Where is Everybody? thirty two.

I have no idea how I'm going to go about this. And I'm not sure I even want to try. There's no practical reason to want to feed the world, and to discover it. There's no certainty that there is anyone else out there. For all that we know, that mare may be already dead. For all we know, Alex Chance Torrez has had a very realistic, lucid dream. Or a hallucination from elemental exposure. My own thick skin, and that of the police officer and brother, and of our chatterbox and the timid one, and my own partner haven't been shown conclusively to be a thing in the others. S/he may have been seeing and hearing things from exhaustion. I might be going crazy myself to think I should go along with them.

Seven o'clock, and dawn has broken. Seven, and Vinnie's hand could be felt on my shoulder. My eyes fluttered open, and I was greeted by a glaring sun, which was immediately dimmed by her pulling the curtains. A silver pot was placed at the side of my mattress, and I could smell dandelion in the steam rising from it. What a miracle. "Drink up. You've had plenty of other stuff last night. It's time you had some more of your other favorite."

I gave a sigh, then bent my spine forward. I raised both forelimbs and clutched the mug next to it like a pair of tweezers. I've gotten used to holding things this way, yet I have to lay to do it. Fortunately, she helps me out with more delicate things. Same as DogFace helps the others. Feelings that golden fluid and hazel mist on my face was the best way to start the morning. In five minutes, I was done, then she ushered me into the yard where we still had a nice smolder going. The large pit that our neighbors dug for us to drop our waste in hadn't been filled, yet it still had a fine reek to it that could be detected anywhere in the yard. I made a mental note to have a wooden shack placed over it. Thank goodness Vinnie works with wood.

"So, you want a small sip of rum, give your teeth a nice rinse?" I nodded, and was reminded that Vinnie loved rum, but now she can't hold liquor anymore. If she wants booze, she needs to drink ale, beer and wine. She had a very adverse reaction to some gin a month ago, and it almost took me out.

I passed the hole, the burning can, and the metal heap for a good look at the cauliflowers. I couldn't believe how big they were, and I had only planted them scarcely a month ago. I picked the top off of one of them, then poured some water on it. It instantly grew a quarter of what I had taken. WOW.

Across the street we came, and everybody was well rested. Angela had non vital info, and was beating me over the head with it. Something about hovering jewelry (HA!), magic, and some strange nightmare involving an alien witch in a cerulean dress over watching us all, and speaking in an alien tongue she'd never heard before. It didn't take long for me to tune her out. Sweet had more to say. Said that Alex was getting restless, and wanted nothing more than to find that helpless soul. Then the fact she wanted to meet new ponies, as did Angie.

I listened intently, then came to the cart in front. At it's front was Monica, with Alex at his side. Sweet hopped in, then gestured for me to hop on in. I criss-crossed hooves, then leaped into its rear seat. That little clot Anthony threw his forelimbs about Alex's shoulders and neck and held on for several minutes. I guess sharing those dreams and have that sixth sense makes them close.

We left down around eight, and found ourselves the sole vehicle on the abandoned express way. Will more pop up while we're here like they did when Hadleys came out?

The docks still had rafts, yachts, and boats tied to them. There wasn't anything unusual about it, until we came to the beach. Man made islands and reefs could be seen all around us, yet what had out attention was the strange rubbery thing floating about a hundred yards out. From all of us, it was Sweet who decided to swim out and find out what we were seeing. It came naturally to her as it did to me.

It should be noted that she did something she never did before in my presence: She removed her dress before she did it, giving me a clear view of her hips. On her left one was a strange mark, a pattern. It looked like an apple seed with an illustration of a ray of sun beaming down upon it. I heard her and Alex talk about this before, but their talk was brief. It matches her skin and fur perfectly. almost like it grew with the hair, and was a natural skin pattern.

When she came back, a piece of wet, burnt paper had been clenched in her teeth. I offered an upturned hoof and she dropped it in there. I couldn't tell what it was, wet and soggy, and partially singed, but it was some kind of instruction.

The rest of the day had been spent in the city, but I went off on my own and looked up at the sky. Watching clouds go by is a past time sorely forgotten, or it was when industry was still churning night and day without cease. Skies are clear now, save for a few sparse clouds here and there, none of which looked heavy enough to bring us rain.

It was here I saw something amazing and strange. These eyes are like a couple of spyglasses, they serve like binoculars. My eyes could have been deceiving me, but on one of those clouds, I could have sworn there was a woman sitting on the side of it like something out of a fairy tale. Like it was solid mass rather than liquid vapor. I couldn't see her face, but it was clear she wasn't looking down. Totally motionless and looking up at the sky. After six minutes, the wind had carried her away. She couldn't hear me when I shouted at her, nor would I have been able to hear her, but she should have been watching out for anyone on the ground.

I guess there are others here, unless I'm going crazy like A. I better get back to them. Sacks of sugar don't harvest themselves.

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Six AM. I managed to get up before Samantha would nudge me out of bed. I have no desire to get groped by her again. Flip the switch and wake everyone up. They all reacted as you might think.

I wasn't in the best mood myself, for once again I saw that mysterious alien woman again. This time, she was on some guy's case about something. I still can't forget a thing that happens in these dreams, yet no one speaks English. Same cerulean dress, same silver shoes, same silver sapphire studded crown, same concerned look. I wish I knew what she was saying. Was that a crescent moon or a lightning bolt marked on the door to the room they were in? I only caught a glimpse of it, but it was surely one of the two.

Tea was served for the lot of us, and I could smell the smoke from the grated garbage can across the street. I did not look forward to seeing him, but we need his general curiosity and gall. He showed up, and we got in the cart quickly, me first, him last.

When we got to the harbor, nothing was there around the offices and docks, yet the beach gave us a clear view of a piece of debris. And we found someone.

When Sweet volunteered to swim out and pick something from the waste, I wasn't too surprised. All we could find was an instruction manual beneath a tattered piece of indistinguishable rubber.

We spent most of the day enjoying ourselves, and picking sweets where we could find them. Will went off on his own only to come back and tell us about a woman sitting on a cloud, floating by. Fantastical as it sounded, maybe he would now listen to me about a man trapped in a fish's body, which we discovered.

He told us he could hear things for considerable distances and knew we were in the area. He could not, however swim fast enough to get to us before we left the coastline. Fortunately, our hearing is equally great. I never measured.

As we were in the candy shop, I heard a faint screaming outside the door. Thought it was just the wind. When it came exactly the same as before, I couldn't help but pay attention. I alerted Monica who was already heading from the door, having heard it sooner than I had, and Sweet, who was doing her darnedest to ignore it.

When we showed up, two rather large orcas (both of whom were a thaumic hot spot) were pestering a vaguely bright looking fishlike creature that was slightly bigger than Monica(also with high thaumen concentration). They had beached themselves trying to get to him, and he was struggling to crawl, then roll his way to the concrete, even if that would be death to him.

*zZAP, ZAP* Electric sparks, or the like jumped out of me, seemingly of their own accord. (What other surprises am I in for?) And shocked Keiko and Luna. Spooked, they scrambled their way back to the water and vanished. When we asked if he was alright, this intelligent looking fish creature whose eyes were like ours responded saying he needs to catch his breath. He's actually no fish at all. He's more like an otter or sea lion. Save the odd shape of his head. There's only a smooth rubber/leather like texture to his skin, much like dog-faced Samantha or those two orcas who tried to have their way with him. He almost certainly has lungs like us, I don't doubt it. There's no gills around his face or neck. No hair nor scales.

He said the rainstorm saved his life, but put him at the mercy of those orcas. He remembers me vividly. Not surprising what with me being the only sentient being he's seen since this mess started. He outsmarted them a number of ways, but they always eventually see though them, and come back for him. At this moment, Sweet Stuff did something uncharacteristic, as did Monica: They got angry and swore they would get Keiko and Luna, whatever it takes.

We had to leave this guy, but he said that's alright with him. Will came out of the warehouse whose roof he was on gazing at the sky. Leave it to him to have his head in the clouds.

I wonder if Anthony can set things on fire with his mind. We both share the dreams and energy senses. Maybe he can do other things, too. Does it take an emergency? One way to find out. I hope all this info can help us find more people wherever they may be, and find out more about that dream lady. I suspect she's real. And her world, universe, whatever is real as ours, and we can somehow contact them and get answers.