//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Moving On // by Manitive //------------------------------// So, there I was, standing in front of the mirror in my bathroom, a loaded 44. Magnum Colt Anaconda in my right hand, barrel shakily pressed against my temple. Slowly raising the pressure with my index finger on the trigger and staring into my own blue eyes, I see the cause of my misery replaying in them. Sadness filling my heart, I'm reminded of 'them'. "Who are 'them'?" you may ask yourself. Well, to answer that, let me introduce myself; I'm William Wright, 28 years old, was married to a beautiful woman named Sandra, who's just one year younger than me, and father of Laura, my 6 years old sweetie. When I turned 26, I moved out from a shabby-looking flat in Florida to build my family an own house in Wyoming, USA. Nothing but mountains and forests in a perimeter of around 25 kilometers. I often went hiking with my family, which made me become pretty fit, and went to the gym on weekends. I even had a great job as a software engineer in a small town about 20 minutes away from my home. So now that you know that 'them' are my wife and daughter, can I continue with my story? Life was great, it really was. Well, until that one fucking day. I still remember it as if it just happened yesterday. It was a beautiful summer day. I was sitting in my favorite armchair outside on the terrace, eyeing the sunset with worry. "Where are they? They should've been home 1 hour ago!" I said to myself, letting my hand travel through my short, light brown hair. Deciding that I had waited long enough for them, I stood up and made my way to the garage to drive along the streets and search for them. Opening the garage gate, I went to the driver's side door of my 1970 Chevelle SS 454. I've bought this car as a wreck from a scrapyard, and in a span of 3 years, restored it back to its former self, which I was, and still am, quite proud of. Yes, it was expensive, but totally worth it. Checking my pockets for my keys and my cell phone, a iPhone, which I luckily both had on me, I opened the door to my car and sat myself in it. Pulling out the car key, I pushed it into the ignition lock and turned the key. Shortly afterwards, I heard the engine coming to life. Closing the door, I drove out of the garage and away from our property onto the street. Deciding, that checking the road in the direction of town would be the best thing to do, I turned left. While I was driving, I thought of reasons why they could be late. 'Maybe they just got stuck in traffic? No, that's not possible, we never got any problems with traffic here, and even if, Sandra would surely call me, right?' After a while of losing myself in my mind, I saw a mix of red and blue rapidly blinking lights ahead of me. Raising the pressure on the gas pedal and gaining speed rapidly, I assumed the worst. I wasn't wrong with my assumption. As I came closer to those lights, I saw what they belonged to. There, on the side stripe were two police cars and ambulances. The road was closed in both ways, so I decided to get out of my car and walk the rest of the distance. Finally arriving at the crash site, I spotted two officers standing behind the ambulance, talking to each other, with their backs turned to me. Concluding that they probably knew what happened, and more importantly, who was involved in the accident, I jogged over to them, my heartbeat steadily increasing. "Officers, what happened here?" I asked them, breathing heavily as I came near enough, interrupting their conversation. Both turned to take a look at me, giving me sad looks. "That car you see over there by the tree-" one of the officers said while pointing to... 'Wait, is that the car of my wife?' "-and the passengers, a woman and a little girl, had an accident involving a deer." "We think that the woman, trying not to hit the deer, steered the car onto the side stripe of the road, but somehow lost control and then drove right into that tree." He continued. "Do you...do you know any names?" I asked, tears building in the corner of my eyes. "Yes, the woman was called Sandra Wright, and the girl Laura Wright." he answered. "Both died of an internal bleeding in the ambulances." That's when I lost it. I fell down onto my knees, tears rolling down my cheeks in streams. "No..Nononono, this can't be real, this has to be a dream..." I stated sobbingly. "They can't be dead, they can't be dead, THEYCAN'TBEDEAD!" "I'm sorry, I take it that you knew them good?" the other officer asked me with sympathy clearly showing in his voice, patting my left shoulder. "Sandra is my wife, Laura is my...Laura is my sweet little daughter" I answered, looking up at the officers. Both looked shocked after my statement, now clearly knowing why I was being so emotional. "I'm really sorry, I really am." he said. "If there is anything we can do for you, just ask." "Can I see them?" I almost immediately responded. After nodding their heads, they told me to follow them. They lead me to one of the ambulances, opening the backdoors and letting me jump inside. There, lying on a stretcher in front of me is Sandra. An unmoving Sandra. "Hey honey." I whispered, making my way to my wife, stopping at her left side. Slowly taking one of her hands, cupping it in between of mine, I discovered that they were cold. She wasn't breathing either. Then I heard what sounded like droplets of rain hitting the roof of the ambulance, turning the mood even sadder. "Honey, please stop joking now, this isn't funny!" I said, tears coming back into my eyes. After what felt like hours, she still hasn't moved nor breathed. Then realization hit me. 'She's...she's gone. No, not only she is gone, my daughter is too and I couldn't even say goodbye.' Then I lost it again. All that happened a year ago, and I still couldn't get over it. People told me, that I should move on, but that was easier said than done. Doubts were filling my head as I increased the pressure on the trigger, and a particular song started playing in my mind. 'Would Sandra want this to happen? Most definitely not, she'd hate me for just giving up my life.' 'But I want to be with them...I just want to see them again, talk to them, and in order to accomplish that, I need to...' Pulling on the hammer and pressing the barrel tighter against my temple, I prepared myself for salvation... Meanwhile in Equestria "Go Rainbow Dash! You can do it!" cheered Scootaloo, hopping up in the air. "Squirt, I know I can, but please stop being so loud, or the bees are going to sting me." Rainbow Dash mumbled. "Ya know, she's right sugarcube" Applejack mumbled, looking at Scootaloo from the corner of her eyes. "But that doesn't make sense at all! Bees don't have ears, they have tympanic organs spread across their body, which allow them to sense vibrations!" Twilight explained, letting that nerdy side of hers shine through. "Yeah Twilight, they can sense vibrations. What happens when we speak?" Rainbow Dash said, clearly annoyed that Applejack just won't give up. "Oh yeah...right...hehe, sorry." Twilight apologized. "But why exactly are you both doing this again?" "Tah determine who's the braver one of us!" Applejack answered, eyes narrowing at Rainbow's. "And that's clearly me!" "Girls, if you don't stop this, we're going to be here until midnight, if not longer." Twilight responded before Rainbow Dash could've retorted. Slowly nodding their heads simultaneously at each other, they turned them towards Twilight. "Can ya/you get those bees off of me?" They asked in unison. "Sure thing girls! I could use a spell I read about in that one Book to lure them away from you." The smiling lavender-colored Princess said, channeling magic through her horn. "Hopefully I've got it right." That last sentence made the other three look pretty nervous, and that justifiably so. That definitely wouldn't have been the first time Twilight failed a spell, nor the first time she confused it with another one. Twilight, thinking that she channeled enough Magic energy, then let loose a small beam of energy, which ended up creating a lavender aura-dome around Applejack and Rainbow. But the dome started becoming bigger and bigger, and after some time, even the shocked Scootaloo and Twilight were engulfed too. "That definitely isn't supposed to happen!" Twilight exclaimed loudly, her eyes widening in horror. She desperately tried to stop the dome, but ultimately failed to do so. Shortly afterwards, everything in this magic dome started becoming darker. Time seemed to slow down, and after what felt like hours to them ... BOOM Back on Earth Looking for what could've been the last time into my own face, I said my last silent prayers and slowly pressed the trigger. BOOM I lost my grip on the stock of the weapon, letting it fall to the ground. I immediately got onto the bathroom floor, waiting for the shockwave to come. But it never came. "What the fuck just happened?" I silently asked myself, picking up my gun from the floor "That sounded like a fucking bomb!" Curiosity overcoming my fear, I exited the bathroom and made my way to my bedroom and opened the door leading to the balcony, to see what happened. 'I should have a good enough view from here at the surrounding area' I thought. Staring out, I saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the sun slowly hiding behind the horizon. Well, there was nothing out of the ordinary until I saw 4 strange purple, weakly glowing orbs falling down from the sky into different parts of the forest. "So...those green bastards finally found us or what?" I mumbled, chuckling dryly. I ran a hand through my unkempt hair. I decided that I should investigate what those orbs were, so I walked downstairs, took my hunting jacket from the coat hook and put it on. Exiting the building through the backdoor, I started jogging into the direction of the one that landed the closest to my home. After about 5 minutes I spotted a little clearing. I cautiously made my way up to the clearing with my gun in the right hand while scanning my surroundings for any dangers. Being so caught up in it, I tripped over something big in front of me, making me lose the grip on my gun and fall face first to the ground. Cursing my luck, I slowly rolled onto my back. My face hurt pretty bad, but that's to be expected after taking a face full of dirt. Looking over to the object that I tripped over I discovered that it wasn't a object but rather a...an orange furry something. Quickly scrambling up to my feet, I moved closer to it. Now standing right above it, I saw that it's not only orange, but purple too. Slowly outstretching my hand to touch it, I discovered that it indeed wasn't an object. It felt like it was breathing, and its fur felt quite soft. Suddenly it started stirring, making me jump up in the air and move back a couple of feet. Scootaloo, coming back to her senses, tried to upright herself, but a searing pain in her right front leg prevented her from actually getting back to her hooves. Ruffling her wings, she looked around the clearing for any sign of the others but found neither of them. 'Where are they?' She thought to herself, fear rising steadily 'And what the buck happened?' Snap Snap "Oh fuck..." The strange pony filly with wings, as I discovered, turned its head instantly into my direction, making me stop dead in my tracks. My plan, which consisted of me silently sneaking behind it and then snatching it up in my arms to stop it from running away, was destroyed in a matter of seconds. That's when I also discovered, that it definitely isn't a normal orange and purple colored filly. Not that colored fillies are normal at all, but It's eyes are way too big...and they are purple. Oh, yeah, and that there's that teeny tiny wing detail. IT HAD FUCKING WINGS! The fillies eyes got even bigger as she lay eyes on me. "He...hey there little one." I said in a caring tone, slowly moving closer to it, but making sure to stay low so I won't intimidate it. With every step I made, it visibly grew more scared. "I'm not going to hurt you, calm down." I continued as I was close enough to touch the filly, but instead chose to kneel beside it. Interestingly enough, it didn't try to move away from me, but kept staring into my eyes. Then, placing my right hand onto its mane, I started petting the little filly. "There, see? I won't hurt you little one." I whispered. "I'm not little." I heard. Okay, either my mind was playing tricks on me, or that filly had just spoken to me. Withdrawing my hand from her mane, I instantly backed up from her, staring at her like she was an alien. Well, in a way she was, but you get the point. Anyways, she then opened her mou...er, I mean muzzle, and what came out next, changed pretty much everything I believed in. "What? You look like you'd seen a ghost." she said. "Hello? Is everything alright?" she asked. Realizing that I sat the whole time she was speaking with my mouth open and my hands on my head, I chose to speak to her. "This...this has to be a dream!" I exclaimed quietly. smooth, first contact with an alien and then something like that. "What do you mean?" she asked, eyeing me. "And who-eh, what are you?" "I...This can't be real" I again exclaimed, but a bit louder this time, still looking at the speaking filly in front of me. "Helloooo? You there?" she again asked. "Huh? Oh...sorry, it's just THAT YOU SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TALK!" I shouted, making the filly flinch. "You're a pony, you shouldn't be able to talk!" "W..h...y shouldn't I ?" she quietly asked me, fear evident in her voice "Because you're a animal!" I retorted. "And animals aren't able to speak!" "..." A single tear rolled down her cheek, making me feel guilty for my sudden outburst. Realizing I need to act like a grown-up, not like some psycho, I decided that shouting wasn't going to help us in the slightest. Crawling back up to her, I again started petting her mane with my right hand. "I'm sorry, it's just...I've never seen anything like you." I explained. "Do you have a name?" "My name's Scootaloo." she stated, sobbing heavily "I...I want to go home!" "Hey now, don't be sad, I'll get you home." I said, wiping the tears from her cheeks with my other hand "C'mon Scootaloo, stand up, or do you want me to carry you?" "I can't...my leg hurts." "Which one?" I asked, stopping petting her. Pointing to her left front one, I then asked "This one?" to which she just shook her head. Moving on, I then pointed to the right front leg, asking her again, to which she nodded. "Well, that's certainly going to be a problem." I then moved both of my hand onto her front leg, trying to feel if any bones were broken. Luckily, nothing seemed broken, so I assumed that it just was bruised. "I think your 'knee' is just bruised, but it still needs to be treated, and I don't have any first-aid things on me, so I need to carry you to my home, is that alright with you?" I asked. "Um...Yes, that's okay, Mister...?" "Oh, right, sorry, I'm William." I said with a small smile. Cautiously grabbing her around her barrel, I tried lifting her up, only to discover that she was fairly light. In fact, I think I could carry her easily to my house and back to this spot 2 times. Picking up my gun, that I had dropped earlier, and stashing it into one of my pockets, I started walking. "Soooo, Scootaloo was it, right? Where are you from?" I asked curiously, walking into the direction of my home with her in my arms. "I'm from Equestria, Ponyville to be exact." she said, moving a bit in my arms. "Ponyville? Equestria?...O-kay?" Never heard of something like that. "Where are we?" she then asked. "Wyoming, United States of America." "Wy...What?" "You know? North America? United States of America? Nothing rings?" "Oh pony feathers, I need to find Rainbow Dash and the others!" she said totally ignoring my question, squirming in my arms "I totally forgot about them! What if they are in trouble? What if they are hurt like me? What if..." "Heyheyhey, stop worrying! Who's Rainbow Dash and the 'others'?" I interrupted, nearly losing my grip on her because of her squirming so much. "They are ponies like me, and I need to find them!" Scootaloo explained, struggling to get out of my arms. "First of, you can't go anywhere with your injury, and secondly, It's slowly getting dark, and searching in the dark is senseless. We can search for them in the morning." I told her, finally arriving at the back door of my house. "O...Okay, but it's important that we find them!" she said, stopping her struggling Opening the door to my home, and closing it behind me, I started walking into the living room. Laying Scootaloo with her back down onto the couch, I told her not to move, and that I'm going to get the first-aid kit and a pack of ice from the kitchen. After grabbing both things, I went back to the living room and knelt myself beside her on the ground. Placing the ice on her 'knee', I then asked her a bit about her home. The things she told me seemed to be taken right out of a child's book. I mean, a whole country with inhabitants that are miniature horses, which are colored in every color imaginable, with some of them having horns to do magic and others having wings to fly, does sound a bit ridiculous, doesn't it? Okay, at least that wing part seemed to be true since she had a pair herself. After some time of being lost in the conversation, I didn't notice that the ice has long melted, but not enough to actually hinder the use of bandages. Opening the first-aid kit that I had placed on the tea table next to me, I took out an elastic bandage and started wrapping it around her knee to stabilize it. After finishing that, I asked her if she wanted to sleep in the guest room, but discovered, that she already was sleeping. Not wanting to wake her up, I decided that she could sleep on the couch, which was big enough for her to sleep on anyways. I then went upstairs to the guest room to get her a blanket and a pillow. Once I had those two things, I headed to the living room again and, carefully lifting her head a bit, moved the pillow under her head and threw the blanket over her body. Done with that, I decided to call it a day and headed to my bedroom upstairs. Arriving there I undressed myself, pulled out the gun from my pants pocket, stashed it away into the closet and then jumped into bed, hitting it with a loud groan. 'Today was...interesting, to say the least' I thought as I stared up at the ceiling. Thoughts drifting back to everything that happened today, I couldn't help myself but become curious about what tomorrow will have in store for me. Eyelids slowly growing heavy, I finally drifted off into a not-so-peaceful slumber.