Undead Equestria

by Sorren

Chapter 9 The REA... sort of

Undead Equestria

By: Sorren

Chapter 9 - The REA... sort of

“This is recon team six, requesting permission to land,” repeated Candy, speaking into the onboard radio. She released the button and turned to Sunny and Willow. “Only thing on board that didn’t get a hole shot through it,” she muttered.

Sunny gazed out the window at the rapidly growing shape of what Candy had called the temporary forward base. It was maybe a quarter of the size of Appleoosa, not counting the apple orchard. A few zombies milled around outside, not paying attention to much.

The flight had taken them a little longer than expected, having to stop for two breaks instead of one to compensate for Jade’s lack of wingpower and shorter endurance. It was now early evening and the sun hung low on the horizon, casting the proportion of the small camp in long shadows. From what Sunny could tell from here, the base appeared to be constructed of nothing but temporary materials. Large canvas tents dotted the area inside the chain-link fence, sporting flags, and some others, radio antennas.

The radio cracked and the voice of a rather official sounding stallion burst from the speakers. “Team six, you are seventeen hours overdue for arrival. Squad leader, please confirm your identity for safety procedures.”

Candy sighed, turning to them. “Time to play twenty questions.” She hit the transmit button on the radio, taking on a surprisingly formal persona. “This is Private Cane.”

There was a moment of silence while something was most likely worked over on the other end. “One minute team six.”

“Is that a problem?” Willow asked Candy with a tilt of her head.

Candy shook her head. “They’re checking the records for the mission; it’s all procedure.”

“Private Cane,” the stallion questioned. “Where is your squadron leader?”

The mare hung her head, hoof poised over the button. “Sargent Lime is KIA.” She exhaled deeply, closing her eyes.

“What about the next in command?”

Candy swallowed. “KIA.”

Another brief pause. “Private Cane, there were four soldiers of higher command than you on that flight. Are you telling me that all of your superiors are out of commission?”

Candy moaned, pounding her hoof on the floor of the skywagon. She took a deep, shaky breath. “Yes.”

“…Team six, you are cleared for landing.”

Dusty turned to the red stallion beside him. “You lead an’ ah’ll follow whatever you do!” he called. “Ah have no idea how to land one of these things!”

The pony nodded. “Just keep in motion with me and I’ll bring us down!” his deep voice yelled back.

The pullers brought the wagon around the camp once, before lining up with a small dirt strip near the right of the encampment and beginning their descent.

Sunny shifted uncomfortably, suddenly becoming very aware of his duel-gunned battle saddle, assuming the REA might not be too keen of him having it.

The wagon passed low over the chain-link fence, allowing Sunny a better view of the encampment. He had been right, there were no permanent buildings, only gray and green canvas tents placed in close proximity to one another. Numerous skywagons were parked in a dirt clearing within the fence. A large generator also sat near the front gate, producing power for both the encampment, and judging from the wires running in the other direction, the electrified fence. Gray-suited ponies trotted to on fro, each one appeared to have something of incredible importance to achieve, apart from a single group of ponies sitting around an outdoor table.

Overall, Sunny figured the landing went pretty well, apart from Dusty dropping the front end too fast and bending the frame of the damaged wagon further still. Before they even had a chance to leave the wagon, let alone fully stop, a bulky orange earth pony emerged from one of the larger tents. He set towards them at a swift trot, head held high and limbs so stiff they resembled willow branches.

As he neared, Sunny watched a scowl grow across the pony’s face and his eyebrows appeared to be trying to grow into his mane. Candy gulped and made her way out of the wagon, giving her mane a small shake.

Sunny cast a look to Willow. “I think we should get off too.”

Nodding, Willow rose to her hooves and started forward; he followed her lead, figuring Candy needed their support. Dusty and Jade pulled themselves out of their harnesses to fall in beside Sunny and Willow as they took quiet stance behind Candy, who appeared to be awaiting the arrival of the orange pony.

Casting a nervous look around, Sunny wanted to lower himself to the ground under the prying gaze of so many uniformed ponies watching them. In moments, thirty or so ponies had emerged from different tents, and the ponies at the table had decided to join the circle of surrounding the skywagon as well.
Candy stood up tall as the pony Sunny took to be the base commander neared.

The orange stallion glared condescendingly down at her. “Private, what is this?” His voice was heated with impatience and annoyance, as if he had previously been doing something important.

Candy met his piercing gaze. “What is what sir?”

He growled low in his throat. “Don’t play that innocent crap with me. Why do you return to base overdue, and missing your entire team? And with four civilians!?”

Candy was quiet for a moment. “May I explain sir?”

He grunted once. “Not out here.” He motioned towards a gray canvas tent with his tail. “This way.” He started forward, only to stop a moment later to look back. “All of you, fliers included.”

“Cheerful one,” Sunny muttered as they followed sergeant across the camp.

“Tell me about it,” Willow added.

“He wasn’t in charge of base when I left,” Candy whispered urgently. “He was the successor; something must have happened.”

Two ponies standing guard outside one of the larger tents parted the flaps as they neared, allowing them through and letting the flaps fall again after the eight ponies had entered. Four more soldiers stood inside the tent, one in either corner. Sunny wondered how they could stand like statues all day, he could never bear holding still for that long.

The commander motioned to his four ponies in the room, bringing them to life it seemed. “I want them disarmed, now,” he commanded, pointing towards Sunny’s group.

Sunny looked around frantically, suddenly becoming very aware of his battle saddle. “Wait, what?”

The commander made a choking noise in his throat that could have been a laugh. “What? Do you think you can just strut around a military facility toting guns about?

Two of the uniformed ponies approached Sunny first, most likely taking him as the biggest threat, and set to the task of removing his battle saddle.

“You ever seen a saddle like this?” he heard one murmur.

“Once,” the other replied, this one a mare. “This thing’s old. They were standard REA issue back when guns were still new.”

Sunny cast a glance to Dusty, who appeared to be fidgeting with something. He undid the strap holding the holster for Valediction do his leg. Hurriedly, he turned his head back and tucked the weapon into his mane, successfully managing to hide it. Sunny looked around, glad none of the guards had noticed.

He felt the weight of the saddle lifted from his back and turned to see one of the uniformed ponies carrying it to one corner of the room. The other moved on to Willow, removing her automatic pistol, much to the white mare’s protest.

The commander motioned towards Candy. “Hers too.”

Candy’s jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

He shot her a warning look. “You went AWOL private.”

She gaped at him. “My skywagon crashed!”

“And then you returned with four civilians and no evidence of your squadron but a bloody skywagon!”

“I never abandoned anypony!”

The commander raised a hoof for her silence and turned to glare at Dusty. “Didn’t you have a weapon on you?”

The pegasus shook his head respectfully. “No sir,” he said evenly.

The commander narrowed his eyes. “I’m watching you.” He turned slowly, sweeping the seven disarmed ponies in front of him with a condescending glare, finally coming to rest on Candy. “Well, you wanted to explain. Now do it!”

She took a step forward, face red from anger, though when she spoke, her voice remained even. “During the Desert Sage mission, Private Dodge was somehow infected. He turned in the wagon. He went to bite our medic and he bit down on the trigger for his saddle… He was our big guns. Everypony died but me and the two fliers here with us.”

“So why are you still alive?” he asked slowly.

“Because sir, I ducked.”

“You ducked,” he said mockingly.

“Yes sir, I did—”

“Hold it!” he interrupted. “If they were all shot on the wagon, then where are the bodies?”

Candy gulped. “I… I-I discarded them sir.”

The commander didn’t have to speak, his eyes said it all.

“I told her to,” the red pegasus with the dark golden brown mane added quickly. “We would have all died had she not pushed the dead out of the wagon; there was too much weight. She had to, and I told her to do it.”

The commander held a dangerously cool face. “Continue your story, Private.”

She blinked, most likely surprised as the lack of reprimand. “T-two of our fliers and a spark battery were hit. We had to make an emergency landing in the surviving settlement of Appleoosa.”

“It’s true,” the red pegasus put in. “One moment we’re flying, the next, bullets are shooting everywhere and the two ponies beside me took the heat.”

Candy continued her story. “In Appleoosa I found two fliers willing to aid me in returning to base.” Candy threw a glance at Willow. “And possibly a cure.”

The commander blinked. “A cure?” He didn’t sound convinced. “Really?”

Willow stepped forward. “Yes. I can prove it with my own immunity.” She made a motion towards Sunny. “He has some sort of natural immunity that I don’t know how to analyze.”

“So you expect me to just believe you?” he asked. The commanded was treating this whole thing as If it were some big joke.

“Yes sir. I expect you to believe me. I have no reason to lie.”

“And why should I?”

Something flashed in Willow’s blood-orange eyes. “You’ll listen to me if you have any sense,” she said heatedly.

The stallion blinked again, and smiled. “You should really watch your tone,” he said dangerously.

Willow opened her mouth for a hot retort, but Sunny frantically shook his head at her. She stopped and took a deep breath. “What do you propose? I have means of it in my possession.”

The commander brought his hoof to his chin, mocking deep thought. “And I suppose you want me to go out of my way for this?”

“Look,” Willow snapped. “I came here share a possible antidote and maybe even help with a cure, not to get into a pissing contest with a cynical base commander that walks like he’s got a stick shoved up under his tail. But if you start a pissing contest I’ll play, and I’ll win.”

“Willow!” sunny hissed. “I thought I told you not to!”

The commander stepped forward, a certain gleam in his eyes. “Since the infection,” he started, almost casually. “The REA has gone quite lax on procedure. The former commander, as of yesterday, maintained procedure very well. As you know, the commander’s word is law. There isn’t enough organization on the REA’s part to do it any other way.” He paused. “Now I am going to investigate a bit further into your claims of a cure. I will have you and the pegasus sent to Baltimare for testing.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Willow mumbled.

“Now as put into effect yesterday, civilians are no longer permitted entry to the base or view of its inner workings. We would hate for it to get out how this branch of the REA treats civilians. ” He rallied his guards with a circular glance. “Take them to the edge of the compound,” he ordered. “Dispose of them, the pullers too; after this, they’ll run the minute they can.” The unruly pony turned to Candy. “I’ll speak with you later; we have some… business to talk before you are dismissed.

The seven of them all exchanged horrified glances, all coming to the realization of what had just been ordered. Willow began to spurt a chain of profanities at the commander before a rifle lined up with her head, thoroughly quelling her verbal assault.

Candy stepped out of the line, ignoring the rifles that followed her from the four armed guards. As she approached the commander, every muscle in her body trembled. The stallion looked at her with mild amusement on her face.

She turned to look back at the rest of them. “Run,” she said flatly.

Sunny squinted. “What?”

Candy flung herself sideways and tackled the nearest guard to the ground, taking them all by surprise. “I said run!”

Not bothering to question, the red and purple pegasi bolted for the exit. The commander drew I pistol and took aim at Candy. He fired, but missed, instead, striking the pony Candy was wrestling with. The other three guards readied their battle saddles. Sunny ducked as one took aim at him and Jade sprung into the air. She flew directly at the canvas ceiling in the tent, tearing a hole in it and disappearing into the evening air.

“Sorry!” she yelled back at them from out of sight. “I’m not dying here!”

“Go!” Candy bellowed as another stallion hopped on her to replace the one who had been shot.

“I’m not leaving you!” Willow bellowed, diving into the fray.

The commander stepped back and aimed at Willow, who had diverted the attention from Candy and was battling a stallion and a mare up close, always keeping herself away from their gun barrels. He held his fire, probably not wanting to hit another of his own, but continued to try and fine an opportunity to shoot.

Dusty drew Valediction as two more uniformed ponies charged into the tent through the front entrance. He fired and the air was filled with a loud crack as the rifle on the left pony’s back split. Apparently, Dusty was taking the non-lethal approach.

Willow bit down on the barrel of a blue unicorn’s rifle and bent it sixty degrees. The pony reared up and delivered a heavy kick to Willow’s face that sent the mare sprawling. The commander took aim.
Sunny charged at him, driving his head into the bulky pony’s flank. His shot missed, instead, pitting the ground a few feet away. The commander, having been so focused on Willow, lost his balance and flopped over onto his side.

While the stallion was stunned, Sunny turned to Dusty, who had succeeded in disarming another soldier. “Go!” he yelled. “You can fly out of here!”

“Ah’m not leavin’!” Dusty shouted back.

Sunny ran up to the pegasus and shouldered him forward. “Go! We aren’t getting out; you can still make it!” He could hear shouts and yells outside. Any minute now the whole camp would come pouring into the tent. “We’re immune! They aren’t going to kill us, but they’ll kill you! Now go!”

Dusty nodded once, the motion seeming to hurt him. “Stay strong,” he said glumly. Unfurling his wings, the pegasus sprang into the air and disappeared through the hole left by Jade. Just then, the tent flap burst open and five more soldiers rushed in with battle saddles at the ready.

Willow left Candy’s aid and charged them. The ponies dodged as the raging mare flew at them, instead spreading out in a circle. Willow flung herself on one and stomped the unfortunate pink mare to the ground. She turned on the others and took stance, low to the ground and poised to spring. Blood ran from multiple cuts on her heaving flanks, and one from her cheek. “Who wants some,” she challenged, putting on a maniacal smile.

A bullet pierced her side with a meaty thwack. Blood sprayed the ground near her belly and she staggered to the side. She turned to commander, who held a smoking pistol in his mouth! “Ouch!” she bellowed. “That bucking hurt you two-bit rent-a-cop!” She staggered around in a circle, shouting profanities. One hoof caught on the other and Willow tripped, flopping over onto her side.

“Willow!” Sunny called, running over to his friend. The mare Candy had been wrestling with released her grasp and the two picked themselves up, their fight totally forgotten.

The commander returned his pistol to its holster and surveyed the scene, then turned his gaze to the orange pegasus at the injured mare’s side. “Oh how nice,” he said flatly. He turned to the soldiers in the room that were still standing, which was about seven; four more were unconscious and one probably dead, killed by the commander himself. “Lock them up,” he ordered. “Put Private Cane in with them. That mare has performed mutiny.

We fly them to Baltimare in the morning.”

* * *

Moon trotted between two apple trees, two baskets of apples slung over her back and a shotgun underneath that. She emptied the load of apples into the nearby wagon and proceeded to the pump to fill the basket with water to haul back to the trees.

She honestly could not understand how Appleoosans did this most of the day. She was only on her third run and already bored out of her wits. It was all too repetitive; bucket of apples, bucket of water, bucket of apples, bucket of water.

She reached the line for the water pump, which seemed to be steadily growing longer, and took a place at the back, waiting. Ponies stood in the rapidly growing line, waiting for their turn at the pump and talking about whatever could pass as mildly interesting.

It was the day after Sunny and Willow had left, and her first day in the orchard; if she would be staying here, then it would be best to get into the habit of helping out.

A green maned, yellow earth pony caught her eye; he was looking right at her. She continued to look ahead, pretending she hadn’t noticed. After a moment, the young stallion trotted over to stand beside her in line, doing his best to act nonchalant, but failing terribly—she expected him to start whistling any second now. She spotted a group of stallions some distance away, the four them looking at her and presumably their friend expectantly. ‘go on,’ one mouthed to the stallion beside Moon.

Moon allowed herself a knowing smile. The yellow stallion’s friends were trying to goad him into talking to her, and judging by their overeager expressions, maybe a little something more.

“So um, hi,” the yellow earth pony said skeptically. “I’m Stacks.”

Moon closed her eyes and rolled them beneath her eyelids. She was bored enough to eat her own hooves; what would it hurt to see much she could mess with these ponies. She had done it quite a bit before the infection; hopefully she hadn’t gotten rusty. “Well that’s an… interesting name,” she returned.

Moon heard a low snicker from the pony’s friends and felt a sudden wave of sympathy for the yellow stallion.

“Yeah,” he added. “I used to stack boxes and pallets before the zombies… it stuck.”
Moon put on her best serious face. “Before the infection, I used to shoot ponies.” Just because she felt a little sorry for him because of his teasing friends didn’t mean she still wouldn’t have a little fun.

Stacks opened his mouth to say something but stopped. He tilted his head at Moon, a look of confusion on his face. He overcame the minor shock and shook his head. “Okay, that’s… cool. Well, I just saw you standing here all alone… and I figured—”

“No,” Moon interupted.

“Wait… what?” Stacks asked, going red.

She sighed. “The only reason you’re over here is because your friends are trying to get you to hook up with me so they stick things inside me.”

Stacks tried to stammer something, but Moon continued. “You know, and I know, that most mares wouldn’t throw a second glance at you or your friends, and not to gloat here, but I think I can say I look a little better than most mares.”

The stallion’s jaw trembled as he tried to think of something to say. His yellow face had gone as red as the apples in the trees.

Moon was thoroughly enjoying herself, but she did feel a little bad for him. His friends were going to give him quite a hard time after what she had just done. She could tell by the way they laughed; they were that other crowd that seemed to think swearing and breaking things was cool, unlike the stallion by her now. He didn’t really seem to fit with them.

“Tell you what,” she said after a moment. “I can tell you really need to impress those friends of yours, or you’ll never hear the end of it.”

Stacks asked her to continue with a look, still trying to force down the red in his face.

“Because I feel sorry for you, here’s what I’m going to do.” She stepped closer and draped her tail over his back. Leaning close, she whispered in his ear. “You can go tell your friends whatever you think they wanted to hear, and if they ask me, I’ll back it up. Now I’m going to walk away and act all seductive, and you can tell them what you want from there.” She pulled away and headed for the trees, purposefully swaying her hips. She turned and looked directly at Stacks’ three friends and smiled.

Moon dropped the act when she was sure she was far enough away that they couldn’t see or hear her. She dropped to the ground below an apple tree. Rolling onto her back, she kicked her hooves in the air, laughing hysterically. She hadn’t ever done something that crazy.

“That was awesome,” she gasped.

Before the infection, she never would have even thought about doing something like that. She had always been trying to make some sort of a reputation. Moon attempted to scold herself for what she had done. “That was a bad thing to do,” she said condescendingly. “You could give the townsponies the wrong idea.” She ignored her better self. That was fun! She lay on her back, hooves curled up to her belly, staring up at a plump red apple.

“What’s so funny?” a familiar voice asked. Moon looked up to see Snowglobe standing in front of her, looking down with a curious expression.

Hurriedly, she rolled over onto her side. “Not much, just messing with stallions.” Snowglobe raised an eyebrow at her. “Not like that,” she added.

The gray mare’s horn glowed as she picked the apple Moon had been staring at and sat down beside her. Levitating the apple to her mouth, she took a bite and looked over at Moon. “I’m worried…” Taking another bite of apple, she continued to look at Moon.

“Worried about what”

Snowglobe began without hesitation, as if she had just been waiting to confide in somepony. “I think we may be in trouble with the water.”

“Go on,” Moon prodded. Snowglobe now had her full attention. The mare usually knew what she was talking about, so chances were she had a good point here.

Snowglobe sighed. “The water from the well has a lot of sediments in it—flakes of calcium and a bunch of other little things like that. Being the certified maintenance pony that I am, I know this means that the pumps are drawing water near the bottom of the reserve. That means that we’re almost out of water and the pumps are pulling what’s left off the bedrock.”

Moon’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

Snowglobe folded her ears. “Would I be telling you this if I wasn’t sure?”

Moon jumped to her hooves. “Well we have to tell Sage about this right now!” She made to leave but Snowglobe stopped her with an outstretched forehoof.

“I don’t want to frenzy anypony. It’ll be like the hospital all over again if this gets out.”

Moon nodded briefly. “Okay, we’ll keep it quiet, but we still have to tell Sage. She’s their leader; if anypony needs to know, it’s her.”

“I thought this place was safe,” Snowglobe sniffed. “We’re going to have to leave. We’re going to run out of water here. Sage said there was a huge well under Appleoosa, either she was wrong or all this hot weather dried it up. When the water runs out…”

Moon placed a hoof on the fretting mare’s back. “Hey now,” she comforted. “We don’t know yet if the water’s really almost gone.”

Snowglobe seemed to take the gesture as an invitation to touch and rested her muzzle against Moon’s flank. “Really, how long do you think any well is going to last in conditions as dry as these?”

Moon pulled away from the mare. “A-heh… Not very long…” She cleared her throat, hating the silence and trying to ignore Snowglobe’s worried face. “Come on, we still need to tell Sage.”

Together the two mares left the orchard and made their way back to the town, not much of a walk considering the two weren’t too far apart. A ten foot path had been fenced in to allow safe passage from zombies between the orchard and the town. Soon they were back on the street through the center of town.

Moon spotted the pony she was looking for atop the barricade, near the gate. The turquoise mare was speaking with one of the guards. As of today, two pistols were strapped to both forelegs, courtesy of Willow’s stash.

“Well it’s a problem,” Sage said angrily to the pink guard as Moon and Snowglobe approached. “What are we going to do if there’s even more of them?”

Moon squinted at the two ponies as she climbed the staircase to the walkway above. “More of what?”

Sage turned to them as if startled. “Oh it’s you… We have a problem.” She pointed a hoof out to the desert. “Try not to alarm anypony yet—I want to try and figure out how to address this.”

“What’s the big…?” She froze. “…deal… That’s a lot of zombies.” In the distance, were hundreds of little rainbow specs. “Celestia, they found us.” There were too many to count, all lined up on the horizon.
“We, don’t have enough ammo to shoot them all,” the guard mare said worriedly.

Snowglobe gulped. “Are you suggesting we let them pile up? Would the wall even hold them back?”

Sage stomped her hoof on the wooden walk for effect, and was rewarded with a thonk. “Of course it will. I just don’t like the idea of those things right behind the wall.”

Moon stepped forward, watching repulsively as the colorful mass slowly neared. “Well, I don’t think we have much choice.”

“I’m going to have to tell her, aren’t I?” Snowglobe groaned.

Sage frowned. “Tell me what?”

Snowglobe sighed. “There’s sediment in the water.”

“And?”

“…That means the water in the well is so low that the pumps are pulling some of the sediment from the bedrock.”

Sage glared as if Snowglobe had just insulted her. “How do you know?”

Snowglobe stood proudly. “I’m a fully certified maintenance technician. I’ve dealt with enough wells to know a dry one when I see it. I spent almost a year with a groundwater drilling company near Dodge.”

The turquoise mare swallowed, turning first to the zombie ponies, then back to Snowglobe. She did this three more times. “No,” she stated apathetically. “This can’t be happening. . . We-we should have gone with Braeburn and Silverstar.” She flopped back on her haunches. “I screwed us.” A choked laugh escaped her vocals. “I totally screwed us all!”

“You can’t say that,” the pink mare replied. “You have no idea what could have happened to the others when they left. They’re probably dead. Have you heard any news from them?”

Moon just balked at Sage. “Why are you talking like we’re going to die? What’s wrong with you?”

Sage, at the moment, did not appear able to produce any form of intelligent speech.

The pink guard mare backed away slowly. “Yeah… I’m just going to leave you three to it.” Hurriedly, she made herself disappear.

Sage let out a strangled laugh. Reaching up, she pulled the strip of red cloth from around her head.

Moon gasped. Sage looked like a totally different pony. The image of Appleoosa’s leader vanished before her eyes to be replaced by a sad, lost mare. Her brown hair hung into her eyes and around her face where it had not before. What now sat in front of Moon was a tired and defeated mare.

“I’m done,” she choked, fighting back tears. “I can’t handle this anymore… I’m not cut out to run a whole settlement. Look, I screwed up; now we’re all in trouble because I wouldn’t leave.”

“Come on,” Moon said in an attempt at comfort. She cast a pleading look to Snowglobe, who only shrugged. “Well thanks,” she hissed, focusing back on Sage. “It doesn’t matter if we’re almost out of water and we can’t leave because hundreds of zombies are starting to surround the town. “We’ll do something.”
Snowglobe drew a hiss of breath between her teeth. “Well, when you put it that way it sounds really bad.

“You aren’t helping!” Moon snapped at her.

She sat back and raised her hooves. “Hey, sorry.”

A passing townspony slowed to a halt, balking at Sage in the mess she was in. Moon hurriedly herded Sage down from the barricade and behind a wagon, out of the sight of prying eyes. Last thing any of them needed was for the rumor that their leader was losing it passing about—it would be chaos. If there was one thing Moon had learned from the first day of the infection, it was that normal ponies turned into crazies in a state of crisis without any form of organization. Without some sort of leader, ponies crumbled and started to listen to whoever could yell the loudest, and that was usually the dumbest of them all.

“I can’t,” Sage whispered. “Somepony else has to help me. Jade was the only pony I could talk to and she left with the others.” She sniffed. “I’m not responsible enough to hold the lives of so many ponies in my hooves.”

“Man,” Snowglobe whispered in Moon’s ear. “Look at her—she’s not doing so good.”

Moon looked at Sage, who was now examining a pebble, completely oblivious of her surroundings. “No!” she stated, not sure of the meaning or where she was going. “No!” She grabbed Sage’s headband and slung it back over her head. “You have to hold together.”

Sage looked up unseeingly, her headband covering her eyes. “I’ve been trying… but what am I supposed to do now? We’re surrounded, with hardly any weapons, and almost no water. Food too, considering the water is the only thing keeping the trees alive.”

Moon had to agree that they weren’t in the best shape. “Just try and hang in there.” Reaching out, she adjusted Sage’s headband so as it no longer covered her eyes.

“Flyers incoming!” Moon jumped at the call from a pony on guard. “Four of them!”

Sage scrunched her brow. “Four? One’s uncommon enough.”

Moon bolted out from behind the wagon and up the stairs to brown stallion who had given the warning. “A skywagon crew?” she asked hopefully.

He shook his head, pointing out at the sky. “Just four pegasi. No skywagon.”

Snowglobe came up on her left. “Think they’re zombies?”

Moon peered closer. She couldn’t make out anything but the silhouettes of the four pegasi; the late afternoon sun shone nearly behind them, making it impossible to look directly at the ponies.

“No,” replied Sage, her voice once again firm, appearing to have regained her composure. “They’re flying to straight to be zombies. Zombies fly like they only have one wing.”

“Think it’s the skywagon group?” Snowglobe mused.

Moon nodded. “I think so… but where’s the skywagon?”

“Sunny and Willow too,” Snowglobe added.

The four of them watched quietly as the pegasi neared, not knowing what to expect. Moon picked out Dusty and Jade right away as they neared; they were with the other two pegasi who had flown in. Dusty fixed his gaze on her as they moved in to land, signifying that he spotted them.

The four pegasi landed a little to the right. Jade panted heavily, letting her tongue loll out of her mouth. Moon shot a worried smile to Dusty while Jade trotted up to meet Sage. Dusty on the other hoof, did not smile. He walked slowly up to Moon and Snowglobe, holding a gloomy expression.

“What happened?” she asked, mind clouding with worry.

“The REA aren’t the ponies we thought they were.”

He made to walk away, but Moon moved to block his path. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Dusty looked over at her, his eyes meeting hers levelly. They exchanged unspoken words that seemed to say most of what she was worrying. This was the first time Moon had actually seen Dusty mad. She had seen him flustered, or annoyed plenty of times, but right now, something different shone in his eyes, making the normally cheery pegasus almost unrecognizable.

“The REA is holding Sunny and Willow captive. They’re goin’ to haul them off to Baltimare for testing.”

Moon felt like she was going to pass out. Her vision blurred as a wave of panic and adrenaline surged through her body. “W-what?”

Dusty took an inpatient breath. “They’re gone; in the morning they’re going to be hundreds of miles away. The REA’s all screwed up. They tried to kill us.”

Moon looked around frantically, noting the worried expression on Snowglobe’s face. “We have to do something!”

“Damn it Moon!” Dusty snapped, stomping his hoof on the wooden planks. “It’s the Celestia damned REA! What, you think we can just go stroll in the place and go ask nicely for them to give us our friends back!?” He exhaled a shaky breath, turning away from her. “Unless they manage to bust themselves out, they aren’t goin’ anywhere but up north.”

* * *

Sunny glanced around the dark cage for what he guessed was the hundredth time. They had been hauled to a tent near the back of the camp. Since there weren’t any buildings here, animal cages served as cells. As the commander had put it, they were in captivity until they could be taken to Baltimare in the morning.

He tapped his hoof absently, receiving a light, metallic clack. Above him, there was a metal roof, below him, there was a metal floor, and steel bars held them both apart.

“Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Candy asked worriedly.

Sunny looked slowly over to the mare, only able to make out her silhouette in the dull moonlight shining through the open tent flap. “I don’t know,” he said flatly.

“Look, I’m sorry,” she apologized for the tenth time. “I had no idea you would be treated that way. The REA isn’t like this. He’s in the wrong.”

He scoffed. “Well, I guess things change.”

Sunny turned his attention to Willow. The injured mare lay splayed on her side against the bars of the cage, her flanks rising and falling slowly. Sunny had examined the wound, and although he didn’t know much about anatomy, he certainly knew it was bad. She had been shot diagonally from behind, a little ahead of her hind legs and right in the middle of her side. Blood had since caked her coat around the wound, and shone black in the moonlight. There had been an entry wound, but no exit, which signified that she still had a bullet buried somewhere inside her.

Reaching over, he brushed a lock of her crimson mane away from her face. “Hang in there,” he said quietly.

Willow opened her eyes, casting the faintest orange-yellow glow across the cage floor. “Come on,” she said, shooting him a smile and trying to sound optimistic, but failing. “It’s not that bad.”

Sunny gave his head a shake. He couldn’t get over the fact that her eyes actually glowed. They actually gave off light; it was very faint, but it was light, actual light.

He shot a look to Candy, who had retreated to the opposite corner, before returning his gaze back to Willow. “You can’t even move Willow.”

She rolled her luminescent eyes. “I could move.” She coughed once. “I’m not moving because I don’t want to re-open the wound. The only reason it’s stopped bleeding is because all the blood has clotted. It’ll break them all open again if I move.” She shifted her weight with a sharp gasp. “And I’m pretty sure there’s a bullet lodged in my intestinal track; my bowels are telling me something isn’t quite right.”

Sunny sighed, resting his hoof on Willow’s neck. “You’re lucky.” He paused, examining her wound. “Sort of. Any further forward and it would have been your stomach, or your heart, or a lung.”

Willow blinked her eyes in acknowledgement, unable to nod. “All of which would have killed me.”

They sat in silence for a while, the only sound that of their breathing in the small space and the occasional zap of a zombie hitting the fence outside.

Sunny hung his head, eyes tracking the ground. This wasn’t fair. What had they done to deserve any of this? They had come to the REA camp of their own accord, and presented them with a possible antidote. So what do they do? Try to kill his friends and then lock them in an animal cage.

A sudden burst of anger shot through him. Without warning, he reared up and slammed his forehooves against the bars, rattling the cage. “Somepony give her a damned healing potion!” he bellowed into the night air. “She is going to die! Don’t you care you useless piles of scum!?”He struck the bars again, once again shattering the quiet night air.

“Calm it Sunny,” Willow said as she exhaled. “You’re just going to make them shoot you.”

“Good!” he snapped back at her. “I hope they shoot me, and that damned idiot in the corner!” He pointed an accusing hoof at Candy.

“Shut up!” a tired voice yelled somewhere out in the camp.

Candy had pressed herself so forcefully up against the steel bars in the corner that they furrowed her coat.

Willow raised her head to look at Sunny, the movement procuring a slight grimace. “Sunny,” she said levelly, soothingly. “This isn’t you; you aren’t the angry pony I see right now. If there’s anypony that should be yelling and hitting things, it’s me. Just... sit down, and let what whatever happens, happen.”

Willow’s calm presentation seemed to calm Sunny, and he allowed himself a few deep breaths. “They can’t do this,” he added feebly, previous vigor gone. He turned desperately to Candy. “Can’t you talk to them or something?”

She only glared. “What do you think? I attacked fellow REA members and allowed the escape of three prisoners.”

Sunny scoffed. “They weren’t prisoners; he was going to kill them.”

Candy stomped a hoof. “You’re missing the point. I disobeyed a direct order and betrayed the commanding officer. I have officially thrown my ticket into the ‘Mutiny’ helmet. I’m surprised they didn’t kill me right there and then.”

He sighed, lowering his head back to the floor. “I’m sorry. All this is just, so... I don’t like small spaces either.”

Candy returned the sigh. “Things have changed. The REA is supposed to help ponies. It... it almost feels like they’ve given up, and just broken off into a band of rogues.... It can’t be this bad anywhere else. Watch, we’re going to get to Baltimare and they’re going to let you two go and—”

The room darkened as a pony’s silhouette filled the entryway, blocking out the grey moonlight.

Sunny turned angrily, expecting another gloating REA member. “What do you want?” he asked venomously.

Sunny didn’t understand why he was so enraged. This was abnormal for him. Normally, he was calm, and usually didn’t get mad very easily. Right now, he just wanted to find something and stomp it into the ground.

Suddenly, the moonlight was drown out as a pony pushed their way into the tent, creeping low to the ground.

“What do you want?” Sunny asked the dark shape heatedly.

“Shhhhh,” was the shaded pony’s reply as she slunk into the tent.

“Come to gloat?” Sunny growled.

The pony crept up to the cage and her features were drawn up in the moonlight. She was a unicorn, yellow with a white-blue mane. The room suddenly shone a light-blue as her horn flared to life.

“No,” the new arrival whispered.

Willow lifted her head halfway up from the ground. “Why are you here?” she asked with caution.

The yellow unicorn’s eyes went wide at the sight of Willow. “I want you to know that I don’t approve of this. Some of the officers have gone sour. If I could do anything to stop them, I would.” She threw a look around, then opened a flap on her saddlebags and levitated out a deep purple potion. “Your friend needs this,” she said, passing it through the bars.

Willow’s already glowing eyes lit up as they tracked the path of the glass vial, then she turned her head disbelievingly towards the mare.

The unicorn took a startled step backwards “Celestia...”she balked. “Your eyes... they glow like a zombie’s.”

“Correction,” Willow said painfully. “Zombie’s eyes glow yellow.”

The yellow mare shook her head disbelievingly, then took a step away from the cage. “I wish I could help, but the only thing I can do is wish you luck. So...” She turned to leave. “Good luck.”

“Wait,” Willow said hurriedly, turning the yellow mare back resiliently.

“Yes?” the mare asked skeptically.

“You need to bring me a pair of tweezers, pliers, anything to get this bullet out of me. I can’t just guzzle a healing potion and leave it inside.

The mare swallowed. “E-Excuse me?”

Willow rolled hr luminescent eyes. “The wound won't heal right if there’s a bullet in me. It’ll work its way further into my body if I just seal the wound, then I’ll just be screwed later.”

The yellow mare opened her mouth to speak, but only closed it a moment later. “Don’t you need anesthetic?” she asked evasively.

Another roll of the eyes. “I’d like anesthetic, but those pricks took all of my medical supplies.”

The yellow mare turned and left without another word, leaving them in silence as the tent flap swished shut.

Sunny didn’t think she would come back. He lay back down with a sigh and watched as Willow studied the healing potion skeptically. Much to his surprise, the mare did return, a pair of long, thin tweezers levitating by her side.

“Will this work?” she asked quietly, levitating the tweezers through the bars and holding them in front of Willow.

“Yeah,” the injured mare whispered back as the Tweezers dropped to the floor beside her. “Thank you.”

The mare nodded once, then turned and left.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Candy hadn’t said a word, or made a sound. She sat in the far corner of the cage, pressed up against the cold steel bars, Wallowing in what Sunny could only assume was pitty.

Willow looked to her wound, then to the tweezers. She sighed for what seemed like the tenth time that night. “I’m going to need your help Sunny.”

His head shot up. “What?”

“You’re going to have to get the bullet out.”

He shook his head vigorously. “No. No, i can’t do that.”

Willow flicked her tail irritably. “Sunny,” she said crossly. “I can’t jab a pair of tweezers into my flank and go digging for lead; I’ll be too busy trying not scream. Please, I need your help.”

Regretfully, Sunny nodded. “Alright... Is there way way I should do it? Or...”

She shook her head. “Just stick it in and dig until you find something little and hard. I haven’t been eating any rocks or anything, so there should only be one hard thing lodged in my intestines.”

He gulped. “Well... that’s nice.”

Willow grinned up at him. “I hope you aren’t squeamish.”

“No,” Sunny replied flatly. “I’m just not very keen to go digging inside my friend with a pair of tweezers.”

She smiled. “Remember that old game, Operation?”

He nodded, eyeing to tweezers.

“Good,” Willow levitated the tweezers over to Sunny. “Just pretend you’re trying to get the butterfly.”

The yellow mare winced as a strangled scream echoed throughout the camp.

“Should have gotten her some pain killers,” she muttered.

* * *

“Celestia... it’s gotten worse,” Moon said under her breath.

She strode beside Dusty as they circled the town atop the barrier.

It was the day after Dusty and Jade had arrived with the bad news. Since then, nothing had changed but the number of zombies gnawing at the wall.

“When did they all start showin’ up?” Dusty asked.

Moon rolled her eyes up. “I’d say about an hour before you did.”

The pegasus shook his head slowly. “Ah don’t get it. Somehow, they like, found the town or somethin’.... Willow would know. She was the zombie expert.”

Moon felt her heart drop as she was reminded of her two missing companions, Sunny more than Willow. She missed the pegasus, missed him more than she could bear. Just thinking about it stuck her breath in her chest and filled her belly with a sinking feeling.

Dusty flicked his tail and turned to Moon. “You have any idea why Sage is using us as her personal consultants now?”

Moon sighed. “Sage isn’t doing so well. I guess she’s just looking for help. She was never fit to run a settlement. She may look strong, but she takes that headband off and she’s a totally different pony.”

She looked down at a throng of zombies pressed against the barrier like sardines in a can. It seemed strange, but, sometime after the hospital, zombies had stopped being scary. Sure they could still eat you and you would die, but she had her shotgun and they were too stupid to hide. Looking down at them from the barrier like this had the same effect at looking down at a caged, ferocious beast. No matter how scary it is, it just isn’t scary.

Dusty stopped and perked his ears. “Ah hear ponies yellin’.”

Moon stopped as well, tilting her head to one side to listen with her left ear. She could definitely hear ponies yelling... lots of ponies yelling. “Sounds like some sort of commotion in town.”

Dusty blinked slowly. “I reckon we should go check it out then.” With practiced ease, Dusty sprang from the barrier and unfurled his wings to glide down to ground level. He landed smoothly and flapped his wings a single time for balance before re-furling them.

“Oh, sure.” Moon rolled her eyes as the pegasus smiled cheekily up a her. “Leave the mare to take the stairs. With a not-so-irritated huff, she trotted the extra ten feet to the rickety staircase and descended there.

The two cut between two buildings and emerged on the main street, where a throng of ponies had gathered in a semicircle.

“Jeez,” Dusty said as they neared the clamorous group. “It looks like the whole town is out here.”

Moon looked over the group of ponies with raised eyebrows. “I think the whole town is here.”

“There you are!” a recognizable voice called. Snowglobe trotted up and took stance on Moon’s right. “I’ve been wondering were you two have been,” she stated. “I still can’t find Brick. I haven’t seen him since word got out that Willow and Sunny were gone.”

Moon flinched. Another jab in the heart. “What’s going on here?” she asked Snowglobe.

“The townsponies are catching on,” the gray mare replied in a hushed tone. “What with the sudden water conservation and all the zombies outside. They’re starting to get antsy.”

Snowglobe shrugged. “Okay.”

“Okay...? As in, no breakdowns?” she pressed.

“Not so far.”

Moon nodded with relief. “Good. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

Sage stood atop a flat-decked wagon, which had been surrounded by ponies.

“What’s with this new water stuff!?” one yelled in a squeak.

“What’re we gun’ do ‘bout the zombies!?” another hollered.

Moon watched from the back of the group as Sage began to crumble under the barrage of questions and acquisitions. “Doing okay,” she said in a mock of Snowglobe’s voice, procuring a look from the gray mare.

Suddenly, Sage’s face turned hard and she stomped her hoof. “You want it straight?” she said in exasperation. “I’ll tell it to you straight... We're running out of water, and as all of you know, there are zombies surrounding us. Put one and two together and you have one majorly screwed town.

A shocked silence fell over the crowd.

“So... what do we do then?” squeaked a mare near the front.

Sage lowered her head. “I don’t know. That’s what I was trying to figure out.” She looked up, looking as Moon had seen her earlier. “I have no idea what to do. Anypony have a plan that will un-screw us?”

“Well,” a red stallion asked. “Can we shoot them? maybe—”

“Not enough ammo,” Sage interrupted.

Silence

Sage stood tall. “I’m tired of making all the decisions. You ponies are going to have to help me out here.” She stood quietly, saying no more, watching with absolutely no interest as ponies began to mutter and argue.

Before Moon could even contemplate what was happening, she was was standing in the middle of a full-fledged screaming contest. A few ponies shrank away from the arguing mass, taking the sensible side and not joining in on the chaos.

Moon balked. “It’s Desert Sage all over again!”

One burly stallion sporting a cowpony hat threw a hoof at another chewing on a cattail and the real chaos began.

Moon and Snowglobe dodged out of the way as two mares rolled by, biting and kicking at one another. Dusty jumped into the air and hovered above, out of reach.

Sage stood blankly on top of the wagon, staring off into space as the brawl raged on. A couple of doors cracked along the length of the street, anxious foals or mothers peeking out to see the commotion.

Moon stared ahead, her mind bringing her back to that day in Desert Sage which seemed so long ago, the day it happened. Ponies arguing, infection, killing, running.... zombies.

She took a determined step forward. It would not happen here; she wouldn’t let it.

Unstrapping the shotgun from her size, Moon levitated the barrel into the air. She loaded a shell with a metallic clack and fired. “Everypony freeze!”

Everypony froze where they stood. Two mares turned their eyes to her, one’s teeth fastened in the other’s mane. A stallion looked up from the other he had pinned.

“Damn, Moon.” Dusty whispered as he touched back down beside her.

Moon made her way through the shocked crowd of ponies and mounted the wagon, pushing Sage aside. She glared around at all the townsponies, smoking shotgun by her side. “Are you all stupid!?” she hollered. “Why don’t you all stop trying to kill each other, and try to find a way for us all not to die!” Moon pointed to Dusty for an example. “The pegasus ponies are fine; they can just fly away, but not too many of you are pegasus ponies, are you? And by not too many, I mean one. So pony up, and learn to deal with our problems instead of shoving it all on one pony!”

Panting, she lowered the shotgun and returned it to her side, then turned on Sage angrily. “Isn’t this your job?”

Sage smiled at Moon like one would to a lover. “Not anymore.”

Moon cocked her head, momentary burst of anger and adrenaline gone. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

Sage reached up and pulled the headband from her head, her brown mane falling into her eyes as the red cloth was pulled free. Moon stood frozen as Sage reached out and slipped the headband over her own head, adjusting it so it matched how Sage normally wore it: under the mane in the front, and parting it half over and half under in the back.

Sage took a step back and nodded approvingly, the same, loving, sad smile on her face. “Good luck Moon.”

Moon’s jaw fell open. “No,” she stated. Sage turned and hopped down from the wagon, parting the ponies ahead of her like magic as she headed for the edge of the crowd. “No! You can’t do this!”

Sage stopped and turned back to face her. “I’m sorry, Moon. But, I can’t do this anymore... Now it’s your turn.” With an apologetic look, she turned her back to Moon and continued on.

“But I never asked for a turn!” Moon stood in despair, watching as Sage stopped next to Jade, who seemed unsettled.

Had there been crickets in the crowd, they would be chirping. Moon stood on the wagon, looking fearfully out at the townsponies, all of whom were eyeing her expectantly.

She raised a hoof. “Give me a minute here.” She sat and ran her hoof along the headband. How could Sage do this to her?

Although she was silent, the townsponies held their vigil, as if in mourning for the retired leader. They waited for her first move, every eye focused, every ear alert. Moon spotted Snowglobe, who stood on the tips of her hooves. The gray mare smiled and nodded at her, a silent gesture of encouragement. Dusty was in the crowd as well, his face reflecting shock and disbelief.

It was now or never. Moon took a firm stance and looked out at the crowd. “Okay... Apparently I’m supposed to lead you ponies.” She sighed. “I don’t know much about leading, so bear with me.

“Something you all need to know: I used to be a pediatrician. I never planned on, or wanted to do this, but Sage left me in charge. And by Celestia, I’ll try my best. Now if I’m going to be leading you ponies, you need to know who I am... My name is Blue Moon, formerly of Phillydelphia.” She paused. “Now, I may not know much about running a settlement.” She levitated the shotgun up to her side. “But there are some things I do know—Staying alive, guns, zombies...” She worked the slide on the shotgun. “And how to kill them.”

The effect was of her desire. One pony stomped their hooves on the ground, closely followed by two more, then five. In less than a moment, every pony on the street was whooping and cheering for her.

Moon smiled lightly. “I should have totally run for elementary class president back in Phillydelphia,” she muttered. Raising a hoof, she quelled the cheering. Who knew winning the heart and minds of so many ponies was so easy?

“We need to deal with the problem at hoof!” She gestured roughly to the barricade. “There’s a lot of hungry zombies out there, and a lot of soon-to-be-hungry ponies in here. We need to do something about it. Now obviously, we don’t have enough ammo to shoot every one, so I need ideas.”

A pink mare near the back raised a hoof. “A distraction maybe? if we could get a pony to—”

Moon silenced her with a shake of her head. “No. I’ll never allow something like that. Think transportation.”

“Well, we’ve got wagons,” a green buck piped up.

“You think you can pull a wagon faster than a zombie!?” called another rudely.

Moon nodded. “He’s right. Wagons won’t do.”

Then from, the back of the crowd, Dusty raised his hoof. “How about a train?”

* * *

“Wake up!” a gruff voice commanded

“Gimme’ a minute,” Willow groaned, rolling over to put her back to the voice.

“Willow,” she heard Sunny whisper from a little ways away. “Just get up.”

“Come on,” another unknown voice growled. It was followed by a shuffling of hooves and creak of metal.

Willow flicked her ears, but didn’t move. Everything hurt, more specifically, her whole middle section. Her limbs felt fine, but every movement sent long shivers of pain up her belly. Willow associated the feeling with that of drinking kerosene, a drunken party trick she had once attempted that had ended in a hospital hooked to a stomach pump. Those had been her more invincible years. She had learned two things that night. One was that if it was combustible, it was not meant to be taken internally, which should have been common sense at the time. And that stupidity and hard cider did not mix.

Without warning, her entire body was racked with searing pain as pressure was applied to the wound, still was not fully healed from the potion. She screamed and, on reaction, threw a forehoof back. It collided with something soft, and the pain immediately subsided.

Now angry, she opened her eyes and sat up. She blinked, noting the numerous rifles trained on her head. The stallion she had struck glared angrily as he climbed to his hooves, blood running from both nostrils.

Taking in her surroundings, Willow recognized the cage from last night, now lit brightly by the early morning sun. Sunny and Candy sat off to one side of the tent, both shackled at the hooves.

Slowly, WIllow pushed herself to her forehooves, trying to ignore the rifle barrels trained on her head. She kept her movements slow and predictable, not keen to be shot again. “Don’t shoot,” she lulled to the unblinking ponies such as one would to a scared animal. “I’m not going to try and eat you or anything.”

The stallion she had clobbered took his place in line, ears folded as he looked around at his comrades, who seemed to find his ordeal rather amusing.

“Mare got your tongue?” one joked cruelly.

The stallion shook his head confusedly. “Her hoof hit me like a train.”

Willow bowed her head to him. “Sorry. You really shouldn’t have poked me there.”

The commander, whom she had met yesterday, entered the tent. He stomped officially to the center to nod at his officers. “Get her out of here,” was his stiff command.

The ponies barring her way moved and Willow started forward, favoring one leg over the other due to her injury. One of the ponies went to shunt her forward and she turned on him with a snarl.

“I can walk myself!” she spat, causing the stallion to jump back. He stumbled to a safe distance and trained his rifle on her.

“Yeah, point your gun at me,” the leered before turning away and continuing forward.

The commander smiled at Willow, but not in a good way. “You’re a strange mare,” he said idly.

“Why, she growled, stopping in the middle of the tent, her companions a few feet away. “Because your crappy shooting didn’t kill me? Or is it because you aren’t able to beat me in a pissing contest?”

She glared in triumph as the commander froze, his mind working a mile a minute.

Not much to her surprise, the stallion’s hoof flashed up and struck her across the muzzle. Trying her best not to cry out or wince in pain, Willow continued to glare into his amused face. He swung again, this time striking her in the brow. She held her glare, even as a trickle of blood ran from a cut on her head and into her eye.

The commander grinned smugly. “Oh, playing tough are we?” he motioned to two silent ponies on the right. “Cuff her.” He turned back to Willow. “Don’t worry, I went through your bag and found your “Antidote.” I don’t know what it is, and frankly, I don’t care. But it’s going with you and your friends in a box to Baltimare, where our best scientists will analyze both it and you.

Willow fidgeted as the two ponies cuffed her. She held her eyes on the commander, expression cool. Sunny and Candy watched nervously. “I hope all the REA isn’t like you,” she said rudely. “Because if they are, Equestria is so screwed.

The commander just shrugged. “I run things my way. For all I know, the next REA official you meet is going to kiss your boo-boos better and give you a cookie and milk. Here, we do things my way, and that’s how it is.”

The mare whom had helped Willow last night poked her head in the tent. “Sir,” she said quietly, throwing a quick eye at Willow. “The skywagon is ready.”

The commander nodded. “Good. Get those ponies and their junk on board, and then set for Baltimare. Let it be their mess. I don’t want a thing to do with this devil mare and her friend the deserter.”

The yellow unicorn nodded. “Yes sir.” She gestured with a hoof for the prisoners to follow.

Sunny and Candy shuffled over to meet the mare at the exit. Willow shot one last glare at the commander before following them.

Willow tried to cross the camp with as much dignity as possible as the yellow mare lead them to the skywagon, which wasn’t much—not with all the rifles trained on her and the way she had to shuffle in the hoofcuffs. Not with the uniformed officers that flanked she and her friends on either side.

She shuffled forward and pressed her way in between Sunny and Candy. The orange pegasus walked with his head aloft and wings partially flared, feathers ruffled. Candy on the other hoof, walked with her head low, her mane obscuring most her face. Hiding her face was not all too effective though, for her red and white striped mane was a dead giveaway to her fellow soldiers.

“Is that Cane?” WIllow hear a heard a watching stallion whisper to another.

“Yeah,” was his friend's reply. “Definitely... I wonder what she did.”

“Things are looking pretty grim,” Sunny muttered, shooting Willow a sideways glance.

“Yeah...” Willow rolled her eyes and spoke in mock surprise. “Who knew that Candy would accidentally hoof us over to a power-hungry sociopath.”

THe yellow unicorn mare led her around a corner towards a waiting skywagon.

“Do you think all of the army is like this?” Sunny fretted.

Willow shook her head, looking down at her hooves. “I don’t think they are. I’ve been around the army before all this. They’re Equestrian’s army, not a bunch of rogues with guns. It’ll be better in Baltimare... you’ll see.” While Willow was reassuring Sunny, she found herself not knowing whether her words were true, but hoping they were.

The pegasus sighed. “I sure hope so.”

The wagon they were led to was similar to the one they had flown here on. Only this one had no windows, except for two in the very front, and ran about three feet shorter.

“A prison wagon,” Candy muttered under her breath.

“Is this our load to Baltimare?” a blue unicorn mare asked, stepping down out of the wagon.

The yellow one nodded. “Yep.”

A yellow earth pony emerged next. “Well, get them loaded up then,” he said impatiently.

Willow had no idea how she managed to hold her tongue as she was shunted into the wagon behind her friends. Upon entering, she was lead to the back of a wagon, where a set of bars had been fitted, creating a small holding cell.

Willow fought the urge to block the cell door as the blue unicorn swung it closed. The bars fell in place with a clank and the latch was set, inoperable from the inside.

She could see why it was called a prison wagon. The back five feet of the craft was no more than a cage with soft-hard cushions on either side, while the front provided two, much more cushioned seats for the captors.

The yellow earth pony stallion trotted to the front wall and rapped three times with a forehoof.

With a lurch, the wagon started forward. Unable to see due to the lack of windows, WIllow had to reply on the churning in her gut to tell her that they were moving.

Willow did not know for how long she rode in silence. She had no sense of time without the view of the sun. It had been a while—certainly long enough for her to get bored.

“I’m so sorry’ Candy whispered from the very back of the cell, where she hid in the semi-darkness. “I never knew.... I never thought....”

“It’s best you keep quiet right now, Candy.” Willow said warningly. “I don’t want to end up saying something I’ll regret later.”

Candy opened her mouth, then closed it again. With a sniff, she hung her head and sobbed lightly. Willow looked away and uncomfortably tugged at her hoofcuffs; they were really starting to annoy her.

“Take it easy on her,” Sunny said flatly from the ground where he lay. “She meant good.”

“Shut up!” Snapped the stallion from the front of the wagon. “You’re prisoners, that means you don’t speak!”

Willow shook her hoofcuffs, filling the wagon with an obnoxious jingle.

“And stop with the chains,” he added. “It’s annoying.”

With a roll of her eyes, WIllow stood up and placed her hooves on the bars. “Why don’t you take them off me?” she asked innocently. “I think they’re pretty annoying too.”

It was the blue mare’s turn to speak. “Are you joking?” she scoffed. “we’re not taking your cuffs off.”

“Look,” Willow said bargainingly. “Take the cuffs off please, or I’ll take them off.”

The uniformed mare raised an eyebrow. “Is that a threat?”

Willow shook her head. “No, I am just telling you that if you don’t take these cuffs off, I’ll do it myself.”

“Good luck,” she laughed. “Those are quarter inch steel chains.”

“Willow,” Sunny said slowly. The pegasus was lying on his back and staring up the the ceiling, legs splayed and wings unfurled. “Don’t.”

She looked down at him. “No. I told her to take them off, and she won't.” She gave the chain binding her forehooves a tug, testing the metal. “So I’ll do it because these things are annoying me.” Raising her forehooves to her she bit down on the chain and turned her head to clamp down on it with her molars.

The REA ponies watched with amusement as she ran her jaws in a small circle, grinding the chain. She gave one hard bite, and a tug in either direction with her forehooves and the chain snapped in the center link.

The blue unicorn’s jaw dropped. “Did you just—” she turned in disbelief to the stallion.”She just broke the cuffs.”

He blinked. “Well... put a new pair on her then.”

Having rolled onto her back to gnaw at the shackles on her rear hooves, Willow snapped the second pair. She rolled to a sitting position and shot a warning glare at the two ponies. “You put a new pair on me and I’ll just break them again.”

“Please don’t,” Sunny groaned from the floor. “She is one-hundred percent serious.”

“She’s supposed to be a doctor?” the blue mare asked the stallion beside her, who only shrugged.

“Do me a favor,” WIllow said, fighting a yawn and curling herself into a ball. “Wake me up when you’re done being so uptight.”

“How far is it to Baltimare?” she heard Sunny ask.

“Far enough to get us out of the desert,” the mare replied. “Thank Celestia for that.”

“You ever seen a tree, desert pony?” the stallion asked, his gaze fixed on Sunny.

“Yeah!” the pegasus replied defensively. “Of course I’ve seen a tree.”

“How are you still alive anyways?” the uniformed stallion mused dangerously. “What makes you so special?”

Willow sat up intent to see the uniformed stallion’s motives.

The mare shot the stallion a look. “Don’t,” she said with annoyance.

He brandished a dismissive hoof at her. “Oh it’s nothing. I’m just making small talk.” To Sunny. “Go on, tell me. I’m curious.”

“Apart from being immune?” Sunny asked sarcastically, placing a thoughtful hoof on chin. “And apart from escaping Desert Sage alive through underground tunnels, and then hiking through the desert to Appleoosa. Then being caught by a bunch of sociopathic ponies in uniforms.” He looked to the yellow stallion. “Let me think.”

Willow smiled. Maybe she was starting to rub off on the pegasus. That sarcasm had been worthy of her own standards.

The smile wiped from the yellow stallion’s face faster than water off a duck. He fixed his gaze on Sunny and stepped forward threateningly. “Are you immune to bullets, smart one?”

“Back off,” his comrade warned, most likely knowing he wouldn’t listen.

Sunny shifted his position and Willow could tell from his body language that he already regretted speaking.

She refrained from jumping at the stallion right there and then. If a pony wanted to pick on her, it was fair game, but not her friends.

The yellow pony moved closer, poking the barrel of his carbine through the bars and training it on Sunny. “Let’s just say for a minute that you were trying to escape.” He smiled. WIllow heard the audible click of the safety catch.

That was all it took to set her on him. He was threatening and Sunny and it set her blood boiling. Before anypony could react, she was on her hooves and lunging towards the bars. The cocky stallion made to step back, but misjudged her speed. Catching the end of his carbine’s barrel in her mouth, she tugged him towards her until his face smashed against the cell.

“Hey!” he yelled, trying to pull free. “Stop it!”

He lunged for the firing bit, but Willow was a second faster. She yanked the barrel left just as a shot rang out. The steel in her mouth grew hot, but she kept her teeth tightly fastened. Now even more angry than before, she yanked hard on the barrel and was rewarded with a crack. The stallion screamed in pain as he was smashed against the bars.

“Omph gahlsh!” she yelled giving another tug. With a lurch, the barrel tore free of the carbine and Willow flew back to land on Sunny.

The yellow stallion stepped hurriedly back, coat red and bleeding in places where he had been pulled against the bars. “Shoot her!’ he bellowed to the mare beside him. “Shoot that freak!” He took the bit in his mouth, but Willow only smiled, knowing that the barrel in her mouth had destroyed the firing mechanism.

“No,” the blue mare said angrily. “You asked for that.”

He turned to her, looking on the verge of angry tears. “That was an unprovoked attack on a uniformed officer!”

“She was protecting her friend!” Blue shouted back. “Now cut the crap! Just because the commander’s gone crazy doesn’t mean you can too.”

Willow rolled off of Sunny and spat out her prize, watchig as it clattered to the floor. “Sorry about that,” she apologised, sounding the exact opposite of sorry.

“Thanks,” Sunny said quietly, directing his eyes to his hooves.

Willow reached over and messed up his mane, trying to ignore the bickering of the two REA ponies in the front. “I wouldn’t let anypony shoot you but me.”

Sunny smiled. “That actually sounds pretty good.” he made a quick movement for her mane, but she batted his hoof away before he could reach her.

“That’s because I’m a pony you can trust.”

Sunny met her gaze. “You really are.”

Something in the pegasus’ gaze made her feel uncomfortable for the first time in ages and she hurriedly looked away. “Let’s hope we catch a break break in Baltimare. I don’t know how many more things I have to break before they put me in a straightjacket."

Comments

[Deathpony]

cant wait for the next chapter when is it?

[PonyLIghtningTwister]

Awesome! 10/10!
i found a few errors but great

[Strawberry Cupcakes]

One notable error:
"not wanting to hit another of his own, but continued to try and fine an opportunity to shoot."

Great chapter

[Lucario247]

Just gOt back from a camp in California that lasted for a week. Stayed up the previous night until two in the morning. Gets home and is about to go to sleep.

Sees update.

Yep. Totally worth staying up all night.

I saw a large amount of errors in this chapter however. Like just small things that would still catch your eye. I still lurv it with all of my cardiac chamber thing.

Moon: good job showing your swagger to teh males.
Willow: I'm gaining more and more respect for you.
Sunny:
Sage: Y U B SO BLUNT ABOUT SITUATION
Brick: where u go?
Candy: I wub u teh most. Everypony is just bitchy because of the zeds. It's ok there there... *snuggle*
Sorren: Still waiting for epic fight scene with a Witch pony zombie. And also waiting for teh ships. *smug face*

[BronyMeatShield]

Then from, the back of the crowd, Dusty raised his hoof. “How about a train?”
Instant Thought: "AALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL ABOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRD!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

[Zap Transfer]

Only one rule: Don't fuck with Willow.

P.S. Don't fuck with her friends.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE! WHOOP!

[Lucario247]

980402>>980402
Never played that. But I'll take your word for it!

[Desert Storm]

man, these chapters take a while to read, but its well worth my time

[Lightning Scratch]

...that was...AWSOME!

[MemoryLane]

Okay, as much as I'm loving this story, I find Willow's constant personality changes to be both confusing, and unnecessary. To be honest, I preferred the uptight, slightly sarcastic, completely serious mare. I liked that a lot more than the jokey, too sarcastic mare now. Willow WAS my favorite character, but now I think that that position belongs to either Sunny or Brick(He's gonna say something soon...I just know it...)

I say if you wanted to make a character act all sarcastic and jokey, kind of like that comic relief character that you seem to be trying to do with Willow, then I think you should just add another pony to their roster of... six/seven. I can never remember exactly how many there are. It may just be me, but switching personalities is something that I'm not really fond of. No one else seems to have a problem with it in the comments so EH. It is what it is.

Keep up the great work with this story! I will continue to read!

-Cyneryk

[NaughtSought]

Chapter 9 by your count. ten by fimfiction's

“Willow!” sunny hissed. “I thought I told you not to!”

Capitalize Sunny

“Let’s hope we catch a break break in Baltimare.

Too many "breaks" maybe?

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

Willow is best pony