I am one of many survivors in the zombie apocalypse, though I am very different from all of them. I used to say that before what happened, where I went, somewhere I never meant to go to.
After many days, weeks, and months of surviving the zombie apocalypse, everything to me is the same. Wake up, go out to scavenge things to stay alive, all in all it's a kill or be killed situation. After making a quickly thought up plan, I, John, plan to find somewhere new to lay out for a while. Though after losing where I left my truck, and being unable to find a way back to the town I had recently visited, I get completely lost in this forest. Even though I was looking for a new place to stay, what I found was nothing that I'd imagined it to be.
My name is John, my last name’s not really important. I'm just another lucky asshole who's slipped through some situations that, honestly, should’ve guaranteed my demise. I suppose I can thank some of my experience and skills to have helped me through my journey. I've spent most of my time alone, and while it was difficult at first, being able to only rely on myself makes me feel a lot less stressed and more comfortable. I hate the idea of having to look after others, or having them look after me.
Life for me has become quite a rhythmic pattern. I've lost count of what year it is, month, week… I can barely remember what the days of the week are. Although anything unimportant such as dates died off a long time ago. Along with the others.
I wasn't much above the average Joe before everything fell apart. I had a simple life, job, good friends. No girl, but I was in the midst of transitioning between real adult life, and postsecondary schooling. Who has time for a relationship during that right?
Fuck, I wouldn't even think about asking a girl out right now even if she was the last female alive. Too much responsibility. Being alone is so much nicer. I guess I've completely absorbed the introverted lifestyle.
Of course I would have to say that I've changed a lot since the apocalypse. I've hardened, physically and psychologically. It almost feels like my personality has been melted down, hammered into a condensed bar, and shoved back inside me. Emotion rarely enters, or leaves me body. I've witnessed things that could break any normal person; make them go insane. I would be lying if I said I haven't gone crazy. I guess I'm really good at controlling it to my favor.
I have no spectacular body type. I've got dirty blonde hair, bordering brown hair that's too fucking long and needs to be cut. Two, deep green eyes sit deep into my sunken sockets. Every wrinkle under my eyes, an event that’s taken a year off my life. I'm probably only about 19 or something, so at least my body is in good shape. Last time I checked my height, I was about 6 feet. Although that was a few years ago...
My day begins with a quick jog up to the freshwater river that runs down from the tall mountains that incase my surroundings. It’s probably safe to admit it's Spring. I haven't seen snow in a while. The fresh, crisp air is the quickest thing to wake me up. Unless I'm about to get munched on by a walking deadman.
I slip out of a small, semi-permanent shelter that I've had standing for quite some time now. Built with the sturdiest birchwood I could find, and a heavy tarp I found one day while on an excursion. I pull my black, dirty and worn cargo pants over my exposed legs. They're just tough enough to withstand most combat, but allow me to run freely. My pants are followed by a pair of dark brown socks, then my aged black runners. Tossing on the rest of my clothing: shirt, jacket, and gloves (all black of course), I remind myself that I should find new clothes. I can only patch up so many holes. The darkness of my clothes has slowly faded over the years, and wither more and more, making them somewhat more adaptable to the environment than when I first wore them.
With my person fully equipped, I start onto the direction of the river with my small 1 strapped bag around my torso, and stainless-steel canteen in hand. It has a little bit of water left inside, which I waste no time in polishing off.
As far as what I use to defend myself, I always do my best to remain quiet. I have ⅔ throwing knives attached to my cargo pants securely. One of them, being misplaced somewhere. Never to be found. I also have a moderately sized combat knife bound to the outside of my pack, for easy access. A handheld hatchet, on the inside, and a shortbow draped around my body. I only have about 4 arrows, that are more for hunting rather than defence. So I have them tightly strapped to my bag as well.
The earth pounds beneath me with every step I take. Delightfully, nothing on my person rattles. I give myself a proud smile for my efforts. The run to the river doesn't take too long, and the sun is a couple hours above the horizon, showering its light on everything around me. I do stay hidden quite well indoors, or at night. But man, do I stick out like a sore thumb in broad daylight.
After I snatch my water, I begin the rest of my day.
There is a town about 10 minutes jog time due south. That’s where I usually start my shenanigans. Sometimes I'll come across something I had missed the previous trip I was there. I continue my jog to my next destination, taking off my jacket and gloves from overheating.
The sun feels hotter today than usual.
Arriving at the small ghost town, I locate the usual place I go to start my small raid. There aren't too many buildings, nor are they very tall. But they're close enough together that jumping between them all makes for quick and easy work.
I stick to the wall of a two storey brick building, that seems to be some sort of motel/restaurant kind of deal, locating a window on the top floor that was conveniently left open by yours truly.
I step several times away from the building, lining up my run with the open window. I stretch my legs, and my arms, and run straight at the vertical wall.
I leap upwards, gluing my right foot against the coarse brick. With the wall accepting my momentum, I drive myself upwards, reaching up for the window. Overtime, this has gotten easier and easier, allowing me to glide up the wall and into the window almost effortlessly.
I peek in through the window frame, looking inside. I tense as I’m immediately met with a walker, nearly right in front of my face. It doesn't take it long for it to notice lunch in front of its face, and it reaches out for me with an angry groan.
Clasping tightly to the window frame, I grasp onto one of the zombie's arms, aggressively tugging it towards me. The walker stumbles heavily at the unexpected grab, falling helplessly out the window. It’s flailing arms attempt to grab me, and although it almost does, it instead plummets to the ground below. It crunches on the hard soil, likely most of its body breaking in multiple places. All I hear are sluggish groans and twitching. But no movement.
Satisfied, I hop into the room.
Drawers that I know I have searched are left open, empty and barren. I search other places, like under beds, mattresses, furniture… places I may not have thought about in the past. I find nothing, as per usual.
The door to the room was wide open, and after scanning the rest of the interior building I can see the front door is also open.
“Well, that explains the walker then…” I mumble to myself. Intending to think in my mind, my lips insist on participating. I find that I talk to myself more and more often… Maybe I am going crazy.
I shut the door quietly and make my way to the next room, spotting a couple other walkers in the downstairs area. I make note to take them out before leaving. No matter how many I kill, they always seem to come back. They have plenty of weaknesses, mostly being slow as hell and not having any intelligence. After using these to my advantage, they're quite simple to deal with. It's the hordes that get you.
As I search the adjacent room, the sound of a truck engine tightens my gut. I quietly sneak over to a window that faces the street and catch a glimpse of a dark blue truck pulling up the road, and parking in front of my building.
I search back down at the walkers, still seeing that they haven't moved much. At least I'll have a distraction if they come in here. If I don't have to deal with these guys, that'd be preferable.
With 3 hopping out of the truck, quite decently armed might I add, they talk for a few seconds, then part their ways. Two of them walk towards the building that I’m in, and the other to a small house just across the street. I pull away from the window as I hear the door slowly creak open and the two people peer in. I remain hidden and quiet, but still keep my eye on the two intruders. My hand slides down to my throwing knives, just in case.
They quickly spot the two walkers, and stay out of sight of them. Completely oblivious to me watching them, studying their every move.
They converse using some basic hand signals, and move into the building. One of them has a suppressed pistol, and holds it up in front of him as he approaches the first walker. I might as well let these guys do the dirty work for me.
He drops the first one, then the second without much of a time interval. Satisfied with their safety, they seem to relaxen a bit. A small smirk crosses my face as I unsheathe my knife and move from my position.
“This building seems like a waste of time.” One of them speaks, holding an MP5 in his right hand as he examines some storage facilities in the kitchen. “Half of these cupboards and drawers are all open, and the ones that are closed are empty as well.”
“Just keep looking. We don't want to miss anything if there is something here. Now go check upstairs.” His friend orders, receiving an aggravated return from his ally.
“Whatever.” He grunts, locating the stairs to get to the second level, and making his way over to them.
He starts up the stairs, his heavy steps causing the wooden steps beneath his feet to creak and groan horridly. Once at the top, he opens the door to the first room he sees.
With his weapon readied, he pokes into the room to scan the surroundings.
I hold my breath as I watch the door open to my right. I remain hidden behind it, and ready my knife as I see the barrel of his gun poke through. Once his body is visible, I begin my attack.
I yank the barrel of the gun away from him, and spear my knife into his neck. His mouth and eyes jump open in surprise, but he barely has the effort to cry out before I have him grappled against my own body. In a fit of shock, his body releases the gun with ease, and only twitches as a means of fighting back. I place the gun on the ground softly, and cover his mouth with my now free hand. I feel my clothes soak to my skin with his blood, but I keep my hold on him until all signs of life stop.
My knife slides out of his neck like a finger being pulled out of silly putty; a wet, suction sound. I leave their corpse on the ground momentarily, turning my focus to the next victim downstairs. I'm about to exit the room when I hear crackling of static coming from the dead man's body.
*“Hey, the ground floor seems clear. I haven't found much of anything. How about you?”*
I reach into his goried jacket, pulling out a small, black walkie talkie. I bring it up to my lips, unsure of what to say.
*“...Hello? You there?”*
“*Ahem*,” I clear my throat. Looking at the body, I do my best to impersonate what their voice would sound like. “Y-Yeah, I ain't got nothing up here either.”
There is a short pause.
*“You okay man? Your voice sounds different.”*
What the hell am I doing?
I walk into the doorway, hucking the radio equipment into the downstairs lobby area. The back of it breaks off, and batteries scatter and roll across the ground.
“What the hell?” I hear from downstairs. I move along the wall, crouched down as much as I can as to not be seen.
He steadily approaches the broken walkie, weapon raised to make sure of no undead. I take the opportunity to move swiftly up behind him and take him out.
A creak in the floor reveals my position, and he swings around to face me just as fast as I make the sound. I grab his armed hand, keeping the pistol aimed away from me. A bullet fires out from it, and goes straight into the floorboards. He resorts to his other hand, clenched into a fist as he drives it across my face.
I fade out of and back into consciousness in a split second from the punch. He goes to swing a second time, and my head weaves out of the way of it's path. I jab my knife into his side, earning a sharp yelp from him.
That definitely got the last guy's attention.
With my knife still in his side, I knee him hard in the stomach. Pulling the knife out, I take no time in driving it straight into his eye socket. Another scream escapes his mouth, but softer, and was cut off sooner as my knife punches all the way into his cranium. His yell is slowly silenced into a gurgle.
I know his friend is coming, and I jerk the pistol out of the hand of the second raider to find cover as soon as I could.
Just as I suspect, the last man bursts through the doors, a shotgun aimed and loaded in his hands.
“...Oh god… Oh fuck!”
He remains stationed in a defensive position aiming around the room while also looking at the dead corpse of his friend with a knife through his skull.
“Who the fuck - Show yourself! Come out you piece of shit!” He now walks further into the room, anger surging through his veins as he prepared to shoot at anything that moves.
I hold the pistol tight in my hand. I hope what little practice I have with firearms pays off...
I stay hidden behind the wall, pistol aimed up. Ready to fire as soon as I see his face poke in-
The sounds of groaning and footsteps at the door redirect both of our attention to the main entrance. I didn't see how many, but at least a few walkers must have entered.
“God damn it!” I can hear him turn around and begin firing his shotgun into the crowd. The gunshots ring in my ears, but I take the opportunity to reveal myself around the corner.
There were 3 walkers that had entered, but it was enough to distract the guy. I walk up behind him, to get a point blank shot on his head instead of risking a ranged shot.
He drops to the ground with a heavy thump, the walkers now drawing towards me.
I aim steadily and fire at the last two that he didn't kill. It was obvious that I was out of practice. It took me two shots to kill the first one, and one to kill the last; only because it was so close.
The shotgun blast is certain to attract whatever or whoever is left in this town, so I rush to search the bodies for anything useful. After shutting and locking the door, of course.
He has a backpack on, and I smile as my eyes meet an almost full box of medical equipment inside. I throw the backpack over my shoulders, only having it for the supplies inside. I also conveniently find the keys to the truck in his back pocket. There's bound to be some good stuff the truck, if not I have an escape route.
I head back upstairs, looking out one of the second storey windows. I don’t see any other walkers, so after opening the window I hop down to the ground and rush over to the truck.
There is a 6 pack of water bottles, all full, and a full gas tank in the truck. Those are the things that are actually useful. After thinking for a second, I come together with a small plan. If I grab all of my stuff for camp with this truck, I can drive off somewhere else and better. This town is becoming pretty barren anyways.
I pull out the keys from earlier, and sit in the driver’s seat after checking the rest of the truck for anyone or anything. There is a dirt pathway that goes close by where I had camp set up, so after revving up the engine I zoom down the road.
I park where it was close enough to camp, but still have to walk a little ways into the forest to find my camp. I don't have too much at my camp, some extra water bottles, rope, other clothes and such. Most importantly the tarp. I’m able to carry basically everything in my arms, so I head back to the truck.
It’s… gone.
And it’s not like someone has taken it, the road was gone too. I turn around in utter confusion. The place where I had set up camp has disappeared. I blink once and when I open my eyes again, everything was so much darker.
What the hell is this?
I turn around again. And again. Every time I do so, my surroundings seem to change more and more. I can’t keep track of where I am, as everything seems to keep changing behind my back. I bite the inside of my cheek, laughing to myself as if this was some kind of joke.
I have no choice but to walk, walk in a direction that I didn’t know of. After a long time of walking, the forest seems to go on forever. I let out a sigh of relief as I spot the dirt road again, though it seems to be in the middle of it, so it went 2 ways.
I choose and go left, walking down the pathway silently. After a few more minutes which seemed like forever, I start to see the entrance to a small town.
Still outraged that I somehow managed to lose the truck, I drop my carried belongings behind a tree. After scampering up into it, I get a decent look over the town. Time had almost seemed to change, as if I had jumped forwards several hours. It was dark already.
With no other plan in mind, and with time still available, I leap back down from the tree and decide to investigate the town. I scurry along the treeline, and dash towards the closest home.
The house looked strangely different. The walls were completely wooden, and the roof was covered in real straw with some more wood under it. I’ve never really seen anything like it before, but it was a different town I guess. My eyes lead to a tall tree, which now to my thoughts look like a giant tree house, and I make that my first house to search.
Making sure there is noone around to see me, I sneak towards the house and to the back door. Usually I would go for heights with searching houses, but this house looks and feels uncomfortably different and I don’t want to take any risks. I look through a window and around in the house, and confirm it to be a library.
I silently open the door and saunter inside, scanning the room as I do so. Nothing is to be seen. No damage is done to the place; nor the town for that matter. Hopefully people thrive here, meaning lots of supplies to have here. I softly close the door behind me and sneak through the house, checking cabinets and shelves but mostly finding books.
As I’m passing by things, I spot a clock, and it reads: 1:34 AM.
What on Earth? There’s no way it’s that late already… There’s something going on here. I’m probably dreaming or something…
After searching most of the bottom floor, I suddenly hear snoring come from upstairs, making that my next place to move to. I sneak up the stairs, and down to a wall as I suddenly hear the snoring stop, in a way sounding like the person was waking up. I jump away from the wall, knife in hand, getting ready to take out whoever woke up, and freeze when I see who it is. Or more what it is.
A small creature awakens, rubbing it’s eyes to look at me, eyes wide. I nearly drop my knife as I hear it speak. “T…T-Twilight?! TWILIGHT!!” It yells out, though it fades as I jump the stairs and land in a quick roll at the bottom. I hear someone else wake up in a panic. The lights flicker on.
“Spike?! What’s wrong?!” I hear a female voice yell as I sprint from the house and back into the forest, my thoughts clouded and disoriented, added together with adrenaline.
After a few long minutes of sprinting away, and thinking about what I had just seen, I find a tree that’s easy enough to climb up and still be hidden from the road. I take one last glance behind me, still breathing hard.
I force my breathing into a more steady pace as I continue to stare at the town I just came from.
“...It’ll all be fixed in the morning.” I speak to myself as I head for the tree, disappearing off the path.
“Spike, are you sure you saw something? Maybe your mind was just playing tricks on you.”
My body jolts awake, nearly causing me to fall out of my tree. My eyes open, although my ears are doing the detective work for locating to these voices.
“I’m sure of it! But it’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before.” I hear that young, voice again, coming closer to my tree.
“See? It's the same hoofsteps that we saw outside the Library. It must've come here.”
“Well, just seeing stuff like this out in the middle of the Everfree Forest is a bit, strange. But it doesn’t necessarily mean, well, whatever you saw came here.” I listen to that feminine voice again, still remaining dead silent. “Spike, can you tell us what it looked like?” I hear multiple mumbled hums in agreement, and I tense against the tree slightly more as I prepare for more than 2 intruders.
“Well, I didn’t really get a good look at it. He was really hard to see, and moved really fast. He was gone before you even opened your eyes! I saw where he went from the window, but that was it.” He finishes his testimony, just as a different voice pipes up with a chuckle.
“Hah! We'll see how fast this thing really is when we find it!”
I can't help but smirk somewhat at the remark. While the voice is more raspy and crackly, it still sounds feminine as well.
“Well, we don’t know until we find out right?” I hear the first female voice speak again. As she clears her throat to speak, it is filled with so much fear and unease I can nearly taste it. “H-Hello?” She yells out, and it heavily echoes throughout the woods. She tries again. “Please, you can come out. We’re not here to harm you!”
I leave them in a long silence once again.
“We said, show yourself!” I hear that crackly voice again, a voice that I could tell wasn't as terrified as the first.
I bite my lip as I draw in a shallow breath, holding it for a brief moment as I attempt to devise a plan. These past 18 hours have strangely sat uncomfortably in my gut. The weirdly out-of-place houses, that creature that I can barely even remember in my head from last night. That spoke.
I weigh my options. With them this close, I won't be able to leave or jump to another tree without them hearing me. I can't see how many of them there are, but I suppose I can at least make a run through the forest if need be.
Without much of the choice, I grip my bow tightly with an arrow set in, and hop down from the tree to make my entrance. I land dramatically with a thud, and immediately draw my bow towards the people…
Wait…
My fingers quiver on the stressed bowstring as I gulp unsteadily.
These... There are...
The owners of the voices all draw their enormously giant eyes to the newfound creature. Their collective gasps is almost enough to compare to what I am trying to comprehend.
Through my complete and utter disbelief at what is being shown in front of my eyes at this very moment, I almost drop my bow to the ground. However, I maintain some kind of composure, and release most of the strain from my weapon.
The silence carries on just long enough for me to convince myself that I haven't finally gone insane. I figured it would happen one day. And to be honest, I would gladly embrace insanity at this point.
But if I knew that insanity would consist of visual hallucinations of tiny little crayon colored, hair-dyed, bulbous-eyed miniature horses, I would rather take the coward's way out.
I swear that it was the blink of that purple one that snapped me out of my existential crisis. And that tiny creature from last night, I can see it clear as day now. If I was on acid, I would say it looked like a dragon.
My blood immediately kicks into higher gear, my adrenaline beginning to flow as I re-draw my bow and take a step towards the small group.
The ponies flinch at the action. The purple one, that I might add has a horn, is sided by an orange horse wearing a old-western Stetson, and another rainbow-caked horse with - with WINGS!?
I psychologically slap myself back to reality.
I'll have plenty of time to freak the fuck out about this later. Right now, I've gotta figure out what the fuck is going on. I devise to myself.
None of them have made any attempt to speak. Perhaps they are still stuck in the mind loop I was stuck in. I am the first to break the ice, bow still threateningly drawn at them.
"W..." I swallow, finding it initially harder to talk than I'd anticipated. "W-What the f-fuck are you..." Is all I can muster.
The purple unicorn's maw just barely gasps, mumbling just loud enough to hear. "Y-You can talk."
And so can THEY! I feel my mind almost tremble all over again as I remind myself.
I push myself to speak more. "What happened; where did you come from...? W-Where am I!?" My panic begins to overwhelm my rational thinking.
“I-It's okay!” The unicorn takes a step forward, holding a stumpy violet hoof out towards me. I can tell by her face that it wasn't her intention, with beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She clears her throat to speak more. "I-I'm assuming you're not from around here, since I d-don't think I've ever seen anycreature like you."
Every word that comes out of this thing's mouth just gives me more and more questions to ask.
"But, m-maybe we can start with an introduction! My name is Twilight Sparkle, what is-"
"I don't give a fuck about introductions!" I cry out, enraged and confused. "Just tell me where I am so I can get the fuck out of here!" With every emphasized word I draw closer to them, menacingly flaring my bow at the purple pony.
They all flinch back farther, however the most colorful rainbow pegasus flies to confront me closer. Her hind leg flips down on my bow to knock it away after dashing towards me. "Hey! Quit waving that thing around, you're gonna hurt somepony!"
"Rainbow, don't!" The purple unicorn cries out.
The pegasus barely has time to react to my flying right fist that collides with her left cheek. The attack knocks the creature back, and it lands with a heavy thud a couple meters away.
"RAINBOW!" The group yelps at their fallen friend the horror in their eyes increasing with every counting second. They quickly move to help her, however my quickly recouped weapon redraws their eyes to me.
"I'm not FUCKING AROUND! Now tell me how to get back, right fucking now!"
"I'm gonna give you a taste of yer own medicine!" The farm-cultured character is next up to show their stuff, and charges horns forward towards me. My arrow lines itself up for a one-way course through the creature's head. With my survival instincts in full throttle, there was no turning back from this.
I feel the string slip between my fingers hastily as the arrow takes off. The infuriated scowling eyes of the orange pony quickly turns to a deathly realization of imminent doom. All in the split second of me waiting for the arrow to claim it's kill, I also witness as a faint purple glow encompass the pony. It grows brighter and brighter before flashing brightly, nanoseconds before the arrow flies through. When the flash dissipates, I am no longer faced with a charging country horse. Just matted down grass where they were running, and my arrow sticking out of the ground just a bit farther behind.
I almost flinch, expecting something to still collide with me. My mind is insanely pounded with more questions. It's already enough that these things have horns and can fly, but they can TELEPORT?!
Before I can bring myself to even equip another arrow, I hear a rapidly accelerating object moving towards me on my left. Without even a moment to duck in time, I witness as an angered rainbow pegasus about to dropkick my face into the ground at a speed too high to comprehend.
*CRACK*
*thud*
- - - - -
My consciousness slowly regains in complete darkness before I attain my senses back. With my eyelids closed, I see what little light has made its way to my retinas. I squint an eye open. With my head laying on my left I do my best to examine what’s around me.
If I had woken up like this one random morning, I would be convinced that I was abducted by aliens. Quiet beeps and zaps emanate from strange upright machines that surround me, with a purpose that's unknown to me.
My next best guess would be that I woke up in a hospital. But the fact that I'm strapped down to a hard, stone table would rebuttal that thought.
I strain my muscles, finding that they are sick with fatigue and achiness; not to mention the killer headache. There feels to be a shackle on the end of all of my limbs. I can only lift my head so much to examine my body, although it hurts too much to do so anyway. All of my equipment was removed, and only my pants and shirt remain. With a visual of my current situation, I deduce that I'm not going anywhere.
Past my feet, a small set of steps led up to a heavy wooden door with a golden handle. I hear it slowly twist, and peak open with a quiet creak.
The face of the dragon creature from earlier on ganders inside the room. Our eyes immediately meet. And even with my body completely strapped down, my glare of raw animalistic anger is enough to make him back down.
The door swings open completely, revealing the same group of ponies that I had encountered earlier. They were likely the ones that brought me here. My glare of acrimony proves useless towards the larger group, being overpowered by a small army of colorful horses.
“Well, t’seems tuh be awake now.” I recognize that orange pony's voice, with a clearly distasteful tone in it. As they all move further into the room, I see all 7 faces hover over me, though I continue to stare at the ceiling, emotionless My mind races a mile a minute, and my ass is clenching so hard I feel like it could break the stone beneath me. I do my best to hide my discomfort, but I'm sure they are well aware.
In my peripheral, I see the purple one frown, then sigh. “Girls, I think it’d be best if it was just me in here. Too many ponies in here at once might be too much for it.”
The other girls look to each other for recognition, not seeming to be content with the idea. "I donno Twilight, you saw how violent it got." I bite my tongue as I hear that rainbow pony talk. I catch her glance for a moment, and through the look of pure hatred it is enough for me to notice her swollen purple cheek.
I smile internally at that at least, but I assume mine is much worse.
"It'll be fine as long as he stays on the table." The purple one confirms. Her words are apparently satisfying enough for the others, and they make their way out the door. Along with the baby dragon.
Baby dragon... Ponies with wings and unicorn horns... What's next?
There is a silence for a bit, and when Twilight finally puts together her words, she speaks. “So… Spike told me last night you came into our house. That is why we came looking for you.” She looks at me with somewhat caring eyes, though I don’t look back. "We were never intending to hurt you."
"Can you let me out of here." I speak more as a demand rather than asking.
Her ears flatten against her head, though I keep my gaze away from her. "I'm sorry," She speaks softly. "but I can't do that without knowing you might hurt one of my friends."
"I don't even want to BE here. If you unshackled me and directed me to the door, you would never see me again. Isn't that what you want?" I desperately attempt to bargain an escape.
She pauses, uncertain with what to answer with. "I'm not necessarily sure about that either. I have never seen anycreature like you before. And judging by the books in my library, neither has the rest of Equestria!" She confesses, hoping to change something in my mind. "If that's true, we may have discovered an entirely new species; maybe even a new land if we find where you came from!"
“I don't give a shit about any of that!" An actual laugh escapes my throat to prove my point further. "This is all some stupid shitstorm that wasn't supposed to happen. I just want to go back and fix it before anything else goes wrong."
That, or I die from a fatal aneurism after witnessing all of this.
“Fix what? Maybe we can help-"
“I’ve survived long enough to figure things out on my own, alright?” I speak in a condescending tone, hoping to finally quiet her, though it only increases her interest.
“Survived what?” She looks into my eyes. I avoid hers, dragging my eyes to the opposite side of the room. Pretending to admire the rest of the equipment.
“Survived..." I shake my head in disbelief, then dart my eyes to her. "Have you been living under a rock for the last 10 years?! The fucking APOCALYPSE!”
She flinches back again, regardless of the fact that I am not threat to her whilst restrained. Her mind tries to wrap around that word. "The, apocalypse? What apocalypse?"
I bite down any remarks that are about to spew out of my mouth, and sigh slowly through my nose instead. My eyes close softly as my neck and body loses it's tension. "You wouldn't get it. Obviously I'm somewhere really fucking far away."
We both sit in silence for a moment, as the unicorn tries to make some sense of all this mess. "Look, I know you don't want to be here. You don't want to talk, and you don't want to make friends. I understand." She moves closer as she continues. "But I may need your help to get you back if it comes to it. If you don't know how you got here, I know even less..."
I begin to listen more intently to her words.
"So if you want a chance of getting back... to wherever you came from. You'll need to help us, help you."
My eyes glide open slowly to stare blankly at the ceiling above me. I am completely disoriented, lost, possibly mentally handicapped, and absolutely at the hands of this miniature horse creature.
I realize I'm not left with much of a choice.
"If I answer whatever questions you have, you'll let me leave?"
“Of course!” She finally sprouts a smile, seemingly glad to have made some sort of progress.
"Then let's get it over with, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to." I announce to her clearly, making some eye contact that she holds onto with a convincing look of her own.
"Of course, but... I may be wrong, but don't you have some questions too? I'm sure this is all very confusing for you as well."
I refuse to lie to myself. "Yeah. I do."
Her smile enhances slightly, her presence feeling somewhat more warm and calm. "Good."
“...so where do we start.” I grumble, slyly eyeing my weapons that lean up against the wall near the door.
Twilight grimaces, satisfied that she's finally getting what she wanted. “Well, I have plenty of questions to ask. But first, I think I should introduce you to my friends first.”
The sweet taste of saltwater air mixed with the rhythmic influence of the waves creates a calm ambiance that only the ocean could conceive. A distant seagull's cry forms the leading vocals for a song created by the crashing wave's percussion. Surrounded by nothing but deep blue, the ferry drives onwards with a quiet pleasing hum that had the potential to lull any grown man into a solemn slumber.
I’ve been lying here for about an hour, but I can’t seem to fall asleep. Before I got on here I was up pretty late, packing. I am still tired, but something keeps bothering me, keeping my body from shutting down.
Am I not feeling well? Maybe seasick? No, I’ve never had those problems before. Excitement? No, that wasn’t it either. I rush through a bunch of emotions in my head, when I suddenly stop on fear. And that was it, fear was keeping me from falling asleep. Why fear? Why did I feel like something was about to happen?
I smile and chuckle to myself, thinking it was because I might think the ship will sink. I recall all of the safety procedures that I had to listen to before we started moving, so I know I’d be safe if anything like that happens. I think about that, hoping it will get the feeling to go away, but it doesn’t. It was something besides the boat, it was something that was on it.
The thought makes me open my eyes and look around, like a worried mother looking for her child. All the people seemed calm, some sleeping. But other than that everything seemed O.K.. I sigh once again and force my eyes shut, a bit irritated that I don’t know what is keeping me awake.
My eyes shoot wide and so does everyone else’s around me as we all hear a blood curdling scream come from behind us. My legs fire me onto my feet, and I turn around. Other passengers do the same.
Some poor woman, is getting pinned down by someone! I scratch that as the attacker turns to me and looks me dead in the eyes. She was getting pinned down by something. People begin to panic, radically joining the scream fest and putting as much distance between the woman and themselves as possible.
One burly, brave man attempts to go save the woman who has already been carved open like a turkey on thanksgiving. Even a man of his size is thrown against a wall by the attacker, only to be the next meal of the frenzying person.
By now, sirens are going off around the boat, and people are scattering away from the creature in panic. I see a few more monsters come from around the corner and begin to run at some other civilians, bringing them to the ground as well. Some guards had come out from some doors to beat the living hell out of the things, though quite the opposite happened. Even a fully equipped and trained security guard is nothing compared to whatever these things are.
Time slows down as I look at everything going on around me. Seeing all of these innocent people, getting eaten alive by god knows what. Everything in my mind restores as I notice one of the creatures spot me, and begin to limp towards me. I also see that I am still in the same spot where I had first stood up, and force myself out of my trance. I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder as I bolt away, heart beating faster than ever. I run towards one of the hallways around the boat, though it’s blocked by the monsters.
This allows me to get a closer look at whatever has taken over this boat. The closest thing I can use to describe them, would be undead… zombies. Their eyes are blood-shotted, veins pop out of every part of their body like they're all on steroids. Their screams sound like the death of a thousand souls, and their hands look like they could penetrate metal.
Before I turn around to stay alive, I suddenly notice a small young child, curled up in a corner, hiding from the monsters. The amazing thing was, none of the monsters saw him. Taking no notice of his presence, the monsters just stroll right past him.
I embed that thought into my mind; that it works to hide from them. I’m pulled back to reality as I suddenly feel something grab my arm. And with a well known reflect, I pull away, though it doesn’t work. I turn to see one of the things try to bite my arm, and I quickly push its head away with my hand. Again, it isn’t enough.
I kick him in the stomach, knowing I don’t have much time until I get surrounded by these things. It falls to the ground, and I’m already around the corner before it gets back up. When I recover from the attack, I look around. I’m back where I started. I look outside to the deck, and spot the door to go out there. No one was supposed to go out, but it was worth a try to see if it wasn’t locked.
I run over to it and twist the knob, and of course, locked. I kick the door with all my might, though it doesn’t budge, but I hear a satisfying crack come from it. It made a lot of sound, even over the screaming, and it attracts some of the creatures. I notice, and kick it again. The crack is louder, and I can see the door beginning to give in. The moans from the monsters behind me get louder and louder, and I back away, then run as fast as I can at the door with my legs outstretched in front of me.
There’s an ear-deafening crack and the doors fly open, with me following them. I fall onto my back on the other side, and about 3 of the creatures follow less than 4 meters behind me. I crawl out onto the deck, then struggle to get up on my feet. I gasp when my eyes meet a red case with a large, fire axe in it. I take in one last breath then make a break for it.
A few of the things try to grab me and thankfully miss, falling to the ground. I make it to the case, and there’s a glass cover, keeping me from the weapon. The is a small, steel rod attached to a small chain, and I grab it, hitting the glass with it as hard as I possibly could.
The glass shatters after a few hits, and my hand goes in after it. The safety glass falls gently around my hand, allowing me to grab the heavy axe with ease. I spin around, axe within my tightened grasp as I ready myself.
My heart is racing faster than ever before, and I yell out as I swing the weapon at one of the things’ legs. It easily cripples the creature, and it begins to crawl towards me still, bones sticking out of it’s useless, bottom limbs.
One of the other things lunge towards me, and I smash him upside the head with the backside of the hammer, sending his head back and his spine breaking with a loud crack. It’s body continues to stand, even with it's back and spine basically broken. It continues limping hopelessly towards me.
The creatures heave closer towards me, and I’m already tired from swinging this heavy weapon around. Adrenaline and stress contradicting each other, causing me to thing radically. I swing the axe another time, into the standing one’s side. I gasp, horrified as it seems almost completely unaffected by my attack, and my axe gets lodged in his torso. I use the rest of my energy to kick the creature away. The axe handle slips out of my hand as the monster stumbles backwards, and off the railing of the boat. I witness as it takes my only hope of survival with it.
I look back over at what’s happening, and it seems that more of the monsters are now attracted to me than anyone else who is still alive, though there is no sign of life. Unless these things are still people… I turn around and run to the side of the boat, and back away as my sense of acrophobia takes over my body, pushing away my adrenaline. I look to my side, the things are getting closer.
I know I only have one choice to live.
I yell at the top of my lungs as I sprint as fast as I can in the short distance and leap over the railing. The sound of the moaning and screaming is replaced by the sound of bubbles and water. After a few seconds, I resurface and swim over to the closest boat that had been dropped for safety. None of the other ones had been taken, telling me no one else survived this attack.
I brace myself as I hear multiple splashes sound from behind me. With a quick glance, I witness the monsters still chasing me. They fall lazily over the railing, and into the water. Being pushed by their own fellow deadmen.
After climbing onto the boat and starting the engine, I drive towards the close Victoria Island, whimpering softly to myself as I think about what had just happened.
Never looking back at where I just escaped from, tears stream down my face as my body recovers from the hell I somehow managed to escape from.
Twilight begin to leave the room, though stops to turn around as she notices me not following her. “Well, are you coming?” She waited, and I slowly shake my head after a few seconds. She nods and leaves the room slowly, still looking back at me before leaving the room. “Ok, well don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.” The door closes with a soft click and I hear her hoofsteps fade away.
The moment it’s quiet, I get up and sneak over to my backpack to get my stuff back. I don’t know why she’s so stupid to leave all of my equipment in the same room as me, though I’m not complaining. I grab everything and put the weapons and other things back in it’s home on my body, and of course put my mask back on. I go back over to the table and sit down, and the quietness makes my mind slowly think about what’s going on around me right now.
I mean, talking ponies? Pegasi? Unicorns?! And even Twilight was both! My thought’s are interrupted by the door opening again, though I don’t look up at them as they walk in. I hear Twilight gasp slightly as she sees that I have all of my equipment back, and she finishes with a quiet grunt. The ponies all gather in front of me, though I continue to keep my eyes away from theirs by looking at the floor.
“Ok. So this is Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie pie, Rainbow dash, Fluttershy, and you already know, me Twilight Sparkle. So what’s you name?” Twilight tells, though I keep silent. The silence makes some of the ponies back away, though Rainbow dash doesn’t, though she doesn’t say anything either from me almost killing her a while ago. I let out a sigh, knowing this was the beginning of the questioning.
“John…” I mumble, still staring at the ground. thankfully Twilight heard it, and so did the rest of the ponies, because I wasn’t in the mood to repeat myself. Twilight nods and smiles, though the ponies remain silent.
“Good!” Twilight pulled out a notebook and began writing in it. “Now, what species are you?” Twilight continued to school me. I really don’t know her reason for having the rest of the ponies in here, it was making it a lot harder for me to say things than it has to be.
“Human…” I say quietly again, and Twilight leans in to hear better, though I just scoot away from her. Twilight acknowledges my movement, though lets out a sigh as she continues.
“Hmm, human…” Twilight thought. “No, I’ve never heard of such a species. Princess Celestia’s going to be so happy to know I found something this new!” Twilight had a bit of a entertained outburst. She blushed as we all stare at her, and cleared her throat to continue. Wait, Princess Celest?- What the hell… “Alright, next question…”
The questioning went on for the rest of the day, and the rest of the ponies went home to get some sleep, though Twilight wouldn’t stop, so I finally had to tell her to. “Twilight, I’m tired, so can we continue tomorrow?” I ask, not really caring what the answer was, I was going to get some sleep either way. Twilight sighed and stared at the clock, then yawned. My body goes to do the same, though I fight it back.
“Ok, I guess you’re right…” She stretched then looked at me with pleading eyes. “Um, so, is it ok if I can, put the locks back on you until morning?” She asked with a sheepish smile, and under my mask I give her an irritated frown back.
“No.” I say in a deadly tone, and she swallows hard then moves forward a bit.
“Please, if I can just-”
“I said no.” I say again, moving backwards. She moved towards me again, a bit angry.
“I don’t want you running away! So just sit still so I can-” She used her magic to go and put my arms and legs into place, though I quickly pull out my knife and give a quick swipe at her shoulder, making her yelp in pain and fall to the ground. I look back at the wall and confirm that I have everything. I suddenly hear running come down the stairs and Spike’s voice yelling:
“Twilight!” I quickly move behind the door as the dragon runs inside to tend to the hurt pony. Twilight goes to point to me, and I quickly run outside the room, shut the door and lock it. Spike pounds on the door, and I don’t look back as I sprint out of the house and back to my old camp in the forest.
When I finally make it there, I see that everything has been ripped apart. I walk up to it and search for anything that I could still scavenge. There was nothing. Anything that wasn’t food was either ripped to shreds or gone. And of course all of the food was gone. Knowing once Twilight and Spike get out and tell the rest of the ponies, they’ll be back on my ass and look here first, so I knew that I had to move somewhere different.
Leaving the debris, I search my way through the forest, looking for any other place I could sleep. After walking for a while longer, I feel sleep slowly begin to overcome my body. I find another small clearing where I could rest for the night. I go to run up a tree to sleep, when I suddenly hear growling come from behind me. I quietly slide out my knife as I hear the growling get closer. As I hear the creature pounce, I quickly side roll out of the way, making the creature bash head first into the tree.
When I get up to look at the creature, I stop both breathing and moving when I see the sight before me. It was some kind of, large wolf, but made out of wood. I quickly shake my mind clear of thought. I’ll have time to think about this when I’m done with this thing. I quickly lunge at it and begin to stab it rapidly in it’s sides, though it doesn’t do anything. It swipes a claw at me, slicing my arm. Luckily it wasn’t my attacking arm, but it still hurt like hell. Looking at this creature for a second made me realize that it was almost magically held together by something. It obviously didn’t have any blood, so bleeding it out wasn’t an option. I quickly jump out of the way again as it lunges at me a second time. Knowing the body wasn’t a choice to attack, the eyes were my next thought.
Gripping the knife tightly in my hand, I watch the wooden creature as it circles me, waiting to attack. The second it launches at me, I quickly duck under it. It stops as it realizes I wasn’t there, and I quickly jump on it’s back and launch my knife into both of it’s eyes. It throws me off as it yelps in pain and attacks, blindlessly. It suddenly begins to run in a direction and comes into contact with a tree, separating every single piece of wood from it, making it explode. I cover my face as the wood flies all over the area, and slowly pull my arm away when it’s safe.
First of all, I think in my head ‘What the hell was that’, though I couldn’t examine the creature as it’s body was now scattered all over the place. I look at my knife, and it was covered in some kind of yellow, glowing goo. I make a face of disgust and wipe my knife on the grass, then slide it back into it’s sheathe. Letting out another yawn, which is cut short by me flinching in pain from my arm, which was now bleeding all over my hand and shoulder. Damn, I could really use that medical equipment right about now…
Instead of running up the tree, because it would make too much pressure on my arm, I slowly and painfully climb up the tree, then fall into a deep sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Twilight sat on her couch with Fluttershy who was tending to her wound, as the rest of her friends waited with her for a message back from Celestia. As soon as Twilight and Spike escaped from the basement, Twilight sent a message to Princess Celestia about what happened, then called her friends over.
Suddenly, a sound comes from Spike as he belches out a scroll, which Twilight immediately levitates to read before Spike can even grab it.
Dear, Twilight Sparkle.
Thank you for telling me about what has happened, though I am slightly disappointed that you didn’t give me notice when you first found him. As I now know he can be dangerous, I will be sending down some guards to defend you girls, and I will be joining you with them shortly. Afterwards, we will be going to search for John to keep him from hurting anypony.
Princess Celestia
Twilight looked up at all her friends, who had been listening in on what she was reading aloud. “Well, I guess we should get ready for the search.” Twilight sighed, and the rest of the ponies went to leave, though Twilight stopped Fluttershy. “And Fluttershy, I know you may want to stay home, but we may need you for this. If John tries to hurt anypony, we might need you to use your stare on him, Okay?” Fluttershy sighed and swallowed hard.
“Okay.” she whispered as she left for home.
When everypony got back, the Princess had arrived too with many guards with her, all armed with weapons and armour. As Celestia entered the room, everypony bowed, though Celestia told them all to rise as she walked up to Twilight, and they both smiled at each other.
“Hello Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia smirked down at Twilight, and she returned it while looking up as they hugged slightly.
“Hello Princess.”
“Thank you for telling me about what had happened. I hope we can get him back before he causes anymore trouble.” Celestia sighed. “Speaking of which, we should be leaving to search for him. We don’t want it to be dark while we are in the forest.” Celestia nodded to the guards, who then left the library to get ready. Twilight sighed, one side of her mind saying that Celestia didn’t know what she was getting herself into. Or Twilight either for that matter.
The other girls walked up beside Twilight, all ready for the hunt. Twilight turned and nodded to her friends, who then followed Celestia, Twilight, and the guards into the forest. Twilight did the directing to where they had last found John, though when they got there, everything was wrecked.
Twilight gasped and so did a few other ponies behind her. Celestia ordered some of her guards to look for a corpse, and Twilight bit her lip as they didn’t find one, or any blood either. Though one of the guards told Celestia that he saw tracks of some sort, and after Twilight identifying the print she recognised it to be the shape of John’s shoe.
The guards led the six friends and the Princess, literally circling them and protecting them from all sides, continued their way through the forest. After a few moments of silence, suddenly, one of the guards fell to the ground from in front of the group. After another guard going over to check on their fallen comrade, he also gets the same fate as the other, this time with a visible arrow sticking out of the side of his head where the armour wasn’t.
“Princess, we have to move faster!” One of the other guards ordered, thankfully not getting killed. Celestia nodded and Fluttershy squeaked as they began moving forward. After galloping for a few moments, they came to an opening. The guards around them were slowly getting picked off one by one, and Celestia backed up and covered the girls with her wings.
“Behind me, girls!” Celestia defended as only a few guards were left.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I frown slightly for two things. One is because I’m not used to taking out that many people, or ponies… And two, they were just too easy to take out. So I thought I’d save some for last for some fun, and to scare the hell out of these ponies, again, as I left 4 guards for last.
Putting my bow away, I take out my hatchet and hop down in front of the guards and ponies. The tallest, white pony sees me first, and points at me. “Guards! Seize him!” And with that, all of the guards charge towards me with their spears and swords raised. I laugh, spinning the hatchet once in my hand. These guards are hilarious. They don’t even think before trying something. For example. I took out about 10 guards by myself with just my bow, and they never even saw me.
One of the guards comes close, and with a quick and easy dodge, I twist around and kick him to the ground. Another charges closer to attack, and with a long charge I swing my hatchet up under his chin, letting out a loud crack and getting my hatchet stuck in his jaw. I hear one of the ponies squeal from the crowd of ponies, though I keep my attention on killing these worthless guards.
The third to last guard swipes his sword at me, and I move out of the way then grab his hoof and kick it hard with my foot, earning a satisfying crack coming from his hoof. He lets out a wail as I grab his sword and shove it into his head as far as it will go from under his chin, and he collapses to the floor.
The last guard that I had kicked to the floor earlier galloped up behind me and went to attack, his spear out to pierce my torso. I quickly 180 around and snap the spear handle, then move behind him and put him in a headlock. And I’ll be serious, this pony is REALLY strong. So before he could get away, I forcefully grab his opposite shoulder, making my hand go across his chest. And my other hand on his chin, then quickly pull the opposite way of where they were placed, making a dramatic crack come from his now snapped neck as he falls to the ground in defeat.
All of the ponies stare at me in shock and complete terror, as we all stand in a clearing of dead bodies. I suddenly turn to a guard, who had gotten up with his sword as he had an arrow sticking out of his leg. I pull out my knife and begin to walk towards him slowly.
“Fluttershy, you have to do it, now!” Twilight whispered to Fluttershy, who both had tears flowing down their cheeks.
“I...I-I can’t! I just…” Fluttershy stopped to bawl some more quietly. Twilight gently grabbed Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, please. We don’t need anypony else to die.”
“What if… What if it d-doesn’t w-work? And he tries to hurt me?”
“Fluttershy, I promise I will never, ever, let him lay a hoof on you. Okay?” Twilight stared into Fluttershy’s, watery eyes. She let out a shaky sigh, then slowly nodded. “Thank you Fluttershy.”
When they looked back up John was just about to kill the poor, last standing guard, and Fluttershy immediately stepped in front of everypony.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I make my move and go to lunge at the shaking, just-asking-for-it guard, when I saw something in my peripheral. I look at it, or her, and immediately regret it. My mouth hangs open slightly as every muscle in my body is only just keeping me standing, as my eyes stare into hers. I don’t know what it is, or why I can’t look away, but everything else seemed to fade around me and all I could see were those wide, looking-into-my-soul eyes. My muscles stop as my mind shuts down enough and I drop my knife and fall to the ground, not even able to close my eyes to stop the stare. The finally, and actually thankfully, I get the same feeling of unconsciousness wash over my body as those eyes were the last thing I see before everything turned black again.
“Sister, why didn't thou summon us earlier? We could have helped defend.”
“We didn’t know how, aggressive he would be Luna. And besides, we didn’t want anyone else to be in danger.”
“I’m sorry Princess. I didn’t know either.”
I continue to listen to their conversation secretly as I had just woken up, but kept my eyes closed. Concentrating back on feeling, I immediately realize that I was back on the same table, strapped down. I suddenly feel the presence of one of the ponies move closer to my face.
“Hmm… He’s awake, he has been for a little while now.” I hear a stronger, female voice say as she then moved away. I let out a short and quiet sigh and scrunch my eyes a little bit, then slowly open them. I see Twilight, that taller, white pony, and a different, dark navy blue pony. We all just stare at each other for a little while, until I turn my head with a sigh away from them.
“TELL US THOU NAME AND REASON FOR ATTACK.” I scrunch my face and try to cover my ears with my shoulders, but it is no use as they are already ringing. I turn to her and the other ponies are recovering the same as me.
“He said his name is John, though I don’t know why he attacked…” Twilight turned to me, as in asking for my reply. I let out a sigh through my nose.
“Self defence.” I grunt flatly.
“We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help you.” Twilight answered quickly.
“It’s not that easy.” I quiet the room with, though Twilight announces the easiest ice breaker.
“Why?” She needed, desperately. I shake my head in annoyance.
“You just don’t understand. You didn’t go through what I went through, so stop asking.”
“What did you go through?”
I clench my fists in anger and annoyment, and I don’t answer.
“TELL US.”
“Let me go and I’ll tell you.”
“NO. THOU WILL TELL US THIS INSTANT!”
“Wait.” I turn to the taller white pony as she speaks. “Luna, you watch his weapons, make sure he can’t get to them. Twilight, undo his straps.”
“Sister, are you sure?”
“Yes Luna.”
Luna did as she was told and guarded my weapons, as Twilight undid the straps around my ankles and wrists. Before I could even get up, they asked again.
“What happened, what did you go through?” I look up at the white pony, then let out a sigh.
“The apocalypse.”
“The, apocalypse? What kind of apocalypse?” Twilight encouraged me for more information.
“You only asked for what I went through. And I told you.” I say intelligently. Twilight grunts in defeat and frowns at me. The white alicorn let out a quiet and relaxing sigh as she stepped forward.
“John, I need you to listen to us. I know you don’t know us, and we don’t know you. So its best that we all get to know each other better. So we have to start somewhere, and this is a good place to start. What, happened to you?”
I sigh as anger rushes through my body, wanting to just leave or have these ponies shut up already, but something made them. It was scream that came from outside. The three alicorns turn to the noise, but I don’t. Not until I hear a familiar sound…
A moan.
“Princess, wait here.” Twilight worried as she went towards the door, though I quickly stop her.
“Don’t, you don’t know what you’re dealing with!” My sudden outburst startled everyone in the room. The darker blue princess walked up to me again.
“What is going on?!” She stopped her hoof.
“Let me go and I’ll show you.”
“NAY!” She stopped even harder. “THOU WILL TELL US AT ONCE!”
“Do you want anyone else to die today?!” I yelled back to her as more screaming began outside. “Let me go and I’ll save your friends!”
The brighter white princess examined me closely, then slowly stood upright again. “Let him go.”
Twilight didn’t object, and immediately stepped aside. Within a blink of an eye, I was up and ready. I quickly grabbed my bow and an arrow and ran upstairs towards the nearest window. Without stopping, I see a red-maned pony with a yellow coat, suddenly fall to the ground as a tall, half-eaten away walker stands over her, about to attack.
I quickly leap out the window, and not being stretched or practised before this, the arrow goes straight into its neck instead of head. The walker falls over from the surprise attack, though just gets back up to continue catching its meal. I land in a roll then quickly run over to the walker and slide onto my back behind it, and put my bow in its mouth and the back of my foot against its head.
The walker falls back, unable to escape the death grab as I slowly tighten the bow against my foot. Blood begins to splatter out from the sides of his head as his skull and brain begins to give in from the pressure. A few cracks are heard then the zombies head explodes, blood going everywhere, making my close my eyes from the splatter.
Panting slightly, I get back up and continue to stare down at the walker, knowing everyone was looking at me. I slowly turn my look up to the pony who was being attacked. I was about to ask if she’d gotten bit, but she immediately disappeared, along with everyone else.
The three alicorns run out of the library and see the scene before them, blood everywhere and on me. “What happened?!” Twilight yelled in horror. I don’t turn to them, but I tighten my fist and close my eyes.
“Apocalypse? THIS is the apocalypse?!” Twilight raged, then backed down as the two princesses looked at her. “S-sorry…”
“Please, describe more about this, apocalypse.” The white alicorn asked.
“If you need more explanation for this after you saw what just happened then sorry, I can’t tell you any more.” I stare down at the walker, the top of its head merely hanging from its jaw and spine.
The darker navy blue alicorn stood silent for a while before speaking. “Where did this thing come from?” She demanded in a strangely soft tone.
“Where I’m from.” I answer flatly.
“So YOU brought this thing here?! It’s your fault that you put this town in danger?!” Twilight yelled, then immediately tried to take back her words as I walk over to her.
“Actually, this is your fault.” I am now glaring over her. “Had you let me go when I told you, none of this would’ve happened.”
Twilight thought about what I said, then gulped as she realized I was right. Once I sensed this, I grunt as I walk towards the library again. She galloped after me. “What are you doing now?!”
“I have to go hunt down a maybe undead pony. I need to see if that pony was bit.”
“B-Bit..?” Twilight stuttered as she followed me. Once we both entered, we were greeted with the same five other girls that I had to say hi to. I continue walking towards where my equipment was, when suddenly the rainbow pony flew towards me.
“Hey, what happened out-!” She fell backwards and rubbed her muzzle as she crashed into my raised hand that blocked her.
Without another word, I head downstairs to re-equip all of my belongings. I walk back up stairs, looking absolutely badass. Though, the cute little ponies just ruin it by staring at me awkwardly. I walk towards Twilight, then pull out my hatchet, staring at her with my black mask on. She gasps and braces herself, and so do the other ponies.
“You can help me, and you will if you want to save your friends.” I say in a low tone, and Twilight is surprised at my say.
“How?”
“Did you know who that pony was?”
“Y-yes.”
“Good. Show me where she lives.”
“A little creepy don’t you think?” The white maned unicorn whispered.
“I wouldn’t talk behind my back Purple Hair.” I say without turning around. But man, I really gotta work on my comebacks.
“Oh yeah, great one.” Rainbow Dash laughed, and I quickly turn to her.
“Shut it Skittles.” Yeah, there we go!
“S-Skittles?” Dash worried.
“Is this really necessary?” Twilight tried again, though she knew she was in this and had to follow John’s directions.
“If you want to stay alive then yes.” I answer plainly, and Twilight sighed. We both went towards the door, and the rest of the ponies began to follow, including the Princesses. “We don’t need all of you to come. One is enough, we’ll attract too much attention if you all follow.” I hold out a hand to stop them.
Applejack snuck up to Twilight and whispered: “Are ya’ll sure ya can go on yer own?”
Twilight gulped, then nodded slowly. “I’ll be okay Aj.”
Twilight and I then left the library, though I speed walk faster than usual, making Twilight have to trot to keep up with me. “What’s the hurry?”
“The sooner we get there the better. Where does she live?” I continue at my speed, though Twilight builds up the courage to step in front of me, surprisingly stopping me.
“I’d rather have you tell me the details so I can know what is going on!” She tried to keep her face angry, though fear took over it after she finished.
“Look, I have no problem searching through every house in this town to find that pony without you, or I can just stand here and wait for it to come find me. Including a couple of these ponies dying in the process. Its a simple choice, be stubborn or save this town.”
I walk away, towards the first house that I see. Twilight quickly yelled to me before I reached the door, knowing that it was the wrong house.
“Alright! Alright! I-I’ll help you!” She looked around then spotted the house I was looking for. “It’s there.”
“Wait here.” I say quickly, moving towards the house in my sneaky position. I look through the window and scan the room, but I also catch a few voices going on inside.
“Hold still Roseluck, I’ll go get my medical kit!”
“C...Carrot T-Top… P-Please, it...hurts…”
I duck down a bit as I see a yellow coated and oranged maned pony rush out into the living room, then into the bathroom. After a few more moments, she ran back out and into the room she was originally in.
“R-Roseluck? Roseluck are you awake?” I try to move around slightly in the window to get a better look in the room.
Twilight behind me rolls her eyes at the scene before her. It looked pretty silly with me trying to look into someones house with two girls in it, though she knew it was for a different, and hopefully good cause.
“Roseluck! ROSELUCK STOP!” There was a sudden moan and scream as Carrot Top suddenly ran out of the room screaming for her life, falling over objects and such, while being chased by the walker-pony.
I quickly run to the door and kick it open, Twilight still watching everything before her. Without thinking too much, I run at the zombie and tackle it, axe already in hand as I ram it into its mouth. We both hit the floor, and without me really expecting it, the zombie put it’s hind legs against my chest and pushed me off of it, sending me into the air.
I hear Twilight gasp from outside as I crash into the wall behind me. I should’ve known. A fresh walker has all or most of the muscle tissue left in its body. And another thing, this was practically a horse I was fighting here. Well, a pony, but it was close enough. It was still definitely stronger than me.
Getting back up quickly, the zombie stumbled towards me. With a swift movement to the side, I manage to slam the axe into the side of its head, taking the axe with it. Still holding onto the handle, the thing was unable to move as the side of its head was still stuck in my weapon. Using my remaining strength, I kick the zombie away from me, making it fall onto its back, and I quickly smash my axe into its face, blood splattering everywhere.
Panting slightly, I sluggishly pull my weapon back and clean it on the carpet, where there was no blood spill. I turn and look around for the other pony, but she was obviously long gone. I head outside as Twilight moves towards me. She walks right past me and into the house, and I make no effort to stop her.
I hear a loud gag as she runs back out and in front of me. “You’re a monster! A killer!”
“For a good cause.” I say with no guilt. “Where did the other one go?”
“Why the hay should I tell you?! So you can kill more ponies?!”
“Look, I don’t know why you can’t get this through your little purple head. Those, things, are not people. Or ponies. I don’t kill anything that walks normally, talks normally, or eats normally, unless they are threatening me. Tell me where that pony went, or I will leave when you’re not expecting it, and your whole world will crumble before you. I’m the only one that can stop that from happening, and the only way is to do it before it gets out of hand!” I raise my voice, and Twilight backs away slightly in shame.
“I’m sorry… I’ve just never seen such, violence in my life. I feel like I can’t take it anymore…”
“Well it’s only going to get worse if we don’t catch that pony.” I look down at her, and she meets my gaze. My eyes widen in my mask at her teared-up eyes and sad face, and I luckily and thankfully look away. “Look, lets just spare the drama and get the job done. Where did that pony go?”
SCREEEEAAAAAAMMM
Twilight and I both look towards the sound. “There we go.” I tell. “Go back to the library. I’ll come get you when I can.”
“D-Don’t you mean when it’s safe?” She sniffled. I turn towards her and flip the axe in my hand then catch it by the handle.
“The world is never safe.”
And with that, I run towards the now continuous screaming, leaving Twilight to think about what I’d just said.
Making my way around houses, I come to a clearing of crowds of ponies rushing everywhere and yelling in horror. I didn’t need that much time to know that there wasn’t much I could do here, and the first thing that came to mind seemed to the the smartest and safest way out of this. I turn back around and sprint towards the library, then kick open the door, surprising everyone inside.
“What do ya mean, we’re leavin?!” Applejack stepped forward. Rarity went to say something too, but looked out the window instead and screamed.
“WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!?!”
I ignored their panicking as I rushed upstairs towards the balcony. Bursting through the door, I quickly started looking around the town. I heard Twilight and the other ponies rush up behind me. “What are you doing?!”
“Looking for a place to hide.” I say in a completely calm tone, as I suddenly spot something in the distance and point at it. “That barn in the distance is our best choice.”
“That’s mah barn! And there’s no way I’m trustin’ you to go there!” Applejack raged, adrenaline rushing through her veins.
“We don’t have a choice. But if it’s yours that means that you know the quickest way there.” I turn around, not facing any of them, but in my peripheral I can see that all of them are panicking. Even the Princesses were a bit uneasy and worried.
I rush to the kitchen first and zip open my small, one-strapped backpack and open the fridge and start grabbing some food and loading it into my backpack. “What are you doing?! Stop raiding my fridge!”
“I’d think about packing up and getting the rest of your stuff too if I were you. We’ll be at that farm for a long time.” After I finish with the fridge, I spot a knife block and grab all of them, holding them out to the ponies. “Each of you, take one.”
“This is gettin’ ridiculous. Why do we need those-”
“Because if you want to live you’ll do as I fucking say!” I finally vent out to them, causing them all to take a step back. I drop the knives to the floor, leaving them there if they wanted them. I look around the rest of the kitchen for anything else that was useful. Realizing that i had raided the most important things, I turn back to the ponies, and drop my head with a sigh.
All the ponies who weren’t unicorns had the knives in their mouths. “Okay, this isn’t going to work. Anyone who can’t levitate the knife drop it.” I watch as about 3 quarters of the ponies drop their weapons in confusion, and fear from my sudden outburst.
"Alright, whoever has a weapon is going to protect the ones that don't. But besides that we're just gonna have to run for it. Once we get out of town there won't be as many." I walk towards the door.
"As many what?!?" Rarity cried, still looking for an answer to what was going on.
"Wee! This sounds like fun!" Pinkie smiles as she bounced over to my side.
I don't turn to her, but take out my hatchet. "Let's go" I sigh as I kick open the door.
I turn around, and I thought Rarity was scared. If it wasn't for Fluttershy's big, pink tail I wouldn't see her hiding behind Twilight. Forget it, I didn't have time to calm her, this was going to get harder if we waited for all the bait outside to turn. Thankfully, Twilight turned to Fluttershy to calm her herself, well. Tried to anyways.
Everyone ran outside, seeing the gory scene before them.
"P..PRINCESSES..H-HELLLPPP" A pony was getting mauled by a pack of walkers, barely able to finish her sentence from the blood crawling up her throat and out her mouth. I didn't turn around to see the others' reaction, but I heard one of them.
" N-No, we must save them!" I heard the terror in Princess Luna's voice as she went to hurry over to the suffering pony, before I quickly stop her.
"We can't save them, we need to go while we are still alive!" I continue running towards the barn, the ponies stumbling behind me and crying their eyes out.
I hear Fluttershy's quiet voice speak to Twilight as she cries more than anyone else. "Twilight, I need to save my animals!" And with that she ran off from the group.
"What is she doing?!" I sigh and grip my weapon in my hand. Then turn to the group. "Keep running to the barn, and don't stop for anything." And with that I run after Fluttershy, hoping the ponies did as I say.
Even though I've had years of running, I almost found it impossible to catch up to this pony. Maybe because she was a horse with wings. But I had to catch her.
"Fluttershy stop!!" I don't know if she didn't hear me or just ignored me. Thankfully she finally stopped at a small cottage by a river, running inside the second she got to her door.
My thoughts of: This won't end well were interrupted by a scream emitting from inside the cottage. Taking that as my cue I run inside with my hatchet in hand, and what I saw was horrifying, even to me.
One of my weaknesses when it came to the infection was animals, I almost couldn't stand to see it happen to them. What was going on inside was worse than I had ever thought. The easiest way to describe it? Blood. And I mean lots of it, everywhere.
"ANGELL!!!" I hear Fluttershy cry out, snapping me out of my thoughts. I go to grab her and get the hell out of there, when suddenly a small, white bunny hopped out towards Fluttershy, and they both started hugging.
"Fluttershy, we need to leave, now!" I order and turn around to leave, when suddenly, a large, bloody-clawed bear emerges in the doorway, letting out a crushing roar.
Quickly looking around I spot an open window and point at it. "Get out through there!"
"W-What about you?-"
"I SAID GET OUT!!" I screamed at her, causing the bear to roar again. Thankfully, Fluttershy squeaked and flew out the window in a panic, leaving me with this monstrous, killing machine.
I turn back to the bear, just in time to dodge his flailing claw. Thinking quickly, I swing my hatchet at the wrist of his claw with all my might, chopping it right off.
Expecting a roar after that, I remember this thing is dead, it feels no pain. It swings its other claw at me, this time almost slashing my face. In order to dodge it I jump backwards, into a bookshelf, which I then hear begin to creak and tip.
Quickly rolling out of the way, the bookshelf tips down and slams down on top of the bear, not allowing it to move. I pull out my knife and stab it in the head, silencing it forever. All that was left it sound was my panting from adrenaline, and dripping of blood.
Slowly standing up, I wash my weapons of blood somewhere on the carpet that didn't look soaked with gore. And after that, walking back out of the cottage and seeing the farm in the distance with a sigh.
"Better make sure they all got there safely..." And with that I begin walking towards it.
- - - - -
Fluttershy ran. Faster than she ever had before, screaming and dashing faster with every dead pony she saw, either trying to attack her or not. She’d had it. What had happened in the town was enough, and seeing her animals in the state made her want to curl up and cry, not talking to anypony. Even though the last thing she wanted to do was let someone tell her what to do, she did what John had told her. She didn’t know what else to do and felt helpless, and even the picture of that bear ripping John apart made her wheeze, attempting to force out more tears. Looking down, she saw Angel hugging her coat in one of her lifted hooves. She had never seen Angel like this before, never. Looking up she noticed her leave the town and onto Sweet Apple Acres’ orchard. Knowing that, she took off and flew towards it using the last of her energy.
When she finally made it to the barn she panted until she caught her breath, barely hearing the voices of her friends inside. She knocked lightly on the door, and the voices stopped. “Who’s there?!”
She backed down and squeaked quietly, about to walk away. “Wait, its Fluttershy. Open the door AJ!”
The door opened to reveal the terrified, group of ponies, all huddled together. It had looked like most of them had gathered up whoever they could. Some family and some random survivors from the town. She walked in slowly, her head hanging low. She noticed as Twilight’s head rose, holding Spike and Owlicious in her hooves. “..W-Where’s John?”
Fluttershy hung her head lower, somehow managing to cry some more. The second she did everypony in the barn gasped quietly, their eyes wide. “No...You mean, h-he’s..?” Twilight tensed, her lips trembling slightly.
“He…” Fluttershy gulped. “T-There was a bear, out of control. He started fighting it, he told me to get out...I-I dont know what happened.”
AJ looked down and sighed, a bit shaky. “At least he had got some heart to keep y’all safe.”
“Jesus you guys you have no faith do you?”
Everyone turned to the open window on the side of the barn, high off the ground. Sitting on the window sill with his feet dangling over the edge. “It’s nice to know you care though.”
- - - - -
I jump down from the sill, hoping it to be a slightly dramatic entrance, but my expression completely changed as Fluttershy flew up to me, and…
Hugged me.
All of the other ponies gasped, ready for me to do something drastic. Thankfully I had my mask on, because if they saw my face I can guarantee it would not be threatening whatsoever. In fact I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt like this before. Warmness, happiness. And dare I say it...Lov-
...What the hell? Get ahold of yourself! What happened to the crazy killer that you are? That person everyone feared, that person who always kept you alive and happy!
But, to really think about how I’ve lived all these years. I have never lived, I’ve survived. And this is my chance to finally get a life back, to thrive. To have friends, maybe even family.
All the negative thoughts that had been permanently burned into my mind had somehow disappeared, washed away. And before I knew it, I had collapsed down to hug Fluttershy back, as tightly as I could.
I forgot everything and everyone around me, all I focused on was the small, yellow pony in my arms. The feeling of warmth and care caused my memory to open an old file, of my real family. Before this all happened. I don’t know if I really opened my eyes in real life, but in my mind I did. And what was before me- no, who was before me caused my heart to skip a beat. It was her, my mother.
I gasped internally, immediately wanting to reach out to her, but when I did I saw my arms in front of me. They were small, and so were my hands. I looked down at them to examine them. They were small, and as I remembered they were the normal size as when I was a child. When I went to look back up, she was gone. And everything began to fade away.
I didn't try to stop it. I knew what was happening. That it was just some kind of image, or memory. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be.
I tried to comprehend what the hell had just happened, but everything was interrupted by a deadly, familiar sound.
The barn walls began creaking, muffled moans on the other side seeped through and terrified everyone inside, except for me of course.
And not out of: “Trying to be the fearless hero” shit. But anger. Now realizing what these ponies had tried to do ever since they found me was trying to help me, and now these things had followed me here and threatened all of them. I knew that this was my chance to get what I had before, the opposite of what is happening. I used to be alone, emotionless and fearless. But now, I will never have to be alone again.
I don’t know how long it had been, the longest minutes of my life containing only the deathly silence inside the barn of the terrified ponies, and the one human that had the bravery, and now the anger to kill everything outside that was trying to get in. The sounds of banging wood and grunting as I swung the hatchet at and walker near me made each pony inside flinch.
Soon, all the sounds stopped, the silence now complete. Fluttershy let out a quiet whimper, until the door opened slowly. Most of the ponies took a step back, the ones that were prepared to protect everypony else stepped forward, Rainbow Dash even grabbing a rake that was nearby.
The barn doors opened to their full extent, to show John thankfully standing there. But standing beside him was a light gray-coated pegasus, with a faint yellow mane. Her eyes golden, and slightly off center. I stepped in with the pony at my side, blood on both of us, but mainly me.
“I found the one that brought all those walkers here.” I didn’t have an expression that read angry, or even pissed. As almost always there was nothing on my face, but a relaxed, quiet look as I walked away from the saved pony. I walk up to the group, mostly looking at Applejack, causing her to gulp and back down slightly. “Do you have a shower around here?”
Applejack’s eyes zoomed around the room, avoid my own before landing upon my face. “U-Uh, yep! There’s one inside the house, and one outside, but with those things out there-”
“Thanks.” I cut her off, grabbing the rest of my clothes and equipment that I didn’t have on before. Taking everything, I walk back out of the barn. Leaving the ponies huddled together in a group.
“He sure is...strange.” Applejack cut through the silence, relaxing.
“Strange!? THAT is how you describe him!?!” Rarity scowled, still shaking in fear even though I had gone.
“I don’t get how he does that without caring at all! Does he even have emotion?!” Dash chimed in, throwing her hooves up in agreement with Rarity.
“GIRLS!”
All of the arguing girls stop in immediate surprise as they turn to Fluttershy, who had stopped them of their conversing. Fluttershy’s ears went back, but she stood tall.
“How can you talk about him like that behind his back?! He just saved all of us, and you’re accusing him of being heartless!”
Rainbow looked as if she was going to speak up again, anger still on her face. But when she realized Fluttershy was right, she looked to the ground in shame, her anger subsiding and her tail whipping gently. “...You’re right.”
Rarity let out a long, calming sigh. “I, suppose, that this is all just a bit much for us-”
“That’s still no excuse to blame somepony else for something that’s not their fault!” Nopony had seen Fluttershy get angry like this before, especially directed at them. Fluttershy huffed and turned away. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” And with that, she flew out the barn window. Leaving the group to their thoughts.
Outside, leaned up against the barn door was me, listening to Fluttershy’s lecture. A small grin seeps across my lips. “Maybe some of these ponies really aren’t so bad.”
- - - - -Later- - - - -
A few hours later, the sky had began to set; a lot quicker than normal. I had cleansed my clothes and body of all the gore and odor from the walkers, rinsing my weapons, too. By now, the ponies were finally relaxed. There wasn’t another walker or pony for miles, as far as I could see. I finished washing everything a while ago, but right now I was walking along the grounds, close to the barn and house. Impressed by how many fresh crops there were out there, and lots of apples. I decided that tomorrow I would get everyone to collect as much as possible, but before that we would need a fridge or something so they won’t rot...
I also noted that we would have to set a boundary around everything, or anything we could. Even traps if we have the stuff for it. Now I could already tell that these ponies are herbivores, which means the hunting won’t be as hard. Just more for me, not that I cared what the others would think…
See? There. You have to stop that. If you’re staying with them, at least be civil. I shook my head, going back to the barn.
When I got there, all the ponies were conversing. Different groups of ponies talking about other things, but I didn’t see Fluttershy anywhere. I walked up to Twilight, who was with both Princesses. “Do you know where Fluttershy is? I uh, need to make sure everyone is here before nightfall.”
What the hell was that hesitation for?
Twilight turned to me and raised a slight eyebrow, catching the same thing. She let it go with a lazy sigh. “I’m not sure, she left after you did.”
I let out an irritated sigh. “Alright, make sure no one leaves. I’ll be right back.” With that, I set off outside again. Once I left the barn, the sounds of birds chirping had disappeared and been replaced with crickets hidden in the unknown distance. But it wasn’t enough to cover the sound of the barn roof that gave away a quiet creak. Followed by a squeak, that came from a familiar pony.
I looked up, but didn’t see anything at the angle I was at. I shrugged, even if she wasn’t up there it’s a good place to look over the property from. With that, I began climbing.
A minute later I was on the rooftop of the barn. Fluttershy was there, as she had heard me climbing up. She looked at me, and once she realized who it was she relaxed. I wouldn’t have liked the idea of one of these ponies being able to hear me, but I was starting to trust them more and it was good they can hear quiet things. Especially Fluttershy.
“W...W-What are you doing up here?” Fluttershy looked away, facing the sun as it went under the horizon.
I didn’t answer, but I walked quietly over to her. I sat down beside her, and took off my mask. Looking down at it as I spoke. “Thanks for that.”
She perked up. “Thanks..? For what?”
“Doing what you did after I left the barn earlier. It’s nice to know someone cares for me too.”
Once Fluttershy realized what I meant she blushed, poking the shingles of the barn roof. “O-Oh, that was no problem. It just made me upset to know that they didn’t care for what you did to help us. Even if they aren’t, I-I’m very thankful for what you did…” She hid behind her mane.
“It’s no problem. I couldn’t have done it if I didn’t have somepony to save. O-Or a whole group.” I gulped internally. There was something special about this pony...I could feel it…
“Anyways, you should probably go back inside.” I said, pulling my bow off my back and sliding in an arrow. My legs dangling over the edge. “You need your sleep.”
“What about you?” Fluttershy didn’t move, but she looked at me. A tiny bit of her flush still on her face. Added with the orange sunlight, created (I’ll admit) a beautiful picture. I didn’t react to it though.
“I’m keeping watch. Especially with the break out just happening, there’ll be walkers everywhere. I need to make sure none get near us.”
“B-But, you need your sleep too! I can’t just leave you out here.” She responded, this time standing up and glaring down at me. I didn’t find it in the littlest bit intimidating, and I didn’t stand either. I calmly look back at her.
“Relax. I’ve been on my own for years now, I can make a night. Just go get your sleep.” I gently pat her head.
Fluttershy paused, looking down, before looking back at me. Quietly, she laid down beside me. “Okay, fine. But I’m not leaving.”
I sighed, getting slightly irritated. “Fluttershy, don’t make this difficult-”
“I’m not leaving.” She planted, not opening an eye as she relaxed.
I opened my mouth to counter once again, but I never realized Fluttershy was this stubborn. If she wasn’t going to leave, I might as well enjoy her company. It’s been awhile since I’ve had that. I put down my bow beside me. The sun had already gone down, and the beautiful moon had risen along with the tiny stars far away.
I let out a quiet yawn, then hear and feel Fluttershy move closer, her head gracefully resting on my thigh. Thankfully she was asleep, or at least had her eyes closed. As I had let out my own, barely-visible blush. My hand found its own way to her head, and soothingly began to stroke through her mane and around her ears, causing them to flick every time I went near them.
I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Fluttershy, though my smile disappeared as I hear the barn doors open. Twilight walked out, and looked around. “John?”
“Up here.” I spoke quietly, and she looked up at me. She looked as if she was going to ask why I was up there, but she didn’t.
“Did you find Fluttershy?”
“Yes, she up here.”
“...Are you coming down?”
“I’m watching the perimeter for the night, and she wanted to stay up here with me.”
Twilight’s eyes widened slightly. “O-Oh. Alright then...Um, good night!” She half-smiled, walking back into the barn.
I simply nodded back to her before she left, then once she did it was back to the quiet sounds of distant crickets, and the faint sound of Fluttershy’s breathing. I sighed, my hand still on Fluttershy’s head, but barely moving. I stretched out my legs, and yawned once again.
“Better get comfortable, gonna be a long night.”
- - - - -
The next morning, Fluttershy woke up, (Still on the roof obviously,) and let out a long yawn crossed with a stretch. When she finished, she looked around on the rooftop, seeing that John wasn’t there. She looked up, and the sun wasn’t even up yet. Though looking up, something else caught her eye. It was rising smoke, and what followed was an awful stench of rotting and burning corpses.
She followed the smoke down to see a large pile of dead corpses, engulfed in flames. She saw me next to it, picking up the dead walkers from around the barn and tossing them into the large fire. She slowly got up and, opening her wings, hovered down off the roof to the ground.
Loudly and suddenly the barn doors burst open, an angry Applejack stomping out and towards me. “What in Equestria do y’all think yer doin’!?”
I look over at Applejack, poking at the fire with a big stick. “Morning to you too.”
“The sun ain’t even up yet and yer already causin’ trouble!” AJ pointed to the smoke and the flames. “Ain’t that gonna attract those things!?”
I shrugged. “Probably not. Walkers are attracted by smell and close sight, sound too. But it’s more important to burn these then let them lay around. If the disease gets airborne then we’re all screwed.”
Applejack growled at him nevertheless. “Can’t ya just throw ‘em somewhere!?”
I dropped the stick and glared back at her. “Look, I know what I’m doing. So let me do it!”
“How do ah know it’s the right thing to do then!?”
“You DON’T know! If I wasn’t here you’d be like these!” I pointed to the burning bodies. “Do you want to live, or die!? Because if you don’t want to go by my rules be my guest and leave!”
Applejack gave me a death glare. “This is mah property, and MAH barn!”
I raised my eyebrows sarcastically. “Oh, well this is my arm, and my shoe!” I pointed to each of them, earning an annoyed grunt from AJ.
“Both of you, cut it out!” Fluttershy cut in, followed by a sigh. “Can’t we all just get along, please?”
I crossed my arms. “I donno, can we?” I nodded at Jack.
“Ah really don’t like that attitude of yers!”
I threw my arms up. “And you think I like yours?!”
“BBEEE QQUIEEEEETTT!!!!”
Everyone backed down and looked to the barn door and spotted Rarity, whose main was all frizzled and tangled in a messy manor. Her face showed the anger of a bull as steam shot out of her nose. “It is BAD ENOUGH that I must sleep in a barn, but I need my BEAUTY SLEEP!! SO SHUT UUP!!” And with that, she slammed the door. The silence was so heavy you could hear her mumbling to herself inside.
I turned and continued picking of the bodies. “I’ll prepare for a hoard to come this direction thanks to that.”
I didn’t know when, but Applejack ended up helping me toss the rest of the corpses into the fire.
Once we were done, I hadn’t noticed the sun come up. The ponies all came out of the barn, one by one. Once everyone was out, I called for a roll call.
“Why?” Twilight straight up asked.
“I need to make a head count, just so I know exactly how many, ponies are here.” After Twilight agreed, everyone gathered together in a somewhat organized line. I started counting.
First off, there was obviously the six girls I met at the start, they were all there. The princesses too, that's eight. And then there was three fillies, a giant-ass red stallion, a mint-colored unicorn, and the gray pegasus I had saved yesterday.
14 ponies. 15 including myself. If I can control what happens here, we should keep that number for a long time. But that’s the problem, people like to do what they want.
“14, 15 including me.” I explained. “That’s plenty enough to help defend this place. We’ll just have to organize some things and we’ll be good to go.”
“What do we use to defend, though?” Rainbow Dash asked, and others nodded in agreement.
I rubbed the back of my head. “First of all, a big fence around the perimeter or something like that would be good. Weapons, though, is a different story.”
“How so?” One of the ponies asked.
“Obviously, the unicorns are much safer for melee weapons, blunt and sharp. And I don’t suppose you have guns around here. So, I will need to gather up a team that is okay to get dirty to gather supplies.” I walked slightly, looking at them. “Well, dirty is an understatement. Anyone who isn’t afraid to kill, and won’t freeze during an attack.”
“What do you need a group like that for?” Fluttershy said, barely above a whisper. But it was enough for me to hear.
A while later after our discussion on the run we were going on, a small group including me was formed inside the barn. There was 5, including me, of us inside. Organizing what we were about to do.
“So, if you’re here that means you’re ready for anything. Correct?” I looked down at all four.
AppleJack and Rainbow Dash had joined from the group of girls. Big Macintosh, who was the giant red stallion, and apparently was AJ’s brother. The last one was the mint colored mare, named Lyra. They all nodded in answer to my question. I nodded back.
“Good, because I don’t want anyone to chicken out in the middle of our run and make us have to go back empty handed. Now first, I ask- no.” I paused to look at them seriously. “You will listen to everything I say if you want to live through this. Am I clear?”
They all agreed.
“Good.” I finished, grabbing the rest of my equipment and sliding my mask on. “Then get ready.”
It took me a few minutes until I realized they didn’t have anything to get. I rolled my eyes and headed for the door. They followed behind as we all walked out, I looked towards the town. Hoping this will be worth it, and that that small town has what we need. I sighed. “Alright, let’s go then.” As then, I started a quick jog towards the distant village.
The ponies kept up with a lazy trot, and Rainbow obviously flew. They could definitely go a lot faster then I could, and if I trusted them enough to let them go on their own I would. It’d make my job alot easier.
“Ugh, can’t you go any faster?” Rainbow groaned, making my idea a lot bolder. I didn’t turn to her.
“You can go up ahead if you want to. But I’m saving my stamina.” I would’ve taken her saying as a challenge, but I already knew she’d be a lot faster than me.
“Simmer down Rainbow, we’re stayin’ together. Just be patient.”
“Be patient!? At this rate we’ll make it there by sundown!”
“Maybe that’s good thing then.” I cut in, slightly irritated by their small argument.
“Now how’s THAT a good thing!?” Rainbow continued, I heard AJ sigh.
“Because It’s not easy to hide in the day. Though for the dark, rainbows don’t hide very well.” I pointed out, earning a growl from Rainbow. She crossed her hooves.
“This was a stupid idea! Let’s just go back!” Rainbow said louder, I shook my head.
“Go ahead, if you want to leave you and your friends defenseless be my guest. Because I won’t be grabbing anything for you.” I said flatly, seeing more of the town as we got closer. I could see some of the walkers around, though they were just barely black specs.
Rainbow bit her tongue, mumbling something like: you suck. However I ignored it, i was starting to want to just go back as much as she did.
By the time we made it there, the sun was still up, but it didn’t look like we had much daylight left.
“Alright look, there’s five of us, so two groups of two. You guys pair up and check some of the houses, I’ll try clearing out this town as much as I can. Just yell if you run into trouble.” I ordered, thankfully they didn’t argue, and nodded.
AppleJack obviously paired with her brother, so Rainbow and Lyra teamed up. Now realizing she should be ready to defend herself, Lyra picked up a large rock nearby with her magic, nodding to Dash.
The two pairs went their separate ways, and left me on my own. I sighed in relief, at least I didn’t have to worry about having to look after someone else besides myself. I concentrated and looked for the first house I would head to, and went out to search.
- - - - -Later- - - - -
The sun was down now, and the five of us had just gotten back to the barn with the others. Who seemed to have started a small fire, and had a small bushel of apples to eat. When we came close enough, Twilight spotted AppleJack and Big Mac, putting down her apple and getting up.
“AppleJack, I-I’m sorry to take your apples without permission, b-but we had to get something…” She looked down. AJ nodded and didn’t frown.
“Ah understand, I would’ve done the same thing.” AJ sat down, unloading the stuff off her back that she had collected from the town, then grabbing an apple for herself. Everyone else did the same.
I sat down and took off my backpack, but didn’t grab an apple. I laid out my stuff with the other things the rest collected. Their collections were man made objects, like knives and other things. My stuff, however, were more random, building tools and scraps. To anyone it would look like trash, that’s why I’ve learned to work with it.
“You want one?” I looked up at AppleJack, who held out an apple. I turned it down, staring at my assortment.
“I’d rather keep my habit of getting my own food, thanks.”
“Then be my guest to go out there and get yer own.” AppleJack took a bite, realizing I was a bit hungry. I stood, taking out my bow and walking towards her orchard.
“I think I will.”
The ponies watched me walk away, then went back to what they were doing. No one really spoke, all that was heard was the crackling of the fire, and the munching of apples and a s'more that Pinkie managed to get her hooves on.
Fluttershy was the last to still be looking as I disappeared into the darkness, deciding on whether she should follow or not. She was suddenly surprised as she heard Princess Luna whisper in her ear.
“Maybe thou shalt follow him and keep an eye on him.” She muttered, causing Fluttershy to nod and get up, silently flying away after me.
I walked in the quiet for a while, beginning to feel relaxed as I listened to all the sounds around me. My quiet breathing, the soft wind blowing through the tall grass and trees and my footsteps like a beat, and the crickets creating the melody. I made it to some apple trees, and spotted a perfect apple a little ways away from me.
It wouldn’t take long for me to walk over there and just pick it, but I wanted to try something else.
I stood at an angle so the tiny stem and branch was in front of the trunk of the tree, so my arrow wouldn’t fly out of sight as I brought my bow up. Breathing carefully, I aimed precisely, aiming for the step that attached the apple to the branch, and I was just about to fire when I hear a quiet snap of a twig behind me.
Quickly turning around, I was aiming at whatever it was, on a knee, in the blink of an eye, though I lowered my bow when I realized who it was. “What are you doing here, Fluttershy?” I stood.
Fluttershy was shivering on the ground from my sudden movements, and I rolled my eyes before walking over to her to calm her.
“Come on, stand up.” I spoke, waiting for to move but she didn’t. I let out a long sigh as I sat down beside her, my hand moving up to her head to pet her.
She quickly calmed, her fear disappearing into thin air as she tilted her head up, a dopey smile on her face and a faint blush. I couldn’t help but smile myself and let a quick chuckle escape my lips as I scratched under her chin. “You really like that, huh?” I asked aloud, not looking for an answer, thankfully she didn't, either.
I suddenly started thinking to myself. A rush of thought and emotion ran through my mind as I thought of Fluttershy, and without thinking. I started speaking.
“Fluttershy. I need to tell you something.” I said, biting my tongue as if I felt her answer would burn like lava, though when she looked up at me her eyes glistened in the most relaxing, refreshing way.
“W-What is it?”
I sighed, knowing I had to finish was I wanted to say. Pulling my hand away from her head, I graced my face with them, then rested them atop of my knees as I pulled them up. I looked back down at her.
“I-I want you to know that… Out of all the, ponies here...I…” I groaned internally. Just spit it out already!
“I trust you the most, and I feel more relaxed around you.” I finally spilled, and I saw her blush grow profusely as she turned away to look at the ground.
“..O-Oh...w-well...Thank you…” She stared up at me. “I-It’s nice to know you feel the same way I do about you.”
Great, now you’ve done it. All I hope now is that she doesn’t want a relationship or any of that shit.
But hold on, actually… It is nice to know that.
I cleared my throat. “R-Really?” Jesus, this is sappy.
She nodded, nuzzling my hand. She giggled. “See? I knew there was some pony nice under all of that… Determination.”
I thought about what she said, and I never really realized how much I’ve changed ever since I’ve been with these ponies. It’s been what, 3 days? Maybe less? Before that I barely even spoke, now look where I am. I don’t know whether to feel defeated to accomplished. Maybe a bit of both.
“Yeah, I guess so.” I shivered quietly, but it was enough for Fluttershy to notice.
“We should get back to the others.” She pointed out, standing up. I agreed, not sure if I wanted this to go on any further. We still had plenty more days ahead of us to talk and live.
It was the next morning, very early too, and as to be expected I was already up. Though I had set up some crappy targets made from some paper and other crafts, strapped to hay bales and trees. The sound of a string tightening then releasing was heard ever so often as I stood still with a bow in my hand, and arrow cocked in. After firing most of my arrows precisely where I wanted them to go, I walked over to gather them.
I hadn’t noticed AppleJack walk out, but she waited for me to gather my ammunition before speaking up.
“Y’all enjoy gettin’ up early in the morning?” She yawned, arching her back like a cat and stretching her hooves.
I barely jumped at the sound of her voice. She’ll learn one day to not sneak up on me, not unless she wanted one of my closest weapons in her head. I turned to her, holding my arrows in my hand. “It’s a force of habit.”
“Ah understand. It aint so bad really, nopony’s really ‘round at this time in the morning. It’s quite peaceful-”
“But I’m mainly up this early to get ready and warmed up. I’m gonna teach the…unicorns to shoot a bow.” I cut her off carelessly. She obviously seemed too used to it by now, as she hadn’t said anything in counter. Instead she sighed, loud enough so I could hear as I turned back to gathering my arrows.
“Well, have fun teachin’ ponies how to kill things.” She said, disappointment in her voice. I merely ignored it, as I replied normally.
“Always do.”
I heard a quiet grunt as I heard her go back into the barn, hopefully to wake up the others. I walked back to my firing position, setting down my long-ranged weapon on a hay bale. I sat down beside the bow on the hay, opening my small backpack that was slung around my back. I searched through it and found a small stone, which I picked out and slid out my knife. I began to sharpen it.
After a while, sure enough whole group of ponies walked out. Bags under their eyes, and main exhaustion from this whole situation. Probably. I stood up, putting my stuff down as I walked over to them. Some of them looked up at me, but most just acted like I wasn’t there as they woke up. I stood tall and cleared by throat.
“Would all horses with horns gather over here.”
“H-Horses?” I heard Lyra mumble to herself, and saw Twilight glare at me slightly.
“We’re ponies.”
“I don’t think that’s what matters.” I countered quickly, in which she bit her tongue in response. All the unicorns gathered as I had asked, and the rest did whatever they were going to do. The magical ponies looked up at me as I grabbed my bow and held it out in front of them. “First, before I teach. Does anyone here know how to use one of these?”
The crowd didn’t make a peep, except for Princess Luna, who surprisingly took a step forward. “We have.”
“Princess Luna, you know how to use weapons?” Rarity questioned, seeming slightly between the emotions of interested and scared.
Luna nodded. “We have had personal training with the Royal Night Guards. We know about a fair range of different kinds of weapons.” I smiled, finding another pony who I was starting to like.
“Well then, would you like to demonstrate to the class?” I smiled internally, Twilight’s head tilted slightly.
“Class? We’re not in school-”
“Fuck, do you have to question everything?” I sighed, aggravated. And Twilight looked down, and Rarity took a step forward.
“How dare you speak to a Princess like that!?” She fumed. I barely glanced at her, almost not noticing her anger enough to care.
“Because there’s no difference between people in the apocalypse.” I stated flatly, which gave her something to think about. She kept quiet as I turned back to Luna. “Anyways, let’s see what you can do then.” I held out the bow to her. Her horn lit up as the bow glowed an aroma similar to the one around her horn, and the weapon lifted from my hands with ease. I shuddered unnoticably, as it seemed too unnatural to me.
“It has been a while, but we will try.” She focused, lifting up the bow and looking down the advanced sights. “The weapon is smaller that we are used to.”
“Adjusted to me mostly. I’m mainly the only one who uses it.” I told, and she paused to concentrate. A few moments later, the aroma around the bow disappeared and the arrow flew too fast to see, straight into the bullseye point in the target I set up. The ponies cheered at her accomplishment, and Luna blushed lightly under her dark coat. She gave the bow back to me, a small smile still on her face.
“We thank thou for letting us use your weapon.” She nodded. I shrugged.
“I’m doing it for your safety.” I mumbled most of it, thankfully she didn’t get to to repeat myself. But I think she also heard me, too. I sighed, putting the bow back on the hay bale. “Well, if you know how to shoot it then you can teach the rest. I need to go check up on the others.”
“Actually, John, I need to tell you something.” I turned back to Twilight, who stepped forward beside Princess Celestia. “Me and Princess Celestia were talking, and because my brother is the head of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, that maybe it was a good idea to go looking for him. And that if he still has most of his army, it’ll help us a lot back here for ponies.” She explained. I pondered for a moment.
“And where’s this?” I questioned, and Twilight pointed to a very distant castle on the side of a mountain. I chuckled. “Well, since the virus just started here, I doubt it has made it there yet. And second, it’ll take us days to get there. By the time we do make it there, the virus might’ve beat us to it.”
“Not if we teleport.”
I stopped, everything. Breathing, talking, moving. Hell, it felt like my heart stopped beating too, as I turned to Twilight.
“...T....Teleport…?”
She nodded slowly, as if it were the simplest thing. I sighed, running my hands across my face. I dropped them quickly and shook my head. “Sure. Why the hell not, let’s just teleport there! Just like that, it’s so easy isn’t it?” I smiled, and slightly insanely. I guess Luna sensed about my acting up, and she placed a hoof on my shoulder. Instead of attacking, I stopped completely, and stared into nothingness.
“We can. And that is what we will do.”
I nodded, wasting no time in walking away. “I...I’ll get ready then.”
Rarity broke the quiet silence. “Is he alright?”
“I hope so…” Twilight watched as I walked away.
- - - - -
The sun had now fully risen in the sky, and all non-alicorns were informed to stay on the farm to watch it over while the unicorns and I got ready to leave to Canterlot.
“Good luck, y’all.” AppleJack waved as she stood along with the crowd of pegasi and earth ponies, who waited for the squadron of princesses and one human to leave.
“You too, AppleJack.” Twilight replied. She then turned to Princess Celestia, and Luna.
“Are you ready, Princess Twilight?” Celestia asked calmly. Twilight nodded. And with no further ado, the three alicorns charged their horns. And after the poof, nothing was describable.
It felt like I was being pulled through one million loopholes each second, while my head was being dunked underwater and pulled back up over and over again faster than I could blink.
When it was finally over, I had to fight to not vomit on the ground. I shut my eyes as they ached from behind, almost feeling like they were about to pop out at any given moment.
I heard someone trying to talk to me, but all I heard were quiet mumbles as the ringing in my ears was louder than my own thoughts.
“JOHN!!”
My eyes flew open suddenly, which I then blinked a few times. I looked around, noticing that we weren’t on the farm anymore. I gulped, panting slightly. “W...W-What the fuck...just happened…” I said aloud to no one in particular, but Luna answered otherwise.
“We teleported to Canterlot. Long ranged teleportation is a lot tougher, so we needed multiple ponies to do so. It also has slight side effects, such as nausea-”
“Y-Yeah…” I held my stomach, leaning up against something I didn’t care to think about. “I-I know, just stop talking.” I let out a long sigh, standing up straight and stumbling forward. “Let’s just find...w-whatever….” I grunted loudly, wincing.
The ringing in my ears continued to worsen my condition as I scanned my surroundings, my eyes half shut. The three Princesses watched me confused, and a bit concerned. Twilight walked up to me, and reached out a hoof. “John?-”
“D-Don’t touch me.” I stuttered, taking a stumbled step forward. So this is what being drunk and having a hangover at the same time feels like. “Just, do whatever..”
Twilight turned to Celestia, who nodded in response. Before they started walking forward, they also looked around, noticing there wasn’t a soul in sight besides them. “Where is everypony? Did the virus already get here?”
“I’m sure we would see more, panic if it was. The Royal Guard might have evacuated everypony.” Celestia thought, walking forward, close to her sister while Twilight stood semi-close to me.
“Then the Royal Guard should be here waiting for us, sister.” Luna replied.
I sighed, clearing my throat. “Okay, I’m good...Now, where are we going?”
Twilight pointed up to the large castle. “My brother should be in there-”
“Hey, you three! You have to leave, right now-” Suddenly, a white unicorn stallion with purple and gold plated armour, dark and light blue tail and mane with turquoise eyes ran up to us, then stopped when he realized who it was. “P-Princess!!”
“Shining Armour!” Twilight ran up to him, hugging him tightly. Probably expressing and describing everything that’s happened through physical contact.
Shining Armour quickly hugged back once he realized who it was, though the second he looked up at me, he pulled away from the hug and pushed Twilight behind him. “..You. You’re the monster that killed all my men..”
“Stand down Shining Armour, he’s our ally now.” Celestia stepped forward beside me. I couldn’t give any less of a shit at the moment, so I held an arm in front of Celestia and pulled my knife out of its sheathe. I glared back at Shining Armour with the same look he gave me.
“Maybe if you actually taught your men to fight, you wouldn’t have lost as many.”
Twilight growled at me, trying to push past Shining. “Don’t push it John!”
Shining kicked the ground. “Maybe if you weren’t such a soulless pony you wouldn’t kill for sport!”
I gripped my knife tightly, lifting up and throwing it at him fast. Enough with his attitude. I saw Twilight charge her horn, about to do something when the knife suddenly stopped just before hitting Shining Armour.
A light yellow glow coated the hovering knife, before it dropped to the ground, and Celestia turned to me angrily and stomped her hoof. “Enough!! I will not have you hurt any more innocent ponies!”
I hesitated for a moment, a bit taken back of how she spoke to me. I spoke the second I remembered why I do stuff like that. “Don’t expect anything of me. If you don’t want to me hurt anyone, then keep them away from me.” I took a step closer to her. “You, should know that.”
Shining Armour sighed to calm himself, or to stop himself from biting my head off. “Why, would you put any trust in, this…”
“Monster?” I suggested, I couldn’t tell, but I think Twilight might have frowned at that word. I didn’t care enough to ponder on it.
Shining furrowed his eyes on me. “Yeah, monster is a good word to describe you. But WHY, would you ally someone like him?!”
“Because he is the only one that knows about what’s going on. So he offered to help us stop this, thing.” Twilight replied, though I think we all know that the word “offer” doesn’t suit my decision.
Shining Armour’s face went blank, then his eyes went down. “Yeah. I don’t think anypony knows what’s going on, or how it happened. But a lot of ponies are dying, and a lot more are going to if we don’t do something about it.”
“First of all, what’s happening now is an apocalypse, a zombie apocalypse. And the infection that creates walkers is everywhere. It’s naturally transmitted through bites and scratches from the walkers, but it’s even airborne. Technically, we’re all infected. The infection just doesn’t have enough power to overtake us; yet."
Shining Armour finally took his mind off the arguing and about me being a mass murderer, and showed interest. “Is it possible to stop it?”
“The infection itself, no. Nobody has found a cure as far as I know, and it’s probably too late for that anyways. The only way to stop it, is to overrun the walkers, and the only way it’s possible is because we are much smarter than they are. And because the infection just started here, it might be probable to take out all the walkers before it spreads any more. But there’s only one problem..”
“Yes?” I noticed that all four of them seemed to be very intrigued, as they asked at the same exact time, craving an answer.
I exhaled. “It’s obvious that I’m not from around here, and the very first walker that showed up where we were, wasn’t either. It was a human walker. I don’t know how I showed up here, so I don’t know about that walker either. So no matter how many walkers we kill, we can never destroy the source. They’ll just keep co-”
I was cut off mid sentence when, shockingly, a green cloud formed right in front of us all, then exploded into dust. In the middle was a scroll wrapped with red ribbon and a gold medallion.
“That must be from Spike.” Twilight told to no one in particular, then levitated it, grabbing it before it hit the ground. She opened in, and within seconds her face was filled with terror.
“Twilight, is everything okay?” Celestia worried, and Twilight nearly dropped the scroll. She read aloud what must’ve been written on the paper. “Dear Twilight. Come back immediately, Pinkie Pie went missing.”
“One of them is missing already? We’ve barely been gone 10 minutes.” I sighed, but I don’t think Twilight was in the mood for my attitude.
“Oh, this isn’t good. We have to go back to find her!” Twilight panicked, and Shining Armour walked up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder.
“I’m sure she’s fine Twilight. She probably went for a walk to shake off everything that’s happening.”
Twilight quickly shook off his gesture mid sentence, shaking nervously. “We can’t just assume she’s alright. What if she got hurt? What if she got lost?! What if one of those things-”
“Twilight Sparkle, do not worry. We will gather up our guards then head back to Ponyville to search for Pinkie Pie.” Luna spoke reassuringly, and although it did seem to lighten Twilight’s mood a bit, she was still far from her normal self.
“Then we had better get moving. I have the WonderBolts searching the rest of the town for anypony else. After hearing about what happened, Cadence offered to take in as many ponies as possible into the Crystal Empire to help protect them. We suggest you do the same.” Shining offered, and although I haven’t seen this place it sounded like a good plan. I would rather stay at the farm.
“That sounds good. Me and Luna can come help you at the Crystal Empire. I’ll leave some guards for you Twilight to keep you and your friends safe. Until I return.” Celestia added, turning to Twilight.
“Of course.” Twilight nodded in response, trying to calm herself down.
“Good. I’ll round up some guards for you Twilight. They’ll have enough magic to help you teleport back to Ponyville, too.” Shining explained, and I shivered at the thought of teleporting again.
“Thanks Shining Armour.” Twilight barely smiled, walking up to him and hugging him, still fearful.
“Anything for my little sis.” He replied, pulling away. “Just wait here and I’ll send some guards over. And Princesses, if you’ll follow me I’ll get you back to the Crystal Empire.”
The Princesses nodded, and all three of them headed off, leaving just me and Twilight to wait.
I glanced over at Twilight, who was squirming slightly, moving her hooves and flicking her tail and mane to keep distracted. I felt a little bit bad, so I went to speak before I really thought it over.
“Twilight, stop worrying over this. She’ll be fine.”
All I earned was a grunt, making me realize that my words came out a little more harsh than I wanted them to be.
It was silent for a minute or two, until Twilight broke it easily with a quiet inhale. “What if, she doesn’t come back?”
I thought about my answer, but I didn’t really know what to say. It was in my nature to just tell her the truth that Pinkie was a goner, but I found myself turning to her. We caught each other's gaze, and I could see all the worry in her eyes, mainly showing through the small pool of tears that had formed in her eyes. I realized that she really cared for her friends that much. I thankfully caught myself before I got too destroyed over her emotions and turned away. She did also.
“She will. We’ll get back and she’ll probably show up a few minutes later.” Although it wasn’t the most reassuring sentiment, it seemed to be enough from me. Good, because that’s all she was going to get.
A distant gallop was heard in the distance, drawing closer as a platoon of guards came into sight, soon stopping in front of us. They quickly formed up, and bowed down to the Princess, and most of them glared at me.
“Rise.” Twilight stopped them from saying anything if they were going to. She was still in a hurry to get home. “We need to teleport back to Ponyville immediately.”
A mixture of “Yes your highness” and “Yes ma’am” filled the air for a brief second, before they all charged their horns, and I prepared for hell again.
The trip back didn’t seem as bad as the first time, maybe because I was prepared for what was going to happen. We teleported back to Ponyville, and Twilight must’ve been directing it because we teleported right back onto the apple orchard, in front of the barn. The others were there, waiting eagerly for Twilight to return. When she did, everyone ran over to us, relieved that Twilight was back, but still had worry in their eyes.
“Pinkie Pie is still missing!” Rarity cried to her, hugging onto Twilight’s neck.
“Don’t worry everypony, we’ll find her.” Twilight hugged her back, then pulled away. “We’ll put together a search team, I’ll take the guards with me and-”
“Don’t bother.” I simply interrupted. “Now that we have a better defence, you all need to keep this place well defended as long as possible. I’ll go find her if it’s that important.”
“What? What makes y’all think you could go find ‘er alone?” AppleJack stepped forward, though I had already began walk towards town.
“Because you’d all be dead if it weren’t for me.” I left them quiet as I turned to Twilight before I went too far. “Twilight, I’m leaving you with the defence plan. Make blueprints to build a fence around the perimeter and barricade the barn. That’s where everyone will be.” I left her with that order as I walked out, and Twilight nodded.
“He’s a bit...unpredictable.” Rarity sighed, watching me leave.
“It might seem that way to us, but I’m sure he has his own tactics.” Twilight replied, thinking about what John had left her with. “What he said about no one being different in the apocalypse was right. Being a princess of friendship isn’t going to help with this situation as far as I know.”
“Don’t worry Twi, we’re all here tuh help eachother. We’re gonna push through this, with or without John.” AppleJack said strongly, though Twilight turned to her with a disapproving frown.
“I’m sorry AJ, but although the truth might sting a bit, we are all dependant on John. At least for now. So we might as well get comfortable around him, and his attitude.”
“..I don’t think he’s that bad.” The ponies listening turned to Fluttershy who just spoke barely above a whisper, and she hid behind her mane as they all did so. “H-He might’ve done some violent things, but we have to remember he’s done it all to protect us. And he can actually be kind hearted at times-”
“When he’s not being a jerk to the rest of us!” Rainbow Dash cut it rudely, hovering off the ground. “If we have to deal with him, then fine. But I’m not turning my back with him around.” She crossed her hooves.
Twilight sighed. “Do whatever you need to do, we just have to cope with this. This is all new to us, except for him. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Princess,” One of the guards spoke from beside Twilight. “what the..” He paused to clear his throat. “stallion, spoke of is true. We need to think of a plan for defence.”
Twilight suddenly stood tall, taking charge. “Ahem. Yes, of course. Give me a minute to think of a plan. Follow me to the barn.” Twilight ordered as she walked towards the barn, the guards and everypony else following. Except for Dash, who was still looking in the direction John had walked.
“I’ll catch up!” She yelled, and once everypony was in the barn, she took off flying after John.
- - - - -
I sighed in happy relief as I walked at a steady pace. I smiled briefly; I was finally gone from those ponies and had some time to myself. “It feels good to be alone again-”
“Hey John! Wait up!”
I quickly turned to the sound of the irritating rainbow horse as she flew towards me, easily getting closer and closer. I grunted in agony as I felt that I had to scare her off again. I didn’t stop walking, as if to seem like I didn’t notice her as she landed beside me.
She waited a few moments before frowning and hovering up in front of my face. “Hello?”
“What do you want?” I glared at her, walking around her. I heard her sigh in irritation as she flew back up in front of me.
“I’m coming with you, and I don’t care what you say.” She crossed her hooves, though my glare made her wall of courage collapse easily.
“If you get caught in trouble I’m not saving you.” I spoke flatly as I pushed her aside and kept walking. She turned around and watched me walk away from her.
“You’re, not going to stop me?” She asked, disappointment in her voice.
“Nope.”
There was a moment of silence as I walked further and further from her, getting closer to town. She flew in front of me once again, and this time I finally stopped walking. “But don’t you-! Ackk!!”
She gripped onto my arms as I grabbed her throat again, and put her to the ground as I glared over her, holding her down.
She squirmed violently as I spoke, and I tried as hard as I could to hold down her hooves, as she was incredibly strong. “Look, you’re making a big mistake here. Just because I’m helping you, it doesn’t mean we’re friends. So if you keep bugging me there’s no one here to save you.” I got up and continued on my journey, leaving her in the grass as she coughed and rubbed her throat.
I heard her quickly climb up out of the grass. “I’m coming with you because I want to find my friend! And I know you’ll keep me safe because I was told you’re actually kind hearted!”
I came close to stopping, almost tripping over my feet, but I kept my cool and continued on. “And who told you that?”
“Fluttershy did!”
This time I froze in my tracks. I found myself looking down at the ground instead of what awaited me.
“...Go home, Dash.”
She hesitated for a moment. “..W-What?”
“Go. Home.”
Her hesitation disappeared as it was replaced with anger. “No! I’m going to find my friend-”
“Go home before you get yourself killed! The others need you and I’ll find Pinkie on my own!”
She took a step back in slight awe. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking by her face, and at this point I was too annoyed to care. But if I had to guess she might’ve thought I actually cared for her a little bit, but just showed it in violent ways. Either way, she waited in silence for a few moments, before nodding and turning around.
“...Okay.” I sighed quietly in relief as we both began walking our separate ways. Before she stopped again, but didn’t turn around. “J-John?”
I stopped myself lazily, then jerked my head around. “What?”
“...Thanks. For caring.”
I bit my tongue as I watched her, searching desperately for some words, and came across one. “..whatever.” I then continued to walk to the infectious town.
I almost felt Dash smile from behind me as she headed back to the farm.
- - - - -
Dash returned to the farm, flapping her wings just enough to stay airborne as she moved over to the barn. She dropped to the ground in front of the doors and poked her head inside as she heard voices.
“Although a fence is a good idea, we don’t have enough supplies to build a wall around the entire perimeter.”
“If I may suggest your majesty. Because this plague has taken out the entire town, we could end up taking down houses and furniture for wood and metal if we need it.”
“I don’t know. Nopony really knows how long this is going to last, so we don’t want to jump straight to taking down the town for supplies. Although we are in desperate need..”
The ponies stopped their conversation as they noticed Dash walk in.
“Dash!” Twilight spoke, turning to Dash. “There you are. Where did you-”
“I was going to go look for Pinkie. But I know John will find her. Some part of me just does.” Dash sighed, and in the back Fluttershy smiled.
“Well let’s hope so. Because we’ve thought of a plan to use the Harmony power against the infection, and see if it will work as a cure.” Twilight unraveled, and beside her AJ added in.
“Though of course fer that we need Pinkie. The magic ain’t strong enough without all the elements.” She frowned, and Dash walked over to them.
“Let’s not worry about her right now, she’ll be coming back. Have we thought of anything regarding to the defences?” Dash asked Twilight, who widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows at Dash, who had suddenly seemed a lot more confident.
“Well, we were talking about building a fence, but we don’t have enough supplies for that yet. We would have to build a smaller fence around the farm, so it wouldn’t stretch as far. And we might have to set up some traps too, but we’ll leave that to John.”
“Maybe that’s somethin’ we should get started on.” AppleJack suggested, and the others agreed.
“Good. Everypony grab something that we could use for building a fence. This will take a while.
- - - - -
Dash was helping with gathering whatever they could scavenge for the new addition to the farm, when suddenly Fluttershy walked up to her.
“Um, Rainbow Dash?” She spoke quietly, just barely enough for Dash to hear.
“Hmm?” Dash turned to her. “Oh, hey Fluttershy. What’s up?”
“I’m, um, happy that you believe in John too.” She smiled lightly, and Dash shrugged.
“Anypony who goes out of their way to save one of my friends is cool in my books. Even though he’s killed, a lot of ponies… I’m trying to forget about that.”
“Good.” She walked up closer to Dash. “Because I feel that everypony else is sort of against him, and I don’t want him to feel unwelcome. Because he is trying hard to help us, even though he doesn’t have to or may not want to. I just want you to help me stick up for him is all.”
“As long as he doesn’t try to pull any funny business, sure.”
- - - - -
“RAAGGHHH!!!” A loud crack was heard as my fist came in contact with the wall inside the house I was in, then went through it. “I can’t take this fucking place anymore. These ponies are getting to me. They’re changing me. I’m not myself anymore. By the time we’re all dead I’ll be picking flowers in a grassy field.”
I pulled my arm out of the wall, brushing the dust off of it. “Just keep it together. At least Fluttershy seems okay. And I don’t know what to think of Dashhhhhhfffffuck now I’m TALKING TO MYSELF!”
Just as I was about to beat the poor wall again, I looked through the window and saw a familiar pink mare walking down the street. But this time, her mane was completely straight, and she was a lot less bouncier than usual.
I walked out of the house towards her, and no matter how close I got she didn’t even flinch. It started to worry me a bit, so I kept my hand close to my knife as I walked up to her.
“Hey, Pink horse. I don’t know why you’re out here but we’re going back to the farm before we attract too much attention.”
“What’s the point.. No pony knows how long this is going to last, and more ponies are dying..” She spoke in a quiet, depressed tone.
“..I know. There’s no point in thinking about this, let’s just go back.”
“....okay..”
Walked back to the farm in complete silence. It didn’t matter much to me, as long as it was simple to find her and get her back. When we returned to the farm, ponies were seen at work on the fence. Though they immediately stopped when they saw Pinkie and ran over. Joy filling their eyes.
“Pinkie!!” They all yelled out as they ran to group hug her. Though Pinkie didn’t hug back, in fact she didn’t even blink or move a muscle. She just stopped where they ground hugged her. And they others became concerned and pulled away.
“Pinks, are you okay?” Dash asked, waving a hoof in front of Pinkie’s face.
“Her mane is straight, that’s never a good sign..” Rarity sighed.
“What did y’all do to ‘er?!” AppleJack accused, stomping her hoof on the ground.
“Why the hell is this my fault?! I found her and now you’re pointing fingers?!” I yelled back.
“I, believe it would be hoo-”
“I don’t give a fuck!” I cut off Rarity angrily, glaring at the two.
“Stop it! Both of you! You’re scaring everypony!” Fluttershy sliced in, silencing the two of us. I turn away in irritation and disgust.
“Jesus Christ..” I mumbled, walking away into the barn and closing it behind me.
The group of ponies were quiet after the sudden event.
“It’s his fault for this! For all of this! He’s doomed us all and he’s makin’ it worse!” AppleJack continued. “And ah ain’t gonna stand around tuh watch it!-...”
AppleJack stopped suddenly as she caught somepony’s gaze in her peripheral, and made the same mistake John did of looking at it. Her eyes widened and she mumbled the rest of her sentence as Fluttershy stared into AppleJacks soul, silencing her.
Everypony stared in awe and slight fear. Fluttershy hadn’t done the Stare unless it was completely necessary; especially against one of her best friends. When Fluttershy finally stopped, she showed little to no remorse.
“...Stop, blaming John for this. This is no pony’s fault.” She spoke sternly but softly at the same time.
“...O-Okay..Ah’m sorry..” AJ cowered, looking down and hanging her head low.
Twilight sighed and stepped up. “Girls Fluttershy is right. But right now the last thing we need is arguing, especially between us. We have to concentrate on staying together and keeping each other safe. John is helping, and not helping at the same time. He’s starting to change us bit by bit, and we have to remember that we are trying to change him. Not the other way around.”
Everyone paused, before nodding in agreement.
“...I believe that you owe John an apology, AppleJack.” Rarity spoke flatly, frowning slightly. AJ sighed in reply.
“Yer right. Ah just hope he ain’t too mad.”
“Yeah, doubt that.” Dash shook her head.
“I would give him a moment to relax before talking to him, AppleJack.” Twilight suggested, noticing Fluttershy sneaking away to find John. She sighed eternally and closed her eyes. “This is still a lot to get used to.”
- - - - -
Fluttershy slowly creaked open the barn door, to find John leaning up against the far wall on the floor. Though he was hard to see in the darkness. Before she could even open her mouth, John didn’t even look up to speak.
“Fuck off.” He growled bluntly, causing Fluttershy to jerk back.
“...s-sorry..” She was immediately about to turn tail and run, until John looked up and caught her just before she left.
“W-Wait, Fluttershy… You can come in.” Fluttershy swallowed hard and slowly turned around, walking back inside. When she walked closer to him, she could see some strange objects in his ears with strings attached to them. She tilted her head slightly to the side, and leaned forward to examine them. “What are those?”
John looked up at her a few seconds after she had asked, almost like he didn’t hear her. He pulled out one of the strange buds, and she could swear she faintly heard some music playing.
“What is it?” He asked calmly, and sat up taller against the wall as Fluttershy moved closer.
“What are those things in your ears?” She pointed to the one in his hand, and he looked down at the one he was holding.
“They’re called earbuds, or headphones. They play music.” He replied quietly.
“What? How can you fit music into that tiny thing?” She questioned, and John looked up at her to see if she was serious. And she was asking a legitimate question.
“Well,” He pulled something out of his pocket. It was white with a small glowing screen, and some buttons on the bottom. “This is where the music is stored. It’s the kind of technology my world had. And don’t bother telling Twilight because if she comes in here asking me about it I’ll just ignore her.” He paused the music, and the conversation continued.
Fluttershy giggled at the thought of Twilight getting all excited about such a small thing, but he was right. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” She sat down beside him, then her smile quickly faded as other things crossed her mind.
John glanced over at her, and let out a noticeable sigh before asking: “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just really worried about Pinkie. She doesn’t usually get like this often, and when she does it’s never good.” She pawed at the ground.
John looked away from her and to the door. “Well, I don’t blame her for being depressed. Everyone was when this all came down. Lot’s of lives were lost, families and friends were gone..” Fluttershy looked up at him. He shrugged. “But we just have to learn to deal with it. Because really there’s not much we can do except struggle to survive another day.”
Fluttershy looked away. “I don’t want you to be sorry at all for acting the way you do towards us. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through, so don’t feel the need-”
“Oh, I don’t feel bad for the way I act towards some of you.” John cut her off, surprising her slightly. “Some of these ponies just need to get their minds out of where it used to be before this happened, and realize what’s happening. That’s how so many people died. They were in denial, depression, and mostly just confused. If I got dragged into this with you guys, then I’m not going to let you die.” John looked down at Fluttershy. “But if I ever get mad at you for no reason, Fluttershy, then I will feel bad.”
Fluttershy’s head tilted slightly. “..Why’s that?”
John sighed heavily before speaking. “Because you get it. We both know and saw what happened to your home, your friends. Although you would seem to be the one to curl up and call for mommy, you’re not. On the inside you’re strong, you don’t fuck around.” He sprouted a small grin. “You’re the kind of person we need more of.”
Fluttershy blushed and turned away to hide it, her mane falling in front of her face. “....w-wow..n-nopony has ever said something like that about me before.”
There was a brief pause that seemed to linger on for a short eternity, until John was finally about to change the subject.
“Anyways, we should…” Fluttershy looked at John with a face of confusement as he stopped mid sentence.
“What’s wrong?” She concerned.
John held up a finger to her face, telling her to be quiet as he listened, and she complied, besides still being confused. After a few moments John got up.
“I hear them talking outside, and it doesn’t sound good.”
Fluttershy also stood, and just now overheard her friends outside. It had gotten louder obviously, as she hadn’t even taken notice before. And to conversation out there didn’t seem friendly.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He walked to the door, and outside.
- - - - -
“Pinkie, just take a deep breath and relax. It’s been a long day and you just need some rest, okay?” Twilight calmed. I walked out to what seemed to be a half-circle around Pinkie Pie. I nearly jumped back when I saw what she looked like.
Her eyes were completely bloodshot, and I could almost see every vein in her body popping out of her skin, and her blood looked purple. Her mane and coat was frizzled and dirty, and that’s when I noticed a large blood stain on the inside of her left hind leg, just on the inside of her flank. And it was still oozing down her leg. There were tear stains on her cheeks as fresh ones streamed down her face.
“I-I am c-calm!! E-Everyp-pony just go on with their d-day!-” She hacked and gaged, and a puddle of blood burst out from her mouth.
“T-Twilight, what do we do?!” Dash asked, panicked along with the rest.
“I-I don’t know!” She replied, and was suddenly pushed aside as I walked through. Not rushed, but actually slowly and carefully. I moved toward Pinkie, crouched lower to the ground.
“Pinkie, I need you to stand still for me, okay? Everything is going to be fine..” I spoke in a hushed voice. The others stared at me, confused and concerned.
“..J-John, what are you doing?” Rarity questioned, but didn’t move.
AppleJack was just about to ask the same thing, but gasped when she saw something reflect off my back. She looked closer and saw that I was holding my knife behind my back, tight in my grasp and ready to attack. “Oh no you don’t!!”
I didn’t have enough time to jump away as I was tacked from the side by AppleJack to the ground, my knife flying out of my hand and landing in front of Pinkie. Pinkie looked down at the knife and began to sob more, turning and galloping away.
“NO no no no! I-I d-don’t wanna die!!”
“P-Pinkie!” The voice of the small, purple and green dragon was heard as he ran after the bitten pink pony.
John reached out for his knife, seeing the two running away. “D-Don’t follow her you idiot! She’s bitten!!”
“Ah’m not lettin’ you hurt one of mah friends!!”
“SHE’S NOT YOUR FRIEND ANYMORE!!!” I yelled as I turned around on the ground and punched AJ right in the nose. She flinched and let go, and I kicked her off. Immediately after doing so, I got up, picked up my knife, and ran after the two. But before I got to them on the ground, it was already too late.
I spared myself the image and immediately killed them both. And cheerful, pink, partying, laughing box, and a baby dragon. Both down the drain. I clenched my fist in anger and grabbed the two by the scruff of their neck, one in each hand, and walked back to the group.
AppleJack had a bloody face from the punch, and was being helped up as I tossed the two lifeless, ripped-up corpses in front of her. I crouched down to her level and pointed at the bodies.
“You really don’t get it do you? You can’t be reckless nowadays because it leads to this! Is this what you want to happen to your friends AppleJack?! Because this is what happens when you don’t fucking think before you do!!”
She looked up at me, teary-eyed, and wiped her nose.
“...G-Get off mah property...And don’t, come back.” She spoke angrily.
It took me a moment before I got up, silently, and turned to walk away.
“Good luck you girls.” I walked away, emotionless.
Everypony in the group stared, jaw dropped at the scene that had just unfolded in front of their eyes as I walked away from them. Realizing what AJ had just said, Dash turned to her furiously.
“AppleJack, what the hay are you doing?! We need him, you can’t just send him away!”
AJ either didn’t have a guts to reply, or didn’t have anything to say, but whichever it was she stood still, staring at the two corpses in front of her. Memories of the two flashed through the backside of her mind, up until this very moment. She glared back up at me, and bit her tongue.
“Good riddance..” She finally pushed out, turning away and walking to her house.
“AppleJack! You can’t just walk away from this!” Twilight pitched in. Only her and Dash we’re the only to speak, as the others shielded their eyes from the gory sight in front of them, tears streaming down their faces as they turned and walked away. Just as AJ was walking past the barn, Fluttershy walked out from the doors and bumped into AJ. Fluttershy looked at AJ, seeing her face was all bloody.
“AppleJack, w-what happened??” She asked cautiously, but AJ just simply pushed past her. Fluttershy went to speak again, but turned to Twilight and Dash, who stood defeated in front of their dead friends. When Fluttershy saw the bodies, she shrieked loudly, covering her face and falling to the ground, sobbing.
“Y-You were wrong!! I-I can’t take this! I’m not strong, I can’t see my friends d-die like this!!” Fluttershy yelled through her crying, to who seemed to be no one. Twilight and Dash just stood beside each other, staring at the ground.
“...w..what are we going to do..?” Dash clenched her teeth.
- - - - -
I heard the distant cry of Fluttershy, and it only made things harder for me to leave. But no matter what, I didn’t stop walking. The last person I wanted to let down was her, but there was nothing I could do. I just kept walking, until I could barely see the barn in the distance. I let out a sigh of defeat, and walked along a dirt road that led into the familiar forest that I first showed up in.
Once again, I kept walking. I had no idea where I was going but at this point it didn’t matter. That is, until I stumbled upon something familiar. At first I almost didn’t believe my eyes, but when I walked up to it to touch it a wide grin grew on my face.
In front of me stood the large pickup truck, 6 pack of water bottles, and a backpack full of medical equipment inside. It seemed to be in the same spot where I left it, and it felt great that I randomly stumbled upon it, because I wouldn’t have to walk for god knows how long. Though the second I thought of it as an escape, I immediately felt regret. It wasn’t fair, that if I went back to help that I’d be turned away, but I couldn’t leave at the same time.
Frustrated, I pelted a small rock with my foot in front of me. It flew for a few seconds, before suddenly disappearing a few feet in front of me. When it disappeared, an invisible wall the same distance seemed to ripple, like I dropped a pebble into a lake. Confused, I picked up another rock and tossed it the same distance, and the same thing happened.
“What the hell..?” I took a step forward, and hesitantly held my hand forward. And like the rock, as I drew closer, my hand started to disappear. Moving further up my arm and up to my shoulder, until I quickly pulled it out with a shudder. “What the fuck is this thing?! Some kind of…” I froze as I stared at the slowly fading ripples from my previous action as I realized what this was.
“..portal..?”
I didn’t want to believe that this strange, invisible wall was a portal. But it seemed to make sense. It must be the portal to Equestria, separating the two realities. “Well, that’s something to think about.” I turned back to the truck. Knowing that I was back in my world, (or so I hoped) I walked towards the truck. As I opened the driver seat and sat down, closing the door beside me, I sat and stared through the windshield.
I knew that even If I could bring myself to leave the others behind, every day would be me living another day of regret and sorrow. Never knowing if the others were alive, or drop dead. And almost as if I didn’t want it to, my mind stumbled along a solution. I reached back for the pack of 6 water bottles, pulled one out, and took a sip. I lay back as I waited for nightfall.
- - - - -
Several hours passed, and everything that happened in those few measurements of time seemed to be stronger than anything that had happened in their entire life. With John gone, everypony couldn’t help but accept their inevitable demise. It would only be so long until they would be overrun, and really, there was nothing any of them could do about it. Their only hope of survival was John, and he disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Everypony was still recovering from the recent events, but still trying their best to build the wooden fence around the farm. Everypony with an emotionless darkness in their eyes, their coats and faces drained of color, and eyes dry of tears. Rarity and Twilight were inside AppleJack’s house, standing just outside of AJ’s bedroom door. Which was locked, of course, and if it weren’t for the knowledge of Twilight seeing her go in her bedroom you wouldn’t have known AJ was there.
Outside, however, working on a seperate, independant job, stood Rainbow Dash. Carrying her weight on her bloodied hooves, she held a shovel in one of them. A second later, she dropped the shovel to the ground, then hung her head. She closed her eyes, feeling the urge to cry again. She gave up a moment later, knowing there was nothing left to force out. She then looked back up at the two gravestones that stood before her. One reading, “Pinkie, may the party never die in our hearts.” and the other, “Spike, a small friend with one of the biggest smiles to ever find in this world.”
Dash sighed heavily. “With Spike, Pinkie, and John gone, that leaves us 11 more of us.” She mumbled quietly aloud to herself. She took a look around at the others, working through their mourning to protect the rest of us. When Dash glanced back at the tombstones, her face suddenly flushed with anger. At first she thought it would be because of John, but no.
It was AppleJack.
She stomped her hoof heavily as she quickly snapped her head to AJ’s house, and walked a deadly pace towards it. As she was walking, a familiar red stallion turned his head to her. Being in her path towards her house, she brushed past him quickly before he had a moment to say anything, which it looked like he was about to. She continued on her pathway to AppleJack’s house, and walked through the door.
As she made her way up the stairs, she could hear quiet mumbling coming from Twilight and Rarity, and it sounded like they were trying to gently lure her out of her bedroom. But when Dash made it up to the two of them, much like Big MacIntosh, she brushed past them before they could speak. She faced the door, then turned around with her hind legs facing, and bent forward.
“Dash, what are you-”
Dash lunged out her hind legs, and the door violently flew off it’s hinges. Taking some of the frame with it, the wooden splinters and planks from the door shot into the room, revealing the terrified AppleJack. Rarity almost seemed to yelp at Dash’s sudden arrival, and choked on any words she meant to say as Dash stormed in.
AppleJack sat up on her bed, but didn’t have much time to make any movements before Dash lunged on her and pinned down her hooves against the mattress. Dash took in a deep breath, ready to give AJ the most devastating, verbal beating of her life.
“Are you proud of yourself?! Are you?! You better damn well be, because thanks to you we’re all going to die because of your STUPID SELFISHNESS!!” Somehow, Dash mustered up enough pain in her throat to form tears in her eyes again. “We are down to twelve ponies, and that number is just going to drop more and more because you lost our only source of survival!” The entire time Dash is doing this, AJ’s determination to speak up to counter Dash became weaker and weaker, as Dash’s words dug a hole in her stomach. She realized everything Dash was saying was true, she did ever since John left. But she just didn’t know what to do about it.
“I don’t know what you plan to do about this, but you had better do something! Because if you’re going to stay in your room and cry like a baby it’ll be over MY DEAD BODY!!” A this point, all four of the ponies in the room were choking up. Dash was starting to break down in the middle of her lecture. “...I thought you were going to be the strong one in all of this. The pony everypony was going to look to for the answers through this mess… But I guess not. And thanks to you, we’re all dead.”
Dash got up off of AJ, and wiped her eyes. “So, it looks like somepony is going to have to clean up this mess, and by the looks of it, it’s not going to be you.” She jumped over to the window, and threw it open. “So I guess I will.” She flew through the window, leaving AJ no room to say anything.
Twilight and Rarity ran to the window, calling out to her to stop, but it didn’t look like Dash was going to turn around any time soon. But the three of them knew exactly who she was looking for. When they knew calling out was useless, the two turned to AJ.
Rarity walked out of the room first, quickly wanting to leave the silence of pain and remorse. Twilight just stood there for a moment longer, tears dropping from her cheeks to the floor. Her face wrinkled and her mouth was unsure of what to shape to, to say something. But she finally mumbled something out as she shook her head.
“...S-Shame on you, AppleJack..” She then left the room, leaving AJ to swim in her emotions, whatever they were.
- - - - -
I sat in the truck, barely able to see more than 10 feet from the car. It was pitch black, and the trees weren’t helping. I didn’t dare turn the ignition on, especially at this time of night. I had finished the bottle of water a while ago, and I was saving the other five, for other reasons. Though I did find a pistol in the passenger glove compartment; a Beretta 9mm to be exact. With a full 15 round magazine loaded in. I played around with it, as good ideas go. At least I had the safety on.
The silence was so strong, that I felt that the quietest twig snap would make me go deaf. And almost as if the name of the devil was spoken, I heard a branch snap outside the car, about 15 feet away.
I looked to my left through the window, from where I thought I heard the noise. Again, with the darkness I couldn’t see anything. But I did barely see some bright colors, and a silhouette of a pony, slowly moving towards the car. A part of me hoped it wasn’t a walker, as for one I didn’t want to get out of the car and deal with it, and second, there could be more of them out there and I wouldn’t even know.
I almost pressed my face up against the window, as the figure drew closer and closer, and by the time it was close enough for me to recognise who or what it was, my eyes widened.
“Dash?” I mumbled quietly to myself, and when she fully walked up to the car door, and I knew it was her, I opened the door to let her in. She was squinting at me, obviously she couldn’t see me too well, but it was enough for her to climb in. Because the door was to my immediate left, I hadn’t realized that she had to climb on my lap to cross over to the other seat. I closed the door behind her, but hesitated a bit when she stopped on my lap, and lay down. She curled up in a ball, and I felt her wheezing lightly on my lap.
At first I wondered why, but after I took a glance outside, I felt extreme remorse for her. This forest was a bit scary as it was, and make it pitch black with walkers roaming around it made it downright terrifying. I looked down at Dash, and brought my hand up gently to stroke her shaky head and mane. She didn’t reject, in fact she seemed to calm down quite a bit.
“It took a lot of guts for you to come out here alone.” I spoke quietly to her, and she mumbled a bit. She didn’t seem to be in the talking mood, so she kept mostly quiet. Now that I had someone to talk to, i think we both felt a little more comfortable. “Are you, thirsty at all?” I tried once again, but gained nothing. I sighed and gave up, resting my head against the back rest of the chair.
“Were you going to leave?”
I looked down at her, but I couldn’t tell if she looked back or not. I could barely see the outline of her body. I looked back up ahead of me.
“No, no I wasn’t going to leave.” I answered plainly, though that seemed to stop her shaking.
“Don’t… Please…” Now I saw her look up at me. “We need you… More than ever.”
I glanced down at her, and we locked eyes. I would usually feel the sensation of awkwardness, but before it had a chance to come I reached my hand up to her head and gave it a scratch again.
“I wasn’t planning on it, Dash. Believe me, I have nothing better to do. A part of me may have wanted to do the rest of this alone, but after meeting you girls, I guess there was another side that still likes the feeling of company.”
“S-Speaking of company… You would not believe how relieved I am to have found you. One more minute out there and I would’ve turned and gave up, or been eaten.” She gulped.
“Well, I’m glad you did neither.” I smiled down at her, though I doubt she saw it. "Now let’s get some sleep, we’re leaving early in the morning.”
It felt like it had been weeks since the last time I had any sleep, so I ended up sleeping a bit longer than I should have. A small beam of sunlight was formed from the lush trees that stood tall outside. The light shone on my face, awaking me from my deep slumber. I woke up slowly, and the first thing that I noticed was the sleeping, rainbow pegasus on my lap. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world right now, and to be honest the only safe place around here is in your own mind.
I turned my attention out the window to my left. I sighed in relief; it was much easier to see now. I moved up in my seat to get more comfortable, and stretched what I could of my back. I earned a couple satisfying cracks from my spine, and my movements seemed to stir Dash. She grunted a bit and turned over onto her back, jaw relaxed and open, with her tongue hanging free. I sighed and rolled my eyes, and scratched her head, hard enough to wake her up abruptly. She grunted a bit louder and closed her mouth, shutting her eyes tightly and rolling onto her side.
“Mph...What time is it..?” She mumbled, her sound muffled in my pant leg. I shoved her lightly, and she fumbled around to keep her balance before she sat up and looked around.
“Time for me and you to get moving. If we don’t get you back soon the rest will think you’re dead.” I replied.
“Yeah..yeah, you’re right-” Her ears perked up quickly, and she turned to me. “Wait, what do you mean, get me back to the farm, as in only me. You’re not coming back?”
I shrugged. “It’s not up to me. I would come back to be honest, but I’m exiled, and I did found my truck,”
“No, you have to come back. AppleJack doesn’t know anything, she doesn’t get it. I do. I understand what you do and why you do it now. She’s just in denial, and thinks she’s protecting her friends. We’ve already lost two, and we’ll lose more if you don’t come back with me.” She persuaded, a look of hope for mercy in her eyes. I paused for a moment before sighing heavily again.
“Again, like I said, it’s not up to me.” I repeated. After that there was a long silence between the two of us, as we listened to the birds chirping outside. I shook my head and shut my eyes for a second. “Look,” I started, “my plan was to drive back to the farm and drop off these supplies.” I pointed her attention to the large box of medical equipment and 5 bottles of fresh water. “In the meantime while I’m there, you can have a word with AppleJack. If you convince her and everyone else, I’ll stay.”
She grew a small smile on her face, filled with hope. “Everypony else wants you back, It’s only AppleJack that needs convincing.” She sat up on my lap and looked through the windshield. “Let’s get going then, I can carry the medical equipment and you carry the water bottles.”
“Carry?” I scoffed. “That’s what this thing is going to do.” I reached around her back to the keys, which were already in the ignition. I turned the keys, and the truck growled to life. Dash seemed to panic for a second, the vibrations of the vehicle taking her by surprise.
“W-What the?? What’s happening?!”
“Calm down, this is called a truck. Obviously you don’t have these around your home. It drives on four wheels, and runs on gasoline. You can get pretty damn far with a full tank and you don’t even break a sweat.” I pulled my hand from the keys and reached for the handle to take it out of parking. Dash looked at the inside of the invention with awe.
“That sounds, awesome!” She grinned widely.
“Yeah? It also has a cooling system and a radio. But once we go back into your world I doubt we’ll have any signal for radio stations.”
“My world? Aren’t we already here?” She looked around the forest, dumbfounded.
“There seems to be some kind of portal separating our two worlds. You and I both had to walk through it to get here.”
“So, we’re in your world right now?” She spoke quietly.
“I would guess so, yes.”
She turned to me slowly. “...And, you could’ve just left us. But you didn’t.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t really have a problem with doing people a few favors or helping them out, but for some reason when it came to them praising me for it or thanking me it took me off edge. “Yeah, I mean, I couldn’t just leave you guys alone in this. We we’re all scared when this first broke out, so was I. I know how you guys must feel right now-”
I was cut off when there was a sudden loud bang on the window to our right. Both of our heads darted our eyes to it, when we saw a walker moaning and banging on the window. Dash panicked, and I shook my head. “Anyway, we should get out of this forest. We’re making a lot of noise, and wasting battery.” I shifted the gear into drive, and began to drive forward. At least to what I hoped was forward, I looked for certain pinpoints that I saw when I was walking to find the truck. It made me and Dash both uneasy as we passed through the portal. The front of the car disappearing, starting with the hood, then the windshield, then the rest of the car. I sighed internally when we passed through, and continued on our way.
- - - - -
Twilight paced back and forth on the dirt path, a loud crunch sounding from the earth under her hooves with each step. It was morning, nearing afternoon, and Dash still wasn’t back yet. She hadn’t given up hope, but the filthy gut feeling from inside her chest grew bigger with each passing hour, thinking that she could be gone. The ponies’ mental conditions were only getting worse with every pony that left, or got killed. It was beginning to grow on her too, but with the princesses gone, AppleJack in bad condition, John exiled, and Dash missing, she was the top in charge at the moment.
A voice from a familiar neighbour came from behind her. She turned to the mint-colored unicorn, Lyra Heartstrings as she approached Twilight. She walked up beside her. “We finished the fence. It’s not much, but it should keep those things out for a while.”
“Good, it’ll have to do for now.” She exhaled heavily through her nose, and turned back to look at the town, which was far in the distance. “I hope Dash is okay…”
“What’s that?”
Twilight turned to Lyra, confused. Lyra pointed to the Everfree Forest, drawing Twilight’s attention to it. Sure enough, there seemed to be a strange, large, blue object moving closer and closer to their farm at an alarming rate. The closer it got, the more clear the noise it made was heard. “What is that thing?” Twilight squinted at it. As it got closer, she swore she could see...
“Is that, John and Rainbow Dash??”
The strange, moving object got to them soon enough, and pulled up in front of the barn. The noise took everyone’s attention on Sweet Apple Acres’ land, and they walked towards it, curiously. The roar that emitted from it suddenly stopped, and what seemed to be a door swung open.
“Rainbow Dash!” Everypony cheered with their friend’s arrival. Though the door on the opposite side also opened, and out stepped from behind the object, stood John. He received not much of a warm welcome, except for one certain pony.
“John! You came back!” Out from the crowd flew Fluttershy, a relieved and eager look on her face as she lunged herself at John. She clung to his waist, and welcomed him like no one was watching. Though of course, everyone was, especially AppleJack. - - - - -
I took a step back to keep my balance from my sudden new counterweight. I held her up, though I tried to make it look as little like I was hugging her as possible. I would have hugged her otherwise, but i had a change of mindset around the others.
“I knew you would come back, you said you wouldn’t leave.” She held me tightly, and because she was only holding onto my clothes she slowly began to slide down my torso. But she still held on for dear life.
“As much as I don’t want to say this, I’m only here to return and drop off some things. I can’t stay.”
My words acted like I had just spoken that I would destroy everything she loved, as she looked up at me with a shaky jaw and mumbled words. She loosened her grip and eventually fell to the ground on her rump, still staring up at me with teary eyes.
“...W-Why..?” She whimpered.
I didn’t speak, but only looked over at the orange farm pony. Who held her hat in one hoof against her chest as she looked at the ground. She didn’t have to look up at me to know why I paused, because after a few moments she closed her eyes and gave in.
“..No, he ain’t leavin’ Fluttershy…”
Not that I had my hopes up too high for staying here, but I kind of figured I’d be staying. At least AJ had gotten over her sense of denial and realized what was best for everyone, including herself. She looked up at me, but didn’t make eye contact. “Ah guess ah owe ya an apology of some sort, huh?”
I shook my head. “I’d rather we just call it even and we move on. I’m not great with apologies either.”
“But,” Now she looked me in the eyes. “you’re not the one sayin’ sorry.”
I crossed my arms. “Yes, but I’m not the acceptive type of person. Now do you want to move on from this or do you want this to get awkward?”
She seemed to chuckle a bit, and she put her hat back on. “Agreed.”
“Good.” I looked down at Fluttershy, who stood up and smiled between the two of us. “Nice to know you two are made up.”
“It’s better for us all to be allies if we’re together in this.” I pointed out, and they all nodded in agreement. I sighed and took a look around. “So, you got the fence built. anything else happen while I was gone?”
“Well, like you know, Dash ran off looking for you after a, conversation with AppleJack.” Rarity chirped in, causing both Dash and AJ to blush lightly.
“Well, if you’re accepting me back, then you know what’s going to follow.”
Everypony looked at eachother, confused, and Dash spoke up. “What?”
“Orders.” I said flatly. Twilight rolled her eyes. “But first, I have something to say.”
They all turned to me, interested.
“When I left and found this,” I patted the hood of the truck. “I also discovered something that appeared to be some sort of portal. To my knowledge it separates our two worlds from each other.”
“Really?!” Twilight quickly spoke up, then blushed when some ponies looked at her.
“Yes, at least that’s what I think. If this is true, this means that I can go back and forth between the two worlds and gather supplies.”
“Ahem, ya mean, we can go back and forth.” AJ spoke up, and I couldn’t help but scoff slightly.
“I’m sorry, but no. I don’t doubt any of your abilities, but none of you would survive long in my world at all. Some of you can’t even hold a weapon.”
“That doesn’t mean we can’t defend ourselves!” Dash grinned, and started punching and kicking the air with her hooves.
I cleared my throat through her actions, and turned back to the crowd. “Anyways, the reason this is very good, is that the supplies and equipment from my world is much more powerful and superior to what you have here. For example:” I swiftly pulled out the Beretta from my back pocket and showed it to the ponies.
“This is called a firearm, a pistol to be more exact. It fires small lead bullets at extremely high velocity and can kill anyone without armor in under a second.” I earned a few “oooh”’s from the crowd at my presentation.
“How does it work??” Twilight eagerly asked, and my grin must have made her a bit uneasy because she took a step back.
“Like this.” I switched off the safety and pulled the barrel back until it clicked, then let it slide forward. “I’d cover my ears if you aren’t used to loud sounds.” Thankfully, I saw Fluttershy immediately cover her ears and duck down. I aimed the gun into the air, and…
I lowered the gun with a shaky sigh. The ponies slowly uncovered their ears.
“Well that wasn’t very loud.” Twilight tilted her head.
“I didn’t shoot it, I could’ve attracted every walker in that town over here with one shot. That was a close one…” I unloaded the weapon, put the safety back on, and slid it back into my back pocket. “But besides that, I have some more useful items.” I walked back to the truck and pulled out the crate of water, and the first aid kit.
“Well I’ll be, where’d ya’ll find that?” AJ walked up to the medical supplies and began examining it.
“It came with the package of the truck. But this won’t last us very long, so that’s why I’m saying I should go back to my world to get some more.”
“I’ll come!” Dash spoke up. “I volunteer.”
“Dash, you can’t-” I tried.
“Me too, ah ain’t lettin’ ya go again.”
“I suppose we need all the help we can get, I will too.” Rarity added.
“I don’t think you guys get what I’m trying to say here.” I told sternly to the small crowd. “My world is full of bandits walkers that will kill you on sight if they have the chance.”
“So why would it be fair to let you go out there alone?” Dash questioned, getting up in my face. I glared at her, eye level as she hovered in front of my face.
“Because I survived there for more than ten years. I know how to take care of myself, and myself ONLY. If I have more people following me it’ll get us all killed!”
“...He’s right, girls.” The group turned to the purple alicorn princess. “He knows this all better than we do, so when it comes to something as intense as entering another world that we have never been to, it’s best we listen to him.”
I sighed gracefully. “Thank you, someone who understands.”
“..B-But..” I immediately looked down to my left as I recognised the shy, delicate voice that came from the yellow pegasus. “..if you don’t let us come with you, how are we ever going to learn how bad it really is? We can’t adapt to all of this if we’re kept away from it.” She quickly realized how much she had said and ducked her head down. “..b-but, personally, I’d like to stay here..”
“I wasn’t going to let you go anyways, Fluttershy.” Is what I said in my head. Had I said it outloud it probably would’ve started some argument that I wasn’t prepared to fight for.
“Fluttershy does hold a point. If we are expected to be in this.. Apocalypse for a while. It would make sense for us to understand really what the true dangers are.” Rarity chimed in, raising an eyebrow.
I bit my tongue in irritation, closing my eyes for a brief moment. “Sorry, let me rephrase. You guys can do whatever you want. I, RECOMMEND, staying here. If you want to follow, fine. But if you get hurt, it’s not my fault.”
There was a silence after my words, the others darted their eyes to each other, unsure of what to say.
“Sure, we can take care of ourselves.” Dash spoke proudly. “We don’t need to rely on you all the time.”
“..um, I-I think we do-”
“Well, let’s get going! We don’t have a lot of time, we’re wasting daylight.” Dash cut off Fluttershy.
I shrugged. “If you guys want to leave now, then we can. The fewer people we have the better.” I reminded. “You figure out who’s coming, I’ll get everything ready.”
They all nodded and walked off to the barn. Once they all went inside and closed the door, I kicked the truck wheel. Hard. I thought to myself as I halved the medical equipment, and packed the water supply. It seemed that AppleJack’s farm had a water pump, so that was something that we didn’t have to worry about.
I really hope Fluttershy doesn’t end up coming. She’s the last pony I want getting hurt. Though on the other hand, if she comes, then I’ll be able to watch her and makes sure nothing happens. I chuckled and shook my head. This relationship is growing on me..
After I was finished, 5 ponies walked out. Rainbow Dash, (Of course,) Twilight, AppleJack, Lyra Heartstrings, and… Fluttershy. Apparently Rarity was going to sit this one out.
“We’re ready to go.” Twilight spoke, walking and stopping in front of me with the group behind her.
“Me too. Let me just put the rest of these medical supplies in the barn. The rest of you get in the truck.” I picked up the other half of supplies and walked past the group. As they passed me, I heard Dash mumbling to Twilight about how cool the truck was. I rolled my eyes and headed into the barn. It didn’t take me very long, and when I returned to the truck… Oh boy..
“What the hell?” I looked at the five ponies. Dash, Lyra, and Twilight were the only ones actually inside the truck. Dash was pointing out things to Twilight, while she examined in awe and poked around. Lyra explored the backseat, seeming to be stuck between the foot of the back seats and the back rest of the driver seat. AppleJack was standing in the trunk, feeling the tough plastic under her hooves as she lightly hopped on it. Causing the entire truck to rock slightly. Fluttershy wasn’t even in the truck yet, she stood a considerably far distance from it, wincing at every movement the truck made.
“What are you guys doing? You look like a bunch of kids with a new toy, stop screwing around and get in!” I walked over to the truck, and Fluttershy zoomed over behind me and followed close behind me. Nearly hugging my legs as I got to the door. I opened it, and was greeted by a purple tail in my face. I pushed it away, irritated. The owner, Twilight, seemed to be almost completely oblivious of my appearance.
“Hey, purple horse!” I caught her attention, and she turned to me with an unamused glare. I shooed her with my hand, close enough to her face to make her move over. I climbed in, and started up the engine, and everyone in the truck jumped, including Dash. Fluttershy’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates, and she froze. Tucked into a shaking ball of pink and yellow.
“Fluttershy, come on and get in.” My words did nothing, a waste of effort. She barely moved. I shook my head and climbed out of the truck. I kneeled down and picked her up, earning a surprised squeak from her. I opened one of the two back seat doors and placed her on the seat. She squealed silently as I went to let her go, and she tried to grab my arm before I pulled away. I stared at her for a moment, almost feeling a bit bad that I pulled my arm away. I blinked, and glanced up to catch Rainbow Dash smirking at me, a dopey look on her face as she raised her eyebrows.
I merely stepped away and shut the door, climbing back into the driver seat and closed the door. “This is going to be a long ride.”
- - - - -
Driving in and out of the forest only got easier every time I did it. Soon, I was able to see the old tire tracks from my previous trips, so I wouldn’t get lost as easy. After finding the portal spot, I called to Twilight to catch her attention as we traveled through. Her eyes filled with amazement, and it didn’t drop until we were fully through. The others panicked a bit, other than Dash, obviously.
“Incredible..” Twilight mumbled out-loud to no one in particular. “I can’t believe no pony has discovered this before. I guess it must have appeared recently.”
“I don’t ask questions, as long as it doesn’t close it’s good the way it is.” I spoke lazily, not looking towards her as I kept my eyes on the road. My words seemed to have caught her attention. In my peripheral, I saw her frown slightly and look down.
“I never really considered that. What if the portal closes while we’re gone? How will we get back?”
I shrugged, hesitating for a moment before speaking. “If it opened, it means it can do it again. Just think of it that way.” I shook my head and relaxed, resting my arm on the window sill. “Or, just don’t worry about it at all. That’s how I do it.”
She ‘Hmpf’’d looking through the windshield again. “I guess you’re right.”
We eventually got to the edge of the forest, and we were all met with a bright beam of sunlight. My eyes winced shut for a moment, and I squinted them open. Waiting for them to adjust, I looked in front of me. There was a long, empty highway that went either left or right. I folded my arms atop of the steering wheel and shifted my sight to the two choices. “So, left or right?”
Twilight perked up, assuming I was talking to her. “What do you mean? Don’t you know where we’re going?”
I let out a quick, loud chuckle. “Of course not. I have no idea where we are. If it’s closest to the portal then it’s best we get familiar to the surroundings. So, we have to start somewhere.” I emphasized my point with some hand motions, pointing out the wasteland in front of us. The long highway was the only man-made structure around, aside from some wrecked cars. The rest was all forest and wildlife.
“How are we going to know our way back?” She questioned, concerned.
“I’ll make some pinpoints, leave bread crumbs I guess. I have a decent memory also. We will only go until we find what we need for a while, then head back. And speaking of which…” I opened the driver door and hopped out, walking cautiously over to the forest entrance where we drove out. I found a large, sturdy stick. I stuck one of the ends into the ground, and it stood about 8 feet into the air. I pulled out my hatchet and attempted to hammer it in with the backside of the blade. Though it was troublesome, it was in far enough that it would take a strong breeze or guy to pull it out. It was good enough.
I headed back to the car and hopped inside the vehicle, shutting the door. I immediately opened the glove compartment in front of Twilight, and searched around in it. After an irritated grunt, I closed it and searched the box under the armrest between the seats.
“What are you looking for?” Dash peeked her head between the two seats, interested.
“Pencil and paper. Until we find a proper map we’re going to have to make our own so it’s easier to find our way back. But I can’t find any in here.” I explained, shutting the box after another unsuccessful search.
“Oh, here.” Twilight spoke, her horn suddenly lighting up a bright purple. Not a second later, there was a flash of light, and there was a quill and scroll levitating in her magical grasp. I flinched at the sudden effect, a little scared of her ability. I darted my eyes up at her, and she smiled gracefully. “Will this work?”
I shook my head and closed my eyes, sitting up and turning to the road. “Yeah, sure. You’re drawing though, because I’m driving.”
“Okay, sure.” She complied, sitting up and looking forward, ready to write.
I blew fast air through my nose, as if an inner laugh escaped a little bit. Twilight frowned, glancing at me again. “What?”
This time a full laugh escaped my lips as I opened my mouth to speak. “If you can use that kind of ability through offensive attacks, we’re not going to need guns.” I shifted the truck into gear, and pulled forward, stopping at the highway. “Okay..” I stretched my back, earning a few cracks from my spine. “So, going left is usually right, but sometimes right is the only choice left…” I joked, earning an unentertained groan from Dash.
“Just go left!”
“Yeah yeah, calm down skittles I’m going.” I drove forward, and turned left to take off down the road. I heard Twilight giggle quietly at my act, and I smiled a little bit. I guess I had forgot how good it was to have company. Driving like this, with a positive vibe shining in everyone present, reminded me of when I used to go on road trips with my friends before everything came crashing down.
My smile quickly faded as I remembered them. Some memories came flashing back through my mind as I almost disappeared from the physical world to swim through my thoughts. It made me realize why I had become such a hard-skulled, heartless and mindless person once shit hit the fan. After losing everyone I had loved, I seemed to have no more reason to make friends. I just felt that I would lose them again. To be honest, I don’t really know what even happened to my friends and family. I never made it back to home after what happened on the ship. For all I know, they could be completely fine. Alive, all together, maybe even happy.
But I figured that wasn’t the case, the last thing I wanted was to get my hopes up. It’s been more than 10 years, so I had almost forgotten about them, and they most likely forgot about me. And now that I had these strange figures in this car, it brought those thoughts back. I felt like I had just found an old toy I had as a kid, hidden in the attic for years. It brought multiple feelings to mind. Mostly containing happiness, and sadness. And, almost a bit of lust. What I would have given to go back to the days before this all happened…
“John?”
I blinked. My eyes stung right after, and I had realized that I had zoned out for a while. I turned to Twilight for a second, before looking back to the road ahead. “Yeah, what?”
“Are you okay? You looked like you really zoned out there.”
I sighed, scratching my face. “Yeah, just thinking.”
She raised an eyebrow. “About what?”
I frowned. I always hated it when people tried to pry something out of me, especially when it wasn’t any of their business. “Mind your own business.” I growled.
She flinched, like my words took a jab at her. She turned away. “S-Sorry.. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“No,” I spoke without thinking. “I’m sorry… I’ve just never been comfortable with people invading my space.”
“I wasn’t trying to invade anything, you just looked like you had something on your mind. Just wanted to make conversation.”
There was a pause, and I seemed to have held my breath until I finally spoke.
“..me,” I started. “Me and my friends; Mark, Jason, and Kyle.. Man, us four would go on road trips any chance we could. Just to get away from all the shit we had gotten into.” I chuckled. “Those three guys were probably the best fuckers I’ve ever met in my entire life. I saw them more than my own family. Hell, they might as well have been my brothers. We did everything together. We never left another behind. If one of them got into shit, we were there just to take it with him so we had something to laugh about later on.”
Twilight smiled, a warm glow emitting from her face. “It sounds like you had a pretty good friendship.”
“Oh, hell yeah.” I shrugged. “But, I haven’t seen them for years. For all I know they could be dead. If they are alive…” I gulped and bit the inside of my cheek. “I try to not think about it.”
“Well, you never know. We could find them!” Dash chimed in. “You’ll have your friends back, and we’ll all have more people in our group!”
I felt I had given enough information, and cleared my throat. “Anyways,” I ignored Dash’s statement. “It’s just that this trip reminded me of them. That’s all.” I glanced down at the radio, and smirked a little. “We always listened to this one radio station. Played the best music, we all liked the same stuff.” I reached down to the little knobs and began twisting, zooming past radio stations to look for the right station. “What was it.. Ninety three point five?”
There was some static between stations until I made it to the station. Immediately music began playing. I had caught it at the beginning of the song, and I smiled brightly. "Well I'll be damned."
The sweet, soothing guitar into was something I could never forget. “This was our most favorite song of all time.”
“What is it?” Twilight questioned. She was probably more intrigued about how the little box was playing music, but she seemed to have realized I was having another memory.
“The song is called Hotel California. The second Mark heard the into he’d be playing the air guitar, and it almost seemed note for note even though there was nothing there. Kyle would be next up with the drums. The two of them would be in perfect sync. We always rode In Jason’s car, and I swear, you couldn’t find a shittier car in the world. The entire car would be rocking back and forth by the time everyone was in on the song. We took the saying: ‘Do it like no one’s watching’ to a whole new level. Me and Jason would be singing together as loud as we could, and by the time the chorus came in, we were all yelling like a bunch of kids high on sugar.”
“You sing?” Dash chuckled, and I laughed harder.
“Oh god no, I couldn’t sing if my life depended on it. We all sounded like a bunch of dying seals.” I shook my head, sighing from my laughter. “The only one that could actually sing was Jason. He was always so modest about it, and we’d just tease the shit of him about it.”
I relaxed from my adrenaline. “Those were the good days… It makes you realize how much of it we took for granted.”
Twilight realized how much he had been opening up to everyone about his life. She tried to not make a big deal of it, but she couldn’t help but smile brightly. “Sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, it was-”
*BANG*
Everyone and I jumped at the sudden loud noise. After the sound, the car quickly started to skid out of control. I tried as hard as I could to hold control of the car, but it was only getting worse. I slammed on the breaks, and the truck skidded sideways for a few moments before stopping. Sparks shooting out from the back right wheel. Once the car stopped, I quickly opened up the door, and pulled out my Beretta. “All of you stay inside the truck, and keep your heads down.”
“W-What’s going on?!” Twilight yelled, panicking.
“Just do it!” I slammed the door behind me. I went to climb into the trunk of the truck for cover, but before I could get in, a voice called out from an unknown source.
“Freeze!!”
I stopped. If only I knew where the person was, I could have done something. The highway was surrounded by tall, yellow grass. Whoever was out there could easily camouflage into it. I did what the voice said.
Knowing there wasn’t much I could do at the moment, I did as the voice said. I turned around, and slowly, I saw a large clump of grass rise from the ground. I quickly realized it was someone wearing a Ghillie Suit. The voice sounded masculine, so I assumed it was a male. (Obviously.) The stranger was holding a bolt-action rifle Kar98k, with a scope and bayonet. The entire rifle was painted lime green, and covered in grass.
“Dylan,” The voice spoke. “Pat him down. Make sure he doesn’t have any weapons.”
On the other side of the highway, there was another stranger in a Ghillie suit, holding a Glock 18. They walked up to me, and knowing I had my knife on me, I prepared for the second he came within arms length. I grabbed his wrist with my left hand, and pulled out my knife with my right. I spun him around towards me, and held my knife to his throat. All in one swift movement.
“Your turn. Drop your weapon.” I spoke in a threatening tone. I wished that I had my mask on, but it was too late for that.
The stranger in the grass hesitated, before mumbling what was probably a curse word and lowering his rifle. Tossing it to the ground.
“You too!” I kicked my hostage in the back of the ankle. He grunted, tossing his Glock to the ground.
I quickly patted him down, a bit rushed, and after finding nothing other than a canteen and a large backpack, I pushed him to the back of the truck. I waved over the other guy, who walked over beside his friend. “Take off your suits.”
They both looked at each other at the same time, and took off their hoods to reveal their faces.
One of them had very short black hair, and a bit of a rounded face. He had dark brown eyes, and also had a large scar that ran along the left of his jawline. He wore the damage the way one would, his death glare attempting to slice daggers into my soul. I merely glanced over him, his threatening glare meant nothing to me.
The other one, a bit longer, dirtier blonde hair with a more narrower face. Stood a bit shorter than the other, his eyes examining me more than looking at my face rather. He looked up and caught my glance, and I identified his eyes the same color as his friends.
“Give me a reason to not kill you.” I declared, picking up the Glock that was dropped. The two of them stood silent, obviously preparing for death. I raised an eyebrow. “No? Makes my job easier-” I lifted the firearm to aim at the first stranger’s head.
“Wait!”
My head turned to the familiar voice of Fluttershy, and my eyes followed. “Fluttershy! Get back in the car, I told you to not get out!”
The two strangers stared, dumbfounded. They didn’t know if they were hallucinating the entire scene unfolding before them, and they couldn’t identify what just climbed out of the truck. Just as I was about to turn back to the two, I was caught off guard as the taller, broader one grabbed the gun from me and smashed my jaw with the handle. I heard Fluttershy gasp a the sudden action.
I growled at the attack, grabbing my jaw. I quickly grabbed my knife reversed, and slashed at him. In my fatigue, he easily blocked my arm with his, and kicked me to the ground. He saw the Glock on the ground, and swiftly picked it up and aimed it at me.
“Get off of ‘im ya lunatic!” The two of us turned our attention to the trunk of the truck. AppleJack was seen just after she jumped off of the truck. She did a 180 mid-air, and bent her hind legs. The enemy began to swing his weapon up at the new opponent, but it was far too late. AJ extended her legs, and bucked him right in the shoulder.
The crack was so loud I thought someone had just smashed a tree with a wreckingball.
“A-AHH!!” He yelped out in pain, his arm going limp as he dropped the gun. AJ’s momentum carried into him, throwing him to the ground. The second one, charged at me with a pair of spiked brass knuckles. I scurried to quickly get up, but found it useless when Twilight flew out from in front of the truck, hovering in the air. She fired a beam at the second attacker, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He stumbled around, his eyes rolled back into his head as he fell flat on his face. Unconscious.
“Aww yeah!!” Dash yelled out, victorious.
“John!” Fluttershy called out. Her and the others ran over to me. I sat up, and they helped me stand. I held my jaw in pain, wincing with every movement I made with my head.
“D-Dammit Fluttershy, I told you guys to stay in the car! We could’ve been killed!” I grunted in pain again.
She quickly backed off, sorrow filled her face as she lowered her head.
“Hey, if it weren’t for us, YOU would be dead!” Dash pointed out, defending Fluttershy.
“You got lucky, you were able to catch them by surprise.” I brushed myself off, still holding onto my jaw. “And besides, I had it under control.”
“What do we do with them now?” Twilight looked at the two passed out bodies.
“We leave them.” I replied nonchalantly.
“Why don’t we take them with us?” She said, and seemed to quickly regret it as she saw my reaction.
“You want us to take two people, that just tried to kill us, back home?” I stared at the two strangers, feeling my jaw becoming swollen.
“They didn’t attack us for no reason… Probably. They probably just need a place to stay.” Dash spoke. “It’s better to make friends than enemies, right?”
“Don’t you realize that if we bring them back with us, in the middle of the night they could easily kill us all?” I threw my hands up.
“We don’t know them, they were probably only doing it because they had to! If we give them what they need, they won’t have a reason to attack us.” Dash continued.
I merely shook my head. I’d had enough arguing, and my face was killing me. “Fine. If this is a vote, then I’m outvoted. Your call.”
They all turned to each other, and seemed to agree with one another.
“Okay then.” I sighed. “Get in the car, I’ll put them in the trunk. If we’re bringing them, I’m not having them in the car.”
“I’ll help.” AppleJack offered.
“Whatever.” I picked up the first body and threw him over my shoulder. AppleJack frowned at my attitude, but picked up the other one.
We loaded the two of them in, and I had found some rope in the trunk that I hadn’t noticed before. I tied their hands together behind their back, and tied that to a metal tie-down hook in the trunk. I did that for both of them, and when I was finished I closed the hitch and climbed back into the driver seat. Before I forgot, I collected the Glock and Kar98k and tossed them into the backseat. Fluttershy was beside me in the passenger seat instead of Twilight, and the second I faced forward, she noticed my jaw and gasped.
“Oh, John! Your jaw!” She reached out to touch it. I moved my head away, and started up the truck.
“I’m fine. It’ll heal.”
“It won’t heal properly if you don’t do something.” She worried, examining it as she leaned in.
“Tough.”
I pressed the gas, and the truck barely moved. A loud grinding noise was heard from the back right wheel. I grunted in irritation, turning off the ignition and opening the door. “We better hope there’s a spare. Otherwise we’re walking.” I shut the door and headed to the back of the truck. I first took a glance under the trunk. My body relaxed in relief as I spotted a spare tire.
“Time to get to work.”
- - - - -
About an hour later, we were back on the road. After many failed attempts to stop Fluttershy from touching my face, she had found the medical equipment and did what work she could on my jaw. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it had helped a lot. My tongue now had space to move around in my mouth, and I didn’t bite swollen flesh on the inside of my cheek every time I closed my jaw. After some time of driving, she was now asleep on my lap as I concentrated on the road. Most of the others were also asleep, tired from the recent events. The two found others were still unconscious in the trunk. Everything was calm, at the moment.
I breathed slowly, almost in time with the sleeping pegasus on my lap. We had been driving for a decently long time, just on this same highway. It only made it easier to find our way back, though. The radio was on quietly so it didn’t wake up the others, so I sat with one hand on the wheel, and the other slowly petting Fluttershy’s head.
“How’s your jaw?”
I jumped a little, but not too much from my surprise. I turned to my right to see Twilight, still in her same spot. She seemed to have just woken up, her hair a bit frizzled, and her quill and scroll was on the floor. She was looking at me, and seemed to have asked her question just after a long yawn.
“Good.” I replied simply, feeling Fluttershy squirm a little to get more comfortable.
Twilight looked down at Fluttershy, and a calm smile grew upon her face. “You know, I hope you realize how lucky you are to have somepony like Fluttershy, get so comfortable around you after only knowing you so long. Plus, how you were… acting, when you first showed up.”
I glanced down at Fluttershy for a moment, and I relaxed. I didn’t have time to speak before she carried on.
“It takes nearly a few days for her to even consider talking to somepony new. But for some reason, there must be something about you that she likes, that she cares about.” She continued. “Just don’t throw her friendship away, is what I’m saying.”
“I wasn’t planning on doing that anytime soon. Honestly, I probably care about her more than she cares about me.” I replied simply, and I saw her raise her eyebrows in my peripheral.
“Really?” She faced forward. “You definitely don’t show it sometimes.”
“I do, just not in a way you would understand.”
She grunted quietly. She didn’t want this to turn into an argument, and neither did I. We kept quiet after that for a little while, until we both saw something ahead of us, in the distance.
“Looks like we finally have a stop to make.” I turned to the backseats, seeing everyone else was asleep. “We should wake them up.”
Twilight nodded and turned around, moving her head and two front hooves between the two front seats and whispered to the others to wake them up.
I stroked Fluttershy’s mane and head a little faster and rougher to wake her up, and sure enough she stirred out of her slumber. She looked up at me with heavy eyes, but smiled when we caught each other’s glance. I lazily smiled back, then looked back to the road, noticing what seemed to be a small town up ahead, drawing closer.
“There’s a town up ahead, we all have to get ready to get going.” I whispered to her, and she ‘Mhm’’d tiredly, closing her eyes again. I heard the ponies in the back, moaning and groaning. (Mostly Dash).
About 5 minutes later, we pulled up to a market. It was only a local market, so it was pretty small. But it didn’t look like it had been broken into at all, so there might still be a good supply of food and water inside. I turned off the truck, and put the keys into my pocket. I opened the door and grabbed my black face mask. “Okay, everyone out.”
The doors swung open and everyone piled out of the truck. I nudged Fluttershy, and her eyes opened again.
“Come on Fluttershy, let’s go.” I shook her a little bit. She yawned, her mouth opening wide as she squirmed to get up. She hopped out the open door, and I followed suit. After grabbing my Beretta off the dashboard, I closed the door and took in a deep breath.
“So, what are we doing with the two in the back?” Dash questioned, stretching out her wings and legs.
I turned to the trunk, spotting a glimpse of the two. I had almost forgotten about them. “Well, they’re tied up. Even if they wake up I don’t think they’re going anywhere.”
“But what if a, ‘walker’, comes up ‘n gets ‘em?” AJ inquired, and earned a sigh from me.
“You guys wanted to keep them, you figure it out. I’m here to pick up supplies, and you all wanted to come.” I said, looking around for where I should check first.
“Ah can watch ‘em, you girls go with John.” AppleJack volunteered, trotting over to the two hostages and jumping in the trunk.
Lyra walked over to AJ to join her. “I’ll stay too, it’s better to have two ponies together anyways.”
The rest nodded, and walked over to me. “So, what first?” Dash requested, ready to go.
“Uhh..” I finished looking around. “Honestly, this town looks untouched. If anyone lived here, they just upped and left. So it’s likely we won’t come across any walkers or raiders. But it doesn’t mean we let our guard down.” I pointed to the market. “There first.”
“Got it.” Dash was already flying over before anyone had even started walking. When she made it to the door, she tried the handle. And to no one’s surprise, it was locked. And for some reason, her next idea was to turn around, and…
“Dash!” I quickly ran over. She stopped, just about to kick the door with all of her might. She looked at me and tilted her head to the left a little.
“What’s the problem?” She asked, completely oblivious.
“You can’t just go ahead and break down the door. If an alarm goes off then we’ll attract walkers for miles!” I told down to her, and she blew air out of her nose quickly, un amused by my stern talking.
“Then what do we do, John?” She asked, sarcasm dripping from her lips.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the door, and bent down on one knee. I pulled off my backpack, and rooted through one of the very small pockets on the outside. “Aha.”
I pulled out two, small, very fine wires. One shaped like an L, and the other had a small W at the end. I moved closer to the door lock, and placed the two wires in the lock in a specific way. The others leaned closer, a little too close for my comfort as I waved them away.
“What are you doing?” Fluttershy wondered, trying to get a good view of my working.
“Picking the lock. Just give me a minute, I have to do the handle afterwards also.” I said quietly, concentrating on the lock.
“That’s so cool!” Dash squee’d. “That’s like some Sherlock Hooves action!”
I stopped. Immediately after she said that, I kept my hands in the same working position but slowly turned my head to Dash.
“...Sherlock, Hooves?”
She grinned. “Yeah, you know him?”
I didn’t have the energy to deal with this right now. I finished the bolt lock and went onto the door handle. “I know Sherlock HOLMES, whoever Sherlock Hooves is, is a mystery to me.”
Sherlock Holmes..? Twilight thought to herself, tapping her chin with a hoof.
A sudden click from the door was sounded before the door swung open slowly. “Bingo.” I said, putting the lockpicks back into my back. I zipped it up and swung the pack, back onto my back.
“Okay, this store doesn’t look too big, but each of us has to stay within sight of another. We check the entire, and I mean, ENTIRE store before looting anything. Got it?” I ordered, making sure I had all of their eyes. Of course I didn’t have Dash’s, but that’s to be expected.
“Good. First, we’re staying together while we check the store. Then we can split up to loot the place.” I finished, and it seemed that Dash was leading the group.
“Hey!” She came back around the corner with something in her mouth. I smirked.
“So, you found your zodiac sign?” I chuckled, and earned an unamused glare from her eyes. In her mouth she held a bag of Original Skittles.
She spat it into her hoof. “What even is it?”
“It’s a candy. I’d open it for you if it wasn’t covered in saliva.” I poked, and she rolled her eyes.
“Anyways, you have to stay with the group Dash. Let’s go.”
- - - - -
The pain… I couldn’t describe it. I felt like someone just ran over my shoulder with a steam roller. Every movement I made, even every breath I took. God damn… it was excruciating.
And what happened? Right now, all I could do was feel my surroundings without actually moving to feel it. Whatever I was sitting on, it was ridged, hard, and cold. I at least knew I was outside. I also heard some voices, two as far as I knew. And female.
I recalled recent events. I still couldn’t believe myself or my eyes. Was it something I ate? Did I consume something that made me hallucinate? But it attacked me, the orange horse..
I finally opened my eyes, not wanting to be trapped in my mind any longer. What I saw before me almost made me pass out once more. In front of me sat the same orange pony that demolished my shoulder. Across from it, was a different one that I hadn’t seen before. It was a very light blue, almost mint colored. And, wait… is that a horn? I don’t even know anymore..
The two of them seemed to be playing a game of cards together. Sitting about 6 feet away from me. They hadn’t noticed my awakening, yet. I turned to my left, and spotted Dylan. He didn’t seem to have any damage done to him from the angle I was looking at. Besides a bump on his forehead. But he was still asleep.
I turned back to the ponies, who were now staring at me. I was half expecting them to do something, tease or knock me out again.
But no, they just turned away and continued their game of cards.
I moved around, trying my best to ignore the horrible discomfort in my shoulder. Squirming around made me notice that my hands were tied together behind my back. Then, tied to something else. I wasn’t sure what to do. To be honest, I was in the midst of some very different feelings.
Confusement was the overtaker of them all, as I had no idea what the hell was going on or where I was, and why there were two multicolored miniature horses in front of me. Fear, to be honest, was also another large one. Although the orange one seemed to be less intimidating as she was, she was strong as hell.
Pain was the hardest to deal with. And at this point I was looking for anything to take my mind off of it. I turned back to the strange animals, who were peacefully playing away at their little game.
“What’re you playing?” I spoke, then cleared my throat right after as I noticed my voice was grudgy and bubbly. They turned to me.
Jackpot. If I was still on my own, had the truck, and a place that I was going to be staying for a long time, all of this food could last me months. If we had more space in the truck, we could’ve taken a large majority of it. We’ll probably make a second trip back to this place, but it’s likely that some other survivors will come through and do the same.
We grabbed just enough to put in the trunk, and some in the backseat, but everyone can still fit in. The two captured in the back might be a bit waterlogged with supplies, but honestly that’s not that bad. And I could care less about those two anyways, these ponies don’t know what they’re doing…
We strolled out of the market with the supplies we needed in some shopping carts. With the load that we hit, and the daylight that we were losing, we decided to leave the other stores and houses around town for another trip. I heard talking the the trunk, like full on conversations. And I moved faster when I heard two other male voices talking.
When I had made it to the trunk, I opened the hatch and widened my eyes when I saw what was before me. AppleJack and Lyra, first of all, were playing a game of cards with each other. Where they got the cards was beyond me. And second of all, the two strangers were untied and PLAYING THE GAME WITH THEM.
“AppleJack!” I quickly yelled, catching the four’s attention.
“Whut?” She asked lazily, not pulling her eyes from her card game. Though the two guys seemed to completely give me their attention.
“Did you untie them?!” I confronted furiously, jumping into the trunk and standing over the two hostages.
“Hey, calm down big guy, they aren’t hurting us.” Lyra frowned, pointing to the two, who were sitting idly by the game, with cards in their hand.
I glared at the four of them, tired, and wanting to go back to the farm already. “Get out, we’re loading the truck.”
AJ grumbled, placing her cards down on the floor and got up. The others did the same, and all went to jump out of the trunk. I held up a hand to the two strangers.
“Not you two, you’re staying in this trunk until I tell you to get out. You’re lucky I’m not tying you back down to the truck.” I ordered, jumping to the ground and beginning to load the boxes of food and water into the trunk. We had grabbed some packaging boxes from the back of the store, so we didn’t have flying cans of beans and other items flying out of the truck.
We piled multiple boxes of supplies into the truck, only stacking two layers since we didn’t have anything to hold them down. Though some of them were decently heavy, I didn’t trust stacking any higher.
When we were done, the sun was just starting to fall below the horizon. I told the others to get into the truck, and as they piled in I walked over to the two in the trunk.
“Now listen to me closely.” I spoke deeply and sternly. “If any of you try anything, I don’t care if it’s for a good reason. If I didn’t tell you to do it, you’re both dead. Got it?”
The shorter one nodded in agreement, though the other just stared straight ahead. I stared at him until I turned the corner and climbed into the driver seat.
“It’s going to be really dark by the time we get back. How are we going to see?” Dash questioned, pointing out the window.
“This truck can do a lot of things, don’t worry.” I answered, pulling the keys out of my pocket and starting up the truck. I clicked a button behind the steering wheel, and two, large and bright beams of light shot out of the front of the truck. The light beams grabbed everyone’s attention, earning impressed and entertained noises from their mouths. I didn’t react to their reaction, and simply carried on to put the truck into reverse, then forward as I took off down the road.
- - - - -
“Do any of you know how to start a fire?” Rarity questioned. Her, the Cutiemark Crusaders, Winona, and Big Mac sat by an empty firepit.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac spoke deeply, getting up and walking into the barn. It was getting dark, which meant it was also getting colder. The others weren’t back yet, and they didn’t speak of being gone over night. There was nothing wrong with apples, but they were becoming a bit old. They just hoped that the others would be back soon with some more food.
“Here, I can try!” Scootaloo jumped up, looking around. She smiled when she spotted two sticks, and ran over to grab them. She hopped over the log seats and stopped at the firepit. She stared between the two sticks and the fire pit for a moment, thinking of how to tackle this.
“Let me help.” Sweetie Belle trotted over to Scootaloo, and held one of the sticks, while Scootaloo began rubbing the other against it.
“Girls, ah think ya need somethin’ tuh light?” AppleBloom pointed out, tired.
Scoots and Sweetie Belle both stopped, realizing it was getting them nowhere. They both looked at each other in defeat. “Oh…” They said in unison.
“My goodness..” Rarity whimpered. She could only hope Big Mac was capable. Though she didn’t have much of a doubt, if AJ was able to make a fire, so would Big Mac.
Big mac returned with a large box on his back. He placed it down by the fire, and took off the lid. Inside were various fire making materials, ranging from starters, kindling, fuel, and firewood.
Everyone leaned in, curiously to watch as BM set up a Tipi like structure. A large dry grass bundle in the center, and a smaller bundle outside of the fire. He grabbed a Bow Drill starter from the box, and two flat pieces of wood, one thicker than the other. The thinner one, on top, had a small triangular notch taken out of it. He set everything up so quickly, it was obvious that he had done this many times before.
Before they knew it, the Tipi was raging with hot flames. He watched closely and tended to the fire, slowly increasing the size of the wood to put on the fire. Once he had it going, he closed the box, and sat down.
“Very impressive.” Rarity charmed, sitting closer to the fire to warm up. Big Mac smiled, puffing out his chest a little bit.
“When do you think everypony is gonna be back?” Scootaloo asked out loud, because it was to no one in particular, no one replied. She waited an answer, though it was silent besides the sound of crackling wood. “Hello?”
“We’re not sure darling, we just have to wait. They’ll be back soon.” Rarity said, knowing no one else was going to reply.
“Are you sure?” Sweetie Belle entered, then turned to BM as he suddenly raised his hoof to his eyes. As if to look into the distance of the forest.
“Eeyup.” They all turned to where Mac was looking, and noticed the truck. Easier to spot, with the long beams of light that it was emitting.
“Thank goodness..” Rarity sighed in relief.
- - - - -
I pulled the truck up to a halt in front of the barn. Everyone quickly climbed out and greeted the others with warming hugs. I opened my door and climbed out, kicking the door shut as I held a sleeping Fluttershy in my arms.
AppleJack ran to her big brother and little sister, and they gave each other a relieved hug.
“Are ya okay sis?” AppleBloom smiled bright, holding her sibling close.
“Yeah, how was it back here?” She pulled away, and they did the same.
“Boring,” AB grinned.
I walked over to the fire, and gently lay Fluttershy by the fire to warm her up. When I stood back up straight, I glanced over the fire. I examined it before talking out loud.
“Who made this?”
Mac turned to me, when he realized I was talking about the fire. “Ah did.”
“I’m impressed,” I nodded my head, also noticing the materials for starting it. “classic bow drill, looks like you did pretty well.”
He smiled again. “Eeyup.”
“While you two pyro’s talk ‘bout caveman stuff, could y’all help us unload the truck?” AppleJack snickered, grabbing my and Mac’s attention. As we walked over, there was a sudden loud gasp from the back of the trunk. A terrified Sweetie belle ran away from the truck, and hugged Rarity.
“W-Why are there two other things in the trunk?!”
“Ask the people who actually wanted to bring them back here.” I emphasized, saying it so it clearly wasn’t me that wanted them here.
“Sis..?” Apple Bloom looked up at AJ, concerned.
AppleJack sighed heavily. “Ah’ll explain it to ya later, Apple Bloom. Let’s unload everythin’.”
“Y’all brought back quite th’ load.” Mac scanned over everything, and began unloading. The two who were still sitting in the back, didn’t move a muscle at the new ponies. That, and in addition to what I threatened to them.
“We definitely hit the jackpot where we ended up. We could’ve brought more if we didn’t have two stowaways.” I mocked.
“Alright, alright, ah get it! Quit it!” AJ growled, irritated.
Once everyone was helping and had a box of supplies, they wandered around to look for a place to put it all.
“Let’s put it all in the barn. It’s best if we keep everything dry.” I said, obviously.
“No kidding?” Dash asked sarcastically, earning a sneer from me.
“Yes, Skittles.” I smirked, and she rolled her eyes.
Rarity looked between the two of us. “...Did I, miss something?”
“Had to be there.” Twilight giggled.
Eventually, everything was unloaded into the barn except for the two humans. We all sat by the fire, warming up and waiting for someone to speak.
“So..” Twilight started. “What do we do with the two in the trunk?”
No one said anything. I was staring at the fire with a stick in my hand, that I was skinning and sharpening for the sake of wasting time. In my peripheral, I could see and sense them all look to me. I didn’t look up to speak.
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t bring them along.”
“Well, we have to put them somewhere.” Dash shrugged.
I looked up at her with a fake, interested look. “No kidding?”
She growled, and stuck her tongue out at me.
“Couldn’t we just leave ‘em inside the car for the night?” AppleJack suggested.
“Who’s to keep them from stealing the car while we’re asleep?” I spoke not a second after she finished.
“We can hear you from here!” One of them yelled from the trunk of the car.
“That’s because you have ears, smart ass!” I yelled back.
“...Really?” Twilight accused, frowning. Earning a shrug from me.
“Why don’t we just invite them down here to the fire and talk to them?” Fluttershy offered, alerting that she was awake.
“Yeah, I mean. If they try anything there’s way more of us than there are them.” Dash added, and turned to me. I simply threw my arms up, physically saying it wasn’t in my saying.
Twilight shrugged. “I’ll go get them then.” She got up and headed over to the truck, And AppleJack quickly followed behind her.
“So,” Dash looked up at me. “you’re okay with this?”
“Nope,” I said flatly. “honestly, we’ll be lucky if we wake up tomorrow. Judging by the way we were almost killed, and they shot at our truck. Looks like I’ll be watching the entire night, again.”
“Or,” Rarity chimed in. “you could put some trust into someone else.”
“You weren’t there Rarity, you don’t get it.” I shot back.
She blew air out of her mouth, speaking through her exhale. ”Figures…”
Twilight and AJ returned with the newly found humans. They sat down on the ground, as there wasn’t much space left on the seats. That, and they didn’t want to be near the strange creatures. Fluttershy watched as they sat down, and almost immediately noticed the one with the injured shoulder.
“O-Oh my goodness, your shoulder!” She quickly stood up and made her way over to the human. He moved back for a moment, until he saw her physically ask for permission, then sat still. She smiled as began to examine his shoulder.
Oh man… Oh man, if I could shoot him in the face right now and make it look like an accident I would. I pulled my backpack around in front of me, and pulled out my sharpening stone to sharpen my knife.
Fluttershy gasped as she rolled up his shirt sleeve and revealed his swollen shoulder. It was practically the size of a softball.
“Damn AJ, you got him good!” Dash joked, and AJ blushed angrily.
“Ah feel bad, okay?!” She barked, only causing Dash to laugh.
As Fluttershy continued to look at his shoulder, he looked down at her soft coat and tail that was brushed up against him. He slowly reached down towards it, when the sudden sound of me aggressively pulling my knife out of it’s sheathe, made his hand snap back to his side. He winced in pain at his movements as he glanced up at me, noticing me sharpen my knife simply, as I glared death at him.
“Try not to make any sudden movements.” Fluttershy cared. She glanced up at me, holding his arm still. “Um, John. Could you please get the medical equipment for me?”
I stopped sharpening my knife and looked up at Fluttershy, an obviously fake mask of care appearing on my face. “Sure.” I slammed my knife into the wood of the seat right beside my leg, making her and some other ponies jump. The knife got stuck into the hardwood about an inch in, before I got up and walked inside the barn.
Dash leaned over and whispered to Twilight so only she could hear. “I think somepony is jealous!”
Twilight’s ear flicked at her words. She hadn’t realized, but it made sense now why John was suddenly so angry. She looked over at Fluttershy, close and caring for the stranger. “Uh oh…” She mumbled some words that barely escaped her lips. If John cared so much about Fluttershy, having her taken away from his by a stranger that he already hated was bound to lead to disaster. “I-I’ll be right back..” She got up swiftly and trotted to the barn.
When she walked in, she saw John sorting through what seemed to be the weapons that the two strangers had with them during the attack. She walked up to him, being sure she wouldn’t disturb him. “J-John..?”
He barely flinched, but he picked up the long, narrow, object with the magnifying scope on top and the knife on the smaller end. He was examining it, his back turned to Twilight.
“You know,” He began. “anyone can pick up a gun and shoot it. But it takes skill to actually hit what you’re aiming at.”
Twilight was completely confused on what he was talking about. “John, are you..okay?”
“And with flesh-eating monsters walking around, it’s essential that you actually hit your target.”
Twilight frowned, stomping her hoof. “What are you talking about?!”
“We’re keeping those two outside, and the night can be very dangerous. It would be a shame if something…” I cocked the bolt back and forth. “..happened to them.”
Twilight gulped and stepped forward. “John, I know what you’re feeling right now. It’s not what you think-”
“What are you talking about? There’s no problem here.” I placed the gun down and picked up the medical equipment. “Besides, let’s not waste time.”
I awoke to the sound of talking down on the bottom floor of the barn. The two humans, recently learned had the names Dylan and Luke. Shorter Dylan, broader Luke. They of course easily earned the hearts of all the ponies, and were invited to stay in the barn for the night. Hell if I cared, just meant more sleep for me.
When I fully awoke, I felt around, half expecting Fluttershy to be sleeping nearby. When I felt no one, I heard everyone talking downstairs with Luke and Dylan. I exhaled, sitting up.
“Figures…” I glanced outside, and shielded my eyes. It was practically noon, I had been asleep for quite some time now. It had been a while since I got a full night’s rest…
I listened closer to the conversation going on downstairs, wondering what they were talking about.
“Interesting…” Twilight mumbled, writing down some things on a pad of paper with a quill. “so, which was more advanced? The Playstation Four, or the XBox One?”
Luke shrugged. “Well, I have a PS4, but I owned an XBox three sixty. I prefer Playstation, though. So of course I would say Sony is better, but a lot of people would disagree.”
“Man, that Call of Duty game sounds sweet!” Dash jumped up. “I wish I could try it.”
“Well,” Dylan started. “it’d be a little difficult for someone without fingers to use a controller.”
“Controller?” Twilight inquired further, leaning in.
“It’s a small, object that you hold to play the game or whatever you’re doing.”
I rolled my eyes, and backed away. They’ve been here less than 24 hours and Twilight’s already asking about my world. It’s a zombie apocalypse, and she still cares about that. Plus, she’s already seen our world once.
I stood up, and headed over to the window. The floor must’ve creaked, because below me Fluttershy perked up to look above her.
Fluttershy snuck away from the group without being noticed, and headed up to the second floor.
“John? Are you awake?” She looked around the room but didn’t see me. She suddenly heard the ground outside crunch, like something heavy landed on it. She flew to the window, and saw me just recover from a break roll. “John!”
I looked behind me at Fluttershy, and instead of greeting her I carried on my way, walking from the barn. She flew up beside me, expecting me to stop.
“Um, good morning.” She smiled.
“You too.” I grumbled back to her.
Her smile faded into a concerned frown as she flew in front of me, causing me to stop. “Do you need something?”
Her frown dropped, and instead her face gave the emotion that she was slightly hurt.
“..N-No, I was just-”
“Okay well I’ve got some things to do, if you don’t mind.” I walked around her. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment. Especially her.
She bit her tongue. “John!”
I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn’t think to stop, my body just automatically did it on it’s own.
“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this?” She confronted.
I hesitated for a second, still not turning around. “Wouldn’t you rather be inside with, Dylan and Luke?”
“I…” She looked to the ground. Why would he say that…? She quickly looked back up at me as she noticed me walking away. “W-Wait!”
“I’ve got shit to do Fluttershy, go back with the others.” I continued walking away from the barn. She finally gave up, kicking the ground lightly and heading back inside the barn.
She walked back into the farm shelter, her head hanging a bit low. Twilight turned to her as she entered.
“Hey Fluttershy-” She noticed her draggy appearance, and got up to walk over to her, the rest of the group continuing with their own conversation. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I-It’s John..” She choked a little. “He’s acting weird.”
“Yeah,” Twilight quickly agreed. “he was acting strange last night too. I think I know why.”
“Why?” Fluttershy immediately asked, concerned for her close friend.
Twilight looked left and right, before leaning towards Fluttershy. “It’s Dylan and Luke. I’m pretty sure John is jealous of them.”
“J-Jealous?!” Fluttershy chirped out, quickly covering her mouth and blushing as she realized she spoke too loud. She whispered back to Twilight. “W-Why would he be jealous?” She seemed offended.
“You know how much John cares about you. I guess when he saw you caring so much for Luke last night he felt hurt, or jealous.” She explained.
Fluttershy held a hoof over her mouth in realization. She didn’t take John for the kind to get jealous over something like that. Surely he knows that she wouldn’t just replace him like that.
“Anyways,” Twilight glanced at the group behind her. “he should come around. Right now, I think he just needs some time alone.”
While Fluttershy didn’t fully agree with Twilight, she assumed it would be best.
“Come on,” Twilight gave Fluttershy a reassuring smile, holding her friend's shoulder. “let’s go back to the group.”
- - - - -
The fresh air and the birds chirping that surrounded me, in addition to the constant, light breeze that grazed over and around my body, not enough to make me shiver, but still a refreshing feeling, gave me the relaxation that I needed. Being alone with nature once again pushed away all of the stress that had been waterlogging my brain for the past few days. It was good to get away from it all.
Though no matter where I went, or what I did, Fluttershy had always seemed to be burned into my mind in a place where I couldn’t reach it to push it away. Every few seconds, she brushed past my mind. So subtle, yet, excruciatingly powerful. The only thing that took my mind off of most of everything around me, was the throbbing pain in my jaw. I didn’t have the energy to trek through the barn for some medical equipment and deal with the ponies. So, I decided to go with a natural choice. The best choice in my opinion.
I ‘borrowed’ an entrenching tool from the outside of the barn to bring with me. I began to dig a hole in front of me.
Okay, so make a Dakota Firehole, build a cooking station, pull out my metal cup and canteen, get stinging nettles, make tea. That should help with some of the pain.
I began my day with some hard labour, how I used to do it every morning on my own. It refreshed my memory, making me smile. About 10-15 minutes later, the two holes were fully dug. I then scouted around the edge of the forest for fire materials.
About an hour later, I had everything I needed. A fire going, a tree to rest my back on, a cup of hot, nettle tea. I was more relaxed than I had been in a long time. I closed my eyes, taking in the taste of the nettle tea. The fire crackling and the birds chirping…
I suddenly heard and saw a squirrel hope over next to me when I opened my eyes. It looked up at me, and climbed onto my leg.
“Hey there little guy…” I held up a finger near its face. It sniffed it, and moved under my arm and onto my chest. He moved up to my cup of tea, that was resting on my chest.
“You want some?” I tilted the cup a little, and the squirrel poked his head in-
“GRAAAHHH!!”
The squirrel was gone in a split second as soon as a walker fell from behind the tree and right beside me. I moved my leg just before the walker almost bit down into my flesh.
Spilling my drink, I rolled over away from the walker and rushed to get up. The walker got up and ran at me. My hand reached for my sheathe to pull out my knife, and my eyes grew wide as soon as I didn’t feel the weapon.
I was just about to brace for impact from the rushing walker, when suddenly an exit wound appeared on one side of the walker’s skull, blood splattering out of it as the walker fell to the ground.
After I realized it was shot from a gun, I turned to the direction of the enter wound and saw, of course…
Luke.
I saw Luke standing on a hill in the horizon, holding his Kar98k rifle. A few seconds later, Dylan and the rest of the ponies ran up behind him.
“John!!” A bunch of them yelled out and began running towards me, some flying.
What just happened? I questioned myself, looking down at the dead walker in front of me.
I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts as I was hugged from the side, and I stumbled to keep my balance.
“John! What are you doing out here alone, you almost died!” Fluttershy held me as tight as possible, and I could hear her choking up slightly.
I just stared at the walker, and slowly turned up to Luke who was walking towards us with Dylan.
“What are you doing out here..?”
She pulled her hear away from my body to look up at me, confused and a little bit angry.
“W-What?? What kind of question is that, you were almost killed and that’s you first thing to say?!” Dash flew up to me.
“I didn’t ask any of you to be here.” I pushed Dash away, angry with their sudden appearance. “You act like I can’t take care of myself.”
Fluttershy have a face of awe and anger. She reached a hoof out towards my hand. “J-John, don’t be like this-”
I pushed her hoof away, and it hurt myself, so much. I watched her hoof being pushed away, the look on her face filled with hurt. She dropped from my body and onto her rump, still staring up at me. I saw her eyes beginning to fill up with tears. I quickly looked away, not wanting to see her cry.
“I’m out here for the reason that I need space, so why can’t you guys understand that?” I looked over at the rest of the group, my eyes landed on Twilight, making her feel the need to speak up.
“How can you act like this?! You were almost killed!”
“I don’t need you guys to come rescue me when I’m in trouble!” I yelled back at her, and she only felt the need to get angrier.
“You’ve helped us when we were in trouble, so we’re only repaying the favor!” The growled, stomping her hoof.
“I don’t NEED and favors done, so just leave me alone!” I was getting fed up with these ponies, and AJ barged in.
“If we left you alone you would be dead!!”
“Oh, WHO CARES?!!”
That last statement froze everyone, including myself. I sighed heavily, turning and walking away.
As I walked away, I heard Fluttershy burst into tears and run away.
“JOHN!!” I heard Twilight scream out at me, though I didn’t flinch. I just continued on my way.
“Twi,” AJ walked up to Twilight, and rested a hoof on her shoulder. “let ‘im go.”
- - - - -
It was later that evening, and John still wasn’t back yet. Everyone was just outside of the barn, around the fire as usual. They had all recovered from the recent events, or, almost everyone. Fluttershy was a few feet away from the ground, lying on the cold ground with her back facing the crowd. They had all tried multiple times to cheer her up, but it was no use. Although it had seemed strange, she only wanted to talk to John. So she had been lying on the ground for hours, awake the entire time as far as anyone knew.
AppleJack returned with what seemed to be an acoustic guitar, resting on her back.
“Here ya go. It ain’t mine, ah keep it here for relatives when they come by to play, so don’t break it.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve never broken a guitar in my life.” Luke chuckled, taking the guitar from off of her back. As soon as it was in his grip he began to fiddle around with the strings.
“Might need some tunin’” AJ added, sitting back down beside her sister.
“Yeah,” He mumbled, already twisting the nuts on the guitar head. In a matter of seconds, he had all the strings in tune to a standard E tuning. He struck a few chords, with the pick that was wedged between a few strings on the neck.
“You’re pretty nifty with a guitar.” Dash listened in, Twilight beside her. Twilight was mostly watching his fingers at work, other than the sounds of the instrument.
“Me, Luke, and a couple of friends were actually in a band together. So we know our way around music.” Dylan explained as Luke played around with the guitar, both of them impressing the crowd.
“You had your own band??” Dash grinned. “That’s awesome!”
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun actually. Something nice to do in the afternoon. Though, of course, once this all came down it wasn’t something that we were able to do anymore.” Dylan watched Luke play, speaking at the same time. They all listened closer as Luke began to actually play a song. Twilight gasped when she quickly recognised what song it was.
“Is that..”
“Hotel California.” Dylan chuckled. “Man, I haven’t heard that oldie in a long time.”
Fluttershy’s ear twitched as she heard the name of the song. Remembering John speak about it in the car. She turned her attention towards it.
“On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair,” Luke began to sing, playing at the same time. “Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air.” Dylan joined in on the second verse.
Somewhere else, John was on his way back to the farm. He had some apologies to make, though he had barely gained the will to do so. As he drew closer to the barn, he could see the warm glow of the fire, and also heard what sounded like singing. He walked a little bit faster, the words becoming clearer. And I nearly gasped when I heard what song it was.
“Welcome to the Hotel California!” Luke and Dylan sang out loud, the catchy song digging into the ponies hearts as they joined in. “Such a lovely place,”
“Such a lovely place!” The crowd sang out with them.
“Such a lovely face.”
John’s pace slowed as he was in the bush, nearly impossible to see with the fire right in their eyes. He didn’t know what to say. What was happening… even though it was just a song, it was almost heart breaking to him.
“Plenty of room at the Hotel California. Anytime of year,” They continued.
“Anytime of year,”
“You can find it here!”
John didn’t even bother to walk by them, or let them know he was there. He just strolled over to the car, and opened the door to get in.
The second he opened the door, Fluttershy’s head snapped over to him. Even though John was hard to see, she got up and ran over. “John!!”
The group stopped the music and looked over, getting up to see what was happening.
He hastily got in and shut the door, ignoring the butter pegasus. She jumped up on the door, peeking through the window.
“Where are you going?!”
She yelled through the window, though he didn’t even glance over at her until he started up the car.
“...I’m sorry.” He spoke roughly. John saw her stop her yelling as she tried to acknowledge what he just said. She had just barely heard him, as she replied.
“S-Sorry?? J-John!!” She yelled once again as the truck took off. She ran after it, but it proved too fast for her quickly. She collapsed on the ground.
“D-Don’t go…”
The sound of the truck engine slowly got quieter as John drove down the dirt road. He cleared his throat, and wiped his eyes and his sleeve.
“I-I’m sorry..”
She knew. Fluttershy knew where John was going, and she knew she had to follow him. She had to go alone, but she wasn’t sure she’d make it in time to stop him.
“Come on girls,” Twilight looked down. “there’s nothing we can do. We just have to wait for him to come back. Let’s go inside.”
Fluttershy sat, watching the truck travel farther and farther with every second that went by.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight turned around, stopping and waiting for her as everyone else headed inside the barn.
“...I-I’ll be in, in a minute..”
Twilight nodded, following the others inside. The split second that her friends were out of sight, Fluttershy took off as fast as she possibly could after John.
- - - - -
I got to my destination slower than last time, as if I just didn’t have enough energy to push the pedal down further. I knew that every foot that I traveled just brought me closer to what I was about to do. It was dark out, but I didn’t have the headlights on. I felt like I didn’t deserve anything positive at this moment. How could I turn Fluttershy away like that? I wanted to slap myself just for pushing her away.
Finally, I saw the town in the distance. It drew closer and closer, and my body automatically lifted some weight off of the petal as I moved slower. I looked down at the Beretta on my lap in my right hand, and sniffled. Looking back up at the town, that was much closer I felt some tears run down my face again.
When I made it to the town, I stopped the car and turned it off. I sat silently in the car for what must’ve been 30 minutes. Barely breathing and only blinking a few times. Finally, I clenched the pistol tight in my grip and opened the door. The cold air hit my face as soon as the door was open. Applying pressure on my left foot, then the right as I stepped outside, closing the door behind me.
“It’s time…” I sighed, walking away from the car, and into the same store that we had looted the day before. It was still unlocked, the way we left it, and I stepped inside. I walked to the register, and on a little stand was a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter. I opened the pack of smokes, took one, took a lighter, and stepped back outside.
I leaned against the wall and looked into the distance. Placing the cigarette in my mouth, I lit up the end and took in a deep breath. My mouth and lungs rejected the sickening texture and taste immediately, though I forced myself not to cough.
Slowly, I exhaled. The black smoke flowing forward and out of my nose. I looked down at the Beretta in my hand, holding it in front of me. The shiny, engraved metal shone in the moonlight. I chuckled.
“It’s moments like these, that life seems so delicate. But,” I took another puff from the cigarette, the second one not as bad as the first. “you think of the bad things, and you ask yourself, ‘What’s the point?’” I spoke to myself, exhaling the unhealthy smog at the same time.
“Well, I guess I don’t see the point anymore...” I tossed the cigarette to the ground, and brought the gun to my forehead.
”Yo, John! Pick up the pace, will ya?! We wanna get goin’ before the traffic gets heavy!” Jason honked the horn of his car. The revving car, housing Jason, Mark, and Kyle, was sitting just outside of John’s parent’s house. John had finally managed to get out of the door, his parents not far behind him.
“Did you remember everything? Including your toothbrush and-”
“Yes, I have everything!” John rushed out the door, a stuffed luggage bag in tow. The bag had a long handle and two wheels at the back, along with two comfortable backpack straps. Even though it was meant to move on cement, he dragged it across his grassy front yard. He had gotten to the car, and trunk was already open for him to toss his luggage in. The car swayed when it landed, and John quickly closed the trunk.
“Okay, what about-”
“Yes! Whatever it is, I have it, now I have to go!” John cut off his mother again, climbing into the front passenger seat, beside Jason. “Bye, love you guys!”
John’s mother sighed and smiled at the same time, her husband’s hand resting on her shoulder to comfort her. “Let him go hun, he’s done this several times before.” He waved off the car as it drove off.
“I know, it just seems to get harder every time he goes away..” His mother also waved them goodbye. The car was out of the driveway and down the street in a matter of seconds.
It was still dark out, but the sun was just beginning to peek over the mountains in the distance. The four of them were headed out to the mountains for multiple overnights on a hike. They were all decently active and healthy, especially with John into freerunning, and Kyle being a loner at the gym all the time.
John had some green cargo pants on, a white t-shirt that hung over his waist. He had just recently come back from a hair salon, so his hair was just freshly cut into the easy buzzcut. He hadn’t shaved, however. His cheeks and lower face were covered in a light, prickly, black carpet of facial hair. Around his neck hung a thin, full silver necklace. It wrapped around his neck, but hid into his t-shirt.
Beside him was the main driver; Jason. He wore some casual clothes, some jeans that were a bit on the baggy side. On his torso hung a white, sleeveless t-shirt, with some old stains permanently engraved into the fabric. On his feet were some expensive hiking boots, though. He must’ve just thrown on some clothes, but knew we we’re hiking so grabbed some appropriate footwear. His hair was a dirty blonde, long and shaggy. He had a brown overcoat hanging over his shoulder as he sat. Everyone else had just a normal t-shirt or thin jacket, but that was because we were all from Canada. Jason, however, had moved from Australia. His outfit didn’t seem to make too much sense, but he had probably just packed better clothes in his luggage.
In the back seats sat Kyle and Mark. Mark was probably one of John’s closer friends out of the four. The two of them talked a lot, even when the four of them weren’t all together. Although Mark wasn’t as active as John, they both made a powerful team. Mark had the greatest grades out of all of them. His strongest suit out of the many classes, was science. His love for the outdoors, and nature all together, was mostly the reason for his success. John was one of the few people that was interested in what Mark loved. John didn’t have great grades, though. In fact sometimes he had to try hard just to pass.
After Mark and John talked so much about the outdoors and wildlife, the two of them formed a strong friendship. And after meeting Jason, then Kyle, an enormous bond of immatureness and excitement was formed. Mark taught John a lot about common things that he would usually find out in the forest, stuff ranging from medicine, vitamins, water, food, etcetera.
Jason and Kyle, on the other hand, didn’t care much for such things like the other two. Kyle, was a bit of a strange one. As buff and energetic as he was, he would be seen as the kind to play football 24/7. Though this wasn’t exactly the case. As of right now, he was reading a Harry Potter chapter book. A fairly thick one, also. He always wore glasses, never liked contacts. He was also a complete anime geek, explained through why he was wearing a Fairy Tail symboled shirt. On his legs were a pair of thick, cargo shorts. On his feet, were a pair of average runners, a bit wore down though, with grey socks underneath.
They all seemed so different, and liked different things. Though it may seem cheesy, the thing that brought them all together no matter what, was some good ‘ol rock music. Once the car was onto the highway, everyone relaxed. They were on their way.
“Hey, Kyle, put the book down or I’m gonna chuck it out the window.” Jason joked, and Kyle sneered.
“I’d like to see you try, buddy.” He kicked up one of his legs and crossing it over his other leg. Kicking John’s chair in the process.
“Hey, don’t bring me into this. I had a rough morning.” He sat up, getting more comfortable.
“Yeah, why were you so late? Did something happen?” Mark questioned, yawning in the middle of his speech.
“No,” The yawn carried onto John. “just trying to make sure I have everything, have breakfast, and getting out the door, all after getting up late is hard. Especially with a pair of parents on your ass the entire time.” He sat back again, focusing his attention to the radio as he turned it on. “Leaving that house never gets any easier.”
“Ninety three point five.” Jason reminded, speaking once he saw me poking at his radio in his peripheral.
“Yeah yeah, I know.” John mumbled as he twisted the knob, searching for the right station. “Aha, here we go.”
The best thing about the station is that it was an automatic station, so there were no people controlling it or talking between songs. It did, however, still insert random infomercials and commercials. Yeah, you would get some replays every once in awhile, but whatever. They were still good songs. All the good stuff that everyone in the car liked.
As John twiddled with the piece of technology, static seemed to sound through in inconsistent waves, until acknowledgable sounds began to seep through, and started to overtake the static until it was the only sound emitting from the machine. When a song was finally heard through the radio, the memorable feeling of relaxation and happiness swept through the car like the wind from a pickup truck that just recently drove past you on the sidewalk.
“Aww yeah, this is the shit.” John smirked as he turned up the volume, sitting back in the chair after finishing what he started. The song was easily recognisable as none other than the famous Thunderstuck, by AC DC.
“Man,” Mark groaned in the backseat. “I’ve heard this song waaaayy too many times recently…”
“Well you’re gonna listen to it again, so stop ya fuckin’ moanin’ or I’ll turn it up louder.” Jason laughed, reaching out to the radio.
“Alright, alright! Damn…” Mark lifted his hands in surrender, turning his attention out the window. “Where are we going again?”
“We’re going to roughly be in the area of Evan’s Peak, though because we’ll be camping and they don’t allow that there, we’re gonna have to go off trail quite a ways to not get caught.” Kyle spoke up, audibly putting his book away and relaxing in his seat. “Or so, I was told.”
“That’s correct,” Jason nodded. “And it’s gonna be cold up there, so I hope that you all brought good sleeping bags. It gets below zero at night.”
“You should be the one worried Jason. Up in the great white north we canadians ain’t got shit to worry ‘boot cold eh?” John joked, bringing in a strong Canadian accent halfway through his sentence and nudging Jason in the shoulder. He rolled his eyes dramatically in response.
“I don’t know why you do that. I’ve never heard a canadian actually talk like that.” He added, focusing on the road more than the passengers.
“Well, that’s probably because we’re drownin’ our stomachs in so much maple syrup that we ain’t got time fer talkin’.” John quickly snapped back, earning a light punch in the back of his chair from Kyle.
“Oh, fuck yeah bud.” He laughed, and Jason just shook his head.
“I don’t know how I put up with your shit sometimes…” Jason sighed, speaking through it.
“You don’t have to do anything, but no matter what you’re stuck with us now.” John spoke, shrugging as he stared out his window. The snow-covered mountains that just peeked over the forest treeline catching his eye.
There was a bit of a silence, as everyone settled down for the trip. Their excitement levels dropping as they relaxed. The quiet roaring of the engine was the only noise aside from the radio, which had been turned down. Both of them, becoming white noise over time. The beauty of the outdoors consuming all of the passengers’ attention, all of their thoughts and concerns being washed away by the peace of outside.
“Hey, anyone got games on their phone?” Kyle broke the silence, Mark and John slowly turning to him.
“What kind of question is that? You sound like my eight-year-old cousin.” Mark teased.
“Yeah, I’m guessing you want to play some Candy Crush, or Angry Birds?” John joined in, and Kyle quickly realized the mistake he had previously made.
“Okay, okay, never mind. I get it.” He shook his head, and Mark and John both turned away, back to their own thoughts with a smug grin on their faces.
“So, how much longer do you think?” John mumbled to Jason, barely putting much effort to make his voice heard.
Jason hesitated for a moment, glancing at his GPS that was stationed on his dashboard. He sighed a moment later, turning back to the road. “About four and a half hours to go. Roughly, probably longer.
John grunted dropping his head from the support of his palm, to his bicep as he rested his elbow on the windowsill. “Fuck me…”
- - - - -
Her wings hurt. Her legs hurt. Her head hurt, everything hurt. But it wasn’t enough to stop her. Hell, nothing was going to stop her at this point. She had been running down the same road for what seemed to be hours, and she never stopped to take a break, or even walk. She ran, and didn’t stop, nor look back. If she wanted to save him, this was her only chance and she wasn’t going to let him die, knowing she could’ve done something to prevent it.
Every 30 minutes, waves of pain and fear washed over her face. Whimpering and whining noises escaped her lips, her throat tightened, and her legs grew weaker. She quickly pushed the feelings away, knowing that she was going to stop this and she’ll be damned if anything were to stop her. If only she hadn’t been so weak before he left… She could’ve helped him.
There wasn’t any point in dwelling on the past. All she was focusing on was gazing into the distance. Waiting for maybe the big, blue, pickup truck to come roaring down the road with John inside, completely fine and they would both go home. Or even just to see the top of a tall building of the town that she was positive that John was stationed at. But everything was hazy for her at the moment, she couldn’t think straight. All she could do was keep running.
As if Celestia were listening to her thoughts, the very next second she saw the very top of a billboard in the far distance. The same one she noticed by the entrance of the town the last time she was there. Immediately after seeing this landmark, her pace seemed to pick up without her knowing.
Not long after the rest of the town was visible in the distance. She could only hope that she wasn’t hallucinating, as she was deathly dehydrated and hungry. Really, there was only one way to find out.
As she drew closer, she couldn’t believe her luck as she saw John’s pickup truck, parked just outside one of the shops in the town. A wide smile grew on her face, distorting the sounds of her quick exhaling as she used the rest of her energy to get there as quickly as possible.
She realized. After all of this running, hoping and pleading, she was going to make it. She was going to find John, stop him before he does the horror she was expecting! They were both going to go back home, and... Her ear flicked at the noise. She brushed it off as nothing, until she quickly realized what it was.
A gunshot.
She froze, realizing the sound came from the town… She immediately assumed the worst…
Her breath escaped her lungs, almost as if death had come and grabbed it out of her, through her throat. Her eyes widened as she stopped running. Her face drew white, all of her blood seemed to escape her body as she felt nothing. Her form quickly took the advantage of her break in running and collapsed to the ground. She did nothing to stop it, and fell onto her side and curled up as she shut her eyes tightly.
She was too late… She was so close, but still too late…
Tears gushed through her eyelids as she hid her face in her hooves. Why? What did she do to deserve this? All she wanted to do was save a friend, but she couldn’t! Now John was… Gone.
Her mind quickly thought into the future. What was she and the rest of the ponies back home going to do without him? And if those other two humans were to attack, there wouldn’t be much her and her friends could do to stop them. They couldn’t do anything without him, and now he was dead. Just like that. She instinctively looked up, and had to blink several times to confirm what she was seeing, was real. Her head turned up, as she stared at the figure walking towards her. As much as she wanted to get up, her body was practically in shutdown mode. The sun being behind the figure, made it almost impossible to confirm who the human was, as it was only a silhouette, and a part of her wanted to hope to death that it was John. But, the gunshot…
“...Fluttershy?”
Her breath returned as she gasped. She knew that voice, it was John’s voice! This had to be him! He was alive!
Her sudden adrenaline boost gave her the power to spring up off of the ground and run towards the figure. Her tears of despair, quickly exchanging into tears of joy. “J-John!!”
John weakly dropped his pistol from his hand, the firearm banging to the ground on the gravel sidewalk beside the road.
He bent down on one knee as soon as Fluttershy collided into him with a crushing hug. John hugged her back with the same amount of power, and he nearly lost his balance.
“Y-You’re alive!! I was so worried, I heard that gunshot after coming all this way, I thought you-”
“You…” John cut her off, not pulling away from the embrace. “You came all of this way… Because you were worried, about me?”
“O-Of course!” Fluttershy pulled away from the hug, and stared into John’s eyes, her own filled with sadness. “When you left, I-I had a gut feeling that you were going to d-do something… Something, horrible..” She also noticed, that his were filled with regret, some of the tears escaping down his face. She had never seen him cry before. She figured her was too strong for such a thing…
“Suicide?” John finished for her, and she simply nodded. He scoffed, looking away in shame. “No, I couldn’t do it… I realized that I wanted to stay in this world a little longer, before I actually pulled the trigger.”
“B-But,” She wiped her face. “I heard a gunshot… I thought you had, committed suicide.”
“Oh, actually that first shot was for a walker that had tried to sneak up on me. If I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be by the hands of an undead freak.” He shrugged, and suddenly got violently slapped across the face with a yellow hoof. The blunt leg did more damage than a normal hand-slap would, and John turned back to Fluttershy to see her holding back more tears. Or, at least trying.
“...D-Don’t, you ever do that to me again, or I will never. EVER! Forgive you!!” She yelled furiously.
John felt a little surprised. Aside from the pain, of course.. He’d never seen her get this angry before.
“You’re stronger than this, and there isn’t anything weaker than trying to take your own life, because of JEALOUSY!
He knew he was deep in the wrong, and he deserved this. As much as it hurt to get yelled at by Fluttershy, he made a stupid choice and now had to pay the price.
“..Yes, you’re right Fluttershy…” He rubbed the side of his cheek where he was hit, a large, red circle that had formed was easily visible. “I’m sorry…”
She gulped, finally realizing everything that had just happened. She almost lost a friend, and not a moment later she was giving them hell… She felt changed.
“L-Let’s just go home… please.” She rested her head against his chest, in which he held her close.
“Good idea.. And I’ll get you some water, you look like you could use some.” John then picked her up. Her aching body did nothing to resist, and grew limp in his arms.
The next thing she knew, is that she was fast asleep.
The quiet hum of the truck engine would've seen to have lulled Fluttershy into a deep slumber. Though her body was asleep, the adrenaline from the recent events kept her mind wide awake. She lay across John's lap, cuddled up close to him. She couldn't help but think she could lose him again, so she held him tighter.
John felt her embrace strengthen, and he quickly glanced down at her for a second, before drawing his eyes back to the road. “...Hey, are you okay?”
She turned her eyes up at him without moving her head, and sighed quietly through her nose. “...yes..but, I'm sorry for hitting you, I-I was just angry-”
“Don't be sorry, I'm happy you did it.” He cut her off, calmly continuing his drive. “I deserved it. You did the right thing.”
Fluttershy didn't speak, though her mouth hung open in awe. He continued.
“Although I may have denied it earlier on, you guys are my responsibility. Honestly, now it makes me nauseous from just thinking about abandoning you guys for my own selfish needs.” He smiled down on her. “So, thanks.”
Fluttershy managed a smile back, but it quickly faded as her succumbed to her fatigue. Her eyelids shut, and her breathing slowed. But she still showed signs of consciousness.
There was a long silence, and once John spotted the tree line in the distance, he yawned. “We're almost there.” Right after, he shifted in his seat slightly, then again, and a grunt escaped his lips.
Fluttershy looked up at him, noticing his movements. “Are you okay?”
“Hmm?” He stared at the road, but gave her his attention. “Oh, yeah I'm fine. I just gotta take a piss when I get back.”
“O-Oh.” She giggled, blushing slightly.
Not long after, we made it to the forest, and entered where we usually do. As it neared afternoon, it was much easier it see through the forest. As I drive along the rugged, dirt road, I spotted the spot where the portal should be.
“Alright, we should be back now-”
The second I drove through the portal, I was cut off by the sounds of gunshots and yelling. I nearly screeched to a halt as the sounds caught us off guard. It seemed I hadn't heard the sounds until I passed through the portal.
“What the hell?” I then continued to drive forward, trying to drive as fast as possible. Fluttershy perked up once we entered through into Equestria, and looked around outside.
“W-What’s happening?” She started to panic slightly, and I tried to calm her down. Even though I had a bad feeling.
My gut was right as usual as we exited the forest. In the distance, we saw the farm. Though we couldn't spot the actual barn, as it was completely replaced by engulfing flames that overtook any structures in the area. The giant torch could be seen for miles.
“What the fuck!?” I slammed down on the pedal and the truck zoomed towards the farm.
When we got there, I opened the door and was immediately greeted with intense heat. I didn’t hesitate to quickly exit the truck and pull out my Beretta, slamming the door behind me. I saw Fluttershy about to follow me, and I held out a hand to her. “Stay in here Fluttershy, and don’t come out until I come get you!”
She didn’t disagree, and sat in the car, terrified. I ran over to the group, which seemed to be in a protective circle, packed together as they fought off the horde. I heard the gunshots from Luke and Dylan, and quickly realized why the zombies were here. Whatever, the only focus right now was to protect everyone as best as possible.
“John! You’re here!” I heard Dash call out my name. Her voice was extremely raspy and filled with fatigue. I looked at her, and those traits also applied to her appearance. Her and Twilight must’ve been doing the most to defend other that the two humans. Dash was covered in blood, dirt, and ash. Her coat was matted down, and some of her fur was severely burned. She was panting heavily, hovering in the air as she swooped in on some walkers that got near, kicking them back forcefully with her hind legs. “W-We need your help!”
“I see that!” I turned the safety off on my fire arm, and stood in the group.
“Where have you been?!” Twilight called out, focusing on firing magic pony beam shit at the walkers. They were extremely effective, so it didn’t bother me. Her appearance wasn’t as bad as Dash’s, though some of her mane and tail looked it had been stomped out, like it had caught fire. Smoke and steam was emitting from her horn, probably a result of overusing it.
“That’s not important right now, let’s get rid of these walkers so we can deal with the other damage!” I yelled over the gunfire and loud crackling from the fire, beginning to fire my weapon into the crowd. I wasn’t used to using a firearm, especially against so many walkers in one place, so I definitely needed more target practice.
With everyone targeting the horde, we were taking out a fair amount every second. Though it seemed useless against how many there are. And we only had so much ammunition and energy, before we would become more vulnerable.
“We need to hurry up, we have two injured!” Dash added, and I just barely heard her. “AppleJack was bitten in the leg trying to protect herself, and Rarity…” She paused.
“Just focus on the attack! The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can tend to the wounded!” I replied, trying my best to focus on the walkers. No matter how much we defended, they only seemed to multiply. I wasn’t exactly sure if we would be able to fight them all off.
“Fucking hell!” I quickly glanced over at Dylan, who was fumbling with his Glock. The chamber seemed to be jammed, and he was furiously fumbling to clear it out. “My gun isn’t working!”
His friend, Luke, quickly realized he was responsible for him, and his friends safety. I could see a slight bit of panic on his face, as he was firing as quickly as he could. A long range bolt-action rifle wasn’t the best weapon for close range. He wasn’t the only one that realized we wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
I heard Twilight continuously firing spells at the walkers. The sound that emitted when she fired, seemed to start getting weaker and quieter. I heard her coughing, until her firing completely stopped all together.
“I...I, can’t…”
I suddenly felt her fall against my leg, her voice barely above a whisper. She was heaving coughing profusely, with blood dripping from her nose. I didn’t know how long that they were fighting, but with Twilight out of the fight, I knew Dash wasn’t far behind.
“Guys, we have to get everyone into the truck! We can’t win this!” I yelled out to the group. Just as I said that, Dash landed on the ground, barely standing.
“I-I’ll, agree with you…” Dash heaved, coughing and gagging as she spoke. The smoke from the fire was only making everything harder, including harder to see.
“Dylan, Big Mac, help me get the wounded to the truck!” I looked over at Luke, and got his attention. “I’m counting on you to cover us until we get everyone in!” I threw him my pistol.
Her turned barely just in time to catch it, and nodded to me. With Twilight closest to me, I picked her up under my arm. The ones that we capable to move, like the little ones, and even the dog, ran to the truck. I did notice, however, that Dylan ran to the truck without anyone with him. I took my focus off of him, looking for more wounded. Once the most of the group got to the truck, it revealed AppleJack and Rarity.
There were small pools of blood under each of them, as they lay on the ground. Rarity’s pool was much bigger, and once I saw her condition I sighed in my head. AppleJack’s left foreleg was matted down in her own blood, and she held it close to her. Rarity’s, however… I knew already that there was no saving her. She was unconscious, with a enormous bite to her neck, at last a quarter of her neck was completely removed, and I knew there was nothing I could do.
Though as for AppleJack, depending on when she was bit, could still be saved. I was just about to pick her up, when I heard a gunshot by the truck, and a yelp from Big Mac. I turned to the truck, and my jaw hung open. I saw Dylan had pushed away anyone trying to load the truck with the wounded, and had shot Big Mac in the shoulder. Looks like the fucker got his gun working again.
I realized what he was doing, and reached for my gun, though quickly remembered I had given it to Luke. Reaching around my pockets, I pulled out one of my throwing knives and threw one straight for his chest.
He hadn’t seen it coming, though when he opened the truck door the knife just ricochet off the window. After realizing, he leaned over the window and started firing his Glock at me. I ducked, and rolled across the ground, trying my best to dodge the bullets. I continuously continued to roll around and move like a maniac, desperately trying to not get hit. Though when I heard the truck start up, and begin to drive away, I realized he had lost interest.
“J-John, he’s taking the truck! H-He has Fluttershy!” I listened to Dash scream out, and when I got up I was too late, The truck was already pulling away. Had I even tried to run after it, the truck would easily outrun me. In a panic, I ran over to Luke and forcefully pulled his Kar98k out of his grasp. He took a step back, noticing the rage I was in.
I quickly turned back two where the truck was taking off down the road, and looked down the sights. In my anger, and inexperience with firearms, I fired off 3 shots and missed all of them. The truck quickly left our sight, and drove into the forest.
“FUUUUUUCCKKK!!!” I screamed, throwing the rifle to the ground. I felt like I could punch a hole through a tree, my fists tucked in so tightly as if I were prepared to. I heard another walker to my left, sensing a moment to relive my anger.
“John, beside you!-”
I cut Twilight off from her sentence as I took no hesitation in grabbing the walker by the throat, and pushing it to the ground. She gasped, watching the walker try to helplessly claw it’s way out from underneath me as I climbed on top of it. I pounded my fists into its face, blow after blow carrying a rage-filled grunt from my lips. The skull weakened further and further, its efforts to escape getting more and more ineffective. Eventually, and finally, the skull caved in. It gave off a horrifying crunch, the sound of flesh, bone, and brain mushing together in a bloodied mess that covered the grass and all of my upper body. But I didn’t stop there.
Even with the zombie dead, my rage continued on. Though like all good things, it eventually came to an end. When I finished, I remained on top of the walker, staring down at it with a bloodied face. Senses returned to my consciousness, extreme pain in my fists, even with my gloves on. My heavy breathing slowly got lighter, until it returned to a normal state.
Everyone around me was terrified to the point where they had backed away to a safe distance. I assumed that the walker that I had unloaded on was the last of the horde, as there seemed to be no more around us. I finally got up, and turned around, my eyes landing on Luke as I briskly moved towards him and pulled my knife out of it’s sheathe.
“Whoa whoa whoa hang on!” He quickly backed away, but not fast enough before I grabbed onto his shirt and pointed the tip of my knife to his throat. “I-I didn’t know he was going to do that!”
“Where… Where, is he going?” I spoke barely above a whisper, though it was easy to hear with the others so silent.
He looked at me for a second, confused. He then quickly shook his head. “I d-don’t know, he could be going anywhere at this point-”
I let go of him, shoving him back. He stumbled backwards, regaining his balance. I stared over at the ponies, who were trying to look like they were helping the wounded. While some of them were, they were mostly just focused on not making eye contact with me.
Everyone was mostly silent, and the sound of the flames had died down significantly, as the barn had already collapsed into a giant bed of hot coals. Anything in there was unsalvageable.
“John…” I heard Twilight speak, though she didn’t look at me. She stared down at Rarity, concerned. “Rarity is passed out, and AppleJack is in severe pain. Both of their wounds, the area around them are turning purple and green.” She gulped.
“Twilight, I’m just going to be straight with you here.” I spoke, walking over beside her. I kneeled down beside Rarity, and pointed to the wound. “Rarity isn’t going to be able to be saved. A way to save a bitten or scratched wound is through amputation, and if the bite is on her neck that’ll only kill her.”
“...A-Amputation? What’s that?” Dad stuttered, a face of disgust washed over her face as she examined AppleJack’s hoof.
“Though with AppleJack, we may still have time to amputate her hoof. Though because the first-aid kit was inside the barn, we won’t have any alcohol or clean cloth to work with, so we will have to cauterize the wound.” I finished with a sigh, and Twilight covered her mouth. Some of the others were confused, as they may not have known what those words meant.
“What do these words mean!?” Dash panicked. With an irritated grunt I turned to her.
“We’re going to cut off her hoof and burn the wound to seal it.” I summarized. Everyone’s faces nearly turned white, especially AppleJack’s. She didn’t seem to amused.
“...H-Ha, hah-ha…-P-Please tell m-me yer jokin’, right?” She shuddered, her whole body shaking non-stop.
I looked her straight in the eyes, a very serious look across my face. “AppleJack, if we don’t do something right now, we will not be able to save you. You have to trust me on this.” I didn’t blink, and I waited for a reply. She didn’t seem to know what to say, and she bit her tongue.
“...Okay…”
I nodded. “Good answer.” I stood up, and pointed to Dash. “Dash, I want you to go around the barn. If you find anything, and I mean anything useful, bring it back.”
“O-On it!” She flew off, the sudden adrenaline rush seemed to give her the ability to fly again.
“Twilight,” She quickly snapped her head to me. “Find a stick that is submerged in the flames, though make sure there is a handle that I can hold onto. If you can find a metal bar, that would be even better. But work with what you find, we are running out of time!” I directed, and she ran off without a word.
“You two,” I pointed to Lyra and Derpy, and they both turned to me. Ready for a task. I pointed off into the distance a little, to a mobile chopping block made from a tree stump. “Grab that block and bring it over here.” They agreed, and hurried over to it.
“Okay AppleJack,” I picked up a stick that was beside me, about half the thickness of my wrist, and the length of a foot. “Bite down on this as hard as you possibly can when I cut it off. It’ll help you deal with the pain, and it’s possible that you will pass out from the pain. So you only have to deal with it for a small amount of time.”
“I found a flat metal bar!” Twilight called out from the destroyed barn.
“Good, don’t remove it until I have made the cut!” I replied, then I returned my focus to AppleJack. “Are you ready?”
She gulped, then nodded slowly.
“Okay, just close your eyes and it’ll be over soon.” I glanced over at Luke, and spotted a belt wrapped around his waist. “Give me your belt.”
He nodded without hesitation, and fumbled to remove it. One it was off, he tossed it over to me, and continued to hold his pants up.
“Okay…” I whispered to myself, tightly hugging her hoof above the wound with the belt. I tightened it as hard as possible, a painful whine escaping AJ’s mouth. Next, I pulled out my hatchet. It thankfully didn’t have any blood on it, so that wouldn’t be a problem. I marked my spot to where I was going to chop, and prepared to take action. “Get ready to grab that metal pole Twilight!”
AppleBloom and Big Mac walked over to her, trying their best to comfort her. But they knew there really wasn’t much that they could do. All they could do was hold her sister, and hope for the best.
“Okay, here we go… One,” I slowly brought the hatchet up and down on the spot, to make sure I didn’t miss.
“Two…” I let out a shaky exhale, biting the inside of my cheek. I was probably just as nervous as everyone else. I brought the hatchet up one last time, ready to bring it down and hopefully go through the hoof.
“Three!”
- - - - -
The aftermath of the attack was probably worse than the actual ambush. Big Mac had suffered a severe gunshot wound, at least the bullet went all the way through. I had a few scrapes and bruises, and Dylan must’ve hit me once with a bullet. It only grazed my right shoulder, though it was still pretty painful. Rarity had to be put down, and that was definitely not easy for her apparent little sister, Sweetie Belle to take. The amputation and cauterization on AppleJack was successful, though she was still unconscious. Honestly, I was trying my hardest to keep her alive. We couldn’t afford to lose someone as tough as her. Although she had her moments, and I hated her guts when I first arrived. But she is important to the group, and I’m not going to let anyone die if I know I can do something to prevent it.
Fluttershy, though… I couldn’t say much for her. I had no idea of where she was, what her condition was… I tried my hardest to not think of the worst, but I couldn’t stop the thought once is came across my mind. All I could do was hope she was okay, and that Dylan hadn’t done anything to hurt her. He wouldn’t do anything to her, not without a good reason. I knew Fluttershy was fully capable of bashing his head in, though I didn’t know if she was going to do something that drastic. There were so many questions I had, but all I could do was hope she was okay.
As of right now, the barn was obviously not a safe place to stay in. Because most of the walkers that attacked us came from the town, the number of the undead in the town had dropped a fair amount. Making moving through the town, much easier. We were able to scavenge supplies: clean rags, alcohol for wounds, bandages...mostly everything we needed to finish patching up the wounds. We were even able to pick up a crutch for AJ from the hospital when she woke up.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash had definitely bitten off more than they could chew when they were defending. They had multiple internal wounds, Dash sprained her left hind leg, and Twilight even had some internal bleeding. We did what we could to patch up the wounded, and it seemed to be enough to get us moving again. The only mode of transportation that we had was a standard, two-wheeled cart for carrying supplies and such. It was quite heavy duty, and was obviously meant for a big stallion to pull. The only kind of big stallion that we had was big Mac, and in his condition, that wasn’t going to happen. So, we had to improvise.
“Ugh… Shit, this thing is heavy.” I groaned from behind the wagon, pushing the cart up a small hill. Luke and I were at the back of the cart pushing, while Lyra and Derpy were pulling the cart at the front.
“Are ya sure ya don’t want me tuh help?” Big Mac asked kindly, even though he had offered multiple times.
“Yeah, I’m sure. We need you to heal, and working you isn’t going to help.” I replied, my voice strained as I pushed.
Because we had no idea where Dylan had gone, our next best option was to go the Crystal Empire. The Princesses would probably and hopefully would have been able to help us, and it might have been safer there. The train ride by itself was a long trip, so by foot it was going to take a while. We also packed as much food and water as we could for the trip, and that only added more weight. It helped that the three fillies and the dog weren't in the wagon, and instead walked. It helped, but not a lot. It had only been an hour, and I was already fed up with this wagon.
A yawn emitted from the inside of the wagon, and I perked my head up and inside to see who it was. I watched as Twilight slowly moved her legs around, then groaned. Her face exposed pain and nausea, and she opened her eyes but didn’t move her head.
“Morning sunshine.” I mocked, and she barely smiled at it. She looked like she had just woken up with a hangover. Her coat was dirty, hair was frazzled, and each movement she made was followed by a groan of pain.
“..What time is it…?” She whispered, and I barely caught it. I looked up in the sky and estimated a time, judging by the sun.
“Eh, maybe around 1?” I shrugged my shoulders, then focused back on my manual labour.
“S-So, it wouldn’t be morning…” She smirked, her eyes closed. I sighed, which turned into a tired grunt.
“Yeah, guess not.”
“Hey, I think I see the top of the hill!”
I looked up as fast as a nine year old would when he smelt cotton candy when I heard Lyra notify. And sure enough, I saw the top of the hill.
“Oh thank christ.. I don’t think my legs could take much more.” I whined, dropping my head as I pushed the last of the way.
“You can say that again…” Luke spoke beside me, breathing heavily.
“Y’all need more muscle on yer body.” Big Mac joked, grinning as he flexed his hoof.
“Sorry I’m not a horse, and I don’t see you helping.” I poked back, gritting my teeth as I tried to not slow down.
“You won’t let me help.” He raised an eyebrow, and I looked up at him with an eye-roll.
“Touché…” I realized, and sighed in relief when we finally got to the top of the hill. Everyone stopped moving the wagon once we were at a spot where it would not roll back down the hill. It makes me want to cry just thinking about that happening, and having to go get it and push it up the hill again. “Shit, this is gonna take years off my life.”
“Don’t worry, we’re only about three to four days away!” Luke said, collapsing to the ground. “Hip-fucking-hooray…”
I stood up straight and placed two fists together against my back and pushed against my spine, earning several satisfying cracks from the bottom of my spine to the top. “Ooooh, yeah…”
I saw Twilight cringe at the sound, her ears flopping down against her head. “Oh Celestia, I hate that sound…”
“Oh, you mean this sound?” I grinned widely, grabbing my head and twisting it sideways, even more, loud, splintering cracks from my neck. I twisted it the other way, and the same sound emitted.
“Gah! Yes, please stop!” Twilight squirmed on the floor, holding her ears against her head with her hooves.
“Okay, okay calm down.” I cackled.
“So, are we taking a break then? I could really use one.” Luke yawned, running his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Derpy spoke from the front of the wagon, and I heard her and Lyra unhitch themselves from the harnesses. I grabbed the back of the wagon, and took it off. Revealing the sleeping ponies, I hopped in, making sure I didn’t step on any of them. I first headed over to AppleJack to check on her, and sighed in relief when I saw her condition.
“I’m glad the, ‘operation’ worked out, otherwise it would have been a waste of resources.” I spoke aloud to myself. The area around her hoof, was standard orange color, aside from the blood. There was no infection, telling me that it was in fact successful.
“You sure tried hard to keep her alive John. Good job.” Twilight smiled, struggling to sit up, then leaned her back against one of the sides of the wagon.
“Yeah yeah, I get it. I just think you’ll agree with me when I say that we couldn’t afford to lose anyone else.” I got a closer look at her bandages, seeing dried blood soaked into them. “I should probably replace those.
“Ah’d like tuh thank ya John, fer takin’ care of mah sister like that. Not anypony ah know could do what ya did back there.” Mac thanked, smiling to me.
I shrugged. “I’ve had to do it before. Sadly, I was too late and it wasn’t successful. He turned anyways.”
“Wait, you had to amputate a limb before?” Twilight questioned, curious. “Were you too late?”
“No, the tool I used had walker blood on it. So really it was a waste of time to cut it off. Thankfully my hatchet was clean when I made the cut for AppleJack, so that wasn’t a problem.” I pulled out my hatchet, which I hadn’t gotten around to cleaning since the attack. “So now it just has Apple blood on it.”
I looked up at Mac, and he didn’t seem too amused. I chuckled, getting up and going over to the extra medical supplies that we had packed. “Yeah, okay sorry.”
“Should we wake them up?” Lyra came around to the back of the wagon, resting her head and two front hooves on the open back.
“No, we should let them rest. They’ll probably still be in a lot of pain when they wake up, so it’s better that we let them sleep as long as they can.” I replied, opening up a small plastic box full of different medical supplies. I grabbed the bandages, some pads, a clean cloth, and the bottle of rubbing alcohol. I made my way back over to AJ, sat down across from her, and pulled out my knife.
“What’s that for?” Twilight questioned, watching me work closely. Quite, closely.
I noticed her interest, and lack of care for personal space, and scooted away from her a little bit. “I need to clean my knife in order to cut the bandages off without infecting the wound. It would really be a pain in the ass to get the wound infected now, after all of that work.” I explained, pouring some of the rubbing alcohol onto the rag. I rubbed the blade up and down, and within a matter of seconds, weeks of gore and dirt came off of the knife, and onto the rag. The knife immediately began to shine, revealing the black coating that had slowly started to rub off over the years of usage.
“Wow, I haven’t seen this baby this shiny in a long time. Probably a result of me not being a very sanitary person. Not like anyone cares nowadays.” I shrugged, putting the alcohol and cloth to the side, and began to slowly remove the bandage. After I fully removed it, it exposed the open wound. The cauterization worked better than I expected, as there was no more bleeding whatsoever. The ponies looked away in disgust, shuddering as they turned their attention away.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” Twilight asked, almost in awe of how comfortable I was with it.
I shrugged once again, grabbing a large pad and spread some alcohol around it and pressed it lightly against the wound. I heard and felt AJ squirm slightly, and I hurried to finish up the job. I wrapped the fresh bandage around her hoof, and pinned it together. After satisfied, I looked over at Big Mac.
“Your turn big guy.” I mocked, and just when I was about to get up I heard AJ waking up. We all leaned in to look at her as she woke.
She sniffled, moving her neck around and slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes first met her brothers, then moved over to mine. I didn’t take her long to remember what happened, once she felt excruciating pain from her hoof. She showed it on her face.
“...I-Is it, gone?” She coughed, whispering to me.
“Yeah, and it’s probably best you don’t look at it.” I made sure she kept her eyes on me. “You probably want some pain killers?”
“D-Do we ‘ave any?” Her voice picked up a bit, praying that we had some.
“Yeah, but not a lot. It’ll have to last until we find more or a Willow tree. That is, if you have those around here.” I got up, heading back over to the medical supplies.
“Of course we do, but how can a Willow tree help with pain?” Twilight wondered, utterly confused.
“The inner bark of a Willow tree contains the same chemicals as Aspirin, so it acts as a makeshift pain killer.” I replied, finally locating the bottle of painkillers.
“Really? Wow…” Twilight smiled, holding a hoof to her chin and thinking to herself. “How do you know all of this?”
“It kind of becomes a requirement when you’re surviving alone without a government to make sure you’re in tip-top shape all of the time. So I’ve learned to identify natural remedies in the wild for that purpose. Stocks of medical equipment aren’t going to last forever, so at some point switching over to natural choices is the only option.” I walked back over to AJ with the bottle of painkillers, and a small bottle of water.
“That’s amazing,” Twilight was in awe, soaking up all of the information like a sponge.
“I actually wouldn’t know half the stuff I know about survival if it wasn’t for Mark. Him and I talked about that stuff all the time,” I pulled out some tablets and put them in the palm of my hand, and fed them to AJ without really thinking as I talked to Twilight. AJ didn’t reject them however, and happily took them with her mouth. “So if you are ever going to question me about anything, and expect me to go full detail into it, that’s the topic.” I unscrewed the cap of the bottle, and held it to AJ’s lips.
“Oh, I definitely will.” Twilight squee’d, happy she found something different that she could fully learn about. She learned some information from Zecora, but it wasn’t exactly what I was speaking of.
“Oh, good job. You gave the egghead something else to talk about…”
I recognised the scratchy voice and turned my attention to Dash, who was slowly sitting up and checking out her wings. Twilight immediately frowned at Dash’s comment.
“Hey, it’s actually interesting! It’s important too, this information could save you one day. Especially with this, apocalypse, happening.” Twilight lectured, and Dash had already had enough of it. Dash mimicked Twilight talking with her mouth, rolling her eyes at the same time. I shook my head in annoyance, returning my attention back to AJ. I pulled the bottle away, and noticed that it was completely empty.
“Someone’s thirsty.” I smirked, and AJ smiled back. “I don’t blame you, I think we’re all pretty thirsty. Hopefully we can find a creek nearby.” I took a look around us, watching the sky and looking at the sun, before turning away. “Speaking of which, we might want to continue moving for a couple more hours, then set up camp.”
“I can help pull the cart.” Dash offered, and I scoffed.
“With a sprained leg? I don’t think so. We only have one splint, and if you fuck up your leg further there won’t be much that I can do to help.” I warned her, though it didn’t seem to matter much to her.
“Oh come on, I won’t be stupid. Besides, I can use my wings to help support my weight, and help pull the cart.” She got up, trying to apply pressure on her leg and cringing in pain immediately. “B-Besides, I’ve been lying down too long. You should take a rest John, I’ll swap with you.”
“What about me?” Luke grunted to himself.
“Oh please, like I’d let a girl take a man’s place in manual labour.” I scoffed, and my grin started to fade when I heard everypony but Dash hiss through their teeth.
“Now ya’ve done it.” AJ rolled her eyes, scooting away as Dash glared death at me and moved closer.
“What, you think I'm not capable!?” She growled, trying to stand over me, though as I got up her attempts to be bigger than me failed quite miserably.
“No, actually I think you're capable of a lot. Just not while you’re injured.” I hopped out of the cart. “But if you can walk that would help with the weight.”
“Pegasi don't actually weigh that much,” Twilight pointed out, and noticed that I barely paid attention.
“That's not the point. Anything helps, because this weighs 10 tons.”
Twilight was just about to open her mouth, when she was cut off by me again.
“I know, it doesn't weigh that much.” I rolled my eyes. “Come on Luke, let's get moving.”
With a sigh, Luke climbed out and I closed the back of the wagon. I heard Dash grumble to herself, but didn't pay much attention to it. “How much further until we should probably stop?” I asked anyone, and they all just looked at the sky with a pondering look on their faces.
“Hmm…well, if we need time to set up camp, then probably about three more hours.” She estimated.
“Ugh, fuck…” Luke and I both said in unison.
“My offer is still the same.” Dash smirked, looking down at me, until she hopped out of the cart.
“And so is my answer.” I sighed. “Alright, let's get moving. We want to try to get as far as possible before nightfall.”
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality…
The quiet hum of the truck engine, the slightly vibrating seats, and some unknown music playing in the background was just the perfect combination for a nap. These feelings had gotten so familiar to her, everytime she felt them she felt safe. Safe. That word just made pictures of John appear in her mind. No pony had made her feel more safe than him. She smiled at the thought, wanting to see him right now.
As her consciousness grew more, recent memories began to flood her mind, swiftly changing her emotions. Her mind was so twisted at the moment, she couldn’t piece everything together to tell the story of yesterday. Ugh, she needed some water…
Her body’s limbs and muscles ached to be stretched, so she went on to comply. Though she quickly found out that she couldn’t move, no matter how much she struggled. Was she in some kind of sleep paralysis? No, she was able to move somewhat. It almost felt as if she was, tied together with rope or something. As feeling was not able to tell what position she was in at the moment, she went with the next sense; sight.
She opened her eyes, only to see nothing again, just black. She could tell that something was covering her eyes, as she could barely see through what seemed to be cloth. After realizing sight wouldn’t help much, she tried to speak. When she opened her mouth, her voice was muffled to the point where she could barely make a sound. She could taste some cloth that was stuffed into her mouth, and then something had forced her mouth shut. Her awakening quickly turned sour as she began to panic without realizing. Trying to get out of the ropes, and attempting to speak as loud as possible.
She stopped her escape struggle when she suddenly heard the truck stop, along with the music. She heard a door open, shut, then another door open. This one right beside her. Something grabbed her, pulling off the fabric from her eyes, and in her mouth. She recognised the person, standing over her with a wide grin. Dylan.
“Well well, someone finally woke up. You’ve been out for a while, must’ve been a good sleep-”
“What have you done?! What were you thinking, leaving all your friends behind like that!! They could all be dead right now, and it’s all because of you!” Fluttershy screamed, taking the opportunity to speak.
Dylan wasn’t fazed at all, and just let out a scoff. “It’s rude to interrupt people like that, you know? Anyways,” He shrugged, “I could care less. That John guy was getting on my nerves, and I didn’t prize Luke too much either. The rest of you don’t matter to me, so I didn’t have a problem taking your stuff.”
“If you don’t care about us, why did you take me from them?!” She growled, getting angrier by the second.”
“Oh, you should know better than anyone.” He smirked deviously, glaring down at Fluttershy. “Because John cares about you more than anyone else in that group, he made that pretty damn clear. So trading you for all of these goods, is so simple! A three year old could’ve made this plan! It’s almost too easy.”
“You… You, are the cruelest person I’ve ever met…” Fluttershy’s eyes were filled with horror. And knowing that she was at the complete mercy to this man made her shiver.
His smirk faded, however the insult didn’t seem to make it through him. “Yeah, I’ve heard that lots. And speaking of John,” He looked away from Fluttershy, tapping his chin as he looked up into the sky. “Would you happen to know where he might be going?”
“Even if I knew, I would never, ever tell you in my life!” She got angrier, feeling like she could burst of out the ropes at any second.
“Well, aren’t you just little Miss Stubborn?” He shrugged, looking back down at her. “No matter, I’ll just wait until he ditches the others to come find you on his own, leaving the others to die.” He leaned in closer to Fluttershy, speaking barely above a whisper. “That is, if he’s still alive…”
Fluttershy gulped, trying her best to lean away from him. “John would never leave my friends! He cares for them too much!”
“Oh really? Then why do I get the urging feeling that, if anyone else had gone missing, he wouldn’t have even attempted to look for them?” He finally took a step back, giving Fluttershy her space. “Admit it, he only really cares about you. And it’s only a matter of time before he gets separated from the group, and they all die.” He then grabbed the two cloths, putting the one back into her mouth, and the other over her eyes as he continued speaking.
“Then killing you will be even easier.” He stepped away, slammed the door, then got back into the driver's seat to continue driving. He even turned the radio back on, like nothing had happened.
Some tears soaked into the cloth covering Fluttershy’s eyes.
Please, hurry up John…
- - - - -
“Okay, okay how about this one,” I laughed, pulling myself together. “What did the one ocean, say to the other?”
No one replied, though there were a couple irritated grunts and chuckles.
“Nothing, they just waved!”
The entire hillside was completely silent, other than the group of laughing humans and ponies. The travelling was beginning to get boring, so we decided to crack some jokes to lighten the mood. God knows we needed it.
“Okay, seriously stop! This is actually physically hurting me!” Luke growled, but a smiled seeped through as he chuckled.
“Sorry, I thought you deserved the punishment.” I laughed harder, and more of the ponies began to groan in pain, though Dash, AJ, and Derpy were having a hell of a time laughing their asses off.
“I swear to god if you don’t stop I will take your knife and stab you with it!” Luke threatened, gritting his teeth.
“No, don’t! That wouldn’t be very knife of you!” I finished, And Luke threw his arms up in defeat as everyone groaned in mercy.
“Stoooooooppp!!” Twilight pleaded. “I can’t take it anymore!, it’s so painful!”
“Okay, okay I’m done. For real this time.” I heaved, laughing off the rest of my jokes.
“You’ve said that like ten times already!” Dash snorted, attempting to pull herself together but failing multiple times.
“Okay, okay…” I sighed, finally regaining what maturity I had before I transformed into an 8 year-old. I suddenly stopped pushing as I stretched. “Anyways, I’m going to go take a piss.”
“Y’all just went less than an hour ago!” AJ scoffed, lying on her back inside the wagon.
“Hey, don’t judge me.” I grabbed my knife and headed towards the trees. “Besides, I’ll check to see if there is a good spot to camp out.”
“Good idea, and we can take a break, finally.” Lyra sighed in relief, her and Derpy taking off their harnesses and lying down on the ground.
“Try not to be too long, I don’t want us to worry, come looking for you and have to walk in on you doing-”
“Yep, thanks for the heads up Twilight!” I rolled my eyes, disappearing into the tree line. The second I had entered, I already realized we would have to search deeper into the forest if we wanted to find a good spot. Everything within eyesight was too thick with trees and other shrubbery. Well, at least it found a good spot to do my business. Though just as I was about to unzip my pants, I heard some quiet rustling in a bush behind me.
I instinctively turned around and backed away, holding my knife out in front of me. I stood there preparing for something to jump out at me, most likely a walker. I was taken by surprise as I get grabbed from behind and tugged to the ground violently.
“Gahh!!” I yelped out by accident, alerting the nearby passengers in the cart as they heard me.
“John? Are you okay?!” I hear Dash yell out, though I wasn’t in the position to respond as I tried to fight off whatever was attacking.
This thing and I rolled around in the dirt for a while, until I finally got ahold of it in the right way. “Aha!” I spun the creature around, pinning it onto what seemed to be its stomach, as I held a knee on their back. I quickly realized it was a pony, as I grabbed their hooves and held them behind their back. Not a second later, I had my knife to their throat.
“If you don’t say something in the next three seconds I’m going to assume you're a walker and paint the dirt with your life.” I growled intimidatingly. The pony struggled for a few seconds, before speaking.
“Get off of me…” The voice was female. The voice was smooth, but yet somewhat scratchy and choked. The tone was deeper for a female voice, and she had only tried to make it sound more intimidating. But of course, I didn’t give a fuck.
“I don’t think so-”
“John!” I turned around as I heard Twilight’s voice, making sure my hold on the pony didn’t weaken. The second they walked through, they created an opening in the treeline, so light could escape in. Once I could see better, I looked down at the pony.
Her coat was a yellow-ish brown color, and she wore some dark green-colored clothing. A hat, that was mostly tan, and a compass tattoo thing on her ass. What mostly caught my attention, was that her mane and eye color was somewhat similar to Rainbow Dash’s. Her eye color was exactly the same, and her mane and tail had the same pattern and color, but instead painted in black and white shading. Her eyes glared daggers into mine, but quickly turned away from me when we both heard Dash’s voice behind us.
“A. K. Yearling?! What are you doing here!?” Dash freaked, holding her hooves up to her head in surprise.
“No time to explain, now run while you still can while I hold him off! You can still get away!” The pony yelled, and I lightly scoffed and turned back to her, until my eyes grew wide in realization.
“What are you talking about? Wait…” Twilight started thinking to herself.
“Wait, Dash, you know this pony?” I questioned, and her answer was running up to me and shoving me off of the newcomer.
“Of course I do!” Dash quickly tended to the pony, helping her up. “John,” Dash turned to me and glared. “Why would you just tackle her like that?!”
“ME?!” I threw my hands up. “I was about to take a piss when she pulled me to the ground!”
“A. K., what are you doing out here?” Twilight walked up to the pony, examining her.
“Well, I’m hiding out here. Ever since this weird thing happened where everypony is going schitz, I’ve just left my house and tried to get away from it all. This seems to be the safest place, at least right now.”
“It spread that quick, huh?” I turned to the voice of AJ, who I hadn’t noticed joined the group.
“Oh yeah. This infection spreads like wildfire, and the population goes down faster than a fat kid on a seesaw.” I explained, and suddenly got another glare from the Rainbow Dash duplicate.
“Anyways, the reason I attacked you is because I thought you had kidnapped my friends. So the second you left them, I made my move. Though, I guess it seems that isn’t the case.” She told. I folded my arms and gave her an impressed look.
“Well, I’ll give you this: you snuck up on me pretty good.” I smirked, and I saw Twilight roll her eyes.
“Well, John is our friend. In fact, he’s really the reason we’re all alive right now.” Twilight expressed, and AJ quickly followed her up.
“He’s saved us too many times tuh count. We really can’t thank him enough for it.” The ponies turned to me, and I quickly rolled my eyes to not make eye contact.
“Yeah, okay well this is all very touching, but we need to continue moving and find a site to camp at before it gets too dark out.” I reminded, and AJ frowned, her attempts and creating a heartwarming moment getting crushed.
“Well, actually I have a camp set up not far ahead. If we head there now, we can probably make it in time to build enough shelters for all of you.” The new mare offered, grabbing my interest.
“How far is it from here? Because we still need to drag that cart with us, it has all of our supplies. If we lose those, we’ll lose a lot of time, too.” I voiced, and she shrugged.
“It about five to ten minutes from here. There’s a path a little ways down that leads right to it. It’s a nice spot too, lots of deadfall for shelter building and fires, lots of overhead trees for some protection from rain. There’s even a river right next to the camp.” She listed off items, that sort of flew over my head. Except for the last one.
“...There’s a river nearby?”
“Yep.”
“Clean water?”
“Uh huh.”
I didn’t take another second before I was out of the forest and heading back to the cart. “Pack up, we’re going to this camp!”
“Aww, yeah! This is gonna be sweet!” Dash immediately trailed behind me.
“Thank you very much Ms. Yearling. This is going to help us a lot.” Twilight smiled, walking with A. K. as they headed towards the cart.
“Don’t mention it. It’ll actually be nice to have some company for once. It gets pretty lonely out here.” She spoke without emotion, and Twilight turned to look ahead of her.
“I can imagine.”
By the time they made it to the cart, everyone was strapped up and ready to go. I was eagerly standing behind the cart, waiting for directions.
“Lead the way!” I ordered, not caring much for my manners. I was just happy to get some fresh water. Hell, maybe even take a bath. I think everyone would like one, we were beginning to smell pretty damn awful.
A. K. scoffed, shaking her head as we headed back into the forest.
“Who is she?” Luke asked me, confused.
“A life saver.”
- - - - -
We had been at the camp for several hours, and it was going on 8 o’clock. The skies were getting dark, and we had just finished building the last shelter. We wiped the sweat from our foreheads, taking a seat to relax. We would have to travel a bit farther to get any more deadfall, but because it was getting dark we decided that wasn’t the best idea.
A. K. had already built her own shelter, so we just ended up building 4 shelters. Luke wanted to build his own and sleep on his own, and that’s fine by me, we ended up having enough resources anyways. 3 people in each shelter, the three fillies counting as one as they’re small enough to fit as one whole pony.
Twilight, AppleJack and Lyra were going to share one shelter, Big Mac, the three fillies, and Derpy share another, then me and Dash. Dash wanted to bunk with me, for some reason. I don’t mind, really. As long as she doesn’t wake me up in the middle of the night.
“Nice work guys, we might just survive another night.” I joked pulling off my one-strapped backpack, then pulling out a small fire kit.
“Very funny. Though, it does feel pretty satisfying to build your own house and sleep in it.” Dash chimed in, stretching and relaxing against a tree. “I’m beat.”
“For the record, number one, I built the entire shelter, number two, you weren’t pushing a cart all day.” I snapped back, and she just gave a shrug.
A. K. and Twilight seemed more interested in my firemaking than anyone else. I had a pharrosivium rod starter in my hands, while I pulled out a dark, burnt and charred piece of something from a burnt up steel container with a hole in the top.
“What is that?” Twilight began, ready for another lesson.
“This,” I held it up to her face to she could see it better. “Is a charred piece of a tinder fungus called Fomes Fomentarius. Or, common name is Horses Hoof Fungus.” I pulled it away from her face, and placed it on the steel container. “Charred, well, anything will take a spark with extreme ease, then will begin to smoulder. Place it in a bird's nest, and blow on it, you have fire.” I educated, Twilight just taking in as much as possible.
I perked up and looked around, pointing my finger over at the river, where some tall, dry grass was poking up. “Speaking of which, would one of you be a dear and grab me a handful of that grass over there?”
“Here, I’ve got it.” Twilight offered, though she didn’t get up. Her eyes shut, and her horn began to glow. It flickered, a few sparks flying off before it fully ignited. I watched as a bundle of the dry grass, folded in on itself, and ripped away from the others. She levitated the bundle over to me, before dropping into my hands. Once her horn shut off, she began gasping for air, sweating.
“Hey, looks like you’ve got that witchcraft working again.” I smirked, toying with the grass to turn it into a bird’s nest.
Twilight ignored my snarky comment, but acknowledged my initial meaning. “Yes, I think all that rest paid off. It should be a lot better by morning.”
“Anyways,” Once I had the bundle prepared, a pile of kindling, slowly growing in size, and a fire pit in front of me, I got ready to start the process I’ve done thousands of times. With one strike, and slide off of the rod, millions of tiny sparks flew off, showering the tiny piece of charred material. Right away, you could see the fungus beginning to smoke, and when I blew on it it glowed red.
“Whoa…” Twilight and A. K. said in unison, captivated as if they were watching fireworks go off. After I was satisfied with the side of the glowing ember, I gently placed it inside the bird’s nest, and hugged the glowing ember with the grass. After blowing on it for a couple of seconds, the smoke amount grew dramatically, and with a matter of time, the grass burst into flames. I took no extra time in putting it down on the ground, and sophisticatedly piling the pencil-sized kindling on top of it. It didn’t take long at all for a small bed of embers to form, and a true fire was born.
“Yaaayyy!” Twilight clapped her hooves together. “That was so cool!”
Dash and I scoffed at Twilight. “Wow, you really are an egghead.” I chuckled, and Twilight’s entertainment quickly shifted to irritation.
“You’re pretty nifty with that. I should get myself one of those sometime.” A. K. watched the fire build in size.
“It’s a good idea, these things can do stuff you wouldn’t believe. Definitely handy out here.” I looked around, taking in the surrounding forest and towering coniferous trees that stood tall over anything.
“Well, who wants to go for a swim?”
I looked up at A. K., who had gotten up at already taken off her hat and jacket and was heading towards the river.
“Oh! I do! I do!” The three fillies made sure they were heard as they bolted after the safari pony, no one doing anything to stop them.
“That sounds relaxing. Besides, Celestia knows we could use a bath.” Twilight mentioned, getting up and following, everyone else did the same.
“You comin’ John?” AJ asked, and the second I heard her voice I got up to stop her. “No, and neither are you. That wound is still too fresh, if any contaminants in the water get into it, that could infect it.”
“Aww, come on John! Light up, will ya?” Dash was already in the water, mane and coat mopped to her body with water. “The temperature is just right!”
“I bet it is, but I hate swimming in clothes aside from swimming shorts, and there’s no way in hell I’m getting naked in front of all of you. So I’ll pass thanks.”
“Okay, we’ll you’ll have to take a bath at some point, otherwise flies are going to vomit when they go near you!” Dash quickly went underwater, enjoying herself.
“You’re not coming in the shelter soaking wet, I hope you know that!!” I yelled, but knew she wouldn’t hear me.
AJ walked over to me, sitting down. “Do y’all think there’s some way ah can clean myself up? This smell is really doin’ a number on mah nose.” She begged, and I thought for a second.
“Well, just try to wash everywhere but your arm.” I got up, heading over to the cart.
“Ah donno how easy it’ll be with only one hoof. Do ya think y’all could help me?” She pleaded, then frowned right as she heard Dash speak.
“Oooooh~, John is going to give AppleJack a bath! I’m guessing you two want some privacy together?” Dash cooed, pressing her hooves against her cheeks and making kissy faces.
“Okay, well after that, no. If you want to get someone to help you, you can get that asshole to do it.” I pointed at Dash, and her mood immediately changed.
“Hey!!” She glared.
“I’ll help you AJ, come on.” Twilight offered generously, and AJ smiled, following her to the river.
I said back down at the fire and relaxed, feeding the fire and poking it with a stick every once in awhile. AJ’s dog, Winona, came over to me and lied down beside me. I beamed, reaching down and running my hand along its back.
“It’s been a long day, huh little guy?” I quietly spoke to the dog, not expecting a reply, and thankfully not getting one. “Don’t worry, I’ll try my best to keep you guys safe. We don’t want to lose anyone else, now do we?” I continued to talk to myself, the dog shutting its eyes as she drifted off to sleep.
“Hey,”
I turned around to see A. K., who had snuck up behind me once again and sat down beside me. I seriously need to work of my hearing skills. Maybe it’s a sign I’m getting old…
“Hey, why aren’t you with the others?” I asked, she didn’t show any body language as a reply. She just stared into the fire.
“Eh, just want a little silence.” She replied quietly.
“Yeah, I hear ya. That’s not something you get when you’re around those girls.” I laughed weakly, leaning back and supporting my weight with my elbows behind me.
“Listen,” She spoke in a serious tone, turning to me. “I don’t see these ponies all too often, but they are special to me.” She turned her body to me, and leaned in close. “Please, don’t let anything happen to them anymore. They’ve already lost so much, they can only take so much before they’ll crack.”
“Look, I’m going to be honest with you here.” I stared her in the eyes. “These ponies probably mean as much to me as they do to you. I can’t promise anyone’s safety, but I can promise you that I’m not going to let anything happen to them without a fight.”
She hesitated for a moment, before smiling, and backing away. “Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.” She stared off into the forest, almost as if she was watching something, and it had her full attention. “Also, these ponies may not seem like they can do much, but I promise you, they can hold their own when they really want to. Especially Rainbow Dash. She is made up of half courage and half pure heart.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve seen them fight, honestly I wouldn’t mess with them personally. Even with the years of fighting I’ve done through this. They can do some crazy shit.” I admitted.
“Right. Anyways, I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to go grab a snack, then probably hit the hay. Good night.”
“G’night, don’t let the walkers bite.” I joked, and I heard her laugh as she walked away. I smiled,
My consciousness slowly faded in and out in soft, calm waves. Everytime reality moved in, I could hear the violent, yet non-intimidating sounds of the nearby river. A light breeze, lightly moved the shelter every once in awhile, while an owl nearby communicated with something of the unknown. The sound was unpredictable, and it echoed off the mountains and through the forest, giving an eerie feeling of being watched. The sounds of crickets in the distance, creating a beautiful white noise that just topped off the experience of the outdoors. Something that just couldn’t be planned, or bought in stores. Right now, I was probably the only one hearing it.
Once I had gathered the main senses of my surroundings, I opened my eyes. I was met with extreme darkness, so the useless effort to see, was only met with the cold, crisp air. I tilted my head up, craneing it and looking around. The same outcome was a result, and I quietly sighed. It was early, very much so. Just as I had planned, I wanted to wake up earlier than anyone else to bathe without them watching. Now all I had to do, was get out of the shelter without waking my roommate.
With a speak of the devil, I felt Dash toss and turn with little effort, so she didn’t move much. But it was enough to tell me that she was cradled in my arms, and curled into a ball. If this were in any other situation, I would’ve been a bit more annoyed, but because we’re in a shelter it makes sense. Body heat, I get it.
I shook it off, falling back to the thought of getting out of the shelter without Dash waking up. Now it being even harder to do. With very slow, delicate movements, I began to pull away from her. She made it clear that she didn’t like it too much, as she grunted, and grabbed onto my arm tightly between her hooves.
“Fuck…” I quickly bit my tongue, whispering to myself. If I wanted to get out of this, I had to do it quick. If I take my time, this could only get worse.
So, I decided to make it seem natural, as if I were still asleep. With a lazy, sleepy-like movement, I turned over onto my other side. My arm got stuck between her hooves, but as it strained her grasp, she eventually let go with a yawn, turning away from me also as she remained in her slumber.
I grinned to myself, finally being able to move about. I took my time, trying not to split my skull open on any branches that were poking into the shelter. At last, I finally made it out of the shelter, giving me the freedom to stretch my arms and legs. Once out, the moonlight gave me some illumination to look around the camp. It appeared that everyone else was still asleep, so I felt more relaxed about taking a bath. I glanced to the river, though walked over to my equipment first.
If I make a spear, and take it in with me, I have the chance of catching myself some breakfast…
I thought internally, and without thinking I had already grabbed my knife and walked to the trees in search of a straight branch. After multiple quiet, peaceful minutes to myself, I had a sturdy spear, already shaven and sharpened to a pencil tip-like point. I sauntered over to the river, standing at the edge of the water. I took my shoes and socks off, and dipped a toe in.
“!!” I quickly pulled away as if I had just stubbed my toe on a piece of wooden furniture, biting my fingers so I didn’t yell. “Jesus fucking christ… This is gonna suck…”
I took off the rest of my clothes, turning back to the camp to make sure no one was spying on me. I clenched my teeth together tightly, and stepped in. A shiver immediately shot up my spine, feeling like I had just gotten out of a hot tub and stepped onto an ice cube.
Let’s just get this over with, I want to get this done before the others wake up.
- - - - -
Several hours later, I had a fire going, my clothes were hung up to dry after I had washed them, and at the moment I was busy cooking a fresh salmon that I had caught in the river. The dark, mystic sounds of the forest at night, had changed into the welcoming, warm sounds of the afternoon. Birds were singing, I could actually see, thanks to the warm glow of the sun. Beams of light shot through the branches of the spruce trees that stood tall all around the camp, littering the ground with tiny spruce needles. Honestly, even before shit hit the fan, I don’t understand how anyone couldn’t live like this. This is the life…
“John?”
My head spun to my shelter, and I quickly realized who had called from inside.
“I’m out here Dash.” I responded. Right after, I heard rustling emitting from the shelter, as the familiar, rainbow pegasus climbed out of the entrance. Her hair was messy, and her eyes were slightly baggy as she yawned, stretching out her wings at the same time. Once she was finished, she turned over to me, stumbling over as her eyes hung half shut. Once she was closer to me, a small grin grew on her face as she sat down next to me.
“Sheesh John, put on some clothes!” She mocked, glancing at my body. Since my other clothes were drying, my only choice was to only wear my pants, and roll them up into shorts. I rolled my eyes, staring at my food that was cooking upon a large rock that I had placed in the fire.
My breakfast caught her attention, and she immediately showed a face of disgust.
“What the- where’d you get that?!” She looked away from it.
I scoffed, relaxing as I sat against a tree. “I caught it this morning. I had to bathe in the middle of the night so you didn’t get to watch, and while I was at it I caught this bad boy.” I pointed to the fish, nearly finished cooking. “Sorry you didn’t get to see the show.”
“I don’t know if you’re talking about the hunting, or bathing. But I’m happy I didn’t see either.” She turned to look into the fire, ending the conversation.
There was a silence for a considerable amount of time, until I decided to break the ice. “Well,” I got up, walking over to the fire and picking up to poking sticks that were beside it. “I think it’s ready.” I steadily picked up the fish from the rock, having to somewhat scrape it off of the rock as it stuck slightly, then set it down on a cooler, same-sized rock.
“Well you have fun eating that.” Dash shivered. “You’re so weird man…”
“Oh come on, have you even tried fish before?” I asked, continuing to tend to the fish as I opened it up. I had gutted it earlier, instead of cutting it into filets, just so I got that little bit more meat on it.
Dash audibly shrugged, giving a quiet groan along with it. “...no.”
“Then how can you say it’s disgusting?” I asked, pulling out as many bones as I could find and placing them on the ground.
She grunted. “Come on, you sound like my mom! I haven’t tried it because ponies aren’t supposed to eat meat!”
I shrugged, over exaggerating it. “Well, I guess you’re too chicken to try it. You think it’ll hurt your precious little fragile body…” I looked up at her with my bottom lip out, and I saw her anger build.
She growled. “F-Fine! I’ll try it, just shut up already!” She got up and stomped over, sitting down next to me in an unhappy feat that just seemed adorable and extremely unintimidating. Though her expression quickly changed as the scent of the cooked salmon reached her nose. “...It, does smell pretty good.”
“There you go.” I finished plucking the majority of the bones out, and I cut a little piece off of it and held it out to Dash. “Here, I’ll even let you have the first bite.”
She hesitated, before taking the slice of cooked fish from my hand with her teeth, and then eating it from there. As soon as it entered her mouth, surprise breached her expression as her eyes widened. She chewed it a bit longer than she needed to, savouring the flavor before she swallowed. Silent the entire time, but making quiet little enjoyable moaning noises.
“That… Was, actually really, really good!” She grinned, looking up at me.
“Right? It’s not that bad once you try it. If you think that’s good, you should try bacon-”
“Dash!”
We both swiftly moved our attention over to the new voice, who as the owner was AppleJack. “What do ya think yer doin’?!”
“AJ! You have to try this, it’s aawweeessooommeee!” Dash’s eyes nearly rolled back into her sockets.
“Ah know, ah’ve had fish b’fore.” She replied normally, walking over.
“Wait, really?” Dash and I both asked, taken back.
“Yes, and as delicious as it is, it ain’t good fer ya.” She began. “What ah’m sayin’, is that you’re gonna have a real bad time goin’ to th’ washroom next time ya go.”
“W-What?!” Dash panicked, looking between me and AJ, then pointing her hoof at me. “That’s not fair! John lured me into trying it!”
AJ turned to me, glaring, and I just gave off a shrug. “I don’t know what she’s talking about, she just walked over and ate a piece without asking.”
“WHAT?!” Dash stomped her hoof on the ground, furious.
“What’s going on out here?” Twilight walked out of her shelter, Lyra following not far behind her.
“Breakfast.” I spoke with a grin, trying to not acknowledge Dash’s extreme hate towards me at the moment.
AJ sighed and shook her head, deciding it was best not to carry it on any further. “Don’t worry ‘bout it sugarcube. How’d y’all sleep?”
“Good, actually. I haven’t slept like that in a long time!” Twilight beamed, beginning to fix her mane with her magic. “It must have been the sounds of nature that helped.”
“You could say that again…” Lyra yawned, stepping out from behind Twilight as she held a hoof to her mouth for a brief moment, then lazily dropping it to the ground. The second she caught sight of me, her face exactly matched Dash’s reaction when she first woke up. “What are you doing?”
I rolled my eyes, waving my arms about. “Okay, should we wake everyone up so they can judge me for who I really am, and that I’m doing what’s necessary for me to survive?”
“Sorry John, it’s just that when you live in a town full of ponies, you don’t usually see that kind of thing.” Twilight admitted, walking over to me.
“Well, he isn’t wrong Twilight. Besides, even I have to do it from time to time.”
We turned our attention to A. K., who had just exited her shelter and slipped on her clothes. “You can’t always find what’s necessary to eat out here, so eating meat is our only option.”
“But, isn’t it bad for your digestive system?” Twilight carried on, losing my interest as I continued to polish off my caught breakfast.
“Of course, but it’s better than starving to death.” She shrugged, trotting over to sit by the fire. Twilight sighed quietly to herself, coming to the conclusion that this was a fight not worth fighting.
“Anyways, I’m going to go get everypony else. We should get moving as quickly as possible.” Twilight announced, walking to the next shelter that housed Luke.
“Good idea Twilight.” I awarded, not turning my attention away from my meal. “Besides, there’s nothing more satisfying than catching your own meal-”
“*SSCCRRRREEEAAAAAAMMMM*”
Everyone’s heart jumped as two, young, terrified screams came from one of the shelters. Everyone saw Scootaloo, and AppleBloom, sprint out of their shelter with tears streaming down their faces in horror.
“What in tarnation?!” AJ yelped, running to the fillies as they galloped towards us. “Whut's goin’ on?!”
“B..B-Big M-Mac..!” AppleBloom stuttered as she sobbed. “B-Big Mac attacked D-Derpy and Sweetie Belle! H-He bit them!”
“Shit…” I spoke through my sigh, running my hands through my hair. Out of all of the ponies… It was him.
Twilight ran back to the group, Luke in tow behind her with his rifle already out. “What happened?!”
“Big Mac turned and infected Derpy and Sweetie Belle.” I pulled out my Beretta, cocking it ready and turning off the safety. “AJ, check those two for bites. Follow me Luke.” I gave orders, and they did as they were told.
“AppleJack… Whut’s gonna happen tuh them?” AB sobbed, hugging tightly onto her sister with her eyes shut.
“Just… Just, cover yer ears AppleBloom…” Was all that AJ could reassure, already knowing what was coming.
Scootaloo instead ran past AJ, and straight to Dash. “D-Dash!”
Dash took her into her open hooves, trying to calm her down as Luke and I prepared for the worst.
When we were no closer than 5 feet away from the shelter, we heard a loud groan and a thump. Big Mac stood up, the shelter caving in on itself. All of the heavy branches and sticks seemed to do nothing to stun him, and once he was the only thing standing there, it revealed his form.
His body was completely normal, aside from his gunshot wound. The bandage was soaked red, and purple. Every vein in this body had seemed to double in side, and pop out of his skin slightly, and his eyes were completely bloodshot. His mouth was bloodied with gore, as he gave way for his two friends. Derpy and Sweetie Belle were not nearly as clean as Big Mac was. Derpy had an enormous chunk out of her neck, blood pooling down her chest and back. Sweetie Belle… The least that I could say, was that she had been gutted like the fish I had caught earlier. Intestines hung from her broken ribcage, while the rest pooled on the ground under her.
I heard AJ gag and turn away, covering AB’s eyes from the horror in front of them.
Luke and I took no hesitation before blasting them all to the afterlife, Luke firing one bullet at Derpy, and me firing two at Big Mac and Sweetie Belle.
Once they were dead for good, everyone stood in silence for a long time. The sound of the river being the only source of sound for miles, other than the echo of the gunshots. Even the birds had evacuated.
I barely broke the silence by turning my Beretta back onto safety, and sliding it back into my holster. “Great… That’s three more… Gone.”
“Oh… Celestia.” A. K. Held a hoof to her mouth, being a witness to such a horrific event. “I-I’m...I’m, so sorry…”
“...He was a good guy, it would’ve been best if we still had him around… Dammit…”I rested my hands on my hips, looking down at the ground with my eyes shut.
“This went to shit, real fast.” Luke spoke, turning on the safety to his rifle and pointing it to the ground.”
There was another short silence, and the birds seemed to slowly return over a period of time. The same, soothing singing of different types of birds. But it didn’t help in this situation.
“Come on Luke,” I walked over to the cart, and grabbed a shovel. “Help me with this.”
Once the other ponies knew what we had to do, they directed their attention away from us. “Let’s get you washed up.” Dash spoke quietly to Scootaloo, her voice filled with sorrow, as if she were just on the verge of tears.
Scootaloo followed Dash, but took a look behind her at the heap of dead corpses that she used to call her friends. That just like that, they were gone. To think how close she was to being a part of that corpse party. She sniffled, then turned away.
- - - - -
We had been on the road for a few hours already, and everyone was quiet for most of the ride. Without those three ponies here, it just wasn’t the same. AppleBloom and Scootaloo talked for a little bit, but they seemed much more used to having that other, voice-cracking filly alongside them. Twilight had taken Derpy’s place in pulling the cart, and everyone else that was able to walk, did. It made moving the cart a hell of alot easier, but I just couldn’t feel happy about it.
“...Guys,”
Everyone turned to Scootaloo, who had suddenly stopped walking. Everyone did the same, and I let out a quiet, yet irritated grunt as we stopped pushing the cart. “What is it Scoots?” Dash questioned, a bit concerned by the look on Scootaloo’s face.
“...What’s the point?” She asked, her voice cutting in and out slightly between a whisper and voice. She didn’t look up, and no one replied. No one knew how to reply to such a question. “What’s the point in going on? More ponies are just going to die, and it’s only a matter of time before-”
“We keep going, because we have something that’s giving us motivation.” I cut her off, and she looked up at me, the others doing the same. “We don’t think about ourselves in situations like this. Because it’s made obvious that when someone close to us dies, it damages the ones around them more than themselves.”
She turned her gaze back to the ground, letting me speak. “I know that this seems stupid. And to be honest, it really is. But that’s not the point, because when we’re in a group together, we live by the others, not by yourself.”
I saw a warm smile grow on Twilight face as I continued on.
“I have motivation. I want to find Fluttershy, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do dammit… But that isn’t the only reason I’m going on. If I really wanted to find her for the sole purpose of saving her for myself, I would have left you all a long time ago.”
Scootaloo turned to look up at me with teary eyes, just taking it in.
“But I didn’t leave, because I knew you all wanted her back as much as I do. I didn’t leave, for the other reason of you all having motivation, too. To survive something as horrible as this, we need to stay strong together, and we can’t let something like emotion, or doubt weigh us down.” I looked up at Twilight. “Maybe that will answer your question of why I acted the way I did when I first showed up. Because I didn’t let emotions take control of me. I worked along with reality, because I didn’t have friends to work alongside. But now because I have all of you, there is a lot more that we can do than you realize.”
“What I’m trying to say, is that there is no point. But there isn’t a point, when you go by what you want for yourself. But selfishness gets you killed out here, and it’s most likely to be by your own hand. We have to think about others, and be selfless. Otherwise we’re all going to die.” I turned back to Scootaloo, who was wiping her eyes. “Do you understand me?”
She didn’t reply, but only gave a small nod.
“Good. Then let’s keep going.”
As soon as I began to push the cart once again, the others continued to move the cart too. Everyone was silent, probably processing what I had just said.
“That was quite the speech John.” Twilight admitted, still pulling the cart.
“I’m just speaking from experience…” I replied, my voice strained as I pushed.
“Girls, I think I see something up ahead!”
Everyone perked up as we heard Lyra call out. Sure enough, when I peeked over the side of the cart, I saw what looked to be like…
“Is that a train station?” Twilight asked aloud.
“Maybe there’s a train there that we can use!” AppleBloom added in, and I smiled to myself. Already getting a little bit excited, before it dropped immediately as my reality-side of my brain kicked in.
“Don’t get your hopes up. Besides, if there really was a train there, I doubt anyone knows how to drive the thing.” I told them, though it didn’t seem to do anything.
“I can see a train!” Dash called out, already flying ahead.
“Dash, wait here! We don’t know what’s up there, we don’t want to get caught in another horde.” I explained, and I heard her groan as she floated back.
As we neared the station, we realized the station was placed in a very small town, might as well be a neighborhood. Heh… NEIGHborhood… Because they’re horses?
There were a couple of walkers nearby, but I was able to take them out with my bow and knife with ease. We didn’t bother to check the town, because we didn’t think they would have much of anything to be useful to us. Once we cleared out all of the walkers in a radius that we would be attacked in, we split up half and half.
Luke, AJ, AppleBloom and Scootaloo all went to find a place to put the cart onto the train, while Twilight, Dash, Lyra and I went to check out the engine. When we got to the engine, there were all different types of switches, pulleys, buttons, and latches.
“...So, anyone know what to do with this?” Dash rubbed her head, looking around the room.
“It’s probably not too hard to figure it out.” Twilight examined the switches, reaching out to one.
“Whoa, hang on! Wait for everyone to be ready to go, we don’t want to start moving if someone isn’t on or something like that.” I pulled her hoof away, and she blushed lightly.
“R-Right, sorry. Let’s go check on everyone else.” She turned around, walking out of the engine room.
I sighed, hesitating before following her, Dash trailing behind me. “Really hope this works. It’ll save a lot of time and effort.”
She nodded, hovering past me and after Twilight. We ended up meeting the others halfway through the train, saying that they had everything ready to go.
“Did y’all figure out how tuh work the thing?” AJ wondered, as we headed back up towards the engine.
“Not yet, but we should be able to get it to work. Hopefully…” Twilight mentioned, already trying to imagine how it should work in her mind. We made it back to the engine, the overwhelming switches complicating us once again. I looked in the middle of the room, seeing a pedal, and a hatch which seemed to be covered in a black powder.
“Well, it looks like it runs on coal,” I stepped on the pedal, and the latch sprung open. There was a shovel next to it, and a large box full of charcoal at the back of the room. “Bingo.”
“Okay, but what about the rest of this stuff?-” Dash pulled a handle, which was attached to a rope that hung from the ceiling.
*TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT*
Everyone covered their ears from the sudden, ear-shattering noise.
“Dash, what the hell?! You can’t just start pulling random things like that!” Luke blamed, wincing from the sound.
Dash’s face immediately filled with regret. “S-Sorry, I didn’t think that was going to happen!”
“Well now we had better hope this thing can get going, that sound probably attracted those things for miles.” I reminded, grabbing the shovel and scooping up some coal, then tossing a fair amount into the open hatch. “Now we have to find a way to turn this thing on.”
We looked carefully around the room, everyone becoming stressed from the pressure that began to build, knowing that a horde could be approaching any second.
“Hey!” Everyone’s head turned to Lyra, who had seemed to be reading a small piece of paper attached to a button. “‘Cherry, this is the button that turns on the engine. Learn to remember this, otherwise you’re gonna get fired.’” She leaned away from it, turning her head to everyone else. “Do you think this is it?”
“Only one way to find out, I guess.” I shrugged, biting my tongue as I press a button. Immediately, everyone could hear a ‘hissing’ noise, coming from the coal hatch. “Well, that didn’t seem to do much.”
“Hang on, I think that’s the gas flowing. It must need a spark to start the flame!” Twilight thought, her face lighting up as her horn did the same. Her horn flashed, as a large spark flickered in the hatch, a flame springing to life. “Yes!”
“Huh, nice thinking.” I raised my eyebrows at Twilight, and she beamed with pride. It took a second, before the entire train jolted, all of the cars behind the engine moving and clashing with each other, as the engine slowly began to move.
“Alright! Sweet!” Dash jumped up, pumping a fist in the air. “No more pushing the cart!”
“Yeah, you really needed a break from pulling that thing all day...” I sneered at her, and she just stuck her tongue out at me.
“I don’t think we should be celebrating just yet, guys.” Luke spoke in a low tone, peaking out the window. “We’re barely moving, and we’ve got some serious company.
I walked up beside him, also taking a glance outside, and gasping without control. For a small town, there were a shit-ton of walkers out there. Hell, only half of them were walkers, most of them were running towards the train. They were getting close to us, and fast.
“Guys, we need to lock every door and window now! Spread out through the train, don’t let anything in or out!” I ordered, pulling my head out of the window and slamming it shut, quickly running out of the engine room.
Everyone complied, following after me. Every car we passed through, we closed every window, leaving the doors unlocked as we passed through, but shutting them behind us. We hadn’t even made it to the furthest car, before the walkers had gotten to the train. Smacking and banging on the side of the cars, and I knew from experience, that if these fuckers worked together they could easily push one of these cars off the track.
We stood inside one of the cars, the entire thing shaking us off our feet/hooves as they began to lightly rock the car.
“Guys, what do we do?! They’re gonna knock us off the rails if we don’t do something!” Dash panicked, and I was starting to do the same thing. I grabbed my head, trying to think but being under this much pressure wasn’t making it easy.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck… W-We need some sort of distraction!” I explained, still trying to think as a mini earthquake unfolded in the room.
“How?! We need to draw them away from the train, but how?!” Dash hovered in the air, avoiding the shaking.
“Guys, we’re running out of time!” Luke reminded, still closing windows, but a hoof smashed through it nonetheless. He backed away in panic, turning to me.
“...Twilight?”
Twilight turned to Lyra, who was in the previous cart away from them. “W-What is it Lyra?”
“...Promise me, that you’ll find a way to stop this… Please.” Lyra slammed the door, and hopped out of an open window.
Twilight immediately ran after her, getting to the door and attempting to open it, realizing it was locked. “N-No! Lyra, come back!”
Everyone who had just witnessed what had happened, also realized the car had stopped shaking. As we looked out of the windows, we saw the horde lose interest in us, and chase after her instead.
“W-What the hay is she doing?! Is she crazy?-”
“No…” I cut Dash off, watching her sprint away from the crowd. “...She’s saving us.”
Everyone sat there in silence as the train slowly began to move faster and faster.
“Luke, do her a favor and shoot her now before it’s too late.” I sighed, resting my hands on a restaurant table, as the car was littered with them.
“W-Whut?! How is that doin’ ‘er a favor?!” AJ raged, stomping her hoof on the ground.
“That way she won’t suffer!” I yelled back at her. “...She deserves it. Wouldn’t you rather go out quick oppose to slowly being ripped apart limb by limb as you’re eaten alive by a horde of fucked up mutants?”
She gulped, dropping her head slowly. “...Yeah, a-ah understand.”
Immediately after, a gunshot was heard from Luke’s rifle as he ended Lyra’s life like that. We watched in horror as her innocent corpse completely disappeared while the horde engulfed her body, every single one of them wanting a piece of her. We all turned away from the terrifying scene, though Luke and I didn’t. All I could do, was salute to her.
I stood there, with my hand flat, and index finger of my right hand pressed to my forehead until she was out of sight.
Everybody sat inside the moving train, some resting or some pretending to. Whoever was still awake, was most likely processing all the moments that had led up to this exact moment. Times like these, where we had down time for our mind to take over our bodies and give us those excruciating pains of sorrow and remorse; they didn't come around often enough. And as much as some of us hated those times where we had nothing to do but think, we knew they would always. Always, come to be.
I sat alone in the main conductor room, planted on the cold, hard wooden floor. My hands traced the grain of a oak plank that just so happened to be placed beneath my palm. My fingers, with a mind of their own began picking at the board, slowly removing the specific yet unknown substance that was plastered to the wood, as to smoothen it out.
Much like everyone else this this situation with me, I was thinking about Lyra, Big Mac… all of the losses that we've encountered over our journeys. Some accidents, some sacrifices. Though I was mostly pondering and worrying about Fluttershy, trying to figure out how to find her and get her back. I guess at this point, the best chance we have is to locate the princesses and hope that they can help.
No matter how hard I had tried to get comfortable, no position would fix my uncomfort at the moment. The unpredictable and irritating bumps that would occur every so often would throw me off track of any moments I was trying to forget.
“...Maybe my earbuds will help.” I sighed softly to myself, barely able to hear my own voice over the engine pumping and working. I pulled off my small, single-strapped backpack and zipped it open with one, swift movement. I planted it down in front of me, right beside my bow, and arrows that I had been previously examining. I dug around inside for about a minute, having no success. I grunted, dropping my head against the wall that supported my back.
Of course I left them in the barn with Fluttershy. Either she has them, or they're a melted pile of plastic, copper and rubber. Guess I'd have to find something else to do in the meantime.
Just as I was about to sort through my entire kit, I heard the door next to me slide open. I halted my work, my eyes waiting for someone to come on. And even though we had cleared out the whole train of walkers, there was always the thought of a walker stumbling in on me. So my hand moved to my knife, and I unsheathed it.
My grip on my blade handle loosened when I saw Twilight walk in. She was halfway in the room when she looked around, looking in all directions and lastly my way. When she saw me, her chest compressed ever-so slightly, as if she gave out an exhale of some expression, however I didn't hear it at all.
“Relax, I'm not one of those things.” She joked, but her lack of smile made it useless. She fully entered, sliding the door closed with her magic, though she did it without flinching which caught my attention.
“Your magic is returning to its normal state, I see.” I looked down, returning to my organizing.
She gave off a quiet hum. “Yeah… I guess I haven't really thought about it.” She sauntered slowly over beside me, plopping down on the ground. Her posture and position seemed extremely irritating, and probably wasn't good for her, but she did it nonetheless.
“Well, that's good. Your magic will definitely be helpful in the long run, so try to keep it healthy… your horn, or whatever.” I sighed with a lazy shrug, not even bothering to close up my bag.
She mumbled a “Yeah…” or something, it could've been anything though. I fiddled with the zipper, and pressed my tongue against my upper teeth in my mouth, as if it were to help remove the elephant in the room. She shuffled her hooves around, and I assumed she was doing the same.
I felt my heart jump intensively inside my chest when I heard a wet sniffle emit from Twilight’s muzzle. I gulped, feeling my jaw muscles strain and flex. I turned to her, noticing how quickly her face had changed from whence she entered the room. Her eyes were stuffy and red, and watery from the tears of many negative emotions that her brain had created.
I could tell obviously what was going to happen, and why. But if anyone was bad at dealing with someone who was crying, I would raise my hand high. Words of reassurance wouldn't be able to fix her right now, we were in too deep to fix all of this with simple words. I pondered for a moment, which had seemed like forever until I had decided to break the ice with whatever flew off of my tongue.
Twilight cleared her throat several times, attmepting to return her voice to it's default sound as she spoke before I could. “S-Sorry, John… I shouldn't break down in front of you like this, it'll just make things harder for the both of us.”
I was almost caught off guard, and my mind took much longer to process what she had just said than I had anticipated. She looked up at me, and we both made strong eye contact. She was just about to get up, until my hand -without instruction- gripped onto her foreleg that was closest to me. She stopped in her tracks, looking back up at me. But my eyes were shut, and I was facing the ground with an expression of pure risk.
“...Just, don't worry about it. Okay? This isn't your fault, it isn't anyone's fault. So, don't blame yourself for normal human emotions.” I spoke softly, only loud enough so she could just hear. I shook my head and turned away from her. “Or, pony emotions I guess…”
I sensed her low-toned vibe rise, and a smile could've formed on her face but I just couldn't imagine it. I finally remembered that I held a strong grip on her foreleg, and my hand snapped away from her, gripping onto my thigh.
“Yes...you're right, I know I shouldn't blame myself for this. But…” She spoke in a bubbly, cracky voice. Trying as best as possible to keep calm and collected. I opened my eyes, but they sat still in my sockets and burned holes in the ground below me. “Even after you corrected Scootaloo on what she said… I can't help but listen to that voice in the back of my mind. That we're not going to make it out of here. That we're all going to die.”
She dropped her head, finally releasing the compression in her chest as the urge to speak her idea escaped through her lips. I wanted to reassure her, but as selfish as this sounded I was too lazy and tired to do it. All of this mourning and loss, was finally getting to me. All, because of one pony…
“And I can't imagine what Fluttershy must be going through-”
“She's going to be fine.” I blurted out, the sound of my voice awakening my senses a little bit more and clearing my throat. “We're going to find her…We are going to find her.” I spoke twice, as if I were asking myself the same question again to make sure that I really, truly knew the answer.
I could assume that Twilight had different thoughts, but she was kind enough to spare the two of us from it. We had a chance to avoid more mourning, and we took it.
“...Yeah, you're right. We can't lose hope anymore.” She assured herself, and I finally looked up to give a nod.
There was another long, awkward silence as we both sat silently in the aggravatingly obnoxious, loud engine room. We had almost forgotten the other body was there, as we were left to our thoughts. I finally came up with something else to say, but my tongue blocked anything trying to escape through my mouth. As if the world had heard me, a sharp bump shook the train, unlocking my will to speak.
“So, do you know if the princesses are going to be able to help us, at all?” I hoped, scratching my scruffy face. I hadn't shaved in a long time, and facial hair just wasn't really my thing.
She took such a long pause to answer I figured she hadn’t even heard me. I was about to say her name, but she answered before I could.
“... I'll be honest with you. I don't think they can do much to help us. But at this point, it's our only option.” She mumbled as she had her muzzle pointed towards the ground.
I shrugged, better than nothing I suppose. I inhaled through my nose deeply, grabbing her attention as I stood up. Holding onto the wall to keep my balance, as my legs returned to their daily duty of keeping me upright.
“I'm going to go check on the others. You can have some time to yourself.” I ended, heading through the door without giving her any time to respond. When I shut the door, my head was relieved; all of the loud noises from the engine were mostly suppressed. And I almost felt bad for leaving Twilight in there alone.
When I looked around the passenger cart, I saw most of the ponies. AppleJack had her hind legs crossed, and resting on the table. Her dark Stetson resting on her face for some darkness as she snoozed away. Her hair was untucked from her red bands that usually held her mane and tail together in an orderly fashion. Even though it looked like an uncontrollable mess, it didn't look too bad on her.
The only other ponies in the room were Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Luke, who didn't exactly classify as a pony, but whatever. Scootaloo and Applebloom were both talking to eachother, and I was relieved to see a smile on their faces, it gave me hope and reassurance. Luke had his rifle taken apart on the table in front of him, cleaning out all of the parts. I exhaled quickly through my nose. Guns… what's the need for them?
The only pony missing was Dash, and I was a bit concerned as of where she was. She was incredibly imperative to the group, and even though I sounded like a strict mother I needed to make sure she was safe.
I walked through the center of the cart, and I spotted Luke turn to me, though he didn't speak. He simply gave me a downwards nod, and carried on with his work, I did the same. I reached the other door at the end, and slid it open with ease, stepped through, and closed it quietly behind me.
When I entered, the sound of the engine was barely noticeable, making this passenger cart much quieter. It would have been perfect for sleeping in, that is, if it weren't for the sobbing that echoed in the cart. I stood silent for a minute or so, listening. I had already come to the conclusion that, with everyone else in the previous carts, that this must be Dash.
I was already about to turn tail and head back into the engine room, but I stopped myself before I could reach for the door handle. With a quiet sigh, I faced back towards the sound of the crying. With silent steps, I moved through the train cart, looking left and right between the seats until I spotted my objective.
Finally, at the seat to my left that was right next to the other door, lay the whimpering heap of a rainbow Pegasus. Curled up in her own ball, with her head directed towards the window. Her eyes were closed, but around them they were red, stuffy and wet from her liquid mourning. She must've been in there for a while, because she probably had just gotten over a crying fit. Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and she gave off quiet coughs and sniffles.
I stood there stupidly, oblivious of the answer of what to do. Should I leave? Should I sit down next to her and ask about her feelings like some kind of therapist?
I was in the midst of planning an action, when one of her eyes squinted open. Her lazy, yet bright magenta eye met mine, and dug into my heart and soul like a molten hot shovel. As soon as she realized it was me, her eyelids shot open as if something had bitten her, and she jumped out of her seat, her wings expanding.
“J-John! T-This isn't what it looks like, I-I promise!!” She landed back on her hooves, shaking more in panic. “I was just-! ...j-just…” Her legs gave out in fatigue and defeat as she collapsed back onto the seat. Her eyes were already tearing up again as she covered them with her hooves, blushing with embarrassment. “Oh, forget it… Go ahead, l-laugh at me…”
I sighed, feeling relaxed at the minimal feeling that she had dropped her giant wall of ego. I looked about the cart, confirming that it was only me and Dash in the room. When I was sure, I faced the Pegasus.
“Dash, I'm not going to laugh at you. Why the hell would I laugh at you?” I took a seat beside her, and she didn't seem to object, other than moving over slightly.
She wiped her muzzle with her hoof. “...B-Because, I'm not strong. I started to feel proud, because you seemed so badass, and told me how helpful and confident I was.” She sat up, looking straight in front of her with an depressed face. “And now I'm sitting here, weeping like a little school filly…”
Badass...
“Well, you're right about one thing. You are definitely one of the most important people in this group. You are very confident, and selfless, and not to mention extremely loyal.” She turned her head to face me, looking up at me. Her eyes met mine, and there was a brief moment where I hesitated. My mouth just hung open stupidly, as I stared at her.
I watched as her light blush of embarrassment converted into a dark, crimson flush. I shook my head out of the trance before I could let things get any weirder.
I'm getting way too attached to these horses…
“Anyways,” I shut my eyes, looking away as to make sure I didn't get caught by her gaze again. “what I’m trying to say here, to be honest, you're much stronger than I was when I was first introduced to this hell.”
“What do you mean by that?” Dash spoke, her voice cracked and sore. I opened my eyes when I felt her soft tail brush up against my arm as she shuffled around to get comfortable. I looked straight ahead as I continued.
“After the main introduction, when I was on the boat… I rowed to an island called Vancouver Island. And I won't lie to you, I cried the whole way there. The infection had already reached the island, but it was only just breaking out. I would've died, if it weren't for this group of people who took me in.” I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table in front of me. “I spent a couple years with them. Got used to the whole apolcalypse thing, learned how to kill walkers, used proper equipment, trained, yadda yadda ya.”
“But there was the time where we finally got overrun, obviously. I was the only one who made it out alive as far as I knkw, because of this one guy.”
“Why? What'd he do to you?” Dash asked eagerly. I looked at her, and gave off a hum of a chuckle as I noticed how enticed she was in my story.
“Well, not what he did to me, rather what he did for me.” I leaned back, lifting my legs up onto the table and crossing them with my hands folded on my chest to get more comfortable. “...Terry, was his name. He was the one that taught me all about free running and parkour, and to this day it's been the most useful thing I've ever had in this apocalypse.”
“...What happened to him?”
- - - - -
*SLIP* *SMACK*
“AHH! F-For fucks sake; what the hell am I doing wrong!?”
“For the hundredth time, I keep telling you to lean back WHILE you jump up to the wall! If you don't listen to me you're gonna keep on face planting.”
I growled in irritation, holding my palm against my aching forehead as I sat up on the concrete. I squinted my eyes open, submissive to the towering brick wall that stood before me. I felt some strong arms grasp under my own, pulling me back up to my feet. I was already tired at the moment, as we had been practicing all day long and it was growing dark.
“Damn it...I can't do this Terry, I guess my body just isn't built for this.”
“No. Your body is extremely fit and up for this kind of athletics. You're mind, however, isn't. So get it through your damn skull, and watch me do it again.”
I turned to my side, where my instructor stood. He glared at the wall, holding an intimidating stance as he prepared to lunge towards the wall. My eyes widened a bit more in awe as I admired him, and how he took to the wall without hesitation. Probably because he has done it too many times, just to show me. I watched, and learned as he ran and climbed up the wall with ease. He turned around, sitting on the edge of the top with his cargo shorts revealing his dirty, scarred legs dangling over.
“Doing it over and over again obviously isn’t going to help me, let's just forget about wall runs and go back to vaulting or something.” I sighed, throwing my hands up in defeat and exhaustion. He shook his head with a roll of his eyes, standing up.
“Look, let's try something else here…” He grunted as he crouched down on the wall, holding a hand out to me. “Grab my hand.”
I shook my head. “I can't, you're too high up.” I took a glance around us, making sure no one was watching.
“That's why you have to run up the wall, dumbass.” He spiked, and earned a tongue bite from me. Once I knew that there was no one around, I faced the immovable wall of failure. With a deep breath, I ran at the wall. Not too fast, nor slow. I made sure not to screw up my foot placement, and I leaned back at the right moment.
I felt my momentum carry me upwards on the wall, and I stepped again on the red bricks. Before I knew it, I had just barely grasped Terry’s callused hand. My other hand gripped onto the wall, and I struggled to pull myself up.
When I was finally above my waist, I swung my leg over the wall and sat down beside him. I gulped, looking down the side that I had just climbed up. I overcame my fear of inability, and gave out a shaky sigh with a smirk.
“...I made it!” I scoffed out, grinning in satisfaction and triumph.
I glanced at Terry, who had a face of concentration as he looked over the edge. He seemed as if he were examining where I had first taken off, and his eyes traced up the wall until they finally landed on me. “You had a good take off, no stuttering, good posture and leaning… I would register that as a success.”
“Sweet!” I pumped a fist in the air, happy that I finally got far enough to overcome the wall.
“Hang on,” Terry cut off my celebrating. “you've made it up; WITH my help. Now the next step is to do it on your own.”
I nearly cut off his sentence with an angered groan, digging my fingernails into the hard concrete of the wall. “Ugh… seriously? Can we at least take a break first?”
I watched him look down at the ground, silently, deciding his answer before falling backwards onto the roof. His arms spread out wide, folding in behind his head to give him comfortable support from the gravel that was littered across the building’s roof.
“...Is that a yes?” I bugged, eagerly awaiting my approval to go sit down for a while, maybe get something to drink.
But I didn't get that, instead I recieved a dead stare from Terry that fled upwards into the night sky. His eyes weren't completely dead, however. I could either see the stars’ reflection in his eyes, or a sparkle of something else. I could tell that he was enjoying something, maybe the peacefulness of the situation.
I didn't say anything, all the sound that consisted of me and Terry’s exhausted heaving for air. The quiet talking of the other members, farther off in the distance, with a spike of laughter every so often. I could feel the sweat that coated my skin, as it practically absorbed any small breeze and transformed it into an ice-cold wind. How my oily, unshowered hair, did the same.
I scooched back further, and lied down beside him. A relieving sense of relaxation and restfullness washed over my body like I was getting lathered in whipped cream. I rested my head on my hands, that we're cupped behind me. We lied there, silent, and chill, and heard the sound of crickets that emitted from the forest that sorrounded us.
“Tell me what you hear.” He paused, “what you think.”
I didn't move, but I took in a loud inhale, only to let it out as a sigh, with a lazy reply: “I donno…”
“If you didn't feel anything, you wouldn't be lying here next to me.”
His voice was much softer, almost like velvet. I'd never heard him speak like that before.
“...I guess I feel… relieved. That, all of my stress is gone. But that is just because of this whole apocalypse that's happened. I know it seems, crazy almost. To give up all of the privileges and simple things that were given to us, in a heartbeat. But, I always felt that it was unnatural; that we weren't supposed to do the things that we did. Hell, maybe that's the reason this all broke out. As a: 'punishment from God’ or something like that” I released, tossing my hands up into the air in over exaggeration, almost as if I wasn't talking to Terry, but someone in the sky.
“Somehow living like this feels better; it sits better with me. There aren't any worries about taxes, school, work, money, girlfriends. Nothing. All of those problems are just out the window in the blink of an eye.” I dropped my hands into my chest, and it gave a low thud against my ribcage. “Obviously at the cost of death possibly being around every corner. And while that seems immature, it's almost like the pros outweigh the cons.”
There was a long silence after I spoke, giving my words the opportunity to sink into the quiet ambience of our situation. I was getting worried, that maybe I had gone too far. Until I heard a long chuckle vibrate off of Terry’s lips.
“You took the words right out of my mouth, kid.”
I returned the laugh, which was a bit more sincere and real. “Glad to hear you're as crazy as I am.”
He sat up once I completed speaking, looking straight ahead into our camp. Our camp was made up of an old rental RV camping ground. RVs were placed strategically in a circle, acting as a protective barrier. We used whatever else we could find to give us maximum defense, and so far it's worked fairly well. Other members of the group stood on the RVs with their rifles and such, to fire away at any walkers who got too close to us.
However the sound of the gunshots were obviously a problem to attract large hordes of the dead. Even though our spot was high up on a mountain, there was a fairly large town not too far from us. Which is where we get most of our supplies. It also houses too many walkers for us to count. It was almost like they kept coming, no matter how many we killed.
It usually wasn't a problem, though. If there were one or two walkers nearby our camp, we usually leave them be or get Terry to jump down there with a machete to take them out. I always loved watching him at work; he's taught me so much without even speaking a word.
“Let's go get some water and take a break, I'm sure we both-”
Terry was cut off by a sudden gunshot, by someone in the camp. Both of our heads turned to the explosion, and whilst I looked in concern he just turned away with a shrug.
“That's probably just Jerron picking off some of the walkers. Wasting ammunition.”
“I thought we were told not to shoot any guns unless completely nessecary.” I pointed back to him, and just earned a sigh from Terry.
“You think people follow those rules?” Terry stopped speaking as another shot was fired off. And another, and another. Then some other guns joined in. Along with that, yelling was heard.
Now Terry was beginning to feel concerned, which worried me even more.
“Do you think there's been a breach?” I questioned eagerly.
“Could be. Hang on a second.” Terry jumped up onto his feet, standing as tall as possible and looking around. His eyes seemed to draw to something off in the distance. The second his eyes stopped, his pupils shrunk dead… I'd never seen fear in his eyes like that before. I hadn't seen what he was looking at, but I already knew it was horiffic.
“W-What is it?!” I spurted out, without thinking. He didn't answer, he just continued to stare off at whatever scene was taking place before him.
“We need to go. Now.” His bloodshot eyes snapped to me, tearing up my emotions. “NOW!”
I scrambled onto my feet, kicking some of the gravel off of the building top. When I finally got to my feet, I glanced over at the sight.
And immediately regretted it.
I froze up, jaw ajar as the sight took my breath right out of my lungs, and my heart dropped into my stomach. Hundreds. Hundreds of thousands of them sauntered lazily towards our camp. They were barely moving 1 mile per hour, but it was still too fast for us to do anything.
I craned my head around, and we were completely sorrounded, like a giant, bloody tsunami wave closing in on us.
I was shaken back to reality as I heard Terry jump back to the earth beneath us. “John hurry your ass up! We have to evacuate everyone!” He commanded, waving me down to him.
I swung around the ledge, sitting in a sort of cat hang position before dropping to the ground. I didn't hesitate to lunge after him, because we both knew well that time was running out. Hell, it was sprinting.
Before we had gotten to the center of the camp, we could already see the rest of the members gathering people up. There were multiple members still on top of the gate, and pushed over R.V’s, firing into the crowd, but it was utterly useless.
“Is everyone here? We need to leave, right now!” Terry ordered to the group of people in the middle.
“No, we're missing a couple people, Derek and Manav.” One of the group members turned to Terry, he was wearing a wife-beater with multiple stains on it, some khaki pants, and work boots, and his hair was cut short to nearly bald. “I'm guessing they're still in the basement.”
The man was nearly cut off by the screeching sound of one of the R.V’s being tipped over. The hundreds of them pushed over the 10 ton vehicle like it was nothing, then proceeded to march inwards. They were climbing over the walls, pulling the men that we're shooting at them into the ocean of undead. They were torn apart so quickly that they didn't even have time to scream.
Terry started pushing people back, away from the horde. “We don't have time for this! Everyone needs to get out!”
“What about the two in the basement? We can't just leave them!” The man said again standing up to Terry. I could tell by the look in Terry’s eyes, that he wasn't ready to deal with this.
“We're all about to die in one minute, and you want to go waste more time!? Either we leave now, and maybe survive, or save two stupid kids and we all die!”
“One of those 'stupid kids’ is my son!” A woman from in the crowd stepped forward, but when Terry faced her, she fearfully took a step back.
Terry turned around, and the horde was probably only about 25 feet away from him. He grunted, grabbing my arm. I flinched, but he tugged me away.
“Good luck getting out of here, then.” He yelled out to the crowd. He waved me to follow him as he ran back towards our practice spot. I ran after him for a second before stopping in my tracks.
“Terry… we can't just leave them like this. They'll all die.”
He turned around, stepped up to me and looked down at me. He was slightly taller than I was, and his face was barely an inch away from mine.
“I've taught you everything John, including survival. You know just as well as I do that there's nothing we can do here. We have to make sacrifices in our lives, and right now is one of those moments. Now let's leave. These assholes never treated us right anyways.” He stepped away, and bolted back for the wall.
I wasn't far behind him, until around one of the corners of a small building that stood in beside our spot, showed the horde. Terry nearly ran right into it, and he slid to a stop. He scrambled to get back up, but he got grabbed by one of them.
“Terry!” I sprinted towards him, and tried to grab his arm and pull him away. To my shock, he shook my hand free as another one grabbed him. “What are you doing!?”
“J-John-!” One of the walkers dug it's teeth deep into his shoulder, and he screeched in pain. But through it, he sputtered something through his lips.
“...R-Run.”
I swallowed dry, nearly choking on air. My fight or flight senses were going haywire. My legs were already moving in the direction of the wall, while my torso and hands wanted to fight. I suddenly felt something grab my arm, and with immense strength I yanked it away from the grasp, and made a break for the wall.
I wasn't thinking at this point, I just ran at the wall as adrenaline pumped through my legs, moving them forward. I spotted the wall in front of me, the wall I so desperately tried to get up before on my own but never did. If there was any moment for me to climb it, it would be now.
I leaped for the wall, my legs pushing faster and harder than they ever did before. It was almost like I had jumped off a trampoline, and I flew upwards on the wall. I stepped up the wall twice, and I felt my momentum running out. When I was at the last peak of my force, I reached up for the wall.
I felt my fingertips barely grasp the edge, and I swung my other hand up before I slipped. The second I had successfully had a grip on it, I could feel the walkers jumping for my ankles, and I scrambled up the wall before they could pull me down.
I practically threw my body onto the roof, panting extremely fast as I got back up to feet immediately. As I looked over the edge, I could see a few walkers reaching for me, however after a few seconds they lost interest, and stumbled over to the thick crowd of walkers that we're feasting on Terry. Or the corpse that used to be him.
My teeth chattered for a moment, and a splitting shiver ran down my spine. I turned around, heading away from the camp. I reached the other side of the roof, which led down into a forest. With no other escape route, I climbed down to the ground. My feet hit the hard dirt with a thud, and without looking back I disappeared into the forest.
Everything grew much quieter once all of the gunshots stopped echoing off of everything around me, and it was safe to assume that they were all gone. Most likely dead.
The only sound that breached my eardrums was the constant pounding of my feet against the ground, and the fact blood flow that I could hear and feel in my ears. After long enough, I finally collapsed to fatigue. I lied on the ground, pushing my back against a tree. I was so deep into the thick forest that barely any moonlight got through the brush, and it was nearly pitch black. I was a fair enough distance away from the camp that I could assure myself that I wasn't being chased anymore.
I couldn't bring myself to hide in a tree, I could barely keep my eyes open. Before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep.
- - - - -
“So, I woke up after that, thankfully alive. And from there I just set off on my own.”
Dash’s tears had long dried and been rubbed off. Her eyes weren't red anymore, and she seemed to take full interest in my story.
Her mouth was open slightly, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the words for it. She ended up scoffing to herself, and shaking her head.
“What is it?” I looked at her, though her eyes-when she looked up-pierced my defensive wall that has already been weakened by telling her this story.
“I just… I don't believe it.” She shuffled around in her seat, and turned away from me to look straight ahead. “You've gone through so much, so much bad stuff has happened to you for years, but you're still here… alive.”
I chuckled, “believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are. But I've told all of your already, there's certain things I have to do to survive. Things so inhumane that I'd be charged with a death sentence of our society still exsisted.”
“You seemed like such a horrible person when I first met you. But, now I understand why. So… I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry.”
I was surprised to hear her say that; sincerely. I looked down at her, and I could sense that she was getting emotional again. My hand brushed her mane, and I felt her ear flick against my wrist.
“You don't have to apologize for anything. The only thing I want from you, is to stay strong. Because you are one of the strongest, and most reliable members of this group. We need you, so I can't have you getting all soft on me. It's normal to have a nice cry every so often, but I want that side of you to disappear when we need you to be tough. Got it?”
She laughed, wiping one of her watery eyes with a cyan hoof. “Y-Yeah… Got it.”
“Good.” I lifted my hand off of her head, and stood back up. At the same time, noticing that my left leg had fallen asleep at some point, as the pins and needles were wearing off. As I got up, I heard a thud above me, almost as if something landed on the roof of the train. I could've mistaken it for my own footstep, but as I looked over at Dash I saw that she heard it too.
“What was that?” She questioned, she didn't seem worried, but more curious.
“Not sure, it was probably a small rock or something-”
*THUD, THUD, THUD*
At this point, it was sounding like heavy hoofsteps. In my peripheral I barely saw a silhouette of a figure zoom by the window to my right. I could sense my heart rate picking up tremendously, and I started to head for the train car that contained the rest of the group.
“Let's go Dash, I don't think we're alone on this train anymore.”
“What the hay!? Can those things seriously fly now?”
“No, it has to be some other survivors. Walkers aren't intelligent enough to fly; at least I hope.” I worry, and I wave to Dash as I rush for the door. Just as I grab for the handle, I hear a window crash in the next cart, followed by multiple screams.
Without much thinking, nor a weapon on my body, I rush into the next cart. My eyes are greeted with multiple unknown intruders, all of them ponies obviously. They are all wearing a black suit, but they all seem to have wings poking out of the two holes on the back of it.
My entry alerts the eyes of everyone and they all turn to greet me. I can see relief in my friends’ eyes, however the intruders seem to be feeling much of the opposite.
One of the attackers, somewhat taller than the others, sticks his gaze into mine. Mine is furious and hostile. While his once showed the same, it transforms into horror in a split second.
“Y...Y-You’re one of them!” His voice stutters out, and soon his terror spreads to his fellow allies. His front hooves kicked up as he wails out: “FALL BACK!”
His friendlies answer to his order immediately, almost breaking up the floorboards as they turn tail and gallop away. I stand there, my fury mixed with confusion. My mind still stressed, I act upon the first thing that comes to mind.
“Stop them!” I point to the escaping pegasi, skidding my feet as I take after them in a full blown sprint. “Don't let them get away!”
My own order is being followed as I feel Dash whiz past me, nearly smacking my head. I see Luke launch from his seat, dropping whatever he is doing to stop whoever these ponies are from escaping the train.
One of the pegasi flies for the broken window that they entered through, and I just fail to grab their tail before they disappear. There are two more of them, and they are making a break for the main engine room.
Dash is gaining on them much faster than Luke or I am, and we also have to dodge all of the debris that they are tossing in front of us.
What the hell did he mean, 'One of them?’ are there other humans here besides Dylan? Unless…
We all race through the carts, almost reaching the engine room. One of the two escapees crash through a window, tanking the pain just to leave the chase. The last pony doesn't have as much courage, and he finally reaches the engine room.
Just as he's about to burst through the door, it swings open. Before I see anything else, I witness two purple hind legs, extend out of the doorway to make contact with the head of the last intruder.
The pegasus’ body continues to travel underneath his head, as his skull sits in place. As if time slows down, his body collapses to the floor, and he's out cold; just like that.
We all skid to a stop, staring in awe at the bloodied face that belongs to the intruder. I am the first to look up, my own face bright with triumph as I grin at Twilight. “Way to go, Twilight!”
Twilight on the other hand is terrified, looking at what she has done. “O-Oh my Celestia! I didn't think it would be that bad!” She then glares up at me, turning around. “Don't praise me for that! Look at that poor pony!”
“That 'poor pony’ was breaking and entering our train a moment ago, and probably would've done some pretty despicable things had they not run. You did good, nearly killing him.”
I kneel down to pick up the convict, throwing him onto one of the tables. “Someone find me some rope.” I automatically turn to AJ. “I'm assuming you're the pony to ask.”
She looks up at me, and for some reason I'm a bit shocked that her face doesn't show any disgust or fear. She is finally beginning to harden up.
“That's quite the stereotype…” She kind of smirks, poking at me.
“It won't be a stereotype if you do have rope.” I jab back, and she loses her smile.
“Whatever.” She grumbles, and heads for the table she was sitting at, a large limp still in her step.
I glance back down at the unconscious pegasus that lies upon the table; contemplating.
What was he talking about? Is there a chance he could lead us to Fluttershy?
The fucker better wake up…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I toss and turn in my bed that only consists of a box spring and a wool blanket. My head rests on my arm, which now has painful pins and needles rushing through my blood, aching with every beat of my heart. I attempt to fall asleep, lying for what seems to be forever. Finally, I decide I should get a glass of water, maybe that'll help.
I open my eyes, and sit still for a moment, looking around the room. I recognise this place. It's the basement of the big R.V. park. However, it's nearly pitch black, and it's more silent than I have ever heard in my life.
“Hello?” I blurt out.
For some reason I notice that my voice sounds like it's underwater, but I neglect to act upon it, nor question why. My legs spring my body up off of my makeshift bed, and move me to the basement stairs that lead up to the ground floor. I see a flickering candle light at the top of the stairs, as the light reflects upon the stone wall.
I grow increasingly excited for an unknown reason as I hurry faster and faster up the stairs, reaching the top of the case. I then swirl my head in the direction of the light source, only to find everyone; including Terry, lying motionlessly on the ground. There's blood on anything and everything, and it looks as if that entire horde that flushed everyone out before had run through this room, each zombie taking a bit of human with them. The bodies are scattered, half of them missing most of their limbs, and some even heads or anything below their waist.
“J-Jesus fuck!” My body lurches back as I violently kick my left leg out in front of me, and I watch as a dismembered arm and hand clings tightly to my ankle. The arm flies off of my foot, and into the middle of the room with a dead splat. Only God knows who's arm that was.
The sudden noise seems to stir the bodies, groaning and moaning suddenly filling the air. However it isn't normal walker groans, it's almost as if I can understand what they are saying. The bodies begin to get up, at least those with legs. Each body leeches towards me, their soulless eyes eating into my head. The groaning gets louder, and the words become more decipherable.
Why did you leave them…?
You could've saved them...
You ran away...
You killed us.
I stumble backwards, my breath quickening and my heart racing. I can't think straight, and my body is shaking vigorously. I haven't felt this fearful in a long time.
“You d-didn’t listen. Y-You could've followed us but you didn't!” I scream out, my voice still as bubbly and quiet as before. A ringing in my ears nearly drowns out all of my voice.
You were meant to die. Like the rest of us…
“F-Fuck off!” I feel my back hit the cold brick wall behind me. My fingers desperately dig their nails into the rock hard mortar, as if somehow expecting to break through.
I feel my eyes flare up with heat and tears as I watch Terry's lifeless body reanimate. He doesn't even have a face, and is just barely recognizable. His eyes have been clawed out, and his jaw hangs from only one side of his face. If it isn't for his scalp and sides of his face, his head would be nothing but a skull. The only limbs remaining on his body is one leg and one arm, although his hand is torn and beaten beyond recognition.
His bloodied stumps that once held healthy arms and legs, arms and legs he had taught me how to use to their full potential, are wasted away piece by piece. Every fragment of skin, muscle and bone, is somehow perfectly painted across every surface, almost done precisely to torment whatever poor soul is witness to it. His body is barely able to move forward, yet he manages nonetheless.
With his face unable to present any emotion, or sound that isn't just constant groaning, the words that emit from his mouth feel like they emerge from the very essence of his soul. A soul that has been trapped in a rotting, lifeless corpse for years. Doing nothing, but suffering in its slow, yet constant decay.
You weren't meant to escape. Why did you leave me?
"Stop! P-Please!" I cry out, a heavy whimper strains in my voice.
You did this to us.
You did this to us.
The light darkens around me as the corpses close in, the symphony of their inconsistent footsteps drawing closer and louder.
"I'm… I-I'm sorry…" At last, I collapse to the ground, head in hands; my fate drawing near.
Moments before all of the clawing hands attach onto my body, I feel time freeze suddenly. The noise stops, the last of their echoing screams fading into the walls and floor.
My quiet, soft sobs are all that is heard. A moment later, a bright blue flash explodes in front of me, followed by the sound of several bodies collapsing to the ground.
My crying barely ceases, my body already broken down to pieces.
"John."
That voice.
I hold my breath. I don't know it well, but I know enough to remember who it is.
My head slowly tilts upward to meet the towering figure above me. At the same time I notice all of the fallen corpses; collapsed in the same spot they were, seconds before gorging in on me. It's almost like someone had simply removed the batteries from them. They don't look like they will get up again.
My eyes lock onto the navy blue, alicorn princess. While she towers over me, her face gives me a warm sense of relief and safety. I don't move, in fact I look back down at the ground again. "What..?"
"Greetings." She states simply. "We are here to deliver a message."
"Right." I spit, shakiness still present in my voice. "Does it have anything to do with this?"
Luna hums, taking a short glance around the room before she answers. She returns her attention to me. "Unfortunately, that is not why we are here. However I should tell you that this is simply a dreamscape, and that you need not worry about these demons."
I scoff. Then take another look around the room. All of a sudden it doesn't seem as terrifying anymore. However the sight has been engraved into my memory, and to be able to piece it perfectly with what happened in the past makes it impossible to shake the image from my mind.
I don't answer, only continuing to sulk as I stare deep into the floor beneath me.
There is a long pause before Luna speaks.
"What happened here?"
There is no reply.
Luna exhales softly through her nostrils taking a step closer to me. Her head tilts down lower to my level.
"Do you know these ponies?"
Now I relieve a chuckle, shaking my head as my hand shooes at the collapsed corpses. "I did. A long time ago." I finally meet her gaze, my eyes puffy still, yet recovering from my outburst. "They were the first group that took me in. Walkers showed up, too many to count…"
I begin to push myself back up to my feet, allowing Luna to correct her posture as I now stand slightly taller than her. "They didn't want to leave, I knew we had to. I left them all to die so I could live."
Luna doesn't verbally respond, however her face showed a mixture of judgement and understanding. She shuts her eyes, looking down from me. "You did what was necessary to survive. Something you have been accustomed to doing for a long time, I assume."
I cross my arms, my eyes scanning the room once again. The more and more I look at it, the more surreal it seems. As if someone had purposely set the scene for a horror movie. I feel my emotions clash, differing from depressive guilt, pure sadness, and relief. I clear my throat, followed by a quick sniff as I respond. My vision remains static on the background as I draw in a deep breath through my nose, exhaling the same.
Luna decides to take the silence to continue. "We have dealt with many dreams throughout our lives, helping other ponies conquer their truest fears. We can say from experience that most; if not all, fears come from our past."
She repositions herself directly in front of me, leaving me no choice but to exchange looks with her. "Unresolved issues in our past can, and will continue to haunt those who chose to run from them."
"I don't have any 'unresolved issues'." I speak, borderline on mumbling as I follow my speech with a heavy cough to clear my throat. A quiet sniffle follows afterward, to which I swiftly wipe my nose with my sleeve as I brush past the lunar princess.
"And besides, I can't change anything in the past so what does it matter? What's done is done, and consequences were faced."
She does nothing more than respond with a considerate hum. "Correct you are, John. However, the choices that are made by some, don't always receive such said consequences." She turns around again to face me, the scene before us visualizing itself again. "And in those cases, a character may sometimes receive a punishment worse than consequences. Such as guilt."
I can't help but feel my breath get caught in my throat, my blood quickly shivering throughout my body. With a brief hesitation, I break myself from my thoughts to turn around and face her.
"I didn't ask to be therapised." I glue my hands to my hips, my nails slightly digging into my ragged clothes. "You said you had a message, so out with it."
The expression Luna holds does little to falter; her eyes closing as she nods down in understanding. She doesn't press on any further.
"It's news from the Crystal Empire. We have successfully locked down any entry or exit, in addition with a heavy quarantine to anypony passing through. We have relocated all of the Royal Guards there as well… " Her ears suddenly droop downwards, her voice getting softer. "Canterlot is… n-no more. We have done our best to move as many ponies as possible but…"
"I get it." I hold up a hand to her, to which she looms back up at me after hearing my words. "Losing people sucks." I scan the room once again, emphasizing my point.
Luna quietly scowls, gritting her teeth as to keep her speech quiet. "'Sucks' is an understatement…"
"Hang on a second," I start, my look holding idly on her form as my mouth hangs open. My arm swings out, lazing pointing at her before it drops back to my side. "You're not really here right? I'm just imagining you telling me all of this."
Luna doesn't seem in the mood for any semantics of mine, however she bites down her aggression to at least pity my ignorance towards the dreamscape.
"We would not have gone through this trouble to seek thou out if it were not important, little less real. This may be a dream, but we are very much here. And everything we have told you is true, so we ask that you may carry on this message to Twilight Sparkle as soon as possible."
"So, you just wander around and enter random people's dreams without their consent?" John continues, ignoring the last of her words. "Seems a little inconsiderate."
As Luna gradually begins to lose her patience, her wings flare out, almost making her seem taller than me. In a way, she does tower over me. Her voice also drops slightly in tone, but increases in volume.
"It is our duty as the Princess of the Night to enter the dreams of our subjects, to ensure there is balance among the dream realm. We do not need consent to help guide others through their nightmares, as well to resolve the psychological issues that come along with them."
Apart from the growing aggression from the Princess, I hang onto her words for a moment to process them. I don't doubt for a moment that I have numerous psychological issues, probably too many to count. However, my least favorite thing is talking about feelings, and I can already tell she's about ready to leave my presence as soon as possible.
With Luna's acknowledgment to my internal pondering, she takes the moment to finish. "I know not who you are with anymore, or how many of you remain. But whoever you have with you; you must all come to the Crystal Empire immediately. I fear there shall not be much hope left, should the Empire fall as well."
I take a moment to answer, locking my cold eyes onto hers. However she reflects my gaze like a mirror, nearly sending a shiver down my spine.
"Yeah. I'll let her know."
"Good." She droops her head with a heavy sigh of exhaustion, obviously glad to have relayed the message. "We… apologize. For seeming so agitated. We have seen many things since this began, so many of our subjects have been lost…" Her eyes draw up to mine again, however this time I can feel her sorrow. "We fear it is beginning to take its toll on us."
I emit a lazy scoff, barely shaking my head. "Yeah, well why do you think I'm such an asshole all the time?"
The Night Princess gives off her own small chuckle, nearly cracking a small grin. It doesn't last long, as she catches my drift. Her wings slowly close in on themselves, shuffling back into place. "We simply cannot imagine what thou must have seen and gone through. We wish we could understand."
"You won't have to." I look down at my feet, seeing a dismembered arm resting upon the ground. It is severed just below the elbow, or more like ripped. I give it a hearty kick, letting it slide horribly across the gruesome floor before it collides with one of the undead corpses. The sound it makes is similar to a soggy piece of paper towel being tossed onto a wall. "If you guys manage to control all of this, you won't need to understand."
A tinge of hope arises in Luna's voice. "Thou really believe that is possible? To stop all of this?"
As much as I want to say yes, I know that I can't. "No, no I don't." I give her the most reassuring look I can without smiling. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."
All of a sudden I feel my heartbeat throughout my whole body, pulsing inside my head so much I can feel my tongue throbbing. Weightlessness soon follows, as I witness my surroundings beginning to slowly fade away into nothingness.
Luna stands unnerved, completely still and unfazed as she speaks her final words to me. "Forget not of the news we have given you John. Like it or not, thou may be the only chance these ponies have to get to safety."
I barely have time to look up at her before she fades away as well. "W-Wait, hang on; what's happening?"
"Good luck."
- - - - -
The darkness clouding my vision soon exchanges into blinding light, the mere shock of confusion jolting my body upright. My eyes fire open simultaneously, though I'm met with the same white vision. My fists rub at my eyes furiously, driving away my previous sleep as I recover.
When I open my eyes again I'm thankful to be greeted with the interior of the train car once again. I also notice the eyes of all the creatures onboard watching me curiously, if not some of them worrisome. I blink a few more times, all of my senses returning to me.
Applejack is the first to comment, taking a step forward and eyeing me with care. "You uh… you alright sugarcube? Looks like you had a nightmare 'r somethin'."
I hesitate before finding a reasonable response. My hand breaches through my greasy hair, holding the back of my neck.
"Yeah, something like that. I was, uh… greeted by the blue princess when I was sleeping-"
"You talked to Princess Luna?!" Twilight confronts, nearly shoving through the crowd to reach me. "What did she say? Are they okay? Did they reach the Crystal Empire? What happened to-"
"Relax, for god's sake... She didn't say much." I grunt, still trying to shake the sleep from my head. "It sounds like they've locked down the Crystal Empire somewhat securely. She didn't say much other than 'get your asses over here asap', and that… fuckin' what's it called," I hesitate, trying to grasp the word. "That huge city you brought me to."
"Canterlot?" Twilight answers instantly.
"Yeah. It's overrun."
I can feel the temperature in the train car drop considerably after my words. The ponies collectively droop their heads, taking in the news as their hope dwindles smaller.
"C-Canterlot is… gone?" Applebloom voices to the room, firstly gazing up at me. Her eyes hold such a damaged and withered stare, one that can show true fear and horror with a single glance. Without words, I can still feel her begging for me to tell her that I wasn't serious.
It takes nearly all of my effort to pry my eyes away from hers, and look down at the table top in front of me. "From what Luna told me, yes. They've evacuated as many as they can, including moving the Royal Guard to the Empire." My hands guide their way to each other, enlocking and twiddling together to ease myself. "But they couldn't get everyone."
A pained whimper spouts from the fillys mouth, her nostrils flaring and her teeth clenching as she attempts to fight back tears. "...w...w-why," She chokes, her eyes flying up to her old sister, who stands close beside her. "W-Why is this happening? W-What did Equestria do to deserve this?!" She begins losing her fight against her emotions, her body beginning to shake.
Applejack does her best to comfort her little sister, attempting to console her by nuzzling her head and leaning into her. I'm sure she would have hugged her if she could.
"A-Ah know this is tough Applebloom, but-"
"No! It's not fair! All these ponies don't deserve to die like this!" She pulls away from her sister, fresh tears streaming down her face. She lets out a sob or two, barely holding herself together. "A-Ah miss my friends. I miss school, I miss doin' chores around the farm, I miss…" She bites her tongue, desperately trying her best to hold back the dam of emotions behind her eyes. The other mares are beginning to struggle with their own, as well.
"I miss Pinkie… and Spike, and S-Sweetiebelle… and…"
She lets out one final choke before she collapses to the floor, her wails and cries coming from the deepest pits of her soul as she holds back no more. "BIG MAAACCC!!"
Applejack is instantly pulled down by her own emotions, her single forehoof grasping desperately to hold her little sister close. "A-Ah'm sorry Applebloom, ah'm so sorry." She whines and sobs as she hugs her sister. "I'm-m… so, so sorry…"
She can do nothing to comfort her, thus breaks down to pieces beside her. The two earth ponies hold each other desperately, as if they could lose each other at any given moment. Their relentless tears and emotion begin to take its toll on the others; a terrible reminder to all that have lost close friends and family.
Dash is the next to conjure any words, though in addition to her cracky voice they are barely decipherable. She wipes a dirtied hoof across her cheek, attempting to conceal any pain. But at this point it is hopeless. "I-I miss Pinkie Pie too…" her head drops, newly formed tears dripping from her closed eyes. "We could really use some laughter right about now…" She scoffs, perhaps to try and lighten the mood. However no smile follows afterward, only continuous sorrow as everyone begins to lose themselves.
Twilight holds herself together, just long enough to comfort the rainbow pegasus. She drapes a wing across Dash's back, along with a forehoof as she holds her friend close. "I k-know, I miss her too… more than anything…"
Dash either saw no need to hold in her emotions, or didn't care. Either way, she collapses against her friend, her own wing pulling her closer to Twilight as they embrace. Rainbows cries are just as quickly muffled as she buries her face into Twilight's neck, as when they first sounded. I can see her hooves curl and her body wrench as she convulses, unable to hold back.
Twilight's eyes finally glaze over enough to stream tears down her cheeks as she looks through the floor in front of her. "Rarity too… And Spike…" Her lips curl as she approaches her own point of no return, her heart aching beyond measurability. "Oh Celestia, Spike," Her face disappears into Dash's mane, giving no effort to restrain her psychological agony as she submits to her despair.
As the group cries, no one is safe from its ability to pull you into a false sense of hope, and break you down to nothing. Scootaloo nearly tackles Applebloom in an embrace, seeming to piece the puzzle of ponies together as they all group hug in one massive coddle of sorrow.
My body holds still like a statue, my eyes glued to the seat across the table from me. I'd do anything to release my mind from this moment, to be somewhere else at a different time. There is absolutely nothing to be said in this moment that would alleviate any of the circulating pain that hangs in the air, as if Death himself were watching us.
The haunting cries that I recall from my recent dream, that correlate with the horrors of my past, almost relay in sync with the painful wails of the ponies. My heart wretches as images flash through my mind, the words of the rotting bodies that I used to call friends consistantly replaying in my head over and over again.
Why did you leave them, you could've saved them… You killed them.
You did this to us.
I clench my teeth, digging my fingernails into the hardwood table and I swallow hesitantly. My eyes draw slowly up to the clump of equines, a glob of pure distress and pessimism that holds no will or integrity for anything that wasn't mourning. There is nothing else that exists in the world to them right now, but pain.
You left them to die…
The terrible screams echo in my mind once again, and through a single blink I am watching Terry get ripped apart again.
You ran away…
I spot Applebloom and Scootaloo, and ponder an image of what the children trapped inside the basement may have looked like in the aftermath.
You killed them.
In that very moment I catch a glimpse of Twilight, who magnetizes her gaze into mine. Her eyes just scream for help. For relief. For a single button she could press to return everything to normal.
And she was begging me to have the answer.
I knuckles turn white as I pry my eyes back to the worn seat across from me. Simultaneously, I remove myself from my seat, and head straight for the door exiting the cart. My arm reaches out for Luke's arm, dragging him with me. I didn't look for his response, but his hastiness to leave the room tells me he had no objections.
We cross the doorframe and I immediately close the door behind us. Luke stands in front of me, hands on his hips as he faces away from me.
There is a lengthy moment of silence the two of us allow each other to take part in. The sudden decrease in volume allows my mind to speak louder. My hand clasps over my mouth, as I am almost so immediately overwhelmed from my thoughts that I nearly burst into tears on the spot. It takes all of my will power to hold it in, swallowing again what felt like an entire apple.
I rest a hand against the doorframe and lean into it, dropping my head low and shutting my eyes. I hear Luke turn around, but he makes no other movements.
I clear my throat. "Luke,"
He takes a moment to clear his throat as well. "Yeah…"
I intake a heavy sigh as I push away from the wall, approaching Luke. I look at him dead in his eyes, and I could tell he had plenty on his mind as well.
"I know you're really fucking confused right now. I still havent gotten a moment to myself to even realize the shitshow I've gotten myself into. And I realize you've had even less time than me." I raise my hand up to his shoulder, planting it firmly near his collarbone. "But maybe you've noticed how hopeless those ponies out there are."
He glances past me, through the small window that lead back into the previous cart. He could notice the ponies beginning to recover and fix themselves. He shakes his head with a scoff, planting a hand on his forehead. "I don't even know what these 'ponies' are or where the hell WEare-"
I tighten my grip on his shoulder, giving it a firm shake to recorrect his attention. I make sure we share eyecontact as I continue. My other hand fires behind me, pointing my index finger right at the door. "We are the only thing standing between life and death for those creatures. They would not have made it this far if it werent for me."
My hand slowly drops back to my side, as does my glance as my tone softens. "They've gone through so much in such a little amount of time, I'm sure that they're going to crack at the next possible inconvenience. And…" My eyes shut again, this time I remove my hand from his torso and plant it on my hip. "Fucking hell man, I've been so accustomed to living on my own that I don't even think I can handle this shit much longer."
Luke doesn't speak, only lending his ear as he listens.
"The truth is," I continue. "they need someone to get them through this shitstorm and I'm not sure I'm the best fit for the job."
Luke seizes the opportunity to speak after my pause. "So you think I am?"
I hiss out a scoff through my teeth. "I'm not sure either of us are qualified." I turn my gaze back up at him. "But we are their only option. So I am truthfully sorry that you got dragged into this, but you're going to have to help me get these ponies to the Crystal Empire." A tiny smile cracks in my emotions. "Consider it paying me back for not killing you on the road when I found you."
He returns is own smirk, moving his arms from his hips to being crossed on his chest. "I guess that's not a bad trade." His smile falters. "I don't know what you expect out of me to help. All I can do is keep 'em safe from walkers, and that's about it."
"Well that's about ninety percent of the job, so if you can do that then that's already plenty of help."
We both exchange glances, satisfied with our interaction. Our smiles return, and our body language relaxes.
Luke's hand reaches behind his neck as he speaks up. "Look, I'm really sorry about Dylan and what happened at the farm. I really didn't know much about him at all, and I just barely met him-"
I cut him off with a wave from my hand. "Don't worry about it. We're gonna to find them soon."
He nods in acknowledgment. "Good. I've got some things I'd like to say to him."
A pure laugh spouts from my lips. "Well you better hope you get to him before me, because there won't be anything else coming out of his mouth but blood after I'm done with him."
Luke shares his own laughter with mine, soaking in the 15 seconds of calm, enjoyable content before it leaves again. Luke's smile doesn't fade as he speaks to me once more, whilst holding out a hand. "Are we, alright…?"
I only hesitate for a second, my old gut telling me no. But without much of a choice, I listen to my heart instead.
Me and Luke’s hands release from each other, and as if on cue we hear some quiet shuffling from behind us. As we gaze farther into the cart, we both spot the tied-up pegasus, slowly beginning to regain consciousness. I take one last glance back into the previous cart, before both of us approach the intruder. I take the moment to actually identify the intruder’s physical appearance. I’ve found that it is common for stallions to have short-cut tails and manes, and while his tail may just be a tuft of what his mane is, the colors still show vibrantly through the dirt and muck that is soaked into his coat and hair. His curly yet short-cut purple mane sports thick orange/salmon streaks that run throughout his messy hair. His crimson coat, further darkened by the dirt and mud, was matted and even shortened in some spots from some form of previous violence.
Once our footsteps are heard, the quiet shuffling turns into panicked thrashing, and muffled yelling. Some spare cloth that was scavenged from the curtains sufficed as both a gag, and a blindfold. It worked quite well, as combined with the rope, he wasn’t going anywhere.
We fully approach the black-suited pegasus, our tall bodies leaning over him. He seems to quickly realize the situation he is in, and that his life is in our hands. His cries simmer down to pained whimpers, and the occasional struggle or attempt to remove the gag. Luke draws his gaze up at me, causing me to return it. He doesn’t speak, and rather just nods his head towards the bundled pony. Through non-verbal confirmation, we agree to begin interrogating.
My hand violently rips off his blindfold, tossing it onto the floor. The pegasus’ eyes fly open, and squint immediately as his pupils shrink. Whether it was the sudden increase of light, or our unnerving presence, it didn’t matter. His horrified eyes dart around the room, his mind still racing for an escape plan as he thrashes around some more.
“You’re wasting energy bud, you’re not going anywhere.”
My words mean nothing to him as he continues to struggle, however it doesn’t take long before the searing pains in his head return, followed by a small trickle of blood that runs down his forehead. His whimpers return, and mellow into softer cries as he completely ceases his struggles.
Luke takes a step closer, looming down at the poor creature. “I’m taking out your gag, and we’re going to ask you some questions.” As his hand moves closer to the creature, the pegasus’ eyes panic one again, trying desperately to move away from the bi-pedal creature’s appendage.
My fist slams down on the table beside his head, instantly drawing his attention to me. I don’t blink as I try to hold as intimidating of a voice as possible. “And you’re gonna answer them, got it?”
An audible gulp is heard from the pony as he hesitantly nods.
Luke completes the removal, and the pony immediately takes advantage to breathe easier. He catches his breath from his previous actions, and regains somewhat of his composure back.
“Now, first question.” I kick off, both of my hands now on the table as I stare down at him. “Why did you invade our train?”
He struggles to speak, swallowing a few more times and muttering the beginning of his sentence. His voice sounds younger, perhaps just a young adult. With all of the nervous stuttering and mumbling it is somewhat obvious he isn’t too much of a threat. “I-I don’t know; s-seriously! I didn’t want any part in this, t-they just took me along and told me what to do. I told them I didn’t want to hurt anypony, b-but they didn’t tell me what we we’re doing so I just followed along…”
“So you just got caught up in all of this, then?” Luke adds, resting a leg up on the seat and leaning on it with his elbow and linking his fingers together. “How did you find us?”
“T-The horn. We could hear it all the way from Whitetail Woods. We were camped out there after we heard about all the evacuation that was happening, w-with these... things going around they told everypony to leave Las Pegasus and head for Canterlot. They said they were rounding everypony up there.”
Figures, I hope that horn doesn’t cause us any more trouble than it already has. With half of these ponies being able to fly, it isn’t that unlikely we’ll have another run in with some others. Potentially dangerous others, too. I ponder telling this poor soul about Canterlot’s demise, and that the Crystal Empire is the best shot. I don’t want to risk sending the wrong people there, but it’s pretty clear this pony was abandoned by his other flight buddies.
I decide to keep it to myself for the time being, and continue interrogating.
“Alright, second question.” I take a step back and gesture to both me and Luke. “Have you seen others like us?”
He seems to have more trouble spitting out his next answer. “Y-Yes... “
My heart jumps with excitement at his answer, and I hastily ask the next one. “Where did you see-”
“A Lot… o-of them…”
My excitement pauses, and Luke seems to share similar confusion. How could there have been more of them? Is it really that likely more humans stumbled through this portal? We stay silent to allow him to continue.
“They were all gathered in the middle of Ponyville, there must have been... a-at least seven of them. Me and my group saw them as we were passing through to the train station, only to find out that the train wasn't coming...”
My questions continue to fire off as quickly as he can answer them. “What else did you see with them? Did you see a blue truck with them at all? Maybe even a pony?”
He seems to hang off my second question. “Truck? What’s a truck?”
I barely give myself a second to groan in irritation before finding a way to describe something completely alien to another species. “It’s a big blue box with four wheels holding it up. Glass windows, big open trunk in the back. Makes a loud engine noise?”
His mind goes to work in piecing together the descriptors with what he saw, and seems satisfied with the results. “Actually, yeah. From what you’re describing I definitely saw one of those, and even another one too. Except that it was black, and a different shape without an open back.”
It has to be him. There must be some reason for the other people, if they just coincidentally stumbled through, or if Dylan actually has them on his side. Either way, it’s just another thing to worry about.
“And that other thing, I actually saw a pony too. Inside the blue truck.”
Luke and I simultaneously make eye contact, and both visually increase our anticipation as we dig deeper. I turn back to him. “Did you get a good look? Any description on the pony?”
His eyes shut as he winces from pain again, the same streak of blood now passing his muzzle and collecting below his head. “Y-Yeah, actually. I could tell that they were tied up, and it didn’t look like they were moving; or awake at least. They had a big pink mane, and I don’t know for sure but it was a pegasus with a yellow coat I think.”
My hand clenches into a fist and nearly fires into the air in celebration as if I had just gotten a Yahtzee in one roll. I feel a twist in my gut that I hadn’t known was there disappear as soon as I hear his words. Luke and I both take a moment to take in some good news, and ponder our next choices.
“Do you know any of those other… uhh,” The pegasus struggles, seeming to attempt to find a word that isn’t insulting.
“Humans.” Luke fills in. “And we might know one of them. Also that pony in the truck, we had her in our group but one of those guys took her.”
“Y-Yeah, they didn’t seem like very good ponies-” He immediately flinches. “U-Uhh I mean-”
“People.” Luke corrects again.
“Right…” The pony replies sheepishly. “Well, I’m not sure you want to go after those guys. They did a number on our group… We had five of us before we came here.”
“Got a little too close, huh?” Luke inquires.
“Y-Yeah…” He shudders. “They just… immediately started attacking us. These loud cracks kept going off, a-and I heard these tiny fragments whizzing around us…” I notice his eyes begin to glaze over. “We kept trying to tell them we weren’t going to hurt them, and we just wanted to leave… B-But…” He suppresses a choke, biting his lip as he shuts his eyes again.
“They don’t care.” I express, drawing the attention of both Luke and the prisoner. “People think these walkers are dangerous, but at least they’re just trying to eat to survive. It’s nature’s fucked up way of taking its course.”
“But some people just like to hurt other people for the fuck of it, regardless of survival or not. For some people it’s just for sport. They’re the real monsters in this hell.”
I can’t help but feel a heavy burden of hypocrisy loom over me as I speak those words.
“Y-Yeah, they are…” The pegasus sighs, his eyes barely open as he stares off into space. “Are you two going to kill me, too?”
I give Luke the moment to respond. “No, we don’t have a reason to. But don’t expect such a warm welcome next time you break and enter into an occupied area.”
The pony seems to chuckle somewhat at his remark. “Yeah… agreed.”
I check up on the previous cart again, too see all of the ponies inside have regained their composure and are doing their best to get their mind’s off of things. I spot Twilight standing in the walkway, talking to Applebloom. I can tell just from reading her lips and the expression on her face she’s doing her best to get the filly to smile. My heart wretches for a split second, and I feel her broken mindset for a moment. I feel my blood run cold again as I’m reminded of my responsibility.
Twilight’s pleading eyes play through my head again on an endless loop, the cries echoing once again.
I feel as if I break my neck as I return my attention back to the pegasus. I jump back to questioning to distract myself. “Do you have any idea of where they might be heading?”
The pony takes a moment to think, his wings shuffling uncomfortably under the rope. “Well, before they attacked us I heard them mentioning Canterlot as the place that everypony was headed. I don’t know if that means they’re going there, but they’re at least aware of it.”
“Well if he has any intention on doing damage, that’s where he would want to go.” I turn to Luke, looking to get his take on the situation. “I still have no idea why Dylan did what he did. He could’ve just taken the truck and left, and yet he took Fluttershy and decided to come back.”
Luke seems to be just as fumbled about it as I am, so with the leads that we have we disclose the conversation. I speak to the pony once more. “Sorry things had to go this way, but you’ve actually been a great help. So for that I’m going to let you go.”
The pegasus nearly cries out with happiness, forming an abundance of words to show appreciation towards my mercy, however I give him no room to speak as I move closer to him with my finger in his face. “But if I see you anywhere near my group again, I will consider you a threat. Do you understand?”
He gulps, just barely spitting out his last words. “Y-Yes, I understand.”
“Good.” I move away from his face, and I see him sigh in relief. I bump Luke’s shoulder with my hand as I begin to walk back to the passenger cart with the others. “Just untie him and let him out. I’m sure you can handle that?”
Luke lets off a scoff, a small smirk growing on his lips as he pulls out a small pocket knife from his belt. “I’m sure I can.”
With that, I nod to him and exit the cart. The sound of the door draws the attention from all the equines. I remind myself of what had just unfolded before I left that cart, and lower my attitude to somewhat fit in. Some of the faces return to what they were originally doing, however a select few remain attentive to me, anticipating some form of news. I move further into the room and take a seat in one of the stalls that houses Twilight and Applejack, who is still carefully holding her sister with her single hoof. Twilight shifts over to allow me some room, and I collapse in the seat with a heavy sigh as I rub my face a few times.
“Well, Twilight, it’s a good thing you didn’t put all of your power into that kick. He was able to tell us a lot of valuable info that is going to save us a lot of trouble, and kind of gives us a few steps to be ahead of Dylan and his crew. I think we also have enough evidence that he still has Fluttershy with him.” I briefly explain, grabbing the attention of the last two ponies that sit in the adjacent stall.
“Oh thank Celestia, some good news!” Twilight nearly cries just from relief, but stumbles her emotions as she hears the rest of my words. “Wait wait, Dylan has a crew now? I thought it was just him...”
“Apparently, according to that pegasus he was in a group of five before coming across Dylan. They only had three after escaping, but were able to get some info for us.”
“So that Dylan character’s just goin’ around hurtin’ ponies?! Is there not enough damage bein’ done already?” AJ grunts, shaking her head as she grinds her teeth.
“Unfortunately some people just get off to that sort of thing. I’ll admit I’ve done my fair share of unethical killing, but at least I don’t go out looking for it like him.”
I hear Dash scoff to my left, joining in on the conversation with Scootaloo at her side. “I don’t think you’re in much of a position to judge someone on killing, John.” I roll my eyes, picturing her smug grin regardless of actually looking at her.
“Regardless,” I continue. “the biggest lead we have is that we think he’s heading for Canterlot. As far as he knows that’s where everyone is gathering to defend, so he’s probably expecting to just show up and take control.”
“But there’s nothing left,” Applebloom mumbles. “Why would he go there if there’s nopony there?”
“That’s exactly it.” I waggle my finger at her for a moment. “He doesn’t know that. If we’re somehow able to beat him there, we might have the upper hand with having the element of surprise.”
Applebloom’s eyes seemed to flicker at the statement, a bit of hope returning to her fragile mind. “D’ya think we can do that?”
“Well, those cars that they’re using are fast, but they aren’t exactly all terrain, and need fuel. Trains are strategically built to be a straight shot from point A to point B and quickly as possible, and with the coal on board we shouldn’t have to make any stops.” I explain, diving deeper into this potential plan. I feel Twilight shift closer, obviously trying to key into it as well. “We may need to transfer onto another train, or something when we reach Canterlot. If that place is the main headquarters for this whole country, then I doubt we can just go straight through to the Empire without getting off.”
“Plus I think we can all agree we want to get Fluttershy back.” I finish, speaking abroad as I look over all of the ponies. They show nothing but immediate determination and loyalty to their lost friend.
“I’m done watching my friends get hurt, and losing ponies…” Dash speaks up, her eyes fueled with suppressed rage and vengeance. “These guys are gonna wish they never stumbled through that portal!”
“Dash is right.” I swivel my head to the purple unicorn next to me. “We’ve lost too much already to give up. We have to fight for everything that we have left! To make our friend’s deaths… worth it. We have to fight for them.” Her back seems to straighten and her eyes narrow with conviction. “They would do it for us!”
“We didn’t come this far to leave others behind. Either we’re gettin’ Fluttershy, or that Empire ain’t gon’a see any of us!”
Without hesitation, the three mares nod in absolute affirmation. Even Scootaloo seems to start cheering up at the sight of her sister’s determination. Scootaloo turns to Applebloom, who is still holding a bit more of a sour and hopeless expression.
“They’re right, Applebloom.” This grabs the young apple filly’s attention, and she looks to Scootaloo with somewhat of a shocked look. “We’ve come all of this way for something. We can’t just give up! We’re still here for a reason, and we need to use that to our advantage to help those who can’t help themselves!”
“Everypony who has died already, they wouldn’t hesitate to help us if we needed it!” We all silently watch Scootaloo try to help her friend, fighting back tears simultaneously. “It might be too late to help them, but it’s not too late to help those who are still alive! We have to make use of our advantages, and help those who can’t help themselves.”
Scootaloo’s expression now grows more irritated, as Applebloom’s psychological standpoint doesn’t seem to budge as she turns away from her friend’s gaze.
“It’s what Sweetie Belle would have wanted!”
The air in the cart seems to suddenly sit still, as everyone registers what was just said. I can already feel the tension between the two fillies rising with every second of silence that passes, which only lasts a few moments.
Applebloom lets out a suppressed sniffle, biting her tongue as she desperately tries to hold back her emotions. “D-Don’t say that, Scootaloo…”
“It’s true, and you know it!” Scoots takes a step forward, a quiet clack sounding at her hoof hits the hard floor. “Sweetiebelle wouldn’t hesitate to help anypony who needed it, especially her friends!”
I witness Applebloom’s dam that had only been repaired not long ago crack and collapse around her. She sputters out a whimper, glaring at her orange pegasus friend. “Yeah, well LOOK WHERE THAT GOT HER!”
The cart we reside in now feels like an industrial freezer with the words that are just said, and the grown mares immediately realize they have to take over this conversation. Dash takes a step in front of Scoots, wrapping a foreleg around her chest to pull her away from Applebloom. I can tell Applejack is having conflicting thoughts on what to do, but the only true thing I read from her expression is complete and utter exhaustion. She barely even has the energy to emotionally seem stable, and take care of her sister.
“Applebloom, listen to yourself; saying those types of things ain’t helping anypony!” She stares down at her younger sister with that ‘authoritative older sibling’ gaze, however it seems to shoot right through Applebloom. The young filly seems to be too wrapped up in her cemented thoughts to care about other opinions.
With that, she hastily hops out of the booth, and heads for the rear cart. “Ah’m goin’ to get some food…” The silence continues until we hear the door open, and slam. The only sound being heard once again from the engine, and the rails underneath.
Applejack shuts her eyes and collapses against the window, heaving out a shallow sigh and biting her lip to prevent it from quivering. A soft whimper sounds out as well, a moment before she speaks. “A-Ah don’t know what to do with that filly... “ She sniffles, and I take notice of Twilight who swiftly replaces Applebloom’s spot to comfort her. “Big Mac always talked to her best…”
Twilight nuzzles her friend under her chin, and AJ seems to reciprocate it wholeheartedly. A quick chuckle hisses through her teeth. “That filly is so darn stubborn… ah’m not sure how to help her right now.” Those words coming out of her own mouth seem to be a heavy realization for her, and she buries her face deeper into Twilight’s neck as she continues to hold her emotions back. Twilight gingerly wraps a hoof around her, and rests her chin atop of her head and closes her eyes.
"She just needs some time to adjust." Twilight responds, holding AJ tighter. "This is difficult for everypony, but I can't imagine being a filly right now…"
"Yeah… Y-You're right." AJ sighs, her body relieving some of her stress. It looks like she could fall asleep at any moment.
I take a glance over at Scootaloo and Rainbow, who have relocated back to their personal booth. They are conversing about something, but I can't make out much of it. If I had to guess Dash is doing her best to be the older sister, too. Scootaloo at least seems much less distraught than her filly friend, however I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.
A swift silhouette suddenly flies outside past the window, casting a shadow into the cart. Not a moment later, Luke re-enters through the door. He seems to read the room like an open book, gazing around before taking a seat beside me. He watches Twilight and Applejack embrace for a moment, before finding something else to distract his eyes.
I barely nudge him with my leg, to gain his attention. "That took a little while; d'everything go alright?"
He doesn't look in my direction, and switches his gaze down to his fiddling hands that rest upon the table. "Yeah, just had some burning questions. Nothing important."
I decide to just shake it off, and turn my attention back to the unicorn and earth pony in front of me. I take notice of Twilight, who seems to already have her attention on us. “So, should we try to lay out a plan? Because so far it seems we’re going in blind.”
I bring my hands up to the table, immediately interlocking my fingers and fiddling with them as I ponder some potential ideas. “Well, I’m not sure it’s going to get much better than that. I’d say the only upper hand we have is that you are all familiar with the area. That and we might beat them there, but aside from that we may just have to improvise.”
I can see Twilight already trying her best to plan as well, and it’s clear she is having trouble too. I have no doubt her mind is completely clouded over with about a million other things, which doesn’t help.
“At this point, the only reason we’re stopping in Canterlot is to find Fluttershy. So that should obviously be our main focus, but just how we’re going to do that is the difficult part.”
“Dylan may have one of those… gun, thingies. But we’ve got speed, and magic on our side!” Dash joins the conversation. “I’d say that we have even more than just the element of surprise.”
“You’re not wrong,” Luke chimes in as well, however he doesn’t look away from the tabletop. “However they also have more numbers now, and guaranteed that means more guns, too.”
“Plus, Dylan knows how much we want to get Fluttershy back. That may be a huge problem, since he completely has her hostage.” I add on, crossing my arms on the table to stop myself from fidgeting.
“Maybe we just need some kind of distraction; anything to take their attention away from her. Then getting her out of there should be easy.” Twilight stares blankly in front of her, visualizing the plan taking place. “If we can beat them to the train after getting Fluttershy, there’s no way they will be able to get to the Crystal Empire. The frigid zone that surrounds the empire is too cold to get through without the train. I’m not even sure that the truck you used could get through the snow.”
I find myself extremely attracted to her description of the Empire, and perk up immediately. “The Empire, it’s in a polar region?”
“Well, the Empire itself is just as warm inside as Ponyville, however it’s surrounded by a extreme winter tundra that goes on as far as the eye can see.” Twilight describes.
“That’s if there isn't a violent wind constantly blowing, which there always is.” Dash speaks up again. “It never stops either. I’d be surprised if they could even follow our tracks, if we manage to outrun them.”
I feel my blood pump faster as my heart picks up. I nearly stand onto my feet as I look directly at Twilight. “This is perfect. Not only is that a perfect plan to outrun these assholes, but there is no way that any walkers will get through that.” I vary my glances around the room to the rest of the bystanders. “If you guys manage to quarantine the Crystal Empire well enough, and ensure no one is infected. You guys might actually be safe there. For a long time at least. Cold slows down walkers a lot, and if it’s cold enough their muscles seize up, and they just collapse there and freeze.”
Twilight seems to key into my same excitement, placing a purple hoof on the table and leaning closer. “If that’s true, and we can tell the Princesses, then the Empire can be the safe haven for all of Equestria! Anywhere the infection hasn’t reached yet can go there and be safe!”
For once in a long time, I see a smile appear on her face. A real smile, that shows relief and cheer, rather than a fake expression to make everyone else feel more at ease.
“And if we know for sure these things can’t fly, we can get squadrons of Pegasi to spread the word to the nearest countries, and spread it further from there.” Dash piles on, now having approached our booth to be completely included in the plan.
Me and Luke exchange glances, one that visually expresses a satisfaction with the growing plan. That look between us is nearly enough to refill Twilight’s confidence, and I can nearly feel her beaming with joy, and almost a bit of excitement. “You guys, this can work. We can still make it out of this mess!”
It doesn’t take long for Dash to follow suit, as she hovers off the ground and pumps her hoof in the air. “Hay yeah it will! These guys are never gonna see us coming, and then it’s home free!”
I hear Luke barely spit a scoff next to me, with a slight shake of his head. With the ponies too wrapped up in their own excitement, I can fully read what he’s thinking. I barely lean in and whisper to him. “Just let them have this. They need some clear sight of hope, otherwise they won’t have the drive to look for it.”
Luke’s expression doesn’t change, and he holds his small grin upon his face. With a small head tilt, and a glance with one of his eyes, I get a non-verbal confirmation to cooperate. With that, he returns his gaze back up to Twilight. “Well, I’d say that’s a plan. Better than not having one at least.”
Twilight reaches out with her other hoof to grab Dash from out of the air, and pulls her into a small group hug with her and Applejack. Dash shows immediate discomfort at first, but doesn’t hesitate to hug her friend back. “We’re going to make it out of this you guys. We don’t have to lose anypony else.”
My heart both warms and shatters at the sight in front of me. How much I would give at this point to promise these tiny creatures that they wouldn’t have to see another one of their friends being ripped apart before their very eyes by flesh-eating monsters. Or not have to beg for their life while being held at gunpoint…
I have to remember that things can change at any time. It can go from zero to one hundred in a split second, at any given moment. But I can’t bring myself to remove anymore of the hope that they’ve managed to build up. Because if they plan to go through with all of this...
