While walking to the stadium took me and Jacob two and a half hours to get there, the trip back took twice as long. Every now and again we would have to duck inside a building as a Changeling patrol would fly over us. Me, Jacob and our new Equestrian friends were hiding inside a thrift store as this was the seventh patrol we had come across, and it was starting to get a little annoying.
Jacob and the others were hiding among the clothing racks while I was leaning up against a wall near a window, making sure that this patrol would keep moving and look somewhere else for us. The leader of the patrol started pointing in different directions, ordering the patrol to check different areas. They flew to their assign positions and just like that, they were out of sight.
"Alright, coast is clear!" I called out as everyone got up from their hiding spots.
"Ok, All these Changelings are starting to get really annoying." Rainbow Dash groaned.
"Rainbow Dash is right," Twilight said, looking at me. "How much farther?"
"We're only forty minutes away from home," I said, walking to the door and opening it. "Now let's keep moving before that group comes back."
Everypony nodded and started walking out the door, except for Celestia who walked up to me with a calming smile.
"I want to thank you again for doing this for us Morgan, I fear the thought of what would've happened if you hadn't saved us." She said while looking at the other ponies out the window. She then felt a touch on her shoulder and saw that I had put my hand on it, trying to comfort her and gave me a confused look as to why.
I gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm not the kind of guy who would leave others for dead, including my group, and the heat between you and the Changelings, I knew that I had to do something to help instead of leaving you to their mercy," I said.
She smiled back and continued to walk out the door. I then noticed Jacob walk past me but stopped halfway, he then slightly looked at me with an expressionless look. I smiled, trying to get back on his good side, but it didn't work. He just looked away and shook his head, and kept walking out the door. I just sighed, remembering that this wasn't the first time he acted like this and that he was going to be like this for a while.
*******
"Wait, so let me make sure I'm hearing this right!" I said as I walked with my pony friends down the street. As we continued our trip, we noticed that we hadn't come across any more patrols, but five minutes after we left the store, the ponies started making friendly conversation by telling me all about Equestria's history and the events that had happened, and I was very focused on their stories. "You defeated this 'Nightmare Moon' who was the evil version of Princess Luna, stopped Discord from spreading chaos across Equestria and then later reformed him into a good guy, blasted Chrysalis out of Canterlot during Cadence and Shining Armor's royal wedding, destroyed King Sombra from taking back the Crystal Empire, stopped Tirek from draining Equestria of its magic, stopped this 'Pony of Shadows' from spreading darkness across Equestria and stopped Storm King from using this 'Staff of Sacanas' to control the sun and the moon?" I asked, catching my breath from the mouthful of words.
"Don't forget about the Dazzlings who fed off negative emotions with their singing." Twilight corrected.
"That too!" I said dumbfounded. "Man, I kinda wish I was on your planet, just so I could witness all that action." I then noticed that Twilight had raised an eyebrow at me and was giving me an unamused look. "A-and help you guys of course!" I quickly added.
"Well now, Morgan Grey," Celestia said, walking alongside me. "Now that you know all about us, what can you tell us about yourself?
"Which side of the story do you want to hear," I asked. "Before the Changelings came to earth or after?"
"How about before." Twilight referred. I was kinda glad that they chose before, it has been a long time since I last talked about my past.
"Well I had quite a normal life, went to school, had a part-time job at a furniture store, lived in a nice house with two caring parents, my life was great," I said smiling, then I heaved a sigh. "That was until Chrysalis and her army had to screw it all up," I said as my anger towards Changelings started coming back to me. "During the first week, I had lost everything, the store that I worked at was looted, my house burnt to the ground and my parents were dead because of those freaks. Those Changelings didn't just ruin my life, but the millions of people that live here, and yet here we are, five years later and life in America has only gotten worse."
"We understand your hatred towards Chrysalis and her Changelings; but still, was it necessary for you and your friend to kill them?" Celestia questioned.
"You have to understand your Highness," I replied. "During the five years, they destroyed this nation and tortured these people, just so they could gain control. So for every Changeling that dies, it does a service for this country.
They all gave uncomfortable looks to each other, knowing that this wasn't the best way to deal with Changeling. But they weren't in Equestria anymore and they knew that these 'Humans' had to do what was best in order to survive.
"Let's talk about something else; is it just you and your friend, Jacob?" Twilight asked, quickly trying to change the subject.
"Actually, there are two others in our group, Chris, and Markus, they're the ones that have to stay behind and look after the place while we go out and look for supplies," I explained.
"You think they'll be ok with you bringing us into your home?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
I just chuckled at her question. "You don't have to worry Fluttershy, they aren't the kind of people who would turn away guests, in fact, our group hasn't come across any other survivors for the last four months, they'll be glad to see some new faces for a change," I said, giving her a warm smile, but it disappeared as I glanced at Jacob who was far ahead of us. "But I wished I could say the same for Jacob though." Jacob was probably more than Thirty feet ahead of us and he hadn't turn around to look at us since we left the store, but I'm pretty sure that he listened in on the stories.
"We didn't do anything to offend him, did we?" Luna asked, with a hint of worry in her voice.
"Like I said guys, he's always been like this. But I'm guessing you want the full explanation, right?" I asked. they all nodded in agreement as they wanted to know Jacob's story. "Well, three days after Chrysalis took over, I was scouting out the neighborhood for any other survivors and supplies. While walking, I came up upon Jacob's house and seeing that he wasn't at school the day Changelings took over, I decided to take a look inside, seeing if he was still alive. As I walked through the door, I was greeted with piles upon piles of food and water, stacked on the floor, tables and inside boxes. I walked to the back of the house and looked out the sliding door to see him kneeling in the grass in the backyard. As I opened the door and started walking towards him, I saw that he was kneeling down in front of four graves. It was then I realized that those graves contained his family, his mom, his dad, his brother and his little sister." I heard a few ponies gasped at what they just heard.
"He must've known that I was present because as soon as I knelt down next to him, he started crying into my shoulder like a child. When I asked him what happened to his family, he said that Changelings dragged them outside and laid them down on the ground, said that they gave him a chance to save his family, seeing if he could be the 'hero', but he just sat there with his eyes looking at the ground. Seeing that he wasn't brave enough to save his family, they executed them like prisoners of war but left him alive. He pleaded for them to kill him as well, just to be with them again, but they just laughed, said that he didn't deserve to die, that they wanted people to know who was in charge now, but what they did give him, was mental pain, and just like that they flew away, leaving him a sobbing mess on the ground. I told him that I was living in the area and that he was welcome to come and stay with me and that I would help him get over the death of his family. He accepted my offer and we moved the food and water from his house to our place, we've been scavenging for supplies ever since, but he still blames himself for not being able to save them after all those years and tries to act like the alpha in our group."
"My goodness, that must've been horrible for him!" Rarity exclaimed.
"It was, Chris, Markus and I are still trying to comfort him, but every once in awhile he would try to push us away. We're worried that with everything that has happened to him, he might try to kill himself." I said, staring at Jacob with a worried look.
"Well you've kept him alive this long, haven't you?" Luna asked reassuringly.
"Yeah, I guess so," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Then as long as your group cares for your friend, he will not go down the wrong path," Celestia said, trying cheering me up, and as a matter of fact, it did.
"Ok, I guess you have a point, I just hope your right," I said, muttering the last part as we continued our journey home.
*******
During the rest of our trip, I had decided to tell the ponies of Earth's history, everything from World War I to the September eleven attacks. They were both interested in our planet's history but horrified as to how many deaths we had suffered over the years. I then started talking more about our group's existence.
Everyone in our group has to do their part in making the place a lot more safer, like Chris for example. When he joined, he told us that before the war, he was a hacker, trying to make his place in the world. when we found him, he had a large travel bag that contained different types of electronics, from cable cords to security cameras, so with his expertise, he became the group's technician and was made in charge of surveillance.
As for Markus, he his father owned a gun shop in Des Moines, Iowa. He was a scavenger like Jacob and I, but once supplies in the city started to dry up, he found a box truck, loaded it with all the guns and ammunition that wasn't looted from the store and made his way up north. Chris and I were installing the cameras when we saw him driving up the road, we thought he was a threat at first, till he said that he was only looking for a place to stay and said that he had a truck full of weapons, so we welcomed him with open arms and made him in charge of weapons and ammo.
"They sound like very good friends." Pinkie Pie commented. I was about to talk about Jacob's position in the group until I then realized, that after so much walking, we finally made it. Home.
They were confused as they saw that our home, the place that we've been living in, was a two-story school and next too it was a large soccer field with a single crashed Black Hawk and a community playground.
"Cyber Village Academy," Twilight said, reading the name on the front of the school. "This is where you've been living, a school?" She asked.
"It may be just a school, but to us, it's home," I said as I started leading them to the front door. Once inside, Jacob and I led them toward a flight of stair and down a hallway with lockers on each side, at the end of the hallway was an archway with the words 'Nelson family upper school wing'. At the end of the hallway was another flight of stairs leading back downstairs to the first floor.
"Why is it that you took us upstairs, then back down again, you do realize that there a door that leads to the first set of stairs, right?" Rainbow Dash said, her hoof mentioning to a metal door, barricaded with L-shaped desks.
"It's better to take the long way than the short one Rainbow, and besides, we nailed that door shut and blocked it off with a few L-shaped desks, just to make sure no one tries to take a shortcut," I said matter of factly.
We then took one last flight of stairs to a door that led to the basement, just as we were all inside, the lights went off and two red beams were fixated on me and Jacob, I could only presume that they belonged to Chris and Markus.
"What's the Password?" I heard Chris say.
"God-dammit dude, I said that we aren't doing passwords!" I yelled exasperated.
"Well, how are we supposed to know that you weren't replaced by Changeling and are here to kill us? This type of stuff is going to help us even if you think that it's a stupid idea," he explained. Chris was a good member of the team, but sometimes he would get a little paranoid. "Now I'm not going to ask again. What's, The, Password?"
I was about to yell back at him when I saw Jacob step forward. "Listen, Dumbass, if you do not lower that gun in the next three seconds, I will come over there and shove my boot so far up your ass you will be begging for me to stop! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Jacob was literally screaming in anger, I guess with everything that's happened, from failing at finding enough food to inviting the Equestrians into our home had really driven him over the edge.
There was a silence that lasted five seconds till I heard Markus say "Yeah, that's them alright!" And just like that, the lights turned back on, showing the two standing behind a flipped table with the assault rifles in their hands. Our Equestrian friends got to see more features from Chris and Markus. Chris was a tall Caucasian dude with short brown hair who wore glasses and Markus was an African American man who had dreadlocks.
"So Morgan, You mind wanting to tell us what this is all about?" Chris said, gesturing to the ponies behind us.
"Guys, I’d like you to meet Chris Brown and Markus Richardson. Chris, Markus, meet the Ponies of Equestria, "I said, introducing our new friends. "They're here to stop Chrysalis." Markus raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"Is this a joke? Because there is no way that these animals are going to overthrow that bitch" He said, unamused.
"Who in tarnation are you calling animals?" Applejack said raising her voice.
"Yeah, that kinda insulting you know!" Rainbow Dash added.
Both Chris and Markus stared at them with wide-eyes, they had the same expression as Jacob and I did when we first met them.
"Talking... Ponies." Chris said slowly, blinking multiple times trying to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. "Ok, this day just got a whole lot stranger."
"We saved them from a group of Changelings that were waiting for them at the stadium," I explained. "After we took care of those Changeling freaks, I invited them to come with us and get some rest. Though Jacob is not taking too it well." I then glanced at him as he was leaning against the wall, frowning.
Celestia then walked up alongside me with a friendly smile. "Morgan has told us a lot about you two, about how you met him and your positions here.
"Well, he’s kept us alive so far, right?” Chris joked “But speaking of the stadium, Morgan, did you find anything good there?"
"Only a week's worth of food and a crap ton of medicine," I replied as I showed them the continence in the bag, they looked inside but had looks of disappointment on their faces.
"Hey, four weeks of food is better than three weeks," I said, trying to brighten the mood.
"Better than three weeks," Jacob scoffed as he stepped forward. "The food that we have is going to last us a mere week with the animals here!" I noticed a few of the ponies glaring angrily at Jacob, but I raised my hand towards them, letting them know I had this under control. "This is why we should've stopped inviting people into our home, Morgan, they endanger our food supply!" He said, raising his voice but Markus interrupted us.
"Yeah, about that Jacob." He said slowly as we both gave him confused look, but before we were about to question him, some random dude came out from one of the rooms, eating an applet that was in his hand. he was a tall, skinny Caucasian, had short black hair and wore a light grey T-shirt with khaki shorts.
"Guys this is Evan Sheppard," Chris said, introducing the new guy. "He came inside asked to stay here for the day for some rest, and before you ask, we searched him for any weapons or anything that tied to the Changelings.
Evan then held out his hand wanting to shake ours. "It's nice to meet you, Morgan."
"Yeah… It’s nice to meet you too." I replied, still surprised by him.
He turned to Jacob to shake his, but only to get his apple slapped out of his hand by him. That was when Jacob snapped
"Let's just waste all the food we have and invite the entire state over for a goddamn party!" He yelled sarcastically as he then marched towards his room, slamming the door.
"Ooh, having a party sound fun." Pinkie Pie said loudly, only for Applejack to tell her that he was being sarcastic which made her groan in disappointment.
"Sorry, you had to see that Evan, it's been a long day for us," I said trying to reassure him. He nodded and then looked at the Ponies.
"It's fine, but what about them, who are they?" He asked, mentioning to the ponies behind me. I chuckled at his question and put my hand on his shoulder.
"You better make yourself comfortable, because it's a long story."