*A/N:  I love feedback more than you would imagine.*

It was a cold summer morning, not quite as bitter as the day they’d just suffered through.  It was Malcolm’s eleventh birthday, and his parents had just received a draft notice from the United States Air Force.  With fountains of tears and horrible regret, Vincent and Susan Rossano were saying goodbye to their children for what they would never expect to be the last time…

“But Daddy, you can’t go!  We need you!  Lora needs you!”  Tears ran down Malcolm’s face as he embraced his father with all his might.

Vincent hugged his son tightly, the tears swelling in his own eyes.  He chuckled, “Lora doesn’t need us, Mac.  She needs you.  You’re her brother, and you have to be strong for her, okay?”  He couldn’t stand the fact that this news was coming to them on a child’s birthday.

Malcolm sobbed, “But…you’ll be b-back, right?  You’re going to c-come back to us, aren’t you Daddy?”  He buried his head in his father’s coat, not wanting to ever let go.

The large man choked out, “The government’s already agreed to let us come home for yours and Lora’s birthdays.  We’ll be back before she turns seven.”  He placed a hand firmly on the back of his son’s head and hugged him closer.

A gentle voice whispered to them, the sorrow buried deep within it, “Lora’s asleep now, Vince.  We should start packing…”  She placed a hand on both of their shoulders, trying to hold back her own tears.

“Mommy…Daddy…But all those reports…  No one ever comes home!”  Malcolm’s mind locked onto a news report he’d heard a while back, saying that no US soldier had returned as of that point in the war.

Susan dropped to her knees beside her son and gripped his shoulders firmly.  She turned him to face her and looked deep into his eyes.  She said in a sad, loving voice, “We will be back.  We’re not leaving you two.  We’d never leave you two!”  She wrapped her arms around her son and let the tears fall.  Vincent stood up and walked into Lora’s room to say his silent goodbyes.

Before sunrise, the military transport vehicle arrived on their street to collect all the draftees.  In the blink of an eye, Malcolm and Loralee were without their parents, though the latter didn’t find out until her brother told her two days later.  They both had the nagging feeling that they would never see their dearest loved ones again…

“You said you’d come back…”  Malcolm groaned as consciousness slowly returned.  He felt something foreign to him as his mind started to wake up.  A strange source of heat was covering his body, and sweat began to form on his skin under his tattered jackets.

He lifted himself to his rear, sitting upright.  A blinding light filled his eyes, and he flinched in pain as his pupils burned from the intensity.  A foreign smell invaded his nostrils, and he enjoyed it so much so that he inhaled deeply several pointless times.  He wasn’t sure why, but a smile formed across his face.  Without even seeing his surroundings, he strangely felt safe.

And then everything hit him like a wrecking ball.  He remembered the previous day’s job, the escorts to the mall, and being shot by the smiling guard’s gun.  He remembered the brief second of pain he felt as the bullet entered his skull and destroyed his brain.  He held his hand to his head as it started to pound softly.

He opened his eyes again to examine his surroundings.  The light felt less intense this time, and he was able to keep his eyes open by squinting.  He managed to make out a few dozen tall brown figures around him, each with green things extending from the middles and tops of them.  His brain recognized the figures from a picture he’d seen a long time ago.

“Trees?”  He slowly tried to stand up, only to find the pounding in his head intensify.  He sat back on the soft surface below him and examined it closely.  The small green waves rising from the dirt also reminded him of the picture.  “Grass…It’s softer than thought it’d be.  Looked spikey in the picture…”

Suddenly, his mind locked on to two very important details.  First of all, his gun, the gun issued to him by his employer, was missing from his hand.  Next, and the most important thing of all, was that Loralee was nowhere to be seen.  Malcolm’s mind began to race and sent him into a state of panic.

“Lora!  Loralee!  Can you hear me?!  Say something!”  Malcolm leaped to his feet, ignoring the hammering in his head.  He wanted nothing more than to find his sister.  If she wasn’t with him, or if she was hurt, he wouldn’t know what to do.  He needed her more than anyone else in the world.  He needed her more now than he ever needed his parents…

An innocent voice called to him, “Brother?  Is that you?”  It was echoing from a little distance away.

Malcolm called into the woods, “Yeah!  Hold on, I’ll be there in a sec!”  He wasted no time in darting towards his sister’s voice.  He wanted nothing more than for her to be okay.

After mere seconds of running, he tripped on a large tree root stretched across the middle of his path.  By the time he regained his footing, a little girl was standing right in front of him.  The sudden appearance of the girl made him leap back in shock.

She giggled, “Did I scare you Mac?”

The adrenaline-pumped boy’s brain quickly registered the girl’s appearance and voice, and he immediately calmed down.  His heart fluttered as he sighed, “Oh Loralee, thank God you’re alright!”  He jumped up to hug his sister.  While holding her in a tight embrace he sobbed, “Everything’s okay now, Lora.  We’re together…”

Loralee whispered, “Do you know what the best part is, Mac?”  She smiled and returned his embrace with a gentle one of her own.

The still-sobbing older sibling asked, “Wh-what’s that, sis?”

“We’re not in New York anymore.” the younger of the two giggled.

Malcolm released his embrace and took this time to thoroughly examine the area.  There were trees and grass and fresh air.  He knew it was true; there was no way they could still be in the wasteland known as New York.  No, he even doubted that this was still Earth, but it could’ve just been one of the less war-ravaged of the provinces.

He placed a loving hand on top of his sister’s head and chuckled, “You’re damn right we ain’t in New York!  I wonder how long we were out for…”  He looked up at the sky.  An old legend told that if you could ever see through the clouds, you could tell the time of day by the position of the sun in the sky.

Malcolm saw a sight that fascinated him beyond all comparison in this strange new place.  Back home, thick dark clouds covered the sky perpetually, and very little sunlight passed through at all.  But directly above him, small white clouds drifted through the air, and an endless screen of blue stretched forever in every direction.  Hanging in that screen was a large orange ball of pure light, which burned when looked directly at.

“Sunlight…” the boy mumbled to himself, lost in the beauty of the sky.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?  That’s the first thing I saw when I woke up…  So what do we do now?”  Loralee let go of her brother and spun around a few times.  The entire surrounding area was identical to itself in every direction.  Tall trees and green grass left little room for diversity in this forest.

Malcolm sighed, “I guess we oughta find some shelter in case it rains.”  His stomach grumbled loudly, to which he responded, “We should probably invest in a little food, too…”

The little girl giggled at her brother’s inconvenient hunger and took his arm in her hand.  She asked, “Do you still have Father’s gun?  I remember you tucked it in your pocket before we left the house.”

The older sibling had completely forgotten all about having possession of two guns during the confrontation in the alleyway.  He had his work pistol readily accessible because it was the least valuable, and if it were broken in the fray he wouldn’t be too tore up about it.  On top of having his work gun, he had also packed his father’s old .44 pistol; the same one he had ordered the replacement barrel for.

Reaching into his back pocket, he found with some relief that one of the most precious heirlooms he owned was still sitting within it.  He pulled the silver pistol from his pocket and let it shine in the light.  He silently thanked his father for giving them one of the most important means of defense in their old home before realizing something that made him very angry.

“I forgot to replace the damn barrel before we left the house!” he screamed and fell back on his rear in complete disbelief of his own ignorance.

Loralee looked at her brother with something similar to confusion plastered on her face.  She stifled her laughter as she asked, “Now how could you possibly forget to replace a giant chunk of metal with another giant chunk of metal?”

“Shut up Lora, this ain’t funny!  The barrel of Dad’s pistol is messed up!  It’ll never shoot right without a new one!”  He placed the somewhat-useless gun to his side and fell back on the soft grass.

His sister plopped down beside him and giggled, “But at point-blank, I don’t think accuracy matters.”  She picked up the gun and examined it closer.

Malcolm sat upright immediately and groaned, “Don’t mess with that, it’s loaded.  You’ll shoot yourself if ya ain’t careful.”  He tried to grab the gun from his sister, but she spun around and hopped to her feet.  She continued to examine the gun intently.

She tossed the gun back to her brother and sighed, “The barrel’s only got a tiny dent in it.  You should still be able to shoot with a 2% margin of error on accuracy.”  She winked, and her brother’s jaw dropped.

He stammered, “Wh-what the heck?!  Wh-where’d you learn all that from?!”  He caught the gun and holstered it back in his pocket, making sure the safety was on before doing so.

“I read books, brother.  Like the gun’s manual and school books.  While you’re out working yourself to death to support us, I’m learning everything I can.  Never know when something’ll come in handy!”  She took her brother’s hand and lifted him to his feet.

“Okay Miss Smartypants, if you’re such a genius, then tell me what day it is!”

“Looking at the sun, it would have to be somewhere around noon.  So we were either asleep for a full day, or we were out for an hour.  I’d rather go with the latter, because then it’d still be my birthday!”  She took his arm again and laughed a childish, happy laugh.

“Sounds good to me, sis.  As much as I love this place though…we really need to find a town or something.  We need food and shelter…  Let’s go.”

“Go where?  We don’t even know where we are…”

“Pick a direction.  Any direction.  There’s bound to be something somewhere in one of them.”

“You’re going to let me guess our way to shelter?  I don’t think it works like that.”

“Just do it, sis.  Point somewhere, and that’s where we go.  Trust your New York instincts.”

“Whatever.  Let’s go…that way!”

“That way?  Are you sure?”

“Hey, you said you would-!”

“I’m just kidding, sis!  Let’s go!”

With that, Malcolm gripped his little sister’s hand tight, and they darted off into the woods to greet whatever waited for them.  No matter what they would encounter, they knew nothing could ever be as bad as the thugs that lurked in every shadow of the New York ruins.

It didn’t take them long at all to find what they were hoping to find.  After a few minutes of running through the peaceful forest, they emerged out on a large open plain.  In the distance about a mile from the edge of the woods rested a small town.  The beauty of the surrounding area really brought out the town’s appeal to the siblings, and without hesitation they set off to reach the hopefully-friendly citizens within.

Thoughts of food and shelter and kind neighbors filled their heads as they ran ever closer to the colorful community.  The home they had left was dull and fearful, but this new place was bright and cheerful.  Just the thought of never going back to New York made their hearts flutter and their burdens lift.  They would’ve never guessed what was waiting for them as they approached the village from the north side…

The closer they ran to the would-be refuge, the more hesitant Malcolm grew.  Even from a distance away, he felt something was different about this place.  It was almost as if something bad was going to greet them when they arrived.  Upon entering the town, his suspicions were confirmed.  There were no other humans in sight in the main square of the town.  In fact, there were no humans visible anywhere within the town.  Instead, there were four-legged animals walking around going about their business.

Malcolm stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the unsettling lack of other people.  He yanked his sister to a sudden stop as she almost continued running into the town.  When given a puzzled look from her, he whispered, “This place doesn’t feel right…”

Loralee responded with a confused, “What do you mean?  It’s a town with shelter.”

The older sibling shook his head and groaned, “Look around.  Notice anything wrong?”

The younger of the two scanned the town square with curious and observant eyes.  She thought for a few seconds before gasping, “There aren’t any people here!”

Malcolm nodded and sighed, “Yeah, but that ain’t all.  Look at all those animals walking around.”  He lowered his voice as he brought the quadrupeds to his sister’s attention.

The little girl’s eyes opened wide as the animals’ appearances brought back a memory from years ago.  She whispered, “Those animals are horses, Mac.”

“Horses?” Malcolm asked, uncertain of what ‘horses’ were.

“Yeah, like from Mom’s old picture books.  They walk on four legs and eat oats and grass.  People used to ride them for fun and transportation…before the war…”  She lowered her gaze as she thought about the torments of the post-war world.

The eldest immediately changed the subject, “So if they’re horses, and people used them, they why are they walking around alone?”  He waved a hand at the multi-colored creatures roaming about the town.  Some had wings, others had horns, and still others were just normal, brightly-colored animals.

Loralee thought for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and sighing, “I dunno.  Maybe these horses are smarter than the ones from pre-war times.”  She smiled up at her brother and tried to take another step forward, but was held firmly in place by his hand.

“I don’t trust ‘em.  We don’t know anything about them, so let’s play it safe…”  He slowly moved his free hand to his back pocket where the gun was resting.

His sister groaned angrily, “You aren’t thinking about shooting them, are you?!  They’re just horses!”  This sudden rise in volume drew the attention of one creature that had been walking by at just the right moment.

The horse slowly turned toward the two siblings and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.  It slowly took a few steps closer.  Malcolm took this time to note the strange color of the creature.  It had what he would describe as a mint-colored skin tone and faded blue hair.  It also had a horn protruding from the top of its head.

The two siblings stared blankly at the horse as it approached them.  The younger of the two reached a hand out to the animal, which responded by raising a hoof to its muzzle.  What happened next threw both humans for a loop.

The horse, in a curiosity-filled feminine tone, asked, “You two aren’t from around here, are you?”

Malcolm’s jaw dropped and he leaped back a few feet, pulling Loralee with him.  He let out a fearful scream, “Did that animal just talk?!”  He pointed a shaky finger right at the confused horse and gripped his pistol with the other hand.

“I-I think so, brother!”  His sister’s eyes locked onto the hand gripping the pistol.

The horse took another few steps closer and said in an apologetic tone, “I didn’t mean to upset you…  Where are you from?”  She tried to take another series of steps toward the humans, but the shiny silver object in the boy’s hand stopped her in her tracks.

Malcolm screamed while aiming the gun at the horse’s head as steadily as his shaky nerves would let him, “Don’t come any closer you freak, or I’ll shoot!”

Loralee gripped her brother’s aiming arm and tried to pull it out of the air.  She shouted, “Are you insane, Mac?!  It’s just a horse, it can’t hurt us!”  She yanked on her brother’s jacket sleeve as hard as she could to try and throw off his aim, but the arm was steady in the air.

“I don’t know much about horses, but I’m pretty damn sure they ain’t supposed to talk!”  The on-guard boy lined up the sights of the gun to the horned horse’s head.

His sister lowered her voice so that only he could hear her, “If all of these ponies can talk, is it possible this world is run by them?  Like how our world was run by humans?  If we make enemies now, we’ll be screwed later on!  Just do this for me, okay brother?”  She tugged at his arm again, and this time it came down with her own.

The hesitant boy sighed, “Dammit Lora, you know we can’t be so quick to trust these animals…”

“We aren’t in New York anymore, Mac.  Maybe we can trust them.”  She smiled as her brother re-locked the safety on the gun and holstered it back in his pocket.  The horse that had first addressed them now had a crowd of other horses gathered around her.

Each of them was staring directly at the two humans who had suddenly arrived at their doorstep.  The younger of the two siblings took a few steps toward the crowd and giggled, “My name is Loralee Rossano…”  She placed her hand on her chest before waving it toward her brother.  She continued, “…and this is my brother, Malcolm.  Sorry about his sudden outburst, but we’re not used to…talking animals…”  She smiled sheepishly as she said the last part of her sentence, hoping not to offend anyone.

Another horse in the crowd, this one with a brown skin tone and hair, stepped forward and addressed the little girl, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Loralee.  Welcome to Ponyville.  I would ask that you not refer to us as ‘animals’, considering we aren’t.”  A few cheers erupted from the crowd as another couple of horses stepped forward.

The mint-colored horse from before addressed Malcolm, “And we aren’t horses, we’re ponies.  There is a difference, you know.”  She smiled and approached the little girl.

Loralee turned to her brother and giggled, “I guess we were wrong, Mac.”  She walked back to his side and took his hand.  He hesitantly followed her to the crowd of ponies.

Malcolm groaned, “Call me Mac, if ya don’t mind.  Sorry about jumping the gun back there…  But talking ponies ain’t something we see every day…”  He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath.

The brown pony chuckled, “It’s not a problem.  It’s not every day we see creatures walking on two legs.  What did you say you were again?”  He raised a hoof to his muzzle to ponder what kind of creatures the siblings were.

Loralee and Malcolm shared confused expressions.  The former of the two said, “Why, we’re humans…you didn’t know that?”

A loud series of shocked gasps filled the air as every pony in the crowd was left in awe at the mention of ‘humans’.  The mint-colored pony leaped into the air several times and cheered, “Oh yeah!  Who was right?!  This mare was!  Booyah!”  She let a smug grin plaster her face as she spun around to look at the dumbfounded crowd of ponies.

Malcolm cocked his head to the side and asked, “Why so surprised?  You don’t have humans in this world?”  He thought for a second and said, “I guess that makes sense, we don’t have talking ponies in ours…”  He looked back at Loralee, who was grinning from ear to ear.

The mint-colored pony laughed, “Correction:  we didn’t have humans in our world!  Now we do!”  She hopped over to Malcolm’s side and plopped an excited hoof onto his shoulder.  She cheered, “Welcome to Equestria, strangers!  The name’s Lyra Heartstrings, pleasure to meet ya!”

Without warning, the two humans found themselves being corralled into the group of ponies and shoved toward a large stage at the east side of the town.  Before they arrived, wild chatter bounced around the town like wildfire, and suddenly a massive group of ponies were gathered by the stage.  Suddenly, they were both standing on it, put on show for at least a hundred ponies.  

Malcolm didn’t like this little situation, but he simply grinned and dealt with it upon seeing his sister enjoying herself.  The crowd of amazed and shocked ponies bombarded them with question after question, all of which Loralee answered to the best of her ability.  Her brother simply stood there like a statue and waited for the show to end.

Funny ain’t it?  Just this mornin’ we were being shot in the head, now we’re answering the questions of a bunch of colorful talking animals.  How the hell’d we get here, and why are they talkin’?  At least Lora’s happy, I s’pose.  She’s just too damn naïve…

Malcolm was snapped from his thoughts as his sister tried to pass a question over to him.  A purple pony with a horn standing at the front of the crowd repeated her question to him, “How did you two end up here in Ponyville?”

This question was one Malcolm had tried not to think about.  He accepted that it had happened.  He accepted that the animals were talking.  What he was completely unsure of was exactly how it had happened.

He thought for a few seconds and plopped down on the stage.  An older-looking mare handed him a microphone so that every pony in the crowd could hear his answer.  He sighed, “I can’t really say.  Me and Lora were going shopping for her birthday, some thugs shot us, and we woke up in the forest a mile or so away.  That’s all I know.”  He handed the mic back to the old mare.

Loralee took the mic and sat beside her brother as she added, “We don’t know how we got here, but we do know that we definitely don’t want to go back…”  Malcolm’s eyes opened wide and he sent an indignant glare to his sister.

He mumbled quiet enough so the mic couldn’t pick up, “Speak for yourself Lora.  Though you’re right…”  He turned his head away and let out a deep breath.

The girl stood back up and giggled, “We’re happy to be here.  It’s a lot different from our home.”  

The purple pony asked, “So what was your home like if you don’t mind me asking?”  Nods of approval of the question followed her voice.

Loralee took a deep breath and started to explain, “Well, it’s really cold all the time.  We don’t have plants like you do.  The sun never really shines because the sky’s always covered in thick nasty clouds…”  She paused to think of other ways to describe New York.  Chatter rang out from the crowd in both pity and disbelief of how horrible she described her home.

Malcolm jumped to his feet and snatched the mic from his sister.  He groaned, “Our home was hell.  Imagine everything bad you can possibly think of, put it all together, and you have our home.  Bad people run around all over the place, and just looking at someone funny can get you killed.  Our home sucks, that’s why we don’t want to go back.  Now let’s drop it.”  He shoved the mic back into the old mare’s hooves.

The question and answer session went on for an hour or so.  Malcolm was steadily growing impatient with all the obsession of their lives back home.  Loralee, despite her brother’s annoyance, seemed to be enjoying herself greatly.  She kept answering all the questions she could, and left her brother alone for the remainder of the show… Next Chapter: Lightening Up Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes