The Night of the Trotters

by Strongbolt Stonewing

The Return

Laura felt fantastic, she was soaring above the streets of Ponyville after shocking both her friends with her incredible magical abilities. For some reason, part of her felt slightly upset. Was it because I lied to my friends, she wondered, or maybe I'm just too eager to tell the truth... No! I can not tell them, not yet, they might not trust me, especially Dice. As if sensing her emotions, Dice glanced at her, he was grinning, he had been ever since her magical stunt, she smiled back at him.

"Food!" Derpy shouted.

"Hush now, Derpocerasus." Laura joked. "We do not want our deceased friends being alerted of our presence."

"No, look, it's the bakery." Dice pointed forward.

Surely enough, the gigantic cake-shaped bakery was straight ahead of them. The previously bright pink icing atop the building had almost lost its color, now it was a dank, greyer tone. The roof had taken multiple blasts from the storm and was now covered in black burns. Part of the roof had fallen in where the huge candle used to be, revealing the wooden frame underneath.

"There has to be something useful in there." Laura explained.

"There'll be food, for sure. The place looks intact still." Dice said.

"Lower me down." Laura ordered.

Derpy and Dice slowed their wing speed once more and descended slowly into the bakery. The interior was bare; they were in a room with a number of empty barrels and a wooden door.

"They'll be more food downstairs." Dice promised. He reached for the handle on the door.

"Careful now, Dice. We have no idea as to what lies on the other side of that door." Laura said calmly.

Dice pushed the door forward and peeked through. "We're clear."

"Yay!" Derpy jumped into the door and rolled down a set of stairs.

"Derpy! Quiet." Dice whispered.

Derpy's smile turned to a wobbly frown. "Sorry."

Dice trotted down the stairs and Laura followed. They arrived on the first floor, where Dice and Laura had originally met. She remembered spotting Dice during a party, the streamers and balloons still hung limply around the room.

"Where did everypony go?" Laura asked herself.

Dice just stared at her, almost exactly as he had done the first time she had approached him. She had heard many rumours about him from her colleagues, she was intrigued by him and believed that she could remind him of who he was. She saw the apocalypse as an opportunity, even if she had not expected it.

"Derpy," Dice whispered, "check the kitchen for more supplies."

"Sure thing, Boss." Derpy saluted and disappeared behind the counter.

Dice's expression turned serious, and he turned back to Laura. "Funny." He said. "We were stood here not long ago. Remember? The party?"

"How could I forget?" Laura gasped.

"Heh... yeah. You still didn't explain what you meant?"

Laura tilted her head slightly and stared at him.

"You know," Dice continued, "yesterday. You said you were waiting for me to 'wake up'. What did you mean?"

Laura's smile faded. "I..." She cleared her throat. "I, well, what I meant was... it's difficult for me to explain."

"How difficult?" Dice came closer.

"Do you remember when I told you that I had heard a lot about you? Did that not seem a little odd to you?"

Dice paused, his expression grew dark. "You? No! You're not...?"

Laura nodded slowly, she braced herself.

"I told you! I told all of you that I'm done!" He yelled.

"Dice, please, keep your voice down." Laura pleaded.

"You know, for a second I thought I was beginning to trust you. I guess I was wrong again."

"That's not why I am here." She whispered briskly.

"Then why are you here?" He approached her and she backed away.

"I thought, that maybe, I could wake you up. Open your eyes."

"I've had my eyes open for far too long! I've seen things that no pony could put into words with my opened eyes. So I shut them, I tried to forget. But, you can't have that can you? You have to ruin my life even more!"

"Listen, Dice! I know what they did to you! They betrayed your trust, and I will not. I want to help you, our agency is falling apart, we need an expert, a veteran like yourself."

"I want nothing to do with 'the agency' or you! When this is all over, I hope I never see you again, and I hope you never see me!" He shouted.

The groaning outside increased. "Dice." Laura warned. "The zomb-"

The sound of hoofsteps came from outside, and a sharp knocking came from the door.

Roseluck felt terrible, she had just killed a pony, even if he was already dead, his blood was literally on her hooves. She sat with the Doctor, staring at the body of the zombie. For some reason, she felt like she could not look the Doctor in the eye, she felt like she had disappointed him or betrayed him. He was the one pony that cared for her now, the one pony that gave her hope in the new dark world. I can't lose him, she thought, I can't be alone again...

"I'd imagine they're on there way back now." Whooves said suddenly. "Wait until they hear about this, eh?" He chuckled nervously. Roseluck still did not look at him. Whooves cleared his throat. "Listen, um, thanks. You saved my life." Roseluck was silent. There was a long pause. "What did you see back there?" Whooves was suddenly serious.
Am I being too stubborn? Roseluck wondered. What if he doesn't like that? What if he thinks I don't appreciate him? She started panicking, she wanted to say something but could not form a word. She slowly turned her head and looked at him, she tried to speak, but her voice was gone, so she just shook her head.

"I'm sorry." Whooves said.

He's apologising? She thought. What if he thinks it's his fault? Why aren't I good enough for him? She became angry with herself, a small amount of rage was bubbling up inside her.

"Stop." Said a firm voice, the voice of the figure. Whooves did not react, so Roseluck assumed he could not hear her. " I am not going to let you lose yourself. Remember who you are, Roseluck. You are strong, you are unique."

"I'm a murderer!" Roseluck cried. Whooves was stunned, Roseluck looked into the air like she expected to see something.

"Not to him." The voice said calmly. "To him, you are beautiful, a wonderful thing. Don't you see? He cares for you."

"I've lost it!" Roseluck laughed. "I've officially lost it!" Her eyes watered.

"Roseluck!" Whooves took her hoof. "I promised I would get you out of this and I will!"

"You don't understand!" She pulled away. "You don't want me! Nobody does! I'm useless." She struggled to form her last sentence through her crying.

"Roseluck, I... I..."

"Just go!" She cried. "Leave me alone, leave me alone again!"

"Please..."

"No one loves me! No one! I'm... nothing. Just a crazy mare!"

"Listen to me!" Whooves yelled.

"No!" She ran back and almost tripped over the body. "Not again! Please!" The cave grew darker, the light of the moon seemed to slowly fade, leaving her in the dark. "Not again! Not-" everything stopped, the darkness grew lighter and her vision cleared. Whooves stood closely to her, leaning in with his hooves wrapped around her and his lips on hers.

"I love you." He said proudly. Roseluck stared at him, the frown on her face wobbled and curved into a smile.

"I'm no expert." Said the voice. "But I think you've found yourself a keeper."

The zombies broke through the windows of the bakery, reaching in with desperate hooves.

"Damn!" Dice yelled. He turned to Laura, his expression was dark and angered. "This isn't over!" He grabbed her hoof and led her into the kitchen. "Derpy?"

"Here!" The blonde mare called from the basement.

"Derpy we have to get out of here! Now!"

Derpy emerged from a hatch in the floor, dragging with her a large bag containing assorted food, balloons, streamers, a grapple hook, a few knives and a baseball bat. She dumped the bag on the floor. "I do good?" She asked.

Dice smiled slightly. "You did brilliantly." He turned to Laura and became angry again. "Now get us out of here!"

"I can not." Laura muttered. "I need a clear path, there are too many physical objects in the way."

"Argh." Dice grumbled. "Come on!" He launched up the stairs and into the attic. Derpy and Laura appeared behind him, they slammed the door shut.

"They'll be here soon! We have to get out of here." Said Dice.

"I have an idea." Laura mumbled.

Dice turned on her. "It better be a good one."

Laura pulled out the sonic screwdriver and directed it at the wall. "Perhaps we may be able to use this." She activated her magic and combined it with the screwdriver's power. Concentrated light erupted from her horn and blasted through the wall, leaving a small smoldering hole.

"We can't fit through that!" Dice complained.

"We don't need to." Laura replied. She put her hooves on Derpy and Dice, she placed the screwdriver in her mouth and pressed the button with her teeth then attempted a teleport. She focused on the mountain that she could barely see through the hole she had made. Suddenly, the mountain came closer, and the trio were now stood outside the cave.

"Hooray!" Derpy cried. An echo reverberated across the valley.

"Sh! Derpy!" Dice whispered. His ear twitched. "Something's wrong. Roseluck? Whooves?" He ran into the cave, and saw the body of a light brown colt laying on the cave floor. "Oh... No...."

Laura arrived by his side, she gasped.

"It's alright." Said Whooves's voice. He and Roseluck stepped out of the darkness. "We're okay."

"Thank goodness." Said Laura.

Dice snatched the screwdriver from Laura's hoof and threw it back to the Doctor. "What happened here?"

"One got in." Roseluck did not make eye contact with any of them. She stood remarkably close to Whooves.

"But where did it come from?" Laura asked.

"Was anyone talking to you?" Dice turned on her suddenly with rage in his eyes.

Whooves tilted his head, Roseluck simply said. "We don't know."

Whooves examined Dice and Dice examined Whooves. "What happened to you two?" They both said in unison.

"Wait!" Derpy said suddenly. Everyone looked at her, even Roseluck. She looked up at the moon like a wolf ready to howl. "Good night Luna." She fell onto her side and began snoring.

"Did she just...?" Roseluck murmured.

Suddenly the valley outside of the cave became illuminated with a bright white light, as if the moon had increased its illumination. Everyone yawned.

"Well, I'm feeling a little..." Whooves fell to the ground, asleep.

"Whoo... ves?" Roseluck groaned and fell beside him.

Laura struggled to keep her eyes open. "Dice..." She yawned. "Something... is not... right... here."

Dice dropped to his knees. "I'm getting... too old for this." And with that he joined his friends in slumber.

Comments

[Candy5554]

This so far is fantastic! Are you still working on this? I hope you are! Oh and if you don't finish it i'll be haunting you in your dreams