I woke up feeling extremely cold. The lantern I lit had run out of fuel during the night. Thankfully, the first few beams of sunlight had begun to break over the horizon so I wouldn’t be cold for long. I hate these nightmares! They prevent me from ever feeling truly rested. However, Tired as I was, I needed to wake everyone up so that we could reach the town by sundown.
Jed woke up without complaint, but Rachael had a few more…um, issues with it. She lay spread eagle on her sleeping bag. I prodded her and she, in turn, swatted at my hoof.
“Five more minutes, mom!” she mumbled
“We need to go! We have a long walk ahead of us.” I said
She slowly got up, looked at me and gave me a glare that could have incinerated any nearby plants then stormed out. Clearly she’s still mad. Hopefully it won’t last much longer.
Rachael folded up the tents and we left. We walked, avoiding conversation with each other; the only sound was that of our hooves clip-clopping on the road.
After a few hours of the near silence, the town finally came into view. The closer we got the more it looked like a ghost town. The sign read “Welcome to Cold Grove, population: 29”, though it might be more, considering how rusted the thing looked. Windows of all but a few building were shielded by wood, and the paint slowly chipping off the worn walls. We did, however, manage to find a little shop that seemed in at least decent repair.
“I don’t like it here” I said, my voice trembling "I feel like we just walked into a scene from a horror movie”.
Jed and Rachael merely nodded.
We walked out of sight down the alley ways searching for a place of refuge.
One building, far from any of the others caught my eyes. When we walked up to the door, it just opened up, like one of those scary movies where the bad guy is waiting inside. At least we would have somewhere to spend the day, though the condition of the interior did nothing to ease my nerves. Dirt? Check. Grime? Check. Lights? NOPE. Drawers were missing from the small kitchen and fragmented wood rested in every nook and cranny. The people who had lived here obviously left in a hurry, though what caused the damage eludes even me.
Jed decided to search the house for supplies, and we joined in. After about an hour of sorting through the rubble of the broken down house, and permanently getting the taste of dust in my mouth, we found some flashlights, batteries and some canned veggies. I was a bit surprised that they had left what would have been such useful materials. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough to make it to the next town, but it would be enough for lunch. Tonight we would be raiding the stores.
We waited until it was completely dark to start wandering the streets. I told Jed and Rachael to go on ahead without me. I didn’t like lying to them but I had to fix things between Rachael and I. as soon as they were out of sight I wandered the streets, the town was being creepier at night. Lone tumbleweed rolled down the street. 5 minutes later I found a little store that sold the liquor I was looking for…perfect.
The lights were off, so hopefully there would be no one inside. No inhabited houses were nearby, just the crickets. The ‘Citizens’ of the city hopefully wouldn’t notice a broken window until morning. I looked around just to be sure no one was nearby.
I pushed the front door and found it locked. I reared my hooves for a kick. They say when you’re nervous every sound is magnified. To me the glass shattering sounded about the same as a shotgun blast. I held my breath waiting for angry villagers to come at me with pitchforks, but when none came I breathed a sigh of relief. I stepped inside through the shattered door.
The inside of the store was as one would expect a liquor store to be, with shelves upon shelves of the stuff lining the walls and aisles. The best, however, were kept in a locked cabinet in the back. I walked behind the counter at the front and fumbled through the contents of the drawers until I found the key that opened it. I walked back to the cabinet and unlocked it, pulling out a bottle of 1978 Dom Perignon. Rachael would start talking to me again after just one sip of this stuff. I put it in a bag I found near the register and went back to the house.
Jed and Rachael had already gotten back when I got returned from my little errand. They had found some non-perishable greens and some bottled water in an old general store. Rachael decided to sleep in one of the rooms upstairs, and Jed was already asleep on the floor. I crept into Rachael’s room, but she wasn’t asleep, she was looking out the window at the starry sky.
I set the bag down beside her bed. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. What I said was rude and I hope this will make it up to you.” I said
As I was about to leave the room Rachael finally spoke “Do you think they’re real?”
“What?” I asked
“Celestia and Luna, do you think they’re real?” she asked again
I pondered her question for a moment. Granted we had turned into ponies, but did that mean that the world they came form was real?
“I don’t know” I answered. “But recent events have made it hard to doubt.”
“I Good night, Rachael.” I said
“Good night Octavia!” she replied
I looked back and she was grinning, and everything appeared as it was back to normal
I found another bedroom, with a moldy bed lying in the corner. There were no sheets or covers, but at this point, I didn’t care, and flopped onto the bed as a nightmare-less sleep came.
Visions of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, out together in a park in an apartment and eating at a restaurant flooded my vision.
I was strangely lucid, I knew I was dreaming.
“Why am I having these visions?” I thought “These aren’t scenes from the show, so what are they?”
It seemed odd how the scenes looked nearly identical to moments in my life, before becoming a pony. Then I saw a memory involving Octavia and Vinyl hugging as they vanished in a white flash.
The realization hit me like a freight train
“Oh my Celestia!"