The First Unicorn on Earth

by Baileyjrob

June 1, 2015

Dear Journal,

You know, people always joked about sleeping on a futon when you lost everything, which is kind of ironic. They're nice enough couches to act as beds, but bad enough beds where they become the abused little brother of the bed family. It was kind of that old, "you know you've hit the bottom when" thing.

Futons suck.

I've been sleeping on one for a little while, four nights to be exact, and my back is hurting like hell. It doesn't really help that I don't know how I'm supposed to sleep. Being a pony and all isn't very helpful for the sleep. I wonder what my sleep number would be now?

Moving on. Breakfast was a very standard fare. Nothing much. I saw a cockroach. I don't know why it garnered my attention. I guess they really do survive the apocalypse. I tried to squish it, but it wouldn't die.

Now that we're past the fluff, there are two things to talk about: My search for a working radio, and my magic training session.

First will be my search. I'll be honest, I didn't find anything good. I did open up a truck and find a radio with a transmitter in there, but the car battery was dead somehow. This especially sucks, because it means whoever owned the car before just decided to leave it near the home of a future survivor, but he or she just decided to leave the battery dead. These kinds of people make me really angry.

Nonetheless, it was a good idea. I should search for more trucks with radios, maybe I can pull something together. I did visit the bookstore. While I was there, I picked up a radios for dummies book (or something similar. Nonetheless, SCORE!) as well as some books for entertainment. I mostly picked up sic-fi, but I also picked up some fantasy, comedy, heck even some romance books. I don't even like romance books, but I'm gonna have a lot of free time. I might as well find something to do. Experimenting is for the end times.

During all this walking around, I have significantly improved my ability to walk. It's weird, walking on four hooves rather than two feet. Such a different experience, and yet in just a week and a half it's basically muscle memory. It's almost gotten to the point where I don't have to think about it. I can hardly even remember walking on two legs, or being human in general. To think there will come a time when humans will cease to be even a memory.

I hope Sam made it out alright. To think that we were going to meet up at that old cafe on the day this all happened. That we truly could have not seen this coming. He was going to tell me he was getting married. He wanted it to be a surprise, but I already knew. I had practiced how to act surprised... he was gonna make me his best man. He promised when we were kids. We may have fought a lot when we were kids... but we loved each other.

Yeah... I'm sure he made it out. Maybe I'll see him. Maybe his fiancé made it too. Maybe I'll still get to be the best man... maybe. Maybe.

Sorry, I'm back. I had to take a short break. Onto the second part of this report: the magic.

Nothing! I found nothing! No improvements! Heck, if anything I went backwards! I sat there meditating, focusing, thinking, for an hour, and nothing. Not even the faintest trickle. There's something I'm doing wrong. I need to evaluate the circumstances of the two times I used magic.

But nothing makes sense! One was in a controlled environment, the other in the opening. One was absolute tranquility, the other was anger. One was levitation, one seemed to be some sort of attack (or weak push.) In one I was thinking about nothing, in the other what I was thinking about happened. This leaves me a few possibilities:

1. I'm missing something. The simplest of all. Maybe there's a key connection I'm just not seeing, or a key to unlock my true potential?

2. Two extremes. Both were exact opposites, but maybe that's the key. Maybe I need to find a happy medium: Focus in clearness, purpose in emptiness, feeling in tranquility. Maybe there's a mix of the two I need.

3. I'm crazy. I don't want to think about this, but it's always possible.

Tommorow is the vaguest day of all. I need to find a way to defend myself. Offensive magic, figuring out if I can use guns, finding a sword if not (and figuring out if I can use those) fortifying the store, anything. Tomorrow is likely gonna be a whole uneventful day...

I dearly hope I just jinxed myself.

Time for the radio broadcast:

"Dear Dallas, Texas,

"This life is becoming more and more normal. By which I mean that it's becoming more like the normal life. I'm forgetting there was one before it. Never forget. Never forget what we once were. We've become something new, but inside we're the same. We're humans. No matter what we look like, we're humans.

"If you can hear this, you're probably like me. If you're like me, don't give up hope. We're still the same. We're just... different. This sounds like a hashtag movement, but it's not. Never forget.

"I love you brother. I hope you're okay."

Never Forget.

Author's Note:

What was that? Did Leon's tough demeanor crack for a moment there?

Thanks to all the amazing people who have been supporting me! All the likes, favorites, comments, and tracks really makes this story special to me.

Comments

[Baileyjrob]

6042860 True. I chose it, but I only VAGUELY know the area. I'll work on that more.

Pacing is a HUGE issue, not just because of ME, but because of LEON. Think about it this way: what you're looking at is the journal entries of a guy who's analytical, logical, not emotionally driven, and takes everything at face value. What this results in is the journal entries simply being highlights of the day. Thus pacing is very hard to pull off. I'm working on getting him out of his shell.

Nonetheless, thanks.

[Nitrous Rainbows]

Not bad. I'd like to see a bit more of the adventure tag coming into play next. Pick somewhere in Texas and just use Google street view to describe the scenery he walks past. Or at least the general type of area. I feel a bit of exploration is in order.

[GITPSilverbolt]

6038275
Are you sure about that? I went back and reread the first chapter of LPoE, and I didn't see anything about a couple of days having past prior to A's first entry. Every time reference I saw refers to "yesterday was normal, today everything got weird."

[Baileyjrob]

6043918 Huh. Good idea. Thanks.
6044142 I just went back, and... you're right. Before I started I went back, and I could've SWORN it had said two days... I'll change it.

[Gale Singer]

And thus, a picture escaped the ravages of time, to be speculated upon by the likes of Lyra Heartstrings...

[Nitro Indigo]

The image at the end isn't appearing.