July 11, 2015
Dear Journal,
Not much to say, really. No word back from the HPI, assuming they’re even really a thing. House can’t keep up with numbers like this. It’s the water that’s the biggest problem; the AW generators just can’t suck anything else out of California’s dry air.
This is a terrible place for a colony. Even if it wasn’t for the dogs and the heat, most of our water was coming from aqueducts and other redirected waterways. None of that stuff still works when there aren’t any humans to keep the pumps running and decide when inlets should be opened and closed.
This isn’t like the north, we don’t have dozens of hydroelectric dams to keep things powered. What’s happening to that power anyway? Whatever, I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s not coming here.
Maybe the HPI knows. Maybe they’re the ones who took it. They couldn’t really have… portable thorium reactors, could they? They certainly had drone vehicles. It might be the large aircraft had a human pilot inside, or maybe it didn’t. Guess there’s no easy way to know.
We’re planning the route and the location for the future colony; the real one. It’s got to be somewhere really, really stable. There actually aren’t that many places that fit the bill. When we go, we’ll have every single one of us driving. That means I’ve started semi-truck lessons with every pony in our group. Daily, one hour. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun.
Maybe not, but fuel is limited. Even assuming we can make biodiesel or something, the sooner we actually leave the more frequently we can travel out for supplies and the more we can bring to the colony site. It will probably be our home for the rest of our lives, so we better choose somewhere damn good.
Jury’s still out on where, though. Not here.
—Day
July 14, 2015
Dear Journal,
Every day I’m more conscious of the need to have fun. Maybe I’m just going completely stir-crazy. The stress of these stupid people hanging over our heads. How much damage could they cause if they wanted to? They managed to search our home quick enough. Wonder why we didn’t find any footprints. Proof it wasn’t humans? Or just proof they were careful?
We have a spot picked out for the new colony. Lots of debate, mainly between rural areas and city. A city would give us the advantage of having structures already built as well as tons and tons of salvage. It would carry some disadvantages though, like fire vulnerability and distance from farmland.
In the end, our choice might not have been the most practical (I don’t actually know). We decided against the city in favor of a small town in an extremely rural area. How are we going to build a colony all by ourselves?
That’s a good question. I’ll let you know when we figure it out.
Oliver came with me to watch Sky do her thing with the animals today, which I thought was nice of him. He watched her trying to fly, and made some interesting suggestions. He thinks she’ll be better off if she starts from somewhere high up already, making the muscles stronger that way. He suggested jumping from a building.
Naturally none of us liked that idea. Like a baby bird, failure would mean certain death. Did she really want to chance flying on something I saw in a vision? Maybe she did too… I don’t actually know. She won’t tell me. Psh. I told her everything I saw! She’s helped me so much in other ways… of all the other ponies here, she’s the one I trust the most. Why won’t she trust me?
Oh, and some good news! The garden's doing really well! Er- half of it is? It's really weird, because we planted mostly the same things, and they've been watered by a sprinkler. Oliver says they just need "more attention" and the other half should bounce back. Guess I trust him; he is the expert gardener. He sure did miracles with that hospital garden. Pity we don't have enough water to give these plants what they really need.
—A
July 15, 2015
Dear Journal,
Finally finished getting the capacity of the house upgraded. Wired all the solar units from every house nearby. We’re losing current along the way, but even half or less is better than the nothing we were getting when those houses were just pouring into the grid.
Joseph and Moriah have become my work crew. It was just going to be Joseph (that damn horn!), but Moriah insisted on coming along. Said that “we wouldn’t need a pilot forever," so maybe she could be an electrician. Most of the time she was just making doe-eyes at Joseph, confounding the poor stallion and making it hard for him to work.
I do feel bad for her, though. Moriah has long since learned about the difficulties of being a quadruped, about using your mouth for everything and the velcro leg socks and all that crap. She’s also seen the way Joseph doesn’t have to worry about any of those things.
He tried to give her a magic lesson yesterday. I heard her screams from several houses away when she tried it. Oliver gave her more morphine than seems wise for a human, and that seemed to help. Even so, she hasn’t tried since. Is her horn going to heal one day? Oliver doesn’t think so, says the bone’s broken for good. Anything that heals is bound to come in weird if at all.
Of course, that’s all based on what he knows of Earth animals. We have no guarantee those rules apply to ponies. Maybe she’ll make a full recovery.
I can relate to the frustration of being a regular pony, Moriah. I don’t have a horn or magic either. You don’t see me consoling myself by manipulating a stallion who’s probably never had female attention in his life, though.
Shut up, don’t even say anything. I’m not going after any pony. I don’t understand the appeal, okay? I’m human. I’m human, I’m not an animal… I don’t think about ponies… dream about them…
Let’s move right along. Solar’s wired now. With the lot of them, we’ve got about twice the power we did before (during the day). We aren’t going to bother with wind, since our time here is so scarce anyway.
Honestly, I’m starting to wish that the HPI would just call already. At least then, for better or worse, the stress would be gone. Decide whether you’re going to help us or tell us we’re going to be left alone! The stress of not knowing is much worse.
—A
July 16, 2015
Dear Journal,
This disaster has been going on too long; long enough that all of us are feeling like checking on our families can’t wait. Moriah is more than happy to fly us there, but first we need to make it so she can fly.
Had her pick out the best tiny plane, spent the day on conversions. Good news is that the fuel seems intact. I brought this test-kit you can use to check the octane, and it looks like the storage tanks were built to insulate against the temperatures here. Score one for human engineering! Tomorrow she’ll try taxiing around the runway on her own, and even take a quick solo if she feels up to it. Joseph volunteered to come along, but we ultimately told him no. It would be best for all ponies involved if we take the smallest risks we can. Giving up a female would be tragic, but not as tragic as losing an entire breeding pair.
Not that there are any breeding pairs. Nobody’s tried… we’re still humans!
‘Cept maybe Cloudy. I feel like she never really went through the species (ect.) crisis that I had to struggle through.
Too bad there aren’t any stallions brave enough, eh? What a jolly mess we all are. All aboard the extinction train!
—A
July 17, 2015
Dear Journal,
It would’ve been Jennifer’s birthday today. I’m not sure if she’s even still alive to celebrate it, but I’m going to find out soon enough. Moriah made her first test-flight as a pony, this time with much better results. Guess converting it so a pony can use the controls really does make a difference
We’re refueled and ready to go. Barring unseasonal weather, we’ll be lifting off early tomorrow morning. Flying to Oregon. Probably not a same-day return trip. With any luck, there will be two fewer empty seats on the plane coming home. Having two more females would be fantastic for our chances, but I couldn’t care less about that. Those “females” are my family, damnit. I’m coming back with them. It’s going to be fantastic. I won’t care how disagreeable Moriah is or how obtuse Joseph acts. If I get them back, I can tolerate anything.
Maybe Moriah will be luckier than with her horn and come back with some family of her own. It’s hard to tell if she wants to; she sounds incredibly conflicted about it. I honestly don’t know if she actually wants them to be there or not.
Doesn’t matter what’s motivating her, though. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t check. Might as well fully utilize the benefits of a pilot while we have working planes. Also powered up the printer and made a simple flyer. “You Are Not Alone”, with directions here and our radio frequency. We thought about putting instructions for the satellite stuff on there too, but apparently Joseph has a custom app and the thing won’t work without it (not really sure the details, it’s kinda over my head).
Printed a few hundred and laminated them. That used to be so expensive. Expensive. We don’t even have a concept of money anymore. I wonder how long it will be before we do. Probably… not until we have a population bigger than a few. Goods and services, supply and demand, all that. Probably will need to think of something else to use. Gold and jewels are pretty abundant for us now, relative to the population size. Maybe I’ll go and see if Fort Knox really has any of that gold inside it one of these days.
Probably won’t be taking my diary with me. Too much chance something might go wrong, and I want my record to survive. I’ve given Sky explicit instructions not to read it, and to write in it only if something critical happens when I’m gone. She’s to call in that case too, though if we’re in the air we might not get it until we land.
Whatever, they’ll be fine. Just so long as those HPI people don't show up. That shouldn’t happen.
I’m more worried about myself. I feel like I’m learning the rhythms of this new body pretty well. Maybe I should wait awhile before going, until I know I’m going to be more stable. Nope. No more delays. Not one.
Please God, keep her safe. All of them. I don’t care if you burn my home to the ground and take away all our hard work. Just keep them safe. My friends are the most important thing in my whole world.
Only thing, really. You took away my whole identity. Seems like the least you could do would be to let me keep them.
—Alex
Heh, it is a fitting name, but I honestly can't be sure at this point whether or not you just pulled it from the comments.
One way or another, the next entry is going to be a drama bomb.
Yes! A full name! Now we can know for sure whether Alex is a... Alex.
You tease.
I don't expect the HPI to do anything more for a while; they're going to be busy panicking and thinking about what they've learned from their conversation with Alex.
Alex seems to be getting more and more conflicted, internally. I hope things turn out okay with him and Cloudy...
But really, 'Alex'. You're such a troll.
*sigh*
This seems to be the most damning evidence that Alex is currently a mare, so far. Maybe they don't consider themselves applicable as a breeding pair though, and thus didn't count themselves?
6125471 NO!
SkySeph is superior.
(I regret nothing)
Worst case scenario: Alex is devastated by the confirmed loss.
Middle case scenario: His family don't believe it's him which devastates, but maybe not as much.
Best case scenario: They're alive and follow them to the base and help there.
So, his original name was Alex (Spoiler tag is up to make sure it isn't ruined for anyone yet to read this chapter). He seems to be growing more attached to "Lonely Day", must darn confusing for his sense of identity.
eh?!
6125483 Fate and authors never can resist a one liner like that.
I'm a bit more on our Alex being male.
Alex goes with male characters more than female ones.
The next day in this story is my birthday it sounds like a promising chapter!
Also, for those of you just finding out that A's name is Alex, they said it last chapter too. Joesph said "Alex" whenever they were in the call. Since there was no one in the group named Alex, it had to be A. And also, I hate you Star for giving A a name that could go for both genders...
6125516
Just to muddy the waters, if Alex doesn't consider A + Moriah to be a breeding pair, it could also be because Alex is not an adult.
That might also explain why the conversation in the last chapter didn't mention Alex - Alex isn't a stallion or a mare, so wasn't given as an example of either. It would also fit with Alex's lack of cutie mark, difficulty staying up late, and I think there were several vague references to "losing more" than the others which it would also make sense of.
6125816 It doesn't really make sense for Alex to not be an adult. His lack of cutie mark is most likely because Alex still hasn't found anything that makes him feel like a vital part of the group. He's often talking about how useless he feels he is with Joseph magical "hands" doing all of the work that he cant do, and Cloudy's skill with working with farm animals and food, and Moriah, with her pilot skills. More recently, Oliver has made Alex doubt his importance even more by being an earth pony, and also the groups only doctor. Finding his cutie mark will probably be a major turning point in the story where Alex finally realizes why his friends need him, and why he needs them, or something like that.
Alex probably didn't mention himself in the conversation in the last chapter because he was the narrator and his focus was on his friends instead of himself. Alex probably doesn't consider A + Moriah to be a pair because he's still a bit uncomfortable with being a pony, if I'm correct in assuming that "A" stands for Alex. While we're on the thought of being turned into ponies, Ales says he's "Lost more" than the others because of his lack of wings and horn. He's constantly saying that he's at a disadvantage because of this, though, with the wings, not so much.
I only have one real theory as to why Alex has a hard time staying up late, and that theory is that through being transformed into a pony, and having his entire anatomy changed, Alex has lost his acquired resistance to tiredness that one would gain by constantly staying up late like most people do.
In the first chapter Alex notes that he is three to four feet tall, and if you take a look at the Christmas episode of the show where the mane six perform the Hearths Warming Eave play, you'll see the scene where Twilight is telling her friends why Canterlot is such a great place during that time of year. As the camera angle momentarily shifts to the side of the road, you can see several foals and adults walking, or otherwise frolicking around a large candy cane that is almost exactly twice the size of the adult mare walking directly behind it, and Twilight says,"An eight foot candy cane". This implies that the average adult mare is about four feet tall. Since stallions are not that much taller, we have to assume that Alex is around the same size. He might be a bit shorter since he said he was three or four feet tall, but since none of the other survivors in the group talk to, and/or treat him with that "I'm more experienced at life" attitude that adults often have towards kids, we can deduce that Alex is relatively the same height, and of similar age to the others.
6125816
Alex was living alone in Los Angeles, working as an auto mechanic, before the Event. If S/he isn't an adult, S/he's at least damn close, late teens at the youngest. Certainly old enough to be able to breed. But only after getting over the whole "I am not a pony! I am a human being!" hangup.
I think it's because Sky is so closed off that I hate her, they were open about their lives, let her into the group and follow her ideas on the animals and all, and she is trying to make the pony culture route seem like the only viable option by trying to change all of their speech and everything.
What she does is her own business, why is she trying to tack on pony names and all to ponies why just want to go back to being human?
Urg...
In other news, Alex, full name of the protagonist, and gender neutral, this must be great for the commentators to debate on...
Thinking about the colony location, there's got to be dozens of public or private facilities out in the country that could be good places to set up. The problem probably lies in identifying them, especially the private commune type facilities that might be really well set up with the infrastructure for the task.
Half the garden, they say? Heh.
Poor Joe, he is not prepared.
It is definitely nice to see A(lex) being so protective of their incipient herd, that probably says good things about her mental and emotional state.
They are going to move to Crescent City or Eugene. In California and Oregon respectively.
6125986
Nope, because it was a direct transcript of a conversation between the others. For whatever reason, when discussing the correct term to use, nobody directly brought up whether Alex was a mare or a stallion. I could totally accept the reason as being "Alex didn't get involved in the conversation, so they didn't refer to Alex" or something equally mundane, but "Alex wasn't a mare or a stallion, so they didn't mention Alex when they were discussing who was a mare or stallion" just seems a clever trick for the author to be playing.
Alex clearly was an adult before the Event, so the group have no real reason for a dismissive attitude. I would also suggest that the fact that we're reading a journal could cover up minor different treatment of Alex, and particularly any reactions from first meetings that Alex declined to record.
Oh,they will.
-Wink,wink.-
6125668 Is it really that important? I don't see why most of you guys are trying to tack on a gender to A; it doesn't really change much of anything in the story whether A is a boy, girl, or otherwise.
Being perfectly honest, the whole gender confusion deal is getting to be more annoying than mysterious or whatever.
When it gets revealed... What then? It was either male or female, yay, show's over, nothing about the story changed, what was the point in hiding it in the first place?
Getting kinda tired of the "See? This chapter is 100% absolutely unarguable confirmation that A is (insert prefered gender here)" comments too.
So humanity has been using radiation to ward off the disappearance ?
The babushkas of Chernobyl get the last laugh then.
6126208 I don't care! I just wanna know! It's really just a fun little mystery that a lot of us are trying to figure out. Alex seems to act like a male at times, but speaks as if she is a female. I'm just really curious.
6126335
You! You know exactly what to say all about this comments! I like that.
But don't forget your safety goggles, some of those damn edgy-argumented comments might cut a nerve while reading~
As for the story; Onward! Into Drama!
Lonely Day's special talent?
Leadership. It's lonely at the top after all, making all the important decisions, initiating or at least facilitating all developments, scouting and evaluating situations and in the latest display instantly assuming the position of spokesperson for the little herd, unchallenged.
I can't beleive A and I are both named Alex.
wow, a lot has happened since I took the few day break.
hehe binge reading the new chapter was fun!
anyways
looks like instinct is starting to take over, well the drive to reproduce is strong in e very species. but at the same time Day obviously hasn't fully excepted the transformation, even if she is planning it out for the long term.
I really dislike this movie, but I think I found a moment where the song is relavant.
for your listening pleasure.
reproduction from Grease 2
I'm so sorry.
Whoa, does that mean we have a chance of hearing from Sky next chapter??
YAY! I'm excited!
6126104 I stand corrected on your first point. I forgot that last chapter was mostly recorded conversation. I still would like to suggest that the author might have still been thinking about it as a narrative where Alex was talking about the others rather than actual conversation being recorded, and thus making the simple mistake of leaving Alex out of that particular part of it. That would have been how it was written if Alex was narrating like all of the other chapters. No author is perfect, and this could have been a simple mistake.
Since this is Alex's private journal, he has no reason to cover up any special treatment. In fact, I'm very certain he would be even more inclined to speak his mind. Plus, if Alex chose to not record specific parts of the conversation with HPI, how would he know when to stop and start recordings? Why would he? The whole group was there anyway. Even if some pony decided that read it, it wouldn't really include much that they weren't there for. And on the same note, Alex talks a lot about how lazy Joe is, or how crazy he thinks Cloudy is. If he covered up certain age dilemmas for fear of the others finding out( because that's the only reason he could possibly have), then why wouldn't he do the same for all of the other things one might want to keep to themselves? Journal in this sense is just a more masculine replacement for diary. A diary is where somebody writes down their daily experiences, somewhat personal thoughts that they want to let out of their system without the prying ears of other people; and just general experiences that they don't want to forget. Alex's first meetings with each and every member of the group would be big parts of his day, and they most certainly would be experiences that he would want to remember. Also, if any of the other survivors had notable reactions to him, should his age ever become a problem, wouldn't he want to put that down as something he was troubled about, but didn't want others to know about? And still, days later, it's hard to imagine that not one of the others would ever give him strange looks, or perhaps find it hard to be straightforward about some smarter, or perhaps more adult themed subjects?
And sorry for all of the spelling and grammatical errors. I'm doing this on a phone and I'm not used to the small keyboard.
6126063 I think the theory is that Alex was age-regressed as well as species-shifted. I sincerely doubt it, though- a foal, even an earth pony one, likely wouldn't be able to handle all the work Alex has done since.
Huh. It's not just the thorium that's a radiation hazard. The HPI is treating magic as one as well. Why else would the house be such a hot spot?
In any case...
Yeah, A jinxed it. Big time. Here's hoping the expedition doesn't go too horribly.
Alex does have a special talent. Leadership, for one. He/she is shown to be very smart and is able to think through and make stuff to help survival that I'd never be able to do. What Alex needs is to realize this, then bam - cutie mark! I hope they realize that earth ponies are better than the other species of ponies at gardening and in strength, healing, and whatnot(at least, that's my headcanon of what earth ponies are capable of). I do hope Moriah's horn somehow heals.
This seems to imply that Sky is going to write the next journal entry. If that's the case then Starscribe, please do us all a favor and have her mention Alex's gender.
Alex, rule number one of life is to not tempt fate. Karma is a terrible b**** and it will bite you in the flank if your not careful.
6125441
6125515
We already had that confirmed during the conversation with HPI
6126208
As much as we try to minimize the importance of gender in the modern world, it does have an impact on how people (or ponies) interact. Alex's interactions with the other characters take on different light depending on whether Alex is male or female, not to mention the potential necessities for creating future generations if the world is depopulated. So, Alex's gender is relevant.
Also, Starscribe likes to throw mysteries at us in the form of codes, and Alex's gender is just another mystery. A large part of the fun in reading a mystery (or a story containing mysteries) is figuring them out before they're revealed outright. So, people are interested in figuring it out.
6127835 I must of not caught that part, I didn't remember seeing his name as Alex until the end of the chapter.
6127952
From Chapter 31:
6128608
Don't wanna just run over your fun but,
We've known that the name was Alex since like the first few chapters. I think it was a mistake or something, or something that was just there for a bit.
YAAAAAAAYYY!!!!!!! We finally know what gender Alex is!
6125405
I didn't, which was why I was so amused when somebody predicted it for the first time. I named the main character before I even wrote the first chapter. Honestly I didn't expect the name to take this long to actually show up. Like the sex, the story just sorta ended up this way by accident.
6125443
Well the main characters would certainly like that. The HPI did say they wouldn't look for them again, so it's possible they won't come. If they keep their word, that is.
6125516
Well it might just be that Alex doesn't intend to breed either way, so no matter the sex he/she wouldn't have been part of a breeding pair.
Also, I never said Moriah was a beginner! According to her character sheet here, she's an experienced visual-only pilot who was going for the next level, hence all her night flying. She also has a cutie mark for flying, so she's probably in good shape there. No weather is gonna suck, though.
6125565
At least it wasn't "things can't get any worse!"
6125595
Dang, lots of birthdays in this story. Happy soon-story birthday!
6126064
That isn't actually why the name was picked! My original drafts were actually much clearer about the sex of the main character. Things just... worked out a little differently in the revisions, and I decided to run with it. Been fun so far. Won't be torturing readers forever, since the story's only got another three weeks left.
6126208
This is absolutely true. The story is largely unchanged regardless of what you think about Alex's sex/gender.
6126335
It will be 100% revealed, and when it is, it'll be stated outright so there's no need to debate about it. Probably some other character calling Alex a mare or a stallion. At that point all the debates will be over. Wish I could say it was going to be happening super soon, but...
6126418
I don't think we actually know it was the radiation that protected them, only that whatever they use to protect themselves relies on nuclear fuel to run. They've mentioned a thorium reactor before, so it's likely they have next-generation reactors that can breed the spent fuel in addition to running on the enriched stuff. We don't clearly know yet what they're doing to protect themselves.
6126555
Well, I won't confirm or deny it, but... sounds true to me!
6126714
Yeah, the next chapter is gonna be written by Sky, and... dang, that song. I could've gone my whole life without hearing that song. Wish I had. Guess I know why I've never heard anyone talk about Grease two.
6127079
Thorium reactors are supposed to be far safer than anything we're using now. Wikipidia puts it this way: "LFTRs differ from other power reactors in almost every aspect: they use thorium rather than uranium, operate at low pressure, receive fuel by pumping without shutdown, entail no risk of nuclear meltdown, use a salt coolant and produce higher operating temperatures". I doubt the HPI consider their reactors to be dangerous, though the technology is largely experimental in our world if the article from the website is any guide.
6127101
Yes, earth ponies have all of those things in this universe. Alex has even been shown to have those traits as well, kicking down doors and healing from injuries quickly and not tiring very fast. Like the CMC, it seems Alex just needs to realize what his/her talent is, and then...
6127727
Mention the gender? I... don't actually remember if she does or not. She does write the entry in Alex's absence, but I can't remember if this is where I reveal it or now. I wrote this entry like two weeks ago, so it's a bit sketch in my mind. Guess we'll find out in a few hours.
6128723
No, don't do it! Find the good inside yourself! Also... who said the HPI were villains? I mean, from the perspective of the main characters they are, but... they don't seem like bad people so far. Generally speaking, I mean. Just a group with goals different than the main characters. Could go either way if they ultimately come to conflict with them or not.
6128866 We do?
6129065 Yeah. She literally states that she's associated with the mares. Why else would he say this:
6129098
I'll probably leave them the way they are, mostly because Alex isn't the sort to notice/care about the specifics. Just another case of our unreliable narrator giving us not-quite-accurate information, but as much information as sh- hah, not today, as he, or, it, or whatever... thinks is actually important.
6129051
Wait, we have a shelf life for this story? In three weeks?
Wow... other writers are so organised.
6129051 That ones asking for the up to the date FUBAR response from lady luck, we don't talk about what happens there.. It's, not good.
6129120
Knowing me? Eh! I dunno if that's fair! I've been writing for over a year now and I haven't missed a single chapter posting deadline, ever. Not finals, not vacations, not hell or high water!
6129300
Organized? Yeah, I guess so.
(spoilers)
i.imgur.com/kHdgEBL.png
6129345 Everything is really organized, how nice.
Also, interesting software, didn't know that one.
Also, you use Linux! :)
And finally, I think I shouldn't look too much in that screenshot...
If there colony isn't next to the Hoover Dam, I'll be really disappointed...
6142208 oh dam