> The Dead Rise
>  by marineproductions100
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: The Hospital
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dead Rise



Inspired by 'The Walking Dead'



Celebrating ten stories by Cameron



Chapter 1: The Hospital.


Ponyville, afternoon. 

Derpy was at work which was the post office. She was opening a bunch of crates that were filled with packages of weight lifts. I wonder if some of these weights are for Bulk Biceps? She thought to herself. Derpy used a crane to open the tops of the crates. Dear Celestia, how many crates are there? She used all of her strength to try to pry open the crate. She succeeded but lost her balance in the process. She tumbled backwards off of the crate. When she hit the ground, one of the crates landed on her left wing and she screamed. "Ow! Fuck! Help!" She screamed. She struggled to push it off of her wing. But the immense pain kept her from pushing it off. She looked up and saw a crate falling towards her. The crate landed on top of her head and she was knocked out cold. 

An employee arrived at the scene and immediately took action. He ran up to her and pushed the crates off of her. He looked down at her to see her lying unconscious on the floor. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." He repeatedly said while running straight to his employer to call an ambulance. Fifteen minutes later an ambulance arrived and took Derpy to the hospital.



	

Hospital, midnight. Dinky was crying on her mother. The nurse walked in and looked down at Dinky. "Are you all by yourself?" The nurse asked.

Dinky  looked up at the nurse. "Yes," she replied, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Isn't anyone here with you?" The nurse asked.

"I'm with her." A voice called out.

"Rainbow Dash." Dinky sobbed.

Dinky ran up towards Rainbow and hugged her. Rainbow hugged Dinky back and Dinky was crying into her shoulder. Rainbow looked up at the nurse while Dinky was crying.

"How is Derpy?" Rainbow asked.

The nurse lowered her head, with a small shake of her head and looked back up at Rainbow. "She's in a coma. Her left wing will be broken for six months. The amount of weight that hit her head should have killed her but instead it put her in a coma. If she wakes up before eight months it'll be a miracle that she survived. Unfortunately we have to keep her here until she wakes up."

"I understand." Rainbow said.

Rainbow looked down at Dinky and Dinky looked up at Rainbow with tears in her eyes. Rainbow made a small smile.

"Looks like I'll be with you until mommy gets better. How does that sound?" Rainbow wiped the tears away from Dinky's cheeks.

Dinky weakly smiled. "Sounds fun."

"Let's go. Mommy needs to sleep for a while but don't worry we'll see her again real soon." Rainbow said.

Rainbow put Dinky on her back and they headed their way out of the room. Dinky looked back at her mother until Rainbow got out of the doorway. She kept on staring down the hallway while Rainbow was walking out of the hospital.






Five months and thirty days later. Derpy slowly opened her eyes and saw a flickering light above her head. She didn't know where she was until she slowly sat up and looked around the room. She noticed that she was in the hospital. She looked to her right and saw the heart monitor. The heart monitor was off.

"Why is the heart monitor off?" Derpy asked to nopony.

She looked to her left and saw a big blood stain under the door. She quickly started to get out of bed until she felt pain in her left wing and out of reaction she grabbed her wing with her right hoof. She started to get out of bed slowly and walked towards the door. She looked down at the blood puddle and put her left hoof to her chin.

"Why is there blood on the floor? Why hasn't the janitor cleaned it up at least?" Derpy looked up at the flickering light. "Why haven't they changed light bulbs? What's going on here?" Derpy said aloud.

The lights were still flickering and Derpy started putting her left hoof towards the doorknob. She slowly opened the door and noticed that there was a bed in front of it. She pushed the bed away from the door and looked down the right side of the hallway. She saw blood splattered on the wall with bullet holes in the blood spatters. Derpy looked to her left and saw the lower half of a pony and it looked like the top half was cut off by a corner. She walked up closer to the pony and noticed that the top half of the pony was gone. She saw a stomach with bite marks on it next to the remains of the body. Derpy's legs started to feel weak. She walked away from the body and quickly went down to the other end of the hallway.

Derpy reached the end of the hallway and saw six ponies laying on the floor with gunshot wounds to the head. Two of them looked like doctors and three of them looked like nurses and the sixth one looked like a patient for the hospital. Derpy stared at the dead ponies for a moment until she heard a bang noise. She looked to her right and saw two doors shut with a lock holding the doors together. She walked up to the doors and saw a note on the door. She looked closer at the note and started to read it. "Keep closed". The note said.

Derpy put her head against the door to listen for something. The doors started to slowly move and Derpy backed up and saw a hoof coming through the gaps of the door. The hoof had missing skin and cuts. Derpy slowly backed up with fear in her eyes. She turned around and saw a sign that said stairs. She walked up to the sign and it pointed towards a door. Derpy walked up to the door and stepped on something. She looked down and saw a flashlight. She stepped over the flashlight and opened the door and noticed that the stairway was pitch black.

Derpy went back for the flashlight and turned it on. It worked but the light was very weak. Derpy started heading down the stairs. When she got close to the end, the flashlight flickered and turned off. Derpy banged it against the wall but she stopped when she heard a moan noise. She slowly started walking down the rest of the stairs. Once she got to the bottom she started feeling the wall with both of her hooves for an exit door. She felt a doorknob and she quickly opened the door and went outside. The bright light shined in her eyes and she covered her eyes with her left hoof until her eyes adjusted to the light.

"Oh that sun feels so good." She moved her foreleg to see a truck full of dead ponies.

She slowly walked through the dead ponies. She examined all of the dead ponies slowly to see how many there were. She couldn't count all of them so she gave up. She walked around the whole hospital and saw paper flying around freely. She noticed some blood spatters not too far away from each other. She even noticed a few forearms and hindlegs laying on the ground.

"What the fuck happened here?" Derpy whispered to herself.

She walked around and saw the top half of a pony. When walked up to the pony, she sighed and closed her eyes. The pony made a moan noise. Derpy opened her eyes quickly and saw the pony started to crawl towards her. When the pony lifted it's face it had skin peeling off of it's forehead. Derpy slowly backed up and then started galloping away from the pony and ran towards the nearest road. She turned around to see if it was behind her. She looked around and saw nopony. She started walking down the road trying to find her way back home. She started thinking about Dinky and began to worry.

"Dinky I hope your alright. I'm coming my muffin."

(Edit)
> Chapter 2: Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2: Ponyville


Derpy was walking down the road. She kept on walking for ten minutes and she finally ended up in Ponyville. The town was deserted. She saw nopony in sight. She slowly walked in the entrance and looked around. She saw sugar cube corner and thought to herself. "Maybe Pinkipie can tell me what's going on."

Derpy entered the store and saw the now destroyed sugar cube corner. There was shattered glass on the ground because some of the windows were broken. She slowly made her way to the counter. She went past the counter desk and saw a door with bullet holes in it. Derpy gave a worried expression on her face and decided to open the door. She opened the door and peeked her head in the room. She saw gun shells lying on the floor. Each gun shell was at least three inches away from each other. The status on the room made it look like a last stand. She took a step inside the room and stepped on something. She looked on the floor and saw boards with nails sticking out. Derpy quickly looked at her hoof to see if she stepped on the nail. Luckily she didn't step on the nail. She slowly made her way past the boards. She saw a couch in the middle of the room that was torn up. She walked over towards the couch and stopped quickly when she saw a forearm with bite marks on it lying on the floor. She noticed that there was a gun in the hoof.

Derpy picked up the gun but the clip slid out and it showed that it was empty. She gently placed the gun on the couch and moved onto the hallway. She went in the hallway and noticed that there was blood on the floor. She saw that the blood looked more like as if somepony was dragged through the puddle. She followed the bloodstream all the way to a door with a pink cupcake on the door. "Wow Pinkie how much more obvious can you be." Derpy thought to herself. She looked back down at the stream of blood that was leading into Pinkiepie's room. Derpy put her ear up against the door to see if she can hear anypony. She couldn't hear anything. Derpy opened the door slowly and saw a pony lying on the ground. She closed the door behind her and walked up to the pony. She looked down at the pony and it moved it's left forearm.

"Excuse me are you okay?" Derpy asked.

The pony started to slowly rise. Derpy saw gunshot wounds to the pony's back. She gasped.

"You're hurt. Do you need to go to the hos...." Derpy stopped herself from finishing the sentence.

The pony turned around. The pony had an eye hanging out of it's eye socket and it had skin peeling off of it's right cheek. The pony lunged towards Derpy and Derpy fell back and hit the door. The pony tried to bite Derpy but Derpy held it back by using both of her hooves. The pony kept on getting closer to her face until it stopped moaning and stood still. Blood started to come out of it's mouth and Derpy tried pushing it away. But it's head fell down and Pinkiepie was right behind the pony with a knife in her hand. Derpy threw the pony off of her and quickly crawled away from it. Derpy looked up at Pinkiepie and sighed in relief.

"Pinkiepie am I glad to see you."

"Derpy. Oh thank god it's somepony I know." Pinkiepie hugged Derpy and Derpy felt tears streaming down her back.

Derpy hugged back. "Pinkie what's going on?" Derpy asked.

Pinkiepie pulled her head back and wiped tears away from her cheeks. "It all happened two weeks after your incident. You see the news on the television said that the royal guards were at the hospital. Then there was gunshots and explosions. The royal guards started shooting civilians. But they weren't civilians they weren't alive."

"What do you mean?" Derpy asked.

"The dead have come back to life. But not in a good way. You see I've given them a name. I call them walkers but only because they walk around mindlessly. All they want to do is eat the living. I know because I saw them eating other ponies." Pinkie backed away from Derpy and Derpy gave a look of worry on her face.

Pinkie put a knife up to Derpy's throat and Derpy grabbed Pinkiepie's arm. "Pinkie what are you doing?" Derpy pleaded.

"Have you been bitten or scratched?" Pinkiepie asked.

"What!" Derpy shouted.

"Answer the question." Pinkiepie made Derpy lift her head up.

"No no I haven't been bitten." Derpy quickly reacted.

"Have you had a fever?" Pinkie asked.

"No. Pinkie please." Tears started to drip down Derpy's eyes.

Pinkiepie stepped back and dropped the knife. She looked at her hooves and buried her face into her hooves. Derpy heard Pinkiepie sobbing into her hooves. Even though she was threatened to be killed, Derpy still tried to comfort her friend. Once Derpy was sure Pinkiepie was calm she looked down at her pink friend.

"Pinkiepie why did you do that?" Derpy asked.

Pinkiepie wiped tears away from her eyes and looked up at Derpy. "You see. When the dead bite or scratch you. You....you...you become one of them. I saw them turning ponies. I saw them standing up and eating the living.  Derpy I am so sorry. I just....I just....I." Derpy interrupted Pinkiepie by putting a hoof up to her mouth.

"It's okay Pinkie. I understand." Derpy smiled.

Pinkiepie smiled back. Derpy got up and went towards the door. She looked back at her pink friend.

"Are you coming?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Pinkiepie got up and followed Derpy.

The two mares walked into the hallway and into the living room. Pinkiepie stopped and looked down at the gun. She picked it up. Derpy stopped and looked at Pinkiepie.

"Pinkie it's empty. I picked it up earlier and the clip just slid out." Derpy said.

"Don't be a silly filly. I have more bullets in the storage room." Pinkie smiled.

"Oh um. Do you mind getting them. I'll come with you if you want me to." Derpy said.

"Okay. Let's go, ooh i'm sure I have more guns if Mr. and Mrs. Cake left us any." Pinkie said.

"Um where are they?" Derpy asked.

"Oh I don't know." Pinkeipie's smile faded away quickly.

"Pinkie." Derpy said.

"Let's just go see." Pinkie started to smile slowly.

Pinkiepie left the living room and into the hallway. She went left and Derpy quickly followed. Pinkiepie opened a door and went inside the room. Derpy went in as well and saw a door on the floor. Pinkiepie opened the door that was on the floor and jumped inside. Derpy looked down inside the door and Pinkiepie pulled her in. Derpy looked up at the wall in front of her and saw guns covering the wall. Derpy had her mouth wide open and Pinkiepie started laughing.

"Why do you have so many guns?" Derpy asked.

"Well some of these guns were for an emergency situation. They were afraid of somepony trying to rob the store." Pinkie replied.

"I don't think they had to go overboard with it." Derpy said.

"Oh not all of these guns are theirs. Some of these guns are just to keep for fun. I used to go to the target range a lot." Pinkie said.

"Even when everything goes to hell. I still find out more interesting things about you." Derpy said.

"Yeah. That's just the fun thing about life." Pinkie laughed.

"Can I have a gun?" Derpy asked.

"Fuck yeah you can have a gun. Hell you can have two guns." Pinkie replied.

Derpy gazed at Pinkiepie. "Well then. I think i'll have." Derpy looked at all the guns.

Derpy put her hoof out and pointed at each gun. She grabbed a .44 magnum and a semi-automatic rifle. Derpy looked at Pinkie and smiled.

"I never used a gun before. Can you show me the basics?" Derpy asked.

"Well you look down the sights and you pull the trigger. You don't want to jerk or squeeze it. You want to pull it. Or else your aim will be thrown off." Pinkie replied.

"Okay. How do I load it?" Derpy asked.

"Here let me show you." Pinkie grabbed the .44 out of Derpy's hoof.

Pinkiepie pushed the cylinder out of to the left side of the gun. She pointed at the bullets lying on the counter in front of the guns. "Six please."

Derpy grabbed six bullets off of the counter and handed them to Pinkiepie. Pinkiepie took the bullets and inserted them into the gun. Derpy watched Pinkiepie load the gun. Once the gun was full of bullets, Pinkiepie handed the gun back to Derpy. Pinkiepie took the rifle away from Derpy and pulled the clip out from under the gun.

"You see this clip right here?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes." Derpy replied.

"All you have to do is pull it out and put in a new one. Once you put in a new one you pull this slide right here on the right. You pull it back until you hear this click sound." *click* Pinkie pulled the slide back. "And then you push the slide forward all the way." Pinkie pushed the slide forward and handed it back to Derpy. "Give it a try."

Derpy took the gun out of Pinkiepie's hooves. She pulled the clip out of the gun and re-inserted it in the gun. She pulled the slide back until she heard the click noise and pushed it back forward. Derpy looked up at Pinkiepie.

"Did I get it right?" Derpy asked.

"Yes you did. Here take this bag it carries more ammo than you think. I'll take one too." Pinkie replied.

Pinkiepie grabbed two dufflebags and put six rifles, two shotguns, and three small armed weapons in each bag. She grabbed 20 clips and two boxes of shotgun shells for each bag. They both left the cellar and went into the hallway. They exited the living and were in the lobby of the store. Derpy looked out the window and saw a walker outside. She aimed the gun at the walker but Pinkiepie lowered the gun. Derpy looked at Pinkiepie.

"What?" Derpy asked.

"I forgot to mention this but they are attracted to noise. If you shoot the gun, more of them will come." Pinkie replied.

"Then what do we use?" Derpy asked.

Pinkiepie put her right hoof to her chin and gave a thinking pose. A grin appeared on her face quickly and Pinkiepie left the room. Derpy put her attention back on the walker once Pinkiepie left the room. Derpy felt something touch her chest and she looked down. Pinkiepie was holding a shovel up to Derpy. Derpy grabbed the shovel and looked at Pinkiepie. Pinkiepie simply just smiled and went towards the door. Pinkiepie opened the door and stood outside. Derpy went outside and saw three more walkers walking up towards Pinkiepie. Derpy quickly reacted by hitting the walkers in the legs. The walker fell and she started beating it.

"Why the fuck won't they die!?" Derpy yelled.

Pinkiepie pushed Derpy aside and bashed the walker's head. The brain splattered all over the road. "Bash the head! That's the only way they die!" Pinkie replied.

Pinkiepie immediately started to attack the other walkers. Derpy went up to the one she saw from the window and bashed it in the head. It fell on the ground and Derpy started repeatedly hitting it in the head. Derpy stopped and saw that Pinkiepie already took care of the other walkers.

"Come one let's go." Derpy said.

"Where are we going?" Pinkie asked,

"Home." Derpy replied.

"Why?" Pinkie asked.

Derpy looked down the road leading to the other side of Ponyville.

"Dinky."
> Chapter 3: Broken Memories 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3: Broken Memories


Derpy and Pinkiepie were walking down the road in silence. The only thing on Derpy's mind was Dinky. She felt mixed emotions when she started thinking about Dinky. The sadness of her being dead. The hope of her being alive. The fear of having to shoot her if she became a walker. Pinkiepie saw the expression of worry on her face. So she thought that it would be good if she broke the silence.

"So what happened to you?" Pinkie asked.

"I was at work opening crates. Then they fell on top of me. The next thing I know is that I woke up in a hospital." Derpy replied.

"You know when the apocalypse started. I was scared. I saw all everpony turning and I didn't know what to do. Mr. and Mrs. Cake reacted quickly by getting out of Ponyville. I decided to stay and board up the place." Pinkie said.

Derpy looked at Pinkiepie. "Why didn't you go with them?" Derpy asked.

"Too scared." Pinkie replied.

"How much?" Derpy asked.

"I was scared shitless. It was fucking terrifying." Pinkie replied.

"I bet it was." Derpy smiled and they continued walking in silence.

Twenty minutes later. They finally reached Derpy's house. But what Derpy saw wasn't the home she knew. There were bullet holes all over the front of the house. The windows had looked like blood was splattered in the house. After noticing the blood, Derpy rushed towards the house. She quickly opened the door and looked at her living room. There was a dead pony lying in front of the window with its head bashed and blood splattered all over the the window. Derpy walked towards the kitchen and saw muffins on the counter with blood all over them and a dead pony lying on the floor. Derpy went upstairs and checked Dinky's bedroom.

Derpy opened Dinky's door quickly and the room looked like as if it was untouched. Derpy checked her bedroom and saw an open window. She went to the open window and looked out at the sky. She put her hooves in the window and felt something soft. She looked down and saw a blue feather.

"R..Rainbow Dash?." She looked up at the sky and got on her knees and started to pray. "Dear lord, please keep my filly safe and give Rainbow Dash enough strength to protect Dinky." Tears started to stream down Derpy's cheek. "Amen."

Pinkiepie entered the house and went upstairs. She entered Derpy's room and saw Derpy staring out the window.

"Derpy are you..." Pinkie stopped herself when Derpy turned around.

Pinkiepie saw Derpy crying sk she walked up to Derpy and tried to comfort her. Pinkiepie wrapped her arms around Derpy and Derpy leaned her head against Pinkiepie's shoulder. She started to cry into Pinkiepie's shoulder. *Bash*. The crying stop once the noise went off. Pinkiepie quickly got up and stood next to the door. Derpy got up and went behind Pinkipie.

Pinkiepie looked at Derpy and nodded her head. She opened the door and went in the hallway. Derpy looked back at her bed and saw a picture frame lying on the bed. She walked up to the bed and picked up the frame. She saw a photo of Derpy and Dinky at the park. Derpy pulled the picture out of the frame and put the picture in the duffle bag she was carrying.

Derpy went back in the hallway and saw Pinkiepie waiting for her at the stairs. Pinkiepie peeked her head into the living room and saw two walkers in the living room. One of them was eating the dead pony that was next to the window and the other one walking around the living room. Pinkiepie looked at Derpy.

"Two walkers we can handle them." Pinkie said.

Derpy nodded and held her shovel up. Pinkiepie peeked her head and saw more walkers entering the living room. She looked at the front door and saw a herd of walkers. She quickly pulled her head back and looked at Derpy.

"There is a shit ton of walkers now." Pinkie said.

"Are you fucking with me?" Derpy asked.

"No I'm not fucking with you. They're coming in the front door." Pinkie replied.

Derpy looked back into her bedroom and saw the open window. She looked back at Pinkiepie.

"We can go out the window." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie looked at her bedroom and saw the open window. Derpy went back in the bedroom and Pinkiepie followed her. They entered the bedroom and Pinkiepie closed the door behind them. Derpy looked out the window and saw a walker. She looked at Pinkiepie.

"One walker. We can handle it. I'll go first." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie nodded. Derpy threw her duffle bag out the window. It landed on top of the walker which reduced the noise. Derpy sat on the edge of the window and jumped off. Derpy landed on her hooves and went up to the walker and bashed its head with her shovel. She picked up the duffle bag and put it on her back. She looked back at the window and saw Pinkiepie sitting on the edge of the window. Derpy ran underneath the window.

"Throw me your duffle bag." Derpy quietly yelled.

Pinkiepie lowered the duffle bag as far as she could and dropped it. Derpy caught the duffle bag and laid it right next to her. Pinkiepie pushed herself off the window and landed on her hooves. She quickly picked up her duffle bag and out it on her back. Derpy looked out to the open and saw Canterlot.

"Pinkiepie is the princess still alive?" Derpy asked.

"I don't know. After the apocalypse nopony has heard from the princess at all." Pinkie replied.

"Do you think Canterlot is a safe zone?" Derpy asked.

"Are you kidding. There is no such thing as a safe zone." Pinkie replied.

"Worth a shot." Derpy mumbled.

"Lets go to Sweet Apple Acres. I haven't been there in months." Pinkie said.

Derpy looked at Pinkiepie. "Your telling me that you've never left Sugar cube corner for months."

"Yep." Pinkie smiled.

"Do you have any idea what happened to the others?" Derpy asked.

"Nope." Pinkie smiled.

"Son of a bitch." Derpy looked around and saw Sweet Apple Acres. "I guess we're going to Sweet Apple Acres." Derpy sighed.

"Yay. Oh maybe Granny Smith will have an apple pie." Pinkie excitedly jumped.

"Pinkie don't be get your hopes up." Derpy started walking to Sweet Apple Acres. "They might have left already."

"Derpy can I ask you something?" Pinkie asked.

"Sure." Derpy replied.

"Can we got back to the Sugar cube corner for some cupcakes?" Pinkie asked.

"Fuck no." Derpy replied.

"Oh please, oh please, oh please." Pinkie begged.

"No means no Pinkie. We'll make some when we're at Sweet Apple Acre." Derpy responded.

"You promise?" Pinkie asked.

"I promise." Derpy replied.

"Pinkie promise?" Pinkie asked.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Derpy Pinkie promised. 
> Chapter 4: Blood Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4: Blood Family


"RUN PINKIE!" Derpy yelled.

The herd of walkers finally caught up to them while they were on their way to Sweet Apple Acres. Derpy and Pinkiepie were galloping at full speed towards Sweet Apple Acres. The first thing that caught Derpy's attention was their red barn.

"PINKIE TO THE BARN!"

They galloped all the way to the barn. The doors were wide open so they kept on galloping until they were inside. Once they were inside they closed the doors as fast as they could. Once the doors were closed Derpy and Pinkiepie grabbed a long thick wooden plank and put it on the barn door in between two lock positions. Derpy and Pinkiepie were panting heavily. Derpy turned around and saw blood on the floor. Derpy looked up and saw skin on the floor.

"Oh shit. Pinkie we're not done." Derpy said.

She grabbed a .44 out of the duffle bag and aimed it right in front of her. Both hooves were on the side arm. She slowly started moved forward to look at the skin. She couldn't make out the color because there was too much blood. She saw one of the skins had a cutiemark. She picked up the piece of skin and examined the cutiemark.

"No. I hoped you wouldn't have died like this." Derpy showed Pinkiepie the cutiemark.

Pinkiepie gasped. The cutiemark was an apple pie. It was Granny Smith's cutiemark. Derpy put the skin down and moved forward, slowly. She started to hear crunching sounds with bones snapping. *crunch, crunch* *snap*. Derpy saw a bloodstream going behind a pile of hay. She looked at Pinkiepie and Pinkiepie had a shotgun aiming at the haystack. Derpy leaned up against the haystack and peeked her head around the corner. She saw a stallion eating a dead pony. Derpy pulled her head back and walked around the corner. She couldn't make out who the stallion was until it turned it's head towards Derpy's direction.

It was big Macintosh. He was eating Granny Smith. Derpy aimed the gun at Big Macintosh. Pinkiepie came up behind Derpy and noticed who the stallion. Pinkiepie lowered her gun. The stallion got up from the dead corpse and limped over towards Derpy.

"Big Macintosh." Derpy had tears welling up in her eyes. She aimed the gun at Big Macintosh's head. "I...I....I'm....I'm so.....I'm so sorry." Derpy pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit directly in the middle of Big Macintosh's forehead. Big Macintosh softly fell to the ground. Derpy lowered her gun and tears started to stream down her face. There was a moaning noise coming from behind Big Macintosh. Derpy looked past the dead stallion and saw Granny Smith standing up and walking towards Derpy. Derpy aimed her gun but Pinkiepie lowered her gun with her hoof.

Pinkiepie aimed her shotgun at Granny Smith. Granny Smith tripped over Big Macintosh and looked up at Pinkiepie. Pinkiepie put the gun up to her forehead. "I'm sorry." She pulled the trigger.

A piece of the skull was incinerated from the range of the blast. Pinkiepie looked to her left to see that Derpy wasn't by her side. Pinkiepie turned all the way around and saw Derpy walking towards her with a shovel. She stopped halfway and started digging. Pinkiepie understood what Derpy was doing and looked around the barn for a shovel. Once Pinkiepie found a shovel she started digging a separate hole.

Derpy kept on digging until she felt like it was deep enough. Once Derpy was done. She got out of her hole and waited for Pinkiepie to be done. Three minutes later, Pinkiepie was done digging her hole and they both picked up Granny Smith and slowly put her in one of the holes. After Granny Smith was in her hole, they grabbed Big Macintosh and put him in the other hole, gently. Derpy started burying Big Macintosh and Pinkiepie started burying Granny Smith. Once they were done burying the two ponies, Derpy made two crosses out of a pile of wood and hay to tie them together. She placed one cross on top of each burial. Derpy fell to her knees in front of the graves and started to cry. Pinkiepie stood next to Derpy and placed her hoof on Derpy's shoulder.

"Why did this have to happen? Why?" Derpy sobbed.

"I don't have the answers." Pinkie said.

"If this was the fucking princess. I'll...I'll..I'll fucking." Derpy was interrupted when Pinkiepie got on her knees and put her head into Derpy's shoulder.

Derpy felt the tears that were coming from Pinkiepie. Derpy leaned her head on top of Pinkiepie's and placed her hoof on Pinkiepie's back. After ten minutes of mourning, Pinkiepie fell asleep on Derpy's shoulder. Derpy made sure to stay awake until Pinkiepie woke up. Besides she couldn't sleep. The thoughts of Dinky started crossing her mind. 

'What happens if Dinky was devoured by the walkers?' Derpy thought. 'What if she's been bitten?'

Derpy's thoughts were interrupted when Pinkiepie moved her head off of Derpy's shoulder and onto her lap. Derpy looked down at her pink friend who seemed peacefully comfortable. "She might not have gotten that much sleep since the apocalypse." Derpy thought to herself. Derpy started to slowly brush Pinkiepie's messed up mane. "This must be the longest she's slept." Derpy thought.

Two hours later. Pinkiepie slowly opened her eyes and noticed that her mane was being brushed. She looked up and saw Derpy. Derpy looked down and smiled at Pinkiepie. Pinkiepie smiled and started to sit up.

"Hello sleepy head." Derpy said.

"Hello." Pinkie yawned.

"Pinkie we have to find the others." Derpy said.

"Well we haven't finished searching Sweet Apple Acres yet." Pinkie rubbed her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Derpy asked.

"Well we've been in the barn the whole time and plus we have to check the cellar that's outside. And we have to check the house. Oh and don't forget about the crusaders clubhouse." Pinkie replied.

"Well we can't do that until the horde is gone." Derpy said.

"I'll go look from the balcony." Pinkie headed towards a ladder that lead up to the balcony.

Pinkiepie climbed up the ladder and went up towards the open windows. She peeked her head outside to see if the walkers were still there. Only one walker remained at the entrance of the barn door. Pinkiepie looked around the rest of Sweet Apple Acres. To her surprise, there were no walkers around for miles. Pinkiepie pulled her head back in and went down the ladder. Derpy looked at Pinkiepie and Pinkiepie had a smile on her face.

"Are there any walkers?" Derpy asked.

"One." Pinkie replied.

"Then let's go." Derpy got up and went towards the barn door.

Pinkiepie grabbed the duffle bags and stood in front of the door with Derpy. She handed Derpy her duffle bag and they pulled off the wooden plank from the lock positions. Derpy grabbed one door and Pinkiepie grabbed the other. They both looked at each other.

"On three." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie nodded.

"1...2...3."

They pulled the doors open and the walker started to walk in the barn. Derpy picked up a shovel and started to bash the walkers head. Once Derpy was sure that the walker was dead, she stepped outside and took a deep breathe. She looked up at the sky. No clouds, it was all sunny. A beautiful day. She looked back at the beautiful acre. Pinkiepie put her hoof on Derpy's shoulder. Derpy looked at Pinkiepie and smiled. Pinkiepie smiled back.

"Let's start searching." Pinkiepie said.
> Chapter 5: A Broken Farm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 5: A Broken Farm


Derpy was standing on one side of the Apple family's front door. Pinkiepie was on the other side of the front door. Derpy looked at Pinkiepie and they both nodded at each other. Derpy slowly opened the front door and stood outside for a moment to listen if anypony was inside. Pinkiepie entered the house first and Derpy followed her lead. Pinkiepie slowly walked through the living room. Derpy closed the door slowly and started scanning the living room as well.

Pinkiepie finished checking the living room and headed for the hallway. The hallway had two ways. The left was the upstairs and the right was three doors. Derpy entered the hallway and noticed that they had to split up. Derpy looked at Pinkiepie.

"I'll go left and you'll go right." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie nodded and started heading right. Derpy was slowly making her way upstairs and once she got go the top. She noticed that there were three doors. One door was wide open and the other two were shut. Derpy slowly walked towards the open one. She leaned her back against the wall and felt a sharp pain in her left wing. She groaned and stopped leaning up against the wall. She leaned her head towards the open door and tried to hear moaning noises or rattled breathing. There was silence in the room. She peeked half of her head through the open door. She saw an open window and scratch marks on the ground.

Derpy pulled her head back and took a deep breathe. She quickly threw herself into the room while aiming her rifle. She started scanning the room slowly and listened carefully to the silence in the room. She looked at the wall and saw a seven picture frames on the wall. The first one had a picture of the Apple family. The second had a picture of Applejack and Rarity. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo were in the background smiling. The third had Applejack and Twilight. They were reading books and smiling at the camera. The fourth had Applejack and Apple Bloom. They were covered in mud with pigs in the background. The fifth had Applejack, Pinkiepie, and Fluttershy. There were birds putting up streamers in the background. Pinkiepie had cake on her face. Fluttershy and Applejack were laughing at Pinkiepie's covered face. The sixth had Applejack  and Big Macintosh. Applejack had her hoof around Macintosh's neck and they were both smiling. The picture was taken in front of the house. The seventh one had Applejack and Dinky looking down into a destroyed hole. Derpy was on top of Rainbow Dash and they were both blushing.

Derpy chuckled and looked at the ground. She saw a picture frame lying on the ground. It had a cracked glass frame. Derpy picked it up and pulled the picture out of the frame to get a better look of it. The picture had Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkiepie, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Derpy, and Dinky in front of the barn. There was a sign on the barn that said "Happy Birthday Applejack."

Derpy put down her rifle on the ground and started to hold the picture tightly to her. She looked back at the picture.

"Where are you guys?" Derpy asked herself.

Derpy put the picture in her duffle bag and picked up her rifle and aimed it at the doorway. She moved into the hallway and looked at the two closed doors on the other side of the hallway. The one closer to her had scratch marks all over the door and the one further away had blood splattered all over the door. She went up to the door that was closer and put her ear up against the door. She listened carefully and heard some sort of flapping noise. She pulled her head back and slowly turned the doorknob. The door opened a little bit and Derpy had to push it open all the way open. She saw an open window with the wind making the curtains make a flapping noise. Derpy went on the other side of the room and closed the window. She looked back and saw a toilet and a bathtub with shower curtains that were drawn back.

Derpy looked in the bathtub and it had a dead pony with bite marks on its forearms. There was blood filling up the bathtub all the way up to the dead pony's ankles. There was a shotgun shell lying right next to the bathtub and a shotgun lying in the dead pony's lap. The top half of the pony's head was gone. Derpy closed her eyes and looked down to the ground. She opened her eyes and looked back up and pulled down the shower curtains. She laid the shower curtains over the dead pony's body. She walked out of the bathroom and closed the door. She walked up towards the door with the blood splattered on it. She leaned her head on the door and listened for any noise.

Derpy heard a squeak noise from inside the room. She put her hoof on the doorknob and slowly twisted it. She slowly pushed the door open and kept her gun aiming at the room. She slowly stepped in the room and looked at the wall. It had six pictures on the wall. Derpy lowered her gun and moved closer to the picture frames to examine the photos. The first had Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Dinky. Apple Bloom had her left arm around Dinky and Dinky had her left arm out in a wave position. All four of them were smiling. The second had Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Scootaloo was on her scooter and Apple Bloom was on Scootaloo's back. The third had Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had Apple ciders in there hoofs and they had their cups tapping each other. They were staring at each other with big smiles on their faces. The fourth had Apple Bloom and Babs Seed laughing. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were in the back covered in mud and a stallion with his wagon was passing by. The fifth had Apple Bloom and Dinky. Apple Bloom and Dinky were hugging each other and they were both blushing. Derpy smiled once she saw the fifth picture. "My little muffin has a crush." Derpy thought to herself. She looked at the final picture frame. The sixth had Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Babs Seed, and Dinky. They all had cutiemark crusader robes on and Dinky was holding a piece of paper in her hooves. It said "Official Cutiemark Crusader" They were all smiling at the camera. Derpy pulled the sixth picture out of the picture frame and put it in the duffle bag.

There was a squeak noise that came from behind Derpy. She quickly turned around and aimed held her rifle right in front of her. There was a closet in front of Derpy. She slowly walked up to the closet and put out her left hoof. She slowly pulled open the closet door and kept her gun aiming at the closet.

"Hello. Don't be afraid. I'm not infected." Derpy said.

Slowly a figure poked it's head out and Derpy lowered her gun once she saw the figure come out of the closet.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

15 minutes earlier: Pinkiepie watched Derpy heading up the stairs. Pinkiepie went up to the door that was closest to her and leaned her head against the door to listen if there was anything in the room. The room was silent. Pinkiepie opened the door and scanned the room. She looked over to her right side and saw a desk with a bandanna with apples on it. She looked over to her left and saw Four picture frames on the wall. Pinkiepie walked up to the picture frames to look at them carefully. The first had Granny Smith and Applejack. Applejack was a foal. Applejack was in a crib sleeping while Granny Smith was watching over Applejack with a smile on her face. The second had Granny Smith and Big Macintosh. Big Macintosh was a foal. Big Macintosh had a small wagon on his back with apples in the wagon. He had a wheat stick in his mouth and he was facing Granny Smith with a smile on his face. Granny Smith had her eyes closed and was on her rocking chair waving at Big Macintosh. The third had Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom was a foal. Apple Bloom was in Applejack's arms sleeping. Applejack was looking down at Apple Bloom with a smile on her face. Applejack was in a rocking chair. Granny Smith was in a rocking chair sitting right next to Applejack. Granny Smith was also looking at Apple Bloom with a smile on her face. Big Macintosh was behind Applejack and was also looking down at Apple Bloom with a smile on his face. The sixth picture frame had Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Applejack, and Big Macintosh. Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were in bunny suits smiling at each other. Applejack and Big Macintosh were in the background looking at Granny Smith and Apple Bloom. They both had smiles on their faces.

Pinkiepie smiled and slowly exited the room and into the hallway. She looked up the stairs and saw Derpy putting her head on a door with scratches on it. Pinkiepie moved onto the door that was right across the room she was in. She put her head up against the door and heard dripping noises. She opened the door and aimed her shotgun into the room. There was a toilet and a bathtub straight across from the toilet with a bathroom counter next to the toilet. Pinkiepie entered the room and saw the sink on the bathroom counter filled with water. The faucet in the sink was dripping water. Pinkiepie walked up to the bathroom counter and turned the faucet off. She looked around the room and was amazed that the bathroom looked like it was barely touched. She exited the room and entered the hallway. She started moving towards the last door at the end of the hallway. She moved closer and leaned her head up against the door. She heard a sliding noise. Like as if something was open by sliding it. Pinkiepie put her hoof on the doorknob and slowly turned it so it wouldn't make that much noise. She slowly opened the door and saw an open window. She walked up towards the window with her gun aiming at the window. She poked her head out the window and saw small hoofprints in the dry dirt. She followed the trail and saw that it was heading into the little forest of apple trees.

Pinkiepie pulled her head back and closed the window. She started to scan the room and saw five picture frames on the wall. She moved closer towards the picture frame for a better look at the picture frames. The first had Big Macintosh and Applejack. Applejack was a foal. Big Macintosh handed Applejack an apple fritter. The second was Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom was a foal. Big Macintosh had Apple Bloom in a wagon on Big Macintosh's back and Applejack was in the background smiling at them. The third was Big Macintosh and Granny Smith. Big Macintosh was a five year old colt. Big Macintosh was helping out Granny Smith in making a pie. Granny Smith was smiling at Big Macintosh and Big Macintosh had flour all over his face and he had his tongue sticking out. The fourth was Big Macintosh with Ms. Cherilee in the park. They were having a picnic and Ms. Cherilee was blushing and Big Macintosh had a rose in his mouth. The fifth had Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, Applejack, and Apple Bloom. Big Macintosh had his wagon full of apples and Applejack was bucking apple trees. Granny smith had an apple pie in her hooves and Apple Bloom had four cups in her arms that were filled with apple cider. Pinkiepie smiled at the picture frames.

Pinkiepie felt something touch her shoulder and she quickly turned around aiming her gun out. The shotgun was up in Derpy's face and Derpy made a surprised expression on her face for a quick second. Pinkiepie noticed that it was Derpy and lowered her gun.

"Derpy don't scare me like that." Pinkie whined.

"Sorry but look who I found." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie looked down and saw Babs Seed standing next to Derpy. Babs blew her hair out of her face like she always does. Pinkiepie gasped for a quick second.

"How long have you been here?" Pinkie asked.

"Two months." Babs replied.

"Are you with anypony?" Pinkie asked.

Babs nodded.

"Who is it?" Pinkie asked.

Babs looked up at Pinkiepie.

(You don't get to find out 'till the next chapter because that's the funny part of the story.)
> Chapter 6: Survivors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6: Survivors


"Scootaloo." Babs replied.

"Do you know where she'll be?" Derpy asked.

Babs nodded. "The cutiemark crusaders clubhouse."

"Can you take us there?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes." Babs replied.

Babs started to make her way out of the room and to the front door. Derpy and Pinkiepie stayed close to Babs to make sure that she wouldn't be attacked by walkers. They stopped at the front door and Derpy stood right in front of the door. She opened the door and aimed her gun out at her front to make sure if a walker was close that she would shoot it. No walkers were around so they started making their way to the apple tree forest. They were walking for about ten minutes and they finally ended up at clubhouse. Babs started making her way up the ramp and stopped in front of the door so Pinkiepie and Derpy could catch up. Derpy stood right next to Babs and Pinkiepie hopped her way up the ramp. Once Pinkiepie got up the ramp, Derpy slowly opened the clubhouse door. They didn't walk in, instead they just stood there listening to the quiet wind. Derpy looked at Babs.

"Babs." Derpy said.

Babs looked at Derpy. "What?" Babs asked.

"Call Scootaloo. She needs a voice that she knows that she can trust." Derpy replied.

"Okay." Babs cleared her throat. "Scootaloo. It's me Babs. I found others." Silence was all that came from the clubhouse. "Scootaloo. Come on out." Still silence came from the clubhouse.

Derpy slowly walked in the room while aiming her gun. She slowly scanned the room checking every corner that the room had. The room was clear. Derpy lowered her gun and Pinkiepie walked in the room with Babs. Derpy looked at them and then there were hoofsteps. Derpy looked up and saw a string with beads on it. It was attached to a door. Derpy pulled the string down and a ramp started to form from the little door. Derpy stood at the entrance aiming her gun at the dark room.

"Scootaloo, is that you?" Babs asked.

Silence came from the dark room. Derpy slowly made her way up but felt pain in her tail. She looked down and saw Pinkiepie biting her tail. Pinkiepie let go and started digging her duffle bag. Pinkiepie pulled out a flashlight. Derpy put down the rifle and pulled out a .44 out of her duffle bag and grabbed the flashlight. She held the gun in her right hoof and the flashlight in her left hoof. Derpy turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the dark room. She made her way up the ramp. She started to slowly scan the room until she saw a tail. The color was dark pink. Derpy put her gun on the tail and the tail quickly moved and a small figure jumped on her and Derpy fell down the ramp. Derpy looked back up and it was Scootaloo.

"Derpy?" Scootaloo said in a surprised expression. She looked up and saw Pinkiepie and Babs. Scootaloo got up and hugged Babs.

"Why didn't you answer us?" Derpy asked.

"I was afraid that it was somepony that I didn't know?" Scootaloo replied.

"It's okay." Pinkie said.

Scootaloo stopped hugging Babs and Babs blew her hair like she always does. Scootaloo looked at Derpy,

"Scootaloo, do you know where the others are?" Derpy asked.

"Yes." Scootaloo replied.

Derpy's face turned into a joyful expression. "Where are they?" Derpy asked eagerly.

"They settled off next to a highway so they could gather as many ponies as they could. Unfortunately the highway got blocked and ponies started dying." Scootaloo replied.

"Do you know who's there?" Derpy asked.

"I don't know." Scootaloo replied.

"But weren't you with them?" Derpy asked.

"No. We just know where they are." Scootaloo replied.

Derpy sighed and looked down at the floor for a quick second and looked back at Scootaloo. "I guess that's better than nothing." Derpy gave a small smile.

"We were on our way until we a herd of those things start chasing after us. So we stayed here until they went away. But they never did. They were still there for several months and one day they started going away until you guys brought them back." Babs said.

"I think we better start heading out to the highway." Pinkie said.

There was a walker in front of the ramp at the front of the clubhouse. Pinkiepie aimed her shotgun at the walker but Derpy quickly ran up to lower Pinkiepie's gun. Pinkiepie looked at her and Derpy reached into her duffle bag and pulled out a knife.

"Where did you get that?" Pinkie asked.

"It was on the kitchen counter. I grabbed it before we left Sugar Cube Corner." Derpy replied.

Derpy looked at the walker and ran up towards it. She jumped on it from behind and stabbed it in the back of the skull. Derpy got up and turned around to see if there were anymore walkers. There were two more walkers behind her. She had her knife close to her. But then out of nowhere an arrow hit one of the walkers in the head and it fell down. Derpy's face showed the expression of shock. She heard moaning coming from behind her and she quickly turned around to stab it but it fell to the ground with an arrow in it's head. She looked up and saw a pegasus stallion with a black robe and he had a crossbow in his hooves. He aimed the crossbow at Derpy and Derpy jumped to her right and the pony shot the crossbow and the arrow hit a walker that was behind Derpy seconds ago. Derpy got up and saw all the walkers lying on the ground with arrows stuck in their skulls. Derpy turned to face the mysterious pony and he was just standing there.

"Who are you?" Derpy asked.

The pony put the crossbow in a saddlebag that was on his back and put his hooves to his hood. He pulled the hood down and showed his face. He had a scar on the right side of his lip and his mane was brown. He looked at Dinky with an expressionless face. He closed his eyes and put out one hoof in front of him and bowed down to Derpy.

"My name is Night Striker." Night stopped bowing and looked back at Derpy.

"My name is Derpy." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie poked her head out of the clubhouse and looked down at Derpy. She saw Night and she started hopping down the ramp to the clubhouse. Night saw Pinkiepie coming.

"Hello my name is Night Striker." Night bowed for a second.

"Cool my name is Pinkiepie."

"The mare who works at Sugar Cube Corner?"

"How did you know that?"

"How I have my secrets."

"What are you doing out here?" Derpy asked.

"I was sent out here to check out the gunshots. My group was nervous when they heard the shots. So I told them I would check it out." Night replied.

Babs Seed and Scootaloo walked out of the clubhouse and down the ramp. They noticed Night Striker and ran up to hug him. Derpy and Pinkiepie's faces showed the expression of shocked.

"You two know him?" Derpy asked.

"He's one of the survivors next to the highway." Scootaloo replied.

"I finally found you." Night said.

"What brought you here?" Babs asked.

"The gunshots. We were discussing about how to find you fillies and then there were gunshots. So I thought I would go check it out." Night replied.

"How did you these two fillies get split up from the group?" Pinkie asked.

"There was a herd of the walkers and they scared the fillies away." Night replied.

"How long have you been searching for them?" Derpy asked.

"Months." Night replied.

"Can you take us back to the group?" Derpy asked.

"Of course. I always remember my way back." Night replied.

Night stopped hugging Babs and Scootaloo and picked up his crossbow. He turned around and put on his hood. Derpy looked at his left hoof and noticed something attached to it.

"What's that on your wrist?" Derpy asked.

Night turned around and lifted his left hoof. A blade came out from behind his hoof. Derpy jumped back because the blade rised out quickly. Night still had his blade out and Derpy started examining it.

"Whoa what is it?" Derpy asked.

"It's a handmade hidden blade." Night replied.

"Where did you get it?" Derpy asked.

"There are some of us that keep secrets. This will remain a secret from everypony." Night retracted his blade and put his crossbow on his back with a strap that was attached to the crossbow. He started to walk away from the four ponies. Babs and Scootaloo stood close to his side. Derpy and Pinkiepie put their guns in the duffle bags that were on their backs and started to catch up with Night Striker.





Sunset. The sun was barely in the sky. They were walking for hours. Babs and Scootaloo were getting tired. The mares and stallion could have gone on forever but with fillies they had no choice but to find a place to sleep. Luckily there was an abandoned house just a few meters away. Derpy looked down and saw Scootaloo walking with her eyes closed and her head facing the ground. Derpy giggled and poked Scootaloo. Scootaloo jumped and looked up at Derpy. Derpy moved her duffle bag from her back to her right side.

"You look tired Scootaloo. Why don't you hop on my back?"

Derpy stopped and bend down so Scootaloo could hop on Derpy's back. Scootaloo accidentally poked Derpy's injured wing and Derpy groaned but she kept it very quiet so she couldn't upset Scootaloo. Once Scootaloo was lying on Derpy's back, she immediately fell asleep. Pinkiepie looked over at Babs.

"Babs would you like to hop on my back?" Pinkie asked.

Babs yawned and looked at Pinkiepie. "Sure." She blew her hair up like she always did.

Pinkiepie stopped and moved her duffle bag to her left side. Babs used the duffle bag to help her up. Babs laid on Pinkiepie's back and slowly started to close her eyes. Derpy and Pinkiepie began to try and catch up with Night Striker. They got closer and closer to the house. It was literally a few feet away. Derpy was about to wake up Scootaloo until Night Striker put his hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't wake her up. I'll search the house." Night said.

"Are you sure?" Derpy asked.

"Trust me." Night replied.

Night Striker pulled his crossbow to his front and started to enter inside the house. Derpy stood there watching the door for what seemed like seconds but was really five minutes. Night Striker came out with arrows in his right hoof. The arrows had some blood and one of them had an eye stuck to it.

"It's all clear. I'll be inside in a second. I got an eyeball stuck to my arrow again." Night said.

Derpy walked inside the house and saw a couch with some blankets. Derpy looked around the house. It was a small house. It had two bedroom and no upstairs. It had two bathrooms, a living room, and a small kitchen. Derpy and Pinkiepie found one of the bedrooms and they both laid the sleeping fillies in the bed. Derpy covered them up with a blanket and slowly walked out of the room and tried her best not to wake them up. Derpy walked out of the room and saw the other bedroom. Pinkiepie was already sleeping on the bed and Derpy shooked her head and smiled. She went out into the living room and saw Night Striker sitting on the couch with his crossbow in his lap. Night Striker saw Derpy and got off of the couch and sat down in a recliner that was right next to the couch.

"It's okay. I'll take first watch." Derpy said.

"No it's okay. I'm used to it." Night said.

"Okay.....Just make sure to wake me up so you don't stay up all night." Derpy said.

"I'll make sure of it." Night said.

Night Striker looked to his right and was facing at a window. The sun had set and Derpy yawned. Derpy walked towards the couch and laid down. She tried her best to keep her eyes open because she was afraid that a walker would attack her while she was sleeping. But she was too tired and she fell asleep. Night Striker gazed at Derpy sleeping and got up and walked towards the bedroom that Pinkiepie was sleeping in. He opened the door and saw extra blankets lying next to the bed. He slowly walked in and grabbed one of the blankets and left the room as quiet as a mouse. He went back into the living room and put the cover on Derpy. He sat back down on the recliner and gazed at Derpy again.

"You have been up way too long. I'm sorry but I can't let you take second watch." Night said out loud.

He looked back out the window with his crossbow up close to his chest. He payed full attention to the window and never letting his guard down.

..............

Morning. The sun slowly made it's way towards Derpy and the light made the mare open her eyes. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the sun in the window.

"You fucking suck, Night." Derpy said.

Derpy sat up and looked at the recliner next to the couch. Night Striker was not on the recliner. Derpy got up and walked towards the bedrooms. She went to the bedroom with Scootaloo and Babs. She opened the door quietly and saw the two fillies still sleeping on the bed. Derpy closed the door gently and went to the bedroom with Pinkiepie. She poked her head in the door and Pinkiepie was getting off of the bed. Pinkiepie noticed Derpy.

"Morning." Pinkie said.

"Uh Pinkie have you seen Night?" Derpy asked.

"No I just woke up."

"I don't know where he is."

"Well have you searched outside of the house. There was some noise coming from the roof but I thought it was birds."

"The roof." Derpy whispered.

Derpy looked up at the ceiling and looked back down to a Pinkiepie in her face. Derpy jumped back and sighed.

"Well I'm going to see if there is anything for us to eat." Pinkie said.

"Um....Okay." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie and Derpy left the room. Derpy went towards the living room to the front door. She opened the door and saw the morning sun rising in the sky. She walked out further away from the house for a look of the roof. She saw Night Striker with his crossbow in his lap and his gaze was paying attention to the sun.

"Hey Night!" Derpy yelled.

"Shh. You don't want any of them coming." Night responded.

"Sorry it's just that you didn't wake me up." Derpy said.

"I know, I'm sorry. I lost track of time last night." Night said.

"Well Pinkiepie is going to see if there is something to eat for breakfast." Derpy said.

"I already had breakfast."

"When?" Derpy asked.

"A few hours ago. I think." Night replied.

"What is there to eat?"

"Just oats. They're not expired so they're okay to eat."

"Well I'll just head inside then."

"Once you ponies are done eating. We're going to start heading back to camp again."

"Okay."

Derpy walked back inside the house and went towards the kitchen. Pinkiepie was pouring milk into a bowl of oats. Derpy walked out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom with Scootaloo and Babs. Derpy opened the door and saw the two fillies still sleeping. Derpy walked up next to the bed and gently rubbed Scootaloo's shoulders. Scootaloo groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Derpy walked to the other side of the bed and started to rub Babs' shoulder. Babs slowly opened her eyes and yawned.

"Good morning fillies." Derpy said.

"Morning Derpy." Scootaloo yawned and walked out of the room.

Babs slowly got off of the bed and started making her way towards the door.

"Babs can you wait a second?" Derpy asked.

"Sure." Babs stopped at the doorway and looked at Derpy.

"Do you know who else is there?" Derpy asked.

"At the campsite? No not all of them."  Babs replied.

"Oh......okay." Derpy said with a depressed tone of voice.

"Are you looking for somepony?" Babs asked.

"My daughter Dinky." Derpy replied.

"I don't know if Dinky is alive. When the herd came. Rainbow Dash was the last pony to show up right before the herd showed up. She said I need help, need help. I didn't pay attention because the herd interrupted her and that's when we got separated from everypony else." Babs said.

"Well. Why don't you go into the kitchen. Pinkiepie's got some breakfast for us." Derpy said.

"Okay." Babs walked out of the room.

Derpy stood in the room for a moment and walked out of the room towards the kitchen.

..............

Forty minutes later. Everypony had eaten their small breakfast and was packed up. Derpy had Scootaloo on her back and Pinkiepie had Babs on her's. Night Striker was leading the two mares and they followed the stallion. They were walking down the dirt path that the house had leading to the entrance. They went away from the house. Night Striker thought that the dirt path would them to the highway. They kept on following it for about ten minutes and Night Striker's theory was correct. They were on the highway. There were some cars that were abandoned and others flipped. Before they started walking on the highway. Night Striker stopped the two mares to tell them something.

"We're looking for an RV. It'll have a pony on top with a hunting rifle. If there is an RV but nopony is on top of it. They could be sleeping inside." Night said.

"Why an RV?" Derpy asked.

"Because it marks right next to the campsite and it holds more ponies than the other cars do." Night replied. "Now let's get moving."

After Night Striker's speech. They started walking down the highway. Some of the cars had blood splattered on the windows. Others had open doors and dead ponies laying inside of them. Most had suitcases laying inside of them. They kept on walking. Derpy tried to move her left wing. But it still had some pain in it.

"Scootaloo can you do me a favor?" Derpy asked.

"Sure." Scootaloo replied.

"I need you to take the bandages off of my left wing."

"Okay."

Scootaloo used her mouth to rip a bandage so that it would be easier to unwrap it. Once the bandage ripped. Scootaloo started pulling the bandage off of her wing. Once all the bandages were off, Derpy tried to stretch her wing. While she was stretching her wing there were some noise of bones popping.

"Oh Celestia that feels so good." Derpy moaned.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Scootaloo asked.

"I haven't stretched my left wing in months. It actually feels good." Derpy replied.

Derpy retracted her wing back and put her attention in front of her because she almost ran into a car door. They kept on walking for another ten minutes and Night Striker stopped. There was a teal RV in front of them and on the right of the RV was tents. One of them were as big as Rarity's boutique and Derpy thought to herself. "Oh Rarity how did you survive with that thing?"

Night Striker approached the door of the RV and started to knock on it. The door opened and a brown pegasus came out with the cutiemark of a camera. The pegasus was a stallion.

"Night. It's good to see you back in one piece." The pegasus said.

"Good to see you again. Film Maker." Night said.

Night Striker and Film Maker gave each other a hug and Night Striker went inside the RV. Scootaloo and Babs got off of Derpy and Pinkiepie's backs so they could hug Film Maker. The two fillies ran up to Film Maker and hugged him. Film Maker hugged back and looked at Derpy.

"Hi, I'm Film Maker."

"Hi, I'm Derpy."

"And I'm Pinkiepie. I already know who you are." Pinkie hopped up and down.

"You do? How?" Film asked.

"Duh. I'm Pinkiepie and I know everypony in Ponyville." Pinkie replied.

"I was only to a couple of the parties that you threw before the apocalypse began." Film stopped hugging Scootaloo and Babs.

"They have to meet everypony else." Scootaloo said.

Babs blew her hair up and looked at Scootaloo. "Once they're up." Babs said.

"Give them a couple of minutes. When you're the only one with a watch. Well you know when everypony will be awake." Film looked down at his watch. "Which should be right about now."

All the tents started to zip open. There were six tents and they all started to zip open almost all at once. The first tent was orange the ponies who came out of it was Applejack and Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom saw Babs and Scootaloo and ran up to them and made a dog pile out of both of them. The big boutique tent had two ponies come out of it. The two ponies were Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle saw Scootaloo and Babs and decided to join in on the dog pile that Apple Bloom has started. The third tent was green and it had one pony and a bunny come out. It was Fluttershy and her pet bunny Angel. The fourth tent was purple and it had Twilight and Spike coming out of the entrance. Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity saw Pinkiepie and Derpy and they all ran up towards them to start a group hug. The fifth one was purple and gold and it had a unicorn with a saint symbol for a cutiemark. The unicorn was a stallion. Film Maker saw the unicorn.

"Saint! Your brother is back! He went inside the RV!" Film yelled at Saint Wubs.

Saint ran up to the RV and opened the door. He walked inside the RV and said "Wub a dub dub motherfucker."

Night Striker had a loud laugh and you could hear it from outside the RV. The sixth tent was blue and one pony came out. It was Rainbow Dash. She saw everypony else in the group hug and ran up to the group to join in.

"How did you two survive?" Rainbow asked.

"Hush now Rainbow Dash. That can wait for later, right now we just have to enjoy the moment." Rarity remarked.

They stopped the group hug and looked at Derpy. Derpy's face showed depression.

"What's the matter Derpy?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nothing." Derpy replied.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Derpy's shoulder. Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash. "There's somepony who really misses you right now."

Derpy looked at the blue tent and saw a small purple unicorn filly come out. Derpy gasped. It was Dinky. Dinky noticed Derpy and began to run towards Derpy yelling "mommy."

"Oh my muffin." Derpy said.

Derpy fell to her knees to embrace the hug that Dinky was going to give. Dinky jumped up and was caught by Derpy's grasp. Derpy held Dinky tight and Dinky was crying.

"Why are you crying muffin?" Derpy asked.

"I missed you so much mommy. Please don't ever leave me again." Dinky replied.

"I won't. I promise." Derpy said. Night Striker and Saint walked out of the RV and everypony gazed at the reunited mother and daughter.
> Chapter 7: Stories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 7: Stories


It was night time. The moon was out and the ponies formed a circle around a campfire. Derpy had Dinky in her lap. Scootaloo was with Rainbow Dash. Babs was with Applejack and Apple Bloom. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were on the right of Applejack and on the left of Rainbow Dash. Film Maker was on the right of Rainbow Dash. Continuing on the right was Night Striker and Saint Wubs. On Saint right was Fluttershy. Fluttershy was on the left of Derpy. Pinkiepie was on the right of Derpy and on the right of Pinkiepie was Applejack. They were in a circle with the campfire in the middle. Everypony had their eyes on Derpy. Derpy had her attention on Dinky. Dinky had her eyes closed but she wasn't sleeping.

"Confused." Derpy said. "Out of all the emotions that were rushing at me at once it would be Confused. I wasn't scared of the blood next to the door. I was confused is to why the janitor didn't clean it up. I wasn't afraid of the heart monitor being off. I was confused is to why it was off. I wasn't afraid of the flickering light. I was confused is to why they didn't replace it." 

Derpy turned her attention to everypony else. They all showed signs that they were paying attention.

"I needed to know what happened. I needed to find somepony I knew and trusted. Then I found Pinkiepie." Derpy turned to face Pinkiepie.

"Oh it was nothing." Pinkie said.

Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow's face showed guilt.

"What's the matter Dash?" Derpy asked.

"I thought you were dead." Rainbow replied.

"Why would you think that?"

"At the hospital.....Everything began there."





Rainbow's story. Hospital, noon. Rainbow was walking down the hallway to Derpy's room. She had red roses in her hooves. She walked into Derpy's room and saw Derpy lying in the bed. Rainbow walked up next to Derpy's bed and sat down in a chair next to the bed. Rainbow looked at Derpy.

"Hey Derpy. I'm back. It's been two weeks since you've been in your coma and it's been two days since I visited you. I'm sorry I didn't bring Dinky this time but.......She's at school." Rainbow looked at the roses. "I brought you roses....I hope you like them."

Rainbow got off the chair and went around the whole bed to set the roses on the counter next to Derpy's bed. She walked around the bed but didn't sit down in the chair this time. Instead she stood on her side.

"I hope you come back soon. Dinky is missing you a lot.......I miss you." Rainbow grabbed Derpy's right hoof. "I hope you come back soon." Rainbow kissed Derpy on the cheek.

All of a sudden a loud explosion shook the whole building. Rainbow stood up quickly and looked around the room. She walked over to the open door and poked her head into the hallway. There were royal guards lined up with guns. The royal guards had their guns aiming on six ponies. The six ponies were running up towards the guards. The guards shot their guns at the six ponies and they all fell down against the wall.

"What the fuck. Why are the guards killing civilians." Rainbow looked to her left and saw a pony with it's hind legs and tail twitching. "What the fuck is going on."

There was a loud gush noise and Rainbow walked up towards the pony. Half of it's body was cut off by a corner of a wall. Rainbow got closer and noticed a blood puddle getting bigger by the pony lying on the floor. Rainbow walked around the corner and saw a pony eating the pony that was lying on the floor. The pony that was eating, looked up at Rainbow. It's soulless eyes gave Rainbow Dash fear. Out of reaction, Rainbow Dash slowly walked away from the dead pony and started to move towards Derpy's room. Until all of a sudden the pony that was eating jumped on top of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash kicked the pony off of her and started searching the room for a blunt object. There was a fire extinguisher lying right next to her. She picked up the fire extinguisher and started to bash the pony's head. Once Rainbow stopped bashing the pony's head, she walked into Derpy's room and locked the door. 

Rainbow looked over at Derpy and saw her still sleeping. Rainbow walked over towards the bed and started to push on Derpy's shoulder. "Come on Derpy I need you to wake up right now......Please." A huge explosion shook the building again and the heart monitor turned off. "No no no no no no." Rainbow walked over to the heart monitor and started pushing a bunch of buttons on the monitor. "She needs you...turn on......please turn on.......FUCKING TURN ON YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Rainbow hit the monitor with her right hoof. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Rainbow looked over at Derpy and leaned her head against Derpy's chest. She couldn't hear a heart beat. "No." Rainbow looked at Derpy with sorrow in her eyes.

Rainbow walked up to Derpy and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm sorry." Rainbow walked to the door and saw blood seeking into the room. "Damn it....that pony is spilling blood right through the cracks of the door." Rainbow opened the door and saw a the dead pony. Rainbow picked up the dead pony and put her around the corner next to the half pony. Rainbow went back to Derpy's door and closed it. She looked to her left and saw a bed. She looked back at Derpy's door. "I can't let you get eaten." Rainbow moved the bed in front of the door and slowly walked away.

..............


Back to camp.


"Rainbow you know that it isn't your fault....It was a little mistake, we all make them." Derpy said.

"I know, but I still feel like as if it was my fault." Rainbow said.

"Why don't you come sit next to me. You need a little comfort." Derpy said.

Rainbow got up and switched places with Pinkiepie and sat down right next to Derpy. Derpy looked at Rainbow but Rainbow's head was hung in shame. Derpy put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder and Rainbow looked up. Derpy slowly moved her head towards Rainbow's and kissed Rainbow on the lips. Rainbow closed her eyes and started to kiss back. Once the kiss was broken, Derpy looked down at her lap and saw Dinky with a big grin on her face.
> Chapter 8: The Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 8: The Night


"What?" Derpy asked.

Dinky still had a grin on her face but after a few seconds Dinky's grin turned into a smile. Derpy chuckled and rubbed Dinky's mane.

"You silly filly."

Dinky laughed and then began to yawn. Her eyes were getting heavier and heavier. Derpy slowly stood up while putting Dinky on her back.

"Somepony is getting tired." Derpy smiled.

Dinky just yawned and leaned her head into Derpy's left wing. Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash.

"I didn't bring a tent so can I sleep in yours?" Derpy asked.

Rainbow smiled. "Of course."

Derpy walked towards the blue tent and zipped it open. She poked her head inside to see where Dinky slept. There was a purple sleeping bag lying on the floor and a blue one rolled up next to the entrance. Derpy stepped inside the tent and gently put Dinky in the sleeping bag while using her left wing to lift her head up. Derpy carefully put Dinky in the sleeping bag. Once Dinky was in the sleeping bag, Derpy gave Dinky a kiss on the forehead and slowly walked out of the tent.

Derpy zipped up the tent and turned around to walk back to the circle. A lot of the ponies were inside their tents except for Night Striker, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. She sat down right next to Rainbow Dash and looked up at the RV. Film Maker was on top of the RV. Derpy looked at Night Striker.

"Why is Film up there?" Derpy asked.

"I dunno. He usually does this. But I never knew why he did it." Night replied.

"Shouldn't somepony go check on him?" Derpy looked around the circle.

"I'll do it." Fluttershy stood up and flew up to the top of the RV.

...........

Film had a bottle of vodka in his left hoof and he was looking up at the moon. He heard wings flapping but he ignored them. There was a gentle thud and he looked to his right to see Fluttershy. Fluttershy and Film made eye contact for a moment until Film looked up at the moon and took a sip out of his vodka. Fluttershy walked up to him and sad herself right next go Film. Fluttershy looked at Film and she could tell that he was holding back tears.

"I-Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

Film put the vodka up to his lips and took a big sip of the vodka. Once he was done sipping the alcohol, he looked at Fluttershy. "N-No.....Everything's fine."

Fluttershy put a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder. "Film?"

Film looked away from Fluttershy's eyes and shut his tight. Fluttershy wrapped her left wing around Film. Film saw Fluttershy's wing wrapped around him. He looked at the wing and then looked at her eyes.

"Film....you can tell me..if that's okay?"

A tear streamed down Film's right cheek. Fluttershy put her right hoof around his chest and laid her head on Film's shoulder. Film wiped the tear and looked down at Fluttershy.

"I....I...I miss him." Film said.

Fluttershy turned her head towards the moon and she was gazing into his eyes. "Who?"

"My brother......I know he treated me like shit but....I loved him....I forgave him...I had to put him down.....Oh god." Film couldn't hold in his tears anymore. Tears were streaming down both his left and right cheeks. Fluttershy lifted her head so she could wipe the tears away. She used her right hoof and wiped the tears away. Film looked at Fluttershy.

"I'm fucking pathetic aren't I?" Film asked.

Fluttershy gasped and pulled him into a huge hug with both of her hooves. She unwrapped him with her left wing so she could hug him tightly. "You're not...Your Just hurt."

Film put the bottle of vodka on the surface of the RV so he could wrap his hooves around Fluttershy.

"Thank you." Film said.

"For what?" Fluttershy asked.

"For listening." Film replied.

"I'll listen if you talk." Fluttershy slowly pulled her head back. Making eye contact with Film. 

Film slowly moved his head towards Fluttershy's. He was about to kiss her until he stopped himself and pulled his head away. He stopped hugging Fluttershy and he faced the moon.

"Is something bothering you?" Fluttershy asked.

"I was going to kiss you....but I don't know if you feel the same way." Film said while refusing to look at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy turned his head to make eye contact with her. She started to lean her head in towards Film's. Film saw what Fluttershy was doing and he reacted by moving in towards hers. Their lips locked together. Fluttershy closed her eyes and tilted her head. Film slowly closed his eyes and then pulled Fluttershy into a hug. Fluttershy opened her mouth and started to explore Film's. Film allowed her to do what she wanted. He was satisfied either way. Fluttershy pulled her tongue back in and Film started to explore hers. Film explored sooner than Fluttershy because he didn't want her to feel like as if she was rushed. They slowly broke the kiss and looked at each other. Fluttershy blushed and Film pulled her head underneath his chin so he could hold her.

..........

Derpy smiled at the sight of Film and Fluttershy kissing. Rainbow Dash leaned her head against Derpy's shoulder. Derpy leaned her head on top of Rainbow's and closed her eyes.

Night started to sing quietly. "Don't you know little boy they're laying you on a wasteland. Little do they know every song is a lifespan. I've never tooken one but I'm taking my last chance to hold all we know and let go with both hands." His singing grew louder. "Oh, don't you know the clouds are made from concrete. Right through the stone can you hear my heartbeat. It beats through my bones like the memory left me. Not for a second nor a minute when I dream. I wanna go home like the home that I keep. You can dig six or sixty six feet. Or we can live forever steal your misery with me. Hold a song together with a bottle of whiskey. Look into the mirror, the lines that time drew. See'em paint it white and the eyes that shine through. My heart beats heavy in an open chest and I wanna say goodbye but there's nobody left." Night Striker looked up at the sky and smiled.

All of a sudden there was a loud noise that sounded like windows being shattered. Night stood up and grabbed his crossbow. Saints jumped out of the RV. Fluttershy jumped off of the roof of the RV and went inside her tent. Film stood up and picked up his sniper rifle. Derpy stood up and Rainbow Dash started digging through Derpy's duffle bag. Rainbow pulled out a M1911 and a .44 magnum. Rainbow handed Derpy the .44 and Derpy quickly took it out of Rainbow's hoof. Both pegasi were aiming their small arms at the noise that the glass shatter came from. Saints was holding an AK-47. One of the guns that Night Striker likes to call "the classics". There were hoofsteps coming towards their direction.

Night immediately took action by setting down his crossbow and pulling out his hidden blade. Night started running towards the direction where the glass shatter came from. Night kept on running and came up to an abandon car with a broken window. Night walked up to the window and saw a reflection of himself on the shattered glass inside the car. Then another reflection of a pegasus with its wings extended approaching Night. Night quickly turned around and put his blade up against the pegasus's throat. The pegasus jumped back once the knife was touching its throat. The figure of the pegasus was a stallion.

The pegasus moved Night's blade away from his throat. "Night you scared the shit out of me. Don't do that again."

Night realized who the pegasus was and quickly drew back his hidden blade. "Shadowblaze. Holy shit I haven't seen you in forever. Is Sugar Rush with you?"

"Yes. He broke a window to get your attention."

All of a sudden an earth pony jumped on top of Night's back. "Hello."

"Sugar Rush get the fuck off me before I stab you." Night threatened.

Sugar Rush jumped off of Night's back and was standing right next to Shadowblaze. Night moaned and stood up properly.

"I fucking hate it when you do that Sugar." Night grunted.

"Oh come Nighty." Sugar teased.

"Don't call me that." Night muttered.

"Where's Saints? Where's Film?" Shadowblaze asked.

"Huh, oh follow me." Night replied.

They started walking back towards the campsite slowly. Night was in front just in case if anypony back at the campsite would try and kill one of them. Once they arrived at the campsite, Night had his front two hooves in the air to show that everything was okay. Once everypony saw Night, they all lowered their guns. Rarity walked out of her boutique looking tent and walked out next to Rainbow Dash and Derpy. Night looked at Saint.

"So what the fucks going on?" Saints said.

"These two are the ponies responsible for making the noise." Night pointed at Sugar Rush and Shadowblaze.

Sugar Rush and Shadowblaze smiled at the everypony. Saints ran towards Sugar Rush and gave him a hug.

"Saints buddy where have you been?" Sugar asked.

"Sugar....we were here this whole entire time." Saints replied.

Applejack walked out of her tent and walked out to find out what the commotion was. She saw Sugar Rush and Shadowblaze.

"Who the hay are these two ponies?" Applejack asked.

"Applejack this is Sugar Rush." Saints pointed at Sugar Rush. Sugar Rush smiled and waved with his right hoof. "And this is Shadowblaze." Saints pointed at Shadowblaze. Shadowblaze waved with his left hoof.

"Howdy." Applejack greeted.

Film hopped off of the RV and walked up towards Sugar Rush and Shadowblaze. "Hey guys, long time no see." Film greeted.

"Hey Film......How you holding up?" Shadowblaze asked.

"Fine....I guess." Film looked at the ground after Shadowblaze asked the question.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-" Shadowblaze was interrupted.

"No no. It's okay." Film gave Shadowblaze a reassuring smile.

Fluttershy stepped out of her tent and walked up next to Film. Film saw Fluttershy walking towards him. Film walked out towards Fluttershy and met her halfway.

"This is Fluttershy." Film said.

"Hi." Fluttershy said in almost a whisper.

"Hi." The brothers said at once.

Fluttershy leaned her head against Film's shoulder and shoulder started to brush her mane.

"Um it's kinda.....cold in my...tent could you...I mean if it's okay with you...um...sleep with me?" Fluttershy's cheeks started blushing pink.

Film saw her blushing and decided not to tease her about it. "Of course....It is kinda late. I mean one am is pretty late." Film looked down at his watch. (It's super dark where I live when it's that time so just a heads up for some of those who aren't in the Northeastern part of America.)

Fluttershy started walking towards her tent and Film looked at the group. "Goodnight everypony. I'll see you guys in the morning." Film started walking towards Fluttershy's tent.

Fluttershy laid down in her sleeping bag and Film zipped up the tent and laid down right next to her.

..........

"I think it's time for everypony else to go to bed as well." Applejack said.

"I agree. It is pretty late and we have to be careful. We're lucky that no walkers showed up." Rainbow said.

"Where do we sleep?" Shadowblaze asked.

"You guys can sleep in the RV with us since Film isn't sleeping in here." Saints said.

"Thank you." Sugar said.

"You're welcome." Saints

"Alright let's go to bed." Night said while walking into the RV.

"Yeah." Sugar yawned. "I am getting tired."

Sugar went inside the RV. Shadowblaze and Saints followed their lead.

"Well goodnight you two. I'm going to go get my beauty sleep." Rarity said.

"Goodnight Rarity." Derpy said.

"Goodnight." Rarity said before entering her boutique looking tent.

Rainbow looked at Derpy with concern. Derpy noticed the expression on her face.

"What is it?" Derpy asked.

"Where's Scootaloo?"

"Have you checked your tent?"

Rainbow walked towards the blue tent and zipped it open quietly. She poked her head inside and saw Scootaloo and Dinky in separate sleeping bags on one side of the tent. Rainbow pulled her head out of the tent to face Derpy.

"She's in here." Rainbow said. 

Rainbow zipped open the tent and stepped inside. Derpy walked up towards the tent but before she entered. She looked around the campsite in case if there were any walkers. Derpy put her head inside the tent to look at Rainbow Dash.

"Shouldn't somepony keep watch?" Derpy asked.

"Give Night Striker about five minutes and he'll be out on top of the RV." Rainbow replied.

"But wasn't he tired just a second ago?"

"All he has to do is drink a couple energy drinks and he'll be up there for hours." Rainbow laid herself inside a sleeping bag. "Come on in. You're letting in the cold air."

Derpy looked back at the RV and Night walked out with an energy drink in his left hoof. He climbed on top of the RV and sat on his haunches. Derpy stepped inside the tent and zipped up the entrance. She walked up next to Rainbow Dash and laid herself inside the sleeping bag. Once Derpy was laying next to Rainbow Dash, Rainbow looked at Derpy and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Rainbow smiled and laid her head on Derpy's chest and Derpy leaned her head against the ground and slowly closed her eyes. And soon the pegasus was asleep.
> Chapter 9: The Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 9: The Day


Morning. Derpy slowly opened her eyes and felt the warmth of the sun beaming down on the tent. She looked over to her right and Rainbow was gone. Derpy slowly stood up and stretched her wingspan. She looked to her left and noticed that Dinky and Scootaloo were gone. Derpy unzipped the entrance of the tent and poked her head outside. Film was on top of the RV with a pair of binoculars around his neck. Rainbow was flying around in the sky. Rarity was cleaning clothes with Fluttershy. Night Striker was talking with Sugar Rush and Shadowblaze. Saints was emptying Pinkiepie's duffle bag while Pinkiepie was standing right next to him. Applejack and Spike were watching Apple Bloom, Babs Seed, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Dinky playing. Derpy didn't see Twilight so she assumed that she was still sleeping. Derpy walked up to Night.

"Morning." Derpy said.

Night looked at Derpy. "Good morning Derpy. Sleep well?" Night asked.

"I slept fine." Derpy replied.

"We were just talking about our roles in the group." Shadowblaze joined on the small conversation.

"Yes. We were talking about them being scavengers." Night said.

"Well I guess I'm part of this conversation as well." Derpy smiled.

Night looked at Sugar. "Sugar your gonna have to be a gatherer. You'll go with Pinkiepie and gather wood for the group." Night said.

"What about me?" Shadowblaze asked.

"You and Derpy can be scavengers." Night replied.

"What exactly do we do?" Derpy asked.

"You guys walk out on the highway and look for water, clothes, food or anything that can be useful for the group. Definitely weapons because all we have now is guns and we need something more quiet." Night replied.

"We'll keep that in mind." Derpy said.

"What if we do find more guns?" Shadowblaze asked.

"Take the gun and give it to Saints." Night looked over at Saints. "He's responsible for the ammunition and weapons. He'll know what to do." Night looked at Shadowblaze. "Got it?"

"Yes." Shadowblaze replied.

"What do we use to carry the scavenged equipment?" Derpy asked.

"Once Saints has emptied out both yours and Pinkiepie's duffle bags. You'll be sent out to the highway to scavenge." Night replied.

"Got it."

"Speaking of which." Night looked over at Saints. "Saints how much longer will it take?"

"Just wait a moment, I have to load these guns before they go out there." Saints was holding the same .44 magnum that Derpy had last night. He pushed the cylinder clip back inside the gun. "Okay they're good to go." Saints walked over towards Derpy and handed her the .44 and walked back to the table and took out the M1911 that Rainbow had last night. He walked back over to Shadowblaze and handed him the small armed pistol.

Night looked over at Derpy and Shadowblaze. Saints levitated the two duffle bags over towards Derpy and Shadowblaze. Shadowblaze and Derpy put on the duffle bags and looked back at Night.

"I need you two to be careful. Don't worry, Film will keep an eye on you two. No matter how far you go." Night looked up at Film.

Film nodded. "But make sure to look back at the RV every once in a while. Just in case if somethings wrong and we can't warn you." Film said.

"Got it." Shadowblaze said.

"What do we do if we find more survivors?" Derpy asked.

"Bring then here of they want to. Don't force them into anything." Night replied.

"Understood." Derpy said.

"We should get going. We're wasting daylight." Shadowblaze said.

"Be careful out there." Night said.

Dinky walked up to Derpy and hugged her tightly. "You promised that you wouldn't leave."

Derpy lowered her head to make eye contact with Dinky. "I'm not leaving. I just have to grab a couple things. Okay."

"Okay."

"I love you muffin."

"I love you too mommy." Dinky squeezed tighter and then slowly released Derpy from the hug.

Derpy gave Dinky a kiss on the forehead and used her right hoof to lift Dinky's chin to make eye contact with. "I won't be gone for long." Derpy gave Dinky a reassuring smile. "Alright my muffin?"

Dinky acknowledged the smile that Derpy has given. "Okay mommy."

Derpy slowly rises her head to make eye contact with Shadowblaze. "Let's go. After all, we are killing daylight."

Shadowblaze nodded and both pegasi started moving towards the field of flipped and damaged cars.

..........

Five hours later. The duffle bags were both half full and the sun was still in the sky but soon it was bound to be night. The duffle bags were filled with water, food, and very, very few yieldable weapons. Derpy walked up towards a car with open doors and cracked windows. She peaked her head inside only to see a dead foal unicorn. It's stomach was wide open with bite marks and a tooth stuck in one of the marks. The foal's eye sockets were empty, even the eyelids were gone. The arms had scratches starting from the shoulders, all the way down the very tip of the hoof. The color of crimson stained the floor of the car and the backseats. The smell of the dead foal was horrid. Derpy gazed at the dead foal with the expression of complete horror. The image of the foal slowly being eaten by the walkers crept its way into Derpy's mind. Derpy imagined it all from the beginning. From the screams of terror. To the screams of pain and death. Derpy quickly pulled her head out of the car and backed into a car on its side. The car gave away a small thud when Derpy backed into the car. She turned around and gazed at the car.

"Damn. I think I'm going to have to climb up to get inside." Derpy looked at her left wing. "Or we can fly inside."

Derpy stretched our her wings and slowly started to flap her wings. Then, she made her wings go faster and soon she was floating above the ground. Then, she started to fly to the top. She landed herself on the car door. She started to examine the the inside of the car. There was a unicorn in the form of a mare inside the car. Derpy gasped at the sight of the unicorn. Derpy looked down st the right of the unicorn and it's left back hoof was stuck in between the gas pedal and the brake. There were empty water bottles and empty boxes that said "Meal Ready To Eat."

"Is she alive?" Derpy asked herself. Derpy moved so she could open the car door. "Are you okay?"

The unicorn did react to Derpy. Derpy started to scan the wasteland for Shadowblaze. Shadowblaze was walking over towards Derpy.

"Derpy what are you doing?"

"Somepony is in here and she seems to be alive."

"Are you sure?"

"Well not exactly. She didn't respond to me but I'm certain that she's alive."

"Here let me help you." Shadowblaze flew up next to Derpy and poked his head inside the car. "Excuse me. Are you okay?"

The unicorn slowly opened her eyes and gazed at Shadowblaze. "H-Help me."

"Don't worry I'm coming down." Shadowblaze looked at Derpy. "I need you to hold onto my tail while I reach for her."

"But her hoof is caught in between the gas pedal and the brake."

Shadowblaze looked down at the car and saw the unicorn's hoof stuck in between the gas pedal and the brake. "Fuck...Okay I got another idea." Shadowblaze put his right hoof in his duffle bag and pulled out a big knife. "We're going to have to try and get her hoof unstuck and if that doesn't work. We're gonna have to cut it off."

"Are you fucking crazy. She'll lose a lot of blood."

"Either she stays here and dies or she can escape and die."

"I....I..We."

"Trust me." Shadowblaze interrupted Derpy's stuttering.

"O...Okay."

"Good. Now hold my tail while I try to get her hoof unstuck."

Shadowblaze started to climb into the car and Derpy bit Shadowblaze's tail to hold onto him. Shadowblaze was close enough to the gas pedal. He started to jerk the gas pedal towards him with all his strength. The gas pedal barely moved.

"Come on you fucker.....Move dammit." Shadowblaze grunted.

"What do I do?" The unicorn asked.

Shadowblaze looked up at the unicorn. "If I can't get this gas pedal off we're gon..." Shadowblaze was interrupted when the gas pedal broke off and hit him in the nose. "Fuck....oh that hurt."

"Thank you thank you. I've been stuck here for months and I.." The unicorn was interrupted by Shadowblaze.

"Wait months.....on MREs?"

"Well Yeah I didn't want to eat them. I only had them because my buddy wanted these things. So I bought a whole bunch of them for his bunker that he was working on." The unicorn looked down at the MREs.

"Okay Derpy pull me out. Here grab onto my hooves."

The unicorn grabbed both of Shadowblaze's hooves and Derpy started pulling Shadowblaze and the unicorn up. Once they were out of the car, Derpy looked at the sun which was so far away at the horizon. The sun was going to set sooner than earlier.

"We better get back to the campsite."

The unicorn's ears perked up once she heard that word. "Campsite?"

"Yeah. We have food and water if you want to come join us."

"Who's there?"

"I can't tell you that. Nor can I tell you how many are there either."

"Can you take me there?"

"Of course we can. If you want to."

"Yes. I would like that."

The three ponies started making their way back to the campsite and the sun started to get lower every minute of their little walk.

.................

Campsite. Film is sitting on top of the RV with his binoculars on Derpy and Shadowblaze. He saw Derpy and Shadowblaze pull out a unicorn and Film lowered the binoculars and started looking for Night Striker.

"Night we got survivors."

There was a sudden thud behind Film and Film quickly reacted by turning around and facing whomever was behind him. It was Night Striker.

"How many?" Night asked.

"One and it's a unicorn." Film replied.

Night picked up Film's sniper rifle and used the scope to look for Derpy and Shadowblaze. Night spotted Derpy and Shadowblaze and the unicorn walking towards the campsite.

"They're coming back with the survivor." Night said.

"Yeah but look at their bags. They found a lot of shit." Film said.

"I'll go get Saints and Sugar Rush in case if this pony tries something funny."

"Alright. I'll stay up here and let you know if something happens."

Night hopped off of the RV and walked inside. Night came back out with Sugar Rush and Saints. Film looked into his binoculars and put his attention to the three ponies walking towards the campsite.

..........

Thirty minutes later. The three ponies finally made it back to the campsite. Derpy and Shadowblaze walked up to Saints and handed over their duffle bags. Saints took the duffle bags out of their hooves and went inside the RV. Dinky ran up to Derpy and hugged her tightly. Rainbow Dash landed a few feet away from Derpy and Derpy walked up to Rainbow Dash with Dinky. Night walked up to the unicorn that stayed a few feet away from Shadowblaze.

"Hello I am Night Striker and you are?" Night asked.

"Oh hello. I'm Vinyl Scratch." Vinyl replied.

"No fucking way." Saints jumped out of the RV and ran up towards Vinyl and started hopping in place. "Vinyl Scratch you mean like DJ-PON3?" Saints asked.

"Uh yeah. Why were you a fan?" Vinyl asked.

"Every single album." Saints replied.

"Awesome."

Night smiled at the site of his brother being happy. Saints and Vinyl's conversation went on and on for a real long time. It still continued when Saints invited Vinyl inside the RV.

Film hopped off of the RV and started to walk towards Fluttershy's tent. Fluttershy met Film halfway and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Film smiled and they both went inside the tent. Night walked out of the RV and hopped on top on the roof of the RV with an energy drink in his hoof. Everypony else was inside their tent except for Derpy and Rainbow Dash.

"Has Dinky ever came close to being bitten?" Derpy asked.

"No of course not." Rainbow replied.

"Why's that?"

"It's because I kept her close. I thought you were dead and Dinky was the only memory left of you. I couldn't just let her go."

"Thank you so much for that." Derpy kissed Rainbow and Rainbow's ears perked up. "One more question before we go inside."

"Sure what is it?"

"Why are you flying around every hour? While I was grabbing some parts. I noticed that you were up in the sky just flying around. What do you do?"

"I make sure to alert everypony in case if there is a herd on the way that is really far away. Like out of Film's sight far."

"Okay *yawn* I think I'm ready to hit the hay. How about you?"

"Yeah I'm *yawn* ready whenever you're ready."

Rainbow got up and went inside the tent. Derpy walked up to the tent but stopped herself to look up at the sky. The moon shined through the night and the stars were high in the sky, very few twinkled.

"Hey are you coming in?" Rainbow asked.

Derpy chuckled. "Yeah I'm coming." Derpy walked inside the tent and zipped up the entrance.
> Chapter 10: Unexpected 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 10: Unexpected


Morning, campsite.

Film Maker is sitting on top of the RV with Fluttershy sleeping on his chest. Night Striker is sitting on a bench right next to the RV while cleaning his hidden blade with a white rag. Saints was sitting across from Night Striker. He had Vinyl with him while sharing a pair of headphones with her. She had the left side and he had the right side. Twilight was sitting next to Night Striker while reading a book. Pinkie Pie and Spike was playing with all the fillies. Rainbow Dash was flying above the camp. Making sure that there were no walkers on their way towards the campsite. Rarity was sitting down with Applejack in front of Applejack's tent. Derpy walked out of her tent and headed towards the bench to sit down.

Night Striker noticed Derpy walking over towards the bench and welcomed Derpy with a friendly smile. "Morning Derpy, sleep well?" Night asked.

"I slept 'okay'. Haven't really gotten much sleep last night." Derpy replied.

"Do you want any sleeping methods?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary. Maybe some other time."

Night nodded and continued cleaning his blade. Taking pride for every shine that appeared. Derpy sat down next to Saints and Vinyl. They seemed too distracted with their music to notice Derpy sitting down.

A quiet yawn escaped Fluttershy's mouth and she slowly began to rub her eyes. Film smiled and started to stroke her mane. A shade of pink appeared on Fluttershy's cheeks. Film kissed the top of her head. "Good morning 'Shy." Film whispered into her ear.

"Good morning." Fluttershy rubbed her muzzle into his chest. Trying to get as close as possible. Film wrapped his wings around her.

"Sleep well?"

"Definitely. What about you?"

"I slept well." Fluttershy looked up into Film's blue eyes. "What about you?"

Film gave Fluttershy a little passionate peck on her lips and smiled. "I don't sleep much but I actually got some good rest last night. Thanks to you."

Sugar Rush walked out of the RV and walked up to the bench that stood right next to the RV. A smile spread across his face. "Good morning everypony!" He yelled.

"Quiet!" Night Striker blurted out. "Remember, we have to avoid walkers not attract more."

"Sorry."

Shadowblaze walked out of the RV and stretched his wings. He looked over to Night Striker who is still shining his blade. "Mornin' guys."

Derpy turned around and saw Shadowblaze trotting up to the bench. "Good morning Shadowblaze. Sleep well?" Derpy asked.

"Like a foal. I think its the best sleep I've gotten in a long time." Shadowblaze replied.

Rainbow Dash landed herself next to Derpy and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Morning Derpy."

"Good morning Dashie." Derpy giggled.

Night drew his attention away from his blade and towards Rainbow Dash. "Anything?" Night asked.

"Just a few walkers about a couple miles away but nothing else." Dash replied.

"Good." Night looked at Saints and Vinyl who were still listening to their music. "Derpy, would you mind pulling off their headphones?"

Derpy nodded and pulled down the headphones to wrap around both Saints and Vinyl's neck. Both unicorns looked at Derpy. Derpy pointed her hoof at Night and both unicorns drew their attention towards the pegasus.

"I'm going to need you two to get the guns from the RV. I wanna make sure that we start patrol in the next thirty minutes."

Vinyl and Saints nodded. Both unicorns got up from the bench and went inside the RV.

"You know what sounds good right now?" Sugar Rush asked.

Shadowblaze looked at Sugar Rush and raised his brow. "What would that be?"

"Some breakfast." Sugar Rush licked his lips. "My stomach is on empty and I need so-"

*bang*

Sugar Rush dropped dead onto the ground. A bullet went straight into his head. Everypony watched Sugar Rush hit the floor with a loud thud. Night Striker turned around and saw six ponies with semi-automatic rifles galloping towards them. Night took immediate action.

"Everpony get in the RV! Vinyl, Saints, get the fucking guns out here NOW!" Night yelled.

Film and Fluttershy hopped off of the top of the RV and went straight inside the RV. Pinkie Pie got all the foals inside. Derpy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike ran inside the RV. The RV was starting to get packed. Night flipped the bench and took cover from the armed ponies. Film came back out with his hunter rifle and took immediate cover next to Night. Saints came out with an AK and did the sane as Film. Shadowblaze dropped to his knees next to his dead brother. "Sugar?" He whispered.

"Shadowblaze get behind cover before they get here!" Film yelled. Film looked back at the six ponies and saw then aiming their rifles right at Shadowblaze. He quickly reacted by grabbing Shadowblaze's tail and pulling him behind cover with his mouth. "Shadowblaze get in the RV!"

Shadowblaze looked at Film and back at the RV. Vinyl was holding the door open and signaling Shadowblaze to come inside. Shadowblaze looked back at Film. "No." Shadowblaze said.

Film Maker looked at Vinyl and yelled, "Get him a gun!"

Vinyl quickly disappeared and reappeared in a second. She tossed Shadowblaze a revolver and Shadowblaze caught the gun in mid-air with his wing.

"Fire!" One of the six ponies yelled.

Bullets were hitting the RV, the dirt, the bench, and shredding the multiple tents at the campsite. Some bullets hit Sugar Rush's dead body and blood was splattering everywhere. Film Maker, Shadowblaze, and Saints started shooting back at the six ponies (without peeking over the edges). Suddenly, the door to the RV opened up and Spike came running out with a fully-automatic rifle in his hands. "I wanna he-" He yelled before being torn to shreds. The gun that was in his hands, flew straight over towards the bench. His right arm was detached from his body within three seconds.

"No!" A cry came from inside the RV. The RV door closed by itself with a loud thud.

Nopony can come out. That means we have to deal with then ourselves. Night thought. Night picked up the gun that was a few inches away from the barrier and started shooting back st the six ponies.

After about ten minutes of non-stop shooting, Night Striker told Saints, Film Maker, and Shadowblaze to stop shooting. "This isn't working." Night said.

"Your right." Film said. "But what are we supposed to do?"

"I got it." Shadowblaze said. All stallions drew their attention towards Shadowblaze. "If we can somehow get their attention away from the bench, we can shoot the ponies while they are distracted by the bait."

"That's too risky." Saints said. "Besides, who would be stupid enough to go running out there in the middle of this shit?"

"I was mainly talking about myself."

"You'll be killed!" Film yelled.

"But it'll be worth the sacrifice. For you guys." Shadowblaze smiled. "Nice seeing you guys again."

Film Maker held out his hoof and Shadowblaze bumped it with his. "I'll see you late Shadow."

"See ya' soon." 

Shadowblaze started running away from the bench. Bullets were being directed towards him. The first bullet hit him in his left foreleg and right wing. Than the bullets started to shred the wing right off of his body. His right foreleg started to show his bones and his body fell with a loud thud. Film Maker, Night Striker, and Saints stood up and started spraying their bullets towards the six ponies. Their cries were loud but the sound of gun fire was louder.

Once all the bodies of the six ponies fell to the floor, Film Maker, Saints, and Night Striker immediately stopped shooting and started trotting up to their dead bodies. One of the six started to crawl away from them. But Night Striker pulled out his hidden blade (which was strapped to his right hoof) and stabbed the pony straight into the neck. Blood spattered on Night's face. But he didn't flinch. He only stared at the pony he just killed and enjoyed it. Blood started spilling out of the punctured wound that Night has caused. He slowly pulled his blade of the neck and stared at the blood that stained his blade.

"I gotta fucking clean it again." Night grumbled.

"Your blade. Is that really what you think matters right now?" Saints started raising his voice. "We were just attacked Night! And right now....you care about that fucking blade of yours!"

"I know!" Night blurted out. Saints quickly hushed himself. Night turned around to face Saints. "I know what just happened. I'm not stupid. Nor am I blind."

"Help me!" A voice called.

Night and Saints didn't pay attention to the cry for help. They were still staring at each other. "I got it guys." Film said.

Film looked at the RV and saw Rarity walking out of the RV. Her white coat was stained with blood. Her eyes were as wide as a pony hyped up on meth.

"Oh my Celestia." Film galloped up to Rarity. "What happened?" Film asked.

"B-Bullets went....through the RV a-and started to k-kill some of the f-foals. They.....they....they." Without warning, Rarity fell down right in front of Film Maker. Revealing blood pouring out of the back of her shoulder blades.

"Saints, Night, get the fuck over here and help me!" Film yelled.

Night Striker and Saints ran straight towards Film. Night knelt down next to Rarity and put his hoof on her neck. Night closed his eyes and re-opened them. He slowly shook his head.

Film looked down at Rarity and started to realize what she was talking about. "Oh shit." He whispered. He looked over at the RV and started galloping towards it. "OH SHIT!" he yelled.
> Chapter 11: Lost Ones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 11: Lost Ones


Film Maker opened the door to be welcomed by a foul stench that spread throughout the whole RV. He quickly covered his muzzle to try to block out the stench. But it was no use. The stench was beyond foul, it was horrible. Film Maker even began to cough very hard. He looked down onto the ground to see a terrifying sight. Bodies laid on top of bodies, flesh littered the ground, blood was splattered all over the walls, and all of their faces had this look of pure terror.

Film Maker backed up against the wall, tears welling up in his eyes, his lip started to quiver, and his face showed the expression of pure horror. He sat down on his haunches and allowed everything that he has witnessed hit him. Everything slowly settled into his mind. A small groan came from the pile of dead bodies. Film Maker looked up to see Fluttershy struggling to get the bodies off of her.

"Help us! Somepony please help us!" She cried out.

Film quickly got to his hooves and started to pull the bodies off of her. The first body he pulled off was Twilight. Then, Applejack, Vinyl Scratch, Pinkie Pie, and finally Rainbow Dash. After taking Rainbow Dash off of Fluttershy, she immediately grabbed onto him with a tight hug. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she started to cry into Film's shoulder.

"Film....th-they're dead." She sobbed.

He looked over her shoulder to see all the dead bodies that he just moved. All of a sudden, another cry for help called out from underneath the dead bodies. Film moved Fluttershy against the wall to his left while he started to un-bury whomever was trapped underneath the dead ponies. He pulled off more of his friends that he cared for so much. What hurt him more was that all of the bodies he moved were fillies. Babs Seed, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Underneath the bodies were Derpy and Dinky. Dinky was tightly grasping onto her mother with tears flowing down her cheeks. Derpy slowly got up with Dinky still attached to her side.

Film Maker noticed that both of Derpy's wings were gone and only stubs were left of them. "Oh Celestia!" He cried out. "Come on outside, we need to get that patched up, now!" He ordered.

"Why not in here? Is it safe out there?" Derpy asked.

Film Maker ignored her questions. "I don't want the others seeing what has happened in here just yet. Now get outside."

Derpy listened to Film Maker and went outside. Film started to scavenge the RV for a first-aid kit. He started to fling cupboards open and wildly scanning his hoof through them. Luckily, he found one within seconds. As soon as he grabbed the kit, he immediately went outside the RV to patch up Derpy. Went he went outside, things were starting to get worst.

"Mommy!" Dinky cried as her mother fell down while trotting up to Night Striker. Night immediately ran up to Derpy to try to catch her. But he wasn't fast enough. Her body hit the ground with a hard thud. She cried in pain as she landed on one of her stubs that were supposed to be a wing. "Mommy, get up!" Dinky started beg.

Derpy's breathing started to get slower. "Muffin, come here." Derpy said quietly.

Dinky knelt down next to her mother. She leaned her head closer to her mother's. "Yes mommy?"

A faint smile placed itself upon Derpy's lips. "My little muffin, do you know what was one of the first things that came to my mind when I left our house, just days ago?" Dinky lightly shook her head. "You. You were the first thing that was settled on my mind. I had to know where my little muffin was and if she was safe. It was killing me not knowing where you were and it was killing me to know if you were alive or not. But now that I know, I think, I can go to sleep with everything off of my shoulders."

Tears were now streaming down Dinky's cheeks. "No. Mommy, you can't go. I need you, mommy." Dinky begged in a sobbing motion. She tightly grasped her forelegs around her mother. Derpy returned the gesture with one leg, instead of two.

"I love you, muffin. You are the most important thing in the world to me, you know that right?"

Dinky sniffled her nose. "I do. I love you too mommy." She kissed her mom's forehead.

Derpy's smile grew bigger. She slowly lifted her head to return the gesture that her daughter has given her. She slowly laid her head down onto the ground. Her breathing started to get slower, slower, slower, and slower. Until finally, her breathing ceased. Her eyelids closed shut and her smile slowly faded away.

Dinky loosened her grip to look at her mother's face. "Mommy?" She asked.

Nothing.

"Mommy?" Dinky asked again.

Still....nothing.

"No." Dinky whispered. "Don't go." She started to cradle her mother's head. Swaying it back and forth. "Don't.....go." She sobbed.

Film Maker dropped the first aid kit that was clenched onto his hoof. "I was...too...late." He muttered out.

"No you weren't." Night Striker interjected. Film looked at him straight in the eyes with a look of confusion. "I see three bullet holes along her right rib cage." Film looked back at Derpy and saw the three wounds with blood spewing out of Derpy's now lifeless body. He didn't even notice it. "Her wings has many veins and arteries just like our legs do. Even without those gunshot wounds, she would have bleed to death either way. Even if she had a tourniquet, she would have died within a couple hours due to the lack of medical treatment we have. If it was one wing, she would have died within the next four hours."

"You mean to say?" Night looked down at Derpy. "Even if we gave her what I had, it would-"

"Be useless." Night finished Film's sentence. He looked back up at Film. "I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is now."

Film's legs started to feel weak and his breathing started to get heavy. He wanted to throw up but he couldn't. There was nothing in his stomach for him to throw back up. He tried to trot back to the RV but fell down. Night immediately ran next to Film Maker. He pressed a hoof against Film's forehead. "Is it a fever?" Film asked.

"No, thank Celestia. You're just dealing with a side effect of your first combat battle. It happens to a lot of ponies after they get done with a long battle. Saints is dealing with the same thing. Unfortunately for him, he had breakfast. So he's puking it out right now."

Film looked over Night Striker to see Saints throwing up a few feet away from Shadowblaze's lifeless body. "I see." He looked up into Night's eyes. "Night, do me a favor?"

"Sure." Night Striker obliged.

"Go check the RV. Almost everypony inside is dead. Get Fluttershy out here and see if there's anypony else alive."

Night's eyes went wide and he looked up at the open door of the RV. He looked back down at Film. "Will do." He said nervously. He got up and went inside the RV to see Fluttershy sitting against a wall with her hooves buried into her face. "Fluttershy?"

She looked up at him with tears streaming down her face. "Y-Yes?" She sobbed.

"Go outside and tend to Film Maker. You need him the most, right now, and I can tell." He said softly.

"O-Okay." She said nervously. She got up, trying her best not to look at her dead friends, and walked out of the RV. 

Night looked over at the dead bodies. He slowly sat himself down onto his haunches as everything started to settle into him. "Oh my Celestia." Was all he could say.

He looked over the room and saw all the dead bodies lying all over the place. He started to say each name out loud. "Scootaloo, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Vinyl, Tw-Twilight?" He looked at Twilight's body. Bullets were marked all along her right side from her flank to her neck. Her eyes were wide open with fear in them and her mouth was agape.

At that point, Night Striker felt weak. His heart started to feel like as if somepony ripped it out of his chest and crushed it right in front of his very eyes. His ears drooped down flat against his skull. Tears started to well up in his eyes. "I....I....I..." He tried to manage to say something but failed. He looked down at his hooves. He stared blankly at them. He pulled them up to the back of his neck and pulled over his hood. "I never got to tell you.....how much I cared about you." He looked up at Twilight's body. He slowly got up and moved towards her. He closed her mouth and eyes. Then, he folded her hooves over her chest in a peaceful position.

"I should have told you sooner. But....I wasn't....brave enough. I can leap off of buildings, face death as many times as I want, run straight into the heat of battle, and I wasn't brave enough to tell you....how I felt." Night closed his eyes to try and prevent a tear from running down his cheek. It didn't work, the tear slipped past his eyelids and landed on Twilight's left eye. Making it look like she was crying. The tear ran down the left side of her face and into her mane. He used his hoof to wipe the tear off of her face. "I'm sorry."

Night looked up at the several dead ponies lying in front of him. He got up from Twilight's spot and started to lay everypony down in a peaceful pose. Once he was done, he went to the end of the RV to look at his work. All of them were lined up in one row. All of their faces were starting to hurt Night Striker even more than how he felt about Twilight. He looked past the bodies and saw a pile of towels lying undisturbed.

Night trotted up to the pile of towels and started to lay one towel for each face. He laid a towel on Scootaloo's. Then, Apple Bloom, Babs Seed, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Once he was done, he slowly exited the RV to attend to the bodies of Rarity, Spike, Sugar Rush, Derpy, and Shadowblaze.

Once he stepped outside, he saw that Film Maker and Saints already laid all the bodies in a row with hooves crossed and their eyes closed. Just like the way how Night did it. Night saw Fluttershy lying against the RV with her hooves buried into her face. He looked at Film Maker and saw that he was making his way to her. He sat down next to Fluttershy and wrapped her in his wings. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed very quietly. Night went back inside to get more towels from the RV.





Many Hours Later.

The sun was still in the sky but not for much longer. But while it was still in the sky, Night and Film decided to bury the bodies instead of letting them lay out in the open. They spent many hours burying their friends and loved ones while Saints watched over Dinky and Fluttershy. Once Film and Night were done, they all gathered around the burials for a moment of silence and respect.

After several moments of silence, Film was the first to speak. "Somepony should say something for them." Film suggested. He looked to his right to see everypony nodding their heads, except Night Striker. He looked back at the bodies. "Who'll do it?"

"I will." Night spoke up. He took four steps in front of him and turned around to face everypony. All eyes were on him. His hood was still on so he decided to take it off just for this speech. He looked down at the ground. Thinking of what to say for a moment. Then, it hit him. He knew exactly what to say for this. He looked up to see that all eyes were still on him and they were still waiting for him to speak.

"During our lives, we've all lost something special to us once. Something that could be as small as to a rag doll or to something as big as losing a friend. We all share this pain that we feel right now. These were wonderful ponies and they....they didn't deserve this. They deserved to have lived. They should be standing with us right now. Passing a bag of marshmallows and sharing stories of their lives before the.....the event. Instead, they're gone. I can assure you one thing: they may be gone, but they'll never be forgotten. They'll live in our hearts, our minds, our memories, and in our souls. They are apart of us forever. No matter what. We can never forget them. Ever." Night turned around to face all the burials. "And we're with them."
> Chapter 12: Moving On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 12: Moving On


"They're all asleep." Film Maker said to Night Striker, quietly. He slowly sat himself next to his friend. He could tell that Night wouldn't go to sleep anytime soon. So he decided to pass the time by lifting some things off of his chest. Questions that have pondered his mind. He turned his head to face his friend. "Night?"

"Yeah," Night simply replied. He did not turn to look at him, instead, he kept his focus in the valley of empty cars.

Film turned his head to face the cars. He dazed at a reflection of the moon on a car door. Then, he looked up to look at the night. After the incident that took place at their campsite, they had to leave immediately. It hurt them too much to stay. It still hurts, if they think about it. "Do you ever wondered what happen to Canterlot?"

This question caught Night Striker off guard. He expected a question that, somehow, was relevant to the incident at the campsite. He turned his head to look at his friend, still gazing at the moon. "No." Film turned his attention from the moon, to him. "Why do you ask?"

"Canterlot is the center of Equestria. How come nopony has heard anything from them?"

"Canterlot was the center of Equestria." Night turned to face the freeway, again. "Canterlot must've been the first to fall. Along with Ponyville, Fillydelphia, Appleloosa, Manehattan." He sighed, just thinking about all the innocent ponies who died within the places that they once called home made him shudder. "Many ponies died, without reason or explanation."

"No."

Night turned to face his friend. He raised his brow at him. Confused to what he meant. "What do you mean?"

"Those ponies didn't die with no reason and Celestia forbid no explanation." Film placed his hoof on Night's shoulder. "Night, there is always an explanation. Nopony dies without explanation. Especially what is happening now."

"You mean when?"

"No. I mean now." Film took his hoof off of Night's shoulder. "There was another question that has been wondering in my mind."

"What would that be?"

"Why did we stay alive?"

Night Striker felt even more confused. Him and Film knew damn well why they were alive. It kind of made him mad. "You know damn well why. Twilight was trying to find a cure to....to...whatever the fuck this disease is."

"I know that, I mean; Twilight would have tried to find a cure, with or without us, you know that. Maybe this was meant to happen. For us to survive. Maybe we are supposed to try to find the explanation to why these ponies died. And why they are bringing back from the dead as horrible monsters."

"Film, are you suggesting that we go to Canterlot?"

"Yes, Night. I am."

"But....what happens if the explanation isn't there?"

"Then, we'll just keep looking. By Celestia's name, we will find the explanation, even if it means death."





Fluttershy could not sleep. She had her eyes closed, but she could not sleep. She was too cold. Her blanket barely gave her any warmth. Even though she was inside of a car and away from the nightly chills, she was still cold. Then, a sudden source of warmth started to cover her from head to hoof. She opened her eyes to see Film Maker laying down next to her.

Film noticed that she was still awake. They both started to shift until they were comfortable. Then, he softly said, "I thought you were asleep."

"I tried, but I couldn't. I was just too cold, sorry." Fluttershy whispered.

"It's okay." Film replied, softly. He pulled her into a tight embrace, with his wings.

Fluttershy had no problem with letting Film Maker pulling her closer to his chest. She enjoyed the pegasus' chest. It was soft, like a pillow. It provided much comfort. She enjoyed that, a lot. She sighed, softly. She muzzled into his chest, for more comfort.

"Fluttershy?"

"Hmm?" She replied.

"We're going to Canterlot."

"How come?" She whispered.

"We're going to find an explanation is to why all of our friends died. No matter what the cost is, we'll find that explanation."

Fluttershy looked up at him. "You mean it?"

Film looked down at her. "Of course."

Both pegasi moved their faces together and gave a passionate kiss. A kiss that only lasted about a minute, but to them, it lasted forever.





Night silently closed the trunk door behind him. Tonight was not his night. He planned on staying up all night thinking about Twilight. He never confessed how he felt for the librarian, and now he never will. That regret will stay in his system for the rest of his life. It's not something that can go away after a few months. This feeling will stay with him until the day he dies.

Then, a sound broke the silence of the car. He looked over and saw Dinky sobbing. He moved over to her and gently laid a hoof on her. "Is it about your mother?"

"Yes." She sobbed.

"Come here." Night gently said. Dinky got up from her resting spot and went straight into his forehooves. He sheltered the filly with his wings.

Soon, her sobs settled down and her mind was starting to get weary. Night Striker gently laid down and pulled her covers, from her resting spot, over to where they laid down. Dinky curled up into a ball and pressed herself against Night. "I miss her." She said, quietly.

"I know you do. Because I miss her too. But we'll see her again, one day." Night laid his head down and closed his eyes. One day, The words echoed.