The Dead Rise

Chapter 11: Lost Ones

Film Maker opened the door to be welcomed by a foul stench that spread throughout the whole RV. He quickly covered his muzzle to try to block out the stench. But it was no use. The stench was beyond foul, it was horrible. Film Maker even began to cough very hard. He looked down onto the ground to see a terrifying sight. Bodies laid on top of bodies, flesh littered the ground, blood was splattered all over the walls, and all of their faces had this look of pure terror.

Film Maker backed up against the wall, tears welling up in his eyes, his lip started to quiver, and his face showed the expression of pure horror. He sat down on his haunches and allowed everything that he has witnessed hit him. Everything slowly settled into his mind. A small groan came from the pile of dead bodies. Film Maker looked up to see Fluttershy struggling to get the bodies off of her.

"Help us! Somepony please help us!" She cried out.

Film quickly got to his hooves and started to pull the bodies off of her. The first body he pulled off was Twilight. Then, Applejack, Vinyl Scratch, Pinkie Pie, and finally Rainbow Dash. After taking Rainbow Dash off of Fluttershy, she immediately grabbed onto him with a tight hug. Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she started to cry into Film's shoulder.

"Film....th-they're dead." She sobbed.

He looked over her shoulder to see all the dead bodies that he just moved. All of a sudden, another cry for help called out from underneath the dead bodies. Film moved Fluttershy against the wall to his left while he started to un-bury whomever was trapped underneath the dead ponies. He pulled off more of his friends that he cared for so much. What hurt him more was that all of the bodies he moved were fillies. Babs Seed, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Underneath the bodies were Derpy and Dinky. Dinky was tightly grasping onto her mother with tears flowing down her cheeks. Derpy slowly got up with Dinky still attached to her side.

Film Maker noticed that both of Derpy's wings were gone and only stubs were left of them. "Oh Celestia!" He cried out. "Come on outside, we need to get that patched up, now!" He ordered.

"Why not in here? Is it safe out there?" Derpy asked.

Film Maker ignored her questions. "I don't want the others seeing what has happened in here just yet. Now get outside."

Derpy listened to Film Maker and went outside. Film started to scavenge the RV for a first-aid kit. He started to fling cupboards open and wildly scanning his hoof through them. Luckily, he found one within seconds. As soon as he grabbed the kit, he immediately went outside the RV to patch up Derpy. Went he went outside, things were starting to get worst.

"Mommy!" Dinky cried as her mother fell down while trotting up to Night Striker. Night immediately ran up to Derpy to try to catch her. But he wasn't fast enough. Her body hit the ground with a hard thud. She cried in pain as she landed on one of her stubs that were supposed to be a wing. "Mommy, get up!" Dinky started beg.

Derpy's breathing started to get slower. "Muffin, come here." Derpy said quietly.

Dinky knelt down next to her mother. She leaned her head closer to her mother's. "Yes mommy?"

A faint smile placed itself upon Derpy's lips. "My little muffin, do you know what was one of the first things that came to my mind when I left our house, just days ago?" Dinky lightly shook her head. "You. You were the first thing that was settled on my mind. I had to know where my little muffin was and if she was safe. It was killing me not knowing where you were and it was killing me to know if you were alive or not. But now that I know, I think, I can go to sleep with everything off of my shoulders."

Tears were now streaming down Dinky's cheeks. "No. Mommy, you can't go. I need you, mommy." Dinky begged in a sobbing motion. She tightly grasped her forelegs around her mother. Derpy returned the gesture with one leg, instead of two.

"I love you, muffin. You are the most important thing in the world to me, you know that right?"

Dinky sniffled her nose. "I do. I love you too mommy." She kissed her mom's forehead.

Derpy's smile grew bigger. She slowly lifted her head to return the gesture that her daughter has given her. She slowly laid her head down onto the ground. Her breathing started to get slower, slower, slower, and slower. Until finally, her breathing ceased. Her eyelids closed shut and her smile slowly faded away.

Dinky loosened her grip to look at her mother's face. "Mommy?" She asked.

Nothing.

"Mommy?" Dinky asked again.

Still....nothing.

"No." Dinky whispered. "Don't go." She started to cradle her mother's head. Swaying it back and forth. "Don't.....go." She sobbed.

Film Maker dropped the first aid kit that was clenched onto his hoof. "I was...too...late." He muttered out.

"No you weren't." Night Striker interjected. Film looked at him straight in the eyes with a look of confusion. "I see three bullet holes along her right rib cage." Film looked back at Derpy and saw the three wounds with blood spewing out of Derpy's now lifeless body. He didn't even notice it. "Her wings has many veins and arteries just like our legs do. Even without those gunshot wounds, she would have bleed to death either way. Even if she had a tourniquet, she would have died within a couple hours due to the lack of medical treatment we have. If it was one wing, she would have died within the next four hours."

"You mean to say?" Night looked down at Derpy. "Even if we gave her what I had, it would-"

"Be useless." Night finished Film's sentence. He looked back up at Film. "I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is now."

Film's legs started to feel weak and his breathing started to get heavy. He wanted to throw up but he couldn't. There was nothing in his stomach for him to throw back up. He tried to trot back to the RV but fell down. Night immediately ran next to Film Maker. He pressed a hoof against Film's forehead. "Is it a fever?" Film asked.

"No, thank Celestia. You're just dealing with a side effect of your first combat battle. It happens to a lot of ponies after they get done with a long battle. Saints is dealing with the same thing. Unfortunately for him, he had breakfast. So he's puking it out right now."

Film looked over Night Striker to see Saints throwing up a few feet away from Shadowblaze's lifeless body. "I see." He looked up into Night's eyes. "Night, do me a favor?"

"Sure." Night Striker obliged.

"Go check the RV. Almost everypony inside is dead. Get Fluttershy out here and see if there's anypony else alive."

Night's eyes went wide and he looked up at the open door of the RV. He looked back down at Film. "Will do." He said nervously. He got up and went inside the RV to see Fluttershy sitting against a wall with her hooves buried into her face. "Fluttershy?"

She looked up at him with tears streaming down her face. "Y-Yes?" She sobbed.

"Go outside and tend to Film Maker. You need him the most, right now, and I can tell." He said softly.

"O-Okay." She said nervously. She got up, trying her best not to look at her dead friends, and walked out of the RV.

Night looked over at the dead bodies. He slowly sat himself down onto his haunches as everything started to settle into him. "Oh my Celestia." Was all he could say.

He looked over the room and saw all the dead bodies lying all over the place. He started to say each name out loud. "Scootaloo, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Vinyl, Tw-Twilight?" He looked at Twilight's body. Bullets were marked all along her right side from her flank to her neck. Her eyes were wide open with fear in them and her mouth was agape.

At that point, Night Striker felt weak. His heart started to feel like as if somepony ripped it out of his chest and crushed it right in front of his very eyes. His ears drooped down flat against his skull. Tears started to well up in his eyes. "I....I....I..." He tried to manage to say something but failed. He looked down at his hooves. He stared blankly at them. He pulled them up to the back of his neck and pulled over his hood. "I never got to tell you.....how much I cared about you." He looked up at Twilight's body. He slowly got up and moved towards her. He closed her mouth and eyes. Then, he folded her hooves over her chest in a peaceful position.

"I should have told you sooner. But....I wasn't....brave enough. I can leap off of buildings, face death as many times as I want, run straight into the heat of battle, and I wasn't brave enough to tell you....how I felt." Night closed his eyes to try and prevent a tear from running down his cheek. It didn't work, the tear slipped past his eyelids and landed on Twilight's left eye. Making it look like she was crying. The tear ran down the left side of her face and into her mane. He used his hoof to wipe the tear off of her face. "I'm sorry."

Night looked up at the several dead ponies lying in front of him. He got up from Twilight's spot and started to lay everypony down in a peaceful pose. Once he was done, he went to the end of the RV to look at his work. All of them were lined up in one row. All of their faces were starting to hurt Night Striker even more than how he felt about Twilight. He looked past the bodies and saw a pile of towels lying undisturbed.

Night trotted up to the pile of towels and started to lay one towel for each face. He laid a towel on Scootaloo's. Then, Apple Bloom, Babs Seed, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Once he was done, he slowly exited the RV to attend to the bodies of Rarity, Spike, Sugar Rush, Derpy, and Shadowblaze.

Once he stepped outside, he saw that Film Maker and Saints already laid all the bodies in a row with hooves crossed and their eyes closed. Just like the way how Night did it. Night saw Fluttershy lying against the RV with her hooves buried into her face. He looked at Film Maker and saw that he was making his way to her. He sat down next to Fluttershy and wrapped her in his wings. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed very quietly. Night went back inside to get more towels from the RV.

Many Hours Later.

The sun was still in the sky but not for much longer. But while it was still in the sky, Night and Film decided to bury the bodies instead of letting them lay out in the open. They spent many hours burying their friends and loved ones while Saints watched over Dinky and Fluttershy. Once Film and Night were done, they all gathered around the burials for a moment of silence and respect.

After several moments of silence, Film was the first to speak. "Somepony should say something for them." Film suggested. He looked to his right to see everypony nodding their heads, except Night Striker. He looked back at the bodies. "Who'll do it?"

"I will." Night spoke up. He took four steps in front of him and turned around to face everypony. All eyes were on him. His hood was still on so he decided to take it off just for this speech. He looked down at the ground. Thinking of what to say for a moment. Then, it hit him. He knew exactly what to say for this. He looked up to see that all eyes were still on him and they were still waiting for him to speak.

"During our lives, we've all lost something special to us once. Something that could be as small as to a rag doll or to something as big as losing a friend. We all share this pain that we feel right now. These were wonderful ponies and they....they didn't deserve this. They deserved to have lived. They should be standing with us right now. Passing a bag of marshmallows and sharing stories of their lives before the.....the event. Instead, they're gone. I can assure you one thing: they may be gone, but they'll never be forgotten. They'll live in our hearts, our minds, our memories, and in our souls. They are apart of us forever. No matter what. We can never forget them. Ever." Night turned around to face all the burials. "And we're with them."