The Fused and The Severed

by Golden Cake

Tightened Bonds

Author's Note:

This chapter will switch things up and take the past perspective of Twilight Sparkle for a little bit to show her side of things. Hope you all enjoy!

As the sun was rising on Pinkie’s rock farm, I dragged myself out of bed and woke up Applejack and Rarity, who were sleeping in the same room as me.

Maybe I shouldn’t have exhausted myself the other day by searching both the nearby, once densely populated areas of Los Pegasus AND Apple Loosa from top to bottom for survivors, when searching ONE of them a day is hard enough.

Some ponies would say that I’m just doing what the princess and her army of ponies, and maybe humans, if there are any left, would do, but they’d be wrong.

The princess is doing good, I’ll admit, but it’s not enough for everypony.

It’s not even enough for herself, based on the fact that she lost her control of Canterlot when the invasion began, and was forced to move somewhere secluded with her army.

That’s why I’m fighting my own battles, to protect the ponies I love and fight til death, unlike her.

I am glad that me and my friends were fortunate enough to find safety living on Pinkie’s rock farm at the start of the invasion, but things are almost TOO secluded and safe out here. That’s why I’ve been scouting the nearby cities and towns so much lately.

Anyways, after I woke up Applejack and Rarity, we all went downstairs to wake up Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were sleeping in the living room, and we decided to prepare breakfast.

Fluttershy had some of her chicken friends lay eggs when she brought them here, which they were ok with us eating. Actually, by now most of the rock farm has become a bit of a zoo. With Fluttershy’s ability to sympathize with and understand wildlife, a lot of wild animals felt comfortable taking shelter from the Severed here.

Pinkie was always so good with making all of us breakfast every morning, but she’s worked so hard on the farm lately that last night Applejack asked me to wake everypony else up early this morning to return the favor.

It could put her in a good mood, too. Celestia knows she needs it.

Ever since Pinkie took us all to the rock farm, and she discovered that her whole family was turned into Severed, she’s never been quite the same, though she does still try to be positive sometimes.

The invasion has changed all of us. Somewhat for the stronger, but it’s also really hurt us, since we don’t know for sure what happened to the rest of our families. But right now, the best thing we have is each other, and we’re content with that, at least for now.

“Twilight,” Applejack said quietly, being sure not to wake Pinkie, as she cooked the eggs on the stove. “Could ya get the pepper, sugarcube? I reckon Pinkie would want a bit of flavor with these eggs.”

I went into the pantry and got the pepper for Applejack, and the salt, just in case.

Once Applejack was done with the eggs, Rarity and Fluttershy worked on the pancakes. It was pretty funny when Rarity flipped the pan and accidentally caught a pancake on her face. It was funny moments like that that made life worth living, and once we were finished with the pancakes, we went up to Pinkie’s room and knocked on the door.

Pinkie then opened the door about half a minute later, and looked at us with tired eyes, as she yawned.

“What are you all doing up?” She asked curiously. “Usually I’m the one to wake all of you.”

“Why not come downstairs and find out?” I said, smiling.

When we went into the kitchen, it was so nice to see Pinkie genuinely smile, as we all made a plate of breakfast.

While we ate, we talked about what we would do today.

I said that today I would scout in the woods for any wildlife, and the nearby settlements for any other ponies that we could welcome to our farm, and Fluttershy said that she’d check how the animals we had with us were doing ok, and maybe do a bit of scouting herself when she was done. Rainbow Dash said that she would fly around for any rainclouds she could push over to the farm to help the crops that Applejack planted grow.

Pinkie said she could look around for any food in the forest, and Rarity insisted on cleaning up the barn.

When we finished breakfast, we all set out to do our daily tasks. Our tasks weren’t the same every day, but there was one general rule, all the time: Always come back before dark.

Darkness was unpredictable, and though Severed can’t see well, based on my studies of them, they have exceptional hearing abilities, so with our limited vision at night, it’s just not worth the risk.

When we all finished breakfast and washed our dishes, we all went to begin our daily tasks.

I packed a saddlebag with my trusty shotgun and dagger, and left the farm, traversing into the gray, bare forest.

The rock farm used to be this bland and miserable, but ever since all six of us reworked it, with Applejack planting new crops and Rainbow Dash clearing out the previously looming gray clouds, the farm itself has actually become not just a safe place to live, but an enjoyable place to live.

Once I’d felt like I’d been scavenging the decaying forest for hours, and seen nothing interesting, aside from one of the princesses warplane’s flying overhead, I finally decided to search some towns for anything useful, or for anypony who needed my help.

Based on the suns position, I still had a good couple of hours before the sun would start setting, so I had enough time.

I’d already searched Apple Loosa last night, so I decided to go beyond it to Dodge City, and after a few hours of searching there, I was pleasantly surprised to find Apple Bloom, who was with a small group of other survivors.

We were lucky to not run into many Severed on the way back, but with my dagger, I always know to aim for the head, so it wasn’t an issue in any case.

By the time I’d taken Apple Bloom and the few other ponies who were with her back to our home, it was already sunset, but that didn’t stop me from doing a little bit of extra forest searching before calling it a day.

I’d say that I was lucky that day, it was a good day, no crazy surprises. At least, that was until I went back to the entrance of our farm.

I saw a human, despite how much more susceptible their species was to Severed corruption, which presumably led to their species’ near extinction, here one was, right in front of our farm that we’d worked so hard to keep safe.

Despite how shocked I was, I had no hesitation in quickly sneaking up behind this human to ‘talk’ to him.

It was only when I was right behind the human, and accidentally stepped on a twig, which I knew he’d heard, that I sort of panicked and held my shotgun to the back of his head.

“Don’t move,” I said. “If you know what’s good for you.”