Angry Bird

by Thadius0

June 1st - 32 pills left

Okay, so we did a lot today, journal. Let's review.

First thing I learned today was how easy it is to get ponies to throw up. Apparently if you just cook a little bacon for breakfast, they lose their lunch. That was not what I intended to have happen with the first day of Grace and me occupying the museum, but it's useful to know. Maybe I'll move my meat-cooking operations off the first floor and concentrate them up in the Fantastical Beasts exhibit. It might help.

After cleaning up after her little episode that colored more than a little of the first floor, I ate my meal in silence while she had her vegetable breakfast. We sat on opposite sides of the restaurant while we did, though. Close enough to see each other, yet our diets kept us apart.

I'm gonna have to do something about that eventually.

After our little morning breakfast, the three of us (Me, Grace, and Skippy) went into the truck to see if we could find a backup generator for Grace's radio. One of these days, I'm going to ask her how she operates or moves that thing with hooves.

"It, uh, seems a little...much, using this truck to just get a generator for my radio," she said as she sat in the passenger seat. Skippy took the very narrow back seat and wasn't exactly chuffed about it.

"I'm not just getting that today," I said as I fired the truck up and listened to it come to life. "We'll be getting more fuel cans for it as well, but I want to make a start on finding some solar panels to help take the strain off of our dependence on the gennys. Barring some time billions of years in the future, the sun won't run out on us. Gas will."

"Alright mister practical," she said, sticking her tongue out at me. "So you think things through. What's the next stop after that one then?"

"Some sort of farming supplies store, so that we can start growing things like grain and peanuts and the like," I instantly replied. "Beans, anything high-protein. My meat won't last forever, but give me enough high-protein plant food, and I'll be good."

"Okay, I take back my teasing tone," Grace said as she tried to sit like a human would in the passenger seat, but couldn't hold the pose for long and ended up sitting like...well, like Skippy would when he was sitting there.

For some reason, I found the sight damn adorable.

Ten minutes of driving saw us to a local Wal-Mart, and we walked up to the front door. Of course, it hadn't opened when we pulled up, because of the power being off, but a few moments of prying the door open with my talons saw that rectified. Instantly I made a note to be thankful that we hadn't pulled up in front of the grocery side, because I could see the swarms of insects going to work over there. "Let's just get what we came here for and get out as quickly as possible," I told the blue pegasus pony that had accompanied me.

She nodded once, and we made our way over to the camping and survivalist section of the store. More Sterno, yay! And a generator for the radio, along with plenty of extension cords, so that either one could serve as the backup! At the time, I thought about just centralizing the both of them and running extension cords both ways. I thought that it'd be easier, and I turned out to be somewhat right. Grace had the idea that we should raid the grocery section for any non-perishables, and we did that quickly, snagging some grains and canned veggies for her. We picked up a dozen fuel cans and I debated picking up the hunting rifles I saw...before snagging one and a few boxes of ammo. Hey, with the right amount of training to use them, it could serve as a long-range option. I caught the look that Grace gave me as I loaded that up into the cart, and we wheeled our 'purchases' out to the truck to load them.

"Are you sure you need another gun?" she asked.

"Si vis pacem, para bellum," I said as we loaded the things we'd found into the trailer. At her uncomprehending stare, I said it in English. "If you want peace, prepare for war."

"Surely a better option would be to lay down arms entirely and work together," Grace protested as I grunted and heaved, barely putting the hefty generator on the trailer.

"Yes, but not everyone speaks the words 'we come in peace,'" I said as I started putting the fuel cans in the back. "And as Al Capone once said, you can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone."

"It just feels...wrong to me to need those sorts of things around still," she said, rubbing one foreleg with a hoof.

"Hey, the moment we meet somebody else and they don't prove hostile, I'll holster my arms," I said. "But until then, I reserve the right to bear them. And I'd love to see you reason with some of the predators from the zoo without bullets."

"Yeah, all right, you're a big scary griffon with a gun," she muttered. "What else do we need from here?"

"Here?" I said before pulling myself up into the back with my forelegs and no small amount of pushing with my lion-like back legs. "Here we don't need anything else. Give me a minute to move most of this stuff to the back, then we'll hit up a gas station for us and the generators." I walked around in the truck for a moment, pushing the Sterno, food, and the extension cords to the back, before moving the gun and ammo next. I walked back out and pulled the darn thing shut again once I was on the ground once more, locking it with practiced ease.

"Now we fill up, then we see if our local home improvement stores have solar panels," I said, holding the door open for Grace to climb back into the cab.

After a quick stop for what would normally be overpriced gas for both us and the gas generators alike, I drove to a local Lowes that I'd seen on the way up to the Science Museum, and found that the answer was yes. Yes indeed. Yes they did have solar panels, all in easy reach and in easily moved cardboard boxes. Heck, they even had a starter solar kit with instructions included. I would probably have to make more than a few trips to get enough solar for the entire roof of the museum, but now that I knew where to go, I could do that.

I grabbed a nearby pallet jack, complete with pallet, and carefully started stacking the boxes of panels on it until I felt like I wouldn't be able to pull it easily. Getting it to the front of the store was a nightmare, and I couldn't even get through the front door, with such a wide load. That was fine by me, though. I just pulled the box onto my back, ignored the discomfort in my wings, and slid it into the trailer. Grace managed to find a few more coils of extension cords that she rolled to the front, and once I got the first load of panels in, I realized I would probably need something to hold the panels down with once we got them all arranged. I made a note to come back here for rocks at some point; if they were big enough, then the wind wouldn't be able to blow them away on some of our windier days. Though, lugging all those rocks up to the roof would be annoying...

Ah well, I'll deal with it when the panels are installed. We loaded that trailer up with more solar panels and extension cords, before closing the back and driving off to the museum. Unloaded, moved the gennies and fuel cans into the middle of the first floor, and laid out a few cords to both the radio and the kitchen, where we ended up putting the food we'd taken. Put the panels in the back of the first floor, made a general pile of them. It wasn't hard with Grace on the front end and me on the back, we balanced a box of panels between us real easy. Made transporting them quick. On the ride back for the rest of the panels we'd seen, the pegasus pony had something to say.

"I wish I could do more," she said with a sigh. "Here you are with your body that has claws and the ability to drive, and the only thing I can do is help load and unload the truck."

"Hey, don't say that," I said, making the turn into the parking lot for the home improvement store. "You're plenty useful. You gave me hope on the drive up, and I'm sure you'll think of something you can do once we're done pillaging the store for supplies."

"You think so?" she asked before I hopped out and opened her door for her.

"I know so," I replied. "Heck, I can think of something right now. Once we get the place set on power, I've got a plan. I know of a farming store down back where I came from. I can hit it up for seeds, and while I drive down there to get supplies, you and Skippy can raid nearby houses for non-perishable foodstuffs. You've got that wagon, after all. And crops take time to grow."

"That...sounds like a workable plan," Grace said as we walked back to where we'd found the solar panels.

"Oh, if you find more extension cords, I can store and cook my meat upstairs if it bothers you," I mentioned as I began loading more boxes onto the pallet.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that," the blue pony muttered as she walked off to somewhere else, presumably wherever she found the cords to begin with. It took me a few trips with the pallet, but this time we finally depleted the stock of solar panels. I can only hope that it would be enough for the roof of the museum, my wings were killing me over this abuse. Loading them and the coils of cords that Grace found made for our second trip back, just as the sun set behind the mountains.

We spent a good hour unloading at the museum, before everybody got their food. I waited for Grace to vacate the impromptu kitchen before I cooked my own food, and I set up a system of cables to lead power back up to my base camp in the Fantastical Creatures exhibit. Now I can power my tablet and my phone, along with my coolers.

Now all I have to do is get Skippy to understand that he'll need to protect Grace while I travel down back home to raid one last store, that I didn't think to last time.

"To those of you that can hear this, you aren't alone. I'm Henry." "And I'm Grace, and we're both survivors of this event." "Both of us are changed, but that hasn't stopped us from working together." "We'd be willing to work with you too, if you're in the Denver area." "Many hands make light work, after all. If you can hear us, we'll be monitoring the radio for any incoming chatter, especially on this frequency." "Please...please be out there to hear us."

Comments

[Seeking Dusk]

I ate my meal in silence while she had her vegetable breakfast. We sat on opposite sides of the restaurant while we did, though. Close enough to see each other, yet our diets kept us apart.

This sounds like a line from a (cheesy?) love story

Don't worry Grace, you might not have fingers, but you're still a tool user. It's just a bit trickier.

[Thadius0]

6471182
One day, she will figure out how to use the trusty rock as a lockpicking mechanism. Maybe.

[GITPSilverbolt]

6470819 There is one other story that does: Metamorphosis features a main character on antidepressants.

6472561

[Thadius0]

6472577
Yup, you've convinced me.
And now I have to come up with an in-world reason-
Reason come up with, Henry will soon be able to make things go boom.

[Pylons]

It'll be a fun day once Grace realizes that she has plenty of control over the airspace and all manner of things in it. I daresay even more than Mr. Henry here.

[Jake Witt]

I feel Grace will have a Lyra complex.

[Fistfire]

One thing stands out for me. Are you keeping the generators inside? That is usually a big mistake.