The Coming Storm

by Jay911

A Bolt from the Blue

JULY 25

I fought to get my bearings. I couldn't recall how I'd gotten here, or where 'here' was, or what I was doing, but I slowly figured things out. Sort of.

I'm in the clouds, I realized. Pretty high up, too. How had I gotten here? Did I sleepwalk? Did I voluntarily come up here and get short-term amnesia from lack of oxygen?

How am I supposed to know which way is north? Or up, for that matter?

Up, I figured, would be the direction opposite gravity. Wait, do ponies have inner ears? It is the inner ear that gives us our sense of balance, right?

Aha, there we go, I said to myself as my vision cleared. If the lake is that way, then this is north.

It took a split second for me to realize that my vision had cleared because the clouds surrounding me had dissipated.

Then what the hell am I walking on?! I panicked, failing to see the humor in being horrified that my hooves were not being supported by water vapor any more.

As I looked around, bobbing up and down, I didn't clue in for a minute; but eventually, it occurred to me to take a second look back over my shoulder blades.

Flap. Flap. Flap.

My wings were beating the air around me at a lazy pace, keeping me in one position, more or less, in the sky.

"...I'm flying?" I mouthed. Oddly enough, I couldn't hear myself, but what I was saying just seemed to 'be there' nonetheless.

"I'm flying."

I twitched a wing and turned ninety degrees in the sky, to face west.

"I'm flying!!" I laughed, and dipped my head, dropping into a high-speed dive.

A few hundred feet down, I arched my back and lifted my chin, and grunted under the strain of the sudden climb and the G-forces I was loading myself with. They went away as soon as I recognized them, and I rolled over, spinning like a corkscrew, laughing and yelling all the way.

Several aerobatic maneuvers later, I settled for hovering again, giggling madly to myself and wondering aloud how I was suddenly able to fly.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," came a voice from nearby. "But the simplest answer is also the truth. You can't."

I looked up and over to see another pony hovering there not far from me. She was midnight blue in color, and much larger than any other pony I'd seen. Her wings were giants compared to mine, and she had longer legs as well. And... a unicorn horn? A huge one, at least twice as long as Swift's.

An alicorn, I realized. As my brain finally caught up, the pony's teal eyes twinkled with merriment. "But don't let the truth, nor I, stop you here."

"The Princess," my mouth said, finally hooking up with my brain.

She cocked an eyebrow. "You know me? I am certain I haven't visited you before."

I shook my head. "My friend," I managed to say. I wasn't even sure how I was able to say that - being in this creature's presence was so overwhelming, my head was swimming.

"Ah, yes, of course. I should have expected that ponies would talk amongst themselves."

"Princess... Luna," I said, remembering the name. "I have questions."

"Everypony does," she nodded. "Ask away, though I cannot guarantee you will get your answers."

Of all the things I wanted to know, for some reason, I blurted out, "Why can't I fly?"

She giggled a little and hid, poorly, a smile behind her hoof. "Why indeed? I apologize, your question reminded me of a particular filly in my own world."

"What am I doing wrong?" I prodded. "It's like... physics doesn't work for me!"

This time, she laughed aloud, and made no attempt to conceal it. "That is something you'll need to learn about your world's changes. Physics is no longer the only master there."

I opened my mouth to speak, but found myself ascending above her. I tried to dive, but it was like something was pinching me between my shoulders and lifting me. "What the-?"

Luna looked surprised for a moment. "Our time is apparently up for now," she finally said. "But fear not, my little pony, you will see me again. And keep practicing!"

I woke to the sound of hurried clopping and a strange sensation of floating along in midair.

When I opened my eyes, I realized I was suspended three feet above the floor of Ponytown, being dragged along by the scruff of my neck like a kitten, caught in the magic field of a pink unicorn pony.

"Gah!" I choked as I fully awoke. "What the-!"

Swift said nothing, dragging me along to wherever we were headed, despite my protests and wriggling about. I managed to get my head around to see in the direction we were going, and found myself being hauled towards the radio room/spotting stand, where Jeff was seated before the radio, looking about with mild panic and stammering.

"We-we hear you," he said, then remembered he hadn't stepped on the mic switch, and did so, then started over. "We hear you. Don't go anywhere, we're bringing... oh, good," he said, seeing me being deposited beside him. "Stand down."

"Stand by," I told him sleepily as Swift circled around to sit by his other side. I nudged the mic closer to me. "Stand down means stop and go back to what you were doing."

His expression fell. "Oh! Um, tell them I meant stand by. Sorry."

"Tell who...?" I mumbled, and then I finally realized they were talking to someone on the radio. "Yikes! Mister X?"

Swift shook her head. "Somepony else. Survivors."

"Sorry, say again?" came a scratchy, weak signal in response to Jeff's last instruction to them.

Wow, they're far away, I thought to myself. Or they have a really crummy transmitter. I keyed up. "Apologies, we're here. Who's calling?"

"Hello?" the voice came through again. Female - that was about all I could tell with the static. "Serge, I don't think this is working."

"It's working," I called out. "I hear you. Go ahead."

"It's working!" she echoed. "Uh, hello there. Are you... are you survivors too?"

"Yes, we are," I responded. "How many of you are there?"

"Three," she answered. "Three, uh... people."

I glanced around at my friends. Jeff was hanging off every word coming from me and the speakers. Swift had a small whiteboard and marker that we kept up at the desk so we could take down notes; she'd written down "Girl", and "Serge" on separate rows. Now she added a dash on a third line.

I decided to take a risk. "Are you ponies?"

There was a pause.

"H-how did you know that?" finally came from the radio.

"We all are," I said. "All three of us. It was a logical guess."

"We're not all the same. And we're not normal colors for horses. But I guess we're ponies. Yeah."

I looked at Swift and Jeff again. "Let me guess. Earth pony - I mean, regular pony... unicorn, and pegasus. Right?"

"This is really weird," she said, after another pregnant pause. "How is this po-" *static* "-ble?"

"We don't know. There's a lot we don't know yet. You sound really far off. Where are you?"

"We're-" she began, but there was a noise, and the mic cut off.

"What was that?" Swift said, leaning in towards the radio.

I held up a hoof in a 'wait' gesture. "Someone shouted. I think they-"

"-no, let me tell them!" we heard through static and commotion.

"Is she in trouble?" Jeff added.

"I think her friends are in disagreement with her," I said. I keyed the mic. "Hello? Are you there?"

The mic keyed with some open air - no one speaking - for a moment. Then she came back. "S-sorry. Um, my friends don't want me to say."

I smiled. "That's understandable," I said. "I'm just a voice on a radio. Let me see if I can help you out. I'm in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, at the shopping center. We've been living here since things changed, two months ago. Two of us came from around here, the third came from the Ottawa area. We've renamed the place 'Ponytown'-" I facetiously winced, and got an elbow from Swift for it "-and we have plenty of supplies here. Power too, thanks to one of us who is a building specialist and hooked up some generators. Our names... well, that may seem a little strange, but our names are Stormy, Swift, and Jeff. Two of us have taken names that fit our new lives better."

Maybe went a bit too far, I mused, waiting for the reply.

The radio crackled a bit and a background voice - a male - said "Fine! Do what you want." Then, after a moment, the female was back. "Sorry about that. We're in the Rogers Centre. You know, the stadium?"

"Hey!" Swift said to me. I looked at her and found that I'd poofed out and had a wing in her face.

"Eheh, sorry," I said, folding up. To the radio: "Yeah, I know the stadium well. You're probably doing as well off as we are."

"I'm not so sure about that," came the reply. "There's not a lot of preservable food here. We've gone out a few times to raid supermarkets, but everything close by is pretty much cleaned out now."

"Oh," I said. "Have you come across anyone else?"

"No", she said. "Just us. Is it like that where you are?"

"She sounds scared," Swift noticed. "Especially with that last bit."

I nodded. "We've been searching all over Pickering, Markham, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa... we're the only ones."

"What happened to the world?"

"We don't know," I said. "But like I said, we have plenty of supplies here. If you're running out, you could come here."

"We don't have any way of moving," she answered. "There's a couple of ATVs here, but they don't work so well any more. Serge says the gas might be bad in them. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Karin, and the other guy is Rich."

"Pleased to meet you, Karin," I smiled. "Okay. Well, if you can't find transportation..." I eyed my friends. "We can come to you."

"What?" Jeff and Swift stereoed.

"We have to!" I hissed at them.

"You'd do that?" Karin asked, incredulously.

"There's no way we can leave somebody out there who needs help," I told her. "We're going to come get you and bring you back here. We have vehicles which will work." My mind was hurrying to put a plan together. "If you can find a trailer, like a camper trailer or a box trailer, or something that a pickup truck with a regular hitch can pull, that'll help us bring you and your stuff back with us. If not, we'll try to find something on our way to do the job."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she said after a pause. "You don't know us. We'll be doubling the consumption rate of your supplies."

I raised an eyebrow at that. Pretty smart one. "We'll be able to manage. We have so far, and we have sustainability efforts at least started, if not running. Besides, there's strength in numbers. Six of us will be able to survive better than two sets of three because some of the work we can pool together."

There was another long pause, and then a quiet, barely-audible, almost-sobbing reply. "Th-thank you," Karin said.

"It's not a problem. Keep this radio on, if you can; we'll contact you on this channel when we're getting close. We'll be on the way as soon as we can get some stuff together." Talking about the radio reminded me of the elephant in the room I'd been avoiding mentioning so far. "One quick question... you said you haven't seen any other survivors. Have you encountered any... other people or things? Stuff that maybe... scares you a bit?"

Karin laughed a little. "Ma'am, the whole fucking world scares me right now."

I smiled. "I get you. Okay. We'll be on the way as soon as possible. Hopefully we'll be able to contact you while we're underway, but there's a chance we'll be out of range for a while. Stay put, stay safe, and keep an ear out for us. All right, Karin?"

"Okay," she responded. "And thank you again."

"No problem," I repeated. "Ponytown out." I leaned back away from the radio, and only then realized how intense and wound up I'd been, hunched over and focused on the conversation. Evidently my friends were the same way, as they sat up straight as well, looking at one another and then at me.

"Well," Swift said, breaking the ice, "on one hoof, I know in my heart we're doing the right thing, but on the other hoof, I could smack you for not giving us a chance to discuss it before you committed us."

"You just said it yourself," I protested. "We're doing the right thing."

"Surely you see her point, though, Stormy," Jeff commented.

"Okay, I'm sorry," I acquiesced. "I didn't think it through. I didn't want to 'put her on hold' while we fought over it. She didn't sound like she would take well to hearing nothing from us all of a sudden."

Swift chewed on her lower lip, then nodded. "I think she's probably a kid," she said. "Dunno about the other two. 'Serge' sounds like a bit of a jerk if he was the one arguing with her."

"Let's not judge anybody just yet," Jeff interjected. "Keep it neutral."

I looked over to him. "Will the truck handle that kind of trip?"

He waved a hoof dismissively. "With ease. It's running fine."

"Will we handle it?" Swift asked.

"Well, here's our big chance to find out," I said. "What the big city is like."

"We're all going," she insisted.

I nodded in agreement. "That's why I suggested a trailer, so that there'd be room for them and their stuff. Otherwise, it would make sense to send just one of us, or maybe two for safety's sake - less going out means more room for stuff coming back."

"We do need to take some supplies, just in case," Jeff said. "We might get stuck somewhere and have to overnight away from home."

"We'll work on that," Swift said, standing up and nudging me. "You get the truck ready."

"Are you angry?" I asked her as we walked to the kitchen.

She sighed. "Not really," she admitted. "More excited than anything, I think. I mean, I would've made the same decision you did. But it was kind of sprung on us pretty quick."

"I'm sorry," I reiterated. "From now on, complete buy-in from all of us before I commit to anything."

"Deal," she said with a smile. Cupboard doors started opening with yellow glows as we approached our 'pantry'.

I tugged a couple of plastic tote bins over to put stuff in as Swift levitated it down. "By the way," I said, after spitting out the handle, "I think you might owe 'her' an apology."

"Who? Karin?"

"No," I said. "Her. The Princess."

Swift's expression was one of complete confusion. "What? Why?"

I gestured with a hoof to the back of my neck. "Well, when you came and got me for the radio call..."

Finally she figured it out. "Oh! Oh shit, really? Oh, I'm sorry! To you too. Was it your first time seeing her?"

"Yeah," I said, packing items into the totes. "It's okay though, she was in a good mood."

"She always is, or seems to be I think," Swift said. "What were... no, I won't ask."

"What were you going to ask?"

"What you were dreaming about. But that's personal. Between you and her."

The thought of my dreams being private except for a mystical omnipotent being that dwelled within it made my brain lock up for a second. "Fair enough," I said.

"Oh, hey, Buddy," Swift said as the Dalmatian came into the kitchen, curiously eyeing us. She set down in front of me the items she was levitating, then turned to face Buddy. "All us ponies are going on a road trip," she said. "Probably not back until tomorrow, but maybe longer. I hope not. Hold down the fort while we're gone, okay? Don't let anypony in, except if they're with us. Got it?"

"Arf," came the barked response, with a wag of his tail and possibly a nod of his head (I still couldn't tell if that was genuine or just random).

"Good boy." Swift reached up and petted Buddy's head, and Buddy went off with a sense of purpose, like he was already in 'guard mode'.

I put what Swift had set down into the baskets, and then asked, "You got this?"

"Sure," she nodded. "What are you going to do?"

I turned to face the radio 'room' again. "Send a message to our other fans," I said. "Let them know we're not abandoning this place."

"Good idea," she said. "Go ahead."

I dialed in the frequency I'd talked to 'X' on before. Their little robot hadn't made any more visits in the intervening time, and we hadn't bothered calling for them. But now it seemed important to bring them at least partially up to speed.

"Hello," I called out on the frequency. "Long time no talk," I said, laughing a little, knowing I wouldn't get a reply. "If you're monitoring other radio channels... hell, if you're still out there at all for that matter, you know why I'm calling. But assuming you missed it, we've found another group of survivors, and they need help. We're going to go give them that help, but then we'll be back. Hopefully with them. Three more, just like us."

I unkeyed the mic out of habit - it was bad form, back when the world still existed, to tie up a channel for too long on one transmission. Keying again, I added, "We may be gone for a couple of days. We're not abandoning Ponytown, though. We'll be back. Don't... I dunno, don't take it over, or tear it apart, or anything like that. We still need it. And we're leaving our fourth member here to keep watch. Don't scare him."

"And..." I thought for a minute before I added the last bit. "If you decide to follow or watch over us, please keep your distance. These other survivors, they're pretty skittish as it is. And if they feel what... what I and my friends felt when you went to the nuclear plant that night, they might... I don't know how they might react. Or us either. So please, stay at arm's length."

"Ponytown out."

By the time I got back to the kitchen, Swift had filled the crates and was setting up three more with some bedding and personal effects for each of us.

"The truck's good to go," Jeff said as he came in. "Stack these two and put 'em on my back and I'll go load 'em up."

Swift did as she was asked, and Jeff went off effortlessly carting away the gear on his shoulders. "Come back when you're done," Swift said. "We need to talk about something."

"You got it," the departing earth pony said.

"Can I help?" I asked her.

She kicked at one box which skittered over towards me. "That one's for you. Put what you want to take in it. Plan for a couple of potentially cool nights in the truck. Maybe possibly getting rained on too. Plan for anything."

"Garbage bag ponchos and my favorite Elsa blanket, got it," I smirked, and went to packing.

Jeff returned a few minutes later and Swift got my attention, then faced Jeff and sat down. I did the same.

"Okay, guys," Swift said. "We need to decide on something. Weapons. Do we bring them?"

I raised my eyebrows and looked to Jeff for his reaction. He too looked surprised.

"Wow, good question," he mused, rubbing his chin with a hoof. "What do we have that we could use?"

"Nothing like guns, and we couldn't fire them with hooves even if we had them," I said. "Maybe knives, broom handles, stuff like that."

Swift remained silent and let Jeff respond again. "I guess the bigger question is what do we expect to encounter out there?"

"So far the worst we've come across is a pack of hungry dogs," I said. "And we were safe from them so long as we kept a barrier between them and us."

"And Buddy sent them off to a known food source," Swift cut in.

"And Buddy sent them off to a known food source," I nodded. "My point is, if we're in the truck, we have two means of protection. One, we can just not get out. Two, we can drive away from whatever it is. But the other threat we could encounter - Mr X's black helicopters - nothing we could put together as a weapon would get anywhere near them. Nor would we be able to, the way their presence makes us feel."

"So nothing?" Swift said. "I'm okay either way. I just wanted to make sure we talked about it before we left."

"A few broom handles and such won't take up much space, and could prove to be useful for other things," Jeff shrugged. "Probably better safe than sorry."

"Sure," I nodded.

"Okay," Swift said. "Thanks, guys. I just want us to have everything we need before we get outta here. Let's not get down the road and have to come back."

"Speaking of which, what's the best route to get there?" Jeff asked. "This is the furthest west I've ever been, to be honest."

"Kingston Road," I said instantly. With a wry smile, I added, "Maybe not before Ponification, but I hear the traffic is better these days."

"Let's go trace this out on a map," Jeff suggested. "I want to have a good idea what we're going into. Swift, you okay if I steal her?"

"Go on," the unicorn said, waving a hoof. "I can finish this just fine."

Forty-five minutes or so later, we were standing around the truck. A map was taped to the dash indicating our route, the six totes - the supplies, our personal gear, and one more with some extra stuff in case the others needed anything - under a tarp in the front of the bed, and it was topped off with diesel and ready to go.

"Buttoned up," Swift said, magically lowering the garage door and throwing the interior latch. I watched with bemusement, realizing that locks probably meant nothing to unicorns.

"Okay. Who's driving?"

"We figured, or at least I figured, you would," I said to Jeff. "You've got the most experience with the truck."

"Agreed," Swift said. "I'll navigate, and Stormy'll keep eyes on the skies. And ground, and dark alleys, and everything else."

"Okay then," Jeff said. "Shall we?"

With all of us in agreement, we got into the cab, fired up the truck, and headed west on the highway.

"You know what we should have brought?" I said about fifteen minutes into the drive. "A camera, to record all this with."

"Why would you want to record all this?" Swift said. "It's so bleak, seeing it empty with nopony around."

"Look at it this way - you'll have lots of time to capture this exact scene, Stormy," Jeff contributed. "You can come back tomorrow, or next week, or in the winter, or..."

"I get you," I grumbled. "I just mean, for documentation purposes. Really now, don't deny that people are going to want to see how we survived in the early days."

"Now that's an optimistic view if I've ever heard one," Swift grinned.

"Isn't that what you said? Everything will turn out all right?"

She nodded. "True. Okay, well, I'll write about this and try to draw some of it when we get back. And you, your job is to come out and take pictures of stuff in the coming day. Okay?"

"Deal," I agreed.

The three of us fell silent as we continued down Kingston Road, through the older parts of the outskirts of Toronto. The road had shrunk from a six-lane divided highway to a two-lane street, but it was still very passable. As we'd encountered before, no vehicles were abandoned on the road - well, very few. The occasional delivery van that might have been dropping stuff off at stores at 3:30 in the morning was parked at the curb, but not one car was crashed up against another in an intersection or into the front windows of a restaurant at the end of the street, et cetera. It was a little bewildering - why did all the cars vanish with all the people? If they were abducted, were their cars too? If it was like the bubble that the original Terminator arrived in 1984 Los Angeles in, why weren't there divots out of all kinds of buildings where people had been spirited away?

Kingston turned to Woodbine, and Woodbine turned to Lake Shore Drive. The fear we'd all had of venturing into a city of unknowns was all but gone, but replaced by the depression of encountering a city of knowns - that is, known to be completely still.

Most of the trip we spent in silence, except for the occasional comment about the sights we were seeing. As we turned onto Lake Shore, I gestured with a hoof through the windshield at the CN Tower, now looming in the distance.

"There," I said to Jeff. "That's where we're going. The SkyDome's at its base."

"Too bad they didn't get their radio antenna up there," he said. "Probably would have been able to hear them just fine."

"Oh crap," Swift said, and levitated the radio mic. She'd remembered what I had at the same time - we were all so enthralled by the drive, we forgot to try to make contact with our destination.

"Thanks," I said, taking it in my hooves and making sure the radio was dialed to the correct frequency. Keying the mic, I said, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

I didn't expect an immediate response, but I figured I'd get something. After thirty seconds, I tried again. "Hello, it's the people from Ponytown. Sky- I mean, Rogers Centre, can you hear me?"

That time, I turned the squelch down as soon as I finished talking. The radio erupted in static, and after a second, there was a noise which could have been a weak response.

"If that's you, Rogers Centre, I hear you," I said. "Just barely. Your signal is too weak to hear what you're saying, but I know you're answering. We're on Lake Shore now. We're going to come to Gate... meh, I forget the number, but in the southwest corner, where the little plaza is outside. ETA... fifteen minutes."

After I turned the squelch back up and left us in silence once more, Jeff said, "What road am I looking for?"

"I don't remember the cross street, but it'll be obvious when we get there. Bremner's the road that goes around the stadium."

"Okay."

"Be careful," Swift said. "All of us. Don't get out unless it looks safe."

"Right," I agreed.

Nothing more was said until we came upon Rees Street. I gestured to the right, but even Buddy - blindfolded - would have been able to figure out how to get to the Dome from there. It was barely a couple hundred meters away.

"Leave it running?" Jeff asked.

"What?"

"The truck. Keep it running or shut it down?"

"Shut it off," Swift said. "Unless you intend to stay here with it. Bring the keys too, and lock it up."

I did a quick scan of the area I could see, and saw no one - and nopony - in view. "Looks clear," I said. "If they're outside, they're on the other side of the stadium or they're in hiding."

"Try them again," Swift suggested, nudging me with the mic.

I took it up again and keyed it. "We're here," I said without preamble. "Gate 10. Can you hear us?"

There was silence again - not even static this time, even when I unsquelched the radio.

"What do you think?" Jeff asked.

"Maybe they're on their way to us, and don't have a handheld radio," I suggested. "It looks clear, I say we get out and look."

The three of us climbed down from the truck and looked up at the stadium. It always felt immense for me to stand beside before the world changed, but now that I was so much smaller, it was a complete monster. Four-story-tall posters of ball players who most likely didn't exist any more flapped in a mild breeze.

"Spread out or stick together?" Jeff asked.

"Stick together," Swift insisted immediately, and I didn't argue.

"By the way," I said as I walked across the plaza. "Nobody feeling the weird scare-ray sensations, right? From Mr X's stuff?"

Swift shook her head. "We're safe from that, at least."

"Good."

The doors at Gate 10 and the adjacent Gate 11 were locked and barricaded with plywood, fencing, and other junk. The box office and entrances on the side street weren't accessible either.

"What do you want to do?" I asked Swift. "Wait here or circle around?"

Swift frowned. "Neither is optimal," she said.

"Let me take a run around the place," Jeff suggested. "If I see anything, I'll holler. If I'm threatened, I can move pretty fast."

"Okay," I said, then looked to Swift. "Okay?"

"I guess," she admitted.

Jeff nodded and took off up the stairs to the north. I said to Swift, "I was gonna say we wouldn't hear him if he yelled from the other side of the ballpark, but then I remembered my only experience with this place was with tens of thousands of people making noise around."

She giggled a little. "Good point."

I went back to the truck and unlocked it (Jeff had given us the keys) so I could try the radio again. As I was about to key it up, Swift called for me, so I got back down and went over to her.

"I heard something from the other side," she said. "Did you lock up?"

I nodded. "Let's go," I told her, and we were off.

Halfway around the structure, we found a door that had been bucked in. Naturally, it was dark inside.

"You don't have to tell me you don't like it," I told Swift. "I don't either."

"Jeff!" Swift hollered. "Where did you go?"

There was no response.

"That's one thing we didn't bring. Flashlights," I said.

"Let me see if I can do something about that," Swift said. She stepped close to the doors and let her horn glow. It brightened more than usual until a sphere of light about the size and luminescence of a 60-watt bulb floated before us.

"Neat," I commented. "So you're not just a one-trick p-"

"Finish that and you'll be put up in the rafters again when we get home," Swift growled.

"Sorry," I laughed. "Okay then. Shall we go?"

"All right."

I let Swift step through the broken door, and followed along behind.

Comments

[Lionheartcartoon]

The plot thickens... dundunDUNNNN

[Seeking Dusk]

And I just got around to reading the last chapter and a new one pops out!
Survivors in Toronto! Three seems to be our magic number. Maybe it was a failsafe? Granted, Jeff hoofed it from Ottawa...

Sheesh, I'll finish my next chapter already...

[Celefin]

Argh. Cliffhanger!
For somebody who warned that updates would be much slower now you're updating pretty darn fast. Cover art boost?
Anyway, great as usual. Good to see Stormy getting a visit from the Princess although it was cut short.
Now this is the first time in the story where I have a bad feeling about what is going to happen... and again, all the new action is triggered by the all-important central-to-the-story radio, for good or ill. That concept just works.

I think you should lose the 'comedy' tag by the way. This isn't a comedy but a brilliant adventure story and character study flavoured with some hilarious parts and it's so much better for it.

[Jay911]

6250225 Yeah, I'd been looking at that yesterday, and forgot to deal with it when I made the update. Thanks for reminding me.

[SearingStar]

Good Story

[Jay911]

6250225

For somebody who warned that updates would be much slower now you're updating pretty darn fast. Cover art boost?

Maybe! Actually, I'm finding that I am finding a lot more time to write on the weekends than I thought I would. For one thing, doing my yard work and chores around the house gives me a lot of 'alone time', which helps me mentally chew on the story a lot and figure out what should happen next. And like I've said several times before, once I get some time to actually write, a lot of the time, subsequent scenes seemingly write themselves. I'm already halfway through the next chapter after Scattered Showers, Improving by Evening and I just posted that one yesterday.

I'm glad people are enjoying it. I'm enjoying writing it, like I've said before. Seeing the number of likes go up heartens me too, though seeing the deleted comments (which I didn't get a chance to see before they were blown away) and the downvotes just confuses me. If there's something people don't agree with, please, feel free to speak up. I won't get offended. I know not everyone likes or agrees with every plot point in a story. If there's something that might make your enjoyment better, please, let me know. Or even if you've decided to write TCS off and don't care to continue with it, if something put you off it, tell me, so I can learn from it.

Today's a family-oriented day for me - take the niece and nephews and their mother out for swimming and lunch. I might get time to write this afternoon and/or evening, but tomorrow is a holiday here in Canada, so I'll be off work and able to peck away at the keyboard some more. Summary: Expect another chapter before Tuesday.

[ThePrinceOfTheNorth]

"Yes, we are," I responded. "How many of you are there?"

"Three," she answered. "Three, uh... people."

And you made three beds extra bedrooms. Coincidence, or intent?

Most of the trip we spent in silence, except for the occasional comment about the sights we were seeing. As we turned onto Lake Shore, I gestured with a hoof through the windshield at the CN Tower, now looming in the distance.

Well now, what are the odds of that, eh?

[Starscribe]

I guess Luna's dreams must be something like radio transmissions themselves. Alex got them super garbled into strange, obscure things that were almost nightmares. Up here, they're clear and they can even talk normally with one another. How much easier things would've been. Well, maybe not too much easier... but it's still way convenient. I wonder at what point those dreams will get harder to understand or fade off entirely. Probably by August 9th.

Again, it's the "human" drama I love the most. Written just as authentically here. This field mission isn't really that risky and they haven't done anything extreme, but it's way more awesome to read about because we care about the characters and know they might come to harm. So many stories fail to make me care, but this one hasn't. What's in that stadium? Will the HPI eventually respond? I hope to find out soon!

Early morning fun fact #1. Squirt cannot run faster than 700wpm on slow netbooks like mine. This is a terrible bummer. But more time to appreciate a story while reading at a slower pace, I suppose.

[Wildfiretiremile]

*starts being lifted up* oh ok bye it seems

[Helium]

Surely they didnt ambush and knock out Jeff right? They'll be sitting in the basement laughing and sharing a drink right? Everything is gonna be fine and the ominous darkness and unease is just their_{, or my,} nerves, right?

You did a wonderful job building up and portraying the unease that comes with meeting these strangers.

9192004
Its the pony rapture 2.0 dreams edition