In an effort to aid a dieing planet, Celestia sends the Mane Six to a dismal and derelict part of Earth. Where all the downtrodden of society struggle for a twisted form of prosperity in government regulated areas known as Poverty Zones.
Luke runs the alleyways of his derelict town, scrounging up anything remotely edible or drinkable from the rank dumpsters and manky puddles that infest this town. Luke, along with everyone else that lacks money or a job, is regulated to a Poverty Zone. Where all the low lives of society struggle for survival and a twisted form of prosperity. Ignored by the government and upper classes but where do the ponies come in?
Celestia has watched this planet. Watched it slowly begin to fade into the depressing dismal thing it is today, for years she has contemplated various solutions but only one reoccurs to her. She quickly writes a letter to her student Twilight, summoning her and her friends to Canterlot to assist her in dealing with a "pressing concern".
Rated Teen for: Cursing and Violence.
Dark Tag for "Light" Dark themes. (Violence, Swearing, Atmosphere, etc.)
Twilight Sparkle is not an Alicorn in this fiction. An explanation is given in the seventh chapter.
Goals My main goal when writing this story is to tell the same tale from two completely different perspectives, and to have those perspectives directly and indirectly be effected by events they see, cause, or participate in. Oh yeah, this is my first fan fiction, but you didn't care about that in the first place, right?
Disclaimer This story is not in it's final state and changes will occur to previous chapters as seen fit. It is also riddled with several references. They are merely references for my enjoyment and hopefully yours. Of course, I wouldn't take credit from the incredibly witty (or not) people that created them in the first place.
Tags Due to the Human perspective in this story it allows for the Slice of Life tag, as his actions are apart of his daily life. Along with the Mane Six going on an a "quest" the Adventure Tag is required. The Dark tag is in place due to violence involving humans with humans. The ponies will not be seriously harmed in any way.
Corner of Appreciation Much appreciation goes to Ozpakko for Pre-Reading and Icrus for Suggestions.
It was a typical mundane hot August day. Cars drove and children laughed, people yelled and music played. It was another ordinary day, but to break out of my personal monotony I would run a mile. It was on one of these usual runs that I, of course, found something unusual. Not much trash litters the streets near my home, so when I noticed an orange notepad laying in the gutter my curiosity was intrigued. A red SUV whizzed past the breeze from the vehicle caused the pages to turn rapidly.
"Ha! How clichè." I thought, as I slowed to investigate.
As I knelt and collected the notepad I noticed the edges of it were charred. As if someone had held the notepad to a flame, and rotated it to ensure all the edges were evenly burned... Which as silly to think as it would be to do. I turned through the pages and skimmed through the what was written there. It was horrible handwriting. I could only make out a few sentences. I had assumed this would be a children's drawing pad or someone's notes, but I quickly realized it was some form of journal. I looked to the corner of the page where the date was written.
"March 12th 20-"
Of course, the last two numbers couldn't be read. Unfortunately, they were to close to an edge that was charred.
I chuckled being amused with how entirely clichè this all was. I knew I had nothing better to do with my time so I kept the notepad with me and finished my run. With hopes of being able to interpret the poorly written pages at my home.
After an hour of studying the journal in my humid and odor filled room. I discovered a second author's writing on the last few pages. It was hastily written, but much easier to read then the first writer's. It was a series of concise notes that were dated in a similar manner as the original author's, but they lacked a year date. This allowed me to assume that the events that occurred in both accounts were in the same time period. What the notes consisted of unnerved me, but inspired me to transcribe and write.
After several hours over several days I had finally finished transcribing the first day of the journal. I also took the liberty to expand upon the notes. To hopefully give an accurate account of what occurred on The Other Side. I concluded to share my discoveries with you here. I will continue to work on transcribing and retelling what this notepad contains. Perhaps you'll find this entertaining, or use it to pass the time while you wait for something more important. Maybe it's just a load of garbage to you, however you take it.
It's March 12th, and this is not the world as it should be.
March 12th 20XX
I don't remember how long it's been since I've written. A year, at least. God, I can barely read what I'm writing... Not that the lack of lighting I get in these alleyways helps. I haven't really decided what to do with this notepad... So I guess I'll be keeping a journal of sorts. Not much else for me to write about. May as well start with finding this notepad. It's as good of a place as any I guess...
Me and Frank, A tan guy of average height with sharp features and a shifty expression, were approaching the Riverfront. The Riverfront is a several mile stretch of strip malls, stores, department stores, apartments, and supermarkets placed across the street from the River. All of them had been built out of depressingly bland and boring concrete, red brick, cinder blocks, stucco, or painted wood. The paint was fading and the buildings were covered in graffiti and filth.
Most of these stores and business had been abandoned for a year, some for even longer. A couple now served as lodgings for the various gangs that filled our Poverty Zone while the rest just slowly decayed. Eventually we arrived at a McDonalds. It had closed about a week ago, but it was one of the last business in the Slums. Frank and I walked on over to the glass door, which was broken by previous looters, and stepped though it.
Ransacked and vomit summed up the McDonalds pretty well. The floors were grimy and sticky. There was a thick layer of either grease, spilt food and drinks, blood, feces, or piss. I didn't care to find out what the combination of that it was. The wallpaper was coming off in chunks along with the table surfaces and seat cushions, the lighting fixtures had been broken and the bulbs stolen. We looked around the McDonalds quickly, anything that could be eaten or drunk, or of remote value that we could bring back and sell on the Market.
We quickly came to the realization that one of the larger groups had come through and had already taken anything that we would be looking for. As we walked towards the entrance, which was now our exit, I recalled coming here shortly after I had arrived in this Poverty Zone. I had collected enough cash to buy a Coke. A small Coke these days was 29.99. I solemnly paid for my Coke and drank it, but it was foul. There was a grimy bitterness to it that I did not remember existing in Coca Cola. I had begrudgingly drank my soda, but it was the first time I had caffeine and corn syrup in a long while. I remember asking one of my... associates about the price shortly after the purchase. He laughed heartily before replying.
"Those morons back in the capital. They kept printin' money. So the money became worth nothin' and the pay became nothin' and soon the jobs became nothin'. So when yer money's nothin' it takes a lot more of nothin' to get somethin'. That's why it's tough to buy food, or just about anythin', these days, because it cost so damn much."
The memories melted away as Frank and I left the McDonalds. I took notice of a trampled, dirt stained note on the ground. I picked it up and skimmed over what was printed onto it.
"We regret to inform all Poverty Zone 56 Citizens that it has become too difficult to keep our Poverty Zone stores stocked and maintained. Due to this we are now closing all Poverty Zone stores."
I seriously doubted they could have much regret with closing off a business in this pathetic stretch of Earth. Besides that the note contained nothing of importance so I tossed it to the ground. Frank was staring at me tapping his foot on the ground. His impatience with my curiosity was obvious. I responded to this by raising my head along with an eyebrow.
"Should prob' check the dumpster. I'll keep a lookout." Frank said to me in his scratchy voice.
I nodded and swiftly ran behind the McDonalds, saw the dumpster, and vaulted inside of it. I had long since become accustomed to the smell of garbage and living in filth. If I hadn't... Well, I'd be dead. Adapt and survive. That's what it comes down to here. I looked through all the trash and garbage bags that had collected in here for the same things that we searched for in the McDonalds. Food, clothing, drinks, comfort items, bottles, or valuables. When I gathered a small pile of McDonalds wrappers and used toilet paper and had shifted it to the side, I noticed this notepad and pencil which was tucked into the metal coil. I picked it up and flipped through the pages. It appeared that a child had doodled in this a long time ago. The pencil drawings were very faded. I shrugged as I brought my pack around and stuffed it inside.
"Meh. Maybe I'll follow that kid's path and doodle when I got spare time." I thought.
I'll be honest. I was hoping for a half eaten Big Mac at least, but this dumpster was already picked through. Several of the garbage bags had already been sliced open.
"Yo, Frank! You need toilet paper? There's loads of it in here!" I called out to him.
"Nah. Just hurry up!" Frank replied.
I threw my backpack back onto my shoulders, and grabbed one of the water bottles in the side pockets. I twisted the cap off, got a quick drink, and put it back in it's previous spot. I vaulted out of the dumpster and stumbled slightly as I landed, but recovered and jogged over to Frank. He looked at me skeptically, but I merely shrugged in response. He could doubt me as much as he liked, I didn't care. Frank put on a dismissive expression, as he turned to jog down the street. As I followed him I thought about how shady this guy was.
When the leader of our group, Redge, recruited him he was open, if not a little proud, of his criminal past. What exactly he did I never knew, but I suspected it was several accounts of robbery. He also informed us that the government had dumped about a hundred some odd other prisoners into the Poverty Zone with him. That was the most recent news we've had about the country, or the world in general. I think that was about 3 months ago although I'm not certain. More recently, however, he's tried feeling me out. To see if I shared his interests in taking advantage of the lawlessness. So far I haven't. I've been getting by fairly well without having to cause others misery to achieve the same goal, but who knows how long that'll last? Those who have given up on morals seem to be doing pretty well... Arguably prosperous.
I glanced over at the river as we ran. I could barely make it out through the thicket that divided the town from the large stream. It was a sad stretch of brown water that sliced it's way through the city. Piles of rubbish and refuse drifted down and collected on the banks. I could make out a few people in shabby clothing picking through the soggy debris that collected on the shores, or bathing in the disgusting brown water. I can never make myself bathe in that sorry excuse for a river with the knowledge that others dump their poop and piss into it frequently. Frank suddenly veered down an alleyway forcing me to tear my eyes away from the scruffy people on the shoreline.
I find it amusing to remember a time where people would gather and clean the river's shore, but now those same people have no regard for their own filth. When your tossed into a poverty stricken part of town, and left to your own means, your priorities change extremely fast, and if they don't... Well, I guess you could say that your state of being changes pretty fast too.
At some point, around what I guessed to be noon, we stopped for lunch. All I had to consume was a piece of stiff bread and moldy apple slices. We washed it down with brown awful smelling water that we collected from the gutters earlier. The taste of that foul liquid never leaves your mouth quickly. After we hastily ate our pathetic lunch, we shouldered our packs and continued running for several more hours.
We glanced through the dumpsters and garbage bins that we passed by. I scored a stale, moldy loaf of bread and was quickly able to stuff it into my pack before Frank noticed. However, I didn't have the same amount of luck ,as I took two bottles of clean, purified water from some woman's backpack and handed one of them over to Frank. She was dead, of course, and thirst held little importance to her. As the sound of a vehicle approached we hastily halted our looting. We avoided any sort of car as best we could. You could never guess the intent of the driver. I've seen my share of people become the victims of a drive-by. A couple dudes would jump out, mug ya or kill ya, take your stuff, and take off. If you were lucky they'd kill you. Being left for dead is a guarantee that you'll have a slow agonizing death.
"Quick into the door ways or dumpsters!" Frank ordered.
"Duh. We've only done this... Right, thousands of times." I replied with more then a sufficient tone of annoyance. His eagerness to take command of every situation possible agitated me to no end.
Although he ignored my irritation and leaped towards a door. He leaned against it trying to conceal himself in the shadows as best as possible. I casually walked over to a dumpster and vaulted inside, kicked back and enjoyed the nasty comfort of several garbage bags. I was completely confident that we wouldn't be seen, but my confidence faded as I realized my shoulder was getting wet. I quickly sat up and looked where my left shoulder was and cringed.
I had landed on someone's refuse. Apparently, they didn't have the decency to bag it at least. Decency? Who am I kidding by writing that? Decency died a long time ago. I frantically searched through my dumpster and spotted a plastic bag. I grabbed it and started whipping my shoulder ineffectively. I sighed and instantly regretted leaving my backpack by the toter. I'd found a metal box which would have sold for a nice bit of cash,and was stuffing it into my pack when we'd heard the car.
I tossed the plastic bag aside and tried to tear open one of the garbage bags with my hands. After much effort I pried myself open an entry and rummaged through the bag. I insincerely thanked God that toilet paper was conveniently inside. Toilet paper was always in abundance among the trash, whether if it was used or not, but it was most commonly found stained. I grabbed a good wad of both types of toilet paper and wiped my shoulder. Hopefully, I had gotten most of it off when Frank's ferrety face appeared over the edge of my dumpster.
"What's the hold up." He asked bluntly.
"Fell into some... Less than desired materials." I said annoyed.
He laughed at my predicament and dropped down. I groaned and climbed out of the dumpster. I finished putting the metal box in my pack and asked Frank what time it was. He glanced down at his watch for a moment. I remembered for the uncounted time that I still needed to locate one.
"It's 5:30PM. Time to head back to Blugar's Park." He answered.
I thought quickly. Blugar's Park was in the exact opposite direction of my home. By the time I got to the park, turned in my share, and started the walk back to my home the sun would have begun setting. And it can easily be guessed that it would be a bad idea to walk these streets at night, when anyone can get the jump on you at any time.
"I don't think I can make it to the park and back to my box before sunset." I said, I glanced up at Frank wearily.
Frank wasn't tall at all. I was merely short and it irritates me beyond belief that I have to look up to this guy.
" 'If you don't turn in your share you don't breathe no more air.' You know how that saying goes. You know how this group works, Luke. Your one of the oldest members." Frank said, quickly becoming agitated.
"Look, I'm not saying I won't turn in my share. I'll give you my share, you take it for me, and I'll see you back at the park tomorrow morn', assuming Redge doesn't give us new orders. Alright?" I responded in my best attempt to sound reasonable and convincing, but I probably sucked at it.
Frank thought this through staring at the ground between us. He nodded then looked up from the ground to me with a strange grin.
"Fair enough. Give me your share and I'll take it to him." He replied, as if he'd thought of the idea.
I nodded and slung my pack off my shoulder. I quickly took out the metal box and handed it to Frank.
"I packed some stuff into the box already. It should be sufficient." I informed him.
"Alright." Frank said, nodding his farewell to me and turning to leave.
"Take care." I said with some hastily mustered enthusiasm. I actually wouldn't care if the guy got hit in the face with a brick, as he walked away from me.
I then turned and jogged towards the street. I halted at the curb and turned right, but before I resumed running I noticed something out of the corner of my eye... Something colorful. I quickly looked up, but nothing was out of the ordinary. It was a typical hazy blue sky with occasional clouds. I shrugged and turned my gaze down to the ground seeing what may have caught my attention.
There was an odd feather in the gutter. It was almost the same color as the sky, but the color darkened as it neared the tip. I stooped and picked it up, inspecting it closely. It was incredibly soft. Never in my life had I felt something so soft before. No pillow or blanket, bird nor beast, cute kitten, or cuddly caterpillar had felt this smooth, soft, and pure. But this feather was too large to be of any birds that I knew of, and besides the only birds that I've seen in this area were crows, pigeons, and the occasional migrating geese. I raised my shoulders again and dropped it back to the ground, stepping on it as I ran towards my home. I didn't have use for a feather from a fat bird.
I turned down into the alleyway that my home resided in. It was a cardboard freezer box wedged between two dumpsters. I quickly pulled it out, folded it down, and carried it with me, as I traveled to another location for the night. I almost fell flat on my back as I awkwardly walked over a discarded soda bottle. It was most likely accidentally, yet strategically placed, at the entrance of the alley I had turned onto. A few minutes later my box was set up again between two garbage cans. I was now pulling my notepad, pencil, blood stained blanket and dirty, torn pillow out of my pack. I crammed them in the box and crawled in after them. I then laid down and tried to shift the box between the garbage bins better. Once satisfied, I took my shoes off, which had begun to fall apart again. I'd need to find some more duct tape soon. And so I then wrote how I found this notepad. The light has almost faded now. Gonna put this aside and call it a night. Hopefully, I have more time to write tomorrow. Besides I always needed to improve my penmanship.
Transcriber's Footnote
I'm entirely aware of the majority of grammar issues, however since this is a direct transcription I have left it as it is for the most part. Occasionally, I may cross reference what I actually see in Luke's journal, with what I have written and make changes to more accurate display what is written.
And now the cake was hers. She had solved countless algorithms, taken Equestria's longest Calculus test, and solved a plethora of puzzles. She did all of this, while being antagonized by her Elementary School History teacher, but now she had cake. Wonderful glorious chocolate cake! With a candle and strawberries too! She jumped and started running across the strangely tiled pure white room. Her tongue hung out of her mouth as her stomach gave a ferocious growl. She stood before it now, the cake on it's small brown table. She reared back her head then drove it down taking a massive bite out of the cake and began chewing.
"Wait this doesn't taste like cake..." Twilight thought.
The texture was all wrong too... It LOOKED like cake, but it hardly felt like it, and it tasted... Feathery?
There was a sudden shout of alarm.
"Twilight!"
It was Spike, but... He wasn't here.
"Wai- Oh no!"
Was the last thought that passed through Twilight's mind before she awoke. She instantly lifted her head up and began spitting out chunks of her pillow.
"Plah! Plah! Plaaaaaaah!"
Twilight rested her head back down on her almost devoured pillow and groaned.
"What a horrible dream." She muttered.
"Hey, Twilight... You alright?" Spike asked obviously concerned.
"Yea. I'll be fine." Twilight said to her Number One Assistant.
Groaning again she rubbed the corner of her eyes with the edge of her hoof scraping out the crusties that collected there over night.
"Just had a bad dream, that's all." She assured him as she finished picking at her eyes. "Is breakfast ready?"
"It's been ready for a while now. You weren't waking up so I came over to check on what was going on. You NEVER sleep in this late."
Twilight chuckled briefly.
"Guess all that late night studying is finally catching up to me, anyways lets go see what you made for breakfast."
They then headed down the short hallway to their small kitchen and dining area. Spike had simply made some Oatmeal and Cereal. The oatmeal was beginning to turn cold. Twilight glanced around the kitchen. It wasn't impressive, but it suited their humble needs.
There were only a few cupboards and cabinets all of which had been carved out of the tree. There was a basic, simple white porcelain sink, an oven with a stove top and a small refrigerator. All of which formed a crescent around a table and two chairs. Twilight spotted a small mess on the stove, she guessed that Spike spilled a small amount of the oatmeal when he was preparing it. She shrugged as she walked over to the sink. She turned on the faucet with her hoof, and levitated a washcloth over to the sink, ran it through the water, then wrung it out. Twilight tapped the water off, brought the washcloth over to the stove, and began scrubbing.
"Sorry... About that... Should have cleaned it." Spike said apologetically.
"It's alright Spike. Accidents happen to the best of us."
She glanced over her left shoulder as she finished cleaning the mess to where Spike was. He was already sitting at the table chowing down on his cereal. Twilight grinned mischievously and tossed the washcloth over Spike and into the sink.
"Hey! I'm trying to eat here! Not take a shower!" Spike complained as water trailing from the cloth splattered on him.
Twilight giggled and trotted over to her spot at their table, sat, and began eating her oatmeal.
"So what was that weird dream about?" Spike asked, as he neared the end of his breakfast.
Twilight swallowed a mouthful of oatmeal before replying to Spikes inquiry.
"It was just a silly dream..." Twilight tried to briefly explain, but Spike had an expression of expectancy so she recounted her dream to him.
"Well, my Elementary School Pony History teacher forced me to solve a bunch of algorithms, take a calculus that seemingly had no end, and complete a bunch of puzzles. The whole time he berated and antagonized me. At the end of it all I was awarded with an entire chocolate cake, with strawberries... They even put a candle on it! But, of course, the cake turned out to be my pillow."
"Only you Twilight... Only you..." Spike thought as he chuckled.
"Sounds like the cake was a lie!" Spike said, as he continued to chuckle.
"Not to mention greatly desired..." Twilight grumbled at a tone Spike couldn't hear.
About half way through her oatmeal Twilight glanced up at a clock on the wall. However, it was positioned just so that the sunlight coming through the window above the sink made a glare on the clock's glass cover. Rendering it impossible to read from her perspective at the table.
"Spike, what time is it? I can't get a good look at it from here." She spoke, as she explained her request.
Spike took another bite from his cereal, looked up at the clock, then back to Twilight.
"Ish Nen O' sefen." Spike said.
Twilight rolled her eyes with a small smile.
"Swallow, then say that again. You know it's bad manners to talk with food in your mouth..." Twilight chided.
Spike chewed a little more then swallowed.
"It's Nine O' Seven." Spike said, then continued. "I know it is Twilight, but this is hardly a formal dining experience. Do I REALLY have to follow ALL my manners, everywhere?"
Twilight had stopped listening as she stumbled out of her chair with an expression of shock and terror on her face.
"Spike! Nine O' Seven!? Surely it can't be that late! The Library is supposed to open at Nine! I've never slept past opening! Spike! Why didn't you come and wake me earlier?! Oh no! I got to get ready, my mane isn't comed or my teeth brushed! The door isn't even unlocked, we're not ready... What if somepony is out there desperately in need of a book!? Oh no, oh no, oh no..."
"Twilight!" Spike shouted, as he raised himself from his seat.
"What!?" Twilight snapped as she dashed back and forth in the little kitchen. "Can't you see I'm on the verge of a panic attack here!? I got to get ready! I need to get the Library open-"
"Deep breaths! Iiiinnnn and oooout. Iiiiiiinnn and ooouuut." Spike said in what he hopped was a calming tone.
Fortunately, Twilight calmed herself, and took some deep breaths, as she closed her eyes and thought through her predicament rationally.
"I need to decide if I should open first then get ready or get ready and then open. If I open now chances are somepony will wander in and I won't be present to assist them if I'm getting ready, but then again, chances are nopony is out there or will wander in during the few minutes it takes me to get ready. On the other hoof, If I go ahead and get ready now and somepony is waiting I'm sure they'll understand the late opening, and besides only once or twice has a pony come for a book at nine AM in the morning."
Letting out a sigh of relief Twilight opened her mouth to speak her decision when Spike belched.
"BAAAUUUURP!"
Little flames shot out from his small maw and the shompoof of a letter appearing echoed the repulsive release.
Twilight managed to have a look of curiosity and absolute disgust at the same moment, as she asked Spike.
"Are you positive that you can't make that sound any less... Abhorrent, and is that a letter from the Princess?"
Spike had picked up the letter and was inspecting the seal that closed it.
"Nope, and Yup." He said.
He tore off the seal and unfurled the letter. He cleared his voice and read it's contents aloud in his formal reading voice.
"My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle,
I trust that you and your friends are doing well, enjoying yourselves, and are continuing to learn about the magic of friendship whenever you can. However, I must require your audience in Canterlot for a pressing concern that I am trusting to you and your friends. This issue will take plenty of time to resolve so please plan to stay in Canterlot for about a week. Please come at your at your earliest convenience,
Princess Celestia."
Spike glanced up from the letter at Twilight who had an expression of concern and worry on her face. He was about to speak, when he thought better of it.
"It'd be best if I didn't interrupt her thoughts. She knows the Princess better than me and will know how to respond."
He was still watching when she nodded unconsciously.
"Can I see the letter Spike?" She asked.
Spike nodded, as he rolled up the letter and held it out. Twilight levitated it to herself and unrolled it. She quickly read the brief message it contained. She still appeared worried and concerned. Which confused Spike. He expected her to be ecstatic to visit Canterlot with her friends and have some time with her Mentor.
"Twilight... What's wrong? I thought you'd be excited..." Spike asked nervously.
Twilight shook her head and sighed, as she rolled up the letter and set it on the counter.
"Spike... Celestia has never asked for our help in what I assume is a political issue. I mean, the only help that she's needed assistance with were issues that could only be solved with the Elements of Harmony. I just don't know, or think we're capable of handling political matters. I'm- I'm apprehensive... I don't want to let Celestia down, but I can't refuse this either." Twilight replied with apparent anxiety.
Twilight sighed again and sat down in her chair and dejectedly laid her head on the table. Her messy mane fell into her eyes and she half halfheartedly blew it out of her face several times before it finally was removed.
"I'm not sure on what to do, Spike. Well, not really what to do, but HOW to do it. It's not like I got much of a choice."
"Well..." Spike began. "Try getting your friends together and see what they think. I- I think I can manage the Library while you're gone."
"That's as good of a start as any I guess... And I'm not worried about your capabilities. Your more then adequate." She lifted her head and put on what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
"But I got to get ready first, can you take care of the dishes please?"
"Yea, no problem."
"Thanks, Spike. You're a big help." Twilight complimented with a grin she didn't have attempt at faking.
Spike nodded and began collecting the dishes while Twilight rose from her chair and left the Kitchen. She went down the short hall to the bathroom and prepared herself for the day.
Twilight had finished readying herself and writing a note about her upcoming absence. She planned on taping it to the door before departing for Canterlot. She was about to leave when she called upstairs to Spike.
"I'll be back in about an hour or two, Spike, You know what to do if anypony comes!"
"Yep! I got this. You go figure out what's going on! Bye!" Spike hollered back.
"Goodbye!" Twilight shouted in return.
Twilight opened the door and stepped out into the town.
It was a crisp March day. The Sun was just beginning to warm the cool morning air and a few ponies were already milling about doing their morning errands or chores. Twilight had decided that she would go to Pinkie Pie first, she was the closest, only a couple houses and stores away, and if anything unexpected were to occur it'd be best to deal with it first rather than later. She turned left and began trotting down the streets and alleyways to Sugarcube corner, saying "Hello" and nodding greetings to any acquaintances she happened to pass. After a few minutes she arrived at the pastry shop. Twilight licked her lips as the smell of freshly baked goodies wafted into her nostrils. She let out a contented sigh and opened the door.
Quite a few ponies were already sitting at the dozen or so tables around the store creating a cacophony of conversation as they eagerly discussed their doings and dones, and consumed their food with identical enthusiasm. There was a small line of about seven ponies that patiently waited to purchase their pastries.
Mr. Cake worked the counter as he served his customers their purchases. Pinkie Pie could occasionally be seen darting or bouncing around the kitchen as she enjoyed her work. Twilight lightly tapped her hooves on the doormat to clear off any dirt they may have collected, and walked towards the counter. She briefly considered not buying a pastry and instead talking with Pinkie Pie directly, but one does not simply come to Sugarcube Corner and not buy a cupcake. So she stepped in line and waited. It wasn't long before Mr. Cake greeted Twilight.
"Hello Twilight, How are you doing t'day?"
"I'm doing good, You?" Twilight replied in kind.
"Splendid, now what can I get you this morning?"
"Hmmm." Twilight hummed as she studied the display of doughnuts, muffins, cupcakes, cakes and pies. She spotted something that wasn't familiar on the small shelf.
"What's that one?" Twilight asked, as she raised her right hoof and pointed it at the unknown muffin.
"That's an Apple Cinnamon Pumpkin Muffin, with the option of chocolate chips or nuts." Mr. Cake replied. "Pinkie Pie wanted to try a new recipe. Something besides cupcakes and cakes."
"Well I guess I'll try it!" Twilight said. She was more than eager to taste Pinkie's experiment.
"Alright, do you want Chocolate Chips or Nuts?" Mr. Cake inquired.
"No. I'll have it plain." Twilight answered.
Mr. Cake nodded as he grabbed the muffin with a hoof, placed it on the counter, and rung it up on his register.
"You want anything to drink with that?" He asked.
"Hm. Do you have any milk?" Twilight queried.
"Yep, two bits for a pint." Mr. Cake responded.
"Alright, I'll take one."
Mr. Cake nodded and moved to a small refrigerator opened it, and retrieved the pint of milk. He brought it back to his register, and added the milk to the to the purchase.
"Well, your total is 10 bits then." Mr. Cake informed.
Twilight looked over her shoulder and nosed the flap of her sidebags open. She fished out the appropriate amount of money and tossed it onto the counter.
"There you go, thanks for the Muffin." She said appreciatively.
"Your welcome, thanks for the custom." Mr. Cake replied similarly.
Twilight grabbed her muffin with using mouth and the milk with her hoof and was beginning to turn away, but abruptly remembered the reason she came. The thought of a delicious muffin made her momentarily forget her assignment. She quickly put the muffin back on the counter and made her request.
"Oh! I need to talk to Pinkie Pie. Any chance she could join me?"
Mr. Cake shrugged.
"Well. I guess she could. My wife's supposed to be back any minute now. I'll go get her. Go ahead and pick out a table." He replied.
"Thanks!" Twilight said gratefully.
Twilight picked up her muffin again, turned away from the counter, and began walking through the tables. She quickly picked out a table along the wall farthest from the door and the main crowd, which was in the relative center of the shop. She placed her muffin and milk on the table, took her seat, and collected one of the straws already on the table in a small vase. She pulled the tab with her mouth and placed her straw into the milk and began unwrapping her muffin. By the time Pinkie Pie had arrived she had finished unwrapping the muffin.
"Hiya Twi!" Pinkie said joyously.
"Hey Pinkie." Twilight replied with a small smile.
"Oooooh is that one of my muffins?" Pinkie said, obviously taking notice of the muffin.
"Yes it is, I'm very eager to try it." Twilight responded, as she barely restrained herself from licking her lips.
"Try it! I want to know what you think!" Pinkie encouraged.
Twilight lifted the muffin with a hoof and took a decent sized bite. It was very sweet, and spiced. The cinnamon was the dominant flavor, but with a subtle taste of Pumpkin. Along with an occasional crunch and burst of flavor as an apple slice was discovered. It was truly a marvelous muffin.
"Mmmmmm" Twilight hummed very contentedly.
Once she had swallowed her bite she took a sip from the milk.
"Well what do ya think?" Pinkie asked.
"It's very, very good. Most certainly one of the best muffins I've had in a long time!" Twilight appraised.
"Yay!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. but her expression then fell to a more disappointed appearance.
"I don't like them very much. I mean, I always liked cupcakes waaaay more than muffins, but I wanted to try something new and different! Go ahead and bake cupcake after cupcake or cake after cake and try not to get tired of it. I mean that's BOOORING after a while. Like three point two four seven weeks a while. So I made muffins!"
"It's always good to try a hoof at something new." Twilight said half mindedly as she enjoyed another bite of her muffin.
"You ready for the picnic tomorrow?" Pinkie began excitedly. "I am! I'm very excited we haven't had a picnic in FOREVER!"
Twilight hastily swallowed another bite of her muffin, and tried to speak.
"Ah yes, about that..."
"I'll be bringing cupcakes! So many cupcakes! You see Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake they baked to many cupcakes so I'll be bringing the extra cupcakes, let's see we have..."
"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed as she nearly shouted.
"Oh. Sorry Twilight! What is it?" Pinkie asked after giggling briefly.
"We can't have a Picnic tomorrow!"
"What! Why!? I've got so many cupcakes why-"
"Because Celestia wants us in Canterlot to help her with something!"
"What something? Does she need cupcakes?" Pinkie giggled. She attempted to make a joke out of the cupcakes, but was obviously putting too much effort into it.
"No! I'm afraid it's something far more political." Twilight replied in all seriousness.
"Politics? Ooooo, that could be interesting! I've never been involved in politics, but that could be fun! What do you think of a political party, Twi? We could talk about politics, and have all sorts of political games, and- and- and... There really isn't much you can do with politics is there? Hmmm. What if we make it a competition!? The group of ponies with the best politics wins! Wait- What exactly is politics?" Pinkie Pie rambled.
Twilight shook her head and chuckled.
"This IS why you chose to tell Pinkie Pie first. Just need to tell her where to meet, and finish this muffin." Twilight thought.
"To answer your last question, 'The art and science of administrator of government'." Twilight quoted.
"Ooooh. Okay!" Pinkie responded.
Twilight resumed her serious expression and poised a question for Pinkie Pie.
"The letter said we'd be staying in Canterlot for a week. Do you think you can get packed and meet at the Train Station in about two hours? Eleven to be precise." Twilight asked.
"Yep! I'll see you then Twilight!" Pinkie answered.
Pinkie Pie bounced away from the table. She was always happy with what life gave her. Twilight hastily finished her muffin and downed her milk. She levitated a napkin to her mouth and whipped away the muffin that remained there, then stepped down from her chair and trotted out of Sugarcube Corner.
Twilight was outside Carousel Boutique. She guessed that Rarity would be hard at work on some project. Twilight had devised a plan that would test her acting skills. With any hope it should work. Twilight trotted up to the door and pushed it open. As she entered the chime of a small bell, and various scents are what she noticed immediately. As Twilight glanced around for Rarity she took notice of a few dresses and suits on display, but didn't give them much attention. Apparently Rarity wasn't in the main room.
"I'll be with you in a moment!" Rarity called from bowels of the Boutique.
While Twilight waited she review her plan once more in an attempt to find a last minute flaw. Rarity entered the room enthralled in what appeared to be a design for a dress. She quietly mumbled something as she studied it, but hastily rolled it up and placed it on a small table. Before Twilight took the opportunity to dive into her plan she noticed that Rarity's meticulously curled and styled mane was becoming ragged and frayed, but Twilight gave no thought to it as she almost literally dove into her plan. She galloped straight up to Rarity and almost slid into her when attempting to stop.
"Rarity! I just got a letter from the Princess! We're wanted in Canterlot at once! We need to hurry and catch the Eleven O' Clock train! Who knows what terror could be on the land now? Oh whatever could it be!?" Twilight said in her best attempt at dramatic speaking.
She hadn't read much about preforming drama, but she'd seen Rarity preform it a few times and tried to act in a similar manner. She even came close to feinting a faint, but decided against it at the last moment.
Rarity was shocked by Twilight's reaction. She had never seen her this distraught before! These must dire tidings indeed!
"Well! I'll get prepared to meet you at the Station then! My, my, an urgent meeting with Princess Celestia... Goodness knows what it could be!" Rarity said much more calmly.
Rarity turned to prepare herself for the journey when a thought occurred to her. This caused her to turn about and face Twilight again.
"Will it just be the two of us or will the other four be attending?" Rarity inquired.
"Er. No, I've yet to tell the others except Pinkie Pie. Oh! I almost forgot, the letter mentioned that we'll be staying there for about a week..." Twilight replied and added hastily.
"A week!? Surely it can't be THAT long! Oh dear! What will I do!?" Rarity cried out in despair.
"But- A week in CANTERLOT Rarity? What could be the issue?" Twilight asked, as she began to worry that she was losing her opportunity.
Rarity quickly used her magic to grab the design and brandish it in front of Twilight's face.
"THIS!" She hissed, viciously. "This insufferable suit! It's so obscure even I didn't know it existed, but not only that! The way it HAS to be made the way it was DESIGNED is so complicated, and strange, along with the materials being incredibly expensive I'm not even sure if it's WORTH it."
"Well, how much IS it worth?" Twilight asked genuinely intrigued.
"The Stallion is paying me near two hundred bits for it!" Rarity exclaimed. "I hardly get any orders worth that much, but what is truly important about THIS..." She waved the Design again. "Is that if I can complete it I will show to ALL of Equestria just how great and magnificent of a fashionista I am! Not only a designer of the present, or the future, but of the PAST as well!"
Rarity's tirade left Twilight somewhere between astonished and terrified. She was also sent reeling for a solution.
"Couldn't you inform this stallion that you have a 'pressing concern' and can not finish it as scheduled?" Twilight asked timidly.
"Certainly not!" Rarity said, as she stood straighter and tossed the design back onto the table.
"If I delay his suit, but finish it later I will not only be known of my fashion prowess, but for the delays that I make! I simply don't know what to do, but to keep trying and trying and TRYING!" Rarity cried in frustrated despair.
Twilight thought quickly. She desperately searched for a solution, but she repeatedly returned to only one. She sighed, closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them as she calmly stared into Rarity's deep blue eyes and spoke.
"Rarity... You know I care very much for your career, and your success. You know I would do all in my ability to help you succeed. However, there is a choice you must make. A very important one. You must decide to either answer the Princess's summons, whatever they may be, or to continue in your endeavor to appease this stallion and your own desires... I hope to see you at the Train Station."
Twilight nodded a farewell to Rarity with a very serious and concerned expression. Rarity said nothing and watched her friend leave. She was mildly impressed with her response, but she needed some time to consider the possible implications of either choice. Rarity sighed and turned towards the personal parts of her Boutique levitating the Design with her, and hearing the chime of the doorbell as Twilight left.
Twilight was crossing over the West Bridge. Her destination was Fluttershy's cottage, and from there she would head to Sweet Apple Acres. She approached an intersection in the path. Right would take her to the cottage, and left would take her to the farm. Obviously, she took the right road.
As Twilight approached the cottage she noticed Fluttershy talking with a light brown stallion with a black mane. Twilight couldn't gather much about the conversation from this distance, but Fluttershy gave the Stallion a basket of flowers. She assumed that would be the end of it, but she continued to wait at a distance for several more minutes. They continued to converse, and at some point began to walk towards the animal pens that Fluttershy kept. Twilight released an impatient breath. She didn't want to interrupt Fluttershy's business, yet she couldn't afford to waste time while she waited for it to conclude. She decided to return later after informing Applejack. She stood from where she had laid, stretched her legs, and trotted back down the path to Sweet Apple Acres.
As Twilight approached the farm, she glanced over at the long lines of apple orchards. Of course, they were bare as the season for apples had yet to come. The day was also wearing on as the air became progressively warmer. She guessed that it was around ten o' clock, and quickened her pace. Shortly thereafter the farm came into view. She could see Applejack and Applebloom pull some plants out of the fields, and toss them into some work bags they carried on their backs. Big Macintosh walked behind them as he pulled the massive plow made of dense wood and sturdy steel with seemingly minimal effort.
Twilight arrived at the gate. She used her magic to unlatch it and pushed it open with her hoof. She ensured that it closed behind her. As she trotted up to the farmhouse, she took notice of Granny Smith in her rocker. Who gently rocked back and forth. She seemed to be napping, but Twilight nodded to her anyways as she passed.
Twilight arrived at the perimeter of the field, she stood on her hind legs and placed her front hooves on a fence post. She looked over to where Applejack was. She slowly approached and pulling the weeds that had collected in the field between seasons.
"Applejack!" Twilight called.
Applejack raised her head and glanced around. She quickly landed her gaze on Twilight.
"I'll be right thar!" She hollered back.
Applejack turned around and said something to Applebloom and Big Mac, both of them looked over to where Twilight was. Applebloom waved, and Twilight returned the gesture similarly with a wave of her own.
Applejack then trotted over to where Twilight was.
"How's it goin' Twi?" Applejack asked.
"Well... I'm not sure..." Twilight started uncertainly.
"Well is there something wrong...?" Applejack replied, as she tilted her head in concern. Her mouth unconsciously slid into small frown.
"I don't know... I got a letter from Celestia today. She wants us in Canterlot for a week to help her deal with a 'pressing concern'..." Twilight explained and continued.
She was obviously worried and wanted to confide her troubles to a trusted friend.
"I'm really apprehensive, AJ. I'm not sure if we're up to handling political matters. Just imagine Pinkie Pie in a dull meeting with some Griffon ambassador, or any of us for that matter! None of us have the appropriate knowledge, and may flounder in our mistakes better than others."
"Now don't worry none, Twi. The Princess ain't gonna give us somethin' we can't handle. She knew that you'd be able to handle Nightmare Moon, she knew we could handle Discord, and I ain't about to doubt her yet." Applejack said with reassuring confidence.
"But not with Chyrsalis! We didn't defeat her! She was able to prevent us from getting the Elements. If it weren't for Cadance and Shining that day all would have been lost!" Twilight said with despair slumping her head down on her hooves, as she closed her eyes.
"Looky here Twilight..." Applejack began.
Twilight sighed, and opened her eyes to look at Applejack.
"That Changelin' Queen was a surprise to us all. There wasn't a way to prepare or to know that it'd happen, but ya see Celestia KNEW that Nightmare Moon was comin', she KNEW Discord was returnin' and she still chose us. If Celestia had known that the Changelin's were comin' she'd 'ave prepared us." Applejack assured with seemingly unending confidence.
It escaped Twilight on where Applejack obtained this confidence from, but she saw her point. She was surprised that Applejack had more faith and confidence in their Ruler then she herself did. Twilight perked up with Applejack's confidence being rubbed off onto her.
"I'm surprised I didn't have the same amount of confidence in the Princess that you have." Twilight said significantly reassured.
"We all gotta believe in something bigger than ourselves Twi, and I trust the Princess to take good care of her subjects." Applejack responded, as she crossed her front hooves and tossed her hat up with a quick nod from her head as a grin spread across her mouth.
"I understand. Thanks for the reassurance AJ." Twilight said sincerely appreciative.
"Anytime Twi."
"Well... I've told Pinkie Pie and Rarity to meet at the Train Station at eleven, I assume you'll be coming?"
"Well we're gettin' ready for the plantin' season..." AJ nodded over her shoulder towards Applebloom and Big Macintosh who were still at work.
"Now I'm not sayin' I won't go, but I'm gonna need to hire somepony to help out while I'm gone. So we don't get behind schedule and all. I'll see you at the Train Station, Twi." Applejack turned and started walking to her siblings.
"Alright, see you then AJ!" Twilight called after her.
Twilight then slid her hooves off the fence post, turned and trotted back down the paths. She passed by Granny Smith again who still snoozed and snored. Twilight hastily opened and closed the gate and galloped towards Fluttershy's cottage.
Twilight approached the property line for Fluttershy's Cottage. She used her magic to unlatch the gate and a hoof to open and close it. She latched it with her magic again. As she trotted up the path to the cottage she realized how far she'd come with magic.
Opening a latch to a gate was second nature, subconscious. She didn't need think about it. Whereas simple telekinesis was the most difficult thing she could have tried doing when she a filly. She enjoyed her moment of accomplishment and pride until she arrived at the Cottage.
Twilight glanced about as she approached. Nopony was around and the sound of the critters that Fluttershy kept made a strangely pleasant cacophony. She stopped at the door of the home and knocked with her hoof.
"I-I'll be right there!" Fluttershy's timid voice called from the back of her Cottage.
After a few moments Fluttershy answered the door. She gently opened it as she pushed it to the side with her hoof.
"Oh Twilight! It's good to see you." Said Fluttershy with more confidence as she noticed it wasn't a stranger.
Twilight smiled.
"Good to see you too, Fluttershy." She replied.
"Well, please come in then." Fluttershy invited, whom then turned and walked towards the kitchen in her home.
Twilight followed her, and closed magically closed the door behind her.
"Take a seat at the table, if that suits you best..." Fluttershy offered.
She was already busily going about making tea. Twilight nodded as her response and leaped onto a chair. She shifted slightly as she got cozy in Fluttershy's comfy chairs.
"Thanks Fluttershy... Are you making tea?" Twilight asked, as she noticed her swift movements about the kitchen. They were familiar to Twilight as she had tea with Fluttershy several times before.
"Why yes, I can't have you here and not give you something to drink at least... Unless you're suggesting you don't want tea..." Fluttershy said in some doubt.
"Well..." Twilight tried to start, but she was stopped by her thoughts.
"Tea would be nice, and it might be best if I tell her over tea instead of popping in dropping this on her then leaving." Twilight glanced up at a nearby clock. "It is getting close to the deadline though.It's ten twenty-five and I still need to stop by the library and pack MY things."
Twilight shrugged mentally. She had learned not to worry over a schedule too much, but not at all. She decided she'd have to make this as quick as politely possible, then teleport over to the Library and pack her belongings.
Fluttershy was watching Twilight with a worried, and curious expression. She was interested as to why Twilight had stopped, and was concerned if it had been her fault.
"Yes. I'd like some tea, I just need to inform you of something while we enjoy it." Twilight said, as she quickly noticed the expression.
"Oh. Okay." Fluttershy said simply.
"How are the animals today?" Twilight asked. She knew that the best way to get someone to talk, shy or not, was to inquire about something that they enjoyed.
"Oh... A unicorn stallion all the way from Stalliongrad came today to retrieve the pink flamingo I was taking care of. He also wanted some particular flowers for his mother. He said that they would 'make great addition to one of his tables' and that they were 'good for health'. I'm a little sad though. I had grown fond of him." Fluttershy responded.
She did her best to mimic the Stalliongrad accent, but failed horribly. She ended up amusing themselves, and they laughed briefly. Twilight then registered the last part of the response and adopted an awkward expression.
"Er... The Flamingo or the Stallion?" She asked cautiously.
"Oh the Flamingo of course! Don't be silly Twilight." Fluttershy giggled.
Twilight joined Fluttershy in her mirth and laughed briefly.
The pot on Fluttershy's stove began to whistle. Fluttershy turned about, and turned off the stove. She grabbed the cushioned teapot handle with her mouth and poured the hot water into her China cups. It puzzled Fluttershy as to why they were called China cups... She'd never heard anything about a "China". Regardless, she put the tea bags into the cups, and placed them on a small platter. She carried the platter over to the table, and sat with Twilight. Fluttershy took the closest cup and blew on it. Twilight had taken a cup with use of her magic and breathed on her tea.
As they cooled their tea, Angel jumped into the Cottage through an open window. He noticed Fluttershy and bounded across the living room. He stood next to the table as he taped his foot with crossed arms. Fluttershy quickly noticed and look down at him. She placed her tea on the table.
"Do you need a snack Angel baby?" Fluttershy inquired.
Angel nodded quickly several times, but continued to tap his foot.
"One moment, Twilight." Fluttershy said glancing up at her with a slight smile.
Twilight nodded in reply, and tested the heat of the tea with her lips.
Fluttershy stepped off of her chair and walked over to her refrigerator and took out a small bowl of carrots. She brought it over and placed it on the floor next to her table.
"Eat up." Fluttershy encouraged.
Angel had acquired a bib from somewhere and was already tying it on. Once completed with that he immediately began scarfing down the carrots. Fluttershy climbed back into her chair.
"Sorry about that, but you know how Angel gets when he's hungry." Fluttershy apologized.
"Mmhmm" Twilight replied as she took a sip from her tea.
Fluttershy blew on her's once more then took a sip, and enjoyed the very sweet herbal taste.
"What was it that you wanted to talk about?" Fluttershy prodded. She was curious about what was occurring.
"Well. I got a letter from the Princess today. She wants us in Canterlot for about a week, and to get there as soon as possible. I've already told Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity to meet at the Train Station at eleven."
Twilight glanced up at the clock. It was almost ten thirty. Fluttershy also glanced up at the clock and realized the time.
"Oh my, it's almost eleven o' clock now, but Twilight I'm not sure if I can go... I mean the animals and all. Who'd take care of them?" Fluttershy asked. She was torn on the issue and very concerned for the well being of her livestock.
"Don't worry about it too much. I know Spike would do it if he had to, but he's told me he had some... Difficulties last time. I'm sure there's somepony out there that could help." Twilight answered. She then chuckled briefly and suggested. " You could always ask Derpy to help if you had to, she'd be more than willing." It was more of a joke then an actual serious suggestion.
"Well I guess I could..." Fluttershy said. She didn't realized that Twilight had kidded.
She took a rather large drink from her tea as she attempted to finish it as quickly as possible. Twilight also took large drink, but disguised it as a long sip. Neither of them noticed the other's haste. When their drink had been finished they returned them to the platter.
"I also need you to do me a favor... Can you find Rainbow Dash? You know where she would be as well as I, but if she's in her house I wouldn't be able to get up there." Twilight requested.
"Oh don't worry Twilight. I'll do it while I'm looking for a pony to watch my animals." Fluttershy accepted.
Twilight lazily rolled out of the comfy chair she had used, as Fluttershy stepped out of her own and carried the tray into the kitchen. Once the platter was deposited into a sink she turned her head over her left wing and thanked Twilight Sparkle.
"I'll be there at eleven. Thanks for letting me know."
"Of course. See you then." Twilight replied as she turned to open the door to leave.
Once she was a few yards (or meters) away from the cottage she quickly focused, and gathered her inner magic and cast the Teleportation Spell. There was darkness for a few seconds, then she appeared in the Library. She quickly ran about and gathered her belongings, as she prepared for the train ride ahead.
Fluttershy placed the last of her items in her saddlebags. She glanced over her shoulder at the clock. It was only a few minutes after Twilight had left so it was actually ten thirty now. Fluttershy remembered how little time she had and quickly threw her saddle bags on, and trotted over to her secretary. She opened a drawer and retrieved a piece of stationery, a pen, and an envelope with her mouth. She then brought these over to the table, and began composing a letter in her smooth and neat penponyship.
Dear Ditzy "Derpy" Doo,
I have sudden business in Canterlot starting today and ending next week. Because of this I can not tend to my animals so I would humbly ask if you could take care of them for me while I am away. If not then please search for somepony else that is willing. If you must hire them then I will gladly repay you next Tuesday when I return. Thank you in advance,
Fluttershy.
She had decided that it would be best to mail Derpy then search for Rainbow Dash. Besides Twilight recommended her, and she was an old friend. Fluttershy folded the letter once and tucked it gently into the envelope. She raised the envelope to her mouth with a hoof and licked the flap, nosed it closed, and placed the letter back on to the table. She pressed on the flap with her hooves to ensure that it sealed properly. She addressed the letter and applied a stamp, then placed it in the mailbox as she left her Cottage. Fluttershy raised the flag on her mailbox, then trotted down the path she flapped her wings a few times before actually achieving flight. Once airborne she angled towards Ponyville.
Fluttershy landed as she entered Ponyville she glanced into trees and up into the clouds for a sign of Rainbow Dash, but of course, she found none. She had determined that she would purchase her ticket and store her luggage at the Station then fly up to see if she could spot Rainbow Dash from above. As she passed through the Marketplace, which consisted of several stalls that were set up in a large circle, and ponies busying themselves at each of them, She noticed Applejack, packed and ready to go, talking with a blue stallion with a black mane and a full beard. His cutie mark was of a colored bucket. Fluttershy thought there was something familiar about him, but she didn't obtain a good view of him though. The beard unnerved her though. Ponies weren't supposed to have beards yet some went out of their way to get one. She didn't dwell on it as she had quickly left the Marketplace and was nearing the Train Station.
Fluttershy had now paid for her ticket and her baggage waited on a bench. She was quite a ways above Ponyville as she searched the area below for Rainbow Dash. She searched for a few more minutes, but had come to the quick conclusion that Rainbow Dash wasn't in Ponyville. Fluttershy contemplated searching the surrounding areas for her or going directly to her house. She chose on the latter. Fluttershy then turned and flew in the direction of Rainbow Dash's home.
Fluttershy landed at Rainbow Dash's doorstep. The soft clouds gave a little under her weight. She lifted a hoof and pushed the doorbell. The bell chimed and there was no response from within the house, but Fluttershy waited a moment and tried again.
"I'm COMING! I heard you the FIRST time!" Rainbow Dash yelled from somewhere in her house. Her frustration with the disturbance was obvious.
Rainbow Dash was muttering as she opened the door. She appeared sleepy and unkempt.
"This better be important... Oh Fluttershy! Sorry! I didn't know it was you!" Said Rainbow Dash taken a back.
"Oh. Don't worry Rainbow Dash, It's alright. Twilight just wanted me to tell you that she got a letter from The Princess and that she needs us in Canterlot for about a week. Twilight says we're supposed to meet at the Train Station at eleven, which is probably only be fifteen minutes from now..."
"YES!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, as she pumped her right hoof.
"Finally SOMETHING to do. Do you have any idea how many naps I've been taking these days? Wait- What does Celestia need help with?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she tilted head slightly and her brows leaned towards each other in curiosity.
"Well... We don't know yet. She just said that she needed us in Canterlot for a week." Fluttershy answered. She glanced down at the cloud and pawed at it with her right hoof..
Rainbow Dash lifted her front shoulders in a shrug.
"Meh. Doesn't matter to me as long as we get to do something. See ya there 'Shy!" Rainbow said, as she turned and walked back into the mansion. She closed the door with a rear hoof, and gave a shout of glee as she quickly packed.
Fluttershy, smiled as she turned and glided down to Ponyville.
Twilight taped the notice on the Library door and was now hastily trotting to the Train Station. After a few minutes passed she arrived at the Train Station. Twilight quickly paid for her ticket, and stuffed it into her left sidebag. It was only a few minutes before eleven when she walked onto her platform. She noticed the train was already there and was under preparation the next departure. Twilight glanced around for her friends. She quickly noticed Pinkie Pie, who was talking with Fluttershy. Next to them Applejack, and Rainbow Dash sat at a table and were engaged in hoof wrestling match. Rarity was sitting on a bench. She reached up and rubbed her chin with her right hoof as she pondered something. Twilight made an educated guess at it being the suit.
"Hey girls!" Twilight said excitedly, as she trotted over to join them.
"Oh! Hey there Twi' " Applejack said as she halted her effort in the contest with Rainbow Dash.
"Hiya!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
" 'Ey!" Rainbow Dash greeted.
"Hi again, Twilight." Fluttershy said quietly.
"Hello Twilight." Rarity said with a distracted tone.
"Everybody have their tickets?" Twilight inquired.
A chorus of confirmations from her friends occurred.
"Good!" Twilight replied.
"Hey Twilight..." Rainbow began, as she got up from her seat at the table and walked over.
"What do YOU think we're going to be doing in Canterlot? I mean, AJ thinks we're gonna receive some Diplomatic Training, Rarity said she hadn't thought about that yet, Pinkie believes we're gonna help set up a party, and Fluttershy is hoping we're dealing with animals, but I believe we're going to Canterlot to be sent to another country!"
Twilight rubbed her chin as she pondered the question.
"I don't think we're going to another country, the letter did say that we would be staying in Canterlot, but I think we're going to help Celestia in a delicate political issue with another country." Twilight shrugged. "We won't know until we get there, to be honest."
Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Now boarding Train 47!" Shouted a mare in a conductor’s uniform. "AAALLLLL ABOOOAAARD!"
"That's us!" Rarity said, as she quickly sat up from her spot on the bench.
She picked up her sidesatchels and placed them on her back.
The others followed suit as they collected their own luggage and placed it on their backs.
"Well. Lets go." Twilight said.
They nodded in various was and followed her onto the train. Each of them had their ticket punched by the Conductor before being allowed to board their train to Canterlot.
The train was beginning to slow. Twilight turned her head to look out the window, and saw Canterlot approaching. She was still very anxious about what their task was, and could not resist theorizing about what it could be. There was movement in front of Twilight's seat. She involuntarily glanced at it. Fluttershy and Applejack had moved to get a better look out their window. Twilight refocused her attention on Canterlot. Even though she was raised there the city never ceased to impress her. The fact that it was constructed into the side of a mountain, and even from the distance the architecture was truly something to behold. Twilight was certain that nothing like it could ever be built again. Pride filled her heart as she continued to behold her nation's capital as she allowed her thoughts to wander in wonder of the city.
Twilight was brought out of her reverie when she noticed that they had suddenly entered the city. She could faintly hear the full application of the train's brakes as they slid into the Grand Station. They quickly gathered their bags, and climbed out of their seats. The six of them patiently waited in the aisle with the other passengers for the doors to be opened. Once they had been they shuffled down the aisle and leaped onto the platform, and gathered into a group to discuss their next move. The train ride from Ponyville to Canterlot was roughly an hour and forty-five minutes long. Which left the majority of them aching for some sort of food.
"Alrigh'. Who else is hungry?" Applejack asked, as she glanced at her friends.
They all nodded or voiced their agreement.
"Twi', You know any good places t' eat?" Applejack inquired.
Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof as she contemplated her choices. There were several restaurants, and cafés around the Grand Station. The issue was picking one that would suit their needs.
"You think we should just get a snack? I'm sure the Princess would treat us to lunch, as long as we don't arrive too late, of course." Twilight queried.
There were mixed responses.
"I'll be happy with whatever you pick." Applejack said.
"I'm pretty hungry." Pinkie Pie replied.
"I'd like lunch... If that's alright with everypony else." Fluttershy meekly responded.
"Meh. I'll be fine with a snack." Rainbow Dash answered with a careless expression.
"I'm famished." Rarity answered with a minor undertone of drama.
Twilight tilted her head to the left and right as she evaluated the responses and considered their dining locations again.
"Alright. I know of a good Café just down the road. If you're hungry enough for a meal you'll be able to get one there, same thing for a snack." Twilight informed.
"Yay!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Which pretty much summed up their responses, and so they followed Twilight to the Café.
"Thanks a lot, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said appreciatively as they left the café.
She had a considerable bulge in her stomach, and none of them were quite sure how she managed to put away so much food in such a brief time period. Never mind how she afforded it. The other four also gave Twilight their thanks.
“You’re all welcome.” Twilight replied with a smile.
They were now in route to the Palace. The streets of Canterlot were extremely busy during the lunch hour, as they waded through the traffic Fluttershy asked a question that was barely heard over the commotion of a very active intersection they had begun to approach.
"Twilight, what exactly are we going to do once we reach the Palace? They don't just let anypony walk in and talk to the Princess." Fluttershy spoke up from somewhere behind Twilight.
Twilight glanced over her left shoulder and noticed that Fluttershy was actually right behind her and not farther back as she had expected.
"It really shouldn't be too much of a problem. I can usually get audiences with the Princess when she has a moment, but we have a direct summons. So I can show them the letter and be granted entry if I have to." Twilight answered.
"Oh. Okay." Fluttershy replied. She was satisfied with her answer.
Twilight took another look over her shoulder at her friends. She wondered how they would react to a normal day in Canterlot. The previous times they had been here were for specific reasons, and they did not have the opportunity to witness a typical day in Canterlot.
Rainbow Dash looked to the skies, as she studied the weather patterns. Occasionally a beam of light would connect with a specific cloud as some manager micro-managed his workers to obtain the perfect sky. She was put off that unicorns were managing the weather. Her attention was captured as she saw a small group of pegasi daring each other to do silly tricks. However, a dark yellow colt with a pink mane and tail preform a mildly impressive trick.
"Heh. If you keep at it you'll go far kid." Rainbow mentally encouraged.
Rarity was regarding every pony they past. She barely kept her eyes from leaving her skull as she witnessed the variety and beauty of fashions that one could simply see on a Canterlot street.
Fluttershy observed the buildings and streets with simple awe. The beauty of the city captivated her. Most of Canterlot was in fact made out of a very durable form of marble. More recent additions to the city, however, consisted of simple stone that had been painted white. The quality of the paint job was fantastic, as it fooled many of the tourists and new residence into believing it was actual marble. Several of the buildings had a genuine gold trim and on the gold were intricately carved pieces of art which varied from the flowers in the Canterlot Gardens to the founding of Equestria.
Pinkie Pie looked everywhere, as she tried to take in everything. Her attention was repeatedly caught by the balloons of parties, or the occasional stall along the side of the street. Several of the stalls sold little treats, and souvenirs.
"Twilight! Can we stop and get one of those shiny crystal balls? Oh! What about that jump rope? Or some balloons!? Oh let's get a doughnut! Your girls want I doughnut? I want a doughnut!" Pinkie Pie pestered.
"No! We have a mission, Pinkie." Twilight called back to her in an annoyed tone.
"Of course, silly me. What about on our way back home? Can we get a jump rope then?" Pinkie asked again.
"I don't see why not." Twilight responded.
"Joyousness!" Pinkie cried with an ecstatic grin
Applejack trotted along in the back of the group. She observed the city's art, and architecture, but not to the same degree as Fluttershy. She kept her head low, and walked with an uneasy stride. Whenever she bumped into one of the city's citizens she grinned sheepishly and apologized profusely.
"I reallay don't belong 'ere... The sooner we get to where we're goin' the better." Applejack thought.
As they traversed their way up the mountain they took several streets and paths, until they had finally left the main crowd. Now only a few ponies walked in the same or opposite direction. They could see the Palace in the not-so-distant distance, and knew they had begun to approach it. After a few more minutes they arrived at the Palace gate. It was raised which allowed them pass through without any complications. The guards unfortunate enough to be stationed there silently regarded them as they passed then fixed their gaze ahead of them as they stared blankly at nothing.
They were now in the courtyard. It was elliptic in shape with four paths that met in the center at a fountain. Flowering bushes and bushes without flowers were planted in rows that circled the fountain in a very beautiful display. As the six approached the fountain Fluttershy spoke up again to Twilight.
"Please, just a moment! I would love to take a second and look at these flowers."
Twilight smiled and replied.
"Go ahead Fluttershy, I'm curious as to what they smell like too."
"So much for having a mission." Pinkie grumbled under her breath, but she was genuinely interested in the scent of the flora here also.
The party split. They each located a flower to smell and wonder at.
"Fluttershy dear, Come look at this gorgeous flower!“ Rarity called as she held one particularly vibrant red and yellow flower with her right hoof.
Fluttershy gently fluttered over to where Rarity was.
"Oh that is quite beautiful, Rarity..." Fluttershy admired.
Rarity placed her nose near the flower and breathed in slowly as she enjoyed the scent.
"I must know what flower this is! It smells marvelous, and would definitely be good inspiration for a dress! Just simply look at how the red and yellow blend together so well..." Rarity appraised.
"Meh. It's nice." Rainbow Dash said unimpressed, or she feigned it at least.
She had quickly flown around the courtyard and observed the flowers. She halted intermittently to sniff a few when none of her friends looked in her direction, but she had now flown to where Fluttershy and Rarity were. She was curious as to what had grabbed their attention. When she realized it was just another flower she turned and flew off to the fountain, and sat on a bench next to it as she waited for her friends to finish gawking.
Fluttershy and Rarity continued to gaze at the flower. They were unable to be satisfied with it's beauty. Twilight's voice disrupted their enthrallment.
"Wow... That's a particularly beautiful daffodil." Twilight said, as she joined Fluttershy and Rarity.
"Do you know what it's name is?" Fluttershy asked.
"No. Perhaps we can ask Princess Celestia when we see her."
Fluttershy nodded, and turned away from the flower. She walked towards the Palace entrance on the far side of the courtyard. Rainbow Dash noticed this and fell in behind her.
"Well we had best get going then..." Rarity said, as she trotted off to follow Fluttershy.
Twilight took a quick sniff of the Daffodil and then pursued Rarity.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie noticed their movement towards the entrance and joined them quickly. When they had arrived at the door Fluttershy stopped unaware that she was at the front of the group. She looked back hesitantly.
"Uhm... Do I...?" She asked nervously, as she gestured towards the door.
"Go ahead. They'll probably be expecting us." Twilight encouraged.
Fluttershy placed a hoof on the door handle and pushed the massive white reinforced wood door open and entered.
The Palace Lobby had a very high ceiling, but was very simply decorated with a few paintings and plants spread along the walls. Several windows were placed around the square room to admit sunlight. The few other ponies in the lobby were seated on immaculate couches and chairs in the waiting area. Across from the waiting area was a large counter. Behind it were a few ponies that managed audiences with royal dignitaries.
Twilight approached the counter. Her friends stood a short ways back as she did so.
"Hello. How can I help you today, miss?" Said a light red mare, as she looked up to Twilight when she arrived at the counter.
"Hi..." Twilight replied, as she put on a polite smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, me and my friends were requested here by Princess Celestia at the earliest possibility."
The mare nodded, and responded in her soft Canterlot accent.
"She told us to expect you. She's currently having lunch in her chambers. I'll have a servant show you the way in a moment."
"Thank you." Twilight Sparkled said with appreciation.
Twilight turned and walked back to her friends.
"Celestia is currently having lunch. So a servant will be guiding us to her room." Twilight informed her associates.
"Ooooh neat." Pinkie Pie said.
"You sure she won't mind? The last thing I'd want to do is interrupt the Princess during her meal." Rarity inquired with concern.
"I don't think she'll mind." Twilight began, but was interrupted when a short pale blue stallion that sported a white mane approached.
"This way M'Ladies." He said as he motioned to his right. The six followed him through the winding halls of the Palace to the Princess's room.
"One moment, please." The Stallion Servant said.
They had arrived at the Princess's room. The walk was much longer than they had anticipated, and they had climbed more stairs then any of them cared to count. After the first few stairways Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took flight, but this left them with weary wings instead of sore hooves.
The pale blue stallion knocked on the door.
"Come in." Celestia called.
The stallion opened the door and poked his head in. He lowered it in respect then raised it to it's former position and spoke.
"Your Majesty, The Six have arrived."
"Oh. Well do send them in, and thank you for guiding them here." The Princess replied.
The stallion nodded again, and withdrew. The Six gave him their appreciation as they entered the room. They unconsciously formed around Twilight. All six of them bowed, and lifted their heads, as they began to take in the room.
It was very simple in decoration, but extravagant. There was a large poster bed with two nightstands on either side. There was a closet to the left of the door, and across from the door was an exit to a balcony. To the right of said door sat Celestia in a chair at a desk. She ate a sandwich as she viewed a document. Celestia placed her sandwich down onto a plate, and rolled up the document. She placed it into a drawer, and closed it with a shove from her right hoof. She turned in her seat and smiled to them with an expression of kindness and understanding.
"Welcome. I'm a very glad that you arrived as quickly as you could." Celestia said.
"Indeed. We came as soon as we received your letter." Twilight replied.
Celestia nodded.
"Was the train ride pleasant?" She asked.
"Ooh yes! They had such a lovely tea on board... Pinkie, darling, do you happen to know what it was called?" Rarity complimented, and inquired.
"I think it was... Lilac Nectar." Pinkie Pie answered.
Pinkie smacked her lips as she remembered the sweet flavor. This resulted in a glare from Rarity, but Celestia merely chuckled.
"That is a good tea. I've had it a couple times before. The sweetness of it never quite leaves your tongue." Celestia commented.
Rainbow Dash released a quiet sigh of frustration.
"Here we are, in the Princess's bedroom talking about tea. TEA! We're supposed to be getting our assignment or figuring out what the blazes that letter was about... If Fluttershy asks about that flower I swear..." Rainbow Dash ranted in her mind.
"What sandwich is that? I don't think I've seen one like it before." Twilight inquired.
"Oh. It's a Zinnia Bluegrass sandwich. Come now, if we continue talking about food I'll be convinced to return to my meal..." The Princess said humorously.
"Oh I have one question Celes- I mean Princess Celestia." Fluttershy started.
"If it's that flower..." Rainbow Dash thought.
"There was a particular fl-" Fluttershy began, but was interrupted.
Rainbow Dash made loud groan.
"Come on... We came here because of a letter, not to interrogate the Princess about her food and gardens... Lets get on with it!" Rainbow Dash said with obvious exasperation.
The other five, except Pinkie Pie who viewed her with suppressed amusement, regarded Rainbow Dash with horror due to her sudden outburst. Fluttershy was cowed by Dash's blunt words, but the Princess burst into laughter.
"That was quite an accurate description of this predicament Rainbow Dash!" Said Celestia with amusement, but she regained her composure.
"Oh don't fret Twilight and Rarity. I'm not going to banish her because her curiosity makes her eager."
Celestia raised a hoof to her chin as a thought occurred to her.
"Or banish her and throw her into a dungeon in the place that I banish her." Princess Celestia continued, and chuckled.
Twilight grinned nervously while Rarity remained flustered, as Pinkie Pie joined in on Celestia's merriment, and Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. Applejack had closed her eyes and laughed quietly along with Pinkie and the Princess.
"Er... Thanks?" Rainbow Dash said with bemusement.
The laughter and chuckling slowly died out and silence replaced the mirth. A foreboding atmosphere filled the room. Celestia perceived this, and decided to get on with what they were all here for
"Rainbow Dash does have a point. We had better get on with the briefing." Celestia collected a solemnly serious expression, but her eyes displayed a hint of sorrow.
"Recently, we have had times of peace. There are no immediate threats. Threats that would require the Elements of Harmony, of course." The Princess paused. "I have decided that this is the best time to send you on a mission."
Rainbow Dash quietly pumped a hoof, with a pleased expression.
"Yes! I was right!" She thought victoriously.
A slight smile appeared on Celestia's face when she noticed Dash's reaction, but vanished as quickly as the hoof pump had ended.
"I'm going to be direct." Celestia said. "You will be leaving Equestria on this mission. In fact, you will be sent to another planet entirely." She then paused and waited for this to sink in.
Fluttershy seemed to shrink as her face fell and ears twitched backwards in an expression of fright.
"Going to another country would have been interesting enough, but another altogether planet!? Eep!" Fluttershy thought fearfully.
Twilight's mouth dropped and pupils shrank as she changed to an expression of shock and disbelief.
"WHAT!? How is this possible? I've studied all the known planets several times! None of them can sustain life! None of them! Even if they COULD support life it wouldn't be sentient. What could Celestia POSSIBLY want us to do on one of these planets?" Twilight thought with a baffled mind.
Rarity was also shocked, but her ears were straight and her eyes small as her mind filled with thoughts of despair.
"Wh-What...? This can't be happening! It was bad enough sending that stallion the letter, but to possibly end up lost in an unknown world and losing all my potential!? This is. The. Worst. Possible. Thing." Rarity mentally cried.
Pinkie Pie bore the only positive expression. She grinned as her eyes shook with excitement
"Ooooo. This could be fun! I wonder what sort of people we can expect to meet. They might have tasty and interesting foods to share, or have the bestest parties! Maybe even new games! Oh oh oh! I'm so excited!" Pinkie Pie rambled with eagerness in her mind.
Rainbow Dash's mouth was an uneven line and her brows were slanted towards each other with unease, as she shifted her weight to the left and right.
"Well, I guess it was cool that I guessed what we're gonna be doing, but this is probably something that even Twilight couldn't have imagined! It's gonna be pretty awesome exploring a whole new planet! But what can we expect there? Why are we even going there? Not knowing that unnerves me..." Rainbow Dash thought with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.
Applejack had raised eyebrows and bore a small frown. Her expression was predominantly worry, and concern.
"Well, I'll be. A new planet? That's completely new territory right thar. Nopony's ever been to another planet before, and yet that's exactly what we're gonna do. What worries me is if this planet does have life, and they're not pony-like. That'd mean a wholes society not built 'round ponies. What if they're not welcomin' t' strangers? That could get bad prettay fast." Applejack quickly evaluated mentally.
Once the announcement had settled in Celestia continued.
"This Planet can support Ponylife, in fact it's our twin planet. It does not look exactly like ours, neither does it support the same life, but the life it does support are very miserable. The planet is slowly dieing and Harmony there is fading fast. The reason you are being sent there is to attempt to save them from their despair, and give them hope in their black hour." She paused.
Twilight took the opportunity to hastily ask a question.
"But Princess, you know I've studied our Galaxy extensively and we have yet to discover a planet that can support sentient life!"
"Twilight..." Celestia replied, as she smiled kindly and with a tone of understanding in her words. "You wouldn't be able to see it. It's exactly on the other side of the Sun, which allows us to share the same orbit."
"But... How did you know then...?" Twilight replied with apparent confusion.
Celestia chuckled and responded in the same tone.
"There are many things I can see through the Sun. Unfortunately, I can not share many of them with you yet."
Twilight nodded her understanding, and began to ponder this new information.
Once Twilight's curiosity had been sated Celestia continued.
"These people are in a dark time. A time of fear and despair. I have watched this planet from a distance for a very long time. I have seen many joys and sorrows pass on this planet, but a time has come where happiness and kindness is rare."
Princess Celestia regarded Rarity for several seconds, as she talked to her.
"I am sure you know the true meaning of rare, and with that knowledge you can begin to comprehend how terrible this planet has become."
She then returned her attention to the group as a whole and spoke with an expression of sadness.
"My hope is that you can create a sanctuary of hope, love, and kindness. To teach and share the magic and joy of friendship, and all that is good. In this place were joy is replaced with fear, and kindness is lost to cruelty. Where there is little prosperity, and much poverty, but do not fear my little ponies! For in the darkest of times we will find the brightest of hope. You are the hope that has not been found. Be found and give to them what they desire."
Several moments passed as grim expressions settled on the faces of The Mane Six.
Celestia continued with her short speech.
"You will still only be gone for a week. Myself and Luna will be the only others that will know of your true location. The rest of Equestria will believe that you are residing in this Palace and assisting me in negotiations with another country. I have chosen a place to send you in this world, and I will warm you. This world is nothing like what you are familiar with. Their technology is much more advanced when compared with ours, and I fear that many things that you take for granted here will not be so on this planet. Now if you have questions, please ask them."
Fluttershy gulped before she meekly asked her question.
"Wh-What are the creatures like that live there...?"
Celestia regarded Fluttershy, and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Those who you will be working with are known as humans. The wildlife I believe is similar if not the same as what we have here. How they will react to you I can not say, for I do not know." The Princess replied.
"Wait- So they're no Ponies there?" Pinkie Pie piped up.
"No, but those that I have seen did not seem to share the same amount of intellect we possess." Celestia answered in all seriousness.
"Are ya certain we're capable of this, Princess?" Applejack inquired.
"You have my entire confidence in your abilities. You do not have a need to worry about your capabilities. If I did not believe you could aide these people, then I would not have sent you a letter." Princess Celestia responded.
Their expression shifted to one that resembled solemn determination when they heard these words.
"I will say this however." Celestia began again. "You may choose to stay. I will not force you to go if you do not feel capable, but just as the Elements of Harmony are worthless when not all are present, so also will you render each other less effective if not all of you are present. I will ask now if any of you do not wish to join this endeavor."
Of course, she did not receive a response.
"I expected as much, and it gladdens me to hear nothing." Princess Celestia said, as she grinned.
"Do any of you have more questions?" The Princess inquired again.
"What about food? Do we need to bring some?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Every evening I will send a crate with supplies and provisions for you to use throughout the day as you please." Celestia answered.
"I got a question." Rainbow Dash started as she briefly raised her right hoof. "Why don't we just take the Elements with us and use them on the Planet?" It seemed to be an obvious solution.
Celestia regarded Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.
"That is an excellent question Rainbow Dash, and I thought that would be the solution at first. However, I investigated this planet and ours a bit closer. The Elements of Harmony require a pony, or ponies that embody each of the Elements to be used, and the Magic of Equestria."
"Magic of Equestria...?" Twilight queried, with curiosity. This was the first time she had heard of this term.
"The Magic of Equestria may not be located only in Equestria as it's name implies, but we have only noticed it here." Celestia said.
The Princess inhaled and delved into her explanation.
"Recently, Luna and Myself have possibly made a controversial discovery. We discovered that there exists two forms of magic. One that is invisible to the eye, but is present everywhere. The second is magic that is present in everypony's soul or being. This includes Pegasi and Earth Ponies. I'll take some moments to inform you of how these relate, and what this has to do with your mission."
Celestia used one of those moments to levitate a glass from her desk, and drink some of the water it held. She placed it back in it's previous location.
"These two types of magic relate in more than a few ways. Firstly, with Unicorns the way they use magic to levitate or preform spells is different than what most philosophers believe. When a Unicorn casts a spell they are not directly using the magic within their being to preform an action. Instead they are relying on the invisible and ever present magic that is throughout Equestria. They connect to this magic and use it to fuel their spells, and manipulate objects. Provided that they have the willpower and reserves of Inner Magic, as we've taken to calling it, to sustain their connection with this Outer Magic, again as we've begun calling it. For example, if a Unicorn chose to levitate a glass, just as I did a moment ago, they would connect their Inner Magic to the Outer Magic and manipulate the magic around said glass to move it however they wish. This process sounds more complicated than directly using your Inner Reserves, and we have not yet discovered why we rely on Outer Magic instead of our Inner Magic, but it is certain that the three pony types are attuned to the Outer Magic in their own unique way."
Celestia took a moment to form words in her mind before she spoke them.
"Since Luna and Myself are Alicorns we can not know for certain if the following is true, but we believe it to be so. Unicorns are either attuned to the Outer Magic at all times, or only when they preform magic. We believe that the Unicorn's horn is a physical manifestation of Outer and Inner magics, and this allows them to connect their Inner Reserves to the Outer Magic. We have not studied the horns extensively, and what I have told you concerning them is mostly theory. Pegasi, can feel Outer Magic best when in flight. We also believe that the Outer Magic allows them to walk on and manipulate clouds unlike the other pony races. Why this only effects Pegasi has yet to be discovered. Earth Ponies, should be able to feel Outer Magic when they physically work with the land. Since Unicorns can work with magic and Pegasi have flight and dominion over the clouds, we believe that Earth Ponies are superior in regards to working with the land or physical labor."
So far The Six seemed to be receiving this news well, but they postponed their questions until Celestia had finished.
"How this ties into your mission I will begin to explain. My repetitive, but brief observations of this world have shown me a lack of magic, and due to this the humans have relied on their cunning and cleverness to develop their technology. If this world does not possess magic as I suspect, then you will experience the lack of Outer Magic something that is even inconceivable to me. From birth you have been accustomed to the presence of this magic what occurs when you are severed from that is out of my knowledge, and I fear that you will experience that."
The Six shifted nervously when they heard this, but Celestia assured them.
"Even with this knowledge I still believe you are capable of adapting and fulfilling your objective. I'd imagine you should have some questions concerning this."
"Celestia. What if a pony attempted to levitate an objective directly with their Inner Magic instead of relying on this Outside Magic." Twilight inquired, as she contemplated all this new knowledge. She was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed.
"We believe that if such was accomplished it would take much more energy out of a pony. The reason being that Inner Magic reserves are limited, whereas Outer Magic is seemingly infinite. However Luna has studied this, and discovered that when Inner Magic is lost it will regenerate naturally over time, and in some occasions be restored to a point that was greater than before. Similar as to how a muscle becomes stronger the more it is used, or a mind more keen the more it is required." Princes Celestia replied.
"I see." Twilight said, as she pondered this. This information in fact explained some hypothesis of her own.
"How recent was this discovery?" Rarity asked.
"It couldn't have been more than a few years ago, maybe a decade... I'm not sure." Celestia replied with a sly grin.
"That ain't recent, ya know." Applejack pointed out.
The Princess chuckled, but began to regard each of the six ponies before her individually.
They all displayed their emotions slightly different, but there was a common confidence they carried, and Celestia was pleased to have given them that.
"Yea. I have one last question." Rainbow Dash spoke up before the silence became too long. She tilted her head to the right and frowned slightly.
"Why do we even need to help this planet?"
Celestia regarded her with a raised eyebrow.
"That is a bold question Dash, but I will reward you with an answer. For it is your place to know why you should do this. Consider it in this way. You are traveling down a road when you encounter another pony cast aside. He is wounded grievously and near death. His heart is full of terror and despair, but he is a mute and unable to call for aid. No other has traveled this road to take notice of him or help him. I ask you this Rainbow Dash. Would you pass by this stricken being with disgust or worthless pity? Or would you be kind and do your best to tend to his wounds or at least comfort him to his last breath?" Celestia replied.
Rainbow Dash swallowed and took on serious expression.
"I would help him." She answered.
"Very well." Celestia said. "I have no further reason to delay you. I have the spell ready in my own mind, and am willing to cast it once you all are prepared."
"I uhm... Have a question, two actually... If that isn't an issue..." Fluttershy spoke up cautiously.
"How can we contact Equestria if something goes wrong?"
Celestia's smile slid away.
"To my knowledge, there isn't a way. You would have to devise a way to accomplish that if such became necessary." The Princess replied.
"Okay... And what time is it?" Fluttershy inquired.
Celestia looked over her left shoulder to a small clock on her nightstand.
"It's one twenty-three." Princess Celestia responded.
"Thank you." Fluttershy replied with meek gratefulness.
"Twilight, are you ready?" Celestia asked, as she looked to her student.
"Uhm. Anypony not ready?" Twilight asked, as she looked amongst her friends.
"Lets go!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as she let her eagerness for adventure display.
Twilight nodded to the Princess, and Celestia smiled to them.
"Go forward with confidence knowing that the Sun's grace is with you, and may you always find peace and happiness in it's warmth." Princess Celestia said in some form of blessing.
Her horn began to glow yellow as she prepared the spell, a burst of light came from the tip of the horn. A flash of yellow, orange and red overwhelmed their vision until darkness was all that remained.
Applejack groaned. She had no idea how much time had past, but her head throbbed in pain, and she was certain of that.
She moaned again as she opened her eyes.
Her nose was in between her forehoofs. Without removing her nose form it's hiding place. She glanced around as she sought her friends. Rarity was next to her in a similar position although she hadn't stirred yet. She could see Twilight on the other side of Rarity, but she could not see any of the others from her perspective. AJ took in the new location. The Princess hadn't lied this planet was indeed different.
Applejack couldn't identify what building they were in, but it was long and wide with a very high ceiling and metal beams which prevented the severely sagging roof from falling in. There were windows along the roof, although most of the glass that they had once consisted of was now broken. Rainbow Dash groaned from somewhere behind her. AJ endured the pain and moved her head as she looked for the rest of their group.
Rarity was still out, but Twilight had begun to observe their group also. Pinkie Pie was behind Twilight and beginning to move, along with Rainbow Dash who was behind Applejack. Fluttershy was still.
"That was quite a teleport..." Twilight said quietly.
Applejack looked over at her.
"No kiddin'. My head's feelin' like a wagon fell on it." Applejack replied.
Twilight nodded.
"If you teleport over great distances you develop a terrible headache... But if this was just any other teleport spell, then we should have died from the amount of pain we would be experiencing... Ugh. I can't think through this headache..." Twilight theorized and grumbled.
"Ohhh... Why do I feel so AWFUL." Rarity complained, as she suddenly awoke.
"Oh nelly. Here goes." Applejack said, as she scooted away from Rarity.
"Oh my... My head... Oh it hurts..." Fluttershy whimpered.
"Oooww." Moaned Rainbow Dash.
"Oh ah oh ah ow ow ow ow ah oh." Pinkie Pie yipped, as her head throbbed with each pulse.
Rarity didn't complain as much as Applejack had anticipated, and the ponies began to take in their new surroundings.
It was pretty dismal looking, besides what Applejack observed already the walls were made out of decaying wood supported by the same metal beams that upheld the roof. The floor was cold concrete and rubbish was strewn all across the room. Along the edges were stairs that led up to some metal catwalks which ran parallel to the ceiling and across most of the building. A few of them had lead to a room which overlooked the bland interior, but many of the walkways had collapsed which was not an encouraging sign. Several chunks of the roof had also fallen which revealed a hazy blue sky that was spotted with a few clouds. The rubbish that was abundant in this structure was mostly paper products, cans, black wheels (Tires), wires, rotting wood, rubber tubing, and several large pieces of metal. A couple piles of refuse could be seen from their location, but they had long since stopped smelling.
"Well she didn't lie to us. This is quite different..." Applejack verbally restated.
"Quite." Rarity said, as she finished viewing her surroundings with a mixed expression of sadness, and disgust.
"Well... While we wait for these headaches to go away we should take stock of what we have." Twilight suggested.
They took off their packs and placed them in a small pile, as each went through their items.
Twilight had a cyan notepad and a mechanical pen. She planned on taking notes of whatever political matters that they would be helping the Princess with, but that didn't turn out as she had anticipated. She had now decided to take notes of their time here on this planet instead. She also had brought along two books for pleasure reading the first was A Review of Common and Rare Spells, and the second being An Extensive Look at Theoretical and Non-Theoretical Physics.
Rarity brought a sketch pad and designing pencils, along with that Suit Design. She planned on working at it when she ever obtained a moment, but she doubted that this would still be the case.
Rainbow Dash had some flying goggles, a dark red beanie, and a bouncy ball. She had packed the beanie out of haste, as she was not paying much attention to what she threw in her bags.
Fluttershy packed some critter food in case she encountered any creatures. She figured it could still prove useful.
Pinkie Pie was extremely disappointed. No matter how far into her partybags she searched she couldn't find her infamous Party Cannon. Neither could she locate the majority of her party provisions. Although she still had several packages of balloons, streamers, confetti, and party whistles.
Applejack hadn't packed much besides a few apples that should have served as snacks on the train ride if she hadn't forgotten about them.
And of course, they had all packed their personal items that would keep their teeth and manes cleaned. Those of them that were more concerned about their appearance also packed a small reserve of makeup, and curlers.
"This doesn't look like much..." Fluttershy stated.
"Yeppers. It sucks SO much that I couldn't find my Party Cannon. I was CERTAIN I had packed it." Pinkie Pie agreed before filing her complaint.
Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie Pie incredulously for a moment then shook her head.
"Well it's not like we're going to need much either. Celestia did say she would be sending us what we needed." Twilight reminded them.
For a few moments they talked amongst themselves and began exploring their interim home.
"Is this... What I think it is?" Rarity said when she found a pile of refuse and pointed at it with a hoof then used the same hoof to cover her nose and mouth.
Twilight walked over and studied the material.
"Uhm..." Twilight said as she also raised a hoof to cover her mouth and nose. "Yes."
Rarity cringed. The others also came and looked at the poop, but hastily walked away once they realized what it was. Eventually they finished exploring their pathetic squat of a home, and returned to where they had dropped their packs.
"How's everypony's head feeling?" Twilight asked.
"I feel better..." Fluttershy responded.
"Yea same here." Rainbow Dash agreed.
The others also admitted that their headaches had passed.
“Alright. There's some tasks we need to do before daylight is gone, give me a second to right them down…“ Twilight turned and, without a second thought, attempted to levitate the notepad and pen out of her pack. Her horn glowed, but she could not feel a grasp on items she desired. Suddenly she felt as if she was in a far away place.
She felt alone. As if all light was gone and she was a mere candle amongst vast darkness, or that she had discovered all those whom she held close to her heart had been suddenly slain. She shuddered as fear filled the pit where her stomach should have been. She recalled what Celestia had said earlier, and instantly halted her attempt at telekinesis. She realized she had closed her eyelids in concentration. She opened them and sat on the ground. Twilight wasn't sure whether to be ashamed or that, or to be full of fear for what she had experienced.
Her friends gathered around her with worry.
"What's wrong Twi'?" Applejack said with obvious concerned.
Twilight's pupil's were small and her ears flattened themselves against her skull. She stared vacantly at nothing as her lower jaw quaked. She abruptly shook her head and looked up to her friends with scared eyes.
"I-I can't use magic... Alone. I feel alone... She was right..." Twilight stuttered as she spoke haltingly, and somewhat incoherently.
Twilight looked over to Rarity. She had an unnerved look as her irises were small with worry and her mouth hung open slightly.
"Try using magic... You'll see." Twilight said shakily.
Rarity accepted the challenge, as she looked to Twilight's pack. Rarity decided to open the flap and retrieve the materials inside. She quickly focused inside of herself. She felt the familiar "warmth" of her magic, as she "pulled" it out of where it resided in an attempt to lift the flap. She felt as if cold water had suddenly been poured onto her. A callous cold enraptured her soul and filled it with despair. She quickly stopped the spell and tried to remain standing on her shaking knees.
"I-I s-see what y-you mean Twi...Twilight." Rarity spoke with similar fright.
Rainbow Dash looked to both of them with confused concern.
"What's going on?" She questioned.
"I think they're experiencin' that lack of Outer Magic as, Celestia put it." Applejack answered for the Unicorns.
Rainbow Dash nodded her understanding solemnly.
After a few minutes Twilight began to regain her composure.
"I just hope it isn't as awful for the rest of you as it is for us." Twilight wished.
Rarity nodded agreement as she also gathered more confidence. The other four began to relax as they realized that Rarity and Twilight had not been physically harmed.
Pinkie Pie glanced to Fluttershy with a raised eyebrow, as she managed to make one of her eyes larger than the other in usual Pinkie fashion. She quickly looked back to Twilight and Rarity.
"Soooo does this mean you won't be able to use magic?" Pinkie asked, as she voiced everypony's concern.
Twilight gave Pinkie Pie a worried and unconfident glance.
"Yes, unless Rarity and I can discover a method to use our Inner Magic directly we won't be able to use magic." Twilight replied.
She glanced over to Rarity hoping she did not have an issue with abruptly being volunteered. She didn't as she was also nodding agreement to Twilight's words again.
Twilight sighed and shook her head vigorously as she dispelled the remnants of her sudden loneliness.
"In the interim. I would appreciate it if you..." Twilight nodded to Rainbow Dash. "And Fluttershy could get a better idea of what's around us. Since we not entirely certain on how these... Humans, will react to us it's best to remain hidden. So attempt to use clouds as much as you can, and try not to create a rainbow trail." Twilight ordered, as she made a dismissive gesture with her right hoof as a thought occurred to her. "And if you have some time to waste after that you can investigate wildlife or something."
Dash trotted briefly then jumped into the air, her strong wings easily carried her through one of the larger holes in the roof.
"Bye." Fluttershy spoke.
The other four wished them their farewells, then Twilight brought her attention to the Earth Ponies.
"Applejack, Pinkie Pie. Do you think you can start cleaning this place up? It's awful, but just try to push it all into a corner or whatever works." Twilight asked.
"No worries Twi'. We'll get it done." Applejack assured, as she began to walk away with Pinkie Pie bouncing in tow.
AJ paused as a question occurred to her and she turned back around to Twilight.
"I'm prettay sure this is a warehouse. Right?" Applejack inquired.
"I believe it is. I don't see why it shouldn't be." Twilight answered.
"Hmph. I see why it shouldn't be. Have you not noticed the filth that covers this place, or the repulsive condition it is in? It may as well be a rubbish pile!" Rarity appraised.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie giggled.
"Don't get in such a fuss now Rarity. We'll get it cleaned up prettay good." Applejack replied, as she turned about again and trotted over to one of the larger groups of trash.
Twilight looked over to Rarity and shrugged, as she walked towards a random piece of paper.
"Well, where do we begin?" Rarity asked, as Twilight glanced up to regard her.
They had lain themselves on the dirty concrete floor and had stared at a piece of paper while they both devised ways to lift it in silence.
"I guess we should try levitating it, or get accustomed to the lack of OMagic." Twilight said.
"OMagic...? Oh! Outside Magic." Rarity began confused, but she quickly realized it‘s meaning.
Twilight nodded, as she closed her eyes in concentration. She remembered that she hadn't had to do that since she was a filly and shame washed over her. She tried to move the paper again, but the devastating loneliness returned. Instead of cutting off her attempt she endured the soul crushing pain, as she tried to the best of her efforts to lift the paper. Rarity released a sudden gasp.
Immediately Twilight raised her eyelids with an elated expression. She expected to have succeeded, but soon lost her joy when she noticed that the paper did not float, or even fall. Twilight's eyes narrowed as she sent Rarity a swift glare.
"You ruined my concentration." Twilight said with obvious annoyance.
"But you shifted the paper!" Rarity replied.
Twilight dropped the glare, and gave the paper a sad look.
"Yea. Shifted it." She rephrased morosely.
Rarity closed her eyes as she gave her own attempt. The coldness surrounded her soul again. Like Twilight she endured the grief, but she did not avail and came to the same result as Twilight had.
Rarity sighed.
"It feels so cold..." She said quietly.
Twilight nodded her understanding.
"To me it feels like profound loneliness. As if all those that I had cared for abandoned me..." Twilight described.
"Yes... It's absolutely heart-wrenching and terrifying." Rarity summarized.
They stared at the paper in silence, as each sought a way to rediscover telekinesis.
"I think I know how..." Twilight said after several minutes of silence. "Essentially, we need to toss away everything we've ever known about how magic works, and approach this as if we were lifting it with our hooves. Basically we have to harness our IMagic and just... Push it somewhere else. Just how you only desire to move a hoof, yet you don't have to think about every single action that is necessary to accomplish that movement. If you follow what I'm getting at..." Twilight explained.
Rarity nodded slowly.
"I believe I am. Try your theory and let's hope it works." She responded.
Twilight closed her eyes as her horn glowed again. She connected with her Inner Reserves of magic, and tried to harness it in a way that seemed similar to gathering several items with forelegs. Once her Inner Magic had been "gathered" she shoved it onto the paper. Twilight noticed that she felt nothing, but that did not remain the same for long. A familiar feeling entered Twilight's mind. She, of course, sensed the paper. Twilight willed for the paper to fly.
Rarity inhaled sharply again, as Twilight quickly opened her eyes. She had launched the paper up, and was keeping it held aloft. She pushed it in different directions, and was met with success, but she couldn't shake a feeling of shame that resided in the bottom of her being.
"It's hard to believe that in the same day I took pride in how far I've come with magic... I've traveled backwards across time, but here I am learning telekinesis like a filly." Twilight thought in self pity.
Twilight found it difficult to wallow in self pity when an odd sensation occurred. It felt as if her heart had become sore and weary, and was beginning to slow due to it. Twilight looked down to her chest as an involuntary reaction to this feeling. Of course, she couldn't see it what caused it. Twilight abruptly ended her interaction with the paper and the innervation ended.
"You did it Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed as she stood.
Twilight grinned as she forgot the shame she felt a moment before.
"It's pretty simple actually." Twilight said.
Twilight explained to Rarity how she had accomplished this in greater detail and with better understanding. Once the knowledge had been shared they searched for the paper which had drifted off when Twilight ended the spell. Once they had found it, they laid around it again as Rarity began her attempt.
She closed her eyes and tried to do as her friend had described. She took all of her magic and attempted to forcefully subdue the paper like Twilight had. She briefly felt the cold encroach upon her being a couple times, but each time she stopped the process and attempted again. After a few minutes Rarity had accomplished the same feat.
Twilight smiled as he eyes followed the paper's ascension, but momentarily lowered them to Rarity to see her reaction to her success.
Rarity had a proud look to her as she relished in her victory over the unusual adversary. After a moment of spinning the paper her eyes briefly displayed a feeling of alarm, and she disintegrated her connection with the paper.
"I take it you felt your magic depleting?" Twilight asked although she already knew her answer.
"Yes, It's a strange feeling..." Rarity replied.
"But we did Rarity! We can use magic!" Twilight squealed in excitement.
Rarity smiled, and celebrated with a more reserved burst of laughter.
Twilight let out a breath as she allowed her mirth to fade away. She put on a more serious expression as she once again got down to business.
"I'll keep working on this, and maybe cross reference what we now know with some of the books I brought. In the meantime, could you assist Applejack and Pinkie Pie?" Twilight requested.
"I'll see what I can do..." Rarity replied with more than a little hesitance in her tone.
"Thank you." Twilight said appreciatively.
She watched Rarity walk towards Applejack and Pinkie Pie whom had finished moving a large chunk of metal into a corner of the building where they had begun piling trash.
"I'm not feeling too good, Dash." Fluttershy said as they flew up to one of the nearest clouds.
Rainbow Dash knew what she meant, but she tried to hide it. It was a feeling of loss. It felt as if she had lost a wing, and continued to realize it was gone and sorrow filled her as she longed for it to return. But she did her best to ignore it, and continued to climb higher.
"Rainbow Dash! Can't you hear me!?" Fluttershy yelled. It wasn't much louder than what she normally spoke at, but it was still much more audible.
"Yea. I can..." Rainbow Dash said with a reluctant tone.
She stopped and waited for Fluttershy to catch up. She flapped her wings to keep her in place as she assumed a vertical posture with hooves crossed over her chest. It was bad enough having to go so slow, but Fluttershy's complaints didn't help either. She glanced up to the cloud they were attempting to get to. There was something strange about it. It didn't look firm or solid like the clouds back in Equestria, but instead very thin and wispy. Fluttershy finally joined her.
"Rainbow Dash, something is very wrong! I feel as if I’m drowning in cold water and can't breathe." Fluttershy quaked, as she shuddered with fright.
Rainbow Dash realized how distraught her friend was. She resolved to comfort her, and immunity to pain wouldn't do that.
"I... I feel it too Shy. It feels as if I've lost something important to me, and I keep realizing that it's not there, as my... Well, heart fills with pain." Rainbow Dash empathized.
"Is- Do you think... This is what Twilight felt?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash replied simply.
"Oh Okay... But why aren't we hurt as much like Twilight and Rarity were?" Fluttershy inquired again.
Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to her head and scratched it in thought.
"I think it probably has somethin' to do with their horn. Like Celestia said it being some psycho manifungustation of magic." Rainbow Paraphrased.
Dash raised her eyebrows and hooves in a shrug.
"All we can do is ignore it for now." Rainbow Dash said.
Fluttershy nodded, and asked yet another question.
"Oh! Rainbow Dash? Do I really have to fly all the way up there with you? I'd like to see if I can find out what sort of critters live around here." Fluttershy asked meekly.
"Aren't you the curious one today...? I don't see why not. Sure go ahead." Dash said, as she quickly followed the words with a chuckle.
"Yay! Thanks Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said in glee, as she began to glide down towards the buildings below.
As Rainbow Dash watched Fluttershy glide down she noticed just how large this city was. It was a collage of gray, black, and red buildings for miles on end with only a few specks of color amongst them. They traveled almost all the way to the horizon. There was a river that divided the city, and was crossed only by a few bridges, but she didn't pay much attention to the city as she quickly turned about and continued to zoom up towards the clouds.
"Finally!" Rainbow thought as she neared the cloud.
It was much farther than she had estimated, and she guessed it was much higher than Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash flew to the side of the cloud and rolled in a turn to climb over and above the cloud. Rainbow slowed her wings as she cautiously lowered herself onto the cloud. She didn't trust this thing to hold her wait. Unsurprisingly she began to sink into the cloud. It was strange to "land" on a cloud yet not feel it.
Dash rolled her eyes.
"Of course. These clouds are made of junk and we can't sit on them or anything. Now what...?" Rainbow Dash thought as she lowered her eyes to the ground.
Dash moved away from the cloud and wondered if she could spot Fluttershy from this altitude. She was met with minor success. Apparently the yellow Pegasi was fluttering from rooftop to rooftop in her search, but she could only notice her when she crossed one of the black streets below.
"I may as well join her. I don't really got much to do anyways. I've seen all that I need to of the city, and these clouds don't seem to... Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash thought with a befuddled mindset.
The cloud she had just left behind her had floated farther away to her left.
"So these clouds move on their own? Huh. They look and felt rather weak. It didn't seem like anything physical could move them..." Rainbow Dash thought with a perplexed mind.
She twisted about in search of anything that could do this. She felt the cause disturb the rhythmic flapping of her wings as a strong gust of wind blew across the sky.
"The wind causes these clouds to move? Weird... It made since back in Equestria, since the clouds are so much more firm. More mass and all that science stuff... I guess, it does make more sense now that I think about it more. Wait... What else could I have overlooked?! Things that I didn't think more about? What secrets did I... Maybe that's why..." Rainbow mused.
Rainbow Dash vigorously shook her head.
"That's enough eggheadedness for one day!" Dash spoke aloud, as she started her decent to join Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash had descended to a fairly low altitude. She was still a ways above the buildings, and had begun to angle towards where she last saw Fluttershy when a sudden burst of movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye.
Two creatures that traveled on two legs, and swung their other two appendages as they did so, were sprinting away from each other. Rainbow accurately guessed that these were the humans that Celestia mentioned earlier. They ran down an alleyway in the shadows made by a soon-to-be setting Sun. Dash dived towards these humans, as her spontaneous curiosity urged her to race them and discover how fast these weird creatures were. She was about to pull over the alleyway when a sudden cry of alarm came from above her.
"What are you doing!? Stop!" Fluttershy yelled.
Rainbow Dash flared her wings and halted. She popped a few of her feathers, as she then darted over to Fluttershy who was hovering over a building.
"What!?" Rainbow Dash demanded.
"Ssshhh. You remember what Twilight said? We're not supposed to be seen." Fluttershy had a very urgent look to her eyes.
"Yes I remember, I just wanted to see how fast these aliens could run." Rainbow Dash grumbled.
"They're humans." Fluttershy corrected.
"Aliens, Humans. Whatever." Dash replied dismissively, as she waved a hoof with the same meaning.
"Come on, Rainbow Dash. It's getting late and we need to get back to Twilight." Fluttershy urged.
Rainbow Dash grumbled, but followed her friend back to their temporary abode. The feeling that troubled her earlier had been successfully pushed into the rear of her mind, as a hungry tummy became a priority for her attention.
"So how ya takin' all this Pinkie?" Applejack asked, as they carried one of those black wheels over to the area where they would start their garbage heap.
"Well, I think it's AMAZING to know that there's just a bunch of people and ponies we get to meet JUST on the other side of the Sun! And guess what!? We're there! We're on another planet! Can you name one pony that's been to another planet? I can't! Oh and can't you imagine all the tasty foods and AWESOME parties we'll get to participate in and eat? And all the new games they'll teach us!" Pinkie Pie quickly began to ramble.
"Uh... Don't ya mean eat foods and participate in parties?" Applejack asked with slight bemusement.
"That's exactly what I said silly filly!" Pinkie Pie replied with typical cheer.
"Uh huh." AJ responded in an articulate grunt.
As they carried the black wheel to the corner where their pile would begin Applejack had a strange feeling in her gut. It felt similar to indigestion.
"I don't think somethin's settlin' well in mah stomach. Hope it wasn' some of that fancy Canterlot food that was prettay good stuff." Applejack mentioned.
"Weird! Cause I just started feeling a little hungry. Do you got any snacks? I forgot to bring some and I ALWAYS bring snacks. Like a chocolate bar or some of those beans of jelly! Oh I'm craving some of those jelly beans right now." Pinkie Pie said.
They had arrived at their corner. Applejack began to bend down to toss the black wheel over their heads and into the pile while Pinkie began to move to the side as if to drop it.
"What're you doin'?!" Applejack exclaimed as Pinkie Pie began to move away.
"Dropping it! You sure are a silly pony Applejack." Pinkie Pie said.
Applejack let out a quick "Hmph." As she scooted to the side and allowed the tire to tumble off their backs in between them.
Applejack's "indigestion" faded away as soon as they had dropped the tire. AJ noticed this and frowned for a moment as she considered the possible relationship between the two events.
"Funky Monkey! I'm not hungry anymore, but I'd still like a snack though." Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"Yea... About that snack you can go ahead and grab an apple out of mah bags if ya want." Applejack suggested.
"Yummy!" Pinkie Pie said as she began to bounce in that direction.
"A apple! I want to make sure that the others get somethin' too if they're feelin' peckish." Applejack reminded with a subtle warning.
Pinkie Pie nodded several times, but whether she had actually heard AJ or not wasn't known. Pinkie Pie obtained an apple from Applejack's bags and quickly devoured it in only a hoofful of bites. She rejoined Applejack and they continued to move the garbage into the corner. They made sure to not handle any of the poop until the Unicorns had rediscovered telekinesis.
Occasionally Rarity would release a gasp. The first time they noticed nothing gasp worthy while the second time they could see that Twilight had successfully relearned levitation. Shortly after that Twilight squealed in delight as they relished in their success. Quickly after that Rarity trotted over to assist them.
"I'm supposed to assist you in... Garbage relocating." Rarity informed them.
"Welcome aboard matey!" Pinkie Pie said, in an attempt at a savvy pirate accent.
Rarity nodded in response to Pinkie Pie, but directed her attention to Applejack.
The left corner of Applejack's mouth twitched, as she remembered the slumber party at Twilight's house about two and half years ago.
"Ya sure about that?" Applejack asked.
"Not really, Applejack." Rarity replied, as she obviously remembered the same event.
"However, Twilight and I have discovered how to perform Telekinesis with our Inner Magic, so I can help move heavier objects or... Objects that you'd rather not pick up... Perhaps." Rarity said, as she glanced down at a pile of turds.
"Well that'd be appreciated, just lob them over to that Trash Heap and that'll be the end of it." Applejack responded, as she gestured to the sizable pile behind her.
Rarity nodded and used her magic to grab the turds and throw them towards the pile of garbage. They continued like this, Applejack and Pinkie Pie collecting larger objects while Rarity threw poop for quite some time. They managed to relocate the majority of the trash into this single heap by the time Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy returned.
As they walked over to where the Pegasi had landed, Rarity slowed and put her left hoof on Applejack's front right shoulder. Pinkie Pie continued to trot along. Applejack stopped and looked over to Rarity with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you feel it when you were working?" Rarity asked.
Applejack shifted awkwardly.
"Well, by 'it' ya mean that whole lack of Equestria Magic and all? Maybe, but I didn't feel much. Kinda felt like indigestion if ya asked me... Which I guess you did, heh." Applejack said, as she chuckled at the end.
"Hm." Rarity hummed as she began to mull this over.
"To me it feels as if an evil cold has encircled my soul, cutting it off from anything around it." Rarity described, but then nodded to the two Pegasi. "But we should hear what they’ve seen.”
"Alright." Applejack agreed, and they trotted over to where their friends were gathering.
Twilight already had her cyan notepad and mechanical pen ready, and had begun her civilized interrogations.
"So you're saying that clouds here can't support you?" Twilight ensured.
"Yea." Rainbow Dash replied, as she sat on her rear with her forelegs crossed over her chest. It was obvious she was doing her best to endure.
"The clouds are also moved by the wind. Which is pretty weird if you ask me." Rainbow Dash mentioned.
"This doesn't surprise me too much." Twilight said as, she used her magic to hastily write notes down into her notepad.
"Anything else?" Twilight asked, as she looked over a pair of writing or reading glasses that she must have quickly obtained when they had returned.
"Well, I think I saw some of those Humans." Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight's eyes lit up with and eyebrows rose with curiosity.
"Really? What did they look like?" She inquired.
"Well I didn't get a good look at them. They were in some shadows, but I did see that they wore some clothes, and they ran on two legs. They also had some other sort of legs coming out of what looked like their chest, but they just waved them around as they ran." Rainbow Dash described.
Twilight scratched her chin with the top of her pen as she gazed up towards the ceiling.
"Are you sure you didn't see monkeys?" Twilight asked.
"Uhm. Yea. These guys didn't look like monkeys. Maybe a TINY resemblance, but no. Definitely not monkeys." Rainbow assured.
"An ape then?" Twilight Sparkle inquired again.
"No! Same thing as with the monkeys." Dash said, as she quickly became exasperated.
"Were they Funky Monkeys?" Pinkie Pie queried, as Twilight jotted down more notes.
Rainbow Dash looked to Pinkie Pie incrediously then shook her head several times.
"I'm not even going to answer that." Dash replied.
Twilight looked over her glasses again. This time to Fluttershy.
"Were you able to locate any wildlife?" Twilight asked.
"Well... Yes, but it wasn't much." Fluttershy answered.
"What did you see then?" Twilight inquired yet again.
"Only some crows and pigeons." Fluttershy said.
Twilight made a quick note, then poised another question.
"And how did they react?"
"They flew away..." Fluttershy said with more than a little disappointment.
"I see... Well I hope that changes." Twilight said, as she finished off her notes.
"Yea we can't have ya gettin' all berser-" Applejack said, when a sudden light interrupted her.
The flash of light came from behind the party, but no sound came with it. It was bright, similar to a beam of sunlight, but it slowly faded. They didn't dare to look towards it until it had faded. When they did look to it there was a simple long and low crate. It appeared old and worn.
"Yay! Food!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and she bounced over to the box.
The other five followed her over to the box. There was a crowbar taped along the top. Applejack tore off the tape and grabbed the crowbar. She wedged it in along the top and pried it open, and took a quick inventory of what they had been shipped.
On the left side of the box was food. They had salad fixings, pancake mix, sandwich materials, and some ingredients for what appeared to be tomato soup. There was a single large hard plastic container of water with a spigot, and several gallon jugs of water to fill it. Lastly they had hot cocoa packets and plastic bags full of coffee grounds. Along with a six bottle case of Canterlot Cider. In the middle of the box, and to the right of the food were several foldable tables, collapsible chairs, two plastic tubs for washing, dish soap, and a typical green Colemane two burner camping stove with two canisters of fuel. There were six sets of plastic kitchen ware, plates, utensils, cups and mugs, bowls, and a green coffee pot with white speckles. Stored to the right of the generic supplies, were sleeping bags and pads along with a few extra blankets. Underneath all of this were some meager construction supplies. Namely several boards wrapped in a blue tarp, a hammer, and a small box of nails. Tucked into a corner, as if they were squeezed in at the last minute, was a bottle of soap and shampoo.
"Lovely! I wouldn't be able to STAND living her without these, and do I feel awful already so if you don't mind..." Rarity said, as she casually snatched the soap and shampoo and trotted off.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked to each briefly with extremely amused expressions, as they barely held in their own laughter. They watched the White Unicorn trot away with the bathing materials only to realize she had no decent place to bathe yet. Rarity's cheeks turned red as she turned back around and walked back to her friends with embarrassment. AJ and Dash couldn't withhold their amusement any longer and released a hearty burst of laughter. Pinkie Pie giggled along with them. Twilight gave Rarity an empathic look, while Fluttershy smiled with amusement. Rarity laughed briefly with them good naturedly.
"What do we have for dinner tonight, AJ?" Twilight asked, as she had not yet obtained a good view of what they were given to eat.
"Well, we can choose from salad, sandwiches, or tomata soup. I'm gonna guess that this pancake mix is fer tomorrow mornin'." Applejack replied.
"I'd like some salad..." Fluttershy commented.
"Yea! Let's make a salad! Is there whipped cream? I like whipped cream in my salads!" Pinkie said in typical cheer.
"Meh. I'll take whatever's made." Rainbow Dash spoke indifferently.
"A salad sounds wonderful right now!" Rarity agreed.
"I guess salad it is then. Who's going to make it?" Twilight said, then inquired.
"I'm willing to." Rarity said, as she moved closer to the crate.
"Oh oh oh! Let me help!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, as she hoped behind Rartiy.
"Just hold on a minute. We still need t' set up a place fer ya to make this at." AJ pointed out.
Rarity nodded, and took some steps back to give Applejack the space she needed to accomplish that.
"Okie dokie!" Pinkie Pie said.
The ponies quickly worked together at taking the tables out of the crate and deploying them to form a few counters and a single large table. They set up the stove and fuel on it's own table while placing two more collapsible tables next to it. A couple feet (or a meter) away they positioned a table to hold the blue water jug. Finally two other tables were positioned away from the stove to carry the tubs which would serve as kitchen and bathroom sinks. Once their makeshift kitchen had met their standards Rarity and Pinkie collected the salad ingredients and began to prepare the meal.
As AJ and Fluttershy set up some chairs to relax in Twilight grabbed Rainbow Dash for a moment and assigned her another task.
"I need you to try and draw me a map of what you saw." Twilight requested.
Rainbow Dash looked over to the Purple Egghead with a doubtful expression.
"Okay... And how am I going to do that?" Dash asked.
"Here, use my notepad and pen and just draw what you saw. You know, a map. You have seen a map before, right?" Twilight said, as she levitated her cyan notepad and pen over to Rainbow.
"Duh." Rainbow Dash inarticulately replied.
"Good. I'll just view it before I go to sleep." Twilight informed Rainbow, as she trotted over to assist the AJ and Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash looked down at the cyan notepad. There was what appeared to be a black storm cloud with a jagged yellow lightning bolt coming from it. There was something fishy about it. Rainbow Dash glanced to her flank and observed her cutie mark, then the cloud and lightning bolt. They appeared almost identical in shape.
"Nah! Nopony would have put my cutie mark on a notepad. Who would put the awesomest cutie mark ever on a crumby notebook?" Rainbow Dash thought as she dismissed her suspicions.
She nosed open the notepad and quickly passed Twilight's notes until she found a blank page. She grabbed the pen with her mouth and clicked the pen with her tongue, and began to poorly draw what she saw. After about thirty-four seconds she had finished with scratching out her pathetic attempt at a map and had chosen to write a simple note instead.
"There's a bunch of buildings and stuff."
Satisfied that she had accurately conveyed what she had seen she clicked the pen again and tossed it down next to the notepad, and closed it.
When Rainbow Dash sat down in one of the chairs with Applejack and Fluttershy she noticed that Twilight wasn't present.
"Where did Twi' get off to?" RD asked.
"She said she had t', ya know, relieve herself." Applejack suggested.
"Ah. Alright." Rainbow Dash replied getting the hint.
Eventually Rarity and Pinkie Pie called the others to dinner, of course Twilight had returned by this time and joined them for their meal. They passed the bottles of cider around and quickly dug into their meal. Much wasn't said over dinner besides sharing their excitement and expectations for the coming week. Dinner was quickly eaten and the ciders drunk. Rainbow Dash wistfully gazed into her empty bottle, but shook it off as she stood to assist Fluttershy in cleaning the dishes.
As the Sun began to sink and the light that bombarded the Earth throughout the day turned to an evening glow; The other four brought the sleeping bags and pads away from the crate and towards a wall. They unrolled the sleeping pads and unpacked the sleeping bags, as they prepared for the night. Once their sleeping quarters were established they each went to their packs and retrieved their personal items. The majority of them simply brushed their teeth and trotted off to their sleeping bags. While others inserted their curlers and removed extensions. Finally they had all returned to their bags and talked briefly before they began closing eyes and attempt to drift off to sleep.
Twilight however, had ducked into her sleeping bag and attempted to create a light with her horn. After the seventh try she succeeded and opened her notepad. She turned quickly to an empty page, but not before noticing the attempts at a map made by Rainbow Dash and the note she had left her. Twilight was disappointed at first, but silently chuckled the feelings away as she realized who she had told to become a cartographer. She nosed to the next page and quickly wrote notes about her day, and what she had learned. She was greatly tempted to go into more detail, but restrained herself for she had a very limit supply of paper in this small notepad. Once satisfied with what she had written she brought the notepad and pen out of her sleeping bag and tossed it gently onto the ground above her pad. She then rolled onto her side and fell asleep with the sounds of her friends softly snoring surrounding her.
I woke up this morning cold and stiff. It was a chilly night and my blanket was pretty inadequate. I threw on more layers of clothes around 3 in the morning, although I couldn't know for sure. It mitigated the cold slightly but not entirely. I stirred as I tossed my blanket off, and moved my legs and arms. As I tried to get my blood moving, it impacted me just how long I've been in a Poverty Zone. It was just past a year now, and the time didn't fly.
I recall my first days in the Slums. Barely. I had hope that I would be able to find a way to escape, or perhaps obtain work in a Mediocre Zone, but the Military had guns, barbed wire, and chain link fences all around this place for miles on end, and nobody would hire the "scum" that inhabited these Poverty Zones. I lost more hope month after month and slowly accepted this new reality. This is all that there ever would be for me. Scavenging for food and hoping I didn't get shanked in my sleep, but common sense and desperation helped me survive. My standards for what was consumable dropped quickly, as I discovered that I would slowly die if I only consumed clean water and hardly stale food. So I adapted. Sure, I got sick several times after consuming some particularly bad food and water, but I was able to fight through it. I did what I needed to do to survive. To do what it took to live in this shunned part of Earth.
I was warming now; my in-box aerobics finally having effect. I packed my blankets and pillow into my backpack and rolled against the side of the freezer box, which knocked it over and moved it out from between the garbage cans. I crawled out of the box, folded it, and leaned it against the wall, as I slid the garbage cans over to conceal it and hold it in place. Content with it being concealed sufficiently, I jogged out of the alleyway and headed South West down to Blugar's Park where the rest of my group would meet.
I was trudging along a typical street. Trash littered the cracked and crumbling road. Occasional rats would dart out of sight, scurrying down gutter drains and into the sewers. Not like there was much difference between the Slums and the Sewers anymore. I was passing by one of the few business left in Poverty Zone, Barney's Bunkhouse. Somehow the old guy that owned the place before the Regulation managed to hang onto it. I've never been inside, I only knew that it costs a pretty penny to rent a room there. As I was jogging by, I noticed a middle aged guy with graying hair in a brown jacket and dark pants leaning against the wall of the Bunkhouse. I put a little more effort into my steps and looked ahead. I didn't make eye contact with him and hoped to pass him as quickly as possible, but he moved into my path and put a hand out. The action was unexpected and I bumped into his extended arm. I quickly stumbled back as I looked up to him and stared him in the eye. The man swayed a bit then turned his hand over as if to retrieve something from me. He slurred out a sentence in a Russian accent. He was obviously drunk.
"All your items are belong to us."
I briefly looked at him incredulously, then remembered how I had planned to act in these situations. I took a step back and started taking off my backpack.
"Y-Yea... Sure. Just let me get it for you." I said, as I feigned stuttering and fear.
The Russian nodded and motioned with his hand to hurry up. I glanced up at him, he had his right hand on the hilt of a very large knife. It was obvious that if I made a mistake, or a few small ones, I'd be dead.
I dropped my pack to the ground and started to bend over as if to unzip it, but instead I was spreading my legs apart. Placing my self in an aggressive position. I leaped over my pack. I put my body weight behind my left fist and slammed it straight into his nose. A punch from my left hand caught him completely off guard, and he stumbled backwards landing against the building. His hand was launched far away from his knife. I instantly followed with a right hook to the side of his head.
He was stunned and already falling to the ground. His drunken state gave him a horrible effect on his sense of balance. I jumped back and grabbed a 2 foot iron pipe out of my pack. Pipe's weren't very suspicious weapons. Most were sold, melted, or reused. So a pipe on a looter could easily be confused for loot and not a weapon. It weighed several pounds but had the reach and density to do the damage I needed.
With a firm grip on my pipe, I stepped back over my pack and stood above the drunken man. He moaned on the ground, his left hand clutched his broken and bleeding nose. His right hand was curled into a fist to support him. He belatedly noticed my movements and turned his head slightly to allow his eyes to see me towering before him with a simple pipe. I felt hollow as I smashed his skull against the side of the Bunkhouse.
His blood added a new layer of filth to the stained walls. I slid my pipe out of what remained of his head, which silently collapsed onto itself, causing the rest of the body to follow suit and slide to the ground. I knew what I just did was wrong. It was bad. Nobody should ever have to do it, but times had changed. It was kill or be killed when it came to fights. Anyone that tried to be noble or honorable with his enemies usually died as they took advantage of his foolishness. Besides, morals didn't keep us alive. In fact those without morals were prospering... Or as close to prosperity as anyone could get here.
I sighed and grabbed a corner of the dead man's jacket and cleaned the blood and mucus off the pipe. I turned and slid it back into my backpack, then came back to the man's corpse and looted what little money he had on him. The knife was the valuable item he possessed. It had a 6 inch blade and a simple leather grip. It was relatively clean, but a few spots of rust covered the blade. I raised my eyebrows.
"This could be interesting." I thought, with mild excitement.
Rusty blades are crap. They can break easily and give you tetanus as well as whoever you were planning to stab if your not careful, but blades that have only a little bit of rust on them is enough to give tetanus but still have some decent integrity were pretty valuable. It was almost like built in poison.
I quickly unbuckled his belt and took the knife's sheathe and sheathed the knife. I then unzipped my backpack and tossed the knife in, but quickly realized it would be more handy on my belt instead of in my pack. So I took it out again and slid it onto my belt. I zipped up my pack again and lifted it, as I put it on my shoulders. I ran away from the corpse and towards my destination.
Blugar's Park was barely a park. There was a concrete sidewalk that meandered through the overgrown fields, and unkempt trees and shrubbery. Occasionally benches and picnic tables could be spotted amongst the wild fields. There were a few tents pitched in one of the lawns, but they had massive holes torn in them and were obviously abandoned. As I trotted down the concrete path I stumbled over a can, and landed flat on my stomach. I hissed in minor pain as I lifted myself from the ground and continued jogging down the path.
The incident forced me to keep better attention to where I placed my feet on this rubbish strewn sidewalk. It escaped me how much trash could be found everywhere. Worse yet no one took the time to toss it into the river or to the side of the path, at least. I remembered an instance where I used to ride the bus to work. I spotted a Doritos bag discarded under a seat next to me, so I did my part and tossed it in the garbage can at my stop.
When I was first relocated to this Poverty Zone I used to do a little cleaning. To throw trash into the garbage cans but those quickly became overflowed, and I resorted to tossing them out of common paths. Inevitably, it became what every one else does today, Ignoring the problem until you have to pay attention to it.
I passed the bathrooms. I had been in there once. I never planned on making that mistake again. I shudder at remembering what I saw in there, and it takes a lot to make me do that in this place. Public restroom's were bad enough, even when they were maintained, but a public restroom not maintained for little over a year now? The filth, the vomit, the shit, the piss... It got everywhere. The stalls were near full of it all. The toilets almost buried. It's sad that people still use that pathetic excuse for a structure, but I doubled my pace as I caught a faint scent of the retched refuse. I steered to my right, into a patch where the trees and bushes were particularly thick and followed a thin, faded path through the dying shrubbery into a small clearing.
We'd made this clearing at the beginning of the week, when Redge decided to make Blugar's Park our meeting point for said week. We'd meet here every morning and receive any new orders, acknowledge any information, or resolve any issues in our 8 man group. Then return here in the evenings to portion our shares of what we looted, report progress on any assignments, and decide on a new meeting place at the end of the week.
Redge coordinated it all, and I'll admit he did a good job at it for the most part, but he was far from a "kind" or "good" leader. He does what does because he knows it works, if you got an objection you turn and walk away. Because it's his way or the highway, as the saying went. Most of us are here for mutual need anyways, and that doesn't necessarily build trust. Due to the Prison Dump I couldn't trust anyone fully. They may be a former lower-end middle class guy like me, or some sick serial killer.
I looked at my... Comrades. As I entered the clearing. 6 of us were here, including myself. Redge was talking to a black lad a couple years younger than me. I always forgot his name, but he couldn't have been younger than what... 18? 19? He was of average height, had a torn and faded blue baseball cap, and, unsurprisingly, a metal baseball bat in his dark brown backpack. A few of the other members of our group were in small circles or looking through their gear. As they waited for the next two to show. A few of these people trusted each other enough to sleep in the same alleyway or under the same park bench.
I tend to stick to myself. After being through a few other groups and gangs, some big others small, I'd seen my fair share of betrayals and knew I needed to keep everyone at arms length if I could. Besides, I wasn't a very out going guy and I was content with loneliness. Hah, even after a year of no internet I still have images of the Forever Alone guy going through my head every time I think of loneliness.
I walked further into the clearing and brought my pack down, pulled out the fresh water bottle, and drank... And drank... And drank. I wasn't thirsty. No, far from it. In fact I hadn't drunk clean purified water in several... Weeks? Months? In my memory, days tended to meld together, yet pass by so slowly there never seemed to be a night that separated them. I quickly realized my mistake and spat any water that remained in my mouth back into the plastic bottle. I was supposed to savor this not chug it all in one go. I sighed and tossed the bottle back into my pack.
"Why didn't you show up last night?" An emotionless voice asked.
I looked up to see Redge standing before me. Redge had curly red hair and hints of a beard. His blue eyes stared down into my dark green. He had a black hat and a brown long sleeves shirt with worn jeans. A Machete hung casually from his belt. Machetes weren't common in the Slums. You either made a decent living and could buy one, if you happened to find one on sale, or were damn lucky and found one. Emphasis being on found. I shook my head and stood.
"Didn't Frank tell you? I couldn't show up since by the time we were done here it'd be close to dark and I'd be blundering through an alleyway trying to find my box. Even gave Frank my share to turn in." I replied, unsure of what the issue was.
"Yea I have a score to settle with that moron too. He didn't show up either. Now. Explain." Redge replied, his tolerance to bullshit was at it's end.
"I gave Frank my share and told him to take it back to you guys, and that'd I'd be here tomorrow, 'Cause by the time we were done here it'd be nearing dark and I'd have to stumbled around in the black looking for my box."
Redge looked me in the eye. His face expressing no emotion. Even his hands remained still at his sides.
"I want to believe you Luke, but you know... You out of everybody here. You know best that I can't trust any of my fellow damned souls to not betray me. The only people I can remotely come close to trusting are those that I can hang food, or money over their noses. Then feed it to them once they've fulfilled their role."
He was right. I knew why he couldn't trust anybody. When I had just joined this group Redge and another guy, whom went by the name of Dozer, ran the group together. It went smoothly from what I can remember, but I believe Dozer found a lead to some drug cache. He wanted to raid it and sell what he could get on the Market. Redge, however, was opposed to this idea. He didn't want to mess with some other gang's drug stash, get them pissed, and have them start going after us. However, Dozer grabbed half of our, then 33 person, group and went after that cache anyways. We can only assume they succeeded, but never returned.
Shortly after our team split the gang that owned those drugs came after us. Me and Redge were fortunate enough to not have been at the store that served as our base when they rolled in and massacred everyone there. I guess as a leader he felt responsible for their deaths, as if he could have done something to prevent them. Only now he doesn't trust anyone anymore.
I discarded the memory for the moment and simply shrugged. There wasn't anything more for me to say. In the end it'd be Redge's call. I heard someone stumble into the clearing behind me and glanced over my shoulder with an uncaring expression. A man with blonde hair, black shades and a green, yellow, and white plaid shirt with a light brown backpack was approaching the group. I recalled his name being Mike. He nodded to Redge then walked over to one of the other small groups. Redge looked over to him as he entered then returned his gaze to me and spoke.
"You've never been too involved in this group. You've had several chances to get a higher role, but you just stay as a looter... Which makes me suspicious of you." He stated.
I shrugged again.
"Guess, I'm not ambitious. I'm just content with providing you guys with food and drink. That's what I can do and I do it." I replied.
"Yea. For all I know you pawn your stuff off onto somebody and give us the scraps." Redge replied harshly.
I sighed and shook my head.
"No. We're all here because of mutual need and protection. I need that. Doin' something like that would jeopardize it." I replied.
"Unless your already hooked up with another group." Redge said, continuing to express his lack of belief me.
"Go ahead, doubt me. Not like anybody else here has been able to change your mind. You'll get your assumptions and stick with them until their blatantly proven wrong." I replied with frustration.
"Whatever, time to start today's briefing anyways... And Frank hasn't showed yet..." Redge continued with mild annoyance and disappointment.
Redge called for the rest of the group to gather round. I've forgotten what the rest of the group was assigned, it didn't matter much to me at the time. I remember hearing that the Black Kid had the name Elijah. Hopefully writing it down will help me remember it. Regardless, I was assigned several blocks to the North again. This time I was to start farther out and head back sooner. It sounded like Redge was giving me an easy day because Frank still hadn't shown up.
I recalled that the area I was tasked to cover was close to the riverfront. There wasn't much to get out of the riverfront areas... They were picked clean during the first few months. People who were fugitives or outcasts tended to hand around up there but there weren't many of them to be concerned over. After we'd all received our assignments for the day I hoisted my pack onto my back and jogged out of the clearing and back the way I came.
I was trudging along the sidewalk, which ran parallel to the river. I swear, I saw children or something duck out of sight on the roofs of buildings or dive behind trees and bushes as I jogged past, but I couldn't be certain. A few odd times I thought I saw them climbing amongst the trees, but when I turned to look I, of course, couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I shook it off when I heard the sound of a boat... I sighed when I recalled the military presence restricting us to this miserable place.
There weren't any boats in the Slums. The military saw to that since it'd have made escape into Middle Class areas all to easy. I've heard stories the though. Blokes used to make rafts or swim down the river only to get shot as they passed under the bridge. The National Guard have those manned 24/7. Rumors have started floating around that they've begun testing robotic weapon systems on anybody that approaches the fences or the bridges these days, but no one has a need to near the borders. Only the fool doesn't accept their reassignment to a Poverty Zone as their plot in life.
I glanced to my left and caught glimpses of the small military boat humming down the river. The soldiers had their assault rifles in casual cross carries. Most of them had balaclava's that covered their faces and shades to protect their eyes. I lowered my gaze off them and continued peering into the thickets, searching for any source of water. I had decided to gather as much water for my group as I could, so I collected plenty of bottles on my way over here. Unfortunately, there weren't many ponds or puddles to collect from. I realized how strange it was to be alone on a looting run. It'd been a long time since I had to do one of these alone, and even though I didn't trust Frank entirely he watched my back. Which was strange... My back felt tingly as if it knew that it was vulnerable.
There was a glint of sunlight to my left. I halted and turned quickly. There was nothing again but a few of the branches were oddly swaying even though there wasn't a breeze to disturb them. I was getting thoroughly annoyed with whatever was occurring, which resulted me in thinking if I was finally going insane. I've seen people unable to cope with the abrupt change of entering a Poverty Zone. Be it betrayal, lowering standards for survival, or just the grisly sights that one encounters every day. They can get to people... Make them paranoid and untrusting of anything. Maybe all of this was getting to me? Maybe I'd finally gone so far, that I was seeing things? But... Would I be doubting myself if I had finally gone nuts? Hell... I'll never know.
"Hah! Finally!" I thought, as I encountered a long puddle in the gutter.
I did my best to fill one of the plastic bottles with the black and brown liquid that we drank daily. I almost had the first bottle filled to the 3 quarters mark when I heard voices. The first voice I had barely heard was very quiet and faint while the other was much louder. I couldn't make out any words, but there seemed to be an excited tone to the first voice. I stopped pushing the water into the bottle and slowly dried my right hand on my faded and paint stained jeans. I turned my head slightly to my left. So I could hopefully hear them better.
They must have been farther away than I thought, as I still couldn't here them well enough to distinguish words. I hoped that if I discovered if these people existed or not I'd find out if I was sane. I didn't even think twice when I stood to investigate these voices. I took a sip out of the bottle I had partially filled and cringed as the bitter and unfiltered taste clung to my tongue. I'd never get used to this taste. I took the small plastic bottle cap out of my pocket and twisted it on quickly, then placed the bottle in a side pouch. I stood and turned to my left and carefully entered the thick brush.
Nobody traveled through the river bottoms if they could help it. The vegetation had grown so thick and the lack of trails made it miserable to be in. I moved as quietly as I could through the brush but I was hardly successful. I winced every time a twig broke, or my shoe got snagged on the brush. I only heard the quiet voice now, and it sounded as if it was... Singing? Was someone seriously singing? Damn they were good. I didn't have to hear the words to know that much. She carried the tune so well and it sounded so peaceful and calming... It soothes me just to remember it.
The further I went the more I thought I was insane. I haven't heard someone sing since I arrived here, but who would seriously go into these near unnavigable marshes and sing a song? Nevermind singing in the first place. Talent like that wasn't here, and forget finding something worthwhile to sing about. The only people who were happy were the wealthy and those who toss us in here. Why haven't these people heard me crashing through the marshes? Who couldn't possibly have heard me? I was deep in my wondering and curiosity that I hadn't realized the singing had stopped and was caught completely off guard when one of the voices spoke up.
"...Hear that?" An oddly scratchy but clearly female voice finished.
I froze. Obviously, she was talking about myself. They must have been completely oblivious to my approach, and I believed I was very, very close to them. I heard the quiet voice speak again. The voices seemed to originate from the tree tops.
"Who the hell hangs out in these trees? Children I could understand, but these voices hardly sound childish! And this is so far north that I doubt any families still live up here, never mind actually getting into these river bottoms." I thought in confusion.
My grey shirt was more than enough proof of how difficult it was to navigate these parts. It had been torn in several places as I tried to have a chat with these ladies. I heard the quiet voice say something again, and there was sudden movement in the willows ahead of me. Were they seriously jumping from tree to tree now? This went from a little weird to definitely bizarre pretty fast. Regardless of what was happening, my curiosity drove me to speak and discover what the actual fuck was going on.
"Ah-!" My voice caught as I tried to talk.
"Wonderful start, man!" I mentally berated myself, as I shook my head.
I stopped my attempt at speech and tried again.
"Hello? I don't want anything! I just want to know who you are... Hello?" I called out.
Of course, I received no immediate response. I heard the quiet, meek sounding voice again. It was followed by a response from the scratchy voiced female. Either she wasn't trying to talk quietly or she did a very poor job at it.
"I don't think so... Maybe we should talk to him?" She suggested to whoever was speaking quietly.
The quiet voice spoke again, which was followed by a brief silence. I heard movement in a large willow a small distance away from me.
"See ya later!" Called that strange female voice from somewhere above me and to my left.
I spread my hands out and looked up with a completely bemused expression. The voice was coming from a completely different direction now! Yet I didn't see anything move across the trees! There again! Out of the corner my eye I saw something yellow and pink. I quickly turned only to see a trail of pink glide right behind a bunch of leaves that divided it from my line of sight. My confusion quickly turned to mystery then to frustration. I had come so close to finding out what this all was then. Poof. Gone. My mind was sent careening.
Pink? I hardly ever saw pink or any bright colors for that matter. Most color in the Slums had faded due to the near constant exposure to the sun and elements, but pink? Who? What? I put the inner side of my right hand to my forehead and looked down at the ground, as I shook my head. I remembered a picture that I had seen on the internet a long time ago. A bald guy in a red and black jumpsuit had his arm out stretched with an expression of confusion and disbelief. "What the fuck is this shit" was placed along the side of the image...I think it was from the ancient show Star Trek, but I can't remember for sure.
I walked forward, as I looked for... Anything that would explain this strange encounter. I glanced at the trees and up into their branches. How did these guys get up there? There weren't any low hanging branches, and if there were they were incredibly weak. Even then, the trees had grown so much and had gotten so tangled together it made a canopy that seemed almost impossible to penetrate. I brought my gaze down and spotted some color on the muddy ground.
At the base of this large willow were more of those sky blue feathers. A few cream yellow feathers were also mixed in. I stooped and lifted up one of the yellow feathers. It was stained in mud due to where it landed but was still soft. Very soft. But again, it was too large to be from any bird I knew of. I twisted and brought my backpack in front of me, grabbed one of the blue feathers, and placed them both in my pack. I resolved to study them later.
I put the pack back onto my shoulder and stood. I shook my head again with complete bafflement. I had to put this off for now though. I'd spent a good amount of time in here and I had spotted a couple springs that might have some decent water in them. I stumbled back down the path I had made and collected water on my way out of the marsh. The whole time I sought an explanation for that pink trail.
I stumbled out of the marshes, and looked down at my shirt. It was severely torn and would need to be replaced. I continued to assess my clothing as I crossed the street. My pants were wet, but other then that they were fine. The toe caps on my shoes flapped uselessly as I walked. I regretted not asking for duct tape back in Blugar's Park and blamed my recessive nature for the shortcoming. I looked up from my shoes, and climbed the steps to the wood door of a red brick building.
I was unsure of what this building used to be or if it was being used for anything else now, but the Northern sections of the Slums were infrequently traveled or sparsely populated. This reinforced my doubt that this building was being used. The door was before me now, I gripped the handle and tried to open the door. The handle moved but the door did not. I halted my attempt and examined the hinges. Sure enough, they were rusted tight. I turned the handle again and slammed my right shoulder into the door. I could feel it give, but my lack of height and weight prevented me from having a quick success. It took several shoulder slams to open the door half way, which was enough for me squeeze through.
There was a musty smell to the main room, as if several books had been left in here and had begun to rot away. There was no merchandise or furniture. Only small clumps of trash scattered across the room. There were several smaller rooms that attached into this main one, and a stairwell at the far end of the room. I walked into the first one on my left and brought my pack off my shoulders and dug through it.
I found my spare shirt and brought it out. It was a faded green Mountain Dew T-Shirt. I quickly took off my torn plain grey shirt and tossed it into a corner and grabbed my Mountain Dew Shirt. I was about to pull it over my head when I took notice of my stomach. It was smaller. I had lost weight. It was happening again. We were slowly starving. That would explain my lack of deftness in recent days. My stumbling and tripping. I was becoming malnourished again. Unless I changed that. I had to find more food. The consequence was obvious and enough to build determination to do better. I pulled the shirt over my head.
At that moment, thinking of food encouraged my stomach to growl. I mentally shrugged as I dug through my pack again. This was as good of a spot as any for a lunch break, and without Frank trying to be an impromptu leader I might actually be able to enjoy this meal. I pulled out a bag of banana chips, and my bottle of clean water. I casually walked over to the wall, sat down, and leaned against it. I tossed a dried banana slice in my mouth and tried to savor what little flavor it had. I didn't keep much food for myself, in fact that was all I had left at the time. I took a swig from my water bottle and relaxed for a decent amount of time.
I sighed, as I stood and shouldered my pack again. I couldn't afford to be lazy anymore, and I desperately needed to find food for my group. I exited the side room, walked over to the front door, and slipped out in a similar way as I had entered. I quickly stomped down the steps and walked over into an alleyway to my left. I pushed off with my left foot as I began jogging down the trash filled street. There were several garages to my right and poorly painted buildings to my left, as I approached an over flowing dumpster. I didn't stop to look through it. It'd be a waste of time trying to get through all the actual rubbish and into something that may have been tossed aside when people still had good things to waste.
For hours I ran through alleyways and peeked through garbage cans and dumpsters. I found 3 loaves of horribly stale and moldy bread, a rat that decided it had, had a wonderful life and keeled over, and a package of fine tortillas. The tortillas really made me excited. The package was still sealed, and they didn't look moldy or stale in the slightest. It then occurred to me that the conditions we were living in might, just might, promote disease, and if we ate that rat we could all get sick. Maybe even killed from whatever diseases it carried.
I guess good hygiene hasn't been on my mind much recently. I spun my pack off, quickly dug through it, found the dead rat, and tossed it as far as I could. It made an amusing thud as it smacked against a wall and slid down. Almost in a cartoonish fashion. It cracked me up to think that was actually possible in reality. I jogged down the rest of the alleyway and turned right onto the street and headed South.
The faint grin on my face instantly faded away, as I noticed a small corpse in the gutter. My gut chilled as I realized it was the body of a child. Never in my solid year of government induced poverty had I seen a child's lifeless body on the streets. What sick and twisted person would kill a mere child? My curiosity still desperately wants to know that.
I approached the corpse and knelt down next to it once I had. There was a disgusting dent in the side of the blonde boy's skull. A sizable puddle of blood had gathered behind his head that was slowly sliding towards the gutter's drain. The body wasn't cold, but neither was it warm, and the flies had yet to find it. I figured he must have been killed recently.
I examined what the boy had on him, or could have possibly had, to cause such a result. Below his neck and on the upper part of his chest I noticed a stand of curly hair. It was way too long to be from the little boy and the color perplexed me. I swear, it looked like it was hot pink, but it was only one strand of hair and hard to judge. After a quick pat down of his pockets the only item I could find was a Yo-Yo.
"Poor guy... If I can ever find out who killed you, your death will not be unavenged." I promised to the corpse, then realized how horribly cliché that sounded and chuckled.
But I took the kid's Yo-Yo... I loved Yo-Yos. It was a shame that I became an adult and having toys like that were frowned upon, but then again guys did watch a show about brightly colored horses for girls. The didn't give two shits about what people thought of them. I wondered what happened to those guys. I'd imagine a small chunk of them would still be alive in the Mediocre Class Zones, but any jobless citizen was regulated to one of these Poverty Zones.
Maybe they still met up and chatted about their favorites? That'd be a hilarious sight to walk in on. An image of some burly guys walking into a store with guns and baseball bats to find some scrawny lookin' dudes talking about their favorite feminine colored horses just flashed through my mind. I'll admit that I briefly chuckled but to each their own I guess...
I wondered if I should do something proper for his corpse. Maybe say a few words? I didn't know. I hadn't attended any funerals. I've only seen the ones in movies and who knows how accurate those were. I shrugged, as I mumbled a few meaningless words that I no longer remember.
I turned and walked sadly away. I didn't feel like running, and I had gathered some food. Besides, I had time to waste before I needed to return to Blugar's Park. Occasionally, I'd dig through the trash looking for anything useful, but I didn't put effort into it. My mind was on overdrive thinking of what I had encountered in the river bottoms, and who could of killed the little boy and why.
I was crossing the street and jogging into Blugar's park, as I jogged down the paths towards the clearing. I knew that I had looted too little. If I kept disappointing I'd start being a liability and not an asset. Hopefully, the discovery of the water source in the River Bottoms might delay that a little longer. At this point, I had turned down the faded trail and entered into the clearing. I was a little early but Redge, Mike, Elijah, and three other guys were already here. I quietly entered and slipped off my pack. I placed it between my legs as I sat down and leaned my back against a tree. I zipped open my backpack and looked through the contents taking out what I would have to turn in. I glanced at it with disappointment. It wasn't enough. I should have looted more on my way back instead of succumbing to my inquiring mind. I briefly lifted my eyes up and noticed Redge walking over. I sighed quietly. I was definitely going to be getting a word from him about this.
"Did you see Frank?" Redge asked with the usual lack of emotion.
He also stared at me without any hint of emotion. It was beyond me how he could manage that... Interestingly enough, now that I think about it. He started being all blank faced around the same time the group split. Must've been the guilt for getting all those people killed or something like that. Not that I blame him for it, of course...
"No." I replied simply as looked up to him.
I briefly felt like a small child sitting before a bully about to take my lunch. I shook the strange thought out of my mind.
"Damn it. Because it looks like you needed him." He responded.
"I know, but you must acknowledge that you sent me into an area that has already been cleared out." I said in tone that sounded more like whining than a reasonable response. Being a good speaker wasn't something I listed as a skill.
"There's more than one reason why I sent you up there. Expect to get used to it and hopefully know where to look for your loot." Redge replied.
I sighed and shook my head, then returned my sight to my feet and the ground. Which reminded me of the Duct Tape I needed. I looked back up to Redge.
"Anybody here have Duct Tape? As you can see, I need to patch my shoes." I requested.
I flopped the tip of my shoes a bit, which demonstrated my need.
"I got some in my bag." Redge answered with a few nods.
He turned and went to retrieve the Duct Tape. While he was fetching that. Another person entered the clearing. I glanced over to see that it was one of the few women in our group. She had blond hair and a bad sunburn on her face and arms, along with ablack shirt with jeans. Her name was Carla Willis. I found her attractive, but I didn't look for relationships these days... I was barely providing for myself. How would I be able to do that for me and a partner?
Redge had returned with the Duct Tape and tossed it down to me. I tried to grab it. It bounced out of my right hand, but I was able to catch it with my left. I proceeded to tear strips of the Duct Tape off and apply it to my shoes. Once completed I tossed the tape back to Redge who took it and returned it to his pack. After Redge had finished returning the tape to it's previous location he called us into the center of the clearing for the "debriefing".
I zoned out, hardly caring for what the rest of the group was doing, until Redge said my name and asked for my report.
"Luke, turn in your share and give your report."
I nodded and brought my share over. A meager 2 loaves of bread, the tortillas, and 9 bottles of water. The members of my group looked at it then back up to me. Sad expressions of disappointment rested on their faces. I sighed. They knew we were going to be eating thin again tonight.
"I've already taken my part of the share. Two bottles of water and a loaf of bread." I told them, as I showed these to them and my now food lacking pack so there wasn't any doubt.
"However, I have discovered a location in the Northern river banks that can provide us with good, mostly clean water." I said. I'm not going to kid myself and write that I said it in a hopefully convincing tone.
Redge looked up at this. He was studying the food; Probably contemplating how to divide it. I believe I saw a hopeful glint to his typically weary grey eyes, but knowing him I doubted it. There was some slight conversation about the water source but not much.
"Why did you even go into the river banks?" Asked a man with brown hair and red jacket over a white shirt. I guessed that his name was Chuck, but I didn't consider being asked this question and reeled for an answer. I decided on honesty as I didn't have time to formulate a good excuse.
"I heard some voices and went to investigate them. I didn't find them, but encountered a spring on my way in. I stopped and filled up the water bottles there on my way back out. It's not easy to get back in there, though. The shirt I was wearing this morning got torn up."
Chuck nodded. Satisfied with the answer, however others weren't. A woman with graying hair, dark eyes, and ragged clothing spoke up. Her name was Melinda. She was in her late thirties, but she appeared to be near the end of her middle aged years. We all knew she was a former drug addict, the wrinkles, bad teeth, and thin hair didn't lie, but she was one of the few I'd seen survive the withdrawal and she could haggle like no other. So we allowed her in.
"Voices!? You chose to investigate some hobos talkin' down in the bayou instead of lookin' fer food? Decent food is far more important then some clear water. We've all been drinkin' mud for months now. We're all used t' drinkin' muck instead of clean water."
"You die in three days with no water, and we can all admit that drinking mud isn't good for our health in the long run. Forget about the short term. That stuff's foul to drink anyways." Elijah spoke out quietly and quick to the point.
He didn't speak often, and he was the youngest in the group. He seemed to always be afraid of nobody taking him seriously because of it, but in fact we all respected him to some degree or another. He'd been through some tough times before and after the Regulation, and he'd came out better than most. A few others nodded agreement with Elijah.
"Whatever. All I'm sayin' is that Jackson here needs to relearn his priorities." Melinda continued.
"Fine. I'll try reign my curiosity in and not investigate new areas anymore. Next time I could be avoiding good food." I responded with a pointed at Melinda. I just wanted to be out of here and home... Not that home was much.
Melinda humphed and crossed her arms.
"Luke, let the reconnaissance teams know about the areas of interest in the future. Their better suited for investigating new locations for resources than you are." Redge said, ending the discussion. He then turned his gaze to Chuck.
"Chuck, what's the status on getting that sedan going?" Redge asked.
The "reconnaissance" teams had found a sedan in decent shape in a workshop near Blugar's Park. We secured it and put Chuck and Mike onto the task. They had a limited experience with vehicles and had made slow progress when repairing the car, but it was better progress than any of us could make. I'd write what was harmed on said vehicle, but my memory's never been to good. Maybe I should start taking notes... Eitherway, today there was interesting news regarding the repairs.
"Well, we finally got all the parts in place and ready t'go. We're gonna bolt those metal pieces over the broken windows and replace the exhaust line the day after. Then it'll be up to the Scavengers to find fuel and we'll be set and ready to go." Chuck answered in his crisp voice as he nodded to me when concerning the fuel.
"But that's not what's important." Mike began in a typical, unimpressive tone. "Some stranger showed up. He watched what we were doing from a distance, then left. Obviously, we didn't get a good look at him."
Redge nodded.
"Those that are on Guard Duty need to keep constant diligence and be prepared for anything. It is possible that was a scout and there might be an attack during the following days, or it could have been some random person. Either way, constant vigilance." He said grimly, which seemed to be the only emotion he was capable of sending besides none.
The others shifted nervously at this but solemnly nodded. They'd try to be at top performance. Redge nodded to them and stooped down to start dividing the food. This meant the Debriefing had concluded. I turned and walked away from the group. Putting my portion into my pack, shouldering it, and jogging out of the clearing. I was eager to be back in my box relaxing and I'll admit again I looked forward to writing down today's events, which put a little spring in my step. I hadn't looked forward to anything for a long, long time.
I returned to where I had hid my box, removed it, and carried it a block away. This time closer to Blugar's Park. I found another decent location for it and deployed it between a dumpster brimming with garbage and a trash can. I crawled inside, kicked my shoes off, and changed my socks. I didn't even notice how wet they were, but now my feet were very wrinkly, pale, and wretched smelling. Although they weren't the worst thing I've smelled.
I pulled my blanket out of my pack. I had become extraordinarily good at packing clothes and the blanket, making it take up as little room as possible. I then withdrew the loaf of bread and began slicing off chunks of mold. After the mold had been removed, I put the knife back into the pack and began eating the bread. No slices. Just taking bites out of a loaf of Wonder Bread. After consuming half of it and the same amount of a bottle of water. I put them both back into the backpack and took out the feathers. I leaned back and stared at them... Stroking them and cleaning the mud out of them.
They fascinated me... Their softness was surreal. It took me back to a time when I was young. I was taking some horse riding lessons for a few weeks. I easily enjoyed my time on that ranch, but one of the few things that I particularly enjoyed was petting the noses of the horses. They were always soft and sometimes they'd lift their upper lip and appear hilarious. Then a thought occurred me and I laughed. I laughed at my silly thought, and I hadn't laughed so hard in such a long time...
Remembering it now puts a slight grin to my face, but the thought was Pegasus. Just that word and I laughed because it was a foolish thing to believe or think. But the more I thought about it seriously the more it made sense to my sleepy mind, then I would burst into laughter again because I was taking it seriously. In the end, I decided that Pegasi couldn't talk and I picked up my Journal and wrote. Now I have written and am incredibly tired. Time to catch some Z's.
Voices stirred Pinkie Pie from her sleep. She opened her eyes and raised her head out of her sleeping bag, looking around the gloomy and spooky warehouse. It was still very dark, but the moonlight beamed through the gaps in the room. She guessed it was still a couple hours till sunrise.
"Moonlight? This planet has a moon too? Curiouser and curiouser!" Pinkie Pie thought.
She then heard the distant voices again, and looked over to her friends. They were all still dead to the world. Pinkie Pie shrugged. She wasn't fond of being a very light sleeper, but it worked in her favor occasionally.
"Wait the Voices! That means Humans! I get to meet a human! I get to meet a human! Yay!" Pinkie Pie thought, excited and singsongily.
Pinkie Pie ducked back into her sleeping bag, unzipped it with her teeth, and quietly sneaked out. It helped that she wasn't sleeping between any of her friends, and only next to Applejack. Who was deep in her dreams and snoring unsurprisingly loud. Pinkie Pie then tiphoofed over to the loosely hanging doors that were closest to the voices. She placed a hoof on one of doors and gently pushed it open, as she peered around for any humans. There were two coming this way. One was quite tall and thin, the other was shorter and stockier. Pinkie Pie took a deep breath, and quickly thought on how to greet these people. She glanced about looking for something in particular. Her eyes landed on a dumpster that was several yards (Or meters) away along side the Warehouse. It wasn't what she had in mind, but it'd suffice. She lowered herself to an exaggerated degree; Then half crawled and half crouched her way over to the dumpster. Fortunately, the humans did not notice the streak of pink as it darted out of the warehouse and leaped into the dumpster. Quietly closing the lid behind itself. Even more fortunately for Pinkie Pie the dumpster was empty.
"I still don't think it was a good idea coming all the way out here. It's gonna take a LONG time to get to the Market, never mind to an area where we can find any food." Said an usually light male voice
"Well it's what you get for being an Outcast. Let's just hope that nobody's came here for the same reason we have." Spoke a heavy female voice. She then sighed and continued speaking. "I'm going t' check out this building on the left, then we'll meet back at the gate."
The man nodded and turned towards the building on his right, which was the Warehouse. The woman already began turning to her left and walked into a small brick building.
Pinkie Pie slowly peered out of the dumpster, her head slowly lifting the lid slightly. The male voice seemed to have come from the stockier and shorter human, and of course, the heavier voice would have come from the taller human. It was very amusing to Pinkie Pie and she just barely managed to restrain a giggle. Pinkie noticed the shorter one was heading for the door of the Warehouse. She guessed at least one of them would head in this direction.
"Aaaanyy second now... Aaaannyyy- Now nownownownow!" Pinkie Pie thought, as she propelled herself towards the human. Her head lifted the lid while her front hooves placed on the dumpster's lip allowed her to lift and vault herself out of the dumpster right at the human. She had ecstatic and extremely goofy grin on her face.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Party planner extraordinaire! Who are you!?" Pinkie Pie shouted very excited to be meeting a new person.
The man, of course, didn't share her enthusiasm. The man simply stood and stared at the pink creature before him with his mouth agape. Once he realized what actually occurred had occurred he jumped, gave a belatedly startled scream, and ran as far away as his short legs could take him. Now way in hell was he going to stick around with some talking mutant animal about to do god knows what to him.
Pinkie Pie watched the short man flee with a disconcerted look, then turned to look for the taller human. She had already vanished from sight. Pinkie released a disappointed sigh and turned back towards the Warehouse. She had a brief mental debate about pursuing him, but realized that she would end up lost and alone in a strange place, and chose not to chase him.
"Why do they ALWAYS have to take off in fright...? I mean seriously. How cliché is that? Alien shows up on planet. Alien tries to be friendly with inhabitants. Inhabitants freak out and run away. It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so sad and infuriating, or is it infuriatingly sad? Hmmm." Pinkie thought.
She walked back, and slipped through the sagging doors. She noticed a particularly perturbed purple unicorn was quietly walking her way towards Pinkie.
"What were you doing...? I heard shouting..." Twilight sleepily asked.
"Just saying 'Hi' to a human..." Pinkie Pie said cheerily.
Twilight let her mouth drop for a moment, then collected her expression into a more angrily flabbergasted appearance.
"Pinkie... We're SUPPOSED to remain hidden! Is he outside right now? How many are there!? Are they hostile? Aagh! Why did you have to do this without asking somepony else first!?" Twilight bent down and put her face between her hooves. She quickly removed it from it's brief hiding spot and shook her mane as her messy hair had fallen into her right eye. She groaned and sat up onto her rear, as she looked up at Pinkie. Twilight absent mindedly chewed on the inside of her cheek as she nervously pondered what they were to do now.
Pinkie Pie sat next to Twilight and hugged her with her right foreleg.
"Hey, don't get all saddy waddy Auntie Pinkie already has it taken care of!" Auntie Pinkie assured.
Twilight looked at Pinkie skeptically.
"How?" She asked simply.
Pinkie Pie giggled.
"The silly human ran away! I must have given him the spookies."
"What did you do?"
"I jumped out and said 'Hi!', that's all! He must've been really easy to spook."
"Heh. I guess so." Said Twilight in thought.
"I'd probably get scared too if Pinkie Pie jumped out of a dark corner at me... Hmm. I'd imagine he'd have a reaction of disbelief and shock... Maybe even terror. If some foreign creature jumped out at him. Twilight took another moment as she continued to deeply consider this issue.
In the meantime Pinkie withdrew her foreleg of comfort, and sat by her friend as she slowly started succumbing to slumber.
"I got it! We have nothing to worry about!" Twilight declared with a worry-free smile and raised hoof.
"Well, of course we don't." Pinkie Pie said, as she tilted her head in apparent confusion. "Wait. What dooo you have?"
"You see if one human sees us, but hardly believes what he's seen himself, then tries to tell another human about what he's seen do you think anypony... Er, body. Anybody in this case, I believe. Would believe him? Nope! None would. Because it's all absurd to them that a pony could speak!" Twilight explained.
"Wait wait wait wait. How do you know that he won't tell anybody, or if they won't believe him?"
"Celestia said that there were ponies here, but not intelligent ponies. So I believe that they are similar to the other animals back in Equestria. Let me put it this way, what if Gummy jumped out of your refrigerator and started- Actually, you probably wouldn't mind that. What if Applejack's dog, Winona, started talking to her? You think she'd take it mildly? You think she'd tell anyone? No, of course not, she'd be startled and nopony would believe her." Twilight concluded.
Pinkie Pie nodded several times rapidly.
"Yup yup yup! Makes plenty of sense! III'm gonna go back to sleep. Night, Twilight." Pinkie said, as she stood and bounced over to where her sleeping bag was.
Twilight nodded to her as she left, but stayed where she was at. She didn't feel tired at the moment. In fact she wanted to ponder their mission. They only had one week here and they were expected to save the planet or create a sanctuary of some sort in what little time they've been provided. Twilight had seen only a small part of the task before them, and it was already a daunting prospect...
Twilight released a breath that carried a tone of burden, as she stood and began walking towards the same doors Pinkie Pie had slipped through earlier. Once through them she turned right, and sat as she stared at the stars once she had found on open spot that contented her.
"We're going to have to talk to these humans eventually... There's no doubt about it. If we only have a week here it's impossible for us to accomplish our mission ourselves. The questions really are: Who do we talk to? Who will be willing to take up this goal after we leave? What can we teach them, and will they accept it? Assuming, we have anything to teach them... I guess we can start with observing them, and hopefully find one that is willing or would be most receptive to our presence, and willing to carry out our mission after we have gone." Twilight thought and concluded.
She continued to gaze at the evening sky. Her love for it distracted her from the topic she was brooding upon. She became curious for any familiar constellations, but the sight only depressed her. The evening sky was hazy, and a disappointing amount of stars could be seen. Twilight had read theories about air and light pollution, and what it could eventually cause if left unchecked, but it never occurred to her that she would see it firsthoof. She squinted as she scrutinized a particular set of stars. She thought she had spotted something familiar.
"Hah ha! So there are the same constellations! That's the Descending Alicorn right there! Twilight mentally exclaimed, as she spotted the well known constellation.
The alicorn's horn pointed downward and consisted of three stars seemingly close together. The alicorn's hooves were extended before and behind her, with the wings flared above her. While her tail streamed behind in a glorious gathering of several stars. She allowed her eyes to dart across the sky as she spotted several more familiar constellations.
This is extraordinarily intriguing... These constellations are the ones we can see in the Fall. So what would this mean? How is it possible that both planets are in the same line of orbit around the same sun and on the exact opposite sides of the sun, yet have the exact same seasons? If our planet is in Spring shouldn't this one be in Autumn?" Twilight theorized.
She continued to stare up at the stars pondering this new reality. Her eyes slowly drifted across the sky and beheld the planet's moon. It was white and cratered like the Moon she was familiar with, but this Moon was cratered differently. Twilight giggled as she noticed that the craters formed a face in the moon. Two wide eyes and a circular mouth. As if even the moon was shocked by their presence on it's planet. She wondered if the Moons had always been cratered or if they were smooth at one time. Maybe one day she'd revisit that time spell and find out...
Twilight yawned, her ears bended back as an expression of sleepiness took place on her face. She felt as if she had come close to discovering the reason for the same seasons, but had barely missed it. Perhaps another night. She was incredibly tired now so she rose and walked back to her sleeping bag and snuggled in. Dozing off the few hours that separated darkness from light.
Applejack awoke. Everything was dark around her. She felt constrained and contained. Was she awake? Or was she still in that Diamond Dog's sack? She squirmed trying to find a way out of whatever she was being contained it. It was definitely to comfortable to be a sack... There! Just above her was a small hole. She put her nose through it and instantly she was out. Out of her sleeping bag...
"Silly me, can't tell between dreams and reality anymore." Applejack thought, amused with herself.
Applejack glanced at her friends. They were all still asleep. None of them were accustomed to waking up in the wee hours of the morn'. AJ, turned her attention to their abode. It was dim in the Warehouse. Only a little morning light glowed through the cracked walls and shattered windows. It would be an hour or two before her friends woke, maybe later after what they'd been through yesterday. She took a moment to consider what she could possibly do to pass the time. Going back to sleep was out of the question, she was wide awake now, and it was still too far off to begin making breakfast.
"Thinkin' of breakfast. Could probablay get mahself a mornin' snack, while I wait for these girls t' get up." Applejack decided.
Applejack dove back into her sleeping bag, unzipped the bag, and crawled out as quietly as she could. She scooped up her hat and firmly placed it on her head. Pinkie Pie stirred slightly, but wasn't awoken by the movement. Once away from where her friends were sleeping she trotted over to the kitchen they had set up the previous evening. The Kitchen was simply a few foldable tables with stoves, the water jug, and small plastic tubs that served as sinks. Applejack grabbed a plastic mug with a hoof and brought it over to the water jug. She used her mouth to turn a nozzle starting and halting the flow of water. She took a step back and chugged down the cool and refreshing drink, quenching the thirst she had developed over night. Satisfied, she placed the mug back onto one of the tables and retrieved a banana from where they were being stored in the crate. They had a decent supply of fruits, along with fixing for sandwiches and soup. This morning, however, they were blessed with a couple boxes of pancake mix for today's breakfast.
AJ, held the banana with a hoof and used her teeth to tear the top, peeling the peel and consuming the fruit within. Bananas weren't common in Ponyville's markets, and Applejack was somewhat glad it wasn't an apple. Not that she didn't like apples, she loved them, but when you grow apples for your entire life it's pretty easy to get weary of them, and prefer other fruits when you have a choice. Once finished with her snack she tossed the peel into a garbage bag they had deployed after their last meal, and glanced around the Warehouse looking for something to pass the time. Her eyes settled on the doors.
"Shucks, if it's gonna be an hour before the rest of ya'll wake up I may as well 'ave a quick look 'round this Warehouse." Applejack thought to her friends. Who, of course, continued to snore.
She walked over to the doors and slipped through them as the two ponies before her also had and began exploring the area around the Warehouse.
Applejack entered the first of the two other buildings. It was the largest and had wood walls painted red which were now faded and peeling from their lack of maintenance, and a grey, rusted metal roof that had begun to collapse over the years. She quickly noticed large machinery, as if some metal trolls were placed into comas and had began rusting away. AJ couldn't know what purpose these machines had served, but the cracked and rusted metal made it obvious that they hadn't been touched for several decades. Her heart fell as she lowered her gaze and took in the mounds of garbage before herself. There was just so much... Junk, that it was hard to pick out what it consisted of mostly. There were plastic boxes with windows, (TVs and Monitors) shoes, toilet paper, shirts, black wheels, (Tires) pants, rotting wood and food, miscellaneous papers, moldy newspapers, books, and lots of metal parts and pieces were what she could see at a glance.
Applejack's features slackened and fell, her ears twitched backwards in an expression sad awe. She sniffed; the cold air made her nose run. Favorably the disgusting decomposing smell of disregarded property wasn't as horrible as it could be. Whether that was due to nasal drainage or the age of the trash was unknown to her. She moved forward and began picking her way through the piles of rubbish, some of which shared the same height as her.
"How does sumthin' like this happ'n? How did so much garbage get 'ere? Why was this discarded? There's still some left!" Applejack thought, as she nudged a three-quarters full water bottle.
She shook her head in sad wonder, and continued moving forward cautiously. After a few minutes she was roughly two-thirds of the way across the old factory when her attention was taken from her by a yellow sunflower painted onto a clay flowerpot. She turned her head to examine it closer. The painting wasn't crude, but neither was it professional. Applejack's guess was that some child had carefully, and with some skill, stained this flowerpot. Applejack found the flowerpot to be ironic, and pondered on how it obtained it's current location. However, she dismissed the thoughts as she had quickly reached the end of the long hall. There was a door lacking doorway that led to a stairwell and a couple rooms branched off from it. There was significantly less trash, but a few chip bags and a pair of what she guessed was underwear littered the short hallway. AJ began trotting down it, being careful to avoid the brown stained underwear, and glanced into the rooms. They held nothing in particular, besides various furniture, a handful of shelves and cabinets. When she reached the stairs she, of course, ascended them to the next level.
The second floor was fairly bare. The white walls were marked with holes, and the paint had begun to wrinkle. At the end of the slightly longer hallway was a doorway to walkway, to the right of the door was an entrance to a single office with a long since broken window that over looked the main room. AJ approached the room and glanced inside. There were a couple piles of discarded water bottles, cans and other common rubbish, but no furniture. Applejack entered the room, treading lightly to avoid the shattered glass. There wasn't much to see in the room. Although Applejack investigated the garbage anyways, more to pass the time then out of any real curiosity. Her interest spiked as she discovered several pencil written letters tucked under a large plastic bottle filled with a mysterious black liquid. The graphite had faded on most of the notes resulting in many places being illegible. Applejack slowly read those that she could, not that she couldn't read well. She just didn't have much time, or need, to enhance that skill.
"Malcom,
We had a good haul today! Bringing back lots of food for our now 36 man group. Yep! We found a couple looking for a home they had a Hostess delivery truck stuffed with the, well, stuff. Even with this load of a food we need to start thinking long term. Eventually we're gonna need to either try to produce our own food or find locations with plenty of it. Even now I'm noticing a slow decrease in what we're bringing in. It's your call man, we got several months perhaps a year before we start actually being affected by a lack of food. Anyways, we'll be dining on Twinkies and HoHos tonight!
Rob."
Once finished with the first note she pulled out another with a quick tug of her hoof, flipped it over with a push from her nose, and read.
"Malcom,
Resources are becoming scarce here in the North. A few of us would like to suggest that we send some others down South to see if conditions are any better there. Yes, we're aware that if we do we'll leave a nice gap in our defenses, but we've seen other gangs head in that direction too. The chances of an attack are slimming each day as food becomes more difficult to find. If not we're going to need to search the Northern River Bottoms for anything soon. Like I wrote before food, and water are getting harder to come by we're gonna need to look for or move to greener pastures soon. If such can exist.
Rob."
Completed with that note she repeated the process and began reading the next one.
"Malcom,
Alright, so I was wrong about the chances of an attack decreasing, okay? But we know for certain now that the South has more supplies and besides with the rations the way they are we could have afforded to lose a few people, but at least we didn't lose this compound. In fact, I'll argue that we needed an attack, we now know-"
At this part much of the message had faded. AJ, quickly skipped down to the next part she could read.
"...Looting parties. Hopefully we'll get a better turn out then what we have been getting up here. If so we may even be able to recruit more people, which in turn will increase our collection rates and defense. Etc. Etc. Of course, you know how this all works.
Rob."
Done with the third note she proceeded onto a fourth one. Noticing only another left. The next note was written in a barely legible scrawl. Applejack would have mistaken it for a filly or colt's mouthwritting, but no youngling would write such tidings for it seemed that much time and hardship had occurred since the last letter, and that another was sending notes to Malcom.
"Caroleen, Rob, Louis, and Clem died to starvation last night. Still having a hard time keeping the walls manned and finding food. I know you love this place too much, but It's go South or die at this point. Many of us will probably desert soon or mutiny, but we hardly have the strength to get up in the morning let alone fight. Scouts reported today that the Boars are going to be making another push soon. It's likely they'll succeed. I'm having a hard enough time writing as it is."
As she read the note her expression gradually became more grim. All that remained was a scrap of paper with ink. She dragged it out and read the brief message on it.
"Mac,
Boars coming. Get all the garbage in the compound. Pile it in the Factory. Be ready to light it. Escape to South. Meet at old super market on Saber Rd.
Malcom."
These notes gave Applejack a small, narrow peak into the past of this place. She wouldn't be surprised if this was a brief summary of the conditions that have settled into where ever they were now. She stood from where she had laid to read the notes with an expression of simply sincere sadness and walked out of the room to the narrow walkway that over viewed the factory. The pile of trash made sense to her now, but the factory was still standing... She shrugged and sighed, knowing she would never know what went wrong or the entire tale of these people. AJ, Turned and started for the stairs. She was content with what she had explored here, and decided to move onto the next building.
Applejack exited the red brick building. There wasn't anything of interest in it. She quickly determined after traveling through the first and second floors that it was the administration building for the old factory complex. Anything of value or use had already been stolen. She didn't regret entering though, it was best to know everything there was to know about where they were staying. Applejack turned a corner, and headed back to the Warehouse they were staying in. As she trotted down the two lane road between the Warehouse and the Factory she noticed the Sun was above the horizon now.
"Dag Nabbit. Hope I didn' explore too long. Kinda wanted t' treat 'em to pancakes as soon as they woke..." Applejack thought as she quickened her pace.
She arrived at the loose double doors shortly afterwards. The door on the right was rusted fairly tight, but not entirely. It required effort to open. The door on the left was hanging on the edge of it's hinges and could be pushed open only slightly which allowed one to slip through. AJ, chose the left door. She pushed it open with her left hoof quietly and gently. Allowing her to slip inside. She glanced over to where her friends laid. Fortunately they were still sleeping, but she guessed that wouldn't be the case for long. With exaggerated, but effective, care she tiphoofed over to the kitchen and quietly began taking out the materials she would need to begin cooking the breakfast. After some time and a few cooked pancakes AJ heard one of her friends stir, unzip their bag, and quietly walk over to the kitchen.
"Mornin'.'" Applejack said with a quick glance over her shoulder to see Rarity approaching, hair curlers and sleepy expression in place.
"Good Morning, Applejack." Rarity replied as she made a bee-line straight for a cup. She grabbed it with a hoof, and filled it with water as Applejack had done a few hours earlier.
She walked over and sat on one of the folding chairs that had arrived within the crate, and had been deployed the previous evening.
"Sleep well?" Applejack asked.
Rarity took a moment to respond as the question had been poised when she was taking a sip from her water. Rarity lifted her eyes while she finished her drink, then replied.
"I'll say that it was quite better then I thought it would be, but I'm already missing my comforter and sheets!"
Applejack nodded, and grabbed a spatula with her mouth, stooped and flipped another pancake. It was tossed high into the air, but landed accurately on the frying pan.
"I know what ya mean." She responded, as the spatula waggled in her mouth.
Rarity took a long breath through her nostrils and let out a very satisfied sigh.
"Mmmm. Those smell lovely, Applejack. You sure they'll still be warm when the others wake up?" Rarity complimented and inquired.
"Yea. I got a towel on 'em." She said, as she slid a few more pancakes onto the quickly filling plate, and placed a dark yellow hand towel to insulate them.
"Ooooooo! Pancakes!" Pinkie Pie said. Suddenly with them in the kitchen. "Can I have some?"
"Eh. Can ya wait for everypony else t' get up first?" AJ answered.
"Already done cowgirl!" Pinkie Pie said with typical enthusiasm. She walked over to the jug to obtain a mug of water also.
Rarity observed this enthusiasm with a subtly bemused expression.
"It escapes me how she manages to wake with such vigor, and her hair is already styled to! It's as if she jumps out of bed ready for the day! Rarity thought.
" 'Ey Pinkie, can ya get one of them tall speckled coffay pots out, fill it with water, an' bring it 'ere?" Applejack requested before Pinkie Pie was able to reach the chair she was headed for.
"Yep!"
Pinkie Pie turned about and reached into the crate with her right hoof. She withdrew a green coffee pot with white specks, and brought it over to the water jug to fill it.
"Here ya go, AJ!" Pinkie Pie said, as she brought the now full coffee pot to AJ.
" 'Ppreciated." Applejack gratefully replied.
She placed the spatula down on the edge of the table. Then turned and grasped the cushioned handle of the coffee pot with her mouth, and placed it on the stove's second burner. AJ then engaged the second burner which began warming the water.
"Well we got some coffay or cocoa packets in thar we'll all have hot drinks while we wait for 'em to wake up." Applejack told Pinkie and Rarity.
"Oh! Hot Coco! That stuff's delicious! It's like liquidy chocolaty goodie goodness!" Pinkie commented.
"I look forward to a good cup of Coffee... But how are we making it here?" Rarity replied and inquired.
"Well, I think we got some of them filters in there, but there was this weird..." Applejack paused to grab the spatula and flip another pancake. It flew high into the air again.
"Ooooh. Nice! Where'd you learn to do that?" Pinkie complimented and questioned.
"Thanks. I used t' make pancakes fer Applebloom all the time when she'd get up fer school in the morn'. So I practiced flippin' em as high as I could." AJ replied with a proud expression, then continued answering Rarity's question. "This weird 'lil, well... Press thing. I'll show ya."
She returned the spatula to where it was previously and walked over to the crate. She pulled out what appeared to be a tall thin insulated plastic mug only it included a small spout and a lid with a little plunger placed on the top.
"Oh! That's a Coffee Press. It'll need a coarser grind than most coffee machines, assuming we can grind our own coffee..." Rarity explained.
"Ah. I see. Well I ain't much of a coffay drinker mahself, but we got some bags of pre-ground coffay too. So you can help yerself once the water's done." Applejack said, as she brought the bags of coffee grounds out and placed them on a table.
"Good morning, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully chirped to the recently awoken Twilight Sparkle.
"Good morning everypony." Twilight said groggily, as she picked at the corner of her eyes, as was her morning habit.
"Mornin' " Applejack replied. Looking over her shoulder to speak the words and then return her attention to the pancakes.
"Good morning to you too, Twilight." Rarity greeted while she fumbled for the curlers in her mane. "Uuggh! Why do they have to be so difficult... They were easy enough to put in." She complained.
"Just use your magic." Pinkie suggested.
"If only it was that easy still... I'll just brush my teeth." Rarity decided. She stepped from her chair and walked over to her sidesatchels to retrieve the needed items.
"Well... Nearin' the end of my batter here. Probably got enough for another batch. I hope those two are awake before we're out." AJ notified her friends, nodding in the direction of the two sleeping pegasi.
"Oh... I'm already awake Applejack... I don't always sleep this late, but..." Fluttershy spoke.
"Well good mornin' too you then, Sugarcube." Applejack said with a smile as she looked over her shoulder again, then returned her focus to the pancakes. She flipped them and placed finished ones onto the plate.
The others talked to each other briefly and began readying themselves for the day.
"Is Rainbow Dash STILL sleeping?" Rarity asked Fluttershy as she resorted to magic to comb her mane. She prevented her face from expressing the dull coldness around her soul.
Fluttershy looked over her shoulder to where Dash was still snoring, then continued squeezing Colgate approved Everfree Fresh toothpaste onto her brush.
"I guess so." She replied, as she grabbed her toothbrush and began using it.
"Hmph. I wonder who's going to wake her up."
Fluttershy looked to over to Rarity giving her an expression of doubt, then continued brushing.
After several minutes, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy returned to the kitchen with styled manes and brushed teeth. Twilight and Fluttershy began conversing about the possible wildlife on this planet, while Rarity busied herself with preparing a mug of coffee. Pinkie Pie waited behind Rarity and talked to her about coffee and hot coco. Whether she was listening or not. Applejack slid the last of the pancakes onto the now overflowing plate and placed the towel to cover it. Afterwards she turned to retrieve her tooth paste and brushes from her saddlebags which laid at the foot of her sleeping bag. Once collected she trotted back into the kitchen.
"I'm gonna go brush mah teeth and mane, can one of ya'll kindly wake up Rainbow Dash so we can eat?" Applejack requested as she moved on to the tub they were using as a bathroom sink.
Twilight and Fluttershy halted their conversation as AJ made her request.They each gave the other a doubtful eye and looked with a slanted mouth and a unsure frown, respectively, to Rarity and Pinkie. Rarity was standing idly waiting for her coffee to brew, she regarded Twilight and Flutterhshy in a similar manner, with a raised eyebrow. Pinkie Pie was about to begin pouring hot water for her hot coco when Applejack made her inquiry. She too looked up from the coffee pot she had grabbed and glanced to her friends. She noticed their expression of non-commitment and shrugged.
"I can go wake her up." Pinkie said to them.
"I agree. You would probably be the best pony for the task." Rarity replied.
Twilight nodded her agreement also, and tried to revive her conversation with the Fluttershy.
Pinkie Pie glanced over to Rarity.
"Can you make me some hot coco? That'd be great!" Pinkie Pie asked as she began trotting over to the snoozing Sky Blue Pegasus.
"I suppose so..." Rarity answered as she turned to the stove.
Rainbow Dash's head was exposed, her right ear occasionally twitched but the owner remained undisturbed as Pinkie Pie sat next to her and raised a right hoof to her chin as she contemplated the best way to wake her. She chose one of the few options that occurred to her and took a deep breath, then began hoping around Dash's sleeping bag singing a tune.
"Rise and shine and, embrace the daaay! Rise and shine and, come out and plaaay! Rise and shine and, bake a caaake! Yippee aye ki yaaay!
As expected Rainbow jumped in her bag and rolled over to face Pinkie Pie when she began singing only to realize she was bouncing around her. She sat up, still wrapped in her sleeping bag, and endured the silly song with a sleepily amused expression.
"Good morning, my little Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Ugh. You're so random Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash groaned as she scratched her scalp with a hoof. "And good morning to you too."
Pinkie Pie giggled.
"You ALWAYS say that, but hey! AJ made us a pancake breakfast so c'mon lets eat!
"Alright, just gimme a second to get out of this bag..." Rainbow Dash mumbled as she fumbled for the zipper.
Once the unkempt Rainbow Dash managed to extricate herself from the sleeping bag she groggily walked over to where her friends were preparing for the meal. Applejack was moving some tables over to make one larger one, while Fluttershy hovered over the others placing plates and utensils down at the six seats Twilight and Rarity were deploying. With the table set each pony collected their drinks while Applejack brought the pancakes and two bottles of syrup to the table, one maple the other flavored Raspberry. With everything in place the Six sat and began consuming their meal.
"Awh! Sweet Celestia! These are great! Your one good flapjack, Applejack." Rainbow Dash complimented, after she consumed several bites hastily.
Applejack finished chewing her Pancakes and tilted her head in confusion and looked across the table to Dash.
"I ain't sure whether to be confused about you usin' flapjack or you usin' it incorrectly." She stated.
"Hah! Coming from the cowgirl that tosses proper grammar out the window!" Rainbow Dash replied amused.
"It's called a... Uh, Dialo... Dalek? Dialek? Twi, what's that word you said that explained mah way of speakin'?"
Twilight nodded and quickly finished the flapjacks in her mouth. Then hastily levitated a napkin to wipe her mouth. A pained expression quickly assumed control of her features, but was swiftly hidden. Once satisfied that she had cleaned her already clean mouth. She answered AJ's question.
"It's called a Dialect. A local variation of a base language."
"See ain't nuthin' wrong with the way I talk." Applejack said smugly. If Twilight backed you up it would be difficult to contest it.
"Well it would depend on the person's perspective of what is acceptable speaking." Rarity brought up. "In my opinion, the way you speak is... Well it leaves some to be desired, but I haven't seen a sense in arguing over it. Every pony is different so there isn't a point to bicker over differences unless your trying to impose your will upon somepony else, which is just as ridiculous. In my opinion, of course."
"I'm with Rarity on this, but I don't see anything wrong with the way you speak Applejack!" Pinkie Pie said as she grabbed more pancakes. Nopony had kept track of how many she was eating. They trusted her to leave them some, for better or for worse.
"Well of course you don't Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said, but she shrugged. "To be honest..." She grabbed her fork and placed another large chunk of pancake into her mouth. She quickly chewed and swallowed, but almost knocked the table over as she scrambled for a drink to send the slowly descending pancake all the way to it's destination. This resulted in her chugging down most of her hot cocoa.
"I'd just like to say... That's why we take small bites Rainbow Dash... Well... For me at least." Fluttershy spoke.
The others chuckled at her words. Rainbow Dash shrugged and continued speaking.
"As I was saying... I'm not really much for grammar and stuff myself. In fact that's Twilight job-"
"Hey!" Twilight interjected. She quickly faced Rainbow Dash with an expression of minor offense.
Ooorrr Rarity's." Rainbow Dash added, as she noted Twilight's response. In return she was awarded with a "Hmph." from Rarity, but she continued to eloquently consume her pancakes.
"Whatever, so it ain't the matter that you used flapjack, but you used it wrong." AJ said.
Twilight glanced between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Knowing they'd consult her for the appropriate usage of the word.
"What do you-"
Twilight sighed, she may as well tell them and get the issue settled.
"Flapjack is a synonym for pancake." Twilight told them flatly.
"Synawhat?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight chuckled and slowly shook her head back and forth. Rainbow Dash's ignorance amused her much more than it should.
"A different word with the same or similar meaning as another." She explained.
"Oh. Yea. Right, I remember now." Rainbow Dash said with a tone that wasn't very convincing.
"Mmmhmm." Applejack hummed. "Mind if say, I t-"
"I don relay sey a ned for dat aphlejak." Pinkie Pie said through a mouthful of flapjacks.
"Erm. What did you say, dear?" Rarity inquired. She cringed and subtly scooted away from the pink pony placed next to her.
Pinkie Pie swallowed and spoke again.
"I saaaaid, 'I don't really see a need for that, Applejack.' "
"For what?" AJ, inquired.
"For what you were about to say, duuuh." Pinkie replied.
"What? You sayin' I'm speakin' for no reason?"
Pinkie Pie shook her head several times rapidly.
"Nuh uh. What you were going to say would only hurt feelings!"
"Hmmm. I guess yer right. Thanks." Applejack said simply.
"Not A problem." Pinkie Pie said, as she returned most of her focus to her meal.
Twilight decided to change the topic.
"Fluttershy, who did you get to take care of your animals?" She inquired, as she placed a morsel of her breakfast into her mouth.
"Oh. Well, I sent Ditzy Doo a letter. So she'll probably stop by and feed them on her way to and from work." Fluttershy replied.
Rainbow Dash gagged on her food upon hearing this, and quickly grabbed her plastic mug of hot cocoa and drank what was left. She coughed once more to clear her throat.
"Did you SERIOUSLY hire Derpy!?" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.
"Well... Yes... Twilight recommend her, and she's a good friend of mine..." Fluttershy replied nervously.
"May Celestia have mercy on the citizens of Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said grimly.
Twilight shifted awkwardly in her seat. She was unsure if she should admit that she was kidding, and if it would cause offense.
"Oh don't be so dramatic Dashie! I think Derpy'll do a fantastical job!" Pinkie Pie commented, then took a sip from her coffee. She quickly placed the mug back onto the table and looked at the coffee skeptically, one eye larger than the other.
"This needs more cream, or sugar. Is there any?" Pinkie Pie said, as she glanced over to Applejack.
"Ya, there migh' be some in the crate. Go see for yerself." AJ replied.
Pinkie Pie shrugged and bounced out of her seat to investigate the crate for her desired ingredients.
"I- I'm sure everything will be fine Fluttershy. No need to worry yourself too much about it." Rarity consoled.
"Uhm. Yes, right." Twilight said attempting to change the subject once again. "Applejack, did you manage to hire somepony to help out at the farm?"
Applejack polished off what was left of her breakfast, and whipped her mouth with a napkin, then answered Twilight's query.
"Well... I don' know if I made a good call, but I ended up hirin' Philly Hays." Applejack replied uncertainly.
"The stallion that does those 'infomercials' for OxiClear?" Twilight asked a little doubtful.
"Yep. The same..." Applejack affirmed.
"Well... I hope that works. I've never considered him doing any manual labor." Twilight said.
"Yea. He was a lil' on the round side, but he was prettay eager to be workin' on the farm, and I'm confident Big Mac'll be able to handle 'im. Not like he'll intentionally cause problems, ya know?"
"Yea... Rarity is everything alright?" Twilight said as she noticed Rarity's vacant, distant expression.
Rarity shook her head, bringing her attention into the present.
"Uhm. Yes, quite. I was only wondering how Sweetie Bell would be getting along..." She answered, unassuringly.
Fluttershy grinned and spoke. "I'm sure everything will be fine Rarity. No need to worry yourself too much about it."
Rarity grinned and nodded, but she wasn't entirely assured. It wasn't something fretting or worrying about would solve, and she was certain that Sweetie Bell would manage... For better or for worse.
Pinkie Pie had returned and was laying back in her chair sipping her coffee. They continued to talk for several more minutes.
"Whatever, if I used flapjack right or not. Thanks for making them Applejack!" Rainbow Dash said appreciatively as the conversations were drawing to a close. Grabbing her plate, utensils, and cup and taking them to the kitchen.
The other four chorused thanks also.
"My pleasure." Applejack replied humbly. "Now lets get all this stuff clean and get on with our day!"
"Yes! We have much to do!" Twilight agreed as she gathered her used materials.
The rest followed suit and began swiftly washing their dishes.
Twilight was looking through a checklist she had put together.
"Wake up. Check. Brush teeth. Completed. Comb mane. Another check. Breakfast. Done. Hoof out today's assignments. In Progress."
Her friends were standing before her. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash leaned towards each other conversing quietly about some topic and giggled occasionally. Fluttershy, and Applejack waited patiently while Rarity had a distant look as she pondered an issue billions of miles away. Twilight cleared her throat and spoke.
"We have a few things we need to address before lunch today. Rainbow Dash no offense intended, but I need a better idea of what's actually around us... 'A bunch of buildings and stuff' isn't very descriptive."
"Well... There's JUST a bunch of buildings and roads. What more do you need to know? Maybe you should see for yourself?" Rainbow Dash replied and suggested.
"That might be best. If you can find a tall structure that'd be great. I could get a good view and maybe draw a map or something. You'll have to make sure we can get to it without getting seen." Twilight agreed, and ensured.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She was well aware of the stealth that Twilight required of them.
"Alright... Pinkie Pie. You're pretty sneaky and can accurately judge others. Think you could observe some of these humans? Perhaps give us a better idea about them?"
Pinkie darted off to her saddlebag's before Twilight could call out to stop her. After rummaging through her bags she trotted back sporting a bowler hat. The same one she had used when attempting to solve the mysteries on the Friendship Express.
"Pinkie Pie's got it hoofled!" She declared, then taking a moment to use her front hooves to adjust the hat. Her eyes glared up at where the hat resided, but unable to see it.
"Remember Pinkie, you're main objective is to observe the humans not befriend them." Twilight reminded her.
Pinkie swiftly nodded several times.
"Aaalright... Fluttershy you can tag along with Rainbow Dash. Once you two find a suitable building you can go investigate the wildlife a little more."
"Yay!" Fluttershy quietly yelled.
"Oh come on! You SERIOUSLY expect me to tag along with 'Shy while she gawks over animals!?" Dash complained.
Fluttershy's ears slid around and her eyes glinted with hurt at Dash's words.
"S-Sorry, W-we don't h-have to l-l-look at the c-critter's if th-that's a prob-problem..." Fluttershy stuttered, disheartened.
Rainbow exchanged an expression of defiance for one of guilt and regret. She quickly apologized.
"Sorry 'Shy. Yea, it's- It's not a problem."
Rainbow Dash brought her head up and sent Twilight annoyed look, then swiftly shifted to a neutral expression.
Twilight sighed and shook her head.
"If I get a chance, I'll explain my reasoning behind that choice. Surely she'll be more reasonable then..." Twilight resolved.
"Uh, what do ya got in store for me, Twi?" Applejack asked.
"You and Rarity will work on... Home Improvement." Twilight hesitantly replied.
Both Applejack and Rarity gave each other a doubtful glance, then directed the same expressions to Twilight.
"Uhm... Twilight, my dear, are you confident about that?" Rarity inquired, with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, you do have an eye for detail and AJ has the knowledge and experince. I know you two can work together to make this place, well..."
Twilight trailed off as she observed the broken walkway, sagging roof, shattered windows, and perforated walls once more.
"If you work together you can make this place more habitable than it is already." Twilight Sparkle resumed, as she gestured to the damage with her right hoof.
"Well... I guess it's needed." Applejack agreed. "I can't guarantee there won't be conflict, but I know I'll do mah best."
"I... Agree with Applejack." Rarity complied.
Twilight nodded and spoke.
"Just do your best, put your differences aside and work with the knowledge that what you'll be doing will benefit each other, and us."
"Oh! Twi! What will yooou be doing!?" Pinkie asked.
"I'll be testing the limits of my Inner Magic, and experimenting with other spells." Twilight Sparkle answered.
"Oh. Okay! Is that it? Can we go now?" Pinkie Pie inquired again. Her eagerness to preform her task was extremely obvious.
"I guess that is. Good luck everypony!" Twilight encouraged.
"See ya later girls!" Rainbow called as she galloped towards the largest hole in the roof. She powerfully pumped her plumage covered appendages to propelled her through the gap and into the sky. Being aware of her need for stealth she flew agonizingly slow to avoid displaying a multicolored contrail.
"Bye!" Fluttershy called as she trotted after Rainbow Dash flapping her wings several times before achieving flight and smoothly sailing through the ceiling's crevice.
Pinkie Pie was also skipping towards the doors. She turned her head and called to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and the other three.
"Adios Amigos!"
"See you soon!" Twilight shouted after them.
"Farewell!" Rarity likewise called.
"Take care!" Applejack hollered.
Once they had left Rarity turned to Twilight with a curious expression, both of her eyebrows raised and the left corner of her mouth slightly lifted.
" 'Adios Amigos...?' What does that even mean? Is that even the same language?" Rarity inquired.
Twilight made a dismissive gesture with her right hoof.
"She just being Pinkie Pie. I'm just gonna accept it as goodbye in another language." She answered in a tone identical to her gesture.
Applejack briefly looked around the Warehouse then glanced leftwards to Rarity.
"May as well take a gander over what we gotta do and what we got to work with." She suggested, then turned towards the two large doors at the end of the Warehouse.
Rarity nodded and followed her.
Twilight raised her eyebrows and her mouth slid to a slant as she turned to retrieve a book or two from her sidebags.
Rainbow Dash was hovering at a fairly high altitude above the Factory twisting in the air to find where the sun had risen.
"So if behind me is East... Then to my right is North and that's South, West, etc." She thought.
Once orientated she began to study the city below her.
The Factory was at the south western part of a dead, derelict suburb. There were brown lawns and unkempt trees. Anypony that enjoyed a half decent garden back in ponyville would have fainted at the sight. A tall chain link fence cleaved through the suburb, crossing roads and weaving around houses. It continued for miles (Or kilometers) until it was out of sight. Directly west of their position was row upon uneven row of worn, bland structures. The majority of them were one or two storied buildings. What they were or used to be wasn't possible to discern from this height. There weren't any dominant or eye catching colors not that all the paint was the same, there were varied colors only aged and faded.
Rainbow Dash directed her analyzing gaze to her left raising it slowly as she continued to take in the city beneath her, and search for a building that would suit Twilight's needs.
It seemed the farther south the less commercial structures were seen and a substantial suburb began. In that transition a collection of makeshift buildings had been constructed in large parking lot which surrounded a massive Mall. Much movement could seen in that area, but it was too distant for any details to realized. The city must have stretched for scores of miles, only occasional multi-leveled buildings could be seen amongst the blend of houses and supermarkets that continued past the Mall. Rainbow Dash redirected her attention back northwards in search for a building that would satisfy the lavender unicorn somewhere below her.
"Find anything yet?" Flutterhsy asked from behind Rainbow.
"Nah. You see anything?" Dash responded, as she turned her head to speak the words to her friend.
"No."
Her eyes continued to dart from one bland and dull building to the next. Only slightly distracted by the feeling of loss that she was quickly becoming accustomed to. After several more minutes she settled on a building at the south western end of the northern business district. It was a long white four storied story building with red trim and located across the street from the river banks.
"There! You see that white building?" Rainbow Dash called, as she lifted her right hoof to point to the structure.
"Ummm... No. There's a lot of buildings and they all look the same..." Fluttershy replied.
"It's got a red trim." Rainbow said bluntly.
"Sorry, I still don't see it..." Fluttershy meekly spoke.
Dash sighed, as she turned her hooves skywards in a shrug.
"I guess we need to go down and check it out, anyways." Dash resolved.
She momentarily considered diving at high speed to the building, but quickly dismissed the thought; knowing it wasn't worth the momentary joy she would achieve. Instead she switched from the vertical position she was maintaining to a horizontal angle and swiftly glided to her destination at a speed Fluttershy could easily follow.
As they descended they saw very few humans going about their daily business. Two pushed and pulled a small wagon laden with various objects, while a couple others walked on by occasionally entering one of the dilapidated buildings. Rarely did one of them look up. Even if they did they noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
Rainbow Dash, of course, landed first followed immediately by Fluttershy. They quickly examined the roof top, there was a single door that served as an entrance to the roof along with two fire escape ladders leading into the alleyways on either side of the building. Along with themselves there were a few large air conditioner units with several rectangular pipes making pathways across the roof. Surprisingly they were not rusted in the slightest.
Fluttershy hopped over one of the rectangular tubes as she explored the roof top, while Rainbow flew on top of one of the air conditioners to assess the view she could obtain from this structure. They were two stories higher than the majority of the other buildings, the Mall could be seen a fair distance away, and the riverbank was very close many of the trees were budding and leaves were slowly returning. However, several willow trees seemingly retained most of their leaves through the winter. She directed her attention skyward as a slight interest to study the weather had over taken her. Rainbow Dash wondered if the human's devised a way of controlling the weather or if it managed itself. She'd have to ask a human if she got a chance.
Fluttershy peered over the edge of the building and gazed into the narrow, but long forest. It was strangely silent, compared to the forest she lived near at home. There was a steady stomping coming from her left. She glanced over, a human with a grey shirt, blue jeans with black stains, and a dark green pack on his shoulders swiftly trudged down the sidewalk careening around the garbage in it's path. Fluttershy involuntarily let out a small yelp as she ducked down from the edge.
"Eep!"
Dash instantly turned her attention from the sky to the fellow pegasus. She raised her ears in alarm, and lowered herself into a crouch, as she flared her wings. She was prepared to act in any way to any danger.
"You alright?" Rainbow Dash asked, her before defiant expression now changing to one of concern.
"Y-Yes." Fluttershy said, as she crawled with extreme and unnecessary care towards Rainbow.
"Well, what happened then?" Her concern becoming apparent in her voice.
"Nothing. Well, no. Not really. I mean, uh... Yes something. I um... I was watching a human, but I had to hide before it saw me." Fluttershy started uncertainly, but quickly explained.
"Uh huh." Dash replied in an articulate grunt.
Rainbow Dash straightened her bent legs, and relaxed at the lack of danger.
"I guess once it's gone we can go get a better look at the animals over in that forest." Fluttershy suggested.
"Yea. I guess so... It's not much of a forest if you ask me, though." Rainbow reluctantly agreed and commented.
Rainbow Dash peeked over the edge, as she searched for this human.
"There he is!" Dash mentally shouted, as she noticed the man jogging down the sidewalk.
He was already well past them. She then turned her head in the opposite direction, which was leftwards, and she brought her head over her right shoulder, and informed Fluttershy of the situation.
"He's well past us, and nopony is around. We can make it across if we go now."
Fluttershy nodded in response and raised her wings. Rainbow Dash lifted her's also and they quickly glided across into the river bottoms; casually flying north amongst the trees in search of any wildlife. Occasionally they would brush against branches or bushes causing the leaves of the plants to sway allowing the morning dew to fall and refract sunlight in the direction of the nearby road and sidewalk, which ran parallel to the river. After seeing absolutely nothing related to animals for several minutes a cacophony of high pitched wailing originated from a tree top somewhere behind them and to the left.
Fluttershy's eyes brightened with exceeding joy.
"Rainbow Dash! Do you know what that is!?" She exclaimed.
"No! And I wish it would shut up! It's annoying!" Dash replied, her tone matching her last word.
"They're baby birds! They must have hatched in the past few days!" Fluttershy said exceedingly excited, and swiftly beginning to ascend above the trees.
Rainbow Dash grumbled and crossed her forelegs across her chest as she changed to a vertical posture following Fluttershy as she sought for the source of the voices.
They quickly found the nest at the top of a large willow. Fluttershy precariously perched herself on the branches and was bending over the screaming infant birds. Rainbow Dash hovered above Fluttershy and studied the young birds in their nest.
They were fleshly pink and lacked any feathers, and their eyes appeared to large for their bodies. The wailing had taken a more desperate tone. They creeped Rainbow out, but she didn't let it show.
"There, there... Nothing to be afraid off... I won't harm you... Shhh... It's okay..." Fluttershy whispered attempting to console the hatchlings.
She brought her head down amongst the birds and began stroking them with her cheek and snout.
"Awww... Aren't they adorable Dashie?" Fluttershy said, as she raised her head briefly from the birds. Their cries still had a hint of desperation to them, but they seemed to have realized that they were not in immediate peril.
"Uhm... No. They're ugly." Rainbow Dash replied, as she floated over to a near by tree and landed on it, then crossed her forelegs while she waited for Fluttershy to be content.
"They're not ugly! They're so teeny tiny, and those big cutesie wootsie eyes..." Fluttershy replied, as she lifted one of them carefully out of it's nest and rubbed it against her cheek. The hatchling began screaming in absolute terror, certain that it's life was about to be extinguished.
Rainbow Dash gagged and responded.
"Yea... They're still ugly."
Fluttershy sighed, and placed the little bird back with it's siblings in it's temporary home. She Lowered her head until it was just above them, then cleared her throat and began to croon to the relentlessly squealing birds.
She continued to hum the tune, then proceed with the next set of lyrics. The birds paused, fascinated by the singing.
"Drifting, Drifting to sleep The exciting day behind you Drifting, Drifting to sleep Let the joy of dream land find you."
She lulled in the lyrics and continued to hum the calming tune. The hatchlings stared up at the yellow beast before them, enthralled by the beautiful peace of song.
"Hush now, quiet now It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now It's time to go to bed."
"Sleeping, Sleeping you are now A land of dreams ahead of you Sleeping, Sleeping you are now Forget your fears and dream of paradise."
Again she hummed the tune once more. Fluttershy's heart filled with joy as the small birds fell into slumber.
"Hush now, quiet now It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now It's time to go to bed..."
Fluttershy let her voice fade into silence as she finished the lullaby. She lifted her head from the position it was residing at and smiled kindly down at the sleeping birdies.
Rainbow Dash shook her head several times, as she ridded herself of the effects of Fluttershy's singing. She suddenly heard the sound of a fairly large animal blundering through the marshy river bottoms. The sound was hastily approaching.
"Hey! Fluttershy! Do you hear that?" Rainbow called.
Instantly the blundering stopped.
"No. What was it?" Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow Dash quietly leaped from her tree, flapped her wings twice, and landed on the Willow with Fluttershy.
She raised a right hoof to her mouth as a single for silence. Dash crouched and peered through the tangled limbs of the trees towards the source of the sound, and noticed the same human from earlier with a torn gray shirt. He too was frozen as he stared at the ground, occasionally looked slightly to the right or left, his brow furrowed in thought. He then abruptly raised his brown hair covered head, which revealed to them an acne plagued face and a large nose.
"Ah-!" His voice caught and he quickly halted his attempt at speech, then shook his head and called out again.
"Hello? I don't want anything. I just want to know who you are... Hello?"
Fluttershy looked over to Rainbow Dash with a scared expression, and whispered.
"Oh no! He's on to us! We need to get back to the Warehouse!"
Rainbow Dash rotated her head to face Fluttershy.
"I don't think so... Maybe we should talk to him?" Dash suggested.
"L-Let's at least talk to Twilight about it..." She responded.
Rainbow Dash nodded and pumped her wings which instantaneously lifted her into the air. Fluttershy quickly followed. Before they steered towards their own temporary home Rainbow looked over her left shoulder towards where she saw the human, who was blocked from view.
"See ya later!" Rainbow Dash shouted back towards him.
She turned, angling upwards and towards the Warehouse.
Applejack inspected the massive corroded sliding metal doors. There was a handle on the left door, and place for one on the right; it was obvious that it had long since fallen off. AJ stood on her rear legs and used her forehooves to tug on the handle. The door resisted the best of her efforts.
"Ain't no way we're gonna be able to use these." Applejack informed Rarity.
"Mmmhmmm" Rarity hummed in reply as she viewed the brown stained doors.
They continued investigating the Warehouse. They occasionally stopped their patrol when they encountered a hole in the roof, or walls. After several minutes they returned the crate, and looked through the supplies they had to work with.
They had eight planks of wood, a typical blue tarp, a small box of nails, a hammer, and the crowbar they used to open the crate.
"Well... We got enough wood and nails to fix a couple of them holes in the walls, and I'm thinkin' we can just put the tarp over one of them holes in the roof." AJ evaluated.
Rarity nodded and made a suggestion.
"Yes, I would prefer it if we sealed the hole above our sleeping area..."
"But that hole ain't big, and it's not like it'll rain." Applejack replied.
"Well let's look at it this way, if your considering throwing that tarp over the big hole Rainbow and Fluttershy like to use, then you'd have to deal with them about that, and further more it shouldn't be about how much we cover it should be what we cover. Besides, it'll be better if we take poor weather into account than regret not doing so later."
Applejack slowly nodded as she considered her points.
"Those are some good reasons, but it's not like we can cut up the tarp. I didn' see a knife or anythin' like one in thar, and I'd rather we cut it into smaller pieces instead of having most of go t' waste coverin' nothin' if we place it over a small hole." AJ pointed out.
"True... Perhaps we can look around and find something sharp that will suffice?" Rarity suggested.
"Yea, but let's get some of these holes in the walls patched up first." Applejack said, as she lowered her head into the box.
Rarity made a small nod, and approached the box to assist in carrying some of the items. Applejack nudged her nose under four of the planks, and vaulted them over her head and onto her back. She returned her head into the box and grabbed the hammer with her mouth. Once her head was removed from the box again she motioned for Rarity to take some items as well, then turned and began walking towards the first hole closest to them.
Rarity levitated the four other planks and nails. The cold surrounded her soul causing her to grimace and release a quiet whimper, but she focused on her task and hid her inner chills from displaying on her face while she carried the materials to where Applejack was heading.
Applejack shrugged the planks off her back; They clattered into a messy heap as AJ began inspecting the gap.
It was quite tall, a little over two yards tall, (or meters) and about four feet wide. At the top edge of the hole the wood appeared to have been forced apart. It left, a now rotted, but still jagged edge at the top of the gap. As Applejack began calculating how many planks she would need and in what direction to place them Rarity arrived with the other supplies.
She noticed the messy pile AJ had made, and shook her head briefly as she levitated the fallen planks with her own. She sorted them into a neat and tidy deck, then placed them onto the concrete floor along with the small box of nails. Applejack glanced over her shoulder to notice this. She looked at the ground as she shook her head. AJ opened her mouth to comment about this, but shortly closed it soon after.
"I gotta put up with 'er... Grrr! Why is it so temptin' to lash out?!" AJ mentally complained.
Applejack sighed and vigorously shook her head again as she attempted to physically shake off her peeves.
"I'm thinkin' we can use four planks to cover up this hole if we place 'em vertically. If you float 'em I'll nail 'em in." Applejack said around the hammer in her mouth, and as she gestured to the right side of the hole.
AJ moved to the small box of nails and flipped it open with her nose. She shook a few of them out onto her hoof and with her three unoccupied hooves she walked over to the right side of the gap and motioned with her head for Rarity to levitate a board over.
Rarity mentally cringed at the amount of " 'ems" Applejack used, but constrained her lips and made a simple nod. She hastily reached into herself and pushed her magic towards the first plank on the stack and brought it before Applejack.
"Ya Gottam move that plank up!" Applejack order as she tried to balance on her rear hooves to reach the top of the board.
"Is that suitable?" Rarity inquired as she centimetered (or inched) the plank higher.
"Nope! A 'lil more!" Applejack responded.
Rarity again moved the board slightly higher.
"Thar! Hold it right thar!" Applejack swayed slightly as she began to lose her balance from being on her hind legs for such a duration, but recovered.
Applejack stood on the tip of her hooves and craned her neck to reach the top of the plank. A few drops of sweat trickled from her mane across her face and down her neck as she continued to put effort into extending her neck as much as possible. Suddenly it was lost. Her left hind twitched from the effort. It caused her to sway ever so slightly backwards, and throw her balance completely off resulting in her thudding onto her back, the hammer to be thrown from her mouth, the nails to take flight out of her hoof and sprinkle onto the ground near her, and her cowcolt hat to fall over her eyes.
"Applejack!" Rarity exclaimed. "Are you harmed?"
She laid the board onto the ground and approached her fellow worker who's rear legs were sprawled out and forelegs curled above her chest.
"I'm fine... Kind of..." Applejack replied.
She grimaced briefly then rolled over, stood, and scooped up the hat with her head as she made sure it was perfectly placed with a push from her right hoof. She glanced at her back. There wasn't any sign of harm, but there might be a bruise or two tomorrow.
"I'm gonna need to stand on somethin' to help me reach the top of the boards." AJ informed Rarity.
Rarity nodded and looked about for anything that would aid Applejack. Of course, not much was left around the Warehouse after Pinkie Pie and Applejack's work yesterday. Due to this Rarity and AJ trotted over to the garbage that was tossed into the corner the previous afternoon, and withdrew an old rusted black wheel.
"This'll do. Kinda wish I had one of them stepladders right about now." Applejack said wistfully.
"Wouldn't a ladder suit your needs better?" Rarity asked as Applejack carried the wheel on her back to the gap they had yet to fix.
"Uhm... No it'd be to big and bulky t' work 'round." AJ replied slightly bemused.
"I think it would be just perfect. Not too high like the stepladders, but small enough to give you the height you need to reach the top of those boards." Rarity stated, also becoming confused as to Applejack's preference to ladders.
"I think yer talkin' about stepladders. Ya know? The small ones that you only have to STEP onto not climb 'em?"
"No. I know exactly what I'm talking about. You merely have to step on a ladder. Whereas, a stepladder requires many steps to reach the top."
"Yer confusin' the two. Ladders are the big ones. Step ladders are the small ones. I don' see how that's easy to confuse." Applejack said quickly becoming exasperated with her friend.
"I disagree. I believe you are confusing the two!" Rarity accused.
"Why... I work on a farm! I should know what this sort of equipment is properly called!" Applejack heatedly replied.
"Hah! With your..." Rarity paused for a moment trying to remember a word. "With your dialect as, Twilight so kindly put it, I'm surprised you can even pronounce your name correctly!" Rarity scoffed.
Applejack's eyes shook with hurt as a sudden memory pushed forward to the front of her mind.
A maroon mare with a beige mane looked down at Applejack with kind jade eyes. The type of eyes only a loving mother could possess.
"Now, try saying your name! Come on! Aaaa... Aaaa... Pa! Pa! Lll... Jah! Ck! Applejack!" She coaxed.
"Haphlejeck!" Foal Applejack excitedly replied.
Applejack's mother chuckled amused by her daughter's attempt at pronouncing her own name.
"You almost got it... Come on! One more try..." She encouraged.
As the cherished memory faded tears slipped from the corners of Applejack's eyes. She looked at the ground as she walked. She had fallen into a pit of melancholy that she would wallow in for a little while...
"What's the issue? It's not typical of you to abruptly end an argument." Rarity spoke as she turned her head to face Applejack.
AJ raised her head, and looked into Rarity's eyes. The pain, and sorrow was all to apparent in Applejack's flat ears and shuddering eyes. She stopped walking and stoically continued to bore into Rarity's deep blue eyes with her own. She knew raw emotion would prove more powerful than any words she could speak at the moment. Rarity's expression of curiosity and concern swiftly changed to one of guilt and sadness.
"What- What have I caused!? Faithful and strong Applejack in tears? How does a disagreement about stepladders cause this?" Rarity thought despairingly.
She quickly recalled the words she had spoken to her, and an intense feeling of guilt filled her being.
"I- I'm supremely sorry... I spoke thoughtlessly. Forgive me please..." Rarity asked sincerely apologetic.
"I- I fergive ya... Let's just get back t' work now..." Applejack quietly spoke. The tone of sorrow was clear.
They continued walking towards the hole. As they neared it Rarity mentally debated asking what caused the tears. She was decisive and chose to speak her thoughts.
"How does a misunderstanding about stepladders cause this reaction...?" She asked.
"I- I jus' had a memory 'bout my... My ma. That's all." Applejack spoke as her voice caught briefly a few times.
"I see..." Rarity replied.
She was aware of the fact that Applejack was orphaned at a very young age with Big Macintosh. She had yet to share the reasons for why she was orphaned... Perhaps someday she would recount that tale.
Applejack shook her mane. Attempting to push away the sorrow filled mindset she was wallowing in, and focus on the immediate task.
"Alrigh'..." Applejack said as she placed the tire at the base of the gap. "Get that board back in place, and I'll nail it in."
AJ quickly retrieved the hammer and nails and resumed the same posture she had on her first attempt as Rarity levitated the board over to the hole. Her eye for design ensured that the board was placed near perfectly with a minimal amount of gaps between the board and the existing wall.
Applejack raised a nail to the top right corner of the board and began tapping it with the hammer until it was in place firm enough for Applejack to take her hoof away and swing steadily and accurately at the nail's head. She and Rarity repeated this processes many times until they had used five boards to seal this hole.
"Pretty dandy work if I do say so mahself." Applejack commented as she stood back and gazed at their decent work.
"It's not bad." Rarity said neutrally.
She turned her gaze further down the wall to notice a breach in the walls near where they would rest at night.
"You might want to consider placing a board over that to prevent an awful draft at night." Rarity spoke as she pointed to the next project.
"Yep. Let's get that taken care of too." AJ agreed.
They trotted off to their next repair site. Applejack carried the hammer and a few planks. While Rarity followed with the nails and more boards. They continued to work and patch that hole and two others until the cyan and yellow pegasi returned.
Pinkie Pie peered out of a garbage can. On the sidewalk across the street were four small humans sat with a deck of cards. Pinkie assumed that they were children, and guessed their ages to be somewhere between ten and six. They sat facing each other around a pile of cards. Regularly one would play a card, then the others would reach over and knock on the wood building they were next to if they couldn't beat the card that was played. If the child that placed the card beat all of them he would take the pile and place it near himself.
"Awh! I don't want to be the critter anymore!" Cried out a blonde smooth haired boy in a striped purple and green shirt with blue overalls and glasses over his eyes.
"At least you look the part!" Said a girl with darker skin and black poofy hair done back in pig tails.
She and the other two boys giggled while the blonde child collected the cards and began shuffling them. He placed each card one at a time into six piles then combined them together and started dealing. As they played through the next round in their game Pinkie Pie noticed another human approaching them to her left. She switched her gaze to that direction.
The human approaching was obviously another kid, but he was larger than the others. He didn't appear strong or fat just generally taller and wider. Perhaps he was older, but from the angle Pinkie Pie had she couldn't tell. He casually carried a smooth wood stick over his shoulder, and wore a long sleeved yellow shirt with jeans that possessed holes at the knees.
As he approached, the blonde hair child glanced up from his card to view the black haired girl across from him. Behind her he saw the approaching person. Their attention being focused on their game had made it easy for the yellow clothed individual to approach them unawares.
"Uh, guys. We got someone comin'." The blonde kid spoke up as he dropped his cards face down and started standing.
His friends looked over to where he focused his eyes and noticed what he had already noted, and repeated what he had already done while turning to face the oncoming human who stopped and looked down at them with a suspicious smile.
"Nice cards you have there 'lil guys, what game ya playin'?" Yellow Shirt asked.
"We're not little and that's none of yer business!" The small blonde child shouted as he squeezed between his friends to stand before the guy who was intruding on their fun.
Yellow Shirt chuckled a chuckle that lacked any hint of mirth.
"I do believe your a tad bit smaller than everyone else here." Yellow Shirt pointed out.
He then directed his attention to the other kids and raised an eyebrow.
"I did ask you guys a question."
"W-We were... Playing Critter." Said one of the other boys with red hair and a tiny nose.
"Really? I'm afraid I don't know how to play that one, but anyways I need to get on with business. You see a friend of mine needs some cards and well it delights me to hear that your willing to let me borrow yours." Yellow Shirt replied.
Pinkie Pie put on a suspicious expression, letting one of her eyes become larger than the other and raising an eyebrow above the smaller one as her mouth jumped into a crooked line.
"What!? We didn't say anything like that!" The blonde kid shouted.
The lad in the yellow shirt regarded him with a look of disdain.
"You didn't have to son. The look in your eyes is enough words for me." Yellow Shirt replied with a strange calm that continued to infuriate the blonde child.
"Why you...! Nobody calls me son but my daddy! And you isn't my daddy!" Yelled the blonde child.
Yellow Shirt shrugged indifferently.
"Fair enough. Now I'll just go on and collect these cards and be off." Said the yellow clothed kid as he began to close the small gap between him and the children.
The light yellow haired stepped forward and angrily stared at Yellow Shirt.
"You ain't taking none of these cards! They're ours! You can't have them!" Denied Blonde Hair.
"That little tike shouldn't be so shellfish selfish, but that guy with the stick sure looks like a meany! They didn't say they would give him the cards. Why would he want the cards anyways? Oh right! He wanted them for his friend! Silly me how could I forget? But why does he want the cards from these kids? Are cards that rare here? Will they become best friends or stay forever at odds? Stay tuned and find out!" Pinkie mentally commentated, as she barely restrained her own giggles.
The yellow wearing individual lowered his stick from his shoulder and into his hands. He gently tossed it upwards with a twitch from his left hand.
"You sure about that, buddy?" He asked with an almost disappointed look on his face.
"RUN! Runrunrunrunrunrunrunrun!" Pinkie Pie mentally shouted.
"Yea! Get back or else!" Blonde Hair threatened.
Pinkie took a breath and tensed her muscles as she prepared herself to jump out of the trash can and shout the word she repeated in her mind.
"Alright." Yellow shirt said in response.
Before the blonde kid or Pinkie had a chance Yellow Shirt brought the smooth stick around in a quick and powerful stroke into the side of the Blonde Kid's head. His face flinched into a cry of pain, but no shout or words issued out from his mouth. He fell to his left into the gutter and street. His body convulsed with each sob as tears filled up his glasses. Yellow Shirt looked down at the kid without an expression, then back up to the other children. They each recovered from their shock and ran for their small lives. Leaving their young comrade to bleed in the gutter.
Pinkie Pie's mouth dropped. She stared in absolute disbelief that such a thing could happen.
Yellow Shirt picked up the cards and hastily stuffed them in his jean's pockets. When he had finished collecting his desired items he returned to the still twitching overall clad child.
"Thanks for the cards pal." He said as he shoved the kid all the way into the gutter with his foot.
The blonde child gave a pitiful cry of pain as he slid into the concrete channel.
Yellow Shirt grinned and chugged off as he began to whistle a tune. He quickly turned a corner and was gone.
Pinkie Pie glanced about. There was nobody else on this street. She didn't see anybody and figured there was nobody to see her. She quickly jumped out of the garbage can and dashed across the street straight for the blonde child until she was standing over him.
"Are you alright?" She inquired.
The amount of blood sliding down the side of his head made it clear he was not. He continued to keep his eyes clenched shut. He cried out pitifully quiet to the stranger.
"Help me... Please..."
"I- I... Uh..." Pinkie Pie stuttered.
She had no idea how to treat an injury like this. She occasionally dealt with a burn, but that was simply running cold water over it. She cast about her gaze around the street frantically for anything that she could deem useful.
"Just hold on, tike! You'll be okie dokie soon!" Pinkie encouraged, even though she didn't believe her own words.
"Please..." He pleaded again.
Pinkie Pie looked down at him with an expression of utter loss and pity.
"Hey... It'll be alright don't worry! Aunt Pinkie's got ya. Sssshhhh..." Pinkie soothed as she bent down towards him.
She cradled his head with her hooves as she ignored the sticky warmth of the blood that streamed across his face to the best of her ability. She nuzzled his face and smooth blonde hair. Trying to comfort him with sound and touch.
"Wh- What's your name...?" He stuttered as he shuddered and sniffed. He refused to open his eyes and his glasses were fogged with tears.
"I'm Pinkie Pie, what's yours?" Pinkie Pie replied and inquired.
"I- I... Silas... My name is Silas..." He whispered in response.
"What's your favorite color, Silas?"
"Yellow... L-L-Like a-" Silas suddenly halted and began to cough violently.
Pinkie quickly withdrew her comforting head until he had finished. Then continued in attempting to calm the blonde child.
"Like a sunflower... I've only saw a sunflower once... I wish I could see one again..." Silas spoke again, haltingly.
"I like sunflowers too! They're tasty!"
"You... Eat sunflowers?" Silas asked, as his pained features briefly shifted to one of amused confusion.
"Why, of course silly!" Pinkie said, as she rubbed the top of his hair with a hoof.
"Who are-" Silas was interrupted by another cough. "Who are... You?"
"I told you that, you silly filly! I'm Pinkie Pie! Party planner extraordinaire!" Pinkie said cheerfully. She hoped to raise the poor boy's spirits.
The boy laughed briefly, but his joy was quickly replaced with a pained expression.
There was a long pause. Tears began to form in Pinkie's eyes as she noticed the child's breaths become more swift and shallow.
"Pinkie...? Do you know... My mommy or daddy? Do you know... Where they are?" He barely inquired.
"I- I don't know..." Pinkie Pie said.
Silas took a breath and breathed out his gratitude for the comfort this stranger provided him.
"Thank you, friend..."
The life went out of Silas and Pinkie placed her head beneath his and wept for the loss of her most recent friend.
Pinkie Pie glumly walked the streets of the suddenly more grim and depressing city. Her mouth was in a sad frown and her eyes were cast down to the bland and boring concrete while her ears faced backwards and laid flat against her head.
"That was quiet a doosy... Why didn't my Pinkie Sense warn me...? He was so young... Dear Celestia, why did he have to die... Should I REALLY keep going? I don't know if I can bear to see something like that again! It was so awful, but there's still plenty of time left..." Pinkie Pie mentally mourned.
She debated whether or not to proceed with her assignment. In the end Pinkie didn't make a definite choice, and continued to aimlessly wander the streets and alleys of this desolate part of town. Eventually she found a muddy pool of water that had collected around a clogged gutter drain, and chose to stare at her reflection for a long time. Mentally repeating the scene she had witnessed and participated in several times. Tears formed and slid down around her nose and added to the tiny lake before her. After very small eternity of disconsolation she washed off the blood that she had collected by consoling Silas, stood, and walked back into the direction of the Warehouse. Her tummy informing her of her need for sustenance.
Twilight laid on her sleeping bag with her legs curled underneath herself, and the books A Review of Common and Rare Spells, and An Extensive Look at Theoretical and Non-Theoretical Physics sprawled out before her. She had glanced through the first book and experimented with the spells it contained on a pillow, which was now filled with water. Twilight had become accustomed to the loneliness that she felt, whenever she preformed magic, fairly quickly, and was jotting down notes in her cyan notepad concerning her discoveries and theories about inner magic.
"It is possible for the utilization of all spells tested on this new planet if: A. The unicorn possess the ability to preform said spells. B. The unicorn is capable of adapting to the lack of outer magic. C. The unicorn has the reserves to maintain the spell.
It has also been discovered that one's inner magic reserves are much greater than one believes. Similar to how the lungs will alert the brain to the depletion of oxygen if oxygen is not replenished, yet the lungs may not necessarily be emptied of oxygen. It is also theorized that the more Inner Magic is used it can, over time, regenerate to greater amounts than what it was previously at. Also similar to how a muscle will become stronger if it is used repetitively. Along with this theory it can be concluded that anypony that used magic excessively in Equestria would have a larger reserve of Inner Magic by default."
Twilight halted her writing as she noticed Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash gliding in as they returned from their mission. She took this moment to glance around the Warehouse. Her awareness had only expanded to about a foot or two around herself as she was intensely focused on her studies.
Rarity and Applejack had finished repairing all that they could and were busing themselves with lunch. Applejack rummaged through the crate for some ingredient while Rarity eloquently placed grass, hay, and flowers between two slices of bread and levitated it all over to a plate. She switched her gaze back to the pegasi and noticed they were coming directly to her. They had an urgent look to them, and Fluttershy seemed a tad tired. It wasn't long at all before they were in front of herself.
"Twilight! We came back as fast as we could! We encountered a human and Fluttershy thinks he's onto us." Rainbow Dash reported hastily.
Twilight adopted a concerned look as she rotated her head to regard Fluttershy. She meekly nodded.
"Well... Did he say anything?" Twilight inquired. She preferred having all the information she could get before making an important decision.
"Uhm... He said hello and that he didn't want anything from us and he wanted to know who we are." Rainbow Dash answered.
"Do you think he saw you?" Twilight continued to prod.
"I... I don't think so, but I'm not certain." Rainbow replied without confidence.
"What's goin' on 'ere?" Applejack asked as she and Rarity approached the three other ponies.
"W-We believe a human may have seen us." Fluttershy answered.
Rarity bit her lip and looked to Twilight with an anxious expression. Applejack's mouth slid into an unsure slant, as she considered the possible implications of this.
"Well we need to find out for certain. Go ahead and grab some lunch, Rarity and AJ've put some sandwiches together, then go ahead and try to find him again and observe what he's doing. If he looks like he acting normally then he probably didn't see you.
"Okay." Fluttershy replied as she turned towards the kitchen to retrieve a sandwich.
Dash nodded and followed Fluttershy.
"I may as well join you girls." Twilight said as she stood and stretched her legs, then trotted over to the kitchen with AJ and Rarity.
Twilight quickly put together a simple sandwich and joined Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who were chowing down and nibbling at their food, respectively of course. Twilight sat at the main table with them and levitated the sandwich to her mouth and was prepared to take a bite when Pinkie Pie entered the Warehouse appearing very sorrowful and dejected. This instantly became Twilight's primary concern as she placed the sandwich back onto her plate with a look of serious concern.
"Pinkie Pie's back..." She said, in a tone that drew everypony's attention to that fact, as she stood and leaped from her chair.
Twilight broke out into a trot once she landed and with an expression of pure concern approached Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie, what's wrong?" Twilight asked with a worried tone.
Pinkie Pie's response was to sit on the floor and look up at Twilight, then peer around her to see if the other five were coming. Since they were she waited for them to arrive before speaking.
"I watched somepony... Or is it somebody? Someone? I don't know. I watched them die." Pinkie Pie said simply with misery in her voice.
Fluttershy gasped.
"Oh... My..." She exclaimed.
The others looked amongst themselves with worry and concern.
Rainbow Dash walked over to Pinkie Pie and slid her right foreleg around her in an attempt to comfort her as she sat beside her with a dispirited expression.
"If ya don't mind... Can ya tell us what exactly happened?" Applejack inquired.
Pinkie Pie nodded several times rapidly and shared her hardship. When she ended her tale there were many wet eyes, and heavy hearts.
Twilight and Rarity wiped at their eyes while Fluttershy cried openly. Applejack and Rainbow Dash maintained tearless eyes, but their dismal expressions showed that this weighed heavily on their souls. Most of them they were distraught more by Pinkie Pie's grief than a death of a stranger, but the manner and reason for this child's death was enough to cause tears to fall.
"Why did he have to die... He was so young..." Pinkie Pie said dejectedly as she sniffed and wiped away her own tears. As she stood she asked a question.
"All this saddy waddy has gotten my tummy hungry. What is there to eat?"
AJ shrugged and answered.
"We got some sandwich fixin's so you can put yer own meal together."
"Alrighty then." Pinkie replied as she stood and trotted off towards the tables. The others slowly followed her at a more sedate pace.
After a few minutes they were all seated around the table together. There was a minimal amount of conversation.
"Sooo... Fluttershy, did you find any creatures?" Twilight inquired.
"Oh yes!" Fluttershy replied. Her eyes suddenly brightened as she began to share her passion.
"We found a nest full of baby doves! They could only have hatched in the last few days. They were so adorable..."
Twilight grinned, but quickly asked another question.
"How did they react to you?"
Fluttershy briefly looked up to the ceiling as she remembered the moment, then lowered her eyes back to Twilight and answered her query.
"Well they did seem kind of terrified at first, but when I sang a lullaby they quieted and drifted off to sleep..."
"Yea it was pretty amazing..." Rainbow Dash began. "But it could have been-"
Rainbow Dash was interrupted, but a sudden groan and facehoof from Applejack.
"Oh please! Spare us Dash! We've heard that joke too many times!" Rarity pleaded.
"Hmph. Fine." Rainbow replied as she crossed her forelegs across her chest in a feigned expression of annoyance, but a faint smile curved her lips as her friends reactions amused her.
Applejack finished her sandwich then glanced over to Rarity.
"I'm gonna go look though the trash heap for anythin' sharp we can use to trim that tarp down. Join me when yer done." AJ informed Rarity as she stood and carried her plate into the kitchen.
Rarity nodded, and began polishing off what was left of her sandwich.
By the time Rarity had finished what was left of her meal and joined Applejack; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had left to conclude their assignment, and Pinkie had quietly finished her own food and walked over to sleeping bag. She laid on it with closed eyes. Whether she was sleeping or sorting through her grief wasn't known. Twilight Sparkle had retrieve her book on theoretical physics and was reading through it at the main table occasionally taking a sip of water as she turned a page.
Applejack and Rarity had some success. They found a long sharp piece of metal that Rarity could make incisions with, but held off on cutting the trap.
"I don' think it'll be a good idea to start cuttin' up the tarp now until we actually know how big that hole is. We can wait for RD and Fluttershy to get back and have them hold it up against the hole, measure it, and mark it."
Rarity nodded and spoke her agreement.
"Yes. Once a cut is done it can't be reversed."
Applejack poked through the garbage some more as she attempted to find heavy objects that would weigh down the corners of the tarp when it was placed over the hole. When AJ did locate one she would inform Rarity and have her levitate it out of the heap. Once satisfied with the amount of heavy metal and wood objects they had extracted. Rarity levitated them over to the tarp and neatly piled them next to it. Applejack didn't witness this, however, as she had trotted off to the crate to obtain a snack while they waited for the to Pegasi return.
When Rarity returned to the Kitchen Twilight eagerly took advantage of her opportunity to share her own theories and discoveries about Inner Magic with Rarity, whether she wanted to listen to them or not, but she was polite and slightly interested in topic herself so she played along with Twilight's eagerness.
After some time and, a little boredom, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy returned. They were quickly surrounded by their friends, except for Pinkie Pie who showed no interest in moving from her cozy nest of a sleeping bag. The other five looked to her with concern once they realized she was not joining them.
"Well...?" Twilight asked Rainbow Dash. "We can always tell her later."
Rainbow Dash nodded and proceeded to give her report.
"Amazingly enough we found the guy. He'd changed his shirt so he was difficult to spot, but Fluttershy recognized his stained jeans. So we followed him darting from rooftop to rooftop doing or best to remain hidden, and I think we did a pretty good job. I mean, nopony saw-"
"Nobody, and how do you know it's male?" Twilight corrected and inquired.
Rainbow Dash glared briefly at Twilight then proceeded.
"Body. Pony. Whatever! And I just call it a he. I don't have a clue! Anyways, we weren't seen so we followed this guy up and down the streets through alleyways, and eventually we started getting pretty far South and we started running into more humans so we couldn't follow the guy without risking getting seen ourselves."
Twilight nodded satisfied and relieved with the information.
"Good. Did you see at all what he did?" She queried.
"I saw him digging through the garbage. I think that's where he finds his food..." Fluttershy answered.
Rarity lifted her nose at that.
"How disgusting." She commented.
The four had minor expressions of disgust too, but Applejack shrugged it off and poised her own question
"That's good t' know, but if what Pinkie Pie told us is true, which I don't doubt that it is, then it'll be best if we start settin' up a watch or somthin' while we sleep... Just in case, ya know?"
The others saw the wisdom in this, and agreed.
"I don't think Pinkie should be on watch tonight though... She's had an emotionally traumatic day." Twilight said.
"Then whose gonna be on watch first?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she glanced to the others with an exception that one of them would volunteer.
"I don't mind going on watch. I didn't do much physically today and I usually stay up late studying or pondering." Twilight replied volunteering to the task.
"I can be the second on watch, unless somepony else wants it... I'm used to being woken up at night by my animals." Fluttershy spoke up.
"And I'll take the last one, I wake up close to that early anyways." Applejack offered.
"I guess I could take that third position then..." Rarity said reluctantly.
"Yes! A full night's sleep for me!" Rainbow Dash said, as she pumped a hoof.
The other four glared at her. Rainbow grinned sheepishly back, but held no regrets for what she said. Eventually the glares were dropped.
"Well that's settled then I guess. I'll work on dinner tonight. I think it's some type of soup." Rarity spoke, then turned and began walking towards the kitchen.
"I'll help out too." Fluttershy said in typical quietness as she followed Rarity.
"Hey Applejack." Twilight began. "Could you show what improvements you made around the Warehouse today?"
Applejack regarded Twilight when she spoke her name.
"Yea, sure. We'll start over thar." Applejack replied, nodding towards their first repair job.
As AJ and Twilight walked off, Rainbow Dash decided that with nothing to do and a close friend hurting she'd do her best to comfort her. She flapped her wings a few times to lift herself into the air, then steadily flew over to where Pinkie Pie laid.
"Hey Dashie..." Pinkie said, as she looked up to Rainbow Dash with sad eyes and a small frown.
" 'Ey Pinkie." Dashie replied as she laid down on AJ's sleeping bag next to her.
"What were you guys talkin' about over there?" She asked.
Rainbow Dash's right ear twitched as she shifted awkwardly. She hadn't dealt with a sedated Pinkie before, but like the majority of things Rainbow dealt with she winged it.
"Well... We figured that guy didn't see us, and that we're gonna set up a watch if people are as cut throat and stuff around here as you say they are... Rarity and Fluttershy are working on soup for dinner." Rainbow explained.
"Soup's sounds yummy. Who's up first for watch t'night?" Pinkie inquired.
"Twilight volunteered. She suggested that we give you the night off since you had a pretty rough day..." Dash said.
Pinkie shrugged, and a grave expression slowly passed across her face as she began to disclose her hardship with Rainbow.
"I've never seen anypony die before Dashie... Let alone right in my hooves. I guess I need to be happy that I made a friend, and be glad that he doesn't have to endure in this dismal place anymore, but how...? How can I be happy and joyful when my heart is full of grief?" Pinkie Pie sighed and shook her head, then a quick grin passed across her mouth.
"I just don't know what went wrong." Pinkie quoted.
Rainbow Dash chuckled, then chose to assure her.
"Don't worry too much Pinkie. You'll sort it out. You ARE the Element of Laughter after all."
They conversed for a while longer until Fluttershy gathered them for the meal.
They sat together around the table. There some conversation around the table this evening.
" 'Ey Rainbow Dash, ya think tomorrow you can help us out with pat-"
There was a sudden glow of warm glorious light near the crate. Those that faced it hastily looked away for fear of being blinded. After a moment the light faded and they allowed themselves to view what undoubtedly was another box from Princess Celestia. The crate that had been sent this time was identical to the previous in all but one factor. It was significantly smaller. Most likely due to the fact that the majority of what they needed was shipped already.
"We'll check it out after supper." Applejack resumed. She wanted to request the pegasi's help before they were distracted.
"As I was sayin'... Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Do ya think you can help us out with patchin' up a few holes in the ceilin' tomorrow?"
Rainbow Dash raised her forehooves in a shrug.
"I don't see why not. 'Shy you up for it?" Rainbow Dash replied.
"I can help." Fluttershy answered.
"Ah. Thanks a lot." Applejack said appreciatively
"This soup is souperb." Pinkie Pie said with a slight grin, as she sipped some of her meal off her spoon.
The others giggled and laughed at Pinkie's joke, and also complimented and thanked Fluttershy and Rarity for their cooking.
"Oh you flatter me, darlings, but I really didn't have much to do with it. It was all Fluttershy." Rarity humbly responded.
"Thanks." Fluttershy squeaked as she briefly blushed behind her fur.
"I wish we had some of that cider..." Rainbow Dash said wistfully as she changed the subject while she recalled the sweet delight from the previous night.
"You and your cravings for cider..." Twilight said as she briefly rolled her eyes.
"What! Can't a mare desire a good drink once in a while?" Dash replied defensively.
"Yes, dear, but you ALWAYS want cider." Rarity chided with a smile.
Rainbow rolled her eyeballs and continued slurping her soup from her spoon.
The conversation tapered off and they continued to consume their soups in silence.
"I guess we can check out that crate in the morn'." Applejack suggested, as she stood from the table. She had finished her soup.
The some of the other five nodded and followed her example.
Once all the dishes had been collected Twilight and Applejack volunteered to clean the dishes while the others prepared themselves for bed. Rarity inserted her curlers, while Fluttershy and Pinkie brushed their teeth. Rainbow Dash waited for them to finish, and watched Twilight and Applejack clean the last of the dishes. They didn't speak much yet worked so well together. It boggled Dash's mind that people so different could cooperate so well.
It wasn't long before they were snuggled into their sleeping bags sounding off the Z's until morning. Twilight was outside the Warehouse staring up at the stars again. This evening she searched for constellations she couldn't see, and attempted to create a formula that could calculate how much pollution would be needed to make constellations vanish She didn't formulate anything solid, but quickly became sated on the subject. She then chose to continue her previous wondering on the parallel seasons. She mulled the topic over several times until she finally reached an answer that began to sate her curiosity.
"Maybe it has to do with a planet's axis? What if this planet is tilted in the opposite direction as ours? That might explain these parallel seasons... This is truly a fascinating subject. I just wish I had my library to work with. Speaking, well, thinking of the library I wonder how Spike's getting along on his own...?" Twilight mentally theorized, and then mentally meandered through various thoughts about her home.
After a few hours of theorizing and brooding on various subjects she realized she had begun to slowly slip into slumber. She stretched as she stood and walked back to where the others slept, and nudged Fluttershy awake. She slowly opened her dark azure and nodded thanks to Twilight for waking her. Once Fluttershy had fluttered away to where she would keep her post Twilight wiggled into the warmth and security of her bag and closed her eyes. She didn't open them again until morning.
The dull rhythmic platter of raindrops falling onto my box, and the decrease in temperature, disturbed me from my restless sleep. I groggily sat up and unzipped my pack, blundering through its contents as I sought my green hoodie. I belatedly remembered I had lost it in a scam on the Market last week... Curse me and my curiosity. I let out a husky sigh, as I resorted to wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt. I tossed my pack over my feet to keep them warm. I shuddered as I curled into a fetal-like position and tried to return to sleep.
Meowing awakened me. I managed to sprawl out of my fetal position during my sleep, but more surprising though, a gray and white cat was standing on my stomach looking down at my face and meowing. I shook my head with drowsy startledness. Not only was I being suddenly awakened by a creature but a cat no less! Needless to say, cats weren't very common in these Slums. Either because they didn't exist much in these parts anyways or because they were good eating. I didn't know, but I was more inclined to believe the latter, which suddenly tossed me into internal conflict.
My group needed food and here was this cat, sitting on my stomach and meowing at me expectantly. As if I had raised it, and he knew he could get his MeowMix from me. But it kept acting like I had raised it! Not to mention it was completely adorable with it's strangely round blue eyes, and bright pink nose that was speckled with dirt and grime. It meowed again, forcing my stomach growl.
"I'm horrible at making decisions." I thought as I looked at the cat with a troubled expression.
Too eat or not to eat? That was the question. I refrained from petting the cat or even touching it. I didn't want to get attached to it in any way if I decided to consume it. I sighed and stared into the blue eyes of this cat. He mewed again. I placed my right and left hands on either side of the cat's head and took a sharp breath as I steeled myself. I twisted the cat's head until I heard the sick crunch of bones breaking. My conscience felt cold and filthy. I will not lie. I allowed a few tears to fall from my eyes, as I tossed the cat's corpse out of my box. It reminded me too much of the cat I had when I was a boy, but I was desperate for food and had to make the hard choice... That was my excuse.
I sniffed as I quickly stuffed my belongings into my backpack and followed the same procedure I had executed the previous morning. The top and sides of my box were soggy from the rain, but it kept me dry through the night. I only hoped it would dry out before evening came around again. I folded it and slid it behind the dumpster, as I turned to pick up the dead cat. I carried it over my shoulder with a grip on it's tail as I sadly strolled out of the alleyway.
The rain had lightened considerably since the early morning hours. It was merely coming down in a steady drizzle, as I entered Blugar's Park. I was cautious with the wet and slippery sidewalks to avoid faceplanting on more garbage. It didn't take me long to arrive at our clearing. I was the second person here. Apparently, Elijah shows up early. He was leaning against a tree with both of his hands in the middle pouch of his black hoodie. I tend to show up later since I haven't seen a need to be early, but today... Well, today we were having breakfast burritos. I nodded to Elijah and slumped against my tree. I tossed the cat in front of me, as Elijah made a slightly impressed expression and walked over.
"Nice find." He said cautiously when he had approached.
I nodded and looked up to his young brown face.
"I guess so. May as well start gutting and skinnin' this lil' guy if you got a clean knife. Mine's all rusted and stuff. Probably wouldn't be a good idea to use it... You do have a knife right?" I replied and queried.
"Yes, but why now? Shouldn't we wait for the rest of the group?" He asked.
"Well for one it's gonna take time to gut this thing because... Well... I haven't done anything like this before. In the meantime, you could grab some firewood so we can roast this sucker and have feline breakfast burritos." I responded.
"That also supports my... Point. If we wait, somebody with better experience might be able to gut it, and we don't want to waste any food, but I'll go ahead and get the firewood. It's your kill so it's your call." Elijah replied.
I sighed and made a dismissive gesture as I put the side of my right hand to the corner of my brow, and evaluated my options.
"Gut it now, have food sooner. Gut it later, have food later, but maybe more food. Pah. I'm just going to gut it now. Get it over with while I still can. Besides I'm the only guy that I can trust to actually share this... Maybe I shouldn't? No it's too late, Elijah's already seen it. What if I split it with him? He probably wouldn't tell others if he got a chunk of- Riiight. Redge's got the burritos. Not that I need the burritos, but that'd just make it all the more complete."
Once I had finished my mental rambling I stood, and hailed Elijah down who was walking around the edges of the clearing, as he gathered some more or less drier wood.
"Hey, uhm, I'm gonna need your knife if I'm gonna gut that cat." I requested.
"Heh. Goin' to do it yourself anyways? Alright, just give me a second..." Elijah answered.
He shifted the small bundle of sticks he had collected under his left arm so he could hold them all with one hand. He felt along the right side of his hip, as he looked up into the mostly bare trees above. His pink tongue peaked out between his lips. It made a stark contrast with the rest of his dark skinned face.
I stared at it like a weirdo. I was strangely fascinated by this. I'm not racist unless I can find mutual humor in it, but it never occurred to me that they'd have tongues that pink. For no reason I expected them to be darker. My enthrallment with his mouth muscle was hastily hidden when he spoke up as he handed me a multi-tool.
"Here you go."
I nodded to him, as I took the multi-tool. I opened the knife attachment as I walked back to cat's corpse.
I flipped the cat onto it's belly and straddled it, then flipped it onto its side again then onto it's back.
"I really have no clue what I'm doing... I never thought I'd regret turning down working in the meat department." I thought remorsefully.
I reconsidered my previous decision but shook it off. I had killed this cat with a guilt filled soul I may as well see it through, and I sure as hell wanted to eat it now that it was dead. I wasn't about to trust somebody else with that. I decided that taking the guts out would be as good of a start as any.
I placed the blade at the top of the cat's chest, and applied a little pressure behind the tip of the knife with hope that it would easily slide into the flesh so I could begin my cut, but the skin resisted the slight pressure. I put more effort behind the blade, and it suddenly sank into the cat. I wasn't sure if that was a bad thing, but I guessed that the knife went all the way to the sternum. I tried to slide the knife back towards myself. Again, I expected the flesh to easily part, but I was thrown into frustration as it cut barely a centimeter before it refused to slice.
After several minutes of vigorous yanking and thrashing on both the multi-tool and carcase, I was finally able to make a long and rough incision. Through which I could retrieve the cat's organs. It briefly occurred to me that I should probably consider hygiene. I glanced down at my hands which were stained with a greyish brown color, although a little red had now been mixed in. If I was going to be handling people's food I definitely needed to wash these hands. I twisted to my right and snatched a bottle of spring water out of a side pouch on my pack.
I stood and took a few steps away from the cat and poured a little of the water onto my hands. I rubbed them together hastily and viewed my results. They were only slightly cleaner, probably cleaner then they had been for months, but it was as good as I would be able to get them. I turned back to the cat, brought it around so it's belly faced me, sat down on my legs, and began gutting the cat.
It was... An incredibly disgusting and messy job. Not something I would desire to repeat ever again but I got it done. With a small pile of cat innards next to me, I stupidly stared at the significantly deflated corpse, as I attempted to devise a way to steal it's muscles. Redge and Mike stumbled into the clearing during this time.
"That's some food you got there, Luke." Redge said in a typical emotionless tone, as he looked down at my horrible attempt at being a butcher.
I'll admit. I hoped he would be a bit more excited than that.
"Well I intend to share it. In fact, uh, Elijah was gathering wood for a fire. So I was thinkin' we could cook this fella up and have some breakfast burritos or somethin'. Before we all head out." I replied.
"Sounds good to me. You're damn lucky I didn't portion out those tortillas last night." Redge told me, as he swung his pack around and dug through it.
Redge got the package of tortillas and plopped it onto the ground in front of me.
"I'll go find Elijah and get that fire started. Mike, go build a fire ring." Redge informed me, and ordered.
"Alright." Mike replied, as he walked back out of the clearing.
I returned my attention back to the cat. I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, and I began to regret not following Elijah's advice. Not only may I get less meat for us to eat, but I may look like an idiot doing so. I sighed as I shook my head.
"Just get this over with, bro." I mentally told myself, as I plunged the knife into the cat's flesh behind it's skull and attempted to follow the spine to the tail.
After half an hour of what felt like senseless cutting, slicing, and yanking I finally had several furry strips of meat. The majority of my fellow group member's arrived during this time including Carla, who I was able to recruit in assisting me with slicing the skin away from the meat. I won't lie. My heart got a little skippy and my stomach felt a little giddy when she obliged.
We squatted over a paper plate, that one of our colleagues lent us, and piled the strips of good meat onto it. Redge and Elijah had managed to start a fire, but from what I overheard Redge didn't want attention being drawn to us by smoke so he enforced that the fire be kept small. I glanced up in that direction, and took notice of the 6 other people sitting around the fire's warmth in quiet conversation. I brought my focus back down to the bloody multi-tool and cat muscles, and tried to start up a conversation with Carla. Just because I wasn't interested in having a relationship with her didn't mean we couldn't be friends, right?
"You got any experience with this?" I asked her.
"Not really..." She said in a quiet voice, but she cleared her throat and repeated the same message in a slightly deeper and stronger tone.
I raised my eyebrow at that, and continued to cut fur away from muscles.
"My father was an active hunter so there was a lot of animals being gutted around my house. I didn't... Participate in that, but I saw it happen a lot." She continued to tell me.
"Really? I can't say my dad did the same, but what did he hunt?" I inquired.
"Oh... All sorts of things. I mean, one time he came home with a full on buck. Although, my mother wasn't too fond of a dead deer taking up all the garage space." She chuckled lightly as I assumed she remembered the memory.
"They fought for days about that deer. Eventually my dad lugged it into the backyard and took care of it there. I don't think he went hunting for deer again after that." She continued.
"I'd imagine so." I replied, as I laughed quietly at the thought of a guy dragging a half gutted deer into his backyard.
"After that he mostly stuck to small game and fowl. I don't know if he hunts anymore now... He was trending away from it when the Regulation came about. Inflation was already really high." She said with hinted longing.
"Really? You guys must have had a decent amount of dough if he could keep up his hunting passion when Inflation was beginning to max out." I responded.
She cut a few more slices of meat off the fur, then looked up to me. I've never been this close to her. I noticed she had blue eyes, almost teal, and a large patch of freckles planted across her nose and cheekbones.
"It's not like we were wealthy. I mean, he saved a lot. Like, he'd put the majority of his paycheck into savings. So even when prices went up we still had a good amount of cash." She spoke, then turned her head down and continued to cut Kitten Steaks.
"What about you?" She asked me.
"Pah! I wanted to go hunting a couple times, even had friends that did so pretty regularly, but I never did get the chance to go." I replied.
I really didn't know how to keep the conversation going after that, but conveniently we ran out of meat to skin.
"Thanks for your help." I told her appreciatively.
"Not a problem, let me know if you got anything else you need help with." She responded with a slight smile.
"Oooh. I'm definitely gonna get back to you on that one." I thought. I was so tempted to say that aloud and wiggle my eyebrows suggestively, but I figured my acne plagued face would ruin it.
I grabbed the meat laden paper plate and walked over to the fire.
"So... How are we gonna cook this?" I asked, once I arrived at the flames.
The majority of the others looked at me with raised eyebrows or confused expression.
"I was under the impression you were in charge of that." Chuck spoke up.
He was right, and I didn't want to look like a fool so I made a quick call... Why didn't I think this far ahead?
"Right. Eli hold on to this while I find something for us to cook on." I requested, Elijah looked up to me at the mention of his shortened name.
"I assumed we would be roasting them like marshmallows, so I got a bunch of cleanish sticks that we can roast the meat on." Eli told me as he revealed a pile of gigantic twigs to me.
"That'll work great." I said with all to apparent appreciation, as I lowered the plate to the ground. "I guess you guys can go ahead and grab a stick and start roastin'."
"Be quick about it, though." Redge spoke up as he waited for everyone to get their stick and Kitten Steaks first.
While everyone else tried to get their meat roasted I returned to the tortillas, grabbed them, and returned to the fire. I tore open the package, and found a spot in the fire where a small flame slowly burned a thin branch. I held a tortilla over the flame and warmed it. I continued like this for several minutes until Melinda came over and asked for a tortilla. I handed her one of the warm ones and she went about making her food.
Eventually we all sat back and enjoyed our meaty burritos. The meat wasn't like what I expected it to be. It was very lean, soft, and easy to consume. It was an extremely good meal. None of us had eaten anything freshly cooked in at least a month. In my case it was... I think it was 3 months ago that I had some veggie soup, but that costed a fortune. After we had consumed most of our Mexican Cat Burgers, as Mike called them, Redge decided to go ahead with this day's briefing.
"Today's gonna be pretty simple. Since Luke isn't that great on his own, Elijah you get to go with him. Luke, try to teach him the ropes. Everyone else, myself included, is on Guard Duty over at the Sedan. If shit happens today we need as many people as we can get over there. Luke, Elijah. Same general area as yesterday. Just go look for food in the Northern part of these Slums, and if we got some empty bottles give them to either Elijah or Luke before they leave so they can fill 'em up at Luke's puddle."
"Redge, there is hardly any food up there. Why do you expect us to find some?" I inquired.
This was really starting to piss me off. He sends me up to the Northern part of our Poverty Zone which is pretty much tapped out on everything, then blames me for not finding any. What kind of logic is that?
"Multiple reasons." He replied ambigiously.
I let out a frustrated sigh and shook my head. I was sorely tempted to start an argument over this, but I'd rather not lower the morale I'd raised with the cat. As people finished their burritos they tossed me their empty bottles, and I stuffed them where I could in my backpack. Elijah also took a few.
"Don't wait on us, if you and Elijah here are ready to go then go, we'll be moving out together once Melinda here as finished gumsucking what's left of her Mexican Cat Burger." Redge told us.
"I ain't gumsuckin' I still gotta few good tefh left!" Melinda cried back with humorous offense.
I looked over to Eli with a raised eyebrow that asked if he was ready. He nodded back to me as he shouldered his pack. I did the same, as I stood. I didn't wait any longer and turned to jog out of the clearing.
I begrudgingly turned left down an alleyway in direction towards the Riverfront. I still didn't know what to make of yesterday's encounter, but it was certainly... Odd. And I wasn't too excited about having the possibility of a repeat.
"So... Why exactly haven't we stopped to loot yet?" Eli asked from behind me in his typical cautiousness.
We were jogging down the sidewalks towards my Puddle, as Redge so kindly put it. Personally, I would have preferred Spring, but I guess Redge wouldn't be himself if he wasn't blunt like that. I glanced over my shoulder and sent a response back to Elijah.
" 'Cause we're gonna go get these bottles filled as quickly as possible. After that we'll go north a bit more, do some light looting on our way up there, then typical scavenging on our way back."
I saw Eli nod as I brought my head back around to focus on where I was going. It took us several more minutes to find where I entered the river bottoms the previous day. I took caution this time to ensure I didn't tear my clothing to shreds. Even then it was another solid 15 minutes, at least, until we got to the spring. I bent down as I slung my backpack off my shoulders and retrieved the empty bottles within. I began filling them one at a time. Eli started to kneel down to do the same.
"No! You need to watch my back. If both of us are filling up bottles, then it only takes one guy to kill us both if he gets the jump on us." I instructed and explained.
"Ah. Alright, sorry. Yea. Uh, I'll do that." Eli replied awkwardly.
"But get your water bottles out and toss them to me." I ordered.
Eli nodded quickly and complied.
Eventually, I had filled eight bottles with the cleanish water. I split them evenly with Elijah. The four extra water bottles added a considerable amount of weight to my pack, and left me only a minor amount of room to store additional items. Not for the first time did I wish I could hold more in this pack, but there was a necessity to keeping my belongings with me. It wasn't uncommon to leave items near where you slept and come back only to realize that they'd been stolen.
I stood, turned, and approached Eli with his portion of the extra bottles. He picked his nose briefly, as he stared out into the swamp. I halted my advance and watched him for a moment. He continued to stare in that same direction for an entire minute. I resumed my advance and nudged his back.
"Here, carry these." I told him.
He nodded and took the bottles out of my arms.
"You do realize that anybody following us would most likely not come at us from the direction you're facing, right?" I inquired.
Eli shot me a quizzical glance as he stuffed the bottles into his spacious pack, which was odd. He had a regular school backpack and that was roughly the same size as mine. Once he had finished, he straightened and put his hands on his hips.
"Yea. Why?" He asked.
"Well you just stared out at the way we came in; Didn't even look to your left or right in case anybody was approaching from a different angle." I told him.
"Oh. I see. I'll work on that." Elijah replied.
"No. You won't work on that. You'll correct it. I want to leave this swamp knowing that you'll be lookin' in all directions. Not just the direction my ass is facing. Clear?" I said, to ensure that he wouldn't mess up again.
"Eeyup." He responded.
I furrowed my brows at that. Why did that sound familiar? It felt like there was a hole in my brain where I used to know something... I shook it off and hiked my pack up onto my back again.
"You ready then?" I queried.
He nodded and slung his pack over his shoulders.
"Then let's go." I spoke to him as I trudged back down the path we had made from the road.
I cautiously peeked out of the brush and glanced to the right and left for anyone else. I was suddenly bumped from behind, which caused me to stumble out onto the sidewalk. I caught myself on a tireless car and spun about to face the reason.
"You clumsy clown!" I called back to Elijah.
It was difficult to keep a grin from spreading across my face. I've wanted to use that line for the longest time.
"I'm sorry! Is the coast clear?" He asked.
"I'd imagine so since I'm not dead." I answered.
He blundered out of the brush and joined me on the sidewalk.
"We're stickin' with the plan, but I don't want to be near these river banks if I can help it." I told Elijah.
"Why's that?" He queried.
I stupidly didn't anticipate him to ask that.
"I- Well, uh, Don't like them. Yea..." I responded in a totally convincing statement.
"Mhm." Eli hummed with a skeptical expression.
I looked around hesitantly, then back up to Eli with a mildly annoyed expression.
"Okay, fine. I don't want to stick around here because what did happen here yesterday still has me..." I paused and made a clucking sound with my tongue as I searched for the right word. "Dismayed." I finished.
"Well, you could always tell me about it. Essentially nobody knows what exactly went on there." Elijah suggested.
I thought it was pretty obvious that I didn't want to chat about it, but I considered his suggestion briefly.
"He could validate me either being insane or not." I briefly evaluated.
It suddenly occurred to me that I was in a situation repeated millions of times in movies and books. The person that was being queried would always withhold information based on how they thought they other would receive the news, but the other would end up getting that information anyways. To avoid succumbing to that and being a, cliché I decided to be straight up with the guy. If he thought I was nutters, tough. Apparently I don't mind being insane. Hah. Mind being insane. That amuses me.
Elijah was looking at me with an expectant expression. I didn't realize how awkwardly long my silence had become.
"Right, well... Take it how you want this is what happened..." I told him, as I recounted my encounter with nothing held back.
I watched Elijah's reactions to my tale. When I mentioned the singing, the scratchy voiced female, and the quiet voice. His eyes obtained a momentarily distant look, as he thought about something else. I assume that, the information triggered such a reaction. He pursed his lips and knitted his eyebrows, as I told him of the pink trail. When I mentioned the feathers his eyebrows jerked up in poorly prevented shock. He hastily hid these reactions though.
"Do you still have those feathers?" He asked after I had finished.
"Funny. I thought you'd have told me I was nuts." I replied.
Elijah made a dismissive gesture beneath his nose. That or he must have farted.
"No, no, no, no. From what I know, that doesn't sound like an adventure an insane person would have had." He responded.
As much as I like to tell myself that I don't get my hopes up. I felt assurance and relief flow through me. Heh. So much for not being cliché.
"Alright. And to answer your question, I do have them. My guess is that you'd like to see them?" I queried after replying.
"Yes, please." Elijah said with subtle eagerness.
What made Elijah eager about these feathers wasn't known to me. I didn't have a use for them, and he might have a chance of identifying what animal they might have come from. I brought my pack off my shoulders, unzipped the front pouch, and removed the two large feathers from where they had been stored. I held them out to Eli. He picked them up at the quill with some sort of reverence. This time around he didn't hide his amazement. He stared at the sky blue and cream yellow feathers for a long time. He mumbled something that I couldn't hear.
"You know what bird these come from?" I asked.
He glanced down to me with an expression that was too serious.
"Not a clue." He told me.
Right. That would totally fool me.
"Mhm." I hummed with the exact same expression he used earlier.
An offended look appeared on his face, as he raised both of his hands with a feather in each.
"What! I don't know anything about these! I'm as stumped as you are!" He replied hotly.
"Hmph. Fine." I said.
"Just as it plays out in the books and movies so shall it play out in reality. I'll find out what you're keepin' from me eventually." I told him in my mind.
"Whatever. Let's get across the street and on with our job." I spoke as I brought the backpack back onto my back.
"You can keep those, by the way. I don't have a need for them." I continued while I jogged across the street.
"Oh... Thank you!" He replied with a near awed appreciation.
I shrugged as I jogged into an alleyway and onto the street beyond with Eli in tow.
"Now, 'Light Looting' is basically glancing through the garbage as we run to our turn around point." I told Elijah as we jogged north.
"Acknowledged." I heard him reply.
On our way north we only found a small package of peanuts. We split them and consumed them as we journeyed Northwards. After an hour or two of jogging we finally reached our turnaround point.
We were a couple blocks away from The Edge when I had decided this was far enough into the North to turn around and begin scavenging on our way back. My plan was to work in a Southwesterly direction towards Blugar's Park. If we went at a casual and thorough pace we would hopefully get enough food to last these guys another day, and be back at Blugar's park about an hour before dusk. I began to follow through with my plan, as I angled left and jogged back down the opposite side of the street. I turned right and stopped at the entrance of an alleyway. I glanced over my right shoulder to ensure that Elijah had followed me. He quietly stopped at my left side.
"Alright. This is how we loot. I watch and make sure nobody sneaks up. While you dig through the garbage and find anything remotely useful or edible. Got it?" I told Elijah.
"Uh, Yea. That's it? Nothing else?" He asked me cautiously.
"Well, the faster you do it the better, and don't be a pansy about getting dirty. You're already as filthy as shit anyways." I said.
"I doubt you're any cleaner than me." Elijah retorted, as he walked towards the nearest rubbish bin.
"Didn't say I was." I replied with a smug grin.
I was beyond filthy and no shits were given about it.
While he went through the garbage I leaned against a door and watched both of the entrances to the alley. We proceeded like this for a few hours, occasionally swamping roles. During those hours of work we scored a half consumed jar of Skippy Peanut Butter, a moldy and soggy loaf of french bead, a can of fruit cocktail, and an unopened sleeve of cracked crackers. When lunch rolled around we took shelter on the porch of a no-longer-named business.
"This isn't much..." Elijah said, as I went through what meager items we had collected.
"Now you know how I feel." I replied. "It still beats me as to why Redge wants to send us up here."
Elijah didn't say anything and I glanced up at the street. The drizzling rain was finally beginning to let up but it was still cold. A shiver jumped through myself. Since we'd stopped moving I was quickly becoming cold.
"How does the fruit cocktail sound to you?" I asked Eli.
"I'd eat it." He responded.
I shrugged and tossed him the can.
"Go ahead and open it. I'll see if I can find a spoon in my pack, and we'll share it. A spoonful at a time, ya know?" I told him.
He nodded as he pulled his multi-tool out and began working on prying the can opener attachment out.
I directed my attention at obtaining warmth while he toiled at that. I reached into my backpack and withdrew the Mountain Dew T-Shirt and a white plastic spoon. I put the shirt on over what I was already wearing. It did hardly anything. My arms were still cold. My hands were wrinkly, wet, and nearly numb. My hair was soggy, and my clothes were thoroughly damp. I shuddered again and stuck my hands into my armpits as I watched Eli work on opening the can.
"How long've you been in here?" I asked, feeling like an inmate by poising that question.
"Well..." Eli began, as he put his lips together and considered the question. I imagined that he was preforming calculations.
"7 Months now." He said.
"Ah. So you're what? 19?" I queried.
He labored on the can opener for a few seconds, then responded to my question.
"Yea. What about yourself?" He inquired.
"I was Regulated when the Transfers started. That was about a year ago so... I'm 24 now." I answered.
I'm not sure whether to be proud that I've survived a year here or depressed about an entire year of my life has been wasted. Regardless, Elijah had finished opening the can and handed it to me while he retrieved his utensil. I took a spoonful of the variety of fruits and shoved them into my mouth and chewed. They didn't taste great, but fruit of any kind was few and far between these days. I passed the can back to Eli once he had obtained his spoon. He scooped a spoonful into his mouth and passed the can back. We proceeded like this in silence until the can was empty, and Elijah had slurped out the juices that remained after the fruit had been devoured. He tossed me the empty can and I carelessly chucked it to my right. I heard it land in some bush. It doesn't matter where your trash goes these days. It's not like the garbage service comes on Tuesdays anymore.
"Yo, Luke. I hear voices." Elijah said abruptly in a whisper, as he scooted over to where I was seated.
"Get your pack on. Quick." I ordered, as I tossed my spoon into the pack and followed my own instructions.
Eli quickly tossed his on and looked to me as he waited for his next instructions. I could hear the voices now too. Fortunately, they weren't what I had heard yesterday. These were definitely male and were coming from the North. They would bypass us pretty soon. Going through the building wasn't an option. It was locked up, and it would be too noisy to attempt a break in.
"I take it you want to live, right?" I asked Eli, already guessing what the response would be.
"Of course." He responded.
"Then do everything I tell you to, when I tell you... And follow me, alright?" I instructed.
He nodded and lowered himself slightly. Ready to do anything that asked him at a moment's notice.
"We're running. Stay as close as you can." I told him before I booked it down the steps.
I heard Elijah following behind me as I ran straight across the road. I glanced to my right. Two guys in dirty yellow rain jackets with red and green stripes on the sleeves were strolling down the street. One was tall, big, and wide like a football player. Whereas, the second was of average height, but slightly below typical weight.
The big fella had a crowbar, the smaller one had a wooden baseball bat with nails punched through the top. They both paused in their conversation then pursued us. I brought my head around and focused on pacing my steps with my breathing. I heard one of them shout from behind us.
"Hey! Wait!"
I didn't know what their intention was, but assuming it was hostile had kept me alive so far. Of course I didn't falter, but I glanced over my left shoulder to see if Eli did. Thankfully he hadn't, or if he did it was very brief. We entered an alleyway, then turned left once I had exited it. I know I was fast, or at least had the will power to push through the pain in my lungs, and Elijah wouldn't have been on the scouting team if he was slow.
We ran for what seemed to be a long time, as we headed back to the Park to either lose our pursuit or get assistance in dispatching it. I paused and looked over my shoulder. My lungs were heaving while my pulse pounded through my chest and head. I had brought us to Riverfront Dr. The street that ran right next to the river bottoms. To our left would be our route to Blugar's park. Behind us was the alley we had just exited and right was North. A direction I didn't want to go.
I bent over and placed my hands on my knees as I panted.
"Are... They fo- Foll... Following?" I said with what little breath I could keep in my lungs.
I glanced up to Elijah and he shook his head. We waited for around a minute or three as we tried to completely catch our breath.
"I swear... They ca... Came this way!" I heard someone speak loudly, but from a distance, to my right. They must have been in the next alley down.
I jerked my head up to Eli and mouthed "Oh shit." to him, and dived into the alley we had just exited. Eli followed my lead.
"Well obviously... They aren't here!" I heard somebody else shout. It sounded similar to the voice that had requested us to wait. I could only imagine that those two blokes actually did follow us. They just ended up in the wrong alley.
I heard footsteps coming down the sidewalk towards our alley. I motioned for Eli to stand at the corner, and whispered to him.
"When they come down the sidewalk, you step out and smack them in the face with your bat. It's got a much farther reach than my pipe. Then I'll jump out and get the other while he's shocked." I whispered to Elijah.
"No way! We don't have to fight these guys. Look, let's try these doors; See if we can hide in one of the buildings." He disagreed in an equally low tone.
"Do you want to live or not!?" I asked in frustration.
He agreed to do what I told him to do! Why was he committing insubordination?
"Yes, but not like that! No way ,bro. That's- That's cowardly, there's no honor or fairness in that! It's ruthless!" He replied in a heated whisper.
"Then give me the bat at least!" I demanded. I was barely able to keep my tone in check now.
They'd be on us in any minute. Any chance of escape was gone now. I had to take this advantage otherwise I'd be taken advantage of.
He began to shake his head and that was enough of a signal for me. I leaped forward and pushed him against the wall. I reached up for the bat's handle that poked out of his pack, but I was too short. My fingertips touched it but not enough of my hand could get around it before Eli pushed me off him.
"What the hell, man?! I'm not going to support your..." Eli began, but I didn't listen to what he had to say.
I had to go with my plan. I reached up and yanked my pipe free of my pack, then slid over to the corner. I counted two footsteps before I lunged out of the alley already in a swing that started from above my left shoulder. All I had to do was direct it.
The shorter guy was in front as I had hoped. He was completely unprepared for an engagement and held his nail bat too low to protect himself. A terrified and shocked expression began to change his features but a pipe crashing through his right temple ceased the action. His bat tumbled off my left leg. I was incredibly fortunate that the nails did not impale themselves onto my thigh. I quickly slid the pipe out of his skull and allowed his body to collapse and flop into the gutter with his bat.
His companion was caught off guard with the sudden attack but he had been given plenty of time to regain his awareness. He spread his feet in an offensive stance, and held his crowbar in his right hand near the bottom. He was massive from my perspective. He was a full head and neck taller than myself, and I could easily assume he had a large reserve of stamina. Along with his thick arms, it was obvious that if he hit me once I would be screwed sideways and up a wall. I was intimidated by his sheer size and took several steps back while I sought for a way to defeat this individual but none readily occurred to me.
He abruptly took a large step forward, raised his crowbar, and swung in a diagonal attack aimed for my neck. I quickly jumped backwards to avoid the assault. The miss left my opponent off balanced and I sent a careless jab at his head. My foe expected this and hastily stumbled backwards. With the crowbar on his left side he twisted it in his grip, and made a swipe at my mid-section.
I dashed to my right and barely avoided the attack. However, I had forgotten that there was a building in that direction, and my head smashed into the gray stucco. My own pipe clubbed me in the gut as my entire body smacked into the wall with it. My adversary took advantage of this and pounded me on the back with a strike from his left fist.
"Game over red rover." I thought as I expected the football player to begin brain surgery with his crowbar.
Of course, I didn't die.
"Hey, knuckle head!" Eli shouted.
I heard a crunch, as a thick liquid landed on my neck and back. There was a large thump as I assumed my heavy foe fell onto the wet sidewalk. I stumbled away from the wall in a light daze. My right eyebrow and cheek were in dull agony, while my middle back suffered from intense pain. I turned around to see Eli stooped over, as he cleaned his bat off on the pants of the could-have- been-football player. His forehead had been crushed.
"Thanks." I mumbled.
Elijah looked up to me with a solemn expression.
"I'd rather not be thanked for murder." He replied.
I shook my head and placed my hand to my aching face, as I stumbled into the alley we had been in a moment before. I had a weak grip on my pipe, and I tossed it to the side as I sat against the wall. My legs shook as my body attempted to reabsorb the adrenaline that was floating through my body. Eli came into the alley shortly afterwards and sat across from me. I rested my head against the wall and looked up to the sky. The clouds were beginning to clear up, and the sun was starting to shine through the gaps. I slid my head to the left, and I saw something bright pink duck quickly behind the edge of a white building with red trim. I was thrown into an uproar. I was entirely annoyed and fed up with this pink stuff always being just out of view.
"Damn it! I'm going to figure this shit out!" I said angrily, as I stood abruptly.
Elijah quickly stood too and walked over to me with a concerned expression.
"What-" Elijah began.
He was interrupted as we heard distant gunshots from the South. Gunshots weren't common sounds but neither were they rare. When I realized they weren't advancing in our direction I allowed myself to relax.
"Did... Did those sound like they were coming from the Blugar's Park area?" Eli queried.
"They could have been. I guess we can only hope that it's not at the Sedan." I replied.
My curiosity engaged my desires in a bout of tug-of-war. I desperately wanted to discover what in hell this bizarre pink phenomenon was, but on the other hand I wanted to find the source of the gunfire to ensure that it wasn't our comrades becoming fleshy Swiss cheese. I concluded that I would go insane if I didn't figure out what this pink shit was.
"In the meantime... I'm gonna figure this shit out." I told Eli.
I stooped, picked up my blood stained pipe, and made for a door into the white painted building.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Explain to me." Elijah said, as he gripped my right arm.
"I saw something pink hide itself on the roof. And I'll be damned if I don't let myself figure this out." I explained. I jerked my arm out of his grasp.
There was a sudden alarmed look in his eyes, but it was hastily disguised.
"You know what it is. I know you know! You can't keep it from me. I'll find out eventually. That's always how it always happens! You can't hide things from me!" I yelled.
The disappointment and anger I had with Eli, that had vacated my mind during the engagement, was resurfacing as he prevented my desire to understand with his lack of cooperation and lying.
"I don't know! I swear! But look, that was more likely then not our guys with the Sedan. We need to hightail it over there and see if everything's alright." Elijah replied. His point about the Sedan seemed fairly convincing.
I was seething with frustration and wrath, but with great difficultly I attempted to consider his point.
"I want to solve this. To know the answer behind this reoccurring pink! It's with in my ability to do so right mow, but his lack of cooperation. His lying prevents me from knowing! That's it! Ahaha! He wants to leave, but I'll get what I want in the end. Just like I said! I will discover what this pink stuff is through him. I won't blunder through a building trying to sneak up on this thing again. He know, so I will sate my inquiring mind with his knowledge." I let out a breath as I accepted my plan, and allowed my face to shift into a more or less neutral expression.
"We're going to talk about what happened here, later. Understand? Otherwise I'm staying put and figuring this out. I am certain you are holding something back from me about this. You know what this is, and it infuriates me that you lie to my face and claim not to know when you do. You-" I began ranting, but Elijah cut me off.
"I agree to that condition. Our group could very well be dieing right now and I will not waste my time, or theirs, with being yelled at." Elijah replied tersely.
I pursed my lips and nodded to Elijah. He accepted my response without a reaction, and jogged out of the alley. He turned left and headed south towards Blugar's Park. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper that was too common in these alleyways as I ran out after him. I whipped my pipe clean and slid it back into the pack. I felt my face shift into a sullen expression. Even though I was satisfied with having a chat with him later I felt so close at making a discovery that I eagerly desired to accomplish, and once again it was taken from me. I felt hollow and bitter about it.
The approximately 20 minute dash to the park allowed me to reflect on my actions and reactions back in that alley. I realized that I had requested Elijah to do something that went against his being. Just as Eli prevented me from discovering what I desired to know; I had requested Eli to commit murder at a moment's notice. Something he was against doing. But he did it in the end... Even though I got furious at him and tried to steal his weapon to kill the guy. He could have easily let me get killed instead and have taken off without pursuit. I'll have to ask him why he chose to save my pathetic life.
I let my poorly based anger dissipate as we jogged into Blugar's Park. We made a beeline straight for the clearing, but I already knew what to expect when I didn't hear quiet conversations as I blundered through the thicket and into the open. Elijah was ahead of me. He took a quick glance around the empty clearing then faced me. Eli didn't bear an angry expression when he regarded me.
"This isn't good..." Elijah told me, nor did he have a hostile tone to his voice.
I placed a hand over my mouth and considered what this could mean.
"I suppose he had time to reflect just as I had. Perhaps he, like me, forgot his anger as he came to a similar realization, but I doubt this. That would be assuming he thought like me which is completely preposterous. Not everybody is like me." I concluded.
I glanced up to Eli and gave him my thought on the lack of people.
"It's still some time before we're all supposed to be here, anyways." I replied, as I returned the hand to my side and looked up to Eli.
"Well... What do you suppose we do?" He asked me.
"We could wait or go down to the Sedan. I haven't been to the Sedan though, so I'm inclined to wait." I replied.
"I can get to it. I've gone past it once or twice when Redge's sent me into the Suburbs to the south." Eli responded.
"Well in that case, lead the way." I told him.
He nodded and jogged out of the clearing. I pushed off with my left foot as I pursued him.
It was only a 10 minute jog from the clearing and the sight we were approaching disintegrated any optimism I had. Elijah stopped and waited for me to catch up. Once I had he followed behind me a slower pace. There were a few corpses in the street and the very faint, sweet smell of smoke floated around the scene. Several still and bloody bodies were located within the parking lot. Me and Elijah grimly walked into the area as we glanced at the corpses.
A couple were unfamiliar to me, but it was startling to see a few familiar faces from only a few months ago. The people that went with Dozer on that raid so long ago... Most of them had perished to gruesome melee wounds, whereas a few had succumbed to bullets. I recognized a certain corpse extremely well, even if his head was cleaved in half.
"Found him." I called.
"Found who?" Elijah queried, as he came up.
I glanced over to him and saw him shield his eyes from the gruesome sight as he turned away.
"Oh god..." Eli muttered.
"You... Get accustomed to it after a while." I poorly assured him.
"I don't want to get accustomed to this." He replied quietly.
I nodded slowly as I recalled myself making similar thoughts when I was first Regulated.
"Who is it though?" Elijah asked.
"Frank." I replied simply.
"Oh... Do you think he showed up to help?" Eli inquired.
"Doubt it. I'll bet he was the guy Mike saw yesterday. Probably in it with Dozer's gang and ours. However he managed to pull that off." I said.
"Dozer...?" Elijah asked, again.
Damn he was curious and that was supposed to my job!
I stepped over Frank's corpse as I walked towards the Workshop. I glanced at corpses on my way over. I noticed a couple bodies that seemed to be people from our group, but I never took the effort to remember their names. I guess that's a good thing now, since I didn't know them well enough to mourn them.
"He was some guy that went by the name of Dozer. He co-ran the group around a year ago. Him and Redge disagreed about making a raid on some gang's drug stash. So Dozer mustered up half of our group at the time and went after it anyways. They never returned. Redge said we were better off without them, but when that gang came after us a week later. Well... That wasn't a nice sight to walk up on." I recounted.
Elijah didn't have anything to say to that.
By now we had reached the Workshop. It was a beige building with a single garage on the left and a office of sorts on the right. The glass windows that were parallel to the office doors had been shattered. The garage was open and lacked a car. There were four corpses around where the Sedan should have been. Clichély enough, these were the corpses that mattered the most.
The first I noticed was Chuck then Mike not far from him. Both seemed to have died from gunshot wounds. The third was Carla. I hastily looked away and tightened my expression as my gut chilled. No romantic relationships for me. No getting back to her on that offer. Nothing to hope for. Nothing to dream about. Nothing to... I just... Can't dwell on it. I hardly even knew her. I didn't want a relationship anyways. The last corpse wasn't familiar to me as it's entire head had disappeared, but Eli recognized it. His face was becoming pale. I hoped he wouldn't puke...
"That's Bill." He said quietly.
"I only made an effort to remember five names. So I don't know who this Bill is." I told him.
"We camped out in an abandoned apartment building near the Riverfront McDonalds. He was one of the few trustworthy guy's I'd met, and suggested I join this group. He was a great guy..." Eli said in a sorrow filled voice.
I lowered my head and looked at the ground for a few moments, then brought it up to the ceiling when I realized that nasty stuff was on the floor.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Eli moaned as he stumbled over to a wall.
"Oh god. Not puking! Not puking! Get away! Get away!" I mentally panicked, as I ran for the door that led into the office.
Able to beat a defenseless drunk's head in with a pipe? I can do that. Able to kill adorable cats, then gut them? Yes. Albeit with guilt. Able to jump people and smash their heads without warning? Already done. Able to walk through a parking lot full of maimed and gruesome corpses? Mission Complete. Able to hear a guy puke? God. Help me. Please.
I was closing the door to the office when I heard the "Blaaaagh..." that Eli issued forth.
"So close..." I thought as the door shut behind me.
I couldn't get the sound of Eli regurgitating and the sick splatter of cat meat, peanuts, and fruit cocktail landing on the floor out of my memory. I leaned onto the counter. I could feel that my face had gone pale and the sweat trickling down my face and neck. My stomach was ice cold with fear and terror. The simple thought of someone disgorging the contents of their stomach completely unnerved me.
No. I was terrified of it. Once it was down it should stay down. There wasn't a need for it to come back out in a disgustingly horrific manner and form. When I heard Eli vomit again I knew I was done. A sick feeling creeped into my belly and agitated my stomach. I felt it climbing higher. It was coming up to my lungs. Pure terror made my heart beat incredibly fast. My lungs were drawing in and blowing out air too quickly. I must have been hyperventilating.
"Do not puke." I thought.
I puked anyways.
Needless to say, I was extremely horrified when the stream of repulsive matter poured out of my own mouth and onto the opposite side of the counter. Once my body had expelled the food contents it held I groped for a water bottle in a side pouch. I retrieved one and took a swig then spat it out as quickly as I could in an attempt to wash the putrid taste from my mouth. I stumbled over to a bench and sat on it, as I bent over and rested my elbows on my knees. I put my head on my arms and held the water bottle off to one side. I took deep shuddering breaths and tried to calm myself over the dilemma I had just endured. I heard the door open and glanced up to see Eli coming in.
"Yo. What's da mattah?" He said in a deeper voice than usual, then suddenly he cleared his throat.
"Sorry... What's bothering you?" He asked again.
I shook my head in my arms then brought it up to take a drink from my bottle to hopefully rid the traces of that disgusting taste from my mouth. Elijah looked at me expectantly and I waved my left hand dismissively.
"I just puked, that's all." I said to him.
"Really? You seemed pretty stone faced about all of this." Eli told me as he gestured outside to the corpses.
"I... I have a fear of people vomiting. Then the fear becomes overwhelming and I puke." I replied.
Elijah chose not to say anything, which was wise on his part. He decided to sit down on the bench next to me and wait. After some time I felt well enough to put the bottle back into it's side pouch and stand.
"You still got some around your mouth." Eli informed me as he stood up to join me.
I swiftly glanced around the office for anything to clean my mouth with. There was a scrap of paper next to the bench. I darted over to it and hastily wiped my mouth with it. I chucked the paper as far away from me as I could once all the vomit was removed. I heard Eli fail to restrain short chuckle. I rounded on him and sent him the most furious glower I could muster, but I believe it just amused him more. I shook my head and sighed.
"I didn't see Redge's corpse. Did you?" I asked Eli in an attempt to get the topic away from my phobia.
"No I didn't. Do you think he got away?" Eli replied.
"Doubted. He had a sense of honor and would fight for what he believed in. It's more likely that Dozer captured him for whatever reason." I said.
Eli nodded slowly.
"I didn't see Melinda's body either." Elijah pointed out.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that scag snuck off when the first enemy showed up." I responded.
There were a few moments of silence then Eli inquired about my plans.
"What do you plan on doing now...?"
The gravity of this event didn't smack me until now. The entire group I had been with for many months was dead. All of them except for Eli. Redge could easily be dead but I would probably never know for sure. Melinda probably booked it and went God knows where. But what now? I could search for another group but that was just the same shit every time. Personally, I was tired of drifting from one team to the next.
"I don't have a clue. I guess, I might go solo for a while. I'm weary of changing groups." I told Elijah.
A conflicted look appeared on Eli's features.
"I had hoped that we could stick together. Maybe recruit a few other people, but just me and you at least. To be honest, you're the only guy I can trust now, and I'd rather count you as a friend instead of... Well, not having any." Elijah replied.
I briefly considered this.
"There are several benefits for staying together. It's always good to have another pair of eyes watching out for you, even better if it's somebody I can trust. More so, he's fast and can keep up with me. If not go faster than myself and he doesn't complain much. He seems pretty legit but he has that chivalry and inexperience that all good hearted newbies have... I haven't seen many of them last long on their own." I mulled it over for a moment then came to a decision.
"It'll be best if we stay together, I guess. It's always good to have a partner that I can hopefully trust. Besides, you wouldn't make it long on your own and I can't exactly dump you. Well I could, but I'd hate myself for it. I kind of like to think of myself as a good guy, ya know?" I said.
"Heh. Right. Jump around a corner and hit people in the face without warning. Sure. You're a good guy." Eli replied, but he bit his lip and looked down apologetically.
I brushed off the comment. People say stupid things all the time it's not necessary to get my jimmies rustled over it. If that meme was still going around...
"I'm desperate. I do what it takes to survive. Now let's get goin' before other scavengers show up." I told Eli.
"You got it." He replied.
I stepped past him and pushed open the office doors. A small bell tinkled as I exited the building and jogged towards the sidewalk and down the street.
I waited outside an abandoned red brick apartment complex that was stained with cyan and black graffiti. Elijah had darted inside to grab his belongings. Like the inexperienced guy he was he stored most of his items by where he slept, but by the way this building looked, and smelled it was clear that not many people had used it besides Eli and Bill. I leaned next to the door and tapped my foot on the concrete sidewalk.
A couple walked past on the other side of the street. The man's left arm was around the woman's shoulders. They were in hushed conversation and I didn't trouble them. They didn't bother me either when they did notice myself. I watched them walk past and turn left into an alleyway. I only had a little envy for the man's success regarding a relationship, but I was never much interested in one anyways... Or so I keep telling myself. I chuckled as a thought came to mind.
"Do what you want cause being single is free! You are a loner! Yar har fiddle dee dee! Being single is alright with me! Do what you want because being single is free! You are a loner!"
I continued to laugh quietly until the music for You are a pirate! faded away from my memory. I heard Elijah coming down the stairs from inside the building to, unintentionally, save me from mulling over Carla's passing. I pushed away from the wall and faced the doors when he came out with a substantially fuller backpack.
"I dumped those extra water bottles upstairs. Figured we didn't need them anymore." Eli informed me.
I nodded to him.
"Good call. Mind opening my pack and taking my extra bottles out?" I requested.
"Sure." Elijah replied.
I turned my back to him and heard him unzip the backpack. He simply tossed the bottles out onto the sidewalk. Once he had fulfilled my request I turned back around to him.
"The sun's beginning to go down. We're gonna go grab my box and find a spot to sleep." I informed him.
"Alright, but what about me? I don't really have something to sleep in." He asked.
I shrugged.
"Just try to stay warm we'll get it sorted out tomorrow. It's not like the box keeps me much warmer anyways. It's just something to keep the rain off." I responded.
"Alright. Let's get going then. We got some stuff to talk about." Eli said, as he bounced on the tips of his feet with what seemed like nervous energy.
I nodded yet again, and took off in the direction of my cardboard home.
It didn't take us long to arrive at my box. I slid it out from behind the dumpster and continued jogging down the alley. I didn't have a specific location in mind so I ran two blocks north and east. I found a suitable location between two dumpsters and tossed my box there. I slid my pack off my shoulders and leaned it against one of the dumpsters.
"I imagine you move your sleeping spot every evening to avoid someone finding it then coming back later?" Elijah guessed, as he also took his pack off and leaned it against the wall.
Elijah stretched, sat down, and rested against his pack. I did them same and relaxed next to my backpack.
"Yea. That's about it." I said, as I dug through my pack for the peanut butter and crackers.
I quickly found the items and took out my plastic spoon to spread the brown butter with.
"We'll split these. Go ahead and help yourself." I told Eli, as I tossed the peanut butter, spoon, and crackers to him.
He was able to catch the butter and crackers, but the spoon bounced off his left arm and onto the grimy concrete. Elijah shrugged, took the spoon, and wiped it off on his pants. He then began scooping out peanut butter onto his crackers.I grinned as the moment I had waited for had finally arrived.
"I believe you need to explain something to me, yes?" I asked Elijah.
He immediately stopped spreading his peanut butter and refused to look up to me when he replied.
"Yes... Can it wait until I have eaten? I'd like some time to formulate my thoughts." Eli responded.
My grin fell away as I nodded my understanding. I rested my head against the faded gray dumpster and waited for him to consume his dinner. It was several minutes until he offered the food and spoon back to me. I retrieved them from him, and began making my peanut butter cracker sandwiches. I had downed two of them by the time Eli made his statement.
"I'm a Brony or was one... I assume you know what that means?" Elijah asked me with a serious expression.
"Yes." I replied simply.
"When I was Regulated, the show had long since been canceled. Inflation made it too difficult for it to be funded, but the Fandom did their best with continuing the show. They even manage to produce an entire 23 episode season." Elijah's features shifted to a more sad look. He gazed down at the filthy asphalt between us.
"But the Regulation passed, and the majority of us didn't have work, like everyone else at the time. Those that didn't have a job stopped everything they were doing and focused on obtaining one. Of course, as you probably knew, the job market was horrible at the time. Employers couldn't afford new employees and not many achieved a job. This sent well over half of the fandom packing." He took a pause as he continued ordering this thoughts.
"The Brony Community slowly began dieing out. People gradually lost interest and decided to focus their time on being more productive in their work. To earn as much money as they could to avoid being sent into a Poverty Zone. Those that remained dedicated did so more as a tribute to the memories they had, of the show, of conventions, of friends, and to those that had been Regulated. Many of the websites that we gathered around were near closure when I had to leave. It was becoming too expensive to pay for servers, and the pathetic amount of talent and new content coming through was more than enough reason to close down. I can only imagine that such would have happened by now." Elijah finished.
I was taking in this information with a neutral mind and held my tongue until Elijah was well and truly done. I had finished off the crackers and peanut butter and tossed it over my head into the dumpster.
"How this relates to now. Too me lying to you. When you shared your encounter with me. I... I foolishly believed that there was hope. That somehow... The Mane 6 had come to aid us, but I instantly came to the realization that they were a cartoon. There was no such possibility, and I discarded the poorly based hope. When I tell you I do not know what animal the feathers belong too I am not lying. When you mentioned the pink... thing later I suddenly doubted my earlier thought. What if, somehow, it was possible for them to be here? But I pushed it off again. They were created from our minds. It is impossible for a show to become incarnate in our world. So go ahead. Call me a fool, a faggot, gay, or retarded. I'm beyond caring. I enjoyed what I did and that was that." Elijah finished.
He looked up to me with a sad but defiant expression. As if he expected me to insult him with one of those terms.
"Too this day I still approach the Bronies with the philosophy of 'Too each their own.' In fact, I have some respect for you guys. To blatantly disregard societies standards and pursue what you enjoy. It was something I hadn't either the balls or desire to do. Take your pick but I appreciate the honesty in the end. Just know that I don't think any less of ya, but still expect the same from you." I responded.
Elijah's mood lifted considerably and allowed his mouth to curl into a grin which grew into a smile of relief. He muttered something under his breath, but his immense relief made the words louder than he intended.
"Heh. I guess friendship still is magical."
I respected his desire for me to not have heard him and acted as if I had not. The sun had already sunk behind the skyscrapers on the other side of the river. There was very little daylight left, and I still needed to write today's events. I actually had forgotten about my journal until that moment. I glanced back up to Elijah.
"I'm gonna hit it. You can go ahead and take first watch or just go to sleep. I don't care." I told him.
"Alright. I suppose the things I have to tell you can wait until morning. G'Night." He responded.
"Yea. Good night." I said to him, as I tossed my backpack into my box and crawled inside.
I got comfortable in a similar manner as I had done the previous evening, and hastily wrote what had occurred this day. Even now I hear Eli snoring on the other side of the alleyway. Damn, is he loud but staying awake any longer isn't going to discover what Elijah has to tell me sooner. So off to sleep it is for me.
I understand that much time has passed since I finished unraveling the poorly written text of the previous journal entry. However, many things have cropped up and fallen down in my life, as such happens from time to time. I apologize immensely if this tale meant much to yourself and that you despaired over it's possible demise. I make no commitments that the next entry will be here sooner or these... Speculations concerning the Other Side will be written swiftly either. Although I can promise you that I will continue to toil on sharing this tale with you unless I myself perish. I will also provide my apologies if the length of this section is rather offsetting... I intend for following chapters to be smaller, but not larger than this.
Now, I delay you no longer. Read and enjoy.
March 14th - The Other Side
Rarity was on watch. It was a dark and cold night. Not many stars could be seen and the moon dimly glowed through the cloud bank that had drifted in. A cold breeze began to blow through the abandoned facility. The swift wind pierced Rarity's fur, causing her body to shiver involuntarily.
"Brrrr. The weather seems to be changing. If I must remain on watch I would rather not freeze." Rarity murmured, as she stood to enter the Warehouse.
She resolved to bring her sleeping bag outside with her, and to curl up inside of it while she peered out into the night. She quietly approached her snoozing friends, and attempted to levitate the sleeping bag outside. She was not successful on her first attempt, and the coldness briefly enclosed her soul once again. She was successful on her second try, of course, but old habits are never easily forgotten. She placed the sleeping bag on the left side of the door, and unzipped it with magic.
After some struggling she was sitting on her hinds wrapped in her sleeping bag. Her head was covered by the dark purple bag, but her horn physically held it aloft so she could peer out into the night for any sign of hostility. Rarity shifted and relaxed into her bag. It was becoming incredibly cozy and comfy, when abruptly the rain began to fall. No thunder, or sprinkling preceded the change of weather. Just sudden water from the sky. Rarity emitted a quick gasp and fumbled for a way out of her sleeping bag. She quickly focused and unzipped the bag with telekinesis. Once outside of the bag the chilling rain struck her fur, and caused another shiver to ripple across her back. She snatched up the bag with her mouth and dashed into the shelter of the Warehouse.
Her friends had begun to stir. The rain had fallen through the hole above where they slept. It either made their bags damp and caused them to wake, or the water fell directly onto their heads which peeked out at the openings. Rarity plopped her bag down near the new crate. It was only damp in a few places, and would dry out quickly once day came. The other five ponies also dragged, or levitated in Twilight's case, their sleeping materials over to where Rarity stood. Rarity passed them as she trotted over to retrieve her pad.
Rainbow Dash carried her bag under her left wing, and pad beneath the right. She grumbled to Pinkie Pie about the rain disturbing her from dreaming, and Pinkie nodded empathetically to her. Twilight Sparkle muttered under her breath as she passed Rarity, and kept her eyes locked on the items she was transporting, while Applejack and Fluttershy carried their belongings quietly over to the new spot. When Rarity had obtained her pad, and returned it to where she had placed her bag the others had already deployed their sleeping material. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were crawling back into their bags, but Applejack approached Rarity as she tossed her pad down.
"I find it kind of funny that ya jinxed us." Applejack started with a short chuckle.
Rarity frowned for a moment, as she determined if AJ was teasing or being sincere.
"There's no such thing as jinxes! It's just a bunch of phooey." Twilight spoke up from her lavender sleeping bag.
Applejack slanted her mouth and raised her eyebrows in an uncertain look, while Rarity giggled as she found amusement in AJ's expression and Twilight's typical response. Applejack assumed a normal expression again, as Rarity's mirth came to a quick end.
"Well... I can take the rest of yer shift if ya like." AJ offered.
Rarity took this under consideration for a moment. Her eyebrows tilted towards each other, and her mouth became an uneven line. Her ears rotated to face left and right, while her tail swished as she thought.
"I appreciate the offer Applejack, but it's still a few hours before mine's ends, and I'm certainly capable of making it to the end of my shift. I would feel absolutely awful if you had to fulfill my duties and your own." Rarity replied.
"Alrigh'. Migh' as well hit the hay, then." Applejack said.
"Indeed. I won't be far, though. Good night, Applejack." Rarity responded as she turned about.
Applejack nodded, and turned back to her own sleeping bag. She crawled inside and swiftly fell into slumber.
Rarity levitated her sleeping bag over to herself. She fumbled once again, but was met with success eventually none the less. She wrapped the purple bag around herself, and glanced about the dark Warehouse. There was no sound besides the dull clatter and platter of rain impacting the metal roof above, and there was no movement besides the wind. As the early morning hours came about Rarity was barely keeping her eyelids open, and wearily plodded over to Applejack. She nudged her awake, then placed her sleeping bag onto the right side of where Twilight slept. She clumsily crawled inside and slept without any troubles.
Applejack patrolled the Warehouse, as she diligently watched the building's entryways. Nothing eventful occurred during the early morning hours. The wind had moved on, and the rain made a slow, soft pitter sound on the roof high above. AJ carried the few scraps of rubbish that they had previously missed over to the Trash Heap.
"Gonna have t' talk t' the girls about what they wanna do with all this garbage." Applejack said, as she heaved another chunk of metal that she carried on her back up and over her head.
A warm orange, yellow glow slowly began to shoot through the numerous cracks on the east end of the building signaling that the sun had begun to rise. Applejack eagerly trotted over to one of the holes in the eastern walls to view the sunrise.
The sun glowed vibrantly through the clouds, and drizzling rain. The lumpy streams of orange and yellow that the rising sun created on the clouds oddly reminded Applejack of orange sherbert ice cream. Her heart ached briefly as she recalled that flavor of ice cream being Apple Bloom's favorite. Needless to say, she missed her family. Even if she was just gone a few days. AJ continued to behold the glorious sunrise for several long moments, but once the sun rose she stood and walked over to the kitchen. After obtaining a cup of water, Applejack sat in her chair, and mulled over how to dispose of the garbage heap.
"We can bury a bunch of it, but I haven' seen a plot of dirt since we've gotten here. And there's a bunch of garbage in thar that we can't bury. Like those plastic box things, and the metal stuff. That won't decompose. Migh' have t' talk this over as a group."
While Applejack waited for her friends to wake, she retrieved her tooth paste and brushes from her saddlebags, and began her morning routine. She placed her hat down next to the small plastic tub, and squeezed a little tooth paste onto her toothbrush. She picked up the brush with the crook between the ankle and hoof, then scrubbed her teeth clean. After placing her toothbrush and paste away she casually combed her mane and tail, then tossed the scrunchies back onto the ends of them. She scooped up her hat and returned to her chair, sitting there until her friends arose.
Eventually they did. When they began to awake AJ quickly began warming a pot of water as they went about their waking rituals. While the water boiled Applejack retrieved the crowbar from where it was leaning against the first crate with her mouth, and brought it over to the newer box. Fortunately, the midsection of the tool had a cushion that faintly tasted of strawberries. She slid the flattened end of the tool into the crack along the top, and pried open the box. The crate made a sharp snap, and Applejack tossed the lid over with a push from her left hoof. It made a clattering thud, as she leaned in to investigate what the box contained.
On the left side of the crate were four gallon jugs of water. To the right were more coffee grounds, coca packets, and tea bags. Along with twelve Quacker Oatmeal packages of varying flavors, potato stew ingredients, various fruits and vegetables, and more sandwich fixings, again. Below all of this were more meager construction supplies. It was the same amount and items that they had been shipped previously.
"Awh shucks. Rainbow's gonna be a bit antsy when she see's this." AJ thought, as her vision slid over two six packs of Canterlot Cider. She could only assume one of them was intended for the previous evening, and the other for today.
"Looks like we got oatmeal fer breakfast t' day!" Applejack hollered to the other mares, when she had turned her head to face them.
They hastily finished anything they were occupied with, and walked over to see what they had been shipped.
"Oh! Do we have bubble gum flavored oatmeal? I love bubble gum flavored oatmeal!" Pinkie Pie said in typical joyousness, as she bounced to peer over the heads of the other ponies to see if the crate held the item she desired.
She slowly ended her bouncing, as she noticed the other five staring at her with peculiar expressions. Pinkie raised her eyebrows, and her mouth slid to the left as she regarded their expressions.
"What?" Pinkie Pie asked of them.
"You're um... I mean I, uh, didn't expect you to be so... Happy?" Twilight replied uncertainly.
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, and looked to Twilight.
"I'm not outta the Candy Cane Forest just yet, but I can't just be a sad napkin either. There's a time and place for sadness, and I'll have to stick with it until I get there!" Pinkie replied, but her expression fell into a sad smile at the end.
The five other mares glanced to each other, but Rarity put a decisive end to the silence before it became awkward.
"Pinkie Pie does have a point. What exactly do we have in there, Applejack?" She inquired.
Applejack's jaw fell in an attempt to reply, but Rainbow Dash quickly made a complaint.
"Wait! Are those- ?! Ah horseshoes! We had cider in here for last night!"
"Don't let that get to ya. That means we'll have double the cider tonight!" Pinkie Pie cheered.
Rainbow licked her chops with anticipation at the sound of that.
"As I was goin' t' say..." Applejack began with a slight point to her tone. "They're in a box so..." Applejack looked to Twilight. "If ya could levitate it on out we could answer those questions."
Twilight shook her head slowly a few times.
"If I do what I plan on accomplishing today, then I'll need as much of my magic as I can keep." Twilight responded with an apologetic look.
Applejack raised an eyebrow and shrugged, then looked over her left shoulder to Rarity.
"Well you could do it if ya want." AJ suggested.
Rarity nodded as she slid between Rainbow Dash and Applejack to levitate the box out of the crate, and place it behind the group. It was a simple white cardboard box. However, it bore the logo of a mallard sporting a white wig with the words Quacker Oats stamped around the picture. Rarity started to levitate the packets of oatmeal out of the box, and glanced at the flavors as they passed her nose.
"There is... Apple Cinnamon, Peach, Maple Brown Sugar, Walnut and..." Rarity paused as she stared at one of the typical brown packets. She spun it around to show the others the dark pink text that was printed onto it.
"Bubble Gum." Rarity said with an incredulous expression.
"REALLY!? Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay!" Pinkie exclaimed. She snatched them out of Rarity's telekinetic grasp and dashed into the kitchen.
The other five laughed or chuckled with amusement.
"Oh, and we have a Banana Bread flavor. Who desires which?" Rarity informed and inquired.
"Uhm... I'll take the Apple Cinnamon. Unless somepony else wants it." Fluttershy spoke up meekly.
Nopony interjected, and Rarity sent the two packages of oatmeal that Fluttershy had requested her way. Fluttershy collected them with her teeth, and walked towards Pinkie Pie.
"I'll take the Peach." Twilight said.
She too took the packages in the same manner as Fluttershy, and joined her in the Kitchen.
"I guess I'll have the Banana whatever it was." Rainbow Dash replied.
Upon receiving her packets, Rainbow instead flew over to where the others were gathering around the stove.
"That leaves the Walnut and Maple Brown Sugar. Which do you want, Applejack?" Rarity queried.
"Well... I don't know. Go ahead and take what ya want." AJ answered with uncertainty and a swish of her tail.
"No, dear, I insist. I honestly don't mind having what's left." Rarity responded.
"Maple Brown Sugar it is for me then." Applejack replied, as she walked over to the box and collected the two packets.
"Mighty generous of ya lettin' us all pick first." AJ said around the oatmeal packages.
"Thank you." Rarity responded with a smile. She levitated her desired packets before herself, as she and Applejack trotted into the Kitchen.
The water Applejack put on earlier was now welly heated. The six ponies scurried about as they searched for bowls to pour their oats into, which would, of course, be followed by water. It didn't take long before they were all seated around the table with bowls of oatmeal and cups of hot coca, coffee, or tea.
"What do we have planned for today, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, before she took a sip from her tea.
Twilight swallowed the spoonful of oatmeal that was in her mouth, and knocked aside a few strands of her mane that had fallen across her field of vision.
"I plan on drawing a map, and making my own observations from that building Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found yesterday." Twilight replied.
"Oh! Oh! Can I come? I wanna come! Will we get to meet more humans? Please can I come?!" Pinkie Pie spoke up ecstatically, with pink oatmeal smeared around her mouth.
Twilight smiled lightly with mild amusement when she noticed the oatmeal around Pinkie's mouth.
"Yes, you can come. Although I'm not sure if we'll go out of our way to meet anypo-... Anybody. Even if we do... It might be best if we avoid them. Seeing as how they can... Act to each other. Which is why I'd like to take Fluttershy along. You're pretty good at avoiding ponies. Right?" Twilight said, as she regarded Fluttershy at the end.
"I, um, guess so..." Fluttershy replied. She took another scoop from her oatmeal and slowly chewed it with an expression that lacked confidence.
"Alright, but what about the rest of us?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she pointed to her chest with her right hoof and a furrowed brow.
"I was hoping you'd be willing to stay and help Applejack and Rarity out with patching this place up. Especially the roof." Twilight Sparkle answered, with a quick glance to the hole above where they had slept the previous night.
"Okay." Rainbow replied with a quick shrug, then redirected her attention back to devouring her breakfast.
"Twi' ya know we're gonna 'ave t' talk with these humans at some point." Applejack pointed out, as she scraped some oatmeal out of her bowl.
Twilight's mouth slid into a slant and her eyebrows became uneven, as she adopted a worried expression.
"Maybe, but if they can so easily... Kill each other, then what will prevent them from doing the same to us? They may even be more inclined to do so when they're afraid of who we are!" Twilight replied.
"What do you mean 'afraid of who we are', darling?" Rarity queried.
"Oh my gosh! We haven't told you!" Twilight said, with sudden startlement.
Twilight was suddenly conflicted with worry, fear, and alarm. This was displayed when she looked over to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie noticed the glance, and quickly finished the food that was in her mouth.
"Yea! I met a human the other night! It was like, I heard voices so I thought 'Oh humans! Yay! I get to meet a human!' So I got up and snuck all super speedy sneaky like, over to this metal dumpster thingy like this..." Pinkie Pie bounced out of her chairs, and demonstrated how she sneaked over to the dumpster two nights ago.
"I saw this short lil' human guy coming my way so I jumped into that dumpster metal thingy, and waited for him to get close. Once he did I jumped out and said 'Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! Party planner extraordinaire! Who are you?' And he got all freaked out! His jaw dropped and his eye's nearly popped out of his head! It was priceless! Then he got up and ran away screaming. It's really funny looking back on it now." Pinkie Pie explained in usual extreme speed with a brief giggle at the end.
There was a pause in the eating as the mares interpreted what Pinkie recounted at a slightly slower speed.
"Wait! Is this guy gonna come back? We have no idea what they might do now that they know we're here! Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Rainbow Dash shouted with hostility. Her face changed to confused anger.
She could only work with what she knew, and she knew that these people cared little for each other from what Pinkie had shared with them yesterday, and just by seeing the world they lived in she easily guessed they cared even less about that. Rainbow feared what might occur if these individuals applied their disregard to life and negligence to herself and her friends, but being afraid offended her self esteem. This offense, and concern mashed into anger which leaked out in her voice.
"I thought Pinkie would tell you, and it didn't occur to me to tell you when she didn't!" Twilight responded hotly, as she became offended with seemingly unjust anger.
Pinkie Pie shrugged with oatmeal still on her face.
"I had plenty of other things on my mind that day, and just forgot! Sorry!" She mentioned.
"You should have told us once you realized Pinkie wasn't going too! We need to know these things so we're not all taken by surprise when some of these Aliens-"
"Humans!" Twilight hastily interjected her correction.
"Come in looking for another deck of cards! Or whatever worthless item they're willing to kill over!" Rainbow retorted.
"Uh, Girls?" Fluttershy spoke in a tone that was easy to ignore, or not hear.
"I didn't feel it was my place to tell you all, and if Pinkie Pie didn't think it was necessary to inform you, then so be it!" Twilight retaliated.
"Then you could have taken some precautions of your own without needing to tell us!" Dash argued.
Twilight began to respond, but Fluttershy chose to intercede at this moment before the argument got to far out of hoof.
"HEY!" She yelled.
Fluttershy hastily lowered her tone once the other five ponies regarded her.
"There's, um... Wu- one thing I'd like to say."
"Aaand?" Rainbow Dash coaxed impatiently.
"It's that... Animals don't like to return to things they're afraid of, and I know I don't like too either. So... Maybe it's the same with humans?" Fluttershy explained.
"Yes... I was going to get to something like that." Twilight replied tersely towards Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, don't start fightin' again." Applejack swiftly interceded before the argument could resume.
"Yes. Stop your petty, ridiculous fighting and solve this reasonably." Rarity said in support of Applejack.
"Yea, tell us what this 'somethin' ' is, Twi." AJ calmly queried.
Twilight Sparkle let out a tense breath as she adopted a professional appearance, and attempted to calm herself for the explanation.
"After Pinkie Pie informed me of this incident, I spent several moments determining and hypothesizing if we were in any danger." Twilight began.
Rainbow Dash made to speak, but she halted the action when Applejack sent her a pointed glare.
"I concluded that his reaction was of unbelief and fear. Not only because he was being jumped at night by a pink pony, but a talking one no less! Celestia did say that the ponies here were not intelligent. I'm not certain about what that means, but given this human's reaction I believe that they do not speak or appear the same way as us, at least. Furthermore, since he was the only individual to see Pinkie Pie, and he hardly believed what he saw himself, I would imagine that the human would have a difficult, if not impossible, time convincing another of what he witnessed. In which case, we were not in any danger." Twilight finished.
Rainbow Dash had crossed her forelegs, and scowled at her nearly finished oatmeal.
Twilight's features softened from the professional appearance she had taken, as she continued.
"But you were right about one thing, Dash."
Rainbow brought her head up with an sulking expression.
"I should have taken some form of precautions in the least, but I'm glad I didn't need to." Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash put away her sulking appearance, and took on one that was more apologetic.
"Yeah, I shouldn't have erupted either... Sorry about that." Rainbow Dash apologized.
"It's alright." Twilight replied with a small grin, being glad they were able to resolve the conflict.
A small collective sigh was released from the other four as it became apparent that the argument had concluded.
"If Twi's right, then we got a lot t' do today. Let's finish this up, and get goin'." Applejack said, as she began finishing off her meal.
The others nodded or spoke some agreement and dug in to their food. Once they finished their oatmeal Rarity levitated the bowls and utensils over to the tub that served as a sink. She continued to use her magic to bring a water jug to fill the tub, and a towel to wash the dishes with, along with soap. Twilight approached Rarity as she began scrubbing the remnants of their meal out of the bowl.
"Do you need any help?" Twilight inquired.
"Oh, I'll be fine. Go ahead and get yourself ready." Rarity replied with a smile.
"Alright, but don't hesitate to come ask me if you do." Twilight said, as she turned to prepare herself for the day.
Twilight and the rest started their morning routine. The majority of them simply brushed their teeth and combed their manes. However, Twilight applied a meager amount of cosmetics, while Applejack simply sat idly and waited for them to finish. When Rarity had finished cleaning the dishes she too prepared herself. Of course, she took much longer than the rest, but it wasn't more than fifteen minutes before they were all stand or sitting around the table, expectantly regarding the The Purple Unicorn sat in her own chair. It appeared she was mulling thoughts over, and hadn't taken notice to the expectance being placed upon her.
Applejack lightly tapped the table a few times which subtly broke Twilight's attention to her mind. She belatedly noticed the expressions and shined a sheepish smile to her companions.
"Oh! Sorry." She started apologetically. "Uhm. My plan for today... Like, I said at breakfast, Fluttershy will guide me and Pinkie to the building she and Rainbow found yesterday. From there I'll draw a map of our area. I expect it to take plenty of time. So we'll pack lunches before we leave. I plan to be back well before sunset, though." Twilight stated.
"Certainly, you don't plan to go out in that rain unprotected, darling?" Rarity queried with raised eyebrows. Her mouth was also slightly to the right, which completed her expression of concern.
"No, uh, of course not. Do you have anything in mind that could help with that?" Twilight asked, hopeful that Rarity might be able to cover that small detail which she had overlooked.
"Well. I do believe I could do something with one of our tarps. I might be able to cut out some basic cloaks that may just keep the rain off." Rarity replied.
"That should work fine, thanks." Twilight Sparkle responded with relief and gratefulness.
"Your very welcome. I'll go ahead and start working on that now." Rarity said with slightly dismissive note to her tone, as her mind set onto the task.
Rarity turned and trotted over to the pile of materials they had created the previous evening, and began her search for the sharp slice of metal.
"And you wanna have us work on this dump, right?" Rainbow Dash spoke up with a quick gesture the build around them.
"Yes. If you can patch that hole over where we were sleeping, with the other tarp, that'd be excellent." Twilight replied.
"Ya got it." AJ responded with a nod.
"Excellent! I'll go get our things together. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie could you two please make us some lunches?" Twilight Sparkle requested.
"Yeppers!" Pinkie Pie chirped as she bounced over to the crate to retrieve the items, while Fluttershy followed her quietly.
Twilight turned to gather her notepad and pen, then place those items in her saddlebags.
"Migh' as well wait fer them to clear out before we begin tryin' t' work." Applejack said to Rainbow who merely shrugged in reply.
Although she abruptly looked back to Applejack just as suddenly as the thought had occurred to her.
"Hey! AJ, we could play toss a ball around or somethin' while we wait for them to leave." Dash suggested with a good amount of eagerness.
"Sure, why not?" AJ replied with mild interest, as she followed Rainbow over to her saddlebags.
They retrieved the blue bouncy ball. Rainbow tossed it with her teeth, while Applejack tried to swat it back to Dash with her tail.
While the others waited or prepared for departure, Rarity stretched the blue tarp to it's limits. She examined it with the critical eye that only an experienced and naturally talented designer could possess. She had made so many clothes for her friends in the past few years that she had their dimensions memorized. Pinkie was slightly wider than the other ponies. Definitely not fat, but closer to plump as working in a pastry shop certainly results in. Fluttershy was petite but not thin. Her wings made her appear wider, than she really was. Twilight was slightly above average size for a Unicorn, but she did have a small slouch as she regularly, but unintentionally, practiced bad posture. This made her appear to be more around average height.
After a few fumbles, Rarity used magic to begin making her cuts with this rough information, and the more specific measurements in mind. The shape that she was creating resembled an hourglass, but the top was much more round and wider than the lower half. She swiftly sliced three cloaks out of the tarp, and levitated them to the side. Once they were extracted from the main tarp she levitated them off to the side and folded them several times. This formed a hood, and defined the shape of the cloaks. They each had subtle differences which would account for each pony's slightly different shape, although they all needed to share one common feature.
Rarity made two small holes at the base of the hood on each blue cloak. She then searched the area for string, or anything that would suffice. She quickly scanned through the Trash Heap, and settled on three pieces of black wire. She successfully used telekinesis to carry these wires, and the cloaks before her as she trotted back to the Kitchen. As she carried the six items her heart felt a little exasperated; Similar to how one would feel as they started to run out of breath after running a long distance. Rarity increased her pace so she could allow herself to end the flow of Inner Magic sooner.
Twilight had retrieved her notepad and pen, then packed them into her sidebags. She placed the bags onto her back, and trotted back to the Kitchen where Fluttershy and Pinkie had finished making their sandwiches.
"How's it going?" Twilight Sparkle asked once she had arrived.
"All done! Here ya go." Pinkie replied, as she held a sandwich aloft before Twilight's face.
Twilight flinched at the sudden presence of her lunch, but she used magic to store the item in her bags. She noticed that Pinkie and Fluttershy had already retrieved their bags, and had done the same with their sandwiches.
"We also have some of these fruits and vegetables." Fluttershy mentioned. She made a brief gesture with her right wing to some apple, carrots, oranges, bananas, and corncobs.
"Excellent. We'll take a couple of these with us too then." Twilight replied, as she levitated an apple and carrot into her saddlebags.
Pinkie grabbed an orange and corncob, while Fluttershy chose a carrot and banana. Twilight then regarded them once they had placed their desired food into their bags.
"Are we ready then?" Twilight Sparkle inquired.
"Yeppers!" Pinkie replied with ecstatic vigor.
"I- I guess so..." Fluttershy responded in a nervous tone.
"Don't worry Fluttershy. We'll make it fun!" Pinkie encouraged her.
Fluttershy gulped in response.
"It's one matter flying high above any danger. It's another walking the streets that could hold people who could murder you over the slightest thing..." Fluttershy mentally whimpered.
They diverted their attention to Rarity, as she trotted towards them with their cloaks floating around her.
"That was pretty quick." Twilight commented with an impressed tone and expression.
Rarity nodded, as she adorned each of the ponies with their blue plastic water-resistant cloaks. They covered their backs and sides, but the front was left open as the hood protected their heads.
"Oooh. Nice!" Pinkie commented as she shifted underneath her new clothing.
"I'm glad you like it." Rarity said with a grin.
"Thanks again, Rarity" Twilight replied.
"It's not a problem at all, dear. I just have to put the wires on, and you'll be all set." Rarity responded.
She levitated the wires through the holes, and tied them off. This fastened the cloak together, and prevented it from sliding off.
"It is pretty rudimentary, but it'll protect you from the rain. Although, it may get sticky and uncomfortable if you sweat beneath it." Rarity informed.
The other three nodded their understanding.
"I guess, it's time to go then. Bye!" Twilight said to Rarity.
Rarity continued her smile, and responded in kind.
"Fair well, you three!"
Twilight turned and started walking towards the doors with Pinkie and Fluttershy following close behind.
"See ya!" Rainbow shouted. She waved with her right hoof, when she noticed them leaving.
Applejack stooped to the retrieve the bouncy ball she had failed to return to Dash. When she heard Rainbow Dash's goodbye she raised her head and glanced over her left shoulder in the direction of the other ponies.
"Take care, ya'll!" She hollered.
Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie also said their goodbyes to the other two, as they walked out of the Warehouse.
Applejack collected the ball with her nose, and carefully carried it to Rainbow Dash's bags. She tossed it onto her light blue sleeping bag, then turned to the others.
"Time t' get t' work." She said to them, as she trotted over to the crates.
Rainbow Dash gently flapped towards the same destination, while Rarity walked in pursuit.
Twilight cringed as she followed Pinkie and Fluttershy down an alley only a few blocks away from the Warehouse. Excessive amounts of putrid garbage was piled along the sides of the very narrow pathway they traveled through. She traveled behind the others and could not observe their reactions, but she assumed they had similar expressions.
"The amount of waste here is... Abhorrent. I figured that the garbage back in the Warehouse was due to it being abandoned, but so much litter fills these alleyways and is strewn across the streets... What happened here? Where are the public services? Why is nothing being maintained? Why are there so many buildings, but no sign of humans to inhabit them? The sooner we can find a trustworthy human to talk to the better... Of course. How would it be better if we found one later?" She pondered, as she walked behind Pinkie Pie with her gaze locked onto the ground before her.
The three ponies halted abruptly as Fluttershy sharply inhaled and swiftly backpedaled into Pinkie. Twilight was far enough back to see a possible collision between herself and Pinkie Pie's rear quarters, and hastily took a step backwards to avoid smacking into them. Fluttershy turned about to regard Twilight, while Pinkie stepped out of her way to stand on the side and complete the three mare huddle.
"What's the issue, Fluttershy?" Twilight Sparkle inquired.
"Th-There's a human out there." Fluttershy stuttered in response.
She hid half of her face behind her prominent forelock while her tail swished twice nervously.
"Really? Where was she?" Pinkie asked with a hint of eagerness.
"I-I don't know if it was female or not, but it was to the right and across the street." Fluttershy mumbled.
Pinkie moved to see for herself, but Twilight raised her right foreleg to stop Pinkie and swiftly spoke urgently.
"Pinkie! Wait. We need to watch it first, and see if we can determine if it will be hostile towards us. Then we can decide if we want to approach it or not."
"Why do you keep saying she or he is an it? It's not like they're an animal you know." Pinkie replied with a short eye roll, and a small grin.
"Because we don't know if it's either male or female, and there's only one way to find that out." Twilight responded, as she stepped around Pinkie and trotted passed Fluttershy to the end of the alley.
Twilight Sparkle lowered herself until she was a few inches, or several centimeters, off the ground and crawled with unintentional but humorously exaggerated caution as she peeked around the corner. A quarter of a block down she spotted one of the most ragged and shabby individuals that she might ever know.
A bipedal being with stained gray pants, and a badly blemished white rain jacket, with the hood pulled over to protect it's head, was pushing a shopping cart down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street as Fluttershy had informed. It walked with a strange limp that almost seemed deliberate. It's left leg would lag behind, then hastily be brought forward as if it forgot to move the appendage. The shopping cart was full of various items, but with the distance it was hard to discern what they were. The larger objects appeared to be a package of what was presumably toilet paper, a large stuffed cyan and white elephant, and full white and black plastic garbage bags. Another item that was stored on the undercarriage of the shopping cart was a blue and silver cardboard box that might be opened on the opposing end.
Twilight Sparkle glanced over to Pinkie who had now crawled to her left side.
"I don't see anything dangerous about this guy." Pinkie commented, as she looked to her right to regard Twilight.
"I agree, and even if it-" Twilight noticed the start of change in Pinkie's expression and swiftly corrected herself before the transformation of her features could complete.
"Even if this person had a weapon that limp wouldn't allow him to get close to us... Assuming the human would want to attack us, anyways." She finished.
"So, you ready to make a new friend?" Pinkie Pie chirped with a chunk of the eagerness she had displayed earlier. She abruptly locked her legs into a standing position, and walked out of the alley and into the street.
Twilight's lower jaw hung for a moment as she intended to say a few sentences before Pinkie acted, but she reunited her teeth and rotated her head to look over her left shoulder to Fluttershy. She had stood behind them with loose knees that the butterflies of anxiety caused. She slowly nodded to Twilight to confirm her suspicions that she did hear the brief interchange between Pinkie and herself. With that, she stood and followed Pinkie out of the alley who was already walking at a steady pace across the street. Twilight trotted along side her Pink friend once she had caught up.
"Let's just be cautious. Even if this person doesn't look menacing they very well may be... Like Parasprites." Twilight advised.
"Parasprites were never adorable to me." Pinkie Pie replied.
"The point is still the same, but I don't recall ever asking you as to how you were aware of the danger that those fuzzy things possessed." Twilight Sparkle said and noted
"Really? Well I'll have to tell ya that one sometime!" Pinkie responded.
"He's just staring at us..." Fluttershy spoke as she joined them.
She hastily trotted onto the left side of Twilight as they turned right onto the sidewalk to approach the human directly. She raised her eyes to observe the human as they approached it. The person had halted and was watching their approach. She could not see it's expression over the distance, but she figured it was one of befuddled belief, as she noticed it raise it's left extremity and wipe at were she assumed it's eyes resided.
"Ar- Are you sure this is a good idea? Pinkie's seen one of these people k-kill somepon- someone." Fluttershy continued with notes of concern in her voice.
Twilight tilted her head to the left to regard the pegasus.
"I hope so, Fluttershy... We all have questions about this place, and as much as I would like to find the answers on my own we simply don't have the time to uncover them by ourselves. So we must resort to asking... Besides we can't stay hidden forever. If we're to complete our task we have to reveal ourselves to them at some point. Any matter, this human seems to be crippled, and therefor unlikely to be capable of harming us." Twilight Sparkle answered.
Twilight noticed Fluttershy physically attempt to swallow her anxiety, as they neared the human. She guessed only a few minutes had passed during the time they had left the alleyway and halted a small distance before the person. It was slightly larger than she had expected. Their heads were several inches above the shopping cart, but the individual was still significantly taller than themselves. She swiftly glanced through the contents of the cart which contained only a few sealed and unlabeled tin cans. She also briefly observed the blue cardboard box that resided underneath the cart. It was labeled with light lettering, although she couldn't quite make out what was printed. The box had a few pictures of blue cans that bore the same label.
"Interesting... I haven't seen any, or many, cans like this back in Equestria. There must be a magnificent amount of differences between our species. Hah! Of course there are just look at this thing!"
She raised and lowered her gaze as she regarded the human. Now that they were closer she noticed that the person had a weak sloppy black beard. This confirmed for Twilight that the human was in fact male. His colorful eyes were set well apart from each other, and his nose was surprisingly small. The muscles in his face were seemingly set in a confused and distracted expression, giving the impression of misunderstanding and incomprehension.
Twilight looked up to the human with raised eyebrows and a slight frown as she regarded him with uncertainty. Acting hastily, she chose to preform the introductions before Pinkie could leap at the opportunity, physically or not.
"Uhm, Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my companions: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. We've... Been sent here by our monarch, Princess Celestia, to aid this planet in the troubles that it has recently begun to encounter. Could you please direct us to whoever the local authorities are?" Twilight introduced and requested with obvious nervousness. She belatedly slid a small smile into her anxious expression in hopes that it would soften the strange tension between themselves and the human.
She was mildly surprised and impressed that the human had not reacted radically. In fact, the individual seemed to be intrigued with them, although it was difficult to discern through his befuddled appearance. The human continued to delay his response, but of course, he eventually did. When he spoke his voice tumbled out of his mouth in a thick tone. His words seemed awfully incoherently incomplete, and difficult to comprehend. Although it was clear that it was full of fascination.
"Wha-?! Who 're yo-? No wha- 're yo-? How c'n yo- 'alk?"
Twilight brought her brows together in abrupt confusion, as she attempted to decipher the words. The steady pattering of light rain on her hood proved to affect her hearing slightly. She quickly glanced to her left and right to note the reactions of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Fluttershy squinted and frowned as she also regarded the human with poor understanding, but it seemed that some of her nervousness was beginning to depart, considering that she was interested in the proceedings and not fleeing. Pinkie on the other hoof had her head tilted to the right as she scratched her chin with her left hoof. Her eyebrows were lifted, and her bright blue irises reflected intrigue.
"Uhm. Pardon me, but I didn't quite get all of that." Twilight replied with befuddlement coating her voice.
The human sighed with what seemed to be a well measured amount of depressing frustration... It made her consider if he encountered this issue frequently. Regardless, he carefully pronounced each word again in an attempt to repeat himself, although they were met with marginal success.
"Who are we?" Twilight deciphered.
The individual nodded several times hurriedly.
"I... Just told you. I'm Twilight Sparkle, she's Pinkie, and she's Fluttershy." Twilight pointed to each of her companions in turn, and spoke with a tone that was suited to those perceived to possess below average intelligence.
The human regarded them with an expression of disappointed frustration.
"Do yo- 'ow 'ign l'nguage?" He asked, vocalizing his expression all to clearly.
Twilight tilted her head to the right, her appearance displayed that she desperately wanted to understand, but was having difficulty doing so. Although Pinkie merely squinted at him scrutinizing him as if there was something familiar with him that she couldn't quite place her hoof on.
The human slumped the top of his torso, which Twilight guessed to be his shoulders, in a sigh of defeat and held out one of his upper appendage. He rotated the end of his left extremity upwards then moved the appendages on his right extremity across the flat and open area of his left in what was similar to a walking motion which he slowly brought to a stop. He raised his head from where he was observing his hands, and sent a glance of uncertainty. It appeared to ask a question, one that asked if they had understood what he displayed.
"I believe we understand..." Twilight Sparkle started.
"Oh! A guessing game! These are the best!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
The human looked over to Pinkie hesitantly but quizzically.
"Does it mean slow? Or slowly stop? Slow down? Walking?" Pinkie guessed rapidly.
He shook his head, nodded hesitantly, then shook his head twice more as answers to each of her guesses.
"Oh oh! Stop! Does it mean stop?" Pinkie queried excitedly.
Twilight observed carefully, she was definitely intrigued and fascinated as to what this might lead to. The human nodded swiftly, but not with any sense of eagerness that Pinkie had. He maintained a hopeless and tired expression, but he straightened the end of his right appendage and brought the side of it down onto the left extremity, then repeated the walking motion once more, and again followed it with the side of the right extremity landing on the open left.
"Oh! I know this! I think I got it!" Pinkie spoke with continued, if not sightly more, energy.
The individual raised his eyebrows in interest as he regarded Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie did not meet his eyes. Instead, she directed her own eyes to Twilight's.
"This must be a form of Metaphorapthy! You know, the language that mute ponies use!" Pinkie informed eagerly.
Complete comprehension enlightened Twilight's mind. She made a small grin as she planted the side of her right hoof between her eyes, and let out of a breath of minor self-disappointment.
"Of course! He obviously has a issue with speaking, and therefor he relies mostly on a form of non-verbal communication!" Twilight Sparkle mentally realized.
"Oddly enough for you, that makes perfect sense, Pinkie!" Twilight responded.
Pinkie giggled before making her own reply.
"Who are you kidding? I make sense all the time! But I think I know what we need to do here. Just leave it to me!"
Twilight glanced to Fluttershy with a lack of surety, but the pegasus simply shrugged.
"We can always stop her if she starts doing anything strange." Fluttershy whispered with more confidence than she possessed on the approach.
Twilight nodded her agreement, and directed her attention back to Pinkie Pie.
"What do you plan on doing?" Twilight Sparkle queried.
Out of the edge of her vision, she noticed the human titled his head toward Twilight and nod smoothly, as if to agree with what was spoken.
"It's simple! We just give him your notepad and pen and have him write what he wants to say!" Pinkie replied.
Twilight slowly nodded approval of the idea, and glanced up to the human who was squinting at her with confusion.
" 'Ow woul' yo' do 'at?" The man asked.
"With our m-mouths or m-magic." Fluttershy murmured. She shifted with slight nervousness as attention was drawn onto her. Her tail thoughtlessly swished to further display the anxiousness.
"So much for getting comfortable around the human." Twilight thought with a mental shrug.
Although she was satisfied with Fluttershy's response and twisted to her left, nosed open the flap to her saddlebags, and retrieved the notepad and pen with her teeth. She took a few steps forward, and navigated rather confidently around the human's cart. She was fairly assured that the human had no hostile intentions, and content with her own abilities to stop him even if he did suddenly develop some. Twilight raised her head and offered the writing materials to the human who cautiously accepted them.
Twilight took a step backwards, as the human fumbled with the notepad and pencil. Inwardly, it mildly amused her that the pen and pad appeared fairly small in the human's claw-like appendages. With some clumsiness the human opened up to a random page in the middle and began carefully scribbling into the notepad at a speed that most ponies had trouble reaching. After a brief moment, he held out the notepad for Twilight to view. He leaned over it slightly to protect the susceptible pages from the weather.
She swiftly step forward. Her speed being influenced by a perfect mixture of mild excitement, a little curiosity, and a moderate amount of anxiousness. As she squinted at the paper, a wince of confusion rippled across her features as it flowed from her eyebrows down to her curling lips.
"My name is Ellid. I haven't seen any horses like you before. How can you talk? Why are you so small? Where did you come from?"
"What does it say?" Pinkie asked, as she hopped over to join Twilight.
"I don't know... I haven't seen this language before." She replied with a quick shake of her head.
"Mind if I have a looksies?" Pinkie requested.
"Nope... Tell me what you can make of it." She responded.
Pinkie Pie leaned in and skimmed through the message several times. She too adopted a baffled expression. Twilight glanced up to the human, who's mouth had fallen open slightly as he stared down at them with eyebrows crashing together in an expression that was easily perceived as minor despair.
"I don't know what it says either!" Pinkie spoke up with disappointment, as she realized her breakthrough and solution had failed to another language barrier.
"This is ridiculous! We speak the same language, yet right in another? Here's a human we might be able to get answers from, and we're stopped by this?! No, there must be another solution..." Twilight exclaimed within her mind.
As Twilight attempted to discover another solution, the human simply sighed, and closed the notepad. He rammed the pen through the circular metal bind and held it towards Twilight. He gently tossed it upwards and down in a gesture for her to take it. Twilight's attention was quickly obtained and she retrieved the pad. When she placed it back into her saddlebags the human nodded abruptly to them and gripped his cart with shivering hands. He pushed against it's load and started off.
"Wait! Perhaps we can think of another solution." Pinkie called, as she trotted behind him.
"No 'oint. Yo- can- un'ers'and me. I'm 'etting 'old, 'yways." The individual said, with gruff annoyance.
"You're right, sir! We can understand you! I'm not sure about you getting old though..." Pinkie Pie spoke excitedly, with hopes that she was making progress with the individual.
" 'At's my pah-oint e'ctly. Yo- ca... 'An... KU AN'." The human sighed again, and shook his head with apparent frustration.
"Ne'erm'nd. Ju' go."
"Bu..." Pinkie started before the man turned about with complete annoyance.
"I can' 'alk whale! We can' comm'nic'te!" The individual said with a tone that matched his expression perfectly.
"You can talk whale!?" Pinkie Pie began excitedly, before quickly changing to a deeper and more drawn out pitch. "Doooooeess eeettt soooouuuunndd ssoooommmtthhiiiinnnggg lllliiiiikkkkeee tthhhhiiiiisssse?"
The human halted and turned about to give Pinkie a look that was borderline rage, but he remained silent and continued limping forward at a gradually increasing pace.
Pinkie started to trot after him, but halted when she became aware of Fluttershy's outstretched foreleg that intersected her path. Pinkie Pie brought her head up to regard the pegasus. She noticed Twilight lingering by Fluttershy's side.
"It might not a good idea to keep... bothering this human." Fluttershy murmured. She retracted her leg when it was apparent that Pinkie Pie would stay.
"Don't you remember how things turned out with Cranky? He was peeved too, but we worked things out!" Pinkie replied with usual chirpiness.
Twilight looked down at the ground to her right, and muttered a brief sentence.
"Yes, through harassment and fortune."
"Pinkie Pie... I don't think you have any soul mates to spare here, and besides it's a completely different situation." Fluttershy continued to caution.
"Maybe... but we won't find out unless I get to know him better!" Pinkie responded, as she took off with a quick hop after the human.
The human's limp prevented him from going fast, but the delay did allow him to a put a slight distance between himself and the strange horses. Although Pinkie quickly closed the gap with a floaty trot after him.
"Where ya goin', pal?" Pinkie happily queried with a smile.
"I T'ld yo- to go awa-" The scraggly man replied. His tone was thick with apparent anger.
"Of course you did! But I haven't sang my 'random song out of nowhere' yet!"
"I 'on't wan' an'more of yer 'ull'it. I'm war'ng yo-."
"Did you just say I was beautiful?! How sweet!" Pinkie Pie's smile grew, and she quietly took in a breath to prepare herself for singing.
"Hello, hello, hello, my new human friend! It's sure a pleas-"
The individual tumbled about and slammed the back of his hand across Pinkie Pie's cheek in a mildly powerful slap, which effectively halted the song and expressed his anger. Pinkie Pie staggered backwards, her jaw dropping open, ears rotating backwards, face wrinkling in a wince of pain, and tail flexing upward with shock. She could feel the lower rim of her eyes becoming moist with tears.
"Go away!" The man yelled with a tone full of no longer restrained wrath.
Pinkie looked up to the face of the partner of her momentary one-sided friendship with an expression of despair and shock with hints of betrayal, fear, sadness, and disbelief being found in the eyes. The heavily contorted face that held the epitome of rage turned away from her and began pushing his cart at a speedy limping pace.
She sat down onto her rear and watched as the man became progressively smaller as distance increased. She dully heard her friends approaching. She closed her mouth only for it to fall open again. Her stomach rolled and burned with the pain of rejection and shocking despair. Her heart had turned dull and cold. She felt her consciousness receding to the back of her mind, as the entire experience became surreal. This was foreign... This was new. Rejection. She labored to be everyone's friend. To be liked by all, but now she had been denied. She had failed, hadn't she? She failed her goal in life, and that was to make everyone smile. She had created anger and enmity. She had not created joy and happiness. She had failed.
Her head tilted downwards toward the ground, as two tears trickled down the sides of her face. Fluttershy and Twilight had arrived. She could feel their sympathetic looks and heartfelt sadness, without needing to see. Fluttershy sat down next to her and wrapped her right wing around Pinkie in a comforting embrace. The warmth and security that a hug with a Pegasi's wing was hard to beat.
"Are you hurt?" Twilight inquired, with plenty of concern coating her voice.
Pinkie Pie shook her head, and murmured a quiet reply.
"I failed..."
She glanced over to Fluttershy who shook her head in response.
"Don't take the blame. You tried, even against what we advised, to fulfill your goal, and that's to see everypony smile... Right?"
Pinkie morosely nodded her assent.
"You stayed with what you believed, your personal purpose, and cause." Fluttershy finished.
"Be happy and proud that you stayed true to yourself... Even if you were denied success. It's just that! Somepo- Someone else denied you success! You didn't fail, and you didn't fall short. You did what has always worked; the only variable was the human. The blame goes to him not yourself." Twilight contributed.
Pinkie Pie smiled slightly, and glanced over to Twilight. She had a hesitant grin, but her eyes expressed confidence in what she was speaking. It wasn't empty words designed to hopefully make her feel better, it was genuine support that she knew could only be found in a friend. She began to stand, as she nodded her appreciation to Fluttershy. Pinkie knew she could doubt herself, but she had learned not to doubt her friends. They had an outside perspective which was usually more accurate than her own, as it could easily be tainted with her own emotions.
"You guys are swell. Thank you both so much!" Pinkie replied with gratefulness inhabiting her tone.
Fluttershy smiled and responded with a simple nod, while Twilight gave a simple reply.
"Of course! It's merely our duty as friends." Twilight's grin had firmed into place with no traces of hesitation.
Pinkie looked down the street in search of the human, although there was no sight of him. She assumed he had taken a turn somewhere along the road.
"We had better get going... We've wasted enough time here." Twilight muttered, as the mood drifted back down.
Fluttershy nodded her agreement.
"The weather really is starting to get to me..." She mentioned.
"Lead us on then, my friend!" Pinkie Pie urged with a quick and brief one legged hug.
Fluttershy smiled and trotted down the sidewalk, taking the first right available and leading her companions down yet another alleyway.
Fluttershy halted the group to peer around the corner of another dirty, dull, and damp building. She quickly glanced over her right shoulder to view her friends. Pinkie Pie swayed rather happily although the movement seemed tethered, as if she hadn't fully recovered from her rejection of friendship, but was thinking optimistically about the situation. Twilight was looking past Fluttershy with little interest in what she was seeing. It was apparent that her attention was trapped within the musings of her own mind, as would happen often when she was presented with new situations.
Although nothing new was really occurring in their current situation. They had been repeating the same process quite a few times, dash across a street, trot down an alley, and cautiously peek for any humans. If none presented themselves they continued on their way.
"I don't see anyone." Fluttershy informed the group.
Twilight Sparkle nodded, as she directed her attention onto Fluttershy and regarded her with a raised eyebrow and an inquiring expression.
"Good. Are you sure we're almost there?" Twilight responded.
"Yes. It's south a little." Fluttershy assured.
"Alright, and I assume those are the woods you were in yesterday?" Twilight Sparkle queried, with a nod to the bare trees and bushes across the street.
"Mmhmm." Fluttershy hummed in affirmation.
Twilight paused for a moment. She stared past Fluttershy and into the woods, then abruptly broke out of the gaze and regarded her winged friend with a confused appearance.
"I continue to find the lack of humans very... Strange. Why are there so many buildings, yet so few beings to inhabit them? Why are they in such poor and repulsive condition? All this filth and- and garbage. It's gross! Why would anything want to live here?" Twilight Sparkle spoke with befuddled disgust.
"I don't know Twilight... It looks really miserable." Fluttershy responded.
"Maybe we could find out if we talk to another human." Pinkie Pie suggested.
Twilight stepped to her right and faced leftwards to allow herself the ability to regard both Fluttershy and Pinkie. Turning her gaze to the left, she regarded Pinkie Pie with confused skepticism.
"You sure about that? After what just happened, and what you've seen? You're putting a lot of trust into this species." Twilight Sparkle responded.
Pinkie paused for a moment and allowed her mouth to open slightly. She began to tap the side of her jaw with her right hoof, as she pondered an answer. She seemingly settled on one hastily and voiced it.
"Not all of them can be big meanie pantses. We haven't met enough to say they're all like that! We could just be meeting the wrong people..." After another moment of though, she continued. "The kiddies weren't evil, either."
"That may be true, but it's not easy to talk to these humans given what we've seen. They don't tolerate a whole lot and are easily prone to anger it seems. First, one kills a child over a deck of cards, then we have another human who easily resorts to physical harm to resolve a problem, and can hardly tolerate or have the patience to solve any problem. Should we really try to associate with individuals that will commit such crimes, or are so prone to being aggressive? Speaking of crimes, where is the law enforcement or government? Are they doing anything about this?"
Twilight paused to gesture to the derelict buildings around them.
"Isn't there a form of law here? Oh! And we're supposed to have this world saved within a week! Such a cake walk!" Twilight finished. She released small sigh that sounded to Pinkie similar to a personal surrender. Her ears flattened latterly as she frowned and glanced to her friends with eyes filled with worry.
"Lookie here, Twilight. We haven't seen enough humans to know if they're all like this. We have to continue talking to them and trying until we know if they're all so easily rustled or devilish." Pinkie said with a particular rhythm to her voice. "You can't worry about these questions too much either. We'll find the right ones, and they'll answer all your questions."
Twilight acknowledged the opposing opinion with a slow nod. It made sense and was certainly a valid reason to continue interacting with these humans, but she failed to vocalize this before Fluttershy spoke up.
"I'd rather not go looking for anymore humans, but I want to agree with Pinkie a bit... We were hasty to judge Zecora and we had very little to go off of. I'm worried that we could be starting to make that mistake again." A sheepish grin slid onto her features. "I'd just rather not be a center of attention when it comes to talking to them."
Pinkie Pie giggle briefly.
"Don't fret! Even if the human we end up finding is a meanie scary spookie poop, then the rest of us can put him right." She reassured with a grin.
Fluttershy smiled in return, and Pinkie was satisfied with another accomplished mission.
A light smile rested across Twilight's face, as she regarded both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.
"Those are both valid reasons. I'll keep them in mind..." Twilight Sparkle replied with ambiguity. "Regardless, I guess we better keep going. It's already starting to get late into the morning." She finished with a glance to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy nodded in response, and moved to exit the alley. She peered around the corner once more, then glanced back to her right. Twilight assumed she was satisfied with the lack of humans as she swiftly turned left and trotted out onto the sidewalk. Twilight pursued her and Pinkie hoped along behind the unicorn as they neared their destination.
Fluttershy led Pinkie and Twilight into yet another alley. The sides were lined with dumpsters and toters. All of which overflowed with trash that littered the ground between each other. There was a thin path in the center that the rubbish had not yet contaminated. She led her companions down this small path.
"This is the worst one yet." Twilight commented as she shift her gaze across the garbage filled alley.
"Yea. This is nasty!" Pinkie agreed.
Fluttershy nodded her concurrence.
About a quarter of the way down the alley she slowly stopped and turned to face her friends.
"This is it." She spoke, as she glanced to the white and red building to her left.
"It looks like a candy cane!" Pinkie remarked, but her expression fell briefly. "Awh... I want a candy cane."
"Thanks for guiding us here, Fluttershy. Now we need to find a way to the top." Twilight said with a grateful note in her voice.
"Mmhmm" Fluttershy hummed again.
"Oh! Let's take a lookie over at that door." Pinkie suggested, when she spotted a white door halfway down the alleyway.
"Uh, Pinkie..." Twilight said with a tone of warning, and an apprehensive expression.
Pinkie Pie heedlessly skipped over to the door, while Fluttershy and Twilight followed at a walk.
Fluttershy noticed several large swathes of the paint had pealed off leaving the wood exposed, along with traces of rot occurring. However, this did not discourage Pinkie from raising a hoof and knocking on the door.
"Heyoh! Anypony home?" Pinkie called.
Fluttershy glanced to Twilight Sparkle with a slightly nervous look. Fluttershy acknowledged that she may not have too many issues when they had met a human, as long as she wasn't where human place it's attention, but she still had no desire to find one of these unpredictable people. Although, Twilight merely released a disappointed sigh. Twilight shook her head and implanted a hoof between her eyes to further display her emotions.
Pinkie swayed with what appeared to be some form of happy confidence or merely anxiety leaving her body, as she waited for someone to answer the door. The moment was tense for Fluttershy. After a minute, she felt a sense of hope that there may not be anyone home, and with that hope she released a small breath of relief but Pinkie knocked again. She brought back in the breath she released and continued to endure the taut moment. Pinkie instead began to hum, whether it was out of joy or nervousness Fluttersy couldn't guess.
After two more moments Fluttershy released her contained breath when it had became apparent that nobody was residing in this structure Pinkie turned to face them, and raised her front shoulders in a shrug.
"I guess no one's home." She said to them.
"Thankfully..." Fluttershy breathed quietly.
Twilight sighed and shook her head again in continued disappointment.
"We're going to have to find another way to the roof. I'd rather not go through a stranger's home just to stand on their roof." Twilight stated, as she turned away from the door.
The other two ponies followed Twilight, as she searched the alley for an alternate route to the roof of the building. It was less than a minute before they found their solution. Twilight looked up to a metal walkway that was above the group. Fluttershy copied the action. The walkway wound back and forth all the way to the top. There was a ladder at the far end However, it was easily six feet (Or two meters) above them. It was withdrawn and needed to be lowered to be used.
"Ya think that'll work?" Pinkie queried.
"It'll have to." Twilight responded. She took several steps, and faced the ladder.
"I'm very reluctant to use telekinesis to lower the ladder; Seeing as I will need to draw precisely for an extended length of time. Teleporting would also drain too much of my Inner Reserves of magic to be practical. So do either of you have any ideas of a non-magical means of lowering this ladder?" Twilight stated to and asked of her companions. She ended the statement with a swift gesture to their method of ascension.
"We could stand on top of each other and try pulling it down." Pinkie suggested with a brief frown and quick shrug.
Twilight seemed to only take this suggestion under brief consideration.
"We'll just topple over and injure ourselves." She replied simply.
The obvious occurred to Fluttershy as Twilight turned to regard any propositions she may contain.
"I could just, uhm, fly up there and push it." Fluttershy proposed.
"Yes! That might work." Twilight approved with a small amount of eagerness.
Fluttershy made a small smile, as Twilight's approval and excitement pleased herself. She flapped up to the fire escape, and flew over the railing to land on the metal walkway. She took a step forward and balanced on her hind legs, as she placed her front hooves onto the top of the ladder. She gave it a timid shove downwards. Of course, it didn't budge. She doubted her ability to push the ladder down, but she took a breath and gathered her strength for another attempt. She sent a mild shove down onto the ladder. Against her own expectations, the ladder gave and with much clanging it slid down to the other ponies. However, most of her weight resided on the ladder when it began it's descent. This resulted in her tumbling out into the air and flipping onto her back, as she plummeted towards the ground.
"Aaahh!" Fluttershy cried. Cold damp air shot down her throat as she inhaled to release her shout of surprise.
Most of her weight resided on the ladder when it began to fall. This resulted in her stumbling out into open air, flipping onto her back, and plummeting towards the ground.
Twilight Sparkle released a gasp, and hastily focused to catch the falling pegasus. Instinctively, she grasped for Outer Magic that did not exist. Instead, she was filled with loneliness. Her awareness dimmed. She was alone in a typical deep, dark void. A shiver slid across her spine as she halted her attempt at magic. She felt her expression shift to desperation, as she glanced to Pinkie with hope that she could respond to the emergency.
Pinkie Pie's jaw unhinged slightly in surprise before she regarded Twilight. She expected her to use magic and save Fluttershy, but when she noticed the expression of horror that morphed her face she realized that Twilight had failed. Pinkie executed the first action that came to mind. She leaped forward with her front hooves extended to catch Fluttershy, but she had sprung to far forward and Fluttershy landed onto her back.
"Ooph!" Pinkie grunted, as the air was pushed out of her.
"S-Sorry." Fluttershy stuttered apologetically with fright.
Pinkie gasped air back into her lungs, but the foul smell of the garbage pile she had landed on accompanied it and caused her to gag.
Fluttershy quickly rolled off of Pinkie, but she remained close to the ground. She glanced over Pinkie with concern to ensure that her own light body had not caused any physical harm. She breathed in to voice her concern, but the vile air flashed through her nostrils forcing her to gag along with Pinkie.
Pinkie quickly stood and nodded several times to Fluttershy. They stumbled off of the rubbish pile together to face Twilight Sparkle. She managed to mix several expression into one. Her eyes had a grateful yet sad tinge to them, her lips were curled in a small frown, and her eyebrows were drawn towards themselves in a sign of concern.
When Fluttershy had managed to stop gagging, and fill her lungs with marginally cleaner air she voiced her previous concerns.
"Are you alright?" Fluttershy inquired with concern.
"Auck!" Pinkie gagged once more as she finished.
Fluttershy whimpered as she stared down at her friend with no knowledge of what she should be doing, but the Pink Earth Pony stood and stumbled to her left and right momentarily. She regained her balance, and raked in lungfuls of oxygen to replaced the foul air in her lungs. Once Pinkie had apparently recovered she abruptly released a giggle and smiled to her friends.
"Don't you two worry! I'm at one-hundred percentageses." She assured.
"Oh good! I'm sorry for falling on you... I lost my balance, and uhm..." Fluttershy's said, before her voice trailed away.
"It's okay! We're all fine." Pinkie responded with lightheartedness.
"I'm the one who should be most sorry here." Twilight spoke up with a mildly depressed tone.
Fluttershy glanced to Pinkie who was regarding Twilight with an incredulous expression. When Fluttershy turned her eyes back to The Unicorn she too had changed her appearance to confusion.
"Why?" Fluttershy asked.
"I failed! I attempted to stop your fall, but I failed... Pinkie was fast enough and put herself in place to cushion your landing, but I-" Twilight replied, but Pinkie interrupted her.
"Stop being silly, Twilight! Fluttershy's fine and neither of us blame you. So don't be all waddy saddy and blame yourself."
"But-" Twilight tried to interject, but Fluttershy halted it.
"You're worrying about enough as it is... This isn't necessary for you to be concerned with." Fluttershy assured. She followed up the sentiment with a genuine smile in an effort to help relieve her.
Twilight sighed and it seemed that as the breath left her mouth her desire to argue fled with it. Her shoulders relaxed momentarily as if a minor invisible weight was taken away from them. Although she still carried a depressed expression, but she pushed it aside when she raised and turned her head to view the walkway.
"Well, let's get up there then." Twilight spoke, as she trotted to the ladder.
Twilight wrapped her front hooves onto the third rung from the bottom and precariously pulled herself up. She then hastily balanced her rear legs on the thin bar below her. This left Twilight in an awkward position, as it suddenly became apparent that the ladder was not designed for use by a creature such as herself. The next wrung was too far above her head for her to grasp, and it was difficult to raise her rear legs to the next bar beneath her but, fortunately, not impossible. She was folded into a silly V shape, which caused her back to ache and her fore-hooves to burn with a raw pain as she gripped the bar in this awkward position.
Twilight Sparkle released a shuddering breath, and collected her strength. She pushed with her rear legs, and flailed for the next bar above her with her fore-hooves. She began to lose her balance, but was able to catch the next wrung. She proceeded like this. Scrunching up, pushing upwards with her back legs, then desperately clutching the next bar for what seemed like several minutes until she managed to scramble onto the fire escape. Sprawling out onto the walkway, she started panting for a moment until she had recovered from the awkward and fairly strenuous climb. After that moment passed she turned her head to the side.
"You can come up, Pinkie." Twilight called down to her.
"Okie Dokie!" Pinkie Pie responded.
Fluttershy chose to flutter upwards and join Twilight on the metal staircase. The Unicorn stood and gave a light nod to Fluttershy as she turned to watch Pinkie climb the ladder in a similar manner. She seemed to have more success and quickly joined them.
"Whew! That's not easy!" Pinkie Pie said, as she swiped sweat away from behind her ears.
"Yeah, my hooves still hurt from gripping the bars so tight." Twilight Sparkle agreed.
Pinkie nodded her empathy, then spoke with usual cheer.
"Let's go do what we came here for!"
She took the first step towards the stairs, as she led Twilight and Fluttershy to the roof.
Fluttershy was the last to leap onto the rooftop. Pinkie was darting around the rooftop as she investigated the new location, while Twilight held her writing materials between her teeth. Her forelegs were placed onto the southern rim of the building, as she scrutinized the streets and structures around her. Fluttershy trotted over to the west side of the building and peered over to observe the river bottoms. With a weak hope that she might be able to spot the large willow from the previous day.
There were the typical metal machines that were in abundance, but in obvious derelict conditions, along the side of the roads. Stray pieces of paper clung to the grey and black earth as the drizzling rain soaked them. Fluttershy gazed to her left. The sight was similar in that direction, the only difference being a small group of wet pigeons quenching their thirst in a filthy puddle. On her right hoof side the street bore the common cracks and holes that all the roads in this place seemed to possess, but she briefly saw two humans push their way into the forest.
She couldn't see what the first one wore before it had gone, but the other that followed him sported a black hoodie. Fluttershy opened her mouth and began to turn to the others to share what she noticed, but she saw at the edge of her vision that they had quickly disappeared into the thick brush. She decided to restrain herself, as there was now nothing to see. She turned about, and sought one of the drier spots on the roof. Where she planned to pass the few hours that separated her from lunch.
Twilight slid her saddlebags off her back, nosed open the flap, and withdrew the notepad and pen. She briefly placed the notepad and pen onto the wet roof, as she stored her bags in one of the dry areas underneath an air conditioning unit. She returned and scooped up her notepad and pen, clenching them between her teeth as she scrutinized the city before herself. Block after block of single or multistory buildings expanded out in every direction besides the west. Twilight squinted through the drizzling rain as she gauged distances.
She plopped the notepad before herself and laid down with it. Her rear legs were curled underneath and her front legs were planted on either side of the notepad. She shifted as she did her best to shield the notepad from the persistent mist. Twilight glanced back up to the city and squinted once more. Her eyebrows came together and her mouth made a small frown in concentration. She sought to temporarily memorize what her eyes observed. Once satisfied that she was becoming familiar with what she viewed, she gathered her Inner Magic and levitated the pen and began to draw a map to the best of her ability. Occasionally, she took another glance upwards to refresh her memory or to confirm a suspicion.
Regardless of how many times Pinkie twisted the knob, and pushed the door it remained immobile. Neither was she about to buck the door like Applejack would a tree. She assumed that this was someone's property after all, and she easily imagined that they would be horribly displeased if she damaged their door. Besides piles of bird poop and empty faded light blue cans, which held an image of baked beans, there was nothing interesting on the rooftop. After a couple minutes she joined Fluttershy who had found shelter next to one of the air conditioning units. They waited in quiet conversation.
After about a score of minutes a sudden shout drew the attention of the three ponies on the rooftop.
"What! I don't know anything about these. I'm as stumped as you are!" A male voice shouted in an offended tone from the street.
Twilight canceled her magic, and dashed over to the west side of the building where the voice originated from. On the opposite side of the street and several yards to the right were two humans. The one on the right had white skin, and bore a blue shirt. He had his upper appendages crossed as he regarded the other with a posture of skepticism.
The second individual, who was on the left, had darker skin and was clothed in a black hoodie. They both bore packs on their backs. The blue shirted human had a metal rod protruding from his pack, while the second had a short wooden pole appearing out of his own. However, the second individual held aloft two feathers in a posture of dramatic defiance. One was cream yellow the other sky blue. Twilight could not mistake the source of these feathers. She turned to Fluttershy, who had crept over with Pinkie, and were peering over the edge also. Twilight saw the Pegasus gulp and glance in her direction. Fear was a dominate emotion in her expression.
Twilight Sparkle also carried a worried look, while Pinkie looked down at the humans with an intrigued appearance. She did that strange act with her right eye that somehow made it seem larger than the other. Twilight glanced back towards the humans. They had begun to jog across the street, but they angled northwards and away from their perch. Of course, they did not glance upwards to notice them. When the humans had been lost from their sight they turned away from the structure's edge.
"I'm- I'm sorry, Twilight. It didn't occur to me that others would find our feathers." Fluttershy muttered apologetically.
"Neither did I. It's alright, Fluttershy." Twilight responded. "They didn't seem to know where they could have come from either."
Fluttershy nodded and walked back to her somewhat sheltered resting spot. Pinkie joined her there briefly, but stood and meandered around the roof for sometime.
As Twilight slowly walked over to her notepad and pen she relaxed her expression and pondered this brief event.
"This raises a few questions... Do they not have Pegasi here or colored birds? Certainly they have colored birds of some sort, but then we must also take into account the amount of knowledge these individuals possess... And if the conidtion this place is in, these humans may not have much. So it could be possible that these individuals are unfamiliar with the species of any colored birds within their region, but what of Pegasi? We will never know for sure what unintelligent species of Equines live here unless we ask... If we didn't have to be so cautious around this volatile species we could answer our own questions!"
She glanced across the town once more to refresh her temporary memory, as the cold breeze buffeted against her facial features. She flinched and glared through the mist that followed the wind. She telekinetically took up her pen, once satisfied that the image of the soggy city would be implanted into her brain long enough. She shifted into a position that better shielded the notepad and started drawing the first few blocks that she could recall.
"All done." Twilight said to her companions, as she joined Pinkie and Fluttershy in the shelter the latter had found earlier.
It was well into the lunch hour when the rain had finally started to relent. Twilight had finally finished her cartography session her finished product was a crude map, but she hoped it would give them a better idea of where they were when navigating the streets. Pinkie and Fluttershy had already brought out their lunches and had begun to consume them when Twilight settled in.
Using her magic, she levitated her own lunch out of her saddlebags, and in a few moments she joined them in the consumption of food. Pinkie grasped the top and bottom of her corncob with her hooves as she devoured it with messy eagerness. Twilight also held her sandwich in her hooves as she ate it, while Fluttershy nibbled at her carrot with haste as she held it with the sides of her hooves.
"Oh, what I would give for a nice warm cup of that lemon herbal tea..." Fluttershy spoke wistfully with unfocused eyes that held an expression of longing.
"I agree, that was certainly a good tea we had on Monday." Twilight replied, although with significantly less wist.
They directed their attention to eating for a short while until Pinkie manage to lift her head away from the corncob.
"How'd that map turn out, Twilight?" Pinkie queried, before she stole another mouthful of corn from the cob.
Twilight munched on her sandwich, as she levitated the page she had drawn the map onto out of the saddlebag she had stored it within when she finished. She showed the map to Pinkie; Who examined it thoroughly before taking another bite out of her corncob. Pinkie nodded to Twilight to signify that she had finished viewing the map. She quickly levitated the paper back into the pouch before it became more wet than it already was. Although it's preservation was not the only reason. An exhausted feeling had begun to slowly reveal itself. To plague her soul whenever she used magic.
"Apparently, maintaining a weak teleknesis spell for a few hours drains the Inner Magic reserves... Hopefully this will create a reference that will allow me to gauge my inner reserves of magic." Twilight thought quickly before Pinkie spoke up once again.
"Ish preffy gud." Specks of corn spewed out, as Pinkie Pie replied through the full mouth.
Twilight inwardly cringed, but chose to not mention the poor manners. She took another bite from her sandwich, and swallowed it before responding.
"I don't like it. It's very crude, but it should be sufficient."
"I agree!" Pinkie spoke, after she had eaten her mouthful of corn.
Twilight tilted her head as she shifted to a confused expression.
"But I thought you said-" Twilight began, but Pinkie interjected.
"What it really needs is some color. Just add a bunch of colors and it'll be great! Everything is better with more colors."
"Well... I guess it could use some. It might help if I added a legend, and dignified the streets a bit more." Twilight agreed.
Twilight Sparkle brought her sandwich up and ate another bite, while Pinkie turned to regard Fluttershy.
"How do ya think Derpy's doin' with your animals?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I- I think she's doing fine. There isn't much that can go wrong with feeding animals, is there? I did tell her that I would repay her if she hired somepony else to do it instead too." Fluttershy replied.
Twilight released a relieved puff of breath. Somewhere in the bowels of her worries Derpy wrecking Ponyville with Fluttershy's horde of animals was one of them. The possibility that she may have hired a more... Capable pony to care for the creatures relieved her slightly.
Pinkie nodded and spoke her reoccurring agreement.
"Ponies don't give her enough credit for how reliable she can be. Just like everypony else she'll make a few teensy mistakes occasionally."
"I don't find anvil props very teensy." Twilight commented, as the memory of the pain caused was recalled. "Neither does her reputation for miss-delivering mail sound very reliable."
"Well... We all make mistakes, Twilight. Ya know, the bad will always overcast all the good that we do, and Derpy's had some pretty bad accidents which overshadowed all the success she's had. So ponies opinion's of her are clouded, and when everypony else thinks your a failure you end up acting like one. She's actually very reliable at delivering mail. It doesn't always end up where it's supposed to go, but she gets it somewhere!" Pinkie answered with a grin, although it temporarily shifted to a sadness tinged frown when she continued.
"Although it's easy to become downtrotted when everypony expects you to preform mistakes."
"I- I don't think I've pondered it that much... Although, you are correct. We do tend to easily remember the mistakes and bad actions others preform rather than the good." Twilight responded.
Pinkie nodded, but chose to change the subject. Her happy posture returned to her as she made another inquiry
"Do you have any idea if we'll be talking to anyone on the way back?"
"No. I'd rather not... I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth attempting to save these violent creatures." Twilight Sparkle answered.
"What about them? Do they look murderous?" Fluttershy proposed.
She gestured with her right hoof to the alleyway they had climbed out of earlier. Fluttershy had chosen to sit close to the rim of the structure, which allowed her to glance down into the alley with ease.
Pinkie's eyebrows shot up with interest. Twilight noticed this, and spoke up before the Earth Pony could stand.
"Don't try talking to them just yet! Let's make sure they aren't... Aggressive." Twilight cautioned.
"You said that with the last one though..." Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"Yes... We'll watch these longer." Twilight replied with a rather shifty expression.
Pinkie regarded her skeptically but nodded her compliance. She stood and trotted over the Northern edge of the building. Fluttershy rotated to her right and also peered down into the alley, while Twilight slowly approached the side and looked over it herself. She did not locate the humans immediately, but when Fluttershy noticed this she nudged her from the right. She glanced over to Fluttershy who pointed to their left.
The same humans from earlier were hunched over on the sidewalk. Their upper extremities rested on their lower ones as they seemed to pant. The one that bore the blue long sleeved shirt now wore a green shirt on top of it, while nothing had changed concerning the other individual. Green on Blue raised his head and spoke some words to Black. Of course, he didn't speak loud enough to be heard four stories up, but Black shook his head in response. Green on Blue seemed satisfied with his answer and briefly lowered his head. However, the head snapped back up as he presumably heard something. He looked back to Black and they hastily moved into the alley.
Green and Blue spoke again to Black, but their voices were low and couldn't be heard. Black openly disagreed with what was spoken, and Green on Blue adopted an angered posture. He started to speak angrily with his companion.
"I don't want to see how this ends." Fluttershy whimpered, as she ducked behind the rim of their building. She laid her head onto the ground, and covered her eyes with her hooves.
Black began to shake his head, then Green and Blue suddenly leaped towards him. He pushed Black against the wall and reached for the large wood stick that protruded from his back. It became apparent that Green on Blue was shorter than Black, and could not reach what he desired.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no. Not again..." Pinkie muttered at a rapid pace.
"What the hell, man?! I'm not going to support your cowardly endeavors!" Black spoke loudly, as he pushed Green and Blue off him.
Green on Blue reached up and withdrew an iron pipe from his pack. Twilight expected their fight to begin.
"Should I intervene? The Princess did tell us to spread all that was good, and peace is good... But is with worth saving and spreading good to those who so easily slay each other? Wouldn't such be beyond hope?" Twilight thought with internal friction. She took a breath, but hesitated shouting down to them. Fortunately, they chose not to clash.
Black did not draw his bat, and Green on Blue did not charge him. Instead, he turned back to the alleyway entrance, and leaned against the wall of the red brick building across from their own. He only stood there a moment before stepping around the corner and swinging his pipe. He disappeared from view when he did so. Twilight directed her attention to Black. He stared at the ground for a moment, then glanced back up to the street. His posture had changed. It seemed similar to determination mixed with anxiety. He reached up and withdrew the wood stick, which turned out to be a bat, and cautiously walked out onto the sidewalk. He turned northwards as he followed Green and Blue. They disappeared from sight for a short while, but Black shouted from just around the corner.
"Hey! Knuckle head!"
Twilight's ears flattened to her sides, her mouth twisted into a cringe, and her tail twitched as the cringe formed.
"No! I should have done something! My lack of action and hesitation has caused the death of one of them! Even if all these humans are out to kill each other I should have at least tried to halt such!" Twilight mentally cried in despair.
Green and Blue stumbled back into the alley with a pipe tainted with blood.
"No..." Pinkie breathed. Her mouth had slid into a dismal frown and her ears laid flat as they faced the back of her skull.
Green on Blue tossed his pipe to his left side, as he slid against the wall and sat on a small pile of garbage. He gripped his thighs as he stared across the alleyway. Black also entered the alley shortly after him, breaking their expectations, and chose to sit across from him. Twilight noted that they were completely unperturbed with sitting in rubbish. She turned her head towards Pinkie to comment on this, but was instantly tackled by the Pink Pony, knocking them both out of sight.
"Pinkie! What-!?" Twilight began in a hoarse whisper, but she halted when another male voice shouted.
"Damn it! I'm going to figure this shit out!"
Twilight assumed this new voice was Green on Blue, but her mind swiftly slid into panic.
"No, no, no! We can't have been seen! Did it- he see us? Is he talking about us?" Twilight briefly rambled mentally in panic.
"Do you think he saw us?" Twilight Sparkle whispered again.
Pinkie nodded swiftly a hoofful of times.
"He was starting to look upwards, and I didn't have time to tell you to duck, so I chose this instead, but I guuess that might've made us just a liiitlle more visible." She replied.
"Then we need to leave. It's obvious that these individuals are aggressive. Let's get our things and go as quickly as possible." Twilight said, her whispering occasionally being punctured by her voice reaching higher notes.
Fluttershy was still cowering, but she raised her hooves and revealed teal eyes with small pupils that had shrunken from fright. She had heard Pinkie stepped away from Twilight, and with a low posture trot over the the air conditioning unit where their gear was stashed. Twilight and Fluttershy followed her in a similar manner. As they dragged their packs out from underneath the large metal box, a faint pooming was heard from a long distance. It reoccurred only a few times, before it was only being heard again in memory. They regarded each other with worried expressions tainted with curiosity.
"Wh-What was that?" Fluttershy asked her companions.
"I don't know, but there isn't time to find out. Come on, we have to find a way off of here!" Twilight responded, as she levitated her cloak off herself.
She folded it sloppily out of haste and stuffed it into a saddlebag. The sudden exposure to cold air chilled her, but her fright for flight prevented her from dwelling on that discomfort. Fluttershy and Pinkie mimicked Twilight. The former being as neat as speed allowed, while Pinkie simply stuffed the cloak into her bag. It didn't fit entirely, and parts of the blue cloak spewed out the sides even after it was strapped closed.
"You know what it is! I know you know! You can't keep it from me. I'll find out eventually. That's how it always happens! You can't hide things from me!" Blue and Green yelled again, but in this instance it seemed directed towards Black.
"What are these people!? If they're not aggressive are they mentally mad? Are we being hunted by a lunatic? No. He can't be a lunatic... But he's insane either way!" Twilight thought, which fueled her fright and plunged her mind to the edges of panic.
"I don't know! I swear!" Black spoke loudly in a defensive tone. He continued to speak in a lowered voice that prevented her from understanding his words.
The humans continued to speak tense and heatedly towards each other, but Twilight did not delay their need to depart to discern what they were discussing. She searched with panicky haste for another fire escape off of the structure, but Pinkie halted her search as she called to Twilight.
"Twilight, let's use this door!"
Twilight Sparkled nodded, regardless if they were looking at herself or not, and swiftly trotted over to where Fluttershy and Pinkie stood by the door that granted entrance to the roof.
"Why haven't you opened it yet?" Twilight demanded, upon her arrival. Her panic continued to subtly slide into her tone.
"Because, I can't. It's locked or something." Pinkie Pie replied.
Pinkie's raised eyebrows and slightly open mouth hung in small frown that displayed that she was nervous but not outright scared yet.
Twilight sighed and examined the gray metal door. There was absolutely nothing peculiar about it. There was a small lock underneath the knob, and two rusted hinges on the right side of the door. Twilight remembered reading about locks a long time ago, but the memory was now faded as a result to it's lack of need, leaving her only able to recall the basic gist of how locks functioned. And If the door was locked Twilight concluded that may as well try to unlock it with magic.
Twilight quickly sought for her Inner Magic reserves and focused them onto the workings of the lock. She used telekinesis to shift the mechanism within in hopes that she would unlock the door. There was a dull clink as the lock changed state.
"There! Try now." Twilight told Pinkie.
Pinkie gripped the doorknob with a hoof and attempted to turn it, but now it didn't even move slightly.
"Er. I think it's locked now, Twilight." Pinkie replied.
"Argh! We need to get out of here! We can't have this many delays." Twilight groaned with frustration.
Again she used telekinesis, and thrashed the inner workings of the lock. There were several small metallic snaps as the innards of the lock were broken.
"Try again!" Twilight said to Pinkie.
Pinkie grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, then pushed against the door. The knob moved, but the door did not open.
"What could possibly be the issue!?" Twilight Sparkle growled, as her eyebrows drew together, her ears twitched backwards, and her tail unconsciously swished several times.
She restudied the entire door her eyes slid over the rusted hinges. It did not occur to her that they would be the issue. Twilight gathered her strength, and reared onto her hind legs. She was about to release her frustration and fright by pounding the door into submission, but Fluttershy swiftly spoke up.
"They're gone."
Twilight restrained her irritation and dropped her forelegs back onto the roof. She regarded Fluttershy with intrigue edged with panic.
"Who? The humans?" Twilight asked in a slightly calmer voice, as she grappled onto the familiar feeling of curiosity to still the flurry of panicked emotions within herself.
"Yes. We could leave through the alley." Fluttershy responded.
"Then let's skedaddle on out of here!" Pinkie said eagerly, as she made for the fire escape.
Twilight and Fluttershy followed her hurriedly. They traversed the metal staircases, slid down the ladder, and ran back the way they had come hours before towards the safety of the Warehouse.
Twilight was leading the retreat back to their abode. Assuming her memory wasn't failing her they should only have a few more blocks to go. But they had been running for a short while, and the others were starting slow along with herself. She noticed her own strides becoming less efficient. Each one covering less filthy concrete than the previous. Her breaths began to sting her lungs, as she inhaled and exhaled far more rapidly than she should be. She set her eyes on the end of the alley, and settled on a brief break there. She slowly came to a stop, then trotted in a half circle so she faced her friends, as she rested onto her haunches.
Fluttershy had been able to keep close to Twilight. She was breathing fairly hard, but not as labored as the Unicorn's. Twilight blamed the lightweightness of Pegasi and their wings for her being able to complete such. There were a few damp spots behind her ears, and along her back where the sweat had collected. The Pegasus sat down before Twilight, as Pinkie doggedly trotted up to join them.
Pinkie was in, surprisingly, worse condition. Her fur was damp along her back, behind her ears, and along her lower jaw line for the same reason as Fluttershy's. Her breathing was incredibly labored, but she carried a slight smile and a sharp determined look in her bright eyes. She plopped down onto her rear legs next to Fluttershy in a posture similar to theirs.
"You look proud of something, Pinkie." Twilight asked, with eyebrows raised and drawn together.
Pinkie Pie nodded several times.
"Yeppers..! I'm happy... That I was able to push myself... And keep up with you two." Pinkie spoke between pants.
"Yes... That was definitely a long run. Although, not as difficult as the time we had to flee from those Sand Worms." Fluttershy agreed and mentioned.
Twilight nodded her agreement as well, as she remembered the journey to the deserts of Zebrica not so long ago.
"I'm often wondering... how we get out of those situations so easily..." Twilight Sparkle spoke, although the mildly labored breathing created gaps in the sentence.
"Well, when we're-" Fluttershy started to respond, before she was interrupted
"Hey! Girls! Lookie a this thingy!" Pinkie said excitedly.
Twilight glanced over to where Pinkie had been resting before, but she had stood and trotted a few feet off. She turned her head back towards Fluttershy.
"A conversation for another time perhaps... Let's go entertain the pony who lives to entertain us." Twilight spoke with a faint smile, as she stood and trotted towards Pinkie.
Fluttershy swiftly nodded and followed her.
As Twilight arrived, Pinkie briefly glanced over her left shoulder to view them approach.
"What is it?" Twilight Sparkle queried.
In reply, Pinkie lowered her snout towards a purple object, then quickly scooped it up with a hoof. She held it up close for Twilight to view.
Twilight examined the object with annoyed interest, as the proximity to the filthy object was undesirable. She quickly pulled her head back, as she observed the object further. Her annoyance rapidly transformed into shock when she recognized what she was gazing upon.
It was a plastic lavender unicorn with sparse amounts of hair that merely signified where the mane and tail used to be. Twilight would have tossed it aside as any child's toy if not for the fact that she shared the same cutie mark with the toy.
"It looks like you! Isn't that weird?" Pinkie Pie commented.
"No, Pinkie... This isn't weird. This is just freaky beyond all belief!" Twilight mentally replied.
"Uh, Pinkie... Can- Can I see that for a moment?" Twilight verbally responded. Her voice shuddered with unnerved curiosity.
"Sure!" The Pink Pony responded, although she looked to Twilight with concern.
Twilight disregarded how little magic remained in herself, and chose to levitate the replica before her eyes to. She scrutinized it with a critical eye that reflected fright.
The toy was smeared in the same filth and grime that covered everything in this repulsive place. Only the head seemed to be capable of limited movement, and it was even more apparent that much hair was missing from the mane and tail. Twilight rotated the toy onto it's back as she examined it's belly. There was some faded print, but one line of text remained legible.
Made in China
Twilight's mouth slowly fell open and her breaths came and went at a slightly faster pace as she studied this troubling toy.
"What is this...? What does this mean? Why is there a toy of me on a planet that I have never been to before!? This- It doesn't make any sense! Maybe... Maybe it's just a coincidence? Yeah! That's it! This is all some strange coincidence! I mean honestly. How many lavender ponies are there with purple hair, and a cutie mark about magic and stars? Thousands, right? Nope. Nuh uh. Just me. Only one. Yea. Definitely a coincidence. Oh! Stop it, Twilight! Just think rationally. There's a reasonable explanation for this all. You just have to stop worrying about seeing yourself as a toy on a planet that you didn't even know could exist! See? Simple!" Twilight loosely babbled in her mind.
"Uhm, Twilight...? Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked with concern.
Fluttershy had stepped close to her companion when she noticed the dismayed expression that dominated her face.
Twilight's right eyelid twitched twice as she stared vacantly at the ground. The toy had unconsciously tumbled out of her telekinetic grasp.
"Y-y-yea..." Twilight stuttered. She violently shook her head to cast off the thoughts that plagued her, but it was a worthless effort.
"What does this mean? There has to be an explanation for this! How can they have toys of me on a planet that has no knowledge of my existence!" Twilight continued to seek a reasonable answer.
"That wasn't very convincing." Pinkie said.
Twilight shook her head once again.
"Can't you see!? This is me...! Me! How do they have a toy of me! On a planet that I've never- That I didn't even- How!?" Twilight replied in a voice that was high in pitch, faltering fright, and confusion.
"Shh-sh-sh-ssshhhh..." Fluttershy soothed in a tone that she would use to pacify terrified creatures. "Calm down... It'll be okay. Just relax and we'll talk this through together."
Twilight fell back onto her rump, and breathed deeply in an attempt to regain control of herself, as she stared at the ground. Fluttershy knelt next to her and in an attempt to comfort her she reached over, and hugged Twilight with her left wing.
"Whadda ya think of this, Twilight?" Pinkie asked as she looked down at them both with sympathy.
A distraught Twilight raised her head to regard Pinkie.
"I- I Don't know what to think or say about it. I didn't even know this planet existed a few days ago! And now I discover that they know about me, at least. At least two guys out there already knows of our existence, another can easily suspect a new creature, but that can't have been the first time they've seen us! They've already had toys! Toys! Of me! Or maybe us! But... Why make toys of us? You don't make toys of just anypony! Let alone on a planet that they don't exist on!" Twilight replied in hasty speed, and a panicky tone.
"Well... We aren't exactly anypony back home..." Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"They still didn't make toys of us." Twilight replied with mild curtness.
"Give them time..." Pinkie answered shiftily.
"There, there, Twilight. It'll be alright. It's just coincidence. That's all." Fluttershy assured in a calm voice.
Twilight tightened her brows and pressed her lips together. As she attempted to take command of her emotions.
"I can't sit here and wallow in this... Wallowing doesn't solve. Rationality does. Focus." Twilight mentally ordered, but an image of the accursed toy appeared when she spoke focus in her mind. She mentally stomped a hoof down on the emotions that tried to curl up and over take her resolution to not be over taken by emotions.
"It can't be coincidence... " Twilight responded. "How many ponies do you know that have their mane a deep purple with a few dark pink highlights? How many ponies have a lavender or purple coat with a magic and astronomy related cutie mark? I only know of one, Fluttershy."
"It can still be coincidence, though. It can be... Unsettling that they have a toy that looks very similar to you, but there isn't a way that they could have known about you. That's why we must be content with coincidence." Fluttershy assured.
"It is the only answer that makes sense..." Twilight conceded.
"We could always, like... Ask a human. One that miiight not be borderline insane or evilishy?" Pinkie suggested.
Twilight groaned, while Fluttershy slowly shook her head.
"We haven't had much luck in that regard, have we?" Twilight Sparkle commented.
"No... But we have to try, Twilight. That's what we're here for!" Pinkie Pie replied.
"The longer we're here the more I begin to doubt the Princess' judgement. It's not that I doubt our capabilities, but I worry that Celestia may be wrong. That this planet is lost. The people that live here are either too violent or insane to reason with. I'd rather save this discussion for tonight though... When everypony is present" Twilight Sparkle spoke morosely.
"Alllrighty then." Pinkie Pie
Twilight shifted underneath Fluttershy's wing.
"Thanks Fluttershy, but we need to get going. We have quite a bit to discuss back at the Warehouse." Twilight Sparkle spoke.
Fluttershy nodded in response and folded her wing against herself as she stood. Twilight pushed herself upwards and joined her companions.
"Do either of you have any water? I'm pretty thirsty." Pinkie asked, with a quick glance to each of the ponies.
Now that water was mentioned, Twilight felt a desire for some even though she wasn't incredibly thirsty.
"No..." Twilight replied. She looked towards Fluttershy with a hopeful expression that expected the opposite.
"I don't have any..." Fluttershy answered.
Twilight briefly placed her right hoof above her snout.
"Argh! I can't believe we forgot to pack water." She said with aggravation mostly directed towards herself.
"It's not much to worry about, we're not very far away from our abode, anyways." Fluttershy stated.
Twilight Sparkle glanced to Pinkie to observe her reaction and display an apologetic expression.
Pinkie Pie didn't seem bothered by this shortcoming, and instead, worked her jaw for moment before swallowing.
"Let's get going then!" She chirped, although there was a hint of a rasp laying underneath the notes of her voice.
Twilight nodded, and hastily levitated the toy clone into her left saddlebag before trotting out of the alley in direction of the Warehouse. Pinkie and Fluttershy swiftly followed her closely, as they headed for their temporary home with eagerness.
"So... Where will we begin?" Rarity asked her friends once they had arrived at the crate.
"Migh' as well start with that bothersome hole. It's startin' to get awfully wet in here." Applejack replied.
"Shouldn't we wait for that rain to die down a bit? I don't know about you guys, but I don't wanna go out and work in that if I have to." Rainbow Dash suggested.
"That is a good point..." Rarity answered. She shuddered as the memory of a particular slumber party from many years ago resurfaced.
"Shucks, we can't get all pansy cause of a lil' rain. This place's gonna get wetter and colder the longer we wait." Applejack reasoned. "Besides, we can make a fire and some hot drinks if we get too cold."
Rarity glanced from the left to the right and back again her mouth was scrunched into an awkward line of uncertainty.
Rainbow raised her eyebrows and briefly lifted her shoulders in a shrug, which displayed her lack of care for the subject.
"Whatever you say, AJ. I'm just here to help you girls out." Dash responded.
"Well, I say we get that tarp, levitate it on up over that hole, then weigh down the corners with some of the heavier trash that we collected yesterday." Applejack explained.
"I still prefer working in conditions that didn't result in me getting wet. As if I'm not filthy enough yet!" Rarity responded with sudden heat, that only a troubled night's sleep could provide.
Applejack was slightly offset by the sudden hostility, but hastily chose not to reply in the same manner.
"It's alrigh', I need yer magic t' do this. So ya can have yer way with that." Applejack said quickly, as she accept Rarity's term.
"Well let's get started then. What do you want me to do, AJ?" Rainbow Dash inquired. She was eager to get this done with and catch up on lost sleep.
"Let's get on over t' the stuff we'll use first, and then I'll tell ya." AJ answered.
Rarity and Rainbow followed Applejack over to eight weighted metal and wood objects. Folded tidily next to them was the blue tarp. Applejack gestured to the tarp first, then to the other objects as she mentioned them in her explanation.
"Rainbow, ya'll be carryin' the tarp up thar first. Then Rarity'll unfold it and straigh'en it out. Once it covers the hole, she'll hold it thar nice and tight, then you'll fly back around and carry some of these heavier piece of metal and wood. Thar's four of each as ya can see. They're light enough for ya to carry, but should be heavy enough t' hold the tarp in place. So put 'em on the corners and the sides in between the corners. Ya, both got that?" Applejack finished.
"Yea." Rainbow Dash said simply, as she walked over to the tarp and scooped it up with her hooves.
"Yes." Rarity responded with a swift nod. Her eyes followed the tarp, as she prepared herself for the simple magic she would need to preform soon.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings twice and was airborne with the tarp. She glared through the drizzling rain as she flew upwards too the hole. She quickly became wet and soggy, as the water clung to her fur and hair. She hovered just above the hole, and called down to Rarity. Who stood to the side of the hole and away from the small pond, that had been created through the continuous rain.
"Use your magic already!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as she shook her head to cast off the rain that slid into her eyes.
Rarity nodded and drew her magic from within herself and manipulated the tarp out of Rainbow Dash's grasp. Rarity unfolded the tarp as she lowered it to cover the hole. Once she had blocked the rain she made the tarp taut as to prevent the rain from pooling into any crevices or depressions, but after some time the feeling of weariness had returned to plague her heart.
She recalled Twilight comparing it to holding one's breath, and when the contained oxygen had begun to deplete the nerves activate a gradual sense of dull pain that forces one to breathe. Whether or not the oxygen was very close to depletion. Rarity knew this meant that she had some reserves of magic left, but she had not practiced her limits as she had with her lungs. This resulted in her not knowing exactly how much she did retain.
"Be quick, Dash! I do not know how much magic I have within me!" Rarity called up to her.
Although she was out of sight of the other ponies. Rainbow Dash nodded her acknowledgement and lived up to the last piece of her name, as she dashed down from the sloped roof and back into the Warehouse. She gathered one of the heavier pieces of wood. It was long and awkward to carry, but she hastily brought it out onto the roof. Dash placed the squarish board onto the top left corner of the tarp and flew back into the Warehouse. She repeated this process seven times, and during the entire duration the unshakeable emotion of absolute loss afflicted her.
Rarity released a relief filled breath once Rainbow Dash called down that the tarp was secure. Even after she had finished her withdraw of magic, and had restricted it to within herself once more, Rarity was still burdened with what felt similar to a physically worn heart.
"Everythin' alrigh'?" Applejack inquired. She had stood next to the Unicorn and had noticed her change of stature.
Rarity's back was slumped,and her head hung lower than what was typical for her. It appeared as if she had returned home from a day's worth of manual labor with a minimal amount of breaks.
"For now, yes. I'm afraid I won't be able to do much else with magic today. Holding that tarp tight, and fashioning those cloaks for the other three seemed to have taxed my magical reserves to near their end." Rarity replied with a tired tone.
"I see... You go onnahead and take care of yerself now." Applejack responded with a note of concern. Rarity nodded appreciatively in return and walked slowly back to the chairs near the Kitchen.
Rainbow Dash returned from outside and landed before the Earth Pony. She vigorously shook off any water that still clutched to her fur. The liquid splattered everywhere around the pegasus.
"Hey, cut it out!" Applejack laughed, as she raised a hoof to shield her eyes.
Rainbow Dash chuckled along with her friend. When Rainbow had finished shaking the water from her body Applejack peered over her hoof towards Dash. She caught a glimpse of the color spectrum rippling through the droplets of water that floated through the air. Of course, it was briefly seen and Applejack wasn't certain if it was the same trick that Rainbow Dash preformed to one-up Trixie many years before.
"So what do we do now, and where's she going?" Rainbow Dash asked, then queried once she had spotted Rarity walking to where their bags were gathered.
"I think she's almost out of her magic. She seemed pretty tuckered out." Applejack replied. "And as fer yer first question, we're gonna patch some of the holes in the walls. I'll be holdin' the boards in place, while you nail 'em in with the hammer." AJ answered.
"Alright." Rainbow responded without any enthusiasm.
She followed Applejack to the box that had been sent this morning, and gathered the tool and supplies they needed to accomplish their task. They patrolled the walls of the Warehouse and stopped to repair the more significant breaches. Although, their work wasn't as precise as what was preformed yesterday, it still completed the same objective. Even if it was aesthetically pleasing.
Rarity had obtained a comfy position in her chair at the Table. She had taken an opportunity that she did not believe she would have, and had retrieved her Suit Design, Sketch Pad, and Designer Pencil from her saddle-satchels. She focused on drawing alternate methods of producing the Suit that were more possible than what was already provided, but she failed to be satisfied with any of them.
They continued like this for the few hours that divided them from lunch.
The three ponies had begun to finish up the sandwiches, and their choice of fruit and vegetables. There wasn't much for them to discuss, and they had consumed their meal in briefly interrupted periods of silence. Rainbow Dash was the first to finish her lunch, and stood to carry her plate back into the Kitchen.
"I hope we don't get sent sandwiches again. This is getting boring." Dash said to the others.
"I agree, but I'm afraid we can't choose what we will receive." Rarity responded.
"Uh huh. Well I know Pinkie'd have a good idea fer Celestia if she's the one sendin' the food after all." Applejack commented.
"Speaking of her, it is odd having a meal without them isn't it?" Rarity mentioned.
"I guess so... Ya think they'll be fine out thar on their own?" AJ replied with mild concern.
"Yea, they'll be fine. It's not like anything bad has happened to us on the countless other adventures we've had to deal with over the years." Rainbow Dash spoke up, with typical cocky confidence.
"But all of those've been in Equestria." Applejack replied before she stuffed what little remained of her last carrot into her mouth.
"So? What's the difference? We've been stuck in thousands of desperate situations, and in the end we get out of them fine." Rainbow replied with some exasperated exaggeration.
"Certainly not thousands, but we do see your point, Rainbow Dash. Although, that isn't an excuse for recklessness." Rarity replied.
"The point is, we should be safe in our abilities at this point... We've dealt with a lot." Rainbow replied, as she tossed her plate into one of the tubs.
"But we've survived by bein' cautious." Applejack pointed out.
Rainbow Dash groaned a muttered a quick "Whatever."
Applejack also stood and carried her plate over to the makeshift kitchen sink. Rarity did the same shortly afterwards.
"Well, I'm gonna catch up on my napping." Rainbow Dash said, as she made her way towards her sleeping bag.
"Now hold on a moment, there is somethin' that we need t' discuss first, and yer argument at breakfast made me ferget it." Applejack spoke in what she intended as a non-accusing tone, but she was not entirely successful.
Rainbow released an annoyed sigh and turned back to face Applejack with an expectant frown and eyebrows that formed a long and low U. Rarity also regarded Applejack with a similar expression. Both of her eyebrows were slightly perked upwards, and her mouth also made a slight frown. Although, it appeared to be more of a small pout.
"And what might that be?" The Unicorn inquired.
"It's that garbage heap over thar." Applejack replied, with a nod the to filthy and rank pile of rubbish. "We gotta do somethin' about it. A lot of it we can bury, but I haven't seen a plot of dirt since we've gotten here."
Rainbow Dash lost her previous expression, and adopted a more concerned and thoughtful appearance. She still maintained the frown, but it had shifted more to the left side of her head. Her eyebrows also dipped towards each other.
"Oh, that's simple! Once we establish tidings with these... Humans we'll merely inquire where their trash collection agencies are, and take it over to one of them." Rarity responded.
"I don't think that's how it works here, Rarity. Pretty much everywhere is overflowing with garbage. They might've filled up their places to toss trash, and are just leaving it everywhere. So I say we just leave it where it is." Rainbow Dash answered.
"No! We can't leave it 'ere, Dash. I'm not sure about you, but I ain't too fond of livin' next to a pile of garbage that's only a few yards away from where I sleep." Applejack replied with a look of minor disappointment.
"I don't care, I came here to help them out of a crisis not pick up their trash. That's what they do with their trash. Why should I change it?" Rainbow said to Applejack her tone was similar to her message, and lacked much care for the subject.
" 'Cause it ain't healthy. No way does some creature want t' live in their own muck. It's downright disgustin'! If we can help 'em in that regard, then we're doin' our mission." Applejack replied, her frustration had started to become more apparent.
"I do find it ironic that Rainbow Dash is complaining more about dealing with rubbish, than myself." Rarity commented with slightly amused expression.
Rainbow Dash fired a glare at Rarity, but brought her gaze back to Applejack.
"What do you expect me to do about it, anyways?" Rainbow Dash asked Applejack, with an angered expression. Although, her tone did not replicate her appearance.
"I was hopin' you'd have an idea, or at least be willin' t' help. But I see you got neither." Applejack replied with thick disappointment.
"I don't know! Bother Rarity about it. She can probably make a statue out of it all. I need to catch up on my sleep." Rainbow responded with a careless tone, and began turn about to return to her bedding.
"Make a statue..." Applejack mumbled. She only had to consider the idea briefly before the memory of that infamous slumber party resolved their small crisis.
"Rainbow, that's it!" Applejack exclaimed. Her eyes where bright with excitement and appreciation.
Rainbow rounded to regard the Earth Pony once more with an expression of complete confusion.
"What's it?" She queried.
"S'cuse me, I thought it was obvious." Applejack began with a lightly apologetic tone in her voice. "But ya see Rarity has a spell that can turn branches into decorations. So why not the same with garbage?" Applejack explained.
"I didn't know she could do that." Rainbow replied with a slightly impressed note.
"Well, I'm not sure if it will work on different materials, but I'll ponder this. It still seems that I will not be preforming much magic for the rest of the day. Maybe small and simple levitation here and there, but we may have to wait until tomorrow morning before I can attend to this task... Albeit begrudgingly." Rarity responded.
"Alright. Thanks, Rare. I guess ya can go take yer nap, Rainbow." Applejack said to the Cyan Pegasus.
"Gee. Thanks for the permission." Rainbow Dash replied, but she chuckled lightly at the end to indicate she wasn't entirely serious with the comment.
Applejack gave a small grin to Dash, but turned away from the other ponies and trotted around the Warehouse to ensure that they hadn't overlooked any garbage. If she found some she brought it to the Trash Heap.
Rainbow turned around once more and finally made it to her sleeping bag. She crashed on top of it, and attempted to gain several moments of rest.
Rarity returned to her spot at the table, and continued toiling away at the Suit. She began to make some progress with the design of the seams, but she realized that the manner that they started was horribly wrong. She released a frustrated sigh, flipped to another page in her sketch pad, and started once again.
Rainbow Dash swore that no time had passed, when a lightly toned yell echoed throughout the Warehouse.
"Heyoh, everypony!" Pinkie called.
"I just fell asleep..." Rainbow muttered, as she rose from her bag.
Applejack and Rarity also halted what they were preforming. They called greetings to their companions who had returned, and trotted over to greet them. Rainbow Dash, followed at a more groggy pace.
"How'd ya'll fair?" Applejack asked with an expression of light concern.
"Superb!" Pinkie replied with nearly too much enthusiasm for such a short word.
Twilight regarded Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash with a trademark sheepish expression. Her eyebrows were raised to uneven levels. Her right being higher, than the left. Twilight's ear's were also flat, as they pointed to the left and right. Along with the corners of her mouth being raised in an uncertain grin.
"That ain't suspicious at all." Applejack noted mentally, as she now regarded Twilight with skepticism.
"Do share with us what was so interesting." Rarity inquired. She came to the same conclusion as Applejack, but chose not to display the skepticism.
"Can... Can it wait until dinner? We're all parched, and have had nothing to drink since we've departed." Twilight requested. She let her nervous appearance slide, as she adopted a desperate look that convincingly portrayed their predicament.
"Oh! Of course." Rarity responded, as she and Applejack stepped out of their way and followed them into the Kitchen.
While the others satisfied their thirst Applejack decided it would be best to start the stew as soon as possible due to it's long cooking time.
"Hey Rainbow! Care t' help me with the stew?" AJ requested.
"Uh, I'm not so-" Rainbow began to reply. Her head with was turned slightly to the left and she bit her lip, as she regarded Applejack with uncertainty.
"Ah, come on! Thar can't be much that can go wrong with makin' a stew. It's pretty easy." Applejack responded with a grin, as she looked over her shoulder to speak to Dash.
"Now you cursed us all." Rainbow Dash muttered, but she followed AJ to the box.
While Applejack and Rainbow Dash retrieved the items to prepare the potato stew from the crate. Twilight's group had quenched their thirsts and started to relax in their chairs or at the table. Pinkie had clambered to her chair which, without any surprise, was pink like herself but a few shades darker. Twilight approached the Party Pony after she had sated her own dry throat.
"That suggestion you made earlier about the colors... Do you have coloring materials?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"Hmmm. I don't remember packing any, but I might have some!" Pinkie replied.
Pinkie Pie leaped out of her seat and trotted over to where they had relocated their materials in the early morning. Twilight followed her to the same location.
"Alrighty! Let's just take a quick look inside." Pinkie said, she nosed open the flap of one of the partypacks.
Pinkie Pie promptly pushed her head into the saddlebags in an attempt to find and retrieve the items she sought. Unfortunately, her head obeyed logic and was not able to fit into the significantly smaller bag. She quickly brought her head out of the pack and regarded Twilight with a distraught expression.
"Why can't I look inside the bag? I've always been able to peek inside my bag and bring out whatever I want." Pinkie spoke with a dismayed tone.
"I- I dunno, Pinkie. We're in a different place, and Celestia said that some things we took for granted may not exist here." Twilight responded with empathy.
"Awh. Oh well!" Pinkie said, as she overcame the mildly offsetting discovery. She searched around in the bags with her right hoof.
She occasionally brought out a packet of balloons or streamers but no crayons, colored pencils, or markers were found.
"I'm sorry, Twilight! I didn't pack any this time. I was sure I had some in here..." Pinkie Pie stared at the packs peculiarly.
She didn't move for a while, and Twilight took an opportunity quietly walk away. As she left Pinkie to ponder why her packs did not hold as much as they had back in Equestria.
"I guess, I can use different shades of black to indicate the roads and buildings better. Perhaps, color in the buildings, but that might use up a lot of ink, and I don't think I'll be able to get anymore while I'm here. Then again, it's not likely that I'll deplete my ink. I wasn't able to fit a whole lot on that piece of paper, anyways." Twilight concluded in her mind, as she walked back to where she had slipped off her sidebags.
She returned to the small circle of six chairs, and grabbed the flap of the left bag with her teeth and pulled it open. She still used her teeth to snatch the folded paper and pen, then carry it over to the table. Twilight chose to sit beside Rarity, who had already returned to her sketch pad, and was toiling away at yet another possible route for designing the accursed suit.
"Are you still working on that suit?" Twilight inquired, after she sat in Fluttershy's chair and had placed the paper and pen onto the table.
Rarity didn't respond immediately and finished carefully drawing a wavy line before she did. She relaxed her intense expression of concentration, and released her telekinetic grip on her designer pen. She placed it neatly next to the pad, and looked to her left to regard Twilight.
"Yes. I may as well do something with my spare time." Rarity replied. She still retained some of the intense expression, but it slowly faded away.
"Oh. How's it coming along, if you don't mind my asking?" Twilight Sparkle, cautiously asked.
"I am making a little progress. I've resolved to redesign the suit in a way that I can create it. The suit will still appear the same, of course. It'll just be fashioned in a different manner, than what was originally in the design." Rarity explained.
"You're correct, it isn't very simple. If I deviate too far from the original concept, then it'll appear much different. Perhaps, not at first but if more attention is given to the details, then it would become abundantly obvious, and I would not desire to attend to the issues that could create." Rarity said.
Rarity glanced at the paper that Twilight had laid on the table.
"Would that be the map you set out to make?" Rarity queried, with a curious note and expression.
"Yeah. It's, uh, eheh, pretty crude. I'm trying to make it a bit more... Defined. Right now it's just a bunch of squares." Twilight responded.
"Aaand trying to keep my mind off that freaky toy." Twilight added mentally.
Rarity was intrigued with the map, but when she noticed how Twilight felt about said map it was clear that she was not comfortable about sharing something that probably appeared pathetic.
"I can understand if you want to complete your project before sharing it. I need to return to my own work, anyways." Rarity spoke, as she placed her focus onto her sketch pad. She resumed the levitation of her designer pencil and continued to toil away at her work.
"Whew. I'm not sure if I could handle Rarity falling into frenzy over how disgusting this 'map' looks." Twilight thought with relief as she prepared for her work.
She used a small dose of magic to unfold the map, then scooped up the pen into her mouth and clicked it with her tongue. Twilight began carefully scribble for some time, as she shaded the streets and forest different shades of black. Rarity went through a few more sheets of paper during this time, and Applejack occasionally raised her voice to Rainbow Dash, as she committed some mistake or another. Fluttershy had gone outside to investigate their immediate surroundings for anything that pertained to her interests, while Pinkie strolled around the Warehouse with her partypacks and casually tossed streamers and small party decorations of various colors all about the Warehouse.
" 'Ey! Watch it with those... Party decerations?" Applejack spoke up, as a stray streamer landed near the blazing burner and ignited. She raised her head to regard Pinkie Pie.
"Sorry!" Pinkie squeaked, as she hopped passed.
"Wha' are you doin' ineeways, Pinkay?" Rainbow Dash said through the large plastic spoon in her mouth.
Pinkie could not resist at directing laughter towards Rainbow's expression. The curious look she bore with both eyebrows raised, and the ends of her mouth brought down in a frown around the spoon between her teeth.
"Wash show funnay? Ah whai..." Dash started to inquire, but she quickly realized what was amusing and spat the spoon off to the side of the cooking area.
"Ha ha ha." Rainbow Dash responded sardonically.
Pinkie finished her amusement with a giggle, while Applejack hid a grin behind a curled hoof.
"I was adding a little color to the place. Whaddaya think?" Pinkie asked, as she made a wide gesture with her right hoof to the Warehouse.
There was a chaotic spread of yellow, red, blue, green, purple, and pink specks across a good portion of the Warehouse. They mostly laid on the floor or hung onto the walls. None of them had reached the rafters or inhabited the walkways.
"I, uh... guess it's nice." Rainbow replied hesitantly, and with an uncertainly glance to AJ.
"Well it looks pretty messy, and we're gonna have t' clean it up when we start takin' care of that Trash Heap. But it's good that yer tryin' to make this place look better in any way ya can." Applejack responded with a grin.
"Aww. You're no fun, AJ. Thanks anyways though!" Pinkie said with a smile, and she hopped away to spread more pastel particles across the building.
Applejack brought her attention back to their task. Rainbow had returned the spoon to the pot and was stirring the stew with an absolutely bored expression.
"Rainbow! Ya can stop stirrin' the stew. It's almost done, and we gotta let it sit fer a couple minutes." Applejack ordered.
"Alright, alright. You don't have to be so snappy about it." Dash grumbled, as she pulled the spoon out of the pot and tossed it into a nearby tub.
"I'm just makin' sure it turns out all right. We don't want another package of salt in our stew." Applejack responded.
"You only said to add a little salt, and I didn't pour the whole packet in." Rainbow replied.
"Well, 'a little' usually means gettin' a spoon and addin' it that way. Not grabbin' the whole pack and just pourin' it in thar." Applejack said with amusement.
"I was eying it!" Dash responded with a defensive note.
Applejack chuckled as she grabbed the spoon Rainbow Dash had just placed and held it in the crook of her hoof. She scooped out a spoonful of the stew and blew on it several times. Once it had cooled to a level that Applejack was satisfied with she carefully took a sip. AJ's lips puckered as she briefly displayed a sour expression but it swiftly passed.
"It's gotta lot of salt in it, that's fer sure, but it's still edible." Applejack commented before she returned the spoon to it's former location.
"Could have just cooked it yourself, you know." Rainbow Dash mumbled, but the words remained under her breath.
The few minutes that they needed to wait arrived and departed quickly, and Applejack called her friends over to receive their dinner. Twilight and Rarity cleared their spots at the table by levitating their projects off to their bags, and answered the summons to supper. Fluttershy had returned just a moment before Applejack had made her call, and she followed Pinkie Pie into the Kitchen. Each of the ponies collected their bowls and spoons, then placed them on the table only to return to the kitchen to retrieve their drinks. The six took their spots at the table and finally settled in to enjoy their hot meal.
"Mmmmm. This is exactly what a mare needs on a cold day such as this one." Rarity mentioned as she inhaled the warm soothing scent of the stew.
"Yea! It smells super duper delightfully delectably delicious!" Pinkie praised before she brought her mouth down to her soup and shot the stew a with burst of breath.
Applejack grinned sheepishly to the others, and Rainbow Dash avoided eye contact as she swirled her stew with a spoon.
Pinkie took a quick slurp from her soup straight from the bowl, then raised her head to regard the others.
"Tasty!" Pinkie Pie said. She lowered her head again to continue rapidly sipping the soup out of her bowl.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash waited with anxious appearances, as the other three ponies tasted the stew.
Rarity curled her lips and quietly smacked her lips, but she continued to eat the stew. Fluttershy flinched briefly, then swiftly regained her composure. She raised her eyebrows and drew them closer together in an uncertain expression as she regarded the stew. Twilight cringed when the stew reached her taste buds. It was easily seen that she forced herself to swallow the spoonful.
Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash with an expectant expression. Her head was tilted forward as she pursed her lips and raised her right eyebrow. Rainbow noticed the glance and regarded the Farmer. Applejack gave a quick nod to the other ponies with an expression that could easily be read.
"Well?" Applejack expressed.
Rainbow initially reacted with an appearance of surprise, but she also sent Applejack a discernible look.
"What? No way!" Dash conveyed.
Applejack rolled her eyes, then turned to regard the other ponies.
All of them were staring at Rainbow Dash or Applejack. They had observed the wordless communication between them and were now regarding them with unique expressions of confusion. Twilight's mouth was open in a manner that suggested she had intended to say something, but had faltered when she had taken notice. She quickly resumed what she wanted to say.
"This stew is very... Salty."
Applejack grinned sheepishly and replied.
"Yea abou' that... We accidentallay added a lil' too much salt." Applejack sent a sharp look to Rainbow. "We're very sorry if ya don't like it, but thar's a couple veggies and fruits left if ya want to eat those instead."
"I don't have a problem with it! It's super tasty!" Pinkie appraised. She hastily returned her attention back to slurping her stew.
"Don't worry yourself. It's fine, dear. A little more salt never killed anything." Rarity responded. She chuckled briefly after swallowing another spoonful of stew. "Besides, I've had years to get accustomed to Sweetie Bell's cooking."
"It must be really awful then, huh?" Twilight asked.
Rarity began to nod, but halted herself and shrugged slightly instead.
"It used to be fairly terrible, but with much practice, and even more guidance if I might add, she can actually cook quite a few things now. Even if she's still infamous for the horrific messes she makes during cooking the results are always good."
"It's always good to hear about improvements." Fluttershy metnioned.
The conversation for the meal ended there, as all of the ponies directed their attention to the meal. There might have been varied levels of enjoyment but each of them was equally hungry.
"Even if the flavor was lacking it certainly was filling, and if everypony's finished eating I'll take your utensils and bowls into the Kitchen." Twilight commented and offered when she had finished. She hoped out of her chair with her own eating materials in a teleknetic grasp.
By then the other six had finished eating, and eagerly accepted Twilight's offer. As Twilight collected more plasticware her soul continually felt strained, but she managed to carry all the dishes into one of the kitchen tubs before her magic began to falter.
"I've never felt this tired before. I've only felt a small portion of this weariness after using a lot of magic or advanced complicated complex-compound-composite-conglomerate level spells, like time travel. I hope IMagic isn't too similar to muscles. It'd feel really bad to wake up with a sore soul, or would that be a sore magic muscle?" Twilight Sparkle briefly chuckled briefly with amusement concerning the concept of a magic muscle.
Although her enjoyment faded when she had returned to the table.
" 'Ey Twi'. While yer up can ya get those cases of cider? Then we'll talk abou' what happened while ya'll were out an about." Applejack requested and informed.
Twilight Sparkle mashed her lips together and brought them to the left side of her face and raised her eyebrows as she regarded Applejack hesitantly.
"I hope you don't expect me to levitate them, I'm nearly depleted on magic. I'll go ahead and get them though." Twilight replied.
"Oh. I'll help you then." Fluttershy said, before she stepped out of her seat and walked around the table to join Twilight.
"Thank you, it's appreciated." Twilight responded with grateful notes in her tone.
Twilight went ahead to the crate while Fluttershy circumnavigated the table. She waited briefly for Fluttershy to join her at the worn box. Using their teeth, they lifted the six packs out of the crate by their cardboard handles, and carried them back to the others. Twilight and Fluttershy resumed their positions at the table, while the other four snagged their share of the Canterlot Cider. Twilight barely noticed Pinkie Pie make a grab for a third bottle, but a vicious glare from Rainbow Dash effectively halted the action.
A small orchestra of bottles opening abruptly began as AJ and RD resorted to their teeth as means to accomplish the task. However, somepony retrieved a bottle opener from the kitchen, while the two were away retrieving the beverages. Presumably Pinkie Pie, as it was currently in her possession. She held the bottle between her hooves, and worked the opener in her mouth. She belatedly joined the chorus of depressurizing bottles, and passed the tool to Rarity.
Rarity studied the opener for a moment. There was a strange shine on the end of the devices that reflected the opaque world around them. She accepted this reflecting shine as spittle, and resolved to use a small amount of magic on the opposite end of the spittle to levitate the opener to Twilight, using magic as an alternative for bottle opening.
Twilight opted for a different approach. When the bottle opener landed before herself, she grabbed a napkin, that was placed at each of their seats before the meal, with her mouth. She tossed it onto the bottle opener, and rubbed it across the simple device to dry it. Collecting the tool with her teeth she placed it into position and opened the bottle with a swift jerk of the head. She repeated the process on her other bottle, and hastily dried the opener before sliding it down to Fluttershy.
When all the bottles were opened, and the first sips taken from them, or cups that they had been poured into, Rainbow Dash raised her eyes up from her precious cider and voiced an incredibly articulate question.
"Soooo...?"
Twilight Sparkle nodded slowly, she stared down at the table as she ordered the words she wanted to speak in her mind.
"I doubt our Princess's decision for sending us here. It was fairly obvious she only knew a vague sense of the poverty that is here, and believed we could handle it. Sadly, it is not. I believe it is far worse, than she realized..." Twilight proceed to inform them of their encounters with the human they had encountered, and the two individuals they observed in the alley. Along with her speculations concerning them. There was silence for a brief moment as the others contemplated what was shared. Applejack spoke first.
"So what yer sayin' is that these humans are hyper-aggressive, and that Celestia may not have known this?"
Twilight nodded acknowledgment to Applejack's question before taking a long drink from her cider, quenching a minor thirst that had developed from speaking at length.
"Yes." Twilight replied cautiously.
"I still think we can't judge an entire race of beings by just three- four people!" Pinkie Pie piped up.
"I'm working with what I've got, Pinkie... I haven't, and probably never will. See the entire human species. Therefor, I must make educated guesses based on what I have encountered. Which isn't good, as you have seen." Twilight Sparkle answered.
"I think I'm in agreement with Pinkie on this one... We've been hasty t' judge others in the past, and this migh' be reoccurring here." Applejack stated.
"But Applejack, if all these people are crazy or out to get each other, then how would inserting ourselves into the chaos help them? It won't! It'll just endanger ourselves. Our priority should be returning home. Not risking ourselves for a species, that's ridiculously violent" Rainbow Dash declared, with a hard stare at Applejack.
Applejack scoffed momentarily and cocked her head back as she regarded the Cyan Pegasus.
"I can see why you'd take that position, considerin' what ya asked the Princess before we left." Applejack retorted.
Rainbow Dash squinted briefly, before adopting an expression of mild shock, then twisting it into minor anger. Her response matched her appearance.
"I didn't even know they'd be hostile! I just wanted to know why the Princess would want us to go to this planet, and help these... people."
"I'm not sayin' ya did. What I'm tryin' to say is that you don't even want to be here or care about the humans, and yer usin' this as an excuse fer those desires." Applejack replied with subtle heat.
Rainbow Dash sat up in her chair, and placed her front hooves on the table as she viewed Applejack with complete anger.
"I still could have chosen not to come, right!? And here I am! So I have to care about these guys." Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. She dropped her eyes from Applejack's, and shifted briefly before returning them to their previous height.
"It wouldn't be very loyal of me..." Rainbow Dash continued in a somber tone. "If you all went off on an expedition that needed me, and I just simply turn it down. But I'm there for you guys. It might suck sometimes, but in the end I'm always glad that I am. Besides, why would I pass up an awesome adventure with friends to match the awesomeness of it all?" She finished with a more upbeat tone and grin, as she slid her gaze around the table.
Applejack pressed her lips together, and lowered her head. Rainbow Dash caught what may have been shame spreading across AJ's features, before it was hidden from view. Although they returned to full view after a quick drink of cider.
"I'm sorry fer accusin' ya, and jumpin' to that conclusion, Rainbow. I guess, this proves my point. Maybe we're just jumpin' to conclusions, and we need to keep given em chances until we leave." Applejack apologized and suggest.
"I agree... But could I, um, please stay behind when we do?" Fluttershy spoke with a sheepish smile.
The other five turned to regard her when she began speaking, and quickly tumbled into quiet laughter or chuckling.
"I... kinda agree with AJ." Rainbow started after the amusement had faded. "I mean, I think we should focus on keeping ourselves safe instead of being too risky when it comes to 'saving' these guys. If it means we hunker down until we go, then that's what we should do." Dash replied.
Rarity also nodded her agreement, with the others, and turned expectantly to receive Twilight's response.
"You're all right. We have to do our best. This is our task and we have to at least try, but not carelessly like Rainbow Dash has cautioned. These creatures are certainly dangerous, and we must be wary with them... But that's not all that we need to discuss tonight." Twilight said, as she stood and trotted to her saddlebags.
Twilight nosed the left flap open and stared at the purple replica. She momentarily considered carrying the object between her teeth, but hastily decided that such an item covered in filth would not be welcomed by the tongue. As an alternative, she resorted to using what she imagined was a small pool of magic remaining within herself. Levitating the toy out of her bag, she carried it before herself and solemnly placed it onto the table, as she climbed back into her seat. She glanced around the table to view the reactions of her companions.
Rarity's nose was shriveled as she observed the object with repulsion, while Applejack tilted her eyebrows towards each other and tightened her lips in an analytical gaze. Rainbow Dash simply squinted at it with confusion. Fluttershy and Pinkie merely glanced to each other, before viewing the expressions of the others.
"Is that what I think it is...?" Applejack spoke, as she dragged her gaze off the toy to regard Twilight.
"Yeah, what is it?" Rainbow Dash quickly put in, before Twilight brought in a breath to reply with.
Twilight Sparkle glanced to Applejack before dropping her eyes down onto the toy, and pushing it towards AJ with a shove from her hoof.
"Most likely." Twilight answered. "We found it on our return trip. It was certainly a... startling find."
Applejack leaned forward and collected the putrid purple plastic pony with her hooves. She rotated it between them, as she observed it from all angles before placing it down and sliding it to Rainbow Dash.
"Ya know what this means, right?" Applejack questioned, as she regarded the librarian who seemed to be mildly perturbed.
"I'm... Not sure Applejack. It's uncanny, even if it's in poor condition it's unmistakably me, or it's just coincidence that they happened to make a pony that appears similar to me. Who knows? We'll probably never find out." Twilight responded.
"Not if we ask!" Pinkie Pie chirped.
"But who would we ask, darling?" Rarity inquired.
"Well, just anypo- anyone!" Pinkie Pie cheerful expression faulted, as it was briefly replaced by an annoyed frown. As if her habit of mentioning other sentient beings as ponies had started to annoy her, when the beings in question were not ponies.
"I mean," Pinkie continued. "They live here right? They should know what's what, or have a better idea than us."
Twilight Sparkle slowly nodded agreement, although she swiftly stiffened as a possible issue with this persistent suggestion occurred to her.
"It will depend on who we ask. If my guess is correct that this is a toy, then it is likely that... Well, a good portion of people may not be aware of what it is depending on the demographic that it was marketed too."
"That shouldn't be too hard to find out." Fluttershy spoke, followed by a short giggle. "What is hard is imagining colts, like Snips or Snails, playing with butterfly toys. I think that might slim down who these toys were sold too."
"That sounds about right." Applejack agreed.
There were a few nods and a murmured assent or two. Twilight noticed that the toy wasn't being scrutinized anymore.
"Dash, could you pass the... toy to me?" She requested.
Rainbow complied with a small nod, and slid the toy to Twilight with a slight shove from her front right hoof. Twilight nodded her thanks, before taking a long drink from her second bottle of cider. She pushed the bottle away from her when she emptied it and leaned back in her chair.
"You alright Twi'? Yer lookin' pretty tired." Applejack questioned with concern.
"It's been a tiring day... I'm thinking about going to bed soon." Twilight replied.
"Before ya do, we gotta decide on who's on watch t'night." Applejack reminded. "I'd suggest that ya be exempted though, considerin' how tired ya appear t' be."
As the others agreed, Twilight opened her mouth to protest but slowly closed it, remembering that when you're given a gift it's best not to complain about it, and that the giver may know what's best for you.
"Thanks girls." Twilight replied with an appreciative grin.
"Of course darling," Rarity started. "And now I will be bold enough to suggest who goes first on watch tonight..."
Rarity slid her gaze across the table to not only observe the expressions of her companions, but to also create an effect of suspense and drama. She relished the moment for these did not come often. When her vision centered onto Rainbow Dash she noticed a pained expression quickly pass through her features. She briefly raised the side of her hoof up to her forehead. Rarity allowed a sly smile to creep into place on her lips, as she continued moving her sight. She guessed that Rainbow Dash had discovered the mistake in allowing Twilight to not take a place on watch, as this forced her into the slot she would have assumed.
Beauty sleep is a precious thing after all. When such is denied due to another's laziness it is best to redeem it at the earliest opportunity. It isn't revenge persay... Merely reacquiring what was lost or stolen.
"And who would that be...?" Fluttershy asked, with raised eyebrows.
"Why Rainbow Dash, of course!" Rarity replied with a wide smile.
She redirected her gaze to the Cyan Pony. She could see Rainbow Dash quietly groan, as she lowered her eyes to the table. Rarity continued to smile, and attempted to put meaning into her eyes that displayed the reasons behind this drama. She noticed Dash glance up from her staring contest with the table. Her eyes connected with Rarity's.
Rainbow Dash noticed the look in the eyes of the Unicorn across from her. The appearance of triumph and proud vengeance... It only generated emotions of resentment within Rainbow, but this skirmish of wit wasn't her area of expertise. The temptation to fall into heedless rage was present, but the one for thoughtless arguing was stronger. But she knew neither of those desires was the solution. Rage would be uncalled for, and an argument had already occurred between her and AJ another was the last thing the others would want. Rainbow Dash glared to Rarity.
"Of course, I'll take the watch." Rainbow Dash replied with the recently created emotions taking a subtle place in her tone, and hopefully leak out of her soul.
Abruptly, a lesson came to the center of her mind's attention. She had learned many of them with her friends through the past several years, but she had cherished this one with a few others. No matter how small or far the fall. When you land what counts is how you bounce back from it. If you stay crushed from the impact you will never advance, and nearly never be able to succeed again.
Obviously, she wanted to succeed.
Rainbow Dash fully raised her head and smiled brightly towards Rarity, dispelling the emotions she harbored previously. A solution to her predicament had invaded her mind, and the eagerness to employ it made her beam. She put on her typical cocky confidence and started another response.
"You've made a good call, Rarity. We wouldn't want somepony on duty that wasn't capable or unconcerned, unlike me. Keeping you guys safe is one of my highest priorities, and I'm glad to be acting on it." Rainbow rubbed her chest with her right hoof in a slightly arrogant manner.
Rarity's smile crumbled and a subtle glare replaced the snarky joy she had enjoyed before. She had not anticipated Rainbow Dash being able to counter with civil spite. She quickly began scheming of a way to respond similarly. Although she hastily realized that her goal would be achieved regardless of continued conflict which made such unnecessary.
"Indeed..." Rarity replied testily.
"So, ah... Who's goin' t' be takin' the first watch since we're lettin' Twi' off this evening?" Applejack spoke up, in an attempt to divert the tension she observed building between Dash and Rarity.
"Oh! I will!" Pinkie happily volunteered.
"Guess that settles that... 'Shy, you gonna be taking the second shift again?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she took command of the conversation.
"I don't see any reason not too." Fluttershy replied.
"Alright. I can take the fourth one." Rainbow said, but Rarity was swift to respond.
"I do believe that spot is reserved for me."
Rainbow squinted at the unicorn. She briefly considered arguing for the spot, but at this point it didn't matter much to her. She had a duty to uphold for her friends she may as well get it over with first.
"Ugh. Fiiine." Rainbow replied with annoyance and exasperation.
To be honest with herself, she just wanted some sleep. The day was definitely drawing to close, and the cold was beginning to penetrate the thin protection their Warehouse provided. She glanced to her friends. She couldn't tell if they felt the dull tingle of cold on their upper backs. Although Fluttershy's wings were raised slightly, as she rolled them in their sockets. Maybe in an attempt to warm the area.
"So that means I'll take the third spot, and AJ gets the fifth while Twilight just crashes through the whole night." Rainbow continued, as she brought her mind back onto the topic at hoof.
"Sounds super splendid to me!" Pinkie spoke up. She took a quick swig from her cider to finish it off, then stretched her back before leaping out of her chair and bouncing over to Twilight.
"You hangin' in there?" Pinkie Pie asked as she stooped to speak with the Librarian.
Twilight Sparkle was resting her head onto the table with her eyes half closed. Like everyone else, she had already finished both of her bottles of cider.
"Yeah... Just a little tired. That's all." Twilight mumbled.
"Uhm... Twilight, how does drawing a map make you so tired?" Fluttershy questioned with a slightly tilted head to further display her curiosity.
Twilight Sparkle glanced over to the inquiring pony. She fully opened her eyes as she did so.
"Well maps have to be precise. Mine's is hardly close to accurate since I lack the instruments... But I did what I could. And that meant erasing every single majorly crooked line and redrawing it until it was satisfactorily straight." She answered.
"Oh! Thaaat's why you took so long!" Pinkie Pie said with understanding covering her voice.
"Mmhhmm." Twilight hummed.
"Well, I don't think thar's anything left fer us t' discuss." Applejack spoke up. "Pinkie, ya think ya got everything handled while we go hit the hay?"
"Yeppers! You all take care of yourselves while Pinkie keeps an eye out for ya!" Pinkie chirped in reply.
"Thanks Pinkie Pie... It's appreciated." Twilight mumbled as she sluggishly stood from her chair. The other four also shared their thanks. Pinkie smiled in reply and nodded her acknowledgement of their thankfulness.
As they started standing and moving towards their items, a blazing bright light abruptly filled the Warehouse, as yet another crate was delivered. The ponies directed their eyes away from the light until it had subsided. When it did, they observed the box with mild curiosity. Nothing was out of the ordinary with it, so they proceed with readying themselves for sleep.
As other five went about their business of preparing their beds or bodies for sleep, Pinkie gathered the empty cider bottles of the table to toss them into the pile of rubbish at the end of their Warehouse. When that was completed she trotted over to the Kitchen with her usual happy spring punctuating her steps. She quickly went about partially filling a pot with a small amount water, and retrieved a packet of hot chocolate. While it boiled she obtained a cup and poured the powder into it. When a few minutes had passed steam began to profusely pour out of the spout. She carefully poured the water into her cup by firmly gripping the cushioned handle with her teeth. She quickly stirred the water and cocoa powder together and cautiously carried the cup to her place at the table.
She sat back in her chair as she waited for the beverage to cool down to an enjoyable temperature. She casually slid her gaze across her friends as she observed how they were preparing for sleep.
Twilight was already curling up in her sleeping bag. This allowed Pinkie to wondered if the others gave her priority when it came to preparing themselves for bed so she would be able to reach the bags first. Rarity was organizing her sleeping area, and conversing with Fluttershy as she did so. Fluttershy was also preparing her sleeping bag and pad for use, and occasionally assisting Rarity with some minor issue. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both brushing their teeth at a ridiculously fast pace.
"Maaaybe they're seeing who can brush their teeth the fastest? How silly of them!" Pinkie thought with mildly amused curiosity.
She raised the hot chocolate to her mouth and tentatively sipped from the mug. It was still hot but not scaldingly so. Although the hot liquid fired down her throat in an sudden swallow as a forgotten chore was abruptly remembered. The damp rain cloak was still contained in her saddlebags, and needed to be removed before mildew infested.
Pinkie Pie quickly landed her mug back onto the table and hopped out of her and trotted over to where she, Fluttershy, and Twilight had stored their bags upon their return. A thought quickly passed through her mind. It was possible Fluttershy and Twilight may have also forgotten to remove their cloaks. Pinkie quickly glanced around to confirm this. She saw no blue cloaks hanging up to dry. Shrugging, she lowered her head and nosed open the flap to her bag, and withdrew a damp cloak. She carried it between her teeth to one of the old crates, and laid it out. She returned to the other bags and also carried the cloaks those contained and placed them near her own with hopes that they will have dried when morning comes around.
She returned to her mug of hot chocolate. Taking a long swig of the deliciously warm beverage, she glanced up to where her friends would be laying down to sleep. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were settling in, while Rarity and Fluttershy finished adding curlers or removing extensions. Pinkie had never seen Fluttershy without her tail extenders. It was a little odd seeing her with a slightly shorter tail, but it wasn't a real significant difference.
Being honest with herself, Pinkie Pie thought there wasn't a need for the extensions, which did bring a question under her consideration. What was the reason for them if they weren't needed? Her tail wasn't so short that extensions were needed for it to be accept by others. It seemed just barely shorter than average. Something a pony would only notice if she study it for a moment. Pinkie resolved to ask her this question sometime in the future.
By the time the warmth of her hot cocoa filled her belly the five others had either fallen into sleep or were almost embraced by it. Pinkie quietly sighed as she stepped out of her chair and trotted to one of the doors that led outside. Her expression slowly fell to a neutral state. Now that nopony expected her to be happy and bubbly she could relax and rest as she watched for any indicators of danger. A small grin slid onto her features as she trotted past her friends. The sight of five ponies curled up in sleeping bags breathing lightly in slumber was too adorable to resist. Although it faded quickly enough as she stepped outside.
It was significantly colder outside. The sudden change in temperature caused bumps to rise underneath her coat and hairs to prickle. She took a right as she exited the door and headed for one of the more open areas of the compound. Knowing it would be silly to stand out in the open, Pinkie Pie sat in the shadows of their Warehouse as she kept watch for intruders. She slowly scanned the area before her.
The moonlight illuminated cracked concrete and dark patches of weeds clambered out of the small chasms. The ground was slightly damp, and the few puddles that refused to evaporate during the day reflected the cloudy sky and unfamiliar moon. Innate black clumps of garbage spotted the space, although the amount here was significantly less when compared to the other parts of the city she had seen.
Pinkie's mind became dull as the boredom of guard duty began to set in. Her scans gradually became shorter until she eventually lingered on one patch of weeds. Although, she made a conscious effort to keep her ears attentive to any deliberate additions to the naturally quiet sounds of night. She raised the side of her hoof to cover her mouth as she released a small yawn. Her mind slowly entered the state of recollection that occurs when one is tired and bored, but unable to sleep. The moment when random memories are brought to attention for brief or extensive consideration.
The moment when Celestia announced that they were to set off for another planet. The disbelief, excitement and apprehension that followed. When Twilight informed her of their summons to Canterlot and the elated happiness that followed. One of their more recent gatherings at Sugercube Corner and the good stories and times shared then. The train ride to Canterlot and the building of excitement and apprehension of visiting a desired location. Arriving on Earth with miserable mental pain. A pair of moist glasses dominated Pinkie's mental vision.
A dull, cold ache throbbed around Pinkie's soul. An ache that she wasn't unfamiliar with. Pinkie pressed her eyelids together, then blinked rapidly several times to keep tears inside of herself. She was accustomed to loss. To new and old friends; Both in age and time. She tried to be friends with everypony. She nearly always ways. Everyone likes a happy, bubbly pony. They're easy to get along with and their odd quirks are endearing.
"Friendships never die... As long as we work to keep them alive." Pinkie thought with a depressing tone.
But she knew better. The friendship that was shared may not end, but those that inhabit it do. A brief bombardment of images of the many friends that had become lifeless assaulted her mind's sight. She failed to halt it, but neither did she desire to. They had to be remembered some how... Still and empty ponies with sobbing family and friends all around. Most of them old, but occasionally younger ones appeared. Pinkie recalled usually standing off to the side and quietly weeping during these times. Always respecting the closer friends and family's space to their loved ones. It never ceased to startle her how clearly she remembered each death and funeral. It always seems as if it was just yesterday when it happened... As they have always said.
The assault ended with the image of pink legs wrapped around a child's head. A human child. Who's head was bloody and cracked. Who's glasses were filled with tears. Who's life was barely with in him... who was barely a friend, but a friend none the less.
Pinkie forced her eyelashes together again, and held them tight. Her eyebrows tilted towards one another and her mouth was curved into a frown. She wanted to feel the pain. She wanted to wallow and mourn for lost friends. All of them, but she pushed against the familiar pain and sorrow that surrounded her mind and soul. She knew she could not fall into despair again. She had to stay upbeat, happy, and capable, for those around her that still lived needed her.
But she was a vessel for their memories. She had to keep sailing. If not for herself, but for them.
