Stacked Deck

by lightfox lowell

Roof Top Meetings

Jessie stared at the driver's wheel, allowing the first moment of relaxation she's had in four days wash over her.

Her idea to get into Sears without the use of a battering ram worked, but what she hadn't planned for was the consequences of giving her crazy partner the actual key to the city. Once they had access to the police department’s master keys, everything fell into place.

Sears was only the start once they could open any storefront they wanted to. Now she sat at the helm of a fully stocked RV, complete with towed storage pod.

Light's ideas ranged from solid to downright insane. On one hand, she wanted to jury rig a sound system to the storage pod so they could drive around and attract any other survivors. On the other hand, she also wanted to go to six flags to ride Ninja one last time. Thankfully, Jessie vetoed that.

Jessie glanced at the side mirror to see Light still wiring up the sound system in the Best Buy parking lot. She had her doubts about the stability of it, but it wasn't like it was going to cause a traffic incident--the upside of no more cars being on the road.

This little system was the last thing they had to do in town. They had gathered supplies, some personal effects, and some things Jessie alone felt to be pointless, like raiding a restaurant for its recipes. She tried to apply sense to it, but Light stated she was not going to leave the best pizza ever invented to be lost. For someone that wanted to leave town in a hurry, Light had odd priorities.

Jessie’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the RV’s door being swung open and Light making her way up the stairs. "AND IT IS DONE!" Light proudly proclaimed.

"You sure it's going to hold up? Not to question your craftsmanship, but it's just you don't have hands. I don't know how you were using the drill I heard back there. I was honestly too scared to look," Jessie said with an eyebrow raised.

"No idea!" Light said as she took a seat. "The only way we will find out is to test it. A drive around the city before we leave will give us that chance. We might find someone else before we leave."

Jessie gave a sigh of resignation. "You know how to fill everyone around you with confidence, Light."

Light flashed back a smirk as they started to drive off.

Jessie drove around the town to give the system a good test run. After a few bumps and parking lot entrances, she was forced to give Light some credit. It hadn't fallen apart at the slightest bit of stress. Whether it was going to remain in one piece remained to be seen.

They spent a few hours stopping in major locations around town to blast a bit of music and some announcements in hopes that someone would show up.

They gave each spot as much time as they thought would matter, though they both started towards the freeway disappointed.

"I can't honestly think that we are the only two here!" Jessie said in frustration.

"Yeah I get that, but if anyone was here I think we would have found them. We've been trying this for the better part of a full day now. We announced where we are going and left posters at major stores. If someone somehow managed to miss us... they will have to catch up. We did them the service of leaving a lot of places unlocked," Light said trying her best to ease Jessie's mood.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't call six stores ‘a lot’. That said, I already know we can't just stick around here. It’s just... I thought we would find someone."

They were both quiet as they made their way onto the freeway. Jessie was at first thankful for the uncharacteristic silence from Light, but after 20 minutes on the freeway, it started to get a bit worrying. Light, for her part, stared out the side window as if looking into a different world.

"You trying to break your own record for least words said in an hour?" Jessie teased.

Light didn't respond right away. After a few more moments of total silence, she took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Nothing like that. I'd been able to keep myself busy until now. It's hard to adjust when everything changes so suddenly. Family is gone, body is all changed, and nothing will be the same ever again. Every time I drift into a daydream I have to readjust to WHAT reality is when I come out of it. Basically, everything is perfectly normal for the given situation. Just letting my mind wander on everything."

Jessie's brain had to process what was just said to her. "Oooookay, that's the first time I've heard you not taking all this in stride. Good to see that you really are human in there after all. A bit surprising."

Light rolled her eyes and gave a smirk. "Eh, I just handle it better than most normal people likely do or will. You can't really avoid the whole thing messing with your head when you don't have anything to do but watch the road go by. Everything that was normal is gone."

"I suppose that is fair," Jessie said. "Anyways, I've looked at the route you've got for us and I have to ask: Are you sure we are going to have to gas for this?"

"To be honest, no. I was being a bit optimistic when I printed that route and had a flawed assumption that most gas stations would have a backup power system. I've been mentally debating skipping the supply runs I had in mind and just doing a mad dash to Vegas. That said, we will need to fuel up once we get there somehow. That might be a puzzle still." Light said with a yawn. "I also feel like I'm about to pass out. Which is fun."

Jessie shot them a quick look. "What? Didn't you sleep last night?"

"Not... really. I was feeling super wired, and the ideas were flowing. I may have hit up some more stores on my own with the golf cart." Light let out another yawn. "I've pulled 24 hours before, but now that the Sun’s really started to come out, I've felt like shit. I just didn't want to leave you alone for the drive."

Jessie groaned and glared at the road in annoyance. "Go in the back and crash in the bed for a few hours. We'll skip the stops and head into Vegas... maybe we can fuel up in Barstow. There are always a few trucks parked there overnight."

Light looked back at the bed and could almost hear it calling to them. "Are you sure? I mean it's a long drive and it's not really cool to just leave yo-"

Light didn't get any further before Jessie cut them off. "My god, you are a massive dork! Just go get some shuteye before you fall asleep in that chair."

Light just shrugged and headed towards the nice bed the RV had, and was quick to bury her head into the pillows that had once rested on her own bed. Their familiar feel and smell provided a slight sense of normalcy.

"Well, not everything," She mumbled as sleep quickly washed over her.

Alone, Jessie drove at her own pace, stopping a few times to let her nerves cool down and to take a snack. Light's route detoured through a few towns, likely the supply runs that she was talking about.

While the supplies were not a huge priority. Jessie still took a slow drive through most the towns with the music blaring. Sadly, no one answered the music’s call.

'I really hope Light's friends exist and she's not crazy because it's starting to feel more and more like we are alone,' Jessie thought to herself while she maneuvered a can of gas rescued from abandoned trucks.

Normally when you drive into Vegas with the Sun going down, it's a wonderful sight. The lights and the energy of the city can be seen from miles around. Jessie didn't see any of that.

The city, normally a shining sea of lights and color, was now just a dark shape on the horizon. The strip itself had turned from a grand presentation to something more resembling an intro scene from a horror game.

Jessie parked right outside Light’s little meeting point, a casino called the Stratosphere and got up to stretch. Her new body was CLEARLY not meant to be sitting in a driving position for 5 or more hours.

As Jessie finished her stretch, she made her way down the steps of the RV. She wondered how long it would take for Light's friend to make it to them.

That’s when she noticed a pony standing a few feet in front of the casino doors. He was dark gray with brown fetlocks and a green mane and tail. It seemed odd that he lacked wings, but in their place, he seemed to be some sort of unicorn?

"Uhhhhh, hi?" Jessie managed to say through the surprise.

“FALLOUT THREE’S MUSIC WAS BETTER!” His shouting sounded angry but in a happy sort of way. He must have thought it was a clever quip.

Jessie just stared at him, totally lost. Was he talking about the music playing from the trailer? She didn't think about it at the time, but the music had taken a slight shift in tone by the 5-hour mark of the playlist.

“Don’t just look at me like you’re not ALSO a horse!”

Jesse blinked.

"Ooookay, so, you're slightly unhinged as well. With that, I can take it that you're Light's friend she wanted to meet here, right?" Jessie asked with an uneasy hoof motion towards the very strange person.

“I wasn’t aware that Lightfox had any friends with uncharacteristically verbose speech patterns!”

"Right, you just wait there. I'm going to wake up Light and you two can be crazy at each other." Jessie carefully backed up and walked into the RV, shutting, and locking, the door behind her. The yelling outside began again, but it was muffled and sounded more irritated now than before.

Jessie quickly made her way to the back of the RV and started to shake Light. "Hey, Light, we are here and we have a slight issue."

Light just rolled over and mumbled something about soda, unaffected by Jessie's attempts to rouse them from slumber.

"NOPE! Not dealing with this!" Jessie shouted as she took the mattress in her mouth and pulled it sideways, sending the slumbering bat pony right onto the floor.

"WAHH--!" Thump.

"Awake? Good. We got to your meeting point, but were you expecting your friend to be here already? Because there is some crazy person outside." Jessie said, letting the mattress drop from her mouth.

"Jeez, there are better ways to wake someone up... Crazy person? Did he say anything about Fallout?" Light asked rubbing her head.

"Yes? How does that have anything to do with anything?" Jessie asked, confused as ever.

"Then it's Neon. I made that playlist so it would play songs from a game called Fallout: New Vegas for about 5 hours. He hates that game’s soundtrack," Light explained, standing up.

"Right, well, he seems a bit unhinged to me," Jessie said with slight unease laced into her words.

"No worries. I will go out and get them to chill. He’s cool once you get to know him," Light said.

Light made her way out the door and down the steps. "Sup Neon. Didn't expect you to be here already. Did you pack anything or just go right here? Jeez."

“It’s not like I had anywhere ELSE to be! ...Aside from the void of crippling depression, anyhow. And to top it all off, now I have to put up with you in-person for… the rest of time? I might as well get a fucking head start!” Although he seemed angry, the unicorn mostly just looked incredibly drained. Light knew the sort of energized exasperation that Neon spoke with very well, and it was in full effect now.

"Dude... how long have you been here? Like we all talked with each other a few days ago. I expected to be waiting on you even with the delays I hit," Light asked.

“It’s been a couple days, my dude. The drive here sucked. The heat sucks. The view sucks. I screwed around in the casinos but there’s nothing to do here without power. There was nothing else for me to do other than to come here.”

"Okay, okay. Well, you don't have to worry about that too much now. How about you go into the RV and take a hot shower because it looks like you've been lacking one. After that, I can get you properly introduced to Jessie and we can come up with a game plan," Light said as she motioned at the RV.

“You have a SHOWER?” The energy previously charging his ridiculous shouts suddenly died away, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. “Oh thank god… Is Jessie that horse I saw earlier, or did you somehow cram a whole party into that RV?”

"No, that's her. Even with that sound setup, I've only found her. It's a long story. Let's get you cleaned up, then we can get into details," Light said while giving Neon a worried look.

Light lead Neon into the RV. A difficult task, as Neon had clearly not worked as hard at coordination with his new form. In assisting him into the RV, however, something strange came to Light’s attention. There was a strange picture on Neon’s side. A pencil with a rainbow-colored line swirling off the tip.

Light wanted to ask about it, but felt it better to let Neon take a shower before harassing him with questions he likely didn’t have the answer to. Anyhow, he seemed too busy being excited to see Cotton to be bothered with questions.

"So you seemed to calm him down a bit," Jessie said while poking her head out from the driver's seat.

Light gave a nod and flopped onto the couch. "Yeah, he was a little high strung from being alone for a few days without power. He should be back to normal after a good shower. Should have seen that coming, in truth. Neon is not the ‘keep busy’ type."

Jessie returned to a laidback position in her chair. "If you say so. I'm glad he also has a crazy name. Lets me really feel like the sane person in this little group."

"That's just what I call him. You can ask for his name properly once he's done in there. Might take a while. Best to just let him decompress,” Light said with a small hoof wave into the air.

"Alright, I guess I can cut him some slack. Being out-" whatever Jessie was about to say was lost to the two loud thumps coming from the roof of the RV.

Jessie braced herself on the steering wheel while Light managed to launch herself from a resting positioning to a few feet in the air.

"Holy fuck what was that!?" Light asked.

Jessie waved from her seat. "Shh for a second and listen," she said motioning up to the roof.

There was a clear sound of something walking up there. For a moment Light considered a huge bird had managed to crash into the roof, or maybe some type of animal managed to jump up there. Until the voices started.

"So what is this thing? You said it was playing that music?" A clearly feminine voice asked.

"Yes. I didn't know what to make of it at first, until it stopped here and somepony came out to greet somepony else," a deeper voice answered back. “It might be some type of carriage.”

“They still in there?” The female voice asked.

“No idea, I broke off to go find you and Clear Sight."

Before they could continue, Light suddenly scrambled up and headed out the door.

"Hey wait! Dang it!" Jessie got up and followed Light outside.

Light busted out the door and quickly looked to the roof. What she saw were two ponies: A light turquoise pegasus with a nearly golden mane and another gray bat pony whose mane was deep purple.

"Question answered," the pegasus said with a grin.

Jessie was soon to follow, easily following Light's gaze. "Uh, hi there... how did you get on the roof?"

The bat pony was about to say something, but the pegasus cut him off. "We landed here, duh." Her voice made it sound like that was the most logical thing ever said.

The bat pony shot her a glare, then rolled his eyes and glided down from the roof as if to give a demonstration. "Yes, we were flying around the city to find any traces of ponies. We were about to give up when you showed up."

"FLY?! I--! But--! We can barely even run yet! Light here might be too stubborn to take things slow but I haven't seen them try to use their wings!" Jessie exclaimed.

Light was silent. Her gaze drifted between the two ponies with a thoughtful expression.

"Honestly, that is harder to explain in a reasonable matter... Which is why we were supposed to be discreet, but my partner doesn't understand the meaning of the word," the bat pony grumbled, giving an annoyed wing gesture to the pegasus.

"Hey, don't blame me! I only said we landed on the roof. You told them we could fly! Discreteness went out the window when the whole freaking city was empty!" she argued.

"Anyways," the bat pony said with a raised voice, "maybe you two can help us. We are here to find a leader of some sort. This was supposed to be a densely populated area. Seeing these castles amidst other buildings, we assumed that we had the right place."

Jessie gave them a confused look. "What, have you never seen Vegas?"

"I don't think they have," Light said as she sat down. "It's also strange they didn't seem to know what an RV is, but that can likely be explained... with some difficulty. Let's wait for their friend to catch up. Then we can all get introductions done."

"Ah, I guess you could hear us in there," The bat pony says motioning to the RV itself.

Light a nod. "Yeah, the stuff you've been saying has raised a few questions. Seeing as you have your own questions maybe we can play a little game!"

The pegasus now looked a little confused. "What type of game?"

"Answers for answers," Light said with a smirk.

Comments

[Dark Spark]

UPDATE!

[Gargon94]

Yay! A update! I can't wait to hear what the answers are going to be.

[Celefin]

Ohhh, a search party. Me like search parties.
And poor Jessie... the lone voice of sanity in a world gone mad.
Do carry on.

[ArcTech_KO]

Yas! Wonderful!

[Viper Pit]

i really hope the story isnt dead

[lightfox lowell]

8201288

It's not. Currently working on the next chapter.

Life matters got in the way for a bit. The IRS is not a fun thing to deal with at times.

[Viper Pit]

8202507 that sucks well i hope things get better for you

[ILikeLuna]

Keep on writing my dude,I believe in your ability

[Crescent Pulsar]

This story has caught my interest. Here's hoping you still have interest in continuing it once you have the opportunity to work on it.

[lightfox lowell]

8529392
I still have a interest. What I don't have is time.

Though new work position might be fixing that once I get into it.

[Spacemarine64]

I believe in you Light!! Just, umm do a thing.... yeah that sounds right. Totally great positive comments.

[Fistfire]

Love the art work, and the story so far. Here’s to hoping to read more...

[Auram Potentia]

wait a min are those equesta ponies on earth and not humans turned into ponies/daimond dogs/dragons?!

[Raneko]

Whoa... an old Idea new twist. I remember a series of stories where furries were turned into their fursona and everyone who wasn’t a furry disappeared.