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// Episode two: the Beginning part 2 
// Story: Haven 
// by PressStart 
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Five days have past since the incident first started. The moaning had already stopped and everypony was finally calm. Spirit laid on the covers on her bed. It wasn't because she was tired or bored, but worried. What was she going to do? Are there any other living ponies out there? What if they don’t make radio contact? Spirit couldn’t help but to dwell on these things. It's not like she wanted to be the leader, but she couldn't say no. The ponies were panicking and needed somepony to follow.
"Knockity knockity!" Daring said before entering. Spirit remembered doing that when she was little. Daring sat on the bed next to Spirit.
"You okay sis?" Daring asked, placing her hoof on Spirit's back.
"What if somepony dies? I don't think I'll be able to handle that kind of pressure," Spirit said. Daring replied without looking at her sister.
"You'll be fine. You can't save everypony, but you won't be in this alone," Daring said, patting Spirit on the back.
"Easy for you to say. You're the adventurous one," Spirit said smiling at her sister. The two mares laughed and Flash ran in with a huge grin on his face. He didn't even need to say what it was, because the sisters already knew what it was. They had finally gotten a radio signal. The three of them ran downstairs to the radio and listened to the voice that crackled out of it.
My name is Fireblitz, and I'm calling out to anypony. I'm in a safe house in Ponyville. We're developing a cure. If anypony is out there, we will welcome you. I repeat, safehouse in Ponyville and we are developing a cure.
Everypony listened as the report ended and all they could hear was static.



"The only way to Ponyville is on the train, but that's all the way on the other side of Manehattan," Cherilee said. Everypony looked at Spirit for a decision.
"Even if we leave, we don't have enough supplies. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, our weapons aren't what I’d call ‘top of the line,’" Spirit said. She was all too right, though. Their arsenal consisted of kitchen knives, chairs, small metal poles, and a stick. Foals playing cops and robbers would have better weaponry than them.
"How about we go to the appliance store ten blocks down. It has a cafe and it also sells antiques. We are bound to find something useful in the way of weapons," Noteworthy suggested. Spirit thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t a bad idea, but it would probably be dangerous. She didn’t want to let anypony die on her watch. Reluctantly, she agreed and the group gathered their so-called ‘weapons.’ Cheese opened the door slightly and hesitantly peeked outside.
"How's it look?" Shining Armor asked.
"All clear. No, wait. Now I see them. They’re right in the way of where we need to be heading," Cheese replied.
"Now what?" Flash asked Spirit. Spirit stayed silent for a moment and then sighed.
"There is only one thing that we can do. Charge through," Spirit said, finding that nopony seemed to have any better suggestions. Cheese opened up the door and the ten of them ran out. They charged into the swarm, and to their luck it was only a small cluster, nothing they couldn’t handle. They smashed heads left and right, spilling their rotten and half-coagulated blood onto the road. Spirit couldn't stop bashing the heads in. In her mind, the phrase “They are no longer ponies, they are no longer ponies” echoed. She had to face the facts sooner or later, and she decided now was the best time to reinforce it. They were killing corpses that fed upon ponies. Spirit swung her stick and bashed in another corpse’s head, getting covered in blood that was no longer fresh and stunk of rot. She bashed and crushed until they accumulated around her in greater numbers, and still she fought. Suddenly a hoof latched onto her shoulder and pulled her backwards into the shop. The doors slammed shut in front of her.
"You can stop now. We're here," Flash said, not letting go of Spirit, even though they were in a safe location at the moment. Spirit’s mouth hung agape and she let her stick roll out of her grasp. Even at the beginning when she attacked the dead to get survivors, it was hard for her. She wasn't the violent type, but she didn't have much of a choice now. She knew that she had to suck it up or die.
"I'm okay now. I need a shower," Spirit said and pulled away from Flash's hold. She went to the store’s office and found a bathroom with shower facilities. She went into the shower and turned on the water, adjusting the temperature to a comfortable degree before stepping in. She closed her eyes as she let the water pound the top of her head. The water ran down her fur and muzzle, washing away the filth and ickor that covered her. She didn't move an inch as she let the soothing, hot liquid cleanse her body of gore and grim. She finally turned off the water and started to dry herself off. She was only half-dry when she walked out, finding that Flash couldn't stop looking at her.
"What?" Spirit asked him with a brow raised. Flash looked away quickly.
"N-nothing," Flash replied with a blush that he attempted to hide. Spirit merely shrugged and began her search for a suitable weapon. She walked into the antiques section and saw something that caught her eye. It was a sheath for a long, slender sword. Taking it up, she bit down on the handle of the blade and unsheathed it. She eyed the elegant blade and swung it around a few times to get a feel for it. She recognized what kind it was. Daring had brought back a number of them from her expeditions to eastern ruins, before. A katana.
"Nice! This'll do perfect!" Spirit said and strapped the katana on her back. She rejoined with the others, each having found their own individual weapons. Spirit was the only one with a katana, but not the only one with a bladed weapon. Flash and Shining both had broadswords, Cherilee and Vinyl both had autographed baseball bats, Noteworthy held a shovel, Discord and Trixie both had wood splitting axes, and Daring had a spear that she made with duct tape, a machete and a bow staff.
"Food?" Spirit asked.
"We didn't even check yet,"  Daring said. Spirit walked into the back of the cafe. Flash ran in after her, helping her look around for signs of the dead.
"It looks clear," Flash said before opening up the freezer door and being tackled by a corpse. Flash struggled to get the frozen corpse off him when a blade stabbed the corrode through what was left of its eye.
"You okay?" Spirit asked, putting the katana away.
"Yeah, thanks," Flash said, offering a warm smile to her. As they continued searching the place, she found herself pondering her role once more. She would have to be tough for not only the other ponies, but for herself as well.