2nd Hand Nightmare

"Hmmmm, this could be interesting to read! But I don't know if I could return it to the owner because he is a member of the NLR...." You think to yourself. The journal has temporarily distracted you from the current matters that need to be dealt with. Like finding a place to stay, food, repairing the town. Things like that. Rising to your hooves, you begin to go back the way you came. You have decided to take the book with you to read later. Looking at the village for a distance, really shows how bad the damage really is. There are houses that are just rubble now. On the far side of the village there seems to be a fire still going. But you decide to head home and look for anything you can salvage.

On the way there you end up having to go around many large and deep holes in the ground. Much like the one in front of your house from the night before. Only deeper because these ones didn't have thick cobblestones to go through. You feel sad when you finally come to the front of your house. There isn't much to see anymore. But, you look for belongings anyways. When lifting a piece of flame blackened timber, you find the photo of you and your roommate.

The golden frame is black with soot and a corner of the photo is burned. But most of it is okay. You can still clearly see who is in the picture. You set it next to your front door so you can take it with you later. It has become to get cloudy and the temperature has dropped. You shiver as you keep going through the remains of your house. Your legs are covered to the knee with black soot. There isn't a thing in your house that hasn't been fire damaged. Besides your picture, the only things that you have found that have survived the fire are some pots and pans, and a shoulder bag. One of the two straps on the shoulder bag has been burned, but it has broken luckily. You found that in the basement where there wasn't much to burn. Probably the only reason it was burned in the first place was that part of the floor had collapsed in.

After a few more hours of searching, you had fortunately come across a small safe you had kept in a kitchen cabinet and it didn't have fire damage to it. In the safe you had always kept a few bits in case of an emergency. Spinning the lock and opening the safe, you take out a small, milky white envelope. Inside it is about thirty small silver coins. They had been given to you from the government in return for your older currency. The Solar Empire had changed their currency only once so far. Now in the front of the coin bares the seal of the Solar Empire Military. And the back, an outline of Princess Celestia.

There are four of these envelopes filled with similar amounts in the safe. Putting the envelope back and closing the safe, you begin to pack up. You place the safe, the picture, and the journal in your shoulder bag. Wrapping the bag around your shoulder and neck, you begin to head towards the nearest inn. You can't seem to remember the name of the inn, but you know where it is. It is about seven blocks away and after ten minutes of walking, you come to the door. There are boards in front of one of the two windows on either side of the door. Shards of glass cover the road in front of that window. You push the door open and walk inside.

There are a few families with luggage, and some with none, sitting in the lobby. The pony behind the desk was giving the families room keys. Free of charge. He throws one your way and it lands in the blue carpet in front of you. You look at the tag. Room 12. You pick up the key and head down the long hallway to your room. Turning the key in the lock, you head inside. The room is pitch black. You feel the wall for a light switch, and after finding it, nothing happens when you flip it. The power had gone out. Walking farther into the room slowly, you nearly slip on something round.

A flashlight. You flip the lever on the cylinder and a beam of yellow light fills the room. There is one small bed, a bathroom, and a writing desk. You set the flashlight on the desk, and your bag next to the bed. You bend the metal shades in front of your window and peer out. It has gotten dark quickly. And after all of that searching, you feel exhausted.  After washing your hooves in the shower, you lay down to go to sleep. After you toss and turn for a while, you decide your thinking too much to be able to rest. An idea hits you. You move the flashlight onto the top of your bed and take take out the small journal you found that afternoon. "Entry 3, 5/23/10...."