//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Friends... For Now. 
// Story: Left for Friendship 
// by F4D3 
//------------------------------//

	


Colgate had never been an athletic pony. It wasn't like she was lazy or out of shape or anything. She just never had any reason to physically exert herself. Being a unicorn might've had something to do with it. But regardless of this, Colgate was able to outrun even her fellow survivors as the stampede of zombified ponies closed in on all three of them. Carrot Top shouted as loud as her lungs would let her at Colgate to tell her to stop running, but the blue and white maned pony was deaf to everything around her. Colgate was forced to stop as a group of four trotters blocked her way. As the zombie ponies began to stagger towards the paralyzed toothpaste colored pony, Carrot Top came darting from behind Colgate, holding a machine pistol in her hooves. Carrot jumped forward and began to fire upon the stoic creatures that blocked their path. Shots of fresh crimson burst one after another as the trotters fell to the ground.

"We can't keep running forever! We're gonna have to fight back!"

Slowly, Colgate began to regain her composure. A few seconds later Derpy arrived, with the horde not far behind. Steadily, Colgate shook her head to let Carrot Top know she understood what she had said. The toothpaste colored pony quickly fumbled the gun that was strapped to her back out of its holster. Still shaking slightly, Colgate pointed the wood furnished hunting rifle towards the large group of zombie ponies rushing towards her and her allies. Initially Colgate was a rather terrible shot, hitting absolutely nothing or hitting a trotter in the leg, which only served to bring them out of the action for a few seconds. But as she began getting comfortable with holding the rifle, and the fear of being eaten alive began to become more apparent, Colgate began to snipe head after head off of the oncoming hordes of trotters with the greatest of ease. As Carrot Top and Colgate began to thin out the number of zombie ponies, Carrot Top looked behind her to see that Derpy was doing absolutely nothing to help. Furious, Carrot Top began to yell at the blond mail mare.

"DERPY! DO SOMETHING!"

Derpy, who was shocked at the verbal attack, simply shrugged and stated "But I don't have a weapon!"

Carrot Top stood there for a few seconds, mouth gaping open at the nonsensical report of the derp-eyed pony. While this was this was happening a trotter had sprinted toward Carrot Top, and just as the vile creature was about to take a bite out of the carrot maned pony, she quickly turned aroud, pushed him to the ground, and shot him to death.	

"OF ALL THE PONIES I COULD'VE BEEN STUCK WITH WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THE ONE THAT CAN'T EVEN SEE STRAIGHT?!"

Derpy began to cry at the orange maned equine who had just yelled at her. Carrot Top simply grunted, rolled her eyes, and returned to fighting the zombie ponies. Colgate felt bad for Derpy, but couldn't afford to stop shooting at the trotters and comfort her. As the numbers of infected ponies dwindled, Derpy looked up and saw a small blue fleck fall from the sky. Derpy squinted in order to better make out what was falling from the sky. Her face began to pale as she realized what was falling from above clouds, And she immediately began to run to where she thought they would land. As she left Colgate and Carrot Top to fend off the rest of the trotters, Derpy desperately yelled "CLOUD CHASER!"





Cloud Chaser was exhilarated to be able to fly again. Ever since the quarantine was established, there was a constant, yet subtle, fear that flying made you an easy target. This caused Cloud Chaser look for any small excuse to go back into the sky. And while being chased by a zombified Rainbow Dash isn't exactly the best situation to be in, it was a good enough of an excuse to return to the clouds. But with every flash of her wings, Rainbow Dash was gaining on the light purple pegasus. Cloud looked back up and stared at the oppressive wall of gray darkness that seemed to overshadow all of Equestria. If she was going to die, she was at least going to see the deep blue shell that surrounded the planet one more time. 

The sunlight which was veiled by the all-encompassing wall of gray clouds nearly blinded Cloud Chaser. She hadn't seen this much light in weeks. As she flew even higher, the smooth breeze which had been alienated from her for so long had given a loving embrace to Cloud Chaser's fur. It felt as though if she looked down right now everything would return to normal. The happy ponies of Ponyville would walk around the streets once again, chatting with friends, enjoying life. It was as if she had been drowning for the longest time, and now she had returned to the surface. She could finally breathe.

However, Cloud Chaser's re acquaintance with the air was short lived, as the familiar figure of Rainbow Dash screeching her way through the wall of clouds. Rainbow's lightning speed allowed her to almost immediately catch up with the spiky maned pegasus. Cloud attempted a few evasive maneuvers in order to keep her zombified rival away from striking distance. While it was true that Rainbow Dash was much faster than Cloud Chaser, Cloud Chaser more than made up for it in her agility. With all the effort her body could provide, Cloud Chaser turned around and endeavored to shoot Rainbow in the head. Droplets of blood began to stream from new protusions on Rainbow's face as she was knocked backward from the blast of the shotgun. The force of the shotgun was enough to almost blast both ponies out of the sky, but the two were able to quickly recover and continue the chase.

Cloud made one more effort to take Rainbow Dash out of the air. Once again, Cloud used every muscle in her body to push back against the wind toward Rainbow. Against the friction of the wind, Cloud Chaser gripped her chromed symbol of death and death and practically shoved it down Rainbow's throat. But before she could pull the trigger, the rainbow maned infected jerked her head downward, which caused her jaw to split from the rest of her mouth. Before Cloud Chaser could react Rainbow Dash threw her entire body upon the helpless pegasus survivor, knocking the shotgun out of her hooves. Cloud Chaser struggled to regain flight, but was unable to push Rainbow off of her. They both began to plummet back down to the ground. Furious and desperate, Cloud repeatedly beat Rainbow Dash in the head, but the infected pegasus was unphased, as the wind around them raged from the increasing velocity which perpetuated their fall back down to Ponyville.

The two pegasi crashed into the side of a building with a rupture of sound that almost shook the Earth. Both ponies had sustained various bruises and cuts, but Rainbow refused to let this deny her her meal. Rainbow Dash pinned Cloud Chaser to the ground, and began to ravenously thrash the defenseless light purple pegasus. Any attempt that Cloud Chaser could have made to defend herself was immediately countered with an even more intense blow from Rainbow Dash. Just as Rainbow Dash was about to take her first bite of the deliciously tenderized survivor, a voice sounded from behind them.

"Hey, Rainbow,"

Before she could fully turn around Rainbow was met with the dull blade of a woodcutter's axe. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground from the heavy blow, and before she could recover she received a vertical chop to her forehead. A barrage of heavy vertical slashes soon met with the fresh wound made on Rainbow Dash's head, each digging deeper into her skull as blood, grey matter, and fragments of bone sprayed out in all directions. this went on for about four or five more slashes until Rainbow finally stopped moving, and in the place of her head was a bloody crater. Cloud Chaser was barely concious enough to actually understand what was going on, slipping into and out of a coma-like state. Her breathing began to slow. Everything was moving slowly, like staring at a picture. Cloud closed her eyes, and when she opened them again there was a shadowed figure standing over her. The figure was desperately shaking her, and attempted to say something to her, but Cloud could barely understand her. After a few seconds Cloud Chaser fainted in the hooves of her savior.





Cloud Chaser had a rather strange dream. She was in Cloudsdale. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, except that nopony would talk to her, and she didn't have her wings. For a while she just walked around, Cloud eventually found out that she could walk through the walls of buildings, which allowed her to see what was happening inside each. Absolutely nothing. In most of the buildings the ponies would just talk to eachother without making any sound, or speak in jibberish. As she came to the center of town, she noticed something. There was an earth pony standing in the middle of the street, gazing intently at Cloud Chaser. She had a dark purple gray coat, a frayed yet beautiful violet mane and tail, eyes that were a bright blue that shined as if they were polished glass, and a childishly timid smile upon her muzzle. Her cutie mark was rather simplistic, it was the hands of a clock, pointing in seemingly random directions. Being a dream, Cloud didn't question the validity of an earth pony being in Cloudsdale. Cloud tried to get closer to this mysterious mare, but as she took another step closer, the blue eyed pony gleefully pranced off. After she made a few more leaps away, the nameless pony turned to Cloud Chaser, gave a wink, and mouthed the words follow. Cloud did what what the strange earth pony asked and began to pursue her. As Cloud ran faster and faster so did the earth pony. Cloud started to becomeannoyed at this and continued to speed up in pursuit. After what seemed like hours Cloud Chaser eventually gave up and started walking in the other direction. But as soon as she turned around all of Cloudsdale disappeared from beneath her hooves. She hopelessly began to flail her hooves and scream, yet no sound came out. As she was about to hit the ground Cloud Chaser could distinctly hear the words follow your Queen.

Cloud sprang from the table she was laid on, and subsequently fell off it. Panting heavily, Cloud Chaser looked up at the three familiar, yet perplexed, faces. Cloud then looked down at herself, noticing that she was covered in water. Carrot Top lowered the bucket of water she was holding in her mouth. Before Cloud could say anything both Colgate and Derpy ran up to the confused and wet Cloud Chaser and held her in a tight embrace.

"Cloud Chaser! Thank Celestia you're okay!"

"Cloud, We were so worried,"

Cloud attempted to push the two frazled ponies, but the clench of their hug was too strong. "Guys, you're hurting me,"

Sheepishly, the two ponies let go of their friend. "Right, sorry..."

Still annoyed at being drenched in water, Cloud Chaser asked "Why the buck did you throw water on me!?"

Colgate quickly a put hoof up to Cloud's mouth, and signaled her to be quiet with a subtle shush. A dead silence lingered in the air. Carrot Top glanced through the boarded up windows, and after a few seconds, nodded to the others in order to indicate that it was safe. Colgate looked back at Cloud Chaser.

"Sorry about that, better safe than sorry,"

Cloud Chaser ignored this, and asked again, yet slightly quieter, "Why did you throw water on me?"

"We needed to wake you up. Here," Colgate levitated a dry towel, which Cloud disdainfully swiped.

As curtious as a pony in her situation could be, Cloud Chaser backed away from the toothepaste maned unicorn, and dried herself with the towel that was kindly provided to her. 

"You'll need this too," Colgate levitated the shotgun Cloud had lost in the fight with Rainbow Dash, which Cloud also swiped from Colgate's clutches.

"Where'd you find this?" Cloud inspected the chrome weapon to ensure it was the one she had lost. 

"Not far from where you crashed,"

After she dried herself, and found that her gun was in working condition, Cloud Chaser attempted to stretch her wings, but was met instead with a stretch of pain across her back. She looked back to investigate the source of her discomfort, and to her chagrin, found her right wing had been wrapped in cloth.

"Uhh, what the buck is this?"

"It's called a bandage, genius,"

Cloud Chaser glared at Carrot Top "I know that. Why's it here?"

This time Derpy interjected "Well, when I got to you, you were really banged up. So when the others got here I decided to use this!" Derpy held up an empty bag of medical supplies, the contents of which were used to treat Cloud's wounds.

"Aww, thanks Derpy,"

"Don't thank me, thank Carrot Top. She's the one who patched you up,"

Cloud looked at Carrot in surprise. Carrot Top looked up and blushed slightly "It was nothing. I just didn't want to see what would happen if Derpy tried to use scissors..."

All four ponies giggled at this. The mood was finally lightened. That is until Cloud Chaser remembered something.

"Wait. What happened to Rainbow Dash?"

"Oh, I took care of her," Derpy stated almost unwaveringly.

Cloud Chaser was quite literally stunned at this. She had never expected Derpy of being capable of killing anypony, even if they were infected. "Are you sure you killed her?" interrogated Cloud. Derpy nodded, and gestured to the axe she had found on her way to Cloud Chaser. Muddled and confused, Cloud sat back down to process this new information and finally began to notice the new setting with which she was in.

"Just where are we anyway?"

"Some building we found by where you landed,"

Colgate felt that this was quite enough small talk for now, but before they left, she wanted to make something clear.

"Okay everypony. listen up. I know we might not get along at times. And there might be times where we outright hate eachother. But we have to face something. As hard as it is to believe, we are some of the last few ponies still alive in Ponyville. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to stay alive. But we can't do that if we keep going of on our own. And I'm not asking for much, all I want is your help. I've spent about a half an hour on the outside. And I can say for absolute certain that none of us would be able to survive by ourselves. So I have a propasition for you all. We work together, as a team. At least until we get out Ponyville, then we can bicker and yell at eachother all we want, deal?" Colgate outstretched her hoof to the other survivors, wearing that familiar yet warm smile. Derpy walked over to the white and blue pony and laid her own hoof atop Colgate's. Carrot Top sighed, and put her hoof in as well. the three ponies now stared expectedly at Cloud Chaser, who seemed rather complacent sitting right where she was. But after a few more seconds, and a couple of exchanged glares, Cloud finally put her hoof into the group of this rag tag team. "Fine, whatever,"

It was at this point that Cloud Chaser remembered her initial question to the group, "So why exactly did you have to wake me up?"

While startled at the sudden question, Colgate was about to respond, but was interrupted by Carrot Top, "Because, you were screaming like a mad mare in your sleep. Thats why,"

"R-really?" Cloud almost seemed embarrassed to ask this.

"Yeah, what exactly were you dreaming about?" Colgate stared quizically at the spike-maned pegasus.

"Well... I-"

A loud crash was heard from outside where the survivors were holed up. Everypony immediately ducked for cover. Hoof steps. A grunt. A gurgle. More silence. Soon more hoof steps were heard slapping the soggy ground as grew ever closer to the ponies' safe house. The survivors made an even more desperate struggle to remain quiet. Then, as if to counter the sheer silence of the situation, A blood curdling shriek was heard in the distance. The gurgles soon turned to roars as the vile monsters stampeded off to the cry of helplessness. Cloud didn't waste any time after the zombies left to go after them.

"Cloud Chaser! What are you doing?!"

"I'm gonna find out where they're going. That's what I'm doing," Cloud explained while peeling the boards off of one of the windows.

"You can't keep going off by yourself! We just talked about this!"

"Well we didn't talk about my sister. And if there's a chance that she's in trouble, nothing's getting in my way,"

"But you don't even know if it's her or not!"

"I can't afford to take that risk. She's my sister," Everypony knew that this argument was futile. Cloud was going with or without them, which was a choice they had to decide for themselves. And they all decided to follow her.





While speed and stealth isn't exactly this group of survivor's mantra, but when the chance for Cloud Chaser to find her lost sister comes up, the whole group finds their hidden talents. The group sped off to where the trotters were heading. But what they would find would prove not to be Cloud's sister.

Just as the survivors were about to reach their destination, a large object came hurling from over the horizon towards  the general direction of the four unexpecting ponies. The sudden attack nearly gave all four survivors heart attacks, but upon further inspection, found that the object that was thrown at them was still moving. A trotter. But who in all of Equestria would be crazy enough to throw a trotter? 

The four mares finally made it to their destination, the library. The area outside the library was covered in varying amounts of debris, corpses, and the like. The survivors grew tense. Slowly and cautiously, the ponies walked closer into the circle of filfth, but as they did, they noticed something that took hold of their breath, and refurbished their fears of the undead.