//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A Friendship is Made // Story: The Last Child on Earth // by ThePonyCritic //------------------------------// Aiden waits there, on top of the air ducts, as the footsteps get louder. He takes out his new police baton, if needed to fight back. But as the shadows appeared, tall and skinny at first, the figures turn the corner to the hall Aiden was in, he does not believe what he sees. Two lone mares walked through the subterranean halls of the once quiet bunker, using the magic glow of their horns to light their way through the dark. They were wearing light sweaters and had slightly modified backpacks hanging on their shoulders. Silvia, the unicorn on the right had red eyes, royal purple coat and a black mane and tail. Rebeca, the mare on Sil’s left, had blue eyes, a light green coat and a lightning yellow mane and tail. They walked down the halls in relative silence, looking for anything that may come in useful and wandered towards a sound they heard earlier. It had sounded like someone moving around, but they couldn’t be sure, “Are you sure we actually heard anything ‘Beca?” Silvia asked quietly. Rebeca nodded, “I’m pretty sure, I mean, I thought I heard something. But didn’t you hear it too?” Silvia shrugged in a non-committal way, “Well, if we don’t find something soon we should head back out.” She called into the dark, “Hello? Is someone down here?” When no one answered she shrugged again and led them into Aiden’s cryogenic room. Aiden could not believe this. They looked like ponies, but were WAY smaller then normal ones. He only see them in pictures on the web when he had the time to do whatever on there, but none looked as weird as them. And they talked as well, which was MORE bizarre. But whoever or whatever they were, they were heading the wrong way. He uses the grapple to get down quietly, then he sneaks while crouching down, as he peers into the cryogenic room that the ponies went into. Silvia and Rebeca looked over the room at the destroyed pod and at the other two that were open and felt nervous about being down in that bunker any longer, "Hey, Sil? I think we should go now." Beca said shakily. Silvia nodded and they trotted towards the door, but as they did so, Sil accidentally slipped and bumped against a control panel that started to close a quarantine door, she managed to slip under but Rebeca fell and was directly under the closing door. Suddenly a human boy appeared from behind, grabbed Rebeca by her front hooves, and dragged her out from under the door before it shut. The boy backed away from them, then turns around to leave, not before saying, "If I were you,I suggest you start running!" And he sprints off towards the exit stairs to the surface. Sil helps lift up Rebeca and they run after him, following him to the emergency stairs, “Hey! Wait up, kid.” Silvia called out after him as they gained on him, having four legs does have its advantages after all. The boy looked back at them and rolled his eyes, but keeps running. Aiden ran alongside the ponies as they made their way up the stairs, towards the surface. Finally they made it out, as they reached the top of stairs and out the door, towards the entrance of the bunker. The ponies ran quicker than the boy, so they made it out first as the giant began to close down. "Come on kid, you can make it!" Rebeca said to him as they turned around to watch the boy. Aiden kept running as the door was halfway shut. He tripped up as he ran, making him fall and tumble his way to the door and out from under it as it finally closed. He breathed heavily until he calmed down, and then let a sigh of relief escape his mouth. Aiden stood up and started to dust himself off. Just as he finished he was tackled to the ground by a yellow stallion that had blue eyes and a red mane and tail. “Don’t move, kid!” He said holding Aiden to the ground, “Are you guys alright?” He asked to Silvia and Rebeca. Sil gasped at the stallion’s actions, “Tony! Get off him. What’s wrong with you?” She shooed him off Aiden and helped to lift Aiden to a sitting position, “Are you alright? Thank you for helping us back there.” She said thanking him. Aiden pushed away from her, “Yeah, I’m sure you’re real thankful.” He bit back. Sil responded, “I’m sorry about Tony here.” The stallion huffed, “Sometimes he’s like that, he really is a nice guy. So what’s your name?” She asked, hoping to repair the situation. Aiden looked at them cautiously, “Aiden.” He said simply. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Aiden.” Rebeca said extending her hoof to him in a friendly way. He looks at it and awkwardly shakes her hoof. Tony then speaks up, “Uh, sorry about that kid. I thought something else was going on. I guess you were trying to help them out of there?” He asked rubbing behind her head. Silvia answered for him, “Yes, and I think you owe him and apology.” “Uh yeah, sorry for tackling you, kid.” Tony said with a certain amount of sincerity. Rebeca then spoke up, “Anyway, we hope you’re ok.” She says softly, “My name is Rebeca by the way, that is Silvia,” She pointed to Sil, “And that is Tony.” She reaffirmed as Aiden had heard his name already. Aiden looks around the area. They were in another facility, the office part that is. There was a receptionist desk on the left to them in the corner, and on the other side of the room was the door out. The room itself looked dusty and a mess too, some papers about, things taken, and objects left untouched by anyone. "Wow...looked like a tornado hit here then turned into an abandoned museum." He muttered to himself as he kept looking around. "Yea, we found it all like this...people must've been in a hurry." Tony said, walking up next to him and looking around as well. "What is this place anyway?" He asked "From the looks of the place under here, it was some sort of lab or research facility..and they had these weird tubes-" Silvia started, but Aiden interrupted her. "Pods...they were cryogenic pods. They froze me and my friends in them to stop the outbreak from hurting us." Aiden explained. Both ponies looked at him in shock. "Froze you?! Why didn't they do that to everyone else?!?" Tony exclaimed, annoyed that these people had froze the boy and not TONS of other of people. "You mean there were more of you?" Rebeca asked quietly, hearing what else Aiden had said. Aiden turned to her and nodded. "We were chosen. Me, Marc, and Cathy. They said we were special-" Aiden explained, but now Tony was the one interrupted, and he pushed Aiden away from them out of anger. "Special?! Special for what, because your a kid? Because your of your blood?!" Tony asked angrily. Silvia put a hoof to his chest, making a type of barrier between Tony and Aiden. "Tony, back off, of course there's a reason..." Silvia said, trying to calm him down, but Tony swatted her hoof away. "Yea, well it better be a good one, otherwise I"m gonna be really mad about why the government would save a couple of kids and not THOUSANDS of other people!" He exclaimed, still annoyed. Aiden and Tony exchange glares before Aiden continued. "They said that it was because we were smarter, something being caused by the outbreak or something. But they didn't have time to test us because of the outbreak, so they put us in the pods and told us they would be back soon." Aiden finished. The ponies stood silent, though Tony still annoyed, just not as angry. "And how long has that been since you last seen them?" Rebeca asked, breaking the silence. "About a day or so, I just got out of my pod before you two came in." Aiden answered, as he looks away and to the door. He noticed, outside, that there were leaves on the ground, and the wind would lift them away and more leaves would come every so often. "Wait, why are the leaves.." He mumbled, then headed out the door. The ponies gave him a questionable look, then followed him out the door. Aiden walks outside and looks around. The trees' leaves were blown with the wind as he stood there silently. The trees that still had a few leaves were brownish-orange colored, signifying that it was fall. "What did the outbreak do, change the seasons too? I thought that this was March." He said as he started down the road, though where he was going was much farther probably on foot. "Hey, where do you think you're going? First of all, it's not March it's September and second of all-" Tony started as the ponies followed him trying to stop Aiden, but then Aiden stopped suddenly and turned around with a look of confusion. "W-what did you say? I-it can't be September, it was March when I got here!" Aiden stuttered, his voice cracked slightly. "Well why else would it be Fall?" Tony replied, pointing around with his hoof to show him again all the signs of it being Fall. Aiden looked around quickly, back away as his hands went through his hair, and tears started to form in his eyes. "No, no, no, I-i can't be! T-they said it wouldn't be long, they said it would over by then. NO!" He said nervously, breaking down. He tried to run off, to get away to what he wanted to be lies, but it all made sense now. The dirty floors, the dust, the weather surrounding him. Time had passed, and things didn't get better...it got worse. Suddenly he stopped and fell to the ground on his hands and knees, crying as he balled his fists and smacked the ground. The ponies galloped over to him, and Silvia sat down in front of him and hugged him, trying to calm him down. "Hey, hey, don't cry. Please don't cry. Everything will be alright." She said to him, as Aiden kept crying. He instinctively hugs back for comfort,trying to calm down, but soon stop and goes limp as he passes out. "Hey guys, he out! Help me get him back to the office." Silvia said, as the others came over and they help her put him up and onto her back. Silvia and Rebeca used their magic to adjust just right to make sure he doesn't fall off "Are you okay? He's not too heavy is he?" Tony asked, but Silvia waved him off. "I'm fine, I can carry him." She replied. "Hey Rebeca, stay behind me to make sure he doesn't slip off, okay?" Silvia suggested, and Rebeca nodded and went behind her. Rebeca looks at Aiden and still sees tears fall off his cheek, so she uses her magic to wipe them away. Other then looking a bit sad, he seemed to be breathing normally, meaning he calmed down. "He looks so peaceful in his sleep." Rebeca said quietly. Tony looks at the boy and sees this too, and smiled slightly. "Yea, he does...let's go." Tony said, the two others nodded and headed back towards the facility.