//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: The Great Transition 
// by Bronyfordays 
//------------------------------//

I didn’t think twice before I galloped out of the room along with everypony else. I was a bit worried about Jack and Anthony, but Fluttershy was at the top of my worries right now. We all galloped into the medical room Fluttershy was stationed and gasped. The two doctors tried to calm down a convulsing Fluttershy. 

“Doctor White Coat?” Princess Celestia spoke up. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know!” The struggling doctor said. “There’s something in her circulatory system that’s causing these spasms, but I don’t know what it is!”

“Nuclear radiation…” A voice said from behind us. I turned around and to my surprise, Jack and Anthony were standing at the door, though Jack looked very weak. “But I’ve never seen it like this before.”

“What’s nuclear radiation?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s hard to explain, it has to do with atoms and particles, and all that science crap. What I do know is that absorbing a lot of it can kill you,” Jack said.

“What?!” I said. “Where’d it come from?!” 

“My best guess is the mutants,” Jack said. “They used to be everyday animals, but the radiation caused them to mutate into those.”

“Geez…” Rainbow Dash said. 

“Is she going to be okay?” Pinkie asked.

“I don’t know…” Jack said. Which made me worry even more.

“But there has to be someway to save her!” Rainbow Dash cried.

“There is a way,” Jack said. “We must take her to my village.”

“Well what are we waiting for!? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Right!” I nodded. We began to make preparations to go the village. But as we were getting ready, Discord came rushing into the room.

“I came as soon as I heard the news! Is Fluttershy going...to…” Discord trailed off as he noticed Jack and Anthony. 

“Umm...who is this?” Jack asked.

I heard Anthony say something that sounded suspiciously like, ‘more like what is he’. But Jack elbowed him.

“I could ask the same of you,” Discord said. But then he shook his head. “Argh! This is no time for chitchat! Is Fluttershy going to be okay?!”

“Well, we are going to take her to our village.” Jack said. “We have an antidote for radiation sickness.”

Discord seemed to mull over those words in his head, I thought he was going to object. But in the end, he said, “Alright.”

“Can we go now?” Rainbow Dash said impatiently.

“Wait,” Jack said. “You can’t all go!”

“Why?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Because it would cause a panic,” Jack said. “My people don’t even know you exist.”

“As much as I hate to let my little ponies go off on their own like this, I agree,” Princess Celestia said.

I looked at Jack, who looked a bit shocked for a second, then I noticed him clutching the bandages on his arm, “Jack, are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah I’m fine, I just felt that what Princess Celestia said reminded me of something,” he said. “Anyways, I’ll allow a maximum of five to go with Fluttershy.”

“Deal,” I said.

“Good,” Jack said. “I am sorry, but like I said, I don’t want to cause a panic.”

“You don’t have to apologize Jack,” Princess Celestia said. “We understand.”

“Thanks,” Jack said. “So who’s going with us?”

“Luna and I will stay here,” Princess Celestia said. “We need to start figuring out what to do next. But I think Twilight should go, as well as Fluttershy’s husband, Green Leaf.”

Jack nodded. “Who else?”

“I’ll go,” Rainbow Dash said. “In case this is a trap.”

“In that case I’ll go too,” Applejack said.

I saw Jack and Anthony roll their eyes. I knew it wasn’t gonna be a trap, but my friends just wanted to play it safe.

“Whatever,” Jack sighed, he was starting to sweat for some reason. “Alright, one more.”

“I’ll go…” Discord said quickly. “I just can’t stand Fluttershy like this.”

Nopony objected to that. But when I looked back at Jack he was swaying on his feet.

“Jack are you really alright?” I asked, worried.

“I...I’m fine!” Jack said, but contrary to those words he slumped to the ground. 

“Shit! Jack!” Anthony said, kneeling down to feel his friend’s forehead. “He’s burning up!”

“Do you think that slash from the mutant gave him radiation sickness too?” I asked.

“It can’t be…” Anthony stopped all of a sudden, all that could be heard was Jack’s ragged breathing.

“Anthony?” I said.

“There’s something in his lower back…” Anthony said. “It’s like a really big nail! Shit, there could be an infection.”

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

“He’ll have to stay here,” Princess Celestia said. “We’ll take care of him, we have the medications to treat an infection.”

It looked like Anthony was about to object when Jack grabbed him by the shirt and spoke in a coarse voice.

“Anthony, I’ll be okay…” He said. “Right now you need to get Fluttershy to our village. Can you do that for me?”

I was a little shocked by how much Jack cared that Fluttershy was hurt.

“Yes,” Anthony said reluctantly. 

“Good,” Jack said. Then he looked at Fluttershy, “You guys should get going, there’s no telling how long she’s gonna last.”

We all nodded, and as we said our goodbyes, I couldn’t help but feel that everything would turn out alright. Hopefully, all of our problems will vanish after this. But there was still one more thing on my mind, I just couldn’t get rid of the thought that I had actually killed something. 


The trot to the village was long and quiet. Anthony had opted to carry Fluttershy, which we were all grateful for. But as I looked back at the two, I noticed that Fluttershy was getting worse. Luckily, Anthony finally spoke up.

“Alright, everybody.” He said. “Around the street corner is the village. Let me go and talk to the guards first.”

We all nodded as he handed Fluttershy over to Discord and walked around the bend. I took the time to look around the ruined city, it was definitely big. But it felt kinda small at the same time. Probably because most of the city was decimated. After a couple seconds, he came back around and waved for us to come over. Slowly, we turned the corner and were met with a wooden wall a yard or two away.The middle seemed to be a giant door and there were guards on either side. The first thing I noticed were the guns in their hands, they still made me slightly nervous, but I now knew for sure they weren’t going to be aimed at me anytime soon. But as they noticed us, their jaws dropped and the left one almost dropped his gun.

“Holy shit…” The right one said.

“Ugh.” Anthony groaned. “I told you guys not to freak out!”

The two guards steadied themselves again and said, “Sorry Captain.”

“Captain?” I asked. 

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m captain of the police force.”

“Huh,” I muttered. 

“Alright, let’s go,” Anthony said and pushed open the giant doors. Meanwhile, the guards kept staring at us. Which made me a tad uncomfortable. Then I looked inside and saw tons of other humans walking around, but every single one stopped and stared as we came in. I was getting more and more uncomfortable, until a female human came running towards us, she looked a bit shocked at us but kept coming anyways. 

“Anthony!” She said. “Where’s Jack?! I woke up and he was gone, I’ve spent the entire day making funeral preparations myself.”

“Jack’s fine Sarah,” Anthony said. “He was hurt.”

“What?!” Sarah said. “Where is he?”

“He’s um…” Anthony said, not sure how to explain it. 

“He’s back at our spaceships,” I said. “In the the care of our doctors.”

Once I said that, however, all the humans, save for Anthony, gasped. 

“What?” I asked, confused. “Was it something I said?”

Anthony chuckled, “No, it’s just no one knew you could talk.”

“Man…” Sarah said. “Talking, multicolored space horses. Jack was definitely telling the truth.” She then shook her head. “Nevermind, I have a lot of questions Anthony!”

“Not now,” Anthony said. “We need to go to the hospital!”

“What?” Sarah said. “Why?”

“One of their own is injured,” Anthony said, starting through the village. I was looking around in the meantime, everyone was still staring. I was also still uncomfortable. But I walked as well. Most of the houses were makeshift, while some were built into the old, decrepit buildings. Eventually, we came across what looked to be a movie theatre. “Alright, here we are.”

“Your hospital is a movie theatre?” Rainbow Dash asked. It was the first time anyone else spoke the entire time.

“When the entire world has been blown up,” Anthony said. “You can’t be picky.”

“I guess…” Rainbow said.

And with that the group went inside, which housed the main lobby. In the lobby was what looked to be two doctors. Guessing from the lab coats. The two looked at us and their reactions were immediate. The one on the right fainted and the left one just stood and stared. 

“Umm…” Discord said, looking at the fallen doctor. “Is he gonna be ok?”

That seemed to knock the female doctor out of her trance, “Oh yeah, he just faints easy. Anyway, Anthony and Sarah, you mind telling me what’s going on?”

Sarah just shrugged and looked at Anthony, “Well, these ponies and…” Anthony stopped when he noticed Discord.

“Draconequus,” Discord said.

“Yeah, that,” Anthony said. “They have a friend who is being inflicted with radiation sickness.”

Discord showed a heavily breathing Fluttershy to the doctor, “Can you help her?”

The doctor looked at Fluttershy, “Well we do have a new serum that can expel the radiation from the body.”

“Then what are y’all waiting for?” Applejack said.

“I’ve never used it on a completely different species before,” she said. “The effects could be...fatal.”

“Y...you mean she could die if you give it to her?” I said, worried.

The doctor nodded, “It’s possible, but she’ll die anyways if you don’t use it. Still, it’s up to you.”

“Gather around,” I told my friends. As they complied, Green Leaf seemed especially nervous, as did Discord. “What do you guys think?”

“I think we should do it,” Green Leaf said immediately. “It’s the only chance she’s got!”

“According to the humans…” Rainbow Dash said. “What if they’re lying?”

“What would they gain from that though? And we’ve seen how they are, they’re not evil,” I said.

“I suppose…” Rainbow said.

“I think we should do it, if there’s a chance, then I will take it,” Discord said.

“Same,” I said.

That left Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Ah say we do it, we have to!”

Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes, “Alright! Geez…”

“That settles it,” I said. We walked back over to Anthony, Sarah, and the doctor, who was checking on the unconscious doctor. Whom she had laid on a table. “We’ll do it.”

The doctor nodded, “Follow me then.”

Our now slightly larger group walked further into the theatre, eventually reaching a room at the end. The doctor opened the door to the room and the group walked in. In the center was a small operating table with a light above it. Though it seemed as if the light hadn’t worked in a long time. That was all there was, no equipment, probably since there was no electricity. Instead of a light, there was a gas lamp on a small stand near the metal table. 

Quickly, Discord put Fluttershy on the table and the doctor turned on the gaslamp, the doctor then checked over Fluttershy. 

“Alright, everything else seems good,” she said. “Is everyone going to stay here?”

I nodded and assumed everyone else did too. 

“Alright,” She said and picked up a syringe that I hadn’t noticed before. “This is the serum, are you ready?”

We all nodded. “Good,” She said, and very carefully injected the serum into Fluttershy. We all held our breaths as the seconds went by, until finally something happened, albeit not something good. Fluttershy started spasming uncontrollably, quickly, the doctor and Anthony started to restrain her. 

“What’s happening?” I said, scared to know the answer.

“Either her body’s accepting the serum in a violent way,” the doctor said. “Or it’s rejecting it…”

I couldn’t believe it, was this all for nothing? Had we failed in saving my friend? I couldn’t help it, I cried. During my crying I heard something odd, the sound of silence. I looked up to see Fluttershy as still as could be. The doctor walked over and checked for a pulse, and shook her head. I cried even more at that, how could this happen?! I looked at my friends, Green Leaf was being comforted by Applejack and Rainbow Dash was looking at the ground. Even Rainbow Dash was crying silently. Meanwhile, Discord was just staring at Fluttershy’s still body, and the humans were solemnly looking at us.

“Damn it all!” Anthony said abruptly. We all looked as he walked towards Fluttershy determinedly. “No way I’m giving up now!” 

“W...what are you doing?” Rainbow dash asked, surprised at his suddenness.

“AR,” Anthony said.

“Anthony!” The doctor exclaimed, “You aren’t properly trained to do that kind of stuff on animals.”

“You aren’t either!” Anthony said, then smiled. “And we’re not dealing with an animal, we’re dealing with an intelligent being! Plus, it’s the only chance she’s got!” 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, why did they care about us so much? After what we did to them too! 

“What’s AR?” Applejack asked. 

“Assisted breathing,” Sarah said as Anthony put Fluttershy on her side. “When you bring air to the lungs by breathing into the mouth.”

“What if that doesn’t work?” Discord asked. 

“Then I start doing CPR,” Anthony said. “ Chest compressions. Green Leaf?”

Green Leaf’s ears perked up, “Yes?”

“Do you want to do the assisted breathing?” Anthony asked.

“O...of course!” Green Leaf said, trotting over to the table. “So I just breathe into her mouth?” 

“Yes,” Anthony said. “Carefully.” 

So we watched as Green Leaf did just that while Anthony kept checking for a pulse. After a few nerve wracking seconds, Anthony spoke again. 

“Goddamnit! Alright, keep doing that and I’ll start chest compressions!”

Green Leaf just nodded and kept breathing, while Anthony started pressing up and down on Fluttershy’s chest. Seconds passed, nothing. The doctor started talking as Anthony’s breaths got more and more ragged, trying to bring life back into our friend. 

“Anthony,” the doctor said. “Stop! She’s gone! She would’ve come back by now!”

And to be honest, I was losing hope too. Even Green Leaf had given up, “Anthony, please! S...she’s gone!”

“Not happening!” Anthony said, and started slamming his connected fists onto Fluttershy’s chest. “Not when it’s my fault!”

That caught all of us off guard, “What do you mean?” I asked.

But Anthony didn’t answer, he just kept pounding. It was then I noticed Fluttershy glowing, it was magic! Who was using it? The ones who could control magic were me and Discord, I looked over to where he was, but he seemed to be zoning out. Then I noticed, it was coming from Anthony! But...how? I could see his fists glowing! “Anthony?” I muttered.

“Stop!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “You’re making it worse!”

But with one last slam of Anthony’s fists, an explosion of light occurred and Anthony flew backwards into the wall, then he slumped to the floor, unconscious. We all were still as statues for a moment until something miraculous happened, Fluttershy’s eyes fluttered open. 

“W...what’s going on?” She said timidly as her eyes darted around. Then her eyes rested on Sarah and the doctor. She gave a small nervous squeak and hid behind her hair. 

“Fluttershy!” We all said excitedly. She looked over at where we were just as we came in for a group hug. Even Discord gave a little stealthy hug, though I noticed it. 

“Um?” Fluttershy said quietly. “What happened? Why are there humans here? Where is here?”

“Well...you sort of...died...Fluttershy,” I said awkwardly.

“I...I did?” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “But Anthony brought us to the human village and him and the doctor brought you back!” 

“They did…?” Fluttershy looked at Sarah and the doctor. But then I realized something.

“Oh dear Celestia! Anthony!” I said. And everypony realized, aside from Fluttershy, realized what I meant.

We went over to where Anthony had fallen and the doctor checked Anthony for a pulse. She sighed and said, “He’s fine, probably will be aching a lot and have a minor concussion when he wakes up, but that’s about it.”

We all sighed in relief, “Thank you, Doctor.” I said.

“You’re welcome,” the doctor smiled. “And call me Thompson. I guess Jack was right, there really are talking space horses.” She chuckled.

“Actually,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re ponies.”

“What do you mean Jack was right?” I asked.

“Well,” Thompson started. “He tried telling us that you were real, but aside from Anthony and the two cops that were with him, nobody believed him. We all thought he was just rambling about aliens again. Then again not many ever took him seriously as a leader anyways, though I did.”

“Wait, he’s the leader of the village?!” I said in shock. 

Thompson nodded, “Yeah, by the way, where is Jack?”

“He got hurt, so we left him in the care of our ponies. That reminds me, we should head back and see how they’re doing,” I said.

“Okay,” she said. 

“Tell us how Anthony does, when he wakes up,” I said. She nodded, and we left. As we walked out of the village, I had even more things on my mind. Sure Fluttershy was alive, but how did Anthony use magic? And now that we know humans aren’t a threat...how will the two races get along? And most of all, who was this mysterious being antagonizing the humans? Something told me our struggles were just beginning…




End Of Arc 1