Rebirth of Magic: Find your Voice

by JimmyHook19

Things are Never Quite the Way they Seem

When I awoke the next morning, my nose was suddenly alerted to things being slightly different. As my brain fired up and my body decided to try and move, I suddenly sensed something wafting into my nostrils.

I sat up and yawned, stretching as best as I could within the small tent I currently called home. I sighed and looked about, trying to find some way to at least sort my mane out. Even if I was travelling across an empty wasteland it simply wouldn't do to have a single hair out of place.

Once I was done arranging myself (or as Zipp would have called it, 'preening'), I unzipped the tent and stepped outside into the morning air. It was cool, and the landscape opened up before us in its stunning beauty, weaving away from us as it did so. It was enough to take my breath away for a moment, before my nose was suddenly activated again by a rather distinct and familiar smell.

And boy did it bring back memories. I looked over and saw a small grill set up roughly where the fire had once been, and sitting on it were all sorts of cooking implements. In one of the pans was a selection of pancakes, with the bottom of the pan lined with butter to ensure they didn't get stuck.

Somepony was cooking pancakes! Only my favorite breakfast!

I trotted over to look at it, and noticed they were delightfully browned to my tastes! Whomever was cooking these clearly knew me well!

"Morning, Pipp!" called a familiar voice, and Sunny suddenly appeared from behind a bush. "Sleep well?"

"As well as I could," I replied, as I looked at the meal. "Say, what's this?"

"Breakfast's on me today," Sunny smiled. "And what better way to get fired up then pancakes, butter, and maple syrup?"

"My favorite breakfast!" I said. "How did you know?"

"Zipp told me," Sunny answered, as she checked the pancakes. "And... flip!" She quickly flipped them over with the skill of a master artist, then continued to conversation as if nothing had happened. "I even got some Outingdale's maple syrup to sweeten the deal, but unfortunately there wasn't enough space in Izzy's cool bag for ice cream."

I still hadn't gotten my head round how Izzy's storage space worked. Some things simply made no sense, like her ability to produce tents from nowhere. "That's only my favorite weekend breakfast! So what gave you the idea to cook this, huh?"

Sunny looked up. "After yesterday, I realised I have a lot of making up to do for all of you, but especially you, Pipp. I had no right to flip your life upside down, and for that I know I have to regain your trust. This is part of that process- I know this reminds you of home, and as such it seemed like a good place to start."

I was touched by this. Sunny really did care! "That's really sweet of you, Sunny," I said. "So, how long until it's ready?"

"Should only be a few minutes," Sunny replied. "Izzy? Can you get the plates out of hammerspace?"

"Sure thing! Do you want stainless steel or silver cutlery?"

We then ate together, our first true meal as friends, as the previous morning's breakfast had been very tense indeed. And it was just as delicious as I remembered it! The pancakes just melted in the mouth, and the butter really added to the flavor. The syrup was the proverbial cherry on top, though Izzy somehow produced a cherry from nowhere to put on hers.

Once we were done eating, we began to discuss our forward progress. But this was where we encountered a disagreement of sorts.

Hitch outlined the two routes we could take from here. "The map gives us two options. One route takes us through Ghastly Gorge whilst another takes us over the mountains. Based on the scale of this map, the route over the mountains and into the next valley is shorter."

But Sunny had her own thoughts about which route was best. "The Ghastly Gorge route is considerably better layed out, and has fewer changes of altitude."

This did not sit well with Hitch. At all. "But my route is faster because the journey is shorter. Frankly, we've wasted enough time already, and we need to speed up."

I was game with that. "I second that. I haven't had a shower in a while, and need a wash. I'm probably starting to smell."

So, that was that settled. Our fellowship was split into two, effectively. One half went down, and the other went up. Which made four. Which was strange, as I was certain there were five of us.

As we proceeded through the region, things soon began to get strange. Along our route, we began to walk into a creepy forest. This forest was a very strange place. Normally, forests are absolutely full of life, and seem to be teeming with creatures.

But this one wasn't. It was oddly empty. And felt almost... dead, as if nopony was here. They might not have been, for all I know now. But I didn't know that then.

We were partway into the forest when I noticed something very odd. The trees were changing color. Several of the trees were green, whilst others had oddly orangey leaves. But it wasn't autumn. It was still summer, according to the calendar back at home. So why were some trees a completely different color?

There was also no sound apart from us. Hitch stepped on a twig once, and the sound echoed for miles all around, which I found creepy. "Hitch, this place is creepy," I said. "And not the good kind of creepy."

"Is there a good kind of creepy?" Hitch asked.

"Yes!" I said. "The type with fun scares, not the overwhelming sense of dread and with no clue as to what happened here!" The place was beginning to feel oddly familiar somehow. But how could that be?

Suddenly, a device that Hitch was carrying went off, producing a series of loud crackles. I jumped in the air. "What was that?" I asked.

Hitch stopped, and raised a hoof to call a halt. He then took out a small box and pointed it at the area to check what was going on. "This is bad," he said.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Radiation reading," Hitch replied. "It's coming back as 7mSv."

"What's that?"

"Millisieverts," Hitch replied. He pulled two things out of his bag. "Put this on. No arguing."

It was some sort of yellow suit, which I slipped into without complaint as Hitch had asked. Or ordered. He helped me zip it up, and then helped me fit the gas mask and hood. He then pulled on another one, and I helped him with the same.

"How did you find these?" I asked over the radio. "Radiation suits aren't usual kit for a policeman!"

"It's a long story and I'll explain later," Hitch replied. "Right now these suits will keep us alive, and the rebreather will filter out the worst of the radioactive particles."

"Radiation? As in grow extra limbs?" I asked.

"No, as in lung cancer or your body falling apart," Hitch answered. "If the readings are this high here, when what in Equestria is releasing all these readings?"

We pushed onwards into the forest, looking about for anything that might help us acquaint ourselves with our bearings. But the forest seemed to stretch endlessly for miles. Just endless rows of dead trees.

Suddenly, we came across what looked like a long abandoned military checkpoint. The building was caving in, and the walls were wonky. I then noticed a sign and pointed to it. The sign had partially fallen apart, but some text was still readable.

EXCLUSION ZONE

ALL UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT

AUTHORISED VISITORS MUST HAVE PAPERWORK AND DOSAGE PAPERS READY FOR INSPECTION

BY ORDER

UNION OF FEDERAL UNICORN REPUBLICS

"Something tells me we're not supposed to go in," I said. I was pretty scared now. This place was giving me the creeps.

"If we turn back now we'll have wasted a whole day," Hitch replied. "We need to keep going. Use the geiger counter I gave you and avoid the spots with high levels. We should be save."

I nodded nervously, knowing the alternative was to be stuck on my own out here. We stepped through the ruined gate and into this 'exclusion zone'. I was beginning to suspect this zone wasn't to keep ponies out. It was to stop something from escaping.

But what?

We kept on going, the geiger counters serving as background noise to our journey. Before long the path began to climb, and we were soon on a hill overlooking a valley.

I looked down and just then saw a huge building sitting in the middle of an abandoned town. It had a massive chimney extending into the air, and a lot of damage to the walls.

It looked a lot like a building from the world I had left behind. One connected to a terrible disaster.

Author's Note:

Almost there now with finishing off this week's leg for Pipp Petals. ^^

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, you did a really good job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Once more, the stuff from early stories in this series from "Pipp's" viewpoint is appreciated Of course, given what Gulfstream is planning, covering more ground in a shorter amount of time DOES make a lot of sense. And I liked "Pipp's" reaction to "Hitch" having radiation protection suits on the ready (which, I have a hunch, going to be mentioned in better detail next month during "Hitch's" batch).

REALLY looking forward to the next chapter of this/the last chapter for this batch as well as "Hitch" and "Sprout's" batches next month and Phase Four in general starting in March.

[JimmyHook19]

11803117
Of course =3