Stories

"Party Animal"

“Ugh Indi, this song’s terrible!” Oscar exclaims rudely, carelessly reaching up from the backseat to change the car radio to change it. Indiana sighs in the passenger's seat, facepalming before groaning, then resting their head on the window. The icy, winter Colorado weather chills the window with a slightly foggy frost.

“I thought you said you liked this album.” Dane quotes softly, turning his head towards Oscar. The car speeds down the road through the forest, crickets chirping their comforting symphony of the night as they pass. Golden and auburn piles of leaves briefly illuminated by the headlights at every curve.

“Well not anymore now that Indi’s here.” Oscar jokes.

“What the hell Oscar!” Indiana snaps back, clearly pissed off.

“Can you guys just be quiet, I’m trying to find the road.” Hero says, quickly glancing at his phone propped up on the dashboard before focusing back on the road. He adjusts his hands on the wheel, frantically looking around. 

“Yeah, my bad man.” Oscar implies, looking at Hero’s phone. “The map says the road should be up here on the left.” 

“Who’s party is this again?” Indiana queries anxiously, glancing back at Dane.

“Ambers.” Dane quickly responds as Hero slows the car, everybody looking off to the left to not see any road.  “Weird. Did we pass it?”

“No, it says we’re here.” Indiana mumbles, starting to worry.

“Maybe it’s wrong, just keep going Hero.” Oscar suggests. 

“Okay,” Hero mutters anxiously, slowly starting to press on the gas. Suddenly, the radio

begins to static out, making everyone jump. “Great.” Hero sighs. Indiana reaches out to turn off the radio. The car continues to roll down the road through the dark. Dane looks at Hero’s phone still sitting on the dashboard.

“Uh, Hero…” Dane mentions. “Your phone isn’t working.” Hero glances over at his phone, groaning and quickly tossing back into the backseat so Dane can fix it. He catches it and prods at the screen for a moment before speaking again. “There’s no signal.”

“Shit.” Hero grumbles, facepalming with hand. “What should we do?”

“Turn around and go home. I’m sure we’ll get a signal once we get back on the grid.” Indiana remarks, Dane nodding. 

“Are you serious? You’re just scared aren’t you Indi?” Oscar teases.

“Excuse me?!” Indiana whips around in their seat to look at him.

“You’re just nervous that Amber doesn’t like you and you’re going to make a fool of yourself at the party. Hell, I bet you even put in the wrong address just so we wouldn’t go.” Oscar states with a rude tone, keeping the same pissed off face the whole time.

“I didn’t! Are you crazy?!” Indiana shouts defensively.

“Guys! Just stop! Stop!” Hero screams, breaking them up. The car shifts off the road for a second as he intervenes, scaring them all.

“Hero just drive!” Oscar exclaims as Hero retains control of the car.

“Indiana has a good point.” Dane explains, Oscar making an amused face.

“What? That they’re scared?!” Oscar chuckles teasingly.

“No, what they said about turning around.” Says Dane, his leg bouncing up and down quickly, signalling he’s nervous.

“Wait, guys; There’s something up here I- I the map was just off!” Hero remarks with a sigh of relief. He brings the car down to a gentle stop. The group stares out of the car window, examining the scene. It illuminated by the bright headlights

“That’s not a road, Hero.” Indiana implies with a hint of concern. Dane unlocks his door and exits the vehicle. 

“Dane!”
“What are you doing!?”

“Dane stop!” 

The three of them panic in unison as he walks towards a large stone well sitting at the end of the road. Blocking their only way forward.

“Oh my god, Dane!” Indiana worries, practically jumping out of the car. As they approach Dane staring down into the well as an utter stench reaches their nose. “What the hell!” They grab the collar of their grey dress shirt and pull it over their nose, staring into the endless dark pit “That’s bloody disgusting! What is that?” Hero and Oscar stumble up behind them.
“Ew!” Oscar laughs. “Indi was that you? Nice one man!” 

“Oscar. Stop.” Hero demands with a sliver of annoyance in his voice.

“My bad man.” Oscar replies jokingly. 

“Ugh, what do you think it is? It smells like crap.” Indiana gags.

“Maybe something died down there.” Dane suggests. Indiana shaking their head with revolt and booking it back to the car. They slam the door and wait for the others to come back. “Maybe it was a squirrel, possum, bird even-” Dane wonders as Oscar suddenly bolts off into the pitch-black, endless forest.

“Oh my god, Oscar!?” Hero screams, flinching out to grab his arm but he’s too fast. “Oscar! What are you doing?! Stop this, man!” He pleads.

“Oscar!” Dane calls out. Indiana runs over towards the two of them. They all stare into the forest where Oscar entered, unsure what to do. 

“Oscar?!” Indiana shouts, crying out of fear and panic. They all scream, hoping for a response or answer. Hero facepalms, rubbing his eyes. 

“I- I don’t know what to do.” He says. Dane leans against the hood of the car, contemplating their plan. “Should we wait for him?”

“Let’s follow Indi’s plan. We’ll wait for Oscar for a few minutes, maybe he needed to blow off some steam,” Dane decides.

“Not funny, Dane.” Hero warns aggressively. Dane throws his hands up in front of his chest defensively. 

“My apologies, just trying to lighten the mood. Suppose he’s using the restroom?” He responds, making Hero chuckle. Indiana rolls their eyes.

“Trust me, when Oscar has to go, he’ll tell ya. This is so unlike him! I mean who just full on, runs into a forest? At night!? You couldn’t pay me to do that shit! C’mon Oscar…” Hero facepalms, hoping that this is all a prank and Oscar will come running back laughing. He takes a deep breath, then turning around and walking back to the car. “Indi, you ride shotgun. We’re going to go back the way we came. You remember which way we went?”

“Yeah, on it.” Indiana says, hopping into the passenger's seat and slamming the door.

“Dane, you try and find a signal.” Hero requests, Dane nodding while getting into the backseat of the car. Hero sits down in the driver's seat, putting his hands on the wheel and putting the car into reverse. Turning it around before slowly going back in the direction they came. After countless silent minutes of them all following Hero’s plan, Indiana sighs.

“You guys doing okay?” They try to comfort. 

“Indi, I appreciate your charm, but does it look like we’re okay?!” Hero screams aggressively, making Indiana jump.

“S-sorry I was just trying to-” Indiana starts, starting to tear up.

“Um, Hero?” Dane interrupts, pointing out in front of the car. They all look up to find the exact same well they once found. 

“Oh my god.” Indiana mumbles under their breath, starting to cry from the fear. Hero stops the car and punches the wheel with his fists, making the car horn go off.

“How is that possible, we didn’t even turn.” Dane thinks aloud.

“Dane just shut up! Shut up!” Hero shouts.

“Hero, calm down.” Indiana suggests as they sob, not wanting to be screamed at again. Hero whips his head in Indiana’s direction, his face bright red with anger. His muscles in his face clenched and his forehead has droplets of perspiration. Indiana sinks into the corner of their seat, regretting what they said. “I’m sorry, I-”

“Oscar?!” Dane exclaims, standing up slightly from his seat. The three of them watch as Oscar stands behind the well, facing away from them. A gory trail of blood gushes from the back of his head stains his roughed up and dirty clothes. He slowly starts to lean back and falls head first into the well. The thud and crunch of his body hitting the bottom echos through the forest.

“Holy shit! Oscar!” Hero leaps out of the car but it’s too late. Indiana’s head falls to the dashboard, crying in disbelief. They scream in pain, not able to comprehend their friend’s death. Dane sits in his seat, blinking and staring into space. 

“Indiana!” Hero cries out, they rush out of the car and over to him. “M-maybe he’s okay!” Hero looks down into the well, the same revolting smell reaches their noses. Indiana holds on to the rim of the stone, their tears dripping into the well. “I-Indi, I’ll hold your feet, you try and grab him okay?”

“Are you crazy?!” Indiana exclaims.

“Just do it!” Hero demands loudly, his voice dripping of anger and disappointment. They hesitate before gently leaning over the rim and lifting a foot up. He grabs it firmly and grips the other one. He slides them over into the well as the stench becomes overbearing and sour. Indiana gasps, in utter shock that they’re doing this. Hero lowers their body until their ankles are just above the rim. 

“Hero, don't drop me.” Indiana clamors, their head starting to feel light. As soon as Indiana finishes their sentence Hero grumbles, struggling to keep them up. “Hero!” They exclaim in concern.

“It’s okay, I got you.” He insists, sucking air through his clenched teeth. “Dane! I need your help!” Hero calls out, turning his head back to the car to not see Dane anywhere. “Dane?!” Hero cries out, his arms giving out and Indiana slipping from his hold. “SHIT!” Indiana falls from Hero’s grasp, screaming a blood curdling howl as they fall to the bottom of the well. Their expectation of cold, hard stone is replaced with a soft, crunchy slosh. Their body sits in a pool of a spine chilling, vicious, morbid smelling substance.

“HERO?!” They shriek, starting to panic.

“OH MY GOD INDI!” Hero replies, his voice slightly echo-y through the well. Indiana looks around, the faint light from the headlights barely allows them to see. They slowly stand up from their fall, pushing now wet hair from their face. Ice cold liquid fills the well up to their waist. It makes them shiver as something rubbery and soft gently grazes their arm, causing them to shriek and flinch away in fear. Their eyes lay upon Oscar’s dead body floating in the water. “Hold on Indiana! I’m going to find help!”

“DON’T LEAVE ME HERO!” Indiana pleads, spotting the countless dead bodies and decaying human remains down with them, screaming in utter terror.

“I’ll be back Indi I promise!” Hero reassures, the last thing Indiana hears is Hero run off into the night. 

Indiana cries, their tears mixing with the rotting blood and carcasses. Their perfectly spotless, grey formal shirt now soaked with horror. They stare up above the well, which is still brightened by the blinding headlights; Hero left his car.  They move closer to the wall, gripping the stones and trying to find footing. Their left foot finds a stable stone and pushes their body weight onto it, thus advancing themselves higher. They take a deep breath of hope and keep trying to escape. With every push from their foot it seems they take 100. They groan out in pain, their toes smushed from the small ledges, their fingers sore from the gritty, sharp rocks. After what seems like hours of climbing and struggling, they manage to hurl themselves over the rim of the well, their legs shaking and their body tired. They swing their leg over the ledge and collapse onto the safe, grassy, earthy ground. The headlights from the car now show them soaked in filth. With a long pained sigh, they drag themselves to Hero’s car, sitting in the driver's seat. Unsure on what to do, they slowly and steadily move the car and drive cautiously down the long road of the unknown. After a half hour of taking up both lanes and worried they’ll make their way back to the well, they stumble upon a small town. They shake their head in disbelief, laughing aloud of relief and parking the car in a rusty 7/11. They stumble into the store, the cashier looking at them with concern and fear. However they go up to her anyway.

“Hi. May I use your phone please?” They request, their eyes tearing up. The cashier looks at them, hesitantly handing them the phone.

“Are you alright?” She asks them.

“I don’t know, really.” Indiana responds, starting to sob again.

“We’ll get you some help.” She puts her hand on their wet roughed up shoulder, taking her phone back and calling 911 for help.

 ………………………………………………………………………………….

The cashier called for police and an ambulance who helped Indiana clean themselves up and fix their cuts and scrapes before talking to them about Oscar, Hero, and Dane. The next few weeks the search parties could not find any well nor any traces of the murders besides Indiana and Hero’s car.   A few days after the event, Amber reached out to Indiana as a support system and has been helping them cope. Amber has been right by Indiana’s side every day for this month and has been actively involved with the detectives and search parties. Indiana worked with Oscar, Hero, and Dane’s parents and tried to find any sign of them. But after a month since the incident it seems they truly vanished. But Indiana knew what they saw, even if there's no proof of it.

"The Monster's Abyss"

“He’s hungry. It’s been getting harder to contain him.”, says an older woman, standing back in the shady corners of the room. 

“And why don’t we feed him, then?”, questions a young boy, holding a clipboard. His pencil is slightly blurred from the speed at which he fidgets with it. 

“He craves Light and Love. We’ve already given him Forgiveness, Warmth, Trust, Luck, and Peace. Only when there is no one else left, will I feed myself to him. But the others, they can give up on me whenever they’d like. I’m old, and what have I ever helped with?”, says the woman, stepping out of the shadows. Her long mustard yellow dress brushing the floor. 

“Hope, don’t speak like that. You help us through, no matter how horrible things seem to be. The Monster will have to destroy everything and everyone before we give you to him.”, says the boy, staring at Hope. “I believe in you.” 

The boy turned towards the others in the room. The rainbow of colors people were wearing didn’t match with their pale, fearful faces. He stepped towards a little girl, dressed in pink. 

“Love.”, he said, caressing her cheek. "Please, remember me.” The boy gave her a small shred of his red cloak, and turned towards the Monster’s abyss. He threw himself over the edge, and just as quickly, Bravery was gone. 

Everyone crowded together fearfully, Love clutching the piece of cloth so tightly her fingers turned white. Hope looked at the abyss, and then to the others. Without Bravery, their terror was so prevalent that it gave off a scent. The cavern smelled like urine and salty tears. A loud rumbling came from underneath them, and they held their breath. Light glowed in the back of the room, but even her brightness wasn’t enough to outshine the darkness creeping in around them. Love shot Hope a worried glance. When would they give up?, she thought, biting her nails. They shivered, bare feet turning blue with cold from the freezing stone floor. Warmth was a lot more important than they had realized. 

“We shouldn’t have. Why… why did we?”, cried Love. Everyone stepped away from her. The Monster. He had gotten to her. Everyone in the cavern feared their opposite, the demon the Monster had made in their likeness to take over. Fear appeared in place of Bravery. Cold appeared in place of Warmth. Regret had now come to take Love. Love kneeled on the floor, pleading with Justice. 

“What did we do? Was it right? Oh, Bravery. I miss you so much. You gave us strength. How could we make ourselves feel this way? Why do we feel like we have to give in? Give up?”, screamed Love, her pink dress soaked with tears and saliva. 

“I’m sorry. We don’t have many other options. And now, look at you. Regret is bound to grab hold of you. We cannot… trust you. In the name of all that is good, we must give you to the Monster. I’m sorry, Love. It’s what needs to be done.”, Justice spoke clearly and sternly. Despite her apologies, there was no hint of remorse in her voice. She looked at Love, afraid and determined. She would get rid of Love. There was no doubt about it. The others crowded to the back, terrified of speaking up against Justice. 

“Look at us.”, said Love, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Justice, you can’t possibly trust me. None of you can. You can’t even trust each other. You know why?” Love whispered. The entire cavern fell silent to hear her voice. “Because we gave Trust to the Monster!”, she shouted, startling everyone. Justice glared at Love, anger burning in her eyes. The others saw it too. 

“She’s… her Opposer.”, they whispered, frightened. It seemed everyone they turned to was slowly being taken over. Who would be left?

“Enough!”, Justice yelled. “Who dares talk back? I am righteousness, good, defender of evil. I could never be possessed.”, she said, looking deep into Love’s eyes. “I know what needs to be done.” She grabbed Love by the sleeve of her dress and dragged her towards the abyss. “It’s what he wants, and you, Love, have been possessed by your Opposer. Unlike me, you don’t have the strength or willpower to withstand Regret. You are weak, worthless. A waste of time. You put us in danger, make us lose our senses.  You must go.” Love screamed and her feet scraped against the cold ground as she fought for some leverage. 

“I have Bravery! I will fight!”, Love shouted as she shoved Justice off of her. She waved the red piece of cloth Bravery had given her in the air like a flag. “This, this right here! It’s a reminder, a memory. Memories give us life, joy, meaning, purpose, desire. But this memory right here, it gives off different emotions. Sadness, regret. But it still gives us a purpose. To stand up, and try to right the wrong we have done. Justice, you said that we must rid this world of our Opposers, but they are there for a reason. Just like us, they serve a purpose.

“Love is right! We must fight!”, they all shouted. 

The crowd swept Love away from Justice, and Love caught Hope’s eye. Hope smiled, her eyes twinkling with joy. 

“Love, you’ve inspired us all.”, Hope said. “What should we do now?”

Love put her finger to her cherry lips, encouraging everyone to quiet down. She looked over to Justice, but Justice was sitting, frowning. This was one of the few times she didn’t get her way, but Love was never before the obstacle. In fact, most of what Justice did was for Love, but suddenly Love was a threat to all she’d done. Justice didn’t know what to do. “Well”, started Love. “We have a lot of work to do.”

…

Love sat on the warm grass, the sun shining down upon her. She allowed the fresh breeze to play with her hair as she watched Warmth and Cold holding hands by a tall tree with gorgeous pink flowers. This was the world she had created. She had freed them from the dark cavern Justice had made. Justice was no longer in charge of everything, only a few things, like the Monster. Whereas Sadness, Anger, Regret, and the others were just like us, the Monster was just pure evil. That’s why Justice threw them into his abyss, to remind them that they were evil. However, as Love watched Sadness help make the rivers, and Anger tested out the volcanoes, she knew they could never be evil. They just worked a little differently. She rubbed the piece of red cloth. Bravery’s little gift had gotten her so far. She rubbed her round belly, and smiled to herself. She had a gift for him too. She stood up and walked towards a small fruit tree, smelling the sweet scent of mango. As the sun went down, she looked towards the horizon, and saw Bravery’s silhouette making his way towards her. He had finally come back from helping the humans with their war. Love ran towards him and lept gracefully into his arms. 

“What do we have here?”, he said, gesturing towards Love.

“Perseverance. Her name’s Perseverance.”

"A Good Read"

One of the best, and most influential and thought changing pieces of media I’ve ever read was Fallout:Equestria. Written by Kkat, uploaded to the forum website, Fimfiction.

The premise of the story is a question. What would it be like if the events of the game Fallout, happened in the My Little Pony universe? And yes, I can sense the skepticism amongst those who listen to me. I am aware of how silly or absurd talking about this may sound, but please, I ask for unbiased attention.

When I first heard about this story, it was overwhelmingly loved by lots of My Little Pony fans, Fallout fans, fanfic writers, and everything in between. The story itself, told in over 600,000 words, spanning over forty-five chapters, with prologue and an epilogue, concluding with an in-universe 10 year update.

My hopes and expectations for this story were high, I was excited to read such a passionate and emotional piece of writing, written by someone like you and me. My hopes and expectations were far surpassed by this story. Many of the story's events may be confusing to lots, but its writing holds a big influence on not only the outlook on life itself, but the virtues within.

The story of Fallout:Equestria was a grueling, unforgiving, heart tugging, read. It deals with the hardest things life has to offer in a post apocalyptic wasteland. Death, violence, war, heroism, sacrifice, loss, destruction, and hope.

I have found myself many times feeling tears form in my eyes, the intensity of the merciless pain and suffering bestowed upon the characters and the challenges they had to face for a shred of a better future, I couldn’t hold back the overload of emotions.

Littlepip, the protagonist, is a gray unicorn with a short brown mane and emerald green eyes. She lives her life following in the footsteps of others, but once an opportunity was presented that allowed her to escape the painful cycle of life in a fallout shelter surrounded by hundreds of other ponies.

She took it, but for another pony.

She put another pony’s life before her own.

She sacrificed everything to give the wasteland of Equestria hope for a brighter and sunnier future.

A constant mental battle with herself throughout the story, seeing herself as a monstrous villain who wore the blood of other ponies, griffins, alicorns, and hellhounds. Not a hero, not a white knight amongst the battlefield, but the lightbringer. Lighting and paving the path of her sacrifices, for others.

She held the blood of thousands in her little gray hooves, so she could save millions in centuries to follow.

Her actions, the decisions she made for herself and her companions, put them into more danger than she could have ever imagined. Littlepip left her underground community, survived the attack of zombies, ghouls, and alicorns, killed others, started war with a full government by detonating a nuclear bomb that started the apocalypse, survived being in a slave city, and brought the new elements of harmony together in only 3 months. Every waking moment was filled with restless tasks and responsibility, getting little to no sleep.

I saw myself in Littlepip. She spent 3 excruciating months, getting shot at, torn to shreds, enslaved, and corrupted, all to discover her true virtue.

‘The portal to hell is opened with the incantation of good intentions’

Small Littlepip slaughtered those around her, in a grand effort for good and sincere intentions.

It's everyone's first time living, and it sure as hell was for Littlepip. But what makes her different, she was plunged into a corrupted, tainted, and irradiated world, and she rejected succumbing to it. She would not become a bloodied raider, a humble community pony, or the ruler of a tyranny land. Fate was laid out in front of her, and she rejected it. She rejected what the world presented to her, and paved her own path. Marched to the beat of her own drum.

I see myself in Littlepip, rejecting the paths presented to me. Instead of following other ponies' hoofsteps, or someone's footsteps. I light my own path, and maybe, it will open a new path for others to follow and branch from.

It may seem like it, but we can't all have the same destiny. The only thing that makes your fate different, is how you accept it.

Follow another's hoofsteps, but burn in a fire of glory different from them.

Your fate is your own, not one someone already laid for you.

‘The portal to hell is opened with the incantation of good intentions’

"in another life."

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