//------------------------------// // Part 3 // Story: An Azure Future // by Krass McWriter //------------------------------// An Azure Future Part 3: Once more! With PLOT!         John Norris checked his watch. It was that time. Again. It had come early this time around, but he had another mouth to feed now and it was his fault. He should’ve calculated for increased usage. It was time to shop for groceries. John shuddered, A chore most loathsome. He mentally kicked himself for lack of planning.         He walked up to Azure’s room, the pegasus was asleep. He let out a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was his son to accompany him on his godless mission. He went to his room, hit a few numbers on the keypad to the hidden room, gathered an impressive sum of bits and loaded them into his backpack. He scrawled a quick note explaining where he was going, what to do in an emergency and what to do if he never came back. John headed out the door, pausing to observe the room for what may be the last time.         John made his way out of the dead apartment complex, it seemed desolate and forbidding as he walked down the stairs. The doors slid open silently as he approached. He was finally outside. The high noon sun blinded him instantly. How he hated the sun. He ducked into the parking complex across the street and let out a sigh of relief. That was close... The parking lot was full of cars collecting dust with red X’s on them         He made his way through the mausoleum of cars, truck and motorcycles to his personal modus of transportation. It was older than him by far, but a classic 2015 F150, One of the last gs engine models released. He unlocked the door with his key, having lost the clicker long ago, and got in the driver seat. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. He put it in drive and headed to the market.         He reached the market after a short drive, and parked in an empty spot. He turned off the truck and dewelled in the silence of the cab for a moment or two. Letting out a sigh he readied himself mentally and exited the truck.         The grocery store seemed like an indomitable fortress of doom to John. What horrors lie within, awaiting me, this time? He braced himself one last time and headed inside. “Hello!” Exclaimed a bright yellow pony at the door. Oh god. The name tag read Sunny Smiles and Her cutie mark was a smiling sun. Not very creative with names, this lot. John observed. “How may I help you today?” The yellow pony beamed. It made John’s stomach churn. How I despise social interaction. “Uhm, yes. I need some help with the impressively extravagant amount of groceries I will undoubtedly be purchasing this evening. It usually is about three carts full, and I have some trouble managing that amount by my lonesome. So, if it is not too much trouble, I would like to ask if I could get two helpers to be in charge of the other two carts while I shop.” John threw up in his mouth a little bit. Oh god, she’s going to yell at me. I asked for too much... Why can’t I just suffer in silence? Why do I bother others? John’s face, instead of betraying his true emotions, just displayed a cheesy smile. “Oh, why that would be no trouble at all sir! Let me go get someponies from the loading area, they shouldn’t be occupied! No problem!” OhgoditsworsethanIthought. She was back in a few moments with two colts following behind. The one on the right was a pegasus with a deep green coat and mane a few shades lighter than his coat, his cutie mark was a simple brown box. his name tag simply read Soarin. The one on the right was a white unicorn whose cutie was a rusty dolly. His name tag stated he was Twink Express. “Hello again! This is Soarin and Twink! They will be assisting you today! Just let me know if you need anything else byeee!” Sunny Smiles came and went like a flash of lightning. “So... Uh... Grab a cart I guess?” They simply grunted in reply. John twitched nervously at their reply. “Well then, lets get started!” He exclaimed. John headed off and started snaking through the isles. I should grab more of a variety of fruits, vegetables, and just food in general. I wish I knew what Azure likes... Ah well. I don’t want him to experience the horrors of this place, everyone silently judging... giving me LOOKS... John shuddered. The first aisle held nothing of interest to John, It was just various cooking utensils. He merely used it to get to the back wall, where all the produce and meat was. How there was still meat in stores when the majority population was vegetarian never failed to astound him. John just took it as good proof that there were still enough humans around to market it and farm it. As long as there is meat in the market, mankind isn’t going to be extinct any time soon. He thought with some pride. He grabbed a substantial amount of the freshest meat and produce, filling his own cart to brink and even placing a small amount in Soarin’s cart. He noted their confused and just slightly horrified looks. They don’t mean harm, they don’t mean harm, they don’t mean harm... Okay. I’m good now. A short trip down the cereal aisle and John had managed fill Soarin’s cart to the point the pegasus was starting to struggle with it. He had gathered a good amount of meat, a truly impressive array of various produce item and now only had one last aisle. Snacks and soft drinks. He ventured down the aisle. He cleaned the store of its entire supply of Diet coke. What little room was left in Twink’s cart was filled with an assortment of snacks. He moved to check out. “Thats a lot of food mister.” Noted the cashier pony. “Eh. I stock up.” After about twenty five minutes, silent except for the beeping of the scanner, the process was done. John paid and made his way to his truck with the help of Twink and Soarin. He thanked them for their help and loaded up the bed of his truck. He unlocked the truck and opened the door, what he saw horrified him.  He had left the headlights on. His heart sank. He jammed the keys and turned the ignition but no luck, the battery was drained. John shouted a string of profanities. He had a trickle charger back in the apartment. The apartment ten miles away. No choice but to walk John gave. Welp, I ain’t gonna get there by magic. John checked his watch and the sun, it was four o’clock and it was already starting to get dark. He started down the walkway. It was a brisk evening, by Californian standards. Not too many ponies out and about right now. John observed. He turned his attention skyward. Only a handful of Pegasi too. Usually its pretty lively up there. There was a faint siren crying a few blocks from John. Some things never change. He looked towards the sound and saw black smoke rising on the horizion. Welcome to California, home of the Fire Season. Winter wrap-up? No thanks, we prefer to put out brush fires. John was lost in thought when a gray unicorn approached him. “Hello sir!” The gray unicorn exclaimed, surprising John. John jumped. “Where’d you come from!” “Places.” Stated the unicorn motioning to nowhere it particular with his hooves. “I’m from ‘Ponification for Earth’s Rebirth’, Or P.E.R. for short.” Fuck. John had heard about PER. Humans had HLF and various things like it, ponies had PER. This is very no beuno. “I can tell by the look on your face that you HAVE heard of us. I’m here to talk about... Ponification.” John was in a bad spot. Then John was unconscious. John snapped awake. He didn’t recognize his where abouts. He was tied to a stretcher. Leather straps kept him in place. He tried them with a small tug. They were strong. He looked around. There were syringes and a cup of potion on the small table next to him. The height of the roof suggested that this was a warehouse. It was kept very sanitary. The whole thing reminded John of a doctors office. Well. This just keeps getting better. “Oh! You’re awake! I was SO worried my friend over here used too much force, but don’t worry, he’s being... taken care of.” As if on cue John heard a painful scream tear from an unseen room somewhere down a dark hall. “I assure you that he won’t be making that mistake ever again.” The Unicorn beamed. “So, who are you and why are you doing this?” John asked plainly. I just want to go home... “Oh! My stars, how rude of me! I’ve yet to introduce myself! I am Gray Crusader, and I run the orange county chapter of PER. I heard there was still a human in this sector, and I just had to make sure. A few questions and well placed bits and I’ve finally found you! as for why I am doing this, you are familiar with our purpose correct? I believe we had a good number of believers come to your apartment numerous times before.” John knew. The almost daily assualts on his door. The zealous ponies telling him how he was holding mankind back by remaining human. How being human holds back humans is just a bit odd. He could almost recite the pamphlet from how many time they read it to him.         It was a simple train of thought. The ponies had come bearing peace, tolerance, and came from a pristine land. They promised to make the rest of the earth like their land but humans could not survive the process. PER’s goal was to eliminate the human race via ponification or other means if it came to it. Their exploits were infamous, When princess Celestia caught wind of the organization, she announced that there were to be human preservation areas set up, areas free of magic where humans could live, SoCal being one of them.  Most of the PER disbanded that day, but some diehards remained, bent on ridding the human race.. “So, you scoured the town looking for the only human left living in it to force ponification on it? Really? You guys are crazier than I thought.” “Hey now, I prefer to be called forward thinking. You know we’ve sworn to make way for this planet’s purification by removing the human race. Either through ponification or other means.” Gray smiled. “Still crazy.” “If you insist.” “You know Celestia said she would be erecting human preservation areas right? Areas free of magic where humans could live.” “Ah. Yes, but as you may remember, our goal is the complete restoration of earth. As long as there are humans, this planet will bear the scars they have made.” “You... There is nothing I can say. You’ve set your mind in stone on this matter. You can’t fix stupid, you can’t fix crazy, and you’re crazy stupid.” Gray laughed in response. “Now,” stated Gray, levitating the potion toward John. “Let’s get started.” _________________________________________________________NOTES: And then, OUT OF NOWHERE, plot. Whatever that is. I NO BE GOOD AT MAKING PONI NAMES. Yeah, Azure’s not in this really, but you now what? Whatever. Its only named An Azure Future. Shout out to lightsideluc for helping me with probably reason for the run-in with the ponify now group As always, Comments, thoughts, and what’d you like to see can be posted in the current TCB thread or emailed to me.