fast-updating story.
6097570
It isn't A's name, no. I think Lonely Day was just drawing something with some meaning to them. Like the cover of one of those Indiana Jones movies, just way less detailed. I couldn't do better with just hooves.
6097916
Depends on how A rates the value of males and females in a survival situation. At least so far as reproduction speed is concerned, females are always the limiting factor. A very small number of males, even grossly outnumbered, would make that first new generation show up very quickly. Of course... I don't think any of them seem super eager to reproduce that fast.
6098384
Thanks! It's been a pleasure to write so far. I wish Fimfiction's internal system allowed for HTML exporting of images and stuff. So far as I know, the epub version will include the images. You could use Calibre or some other conversion app to make that epub into a kindle-readable format and go that route. If you wanted it on there I mean.
6098806 They do have safeties, but they only ensure another few days of no fallout. The safeties aren't permanent measures, nor are they preventatives. They simply give you a little more time.
And a quest to shut them off? They're already shutting down, that's what's causing the radiation. The parts that require human input, the parts that keep everything where it should be, etc. are all either inactive, or failing. Plus, you wouldn't be able to get close to a nuclear reactor to try and fix it, especially when it's had a few weeks time to start letting itself go.
Nuclear reactors are (hopefully) very well-maintained, well-oiled machines, that require constant input. When we're gone, they break down rather quickly.
6099418 We had a really good discussion about all this at the beginning of the story. The problem aren't the reactors, 98% of them will shut down quickly and safely and very permanently as soon as the electrical grid fails (except maybe for old and decrepit power stations somewhere). The problem are the cooling ponds for spent fuel that will evaporate as soon as the backup diesel generators for the cooling systems run out of fuel. Then the fuel will self-ignite and produce a very nasty cloud of radioactive smoke and ash that will make the fallout from Chernobyl look only moderate, simply because the amount of fuel stored there is much larger than the fuel actually inside the core. That was the main concern at Fukushima as well.
The actual fallout area will be much smaller though since there won't be any explosion and excessive heat development like with a melting reactor core that throws the stuff up high into the atmosphere. The area will be extremely dangerous though.
This doesn't seem to be happening in Last Pony; at least it's not happening to the degree we anticipated here. But since there is a suspicious lack of exploding gas lines and burning houses and factories there's probably a good reason for it.
They missed seeing the aliens while they were on the road by the way. The semi trucks blocked their view of the UFO.
On phone, no ancient aliens guy today.
6096871
Well, mine is set in Texas... Just find the nearest rednecks house which in my case is my own house
6096871 the kriss vector as well, though im not sure how easy it would be for a pony to reload it
6102383 You're ruining all my fun for being the only person to lay down some aviation knowledge on this story, but since you bring up Kerbal Space Program, you're still my favorite commentor. Also your facts are good!
>Ever heard of a p90?
Stargate SG-1
So: Her name is A. Day.
6107090
6096871
Either look in Texas, or Georgia. Literally the 5 basic questions asked in Georgia are:
1: What collage football team do you like?
2:What church do you go to?
3:What type of guns do you have? <---Look
4:Where's the nearest bar?
5:what's your name?
Also, if you're looking for ammo, go to a forest, then search the houses near by. If the house is covered in duck tape, you're at the right place.
#RednecksLikeDucktape #DucktapeCanFixAnything
6436098 Not necessarily. Lonely Day is the name that Cloudy Skies gave A. Sky sometimes refers to A as Day and A occasionally calls itself Day.
I'm starting to think now that Joe knows more than he's letting onto.