Chapter 2
"C'mon Frost, this could be the best discovery we've made so far!" he yelled excitingly, running further down the cave.
"Hey wait for me!" I yelled, he was always a faster runner so he was far ahead of me, I could barely see the flashlight he was using.
"Hurry up slowpoke!" he laughed as he ran faster, I was beginning to lose sight of him.
"C'mon man! I don't want to run into a wall!" I yelled at him, my voice echo mixing with his laughter echo. Suddenly he gasped and stopped his laughter.
"What's wrong?" I yelled, he didn't respond. As I ran I saw a bright light, it must've been the room we were looking for. I was excited, we could finally have found the book! I ran as fast as I could, the light getting closer and brighter, I could see his silhouette.
"We found it…" I barely heard him say.
I slowly opened my eyes, another nightmare. Well I guess it wasn't a nightmare, sure the moment itself was one of my greatest moments, but what that moment lead up too was bad. I just sighed and wiped my forehead, I swear running in dreams was almost as tiring as running in real life.
"Oh, you're awake" said a voice, I knew it was Sweetie Belle. Why was she awake? It was still the middle of the night.
"Hey" I said tiringly, rubbing my eyes to wake myself up a bit more. "Why are you awake so early?" I asked, turning to face her. I saw she was sitting up from her (makeshift) bed looking down at her hooves.
"I couldn't sleep" she said. "I can't sleep for long so I just think to myself for most of the night" she told me. Can't sleep, what did she mean by that?
"You mean you literally can't sleep or do you mean you don't want to sleep?" I asked her. I didn't want to sleep since it's usually nightmares, but I knew if I didn't get enough rest I'd be easily killed by thieves or something. She sighed in response.
"You promise not to laugh?" She asked.
"I promise" I responded, she stared up at me.
"Pinkie promise?" She asked, almost in a whisper.
"Um… I don't have a pinky" I told her. I don't think anypony has a pinky. She sighed disappointingly, "alright I pinky promise" I said.
"My sister would always read me a story before I went to bed, without a story I have trouble sleeping, I tried remembering her voice telling me a story but… It hurts too much to think of her" she said, looking like she was on the verge of crying. There I was, watching a filly about to cry in front of me, so I panicked.
"I'll tell you a story!" I quickly said, I hated watching people cry. She looked up to me, surprised.
"Really?" She asked. I just nodded and smiled. I then realized something, I didn't remember any bedtime stories. I guess I'll need to improvise.
"Sure, lay back down, I'll tell you a story." I told her, she smiled and tucked herself back into her bed. How should I start it? I cleared my throat and began.
"There was once a pony who wanted everything, whenever he wanted something, he'd stop at nothing to get it, but one day he met someone, a friend, they became the best of friends and did everything together, now the pony didn't care about what he wanted, he cared about what his friend wanted. One day his best friend had to leave, making the pony sad, after years apart, they found each other again and they swore never to leave each other's side again. Ever since then, they went on many adventures and explored many things for the rest of their lives, always having fun with their adventures and with each other. The end." Honestly that was a bad story, but it was the best I could think of. I looked back at her and found her asleep in her bed, which surprised me, I guess I make better stories than I thought.
I laid back down in my bed, maybe story telling would help me with my nightmares. Just as I closed my eyes I felt Sweetie Belle hug my free hoof, when I tried to slip away she whimpered a bit and snuggled closer in her sleep. I sighed in defeat and closed my eyes, I guess this'll be how most nights will be from now on.
I woke up from my sleep, it was a good sleep since I didn't dream about anything. I know that sounds weird but all my dreams now a days are either nightmares or reminders of my mistakes. I moved my hand and didn't feel Sweetie hug my arm, I guess she was awake already. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"Good morning!" I heard Sweetie sing. I looked up and saw her standing at the end of my bed, a huge smile on her face.
"Good morning, you seem in a good mood today" I said, still half asleep.
"Of course I am! I haven't had a good sleep like that in forever!" She cheered, still smiling.
"Well I'm glad I was able to help" I told her, her smile was contagious. "We should pack up, we'll be hitting the road soon." She looked at me in confusion.
"Where are we headed?" She asked. I wonder that myself.
"We can't stay in one spot for long, surely you've seen how ponies act now a days, it's safer to just always be on the move" I told her, she sighed.
"I guess you're right" she said. She looked upset.
"Maybe you'll meet some new friends along the way" I told her, hoping to cheer her up. She suddenly looked shocked and smiled, I guess my words worked.
"Or maybe old friends" she whispered, still smiling.
"I'm tired!" Sweetie whined.
"I'm sorry but we need to keep walking, it isn't safe especially around this area." I told her, this area was swarming with thieves, last time I was here I was attacked by 4 different thieves. I wouldn't mind too much but now I got a filly to worry about, maybe I shouldn't have been so nice.
"Can you carry me?" She asked, taking me by surprise. I was carrying all of the supplies and now she wants me to carry her too?
"Sorry but" I started.
"Please?" She asked, putting on puppy dog eyes. She had me in some kind of trance, those eyes were every sad emotion rolled into one, and she just kept staring at me with them. I felt sweat roll down my face, I have to resist. One tear rolled down her face and I gave in.
"Alright fine" I said in defeat, she immediately hopped on my back and giggled.
"Works every time" she said as she adjusted herself on my back. I knew I'd be tired as hell when I finally picked where to stop.
"So, are we headed to your house?" She asked.
"No we aren't headed anywhere in specific, we'll just wander around Equestria for the most part" I told her.
"Oh. Well what's the plan?" she asked.
"Plan?" I asked.
"Yeah plan! What are we going to do?" She said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"I guess the plan is to not die of hunger" I told her, what did she expect of me? Did she think I was going to head down to Canterlot and take down the new world order?
"Oh" she said disappointingly, I guess I upset her. "Well can we make a pit stop somewhere?"
"It depends where" I told her, I sure hope she didn't want me to go to Canterlot.
"I want to go to Ponyville" she told me. Ponyville, I didn't know much about it but it's rumored to have agents nearby.
"It's too dangerous to go there" I told her.
"Please?" she pleaded, lucky for me she was on my back otherwise she'd probably use those puppy eyes again.
"Sorry but it's too risky, we could be caught and killed, or worse" I said, thinking about the fate of all the ponies that were in Canterlot.
"Please, my friends might still be there" she said. She wanted to help her friends obviously but her statement wasn't good, if they were still there it probably meant agents were keeping them there or the city is being run by thieves.
"I'm sorry but-"
"Please…" she said, trailing off. I could feel the pain emitted in her words, she must miss her friends. I missed my friend too.
"Fine, it isn't too far anyway" I told her, I guess dying isn't so bad in this world.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she cheered, tightly hugging my back.
After a few hours of walking I finally found a good spot to set camp. Although I insisted on setting up the base myself she insisted on helping, I only known her for a day and I already knew she wouldn't take no for an answer. I told her to set up the tent while I checked the food and set up the area. I always placed a few leafs around the area so thieves would at least need to put effort in sneaking.
"All finished!" I heard Sweetie yell, making me turn to her. I wouldn't call it finished, it looked like it was barely standing up. I'll need to teach her how to set it up properly better.
"Good work, well eat some food and call it a night" I told her, pulling out 2 apples from my bag and my water canteen.
"I'm starving" she said as she walked over to me and took her apple, I'll need to fix that tent later. "So when will we be at Ponyville?" she asked me, taking a bite of her apple.
"Actually if we continued walking, we'd be there in a few minutes" I informed her, we could've been there by now but the Everfree Forest was too dangerous at night so I made us take a detour.
"Maybe we can just skip sleep and head there now?" She asked.
"Look Sweetie I've made a lot of decisions I wouldn't normally make for you, but there's no way I'll skip sleep" I told her, skipping sleep is next to saying 'hey thieves, I'm easy pickings!'
"Alright" she said, not sounding very disappointed.
"Don't worry, we'll be there tomorrow" I told her, but then I realized something. "Sweetie, can I be honest with you?" I asked her, she looked at me and nodded. I looked away.
"You know how bad times have been lately, everyone around us is dying or killing, there isn't anypony who is still trustworthy, so please don't get your hopes up about finding your friends, they might already be dead" I told her, I know the truth hurts but she needed to know so it wouldn't hurt too much later.
"You're wrong" she said, surprisingly she didn't look mad or upset. "Not my friends, they won't give up on everything so easily, I'm sure they're alright and once I find them, everything will be alright again" she said, sounding completely confident. Confidence, I wish I still had that.
"Besides, you're trustworthy" she said, making me turn to her. I guess I should expect this from a filly, I did save her in a way. She had a big smile on her face, she must have a lot of confidence in her friends. Or in me.
"Alright, just thought I'd tell you" I told her, returning the smile.
"Don't worry, once we find them, everything will be alright again!" she declared, taking a bite from her apple. Now I was really interested in her friends, maybe I'll ask her more in detail tomorrow. She showed a lot of hope and still smiled in the face of utter defeat, I hope she doesn't lose that. Don't be like me kid.
Feels odd for him to call her Sweetie. Something is in Ponyville, but what? You can probably guess what, or who. xD
