//------------------------------//
// Bonding 
// Story: The Night of the Trotters 
// by Strongbolt Stonewing 
//------------------------------//

	The Doctor opened his eyes, it was still just as dark outside, he glanced at his wristwatch. Something is definitely wrong, he thought, it's never this dark at eleven in the morning.
"No..." Roseluck whimpered, she was shivering and rolling around in her sleep.
"Roseluck? Roseluck!" Whooves shook her.
"W-What? No! P-Please don't." Roseluck shouted.
"Roseluck! It's me, it's Whooves!" He shook her again and she opened her eyes.
"W-What? Huh?" Her eyes shot around frantically as though she could not see him.
"You're alright. It was just another nightmare." Whooves held her tightly.
"You okay?" Dice asked, trotting towards them, Laura and Derpy followed.
"I, um, I... Y-Yes. It was just... no more nightmares, please." Roseluck said softly.
"You're alright now." Whooves patted her back.
There was a sudden grumble, Derpy looked down at her stomach. "Hey, do you have any food? I think we need some."
"She's right." Laura admitted. "We have nothing."
"Things would be a lot easier if we had some equipment too." Dice agreed.
"Well we cannot just wish for it." Laura said.
There was a long pause.
"You ain't thinking what I'm thinking, are ya?" Dice inquired.
"You mean...? Return to Ponyville?" Laura gasped.
"Where else? We can't last out here, we don't have a choice."
"Woah, woah, wait!" Whooves intervened. "We can't just trot back into Ponyville, we'll be eaten alive! Literally!"
"What about the balloon?" Derpy suggested.
"That thing's resting on the bottom of the lake, it'll take forever to lift it out." Dice sighed.
"What about your wings." Roseluck said suddenly. "You could fly in."
Dice considered the idea. "I guess that could work, but we wouldn't be able to bring much back."
"What about Laura?" Roseluck mumbled.
"What about her?" Dice asked.
"If you two could get her in, maybe she could teleport some stuff back?"
"That... could work." Laura admitted.
"So we walk back to town, airlift you in and drop you off at a bakery or something, and you could get supplies back here?" Dice tapped his chin.
"Yes," Laura's smile faded, "yet I would not be able to bring too much back."
"Take this." Whooves threw her the screwdriver. "It can act as a boost, like magical adrenaline."
"You are not coming?" Laura asked politely.
"No," he still held Roseluck, "I'll stay with Roseluck."
Laura and Dice exchanged looks. "Suit yourself." Dice shrugged. "We'll head out in five minutes, alright?"
"Sure." Laura and Derpy said in unison.
"Laura." Whooves called. "Take care of it, I'd like it back in one piece."
Laura and Dice began discussing their plans on the opposite side of the cave, Roseluck rested her head on Whooves shoulder. "Um, thank you." She whispered. "I'm sorry... I'm being ridiculous."
"What are you talking about? There's a zombie apocalypse! It wouldn't surprise me if you were a little scared." Whooves laughed.
Roseluck looked up at him. "Are you scared?"
Whooves thought for a moment. "No. But that's just me."
"But what is 'just you'?"
Whooves hesitated. "I don't know if that's grammatically correct..."
"You know what I mean. Who are you?"
"The Doctor. Just, The Doctor." Whooves murmured.
"Alright." Dice turned back to Whooves. "We're going to get moving. You sure you'll be okay here?"
"I'm sure we'll be fine." Roseluck said nervously.
Dice nodded. "Derpy, Laura, let's go."
Derpy, Dice and Laura trotted to the cave entrance and hopped outside, leaving Whooves and Roseluck alone in the cave.
"Well," Whooves said awkwardly, "now we wait."

Dice was feeling oddly excited, it had been a long time since he had gone on any sort of mission or quest. He still did not know if he could believe everything that was happening around him; even for Equestria, zombies were a little too out of the ordinary. Ponyville appeared through the mist, the great town hall was crumbling slowly in the centre, it had taken a great amount of damage from the storm, most of the buildings had. Whooves had mentioned something about the storm appearing so suddenly, and without the use of Pegasi no less. Strange things are happening, he thought, perhaps the zombies won't be our only problems.
"Do you think we are close enough?" Laura asked.
"No, not yet. Give it another minute." Dice replied.
"If we get too close, those ponies..."
"I know, I've met them too."
Ponyville came closer, Dice swallowed back his nerves. Am I getting too old for this? He wondered. It has been, quite some time since...
"Stop." Derpy said suddenly.
The ponies froze, directly in front of them a lone zombie stood shivering and twitching with it's back facing them. Dice gave Laura a nervous look. Derpy began moving back slowly, Dice and Laura stood side-by-side and reversed. The zombie, a pale green mare, wandered around aimlessly for a moment and then stopped again, luckily it did not face them.
"I guess this is close enough." Dice whispered. He grabbed Laura's front left hoof, and Derpy took her ear. "Her hoof, Derpy. Not her ear."
"Oh!" Derpy grabbed her tail.
"Hoof. Derpy! Her hoof!" Dice yelled. The zombie turned and faced them. "Oh, for crying out loud. Fly!"
Derpy readjusted her grip and finally found Laura's hoof in time to lift off and dodge the aggravated dead mare. They lifted Laura up into the air.
"We can not go into town with that poor creature following us." Laura said calmly.
"Why not? Wait, 'poor creature'?" Dice questioned.
"If it alerts it's friends we will have no chance of retrieving anything."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Dice asked. Laura looked Dice straight in his eyes, her expression was deadly serious, she looked stern. "You don't mean...?"
"Lower me down, I will prevent it spreading the word." Laura growled.
Dice looked at Derpy, Derpy attempted to look back at Dice. "I think I like this new Laura."
Dice and Derpy slowed the pace of their wings and descended. A light glow appeared around Laura's horn.
"Just a little closer." Said Laura.
The mare was still staring at them, twitching, shuddering and moaning. Laura's horn grew brighter and a small orb appeared at the tip of it. A beam of solid magical energy protruded from the orb and shot towards the mare with immense speed. The orb and the beam faded, the zombie shuddered once more and slouched onto the ground. A small, burnt hole appeared in the zombie's forehead.
"Woah!" Dice marvelled. "What was that?"
"Just a little trick I have been working on."
"Why didn't you do that earlier?"
"I could not concentrate, and I was utterly exhausted. But that matters not! Onward." She pointed forward.

Whooves and Roseluck lay together against the cave wall, Roseluck still shivered. Whooves put his hoof around her to comfort her.
"You... you didn't answer my question." Said Roseluck. "Who are you? I mean, do you have any family?"
Whooves paused. "No, it's... it's just me." He cleared his throat. "But, um, what about you?"
"I... no, my parents, they died long ago. I never had any brothers or sisters. I think I have an aunt or a cousin in Canterlot, maybe. But other than that, it's just me." There was another pause. "How comes I hardly ever saw you?"
"What do you mean?" Whooves inquired.
"I worked in a flower shop in the middle of town, I spent everyday out there, but, I don't remember seeing you... ever."
"I kept to myself. I was in charge of the clockwork in Ponyville, some ponies called me Time Turner or something along those lines. I never really loved the job, that's why I spent a lot of my time inventing and experimenting with magic."
"Your accent. You weren't born in Ponyville were you?"
The Doctor stared at his hooves. "I... let's just say I was rather adventurous in the days of my youth... I guess I just got lost one time and ended up here."
"Ended up here?" Roseluck mimed his words.
"Don't get me wrong, I love this place, far more peaceful than anywhere I've ever been before, or at least it was... before, all this happened."
Roseluck just stared at him. "You've seen the world then?"
"I suppose you could say that." Whooves hesitated, he heard a disturbance in the silence outside and put his hoof over Roseluck's mouth. She mumbled something angrily that sounded like "what are you doing?"
"Sh." Whooves whispered.
Then Roseluck heard the sound, the sound of a pony moaning. Her heart began racing, thumping so quickly she thought it might explode. You will be alone, the figure's voice echoed in her ears. No, please, not again! She thought. Her mind was in pieces, she wanted to scream, but she could not form words. I don't want to be alone again! Her mind shouted.
Whooves looked at her like he was reading her thoughts. "I won't leave you." He whispered. The moaning outside grew quieter. "See? Everything is going to be..."
"Raargh!" A pale brown colt launched through the mouth of the cave bearing his teeth.
Roseluck screamed and ran back up against the cave wall. The zombie spotted her weakness and shot towards her, but he was intercepted by a large rock, thrown by Whooves. The zombie, whose face was now distorted, snarled at Whooves and leaped onto him. He gnashed his teeth and bit into the air, attempting to reach Whooves while he pressed his face back.
"Roseluck..." Whooves called. The traumatised mare shivered in the back of the cave, she seemed completely unaware of the situation. "Please..."
"Not again." She cried, clutching her head.
The zombie's biting came closer. "Roseluck! Help!"

For Roseluck, time slowed down, everything froze and neither the zombie or Whooves moved. A figure appeared in the moonlight, the same figure that Roseluck had seen in her dream. The figure was larger than the average pony, with long flowing hair. To Roseluck, the figure was just a silhouette, one of a pony with wings and a horn.
When the figure spoke, her voice was like a loud, sleepy, hissing whisper, it was a female voice saying: "I am sorry if I startled you before."
"Who are you?" Roseluck cried. "Why are you terrorising me?"
The figure tilted her head, although Roseluck could not see her face, she felt the sympathy she was emitting. "I never planned to scare you like this, child. I am weak, my magic is shrouded by evil."
"But... but, who are you? How comes I can see you?"
"Your mind is... more open than the others. You can accept and understand things that they cannot, you possess a different kind of willpower."
"Wait, I... I don't understand!"
The figure began to shimmer and fade. "You must help your friend, or you will be alone again. This will not be our final meeting." The scene began to whizz back into motion. The figure turned to Whooves. "Help him. He will save you." The figure faded completely and the world was back in real time.
"Roseluck!" Whooves called.
Roseluck, without thinking, lunged into the zombie and knocked it sideways off of Whooves and onto it's back. Roseluck stamped on its face repeatedly, crushing it under her hooves and crying. The zombie's tortured moaning silenced, and it stopped moving. Roseluck stared at her blood covered hooves and turned back to The Doctor, who was now standing. Her eyes watered and her lips quivered.
"I... I..." She mumbled.
The Doctor approached her and wrapped his hooves around her, he held her closely. "You saved me. Thank you."
"I... I'm a monster..." She wailed. "I... I killed him."
"You are no monster." He looked her directly in her eyes. "You are beautiful."