//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A New Guest // Story: The Loner // by Noman //------------------------------// The Loner Chapter 2: A new guest Everything in Noah’s mind clicked at that one moment. He was held hostage by Scootaloo, the mare that he had a massive crush on when he was a little colt. That didn’t matter now, seeing as he was tied up and that he was probably going to get murdered. At least he would get to see his parents soon. Hell, maybe she didn’t want to kill him and she would force him into slavery. He knew that he wouldn’t know unless he asked. After a long time of Scootaloo staring at him, Noah built up enough confidence to ask the mare a simple question, “Why am I tied up?” She let out a small laugh and pulled up a chair beside the bed. “First of all, you stole my supplies. Second of all, I don’t know if you will make me into a slave and force me to do certain things that I would rather not talk about at this point. Are those good enough reasons?” Noah looked towards her dumbfounded. “Wait, you are aren’t going to sacrifice me to a god that you believe in or force me to become your personal pack mule?”. Scootaloo tilted her head to the side and looked at him with a confused face. When she noticed that he wasn’t joking she began laughing so hard that she fell out of her chair. =>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<= After a few minutes of letting Scoots get her laughs out, Noah realized that she was either in a mental state of depravity or she didn’t mean him any harm. Either way, there was nothing he could do about his current situation except wait. The stallion watched her as she went through his possessions before trying to reason with her again. “Can you please just untie me? These ropes are too tight.” She looked at him. “Stallion up, I’ll let you go when you can prove that you won’t kill me.” Noah let out an annoyed groan and looked at the mare holding him captive. “If you let me go I’ll... I’ll do something for you!” She laughed a little and shook her head. “I don’t even know your name and you want me to trust you?” At that point Noah realized that she still hadn’t recognised him from school. He let out a small sigh and looked her in the eyes. “My name is Noah. We went to school together...” The expression on her face had softened as she looked at him. “N-Noah? As in Noah C-Cano?” His expression softened as he slowly nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.” She pulled out a knife and stared at him. “I remember you... You were the one that got your cutie mark when you came back from blacksmithing camp.” He looked towards the knife in fear. "Y-Yes, that's me." He remembered what happened at that camp, all the fun that he had. Of course that didn’t matter now, he just needed to get untied. Scootaloo had pulled the knife to one of the ropes and began sawing at it, wanting to hear more of his story, "So, how come you haven't fallen yet? It's been over a decade since the rapture, how have you survived this long? I suppose you have like I have, but please do tell." He let out a long sigh and looked towards the barred-up room. “Me and my mother lived together and farmed, but she died a few years ago. She knew how to grow so many plants and I never learned so, since then I have been scavenging for food along with farming what I know how to grow.” Scootaloo had finished cutting the last rope and moved over into a better light source, showing many scars, yet she wore the same Cutie Mark Crusaders cloak she had always worn. "So," She smirked, "Come tell me. Why did you steal my stuff? I mean you did see me, right?" He shook his head and sat up, rubbing some rope marks on his body. “I thought you were a manticore. Until now, I thought I was the only pony alive here. If I knew it was you... Things would have been different.” "Well, I guess I'll trust you then." Scootaloo sighed, "I'm just glad to know I'm not the only pony left in this miserable country." He let out a small chuckle and grabbed a bottle of water from the bedside table. “Yeah. So that camp that you had set up, was that permanent or are you just staying for now?” She giggled with a swoon, "I get your jist, no it wasn't permanent, I was staying there because I was in that area and I thought I could forage around here." She looked him in the eyes, "But tell me this first, why was this on you?" She pulled The Element of Kindness out of Noah’s saddle bag and showed it to him. "It belongs to a pony I used to know." His face became sorrowful as he looked at the necklace, then to her. “Was this pony a pegasus mare, about 20-ish years old?” She dreadfully nodded. "Your guess is as good as mine." He took a deep breath and looked out the window towards the rising sunset over the ruins of ponyville. “She is buried outside of the ponyville hospital. I’m sorry...” She wiped a tear, "It's okay, I know you meant well when you buried her." He looked at the necklace, apparently the Element of Kindness, then the sad mare in front of him. He let out a small sigh and hugged her. “The necklace is yours.” She shook her head and put it on the table beside the envelope. “No thanks, you can have it. You can keep it safer here than back at my camp.” Noah shook his head and looked towards the mare. “It’s pretty dangerous in town at night. That’s when the manticores come out and hunt. How about you spend tonight here, where it is safe.” Scootaloo looked towards him in shock, unable to believe that a stranger would offer to protect her and give her refuge. “I’d love to stay here...” Noah smiled and stood up, then made his way to the kitchen. “I’ll get us breakfast.” The mare smiled and watched him go away. She finally had somepony to protect her. =>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<= After a well-needed snack and a few minutes of the two ponies conversing about what they had done since the apocalypse. Noah learned that the mare in front of him had actually explored the ruins of Equestria, and she had been from Canterlot to Manehatten. He admired the adventurous spirit of the pegasus, and he wished that he possessed the same initiative spirit that she had. "So what does the castle look like? I can see some of it from here, but I can't tell if anything has happened to it." Scootaloo shook her head playfully. "It looks pretty nice, there are still ponies living there but they wouldn't let me get close. Something about me being a 'changeling spy', it really sucked." She stuck her tongue out as she remembered everything that happened. Noah looked at her and shook his head, then snorted. "I bet they didn't want to catch anything from you." The mare gasped and glared at him. "And what is that supposed to mean?" He chuckled at her reaction and stuck her tongue out at her. "It's just that you smell like you haven't taken a bath in years!" Scootaloo's face turned bright red as she cautiously sniffed in between her foreleg and her body. Her nose cringed as the odor hit, her face showing how embarrassed she was. "Tell me where the bathroom is now or I'll kill you." Noah burst out laughing and fell off of his bed. He lifted up his hoof long enough to point outside to the creek outside the window. The mare stood up and trotted over to him. "Soap now." He stood up and made his way into the kitchen, where he pulled out a bar of homemade soap. She pulled the soap away from him and left out the door towards the creek. Noah watched the mare leave, a small smirk upon his face. "Make sure you clean behind your ears!" Scootaloo looked back at him and lifted up the middle feather in her wing, making Noah begin to laugh once again. =>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<= When Scootaloo entered the house, she was hit with the smell of something baking. As she took in a deep breath, inhaling the sweet aroma, she noticed a towel set out for her. The mare wrapped it around herself and trotted into the kitchen, where she saw Noah placing a pie on the window seal. Her mouth watered and she could practically taste the pie. “Wow Noah, that looks delicious...” He turns around and smiles pridefully. “Thanks, it’ll be ready to eat in a few minutes. While I ready it you can go ahead and make yourself at home. I set up a cot in the bedroom for you so you can go make yourself comfortable.” Noah watched as the mare walked into the bedroom and put a blanket on her cot. He smiled and lifted the pie off of the window seal, then put it on a plate. “Scoots, the pie is ready.” He wasn’t expecting what would come next. Scootaloo flew into the kitchen at top speed, colliding with Noah. The two slid across the floor and came to rest at the ice box. He looked at her, a small smirk on his face. “Somepony is excited, a little bit too excited...” She squeaked and jumped off of him, then sat at the table. She tried to hide the red tint on her cheeks by covering her face with her forehooves. “If you ever bring up what just happened, you will know what true pain is." Noah laughed a little and put a slice of pie in front of her. “Sure, sure. Eat up, it’s my signature Spiced Apple Pie.” She took a bite of it and looked at him, her eyes glimmering. “It’s the best pie I’ve ever had!” Noah smiled and got himself a plate of pie. “Thanks, the recipe is from my mom. She would always make it for me. He smiled and remembered all of the good times he had with her. Scootaloo looked up from her pie and smiled. “You’re always talking about your mom, but you never mention your dad. What happened to him? Noah looked down and shrugged. “I didn’t see him much. He was a lunar guard, and Mom always said such good things about him. He.... He was KIA during the changeling attack on Canterlot.” She covered her face and looked at him. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know...” He chuckled and patted her on the back. “It’s fine. Anyways, it’s good to be able to talk to somepony. I thought I was going to go insane from the loneliness.” She smiled and nodded towards him before eating the rest of her pie. =>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<= After she ate a few more slices of pie the mare looked outside and saw the sun setting. “Wow, it’s pretty late...” Noah nodded in agreement. “Well I’m turning in for the night. Night Scoots!” She smiled and nodded towards him. “Night Noah.” He went into the bedroom and laid down in his bed before thinking to himself. ‘Today was great, I hope tomorrow is better...’