Gleaner Chronicles: American Monsters

by sevenofeleven

Chapter Five: Screaming sun and clothing not optional

Apartment 8C

As Margot tried to climb back up to wakefulness from deep sleep, she could hear someone, or something, shouting. The words were unintelligible, but somehow she could feel the aggression and malice in them. Then Margot heard other voices.

“Apple Bloom is just laying there twitching!”

“Oh no, she messed up the bed. Let’s pull her out of the sunlight!”

“Owww. The sunlight burned my leg! Use your magic Sweetie Belle!”

“I’m trying but the light breaks my magic! Help! Help us!”

The panic in the voices finally tore Margot out of her sleep. She groggily climbed to her hooves and opened the bedroom door. The smell of feces and urine hit her nose.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at Margot. Sweetie Belle climbed off the bed and pointed at Apple Bloom. “Please get her out of the light!”

Margot could see Apple Bloom convulse and moan in the morning sunlight. A puddle of liquid waste slowly flowed from her.

Margot nodded then she tried to use her telekinesis on Apple Bloom. The pale yellow morning sunlight just ate Margot’s telekinetic grey glow like it was breakfast.

Scootaloo grimaced. “Sweetie Belle tried that!”

Skybreeze walked into the room, her mane was spiky from tossing and turning on her blanket. “I doubt she will last long. Poor thing. We have to work quickly.”

Margot looked at Skybreeze. “I’ll block the light and you pull her to safety.”

Skybreeze nodded.

Margot conjured up a grey block of metal and placed it in front of the window. Once the dangerous sunlight was blocked, Skybreeze used her telekinesis to carry Apple Bloom to the hallway. Then Margot dispelled the block and went into the hallway. It took her just a few moments to cast a spell that would burn the bed with controlled fire. Skybreeze followed Margot. Scootaloo left the room with Sweetie Belle who closed the door.

Far walked up to Skybreeze and Margot. He wrinkled his nose. “What’s going on?”

Apple Bloom woke up and sniffed. “Who messed up the bed?” Then she tried to stand up. That attempt failed. She slumped back down to the floor. Her ears drooped as she realized who made the mess.

Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom. “How do you feel?”

“Like ah got beat up. My body feels so sore,” Apple Bloom said. She tiredly climbed onto her hooves.

Skybreeze went down the hall to check out the bathroom. “There are no windows here. How about a nice warm bath or a shower?”

“Yes please,” Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo looked down the hall. “I want one too!”

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Everypony froze. Margot did a quick scan. There was a pony on the other side of the door and two standing in the staircase. Her scan also showed that the ponies in the staircase had submachine guns while the pony just had a pistol. “Do we open the door?”

Far went to the door and looked through the peephole. “Okay, guys. I see a zebra wearing a black leather jacket and goggles. Geez, this peephole thing makes faces look huge!”

Margot flinched. She was quite sure the zebra heard everything.

The shower started up and Apple Bloom tiredly headed toward it.

Nga'Devro moved up behind Far.

The zebra rang the doorbell again and said some unintelligible things.

Far turned and looked at Margot. “Should we let her in?”

She briefly considered what to do. All of the ponies were armed while her friends were not. “Yeah, we will move to the living room so we can watch her.” Margot planned to have the zebra surrounded so if she decided to become hostile someone in the group can knock her out before too many ponies got shot.

Far nodded and went into the living room.

Margot used her telekinesis to open the door then she headed to the living room.

The zebra followed Margot into the living room then she pushed her goggles up with a black hoofsneaker. “Dayum! You guys are freakin naked! Now I know you aren’t from around here or you’re nuts!”

Far grimaced. “What? We’re not nuts.”

The zebra peered at Far. “Huh? What did you say?”

Margot and Jerome traded glances.

“Do you understand me?” Margot said.

The zebra looked at Margot. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that guy?”

Margot ignored the question. “My name is Margot Summerholt.”

The zebra smiled. “Oh snap, where are my manners? My name is LaShawn Greene. I guess seeing so many naked ponies threw me off. Hey, you guys don’t know how to use a toilet or something? The smell of crap is not cool!”

Jerome smiled. “My name is Jerome Siklis. One of our group had problems with the sunlight here.”

LaShawn looked around at the ponies watching her. “Um okay. We need to be out of here soon. This place is not safe. I’ll get you guys clothes too.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked up to gape at LaShawn.

LaShawn looked at them. “What? You got fillies too? Hey, I won’t judge. Can we get out of here?”

Margot faced LaShawn. “Do you have the clothes downstairs? How are we going to deal with the sunlight?”

Jerome stepped closer to LaShawn. “A better question is how did you know we would be here?”

LaShawn stepped back. “We don’t have any clothes here, but the back entrance is in shadow. Also the van’s glass has runes to keep the nasty sun out. To answer your question Curly, somepony told us you would be coming. They weren’t so good with the location. We had to hunt around a bit. Can we freakin go now?”

Far nodded. “We need to discuss this. Can you wait outside?”

LaShawn sighed angrily and her right forehoof moved toward her holster.

Margot got a stun spell ready.

Then LaShawn turned around and headed for the door. It slammed when she left.

Skybreeze sighed. “Well, that was rude. Can we trust her?”

Margot looked at Jerome.

Jerome looked back. “Fine fine. Can you cover me?”

Margot cast a sound blocking spell then she nodded at Jerome.

A blue glow covered his horn as he scanned LaShawn’s mind. “Ok, Ms. Stripes is annoyed, but not openly hostile. She believes what she is saying. The two ponies in the staircase are just bored, but they expect trouble soon,” Jerome said.

“What kind of trouble?” Margot said.

Jerome shrugged. “I dunno.”

Margot glared at Jerome. “Really?”

“Hey! Dial that back! I don’t do deep mind scans without some preparation,” Jerome said.

Far looked down the hall and then at Jerome. “Can we trust her?”

Jerome shrugged. “I guess so.”

Nga'Devro walked up to Jerome. “Nga'Devro wonders why you aren’t sure.”

“People, um, ponies believe a lot of stuff. Doesn’t mean it’s true,” Jerome said.

Margot remembered some of the images from the Prophetess. The image of the zebra matched LaShawn. “Hey, guys. Before we left, the Prophetess dumped a bunch of stuff into my head. That’s why I was out. One image I remember was of LaShawn. We should trust her or at least be ready for treachery.”

Jerome smiled. “Well, that’s good enough for me!”

Margot rolled her eyes.

Far went to the door and opened it while she dispelled the sound blocking spell.

LaShawn was waiting patiently outside. “Can we go now?”

A dripping Apple Bloom ran up to Margot. “We have to give those dead ponies Oonte’s Grace!”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran up after her.

Margot faced LaShawn. “We need to do one more thing before we go.”

LaShawn sighed. “Really? We may not have the time for this. What do you have to do?”

“The dead ponies down the hall need to be given Oonte’s Grace.” Margot said.

“Wait. What? Don’t you think they’re beyond caring?” LaShawn said.

“Maybe but I have been with these fillies and they have done some amazing things. We should let them do their ritual.” Margot said.

LaShawn sighed. “Ok but what about the bodies?”

“I can cremate them without burning the building down.”

“Fine. Bring your magic fillies then.”

LaShawn led the way down the hall.

Margot followed her.

The SHC followed Margot.

She was grateful that the sun was not in the right position to shine into the hallway. It just took Margot a few minutes to pick the locks. She opened the door and went into the apartment. Unlike the other apartment, the shades were down. Margot didn’t have to worry about the sunlight. The layout was similar to the other apartment too except there were three dead ponies in the living room.

One was a grey brown foal without it’s head. The other ones were it’s parents, were also missing their heads. A discarded shotgun lay on the floor next to the stallion. Margot figured that the father shot the foal because it was a Remnant and then he shot his wife. He left the last shot for himself. The idea that the parents had lost all hope and were willing to kill themselves and their child bothered Margot. Then she wondered how the SHC were going to handle it.

Apple Bloom looked at the grisly scene before her and her tail and ears drooped.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also followed her example.

Then Apple Bloom raised her right forehoof. “Let’s give these poor ponies peace.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo raised their forehooves too.

Apple Bloom bowed her head and intoned, “Jahabukia Oonte, initi gi witashitichi ni inati ne enchō e kishato kureru yō ni tinendo.” A blue glow flew from the raised hooves and filled the room.

Margot thought she felt something touch her again.

Apple Bloom faced Margot. “It’s done.”

Margot nodded then she focused on a fire spell that would just immolate flesh, but not burn anything else. A bright orange glow filled the room as the ponies’ bodies burned away to ashes. Then the spell disintegrated them. Then Margot and the SHC left the apartment.

LaShawn closed the door. “Now can we go?”

Apple Bloom nodded.

LaShawn went to the staircase and down the stairs while Far’s group followed.

The two ponies with guns followed Far’s group. One of them was a sullen white coated pegasus while the other one was a bored blue earth pony.

Margot didn’t like the leering looks from either of them.

Unknown Apartment Building
Downstairs
Rear entrance

Downstairs was a narrow alley filled with the smell of rotting garbage. Several black plastic bags were piled up on Margot’s left. Other than the stink, the air felt nice like an early summer morning. In front, there were two black vans with open doors. The pony drivers gawked at the group.

Far looked up at the sky and saw it was blue. “Well, at least the sky is blue here. Maybe I could do some flying?”

LaShawn trotted in front. “What did you say?” She turned and faced the group. “I would explain stuff while we drive home but I’ve been hearing rumors that caspers have been turning themselves into pigeons and listening in on conversations,” LaShawn said then sighed.

Skybreeze grimaced. “What?”

Of course LaShawn didn’t understand her.

Margot spoke up. “Caspers?”

LaShawn looked at Skybreeze then at Margot. “Some wise guy decided to name the floating green Gleaners Caspers. There was a kid’s show called Casper the friendly ghost. Let’s get in the vans so we can get out of here. I don’t want to run into Caspers or MA enforcers. I so don’t want to run into any Sunscreamers either.”

Margot relayed the info to the rest of Far’s group. She wondered what LaShawn was talking about.

Nga'Devro looked at the vans. “Nga'Devro wonders how these ponies were able to get these vehicles to move? He doesn’t see any hitching lines.”

Skybreeze scrutinized the vans. “It seems that the ponies here use some sort of internal power source for the vehicles. It’s good to be inside.”

Margot scanned the vans. There was some parts that were magical, but nothing that a good mechanic would get stumped by. She could sense that there was the usual stuff that she had seen in cars back on Earth. For a moment, she felt a bit of homesickness.

The ponies in the vans opened the side doors.

LaShawn reared up on her hind hooves and slid into the first van.

Margot copied LaShawn and sat in a seat.

After a few moments, the van behind them honked its horn. LaShawn closed the sliding door and they were off.

For a few minutes it was like a nice car ride, but the empty streets bothered Margot. She had lived in Manhattan for several years and the streets always had somebody walking around. If she ignored the posters with the ponies on them, it was like being back home but not really. She wondered what other horrors the city would show her.

After about twenty minutes, the vans stopped outside a parking garage with a lowered silver and orange striped metal gate. Two honks and the metal gate rose then the vans drove inside. LaShawn pulled out a walkie talkie. “Ok, we got some new guests with special needs please wait upstairs in the barracks until I call. Tell Burnie to get that dumpster of clothes down to the guest area.”

Jerome glanced at Margot. “Looks like we are going to get some fancy threads.”

LaShawn rolled her eyes. “Nope, Curly, just sweatpants and sweatsuits for you. Maybe you can find underwear that will fit you or maybe not. Before I brief you, you and your friends should be clothed.”

The garage was free of cars except for the two vans. Several metal dumpsters were scattered around the area. Margot figured that the dumpsters would make good cover for a firefight unless they just used them for storage. In front of Margot, a ramp sloped upstairs.

LaShawn raised her voice. “Follow me upstairs so you can be clothed. After the briefing, we will find some food for you.”

Upstairs was like downstairs, a wide area that used to be a place for cars and vans, now it was an area for ponies and other creatures. Sleeping bags covered the cold grey floor while multicolored partitions divided the area near the ramp from the rest of the garage area.

Their host led them to an area next to some red plastic partitions. A few minutes later, a gryphoness wearing a yellow sweatsuit and a cook’s apron pushed a dumpster full of clothing next to the group.

LaShawn nodded to the gryphoness. “Guys, this is my homie, Burnie. Burnie does the cooking around here and is the best cook I know.”

Burnie nodded to the group then she turned around and left.

LaShawn’s walkie started squawking. “I gotta deal with this. I’ll be back.” She went back down the ramp yelling into the walkie.

Skybreeze walked up to the dumpster and used her telekinesis to grab a bright red sweatsuit. “Now this looks horrid. I don’t expect anything tasteful here.”

Jerome smiled. “That’s because you need to go to Easy Pickins, they have the best in pony clothing.”

“Really? How can something tasteful and discreet come from a place called Easy Pikins?”

“Easy Pickins. Well, sista, the fashions there are all the rage,” Jerome said with an even wider smile.

It was obvious to Margot that he was messing with Skybreeze’s head. It seemed like fun but there was work to do.

Margot tuned out Jerome and Skybreeze as they squabbled.

Far and Nga'Devro brought over a table so she had a place to inspect the clothes. The next hour and a half was spent conjuring up underwear and clothing for all of the group. The clothes in the dumpster were not the right size. She was relieved that only Skybreeze and Jerome were picky about what they wore.

By the time LaShawn walked up the ramp, everypony in the group was clothed. She whistled. “Nice. Now you guys need shoes. Only nuts have no shoes. Heck, even horses have shoes.”

Margot sighed, she didn’t want to do more work at least without something to eat. “Do you have a dumpster full of shoes?”

LaShawn laughed. “Do I look like Imelda Marcos? Oh yeah, you’re not from around here. Immy was a dictator’s wife. When her husband got deposed, the freedom fighters found hundreds of shoes. I need some favors from you. Help me out and the shoe problem goes away.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walked up to LaShawn followed by Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom tapped Margot with a left forehoof. “Mahgot, I have something that might help us talk.”

Margot nodded.

The SHC stood up on their hind hooves and touched their right forehooves together. There was a blue flash that filled the room.

Again, Margot felt like something touched her lightly.

LaShawn narrowed her eyes while stepping back.. “Yo! Yo! I don’t like ponies doing magic without some sort of warning! What did you magic fillies do to me?”

Apple Bloom took a step toward LaShawn. “Do ya’ll understand me?”

LaShawn looked around at the ponies in front of her. “Yeah, I hear you. Do all of you understand me?”

Nga'Devro nodded while Far said yes.

Skybreeze said yes too. Everypony else introduced themselves.

The SHC were last.

LaShawn stepped forward. “How about you guys sit or stand while I brief you? It’s going to take a while.” She waited while Far’s group sat or stood near her.

LaShawn nodded. “About two years ago, the Gleaners came. No one saw them though. The zombies were the first things to appear. First it was just a small group but then more of them appeared. Zombies-”

Skybreeze held up a hoof. “Excuse me but what is a zombie?”

“What is a zombie? What sort of world do you come from again?”

Margot joined the conversation to keep things going. She just knew that Skybreeze and LaShawn weren’t going to be friends. “When you mean zombies, you mean ponies that have been drained? They look greyish brown with green eyes?”

LaShawn nodded. “Yeah.”

“We call them Remnants back home. Please continue,” Margot said while shooting a glare at Skybreeze.

“Well, the zombies showed up everywhere all over the world. Then the Caspers showed up along with the Gleaners. It was total chaos here with Caspers and Gleaners draining ponies in the streets. I lost a lot of friends and family...” LaShawn sniffled before she continued.

“Then the Gleaners established the Metropolitan Authority or MA. The MA set up the zones. They are red, green and yellow. Red is where rogue Caspers, Gleaners and zombies roam. It’s hell to live there unless you have a large army with lots of ammo. Green zones on the other hoof are Gleaner run and are pretty safe. No rogue Caspers, no zombies and definitely no Sunscreamers. The sun is a normal sun, not like the black sun nonsense they inflict on the yellow and red zones,” LaShawn said and looked around.

Nga'Devro raised his left forehoof to get LaShawn’s attention. “Nga'Devro guesses that the green zone is really not that safe.”

“Well, yes and no. There’s plenty of food and work. Crimes are solved and murder is punishable by death. Sure some ponies disappear for no reason. That nag Eya Sore makes statues using live ponies. The rest think things are fine. The population has been booming for the third year in a row. Then there’s the Life tax. Every April the sixteenth, ponies go to their local life tax center and the Gleaners drain a bit of their life. There are smaller drainings every quarter. Even with that the ponies in the lower Manhattan green zone still try to live their lives. Then there are the Notches,” LaShawn said.

Far leaned in closer to LaShawn. “Notches?”

LaShawn nodded. “Notches are devices that monitor all ponies and other creatures. If you get too powerful, the notches drain your mana and also tell the MA where you are. That means that if you are a swift flyer, you either use that for the MA or they limit you. A lot of ponies didn’t want to wear a Notch or work for the MA, and they were never seen again. This also makes raising a resistance army hard because we don’t have powerful unicorns or other ponies.”

“What about the yellow zones?” Margot said.

“Yellow zones are areas that the MA wants to expand into. They run patrols to recruit survivors and take out zombies and rogue Caspers. The MA is more concerned about taking out the Resistance and finding survivors than taking out zombies and rogue Caspers. If any roll up on them, the MA will take them out but they won’t do a full sweep of the area,” LaShawn said then she looked at Margot.

“I guess you need us to help out,” Margot said.

LaShawn did a toss of her short striped mane. “Well, duh! Really, if you help us, you will be helping yourselves. Help me hack ATMs and we can use the money. Help us lockpick a shoe store and you guys get free shoes. Now it’s time for you to tell me who you are and why you are here.”

Margot looked at Skybreeze. “Do you want to explain?”

Far raised his left forehoof. “I’ll explain. We are from a place called Equestria. It’s kinda like this world in a lot of ways. Equestria is under attack by Gleaners too. They have overrun most of our cities. The Prophetess sent us to rescue two ponies from this world.”

LaShawn shrugged.

Margot went through the images that the Prophetess put in her mind. “One pony is in a building that makes eyes burn while the other one is in a building that has five sides.”

LaShawn whistled. “Dayum! You guys picked some fun places!. The eye burning place is the Eyesore building on twenty third street. Security there is hella tight. The other building is the Pentagon, right in the heart of the US Gleaners. I guess you guys wanna challenge. You got two. I don’t know too much about Washington, DC. I have to ask around. I do know about the area around the Eyesore building. Before the Gleaners, it was called the Flatiron building.”

Sweetie Belle looked up at LaShawn. “What about the princesses, can we get their help?”

LaShawn looked down at Sweetie Belle. “Well, you can pray and pray to the Princesses or you can do something. I’m not a big fan of religion.”

A confused look covered Sweetie Belle’s face. “Huh?”

LaShawn sighed. “Well, my momma had me read the Bible. So I can tell you some stuff. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia are in Heaven along with the Ascended Twilight Sparkle. Old school ponies worship the sisters while other ponies worship Twilight Sparkle. Prayer might help but there’s a saying. Celestia helps those who help themselves.”

Far stepped up to LaShawn. “We’ll need help to rescue our friends. What do we need to do?”

LaShawn smiled. “I can help you with getting your friend from the Eyesore building, but it will cost us. I bet you will have to kill Eya Sore to get your friend back. I doubt she will give up your friend if you ask nicely. The MA goes nuts when an enforcer is killed, I can’t even imagine what will happen if you kill a Gleaner Lord. You will probably need to get out of Dodge as fast as possible if you want to survive!”

Scootaloo wrinkled her nose. “Where’s Dodge? I thought we were in Manhattan?”

Before LaShawn could get angry, Margot moved on to the next question. “What do you need from us?”

LaShawn looked at Scootaloo then at Margot. “There are a bunch of things I need from you. You guys are probably the most powerful ponies north of the lower Manhattan green zone. We need money from a bank. Nobody uses banks in the yellow zone so you don’t have to worry about interference. If you can use your lock picking magic to open a bank vault without setting off alarms, we would be swimming in money. Most of that can be used to buy help in the green zone.”

Margot nodded. “Okay.”

“We also need help hacking the Notches. All ponies in the green zone are notched. If we could find out how they work and make our own, we could come and go as we wished. Maybe even find a way to free some of the powerful ponies. More importantly, foals and old ponies are choking to death from some sort of disease in the Bronx. We could use some help finding out what’s going on. I bet my tail that the MA is behind this,” LaShawn said.

Margot wondered if they had the time to do all of these tasks. What if Rarity and Twilight Sparkle were just hours away from death? Then again running around without the proper info would get them in trouble for sure.

Far broke Margot out of her thoughts. “Whatever you need LaShawn as long as we get to save our friends soon.”

LaShawn smiled her widest smile yet.

It reminded Margot of a Cheshire cat.

Skybreeze waved her left foreleg. “Ms. LaShawn. I have a question!”

LaShawn’s ears went back on her head. “Yes.”

“When does the event end?”

LaShawn flinched. “Event?”

Skybreeze smiled. “Back home in Equestria, we only wear clothing for special occasions.”

LaShawn peered at Skybreeze. “Well, Sky, you’re not in Equestria now. Unless you want to be locked up, you have to wear clothing all the time here.”

Skybreeze exchanged a glance with Far. “Really?”

LaShawn peered at Skybreeze. “Are you sure Equestria isn’t code for some sort of asylum? Hey, I’m not judging or anything.”

That caused a staring match for a few moments between Skybreeze and LaShawn.

Far stepped in the middle before things got worse. “We will wear clothing and shoes when we get them.”

LaShawn nodded. “Ahh yeah! I’m going to tell Burnie to cook up a nice meal for you.” While LaShawn walked toward the partition,

Margot wondered about how much they would have to sacrifice to save Rarity. That is if Rarity was still alive. Margot looked back at the group and hoped all of them would survive the coming days. Maybe? Only time would tell.

Comments

[ferret]

Well, at least their objectives are clear. They ought to get an opinion from ponies who aren't LeShawn, except that it sounds like this is the only anti-gleaner thing around. I don't think Twi and Rara dying is much of a concern just yet. Getting them ASAP is important because of the torture, but they'd have been dead long before anypony got here if the gleaners wanted them dead. The heroes are far behind enemy lines, so they can't fight anything head-on. I guess the question is how're they gonna get Eye Sore by surprise, and how're they going to finish her offteach her the magic of friendship before reinforcements arrive?

And then how're they gonna break into the Pentagon? That place is designed to survive a nuclear holocaust! Nobody's even allowed to know how many basement floors it has!