Chapter Two: May 24th-25th

It's been a day since I haven't needed sleep. I just haven’t felt that tired. I hadn't looked through any of the other homes or anything else, and I made sure to keep the food fresh before I got more. I had enough food for the others as well, thankfully.

Lyra has been a big help to me so far. She went into my room and got my Little Foot stuffed animal and my Ducky. I was going to keep the rest here just in case I had a chance to return and get them. Then she gave me a little award I got. Bj's wholesale club ten years of hard work in a bakery. I held it close to my chest, and made sure I placed it in a bag.

The door of the car hadn't been opened yet; I didn't want to use up the battery any time soon. I didn't need any clothing, but I made sure to get some books so I could read when we take a break. Star Trek, Dragonlance, and How to kill a Mockingbird. I set a few more bags by the car. All these had mementos, photos and that's mostly it.

I left behind all my DVDs and even my computer. There was no way that I would be able to take it all with me. But Lyra was odd... She was obsessed with learning. "I want to learn about your kind. I know it's hard to understand why, but I just wish to learn. Sorry if I seem obsessed."

At the moment, I ignored her. Ruby, Luna, and Toby loved Lyra. She spoke to them like they could answer back. "What do you worship? What kind of food did you normally eat?" This was the fourth time she asked this. I had no idea a pony could be so obsessed like this.

She was about to speak again. I turned to her but not looking at her. "Lyra, humans are full of pain and full of death. They cause battles and they bring war. But mostly, they also bring peace. The tongue shrilling music gave the human race a second chance to make things right for all the hate, for all the pain and for all the wars... Are you still wishing to learn about us?" I lifted my head up and looked at the houses around us, then right at Lyra. "Are you willing to learn about someone that will kill? Are you willing to learn about one that will cheat? Are you even willing to learn about one that will lie? I don't know the land you're from, Lyra. But here, nothing is ever certain."

I could see an unsure look present in her emotions, her eyes looking around as she tried to figure out what to say next. "...I'm...not sure, Russell but, I am talking to a sweet gentle dragon which was formally human." Blinking at that, I had a gentle smile form on my face at her kindness. "What about you, is this your second chance?" Lyra calmly asked.

I blinked and looked down at my chest. I don't see the scars. The marks of the tubes that went into my body no longer there. The body is healthy, not overweight. My brain is new. I no longer have the learning problem or the short term memory issue. Closing my eyes, I felt my heart. My heart is new, not the heart that...I had to go take care of when being six months. Looking up to Lyra, giving a soft smile, showing my sharp teeth.

Then I swear I heard her say under her breath that not everypony is good. But I didn't care about that and just kept up with the smile. Then I said the words locked in my mind.

"More than a second chance Lyra. I feel that I have a chance of a new life. Without the pain, I felt for so long in my life. Looking towards the future with hope and understanding. Maybe it is as they say. You open the drums with a staff that looks like a key and it brings forth a life you wished for all along. So, yes, a second chance." I coughed a bit, this was getting silly. I was talking to a pony about my life. Here I am, a dragon and I'm talking to a talking horse. This is just creepy and ironic. I am waiting for Q to show up and say. 'It's a joke, laugh!' I looked towards the city. I could see the Ace Hardware store in the distance.

After I parked the truck I turned to Lyra and found her holding a miniature harp, she must have got it out of those weird bags she carries that have her butt stamp on them. “Lyra, did you get that from a one night stand?”

Lyra looks at me in confusion and then at her instrument. “Um... Well yes, I usually keep it on my nightstand.”

I slap my face and laugh. “No not that thing.” I poke the center of the mark on her butt with my claw. “This, did you get drunk and sleep with someone, then wake up to find that on you the next morning?”

Lyra squirms from my prodding, but the moment she hears me ask if she sleeps around I saw her eyes grow as big as saucers, her face turned red, she got angry, and her horn flared to life. Before I could react it felt like a hand slapped me across the face, it didn’t hurt very much though. “You Bitch I’m married!”

I stood there staring at her. My eyes glowed brightly. “You show up..here saying your married prove it.”

Lyra snorts at me, the blush still glowing on her face… I just realized… How is she blushing through fur? “Fine, you want proof?! Here!” The lip of one of her weird bags glows and it opens up, I catch a glimpse inside and see… nothing? “But out of nothing, she pulls a picture of her and another mare in wedding attire? “Is THIS proof enough for yah?!”

I just shrugged. “So your race is progressive eh not that impressive.” I said just like it’s not interesting.

Lyra screams and shoves the picture back in the bag, it vanishes and she quickly closes the lid. She looks away and grunts. I just barely hear her hiss under her breath. “It’s not like we haven't been trying to find the stud to pull our wagon you jerk.”

“Pull your wagon. You mean.” I sigh I’m sorry to say but due to the nature of my journal I placed this in another journal. I will give you the next part. She is very upset with me. To the point she even well tries to hurt me with a rock.

I can’t stop laughing as Lyra sits there with her legs crossed, all four of them. I really need to go inside however, so I ask one last thing as I open the door. “Hey Lyra, how are you blushing through your fur?”

She blinks and looks at me with a mix of irritation and confusion. “What? I… What? Blush?” She looks at me as if I just grew a couple of extra heads… maybe I can do that?. “I just blush. You can see everypony blushes when the blush. If you blush everypony can see it clear as day.”

“Everypony?” Blinking a moment. “Everypony?” I just keep saying it in my head. I’ll leave that alone for now. Note: I placed this in my journal not understanding this. So maybe someone else can?

I sigh and shake my head. "Lyra, keep an eye on the dogs for me please. I need to go inside. I will be back with everything I need for the trip."

Lyra looked at me is confusion. “And how do I do that? You have a brush I can use?”

I shook my head and pointed at her weird instrument. “No, but you have that. Why don’t you play that or something?” I shut the door as she looked at her harp thing and then to my dogs. I turned and looked back to the town and growled. I couldn't run very well yet. Going through the cow grazing fields and slowly walking into town. I would be there, maybe in a few hours. But it was time to start gathering what I needed to get on my journey.

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It was noon when I got into the town. I saw the banners for Longmire Day. The two hotels I walked past were packed full of cars. The sight of all of those car gave me inspiration. I knew how to get everything back to the house.

I looked towards the gas station and the McDs that I worked at, just beyond the McD was Ace Hardware. It was silent. All I really saw were groups of dogs giving me a wide berth and small birds scattered about. I noticed many trucks and cars parked here. I thought to myself: ‘Whatever happened here happened fast’ as I approached my goal.

I walked right up to the door. It was locked of course. So I grabbed the sliding door with my two front claws and with my new found body and might. I tried to pull the doors open but it was locked, I wasn’t going to be stopped so I put more effort into it.

I put too much effort into it and ripped the lock apart and sent both doors flying to either side of me. ‘Oops’. I looked at my arms and claws, I need to be more careful. I went into the entryways beyond the doors I wrecked and looked at the second set. I decided to try something different, so I used a clawed finger to cut a hole an entrance through the glass. I got half a, um, circle? Oval? Egg? Shape cut when I pushed a bit too hard and shattered the entire glass panel. I then realized the side doors were not locked and cussed to myself as I slowly, walked inside.

The light oddly turned on for the time being of course. I doubt the power would stay for long. I grabbed the largest wagon I could find and dragged it behind me. As I was going through the store, I found what I needed, gas containers. Even found the type of hose you can place in another car and take the gas from it.

I placed all the gas containers in the wagon, grabbed the handle with my tail. I oddly learned how to use my tail like another limb, but learning how to fly, I think that would take longer. I grabbed several bundles of rope that I could use to tie things to the car and tossed them into the wagon as well. Some even had metal brackets so I could strap them down tight. As I pulled the wagon behind me. I noticed the candy and beverages on my way out and tossed them into the wagon as well, I’ll share them with lyra since I grilled her so much. Speaking of grill, I walked by the MCD's as I left, but this time I smelled meat. Raw meat... Very raw meat.

I set the wagon down in the parking lot, who was going to steal it, right? I grabbed the door of the MCD's and ripped it off the hinges. At this point why bother? I’m a large dragon, if anything hostile shows up, I can probably wrestle it or just scare it away.

I set the door down onto the ground. I didn't want my boss to have to repair anything just in case she returned and wanted to keep this up and running. I was about to yank on the second door when I remember my previous experience and the door opened right up, so I walking in and looked around. I could smell the meat. I saw the meat sitting in the bins from late last night, a half made sandwich sitting on the prep line caught my eye and I felt the drool roll down my neck. My instincts took over as a hunger filled me, then the world went black.

When my brain came to its senses, I had devoured every single box of chicken, beef, or meat or bread, and whatever else was edible in the building. I looked around and felt upset that I did this to them. But I had no choice, I was hungry.

I knew there was Subway, Dash in, Taco John's and so on near me. So I had to pick another spot to go to. I ate all I can and then grab more when I drive down here.

Calmly, I left behind the mess and made went up to the fountain for a drink. I turned on the water, getting a good drink from it. Then, I slowly walking back out of the store, taking the wagon again with my tail and pulling it along till I came up to the pizza hut.

Another door was blocking my way, I grabbed the door, and ripped it off its hinges this time and toss it away. I left the wagon behind and my mind went blank again.

I woke up from the stupor and I realized that it was four in the afternoon. All the boxes of all the meat was gone, I had even ate the cheese and raw dough. I stood up, from my mess and felt my stomach, it finally felt full. I needed to get to the O'Reilly Auto Parts store. Getting near the door, I had gotten tired of ripping doors off their hinges but I needed to do it right.

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I finally made it back home when the sun went down, . It was seven at night. I could see pretty well, thankfully, for the time because the power was still on, I then realized that I had planned to take one of the cars at the hotel and cussed up a storm as I looked over my haul. I came up with a bunch of gas cans of varying sizes. Rope and clips were holding them in place. Two batteries. Leaving the wagon right by the car. I wasn't tired but walking back here took awhile.

I went inside, Lyra was laying with the dogs. She was reading a book while somehow lightly playing that instrument just above her head. It looks like she had found the dog food and fed them as well. I gave a gentle smile. The music she was playing made me drowsy.

"oh... Hello, Russell." She jumped on to her hooves, trying not to bother the dogs as she trotted towards me with a neutral expression on her face. She held the book and instrument in her magic. Looking at the book, it was one of the dragon's names. I sighed softly looking towards her with a gentle smile.

"Trying to find me another name, Lyra?" I held out my hands full of various candy bars and sodas. “Here I grabbed you something since you had to put up with me earlier.

She nodded her head and levitated everything out of my hands while still holding the book and her harp thing. She opened a snickers bar and sniffed it before popping the entire bar in her mouth and chewed on it with a look of utter bliss on her face. A glowing blush of happiness, showed through her fur, I’m beginning to wonder if she herself know how that works. But damn did she have a chocogasm. I’m not sure why her tail raised into the air however.

“Um… Lyra are you expecting someone to plow you?”

I suddenly found the wrapper shoved up my nose as she gave me a sour look for a moment as she continued to chew. I thought about giving her another jab but the sudden image of a large half chewed glob of snickers hitting in my face killed that idea… for now at least.

Shifting a bit on my claws, I laid down on the cold wooden floor and it felt great on my body. I lifted my head up, looking up at her with a smile. "Well, please, tell me what names you have picked for me, Lyra." The unicorn gave me a gentle smile, laying beside me and opening the book to a name, Malla. Blinking looking at the name it means the black. I thought about it a moment looking at Lyra and nodded. "Since I'm moving on from my old life, I will be known as, Malla."

Lyra’s mood had taken turn for the better as she squeed in glee but I just smiled. I didn't want to forget who I was but... I felt maybe it's time to move on and forget my past my pain. I slowly got to my claws again. I wasn't tired, I felt it was time to work on getting more things ready.

I went out to the car and took out the driver seat, now this is not easy since bolted down, but I found a workaround, tossing the empty back seat out and watched it fly off the cliff, Home run! I wanted to make sure that everything was ready before I closed the doors back up.

I let the dogs and Lyra sleep. I had all the energy in the world right now. I looked towards the trailer that we bought when we moved here, I pulled it from its resting spot and latched it onto the peg and made sure it would stay. Now, I had something to hold everything in.

When I opened up the garage, I found a few things to remove gas from, the weed whacker, lawn mower, and snowblower. I grabbed three cans from the wagon and set them down, down doing the riding mower first. Grabbing the hoes or whatever it was that could suck the gas, into the gas can and the other in the mower and let it take the gas out.

The smell though it was slowly getting on my nerves, but sadly, this needed to be done. I doubt the power would last forever, thinking about how if most of the world was empty. Who is keeping the plants going? Are they automated? How long will they last?

I sighed softly to myself as I finished emptying my old yard tools fuel reserves into the gas can. I pulled out the tube and closed the can. Now, I just had another two things to do.

Strangely, when I opened the snowblower I found that it was full for some reason. Maybe my father forgot to empty it. Doing the same thing again. Allowing the gas to fill up the gas can. This was really boring to do, but I had no games I could play. Well, I had more things I had to do right now.

I thought Lyra was still asleep along with the dogs, but she came to see what I was doing while drinking out of a large mug she found in the house, she was using a curly straw that must have been buried in the kitchen somewhere. I wonder how much of my house she has dug through if she found that old thing. Finished emptying the weed wacker while she sucked on that annoying straw, I had two filled cans now. I am sure there was a push mower in here. Looking around, I found it. Slowly grabbing it, opening up the gap and doing the process all over again and turning my head to look at her, blinking a moment. “Lyra, you seem to have something on your mind," I said as she watched me do my job while slurping through that annoying straw. Ok she has got to be doing that on purpose to get back at me. Touche Lyra, Touche.

She looked up at me with her gentle eyes, licking her lips clean of the fizzing brown liquid she was drinking, then looked away a moment then back to me. I could tell she has a question in her mind.
"Lyra? No. I don't want to answer any more questions about humans." Lyra rushed up to me quickly, nuzzling my neck in a kind motherly way. I blinked a bit, I wasn’t sure what to think. She removed her head from my neck. I tilted my head a bit but had a smile on my dragon face.

"You seem to need a friend, Malla... Well, Russell. I promise you, I will be here till you leave this place. We will then meet again when you reach your home. I promise you that."

I just blinked and looked at her. I had no idea why she even acted like this. I'm not even a pony like she is. There had to be more to this then she was telling me but I'm not going to pry. I would have to learn about it down the line.

Watching her leave, I lifted the three cans with my tail, placing them on the front of the trailer. I had more cans. I lifted up two more and headed to the other two cars that my sister in law and my brother drove.

Since they left their doors unlocked, I opened the driver's side on the old Ford van. I opened the gas side, placing the tube in and taking the gas from the van and placing it into another can. I then realized my neck felt sticky, I reached back and touched the spot, bringing my finger back I found Lyra had left drooled some of her soda on me when she nuzzled me. “LYRA!!”

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I got what I could from all the gas-powered machines from my home. I set them by the other cans. I counted them and I have five. I really highly doubted that would be enough to get me to where I wanted to go.

I looked around to see that I had close to ten more, hopefully, I’d find more around town. I went into the house and looked at the clock, it was nine at night and I wasn't even tired, but I noticed Lyra eating some of the veggies from the fridge.

I looked at the fruit and avocados that I would've been eating. But when I look at them… My stiff full stomach dose decides to do somersaults. Yeah... I should to get back to work. I felt that If I didn't I might not find anyone along the way. But maybe that is a good thing.

"Lyra, do me a big favour. I know you might be tired but could you please start loading the car? I'm going to be leaving sometime in June. Don't leave the door open, I don't want the battery to die."

She gave me a nod as she pour a Rockstar and pepsi into the mug, Maybe I should have paid attention to what drink I grabbed for her.... "Remember to get all of the dog food, make sure to keep some for the dogs for the next few days. Make sure to gather the water bottles under the cabinets there. Then, use the filtered water. Fill all of them up and put them in the wagon I will put them in the car later. I want to keep power I used to a minimum."

Before I left, Lyra's gentle voice spoke. Before I could fully leave.
"Russell, how are you so ready for this?" She calmly asked. "I'm sure if anypony else is around they wouldn't have gotten the same idea you have."

I stayed silent for a moment looking back at her with a gentle smile. But again, I kept silent closing my eyes then looked back to her. I didn't wish to talk about it but I had to.

"Well, Lyra, I was born and raised in Michigan, lots of Tornadoes and you lose power from the blizzards. But I lived in Groton Connecticut. We had to live through three hurricanes in three years. The first one we still had power and everyone around us didn't, but it's something we didn't think about. Then, we had the second one we still had power. We just thought we didn't need to get ready. Speaking of which, there is a drawer there will be a basket full of batteries. Then in my room is a large led lantern that I got from the bakery. Please put all that in the car. But-"

I turned away to look towards the way out. "The third hurricane. It destroyed almost everything along the east. Old bridges and we lost power for ten days. Half of our state was flooded, people and the power company refused to help. But we learned then we had to be ready for something like that to happen again. So when we moved here. We got a large portable car charger, that I just remembered we had. It's already fully charged. I will check again to make sure. But when you look at that... the fact you lived close to the world ending at least for one state. You feel you must be ready. Please do what I asked, Lyra."

I went to the garage again grabbing a cloth, I saw all the MRE's even the non-meat ones. It was a lifetime supply but the boxes were small enough to fit into a few coolers.

I sighed a little, this was going to take awhile. Why must I have been given a body that doesn't need that much sleep? Maybe I am lucky since I could go on and on for a good while maybe get a good sleep when I get there. But I am really unsure.

I should have paid closer attention to what lyra was drinking, as I suddenly found a tongue invading my mouth. I opened my eyes to find Lyra kissing me, and several empty bottles of hard my parent’s hard cider sitting on the counter.

Lyra pulls away from me and her eyes cross and roll into her head for a few seconds, suddenly she looks into my eyes and gives me a sultry grin. She speaks in an enticing, but very different sounding voice. “Bon Bon… I want to try getting Thunderlane to form a herd with us, I want little foals running around the house. Hehe...”

I stare at Lyra in absolute horror, until her eyes roll into the back of her head again and she falls to the floor out cold. “Never again am I letting you mix alcohol with… No, fuck that, I’m not letting you drink alcohol ever again.”

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It was midnight, the lights outside were turned on so we could see. I placed all the MRE's in a cooler placing them inside the car behind the driver's seat. There were large coolers that held all small boxes, they filled three of them. I kept the veggies in its own cooler. But it was now may 25th I wasn't going to stop.

I had tucked Lyra into my own bed. She did what I asked and filled all of the water bottles, even if she did seem to make a concoction that made her channel… someone who wants to form a herd and make babies. After I finished putting my tired friend to bed, I put the bottles in a small basket and and put them on top of the large container of dog food.

When I looked inside there is a little more room for the dogs. I am going to be placing the rest of the stuff in the trailer, but I learned that night that creatures have gotten braver since no cars have gone through.

Of course, it was pretty normal for Buffalo deer all over it was rare to see bears here. But it was very odd for them to even come down from the mountains.

I went back inside the garage again and looking through it, I found the portable battery charger. When I turned it on, there was no charge, so I plugged it into an outlet, just in case.

I sighed and looked around some more, I found two large carrying cases. Opening them up looking towards the bags near the car. Maybe I should place the bags in here so I could take more. I blinked a little, how come I felt like I had to keep gathering together whatever I could find? It's getting very strange, but at least I found these two cases.

I looked at the large Ford Expedition. I would be able to take a lot more things with this. Carrying them both inside using one leg to hold one and my tail to hold the other. Looking around for what to get. I noticed my mother's old butter churn and placed it inside one of them.

Then there was her many little gnomes. I didn't wish to break them so I didn't even think of taking them. I went into my room silently looking at all my DVD's. Maybe when I get to Michigan, I will be able to get power going. So I grabbed my PS3, all the hookups and packed them up. My want of these items seemed to be growing, but I don't want to overload the car too much. Which is kind of ironic, given what’s happening.

I noticed my entire series of Babylon five. I felt I should take it. Along with my other series to remember my past life. I filled both cases up with what I could and carried them outside again they were pretty heavy. But still, it's something I needed to do. Placing them on the roof and grabbing a few, tying them to the bars on the roof, making sure they're both down good and tight.

Maybe I’ll ask Lyra, when she wakes up, what’s going on with me.

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I kept working through the night until I could see the sun slowly coming up. I got all I wanted to into the car and the trailer for the moment. But I wasn't even done, I had more to tie down and more gas to get.

I looked into the car and noticed I could make more room since there is more room on the roof. I grabbed one of the coolers and opened it up it up, seeing that it's the veggie MRE's and I wouldn't eat them, I placed them on the roof. As I tied it down I felt pain in my body from all the work.

It was the first time since I changed this body that I felt pain. But I felt I like I would rest when I got to Michigan, I must keep forcing myself to move.

Now, all I had left to do was to gather more food since I had one last cooler, I could fill with the meat I have here. I'm not hungry after that spree yesterday, but I feel I could raid the other places and get food but all in do time. I lifted up my many gas cans. It was time to get more gas.

It was early morning. I went to the first house I that I had broken into the first day and broke into the into the two cars they had. Doing what I had been doing, removing the gas.

I looked to see that the dogs were watching who were still stuck inside. I went to the door I ripped it off so the dogs could be free, But they stayed inside. I sighed a bit, many dogs missed their families. It's like watching the Left Behind series, about the world ending with only the clothes being left behind. But fate seems to be doing something different than the bible.

Maybe this is God's work in some way or maybe some crazy force wanted to make a joke on us in the universe. Whatever is, I doubt many will be laughing. I thought to myself a bit more. 'Boy, I have been talking to myself a lot more. Maybe I need to,’ I shook my head. I need to get used to the fact that the voice in my head now is female along with my speaking voice.

Then something really hit me. My eyes went wide. I can't believe I have this on my mind. Do dragoness' go into heat? Will I be laying eggs? Will... I be some males mate... Huh and here I am being Bi that I would love this idea, but now thinking about it made me feel very odd.

Hopefully, the water still worked when I get back so I could hose myself down a bit and cool off. I look back at the gas cans, it was going to take a while so I did the next best thing and went to the garage of the house that I broke it open and found another gas can.

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It's now noon, I had basically broken into every house in the estates land. All cars have been emptied, I let all the dogs out and I got enough food to last me the trip. I finally was ready to go, but I would have to wait two days for the battery charger to be ready.

I'm not leaving here until June 4th though. I wanted to see if my family will somehow show up and if they don't, I will be leaving.

Taking everything back to the car, I could tell Lyra was worried about me, even with the hangover she was nursing. I was overworking myself. She stood there, putting a hoof on my side. She calmly spoke. "Russell, please, go get some sleep. You're overdoing it, so please." I heard her instrument strum and a soft song began to play.

I ignored her again. I didn't care what she was saying. Getting to see my family and getting through this journey is all I cared about. "Russell, if you don't do what I ask. I'm going to be doing something very drastic." I turned to her and my eyes study her a moment.

"Lyra, don't take this the wrong way. But I'm very sure you know more then you're telling me. So I am not going to sleep till I get to my destination. You will not stop me." The music started to sound really nice, I mean it was nice before but now it felt like it was so… Harmonious.

Going back to work, I felt a strange sensation in the back of my head. I turned to Lyra, my eyesight getting fuzzy, my anger surged and receded repeatedly as I tried to focus on her. "What did you do to me?!" I tried to reach for her, but instead of that I fell like a brick wall onto the ground.

Lyra stood over my head. My eyes so fuzzy as her horn was glowing brightly and her fuzzy looking golden thing seemed to have visible motes of light that kinda looked like music notes when they got close, floating off of it and floated towards my head. "I'm very sorry, Russell, but I can't allow you to hurt yourself." She stated. "Now, sleep." Her horn glowed brighter and the music felt deeper and more calming as I fell into a deep, deep sleep.

A note here from Lyra: Hello this is Lyra! I think you can read me. Yes I did that to Malla, she was going to pass out at the rate she was going. I wish I had found some other way at the time, but I panicked. I'm grateful she wrote this in such a kind light. Oh sorry I can’t write anymore Malla needs me.