Among the Unturned

by Natkomet

Come and Find Me

Chapter 7

After one of the strangest and definitely the scariest night of her life, Twinkleshine had fallen into a deep sleep next to her strange new human companion, Jack.

As the sun continued to rise and the morning got underway, she began to twitch as a dream took hold of her exhausted mind.

-

“Wha-where am I?” Twinkleshine mumbled.

Surrounded on all sides by a pitch-black void, she began to panic before realizing that she was standing on something solid.

Whatever that something was, however, she couldn’t see it, though she could see herself, which, in itself was odd as there was no source of light that she could see.

“It’s almost like the light is coming from me…” She thought.

Suddenly, the light went out, but she wasn’t in the dark.

In the distance, there was a faint, red glow.

She began to trot cautiously towards it, blinking as she tried to make sense of what it was.

The texture beneath her hooves began to change as she did so, going from smooth to rough.

Firing up her horn, the pale blue light of her magic lit up the surrounding area and the darkness grudgingly receded.

Her little light revealed that she was in some kind of tunnel, cold concrete walls arching up from the floor to meet high above her head.

As she was looking up, she missed the railway tracks that began abruptly just a few feet away and stubbed her hoof.

“What now!?”, Twinkleshine thought grumpily as she recovered from her stumble and rubbed her hoof.

There was a pair of them, side by side so trains could go either way, rails gleaming faintly in the glow of her magic and stretching into the darkness towards the red glow.

Suddenly, there was a faint, ghostly whisper that swept down the tunnel like a draft.

Twinkleshine’s ears perked up, straining to make sense of the voice that seemed to swirl out of the darkness from every direction.

“Come and Find Me….”

“Ok, this is getting weirder and weirder.” She thought with growing trepidation as she picked up the pace and started to follow the tracks towards the glow.

Then she reached the source.

“What in Equestria…,” Twinkleshine said under her breath as she beheld the strange symbol floating in the darkness before her.

Then the voice came again, this time louder and somehow more urgent.

“Come and Find Me!”

“Who are you?” Twinkleshine whispered back, eyes following the strange, arcane curves and shapes of the symbol.

There was no answer.

Then the symbol vanished and Twinkleshine was left alone in the tunnel with the light of her horn.

“Well, that was kind of anticlim-”

An unseen force gripped the mare and smashed her sideways into the tunnel wall, but instead of the crunch of breaking bones and pain she was expecting, Twinkleshine found herself in a small side cavern.

She was so shocked, she forgot to scream. However, as she registered what lay before her, the scream died in her throat.

A big, angry-looking red and black crystal sat embedded in the floor a few meters from her hooves at the back of the cavern.

On the ledges beside and behind it, over a dozen candles glowed faintly, their light outmatched by that of the crystal.

As for the crystal itself, the red and black patterns on its surface were constantly morphing and sliding about, creating a strange, almost hypnotic effect.

Then the voice came again.

“Anastasia…”

And with that, the cavern and the strange crystal vanished like the symbol, once again leaving Twinkleshine in the dark.

“Wait!” she cried, firing up her magic again.

“Is that your name, who are you, where are you!?”

Again there was no answer.

In fact, when Twinkleshine began to look around frantically, she realized that she was no longer in the cavern or the tunnel with the railway tracks.

She was once again, standing on seemingly nothing, and surrounded on all sides by the pitch-black void.

But she wasn’t alone.

There was a deep, blood-curdling growl from behind followed by a blast of foul air that reeked of death.

Twinkleshine’s coat prickled with an electric fear as he slowly turned her head, dreading what she would see.

A pair of burning red eyes glared back at her from out of the gloom.

She shrieked.

Then the monster opened its terrible, glowing maw and lunged.

-

Twelve hours prior, Sergeant Jack Winds had been sure he was at death’s door.

He’d accepted his fate and was ready to meet his maker.

Then a little pink and white unicorn had popped into his life and things took a turn for the bizarre.

But now, as he awoke, sore and stiff with the morning sun warming his face through the Watchtower windows, he couldn’t help but smile.

“What a sight.” He thought with a sigh, gazing out at a little slice of green hillside framed by a brilliant morning sky.

He began to hum the first few bars of Edvard Grieg’s Morning Mood as he shifted his gaze inside.

The blood bag that saved his life hung empty from the ceiling, its contents having kept him alive through the night.

His gun was nowhere to be seen and the contents of his Alicepack were scattered about the Watchtower floor.

However, any further interest in these discoveries came to an abrupt halt as his eyes fell on the sleeping Unicorn curled up next to him.

“Huh”

“If I’m still alive, why is the little pastel Horse of Death still here?”

Jack began to replay the events of the previous night in his mind, and after a few moments, his brain offered up the only logical conclusions there were.

Either A, he was hallucinating something fierce.

Or B, the Unicorn was real.

“Only one way to find out.”, he thought.

Removing the needle of the blood bag from his arm, Jack slowly reached out and touched the Twinkleshine’s foreleg.

He felt the blood drain from his face.

“She’s real.”

Jack moved his hand up to touch her horn, his mind awash with incredulous disbelief.

That’s when Twinkleshine’s eyes flew open and she began to scream.

Jack, acting more on reflex than anything else, began shouting as well and sharply withdrew his hand in shock.

This went on for several seconds before Twinkleshine’s scream died to a bewildered whimper.

”It was all a dream…” She breathed.

She rubbed her eyes and caught her breath, relief flooding her body.

When she yawned and looked back up, she found a wide-eyed Jack staring back.

She gave him a sheepish grin.

“Heh, good morning…sorry about that.”

Jack’s jaw fell.

“Uhh… mornin….”

Memories of the previous night began to assert themselves as the two sized each other up in the morning light.

“Y-your real!?” He stuttered in disbelief.

Twinkleshine slowly pushed herself to her hooves, wincing as her sore muscles made their presence known after a night on the hard metal floor.

“It would appear so.” She grimaced, “I sure do feel real.”

“So that thing you did last night, or was it this morning, with your horn?” Jack asked hoarsely and coughed. “Gosh darn, I could do with a drink.” “That thing you did where your horn glowed, and stuff began floating around…was that magic?”

She gave Jack a quizzical look, momentarily forgetting that she wasn’t in Equestria anymore. “Yes…What else would it be?” “All unicorns can do magic.”

Jack returned the look. “I’m both unsurprised and confused.” “You make it sound like it’s something that everyone should know, and yet aside from most 6-year-old girls, a lot of people don’t believe in unicorns or magic, much less than the former can perform the latter.

Twinkleshine rubbed her eyes with a hoof and sighed. “Riiight, this isn’t Equestria…” Suddenly she stood up, eyes wide and moved over to one of the windows. “Where are we!?”

“Uh…” Jack Scratched his head, unsure of where to begin. “Summerside Military Base…On Prince Edward Island?”

Twinkleshine shook her head and continued to look out the window, searching for anything familiar.

“Canada…?”

With another sigh, she drew back from the window and sat with a look of resignation. “None of those places sound familiar, though I surmised as much after last night’s nightmare…”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes went wide. “So, you’re saying you aren’t from this world?”

She shook her head. “No, there was this portal spell in a book that my friend Moondanc-”

Jack’s stomach gave a massive growl, to which Twinkleshine’s responded with a sympathetic growl of its own, startling the mare into an embarrassed silence.

For a moment, neither spoke as a blush slowly rose on the mare’s cheeks and Jack tried not to laugh.

Losing the battle, Jack broke into hearty guffaws and slapped his knee with his good arm. “I think our stomachs have the right idea, breakfast, or I guess brunch at this hour first, and backstories later!”

Twinkleshine joined Jack in his merriment, the stress, and strain of the previous night slowly beginning to melt away with their laughter filling the bright morning.

Suddenly, an angry snarl from below brought them jolting back to reality.

Jack slowly pushed himself to his feet with a grimace and shuffled over to the hatch in the watchtower floor. Down below, a zombie in a shredded Canadian army uniform, combat vest, and helmet staggered around the ladder and clawed at the rungs.

“Can’t let a pair of souls enjoy a good laugh huh?” Jack shook his head and looked around the tower from something before looking over at Twinkleshine, who was starting to look a little queasy as memories from the previous night began to surface.

“Hey, have you seen my Maplestrike?”

Twinkleshine looked around at the various items scattered around the tower from her frantic search for medical supplies the night before. “Erm no, maybe?” “What is a Maplestrike?”

“Ah, right!” “Other world and all that…” He looked around the tower again, noting the scattered supplies, mostly two by fours, boxes of nails, and rolls of tape, for the first time and moving to gather them up.

“It’s a gun, an assault rifle.” He replied, to which Twinkleshine simply cocked her head. Jack stopped for a moment and tried to figure out how to describe it to someone who had never heard of a gun before. “A weapon that shoots little golden darts…?”

Recognition kindled in Twinkleshine’s eyes, yet her expression was stricken. “It’s down there.” She said, pointing to the hatch with her hoof.

After placing the items that he had gathered up back into his Alicepack, Jack returned to hatch. Lying on the tarmac a few feet from the ladder was the assault rifle, and all around it, a dozen zombie corpses were dissolving in the sunlight, leaving the tarmac stained with dried blood.

He whistled appreciatively before turning to Twinkleshine. Did you do that!?

She nodded slowly, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

Noticing her distress, Jack knelt down in front of her and held out a blocky hand. “I never properly thanked you for fetching me those meds, and if what I can see from here is any indication, it wasn’t easy.

“I know they’re already dead!” She blurted. “But, that thing…that weapon you call a Maplestrike, it…it…decimated them! “All I could think of afterward was what would happen if somepony evil got their hooves on one and used it against the living…”

Jack gave a long, sad sigh. “And just like that Twinkleshine, you have discovered one of the greatest pre-apocalypse conundrums of my world.” “With great power comes great responsibility, and yet there are those who would use that power for evil. That’s one of the reasons I became a soldier. To protect people from those who would abuse their power and threaten the peace, even now, when the dead walk and humanity needs to stand together more than ever.”

“Well, there’s something our worlds have in common,” Twinkleshine said quietly. “That saying about power, I’ve heard it many times, and for all it’s good uses, magic can be used for just as many if not more horrible things.”

Jack hesitated for a second before placing a hand on her withers. “Well that’s why we have to set an example, isn’t it?” “I mean, you had no idea who or what I was when you found me. “You could have chosen to let me die of my wounds, or heck, most of the folks around here would have sped up the process with a bullet and taken my gear.” “Instead you used the weapon’s power to fight off the undead and saved me in the process.”

Twinkleshine closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath as she composed herself. “Thanks, Jack…I’m just glad I’m not alone.”

Jack smiled and stood. “So am I.” “Now, how about we blow this popsicle stand and head over to my homestead for a bite to eat?”

“Sounds like a plan” Twinkleshine replied with a small smile of our own. “Though how are we going to get past him?” She looked out the hatch at the zombie still clawing at the ladder.

“Easy, I still have my trusty Avenger,” Jack replied pulling an r-shaped device from a holster on his side that Twinkleshine hadn’t noticed before. Jack then produced a black cylinder from thin air and began screwing it onto the end of the device.

“Blinking in surprise, Twinkleshine figured she must still be somewhat sleep deprived and dismissed the anomaly.“Is that another weapon?” “It doesn’t look like the Maplestrike, which you said was an assault rifle right?”

“Correct” Jack affirmed. “This, however, is a pistol. It’s a gun as well, though it isn’t as powerful as an assault rifle and has a shorter range.”

Realizing that he would probably have to explain further, Jack finished screwing on the cylinder and held out the weapon for Twinkleshine to inspect.

“This tube I just attached is called a suppressor, and as the name implies. It silences the loud bang that guns make when fired.

“Where’s the box with the little golden darts?” Twinkleshine asked.

“Right here,” Jack replied, pushing a lever on the side and causing the magazine to drop out of the grip into his palm. “The box is called a magazine or mag for short and the darts are called bullets.”

Twinkleshine nodded in understanding and thought back to her own fumbling experience with the Maplestrike. “There was this lever on the side of the assault rifle that I pulled before I could start shooting, does the Avenger not have one?”

Jack reloaded the magazine and the then switching the gun to his other hand, pulled back on the top of the weapon, causing the top to slide back until it clicked. He then let it spring forward with a clack. The sound caused Twinkleshine’s ears to perk up in understanding.

“Wait…” A look of fear mixed with relief came over her as she remembered her first encounter with Jack. “I heard that noise when I first climbed into the tower and you were pointing the Maplestrike at me, I could have died right then and there!”

“Ah, sorry about that, I thought you were someone or more appropriately, something else.” “One of the many things you learn in the army, however, is trigger discipline.” “You’re never supposed to open fire unless you positively id your target.”

With a relieved smile and a shake of her head, Twinkleshine gathered up the rest of the items scattered around the floor with her magic as Jack looked on in wonder. “Then boy am I glad your training paid off.”

Jack barely nodded in agreement as he continued to stare at the levitating supplies.

“Honest to goodness magic made by an honest to goodness unicorn…now I’ve seen it all.” He shook his head as Twinkleshine deposited the last of the supplies in Jack’s Alicepack and extinguished the ethereal fire around her horn. “Thought nothing could get crazier than the dead returning to life and society going belly up.” “Guess I was wrong.”

He chuckled in amazement, then zipped up the bag and hefted it up, grunting in pain as he tried to slide the strap over his injured shoulder.

“Oh no you don’t,” Twinkleshine said as she watched him struggle, enveloping the bulging backpack with her magic. “I’ll carry this, you just worry about getting us back your hideout in one piece.”

“Heh, thanks… It’s probably not a good idea to put too much weight on my shoulder just yet.”

“You think!?” She replied in jest, eyeing her medical handiwork a breathing a small sigh of relief that the bandage was still clean and that the wound seemed to have closed.

An incredulous look crossed her face as she realized that despite the grievous wound undeath, the bandage was still pristine. “How fast do you humans heal!?”

“Heh, it’s kind of strange actually,” Jack said as he walked over to the hatch, flicked the safety off on the Avenger pistol, and took aim at the zombie below. “I’ll explain along the way.”

Jack pulled the trigger, and true to his words, instead of the cacophonous roar of the Maplestrike that Twinkleshine was still half expecting, there was only a pair of sharp pops as Jack dropped the undead soldier with two shots through the top of the helmet.

Holstering the pistol, Jack climbed down the ladder, still wincing slightly as he moved his injured arm. Once on the ground, he unholstered the weapon again and did a quick visual sweep before going to pick up the Maplestrike.

Twinkleshine followed, levitating the Alicepack above her as she descended. Once on the tarmac, she was surprised to find that all of the zombie corpses from the night before has disappeared. All that remained where the rust-colored blood stains and even those seemed to be shrinking before her very eyes.

Looking to Jack for an explanation, she once again found him performing something that, for someone who claimed to have never believed in magic, seemed a bit strange.

Jack had produced another two items from seemingly nowhere. One she recognized as another mag for the Maplestrike, but the other was a little black oblong that he was affixing to the barrel. One the oblong was attached, he removed the empty mag and replaced it with a new one. The real kicker though came when the empty mag in his hand suddenly vanished.

“What in Celestia’s…Jack, I thought there was no magic in this world of yours!”

“Well, that’s just it, there wasn’t,” Jack replied as he checked the rifle sights. He flicked a little switch on the oblong and a little red dot appeared on the wooden palisade he was aiming at as he continued.

Shortly after the zombie outbreak began, people began exhibiting strange powers, one of which is the ability to store and retrieve things telekinetically.

“Telekinetically?” Twinkleshine repeated. “But not like my horn where I can lift stuff?”

“No…how to explain?” Jack mused as he began to walk towards the gate with the puzzled Twinkleshine in tow.

“It’s like we could see the insides of our pockets, bags, closets, any kind of storage, you name it, in our minds.” “I was carrying the extra magazine for the Maplestrike and the tactical laser in my pocket, so I thought about them and the act of moving them to my hand and, well, hey presto!

“It also works for stuff like the rifle, here, watch this.”

Twinkleshine’s eyes widened as the Maplestrike vanished from Jack’s hands and reappeared slung over his shoulder by its carry strap. It then disappeared from his back and reappeared in his hands.

“Magic or not,” he finished. “It’s a pretty useful trick, especially nowadays.”

“I’ll say,” Twinkleshine said and nodded in agreement as they reached the gate, a pair of zombies, one on all fours, barring the way.

Jack took aim at the sprinter zombie with the assault rifle and then thought better of it, instead unholstering the silenced Avenger pistol and offering it to Twinkleshine.

“Wait, why me!?” She whispered worriedly so as not to draw the attention of the undead.

Jack frowned. “Well, if you want to survive long enough to find a way back to wherever you come from, you had best learn to defend yourself.” “It’s ok, the gun won't bite.”

With no small amount of trepidation, Twinkleshine set down the Alicepack and enveloped the pistol in her magic.

“See?” “There ya go,” Jack said reassuringly as he knelt down next to Twinkleshine. “Now look down the sights and put that sprinter zombie’s head between the two glowing pips of the back sight and square in the middle of the front sight.”

Twinkleshine brought the pistol up to eye level and followed Jack’s instructions as she took aim, her breath quickening with nerves.

“Calm down,” Jack said, placing his hand on her withers and finding the unicorn mare shaking slightly. “You’ve got this.” “Breath in, breath out, breath in, take the shot, breath out.”

Steeling her nerves and burying the fear from the night before, Twinkleshine took a shuddering breath, breathed out with more confidence, then breathed in steadily and squeezed the trigger with her magic.

The sharp pop sounded like thunder in her ears as the Avenger jumped in her magical grip, yet as the sprinter zombie jolted back and collapsed, the nine-millimeter round to the head felling it like a sack of grain, the other zombie nearby didn’t even flinch.

“Oh!” she let out a small squeak of wonder “That wasn’t that bad…”

“See, what did I tell you?” Jack said with a proud smile. “Now go for the other one.”

“Ok!” Twinkleshine replied, breathless with sudden elation at her success.

She took aim at the seemingly average undead walker, but in her excitement, she pulled the trigger as she breathed out, and the shot fell low, striking the walker in the upper chest where it’s vest absorbed much of the shot’s power.

With a flash of ethereal purple energy and a savage growl, the flanker zombie revealed its nearly invisible evolved form and stumbled towards them.

Twinkleshine’s ears flattened as she remembered her first encounter with a flanker and she took a step back in fear.

“It’s ok Twinkleshine, I’ve got this one,” Jack said as he stood and raised the Maplestrike.

“No, I can handle it!” Twinkleshine said, sudden confidence surging through her as she remembered how she’d bucked the crawler in the head during her nighttime medicine run. “I remember you!” she shouted at the flanker as it came around the boom gate, it’s shadow against the concrete wall giving away its position.

She took aim again and pulled the trigger three times as fast as she could, firing into what she hoped was the center of mass. All three shots hit home, and the final round brought the flanker down in a spray of blood and ethereal purple energy.

“Not today bub!” She crowed victoriously, rearing up and punching the air with a hoof in excitement.

Jack laughed and looked at her in wonder. “Well that was fast, and here I was thinking you didn’t have it in you.”

“Ah it was nothing!” she boasted as she waved the gun around. “I just need a little encouragement!”

“Now, who’s next!?”

“Whoa, slow down there!” Jack said stepping back as the Twinkleshine swung the weapon around. “Rule number one of gun safety, never point a live firearm anywhere except the target!” “I don’t fancy getting shot again!”

“Oops, heh sorry!” She replied sheepishly as she lowered the pistol and pointed it away from Jack. “I got kinda carried away.”

Jack shook his head. “It’s an awesome feeling, isn’t it? Knowing that you can stop these undead horrors in their tracks? But you have to be careful.” “See that little switch the side of the gun?

Twinkleshine nodded as she inspected the pistol. “There’s a little lever at the back and a small round button in the handle.” “Which one are you talking about?”

“The little leaver” Jack replied, that’s the safety. “push it up so that you don’t accidentally shoot me or yourself.”

“Heh, that sounds like a good idea.” She said, still embarrassed. “What’s the other button for?”

“That’s the mag release.” Jack explained, each magazine holds thirteen bullets and when you’ve used them up, you push this button to remove the empty magazine.”

“So that means I have eight bullets left, right?” Twinkleshine asked. ‘I fired one at the first zombie and four at that strange one with the invisibility spell.”

“That you do,” Jack said with another proud smile. “It’s good that you are keeping track of your rounds because it could make all the difference when you decide whether to wade into the fight or find somewhere to hide and reload." As he said this, he produced another two Avenger mags from his mental inventory and handed them to Twinkleshine.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” “This world has become a dangerous and unfriendly place since the start of the outbreak, and in case I’m not around to help you, I am entrusting you with this power.”

Twinkleshine looked wide-eyed at Jack. “But, are you sure that you won’t nee-?“

“Keep it,” Jack said, cutting her off. “I’ve got other weapons back at my hideout and I’ll teach you how to care for yours when we get there.” His neglected stomach growled again in protest and poked it with a finger. “Oh, pipe down you!”

“Ok, I’ll teach you about weapon maintenance after lunch,” Jack said with a resigned smile as Twinkleshine giggled.

Taking the combat vest from the fallen sprinter zombie, Jack dusted it off and adjusted the straps, so it would fit over Twinkleshine’s frame. “There ya go!” He said as he stood back and looked her over. “Your first bit of hard-earned battle loot!”

Twinkleshine shifted a bit, wishing for a bit more padding but loving the sheer number of pockets she now had at her disposal.

She placed the spare Avenger mags in one of the front pockets and was about to place the pistol in the built-in holster when a strange feeling came over her and a faint, transparent diagram popped up before her surprised eyes.

The two magazines that she had just placed in a front pocket appeared in the top two slots on the left-hand side of the diagram and in a big slot near the bottom, she could see the Avenger.

“This must be what Jack was talking about!?” She thought excitedly. “But…If I can do it…does it mean that this world is magical or…?” She shook her head and the diagram disappeared. “This is definitely a question for Moondancer, I’ll have to ask her when…”

Twinkleshine’s heart sank. “If…I ever see her again.” “Oh, Celestia I hope the others are ok, wherever they are!”

“You ok there?” Jack’s voice cut through Twinkleshine’s darkening train of thought. “You were looking kinda lost there for a moment.”

“I was just thinking about my friends…” She said quietly, her eyes downcast. “I don’t know where they are, whether the ended up in this world or whether they’re still back home in Equestria. “I’m just worried is all.”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment then gave her a reassuring smile. “Well, tomorrow I need to make a supply run into Alberton, it’s a town just to the south of here.” “There are a few people I know holed up in the area that might have seen your friends.” “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do what I can to help you find them and or return home to them.

“Oh, thank you, Jack!” She gushed as she holstered the pistol. “I mean, we just met, and you’ve already done more than enough by giving me the gun but-.“

“No buts,” Jack said, shaking his head. “You’re the only reason I’m still alive and you braved a full moon to make it happen.” “I’ll help you with whatever you need.” “I said it before and I’ll say it again. This world has become a dangerous and unfriendly place.” ‘However, with someone to watch you back, life becomes just a little bit easier.”

Twinkleshine trotted up to Jack and hugged him in gratitude, surprising the man and causing him to stand there awkwardly for a few moments before squeezing her back and breaking the embrace.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve hugged, heck, even shook hands with another living soul.” He thought. “I’d forgotten what it felt like.”

This time, Twinkleshine’s stomach growled and she giggled. “Weren’t we supposed to be heading to lunch?”

Jack laughed and shouldered the Alicepack as they walked out of the gate. “Yes, we were, but we keep getting sidetracked.”

Twinkleshine looked incredulously at the bulging backpack on Jack’s shoulders and gave a small nicker of dismay. “Your wound-!”

“Is healed!” Jack finished. “That’s the other strange thing that’s been happening since the outbreak began.” “Wounds that used to take days or even months to heal are now gone in a matter of hours, and unless one of your vital organs is seriously damaged or you start bleeding out, you’re are almost always guaranteed to recover.” “Sure, you’d be in a rather cruddy condition, but you won’t be knocking at the pearly gates.

“You were bleeding out.” Twinkleshine stated, “Remembering his sticky black blood pooling on the watchtower floor with a shudder.”

“Yup,” Jack said. “I wasn’t hit in any of the vital areas, but I probably had less than an hour left before I bled white when you found me.”

“Sickness can also still kill you if you are not careful and a zombie bite will turn you into one if left untreated,” He continued. “You can also still die of hunger or thirst, but otherwise, yeah, humans got a lot tougher to kill. “I like to think that it’s some kind of freak evolution that was spurred on by the onset of the apocalypse, but I really have no idea.”

Twinkleshine still looked confused, but after a moment just shook her head and grimaced at the grisly possibilities. “Fair enough.” She conceded. “New world, new rules.”

As they walked into the hills in the direction of Jack’s hideout and his broken bridge, she glanced back at the base with its thick grey walls, and tall metal watchtowers, a zombie-infested symbol of a dangerous new world. Then she looked up at the darkening clouds slowly scudding across the deep blue sky.

“We should pick up the pace” Jack called over his shoulder as he followed her gaze. “It looks like it might rain soon.”

Cantering to beside her newfound friend, Twinkleshine made a silent resolution to her friends as they passed beneath the shattered wooden span and into the trees.

“This may be a new world, but as long as the sky stays blue and rain falls from the clouds, I will do everything in my power to find you.”

She glanced up at Jack and gave him a smile which he returned.

“And I’m not alone.”