Out of All The Worlds...

by gordobraveheart

Short Rest

“So let me get this straight, because I am really confused.” Rainbow Dash says as I make a turn. “These chips right here are bad for you? How can something so good be bad for you?”

“What’s so confusing about it?” I say, still focusing on the road. “These chips have grease, and grease is bad for you! It gives you extra pounds.”

“Well yea, I get that.” Rainbow says, talking with her mouth fool. “What I don’t understand it that these are made from potato’s, so shouldn’t they be healthy?”

“Because salt.” I say. looking at her through the rear-view mirror.

“But that doesn’t-”

“Uh, Ah hate to cut into ya’lls little argument, but where exactly is your Aunts house, Giovanni?” I hear Applejack say. “It seems pretty far. We’ll probably be there in about an hour, maybe-”

I roll up beside a house and stop in the middle of the street. Because, lets be honest, who would park correctly in a zombie apocalypse when the road is free? I turn off the car, unbuckled my seatbelt and turned around. “Alright, we’re here. I’ll get out of the car first and look around. I’ll let you all know if it’s safe. Come on, Nino.”

I got out of the car and looked around the neighborhood first. All of the houses looked just as bad as they do in Detroit, except they aren’t burnt first. Most of the houses had boards covering up the houses, but they would all have at least a door or a window busted open. The lawns had a few bodies lying about, blood on the sidewalk, and the sun shining down above me made it seem like I was the only live one in the neighborhood. I walked to the passenger door and let out Nino, whereis he already started to sniff out the area around us. He ran off into the end of the street, then ran back towards me. I nodded, then opened the door for the main six.

“Alright, we are in the clear.” I look to the house we stopped at, pointing at it. “That’s my aunts house. Remember what I said, stay around me and let me know if you find anything weird.” They all nodded their heads, and I started leading them to the door of the house. The windows were boarded up, but the front entrance was open. I stepped foot in first, looking around. The living room was small, and my Aunt Stephanie’s flat screen was broken, with dried blood splashed on the corner of the T.V. The couches were also stained with dried blood, and the mirrors they had hanging above them were now smashed into pieces.

“My word,” Rarity says, looking around the room with a look of disgust on her face. “How horrific.”

“Yea. I want you all to stay here in the living room while I scout the house. Nino is staying with you, so if anything comes up, I want you all to yell my name loud as you can.” I turned away and started walking up the stairs, unsheathing my machete. I walk up the stairs slowly, breathing quietly enough to hear all anything go around me.

When I reached the second floor, the only room up there was my aunts house. The last time I checked, she said she left her maps in her room. I walked towards the room, which had the door nearly broken off and blood stains on the floor around it, leading a trail into the room. I held my machete in an offensive stance, ready to kill anything that came out and tried to attack me.

I stepped into the room and was immediately rushed with a rotting smell. The stench was so bad, I nearly puked. I covered my nose with the sleeve of my hoodie, but even then the stench was too strong. I looked around for the source of the smell and found that it was coming from the other side of the bed. I walked towards it and found out that the smell was coming from a body.

My aunts dead body.

The skin on her face was rotting off quick, I can nearly see her skull. All of the hair were falling off, and only patches of it were left. Her eyes were rotting off, and maggots were crawling in there, feasting on her own flesh. I was starting to lose my breakfast, so I walked away from the body and searched her drawers.

I always feel a little bad when I kill a zombie, but if it ever comes to family, I just can’t do it. Luckily for me, it looked like she knew what was going to happen to her. I looked down to her right arm, where she gripped a gun. I didn’t bother taking it, I already had a gun with me. Besides, there is a Wal-Mart around this area that sells hunting rifles. All though, I probably won't enter unless I have too.

Finally, after digging through all of her stuff, I found what I came for. I quickly ran out of the room and came rushing downstairs, where I found all of the ponies sitting in the living room, talking quietly. “Okay, I found what we came for.”

Twilight Sparkle walked up to me, tilting her head. “What is it?”

I open the map wide, big enough for the main six to crowd around and look at it. Not as big as the wall, but how maps are suppose to look. It was an entire map of Michigan, with all the roads, the legend, labeled cities and such. This could help us out.

“Hey, Michigan looks like your hand, Gio! Why is that?” Pinkie said, turning the attention towards me.

“I honestly have no idea. The land formed it that way, maybe? Last time I remembered, my kindergarten teacher said some giant lumberjack cut down all of the trees around Michigan, revealing its true form.But it’s just folklore, a story.” I say, folding the map.

“That sounds...illogical.” I look down at Twilight, who had a look of confusion on her face. “I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. How can a human that big cut down so many trees?”

I shrugged, walking towards the kitchen. “I don’t know. Like I said, it’s all just a story. There isn’t a point in proving it wrong.” I open the fridge looking around for any food. Everything inside of the fridge was spoiled, and in the freezer there was nothing. I closed the door and walked outside, looking around the neighborhood.

“This place seems nice enough to lay low for awhile. But I’m not taking any chances.”

“So, what was the point of finding that map?” I look down to see Twilight Sparkle looking around the neighborhood, also inspecting it. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Because the weather is getting cold, Twilight. And I don’t have fur like you, your friends, and Nino. It’s gonna start getting into really cold temperatures this coming November, but I want to head someplace warmer by then.” I sit down on a chair on the porch, sighing deeply. “Not only that, I still gotta find a way to get you all home. I’m thinking those things on your friends’ necks could help, including your crown. Until then, you all should keep those on at all times.”

“I see.” She says. “Hmm...You said something about Witchcraft in this world, right? Couldn’t that help us get back home?”

I nodded. “Yea, but I know Witchcraft. For all I know, it’s only used as curses.”

“Curses aren't real!” Twilight says, as if she was annoyed by that.

“But you’re here.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Uh, gee, I have no idea-Everything?” I say, sarcastically. “Look, just give me some time alone, I need to think. Please?”

She nodded, then went back inside the house. I started slouching in the chair, sighing. I pulled out the folded map from my pocket and started reading it, trying to get all of the directions into my head.

Still, I couldn’t get the thought of all of this going on. Celestia appearing in my house, zombies infesting the world, ponies traveling with me-It all feels like something big is going on, but I just don’t know what.

But for now, I’m just going to focus on this map. Twilight could also help with this, actually. Maybe she could-