"Oh my word..."
Rarity let her eyes trace over the carnage before her; several corpses scattered across the floor, torn and shredded and burned. Bits of shrapnel still clung to flesh, and the walls were decorated with what came off or out of their targets. Indeed, before this all began Rarity would likely have thrown up (again), but staring at the gory display left her all too aware of how numb she was becoming to violence. "How in the world did you manage this...?"
"I just popped them with Pinkie Pie's Party Pooper Projectile Popper Pipe (Patent Pending)!" Rarity almost jumped out of her skin as she turned to see Pinkie Pie sitting on a nearby step of the staircase that lead to the upper level. While none of them were exactly clean, Pinkie was particularly filthy, covered in grime and filth; notably she was missing her left fore hoof, which was now a bandage-wrapped stump, which was new to Rarity.
"Oh my word! Pinkie Pie, what happened to your hoof!?"
Pinkie blinked and looked to her stump, giving it a wiggle. "Oh!" She giggled and waved the stump. "This was an accident! I was toying with making the P.P.P.P.P.P.P(P.P) and wouldn't you know it, one of the darn things blew my hoofsy right off!"
Rainbow Dash grimaced. "She was supposed to stay back at the farm to heal, but she demanded she come anyway to make sure you were safe..." The pegasus sighed and shrugged. "For the best though... to be honest, I'm not too sure I could have made it to you without her pipe bombs..."
"Pinkie Pie's Party Pooper Projectile Party Popper Pipe (Patent Pending)! You gotta say the whole thing, Rainbow Dash!" The pegasus groaned and put a hoof against her face. "C'mon! I lost a hoofsy for this!"
"Fiine..." Rainbow deadpanned. "Pinkie Pie's Party Pooper Projectile Party Popper Pipe."
"Aaaaand?" said Pinkie with a grin.
"Ugh.... Patent Pending..."
"You didn't use the parenthesis, but I'll forgive it this time!"
"What?"
"LET'S GO HOME!"
***************************************
Three little ponies skulked around corners and alleys, remaining just out of sight from potential predators. Indeed, as they skulked around, they saw many of the fiends lurking and shuffling aimlessly in search for their next meal. Pinkie Pie took point while Rainbow Dash helped Rarity along - the mare still being a bit weak from a mix of the medication she had tried to ingest and a day's starvation. The pink pony reached into her bag and pulled out a small iron cylinder. Sitting on her haunches, she placed it in her one forehoof and reached down with her muzzle, withdrawing a match, and striking it on a nearby wall, before lighting the fuse and then chucking it forward into a crowd. They heard a pang, and the sounds of the infected ponies groaning louder, sensing a disturbance in their morbid order. Then came a loud bang, several thuds, some unpleasant gurgling noises, then silence. Pinkie gave a peak around the corner and turned to her friends. "There's a few more left, with a couple dragging themselves along the ground, but I think we're good!"
"Excellent" Rainbow grinned. "Now, let's get past them and make our way to Town Hall, hunker down there for a day. Should be enough food to get Rarity back in good condition so we can make the trip to Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow." A collective nod from her friends, and then the group, and Pinkie reached into her bag, producing a crowbar to give to Rainbow Dash, and an oversized mallet for herself. The ponies moved forward into the open, slowly and quietly. A few of the undead seemed to notice them, but the damage done to their bodies robbed them of the ability to warn their brethren. "Thank goodness for small blessings..." Rainbow muttered silently as they moved. Reaching another alley, the ponies felt some of the pressure fall away, but their trip wasn't quite done yet. Eventually, they reached a fence that was too high for them to climb. Rainbow grimaced and shook her head. "Shoot... dead end..."
"Dashie? Still?" Rainbow turned back to see Pinkie staring at her with sad eyes. "You still won't fly?"
"No." She looked back to the fence. "We'll find another way around. Let's go." Rarity and Pinkie shared a glance as Rainbow helped Rarity stand and lead her away. The small group zigzagged through the alleys, trying to avoid the streets whenever possible. If they had to, they would crawl across streets and try to keep as low a profile as possible and not draw attention. Rainbow Dash stared at those hordes, at groups, even single infected, and remembered times past; how arrogant she had been when this all had begun.
Her heart ached as she remembered what that arrogance had cost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THREE MONTHS AFTER INFECTION BEGAN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, Twilight, I have to say we've outdone ourselves!"
"I know, right!?" Twilight positively beamed at the sight before her; a decommissioned steam engine that she and her friends had managed to repair (with no small amount of hard work). It had required fortifying the area to keep their work protected from the ravenous ponies that plagued their town, and they had unfortunately lost a pony protecting it, but the train was safe, and after so much hard work, finally completed. Twilight wiped her brow, getting oil on her forehead in the process. "I can't believe we're done!" Twilight danced around joyously. "It's been a month of hard work, but we finally fixed up this old train!"
"I can't believe it either!" Applejack came from behind a door frame, her hair a mess, face covered in dirt, a grin plastered on her. "I gotta admit, Twilight, I thought you was crazy when you suggested fixin' up this ol' engine, but I think we've finally got our escape! Heck, we got a few cars from the train yard, we might be able to make this a comfortable trip!"
"Indeed" Twilight giggled and looked over their work; the train was a familiar setup. It looked like the old 'Friendship Express', but had various bits of metal plating covering it, reinforcing the machine. The windows had fencing on them to prevent unwanted entry from unwanted entities, and with Pinkie Pie's help they had even managed to graft re purposed party cannons to it as defensive tools. "I think we're actually going to get out of here!"
"Yeah, not that I totally couldn't leave any time I wanted!"
Everypony turned to Rainbow Dash, who lay on top of the train, smiling. "I mean, not that I would! You're all my best buds, and I wouldn't leave you girls behind!"
"That's not the point, Rainbow Dash..." Twilight sighed, shaking her head. "A lot of us could leave any time we wanted. In fact, I'm willing to wager that most of the pegasai in Equestria flew off to Cloudsdale for sanctuary. This isn't about saving ourselves, this is about saving as many ponies as possible!"
"And how will that little train do that?" Rainbow quirked a brow.
"If we can round up as many ponies as we can..." began Twilight, "... We can get them on this fortified mobile fortress and ride the rails in search of a safety zone. There's at least three safe zones, probably more, in Equestria, and I'm certain this train will help us find at least one of them! If we can find one, we can get those of us who can't fly some shelter!"
"Besides, y'all can't fly forever." Applejack stepped forward, stomping a hoof. "Who says Cloudsdale ain't infested by now? So many pegasai goin' there, you never know who went with a dirty lil' secret!"
"Pfft, Cloudsdale's security is much better than that!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew down to her friends, landing on her hooves. "I mean, it sucks, but they'd turn anypony with a bite down at the gate, and search thoroughly." She stared them in the eyes. "Really thoroughly. 'Hooves in places they shouldn't be' thoroughly."
"Well if yer so confident, why don't ya jus' go there then?" Applejack gritted her teeth, stomping her hoof. "Why let us weigh ya down when you could be up in Cloudsdale drinkin' a martini an' dancin' on sunshine?"
"Because that'd be lame!" Rainbow grinned, crossing her forelegs. "I get to live the coolest dream here! Fighting the zombie apocalypse! Beating the undead back! I'm like a living legend!"
"Y'all are treatin' this like a game!" Applejack spat at the floor, glaring daggers at her pegasus friend. "This ain't no game, Rainbow! Ponies are dyin' out there, an' not all of 'em are stayin' dead! In three months we've had more close calls than I care ta think about! We've lost ponies we loved! We've lost--" Applejack stopped herself. For a moment, her eyes became sad and sorrowful. But then she shook her head and regained her composure. "This is no time to be a filly! We've lost so much and you disrespect the memories of important ponies by actin' like this!"
"Hey, get off my back!" Rainbow threw her hooves into the air. "I work hard, alright? I totally take this stuff seriously! Does that mean I can't get a little thrill out of it?"
"Well we're glad yer havin' so much fun!" Applejack yelled back. "I just hope we don't inconvenience ya by dyin' too quickly!"
"Girls!"
Both mares turned to Twilight, who quickly threw her hooves over her mouth. She cleared her throat and gave them both her most lecture-worthy glare as she tried to speak quietly. "We're in the middle of a war zone here, alright? Our fortifications might keep those monsters from noticing us so easily, but let's not bicker too much and risk luring them here, please? Besides, we have enough trouble dealing with this infection, do we really need to be at each other's throats right now?" The two mares huffed and looked away from one another, neither particularly happy. "I know it's tough, we're all stressed out, and we all have our ways of coping with it... but please, try to calm down. Every day is potentially our last day alive. If one of you were to die tonight, would you want this to be the last conversation you two had?" That seemed to catch their attention; the angry looks on both of their faces became uncertainty, and then worry, and they looked back to each other.
"No..." they both said.
"Right." Twilight nodded. "Apologize to each other and make up as if you knew that tomorrow was your last day alive."
Applejack sighed and put her hoof on the back of her head. "I'm... I'm sorry for yellin', Rainbow Dash."
"Me too..." Rainbow rubbed her foreleg with a hoof. "... I'm... I'm sorry if I upset you."
"No biggie."
Twilight smiled as the two friends moved in and put their hooves around each other and hugged. "That's better... now girls, I think we deserve a rest! Everypony take a break, we've got a big day ahead of us of transporting food and ponies here to prepare for our trip!"
"I think I'm gonna go on out there an' get back to th' farm..." Applejack sighed and shook her head. "I'm gonna deliver the good news to the ponies who ain't here, as well as the bad news about losin' Carrot Cake..." Applejack sighed and shook her head. "Cupcake, Pinkie an' the twins'll be so upset..." Everypony hung their heads in silence at the mention of their fallen friend. The door kicked open, and a familiar red stallion stepped in with a box filled with varying parts and pieces.
"Got a delivery of parts y'all asked for?"
"Yes, put them in the train" Twilight nodded and pointed to the engine behind her.
"Parts? Why do we need parts? I thought we was done?" Rainbow Dash quirked a brow watching as the farm pony trotted on board the engine.
"Well, we can't jus' go out there thinkin' the train is invincible!" Applejack rolled hey eyes, shaking her head.
"Indeed, we need parts in case anything acts up. Maintenance may become important in the days to come!" Twilight clopped her hooves together. "With those, we'll be able to keep everything up to snuff. We'll stop at intervals in places where the train is either well fortified or there's an absence of infected to monitor our train's conditions." The larger pony stepped off the train and back into the door he had come from. "Well, I'm tired, so I'm going to grab a snack and get to sleep..."
"You're not comin' back with us?" Applejack seemed somewhat surprised.
"No, somepony needs to stay here and keep an eye on the train." Twilight looked back to the engine, then back to her friends. "I figure I'm capable enough to keep watch over it." Applejack stared at her uncertainly, then looked back to Rainbow Dash who shrugged.
"Well, if ya like, I can stick around here an' make sure everything is fine if ya like. I'd hate to leave ya all in yer lonesome here." Applejack looked across the room at Twilight as she made her way towards their makeshift sleeping quarters.
"Thanks, Applejack, but I'll be alright." Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Somepony needs to keep track of this, and you all need to see your friends and family."
"Hey, if the egghead says she's okay, she's okay." Rainbow Dash grinned and pumped her hoof. "We'll just make our way back to Sweet Apple Acres, deliver the news, and get a good night's rest, right? Heck, I can come back here after I get you guys back to the farm and stick around!"
"I guess that could work..." Applejack grimaced. "But please, Rainbow, keep a low profile. Last thing we need is for ya to lure the infected somewhere they don' need to be."
"Pff, puh-lease! I'm all about low profile!" Rainbow Dash grinned and crossed her forelegs. "I mean, have you ever met a pony any more low profile than me?" Watching as her friends exchanged uncertain glances didn't exactly make her happy. "Alright, I'll stay on the ground. That sound good?"
Applejack sighed in relief. "Yes please. I know you like flyin', but the higher you are the easier you are to follow..."
"I know I know..." Rainbow Dash shook her head and landed on the ground with the others. "So, are we ready to take off?"
"In a bit" Big Mac nodded. "First, we gotta grab gear in case we gotta fight our way back."
************************
Sticking to the back alleys had become second nature now. At first it had been a tricky thing to do; the urge to risk running into the street thinking one can outrun the infected was often strong, but so many close calls had taught them the art of subtlety and stealth. It had been trial and error, and a lot of time learning the limitations of their predators.
First rule; the undead (a word Twilight hated to use) were not always slow. The health of the pony before infection was often important in this; a stronger, healthier uninfected pony would likely be able to sprint after infection. Never assume you can easily evade the undead by fleeing; keep an open eye for sprinters, and if you can't lose them, work to eliminate them.
A loud roar grabbed the three ponies' attention, and they all turned to see an undead pony screeching at them. Immediately, it picked up it's hooves and rushed at them. Big Mac stepped before the mares and pulled up his club, giving a well-timed swing and striking the creature upside the head, causing it to flip backwards and tumble across the floor. Moving quick, he rushed to the creature's side and spat his club into his hooves, raising it high and bringing it hard upon the creature's skull. A loud crack silenced it, and it's body went limp. The sound of screeching caught their attention, and everypony turned to see several of the infected pouring into the alley.
Second rule; the undead sometimes hunt in herds. It was not something they had expected, but the creatures seemed to tend to overwhelm their targets with greater numbers. Twilight had theorized it was a remaining vestige of the herd mentality from their previous lives playing in, but had never been able to properly analyze them to learn the full truth of it. This did not always hold true of course; they would pursue their targets regardless of their numbers, but they didn't seem to be focused on keeping their prey to themselves.
"Run!"
Everypony began to run away as the herd chased after them, teeth gnashing and bodies twisting over each other. They would trample over their own trying to rush after the group, crushing them beneath trampling hooves. As the two mares and stallion ran, they kept turning back to keep an eye on their pursuers.
"I'm gonna try to lead them away!"
"What? Are you crazy!?"
"Yeah right I am!"
Rainbow Dash opened her wings and flapped hard as the ponies reached an exit, and as she took flight, half of the herd turned to follow her. She was somewhat upset to see the other half, however, was still pursuing her friends.
Third rule; the undead will almost always follow the larger group when somepony separates. Some might chase the break-away, but the only certain safety is to be unnoticed by them entirely.
Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath; she had to find a way to get the rest of them off her friends. She circled around and looked down at the swarms of ponies following her, thanking goodness that the pegesai didn't have the dexterity or coordination to take flight anymore. She looked around, trying to find the other two ponies; they appeared immediately followed by a massive horde. "Ponyfeathers..." With wings spread wide, Rainbow Dash bolted down, passing just over the surprised Applejack and Big McIntosh. Immediately, the horde saw her coming and began to leap forward. Rainbow pulled up as quick as she could, watching as the undead tried to make a grab for her and piled over each other, stumbling, tripping, and falling over. The pegasus watched the other two round a corner and grinned smugly, turning as she watched the undead reach up and leap trying to catch her. "Hey boys and girls, see something ya like!?" She turned about, aiming her flank at them and wiggling it. "Come and get it!" With that, she bolted in the opposite direction the apples had fled, and the ponies began to stumble about trying to turn around to chase after her.
As she flew, Rainbow Dash turned to look the direction the apples had run, and saw Sweet Apple Acres off in the distance. She wondered if they would make the run all the way there or if they would hide in a house nearby. Either was fine really. She would find somewhere else to hide; after all, the sky was hers. She was one of the few ponies who didn't have to truly fear the undead; indeed, the only thing she was worried about was her friends. She drifted and turned, deciding that she had lead the herd on enough, and began to descend to hide more among the houses. Eventually, she landed on a balcony and lowered herself down, peaking just over the ledge. For several minutes, she heard them, before seeing several run into the street before her. Many of them slowed and stopped, while others kept on running, chasing prey that was no longer running. Rainbow grinned to herself and began to skulk backwards, pressing into the balcony door. Reaching a hoof up carefully, she twisted it and pushed it open, then backed into the house, shutting the door behind her.
"That was clo--"
"Hooves up! Don't move a muscle!"
Rainbow Dash's first instinct was to attack. Normally, she'd had flipped around and struck, but the feeling of something sharp poking into her back halted that train of though, and instead she slowly raised her hooves into the air. "Cool it buddy" she said, hoping that the deepness of the voice speaking to her was indicative of a stallion. "I'm just trying to get away from the horde."
"Yeah, I see that, but most pegasai just went to Cloudsdale. What're you doing here?" Rainbow slowly turned her head. "Don't turn around! I don't trust you!" Rainbow re-averted her gaze, setting it upon the balcony door again. "Why are you here? Every pegasus I know of ran to Cloudsdale. You have no reason to be here."
"I'm here because I have friends here" Rainbow said clearly, totally not afraid for her life. "I don't abandon my friends."
"Everypony has their price." The point on her back pulled away. "What are you doing here? More specifically, here, in this house?"
"I had to lead the horde away from some of my friends." Rainbow didn't turn yet, not wanting to upset her captor. "They were being chased, and I lead the herd away."
"You can turn around." Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and slowly turned around to face this mystery stallion; to her surprise, she did see the stallion, but somepony else was with him. A small colt standing by his side, or rather, hiding behind him. Both of them were an earthy brown color, the stallion himself being more grey, and having golden brown eyes, while the colt had bright blue eyes. The stallion was noticeably bald, and the colt had a head full of red hair. Rainbow Dash sighed, somewhat relieved. "No wonder you were so paranoid... you got a kid.
"Yeah you wanna make something of it sweet-cheeks?" The stallion huffed, holding the spear he had been holding to Rainbow Dash's back to his side. "Well, you lead them away, so you can take off now. Go away and do whatever your kind does." Rainbow Dash stared at the stallion and the colt; as soon as her eyes fell on the colt, he seemed to peak around his father some. "We don't need your kind 'round here. We can take care of ourselves."
Rainbow eyed the colt for a moment, before turning her attention back to the stallion. "Wait, what, and leave you two here? I mean... how long have you been here?"
"Thank you for your 'kindness', but we don't need nopony's help." The stallion huffed. "How long we been here is nopony's business but our own, so get on goin' now." Rainbow turned about and put a hoof on the balcony door, but she looked back at the stallion and his colt again, the small colt seeming to shy behind his father. She bit her lip, took a breath, and nodded.
"... Sir, I know you don't trust me, but you do know there's a small band of survivors in this town, right?"
"Well duh!" The stallion laughed mockingly. "We're scattered all over!"
"No no... I mean that there's a group that sticks together and helps each other." Rainbow Dash's eyes kept going back to the colt whose stare became less intimidated and more... hopeful?
"Good for you." The stallion snorted. "I bet you're all proud and happy. Now go off and have your tea with your friends, cause we don't need nopony else weighing us down and eating our food."
"We have food." Rainbow scowled. "We've salvaged enough to last us months at least. We have that, we have security, we have numbers... sir, we're prepared for the worst this town has to offer." The stallion's expression seemed to shift suddenly, eyes wide. "Please sir, if you won't do it for yourself, do it for your son?"
"Wait..." the stallion stopped and stared at Rainbow Dash suspiciously. He turned his attention to his son, then back to her. "You tellin' me y'all have food? Lots of food?"
Rainbow Dash put a hoof over the back of her neck. "Sort of. We grow most of it, although we really do have a lot of salvaged goods." The cyan mare beamed. "If you came with me, I'm sure my friends would let you and your son in without question and we could feed you and you can help us too!" The stallion looked back to his colt, rubbing his chin with his hoof, and then turning back to Rainbow Dash, clearly interested.
"Well buck me sideways and call me Nancy... you all could do that for me an' m' boy?"
Rainbow cringed at his particular choice of words - she wasn't exactly Ms. Clean Mouth, but she rarely swore in front of children. "Of course." The stallion put a hoof on his chest and nodded.
"Miss.... uh... Pegasus...?"
"Rainbow Dash"
"Miss Dash, you have done a kindness fer me an' m' boy this day. I had no idea anypony could be so kind! Please, forgive my earlier rudeness..." The stallion turned back to look at his son, whom Rainbow noticed seemed to flinch as he did. "Well Rusty, what do ya say to th' nice mare?"
"Th... thhhhhank you mmmmmmiss Rainbow D... D... D... Dash..."
The stallion sighed, rolling his eyes and looking back to Rainbow. "Forgive the boy, he's got a bit of a stutter, gets hard for 'em to talk.... so! When do we go?"
*********************************
It had been an arduous task getting through the town without drawing too much attention, but Rainbow Dash had managed it. She had considered staying a night in that house, but she couldn't shake something about that stallion; something she didn't like. Truth be told, she'd rather not have been leading him back to the farm, but then she considered his son. That poor colt would stare at her with wonder the entire way back, and cower anytime his father spoke or looked at him. She knew she'd have to keep her eye on him.
"And here we are!"
"Well slap my junk and call it a Manehattan Hoofshake... ya live on the farm? I figured this place'd be zombie city by now!"
She flinched once more; this stallion was awful fond of some pretty racey phrases and seemed to lack any regard for the presence of children when he says them. "No..." Rainbow Dash shrugged a bit, looking towards the farm. "It's pretty secure. We're far from Ponyville prior, and so long as we don't make a lot of noise, the dead ponies don't come out this far."
Thee stallion chuckled. "If I'da thought of all that, I'da called dibs at the very start."
Rainbow shrugged. "Not likely. We're with the original owners. But let's stop talking and start walking, shall we?"
The small group of ponies began their trot down the path to Sweet Apple Acres, and Rainbow decided to look at the colt, whose eyes ran over the trees of the farm with such awe. It was as if he hadn't seen so many apples in one place before in his life. She smiled a bit, until the colt noticed her looking, then shrunk back a bit. 'Timid little fella...' As they neared the house, they came across a barbed wire fence that circled around the building that emitted a buzzing noise. "Hold up, I gotta go shut the power down." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and lifted up from the ground, drifting towards a machine that was connected to the fence by wires. Landing next to it, she pressed a big red button, and the buzzing around the fence ceased. She returned to the other two, unlocked the fence, and opened it, smiling wide. "Come on in!"
After shutting the fence back, the ponies made the remainder of their trek until reaching the house door. Rainbow knocked in a familiar pattern - Shave and a Maincut - and then the door opened, revealing an angry looking Applejack. "Hey A.J!" Shouted Rainbow Dash with a grin. "How are you?"
"Where have you been!?" Applejack stomped. "We've been plumb worried when you didn't come back! We thought you went and got yourself killed!"
"Pfft, as if!" Rainbow grinned and crossed her forelegs. "I had to lose 'em and hunker down for a bit so I could make my daring escape! Didn't want to lead undesirables back to the HQ! Also, I got newbies!" Rainbow stepped aside, waving a hoof to showcase the stallion and his boy. "Meet..." She blinked. "Uhh..."
"Stone Strong, ma'am." The stallion shoved past Rainbow, taking Applejack's hoof in his and bringing it up to his muzzle, giving it a kiss. "An' this here's m' boy, Rusty."
Applejack pulled her hoof away, offering an awkward laugh in respond. "Oh my, uh, how... fancy? Uh, hi there, Mister Stone, Rusty... what can I do ya for?"
The stallion simply gave her most charming look. "Oh, I'm offerin' for free."
Applejack bit her lip; Rainbow almost chuckled seeing the poor mare looking as if she wished she could be anywhere else right at this moment. "Uhhh, yyyeeeah, I'll... keep that in mind. Uhm, well, my name is Applejack, an' this here's the Sweet Apple Acres. I... suppose we might be able to hold ya... can ya gimme a sec?" Applejack gently moved around the stallion and then past Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, can we have a word?" Rainbow Dash gulped and followed the mare until they were distant enough. Applejack made sure she could see the stallion and his colt as she spoke.
"Rainbow, what're ya doin'!? You can't just bring ponies here without tellin' us! We're on a tight meal plan as it is!"
"What was I supposed to do, Applejack? Leave them out there to die?" Rainbow Dash scowled, crossing her forelegs. "Look, I know this is short notice, and I know I've been a pain lately, but I couldn't just leave them! I mean... sure the stallion's kinda a jerk, but look at his son!" Applejack looked past Rainbow for a second, then grimaced.
"He looks like any ordinary kid t' me."
"Exactly! He's just an ordinary kid with a bad stutter. He's terrified and he flinches anytime somepony looks at him. If it was just the stallion, I'd have trusted him to take care of himself, but that colt? I couldn't sleep at night if I just left him alone out here to whatever fate his dad was happy to fall to!" Applejack raised a hoof and readied to talk, but no words came out. She tried to speak, but always came just short of a rebuttal. She scrunched her nose, looking past Rainbow, and then shook her head.
"Alright, alright... I see your point..." Rainbow Dash grinned triumphantly. "Still, I wish you coulda given us a bit more heads up... I don't even know if we'll have the supplies necessary to deal with two extra ponies..."
"We'll deal" Rainbow Dash nodded.
"Yeah, guess so..." Applejack sighed and stepped back towards the house, Rainbow in tow. "Well, Stone Strong, Rusty, jus' follow us inside an' I'll show ya where you'll be sleepin' tonight. Jus' mind yer hooves an' be nice to everypony an' we'll get along jus' fine."
"Oh... I think we'll get along famously..." The stallion chuckled a bit. Rainbow Dash frowned a bit as she followed them inside. The more time she spent around this stallion, the less she liked him.
Did I do the right thing?
TO BE CONTINUED...