DayP
The sky became a violent red, quite alien to the six ponies. They continued their walk eying the sky. Twilight couldn't help but think of the man who caught fire. She felt guilty, remorse, and pain. Pain not only to herself, but to her friends. What they have seen could have, or did scar them.
I wonder how they're holding up... Twilight thought, eying her friends behind. None of them seemed quite well themselves, following the same expressions as Twilight. Alert, tired, and extremely depressed.
Their walk continued, the majority of it being uneventful. Occasionally they ducked in cover because of a shadow, or a tree branch snapping, or even the simple chirping of a bird. They all became quite paranoid, although Fluttershy remained the most calm. Of all ponies, right?
Rainbow Dash clutched her stomach and began complaining. "Ugh, I'm hungry!"
Twilight went through her bag, and went through her eight items. A book called "Survival for Dummies", scrap paper, ink, quills, an empty canteen scavenged from the building in the city, the rune that will bring them home, a single muffin from her party - courtesy of Derpy, and her letters made for her friends. She levitated the only party-sized muffin from her bag, and the smell of a chocolate muffin filled the air. Now, everypony grabbed their stomach as it rumbled.
"Okay," started Twilight, "I only have one muffin, so we'll have to spli- Ahh!" Twilight was tackled by something and was thrown backwards, with whatever it was coming down with her. She caught a few glimpses of blonde and gray, but it happened all too fast. It was really nothing but a blur.
A few screams broke out, mostly from Rarity as she witnessed a fight. "Oh the horror!" She cried out. She stood on her two hind legs, and her horn glowed a bright blue as she fell backwards with a hoof upon her forehead. She only wished her drama couch spell worked. Instead, it brought an old friend who went by the name; with no say in it, "Tom".
"Ow..." Rarity muttered as she rubbed her head, with Fluttershy rushing in not to far back to aid her friend.
Rainbow hovered, swiftly turning her head trying to look for Twilight in the night. There had just been too much going on. Too much noise, until finally, silence, and a pony with a blonde mane and gray coat stood in the middle of all the chaos.
"Sorry!" A familiar voice to all six ponies said.
The six ponies turned their heads, ignoring what had happened, they stared at the pony who had a large chocolate muffin in her hoofs. She munched on the muffin happily.
"Wha-how did- but- the Princess- I ju- bu - but... WHAT?" Twilight said in total confusion.
The other ponies nodded in agreement, and motioned Derpy to explain how the hay she got here.
Derpy looked at the six ponies, with one eye, and started. "I was headed home from the muffin store after work, then I couldn't help but notice a nice muffin smell coming from above me! So I flew up and kept following the smell, and then I started flying down because the smell went down. Then it was all dark, which was weird because it was only evening and the sun was supposed to still be up, then I found myself eating the muffin! It was really good. I want another." Derpy stated, then began daydreaming about another muffin, this time blueberry with raisins. Then looked back down at the muffin she already had in her hooves, which she began eating again, much slower to save the taste.
Twilight just stood there, and just stared. Her mind, was completely jello. What Derpy had just said was that she flew up, and then flew back down into a different world, which simulates teleportation - without a spell.
Her face remained unchanged as she stared dumbfounded at the mare eating her muffin, which everypony forgot, was supposed to be shared.
Low on food and liquids, it would be their best interest to get going. Luckily for them, the main city is just about three hundred meters out, you could see a faint red light pushing the dark away, which displayed many houses. The red light seemed to be coming out of a stick on fire, which was alien to the ponies, and for all they knew, it could be hazardous.
Twilight turned to tell her friends and new companion; Derpy, to stray away from the red light as they continued to slowly edge towards the small town.
They were now within twenty feet of the first house. The moonlight shone brightly on the town, and the flare helped as well. They could make out the wood was rotting, and moss was beginning to take hold of the house. Twilight motioned Rarity to open the door while the others kept watch. Twilight was now using her night vision spell, and was awaiting for the click of the doorknob.
Locked.
Every door was locked. They couldn't risk breaking the window for a few reasons. One, if someone is in there who turns out to be a bandit or rogue, they'd be in trouble that's out of their control. Two, the Zeds would hear them, and if they didn't, it would attract anyone who's nearby -- someone had to set those lights up.
They moved to the next house which seemed to be open. The door seemed to be swung to its shack-like wall, and seemed to be vacant from the front view.
If we're lucky, maybe we could savage some food... I'm sure we're all starving.
They moved carefully but with haste towards the open room. Twilight was first inside, being the most curious and having night vision to her advantage, she was able to move quickly without being spotted. She was their eyes.
She took a quick but observant look around the room and spotted something... It was standing on two legs staring at the corner of the room opposite of her. It seemed emotionless, but it seemed to be breathing. She couldn't think of anything to say, and she edged back to make distance, making a clopping sound on the wooden floor.
It jerked and looked up from where it was.
Twilight hesitated heavily, and found her composure then spoke. "He-Hello?" Her eye was now twitching, and she could hear her friends edging closer.
It didn't move.
Now, a little louder she repeated herself, and now without hesitation. "Hello?" She edged slightly closer to the thing.
It didn't move again. It seemed like it didn't comprehend the English coming out of her mouth. Like it was an alien... Or perhaps, if it was Russian like Vasili, it spoke a different language. Now she just had to remember one of those words that she remembered Vasili say quite often. Not coming to any better solution of a greeting, she took note of some type of beverage they drank often.
She could still hear her friends edging closer. They seemed to be about ten feet out, moving slowly, but with haste. She could hear them whispering about each other. Her night vision became slightly more clear when she put more focus - still keeping the word in mind, and took note of it's clothing.
Battered, abhorrent, revolting, those words are what came to mind when she saw its clothing. She could then make out that it was probably clothing scavenged from others.
Not wanting to wait for her friends to get closer, and with impatience she opened her mouth to speak. "Vodka?"
The creature jerked whipped it's head around. It's eye sockets were empty, its nose had rotted off, blood was leaking from its lips, and now it was clear to her; Zed!
She dispersed a quick but violent scream as she fled the room, immediately crashing into her friends.
She was panting vigorously, and she received from her friends a series of, "What's wrong?" and still panting, she gave them a few hints of what was going on then fled. It translated something close to, "Oh! ... Run! ... Thing! ... Zed! ... Likes - VODKA!"
The Zed slowly crept out of the room and made a wicked snarl towards them, and without any need of further explanation, they ran screaming leaving dust and blurs behind. The Zed managed to catch up quickly, and kept its pace.
The noise started to attract more of them. More came by the number, and they soon had a horde chasing them in a random direction. Not knowing what more to do, Pinkie Pie stopped in anger pulling Twilight back with her.
"Stay away from my friends!" Pinkie lifted Twilight up, as she just hung there helplessly. This seemed like deja vu to her, and knew exactly what was going to happen. She just sighed and let it go.
Pinkie proceeded to grab her friend's tail, and held her up by her chest and swiftly began pulling her tail up and down like an easy pull lever. With each pull came a bright light from Twilight's horn, shooting out short bursts of Star Wars like purple beams. Though most of them missed, it brightly lit up the night and slowed the Zeds.
After Twilight dispersed such a great amount of magical energy, she fell, exhausted. Her night vision spell ceased to continue as well, and now risked getting eaten. Pinkie had been long ahead before she realized how much energy she made Twilight use, and didn't think that she would be suffering any fatigue.
Luckily, Rainbow Dash was able to carry a few extra pounds, and with a beam of rainbow, Twilight was now mobile.
The horde followed them, and were back on the road where they met Derpy; who was the furthest ahead of the group. Nopony really knew what to do with her, or how she could contribute -- she didn't exactly have the best record of being reliable without accidents. At least her heart was in the right place.
Rarity did most of the screaming, and still continued. Applejack, beginning to get worn out from her yelping and drama, finally put a hoof down, sparing the others from doing so.
"Girl, ya have ta calm down! Concentrate more on runnin' than on cryin'!" Applejack said with a tense tone. Rarity gave her the look of annoyance, and just looked forward and began sprinting, thinking of a response, but gave up.
Rainbow Dash continued flying overhead, and cast a silhouette over them. The night was reaching its peak, and was now almost pitch black, had it not been for the moon. Thank Luna for that.
Running and flying for almost three miles on the roads, the Zeds slowly started to get lost on their tracks, but as many as twenty still followed. Snarling, and running awkwardly, they followed with speed.
More lights.
The red flares were being seen off in the distance along with small arms fire. Small pops and twangs could be heard along with screaming. They were headed right back to where they started. But with nowhere else to run, this was probably their best chance.
Derpy was now out of sight. Shrouded in the darkness, but nopony had enough strength to call out for her. They just hoped for the best. After all, she could have somehow re-teleported herself back to Equestria -- Celestia knows how.
To sum it up, about twenty Zeds were in pursuit of the six friends, Derpy split from the group somehow, Twilight is unconscious, and the ground was muddy which threatened one of them to slip and injure a leg.
What could be worst than this? Rainbow pouted in her mind. Unknowingly, she just jinxed the situation.
Thunder crackled overhead, and a bolt of lightning struck straight towards a Zed, which broke into multiple bolts that connected to the other Zeds. Rainbow turned to get a good look at the light show, and slowed slightly as she watched the Zeds. The Zeds stopped as they were being electrocuted at an intense wattage, they held their heads in what seemed to be agony, then dropped to the ground.
By now, the others have turned around and took their turns saying something similar to, "What the hay?" as they witnessed the light show.
They were on a dirt road, and seemed to be near the foot of a mountain. Near the top, it had an abundance of trees, and another small light atop.
The lightning stopped short of a second, and everything was blackened again.
Silence.
Rainbow Dash touched down to take a rest from carrying Twilight. Everypony stayed silent and listened for anything moving, a twig snapping, or even the slightest sigh that didn't come from them.
Still, nothing was heard.
Rainbow Dash turned, panting slightly. She is an athletic pony, so she was able to recover much faster after a flight. After all, her job is to kick clouds and move them all day. "You think they're... dead?" Even though she wished for them to be dead, she still stammered at the word. It was unpleasant, and hardly used in Equestria. Most ponies found it very rude to say such things.
The other ponies just panted, unable to speak. Twilight was shifting on the dirt road, and the others followed. They just sat down and tried to take a rest. Maybe just a few minutes.
Crack
All of the ponies were asleep.
Crack... Pfft
None of them budged.
Hurr...
Nothing. They were asleep and oblivious to that sound that seemed all too familiar. However, sleep took hold of all six ponies, and whatever was making those sounds, was nearing closer.
The patting sound from shoes and dirt from the road they slept on was no more than ten feet away. It began snarling, the distasteful sound -- and smell, of a Zed was nearing. Slightly different though, it smelled cooked!
Crack... Pfft - Pfft - Pfft
More footsteps arose from the darkness. The moon hid behind the trees providing no light.
Occasional pops and screams came off from the distance, which made Twilight stir in her sleep. Her eyes flickered open slightly, feeling much more relaxed. She noticed that it was still dark, and probably no more than thirty minutes from where she last left off, unless she slept for a few days. Which she doubted.
Her horn let out a steady aura, and was now using her night vision spell. Nothing. Just trees, the dirt road she was sleeping on, her sleeping friends, foot of a mountain, occasional pops and screams from the distant city that seemed all to familiar --
Urrg...
She remembered that sound. She whipped her head around and spotted two... Things. They didn't seem much like Zeds at all! They looked like hellish spawns of miniature humanoids. They were also smoking.
Instinctively, she shrieked, waking up her friends, and made the Zeds aware that they were around. The Zeds stared into her eyes before breaking out into a full sprint. They now stood, and ran like Vasili. Their skin was also no longer rotting. From far away, they could have looked human.
"Run!" Twilight blurted out as loudly as possible to break everypony out of sleep, and into full sprint. As for Rainbow Dash, it was flight.
The Zeds were no more than five feet behind, and they were gaining on them. The six moved downhill towards the city, hoping they could find someone to help, or maybe even lose the mutated ones.
It was really dark. The moon was still over the mountain and hidden by its trees. They followed the red light, even if it could only cause more trouble. Light was needed, at least for the others. Twilight's cutie mark insists that she is allowed to learn all magic with much ease. Other unicorns only have access to magic that resembled their cutie mark. So Rarity was best at levitation, and concentration. So basically, the others were running blindly.
"Left!" Twilight called out, trying to keep pace with her friends. They made a sharp left turn, and Applejack unfortunately crashed into a pole.
She rubbed her head, picked up her hat, and continued running along side her friends, muttering something under her breath.
Twilight started searching for any building that already had a door open so they didn't need to encounter anymore locked doors. Soon, they discovered a large rectangular building with a box and balcony. It had many windows in the front, which could leave them very exposed to any bandits who want to cause trouble. Still, this was probably their only chance for survival.
"In here!" Twilight called to her friends, but soon realized that they couldn't see the door. This resulted in Applejack crashing into another pole, Rarity running into a mud puddle which resulted in painful, ear-bleeding whining, Rainbow Dash crashing into the window, and Pinkie Pie almost jumping over the building, but resulted in her landing on the roof unscathed. Fluttershy seemed to be the only one who made it in the building safely.
Twilight facehoofed and added,"Oh... right." She levitated Applejack and Rarity away and guided them in the door.
Once inside, the Zeds didn't let up. They followed in, and began walking instead of sprinting.
What, they can't run indoors? Twilight thought.
She looked around, and saw a staircase to her immediate right. "Everypony up the stairs!" She now using her horn as a small light source to help guide Rarity and Applejack up. On the second floor, Rainbow Dash was holding her muzzle with a hoof.
"Never. Again." Rainbow pouted as she started moving angrily up the next flight of stairs.
Pinkie Pie bounced happily when they met at the third floor. Only to be reminded that they were now stuck in this building, and the mutated Zeds were on their way up.
Pinkie looked at Twilight and asked. "What do we do now?" The others nodded in agreement.
Sweat began to run down her face, unable to think of a reasonable answer. They can't just give up and go home now can they? They were so close! They've already encountered a friendly human survivor, there's got to be more than one.
"Well?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently.
Twilight's eyes went wide and her pupils small before she closed them shut tightly, and replied. "I don't know!"
The hallway was dark, and this was the last floor of the building. There were two openings in the wall on both sides of the building, and a small room behind Pinkie. Twilight peeked over the edge of the hallway, and spotted the hole Rainbow made when she crashed. Glass shards laid all over the room.
"I guess... There's only one way out of this now isn't there?" Twilight said quietly, but just loud enough so it's audible to her friends. She turned to look at them. "I guess I failed the princess. Let's go home..." Twilight said with a hint of failure in her voice. Her first failed assignment.
Rarity looked at the others to see if they had anything to say. "Twilight. You didn't fail -- at least not you alone. We've all failed. Except we've probably failed much more than you have, right Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow scowled at Rarity, still uneasy about what happened not two minutes ago. "What?"
"You know... You did drop out of--"
Rainbow jumped. "Hey! I chose to not do the homework! It was lame, and was holding me back from practicing my tricks!"
"Well," Rarity continued. Pinkie was beginning to laugh silently. Applejack just rolled her eyes. "That is your story. But perhaps we should focus on Twilight's problem... maybe after we go back to Ponyville, and get cleaned." Rarity said looking at her muddy hooves. She just polished them an hour before they arrived.
"I suppo-" Twilight was cut short when a few pops and bright flashes echoed in the building, and something hit the floor. It actually sounded something was rolling down the staircase.
They remained silent, and a few metalic sounds were heard. The six friends began to cower into the back room near Pinkie, and they all remained silent.
The mutated Zed from downstairs growled.
Twang!
A sound of string, then the sickly sound of flesh being ripped out was heard, even from up on the third floor. It was very distinct. You couldn't mistake the sound.
After a few brief moments of silenced, they heard footsteps near the stairs. There was a rustle of equipment being shifted, and a zipper. What happened next was all too familiar. It had no accent, but spoke words that are just too familiar to Twilight when she was spying on people from the scrying mirror. "Friendly?"
Long chapters ahead to make up for the short chapter. I will also be leaving for Oregon on Tuesday, so I won't be able to update for a while. Let alone play DayZ. Check the 'before reading' chapter thing for updates daily.