The Loner

by Noman

Chapter 1: Just another day...

The Loner
Chapter 1: Just another day

It was a normal, quiet, and a rather uneventful morning in the plains around a small wooden cottage that a single pegasus called home. The Sun was slowly rising in the distance, illuminating the wooden walls and the tan roof of the cottage. Shafts of sunlight shone in through the dusty windows of the structure, lighting up the interior with the help of some strategically placed mirrors. A bright light assaulted the pegasus’ eyes and woke him from his slumber.

As the pegasus opened his eyes, he tried to regain his vision from his long and resting sleep. The first thing that he saw was one letter on his bedside table. The stallion moved his hoof over to the letter and pulled the front of the envelope into his field of vision. He admired the white envelope that resembled the day, the unbroken wax seal depicting a crescent moon and the sun, and the blue writing on the front of the folded parchment. A small smile appeared on the stallion’s muzzle as he read the three simple words written on said envelope that addressed him.

Dear Master Noah,

After going over each letter of those words in his mind, he sat the envelope down and stumbled out of bed. As he slumped his way towards his kitchen, Noah tripped over an old engraved chest in his bedroom and swore to himself before letting out an annoyed groan. He quickened his pace through the door into the kitchen and towards his old enchanted icebox. As Noah opened the door to the box, the blue aura of the cooling crystal lit up and illuminated a few pieces of rotting fruit inside this enchanted and well kept appliance.

The stallion pulled out an old apple and took a bite of it. As he took a bite, Noah felt something in his mouth that had an unusual slimy texture, one he has ever felt before. It was quickly followed by a horrid taste as the object spewed a liquid over his tongue. Noah pulled the apple away from his mouth and his eyes locked onto a worm in the apple that is missing half of it’s body. The stallion spit out the apple and gagged, nearly vomiting on his polished wood flooring. He tossed the apple out the window strategically placed right beside the ice box and looked in the white box one more time before he slammed the lid and let out a very annoyed groan. Noah then mumbled to himself,"I'm out of food, great...".

As Noah looked through the kitchen for something to eat, a thought clicked in his mind. If he is out of food, that means he has to go scavenging to find something to eat. The stallion grinned and jumped up, excited that he had an excuse to go into town.

Noah walked out of his kitchen and approached the old coat rack beside his front door. The stallion ran his hoof over an old royal guard trench coat that had once belonged to his father and smiled at the smoothness of the cloth. He admired the light blue lining and the star on it, marking the wearer of said coat Princess Luna’s personal guard. He treasured the piece of clothing, due to the fact that it was given to him along with a blue envelope and a folded Equestrian flag a few days after his father gave up his life for the Princess. The pegasus slowly lifted the coat off of the rack and pulled it around himself as he was starting to be warmed from the thick silk lining of the coat.

He then turned around and looked through his house one last time before he will head out. His little shack had four rooms; his bedroom which contained a small bed and an old chest, the kitchen which had an old enchanted ice box and a few cabinets, the storage room where he kept all of the treasures he finds when going out and a bookshelf with his personal collection of writing on it, and finally a sealed off room that had once belonged to his mother. After giving his house a satisfactory nod, he turned the doorknob and stepped outside into the light. As Noah exited through the door, he was faced with the ruins of Equestria, the same ruins that he had seen every day since he was a young colt.

After a long yawn and soothing stretch, he took his first few steps into the sunlight and smiled. The sights of destruction that the stallion had become used to seeing now comforted him, showing the pegasus that not much has changed since he fell asleep, aside from a light gathering of pure white snow blanketing everything in sight. The only thing going through his mind was the curiosity of what today’s adventure would bring.

Noah knew exactly where he was going and what he was looking for. He needed first aid equipment, which he would find in the hospital. He ran out when he broke his legs a few weeks ago, and without a unicorn to perform healing magic on him he had to rely on the medicines he found. Noah needed new corn seeds for his small garden, which he would find in the barn of Sweet Apple Acres. Most of all, he was hoping to find an undamaged book in the ruins of the library, maybe if he was lucky it would be the next book of the Daring Doo series he has been reading lately. Noah is an egghead, and he knows it but it keeps his mind off of the lonely thoughts that would drive most to insanity.

Now that he had a mental checklist, he was ready to venture into town. Noah had two paths, fly there or walk there. Unlike most pegasi, Noah enjoyed being close to the ground and loved the feeling of the earth under his hooves so his choice was very obvious. The stallion slowly trotted down the custom stone path that him and his mother built from the ruins of an old shop three years after the apocalypse. Noah was in no hurry so he took his time walking down the multi-colored cobblestone path lead straight into town and his first stop, the hospital.

As Noah trotted down the road towards Ponyville, he looked over the fields and admired their beauty. He always loved the snow and it took most of his willpower to dive off of his path and start to play in the white dust. Even if he could not play in it, he still loved seeing the world coated in snow and the sight made his heart get giddy. Noah was overcome with happiness, yet he was completely unaware of how much this day would turn his little world upside down.

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Noah approached the hospital cautiously, looking around for anything that was hostile. Ever since the war, the beasts of the Everfree Forest were free to enter the town due to the lack of ponies to stop them so it was common for him to run into timberwolves, manticores, and other beasts of the dark woods that seem to be overtaking the old town. As he entered the ruins, he saw a feather and an ink well under one of the chairs in the waiting room. "These could be useful" said the pegasus. He noticed a small amount of smoke rising off in the distance as he put away the treasures. The pegasus shrugged off the thought that it was more than a wildfire, and continued his search through the hospital.

While searching through the old building, he came up to a wooden door that seemed like it was still locked. Many things were going through his mind. What would be in there? Was there a supply of valuable medicines or some pure drinking water inside? With a huge grin on his face, Noah turned around and bucked the door with all of his strength. His attack on the door was greeted by the sound of rotten wood breaking into pieces.

The first thing that hit Noah was the horrid smell of death and decay. The stallion froze in place, fearful of what he would see upon turning around. In the corner of the room he saw the skeleton of a pegasus, a mare by the looks of it, with rats using the skull of this poor subject of torture as a nest. He could just make out the hay nest sticking out of where the ears would be. As Noah slowly approached the skeleton, the inhabitants of the skull escaped through the eye sockets and into holes in the wall. After this he noticed a weird object to the left of the corpse. It was a gold necklace with a blue butterfly crystal in the center of the piece of jewelry. After putting the necklace in his saddlebag, he turned his attention to the skeleton. Noah thought of only one thing at that moment; he needs to bury this pony and honor it in the proper manner that everypony deserved.

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As Noah finished placing the stones around the mound that was the unknown pegasus' grave, he kept getting the feeling that he was being watched. The stallion shrugged off the feeling and went back into the hospital to retrieve the medicine bottles he found in the recently reopened room. Searching through the bottles, he found rohoofonol, which he knew was a sedative, some penicillin, and some aspirin. Noah picked up a couple of empty syringes, in case the one he has at home brakes.While Noah left the crumbling building, he shut the door to the room and was instantly surprised by the sound of stone falling.

As he re-opened the door, he noticed that the room had collapsed. If he had stayed in the room thirty more seconds he would be dead. He shook off the feeling of adrenaline building up in his system from his near-death experience and kept his mind on what he had just found. Excited with his prizes, he began his walk off to the library to find a new book for his collection.

As he walked towards the library, he passed several flattened houses and the occasional rumble that was the remains a business. Noah remembered when he was a young colt, him and his mother walked down this same path. The most memorable thing he remembered was on his way home from school, he was nearly run over by one of his classmates who was riding by on her scooter.

The filly's name was Scootah or Scootie, to his knowledge, and she was always catching his eye as she flew by on that small scooter that she rode. He always knew that she wouldn’t be interested in him so he never tried to get her attention, which was one of the things he regretted most. He also remembered how she was always hanging out with those friends of hers. They called themselves the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'. Noah knew that he would have joined if it wasn’t for the unexpected appearance of the picture of a hammer and anvil on his flank. Noah shook his head and tried to expel the thoughts of his past from his mind.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were dead, everypony else was dead too and he knew that thinking of them would just bring loneliness to his mind. As if on cue to stop that train of thought, Noah was flashed with light from some reflective object, completely ruining his train of thought. Tracing the light with his eyes, he saw it came from a piece of metal outside of the old schoolhouse.

Noah guessed that the metal wasn’t worth scavenging until, while he was looking over his shoulder on his way home, he thought that he saw a pair of eyes staring at him from the shadows near his old school. As he approached the building, he saw an object take off from a hole in the roof and fly off towards sweet apple acres. Cautiously, he flew around the old school a few times to make sure that the beast didn't return or if there was more inside. The last thing Blaze wanted was to have a run-in with a manticore.

As he walked inside, he found several gallon jugs of pure drinking water and some crates of food laid around what seemed to be a bed. Was this a camp? Noah quickly shook his head and mumbled,"This isn't a camp. I am the the only pony alive, so this can not be a camp. Maybe it is a rogue changeling’s home, but definitely not a pony camp!". As he looked at the bed, he noticed some short orange hair scattered over the bed. Must be a manticore.

Amazed at his find, he loaded all that he could onto his back and extended his wings to make sure that nothing fell off. The stallion decided that he was going to go back out tomorrow to search the library and Sweet Apple Acres. "I wonder if the owner of these supplies will be mad at me for taking this...". Noah shrugged and walked out the door towards his home. On his way home he constantly saw the beast from the school fly overhead and saw it's purple eyes from the shadows everywhere that he looked. This beast's presence terrified him enough to make gallop at full speed towards his house.

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After he shut his door and dropped his findings by the kitchen, the pegasus jumped in his bed and hid under the covers from the beast lurking outside of his sanctuary. Noah shut his eyes tightly and slipped into a nice and peaceful slumber, unaware of how much danger he truly was in.

The next morning Noah slowly opened his eyes and he was greeted by the face of an unknown entity staring back at him. As he tried to flare his wings and swing his hooves at the beast that had intruded into his house, he noticed ropes tied to each of his hooves holding him down and that his wings were strapped to his side. Noah’s eyes widened as he looked over his captor. It was a pony! The pony was a mare too, and he was able to see a pair of wings attached to each side of her back. She had an orange coat and a purple mane and tail, with light purple eyes staring right back into his. He recognized the mare from somewhere in his past and managed to sputter out in between nervous breaths, "Who are you?". The mare replied in a calm and eerily familiar voice "My name is Scootaloo".

Author's Note:

This is my first attempt at writing a story so enjoy, like, favorite, and comment!

Comments

[Zugthule]

not bad but the writing its bunched up a bit try spacing it up other than that its got potential

[Noman]

2927695
Thanks! I have a problem with jumping to the point without describing it well enough so I guess I better work on that more.

[Zugthule]

2927716 and put some space between sentences ok so readers aren't overwhelmed with a wall of words ok and remember to KISS Keep It Simple Stupid and this will turn out great

yours sincerely Dark One