• Published 26th Apr 2018
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Pandemic: What you are Meant to Be - Halira



The ETS pandemic spreads across the southern United States transforming humans into ponies. In the wake of it a boy named Mathew tries to cope with the changing world and finding out what he is becoming.

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Chapter 28: Late Night Shopping at Wal Mart

The haystacks would be refilled in two days they were told. The fact that they were being refilled rather than replaced with something else was a depressing thought.

"We forgot to get the spices out of the AV room," Rosetta lamented as she finished chewing a mouthful of hay.

"We can still go get them if you want," Remedy said.

"No, we can just do that the next meal, I guess," Rosetta replied. "Too bad we can't feed this stuff to the humans."

"I think I heard somewhere humans can eat hay. It just doesn't digest right for them. Trade off is they can digest meat fine and while it makes those who can digest things like hay sick," Remedy said as she bent down to bite into some more.

"Maybe we can eat more things like grass and leaves that could bring some variety to this. If our digestive tracts can handle hay they can handle those, right?" Rosetta mused.

"Probably, but a lot of it might make us sick too. It would be trial and error with threat of being poisoned along the way," Remedy said after she finished chewing.

Rosetta sighed, bent down and took up some more hay in her mouth. She finished chewing that up and then got up and walked a few steps away from the hay in a sign she was done eating. Remedy joined her a moment later.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" Rosetta asked.

"Maybe we should go help that one pegasus stallion out. You know, the one that Tonya told to stay on guard duty at Wal Mart. Guy is probably beyond exhausted and we're the natural guards at night anyway," Remedy suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea. It'll be nice to get back to patrolling. I've got to admit I've been feeling a little antsy about not doing that lately," Rosetta said as she looked towards the human guards over by the school.

"Let's get going then, and let that stallion get some rest," Remedy said as she spread her wings and hopped into a hover.

The two flew over the interstate with a course northward. It quickly occurred to Remedy that they didn't know for sure which Wal-Mart they were actually supposed to be going to, but this was the closest, and this the most likely Tonya would have been giving instructions about.

There was no activity on the interstate at all, not a single car on the road. There hadn't been any for days now, aside from when the government relief workers had rolled into the area, but hopefully that would be changing soon. Things really needed to get back into action again around here soon for the humans sakes. Seeing the shear volume of them at the church had been a wake up call about how many were in the area still. There were a lot of ponies, but there were still more humans. There were plenty of humans that had fled the area too. When they came back the pony population in the region would likely be outnumbered considerably.

They came up to the Wal-Mart and quickly spotted the very tired looking stallion perched on top of the building looking over the parking lot and entrances. They descended down and greeted him.

"We'll take it from here, go get some food and sleep," Remedy said to him.

"Oh thank God, you have no idea how much I was dreading having to spend all night out here," the stallion said with a grateful smile.

"Anything we should know about?" Rosetta asked as she landed.

"A few humans have been creeping about, most of them are easy enough to chase off once they realize they've been spotted. Place was partially looted inside over the last few days, but most the stuff they have in their backroom hasn't been touched yet. There were a few squatters my friends and I chased out. Felt bad for that, just homeless saps," the stallion explained.

"Police are supposed to be coming I heard?" Remedy asked.

"Supposedly they are. Haven't seen any sign of them. Of course haven't seen sign of them in days anywhere. They're supposed to have gotten back to work, and some ponies got told they'd be coming, but ain't seen them yet," the stallion answered, before yawning.

"Okay, well, we've got this. Go take care of yourself," Remedy said as she took up his previous position.

"Much obliged. See you gals in the morning after I get some sleep," the stallion said.

The two night ponies settled in on the edge of the building where they could get a good view of the entire parking lot, entrances, and surrounding area. All the lights for most everything were off, including the parking lot lights. In the distance they could see the traffic lights were flashing yellow rather than going through their normal cycles, and provided the only other illumination in the area aside from the stars and moon.

"So what do you think about all the ponies moving to wherever these towns are?" Rosetta asked.

"Not sure what to think. I know ponies are frustrated they can't do their own things here, but there are clearly some that still want to continue their old lives," Remedy answered.

"It feels like a bad idea, like segregation. Like the humans want to just push us off into ghettos or something," Rosetta said doubtfully.

"The idea of us living apart from most humans doesn't seem like something that would get most humans feeling more trusting of us," Remedy agreed.

"Exactly, it just reinforces distrust between ponies and humans," Rosetta said.

"What do you think your sister would want to do?" Remedy asked.

Rosetta sat silent for a moment not answering.

"Not sure to tell the truth. For the earth ponies in particular it seems hard to see a future without letting them get to farming. It's just so ingrained in instinct. I know our instincts aren't the end all and be all of who we are, but it's hard just try to separate ourselves completely from them, you know?" Rosetta said.

"We're out here guarding a Wal-Mart and it feels good to be doing so. Hard to argue we don't feel the need to give into instinct considering that wouldn't be something either of us would be thrilled to be doing before becoming night ponies," Remedy observed.

"Yeah, it does give a sense of contentment, like an itch that's getting scratched. Human me would likely have dreaded doing something like this," Rosetta said as she looked over the area, looking for signs of movement.

"You can kind of see where the humans get the idea we are all brainwashed when you think about it that way," Remedy said. She too, was scanning the area for movement.

"It's our choice to actually follow through with our instincts. We could fly away from here if we wanted to," Rosetta said.

"But we don't, and that's where the fear we are not thinking for ourselves comes from," Remedy said.

"So do you think we're brainwashed?" Rosetta said, turning her attention to Remedy rather than the area she had been watching.

"I'm saying we should be aware that humans are going to see that. Ponies like my dad who really don't want this are resisting it. We have pony instincts now, and we accept those. We had human instincts before that impacted our thinking too that we just accepted," Remedy said, still watching the area.

"Like what?" Rosetta asked.

"Fear of things that are different seems an obvious one. We seem to have much less prejudices based on others being different than we did as humans. We can try to deny it, but we all were prejudiced in some way shape or form. I think that was just human instinct," Remedy said.

"Are you suggesting ponies aren't capable of prejudice?" Rosetta asked skeptically.

"Ponies are not as naturally prone to it is what I am suggesting, not that we are immune to it," Remedy explained. "Look at my mom. Even look at my dad who is trying to hold onto his humanity. Prejudice is just less a thing for ponies."

"Anything else?" Rosetta asked.

"I think humans are instinctually more greedy than ponies too. I have yet to hear a pony give a damn about owning or acquiring anything. All those ponies at the shelter and how many have you heard even mention anything about their stuff?" Remedy asked.

"You don't paint humans in a very positive light," Rosetta said with a laugh.

"Oh, it is how you look at things. Greed and prejudice can be perfectly good survival instincts and can have positive parts too," Remedy said.

"I suppose so. Like how companies looking to make more money find new and innovative ways of doing things to earn an extra buck. It's motivated by greed, but it pushes innovation," Rosetta said thoughtfully.

"And you heard Twilight Sparkle on the news. She was impressed by how much humans had achieved. Since we have lost that greed instinct it will be harder to keep pushing new innovations that way," Remedy said. "Prejudice has its uses sometimes. A bit of skepticism about strangers rather than quick trust is probably safer in the long run, and something that could hurt ponies for not having as much of. We should have some fear that others may not have our best intentions at heart. Ponies are way too trusting."

"It is an interesting concept, how much humans were driven by instincts rather than thought. One of the things you learn studying history is that humanity never really changes. Our circumstances did, but it kept repeating the same cycles of things over and over. Looking at the past you can kind of see the blueprints for how societies think," Rosetta said as she got back to looking over the area.

"Amazing to see how much you weren't in control of your actions before due to instinct after those instincts are gone. I hated myself because I was trans and couldn't bring myself to see it, being trans was something different and I was as guilty of prejudice as my parents. I see that now, but human me was a slave to human instinct," Remedy said thoughtfully.

"And now we're trading our old instincts for new ones," Rosetta said.

"And just like before we should be aware they influence us and try to resist them when they are going to lead us into something bad," Remedy said.

"You're a bit of a thinker. Perhaps you should be enrolling in a university too, Sociology, Psychology, or something. Get to where you can better understand all this stuff and help other ponies understand it too," Rosetta suggested.

"Maybe, let's worry about getting you enrolled first before worrying about me," Remedy said.

Remedy tensed up as she spotted movement, and Rosetta immediately caught the tensing as well. Both stared as they saw a human dressed all in black, with a hoodie on to further obscure seeing them, came into sight at the edge of the large parking lot heading clearly towards the Wal-Mart entrance.

The human continued until he was almost to the entrance before the two night ponies decided to warn him away.

"Store's closed, buddy. You'd best scram," Rosetta shouted down to him.

The human, a man, jumped as they startled him. He looked around frantically before finally glancing up and scowling at them.

"You mind your own business, pony girl," he shouted up at them.

"Our business at the moment is making sure no one breaks into here. Beat it, before we beat you," Remedy shouted down menacingly.

"What's you gonna do? Bite my ankles? Why da fuck do you even care anyway? Keep your furry faces out of my business," the potential looter yelled up to them. He then started heading towards the entrance once again.

"Have it your way," Rosetta said quietly as she spread her wings. Remedy followed her gesture.

The two night ponies dive bombed the looter, striking him hard on the side and sending him down hard to the asphalt parking lot. They quickly retreated back a good distance in opposite directions of one another as they watched him get back to his feet.

"Oh hell no. You ain't getting away with that," the man said as he got back to his feet.

Remedy spotted a glint of metal as the man reached into his hoodie, and recognized what she was looking at right away.

"He's got a gun," she called over to Rosetta.

"Hell yeah, I've got a gun. I'm giving you two little beasts one last chance to leave or I'm gonna start shooting," the man said threateningly as he pointed the weapon at Remedy.

"You can't aim that thing at both of us at once," Rosetta growled. The man turned around quickly and aimed at her instead.

"Yeah, but I can sure as hell take one of you out. You want that, pony? Which one of you is it going to be? The green maned one or you? Which one of you is going to end up dead?" The man threatened.

"Rosetta, yield," Remedy called to her marefriend in defeat. The bastard had a point. This wasn't worth one of them getting shot over.

Rosetta looked defiant for a moment then relaxed her posture. "Go ahead and do what you want in there. How much can one creep loot anyway," she said defeatedly.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right. Do what's good for you, and both of you get!" he shouted at them.

The two night ponies glanced at one another and then took to the air and away from the Wal Mart.

Author's Note:

Friday evening day three after counterspell going into Saturday morning day 4 after.

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