~~~ ~~~ ~~~
“Holy Celestia, your aim is getting awry.” I heard a sweet voice from behind. I put down the service revolver.
I sighed and turned to the white pegasus behind. “I guess I’m not on my game today…”
“Nah, don’t feel so bad, you are one of the best in the academy.” She tapped me on the shoulder as I took off the ear protectors, setting them on the counter.
“That’s why they put you with me, isn’t that right? You narcissistic little-“
“Good mornin’ mam’!” My pegasus friend greeted in a firm standing posture. I jolted and did the same.
“Hmm… Eve, you feeling a little edgy today?” My superintendent squinted her eyes at me.
“No mam’.” I promptly replied.
“Good, now. Eve and Skyla, I have an important job for the both of you. We should talk in my office.” She walked out of the range and we followed her into a pristine white hallway; ponies were going to and fro, chatting with their friends and going about their tasks…
“Hey, Eve.”
“Huh?”
“Dinner tonight?” Skyla poked me with her wing.
I stared at her with a hard expression then I felt my eyelids loosen.” If- we make it back in time.”
“Of course we’ll make it back in time, we always do.” She flapped a wing at me.
“Not always.” I hissed.
“Tinder, careful with the soda machine! You’ve already broken four this week!” The chief yelled at the pony who was ‘wrestling’ with the machine.
“Four? Bloody hell.” Skyla spat with an amused look.
“Don’t worry mam’, this is my last.” The stallion waved and carried on with whatever he’s doing.
We walked into the chief’s office, stepping over pieces of paper and boxes strewn on the tiled linoleum. The desk was filled with files and documents, covering part of the flat computer monitor on the side on the desk. She slumped on an executive chair and took off her aviators.
“This is an important one… The Equestrian Health and Biomedical Congress, held by Dr. Isenfield Reinhardt and representatives from various medical facilities… We’ve sent about twenty of our detachments but we need more hoof-power…”
“We’ll do it mam’.” Skyla spoke before she could finish, looking at me with a sanguine smile.
“Just the usual, isn’t it? Eve, any problem?” She chuckled, turning to me.
“Huh? Ye- Yeah, no problem.” I stuttered.
“Alright! Let’s go, agent Eve.” Skyla flew up and pulled me out of the office.
“Vanhoover City Hall Auditorium!” Chief’s voice echoed behind us.
…
“You can be really cute at times.” I felt Skyla’s mane of blue hair brush against my cheek. I sprung back.” And clueless…”
“Wear your jacket. And keep your pants on.” I threw the coat at Skyla, who was buckling a holster on her waist.
“…But I’m not wearing any.” Skyla looked at me suggestively. I put on my work jacket and took my revolver from the locker. I did not like where this was going.
“Do we really need a gun?” I changed the topic, flipping the revolving chamber and slotting it in my coat.
“Gah, it’s not like it’s your first day at work.” Skyla trotted out of the door, into the hallway.” Y'know, in case this, in case shit hits the fan. Come on.” She signaled.
“Do you think it will be boring like every other job we’re assigned? I mean c’mon, where’s the action? Y’know.” Skyla walked down the corridor as I followed beside her.
“I don’t think so; I kinda wanted to learn about medical sciences. It’ll be interesting, maybe…”
“Maybe, at least it’s an air-conditioned place. Not like that square under the glaring sun the last time.” Skyla jabbered with a half-annoyed tone.
We trotted into the parking lot, towards Sky’s black SUV.
“You remember that last job?”
“Which last job?” I asked with a puzzled look in my eyes.
“That one at the rich little shit’s party a few weeks back, Arcadius Monolithium, Los Pegassai. Have you forgotten?” Skyla enlightened me, hopping into the passenger seat.
“No I haven’t. What about it?”
“You got really tipsy on duty.”
“You don’t have to remind me of that.” I groaned, shutting the door as I got in the driver’s side. “I’m driving?”
“Don’t change the topic, Eevee. The host was like ‘Hey! Have some champagne! Have some scotch to top that! and some more whiskey!’ Oh dear… can’t believe you actually downed everything.” Skyla giggled, lurching all over her seat. The vehicle shook.
“Eevee’s a nice nickname, I like it.” I started the vehicle and drove for the exit.
“…You were like breakdancing and everypony was like-“
My ears went flat and I winced.
“-Don’t be so uptight. I didn’t mean it.” Skyla pulled her jacket tightly around her and opened the glove box, grabbing a book from it.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s just a novel I’ve been reading. It’s a detective noir kind of novel, it’s awesome.” She flipped the pages,” Seek the truth… only then shall you unknow the truth.”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s just a quote from the protagonist.”
“Can I borrow it? I’d like to have a read for myself.” I asked.
“Sure.”
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
“Eve? You have to wake up!” A forced whisper and a soft nudge awoke me from my deep slumber.
“Ugh… Huh? What?” I mumbled, squeezing my pillow against my body.
“Eve, eye heard something outside…”
“Heard what!?” I opened my eyes wide and pulled Flitter up from my side.
I fell from the sofa and Flitter went down with me, landing right on top of me.
“Ow.” She moaned softly, planting her face on my fur as a warm fuzzy sensation spread across my chest. She stared up at me as I glanced around the apartment, taking a better look at the surroundings. Sunlight was pouring through the window; the rain from last night had made the air especially humid.
What a weird dream/memory.
“I don’t hear anything.” I tucked my hooves under Flitter’s wing, pulling her to my face. I was still feeling tired and sore from yesterday’s events. Even the hardest flooring felt comfortable against my back. My blue eyes connected with Flitter’s and I felt her wings stiffening as her face flushed in hot red.
“Ugh... wingboner…” Flitter lamented silently, lifting herself to her hooves.
“It happens, y’know.” I whispered loudly. In a creepy voice too, geez.
“Uh-“
PUM! PUM! Ratatatatata!! FOOM!
A muffled cacophony of gunfire echoed from the outside. I scurried onto my hooves and hurried to grab my stuff. I buckled my holsters and saddlebag and turned out of the door, my newly acquired nine-millimeter floating beside me.
“Eve, take your coat back, you’ll need it if you’re going to fight.” Flitter passed the coat to me and I put it on swiftly. It won’t provide me with much protection but at least I don’t feel so vulnerable in it. I cantered into the corridor, peering out of the windows into the streets below. Gunshots resounded and an explosion reverberated through the air. That must’ve been an intense fight, at least it sounded like it. If there were any survivors out there, we must help.
I pushed about half of my body out of the window, overlooking the opposite side of the checkpoint. I could hear more clearly the shots coming from down the boulevard.
“Lower me onto street level, will you?” I put a leg onto the window sill, about to climb over.
“Okai, here we go.” Flitter flew out of the window and grabbed my forehooves. I felt gravity taking over as I found myself suspended in a height of two floors.
“Whoa, it’s slipping.”
“Don’t worry, eye got it.” Flitter lowered me onto the roof of a van, the metal bent as my hooves felt it. I promptly hopped onto the ground.
Ratatatatat!!
Automatic fire blared and occasional yells could be heard.
“Keep your head down, sounds like its coming from the freeway.” I kept a defensive stance and cantered ahead, sounds of profanity and insults were getting thrown as we moved closer.
“How early is it in the morning?” I casually asked, yawning a little.
“It’s about five…” Flitter glanced at her Telekinetic Device, which conveniently is a hoof-watch as well. There is a small display in the corner of the interface showing the time.
“Hopefully it’s worth it.”
I quickly slid under the cover of the buildings. There was a lane converging into the freeway directly in front of us, littered with a multitude of cars, some stacked up onto of one another. A container truck had clipped onto a van, hanging off the divider on the edge of the road.
Bullets whizzed past the two sides of the lanes, a stray bullet ricocheting off the door of a car next to me. I dived onto the ground and pulled myself behind a post box, shielded by a crushed van.
“You flank them from the left side! We’ve got this, they can’t escape!” I could hear a thunderous shout from a pony in amongst the maze of vehicles. Who can’t escape? They couldn’t have spotted us already.
Flitter pulled out her assault rifle and knelt beside me. She put a hoof on my shoulder and aimed into the fray. Whoever’s the raider were attacking, they were putting up a strong resistance. We have to cut out the flank and help!
“Flitter, move up along the building and take out whoever’s passing. I’ll try to get an edge on the main attacking unit.” I threw out a directive and unslung my rifle.
Flitter nodded and disappeared over my shoulder. “Be careful, alright?”
“I will.” I assured, propping the rifle on the bonnet of the van. I stared into the scope.
BLEM! Click-click! Fwap!
I slotted another round into the barrel, the previous bullet striking a pony in her neck. I moved up onto a divider and readied for another shot.
A burst of automatic fire tore into the open, splintering several vehicles in the freeway. I spotted about four raiders appearing behind the cover of the vehicles, still firing frantically. I doubt they’ve spotted us.
I managed to pick one of them off before they realized they’ve got another foe on the battlefield. Rounds whizzed past me as I instantly ducked, the concrete shattering above me.
“Down the street! They’re flanking us!”
I may have blown my cover.
I slowly and carefully backed up where I came from and positioned myself behind the post box once more. I could see Flitter hiding behind a door stacked beside the door of another vehicle. She stood up on her cover and fired a burst into the open. The rifle fired with a crisp and hollow ratatat as her hooves shook from the recoil. I crawled to Flitter, dragging my rifle alongside me as I did.
BOOM!!
An ear-splitting explosion sent a massive shockwave through the ground, throwing both Flitter and myself onto the hard concrete. A huge cloud of smoke was pouring from the freeway. I quickly dashed to Flitter and pulled her up, vaulting over her cover and into another behind a container truck.
BLEM!
I fired a shot and it bounced off the hood of a convertible. Damn it. Flitter fired off a burst, hitting at least two raiders. It wasn’t clear if they went down. I gave up trying and made my way to the back of the truck, which was further down the freeway. It was a huge truck; that had to be said. The thick smoke was getting denser, still billowing from down the freeway. I coughed; tears were brimming from my eyes from the noxious smog. I could feel the heat searing lightly on my back, sweat dripped from my forehead as I focused my rifle into the open area.
Just as I was about to fire a shot, I felt someone grab me on my shoulder. My first instinct was to thrust my elbow back but she effectively tugged it aside, pulling me into the cover of the truck and covering my mouth with her hoof.
“Shh… friendly. I saw your friend over there firing at the hunters.” A soft feminine voice whispered loudly.” Go get your friend, we’re leaving. Go!” The unicorn released me from her grip. She pulled out a revolver and disappeared into the mess of cars. I looked back for a second and dashed to get Flitter, dodging from vehicle to cover and from cover to vehicle again.
“Flits, time to move!” I called out. She glanced at me and tossed her rifle at me, fluttering towards me.
She pressed a magazine onto my hoof,” Empty, and eye’m right behind you.”
I pulled off the empty clip and slotted the new magazine inside. It slid in smoothly with a clack.
Tatatatata!!
I fired a volley into the affray, several shots impacting on a raider as he collapsed on the ground.
“Quickly, I’ll try to get the car running!” The unicorn from earlier ran past us and the container truck. The raiders seemed to have held back temporarily, but they would soon be on us. I ran after her, twisting and jumping over the vehicles that lay in our path and closer towards the source of the explosion from earlier. The blue haired unicorn bounded up to a black SUV and pulled out a crowbar which was strapped on her leg. I pulled Flitter behind a small van.
“Hold them out while I’ll try to fix this!” She slid a shotgun on the ground at me as she pushed the hood of the SUV open with the crowbar, propping it up and staring into the engine. I magically grabbed the shotgun and passed it Flitter, who was cowering beside me. She looked at me and held up the shotgun, running her hooves on the rubbery plating.
“Roxxy! You stay in the car, you hear me?” Our unicorn friend opened the door and switched the ignition on the driver’s side. The SUV let out a rough hiss and went silent shortly after. I fired another burst at the raiders, the thick smoke and the compressed air from my rifle made it hard for me to make out if I’d hit anything, but I’d like to think I did.
“Fuck, you hear that? Infected will be swarming the place!” Yeah, I heard the screams and moans reverberating through the air. Soon, this place will be full of them.
“Flitter! Don’t let any of them through!”
“Eye’m trying mai best!” She shrieked, firing off the shotgun. I could already see several infected weaving their way through the maze of vehicles and scrap. There was a three-way battle underway, between us, the raiders and the infected; and victory goes to either one or the other two.
“Roxxie! Try starting it now!”
“I… I’m tryin’!” A meek voice sounded from inside the vehicle. It didn’t work.
I went over to the SUV doors and squinted down the sights, trying to get a better angle back here.
“Eve-!” I cocked my head to Flitter’s direction. Before I knew it, I was thrown off my weapon and being pinned onto the side of the vehicle by an angry infected pony; she clawed viciously at me, trying to bite me. I shielded my face from her fangs with my hoof, also trying to avoid getting bit on the hoof at the same time.
“Fucking hell!” I heard the unicorn yell.
BAM!! BAM!!
“They’re fucking everywhere!”
BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!
This was it. Are we going to just get overwhelmed and die like this?
I focused on the infected on me, shoving and trying to direct her face away from my neck. I tried calling for help but no words came out. At the same time, I really hope Flitter won’t fire the shotgun at us, as much as I would like to get this monstrosity of off me.
BUM!
Blood splattered on my mane and coat as the infected pony went down. I turned to look at my savior from the back of the vehicle. A pale pinkish-grey pegasus was leaning on the SUV with a pistol in her hoof, she was grasping her side painfully with her other hoof and was looking right at me with a wincing smile. Her wound was bleeding profusely and blood dripped on the basalt beneath her legs. She fell on her haunches and was struggling to get up.
I went over and pulled her up, lifting the rear doors and helping her into the back of the vehicle.
“Hang in there… And thank you.”
“Ha… I’m fine. I’m not dying… at least not today.” She said weekly.
“Oh no, you shouldn’t move around with that wound!” The little mare I remembered being called Roxxie crawled over to her and checked on her injury.
“Take care of your friend, I’m gonna go help out front.” I said before closing the rear door. I moved along the side of the vehicle, picking off another infected pony charging towards us.
“Yes! Get in, get in right now!” I heard a yell from the front. The blue maned unicorn slammed the bonnet shut, getting into the driver’s seat.
Flitter quickly stumbled into the middle seat and I clambered in after her, landing on her flank. The vehicle suddenly reversed, swerving to the right. I swiftly shut the door with my magic and regained my bearings.
“Sit tight, it’s gonna be bumpy.” The vehicle swerved again, almost smashing onto a burnt shell of another SUV in the middle of the road. The SUV plowed through a divider and spurred onto the expressway. Gunshots rang out from behind us as we strayed aside, avoiding the wreckages on the road.
We broke free! We did it, gosh was it intense. I tried to calm myself down.
---
“Fucking hunters, I shouldn’t have come to this craphole.” The unicorn griped, turning the vehicle into the next lane and onto the Capitol Beltline Expressway.
There was a short moment of silence as I stared at Flitter, who was sitting nervously with her hooves tucked between her legs.
“Ah, thanks for the help, although we could probably handle that on our own-“
“No we can’t Kya! You saw how many we’ve lost today!” Roxxy yelled out from the back of the SUV. Flitter took one look at the injured pegasus and swiftly climbed to the back.
“You’re right… We couldn't... I’m Kyara and that’s Roxanne and Blossomforth at the back. C’mon, take a seat beside me.” The unicorn introduced, beckoning me to come forward.
“I’m Eve and that’s Flitter at the back.” I said, scrambling onto the front seat.
“Hang on, eye have bandages…”
I looked back at Flitter, who was tending to the injured pegasus. She was wounded badly, but she’s still holding on.
I turned back to Kyara,” So what happened back there? It seemed pretty intense…”
She let out a heaving sigh,” Someone in our group had the idea of scavenging in a hunter infested city, you can guess what happened next. There were about ten or eleven of us, but all there’s left is the three of us… I shouldn’t have brought Roxxy along…”
“I’m old enough to take care of myself! …and I thought I could help.” Roxanne blurted.
“She’s still young… I promised her sister I’ll take care of her.” Kyara sighed again, her eyes softening.
“You don’t mind if we come with you?” I asked.
“We could use more allies, everypony we’ve met either wants to kill us or kill us. We have a temporary base in Ponyville and there’s about twenty of us there.”
“I thought that place was overrun by infected?”
“That’s only the central part of the town, we settled in the outskirts so infected is the least of our problems.” She explained. Flitter had climbed into the middle seat and was leaning of my seat.
“How’s Blossom?”
“She’s okay, Eye’ve patched her up but she will need sum antibiotics.” Flitter stared at me, smiling affably.
“That’s good, so Eve… What were you two doing in Raneigh anyway?” Kyara peered through the mirrors and then back to me.
“We had a vehicle but we were ambushed on our way in. We fought off a whole bunch of them and rested for the night in the abandoned military checkpoint, until the gunshots woke us up.” I explained.
“You two held out pretty good, looks can really be deceiving.” Kyara shot a look at Flitter through the corner of her eye.” Anyway, there must be somethin’ you two are travelling for. You don’t mind me prying, do you?” Flitter rolled her eyes and slumped back onto the seat.
“Nah, it’s okay. We were heading to the Hoover Dam, a friend is expecting well, me.”
“You’re part of the resistance?” I nodded in uncertainty.” That’s cool; our group is actually a detachment from Las Equine. Our frontier is just near the Dam so you’re in luck; we can drop you off nearby. I’ll speak with the forerunner when we reach Ponyville.”
Fantastic. Hurray!
“How far till we’re there?” I asked casually.
“It’s about a hundred miles to Ponyville, and two hundred from then on.” That’s fine. It’s quite a distance but I’m not complaining.
The SUV was just rolling into the auxiliary highways; tall buildings faded into rural and mountainous regions, towering hills and mountains loomed over us as the sun shone brilliantly in the horizon.
Route 70. We turned into the main highway.
I was getting restless; I tossed and fidgeted all over the seat. At least I didn’t have to drive; my flank was getting pretty numb. Flitter was sitting silently in the back, her face buried in the book she took from the library. Roxanne was at the back, tending to Blossomforth.
“Why do you fight for the resistance? What keeps you going? More and more ponies are getting desperate, flooding over to the South so that the Orient can take them in, pathetic if you ask me.” Kyara asked suddenly as I pondered deeply.” One day, one day… We could be free from this nightmare… as if the infected is not enough already.”
“I fight to stay alive, to protect all that I love, from the ones that would take it away from us. Don’t we all? What about you? What fuels your desire to fight?”
Kyara sighed, peering out into the open, as if looking out into the open sky.” I fight, not because I hate what’s in front of me. I fight because I love what’s behind me… Yeah, just like you.” I nodded. I reflected on her words deeply, staring blankly at my hooves.
Snapping out of deep thought, I turned to look at my little friend, who was still engrossed in her book.
“Is that what I think it is?” Kyara asked, curiosity sparking in her eyes.
“Wat, it's nothing!…” Flitter said meekly while hiding part of her face with the book, her eyes fixating on it once more.
“Well… we do get interested in that kind of stuff at some point of our lives.” Kyara chuckled, maintaining a straight face afterwards and pivoting her head towards me. I laid back, trying to get some rest. I don’t feel like sleeping, in fact, I’m dying for some action. But we all should appreciate some peace for once.
The vehicle began slowing considerably, before coming to a complete stop beside a gas station.
“C’mon, pit stop. I’ll check the vehicle for damage etcetera. You girls could get out and stretch for a while.” Kyara exited the SUV and I followed.
“I’ll stay and take care of Blossom.” Roxanne called out.
Kyara went over to the front and opened the hood, checking the engine intensively.” Why not go over and see if there’s any fuel?”
She pointed to the station. I trotted over to the pumps, stretching my hooves and neck as I did. I detached the handle and verified for any drops of liquid gold. It probably had dried up over the years; the feeding tube had a brown sludge stuck on it. In no possible way was there any oil left in the tank, even if there were, the pump was unusable. I threw the piece of junk on the floor and stomped back to the vehicle. I opened the rear door and sat down on the soft padding of the compartment. Blossomforth was lying at the back, bloods staining on the grey padding. Roxanne was lying against the wall of the vehicle beside her.
“How are you feeling?” I gently put my hoof on her bandaged wound, brushing it softly.
“It could be worse, y’know? I’m feeling good actually, just hoping nothing bad pops up on the way.” Blossom looked at me faintly with her bright blue eyes, putting her hoof on her chest.
“You get some rest, we should be there soon.” I got up and softly shut the rear door. I cantered up onto the empty highway, feeling as if no car in the world could stop me. Well, they can’t stop me because we’re the only functional vehicle in the middle of nowhere, a few miles out of the city. The highway stretched to eternity, the warm fuzzy sunlight blurring the horizon. Wreckages of vehicles, big and small, were strewn all over the sides of the roads, with an occasional one on one side of the road. Only the sound of the soft shuffling of the wind could be heard, I closed my eyes to let it brush against my fur.
“Hey! Eve, I’m done with the SUV. Come here, we’ll check our equipment.” Kyara yelled, slamming the hood and putting her bags on it. I swiftly bounded up and watched as she took out several gadgets, two pistols and the shotgun from earlier.
“What are those?” I asked, pointing to the small, box-like contraption among the other items.
“Oh, that’s useful stuff. You can have it, strap it to your hunting rifle. It’s an autoloader; the device scans your bag for suitable ammo and reloads your weapon for you.”
Definitely useful, I didn’t like digging for the scattered cartridges when I could be firing a follow-up shot quickly. I strapped the device on the underside of the barrel, tucking it beside the scope on the side of the gun. I slung the rifle back.
“Alright, ready to go?” I nodded, pulling the door and getting into the seat. Kyara got in, rubbing her hooves together before putting them on the wheel. We set off down the highway on onwards to the next part of our journey.
A beautiful lake stretched out on our left, glimmering in the sunlight and casting reflections on its smooth surface as the alpine forests rolled past us on the other side. At this moment, I really felt the vastness of this world, how there are no limits as long as we believe. Among all the bloody violence and conflicts, there is still beauty in Equestria. Nature is coming back at us. The sun hung high as its glaring needle-like rays insinuated into the vehicle.
“Steel creek, they say the reflection during sunset makes it look sleek just like steel.”
“That’s pretty cool, I’m sick of being in the city, the air’s as stale as bread left for decades.” That was obviously an exaggeration, but it was that bad. Probably the southern air is fresher.
“Oh my…” Flitter murmured with an embarrassed look on her face.
I turned back, staring at her in curiosity and disgust.
“Do you have important business in the Dam? You seem to risk a hell lot for this trip.” Kyara asked suddenly, turning the vehicle down a lane.
“I- er… It’s about something in the south, and Flitter.”
“What about her?”
I looked at Flitter and she nodded with uncertainty.
“She is important.” I replied with much deference.
“What do you mean? She’s like some sort of aristocratic upper-class billionaire’s daughter? Or maybe… she’s the key to curing this disease, a counteragent?” Kyara broached, with an intense look in her eyes.
“I’d like to hope it’s the latter, there’s only one such pony who possess this immunity to the parasite.”
“Oh? That’s not impossible…”
“He’s none other than the leader of Orient, but not many ponies know that.”
“Yeah, we know that a long time ago. We should kill him, chop him up and make a vaccine.” Kyara suggested, a smile inching on her face.
“I plan to do that.”
“Reverse engineering a vaccine is harder than it looks, especially when the virus had been around for so long.” Flitter spoke, putting her book down.
“That’s what everypony would’ve wanted, way to ruin this dream.” Kyara frowned.
“Wait, is it really impossible?” I said from my head, thinking blankly about how it would be done, but my lack of scientific knowledge does not help one bit.
“It will be difficult, the virus could have adapted and mutated. Just think about it, his genes were modified to have a resistance to the virus when he started experimenting with the parasites. That was before the outbreak happened.” Flitter explained.
“So if he gets bit now, it’s game over?” I asked.
“Oh-no-no-no-no-” Flitter rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed.” It doesn’t work like that… However may the virus have mutated, the chromatin’s chemical composition stays the same, that means whichever change in his gene that grants him immunity recognizes the virus, it is able to adapt quickly and eradicate the virus. It’s just like T helper cells and Memory T cells, Memory T cells can recognize an antigen even after years! They will send a signal to the helper cells; they recognize the antigen and will activate the Cytotoxic T cells, which will then eliminate the threat.”
“The fuck did I just hear?” Kyara blinked at me with a blank face.
“It’s true Kya, I take Bio in school and I remembered that class.” Roxanne popped her head out of the back seat and said.
“I think I get it, so his gene alteration allowed him to detect the pathogen and kill it before it kills him?” I tried to put everything together, piece it piece by piece.
“Yesh.”
“Then why can’t we reverse engineer a vaccine?” Kyara retorted.
“Eye didn’t say that.”
“Yeah you did.”
“No she didn’t.”
“Yes eye didn’t.”
“Yeah she did.”
“No eye didn’t.”
“Yes she didn- wait, stop!” I blared, hooves pressing on my cheek.
“Stop the car?”
“No!”
“Chill, I’m just joking.”
“Ugh-“
“Anyway, how did you know all this, Flitter? Were you that one pony who does hardcore science and scores top in school?”
“Eye work in a Biochemical research lab, so that’s something eye should know. It’s pretty basic.” Flitter prated, heaving a sigh.
“Really? Could you teach me what you know, I love science! I wanna be a scientist one day; it’s just sooo cool and stuff.” Roxanne climbed on the middle seat, tugging at Flitter.
“Uh- eye…” She stared at me, her eyes giving me an obvious ‘help-me’ look.
“Puhhh-Lease? I have a few books on the subject but some are too hard!” Roxxy pulled out two thick books and plopped the on the seat.
“…Fine, eye’ll just… take it as a revision.” Flitter sighed, flipping the book open.
---
I began pondering about the dream I’d had earlier this morning, the pieces and fragments of the memory flashed across my head as I tried to remember.
“Flitter, have you been to a medical seminar before?” She looked at me, confounded. “I mean… specifically a few weeks before the outbreak.”
“Yeah, eye have. But eye can’t recall most of them." She said softly, eyes looking intensely at the book.
I furrowed my brows,” Hmm, forget I asked that.” I waved off. It wouldn’t make any difference, meh.
Peering out of the window, I mooned over into the endless valleys that have started to loom into view, tall coniferous trees stretching along the two sides of the road. I have been to Ponyville before and the area had started to look recognizable, I’d just hope that the place was not as swarmed with infected like that last time.
---
“That’s Canterlot up there, bits and pieces are falling apart, but it’s worth a check-out, next time, of course.” I gazed upon the towering mountain in the distance, a faint grey-white structure protruding from the sides, the single mountain stood amongst a vast and thick forest. Ponyville should be coming up, a road sign at the side of the highway says: Ponyville 16 miles right.
One step closer to the Dam, let’s see how this goes.