When Dean jumped from his zombie riddled home through the portal, he had no idea what would be on the other side. When faced with new Equestrian problems, life becomes simple. But good things never last...
Dear God he made it. Somehow Dean survived up unitl now, but from here and forward is another story. Cutting through zombies, alone, nothing could stop him. That was, however, before he came here.
The story of how running from your problems doesn't always solve them. Sometimes, it makes them worse. Much worse.
My name is Dean Styner. Don't ask me how old I am, as I'm not sure for myself. Take a wild guess at 19. For the most part I'm just a teen growing up in an apocalyptic world. But before I can tell you what happened, I need to tell you a something first: I don't know how, I don't know why, but I've always had this ability to download information directly from the source, whether it be a computer, to just a hard drive, to an entire mainframe. Not just that, but I can interact with anything electronic. Yes I was born with it, back in the day people always questioned it.
First of the apocalypse really sucks. Major. It all started with the formation of AFOGG, or Americans For Our Greater Good. It was in organization created by the President of the time ( don't ask me who it was, I forget). Anyhow, so the president gathered each of our greatest scientists, biologists, and weapons specialists in the same place to help make our country and world better and safer.
Now we didn't realize it at the time, but this was the beginning of the end. AFOGG turned out not to be concerned about the country, only on profits. So one day, two facilities were testing out new projects: one was a weaponized synthetic virus, the other a new type of regenerative armor. The explosive testing had been miscalculated, blasting a gigantic hole in both facilities.
The newly made virus escaped, and spread rapidly. Most people became infected. The first effects: harmless. A small cough. A runny nose. Almost like the common cold. Then mutations happened, turning the simple virus into the regenerative menace it was originally sought out to be.
It's way to create it's own pathways in the brain to and from systems was a small inconvenience in itself. Through time, zombies was born.
We no longer had an epidemic, we now have an apocalypse.
So one day, maybe a year and a half later after the start of it all, I happened to stumble on an AFOGG lab. I cleared out the remaining not-so dead people, which with silenced Desert Eagles isn't difficult, and stumbled on something quite extraordinary.
It was like nothing I've ever seen before. A blue... almost glowing cube, made of seemingly raw energy. I put my hand on a computer, and found that they had researched the fact that it could hold potentially limitless amount of data.
They had not been able to crack it though, so it had nothing on it. Like a blank piece of paper. I picked it up and felt the connection immediately. I was able to put all of my memories, like a backup, on to the cube. I was even able to put stuff that I didn't need right away, but might need to use later, such as maps, articles, and gun manuals. This all fits quite sparingly inside the cube. But all things need a name, so I gave it the 'HoloCube', for it's extraordinary ability to holographically project data into the air and for it's shape.
Well, as they say, the past is past and the future is full of opportunities. Sometimes you never know what may happen or when. You just have to be prepared for when it does.
Nowadays I'm just looking. Looking for my next meal, looking for a place to sleep, that sort of thing. I finally found myself today in somewhere that looks like North Miami. When I arrived I had a bit of trouble with the 'locals', but nothing too serious. Eventually I found myself boarding up one place and crashing down on a couch, just plain old exhausted.
I checked my pack, and found some protein bars. I ate them, hating the flavor, but knowing it was good for me.
I nearly choked on the last bite as I looked over.
I saw on the couch next to me, a man who had blown his brains out.
It had been a few days, but the smell was sickening. I'm just glad I kept down my bars, they're pretty hard to come by. I swallowed and looked again. He had done a pretty good job, since he wasn't getting back up.
It didn't make sense, three years in and now he does it?
I looked over at his desk top and saw he had a computer.
"Lucky me" I muttered to no-one, "More useless information."
I walked over and touched my fingertips against it, doing a quick scan. I don't download anything, I just skim it over. I saw some really... different, things. Apparently this guy was a retired a member of AFOGG while it was still around. Turns out that he had not only done work on the HoloCube, he had done some... other work as well. He focused his research on inter-dimensional travel.
When I read this, my spirits went through the roof.
"A way out..." I thought, daring not to speak as the undead might still be nearby. My mind all of the sudden started thinking about ways I could leave this place, and just go somewhere where life was more enjoyable, easier. But my excitement died when I read it needed a whole terrawatt to work.
Yet my brain overrode my mind and commanded me to grab the HoloCube, and search for a map of Northern Miami. When it pulled up a map, I had it point out the nearest, and largest, power plant. I was lucky I was close to one, we only had about 6 in the whole country, seeing how they produced over six billion gigawatts on a daily basis. I tried not to get my hopes to high, as in the end, it may not even work.
But I had to try.
I quickly put one hand over the USB drive, and my other on the HoloCube, and began the download process. It only takes a few seconds but in that time I am extremely vulnerable. I use all my energy transferring information from the computer to me, then exporting it to the HoloCube. It took longer than I expected, but eventually I end the download and remove my hand from the drive. I sat down, envisioning the design for the device to make the whole ordeal worthwhile.
I look over the components and groaned.
"Back to the hardware store we go, Styner."
It was something my dad used to say everyone I'd ask for materials to build something from the internet. Thinking about him made me more eager to go and leave this horrible place behind. I looked through my Pac and did an ammo check. What I found disturbed me: I had a severe shortage of magazines, only four 7 round clips and two grenades. I sighed, loaded my eagles, and head out into the stale air of undead Miami.
The hardware store proved profitable, giving me anything and everything I needed: motherboards, steel, and a high-stability power valve.
After hitting the shop I thought it best to scope out the library's internet for a layout of the plant.
I had just opened the door and a zombie looked me straight in the face. I reacted by instinct, dropping low, swinging my right leg under the zombie, making it fall to the floor. I then sprang back up, un-holstering my left desert eagle, putting it against his forehead, and pulling the trigger.
Silenced weapons make no sound so it looked like someone's life just drained instantly.
I stepped over the re-deadified corpse and proceeded on my way to the main computer. I placed my hand on the drive, scanned it to get the blueprint I wanted, and walked out the front door.
Feeling lazy, I found a bike store and hacked the electronic lock. I then hopped on and started to ride down to the power plant.
I knew it was a one-way trip.
Once I arrived, I looked around for about an hour trying to find the front door.
The place was MASSIVE. You could easily fit a few smaller mansions in it. This was, however, the sole energy provider for about 13 1/2 states (Tennessee was also part of the Northeastern Atlantic Power facility). The air was stale and frighteningly quiet, so I tried not to say anything I didn't have to.
I started through the building, running into a few pockets of trouble here and there. Knowing I had low ammo, took them all out with my knife. I'd throw a rock over to another part of the room and take them out from behind. When a floor was clear, I'd keep moving up until I got to the 4th floor. The third floor surprised me, seeing how it was empty.
I yanked my knife from the skull of the last on the floor, and crept over to the MCC (main cable controls) to get down to business. I took the parts out of my pack, and started to assemble the device. When I was almost done, I took the liberty of installing about 3 bar locks and 2 chain locks on the stairway door, just in case. I retrieved the last motherboard from my Pac and continued working. As i put the last screws in the device, I began to hear pounding and groaning from beyond the door.
Crap.
I quickly took a large cable from the cabinet labeled 'main export cable' with my hands and jammed it into the side of the machine.
Double crap.
Assuming I must have forgotten to turn it on, I ran over to the MCC and flipped a large red switch. The facility hummed to life in an instant, turning a dark, gloomy plant into a bright, deadly one.
Still nothing from the machine.
A lock, the first of many, broke off of the door.
I heard their numbers, and started to realize survival might not be possible.
I started to lose it. "This is it. The end. I'm done.". I cried for the first time in a while. Full of anger for how child-like I had been, for jumping at such an impossible opportunity. Filled with emotion, I gave a swift kick to the machine.
Then it happened.
A swirl of color had suspended in the air. Not 2D nor 3D, something else entirely.
Two more locks broke off the door.
I grabbed my pack and dove through the oval. Just as I stood back up, I heard the door bust open.
I pulled a grenade out of my pocket, pulled the pin and flicked off the handle, then threw it through the color. I ran to take cover behind the nearest object: a large boulder. I heard the explosion with a loud BOOM followed by a 'voop'.
When I looked up, the portal was gone. Destroyed with the grenade was the machine as well. According to plan, of course. Couldn't have dead guys going back and forth as they pleased.
I relaxed against the rock, and closed my eyes. I have never felt more exhausted or secure in my LIFE. Feeling my worries wash away, I drifted off to blissful sleep.
I must have fallen asleep for a while because when I woke up it was dark. This wasn't a problem though, as staying in the shadows meant for me staying alive. I sprung up from my nap, and became instantly aware of my surroundings. I was on the edge of a clearing in a massive forest. Now normally, I'd pull up a map in my head, find my location, and walk out of here. Piece of cake. Then it hit me that this wasn't home, and I didn't have a map. I sat down and decided that I'd climb a tree in the morning and make for the best possible location.
Tonight however, I made shelter in a nearby cave. I sat down and considered my options. While thinking, I threw a rock into a strange, mirror-like pool. The rock went in, no splash whatsoever. Then two rocks popped out, almost hitting me in the forehead. Out of sure luck they missed me. I was too stunned to move.
"What the hell is this?
I figure it was just a coincidence, but I wanted to test this theory. I threw another rock in, and just like before, two jumped out. I'm glad I did so, because I was throwing guns, mags, and grenades in there till' I couldn't throw any more.
Realizing the security I had, I stored all my firearms and ammunition in a hole in the cave wall. I took out a piece of paper and taped 'IN CASE OF EMERGENCY' over the hole. I then gathered some leaves from outside put my head down o. There I drifted back off into a cold sleep.
I dreamed about if I was something. I drempt that I had no longer my human body, but was something far better. In my dream I felt like I have the strange ability to fly, not like I had superpowers, but like I could actually fly on my own. I woke up slowly, yawning and stretching as I did so. I pulled my pack over and tried to open it.
I couldn't.
I jumped back in surprise, revealing to me that my feet were gone, replaced by flat dark-blue circles. My hands had the same problem, no more fingers. I really started to flip out.
"Wha... why...?" were the only words I could spew. I tried to wake myself up, this had to be a dream right? I shut my eyes tight, and hit myself in the head.
I opened my eyes again to find myself several feet off the ground. I was flying! As i became aware, my wings went lifeless. I nearly screamed as I started falling. Actually, I did scream. I hit the ground hard and dashed to the mirror/duplicator pond.
My whole body structure changed. I had 4 legs, a tail, a weird hairdo, and... wings? This was the most absurd thing I noticed, seeing as humans don't have wings, because we're mammals. So how was I a colorful pony and have wings? I didn't understand, nor did I want to. I wanted to join a new world's society, and apparently I was going to fit in.
Just as I started to truly comprehend the madness of it all, I saw someone was watching me through the cave door. A small purple pony with a horn jutting out from her blonde mane was looking at me intently. I jumped back letting out a yelp of surprise. She looked at me for a while and finally spoke in a shy voice...
"Hi… my name's Dinky, what's yours?".
I was unsure what to say. THIS WAS A PONY. HOW IN THE NAME OF GOD WAS IT TALKING?! Figuring that wouldn't be the best thing to say, I looked backwards and saw I had the USB icon on my rear-end.
Thinking fast i blurted "FLASH DRIVE!".
I looked towards the now frightened pony, who i noticed had a horn jutting out of her head, thinking about what I had said.
"Sorry I startled you, the name's Flash Drive."
She visibly loosened up a bit, and said "Oh, that's an interesting name. Why are you here alone? Mom says being alone makes you sad. Why are you in a cave?"
The questions came so fast, I was again speechless. I thought for a moment. I figured my story would be better off as a secret, so I told her a part of the truth. "I don't have home..." I said. "This place seems to work out though. Why do you ask?"
She immediately became shy again, and spoke softly. "Well, it's not often that we meet somepony new... and when you do, they're usually not the nicest ponies..." Her voice trailed off as a she was lost in thought, then replaced with a huge grin on her face.
"I know!" She said, losing her shyness, "You should live with us! Our place is much nicer than... this." She waved to the general area with her hoof.
"Will you? Pleeeeaaaaase? Mom has been kinda lonely lately, and I think somepony like you around the house could help her out a lot."
She paused when she saw how stunned I was by the sudden offer. She must have known I was having doubts, because she made a sad face and said "Pleeeeaaaase?"
I sighed. How was I to ignore a small, I guess unicorn?, like this?
"Alright, I'll come along." I finally answered.
Her smile grew to new lengths as she started bouncing around going "YAY!". Her horn began to glow and small rocks began to float around the room. I stood (on all fours now) and gawked at the wonder.
The glowing stopped and the rocks fell. Dinky was still full of excitement. "Come on! What are we waiting for, let's go!".
I replied with a simple "Okay".
I left the my stash of weapons safe, where no-, i guess pony now?, could find them. Ever. I swing my pack over one hoof and with difficulty put the other one through the strap, and head out into the forest once again.
Dinky said her house was only about a 30 minute walk away, and in a direction I hadn't even considered going towards. As we came close, I looked at the house she led me to.
It had that home-y look and feel; a large wooden home with an active chimney.
Dinky asked if I wanted to go inside first, just to take a look around. I reluctantly declined her offer and she happily skipped inside, humming a strange tune.
She opened the door and said quickly "Mom guess who I found!" A taller grey pony with blonde hair and wings walked out beside Dinky.
"All right mom, open your eyes..." Dinky told her. She opened her eyes and looked at me. Already looking at her, the first thing that struck me was her eyes. They were a little cross, but beautiful to look at. I wouldn't say cross eyed, now that I think about it, more wall eyed. I thought it best not to dwell on that factor. I also decided to break the awkward silence.
"Uh, Hi. I'm flash drive and I'm, uh, apparently new in town."
'Great job brain, just great.' I thought.
She looked at me with a questioning look, and finally spoke, "Flash Drive, that is a cool name. I'm Derpy Hooves, but everypony just calls me Derpy."
"Derpy, I'll try to remember it." I replied with a small smile. "As I said, my name's Flash Drive. Flash'll do though."
"Smooth Dean, great job. That's twice you've looked like an ass."
"SHUT UP BRAIN!"
I ignored my argument with myself as Dinky began her shpeal.
"Mom! You see, I was walking around in the Everfree forest, and..."
Derpy interrupted her with a "What?! You went into the Everfree forest?! Alone?? We'll talk about this later..."
Her daughter looked down and continued less enthusiastically, "So, while I was there I went exploring and found that cave pinkie found a while back. Anyway, I went inside and there was this pony, just really freaked out." She turned to me. "You never told me. What were you freaked about?"
It was difficult to explain, and I needed that explanation to be good, so I procrastinated.
"I was... you know what? I don't recall." I lied.
She looked confused, but continued "Anyway, he was just flipping out. So I introduced myself. He did the same, and he told me he didn't have a home so I asked if he could live with us. Pleeaase mom pleeeeaaaaase?"
I looked at the surprise on Derpy's face.
Seeing this, I threw in "Oh, you don't have to let me stay here Ms. Hooves. I'm sure I can find somewhere else to stay."
She cocked her head slightly and doing so caused her eyes to return to normal state, then said "Nonsense! Two things: One, look no further! Well b happy to have you stay! And two..." She looked at me, blushing a little, "No pony has ever called me Ms. Hooves before."
I looked at the ground, nervously scratching the ground with my hoof, "Sorry Derpy, won't happen again."
She giggled, putting her her mouth to muffle it. Derpy cleared get throat, smiled, and said, "No it's quite alright. Actually, I like it." She paused, then said "What are you waiting for? Come inside! You must be STARVING!"
I looked around, took a breath, and realized just how worth it this all had been.
There were pictures everywhere, a nice fireplace, and a few beds. It was a small from the outside, so I was kind of supprised when I saw how roomy it was.
Derpy opened up a fridge in a corner of the house and pulled out a huge tray of muffins.
Dinky bouncing around, going "Can I have one? Can I have one? Can I have one?"
Derpy gave an amused sigh and handed Dinky a muffin. She made it levitate as her horn began to glow again, and hopped out of the kitchen, muffin floating just behind her.
I looked towards Derpy again just in time to duck as she almost shoved a muffin in my mouth.
She remarked, "Wow. I usually catch them off guard. Guess your somethin' else huh?" she said a wink. She took a massive bite out of the muffin in her hoof. She then handed me another muffin, quite not so much force behind it thankfully. I hesitated and took a bite.
"My. God." I said through a mouthful of food. "This is, AMAZING! What's in it?"
She thought, then said "Grains, milk, eggs, and apples fresh from sweet apple acres." I was blown away. Speechless, more like it. All I could do was chew slowly and enjoy the flavor.
All of a sudden, Dinky ran in and asked "Mom, can I use the computer?".
As beautiful as it was, I nearly spat out my muffin.
'They have computers?!'
I was overjoyed! I could figure out where I was and what exactly was going on here!
Finishing the last bits of muffin in my mouth, I asked, "Could I use your computer for, I don't know, maybe 5 minutes? I know you don't know me that well just yet, but could you?".
Derpy looked up from her food in her hoof (or what was left of it) and replied "Sure, I don't see why not."
She led me to the computer and offered me a seat.
I declined, "I do this better standing up"
"Huh?" Derpy was confused, but did nothing.
I left the HoloCube in my pack, not wanting to reveal it just yet, yet put a solid hoof on it. I then started to transfer all the Earthly information to the cube, and began a partial download of the internet.
I started with the basics: The land was called Equestria and was ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. When there was trouble, six ponies joined together through something called the elements of harmony.
As cool as this was, I felt the need to go deeper. I kept digging through files. Thousands and thousands of files flew past my consciousness. I got so far as to classified data such as basic nuclear energy and high powered weapons. Their dimensions were nothing like I had ever seen before though, and seemed... almost useless to common knowledge. But I let it slide and continued.
When I finished, I felt the HoloCube's glow and my mane was drenched with sweat. Derpy and Dinky were staring at me, wide eyed.
Apparently each and every document I downloaded had flashed on the screen at some 350 pages per second.
Dinky finally said something, "What was that?"
I didn't know how to respond. Here I was trying to lay low, and I just blew it. So my brain worked overtime and said, "Hey Derpy, can I talk to you for just a second? Alone?"
She looked at me, and I saw the confusion. Here I was, a new house guest doing freaky things to the family computer.
Derpy must have realized part of what I was getting at, as she turned to her daughter and asked "Dinky, could you be amazing and go to Sugarcube Corner to get some blueberry muffins?".
Dinky being young and innocent, happily agreed.
Derpy waited a good five minutes before saying anything.
"So what they hay was that?" she finally said.
Having had a moment to think, I knew exactly how to word what I wanted to say.
"Derpy, before I can tell you, i need to know something: Can you keep a secret? A huge secret?"
She nodded but her face was still in total confusion. "Okay, here goes nothing." I breathed. "I'm not, well, from around here. I'm from... elsewhere. Never mind that. Any way, about what happened, I have this weird... ability, I guess you could call it. I talk with computers, basically."
Derpy shook her head. "Wait, so you can just tell a computer or ask it ask it something?"
I looked at her and continued "Sorry, I know it sounds insane but I really need you to-".
She cut me off with a, "What are you talking about? It's AWESOME! Why can't you tell anypony though?". I answered her with silence, and she replied "No, you don't have to tell me Drive, I was just being curious.".
" Thanks for understanding, not many peop- er, ponies would."
She smiled, then walked trotted back into the living room. Derpy then,called out "Well you gotta sleep somewhere, let's find someplace for ya."
I walked over and saw that Derpy had already pulled out a small mattress, maybe 4ft by 1ft.
Derpy looked up at me and said, "Well, I know it's not much, but it's something."
"Thanks..." I finally replied, "For all you've done."
She grinned and said 'No problem. Hey, maybe I can take you to Ponyville tomorrow, how does that sound?"
The sheer thought of hearing about others made me worried, and excited at they same time. "Sounds good to me." I said. "I can hardly wait."
I went into a self preservation mode instinctively, backing myself away from a sudden noise. I arched my back against the wall, almost ready to pounce before I heard "Mom! I'm hoooome!"
It was Dinky.
Luckily, Derpy hadn't noticed the whole ordeal. Her eyes closed and her nostrils enjoying the scent of freshly baked muffins. I closed my eyes as well and began to wander aimlessly toward the smell. My eyes being closed, I tripped on a few things, hearing Dinky and Derpy muffle giggles as I did so. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw the two of them walking backwards slowly, the muffin bag still in Dinky's mouth. When I became aware, they bust out on the floor laughing their guts out. After over-viewing the situation, I started laughing too.
After a while of fooling around and eating this beautiful food, Derpy looked outside. With the sun beginning to set, said "Well, best be getting to bed, g'night Drive.".
I yawned, not truly grasping how tired I was. "Sounds like a plan. G'night Derpy. G'night Dinky."
We all went our separate ways and the two of them,almost immediately passed out. I for one, however, was not so lucky. I kept thinking about what used to be home. I shook my head at the thought and drifted off.
I had a dream again.
This time, I was back with my family. Mom, dad, sister, and two brothers. They were all there. We were all sitting at this big, circular wooden table. No one was talking. No one was eating. We were all just looking at the big pile of food in front of me. No one else had so much as a fork, so I asked "What's with the food? You guys must be starving, take some!" They looked at me with no expression whatsoever. No happiness, no sadness, no pain, no fear, no ANYTHING. Then my mom spoke, "Dean, you've been given an amazing opportunity. Don't waste it." I was kept saying "Come! There is still time! Come on!" but to no avail, the horrid image replaced the wish.
I thought I deleted the file.
The image of my family on the ground. Dead. Half- eaten.
I had to follow procedure.
A bullet through the brain.
Each.
I woke up sobbing, just thinking.
15 minutes, just 15 minutes earlier could have saved them. But then, I thought: I did what I could; I followed protocol.
After that I was restless, so I went outside and sat on the porch. Finally, the sun came up to a strong and willing new member of it's society.
His name: Dean Styner
His home: no longer important
His talents: stealth, weapons knowledge, and download-ability
His goal: a new start.
He was the old, is the present, and will be his future.
I was still sitting on the porch when Derpy nudged me from behind. I didn't expect it, but i was at a level of calm where it didn't even matter.
She looked at strangely, then she quickly looked away and said "Good morning! You are an early riser aren't you, huh. Come inside and have some breakfast."
I got up slowly, then wearily trudged inside. I yawned, then felt my energy return to me. I asked Derpy, "So, you might have mentioned something about a place called Ponyville yesterday, what exactly is so special about it?".
Without even turning her head, she said "Oh, nothing in particular is special, it's just a cool place to be, you know? Just spend the day there, talk to ponies, buy some food or clothes-" she stopped and turned as the small pink unicorn entered the room. "Well good morning sweetheart, how are you?"
Dinky yawned, and said, "Really great mom! I think that's the best night's sleep I've had in a while!" Derpy smiled. "That's great. Would you like some Hay-O's?" Dinky got really excited and said "Oo! Oo! Yes please!" Dinky then levitated the cereal box and poured it into two wooden bowls. She turned to me, then said "Whoops, sorry bout' that Flash.", then poured another bowl.
We sat down to eat, and as I began to reach for a spoon, I saw how both Dinky and Derpy leaned their heads back and threw themselves face-first into the bowl of cereal. The milk went everywhere, and they began slurping noisily. After about maybe 10 seconds, they both came out of their dunking state and gasped for breath, then started laughing. I realized then, they were both waiting for me. So abandoning my ego, I shoved my face in the bowl and tried to eat what wasn't thrown out by the splash. I'm going to guess that some 20 seconds went by before I came out, my lungs begging for oxygen. They stared at me once again, trying to figure out how I had pulled off some other un-ponylike feat. To fill the silence, I said "Well hey, it's pretty good." With that, we all bust out laughing.
Dinky said goodbye to her mother, put on a strap with two parts on either end, and walked out the front door.
When I turned to ask Derpy where she had gone, she looked at me disbelievingly and asked with a hint of sarcasm "You never heard of little fillies and colts going to school?"
She then looked at her, getting farther and farther away, and whispered softly "I really hope her saddlebag isn't too much for her…"
'Ahh, so that's what it was called, the thing on her back.'
Derpy looked really excited. "What are you waiting for? We haven't got all day silly."
I snapped out of my thoughts, and said "Alrighty then, let's go!"
We headed out the door.
As we started walking, Derpy hit herself out of nowhere and exclaimed "Duh! Why didn't we do this earlier! We can just fly there!". I cocked my head at her.
'Fly? Oh yeah, wings dipstick. You have wings.'
Not really thinking, I replied "Well, you see, I never really learned how…".
Now Derpy was curious. "What do you mean you've never flown? You've spent your WHOLE life as a pegasus and have never even TRIED?" she asked disbelievingly. I shook my head, realizing that I had, once again, failed to lay low.
"Well, it's pretty simple. First you just feel the muscles in your wings, try to move them a bit."
I felt my back move in a queer way, a way I'd never felt before. I tried to flap them a little, but I wasn't sure exactly what was a bit. I went up like a rocket a few hundred feet in the air.
'Oh yeah, friendly reminder: YOU'RE TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS. '
'Shut up brain, just shut up.'
I started falling, and fast. I opened my wings again, slowly this time, and flapped the bare minimum I thought I could go. Slowly, but surely, I started to slow my descent and glide down to the ground. When I touched down, Derpy was blinking rapidly, her eyes going all wild. She then cleared her throat and said, "Well, that's... unusual.". She continued "Alright, you need a walkthrough, come here." I walked over and sat down. She walked behind me and massaged my wings, blushing slightly as she did so. I don't know how she does it, but it was just like everything relaxing creating a soothing feeling nothing could beat. "There" she said after a while, "Try that again.". I flapped my wings very, very gently and felt myself begin to hover about a foot over the ground. She smiled, and said "Not bad, that a pretty good start. Let's see if you can do this!". She turned and took off. Not wanting to lose my guide, I dashed after her, feeling the pure power my wings carried.
Fear = Conquered
Flying = Off the bucket list.
We flew around towards a fairly large group of buildings, which I assumed was Ponyville. We touched down, and Derpy began showing me around. We stopped a variety of markets and carts, of which Derpy bought some groceries. She then introduced me to each and everypony on the street. I remember a few: Lyra, Vinyl, Octavia, and Carrot Top.
Then Derpy thought I should meet some of her good friends. We stopped off at Sugarcube Corner first. Derpy and I walked in, and we were greeted immediately by a bouncing pink pony.
"Hey Derpy how are you? How's Dinky?" the pink pony glanced at me, Derpy, then back to me.
Then the onslaught of talk began with a gasp.
"Oh hi! YOU'RE who Dinky was talking about yesterday! Flash Drive, right? I'm Pinkie Pie. My friends call me Pinky though. Omygosh are you new?! Nopony's been new in AGES! You know what you need? A PARTY! Be at the library at 8, don't be late!"
Practically shoved out, I blinked and tried to comprehend what the hell just happened.
Derpy looked at me knowingly "She's a handful isn't she? Pinkie... anyway, let's check out the library she was talking about."
We passed a few more stands and arrived at a huge treehouse. The place was massive, must have been three stories tall, a window at the second floor led my eyes back to the bottom and showed me a door. I went to knock, but Derpy just barged right on in.
"Hello? Twilight, you there?" she called.
A small green, I want to say dragon?, started down the stairs.
He yawned and said in annoyed voice "Sorry Derpy, you're gonna have to wait, she's REALLY strung out about her studies. AGAIN."
He fixed his gaze on me, and I looked right back at him. He seemed a little dazed in general, so I ignored it and went on.
"Hi, I'm Flash Drive, you?"
He paused and said much more cheerfully than before, "I'm Spike, Twilight's #1 assistant!"
He seemed proud about it, so I didn't push further into the subject.
I continued "Sorry to interrupt, but I was hoping to at least say hello. You see, I'm new in town."
Spike's attention was obviously taken and he seemed excited. "Whew! FINALLY something to break her out of her studies! I'll be right back." He ran back up the stairs and you heard a door slam.
Derpy was looking down when I glanced over, and she mumbled "What, having me come over wasn't enough?"
I gave her a questioning look and asked "Is she really that serious on studying? What does she study anyway?"
She glanced elsewhere and replied "Anything and everything she can get her hoofs on. And she can get her hoofs on a LOT of subjects."
Just as Derpy finished, Twilight began to slowly walk down the stairs, spike leading her. "Alright, don't open your eyes just yet, almost there..."
As Spike told her I saw she had her eyes shut tight.
Spike led her in front of the two of us and said "Alright Twi, go for it!".
The purple pony's eyes blinked open as she looked at Derpy, then Spike, then back to Derpy.
"Really Spike?! You interior my studies on producers to tell me Derpy showed up?!" she exclaimed.
Derpy looked a little hurt, but said nothing.
Spike must have delt with this a lot, because he answered calmly, "Not exactly, take a look to her left."
Twilight's attention turned to me, so I spoke up "Hi, the name's Flash Drive, you're Twilight I take it?" She blinked, wondering what to say.
'Wow, I guess it really IS rare to have a new pony in town...'
She paused before responding "That's me. I don't think I've seen you around, you're new?"
I chuckled. "Wow, I guess it is that obvious huh."
Derpy interjected with "Well, there's a lot to see. Thanks Twilight! See you tonight!"
She seemed confused "Tonight? What's going on tonig-" Derpy slammed the door, cutting her off. We then heard the pony's sudden rage from point-blank through the door.
"PINKIE PIE! WHY DO ALL THE PARTIES YOU HAVE NEED TO BE WHERE I BUCKING SLEEP!"
Derpy tried to distract me from the outburst, "Two down, four to go, you ready?"
I replied, "As much as I'll ever be.".
Next stop was to meet a timid pony who found her place among the animals, or that's how Derpy presented it.
Derpy and I walked up to her and she said in a very small voice "Oh, hi Derpy, how are you? Who's your friend?"
I had Derpy respond, she had saying it would be better that way in advance, "I'm alright. Dinky's off to class. This is our new house guest. His name is Flash Drive."
I stepped forward and trying to remove whatever edge of my voice i could, said "Hi, Flash is the name, how do you do?"
"Fine, thank you. I'm Fluttershy. Umm, Flash Drive? Like the one's in those computers?"
I replied with a "Yeah, those are the ones…"
Derpy looked at the yellow pony and said kinda regretfully "Sorry to cut it short, but we gotta run. See you later!"
Fluttershy said "Oh, all right. See you later…" When we got out of earshot, Derpy breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! Sorry about that, she can be a little timid at first, but fun when you get to know her.
I looked up in the sky. It was clear with no cloud in sight.
Derpy's stomach started to growl. She laughed "Wow. I am STARVED. You hungry?" Hearing my own stomach growl was all the assurance I needed.
"Same here." We headed down to a small diner and walked inside. Like most places here, it was bigger on the inside and colored a bright orange. A waitress skipped over and handed, or should I say- hoofed us some menus. I looked it over from top to bottom twice, and couldn't find anything meaty!
'I guess vegetarians are the norm, huh'
With Derpy's help in choosing, two Celestia salads were on their way. When they arrived, I watched Derpy to see how she ate in public. She ate like I would have regularly when I was a human: stab some greens with a fork and eat. After a nice, quiet lunch, we left and set off for a nearby farm.
On the fly there I thought it best to ask Derpy a few questions I had. "Hey, Derpy?"
She looked over her shoulder and replied "What?"
I said, "There's no easy way to ask this, so I'm just going to go ahead. Why do these ponies all seem somewhat alike? Your friends I mean."
Effortlessly, she flew ahead and turned around to face me, still flying straight as she did so. "Well, I guess not much... other than the fact that they all have pieces of the elements of harmony."
I thought it best to stop her there. I knew who these ponies were and what they represented, I just had to make my initial clueless-ness not so awkward by asking questions.
She continued "Well, we should be there soo-"
I didn't hear the end of what she said. Just then, she crashed into a huge wooden barn. Pieces of wood flew everywhere. I reacted: folding up my wings and droping out of the sky like a rock. I broke my fall with an awkward somersault and skidded to a halt.
Then, kicking open the large door, I sprinted to Derpy's aid. When I found her, she was in a haystack, small bits of wood here and there.
"Derpy, are you okay?!"
She groaned, then said "I'm alright, my back hurts like crazy though..." Derpy made eye-contact with me and said "Thanks for asking. Aghh. I just don't know what went WRONG."
Derpy had barely finished her sentence when an angry pony from in the field screamed "DERPY! You tell me... YOU TELL ME! THA' YOU DIDN' JUST BUS' ON THROUGH MY BARN AGAIN!"
I looked to Derpy and said "Well, you're the expert... do we wait for the anger or should we break?"
Derpy replied quickly with "Go. Go go go gogogogo!"
I wasted no time in taking off like a rocket again and flying away.
When we had put some distance between us and the barn, she chuckled "Well, now you can say you've met Applejack."
Switching subjects, she continued "Pick a hoof."
She stuck out both hoofs and I tapped the left one.
She pulled them back and said "Alrighty then. Rarity, then Dash."
We took a left turn and headed toward the seamstress' boutique.
We landed by the doorstep and Derpy knocked twice.
"Hello? Rarity, you there?" Derpy called.
A high class voice returned with a groan, "Derpy! What could you POSSIBLY want?! I am very busy working for a client, so of you excuse me, I-"
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT MUFFINS I PROMISE!" Derpy interrupted.
The door swung open. "Oh really then, what is it?" The curly haired mare stepped out and looked at me.
A little baffled, she spoke in bursts "Well... I'm sorry... I thought... I'm Rarity."
Derpy spoke for me "Told you it wasn't muffins. Rarity, Flash Drive. Flash Drive, Rarity"
Rarity seemed to understand and said "Oh, so that's what the party is for, seeing as pinkie never takes the time to specify..." The white pony turned to me and said "Well hello, sorry I can't chat, but I have so much work to do! See you at... 8!"
She took out a phone to check, then walked back inside.
Derpy started back towards the main road, and I ran up alongside her.
"It's a bit of a ways, but we can see Dash and back at about 7. You ready?" Derpy unfolded her wings.
"As much as I'll ever be."
"All right then, let's go!"
We took off once again and flew almost straight up. We began heading to a dense group of clouds and as we got closer, it looked more and more like a city.
Derpy pointed ahead and said "Welcome to Cloudsdale, home of most pegasi." I couldn't respond, I was too astonished at how huge the city was and of it's ability to just float like it did. As we arrived, I spotted a blue pony flying from cloud to cloud at unbelievable speeds, destroying each cloud as she did so.
Derpy called out "Dash! Hey! Hey Dash! Rainbow Dash over here!" Derpy started waving her hoof in the air.
The pegasus must have heard her because she ducked behind a cloud.
Derpy looked around and called out "Rainbow dash? Where'd you go?"
Remembering Derpy is cross-eyed, I recalled witch cloud dash had hid behind and flew over. I rested on the other side of the cloud, which was surprisingly solid, and made my way around. When I saw the pony, I found it was hard to miss where 'rainbow' in her name came from.
I started "Hi, you're Rainbow Dash right?"
Instead of an answer, I received a punch headed my way. While still in the air I moved left to dodge it and blocked her next one with the flat of my hoof.
Rainbow Dash strained against the resistance "So… nghh… you're obviously not Derpy…"
Derpy popped out from over the cloud and said "No, I'm right here!"
I threw her failed punch towards the ground and flew a foot backwards.
I continued "No, I'm not. I'm Flash Drive and I'm new to the area."
Dash replied "Well for somepony new you box like a pro, where did you learn that?"
I thought, and gave her somewhat truth "All self taught, no teacher."
It was partially true. I learned it from the streets following the apocalypse breakout, and I was pretty certain that would be bad to say here.
"Well Flash I'm Rainbow Dash. Listen, I've gotta go finish this before the party tonight. See you there!"
The blue pony took off to a patch of clouds in the distance, leaving the two of us behind.
With nothing else on the agenda, Derpy and I started home. On the way back i decided to do an experiment, just to see what would happen. While just cruising I folded my wings and dropped out of the sky.
Derpy freaked out "Flash! Open your wings!"
Every bone in my body told me to do so, but this was an experiment. After falling about half a mile, and about 100 feet off the ground I thrust out my wings and started to slow my descent. I hit the ground hard and rolled, but I was okay for the most part.
Derpy flew over in seconds and was pale "Ohmygodareyouokaywhydidyoufallwhydidntyouopenyour wingslikeI, 'gasp', toldyou?!"
"Sorry," I replied "I was curious to see what would happen."
Derpy was astonished. Her eyes narrowed in, uncrossing, as she spoke "Never, NEVER do that again."
She sniffed, then said "I thought you were going to die…".
She looked around confused, then face-palmed herself with her hoof.
"I needed to pick up DINKY that's what I forgot!"
She acted pretty nervous, then asked me "Hey Drive? I was wondering if you could pick up Dinky if it's not too much trouble."
I stared at her in disbelief. This was her CHILD she was asking me, some pony she doesn't truly know, to go and get. But in the same boat, what else could I say?
"Sure, where is she?"
Derpy replied "That's the point. After school if I'm not there right then she'll go home with Applebloom, one of her friends."
I was a little frustrated "So I need to go BACK to where we almost got our behinds served to us? Alright, I'll see you in a half hour."
Derpy was estatic, "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! Remember how to get there?"
I shook my head, so she pointed a hoof and I started on my way.
I could see why Derpy wanted me to do this:
#1- it was Applejack's barn we demolished
#2-Dinky could come home herself, but it was getting dark fast
In about five minutes, I touched down and walked past the destroyed barn and to the front steps. I knocked and Applejack came to the door.
"Hi, Derpy sent me to pick up Dinky?" I said, uncertain of what her reaction would be or even if she'd recognize me from earlier.
Appkejack's face hardened "You mean you a friend of that… that… anyways how do I know you aint just a… a… ponynapper, or somthin like that?"
Dinky poked her head out and seeing the commotion spoke up "Hi Flash! You here to pick me up?"
I didn't get a chance to respond "Probably, mom's getting ready for the party."
'How does everyone know already? Word travels faster than I thought...'
Applejack looked back at Dinky "So this is who you were, *ehem*, entertaining, our dinner with tonight." She choked out. "Well, so you're this mysterious Flash Drive then, sorry i was so curt."
"No problem, really. I would have done the same." I replied, still a little awkward about the barn situation.
"Well, thanks a bunch, but we need to get going. See you later?"
Applejack seemed confused, then it must have clicked "Ahh, I remember now, tha' party's tonight. Well, see yall soon!"
She shut the door, and Dinky and I began the walk home.
After about five minutes, I asked out of pure curiosity "Umm, Dinky? Do you think you can use your horn to light everything up? It is a little dark."
Without responding verbally, she started levitating a pebble and a small area of the forest lit up. Her horn was glowing in light pink magic.
"Thanks, much better." I said.
We arrived to 'Home sweet home' and Derpy gave Dinky a hug and me a thank you. Derpy walked out of the room with Dinky. She came back outside after a bit and told me what she was doing.
"Just tucking Dinky in, you ready?"
"I'm good, let's roll!"
We set off out into the night. We flew fast, knowing we were somewhat behind. In-flight, Derpy took out a phone and checked it.
"Crap, we have 2 minutes!" she yelled over the wind.
"Well, let's see if we can't pick up the pace then!" I yelled back.
We landed by the library steps with 30 seconds to spare. We walked in and were greeted by tons of ponies.
Pinkie was the first one to run up and say "Oh my gosh! I'm so happy you're here! Aren't you happy you're here too! This is gonna be awesome!"
Pinkie looked over her shoulder, "Ooo! Vinyl's here! Hey everypony! The music just arrived!"
I looked to Derpy, "So, parties are this crazy always? or is this-" Derpy interrupted, "Oh NO. Ha! The party hasn't even STARTED YET!"
Time passed and I walked over to the main table and poured myself a glass of the fruit punch. I looked at all the ponies, some standing around talking and others dancing. I found Derpy again by her friends. Without walking over, I canceled out the other noise in my head and focused on their conversation. Twilight was leading the conversation.
"Okay, Princess Celestia's birthday is tomorrow, and she's coming to Ponyville like usual. Pinkie, you're on party supplies and banners. Applejack, you're on drinks. Fluttering and Rainbow Dash, I need you two on weather, I don't want a cloud in the sky. Rarity, you have that present ready?"
The white pony said nothing, which I took as a nod.
The unicorn continued "Great. Derpy, you can make all the muffins anyone will ever eat right?"
Derpy liked the idea "Sure, they'll be ready in the morning."
Twilight replied "Awesome, and-" I cut her off, walking up to the group.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I need to know if the princess has an interest in technology."
They all stared at me baffled.
Rainbow Dash spoke up "You mean does she like computers? Yeah! Who doesn't?"
I looked down, I was afraid of blown off like this.
Fluttershy added "Well, I guess if you had something to give her, you could. She's very into new ponies and what they have. I mean... you don't really have to... it was just an idea."
It was nice to get a full response.
'Nice. You're getting there.'
"I will thank you. Just a question, sorry about that."
Derpy said "No problem! I ask questions all the time."
Twilight turned toward me "Hmm. You seem to know what you're doing, go for it. Actually could you do that and help Derpy with the muffins?"
She leaned closer and whispered "Just make sure she doesn't eat them all... she'll do that just so you know."
I muffled a chuckle and whispered back "Gotcha. Not happening on my watch."
The group broke up and we enjoyed the rest of the party. It wrapped up around 10, so Derpy and I started home.
On the fly back, Derpy asked "As you were saying earlier, you wanted to give the princess something. What exactly?"
I sighed and said "Well, it's not ready yet. On the flip side I have a question for you. Could we stop at the house and pick up something, then go to that cave?"
Derpy got a little fidgety, then said "Why not?"
We landed and I ran inside and grabbed my pack, along with the HoloCube inside.
Remembering the path, I quickly led us to the duplication cave. We landed by the mouth and walked in.
I set down my pack and pulled out the HoloCube. Then, with a leap of faith, dropped it in the pool. As before, two popped out. I chucked another one in and caught the two for a total of three.
I then sat down and wiped two of them, leaving the cubes blank. I then moved all the Earthy information to one cube, Equestria info in the other and put it back in my pack.
I turned to Derpy "Ready?"
We dropped by the doorstep and opened the door quietly.
"Remember that Dinky's asleep." She whispered.
I nodded in return, and Derpy walked into the kitchen. She began taking a variety of ingredients from a bunch of different places, then pulled out a massive muffin tray.
Amazed, I had trouble asking "Wow, how many muffins do you have to make again?"
Without looking up, she said "Only 250, so that's 2 1/2 batches I'll need to make."
Awed by the sight, all I could say was "Wow, that's a lot."
Recovering, I continued "Say, do you have any wrapping paper and some tape?"
Still absorbed, Derpy pointed to a closet.
"Thanks."
I went over and got what I needed, then set the empty HoloCube on the floor. I put a simple message inside: 'To a better world'. I used what experience I had and wrapped it up, in the end using more tape than paper. I put it on the counter for the morning and headed off for some well deserved sleep.
This time I was laying on a white sandy beach with the wind blowing gently against my face. I was human again, so I stood up and started walking down shore. After a few paces, I found that my mom and dad, Sharon and David, were right behind me with their hands on my shoulders.
Sharon was a medium height woman, perfect for a mom, and had blonde hair and green eyes like mine. David, taller than his wife, had brown hair (like mine) and dark brown eyes.
Sharon spoke softly but clearly in a soothing voice "Dean, we've seen how far you've come. We just wanted to say how much we love you and how proud we are of our son."
David added "We also wanted to remind you that none of us were ever given this chance, a redo if you may. Please, for our sake, don't let it fade away. You must protect it. Protect it as you protected us and how we tried to protect you. Your mom and I love you Dean, and we always will. We'll see you…" He sighed "... one day."
I was in tears. "Mom, Dad, please. Why are you saying this? I know it's important but why?".
Sharon spoke eerily in a calm voice "Because your nightmare, OUR nightmare, is on it's way into your sanctuary. We don't know how or why, but when it emerges, you must make sacrifices."
I was bamboozled and sobbing simultaneously "I don't understand." I made out between heaves. They started to fade slowly, and I screamed "NO! DON'T GO! PLEASE!"
They vanished completely and I was left alone on the beach. Nothing for my tears to fall on but warm white sand.
I awoke slowly, the sun shining on my face through the window. I got up from my makeshift bed and folded the sheets.
I walked into the kitchen where I found Derpy shoving a muffin in her mouth. She saw me because she turned around and said "You didn't see that right?"
I put a hoof against my chest and to her amusement replied "Your secret's safe with me Ms. Hooves."
She turned a bright red and joked "Well good, cuz' I didn't see anything either."
We chuckled and I walked over to the present I had wrapped the night before. I took a small piece of paper and scribbled on it a riddle that came to mind.
I folded up the paper and taped it to the box. I signed -Anonymous- to the letter and gently took it under my wing. I glided back into the kitchen and saw Derpy still there, emptying a muffin tray the size of New Oklahoma into a giant parcel.
She called out, knowing I was there "Hey Flash, could you call Dinky in here?"
Starting for the hallway, I called back "Sure thing!".
I entered the small hallway and not knowing which room was which, yelled "Hey Dinky?".
The magenta unicorn stepped out of a room, the door swinging open hitting me in the nose.
"OW!" I yelped, jumping back.
Dinky ran over to me, where I had both hooves clutching my snout. "Sorry about that!" Dinky apologized, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Fine." I replied, still wincing.
'My my my, Dean, you HAVE gotten soft haven't you? And only your third day here…'
'That's not necessarily a bad thing though…'
I let go of my nose and ignored the now annoying pain. "Thank you Dinky, but I really am fine. Oh and your mom wants you in the kitchen." I said a little more softly.
She smiled and called out "Alright mom, I'm coming!"
She turned to me and said "Sorry. Thanks for not being too mad though." She pranced into the kitchen, then right out of it levitating the bulging box of freshly baked muffins.
Derpy, now hooves free, asked "So, are you ready to head out?"
I walked up beside her, present-in-hoof, and replied "Only when you are."
She turned light red again and tried to hide it. Without saying anything we walked out into the sunshine.
Yet the sun wasn't the only thing making me feel warm.
We arrived just as the banner was being put up. The banner read 'Happy Birthday Celest', and Twilight was yelling at the two ponies.
"That's the third year in a row!" Twilight yelled, making the two ponies feel smaller and smaller. She turned away.
"What am I going to doooooo?".
I spoke up "Maybe she won't mind that much." Twilight looked over at us.
Ignoring what I said, she exclaimed "Thank CELESTIA you're here! PLEASE tell me you brought everything! My plan is falling apart fast and I... can't… HANDLE IT!"
Her screaming turned inaudible as she hit a point. Then I heard my ears ring softly, and her scream some more.
Derpy tried to calm the raging unicorn "Twilight, calm down. We brought everything and this whole thing is going to turn out fine." the words seemed to sink in and Twilight stood up straighter.
"You know, maybe you're right. I've been a little uptight since the surprise party… no offense Flash."
"None taken." I replied, thankful she had calmed down somewhat.
The rest of the mane 6 was already here. Applejack said gave us a short hello before setting up a punch stand.
The punch was orange, and had a small amount of froth. Applejack happily handed me one, but hesitated before Derpy. Giving her a long, almost deadly stare.
I did what any normal human would; raised it to my face and turned it bottoms up.
"This is some real good stuff!" I exclaimed, setting back down the mug for another.
Derpy nodded, chugged, then said "If it wasn't there would be something wrong with you!"
She turned her attention to Dinky and had her drop the large package on a tablecloth. Derpy then opened the parcel and muffins flooded out.
Instead of going absolutely everywhere, we were in luck. Twilight was close by, and all the muffins laid themselves out on the table magically.
Derpy looked to Twilight to say thanks but she was already gone, barking at somepony else.
I looked up to see the last cloud had just been kicked into nothing by the local weather-pony, and Fluttershy was desperately trying to change a large plume of fog's direction.
Back by the banner I looked over and saw Pinkie shoving tons of ribbon and other stuff in a cannon. Curious, I walked over.
"Pinkie? What are you doin-"
The cannon went off with a massive BOOM and party supplies shot everywhere, covering the tables and just making everything more cheery. The force of the explosion knocked me onto the ground and sent me skidding.
Pinkie turned from her cannon "Oh hi Flash! Just setting upsy wupsy! And this is my party cannon!" her face became slightly more serious "What's going on?"
I struggled to regain my balance. "Yeah amazing. I'm doing just great, thanks."
'Party cannon? What on Earth? Screw it, I'll figure it out.'
Pinkie looked at me for a solid 10 seconds before saying "Flash, I know you're new, but don't be so down! That's what the party was for, remember?"
Before I could deny or at least respond she continued "They don't all know you like how I see Derpy does, but they will! I see that you're a great pony- and know that you're one of my good friends!"
The last part surprised me. Friends? I barely knew her. But as I thought, I realized 'What the hell. Having friends sounds pretty good for a change.'
Before either Pinkie or I could say more, Twilight began screaming again.
"SHE'S HERE! COME ON! SHE'S HERE!"
I sprinted to a table with a single gift on it, threw mine next to it, and ran back to Derpy, who was full of anticipation.
A huge white chariot rose through the sky and dove, stopping on the ground with a millimeter of room between the door and the
banner. Out of the door came my first look at the princess.
Celestia was a very tall white pony with both wings as well as a horn. She wore a simple crown and her hair was a vibrant mixture between blue, green, and pink.
Twilight was the first to greet her. Twilight ran up to her with wide eyes and said "Happy Birthday!"
Celestia, with a calm voice that showed obvious authority, replied "Thank you Twilight. It seems you did a fabulous job once again."
She glanced at the banner and laughed. "Not a thing has changed, now has it?"
She proceeded to glance over at the gifts. She levitated Rarity's present over and opened it carefully. Inside was a large shining sapphire.
Celestia smiled and said "Thank you Rarity, it's beautiful."
Rarity blushed "You're very welcome, your Highness." Rarity said, giving a small bow. "It wasn't too hard to find with Spike here" she rustled the dragon's scalp.
She looked towards my present. "More than one? That's odd..."
She levitated it over and read the small poem out loud. "Ehem,
To the one who rules the world by day:
You may not understand, that is perfectly fine,
your answer lies inside this rhyme.
Contained in this vessel is an object of power,
yet to crack it may cause you to turn sour.
To open it properly there is not a key nor a lock,
it's simple yet difficult, but don't wait on the clock.
Ask around town, for somepony must know,
why this mysterious box won't open easily so.
I'll give you some help; here is a clue-
the one in question is somepony new.
During her reading I silently backed away, then made a break for the woods. When a safe distance away, I cursed myself.
'DAMMIT! What was I THINKING?!'
'I can't just have everyone knowing yet, they seem to be having enough trouble dealing with a new PONY, never-mind a human. I bet they've never seen one before...'
But I reasoned further "Well, what's done is done. At least I made it somewhat difficult."
Trying to keep low-profile, I went into my survival mode. To sum it up it's where I go when I don't want to be tracked by anything. I go completely silent and don't leave a single trace. You'd hear your own heartbeat before you heard me.
To sum it up, the zombie apocalypse teaches you to be resourceful, stealthy, and most importantly: quick. Not just that, zombies aren't your only enemy.
I shimmied up a tree and poked my eyes out of it's branches. With no-one in the sky or on the ground, I made my way back to the party.
I hid behind a tree, just outside the party's clearing to observe. To my surprise, the princess appeared to have opened it and put it right back down. I don't know whether to be relieved that she was stumped or scared because she figured it out.
I disputed the fact and came to the conclusion that she had not solved it, but was simply putting it of till later.
'Whew, isn't that a relief...'
After more time went on, maybe about 10 minutes total, I walked out casually. As I figured would happen, Pinkie took notice my disappearance.
Pinkie bounced over. "Where were you? I looked everywhere!"
Already planned out, I replied flatly "Bathroom."
"Ahh, got it! So you missed it! Princess C opened up the other present and was totally confused! She kept asking who sent it and nopony said anything. I was SURE that Whooves guy did it, but I guess not huh?"
Trying to process the constant stream of words, I spat "Huh? Wonder who sent it…"
"I know right? Well, I have MUCH more party to shoot, so I'll see you later Flash!"
The cannon blast from earlier popped into memory as I saw Pinkie once again shoving ribbon and other items in her cannon. Ducking for cover, it shot everywhere and enveloped the majority of ponies in confetti.
Derpy walked over, still drinking her cider, and said "Wow, you were gone for a while. Bathroom?"
"Bathroom."
"Gotcha, sooo who do you think it is? This mystery gift giver?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe…"
I pulled Derpy aside "me?"
She jumped back. "Really?!" I shushed her and whispered "DERPY! Come on! If they all knew it wouldn't be fun now would it?"
'Good. Fun is an excellent disguise.'
Her cross eyes lit up. "Ohhh, NOW I remember. It was what you dropped in the lake last night wasn't it. I guess that's really important."
I explained what it could do.
Derpy was speechless. "Really? It does that? It can hold EVERYTHING!"
"Yeah. Crazy huh?"
"YEAH, but AWESOME!"
I cut to the chase "Derpy, as cool as this is, remember, I gave them all a hint so it's fun. Make sense?"
"Sure! Can I at least tell Dinky?"
I gave her a look "You wouldn't want to take the fun away from her now would you?"
"True, true… but still wow."
We walked back over to where the commotion was starting to break up. Celestia told everypony she had important business to attend to and thanked everyone for coming. Then she climbed into her chariot and just before it took off, we made eye contact. Just for a brief second. But in that time I saw her eyes widen and I knew that she now knew my face. And in that instant she could tell i was new.
Derpy had her daughter shove what was left of the muffins back into the parcel, and I did what I could to help pack up everywhere else. I looked over and saw that the mane six were gathering and talking, so me and my awesome social skills went over to listen.
"We have time tomorrow, so the picnic is still on? Same spot sound good?"
There was a unanimous "Alright!"
Myself, wanting to learn just who these ponies were, butted in. "Hi, me again. Sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if I could join you girls. Just i'm new and was hoping to get to know peop- er, ponies a little better.
Pinkie was instantly excited. "Sure!" "Why not?" She added when everyone stared at her in disapproval. Seeing this, I said "It's alright, I was just hoping to get to know some of yo-"
Rarity cut me off. "Nonsense my dear! You can join us! It's usually interesting to learn about new ponies and where they came from."
They all liked the idea, and it made me feel kinda glad that I was being somewhat accepted.
"Sounds like a plan! What time was it?"
Twilight sighed. "That's what we were just trying to decide. Noon or-"
"Noon." I said. "Definitely noon. Just thinking that way we still have most of the afternoon left after."
The group exchanged glances and Applejack looked appalled. "Not even Granny Smith 'erself could manage 're time like that. Yer good Flash, yer good."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
She looked at her friends. "What? He can keep track of all 'tha stuff."
"I could TOTALLY do that!" Rainbow Dash remarked.
Everyone just stared at her in denial.
"What?" She questioned, the others still shooting her looks
Moving on, I smiled. "Noon it us then! See you girls then!"
I walked away, but I heard every word they said. Even words they whispered.
Another advantage to being in the zombie apocalypse, you train your ears.
"Twilight, Applejack, you really think this us a good idea?"
Twilight answered "Sure! Didn't you girls make me feel welcome when I came?"
"True, but I got this weird feeling he's hiding something." Rainbow Dash said.
"Don't be silly! We barely know him, so of course we don't know everything!" Pinkie replied cheerfully.
"I mean, he does seem nice. Oh, but that's just what I think, you girls don't have to listen..." Fluttershy said barely over a whisper
I could see Dash still had doubts, but I was already out of the picture. I found Derpy and Dinky and we headed home.
(POV- Derpy Hooves)
Flash walked over from the 6, and I shoved a muffin in my mouth. Smiling at him through a full mouth. He smirked and rolled his eyes. I called Dinky over and we headed for home.
On the way back my mind raced. Pointless things such as puppies went through my mind as well as important questions.
Who is he? He seems nice, is actually kind of cute, but I feel he isn't telling me something, something important. What I don't know, but do know it is really important. Like what was that cube really? How'd he get it?
So many questions, but I decided to ask one a day, so I didn't seem too awkward. As I said, he is kinda cute. I wonder what he thinks of me?
I shook my head and smiled. Then considered what to ask him first.
With that we reached the doorstep, it was mid-afternoon, and Flash, like I had started to notice, wasn't hungry. But when I pulled out a fresh batch of four from the oven.
He spun around "Yes!"
I chuckled and handed him a chocolate chip one. He bit into it and moaned with delight.
"Thought it couldn't get better. Wow, guess I was REALLY wrong wasn't I?"
I laughed. Of only he knew what other things I could mix up.
(POV- Flash Drive)
Dinky walked out of the door. I figured to school, as the saddlebags near the door were gone.
After a few minutes of just talking about the birthday party, Derpy's face lit up.
"Safe distance!" She threw a green plastic tube at me. Going partially into survival mode, I had to keep myself from catching it and embedding it in the wall.
"BUBBLE FIGHT!" she squealed. She pulled out the wand and blew a constant stream toward me. I jumped and ducked for cover, simultaneously sending a bubble barrage her way.
It was a constant battle of wits and bravery, or just who could find the best cover. In the end, we were both covered in the bubble syrup and laughing on the floor. Derpy and I cleaned up the excess bubble mess and threw the wands away.
I looked outside the window and the sun was setting.
"Wow, I guess time does fly by when you're having fun." I chuckled.
Derpy agreed "Guess so huh."
Her facial expression kept the wall eyes, but got slightly serious. "Flash, there's been something i've been wanting to ask you. But first-" She held a hoof up to my would be questioning mouth, "-I need to say this. Really, I hardly knew you when Dinky brought you home the other day. Heck, I still don't know you as well as I'd like to, but that doesn't mean that I don't trust you. Just saying."
Derpy took a deep breath, then exhaled. "All right, here goes nothing." she muttered "Alright, where exactly did you come from?"
"I was afraid you'd say that. I'm sorry Derpy, I really am, but I can't tell you yet. It's for the best. Please, you said you trust me and I need you to on this."
Derpy looked a little let down. "No, I half expected that. Thanks for saying that instead of just making something up though. A lot of ponies would, sadly enough."
Dinky bust in through the door then, dropping her bags and running up to her mother.
Derpy returned the hug "So how was school?"
Dinky face just dropped as if the joy had been sucked right out of her.
"Diamond Tiara..." She replied, her voice barely audible. "I don't know why though, I'm not mean to her but she won't stop being mean back!"
I was about to say how I had an idea that could help, but pulled it back, remembering the picnic.
'The picnic can wait, this is serious'
I spoke up "Dinky, anything I can do? I am particularly good at, you could say, giving lessons.' I cracked my hoofs and neck.
"I guess, but don't hurt her. She's mean and all, but I shouldn't get even."
I chuckled "Dinky, this isn't getting even, it's..." I searched for a word. "-standing up for yourself, and I'm pretty sure I can help."
"Promise? Promise you won't hurt her?"
"I'll meet her, but I can't make any promises."
"Alright, you can talk to her about 11... when school's over."
She yawned. "Well goodnight Flash."
The yawn seemed contagious, as Derpy and I both were doing so.
I took the hint from my body. "Well, g'night Derpy."
"Night Drive."
I wandered over to my bed and fell on it. Too tired to even pull the sheets over, I drifted off to sleep.
*Help Derpy with mail delivery (Vinyl is expecting packages from Amazon)
I had the HoloCube record each event with a five minute alarm so if I forgot I could always just make a mad dash to whatever.
I heard my stomach growl so I glanced at it. It seemed much larger than usual.
Granted I wasn't a pony before, but still.
'Growing a little large, now aren't we?'
'Brain, I'll let you know when I care.'
Yet my first thought inspired me, so I took a lap around the house, or 2, or 7, or 2,489.
I was at a two legged jog when the sun was starting to peak in the sky. Derpy had just opened the door and was rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
I quickly dropped out of the two leg format and back onto all fours.
"Mornin' Derpy! Sleep well?" I asked, finally slowing down
She yawned, then replied "Alright, how about you? I mean, you're up already and all."
I looked at myself and how I was fully drenched in sweat.
"Yeah, slept well, thanks. Dinky up yet?" I switched the subject.
"I don't know…" Dinky said, her eyelids falling back down in a last ditch attempt to sleep.
"Well, she has school today, or something right?"
"Well... yeah. I should go wake her."
She stumbled back inside and I followed suit.
When Dinky came out of her room, she seemed pretty glum. At a further glance Derpy was trying to cheer her up before she stormed out of the hallway and back into her room.
Derpy came back slowly, tears visible in her eyes.
"She doesn't want to go to school today, she says that she's been bullied so much she's had enough." She sniffled. "I've never seen her like this before… ever…"
Derpy's eyes began to tear up so I chose my words carefully
"Hey, hey, hey. Stop that. Listen… last night as Dinky and I were walking home she mentioned somepony that caused her trouble, and I p-, I promised that I would fix it. My guess is that she just forgot."
I left out the part about how I told Dinky no promises, but seeing Derpy cry was enough to make me sure of that decision.
Derpy spoke softly and with a little happiness "Really? You did? Oh Flash, I- I don't know what to say…". The tears stopped and her cross-eyes lit up.
I put a hoof out and said "No need to thank me. It's my pleasure. Where's Dinky? Just let me talk to her."
"She's in her room…" Derpy replied, happiness returning to her face.
I head over to her Door, which had a small amount of dried blood from the previous morning, and knocked twice. When there was no answer I slowly pulled the door open.
"Dinky? Can I talk to you for a second?"
On her bed, face in her pillow, she replied in a harsh tone "Sure. What do you want."
I looked at her and sat down on the floor beside the four post bed. "Remember that conversation we had last night, on the way home?"
Dinky rolled over, still expressionless "Yeah, what about it?"
"Do you remember what I said?"
Again, she hesitated before replying with a short "No, why?"
I spoke as kindly as I could "Because last night you told me about your little-"
She scowled.
"Sorry, -your problem and I told you, I promised you that I would do anything I can do to help. So, what do you want me to do? You mentioned meeting this pony at around 11, and I can only do that if you go to school today."
"Yeah, I guess that's the only way…" she said, looking into the floor.
She brightened up
"Yeah, if you solve this, I won't have to be worried about getting bullied anymore! Thanks Flash!"
She ran up, gave me a hug which I almost reeled back from, then she grabbed her bag and ran out the door.
As I came back out, Derpy smiled. "Where there's a will, there's a way! I knew it!"
I sighed, "I did too, I just hope everything goes as good as she hopes it will."
Derpy looked back to me "Don't worry, if I know you, things will turn out just fine for her."
'But you don't know me all that well, now do you?'
The morning whizzed by. Derpy and I flew over to the mail station and we picked up some packages. All were addressed to Vinyl Scratch, no address, just the name. We skyrocketed down from the post office and reached the DJ's house within minutes. Upon hitting the doormat, I counted my packages.
'Okay that's one, two, three, fou-, huh? Where's the fourth?' I looked up and saw a package falling parallel with Derpy.
I dropped what I had, and gave a good hard thrust with my wings. Zooming up, I caught the package and glided back down.
"Wow, I didn't even see the that! Good thing you did huh?" Derpy exclaimed on touching down.
Before I got the chance to reply, a white unicorn with light purple shades opened the door.
She gave a huge yawn. "Mornin guys, you got that for me? Sweeeeet."
Derpy asked "So what'd you get this time?"
"Ah nothin, just new parts for my BASS CANNON!"
She pointed to a corner of the house where this massive speaker was up against the wall.
"That's a cannon?" I asked, "Doesn't look like one."
"So you're the reason everything showed up in one piece!" Vinyl said, glancing towards me.
She continued "Every time you order Derpy Delivery you need to get one thing that you don't mind being struck by lightning or lost in the wilderness or somthin."
"I don't know about that, but I did help out with the delivery. Name's Flash Drive, everyon- everypony so far just calls me Flash."
"Well, you've probably heard of me though, Vinyl Scratch, best DJ in Equestria!"
Derpy interrupted "I thought that was DJ Pon3?"
Vinyl just stared. "Anyway thanks. 'Tavi! Guess what just arrived?"
She shut the door and we started on our way back home.
A few minutes into the flight, I heard a voice from my pack.
"Hey, you, yeah you, aren't you late for something?"
Derpy cocked her head "What was that?"
"I don't know, it sounded like it was an ringtone for an alar- OH CRAP GOTTA GO!"
I yelled back as I took off. The alarm went off for Dinky, stupid me. I had about 5 minutes to get to her schoolyard.
It was mid-flight when I realized that I had no clue where I was going, so I went back to Derpy, who was standing quite confused.
"Sorry 'bout that, that was the alarm for Dinky's school; I'm supposed to meet her there. Only problem is that I don't know where it is." I chuckled at how stupid I sounded
"No problem, It's up a little past that place we went for lunch yesterday."
'I'm gonna need to find a map...'
"Thanks Derpy, see you in a bit!"
And I took to the skies.
Not a minute later after I arrived a bell rang, signaling all the fillies and colts ran outside for lunch and free time. Watching them I noticed that the majority didn't have the print on the rear hind leg as Derpy and I did. Although there were a few with those marks already, they seemed to think of themselves as upper-class citizens and it thoroughly disgusted me.
I hid in the shadow of one of the nearby buildings and watched how Dinky came out talking to a group of three other fillies. One being a white unicorn, another dark orange-ish pegasi, and a yellow pony with nothing special. Although I remembered seeing the yellow one inside applejack's house, I couldn't match a name. They seemed to be talking in eager conversation, and I thought of it to be a bad time to reveal myself then.
Or so I thought.
Two ponies came out of the schoolhouse walking in unison, noses high up in the air. Watching, I had to stifle a laugh. That's when I realized that everyone moved out of their way as if they were some kind of overlord species.
Then things started to get ugly, I crept closer to get within earshot.
"You better get out of my way, my father will destroy you if you get a single one of your filthy hooves on my beautiful mane."
"Yeah, and you know it!"
The air was stiff as the two ponies tried to get past Dinky.
"Did you hear? That stupid Dinky found a pony in the woods! Not only that she convinced her cross-eyed twit of a mother to let him stay!"
There was nothing Dinky could say. Her eyes filled up with tears as the two ponies pushed her to the side and kept walking.
'Alright, these aren't your average school bullies. I think I've seen enough'
I crept up around the schoolhouse to get into a flanking position. As I did so I folded a note into an airplane and flung it towards Dinky.
She read it quietly, but I heard it loud and clear.
"Get ready, the fun is about to start… huh?"
She turned to the group she was near. "Did any of you…?" and she passed it around.
The pegasi looked at the two bullies "Whatever it means, I hope it involves them, right Applebloom?"
The yellow pony answered "Definitely yeah."
I smiled. This was going to be fun.
I waited in the school's shadow for another second for the brats to pass by. Then using the power of my wings I pushed off as hard as I could, staying parallel to the ground as I swept up behind them and grabbed them by their manes. Then took a sharp turn upwards and made for the sky.
About a mile and a half up I stopped abruptly and held them so that I could see their faces.
Both fillies immediately started to struggle, but my grip on their manes was tight enough to keep them from breaking free and falling.
"PUT US DOWN YOU MONSTER!" the pink one screamed.
"Why hello to you too." I replied with an eerie calmness to my voice
"You can't do this to ME! Silver, DO SOMETHING!" the pink one yelled
The grey pony cringed as she tried to free herself "I… can't… Diamond..."
"Now if you will stop talking I can explain what this is all about."
The ponies stopped moving at once.
"You see I have a friend, a really good friend and you two are making her life miserable. All that I ask is that you keep to yourselves more often."
I let them slide an inch in my grasp, making them both squeal.
"Am I clear, or do I need to push my point further?"
"Is that a promise that I hear? Come on, say it…" I grinned.
"I- I- pr- pr- promise…" The pink filly stuttered
"Hmm? Promise to what exactly?"
"P-promise to b-be nicer to c-classmates? T-to ponies i-in g-general?" Diamond sputtered.
"That's good. Very good."
"W-what happens now?" Silver dared to ask.
"I'll be seeing you."
I turned and did a nose dive, to which the bullies started to scream. Going at the ground nearly supersonic speed when I pulled up, I dropped the fillies on the grass at a safe-ish height and disappeared into the bushes.
All the class could do was stare in both shock and awe.
I went back to the scene, making it a point to stay hidden as I did so. The two bullies were quivering throughout their entire bodies, and their faces were blank and expressionless.
I heard the class talking on their way back inside the building.
"Did you see that?"
"How couldn't I." someone said sarcastically.
"It might of been Rainbow Dash. Did you see how fast that pony was flying?"
"I don't know, maybe it's the new pony."
"No! That was Rainbow Dash! That was as fast as I'd ever seen!"
"Still, I don't know…"
The rest of the line finished up and the doors closed.
It was time to go, but I had one more prank to pull on these little brats. I flew over to the local market and asked if I, being the new pony in town, could borrow two tomatoes from anypony.
A pony by the name of (what was it… Lyra, that's it) Lyra had a few overripe from her garden with her roommate Bon-bon. I thanked her and went back to the school.
I took the two tomatoes in my hooves and smashed them together, splattering the windows and leaving me with creative markers. I wrote three words on the glass as creepily as I could.
REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE
I wanted to laugh and stay, but I thought I shouldn't. Class would really let out in seconds and I couldn't be around when they found the mess.
So I took off once again.
While in the air, my pack started buzzing and I heard the familiar voice.
"Hey, you, yeah you, aren't you late for something?"
I tapped the Holocube to bring up the event.
"Picnic in five minutes"
'Picnic? What picni- aww damnit.'
I flew down at the ground at a hard angle and hit the ground rolling.
"Ow", I rubbed the back of my head, having hit it in the tumble.
I looked over and saw the 6 ponies staring.
"Well he certainly knows how to make an entrance…" Rarity whispered.
I got up and cracked my neck, then turned to the group. "Sorry, just had a lot to do, made it though!"
"Well yeah, you did." Twilight said.
"So, do you need me to do anything before we eat?" I asked, trying to be polite.
"Actually, there is somtin' you can do for us." Applejack said, looking into one of the baskets. "It seems that our friend RAINBOW DASH decided to not go to the shop and get us some lettuce. Could you run and get some real quick?"
"Sure." I responded. I understood that I needed to seem useful for something other than time management.
Applejack threw me ten weird coins and I took them, assuming that they were money.
'It'd be more than a little weird if I didn't know what freaking money looks like.'
It took ten minutes but I made it back to the marketplace. It bustling with ponies, nothing like just five minutes ago. I nearly swam my way through the crowd to find the only lettuce stand available.
"How much?" I asked the vendor.
He wasn't in the best of moods.
"How much for how much?"
"Uhh, 2 heads." I said.
"That'll be 5 bits." he said grumpily.
I couldn't tell if I got a deal or if I was horribly ripped off.
So I did what I could. I flew back and gave Applejack the remaining bits.
"Five whole bits for two heads of lettuce? I guess it is rush hour…"
"Come on girls!" Pinkie looked at me "And guy!"
"Yeah, I'm starvin' over here!" came from Rainbow Dash.
Twilight called the picnic almost to order. "Everypony here? That means one thing…"
And to my surprise almost everyone yelled in unison "CHOW TIME!"
After the food was eaten small talk arose. I found it appealing to hear that my acts were quite popular.
"Did you hear what happened to those two kids earlier?" Applejack asked, finishing the last bit of corn bread.
"No, why? What happened? Please tell me everypony's okay." Fluttershy said.
"Well story goes like this: Yall know Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon right? The two bullies pick on poor Applebloom, the rest of the CMC, and Dinky."
"Sorry to interrupt, but CMC?" I interjected
"Cutie mark crusaders, they have a club where Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all are trying different things to get their cutie marks." Twilight replied, then looked at Applejack.
"Continue" she said, growing eager like the others.
"So they were pickin' on them four, especially Dinky. Makin' fun o' her mom and everthin'."
"That's terrible!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Shh" Dash scowled.
"And as they were walkin' away, noses high in the air and laughing, this pegasus, mare or stallion, 'bloom couldn't tell, flies up behind them, grabs them, and pulls them by their manes straight into the sky!"
Rainbow burst into laughter and Applejack started to have trouble talking.
"But wait, th- th- there's more… a few minutes later, he, she, whoever, returned them to the ground with them scared beyond belief. No, no, wait… it gets better. They go back inside and a bit later there's this writing on the glass that says 'remember your promise' and Silver Spoon faints."
Rainbow Dash had a look of sudden understanding. "Oooh, that's what 'scoot was ranting on about a few minutes ago about…"
"I hope that they learned their lesson, bullies, picking on those four like that."
Twilight pulled her nose out of a book and looked at me. "So how are things going with Derpy? We know her, but she keeps to herself a lot."
I thought about the question. "Well Derpy and I are getting along pretty well. I mean the fact that she took me in, a complete stranger, and gave me a place to sleep at night is really awesome to see in a per- pony."
"Well that's Derpy for you, kind and generous to the end. Just don't get her angry, she is a whole different pony when you piss her off." Rainbow Dash said.
"Noted" I replied.
"So when are you going to tell us?" Pinkie pie asked, mouth full of salad.
"Tell you girls what?" I countered.
"About why you were where you were when Dinky found you, silly! That's what!"
"Hold up, hold up. Where did Dinky find you?" Applejack asked.
"Some kind of cave with this weird pool that makes double." I answered
"Oh, that one. We've had some trouble with The Mirror Pool in the past." Twilight smirked
"So that's what it's called." I related, putting the name to the place in my head.
"So where did you come before that? If you want to say… If you don't want to, that's okay too…" Fluttershy said
Just as I was thinking of an answer, there was a scream.
An earsplitting scream that could be heard from miles around.
The scream didn't last long. About a minute later the whole town was in a mass panic.
"What the hell was that?" I said, struggling to understand.
Applejack was pale. "Sounded like whoever tha' pony was is in serious trouble!"
Twilight switched instantly into a leader mode. "Come on girls."
I raised an eyebrow.
She sighed. "And guy. I'm working on it."
She turned and started giving out jobs quickly. "Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy, you're to calm everypony down and if necessary evacuate the town."
"On it!" came the reply and they took off running.
"Drive and Dash, you two are on scout duty. Find out what's wrong and meet me and Rarity back at the library. When you get back I want to look up a reversal spell, and Rarity's going to help me find it."
Dash nodded then swiveled her head around. "Gotcha, so how fast can you fly?"
"Fast enough."
Rainbow flew up while I took off like a rocket. I'm guessing that she didn't expect my speed to be what it was. She caught up quick however, her face full of surprise.
"Where'd you learn to fly like that? They didn't teach that in flight school."
"Never went. Self taught."
Her mouth was agape. I guess I was special, well, other than mechanics anyway. I sneered and sped ahead, onward to our destination.
We reached the scene of the panic and I stared in horror. It was then that I remembered my dream.
'Your nightmare is on it's way…' the words echoed in my head.
"No no no no NO NO NO NO!" I screamed.
Dash landed and immediately vomited. "What IS that?!". Her head rose slowly and our eyes locked briefly "You know what... that... is?"
I gulped "Unfortunately so."
Then, with all the seriousness I could muster, spoke sternly. "We need to leave. NOW."
"Oo..okay…" she responded shakily, right before she vomited again.
We took off and left the top half of Diamond Tiara for reasons I couldn't explain. Hell, I still don't know why we left her there. For she would become the first of many.
Arriving at the tree house library, we burst in.
Twilight looked up in surprise "You're back early. What is it? Snails make another-"
"Twilight, you need to listen to me." I cut her off "Two things need to happen right now."
She noticed the harsh tone and reacted justly. "What is it? How bad is it?"
"Screw evacuation, screw calming everypony down. Is this the most secure building you have?"
She was obviously startled, but tried to prove superiority over the situation. "It is... but look, I can probably trust your judgement, but a lock-down in here wouldn't solve anything."
"LISTEN TO ME! DO YOU WANT EVERYONE HERE IN PONYVILLE TO DIE?"
Rarity looked up and Pinkie burst through the door.
"Die? Nopony's going to die silly."
"Listen, listen very closely because I may not get the chance to say this again. This is anything but normal. The…" I gulped "the… the dead walk among us."
Spike was at the top of the big spiral staircase scared out of his mind. "You… you mean… ZOMBIES?!"
Twilight was not amused. "Flash, you're scaring Spike, I want you to stop the nonsense and-"
Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Diamond Tiara is dead."
'Well, that got her attention at least.'
Twilight blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Dead." Dash continued, taking a seat and staring at the floorboards "We found her, well, half of her."
The purple unicorn was speechless. "That's not possible."
"Trust me, I've dealt with this before, I can deal with this now."
Pinkie was reduced to a whisper "How?"
I ignored the question, the inner survivor in me taking charge. "Five things need to happen, not in order, but simultaneously. One, somepony needs to get your friends back and inside this building. Two, I need to get Derpy and Dinky. Three, gather the rest of the ponies and try to get them all inside here. Four, fortifications need to be made. And five... we need to have a way out of here; a bug out plan. Let's move!"
Dash went off to find Fluttershy and Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity gathered everypony inside, and Twilight worked on defensive spells.
I flew as fast as I could, knowing any hesitation could cost them their lives. I smashed into the ground outside the house, making a small crater as I did so. I ran up to the double doors and kicked them open marine style, aiming for the bolt between them. The doors swung open to reveal two very surprised ponies.
Derpy was visually both startled and confused.
"Flash, what's going on?" She asked, clearly oblivious to the town's events.
"I'll explain on the way. We need to leave NOW." I spoke trying to remove as much edge as I could off my voice.
Derpy obviously got the message, but was still pessimistic. "Can you carry Dinky?" I asked, remembering that the filly was a unicorn.
"Flash what's going on?" Dinky asked
I struggled not to tell her. "Bad things are happening and we need to get somewhere safe. Okay?"
She seemed to sort of understand "Okay, is Twilight helping?"
"Yes, she's making sure nothing bad will happen to us when we get there. But we need to hurry. Grab some books or crayons and paper; something to keep you busy."
She kinda smiled "Okay, be right back!"
I turned to Derpy, and said "I'll help you carry stuff, we need to bring food."
Derpy was still in shock. "Why Flash? Why?"
"Because there is half a pony in town that's gonna be real hungry real soon! That's why!" I exploded.
I saw the look on Derpy's face turn to horror.
"No. I don't believe you. Sorry, but I just don't." she sat down on the spot, shaking her head.
"Look, Derpy? I'm sorry. I really am. But I'm really stressed out and we need to figure out how to solve this. But we CAN'T STAY HERE." I looked at Dinky's room.
"Think of her, you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her, so you need to follow me and get out of here now!"
Derpy's eyes uncrossed and she had the most serious of expressions I'd ever seen. "Alright, what needs to happen."
I exhaled in relief, glad we were finally on the same side "You get Dinky ready to be away for a few days."
"Got it."
I ransacked the cabinets for whatever I could find. Peas, cans of soup, cereal. If it could last a while, it went in the bag.
I tied the bag to my waist with my mouth and pulled the knot to a sturdy taut. As I did so, Derpy helped Dinky get some stuff out of her room.
I gave Derpy a nod and went over to Dinky.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked her, keeping in mind that she had no clue what is going on.
"Yeah, but I'll be better when we get to the library."
And with that we left.
When I got back the place was crowded, full of ponies who had as to no indication of the day's events.
I looked outside at the purple bubble surrounding the library.
"So, what will this do?" I asked, Twilight's horn at a constant glow.
"Before you left I gave you a small amount of magic, it's on your pack right now. That magic is what let you pass through that bubble."
"Hmm. If this get's worse we may need to revise that..."
"How do you know so much about this? This is the first time Equestria has seen this… ever!" The unicorn said, levitating books off shelves and flipping through them at incredible speeds. "I mean... look! It's not in 'Equestria's history of deadly diseases' or 'Symptoms for simpletons' or even the 'Encyclopedia Germica'!"
"I need to speak to the princesses about this. Stat." I replied, avoiding the question.
Twilight was taken aback. "What?! No, we can fix this by ourselves. We're fine." She turned back to the shelves. "There has to be a record somewhere, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?"
She hadn't finished the word before Applejack barreled in the door, "We got trouble!"
"Are we fine?" I glanced back at Twilight, not waiting for a reply.
Pinkie was close behind Applejack, wheeling a pony into the library via makeshift stretcher.
I swung my legs over the top railing and fell down to the floor, breaking into a four-legged run.
"Gangway!" I yelled at the scrambling ponies, pushing some over as I ran. I went to the opposite side of the stretcher as Pinkie, then went underneath it. I used my wings to push off from the ground and carried the stretcher over the frantic crowd. I brought it to the second floor, Twilight's room.
As I set down the stretcher the elements of harmony rushed over. Whoever this pony was, he did not look good. His eyes were bloodshot and he was shaking uncontrollably. His light yellow coat was darkly stained with crimson blood.
"Morning Star, my name is Flash Drive, can you hear me? Raise your right hoof if you can."
The stallion's hoof went up and I saw it. A small chunk of the front hoof was gone; replaced with a bloody mess.
"Dear god, this is happening faster than expected." I muttered under my breath, then said to Star "You're going to be fine. Let's get you cleaned up here."
I had Dash pass me a pocket kitchen from Pinkie's arsenal. I tied a tourniquet near the top of the leg, and the bleeding drastically slowed. Then I took a match, spray can of cooking oil, and a wooden spoon.
"I won't lie to you, this is going to hurt. A lot. But this needs to be cauterized." I saw the panic in his eyes and quickly used the available straps to tie him down.
"I could do this slowly, but that would take too much time and you could bleed out. Besides, we need you with us." I gave him the wooden spoon and he bit down on it. "This is for the pain. It isn't much, but it's better than nothing. "Give me 2 seconds. Twilight, hold his right hoof high." Her horn lit up as she did so and all the girls braced for the worst. I pressed on the nozzle and the harmless spray turned into an inferno, surrounding his hoof entirely. I stopped the blaze by capping the can, and observing the wound. The immediate surrounding hair was singed off, but the bleeding stopped and wasn't going to kill him.
As heartless as it was, these ponies needed to see just what happens to those bitten.
I looked into his eyes and they were a mixture of pain and gratitude. I carefully removed the remains of a splintered spoon and the straps.
As I turned to leave, he put his injured hoof on me, and I understood the gesture.
'He must know he won't make it. I have to do something...'
I filled a syringe and gave it to him, the green liquid now in his system.
I walked off and thought to myself 'I could just make another machine and leave…'. Yet I thought about Derpy and Dinky, how they would share the fate of everypony else.
'Dammit Dean! How heartless can you get?! No. I can't leave. It was because of me the viral spores got through, so I can't leave. For Derpy, I will stay.'
I walked out to the panicked room and and stood at the top of the staircase.
'This'll be fun.'
"Citizens of Ponyville, may I have your attention for a brief moment?"
The whole room went silent as they looked up at me.
"Thank you. Now I wish to explain this in two levels. One for everypony, and two will not be good for fillies and colts."
"Why isn't step two good for us?" I heard a small brown pony ask, his small propeller cap spinning.
"It's a little graphic. Somepony your age shouldn't have to see it."
I thought about how to tell the kids.
"Step one goes like this: Truth of the matter is, I'm new here. Many of you I take it have realized that. That doesn't mean that I don't know how things work though, as you saw me and a few others take care of that rushed in pony a few minutes back. The world as you know it is changing. FAST. And it isn't for the better. Things are happening, things that I can explain."
I paused.
"If I could have all the fillies and colts leave the room. Pinkie, if you could."
The pink pony started bouncing and led the kids into a room behind the main lobby.
"Alright, here goes nothing. What is happening has only been imagined in the most outrageous of science fiction. The dead, aren't."
I stumbled on the last piece. The room was silent until Spike yelled "ZOMBIES!" from the other room, sending the town into another panic attack.
"NOT HELPING SPIKE, NOT HELPING." I yelled back.
"Ponies, ponies, calm down. There is something we can do about this. But first I'll take some questions."
A thousand and one hooves shot up.
I pointed to one in the front.
"Umm, do they eat brains and stuff?"
"Unfortunately no. These eat whatever they can get their hooves on. Rip you to shreds deal." I shrugged it off. The pony shivered. "Next question?"
A blue pony with a fancy hat from the back started talking without being called on, pissing a lot of ponies off. "The Great and Powerful Trixie demands to know how to fight these creatures."
"Another good question. For those who are squeamish, you might want to cover your ears. You can't fight them. There is no way to win. I'm sorry to say that the only way to beat a zombie is to kill a zombie."
All the hooves went down. I guessed that either that was a common question or nopony dared ask anything else.
"So how do you become a zombie?" I began to pace in my thoughts. "The zombie virus is spread via salivary glands. So a bite transmits the infection."
I looked out at the crowd. No one spoke a word.
"So if somepony were to get bitten, how long would they have? Roughly half an hour of life left. It attacks fast, striking your body very quickly. Symptoms will include irrational fear, tiredness, black veins, headaches, and an inability to stand."
The town was in a state of unbelieving.
I sighed. "I was afraid of this. Who here believes a word that I just said?" Other than Rainbow Dash and Derpy, no hooves went up.
"Morning Star, anypony know him?" There were nods. "Well I'm sorry to say he was bitten roughly 45 minutes ago." The ponies gasped and looked between each other frantically.
"We couldn't show this to anypony, but we did some pre- and post testing. Anypony who doesn't want to see may leave."
I got a nod from Twilight from her bedroom. I guessed that she sent that message after all.
"Actually never-mind that. It seems that we are en route to Canterlot shortly."
There was a mumble between the crowd.
"And this concludes part two. Could I have the mayor see me now?"
A brown mare made her way up the steps. "Yes?"
I wanted answers so I asked impatiently "How many ponies are there? In Ponyville… any given day?"
"I don't know for sure, maybe 150?" she replied, not fully understanding the question's purpose. "That is strange though, the room is pretty empty…"
"Just curious. Thank you Ms. Mayor."
She nodded and went back down the flight of steps.
'This is NOT good. There are 50 some ponies down there.'
I gulped 'That means the others are… oh god. Oh dear god no.'
I remembered the evac. 'Alright, these are no longer citizens. These are survivors.'
Then the banging started. Loud thuds seemed to rattle the library down to it's very bones. I, wanting to evaluate, went our to see the source.
Well on the bright side I found the rest of the town.
The banging grew louder. The dead piled over the barrier, trying desperately to get at the meals inside. The air I breathed was stiff with fear.
"Uh, Twilight?" I said, quickly barring the window shut. "When's that pickup?"
"Should be any minute now…" she replied, still unsure of the where all the racket was coming from.
"Listen, this is going to sound insane. Well, more insane. But I need to get to that mirror pond or whatever. There are things that can keep us safe there. Can you help me?"
She paused "We could always teleport there."
"Really?" I asked, in utter disbelief.
"Sure, how long do you need?" she returned, beginning to truly understand the gravity of the situation.
"30 seconds, 45 tops."
"Alright, according to what I read, I can take another pony with me by teleportation. Just touch my horn when I say so."
I put my hoof on Twilight's horn which was slowly beginning to glow. "Any idea if this'll work?"
"Nope."
"Great."
Then came the whiteness. The whole universe seemed to collapse in on one point, then burst out just as quickly.
I took my hoof off of her horn had a look around. Sure enough, we were there. Problem was we had visitors. Only two, but they smelled the living off of us pretty quickly.
"What's Boulder doing here?" Twilight asked, pointing at one of the ponies in front of us.
The two ponies looked up at Twilight. They both made guttural sounds before starting to limp toward her.
"What's wrong? Did you hurt your leg or something? That does look pretty bad, maybe Drive can get that fixed up for you. Right Drive?"
She turned right to look at me, but I had already dashed over to my emergency weapons cache and was halfway through putting all of it in my backpack. I heard my name and looked back to see the two zombies on their way to meal time.
"TWILIGHT GET BACK!" I yelled zipping up my pack hurriedly.
"Huh? Why? They just need some help Drive. Come here Boulder, we'll get you patched up."
The brown earth pony was a yard away from Twilight, the other unicorn close behind. "NOO!" I screamed, dropping my pack and pulling out a Desert Eagle. I flew parallel to the water at a hundred miles a minute, parting the normally still waters momentarily. With the zombie's teeth inches from Twilight's outstretched hoof, I pulled the trigger.
Boulder dropped like a, well, boulder.
The next one stopped in it's tracks for a beat, a beat in which I side-kicked the undead unicorn an extra three feet back. I put the gun up to his forehead, pulled back the hammer and whispered "Sayonara." before pulling the trigger a second time.
I felt something as I pulled that second trigger. I don't know what, but I felt something.
I turned to Twilight and she was dead eyed. I went over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.
"He- he tried to kill me."
"No Twilight. IT tried to kill you. These aren't ponies anymore. They are merciless killing machines. You need to realize this, and help others to."
She nodded, then took a step back from the once-Boulder. "H-how long d- do you think you need?" She asked, face to the ground.
"Another minute..." I answered. I flew back to my pack and closed the zipper. I checked and double checked the cache.
I threw my current eagle in the water. As before, two popped out. I took the weapon's duplicate and put it in the empty cache, then turned and walked away.
I came back to Twilight, pack on and my double holsters loaded.
"You ready?" I spoke softly, knowing the purple unicorn was still in shock.
"Yes." She nodded and I put a hoof on her horn as I did before.
The world imploded once again.
I blinked and we had returned to the library.
Twilight struggled to stand.
Applejack ran over "Twi', you okay?"
"No, that took a lot more energy than I thought it would."
A massive crack echoed through the library.
"Was that the... yep. Crap." I commented on the bubble-shield with it's newest feature: a partial shatter.
The dead's meal struggle became faintly audible.
When I thought things couldn't get any worse, the princesses of the day and night appeared in a flash of light, which I assumed to be teleportation.
'God I hate what that does to my brain. Physics just goes down the freaking drain...'
I looked toward the princesses "Excuse my lack of formalities, but we need to move fast."
"Twilight hast asked of our immediate arrival, but neglected to include the exact reason for the disruption." The smaller of the two princesses said. "Maybe you can tell us what troubles all of you so."
"I can, but on a condition. We need to get everypony here to safety first. Then I can tell you everything you want to know." I countered, hearing the rooftop sounds increase.
That hole had to be getting bigger.
The taller one approached me, a look of obvious authority in her eyes. "You were the one with the strange box as a gift, weren't you."
"Yeah, sure, that was me, whatever. We need to move everypony NOW."
The groaning increased and purple glow around the tree house seemed to fade.
Then the doors began to bulge. Everypony backed up instinctively.
"You gonna listen now? Let's move!"
The princesses nodded and both of their horns began to glow. Everypony began to levitate the instant before we teleported.
The last thing I heard was the door bars breaking.
Again, the trippy light show. I shut my eyes again against the intense light.
When I re-opened them, I found myself along with everypony else in the middle of a massive hall.
"Our loyal subjects," Luna began "You have been brought to Canterlot for reasons of safety. You may give any questions to us later."
The night princess turned to me "As for you, follow us so you may explain."
I turned to the crowd, then back to Luna "On the case that Derpy, as well as Twilight and her friends are present."
"Granted." Celestia spoke, overshadowing her sister.
I grabbed Derpy and she grabbed Twilight, and before long the 8 of us were behind the princesses.
Twilight was deep in discussion with Celestia so I turned left to Derpy and sighed.
"You wanted to know where I came from right?"
She looked back at me, eyes still crossed "Well, yeah... but I want to know what's going on more."
"Well, you'll find both pretty soon."
And with that we were led into a room with two ponies in bio-hazard suits attempting to crack the cube with welding torches.
I watched for a minute, but then the cube turned red.
Murphy's law has the worst timing.
I kicked down the door separating us from the workers and tackled the nearest one.
I looked up to the other pony.
"Drop that torch. NOW."
He turned it off and placed it slowly on the ground.
"What the hay was that?" Luna burst.
"I told you he knew something about it sister." Celestia reasoned
"More like what wasn't that. You do realize what happens to this object-" I raised it in my left hoof "-when it gets superheated right?"
Pinkie bounced from the watch booth "Does it give everypony candy?".
"Sure. If you call an explosion of nuclear standpoint candy, then sure; it gives EVERYPONY candy."
The HoloCube's red tone faded back to it's former blue glory.
"And you know thus how?" Luna asked, getting more suspicious by the minute.
"You could say it's somewhat-" I pulled the original HoloCube out of my pack "-familiar."
I put my hoof on the cube and concentrated, trying to find an old file. I had lied about the testing on Morning Star, and rather slipped him a lethal injection with some neurotoxins when everypony's backs were turned. I had hoped I could just steal one from the CDC's files, but It was taking longer than I had anticipated.
I took my hoof off of the cube. "You all should probably sit down. This will take a while."
"We have all the time in the world." Luna replied
I chuckled softly 'No, you don't. Not if we don't get this under wraps quickly...'
I sighed and thought long and hard about what to say. I knew that I had only one shot to explain, and even after that they could deny my story.
"Everypony ready? I will only say this once. But first, any questions? I want to see If there's anything I can clear up first."
"Canterlot officials detected a disturbance of some kind a few days ago. Any knowledge on that?" Luna said.
I remembered the portal I came through. "Yes. In fact I know it's source."
I cleared my throat "I'm going to say something obvious. I'm new. But before you ask or say 'Big deal...' let me clarify. I'm new, period."
Some cocked their heads and some were still listening intently.
"This world, Equestria you call it, is what I'm new to. That disturbance you noticed," I turned to Luna "That was my arrival."
There was a gasp from both Fluttershy and Rarity.
"I come from a world known as, or well, was known as Earth." I touched the HoloCube to project a spinning globe of the planet. The planet's green grassy surface was projected, half in the bright day, and half in darkness, city lights poking through. "Nice little ball of fuzz, you know? A bunch of cities, not the cleanest water, but not bad in itself."
"Well if it was so nice, why did you leave?" Derpy asked.
"You see what's outside? Or what was outside? That used to be my problem. Earth's problem." The green faded quickly to a dullish brown and lights went out. "I was surviving for three years with the whole world about 500 times worse than what it was out there."
I paused, "Another thing. Do you see me? The way I look I mean."
"Well of course we see you, silly." Pinkie responded with somehow unfazed happiness.
"Well, I'll tell you this: saying 'everypony' has been a change."
The room seemed to blink.
"What?"
"Excuse me darling?"
"Ar' ya sayin' what I think you're sayin'?"
"Pop quiz!" I said starting to pace back and forth "Who can tell me what a human is?" Twilight raised her hoof. "Yes?"
"Humans are mythical creatures that walked on two legs and had no wings or magic. They made up for this lack by their incredible ability to create, think, and imagine."
"Correct." I pulled up some photos of one person in particular; some alone, some with family. "The things in these photos are examples of humans. Where I come from is a human planet. Nothing other than humans can talk intelligently and even so some humans speak differently than one another."
"Uh, Flash?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes? Question?"
"Yeah, how do you know so much about humans if they're mythical? Why do you care so much about them."
"Simple answer! They are not mythical."
I heard whispers from the back. 'He's worse than Lyra...'
"So I'm full of it then? Is that what you're saying Rarity?"
She jolted and turned slowly forward "Sorry."
I continued "The human in the photos, his name is Dean Styner. And before I came here-" I gulped, "-that's who I was."
Even the princesses were in denial that time.
Twilight tried to deny the logic. "It doesn't make any sense! How are you a pony if you were a human? And who are the other humans in the photos with you?"
"I don't know how exactly I became a pony, but those other people in the photos you see? They are my parents."
"So where are they currently? With you I presume?" Celestia asked.
I choked back tears, "They-they've been, de- dead for t-two yea-years..." I stopped talking and sat down. I was fighting back tears. 'Don't cry, whatever you do, just don't cry.'
I wasn't crying, but for the time being I was broken.
Derpy was fighting back tears too. She ran over and put her front hooves around me. "Hey, I've been there too, when my parents died I was horrible mess inside too."
Celestia was in taken aback "My apologies, I- I did not know…"
I sniffled, then looked Derpy in the eyes and choked out "Thank you, I mean it too."
She wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Hey, I get it. No need to say anything."
Derpy went back to her seat and sat back down.
"That's my back-story." I got the courage to finally say. "That's all you need to know about my past. And this?" I picked up the HoloCube "This is a token from my travels. It displays information and can hold just about anything."
"Then why could our top scientists do nothing with it?" Luna asked, no longer pessimistic about the whole ordeal.
"Another good question. But first one thing. I don't know exactly how or why, but I can interact with computers and machines unlike anyone else can."
"So only you can access it. That's what you're saying."
"Pretty much. I mean the only other thing I know about it is not to overheat it."
"I don't know what kind of answer I expected…"
I found the CDC file and ignored the princess's comment.
"Moving right along, this is the scan of your average zombie." I pulled up the diagram. There was a heart monitor, a glucose reader, and a live brain activity feed.
I pointed to the brain "Do you see all these blue lines? They are your thoughts, your feelings, your memories, everything all at once. Everything that controls everything is displayed right here. I'm gonna fast-forward about 20 minutes to the time of death." The person's mouth opened and closed repeatedly until I paused the footage.
"The zombie virus is a disease that attacks your central nervous system swiftly and violently. After it takes over your brain, it kills you." I resumed the tape and all the functions stopped. The mouth stopped moving, there was no more blue in the brain, and the heart rate flat-lined. "You're probably thinking: 'How long do you have after they die?'" There were nods. "Well I've seen times as long as 2 days to as short as a minute and a half. This one took 30 minutes."
I skipped 25 minutes.
"5 minutes before revival was interesting. Some viral pathways were shown. See the red? Those lines are what part of the brain is activated by the virus. No memories, no feelings, no personality. Nothing. Just muscle movements."
I played the tape. For five minutes, the ponies I knew best were taught how the things I knew best worked.
The last second of the video, the red stopped as a crack formed in the picture.
"What happened?" Applejack questioned.
"They killed it. Bullet through the brain does the job quite nice actually."
I un-holstered my left Desert Eagle and laid it softly on the ground.
"Can anypony tell me what this is?" I asked rhetorically. I looked around and everyone's eyes were locked on the weapon. "Twilight has seen what it can do, but do you know what it is?"
No answer.
"This is a firearm, a gun as it's commonly called. This is the smallest class, handgun, but the pistol is the largest in it's class. So if you find a bigger pistol than this, I would be very surprised."
Anypony could have said anything, but no-one did.
"It fires bullets. Bullets are small pieces of metal with sharp points and a small case full of gunpowder, an explosive, to propel them forward. So it's much more effective at ranged combat. Anypony want to see how it works?"
Rainbow Dash put her hoof up "I'll try it."
"Alright then. Come up for a sec." I found a cup underneath the work table and set it up as a target.
"First off, pick up the gun. It's like a sword, it can kill, but not if you use it correctly."
She picked the gun off the floor and everypony watched in anticipation.
"It's kinda heavy."
'I run with these things...'
"It's alright. Now hold it out in front of you so that both notches are lined up with that cup."
She was a little shaky, but seemed okay for her first shot.
"Don't lock your elbows, you can break your arm that way. Hold it tight, it'll have more kick than you expect. And you're ready! Now squeeze the trigger slowly but smoothly and…"
She fired. The gun nearly leapt out her hoof, but she hit the target all right.
"A lot of punch for something so small and quiet." she remarked as she rejoined the others.
"The silence is because of this nozzle at the end. It takes the normally huge sound and makes it into that little pop you heard." I unscrewed the silencer. "This is what it normally sounds like."
I pulled the trigger of the no longer silenced Eagle and my ears rang. When the intensity of the blast died down I replaced the silencer.
"That little thing gets rid of all that noise?" Pinkie asked in wonder.
"Never judge anything by it's size..." Fluttershy whispered from the back.
"And that concludes my telling you what's going on… thing. Yeah."
The princesses looked at each other and began disputing back and forth.
"Do you actually believe what he says Luna?"
"I would agree with you before, but he's got me convinced."
They stood taller in unison, before Celestia said "We have come to the conclusion that you are telling the truth. We have also inquire so that we can get more of these weapons you call 'firearms'."
"All very simple." I replied, before my heart sank at what it meant we needed to do. "We just have to go back."
"Go back to Earth. To where I was born and raised."
"Why though?"
"Because this will go on for likely a few months, and it would take too long to make full scale weapons."
Celestia stepped in. "Wasn't coming here a one way trip?"
I thought. Then I had a brilliant idea and I smirked.
"Not necessarily."
I explained my idea.
"Impossible! We don't have nearly have the technology you have." Luna exclaimed.
"Well, why do you think I carry this around? Exercise?" I held up the HoloCube.
"I need materials; silicon, steel, iron, copper. Give me a day. In the meantime, try to evacuate the rest of CloudsDale and anyplace else within a 30 mile radius."
"If anypony has any injuries, you bring them to me." I sighed. "I'll make it quick."
Celestia stuck by as everypony else ran around to either assist the evac or get the things I asked for. Derpy went back to Dinky.
"Do you really think you can rebuild your machine?"
"Dunno. Even if I make it right, I hope it takes me back to where we need to go."
"How do you even plan on making it work? You faintly regarded that it takes large amounts of electricity to operate."
"I don't know. Okay? I don't freaking know!" I screamed'
She does not shut up does she? Damn, you'd expect a ruler to at least be optimistic SOMETIMES.'
"Look, I'm your best chance of surviving. For EVERYPONY's survival. So shut up and let me freaking work."
"You should be more careful about speaking to your ruler like that." she spoke violently.
"Or what? You'll shoot me?"
She stepped back.
"Thought so."
I went back to accessing the HoloCube, and put all the designs for the transport machine in my head.
"Tell me…" I turned back to the 'sun goddess' "How does pony government work? Is it a democracy or does everypony do what you say."
"I suggest strongly what our subjects should do." She flatly stated.
"Sounds like a tyrant's work."
I found myself enveloped in yellow light, levitating in front of the princess.
"NEVER, call me a tyrant."
I raised an eyebrow, showing I was not amused.
Instead of backing away like it was an empty threat, I touched her horn.
There I learned something amazing.
I could access a pony's mind. As weird as it sounds, I could hear her thoughts.
In short, they weren't pretty.
But I delved deeper, finding her memories.
And I found a memory thousands of years old.
She was with her sister and (what I assume to be) her mother. Just playing in the leaves of Canterlot. She looked a way I never could have imagined: happy. Joyous even. Their mother had a pure white coat and a light red mane that shone out beautifully. For a moment, I could have sworn it was my own memory by how real it seemed.
I retracted from her mind and heard her calling me.
"Flash! Flash! FLASH! How do you use these things? FLASH DRIVE!"
I came to and there were four zombies behind me. Celestia was desperately trying to use the Desert Eagle, but missing terribly.
"Gimmie that!" I snatched it from her magic, simultaneously reaching for my other holstered gun.
I flew at the zombies and shot a continuous line of bullets both left and right, making holes in the hallway.
I counted the blood-splat noises as they came.
One,
Two,
Three,
Click.
'Celestia must have emptied most of that clip.' I thought. 'Goddamnit.'
Feeling the adrenaline in my veins, I dropped both weapons and unsheathed my combat knife.
Without hesitation, I used my wings to push of the ground, 5 feet in the air, before throwing myself at the ground, my knife-wielding arm first. It moved slightly left and I missed. I did a recovery roll and stood on two legs. I yelled and charged the pony. The knife sunk into the eye.
There was a thud as the once again corpse fell to the ground.
I huffed as I felt my heart rate turn to normal, my pulse settle, and my breathing slow.
And I felt it again. That sensation I had at the Mirror pool. Yet I couldn't yet put a finger on what it was.
Rainbow Dash returned first.
"Hey. Ponies were loaded with this 'silicon' stuff. You said you didn't need a lot so he- woah. What the hay happened here?"
I retrieved my knife and wiped the blood off on the wall. "Nothing, it doesn't matter anymore."
The other ponies followed with the materials I needed and all asked the same thing.
"Oh my goodness, what happened?"
"Is the princess okay?"
"Did you get hurt Flash?" Derpy was the only one to ask about just me.
Celestia explained what happened while I began working. I found she left out the part of me calling her a tyrant.
'Wonder why...' and I harshly chuckled at my sarcasm.
I kept working and Derpy came over and started watching.
"Hey Derpy. How're you?"
She smiled. "Good. Dinky's playing with her friends back with the town. How about you?"
"Just ducky."
"Hmm. What does that mean?" she asked, her eyes wide open.
"Means that you're calm on the surface, but paddling like crazy underneath." I looked at her eyes. "God you look cute when you do that."
'Ah crap. I said that out loud.'
She blushed. "R- really?"
"I, uhh, need to focus. Yeah." I felt my cheeks turn bright red, which had to show up against my blue coat.
She was interested "Was it when I did this?" she rolled her eyes in opposite directions.
"Or was it this?" she opened her eyes very wide again.
I saw her out of the corner of my eye and blushed again.
"Aha! So it was that!"
I ignored her for the fact that I couldn't say anything else.
"Well is it cute when I do this?" She kept her eyes crossed and stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth in a smile.
Although I tried, my face started to really burn.
"Alright, enough is enough, i'll stop." she chuckled and looked over my shoulder.
She pointed to the biggest piece. "Ooo! What's that one do?"
I picked it up and handed it to her. "This, is what the motherboard. Without it, i'd never be here."
She nodded. "And that one?"
"That's an intake valve. That's where all the juice will need to go."
I stepped back from the project and she stood up with me.
"That should be it. I just hope it takes us back to my world."
Then an invasive thought hit 'Is the code the same? Maybe if I reverse the code we'll wind up where we need too...'
Feeling certain, I rewrote the code backwards and put the last screws in.
"This baby's ready for power, bring it on!"
Luna came over and inspected the device. "Are you sure this will work?"
"Nope."
I stood towards everypony there. "Alright. I need a team of five including me. Any volunteers?"
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight's hooves shot up.
"Alright, that's three. Anypony else-"
To my surprise, Derpy's hoof went airborne.
"Are you sure?" I had to ask.
"I want to see what Earth is like, even if it's mostly gone." came the simple reply.
I nodded. "You four meet me in an hour."
They nodded and all walked off except Derpy. She smiled at me before catching up around the corner.
Again, my face burned.
When the sensation faded I looked back to the princesses.
"Let's get this show on the road."
"Tell us why we are doing this again?" Luna asked.
"The guns we have right now are relatively small, and if we are going to hold Canterlot, we will need many more powerful weapons."
"Now, where's that power source you said you had?"
"Right this way."
She led and I followed, device in hoof.
The area was incredible. The walls were long and the ceiling tall, almost as if they planned it's purpose to hold a giant. At the end of the hallway was a massive Golden machine that pounded the earth every few seconds. As we got closer and closer, the ground would shake with every pound. With every earth shattering smash were sparks that lept off into massive wires.
'Defying physics. Why am I not surprised?'
"It's self powered, so the output is relatively low." Celestia noted.
I took a look and noticed several things wrong with the construction designs.
"Want me to fix it?"
"Fix it? It's working at maximum capacity currently." Celestia was curious. "But go ahead."
I put a hoof on the side of the machine for two seconds and the shudders slowed down, but the amount of watts per minute quadrupled.
The bursts of energy in the cables were now a constant stream of energy.
"Which one connects to Ponyville?" I asked, seeing as how they didn't need it anymore.
Luna gestured to the far left cable. I walked over, pulled out my pistol and fired till the cable was blown clear of the export. The wire died.
"See? He ruined it." Luna said to Celestia.
"Nope, just disconnected it. It'll work when I need it to."
With that I sat down, and before I knew it I was out cold.
I awoke to faces over mine, some poking me in the stomach.
"Aghh. I'm up, I'm up." I groaned.
"That was a nice nap though." I added. I stretched out my limbs and shook my head.
"Okay, everypony on the team here?"
"Here."
"Here."
"Present."
"Hi!"
"Alright that's everyone. Oh one thing." I reached into my pack and tossed them each a holster belt like mine, but with only one Eagle, plenty of mags, and a knife.
"Put these on."
They did, some with difficulty.
"Alright, now to pull it out it's simple; just reach back and grab it, then aim and shoot."
"Seems easy enough." Applejack said.
"You girls ready?"
They nodded. I turned back to the princesses.
"Let's go over how this thing works." I jammed in the cable in and hit the 'ON' switch.
Like before, nothing happened.
"Hmm. Oh, I remember!"
I gave it a swift kick, and the colorful portal suspended itself in the air once again.
It was nice to finally admire it. The swirling oval of color suspended itself a foot of the ground. It was about three feet tall and 2 feet wide at the longest.
I thought to myself 'The device won't cut it. This needs a name. Geo, geo something. Geo, PX? GeoPX could work!'
"Now that you know how to turn it on, close it." Celestia used her magic to hit the off switch.
"After we go through, you will have to close it. Otherwise dimensional space-time holes will open up, destroying both of our dimensions and all life between them. Yeah, so don't leave the portal open."
"Then how will we know when to re-open it?" Celestia questioned.
"Give us 72 hours. Three days should give us more than enough time."
"Alright, but after that we will have assume that you've failed."
"Understood." I turned around "If you want to back out, now's your chance."
Nopony moved.
"Well if that's the case, we have no time to waste!"
I set the HoloCube timer and stepped through the GeoPX, followed by my friends to the place I promised myself I would never return.
