Just an Old Ponytale...

by EternalShadow54

Chapter 4

Just an Old Ponytale...
Chapter 4-

'Her blood ran cold as the growls grew louder from all directions. "Is... anypony there?" Apple Bloom asked. The growls became more menicing as the stench of death filled the air. "Twilight... where are you?" There ws no response. Apple Bloom turned to head back to Sweet Apple Acres. As she turned, she heard a voice in the distance call out to her...

"RUN!" the voice screamed, "RUN!!!" Twilight came crashing through the bushes with a terrified look. "Didn't you hear me Apple Bloom? Run!"

Twilight pondered on what would be the best couse of action given her current situation. She decided that staying and jumping from rooftop to rooftop might prove the most effective. She, of course, didn't want to attract any unwanted attention to herself from below. "I just wish that this storm would just let up." she complaied to herself as the rain pelted her relentlessly. She turned and tried to make out an accurate assumption of the direction Sweet Apple Acres was. It was difficult task with the consideration that she could hardly make out what was more than fifteen hooves in front of her, much less what would be a mile or two away.

Twilight was about to head out with her most logical guess in direction when she heard a faint calling in the distance. "Twilight!" the voice called. Twilight turned her head and commenced to figuring out the source of the voice. This was no easy feat as the rain simply refused to let up and the wind just continued to howl around her. Twilight strained her eyes to see the direction of the call, but to no avail. The loud splashing of the rain hitting buildings and ground were too distracting. She was just about to give up when she saw the figure that had shouted.

Twilight looked to the roof of Sugarcube Corner and saw the faint figure of a pink pony through the haze. "Pinkie!?" Twilight gasped to herself. The pony called out again.

"Twilight! Hey, over here!" the figure jumped in excitement. The rain let up just enough for Twilight to distinctly tell that it was, in fact, Pinkie Pie. Her mane was flat and, from the looks of it, was either the rain that pushed her mane down, or what had happened to poor Scootaloo. 'Probably both' Twilight thought to herself. She percived real hard at Pinkie from across the street as to make absolutely sure it was her and shouted back. "Pinkie Pie, what are you doing out here?" The question itself seemed to benumb the party pony, as far as Twilight could tell from this span.

"What do you mean, 'What am I doing out here?' I'm trying to save you, silly." Pinkie Pie answered. "Now why don't you teleport from across the street over here so you can get out of this weather before you catch something." Twilight, as much as she wanted to be, was not thrilled to see her pink, energetic friend.

"Why didn't you help Scootaloo, Pinkie?" Pinkie froze at the question and stopped jumping. Pinkie didn't think she heard her unicorn friend correctly.

"What did you say Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked in a much lower register. Twilight was only barely able to hear what she had said.

"You heard me Pinkie. Why didn't you open the door for Scootaloo before those... those monsters got her?" The wind had a momentary cease as though it had stopped just for Pinkie to answer without being misunderstood, although the rain continued. Pinkie, however, remained voiceless as though she didn't hear the question. Twilight had enough.

The purple unicorn set her focus for the roof of Sugarcube Corner and started to use her magic. She teleported herself right beside Pinkie Pie and became aggresive. Pinkie's head was bowed and she was sobbing, but this didn't stop Twilight from getting right in her face. "ANSWER ME!" Twilight yelled in anger at Pinkie. "Why didn't you save her! She would have at least tried if it was you out there!" The mob of "infected" below were strangely mellow as the storm was calm for another moment before picking back up. Pinkie suddenly burst into tears.

"I was scared, alright!" Pinkie's eyes were fixated right to those of Twilight's and she stared with such a loss of all emotion, except for fear, that Twilight nearly cried by the mere sight. Pinkie seemed to be looking right into Twilight's soul. "Ever since what happened to... to..." Pinkie hung her head again. She looked as though she hasn't slept in days.

"Pinkie... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-" Pinkie cut her sentence short.

"It's alright. It's just that... ever since what happened to the Cakes I haven't-" This time Twilight cut her off.

"Even the Cakes?" Twilight asked. Pinkie simply sighed. The storm was picking back up.

"Heh, where do I begin? It was yesterday and we were all just about to go to bed when we heard screaming coming from outside. Normally we wouldn't pay this any mind. We had gotten used to it, but... there was a loud banging on the door. It was Lyra. She was being chased by the meanie monsters and was exhausted. So... we let her in before they cught up to her, but we didn't know that she had been bitten." Pinkie gave an conotation to go in. "Come on, I will tell you the rest once inside." The two went to a hatch that led to the store's interior and made a descent down into the attic of Sugarcube Corner.

"I didn't know you had an attic?" Twilight said.

"Neither did I until a few days ago. Come, follow me." Pinkie Pie was leading Twilight down a dark corridor ragarding there wasn't much light to begin with. The pink pony was speaking as they walked. "Lyra turned on us while we were asleep and things... well, didn't turn out very well." Pinkie looked to the side. "Mrs. Cake was the first to be bitten. She didn't go down easy though" Pinkie chuckled as she led on. "She was able to force Lyra out of the shop and lock her out... but she knew what had happened had happened." She stopped as they approached the stairs that would lead them down to the base floor of the building. "Mr. Cake refused to let her be taken by this horrible plague... so he..." Pinkie choked. "He put her out of her misery." She started down the stairs, Twilight close behind and hanging on every word.

"I won't go into detail on the matter but to put a long story short, it didn't stop the "infection" process. In fact, I think it actually made the process faster." Pinkie looked to her friend and gave a signification that she was almost done. "When Mr. Cake turned from... what he had to do... Mrs. Cake instantly became one of those monsters and bit Mr. Cake on the hind hutch. He was so taken by surprize that he actually bucked Mrs. Cake right through the front door, leaving us exposed to the outside." They had reached the main room. "He quickly gathered some boards together and started nailing up another blockade at the front. He... told me not to let anypony in under any circumstances and then... then he left." Twilight could hardly believe what she was hearing. She had put her best friend through so much. A un-nerving thought came to Twilight.

"And... the babies...?" Pinkie winced. "Oh..." Twilight said with understanding in her voice. The action was word enough. Twilight had never felt so bad in her life than she did right then. She whispered to herself, "Oh Celestia, how I wish you were here to tell me what to do..." She looked back at her pink friend who was drying herself off with a towel.

Twilight actually had a moment to observe her surroundings. As she peered through the darkness, she noticed a few very distinct things. Broken glass, blood, even some floorboards were missing. The place was a train wreck. 'I would hate to see this in the light' Twilight thought to herself. Pinkie looked back at her purple friend and tried to fake a smile.

"Home sweet home." she said with sadness in her eyes. "Make yourself comfortable while I go fix you something to eat. You look like you haven't had a morsel in days." Twilight then realized how hungry she really was. Her stomach instantaneously hurt as it growled for food.

"Yea, I actually haven't. What do you have to eat?" the damp purple pony inquired.

"Just make yourself at home, I will be right back." Pinkie then left the room. Twilight searched for a nice, comfy spot to rest her head. She was exhausted and her body was drenched from the rain. She found a nice spot in the corner and started to lie down. Just before she could, however, she noticed something that caught her attention. She walked over to look at what seemed to be a small book of some sort. Pinkie came back into the room with a small bowl in her hoof.

"Hey Pinkie, what's this?" Twilight questioned as she held the book up. Pinkie took a glance before answering.

"Oh, that old thing? It's the Cake's record book. They kept all their business transactions in it." The unicorn flipped through some of the pages.

"Most of the pages are blank though." Twilight said. Pinkie sat the bowl at her friend's side.

"It's fairly new." Pinkie replied. A concept struck Twilight.

"Can I keep it? You know, to use like a journal of some sort." Pinkie looked as though she was thinking real hard about the question before she turned and nodded.

"If you need some charcoal there's some behind the counter." Pinkie informed. Twilight then turned her attention at the bowl.

"Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but what's in this soup?" she asked.

"Vegetables. It's the last bit of food I have left. I... I figured you should have it." Twilight suddenly felt a warm feeling inside. The feeling of happiness had seemed so distant from the purple unicorn since the incident that she almost couldn't tell what she was feeling. She didn't know how to process this simple yet very kind act that her friend had just performed for her. She suddenly threw her hooves around Pinkie's neck and hugged tightly. This caught Pinkie a little off guard.

"Thank you, Pinkie..." Twilight said with a tear running down her cheek. "Thank you..."

Comments

[TimeRarity64]

SHEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! The story is here.

[EternalShadow54]

617378

Yep, didn't you know that?

[TimeRarity64]

617387My notifications was highly ignored by me for a few days, so I check it and saw this fic on here.

[EternalShadow54]

617407

I've made a few changes since probably the last time you've read it (this morning).
Working on Chapter five ATM but it's kinda hard. only 500 words into and it doesn't look all that good.

[TimeRarity64]

617420Hey, don't discourage yourself, if you think that the chapter needs improvement try improving it. But, no matter what, it is your story and chapter. You have the power over it and can do anything with it. An author should always respect and love their work. That is one of the coolest things into making a story.