It Was A Thursday

by Captain Scrappie

1: Arrival

It had been about a week since I had made my way to No Mans Land. It truly was barren as the reports coming from here would say. Towns and small cities abandoned or destroyed, and wildlife taking it back. However, these cities were not my main concern. When I was briefed by my superiors to the area, they said I was looking for anything that could be used as a fortress. What I had not expected was for a compound to be made out of a small neighborhood, one with armed guards everywhere. One spotted me. Thank god I as wearing the flak jacket that said “press” on it. They waved me down as I got closer. To think, this place was in my dreams.

As I was let into the compound, the gunmen and rifle toting ponies, all clad in balaclavas a mishmash of hoodies, armour and combat gear, eyed me with suspicion. It was as if someone put a fortress around a gated community. The patch on their shoulder with its half crescent moon made me realize I was at the right place.

“Hold it,” one of the ponies said as they raised a hoof at me. My heart jumped as he motioned to the human beside him to pat me down with a gloved hand, keeping a firm grip on the clearly Canadian Military rifle, a relic from back before the divide. In fact, the compound guards had a bunch of different rifles from before NATO was still a thing, before the nations stopped existing or were taken over by the Gas Attack events almost fifteen years ago. Those that remained were just hanging on by a thread.

I still find it odd that we have not given a proper name to those events, but they were relevant enough to not warrant one, I suppose. Still, the person with whom I was meeting would probably be able to shed some light on it.

The human guard opened up my jacket as he fished around, pulling out my press badge.

“BBC?” they asked. I only nodded.

“I dunno why anyone across the sea would be here. Isn’t the north end all ponies?”

“It’s dragons,” I responded.“Perhaps its mainland Europe you’re thinking of?” He only grunted as he gave it back finally clearing me for entry, speaking into his radio. The gate opened. From the entrance I saw what looked like was part of a gated community entrance, along with many different pieces of scrap metal. I walked in, clutching my recorder, camera and notebook.

As I looked around I could see ponies and humans, watching me with weary eyes, clutching their guns, a tinge of fear in their eyes. They were, after all, considered lawless individuals. The Canadian government broadcasts called them all bandits. Some would call them mercenaries. This particular band were protecting the one person in the world other journalists would dream to meet and interview. One dream that I would find realized, in a more literal sense.

Oddly, this compound was like it’s own little village- there were children and young ponies all around, playing as I walked by, only to freeze as they saw me. One even mouthed the word “outsider” before getting a hoof to the back of the head.

“Don’t worry ‘bout them, partner,” someone said behind me . “They’re just worried is all.” I found the source of the voice to be… someone I did not expect to see here at all.

“Applejack’s the name. Though I think you’ve seen me before.” There was a hint of shame in her voice. I was immensely surprised to see her all the news reports coming from New Equestria said that she died in an attack. Just seeing her in the flesh was already raising my suspicion of the obvious cover up of the missing princess.

“You’re here to see her, aren’t you?” she asked. Before I could answer, she motioned me to follow her, bringing me to a clean and seemingly untouched house.

“So… you’re a reporter?” the ex-harmony element bearer asked. “My sister was one- Applebloom. The new element of honesty, and all that.” she laughed nervously. “Brings back memories of when her, Scoots and Sweets used to work at their school paper. Now she’s where I was. Runnin her own farm and being Twilights new friend….” she sighed. “I… hope you’re able to get the word out. We all need this, not just people livin’ out here, surviving on the skin of their teeth. I think the whole world needs some answers with how much chaos Celestia caused.” she said as we finally reached the door of the mostly intact house.

Two more guards opened the door, motioning me to step inside. The entire bottom half of the house was a living room, converted into a command center full of computers and radios. There was a family portrait over the fireplace, but it was covered in dust. I was steered by Applejack toward the upstairs. The hardwood floor was worn down from countless hooves and boots At the end of the hallway was a door covered in punk rock posters and anti-authoritarian slogans- a typical teenager setup. Applejack knocked on the door three times.

“Come in.”

I did just that, and what I saw was… magical to say the least. It was just what I saw in my dreams, the missing Alicorn herself.

“P-princess Luna!?” I stammered. She only looked at me with a tiny bit of scorn as she held a rifle, thankfully away from me, with her magic.

“Do not call me by my sister-... by Celestia’s title. I’m not a Princess anymore. Nor do I want to be associated with her.” she said as she placed the rifle on the bed once more, checking the sights and ejection ports, doing something of a maintenance check.

I was still reeling in my mind. I thought this was a dead end going in, but the dreams I had… they seemed so real. So vivid. All I could remember was a blue light in this dark, dark tunnel saying “Come to me if you want to know the truth.” After that it was this force invading my mind, telling me some geographic locations that were vague, but enough research got me here.. After a long time, I couldn’t ignore them anymore. But there she was, sitting right in front of me. The source of those dreams.

“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to take a seat?” she asked, the… well, ex-princess at this point said, pointing me to the couch across from the mattress she was sitting on, inspecting an assault rifle as she quite literally stripped it down with a flurry of magic. “It’s funny, you know. A couple years ago, If you asked me to disassemble this rifle in three seconds I wouldn’t know where to start. I guess you learn a lot of things in this world.” she sighed as I feverishly pulled out my audio recorder, flicking on it and pressing record.

“Date… May 19th, 2025, Patricia Maux of the British Broadcasting Company News Network interviewing the missing Princess- er… Just Luna, sister of Princess Celestia, recording beginning at 8:53 PM.” I said, holding it in her direction. “I just have to say, thank you for this opportunity.”

The large Alicorn only nodded. “Someone needed to tell this story. By the time you get back to report this, we’ll be long gone from this location.” she said.

“I just need to know… Celestia says that you were-”

“Kidnapped?” she interrupted, chuckling. “No. That’s what she wants you to think. I left on my own accord.”

“But how did you do that? Leave, I mean. From what was to be believed, you rarely left the palace and when you were, you were heavily guarded.”

“I had help.” The smile grew.

“From whom?” I asked, trying to piece together what happened in my mind. “From the reports from Equestrian news stations, there was gunfire and three dead guards as well as a repurposed news chopper with mounted guns. There were three humans involved, one died, along with the supposed death of Applejack.”

“Applejack… and a member of the UK’s Special Air Service.” she said. Applejack coughed moment before she spoke up too.

“I got shot, but I think they counted me with the dead because of-”

That made my mind explode with questions, all of which were shouted at both of them with speed. She held up her hoof to shush me. “Listen. To understand what happened, I need to start from the beginning. I was not around for the beginning, not like Twilight, Celestia or Cadence was.” she said.

“I am… not sure what you mean by that.” I said, clearing my throat a little.

“Celestia lies. She lies a lot. A lot of it to save face and cover up what she actually did those years before the gas bombs. Her appearing a couple of months after the initial gassings was not some miracle act. It was deliberate.” she said.

I didn’t know what to say. When a story that had been told a million times before was falling apart at the seams right before your eyes, you begin to realize what got you into journalism in the first place. This was no different. I steeled myself as Applejack looked in from the door.

“This is a story that… made us all who we are today.” Luna said. “Celestia lies to the world from her position of power of what happened, passing off her bullshit as gospel and feats of magic.”

“I’m tired of it too. I just want people to know what really happened. What they… What I helped make happen.” Applejack sighed, pulling out what looked to be some sort of journal stack before handing it to me, one by one, with her mouth. “This is...basically what happened to us for the last couple of years.”

I only nodded, holding the recorder to them as I began to skim through the first one. It was jam packed. Photos, notes, scribbles and sketches, it was going to be a lot to go through. “I… Wow this is a lot to go through-”

Before I could even finish repeating that thought out loud, a radio buzzed to life in the room. “Scouting squad to Lunar-Leader, do you copy?” said the voice on the intercom. Luna picked up the handheld radio that was next to her rifle that lay in parts on the bed. “Go ahead.”

“We have a pack of manticores that are coming to the gates. I think they were following the reporter you got in there, over.” I perked up at the sound of that while Luna looked at me with a frown.

“Ugh, get the meat we have packed for bait to appease them, our guest doesn’t know this area that well.” she said, rolling her eyes as they radioed back with a simple “rodger” to sign off. “Well great, we can’t really send you back where you came from now, can we Ms. Meaux?”

I looked a little nervous at the implication. “W-what do you mean by that?”

“What it means is that there are No Mans Land creatures that are now hunting for you and even though they know to stay clear of this place, they can wait a long time. Maybe a couple weeks at most.” Luna grunted before she picked up the rifle pieces with her magic. “I am sorry. There is nothing I can do to ensure your safety if you do leave, but I can make amends by offering you a place to write this article. It is the least I can do.”

“A couple weeks!? It took me a week to get down here!” I shouted in disbelief. I had to spend a couple weeks here!? How was I going to break this story without my bosses thinking I’m dead? Either way, this entire stack of journals was something to behold as I held them up. The weight of them might as well been comparable to one of my journalism school textbooks.

“I will make arrangements. Applejack, give her the guest room and see if we have an additional solar panel for her room. I suppose you need to charge any of your editorial equipment, correct?” she asked, using her magic to put the gun back together again. “If you need a personal interview with me or anyone here, do not hesitate to ask. However, I need to go check on the perimeter to see if our magic wards are still up.” she said as she loaded the rifle, cocking it with her magic and putting it on the side holster just under her right wing. I didn’t even notice she was wearing body armour until now or that her hooves were covered in bandages, slightly bloodied ones at that.

I only nodded. The smaller orange one led me to just across the hall to what would be the parents guest room, a surprisingly tidy one that looked untouched. “I uh… might have been a bit excited to have an outsider here so I decided to clean this up.” the earth pony said as she looked a little proud of herself. I couldn’t help but pat her as I put my overstuffed hiking backpack onto the bed, getting out my laptop, beginning to write out my notes for the adventure so far, cracking open into the first journal with the name of a human on front as soon as Applejack was gone.

“Subject notes… John Seymour…” I began to type, pulling out the first journal.

Author's Note:

I lived bitch. Also if you were wondering about the name, no this is not John from Wubs.

... man why do I fucking reuse names anyways.

Comments

[BestinDworld]

so....this is a conversion bureau story or something other than that u have a follower