Out of Fuel
As the crimson morning sun peeked over the Charleston mountain range, the crisp air of the Mojave desert lingered over the vast Mesquite Valley. Aside from the lone single engine prop plane coming in from one of the various cities in central California, the quickly warming desert remained serene. The winds blew the sand along the earth underneath the shadow of Potosi Mountain, while a lone iguana crawled between the rocks and brush, on the prowl for breakfast.
Without warning, the valley exploded with light and a crackling noise echoed off the hills. Out of the flash of light came the roar of a combustion engine from a bygone era. A grey mid 2000’s Volvo wagon appeared where the long buried four lane Nevada 160 Highway once cut through the landscape.
As soon as the tires hit the dusty desert floor, the car went into a wide fishtail. Against all odds the driver stabilized the vehicle. However the the Volvo’s speed was too much to manage on the unstable sand of the Mojave. The brakes were unable to stop the vehicle as it plowed through a patch of fragile Joshua trees in a cloud of dust, glass, and dry, splintered wood.
The battered and dented station wagon finally came to a stop after almost a hundred meters of unforgiving offroad driving. After the sound of the engine sputtered and died, the valley went silent once again.
----- Two Hours Earlier -----
The chill of the desert night lingered in the aircraft hangar. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, illuminating the emptiness of the structure. Near the center of the hangar was a group of twelve pegasi, each wearing matching brown bomber jackets and a pair of goggles on their forehead. They all were playing a homemade board game with hoof friendly, large sized board pieces and cards.
Jackson Aberdeen, or as he preferred, Jack, picked up a card and threw it on the board.
“Double red! Take that, Winter!”
He looked at his hooves for a moment before slowly tapping his pawn two red squares forward, trying not to knock it over. Jack might have had four whole years to get used to his new pegasus form, but the difference between him and his naturally born teammates was still obvious. They had been born with perfect hoof (and wing) dexterity, whilst he still occasionally fumbled over the task of moving simple objects.
Rehabilitation was the easy part. Living with it afterwards while his human consciousness was still trying to move his long lost thumbs was the hard part. And it had not been easy for him. A person from the distant past, adjusting from working on planes in the U.S. Air Force to becoming an ‘aircraft’ himself. If aircraft were ever associated with mythical, flying horses.
He slid the card over into the discard pile, before giving a cheeky grin to his wingpony.
“Cheater,” the snow white pegasus mare grunted.
The chatter was interrupted by a pop and a flash of light on top of the table. The pieces fell over and cards flew off the table from the magical displacement of air. Out of the aura appeared a teal unicorn stallion of medium build, wearing a cowboy hat and a jacket that matched those of the others’.
“Checkmate! Ah win!” he shouted in a pronounced Texan accent.
Jack yelped at the sudden appearance of their team leader and fell out of his chair while the others shared a chuckle.
Winter Wind groaned and used her wing to smack a board piece at the unicorn. “We’re playing Candyland, smartass. And I was winning!”
The unicorn levitated a pair of sunglasses out of his jacket and put them on. “Not anymore y’not.” He jumped off the table and helped Jack off his haunches. “You’ve been here for almost four whole years Jack, and y’all are still scared of appearing unicorns?”
The winged stallion stood up and whinnied. “I’m not scared of unicorns! You just scared the ever-loving shit out of me!” he said, catching his breath. Jack might not have been the newest member of the group, but he was the only returnee on the morning crew. Albeit, there were over ten returnees on the team as a whole. “Time for the morning pep talk?”
Ace shrugged his shoulders and removed his sunglasses. “Why do y’all need a pep talk? It’s the same as everyday. Scan the valleys, spot returnees, call in the crew, and then head to town for a celebratory drink!”
“Except there haven't been any returnees in over five days,” a green pegasus stallion interjected. “Granted, a tourist couple from thirty-two hundred years ago waking up on a sand dune was fun and amusing, but we’re getting so bored that we have to play Jack’s makeshift boardgames!”
Ace picked up and leaned on Jack’s chair. “Look. The ol’ Mojave is a deadly place for returnees. We’re doing great work ‘ere folks! We just have to work through the boring parts and we will definitely get to the exciting ones. Got it, crew?”
The group shouted a collective “Hoo-ah!”
“Okay, Dust Devils! The night squadron should return within the next fifteen minutes. Get your asses ready!”
The group scattered to their lockers around the hangar, preparing their gear for the day. Ace's horn lit up, grabbing Jack by the tail as he tried to walk off. “Whoa there!” he exclaimed in his stereotypical cowboy manner. “Y’sure you’re doing okay there Jack? You seem jumpier than usual today.”
Jack gave a warm smile to his unicorn friend. “It’s nothing boss. Really.”
Ace rolled his eyes. “Nothing my ass. You forget how well I can read folks. But alright. I’m here if you need anything, partner.” He patted Jack’s back. “Anyways, I need to go talk with Keppler about new returnee protocols. That belly flopping Cessna at the Boneyard a week ago could've been prevented if we’d gotten the pilot to relax quicker. Just wish we had a talented unicorn that could get on board planes, like that crew from down under that saved Harper’s flight to Cairns. God, I wonder how long it took for that ship to haul that ass across the Pacific.” He laughed and vanished in a whoosh of energy.
“I heard that, you sonofabitch!” a bat pony in full clothing shouted as she glided into the hangar.
The night crew comprised of bat ponies and pegasi wearing salvaged night vision goggles began returning flying through the large open doors. Jack trotted over to his locker near a pile of crates in the far corner of the hangar. He tossed his saddle bag onto a table and unzipped it. “First aid kit, check. Rope, check. Flares, check. Beacons, check. Hammer… uh… ah! Check!” With his gear all checked, he shut his locker and walked over to his wingpony.
Winter was watching her reflection in the mirror while she put her mane into a ponytail. “Hmm… Hey Jack? Does this look good to you?”
Jack chuckled. “I think we’ve been over this before. You’re a little young for me.”
Winter scoffed and punched him in the shoulder. “You know that’s not what I meant, you dick.”
“You wish!” He swished his tail in her face and briskly walked away from her with his nose in the air, towards the job board.
“Tch. You’re way too immature for your age, you old coot,” she said, shutting her locker.
Jack deflated. “Shut up. I’m only thirty-eight…”
The Devils grouped together around an old, tattered ‘Maverick Helicopter Tours’ map of ‘Fabulous Las Vegas’ pinned to a cork board. The map went as far west as Death Valley and was torn off on the east side, right after the town of Mesquite, Nevada. There were 6 different highlighted areas on the map, each a different color than the others and boldly labeled: Las Vegas, Charleston, Pahrump, Sloan, Searchlight, Valley of Fire.
Each team of two stuck a playing card with a piece of tape on the back to the map. Every card indicated the callsign for the respective duos. Jack picked the Ten of Diamonds off of the table just for Winter to snatch it away from him.
“Oh no, you don't. You picked yesterday! Because of you, I refuse to go back to the boring Sloan quarries for at least a week!” the young pegasus said as she stuck their card on Pahrump.
“You fly the south half and we’ll meet at that burnt out truck in the middle of the valley at the end of our shift,” Jack said, trotting in place impatiently. “Now… Last one to fly over Red Rock buys lunch!” Jack exclaimed as he took off, out the open hangar doors.
“You’re on!” Winter flapped her wings and zipped after him.
-------------------------------------
After the dust had settled and the valley went still, the peace was shattered once again by a terrified wail.
“Ah! Ah! Wh-what the fuck!?”
A young earth pony stallion covered in soda was strapped into his seat, with a deployed airbag in his face. He yanked the deflated mess of plastic out of his face, only to find himself staring at two dark orange hooves.
After several moments of staring in disbelief, he tugged at the seat belt, trying to undo the buckle. He quit the vain attempt to remove the belt via his arms and decided to bite it instead. The buckle snapped from its hinges as he tugged upward and hit the already disoriented pony in the jaw. The stallion winced in pain, thankful that that was the only serious pain he felt.
He continued to stare at his hooves in disbelief before attempting to open the vanity mirror on his sun visor. He stared into the face of an almost cartoonish looking horse. Gold colored, larger than normal eyes, a shorter muzzle than any horse he’d ever seen, and a messy, hazelnut colored mane. He made a variety of exaggerated facial expressions to make sure he wasn’t looking at a drawing of a horse that a friend maybe had glued to his mirror as a prank.
“No… No, this… This isn’t me. What the fuck? This isn’t me!”
He flipped the visor up and looked out the windshield. The dust had already settled, revealing the vast emptiness of the valley. The sun was rising into the sky, but his dashboard clock said 3:16 am. But that was irrelevant at this point. He needed to get help.
He swept the Taco Bell soda cup off of his lap and looked to his passenger seat where his phone now rested. He reached out to grab it, only to have it drop out of his flat hoof.
“Fucking hooves? Really? I couldn't have become a chimp?”
He carefully picked up the fragile piece of Japanese plastic with both of his hooves and attempted to put it back into its little windshield mounted holder. Of course, he failed miserably. He grumbled and tried again, slowly inserting the bottom first, sliding it into place. He pressed the power button and was greeted by the wallpaper of his lock screen.
“Shit…”
He stared at it for a second and looked at the stylus pen clipped to his sunvisor. He twisted his head up to the visor, and pulled the pen out. With the stylus in his possession, he unlocked his phone, opened the phone tab and nose-dialed 9-1-1. Unfortunately, his phone beeped and immediately disconnected.
“What the shit Verizon? I always get service on the 160!”
He groaned and leaned in far enough to grab the top of his phone with his teeth and flopped back into the driver’s seat. He spit out his phone onto his lap and tapped it into the pocket of his sweatshirt.
“Okay… I need to get out of here,” he said and exhaled.
The earth pony, noticing his hoof definitely would not fit into the door release handle, hit the driver side window in an attempt to shatter it. With one swift hit of his front hoof, the glass exploded outward into millions of tiny fragments.
“Wow… Not bad, horse arm,” he said in a vain attempt to lighten the mood.
The stallion looked to his dash display and noticed the instruments were still lit up. He sighed and pressed the driver side window switch, making the glass shards remaining at the bottom of the window retreat inside the car door. He shoved his face into the steering wheel with a sigh.
“God damn it, I’m fucking stupid.”
He wiggled and twisted his body out the window until his back was pushed against the windowsill. He reached upwards with his hooves and wedged them between the roof rack and the roof of the car. Now with a proper grip, he pulled himself through the window. When his rear end made it through the opening, his hooves slipped out from under the roof rack and he fell back onto the dusty, glass covered ground with a heavy thump.
Luckily for him, his thick coat prevented any glass shards from penetrating into his back. He rolled onto his belly and tried to get onto his hooves. Having difficulty standing on his own, he leaned on his car for support. After a minute of fumbling like a newborn barnyard animal, he found his center of gravity.
“What… where did the highway go?” he exclaimed as he finally took a moment to take in his surroundings. He stared off to the northwest, where a large town should have been visible from this point on the road. “...Where’s Pahrump?” He rested himself against his car and looked around. “Great. So now I’m a fucking 1980’s Happy Meal toy and civilization has disappeared.”
While looking for a trace of civilization in the valley, he spied the glare of something flying over the area. The stallion’s eyes went wide. He reached back into his car and attempted to honk the horn, but the deployed airbag prevented that. He got a second idea and climbed back through the window, reaching for his key.
Attempting to use a regular key in his condition would have been impossible, but he had the technology of an old Swedish luxury car on his side. The key was a plug-in key fob that was inserted into the dash, right above the radio display. With his hindquarters sticking out of the window, he used both hooves to twist the key fob and unlock it with a satisfying clicking sound.
He grabbed the lanyard with his mouth and yanked the fob out of the ignition switch. With the key now in his possession, the stallion wiggled back out of the window and landed back on his rear. He spit the key onto the ground and moved his hoof to press a button on the key before reminding himself he didn’t have fingers anymore. Instead, he stuck his tongue out and clicked the panic button, sending the car into a honking fit that echoed off the surrounding mountains. The aircraft slowed down and eventually made a turn toward him. The stallion leaned on the hood of the car and waved his hoof in the air.
“Down here! Help!”
After a few minutes of the flying object getting closer to him, it became obscured by the sun. He raised his hoof over his forehead to try and see it. The aircraft wasn't an aircraft at all. It had wings like an eagle. The young stallion gasped as the object approached and hovered before him.
“...Are… are you an angel?”
The figure landed right in front of him with a clop. “Aw, that's so sweet of you to say! But no, I’m not an angel,” cooed a soft female voice. The pegasus figure moved into the shade of the Joshua tree patch, revealing Winter, the white pegasus mare with her long blue mane wrapped behind her in a pony tail. “But I am a savior, if that counts.”
The stallion sputtered at the sight of a talking, fun-sized version of a winged horse out of Greek mythology.
“Ten of Diamonds to base. We have a single returnee in south Mesquite Valley! Commuter vehicle protocol three. About uh... ten-ish miles southwest of Wilson Ridge. Over!” Winter shouted into the radio attached to her jacket.
The radio crackled. “Be advised Ten of Diamonds, ground team is enroute to assist. Beacons out. Over."
"Good work, Winter! I'm a couple clicks out, be there in a bit.” Jack's voice spoke through the radio.
The stallion finally calmed himself to the point he could speak. “Y-you too? You became a horse too!?”
“The correct term is pony.” She chuckled, throwing a beacon onto the ground.
“But… But you have wings!” He pointed his hoof at her side.
“Yep! I’m a pegasus! Trust me, everything will be explained to you when the ground crew arrives.”
“...So. Uh. Is this heaven? Is becoming a horse-er, pony some next step in reincarnation or-”
He was cut off by the pop and woosh of a magical aura behind the pegasus. The flash dispersed, revealing Ace and several other crew members carrying medical equipment and power tools. Max screamed and fell over with his arms covering his head while Jack swooped in from the north, landing next to Winter. “It’s about time we had another returnee!”
“Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!?” the earth pony yelled.
Jack trotted over to him. “Hey now buddy, no need to be afraid. We’re here to help. Let me be the first to welcome you to the future!”
“...The future?” the young stallion asked before snapping at the recently appeared ponies that had begun sifting through his car. “Hey! Unless you’re fixing it, don’t touch it! I love this machine more than I love myself!”
Jack rested a hoof on his shoulder. “Whoa whoa, calm down. They wont scrap it for parts unless you let them. They’re gathering your belongings for you.” The pegasus gave him a comforting smile. “Trust me. I was in your shoes only a few years ago. But where are my manners? My name is Jackson. What’s your name, kid?”
“Max. My name is Max,” the stallion muttered.
“Well, Max, welcome to the future.” Jack sat down next to the shaken earth pony. “It’s a bit complicated to believe, so be prepared for a mind boggle. The current year is 3265 After Event, or 5270 A.D. Back in 2015, or as it’s considered 0 A.E. nowadays, magic burst into our universe like some kind of crazy supernova. Unfortunately, humans were not magic-compatible and it would've killed everyone.”
“Whoa whoa whoa. Magic?” Max interjected.
“You betcha!” Jack confirmed.
“If it wasn’t for all of us being tiny talking horses, you and your friend over there being able to fly with such small wings, and a freaking cowboy unicorn teleporting here from nowhere, I would’ve dismissed you as absolutely insane.” Max sighed. “But at this point, I’m willing to believe anything.”
“Well, then you’re gonna love this part!” Jack remarked. “Supposedly, celestial beings from another universe took pity on us and transformed us all into magic-compatible beings.”
Max sat in silence, staring at Jack as if he truly was insane before piping up, “Ponies are magic-compatible?”
“Yes sir! Earth ponies such as yourself, pegasi like me, unicorns like the blue guy in the cowboy hat.” He waved his hoof in Ace’s direction. “Some turned into griffons, some zebras, some donkeys, others... much stranger creatures. Though ponies seem to be the vast majority. Now, not everyone was instantly transformed at the time. From what they taught me in rehab, only about ten thousand-ish people remained on Earth, because transforming seven billion people all at once would’ve killed most of them instantly. Anyways, the rest of us, like me and you, were shot into the timestream and have been appearing at random times for the last three thousand years. That’s why you’re sitting here in the middle of the desert at seven in the morning instead of speeding back to your dorm at three,” Jack said, pointing to Max’s stained college sweatshirt.
Max rubbed his forehead and began the strenuous process of getting onto his hooves. “Okay, let's change the subject. This is fucking my brain.”
Winter joined the two stallions when she noticed Max struggling to gain his footing hoofing.
“Try pushing all four legs up at once there. If you try to stand up two at a time you’ll lose your balance.” She fluttered to his side and helped him. “Like this.”
The young stallion tried to mimic her until he successfully stood on his hooves. “Hoo boy… this is gonna take awhile to get used to,” he said, swaying back and forth. “Thank you, miss…”
“Winter Wind! But my friends just call me Winter.” She smiled warmly.
Max smiled back. “Well, now I know the name of my guardian angel. Thank you, Winter.”
Winter held a hoof up to her mouth and giggled. “You’re too kind.”
“I don’t suppose you’d be able to give me a crash course on walking too, would you?”
Winter landed back down in front of the Max. “Of course! Now to walk, what you want to do is move one hoof at a time. Left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore.”
“Same principle as rotating the tires on a car,” Jack added.
Winter demonstrated by walking in circles around Jack. “Make sure you find your rhythm. One, two, three, four.”
Max exhaled and began to slowly walk forward, mimicking the pegasus mare. He wobbled with each step but was able to move without falling over.
“Well, look at that! Looks like rehabilitation won’t be so difficult for you, Max,” Jack remarked with a broad smile.
Ace came over to the group walking in circles. “Well now. Y’all seem to be getting along real well! And, uh…”
“Max,” Jack whispered to the cowpony.
“Max. Y’seem to be adjusting quite a bit better than most returnees do. Good on ya’!”
“So, who are you pe- uh, ponies anyway?” asked Max.
“We’re the Dust Devils!” Winter butted in.
“That’s right!” Ace grinned. “Sadly though, we haven’t got a catch phrase yet. Jack suggested ‘Devils within the city of sin,’ but it just sounds plain cheesy if you ask me.”
“But it rhymes!” Jack whined.
“Well, now that we got the pleasantries out of the way, I’ll be taking you to the refugee rehabilitation center. We’ll get you walking properly within the week and give you a crash course on Pony Society 101. Your car and all your belongings will be stored with us until you’re all set to leave.”
Max raised a brow at Ace. “Rehab? You guys have rehab for people like me?”
The cowpony nodded. “Yep. Believe it or not, Vegas is a hot zone for refugees. As are all old city sites. So of course we have a facility here.” He straightened his hat out. “I can answer any more questions you got after we get to the place. Sound good, kid?”
Max waited a moment to process what he had been told before giving a small smile to the unicorn stallion. “That uh… sounds good?”
“Well alright!” Ace grabbed Max’s hoof while his horn lit up. “Now this’ gonna feel a little weird.”
The two disappeared in a sphere of purple magic before Max had time to react, leaving the crew to inspect the four wheeled relic sitting in the sand.
“Good job, wingpony!” Jack said, turning to Winter for a hoof bump.
The young mare returned the gesture and spread out her wings. “I’m doubling down. Last one to Whiskey Vic’s buys drinks and brunch!” She shot into the sky as soon as the words left her mouth.
Jack grinned and rushed after her. “You should know by now that I enjoy expensive drinks, fly girl!”
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This story is good and obviously has a lot of effort why do you not have more followers oh well I will be a follower
7785410
Thank you so much!
And yes, I've gone through a lot of research on how Las Vegas would look like after 3,000 years after civilization collapsed. (Thanks to my high school obsession with geography, structural engineering, and the "Life after People" TV series). This was basically the introductory chapter and all the cool science-y and logistical stuff will come in the next chapter!
Again, Thank you for the like!
Interesting. From memory, Canon was that there were a few thousand, not five million convertees.
Five million would mean you've got in New York City:
8 million / 1200 = 7000 ponies.
There are 8 ponies per square kilometer, and your nearest pony is a few hundred yards away.
Just walking out to do what you do every day you should see several ponies - not even needing to search. (assuming all the other ponies are doing the same).
There is nothing of course wrong with this, and it does make rapid civilisation return quite plausible - but undermines fundamentally for example the whole HPI storyline, as there are so many returnees.
7786772
Yeah, just a little derp in my memory. I fixed it up already.
Off to a pretty good start so far.
I'm looking forward to reading your explanation of how Las Vegas still exists.
I'm not a fan of the present tense narrative, but I can live with that.
without all teh people ponies the available water supply in the Los Vegas would support a smallish population and logically lake Meade would still be there
7787345
Hey thanks!
Yeah, I found myself tense-hopping all over the place over the past week, and I'll admit, I hastily decided on present tense.
In hindsight, past tense would've probably fit better. Not sure if I should revisit and edit the pretense or not. But that's something for tomorrow. Five feet of snow makes me lazy.
Anyways, thanks mate!
7787347
Even without Lake Mead, the Colorado River would always be able to support a substantial population. But the Hoover Dam is a very strong and earthquake proof structure. It'll last well into the 10,000 year mark. Considering the water level of Mead began dropping in the 80's its safe to assume the population its able to support would very likely be half a million pony people plus agriculture.
7787656 I also assume without so many people drawing upon it Lake Meade would recover some at least
You have my interest. The-Horse-With-No-Name's entrance was something I've been mulling over myself. Somebody got around to it!
I'm also a fan of Goldfur's ARRR, more of that theme is always welcome.
Right. You should get yourself an editor, or at least a proofreader. There's some strange wording here and there and I almost stopped reading at the multiple tense switches right at the beginning. I continued because I love the setting you've decided to work with. Well, I'm glad I did.
Anyway, the world needed a LPoE Mojave fic. Do carry on.
7789816
I tried polishing it up within the past couple days. Every time I look at it, I always find something new to fix.
But anyways, I'm glad you like it! Means a lot to me!
Alright, just read the chapter, thought I'd give my thoughts.
Overall, I think it's a great start! The writing itself is pretty good, though it does have some small errors. The sort of thing that's bound to go away with a little more time spent writing, mostly. But I'll stick to the things I like before I complain a little. I like that the story starts En Media Res. The story could've spent a lot more time retreading old ground and it doesn't really, it just skips right ahead to "now the adventure can start". Considering so many side stories have trouble having things happen, this is a good sign of what's to come.
I also enjoyed your job with characterization. I think the cast of this rescue team could be interesting enough to tell a story about, so long as we don't get bogged down later. Pointing later in time is also good, though it might be something to watch out for. That period of history is unlikely to have much resemblance to society as we remember it-- it will be interesting to see how you portray it.
Now, there were some errors, which were my biggest gripe with the story thus far.
As you noted, the most frequent mistake was the way the tense switched, usually into present for a verb or two before moving back to the past tense the rest is written in. An editor would of course fix that, or you could try out something like grammarly. It generally catches little mistakes like that, but be warned, it also marks things as wrong that aren't, so trust your judgment over the AI.
One area where I'd be less forgiving of mistakes is in your story summary and long description. This is the first impression of your story, so read it over and over and make sure it's 100% perfect. No excuses here. Let's look at some of it:
This sentence is a runon, not to mention having a capitalization mistake (the "A"). Suggested revision:
Minor mistakes in the rest of the text aren't nearly as big a deal-- most of us here aren't paid for this, so we do our best and that's what we can do. But do keep an eye out while you're writing for those tenses.
One minor gripe. "Buck" only means the male of an antlered species (especially the fallow deer, roe deer, reindeer, and antelopes). As ponies lack antlers, it doesn't apply to pony stallions.
To all following this story, i've unpublished chapters two and three so I can make the story more organic. Don't worry, the chapters you love will be back, but before that, I want to focus on character development before they start seriously interacting with each other. The refugee rehabilitation is a good several chapters of world building and character development that I sincerely regret overlooking. Please be patient, I wanna make this story enjoyable for all!
It was - though enjoyable - quite rushed. Looking forward to version 2. :)
7832547
Thanks! I'll work overtime to get it up and running for you all.
Though probably not tonight, cause new years. But yes, I want to slow it down just a little bit. Way too rushed7832641 You'll let me edit it first, young stallion!
7833029
Of course
Very good start... but only first chapter, and its all :(
7837199
No worries! There's more to come! There were originally two more chapters but they moved way too fast through the storyline so I unpublished them for now. Those chapters will show up again eventually, I'm just working on some earlier chapters to clarify and streamline the story.
7837355 It's good) the idea of the fanfic is interesting, I will continue to wait.
7837988 Good things come to those who wait.
Promise.
7842402
This is true, but ...
The wine is stored for a long time, it is expensive; at first. But then it becomes vinegar.
7855536 Of course. We're working on it... the first chapter here just received some serious editing and the continuation is falling into place. *nods*
7855536
No need to wait too much longer. Next chapter should be coming along very shortly!
7856019 oh, this is good news))
7855596
This is good!