The Diary
By LixiD
Chapter one - Getting closer
Finally we found some place to get some rest. We have been walking the whole day non stop and she can’t walk any longer. She is a one tough filly, but she needs to rest too. We’ll be staying here over the night. Tomorrow we try to get closer to the city, because we are running low on water and food. I hope it is not as hot tomorrow as it was today, but that seems unlikely.
“What are you doing?” You hear a voice asking behind you.
“Huh? Nothing special. Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep Scoots?” You turn around and take a step closer to her.
“Yeah, but it is so cold that my breath freezes instantly when it comes out.” She says and is shaking a lot. It really is a cold night. ‘Days are just getting hotter and nights colder’ you think as you give her a warm smile and take your jacket off.
“Here. Take this. It’ll keep you warm.” You say as you hand over the jacket. She looks a bit hesitant to take the jacket.
“But, don’t you need it?” She looks at you with her small purple eyes.
“Don’t worry. I’m used to coldness. And besides, you need it more than I do.” You say and she takes the jacket from you. You watch as she wraps herself carefully inside the jacket and closes her eyes. She looks so peaceful that your heart instantly fills with warmth. Then you turn around and take the pencil from the ground and continue.
But I know we can make it. We haven’t lost our hope.
Then you close the book in front of you and set the pencil on the ground. You get up and walk in front of the shack window and take a look outside. You don’t see anything moving outside, but that isn’t a surprise. You haven’t seen anything alive besides you and Scoots for days. The last person you saw, was some crazy idiot who tried to steal your bags. You slowly move yourself closer the shack door and open it a little bit. You take a careful peek outside. Everywhere you look, is just endless emptiness. You shiver a little when a wind breeze blows by.Then you take a step outside and close the door carefully behind you. You go sit down and lean your back against the wall and look up in the sky. You see millions of stars lighting the night sky and at the same time you think ‘Where is the moon? I haven’t seen it for many days. I kinda miss it.’
Then suddenly you hear somepony walk next to you. You turn your head to check who it is and see an orange filly standing next to you. She sits and wraps the jacket around herself. She looks first at you and then the sky.
“Will everything be ever the same as before?” You hear the filly asking.
“I sure hope so.” You say baldly and notice that the filly is still looking at you and you can see sadness in her eyes. You realize that your statement wasn't quite encouraging so you quickly put your smile back on your face and say:
“Of course it’ll be. Everything always turns out good at some point.” You don’t exactly believe what you just said, but you don’t care, because it seems that it made her happier and, if she is happy, you are too. You stay there for a while. Looking at the stars. But then another wind breeze goes by.
“Can we go back inside?” Scootaloo asks and makes you snap back to reality. You answer with a small laugh and walk back inside with her. You both go back to sleep on the cold wooden floor.
“Good night, Scoots.” You whisper in her ear and she smiles back to you.
“Good night.” and then she drifts off to sleep. You can’t get sleep pretty well because you don’t have your warm jacket on, but after awhile, you start sleeping as well.
***
At the morning you wake up, when you accidentally kick the wall next to you. Sun is already starting to rise, so you decide to start packing your stuff. You don’t want to wake up Scootaloo yet, because she has deserved her sleep. You go outside to see if anything has changed over the night, but you can’t see anything special. You take this little moment you have before you need to get moving, to admire the view. It’s actually kinda pretty. Sunrise, wind whistling its melody and the green grass. You close your eyes and take a deep breath. ‘Ready for a new day.’ you think as you open your eyes. You go back inside, because you should really start walking, if you want to make it to the city before dark.
You walk next to Scootaloo, who is still sleeping inside the warm jacket. You wouldn't want to wake her up, but you know that you have to. You tap her hoof and she slowly opens her eyes.
“Can I get my jacket back?” You say smiling and she laughs a little.
“Are we starting to leave already?” She asks as she crawls out of the jacket. You grab your jacket and put it in your bag.
“Actually we should have left already.” You say and hand over her her bag. She grabs it and smiles. You smile back to her.
“Let’s get moving.” You leave the shack and make a final check that you didn't forget anything before you close the door and start walking towards the city.
***
About after a half hour silent walking, you finally break the silence.
“Did you sleep well?” You decide to ask, because you can’t figure out any other questions.
“Yeah. That jacket of yours is really warm.” She points at the jacket that is hanging out of your bag. “Thanks for letting me use that.”
“Well, I don’t want you get a cold or anything.” You say as you pat her purple mane. She giggles a little.
“Stop it! You know I don’t like when you do that!” She says and giggles at the same time.
“Yes. I do know that.” You say and give her one of your signature smiles. She nudges you a little.
“So, are we trying to reach the city today?” She asks and probably knows the answer, but it is nice that she wants to keep the conversation going.
“Yes we are. It’ll be a long walk, but I think we can make it.”
“I am so excited! I can’t wait!”
“What is so exciting about it? It is just an ordinary city.”
“But I've never been into a city before. I have heard stories that they are cool.”
“Oh, I did not know that you've never been in a city before.”
“Well, now you know!”
She seems very excited, because she starts increasing her walking speed whole time. You two just keep walking and talking about everything that comes to mind so the time would pass a little faster.
***
After a long walk, you stop to take a break. Sun is doing its best to keep you warmed up, so you take a big drink from the bottle of water you had. Maybe a bit too big drink, because after you both have taken a drink, the bottle is empty. You both stare at the empty bottle silently.
“Hmm...”
“We need to try to find something on the way.” You throw the bottle into the bushes.
“We better find something. I don’t want to die from dehydration.”
“You aren't dying to anything. Now come on, let’s keep moving. We still have some walking ahead.” You put your bag on your back and start walking.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Scootaloo yells and runs to you.
You, once again, try to think of a subject to talk about, but you can’t get anything in mind. It seems that Scootaloo notices that and decides to help you.
“I have one question that I would like to know the answer to.” She starts little shyly.
“Yeah? What is that?”
She takes a moment and then asks “Why are you so nice to me? You don’t even exactly know me.”
You don’t actually know what you should answer.
“Umm.. well... You are just kinda awesome. And we are in this situation together, so why wouldn't I be nice to you.”
“I don’t know. It was a stupid question.”
“No it wasn't. Even though we're not relatives or anything, I think you kind of as my little sister.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
She seems even happier now. And if she is happy, you’re happy. Soon, you come across a small snack store. You both walk to it and you tell Scootaloo to wait outside, when you take a quick look inside.
“Wait here. I’ll be back in a second.” You say as you open the door into the shop. You walk in and take a quick look around. It seems that almost everything has been taken already, but you manage to find one water bottle under one of the shelves. When you start to walk out, you notice a shadow on the wall. You slowly start to move towards the place where you saw the shadow. Then you start slowly turning around the corner, when suddenly something orange tackles you at high speed.
“BOO!”¨
You slowly open your eyes to check that you heard right.
It’s Scootaloo...
“Scoots! You scared the living horse out of me!” You yell at her as your hearts beats faster than ever before in your life. The small orange filly just rolls on the floor and laughs loudly. You can’t help, but smile. It was kinda funny actually. And it is nice to see that she is having a fun time. That is pretty rare these days.
***
Sun is already starting to set and you can already see the city not that far away in the distance. You both are dead tired of all-day walking.
“Scoots?”
“What?”
“Maybe we should walk the rest of the way tomorrow, so we have more day time to examine everything in there.” You suggest and start taking you bag off your back.
She looks at you first kind of shocked, but then accepts the idea. “Fine.” She takes her bag off and lowers it on the ground. “But where are we going to stay through the night?”
You take a quick look around you. “Umm... That is a good question.” You say as you try to find some shelter for night. “Well... We could sleep there” You point at a bus stop shelter that is on the other side of the road.
“That?! It’s not even a real shelter.” She looks at the bus stop disgusted.
“It’s the only place we can use now and it is better than nothing, right?” You walk inside the bus stop. “This just needs a little cleaning before we can sleep on it.” You state and wipe some of the dust off the seat. Then you see Scootaloo still standing outside the stop.
“Oh, come on Scoots. It’s only one night.” You tilt your head a little.
Scootaloo lets out a big sigh and then slowly walks inside. She starts immediately cleaning the seat. When you have cleaned the seat, you take a comfortable position on it.
“It is a big day tomorrow.” You say trying to cheer up the mood a bit.
“Yeah. It is. Do you think it would possible if we would try to get up earlier tomorrow?”
You are first a bit confused by the question, but then smile to her. “Sure. Why not?”
“Good night.” She says and adds a big yawn.
“Good night. I’ll just do one thing and then I’ll go to sleep.”
“Okay.” Scootaloo says and corrects her position.
You watch as Scootaloo closes her eyes and then you start digging something out of your bag. An old dusty book. You also take out a pen. Then, you open the book and start writing.
Today we got really close to the city. She is really excited about seeing it. We will walk through it tomorrow, try to find some food and drink on the way and hopefully not get attacked by anything. It seems like she fell asleep pretty quickly. It will be a big day tomorrow. But I still have to remember, that I have a mission to do.
Author's Note
This is my first ever 2nd person fic.
Tell what you think in the comments, so I could improve my writing skills!
One step forward and two steps back
The Diary
By LixiD
Chapter two - One step forward and two steps back
You wake up when the first sunrays cross over your eyes. It is a beautiful morning. It surprisingly wasn’t that cold at night and the seat was pretty comfortable to sleep on. You look to your left and see Scootaloo still sleeping next to you. She looks like she’s about to fall off, because her front hooves are hanging on the edge of the seat. You check, if your bags are still where they were before you went to sleep. Yup. They are still there. You let out a big yawn. ‘Gosh that feels good!’ You decide to take a quick walk around the bus stop area just to wake you up a little. You jump off the seat and walk out of the shelter. To your right you can see the huge buildings of the city in the distance. After a couple minutes walking you get back inside the bus stop to wake up the little filly inside it.
You go sit next to her and nudge her gently. Her eyes start slowly opening.
“Do I have to get up already?” She asks in frustration.
“Well, you said yourself that you want to wake up earlier to see the city.”
When she hears the word city coming out of your mouth, her eyes lighten up and she stands up. She immediately grabs her bag and puts it on.
“Let’s get moving already!” She says in pure excitement. You laugh a little for Scootaloo's reaction, but then you pick up your bag.
“As you wish.” You start following the road to the direction towards the city. Seeing Scootaloo’s excitement makes you smile. ‘She’ll probably be disappointed, but I’m not going to ruin her excitement.’
“Can we spent the whole day in the city?” She asks you happily. You know you would like to keep her happy and stay there for a while, but you know that that isn’t possible.
“I’m sorry Scoots. We can’t spend anymore time in there than we have to. And besides, you’ll see most of it, when we walk through it.”
“But I would have wanted to see the whole city.” She says and her smile fades for a second. “Well, at least I’ll see it!” She says and is again filled with excitement.
It is almost hard to keep up with Scootaloo, because she just keeps increasing her walking speed. But you’re not trying to slow her down, because it is only a good thing, if you can move faster.
***
You arrive at the edge of the city pretty quickly. Scootaloo is just looking all the buildings amazed. You tease her a little by slowing your movement speed to almost nothing. Scootaloo stays by your side, but looks like she is going to explode soon. After a few seconds, she can’t hold the excitement anymore.
“Can we walk a little faster?” She looks like she is sweating, but you don’t know if it’s the sun or her mood. You just simply nod and increase your speed.
After you have walked deeper into the city, you let her go investigate a little bit. You won’t let her go far away, but at least she gets to see something. It is amazing how you can’t see any... you know... bodies. ‘I heard that the cure is deathly, but where is everyone then?’ Suddenly you hear Scootaloo shouting for you. You go to her and see that she is pointing at something. A food store!
“Good spot Scoots.” You give her pat on the head and this time she accepts it. You both start walking towards the food store and when you have reached it, you tell once again Scootaloo to wait for you outside.
“I’ll be back in a sec. This time, don’t scare me, okay?”
“Fine.” She sits on the road and starts rolling a rock with her hooves.
You open the store door and start slowly moving inside the store. After a little investigation, you can say that the shop side is empty, so you decide to check the storage room. You open the storage room door and a terrible smell floats out of the door. You start coughing, because of the terrible smell, but you force yourself to push further into the storage room. You move to the closest storage box and open it. It is full of rotten apples. You almost vomit, because the smell seems to be getting worse and worse whole time. Then you spot a refrigerator in the corner of the room and walk in front of it. You let out a sigh as you grab the handle. Then you slowly open the door. ‘Well, I guess we are going to have good dinner today.’ A big smile grows on your face when you see that the fridge is full of canned fruits and vegetables and some water bottles. But then you spot something in there that you know is going to make Scootaloo happy. An untouched chocolate bar.
You garb what you can into a plastic bag that you found. Then you make yourself back outside the store and you see that Scootaloo is still sitting there and is rolling the same rock with her hooves and hasn’t noticed you yet.
“Hey Scoots!”
The little filly snaps back to reality.
“Look what I got!” You wave the plastic bag full of goodies in front of her. Then, you see a big smile grow on her face, when she stands up and takes the bag from you. She takes a quick look inside the bag to make sure that it really is full of food.
“We are going to live with these for weeks!” She states happily and comes to hug you. You respond to her hug.
“Yes Scoots. Yes we are.” You almost feel a tear coming from your eye. You can’t express how happy you are, so you just stay there and hold her close to you. “Yes we are.”
***
After a little too long break you continue your walk through the city. You gave Scootaloo the chocolate bar and she is happily munching it as you walk. You stop for a second to drink a little bit of water and Scootaloo keeps walking. You don’t stop her, because you know that you’ll catch her quickly. You open the bottle and start pouring the liquid in your mouth, but then suddenly you hear a scream. It’s Scootaloo.
“Scootaloo!” You yell as you run as fast as you can to the direction of her voice. You turn around the corner and see Scootaloo standing still. You immediately hug her.
“What is wrong?” You ask and Scootaloo simply nods in the direction she is looking at. You turn your head to look there and when you see what she was screaming at, everything goes silent. No birds singing. No whistling of the wind. Just silence. ‘It seems that now I know where all of the bodies are.’ You stare at the scene for a solid second, but then you realize that Scootaloo is still watching it. You turn her quickly around and hug her tightly. She is trying to hold her tears, but you tell her that it’s okay to cry. Then she let’s it out. She cries against your shoulder. You feel like crying too, but she needs your strength now and that is what you are planning to give her.
After a couple minutes, she stops crying, but is still holding you. You grab her shoulders and look her in the eyes. She is looking straight into your eyes. You smile at her warmly and she smiles back.
“Let’s get out of here.”
She nods as a response. You stand up and start walking back to the direction you should be heading. Scootaloo walks close by your side.
***
The night seems to be getting closer thanks for the “little” break you had, you are still in the city. You have almost made it out of the city, but then you notice a familiar looking shop on the other side of the street. It doesn’t look special in anyway, but it still looks somehow familiar.
“Um... Scoots? Could you wait here a second?”
Scootaloo looks at you confused. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to check this shop. Wait here.”
“No! I want to come with you.”
You look at Scootaloo who seems shocked about the idea that she would have to be without you. You take a second to think.
“Okay. Come on.”
Scootaloos eyes brighten up and she walks next to you. You start walking towards the shop slowly.
You open the door and walk straight in. You take a quick look around the shop. ‘Why does this look so familiar?’ You spot another door behind the registering machine. You look behind you and see Scootaloo searching the shop for anything.
“You search the shop side and I’ll take a look back here.”
“Okay.”
You open the door and when you walk inside, you close the door behind you. You take one more step deeper into the room. Suddenly you start hearing screams inside your head. ‘What is this place?!’ You look around the room and spot a photo on one of the desks. You walk to it and grab it. When you start looking it more closely, visions start flying past your eyes. Like they would be memories. You are peeking through a hole in a door. You see two shadows in the wall and you can hear two voices in your head. A female voice and a male voice. The female voice is screaming loudly and the male voice is laughing evilly. Then suddenly you realize that this vision IS a memory. You take even closer look at the photo and you recognize two figures and immediately realize who they are. Your can’t stand anymore. Your legs give up and you fall on the floor and drop the photo.
There you are now. On the floor, staring at the photo and crying. Crying harder than you have in a long time, because you now remembered the things that you had managed to forget. Memories of your past. You hear the door open behind you, but you don’t react to it, because you know who it is. She is saying something, but you don’t know what. She runs to you and looks at you. Then, she takes a look at the photo and knows what is going on. She wraps her hooves around your neck and holds you. Suddenly you get a strange feeling. It’s not a bad feeling. It just is something you’ve never felt before. You look at the filly who is doing her best to cheer you up and make you feel better. Then you realize what the feeling is. It’s care. You have never felt like this before. You hug her back and you smile. ‘She isn’t anymore just my mission. She is my sister.’
***
The night has come and you’ve decided to sleep in the back of the shop. Even though you wouldn’t like to do it. It just feels like you should. Scootaloo is already in sleep. You are still awake.
We didn’t get out of the city yet. We’re sleeping in a shop. We had some good luck and bad luck today, but we are still doing good. Scoots is already sleeping and I’m going to sleep soon. I hope tomorrow we’ll have a better day when we get out of this city. I guess that she has had enough of it too. I was thinking that maybe we could go to the old ruins and stay there resting for two or three days, because we are getting really tired and we need to rest for a couple days. Now to sleep.
