Dominic quietly adjusted a pair of mirrored sunglasses resting on his nose as he drove along the highway towards his home town of Evergreen. His uniform shirt was unbuttoned and the window was rolled down to allow for some cool air and cross ventilation. Sitting beside him was Maria, adorned in far less normal attire. At least, for Maria, it was far from normal. A t-shirt and jeans had replaced her fatigues, though the combat boots remained the same. In the back seat of the comfortable Police Interceptor was Luna, who couldn’t help but stick her head out the window.

The commander looked more like a mercenary than a soldier, but at the moment he didn’t care. His mind was on his destination as he drove further away from Denver, now much closer to the mountains than to the city. The road was surprisingly clear of abandoned vehicles, making for easy driving. Then again, most of the aging traffic he saw was on the other side of the highway, driving away from Evergreen. Dominic quietly sighed and looked at the radio in the dashboard of the Crown Vic, somewhat annoyed that it lacked a CD player. Then again, the car was a police cruiser, it wouldn’t make sense to have a CD player in such a vehicle. The man was glad that the vehicle had been repainted with American colors, he was sure there were some snipers up the road that would love to take shots at an EOL car.

Dominic reached over and flicked the radio on, Ghost Peak Radio had started broadcasting from an FM transmitter now that the threat of the EOL had passed. The music they were playing was mainly celebratory, something Dominic couldn’t really stand, so just as quickly as it had been turned on the radio was turned off. The trio had been quiet for most of the trip, leaving Dominic to ponder things about what he would find once he returned to the place where it had all started. He’d heard there was a large fire that had damaged or destroyed a good portion of the buildings in the downtown area, but held out hope that the important parts of the city remained.

Maria was lost in her own thoughts as well, she had her own share of closure that she needed from the town that had changed her life. Dominic was going see his home and to bury his family, or at least to try, but Maria was going to prove that she could. That the past hadn’t beaten her. She could still vividly remember every kick of the rifle against her shoulder, her mother and father screaming at her as tears rolled down her cheeks. Maria shook her mind of the thoughts, her eyes scanning over numerous cars.

Luna’s eyes were taking in all that she could of the alien landscape, her eyes being drawn up one of the mountains towards a large statue that had been built at the top of the mountain. She had heard that it was a statue of Jesus, the religious figure that Maria and Dominic happened to believe in. The princess wondered just what sort of person ‘Jesus’ had been, Dominic had never really gone into what his religion was like. Nonetheless, the statue was another marker of human progress.

The car passed by numerous red rocks and stones before entering a large canyon, the road was curving slowly and calmly. Luna’s eyes shifted to the other side of the car and she found herself watching a trio of deer watching the vehicle drive past. A doe, a deer, and a fawn. The princess was entranced by the nature, a stark contrast against the large swath of concrete that cut through the landscape like a sword. She was a bit surprised as she felt the car slowing down, her eyes shifting to the front of the car. Luna’s eyes widened as she spotted a massive herd of buffalo crossing the road, they were far from the ones she knew of in Equestria.

The car had stopped just at the crest of a rather large hill, and the trio watched nearly three dozen buffalo roaming across the road freely. They had cleared away destroyed cars to make way for their movements, most likely over the years. Ten minutes passed before the creatures wandered out of the way, Dominic drove forwards again and crested the hill. Luna’s eyes widened as she saw what the hill had hidden, a beautiful massive mountain range in the distance. As they drove down the hill Luna saw that even that impressive view of nature was not untouched, humanity had been able to cut a swath through them as well, as Luna could see a distant highway far off.

Dominic tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he navigated his way down the road, passing by numerous abandoned stores and the occasional large house. They had at one point been a point of controversy in Evergreen, the large sprawling estates of people from the west coast that many thought were coming to gentrify the small blue collar town. Of course, that wasn’t a problem anymore, as most of those west coast folks had been killed during the initial outbreak. Dominic spotted a couple wild dogs rushing through the abandoned vehicles on the other side of the road, there were also numerous bones laying bleached in the sun, some of them still clutching onto suitcases.

As they continued driving along Dominic heard the shortwave radio on the dashboard occasionally buzz with military chatter from his forces, but aside from that and the wind there was no real sound in the car. Luna continued watching the trees and rocks as the road they were on continued to wind through the mountains until finally they had leveled out. Luna recognized what she was seeing from Dominic’s dreams, she knew they were very close the place where his family’s remains were most likely located. Maria watched as they drove past the Elk Meadow park, spotting a large herd of elk resting in the tall grass, watching the vehicle as it drove past them.

Dominic hit the brakes as he approached a familiar intersection and turned right, heading up a curving road before coming to a complete halt at a faded sign. Maria and Luna watched the man’s eyes as he stared at the sign marking the building ahead as an evacuation center. Abandoned cars were scattered around the area, and more than a few skeletons and rotted bodies in clothing laid about the area. The man killed the engine and slipped the keys into his pocket, then removed his sunglasses.

“I’m… I’m going to go up ahead for a bit…” He said quietly, it was clear he was doing his best to keep his emotions in check. “Give me ten minutes or so…” Maria and Luna nodded quietly before watching the man step out of the car, he quickly buttoned his uniform and straightened it, then took his officer’s cap from inside the car and started walking up the hill. His boots carried him past the numerous dead, the silence was eerie and sent chills up the man’s back.

As Dominic passed an old police cruiser he found himself thinking back to the day he had taken his shotgun from that very car, he shook his head quietly and continued walking through the abandoned evacuation station. Continuing along past the front doors of the nursing home turned mass grave, he occasionally would pick up the quiet tweeting of birds and the buzz of insects. The man kept his hat tucked under his arm, his eyes scanning the ground for the bodies he had come to see, and hopefully bury.

His boots stopped as he found himself standing in front of three very rotted corpses, despite that he could tell by their clothing just who they were. His mother, father, and sister. Dominic stood there, trembling quietly as he felt his eyes begin to water. He didn’t stave off tears for long, standing there silently as tears began to run down his cheeks. The scene played out so vividly in his mind, his sister turning, biting his mother and father, him firing off those three shots from the shotgun. If he hadn’t hesitated, if he’d just followed his dad’s orders, if he’d been a better son…

“I’m sorry…” He said quietly as he continued to stand there, his final bits of resistance dissolving rapidly. The man dropped to his knees, holding his hands against his eyes as he continued crying loudly. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t do enough, I didn’t say enough… I wasn’t fast enough…” The commander clenched his eyes tightly, putting his head in his hands as he continued to sob. “I wasn’t good enough to save you…”

The minutes ticked by, Dominic continued to cry over the dead bodies, gritting his teeth and starting to curl up. Eventually Dominic felt a hand on his shoulder, it rapidly turned him away from the bodies in front of him. He opened his eyes and looked up, Maria crouched down beside him while Luna began to approach. The mare and the woman wrapped their arms and wings around Dominic, holding him tightly as he continued to cry, until twenty minutes later his tears abated. The man stood up, bringing his two companions with him, wiping his eyes and looking up towards the sky. A couple clouds had rolled in, and there was the sound of thunder in the distance.

The next few hours were spent solemnly burying the three bodies on a hill overlooking the large meadow, Dominic did all of the work himself, while Maria and Luna watched from a distance in the car. By the end of it the rain had started falling, soaking Dominic from head to toe as he looked over the freshly dug graves for what would likely be the final time. Luna watched him do a sign of the cross over himself before he turned and started walking back towards the car, when he entered Maria and Luna remained silent. The man silently turned the key and started the car, then began driving back to the road.

“Dominic, you with us?” Maria asked quietly, noting that his expression seemed rather blank. The man nodded quietly and wiped at his eyes.

“Yeah… Just… It’s hard to explain.” Dominic continued driving as the rain continued to come down on the car, though Luna wasn’t sure where they were off to. Maria had a good idea, but she wasn’t going to say anything. “I don’t know why… But I feel better knowing that they’ve been taken care of. I still feel sad, but… Not as sad.” Dominic turned down a road, passing by a couple familiar buildings for both him and Maria. “I bet you know where we’re off to next.”

“You sure you want to go there?” Maria asked, Dominic nodded as he made another turn onto a residential street. The grass in the lawns of the houses was overgrown and tall, there was the occasional abandoned truck, but other than that nothing else blocked the streets. Luna raised an eyebrow as the car came to a stop in front of a modest looking two story house, it had a couple vines snaking up the side and a large overgrown yard, but aside from that there was no real sign it had been abandoned. It was another building Luna recognized from Dominic’s nightmares and dreams, his home.

Dominic turned off the engine and stepped out of the car into the rain, then walked up to the front door and turned the handle. Sure enough it was open, the man gave a couple hard knocks on the wood to be sure there weren’t any infected hiding inside. When no response came Dominic signaled that it was safe, Luna and Maria quickly hurried out of the car and to the front door. The commander pushed the door open and stepped inside, a wave of nostalgia running over him as he took in the familiar sight of his home, just as it had been left four years before. It was so perfect that Dominic almost knelt down to take his boots off out of habit for not getting the floor dirty, but seeing as no one lived there anymore, he stopped himself.

“Welp… It’s gonna be raining a while, make yourselves at home.” Dominic said quietly as he walked forwards, approaching the hallway that lead to his room. Maria and Luna looked around for a moment, the woman wandered to the couch and sat down whilst Luna followed after Dominic. The mare looked along the walls of the house, noting that they had a couple paintings and pictures of the family. She stopped outside Dominic’s doorway, looking in to see what he was doing. Of course, there was a layer of dust on everything, but Dominic didn’t seem concerned by that. He was holding an odd electronic device in his hand, staring at it quietly as if it held some sort of deeper meaning.

Dominic set the phone down and walked towards his closet, there was a Civil Defense barrel sitting out in front of it, opened and practically empty. It had been where he had stored his jacket and other survival gear as a joke before the outbreak, but now that he had used that gear for so long he couldn’t even think about laughing over it.

“Four years ago I was standing right in this spot.” He said quietly as he stared into the void of the barrel. “Four years ago, when I was standing here, my family was still alive, there was still hope…” Luna jumped back as she watched the man reel back his foot and deliver an angry kick to the barrel. It shuddered loudly as he let out an absolutely blood curtling roar of anger. “Four fucking years! Not once did I ever come back! Ever! I stayed in that goddamn bar down town, why!? I don’t know! I bet I thought I knew back then, but fuck if I remember now! The key to my survival has been lost to me, how fucked up is that?!”

Luna watched the man pace back and forth in the room, his eyes running with tears again as his breathing increased in speed. It was like watching a caged bull before a rodeo, Luna was witnessing the rage and anger that she had seen in Dominic’s mind all those months ago, only this time it was in the real world.

“I could’ve come back! Fuck, I might’ve even run into Maria if I had!” Dominic continued to rant, as if he couldn’t tell Luna was behind him. “I… I could’ve never put on this stupid uniform, I could’ve lived out my days scrounging for food…” The princess of dreams watched the man begin to simmer down. “I would’ve been happier, I think… Life is so much simpler when you’re on your own, people don’t look to you for orders and advice, you don’t have to care about things like casualty rates and statistics or right and wrong!”

“You wouldn’t have found me, Dominic.” Luna said quietly, the man froze and turned to look at her. “You would’ve gone on living in fear and anguish, you would’ve likely been killed by the EOL, or worse… And no one would’ve come to save you.” Dominic moved over to his bed, his real bed, and sat down. His clothes had already dried, thankfully. “Dominic, you and I are very much alike, in some ways that’s not a good thing.” The mare approached him and sat down, getting on his eye level, the kind of stance that was normal between student and teacher. “I made a very similar speech a thousand years ago…”

“I was young and being given even more responsibility, and when I thought I was doing so much right, and yet everyone shunned what I did…” Luna trailed off before she put a hoof on Dominic’s chest, right over his heart. “For you it’s the opposite, everyone looks to your for leadership and orders, something you were raised as a soldier to follow is now what you’re giving. However, where we differ, is here.” The mare tapped Dominic’s chest. “You’re angry, you’re impulsive on occasion, and you have a tendancy to self destruct… But all that aside, you still give a hundred percent for everyone else.”

“What defines us isn’t the bad decisions we made a four years ago or a thousand years ago, it’s the good decisions we make after learning from those bad ones.” Luna explained quietly, Dominic quietly wiped his nose before Luna pulled him into a hug. The man began crying into her shoulder, clutching onto her for dear life. “It’s okay… It’s okay… Let it all out.” Luna continued holding Dominic close to her, her ears twitching as she heard footsteps near the door.

Maria leaned in the doorway, watching the scene unfold with a lump growing in her throat. The woman quietly left the two of them to be alone, instead leaning against the wall in the hallway and staring at the wall ahead of her. She was doing her best to stay strong, to not crack under pressure, she was a Major in the army after all. A sniper, one of the best, said to be the most feared markswoman west of the Rockies. She had broken down before, but for some reason she felt like she couldn’t now. Evergreen was supposed to be her greatest triumph, the point where she said that she could move on with life.

Her eyes suddenly became hot with tears, the woman slid down the wall and pulled her knees up against her chest. Maria buried her face into her arms, trying to hide the obvious tears running down her cheeks as that lump in her throat grew more and more painful. Then she felt something warm wrap around her, she looked over to the source and found Luna had come out into the hallway and put a wing over her shoulder. The mare gestured into the room with her horn, Maria couldn’t refuse, and she quietly entered to see Dominic sitting on the floor in a similar position to what she had just been in. Luna sat down next to Dominic and put one wing over him, then gestured for Maria to take the other.

Luna quietly nestled both of the sobbing humans against her with her wings, she herself was having trouble keeping from crying as rain continued to pitter patter against the window outside. Now that things had calmed down, Luna took a moment to take in Dominic’s room more closely. The bed was a normal size with a red blanket, there was a desk off in the corner with an odd contraption seated beside it on the floor. Numerous posters were on the wall, Luna was a bit surprised to see one of herself standing rather imperiously in front of rows of thestrals. The poster looked like an enlistment poster for something called ‘The NLR’.

Luna made a point to ask just what that was, but her current job was to calm down the two young adult humans under her wings. After what felt like an hour they quieted down, Dominic and Maria eventually relaxed and Luna retracted her wings. The princess had to admit she was starting to grow fond of Maria, she could see why Dominic was so attracted to her.

“Feel better?” Luna asked, Maria and Dominic nodded, causing the lunar princess to smile. “Good…” Dominic sat up and rubbed his eyes, quietly looking around the room again, then sighing. “What’s wrong? Besides the obvious…”

“Nothing…” Dominic said quietly, Luna gave him a slight nudge on the shoulder. “It’s just been a long day, filled with a lot of upsetting things… I’m trying to find a way to take my mind off them.” Maria sat up as well, then quietly stood to walk to the window. Dominic paused as he heard a buzzing call of a radio, then looked to his belt where he kept a hand held. The man turned down the volume.

“Why don’t you tell me about that poster up there?” Luna asked, pointing towards the poster she had seen earlier. Dominic looked at it and paused, he knew that Luna was always curious about the show, he hadn’t really gone into too much detail in regard to what sort of alignment he had had when the show had been in its heyday.

“Oh, that’s a recruitment poster for the New Lunar Republic.” Maria answered for Dominic, Luna raised an eyebrow at that. “Basically the faction of the fandom that liked you a lot.”

“Anti-monarchists…” Dominic added, Luna seemed a bit surprised by that. “We didn’t know you were real, so a lot of people thought you were more of a rebel than you actually are.” He stood up and approached his closet, pausing for a moment as if unsure about lay beyond the door. “I was kinda among them.” The man pulled the closet door open and began rifling through his old clothes. “Is it where I left it? I hope it is…” Luna watched the man withdraw a dust covered plastic bin from the bottom. “If you’re really curious about the show I can open this box, but I know Celly gets kinda wigged out when it’s brought up, and I don’t want to wig you out either.”

“I’m very curious, Dominic.” Luna said with a genuine smile, Dominic looked at the picture for a moment. The man shrugged and pulled open the lid, then peeked inside. He shook his head and sighed, Luna stood up and looked in the box. There were several yellow electrical devices with wands and odd symbols on the side.

“Wait, this is the Cold War collection.” Dominic slid it across the floor and pulled out a second box, this one turned out to be right. As Dominic began to go through his box of merchandise, Maria wandered over to his box of Cold War memorabilia. “I’m fixing on taking this stuff back with us, by the way. It’s about time I have some of my stuff back, especially now that I’m getting an actual house with actual rooms and beds.” Dominic’s eyes glanced over to his desk. “And the computer’s coming too, we’re going to need it for Operation Cortex.”

“Alright…” Luna said as she began looking over the contents of the box, momentarily her thoughts went to Operation Cortex. It was one of Dominic’s ultimate goals in his return to Earth, gathering up as much of humanity’s technology as possible for research in New America. Luna had to admit it seemed rather scary to her, but she supposed that to survive against super states like Equestria or even the Minotaur Republic the New United States had to be second to none.

“Hey, Dominic, can I ask you a question?” Maria asked as she looked through the box of Cold War items, the man looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “What’s the plan now that the EOL has been taken care of, you know there’s still the cartels and the crime leaders to the east, right?” Dominic’s face shifted for a moment into a slight frown, Maria hadn’t intended to make him upset, but she was legitimately curious.

“They’re too dangerous for us to go to war with, and even more dangerous to integrate.” Dominic said quietly, sighing as he leaned against the wall of the room. “The reason that our nation is so secure now is because we’ve been screening refugees carefully, but cartels and mafiosos make their living by fooling our screenings.”

“So all the people that live there are stuck? We let the criminals inherit the earth?” Maria asked, seeming rather upset. Dominic scowled quietly, continuing to look at the floor as he crossed his arms across his chest. “Not all of them are bad people.”

“And not all Germans were Nazis, but in World War Two those people were pretty damn irrelevant.” Dominic retorted quietly, he looked at Maria with a tired expression. “You think I haven’t thought about this? It kills me that we can’t do more, but as it stands they’re better equipped with RPGs and even armored vehicles and they have more manpower, and I have a bigger obligation to the people already on the homefront.”

“There’s nothing we can do?” Maria asked quietly, Dominic shook his head for a moment.

“Not until we’re further along in technology and resources. As it stands they don’t have the resources to build better bombs, we do but it will take time.” Dominic said as he paced from one corner of his room to another. “That being said… I’m not about to kickstart an even bigger arms race in our new home to save the old one… I love Earth, but humanity was always destined to colonize the stars and leave it behind.”

“I… I realize that… It’s just, I never thought I’d live to see a day like that.” Maria replied as she pulled a model rocket from the box of Cold War relics. It was a Saturn V, a model of the Apollo Eleven rocket. She looked it over for a couple seconds before putting it back into the box, meanwhile Luna was picking through the box of pony items. She had tuned out most of the previous conversation, as she had had it with Dominic many times before. He had at one point been so ambitious to believe that he could retake control of Earth in its entirety, but that would’ve been a logistical, resource nightmare that Luna had talked him out of.

Luna lifted a small stuffed figure of herself out of the box and looked it over, it was absolutely adorable and she gave it a little squeeze. Dominic began to slip some of his belongings into the open barrel that he had kicked earlier. Old clothes, even the posters off the wall, he paused as the last poster pulled down and slipped into the barrel. Maria abandoned the box of Cold War objects and stood up straight, wondering what else to do. Dominic seemed to share her sentiment as he stood up and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m going to look in the garage and see if my dirt bike is still there.” Dominic said as he walked towards the door, Luna and Maria watched him walk out of the room before Maria shrugged and walked over to his bed. The woman knelt down and gave an experimental push on the old mattress, to her surprise as she pushed it something became visible, a glossy magazine cover.

“Oh my…” Maria said quietly as she reached under the mattress and pulled out five magazines, her eyes widening as a wry grin passed over her lips. “Oh, Dominic, you’re a naughty boy.” Luna raised an eyebrow at Maria’s comment, the woman was all to happy to turn over one of the magazines. A slight blush crossed Luna’s face as she opened the magazine, it grew even deeper as she went further.

“Y-You’re species certainly is flexible…” She mumbled, Maria reached over and pried the magazine from her hooves. “Is it possible to do all that with just your tongue?!”

“I’ve never tried, but I’m going to now.” Maria replied snarkily as she stood up and walked over to Dominic’s barrel of stuff, she placed them right on the top before putting lid on and pounding it into place. “Sorry…” Maria trailed off quietly. “I forgot how you felt about him for a couple seconds…”

“It’s… It’s okay.” Luna said with a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’ve always sort of figured he’d go for a member of his own species…” Maria walked over to Luna and sat down beside her, pulling the alicorn into a hug.

“I’m still sorry.” She said before breaking off the hug. The two of them sat in silence for a couple minutes, occasionally hearing Dominic cursing in the garage. “You know… It doesn’t have to be just me and him.” Maria looked over at Luna with a genuine expression, Luna was a bit surprised by those words, especially coming from Maria. “We’ve talked about it once or twice…”

“I… I don’t know what to say.” Luna said quietly, looking over at one of the windows in the old house. “Perhaps here isn’t the best place to talk about this, we should come back to it when we’re in New Liberty.” Maria nodded quietly, pausing as she heard a sudden sound of an engine echo through the house. “What is that?”

“Dominic got his bike to work.” Maria said as she stood up and rubbed her temples. “He’s going to be insufferable for the next couple days, he fucking loves that thing.” Luna smiled quietly and stood up, approaching Maria and patting her on the shoulder.

“How do you feel about wine?”

[♠]

Nocturne quietly made her way towards the Denver Capitol building, surrounded on both sides by tired looking citizens of the fallen Empire. Many of them had bags or suitcases dragging behind them, occasionally she could hear them muttering amongst themselves. Eugene had sent her on ahead of him, he was returning to the mountains to get his sister, but he would be coming through the portal to help her once he was done. At least, that was what he had told her. Nocturne nervously kept her eyes on the soldiers that watched from atop tanks, some of them were diamond dogs, others were thestrals and changelings, overhead the griffons were circling like birds of prey.

The woman suddenly found herself stopping behind a large former slave, she had finally reached the line for refugee processing. There was a glowing white portal ahead of her, right in front of the capitol building, under heavy guard by tanks and snipers to prevent anyone that hadn’t been processed from getting through.

“Achtung! Achtung! Please remember to have any identifying documents ready! Do not argue with the processing agents, we have to keep the line moving!” A thestral announced through a bullhorn, Nocturne paused and patted herself down for any sort of ID that wasn’t EOL issued. Of course, she hadn’t held onto her wallet in four years, but she supposed that the soldiers ahead of her would understand that. Nocturne would need to come up with a new name for herself, she couldn’t just tell them her actual name, they’d drag her away for being a member of the inner circle.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone grab onto her shoulder, the woman turned around and paused only to realize it wasn’t a grab, it was simply a diamond dog moving through the crowd, his nose up in the air and sniffing away.

“Please submit any firearms or other weapons you are carrying for processing! Failing to do so will result in confiscation or denial of entry!” Another thestral shouted from atop a tank, Nocturne quietly ducked her head down and adjusted her clothes to appear less conspicuous. As the line continued to move, Nocturne began to run through the possible names that she could give herself. She had been so caught up in that name she had forgotten all by the vaguest of memories of her old name.

As the time went on and the line continued moving forwards, she could hear music playing ahead of her, celebratory music that was most likely playing from Ghost Peak Radio. It was polka, by the sound of it. The thestrals were big fans of it, oddly enough. It was yet another sign that the EOL had been in the wrong for all those years, Nocturne could hear a couple people starting to cry behind her as they continued walking. Up ahead the woman heard some singing, she leaned out of line and spotted a group of thestrals and former slaves were the source, they were all singing in what sounded like German.

Nocturne became so entranced by the displays of jubilation that she didn’t realize she had finally reached the front of the line.

“Papiere, bitte.” A voice cut through her thoughts, the woman looked over and found herself looking at a thestral in an officer’s uniform with a peaked cap and oak leaves on his collar. He was seated behind a large table with ten other officers like him looking over papers and other documents. “I’m sorry… Papers, please.”

“Um… I don’t have any…” Nocturne said quietly, the stallion shrugged quietly and pulled a sheet of paper from a box by his seat. He gave her a slight smile before he clicked a pen against the table and held it above the paper.

“Name?” He asked.

“Nova… Just Nova.” The stallion nodded and wrote it down on the paper, Nocturne was glad she’d at least come up with something fast. In actuality, it was because one of the vehicles parked near the portal was a Chevy Nova.

“Age?”

“Twenty one…” Nocturne replied, who was going to know if she told the truth or not. The stallion nodded again and wrote down her information, Nocturne looked ahead of her at the large pulsing portal.

“Alright…” The stallion filled out numerous other boxes on the paper, Nocturne awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck as she watched him. The woman froze when she felt someone tapping her on the side, she looked over and found herself looking at a changeling. “This is Sergeant Enigma, he’s a changeling, they’re basically like living lie detectors. I’m going to ask you some questions, okay?” Nocturne nodded nervously. “Have you ever been involved in the buying, selling, or trading of slaves, thralls, or mundanes?”

“No.” Nocturne said nervously, looking over at the changeling. It was true, Nocturne was never really into buying, selling or trading. When the changeling nodded the thestral wrote down some more information on the paper in front of him.

“Will you swear an oath of citizenship to the New United States of America honestly?” The thestral asked.

“Yes.” Nocturne replied, there was a nod from the changeling and the thestral added another bit of information to the paper.

“Have you ever been charged or convicted of a crime, before or after the outbreak, that would make you a possible threat to public safety? For example aggravated assault, armed robbery, and so on.” The stallion looked at her quietly, waiting for her to reply. She gulped, there had been a time in her life where she had stolen a car, but that had been a long time ago.

“I stole a car when I was a teenager.” Nocturne admitted, the stallion looked at the changeling again and got the same nod. To her surprise the stallion just wrote something down on her paper instead of dismissing her.

“Okay, here’s the big one.” The thestral stated before he looked at her closely. “To your knowledge, have you ever been directly exposed to the Living Corpse Virus. Blood spatter, saliva, and so on.”

“No.” Nocturne said calmly, she hadn’t ever been directly exposed by that way. The only way to get it was to be bitten, but she supposed it was there way of applying better border security. The infection had entered the United States because the refugees were never properly vetted. The changeling nodded quietly and let go of her arm, the thestral wrote a couple more words on the paper before picking up a stamp and bring it down on the page.

“Alright, present this to the guards in front of the portal, your Identification card will be issued to you sometime this week, they will give you more information once you’re on the other side.” The thestral gave Nocturne, now Nova, her entry visa.

“Um… I’m waiting for someone actually, my friend is getting his sister.” Nova said quietly, the thestral raised an eyebrow at her for a moment before gesturing to a small crowd of people who already had their visas.

“You can wait over there until they get here.” The thestral said with a small smile, Nova nodded and walked over to the group. There were a couple soldiers walking among them, keeping their eyes on the line of people who had yet to be processed. The woman couldn’t help but spot a bit of hope in the eyes of those in the line, there Empress had lied to them, and now that they had a place to go it seemed things were looking up. Of course, there were those that were making trouble, as a Nova soon realized.

She watched as a pair of burly former slaves in New American MP uniforms dragged a man out of the line, it was apparent to Nova that the man had been attempting to sneakily pass off a slave as his ‘girlfriend’. How ever the collar and her fearful eyes, and her lack of intervening, was more than enough for the soldiers to put it together. Nova watched the man disappear from view, several minutes later she heard a solitary gunshot. There were signs that had been posted all over the city reading ‘Anyone keeping will be shot!’. Nova quietly sighed and began to hope that Eugene would hurry up and get to her already.

[♠]

Twilight quietly sighed as she sat in her office in Canterlot, her workload had dropped substantially since Celestia had resumed her duties to their fullest. The former student had finally finished off her backlog of paperwork, her desk was completely empty. Twilight smirked quietly, it hadn’t been done fast, but it had been done. The mare looked over at a photo on her desk, her smirk grew smaller. It was one where she and her friends had taken a picture to show her progress in making friends, spike and her six other friends all smiled widely at the camera.

Word of Rainbow Dash’s escapade had spread over Equestria like wildfire, many ponies were wondering how the element of loyalty even had the word ‘Defect’ in her vocabulary. Twilight found herself continuing to smile as she thought of the chase Rainbow must’ve put the wonderbolts through, they were probably regretting not making her a member when they could. The alicorn knew that there was a complex network of shadowy government issues that had lead to Rainbow’s departure, not a lack of loyalty.

Still, for some of the more sensitive people in their circle of friends, it had proven a difficult pill to swallow. Applejack was upset that her main competitive comrade was gone, but she’d show respect for Rainbow’s decision. Rarity and Pinkie Pie had thought similarly. The jury was still out on Fluttershy, she hadn’t really left her home since she’d heard the news, and Twilight was just about ready to order a group of guards to enter her home to check on her if she didn’t show her face soon. The mare shook her head, guards weren’t what she needed, what Fluttershy needed was someone to talk to.

The elements of harmony were still good friends, despite one of them moving so very far away. That was all Twilight was concerned about, that they would remain friends. With all her regular work done and her normal worrying about her friendship out of the way Twilight lit up her horn, her desk drawer opened and from within she pulled a bulky notebook. As the princess looked it over she could hear the birds chirping outside as the sun marked midday through her window, illuminating the numerous bookshelves of her office.

Twilight set the notebook down on her desk and opened it to its first page, looking over the inscription she had made just over a year ago. When Dominic had first come to Equestria she had used the notebook as a sort of chronicle of events, however as time went on it had become more of a story. Twilight flipped to the last page, she had filled the book from cover to cover, but she enjoyed taking a moment to look back at just how far things had gone in the short time the world had learned it wasn’t alone in the multiverse.

The mare set the book aside and levitated another notebook from her desk, she set it down and flipped close to the end. One page had been filled with writing while the other was only halfway finished, Twilight levitated a quill and some ink and began writing in the notebook. This one was far different from her first writings, it was more of an actual book than notes, but that was the idea. It would be Twilight’s first foray into the publishing world, her first contribution to ponies reading for centuries to come. The title was a little something that Dominic had given her the inspiration for, and what could be more fitting for a story about her friend the controversial leader of an equally controversial nation. ‘No Hesitation: A deeper look into human history from an outsider’s perspective. By Twilight Sparkle.’

Twilight had been fascinated by the culture of humanity in all its forms and with all its faults, an entire alien race that was so varied and yet so similar in its depictions of god, government, and art. Twilight conveyed these thoughts onto the paper with a mixture of articulation and flow, at the moment she was writing about humanity as it was in its current form. From what she had seen on Earth, even in times of strife the human species seemed indomitable. Rising from the ashes of their former empires to survive and build a new home for themselves on an entirely different planet.

The alicorn even speculated that some time in the near future the entire name of their nation would change to something more fitting than ‘The New United States’, she continued by giving a few possible changes. Twilight smiled as she filled more of the pages, her thoughts spilling onto the paper with stunning clarity. At the rate she was going her book would be complete soon, as she recounted her meetings with American soldiers on both sides of the portal and the refugees that she had met, she did her best to portray them as a noble species.

Hours passed, day began to turn to dusk, and finally Twilight reached the final page. The mare stared at the final line, unsure of of what her final words should be. She settled upon a set of simple questions that had been at the root of all her curiosity over the small nation. ‘What secrets will they unlock? What will they share with the world? What will their nation stand for?’ Twilight smiled as she looked over her final draft, she had already checked and rechecked it with her usual scrutiny. It was only a matter of time before it hit the shelves.

[♠]

Dominic quietly wiped a bit of sweat from his head as he continued looking over the old dirt bike in his garage, standing next to him was Discord in human form, dressed in greasy mechanic clothes and leaning against the wall. The room was rather cool thanks to the rain outside, though it was still hot enough to make Dominic remove his uniform jacket.

“This shit hasn’t been run in four years, I didn’t expect it to even fucking start. I’m surprised the tires haven’t dry rotted…” Dominic mumbled as he wiped his oil covered hands on his t-shirt. Discord wandered over and leaned in to get a better look at the inner workings of Dominic’s dirt bike. “Doesn’t help that I haven’t touched an engine in just as long.”

“You’ve refounded a country and been to three different dimensions, this shouldn’t be a problem.” Discord mused before he snapped his fingers and a cold can of beer appeared in his hand. Dominic sighed and pulled the battery from inside and set it on the ground. “Now, if we were talking about Luna and Maria, I’d say you might be in trouble.”

“Why?” Dominic asked, looking over his shoulder at the chaos god that was sipping his beer.

“I dunno, you just seem like the kind of guy that’s a little too high strung.” Discord mused, the chaos god knelt down to get a closer look at the engine then at the tires, before taking another sip of his beer.

“What I’m really concerned about is finding a place for Maria, Luna and myself to live.” Dominic admitted as he cleaned some of the corosion off of the battery leads, his expression growing a bit grim. “I don’t want to use government funds to build a house, and I usually put most of my paycheck back into the government till.”

“What’s wrong with this one?” Discord asked, Dominic gave him a deadpanned look. “I can open a portal between time and space, moving a house like this would be a snap, literally.”

“Why the hell would you do that?” Dominic asked, not taking his eyes off of Discord for a single second. The chaos god sipped his beer again, a slight frown crossing his lips before he made a rather sweeping gesture.

“You’re my friend.” Discord said simply. “I talk to Fluttershy when I need a confidant, but you’re the kinda guy that I can just bullshit with.” Dominic was a bit struck by that, he hadn’t even thought of it like that, but he supposed he had the same problem, almost all of his friends were female, which was fine, but occasionally he just needed a good bullshit session. “Besides, it’s a defensive measure. It’s made of earth material, so you know, no magic attacks.”

“I… I guess… Just wait until we’re out of here first.” Dominic said with a bit of surprised gratitude, things were starting to look up. He would have a bit of his family to hold onto in Equestria, something that he could share with the people he cared about. Discord nodded and Dominic went back to looking over his bike, smirking quietly as he ran a hand up the side of the engine. “Today’s been pretty shitty… But it’s the little things that make it better.” Dominic picked up the battery and slipped it back into the engine, reconnecting the wires and putting on the cover. “Let’s see if that did it.”

Dominic stood up and swung his leg over the dirt bike, then turned the key in the ignition and extended the kickstarter. With a grunt he gave a strong kick, the engine sputtered as smoke appeared from the tailpipe, but afterwards nothing. Discord watched the man give another strong kick, more smoke appeared but again the engine came to a halt. He was contemplative about simply snapping his fingers to start the bike, but he figured that it was a moment Dominic wanted to achieve himself. Dominic gave one final hard kick, this time pulling back on the throttle at the same time. The engine roared to life, belching grey smoke from the tailpipe that quickly filled the garage to the point he had to kill the engine.

“There it is!” Dominic said as he clapped his hands together, sighing quietly a couple seconds later. It was hard to feel good about anything after the day that he had had, the man pulled the key from the ignition and tucked it into his pants pocket before swinging his leg back over the bike. “Ugh… I’m tired…”

“I’ll let you go get some rest then… Good talk.” Discord replied, Dominic nodded quietly before the chaos god snapped his fingers and vanished. Dominic quietly looked around the garage, the smoke was starting clear under the garage door, but it was still quite thick. Dominic noticed an olive drab wooden box beneath a work bench across the room, his head tilted to the side. His father had always told him never to open that box, though Dominic really didn’t know why, but he wasn’t about to open it now.

Dominic picked up his jacket and pulled it on, then walked inside and ran a hand over his mohawk. His boots were soft on the carpeted floor, allowing him to silently approach his room again. He paused outside the door as he heard Maria and Luna talking inside, they were chuckling and Dominic could tell both of them were happy. He didn’t want to interrupt them, and so he walked back towards the garage, stopping to turn and start walking up the stairs. As he reached the top floor he found himself looking at three familiar doors, one lead to his sister’s room, one to his parents’, and one to a bathroom.

The man tiredly walked towards the door to his mom and dad’s room, stopping outside it for a moment before pushing the door inward. Unsurprisingly the room had been untouched in four years, just as neat and orderly as it ever was. There was a window off to the far side of the room, a king sized bed took up most of the space, but there was a dresser and bedside tables on either side. The closet was closed as usual, though Dominic knew that inside there was a gun safe and numerous other clothes.

The commander walked to the window and opened the blinds, looking out the window at the house directly next to his. His eyes scanned over the equally abandoned looking house, after a couple minutes he spotted the rain outside beginning to break up. The sun cut through the clouds like a knife, Dominic felt the warm light on his skin. After a couple more minutes Dominic reached up and buttoned his uniform, then tucked his shirt into his pants. His expression became stoic, then it shifted into a slight scowl.

Dominic turned around and walked back to the hallway, exhaling deeply and running a clean hand over his head again. The man descended the steps to the first floor and walked back to his room, as he looked in he was greeted with a rather odd scene. Luna and Maria were sitting in front of each other on the floor with two wine glasses and a dusty bottle of red. Dominic was stunned it hadn’t turned to vinegar after so many years, he was more stunned by what the two mares were talking over. A photo album was laid out on the floor in front of them, one that Dominic knew very well, even after so many years.

“He was so cute as a baby!” Luna cooed as she looked at the pictures, Maria giggled and took a sip of her red wine. “What happened?” Maria snorted, her eyes going wide as red wine ran down ran down from her nose.

“Hardy har har.” Dominic said sarcastically, both Maria and Luna looked up when he spoke. The man walked into the room and took a seat beside the two of them, adjusting his clothes quietly. He leaned forward and looked at the baby picture, then he chuckled to himself. “I still think I’m adorable.”

“In different ways, yes.” Luna said, humming softly as she closed the photo album.

“Yeah… Very different ways.” Maria added, the woman looked over at the window quietly. “Huh, it stopped raining.” Dominic nodded quietly as Maria took her glass of wine and gulped down what remained. “Probably should start loading the stuff into the car then, huh?”

“Nah…” Dominic replied as he stood up with a grunt. “Discord’s decided to be a pal and is moving the whole damn house for us, so we have a place to live that doesn’t require us to share a really small cot.” Luna and Maria seemed a bit surprised by that, but considering what Discord had done for them so far, it wasn’t that unreasonable to believe. Dominic offered his hands to both of them, looking to lift them up off the floor. “I am gonna ride the bike back though, if you don’t mind driving, Maria?”

“I don’t mind! It’ll give Luna and me a chance to talk more!” Maria said with a bit of a smile while she and Luna grabbed the man’s hands and were pulled up, Dominic was actually glad that she had said that for more than one reason. He wanted a chance to ride alone, he was so used to riding with others a little time to himself seemed appealing. “Go ahead and start up the bike, me and Luna will get ourselves combobulated.”

Dominic nodded and turned to walk out of the room, as soon as he was gone Maria went to the barrel of things and pulled it open, withdrawing all the magazines she had slipped inside. The sniper was a bit of a kinky minx at heart, and she wanted to know what sort of things Dominic was into. Of course, the man had no knowledge of this as he entered the garage and manually opened the garage door. Outside the smell of fresh rain greeted his nose, and he could see the sun was rapidly drying up the rain.

Dominic walked out to the parked Police Interceptor and opened the door, from within he grabbed his kevlar helmet and aviators from inside. The man pulled on his helmet and undid the buttons in his shirt, exposing his oil stained shirt. With a slight smile he approached the dirt bike parked in the garage, he swung his leg over it and put on his sunglasses before taking the keys from his pocket and slipping them into the ignition. He turned the key and then prepared the kickstarter, waiting until he saw Luna and Maria exit the house and enter the car. Dominic wheeled the bike forwards, stopping to get off the bike and close the garage door before getting back on.

He delivered a firm kick to the starter and turned the throttle, the engine thundered to life again, Dominic smiled a bit more. Even with the day he had had there was something extremely satisfying about sitting right on the engine, he jokingly thought his next public works effort would be for better paved roads so he could ride a chopper instead of a dirt bike. With everything set, Dominic pulled back on the clutch and kicked down into first before hitting the gas and releasing the clutch slowly. The bike rolled forwards, and once he was on the road, he kicked up into second, before eventually speeding away.

Maria and Luna watched him zoom off as they themselves began driving down the road, Luna’s eyes were closed because she ‘didn’t want to watch him wipe out and break his neck’. Maria could understand that, but the poor mare had yet to learn that Maria drove just about as fast as Dominic when she didn’t have to worry about being leisurely. It was bound to be a difficult experience for Luna to get used to.

Author's Notes:

Behold! Another chapter has emerged! Hooray... All hail the mighty potato waffle...*passes out, exhausted, on his keyboard, leaving the clip of the day*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY9gVIcRkkI