I yawned. We'd been reading all day. The only time we stopped for a break was around noon, when Kat had decided to raid the Tim Horton's across the street and make us some lunch.
"Well, Martha, I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable luncheon," Kat grinned, trotting out of the kitchen.
"Does it come with an aurora borealis?" I quipped as she set some bowls of soup on the table.
"Mm... sadly it doesn't. But it does come with chicken noodle soup and crackers, minus the chicken," she replied.
"No chicken?" I pouted. I wasn't exactly a meat lover, but I didn't mind a little chicken in my soup.
"Not unless you feel like being sick all day. Have ya tried eating meat since you became like this? Or even just smelling it?"
I thought back to my earlier scavenging runs. Reflecting on it now, those freezers were definitely still running fine, but the smell... God, that was awful. "Oh... so we can't eat meat anymore?"
"That seems to be the case. On the bright side, we can still eat other stuff. What's more, grass and some kinds of flowers are now edible. Yes, before ya ask, I did try them. And no, they aren't as bad as you'd think," she quickly replied.
I squinted at the soup. "So, all that extra green and yellow stuff in there... ?"
"Dandelions. Oh, don't give me that look. I promise it's good."
Despite a part of me recoiling at the thought of eating flowers, I went ahead and tried the soup. There wasn't really an easy method for me to hold a spoon, so I ended up just slurping from the bowl. To my surprise, it was actually pretty good (maybe even amazing), and I ended up eating the entire thing.
Kat was still finishing up hers, levitating a spoon to take some sips.
Cheating unicorns, I thought. Yes, I was still a bit jealous of that. She had magic and all I do is glow once in a while. I'm so useless...
"So, have ya learned anything yet, Martha?" Kat asked, glancing up from her meal. "I think my head still hertz after all that."
I smirked at her pun. "Well, I learned stuff, yeah. Did I understand it?" I made a so-so motion with my hoof.
Kat sighed. "Yeah, I feel ya. I regret never looking up this sort of thing while we still had the internet, or people to ask for that matter. Still, I feel we have enough to work with, and we can bring the books back with us."
"Are we going to try to build a transmitter from scratch?" I asked.
"You kiddin'? Nah, I think we should try to get one of the local radio broadcasting towers working. With luck, they'll have guides there, and we might have even over-researched."
"Do you think we'll be ready?"
"For getting this radio stuff working? Probably not, to be honest. We're way in over our heads. Buuut," she winked, "I think we can stumble through it together."
"No, not that. I mean... if there are other survivors out there. Can we really help them? We're still trying to figure stuff out as it is," I said.
"We won't know til we try, will we? If nothing else, we can give them companionship. We're all struggling and misery loves company, right?" she said.
"I guess," I sighed. Maybe Kat could help someone who's injured I supposed. Not sure what I could do.
"But what we'll need is someone to give the message, and I think you're the perfect candidate," she said, pointing a hoof at me.
"Huwwha?" I sputtered. "Me?"
"Yep! You'll be the voice of PON-R!" she said, grinning and making an odd sound I could only describe as a rubber duck quietly being stepped on.
"'PON-R'? Uh... " I asked. Somehow that was more confusing than the sound she made.
"Ponies Of Niagara Radio! PON-R! It'll be our radio station name!" she exclaimed. "I came up with it while I was doing research."
I would have pointed out that she was slacking off, but I had been drawing during some of my research. "Okay, but why am I going to be the one talking? Why not you?"
"Well, for one," she hovered a coffee stirrer in the air, "I need to be at the controls for precision work. And two," she brought up another stirrer, "I think you'll be good at it."
"I don't know... I was never really the best public speaker," I said, looking away.
She put her hooves on mine, her eyes pleading to me. "Please, Martha? I need ya for this. We're a team, aren't we?"
I relented and sighed, "Alright, alright. I'll... I'll do it. I don't know how good I'll be, but I'll try."
"That's all I ask," she smiled and brought her hooves back to a sitting position. "Oh, and one more thing. Before we head on back, we gotta stop at an electronics store. I figure we should get some personal radios in case we ever get separated."
I nodded. "Good idea, but how are we going to carry all this stuff back by nightfall?"
Kat gave a big grin. Why was I getting a bad feeling?
---⬦⟢⬦♢⬦⟣⬦---
"Kat, this is crazy!" I exclaimed as she and I arrived in the parking lot of a car dealership. "We're going to get in an accident if we try to drive any of these like this!"
She ignored my comment and trotted about, giving each car a thorough examination. Utilizing her lockpicking skills, she retrieved whatever car keys she needed with relative ease. If only she could fix our toaster that easily.
I groaned and went over to her, leaving our book cart by the entrance. "Kat, are you even listening to me?"
"Yeah, I hear ya, Martha. But I think I can make this work. It'll save us a lot of time, and make carrying things much simpler. Plus, if we ever feel the need to move our base, we can fit most of the important stuff in it," she explained, still not facing me as she looked inside a dark gray... well I know it was a car, just not what it's called.
"Have you forgotten our current stature? And lack of fingers?" I pointed out.
She poked her head out of the driver-side door. "Nope. Haven't forgotten at all. See this? This right here is a Chrysler Town & Country Limited Platinum!"
At my blank stare, she restated. "It's a great car that will be perfect for our needs: adjustable seats and pedals, heated seats, and plenty of room in the back. And judging by the mileage, this one's barely been used."
I'll admit that she had a point, but I was still not fond of the idea. If we got in an accident of some sort, there would be no one here to help; we'd be as good as dead. However, I decided that arguing with her about this was pointless, and nodded. "Alright I guess. Do those adjustable pedals and seats have a setting for ponies?"
"Not specifically, but just give me a sec. And do me a favor, will ya? Can you bring the book cart over here and start loading them up in the trunk?"
I nodded and went to do just that, my freckled unicorn friend going back to her task. I noticed the sun was nearing the horizon, and it was beginning to get into late evening. I don't know why, but I felt like someone was watching me. I shook it off and pushed the cart over to the car, with a bit of haste in my steps for good measure.
I managed to get all the books in, as well as our supply bags and called out to Kat. "You done yet?"
"Sure am! Come on over here and take a look," she said.
I walked over to the driver's side and before me was Kat at the driver's seat, the pedals moved up to where her hooves could reach and the seat set so she could see out the window. She could also reach the wheel, but I doubt she'd need to even try to use her hooves for that with her magic and all. Though, I wondered if she could do that. I hadn't seen her use it for long periods at once.
"You sure about this, Kat?" I asked, still a bit cautious.
"Yes. Now stop being a worry wart and hop in. I'll drive safe, don't you worry," she said, opening the passenger seat door.
It was only once we were out of the lot did we realize.
"Martha, did you close the trunk?"
---⬦⟢⬦♢⬦⟣⬦---
A quick trip back to gather the books, and we were back on the road. It was, suffice to say, a very odd experience. Two colorful ponylike creatures driving a minivan through an empty city. Enough to make someone double check what they've been drinking to see something like this.
The drive was pretty calm, with no traffic to contend with; however, every time we drove through a red light or stop sign, a part of me cringed reflexively. As for the electronics store we were heading to, according to my map, it was a bit north of the hospital, closer to where I woke up.
We could've probably just called it a night and journeyed up here in the morning, but I think something about driving at night felt soothing to Kat. I guess we all have our coping mechanisms.
"Hey Kat?" I asked, looking out the window. It wasn't quite nighttime yet, but the light was slowly waning. "You think this... you know, us being turned into ponies and so many people gone thing... do you think it's reversible?"
She didn't say anything for a while, so I assumed she was too focused on driving to answer, but eventually she said, "I'd like to think that, but... "
"But?" I echoed.
"But even if it is... I think this is beyond us, Martha. I think we'd be lucky if we ever found the answers. As far as I'm concerned, this is my life now," she said briefly, then continued. "And whether I like it or not, I'm not going to go wasting it longing for what was."
"We can't just forget, though," I said.
"Never said that," she frowned, her hoof pushing a bit harder on the gas, before she realized and let loose a little. "We can never forget them. Maybe we're stuck like this forever, but our friends, our loved ones... our children... " she wrenched her eyes shut, her magic dissipating from the wheel.
"Kat, the road!" I exclaimed as she was about to hit a parked car.
She opened her eyes and quickly adjusted, using her magic to turn the wheel out of the way and smoothen it. "I'm sorry.... I'm so sorry, Martha."
I just gave her a reassuring smile. It was all I could do at the moment. "It's alright. Maybe let's not talk about this while on the road."
She nodded. "Y-yeah, good idea."
---⬦⟢⬦♢⬦⟣⬦---
When we arrived at the electronics store, we were surprised to find it unlocked. We were too tired to dwell on it, though, and went straight to getting what we needed. Some handheld radios (soon to be hoofheld), enough packs of batteries of all sorts to fill a box, and a DVD player and a few movies. We needed something to lighten the mood.
It took a few trips, but we got everything neatly packed inside the back of the car. This time I double-checked that the trunk was shut. We also decided to leave the place unlocked. There wasn't really anything here wild animals would go looking for; however, if any survivors showed up, they might find some useful supplies in there.
By the time we were heading back, it was completely dark out. Fortunately, the city still was getting power and there were lots of lights on. Though I suppose that would probably stop one day, unless we came across someone who knew how to maintain a hydroelectric power plant. Well, even without that, on the small-scale, we might start having problems too. Neither Kat nor I had a clue about simple electric wiring.
During the trip back, I kept an eye on Kat just to make sure she was okay. Who am I kidding? Neither of us were okay, it's just whoever was more emotionally stable at the moment. Like musical chairs, but with ponies and existential crises.
When we pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, Jay wasn't there to greet us. I figured it was probably because it was so late. I had no idea if blue jays have a certain sleep-schedule or not. Course, Jay isn't a normal blue jay, so who's to say.
I hopped out and started unloading our haul to bring in to the hospital. Kat handled the electronic equipment, while I took care of the book cart. Following Kat inside, I got that feeling again. Like eyes were on me. I turned around, but I saw nothing,
Am I imagining things? Or am I really going crazy? I thought to myself. I stood there for a few moments, making sure that it really was just nothing, before eventually Kat called. Shaking it off, I trotted in, closing (and locking) the door behind me.
We, or rather Kat while I held things in place, hooked up the DVD player to the breakroom TV and put in one of the movies I picked up: Oliver and Company. Yeah, I know, a bit of a childish thing for two grown adults to be watching. But dang it, we needed something happy.