It's Quiet in the City

by SkyArrow

Chapter 2 - Exploration

The sun was still fairly low on the horizon, a bright star just waking up to greet the earth. I could thankfully count on that being one thing that still made sense. The moment the sun turned neon green, though, they'd better just throw me in a madhouse.

With some effort, and a bit of clumsy hoof maneuvering, I was able to get my tablet, my phone, and Jenny's laptop all plugged in. A lot of the simple tasks I took for granted were so much harder now, and that's not even mentioning my crazy teeth strength. I almost broke my phone's screen while holding it in my mouth earlier. Gotta be more careful from now on I guess.

Anyways, I let those charge and headed out, leaving a doorstop at the door for an easy way back in. I hadn't checked the whole lodge yet, so maybe someone was still here. And if not, it would at least give me some practice with these new appendages.

I know for sure I definitely need it, I mentally reminded myself, recalling my triptastic hallway adventures.

The whole building was just as unkempt as the lobby, and there were bugs aplenty. Normally I don't really mind insects, but a spider landing on your face? Nope! Soooo much nope! I may have screamed like a little girl. Just a little bit.

Every room I looked in had signs of people being there, sure, but none to be found. Bowls left out, beds not made, televisions on. I tried finding a news station – a difficult task with hooves – but all the channels were just solid blue or those colorful vertical bars.

"A world without TV. How would Sam survive?" I joked aloud, then frowned.

Simple, she wouldn't. She's gone, I thought solemnly.

I thwacked my head with a hoof. I needed to stop thinking like that. Everything would be okay. Once everything was charged, I could find my answers. Until then, I just needed to stay strong and to keep looking. Someone could still be here.

So, I resumed my search. After checking the first floor, I proceeded to the second, then the third. I even checked the water park, which was surprisingly eerie with no one around. Why is it always the fun places that are super creepy when no one is there? Suffice to say, I spent as little time as I had to in there.

But anyway, after looking through every nook and cranny of the building, there was not a soul to be found. If this was some sort of weird reality TV show and someone was watching me, they must have hid really well or they were watching me from somewhere else.

However, my searching efforts were not completely in vain, as I did manage to find something that might help me out. The janitor's closet had all sorts of useful things including: spare batteries, flashlights, keys to locked doors, as well as some various odds and ends. I packed what I could in my humble bag and headed back to the room, my HQ if you will.

I started with Jenny's laptop. Without fingers, I had to be creative, which meant holding a pen in my mouth and tapping the keys with it. I never realized how amazing my hands were until I lost them. On the bright side, I knew her password from the many times I've had to borrow her computer for my late-night research papers. I just wish she had a shorter password.

But finally I managed to type in EUCL1DE@NaLG0R1THm (Jenny, you're such a nerd) and was greeted with her desktop screen. Would it still be called a desktop screen for a laptop? Too bad there was no one around to tell me.

Something that surprised me was that the time was a bit off. No, that's too generous. It was way off. According to the laptop, it was November 13th! I quickly checked my phone, having to resort to using my snout on the touch screen. It too had that same date.

My eyes narrowed in thought. How is that possible? Did I travel forward in time? I now felt horribly unprepared having never read any of those sci-fi or apocalypse books.

Putting these panicked thoughts on hold for the time being, I went back to Jenny's computer and started searching through it (she'll have to forgive me later). No internet connection, but I could still check recent files. From what I could find, the last modified file was on May 23rd, a little after 3:00 AM. That would have been the night, or morning I guess, when I was in the lobby.

The file was a word document labeled "Vacation Budget Keeping". Now I remember, she was the one keeping track of our money for the trip and making sure we didn't overspend. Well, I guess I didn't have to worry about that now, seeing as I already stole from the gift shop. Martha Roberts, tiny horse criminal mastermind.

Another odd thing about the document was that it stopped very abruptly; that is, halfway through a word. Jenny would never leave something unfinished, I knew that for sure. So, what could have happened? I really hoped that being a pony hadn't made me dumber and there's some sort of obvious answer here.

Dwelling on all of this, I almost forgot I had my phone. Yes! Surely someone was out there! I quickly – or as quickly as one can manage as a light blue pony using their snout – brought up my contacts list and called mom.

It didn't even ring.

I just got one of those generic error messages. The same for everyone else on the list.

I sat down on my – I guess haunches? – and took this all in. It might really be only me left. I had been subconsciously thinking about it, but hoping I'd be wrong. Mom, my friends, everyone I cared about. All of them had just... vanished, maybe forever.

I cried in the empty room for what felt like hours, mourning the loss of those I knew. I wasn't one to cry often. Not that I had a heart of stone, just that I often tuned out what would otherwise depress me. Mom and dad fighting? Tune that out. Getting dumped? Just smile and nod, tune it out. Dropping out of college and being sent worried letters from mom? Pretend things are fine, and tune that out.

I couldn't tune this one out. I couldn't ignore the fact that I was alone. More alone than I ever wanted to be. And I may have stayed there, alone in that cold room if something unusual didn't happen just then.

A glimmer of hope resounded from somewhere within me, urging me forwards. From where I was not sure. I don't know why, but I listened to that glimmer. It was right. I had to stay hopeful. Even if it was just me, I had to survive for everyone else.

"Mom... Jenny... Sam. I don't know if you can hear me, wherever you are. If you're d-dead... or something else. But... I'll make sure you aren't forgotten. And I'll stay hopeful, I promise. For you."

Strange. I felt like I had more energy after that. And the room seemed less dusty. Shiny even. Same with my hoof. Probably some hallucination, cause it went away after a blink.

Well, I was going to keep true to my word. I made a promise and I had to keep it. I was scared, yes. Still a bit sad too. However, I wasn't going to give up. I couldn't.

---⬦⟢⬦♢⬦⟣⬦---

So, surviving as a tiny horse in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I got Jenny's clipboard and one of my sheets of paper and started (horribly) writing a checklist.

Step 1: Food. I had granola bars, but I'd probably need more than that if I had any hopes of surviving. So, I did what anyone would do in my situation. I scavenged through the food in the mess hall. A lot of it was spoiled, but I managed to find some canned goods. I knew there was a grocery store here on our way up. I could stop by there later.

Step 2: Water. Well, there's snow, right? Kidding, kidding. As for the water situation, I also managed to find plenty of bottled water along with the canned goods. I might have this survival stuff down.

As for my next steps, I had written down shelter, heat, power, and a friend. I was probably going to look elsewhere for shelter. This place is nice and all, but if it truly is just me, I'd rather do some looking for a real house to live in.

I know I had power here somewhat, but I had no idea what I was going to do to maintain it. At least with a smaller building, I might be able to figure it out eventually. Same thing for the heat, which I was not even going to try to touch here, for fear of starting a fire. Maybe I was being overcautious, but there really was no one here to help me if I really messed up. And I'm an expert at messing up.

Finding a friend was just wishful thinking, but a girl can dream (or is it mare now?). I had no guarantee there were other people, but I didn't deny that it could be possible, so I included it on the list.

I added clothes as an extra step. I mean, I've never seen a pony wear clothes, though I haven't seen a blue pony before either. But I wasn't going to go full horse, I still had a sense of modesty. Hopefully I could find better clothes than these in the city. My old ones were too big, and now these were a bit too small. I needed ones that were just right.

But I'd wait for this tomorrow. Tonight I'd have a granola casserole with bottled water (a meal fit for royalty) while looking out at the city through the window. It looked cold, empty, and uninviting, even with many of the lights on. With some time, maybe I could bring a bit of life to it. Paint some buildings or make some murals. The whole city was my canvas if I was feeling up for a bit of graffiti.

Well, for now, I'd start small-scale. I got out my drawing tablet (fully charged now, woohoo!) and held the stylus in my mouth. This was going to be hard to get used to, but hey, practice makes perfect as they say.

I had started drawing something. This time, I drew the little mark on my butt. Did I mention that? Yeah, there's some weird mark there, on both sides.

How do I describe it? Well, it's kinda like one of those pictures you'd see in a science book about light refracting through an object. It's a black crystal thing with a white line coming from the left and splitting into rainbow beams on the right. I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean or why it's there, but it's good practice for drawing I guess. Thank you, line stabilizers.

Anyway, after that, I drifted off to sleep, letting whatever dreams I might have take over. I just had to hope that tomorrow would be a better day.

~̷0̴O̶0̸~̷

I was back in the car again with Jenny and Sam. We were heading back after the trip. It was fun and went off without issue. I smiled and looked out the window, only to see the city of Niagara Falls on fire! I quickly turned to tell my friends what I saw, but they were gone.

The car was still moving, however, now completely out of control. Someone had to stop it! I climbed into the front seat, sweating. I tried to get control of the steering wheel, but as I tried to, I saw hooves instead of hands. I was too short to reach the brakes either now. I was on a straight collision course with another truck. There was nothing I could do.

Something else saved me, though. I couldn't see it, but there was a gray blur. The truck disappeared and the car I was in eventually slowed on its own. I was too scared to move, and I just sat there.

~̷0̴O̶0̸~̷

Comments

[theoldenbrony]

Luna to the rescue? (Why is there no BEST PRINCESS emoji?)

[Rawislon03]

10775329
Could be Luna could be something else entirely.