Hours had passed since the supply group had returned, the sun began to go down and even some ponies decided to call it a day and hope for news in the morning, all except Spike and his friends, who remained waiting outside the medical bay by a campfire, hoping for the door to open with news from Twilight, who hadn’t been seen since she went inside.
It was understood that no-one went inside without her instruction, and despite her friends curiosity into how bad the situation could be, they respected her wishes and didn’t allow anyone else to enter.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom helped Twilight at first when they first arrived, but it was not long after they left her to do her work, as they all knew that it would been better off that way, and Twilight should had been left with full concentration. When ponies came to bother them hoping they both knew anything on the matter, it was Spike and Applejack who got rid of them, as although they were only inside for a couple of hours, it was a lot of energy according to them and they were too tired to deal with them, making them very appreciative for helping them.
It began to grow dark in the camp, the only light coming from the campfires and the small torches, as well as the only heat, seeing as the temperature was lowering more and more as the hours went by.
“How do you think it’s going on in there?” a shivering Rainbow Dash asked while moving closer to the fire. “Do you think it’s worse than we thought?”
“I don’t know,” replied Applejack. “But it’s really proving how bad it is in town right now, we’re really lucky to have a camp like this to live in, not like others”.
“We can’t think about that right now,” Spike joined in. “Everybody in camp saw what they were like when they arrived, how beaten up they looked, and they’re terrified, you can see it. It was hard enough for ponies to volunteer to go on supply runs”.
“Those guys did look like shit when they got here.” Rainbow added.
“They must have been, seeing as how tired the girls were when they left the medical bay” said Scootaloo. “They wanted to know just as much as us and they only managed five minutes with us before turning in like the others. Whatever happened out there must had been big...”.
Suddenly, the medical bay door swung open after many hours of being closed, revealing a tired Twilight Sparkle coming to join them, grabbing the groups attention.
“Twilight, are you okay?” asked Spike.
“Just tired.” said Twilight. “It was hard work, but Pip and the others are resting easy now. Some of them had pretty bad wounds when they got here, it’s going to leave some pretty noticeable scars in the next few days. I’ll have to thank the girls for their help.”
“Did you manage to find out what happened before they passed out?” said Rarity.
“Most of them weren’t in the state for talking, but Pip managed to tell me while I was helping him. He told me that the town is completely overrun by walkers, but that isn’t even the worst part...”
“Bandits?” said Spike.
Twilight paused, but then nodded. “Yeah. It turns out things are worse than we first thought…”
The group along the campfire looked at Twilight in surprise, wondering what she meant by that.
“How could things possibly be worse? Having a town filled with walkers and Bandits sounds pretty bad already.” said Applejack.
“From what Pip told me,” Twilight began. “It really is. He even said he won’t be going back out for supply runs for a long time after this”.
Applejack looked at Spike, remembering what he had said earlier.
Twilight continued, “He told me that while the group was looking for supplies in abandoned buildings, they were ambushed by bandits, taking most of their supplies and killing a few of their own, and that they were lucky to get away. They learned that a group of bandits have been operating in town, killing any scavengers and taking their gear to survive, calling themselves ‘Hunters’.”
“Hunters?” questioned Rainbow. “Sounds like a bunch of assholes.”
Twilight gave a small smile for a moment, but then went on. “They said that there had to be about 20-30 of them, operating in some kind of base they didn’t manage to discover while out there, and while dealing with them, as well as the walkers attracted by the noises, it left only the four of them to remain, with only some supplies that could last us a while, but it could had a lot more if it weren’t for them.”
Spike looked around the group and saw many faces of concern, including himself, knowing that these ‘Hunters’ could be a huge threat for them.
Spike asked “Do you think these guys might come here, if they knew where we were?”
Twilight looked at him, almost making him think she was going to lie to make him feel better, but said, “I don’t know, it’s a possibility, but these guys aren’t like regular bandits, they have order, and they apparently aren’t very remorseful when it comes to killing, and it’s making them stronger every day, so we have to be prepared for if they do. We need weapons.”
The group went silent, knowing what had to be done, but it seemed no-one could speak, but after a few seconds, Spike had to say it.
“We have to go back out there, don’t we?”
Twilight looked at Spike with worry, and he could see she was genuinely scared of what Pip told her, of what these Hunters were capable of.
“Spike, maybe if we wait a while and think this through-”
“Twilight.” Spike interrupted. He knew that this was the only option, even if he was scared too, but this camp wouldn’t last if they weren’t prepared, so he had decided.
“I’m going to go out there and get more supplies before winter comes.”
That statement stunned the group and kept them silent for a few seconds, before bombarding Spike with warnings not to go, that he was being crazy.
“Spike, let me get this straight.” Applejack said. “Twilight warns us of a deadly group of bandits that killed most of Pips group, and your first thought is to go back out there? Stop acting insane, you’ll be killed.”
“Applejack, Twilight said it herself.” Spike argued. “These guys are getting stronger everyday, so we need to get more supplies while we still can, so we could have a chance of defending ourselves. You know what Pip has brought won’t last us all of winter, this could be our last chance before the cold gets really bad.”
She opened her mouth to make a counter-argument, but found herself speechless. She knew he was right, Winter was coming closer and closer and this could actually be the last chance to get supplies before the snow really sets in. The only reason she could think of for him not to go would be that she didn’t want her friend to die.
Spike looked at Twilight, who said nothing, just keeping a scared facial expression at him, looking like she was thinking of every possible thing to say to change his mind, but finding nothing, so it was leaving her with an open mouth, with no words coming out.
“Twilight.” Spike said worryingly.”Say something…”
“I...don’t want you to go…you’ll be killed if you went alone.”
Spike sighed, knowing what what hell he was going to go through, but said,
“I know, but tomorrow, when everyone else wakes up, I’m going to ask for any volunteers and…” He paused. He knew it was a slim chance of anyone actually agreeing, but went on.
“And… if no-one does, I’m going alone. I have to.”
“You’re not going alone.” came a voice from the back. “I’m coming with you.”
Spike turned, and saw it came from Rainbow Dash.
“Rainb-”
“Don’t argue with me. You need all the help you can get.” she interrupted. “There’s no way I’m going to let some asshole try and kill you while I’m stuck here counting inventory.”
Spike opened his mouth to object, but he knew it was pointless. Her mind was made up.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” he finally managed to say.
The next morning, Spike awoke hoping the whole idea of these Hunters was just a bad dream, and that he and Rainbow didn’t have to risk their lives, but he knew it was the truth, and now that everyone was awake, he had to ask for any volunteers to give better chances of survival.
He knew making this decision wasn’t helping with Twilight’s stressful role as leader, he could see when he got up that she clearly did not sleep much that night, probably thinking of any possible scenario of what could go wrong, of how she could lose both her brother, and one of her best friends, but he knew this was the only option, nobody else would say it.
While joining the others to eat breakfast, if thats what you could call stale bread, Applejack sat next to him, looking at him with almost the same expression as Twilight.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked him. “We could find out another way...”
“You know there isn’t,” Spike replied. “These Hunters are obviously stockpiling for the winter, so when spring comes and we are pretty much out of food, these guys could take down this place easily if they found it”.
Applejack looked down at her plate. “I understand.” she said. “I’m just worried for you. Rainbow as well.”
Spike was going to say something, but any words were shut out when Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo joined them at their table. Only Scootaloo out of the three of them knew he was going, and he wasn’t sure how to tell the other girls.
“Mornin’,” said Applebloom. “What were you guys talking about?”
“I’ll tell you later.” Spike replied. He just wanted to eat, not have the same argument like last night again.
“Actually, Spike…” said Scootaloo, knowing what he was trying to do. “I don’t think you’ll have a chance to talk about it later. I think Twilight’s about to call a meeting about what happened with Pip”.
“Dammit…” Spike muttered to himself. He knew when Twilight had everyone together that it was his best opportunity to ask for volunteers, he had just hoped it could have been later.
Just as Scootaloo had predicted, Spike had seen Twilight move to one of the main platforms in the camp, higher than everyone else, calling for the camps attention, a task which was simple to do, as many ponies still were curious into what happened.
“Can I have your attention, please?” Twilight called out as ponies formed a crowd, stopping what they doing. “I know you all what to know about the supply group…”
Just then, question after question was fired at Twilight, not giving her any time to speak, which was then halted by Applejack, just as she had done the day before.
“Everypony, quiet.” Twilight announced. “Let me explain the whole story, and what we are dealing with…”
She took a deep breath and began. “Pip told me that his group was ambushed while collecting supplies, both by a number of walkers that were attracted, and by a group of bandits that have began to operate in town, calling themselves ‘Hunters’. Many of the group members were killed, leaving only the four of them that came here, still with very substantial wounds, meaning these guys mean business.”
Ponies in the crowd began to murmur, concerned for their safety, wondering if this camp was safer than what they first thought.
Twilight continued. “The remaining survivors did manage to bring some supplies, such as food, water and medicine, that could last us a bit longer… but it has been brought to my attention that getting even more at this time must be at high priority right now… Spike?”
Spike knew it was time. Twilight was calling for him to explain the situation, and it was as good a time as any to see who could help him. He rose from the table, leaving a confused Applebloom and Sweetie Belle behind, and made his way to the platform that Twilight was on, facing a concerned crowd, eager to what he had to say.
He looked at all the worried faces, then at Rainbow, then to Twilight, and began to speak.
“As you have already found out, the winter months are approaching, and it is getting colder every day now. These Hunters are getting stronger by the looks of it, and we need supplies in order have a better chance of survival, so, I am going to lead a supply group for one last run before winter sets in, when we won’t be able to.
I’m not going to sell this to you. It’s pretty fucked up out there right now, and there is a chance you won’t make it, but I’m asking if there is anyone who will volunteer to join me and Rainbow Dash into getting these supplies, so we could have a chance for the next couple of months.”
Spike heard whispers in the crowd, with no-one raising their hoof, hearing certain things like,
“he’ll get us all killed”, “these hunters are going to get here”, or “that dragon is insane”.
Spike was about to give up hope, thinking the chances of him and Rainbow Dash surviving out there on their own were very little, and after a few seconds of no response, no ponies volunteering, Spike was considering just taking the hint that it was just going to be the two of them out there, practically a death sentence.
That is, until one hoof of the crowd rose. A hoof, belonging to Sweetie Belle.
The crowd gasped, and turned their eyes to the only pony in the camp who was crazy enough to agree to such a proposal, thinking she had some kind of death wish.
“Sweetie Belle? What are you doing?” a panicking Rarity said, tearing her way through the crowd to get to her. “You can’t do this, you won’t survive out there…”
“Rarity, Spike’s right,” argued Sweetie. “This is our last chance, and they need all the help they can get. I have to go, you can’t stop me.”
Rarity looked like she was on the verge of tears, scared of what these Hunters could do to her sister if they got to her, but keeping a still worried expression, she said one thing.
“You’re right. I can’t stop you...”
She stared at the ground, unable to look into anyones eyes, Spike seeing that she was terrified beyond belief. But after what seemed like a lifetime, Rarity looked at Sweetie Belle finally and said,
“But you can’t stop me either.” raising her own hoof, to her sisters shock.
Spike couldn’t believe it. He had went from having two members on this run, to four, making him think that they could actually survive this, something that would make anyone feel better if placed in this situation, but not him. Now, he had three of his best friends to guard with his life, not just Rainbow Dash.
After the crowd remained in stunned silence, looking at the two sisters who agreed to partake in this dangerous task, they soon looked back up to Spike and Twilight on the platform, who were doing the same, they were as surprised as they were.
Spike considered refusing, not wanting to endanger his friends lives, but had to remember that he had to be strong about this, he asked for volunteers, and this was him getting them.
After a while, He finally managed to find his voice, and said, “Then it’s settled, we’ll-”
“Wait.” came a voice from the back. “I’m coming too.”
The voice was angry, and dark, making Spike wonder why this pony was even agreeing, he sounded like he was being forced into saying it, and he couldn’t even see at first who it was, until the crowd parted, revealing Big Macintosh leaning against the fence, eyes not looking up.
Spike was surprised that he managed to get at least one pony to volunteer, but now he had four, and the camp would have been plunged in stunned silence once again, if there hadn’t been a cry coming from Applebloom, rushing to her brothers side.
“Big Mac...no..” she whimpered. “Don’t do this, please...don’t leave us like Granny left us.”
“Applebloom, I’ll come back.” said Mac, trying to calm her down. “I promise.”
But Applebloom didn’t believe him, she even tried to do Rarity’s tactic and raise her hoof like the others, before being stopped by Mac, pulling her hoof back down to the ground.
“Stop..I volunteer… I said I volunteer!” she cried, before her mouth was covered by Mac.
“No she doesn’t. Spike, don’t you dare let her go. I’m not letting it.” yelled Mac. “Applejack, help me take her inside.”
If anyone else was in Spikes position they wouldn’t be throwing away any viable volunteers, they would take Appleblooms cries as a contract and force her out there, but Spike knew better than that, he knew Applebloom didn’t mean it, she was just worried for her brothers safety, so he had to end it there.
He didn’t have twelve volunteers like the previous group, but this was different now, they were now aware of what is out there, but at least five was better than one.
“Alright, It’s settled.” he announced, turning the crowds heads from the Apple family to him.
“I will be leading a supply group, accompanied by Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, Rarity and Big Macintosh. There’s no turning back now.”
And he meant it. If he didn’t say it, then even himself would try and get out of it.
“We leave tomorrow.”