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Bittersweet Ch. 1

*A Pinkie Pie Chapter*

I walked slowly- or bounced, rather- through the alleyway. The sound of slow wing beats and a soft pair of footsteps could be heard behind me. But I knew what produced them. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake slowly followed behind me. They were still young, about three, but they knew more than their age showed. Pound Cake could fly as well as Rainbow and Pumpkin's magic wasn't much short of Twilight's abilities. Twilight had been training Pumpkin ever since she had begun using magic. The Cakes hadn't minded. They didn't know much about unicorn magic. And Pound was good at flying from the start.

Two days ago I had left my friends- or who was left in the group- to try and save the Cakes. By the time I got to Sugarcube Corner, I thought I was too late. I ran inside through a hole that had been ripped in the wall. I saw Mr. Cake trying to fend off one of those monsters. Except this one had two giant spikes instead of front legs, causing it to be taller in front than back. Mrs. Cake had the twins in her arms against the wall. I should have attacked the beast. But I didn't. When Mrs. Cake noticed me standing there, she told the twins to follow me. They ran, the monster still attacking Mr. Cake. I turned and ran, making sure Pound and Pumpkin were ahead of me. I turned back as I ran out. What I saw was the creature stab Mr. Cake through the leg and Mrs. Cake rushing up to him.

I shook that terrible memory from my head. I had to get Pound and Pumpkin to the safe zone. That was all that mattered anymore. I peeked around the corner of the alleyway. I put a hoof up to signal the twins to stop. At the end of the road was one of those creatures. This one was small than most. I recognized it. A Runner, I called it. It may be small, but it could run faster than Rainbow Dash could fly. I pulled out a small notebook. Twilight had made one for each of us before we all got separated. It had a detailed profile of each of the monster variations. Weaknesses, strengths, abilities. So far mine had five different types. Normals were first. Normal monsters with no special abilities. Easy to defeat or escape from, as long as there were only a few. Next were the Runners. Fast, best to attack from a distance or just avoid altogether. Then Bulks. Huge. Slow, but could take quite a few hits. Lashers. Had a long tentacle-like tongue that it used to attack from a distance that could be cut off. And the last entry I added. Spears. Had long spikes instead of limbs. Like what had attacked the Cakes.

I reviewed the notes I had taken on the Runners. I pulled a knife out from my pack. The blade glistened in the dusk light- it had been stuck like this since this whole thing had started; nopony was here to raise and lower the sun and moon after all. I glanced back around the corner. The Runner was facing the other way, walking slowly. The pony it had once been had a blue coat and black mane, which was hardly distinguishable from the deformed skin and blood covering it. I made a quick calculation in my head, then threw the knife with a quick throw. It flew through the air, a clean throw. After flying several feet, it embedded itself in its target: the head of the Runner. The monster turned around and looked at me. It began running towards me before falling over, all movement ceasing. I walked up to it, leaving the twins in the alleyway to spare them the disturbing image of me pulling my knife from where it had dug into the monster's skull. I wiped the blood on the ground quickly, before it dried. Sure, a gun was good to defend yourself from these things, but I preferred a knife. It was more efficient, had better accuracy and sometimes range, and it didn't run out of bullets. If I found one I wouldn't hesitate to take it, but that didn't mean I'd use it.

I went back to where the twins were. Currently we were somewhere near the outskirts of what used to be Ponyville. The safe zone Celestia had told us about over Twilight's radio was somewhere along the path to Canterlot. But that was open, filled with infected, and provided no cover or places to run. So I was looking for either an alternate root, or at least some more weapons. If only Dashie was here, she'd be able to Sonic Rainnuke the place to clear it out. But she had flown off to save Gummy and the other's pets. I had been ravaging every building that was clear, looking for weapons. Nothing so far. But this street I had yet to check. I tried to think of anypony in Ponyville that might have any weapons at their house. The only person that came to mind was Doctor Hooves. He had gone off on a trip to Canterlot a few days before the explosions. He was safe underground with the Princess. He was the one that had set up her radio communications and interceptor. Maybe he had a gun or some explosives stored away in that secluded house of his.

I took off at a slow trot, Pound and Pumpkin close behind me. I had my knife drawn, ever alert. No infected were anywhere along the way, but some kind of shrieking could be heard. But it was at least 300 feet away. I made my way slowly towards Doctor Hooves home, surveying the area one last time. Then I quickly ran through the door, the twins right behind me.

The room was dark. "Pumpkin" I said quietly, barely above a whisper, "try and use a spell to detect if anyone- or anything- is in the house." She gave me a nod, and her horn began to glow a light blue color, somewhat illuminating the room. In the brief time the room was lit, I saw two doorways. One led into a sort of kitchen area, the other down some stairs. After the light emitting from Pumpkin's horn died down, she gave me a quick nod, telling me that nothing was in the house. "Pound, you go see if any provisions are in the kitchen. Pumpkin, you and me are gonna explore the downstairs area for weapons, explosives, anything useful." They both nodded. Pound headed off to the kitchen. I led the way downstairs.

Three doors led off the hallway. One was open and was a bathroom. The other two were closed. I held my knife up as I opened the first door. You can never be too careful. No infected occupied the room. A few machines lined the walls with some strange objects mounted on the wall. I ignored everything that didn't look helpful. But I dove straight into his boxes of equipment. When me and Pumpkin had scoured every corner of the room, we came out with a shotgun, a pistol, and two sticks of TNT, plus quite a few bullets for both guns. I thought it was pretty good findings. I hooked the shotgun into the strap of the holster I had found. I gave the pistol to Pumpkin, telling her only to use it in an emergency and to be careful. I kept the TNT hooked to the strap of the holster, and the bullets casings hung across my chest. Both guns were fully loaded. Hopefully they'd stay that way. But I wanted to check that other room.

Me and Pumpkin walked back out into the hall, closing the door behind us. "Hey Pound" I said, only loud enough for him to hear.

"Yeah?" I heard him call back.

"You fine?"

"Yeah. I'm packing up what provisions we can use in a pack I found."

"Good. Just stay up there, me and Pumpkin have another room to check."

"M'kay."

Now that I thought about it, some meds might be in the bathroom. I told Pumpkin to go search for any. She just nodded. I headed down to that other room. I opened the door wielding my knife still. Nothing moved, so I moved inside. It looked like an old storeroom. A few dusty barrels lined the walls. A small door could be seen along the left wall. I checked the barrels. Most were empty, but my patience was rewarded: one of them had a grenade in it, alongside a handgun. It was bigger than the pistol, but smaller than my shotgun. I slipped it in my holster, to give to Pound for defense. But the grenade I put in my pack. Some of the barrels contained interesting things. Two contained gunpowder. One held some kind of liquid. The others were empty. But I passed them on. That storeroom kept nagging at my thoughts. As I was about to walk out of the room, my curiosity got the best of me. I edged towards the door, knife drawn for the third time. I grabbed the knob, and turned it slowly. Then I yanked the door open quickly and raised my knife. Nothing moved.

A sniper rifle was leaning against the wall with about ten bullets. I pulled off the clip. It could hold 5 bullets, and was currently full. It wouldn't be much help to me, but I tucked it into my pack, the end sticking out slightly. At this point in time, any weapon that could be used was not to be turned down. I turned around to leave. What stared me down when I turned was an Infected. This one was a new breed. It had three tentacles coming out of its back. Before I could grab my knife or shotgun, it slammed me onto the floor with its tentacles. On the floor I was able to take in what it looked like. Its coat was previously dark yellow with a sky blue mane and tail. The tentacles that restrained me were a black color with blood here and there. "Pound! Pumpkin! Help!" I screamed. Before I knew what happened the beast was above me, about to dig its teeth into my flesh. I turned my head to the side, waiting for the pain to come.

But it never came.

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