Lucas Chronicles, the Afterstory Part 2: Monster Behind Mountain Dew Interlude; Of Skillets, Waffles, and Other Things

Fluttershy woke up with a jolt the next morning. She gasped, "OH NO! I overslept! I forgot to feed Angel!" She started hyperventilating, "Oh, he must be so-

"Who's 'Angel'?" Jen interrupted the fast breathing pegasus.

She blinked at the drummer who sat around a small campfire with Seth, Korey, and Bobbery. The pegasus shook her head as remembered where she was. "Oh... um... he's my pe- ...my friend. I used to take care of him..."

"Was he homeless? Or hurt?" The red-headed mare asked.

Fluttershy paused. "...You could say that..."

"Oi! Look who finally decided to wake!"

Fluttershy jumped as she recognized the voice of Bobbery. She stuttered, "O-oh... U-um... G-G-Good m-morning..."

"Aye, you don't have to be so nervous." The spirit sailor stated.

The pegasus trembled, "B-B-But, y-you're a g-g-g-ghost!"

"By Blabberton's Beard, I thought we were over this." The Bob-omb rolled his eyes. "Arr, where is that bravery you had when asking me to help?"

The mare shakily replied, "I-It drowned in the ocean..."

Bobbery laughed, "Aye, I know what that's like. Alright, I'll make you a deal. To show you that I'm not a bad sea-bomb, ask me a question. I'll answer anything." He smiled.

"Oh, um, o-okay..." Fluttershy brought her hoof to her chin as she thought. She then remembered the question she posed to Podley back in Rougeport. "W-What happened to Scarlette?"

The old spirit's expression dropped as he thought about his wife. It no longer held any trace of happiness as he sighed. "Aye, that is a sad tale of woe, one that I do not wish to revisit. But, I did promise to you anything. Do you still want to hear it?"

Fluttershy looked down as her mane covered her eye. "Oh, if you really don't want to tell us, I underst-"

"I'd like to hear it." Korey interrupted.

"EEP!" Fluttershy squeaked at being interrupted.

Bobbery sighed. "Alright. 'Tis a sad tale woe. Don't say I didn't warn you.

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"Scarlette... My Scarlette perished long ago..." Fluttershy gasped. "Aye, Scarlette, she was the love of my life, even rivaling my love of the sea. Since I was indeed a sailor, I spent many weeks- sometimes months, even- at a time, sailing on the ocean. But, Scarlette... My Scarlette always waited for my return." Bobbery gazed into the fire they hand made earlier that morning. "However... one icy winter, while I was out on the ocean... Scarlette fell extremely ill... Her condition only grew worse by the day. By the time I had returned, she had passed away...

"I thought that I could have saved her if I had been there. My guilt had penetrated into my dreams, causing horrible nightmares. I had felt like I failed her... From that day, I vowed to never sail again. I sank into deep depression. But one day, a young man by the name of Mario gave me an old, tattered letter. It was from my beloved Scarlette. That letter is my most precious treasure. Even to this day, I perfectly remember the message it contained."

He paused, then began to quote, "My love, if you are reading this letter, then I am no longer by your side. Because fate has stepped between us, I have decided to write you this letter. If you're reading this, I must have passed away while you were out to sea... I can only assume that you will blame yourself for it, my sweet Bobbery. Although my life was short, you gave me more than a lifetime's worth of joy. Though you will mourn, I beg that you remember that time, like love, is a tide. You are one with the sea, as you were one with me. Do not lose both your life's loves."

He sighed, "Aye. There you have it. That's the story."

Fluttershy, who had already given up holding her tears and wept openly, sobbed, "I... I... I..."

Jen also allowed a few salty tears to fall. "I... I can't even imagine going through that..."

Korey looked on the verge of tears herself, "I... dunno what to say..."

Even Seth had gotten choked up, "Um... Wow..."

Bobbery nodded, "Aye. I warned you that it was a sad tale of woe."

Silence fell. After the ponies had calmed down and got a hold of themselves, Fluttershy wiped the last few tears from her eyes and asked, "Wait, where's John and Lucas?"

Just then, they heard a scream resonate from the precipice.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?" Jen shouted.

Korey answered, "This probably goes without saying, but we should go- y'know what, nevermind." She stood up, grabbed her saddlebags, and ran towards the screaming, followed by everyone else (who had also grabbed their saddlebags).

As they pushed past the edge of the trees, they heard John shouting, "-don't even know how you got down there right now!"

"I don't either! I fell!" They heard me shout back.

Fluttershy's eyes grew wide, "Lucas, hang on!"

They raced past Bobbery's statue, only to notice John leaning over the edge, trying to trying to save a dangling me with only Seth's baseball bat.

"Why'd you do this? It completely ruined our day!" John struggled, trying to pull me up.

Seth ruffled his eyebrows, "How did you..." He felt around in his saddlebag. "How did you get my bat?"

Ignoring the guitarist, I attempted to get a better hold on the bat, "Would you just help me up?!?"

John grunted, "Listen, just listen to me!" I did as he asked. "...How long have you had glasses?"

"...WHAT DOES THAT MATTER, JOHN?!? Just pull me up!"

Fluttershy started pulling on John's flank in her efforts to help. "I didn't notice them 'til today. Just right now, I just noticed them."

"Hold on Lucas!" Fluttershy cried as she pulled.

John replied sarcastically, "...Thanks Fluttershy. I don't think he would've known to do that, without you."

I screamed, "Get me up! Pull me up!"

"I'm trying to!" John responded.

But... their efforts were in vain. John lost his footing and fell, dragging Fluttershy with him.

"CRAAAAAPPP!!" I yelled as I panicked and flailed around in the air. "Fluttershy! Quick! You have to fly us out of here!"

"O-OKAY!" She closed her eyes and tried unfolding her wings. They did not. "...They're stuck!"

"AW, COME ON!!!" I yelled. I looked over to John, who was flailing his own appendages. Then, I noticed some of the appendages that he was flailing were wings. I shouted to him, "JOHN! You're a pegasus! You can fly us out of here!"

"I'm a what?" He looked to his own wings and commented, "Oh, wow! I have wings!" He paused. "...I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FLY AT ALL!"

"CRAP!" I yelled as the pointed rocks grew ever closer. I began flailing again, praying for some miracle. It was then that my hand brushed across my Chaos Emerald. "CHAOSCONTROL!" I yelled as I grasped my gem. A portal opened just above the rocks, and we fell through (and didn't die. That was nice).

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[QUICK AUTHORS NOTE THAT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: From here on out for the remainder this chapter, there are EXTREME spoilers for the mid-season 4 finale for 'The Walking Dead'. If you've already seen it or don't care for it to be spoiled, keep reading. If not, skip to the next chapter. I'll do my best to explain anything important, spoiler-free, in a later chapter. You've been warned. Also, this is the only place the gore tag appears in the story. And yes, I censor my own work. I DO NOT like foul language, but I still wanna capture the essence of a character to the best of my ability.]

We landed vertically in what seemed to be a forested area, but since we still held our momentum from the cliff, we tumbled and somersaulted in some leaves.

I shook my my head and took a deep breath. "Oof... Aye, that was painful..."

"To be fair," John stated, "it wasn't as painful as could have been."

"Good point." I agreed. My eyes made a sweep of the area, but it was so dark that they couldn't make out anything in particular. "So, where did we end up? I can't see a thing..."

Fluttershy smiled (I think) as she stated, "I think I help with that!" She reached into her saddlebag.

As she felt around inside her bag, I could have sworn I heard something rustling in the leaves. Although, I didn't worry about it, as it sounded like it was a decent distance away.

"AHA!" Fluttershy exclaimed as a flashlight now rested in her jaws. She flipped it on (using her tongue, I would assume) and squee'd.

She had then noticed the sound that I heard, and had shined the flashlight's beam in it's direction. To mine and John's surprise, it was another human!

But... something seemed off to me... The way his head was aimlessly cocked upward and the way he stumbled over sticks and leaves...

I gasped, "OH NO..."

"What's wrong?" John raised his eyebrows.

"F-F-F-Fluttershy..." I spoke shakily.

"What ih it?" Fluttershy asked, the flashlight still shining from her mouth onto the 'human'.

I started hyperventilating, "T-T-Turn the light off. Now."

"Bu-"

"DO IT NOW!" I shouted as I leaped for the flashlight. To my dismay, all I did what knock it out of Fluttershy's mouth. The beam still glared at the 'human' as it growled and started running at us. "CRA-A-A-A-A-A-AP!!" I cried as I was immobilized by fear.

As the 'human' drew closer, I noticed various things about it that confirmed my fears. The light from the flashlight showed pale gray skin and eyes that were glazed over. Blood dripped from it's maw. But the most noticeable thing about it that gave me the knowledge of what it was and where the Chaos Control had sent us... was that its stomach had been ripped open, with varying organs spilling out of its abdomin...

It shouldn't have been running towards us... But it was.

Fluttershy raised a nervous eyebrow, speaking with slight fear after hearing my reaction, "A-Are h-humans' stomachs sup-p-posed to look like th-that?"

John and I shook our heads. I covered my mouth with my hands and started heaving, "W-W-WALKER..."

Then, my brain finally decided to work slightly and yelled for me to draw Chillrend. However, my body wouldn't listen. With the Walker only mere yards away, my hands finally decided to obey my brain and they drew my Blade of Eternal Frost.

Since I was the one that had shouted, the Walker leaped towards me. It knocked me on the ground, trying to both take a bite out of my flesh and rip my chest open. The only thing that stopped it from accomplishing this was me pushing back with Chillrend, shoving against its hands and mouth.

However, it didn't relent, even to the point slicing itself on my blade as it drove ever harder. I pushed back, but my strength was fading. Within seconds, the Walker's eyes were mere inches from mine as half its jaw forced through my blade, blood dripping onto my Dr. Pepper T-Shirt. Its hands stopped grasping Chillrend and instead began clawing at my stomach.

Still pushing back with my blade, I closed my eyes and sobbed.

I didn't want to believe it, but I knew this was the end for me...

But then, I felt the pressure of the Walker's weight leave my blade, and then, off of my body. I opened my eyes to see both John and Fluttershy flying, wrapping their hooves around the Walker and holding the the flesh-eater back.

The Walker struggled to break free of the pegasi's grasp, but to no avail. The strength of my friends had been too much for the undead to fight.

Fluttershy grunted, "I- *grunt* I don't know what happened to you, but- *grunt* what you're doing isn't very nice!"

As she said that, I saw the 'human' shifted its gaze from me to the nearest hoof holding it...

Fluttershy held it at it's neck in a choke hold...

It shrieked as it twisted its head. It opened its mouth and, in what felt like slow motion, its jaws began closing the distance between her foreleg.

...I could only look on in horror...

But, just as the Walker was about to chomp down on the yellow hoof, a crossbow bolt impaled its head as 'time' returned to a normal feeling.

Fluttershy gasped and dropped the body, causing it to slump in John's hooves.

Now knowing where we had ended up, I just laid Chillrend by my side, sat down in a fetal position and held my head in my hands, sobbing slightly.

"Is everyone all right?" I heard slightly rough, southern, male voice ask.

I stopped sobbing and lifted my face. I looked around for the voice, but it stayed out of the area illuminated by Fluttershy's flashlight.

John called back as he lowered the Walker's body to the ground, "Yeah, I think we're okay!"

"Did anyone get bitten?"

The two pegasi examined themselves. When they couldn't find anything, Fluttershy responded, "I-I don't th-think so!"

"Alright," the voice called, "we're steppin' into the light. Don't make any sudden movements."

To my utter joy and sorrow, I recognized the two humans that had entered the area encompassed by Fluttershy's light. One with a combed-back hairstyle, a slightly unshaven beard, and a filthy shirt, aimed a six-shooter revolver pistol and entered first. I could tell his other hand had been wounded recently by the gauze that was wrapped around it.

As he entered, he paused, shocked at the sight of the pegasi. The other man with relatively long, messy hair, and a sleeveless, leather jacket followed the first, brandishing a crossbow.

My head slumped into my lap as I sobbed even harder.

The second man stopped next to the first, jaw agape, and aimed his weapon at the two pegasi. "What the **** are they?" he asked in a southern accent of his own.

Fluttershy shakily squeaked, "I-I-I'm F-F-Fluttershy..."

"It TALKS?!?" The second man exclaimed as he aimed his crossbow at the mare. Fluttershy began to cower.

"Now, hold on a minute Daryl." The first man put his hand on Daryl's crossbow. "They were fightin' the Walkers just like we are." He turned to Fluttershy and knelt to meet her at eye level. Seeing how frightened the mare had become, he spoke in a gentle voice and sheathed his revolver, "Alright now, we ain't gonna hurt you. What are you? Who are you guys?"

Seeing that this man attempted to be kind- unlike the other one-, Fluttershy stopped cowering. It also helped that the man's accent reminded her of her late friend Applejack. She hesitantly spoke, "M-My name is Fluttershy... a p-pegasus pony from Ponyville..."

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Oh, you gotta be *****in' me, Rick!"

Fluttershy recoiled slightly at Daryl's vulgarity. The one called Rick ignored his companion and spoke again, "Who are your friends?"

He looked at John and me. Fluttershy tried to introduce us, "Oh, u-um... The other pony's name is John..."

"What's up?" John nervously smiled.

"A-And that's L-Lucas..." Fluttershy pointed at me.

"...What's wrong with him?" Daryl motioned his crossbow at me, still sobbing, head in my lap.

John replied, "We... We dunno. He was attacked by that thing, then he just sat down and started crying."

The two humans paused. Then, Daryl's eyes grew wide as he exclaimed, "He must've been bitten!" He aimed his crossbow at my head. "I'm sorry."

When I heard his reaction, my brain actually decided to arrive at the gravity of the situation. "NONONO!" I waved my hands in front of me, "It didn't bite me! I swear!"

"We can't take that chance." Daryl stated, applying pressure to his trigger.

"DARYL!" Rick stopped him. "What if he's telling the truth? We have to at least check him."

Daryl sighed as he loosened his finger on the trigger, although still aiming it at me. Rick then knelt down and proceeded to examine my body for any bite wounds. Just as I expected, there were none to be found.

He sighed in relief, as did I. He stood up and stated, "It's not safe out here right now. Do y'all have a safe camp?"

We all shook our heads. "Not exactly..." I replied. My hand hovered over my Chaos Emerald as I envisioned the precipice that we fell off of. I pulled it away, not wanted to scare Rick and Daryl with a random Chaos Control warp.

Rick paused, "...Y'all can stay with us for the night."

Daryl pulled him aside and hissed, "Rick! We don't know who they are! We've worked too hard and have had too many people screw us over already..."

Rick whispered, "They have a survivor, Daryl! And he's just a kid, too! Leaving them out here is no different from murdering them. We aren't murders. On top of that, the horses could be useful."

"Fine..." Daryl mumbled. He then noticed Chillrend by my side. "But what are we gonna do about that?" He motioned towards my sword. "What if we let him in and he kills someone?"

"He's just a kid, Daryl!"

"A kid with a sword, Rick! He was able to hold off a Walker even after it jumped him! He clearly knows how to use it! What if he kills Judith, Rick?! Or Carl? What then?"

"He doesn't seem cruel... But you have a point." Rick sighed and walked over to me as he reached for my sword.

I grabbed his wrist, "Woah, what are you doing?"

"We'll give it back when we can trust you. I'm sorry, but for now, we can't take any risks."

I hesitantly released his wrist as I sighed, "...You have to hold it by the hilt. If you touch the blade, it'll freeze you solid..."

I handed him my sword sheath as he nodded and headed my advice.

He sheathed the blade and strapped it around his back. "Let's go." He stated as he offered his hand to help me up.

He drew his revolver and a flashlight of his own and began walking. I followed him, along with John behind me, and Fluttershy behind him (she also had retrieved her flashlight and put it back into her saddlebag). Daryl covered the rear.

It fell silent other than our feet and hooves crunching the leaves and sticks. There was an occasional Walker here and there, but Rick and Daryl dispatched them quickly and quietly.

"U-Um... Mr. Rick?" Fluttershy broke the silence (not very effectively, but broke it nonetheless).

"What is it?" He asked quietly, not wanting to attract any more Walkers than necessary.

"Y-You told us that it wasn't safe... but why were you two out? I mean, I'm thankful you were there to save us, but..."

He replied, "Two members our group went missing this morning. We've been searching all day. We were just about to stop the search until tomorrow, but that's when we heard your screams and saw your light. Now, I have a question. Where'd you come from?"

The mare started, "Oh, um, well, we-"

"It's kind of a long story." I interrupted.

Rick paused, "...Then, let's save it for tomorrow when it's safe. If you want to stay with us though, I have some other questions for you."

"O-Okay..." The mare responded.

"First, how many Walkers have you killed?"

Fluttershy was taken aback, "Kill? Oh no, I couldn't ever do that! Especially not to a new creatures! They could be friendly!"

"...What, have you been living in a magical world of friendship an' rainbows?" Daryl scoffed.

The pegasus blushed, "Um... actuallly..."

Before she could finish, the crossbowman spat bitterly, "There ain't nothing 'friendly' about the Walkers, Buttersky. H***, if it weren't for me, you'd be one."

"It's... u-um... it's Fluttershy-" she gasped, "Wait, what?!? Wh-What do you mean?"

Daryl stopped, jaw agape. "Holy ****. You really don't know what Walkers are, do you?"

"U-Um... I-I..." She stuttered.

"To be fair," John interrupted, "that was the first 'Walker' we've ever seen."

It was Rick's turn to stop. "...What?" He turned and displayed a questioning expression. "How's that possible? The virus outbreak was a year and a half ago!"

I answered him. "It's all apart of that long story I mentioned." He shrugged and kept walking.

Fluttershy's ears dropped as her pupils shrunk, "A v-v-virus d-d-did that to the h-human that atta-tacked us?"

Rick nodded as he continued to walk. "I'll explain it some other time. I still have some other questions I need to ask."

"Fire away." I said.

He paused, as if his next question was hard to ask. "...How many people have you killed?"

I furrowed my brow. "None! We're not murderers!" I waited for the question. "...Anything else?"

Rick paused, "... I don't think so. I think the rest of my questions will be answered by your story."

"I have one." Daryl spoke. "How come you horses can talk?"

Fluttershy smiled, "Oh, all ponies from Equestria can talk! We learn to speak when we're just little foals!"

Daryl facepalmed as he whispered, "Why'd I even ask?"

There were no more questions as we were led through the forest, eventually coming to a huge, fortified prison. As we approached, the large gate made out of shipping crates opened, allowing us entrance. A young boy with long-ish, black, greasy hair and a cowboy hat- the operator of the fence mechanism- dashed over to us.

"...Where are they, Dad?" He asked.

Rick shook his head. "We didn't find them... We'll search again tomorrow..."

"...Who- WHAT is that?" The boy gave us a cautious look.

"We found them in the forest. They're going to join us." Rick stated tiredly.

The boy exploded. "DAD! We can't! There's not enough rations as it is!"

"CARL!" Rick chastised, "We DO NOT turn away other survivors who need help! Do you hear me?"

Carl looked at his shoes, "Yes, Dad..."

Rick sighed. "Now, it's late. Go get back in the house." Carl complied as he walked towards one of the cell blocks, but the father doubted that his son would stay there.

Rick shook his head, tossed my sword and sheath to Daryl, "Put this with the weapons supply, then you can go to bed."

Daryl nodded and walked away as well.

Rick took a deep breath as he ran his hands through his hair. "Come on. Let me show you to the cells you'll be sleeping in."

We nodded and followed him into the cells. I do believe he led us into Cell Block C and gave us the cell closest to the stairs.

He locked us in as he gave us a single warning, "Don't go into Cell Block D. We have our sick in there for the time being. Goodnight."

In all reality, we really weren't that tired, considered we had all just woken up before teleporting to this world.

After Rick left, John asked me, "What happened back there? With the Walker, I mean? You kinda had a mental breakdown. That's not like what I've come to expect to see from you, y'know?"

I sighed. "I think- no- I KNOW we're in the world of The Walking Dead..."

I expounded as I told them what I knew of this world. I told them that the Walkers were indeed zombies, so standard zombie rules applied (get bitten and you turn, have to deal a fatal brain wound to kill, etcetera). But then, I told them that, in this world, the zombie pathogen had infected everyone- every single person- and took effect after death, unless that person died by head wound.

Fluttershy started shaking, "D-D-Does that mean th-that we have the v-virus now too?"

I shook my head, "I have no idea... I'm gonna stay hopeful and say no."

"Wait, can't we just leave now then? I mean, like, before one of gets bitten?" John asked.

I again had to sadly shake my head. "They have Chillrend..." I sighed. "I'm going to try to retrieve it tomorrow. After that, we should be good. Just... Just stay alive, please?"

Although we weren't tired, laid down in the cots and attempted to sleep until morning.

We failed miserably, of course, so we just ended up talking to each other about our lives and stuff.

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"Rise an' shine Tinker Bell." Daryl threw open the cell door. "You and your talking horses have some explaining to do."

Despite not falling asleep immediately last night, we did actually crash at some point. I moaned as I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Fluttershy was already up and moving, attempting to wake John.

John murmured as I slowly trudged out of the cell, "Aw, Korey... Five more minutes..."

The more the mare tried tried to wake the sleeping colt, the less successful she seemed to be. Then, she had an idea. "John, we're live in fifteen minutes!"

The grey pegasus snorted and jolted up, "I'm awake! I'm alive!"

Fluttershy giggled, "I'll do what I want, 'cause this is my life!"

John chuckled as well, "Oh, hey! Mornin' Fluttershy!"

She smiled, "Good morning!"

The rocker turned his head and scanned the cell, then asked, "Where's Lucas?"

"Over-" I tried to call from outside the cell, but was stifled by a yawn. "Over here."

"Alright." He called back.

The two pegasi trotted out of the cell to see me rubbing my face tiredly, Daryl leaning against the stairwell's guardrails smoking a cigarette, Rick crossing his arms, and Rick's son, Carl, standing with his hands in his pockets.

Rick started, "Alright, time for some explaining. If y'all are gonna live with us, we gotta know where you come from. We need to know if we can trust you."

"But-" I yawned again, "-but if you just give me my sword, we can be on our way back."

Daryl raised his eyebrow, "Back? Back where? You said you didn't have safe camp."

I sighed as I tried to wipe the sleep from my face. "I guess I really do have some explaining to do."

I shook my head as I started explaining. I told them what I could about Equestia (with a little help from Fluttershy), the properties of Chillrend and my Chaos Emerald, my original adventures in Equestria, our current adventure, and the truth about John.

Their jaws dropped. Daryl, whose cigarette had fallen on the ground, picked it back up and spoke, "If you told me about that two years ago, I would've said you were bat**** insane. But after the outbreak..."

Rick finished the thought as he rubbed his chin, "...It might be believable. But, that gem, the Discord Diamond or whatever," he nodded to the gem strapped to my hip, "can it really do that? If it can, that'll validate your story."

I sighed as I tiredly muttered as I barely touched the Chaos Emerald, "Chaos-" I yawned, "Control..."

A portal opened to who-knows-where, then I quickly closed it, completing my demonstration.

The three other humans' jaws dropped for a second time. And, again, Daryl was the one to speak, "That... That means you can bring us out of this h***hole of a world!"

They all looked hopeful. That is, until I had to shoot down that idea with a shaking of my head. "I don't think I can." Their expressions fell into disappointment.

"Why not?" Carl asked. "All you gotta do is say those two words. It opens a portal, and we all walk through, leavin' all the Walkers here. Simple enough."

I had to shake my head again, "It's actually not really that simple. Y'see, you guys know that everyone in this world is infected with the zombie pathogen. When you die, you turn. We all know that."

Daryl started to ask, "Wait, how do you kno-"

"Not important." I interrupted. "Anyway, if we take you guys, sure, we'll leave the Walkers behind, but what happens when one of you die in the 'new' world?"

Rick sighed. "...So, we have to stay... Can't bring the infection to other worlds. But what about you three? You're here. Y'all are most likely infected just like the rest of us."

"About that," I yawned, then continued, "while I can't exactly refute that, I can say that we've only been in this world for a night, while everyone else has been here since the outbreak. I'm not positive that we actually have it."

Rick paused, "... I understand. Daryl, get the boy his sword."

Daryl nodded as he started walking away. However, he was stopped by the bone-chilling sound of a gun being cocked.

Carl aimed his silenced firearm at me. "Give us the gem."

"Carl!" Rick took a step towards him as my heart instantly jumped into my throat.

The young idiot growled, "If anyone takes one step closer, I shoot him." He aimed the gun back at me as he commanded, "Place the gem in front of you. Now."

"CARL!" Rick hissed. "Put the gun down!"

I took step towards the boy as I tried to talk some sense into him. "Carl, you can't really-"

This was stifled as he shot my foot. I howled in agony. Any tiredness left in me had fled as I knelt down and grasped my foot.

"CARL!!!!" Rick yelled.

"How DARE you..." I heard Fluttershy seethe. I noticed she started trembling. But from the sound of her voice, it didn't sound like she trembled in fear, but rather, in utter rage.

With pain reeling in my wound, I looked up at Carl as he stated, "Now, just give us the Emerald and we'll-"

I painfully looked up at him, only to see that he had frozen, pure fear drowning his face. His hand started shaking violently as he switched his aim to Fluttershy.

Rick had also shakily drawn his revolver.

Confused, I looked behind me to see Fluttershy's muscles bulked out like in the Glitz Pit and her teeth had sharpened like razors, like on the Waffle Skiff. What's more, her eyes no longer retained their usual, kill-with-d'aws, turquoise cuteness. Rather, the entire eye had become drowned in a deep blue...

This wasn't Fluttershy standing before us... This was a monster...

"HOW DARE YOU!!!!!" The beast screamed, its voice now distorted beyond all recognition.

My eyes grew wide in fear. I stumbled backwards, landing beside John. The creature heard me hit the ground and turned. "W-What's wrong?" It spoke as it took a step towards me.

With immeasurable amount of pain shooting through my foot and my fear growing, I struggled scoot myself away from the monster. John began backing up with me.

The beast took another step, then another. With what I assumed to be a confused expression, it spoke again. "A-Are you okay?"

Backing as far away as I could, I soon hit a cell door. Now trembling, I covered my face with my arms and shouted, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!!"

"Wha-"

The sound of a silenced handgun interrupted it as its head shot upwards. I uncovered my face to see that Carl had shot it.

However, what terrified me the most was that the gunshot hadn't even left a mark. And considering the horrific pain shooting through my profusely-bleeding foot...

It growled, turned and instantly pounced on him (which was quite remarkable from where we were).

Tackling him, she took the gun with her dagger-teeth, and tossed it aside. It gazed at Carl menacingly as a cruel smile spread across its face.

Immobilized by fear, all I could do was look on as the monster's maw drew closer to Carl's face.

"F-F-Fluttershy!" I heard John shakily shout, "You gotta s-stop this!"

The beast's head shot upward, as if realizing something. It's muscles faded back into normality as it shook its head.

It looked back to us, its eyes now back to the crippling, turquoise cuteness, and teeth were no longer sharp as daggers.

It quickly leaped backwards off of Carl, muttering, "I...I...I..."

Carl leaped for his gun, grabbed it, and aimed his weapon at the 'monster'. It started backing up at the sight of the weapon, until eventually hitting the cell door beside me.

I fearfully glanced over at it. It did the same, giving me a terrified look, as if it were on the edge of tears.

I sighed. This isn't the monster that attacked Carl just now. This is our friend... Dunno what that was all about, but it's over now, I guess...

My thoughts were interrupted by Carl, "Any last words, monster?"

Fluttershy's pupils shank to the size of pinpricks and her ears dropped as she started weeping, "I-I... I did- didn't... mean to-"

"CARL!" Rick shouted as Daryl wrapped his arms around the idiot child.

Carl struggled to break the hold. "LET ME GO! IT'S A MONSTER! WE HAVE TO KILL IT!"

Daryl grunted. "You're the one who shot the kid's foot, boy."

Rick crossed his arms. "If you hadn't done that, the horse probably wouldn't have done what it had. Clearly, we don't yet have a full grasp of what ponies from- you said 'Ponyville' yesterday, right?" Fluttershy shakily nodded. Rick continued. "We clearly don't know anything about them, or what their capable of." Rick walked over and wrenched Carl's handgun from his grasp. He glared at his son. "Now, Daryl's gonna let you go. You going to sit back in your cell for the time being and-"

"RICK! DARYL!" A negro woman with her hair in a bun walked upstairs. "Tyreese wants to-" She paused momentarily to stare at my comrades and me. She shook her head, deciding her news was more important at the moment. "Tyreese wants to see you. Now."

Rick raised his eyebrow, "Can it wait, Sasha? We're a little busy."

She shook her head. "I really don't think it can."

Rick sighed as he holstered Carl's weapon. "Well then, get some medical attention for the new kid." He nodded to my bleeding foot. "We had an... accident."

"Alright." she nodded as she flew back down the stairs.

He looked back to us, "We shouldn't be gone long. Just don't..." He gave Fluttershy an unsure stare, "Don't do that thing again."

They retreated down the stairs behind Sasha. I could hear Daryl bellow, "Yeah, that was freakin' horrifying. An' that's comin' from me."

When they were out of earshot, I let out a painful scream as I grasped my foot. "AH-HAH-HA-HOOWWWWW!!!"

"A-Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, as if just noticing my bloodstained shoe.

"Not really!" I growled through my teeth. Fluttershy whimpered. Calming down slightly (well, as much as my gunshot wound would allow), I apologized, "I'm sorry, that wasn't kind of me."

John raised his eyebrow. "...Were you holding in the shriek until they left?"

I gave an embarrassed smile, "Kinda..."

He shot a look that pretty much asked 'Why?'. Before I could answer his silent question, Sasha had returned with some medical gauze, a towel and a small bucket of water.

"Alright, I need you to try to take off your socks and shoes." She calmly ordered. I did as she asked. I cringed slightly as the DC shoe slipped off, and a little more when I tugged off the sock. "Now, place your foot in the bucket."

I hesitated at first, but then I obeyed. Searing pain instantly shot through my foot as it hit the water. As I submerged it further, my body started shaking. My foot felt like it had been set on fire. I let out a horrendous shriek of pain. I noticed both Fluttershy and John had to look away. After completely submerging my foot and holding back my tears, Sasha stated, "Alright, you can take it out now."

I complied. She dried my foot as best as she could without causing anymore pain. Then, she quickly wrapped the wound tied with the gauze. As she tied the last bit of it, she grunted, "Alright, you should be *grunt* good." She rubbed her hands together and smiled, "Now, I'm no doctor, but I did see two bullet holes, one on top and one on bottom. I think that means that the bullet passed completely through the foot."

Sighing in relief at that straight-up miracle, I said a small prayer of gratitude, and then thanked my 'medic'.

She continued to smile, "It was nothi-"

KAAAABBOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!

"BLOODY HECK!!" I yelled.

"What was that?!?" Sasha shouted.

"I think it came from outside!" John exclaimed, helping me to my feet and slipping my arm over his back for balance.

I grabbed my shoe and slipped it on. "Let's go!"

Fluttershy attempted to speak, "D-Do w-we h-have t-to-" However, we had already escaped down the stairs. She sighed as she followed, "Oh dear..."

________________________________________________________________________________

We quickly arrived in the courtyard, seeing that the inhabitants of the prison had already gathered. I noticed Daryl on the far side, crossbow drawn. John helped me hobble over to him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

He motioned to the outer fence of the prison. "...The Governor." He spat.

I turned to where we motioned. Rick stood in front of the outer fence, and it seemed to be that he was conversing with someone. On the other side of the fence, a tank sat with various armed people. In front of the tank stood a man with an eye patch.

My heart instantly fell into the pit of my stomach. "Oh no..." I cried.

"You know the Governor?" Daryl asked.

I slowly nodded my head.

Daryl slowly unstrapped something from his back and handed it to me. It was Chillrend. "Dunno how you know him, but you'll need this."

"But..." I started

He shook his head, "Whether you stay here or leave usin' your Chaos thing, you'll need it. I'm just gonna say this: This ain't your fight, kid. An' trust me, it WILL be a fight. Go back an' save that princess or whatever."

"Thanks..." I smiled.

"Thank you..." John added.

Fluttershy gave a timid grin. "Th-Thank you f-for everything, Mr. Daryl..."

Daryl gave a sly smirk. "Whatever, Buttersky."

The mare dropped her ears, "But I'm-" The mare soon realized he was joking, and she giggled and smiled along with him.

We paused. "...Aren't you going, then?" Daryl asked.

"I would also like to say goodbye to Rick." I admitted.

He shrugged, "Fair enough."

I looked back to the outer fence where the man with the eye patch motioned towards his militia. They brought two people out of a car: an elderly Caucasian man, and a young negro woman.

I heard Daryl mutter, "They had Hershel and Michonne all along..."

Shifting my attention back to the fence, the eye patch man had forced his prisoners to kneel. He motioned towards his militia again, this time bringing out a long, white-hilt katana. There was a pause.

...Then, the eye patch man swung the katana straight into the Caucasian man's neck, half-way severing his head.

"HERSHEL!!!!" The entire courtyard resounded and they drew they weapons. The entire prison had become a firefight.

As John's jaw dropped, I covered my mouth with my hands in horror and Fluttershy quickly began weeping. Daryl had moved to a different location in order to fire his crossbow more effectively.

I spaztically cried out, "CHAOS CONTROL!" as I grabbed my emerald. A portal opened beneath our feet, causing the three of us to fall through. It closed behind us.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After getting a hold of ourselves, we looked around and found that we had landed right on the precipiece that we fell off of at Keelhaul Key. Heh, it was even still mid-morning!

We gave a sigh of relief.

"HEY!" I heard a feminine, British voice shout. "They're alive!"

Instantly, we're tackle-hugged by the other band members of Skillet. The spirit of Bobbery simply walked over

"How long have we been gone?" I asked.

Korey answered, prying herself off of John, "From the point you disappeared, about five minutes. What happened?" She noticed my dry-bloodied shoe, "WOAH! Are you okay? Seriously, what happened?"

"It's a long story..." I sighed as I relayed our previous adventure, minus what had happened to Fluttershy. I didn't know how they would react, so I decided to keep it a secret.

I took a deep breath. "So, yeah. That's tha-"

Just then, I had a sickening feeling welling up in my stomach. It grew worse, eventually moving up into my chest, then into my esophagus. My eyes grew wide.

I was about to vomit.

I caught a glimpse of John and Fluttershy. I could tell they were having the same sensation.

Not able to hold it any longer, I began vomiting. It felt like all of my stomach was being torn out through my mouth.

The two other pegasi had begun doing the same (thankfully, it didn't get on anyone).

As the chunks kept flowing, I felt something distinctly slimy and wriggly slip through my throat and onto to the ground. I soon stopped, along with the other puking ponies. I had noticed a thing had regurgitated with the other... excess.

It was a worm. A worm had been inside me. After coming to terms with that disgusting fact, I discovered Fluttershy and John had also expelled a worm from their stomachs. Upon closer inspection, the worms, still alive and moving, had huge mouths with teeth, very much reminiscent of the Walker that had jumped me.

Then, it hit me.

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" They did as I commanded.

"What's wrong?" John shouted.

I withdrew Chillrend and replied, "I think it's the early stages of the zombie pathogen!"

They all gasped as I hacked away at the worms, dicing them into small pieces just to make sure they were dead. When I was satisfied with what I had done, I sighed. "Bobbery? Can you still explode?"

"Aye." The apparition replied as his fuse came alight. "How do you think I flattened this precipiece?"

I scooped the remains the worms into a pile with my sword. "I need you to disintegrate this pile of... undeath."

His smiled. "With pleasure, my boy!"

I sat down to take the weight off of my bullet wound (away from the blast radius) and I instructed the band and Fluttershy, "Get all your stuff together. We'll be leaving shortly after Bobbery finishes."

They did as I asked, and re-entered the forest.