Deferment (Days 172 - 173)

Day 172

Well, I went to Equestria today.

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Day 173

Rarity stopped by wanting to talk. I don’t really want to.

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She’s back again. I punched her in the face this time.

She’s not leaving though. Just sitting across from me. I don’t really want to listen to anything she has to say. I’m not really in the mood to listen to anything anypony has to say. I’m just going to sit here and write until she leaves. I can’t beli
She took my pencil. Good thing I have m

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Perhaps I was acting poorly. Not easy to stay objective when millions are dead and millions more have been turned into ponies against their will. I don’t really feel like writing but there’s not much else to do at the moment. I’ll try to just record the facts of what I saw and heard. Starting with yesterday.
 The morning wasn’t anything special. Just a day we had off since construction had finished the day before. Spent the morning with Willow and Blue Moon. Went for a nice walk around the forest that’s near camp. With how quickly it’s been warming up it was actually kind of pleasant. Early in the afternoon a dense fog set in. We were scheduled for fog so I didn’t think much of it at the time. I was just a little surprised it wasn’t in the morning instead of the afternoon. I don’t remember what we did all afternoon. I think we played a few games of Could Control and pretty sure Blue Moon tried to guilt me into becoming a Pegasus. Doesn’t really matter now.

After dinner I was going to go to bed early. Maybe do some reading. I got a textbook Seafoam got me for Christmas. Didn’t end up making it back though. A guard was waiting for me. He told me I had been permitted to take a short trip to Equestria. I should have known something was up at that point. I should have noticed a lot of things. Still, I followed him. It wasn’t like I was going to turn down a chance like that.

There is a magical shield around the portal and surrounding area. It’s not easy to see from a distance. The only reason I really knew it was there before is because birds occasionally crash into it. It’s a little more visible close up. Like looking through glass, except you can walk through it easily. Or at least I didn’t have any trouble. I’m not sure what it keeps out. The fog was even thicker inside the barrier. A few of the guards stopped us immediately but the one I was with showed him some document and we were allowed to pass.

The portal itself was kind of uninteresting. It wasn’t like a Stargate or anything just a interdimensional hole. Like looking through a window. Same for walking through it. The other side was marginally more interesting. It seemed to be a sort of stone bunker. Most of the area was filled with empty crates. Before I got guided out I think I saw Twilight Sparkle organizing a group of Pegasai. Can’t be completely sure. I wasn’t permitted to stay that long.

I was guided quickly to another building. The air is different there. I thought it was clean in our camp miles away from town. It’s kind of weird. Though looking back on it may have been more my lungs just adjusting to Equestrian pollens or something. Who knows? I was guided into what appeared to be a medical building, past a few surprised looking ponies and into an examination room. He didn’t actually lock me in, the door didn’t have a lock, but he never left the door.

By this point I had realized something was obviously wrong. That I had been tricked. The only responses I could get from the guard were that I was being temporarily moved for my safety and that Rarity would explain as soon as I got back. I think I just kind of shut down at that point. Like I somehow knew what was going on even though I couldn’t see anything except what was outside my window. I was probably there for hour, staring out that window. At that time some other guard came and told the one at the door that I was supposed to go back. It might have been just me but he actually seemed concerned about how I was holding up. I don’t know.

The way back was pretty much the same. The fog had mostly cleared by the time we got back. There was a big patch of burned grass about 20 feet from the portal. I was shown back to my cabin. Some kind of big argument was going on at the officers quarters area of the camp. Apparently Rarity wouldn’t be coming that night. I made that entry in my journal but couldn’t really write. Couldn’t sleep either. Still haven’t.  It was maybe around midnight when somepony started yelling at my door.

I think it was Willow. I can’t be entirely sure since I couldn’t see anypony. She was yelling that they couldn’t keep me in the dark like this and that I had a right to know that we were at War. I don’t think I said anything. I don’t know what happened after that. She started shouting louder then stopped. Maybe she got knocked out or magically silenced or something.

I thought about escaping that night. Not from the camp. I don’t know if that would be even possible to do without getting noticed. But I might have been able to escape to the other cabins. Jump out the window and run to my friends cabins. But what would I even say to them. Did they even know this was going to happen? I felt so hopeless about everything. Still do really.

Fast forward to this morning. Rarity stopped by to check on me try to explain what happened.  In a stunning example of humanity I made some rude hand gestures and told her to piss off. She wasn’t willing to push the issue at that time. I found later that she was still suffering from headaches from yesterday. Another pony came by a short while later to bring me something to eat, which I refused.

Of course this turned out to be a mistake as all it accomplished was giving me the opportunity to brood for another few hours. Something that probably didn’t do much for my frustration. When she did show up again is when I punched her in the face. It was more of a slap with my hand closed but was still probably not the best idea. The fact that she kind of just staggered but didn’t retaliate gave me impression that she might have been expecting it. She sat down at the table while I went to my bed and I began my childish ritual of ignoring her until she magically pried this journal from my hands.

She didn’t sugar coat the story. At all. I have to give her some credit for giving it to me straight. I don’t think I could have taken it any other way. According to her Equestria’s goal is to convert all Humans into Ponies. She couldn’t give me a specific time frame but due to the portal only one of us can last in the long run. Ponies and certain other Equestrians both need and generate magic which dissipates over time. The population of Equestria is normally enough that there isn’t a problem but when the portal opened magic began siphoning through into Earth much faster than it could be replenished.

It was hoped voluntary transformation would be enough but after over 10,000 have been changed here it’s not making enough of a difference. Even if it had the support has been dwindling. Polls showed that volunteers would stop showing up sometime in mid summer. Closing the portal isn’t an option either. The only option is to convert humans by force or let Equestria die. I don’t think she looked at me once while telling me this. I didn’t really know what to think.

Before I could ask any questions she moved on to what happened last night. Equestria hadn’t expected Humanity to go quietly. They knew that if they were to make any move retribution would be swift and brutal. I was a little surprised myself that we hadn’t been nuked or bombed yet considering that I knew something bad was happening. At the very least I had expected we would be set upon by a mob from the nearby towns but as far as I could tell nothing had happened.

Their plan was two part. First was to sever communications and cripple any means of retaliation. For this they used the Elements of Harmony. It was by no means a traditional use. Apparently it was something that Canterlot researchers had been working on for a long time. She didn’t fully understand it herself but according to Twilight Sparkle it worked with magical radiation. She described it as similar to a human electromagnetic pulse but on a worldwide scale. I froze up at that point as what she said sank in.

Millions of people were dead from this. Every person on life support, and airplane flying, everyone with a pacemaker. Not to mention every city worldwide was permanently without power. Cities would be in chaos. No refrigeration, no cooking, who knows how long clean water will last. Could humanity even survive to be transformed like that? I asked Rarity if she knew what that meant. If she knew how many humans died because of it. She didn’t answer, just moved onto part two.

Part two was a synchronized attack on the nearby area. Pegasai teams were sent out at timed intervals with a specialized weapon. When dropped it would turn all humans, within its radius, into ponies. Apparently all humans within 150 miles had been transformed against their will with no idea what was going on. The attack was timed so all bombs were dropped shortly after the Elements knocked out all communications. This is the reason why I was temporally moved to Equestria otherwise I would have been hit as well.

I was about to say something when she cut me off again. Teams would be sent out tomorrow to help those in the nearby cities adjust. In my case I was being given a choice. I could leave, this journal would be confiscated but they would escort me to any point within 200 miles and let me go, no questions asked. Two, I could be transformed immediately and sent to one of the Equestrian camps, if I liked I could have a new identity as well. Or three, I could stay here as I was. Things wouldn’t be the same but they could still use my help.

I just kind of sat there. I don’t remember her leaving. In fact I don’t remember anything until another pony brought lunch. Still wasn’t feeling that hungry but at least now I had a little more to write about. I don’t know what I’m going to do.