Flash's Journal

by cesmaster644

11-13 A.I.

Flash's Journal

Days 11-13 After Infection

Written by cesmaster644

Author’s Note: To warn my dear fans; this is a... interlude, if you will, of sorts. You’ll find I’ve changed from epistolary style to 3rd person omniscient, and there are reasons. The main being that, during this chapter and the next, Flash will not have time to write in his journal, and I do not wish for you to miss out on the events during this time frame. If you wish, you may skip these chapters and move on to the next; it will pick back up with a small summary in the next chapter. However, I encourage you to read these as well; I have a feeling that you’ll quite enjoy it.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all affiliated characters are copyright Hasbro, Lauren Faust, Studio B Productions... That should be everypony, right?

I do not claim ownership to anything but a few characters.

*****

11 A.I.

The early morning sun creaked over the top of the wooden fence, illuminating the sleeping ponies behind it. Soft snoring wafted up from their muzzles; some rolled over onto their backs. All was peaceful in the settlement.

A soft creaking from the rafters of the trading post alerted the birds to the presence of two ponies who were actually awake.

The first was an Earth pony, grayish brown in coat and onyx in mane. Though her cutie mark was a treble clef, she had made no music recently. The other pony was a Pegasus. His curly, dark brown mane hung down into his deep-blue eyes slightly. Its color complimented his lighter brown coat, and his near-beige hooves. His cutie mark, a fleur-de-lis, was obscured by the saddlebag he wore, carrying his extra ammo and journal.

"I'm going to wake up Berry, then crash," Flash, the brown Pegasus, quietly commented to his Earth pony companion.

Octavia, his companion, nodded in reply. She took the crossbow she wielded off her shoulder, and quickly collapsed onto her mattress.

Flash prodded a pink Earth pony with a somewhat poofy purple hairdo in the pancreas. Said pony was Berry Punch, the chef.

"Berry... Berry, get up." Flash wanted to wake her, but not the others. They needed their sleep; he had no need or right to disturb them. This, of course, caused problems when the pony of choice was quite the sound sleeper.

After several more minutes of poking, Berry finally woke up.

"Mmph... Morning, Flash~" she cooed. "What's up?"

"I'm about to crash - I need you to divide everypony up. I want you, Golden Harvest, and Vinyl to stay here; Army in the watch tower; and everypony else to the waterfront to clear out the storage building," Flash explained.

"Alright... Where do you want them to put the boats?"

"To the side or something; I don't care. For now, have them just empty out the building."

Berry nodded. "Can do."

"Thanks..." Flash murmured, finding a mattress to crash on himself.

And, like a light, he was out.

The warming heat of the sun combined with Berry's cooking eventually awakened the rest of the ponies. They all gathered around for a bowl of hot oats for breakfast at the hands of Berry, then headed out to complete their workload for the day.

*****

Flash awoke to the feeling of a hoof in his stomach.

“Time to get up, o-fearless-leader,” the source of the hoof giggled. “It’s just past noon.”

Flash swatted a forehoof randomly in the air. “Off...” he groaned. He forced himself up, blinking his eyes once or twice to clear the fuzziness that bright light often brought him as he awoke.

“How’s the work going?” he finally asked.

“I’m guessing well; they haven’t come back since they left this morning. Berry’s cooking something like grilled-cheese-and-daisy sandwiches, and no one’s else has responded to the radio.”

“Well, I’m sure someone’s listening to your show, Vinyl. Maybe they just can’t respond and they’re on their way...”

Vinyl laughed, trying her way back towards the trading post. “I don’t need a self-esteem boost. It doesn’t matter to me if no one listens. I do it because I enjoy doing it."

Flash gave her a slight shove to correct her course. “True... I just hope we’re doing some good with it.”

Vinyl’s ears perked with the sound of hooves crushing grass under the weight of another pony. She shoved Flash back to bring his attention to the approaching mare.

“Oh, afternoon, Octavia! Get any good sleep?”

“Any sleep is good sleep around here...” Octavia groggily replied.

“Heh. True that!” Vinyl raised a hoof in Octavia’s general direction, and was met with the response of Octavia’s hoof gently pounding against it.

“Anyway, I’ve got a broadcast to get back to. Peace!” Vinyl, somehow barely dodging the door frame, disappeared into the trading post.

“So, let’s go grab everypony from the waterfront, shall we?” Flash asked Octavia, gesturing behind him.

“For lunch?” Octavia asked hopefully.

“Of course... the grilled daisy smells too good not to have lunch now.”

*****

The crunch of the gravel beneath their hooves alerted the ponies working on the storage building to Flash and Octavia’s presence before sight did. A large, buff Earth pony with an off-white coat and a short, jet black mane was hefting a kayak around back. His flint-and-steel cutie mark glistened with his sweat from hard work.

“Afternoon!” the Earth pony called to the two approaching ponies.

“Afternoon, Strickland!” Flash called back. Octavia gave a simple nod. “How comes the work?”

“I think we can empty it out and fix it up by tomorrow - the sailboats will be a bit of a problem. I was thinking, if we cut a hole in the roof, we can bring a ladder in. Then we can just cut a hole in one of the doors to shoot through, and board up every other door - except one, of course. Then we put somepony on the roof, and one or two more inside, and have a little bunker!”

Flash waved a hoof around pointlessly. “Sounds great. Remind me later; lunch is calling me and I know I’ll forget.”

Strickland grinned. “Oh, yeah, no problem. What’s for lunch anyway?”

“Grilled-cheese-and-daisy sandwiches.”

“Yum, yum... why couldn’t Berry cook like this during camp?”

The two shared a laugh, before turning to the building. “Anyway, let’s get everypony outside and-”

“Lunch break, everypony!”

Strickland and Flash were so busy talking that they missed Octavia go inside to make the announcement. As she rounded the corner, she merely shrugged to their confused expressions.

“What can I say?” she offered. “I’m hungry.”

*****

"And then... then I said to him: 'Oatmeal? Are you CRAZY?!'"

The occupants of the table roared with laughter at Noteworthy's joke. Army, a deep purple unicorn with a strangely white mane and several bright stars as a cutie mark, was laughing so hard that he barely held onto the bite of sandwich he was eating.

In fact, the only pony who wasn’t causing some sort of bodily harm from their violent laughter was Fayth, the dull yellow Pegasus with a syringe for a cutie mark. Her short, blue mane kept out of her cyan eyes, revealing a rare genuine mirth. However, she didn’t erupt with laughter, but, rather, chuckled softly.

She could really be so strange at times.

*****

The moon's radiant darkness covered the ground. No pony was up in the watch tower. There was no reason for anypony to be up there; no pony would be able to see anything from up there anyway. Of course, nopony really needed to; the low groans from their targets outside painted a nice sight picture for the crossbows.

The undead were coming in from the front of the trading post and from behind the sleeping pavilion. For the three ponies fighting off the horde that barraged the trading post, it was a simple fight. Just keep them from getting in or breaking something. It was tough, but doable.

For the ponies defending the rear at the pavilion, it was a bit harder. The weak wooden fencing wouldn’t stand zombie attacks; the guards had to pick off the undead from a distance. Obviously not an easy feat with minimal lighting.

However, ingenuity was not lacking amongst the group of survivors. Seeing that they could not see, the small group took to their advantage the weakness of Vinyl Scratch.

They placed her on the roof of the pavilion, a crossbow on her shoulder. She was blind anyway; the darkness didn't bother her. In fact, her heightened hearing allowed her a much better sense of where the undead actually were. Flash and Octavia sat up there with her, making sure she didn’t accidentally turn to shoot some of the zombies from the other side of the trading post and, consequently, shoot the trading post or a living pony.

12 A.I.

The night was long and grueling, but it did eventually die down, along with the zombies. The sky shed its coat, releasing the sun to light the ground. The remaining zombies either fled or were shot on sight. Eventually, fatigue overtook them, and everypony slept.

Almost everypony.

“I didn’t know you were such a good shot,” Flash whispered. He and Vinyl were still lying on the roof of the pavilion, the sun gently warming their stomachs.

“It’s hard to miss when your targets moan loud enough to wake the dead,” Vinyl whispered back, chuckling.

“So that’s how all this started?” Both ponies began chuckling.

“I wish. Hey, maybe they’re just trying to practice for a zombie choir.”

Their chuckling was slowly turning into laughing. “Then why do they want us?”

“Well, maybe they’re just dying to find a good audience!”

Their jokes weren’t that funny, but sleep deprived and apocalypse ravaged minds turned lame, punny jokes into the best.

An apple, tossed from the ground, nailed the back of Flash’s head.

“Oi! You two! Some of us would enjoy our sleep.” Poniatowski’s words made Flash cringe - he hadn’t even thought that they were bothering others.

“Sorry!” he called down.

Vinyl turned to him, remembering to lower her voice again. “I don’t think we can get down without noise.”

“We’ll just sleep up here, then.”

A few seconds passed.

“Good light, Flash.”

Flash giggled softly. “Good light, Vinyl.”

*****

It was rounding two in the afternoon when they finally managed to descend from the roof. A quick "breakfast" sent the group to daily tasks.

Flash had intended to clear out the rest of the storage shed, but the previous night's siege had given him other worries. The fencing was weakening - even broken in one place. Repairs and upgrades needed to be made before nightfall - the new moon should last them another day or two. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be wasting any wood or wire in the process.

*****

The repairs lasted until nearly nightfall. Dinner ended the work on a quiet note; when Sheridan, a sea green unicorn with a blond mane, and Maple, a green Earth pony whose dark brown mane covered her eyes, came in from standing watch, he gave us news that kept everyone quiet almost the entire meal.

The undead were coming.

And, if Sheridan wasn’t mistaken, it was nearly all of them.

*****

“Get out! Everypony, out!”

A crashing thud interrupted Flash’s commands; the zombies had likely knocked over an old soda machine or something. The undead were pounding on the front walls of the trading post, starting to weaken the structure. The survivors streamed out through the backdoor, out into the small field. Everypony loaded up their crossbow as they left and grabbed as many bolts as they could find.

“Strickland, Sheridan, Maple, with me! Everypony else, out through the shower house - the zombies don’t seem to be coming from that direction! Make it to the other side of the lake, out through Moon Rock, and take the trail out of camp! Make it into town, if you can, and find shelter! If we aren't there tomorrow, don't wait for us! Poniatowski, you’re in charge!” he bellowed.

“What are you four going to do?!” Poniatowski yelled back.

“We’ll fend them off; forget about us! We’ll meet you if we can!”

Poniatowski adjusted the crossbow to fit more comfortably. “Then I’m staying here, to fight with you.”

“No! I need you to lead. And... you and Ace are already together. It’s more important that you help grow. For the next generation.”

Poniatowski hesitated, then nodded. “For the next generation. Alright! Everypony, after me!”

*****

Then they were gone. The four defenders stood together, huddled in the trading post. There were too many zombies, and they knew it; but they weren’t there to survive. Only to distract.

“Well...” Flash started.

“Yeah,” Strickland finished.

“I’ll miss you guys.”

“It was a pleasure,” Maple replied.

“Indeed,” Sheridan continued.

“Help!”

Everypony turned around; a fifth voice had spoken up. And, at that, the voice of,

“Vinyl!” Flash nearly bucked as he burst into the backroom.

The crash from earlier wasn’t the zombies; it was Vinyl. In her rush to get outside with everypony else, she knocked her equipment over. She was stranded, tangled, choked, even. Her sunglasses had been knocked over and crushed in the fall; her twin moons seemed to plead for help.

“Vinyl, don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there.” Flash flipped her equipment away, and not-so-gracefully pulled her from the wreckage.

“Flash, is that you? What’s going on?” Vinyl whimpered.

“You really don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into... Oh, you should have gone with the others, now you’re stuck here with us.” Flash silently cursed himself for not noticing that she was missing earlier. He wrapped a forehoof around her shoulder and guided her into the main room. The others had already begun attacking, and the undead were starting to fall. Unfortunately, the door was starting to creak awfully dangerously.

“I-I’m sorry, Flash... I don’t want to burden you-”

“No! It’s okay, just... I’m sorry that you’ll have to die with us.” Flash let go of her shoulder and began his own assault on the invading horde, not unaware of the soft cries of realization from behind him.

Strickland, Sheridan, and Maple glanced at each other, then nodded. They turned to look at Flash and simultaneously uttered one word.

“Go.”

It took Flash a second to realize what had just silently been agreed upon.

“What?!”

“Take Vinyl and run, dude,” Sheridan said. “We don’t need to let her die. We can hold ‘em off.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Strickland commanded. “Go.”

Flash bowed his head for a moment of silence. “Alright. Thank you. Vinyl, wrap your forehoof around my shoulder, and don’t you dare let go.”

Vinyl smiled softly and did as commanded. The two maneuvered their way outside and turned to the shower house.

“Hey!” Maple called before they left. The pair turned to look back; Maple was beaming at them. “See you in Stalliongrad.”

Flash laughed. “Meet you there.”

And they left.

*****

“Where are we going?”

“Can you run like this?”

Vinyl shook her head.

“Then just to the side of the lake - where the old cabins are. They should still be strong enough to last us the night. I don’t want to risk going after the group in this darkness and leading the zombies to them. We’ll head out in the morning.”

*****

It wasn’t without a few zombies that they made it to the cabins, but they remained uninjured.

The cabins were once nice buildings, the staff’s cabins. They had two stories, a bathroom, shower, kitchen, beds, two doors; pretty much a small house. They had some semblance of fortifications and locks on the doors, but they weren’t perfect. Flash and Vinyl just have to hope that few zombies came their way.

Flash gently shut the front door behind him, doing his best to make it seem like it hadn’t been opened anyway. He let out a sigh of relief, but started coughing as soon as he inhaled again; the building was soaked in dust.

After regaining himself, he took a look around. The power was out from years of lack of use, so the inside of the cabin was as easy to navigate as the world outside. He had a basic idea of how the cabin was laid out, but....

He let out a curse as he bumped into a table.

“Flash! Try to keep it down, will you?” Vinyl hissed.

“Look, this isn’t exactly easy. I can’t see a thing!”

“Oh, like I don’t know how that feels.”

Flash was quiet; he didn’t even realize what he had said at first. “I... Vinyl... I didn’t mean...”

“Drop it, dummy.” Vinyl tussled his mane. “Do you really think I’m not used to a little messing around? We’re good.”

“... Still, it was an insensitive comment, and-”

“Apologizing is just making it worse, Flash... we’re good. Really. I’m just getting strung up over the massive horde that nearly killed us.”

“Me too... Ah! Here it is.”

Flash turned, guiding Vinyl to what he presumed was the large bed in the back of the cabin. She slid herself off of his support and onto the moldy mattress. It was no home sweet home, but it would do.

Flash started to trot away, towards the back of the back of the cabin.

“Where are you going?” Vinyl asked.

“I’m going to make sure the back door is locked, then find a bed for myself.”

Vinyl waited for the lock to click into place before continuing. “You mean... you’re not going to stay with me?”

Flash flushed red. “What?”

“I mean... it’s kinda chilly, and there’s no blankets, and-”

“You’re afraid to die alone, aren’t you? Afraid I’ll get killed on the second floor or something, and you’ll be left to die down here.”

Vinyl hesitated before replying in a whisper, “Yes.”

The crossbow fell against the wood floor with a resonant thud; his saddlebags followed suit. The mattress squeaked as he sat down an nudged her over. “Honestly... me too.” He wrapped a forehoof around her and pulled her close in a tight hug. He was thankful for the darkness and her blindness; she would have been confronted by his bright blush otherwise.

He couldn’t believe himself. All the things going wrong; the settlement lost, three friends on a suicide mission, their own probable demise... and he was caught up in getting to sleep with Vinyl. He mentally berated himself for his actions.

“... Good night, Vinyl.”

“Night, Flash.”

13 A.I.

Groaning and the sound of hooves scraping glass. That’s what woke the sleeping pegasus in the middle of the night.

The back door. The undead were out there. Flash didn’t know how many, exactly, at least one for sure; but they were there.

Vinyl was starting to wake. Flash panicked. His first thought was that she might scream when she realized what was going on. His second; these might be the last moments of their lives. In the heat of the moment, he decided to try to solve both problems at once.

He tilted her head up and forced their muzzles together.

After a second or two, Vinyl caught on to the real world, and started to push her hooves against him, trying to free herself. This was no time for kissing! Zombies! What was he doing!?

They finally broke apart, and Flash rose. He gathered the crossbow and saddlebags and put them on.

“F-Flash! What are you doing!?” Vinyl seethed.

There were a few seconds of silence as he finished fixing up his gear before he replied. “I love you.” A door creaked on the other side of the cabin, then all was silent save for the groaning outside.

Flash grabbed a rock and threw it as far as he could. It landed and rolled into the brush, nearly replicating the sound of a pony walking in that direction. The groaning grew louder as the undead rounded the corner of the building to track the source of the noise. Flash did his best to slip into the shadows.

There weren’t many of them - it seemed to be around five or six - but even that many zombies were a problem. Flash waited for the last of them to round the corner and start to walk off into the woods before he even bothered to aim. Calm. That’s what he needed to be right now. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, if he wanted to get out, he needed to be calm.

He took a deep breath in. One.

And slowly let it out. Two.

Another breath in. Three.

The bolt soared out of the crossbow, nailing a zombie in the back of the head. The remaining five turned to look at him, the distinct undead lack of hatred in their eyes. One gave a wretched shriek, and they started towards him. He took his time to aim. It was only five; no need to hurry and miss. Another zombie fell; and another. Three to go.

He didn’t have to waste bolts on them; though, in hindsight, he could have grabbed a chair from inside or something and beat them to death. They lay in a small lake of their mixed blood, corpses rotting lifelessly once again.

Flash turned around and nudged the door open. He gently kicked it back into place and locked it with a small click.

That’s when he became aware of the soft crying from the other side of the cabin. Flash dropped his gear without a thought and bounded over to the bed; Vinyl was lying there, sobbing into her hooves. Flash climbed into bed and started to wrap a hoof around her when she spoke.

“F... Flash? Is... Is that you?” Her sobbing had quieted somewhat with the squeaks of the mattress.

“Yeah, Vinyl, I’m here.”

Vinyl’s hoof came down into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. “That... that’s for leaving me alone in here.”

Then again, across his face in a spiteful slap. “And that’s for kissing me without my permission.”

“V-Vinyl...!” Flash choked out.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again, and don’t ever take me for granted. Do you understand me?”

Flash coughed in reply; he was still having trouble getting words out.

“... Good.”

The two were silent for a quiet some time before Vinyl spoke up again.

“Flash?”

“Y... Yes?” Words were finally returning.

“Did you mean what you said?”

“... what?”

“When... when you said you loved me.”

“Yes. I mean it.”

Silence again overtook them. Vinyl was lost in thought for quite some time before she softly returned his kiss from earlier. “Thank you. For killing the zombies... at first, I thought you were leaving me here to die while you ran away, but... I realize, now, that you were sacrificing yourself. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Really.” Flash smiled softly - fully knowing she couldn’t see it. “Now, let’s get some sleep. It’s been a long night, and I want to be ready to go tomorrow.”

“You mean today.”

Flash laughed softly and pressed his muzzle against her forehead. “Shut up and go to bed.”

*****

The first thing Flash was aware of when he awoke was a unicorn horn prodding him in the chest. Vinyl had apparently fallen asleep with her head tucked against his chest. He stretched a foreleg out, and yawned softly.

The early afternoon sun was streaming in through a window, illuminating their world once more. Flash decided to let Vinyl sleep in a little and slid off the bed as noiselessly as he could - so, not very. He meandered around to the two doors and looked outside; no zombies were in view. They were probably somewhere out there, but at least not in view.

Vinyl awoke with a small yawn. Flash had to suppress himself; he couldn’t help but find it incredibly cute.

“Dang. Morning already?” Vinyl sighed.

“So you didn’t sleep well, I’m guessing?” Flash laughed.

“Nah... up nearly all night thinking.”

“... Dare I ask what?”

“What you said, of course.... You don’t think I could take that lightly, do you?”

“No! No. Of course I don’t.”

Vinyl nodded and patted the mattress beside her. Flash took the hint and sat down beside her.

“I’m no good with words... so I’ll just say this as plainly as possible. I’m really thankful for everything you’ve done, and I really like hanging out with you, but-”

“You don’t feel that way for me.”

Vinyl nodded. “We don’t really know each other that well. I mean, don’t get me wrong, as far as I can tell, you’re really sweet and funny and all, but... I dunno. I just haven’t spent enough time with you to say that I love you.”

Flash’s head dropped. “I understand. I didn’t really expec-”

“That said... I’m more than willing to spend more time with you - and to try.”

Flash raised his head back. “R-Really?”

Vinyl nuzzled him softly. “Really.”

Flash nuzzled her back. “Thanks for giving me a chance.”

“Don’t thank me. I want to try as much as you do. And, um.... I need to tell you something, if we’re going to be together.”

“Shoot.”

“I’m... I’m bipolar. I’ve been taking medicine for a while now, so I’m usually under control, but I’ve been out for a few days.”

Flash softly wrapped his hooves around her. “... Okay. That’s fine; I can handle it.”

She was actually his marefriend now; he mentally giggled at the thought. Maybe... Maybe things wouldn't be so bad... Today wasn’t a bad day.

“Horsefeathers.” Flash’s mind drifted back to the night before; they were supposed to meet up with the group in town today or be considered dead.

“Vinyl! We have to get into town, now.”

Vinyl tilted her head to the side. “Are the zed outside? ‘Cause I don’t hear anything.”

“Wh-No! But the rest of the settlement is in town right now.”

“So?”

“They’re going to leave us if we don’t get there in time.”

“Flash, you want us - us including a blind mare - to run ten miles downhill through zombie-infested mountains to try to get into a zombie-infested town to meet up with people we aren’t sure are there?”

“... You’re right...”

“Now, let’s-”

“Get on my back. We’re flying.”

*****

Flash nearly collapsed when he finally set down; his back ached horridly, and his wings were probably strained from overuse. He didn’t realize how hard carrying another pony was. Nor did he realize that zombie pegasi could still fly, and just as fast as a normal pegasus, at that.

But he and Vinyl were safe on the ground - for now, at least. It was starting to get dark; the zombies could come out of anywhere, and they still didn’t have shelter.

“So, I don’t hear anything... where’s the group?”

“I don’t see them.”

“Could they... could they have gone ahead and left?”

Flash was silent.

“So, we came down here for nothing?!”

“We need to find shelter for the night. Let’s start looking through the houses.” Flash turned around; a row of houses stood behind them. He started trotting off when Vinyl spoke.

“So that’s it? Everything that we poured into that... that home up there, gone for good? Like Strickland and Sheridan and Maple?” The realization pouring into her mind showed in her voice. The hopes of preserving their culture, their lives as they were, shattered with the realization that they wouldn’t be meeting up with any of their fellow survivors.

Flash cringed. “Vinyl... We did what we could....”

“No! We didn’t! We should have stayed - all of us! We should have fought for what we had! We had food; we had shelter; we had stability. We had family! And we just abandoned it and sacrificed our family because of some zed!”

“Vinyl...”

“No, don’t tell me to calm down! I can’t believe you basically chose to let everything we had fall away from us!”

“You might start attracting zombies...”

Vinyl leaned back, not expecting a response like that, but nodded. She took a deep breath in and let it out with a visible shudder. “I... I just want you to know that I’m angry with your decisions. And... with you.”

Flash walked over to her and gently nudged her head. “Vinyl, I can’t change what’s happened. And... believe me, I want to change it as much as you do. But I made the best decision I could off of what we knew at the time; it just didn’t play out as hoped. I’m sorry, I truly am. But... we’re in this situation now. We can’t dwell on what’s behind us if we’re going to live. We’ll just have to keep pushing and hope that we can fix my mistake later, okay?”

“... Okay. But I’m still angry with you.”

“Fair enough. Now, come on, let’s go look for a good house.”

*****

Checking for houses did not go as simply as hoped either. Many were locked, and Flash didn’t want to break in, because they’d weaken the fortifications. Those that were open were infested with the undead.

It was starting to become hopeless.

Until this one house.

Flash turned the doorknob; it didn’t budge. He sighed softly, and told Vinyl that it was another dead end. As they turned to leave, Flash noticed a glimmer of light from inside. He turned back around to get a better look. He was right; there was light inside! He called for Vinyl to wait a second, then rang the doorbell.

“What are you doing!?” came the whisper of a mare from inside.

“Going to answer the door, silly!” another mare said back.

“It’s just the zed; leave it be.”

“A zed that rings the doorbell?”

“... Let me get the sword first, then open it.”

A few seconds and several small clicks later, the door opened to two mares.

One, an Earth pony, was slightly smaller than the other, with a beige coat, candy for a cutie mark, and a swirly navy blue mane with a pink stripe. She was holding the door open for the other one.

The other one was a light turquoise unicorn with a lyre for a cutie mark; her mane was straight and somewhat short, cyan in color with a few white highlights. She held a large, probably sharp, piece of straight metal in her magical grip.

Her gaze pierced Flash like a dagger as she sized him and his companion up. For a few seconds, nothing but silence reigned.

Finally, the turquoise unicorn spoke, raising her “sword” above her head.

“Look out, kid, you got a zed behind you.”