Chapter 6: Survivors

"Scootaloo." Babs replied.

"Do you know where she'll be?" Derpy asked.

Babs nodded. "The cutiemark crusaders clubhouse."

"Can you take us there?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes." Babs replied.

Babs started to make her way out of the room and to the front door. Derpy and Pinkiepie stayed close to Babs to make sure that she wouldn't be attacked by walkers. They stopped at the front door and Derpy stood right in front of the door. She opened the door and aimed her gun out at her front to make sure if a walker was close that she would shoot it. No walkers were around so they started making their way to the apple tree forest. They were walking for about ten minutes and they finally ended up at clubhouse. Babs started making her way up the ramp and stopped in front of the door so Pinkiepie and Derpy could catch up. Derpy stood right next to Babs and Pinkiepie hopped her way up the ramp. Once Pinkiepie got up the ramp, Derpy slowly opened the clubhouse door. They didn't walk in, instead they just stood there listening to the quiet wind. Derpy looked at Babs.

"Babs." Derpy said.

Babs looked at Derpy. "What?" Babs asked.

"Call Scootaloo. She needs a voice that she knows that she can trust." Derpy replied.

"Okay." Babs cleared her throat. "Scootaloo. It's me Babs. I found others." Silence was all that came from the clubhouse. "Scootaloo. Come on out." Still silence came from the clubhouse.

Derpy slowly walked in the room while aiming her gun. She slowly scanned the room checking every corner that the room had. The room was clear. Derpy lowered her gun and Pinkiepie walked in the room with Babs. Derpy looked at them and then there were hoofsteps. Derpy looked up and saw a string with beads on it. It was attached to a door. Derpy pulled the string down and a ramp started to form from the little door. Derpy stood at the entrance aiming her gun at the dark room.

"Scootaloo, is that you?" Babs asked.

Silence came from the dark room. Derpy slowly made her way up but felt pain in her tail. She looked down and saw Pinkiepie biting her tail. Pinkiepie let go and started digging her duffle bag. Pinkiepie pulled out a flashlight. Derpy put down the rifle and pulled out a .44 out of her duffle bag and grabbed the flashlight. She held the gun in her right hoof and the flashlight in her left hoof. Derpy turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the dark room. She made her way up the ramp. She started to slowly scan the room until she saw a tail. The color was dark pink. Derpy put her gun on the tail and the tail quickly moved and a small figure jumped on her and Derpy fell down the ramp. Derpy looked back up and it was Scootaloo.

"Derpy?" Scootaloo said in a surprised expression. She looked up and saw Pinkiepie and Babs. Scootaloo got up and hugged Babs.

"Why didn't you answer us?" Derpy asked.

"I was afraid that it was somepony that I didn't know?" Scootaloo replied.

"It's okay." Pinkie said.

Scootaloo stopped hugging Babs and Babs blew her hair like she always does. Scootaloo looked at Derpy,

"Scootaloo, do you know where the others are?" Derpy asked.

"Yes." Scootaloo replied.

Derpy's face turned into a joyful expression. "Where are they?" Derpy asked eagerly.

"They settled off next to a highway so they could gather as many ponies as they could. Unfortunately the highway got blocked and ponies started dying." Scootaloo replied.

"Do you know who's there?" Derpy asked.

"I don't know." Scootaloo replied.

"But weren't you with them?" Derpy asked.

"No. We just know where they are." Scootaloo replied.

Derpy sighed and looked down at the floor for a quick second and looked back at Scootaloo. "I guess that's better than nothing." Derpy gave a small smile.

"We were on our way until we a herd of those things start chasing after us. So we stayed here until they went away. But they never did. They were still there for several months and one day they started going away until you guys brought them back." Babs said.

"I think we better start heading out to the highway." Pinkie said.

There was a walker in front of the ramp at the front of the clubhouse. Pinkiepie aimed her shotgun at the walker but Derpy quickly ran up to lower Pinkiepie's gun. Pinkiepie looked at her and Derpy reached into her duffle bag and pulled out a knife.

"Where did you get that?" Pinkie asked.

"It was on the kitchen counter. I grabbed it before we left Sugar Cube Corner." Derpy replied.

Derpy looked at the walker and ran up towards it. She jumped on it from behind and stabbed it in the back of the skull. Derpy got up and turned around to see if there were anymore walkers. There were two more walkers behind her. She had her knife close to her. But then out of nowhere an arrow hit one of the walkers in the head and it fell down. Derpy's face showed the expression of shock. She heard moaning coming from behind her and she quickly turned around to stab it but it fell to the ground with an arrow in it's head. She looked up and saw a pegasus stallion with a black robe and he had a crossbow in his hooves. He aimed the crossbow at Derpy and Derpy jumped to her right and the pony shot the crossbow and the arrow hit a walker that was behind Derpy seconds ago. Derpy got up and saw all the walkers lying on the ground with arrows stuck in their skulls. Derpy turned to face the mysterious pony and he was just standing there.

"Who are you?" Derpy asked.

The pony put the crossbow in a saddlebag that was on his back and put his hooves to his hood. He pulled the hood down and showed his face. He had a scar on the right side of his lip and his mane was brown. He looked at Dinky with an expressionless face. He closed his eyes and put out one hoof in front of him and bowed down to Derpy.

"My name is Night Striker." Night stopped bowing and looked back at Derpy.

"My name is Derpy." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie poked her head out of the clubhouse and looked down at Derpy. She saw Night and she started hopping down the ramp to the clubhouse. Night saw Pinkiepie coming.

"Hello my name is Night Striker." Night bowed for a second.

"Cool my name is Pinkiepie."

"The mare who works at Sugar Cube Corner?"

"How did you know that?"

"How I have my secrets."

"What are you doing out here?" Derpy asked.

"I was sent out here to check out the gunshots. My group was nervous when they heard the shots. So I told them I would check it out." Night replied.

Babs Seed and Scootaloo walked out of the clubhouse and down the ramp. They noticed Night Striker and ran up to hug him. Derpy and Pinkiepie's faces showed the expression of shocked.

"You two know him?" Derpy asked.

"He's one of the survivors next to the highway." Scootaloo replied.

"I finally found you." Night said.

"What brought you here?" Babs asked.

"The gunshots. We were discussing about how to find you fillies and then there were gunshots. So I thought I would go check it out." Night replied.

"How did you these two fillies get split up from the group?" Pinkie asked.

"There was a herd of the walkers and they scared the fillies away." Night replied.

"How long have you been searching for them?" Derpy asked.

"Months." Night replied.

"Can you take us back to the group?" Derpy asked.

"Of course. I always remember my way back." Night replied.

Night stopped hugging Babs and Scootaloo and picked up his crossbow. He turned around and put on his hood. Derpy looked at his left hoof and noticed something attached to it.

"What's that on your wrist?" Derpy asked.

Night turned around and lifted his left hoof. A blade came out from behind his hoof. Derpy jumped back because the blade rised out quickly. Night still had his blade out and Derpy started examining it.

"Whoa what is it?" Derpy asked.

"It's a handmade hidden blade." Night replied.

"Where did you get it?" Derpy asked.

"There are some of us that keep secrets. This will remain a secret from everypony." Night retracted his blade and put his crossbow on his back with a strap that was attached to the crossbow. He started to walk away from the four ponies. Babs and Scootaloo stood close to his side. Derpy and Pinkiepie put their guns in the duffle bags that were on their backs and started to catch up with Night Striker.

Sunset. The sun was barely in the sky. They were walking for hours. Babs and Scootaloo were getting tired. The mares and stallion could have gone on forever but with fillies they had no choice but to find a place to sleep. Luckily there was an abandoned house just a few meters away. Derpy looked down and saw Scootaloo walking with her eyes closed and her head facing the ground. Derpy giggled and poked Scootaloo. Scootaloo jumped and looked up at Derpy. Derpy moved her duffle bag from her back to her right side.

"You look tired Scootaloo. Why don't you hop on my back?"

Derpy stopped and bend down so Scootaloo could hop on Derpy's back. Scootaloo accidentally poked Derpy's injured wing and Derpy groaned but she kept it very quiet so she couldn't upset Scootaloo. Once Scootaloo was lying on Derpy's back, she immediately fell asleep. Pinkiepie looked over at Babs.

"Babs would you like to hop on my back?" Pinkie asked.

Babs yawned and looked at Pinkiepie. "Sure." She blew her hair up like she always did.

Pinkiepie stopped and moved her duffle bag to her left side. Babs used the duffle bag to help her up. Babs laid on Pinkiepie's back and slowly started to close her eyes. Derpy and Pinkiepie began to try and catch up with Night Striker. They got closer and closer to the house. It was literally a few feet away. Derpy was about to wake up Scootaloo until Night Striker put his hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't wake her up. I'll search the house." Night said.

"Are you sure?" Derpy asked.

"Trust me." Night replied.

Night Striker pulled his crossbow to his front and started to enter inside the house. Derpy stood there watching the door for what seemed like seconds but was really five minutes. Night Striker came out with arrows in his right hoof. The arrows had some blood and one of them had an eye stuck to it.

"It's all clear. I'll be inside in a second. I got an eyeball stuck to my arrow again." Night said.

Derpy walked inside the house and saw a couch with some blankets. Derpy looked around the house. It was a small house. It had two bedroom and no upstairs. It had two bathrooms, a living room, and a small kitchen. Derpy and Pinkiepie found one of the bedrooms and they both laid the sleeping fillies in the bed. Derpy covered them up with a blanket and slowly walked out of the room and tried her best not to wake them up. Derpy walked out of the room and saw the other bedroom. Pinkiepie was already sleeping on the bed and Derpy shooked her head and smiled. She went out into the living room and saw Night Striker sitting on the couch with his crossbow in his lap. Night Striker saw Derpy and got off of the couch and sat down in a recliner that was right next to the couch.

"It's okay. I'll take first watch." Derpy said.

"No it's okay. I'm used to it." Night said.

"Okay.....Just make sure to wake me up so you don't stay up all night." Derpy said.

"I'll make sure of it." Night said.

Night Striker looked to his right and was facing at a window. The sun had set and Derpy yawned. Derpy walked towards the couch and laid down. She tried her best to keep her eyes open because she was afraid that a walker would attack her while she was sleeping. But she was too tired and she fell asleep. Night Striker gazed at Derpy sleeping and got up and walked towards the bedroom that Pinkiepie was sleeping in. He opened the door and saw extra blankets lying next to the bed. He slowly walked in and grabbed one of the blankets and left the room as quiet as a mouse. He went back into the living room and put the cover on Derpy. He sat back down on the recliner and gazed at Derpy again.

"You have been up way too long. I'm sorry but I can't let you take second watch." Night said out loud.

He looked back out the window with his crossbow up close to his chest. He payed full attention to the window and never letting his guard down.

..............

Morning. The sun slowly made it's way towards Derpy and the light made the mare open her eyes. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the sun in the window.

"You fucking suck, Night." Derpy said.

Derpy sat up and looked at the recliner next to the couch. Night Striker was not on the recliner. Derpy got up and walked towards the bedrooms. She went to the bedroom with Scootaloo and Babs. She opened the door quietly and saw the two fillies still sleeping on the bed. Derpy closed the door gently and went to the bedroom with Pinkiepie. She poked her head in the door and Pinkiepie was getting off of the bed. Pinkiepie noticed Derpy.

"Morning." Pinkie said.

"Uh Pinkie have you seen Night?" Derpy asked.

"No I just woke up."

"I don't know where he is."

"Well have you searched outside of the house. There was some noise coming from the roof but I thought it was birds."

"The roof." Derpy whispered.

Derpy looked up at the ceiling and looked back down to a Pinkiepie in her face. Derpy jumped back and sighed.

"Well I'm going to see if there is anything for us to eat." Pinkie said.

"Um....Okay." Derpy said.

Pinkiepie and Derpy left the room. Derpy went towards the living room to the front door. She opened the door and saw the morning sun rising in the sky. She walked out further away from the house for a look of the roof. She saw Night Striker with his crossbow in his lap and his gaze was paying attention to the sun.

"Hey Night!" Derpy yelled.

"Shh. You don't want any of them coming." Night responded.

"Sorry it's just that you didn't wake me up." Derpy said.

"I know, I'm sorry. I lost track of time last night." Night said.

"Well Pinkiepie is going to see if there is something to eat for breakfast." Derpy said.

"I already had breakfast."

"When?" Derpy asked.

"A few hours ago. I think." Night replied.

"What is there to eat?"

"Just oats. They're not expired so they're okay to eat."

"Well I'll just head inside then."

"Once you ponies are done eating. We're going to start heading back to camp again."

"Okay."

Derpy walked back inside the house and went towards the kitchen. Pinkiepie was pouring milk into a bowl of oats. Derpy walked out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom with Scootaloo and Babs. Derpy opened the door and saw the two fillies still sleeping. Derpy walked up next to the bed and gently rubbed Scootaloo's shoulders. Scootaloo groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Derpy walked to the other side of the bed and started to rub Babs' shoulder. Babs slowly opened her eyes and yawned.

"Good morning fillies." Derpy said.

"Morning Derpy." Scootaloo yawned and walked out of the room.

Babs slowly got off of the bed and started making her way towards the door.

"Babs can you wait a second?" Derpy asked.

"Sure." Babs stopped at the doorway and looked at Derpy.

"Do you know who else is there?" Derpy asked.

"At the campsite? No not all of them." Babs replied.

"Oh......okay." Derpy said with a depressed tone of voice.

"Are you looking for somepony?" Babs asked.

"My daughter Dinky." Derpy replied.

"I don't know if Dinky is alive. When the herd came. Rainbow Dash was the last pony to show up right before the herd showed up. She said I need help, need help. I didn't pay attention because the herd interrupted her and that's when we got separated from everypony else." Babs said.

"Well. Why don't you go into the kitchen. Pinkiepie's got some breakfast for us." Derpy said.

"Okay." Babs walked out of the room.

Derpy stood in the room for a moment and walked out of the room towards the kitchen.

..............

Forty minutes later. Everypony had eaten their small breakfast and was packed up. Derpy had Scootaloo on her back and Pinkiepie had Babs on her's. Night Striker was leading the two mares and they followed the stallion. They were walking down the dirt path that the house had leading to the entrance. They went away from the house. Night Striker thought that the dirt path would them to the highway. They kept on following it for about ten minutes and Night Striker's theory was correct. They were on the highway. There were some cars that were abandoned and others flipped. Before they started walking on the highway. Night Striker stopped the two mares to tell them something.

"We're looking for an RV. It'll have a pony on top with a hunting rifle. If there is an RV but nopony is on top of it. They could be sleeping inside." Night said.

"Why an RV?" Derpy asked.

"Because it marks right next to the campsite and it holds more ponies than the other cars do." Night replied. "Now let's get moving."

After Night Striker's speech. They started walking down the highway. Some of the cars had blood splattered on the windows. Others had open doors and dead ponies laying inside of them. Most had suitcases laying inside of them. They kept on walking. Derpy tried to move her left wing. But it still had some pain in it.

"Scootaloo can you do me a favor?" Derpy asked.

"Sure." Scootaloo replied.

"I need you to take the bandages off of my left wing."

"Okay."

Scootaloo used her mouth to rip a bandage so that it would be easier to unwrap it. Once the bandage ripped. Scootaloo started pulling the bandage off of her wing. Once all the bandages were off, Derpy tried to stretch her wing. While she was stretching her wing there were some noise of bones popping.

"Oh Celestia that feels so good." Derpy moaned.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Scootaloo asked.

"I haven't stretched my left wing in months. It actually feels good." Derpy replied.

Derpy retracted her wing back and put her attention in front of her because she almost ran into a car door. They kept on walking for another ten minutes and Night Striker stopped. There was a teal RV in front of them and on the right of the RV was tents. One of them were as big as Rarity's boutique and Derpy thought to herself. "Oh Rarity how did you survive with that thing?"

Night Striker approached the door of the RV and started to knock on it. The door opened and a brown pegasus came out with the cutiemark of a camera. The pegasus was a stallion.

"Night. It's good to see you back in one piece." The pegasus said.

"Good to see you again. Film Maker." Night said.

Night Striker and Film Maker gave each other a hug and Night Striker went inside the RV. Scootaloo and Babs got off of Derpy and Pinkiepie's backs so they could hug Film Maker. The two fillies ran up to Film Maker and hugged him. Film Maker hugged back and looked at Derpy.

"Hi, I'm Film Maker."

"Hi, I'm Derpy."

"And I'm Pinkiepie. I already know who you are." Pinkie hopped up and down.

"You do? How?" Film asked.

"Duh. I'm Pinkiepie and I know everypony in Ponyville." Pinkie replied.

"I was only to a couple of the parties that you threw before the apocalypse began." Film stopped hugging Scootaloo and Babs.

"They have to meet everypony else." Scootaloo said.

Babs blew her hair up and looked at Scootaloo. "Once they're up." Babs said.

"Give them a couple of minutes. When you're the only one with a watch. Well you know when everypony will be awake." Film looked down at his watch. "Which should be right about now."

All the tents started to zip open. There were six tents and they all started to zip open almost all at once. The first tent was orange the ponies who came out of it was Applejack and Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom saw Babs and Scootaloo and ran up to them and made a dog pile out of both of them. The big boutique tent had two ponies come out of it. The two ponies were Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle saw Scootaloo and Babs and decided to join in on the dog pile that Apple Bloom has started. The third tent was green and it had one pony and a bunny come out. It was Fluttershy and her pet bunny Angel. The fourth tent was purple and it had Twilight and Spike coming out of the entrance. Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity saw Pinkiepie and Derpy and they all ran up towards them to start a group hug. The fifth one was purple and gold and it had a unicorn with a saint symbol for a cutiemark. The unicorn was a stallion. Film Maker saw the unicorn.

"Saint! Your brother is back! He went inside the RV!" Film yelled at Saint Wubs.

Saint ran up to the RV and opened the door. He walked inside the RV and said "Wub a dub dub motherfucker."

Night Striker had a loud laugh and you could hear it from outside the RV. The sixth tent was blue and one pony came out. It was Rainbow Dash. She saw everypony else in the group hug and ran up to the group to join in.

"How did you two survive?" Rainbow asked.

"Hush now Rainbow Dash. That can wait for later, right now we just have to enjoy the moment." Rarity remarked.

They stopped the group hug and looked at Derpy. Derpy's face showed depression.

"What's the matter Derpy?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nothing." Derpy replied.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on Derpy's shoulder. Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash. "There's somepony who really misses you right now."

Derpy looked at the blue tent and saw a small purple unicorn filly come out. Derpy gasped. It was Dinky. Dinky noticed Derpy and began to run towards Derpy yelling "mommy."

"Oh my muffin." Derpy said.

Derpy fell to her knees to embrace the hug that Dinky was going to give. Dinky jumped up and was caught by Derpy's grasp. Derpy held Dinky tight and Dinky was crying.

"Why are you crying muffin?" Derpy asked.

"I missed you so much mommy. Please don't ever leave me again." Dinky replied.

"I won't. I promise." Derpy said. Night Striker and Saint walked out of the RV and everypony gazed at the reunited mother and daughter.

Author's Note

You won't believe how much thought and time it took to make this chapter. I had no idea how to continue and I was consumed by so much time with JROTC this week. I got sick one day and I had to go through hell to make it up. After school Monday. I had to make up PT (Physical Training) and it was push day. That meant push ups. I thought to myself okay a few push ups won't hurt and then we can run. I was wrong. They had us doing push ups for an hour straight. No joke. By the time I was done the instructor said. "You did double the amount of time that you were supposed to do." I gave him a look but nothing else. Tuesday I had to stay after school for five hours to do three files of promotions and awards. I work for personnel and it was my first day. Personnel is where your supposed to keep track on who gets ranked up and what day they get promoted. I was by myself too so that sucked. Wednesday. I had take care of my brother and Thursday my friend was having a rough day and I had to cheer him up. Friday is today. Well it won't be depending on what day you read this Chapter. I finally got this Chapter done on a Friday. Hopefully you enjoyed this story and stay tuned for the next Chapter and I'll make sure to intensify the story really soon. Get your napkins everypony because this shit is getting intense. Have a good day or night.