> The Grass Ain't Always Greener
>  by WorldWalker128
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Canterlot - Intro and Shining Armor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The rain was falling hard from the grey clouds hanging and drifting across the sky. On occasion lightning would arc from one cloud to another, or would on rare occasion strike the ground. The wind blew from time to time, cold and biting to any who did not wear sufficient clothing or perhaps had very thin fur. 
A few four-legged figures with milky-white eyes or sometimes none at all took slow and stumbling steps forward across the mostly-open and grassy ground while others dragged themselves through the tall grass and shrub across the ground, sometimes leaving bits of themselves behind in the process. No birds flitted about in this place any longer. No animals came to dwell where the civilized had once tread as was common occurrence in times passed, and there were especially no travelers that dared attempt a short cut through the wilderness. There was a time when it was mostly safe to do such a thing, but in the modern world, only those without wings whom were desperate or suicidal attempted such short cuts. 
Sadly it was not just the wild that had become the dwelling place of what the still-living called Shamblers. Many a small town and city were much the same way with few exceptions, and with each of those exceptions, life was hard and normally unpleasant. But to quote the still living captain of the royal guard: 
"A life of comfort leads to letting your guard down. If you want you and what's left of your family and friends to survive, you'll never let your guard down or do anything you'd call another stupid for."


Shining Armor frowned as he looked almost down diagonally from a balcony of the Canterlot royal palace. Along the slopes of the mountain on which both the palace and the city had been built he could see the outline of hundreds of figures trying to walk or climb up to reach one of the last bastions of Pony life in Equestria only to slide or tumble back down again. Thank goodness.
As far as he knew, there were only three other towns and cities that still had the living dwelling inside them. All others were either filled with the dead and rotting, the Shamblers, or had been burned to the ground or deserted. One of these surviving cities was Cloudsdale. 

Cloudsdale had suffered far fewer casualties than any other large dwelling place of Ponies for two simple reasons: undead Pegasai had no idea how to fly, and their cloud walking magic failed when they succumbed to the infection from bites or blood-splatter to the eyes, mouth, or open wounds. If any Pegasus returned home with a bite they would fall through the cloudcrete when they died, thus preventing spread of the Shamblers in their city.
Another other was Appaloosa, which was situated in a hot desert. Any Shamblers that wandered into the desert quickly turned in a regular sun baked corpse within three days to a week. This was not to say that Appaloosa was completely safe, but like most folk that lived away from the heart of Equestrian lands before the first few Shambler outbreaks, the moment the Appaloosans first heard of major trouble brewing elsewhere the whole town came together like a family. When more and more Ponies kept turning up day after day on the train telling the same story the townsfolk took action. 
With the help of a few local tribes of Buffalo they began cutting and transporting stone blocks from an old quarry to the southeast of their town to build a wall two Buffalo tall. By the time the first of the Shamblers successfully made their way along the train tracks in pursuit of yet another train full of refugees (some of which who turned out to have already been infected and were placed in the town jail until they turned) the whole of Appoloosa proper was well fortified, and the townsfolk exhausted (but safe from Shamblers) from their efforts. 
The farms and orchards were simply too large to include, but as stated before, most Shamblers never made the journey from the green lands of Equestria's core to dry and hot Appoloosa, so for the most part life went on as it had pretty much the same as before.

If only the same could have been said for Ponyville. Shining Armor thought, not for the first time, thinking of his sister, whom he'd not heard from in over a year. He could see Ponyville with the naked eye from where he stood, but all it took was a glance through a pair of binoculars to see that the living were no longer present in that little town. 
Shining Armor wiped a single tear that traced down the side of his face and turned his head off in the direction of the Crystal Empire, where he knew Cadence was trying to keep everypony calm and productive. 

The extremely cold weather between the Equestrian border and the Crystal Empire had a similar effect on the Shamblers as the desert did, except that rather than drying out and destroying the Shamblers it froze them near to solid instead. Any who journeyed from Canterlot to out there nowadays could look out from the train's windows and see several broken rows of stiff and stuck Shamblers to either (and sometimes upon) the train's tracks as they rolled atop the rails. A triangular plow had been added to the front of the train after the train's first return trip from the Crystal Empire (since the first widespread outbreak) to remove risk of derailing from running frozen Shamblers over.

They're going to need to be dealt with at some point, but right now things are still shaky here.

Celestia and Luna had tried to keep the citizens of Canterlot calm, but had ultimately failed. The ensuing panic over the next week when a group of Shamblers were discovered inside the city led to nearly half of the population of Canterlot either being infected or killed by accident. In the end the princesses had to use their magic to teleport the remains of the royal and town guard and some two hundred-plus citizens behind one of the two walls erected during one of the times of strife in the past. They then commanded the Unicorn guards to bolt shut the gates and fuse them to the frame to prevent them from being opened again. 
There was hesitation on part of the guards, for many of them still had family or neighbors or friends on the other side, but Luna, with tears of regret mirroring those of her elder sister trotted forward and did it for them. 
As the days went by fleeing Pegasai stopped coming over the walls. Screams for help or of agonized pain as someone was eaten alive became fewer and farther between, and now, with a little more than fourteen months having gone by since then the only sound to be heard from the Lower District was the wind whistling down the stone alleyways, the rain dripping from overflowing gutters during a downpour, and if you listened carefully there could be heard the sound of slow and heavy clops that marked the hoof falls of an upright Shambler.
If anything good could have been said to come of that tragic and horrifying time (not that it was any less horrifying a time to live in today) it was the discovery that only Ponies were affected by the Shambler infection. Several Minotaur and Gryphons tourists had been bitten (or had a chunk torn out of them) before reaching and getting over the wall through one method or another, and to date none of them had Turned. In time, Celestia hoped to negotiate with the other races to gain military aid and eventually start taking back their homes. 

But in the meantime we'll have to fend for ourselves.
Shining Armor turned away from the balcony's end and trotted through the palace. He nodded at any servants or fellow guards that he passed, but said nothing to anypony until he reached the sealed gates at the end of the Upper District. All along the wall several activities were taking place, most of them work. 
Volunteer Pegasai were hauling sacks of soil taken from the valley surrounding the mountain to be used to plant gardens that would hopefully yield them enough food to last until the much hoped-for help from the other races came.  Due to the undead being too stupid to know how to climb, fly, or use ladders the rooftops of both the upper and lower city would be used for planting gardens upon. 
The Earth Ponies stood at the sealed gates occasionally thrusting between the bars with spears or other pointed pole weapons to kill any Shamblers that came within range and the Unicorns stood nearby to hurl the destroyed undead from the city and down the slopes of the mountain. The Unicorns also helped levitate wooden planks stripped from around the palace and the upper city (much to the chagrin of the surviving Noble families) up on top of the wall where several Gryphons and more Pegasai were busy building makeshift bridges from the top of the wall to the buildings closest to them. It was hoped by many that if a reliable rooftop bridge system could be made, they might not need foreign help to take back Canterlot City at the least, and could safely impale the Shamblers with long spears from the safety of a flat roofed single or double-story building. Currently they were two blocks out from the wall. 
It's a decent plan I suppose. Shining Armor frowned. I can't help but feel a bit nervous about it, though. Most of those boards weren't made to be walked on. All it's going to take is for someone of the wrong weight to step on one and-
"Jeeze, Day Captain!" an exasperated sudden and close voice addressed him, nearly making him jump out of his fur. "I know our species is pretty much boned, but would it kill you to smile once in awhile? Your looking serious all the time is just depressing!" Shining's grim expression became a scowl. "Even that's an improvement!" A few trots away from him stood one of Luna's personal Bat-Pony guards (minus the armor that was standard for their uniform). 
"Smile?" Shining asked, his scowl deepening but his volume lowering to a heated whisper as he approached the bat-pony mare so the others would be less likely to overhear. "How can I smile after all that's happened? After losing almost my entire family?! After watching my home city tear itself apart from fear and an undead plague?!" He turned away from her, looking once more at the sealed gates just in time to see a guard impale a Shambler through an eye socket. "You ask me why I don't smile." Shining laughed without humor. "What reason do any of us have to smile?"

> Everfree Forest - Zecora and Apple Bloom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Everfree Forest - Zecora and Apple Bloom


Zecora's eyes carefully scanned the wilderness beneath the tree she'd hidden herself in for the evening, her ears strained to take heed of any sound, be it a twig snapping, a pile of leafs ruffled by the wind, or the rasping breath or growl of one of the dead ones that the ponies of Equestria often called Shamblers. It was close to night time now, and in her experience these once-pony monsters hunted using primarily their sense of smell and their hearing depending on how decayed or damaged they were. There had been a few she'd encountered that had seemed to have lost all of their senses including sight, as she'd witnessed them crashing into trees and rocks or even walking off small cliffs that their brethren paused at before turning aside.
At the snap of a dry branch her head on reflex twisted behind her and her muscles tensed, ready to spring into action and flee even though she was safely above any ground-walking creature. Zecora waited, then smiled and relaxed as young Apple Bloom walked under the tree that they'd marked a few days ago as a Rest Zone. She set down the small bag she had been carrying on her back and then with a little effort began to climb the pegs to grab the reel hook that she herself had installed. After climbing up several pegs that had been hammered into the tree's trunk and onto the two-pony platform that she and Zecora had built she reeled it up and placed it on a branch above her head.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, she smiled at Zecora.
"Heya, Zecora! See anything intrestin'?" She asked in a soft voice. The Forest's wildlife might not tolerate the presence of the undead this deep in the woods, but that didn't mean they were any more friendly with the living. Both Apple Bloom and Zecora had learned shortly after making the forest their home that making more noise than necessary was only asking for trouble.
"Nopony or Shambler have I have seen, but two of the Timber Wolves, very mean. They sniffed at this tree, then passed on by, they scampered on off at another's cry."
"Another pony? Or something else?" Apple Bloom asked as she pulled a large edible mushroom from the bag and bit into it. They did not taste very good, but Zecora assured her that they were not poisonous, and were in fact very nourishing. 
Shifting from her previous position of being on her stomach, Zecora turned on her side. 
"It sounded as a bull's bellow. Very angry he sounded, this fellow." Apple Bloom gave Zecora another mushroom and a few berries from the bag and tried to look out of the branches through the leaves. A pointless effort, this high in the tree. If she wanted to see anything she would need to stick her face down through the hole in the floor that Zecora had been looking through earlier. "You were gone near half the day. Where is it to, you ran away?"
Apple Bloom swallowed her mouthful of shroom and looked away from Zecora again. Zecora said nothing and waited.
"Ah went back to the family farm to see if mah family had gone back to it." Zecora raised an eyebrow, but still said nothing. Both of them knew how dangerous it was out in the open (which was just about how dangerous it was another half mile deeper into the forest at night). They both also knew that danger or no Apple Bloom had not forgotten that her older sister had led the monsters away so she could escape. If there was a chance that she and her brother and grandmother were still alive even after all this time, she wanted to check the place they'd most likely be if they were still in the area. "Ah saw a few Shamblers, and that someone had been taking some of our apples from the trees closest to town, but no sign anypony livin' save for a kilt Shambler."
This had not been the first time that Apple Bloom (or Zecora) had journeyed to the Apple Farm. Over the course of the first few months after everypony still living and sane abandoned Ponyville they'd taken tools, food, the few medical supplies that hadn't already been looted by other ponies, a crossbow that Granny Smith said her father used to use to chase off bandits when she was young, and some blankets and a cart to carry it all back to Zecora's home. There were quite a few more Shamblers wandering around back then and Zecora had nearly been bitten several times trying to protect her young friend as well as herself, but they made it there and back with their health intact.
"I am sure that they are alright." Zecora said, sitting up and placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Your family would not go down without a fight."
"Ah know that." Apple Bloom said. Her voice took on a tone of concern as she continued "but almost everypony who did fight was either eaten, or got bit and turned into one of 'em!" Her eyes widened and she began to tremble a little. "What- what if that's what happened to 'em?" Apple Bloom sniffed and her eyes began to moisten. "What if all mah friends and ma- mah whole f-family-" She started to cry and Zecora reached out her forelegs and pulled Apple Bloom into a tight hug as tears began to pour down her face, soaking them both.

The sun had been lowered and the moon raised. Stars twinkled above in the sky with a blissful ignorance of what those down on the little world below them were going through. Or perhaps they did know and most of them simply did not care. 
One of the twinkling lights shot across the sky, leaving a trail of light behind in its wake for any who were awake and looking at the sky to see. 
"Ah wish...Ah wish..." Apple Bloom squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated all her will on that one desire. "Ah wish that mah big brother, mah sister, and mah friends made it out of town to somewhere safe!" The first star streak shone brighter than it had before, and then suddenly vanished. Not ten seconds later a second streak shot across the sky and Apple Bloom's face lit up with a smile and hope filled her heart. Surely this was a sign? "And that one day we'll all be together again!"


<><><>


Big Macintosh awoke in his group's shelter with a snort, startling Rarity, who'd taken this night's watch. Beside her slept her little sister Sweetie Bell, and her latest (and possibly last living) friend, Button Mash.
"Bad dreams, dahling? I know I've been having them almost nonstop." Rarity asked, sympathy on her face and tangles and dirt in her mane. All four of the ponies were a bit dirty, actually. There had not been much of an opportunity to stop and take a proper bath lately, and even Rarity had to admit that their continued good health was more important than keeping her main styled and clean.
"Nope. Just a strange feelin'." Rarity tensed and quickly jerked her head around fearfully. The last time he'd had a strange feeling, they'd gotten mobbed by the Shamblers near the train station and Button Mash lost his mother. But Big Mac gave  her a reassuring smile. "Not that kinda feelin' Miss Rarity." She sighed with relief. "Just a feelin' that somepny out there is thinkin' about us, and wishing us luck."
> Canterlot - Luna and Celestia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Within the royal palace the two sisters sat alone within their study going through the lists of what supplies they had left. As to be expected, medicines were in the shortest of the supplies they had remaining, but food was not far behind, as Celestia was reading. 
Other than the shuffling of papers as the two read through them and the tickling of the grandfather clock in the corner there was no sound. But finally Luna broke the silence, returning to an argument that they had shared many times, born of regret and self-resentment. 
"We could have saved more, Tia!" Luna again repeated angrily to her sister, shoving the various documents on her desk to the floor and making a mess. "We more than had the power to bring the majority of the population to safety! Why did you only take these few?!"
"You've read the reports that came in from nearly everywhere, Luna. Many of the worst outbreaks happened because somepony was bitten and hid it from his or her fellows out of fear. When they turned, they infected their families or friends first, and when someone would eventually come to check on them several Shamblers would eat or infect that pony, and then they'd attack an unsuspecting survivor colony with nowhere to run from the inside. We could not take the same risk here."
"I've also read that full infection took as short as three hours from the first infection to up to three days to occur, sister. Our combined guards could have searched everypony we brought in by then!"
"And if a bare hoof full of infected hid away from everypony else where they could not be found out on the hopes that they might be immune?" Celestia asked quietly. "How many might we have lost then? Might we ourselves have gotten infected as we suspect happened to-" she broke off as the image of Twilight walking around with chunks of flesh missing from her body and milky white eyes filled her mind. It horrified her and nearly brought tears to her eyes. In Celestia's heart she suspected that Twilight was probably dead, but every night before bed she prayed to her mother that it was not so. "We raise and lower the sun and moon, Luna. Our deaths would mean the demise of the rest of the world.
"Infection risk wasn't the only reason, though. Have you noticed lately, Luna, that the cooks aren't giving out the portions they used to? To us or anypony else?" Luna's eyes widened in realization.
"We're running low on food supplies, aren't we?" Celestia nodded.
"You don't really think about it when the nation practically gives you food as if you were a Goddess, but our food supply is not infinite, and it came from the surrounding farm lands. Farm lands that are now abandoned. That is why I've been encouraging those brave and ingenuitive ponies that wanted to create the rooftop walkways and gardens."
"Should we not be negotiating for food first and foremost from the other nations, then?" Celestia shook her head.
"No. Unfortunately, even with the potential end of the world on our hoofs should this infection spread beyond our own species, the other nation leaders are still obsessed with politics, and the Gryphons have never stopped wanting to expand their borders. While I don't think their entire empire thinks the same way, nor do I believe that the Minotaurs would be so heartless, if some of their more ambitious leaders found out that we were  already running low on food they would find a way to stall the sending of help until our little ponies all starved. A country cannot exist without its citizens."
"And of course the local Diamond Dog packs have problems of their own due to their burrows and dens being dug or built mostly at ground level..." 
Luna felt bad for them. Even though only the Equestrians were the only ones to be infected by this disease (and possibly the Saddle Arabians and Zebras. They'd heard no reports so far about that, but it was well known that the zebras and the ponies and horses shared a common ancestry) that had not stopped the Shamblers from attacking and devouring them when and where they could. Nearly every den of Diamond Dogs that their nation had on record being within their nation's boundary lines had either evacuated, or been devoured (as reported from Pegasai scouts). Every other one had all their entrances and exits collapsed and sealed. "We should expect no help from them."
"If anything, they're likely to try tunneling from their homes to us looking for help. It is far more likely that they'll go back to their homelands, though." Most of the Diamond Dog dens within Equestria had only been made for the easier mining of gems and precious metals. Their own lands were much rockier and prone to stone or shale cave-ins. 
Luna sighed and began picking up the mess she'd created. 
"What can we do, Tia?"
"The only thing we've ever done, Luna. Never give up, and keep searching for a solution, and safer alternatives to those solutions." 
Celestia didn't say 'We'll get through this'. She had no idea if they would. But she'd rather face King Sombra and Discord at their worst in battle than give up on her subjects. Time and again they'd shown that they could survive the most seemingly impossible of situations, and Mother-willing, they'd survive this too. 
> Everfree Forest - Zecora and Apple Bloom 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Everfree Ravine - Zecora and Apple Bloom


Two weeks after previous Z&A chapter

Apple Bloom gritted her her teeth and both physically and mentally cringed as she looked at her impaled right foreleg. Blood trickled down from both the entry and exit would from around the sharp stick she'd fallen onto after loosing her footing (hoofing?) whilst assisting Zecora in making a new rope bridge in the late afternoon to replace the old one that had once spanned the gap. It hurt. A lot, and it was all she could do to keep from screaming from pain a second time when she tried to stand. 
"Apple Bloom, stay where you are!" Zecora called to her from the other side. "I will reach you quicker if you do not go far!"
"No-" she gasped for breath as sweat began to soak her fur. "problem!" She replied barely above a whisper. Sitting down on her haunches and raising her injured leg, Apple Bloom looked around to make sure she was still alone on her side of the ravine. For the moment, she was. But that scream will have told everything within at least half a mile that somepony is nearby! She swallowed nervously, and began examining the stick she'd fallen on. 
It looked a bit rotted and the end sticking out closest to her was rough but fairly even, showing that when it had broken off its tree the branch had already been rotten. Some of the bark might have rubbed off in the wound when it slid through me. Cleaning this one is going to be very unpleasant! But necessary if she didn't want a normal infection to set in. 
A rustle in one of the thorn bushes along the edge of the forest before the gorge made Apple Bloom whip her head to one side and her eyes widened in fear, though not as much as she might have had a year ago. She was not the weak little filly she once was, though young she still remained. Life in the Everfree Forest was difficult, and what you could not outsmart you had to beat down or outrun.
Rising unsteadily to three legs, Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes and tried to force her brain to ignore the pain pulsing through her body with limited success. If she needed to run, she could at least manage a brisk limping walk on her three good legs, but if she needed to fight, regardless of the pain she was in she would need all four legs.
Apple Bloom took a steadying breath, and then waited.

On her side of the ravine Zecora quickly finished tying off her vine-ropes to the new posts she'd dug and planted and grabbed one of the four dangling ropes and began to pull herself along the one rope that Apple Bloom had already tied off securely to one of the two posts on her side. Holding the rope in the crook of her front legs and back, she hung upside down and moved along it as quickly as she dared. Briefly sparing a look downward into the dark channel that water once flowed through in times long gone she took a deep breath and looked pointedly at the wall in which she was approaching. 
The stone that made up the edge of the cliff was gritty and slightly crumbly from old stone being exposed to the weather for many a year. Her first attempt to climb up was met with a chunk of rock breaking off from the side followed by her body rocking forward and backward for a few seconds while a brief thrill of fear ran down her spine. Taking a calming breath Zecora pulled herself a little closer and focused the magic of her people into her front legs before trying once more to pull herself up. Happily leaving the empty space below her behind Zecora hauled her hind end up onto solid ground and quickly moved to her young friend's side.
"Something's out there in the thorn bush, Zecora!" Apple Bloom whispered. Zecora looked at the shaking shrub a moment and then turned her head to her herb pouch. 
"Sit. Here is Tanna Root powder and something stronger. Soon you will feel pain no longer!" Zecora replied in a low volume voice. Zecora handed the powder to Apple Bloom and watched as Apple Bloom sat as instructed took a pinch of it to each side of her bleeding injury. When Apple Bloom looked up at her to ask with her expression if she'd done it right Zecora smiled and then turned away to look through her only saddle bag. From it she pulled out a simple vial of home made disinfectant. Unfortunately, before she could use it what had been struggling through the thorn bush finally tore its way free and fell down to the ground out into the open. When Zecora and Apple Bloom looked up from the injured appendage to see what or who it was Zecora briefly bared her teeth.
Though the figure was in bad shape there was no mistaking what it was: a Shambler. Whoever it had once been though, neither of them recognized it now. The creature had no eyes, a few filthy strands of hair for a mane, almost no fur left to its filthy hide, one ear, and was missing one of its front legs. Growling as it rose unsteadily to its hoofs once more, the creature started forward again in the general direction of the two ponies.
Apple Bloom looked around her immediate area quickly, searching for something small and loose she could throw to misdirect the Shambler. There was not much, and what there was the two of them needed to make the bridge. If they bounced too far and went into the ravine they'd be gone for good. Still...
Our lives are worth more than a few tools, and if we get bit it's not like they'll do us much good anyway! Reaching with her good foreleg Apple Bloom grabbed the hammer she'd intended to use to pound the rope pegs into the ground and threw it at a dead tree that dangled over the edge secured by a few roots. It struck the trunk with a quiet but audible thud and the Shambler paused for a second and then turned a little to the right and started walking again.
Remaining silent the two ponies watched as the Shambler stopped upon bumping into the tree and then turned away to the left and walked forward until it fell off the cliff and into the ravine, to which they both shared a chuckle. 
"Dumb Shamblers!" Apple Bloom commented. Zecora nodded, but commented that it was not much smarter to not be paying attention to one's immediate area and falling upon a sharp stick. 
"More careful you must be, if the end of this plague you are to live to see! This will not heal easy, I fear, and we lack enough bandages here." Zecora looked to her left at the vine-rope that swung gently in the evening's breeze. It was a bit disappointing that they'd not be getting the vines secured today, but bleeding injuries (or any kind of injury for that matter) were not something they could afford to leave untreated.
Kneeling down, Zecora motioned for Apple Bloom to climb aboard.

Zecora shut her house's door and secured it with two wooden bars and also checked the shutters on her windows. Until very recently it had been at least a few months since she'd last returned to and slept within her house along the Everfree path from Ponyville due to the number of Shamblers that often frequented it. Unfortunately the fever that set in two days after Apple Bloom's injury could not be properly treated at any of the small Rest Zones they'd made due to them not having the herbs and the equipment required to make medicines in any of their Rest Zones. There were a few simple things kept in them like bandages and some anti-itch powder for insect bites that were all too commonly discovered upon awakening from a night's rest, but anything stronger than that the two had continued to store in her house whenever it was safe to do so.
Reaching down to the laces on her home-made noise-muffling fur slippers (more like pouches with a drawstring, really) Zecora made sure they were not loose enough to slip off and then silently proceeded into her home's main room to secure her latest flora bounty to the ceiling and also to boil oldest ones into a tea for her patient.
While she did so Apple Bloom lay in Zecora's bed sweating and sleepy. Her leg had been washed, bandaged, and thankfully no longer hurt, but apparently the rest of her body had not gotten the memo because now she had a temperature of one hundred and four degrees. Beside the bed on a small dresser sat a half empty wooden cup of lukewarm water and a plate with a few mint leaves and a few dandelions in case she started feeling hungry again. Since a mere mouthful of it earlier that morning she had not. 
I know I should probably eat something. It'll take longer for me to get better if I don't.Her eyes traced over the offerings of the plate and then slid away back to the ceiling and closed. I feel more like taking a nap, though. She opened her eyes again and glanced at the doorway that led into the main room where she could only barely hear Zecora moving about. There was no concern that it would be anypony or anything else because otherwise the door would have likely been bashed in and the scent of decay would have already reached her. And we haven't seen another living critter besides animals and each other in a long time.
Zecora entered the bedroom carrying another wooden cup on a small (also wooden) plate in her mouth and stopped by the bed. She motioned for Apple Bloom to sit up, and with a bit of effort, she did so. Apple Bloom took the cup, frowned a little at the smell, then blew the steam off the top and slowly drank the contents. When she finished she returned the cup to the plate and reached over to the plate next to her to grab a few mint leaves. The tea had tasted about as pleasant as it smelled (and it smelled like burnt garlic) and made her all too happy that she'd not eaten all of her mint leaves earlier in the day. Returning the cup to the other room, Zecora made a cup of ginger tea and dripped a bit of wild honey in it for herself.
Zecora's left ear twitched slightly to the left and she froze in place, barely breathing she listened. Outside her house something large was padding across the path just a few paces beyond the door. The steps were too heavy to be a Shambler, but given where they were such a thing was hardly good news. Moving as quietly as she could, Zecora approached the nearest window and pulled gently on the left tilt rod just enough to see outside. After a few seconds she frowned and lowered the tilt rod again. Their latest visitor was a large black bear.
A problem may certainly be, if our guest should happen to be smelling me. 
Although newer Shamblers could hunt by smell, they were a far cry from being worthy of being called trackers and only smelled you if you were close by. Animals on the other hand had a very good sense of smell and normally only followed something that smelled fresh. Knowing this and also knowing how often the path was frequented by Shamblers both Apple Bloom and Zecora had become a little lax in covering their scent around it in recent months. It would seem our choice was not good. We should have known better, in this wood. She frowned. Still, there was a chance that it would leave on its own. Even the predators of this dangerous forest had become unwilling to linger in one place for long when they traveled alone as this bear was.
The bear's heavy steps grew louder as it came closer to the house and as it took the last two steps to reach the door Zecora felt the vibration from its paws landing on the packed dirt run up her hoofs. The bear was too big to actually enter her home, but if it decided to break her door down whatever protection from Shamblers her home offered would be gone. All it would take would be for it to smell her and Apple Bloon's combined recent scent leaking in between the boards-
The door shook as a heavy impact struck the door and Zecora jumped back instinctively. There was an annoyed grunt, and then another blow. The hinges pulled slightly away from the frame they were screwed into but still held, aided by the planks behind it.
Wasting no more time, Zecora spun and raced away from the door and grabbed her saddlebags and began stuffing them with an assortment of supplies. Most of it she could come back for later if they were needed. Her bags full with less in them than she would have liked, Zecora raced into Apple Bloom's room and hurriedly shut the bedroom door. This door was much less sturdy than the front door, but this one would only be being used to keep out of sight from anything outside. In time their assailant would leave, and then they'd be free to as well. 
"What's out there, Zecora?" Apple Bloom asked, her eyes widening in fear as the sound of the front door finally being destroyed reached them.
"It is a hunting bear too big to get in. But with time on our side, we shall win. When it leaves we shall as well; this home of mine no longer within is safe to dwell!"
"Ah'm sorry, Zecora!" Apple Bloom apologized, turning away from her. "If Ah hadn't hurt my leg Ah wouldn't 'ave gotten sick, and if Ah'd been healthy we wouldn't 'ave needed to come here and-" Zecora gently placed a hoof over Apple Bloom's mouth.
"Returning to your rest for now would be best. Soon enough we shall have to put your wellness to the test!"
> Appaloosa Region - Desert Patrol
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The combination of Earth ponies, Pegasai, and a Buffalo paused in their patrol for a water break and a breather. Most of them were volunteers from the refugees that had poured into the rustic desert town  a little over a year ago that had for the most part come to terms with the way the world was now. If they were being honest with themselves none of them really wanted to be out wandering around the hot near-wasteland that was their home now, but neither did they want to risk what was left of their family or friends being picked off by undead while tending the orchards and other crops.
"I don't know how you Buffalo can stand this heat with all that thick fur! Phew!" One of the urban stallions from Barnston declared, fanning his ash-colored face and sweat-soaked white mane and breathing heavily. The Buffalo made a rumbling sound of laughter in her throat. 
"It all depends on where and how you are raised, Quick Cut. Your sister mentioned an enchanted device called an 'air conditioner' that cools the air in a room?" Quick Cut nodded. 
"I'd give my left eye for one of those out here now!" He muttered, still waving the hat like a fan. 
"We Buffalo live most of our lives without many of the things that you city ponies take for granted. While it may not always be comfortable it has made us a hardier folk for it. Do not worry; In time you too will become used to it."
"I hope not. I'm hoping the royalty will come up with some kind of solution before it comes to that."
"That's a nice dream, Quick, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Not after all this time." Said the lone Unicorn of their group. The Unicorn stood up. "Okay, folks, you've had your water and breather break. Let's get moving again before the sun gets any higher."
For another hour their group of eight continued along their route until they came to an abandoned settlement that had once been inhabited by the workers that originally worked the old quarry back in its day. The town was a real dump now, and a good many of the boards were either dry rotted or else pried off from the original structure to be used for kindling. Nearly half the town's remains had fallen over or inward, and the well in the middle of town was drier than Appaloosa's personal brand of Apple Wine.
"What are we doing here, Pierce?" Quick Cut, annoyed, asked the Unicorn. "We've already picked through this place a dozen times! There's nothing left here of value unless you value broken shot glasses and fresh cactus juice!" They stopped in the middle of the town's ruins and their team leader turned around to look at him, an odd small smile on his face. 
"Actually there is something of value here, Quick Cut. Come with me, and I'll show you. The rest of you wait here. I'll be back shortly." Quick Cut frowned, but followed Pierce Around the side of what used to be a pub. They crossed the only other street and approached what was left of the jail, which was in much better condition than the other buildings due to being built from brick instead of wood. The town's bank was, ironically enough, built right up against it. 
Pausing at the entrance, Quick Cut rolled his eyes.
"Have you been in the sun too long? That bank must have been looted over a hundred years ago! There can't possibly be anything left in it."
"One being's waste is another's valuables. Come on, I'll show you." Sighing, Quick Cut followed Pokey Pierce until he stopped in front of the old vault and began fiddling with the door's combination lock.
That's strange. Why was it shut to begin with? Quick Cut wondered. Other than the occasional bandit or perhaps treasure hunter locking up their things for safe keeping the door would otherwise be left open. I mean, He gave a critical look at the lock that Pierce expertly spun with his magic while one ear was pressed against the metal. If there's nothing precious in it, then-
The door's lock clacked and Pokey Pierce tugged it open with his body rather than his magic. Quick Cut leaned forward and was hit in the face with a small water balloon. The balloon burst, splashing his face with a liquid that smelled like sweet-scented cleaning liquid. As he wiped at his eyes and choked a bit on it he began to feel woozy, and just as he began to blink again he fell to the floor fast asleep. 
Pokey waited a minute for all the liquid to evaporate and be blown away by the near-constant breeze that blew through this part of the desert and then stepped out from behind the door where three Gryphons were stepping out of the vault, one of them holding a bottle of Chloroform and wearing a brown Manticor-leather jacket. 
"Took your sweet time!" The tallest of the three and jacket-wearer said gruffly as his companions set to tying ropes around Quick Cut's legs and around his muzzle. "We were starting to think that maybe you fell into some quicksand!" Pokey snorted.
"In which case I would have just levitated myself out again. Do you have it, Grode?" The Gryphon nodded.
"Of course I do. I may be a slaver, but I'm not a liar. Here." Grode reached into his jacket and pulled out a parcel. Pokey took it and opened it, digging through the contents. A few minutes later he nodded, satisfied. 
"A pleasure doing business with you, Grode, as always. Do try not to break my teeth this time. Let's go for a bruise on the barrel and a black eye, shall we?" Grode shrugged.
"It's your pain. Where are the others?"
"Out in the middle of the town. They're probably getting a little antsy by now, though. One of them is a she-Buffalo, so watch yourself."
"Thanks for the warning but my boys can handle it. Here's the rest." Grode again reached into his jacket and pulled out a smaller package, followed by a bag of canned food and bottled water.
"Until next time, then. Where will you be heading this time so we know where to expect your next...shipment."
"I thought I might head off to one of the seaside towns. I heard from some of the refugees that one of them has a small orphanage in it."

Three hours later Pokey Pierce stumbled and collapsed in front of the farm-side entrance Appaloosan town. A pony on the walls pointed him out and he was brought inside where it was discovered that his patrol group had been attacked not by Shamblers, but bandits near the old quarry town. 
"When I tried to fight them they tossed me into one of the buildings and it fell on me. When I finally dug myself out I didn't see anyone. I don't know what happened to my group but I do know that they were Gryphons! What is the point of these walls keeping out the dead if the living are against us?!" This question set many of the other folk a'talking about leaving and heading someplace else, but in the meantime Pokey had a wife to go home to and was allowed to do so.
After explaining to her what had happened he brought out the parcel that Grode had given him and unwrapped it. It was a bottle of wine that was over two hundred years old. He fetched glasses from a cupboard and half filled them. "to my lost squad mates. I hoped they survived."
"Blessings on them." She said sadly before sampling it. "My, this is delicious!" She exclaimed with a slight smile. "A bit of a steep price to pay for it though, considering how much slaves normally sell for."

> Canterlot Upper District - Shining Armor 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Sixteen days after last SA chapter)


"No! Unacceptable! I absolutely refuse to let you do this!" The fat, stuffy, and well-dressed noble shouted as several members of the royal guard paraded through his living room with his disassembled bed frame, emptied armoire, and the banister of his steps. The portly stallion placed his tubby body in the entrance to his home and glared at the guards in front of him. "You all put those back where you found them at once!! And unscratched! They cost me more than you get paid in a month to buy!"
"What's going on here?" Asked a young and tired voice from outside the noble's home. The noble turned and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Captain, your stallions are stealing from my home! Nearly half of my furniture has already been carted off, and they are even going so far as to take my bed frame!"
"I see. I suppose you didn't read the royal notice, then." Shining Armor replied, blinking and looking disinterested. 
"Royal notice? What royal notice?" The noble asked, blinking in confusion. Shining Armor took a breath and with the air of one that had repeated the same quote multiple times in one hour (and was not pleased to do so) recited the most recent decree.
"'All non-essential sturdy wood is to be used in the construction of the rooftop walkways.'" Shining Armor pointed at his guards holding the furniture and banister in the noble's house. "What they've taken is what's made of wood and is superfluous in your house. They won't take your mattress or rugs, or silver and glassware. They won't take your bits, and they won't take your clothes. In short-" Shining cleared his throat as the noble opened the mouth on his increasingly outraged face to protest again. "In short, they are taking exactly what they've been ordered to take, and nothing else. If you have a complaint-" The noble opened his mouth a second time, this time raising a hoof. "I suggest you keep it to yourself, because judging by your flab you've probably never done a hard day's work in your life!" Shining Armor's face hardened into a fierce glare. "And my patience with you arrogant, self-important and pompous plotholes is wearing thin!" The noble swallowed and took a step back. "Now, if you'll kindly stay out of their way, they'll finish their job, and leave you in peace. Good day." 
Without waiting to see what the flustered noble did, Shining Armor turned away and continued walking down the street, sighing as he went. He'd already needed to repeat that line close to twenty times today to the populace, and he was more than tired of it. Why couldn't we have saved the populace of the Lower District instead? He mentally chided himself a moment later for it. He'd been both raised as a colt and instructed as a guard to value all life and not just the lives of those that he preferred the company of. Much as it annoyed him to admit it, the nobles fell into that category as well. They may have seemed to be little more than mouths to feed that did nothing but spout complaints in return, but they were still citizens.
Shining Armor placed a shod hoof to his forehead just below his horn and sighed. "Sometimes I think I'd rather be a Pegasus out scavenging the countryside than here dealing with the public!" The flap pf leathery wings approaching followed by the clop of four hoofs touching down behind him gave him no relief. He had a good idea who it was.
"Good day, Captain!" A cheerful female voice greeted, accompanied by what he knew would be an exaggerated salute. "You're looking grumpy as ever, sir!"
Shining Armor sighed again and lowered his hoof to the ground, turning to address the smiling Bat-pony mare. A small part of him appreciated her efforts to cheer him and the other guards up, but at the moment the rest of him really wasn't in the mood. When did I become so irritable? he wondered. He then recalled the current day's events stacked on top of all the rest of the things he'd had to put up with over the last year. Now he understood.
"Hello, Gale Rider. Report."
"Yes sir! Thirty two Shamblers destroyed so far today with the inward migration of undead from the outside numbering twenty nine! Outward progress on the rooftop walkways from the Upper District has reached the third block out, with twenty one buildings total now accessible to non-fliers! Window screen is being used to prevent the drainage of the dirt being used to coat the rooftops through the rain gutters during scheduled raining, and the teams of volunteer Pegasi are returning from the surrounding farmlands with more fresh food a well as seeds to be planted in the gardens, and a few medical supplies from the farm houses. Also, Princess Luna has decided that the idea from Wind Whistle to use clouds as a mobile platform to impale Shamblers will be put into action."
Shining Armor found himself smiling. Finally, some good news!
Gale Rider gaped wide-eyed at the young Captain. He was smiling! The playful poke she'd given him a few weeks ago had only been partly a joke. Smiles in general were a rare thing, but the captain had barely given more than a ghost of one in a long time. Sadly, it was short-lived, but still, it had been there. This proved the there was still more of him left inside than duty.
"So what's the bad news?" Shining Armor asked. There was always bad news to accompany the good. That was just how reports seemed to work these days. Gale Rider sighed and frowned.
"The nobles are threatening to riot if we continue to take their belongings to use to build the walkways. Fancy Pants and his wife are trying to calm them down, but it's not working." Shining rolled his eyes and made a face of disgust.
"They're going to waste food throwing it at us because they're unhappy? Seriously?"
"Even they aren't that stupid, thankfully. No, they're threatening to start throwing our people over the walls and down the mountain." Shining scowled.
"They do realize that the Ponies they're threatening are armed, trained, and looking for a valid excuse to beat some sense into them, right?" Shining had not been the only one putting up with their foolishness. 
"Not just our guards, unfortunately. The Lower District Ponies and the tourists are tired of putting up with them, too. Sir, if it was only our people who were being harassed I wouldn't have mentioned it because we know better, but the others have been treated like dirt far longer than we have by the Fatties, and have been warning us that their patience is wearing thin. If push comes to shove, it may go south very quickly."
"Wonderful." Shining said sarcastically. "The first war Equestria might have in centuries, and it's going to be fought during an apocalyptic situation, and by the civilians and civil protectors, no less! Any idea how we can stop it short of going to the royals?" Getting the royal sisters to stop it would certainly be effective, but it felt too much like a child running to its mother because of a fight between two older siblings. 
"Other than returning the furniture that we've been ordered to take?"
"Wonderful." Shining said again, feeling a headache coming on. Not for the first time today.

By the time Shining Armor and Gale Rider arrived on scene multiple ponies and others were being carted off to their infirmary and both the dissemblers that had taken part in the very one-sided brawl that had broken out and a large number of rioters were being arrested while others were fleeing. Looking from one side of the scene to the other, Shining Armor felt his headache getting worse.
"Do I even want to know what happened here?" he asked a group of guards escorting a female Gryphon missing several patches of feathers that passed nearby.
"The Fatties got exactly what they've been asking for!" the black-eyed female Gryphon responded, looking smug and flexing her cuffed talons. 
One of the earth pony guards frowned at the Gryphon and explained where the fight had started as well as who ended it.
"No one was killed, but there are several on both sides that will need medical attention."
Well, there goes today's scavenged medical supplies. Shining Armor shook his head, frowning. 
"Have the royal sisters been told about this yet?"
"We sent a messenger fifteen minutes ago. If they don't know yet, they soon will."
"Good. Hopefully it will be Luna who shows up and not Celestia." The guard tilted his head in confusion.
"Sir?"
"I never thought I'd say this, but Celestia is too forgiving. This plague could very well mean the end of our species, and we're fighting each other instead of the undead. This cannot be let go with only a rap on the fetlock." 

It was luna that arrived, and the punishment she meted out was indeed more than a mere scolding. She offered them an ultimatum: either those involved pulled triple the work load of what passed for the daily activity of the Canterlot citizen in these times for the next month, or they would be teleported outside the safety of the stone walls with only a single weapon each to defend themselves and would not be allowed back in for the same amount of time. It was a punishment that Celestia only allowed because both of them doubted any of those being punished would be daring (or stupid) enough to take the second option. 
They, and the whole of their colony were shocked to find out, however, that there were some willing to risk life and limb outside! Twenty six chose to be placed outside the walls. Of those twenty six, only four of them were ponies, and all four of them were Unicorns. When they were asked why-
"-in the name of all creation, why do you feel that that is the better alternative?!" they replied that while it was indeed going to be dangerous that nearly all of the Lower District had yet to be looted by them and there was probably an abundance of canned, bottled, and packaged goods that could be scavenged.
"And really, who better to go out into that Shambler-infested place than those that can't be turned into one of them?" the same she-Gryphon that had spoken to Shining Armor earlier added with a shrug. "Besides, it gets us away from the Fatties."
Though the princesses did not like it, their choice had been made, and after giving them their promised weapons, sent them outside the following morning. There were many well-wishers amongst those that had gathered to watch them go, but there were many more who though them insane, or just plain fools. 
"They're marching to their deaths." One frowning nurse declared. He shrugged. "But, it is their lives. The princesses tried to give them a way out."
"Well, they're not wrong." A Minotaur called down from atop one of the rooftop walkways as he carried materials to the building across the street. "Most of the time when our scavengers go out prospecting they leave the city entirely. The Lower District is probably a proverbial goldmine of supplies for anyone bold and skilled enough to reclaim it." He paused a moment to watch one of the Unicorns swish her weapon and decapitate a Shambler that had gotten too close to her. The head rolled across the ground and came to a stop at the sidewalk as the rest of the body crumpled to the cobblestones. "But you're probably right, too. It doesn't take a pair of wings or binoculars to see all the bodies roaming around down there."
Shining Armor stood behind one of the metal gates, watching their progress until they had moved around the bend and out of sight, a slight twinge of envy prodding at him. This was his city. This mountain was where his grandparents were buried. This place was a sanctuary from the Tartarus Equestria had become. And now, he finally realized, this place was also his jail cell. 
Turning about, he marched back up to the castle to begin planning in earnest the taking back of his home from the undead.
> Sweet Apple Acres Cider Cellar - Berry Punch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Berry downed what seemed like an endless river of cider and wished not for the first time that it was something a tad stronger. Oh screw it, she wished outright that the cider was hard so that she could drink away her latest and final failure as a parent: she'd gone outside while drunk and angry, and got infected. That had been three hours ago, and the reported and well-known feelings of numbness had spread up from the bite on her right hind leg to well-passed her middle. The feeling of being hollow on the inside had already started and was growing stronger with each passing minute. No matter how much cider she drank in it just wasn't enough. 
"Stupid. I am so dang stupid!" Berry pressed and wiped her muzzle with her hoof. For more than half a year she'd stayed sober, then this morning she downed every last drop of liquor she had left in the house in less than half an hour. She saw what had been done to her home, and it in combination with the alcohol made her furious. She reached into her kitchen drawers and dug around until she found the biggest knife she had, then told her little Ruby to stay inside and locked the door behind her.
Staggering around like...well, like an angry drunk, Berry yelled out a challenge at the top of her lungs and waited impatiently for the Shamblers to attack her. Three knife stabs to three right eye sockets later two of them came at her from in front and behind. She knifed the one in front of her and ended it, but when she bucked at the other she made the mistake of kicking it in the mouth. She broke its lower jaw, but its teeth on the upper jaw dragged across her leg and scrapped a fair bit of flesh away with it. After limping back into her house and cleaning the scrape up the numbness started spreading up from her leg, and drunk though she was she parenting instincts kicked in and she left Ruby Pinch in their house to protect her daughter from what would soon enough no longer be her mother.
"Not that I was much of a mother to her in the first place..." She lifted the mug to drink again, but discovered that it was empty and tossed it across the room, giving it an annoyed look as it flew and bounced off the wooden walls. She looked down at her purple body. "All the things I could have done with or for my daughter, and most of the time I was too deep in a bottle or my flask to even walk straight! She's better off without me."
A beating sound on the cellar's doors. Thump! Thump! Thump! It looks like I've been followed. At least that's one more that Ruby won't need to dodge for awhile. Ugh, we should have left back when the trains were still coming to here like Ruby said we should, but no! I wanted to stay and let the guards or the army handle it! If we left now, Berry waved a hoof and stuck out her tongue, making a silly face and mocking herself. ponies might loot our house before we came back again! The beating sound continued, more of them this time, or perhaps the same one but faster. Now it's far too late. It's obvious now that help isn't going to be coming.
"Mom! Are you in there?"
Berry flinched as if she'd been punched in the gut. No! Go back to the house, Ruby! It's not safe here! Not that it was really safe anywhere, but anypony that took a look around on the surface could see that it was definitely not here.
"Mom, what's wrong? I know you're in there! Please, let me in!"
No, Ruby. I don't want you to see me turn. I don't want to hurt you after I do turn! Tears began to leak from her squeezed-shut eyes. 
"Mom, there's some of those things out here! They're coming! Please let me in!" Ruby's voice began to sound nervous rather than just confused and hurt. 
"Ruby...you know what's wrong. I'm....I'm turning into one of them!" Berry called up to her daughter. I was stupid, Ruby. I got drunk again at the worst possible time for it and I ran out and I fought those things. "Go home, Ruby! Go home and be safe! Survive!"
"That's just it, mom! You're not infected!"
What? Berry blinked and looked at the bandage she had on her leg. Then why do I feel so numb? "When you got back after fighting those things you passed out on the floor! I gave you some of that painkiller stuff that dad used to give to patients after doing surgery on them and then cleaned you up. When you woke up again you said something about feeling numb and wanting to keep me safe and then ran out the door! You're not infected, mom! You're feeling the...morphic? Morthin? The morph-stuff taking effect!"
Morphine...wait, I feel numb on most of my body. How much did she give me?!
"Mom, they're really close now!!" Ruby informed her, sounding really scared. "Please open the door!" Berry tried to stand and found that she couldn't anymore, so instead she threw herself forward on the dirt floor and dragged herself across it with her forehoofs, barely feeling the edges of the wooden steps scraping her middle as she hauled herself up them and reached a hoof up to push the trapdoor up. Two inches open, three. She could just barely see outside as one of the Shamblers reached her little filly and grabbed her. Ruby Pinch screamed followed by her mother screaming in horror and then Berry Bunch snapped awake and banged her head backward against the cider keg she had been leaning against. She blinked blearily in confusion the darkness of the cider cellar and looked around.
Just a dream? But it felt so- 
A thumping sound against the cider cellar trapdoor roused Berry Punch further and recalling the events that she'd dreamed and not wanting to risk ignoring what might have been a vision of the future coming true threw herself forward onto her stomach immediately and crawled forward. Her body, as it was in her dream, was numb, but the numbness was inching up her neck now, and her limbs felt weak and rubbery.  Hold on, baby...mama's almost there!
Her vision, impeded by the already dark room seemed to go completely black for a moment and she faltered, but pressed on. One hoof after the other she progressed across the room until she reached the steps, then slowly dragged herself up the steps. Almost...there! She lifted a hoof to the wood of the trapdoor, smiling a little, and then her body betrayed her and she her legs gave out completely, dropping her to her stomach and making her slide down the steps to the dirt floor. 
The thumping continued for a moment, then a voice that was certainly not her little Ruby muttered something about the pull-cord on the door being missing. What's the dream, I wonder? Berry thought as she lost all feeling in her body below the halfway point of her neck. Perhaps this whole nightmare is exactly that and this is just another drunken dream that I'll wake up from. That'd be nice... Her eyes closed as the trapdoor opened and sunlight streamed down through the hole. 
"Welp, looks like miss Punch had the same idea we did," said a former member of Ponyville's weather team. "but for different reasons, judging from the color she's turning." He stated while watching her fur's previous grape juice purple fur turning a bit lighter with the exception of the bandaged area on her one leg that was soaked through with an all-too-familiar black ichor.  "She hasn't turned just yet, though. What do you wanna do?"
There was complete audio silence to answer the Pegasus, save for the blowing of the wind through the apple trees' leaves. After a minute he nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that would be for the best. There's no sense in wasting a perfectly good 'guard dog' to look after the cider when we're not here to drink it. I'll go find a good chain and something to use as a collar." As he left the cellar to look around in the barn, his eyes briefly flickered green.

Meanwhile in town, a lone young filly ran out of the back alley behind her house and down the street. She looked around carefully, then sighed and there was a flash of green light. The Real Ruby Pinch had died on the third day of Ponyville's outbreak on her way to school back before Pony kind knew what it was really up against. Seeing a perfect opportunity to gain a steady source of food the Changeling that other ponies in town knew as the eccentric clock maker Time Turner switched forms and carried on with Ruby Pinch's day as if nothing happened. 
But with her primary source of food now dead and soon to be a Shambler there was no point in keeping up the ruse any longer. Now it was time to move on.
But it intended to sample something that would likely soon be a rare luxury: the Apple family's home-made apple cider!
"Snag me a bottle too, will you?"

> Ponyville's Outskirts - Discord
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ponyville Outskirts - Discord
	

This was not what he'd wanted. Quite the opposite, really. Two years ago it might have been exactly what he'd wanted. Equestria and a fair portion of the rest of the world was in a state of chaos, his greatest enemies were all but gone, any who might have stood a chance against him was dead, and the Elements of Harmony were undone- returned to the tree from whence they'd come. But this time it was all a dreadful, horrifying accident, and had it been within his power, he'd have undone it. This wasn't what she would have wanted. But not even Discord, spirit of Chaos and formerly disharmony had the ability to alter time on a scale large enough to alter what he had caused.
"'The path to Hell, is paved with good intentions'." Discord muttered the quote as he stood atop Fluttershy's old house and looked down at the abandoned site below and around him. "Fah! I paved that path with selfish intention. I wanted her back. Well guess what, Discord old chap!" He said in a mocking cheerful voice aloud and to himself. "The road is paved, painted, and well-traveled to boot!" His fake mirth fell away to reveal a face of sorrow as several undead ponies and one donkey paused in their wandering near the path from the house to the town and looked around for the source of the voice. After thirteen seconds they resumed their plodding. 

A year and a few weeks ago Fluttershy had attempted to aid an injured and maddened Hydra with two heads that had tread through Poison Joke. For the first time that any could recall Fluttershy's natural powers of persuasion and soft voice could not calm the creature. It was only after it had gone on to rampage through the town and it was put down that a chemical analysis discovered what had affected it. Poor Fluttershy, sadly, had been fatally injured by the thrashing it gave her, and nearly the entire town had turned up for her funeral.
Discord had not known about this taking place because his presence had been requested by Celestia in regards to a sudden growth spurt in the populations of the Parasprites. Given that he'd been the one to create them in the first place (for the purpose of disposing of organic garbage when he was still in charge in the ancient times) she felt that he'd be the best one to deal with the situation. To that, he'd gave her a 'really?' face and then made a large flyswatter appear and presented it to her.
"Just splat them with it until you're happy with the amount of them that are left. It's not that hard to do, Celestia dear." Celestia had given him a look of disgust, and then said that though she'd laughed when Luna suggested it she'd hoped for a more practical and less icky suggestion. To that, he made a large bug zapper with a fresh apple visible inside the zap-lights and then hung it in place of a chandelier. He then placed a tarp underneath it to catch the ash that would be sure to result.
"Happy now?"
Celestia had not in fact, been happy, but allowed his methods to be used so long as he agreed to be the one to place more bug zappers throughout the farming regions outside of Manehatten. He'd agreed, and a few days later returned to his home expecting to see Fluttershy tending to several of the hoard of stray and wild animals that hung around or visited her house every day, but was surprised to see not a single animal nor sign of the house's owner. Puzzled, he knocked on the door and waited for a few minutes to no response. Snapping his fingers he unlocked the door and let himself in to discover that all the furniture have been covered over with plastic and all the indoor homes for the small rodents that lived with her deserted as well. 
Beginning to feel a touch of concern he popped into Twilight's Library to inquire as to Fluttershy's whereabouts and where the animals (or noisy pests as he called them) had gone off too. Needless to say he was not happy with the answer and concluded immediately that Twilight Sparkle was trying to play a mean joke on him. One by one he visited Fluttershy's other friends and received the same answer. Finally, quite put out and slightly afraid that they might be telling the truth Discord wentback to Celestia and asked one final time where Fluttershy was. When he received the same answer that he had five other times, it finally sunk in and he was reminded why he had rarely if ever bothered to make friends with mortals in the past.
He was angry with nothing (that was to blame) to take his anger out on. He was sad without a friend (besides Pinkie Pie who was trying to keep a brave face up for the sake of her other friends. He decided to not bother her)  to share his sorrow with, and his only home was a placed intermixed now with good memories that were chased by the very raw fact that the pony who'd been a part of those good memories would never return to it again...or could she? Surely even death itself was no match in the face of his chaos magic? Had not sorcerers of the past raised the dead to do their bidding? Their magic was limited to the strength and skill of mortals, but his own was admittedly the greatest outside of Tartarus! Surely he could raise up both her body and attach her soul to it!

Disocrd, atop Fluttershy's house, sighed at his naivete and arrogance. Even with all the time I have lived I still make foolish mistakes. Sometimes I think that emotion really  is a curse! If I had been calmer, perhaps I would have realized the folly of such a thing before attempting it.

Though he had indeed managed to grant her corpse a sort-of new life Fluttershy's soul had apparently been at peace and was unwilling to answer his summons to return to mortality. Because he'd performed his raising ritual on the hope that she'd return of her own will he'd not made that one of the necessities in the spell-matrix. He'd wanted her to retain her free will, and so with her not being in control the resulting abomination became a new breed of monster rather than an undead servant like those sorcerers from memory that he'd been thinking of before.
Horrified at what he'd wrought he raised a hand with poised fingers but was unable to bring himself to snap them. He knew this wasn't his friend. This was a mindless free-willed golem, but it looked too much like her for him to bring himself to harm it. Discord lowered his hand and sighed. 
Leading Golemshy into her house using a bit of concentrated magic Discord shut the door behind it and drew shut the blinds. Once it was all the way in the house he shut the door and locked it to keep not-Fluttershy inside.
A week of trying to convince himself to go through with destroying it later found him inside of Twilight's library reading up on cases of successful cases of reanimating loved ones. Maybe I can find a spell to allow me to talk to her directly and convince her to come back... He thought as he turned a page. Suddenly he heard a scream outside. This in and of itself was nothing out of the ordinary in Ponyville, but it was the way it sounded and that it grew louder by the second that drew his attention from the book. Setting it down on the small table next to him for the moment Discord walked over to a window and stuck his head out to see what was going on. Two houses down the local mail Pegasus, Derpy, was chomping down on the hindquarters of the town bodybuilder that most local ponies jokingly called Roid Rage. This on its own was nothing really worthy of note, as Derpy had bitten others before when they made her angry enough, but the fact that she herself had several bloody bites on her body as well as a particularly lethal-looking one on her throat and was being assisted by Golemshy, who was tearing away at the poor stallion's barrel made Discord's eyes widen and his calm demeanor shatter.
Several other ponies nearby ran to put a stop to the mindless violence, not knowing of the real danger while others panicked and ran around with no clear destination in mind. Two stallions wrestled Derpy away and pinned her to the ground while another stallion and mare pulled Golemshy away for a moment, then froze for a few seconds when they recognized her. 
"It can't be!" The mare whispered.
"What in the bu- Yeeaarghuurrl!" the stallion said before being tackled and having his face torn into. At this the three remaining would-be heroes fled the scene while RR limped weakly away on three legs while holding his barrel from a once-more pursuing Derpy and the third stallion was gradually murdered.
From there things had gotten steadily worse until the town was in the state it was today. There were still a few surviving townsfolk that had stuck around and were doing their best to survive, as well as nearly a quarter of the population that fled to other places. Discord had seen the state of some of those 'other places' however, and concluded that among the 'survivors' from Ponyville had been others that had been bit. 
At first he'd been confused as to why the living were turning into more Zombies, but after a bit of research in Twilight's library he discovered that it was an effect of the particular ritual he'd chosen to use. In his rush to bring Fluttershy back he'd chosen a ritual that was meant to create an undead army bound to the original caster. A little saliva into a bleeding injury or bit of blood tainted with the same magic used in the ritual and over time the spell would corrupt the natural magic within the infected, and gradually convert them to the same state as the original. The only known ways to permanently stop them was the ever-popular cliche of destroying the brain, or to kill the original caster. Because (as far as he or anyone else knew) Discord was immortal the second option was impossible, and the few times he'd tried to destroy the Zombponies with his magic he only succeeded in making them a little stronger as the spell that animated them fed on his magic.

"Now there's little I can do to stop them." Discord bowed his head in shame as thunder boomed in the clouds above him
So far as he knew, no one knew that this Zombpony-pocolyose was his fault, and considering how many had died he wasn't about to inform Celestia or Luna (or Twilight, if she was still alive) anytime soon, guilt or no. He could not die, but that did not mean that he could not feel pain, and eternally inflicted pain wasn't a fun thing to experience.  So he remained in the place where it all begun, wallowing in his own punishment of self-loathing. 
It was true, he'd done things of unpleasantness to Ponykind and the world in general in the past, but he'd never killed any of them. Now he'd probably indirectly killed more ponies and others than the last four wars to take place on this planet.
.
> Gryphon borders - Refugee Camp
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Please! She's the only family I have left!" A desperate Earth Pony father cried, clutching his daughter in his legs close to him while an armed and armored Gryphon glared at him. His daughter in the meantime was silent but for her rapid breaths. 
"She's also infected, Pony! Look at her!" The Gryphon pointed a talon. "We don't want to kill her, but the longer you waste our time, the greater the chance that we'll have to! Now put her down and step back!"
"No! I'll not let you-" The Gryphon whistled through his beak and two more guards that were speaking to a merchant ran over.
"Separate those two! We need to amputate her back leg before it's too late." They nodded and stepped forward to wrestle the two apart. When the father refused to back down one of them knocked him on the head with the pommel of his short sword. 
Pulling his half-moon axe from his back the first Gryphon separated the filly's injured leg from the other as best he could, then swung his axe through flesh, bone, and blood with a sickening squelch. The other two wasted no time and set to staunching the blood with their own bandages.
The first turned away and grabbed his stomach, feeling a little queasy. Soldier or not, this wasn't something one could get used to. Wind Gods willing, he wouldn't be forced to. In the meantime their latest 'patient' would need to be moved to the nearest medical isolation pen in case the emergency ‘surgery’ had indeed been delayed for too long and she still turned. The father would be returned to his tent until he came to. In the meantime it was almost time for those currently on border patrol to retire for the day and be replaced by someone else.
Each day half their nation’s standing army patrolled their nation’s borders, each day they slew at least a dozen of the undead ponies, though there were usually more. There were especially more when a new batch of refugees fleeing from Equestria would be found crossing the borderline between their two countries. Sometimes their pursuers were few, and sometimes there could be over two dozen, though fewer and fewer refugees were being found as of late.
When refugees first started arriving they came in droves, and there were many of them that tried to hide bite injuries on friends or family members in the hopes that maybe, just maybe their darling filly or colt or husband or wife might be some sort of chosen lucky pony to be immune to this plague. They never were, and it almost always ended with a new outbreak inside the makeshift refugee camps several miles within. After the fifth time in one week that it occurred every refugee was forced to strip naked before being allowed into Gryphona, even if their clothes and bandaged injuries had to be torn from them by force. Though only Pony-kind seemed to be turned into Shamblers when they died after being bitten, this did not prevent them from attacking the other races (and animals).
Supposedly this ‘plague’ will only last about ten to fifteen years tops, but it’s already gone on long enough! If the only invaders we had to deal with were the undead there’d be no issue, but all these immigrants are putting a strain on our nation’s food and general supplies. He looked at the father being carried back to his assigned living area and frowned. If it goes on for more than three or four more years the Ponies might find themselves being eaten by something other than their undead brethren!

> Gryphon Border's Edge - Night Patrol
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gryphon Border's Edge – Night Shift Border Patrol
(Six Hours Later)

Phoenix the Gryphon pulled his whetstone down the left side of his spearhead for what felt like the thousandth time this week and then began sharpening the other side. If things kept up for his patrol like they had for the last three months he would be replacing his ninth spearhead within the next few days. He glanced at the stone itself and tossed it over his shoulder before reaching into a pouch in his backpack and pulling out a fresh one to continue his task.
^Ssshing^ ^Ssshing^ ^Ssshing^
“Ugh, will you give it a rest, Phoenix?! You’ve been sharpening your spears for the last hour and the sound is driving me nuts!” Phoenix paused a moment and looked across the small campfire his squad of five had built at their newest recruit. Shard's fur, unlike most Gryphons, was the color of wood ash, and his feathers were a rich red color. It was a trait that most of the males in his family shared, but that really was all there was to it. It marked him as different, not special. 
“You would do well to do the same, young Shard. A dull weapon will do you no good against what we face in these times. Or in any time of battle, for that matter.”
Phoenix himself was the of the more common coloration of brown-gold fur and white feathers with the only difference being that his pinions were tipped with a fiery orange-gold, hence why his mother gave him that name. Whereas Shard was in his early twenties, Phoenix was in his late fifties. Most Gryphons lived to be in their early eighties, and he doubted that he would be an exception provided something besides time did not kill him first.
“For what we face in these times we’d be better off using hammers and axes, not spears and crossbows!”
“Oh?” Phoenix raised an eye ridge. “And I suppose you want to get close enough for one of the Shamblers to bite a chunk out of you? If you do, by all means trade in your own spear after the next rotation. I’m sure someone else will make good use of it.”
Shard opened his beak and was about to say something in return when their squad’s leader rose to his paws and talons and shouldered his pack.
“That’s enough, you two." Their commanding officer stated. "Time for us to move on to the next location; the others behind us will be coming up on our position soon enough, and those ahead of us likely have already moved on.”
“Aye ma’am.”
“Yes ma’am.” Both nodded and rose from their seats on the bare ground. Gathering their equipment, they fell into their regular positions and began walking. Had the time been during the daylight they would have flown rather than walking but on a cloudy night such as this one it was dim enough that even their sharp vision could see no farther than that of regular birds (excluding owls).  Several watchtowers were being planned for construction in the near future, but even those wouldn't help much when time got to being passed sun-down, and there would still be the need for active guards on standby to be on claw in case a herd of the dead larger in number than five or six was spotted. With the Gryphon race's ability to hover in mid-air just out of reach yet still able to strike with pole weapons or arrows and bolts the Gryphons had a distinct advantage in extermination over say, the Diamond Dogs and Minotaur races, but once in awhile someone would hover a little too low and get grabbed. Being immune to the plague aside, no one felt like being chewed to pieces because they made a mistake and were pulled into a crowd of ravenous undead.
"So," Shard began, once more breaking the silence. "why aren't we building a wall of wood or stone along our borders like the Minotaur are? We could just wait for them to come up to the walls, and then have someone walking along the top impale their head, and keep on walking. It'd be like squashing bugs." 
"Because we don't need to." Their leader replied, eyes never ceasing in scanning the uneven rocky terrain. "Most of our people live on or in canyon-like or mountainous terrain. With a few exceptions such as our own little town, a nest-full* of refugee camps, one or two coal mines and the fishing villages along the coast most of of our living regions are out of reach from ground-bound attacks. With the exception of the one small city the Diamond Dogs have, the wall building that Diamond Dogs are doing only involves blocking up the entrances to their dens."
"That's right," Pheonix agreed, continuing "and in the case of the Minotaur most of their territory is flat and open meaning that the undead ponies can walk in with nothing to hinder them other than the Minotaur warriors themselves. If one of the so-called hordes were to come along it could cause them a lot of harm." Shard was skeptical.
"But not us? I thought you said" Shard turned his head to address the lead Gryphon. "that our fishing villages were on the ground. Most of our local food comes from them, right?" She shook her head. 
"For them to have gotten that far into our territory uncontested it would mean that the rest of our nation are in dire straights. At that point it would hardly matter if they got that far. Even if they did the villagers down there are no slouches. They're Gryphons, after all." There was a sharp intake of breath behind Shard and the leader and the two of them went silent, weapons once at rest or holstered were now held at the ready.
"Up ahead on the right, by the rock." A pointed spear directed their attention, though the words were more than enough. A figure slouched against the large not-quite-a-boulder, its breaths ragged and gurgling. Two more figures, both equine and roughly the same size were slowly plodding along passed it. In the dark it was impossible for facial features to be visible, but the smell on a gentle breeze told the story all too well. 
"I'll take the one out front. Phoenix, get the one on the rock. Shard, the straggler." The trio spread out to approached their targets, but paused as a sudden but brief buzzing sound became apparent. They looked at one another, then at their targets, then all around and back to each other, and shrugged. Starting forward again, The one by the rock was put down first, followed by the lead. As Shard approached the last one however, the brief buzzing sound came again, much closer this time. 
Sounds like the wings of a hummingbird...or maybe a hornet. Shard raised his weapon to skewer the Shambler's head, then froze when it turned its face towards him. It looked like an ordinary pony in the dark, but now that Shard was closer he saw that it wasn't. Its body was a reflective solid black chitin save for places where a few chunks along the neck were missing. One dull blue eye flickered with light where the other seemed to have been torn out along with part of its face, and large wings like a dragonfly's twitched on its back, creating that occasional buzzing. That's not a Pony! That's a Changeling! It opened its fanged mouth and let out a loud high-pitched hiss instead of a moan or growl, and the sound of buzzing that they'd heard earlier sounded all around them, quickly growing louder. Shadows of movement sprung up from the ground and quickly closed on them, cutting off any chance of escape.
For a time yells of surprise filled the night but these quickly changed to screams of pain gradually drowned out by the sound of buzzing wings.
> Canterlot Lower District - The Punished
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot Lower District - The Punished
(Less than three days later)

Fayla, one of the few remaining 'Punished' (as the twenty six had jokingly called themselves) scrambled down a garbage-littered alleyway, gasping for breath and looking anxiously behind her. Fear was plain on her face, blood old and fresh stained her fur and feathers, and the sword she'd been given on the dawn of their first day outside the walls was broken and lost somewhere a few blocks back. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stopped to rest against the brick wall.
Things had started out well for them. On the first day they'd waded through the undead as if they were farmers harvesting wheat from the fields, and when the sun began to set they broke into two of the houses and then used some heavy furniture to barricade the door before bedding down for the night. The next day was much the same, only they'd found a police station that had better weapons, some stale snack food, and some First Aid supplies. It also had about fifteen undead locked up in the various cells, and three officers in the same state. They were dealt with and then tossed out into the prison carriage parking zone out back. 

__ __ __ __ __

"These things are what we've been afraid of all this time?" a Minotaur named Bard scoffed. "We've butchered more than twice our group of these guys in less than two days!"
"You can talk." the youngest of the four Unicorns said, rolling his eyes. "you won't turn into one of them if you get so much as half a bite from them!"
"If you're worried about that, then why did you and your pals come along?" Fayla asked, wiping her dirtied weapon on the side of a couch before sheathing it and opening a pack of crackers pilfered from a busted snack machine. "You'd have been nice and safe behind that wall."
"To get away from my mother." Bard snorted and laughed while the Unicorn scowled. Fayla raised an eyebrow and also smirked. "It's not funny!" he declared loudly.  "You don't know my mother! Ever since I moved out she's been harassing me about grandchildren, and this whole plague thing has only made her more insistent!" Adopting a poor imitation of his mother's voice he quoted "'Son, with our species on the brink of extinction it is your duty as a young, strong stallion to aid in repopulating this fine country!'" 
"Dear sweet Luna! Did she actually say that?" Fayla asked. 
"To my never-ending embarrassment, yes." he replied while pressing a hoof to his face. "In front of seven mares and Princess Celestia, no less." Bard fought to keep another laugh down by clamping a hand around his mouth, but the shape of his eyes told it all. 
"My grandmother treated my father like that, too." Bard finally managed, still smiling. "When my mother had me and my three younger sisters, she was thrilled."
"Family. What can ya do?" Fayla shrugged in response. She'd never had that issue with her folks.
"Nothing except be patient and love them." Bard said, patting him on his shoulder a little harder than he meant to.

__ __ __ __ __

Fayla turned her gaze to the sky and watched a wild cloud drift by. As it did so she smiled at the recent memory, and then quickly it turned to sadness and disgust. They'd saved her life and how had she repaid them? She'd left them stranded on the second floor of a two story diner. It wasn't like that. Stop blaming yourself! A voice within told her.
"Dead is still dead. There's no way they could have survived those maniacs!" she shot back, recalling a mix of ponies with wooden or metal pegs to replace their missing limbs and a talonfull of Minotaur (some of which were also missing limbs and in one case half her face). Their weapons ranged from weighted nets and clubs to wood-axes and cross bows. None of them had carried swords or any other piercing weapon save for their ranged ones. Their faces were empty of expression and they all wore armor fashioned from wood or padded cloth and the occasional few sporting pieces of the Canterlot guards’ armor.

__ __ __ __ __

Fayla looked down an alleyway to her right. She raised her left leg and motioned for the others of her team to enter it. She then turned around and watched their backs while they passed her, then joined them in bringing up the rear of their troop. They passed several locked doors, and stepped over one bloody and splintered door that had been broken down from the inside. Bard held up a fist and cautiously leaned forward and looked inside. Ten seconds passed, and then he motioned for one of their two Unicorns, a former guard named Bright Steel, to follow him. Bright Steel nodded and raised his weapon a little.
While the pair searched the inside of the building for anything useful the remainder of their thirteen calmly watched both the entrance to their alleyway, and the exit. Although it was clear and quiet for the moment that could change very quickly. Especially if Bard and Bright Steel ran into any trouble indoors and started yelling like a pair of morons. 
Just like team one not five minutes after we first separated.  Fayla thought with an eye roll. Fortunately either Bard and Bright Steel had either not found anything unfriendly inside, or else had dispatched it quickly and quietly because only a few minutes later they came back.
“There was nothing of interest in there besides half a bottle of South Shore Fire Whiskey.” Bard held the scavenged bottle of hot cinnamon alcohol up in one hand by its neck and grinned. A few others in their group also grinned, but most of them made an unpleasant face. That particular type of alcohol burned the second it hit your tongue, burned on the way down your throat, and burned on the way out as well. Frankly, Fayla did not see the appeal. Bard took some cloth out of a bloodstained saddlebag that Bright Steel had scavenged from a house they’d raided earlier and wrapped the bottle with it before sticking both back inside the saddlebag he’d taken the cloth from. He’d neglected to acquire any shot glasses, but with none of them being sick it didn’t much matter as far as he was concerned. 
Proceeding further down the alley and checking the other doors as they went and finding two more unlocked (one was a jewelry store and the other was another small home that probably belonged to the jewelry store’s owner at one time. Neither had anything of particular use in them) their group exited the alley and once more found themselves on a street. There were several undead stumbling about, but they were quickly dispatched before they even had time to react. Wiping the rotted bits of flesh that had stuck to their weapons on the side of a cloth-covered abandoned souvenir booth they created a box formation and headed to their right away from one of the three main roads that ran from the entrance of Canterlot to the royal castle. Half an hour later they stopped in the remains of a small market square and searched the booths for anything of use, but there wasn’t much. Only one rusted can of pears, some silverware and a half-drank bottle of water were discovered.
Hmm. Fayla frowned at the booth that they’d found the can of peaches in. It looked like it had been not so much ransacked as razed. The support poles for the cloth shade had been broken, the cloth was torn in multiple places, and the booth itself had been partially smashed. Having been one of those that had made it over the Upper District wall in the early days of the infection she’d seen rioters and looters acting as if they’d completely lost their minds. A booth or several getting smashed, along with the surrounding buildings’ windows wasn’t an uncommon sight, nor were the scattered corpses in varied states of decay or skeletons. But something about this particular area just didn’t seem right. Normally in a riot everything would have been smashed to some degree. This place though, wasn’t like that. Most of the booths that were damaged looked as if they’d been clumsily pulled apart rather than purposely destroyed. Still, a good number of the buildings not made completely of stone that we passed had their windows boarded up. I was a bit distracted with escaping this place back then to think about my surroundings very much. She shrugged, putting it from her mind.
“Canned pears, huh?” Bard grumbled, snorting. “What I wouldn’t give for a fresh bale of barley…or fresh anything, for that matter!”
“Unless we stumble across somepony’s backyard garden I doubt we’ll find any here in Canterlot. There’s probably some dried and preserved stuff in the grain warehouse near the train station in this district, though.” Bright Steel commented.
“How do you know that?” the other unicorn in their group asked. “I thought guards only patrolled the castle and streets of the Upper District.”
“Normally yes,” Steel confirmed. “But on the occasion when we’ve done something our commanding officers weren’t too happy with we’d be tasked with some of the more boring positions for a month or so as a lesson. A little over a year ago I got reported by a fellow guard named Star Shine for-” he stopped, blushed a little and coughed. “Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t entirely  my fault and leave it at that.” His blush faded and his face became serious again. “There’s a ladder by the backside of the warehouse that leads up to the second floor. It’s locked, but it’s a simple padlock. It shouldn’t take much for us to break in.”
“Assuming someone else hasn’t already done it and we make it that far; heads up folks, we’ve got visitors.” Another Gryphon stated before moving to duck behind one of the booths. The others moved to do the same as a trio of Shamblers made their way into the square. The Shamblers paused near the middle of the square and lazily looked around, their jaws slack and their eyes pale and glazed but otherwise mostly intact. One of them grunted and the trio continued walking again, slowly passing by Bard, who hefted his weapon and stood up behind them as they walked by. With three quick swings, he smashed their skulls like overripe watermelons and stood back as they fell to the cobblestones. Taking a minute to listen for any more ‘visitors’ they rose from their hiding places and discussed where to head next. 
Their discussion was interrupted when they heard a distant scream, followed by two more ten seconds apart. All three had come from the same direction, and it did not take a genius for them to guess where it was coming from.
“The other group sounds like they’re in trouble.” Steel stated.
“Yeah, we heard. But we’re probably too far away to get to them in time. ” Bard said, his expression grim with a bit of pity mixed in. Looking away from the direction the screaming came from he glanced at the others. “You want to try anyway?” A fourth scream that turned into a gurgle rang out, and their whole group winced.
Fayla looked at Bard, and then looked off into the direction the screams came from, and then back to Bard.
“No.” The others’ heads whipped to her. Some were shocked, others disgusted, and the remaining few were relieved that they’d not been the ones to say it. “Let me ask you a few questions: how many Shamblers would it have taken to overwhelm them? Shamblers aren’t fast or smart, and most are weaker than we are. How many of them would have been needed to-” another short-lived scream pierced the air and Fayla paused. “to overwhelm their group so badly that nearly half of them are as good as dead now? I’ll tell you: too many for us to handle. On top of that their screaming is sure to have only drawn more to them, and that’s not including those we’d have to fight our way through just to get to them. We’d only be throwing away our own lives trying.”
Bright Steel shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t like the idea of going against what he’d been trained to do for the last several years of his life, but he also agreed with Fayla. They’d do no one any good (least of all themselves) by getting themselves killed trying to be heroes. Bard on the other hand, frowned.
“So what, we just leave them to die?! How would you feel if our positions were reversed?”
“But they aren’t  and we may very well join them in that situation with no one to come to our rescue if we go!”
“Fine! You do what you want. I’m going!” Bard turned away from her and started jogging towards one of the roads leading out of the square. Bright Steel hesitated, looked at Fayla, then Bard, then nodded to himself and started after Bard, along with more than half of their group. Fayla scowled and shook her head, but followed as well, muttering that this was a mistake. But mistake or not, they’d survived this long together, and even with her arguing against going to the others’ rescue it didn’t sit right to just let them go and move on.

__ __ __ __ __

They should have listened to me. Heh, she smirked. Or perhaps  I should have listened to me. 
A rattling sound from an empty tin can tumbling across the cobblestone from back the way she’d come made her tense her muscles and inhale sharply, her eyes darting back down the alley. Dropping flat to the ground she rolled behind some old heaped garbage bags next to a metal door while clamping a dirty claw around her beak to keep from grunting from the pain of rolling over her recent injuries. Fayla breathed softly and listened for any further sounds. One minute passed, then two. When the fifth minute came Fayla relaxed a bit and was about to stand when she hear a cough followed by a subdued scolding from a second source.
If my father knew I was cowering from my enemies like this he’d be rolling in his grave! Still, he is in his grave, and I’m not too eager to find my own just yet. She reached down to one of the garbage bags and slit it open, hoping to find anything she could use as a weapon. Other than a bent butter knife, there wasn’t much and she dared not search more thoroughly for fear of making an audible noise.
“Come on, let’s go. If she were here, we’d have seen her when we came in.” complained a male’s voice from several meters away. “She probably flew away like the other two surviving Gryphons did.”
“Yeah…yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s head back.”
Fayla remained perfectly still for another two minutes, then risked peeking around the trash bags she hid behind. The alley was clear. Breathing a sigh of relief and ignoring the twinges of pain form her injuries she rose and continued heading back toward the Upper District region. They needed to be warned.