Chapter10: July 2nd (edited)
Mandatory Motherhood
By Dargondarkfire
Ch. 10
July 2nd. Not too much to say about today. I went back to my old house and got a few family heirlooms I had forgotten. Starla was intrigued by the picture of my mother, I’m not sure if it's because she doesn’t recognize what humans looked like or if it’s because she can feel that I have fond feelings for it.
I also had to cut Amore’s coat today. She's been a real trooper keeping up with everything but Malamutes were not bred for one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit weather. She looks silly now but, at least she won’t have a heat stroke. We all stink like animals. I think we can squeeze in a shower tomorrow.
July 3rd. Can’t say much about today other than the shower felt great.
July 4th. I had almost forgotten that today was a holiday. I hadn’t bothered to celebrate in years because fireworks weren’t what they used to be. My father had a friend in town who had a stockpile of old fireworks. Some of which were considered illegal before everyone disappeared.
We raided his place and held a small firework show out in one of the burned fields from a recent lightning storm. We had to rig up some protection for our ears because even a small firecracker is deafening. Amore was freaked out by the fireworks but stayed by Starla’s side the entire time. Everything was great until Colgate lit an entire pack of butterflies that chased us halfway across the field. I forgot how unpredictable those things were. Had to take another shower to clean the residue off of us.
July 5th. I found myself staring at the AC unit on the refrigerated truck while wanting to scream. We hadn’t noticed anything was wrong because it had been running fine for the last few days. Colgate discovered our problem when she went to get a vegetarian lasagna from the truck and saw that it was like an oven inside. We found that the power cord, several hoses, and a few parts had been taken out and messily patched back in.
There was a note from Lyra explaining that Russell’s hoarding got a bit out of control and that she made Russell put everything back, though I could see that the patch job hadn't held. Eventually, I calmed down and we closed the truck up. Everything in the truck was lost. Could have been worse, she could have taken parts from the RV. Thank the maker nothing was missing or patched back in, I spent several hours inspecting it to make sure.
July 6th. Today I got in a lot of magic practice saving Archie from a hawk, the poor bird refuses to leave the RV now. If you’re wondering, his feathers are still various shades of blue. At this point I think the change is permanent. Also, to everyone’s horror, we also learned today that Starla has figured out some way to use her magic to walk on the walls and ceiling, that trick she pulled a while back wasn’t a fluke.
July 7th. We decided to pack up and leave today, there wasn’t a choice because we were about out of foal formula, and Colgate couldn’t decide where she wanted to search next so I made a make-shift spinner. It landed on Las Vegas, which Colgate decided to veto after I explained it was in the middle of a desert.
Starla knocked the spinner around for a bit before slapping her hoof down on it, stopping it on Billings, so we agreed to head for Montana. Since the food in the truck and its supplies are now useless, Colgate rode with us in the motorhome. Driving is much easier and faster when I don't have to keep an eye and the road and Starla at the same time.
“Admit it, you wanted Colgate to drive so you could play with Starla.”
“Just ignore the voice, don’t feed into it. If it’s a tulpa don’t let it develop. If you’re going crazy, it will eventually disappear when your sanity normalizes.”
”You are not going crazy, and I am not a Tulpa. You’re far from ‘normal’ however since…”
I waited a bit before I continued to make sure it was gone. Yeah, ignoring it works.
Back to Billings. We didn’t find anyone when we arrived, but Billings is an actual city, albeit small compared to someplace like Denver, so we set up base at one of the large truckstops at the outskirts of the city and settled in for the rest of the day. Colgate’s training is getting more difficult. She has me levitating and manipulating multiple objects at once while trying to stand up straight on my hind legs. Starla made a game out of climbing up and down me while I did this, sometimes chewing on my ear to distract me further.
July 10th. It’s so hot! We are further north and it’s hotter here in Billings than in Gillette. We managed to find keys to an SUV and used it to explore the town while Colgate used a megaphone to shout out for people. No one ever showed up. We did find about a week or two worth of foal formula in a few ranch stores we stumbled across. Starla hasn’t given up on trying to get milk from my teats, and it has made them get big enough that I have had to shift how I walk on all fours. Colgate assures me they are not infected, to my relief.
We noticed Archie’s personality has changed since he was almost eaten by a hawk. He no longer acts rowdy or even wants to go outside. Colgate suspects that because his feathers changed to blue any predators looking upwards had a hard time spotting him, and thus he thought he was invincible.
He has become sweet and helpful, doing things such as bringing Colgate a pen when she wanted to write something down, and has brought me puzzles I use to practice my magic. He refuses to get near Starla however and freaks out like the rest of us when She starts walking on the walls and ceiling. I caught him cuddling with Amore a couple of times when Starla wasn’t around.
His intelligence is on the creepy side with how well he responds to things. Colgate made a joke that maybe he is really a human who got turned into a parrot instead of a species from Equestria, I wonder if that is actually possible…
July 11th. We were going to leave town tomorrow if we didn’t find anyone, but that changed when I collapsed from exhaustion. Everyone could tell it was going to happen sooner or later since I have barely slept for weeks. Colgate chewed me out after I woke up. She is staring at me with a bottle of sleeping pills in her magic as I record this. She says it is worth the risk of taking medicine for humans if I get some sleep.
Dream log 4: So I don’t know if it was the sleeping pills or something else but instead of the haunting dreams, I had the dream of the crystal hallways and the man cave again. I quickly made my way down the halls towards the cave Instead of just casually making my way through the halls, I decided to just head straight for that crystal that will start screaming. I did make a short stop when I ran across the mirror as I noticed the large blue alicorn, (I think that's what Colgate called them?) inside the mirror.
She looked excited at first but then it quickly changed to a look of worry. She didn’t look normal? I guess that is the best way to put it. Think about a video game character if you know what they are, but their body is glitching out, removed pieces floating off the body, pixel glitches, blurred textures in spots. She tried pushing on the mirror surface but it became very unstable, the best way to describe it would be rippling water and cracking glass at the same time.
I smiled at her and she started to talk. It was like a mixture of a modem trying to connect to the internet and white noise. I was able to hear a few words here and there mixed into the sound such as ‘hello’ and ‘can’, but the things that caught my interest were ‘mindscape’ and ‘memories’. Eventually, she waved goodbye with a defeated look, which I waved back before continuing on my way to the Cave trying to figure out what she meant by ‘mindscape’ and ‘memory’.
Upon arriving in the cave I glanced around to see if anything was different, but nothing had changed. I quickly made my way to the crystal and tapped it with my hoof and found myself among Roman or maybe Greek (maybe a mix of both?) looking architecture. No smoke or flames, skies were still blue and cloudy. I think whatever occurred last time hadn’t happened yet.
I started exploring this weird place, and eventually wandered into a plaza with a fountain and a lot of ponies wearing togas. I started to panic, I’m not wearing a toga, I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb. My panic increased as I saw a group of ponies in armor marching towards me, and I sat down and raised my hands-er hooves in the air. They had very serious looks on their faces, so I thought it would be safer to give myself up.
They got closer and closer with no expression change, and when I thought they would stop and yell at me or arrest me… they just walked straight through me like they were holograms. It was a disturbing experience.
They continued their march as if I wasn’t there and turned down a road out of the plaza. I began to test this hologram or maybe phantom experience with ponies around the plaza. I couldn’t make physical contact with any of them. I was still weirded out but curious. I tried listening in on any conversations but they were speaking a language I have never heard before. I thought this might be the unicorn language Colgate mentioned but, as I explored the plaza I spotted some signs. The characters/letters on the signs weren’t recognizable, none of them looked like any of the characters from the unicorn language Colgate showed me in a book from her bag.
After a while I noticed I had been in this plaza for a fair while, It didn’t feel like the crystal cave dream had ever lasted this long before. Usually, when I get vivid dreams morning comes fast but it seems this one is the reverse. I decided to have a bit of fun and jumped into the fountain and immediately felt wet and cold.
This is the most vivid dream I have ever had.
Apparently, the ponies can’t see me but they did see the splash. I sat in the fountain and waited till they lost interest and snuck out of the fountain and away from the plaza. I sat under a tree and watched the ponies walk as I dried off and I noticed something, some of the ponies look shiny almost as if they are made of glass, and the unicorns have curved horns. Weird, Colgate might know something about this, subspecies maybe?
I noticed a group of armored ponies following the wet trail I had left up to the grass and they stopped and talked for a bit before continuing their patrol. I thought of a prank I could pull off if I could directly interact with them. I waved that idea away and continued to look around. A green building off in the distance caught my eye. I decided to go investigate it after I dried off.
Upon approaching the building I noticed earlier, I discovered that it wasn’t made of white stone like the rest of them but of various types of crystals. The attire the ponies wore here was very different from the rest of this town? City? I began to realize it was much larger than I originally thought. The ponies wore much more complicated and ornate togas, some had ornate headbands, and some wore outfits that looked similar to the gowns human College graduates wear. There were other creatures here as well, minotaurs, griffins, and a few other species from mythology.
Ornate statues and fountains filled gardens surrounding the large building and areas where ponies gathered in groups, some seemed to be listening to one individual talk and take notes while others were in rings having discussions. I figured this place must be some sort of school and maybe a political center. Eventually, I noticed a group of regal-looking ponies leave the building. Most of them looked elderly but one mare looked very young, maybe a queen or princess accompanied by advisors? I followed along to get a good look at her, I’m not sure why she caught my attention so much but I felt drawn to her.
The young mare was a unicorn, with a pale, almost grey fur coat with a foggy grey mane and tail that billowed in the wind. She had golden wrapped sandals around her hooves that cushioned her steps on the crystal brick path as she walked with confidence while talking to ponies around her. Her steel-blue eyes betrayed the confidence in her step. Her eyes seemed to show the weariness of someone who is far older than she looked.
Suddenly, she came to a dead stop and looked straight at me and asked in English, “Excuse me, can I help you?” She caught me off guard, she can see me? Then the irises of her eyes changed from steel blue to pink and her pupils turned to white. “Wait, how are you here?” she asked. Before either of us could say anything a bell began to ring and someone yelled, followed by more yelling from others nearby.
I was barely able to ask “What’s going on?” before I heard a whistling sound followed by being flung off the ground by something exploding nearby. It hurt and I was having a hard time breathing. I was confused, dreams shouldn’t hurt, should they? Pain should wake you up. I opened my eyes and looked to the sky in time to see a large black mass covered in flames falling towards me. As it was about to hit, I woke up to Starla jumping up and down on my chest.
July 12th. I moved like a slug today. I’m not sure if it’s from actually sleeping or if all the sleepless nights are catching up with me. Colgate told me to just stay put and take care of Starla, while she explored the city on her own. She didn’t find anyone but she found a gas station that had been ransacked.
It could have been an animal but I don’t think an animal would be able to remove the covers to get to the underground gas tanks for the pumps. Either people were in town and left, or passed through, either way, she didn’t find any signs of where they went or how long it has been since they left.
As for my day? Starla was very rowdy, she has learned what ‘no’ means and I used it a lot today. It was slightly funny when she caught Archie and tried to use him as a teething toy. Archie was not a happy bird. I wonder if teething toys for puppies can survive Starla’s teeth.
I didn’t get a chance to ask Colgate about the things from my dream. She was really tired, I’m going to guess Starla woke her up since I was knocked out by the sleeping pills. She said it was worth it.
July 13th. I had a dreamless sleep last night. Well, that or I dreamed I was in a black void the entire night. Either way, I felt much better in the morning. We headed out toward Cheyenne today, but we only got to Casper Wyoming because the console displayed an overheating warning. Great, I’m no mechanic, we spent the day searching for a guide on motorhome maintenance and figuring out what was wrong.
I asked her about the language from my dream while we worked, she seemed intrigued but said unless I draw or write them out she doesn’t understand what I’m talking about and thinks my mind might have just created some fantasy language for the dream. I will try copying some of what I saw and see if she reacts.
"languages are interesting"
"then why don't you translate Japanese for me?"
"What is Japanese?"
I groaned at the voice in my head.
July 14th. Spent the entire day fixing the motorhome. We had to change the oil, refill the coolant, etc. Colgate smacked me in the head when she found out I was pulling her leg when I asked her to get me some headlight fluid. Worth it. Amore had a tough time keeping Starla from getting messy or drinking the oil.
I just hope I didn’t make things worse instead of fixing them. My father banned me from doing anything maintenance-wise to vehicles after I somehow broke his truck when he was trying to teach me how to check the oil. If everything works out tomorrow we will continue our trip to Cheyenne.
Trying to write and or draw with my magic is harder than I thought. I managed to recreate some of the signs I saw in the dream, but they are not pretty. I’m going to try and write down some of the text I saw at the green crystal building in my dream.
”What is that your do-? Wait how? That was?”
“Ok I know I wasn’t going to respond to the voice but this is weird. Um, voice? What is going on? You were so very talkative and spoke with good grammar lately. Why are you suddenly talking so weird?”
I waited a bit but got no response.
“Ok then… I’m going to bed.”
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Heh nice chapter bud.
so it lives
10937145
Indeed!
10937886
thats good I was worried when I didn't see it for a few years
10938200
Iol sorry about the slow pace. There was a vhapter released earlier this year however. I hope to get 1-3 more chapters out this year even if they have to be unpolished like this one.
10938243
neat
Glad to see this be continued! Time to reread the entire book, and then await the next release! I wish you a good night, and pace yourself, even if it takes months for you to put out a chapter, that's better than getting burnt out, and abandoning it.
10939840
Thank you very much.