//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Just an Old Ponytale... // by EternalShadow54 //------------------------------// Just an Old Ponytale... Chapter 5- 'A voice came from inside. "Who's there!" Twilight instantly distinguished the voice. A small, red maned pony peeked through the cracks in the barrier. "Twilight?" Apple Bloom gasped. The small filly quickly undid the borders and hastefully let the heavily saturated unicorn in. Apple Bloom instantly started back on the boarders as soon as Twilight was inside the venerable building. "You got here all by yourself?" Apple Bloom as she finished putting the barrier back up. Twilight flinched. "Not... exactly..." Twilight said with a sigh.' ~Wow, my very own journal. I mean, I have one at home already but to have one to record all my thoughts during this horrible ordeal is just something else. For starters, I can't begin to express how glad I am to have someone to talk to as well. Pinkie has been a great friend to me while I'm here. I guess she's glad to have someone too. This whole thing has been very hard for us both. Pinkie's had the harder time of it, losing both the Cakes AND Gummy. I haven't told her how everything started yet, but I plan to. I have to keep the sentences short because of the lack of charcoal. There wasn't but maybe a stick or two behind the counter. I just don't know what I'm going to do. The storm won't move on so I can only assume Rainbow Dash is "infected", though I really hope not. We are also out of food. Pinkie wasn't kidding when she said that soup was the last of it. Wish I had savoured it a bit more now. The only option that I see to do would be to go to Zecora's and see if I can find out anything about how to fix all this. Maybe Celestia will come back and fix this. I can only imagine how spike would be. "Zombies! Ahhhh!" he would say. Heh, but for now, me and Pinkie are going to search for some food. We will leave through the back and search the three nearest houses. Charcoal running low. I just hope everything turns out O.K...~ Journal Entry #1 -Twilight Sparkle "Well, are you ready Twilight?" the pink party pony impatiently asked. Twilight closed her new journal and set it in her new saddle bag that Pinkie had given her. "As I'll ever be, I guess." she said with a cheerful mood. The journal had given her a way to vent and to think about what she's going to do, a way to plan things out one might say. The two made their way to the back of the store and prepared their course of action. "Alrighty then, where should we go first?" Pinkie asked. "We don't want to venture off too far... so let's keep it close. How about the first three neighboring houses?" Twilight suggested. Pinkie meditated for a second. "Okie Dokie. Before we go though, what should we do if we happen to run into one of those meanie monsters?" Even Pinkie Pie's mood seemed to pick up. The unicorn pondered for a moment. "Hmmmm... I'm not sure..." She thought it over for minute before answering. "We should take weapons." Twilight bluntly stated. Before Pinkie could say anything she ran into the kitchen. When she ruturned, she was levitating two frying pans with her horn. "If we run into anything, use these when they get close." The pink pony took one of the pans then looked at Twilight with a sad, sorrowful face. "I... can't hurt them... they were once all my friends..." Twilight sighed. "Look, you won't have to if you don't let them get close. Besides, do you have a better alternative?" Twilight asked with sarcasm. Pinkie looked to the ground. "Couldn't we just run?" she asked. "Pinkie, if we get cornered inside a building, where are we going to run?" Pinkie Pie thought this over for a moment. "I... guess you're right." "Alright then, now let's go." the magic unicorn persisted. The two then proceeded to remove the planks of wood nailed to the back door and slowly stepped outside into the storm. "Which way should we go from here?" Twilight asked. The pink pony put a hoof to her chin. "Well, I think we should go-" She was cut short by Twilight's hoof in her mouth. "Shhh..." Twilight said. They listened, but Pinkie didn't hear anything except for the rain splattering on the ground. "I don't hear any-" Twilight shoved her hoof in her mouth once more. "Shhh!" Twilight held her hoof to her friends mouth with more force this time. Pinkie listened again, but this time noticed an extreamly low growl coming from the house next door. "Aw, shoot." Pinkie loudly whispered. "Now what do we do?" Twilight considered her options. They could go back into Sugarcube Corner, but there still wasn't any food. They had only one other option. "Let's try across the street." "But... won't it be dangerous?" Pinkie asked. "Very." replied Twilight. "But we need to find some food or we'll eventually starve to death, or worse." "Worse?" Pinkie raise a brow at this. "Uhhh... nevermind. Forget I said that." Twilight turned and faced her once again flat maned friend. "Shall we?" The two went around the other side of Sugarcube Corner. 'All of this constant rain and we haven't flooded yet. Things couldn't be stranger, now could they?' Twilight thought to herself. The two reached the stores front corner. Twilight peeked around the edge of the store and looked for any sign of the "infected". "The coast looks clear, let's go." The two made a mad dash across the street. TRIP Pinkie slipped in a small pool of water and fell face first into a mud puddle. The landing made a loud splash, but nothing that could be heard too far on account of the heavy rain. "Pinkie!" Twilight whispered as loud as she could. "Hurry up and get over here!" Pinkie quickly picked herself back up and caught up with her angry friend who was waiting for her at the front door of the intended building. "I'm sorry Twilight, I wasn't paying attention and-" Again, Twilight shoved her hoof in Pinkie's mouth. "You talk too much." Twilight tried to turn the knob on the door. "Drat!" she said with frustration. "Locked. Looks like we're going to need to find another way in." "How about we try a different house?" Pinkie asked. The purple unicorn turned to her friend with lethargy as though it was a stupid question. "Because Pinkie... don't you think that most ALL the doors are locked?" Pinkie was puzzled by the statement. "Then why did you try the front door silly?" Twilight let out a sigh. "Pinkie..." The two started to go around back, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious or odd. When they reached the back however, there was no door. "Looks like we got to do this the hard way. Pinkie, give me a boost." Pinkie stood next to the wall of the building and let the magic purple pony climb on her back and break through a window. ""Hey! Don't do that!" Pinkie said with disapproval. "How would you like it if someone did that to your window?" Twilight started to wonder why she even brought Pinkie. "Look, you want food right?" Twilight asked as she climbed into the window and held a hoof to pull Pinkie in. Pinkie gave a muddle look as she grasped the extended hoof. "What a silly question to ask." 'At least she's back to her old mood again. That's good... I guess.' Twilihgt grunted to herself as she pulled Pinkie Pie up into the building. The house was trashed just like Sugarcube Corner. Broken glass, blood, even some floor planks were gone from here too. "I wonder what heppened to whoever lived here?" Twilight asked herself. Pinkie heard this and took it as a question towards her. "You don't know who lives... well, used to live here? This is Lyra's house." Twilight looked to her left and saw a broken picture frame of Lyra Heartstrings, who was holding her lyre while playing in front of a crowd at a music recital. "Oh..." Twilight felt again the all too familiar feeling of guilt hit her. She was used to it by now. She shook the feeling off at looked back at Pinkie. "Alright Pinkie, what I need you to do is to look around and see if you can't find a cellar of some sort. I'm going to go look in the kitchen." The pink pony nodded and went to searching while Twilight herself began to search. It wasn't too hard for the purple unicorn to find the kitchen. As soon as she came across it she started to raid the fridge and every drawer and cabinet she could find. Sadly, there was nothing. "Oh, come on. There's got to be something to eat in here." She searched for a while longer before she finally pitched a small fit and gave up. She turned around and called out for Pinkie. "Pinkie, did you find anything?" There was silence. "Pinkie?" she called again. No answer. Twilight was scared now. The adrenaline rushed through her as she darted through the hallways yelling for her friend. "Pinkie, where are you!" Twilight tripped over a small hatch on the floor. "What the-" Twilight said as she stood herself back up. It was a trap door. Twilight opened the door and peered into the pitch black abyss. "She wouldn't have went down there without some type of light, would she?" Twilight pondered to herself. "Pinkie?" she softly called into the dark hole in the floor. There was no response. 'Looks like I have to go down there and get her.' she grudged with a sigh. Twilight lit her horn and started her decent down the small flight of stairs. It was a cellar alright. Twilight could smell the half rotted fruit as she decended even futher down into the darkness. 'She couldn't have come down here. It's way to dark.' Just then, she saw a small glimmer in the distance. "The basement couldn't be that big." Twilight said under her breath. She proceeded towards the light. As she began to come closer, she saw the frozen figure of Pinkie Pie holding a small lamp standing absolutely still with something right beside her. "What in Equestria is that?" Twilight asked herself. When she came closer, what she saw chilled her to the bone. She saw Pinkie Pie with eyes wide open as she was completely tensed up with one of those horrid "infected", without any eyes, sniffing every where around her...