It Was A Thursday

by Captain Scrappie

5: Break

It turns out I fell asleep. In my stupor it seems the only things I had written down in my notepad were something about the way John wrote about Appleack’s southern accent and how he compared the Pinkie Pie Smile song to something that was akin to the holocaust. I didn’t agree with the sentiment but then again they’ve been through more than I have.

I got up to stretch, cracking my knuckles and various joints as I got up, still in the camouflaged travel wear and flak jacket as I realized I had fallen asleep on the metal rings that bound the journal together, running over the little indents in my cheek. Still, John’s notes were most things we already knew, but seeing as survivors were few and far between to those in the north, it was good to know an insider's perspective.

My stomach growled as I realized I had not eaten in several hours. I sighed as I got up, walking downstairs as I looked around. There was one pony working the HAM radio station that seemed to ignore me as I looked around, a platter of fresh grown fruit, which was odd in the fact that they had it here anyways.

“Howdy Ms. Meaux! How’d you sleep?” the familiar voice of the orange pony startled me, yelping and dropping an apple onto the floor as I turned around.

“Oh christ, don’t startle me like that!” I said, placing a hand on my chest.

“Oh… sorry, got excited is all.” she said looking a bit awkward.

“It’s fine, I just… Fell asleep at the desk.” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “Still, learning about what happened when North America was taken over was… odd to say the least. Disturbing… And you were in the middle of it?”

Applejack sighed and nodded. “Way back when, I was convinced I was going to make the world a better place when Celestia approached me back when I was a human. This was way before Toronto too, I told my human family back then that I was going to Canada on my agriculture degree for a farming convention. Next thing I knew I was helping people make these gas bombs just… choked to the brim with magic and this dust… I-I can scarcely remember what happened.” she said as she put her hoof to her head, taking off her hat. “I regret many a thing back then and now I’m just trying to pick up the pieces. Sure I ain’t going to do much with them, but I’m trying to help anyways. Go north and it’s a bunch of scared folk surviving the winter temperatures. Down south there’s ponies effectively trying to make sense of this new world. Fifteen years later and we’re still trying to figure it out. And us? We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

I nodded as I took mental notes in my mind. This No Mans Land between Canada and New-Equestra had been rocked by many magical phenomenons when it was introduced to the world. Dragons, gryphons, ponies… it was almost too much, but scientists and other researchers found this as a goldmine. New Species, new physics phenomenons… Our entire natural order has been flipped on its head.
I got an actual look as to what Applejack was wearing. Like most of the higher ups here, it looked like she was wearing survival clothing on the top half of her body, with modified police gear for protection, which brought up a burning question.

“You wear all this armour… Who’s shooting at people here?”

Applejack looked sullen as she put her hat back on. “What isn’t shooting at us here? Canada and Equestria call us bandits here but we’re just here trying to survive. Luna takes in the people running away or what would be ‘out of place’ in the south. We give ‘em food, shelter, a warm fire and a community. All we ask in return is to help us out.” Her voice sunk a little as she continued. ”We just protect shipments from charity workers from overseas, help scientists, just try to keep out the bad around this area. Others? They want it for themselves or think we’re hogging it all. They’re the true bandits. We just want some order around here.” She punctuated the last bit by spitting onto the hardwood floor.

“Not once in my years as a human or a pony, Earth or Equestria, have I seen suffering on such a large scale. Celestia ignores it and hopes the humans come to the cities to be converted, Canada doesn’t want to do anything because they have their own stuff to worry about. Crabapples, we got word of riots in Northern Quebec just the other week!” Applejack exclaimed. I raised my hands to try to get her to calm down, thankfully she got the message. “Sorry, I just… Shucks, I need a moment to cool off.”

I smiled. “It’s fine, it’s fine. In fact it’s good you said that, it gives me more insight to what’s happening around here. I mean… Shite, I’m still itching to get back to the journals. There’s just so much information that was unknown to me before.”

Applejack looked up at me with an awkward glance. “Uhm… Actually, I had a question to ask you, if it is at all okay…”

I cocked my brow as I picked up another apple to bite into it, my stomach screaming for the calories it provided. “Sure.”

“Could I… be with you when you are reading them? I trust Luna but, I don’t know the whole story either. I only ever wrote in the one journal she gave me when we were in New Equestria, the other ones I didn’t look at. In fact she seemed to be stubborn in saying that I don’t read them. I just want her to be honest with me, but at the same time I don’t want to pry.”

I thought for a moment. Part of me didn’t want her to be near me when I was writing the thing for fear of it being biased, but on the other hand, her insight would be crucial. I took a long hard moment to think, the apple in my hand now down to it’s core as I finally decided. “I… don’t see a reason not to.”

“Boy howdy!” she jumped up, trying to hug me before moving back. “Right… I didn’t get my shots renewed for that, need to wait for the next shipment coming through here.”

“Don’t worry about it, I had the vaccine before I came down here.” I assured her. That prompted the hug in return. I chuckled, ruffling her hair under her hat. Even if it was dangerous to get hugged by her, the feeling was nice. I was lucky my works insurance let me get the vaccine in question, even if a shot was over a thousand dollars and only worked for three months. I guess they deemed it to be worth it.

After a couple of hours getting some piecemeal interviews with some of the inhabitants of the gated community compound, I was taking pictures and video of the guards, pony and human that were all armed to the teeth. I had several questions, wondering how they got this hardware. None of them gave me a straight answer, but police stations and a military base were the most prominent. This was something to ask Luna about, but they said she was off dealing with an ice dragon. I sighed as I brought my equipment to the guest room, putting my pictures onto my laptop with back ups on everything possible.

There was a human and pony kicking a football of the european kind around, having some genuine fun. A human woman was acting as a teacher to some of these kids, reading from a textbook as the others listened on. I did remember seeing a printer in the house, not covered in dust. Perhaps she was giving them homework. Technology was still heard of, seeing as how there were televisions and a satellite connection to the internet, as well as some kids were playing a video game.

Part of me was wondering why I needed to be here if they had it, however it seemed like both Equestrian and Canadian sites were heavily monitored by their governments. Both were mostly relegated to news checking with a lot of the normal entertainment communication sites being off limits, which was a shame. I wasn’t able to call my superiors and tell them where I was or who I met either as the use of sat-phones were prohibited in the compound for fear of tracing.

There was more pictures of just normal maintenance of the compound here and there, with a lot of them wearing old car repair shop overalls. This place was being run like a tight ship. Applejack came in as I was preparing myself to open the first journal once more.

“How was your tour around the place?” she asked as I leaned on the back two legs of the chair, her hopping up on the bed as it squeaked under her weight.

“I’ve covered wars in the middle east and africa before. This is kind of different seeing as how everyone here is either a pony or human… white too. Then again we are in Canada, there are some things that should be expected in terms of demographics.” I commented.

“It ain’t about race here. We take in all comers.” she said flatly. “Sides, not all of us are here, some are out getting supplies or guarding. This morning I had to help with patrols. We wear the masks so that if any scouting parties from the north or south spot us, they don’t get details. ‘Sides, I’m pretty well the person who invented pony pants. Eat your heart out, Rare.” she said as she stuck her tongue out with a chuckle. “‘Course she prefers style over function but I say it’s a better alternative to the original duct tape idea somepony had.”

I did look behind her, she was wearing track pants! “Huh… and that’s so they don’t see your cutie mark? Smart.” I commented, smiling at the simple solution.

Applejack looked to the stack of journals. “Still, what did you find out?”

I retold the events that happened the day the bombs went off, and how John was one of the lucky few to get out unchanged, and unfortunately her run in with herself. When she heard it and the story with Fluttershy she frowned, then spoke up. “I didn’t like that we were forcing it on people, but Celestia told us it was for the greater good. But she didn’t quite tell us why we were hunting John in the first place. All I knew is that he was the perfect candidate for something. For what I’m not sure. Twilight said it was so she could have her greatest advisor back, but it never made sense.” she explained.

That piqued my interest. Celestia was hiding more from them than expected. I recentered my chair as I pulled the journal from the drawer it was held in, clearing my throat and taking a sip from my canteen as I prepared. “Entry 4…”