After a month in a coma, Lightning Flash awakes to find Equestria ruled by the Walking Dead.
What would you do if one day, you wake up, and you realize that you don't know who you are, what you are, and what life you lived?
What would you do when you wake up an amnesiac in the middle of the apocalypse?
This story follows the journey of Lightning Flash, a stallion only recently waking up from a coma, only to find that not only does he not know who he is, but the world around him is shrouded in the trotting dead.
Along the way, he will meet, lose, love, and care for the new and the old.
It's a question whether or not his old life will come back to him, but to his honesty, staying alive matters the most.
This story is inspired by (of course) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and The Walking Dead (Both AMC and Telltale Games).
This is not in any way related to the 'choose your adventure' story, which has been deleted. This story was originally planned in March-April 2012, but the story was remade in early January 2013 due to terrible storyline.
This story was published on January 16th, 2013. However, it is unknown how many "episodes" this will have. It will most likely go on for many, many "episodes".
This story will plan on making the characters more similar to their show-canon selves, but most times, they will become a bit OOC, due to the plotline of this series. Share this story with your friends and help it get to the featured box and maybe even Equestria Daily! If you wish to, that is.
Rated M for Mature. Contains sexual and violent content.
Remember those large, white buildings in your occasional town or city with those big red plus signs on the front of them?
Yes, a hospital. Everyone knows what a hospital is, correct? The occasional area of treatment for the injured or sick. They were common places, promising to make anyone better, and damn, they did a good job at it. Those who were sick were treated by the best nurses and doctors around, and those injured were...well, you know.
Ponyville General Hospital was no different from the rest. It was one of the occasional hospitals you'd encounter in Equestria. It also had its fair share of sick and injured, and they were treated just like any other anywhere else in Equestria.
But not all ponies arrive at hospitals...well...awake. Some can arrive passed out, knocked out, comatose, or dead, hoped to be quickly brought back to life.
Inside the room labeled '180', there lay a stallion. He wasn't too old, at least. He looked like around the ages of maybe...20? 21? So, he wasn't very old. But one odd thing about this particular stallion was that he was not awake. No, he wasn't sleeping either. He was a comatose patient. Then again, being in a coma is basically sleeping.
Being in a comatose state is far more deep than simply slumbering as you would in the night. This stallion is far too deep, that he could not even hear the shrills and screams right outside his door...Not the cries and trotting of panicking ponies in the village not even half a mile away...Not even...the sounds of booms coming from a quaint city up in the mountains.
When my mind came to consciousness, white was the only thing I saw.
But it wasn't just white...it was a light. A very bright and blinding light. My response to this sudden greeting was placing my forelegs in front of my eyes. I could barely open them, and I was forced to squint and wait for this sudden intrusion to end. Fortunately, the light did not last very long.
It only blinded my vision for a few moments, nearly 20 seconds, before fading. As it finally died down to the point where it could not hurt my sight, I ceased my squinting, and slowly began to open my eyes, beginning to take a good look at my surroundings.
My surroundings were...not that big. It was a fairly small area I was in. Although it's quite faint, I...kind of remember the name of a place with rooms like this. I believe it was called a...hospital? Yeah, that's it. A hospital. From what I remember, hospitals were...places that ponies would heal in? Yeah. Seems right...Wait...why did I have trouble remembering that?
"H...Hello?" I called out, hearing the utter silence of the hospital. There was no response but the echoing of my voice.
Usually hospitals would be filled with voices, beeps of monitors, and even screams. Here, it's just...silent. No voices, no beeps, no screams...nothing. I wasn't sure if it was just my hearing, or if the place was really empty. I couldn't tell. Slowly, I managed to sit up in the bed I was in, when a sudden pain erupted from the side of my body, causing me to hold it in pain. I looked to the side of me to see a bandage; a large one, that is.
What happened to me that gave me this? More importantly...Why can't I remember it?
To better put it...why can't I remember anything? I can't remember my age, or name, or...anything about me!
I tried my best for a few moments to think of a past event, but nothing. I couldn't remember anything, other than a few things, like the word "hospital". I think this kind of thing was called Amnesia. If I'm correct, that means...memory loss? Yeah, that's it.
Well...I guess the best - and only - way to find out anything is to find someone. After a moment, I began to lift myself off the bed, trying my best to ignore the pain in my side. Slowly, I began to stand on my hind legs. It was fine for a moment, but then my hind legs began to feel very weak. I couldn't stand on them for more than a few seconds before I fell to the ground, smashing my snout on the cold, hard floor.
In pain, I gripped my bleeding snout tightly, wanting the pain to go away.
"Hello?! Anyone? I need some help here!" I yelled out into the silence, but no one came to help me. So I just sat there on the floor for a few moments until the pain in my snout went away. Then I slowly got up on my forehooves, then my hind legs, until I was on all fours. Carefully, but quickly, I headed to the restroom and tried to flick the switch that would turn on the restroom light. It never did. I flicked it up and down, but nothing happened.
Giving up, I looked into a mirror that was inside the bathroom and looked at myself. I was blue, had a brown mane, and my eyes were green. I had some weird tattoo-looking mark on my rear, which showed some weird symbol. I think it stands for music. I also had wings on my side, so I guess I'm one of those pegasi, a pegasus.
I then noticed my mane was a little frizzled, so I decided to wet it with some water to flatten it down. I turned the faucet to turn on the water. Unfortunately, like the light switch, nothing happened.
I became a little frustrated and eventually gave up. The mane did look kinda cool like that anyway.
After a few moments, I decided to look around the room before I left. I didn't see them when I woke up, but there were balloons, deflated, on the ground and cards on the drawers around the bed. Some of the balloons said 'Get well soon!' or 'Feel better!'. One even said 'Happy Birthday, Lightning!'.
Lightning? Who's Lightning? Could that be me?
I headed over to the side of the bed and read the cards. Actually, I looked at the cards. They were pictures of me, but it wasn't just me. There were six females with me, as well. There were two unicorns, two earth ponies, and three pegasi, myself included.
I had no idea who these ponies were, but there were three words above the picture that said, in bold words, 'Best Friends Forever!'
I was friends with these mares?
After a few moments, I set the card down and opened another one. This one had wording, but no pictures.
It had said 'Get Well Soon!', just like on the balloon, but then it had names under it, and each one had a different color.
-Pinkie Pie -Twilight Sparkle -Rainbow Dash! -Rarity -Applejack -Fluttershy
I wasn't quite sure why they all had different colors, but then I looked back to the picture of me and those mares. I looked at their fur color, then the signature colors. Instantly, I simply matched the colors of the names to the colors of the furs. I guess I don't have to play the guessing game.
I want to see if I can find these mares; possibly have them help me with my amnesic problem, so I look around to see if there's anything I can carry these cards in. Luckily, I managed to find some sort of bag with a strap on it. It looked like a satchel. It didn't really matter what it was, as long as I could put these cards in it. Carefully, I placed the cards into the satchel, then shut it. Once I closed it, I strapped it around my body, just avoiding the wound on my side. I then looked to the wall to see a clock. Unfortunately, the clock did not move its arms, so I had no idea what the time was.
Then I realized: You can sometimes tell the time just by looking at the sun. I then started to walk to the window. Once I reached it, I started looking around for a few moments before looking above me, but I quickly covered my face to avoid being blinded by the sun. However, I could see it was fairly high in the sky, possibly the highest. That must mean it's at least 12:00 noon.
I then began to leave, but a clipboard with a picture of me stopped me for a moment.
On 3/21/14, the patient was injured when an unknown projectile was shot into the side of the torso. Injury is not fatal, but surgery is required.
Deciding this could possibly help me find out more about me, I placed it into the satchel, as well. Finally, I opened the door that led me out of the slightly small room. However, for some reason, there were a few beds in front of it. I wasn't quite sure why they were randomly here, but I moved them out of the way and began to walk into the hall. But the beds weren't the only thing in the hall. There were cases, papers, and even clothing, scattered around, like a tornado came through here.
What happened here?
As I slowly walked in the hall, I ended up seeing another paper like the one I found. I picked it up slowly and began to read it:
On 3/23/12, the patient stumbled into the hospital lobby, bleeding from the left foreleg. Inspections show a very deep bite mark in the arm, possibly from an animal, although victim claims it to be from a citizen. Will run tests at 15:00.
After looking at the paper, I put it inside the satchel, as well, and continued through the hallway. As I went further, I began to see toppled beds, chairs, as well as more cases and papers. The hallway filled up with debris as I went further and further. After a few moments, I spotted something on the floor not that far from me. It didn't look like any of the objects around me. Instead...it was a pony, lying face down on the floor.
Quickly, I trotted slowly and carefully to him, trying not to cause any pain to my wound.
"Hello? Are you okay?" I said quietly to the pony. They didn't respond to me. Were they hurt? Unconscious?
To make sure, I turned the pony over to see if they were okay, but I quickly looked away and almost screamed when I saw their face. Most of the area around their mouth was literally ripped off. One of their eyes were missing, and...their stomach was...torn open, and most of their insides were either missing or dangled out.
In shock and disgust, I threw up next to me, coughing a few times. This pony was dead. But...they look like they've been dead for a while, maybe a month, noticing the severe decomposition of their body and the flies and maggots that covered it.
After a few moments, I quickly turned the dead pony back over, then got up and continued down the hall. Eventually, the walls and ceiling became more and more wrecked. Tiles fallen onto the floor, wires hanging from the ceiling, and even arrows were dug into the walls.
What the hell...?
I then reached the end of the hallway, and came across double doors that led into another section of the hospital. Above the doors, it said 'Cafeteria'. I looked back to the doors, and saw that they had been chained shut. But why?
After a few seconds, I yelled out, "Hello?" in hopes that someone could hear me.
Again, silence...until I began to hear something. It sounded like someone, but they weren't talking. They were wheezing, slowly. I then heard another voice, but this one was grunting. Moments later, I saw three hooves slowly reach out from the crack of the door.
"P-Please...I-I need help," I called out to the ponies.
Rather than trying to help me, instead, they started banging on the door, trying to open it. The ponies inside began to growl and snarl like animals. Quickly, I turned in the other direction, trying to see if there was a door that could lead me out of here. As I was looking, I looked down a hallway to see a few ponies shambling around. A few moments later, they spotted me, and began to limp towards me. In fear of what might happen if they catch up with me, I continued looking, but much quicker. Eventually, I found a door that had the word 'Stairwell' on it. Quickly, I opened it and went inside, shutting the door behind me.
Luckily, I wasn't in total darkness. There was light in the stairwell, but it flickered on every few seconds, giving me some limited light. However, I managed to make it down slowly and safely. At the bottom of the stairwell, I found a door. Above it, there was a sign that had the word 'Exit'.
However, before I exited, I looked into my satchel to see if anything fell out. Luckily, nothing did. Suddenly, I began to hear loud banging noises from the door I came in from. Quickly, I hurried and exited through the door in front of me, but I did it too quickly, and I nearly became blinded by the sunlight. I squinted and covered my face with a hoof. After a few seconds, I became used to the light, but not the air.
The air smells of death. I looked down below me, and my eyes widened in shock. There were countless bodies of ponies, all lined up, row after row. All of them were covered in sheets, but only the end of their rotting hindlegs were visible. The stench of death filled my nostrils, but I had the strength not to vomit this time.
Instead, I slowly made my way past the bodies, the stench becoming more and more putrid, but I still did not puke. Continuing throughout the mass piles of bodies, I ended up coming across a carriage, the only one in the whole loading area. Looking closely at it, I saw that it contained a red cross on its side, with white as its outline. I assume this is an ambulance carriage. I believed it was used to carry injured to hospitals. As I got closer to it, I noticed after a moment that the back doors of the carriage was open, and since I was only seeing the side, I only saw a bit of white cloth hanging down.
Being curious, I decided to continue forward, nearing the carriage with each clop of my hooves on the cold, stone ground. Finally, after a few moments, the interior of the ambulance was finally within my sights, and I instantly regretted it.
Unlike the countless adult ponies laying on the ground behind me, the ponies inside the carriage, however, were not adults. Instead...they were children. The white cloth that would've covered them had fallen downward, allowing me to see them fully. There were three children within the carriage. One of them was a young blue filly, roughly 5-6 years old. Her mouth was slightly opened, and her eyes had an extremely dull, lifeless look within them. Not only that, but the filly had slowly begun to lose her mane, decomposition playing the main role within that. Looking at her head, I also saw that she had a horn, which meant that this filly was a unicorn. It broke my heart to know that this filly would never be able to know the magic of...magic.
I knew this filly was adorable in life, and if it weren't for her state of decay, she would still look adorable today.
Next to the filly was a brightly gray colt, maybe about a year older than the filly next to him. Decomposition had not done much to him, but he still had his fair share of maggots on him. Not to mention the putrid smell that came. I wanted badly to vomit, yet I couldn't. Looking at the colt, his almost-black mane was still fairly intact, a few bits fallen off, and it was also slicked back slightly. As I checked lower, going to his torso, I could see slightly opened wings behind his forelegs, meaning that this colt was a pegasus like me. Looking lower, all the way down to his hind legs, I spotted something hanging on one of his legs. It seemed like some sort of tag, and I was surprised to not see one the filly. Deciding to take a look at the tag, I slowly and gently pulled it off, doing what I could to not disturb the dead...much. After a bit of struggle, the tag came off, and I slowly held it up to my face. Reading it, I could only see that there was a name: R. Lane.
I had no clue what the R stood for, but turning the tag around, I could see that there were pictures attached to it, but these pictures were showing the colt that lay in front of me, but instead of in his lifeless pose as he's in now, in the pictures, he is in a happy, cheery mood. A second picture shows him standing next to a grown up pegasus. This pegasus kind of had the same colors as the colt, but in an opposite way. Almost black fur, but gray mane. After observing the picture, I begin to open up my satchel and place the tag in there. I know it's wrong and horrible to steal from the dead, but...I want to see if I can find that stallion. IF I can.
Once I closed the satchel, I began to take a look at the last child in the carriage. But I began to feel my heart shatter inside me, and my eyes begin to tear up. The last child was not as old as the other two...It was a baby. A foal. Unlike the other children, the foal was in a terrible state of decomposition. Most of its fragile, little body was missing most of its skin, some of it even hanging down the sides. Its face frightened me, as most of its little skull was fairly visible. Its eyes were long gone, as well as its mane.
I felt extremely bad and sorry for it. This young foal lost its life before it even started. I could already imagine the pain and suffering that these children might have gone through in their final moments. Or maybe it had been quick and they didn't notice. I wanted to stay here and pay my dear respects to these children and the rest of the ponies around me, but I then decided I had no time to mourn at the moment, and that I could pay my respects to them soon enough, maybe even give them a proper burial. They at least deserve it.
Finally leaving the carriage behind, I continued walking pass the endless rows of corpses that lined up around me. Soon enough, the endless rows finally came to an end...Ironic. As they ended, I felt myself finally clopping on the grass, rather than on the stone. That was when I reached a fairly high hill, roughly 20 or so hooves upward. Carefully, I began to make my way up the hill, one hoof at a time, hoping I wouldn't be met with more corpses. Suddenly, as I got around 10 feet upward, one of my hooves slipped beneath me, and I began to fall down. Luckily, I caught the ground so I wouldn't fall down to the bottom, but unluckily, landed right on the side where my mysterious wound had been. It took much of my remaining strength not to cry out in pain.
"A-ah! Son of a..." I cried as the searing pain coursed through my body, sending painful shocks all over. Everytime I tried to move, the pain would only increase. So instead of trying to move, I sat frozen in place, not daring to make a move in fear of causing more pain. I just patiently waited and waited, patiently waiting for the hurt to slowly fade away. It felt like minutes passed, but it was only moments, but soon enough, the pain subsided, and when I moved, no pain came. Finally, I got up from my resting spot and began to venture up the hill once again.
Once I reached the top, I spotted a small town. Luckily, it wasn't that far away. Near me, there was a dirt road that lead to the town. I headed towards the road and began to walk to the town. As I walked down the road, there was a sign next to it that read:
Welcome to Ponyville! Population: 102 0
Guess the town is empty. When I looked past the sign towards the town, I could hear no noise coming from it. It sounded empty. As I managed to look further, I saw that nopony was in the streets. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to just take a look anyway, so I continued forward towards the town of Ponyville.
Once I reached it, the stench of death filled my nose once more. The streets were littered with papers, clothing, and even wrecked carriages, some containing the bodies of ponies. I still had the strength not to vomit. I didn't want the putrid taste coming back. I ignored the bodies and continued deeper into the town. As I walked through Ponyville, I looked at most of the buildings. Some windows and doors of some of the houses were either smashed or busted down, and others were boarded up.
Whatever happened here wasn't good.
Eventually, I ended up finding a bakery near the center of town, called 'Sugarcube Corner'. Below the name, there was writing that said 'Bestest treats in Equestria!'
I sure wish I could've tasted them. I'm pretty sure it's all spoiled now. But there was no harm in checking anyway. Slowly, I made my way towards the building, which was just about the only building around me that hadn't been barricaded like the rest. I walked up to the door, which contained a note. Slowly, I grabbed the note and tore it from the door and read it:
Pinkie Pie, if you're reading this, Mr. Cake and I are leaving with the babies to Las Pegasus for a little while. With that horrible disease going around town, I don't want the babies catching it. Hopefully, it won't be too hard for you to work by yourself for a while, deary. Take care and be safe.
Sincerely,
Cup Cake
Wait a second...Pinkie Pie? After reading the note, I quickly opened up my satchel and took out the card that contained the six names. My eyes quickly caught sight of the pink colored name: Pinkie Pie.
I looked at the paper, then the note. The names match! This is the same pony. But who is Cup Cake? I guess another friend of mine? Maybe Pinkie's parents?
I decided I could think about that later. I dropped the note to the ground and proceeded to the door. I moved my hoof slowly towards the knob. Once I felt the cold metal within my hoof, I began to turn it to the left. Luckily - more like mysteriously - it was unlocked, and it opened without restraint.
As I opened it, I slowly made my way inside, taking time to observe my surroundings.
"Hello?" I called out. Silence followed.
Guess this Pinkie Pie isn't here. Would make sense, considering how the note hadn't been ripped from its resting place, which would give me the sense that Pinkie probably hasn't come back here.
Slowly, I started to walk around the main room I was in. Like I predicted, some of the food had spoiled. What looked like cake was now covered in what appeared to be green, fuzzy mold. What looked like cupcakes were engulfed in fuzz. But the cookies and brownies? They looked fine. It looked like they had just been taken out of the oven. I walked over to the counter where they lay. I picked one of the brownies up and took a bite out of them.
...It took me at least half a minute to bite through the damn thing. Extremely crunchy, but still good otherwise. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to take them. I grab around 20 or so brownies and did the same with the cookies. I placed them into an inside pocket in the satchel. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to finish the brownie - more like try to finish it.
Once I finished the brownie, which took about another minute, I exited the abandoned shop and decided to continue through the town. Other than countless homes, I ended up finding a dentist, a clothing boutique, and a library. I searched through the town for a few more minutes, when I spotted something in the tall patches of grass in the town square.
It was a bicycle, lying on its side. But the scene displayed next to it frightened and horrified me. Next to the bicycle lay the body of a pony. Looking at the pony's features, I saw that it was a mare. What creeped me out was that she was ripped in two. Her lower half was missing, her organs spilled out onto the grass. I had looked at so many bodies, I stopped being disgusted by them. I looked at this pony intently, examining its decomposed features. I sighed, looking away from the body of another taken life.
"Forgive me," I said to the body, and I began to grab the bicycle. Suddenly, I heard a noise. It sounded like a struggled groan or snarl. I looked back to the mare...but...it was impossible. She was dead. I didn't see her breathing or moving or anything! She was lifeless. Gone. Dead.
"Hello?" I said to the mare, but she didn't reply. Instead, she growled and snarled just like the ponies back at the hospital. She slowly gripped the earth below her with her hooves and slowly began to crawl towards me, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
"Graaagh!" She growled at me as she slowly crawled to me. I was completely frozen for the moment, but once I became unfrozen, I slowly grabbed the bike and got on it. Quickly, I began to pedal away from the mare.
"Raaarrrggh..."
The snarls of the mare became fainter and fainter, until I could no longer hear her. Just seeing her brought tears to my eyes. But my sadness also came with confusion. How could a dead mare, a body that was torn in two, crawl?
That's it. I need to stop. I don't want to go on anymore. At least, not right now, after all that's happened. Luckily, a few moments later, I spotted a barn up in the hills, surrounded by...I think those are apple trees. I guess I should head there for now. I looked into the sky to see the sun begin to set. I quickly began to pedal towards the farm area. I ended up pedaling by a sign that said 'Sweet Apple Acres - Freshest apples in Equestria!'
After about a minute of pedaling, I finally reached Sweet Apple Acres. The house looked abandoned, and the barn's paint was slowly chipping away.
Painfully, I got off the bike and sat down on the ground. I just needed to sit down after all that's happened. I slowly sunk to my rear on the ground, leaning on a fence. I then buried my face into my hooves and began to cry. That's all I could do right now at this point. Cry. After seeing all of those bodies: the hospital, Ponyville...that mare...it all just made me want to...
*creak*
I stopped crying instantly the moment I heard the noise. I slowly turned around to the house behind me. I didn't see anything, but I know there's something...or someone, hiding in there.
Slowly, I got up on all fours and began to slowly walk towards the porch of the house. I was trying my best to be quiet. After a few seconds, I made it onto the porch. I was just a few hooves away from the door.
I tip-hoofed slowly to the door, and then reached my hoof out to it. I then slowly, and carefully, began to open it...
Once it was opened, I looked inside. Nothing. I sighed to myself and began to shut the door. Guess it was just my-
WHACK!!
2 hours later...
"O...Ooh...." I slowly moaned as I began to gain consciousness, all while feeling an extreme pain in the back of my head.
As I opened my eyes, I found myself once again in a bed. It's the hospital all over again. Luckily, I wasn't back in the hospital, but rather in a bedroom of a home. The only lighting in the bedroom were candles. Apple scented candles. But surprisingly, I wasn't the only pony in the room. There were two others, one, a young, yellow filly, and the other, a large, red stallion. The stallion had one of those tattoo things on his rear as well, but for some reason, the filly didn't.
"You're awake," I heard a voice say to me. I turned to see the red stallion looking at me.
"Ah was afraid I'd done killed ya," he said in a southern accent.
"Wait a minute, you were the one who-" He began to quiet me down.
"Shh! Keep it down. Do ya want them ta hear ya?" He whispered to me.
My eyebrow raised in utter confusion. "Who's "them"?" I asked, a bit bewildered.
"The biters. Ya want them ta hear us?" He replied.
The stallion looked like he was going to say something else, but a rather feminine voice stopped him from doing so.
"Big Mac."
We both turned to the doorway of the bedroom to see an orange mare wearing a cowboy hat, looking at us. She seemed to be staring at the stallion known as Big Mac with a bit of a worried-but-more-serious face. She then looked at me. As she did, her eyes opened a bit more than they had been. She stared at me for a couple of seconds before turning her head towards the small yellow filly.
"Apple Bloom, why don't you go on into the living room with Big Mac here and talk to Granny Smith? I need to talk to Lightnin' for a moment."
She knows my name?
"Alrighty, Applejack," the little filly named Apple Bloom replied to Applejack and smiled.
Wait a second...Applejack. Wasn't that the name of one of the mares in the pictures? Is this her?
Apple Bloom then walked out of the room, Big Mac following her, but not before whispering something to Applejack. Fortunately, I was close enough to hear.
"He doesn't know what they are," Big Mac said to Applejack.
Applejack closed her eyes for a moment before replying. "Ah know."
Finally, Big Mac left the room, leaving only me and Applejack alone. It was silent for a little bit. Neither of us said anything to each other at all. All Applejack did was just...stare at me. Even though she's beautiful, she's creeping me out. What creeped me out more was that she was slowly walking towards me, like she was inspecting me or something. I was afraid of what could happen next. Finally, just at the side of the bed, she stopped.
The only thing I could hear was her breathing. She didn't do anything at all...until she suddenly pulled me into a hug. Confusion was all I could think about. Why was she hugging me?
She sniffled for a second before speaking up. "Ah th-thought you were a g-goner!" She cried, but silently.
After a few moments, Applejack pulled away from me. There were tears in her eyes. She was crying.
"Are you...are you Applejack?" I asked her.
She looked a little confused through her tears. "What, can't remember one of your friends?"
As much as I didn't want to admit it, I nodded, but explained why. When I woke up, what happened as I went through the hospital, how I got out, and how I got here.
She smiled slightly at me, and rested a hoof on my shoulder, making me blush slightly, though she couldn't see it. "T'ain't your fault, partner."
I smiled back at her. Suddenly, her smile slowly faded, but then she asked me something else.
"But...ya know 'bout the dead ponies...right?"
I nodded to her again. "Yeah. I saw tons of them...All over the ground...in the ambulances..."
"No...not those dead ones..."
I looked up. "What do you mean, "Not those dead ones?""
She looked afraid for some reason. Slowly, she sighed. Then she began to explain to me.
"After you ended up in the hospital...somethin'...started goin' around. A flu. But it wasn't any regular flu. Days after it started spreading, there were news reports of dead ponies...risin' up and attacking anythin' and anypony they could get their hooves on. They swarmed Equestria within days. The Royal Guard couldn't even stop them..."
Applejack stopped for a minute before continuing.
"After a few days, ah went outside...hopin' ta find mah friends...there was this one filly...she...she was so young and scared...and defenseless. Ah saw those...monsters...g-grab her...a-a-and..."
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She broke down and began to cry. She covered her face with her hooves and sobbed right there in front of me. I couldn't just stand watching her cry, so I wrapped my forelegs around her, and began to hug her gently and lovingly.
"Don't worry, Applejack...it's okay. Don't cry...please," I whispered to her, trying to calm her down. Eventually, she did. Her cries soon ceased, and she pulled away from me, a faint smile on her face. However, she wasn't done explaining things. She didn't want me to stop her, so I didn't. She simply continued forward.
"Things...things always went from bad to worse once the sun went down. Those who were dead...changed. During the day, all they do is just...limp around...l-like they're hurt or somethin'. But...once night fell...they got...faster...stronger...deadlier...Anypony caught outside at night was...t-torn apart by those...things in a matter of seconds. It spreads quicker then. That...that's why we always keep quiet during the night, and we keep the lights low."
Applejack stopped to catch herself for a moment.
"Yer lucky you woke up and came here when you did...Had you been out any sooner...especially at night...w-well...it's...it's just good that yer okay." Once again, Applejack smiled to me. After a few moments, she got up from where she was sitting.
"Alright. A-Ah think it's time ya got out of bed," she then said to me less shaken. I then proceeded to get off the bed, but then she stopped me.
"Whoa, now. Slowly. Don't forgit, ya got hit pretty hard, partner."
She's right. I need to take it slow after getting hit with a 4 hoof wooden bat. Slowly and gently, I got out of the bed, with Applejack carefully assisting me. All of a sudden, the sharp pain from the side of my stomach erupted once more, and I fell back to the bed. I almost cried from the sheer pain of it. I thought it would've at least stopped hurting after recovering that whole time.
"Thunder? You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply to her, grunting a bit, "I-It's just my wound...don't worry, though. I'm fine."
"Are ya shure?"
"Y-Yeah...don't worry." I looked up to Applejack and smiled faintly. She wasn't sure whether to be worried or not.
"Well...alright. Ya can stay in here for a few more minutes if you want." She then begins to walk out.
"Where're you going?" I ask before she leaves.
"Ah'm gonna help mah granny get dinner ready. You can stay here for now and Ah can come git ya once it's ready."
"No, that's okay. I'm gonna head into the living room with Big Mac and...uh..."
"Apple Bloom?"
"Yeah, Apple Bloom. Hehe," I chuckled, making her giggle, which made me blush yet again. What's with me blushing lately?
Once Applejack leaves the room, I sigh silently, and look at my wound. It's bleeding a little, but it could be worse. By what Applejack told me, I could be a mindless, shambling corpse.
Once the pain stops, I look around to see if my satchel is in here. Luckily, I see it sitting on a table with a few pictures on it. I slowly get up, and this time, there's no pain. I then slowly walk over to the table, grab the satchel, and wrap it around my back. I then look back to the pictures. They're pictures of Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom. Two of the pictures showed Applejack and Apple Bloom as adorable looking foals.
Another picture showed the three with an older looking mare.
"I assume that's Granny Smith," I say to myself, inspecting the old mare. I looked at the pictures for a few more minutes, before heading out to the living room. When I arrived, Apple Bloom was laying on the floor, coloring something. She looked up and saw me, then smiled.
"Hi, Lightnin'."
"Hey, Apple Bloom."
I sat down in a seat next to her, and asked her, "What're you drawing?"
"A picture of me and mah friends." I felt a little heartbroken. I hope her friends are okay.
"Are your friends...okay?"
"Yep. We managed to get a message from them on our ol' radio."
"Where are they?"
"They're in Baltimare. Mah sister says them Royal Guard ponies put these things called barricades around the city, and ponies from everywhere are stayin' inside there. Mah sister says in a few days, we might be able to leave to go see 'em!" she says quietly, but happily. Then her smile becomes an adorable looking pout, and she sort of picks at the wooden floor with her hoof adorably.
"But...Ah kinda don't wanna leave here. Ah grew up here. It's mah home." She then looked like she was about to cry. I can't see another pony cry again, so I pick her up and hug her.
"Hey, don't worry. Maybe you won't have to leave home. I have an idea. Maybe we can get your friends to come here instead. That way, you won't have to leave." I move her in front of me so she's looking at me.
"Really?" she asks excitedly.
"Maybe. I'll have to ask your sister later on."
"Alrighty then." I then set her down so she can continue coloring, but then she asks me another question.
"Lightnin'?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it true what mah sister said? How you can't remember anythin'?"
"Yes, sadly, it's true," I replied, depressed.
"Will you be able to get your memory back?"
That question didn't really ring into my head until she asked that. Can I get my memory back? I didn't know the answer to that, but all I could reply was, "I hope so, Apple Bloom."
After saying that, I heard Applejack's voice.
"Soup's on, everypony," she says to us.
"C'mon, youngins! Get it while it's hot!" Granny Smith added.
"Finally! Time ta eat!" Apple Bloom said happily.
"Eeyup," Big Mac only said. The three of us headed into the dining room, where there was a pot of soup in the center of the table. We all then sat down, and Applejack opened the pot, allowing steam to pour out. A smell filled my nose. But it smelled familiar.
"Apple Soup?" I asked.
"Yep. Bestest soup we've had." Applejack then took the empty bowl in front of Apple Bloom and filled it with soup. Tiny slices of Apple with liquid was poured into the bowl, which was set back down in front of Apple Bloom, who was going to take a sip of the soup until Applejack stopped her.
"Not until everypony has soup, Apple Bloom," she simply replied.
"Oh, Okay then," Apple Bloom said disappointingly, and looked quite impatient while waiting, licking her lips. Applejack then took my bowl and filled it up with soup, then placed it down back in front of me.
"Before the accident, whenever you came to help me at the farm, Ah invited you to have dinner here. Sometimes we would have Apple Soup. You weren't quite fond of it, until you tried it. Since then, you've always had Apple Soup when you ate. Hehe..."
Eventually, after about a minute, everypony's bowl had soup in it. Applejack then closed the pot and sat down.
"Alright. Dig in, everypony," Applejack said, and everypony at the table began to eat...or drink...or both.
I looked at the soup. It had only chunks of apple in it, with what looked like apple cider.
"Lightnin'," I heard Applejack say to me.
"Huh? What?" I replied.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Still just a bit dazed. Heh," I chuckled a little nervously. Slowly, I picked up my spoon, collected some of the cider looking soup with a small chunk of apple in it, and put it in my mouth. After swallowing the soup and apple chunk, I smiled in delight from the taste, and had more of the soup.
"Heh. Looks like you still enjoy it," Applejack said to me, causing me to chuckle.
About a half hour later, Big Mac and Apple Bloom were sitting in the living room, while Apple Bloom and Granny Smith washed the bowls out. I walked into the kitchen. Applejack saw me and smiled.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey. Hey, Granny Smith."
"Why, hello there, sonny."
Applejack looked to her grandmother and asked, "Granny, why don't you go on into the living room to rest?"
She then looked to me. "Lightnin', you don't mind if you help me, do ya?"
I blushed slightly, and not knowing it, my wings sort of...opened up for some reason. "I'd be glad to."
"Heh. Ah see that," she replied, giggling. What did she mean? I then look to the sides of me. I saw my opened, stiff wings, and blushed, causing Applejack to giggle again.
"Well, Ah'll leave you two lovebirds alone in here then," Granny Smith replied to us, which ended up making Applejack blush deeply.
"Granny!" Applejack said, embarrassed. All Granny Smith did was chuckle, and she walked out of the kitchen to the living room. Once she left, I walked over to the exact spot she was standing in. I grabbed a random bowl and placed it into the huge bucket that was in the sink. Since there was no power, they couldn't use the sinks, so the bucket is the closest thing to a sink, I suppose.
As I was cleaning the dishes, I noticed at the corner of my eye, Applejack was looking at me, but once she saw me looking back, she looked back to the dishes. I could even see her faintly blushing.
I simply shrugged and continued to clean the dishes. A few minutes later, Applejack and I were in the living room, sitting down by a dim lantern that gave the room a faint glow. The other three had gone off to bed. For the past few minutes, it was nearly silent despite the crickets chirping. Occasionally, the two of us glanced at each other every now and then. Finally, after around five minutes, I spoke up.
"So...about Baltimare..." I began, but quietly.
"Yeah?" Applejack replied.
"Well...Apple Bloom talked to me about that, and...she said she didn't want to leave here. She said it's where she was born, where she was raised."
"Ah know...but her friends are there. Wouldn't she want ta see them again?"
"Wouldn't you want to stay at the place you were born and grew up at?" I replied.
Applejack opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and closed it, looking a bit depressed.
"Ya gotta point," she quietly says, "plus, we do have a food supply, literally an endless one."
It was silent again for a few moments, before I spoke up again. "...so?"
Applejack looked to the floor for a few moments, thinking the whole problem through. Finally, she looked up.
"Ah...Ah don't know. We might have an endless food supply, but they have better protection. Plus, there's another problem..."
"What is it?"
She looked up and pointed upstairs. "There's not enough bedrooms. We only got beds for me, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. What about the others?"
She's right, I guess. I then began to think of a place they could stay. That was when I looked outside, to the barn. I smiled.
"How about the barn? I think it'd be big enough to hold...uh, how many ponies?"
"Eleven. The 5 girls, Apple Bloom's friends, the Wonderbolts, and Shining Armor."
Wonderbolts? How come I've heard that name before...doesn't matter.
"So what do we do?" I asked her.
"Well...we can-"
Suddenly, we heard a strange noise not that far. It sounded like a static noise, like from a radio. That was when Applejack and I looked to the radio on the coffee table. It was on.
"A-a-ck," a voice said on the radio. It was broken up, however, like its signal wasn't strong.
Quickly, Applejack got to the radio, picked up the communicator on it, and pressed the button.
"Hello? Who is this?"
After a few seconds, we just heard static. Finally, a voice spoke.
"Applejack!" The voice cried.
"Twilight! Is that you?" Applejack replied.
"Yes....m...h..p...s..." the voice replied, breaking up again.
"Twilight, are ya okay? What's wrong?" Applejack asked, worried. Even though I didn't know Twilight, I, too, was worried.
"Balti...ru...bi..." the voice became more and more broken up, only saying fragments of words, but the one word I could partially understand was "Baltimare".
"What about Baltimare?"
Static.
"Twilight? Hello? Twilight!"
Still, nopony replied. The radio was just static once more. Applejack and I waited and waited for a response, but it never came. Finally, after a few minutes, Applejack flicked the switch to the radio and turned it off. For the first few moments, it was complete, utter silence.
That was, until Applejack began to sob.
Applejack dropped down onto the floor, her back against the wall, and began to just cry with her face in her hooves. I looked down to see her weeping silently, as to not wake the others.
I then sat down next to her and looked at her. Finally, I wrapped my forelegs around her and hugged her gently.
"Hey..." I whispered in her ear. "It's okay...don't cry...please..."
I knew she was worried about them. Of course, they were her best friends. Why wouldn't she be worried about them? And even though I don't really know them yet, I'm worried about them too.
"Don't worry...they're fine....okay?" I kept whispering to her, slowly rubbing her back with a hoof, trying to calm her down.
Slowly, it began to work. Finally, her cries ceased until they were sniffles. I pulled away from her enough to see her face. It had tears dripping down. Gently, I began to wipe away the tears with my hoof.
"How?" She asked after a few moments of silence.
"How will we know...? We're right here, and they're all the way over there! How do we know they're safe?"
She's right. How will we know if they are okay? I could...no. It'd be risky. I'm not sure she'd agree with it at all.
...But...there's no harm in suggesting.
"I...I can go there. Check it out."
Right after I said that, Applejack looked up to me, her eyes with an extremely confused look to them, observing me like I was some sort of strange creature from another world.
"Y...Yer crazy. It's dangerous out there. Ya might not come back!" She replied very worriedly.
"It may be dangerous...but it's worth a shot...right?"
"N-No. Ah've finally seen ya fer the first time in a month, and Ah'm not gonna let cha go back out there and get eaten! Please, don't do this! It's crazy!" She nearly yelled, but not too loud to wake anypony up. By then, tears were falling down her face again.
"Applejack...if nopony goes there, we'll never know. And if I don't go there, who will? The others need you to look after them, Apple Bloom's too young, Granny Smith's definitely out of the question, and Big Mac probably won't dare to leave this place, and that leaves me. I know I've been out of the loop for a while, but I want to do anything I can now. And now, I want to help my friends."
Applejack then became silent, not moving. Her face that showed she was in deep thought came back. She wouldn't look up at me for a few moments. Even her loud breathing went silent. Soon enough, however, she finally looked up to me, and I waited for her answer.
"O...Okay..."
That was when the tears in her eyes began to form again. Once more, I simply brushed them off.
"Hey, hey...don't worry. I'll be okay. If I was lucky enough to go through Ponyville without becoming one of them...and meeting...you..." I blushed, and this time, Applejack could see it, making her giggle silently.
"...Alright, then..." Applejack replied. I smiled and wrapped my forelegs around her once more. As I was hugging her, I slowly brushed her mane with my hoof. It felt silky, like a blanket. It was amazing. Slowly, I lowered my hoof down her mane to the bun.
"Y'all can let it down, if ya want," she whispered.
I blushed again, but listening to her, I took the bun out of her mane, letting it flow down freely. I slowly pulled away to get a look at her. I nearly fainted at the sight.
"Y...you l-look...beautiful," I said to her, causing her to blush.
Just then, at that moment...something happened. I don't know what it was, or how it happened...but the next thing I knew, my lips were perfectly against Applejack's. I was kissing her. Suddenly, I pulled away from her, blushing deeply, and my wings popped out like before.
"I...uh..." I was completely speechless, and so was she.
We both just stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but it was only a few minutes. We just continued to stare...
...that was, until Applejack kissed me back. It completely took me by surprise. Slowly, however, I gave into it, and slowly wrapped my forelegs around her, holding her as we embraced in a passionate moment, which seemed to have escalated very quickly.
Just then, I could see one of her hooves reach for one of my stiff wings. I don't know why she was reaching for my wing, until a sudden burst of pleasure sparked through me. And another burst. And another, and another, and another. I looked to my wing to see Applejack stroking it.
"I-I uh...h-hah...Applej-..." I couldn't seem to speak normal. The pleasure was literally coarsing through my body. This was completely new to me. I never knew you could get pleasure from your wing being stroked. Well, maybe I did before...you know, the accident and all.
"Applejack?" A voice called out, and we instantly stopped what we were doing and looked to the doorway to see Apple Bloom standing there, rubbing one of her eyes in a cute way.
"U-Uh, Apple Bloom! What're you doin' awake at this time?" Applejack asked.
"Ah was wonderin' if y'all were still awake. What're you doin' with Lightnin'?"
Quickly, Applejack had made an excuse.
"Ah was just, uh...teachin' him how ta kiss!" Applejack then smiled sheepishly.
"R-Real good, that is," I replied, sort of correcting Applejack's lie, which made her blush faintly.
"Well, what was she doin' to yer wing?" She then asked.
"Oh. Well, when Big Mac hit me, and I fell on the ground...I kinda...fell on my wing. She was...massaging it. You know, trying to make it feel better!"
I then somehow bent my wing a little to make it look more like it was broken to convince Apple Bloom.
"Yep! Just massagin' it!" Applejack replied, putting her hooves back onto my wings, and I tried to sound like it was painful, but feeling good at the same time.
"O...kai...W-Well...G'night, Applejack. G'night, Lightnin'," Apple Bloom replied, convinced, then headed back to her bedroom.
We waited until we heard the closing of a door upstairs. Then we sighed in relief. Applejack then looked at the clock which read "11:26 pm".
"Well...we...we best get ta sleep right now...if yer gonna head on out in the mornin'."
"Huh?" I asked, confused for a moment, until I realized I was headed to Baltimare tomorrow.
"Oh, right! Right. So, uh...where do I sleep?" I asked.
"Well, y'all can sleep with me, if y'all wanna."
As if on command, my wings once again sprung open, this time with some feathers flying off, and I blushed deeply once more.
"Um...sure," I replied. Applejack giggled at my wings and blushed, then she began to walk up the stairs to her bedroom. I followed her up to it. When I reached it, she was laying down on one side of the bed. Slowly, I walked up to the bed and got inside, laying directly next to Applejack. Once I was fully in the bed, I turned and looked at her. She was staring back at me with those gorgeous eyes.
It's funny, I wake up in a hospital, with no memory of anything from before, and now I'm in a bed with Applejack. This escalated very fast. Way too fast.
"Are ya..." Applejack began quietly. "Are ya shure ya wanna head up there?"
"They're our friends, aren't they? Of course I want to head up there. I don't want to leave you guys...I really don't...But after some of the things I've seen today, I want to do all I can and help," I replied.
That statement seemed to put a smile on Applejack's face. She giggled for a slight moment.
"Even with no memory...you still look out for others, even if it means puttin' yerself at risk. You always seemed to do that before all this." She then put her face right in front of mine. For a few moments, she looked me in the eyes with her glistening and beautiful ones. For a second, it seemed she was trying to say something, but could never get the words out. For a moment, she tried and tried to say something, but never did.
Then suddenly, by surprise, she hurled herself at me and quickly connected her lips with mine. Never did I try to resist, but simply gave into it, smiling through the kiss. Throughout the night, we kissed and cuddled...and did something even more beautiful...all without making a noise to disturb the peace of the night.
The next morning...
It was early in the morning when I had awoken. It was a bit blurry, but I began to remember everything that happened last night. Every single bit of it. It was incredible. As I remembered, I felt something squirming slightly between my forelegs. I looked to see that Applejack was held in my forelegs, sleeping soundly and peacefully. Dear Celestia, she looks so beautiful. It's quite odd how we managed to make no noise during our little event last night, but it was a good thing.
Slowly, I could see Applejack awaken to turn her head to me.
"H-Howdy, partner," she said tiredly, causing me to chuckle a bit.
"Hey...sleep soundly?" I replied and asked.
"Yep." She then smiled at me, warming my heart. Slowly, I reached in and kissed her once more, and she gladly accepted it. We did this for a few minutes before heading downstairs to make breakfast. Together.
By noon, when the sun was highest in the sky, Applejack led me to the barn for something she said was important for my journey.
"What did you want to show me?" I asked her.
She didn't answer me until we reached the barn door. She opened it, and what was inside was not quite what you would expect to see on an apple farm. It was a wagon. But it wasn't just any wagon. It was an electric wagon, powered by an engine that could propel it forward just by stepping on a pedal on the inside.
"How long have you had this?" I asked.
"Few months. We got it before everything went to Tartarus. Haven't found a mighty good reason ta use it. Guess since yer headin' up there, guess it'd be a good time as any," she replied, opening the driver's door of the wagon.
I looked inside the wagon, which contained a steering wheel and a pedal. There was also a compartment above the driver's seat for the keys to start the ignition. I looked inside the compartment. The keys were there.
"Lightnin'?" I heard Applejack speak from behind me, and I turned back to her.
"Yeah?"
"Uh...Can ya...Can ya please promise not to forget me while you're there?"
"Applejack...I'm heading there for you and Apple Bloom. I'm definitely not going to forget you anytime soon."
Hearing the response made Applejack smile, then the smile slowly faded after a few moments.
"W-Well...Just in case...Ah..." She paused for a moment. In that moment, her hooves reached upward, up to her hat. She clutched it with her hooves and slowly removed it from her head, finally holding it towards me.
"Ah want you to take mah hat."
"What?" Slowly, I grabbed the had from her clutches, examining its detail.
"Are you sure? I mean, last night, you said you and this hat are literally inseparable."
"Ah know...But Ah...Ah just want you to keep it...to...you know...remember me a little bit more." Applejack blushed heavily, also smiling.
I was still having a tough time wondering if I should take something Applejack's worn for maybe years. Examining it, I could see the initials A.J. embedded within its material. I stood for a few moments, looking at the hat. After what seemed like forever, I finally came to an answer.
"Okay." Slowly, I placed the hat onto my head. Perfect fit, and a comfy one too. Suddenly, Applejack walked up to me and hugged me, and I gladly accepted. We just sat there, hugging each other for a few moments before we separated. We then stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before we pulled each other again into a final kiss. I knew that this would be the last kiss we would share for a while, so I savored every moment of it.
During the kiss, I slowly and gently pushed my tongue into Applejack's mouth. She was bit surprised for a moment, but then accepted the foreign object. She then placed her tongue into my mouth, and I gladly accepted it. As we kissed, our tongues danced around in each other's mouth, twisting and twirling in bliss. The action had actually made Applejack moan, a soothing tone to my ears.
Eventually, we pulled away from each other, leaving a trail of saliva between us. Eventually, that trail split. Once we stopped kissing, we began to take breaths, as the kiss had taken some energy out of us.
Once we caught our breath, Applejack looked up to me.
"Stay safe...please?" She asked me.
"I will...I promise," I replied. I then got into the wagon and was about to shut the door when Applejack spoke three meaningful words to me.
My heart stopped. I then smiled and looked back to her.
"I...I love you too, Jackie," I replied with a nickname for her, which she liked, knowing by her smile. I then closed the door of the wagon, placed the keys into the ignition, and turned it on. It purred like a beauty.
Slowly, I placed my right hind leg on the pedal below, and the wagon began to move forward. Eventually, I reached the entrance gate, which Big Mac had opened up. I waved to him, and he waved back. The wagon then exited the gate. Once it did, I turned the wheel to the right, heading towards Ponyville. Before I leave...there's just one more thing I need to do.
Eventually, I found myself back in Ponyville, at the town square. I exited the wagon, and began to walk to the grass patch from yesterday. The body of the mare was still there, decaying like it had been for a month.
The moment I closed the door of the wagon, the mare's head slowly looked up to me, and began to snarl once more.
I slowly began to walk towards the mare, who was beginning to crawl to me. I looked around me. On the ground, I found a hoof long knife. I slowly picked it up and looked to the mare.
"Graaagh!" She growled at me.
I just stared, a tear slowly falling down my face. Slowly, I raised the knife. But before I did this, I looked intently at the mare. Even though she was in a horrible state of decay, she still looked beautiful. I assumed she looked even prettier when she was living.
"I'm sorry this had to happen to you..." I said to the mare. With one swing downward, I dove the blade into the mare's skull. There was a growl and snarl for only a few seconds, then it was silent. It was over. The mare's undead life was over.
Once it was done, I pulled the knife out. I then wiped the tear away from my eye and headed back to the wagon, not looking back at the mare. Once I was back inside, I began to drive once more to the road on the opposite side of Ponyville. Eventually, within a few minutes, Ponyville was at the horizon, far from me. In my rearview mirror, I took one last glance at Sweet Apple Acres, before it disappeared from sight.
I sighed in sadness, knowing I was leaving Applejack behind. Like I said before, it's funny how I wake up in a hospital with no memory, and by the end of the day, I'm in bed with Applejack. And now...I'm leaving her. Just knowing that made the funny dim quickly.
I know I might get killed on this mission...but for Celestia and Applejack's sake, I'll try my hardest to make sure that doesn't happen...no...I'll make damn sure it won't happen...
2:42 pm City of Baltimare
With the help of the so called GPS I had recently turned on, and after hours of listening to nothing but the sound of the tires rolling on the dirt roads below, I began to see something on the horizon. It wasn't an illusion or anything like that. No...it was a city. An enormous city, hundreds of buildings, side by side.
"Baltimare," I said to myself.
I was amazed by the sheer size of it. There were countless buildings bunched up all together, some connected in the middle. I was curious to know what was going on inside that city. Maybe nothing happened at all. Maybe radio transmission was weak. Still, I'm not going to stop until I get there, especially if my friends are here.
But as I got closer to the city, I began to see what looked like smoke rise from one of the buildings. Maybe there's some kind of smokestack on top?
...Now I feel stupid...
A few minutes later, I was inside the city...but it was far from what I imagined. Inside the city, it looked just like Ponyville: Crashed carriages and wagons, dead bodies, and papers and clothing everywhere...
I then stopped for a moment to inspect the bodies. These bodies weren't like the mare at the town square, or the stallion at the hospital. These bodies weren't badly decomposed. They were fresh, about maybe a day or two. As I got closer to inspect them, I noticed several bite marks and most of their body torn apart. I now knew what happened to Baltimare...
"Biters."
Suddenly, the wagon pushed slightly to the left. I looked to the right side to see a biter standing there, banging on the passenger door, trying to get in. In fear, I stomped on the pedal...but the wagon didn't move. I stepped on the pedal again. Once more, the wagon didn't budge, other than the biter moving it. Again and again, I pressed it, but nothing happened.
I looked around in the wagon to see if anything was the problem. I found it right behind the wheel. It was a meter. A meter for gas. The arrow pointed at the letter E on the meter.
I was out of gas.
"You've gotta be shitting me," I said to myself. Suddenly, the wagon pushed further to the left. I looked to the right to see a few more biters pushing against the wagon. That was when I looked in front of me. My eyes widened in complete horror. There was a horde of these things slowly shambling towards the vehicle.
Once they reached the wagon, they pushed it with enough force to send it tumbling onto its side. I slammed into the window of the left door, causing the glass to shatter from the impact, but I was spared being stabbed by the glass.
I then looked around the sideways car. There were biters swarming it. I couldn't tell how many. That's how many there were. They showed no emotion but anger. They just snarled and yelled at me through the windows.I knew that within a few moments, they would break the windows, barge in, and kill me...or worse...turn me into one of them.
No...this can't be happening. Not too quickly. This is too soon. I promised Applejack I'd be safe...that I'd be careful...
I...I failed her.
I knew there was no way out of this. So I began to reach for the knife in my satchel. Once I grabbed it, I slowly brought it up to my neck.
"Applejack...I'm so sorry." A tear fell from my face. I was not ready to end my life so soon, but I had to do it...or else they'd do it for me.
Bang!
Suddenly, the banging of the wagon ceased. The biters all seemed to stop once they heard the noise. What was that? It sounded like a loud boom.
A few moments later, the biters began to just...pass right by the wagon, like they had completely forgotten about me, like I was invisible to them. Eventually, they were gone from sight, following the noise. I was completely frozen for a few moments. I would've died right there, right then, but that mysterious noise saved me.
"Hey!" a voice rang, which brought me out of my daze. I looked around to see where it came from.
"You! In the sideways wagon! What're you doing? Get out of there, now! Before they come back!" I looked up to see a radio similar to Applejack's radio, placed next to the steering wheel of the wagon. I picked up the communicator, pressed the button, and spoke into it.
Suddenly, the banging of the wagon ceased. The biters all seemed to stop once they heard the noise. What was that? It sounded like a loud boom.
A few moments later, the biters began to just...pass right by the wagon, like they had completely forgotten about me, like I was invisible to them. Eventually, they were gone from sight, following the noise. I was completely frozen for a few moments. I would've died right there, right then, but that mysterious noise saved me.
"Hey!" a voice rang, which brought me out of my daze. I looked around to see where it came from.
"You! In the sideways wagon! What're you doing? Get out of there, now! Before they come back!" I looked up to see a radio similar to Applejack's radio, placed next to the steering wheel of the wagon. I picked up the communicator, pressed the button, and spoke into it.
"Let me see that," another voice emerged from the radio. A moment of movement occured, but once the sounds ceased, the voice spoke up again.
"Hey, in the wagon. You okay?"
I was frozen for a minute again, but quickly shook myself out of my daze and replied to the voice in the radio.
"Yeah, hello? Who is this?"
"Not important right now. You need to just focus on getting out of there. Now. The Walkers are only attracted by the noise for a short amount of time. In minutes, they'll be surrounding the place again. Grab whatever you can and go into the alleyway at the left. Got it?"
It took me a moment to get it through my head, but I did what he said and got all of my supplies ready. I grabbed my satchel, Applejack's hat, and I began to climb the wagon to the right side door. It took a few kicks, but with enough force, I managed to open the jammed door. Unfortunately, when I kicked it, I slipped downward, but caught my hoofing...on the horn of the wheel.
Upon landing on the horn, I caused it to generate a noise that echoed in the air. I quickly took it off and froze. I then looked to the area where the Walkers had left. I stared at the area a few seconds. Then I continued what I was doing before. I grabbed the sides with my hooves, then slowly made my way out. I rolled on my back and rested there for a moment.
The radio crackled again, and the voice spoke.
"Hey, this isn't the time to relax! With the noise of that horn, Walkers will be swarming the place. You need to keep moving!"
I listened to him. Slowly, I rolled my way to the edge of the side. I then fell off, but landed safely on my hooves. I looked to my left to see the alleyway. I began to walk towards it, but then I heard a noise. A scream.
"Help me, please!"
The voice sounded like a mare, but not the typical mare. It sounded higher. I looked to the right, near the middle of the street to see a filly, wandering aimlessly, scared. She couldn't seem to see me.
"Please!! Anypony!! Mommy! Daddy! I'm scared!!"
I didn't know what to do: leave the filly, or help her.
That was when I heard the voice from the radio again.
"Shit, Walkers!"
I looked to the far left, and saw the Walkers from before returning. They began to wander near the wagon, but they soon heard the voice and spotted the filly in desperate need. That was when I made my decision. Quickly, I bolted to the filly as fast as I could. Once I reached the filly, I picked her up and placed her on my back.
"Hang on tight!" I said to her. Quickly, I bolted back to the alleyway as fast as I could, while the filly wrapped her tiny forelegs around my neck and held on tightly.
When I reached the alleyway, I looked to where I was to see the Walkers quickly trotting towards me. Not looking back, I bolted down the alleyway, ignoring the stench of death that filled my nose as I ran through it. I began to reach the end of the alleyway, where a metal door greeted me. Suddenly, as I reached it, the door swung open, and a pair of hooves grabbed me and dragged me in.
Once I was inside, the metal door shut tightly behind me. I looked to see two stallions blocking it with large boxes. Seconds later, there was muffled banging from outside, followed by the growling and snarling of the Walkers. Safe for now, I took deep breaths. Suddenly, I felt the filly on my back slowly tighten her grip on my neck, and I could hear her whimpering silently.
"You okay?" I heard a voice say to me. I looked up to see a dark green stallion with a gray mane looking at me.
Still catching my breath, I just nodded to him. He then looked behind me to the filly.
"You okay, sweetie?" He asks to her. She nods and whimpers again.
"I-I...couldn't f-find my m-mommy or d-daddy..." she says, her voice shaky.
"Those big bad monsters didn't get you, did they?" The stallion asks.
"N-no."
"Here," he then grabs the filly and puts her on his back, "let me get you something to eat. You must be hungry."
"Uh-huh."
They head into another room. I then look back to the door as a stallion places one last box on top of his makeshift barricade.
"It's not that good," he pauses, "but it'll hold...for now, at least."
He then notices me and starts, "Listen, thanks for saving that filly out there. If it wasn't for you, she would've ended up like one of those...things out there."
I nodded, agreeing with him. After a few seconds of silence, other than the constant noises of the Walkers, he holds out his hoof to me.
"Star Burst," he introduces himself.
I look down to his hoof. I smile, then shake his hoof, and introduce myself.
"Lightning Flash."
Suddenly, the stallion stopped.
""Lightning Flash"?"
"Yyyeah. What about it?"
"Wait a second..." The stallion pointed at me a few times, "You're that stallion that mare's always been talking about. What was her name, I always forget...uhh, Rainbow Dash! That's it!"
Rainbow Dash? I remembered back to the picture. That cyan colored mare?
"Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah. Why, you know her?"
"Well...kinda. Is she...alright?" I asked with a bit of worry in my voice.
"Pfft. Yeah, she's fine. She's in the other room," Star Burst replied and pointed to the doorway where the other stallion went.
"She...she's here? Right now?"
"Yeah. She actually found this place last night for us. We were gonna leave once the coast was clear...but, the little event from before kinda...delayed that, sorta."
"Yeah..." I said awkwardly and scratched the back of my head, "Sorry about that..."
"Don't worry about it."
Suddenly, a box fell from the stack and on top of Star's head, causing him to flinch a bit. Rubbing his head, he picked up the box, placed it back on the stack, and banged on the door a few times, causing no effect on the Walkers.
"Hey, knock it off out there!" He then looks back to me, "Pfft...Walkers." He then started to chuckle. I chuckled with him. A few moments later, he changed the subject.
"So, tell me...where were you a month ago when everything went down?"
"Hospital," was all I could reply.
His eyebrow rose. "Hospital? Were you a doctor or somethin'?"
"No. I was in a coma."
"Coma? When'd you wake up?"
"Well...yesterday."
"Yesterday?! So you've been out the whole time the shit hit the fan?"
I nodded at the question. "Uh huh."
Star just stood there, completely surprised by this. It was only a couple of moments later that he chuckled at the fact.
"I don't believe that one bit, my friend," he said, smiling and chuckling, but his face showed that he wasn't buying my story.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"If that's true, how the hell are you alive? The lights went out weeks ago. Anypony on life support at the time died in minutes. Anyone plugged up to a machine died. You should be dead right now."
"Not all the lights went out. When I woke up, the machine I was plugged into was still working fine. It was just a few things that weren't working, like the bathroom light...and the faucet. But the worst part of waking up...I couldn't remember anything. I woke up with no memory, at all. I mean, I only found out my name and a couple of other things...but...I feel like that's all I'm ever going to find out about me."
I then sighed. Suddenly, Star put a hoof on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I had a friend...years ago, that had the exact same problem as you do, only without the dead walking around. He woke up from a coma after 6 months...with no memory of anything about him or his friends. Nothing. The doctors said he might never recover his memory, and that it'd be best to just support him the whole way."
Star stopped and looked to the floor.
"I thought I was never gonna be able to see my best friend the same way ever again. Suddenly, a few days later, he walks into my house, and starts talking to me. Says, "Hey, Star. Ready to head to the Best Flyer Competition?" He didn't even know what that was the other day. I then start asking him if he remembered anything from the past few days. He says a few days ago, we were at the cafe, talking about the competition. But we started talking about that before his coma! We then headed back to the hospital, and the doctor said he's fine. Nothin' was wrong with him or anythin'. His memory was back and everythin', like nothin' happened."
He then was silent. A few moments later, he looked to me.
"So you never know...it might come back on its own, maybe not. The mind works in mysterious ways, so...you never know."
I then took his words into consideration. I then smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Star."
He then smiled back to me.
A few minutes later, we headed into the other room, where the rest of the survivors stayed. There was the stallion from before, holding the filly and giving some food to her; another stallion with, who I assume is his wife and daughter; a mare who was shaking back and forth in a corner, whispering, "I'm safe in here. They'll never get me in here, right?"
There was also a colt, laying comfortably next to his mother, who was smiling sweetly down at her son. I can only imagine what must've happened to her husband. Then there was the mare from the picture. Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash?" I called out. The mare looked up, and she just froze. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.
"L...Lightning?" She managed to get out. She then slowly got up from the seat she was sitting in, and slowly began to approach me. Once she was close enough, she began to examine me, like I was something from another world.
"It...can't be you. It just can't. I...I have to be dreaming...Is it really you?".
"...Surprise?" I asked then chuckled.
Rainbow didn't reply. She just continued to observe me like some strange creature. She then opened her mouth slightly, as if to say something, but then a noise startled everyone in the room. We all turned to the room where I was just in. We saw the boxes barricading the door fall down, allowing the door to open freely, as the constant banging broke the lock. Within moments, countless Walkers began to pour into the other room.
Acting fast, I ran to the door of the room we were in, and quickly shut it. I then locked it and quickly looked around the room for some objects. I found a bookcase. I then ran to it and began to pull it. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge.
"I need some help here!" I yelled.
Quickly, Star Burst ran to the other side of the bookcase and began to push forward. Finally, the bookcase moved forward, or I guess in my position, backward. We placed the bookcase in front of the door, then got in front of it and pushed it so that it touched the door. Just as we did that, the Walkers began to bang roughly at the door, trying to get in. Luckily, since the bookcase was extremely heavy, I don't think they'll be able to bust that down anytime soon.
I panted, trying to catch my breath.
"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die..." The mare in the corner began to say repeatedly.
"Mommy, I'm scared! What if those monsters get in?" The young colt asked his mother.
"Don't worry, honey. They won't get in..." The mother looked up to me. "...will they?"
"No. We're safe as long as this bookcase holds," I replied to her.
"How else are we supposed to get out of here?" The green stallion from before asks.
"Why don't we head to the roof?" Star Burst suggested, "We can look around the place from the rooftop."
A few moments later, Star Burst, Rainbow Dash, and I were on the roof. The building was very high, close to 20 stories. We could see for many blocks across the city. Below, in the front, we could see the toppled wagon I arrived in, and all around were countless Walkers, just shambling around the road, some even walking into the alleyway.
"Rainbow, how 'bout you fly around and see if you spot something? Lightning and I will check on the street in case they migrate," Star suggested to Rainbow.
"Got it," Dash replied, then flew up into the air, beginning to look around. I looked at her as she flew around the place, until Star spoke up.
"She's a beaut, isn't she?"
I stuttered for a moment. "U-Uh...yeah, I guess."
He chuckled for a moment, before asking me, "Why don't you ask her out? I mean, even if you don't really know her, she knows you. It'd be fine."
"Actually...I'm...already in a relationship," I replied slowly.
"With who?"
"This one mare...actually, she's Rainbow's friend. Her name's Applejack, from Ponyville. She lives at Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe you've heard of her?"
Star put a hoof on his chin for a moment, before he replied. "Oh yeah. I know her. Although, I only went there one time to buy some apples and even try out their cider. I did want to go back there again, but then...you know."
I nodded, agreeing.
"But," he then began, "that's a bit of a shame for Rainbow."
I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
He looked in the direction where Rainbow was, then spoke again, "Well, 'cause she's had a crush on you for a while."
"Huh?" I said in surprise.
"Yeah. Before the city got overrun, she's told me many things about you. She even told me about this one time when she went to go get you for cider season in Ponyville, and you were sleeping. So she carried you there, and she said on the way, you started talkin' dirty to her in your sleep, and you-"
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the place. We looked in the direction of the sound and saw Rainbow flying back to us at a rapid speed. Suddenly, something pierced her left wing, causing her to cry out in pain and spin out of control.
"Rainbow Dash!" I yelled as she flew towards us. A few moments later, she flew right into me, and I landed on my back, holding Rainbow tightly.
"Are you okay?" I asked. Rainbow whimpered a little and moved her wing up. There was a small hole in it.
"A-Ah!" Rainbow cried out in pain. Tears quickly began to fall down her face.
"Who got you?" Star asked her. Rainbow looked up at him.
"Bandits."
"Shit," was all that Star spoke.
"Bandits?" I asked.
"Assholes who kill anypony they see. Show no mercy. About 4-5 of them came here last night as the place got overrun. Must've gotten separated, I guess."
Star opened his mouth to say something else, but Rainbow's moans of pain stopped him.
"C'mon, let's get her down to Doc Rain."
"Who?"
"That green stallion downstairs."
"Wasn't he the one who called me a dumbass on the radio?"
"Yeah. You'll get used to that eventually," he says, chuckling a bit.
I then carefully pick Rainbow up and place her onto my back. I then started to turn to the door, but not before Star stopped me.
"Lightning, wait a sec," he speaks to me. I stopped and turned around to see him standing at the edge of the building.
"What?"
"Look."
I walk towards the edge of the building and look down. The Walkers below begin to walk in the direction of the sound. The most came from the alleyway.
"Holy shit, they're leaving," Star says in surprise.
We looked in surprise as the Walkers left suddenly. We quickly knew this was a result of the sound. Sound attracts them. That's something I should keep in mind for the future.
"S-So...now what?" Rainbow says to us.
"We'll get you to Doc Rain, then we'll go out and hopefully find a way out of here," I said to her.
Rainbow nods, smiling at me, before moaning in pain once again. Finally, Star and I begin to head downstairs, being careful not to bump into anything. Once we reach the bottom floor, we open the door and head to the couch. The mother and son quickly move once they see us with Rainbow. We thank them quickly and set Rainbow down on the couch. Doc Rain comes over to us and looks at Rainbow Dash before turning to us.
"What happened?" Doc Rain asked.
"A bandit shot her from one of the rooftops," Star replied.
"Will she be okay?" I asked.
"Yes, she'll be fine. I just need to sew up the hole."
"What...did they shoot her with?" I ask.
"A sniper rifle," Star replied.
"What's that?"
"A very powerful object that can shoot tiny projectiles amazingly fast. Some say these projectiles are fast enough to pierce the head and kill even the strongest creature in Equestria. These things are...well, were hidden from the public. Some survivors, including the bandits, found some in Canterlot after it got overrun 2 weeks ago."
"Then I guess we'll need to be careful, then," I said, before heading to the door and pushing the bookcase out of the way.
"What are you doing?" The colt's mother asked with a little worry in her voice.
"The sound of that rifle attracted Walkers. The outside is completely deserted, other than the wagons and bodies."
I then stopped talking, and slowly opened the door. I peaked my head out and looked around. I was right. The coast was clear. I then walked out, and Star followed behind me.
"We'll be back. I promise," Star said to the others.
"You better," Rain replied.
Star nodded before closing the door behind him. He caught up with me and we both headed to the door. However, I heard something and quickly stopped him. I put a hoof up to my mouth, signaling him to be quiet. I then slowly snuck to the door. Once I reached it, I peaked my head out. Luckily, only one Walker was slowly shambling, trying to follow the horde that had left a while ago.
"I got this," I whispered.
Slowly, I took out the knife from my satchel. I quietly snuck my way towards the Walker...until I stepped on a piece of glass, causing it to crack. I winced at the sound.
Slowly, the Walker turned to face me. It was a stallion, who growled and snarled at me, before quickly shambling towards me. As he got to me, I raised my knife up, then dove the blade deep into the head of the Walker, causing it to become instantly silent. Some blood had squirted, but I turned away before it could get in my face. Quickly, the Walker became as limp as a ragdoll, and fell to the ground. I then turned to Star and motioned him to follow me.
After a few moments, the two of us were on the empty streets, aside from the countless wagon wrecks and dead bodies. Usually, if there were 5-6 of us, we would've split up to cover more area, but since there were just 2 of us at the moment, we stayed together. We walked across the road, sometimes walking over bodies. Luckily, these had holes in their heads, possibly from those rifles.
Star and I stood in an intersection, which led to three paths. The two of us looked down the road Rainbow went down. In the distance, we could see countless Walkers limping and shambling into a building, possibly the one with the bandits in it. We stopped focusing on that and continued walking around for a shortcut out of here.
As we walked, I happened to step on something metal. I looked down to see a round metal door at my forelegs.
"Where does this lead to?" I asked.
"Leads to the city's sewer system," Star replied to me.
I reached down to the metal door, and began to pull. Surprisingly, it wasn't extremely heavy, but it was definitely heavy. I lifted it out of its resting place and set it aside. I then took a peak below. A horrifying stench filled my nose, but it wasn't anywhere as horrible as the smell of a dead body.
"What if we can use these to find a way out of the city?" I asked.
Star then facehoofed himself.
"Why the fuck didn't we think of that sooner?" He exclaimed in anger, but not too loud.
Suddenly, we heard distant screams. We looked in the direction of the screams. We then looked to the rooftops. We couldn't really see much, mostly because of how distant we were, but at one building, we could see a stallion screaming. To get a better view, Star took out some binoculars from his satchel and looked up close.
"Look," Star said as he handed the binoculars to me.
I grabbed them and looked to the rooftop. What I saw was terrifying. The stallion was being grabbed by a few Walkers as others began to rip into him. One of the Walkers grabbing him managed to rip his arm off, causing him to scream in agony. Suddenly, with Walkers still grabbing at him, he limped slowly towards the edge of the building, dragging the Walkers with him.
"Fuck you, motherfuckers!!!" He screamed, then with little force, jumped off the side of the building, taking the Walkers with him. I could hear a faint thud and splat. I could also see blood splattering everywhere. On the rooftops, I saw a few more Walkers slowly limping to the edge, then fall off as well.
"We're running out of time. Let's get the others and go," Star said.
I just sat there, still looking through the binoculars, watching as the Walkers below eat whatever was left of the bandit.
"Lightning, come on, we have to go!" Star nearly shouted, which brought me out of my shock. I then turned back to him, nodded, then we both headed back into the building.
As we entered the place, we could see that Rainbow's wound was treated and bandaged.
"She's fine," Doc Rain said. "Wound'll heal up within a couple weeks."
"As long as she's fine, that's good," Star said, before heading to one of the couches and grabbing a few things, possibly his extra supplies.
"What're you doing?" Rain asked.
"We found a way out of here."
"Really now?" Rain asked in surprise.
"Yes. There's a sewer pothole in the street out there. If we go through it, it could possibly lead to a way out of the city."
"'Possibly' ain't really gonna cut it for me."
Star then walked up to Rain and looked at him.
"Dad...it may be our only shot to make it out of here."
Wait..."Dad"?
"Mom told us before she died last night that she wanted us to get out of here. This may be our only shot. We can't get out any other way. The whole city is littered with Walkers."
Rain was in a state of thought for a moment. Finally, he came up with an answer.
"Okay, son. Let's go."
Finally, Rain got up and began to grab his backpack. Star got up and said to everyone, "Everypony, get your things! We're leavin' in 60 seconds!"
After he said that, everyone in the room began to pack whatever they had. All except the mare in the corner. She just continued to rock back and forth.
"Berry Shake, c'mon. We have to go," the stallion with the family asked.
She didn't reply to him. Instead, she just laughed insanely, like a maniac.
"W-We're all gonna die. There's no point anymore. Why not just give in? Let us become one with the dead. L-Let us join Bean Bag and Vanilla Blossom." She laughed insanely once more, rocking back and forth faster.
The stallion was about to say something, but Rain stopped him.
"Wind...she's too far gone," he said to him.
"But we can't just leave her here! We've already lost 2 ponies! I don't want to lose another!"
"There's no point, Wind. Let's just go. C'mon!" Rain then headed out the door. Wind looked back and forth at the door, then to Berry Shake.
"Dammit! I'm so sorry!" Wind says to Berry, before grabbing his things and heading out the door. Unfortunately, he went out too fast and forgot to shut it.
Back inside, Berry laughed crazily once more.
Wind then exited the door and through the alleyway. He could then see the others, who were already beginning to head downward into the sewer. He then looked up. That's when he froze. A numerous amount of Walkers were surrounding the perimeter...and quickly heading towards him.
"Wind, hurry up!" Star yelled as held the round door. Just then, another young filly squeezed through the hole.
"Daddy!" She shouted to her father, bringing Wind out of his trance. Quickly, he sprinted as fast as he could to the hole. Star and the filly moved down to make room for Wind. Wind quickly climbed down the ladder, but not before shutting the door. But as he reached out to grab the door, an enormous pain erupted in his right hoof, causing him to scream out in pain.
He looked up. A Walker was biting into his hoof. The Walker then lifted his head up, tearing a chunk of Wind's hoof off, and allowing Wind to pull the door to cover the hole.
Once it was shut, Wind quickly climbed down, and his wife screamed in shock.
"Dear Celestia, what happened?!"
"One of those fuckers bit me!" Wind yelled in pain, grabbing his torn hoof.
Wind's wife's eyes widened.
"B-but...I thought that bites...killed you," she whimpered, her voice shaky.
"They do. Just not for a while, maybe...10...12 hours?" Rain replied.
"Can we stop the infection?" Wind asked in fear.
Rain sighed. "No. That is...until you cut the infected area off."
Wind's eyes widened. "You mean like "amputate" cut it off?"
"Well...yeah. There's really no other meaning for it."
"No way! I'm not letting you cut off my foreleg!"
"Would you rather live with one foreleg, or die with both?"
Wind was about to speak up again, but he stopped. He realized there was no other way. He was either going to have to lose his foreleg, or lose his life. He finally made his decision. Slowly, he held out the infected hoof.
"Just...do it quickly."
Rain looked at him, as well as the rest of the group.
"Before I do..." Rain paused, then took something out of his satchel. It was a syringe.
"What is that?" Wind asked, looking at the substance within the syringe.
"Anesthesia. The local kind. That way, your whole body doesn't numb up. Getting your foreleg cut off's gonna hurt like Tartarus, but this will prevent that."
Rain aimed the needle above the arm, where the cut would be. He inserted the needle, and released the liquid within the syringe, until it was empty. He waited for close to half a minute, which was about the time for it to completely take effect.
"How does it feel?" Rain asked after the time was up.
"I...can't feel my foreleg." Wind tried to move it, but failed. He tried to raise it, but due to its numbness, he failed. He slowly balanced on his hind legs, and held it up past the elbow with his left hoof.
"Alright...ready?"
Wind was silent for a moment, then replied, "...Yes."
"I'm sorry I have to do this, Wind."
"Don't be. Just do it quick, alright?"
Rain nodded, then took out a hatchet from his satchel. He placed it into his hoof. Then slowly, he raised it up. However, before he began, he looked at all of us, then set it down.
"...If any of you easily get sick...look away."
He then turned to Wind's wife.
"Don't let her look."
Wind's wife nodded and covered her daughter's eyes. Rain then turned to Wind once again, and raised the hatchet.
Finally, with enough force, he dove it down, deep into Wind's foreleg. However, Wind didn't scream. He didn't feel the pain. He just looked away, not wanting to see the sight before him.
The chop squirted blood outward, getting on Wind and Rain. The others were out of range. Rainbow Dash stood right next to me, looking a little disgusted seeing the sight. I looked at her with a little bit of worry.
Just then, Rain raised the hatchet and dove it down into Wind's foreleg again, getting it halfway. By then, Wind's foreleg was sort of hanging downward. More blood splashed out of the wound.
At this point, Rainbow couldn't couldn't take it anymore. She turned away and vomited onto the ground. I then turned around, having her on my left. I then put my left foreleg on her back and gently rubbed it up and down. Her fur felt so soft. Just like...Applejack...
"It's okay, Rainbow," I whispered to her. I continued to rub her back while I waited for her to let it all out.
Behind me, I heard one last chop, then a huge splash. I turned around to see the foreleg was finally cut off. Wind was examining the spot where his foreleg was just seconds ago.
"The anesthesia's gonna wear off in a couple hours. It might hurt...a lot," Rain said.
Wind breathed in and out for a moment, then nodded before stepping back down onto all threes. I then looked back to Rainbow, who was just coughing up tiny pieces now.
"You alright now, Dashie?" I asked with a little nickname.
She nodded a bit, before wiping her mouth.
"Sh-Shouldn't we get going?" Rainbow then asked the group.
"Right," Star replied to her, "We should. Let's go."
Star then walked by everyone. Once he did, everyone else followed behind him. Wind, however, was behind the group with his wife, who was helping him balance, and his child.
"W-Wait..." Rainbow then said. Everypony stopped and looked at her.
"Where's Berry Shake?"
Rain look at the back of the group to Wind, who was looking back.
"She wasn't coming. She was too far gone." Rain then sighed and continued forward with his son.
Rainbow then frowned deeply. Just then, I saw a tear fall down her eye. I knew that she cared for the mare.
"Hey," I said to her.
I stepped in front of her and wiped the tear from her face. She smiled back at me, then stared at me for a moment, before giving me a hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she then whispered to me.
I smiled, then hugged her tighter.
"Hey, c'mon, you lovebirds!" Star then yelled to us, causing Rainbow and I to blush slightly. I looked at Star and could see him smirking, before turning his head back.
"Y-yeah, he's r-right. We should go," Rainbow stuttered a little.
"Right."
We then started walking forward, catching up with the group. As we walked, Rainbow leaned her head on mine. I have no idea how I'm going to tell Applejack about this...
Back on the surface, in the building where the others had taken refuge, Berry Shake was still sitting there, talking to herself and laughing mechanically. As she laughed, she looked around the room. Everyone's supplies except for hers were gone. She then looked towards the door. It was still open slightly.
She continued to observe it. Suddenly, a hoof appeared through the shadows behind the door.
"Ooh! Who is it? Bean Bag? Is that you? Oh, you silly pony! Please, come in, come in! Don't be shy, now!" Berry said.
Slowly, the pony behind the door entered after Berry spoke. It slowly started to move towards her.
"Bean, are you alright? You don't look so good. Where is that pony Vanilla Blossom! I'm sure she can help you!" Berry then smiled creepily.
The pony still did not respond to her. Instead, it began to wheeze and snarl and even shamble towards Berry. Just then, another pony came in through the door. After that one, another came. Then another. And another.
"So much company, hahaha!" Berry laughed mechanically once again.
"Come on, why don't you come out of the shadows, everyone? No need to hide your faces! Here, lemme help you!"
For the first time since last night, Berry got up and headed to a light switch. She then flicked it on and turned around to see the ponies entering the room. Her eyes widened, but she still kept a creepy smile. The ponies entering the room were indeed Walkers, none of them she knew. They smelled of death and decay, parts of skin and fur hanging off their decomposing bodies. All of them were shambling quickly towards Berry. Berry then laughed insanely, her left eye twitching madly.
"Come in, come in everypony! There's lots to go around!!" Berry exclaimed, then opened her arms, like she was welcoming the Walkers, which she was.
After a moment, a few Walkers pounced on Berry and tackled her to the ground. Berry, however, didn't seem to care at all that her life was going to end. The only thing on her mind was Bean Bag and Vanilla Blossom.
But even though she lost her mind, it didn't mean she couldn't feel the pain. Soon enough, Berry's insane laughter became nothing but screams of agony and pain as the Walkers began to bite and tear into her body, ripping out organs and feasting on them.
Soon, within seconds after being torn into, Berry's screams and cries of agony became whimpers. She slowly began to close her eyes. Then soon enough, it was silent.
After a few minutes, the Walkers had left, done with their feast. All that was left was chunks of organs here and there, as well as the hollow body of a mare who was alive only minutes ago.
Then suddenly...her eyes flashed open, glowing red, with a mixture of green in it. Soon enough, Berry began to wheeze and snarl.
Berry Shake had become a Walker.
Slowly, she began to get up from her resting place, wheezing as she did. Once she was up, she began to look around, like she was examining the place. Her head twitched slightly, and she snarled. Then she spotted the door. Slowly, she began to shamble to the door, but as she did, she bumped into a satchel that belonged to her, causing the satchel to fall over. As it did, a picture came out, cracking a bit as it landed.
The sound of the crack caught Berry's attention. She turned around and looked down to see the source of the crack. Slowly, she managed to lower herself to examine the picture.
It was a picture of her and a cyan mare, with a rainbow colored mane. She cocked her head a little, wheezing a little. She then looked to the corner of the picture, where it showed the date the picture was taken: 7/16/12. Just 5 months and 5 days before the outbreak.
However, since Berry was a Walker, the picture no longer mattered to her. But she kept the vision of the rainbow mare in her slowly decaying mind.
She then began to walk away from the picture, and left the room through the open door. Once she did, she passed through the storage area, and past the fallen boxes on the ground. She left through a second door, into the alleyway. She began to shamble through the alleyway, shambling past the dead Walkers on the ground, which she looked at, snarled, and shambled away.
Finally, after a minute, she finally made her way outside of the alleyway, where she joined the endless army of the walking dead. She walked into the middle of the intersection.
Just then, she began to hear something under her. It sounded like a voice. She looked under her to see some kind of machine. Even though she was dead, she could still remember that this was called a radio. The radio seemed to be surrounded by glass. She looked in front of her to see a crashed wagon in front of her. It was tipped sideways, with a hole in the windshield. The decomposing body of a stallion was halfway through the windshield, with what appeared to be a bird picking at it.
Berry then looked back to the radio to hear a voice speaking in it.
"To all radio broadcasts out there throughout Equestria listening to the sound of my voice, this is Dr. Rain Burst, from the Baltimare Refuge Center. If you are planning to head to Baltimare, cancel that. Baltimare has been overrun. I repeat, Baltimare has been overrun by the Walkers. Do not make any attempts to enter the city. I'm with a group of 10, myself included, trying to escape through the Baltimare sewer tunnels. If you are listening to this broadcast, do not enter Baltimare. The city is lost. I repeat, the city is lost. Dr. Rain out."
After listening to the message, Berry snarled at the radio. She then raised her hoof and slammed it down onto the radio, smashing it into pieces. She then lifted her hoof up to observe it. There was glass dug deep into the hoof, with blood running down her foreleg. However, she felt no pain, therefore, it didn't matter to her. She then set her hoof down back onto the ground, causing the glass to dig deeper. Still, she did not matter.
She then slowly began to turn around, then looked down to see a pothole in the road. Slowly, she shambled towards it, reached to it, and began to pull. Surprisingly, even in death, she still managed to lift it up. She then threw it next to her.
She then growled and snarled loudly, trying to get the attention of the Walkers. She then motioned her left hoof to the pothole.
Finally, Berry slowly began to climb down the hole...and the rest followed...
After listening to the message, Berry snarled at the radio. She then raised her right hoof and slammed it down onto the radio, smashing it into pieces. She lifted her hoof up to her face to observe it. There was glass dug deep into the hoof, with blood running down her foreleg. However, she felt no pain, therefore, it didn't matter to her. She began to set her hoof down back onto the ground, causing the glass to dig deeper. Still, it did not matter.
She then slowly began to turn around, then looked down to see a pothole in the road. Slowly, she shambled towards it, reached to it, and began to pull. Surprisingly, even in death, she still managed to lift it up. She then threw it next to her.
She then growled and snarled loudly, trying to get the attention of the Walkers. She then motioned her left hoof to the pothole.
Finally, Berry slowly began to climb down the hole...and the rest followed...
It had now been almost 15 minutes since we made our way downward into the sewers, hoping to find our way out of the overrun city of Baltimare. Wind was with his wife and daughter, his wife supporting him. His daughter was on his back, sleeping. Rain was with Star Burst at the front of the group, the young filly I had saved from before sitting on his back. The mother was walking along near the side, her son on her back, and her face showing deep thought. She must be trying to take this all in, even after a month. I'm just glad I wasn't awake to see this...
Rainbow Dash and I were walking together, side by side, at the very end of the group, just talking and catching up. Sometimes, I would ask her some things about my past, and sometimes, I'd ask her about hers. She told me about those Wonderbolt ponies Applejack briefly included. Apparently, they were the famous fliers of Equestria, and Rainbow's idols. They even had an academy and selected a number of ponies to go to said academy to prove whether or not they were Wonderbolt material. They traveled from town to town and city to city, performing races and competitions for hundreds of fans. Rainbow had been spending many years training herself so one day, she could prove herself to them that she was a Wonderbolt like them. Unfortunately...that dream will never come true now...
Apparently, while Cloudsdale was being overrun, they evacuated remaining survivors to here, including the Wonderbolts. However, they were one of the lucky ones to make it out...well, maybe.
"So," Rainbow began, "Applejack's okay?"
Everytime I hear her name, I felt so...warm inside. And I barely know Applejack. For now, that is.
"Yeah, she's okay. Holed up at the barn with Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom," I replied.
"They're all okay?"
"Yeah, thank Celestia."
"So...what happened after you woke up?"
"In the hospital?"
"Well, duh," Rainbow jokingly replied, giggling a bit.
Although the events happened only yesterday, it was a little fuzzy due to so many things happening today, but I could still remember it once I concentrated on them enough.
"Well...when I woke up, the sun nearly blinded me. After a few minutes, I tried getting up, and this thing decided to say hello to me." I pointed to my wound.
Stopping my story for a moment, I decided to ask her, "Do you know what caused it?"
Expecting a 'yes', I was disappointed when Rainbow nodded 'no'. "No one really ever got the chance to find out what it was. But...after what happened to me...I'm pretty sure that's what happened to you."
"Now that you mention it...it does look similar...ish."
Rainbow chuckled slightly. After a moment I decided to continue my story. I told her all of the encounters at the hospital, the numerous bodies in the loading area behind it, what I saw in Ponyville...and the bicycle mare...I shuddered telling her that. It always brought tears to my eyes every time I visualized it.
"-Once I got to the barn, I started to check out the inside. That was when Big Mac hit me with a wooden bat, thinking I was a Walker. That was when I met Applejack and the others."
I stopped for a minute, composing myself for a minute and catching my breath. Letting my breath out, I continued."
"We ate, talked, washed the dishes, and talked again. Then that Twilight mare-"
"Twilight Sparkle?" Rainbow interrupted.
"Yeah. She called Applejack, trying to say something, but the radio had such a bad transmission, we couldn't hear what she said. I only heard the word 'Baltimare'. I told AJ I had to check it out. She didn't want me to, but I told her we wouldn't know unless we checked. She eventually agreed, and I told her I'd be alright...I am alright. Well, thanks to that bandit."
"You mean the same bandit that shot me?" Rainbow asked, a bit annoyed.
My eyes widened, completely forgetting about the incident that temporarily crippled Rainbow.
"Y-Yeah. Hehe..." I chuckled awkwardly. It became silent for a few seconds, other than the clopping of the group's hooves on the ground of the sewer. Rainbow then asked a question, changing the subject completely.
"Star Burst said before that you and AJ were...in a relationship?"
I quickly blushed for a moment, stammering for a second. "U-Uh, y-yeah, I guess. I didn't think it'd happen. It was just...sudden...hehe..."
"O-Oh..."
Once again, silence followed, but only the hoof clopping rang in the air. It lasted less time than before when I spoke up after 5 seconds.
"Star told me...how you felt about me..."
Rainbow's embarrassed face turned into slight frustration and annoyance, not at me, but at Star, who seemed to be talking to Rain. The two couldn't hear our conversation, nor could the rest.
"He did, huh?" She asked, still looking annoyed at Star.
"Uh...yeah."
"I...I didn't want him to tell you or anyone else about it."
I raised an eyebrow at her reply. "Why not?"
"Because I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest pony in Equestria, Zombie Apocalypse or not! I don't have time for...for crushes...or...any of that...lovey...dovey...stuff..."
Rainbow's confident boasting and smile quickly faded to a sad mood and frown. I felt so bad for her so much. She was really in love with me, and she showed it, judging by the blush on her face just seconds ago, now faded. I mean...I like her too...but I'm with AJ...right? Now that I think about it, was last night real, or not? If I'm really dating AJ, would she approve if I happened to be with Rainbow also? Would she feel betrayed and hate me? Would Rainbow hate me if I left AJ for her?
The number of outcomes were only limited, and my mind feared what it would hold once I made my decision. But for now, I simply withheld my choice and walked closer to Rainbow enough to wrap my foreleg around her shoulder. Just performing the action made her smile just a little bit.
Then I kissed her on the cheek. Immediately, her face turned red, and her wings popped out. Luckily, they barely missed my torso.
"I'll...I'll talk to AJ about it, alright?"
"Um...okay," Rainbow replied, blushing slightly.
"Just...just don't tell her I did that."
Saying this made Rainbow laugh, and I laughed with her, ceasing it a few moments later. For around 5 minutes, we once again talked about things, told jokes, and laughed to them. But soon enough, I had something that wasn't very funny at all.
"What happened last night? How did the center get overrun?"
Rainbow, who was still smiling after the recent joke, stopped smiling very quickly. Her face quickly began to show sadness and stress, like it was very troubling for her. Of course, it had to have been troubling. She just witnessed hundreds, if not thousands of people die in one single night.
"I...I don't know. No one really knows, actually, not even Star or the rest of us. Some of us thought one of those monsters got through some hidden opening somewhere and attacked someone. But...I think Rain knows. He said something about a stallion not feeling well. Rain just told him to rest well, and sent him off. He didn't even check him...well...the doctors never really checked anymore for bites or scratches. No one ever really went outside of the center but the Royal Guards. It just started right before midnight...I think. A bunch of ponies were gathered outside one of the apartment complexes. Royal guards completely surrounded the entrance. They just told us to head back to our homes and everything would be alright. Then, one of those things tackled a guard to the ground...and took a chunk right out of his neck. Everyone by then just started screaming and panicking."
Rainbow took a minute to compose herself before continuing.
"It...it all happened so fast. Ponies by the hundreds became Walkers within less than an hour. You couldn't believe the panic. Ponies running around in every direction, gunshots going off everywhere, walkers shambling in hordes...it was chaos. The remaining Royal Guard soldiers tried to hold them back. It was just...just a stupid idea. Most of them got knocked down and eaten alive. One of them kept a large number of them back so a few of us could get away. We...we never saw him again. Eventually, the rest of the guards were overwhelmed...pretty soon...the whole place was crawling with them...not a single living pony in sight outside."
Rainbow stopped again, and I thought she tried to compose herself again. But then I saw a tear slowly falling down her face.
"Many ponies I knew...died right before my eyes...my mom...my dad...my sister..."
She stopped, staring off. I could see the tears fill her eyes, already beginning to stream down the sides of her face.
"...and I...d-didn't...help them..."
The news caused her very innocence to shatter. She broke down into tears, and collapsed onto the ground, crying as hard as she could. The others were close enough to hear her, and they turned around to see what the problem was.
"What happened?" Rain asked.
I opened my mouth to reply to him, but Rainbow started yelling, beginning to blame herself for her family's demise.
"They're dead! My mom! My dad! My sister! They're all dead! My family's dead! And it's all my fault!"
Tears fell down my face as I began to feel Rainbow's pain. I sank down to her side and hugged the pegasus that was so confident just minutes ago, now in tears, tightly in my forelegs, trying to calm her down, and whispering into her ear that everything will be okay. I did my best to keep her calm, and to stop her crying, and with time, it worked. Over the course of a few minutes, Rainbow's crying began to cease slowly, as she let all of her sadness out. Minutes continued to pass onward, but they felt like hours. Soon enough, the poor cyan pony slowly fell asleep in my arms. I didn't notice she had fallen asleep until head slouched downward. Slowly, I lifted up, and I got a good view of her face. She looked so cute.
A couple of minutes after she passed out, the group sat down, waiting patiently, but also resting. When they heard her stop crying, Rain asked, "She okay?"
"Yeah," I replied, "She's asleep."
"Poor Rainbow," Star Burst added. "It's hard...losing someone you're close to, or in her case, three of them..."
It became silent for a moment, and I heard Rainbow's gentle and adorable snoring, a smile forming upon her face. I just had to smile at the sight.
"So, what were you two talkin' about that caused her to break down like that?" Star asked me.
"Well...I asked her how the city got overrun so quickly, how it started and all...then she started talkin' about her parents and her sister...what happened to them...She said it was her fault...I guess it was a little too early to be asking that question..."
"It ain't your fault, Lightning. You didn't know how she'd react...you didn't know she lost her family...you were curious and you asked...it's in the past now...and we can't change that."
It became silent for a moment, before I began to hear mumbling. I looked to see Rainbow mumbling in her sleep. I listened to what she was saying.
"N-No...Mommy...don't leave me...please...D-Daddy...N-No...Leave my s-sister alone...stop...please..."
Rainbow's forelegs and hindlegs wiggled adorably, but my heart was shattering from just hearing those words. At this point, tears were falling down Rainbow's face again. With my hoof, I wiped them away, and whispered into Rainbow's ear that she was safe, and I hoped she heard it. The smile on her face gave me my answer, and she snuggled up again in my lap. I hugged her back, whispering again that everything would be okay. She felt so fuzzy and warm. It made it impossible to stop hugging. It was like I could fall asleep.
"So...what should we do right now?" Rain asked, "We stay right here 'till she wakes up, or do we keep on going?"
"Pick the latter, we've got company!" Wind suddenly responded, and he pointed with his remaining hoof in the direction we walked from. My eyes widened in horror. Numerous Walkers were shambling towards us at a fast speed. However, one of them looked oddly familiar, until Wind called out its name.
"...Berry...Shake...?"
Berry Shake was among the army of Walkers roaming towards us, pieces of intestines hanging from her ripped open stomach, blood dripping from her left hoof, with glass dug deep into it. She snarled and screamed at us.
"C'mon, let's go!" Rain yelled. We all got up, I grabbed Rainbow Dash and made sure she was tightly secure on my back, and we ran in the other direction, trying to outrun the Walkers.
We ran and ran through the long tunnel, trying to get away. However, we could not break free from their sight. Also, these Walkers seemed a bit...faster than the other ones I have encountered in the past day and a half. Had these ones gone through Rigor Mortis yet?
Unfortunately, I was paying more attention to my thoughts more than my hoofing, and I ended up tripping on a hoof, falling to the dirty ground of the tunnel, causing Rainbow Dash to fall next to me. I then felt a pain in my hindleg. I looked to see it had broken from the fall. I tried as quick as I could to get up, but pain in the hindleg made it impossible. It was no use.
A Walker quickly pounced on me, trying to claw at me. But I quickly grabbed its shoulders with my hooves and tried to push it off. However, this one was a little stronger than me, like it still had strength left in its rotting body. I was slowly losing the battle.
That was when I felt a pain in my right hindleg. I looked down to a shocking sight: a Walker was biting deep into my leg, and this quickly threw off my concentration against the pouncing Walker. Losing my strength, the Walker bit hard and deep into my neck, causing me to scream out in pain, only for it to come out as a gurgle. The pain caused me to scream even more, but still, they only came out as gurgles.
I was choking on my own blood.
I slowly looked to my left to see the Walkers begin to pounce on Rainbow, who had awakened when they began to claw and bite into her. Her loud, ear shattering screams quickly began to fade away as I started to black out from the immense blood loss.
It wasn't long before I blacked out for the last time, welcoming death...I wasn't ready to go...
"Lightning!" A voice yelled to me, and my eyes flashed open in an instant.
"Huh?! What?!" I asked fairly quick, and began to look around the location I was in. I was shocked to find myself back in our previous location, just minutes after Rainbow had fallen asleep. I looked down to see Rainbow back in my lap, slumbering as she was before.
"I was dreaming the whole thing?" I asked, unknowingly, out loud.
"Dreaming what?" Star's voice called out to me, chuckling a bit, and I looked at him.
"Oh. Nothing. Just a bit of a nightmare, I guess," I simply replied, still shaken up from the dream. I could still feel a bit of pain in my neck and leg.
I then looked back down to Rainbow to see her snuggling up against me again, almost starting to hug me. A tear fell down my face as the vision of the Walkers clawing at her came back to my mind and burned into my brain. I...I couldn't imagine it happening to her...not like that. Never like that.
"...Lightning? You alright?" Star asked me.
I was silent for a moment, looking intently at Rainbow, seeing her smiling, bundled up like a kitten. Slowly, the nightmarish vision perished from my mind. For now, at least.
"Yeah...I'm okay," I replied quietly, leaning down to kiss Rainbow on the forehead. I then began to hug her again, taking in the warm, fuzzy feeling of her fur, but being careful not to fall asleep again. I may not know Rainbow much for now other than what she's told me, but right now, she is important to me. I don't want her to end up like the rest of the ponies of Baltimare...or her family.
"So...what should we do right now?" Rain asked, "We stay right here 'till she wakes up, or do we keep on going?"
That question sparked instant Deja Vu in my mind, and in a split second, I raised my head, my ears twitched, and I quickly turned my head to the left, fearing to see the massive army of Walkers shambling their way towards us. But, when I looked down the tunnel, I saw nothing but the dark void, going onward. However, it wasn't entirely dark. There were occasionally potholes that shone light through the tiny holes. They acted as artificial lights that shone down upon us until the sun would set. Good thing it was only 3:30.
"Lightning, what's going on? Seriously, you're creeping me the hell out," Star asked with a bit of worry in his voice.
"What's going on?" Rain asked, a curious look on his face.
I looked at the son and father, silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say in response. I was gonna tell them about the dream, but depending on the location we're in, I guess it'd be best until we're out of the sewer. Better yet, out of the city. I looked upward to see through a metal sewer grate above us to see some buildings, meaning we were still in the city. 15 minutes, and we were still here. I kinda had a feeling we've been walking in circles the entire time, yet the tunnel didn't curve at all. It stayed straight the whole time.
I looked back down to the two, still waiting for an answer.
"Nothing," I simply replied, "Just had a feeling, I guess. Let's keep going. I just don't want to be down here when it gets dark."
"He's right," Wind replied, "The sewers are huge. Plus, we just need to get far enough from the city and the Walkers."
Rain and Star looked at each other for a few moments. Then back to me.
"Alright," Star then responded, "Let's go then."
Star got up from his sitting position and began to walk down the path, his father following him. I looked over to Wind, where his wife and daughter helped lift him up from the ground.
"Gentle now, hon," his wife said to him.
"Be careful, daddy," his daughter added. Wind looked down to his daughter and chuckled.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. Daddy's not going anywhere," he responded, smiling. The daughter smiled back, hugging him, but carefully.
After the brief scene, I placed Rainbow onto the ledge I was sitting on, allowing me to get up onto the ground on all fours. Once doing that, the pain in my wound finally returned after a day. It caused me to twitch a bit, but I tried my best to ignore the pain. Luckily, it went away after a moment. Once the pain was gone, I picked Rainbow back up and placed her on my back, where her head rested next to mine. Luckily, her ear was close to me, allowing me to whisper in it.
"Hang on tight, Dashie," I said her nickname again.
It took a moment or two, but Rainbow listened in her slumber and wrapped her forelegs around my neck, securing herself onto me. Once she was secure, I started following the rest of the group, who was only about 10 feet ahead.
"Hey, wait up!" I called out, but not too loud to avoid waking Rainbow. Luckily, she still slept. She's been fairly happy since I told her she was safe. I hope I've given her a good dream.
I caught up with the group after at least a minute, and we were on our way again through the tunnel, hoping to find our way out of what remained of Baltimare. The continuation of the walk showed the same thing we'd seen for the 15 minutes we'd been down here. The occasional pipes, grates, potholes, and other holes that led to other parts of the sewer. However, these holes were so small, only the occasionally spotted rats could go through them.
But as we continued throughout the tunnel, something caught our eyes.
"Hey, check it out," Star said, pointing to the wall on the right. What we saw was a dark red substance, flowing down to the floor.
Blood was splattered on the wall.
Star approached the wall, eyeing the blood, like he was inspecting it. He took a good look at it for a couple of seconds before he looked back to us.
"This blood's fresh. Maybe 'bout half an hour," he said to us.
"So that means there's someone down here with us. Took out a Walker in their path," Wind replied.
"Well if that's the case..." Star paused before looking around on the ground.
"...Where's the body?"
Just a moment after asking that question, a pair of hooves appeared out of the darkness of a small tunnel and grabbed Star, pulling him back. A moment later, he screamed, and we heard a ripping noise.
"Star?!" Rain yelled as he saw his son being pulled back. He quickly ran towards him and grabbed him with both hooves. After a few seconds, Star was successfully pulled out of the dark, and the son and father fell to the ground. At first, we were glad Star was okay, but then a shocking sight caught our eyes. A chunk of Star's shoulder was torn off, and blood was slowly leaking out from it.
Star was bitten.
"No...N-No..." Rain said, his voice cracking up. His son was bitten...meaning...he would soon be one of them.
Suddenly, Rain's face turned from shock and horror, to anger and rage. Quickly, he illuminated a small light from his coat collar towards the area where Star had been just seconds ago. As if answering Star's question, there was a Walker, feasting on the chunk of Star's shoulder.
In anger, Rain took the hatchet from his satchel, got up from the ground, and charge towards the Walker. With enough force, he slammed the Walker against the wall, pinning his neck with his foreleg. The Walker snarled at Rain, trying to get him. Suddenly, the Walker's screams went silent, and blood squirted on the wall and at us, and we had to cover our faces, seeming how we were so close to the two.
We managed to open our eyes at the sight to see the hatchet dug deep into the Walker's skull, killing it for good. However, Rain didn't stop there. He pulled the hatchet from its resting spot, then a second later, dove it again into the head. Then back out, then back in. This process continued for about 15 seconds, with Rain grunting in anger, before he finally stopped. By the time he was done, the hatchet had gone deep enough to possibly split the head in two.
I then looked over to Rain. His face had been covered with Walker blood. However, through the blood, I saw a tear slowly falling down his face. After a few seconds, he finally pulled the hatchet out of the remains of the head, and removed his foreleg, allowing the limp body to fall to the ground with a heavy thud, then a splash.
Rain just stood there, his back turned to us, before he turned back to his son. He quickly headed to him, and kneeled down. He then began to inspect the wound. When he looked, horror filled his old face. A chunk of his shoulder up to his neck was torn off, and blood was quickly leaking out. Star was infected, but he was also quickly dying. Although he was one of the most skilled doctors in Baltimare, Rain knew Star would not be saved. He would die no matter what he did.
Rain began to feel tears fill his eyes. This would be the last time he would see his son. He closed his eyes, shutting them tight, hoping this was just a dream, and he would open his eyes, and Star would be fine and healthy. Suddenly, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw the same sight. But Star's eyes were open, and he was looking at his father.
"D...Dad...D...Don't feel bad...Don't feel s-sorry...You...tried...It's ok-kay...I...I love you, Dad." He said weakly.
"Don't you say that. Don't you say your goodbyes," Rain quickly replied, feeling a tiny bit of hope flowing through him. "We'll get you fixed up. You'll be okay. I lost your mother, I'm not gonna lose you!" Tears began to stream down Rain's bloody face.
"D-Dad...Look...Look at me...I...got...bit. It ain't gonna matter what you d-do...in a few hours...I'm gonna be one of them...You...can't stop it..." Star began to look a bit pale as he lost more and more blood by the second.
Rain felt the hope quickly slipping away from Star's response. He felt a pain in his chest, his head hurt. He felt lost, with nowhere to go. He had to admit it. Star would die. No matter what, Star...would...die...
"I...I'm s-sorry if...if I w-wasn't a g...good enough s-son al...all those y-years..."
Rain's tear filled face showed a slight state of confusion.
"You were never a bad son....You...You were the greatest thing that happened...to your mom and I. We loved you all those years...and we still love you. I love you, son."
After hearing those words, Star began to smile. However, it was only a weak smile. He didn't know how long he had been smiling, but he enjoyed the warm feeling. Suddenly, Star's weak smiling face started to turn blank, and his eyes closed slightly. His pupils started to enlarge slightly, and they began to look dull...lifeless. Finally, Star exhaled. But the expected inhale never came.
It took a few moments for the events he just witnessed to flow through his mind.
No...it couldn't be true. He can't be dead. He was just playing. In a few moments, he'd take in a deep breath, blink his eyes, and he'd still be alive...right?
No matter how many times he tried to deny it, the truth always came back. Star was dead. He was dead...and he was never coming back. That was when the tears came flowing from Rain's eyes. Slowly, he leaned over his deceased son, wrapping his forelegs around him, and hugged him tightly, crying in his un-bitten shoulder.
He couldn't believe it. No matter how many times it stared him in the face, he couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. But it was true. His son was dead. He was dead and he was never going to come back.
Rain didn't know how long he sat there. It felt like hours, but it hasn't even been more than a minute. The rest of us just stood there, dazed and shocked at what happened. Out of all of us who were surprised and horrified, I must've been the most, possibly even more than Star's own father. Star saved my life by letting me into that storage area. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't even be here right now. I would've never seen Rainbow, and that little filly probably wouldn't be here either.
Speaking of Rainbow, I looked on my back to see her. Surprisingly, she was still asleep, even after the screaming and crying that occured in just these 2 minutes alone. She was definitely a heavy sleeper. But there's one problem...what am I gonna tell her when she wakes up? The question haunted my mind. Rainbow and Star became best friends during their stay at the refuge center. Rainbow having to deal with the news of her best friend's terrible demise...I couldn't imagine it. It was too horrific, but not as horrific as the sight before me.
Only 3 minutes had passed before Rain finally got up.
"...Rain..." Wind slowly said, breaking the silence. Rain, however, didn't respond. He just continued to look down at his son's lifeless body, the eyes dull.
"...You know what will happen next...right?" Wind added, remembering what will occur. We all knew what would happen. Star would come back...but not as him. He will be one of them. No longer a citizen of the living, but a citizen of the walking dead.
"Yes..." Rain finally spoke up, pausing for a moment to compose himself, before continuing, "...I just can't...he's my son. I can't do that to my own son..."
Tears began to once again form in Rain's eyes. No one could blame him. If you had a son who died and could come back as a walking corpse that does nothing but roam around and eat the living, would you want to stab him in the head?
"But he'll tur-" Wind was quickly cut off when Rain yelled back at him.
"I KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN, DAMMIT!"
The place went dead silent, other than Rain's yells echoing down the tunnels. This was the first time we heard him yell. Well the first time I've heard him yell. I'm pretty sure he's yelled in previous times. Rain just stood there, looking at the three hoofed stallion, pondering on the ongoing situation.
Slowly, his gaze turned away from Wind and to his lifeless son. He stared at him, trying to take hold of the reality that was slapping him in the face. It was difficult. He just couldn't believe it. But it was true. Star was dead. And if he died...then he'd turn.
He just stared at the body for a few more moments before he slowly began to raise his hatchet at his son, ready to do what needed to be done.
"Rain...you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Wind said.
"...If I don't do it..." Rain paused for a brief moment. "...he'll come back."
"Let someone else do it." After that, the whole group looked at each other. This gave Wind and Rain the indication that none of us would be able to do it without possibly breaking down. Rain then turned his head towards Star's lifeless body.
"...He's my son. I'll do it."
This sentence was enough to cause Wind to slowly back away. Rain then slowly turned his head back to his son. Slowly, he raised his hatchet again, giving him a bit of Deja Vu for only a second. He held his hatchet in the air for a couple of seconds. He wasn't sure if he should do this or not...to his own son.
...But he didn't want to see his son shambling around as a rotting corpse.
Finally, he dove the hatchet down, jamming it deep into Star's already deceased skull, permanently preventing any possible way of future reanimation.
He kept the blade lodged in the skull for several moments, before pulling it back out, causing a tiny bit of blood to splash, but none of it got on us. Rain slowly took out what looked like a towel or napkin, and slowly wiped the blood from the sword. However, instead of just tossing the napkin onto the ground, he placed it back into the satchel, along with the hatchet.
Nopony questioned.
For a few moments, it was silent. Nopony moved, nopony spoke. Then slowly, Rain turned towards us, with nothing but an emotionless look on his face.
"Let's go. We're losing light."
After that, he immediately began to walk forward. It took a few seconds for us before we began to follow him. The whole time, it was completely silent, other than our breathing and echoing hoofsteps, as well as splashes when we stepped in the water. The young filly I saved more than an hour and a half ago was still asleep, lying not on Rain's back, but this time, on Wind's back. Seeing the current state he was in, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him to have a filly on his back.
Rainbow Dash still was asleep. I assume she was a heavy one in the past? During the whole time, from after that...nightmare to now, Rainbow's forelegs have been wrapped quite tight around my neck. However, I didn't pay mind to it. I'd be here when she needs me. If I was one of her best friends before the coma, I'm one of her best friends now.
Soon enough, it had been 10 minutes since we started walking again. Above us, we expected to hear the moaning and snarls of the Walkers as they endlessly limped with no current objective, until they found a living soul to brutally rip to shreds. Instead, we heard nothing but the muffled chirping of birds.
"Rain," Wind said to the stallion, but he did not seem to hear him. He just kept on walking.
"Rain! I think we're out of the city!" Wind yelled, hoping to get his attention. And it did. Rain stopped, not turning around. Just staring off into the fading darkness ahead.
"...What makes you say that?" Rain asked for the first time in at least 10 minutes.
"Listen." It became silent once more, other than the chirping from above. "I don't hear any Walkers up there."
Rain finally and slowly turned around to us in order to hear above better. Turns out, Wind was right. He did not hear any Walkers. Rain looked up, through a sewer grate. Expecting to see buildings, he saw nothing but the sky, mostly blue, but starting to get a tiny bit orange.
"We need to check for sure." Rain then began to find a ladder that would lead to the surface. After a few seconds, he turned around, and saw one just a few hooves away. He headed to it. Once he reached it, he held on, then slowly began to make his way up the ladder. The pothole was at least 13 hooves above them, so it wasn't very far up. Once Rain reached the top, he carefully, but quietly, pushed the lid out of the way, pushing it to the side, causing sunlight to nearly blind him. Slowly, the light became dim enough for him to see.
He observed the area around him. They were indeed above a road, but also near a small bridge, with a river streaming under. Behind him was just a path that led to Baltimare, just now a little more than a mile away from us. We were still pretty close, but far enough. Slowly, but carefully, Rain began to make his way out of the hole, crawling out onto the ground, laying for a few seconds before getting up on all fours. He then walked over to the whole and yelled down to them.
"It's all clear up here. C'mon up."
One by one, we each started to make our way up the ladder. The first one to go was obviously Wind, considering his current condition. Slowly and carefully, he began to make his way up the ladder, having to grip each bar quickly in order to avoid falling off. After about 30 seconds, he finally made it out and stood alongside Rain, then told his wife to awaken the kids. Once the kids were awake, they began to climb the ladder, the daughter's mother following behind the two fillies, one of which who has been very quiet since we were at the storage. There were only four now down here: Rainbow, me, and the mother and son. I decided to let them go first.
"Alright, Banana Cream. Wake up your son and you two go next. Lightning, you wake up Ra-" Rain suddenly stopped speaking in mid sentence. His face turned to the right, towards Baltimare. His eyes widened. I wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. But when I began to hear the very distant moans and snarls, then I knew.
"Change of plans. Get your asses up here NOW!" He yelled. In just a few seconds, Banana's son was awake, but rather than letting him climb the ladder, she carried him in one foreleg, and climbed with the other. Within a few seconds, Banana and her son were out of the sewer, leaving only me and Rainbow, still sleeping in here.
"Lightning, wake her ass up now, or we're leaving you in here!" Rain yelled, and he sounded pretty damn serious. Quickly thinking, I gripped Rainbow's forelegs, and pulled her off of me. I then started to shake her.
"Rainbow, Rainbow! Come on, wake up! Rainbow, wake up, now!"
This wasn't seeming to have any effect on her. No matter how hard I shook her, she did not wake up. How heavy of a sleeper was she?! I tried all I could to wake Rainbow, but to no avail. I shook her, yelled in her ear, anything I could do. Still, she didn't wake up. I knew the Walkers would be here any second. I then had a sudden idea that could wake her up. I just hope she doesn't get too pissed.
I quickly raised my hoof---and slapped it right across Rainbow's cyan colored face, causing a red hoof mark to appear, and causing Rainbow to awaken, yelling in pain in the process.
"Ow!" She rubbed her face with her hoof to ease the pain, then quickly looked to see who the attacker was.
"Lightning?! What was that fo-"
"No time! Walkers! Up the ladder! Now!" I said fairly quickly, but slow enough for her to understand. She looked behind me to see a ladder, and within a few moments, she was climbing. She couldn't fly for two reasons: The hole was too small, and one of her wings had a bullet hole in it.
Once she was a fair enough height up the ladder, I began to climb up after her. The sound of the Walkers were getting louder and louder by the second. Once Rainbow was out, I increased my climbing speed, and was literally "running" up the ladder. In a few seconds, I was, for the first time in almost an hour, back on the surface. I nearly sat down for a moment and wanted to enjoy some relaxation, but then I realized there was a horde of dead ponies shambling our way.
"Let's go, let's go!" Rain yelled to us. Within seconds, we were pretty much sprinting the opposite direction of the horde. As I ran, I turned around to see the horde of what appeared to be about 30 Walkers. Some of them had fallen into the open pothole, one of them becoming decapitated from hitting their head on the concrete. In disgust, I turned back around to focus more on the path in front of me. Seeming how we were much faster than the Walkers, it was fairly easy to get away.
Once we were at a far enough distance, Rain checked behind us to make sure we were out of the Walkers' line of sight. Sure enough, we were. However, to insure they wouldn't end up spotting us again, we followed Rain under a small bridge that was big enough for us to hide.
"Well, now that that's sort of out of the way, which way did they say the camp was?" Wind then asked. I was a bit confused at who they were, as well as what camp they were talking about.
"What camp?" I asked, like I thought, curious.
"The survivor camp," Rain replied. "About a mile or two from the city. Another group, 'bout 12-13, escaped in this tiny as hell RV wagon. Luckily, it was large enough to fit them all in there. Stationed it up in the mountains. In fact..."
Rain paused as he turned around and began to look in his satchel for something. After a few seconds, he took out what appeared to be binoculars. After taking them out, he immediately began to walk out of the bridge, immediately exposing him to the outside. Luckily, there were no Walkers in the area, except for the horde, which was pretty far away, so we weren't in any immediate danger. For now, at least. Rain took the binoculars, put them up to his eyes, and began to look in the direction of a distant mountain area, according to Rain, a mile or two away from our current location. He looked for a few moments, not saying a word, focusing only on a particular area.
"Ah ha." He then said, sounding a bit excited for the first time in...well, that's it. He hasn't exactly been excited since I've met him, nor since...well...you know.
...Forget what I said.
"Found 'em." Rain then took the binoculars from his eyes, looked to me, then motioned me to come to him. When I was near enough, he handed me the binoculars and pointed to the far mountainous area, then told me to look in that direction. I did as he told and put the binoculars up to my eyes, looking in the direction he told me. It took a few seconds, but I finally managed to focus on the location Rain saw. What I saw was, as Rain said before, an RV wagon. I did agree with Rain, it looked fairly small, but that's probably because of the fact that I'm 2 miles away. I continued to look at the location, then suddenly, what looked like a small dot appeared on the top of the RV. I wasn't sure what it was at first. But since I realized I'm extremely far, it was most likely one of the survivors of the group, patrolling the area for any dangers.
"You see something else?" Rain asked me.
"Someone. But I can't see who." I continued looking for a few more seconds before Rain finally took the binoculars back, then put it back into his satchel.
"I guess we'll see when we get there."
Just after he stopped speaking, we began to hear distant snarls once more. We looked behind us to where the city was to see the horde from before still walking in the same direction.
"Shit! Down!" Rain half yelled, and we quickly crouched down. We then quickly began to crawl under the bridge to avoid being exposed even more than we were. Once we were under, we began to hear the sounds of the Walkers passing right over us. Suddenly, the shuffling of their hooves stopped, as if they were no longer moving on their original path. Turns out, that's exactly what they were doing. We just sat here, under this bridge, waiting for them to move again. Had they discovered our scent? Were they trying to find us?
"What do we do? There's more than before, and we can't go anywhere unless we wanna end up swarmed," Wind then explained. I realized he was pretty much right. When I saw the Walkers a moment ago, it looked like the number had increased. I couldn't tell how many were together, but it was definitely more than before.
That was when Rainbow suddenly asked a question. However, it was not of our current situation.
"...Where's Star?"
My blood ran cold. I forgot, she was asleep when that happened. I wondered why she didn't ask it sooner. Once she asked that, everyone's eyes widened, and they started to look at each other. Banana, however, as well as her son, were looking away from us, as if they didn't want to see Rainbow when she found out.
I looked at everyone and realized no one would have the strength to tell her. Not even Rain. That left me as the only one. I looked to Rainbow, then slowly began to walk to her. I looked at her with pain showing in my eyes.
A loud boom and powerful vibration shook me slightly, and a loud high pitched noise rang in my ears. I wasn't quite sure what just happened, but when I looked to my right, a small mushroom-like cloud appeared from about 30 hooves away. My vision was blurred for a moment. I couldn't hear anything except the slightly painful ringing.
Suddenly, I heard a muffled scream. It sounded familiar. It also sounded like it was saying 'come on!', but quietly. A few seconds later, the ringing noise faded away, and I could hear perfectly. I looked back to my right, but the mushroom-like cloud was gone. That was when I began to see Walkers from both sides of the bridge beginning to walk down the hill, and I was about to gasp in shock, but a hoof covered my mouth before I could make a sound.
"Let's go while they're distracted," I heard Rain's voice whisper to me. I then realized. Walkers are attracted to sound. Obviously, because of the little incident in the city. Slowly and quietly, I began to crawl in the other direction, away from the Walkers, following Rain back onto the path, where the others had been. Once Rain and I were back, the whole group began to run as fast as we could, stopping about a minute later, out of breath once more, but far enough and, hopefully, safe from danger.
"What the hell was that?" Wind asked in surprise, not knowing what happened.
"I threw a grenade," Rain replied. The whole group, except me, looked in complete surprise, eyes widened. I wasn't because I had no damn clue what a grenade was. I guess it was what that was back there? Something that explodes?
"You mean to tell me this entire time, you had a grenade in your satchel, and you didn't tell us?" Wind nearly yelled.
"I kept it for emergency purposes."
Wind suddenly stopped. His eye then twitched. His eyes then closed. He squeezed them.
"OUR WHOLE FUCKING SITUATION IN THE CITY WAS AN EMERGENCY!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, causing all of us to cover our ears in slight pain. I looked into the sky to see what looked like birds flying, possibly frightened from the scream.
"Hey, keep it down! You're gonna alert-" Rain was quickly cut off.
"No, I will not keep it down! We wasted almost a fucking hour in that sewer, when we could've used that damn grenade to distract those dead fuckers and get out a lot damn quicker! The fucking outcome could've been different! I wouldn't have lost my damn hoof, and your son would still be alive right now, not sitting down there in the sewer with a chunk of his shoulder torn off and a hole in his head!"
After that, it went completely silent. No one spoke or moved. I didn't really hear anyone breathe.
Suddenly, I began to hear crying. I looked behind me to see Rainbow, fallen to the ground, hooves covering her face, and crying. She knew now what happened to her friend. I didn't expect her to hear it like that.
In a slight bit of anger, I turned around to Wind, and went, "Nice going, asshole," without even thinking it.
I then turned back around and started walking to Rainbow. I got down to her and started hugging her, instantly triggering Deja Vu in my mind. I wrapped my forelegs around Rainbow to comfort her, and she immediately wrapped hers around me. I didn't speak, I didn't say anything in fear of making the matter worse. I just decided to let her let it out. This went on for about a minute before Rainbow's cries slowly began to become sniffles, and she cried less and less.
"You okay, Dashie?" I asked after a moment of silence.
Rainbow sniffed before she replied, "Y-Yeah. I'm fine...now. I guess..."
I just continued to hug her for a few more seconds before she slowly began to gently push herself off me to allow her to get up from the ground. I got up with her, wrapping a foreleg around her shoulder to let her know I was there for her.
"T-Thank you." She smiled with a tear in her eye. I gently wiped it away. I then looked to Wind with a bit of an angry look.
"We should go now if we wanna get up there by nightfall," I said before turning my head to the path that led to the mountains, and I started walking, my foreleg still wrapped around Rainbow's shoulder.
The group just sat there for a moment, kind of just watching us walk past them, before they began to follow us. As they started following us, Rainbow once again placed her head on my shoulder. It will be a little bit difficult to explain this to Applejack, but I'll think of an explanation. Besides, Rainbow's my friend. And friends are there for each other in the hardest of times...
As we walked, I looked up to the mountain again, up to the survivor camp. Up there, right now, are the rest of my friends, not knowing they're going to be seeing an old face. It will be worth the wait to see them, for me, for the first time.
I made a promise to Applejack I would be okay. Thanks to Star, I am okay. I made a promise to Rainbow Dash that I'd be there for her when she needed me. She needs me now more than ever.
I made promises to my friends...and I'm going to keep them, no matter what.
As we walked, I looked up to the mountain again, up to the survivor camp. Up there, right now, are the rest of my friends, not knowing they're going to be seeing an old face. It will be worth the wait to see them, for me, for the first time.
I made a promise to Applejack I would be okay. Thanks to Star, I am okay. I made a promise to Rainbow Dash that I'd be there for her when she needed me. She needs me now more than ever.
I made promises to my friends...and I'm going to keep them, no matter what.
It was now half an hour into our walk, a rather tiring one, much more tiring than in the sewer. I slowly looked up into the sky, covering my face to avoid being blinded by the sun. I could barely see the sun's position above, but I could tell it was close to 4:30 pm by now. It was about 3:10 or so when we began our escape from the city that, when I turned around, looked like it was a mile or two away. It had not even been two hours, and already we were nearing our destination. It may be painfully exhausting, but it will be worth it in the end.
After a minute, I thought back to my friends, the remaining Elements of Harmony that I have not seen yet, and I wondered how they might react, seeing me for the first time in Celestia knows how long. But another thought went through my mind. Who was alive? Who was dead? Sure, it had only been about a night since the outbreak at the center, but hundreds had died in just that night alone. Who survived? Who was a walking corpse? The questions alone chilled me to the bone, a feeling I had not yet experienced until now. It was an odd feeling; a feeling I never want to feel again.
Letting go of the thoughts for now, I looked back to Rainbow Dash, standing beside me. She didn't look left or right, or up or down; just straight forward. She didn't smile or frown, or cringe or rage; her expression was blank, almost that of the dead. The tears that were fresh almost an hour ago were now nothing but dry streams running down her cyan face. Star's death must've really hit her hard. I wouldn't blame her, though. Losing someone close to you is extremely hard to take in. Rainbow lost her parents and sister, now she lost Star. I don't know how she'd take it if any one else she knew lost their lives. No...I don't want to know how she'd take it. It'd be too difficult to imagine. I made the thought quickly go away as fast as it appeared. As I did so, I gently placed a hoof around Rainbow, letting her know I was there for her. She looked at me for a moment and smiled faintly at me, a smile that I have not seen for over an hour. I returned the favor by smiling back. I wanted her to know that I, as her friend, truly cared for her, as all friends should. Rainbow then looked back forward, the blank expression slowly returning to her dry tear streamed face.
I looked up to her mane. It was slightly frazzled, but most of it was still straight. I raised the hoof I had put over her and gently brushed the frazzled part, trying to straighten it as much as I could. Rainbow didn't seem to mind, really. In fact, it looked like she was enjoying it. Honestly, I think I even heard her purr for a moment.
After a minute of brushy-brushy, I decided to check on her wounded wing. Though the bandage was pretty thick, there was still some blood seeping through, but luckily, the bleeding was minimal. Rainbow was quite lucky to have it hit her wing. I feel glad that that bandit got what came to him...but...at the same time, I feel terrible. Sure, what he did was a horrible thing, but no one ever deserves to die like that.
But...this is how the world works now. You make the wrong choices, you pay for it. And most of the time, those who pay come back as a flesh eating corpse that does nothing but eat anything that moves. Well, until someone kills them, that is.
The entire walk from the sewers to here was close to quiet. The only noise was the sounds of birds flying overhead or the constant clip clop of our hooves. We rarely talked to one another. The three kids were asleep again, and so there was less noise from our hooves generating. We were more focused on just getting up this mountain and arriving before dark...alive. Luckily, it wasn't a huge mountain, but it was still fairly big. We were already 1/4 of the way up and already exhausted. But we couldn't stop now. It was just too dangerous. If we stopped, we could possibly end up being ambushed by a horde, and by the time we'd react, it'd be too late. It'd be best to just keep walking until we got up to safety. Well, what we can call safety.
As we continued to walk, I started to gain the sudden feeling that I was missing something. Something heavy...it clearly (and obviously) wasn't Rainbow. It was very light-
I stopped in mid thought. My eyes widened, and I turned my head to my back, hoping to see what I hoped was my satchel. What I saw was only the blue fur of my back.
"Oh shit," I said suddenly, which startled Banana slightly, but everyone else stopped.
"What's wrong?" Rain asked, turning his head to me.
"My satchel's missing!" I exclaimed.
They all looked to see that my satchel was indeed gone. I was surprised no one, including myself, had noticed it before. I guess I was too busy focusing on surviving.
"Didn't you just have it a minute ago?" Wind asked, looking curious.
"I...I thought I did. But I know for sure that I had it when we left the city."
"You sure it didn't just slip off?" Wind added to his question.
"If it did, I think I would've-..." I then stopped, and had the sudden thought of us back in the sewer. I saw Rainbow on my lap again, sleeping from her exhausting tear-eyed incident. I saw myself slowly placing her onto the platform I sat on, allowing me to stand up on all fours. I then saw myself turn my head and reach my hooves to the strap of the satchel.
The thought going away, I put my face in my hooves, and groaned in slight anger.
"Oh, dammit, I left it back in the sewer!"
"You 'left it'?" Rain asked.
"When I put Rainbow down so I could stand up, I took the satchel off so I could be able to carry Rainbow, and," I paused for a second, nearly stumbling over my words, "I must've forgotten to put it back on."
"What was in that satchel anyway? And what's so important about it?" Rain added.
"Well...all there is are some pictures and cards for when I was in the hospital. But when I searched through the place, I found some stuff about me, including this other stallion."
"So...what's so important about some cards and pictures?"
To be honest, Rain was starting to piss me off a tiny bit.
"Those pictures and cards were from my friends, that I'm not even sure are alive right now! Plus, those papers about me? I took them so I can maybe find out more about me! Don't forget, I woke up in a hospital yesterday with no clue who I am! When you wake up knowing nothing, you'd want to find some damn answers!" I raised my voice, but not too loud. Wouldn't want to risk getting the group killed, especially so close to civilization.
"Calm down, it's not that big of a deal."
...He was right. It's not that big of a deal. In defeat, I simply sighed.
"You're right. Sorry...it's just that...all the shit I've gone through today...well, WE'VE gone through today."
"We're all stressed. You're not alone. Let's just focus on getting to the top before dark, alright?"
He was right. The sun was starting to set, so the sooner we got to the camp, the better. I agreed with what he said, and within moments, we were on our way again, acting like the event didn't just happen. It was strange for a moment, but the strange feeling faded.
I did forget to mention that that satchel didn't have just pictures of my friends, it had pictures of...Applejack...I just hope she's okay. I'm just glad I have her hat to remember her. I'm surprised I've managed to keep it with me the entire time. I moved my hoof up to adjust the hat for a moment, and yes, it was still on my head, and I intend to keep it that way until I get back to Ponyville.
The walk was quiet as usual. As we walked, we passed countless trees, bushes, and rocks. Some birds flew overhead, and some other animal critters crawled by us, seemingly calm, considering the fact that the dead have risen and attacked the living. For a moment, I had the sudden thought. Do the dead eat animals? I've never seen it in action, seeing how I've never exactly seen an animal near a Walker. Yet.
About 15 minutes later, it looked like we were pretty close to the top of the mountain. When we looked at the landscape, it looked like it was hundreds of hooves below us. Like we were flying high above the air. Which reminds me...If I can use my wings, that means I could just fly down to where we were and head back quicker. But since the sun's almost dipped below the horizon, I guess that'll have to wait until tomorrow. Will be kind of cool to try them out, too. If I've flown in the past, I could definitely fly now.
As we continued to walk, Rain suddenly halted us. I opened my mouth to ask why he stopped us, but when I looked ahead, then I knew why.
The camp.
I rubbed my eyes, hoping to see if it was just an illusion. But when I looked back, I saw the same sight. With my own two eyes. The camp. It was really the camp.
We made it.
It was difficult to imagine that just yesterday, I woke up in a hospital with no memory of my past life, I end up in bed with Applejack, one of my best friends, I end up in Baltimare, I see Rainbow Dash, another good friend, I make it out of the city, I lose a friend, and now I'm at the survivor camp where the rest of my friends are. It's strange how so much can happen in just 24 hours.
The whole group smiled and cheered silently. When we all "calmed down", we slowly began to move forward, approaching the camp. As we got closer towards it, we began to see a few ponies, wandering about. We saw one beginning to climb what appeared to be a watch tower, built most likely to keep on the look out for any potential threat.
"Halt!"
Unfortunately, we were a potential threat. Or, they thought.
The voice that spoke to us was from the watch tower, just 50 hooves from where we stood. The pony who spoke was a white looking stallion, with a black mane and tail. I couldn't see what the tattoo on his rear was, seeming how we were too far. The stallion, however, seemed to be holding something in his hooves. During the walk in the sewers, Rainbow explained to me what those weapons looked like. She even carried a sketch around of one of the weapons. It was called a sniper rifle. As I looked at the object the stallion held, I remembered the sketch, and they looked exactly alike.
"That's far enough. One step closer and I'll blow your damn heads off. Who the hell are you?" he said.
We all backed up a step, all of us completely panicked...except for Rainbow Dash. When I looked at her, she seemed to show more annoyance than fear. She then walked forward. My eyes widened, expecting her to be shot and killed on the spot by the gunpony. Then she spoke up.
"Silver Bullet, you idiot. You know damn well who I am. We've been through some shit, so let us in!"
Her sudden action surprised me, as I had never seen her that angry before. Once she had said the pony's name, the group stopped their feared stances and looked up, quickly recognizing the stallion, who was looking intently at Rainbow for half a minute, before sighing in relief after checking her over, knowing it was truly her after all. Looking at the other ponies, he also smiled a bit. I'm guessing he also knows the rest.
"Sorry...didn't recognize you at first."
...Then he looked towards me. His slight sly smile turned into an not-trusted frown, and his face showed slight confusion. Obviously because we had never met before.
"Who's this fellow?"
"Lightning," I quickly replied, "Lightning Flash. I'm a friend of Rainbow's."
Silver just looked at me once again for a few moments, before he finally began to head down the ladder, disappearing behind the large wooden door that sealed us off from the camp. We heard his hoofsteps for only a few seconds before they ceased. We waited a few seconds, but it seemed like hours for some reason. Suddenly, the door slowly began to slide open, and on the other side were two ponies, pushing the doors open for us.
As they opened, Silver stood in the center, looking at the group. He raised his hoof and pointed it behind him, motioning it towards the camp.
"Come on. Hurry," he spoke to us.
Not wasting our time, we quickly trotted towards the entrance, wanting to get inside as quick as possible. But when we reached the entrance, the rest of the group was allowed inside, except for me. Silver put a hoof in front of me, blocking my path.
"What're you doing?" I asked.
"I need to search you."
Suddenly, Silver grabbed me and pulled me a bit closer. He then started to examine my body very closely, which felt extremely creepy. I didn't know why he was searching me.
"Silver," Rainbow began, very annoyed by now, "What are you doing?"
"I need to see if he has anything that poses a threat to any of us: Bites, scratches, anything."
"Oh, figures. You assume that just because I'm someone you've never seen before, you think I might be hiding something?" I decided to speak aloud, quite annoyed. It was quite weird, though, because I haven't acted like this before.
"We had too many civilians attempting that shit a few weeks back. I don't want it happening again, got it?"
"Silver, he's fine. He wasn't bitten or scratched..." Rainbow paused for a minute, before continuing, "...right?"
"No, I wasn't. If I was, I would've noticed."
Silver didn't seem to respond. Instead, he continued to inspect my body. I didn't bother to say anything else. He just continued to check me for anything that shows a sign of infection. Rainbow sighed in utter annoyance at Silver's actions. causing me to chuckle a little. Luckily, the "inspection" didn't take very long.
"Alright," Silver began, "You're clean. You can go."
The stallion stood aside, allowing me to move forward. As I walked past him, his eyes were squinted, and he was looking at me in a slightly frightening way. I could already tell I was on this guy's "questionable" list. Once I was far enough from him, Rainbow came walking up to me.
"Don't worry about him, Lightning," she started, "Silver's done that a lot. Whenever a survivor came to the center, he'd do that kind of stuff. He's just trying to keep everyone safe...But...he does that a little too much."
"I agree, even if I just met the guy," I replied, receiving a slight giggle from the rainbow maned mare.
We continued walking for a couple of moments, observing the status of the safe area. On the left was a fireplace, with a few ponies sitting around, gaining warmth, and as I listened closely, I could hear them saying something. It sounded as if they were telling a story of some sort. The only words I heard was 'Daring Do'.
As we continued, we passed a few fillies and colts that looked like they were playing some sort of game. They were making some sort of motions and positions. One looked like they were swimming, and another was hopping. The game looked extremely familiar to me, but I couldn't put my hoof on it. I'll probably find out later.
"Rainbow Dash!!" A voice yelled in front of us, but from a distance. We looked to the front of us to see an orange furred filly running towards us. As she got close to us, she jumped up onto Rainbow and hugged her, and at the angle I was in, it looked pretty tight.
"You're alright!!" The filly yelled in delight. I guess these two have known each other.
"Heh, of course I am, Scoot. It'll take more than a few Walkers to take me down. Don't worry 'bout it. I'm just glad you're safe," Rainbow replied.
I smiled as I watched the two reunite. I could then see that the young filly had started to tear up as she looked up at Rainbow.
"Please don't leave. I don't want to lose you," Scoot replied.
Rainbow smiled and hugged the young filly once more.
"Don't worry, Scootaloo. I'm never going to leave you. Don't you ever think I will, alright?"
The two were silent, except for the other survivors talking about not that far, as they reunited for the first time in nearly a day. However, their embrace didn't last very long, as they separated soon after. That was when Scootaloo spotted the bandage wrapped around Rainbow's wing. She gasped in worry.
"Your...your wing! What...happened...?"
"We had a bit of a problem with a bandit, kiddo. But don't worry. I'm alright. It'll take more than a few bandits to stop me." Rainbow smiled once more at the filly to insure her that she was definitely alright. Scootaloo believed her truth and smiled back. Slowly, though, Scootaloo turned her head towards me, and her eyes widened a bit.
"Are you...Lightning?" She spoke to me, surprised. I guess I've met her before.
"Yyyeah, I am. Uh...Hey, Scoot...Long time...no see?" I asked slowly. The worst part about having no memory is that you don't know who anyone is. An example being Scootaloo.
"I thought you were coma...coma...something." Scootaloo sounded like she was trying to add to the word, but couldn't seem to figure what the rest was. Even I was confused. Another thing that sucks about losing memory. Can't remember some of the english language.
"Comatose?" Rainbow finished for the orange filly.
"Right." I chuckled. If I hadn't lost my memory, this would've been more awkward than it already is.
"Eh, to answer your question, Scootaloo, yes, I was in a coma. It's a bit hard to explain at the mome-"
"RAINBOW DAAAAAASH!" A voice suddenly erupted, distant, but quickly getting louder, like it was getting closer. Before I looked to see where the sound came from, I saw Rainbow being tackled to the ground by another pony. A pink one. Seeing the color of the pony, I quickly moved a hoof to grab the satchel...Then I realized I didn't have it. But keeping a good memory on the looks of the ponies I saw on the pictures, I could already tell that this was Pinkie Pie.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, I'm so glad you're okay! I was afraid something terrible happened to you, or if those mean bad zombies got to you! Are you alright? What happened to you? Did you give them a good fight? Didyadidyadidya? Huhuhuh?"
Pinkie Pie then stopped and breathed for a moment, the whole time, having a huge grin on her face, awaiting an answer from the dazed pegasus.
"Heh, relax Pinkie, I'm fine. We were holed up in the city for a while, but we got out alright, thanks to our old friend."
Rainbow pointed her hoof towards me. Pinkie followed her hoof, and her eyes laid upon me. The moment her eyes made contact with my physical form, her joyous face, glowing with the brightest and widest smile anypony could possible make, faded into a face that showed nothing but complete shock, like she was staring at something out of reality.
Her mane and tail literally deflated, drooping downward to the dirt ground, her smile quickly faded to a frown—the good kind, I guess—and her crystal eyes began to quickly fill with the tears of joy.
"L...L..." She tried to say something, but her voice denied it. She couldn't seem to get it out correctly. I already knew she was trying to say my name, but was too busy having trouble facing the reality of me being alive.
"...Lightning?"
A calm, eerie silence followed, despite the sounds of other survivors around us conversing with each other, and the kids still playing. She didn't speak to me; I didn't speak to her. We just did nothing but stare at each other for what felt like hours, yet only seconds passed. And all we did was just stare, stare, stare...
...Suddenly, a great pain erupted in the back of my head, but it wasn't as bad as my side wound. My eyes tightened as the pain grew in my head, until it subsided seconds later. Only then did I feel a large mass...sitting on top of me?
When my eyes opened, I could see none other than the pink pony sitting right on top of me, looking at me with glistening, crystal, tearful eyes. Her mouth was slightly open, as if to say something, but nothing came out. It seemed she still had quite an amount of trouble knowing I was here, in this very spot, looking at her—to me— for the first time. To her, it had been more than a month; a month that must've felt like years after what they've witnessed.
"I...Is it...r-really...you?"
I couldn't speak. It was quite hard to reply back, partially because her reaction literally paralyzed me, and mostly because of the fact that most of her body was actually paralyzing me from sitting on it. But not more than a few seconds later, I managed to get the reply she had been waiting for out of my mouth.
"...Yes. It's me, Pinkie."
Just not even more than a second after saying those four words, the pink pony broke into tears—of joy— and pummeled me with the rest of her body weight. She wrapped her forelegs around me as best as she could and pulled me into a hug. Normally, this would probably be uncomfortable and deadly to me, but it's been a while since she's seen me, and this is, once again, my first time seeing her. I couldn't deny this cute and reuniting hug. Returning the favor, I wrapped my forelegs around her as best as I could. I held her tightly, smiling, and I could swear I felt a tear running down my face. I wasn't quite sure if that was her tear or mine, but I wasn't caring at all at the moment. The only thing I cared about was that I got to see one of my best friends again, crying and smiling together for the first time in a long time.
The total passage of time was only five minutes before we got up from our death-friendly hug. We decided not to brush each other off, mostly because we'd just get dirty sometime soon anyway—not in the sexual way, mind you.
However, once we got off the ground, Pinkie went back right on to hugging me, only to be pulled off by Rainbow after a few moments. Rainbow chuckled a bit, causing me to chuckle too.
"Alright, Pinkie, relax," Rainbow called out between giggles, "Are the others here?"
"Absolutely positootely! They're all pinkie keen! They're all having some of my superlicious cupcakes today!" Pinkie replied and squee'd at the two of us. "C'mon! I'll take you to them!"
Rather instead of walking like Rainbow and I, Pinkie hopped to the location where the others were currently staying at. On the way, two young fillies passed by us. One of the fillies reminded me of the filly who I had saved back in Baltimare. The two had looked like they were off somewhere towards the nearby woods area. Not only that, but closely inspecting the fillies, I saw that they were...carrying knives...
"U-Uh..." I tried to get the words out of my mouth and ask Rainbow why children were carrying such dangerous weapons. I didn't exactly get them out, but Rainbow knew what I was trying to get to, and simply answered for me.
"Well, since everything went down, most of the ponies living in the safe zone...well, kinda decided to teach children how to defend themselves in case an attack happened. Most of the children have been doing well...However...some needed some more training."
Just after saying 'training', Rainbow lifted her right hoof up while balancing her walking at the same time. As I looked at her hoof, I could notice what looked like some sort of scar. In shock, I put a hoof up to my mouth, knowing how it got there.
"Don't worry about it. It happened a while ago. The kid who did this is WAY better now." Rainbow then sighed after a few moments.
"I just hope he's okay," she finishes, looking down to the ground. Just then, I could already feel the pain she felt. Knowing a kid you got to know quite well might be out there, either defending themselves and living, or shambling, cold, stiff and dead.
Like I had done many times in the past few hours, I simply gave Dash a hug, and told her the kid is fine. There wasn't really anything else I could've done. But every time I hugged her, she smiled and hugged back, and that was more than enough.
It wasn't more than a minute later that we arrived to the area where the remaining girls were currently at. When we entered the tent, like Pinkie said, they were indeed eating cupcakes that actually looked quite delicious, much more delicious than the moldy and crunchy treats I found back in Ponyville.
"Hey, gals! I'm back! And guess who else is, too!" Pinkie suddenly blurted out to the others, who stopped to look at her once they heard her voice. At that moment, their eyes all widened for a moment, before screaming out the same name.
"Rainbow Dash!"
Of course, they didn't see me yet, mostly because I was standing outside, waiting. Rainbow and Pinkie had decided it might be a good idea to surprise them with my sudden return. As I listened on, I heard the girls sniffling and crying, all while hearing what sounded like a bit of laughter.
"Y-You're okay!" A voice with a bit of shyness called out.
"Darling, we thought you were a goner out there! Ugh, you look terrible!" Another voice with a rather fancy accent spoke out. Just a moment later, she gasped in what sounded like horror.
"Your wing! Darling, it looks horrible!"
"Don't worry about it, Rarity. It's nothin'. Just a bit of a ruffle with a bandit. But it's good now...sorta. And...well...I wouldn't have made it back here...without an old friend."
Just then, Rainbow hollered for me to enter, and so I did. Slowly, step by step, I turned and revealed myself from behind the tent's entrance flap. In front of me stood two ponies, a white unicorn and a yellow pegasus. I could quickly recognize them as Rarity, judging by Rainbow saying it, and Fluttershy.
The moment the two caught sight of me, their four eyes widened. Their pupils dilated, and their mouth hung open slightly, as if trying to speak, but no words came out. It wasn't more than a simple squeak from one of them. They did nothing more than just stood there...and stared.
Just stare for what seemed like hours, when not even 30 seconds had passed. Finally, I broke the silence with only one word.
"Hey." Sure, it wasn't much, but it was good to say something to them after a month. A smile formed onto my face as I stared at both mares, their faces frozen with a surprised, tear-eyed look on them.
Then, completely by surprise, both mares fainted onto the dirt ground, a moan coming from the two as they fell unconscious, and a thud immediately after as they hit the ground. I stood there, a mixture of confusion and humor on my face. Looking back to Rainbow, I could see that she was slightly giggling, Pinkie Pie with her. Seeing them giggle made me chuckle a little.
...Wait a second...I've seen AJ, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and...
"Rainbow," I called out to the cyan mare behind me, who was still trying to stifle her laughter a bit, "Where's Twilight Sparkle?"
Rainbow's stifling laughter quickly stopped, and her smile faded for a moment. For a moment, she looked around the room, then turned 180 degrees behind her and looked around the camp, the sun setting behind the trees just ahead of her. Finally, she looked to Pinkie.
Like Rainbow, Pinkie's smile faded, and her stifling ceased.
"W...W-We...A-All of us got separated...There were so many scary things going on, we...we couldn't stay together. You...you didn't see her, did you? When you were in the city?"
As much as I didn't want to admit to Pinkie, who looked like she was close to tears already, I nodded, insuring her that we didn't see her. At that point, I became worried myself. Many questions rang through my head. Was Twilight alive? Was she dead? Worse...undead?
No...no, she can't be. The other five, AJ included, are all living and breathing. Twilight has to be okay too...right?
Pinkie, seeing my reaction, looked down to the floor, her eyes closed. A faint, but audible "Oh" came from her...and...I could swear I saw a tear fall from her face onto the dirt.
Suddenly, just mere moments later, a voice yells out near the entrance of the camp.
"Princess Twilight!"
Pinkie jerks her head up, her eyes widened like saucers. Her, Rainbow, and I turned our heads towards the entrance area. We could see Silver climbing down the ladder as quick as he could, and began to pull on the ropes that closed the gate doors. Slowly, the right door opened all the way, Silver standing beside it. Just a moment later, what looked like a purple unicorn walked through the gate. It was until she was in clear view that she was not only a unicorn, but...a pegasus? Wait...how?
Wait a second...she's an alicorn! That's what it was! And if I heard Silver correctly...she's a princess too? She didn't look like one from the pictures, and I never even noticed the wings. Guess it was because they were tucked in? And her front only showed? Makes sense.
"Twilight?!" Pinkie said abruptly. Then immediately, she went sprinting immediately towards Twilight. I quickly ran after her. Running towards her, it didn't take more than 20 seconds to reach her.
As we got closer, I could hear the conversation between Silver and Twilight, but we were close enough only to hear Silver say, "It's a pleasure that you're safe, princess," just before Pinkie ran and slammed directly into Twilight.
"P-Pinkie?" Twilight said with surprise once she had a clear view of the pony grabbing hold of her, her eyes widened.
"Tw-Twili-...Twiii..." Pinkie couldn't even say her name. By now, the pink pony was already in heavy tears, quickly gripping Twilight back into a hug...only it wasn't just a hug...but...it was a kiss.
...I didn't exactly see this coming much, to be quite honest. To see two mares kissing so passionately, holding each other in a loving grip. I mean, I don't have a problem with that at all. I'm just...well, surprised. Like I said, totally unexpected.
Within about a minute, their lips slowly parted, and their eyes opened, tears going down them. A strand of saliva hung between their mouths. The strand quickly broke, and soon enough, they hugged again, but did not kiss.
"I-I'm so glad you're alright," Pinkie cried out.
"Y-You too, Pinkie," Twilight replied.
"I-I love you so much."
"I...I love you too, Pinkie." By now, Twilight was also crying.
The one thing that seemed a bit...weird, was Pinkie. Sure, she's happy her marefriend is okay, but this is actually the second time in the past twenty minutes I've been here that I've seen her so emotional. And from what Rainbow's told me before, Pinkie's an "overly hyper-active party machine." Or something like that.
After another minute, both Twilight and Pinkie depart from each other. They begin to wipe the tears off each other's faces, and they smiled. back to each other.
"I...I got you a present," Pinkie suddenly said. Twilight's face showed confusion.
"A present?"
"Mmmhmm," Pinkie hummed positively in response.
"Uh...what is it?"
Pinkie, however, did not respond to the question. Instead, she simply raised a hoof, and pointed it directly towards me, while looking at me. With a confused look, Twilight slowly looked over to the direction Pinkie pointed to. The moment she had laid her eyes on me, her pupils dilated, her eyes widened like saucers. A gasp came from her mouth. The velvet princess became absolutely frozen, doing nothing but staring at me. Just staring with her big, saucer eyes.
I expected it from her, as Pinkie and the others had done the same exact thing.
One thing she did that the others had not done was walk towards me slowly, still observing me like the rest had. her face soon showed confusion rather than shock and surprise, like she was having trouble figuring out if it really was me, standing here, in front of her, alive and in the flesh. For what seemed like minutes, she just stared at me, her eyes scanning my entire body, from my still raffled mane, to my green eyes, to my wings, and finally, to my tattoo, which Rainbow told before was called a "cutie-mark." Once her eyes laid onto my cutie-mark, the princess gasped, looking back to my face. Now she had tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"It...It's...is it really...you?" She struggled to get the question out.
I looked at her, a tear falling down her left eye, her lip quivering slightly. I couldn't seem to reply 'yes' to her, so all I did I nod. That was more than enough for her to pull me into a gripping hug. A slight silence fell over not just the two of us, but the entire camp once they realized who they were looking at. A few low gasps and low shouts of 'Princess Twilight' were heard, but they quickly became drowned out once I heard the sound of crying. Or rather, sniffling. It was Twilight, now broken into tears after finding out it really was me.
I was still a bit compressed in her grasp, but I still had enough space to lift my forelegs up and wrap them around her, hugging back, but less tight. For what felt like many hours, the two of us just stood there, hugging, crying...reuniting.
Goddess, It felt so great to be together again.
"-So you can't remember anything before?" Twilight asked.
A few hours had now passed, and the sun had long since gone down. Crickets were chirping in the distance, a wolf howled into the night sky, and the moon shone down upon us, giving us a little bit of light. Most of the survivors in the camp sat next to a camp fire; some, including the children, had gone to bed, leaving most of the adults awake.
"...No. I don't...sadly," I replied a few seconds later, sighing slightly as I did so. For the past few hours, we did nothing but talk about how we managed to get this far, and Twilight asked just not even a minute ago how I got here. I simply explained how I woke up, how I got to the city, and how I...we...got everyone out. Unfortunately, like she just asked, I had to explain that I couldn't seem to remember anything that happened before my coma, but I simply told her that it was no matter, because being with them and knowing they were alive was all that mattered to me, amnesic or not.
"Pfft," a pony scoffed near me. Looking to my left, I could see that it was Silver Bullet, the pony who searched me when I arrived.
"I find it highly unlikely how you were in a coma for a month, in a hospital, with no care from anypony."
"I've done some research on comas a few months ago. I read that comas don't usually last more than four weeks. Lightning went comatose four weeks ago. And he woke up yesterday. His body told him that he needed nutrition, and that's what woke him up," Twilight spoke up.
"I'm so glad you're an egghead," Rainbow replied. It earned a chuckle from me and a sheepish smile from Twilight.
"Look," Wind began, "I know we're all trying to have a good time and all...and...I'd kinda hate to ruin the mood here...but what the hell are we gonna do? I mean, the city's completely overrun, we have little to no supplies at all, and we're completely vulnerable...well, other than the fence around this place. But even then, how long until they find us?"
Silence fell over the group, other than the crackling of the fire in front of us.
"I've got a place," I spoke up after a few moments of awkward silence.
"Where?" Twilight asked.
"Sweet Apple Acres."
By saying the name of the place, Twilight's eyes widened. I smiled, continuing my statement.
"Applejack's been holed up in her home since this whole thing started. Her and I were talking about getting you guys over there just before you messaged us." I stopped for a minute, clearing my throat.
"Just think: They literally have an unlimited supply of food, a well full of clean water, fresh, clean beds, protection; it'd be the perfect place to stay. We could survive there for years, decades if we're lucky enough."
"Applejack's okay?" Twilight waited to say until after I finish. I simply nodded, smiling, which led her to smile back.
"I just...I thought that...with her hat and...all..."
I had remembered just now that I was even still wearing the hat.
"Well, one thing first: Does the place have a good wall around it? Like, a defensible perimeter?" Wind asked.
"Uh...Kinda. It has a fence around it. It's...not very tall, but it can keep them out-" I was interrupted by Silver, who seemed to be annoyed by my answer.
"It doesn't matter whether or not any place has a wall around it. Baltimare had a huge damn wall around it, and look what happened to it! It was completely overrun in just a few hours! Baltimare is a city! A CITY! We're talking about trying to defend a tiny little farmhouse! How could you possibly expect any other place to be any safer than Baltimare? How are you sure that-"
"Silver," Twilight said sharply, "That's enough."
Silver quickly went silent. His ears drooped downward.
"I'm...I'm sorry, Princess. It's...It's just that...after what we've all gone through since last night...I just...I just don't think we can really defend something so small when we lost something so big."
"Before I left for the city this morning," I butted in, "AJ and I were talking about possibly fortifying the fence around the place; making it thicker, taller, much more secure, things like that. She didn't want to do anything on it yet until AFTER I came back...well...IF I came back. She said that the more ponies we had, the quicker we could get to work."
"And where is this Sweet Apple Acres?" Silver asked.
"In Ponyville, 140 miles west of here. I drove a wagon all the way from there to here. Took me 6, maybe 7 hours at best to get here. Took off by morning, got here after noon."
"So it won't take very long?" Wind asked.
"Not if we just drive nonstop. That's what I did. Stopping's only gonna make it take longer..."
Then there was a long pause. No one seemed to speak again for a few moments, making each second more and more awkward until I finally spoke up again.
"But...before we go...there's just one thing I gotta do in the morning."
"And what, exactly, would that 'thing' be?" Silver asked.
"I need to go back to the sewer."
At the point I said 'sewer,' Twilight's head looked to me, as did everyone else's, nearly all of them saying, "What?"
Twilight spoke, "Why?"
I looked to the fire, waiting for a second or two before I continued. "When I first arrived in the city, I had a satchel with me. In that satchel, there's some pictures of you girls," I pointed to the six mares. "-and me. Plus, there's a few papers I recovered from the hospital. Some patient records or something. I don't want to leave that behind."
"Are you crazy?" Silver began. "From what Rain told me, you barely got your asses out of there. Going back there, you're just begging to be killed! It's a damn suicide mission!"
"I'll go with him," a voice interrupted from a short distance. Turning to the source, they saw Rain standing there, putting a cleaver in his backpack. "I gotta do something myself. I may have said it's risky...but...there's one thing I need to do as well."
"No," a voice said coldly with a hint of sadness. Looking over to the source, I saw Rainbow Dash standing there, a single tear falling down her frowned face.
"You...You just came back...We all saw you again for the first time in a month...and you're just gonna leave us? Just like that?"
"We aren't leaving permanently. You know that," Rain replied.
This seemed to stop Rainbow for a moment. She just stared at the two of us with watery eyes. Her frown seemed to show a bit of anger also.
"What...What's so important about a few pictures and patient files, anyway-"
"I'm not going with him JUST for the patient files or the damn pictures," Rain quickly shot back. "I'm going because I want to at least bury my dead son instead of leaving him to rot in that damn tunnel!"
At this point, the entire camp went completely silent, much more silent than before. Everypony just stared hard at Rain, all having a look of shock on their faces. Even though we had been here for a few hours, Rain didn't want to tell anyone about the incident. He simply lied about what really happened to him. What he said just now simply came out, completely out of his control.
It became quite awkward as everyone stood frozen in time for a few moments, quite stunned by the sudden shocking news. Before anyone could say anything, Rain stormed off, not wanting to speak to anypony.
The rest of us just stood there, Dash and the others just sitting there with looks of guilt on their faces. The campers were still in a frozen state with the same looks of utter shock.
I just sat there, looking down, sighing into the silence.
"We aren't leaving permanently. You know that," Rain replied.
This seemed to stop Rainbow for a moment. She just stared at the two of us with watery eyes. Her frown seemed to show a bit of anger also.
"What-...What's so important about a few pictures and patient files, anyway-"
"I'm not going with him JUST for the patient files or the damn pictures," Rain quickly shot back. "I'm going because I want to at least bury my dead son instead of leaving him to rot in that damn tunnel!"
At this point, the entire camp went completely silent, much more silent than before. Everypony just stared hard at Rain, all having a look of shock on their faces. Even though we had been here for a few hours, Rain didn't want to tell anyone about the incident. He simply lied about what really happened to him. What he said just now simply came out, completely out of his control.
It became quite awkward as everyone stood frozen in time for a few moments, quite stunned by the sudden shocking news. Before anyone could say anything, Rain stormed off, not wanting to speak to anypony.
The rest of us just stood there, Dash and the others just sitting there with looks of guilt on their faces. The campers were still in a frozen state with the same looks of utter shock.
I just sat there, looking down, sighing into the silence.
I turned over to my right until I was on my side. The blanket slid off the rest of my body, exposing me to the cool night temperatures. I looked forward to me. Laying near me was another pony. Seeing the rainbow mane, I clearly knew it was Rainbow Dash, sleeping soundly, and if I listened closely, I could hear her cute little snores.
It's now been a few hours since the little...discussion by the fire, and by now, everypony was asleep...well, almost everypony. I might have been the only one even still awake by this time, but it wouldn't surprise me if others were awake as well.
...
...
I listened silently into the night; in the distance, the crickets chirped, ponies in nearby tents snored silently, and I could hear the muffled crying of a foal in the RV.
A foal.
...
How would one even be able to raise a child in this kind of world?
Some didn't want to think about it, but I did. It'd be impossible not to think about it.
The dead have risen with seemingly no explanation whatsoever, the society everyone knew is now gone and corrupted, and the young have to live with these things every single day of their young lives...and try staying alive most of the time from the dead that lurk what's left of the once proud and living lands. And it will only get worse over time.
...
...
I turned back on to my back, looking up to the ceiling of the tent....doing nothing but staring, what felt like endlessly, at the ceiling, just hoping I would once again get tired and eventually fall asleep without even knowing it. But just because there's a wall around this place, it doesn't mean it's safe. Who knows? Maybe the dead have secret super powers that allow them to sprint at high speeds, parkour over tall structures, and climb skyscrapers anthill style.
...
...
I turned back over to my side, towards Rainbow Dash. Her back was towards me and she was snoring adorably loud. She sounded like a young filly. I didn't want to wake her, as I wanted to hear her cute snores for a little while, but I just...I wanted to talk to her...about something.
"...Rainbow?" I quietly whispered into the silence. For a moment, her snores stopped. She moaned slightly.
"...Hmm?" she called out quietly in a cute manner.
"...You awake?" I asked her, making sure it wasn't just her talking in her sleep. When she replied to my question, I moved a little bit closer to her. Slowly, she turned around and looked towards me with a sluggishly tired look.
"Sorry," I began. "Didn't mean to wake you."
She smiled a little, saying, "Don't worry."
She then eyed me intently, including my eyes. When she saw them, her smile faded to a frown, with a look of concern on her face.
"How long have you been up?" she asked me.
I didn't say anything for a few seconds. I simply sighed and turned back over onto my back for the second time, looking back up to the tent ceiling before replying, "...I don't even know. An hour maybe?"
"...Why?"
I sighed, looking slightly over to Dash.
"...I...I just can't sleep, is all...I needed...to talk to you...about something."
Rainbow huddled over to me, practically almost touching my body with hers.
"What's up?"
I didn't reply instantly for a few seconds. My eyes moved around for a moment, looking around the small tent which the two of us only were in. When around 10 seconds passed, I turned, again, onto my side, now face to face with the rainbow maned mare, slightly blushing from how close we were to each other.
"Well...um..." I sighed and composed myself for a moment to stop pausing.
"About...About Star..."
For a second, I stopped, looking towards Rainbow Dash. Just a second after saying his name, Dash seemed to avert her eyes slightly from me, seeming to look down, or according to the way we were, my left, her right. For nearly 20 seconds, the two of us said nothing to each other, not even looking at each other's faces. I tried saying something, but couldn't seem to get the words out. Rainbow was the first to break the silence.
"...Did...Did he die...peacefully...?"
When she asked, I said nothing, but the silence was only for a few moments. When I spoke up, I simply lied, "...Yes...Yes, it...it was peaceful."
...But...was it a lie? I mean, Star had passed with a smile on his face, not a face of agony or sadness: It was a pure smile. It didn't seem like a lie to me, but I just shrugged it off, as I didn't want to think about it right now. I kept looking to Rainbow Dash, who was still looking away from me, only to slowly look back up to me. I had a smile on my face to assure the truth, and it seemed to put a smile on her face as well.
But then she blinked, and when she did, I saw the formation of liquid. Another blink, and a stream of liquid went down the side of her face. Another blink, and another fresh stream went down. Rainbow's smile began to fade into a frown. She began sniffling.
Then by complete surprise, she lunged at me, quickly wrapping her forelegs around my neck. She began to cry, burying her face into my neck, her cries being muffled.
This situation was far too familiar, and like the other times in the past 12 or so hours, I simply hugged back and shushed her quietly, humming slightly, telling her it was okay. It seemed to work a little, but she still cried.
I couldn't blame her. Like I thought before, it's difficult losing someone you're so close to, especially after everything that Rainbow had witnessed in just a month alone. The dead walking, her and her friends being separated...losing her family...
Losing Star...
The thought came back; the thought of her completely breaking down, should one more close to her lose their life. What makes her her just completely vanishing; her entirety shattering; no longer would she be the Dash I had known pre-amnesia.
If I ever get my memories back, I want to know and see Dash like she is now; strong, brave, determined...not scared...
...never scared...
That's not Rainbow Dash.
At least, it wasn't. For a few seconds of today, I never exactly took in the thought of what something like...this...could do to someone, both mentally and physically; how losing one pony can cause nothing but a complete mental breakdown, and that pony is no longer who they were in the past. Either they can get back up or be gone forever.
Understanding that, I hugged Dash tighter, and she hugged tighter back.
At least, I thought I fully understood it. Part of me was telling me that I was fully understood of what the world was capable of, and the other half was telling me that it would be a while before I truly figured it out.
I shut both sides up. That was something for the future to tell. But now was not the future. It was the present.
And in the present, Dash needed my comfort. And that's exactly what I gave her.
But I never expected to kiss her.
Well, actually, I was. I only planned to give her a comforting kiss on the forehead to let her know everything was going to be okay. But she had moved her head up at the last second, and like that, our lips were touching.
I tried moving away to break the kiss, but Dash pulled me back in. The kiss wasn't intentional for me, but Dash didn't care. She had possibly been waiting for this moment for a while now, even before the apocalypse.
So I let her enjoy it. And while I regretted doing so I regretfully enjoyed it myself. Regretting it because I knew what I was really doing: Cheating on Applejack.
I didn't want to cheat on her, I really didn't.
But...I don't want to hurt Dash.
...
...
'Just one time.'
It was at that moment that I made a promise to myself that this was a one time thing. I would, after this night, never do something like this with Dash again. Sure, I might kiss her secretly just to keep her spirits up, but this? I would not do it again.
But I never realized until later on that I ended up making the biggest mistake of my life.
As the two of us kissed, we turned slowly until I was once again on my back, Rainbow sitting on top of me, her lips still pressed against mine, sloppily sliding around. Our tongues were still twisting around with each other, dancing in a way, our saliva mixing and a tiny bit dripping down my mouth. It would seem gross to someone else, but to me, I didn't care.
Deep into the kiss, Rainbow then suddenly began to grind against me, whimpering into my mouth as she did so. As she ground against my torso, I could feel it beginning to become wet and sticky. Of course, I had already known what this was. My bare stomach was already drenched in the substance, and Rainbow still continued to whimper and moan between kisses, however, she was quiet in doing so as to not attract nearby attention.
I didn't notice at first that I was beginning to become stiff in my lower region. Dash could feel it bump her rear for a moment, and like that, we removed our lips and Rainbow began to lift herself up, ready to lower herself down onto me.
But I stopped her. When I did, she simply looked up at me, with a face that showed begging, and it was weird, because Rainbow didn't act like this before. It may have just been the lust.
I asked her if she really wanted to do this, especially so quickly. She looked down for a moment, as if in a thinking trance. When she looked up, she nodded.
"I'm sure."
I wasn't worried much, but I just didn't want her to rush this and end up hurting herself. But I simply told her that if anything happens, we'll stop. She nodded. For a second, she stared at me, then looked back down to my pelvis. She exhaled, her breath shaking a little, and it made me worry just a little.
Then she lowered herself.
The two of us tried our best not to moan out loud, but rather, keep it inside. Rainbow's moans were more of a whimper than an actual moan, but after a few seconds, it mixed around a bit. About 10 seconds passed before I finally bottomed out inside of her, her body touching mine. Dash exhaled once more, breathing a bit. It didn't seem that I had broken her hymen, as I would have seen a slight bit of blood dripping out. But instead, there was no blood, and there were no tears from Rainbow's eyes, indicating she might have had sex some time ago.
About a minute passed. Rainbow let out a calm exhale this time.
"Alright," she whispers loud enough for me to hear. And just like that, she begins to raise herself up until only the tip is inside, just before lowering herself back down, this time faster, emitting another moan from her. Then again, she raises, then lowers, faster than before. Then again and again and again.
The sheer feeling of it is nothing but intense. She was so warm, so slick...so tight. I couldn't help myself; I grabbed both sides of her body with my hooves and assisted her in pumping. By now, she was moaning, but it was still relatively quiet. I just grunted, trying to keep my moans suppressed. I could feel a bit of drool going down the side of my mouth, but I didn't notice.
Dash rested her right hoof on my chest, whimpering and moaning. I even heard her whisper my name in between, only increasing my thrusts.
However, while her mind was lost in the moment, my mind was lost in the unbelievability of what I was in. One moment, I was being a good friend and comforting a sobbing Rainbow Dash, and the next moment, we're making love.
Cheating on Applejack...
No. If I think about it, it's only going to make it worse.
Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I continued to what I was doing, resuming to lift Rainbow up and down, pushing in and pulling out repeatedly, each time emitting a moan from Rainbow. As the process went on, the feeling felt more than just intense. Blissful, beautiful, magical. There were so many words to describe it. I didn't want it to stop. I wanted to go on forever, continuously pumping and thrusting, grunting and moaning, quivering and breathing heavily.
I wanted it to never end.
But like most things, it was already beginning to come to a close. As I listened in on Rainbow, I noticed her breathing beginning to become erratic, her pants increased, her moans became just a bit louder, and she sighed longer in varying erotic intensities. Her whimpers made it sound like she was about to cry again, but she wasn't.
She whispered as quiet as she could, despite her panting, that she was nearing the edge, and I whispered the same thing directly back to her. We were so close, nothing mattered to us at this point. The only thing mattering at this point was getting to that edge and pushing right over it, to experience that blissful, loving moment.
The closer we got, the faster we got. My thrusts increased, Rainbow went faster than she had gone. She looked dizzy, like she was ready to pass out at any moment, but I could tell that she was trying her best to do the opposite. Her breaths were now quite loud to the point that the nearby tent could hear it. Luckily, our tent was nowhere near any other tents, giving us the ability to pant loudly without fear of being caught.
My forelegs became tired from holding Rainbow's sides, constantly raising her up and slamming her down, our bodies slapping together in a muffled sound from our furred bodies.
Rainbow's breathing was now heavy, along with her moans. She moaned my name quietly, and by sudden instinct, I did her's in return. Both her hooves were now resting on my chest, giving her more access to push higher before slamming back down.
The approaching feeling of climax was there. So close, so far. My loins began to have the familiar burning sensation I experienced more than 24 hours ago; the feeling when you're so close to releasing. It feels like torture; you just want the burning to stop. You want to finish, but it becomes so exhausting to do so.
I opened my eyes slowly; I hadn't realized they had been closed. I observed my actions: Gripping Rainbow's sides, watching her body move forward, backward, up, and down in all directions. Her wings were spread out as far as they could be spread. I looked higher, to her face. Her eyes were staring right back at me, lusting for me; her mouth was open slightly, moaning, whimpering, begging for release, begging my name. But her eyes...I could see the fire of passion, of love, of the sexual energy flowing through her...staring directly back to me all at once.
It was all it took to push me and her over the edge.
Reaching that very moment...there were no words in the whole of the universe to describe it. It was like the entire world just suddenly vanished, that all things living, dead, undead, and all else simply no longer existed, and it was just me and Rainbow, floating in an eternal heaven from which both of us never wanted to leave.
It was simply beautiful.
Everything vital to our bodies: Hearing, sight, feeling, smell, taste...it all seemed to disappear, like it was never there in the first place. It no longer felt like I was laying down on a sleeping bag in a tent, but rather, floating in an endless non-existent universe, observing and experiencing what some could call an orgasmic heaven.
It was an experience we never wanted to come out of. We wanted to stay forever and never leave, enjoying the heavenly sensations that rippled through our bodies and made us shiver in sheer delight.
But like most things, it was bound to end. Slowly, we could feel ourselves being pulled down back to Equestria, coming out of our orgasmic high, and all of reality seemed to quickly return to our bodies and minds. Our hearing, our sight, our touch, our smell, our taste. It all came back piece by piece, until everything was once more in its rightful place.
And just like that, the little piece of heaven was gone, and we were back to where we once more were: On a sleeping bag, in a makeshift tent, in the middle of post-apocalyptic hell.
Suddenly, the two of us let out a massive breath, not knowing we were even holding them in the first place. Rainbow collapsed on me, breathing erratically and panting quite heavily; I did the same thing.
A few minutes passed---or had it been less?---and by then, our breathing had returned to normal, but we were quite exhausted. I asked Rainbow with a bit of a struggle if she was fine. There was no response. I asked again, but she didn't reply. Lifting her gently, I could see that she had gotten past the point of exhaustion that she had finally passed out, surpassing her attempts to stay awake. Just watching her snore made me smile.
Though I had also attempted to stay conscious, I could also feel my mind becoming tired, begging me to close my eyes and drift off into dreamland. Reluctantly, I obeyed, shutting my eyes faster than I had ever done. Almost instantly, I could feel unconsciousness gripping my entire being, pulling me into the dream of dreams.
And it looked so beautiful.
I could feel myself regaining consciousness, my eyes slowly fluttering open, my vision blurred, making it difficult to see. Slowly, I tiredly lifted my available left hoof---as I felt myself lying on my side---and began to rub gently at my eyes, first the left, then the right. Opening them widely every couple seconds, my vision was no longer blurred and now somewhat clear-ish. When my vision cleared, I could clearly see Rainbow Dash lying in front of me, her front facing me, and her snores cutely loud, her cheeks blushing minimally, a hoof in her mouth, and her exposed hind leg twitching.
I didn't think I would ever see something this adorable ever again.
For around five seconds, I yawned, but tried to do so quietly to not awaken Rainbow. But then again, were yawns ever loud?
Once I finished yawning, I finally decided to painfully lift myself up, weakly falling down a few times. It was the hospital all over again---I might never stop repeating that.
After failing a few times, I succeeded in a fifth time, using my weak hooves to push myself up, and once sitting straight up, I shivered, suddenly feeling cold. I wanted to just lay back down and go back to sleep, and I was just ready to do so.
Until Silver Bullet suddenly burst into the tent opening.
"Wakey wakey, pork-chops! Breakfast!" He yells, startling Rainbow and waking her from slumber, making her shriek a little. Just like that, Silver disappears from sight, the clopping of his hooves becoming distant.
Rainbow looked towards the opening with a scowling look, disappointed to see that Silver wasn't standing there. Looking down, she sighed, looking completely frustrated.
"Goddess, I hate it when he does that," she says with an agitated voice. Clumsily, she kicked the blanket off, exposing her to the chilling air as well, and she shivered like I did. She sighed again, frustrated.
"How many times has he done that?" I asked after a few seconds. She turned towards me, her face showing a more calmer state than what it was just a moment ago. Turning away again, she sighed, but much more calmer, as well.
"Waaay too many," she replied, sighing again before adding: "I remember a few days after I arrived at the safe zone---there were tents scattered around some of the streets, and since there wasn't enough space for everypony...well, you know."
I thought back from when I had first arrived into the city. I never recalled seeing any tents lying around, but then again, she did say "some" of the streets. Some.
"And when we first met, we somehow became semi-friends...not good friends, just...half friends."
I got the gist of what she meant.
"And sometimes in the mornings, he would always open up my tent and call me something, then say "breakfast" after that. At first...well, it was a bit funny, but...after doing it so many times, it just got so goddessdamn annoying. Every time I get up and try to yell at him, he was always gone. And I never see him afterwards, but when I do, I always forget."
She looked back to the empty tent opening, sighing frustratingly.
"But after I got an apartment with Star---"
Rainbow stopped speaking for a moment her frustrated face now showing sadness just at the saying of his name, and I scooted over to her and rested a hoof on her shoulder, telling her that it was okay. She smiled a little, looking at me, and continued speaking.
"---He never did it anymore. I...well, I didn't exactly see him much after that. In fact...this is the first time in nearly 3 weeks that he's done this."
Rainbow sighed once more, still in frustration towards Silver's repeated action.
"And I wish I didn't have to hear it again."
I chuckled a little at her last words, replying with: "Well, just make sure you say it this time."
My remark made Dash giggle along with me, looking at me with that cute smile of hers. Then slowly, her smile began to fade, her eyes once more staring deep into mine. For a few seconds, the two of us said nothing to each other. A few more seconds passed before Rainbow suddenly began to blush, turning away, her eyes folding downward.
"Uuhh...L-...Listen...Umm...A---About last night..."
It wasn't until she said that that I had really realized what we had exactly done just a few hours ago. The kissing, the rubbing...the thrusting.
I blushed just the same as her, only I didn't fold my ears down. For several seconds, Rainbow looked away, not moving, but breathing rather roughly. Looking down, I could see her move her tail down, covering her flanks. She sighed in a rather shaky way. Ten seconds passed before she lifted her head up, clearing her throat, and turning back to me, looking back into my eyes.
"...Can you promise not to tell anyone? ...Or Applejack? ...About what we did?"
I nodded slightly to her just before moving towards her and pressing her lips against mine, taking in the mixed taste of peaches, oranges, grapes, and all the other tastes that would match the colors of the rainbow. The thought of her tasting like she looked made me laugh a little inside.
For a little under a minute, we sat there, lips pressed, eyes half-open, tongues dancing, hooves holding us tightly, bodies pressed together. I felt guilty doing this, but guilt never felt so nice.
The feeling lasted for half a minute before we finally pulled away. We sighed a little, taking in breaths, not knowing we were holding our breath.
"We never speak of this to anypony," I replied, making her a promise. She smiled, hugging me this time, her warm, fuzzy body brushing against mine, stiffening my wings once more. Dash took notice of this and giggled.
After another half minute of hugging, we pulled away, holding each other's hooves momentarily before pulling them away too. Getting up on all fours, I began to walk towards the tent opening, getting ready to enjoy what they were cooking for breakfast.
"Wait!" Rainbow said before I could even touch the opening flap. Turning back towards her, I asked what was wrong.
"Uuhmm...Maybe we should...you know...shower first. I mean---we did..."
Rainbow didn't finish her sentence, but still, she blushed. I didn't exactly notice until she really talked about it; the smell.
The smell of sex.
We were both blushing now, having taken in the the smell of the essence and lusty musk that flowed through the tent. The two of us agreed on a shower, not only to wash off the scent, but because right now, a shower was just as much of a heaven as last night.
...Well, not exactly like last night...but it still sounded amazing.
Slowly, Rainbow got out of the tent, covering her face from the blinding sunlight, and while she walked out, I caught myself staring at her flanks, but quickly looked away, knowing I was going to be caught from anyone nearby or looking over here. Once she was outside, I followed her out as well, also blinding my face.
Once used to the sunlight, I looked around, finally getting a good view of the camp. It was a bit dark last night, so I couldn't exactly see all the details, but now with the sun nearly its highest in the sky, I was able to take in what really was around me. But there was time to look later.
"C'mon," Dash said, "We'll use the RV shower. I'm sure Metal Bass won't mind."
Listening, I followed her to where the RV was currently positioned, which wasn't very far from where the tent was. As we walked through the camp, we saw that it wasn't very populated, but we assumed that was most likely because everyone was possibly eating breakfast.
As we got closer to the RV, we could see behind it that there was a large table, and several other ponies of different types, shapes, sizes, and ages were all sitting together, side by side, as Silver and a bulky green stallion wearing a chef's hat placed down in the center of the table a massive plate containing all sorts of foods. We weren't close enough to see exactly what foods were on it, but I was sure I could see what looked like pancakes.
Reaching the RV, Rainbow and I were now quiet, tiphoofing our way towards the side door of the massive vehicle. Slowly, Rainbow carefully opened it as to not make a sound. She hopped up into the vehicle, quickly motioning me to get in too. Quickly, I also hopped in, being careful to make sure the RV didn't move. Once inside, Rainbow silently closed the door, making sure it didn't click when shutting.
Now inside, I turned around, taking a good look of the interior. It looked rather fancy, judging by the decor, but I didn't pay much attention to it.
Letting Rainbow go in front of me---Ladies first---she motioned me to follow her. Luckily, there were no windows that were directed towards the group, so we didn't have to duck down or crouch. Instead, the shower was on the side we had entered. I expected it, judging by the massive water tank being positioned there. When asking what the tank was for, Rainbow replied that Bass explained that it was a tank primarily for the shower, toilets, etc. Taking a shower, the water would be purified of any dirt and grime washed off. Going to the bathroom, the water was also purified, making sure everything that should be there didn't go there, including---pony feces.
She also added that Bass's reason for making it was for long-distance trips around the Equestrian country.
Rainbow looked through each door, making sure nopony was in there, but also looking for the bathroom, whispering that this was the first time she's been in the RV. Of course, we didn't get here until nightfall last night.
Finally, when opening the last door at the left, which was near the end of the RV---which, now looking at the interior, was pretty damn big---we came across the bathroom with the occasional toilet, sink, and of course, a shower, as RVs most likely would not have bathtubs, considering the size of one.
Being a gentlecolt, I let Dash in first, which she reluctantly thanked me for doing and walked in, me walking in behind her, shutting the door silently. But now, since we were behind three walls---the outer wall, the wall of a bedroom, and the bathroom wall---we were finally aloud to speak almost normally without the fear of being heard.
Dash sighed after holding her breath, not realizing she actually was holding it. Slowly, she began to walk over towards the shower, gently opening the door instead of forcing it. Slowly, it slid open, giving her access to the shower control systems. Pulling up a glass ball-looking lever, the shower quickly sprang to life. The first few seconds, the water was cold when Dash ran her hoof under the stream, but once it went past five seconds, the water became gradually warmer until it was at a good enough temperature to enter.
Rainbow was ready to step into the shower, but first, she began to remove the bandage that was wrapped around her left wing. She winced minimally, but it still looked like it hurt. It took nearly half a minute to fully remove the bandage; Rainbow inspected it, observing how much blood was actually on the bandage, before putting it into the garbage can nearby.
Finally, she walked into the shower, the water soaking her mane and fur, but I could see her aiming to the left as to avoid the water raining down on her wing. Looking through the glass and out of the shower, Rainbow motioned me to come in with her. I would've refused, but then again, the smell of sex was all over me. I did what Rainbow requested and entered the shower, closing the door behind me, letting the warm water run down my head, down my body, soaking me, enveloping me.
It felt good. I almost felt instantly clean.
But of course, I wasn't. At least, not yet. As I became drenched in the shower water, Rainbow scooted past me, grabbing off a small shelf a bar of soap. She let it sit in the pouring water for a minute before beginning to lather herself in it, standing just outside the water as to not let it wash off. She washed her hooves, her chest, her neck, her sides, her hind legs.
However, the one place I didn't exactly expect her to wash was her marehood. Well, I did, but what she did was really rub it thoroughly with the bar itself, rubbing up, down, left, and right as best as she could. She tried her best to stifle a moan while doing so.
Doing this, she allowed full view of everything, and I couldn't seem to stop myself from watching the performance [though wasn't really much of one]. I found myself literally eyeballing her rubbing. Eventually, she did stop teasing me, removing the bar from her nether region, but instead of washing it off, she hoofed it to me. Almost instantly, I could smell the aroma that had been in between her legs. It smelled so amazing, I couldn't control myself at the moment [then again, could anyone?]. Not even knowing it for a few seconds, I actually began to lick the bar of soap in Rainbow's hoof. It was her giggling that knocked me out of my trance.
While licking it, it didn't taste much like soap, but rather...oranges. Peaches. Strawberries. The other flavors that matched the colors of the rainbow. It was all a mix. And it tasted good.
But I was quick in not getting too tied up in the lust. Grabbing the soap, I began to also lather myself in the soapy substance, well aware of where it just was, but I didn't care; I just wanted to smell, feel, and overall, be clean. Doing what Rainbow did, I stepped out of the water to prevent the soap from washing off. Once lathered, I began to rub my hooves all over my body, making sure every part of it was completely lathered, including my own nether region.
"Uuhh...Lightning?" Rainbow spoke up.
Looking up, I asked what she needed. Turning around [in a non-sexual way], she opened her left wing, asking if I could clean it for her, as she had done so with the right. I didn't say anything, but I did what she requested. Lathering my hoofs with the soapy substance, I began to gently and carefully caress Rainbow's wing, which didn't really look much like a pony's wing, thanks to the water, but more like the wing of a bat. I could now clearly see the areas where the wing is not feathers, but purely part of the body itself.
Looking at the wound where the bullet struck, I could see what looked like a miniature hole pierced directly through the bone. It was a good thing the bones were big and thick, otherwise, it would taken part of her bone clean off from the rest. I mentally cringed at the vision of that, but I quickly pushed it out of my mind.
Carefully caressing, lathering, and caring for the wound, I watched as Rainbow whined, whimpered, winced, and twitched every time I touched it. I asked her if she wanted me to stop, but she refused, wanting me to continue. I didn't want her to hurt herself, but nonetheless, I continued. Once fully lathered, I gently held her wing, guiding her and it over towards the water, letting it wash the soap off.
I painfully watched and listened as Rainbow began to bite into her hoof [but not too hard to cause damage], and scream into it. The water poured through the wound; fresh blood dripped down, going into the drain. At first, I was worried that the blood would make its way into the tank of the purified water, but I remembered what Rainbow said: The tank would be purified of any dirt and grime, assuming that blood counted as "grime."
The process of washing the wing was not more than twenty seconds, though it felt longer than that, more like well over a minute. But soon enough, the wing was fully washed and looked quite clean. I said to Rainbow that she could now close her wing, and almost immediately, she did so.
The remaining couple minutes, the two of us washed off okay, and once fully washed of soap and shampoo on our manes, we turned off the shower, the rest of the water going down the drain. Slowly, we both got out of the shower, Rainbow going first before me. We closed the door behind us, then walked over to the nearby cabinets that we assumed held towels, and upon opening it, we were right. I grabbed a towel for me, hoofing Dash hers. We dried ourselves off, making she we didn't miss a spot.
Rainbow, however, took a little longer to dry herself because of the wing. As she tried drying it, she only winced and whimpered. I could only imagine what kind of pain she was feeling. Once dried, we hung the towels up on a bar behind us, hanging them neatly. I watched as Rainbow headed over to the door, but I stopped her, just for a moment. Ready to ask what I wanted, I stopped her...and kissed her.
This was part of the question, and I had a reason for this. In just the short time I've been with her since I arrived just yesterday, she had been depressed, frustrated, and rather moody. But then last night happened. That one moment when we just kissed, hugged, held each other close: Moaning, whispering, whimpering, gasping for air until that one moment sparked through our bodies...
That moment, in my eyes, seemed to...lift her spirits. Make her be more like herself, just for a little bit. Waking up this morning, it showed. Her expressions, her personality. It was like she was her again, the real her, before the apocalypse.
At least...that's what I'm hoping she was like then.
Still, it felt nice to see her smile, and when I pulled away, that's exactly what I said to her. For a few moments, it was silent, Rainbow blushing slightly. Then I spoke up again.
"...How 'bout we make a deal?" I asked. For a moment, she raised an eyebrow, wondering what kind of exact deal I was talking about.
"We don't do...any of the things that we did last night..." I paused, not sure if that would be successful in the future, before continuing, "...However...any chance I can...I'll give you a kiss...in secret. Nopony knows about this, and we never tell a single soul about this. Deal?"
It seemed like such a silly little deal, and I hated dearly doing this behind Applejack's back, but if it's worth seeing her smile everyday that passes and keeping her spirits up so she doesn't do anything regretful, then it's worth a shot.
For a couple of seconds, Rainbow looked, looking down towards my chest, as if in thought. I patiently waited for her response. Not more than five seconds pass before she looked back up to me, a smile on her face.
"Deal."
By surprise, she moves towards me, pressing her lips once more against mine, but this time, longer than the last. I could never forget the sweet mixture of tastes every time I pressed my lips with hers. Orange, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and all the rest. It was unimaginable. It made me question whether or not every pony's saliva had tastes according to either their color or something else, judging by how Applejack's kisses tasted like [of course] apples. Either way, I didn't really care much.
Rainbow moaned slightly as my tongue entered her mouth, twirling around with hers in loving unison. A bit of saliva dripped down our mouths, but we didn't care. My eyes were closed, but I opened them only for a moment to see Rainbow's partially closed, but looking like she was in a trance, but the moment our lips parted, she came out of it.
We panted for a bit, trying to regain our breath, before we headed over to the sink, washing our mouths of the dripping saliva, before heading back over to the towels to wipe them dry. After "sealing the deal," we finally opened the bathroom door, again, letting Rainbow go first, me walking behind her and shutting the door silently.
Before we walked out of the RV, I looked upward to see a clock hanging on the wall, the time reading 10:23 AM. Upon entering the RV, I remembered the time reading 10:15 AM, meaning not more than ten minutes had passed yet, though our time in the bathroom and shower felt much longer than ten minutes. Still, it didn't matter, as long we weren't in there too long. Quietly, we opened the side door of the RV, sneaking out before anypony were to catch us, silently shutting it behind us on the way out.
We were now once again back outside, in the sunlight and on the grass. Instead of heading to the breakfast immediately, we walked back a few hooves, then walked back, but towards the table as a way of making it look like we had come from our tent rather than the RV. Seeing the ponies' reactions to us arriving at the table, they probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise.
"So, look who decided to show up," Silver began upon seeing us, a bit of a smirk on his face. "The heck took you two so long?"
We didn't say anything until we sat down at the breakfast table, which seemed to contain all sorts of foods from pancakes, eggs, toast, french toast, french toast sticks, and even waffles with bits of strawberries on them, and even other fruits, the most being bananas and strawberries, but also oranges, blueberries, and grapes. It kind of surprised me how they had managed to find bread, pancakes, and waffles that weren't rotten, seeing how it's been a month since these types foods had stopped being processed, but I never got around to questioning them.
"Yeah, sorry," Rainbow replied, "We kind of wanted to get a bit more sleep."
"Really?" Silver asked, raising an eyebrow, "-'cause when I went back to your tent, you two weren't in there."
When did he check the tent?
"Well, we...went into the woods to...um..."go to the bathroom," so to speak," she lied.
"How in the heck did it take you almost ten minutes to do your business?"
Almost instantly, Rainbow came back with a reply, "It didn't. We just...finished," Rainbow stopped, blushing for a moment, "...-then we...went back to the tent to sleep just a little longer."
Silver just stared at us [well, Rainbow, mostly]. I looked not at him, but at the food in front of me, trying to ignore his stares in hopes that he didn't see me worry about the situation. We weren't worried about being caught using a shower, but rather, if someone were to hear us kissing, or hear me making the promise, should anyone have noticed us in the RV or was nearby to hear from the outside. Everypony knew about my relationship with AJ, and I certainly didn't want them to think I was a cheater, and I already felt guilty enough about being one.
But nonetheless, Silver believed Rainbow's statements, just before going right back to eating. Rainbow sighed a little, but not enough to create attention/suspicion, then grabbed a few pancakes and french toast sticks. I grabbed one of every single thing on the table. Some of the ponies took glances at my plate, Fluttershy asking shyly why I had so much.
"Sorry," I replied sheepishly, blushing in a bit of embarrassment. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning. I'm starving."
"Really?" Wind said not far down from where I sat. I nodded in response and began to dig in properly as to not look like a pig, and Rarity caught sight of my doing.
"Well, it's a good thing there's still gentlecolts out here who care about manners. Unlike SOME stallions," she speaks up, putting emphasis on the word "some" while looking in the direction of Silver, who ate a tiny bit sloppily, but he just nodded and ignored her, not caring about her remarks. I just chuckled and continued to eat, as did everypony else.
Breakfast lasted not longer than half an hour for most of those who ate, but some, like Rainbow and I, were a bit slow. Even with tons of food all over my plate and me eating fast, it still took me some time to finish. Once everyone was finished eating, the remaining food was placed into the RV's freezer.
For the next few hours up until 1 o'clock, the group did nothing but either sing some songs to liven up the mood, talk, or play games. I actually watched Pinkie Pie playing against Rarity in Tic-Tac-Toe, Pinkie beating Rarity 52-4. But that didn't seem to stop Rarity in the least.
While I didn't want to eavesdrop, I did also see a young couple getting rather...frisky behind a few trees just outside the camp. I didn't see much, but I did catch a few kisses, heard a few moans, and even a couple of slaps on the flank before I continued onto what I was doing: Going back to the tent to sleep more.
I did nothing but get just a bit more rest until the journey with Rain to get...Star...
...
...
...Every time I think of his name, I seem to stop thinking altogether for a moment, wondering if it was somehow my fault for his death, but I pushed out the thoughts, focusing more on what we were going to do.
Retrieve his body.
Thinking of having to do so was saddening and painful, but it was for the best. He needed a proper burial. I don't know him much---and probably never will---but I know that he at least deserves one.
It was now 1:30. For a few minutes, we observed the landscape below, to where we had been yesterday once we escaped the sewers. Using binoculars that were much powerful than what Rain had, we even managed to see the sewer hole we climbed out of, the manhole positioned about a hoof away.
Rain and I didn't get much but two weapons and a shovel. We quickly recognized our mission: Get my satchel, retrieve Star, and give him a proper burial.
It sounded easier than doing so, but in reality, it would be a mixture of difficult, emotionally painful, and undoubtedly suicidal, should we end up surrounded down there. To some, they would say to just forget the satchel and go. But who knows? Maybe those documents I recovered could help a bit...or maybe not.
Once we were securely armed and sure to go, we gave goodbyes to the others, claiming we would be back before sundown. Rainbow gave me a hug, but was sure not to give a kiss as to not draw suspicion. Awkwardly, Rain positioned himself onto my back, just making sure that my wings had been given the space needed to flap.
With a few powerful flaps, we began to soar to the sky, flying directly over the massive hill that the camp stood near, the hill covered with foliage, trees, and plants. But we didn't focus on that.
While I did fly at a steady altitude for a few minutes, once we were getting close to the sewer entrance---which took well over half an hour---I began to flap less, allowing me to decrease my altitude and descend to the ground, which was coming up averagely fast, but not fast enough to break my legs or kill me. With a soft plop and clop, my hooves made contact with the dirt road, the sewer entrance not more than a few hooves away. By now, it was already 2:00, meaning we had well over two and a half hours before the sun sets behind the horizon. It was more than enough time if we were fast enough.
Our first goal was planning to retrieve Star's body first. That was THE major and most difficult goal we were going to achieve, having to go all the way back to where we had been at the time, managing to successfully retrieve him, and manage to come back up to the surface safely and somewhat clean without any mishap, not to mention this being emotionally painful as Tartarus.
But no matter what, we were going to do this, no matter what. Even I haven't known Star much, he was a good enough pony to deserve a proper burial, and that's what we were going to give him, even if it meant killing hordes of the dead down there.
We WILL do this.
For about a minute, the two of us stood there, looking at the hole leading down to the sewer. Looking over to Rain, I saw him shaking slightly, as if he was about to break down again. But calmly, he ceased his shaking, then slowly began to breath in as calm as he could. He held his breath for a couple of seconds before he exhaled his breath. Once exhaled, he closed his eyes for a few more seconds before reopening them.
Birds chirped in the air, and you could hear the moo of a cow in the distance, though I couldn't see one around. Other than the occasional animal sounds, it was somewhat silent for about ten seconds.
Then in the dead air, Rain spoke.
"Let's go."
Nodding to him, I allowed him to enter first into the hole. I followed him along, keeping the hole uncovered so we know the way out.
Our mission had begun.
END OF EPISODE 5.
Author's Note:
Yes, I know there's already a thing to put Author's Notes, but I needed to put one at the bottom of the chapter to tell some stuff. I worked my own way around it in a way. >:D
Anyway, this chapter was the first chapter that has a detailed sex scene in it. Much better than any other sex scene I've done in any story. Huzzah! But it won't be the last.
I know the ending is cheesy, but I tend to be lazy and not want to go through the trouble of adding things that would add more drama, despite this story being about drama. What was really going to be written was the journey in the sewer, describing them finding Star's body, slightly crying over it, being ambushed by zombies while carrying him, and the chapter ends mid-attack.
But I decided I won't do that. To spoil it, the next chapter will start off as having them panting and out of breath as a result of the not-read ambush. Working ways around lazily is not fun.
Anyway, I'm noticing that it's taking some time for me to do chapters like this. I'm currently deciding whether or not to put this story on-haitus and work on the chapters, publishing them weekly. If you think that's a good idea, please say so below.
Again, sorry for taking so long. Writer's block, me talking about my dramatic life, shit happening, Walking Dead, State of Decay, GTA, yadda yadda.
