Chapter 22: June 21-24
[In ugly, gigantic letters]
Dear Journal,
She didn’t wake up yet.
June 22, 2015
Dear Journal,
New pony still isn’t awake yet. Settled into a routine, as good as we can. Now that it’s clear she’s not just going to die for no reason, we don’t keep her watched 24/7. We just don’t have the manpower. Realistically, it’s not like keeping someone with her is going to make a life-or-death difference, right? We have no trained doctors, no trauma surgeons or even any EMTs. The best we could’ve done was make sure she didn’t wake up alone.
Assuming she ever does. Used a little honey and water to help her body recover. Sky and me clean her every day (Joe’s too grossed out to be useful). Apparently it’s not the wounds that set him off, at least not mainly. I heard him arguing with Sky about it when neither of them thought I was around. Well, I use the word “argue” pretty loosely in Sky’s case.
“She looks like she’s healing well. No infection. You can touch her.”
“That won’t heal, I know it. She’ll be disabled forever.”
“I don’t have a horn either, you know.”
“Yeah, well… you’ve got wings. Obviously you wouldn’t have one.”
“Are you saying Day is disabled?” You go girl, you tell him. But I couldn’t listen. I didn’t want to hear him say what I already knew. I was disabled, just like that unicorn. We wouldn’t ever fly, we wouldn’t ever do magic. What good are we?
Oh yeah. I guess I haven’t talked about that yet. Cloudy Skies has come up with “proper” names for Joseph and me, which she uses like nicknames (I’m relieved that she still uses my real name whenever she has something important to say). She says that after hearing me record journals a few times, she thinks my name ought to be “Lonely Day.” She says it will be “waiting for me when I’m ready for it.” So never. Toss that one into the bin with not wearing clothes and having a mark growing from my butt everybody can see.
And who knows! That unicorn has a chance! Horns are magic apparently. Maybe she’s got enough left to still do a little magic. Or maybe horns do grow back. The only one who’s guaranteed not to have any magic at all is me.
Not that the normal ponies I saw in that… place… were useless or anything. They seemed to get all the hard work done, growing crops with what must’ve been some mad fertilizers. Either that or way better GEs than we ever did. Too bad about the end of that. Though I guess we don’t need a wheat that grows five times as dense per acre when we only have a handful of ponies. Ponies can eat grass anyway, can’t we? Eugh, no. Not this one. This pony is still a person inside.
Pretty lousy ending for our vacation, but you already read about that. Sky has started making cheese. California used to have several heirloom places that did that, and a few had little operations right here in the city. More and more it seems she was right after all about getting the animals, even if I’m still not sold on what we’ll do with them when we relocate.
The longer we stay here the more inevitable it seems to be that we will need to leave. Even if we could turn asphalt into farmland, the land is just too dry. We don’t have an aqueduct to turn a desert into a paradise anymore. How many centuries will it take before we’re able to do public works like that again?
Went to a specialized warehouse and brought a huge spool of monster-sized cable on the back of a truck. Took Joseph's help, because of course I can’t get anything useful done without a unicorn hovering behind me. Stupid Joe. It’s not his stupid fault, I know. He didn’t ask to keep everything and only get a little smaller.
I didn’t ask to be an adorable plush toy instead of a person. Count my blessings, I guess. At least I’m not comatose.
So many unanswered questions about this pony, though. The biggest one is the flight itself. It’s been nearly a month since everybody vanished, so why did she try to fly a plane now if she didn’t know how? It’s not like I just hop in any car and expect to be able to drive it with my hooves!
Did she run out of unicorn magic mid-flight, maybe? It seemed like she was doing okay up until the crash. Looked like her descent was pretty controlled, angle was perfect, picked the flattest part of the beach… It’s like the code! We’ll never know that unless we can find the source (which I don’t know how to do), and we’ll never know the pony’s deal until she wakes up and we can ask.
I take it as a positive sign for Sky’s sanity she hasn’t come up with a silly nickname for the sick pony. At least she knows where to put up boundaries.
—Lonely Day (hah, never)
June 23, 2015
Dear Journal,
It’s a little depressing none of my attention gathering schemes have worked. Radio, spotlight, posts on the Internet (hah, that was a thing once), and there’s no real sign of any of those things actually bringing people here. Well, with one possible exception. Maybe the blond pony came here because of my messages. I guess we might not ever know.
Yeah, she still hasn’t woken up. Doesn’t smell like she’s rotting away, but she also doesn’t really look like she’s getting better. It’s hard to tell if there’s been improvement. Okay, so maybe getting a doctor should be a priority. Obviously we can’t just grow one, but it might be that we could learn from books and home-study texts (at least enough to be better than unskilled). Joseph’s magic makes him an obvious choice, but his laziness probably means he’ll never manage to drive himself to study.
Cloudy Skies might be able to do it. She already has a little experience helping sick animals, so there’s a foundation of vet-science to build on. What do you even call the doctoring of horses, is there a specific word for that?
Obviously I’m disqualified, since I’m the only one exclusively focused on our survival. Like yesterday: I’ve been focused on expanding the “protection” of our house out into the surrounding streets and properties. Spent the day setting up fences, blocking off the road and connecting us to the property on the other side of the house. Wouldn’t stop small animals, but I can’t see many big dogs being able to get through (is there anything bigger?) I can thank the California Department of Transportation for so thoughtfully loading the temporary fences onto one of their trucks before the Event, making my job extremely easy.
Mostly brought in food today. Took Huan with me to the Costco, loaded pallets up onto our converted cargo semi, and brought ‘em back. We’ve got a propane-powered forklift out front now, so unloading ‘em is pretty simple too. Reinforced the temporary fences from yesterday with cans of vegetarian chili and crates of powdered drink.
Yes, you can convert a forklift to drive with hooves. Not as hard as I thought it would’ve been. Damn do I miss those Costco hot dogs and pizza.
Had to carry in the fifty-pound bags of flour one by one. Joseph so graciously volunteered his magical talents, not to help, but to lift them onto my back each time. Turns out I can handle about fifty pounds of cargo without too much difficulty. Probably wouldn’t push it past that, though… it also felt like any more would’ve made it hard to move.
Two projects waiting on tomorrow: starting the garden or replacing our toilets with the composting variety. I haven’t ever done plumbing or farming before, though Sky says she’ll be happy to help with the garden if I do that.
Yeah, wonder which of those I’ll pick. Spend all day with my mouth super close to the place people… (disgusting)… or get some quality time with Cloudy Skies getting sweaty together.
Gee, this is a tough decision.
—A
June 24, 2015
Dear Journal,
She still isn’t awake. We’re doing our best to care for her, and it doesn’t look like she’s going to die on us. Cuts are healing nicely, might even be able to take out the stitches in another week or so. But just because the cuts turn into scars doesn’t mean she’ll ever wake up. She still looks way freaky around the cuts, where we had to shave the fur of her coat away. It’s coming back, but pony coats just don’t grow fast enough to erase wounds like that in a few days.
Spent the day farming with Sky. She was the expert here, so I was more her assistant than anything. I was afraid Joe would ruin our alone time, but the thought of leaving the strange unicorn (is she still a unicorn even though she doesn’t have a horn anymore? Does she just count as a regular pony?) alone in the house made him feel uncomfortable. He spends more time sitting in that room than either of us do. Maybe it’s a species thing.
We’re using a chunk of the spacious backyard, the part not occupied by chickens (who have been wired in by now, strange behavior or not). We tried to use one of those hand roto-tillers, but they take way more control and precision than we could manage. Instead we took a rusting plow from the rustic interior of the house, and attached it to my back using the harness.
Ever think you would live to see the day you would pull a plow with your own body? Me neither. I didn’t really get all the farming things Sky said, just google them if you care. Oh wait, there’s no Internet anymore. Guess you could use the index on the Kimballnet and see if anything comes up. Assuming it’s still around.
Ground plowed, it was time to plant. Sky wanted to try lots of different kinds of seeds, see what would grow best in the soil here. I did as much as she did, tilting a few seeds from a packet into the ground and covering it over with a hoof.
It felt strange. Like I was constantly being watched from the garden, but I couldn’t find anyone actually looking at me. I took the right two rows, and Sky took the rows on the left. Between the two of us, I’m sure somebody planted something that will survive.
I’m putting my money on Sky. She’s the one with real experience. Everything I water dies. Of course, watering is going to be a little bit of a pain too. Part of why we were able to set up the garden as easily as we were was the ground was so dry, and the lawn had been dead for awhile. Spread bags and bags of soil from the store, and plowed it as good as I could.
Probably going to need a better harness for that, by the way. I was strong enough, but it felt like the thing was going to tear at any moment under the pressure. My harness was designed for pulling wagons, not tearing up soil.
When we finished, we put a hose on one of those timers and put a circulating sprinkler on the end. Should get the whole garden pretty even for now, though it will cost more of our precious water to keep it going. Hence the composting toilets.
Whatever, another day. Maybe tomorrow. Still have plenty of water-jugs. We can always keep supplementing the cistern by dumping those in. It’s not like the plastic in those things will survive forever without tainting the water.
Sky was too tired to cook, so we did microwave meals and listened to music on the back-porch when it was all done. Huan joined us in the backyard (first for him), and we watched the sunset.
There are still some nice things left after the end of the world. It’s not a long list, but it’s not an empty list either.
—A
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"Cloudy Skies", "Lonely Day"... Sky's really got a downer streak with these names.
Lonely Day...
Don't know why, but something about that name sends shivers down my spine.
Yeah, think A has the right idea by sticking with his/her old one.
Love this story so far
But I cant read this all the time because of no internet.
I'm liking where the story is progressing (relations between the survivors, slowly finding more, and those strange glyphs) and I think it's slow going but it adds more detail to the story
Also I ship A and cloudy skies so hard
Lonely Day has both a nice ring to it, as well as a very ominous one.
Tribe envy. Sky has tact and cares for them all, but Joe still remains the target and face (or would that be horn?) of most of A's... irritation on the subject. Earth pony advantages are a bit too subtle to be immediately noticed in the face of glowing horns and wings, even if they aren't working yet. Still, was that foreshadowing A wrote about the gardening? Make cheer up when their plot grows as much as, if not better, than Sky's. And the watching...
Also; A's admitting the adorableness we knew about so long ago! (Where did I put that image Zutcha made...)
Lonely Day, My Celestia theory could still be true.
Yeeeah, I think A just jinxed themselves on that gardening remark. Now obviously all of their crops are going to grow and none of Sky's are.
It would interesting to see how some of the still useful medical supplies react with them. For all they, and we know, the mix of medical chemicals they used to stabilize their new sleeping housemate accelerated her regenerative properties so much that by the end of the week her horn has grown back.
And then they come out the next day and A's patch is just a miniature jungle already. "Oh, hey, I have plant powers."
Hope mysterious aerocorn wakes up soon.
Thats weird. The Last Pony on Earth showed up in feature but not in my tracking stories section. Oh well.
well the more longer they wait and the more survivor they got will make it harder to move everything (stuff and animal)
so i belive they should start to find a better place (california is really not the best place for doing a colony based on vegetable) becuase of the water problem
p.s my english is bad i know
6088419 Same here. New chapter, but it didn't show up in my topbar. Glad I clicked on it in the feature box, eh?
I really get the impression that Sky never liked being human and really doesn't understand why anyone should have ever liked it.
A / Lonely Day is going to have the bitterest revelation when he realises that a lot of the problems he's having (including not being able to access his earth pony magic) is due to his rejection of this change of circumstances and his hope against hope that it was temporary. The odd thing that strikes me is that, even despite this 'disability' (and Joseph really need to get that screw-head supremacist stick out of his butt), he's easily the most important part of the new community taking root in the outskirts of what was once Los Angeles. What he could do with his magic added on would probably be startling!
6088664
I dont know if the assumption that A not having magic is accurate. I mean A has mentioned multiple times how he/she doesn't get tired and then this one today:
I feel that A does have magic, its just a lot more subtle.
I bet at the very end, Starscribe will put a name like Alex just to utterly infuriate the ones who want to know his/her gender.
That chapter was amazing somehow. Sooo much going on in such a short text. That exchange between Sky and Joe was unsettling, although not really unexpected and neither was A's reaction to it. Oh and... heh... all those who've been clamouring to know A's name? There you have it! Or not. Starscribe, you troll.
Lonely Day it is then. How fitting.
That scene with master Joe loading the sacks onto the beast of burden's -uhm, Day's- back was brilliant and slightly sad. Without Day, Joe would likely already be dead but somehow the earthpony automatically drifts toward the bottom of the hierarchy. Doesn't help that Day already sees him/herself that way of course.
Earth pony magic waiting for its entrance. Suspense.
Yeah, that broken horn is going to keep Birdicorn unconscious for a good time just from the sheer pain. The brain will shut down, or at least go into 'sleep' mode if there is too much sensory input, especially pain. You know when people black out from pain? That's this.
6088419 actually the same happened to me, it's happened with a few other stories on my watch list in the past.
*gnnnnnn...*
System of A Down- Lonely Day
Good song( and story)
Whhooooooooot!
Hypothesis I keep in mind for 'A's gender: Originally a man, now a mare. Is in so much denial doesn't talk about it at, but occasionally slips up, like this:
Obviously the question is, what did 'A' mean by everything, hmm?
I love that nickname, 'Lonely Day', or just 'Day'.
6088125
good point, I mean, most of my character would've been a Second Joe.
Except more of a Gamer, Historian, inventor, and the (military and survivalist) tactician kind
6088161 Well if everyone you know and loved disapeared I think it would be a pretty big downer
I got an idea! You know how in those post-apocalyptic films that people will always form tribes or civilizations that always fight for resources?
Perhaps you can do that, like the tension builds as the main character's group and another group builds up forces, and then when they finally launch a war for a valuable resource to get to the "promised land", Equestrians swoop in to investigate, and were shown the horrors of war.
That's my suggestion for how it should end, but you already have one lol
6089954 ... so, what, like a Mad Max type situation?
6090022
Was thinking Fallout,
but Mad max is better situated cuz no actual nuclear war XDDDDD
So the main character has a pony name now. I'm still gonna continue calling him Alex though. Although, I've got to wonder, what's Joe's pony name????
It's actually Costco. With a "T". But I can understand why you would make that mistake.
I know that ponies are herbivores, so hot dogs are pretty much out of the question, but they can still eat some kinds of pizza can't they???? Maybe not the classic pepperoni or sausage but there's cheese pizza, mushroom pizza, pineapple pizza, all kinds of stuff. they could totally still eat it.
I'm calling it now. Luna is watching them from the moon.
6088419
6088749
He already confirmed in a previous chapter that A is a guy. I forget the exact words, but it was something about how a thriving colony would depend more on a larger number of females then males as opposed to vice versa all the while saying it as though that wasn't something they were doing very well on. That would imply that Alex is a stallion.
6089101
I interpreted that as Alex being jealous of Joe for still having something akin to hands (his magic).
6088850
And human-caused climate change. Yeah, I said it.
6088161
Yeah, true. She does seem pretty depressed. Of course, she would probably have a good reason for that name. I... think.
6088163
Well in general, "Day" doesn't seem like a pony to just accept anything about being a pony. Day seems to do as much as possible to avoid any connections with pony-things.
6088227
Well, at least you'll have more story to read each time you come online. Or... more often than with some sorts of stories.
6088246
Hah, pairing name: Cloudy Day. That name works out almost too well. ^^
6088250
Hah, maybe! Still have lots of ground to cover to get both wings and a horn, though. If one of those shows up, I'd start getting suspicious myself.
6088344
It's possible, but doubtful. What we've seen of pony medicine seems to paint a picture very much like our own. The hospitals look striking similar. Of course, there's no telling that just because lots of things are the same that the drugs are too.
6088380
Hah, yeah! Maybe if Day was applejack, that could happen. Or... anything but an auto mechanic. Still has the magic, though.
6088419
I'm not sure if that's Fimfiction's fault or mine. Keep an eye to see if it happens again.
6088498
Good english enough, you're right. I think they know it too; their long-term plan from several days back was to leave the state after a year or so of preperation time. In the short term they can survive on supplies stockpiled in the city. In the long-term, they would be doomed if they stayed.
6088664
If only "Day" had a teacher to show how to use earth pony magic. More than just the innate magic, I mean. I think that just sorta happens.
6088723
It's too bad they don't have a Dr. Horse around to help.
6088749
6088766
I think this is why I chose Earth Pony for Day's species. Like many writers, my first species of choice was Unicorn, because magic itself is so interesting to explore. Unfortunately I already have a large series staring a human-turned-unicorn, not to mention I figured being a unicorn would ultimately make life too easy.
I think Day as an Earth Pony is a good match. No magical flying powers to offset being a pony. The full brunt of the transformation (and it's cost) means we have reason to be invested in what Day is going though. I dunno how I could do better without any hands.
6088785
I can't even imagine the amount of pain losing a horn would cause. I wonder if enough pain like this can drive someone insane.
6088954
I probably wouldn't want a nailgun, those things are heavy. A crossbow might be good, if you were a unicorn or just really good with your hooves. I think mace will keep working for Lonely Day so long as the animals themselves aren't determined to kill them. At that point, Lonely Day and the ponies will wish they had something more lethal.
6089954
I did think about that when I've thought about the ending. Ultimately I thought about this, and now I'm not so sure. I've written about the horrors of war before. I can't say it won't happen, since I don't know entirely how this story will end yet. I'm just pretty darn sure.
6090099
Fixed that mistake about costco's name. I'm not surprised the editors didn't catch it, since neither of them know about or have been to the store. Sure they just assumed my proper nouns were right. Also, I totally think ponies could eat pizza, so long as there weren't meat toppings. I think Lonely Day was just lamenting the loss of Costco pizza specifically, not being unable to eat pizza in general.
6089101
That theory does seem to be gaining ground. I wonder if that happened to someone with Lonely Day's personality, how long self-consciousness would prevent them from talking about it directly...
6090479
I can't talk about lots of these things since revealing anything would be spoilers, except that I used my dad's experience as a pilot as a guide here. Water landings are great in certain circumstances, but it's easy to see why anyone with sense would avoid them in this particular situation.
Why? Two reasons.
1. Not using a waterplane means that the aircraft is likely to start sinking as soon as you stop moving forward. What if you can't swim well because, say, you were just transformed? Or because it's the middle of the night? Traveling out far enough to escape the swells and waves (mentioned below) is also far enough to assure you've have a really long, current-fighting swim ahead of you while possibly injured
2. Given visuals only, the pilot had no way of seeing the surface of the water very far to know where there were waves and where there weren't, as well as how far out to go. The sand, on the other hand, was well-lit by the bonfire and the RV spotlights, showing a flat surface the pilot might have been able to see for some distance out.
3. Just as important, this beach is renown locally for its large waves and surf. (8-10 foot waves are not uncommon, which is what makes it my personal favorite beach in Malibu). Water landings require a generally smooth surface. Striking a large wave at speed is roughly comparable to striking concrete. These waves add some double-jeopardy for anyone swimming into shore the darkness of night
Given those facts, we're still left with many unanswered questions, but at least we know why someone might avoid the water. My research indicates that given an only semiflat, semistable sand surface like the beach itself, your best chance of survival is without landing gear, coming in on the belly of the plane. I linked the article I used in the author's notes.
I won't talk about reasoning or anything like that, but I did intend this character to have made the wisest decisions possible given her options. Whatever she did should have been the best possible choice for someone in her circumstances.
6088850
Our political scarcity has tons and tons of human-created problems. Still, much of the water used in Southern California is piped in from elsewhere. Many of our rivers and streams (what few there are. I didn't even see a river until I turned thirteen) also have dams and stuff that would clog things up if they weren't set to let water through freely. The area receives about 10-20 inches of rainfall annually. Maybe enough to survive, but probably not enough to grow much, unless they move north. The north gets tons of water and produces a breadbasket of agricultural products. So moving north might be an option for Lonely Day, eventually.
6090827
Maybe so, but if so the impact of climate change on rainfall here in Southern California has been fairly minimal. The LA Almanac shows we've kept between about 10-20 inches in most years since 1877. Climate Change may have effected us in other ways, but the amount of water we've got rained on us has been roughly the same. At least, here in the city. Climate Change might have impacts in mountain areas that fill streams more than here, reducing the volume of water we get in rivers. Or it might not. I don't actually know. Climate Science is a little too complex for me
6090978
Being an EP doesn't automatically mean druid powers; Pinkie Pie was hopeless on a farm. Being an EP confers very vague attributes, but increased strength/ constitution seems pretty universal.
That is exactly what's happening.
And no, we don't have to know the science. What we have to do is listen to scientists, not politicians.
I don't know why in recent times, we suddenly start trusting the word of politicians over the word of scientists. I mean, when has that ever worked???
When a gigantic ozone hole appeared over Antarctica, I don't see the human race waiting around 20 years, with non-scientists debating about the science, while the hole just got bigger and bigger and we all got skin cancer. No, we listened to the scientists, did the right things, and presto problem (mostly) contained.
6091043
I'm actually pretty passionate about this subject, but find the comments section of my own story a less than ideal place to discuss something so complex and politically charged. Instead...
i.imgur.com/Zu1VzBB.jpg
6091094 What you said.
Hmm... I don't like Sky in a way.
She seems... too focused on this idea, of turning pony and changing her mindset as well to fit it, so much so that she is even making pony names for the guys who wanted to stick with their old ones.
I think she feels lonely making only herself seem 'normal' to her body.
She's too mysterious you know? All these vague sentences hinting at her life and all.
Also, we have some segregation! It seems that Joseph is thinking himself as superior because of his magic!
Are we in store for a three tribes fight scene!?
Lonely Day? How amusingly gender inspecific. Really curious about Joe's nickname.
Huh. More evidence for the "A is freshly transgender in addition to being transpecies" theory.
A government agency being good for something? Who would have guessed.
I suppose it works out well when you bring your own horsepower.
Here's hoping that A's right two rows grow like gangbusters compared to Sky's, poor horsebeast needs a confidence boost.
6090479 Honestly, I'm just waiting for the unipilot to wake up and explain her side. As a pilot, I think that I wouldn't have chosen a retractable gear aircraft in almost any situation where I could get something else single-engine, and if I could only get a retractable gear aircraft I'd brief myself on all the checklists I could find in that sucker to avoid landing without the gear down. There are usually checks that you can do to confirm the gear is down, and then there are more procedures for kicking it down if the hydraulics fail, and aircraft familiarization would go a long, long way for both.
The Unicorns can stick together for all I care. My ship is Cloudy Skies and Lonely Days. He keeps drawing her, and it's obvious he has a crush on her, whether he knows and won't admit it, or is oblivious to it currently. They're my ship. If it sinks, civilization will fall a second time.
Gender still annoying. Also, no matter the gender, with A and Cloudy, my shipping senses are tingling.
It has been revealed!!! -A, is a GUY!
Now we just want to know his human name. you know, the name that starts with 'A'.
6814650 I think He/she's referring to Mr. Joe.
That hit a little close to home...
6814650
A probably stands for Anon/ Anonymous
I about had a heart attack when Our Protagonist was Named, until the next line revealed what was really going on. Of course.
Three bits says survival-pone's rows explode into a riotous jungle of tasty growth.
6207299
It actually may have been wiser to come down with the gear retracted like she did, on a soft sandy beach. If the gear dug in on contact, you'd bury the nose in about a quarter second, and it's all over Sally! With the gear pulled in, there was at least a chance for a belly landing a pony could walk away from. It didn't work out that way, sure, but there was a chance.
Reading through comments looking for the code decryptions earlier, I got caught up in the idea that A might be female -- I could have sworn he'd referred to himself as a guy previously, but if he hadn't... -- but now at least we have confirmation. :)
What kind of a name is Lonely Day, though? D: C'mon, Sky, that's not very nice.
9147653
Idk about that. I think the name suits them. Sometimes loneliness is an okay thing. Lonely Day kinda makes me think of the sort of day where you sit by a window in a cozy chair, maybe with a book, and listen to the rain on the roof outside. It's not a happy name, but it's... peaceful.
Maybe I'm thinking too much about this.
Well. Part is explosively right, some isn't exactly true, and the rest is correct.