Quiet Days

by AlphaDidAlotOfThings

Days 4-5, A Friend And A Dog...

May 26, 2015

Dear Diary,

We're on our way to Brooklyn Road now. I think that car shop was called "Daylight Repairs" or something. Whoever it is we're meeting, I don't care if they're good or bad. Just let them still be there… And let them be a person too, not a pony. That makes me wonder if this happened to everyone. Chances are it did though.

Alyssa seems to be getting better, when I told her the news her face practically lit up. She's been trying her best to seem happy but deep down I can tell how heavily this whole thing affected her. I'm glad she's getting better though, she's definitely doing a better job at taking this situation than me that's for sure.

On the way Alyssa made us stop at a pet store. I really didn't want to but Alyssa kept begging me, I don't really like animals but it might be useful to have one right now… (Plus don't wanna make her sad.)

This place looked like it had seen better days, everything was knocked over, it was smelly. Pretty much how you'd expect a pet store at the end of the world to be like, with most of animals getting out.

I was thinking about trying to eat a dog treat, maybe turning into a pony made that kinda stuff edible? I ended up not doing that (PS: don't eat them, they taste terrible.)

I thought it was empty, but in there was a small puppy, all alone. Just like us… I didn't want to, but we took him. You should've seen the puppy dog eyes they both made when I said no. Alyssa actually told me about how she always wanted a pet but her parents wouldn't let her once. Which explains how she was acting…

His names buddy. (How original, metal head.) Alyssa named him, not me. I wanted to name him "Alexander Hamilton The Third." But she wouldn't let me… Something about it being too "stupid" or something. (I was only joking, geez…) So, we both settled with "Buddy."

He looks kinda a husky…? But I can't be sure, especially since I don't know much about animals.

I told Alyssa that if she wanted us to keep him she'd have to take care of him, feed him, clean up after him. All that stuff. I wasn't trying to be mean, I honestly didn't mean all of that. I'll help her out with him, just a little bit. I don't like animals, they're scary and make me uncomfortable. I'm pretty much scared of most things that'll harm me in some way. Little Buddy Alexander Hamilton III doesn't seem like he'll harm me though! So that's good…

Alyssa reluctantly agreed anyway. I hope to god she knows I didn't really mean it. God, god… What god do we pray to now? Religions basically gone now soooo…. Pony? Pony Jesus?

Oh god, I'm getting off topic again. Right, so now we have a dog. I guess now its "two best friends + a dog at the end of the world!" (That's still too cliche for a title.)

It's not gonna be just us anymore anyway. We're meeting someone soon. Man, does it feel good to be hopeful about something for once.

I'm getting tired so I'll be going to bed soon, this is yours truly going to sleep, arrivederci.

I hope Buddy doesn't bite me in my sleep.

- Emile

May 27, 2015.

Dear Diary,

We're finally here, Brooklyn Road at Daylight Repairs. It took us an entire day but we made it. Note for future me: don't underestimate travel distance when you're driving a truck with the help of another pony person. Even if it's not that far.

We thought there was nobody there at first but with a "Anybody there?" and a drop of a wrench a person- No, a stallion came out from under a car. Just like my theory, it seems like it happened to more people than just us. I'd never want to wish our "suffering" onto other people but honestly, I'm just glad to find another human being.

He introduced himself as "Jonathan." He's big, blue, has green hair and eyes, wears overalls, and has this weird horn-y thing protruding from his skull. (A unicorn!?!)

Apparently when the "everyone disappearing and survivors turning into ponies™" thing happened. He was on a day off, he woke up found everyone gone, yadda, yadda, went to work anyway and now we're here. He even set up a little base here, like he's got a bed, he's using the cars as storage units, and… Ok, he's got nothing. He's kinda like us in that regard. At least he's an adult though!

He was actually surprised to see that out of all the survivors two "kids" were the first to find him. I told him we're not kids but "wayward adventures sent on a mission to save humanity!" Alyssa says I'm too dramatic sometimes, am I? (Probably.) I can't help it.

Besides, I was only joking. I told him that after he gave us the " we're crazy" look.

I call us kids but we're really just teenagers, we're old enough to drink at least. So that counts for something right?

I told Jonathan that are game "plan" was to find somewhere safe to settle down for the long term, like a farm. He agreed and told us that was a smart decision.

The one thing that wasn't smart to him though were the other parts of our (my) plan. To him we "recklessly" left out home with barely anything and "We're lucky we even made it this far." I honestly agree with him. But I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't plan for this.

Goddammit. I'm really not meant for something like this.I know alot about fantasy stories, myths, legends, but what good is that at the end of the world?

At least Alyssa and Jonathan have something. Alyssa's got her music and Jonathan's a mechanic. Speaking of their butt marks correspond to those, Alyssa's is a guitar with a lil music note and Jonathan's is a toolbox.

I hope I didn't get too emotional there. I didn't mean to. God, I just really never change do I?

Aside from him "berating" us John's (Yes, I'm calling him that) a pretty nice guy, he's chill, laid back, and oddly confident…? And honestly I call it "berating' but he was really nice with it, he didn't yell at us, he just wanted to help us.

It's gonna be pretty nice to have an extra hand (hoof?) to help with things, and I'm pretty sure he's thinking the same thing.

When we asked how he got the bed in, John just showed us how. Apparently that horn isn't just for show, he can use some kind of telekinesis with it! He says it's like "magic" or something.

Alyssa cursed the world when he did that. Honestly, it would've been nice to have that but I already have wings. So there's three types of ponies, normal ones, pegasi, and magical unicorns! I wonder why we were all turned into these… I'm the one interested in magic and fantasy, why am I not a unicorn?

Oh well… I guess the world just isn't fair to everyone sometimes.

Tonight, we're sleeping in a bed. It feels nice to be in a bed after so long. (It's only been 5 days, sheesh…)

We're both small enough to lay here, John's in the car, and Buddy's on the floor.

Y'know, John's pretty big, not as big as a normal horse but still pretty big, I wonder if he can drive a car normally. I'll have to ask him about that tomorrow… Taking a day-long trip like that exhausts you a bit.

But for now this is Emile clocking out, au revoir.

(I'm gonna run out of ways to say goodbye soon, aren't I…?)

- Emile

Author's Note:

A new friend plus a dog! I'm sorry if the pacing is all over the place, I'm try to find my footing a bit. But if you enjoyed please give criticism and your thoughts on this chapter!

(And the entire story too)

Comments

[Starscribe]

So my feedback on this chapter (and the last few). Your prose is quite clean and pleasant to read, so props there. In terms of the plot though, I feel like we're hitting a lot of the same story beats as the original. Building a party made of the same basic pieces as the first story did, though you're getting to the point a lot faster.

The first story relied on the mystery of what was going on--but virtue of this being a sidefic, you can't rely on that, since anyone who reads it has already seen the "what is happening" in the first story. I would suggest for a story like this coming up with and settling on a different interesting conflict and doing so early. Generally in the first chapter or two, though obviously we're past that.

Not trying to sound critical though, the writing is solid. Much better than a lot of stuff I read here on the site.

[AlphaDidAlotOfThings]

11454660
I know the pacings kinda all over the place. I was afraid of that happening, this story seeming too similar too the original. (Especially early on.)

Like I said before this is kinda like one big long prologue, so getting to the point faster is kinda slightly intentional. Some of themes I wanted to tackle with this story was things like order, progress, and humanity making a path for themselves.

I've kinda slightly implied Emile has some kind of distaste/mix feelings about people and just humanity in general. There's alot of personal thoughts he has he doesn't write about in his journal.

Again, there's alot of things I have planned I don't wanna get too into detail but one thing I will say is that Emiles dad isn't just some one off character who just gets mentioned once.

Thank you once again for calling my writing good, it really means alot to me.

[Alvsecret]

I told Jonathan that our game "plan" was to find somewhere safe to settle down for the long term, like a farm. He agreed and told us that was a smart decision.

Are>our