Dear Diary,
Today was the official founding of our colony! It’s gonna be a bumpy next few years, but there’s no reason at all we shouldn’t be able to make it. We’ve got lots of talented ponies, and no reason we couldn’t start attracting more.
Today was inventmediaory day. If we were going to live here for the rest of forever and transform this place into a city, we would need to know exactly what we have to work with. Separated our little group into parties of two, and we each went out in a different direction. Came together for lunch courtesy of Cloudy Skies (I'm getting sick of canned veggies), then went back out with our clipboards. In the end, we put together as much as we could from what we could learn in one day.
What do we know? Well, Paris was a small town, population about 8,500 (before the Event). It existed primarily because of farming, and because of a few machine shops. The biggest one, NAL, made headlight covers or something. Also has some local construction employing the few other people. This is good, since we're going to need metalworking and construction materials in the months to come. Plenty of housing, including some of that "projects" style houses made of concrete that you hate to live in but will probably outlast more comfortable houses.
The town also has its own modest hospital, a primary and secondary school, and NO POWER PLANTS! Looks like all the electricity in town came in from elsewhere. We'll have to do something about that, but we can't exactly loot a whole power plant from a nearby city. Wonder what we'd have to do for the HPI to give us one of those reactors...
Went through town looking for solar systems, and you know how many we found? Very, very few. I guess the green revolution never reached here. Which is why we’d intended to come after a year of preparations, when we could come with truckloads full so that our setup would be effortless. As it stands we’re probably going to be burning diesel to keep things running for some time to come. Already planned an expedition to St. Louis for a few days from now to knock over a commercial solar warehouse, plus let any ponies down there know we’re here. One problem at a time.
There’s still water in the tower! No way to know how much just now; probably places all over the town where the water was left running. We’ll want to figure out how to shut it off to all but the parts we want in time, then maybe it will be worth it to pump water up into those towers again. Not right now, though.
So we picked one of the nicest little houses we could find for our new home-base. The town has a little lake, where the really nicest houses are, though they don’t build mansions here like in Cali. No self-contained cistern systems either… damn do I miss hippies. But that’s okay! We’ll figure it out! Might end up resorting to RVs like the other survivors Adrian found. Plenty of space to park them on the grass and empty fields. Having the lake is nice; and it doesn’t seem to be drying up the way everything in California was. Real climate, yay!
Just down the street from the first fields, too. Close enough to drive tractors, once we start doing that sort of thing. Probably won’t be doing too much for the first little while: we’ve got limited time when transportation is easy and a world full of supplies. Already talked about it; we’re going to use the local high school gym as our warehouse, since it has climate control (we could use if we had electricity). The goal? Four trucks, each with “living” cabs. Three pull empty storage trailers, one a fuel tank. We caravan into a city, grab what we need, refill the fuel tanker with more diesel, then make our way back. Regular caravan rotations, for as long as we can keep the trucks on the road.
We’ve got enough fuel to keep the medicine cold for the time being. Found a gasoline generator, and we’re using that. Gas is pretty much on its last legs, so we figure might as well get what we can out of it while it lasts. We’ll switch back to just letting the truck idle all the time if we see the gasoline giving us any trouble, but hopefully we’ve brought truckloads worth of solar panels and golf-cart batteries here by then. Deep-cycle, baby.
So we had ourselves a little meeting. Wouldn’t really call it a government or anything like that. But we are the founders of a new community, and that means coming up with a name. Many ideas circulated. My favorite was the one I proposed, the perhaps unimaginative “Nueva Angeles.” Honestly I’m not sure if I even conjugated that right (I haven’t taken any Spanish classes since high school). Whatever, it didn’t win anyway.
Against my objections, our little community will now be known as Alexandria (Groan). Yeah, it’s going to be a center of learning. Yeah, it’s going to house the world’s only inter-universal library. So maybe the name is fitting. Still feels pretty unfair they’re naming something after me like this. I’ve done less than plenty of them for our survival.
They wouldn’t hear it, though. Even Moriah supported the vote, when nobody came up with anything better. Guess I can hold out hope that somebody comes up with a really genius idea and we change it. Otherwise, future generations are going to be reading this journal and ask me why the heck I named a place after myself.
I’m setting the record straight, right here! It wasn’t my idea! I tried to stop them, you hear me? You… read me? Whatever.
I think there might be wolves out there, or at least a big pack of brave dogs. I’ve never heard a real wolf-howl, so I’m not sure I’d be able to tell it apart from dogs. They’re pretty similar, right? Genetically or whatever?
Guess genetics probably didn’t survive the Event, or the “Collapse”, as those HPI folk call it. Wonder which of those names is gonna stick, a thousand years from now. Or ten thousand, when every last human has finally returned?
Will we have figured out how to make humans who can live in magic, by then? All these big, universal questions are kinda over my head I guess. I’m just a little earth pony. I want to make sure there’s heat in pony’s homes come winter and food on their tables.
I tried to help with the big questions, and it turned out there wasn’t much we could do. Luna and the other ponies weren’t responsible for what happened to Earth, except for saving everybody’s lives. Maybe they hadn’t done so in the most ideal way. Maybe there was a better way I didn’t know about.
Maybe they purposefully ignored it in order to make our world like theirs. I don’t think we’ll ever know. A single encounter made me think they were upright, honest, and compassionate. But that may’ve been a lie. I don’t know. Maybe my body was lying and making me want to trust them.
I doubt we’ll ever know. Well, maybe I will. But my friends, they probably won't. Tempus fugit.
Life isn’t going to be easy, here in “Alexandria.” We’ve got a whole civilization’s worth of technology to preserve/rediscover. A reboot.
Adrian’s staying on in the short term, until we’re established. He says he always leaves a satellite phone in every community he visits. Even if we’ve already got them, he says he can’t leave one here until we’re a community. So that’s neat.
Maybe he’ll fall for Sky. Maybe she’ll keep pining for Joseph, or maybe she’ll move on.
I’m not sure about me. I feel a little young to be thinking about this, but I’m also kinda the de facto leader of this group. I should probably set an example or whatever. I dunno. Maybe when there are more ponies here to set an example for. My friends already know me. They know my word’s good. That I care about them.
We’re a long way from having a real government. Probably we’ll end up reusing most of what the country already had going… if we ever get that big, I mean. Joseph ran the numbers, and they’re not good. Regular growth rate for humanity? Two percent. Unless we really do live longer, like Sunset Shimmer suggested, it’s going to be a really long time before we hit numbers enough to support an industrial nation.
We’ve got a key principle: we’ve got to minimize farm labor. If we can keep just a few feeding the whole population, then we’ve got the recipe for civilization. For innovation, invention, and change.
With any luck, being the sole depository of Equestrian knowledge on Earth will draw some of that talent here, and some of them will want to stay.
Guess we’ll find out.
After more than three months of effort (almost four) Cloudy Skies flew today. I guess she got bored of waiting to show me, because she just took off, flapping her wings less than I’d expect for something her size. Stayed low, not more than three hundred feet up, in this awkward glide without turning. Ended up coming right back down about the length of main street.
But that doesn’t matter. Her glide ended in tears because we know she can do it. She knows she can do it. Apparently she figured it out while I was in Equestria, and has been eager to show me ever since I got back. She got impatient.
Bumped into Oliver during the walk back. Almost asked him if he wanted to watch the moon later. I didn’t. Next time I guess. He just sorta shrugged and kept going. Pretty patient guy. Or maybe he doesn’t care. I dunno. Those doctor types.
Good thing we have those. God knows I wouldn’t know how to deliver a foal without him, and Cloudy Skies hardly counted.
We ended our night with a big party, to celebrate our arrival and commemorate our future here. Raided the Walmart for lots of the non-perishable, shelf-stable celebration supplies. That carbonated Martinelli's cider was as delicious as I remember it.
To my chagrin (and everyone else’s amusement), Oliver wouldn’t let me have any of the alcohol. Horsecrap, it’s not like I’m not the one who picked it out, mixed what Joseph called my “girly drinks.” He said I’d thank him later, but I tried to take it in good humor. Everybody else was in good humor. I’ve never seen a pony drink as much as that Adrian, let me tell you.
Cloudy didn’t really have much and she was already starting to sway, so it’s clearly not a genetic thing. Took her back to the truck trailer, since we haven’t actually cleaned out any of the houses for our use yet. She’s still asleep on the other side of this divider. Dreaming pegasus dreams.
So yeah, diary. Things haven’t been easy these last months. Surviving on our own, fighting off predators, learning what really happened (according to the Princesses of Equestria). Traveling to another world, and coming back with Equestria’s reboot kit.
Learned how to be a pony. Learned how to be a mare. Learned how to convert trucks so hooves could reach or use a wheel. Learned how to eat grass and brush and flowers and enjoy it.
Maybe learned is the wrong word. We lived. And we live still, carrying the legacy of what we were along with us. We’ll be building from the wreckage of mankind’s great civilization. We’ll make sure humanity’s greatest creations aren’t just preserved in some secret, magically shielded bunker.
We’ll take them and make them part of our culture. We’ll use the inventions to keep our lives going. We’ll teach our foals that once we walked on two legs and ate meat. The HPI can do many things, but not any of those. It’s a time capsule. Without our work out here, humanity would, in effect, have died, with only a faint memory surviving, like a dream. A dream that might end and be forgotten with a single power failure.
Not out here, in the real world. The world of oil and tears. The world of iron and blood. Of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Of the other breeds I haven’t met yet. A world where I can be friends with a whole city at once.
Life could be worse. I’m not going to call things great. We might all freeze to death in the winter, or die of some weird horse-disease. We might get the gout or malnutrition. But we might not. Maybe Alexandria will grow to be a great city, known in all the world. Maybe our foals will grow up strong, hybrid offspring of two worlds. Maybe the disappearing “humans” will return to a world that’s as strong and stable as the one they left.
Maybe we’ll forgive Equestria for what they did to us, enough to thank them for what they gave.
Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
—Lonely Day
My friends (and me)
Looking forward to what comes next, but this wouldn't have been a bad note to leave off on.
If it isn't stressful on you to maintain, I would try to keep the once a day update schedule. I know I at least like it when I can have at least one guaranteed favorites update per day (2 now I guess). Also, such a scheme meshes quite well with your journal format.
Alex is so little and cute and cuddly. D'Awwwww.
Well, minimizing farm labor shouldn't be too hard with earth ponies. And is that optimism I detect in Lonely's writing? Some of it sounds forced, but still, it seems like she's finally looking on the bright side a bit. I can't blame her. The lingering questions are answered and the course is clear. Disaster may come, but the threat of the unknown has been addressed.
This was a wild ride. Thank you for it. I look forward to the sequel.
Khm,medicine?Probably I missed something,but... Even in dictionary there is no meaning of this word what would somehow connected with fuel.
Medicine is:
A)Medicament
B)Name of the science which creates drugs,technology and it heals people.
Do they going to heal themself with a fuel or this is a mistake?
The story's over? Well that kinda sucks.
Overall I've loved how things progressed, although I wish Sky and Alex would've kissed at some point.
On a more serious note, I'm wondering how you got your first chapter published here. I tried to do a LPOE story with a gryphon main character, and it was rejected for not being related to MLP in any way.
I guess knowing what Equestrians can do with a vegetatian diet won't help.
Since diesel (combustible) soon won't work anymore I guess it's the best use they can have for it.
Please, Alex. Stop understating yourself! You've done plenty: how many can claim they decided to go to another world to get answers, and then decide to return to Earth? You even wrote Cloudy Skies took the reins of your little herd in your absence, that implies you are some leadership in the group.
I admit having the place named after yourself can be embarrasing though.
Thanks for putting your personal thoughts on record about giving Equestrians some degree of trust. I imagine this is going to be one of the most important documents in some hundreds or thousand of years, and a reference piece next time Equestria manes contat with Earth (as long as the Earth population won't destroy themselves with this new toy called magic)
See what I said about understating yourself?
I imagine having earth pony magic can really help cutting down the number of ponies needed to tend farms.
Congratulations!
Pinkie: Great! you already have the best step down to be a party planner!
Well, that was a very nice ride! I think what I liked most about this story is its 'low-key' elements; it didn't need an epic quest to stop some Big Bad Guy responsible for the cataclysm. Instead, it left plenty of room for us to enjoy seeing your characters interact and grow as they did the best they could to rebuild after the end of the world.
If this story had an ending theme song, I'd say it'd be this one. The lyrics seem to fit the tone of this story, and the art style is very reminiscent of Zutcha's artwork.
A beautiful ending to an amazing story unlike any other I've encountered here so far; I've never been that invested before
Your world building, your plot design, your mystery spinning and of course your magnificent cast all came together just so.
Thanks for writing this!
That was a lovely ending, written in the same authentic voice of Alex that we've been hearing throughout the story. She may not be an alicorn princess, but she has the heart of one and she will do whatever it takes to help Her Little Ponies survive and prosper. That, in the end, is the greatest attribute one could look for in a leader.
I loved that ending picture, by the way! that's the first time I've seen the group together.
I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more from the LPoE universe!
6177894
You mean her big ponies? She is the smallest one of them all thus far.
I look forward to any sequels you do for this story.
There are still a bunch of unanswered questions, specifically concerning Sunset Shimmer. If I had to speculate, I think Sunset will stay on Earth to observe, using a spell to propel herself into the future repeatedly to cover the 10,000 years while observing what is going on, and possibly lending her advice from time to time.
6177814
Just means that there's enough fuel to keep the generators powering the refrigeration system that's keeping the meds cold running for a while.
MOAR! I need MOAR! i seriously can't wait for the squeal.
Well, I guess we will have to wait until the sequel to really find out everything that happened to LD in Equestria, but this passage makes it sound like LD think she might be around a bit longer then her friends will be. Well, something to look forward to in future stories.
Thank you for the story Starscribe, you always put a lot of effort and planing into your stories and it shows; I look forward to as many more as you want to write. You deserve so many more views and followers. Congrats on keeping up with the daily updates of this story, that was a petty awesome feat in itself. Have a great day.
6177937 We still don't know what side effects can appear on ponies from this medicine.Or it was taken from vet store?
That was an amazing ending, though I'm a little sad it ended so soon.
I'll be looking forward to the sequel.
6177964 You misunderstood me,probably.I was talking about medicine designed for humans.So I asked about pet store.
But still even the've taken medicine for ponies it was earth ponies.Well,Earth ponies.Side effects still have a place to appear.
6177989 Should we wish luck to the ponies who will use this?
What a great read. I really enjoyed it. keep up the great work!
It'll definitely be fun to read more from this universe, so definitely looking forward to the Alexandria story. You rock, sir.
6177334
The game was actually you have 60 seconds to collect as much resource as possible because of a neuclear attack. You could grab your families with you, Then you'll have to strategise about everything for at leaast you to survive. The more members saved, the better the rating of your final stars will be if you survived. If you die, the game is over and you'll have to start again. If you could survive till day 39 you'll win.
Here's an example video:
At least some idea now about what Luna meant when she said "are you willing to give up your life..."
Yes please.
And that final '-Lonely Day' was heartwarming.
-Kitty Smiles
6178039 This is... not what I exactly meant.
Theory should show:
A)Probably there was no menace for humanity and ponies have got great misunderstood (mostly because their galaxy have survived this process thousands of years before ponies came.
B)HPI can do not to wear hazmat suits (mosly those anti-magic,who knows what have escaped from the nearby chemical facility.)
C)Universe isn't a fool.
And yes,theory has its name which must yell about A) part.
Ha, Alex gets what Luna was trying to do.
He'll never admit Luna was right, ofc. NoOOoo, it's all his idea.
6178035 It's there! It's just a little jagged edge where her mane parts.
Quite the wonderful read and I look forward to all future updates on this saga.
Joining the skype group because why not XD
A lovely story.
Still feel a bit mixed about how little Luna seemed to care about such a ludicrously long time-limit, but that's really the only thing I've got to nag about.
Well done!
D'aww. Resolution.
That was awesome. The whole thing. Good job. Excellent writing, good characters, nice pictures. I look forward to the sequel, but don't see me reading any of the side stories unless they get really popular (after all, one only has to look at the Fo:E community (which I am part of) to see the dangers of too many side stories).
I'm really glad we got a happy ending for everypony.
Looking forward to the story's continuation.
Heh, and so the beginning... ends.
Still wish for that Sky/Day pairing because, hey, that's just the ship that has to happen. But since it's played down i don't expect it to, and that community name, heh, Alexandria, that's a funny one.
What the princesses did... hasn't been said, some way to preserve human culture and all seems probable, and immortal seems likely, we're just going to have to see.
Indeed, this is going to be one hell of a future, I really wonder how things will turn out for this group, new ponies joining? Orginised attacks from dogs? Winter is coming? Raiders are attacking?
Who knows, for now I'll wait for the sequel.
Fin? NooooooOh wait there's a sequel coming, yay!
...wait, so what DID the princesses do to Day?
Hmm, Lonely Day not allowed to drink, Oliver saying she'd thank him later? Not sure if because underaged or in a family way.
Aaaaand featured once more after the final chapter!
ITS SO AMAZING! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE!
What can I say about this story?
Well,It'd done great job.
Since I couldn't froce myself to read June-July chapters I'd like to say,what story is still good.Mostly because of its originality.
I didn't throw my words on the wind.Story had created a new fictional universe there people wanting to write their stories in the setting.
And I can't forget about the mysteries and codes.Even in time when almost everyone tries to put mystery into his product (after popularity of FNaF and Gravity Falls) this was pretty funny.Not only try to creaty a theory,but to read other theories (at some point I was starting to thought what Alex's gender was majorer than mystery of the Humanity's vanish.At least for commentors).
I will wait for the sequel.Such a pity I hadn't started reading before.
so, did moriah's spell not only make Alex younger, but turn him into a mare?
Well, there we go. I got to say, this was definitely one of the top stories I have found on this site. It was interesting, extremely well constructed and written... Just superb work. I adore the way Alex acted, I really enjoy the general optimistic view the story presents, and while I may disagree here or there with a few decisions (especially on Luna's side, this could have been done so much better), I got pretty much nothing bad to say about this.
Thanks for the truly awesome and inspiring story, I still hope to see more about the HPI and their trials in your further work
6178535 I believe what actually happened is that the spell that turned them all into ponies changed Alex into a mare as well.
6178559 but didn't he say earlier in the story he was a stallion?
6177814 They have medications that require cold storage. Day was saying they have enough fuel for the generators that run the refrigeration units for the medications in question.
Edit: This is what happens when I reply to a comment before reading every other comment, on mobile. Mobile view doesn't have the "these people replied to this comment" that the desktop view has, so I didn't realize the question had already been responded to.
6178535
LunaEquestria's spell turned Alexander into a mare. Moria's spell rejuvenated Lonely Day.anyway awesome story
can't wait for the sequel
Alexandria, I love it!
Exactly.
Random thought, it might just come in handy that Alex got reset to be about as young as possible while still remaining old enough to be a productive member of their new society. Might as well have a your photographic memory capable leader around for as long as possible.
Sounds like a good plan. The satellite communications might just help out with this a lot, in theory that'll let anyone already within reasonable traveling distance know where the newly important knowledge is. I bet a lot of unicorns are going to be interested in how this new fancy magic they are capable works. Same for pegasi and flight & weather control and the earth ponies and their agricultural skills.
Speaking on which, good to see Cloudy finally figure out that flight magic.
To the future!
Awesome, I'll be there.
6178649 by luna's spell, do you mean the spell that turned them all into ponies, or did I completely forget about some kind of spell she cast on alex while in Equestria?
I wonder if I should make a map of the colonies of the "ponies after Humans" universe...
6178727 The first one, the Event itself.
Sir, you are... there isn't a proper adjective in my vocabulary to describe the world that you've woven in the last month. You grabbed my attention from day one and never let go. It's been a "get home from work" ritual to check what's happened to Alex and company as they deal with what's happened to them.
I like the idea of a Skype group, and I'm sure this goes without saying to everyone who's been following this story: we want to know what happens next. And it's a ride that we're willing to stay on board for, for as long as it takes.
...Alexandria.
Huh.
I get it. :P
6179073 Well, you can ask Zutcha, but I'm pretty sure the intention was that those jagged edges were her horn.
6179073
6179098
That would be a broken horn you're seeing.
6177934
I'm thinking of something like the Asimov Foundation books. She's left behind an interactive magical hologram that will activate at the right moment of time when the Earth ponies need advice and guidance. The projector might be hidden in some gift given to Lonely Day.