> Sin Never Dies
>  by TheMixtapeHorse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 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!”
> Not Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Max was settled into his temporary home, the first thing he did was to have the curtains shut for him and go to bed. Perhaps if he went back to bed, the nightmare would be over. He had to have fallen asleep in the parking lot when he stopped for food and gas in Bishop. He would wake up in his comfy heated driver’s seat with half a taco sitting on his lap. He would be able to stretch his arms and drive his car into the sunrise. He would be able to call his family and tell them that he’d made it safely back to his little studio apartment in Orleans Square. Everything would be okay.

The young stallion’s snoring ceased. He shuffled around in the dark, messing up the sheets on his bed. He couldn’t see anything in the dark. It was as if his natural night vision had up and vanished. Max moved his fingerless appendages along the side of his bed, hoping to find some kind of light. When Max finally found and pressed the hoof-sized button on his bedside lamp, his heart shattered. He was still a pony. He was still in the rehabilitation center.

His heart hammered in his chest and his breathing came more rapidly. This couldn’t be happening. No, this could not be happening. This was still just a dream. It had to be.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he stumbled to the mirror. Max stared into the mirror with a sense of hysteria and denial.

“No… No! No, no, no, no, no!”

Max began smacking his cheek with a hoof.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!”

Each hit sent shockwaves of pain through his head, proof that this was certainly not a dream.

With blood dripping from his lip, he fell to the ground and put his forearms over his head.

“It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream!” he sobbed.

He lay on the ground, curled up in a ball while tears streamed down his cheeks. Max could no longer repress the fact that everything he held dear and everything he took for granted was gone. He would never graduate. He would never travel across the seas. He would never see his family again.

The door opened and a middle aged earth pony mare found the young stallion sobbing on the floor. She wore white nurse’s fatigues and had her name tag placed on the breast of the shirt. With a compassionate expression, she sat down and petted Max’s back.

“It’s okay Max. This is normal. Just let it all out,” the mare cooed.

As the crying subsided, the stallion rolled onto his stomach and looked up at the cherry red mare. His eyes dilated and the tears soaked his cheeks.

“I have nothing left, Rose!” Max cried out.

Rose was not immune to this kind of emotional torrent, but it was a common occurrence in her job as a refugee therapist. Max was in bad shape, but he was far from the worst case she had come across in her 40 years of service. He wasn’t even the worst this week.

Rose stayed firm as she always did in this kind of situation. She calmly petted his back. “Yes you do, Max. You have a second chance.”

“What's the point of having a second chance if I can never share it with the people I care about?” he asked in a much calmer way. “I could get through this if I still had my family…”

“Your family wouldn’t want you to give up now. They would want you to keep going. For them.” Rose brushed a strand of her cream colored mane out of her face. “I’ll tell you a little secret, Max. I was… I mean I still am, the mother of two pain in the ass teenage boys: Jeffrey and Isaac.”

Max fumbled into a sitting position and listened to his therapist.

“When I greeted you at orientation, you reminded me so much of Isaac. Kind hearted and kind of lost. And your messy brown mane? Hah! Just like that boy. Sorry, I’m digressing.” She poked the ground in front of her with a hoof for a moment. “Forty-five years ago... I had just finished washing the clothes for the night. Isaac had fallen asleep in front of the TV and Jeffery was up, studying. I went to bed without any thought to give either of them a kiss goodnight. The next morning, I woke up sitting in the middle of the desert. My first thought wasn’t ‘How did I get here’ or ‘Why can’t I feel my toes’. It was ‘Where are my boys?’ Being a mother for nineteen years will do that to you. Always putting your children first.”

Rose sighed. “The one thing that always got to me was that I never even said goodnight to them. The last thing I ever said to my boys was 'Do your homework.’ I felt like I would never be able to forgive myself. And honestly, Max…” She looked away from him with a tear falling down her cheek. “I never forgave myself. I didn't move for three whole days. I cried and slept, in that order. By the fourth day, I started to think… if they were watching… would they want to see me slowly killing myself? Of course they wouldn’t. And I would never want to see them do that to themselves.”

She put a hoof on the shoulder of the young earth pony and looked into his eyes. “I would want my boys to live their new life to the fullest. Go on adventures, make friends, fall in love, and most importantly, be happy. Max. This is coming from the caring mother within my soul. Your mother would want nothing less than for you to live a long, happy life. I promise you that.”

The stallion choked on his words before simply wrapping his forelegs around the mare in front of him. After a few moments of silence, he spoke up. “Thank you, Rose.”

“Of course Max. We all need someone to talk to. Keeping things bottled up for too long will make you do horrible things to yourself. I don’t have many patients at the moment, so any time you need to talk, I’ll get here as fast as I can.” She rose to her hooves and half turned toward the door. “Think you can figure out how to get back into bed?”

The stallion rolled his eyes and struggled back onto his mattress. “Of course. It’s not that difficult.”

Rose smiled and headed out the door. Before she completely shut the door, Max asked her, “Did you ever find out anything about your sons?”

Rose stopped. She looked back and nodded. “I found out about thirty-ish years ago. I heard about the extensive record keeping the city had done in the past. They wanted to keep track of all of it’s citizens because thieves often snuck in. Somepony realized that the data might also be useful not only for security but to returnees as well. Maybe a returnee was responsible for the record keeping at the time. Whatever the reason, they started to add a little more information to the entries on the newly arrived."

"So I did some research. After a few days of doing nothing but reading, I found my last name, and what do you know, that last name was connected to my Jeffery. He returned seven centuries ago, back when the city was nothing but a small fortified town. He became a construction worker and helped with a lot of the civil works projects in the 2600’s. He had seven beautiful foals and many more grandchildren.”

She stifled a laugh. “I’m actually best friends with my own great-times-seventeen granddaughter. We treat each other like cousins. She always has me over for the holidays and family game nights. Jeffrey created such a beautiful family. I couldn’t be any more proud of him.” She paused to take a breath. “I’m not sure what happened to Isaac. He could’ve returned long ago or he could still be in the timestream. All I hope is that he was, is, or will be safe and happy.”

Max chuckled. “Well… here’s hoping I don’t fall in love with my great something niece.” 

‘That is, if I’ll ever find ponies attractive’

Rose laughed with him and switched off the light for him. “Goodnight, Max.”

----------------

Max awoke with the sun shining in his face. The exhausted stallion shifted his head down the pillow to get away from the morning light peeking through the curtains. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He dared not move another muscle, fearing to find himself not in his human body. He slowly raised his arms above himself and watched his hooves come into his peripheral vision. Max sighed as he let his forelegs flop back to his sides. He was disappointed, but wasn’t surprised. At least now he knew for sure this wasn’t a bad dream.

He slowly rolled out of the bed and onto his hooves.

“Okay… Just like crawling.”

Max walked to his window on trembling legs. He reached out with a hoof and pulled the curtain to the side, almost losing his balance. The rays of Nevada’s morning sun filled the room and blinded the poor stallion. He whinnied and fell back onto his flank. He put a hoof to his face in embarrassment.

“Really? I fucking whinny now?”

While taking in his body’s new, embarrasing reactions, he heard a knock from the door. Rose opened the door and walked up to the disoriented pony with a smile.

“You’re gonna be doing a lot of that from now on!”

Max carefully rose back up and cleared his throat. “Uh, morning, Rose.”

Rose put her hoof under his chin and inspected his face in the clear morning light. “Wow… for some reason you really do look like Isaac.” She shook her head and opened one of the dresser drawers. “Okay, so I know you newbies still like to keep your clothes on, so we have some clean clothes in here for you, if you want.”

Max had already taken off his stained sweatshirt last night, so all he was currently wearing  were his ill-fitting work pants. “There any jeans in there, or is it some kind of ‘magic fabric’?”

Rose rummaged through the drawers and threw a pair of jeans shorts at him. “Here. You’ll wanna keep your hooves exposed for the most part. Earth ponies like us need that connection to mother earth or we get… We get nervous and a little queasy if our hooves are trapped. They’ll teach you about your racial magic in a bit.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Racial magic?”

“Racial magic is the magic in your body that allows you to do things others can't. Unicorns can remotely manipulate their environment, pegasi can manipulate weather and atmospheric conditions, and us earth ponies…” Rose stood tall and stuck her chest out heroically. “We’re strong as steel! Yet, we’re gentle enough to nurture nature's most precious gift, life.”

The young stallion sighed. “I’d label you as certifiably insane if we weren’t talking horses. I’m sorry. Ponies.”

Rose shook her head and walked out into the hallway. “Get dressed, silly. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.”

She leaned up against a wall while the sounds of grunting, crashing, and cursing came from behind the shut door.

“Well… that's still there… for the most part…” mumbled the stallion.

Rose covered her muzzle with a hoof to keep her from giggling like a filly.

After a couple more minutes of struggling, Max stepped outside the door. What he thought were jeans shorts actually looked like full-sized jeans when worn. He also wore a plain white tee. Rose chuckled and straightened his clothes out for him so he didn't look as if he'd tried dressing himself for the first time.

“Looking good, kid!” Rose exclaimed after fixing his mane. “Alright. Let's take a walk. You gotta join in the returnee orientation. Everypony who is well enough goes to these meetings. Think of it as a group therapy session.”

The two walked down the quiet hallways into a large, open atrium. The ceiling was several stories high and all windows faced north, to prevent toasting everyone inside. It looked like a fancy hotel lobby. Planters filled with ferns and flowers surrounded the various sitting areas where ponies, griffins, and even a diamond dog were all chatting.

Rose walked Max through the cold gathering area and to a group of fairly young ponies and griffins. “We’ve grouped ponies here by age groups. We found it easier to do that because they can better relate to each other. You’ll be joining the seventeen to twenty-five group. Your age group and the one before you are in a bit of a tight spot biologically. But they’ll tell you more about that later.” 

The group was composed of four ponies and a griffon, along with the group’s head therapist, an older, dark red thestral stallion. The bat pony smiled at Max. “Mornin’ son. Ready for a big day?”

The stallion’s fangs sent a chill through the young stallion. “Oh, uh. Yeah.”

The bat-winged pony scratched his head and closed his lips to a small grin. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m not like a vampire or anything like that.”

“You noticed that? I tried to keep a straight face.”

“Ponies are easy to read. Your ears folded back, so I assumed you were a little startled.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not used to my body doing all these subconscious things. I only got here yesterday.”

The cat-like eyes of the counselor went wide. “Wow. Not a lot of ponies here can muster enough courage to come to orientation on their second day. Most returnees here are on their fourth day at the very least.”

Max nodded and sat down in an empty chair next to a quiet unicorn stallion. The blue unicorn glanced over at him and then returned his gaze back on the portable classroom chalkboard in front of the group. Max studied the chalkboard as well. Along the top, written in neat cursive English, it said ‘Marion the bat horse.’ Max chuckled as Marion returned from talking with some other counselors.

“Alright! Everypony who’s able to come to our little meeting is here. Welcome to the future! I’ll be your guide through the magical creature-filled post apocalyptic world. But… before we get into the magical adventures leading up to this point, let's do the stereotypical greeting exercise. Let’s get your name, age, where you’re from, and if you want, a little bit of a backstory. I’ll go first.”

He flared his wings out to grab the attention of everyone. “I’m Marion Gutierrez. I’m forty-eight years old. However, I was twenty-seven when I returned, so I’ve been here for twenty-one years. I was born in Oakland, California in 1988 and moved out here with my parents in the nineties. I attended Chaparral High School and graduated from the University of Nevada: Las Vegas with my doctorate in psychiatry. I was able to get a job in gambling addiction treatment at the Valley Hospital. I was always up long before the sun and always got to work at 3 in the morning. Something about seeing the lights of the city on my way really appealed to me.”

“Anyways, imagine my surprise as I locked my car door and while I walked toward the employee entrance, everything went dark and I was tripping on concrete. I returned in an air pocket of the hospital’s collapsed and buried parking garage. If it wasn’t for my bat-pony night vision, I never would’ve found my way out of that place. I was picked up by a couple pegasi and brought to the old Nellis runway, and long story short, ended up staying here at the rehab center helping people like you.”

Marion folded his wings back to his sides and gestured to the charcoal unicorn mare at the right end of the sitting area. “Now, why don’t you start us off, miss.”

“Hi everyone,” The mare said timidly. “I’m Katie. I’m twenty years old and I’m from Boulder City.” She nervously tapped her forehooves together. “That’s all…”

Marion nodded and gave a toothy grin. “Okay, nice to meet you Katie!”

He nodded to the griffin girl sitting next to Katie “You’re next.”

The griffin held her talons in front of her and took a breath. “I’m Teresa Lloyd. I’m twenty-two years old. I’m from North Las Vegas. I, uh, was cramming for finals when the… thing happened. I was sitting in my chair so I fell backwards with my quantum mechanics textbook in my arms and almost broke one of my… wings. Holy shit, I still can’t believe I have fucking wings!”

The thestral laughed. “Oh I remember when I first realized I had wings. Was kinda disappointed they weren’t fluffy and feathery, but…” He puffed out his chest and spread his wings again. “It makes me look badass!” he exclaimed with a childish grin.

Teresa’s wings ruffled a bit. “Yeah, it still feels really weird to move them. It’s like having a second set of arms… on your back. I’ve seen the other, uh… bird-cat’s?”

“Griffins,” Marion corrected her.

“Griffins flying around when I was rescued. I hope one day I can fly around like that!”

The bat pony nodded “Oh you will! They’ll give you and the other winged species flying lessons for as long as you want to take them.”

Teresa pumped her fists as a purple pegasus stallion next to her spoke up. “Will I be able to fly too? These wings seem a little small for a… pony.”

“It’s all in the racial magic of the pegasus. And no, racial magic isn’t some Nazi euphemism. We’ve gotten a lot of those comments over the years.” Marion chuckled and shrugged it off. “Anyways, you’re next, amigo.”

“Alright,” the pegasus said. “My name is Vance Hofstetter. I’m from the Summerlin neighborhood and I’m seventeen and I was a senior at the Palo Verde High School. I was on the PVHS Panthers baseball team and we had a game at the Foothill High School in Henderson the night of the event. We went to In-n-out after the game and then went home to sleep. And well… I woke up the next morning as a fun-sized horse with wings.” The purple stallion’s feathers seemed to shiver at his sides. “I… don’t want to talk about my first couple days here, if that’s okay.”

Marion cleared his throat. “Of course. We’re not gonna force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

The grey pegasus mare next to Vance flapped her wings in curiosity, then looked back at the group. “Am I next?” she asked in a slight east coast accent. “My name is Nadia Turner. I’m twenty-one years old. I’m from White Plains, New York and I was here with my girlfriends to celebrate my twenty-first birthday. We were out drinking at the time of the… It’s called the event, right?”

Marion confirmed with a silent nod.

“So there we were, having a good time, dancing to that new Borgeous song at the Omnia club in Caesar’s Palace. Then I do a little spin and I fall into… well… this nice guy.” She gestured to the unicorn stallion sitting between herself and Max.

The unicorn softly spoke up. “I was about to leave the club, ‘cause my date never showed up. Nadia fell on top of me and got beer all over my shirt. She was apologising over and over until we fell into a freefall.”

Nadia put a hoof onto the young stallion’s back. “The club disappeared, as well as the floor beneath us. We must’ve fallen at least ten feet. Luckily sand isn't that hard, but I broke a couple of his ribs when I landed on him.”

The unicorn gave her a reassuring look and began to speak more openly. “When the rescuers took me to the hospital, Nadia fought them until they let her come with me. She hasn’t left my side since. It’s safe to say that she’s my best friend.”

“Aww! That’s one of the most heartwarming stories I’ve heard in awhile,” Marion said with an exaggerated grin. “Not many ponies appear above the ground. Must have been a spell glitch. Maybe it’s ‘cause you two were touching when the spell happened.” He pointed at the unicorn. You still gotta do your own introduction.”

“Oh, right. I’m Jacob. I’m from North Las Vegas and I’m twenty-two years old. And well, you just heard my story,” he said in a much more relaxed tone than when he joined the conversation.

Finally, the thestral turned his gaze to Max. “And last but not least…”

Max returned the gaze awkwardly. “Uh, hi everyone. Everypony? My name is Max Lindenberg. I moved here from Rockford, Illinois a year ago. Well uh, not a year anymore, apparently. I’m nineteen years old and I attended UNLV.”

While he searched for his next words, his mind sifted through the memories of his life. His anxiety began to flair up, but he pushed those feelings back and focused on the group of colorful creatures before him.

“Not really much else to say,” Max lied. There was so much more he wanted to say. So many more emotions he wanted to let out. But this was not the place to do it.

“Well okay then. It’s great to meet you all!” Marion picked up a piece of chalk with a tooth grip on it and began writing on the board. “Now, many yeash ago in Irinoi, a shmal shehelment nam Arecksanria…”

----------------

Hours passed by as the group caught up on what had happened to the world in their absence. The lesson started with the fabled story of Alexandria. No one knew what had happened to the city or if it was even real or not, but the legend said that it had been the source of all knowledge of the new world.

Then came the stories of the plague and dark ages. The time period where returnees were targeted and any human technology was strictly taboo. Eventually, the history lesson became less rumours and more facts. They began discussing the rise of city-states, the struggles of society in the former American Southwest, and the mistreatment of those who returned. The group then discussed the creation of the city. 

“Anyone wanna take a guess on why anypony bothered to rebuild the city of Las Vegas? We are in the middle of the desert after all.”

Marion scanned the small gathering until Katie spoke up. “Because of Lake Mead?”

“Precisely! Water is the lifeblood of any civilization. Those who returned here in the valley would never have survived a trip to California, so they headed toward the nearest source of fresh water. Most people had the same idea, and eventually a small farming community was founded. But most ponies in the valley didn’t head straight to the lake immediately. There was another beacon that drew in more refugees.”

Marion drew a sloppy drawing of a freestanding tower on the chalkboard. “Now some of you may have noticed that the Stratosphere Tower is still sticking out of the sand and I don’t think any of you have a clue why.”

“Magic?” Max said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yep! It’s been structurally preserved by these cool little things called runes.” Marion drew a series of strange letters on the chalkboard. “They have a magical element to them. You don’t even need to be a unicorn the make them. Some will strengthen things, some will manipulate matter and energy, and some will even freeze the decaying process as a whole. This rune right here will trigger an illumination spell. Katie, Jacob, if you want to, we can practice this spell after the session.”

The thestral cleared his throat. “Getting off topic here. The original settlers of the city before the dark ages used the Stratosphere as a radio tower. They apparently didn’t want to bother maintaining it. Over the years though, earthquakes and basic erosion caused parts of the observation deck to collapse. But that can be expected over three-thousand years.”

As Marion erased the picture of the tower, the loudspeakers played a small chime. A mare’s voice spoke firmly, “Code yellow. Please stay alert.”

“What’s code yellow?” Teresa asked.

Marion looked to the window. “Uh. That means there’s a plane in the area.” The group looked among each other in confusion. The bat pony looked back to them nervously. “A returnee plane. One with pilots that have no coordination with their hooves.”

Max looked out the window. The gleam of an aircraft caught his eye. “There! There it is!”

Ponies and other creatures from all the groups rushed to the big window to watch the advancing airliner. The 737 was clearly in distress, descending at an unsafe rate and wobbling from side to side. The airliner banked into a slow turn, away from the facility. The plane straightened out and descended toward what looked like some kind of base to the north of them.

“Looks like they’re taking it to the Dust Devil’s base at the old Nellis runway.” Marion said. “The pilot must be really determined to land.”

The plane looked as if it was going to make a wobbly but successful landing. The airliner wasn’t more than five-hundred feet off the ground when the rocking started to intensify. Sounds of awe were replaced with sounds of terror as the three-hundred ton aluminium tube with wings tilted out of a sway and slammed into the ground. A mighty fireball rose from the desert floor in the distance, followed by a deafening boom that shook the entire building.

Max watched the event before him in horror. He remembered watching footage of the September eleventh attacks in years past, but it was nothing compared to watching an airplane tragedy unfold in front of him. How many lives had just perished because of something completely out of their control? The various returnees displayed every emotion from terror to amazement. But the counselors seemed almost unfazed. Were they so accustomed to death that they didn’t show emotion to it anymore?

Marion put his wing over Max’s back. “Okay… Change of plans. Let’s uh… get you guys back to your personal counselor. They’ll, uh, talk with you if you need to. If your counselor is currently helping another, please stay here with me.”

Katie was the first to break down in tears. Then Jacob started to tear up as well. By then, Max had removed himself from under the thestral’s wing and was walking back towards the hallways without another word. The glowing, red flames of the jet fuel fire behind him was more than he had ever wished to see.
> Turbulence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cooled air of the storage building sent a chill through Ace as he walked inside from the scorching noon heat. He kicked the doors shut behind him and pulled a lever down with his magic, causing the shop lights on the ceiling to pop to life one row at a time. The dark room quickly filled with brilliant white light, revealing rows upon rows of pre-event vehicles in various states of disrepair. While his clipboard levitated by his side, Ace briskly cantered down the center aisle. He glanced at each car he passed by. Rusted sedans, dented minivans, smashed luxury vehicles, and mint condition pickup trucks all perfectly lined up next to each other. The unicorn stopped near the end of the lineup and scanned his clipboard. He walked to the trunk of the car he’d stopped in front of.

“Rodriguez. 2002 Buick Century. Nevada Plate ‘F289876’. Still operational,” Ace said to himself before lifting the tailgate, revealing a couple cardboard boxes of assorted items that one would normally find lying around in a car. “Twelve pounds of cargo… a couple jackets, phone chargers, and a collection of Madonna CD’s. Nice.”

He shut the trunk of the sedan and moved onto the next vehicle.

“Paddock. 2012 Dodge Dart. California Plate ‘KRA33Y’. Radiator destroyed, engine block cracked, cylinder head warped, and extensive body damage.” Ace had to pry the mangled trunk open with his magic. The force of his effort nearly ripped the tail off of the car. “Eighteen pounds of cargo. Let’s see here… phone chargers, of course, an old iPod Nano, an opened pack of medium Trojan fire and ice, gross, and… oh wow. A Colt revolver. Fully loaded. Now ahm jealous.”

Ace looked at the inscription underneath the manifest of Paddock’s car and raised a brow. “Paddock was released three days ago? Why hasn’t he come to pick up his stuff?” The unicorn put a checkmark next to the Dodge and continued his routine to the next vehicle, a familiar gray station wagon.

“Lindenberg. 2006 Volvo V50. Nevada Plate ‘Q120778’. Belts shredded and head gasket gone.” Again, the unicorn lifted the tailgate. Before he could continue with his job, his radio crackled inside his jacket.

Ace pressed the button on his radio. “This is Ace. Say again.”

The voice spoke through the radio again. “Code yellow, Ace. Code yellow! We need you in the tower. Now.”

Ace’s ears folded back to his head. Airliner returns terrified him. He had experienced too many losses in the past to be hopeful with code yellows, but he was determined to try and save them nonetheless.

“On my way,” he sighed.

Ace put the clipboard on top of the gray wagon while his horn began to glow a brilliant blue. Within seconds, he disappeared in a flash and reappeared into the air-traffic tower.

The radio room sat about a hundred feet above the base and had windows on all sides. By pre-event standards the tower was bare and primitive. They were lucky to even have a radar. There were two ponies on staff in the tower, an earth pony stallion working the radio and a unicorn mare watching the surrounding area with binoculars. Ace walked up to the earth pony attempting to calm the pilot and tapped his shoulder. 

“Keppler. Let me on the radio,” Ace ordered.

The tan earth pony nodded and spoke into the microphone. “AA-67 heavy, I’m going to have you talk with our return expert here. He’ll try and walk you through this.” There was a pause before Keppler spoke back up, “God be with you too, Captain Miller.”

Keppler took his headset off and held it out in his hoof. “It’s a 737. A hundred and twenty-nine souls on board. American Airlines flight sixty-seven from Miami. Co-pilot lost his shit and locked himself in the bathroom.” 

Ace swiftly took the headset in his magic and sat down in front of the radio. “American Airlines flight sixty-seven heavy, how copy?”

“Hello? I… are you that return expert guy?”

“My name is Ace. I’m the head of the local Las Vegas returnee rescue squadron. I’m assuming the trafficker before me told you some almost unbelievable information, yes?”

“Um, affirmative Vegas tower. I’m willing to believe anything to get me out of the sky right now.”

Ace looked over at the barebones radar screen next to the radio. “Okay AA-67, I have you on radar. You’re about fifty-six kilometers to the southeast. Can you give me your bearing and altitude?”

“Shit uh…” The pilot shuffled the radio a bit. “Bearing is north-northwest toward McCarran, 36.07 degrees north and 115.12 degrees west. We’re on approach speed. One hundred forty knots. And um, currently at ten thousand feet and descending.”

“Be advised AA-67 heavy, McCarran no longer exists. Keep your bearing toward McCarran but do not, repeat, do not dip below two thousand feet. When you are approximately 5 kilometers from your destination, I need you to bear to your right towards Nellis Air Force Base. The runway will be easy to spot, but just in case, we’ll have ground crew flash some lights for you. Affirmative?”

“Yeah… a-affirmative ground.”

Ace turned around and spoke sternly to the mare behind him. “Moonlight. The plane will be coming out from behind Frenchman Mountain in about 15 minutes. You tell me exactly when you see him.”

The pink mare nodded and turned her gaze to the southeast.

“Won’t the plane be coming dangerously close to the city?” Keppler asked in a worried tone.

Ace nodded while turning his attention back to the radio. “Yes. Send out a code yellow alert. Contact the radio stations and city hall.”

Keppler picked up the phone and began dialing while Ace picked the microphone back up. “Okay. Captain Miller, right? What I need you to do is extend the flaps. You’ll be able to pull the lever but you’re gonna need to use both hooves.”


-----------------


Winter shut her locker with a smile on her face. The successful rescue yesterday had her spirits flying high. She spread her wings and fluttered over to her partner while he prepared his lunch. Jack sat down at their usual card playing table and took a veggie sandwich out of his paper bag. He always worked up an appetite during his patrols over the desert. The smell of fresh bread and tomatoes filled his nose as he prepared to take a bite.

Winter hovered upside down, directly over the top of Jack and noogied him. “Where’s my lunch old man?”

The pegasus stallion sighed and shook his lunch bag until a small container of diced potatoes landed on the table. “Here. You can have my taters.” he said with an eye-roll.

The mare took the container and popped the lid open before sitting down beside her wingpony. “They’re called potatoes, Jack.”

He reached toward a small radio sitting at the center of the table and turned it on. “Not where I’m from they’re not.”

“So… That was quite the rescue yesterday,” Winter said, trying to strike up a conversation.

Jack set his sandwich down and nodded. “Yeah. Not very often that a returnee is that calm when we pick them up.” He pondered for a moment. “I don’t know. Call me crazy, but something tells me we’re gonna see him again.”

Winter played with a potato piece with her hoof. “He was kinda cute, too.”

The stallion snickered and put a wing around Winter. “Daw. Was it ‘cause of the ‘angel’ thing?”

The snow white mare’s cheeks turned a light but noticeable shade of red. “Grandma used to tell me about angels. Beautiful messengers of heaven that help and protect or something like that.”

“He probably thought he was dead and an angel was there to take him away. Or…” Jack touched her nose with his hoof, “Maybe he was f-l-i-r-t-i-n-g~.”

Winter smacked his hoof away from her face, “A returnee flirting with somepony right off the bat? You really are senile.”

Jack groaned and leaned back in his chair. “You of all ponies should know I’m technically as young as you.”

“Hey. You’re the one that made a big deal out of it when you ‘got a kid’ as a partner.”

The radio began playing an old pre-event pop song that relaxed Jack.

“Why are we listening to classical music?”

Jack waved his sandwich in her direction. “What? Got a problem with Coldplay?”

The young mare rolled her eyes and began eating. To add to Winter’s annoyance, Jack took a bite of his sandwich and began singing along.

“♫ She dreamed of para-para-paradise~♪”

Winter reached out to the radio to put on something a little more modern but was stopped by an emergency tone. Ponies around the hangar stopped what they were doing and gathered around the table.

The tones stopped and a calm, female voice came over the airwaves.

“This message is being transmitted at the request of the Nevada Aeronautical Survey. A code yellow alert is in full effect for the following areas as of 12:08 pm: The Kingman highway, the Lake Mead agricultural zones, the town of Hoover View, the town of Meadville, the city of Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Valley. A large commercial jet liner is due to attempt a landing at…”

Winter’s heart sank as the world around her began to blur. The last time she was on site for a code yellow had been a year ago when she’d first started working at the base. The thought of that day sent chills through her body.

The winged mare was shaken out of her daze by her partner. “Winter! C’mon! Ace’s orders,” Jack exclaimed as he shoved a couple of hoof-converted marshall wands into her arms.

“Uh, what are we doing again?” Winter asked as she strapped the beacons to her forehooves.

Jack checked the batteries in his lights before securing them to his hooves. “We’re going to signal to the pilot on how to line up with the runway. The hoof-lights are bright enough to see at this time of day so don’t look directly at them.”

Winter’s ears folded back while she peered outside the hangar. Her wingpony patted her back. “It’s going to be okay, Winter. Ace said the pilot is calm and is cooperating. We’ll land this one safely and we’ll help welcome our new friends home. Now cmon. We gotta get to the end of the runway. The plane will be coming out from behind the mountains any minute now.”

Jack took off out the large open doors of the hangar and raced down the patched up runway. Winter trailed behind him, looking to the southeast the entire time. About halfway down the runway, an odd flying object in the far distance caught her eye. She flapped her wings harder as the metal structures and hot asphalt of the base gave way to dusty plains.

“Before the plane passes us, make sure you are on the ground and five-hundred feet away from the runway. I sure as hell don’t want to watch you get sucked into a jet engine!” Jack exclaimed as they reached the end of the runway. Jack flew off to the right side and Winter to the left.

With the duo approximately a thousand feet apart from each other, Jack turned his marshall wands on and waved to the young pegasus mare. Winter followed suit and waved back at him. The airplane was just exiting its turn when they started waving their lights at it. Winter’s face began to brighten as the liner drew nearer. This was actually going to be her first successful air rescue!


-------------


“Nellis tower, I’m exiting the bank now,” the pilot said in a much more relaxed tone than he’d had at first contact.

Ace looked out the window, checking on the two pegasi waving their beacons at the incoming jet. “Good, good. Y’all should see our welcoming crew guiding you in right about now AA-67.”

“Uh… ah! Yes, I see them. Landing gear… ugh, deploying. Sorry… my TCAS system is screaming at me. It’s not picking up runway beacons.”

In the background of the cockpit radio, a staticky computer voice could be heard shouting “Too low, terrain!” repeatedly.

“That’s normal, captain. Just keep her steady and you’ll be on the ground before you know it.”

“Okay,” Miller sighed, “We’re coming in on the stri- oh… shit.”

Ace jolted onto his hooves and watched the plane. “What? What is it, captain?”

“We’re losing speed. There’s too much drag... Shit! The flaps are out too far!” Miller shouted while the TCAS voice in the background blared a buzzing noise while exclaiming “Low-speed warning. Too Low. Terrain.”

Ace’s fur stood on end as a shiver rushed through his body. Hadn’t he given the directions properly? Had he missed a step? Ace went into full panic mode.

“Miller! Miller, accelerate! Keep her up! I don’t care if you have to take her in the dirt, just please don’t crash on me!”

“My wife Heather and my daughter Sarah are in Kissimmee, Florida. If they’re still there, t-tell them I love them so much…” Captain Miller said, holding back sobs. The 737 stalled out and tipped sideways. 

“God bless you for trying, A-”

The whole world seemed to go silent as a fireball engulfed the dusty ground where the plane had been two seconds ago. No pony in the tower moved a muscle, not even when the deafening blast blew open one of the tower windows. Ace screamed as loud as he could and hurled the microphone at another window, shattering it. Then he vanished in a flash of magic.


-------------


The heat of the explosion burned at Winter’s face, but not enough to evaporate the tears streaming down her cheeks. The fumes of burning jet fuel filled her nose and stung her eyes. 

She hovered in the air, watching the bright orange fireball rise into the air from the ground. Something inside Winter snapped. She should have prevented this! She could still help! Had to help! There was still time to save them!

She ripped the marshall sticks off of her hooves and raced toward the raging inferno. The closer Winter got to the blaze, the more her senses screamed in pain. She didn’t care. Halfway to the flames, Winter was knocked out of the sky. She hit the ground hard, finding her wingpony holding her down. 

“Winter! What the fuck are you doing!?”

The young mare sobbed and struggled to get out of Jack’s grasp. “No! No, I have to help! I have to help them! I can save them!”

“Winter, you can’t save them!” Jack yelled over the roaring hellfire before them.

“No! I can! Get the hell off me! I can save them!”

Jack shook her hard. “Winter! Snap out of it! They’re dea-!” He choked back his tears. “They’re dead! We can’t save them!”

Winter broke down in her wingpony’s arms. “I just want to h-h-help!”

The pegasus stallion wrapped both of his wings around Winter, sheltering her from the heat radiating from the burning wreck in front of them. “I know you want to help Winter… I do, too…”
> Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max stood in the middle of a dark empty space in confusion, his senses nulled. He felt completely blind to everything except for himself. In absolute silence, his heartbeat sounded like the pistons in an engine. It’s as if he was standing in a lifeless void.

Stars began to flicker into being all around him. After a little while, he appeared to be standing in a spiral galaxy.

The silence was disturbed by an ominous voice. “You must put your mind at ease, my child.”

“Where am I?” Max asked, looking for the source of the speaker.

The voice ignored his question. “Your soul has been set free… You must free your mind as well.”

“What are you talking about? What the fuck is going on?”

“Tsk tsk”

The stars began to rearrange themselves into the shape of a tall woman in front of him. Her pale skin assembled from the specks of light and the nebulas whisped together into strands of long red hair. Her brown eyes sparkled, even without a direct light source to reflect off them. She wore a white sheet that covered her like a dress, making her look like an angel. The woman looked at Max with a stern look. “Is that any way to talk to your mother?”

Max dropped down on the invisible ground and looked up at the image of his mother standing in front of his pony self. “Momma?” Max asked with his eyes welling with tears.

The woman knelt and pet his fur. “Yes, Maxie, it’s me.”

Max rose to speak, but before he could do so his mother put a finger on his muzzle.

“I know there is so much you want to say. I understand, because there’s so much I want to tell you. I know you’re lost, Max. I was very lost, too.” She ran her hand through the stars in the galaxy. The stars wisped around her fingers like they were sand. “Mother’s intuition brought me to you,” she said.

She paused, leaving time for Max to study her face, fearing it would be the last time he would ever see her again.

The pale woman put her hand on the side of her equine son’s face. Her touch was warm and soothing, and he leaned into her palm while their eyes met. “The spell has freed your soul to explore the wonders of magic. Something you would’ve never been able to do if you had stayed human. You will learn to do excellent things, but in its current state, your mind will not allow it. Locked away in the past. But you have the key, Max.” She took her hand off of his face and rose, towering over the pony.

“As much as it pains me to say this…” She looked away from him. “I need you to let go.”

Max shook his head slowly and reached forward to embrace his mother “No… No. I’m not going to let you go.” He tried to touch the figment of his mother, but the attempted hug went right through it. Instead, he landed on his belly.

“You need to let go of me and your sisters. You mustn't let us hold you back,” his mother said, looking down on him in sorrow.

Max looked back at his mother and tried reaching out to her while his body grew weaker by the second. “No! I can’t go on without you or Kelly, or Amber!”

Max’s mother sighed and took one of his hooves in her hands. “We need you to go on Max…” She began to disintegrate, her body whisping away back into the cosmos.

“No! Mom! Please, no!” Max clung to her hand with both hooves, trying desperately to tug her back towards him. Her body slowly vanished, until only her hand remained.

“Let go, Maxie. Just don’t forget us,” whispered her voice in the darkness. Her hand turned to dust in his hooves.


-----------------


Max jolted awake in a cold sweat and leapt out of his bed in panic.

“Mom!? Mom!”

His gaze locked on the broken, alien horse in the mirror. He screamed and tossed a stool at his reflection, shattering it. He began to hyperventilate, the remaining shards in the frame multiplying the image. Mocking him.

He ripped the mirror off the wall. He took a breath and put his head through the broken frame, the shards prodding at his neck. Max’s heart beat through his chest. Just one simple downwards motion and he could be with his family again. He brushed his neck along one of the shards, giving himself a small cut along his throat.

The door to Max’s room was flung open. Max looked up with wet eyes and saw Rose standing in the doorway. In her shocked expression, he saw the mother in her surfacing. The strong, levelheaded composure of the counselor was gone. She looked as if she’d caught one of her own boys trying to end themselves. 

The young stallion lifted his head and dropped the mirror. Rose rushed over to him and held him tight.

“Max! Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I never should’ve left you alone after the crash!”


-------------


The morning light was dull, grey; unlike the usual bright yellow. Small patters of rain hit the window while Max sat alongside his bed, Rose sleeping next to him. She wouldn’t leave his side until she knew he was okay. The ceiling fan turned rapidly, sending cool air wisping through his mane. Max hadn’t been able to sleep after his dream. Instead, he’d spent the whole night thinking about finding a way to keep moving forward. Something to get his mind off of everything. Well, he’d have time to think about it, now that he probably was on suicide watch.

But what could he do? The only applicable skills he had was the little knowledge of architectural engineering from his freshman year at university. He did know how to weld, but how could he handle a tungsten rod now?

The more he thought his situation over, the more he wondered. They said he was one of the calmer refugees. If that was the case, what did the others go through within their first couple of days? Marion had said his peers had needed at least four days after their arrival to mentally adjust.

It seemed like there were a million ways someone could flash back into time, and it looked like he’d been given a very cushy one. He crashed his car into a bunch of dry shrubs.

Imagine what it would be like driving in the mountains or through a forested area. What about tunnels? He imagined the drivers in New York’s Holland Tunnel returning, only to be greeted with the bottom of the Hudson River.

What about trains rolling through the Canadian Rockies? A convoy of ancient goods the length of the Empire State Building travelling from Vancouver to Kamloops, suddenly crumpling and rolling in the Coquihalla Pass. Airplanes… He had already witnessed himself.

But what about other ways? He never really thought about returnees not in any vehicles. That griffin, Teresa, she’d been studying for finals. The pegasus mare and the unicorn that sat next to him had been at Caesar’s Palace.

Nadia was from New York, though: a tourist. Las Vegas was one of the biggest tourist destinations on the planet. How many people found themselves trapped in an alien body in a foreign country, and some with only a basic understanding of English?
He could imagine tourists from Moscow taking in the sights and suddenly finding themselves transformed and trapped in a place where nobody understood Russian. Australians gambling their hearts out that now had no way of going home and attempt to find their family.

Even people like himself, with his family across the country, would most likely not endure a trip home on hoof. It was bad enough that they were thrown into the future without any regards to their safety and without their loved ones, but now they wouldn't even be able to see home again.

He’d been lucky to be greeted by a friendly welcoming party. In fact, most people who returned in Southern Nevada were greeted by the same winged rescuers, the Dust Devils. They were dedicated to softening the jolt into the future refugees didn’t expect nor want. They really were, in a way, angels. Even the ones without wings, medical personnel, heavy rescuers, a teleporting unicorn. All of them, even the ones that weren’t refugees dedicated their lives to make sure that the refugees had a chance at their own.

That’s it. That’s what he should do. This world needed more people like Rose, Winter, Marion, and Jack. If they hadn’t been there for him to begin with, he might have killed himself before the sun set on the first day. Imagine how many suicides he could prevent. How many car crash victims he could save. Or even how many disoriented wanderers he could help. 

But how on earth could he join a group like that? It didn’t seem like they needed any mediocre building designers or a guy who’s CPR certification had expired in 2013.

His musing was interrupted by Rose’s melodious voice. “For a silent thinker, you make a lot of damn noise.”

He looked to his side, watching Rose sit up.

“Do you want to talk about what happened last night?”

Max looked around his messy room and nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m ready.”

Rose looked at Max, ears perked.

“It wasn’t because of the plane crash like you said. It may have triggered it, but that’s another thing,” Max said solemnly. “I… I had such a surreal dream. My mom was there telling me to let go. She said my soul was free but I was trapping it. Then… she just vanished.”

Rose nodded while she searched for words. “Most likely, your subconscious is rejecting your reality. It happens quite often, but not usually so delayed. It may also be returnee’s guilt. It's like survivor's guilt, blaming yourself for getting off much easier than others.”

A flash of light came from the window and thunder rumbled from outside. “I had returnee’s guilt myself, but I didn’t have anypony to coach me through it. That’s why I’m here. To make sure I can help others not to go through what I did.”

Max took a breath. “You know. Before you interrupted me, I was tossing the idea of joining those Dust Devil guys. For the exact same reason you told me you became a counselor.”

Rose’s face lit up. “That’s great, Max! There are never enough team members.”

“Well… problem is, I don’t exactly have any marketable skills. I can put coolant in an engine and tighten a bolt. But how the hell would I be able to do any of that without hands?”

“That's what everyone who joins up with them says at first.” She chuckled. “Trust me, they’ll teach you everything. But first, we’ll teach you how to use your body and live in society.” She stood up and extended her hoof to Max. “But I need to know if this is definitely something you want to do.”

Without hesitation, Max took her hoof and rose. “I have literally nothing left to lose.”

Rose sighed and gestured to the door. “You good to go the group session? You don’t have to if you do-”

Max cut her off. “I want to go to the group session. I need to learn how to deal with this, even if it hurts.” Max moved around the shattered mirror on the ground and opened his dresser drawer, taking out some fresh clothes. “Now… I hope I can get this on without slipping on glass.”

“Take your time.” She took a towel out of the dresser and swept the glass to the side of the room. “Unfortunately, I’m gonna have to stay in here. It’s protocol after… well…”

Max sighed. “I get it. Just… please turn around or something?”

Rose rolled her eyes and turned around. “F-i-n-e.”


-------------------------


The atrium of the rehabilitation center was just as dull as the weather outside the massive windows. The air was still and the usual chatter from the many groups was quiet and subdued. The storm outside was unusual, it usually never rained this hard in mid-April.

Perhaps the weather teams had brought in a storm from up north to put out the fire and wash away the jet fuel from the soil. Beyond the haze of the unseasonal downpour, the rear stabiliser of the downed airplane was visible in the distance. Emblazoned with the charred star spangled banner, it looked like a patriotic tombstone.

There weren’t as many ponies in the room as the day before. Some had to have taken the airliner crash much worse than Max had imagined. Bad timing to have a plane crash happen right as mentally unstable refugees began their healing process. Some sitting areas were completely empty. The only groups that looked like they had all their members present were the youth groups.

Max was sitting beside the unicorn stallion Jacob, just like yesterday but with an empty seat to his right. Everyone was in attendance except for Katie, the sunlight yellow unicorn mare. The group stayed quiet while Marion stood just out of hearing range, talking with Rose. Max tried not to pay attention to the two talking, even when Marion looked at him over his shoulder.

Rose finally parted with Marion, leaving the thestral stallion to return to the gathering. He stood in front of the group and said, “Well uh… buenos dias everypony,” in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I’m glad you could come back and join us, especially after yesterday. Believe it or not, that’s not the first time something exploded outside during the first session.”

The thestral fell back onto his haunches and took a breath. “I know how it is the first time. The second month of my new life, I saw a jumbo jet take a nosedive into the side of the mountains. Immediately, I thought of the September eleventh attacks when I was in middle school. I know what you guys are going through, and just know that I’m here if you guys need to talk.”

As soon as the counselor stopped talking, Katie walked into the sitting area and took her seat next to Max without so much as a peep. Katie looked like she’d just taken a ride in a tornado. Her long violet mane was frayed and her clothes looked like they’d been thrown on. In fact, she looked a lot like Max did. Did she have a similar breakdown last night? Katie took a breath and fixed her eyes on the thestral.

Marion cracked a smile and nodded at Katie. “Well, now that you’re all here, I think we can pick up where we left off. I’ll just speed up the history lesson and get right to anatomy. After the lesson, y’all will head out to physical therapy. It seems most of you’ve got the hang of walking already, but our goal is to make sure you can do it without thinking about it.” He stopped for a moment. “Where did we leave off?”

“The Stratosphere,” Teresa spoke up.

“Ah, right! Thanks! We’re on the subject of the creation of the city. So I’ll just sum up the history from here. In 2680 AE, the city was built in the canyon between Mead and Henderson to safeguard it from bandits. Farms sprouted up all around Lake Mead and all the way up through Arizona and down along the Colorado. Around 3100, they fixed the Hoover generating stations, the city blossomed, blah, blah, blah.”

Max raised his hoof. “So I get the ‘bla, bla, bla’ parts, but what about other places? I assume we’re not the only city left in America.”

The group gave a small chuckle while Marion nodded and reached up to the top of his chalkboard. He pulled down a map of the old American Southwest. Cities were clearly marked and dotted across the map.



“Yep. There's a confederate government ruling the Americas and they're broken up into self governing states and territories. We're in the Colorado Territories: one of the most unpopulated in the Americas. We're the territory that covers all of the southwest's unwanted land. But at the turn of the century, the mining industry really started to boom, so we're one of the wealthiest as well. But not as wealthy as Nuevo California."

“Uh… why are they important? Is it because they have large populations?” Vance asked while his wings twitched at his sides.

Marion smiled, glad that his group was finally joining the conversation. “Well, Nuevo Angeles, or more commonly known as New Angeles, is the home of sailing and steam-powered ships on the Pacific. Not long after they set their ships into the dangerous, monster-infested sea, they returned with luxuries thought lost forever: precious stones, silk, oriental tapestries, palm oil, and some other neat stuff.”

“Monster infested?” Jacob, Katie, and Teresa asked in unison.

“You heard me right. Long story. All you need to know is don’t be a small settlement on the coast unless you want a bunch of rotting fishmen burning you at a stake or even stealing your soul. Again, no, I am not kidding.”

Max put his hoof to his face and sighed. “I am gonna get so sick of this magic fairytale horse shit eventually.”

Katie couldn’t help but chuckle. Marion on the other hoof, grunted. “You’ll be surprised what kind of bullshit is commonplace in this world. But! Now on to everypony’s favorite subject: anatomy.”

“So like I said yesterday, you guys’ age group is in a biologically pretty tight spot. Unfortunately, I gotta give a speech about the birds and the bees”

“You all are lucky enough to still be in your development phase when the event happened. Which means your new bodies now have to pick up where your old ones left off. But your minds are still technically human. In all likelihood you can't imagine this right now. Eventually though, you'll start finding your fellow ponies, or griffins, as attractive as the humans you used to find attractive. It happens to everyone, sooner or later, but you’re all younger and more… energized than those a bit older than you. So it’ll happen to you guys sooner.”

The young ponies (and griffon) all looked at the bat pony in silence.

Marion stood as still as a statue, waiting for a question that would never come. “Well, I had to give that brief lesson. I thought it would be best to get that out of the way first.” The thestral sighed, “Okay… let’s get on to eating habits and self-hygiene. Ponies are herbivores. So sad to say the age of sirloin steaks and fried chicken is over.”

The group let out a collective “Aww.”

“But for you, Teresa, you can still eat meat,” he said to the griffon. “But you aren't allowed to eat ponies or other smart, civilized creatures. Even if they look tasty.”

“Anyway, don’t be sad, ponies. There are vegetarian substitutes that taste almost identical!”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m touching a veggie burger,” Jacob blurted out.

Marion gave his toothy grin and shrugged his wings. “Well actually, it’s made of hay and-”

A sudden flash and bang outside the window. Max jolted in his seat and whinnied once again. “Oh god, damnit!”

Katie burst into a fit of laughter at Max’s frightened pony noise. Her laughing ended with a loud equine snort, that made Max and other members of the group laugh as well. Max and Katie looked at each other, slowly calming down.

Marion was also amused. He shook his head and spoke under his breath, “Ugh, ustedes me estan volviendome loco."

"Escuché eso chico murcielago!" Katie snapped.

Marion’s mouth dropped at the quiet unicorn’s snapback in his own language. “Okay, okay. Let’s all simmer down now. God forbid any of you start making dirty jokes in Spanish like my last group.”

Max turned to Katie and she looked back at him with a smile. “My grandma was from Columbia. I know my stuff.”

The two ponies grinned at each other and returned their attention back to the lesson.


---------------------------


When the session ended, their minds full of strange new information, the group trudged after Marion to a large open courtyard. Walking paths with stairs, inclines and other small obstacles snaked through the area, surrounded by various shrubs and trees. Several other groups of ponies were already walking around and talking with each other on the wet patches of grass.

At the very middle of the yard, there was a picnic pavilion where a unicorn was cooking some food on a grill for a few hungry looking ponies. The cool mist of the post rain atmosphere and the smell of steamed vegetables wafted through the air. Max looked around the beautifully landscaped yard while Marion stopped in front of the group.

“Here we are, kids. All we really ask of you is to walk the course a few times, get your bearings, then you can do what you want. I know some of you only had a muffin for breakfast if you had anything at all. At the top of that little hill over there you can go ahead and grab some lunch.” Marion hopped off the ground and hovered in the air. “I’ll be eating, if you wanna talk with an old, lazy Mexican horse.”

Lance, Jacob and Nadia walked off down one of the paths, starting up a conversation as they went. Teresa looked around before she reached into her sweatshirt pocket and took out an old iPhone. She tried to go through it, but her hard talons didn’t have the same effect on the touchscreen as soft human fingers. She walked off and started playing with different methods to try and get into her phone.

That left Katie and Max standing next to each other. The stallion turned to her and extended a hoof. “I’m Max, by the way.”

Katie blinked as Max shook her out of her thoughts. She returned the gesture, putting her hoof on his and awkwardly moved it up and down. “Uh, Katie. It’s nice to meet you Max. That was a pretty funny little scene in the class.”

His face turned a faint shade of red and he shyly nodded. “Yeah. I’m not used to whinnying yet. But that snort was pretty funny too.”

The unicorn giggled and shook her head. “Yeah, yeah,” she stated as she started walking toward a path. “You coming with? I’m pretty hungry and, well…”

“And?” Max asked while he caught up to her.

“I don’t want to be alone,” Katie said quietly.

Max closed his eyes. “I know how you feel. I’ve only had my counselor to talk to, and she’s still got other patients to take care of.”

The unicorn waited for her earth pony acquaintance to catch up with her before walking again. “Yeah. I was told there was a tour bus of refugees and the staff had to split up their time to handle them all.”

Imagine how stretched they would be if that plane had landed… 

“Any idea what to do after they let us out?” Max asked, switching topics.

“I don’t know,” Katie mumbled. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I got here. I thought about going to see if my dad was still in Yuma, but with the timestream stuff, he’s probably not there.”

The two reached a flight of stairs going up a small hill. Max put his front left hoof on the first step and slowly began to climb, struggling to keep his balance. “That’s not really what- oh crap- not really what I meant.” He made it to the top of the stairs and waited for Katie. “Be careful, you kinda gotta lean forward to keep your balance.”

Katie started her ascent up the flight. “Oh, you mean what I want to do with life.” She neared the top of the stairs and almost fell over. Max reached out and grabbed her hoof, pulling her back up. The unicorn fixed her wavy, violet mane and gave a smile. “Thanks, Max. But yeah, I haven't really thought about that. All I know is I’m not leaving this place for a while. I want to learn how to use this stupid head spike first before I even look at the exit.” She pointed to the horn on her forehead.

Max chuckled. “Yeah. I want to get my ducks in a line before I leave here too.”

“Psh. That is such a stupid statement.”

“Yes, but it works!”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Okay, magical orange horse. Whatever you say. Let’s get some food.”

Max followed right behind her. “You read my mind, talking gray unicorn.”
> Prospects
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lights flickered on inside the small office as Ace walked behind his desk. Outside, the sun had already set behind the mighty Charleston Mountain, turning the entire western sky a brilliant shade of red and orange. The most wondrous sight however was the lone and ancient spire standing in the valley. Its top was accented with colourful neon lights, keeping the spirit of old Vegas alive throughout the valley and warning aircraft of the city's vital radio tower.

Ace levitated his cowboy hat off of his head and hung it up on his coat rack. He sat down at his desk and opened up the file containing the day’s paperwork. At the same time, his magic turned the office radio on. The familiar music made Ace smile as he took the first sheet out of the folder. As he picked up his pen and filled in the appropriate sections, he softly sang along.

“...you play forgiveness. Watch it now, here he comes. He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus, but he… talks like a gentleman. Like you imagined when you… were y-o-u-n-g.”

Ace floated the finished form into the ‘out’ pile and looked down at the next sheet, his expression souring as he levitated the phone to his ear and dialed out. After a few seconds of the dial tone, Ace got an answer.

“Colorado Territories Rehabilitation Centers: Las Vegas Campus. This is Cotton Swab.”


“Cotton. I thought I specifically told you two weeks ago to send discharged returnees on the next train over here to get their stuff. Brian Lansing was discharged yesterday and his Honda is still sitting in my warehouse with all his crap. Where the hell is he?”

“Oh. Hi Ace, nice to speak with you too,” she said in a sarcastic tone. “Let me look him up for you…”

Ace tapped his hoof on his desk as the line went silent, his mood worsening with each passing second. The mare on the other end finally picked the phone back up.

“Okay... Mister Lansing was discharged yesterday at his own request. Reason for discharge: travelling to Los Angeles to see about family. Declined to have the recommended exit interview. I don’t know what to tell you, Ace.”

Ace growled and yelled into the phone in front of him. “I have had it with you guys’ negligence! I can’t keep cluttering my warehouse with these unwanted cars, hoping that the owners will come back for them some day. I need to know whether I can scrap these things or not. I’m coming down there tomorrow to speak with all of you. If you aren’t all crammed into the conference room at noon, somepony is getting gelded!”

He slammed the phone back down on the receiver and opened up his desk drawer. A bottle of pre-event whiskey and a glass levitated out and onto his desk. Ace let out a sigh and popped the cork off the top. The golden liquor poured into the glass, reflecting the purple magic off of it’s glossy surface. Levitating the glass to just under his lips, the frustrated pony swivelled his chair around to face the window.

“Always had a temper problem... You would’ve known how to calm me down.” Ace raised his glass. “If only you were here with me. See me through this bullshit, will ya Rachael?” Ace took a sip from his drink and turned the radio’s volume up.


---------------------------


You’re listening to LVS Radio One. Sin City’s number one for pre-event hits. I’m DJ Dirty Mixtape, Chicago’s freshest returnee, and you just heard ‘When You Were Young’ by The Killers. Be sure to catch the crew from the Hal and Bone Rush Hour show on the Grand Promenade tonight to enter for your chance to win a cash prize of a thousand bucks. It’s a beautiful eighty three degrees here in the valley and it’s just past seven on this clear Friday evening. Which means it’s time for Friday Findings! For you newbies, that’s where we play the latest pre-event song that we’ve never played before, downloaded off of one of our new local returnees’ music players. This weeks’ finding comes to us off of the Samsung Galaxy S3 of five-weeker Cathleen Bunt. This song first aired on New York City’s Z100 on October 29th, 5 Before-Event and quickly shot up to the 7th best song in America by 4 B.E. It’s the Far East Movement and Ryan Tedder with ‘Rocketeer’. Played first, right here on Radio One.


-----------------------------


The rec room of the rehabilitation center was as it normally was on a Friday evening: full of people taking a break from reality to enjoy themselves while the pre-event music played on the stereo system. A team of ponies played pool with a griffin duo. Another group played a tabletop rpg. Meanwhile, Max and Katie sat at a small table chatting over lemonade and homebrewed soda. Both returnees were in much better shape than when they first met. Max wasn’t even wearing a shirt, a clear sign that he was becoming comfortable with his new pony body.

"...It’s like what that old copypasta said," Max remarked with a shrug. "You can die a Danny Phantom, or live long enough to see yourself become the Fairly Odd Parents.”

“Oh man. Danny Phantom was awesome. Oh! And speaking of awesome…” The unicorn stuck her tongue out and stared intently at her drink. “I learned some precision magic this week. Check it out!” 

Her horn began glowing a pale shade of blue as a couple of ice cubes rose from her glass. She bobbed her head around while drops of water began dripping off of the ice cubes, floating in the magic field around it. Soon after, the water droplets returned to the ice. They re-froze and began forming detailed features like eyes, a mouth, arms, and legs. The end result was an ice sculpture of an old cartoon character. “I’m Mister Meeseeks! Look at me!” she said in her best cartoon voice.

Max laughed and clopped his hooves together. “Haha! Amazing! I didn’t know you were into Rick and Morty.”

“I was. The fucking waiting for season two was driving me insane. And now? I’ll never be able to see it!” Katie ranted.

“They must’ve been giving us a long wait on purpose. Get more viewers by getting everyone to hype over it.”

Katie nodded and set the ice figure on the table. “But yeah. Teacher says I’m pretty advanced for a returnee. She said I could probably make a lot of money in precision work like jewel making, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m amazed at what I can do with this thing!” She crossed her eyes to look up at her horn.

Max brushed his messy mane out of his eyes and looked at Katie, who was sipping her lemonade. “So I was thinking… We’re not gonna be in here forever. I was thinking we could take our first steps out into the world together. Get one of those apartments they give out to people like us and room together.”

Katie set down her drink and grimaced a little.

Was it something he said? Was it too weird to ask her to live together? Did she think he was hitting on her?

The young mare finally straightened her face and looked back at Max. “Sorry about that. This lemonade is really sour.”

Max let out a faint sigh of relief.

Katie pushed the glass to the side and looked him square in the eyes. “Is that even a question? Of course I’d want you by my side out there! Tell you what. I’m almost done with magic class, and you’re all done with… whatever earth pony things they taught you. I brought up jewelry making just then ‘cause teacher said there were a couple jeweler recruiters watching me practice today. She said they wanted to interview me. For a job position! So, how bout I go interview with them and we can walk out of this place in a week… together.”

Max’s eyes shone with hope. “That’s great! I can’t wait to see how they rebuilt the town.”

Katie played with the straw in her drink. “I hope I wouldn’t have to go to work right away. I really would like to go see if I could dig something out of the ground where my old house was. And like I said earlier, it would be nice to go to Yuma. Find some trace of dad.”

“Well…” Max said longingly, “If I go with you to Arizona, you have to go with me back to Illinois. My family made a time capsule when I was little. It was pretty airtight and water resistant, so it just might still be there. If I could just have a picture of my family to hang on a wall, I would be the happiest talking horse in the world.”

The unicorn held her hoof out. “Deal!” 

Max extended his hoof and bumped hers. “You promise?”

Katie nodded. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.”

The young stallion leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face. “So… you ever play ‘Just Cause 2’? That big open world game with the horrible voice acting?” 

Katie pondered for a moment before snapping back. “Oh, that game? I saw my sister play it a couple- ah!” She was interrupted when the wing of a passing pegasus stallion hit the back of her head.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry miss. These stupid things have a mind of their own sometimes,” he said.

“That’s okay. I’ve heard wings are hard to control,” Katie stated before blowing a feather off her nose.

The pegasus folded his wing back in and turned back to the earth pony mare accompanying him. “So like I was saying, Brian left this morning. I kept telling him he’s not gonna find anything in LA…”

Katie turned back to Max and raised a brow. “Poor guy. I hope he finds something out there.”

"Oh well." She stretched her forelegs and motioned her head to the pool table at the center of the room. “Wanna go play the winners? I bet we can kick their asses.”

Max rose out of his chair with a laugh. “You had me at kicking their asses.”


-----------------------



The warm afternoon air lingered in the courtyard picnic pavilion. Many people were taking a break to have lunch, but food wasn’t the first thing on Katie’s mind. Max walked alongside her while she approached the meeting spot for her interview. “You’re gonna do great! I know it!” Max said with enthusiasm.

Katie felt a little uneasy. This would be her first job interview as a pony, and her second job interview ever. She’d spent a good part of the night talking to herself in the mirror, trying to make herself seem more professional.

She stopped a few tables down and took something out of her pant pocket. A cracked iPhone floated in front of Max. “Can you hook this up to your solar charger thingy? Battery is almost dead again,” Katie said. “You can play Angry Birds, just... please don’t look in my journal entries.”

Max took the phone in his mouth. “Sure shing. An gooh ruck!”

Katie waved Max off and trotted toward a couple of ponies sitting near the edge of the pavilion, looking out of place. A beige unicorn stallion with a dark blue mane wore a plaid patterned tie. His partner, a fairly small orange pegasus mare, wore a turquoise necklace.

Katie cleared her throat, getting the attention of the two ponies. They both turned around and flashed a smile at her.

Katie took a breath and smiled back. “Hi there. Is this the interview for Ivanpah Jewel Crafters?”

“This is!” the stallion exclaimed. “You must be Katie Whitford.” He and his partner walked up to her and extended their hooves for a formal hoof bump. “I’m Fault Line and this is Opal Gem.”

Opal bumped Katie’s hoof as well. “Glad to finally meet you. We saw you sculpting and we think you’re a very talented young mare.”

Katie couldn’t help but blush a little. “Oh, well thank you. I just followed the instructions my teacher gave me. I have to say, I’m very excited to be here. I always wanted to do something artsy for a living.”

“Well, then you’re in the right place,” Opal remarked.

Fault nodded. “We saw most of your handiwork from the observation window. We’ll need you to pass a little test, but before that, tell us about yourself.”

“Well…” she said as she took a seat. “My name is Katie Whitford. I’m twenty years old and I grew up in Boulder City with my parents and my sister. Though my parents separated before I graduated high school. Dad moved south to Yuma for work and I stayed with mom and Lissy before the event.” Her ears folded back in distress as she thought about her family. She sighed and refocused her mind. “Anyways, I’m artistic, very attentive to detail, and my only decent grades in school were my drawing classes. So I think it’s safe to say I would love to work in a jewelry workshop!”

“Well, the artsy types are just what we’re looking for here!” Opal said enthusiastically.

“Okay, Katie” Fault said while he floated a rock embedded with small orange crystals onto the desk. “This is a deposit of Wulfenite. It’s a lead molybdate mineral that forms naturally in Arizona and Nevada. It’s also very fragile, despite it having a surprisingly large density for an opaque tabular crystal.” He pushed the deposit in front of Katie. “If you can remove at least one of the crystals without breaking it in the process, the job is all yours.”

Katie focused on one of the larger crystals . Her horn and the gem lit up with a light blue glow. Katie focused the majority of her energy on loosening the stone’s grip by eroding the rock around the crystal. Rock dust fell from the deposit as the flat crystal began rocking back and forth. A couple seconds passed before the perfectly intact gem popped out. “Hah! I did it!”

Opal and Fault gave each other a mutual nod before Opal stood up and shook Katie’s hoof again. “Welcome to Ivanpah Jewelers, Miss Whitford.”

Katie gave a small squeak as a huge grin formed on her face. “Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! I won’t let you down, I promise!”

Fault chuckled as he stood up as well and took a couple papers out of his bag. “Alright, let's calm down now. We would like to take you to the city and show you the workshop sometime. I just need you to sign this waiver for administrative reasons.”

Katie picked one of the forms and inspected it. It was a form from the returnee facility stating that the member would be going off campus for a maximum of six hours. As she read along, a certain clause caught her attention.

The Colorado Territories Rehabilitation Centers are not responsible for any mental episodes, injuries, or death of the refugee and/or other passersby when taken on a trip off campus. By signing this waiver, the refugee and the party releasing them for the time given, are hereby acknowledging this statement and cannot press any lawsuits against The Colorado Alliance Rehabilitation Centers or any of its subsidiaries and sister companies.

“Sorry Katie,” Opal said with a lopsided smile. “It’s just protocol.”

Katie snorted and signed her name on both copies.

“Excellent!” Fault exclaimed as he took the form back into his bag. “And you read the fine print too. Not many ponies do that.”

Opal chuckled and motioned to him with one of her wings. “He was an insurance adjuster before the event.”

“Every damn day it was a ‘You guys are con artists’ this and ‘I’m switching to Geico!’ that. I’m kinda glad that’s all over now. Our little family business receives much better reviews.”

“You two are a family?” Katie asked.

“Yep!” Opal exclaimed. “Fault Line and I were on our honeymoon when the event happened. Back then, we were Jim and Vickie Butitta. Twenty-two years later, we have two kids, a business, and picked out pony names for ourselves.”

Fault put his foreleg around his wife with a chuckle. “Opal ran an online jewelry business back in the day. We planned on opening a store back home in Minnesota, but... you know what happened. Anyways, we’ll run this over to the administration office and we can hopefully show you the shop tomorrow. Meet us in the atrium tomorrow and we’ll show you your first glimpse of the town.”

Katie gave a wide smile and bumped Fault and Opal’s hooves again. “Thank you so much. I’m so excited!”

“No, no. Thank you for being a part of our team,” Fault said before he walked out of the pavilion.

“We’re really excited to have you, Katie. You’ll make an excellent addition to our team,” Opal said while her wings flared out. “I gotta go get some paperwork filed with Fault. We’ll see you soon!”

Katie waved to Opal and turned to leave but froze in her tracks. “Hey, uh, before I go…” She turned back around to face her future boss. “Would… would I have to start on the job right away? I would like to take a trip to Yuma to try and find something of my father’s, and I promised a friend I would go with him to Illinois to get his family’s time capsule.”

Opal’s wings drooped to her sides a little as she gave her a sympathetic look. “Of course, Katie. I understand. Fault and I took a trip back to Duluth after a few years here. Many returnees make some kind of pilgrimage back home.” Opal approached her and gave her a hug with her wings. “The job offer will be open to you, so do what you have to do, sweetheart.”

Katie returned the hug. “I’m still looking forward to the tour, but... I promised my friend we would face the new world together. Can it wait a week?”

Opal gave her a warm smile. “Of course. I can’t wait to show you.” She floated a business card out of her bag and gave it to Katie. "Here's our address and our phone number... If you can afford a phone. We'll talk soon, hun."

Katie waved goodbye with a hoof and galloped back to the main building to share the great news with her friend.


-----------------


With his friend at her interview and all his racial classes done and over with, Max lay on the bed in his room with a notebook in front of him and a pencil in his mouth. Over the past month in rehab, the young stallion had finally gotten the hang of using his mouth as a substitute for his hands. He hummed a small tune while he attempted to sketch a pony. To Max, ponies were easier to draw than humans by a landslide. No hands, feet or other very small and detailed appendages. Compared to the drawings near the beginning of his sketchbook, he had improved dramatically.

Max almost jumped a foot in the air as a knock came from his door. 

Rose stuck her head through the door and gave her patient a confused look. “It’s only two in the afternoon. What are you doing in here, hun? Shouldn’t you be playing pool with Katie?”

His ear twitched as he sat upright. “Katie is off at that interview I told you about. I think she has a good chance.”

Rose entered and walked up to him. “That’s great! But, I thought you guys were inseparable. Would she leave you behind for this job?” she asked, sounding worried.

“Oh no, no. We actually made plans yesterday about what we’re doing after all this.” Max’s ears flopped again as his face brightened. “Wanna hear about it?”

Rose sat on the floor in front of him. “You’re my last patient before my job rotation. So I’ve got all the time you need.”

“Yesterday when we were chatting in the rec center, we agreed to stick together out there. She said she was gonna go interview for that job today, and if she got it, we would apply for our discharge papers and acquire housing!”

“That’s great Max!” Rose shouted, clopping her forehooves together. “You’ll love it out there. It’s like an Italian city in the desert. It’s really pretty.”

“Really? No suburban sprawl? No Walmarts?” Max remarked.

Rose chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, ponies still like to build their houses outside the city limits and retail stores made a comeback, but it’s eerily European now. Speaking of European, there’s this little marketplace by the train station. Roman’s Fruit Stand has the best grapes in the city. Remember that when grocery shopping.”

“Wouldn’t suppose there’s any good ‘tail bars’ around here?” Max said with a smug grin.

Rose gasped and looked sternly at the amused young stallion. “Who told you about that? That's not something you’re supposed to ask me. Why would you even want to go to a tail bar anyway? I thought ponies were ‘weird’.”

With a sigh, Max lay back down on his bed with an eye roll. “Okay, mom. It was just a joke.”

Rose stomped her hoof on the ground and stared the lounging earth pony down. “Don’t you ‘Okay, mom’ me, young colt. You need to know that ponies are still people no matter where you go. Tail bars are just as slimy and shady as any other second-rate strip club from the old Vegas!”

“Holy shit. What did I walk into?” Katie said from the doorway.

Rose turned away from the wide-eyed stallion to the unicorn standing behind her. She looked at Katie sheepishly and gave a half-hearted laugh. “This is… this is embarrassing.”

Katie giggled. “Nice to know the smut of Sin City never died, but that’s not what I’m here for.” She began to excitedly prance in place. “I got the job!”

Max leaped out of bed and wrapped his forehooves around her. “Katie, that’s awesome! I knew you could do it!”

Katie embraced her friend. “I’m gonna go check out the shop sometime next week! I’m so excited!”

Rose watched the two with a smile. “I think you two are ready for the world out there. You guys have made an outstanding improvement since you first showed up. And it’s not very often I get to see the making of a friendship either.”

“Let’s go get some lunch to celebrate,” Katie said.

Rose watched Max wave to her as his friend quite literally dragged him away. She turned around and looked at the sketchbook sitting on his bed. Curiosity got the best of her, making her open his sketchbook up to the page he was drawing on. She was quite impressed to find a very well drawn sketch of herself etched into the paper. It was a little cartoonish, but the resemblance was there (as well as her name printed under the drawing).

Rose set the sketchbook down on the bed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
> Graduation Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you ready hun?” Rose’s voice echoed through Max’s almost emptied out room.

She stood in the doorway while the young stallion stared blankly out the window. It was ‘graduation day’. But he wasn't celebrating. Not only was he leaving the only place he knew, but the only place he understood. The thoughts of the outside world both mystified and terrified him. People like him were the minority in this new world; would he face discrimination? Threats? Did they even share the same culture?

These thoughts whizzed through his mind while his unbroken stare looked out his window at the mighty stratosphere tower. One of the only surviving relics of his world, tattered and retrofitted with a radio tower and all sorts of crazy communication gear.

Rose walked up next to him and nosed his shoulder. “Max. Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Max jumped. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine”

“My tail you’re fine. What's up, hun? You can tell me” Rose said comfortingly.

“What’s it like out there?” Max said shakily. “Not like what it looks like out there.” He turned to look at his pants and back to Rose. “What is it like for us?”

Rose looked down at her hooves. “Well. It’s certainly not our city, that’s for sure.” She sat next to Max and gestured for him to sit next to her. “It’s always difficult for us, but eventually, you’ll get used to it.”

“I meant the ponies.” Max replied, “Do they discriminate against us?”

“I’ve gotten strange looks every now and then when I make it apparent that I’m a returnee, but I’ve never faced discrimination myself. That doesn’t mean there aren’t ponies that target people like us on the regular.”

“So, business as usual, eh?” Max asked.

Rose shook her head. “Not even close.”

She put her hooves around him. “Don’t dwell on that, Maxie. You’ll do well out there. And with Katie by your side, you’ll conquer the new world.”

The young stallion embraced his counselor firmly. “Thank you mom-.” He choked on his last word. It was a slip of the tongue, but there was truth behind it. Rose seemed to care for him much more than other patients he’d seen under her care as if she were trying to be a mother for him.

Rose’s hold on him tightened as she let out a shaky sob.

Max looked over his shoulder at the mare holding onto him with her ears flattened and tears streaming down her cheeks. “Rose?”

The distraught mare swallowed and let out a heavy sigh. “Nobody has called me mom in over forty-five years.”

“Is… Is that a good thing?” he asked.

She let go of him with a sniffle and smiled half-heartedly. “Yes, Max. I… I miss being a mom. I don’t know what it is, but you just remind me so much of my boys. Hearing you call me mom like that just… It was like a flashback.”

“Well, you do kinda remind me of my mom, so I guess that makes two of us,” Max said with his ears folded.

Rose laughed and put her hoof on the side of his face. Max let out a pained whinny and leaned into her hoof.

“It’s always good to have family to count on, hun,” Rose said with a warm smile. “Even if they’re not blood related.”


She stood up and helped him onto his hooves. “So... do you have everything you need?”

Max looked at his fully equipped saddlebags lying by the doorway and silently nodded.

“Well… Go get Katie. I’ll meet you in the lobby. Don’t be late now, young stallion.” Rose cooed to him as she trotted out the door.

Max threw his bags over his barrel, followed her to the doorway, and looked back to his dorm. The only things left were the furniture and the pictures on the walls. He closed his eyes and shut the door on the only place that truly felt like home. He turned and walked somberly away from his room.

When he made it to Katie’s room, he didn’t bother to knock and just pushed the door open. He stepped in only to be met with a bap on the nose from his friend's forehead. Both ponies stammered and cursed in unison before laughing at each other.

Max tried reaching over to help his friend off the ground but was tugged upwards by a fuzzy sensation around his chest. Katie was lifting him up with her magic!

“Holy shit! Putmedownputmedownputmedown!!” Max yelped while his hooves flailed wildly underneath him, attempting to regain their traction.

Katie laughed and released him, dropping the stallion a half inch, his legs locking into place after landing. “What? Somepony has to be the gentleman in this relationship.”

“Y-you could’ve told me you were gonna lift me off the ground!” Max whined.

“I didn’t even lift you up that high... Your hooves were smacking the floor the whole time!”

Max’s cheeks turned rosy in embarrassment. “Well… us earth ponies need to have our hooves on the ground to function properly. At least that’s what I heard from the earth pony class thing I went to.”

“What did they teach you about earth ponies anyway?” Katie asked as she invited him into her room.

Max sat on the edge of Katie’s bed and looked at his hooves. “So apparently earth ponies have earth-based magic. We can nurture plants, are strong enough to pull a pickup truck, and can feel earthquakes as far away as Washington. So, filthy farmer peasants, basically.”

Katie snorted and picked up a brush in her magic. “You’re right. You are a peasant.” She brushed her messy mane into place and flipped it towards her friend. “And I, a powerful unicorn, am a high class member of society!”

“Oh please,” Max chuckled. “A college girl that waited tables at Olive Garden is the opposite of high class.”

Katie scoffed and threw her brush at him. “Is that right, farm boy from Illinois?”

“Farm boy my orange horse ass. I grew up on the bad side of Rockford. I am anything but a cornchucker.”

“Whatever you say, hay baler,” Katie said with a grin.

“Okay, glowstick. I guess you don't wanna move out today then.” Max said slyly.

Katie’s ears drooped. “Well… I am kinda nervous about going out there…” She said timidly. “How will people like us be treated? Us returnees are minorities. Do you think we’ll face discrimination?”

“I had that same conversation with Rose just a couple minutes ago. I think we’ll be fine” Max said with a hint of uncertainty.

“I hope so,” Katie said nervously.

“Hey. As long as we stick together, we’ll be okay. Promise.”

“Don’t get too sentimental on me now, Max.”

Max sputtered. “Are you almost done prettying yourself up, or do I need to give you another hour for you to put your makeup on?”

“Do you really think I need makeup on this face?” Katie said while pressing a hoof to her cheek.

“No, not really. Your coat does a good job being the makeup for you.”

“Awe, how sweet of you.” She said as she picked her brush off the floor and stuffed it into her bag. She lifted them onto her back and looked around her room.

A few seconds passed before Max cleared his throat. “I had the same moment in my room. This is our home. But we have to move on now. Did you say bye to Jasper yet?” Max asked.

“Yeah. Right before you came in,” she answered. “He was a great per- uh, pony to talk to. I just wish I had that counselor connection you and Rose have though.”

“I’m willing to share,” Max said holding the door open for her. “She misses being a mom.”

Katie walked through the door and looked back to her room as her friend closed the door. She sighed and waited for Max to catch up to her. “I could only imagine…”

She stopped talking and just continued with her eyes fixed forward. Max could tell what was happening. She was thinking about her parents. Her family. He knew because this is what he did when his mother and sisters came to mind. He blocked out the world and embedded himself into his memories.

Max let her be. He knew she wouldn’t want to be disturbed. He sure wouldn’t. He simply kept his eye on Katie as they walked down the halls to the lobby.

Katie’s face began to fidget a little, starting out with heavier blinking. Then her eyes started to water and her lips began to quiver. Max was about to speak up but, she fell onto her haunches and started to sob with her head hanging low. Max stopped in his tracks and quickly turned to her. “Katie?”

“D-dad killed himself.” she whimpered.

He sat next to her and put his hoof on her back. “What do you mean? You told me you talked to him before the event.”

“I saw it!” she yelped. “...he- he was suffering from depression after the divorce. He loved me and my sister. If he could never see us again… I could just… see it.”

Max held his friend as she sat in the hallway. “I’m sorry I brought up family. I’m so sorry. I should’ve known better.”

Katie leaned into the sturdy earth pony and let her tears stop on their own.

“I know what’ll cheer you up,” Max said comfortingly.

He cleared his throat and whispered to her. “I was only nine years old. I loved Shrek so much, I had all the-”

“I swear to shit if you say another word, I’ll use my magic to tear your balls off,” Katie said with a nasally chuckle.

“Dick.” He helped her onto her hooves and gave her a reassuring smile. “I get those random flashes of anxiety about family too. You’re not alone.”

Katie sniffled and leaned into her friend again. “Thank you, Max.”

“Of course, glowstick.” He said as he awkwardly leaned back as a slight scent caught his attention. It wasn’t bad, but… strange.

He helped Katie back to her hooves and continued down the halls.

When they finally reached the lobby, the first thing they noticed was the train sitting at the platform outside the glass windows at the end of the lobby. It looked eerily similar to a modern European commuter train. Seeing as they didn’t use cars anymore, Max assumed technology was still in its infancy, but the sleek design of the train said otherwise.

Rose called out for them from one of the many benches lining the sides of the open space.

“Well, here's our ride,” Max said as he trotted toward his care taker.

“Would you look at you two.” Rose chuckled. “You guys look like you’re going on an adventure with all that stuff in your bags.”

Katie nodded. “Well, we are going on an adventure.”

“Yes, you are. It’ll be fun. Promise.” Rose said before she turned and walked to the train platform. “Do you have everything hun? You have the apartment keys? The address? All the residency paperwork?”

“Y-e-s mom” Max sighed.

“Well then get a move on! The train leaves in a minute. You don’t wanna be stuck in this boring lobby for an hour.”

As Max walked out the doors, his senses were hit with the blast of dry air of the Mojave desert. It’s only been a day since he was last outside, but this was different. Mostly because this wasn’t the well landscaped courtyard of the rehab center and partly because it smelled like overheating metal.

The station had no walls but was covered by a much needed metal roof that sheltered the trains and the ponies from the scorching heat of the Nevada sun.

“Green Line South will be departing in thirty seconds.” a voice over the station’s loudspeakers announced.

Hurriedly, Max and Katie stepped aboard, preparing for the journey ahead.

As the train sped off, Max and Katie could finally see the rehabilitation center from the outside. It looked like a shopping mall with more windows and no store logos. Being cooped up in there for so long made it seem smaller than it really was. With their old home fading into the desert haze, he focused his sights forward towards the Stratosphere Tower.

They stopped at a newer structure built where the massive hotel complex once stood. Now that he had a close-up of the ancient relic, Max noticed strange writing carved into portions of the concrete. Those must have been the runes he learned about in class. They ran up the length of the structure, but were unnoticeable to the untrained eye, appearing instead to be a sort of stylized decoration. The wall of the station accentuated this effect, with the logo from the old hotel painted like a mural as well as directional signs pointing to the museum and broadcast center inside.

As this was the only train heading back into the city, the train quickly filled with media employees and tourists alike.

The train played its tone, closed the doors, and began speeding off to its next destination.

"The next stop is Las Vegas Central Station," said a flat voice over the loudspeakers.

The city itself was still about ten miles to the southeast, so Max took his eyes off of the expanse of desert in front of the train. He sat in silence while the ambience of the train car buzzed in the back. Katie wasn't talking either; she must have been just as nervous as him. As time went by, however, he eventually decided to speak up.

"What was it like when you first got there, Rose?"

Rose's ears twitched and she pawed at the floor. "It was... lonely" she mumbled. "I didn't make any friends on the inside, so I was starting from scratch." She looked out the window and watched the eastern mountains draw closer. "I met a few ponies. Mares mostly. Not many of them stuck around me. I was too much of an outsider."

"The stallions though... I may have been in my late forties at the time, but that's still considered young. And with youth, comes... you know. The drive. Us returnees will feel it, but It's still too strange for us to act on. For the natural borns though, it's just growing up. And that's all I really was approached for. It was high school all over again. Not that I didn't have a couple of guy friends."

She put her forehoof around Max. "The mares will probably do the same to you. You're quite the handsome stallion."

"Jesus Christ. You really are my mom." Max sputtered.

"They can try, but you're all mine, Maxie," Katie said with a wink.

"Oh! There she is, guys." Rose pointed her hoof out the window to a sight Max and Katie never thought they would see again: Skyscrapers. Actual glass and steel skyscrapers. They weren't the goliaths they used to see in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, but they were well above twenty stories tall. They were not simple block shaped buildings, but very fluid. They looked like they were hauled all the way from Dubai and shrunken down enough to hide behind the southern ridge of Frenchman Mountain.

"Wow... that is..." Max paused for a second to take in what seemed to him like a mirage. "Gorgeous."

Max and Katie simply sat at the window and watched the city slowly reveal itself. To the direct south, where Henderson once stood, a field of warehouses and factories sprawled along the outskirts of the city like a protective barrier. It wasn't until they turned around the southern ridge that they truly saw the city in its entirety.

They soon found themselves passing over the Las Vegas wetlands and immediately into the outer neighborhoods. Beyond the protective fence lining the train tracks, the buildings looked like the dense parts of Los Angeles without the paved roadways. Townhomes and apartment complexes with flat roofs lined the walkways. Green parks filled with palm trees, ferns, and all other kinds of non-indigenous plants appeared every few city blocks. The deeper into the city they got, the older and more Mediterranean the buildings became. Stucco and brick structures built next to each other with no spaces in between. The streets were very narrow, but the wide main street built alongside the train tracks seemed to be the central gathering place for these neighborhoods. This boulevard that followed them all the way into the city was lined with stores, restaurants, street vendors, and even a mime. Who knew those still existed?

The train itself began slowing down, catching Katie off guard, sending her into Max. They both toppled over onto the floor of the train with a groan.

"Now arriving at Las Vegas Central. Green Line final destination." The loudspeakers sounded off as the two dusted themselves off.

"Are you two trying to be comical?" Rose said as the train doors opened.

Max whinnied and shook his head. "I don't even know.

The train platform was nothing special. Trains large and small lined the concrete piers all while the stench of coal and diesel filled the area. All around, ponies sat on the various benches with their newspapers and books waiting for their train to arrive.

When they made it outside, they were greeted with a breathtaking view. The station's main entrance was in the perfect position to make the skyline look perfectly symmetrical. The tallest tower rose up in the center, followed by two shorter towers to either side and two shorter ones after those. Below the engineering marvels was a grand plaza built specifically for the train station. Trolleys also ran along the outer ring of the square and into the surrounding avenues while entire area bustled with life. Proud earth ponies set up carts, selling the fruits of their hard labor. Young pegasi flipped and dived in the air above, like a gang of skateboarders. Griffins sat at tables swindling gullible ponies out of their money with street games, and little colts and fillies kept cool in the Nevada sun by splashing around in the large elegant fountain.

"Welcome home, kids," Rose said as she walked ahead of them. "If you two are done gawking, let's get you to your apartment. It's a twenty minute trolley ride from here to the north hills."

The two of them looked at one another and followed Rose down the steps of the train station, looking around the city like children in Disneyland. Their hooves clopped softly on the tiled streets as they walked toward the stopped trolley.


-------------------------------


Max hopped off the trolley onto the inclined brick street. He looked over his shoulder down this hill and took in the sight of the city below. It felt like he was in San Francisco the way the dense neighborhoods climbed the side of the mountain. They were in one of the newer parts of town, not only because of the modernized apartment buildings but because a good portion of them were built into the side of the hill at a near 45-degree grade. The main road wasn't at that extreme of a grade, but it would definitely be difficult to get an underpowered car through the neighborhood. The inclined streets had no shops or entrances on them, but had a sign placed on the side of one of the buildings that read 'No skating or sliding down the road at any time.'

The leveled out side streets extended in both directions off the main road and incorporated quaint shops and diners. The streets weren't narrow like the ones in the inner city but were equally as packed thanks to large planters in the median.

"Damn... nice place," Katie said levitating a blossom off one of the cacti in the planters.

"Much better than the neighborhood I was living in." Max retorted.

"Okay." Rose exhaled walking under the shadows of the canary palm trees and stopping at one of the building's metal fence gates. "Should be right here. 2121 Blue Feather Way. You remember the keys, hun?"

Max nodded and turned his neck, trying to open up his saddle bag. He got the flap open only to realize he couldn't get anything out of it. Katie caught on immediately and levitated the key out of his bag.

"What the hell would I do without you?" Max said with a smirk.

Katie inserted the key into the complex's gate and swung it open. "Your clumsy ass would put teeth marks into everything in there and end up swallowing the key."

Max walked into the surprisingly green courtyard. The fifty foot wide common area was landscaped just as well as the parks they passed by on the train. All the apartment's entrances were accessible from the balconies above the courtyard. The open areas were covered in green grass and a small soccer net sat toward the back. The entire area was shaded very well by the buildings and trees.

They climbed the stairs to the fourth floor and stopped at one of the corner units of the complex. Unit 410.

"I think you'll like this place," Rose said, waiting for Katie to unlock the door. "I pulled some strings back at the office and got it for you guys."

The door unlocked with ease and made a slight creak as it opened. They entered into a fully furnished great room. The left and back wall of the room had a couple of paintings on them surrounded by an array of blank picture frames waiting to display the new owners' adventures. The wall also had three doors leading to two bedrooms and a bathroom. The right wall was a kitchen complete with appliances such as an oven and even a refrigerator! The opposite wall to the entrance had two floor to ceiling windows and a sliding glass door onto a large balcony. Beyond the deck, the entire city and its five glass and steel spires lied below in the canyon around the lake. Max walked to the window and rested his hoof on the glass, taking in the view.

Rose chuckled and walked up beside him. "I thought you'd like that. You're always so sentimental about scenery."

"Looking out into the canyon, you feel like you own the city. As if it's yours for the taking," she with a smile. "And that's exactly why I chose this place for you two. This view is a reminder that this city isn't just another den of misery and sin, it's a new beginning. An opportunity for you to become who or what you want. It's beacons like this that give ponies hope, and that's what I want you to feel when you wake up every morning. Hope."

"The hope for a better tomorrow."
> New Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dreamland was a very odd place for a fresh refugee like Max. It was an odd place for anyone. He did not have any control over anything here, not even his body. He floated in a void surrounded by ever brightening stars. It was cold. Very cold. Max felt as if he had been left in a freezer. Not a single sound was heard, not even his own breathing. 

He finally broke out of his paralysis, but found himself weak and with a horrible dark pit in his stomach. He also couldn’t help but feel there was something there with him. Missing him by no more than fifty feet, a satellite whizzed past him at an incredible speed. He turned around and was astonished to see the dark side of his homeworld sitting right in front of him. The North American continent was easily identifiable, with the city lights on the coasts clearly defining the shape of the landmass.

A sudden pulse hit Max hard. He couldn’t see it, but he could definitely feel it. His strength returned to him and the nausea disappeared in a flash. But once his senses returned to him, the city lights of Earth began to flicker and darken. One by one, New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Houston, Toronto to Mexico City, the dancing lights of the failing power grid awed the young stallion until it all went black. An inland portion of the American southwest, however, was still lit in a fascinating display, the brightest of them all being the jewel of the Mojave Desert: Las Vegas. But soon enough, his city went dark as well, not before a blinding spotlight from Los Angeles briefly shone in his eye.

It wasn’t long before he saw the Gulf Coast violently ignite with bright white light and the vast majority of the American West Coast began to glow an eerie amber red. When the refinery fires of Texas burnt out and the wildfires of California settled, small specks of light began flickering across the empty planet. The brightest seemed to be originating from Colorado, Illinois, and Southern Ontario. Even Las Vegas’ light began to return. But without warning, the lights shut off for good.

The sun began to peek out from over Earth’s horizon, illuminating his homeland. Nothing was left, the land was wiped clean. The Midwest’s farms had been replaced with massive forests and grasslands. The swamps reclaimed their rightful ownership of the south and the grey scars of the once great cities had healed and painted green.

“The most important part is done, Maxie,” a familiar female voice echoed through the atmosphere. “You let go of the past to live for today. Just like Mother Earth, you’re finally free to start anew.” 

“Mom? I really hope you’re not here to haunt me for letting Rose adopt me,” Max said, looking for the angelic image of his mother from his past dream.

“Quite the contrary,” his mother said with a giggle. “I’m very happy you’ve found somepony to look up to that will love you like I did.”

He put his hooves on his head and exhaled. “They got you saying those stupid pony puns now?”

Max felt a light tap on his shoulder. He spun around and came face to face with a unicorn mare a similar size to himself. Her wine red coat shimmered in the unfiltered sunlight and her silky cream-colored mane wafted in the low gravity of Earth’s orbit.

“Let’s just say, I grew into it,” she said with a large smile.

“Mom? You… You returned? Where are you? I have to find you,” Max said as he held his hooves up to her.

She put her hooves against his as her ears flattened. “I’m… dead. Buried somewhere around here a couple thousand years ago. I don’t know where they took my body.”

“Oh… so you really are haunting me,” Max said with a forced smile.

“I did it to Amber when she returned and I’ll do it to Kelly too.”

“Well, now I don’t feel so special anymore now that I know you’re haunting the girls too,” Max deadpanned.

“I know this is gonna sound really corny, but my love for you guys didn’t end with my death. I want to make sure my babies make it out of this okay.” She twiddled her hooves together anxiously. “I promised.”

Max moved to his mother and wrapped his hooves around her. “I love you, momma. Thank you for visiting me again.”

She gave him a kiss on the nose and let him go. “I love you too. I’ll be here when you need me, Maxie. Now, I think it’s time I let you go again. It's the dawn of a new beginning and I want you to make the best of it.”

“Goodbye ma-AAAAAAAAH.” Max screamed as the gravity took hold of him and pulled him back home.

“Don’t forget to shave your fetlocks!” His mother yelled to him before he fell out of hearing distance.


--------------



Max jolted awake, sitting up straight in his bed. After he caught his breath, he let out a small laugh. He rolled out of bed onto his hooves and looked around his barren room. The light blue walls seemed to glow in the dark with the sunlight peeking through the sides of the tall curtains.

After he dressed himself, Max opened up the curtains and let the morning sun into his room. A knock on the door interrupted him. Katie opened up the door to his room and trotted over to him. "First time I've seen you up before eight. You seem refreshed."

"I feel free," Max said with a smile. "I always said I would give anything to start from scratch. Fix the mistakes I wish I never made. My wish came true... but at a heavy cost." He kicked the ground. "But I'm glad this happened. If it wasn't for this fairytale bullshit, I would have never met you."

"In a way..." Katie mumbled, leaning against him "I'm happy this happened too. You're the only person that has truly felt like a friend in my entire life."

"Heh... I was gonna say 'something, something, friend zoned'." he chuckled. "But I don't think that's appropriate right now."

Katie giggled and pushed him. "Yeah, yeah. We can banter later. Now let's go. Rose is taking us out for breakfast."

With Katie by his side, Max trotted out of his room thinking about all the things they could do, what they could see. But there was plenty of time for adventure later.

This was their first day in the new world after all.