Last Lights Falling

by Kalros


Prologue

The true north strong and free… Think about that for a few moments, the images it conjures in your mind. You probably think forests, lakes, untamed wilderness… And snow… If there’s one thing that comes to mind when thinking of Canada it’s the snow. I’ve spoken with plenty of people in the world; many from countries in warmer climates seem to adore the white stuff. I hate it, not just because it’s cold, but because it forces me to waste money on fuel heating things, it makes travel dangerous, and blah blah blah… I could go on for a while but that makes a boring story and that’s not why you’re here.

No, you’re here to read the story about how my life got completely f’ed up…

Well let’s first get the basics out of the way.

Name’s Jean-Claude Veilleux, But because my first language is english, and I've always lived in an english community I use the name John... Only my father called me Jean, or Jean-Claude if i was in real trouble. I was born in Alberta, but lived all over the country during my childhood before returning to the province after gradation because… There’s work here. And work means money that I can use to get an education. Other than that there’s not much else. Using one word my life could be defined as ‘average’.

It all started on a cold October night in Alberta Canada. Unlike many others who changed peacefully overnight the circumstances surrounding me were much more… Violent. At the time I was rather well off. I had an apartment, a good job, and was getting ready to head to school in the coming months. The only downside was my job pretty much didn’t give me the option for a social life. I was working for a local gravel and asphalt company (they shall of course remain unnamed) and from 6pm to 6AM, 5 days a week, despite the long hours though it was easy work. I was a quality control tech in a gravel pit about an hour out of town which pretty much that meant I went down and made sure the gravel crushers were doing a good job and the gravel they produced was properly made. Because of how the job works I get a lot of down time as the samples are prepared, a downtime which is usually spent surfing the internet (if I’m lucky enough to be in an area with a signal) or watching movies.

All in all it was a pretty sweet job… 17$ an hour, never mind the 4 hours guaranteed overtime every day… After 6 months working it all added up to a rather hefty sum, which was all going to be spent on school. The only annoying thing was that the pits usually stop once the snow starts falling, and where I live that usually means October; my supervisor had already hinted a few times that I should probably start looking for a new job over the winter, if I were not heading to school in January. There’d been a couple flurries already but since the ground had yet to freeze no-one was stopping work.

The night of my change started out pretty normal. I arrived at the pit, got a couple samples, and sat back at a computer to watch YouTube and Netflix. It was pretty much a routine at this point as I queued up an episode of 24 while I waited for some rocks to go through the shaker. I continued this way for a couple hours, lazily watching the antics of Jack Bauer as I examined the size percentage of rocks and noted it down for the fellas down at the crusher. It was about 1 am when I got a call.

Sighing I paused the episode on the computer and answered, thankfully the shaker wasn’t running or id have to go outside to hear anything on my phone.

“Hello?” I found it rather strange to be honest. My boss was usually asleep at this time so whatever she had to say was probably kind of important.

“John? Hey it’s Susan. Listen, we had someone at one of the other pits not show up to work tonight. Do you mind going out and picking up some samples the crew set aside?” I could hear that she sounded pretty tired. Most likely someone at the pit had phoned her in the middle of the night and she was now passing on the work to me.

“Yeah, where’s the pit at?” This wasn’t the first time it’s happened. But usually I got told before 9pm. After midnight was a new record.

“It’s the one by the Smoky River.” inwardly I groaned in annoyance. I hated that pit. Not only was there no internet access but the road down there was hard to navigate, especially at night. I myself had no problems but over the last few weeks there had been a number of accidents as dump trucks hauling gravel would often find trouble maneuvering the winding roads. If I had to compare them to anything the winding Himalayan roads in India spring to mind.

“Alright… That it?”

“Yes. I’ll see you on Monday John,” a click later and I put away the phone. That’s right! It’s Saturday which means I get a couple days to sit around and maybe hang out with some friends. Or I would, but most of them left for school back in September… No matter, a weekend of gaming it is then!

I spent the rest of the hour finishing up with my current work, and after reporting down to the crusher (And finishing my 24 episode) I jumped into my truck and headed off. The pit was about an hour away which I was perfectly fine with. Call me odd but I like driving in the middle of the night. No traffic, the radio tended to play only music and the darkness is rather comforting to me. Sure you had to worry about the odd animal but I wasn’t stupidly reckless. Every encounter id had with deer or any other critters crossing the road had gone well with nothing injured.

As 2am rolled around I turned up the radio as the news popped on. There was the usual stuff, the US elections, fighting in Syria, Benghazi…

“Finally, the world continues to watch in confusion as the Ponedemic seems to get even more complicated. Earlier today a new group announced their existence to the world, the People.Against.Ponies.Association . The group claims to be against the existence of those affected by the pandemic and state their mission is to see them eradicated. While the group itself seems radical the US government has not labeled them a terrorist organization. Now onto weather: A heavy snowfa- “

I stopped paying attention at that point, the idea of a group of people protesting the existence of pastel colored ponies was ludicrous to me. There were plenty of injustices in the world be against, but to protest, or even seek harm on some poor victims of a disease? Ridiculous… Yes I thought it was a disease. Like many I had no idea how the actual transformation worked but the way the media was spinning things it certainly sounded like pony transformation was something anyone could catch.

As the announcers voice shifted back to music I found myself back in that peaceful state of driving, slowly making my way downhill to the pit, cursing from time to time as I made my small pickup twist and turn. How the larger dump trucks navigated this I had no idea but the dark was not helping. Somewhere to my left was a sheer cliff dropping into a river. And at this time of year it would undoubtedly be frigid cold due to its glacial origins in the Rocky Mountains.

I gave a sigh of relief as the truck pulled up to the lab I would be using for the rest of the night. I was safe, for now. But because it was October, the sun wouldn’t be rising until eight in the morning, which means id be leaving this place in the dark.

“Ah well,” I grumbled quietly to myself before getting to work. No point in worrying about that now. For the next couple hours I worked quietly, no internet, or music to be listened to. I had forgotten my iPod at home. All in all it was really, really boring.

Finally five o’clock rolled around. I could hear the gravel crusher shutting down in the distance. At this point I was tired, bored, and hungry. And with the weekend just beginning I eagerly hoped into the truck and began the treacherous journey home.

“Almost done… Just a week more of this shit and then a nice two week vacation” I muttered quietly to myself as I ascended the slope out… I usually wasn’t like this but the combination of no music, a couple of bad samples, hunger, and this road was wearing my patience thin.

I was moving at about 30km/hr when it happened. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something move, instinctively I moved my foot to the brakes to let whatever critter it was pass… Instead what I got was, weird to say the least.

Take your average rabbit… Then put it on stilts. That’s essentially what was passing not a meter in front of my vehicle. Picking my jaw up from the ground I watched in awe as of these creatures clambered across the road. The thing that really got me though was they were crossing the road into an area I knew was just a sheer cliff. Meaning these… Things, were plummeting to their deaths, unless they were also capable of sprouting wings. Since my headlights were not able illuminate that section of road I could only imagine as these things inexplicably ran off a cliff like lemmings.

“Well of course they can fly,” a voice chimed in the passenger’s seat, causing me to give a surprised yelp. If it were not for my seat belt I’d probably have jumped up a few centimeters… Looking over I recoiled in fear at the creature sitting there.

Take a worm, then give it brown fur and add the head of a horse. Then add a lion’s paw, a massive eagle claw, and then a random assortment of other zoo animals. After noticing the red scaly tail I gave up trying to figure out and just screamed as I fumbled with my seat belt, only to find the buckle was encased in a sort of green Jell-O.

What I did next I’m ashamed to say was scream like a little girl. This thing was horrifying! The way its eyes seemed to glow with a malicious light, its toothy grin, never mind the fact it resembled nothing id had ever heard of in the animal kingdom. Reaching out I grabbed the nearest thing at hand, my lunch box, and flung it at the creature, only to watch it turn into a cream pie that splattered on its face, which promptly seemed to evaporate in thin air.

“Oh shush, “ that voice… Where had I heard that voice before? I didn’t bother to ponder that as my screams were cut off, in fact my entire mouth felt… Where was my mouth?!?! Reaching up to feel my face I was horrified to find my mouth was gone…

As I flailed about in a panic the creature just seemed to give a sadistic grin at my panic, its eagle claw tapping away as its chin. If I had to guess I would think the thing was thinking.

“I guess you’ll have to do. A pity I don’t have the patience to find someone more suitable but there are just so many things to be. Ponies to see, things to do… I’m sure you understand” the thing said with a grin. It waited for a couple moments before rolling its eyes and snapping its fingers “Any last words?”

I gave a sharp gasp as I felt my mouth return. What the hell was going on?!?! “I must be dreaming, yes a dream. I’m back at home in my bed and you are just a figment of my imagination” I blurted out, my voice shaking in fear. The creature just rolled its eyes

“Yes yes, maybe it is. But from what I can tell you humans are hardly capable of being so imaginative when asleep. What’s that term your kind use… Pinch me I’m dreaming? ” For some reason I was unable to move as the things eagle claw reached for my arm and gave it a pinch. The sharp pain confirming that I really wasn’t asleep. Which meant… Which meant…

My eyes widened as thoughts ran through my mind. Would I be this things meal? No, it seemed to be toying with me like some kind of pet. Whatever it had in mind was probably far more horrible… What this thing made me think of most however was of a demon, the kind that toyed with your feelings and soul for all eternity. Maybe I was dead then?

“Oh please. I’m just looking to have a little fun,” he said, somehow reading my thought. Snapping its claws I felt my stomach lurch as gravity as the truck seemed to turn sideways, with my body facing down at the ground.

“Well John, I’ll be seeing you soon. Taa taa.” And with a bright flash of light the creature vanished. A moment later my stomach gave another lurch as I felt a familiar sensation grip my body. I was in a free fall. Looking ahead I could see the headlights seeming to reflect off a mirror as I rushed towards it. No, not a mirror, water… I could only watch in terror as I impacted the wall of water and the world faded away in a mix of wet, cold, and pain.