Her Eyes Reflect The Stars

by Lynwood

We Flee to the Shattered Town

Dear Diary,

I am an idiot. I am a royal, majestic, incredible idiot. Everypony in the group is mad at me right now because of how much of an idiot I am.

Let me start at the beginning. We began our journey into the Ash Fields quite early in the day. We broke camp and packed just like normal, and even though some parts of the foothills were difficult to navigate, we were waist-deep in the wild grass shortly before midday.

The Ash Fields are something else. As far as the eye can see, it's yellow-green grass, all at the same height, forever, like an ocean. There used to be forests and farms and towns here but the Event saw to that, and after it all, grasslands filled the entire plain. It's tragically beautiful and just... resoundingly empty.

I wasn't looking at the grass, though. I was looking up at the sky, because of a legend I'd heard somewhere. They say that if you're in the right area, you can still see chunks of the old cloud cities floating by. I was searching the skies for building remnants so closely that I didn't see the big grassy lump in our path, nor did I see my travel-mates move around it. I smacked right into a big grassy boulder– or so I thought.

Auburn jumped up as if she'd been electrocuted. She hissed at me to freeze and for Compass and Score to step away. I was confused until I looked closely at the boulder and saw the runes inscribed into its side, including the Eye Rune. It was a machine.

Auburn told me to carefully step away, but I, in my infinite wisdom and intelligence, laughed her off. "There's nothing to worry about, everypony," I said, like a complete buffoon, "It's dead, and it looks like it's been that way for some time. See?"

Then I kicked it, and it woke up.

I was so frightened that Auburn had to tackle me out of the way as it rose up onto three and a half massive limbs, stumbling on its shattered fourth. I scrambled away, and Auburn loaded a crystal into her spearzapper.

I've never seen one go off, but wow. Golden lightning lanced out of it and into the beast and it screamed. I can't properly describe it, but it just about drove me deaf, and then the thing collapsed, its metal-and-crystal innards turned into outards.

I was about to congratulate her through the ringing in my ears when she began shouting for us to move. She said that any and all Ash Children that had heard it were going to be traveling here as fast as they could and that if we wanted to live we needed to be far enough away that they wouldn't smell us. On top of that, most of them would be coming from the Mountain City. After a panicked map-reading from Compass, we set off to the southeast.

It wasn't an hour after that that we heard the yelps and groans behind us. We kept going and they kept following for hours, long into the night. By the time we found the ruins of the town, we'd been walking for almost three-fourths of a day straight. I don't know why there was an abandoned university sitting up on a hill at the edge of the town, but it saved our lives, no thanks to me. We're barricaded inside now, waiting for the children to wander off. Auburn says it'll be at least a day.

Oops.

Signed,
Quick Quill

Comments

[FOXTrot2]

"Oops" indeed, you twit

[Mrazi]

And that's why stalkers don't take civilians into the Zone.