Starting Over

by Paintbrush235

Chapter 1: Hope

Somewhere in Upstate New York

Jason rubbed his stubbled face in frustration. He was looking at a map of the surrounding area that his soldiers had scavenged from a local tourist information office a few days ago. It was a map of the state of New York and it had been marked off by his scouts. Two large areas on the map were plainly clear in their description. The bottom half of the state was shaded red and labeled "No Man's Land". The upper third of the state was labeled "Not yet Scouted". And in the center of upstate New York was a small circle labeled "Task Force 5". That had been the designation that had been given to Jason's group when his original unit had split.

Jason could very well read the map and interpret what it meant for him and his survivors. No Man's Land was an area they had deemed unsafe due to it being overrun with Predators. This was the term that was given to human survivors that would hunt down other survivors for their supplies, or even just to assert dominance. The one particular group that Jason and his survivors had run into that were particularly vicious were a group known as Nature's Choice. They preached the idea to their followers that they had survived the plague due to natural selection favoring them over others, and they held the belief that any who did not follow their beliefs were inferior and should be as they put it "selected". Four of Jason's group had fallen victim to these Predators while on a reconnaissance for food. Jason and another patrol had found their bodies later, all lined up in a row along the side of the road leading into the town of Appleton. Their hands were bound and they each had been shot in the back of the head execution style. They had brought the bodies back to their camp to be buried. After that tragedy, Jason forbid any other runs for supplies into No Man's Land.

This was presenting him with a problem though. In fact the word problem didn't describe it accurately. It was more of a crisis. Winter was starting to set in and his group was running low on supplies and food. Fuel however was the most short in amount. The 15 trucks and humvees and various vehicles picked up over the years need gas to make it to the planned location that they were going to hole up in for the winter: Elizabethtown in the Adirondack Mountains. The crisis that Jason faced was that the current amount of fuel that they had left was not enough to get them to Elizabethtown, not without abandoning most of their vehicles and forcing most of the exhausted survivors to make the journey on foot.

Jason scratched at his chin. He needed to find a solution, but right now his brain wasn't clear. So he decided to do what he normally did to clear his mind: take a walk. He grabbed his M4 carbine, wrapped his scarf around his neck and exited the command tent out into the camp. Everywhere he looked as he walked through he saw humans in ragged dirty clothes, carrying boxes of food to the various tents that covered the ground or wrapping blankets around each other to keep themselves warm. In the middle of the camp was the medical tent where the sick and injured were kept for treatment. With them was Anna Carson, who was 5 months pregnant. A lot of the food was brought to her to ensure that the baby would remain healthy. Surrounding the camp were all the military vehicles that they still had after two years of survival. Standing amongst them were the soldiers given to Jason to protect the civilians. None wore helmets, those had been thrown away long ago. Their uniforms were in no better shape than the civilians. Most of the male soldiers had grown beards much like Jason, though his was more of a thick 5 o'clock shadow. There were a few females amongst the ranks, including second lieutenant Kate Parker. Jason was grateful to have her with him as she was essential for maintaining order and calming the civilians, especially after the incident with the Predators. Jason found her talking to a group of civilians and walked over to her. When he approached, she whispered something to them and the civilians left her to talk to Jason in private.

"Afternoon Lieutenant." She said with a scratchy voice. "Been busy."

"Yeah you can say that." Jason replied while rubbing his neck. "Listen. I'm going to go for a walk to try and clear my head, so try to hold down the fort for me okay?"

Kate nodded. "Sure thing boss."

Jason smiled a very tired smile and then began to make his way towards the trees of the the forest that surrounded to camp.

"Hey." He heard Kate call after him and he stopped and turned around. "Be safe okay?" She said.

Jason nodded in reply and continued into the trees.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After an hour of walking, Jason was deep inside the forest. The tall trees had turned the bright shades of orange and red with the fall season. Now they were starting to shed those leaves as a sign that winter was upon them. But Jason wasn't looking at the trees to admire the beauty of nature. He was focusing for any signs of movement so he wouldn't get jumped by any Predators on the prowl. So far he saw nothing until he spotted a break in the continuous mass of orange and red. Ahead him he saw a white building that sat in a clearing amongst the trees. He moved forward cautiously until he saw that it was something that he had not seen in a long time. The building was a church. It was one of the smallest churches he had ever seen. The roof was slightly caved in but the small steeple still stood tall and proud. Vines had started to grow up the white wooden walls and the plank steps had rotted away. The two brown wooden doors still stood in their place although one was open slightly.

Jason approached the doors with his rifle raised. He wasn't sure what was in their, but he wasn't taking any chances. He inched the open door wider with the muzzle of his rifle and took a tentative step inside. Leaves covered the floor as they fell through the caved in roof. Most of the benches still sat where they had been placed long ago. What caught Jason's attention the most was the statue of Jesus Christ hanging from a wooden cross on the far wall of the church. Walking up to the altar, Jason gazed up at what must have been for many during the chaotic months of the plague their only source of hope. Now, however.

It was all too much for Jason, who for the first time after two years, began to feel tears form in his eyes. He dropped the rifle to the floor and stumbled over to one of the pews. He sat down and covered his face with his hand as he began to weep. He wept like he had never wept before. At this moment, all hope was lost for him. He had failed his fellow survivors. He had failed those he loved. He had failed Anna and her unborn child. He was certain that they were all going to die soon and it was all his fault for not performing as the best leader he could be.

Then, through his fingers, he began to see a bright light start to glow from the altar. Lifting his head up he saw that a white orb was floating above the altar and was growing bigger. Jason put up his hand to shield his eyes as the light grew more and more intense, until it finally culminated in one giant flash. When the light died away, Jason turned his head back slowly towards the altar. When he did his eyes locked with something truly out of this world.

Standing before the young army lieutenant was a tall white horse. But it was unlike any horse that Jason had ever seen. First of all, to say it was tall was an understatement. The creature towered over the young man by at least two and a half feet. Spreading wide from it's sides were two large and magnificent wings. Jutting out from the top of it's head was a long slender white horn. It's mane and tail were light shades of blue green and pink and they seemed to be billowing in an unseen breeze. Resting atop the horses head was a large golden tiara with a purple diamond shaped stone in the middle. The creature's hooves were covered by golden shoes. On her flanks were two sun shaped tattoos. But what was most striking about the horse to Jason was it's eyes. The eyes were much larger than Jason's own, not the least larger than a regular horse. And they were filled with an almost motherly expression that spoke of much kindness and love. Jason was mesmerized.

"Why do you weep young man?" The creature spoke with a female voice. But the fact that it spoke at all was what shocked Jason. For a moment he couldn't respond. The question was still being processed in his mind. As he took in those words, he remembered the moments before and fresh tears began to fall from his eyes. Apparently the talking horse saw this, because at that moment, she stepped forward and draped a wing around brought him in to a warm embrace.

"Hush now. Everything will be fine."

"No it won't!" Jason snapped and pushed away from the horse. "It's all over don't you see?! I've lost everything! We have all lost everything! I have failed those that I swore to protect! We are all going to die out here in this God Forsaken world!" He fell to his knees and began to sob openly in front of the horse. He "Please just kill me. Just end it now."

He suddenly felt his chin being touched and lifted up until he was staring at the horse once again. She had a concerned but stern look on her face. "Don't you ever say that again!" She said firmly. "I know that you are not a failure. I have seen it for myself."

Jason was confused. "What do you mean? Wh-who are you? What are you?"

The white horse looked deep into his eyes and smiled. "My name is Celestia. I am the Princess of the Sun in the great land of Equestria on the planet Harmonia. And I have watched your species struggle since it all began."

Jason was astounded. "You've been watching us?"

Celestia nodded. "And do believe me young man, if we could've intervened at the time we would've. But much to our dismay, access to your world was impossible except via a one way portal that allowed us to view the event around the world. Over the last two years we have had our top mages working tirelessly to create a two way portal between our dimensions so that we could contact you."

Jason's brain was having hard time processing all this information. Least of all the concept of inter dimensional travel.

Celestia's expression suddenly changed to one of hope. "And now at last, my former student has been able to create such a connection. This connection allows beings from both of our worlds to travel to the other's dimension which is why I am here."

She looked directly into Jason's eyes. "I have come to offer safe haven to you and your people. All those that wish to are welcome in our kingdom. We cannot in good conscience stand idly by and allow for another sentient race to die out. And so we offer you all a home in Equestria."

Jason's mouth hung open like mailbox door. Was she serious? A home? A real home? No more going hungry? No more running? No more Predators? An actual fresh start?

"I....I...I don't know what to....."

"Jason!!"

Jason snapped his head up and whipped around back towards the door to see that there standing in the doorway was Kate. And she had her rifle pointed at Celestia.

Author's Note:

And here is the first chapter. What's gonna happen next?

Find out next chapter. :pinkie happy:

Comments

[Eonflare]

And now they're going to bring the plague there aren't they? Equestrian's are so hung up on helping everyone.