The Last Phoenician

by Razzle Dazzle

May 31-June 18

Sunday, May 31

Dear Journal,

Today was the start of our expedition through all of Phoenix. We ate breakfast quickly and put some snacks, water, diesel saving pellets, and CB radios in the SUVs (which I'm calling Pony PD).

We searched a relatively small area of town around my house. I think it was about thirty or forty blocks. It sounds like a lot, but we had the whole day to do everything. And most of that area was just wilting farmland and dirt roads.

It was relatively simple. If one of us saw a grocery store we’d raid it. If our cars got full, we’d drive back home and drop the stuff off. By the end of the day we had filled up two rooms: one for food and one for water.

Everything else was pretty uneventful. I’m looking forward to my date with Jessica in a couple days. That’ll be the best thing to happen so far.

-Scott

Monday, June 1

Dear Journal,

Today we searched the area north of the base. We didn’t find anybody, but we did fill up more rooms with supplies.

Other than that? My date with Jessica is tomorrow. I’m so excited! It’s going to be so great. Just the two of us in the park, alone together. I can’t wait.

-Scott

Tuesday, June 2

Dear Journal,

Didn’t find anyone today. Filled up more space with supplies. Not what I want to talk about.

I’d rather talk about my date. I’d been looking forward to it since the day we planned it, and it was amazing. Sitting in the park, alone with Jessica, talking and cracking jokes was the best date I had ever been on. Halfway through it I moved right next to him. He wrapped a foreleg around me and we ate together. I couldn’t stop staring at him.

When there was a lull in the conversation, Jessica looked up. “Look at that.”

“What?”

“The sky. The whole city’s dark and you can see everything.” I looked up and it was true. The whole night sky was lit up by the stars. When all the lights in Phoenix were on, you couldn’t see any of them. But now, the only lights on are ours. We laid down on the grass and watched the stars, only moving to get closer to each other.

Jessica checked the time. “We should go back inside.”

“Alright. But don’t think I want our date to end so soon.” We kissed, and then walked back to the house together.

-Scott

Monday, June 8

Dear Journal,

I haven’t made any entries for almost a week, I know. But nothing interesting really happened. We’ve searched almost all of the East Valley, and we still haven’t found anyone else. The storage building (Yes, storage building. Makes it sound like we actually know what we’re doing.) is filling up. We packed the bedrooms, study, and a bit of the garage full of food. That’s a lot.

Yesterday Jessica and I went on another date. Through some redneck engineering we were able to get on the roof of a house across the street and watch the stars. The tiles were a bit shaky, but when I curled up next to him, all my frustration with the search melted away. I can’t get enough of him.

-Scott

Saturday, June 18

Dear Journal.

Today we finally found another survivor! We made it all the way up to north Scottsdale and searched around. After a few hours, Levi found some suspiciously broken windows. Jessica and I came over and we could see them from the street. It was clear that there was someone nearby.

We forced the gate open. It was a nice, well-maintained enclave of some small but nice Spanish-style homes. After making noise for a few minutes, nobody emerged. But all the houses on one cul-de-sac were broken into except for one. The three of us parked the cars and knocked on the door.

“Hello? Is there anyone in there?” Jessica asked. No answer.

“We can get you food and water. There’s a colony starting in Queen Creek.” I said, even though I’d hardly call it a colony. Still no answer. I put an ear to the door and heard the distinctive sound of a hoof on tile.

“Are you a pony too?” I asked. After a few agonizing seconds of waiting, the large door opened. Behind it was a chubby pegasus stallion who stood a bit taller than Jessica. He had an olive green coat, a disheveled brown mane, and cyan eyes. On his flank was the image of a car’s engine.

“Guess so,” said Levi. The pegasus invited us into the house. We passed through the entrance to the large living room. This place was fancy. Small, but fancy. Family photos hung on the walls, and everything was in earthy, neutral colors. He seated us on a large leather couch in the bright room and pulled up a similarly colored armchair.

“Hi,” he said. “My name’s Al, and I’m a pony.”

I laughed. “I’m Scott. The stallion to my left is Jessica, and the pegasus to my right is Levi. We’re starting a colony in Queen Creek, and in order to get enough supplies and to find other ponies, we’ve been driving around the city for the past two weeks collecting what we can find.”

I let Jessica continue. “You can come with us if you want. We have plenty of room, so don’t worry about being a burden. All you’d have to do is help us with collecting supplies.”

He didn’t respond, his head drooping as he thought. He looked up and gave a sad smile. “No, I won’t be.”

Levi leaned forward. “If you don’t mind me asking, why not? We have plenty of food, and electricity, and cars. It’s not like the movies.”

“I have to wait here.”

“What for?”

“My family.”

“Al, I have some bad news. Your fam–”

I cut him off. “Is that them?” I pointed to a picture, a smiling couple arm in arm with two beaming blonde teenage daughters beside them, above the fireplace with a hoof.

“Yes,” he said. “My wife and my two beautiful daughters, the best family anyone could ask for. I woke up like this and they were gone. Their cars were still in the garage, and the whole street was empty. But I know they’ll come back. I can feel it.”

“Al, the same thing happened to all of us. As far as we know, all across the city. Maybe even the world. Everyone was gone when we woke up on May twenty-third, and we were ponies. We don’t know who did this or why, but we’ll put every ounce of effort into getting our family back that we can.”

He wiped his eyes with a fetlock. “I’ll go. But we have to come back.”

I helped him up from the chair. “We will.”

Thankfully, we had almost finished with today’s section, so Levi could take Al straight to the base while Jessica helped me finish up. Before he left his house, he went upstairs and came down with a puppy and a kitten in tow. “These were my daughters’,” he said.

He took down the photo above the fireplace after a bit of effort and brought that, along with the animals, with him to my car. I turned on the car and put it in drive and he shouted “Wait!”.

Al grabbed my radio in his mouth and galloped into the house with it. He came out a couple minutes later and got back in the car. “For when they come back,” he said. He shed a tear when we pulled away.

Levi took Al down to the dealership to get another car, leaving Jessica with me. After tending to his garden, we spent some time together, mostly just curling up on his bed. By the time they got home from choosing and outfitting a personal car (I think it was a Lexus) and an SUV, even with the heavy post-apocalyptic traffic, it was late in the evening. Al set up in another bedroom, and Marv and Dakota had a brief greeting with Tommy, the Golden Retriever, and Lynx, the kitten.

Let me be clear on one thing. Lynx is adorable. I never had much of a thing for cats, but this kitten is changing that. I wish there was a way to put a photo of her in here. Oh well. Just another thing you have to sacrifice when you turn into a magical unicorn mare: cat pictures.

Tomorrow, we’re back on the expedition. It’ll probably be another month before we finish with the whole city. And then there’s all the towns and cities in the state. Tuscon, Yuma, Flagstaff. What about the people there?

We’re not doing that. We can barely secure the city, let alone the state.

-Scott

Comments

[Lord Of Dorkness]

Hmm...

I do wonder, with these guys having been an item before and it not working, but being near fairy-tale romance now...

Just what changed, aside from the obvious?

Is there just less social pressure getting in the way? Better chemistry due to the pony thing altering hormones? Is the sex just that good?

Hope that gets elaborated on.