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Prologue: Forever Changed1,174 words
Chapter 1: Hope2,158 words
Chapter 2: Convincing3,153 words

Chapter 2: Convincing

Jason looked at Kate, his trusted second in command, to try to read her face as she pointed her weapon at Celestia. She wasn't angry nor hostile towards him or the creature behind him. She more or less seemed confused and conflicted. He slowly approached her so as not to startle her.

"Kate." He whispered. "It's ok."

Kate looked at Jason with even more confusion on her face.

"It's alright." He continued. "She's not a threat. Lower your weapon. Stand down."

Kate hesitated. She still wasn't believing what she was seeing.

"Kate." Jason put his hand on the barrel of her rifle and looked her right in the eyes. "Put it down please."

Kate stared back for a few moments, then at last, she lowered the rifle. Jason sighed as the crisis was averted. He then turned his attention back towards the tall white alien horse behind him. When he did, he was surprised to see no emotion other than simple understanding on her face. It's like she was expecting this kind of reaction. Jason thought to himself.

"You are quite right young man." Jason did a double take as Celestia seemingly answered his thoughts. She smiled. "Yes I heard you. But don't worry, I won't do it anymore if you are not comfortable with it.

"Jason." Kate moved up to stand next to him. "What the hell is going on? Who is this?"

Celestia stepped slowly forward towards the pair. Kate tensed up and moved for her rifle again. Before she could however, Jason grabbed her arm. "Don't. She won't hurt you."

"He is right young woman." Celestia said calmly. "I am not here to harm you. Quite the opposite in fact."

Kate looked up at the tall pony. "What do you mean? Then why are you here?"

Celestia looked over at Jason and smiled. She then turned back to the young woman and stared at her with obvious sorrow on her face. "As I have told your good friend, I am Princess Celestia, one of the two rulers of the Nation of Equestria on the planet Harmonia. We have had the unfortunate curse of having to watch your species struggle against this deadly plague with no way of intervening to help. And for that I and truly all of us on our world are sorry."

Kate's mouth was hanging open in shock. Not many things caught her off guard anymore, but even with the world falling to pieces around her, the last thing she had expected to see was an alien from another planet.

Celestia then smiled. "But I am happy to say that at last we have found a way to connect our two universes. The nation of Equestria would now like to offer you and the survivors of your race refuge on our world. We wish to offer you a new home, one of peace and prosperity, that we have seen so many of your kind strive to achieve for so long."

Jason looked away from Celestia when she said that "many" of his race. She had undoubtedly seen the other factions of humanity that had arisen as a result of the plague. He thought of the Predators particularly.

Meanwhile Kate was trying to process all the information that had been given to her. She sat down on one of the pews next to her and put her hand on her forehead and rubbed it, trying to calm her now scrambled brain. On one hand she didn't want to believe this alien princess in the fear of getting her hopes up. But something deep in her mind, and her heart, wanted what this pony said to be true. No it needed it to be true! She didn't know if she could handle another false hope.

Celestia seemed to sense this and walked over to the woman and placed her hoof on her shoulder, causing Kate to look up at her. "I know that this is all overwhelming. And I know that you all have been through some of the most horrifying experiences that not even tartarus compares to. But that is why I brought along the pony who has made all of this possible." She turned around back towards the altar and her horn began to glow. All of a sudden a flash of purple light enveloped the room, and after it dissipated, standing in front of the altar was another pony alien. This one was smaller than Celestia and was purple. She had a dark purple mane with a pink and yellow stripe running down the center. She had a horn and wings like Celestia. The last striking feature was the mark on her flanks: a purple star surrounded by five white stars. She walked over to stand by Celestia and looked at the two humans and smiled.

Celestia looked down at the little pony. "Do introduce yourself my faithful student."

"Um Hello." She said nervously. From the sound of her voice, Jason could tell that she was younger than Celestia. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the head of project Nova Spero. And as I am sure that Princess Celestia has told you, I am here to answer any questions that you may have and to reassure anypony that may have doubts."

Jason and Kate just stood for a few moments, still trying to comprehend all that had just occurred and been told to them. Finally Jason stepped forward.

"What uh.....how will we uh...get to your world?"

Twilight smiled. "We were able to modify the already existing portal between our two universes and expand it. We found that it was unstable to travel it without some sort of transport vehicle to protect us from any harmful effects to the travelers. So we began working on that transport vehicle." Her horn then glowed a magenta color and suddenly in between the two ponies and the two humans appeared a floating purple hologram of what Jason could only assume was some sort of spaceship. It was shaped like the hull of an old 19th century warship but made of metal and the top sloped up towards the back. Four bands of windows surrounded the ship and two large fins stuck out at angles from the back.

"This is the 'Stella'." Twilight continued. "It has a maximum capacity of 2500 passengers not including it's 200 pony crew. It can reach light speed in under five seconds and can make the trip between our universes in just under two hours. Our plan for the transport of your species would be to land in areas clear of forestation and large buildings and as soon as your people are all safely on board, we will travel back to Harmonia and land at the Equestrian capitol of Canterlot.

Celestia then turned back towards the two humans. "There you will be provided with all of the necessities of living a healthy and comfortable life. Clothing, food, shelter and medicine. We will begin the process of settling your species in proper homes. We will work together to ensure that your species stay on our world is one full of peace and friendship."

Jason stood there absolutely speechless. He could not believe that these creatures were offering him and his race a new home. Away from all the devastation. Away from the Predators. Away from the plague. He looked over at Kate and was stunned to see the formations of tears in the corners of her eyes. Kate almost never cried. She had stopped after they had lost the first two survivors of their group to the disease at the start of their journey. But there was no denying that now, looking between Twilight and Celestia, that the hard bitten Kate Parker was crying.

"Is.." She sniffed. "Is this real?"

Celestia extended her wing out in a way that was obviously an invitation for a hug. A hug which was accepted. Kate wrapped her arm around Celestia's long neck while the pony nuzzled the back of her head. "It is indeed real my dear." Celestia whispered. "I can assure you of that." After a few moments the two broke the hug. Celestia now looked at both of the humans. "Now I can understand, after all that you and your people have been through, they may need some convincing as well." She looked down at Twilight. "So that is why that we ask your permission to accompany you back to your encampment so that we may convince your people ourselves."

Jason and Kate stood as still as statues for a few moments. A thousand thoughts a minute ran through each of their heads. Jason in particular was thinking as rapidly as he brain could function. Though there was ultimately nothing in his mind that could fully comprehend the gravity of this situation. After a few more moments, he turned to Kate. "Hey Kate, can we talk for a moment?" He whispered. He then remembered the other two creatures in the room with them and turned to look at them. "Can we talk by ourselves for a moment?" The two ponies nodded, and Jason led Kate closer to the doors of the church.

"What do you think Kate?" He whispered.

"I'm not sure. Part of me is still saying this isn't real but..." Kate paused.

"You want it to be real as well."

Kate looked down at the floor. Traces of tears were still in their eyes. "The possibility of a home? Of a life? When I think about that, my mind wanders to Anna and her baby. The rest of the children. Mr and Mrs Klark. All of them Jason. They deserve a home. And a safe one too. They certainly don't have one now." She looked back up at Jason. "What about you? Are you considering that this is real?"

Jason glanced back at Twilight and Celestia who were still standing by the altar waiting patiently. "I also want...no....I need this to be real. Because if it isn't I don't have any other ideas for our group. If we don't go with them, then I don't believe that we will survive this winter. We need a miracle and this appears to be one." He paused before he concluded. "I think we should bring them back to camp. Let them try to convince our people."

Kate looked down at he wood floor of the church, then looked back to the two ponies. After a few moments she sighed and nodded slightly. "Alright." She looked Jason square in the face. "Lets do it."

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Back at the Camp

Sergeant Thomas "Tommy" McCartney was doing his least favorite thing to do around camp; guard duty. He and Corporal Nancy Harris were guarding the makeshift gate of boxes and oil drums and two of the humvees that served as the entrance to the camp. It was one of the more boring tasks that were available in the camp, but even Tommy had to admit it was necessary. Still, he would've preferred to be out on patrol with Lieutenant Jason. He respected Jason. They had served together in Afghanistan and become firm friends. He admired for his leadership over the survivor group after they had left Philadelphia. He especially admired Jason's ability to read people, especially other survivors. One of which was having a chat with Nancy on the other end of the roadblock.

The man's name was Fergus. That's all he had given them when they had run into him in Harrisburg looking for supplies. He had long frizzled black hair along with a black mustache and goatee that adorned his face. A scar ran under his right eye, which tended to twitch from time to time. They had only learned two other things about him when they had met him. His family was dead, and he was a Vietnam vet. They had found him sobbing uncontrollably inside of an abandoned convenience store. When they had approached him, he pointed the gun he had in his hand at them, but Jason had been able to calm him down. He then was able to convince the paranoid man to come back with them to their group. After much discussion, during which Fergus revealed that he had been about to commit suicide, he agreed to come with them instead. They learned that he was originally from North Carolina, and they deduced that he had been in special forces from the tattoo on his left arm and the patch on the left sleeve of his jacket.

Over the past two years, Fergus had begun to slowly warm up to the other survivors of the group, although he did still prefer to eat and sleep alone. He wasn't a complete recluse however, as was apparent by him making conversation with Corporal Harris. He had made some friends and he was surprisingly good with children. It was believed by the others that he had had children before the plague. This was further solidified whe Tommy had caught sight of a small picture of a little girl and boy in Fergus's tent. He didn't press Fergus about it though, as he didn't think it was any of his business. For the most part, the members of the group took care of him the best way that they could.

Tommy was snapped out of his focus on Fergus and Nancy when he heard a rustling sound coming from the woods in front of the roadblock. He peered into the green mass and saw a flicker of movement amongst the brush.

"Nancy." He whispered over to the soldier and gestured towards the trees. Nancy immediately turned towards the trees and brought her rifle up to the ready position. Fergus ducked down behind the barrels next to them and peaked his head over the brim. Meanwhile Tommy put his thumb on the safety switch of his own rifle and continued to eye the movement in the woods.

"WOLF!!" He called out the first half of the password set up by Jason that day. He waited for the reply: "Hound." All he got was silence. Tommy
flicked the safety off of his rifle.

"WOLF!!! Answer or we will fire upon you!!"

"HOUND! Hold your fire Tommy!"

Tommy immediately switched the safety back on his rifle as he recognized the voice of Lieutenant Jason. Soon the good lieutenant stepped out of the brush and made his way towards the roadblock. Behind him came Lieutenant Parker out of the brambles. Tommy jumped over the roadblock and walked up to the pair.

"You find anything out there Lieutenant?" He asked Jason.

Jason looked down at the ground for a few moments before he answered. "Well um yeah we kinda did find something. Or uh rather 'someone'."

Tommy perked up at this information. "Other survivors sir?"

Jason looked back at Kate, who only nodded. He then turned back towards Tommy. "Not quite." He then turned around and took a few steps towards the trees and stopped. "You can come out now."

Tommy was confused. He looked towards the trees that Jason was calling to to see who would come out. What he saw was nothing that he would've expected. He quickly brought his rifle back up when two creatures that appeared to be horses came out of the bushes. He was stopped from doing anything else however when Jason grabbed his rifle barrel and shoved the gun back down.

"Stand down Tommy! They mean us no harm!" He yelled.

By now the commotion had drawn a crowd of survivors to the roadblock. When they saw the two horse creatures they began to whisper and murmur among themselves in fear and confusion. Jason saw this and quickly jumped up onto the hood of one of the humvees.

"Everyone please! Remain calm!" He called out. "These creatures mean us no harm! They have come here to tell you of something of great importance! If you will just let them talk I'm sure that you will understand!"

Everyone in the crowd still looked a little unsure. But they trusted Jason and therefore looked to the creatures to hear what they had to say. The tallest one stepped forward to the front of the crowd and smiled.

"Hello humans. My name is Princess Celestia."

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*This is Lieutenant Jason White of the United States Army calling out to anyone who can here this. For two years we have struggled to survive against this deadly plague. With our world falling apart at the seams, many of us lost hope. Admittedly I was almost one of them.* Static * But now we have found the hope that we need. I know that this will sound crazy, but in a world like this, what isn't crazy? On a routine patrol we encountered to alien beings who hail from a far away planet called Harmonia. They brought with them an invitation to all survivors of the human race a home on their planet. They have explained that they will soon be arriving with their spaceship to transport survivors back to their home world and then help us begin to live in peace again. Now again I know that this sounds preposterous and could appear to many like another pipe dream. But I promise you that this is real. We need this. And by we I mean us as a species. We need to start over. To rebuild. To at last begin the healing that will lead us back from the brink. They have told us that they will be landing the first ship near the town of Reeseville New York four days from now at first light. There they will collect as many survivors as they can and keep returning for more. If you are near this town, get here as quickly as you can. Me and my group will be waiting. If you cannot make it within four days time, do not worry. They will be back. Again this is Lieutenant Jason White of the United States Army signing off. Good luck.

Author's Note:

Jeez this took a long time to type up.\

Anyway here is the next chapter of the story. And for those who might read this and think that I am just introducing characters and giving no info on them, do not worry. There is going to be a big meet the cast chapter coming up soon where it will all be explained.