Click.
That sounded like a door.
Silence permeated through the room for several minutes. She felt her heartbeat pick up near instantly when that click seemed to rattle the entire room in her own mind; one tiny noise that stuck out over the faint groaning and hissing noises that were a constant just outside.
Pinkie Pie's ears swiveled and spun as she felt a creaking and the bed shift. Immediately, she grabbed a golf club that was sitting next to her and held it up. "Touch either of us and you'll be singing a few octaves higher buster-oh Hi Rainbow Dash!" Indeed, her rainbow maned pegasus friend had jumped back and stuck against the wall, eyes wide. "What're you doin' up silly?"
"I-I-I was just.... getting some fresh air..." said Rainbow, clearly quite surprised.
Pinkie Pie sat the golf club back down, sitting on her haunches, watching Rarity roll over, still fast asleep. Pinkie cleared her throat and spoke more towards a whisper. "Sorry about that. So, did you have fun flying?"
Rainbow tensed a bit; she had no idea why she was embarrassed about it, but she simply blushed and nodded. "Y-yeah..." The pegasus released a sigh. "... I'd forgotten just how free flying made me feel... "
"I'm glad." Pinkie Pie smiled for her friend. "I'm glad you finally found a way to love yourself."
Rainbow smirked, shaking her head. "Pinks... you always find a way to make things weird."
"It's true, but so is what I said." Pinkie turned and stepped from the bed; her efforts rewarded by falling face first into the floor. She groaned and whimpered a little, waggling her stump where her left hoof had once been. Slowly, the pink party pony pulled herself up, dusted herself off, and smiled. "Sorry..."
"You alright?" Rainbow had moved around the bed toward her friend, concern etched in her face. "That looked rough..."
"Y-yeah, I'm fine..." Pinke cleared her throat up a bit, looking down to her stump and wiggling it. "I forget it's gone sometimes. Not usually a problem, but makes things like stairs and getting out of bed silly sometimes..." Rainbow Dash sat next to her friend, patting her on the shoulder, but Pinkie shoved her away, smiling wide. "It's alright though!" She nodded towards Rainbow. "Sure, it's inconvenient, but I'm alive, right? And now I can get a really cool replacement from Twilight next time we head to the hospital!"
Rainbow simply chuckled and nodded; no mirth in her as she did. "Yeah, of course Pinkie. Of course."
"Well then!" Pinkie hopped back into the bed. "Let's get some sleep! We've got a big day of sneaking around tomorrow, and we'll need all the rest we can get!" Rainbow looked at her friend a few seconds, not hiding her own concern for her, before finally relenting and making her way around to the other side of the bed, climbing into it and pulling the covers over herself.
"Goodnight, Pinkie" Rainbow said.
"Night Rainbow" responded Pinkie Pie.
And so, the room fell silent. The two lay silently, though Pinkie found herself unable to sleep. She turned around a few times, trying to get comfortable, but no go. Time passed, an soon, she had noticed an hour had gone by and she was still awake. Defeated, the pink pony lifted her head to look over her marshmallow friend, and whispered.
"Rainbow Dash...?"
No response.
"... Rainbow Dash?"
She still remained quiet.
Pinke lifted herself higher so she could better see over Rarity towards Rainbow, whose chest heaved up and down. The pink pony slowly eased herself from the bed, making double sure she put the right hoof forward first (so as not to fall over). After she eased her way out of bed, Pinkie quietly made her way out of the room and into the hallway. Pinkie looked towards another door that was cracked open, and made her way towards it. She nudged it open with her forehead, and using her flank, closed it back behind her. The room was messy with damaged, worn foal's clothes and toys scattered about, a twin bunk on one end of the room, a dresser on the other, and a closet that was opened and picked clean. She made her way to the beds and climbed into the bottom bunk, pulling the pillow close to herself and snuggling into it. Biting her lip and squeezing her eyes, she looked to her hoof-stub and waggled it a bit, then pressed into the pillow and, free from the prying eyes of friends, Pinkie Pie wept.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THREE MONTHS AFTER INFECTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What does the doggy say?"
Two little foals sat staring confusedly at their speaker. Pinkie grinned enthusiastically, holding a card with a picture of a dog. "Doggy says 'woof woof!' Can you say that?"
Suddenly, Pumpkin grinned an adorable baby grin. "Woofwoof!"
Pinkie let out a gasp. "That's right, Pumpkin! The doggy goes woof!" Pinkie lifted the little filly up and gave her a few pecks on the cheeks and nose. "Who's a smart cookie? You're a smart cookie! Yes you are yes you are!" She noticed little Pound Cake staring at her, his expression rather neutral. "Oh! Pound Cake, you're smart too!" She pulled the colt towards her and hugged and nuzzled him as well, and then kissed both foals foreheads. "You're both sweety sweet sweet smartum sweetums!" A loud, despairing cry from down stairs caught Pinkie Pie's attention. She carried the foals to their crib and gently set them inside. "Don't worry, Auntie Pinkie will be right back! Be good!" With that, the pink pony bolted out of the guest-bedroom-turned-nursery and down the stairs.
As she entered the living room, Pinkie noticed two things; one, that Applejack and Big Mac were back, and two, that a familiar blue, somewhat portly pony, was bawling her eyes out, hugging onto a somewhat tense Big Macintosh who seemed to be trying to comfort her. Pinkie's mouth hung a bit, looking between ponies. This wasn't right at all. They weren't supposed to be alone. "What? What's wrong?" she asked. "Where are the others? Rainbow? Twilight? Mister Cake...?"
The room seemed to become still and silent, save for Mrs. Cake's continued sobbing. Big Mac and Applejack exchanged sad glances, the younger sibling seeming to relent and turn to Pinkie. Applejack bowed her head and slowly made her way toward Pinkie Pie, then put a hoof on her shoulder. "Pinkie..." she began, her voice soft, almost cautious. "... Twilight stayed back with the train... to make sure everythin' is in order... an' Rainbow..." The orange mare fell silent, sighing. "... Well... I've no idea where she ran off to..."
Applejack slowly looked up, her eyes meeting with her pink friends. Pinkie noticed them glistening slightly, pained... like she wanted to say something, but simply couldn't bring herself to do it. "Pinkie..." Applejack grimaced, shaking her head again. "... Carrot Cake... he's... he..."
"He didn't make it" interrupted Big Mac, although not in the least bit rudely. "... We were scavenging... got ambushed. They grabbed 'em..." Big Mac frowned and bowed his head. "... There was nothin' we could do..."
"Nothing you could do?" said Mrs. Cake bitterly. "Nothing you could do!? You could have left him here with me! You could have kept him from going with you! You know he isn't strong! You lead him to his death you stupid idiots!" She began to pound on Big Mac's chest, the larger pony not seeming to be overly bothered by it. "You took my poor Ca... Carrot.... my... my sugarcup..." Cup Cake's lip trembled. "You... took my husband into the heart of madness and it killed him..." She hit Big Mac a few more times, though each punch was weaker than the last. Finally, she broke down and pressed her face into his chest again and resumed sobbing uncontrollably.
Pinkie simply shook her head. "That's not possible..." she said quietly. "... Mister Cake said he'd come back... that he'd stay out of trouble... he'd never lie..."
"Pinkie... it ain't like that..." said Applejack.
Pinkie didn't say anything. Indeed, she didn't seem to be registering anything at the moment. She simply stared into nothingness as a broken mare sobbed into Big Macintosh's barrel, and Applejack continued speaking words that meant nothing to the pony at this moment in time.
***************************************
"... And so, we commend these ponies to the everafter... we mourn their loss, but take peace in the knowledge that they are in a better place. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."
Death was something nopony was new to anymore. Indeed, they had built their own personal grave yard on the acres to mourn those whom they lost. Only a few of the graves actually held any bodies, however.
In this instance, they only had one to commend to the earth, as two ponies gently eased a small wooden box into the earth.
Pinkie stared at that box.
'A coffin so small should never have to be made.'
As the funeral ended, the coffin was buried; a stone reading 'Rusty' placed right above it's head. Nearby, another stone was being set that read 'Carrot Cake'. Having known everypony in Ponyville, this was not the first time the pink mare considered the situation; how shameful it is they could not make better headstones for their departed.
Pinkie turned about and watched as several ponies began to leave to return to life as normal (or at least as normal as can be). It still hurt her to see Applejack so damaged and bruised, but the mare was strong, and Pinkie knew she'd be alright. Rainbow Dash had fallen quiet and sombre; indeed, even Big Mac had started talking more to try to get her to speak up.
The loss of Carrot Cake. The death of the foal. Pinkie had no idea which one broke her heart more. She turned to look at the headstone with a frown. 'I never even knew these two ponies' she thought to herself. Maybe if she had thrown them a welcome party, things would have been different?'
It was then that a new thought hit Pinkie.
Slowly, but surely, they were dying.
"... We're dying..." she thought to herself. 'We're fighting a losing struggle... we may only lose one pony every three months... but in a year, that would be four ponies dead...' The pink mare slowly looked out at all the graves. Only a few of them were ponies lost after the initial infection; many of them were symbolic of loved ones found dead, or worse. '... We can't keep going as we are now...' she thought to herself. 'If something doesn't change... we'll all die...'
Pinkie sat in one place, her mind racing. Fears, worries, concerns... all buzzing in her head like bees.
And the more she thought of this, the more she thought of the twins. 'They aren't even walking' she thought, 'and they are stuck in this nightmare. At this rate, they'll be dead before they can even....'
'No.'
Pinkie grimaced. "No." She threw her hooves up. "No! I won't let that happen!"
Pinkie knew what needed to be done. And so, she headed back to the farm, ready to plan, ready to do better.
"For the twins!"
**************************************
"So... what you mean to say is that we've basically lost the train yard and everything in it?"
Twilight sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Yeah... I don't know why that monster set off an entire box of fireworks, but he did, and now the train yard is crawling with infected. I think he wanted to keep us distracted... I don't know, maybe he even simply wanted to kill us or draw our attention?" The alicorn shook her head. "Point is... all the supplies and salvage in the train yard might be beyond us for a while, at least until the herd loses interest in staying there."
"THAT SUCKS!"
Everypony jumped and turned to look to a large, overly muscular pegasus stallion. Fluttershy simply patted his side. "It is terrible, Bulk Biceps, but I think we can manage." The three ponies sat at a table located in the Apple Family's kitchen. Unlike the outside which seemed heavily fortified, the inside of the house still seemed normal, save for the sheet metal that was stuck to the window shutters and the bars that covered the windows themselves. There was little light to be had, save for a few candles keeping the room lit up.
"Fluttershy is right" Twilight nodded. "I think the biggest loss is what he took from our pantry. According to Big Mac, at least a quarter of our canned goods have been taken, which means we might have to run into town and salvage more... " The lavender princess shook her head, closing her eyes. "It seems like the herd isn't getting any thinner. It won't be easy going out there to salvage what we lost, especially now that we've lost Carrot... we're going to need to consider ways to improve our food production... I may have to resort to magically encouraging vegetable growth..." She sighed. "Problem is, I don't have the right equipment..."
Everyone fell quiet as Pinkie stepped into the room, humming. They watched her in silence as she made her way towards their table and sat down. "Hiya Twilight! Fluttershy! Bulk Biceps! Whatcha doin'?"
"Well..." started Twilight, "We're trying to come up with a plan to salvage our lost food."
"Oh! That sounds fun!" Pinkie nodded. "Want me to help?"
Twilight smiled a sympathetic smile - the kind of smile you gave to ponies you felt bad for. Why did she have to feel bad for Pinkie? "Pinkie, thanks, but we've got a bit in it already and-"
"Oh, but I can contribute a lot!" Pinkie bounced up and down. "I mean, I've been practicing with making stuff lately when Mrs. Cake is taking care of the twins, which I admit isn't happening a lot these past few days, but I've been reading up on some of those books you brought with you here!"
"Pinkie..." Twilight sighed. "We need you here. You need to take care of the twins and Mrs. Cake, now more than ever..."
"Oh! Mrs. Cake and the Twins are fine!" Pinkie giggled. "Why wouldn't they be?" Everypony stared at Pinkie Pie for a few minutes. They gave each other a glance, before turning back to their pink friend.
"Pinkie... you are aware that Carrot Cake is.... is..." Fluttershy whimpered as she tried to say it.
"Dead." Twilight grimaced; she didn't want to say it anymore than Fluttershy did, but she had to in her own mind. "We've lost Carrot Cake. The Cakes must be going through a lot of hard times... I'm... honestly surprised you're taking this as well as you are..."
Pinkie giggled. "Oh please! Carrot Cake was a good pony, but there's no point in being sad! Crying and moping won't bring him back! I mean, if it would, then I'm sure he'd be back by now cause Mrs. Cake has been crying a lot!" Pinkie smiled at her friends, who all shared glances that bordered between sympathy and uneasiness.
"You know..." Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Maybe we should give this another day to consider. Our food supply has suffered, but we're not too low... we have enough to last us the month at the very least."
"I agree..." Fluttershy nodded. "I think I'm going to go to bed... it's been a long day and I could use a nap..."
"Yeah!" shouted Bulk Biceps. "Power nap!" With that, the three ponies stood from their seats and made their ways towards the basement door.
"But wait!" Pinkie gasped. "I can be super useful! I'm learning how to make stuff! Noise makers... uhh... noise makers! I can make noise!" She watched as her friends made their way towards their makeshift bed space. Pinkie simply stared, her ears lowering and her head drooping sadly. "I can help..." she said quietly to nopony in particular, alone in the quiet stillness of the dining room. She looked towards the candle on the table, letting out a depressed sigh before leaning forward and blowing it out. "Make a wish, Pinkie Pie..." she whispered to herself with a mirthless smile. Pinkie then stood up, and made her own way from the kitchen.
Pinkie made her way through the living room, up the stairs, and into the hall where several doors waited; one lead to Applejack's room, and another to Big Mac's. The last one down the hall, the master bedroom, was Granny Smith's room; to this day, nopony occupied it, mostly because Applejack did not wish to see the room change. That didn't matter though; Pinkie focused on one door in particular. Slowly, she reached a pink hoof up, turned the knob, and pushed it open...
Inside, she saw the crib with the two foals sleeping soundly, and nearby their mother on the bed. Pinkie's eyes fell immediately on an empty bottle laying where her hoof was hanging, and made her way towards the mare. 'Apple Family Special Brew' it read. Pinkie frowned. "Oh Cup Cake..." she whispered. Shaking her head, Pinkie slowly made her way to the crib. Peaking inside, she saw the twins, sound asleep. A soft, warm smile built on her face as she looked over them.
"Heya, little baby Cakes..." Pinkie said quietly. ".... Did you know that your daddy is a hero?" The sleeping foals didn't respond. Pinkie Pie giggled quietly. "... Yes. He is a hero" she continued. "... Even before the bad ponies... he was a dear friend. He was like a big brother for me... always willing to listen to my problems... always there to lend a hoof..." She sighed. "... He gave me a job when I had no where else to turn to." She giggled a bit, shaking her head. "I'll never forget... Cup Cake always thought he was having an affair, and would never let us be alone... eventually, though, Carrot talked to her... and made her realize she was the only pony for him." Pinkie blinked a few times, pretended to look around, and smiled. "Between you and me... I thought he was cute... but Pinkie Pie knows better than to mess with a good thing." She giggled once more to herself, shaking her head, staring down at the infants. Her smiled slowly faded, and she sighed once more.
"... Just remember..." she took a deep breath. "... He did it... because he loves you." She smiled again. "... You and your mother... they meant the world to him... and I know... that if he had the option.... he would do it all over again, just to know you had one more day..."
Pumpkin squirmed and made a sour face, but seemed to calm back down. Pinkie smiled, leaning in to gently kiss the foreheads of both babies. She then made her way to a mattress on the floor, laying into it and pulling the covers over herself. She snuggled up with her pillow and yawned, closing her eyes.
"... And... I won't let him down..." she said to herself. "... Because I love you like my own nephew and niece..." Pinkie smiled softly, before drifting off into sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...