Reliquiae: After Earth

by Kalushar

Chapter 2: Uncertainty

Chapter 2: Uncertainty

“Jeezus,” I yelled.

“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad.”

I stared surprised at who I assumed was the new Eli. A coffee-colored pony stood in front of me staring unamused, but unlike me he had no horn.

“You look like a friggin’ clown horse Zach, why are you blue?”

“You look a piece of toffee.”

Eli smiled, “it is good to see your all right. Of anyone to survive the end of the world with, I wouldn’t mind doing it with you, dude.”

Eli wore his new body awkwardly, like a man wearing high heels. His coffee-colored fur was a stark contrast to his jet-black hair and dark eyes. I, on the other hand did slightly look like the rainbow horse from the Wizard of Oz. I mean of all the luck I had to turn out blue.

“It’s good to see you too Eli,” I said returning a slight smile.

Eli rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“Well, now that all that garbage is behind us, what are we going to do now that we’re apparently the last people on Earth?”
I frowned. “The first thing we really should do is figure out if there is anyone else left. It is still relatively early, maybe everyone left hasn’t woken up yet.”

“You have a point. We only have so much time before everyone else who is left--assuming there’s anyone left—decides to either riot, panic, or create anarchy and steal everything. So, our first order of business should be to find some supplies and get them to a reasonable base of operations.”

I tapped my chin with a hoof and thought for a moment. “We could hold up in the university, or perhaps the museum?”
“I don’t know. It is a museum of math. Let’s try the college, it’s way closer. There might even be someone there. As for supplies, there is that BBQ place by the theater or we could hit up a Walmart.”

“Guns,” I said suddenly. “We go to Walmart, they have guns.”

“...Agreed.”

The walk to the nearest Walmart was filled with a strange silence, much like my walk to the park had been. I reflected to myself while we walked. It was unlikely we’d ever be able to use a car again, the pedals had been intended for humans, and as such they had no pony compatible options. Were there even other people left? If so, were they ponies too? Why did I have a horn, but Eli didn’t? Was this reversible?

I forced myself to focus on the now when we finally reached the nearby Walmart. The parking lot was mostly empty, only three cars were parked in it and all of them were locked and empty. The actual door to the store was unlocked and they slid open as we approached them. The store gave off a creepy air as we entered, it was even quieter than outside had been. It was bizarre, a uniform sat on the end of one of the lines bearing the name Dwight. Whoever Dwight had been, he was gone now. Eli managed to stand on his hind legs and pull a shopping cart away from the rest. He pushed it with his head until I found some rope and tied it to the handles, which was not easy to do with my mouth. I tied the other end to Eli and he pulled the buggy as we clip-clopped along. We grabbed canned foods, books, and cold weather clothing for young children that accommodated our new bodies for when it got cold.

Once we hit the gun section things changed. The bigger arms were all stacked beautifully in a row on their shelves behind the glass display full of smaller arms, so I reached out to grab one. Then the gun clicked against its wired lock. All the guns were under lock and key. I pulled the wire and even tried chewing, but no dice. Finally, frustrated, I wrapped my front hooves around one of the guns on the wall and pulled with all my tiny pony strength. I strained for a moment before a blue glow seemed to come from in front of me. The lock on the safety wire glowed blue and then suddenly melted. I stared wide eyed as the lock melted away to a metal slag.

I pulled the wire out from around the gun and lay it on the counter behind me as I stared at the melted and still sizzling lock. Eli spoke up behind me, “dude, you just melted that thing with your mind.” I nervously scoffed in response.
“W-what are you talking about?”

“That freaking horn! Your horn glowed blue and then the lock had the same blue light around it... and it melted.”
“That’s not possible, did I use... magic?”

“That’s one thing to call it. I know according to traditional ‘lore’ that unicorns use their horns for magic. It only makes sense that in this crazy world of blue horses and abandoned cities there’s friggin’ magic.”

“...Am I a god?”

Eli smacked the back of my head with a hard hoof making me yelp. “No, you’re not a god,” he said flatly. “Far from it. It just means you can use ‘magic’, supposedly.”

As he said “magic” Eli tried to make the air quote motion with his hoof. I rubbed the back of my head, imagining a welt the size of a grapefruit swelling up and rolled my eyes.

“Ok, ok. I get it, but what does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you can make things float like with telekinesis or read minds. Either way it basically means you have a very large advantage over anyone else who’s not like you.”

“You still think there are others?”

“Of course. If the two of us made it, who’s to say that half of the rest of the world didn’t also make it?”

“...Do you think this magic had something to do with all of this?”

“I don’t know. But we’ll find out.”

Meanwhile in an unknown place...

A mysterious form watched the world turn, a perfect new playground for ponies and all others. A new world for them to explore, completely abandoned. Discord sat watching. How bizarre, he thought. A world where the moon and sun move alone and the planet rotated around the sun? Very bizarre. He liked it, very much. And he was very sure that his pony friends would like it too. A way of making up for old times. A new start.

But, the one thing that concerned him was that the planet appeared inhabited by a very advanced race, but there was nothing sentient on the surface. He’d looked, but seen no sign of the makers of these grand designs. It left him with a feeling he hadn’t felt in many centuries.

Uncertainty.

Comments

[Mix-up]

Oh this adds a lot of interesting elements, despite the guys seemingly being the only ones in the general are (I would wonder if they tried to contact their family before going for their looting trip), they certainly seem to be taking the situation at it's worst outcome, which could pay off. at least they seem to have a happy go luck deminor to them, always serious can get boring quick.

It was interesting to see Discord that just so happen to be in the area that he had the senses to know that what ever happen to Earth to be apparently deserted of it's original inhabitants, and even greater that this wasn't his work or that it got him concerned leaves me to wonder if the guy TF might be cause by what ever passed by or that maybe their transformation (or is a by product) was the only thing that stopped them from being swapped away like the rest of humanity these two' little struggle might just get bigger for them. I would wonder if the wild life has also been affected by what ever magics that turned them and if it would get even more wilder reclaiming that humanity took from them. I wonder if Discord will contact Twilight on what ever happen or if he will just least the place and forget about or even worst try to help humanity, which has always been a double edged sword for anyone foolish enough who thing he can snap his fingers and fix everything for them; which sounds great actually. I wonder wonder if this word warent ponies of Equestria to try to help humanity?

Looking forward to the next chapter, and see what you will come up with.

[Tael_Spinner]

The uniform just sitting there does give the rapture feeling. Also a feeling of a ponified version of the Langoliers.

Very interested to see where this goes.

[Kalushar]

10058530
To answer your question, yes, the guys did try and call their family in ch. 1. They don't say so specifically, but they do imply it.

[Switch Swap]

Can’t wait for the next part

[Crystonian]

“Guns,” I said suddenly. “We go to Walmart, they have guns.”

Yes. When you think of Wallmart and your a pony. Guns.