Rubble

Chapters

Chapter 1, Hells Gate
Chapter 3, Civilized Places
Chapter 4, Not Dead Yet
Chapter 5, The Moon
Chapter 2, A New Home... For Now...

Chapter 1, Hells Gate

In September, 2086, the world ended. Like the war before the end, millions died. No pony knows exactly where the creatures that killed everything came from, but than again, we died too fast to even ask that question. Through it all, I stood and continue standing. I saw the war reach it's high point and saw civilization fall to the ground. Not many survived, what I I call, The Down Fall, but those who did saw it as their mission to bring back what once was. But those few either died or were never heard from again. As for me, I stood, watching fools die and disappear. This video log may never be seen, but if it is somehow found in the rubble of this damned city, I ask that you bring it to one of the coordinates on the map in the same backpack you found this camera in. Remember us. I can hear them coming.

I woke up, gasping for air as if I were suffocating. “Holy fuck! That dream was scary as hell!” I said to my doll. After the end of the world, I found a small Luna doll on the sidewalk. I kept it for the sake of having a friend and named it “Moon.” I named her this because I thought it’d be disrespectful to name her Luna.

“Moon! You’ll never believe what my dream was about!” I said excitedly. “Okay, I was in ShugerCube Coner when-” My sentence was cut short be a rustling sound in the hallway. I had been staying in an abandon house in PonyVille. It was in pretty good condition when I moved in, a few corpses but other than that, nothing was wrong with it. “Stay back, Moon. This could be another monster.” I whispered as I grabbed my Metal Bat and hid behind the door frame. I looked down the hallway only to be quickly attacked by the demonic creatures that are left from the civilized world. The most common of them had six legs, rotting skin, no mane or tail, all black eyes, and jagged teeth. There are multiple types of these creatures. But these ones, the Drones as I like to call them, are the most common, and are the weakest. Still stunned, I start to smack the Drone with my wings. Eventually, this makes it more pissed off and it uses one of its extra limbs to impale my right wing. “You Bitch! I’ll Kill You!” I raved at the Drone as I rammed my head into his. This hit knocked it off of me, giving me time to grab my Bat and charge at it. By the time it was ready to fight again, I was swinging the Bat toward its head, the impact killing the Drone. To be safe, I hit the Drone three more times with my Bat wing.

“Fucking bitch. *sigh* you okay, Moon?” I said as I went to pick her up. “Sorry about my language. It hurt me so I got really mad.” I took a short look at my wing, than looked back at Moon. “I guess it’s time we left this house anyway. Don’t you?” I acted as if she would respond. Not too long later, I made my way to the front door. “Just like old times, going out on adventures. But first, I need to find some bandages for my wing. Then we can adventure.” I said as I opened the door. I walked out into the street and looked at the ruins of the once great Canterlot. It truly is a sight, seeing a great and powerful city burned to mere rubble. I made my way to an old hospital that I passed by on what seemed to be a daily basis. The creatures left it alone so it was pretty safe there. I searched through the dorm rooms in hopes of finding enough bandages necessary for covering the wound the Drone had given me. Though I already had some, I would need a replacement for later on. Eventually, my search led me to the storage aria which was just a big metal shack filled with boxes. Thinking I was safe, I placed Moon on the ground next to me so I could search through the boxes. “Yes! I found them Moon. Now we can start our adventure.” I announced as I pulled to rolls of gaws from the box. After I had made my announcement, a rustling sound started coming from an odd pile of boxes at least 365 centimeters behind me. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, but either way, it’s too late now. I grabbed the lid of the box I had searched through and used it to hide behind, not a moment later; a large creature had burst through the hut of boxes, destroying them. I call these ones Brutes due to their extreme strength and size. Despite their size and strength, Brutes were fairly easy to kill as long as you can get close to them without getting hit. The Brutes skin looked decayed but there were points on it that were basically big green zits, along with this, the left arm was noticeably larger than the other. I and Moon hid behind the lid hoping the Brute wouldn’t notice us. After about five minutes, it began walking away. I took this chance to make a break for the door; however, as I was setting the lid down, I had dropped it getting the attention of the Brute. I did not stay in the same place for long. Not even a second after this had happened, I began running for the exit. But compared to the Brute, my run was nothing but a mere fast walk. Knowing this, when I heard the Brute start to run up on me, I stopped in my tracks causing him to bolt in front of me. In doing this, I confused him. I took this opportunity to charge him and hopefully kill him. When I was close enough, I made a jump for it arm, upon the success of my daring jump, the Brute slammed the arm I was on; on the ground. This not only got me off of his arm, but crushed my same wing that had been stabbed earlier this morning. As I lay stunned on the ground, the Brute pikes me up and examines me. I look at Moon who had fallen from my grasp when I was smashed against the ground. Doing this somehow gives me drive to bit the eye of the Brute. It gets mad and tries to throw me away, but in doing this, I took a large chunk out of his eye. The Brute decides to retreat because of the pain. I, however, was now a bit more stunned than I was before. The collision of my back to the wall had made my vision blurry along with a constant ringing sound. I got up and tried to get to Moon while attempting to ignore the pain. I was able to get to Moon before I collapsed under my own weight and passed out. I woke up several hours later, surrounded by Scavengers. Scavengers were harmless creatures with four extra limbs and golden eyes. They really just venture around looking for whatever they think might be useful or edible. I gave my surroundings a quick look around before I stood up. The Scavengers disbursed when they saw me stand. Not long after I remembered what had happened, I noticed that Moon was nowhere in sight. Enraged, I began searching for the Scavengers thinking that Moon might be with them. Eventually, I came across a small group of the Scavengers; one of them –thankfully-- had Moon in its hand. However, at the sight of this, my vision turned red and I began to mall the Scavenger to death. By the time I realized what I was doing; it was too late. Though they are merely animals, Scavengers were quite reasonable and often gave you wanted them to give to you. Sometimes at a the price of other items and sometimes for the fact of knowing that they had something that didn’t belong to them. Because of this, I felt remorse for what I had done.

I exited the hospital without looking back, thinking that if I did, I’d be looking into the eyes of the innocent Scavenger I had killed. I look at Moon and ask “Are you okay? Did I or they harm you in any way?” I patently waited for an answer I knew I would not receive.

After a minute or so, I looked back in front of me, meeting face to face with what seemed to be a giant grey ash cloud. Ash clouds were common in cities and were potentially deadly. They can form at any time and are so thick; it’s like trying to see through a pile of mud.

I rapped some of the bandages around my face to help protect my eyes and mouth from the dust. Knowing that there were very little safe places in this aria, and that the ash cloud formed on the quickest path to the castle, I began walking through the cloud, hopping that it wouldn’t last too long. Blinded, I kept tripping on rubble which normally would be fairly okay but for some reason, the Drones like to come out in the ash.

After a few minutes, the cloud began to settle and fade. This both pleased me and scared me. I was pleased to know that I would soon be able to see my surroundings but scared of what might be surrounding me. I began to speed up as the cloud got thinner, eventually; the cloud vanished, leaving just as quickly and mysteriously as it had come. I looked around to see if there were any Drones nearby. Luckily, the aria was clear. The last time I had walked through an ash cloud, there were about four Drones surrounding me and I had barely escaped with my life.

Relieved, I sat on a pile of sand bags and examined Moon. “Oh, Moon, there’s blood in your main. Hmm, we should probably find some water so we can give you a bath.” I said as I finished dusting her off. As I began to stand back up, I noticed something odd about the ground; there was fresh blood smeared on the ground. This makes me wonder considering that the bloods color is red, the blood color of any pony that is no longer living is violate. I begin to follow the blood into a house that seems vaguely familiar. As I got deeper into the building, I remembered that this was the old Donut café that was about five kilometers away from the castle. The trail eventually led me to a room filled with empty boxes. In the far corner of the room, I could hear radio broadcasting. I tightened my grip on Moon as I approached the sound. When I reach the peak of the sound, I find the dead body of what seems to be a military Field Martial. The body was missing its head but the uniform was well recognizable. Field Martial’s were normally equipped with their own personal radio system in case of emergency, the personal radio often kept Field Martial’s alive when they were separated from their team.

I examine the body, looking for the radio, finding only a dismembered part of where the left arm used to be, the radios where almost always on the left arm. “Maybe it was an echo from further in the building. We should leave.” I said as I began to head back to the outside, I was stopped by tripping on the radio that had led me down to this location in the first place. The force of my hoof hitting the radio caused it to activate once more. The radio began to broad cast a military S.O.S. beacon, saying; “If anypony can hear me, please, we need help, we were sent out of the camp to search for supplies, follow this beacon to our location, and hurry we are being overrun!”

I looked at the Field Martial’s corpse one last time before attaching the radio to my arm and setting off to try and help the survivors. Though the odds of them living long enough for me to get to them, I could always use the supplies.

After a mere three minutes of fettling with the radio, I finally figured out how to operate the navigations system. However, I now need to run toward their position, though three minutes was not very long, the lost time would most certainly play a big part in their odds of surviving, especially in the middle of the day. For reasons I can’t even understand, the creatures like being outside most in the afternoon.

As I got closer to their position, I could hear the sound of gun fire which for some odd reason comforted me. I paused for a few seconds in wonder of what this may have meant. After about a minute, I relinquish the thought and continue my sprint forward. Eventually, I could see piles of crates stacked specifically for defense. Behind the crates there were around five ponies fending themselves from what seemed to be a never ending horde of Drones. Knowing that I was not equipped for such high level combat, I look through the rubble for a potentially lethal weapon. The screams of fear and rage pressure me as I searched. Eventually, I found an old hunting shot gun, it was rusted badly but still useable. I checked the gun for ammo to find four shots in it, at this point; four shots may be enough to get me into their safety perimeter.

Before I can begin my run-and-gun toward them, a Drone grabs my left shoulder; I quickly turn and bash the face of the Drone with the butt of the shot gun, knocking it to the ground. For safety, I shoot the head of the Drone, killing it. Realizing that time is not on my side, I begin to charge for the perimeter, in doing so; I was engaged by several Drones and due to limitations in ammo, I was only able to kill three. When I leaped over a stack of crates, the remaining Drones were killed by what seemed to be the leader of the group. She was a fairly tall, light blue unicorn pony with thick red hair. “Who the hell are you?” She asked, her voice was smooth and calming. “I’m Skywing, I heard your radio broadcast and thought I might be able to help. Who are you?”

“I am Raven, the leader of this scavenging group, now grab a rifle and make yourself useful!” She ordered. I quickly pulled myself up and did as she asked. I grabbed the closest weapon to me; a standard issue assault rifle, and began to unload upon the Drones that were charging us. Though, the recoil of a fully automatic rifle felt weird, I quickly adjusted. After a mere two hours of fighting, we were able to fend off the Drones with only three casualties. “Alright everypony, start loading this stuff onto the Prowler, I don’t want to be around here for the second wave.” Raven ordered, “Hey stranger!” she called out, I looked toward her out of curiosity. “Me?” I asked,

“Yes, um, Skywing, you really saved us back there. Would you be willing to escort us to the castle? We’ll need somepony that knows how to kill those things in case the Prowler runs out of fuel or we’re engaged while we’re in the castle.” She relied, seeing as how I had thought that I was the only survivor and that these ponies aren’t too familiar with the city and all of its hostilities, I agreed.

Everypony got in the prowler, which looked like an armored Hummer with tank trends and two forty caliber machine guns, each gun had its own station at the top of the Prowler. Raven told me that the Prowlers were built for transportation of supplies throughout the wastelands. I began to wonder; could this mean that all this time I had been alone, there were civilized colonies? I relinquish the thought as the Prowler slows to a stop. I look out of the driver window and see a pile of rubble covering the road. Behind me, I hear the uneasy groans or the soldiers. “Skywing,” Raven called out, “This is where we need your knowledge of the city. We’re not in good enough shape to handle another attack; can you find us another route to the castle?” She asked, I thought for a moment before remembering a highway about 3200 meters away from where we are now. No problem,” I say upon remembering the new route.

I guide the Prowler through a series of alley ways and buildings that had large holes blasted through them during the fight for survival. The Prowler moved very slowly to help reduce sound from the trends, but it seemed that even moving slowly still created a lot of noise, enough to draw the attention of –what I call- Scouts. Scouts were very tall and slender creatures with eight tentacles coming out of their neck. They aren’t very strong but what they lack in strength they make up for in speed. “Stop,” Raven orders “Did you hear that?” in unison, everypony raised their guns, readying for battle. The sides of the Prowler had little ‘combat holes’. They were there in case the gunners got killed while the Prowler was still moving; they could still fight. Suddenly, a tentacle shoots through one of the combat holes, stabbing the pony guarding it in the eye. He starts screaming in pain; Raven quickly cuts the tentacle with her combat knife and gives the drivers orders to go. The poor pony still screaming, Raven shoved a peace f cloth in his mouth to shut him up. “God, where’s the medic?” Raven asked concerned, “He’s dead, got ripped to shreds when we were ambushed.” Raven thought for a second before realizing that she either does what she can or he’ll die. “Hand me the first aid kit,” she ordered. Everypony began to look at each other, confused. “Now!” she barked after a few seconds. I shuffled for the aid pack until somepony announced “Here!”

I watched as Raven ripped the remains of the tentacle out of the eye socket and disinfect the injury. Her hooves shook as the blood poured from the eye and the pony slammed on the floor to release some of the pain. “Hold his head,” she ordered while she pulled the gaws from the pack and began to wrap them around his head. When Raven was done, she pulled the cloth from the pony’s mouth and said “You’re lucky I was a drop-out medic.”

The closer we got to the castle, the more the fear of the creatures attacking us began to fade from the hearts of the other ponies. Knowing this, I let my guard down along with the others and tried to get comfortable with being around ponies again. Eventually, we reached a check point that was one of few openings in a rubble wall that made a perimeter around the castle. The check point was heavily guarded along with the wall itself, and each check point, I was told, has a field medic on site to scan everyponies eyes to make sure their vitals weren’t “turning” as they said. It took a mere ten minutes for him to scan everypony, the only ones that nearly failed were me and the poor stallion that got stabbed in the eye.

Chapter 3, Civilized Places

I woke up groggy and tied up in the middle of nowhere. In front of me, there where three ponies. Two of them were in body armor, the third was in some kind of field scout outfit. One of the men must have seen my eyes open and said "Well look who's back from the dead." Which caused the other two to look back at me.

I sat myself up but was quickly pushed back down by somepony behind me. I looked up and saw Raven standing over me with a heartless facial expression. "What's going on?" I asked, they ignored my question. Raven walked over to the group of three and began to speak with them. They were too far away for me to make out what they were saying, but I didn't need a posted note to tell me that whatever was about to happen, wasn't good.

While they were distracted, I tried to get out of my bindings. After fidgeting for a good minute, I noticed a sharp piece of metal near me. I scooted closer so that I could cut the ropes with the metal. After a few minutes of attempting to cut the ropes, I gave up and instead pulled the metal from the ground and hid it. Not even a second later, all four of them turned around to look at me. "Cut his ropes, I want him to stand on his own hooves for this." Raven ordered, her face, this time, showed what seemed to be sorrow.

The pony in the scouts outfit came over to me and cut me loose. As soon as my hooves were free, I stabbed him with the metal and used him as a shield for when the other three shot in my direction. I pulled his pistol from its holster and returned fire. I was able to kill one of the two armored ponies with little over half the guns ammo and could only wound the second one with the remaining shots. Raven hid behind a destroyed brick wall and began to speak. "What are you doing?!" She asked, her voice filled with fear. "Not dying..." I said as I dropped the gun and lifeless body of the scout and began to run for the Prowler while I had a chance.

I got into the driver seat and shut the door. As I was giving the controls a look over (because I have not idea how to drive these things), Raven popped up from the cover she hid behind and fired at the window. Luckily, the shots missed, but scared me enough to slam down on the acceleration pedal, launching the Prowler forward. I quickly gained control of the vehicle and gave myself a quick look over to see if there were any wounds. I was glad to see no external injuries, and began to calm down.

"Moon!" I cried out when I realized she was not with me. I stomped on the brakes and lost control of the Prowler, crashing it into the corner of a building. I threw open the door and plopped out. Stunned from the crash, I tried to get to the rear door, hoping that Moon would be somewhere in the back. When I opened the door, somepony pulled me into the back and shut the door behind me. I wasn't able to make out who it was, all I was able to see was their dark purple coat and main.

"Raven, I've got the MVP. How'd you lose him? He was tied up for Gods sakes!" The pony said, looking me over for injuries. I wasn't able to understand all of what he or she was saying, but I was able to hear that I was bleeding very badly and could die. I looked to my right and saw Moon on the floor. "We always have a way of finding each other..." I said as I jerked myself out of the ponies grip. I crawled closer and grabbed her, holding her tight. I looked back at the pony I was in the Prowler with, her face was blurry but I could see that see was confused. Suddenly, the room began to spin and things became more and more blurry. In mere seconds, I was unconscious in a pool of what looked to be my own blood.

I silently walked the halls of a hospital, waiting to hear my number, 47, to be called. Carmine was attacked by one of the creatures that were starting to become more and more abundant by the day. I wanted to see her and was hoping she was okay, but the ponies at the front desk told me that I had to wait until my number got called.

After eight hours, they finally allowed me to see her. "Carmine, oh thank God you're still alive!" I said as I walked in the room. Her torso had several deep cuts on it, her face only had one cut going from the jaw, over the eye, to the four-head, the rest of her body only had minor cuts and broses. "Heh, just barely..." She said, her voice sounded tired. I walked beside her bed and sat down in a chair next to it. "What happened?" I asked, wondering how exactly she got attacked and how she escaped with her life. "I... Was getting something at the market when one of those... Things attacked me." She said, her voice went from sounding tired to sounding worried. "well, I'm glad you're okay..." I said, hoping to ease her stress. "Here, I got you something." I continued as I pulled a Luna doll from a pouch I had on my side. "What's this?" She asked, now calm and at ease from the thought of being attacked.

"This is Moon. I got her for you." I said, handing her the doll.

"Oh, thanks, Sky."

"It's for our two year anniversary. I know now isn't the best time, but I thought it'd-" I was cut short by Carmines kiss.

"I said thanks." She said with a slight giggle in her voice.

Chapter 4, Not Dead Yet

I woke up, again, groggy and without knowledge of where I was. My body was sore, as if it had been thrown in front of a fast moving buss. I gave myself a look over and saw that I had broken my leg and my stomach was wrapped in bloody bandages. After looking myself over, I sat up and looked around the room. The room was a fair size and was nearly empty, aside from the bed I was on and a table next to the bed.

I hopped off the bed and onto my hooves. I hissed in pain when pressure was applied to my broken leg but I quickly brushed off the pain. I looked at the table to my left and saw Moon laying on it. As I was reaching to grab her, the door opened and two ponies walked in the room. The first to walk in was Raven, who was being followed by a familiar pony but I couldn't quite recall who he was. ''Good, he's awake." Raven said, she sounded pleased. Raven was becoming a very confusing pony, I could no longer tell if she wanted to kill me or what. "Thanks to me!" The pony next to Raven pointed out. I decided to remain silent as I had no clue to what was going on. They argued for a good minute, in the mean time I was dusting off Moon and almost didn't realize when the room fell silent.

Suddenly, I felt sick and lost my balance. The two looked at me in what seemed to be both worry and confusion. "His body must still be holding on to some of the morphine's side effects. I told you not to give him so much." Raven said as she sat me back down. "Where am I?" I asked, going from feeling sick to feeling out right confused. "Five meters underground." One of them said, I didn't see which of them exactly. I simply looked at them and said "Another colony? Well at least now you're not exposed."

"Not a colony, a bunker." The pony behind Raven said. He was wearing all black and on his shirt there was a name tag that read "Phoenix."

"When we left, the colony was under attack, now, we can only assume weather or not they are alive or dead." Raven continued. I was, in a way, confused at this. Yes, the colony was under attack, but they had to fight those things off to gain control of the land if the first place, surely they would have found a good way to kill them, little known found a way to keep from getting infected. "Are there any more colonies?" I asked, hopping for the best. They both looked at me, it was hard to tell what they were thinking with their poker face. "When you crashed the Prowler, you destroyed our only way of contacting anypony farther than the castle. We tried to fix it but it was too far gone." Phoenix said, braking the silents.

Words couldn't express how mad I was at myself nor how confused I was. The room was silent for a few minutes when a loud clash came from the hallway. Raven and Phoenix were quick to grab their side arms and aim at the door. "Get him into cover, we can't risk another injury." Phoenix ordered. Raven came over to me and flipped the bed, making it stand on one side like a wall, but also causing me to fall flat on my ass. Phoenix flashed Raven a disappointed look then motioned her to follow him.

I went behind the mattress and picked up Moon, who I had dropped during the fall when Raven flipped the bed. After a few minutes, the door opened and the sound of heavy hooves followed. In fear, I tightened my grip on Moon and looked around the floor to see if I could find a weapon of some sorts. I looked up on the table and found an empty syringe with the needle still on it. When I reached to grab it, the Drone that was in the room with me, stabbed one of its claws into the table and peeked its head around the bed. I got up and ran to the other side of the room as it yanked its claw out of the table and looked at me.

Fear raced across my heart as the Drone looked at me. It was as if it were a statue watching me. "What are you waiting for? I'm right here!" I yelled. Almost immediately after, it charged at me. When it was close enough, I pulled out the syringe and stabbed the Drone in the side of its head, killing it.

Raven and Phoenix ran in the room, their side arms still equipped. "A little late!" I said, my voice shacking from the fear of death. They both holstered their guns and walked over to the Drones corpse. "Well shit..." Phoenix said as he pulled the syringe out of its head. "There's more." I said, finally calming down. Raven looked at me in a confused was, as Phoenix continued to inspect the syringe. "If there's one, there are sure to be more." I continued. "He's right. These things never travel in groups of one." Phoenix said, looking up at Raven. I was about to suggest that we find a way to another one of the colonies, but before I could, another loud clash came from the hall. We all looked at the door, waiting for something to walk through it.

"Lets get out of here." Raven said as she grabbed her gun and began walking to the door. Me and Phoenix quickly followed her.

Chapter 5, The Moon

After what must have been several hours of walking, the sun was finally beginning to set. The nights in the wastes have never been safe. Something about the moons light made the Brutes more abundant and extremely aggressive. Phoenix came to a sudden stop, ordering us to stop as well. "Did you hear that?" He asked, looking over his shoulder. "We might want to get inside, if what you heard is what I think you heard, it's no longer safe out here." I replied. Raven looked at me and was about to reply but before she could there was a loud, deep howl. The noise proved my point and in result, Raven walked up to the door behind me and shot it several times before she bucked it, knocking it open.

We all went inside, hoping it was safe. "Scan the perimeter, we don't want any of those things killing us in our sleep." Phoenix ordered. The building was a small suburb home with two floors. All the windows were boarded up, making the building very dark inside. Both Phoenix a Raven turned on flashlights on their guns. "Skywing, you stay here, Phoenix, you check the upstairs and I'll investigate this level a bit more." Raven said, sending Phoenix off before walking into the darkness.

The unholy howl of the Brute, once again filled the air. I looked over my shoulder at the door. I covered the whole in the door with some two by fours that were laying in the hall way. Thought Brutes weren't at all smart by any means, they somehow managed to know when something shouldn't be. If a Brute were to see a whole in the door, it would charge the building. The two by fours would at least help keep their attention off this building. For the most part.

I stayed at the door for about twenty minutes before they finished their perimeter scan. "The aria is secure upstairs." Phoenix said, looking at Raven to get a report on the downstairs. "Same here." She began, "We'd better get some rest while we can." Phoenix nodded his head in agreement before stating that there were beds upstairs that we could use.

"Come on, we don't want those things catching up with us!" Carmine said, using her magic to grab my arm and pull my to make me go faster. We were running for our lives, afraid of what pursued us. We didn't get too good of a look at it, but we don't need to know what it looks like to know that it was killing everything it saw. "Lets turn here!" I said pointing to an alleyway that we were nearing.

Without question Carmine turned the corner and I followed. Though Carmine had lived in Canterlot for quite some time, she didn't know the streets all too well.

Eventually we made our way into an empty gas station. We decided to try and hide from it in there as we had run out of breath from running. "Is that one of the things that attacked you?" I asked Carmine, still trying to catch my breath. She looked at me with a sign of worry in her eyes. Before she could answer there was a loud crashing sound, as if glass had just been broken. We both separated and hid. Carmine was hiding behind the cashers desk, where as I was hiding behind a shelf.

The sound of heavy hooves got closer before coming to a stop right in front of me. I was about to nock the shelf I used for cover onto what ever was in front of me, but before I could there was the sound of a gun discharging than the sound of a body, lifelessly collapsing on the ground. I peeked around the corner of the shelf and saw who must have been the casher. He had committed suicide fro God knows why. "It's safe... I think." I stated, hoping Carmine heard me. I looked at the body for a few seconds before grabbing the gun and looking over to here Carmine had hid.

"Carmine?" I asked. In a time like this, I had more than a justified reason to be worried when I don't get a response. Step by step, I got closer to the desk, getting more and more worried the closer I got. I walked around the counter and saw Carmine curled into a ball crying softly. "Why does everypony have to die?" She asked under her breath. She flipped over to face me, tears running down her face. "I... I know that things are scary and there are a lot of ponies out there dying, but we can survive as long as we stay strong and get to somewhere safe." I replied in an attempt to get her on her hooves.

"There is no safe place. Don't you see what's happening here?" She said as she got up and wiped the tears from her face. She was right, those things could get almost anywhere. On top of that, if and when Canterlot falls, everything ill fall apart. Regardless, I'd rather die fighting for something rather than die sitting on my ass.

I couldn't find a response to what Carmine had said. At least, not one that would help the situation. "I think we lost whatever was chasing us. I'll check real quick, in the mean time, look around and see if there's anything we can use to get around quicker." I said and began to walk toward the front of the gas station. I got to the window when a Drone came out of nowhere and hit the class, startling me. I lifted the gun I picked up and shot the Drone through the glass. the force of the bullet sent the foul creatures, now lifeless body back.

"Why?" I said under my breath. The situation made little to no sense. The only thing that I could find that made any sense was that there had been signs that this would happen. I went to the back of the gas station, where I thought Carmine would be seeing as how she was supposed to be looking for something that could help us.

I got to the back and saw Moon laying on the floor and a blood trail leading away from it. The trail led to Carmine's dead body, hanging by the neck on a tow-hook. Blood flowed down her body and onto the floor, on the wall she wrote "Why does everypony have to die?" in her own bodily fluids.

The sight caused me to fall to my knees crying. I looked at the gun in my hoof for a second before lifting it up and firing a few shots in both anger and sadness.

Chapter 2, A New Home... For Now...

“What’s wrong?” asked Carmine, a stubby grey mare with a pure white mane. “Nothing, I’m just thinking…” I replied, exiting my thought.

“What are you thinking about? You’re not thinking about joining the service again, are you?” she asked back in worry.

“No, never again. I’ve just been thinking about those things that were found in Canterlot. Something doesn’t seem right about them and what’s been happening ever sense they were found. All the strange deaths, entire cities being overthrown.” saying this only made me worry more than I already was.

“Its fine, I’m sure that whatever it is will blow over soon.”

“I hope so, I don’t know how much more insanity I can take…”

“Ouch!” I yelped as the nurse filled the punctured spot in my wing with bio-foam, which was basically just temporary inner cast that was premade in a can. The pain brought me back to reality from a memory of before, what I liked to call, The Down Fall.

The nurse just looked at me with a slight smirk on her face and said “Heh, not too fond of pain, are you? It’s alright; most the ponies here can barely take stitches little known bio-foam.” I simply gave a slight chuckle at her remark. “I can’t believe they let you in,” she continued. “Normally they bring ponies like you to the gate and “Tie up loose ends,” as they say.” Before could respond, Raven walked in the room. She flashed a fearful look at me for a second than looked to the nurse and asked “May I take him?” After hearing about what they used to do with other survivors, I was nervous as to where she wanted to take me and why. “Er, yes ma’am, he’s all yours.” The nurse replied.

Raven took me out of the medics’ office and brought me to a tent in the middle of the court yard. “This is where you’ll be staying. There are clean clothes in the bag next to your cot and there’s a shower in the castle bathrooms. You can find your way to them, if you get lost, ask somepony for directions.” Raven said as she left me alone in the tent. I gave the tent a quick look over before walking to the black duffle bag near my cot and opened it. Inside the bag there were a pair of dark blue jeans and an all black shirt with a pair of black combat boots, and Moon.

“There you are,” I said as I picked up Moon. “I was beginning to worry.” I set Moon to my side and zipped up the bag then threw it over my shoulder and stood up. “I guess a shower is in order, don’t you think?” I said as I picked up Moon and made my way out of the tent and toward the castle.

By the time I reached the castle, I had been walking for about an hour, mainly because I was taking the scenic routes. By what it seemed, the ponies living here had restored the castle to its former glory. But my main question still stood; how long have they been here?

Deep in thought, I lost my way, not that I knew where I was going in the first place, but now I was ore clueless than before. From what it looked like, I had stumbled across where an old festival had taken place. On the floor, there was old ribbons and confetti, around me there were ripped up tents, broken tables, and every so often there would be a pile of blood stained ripped clothes either on the ground or hanging from something.

Distracted by my surroundings, I almost didn’t hear the hoof steps coming up from behind me. I snapped around, only to see a seemingly harmless old stallion wearing black pants and a black shirt. “Scary, isn’t it?” He asked, “How an entire species can be killed to near extinction by a little fuck up in science.” He continued, his voice raspy and worn by time. "Do I know you?" I asked, his voice was familiar, as if we had spoken once before.

He slowly walked up to me, his eyes squinting, as if trying to get a better view of my face. After a minute, he finally said "No," to answer my question. I heard a clash come from behind me, to which I quickly snapped around, only to see another stallion. He was a young unicorn foal with a light grey coat and a yellow main. "Who are you talking to, mister?" He asked, he had a confused expression on his face. I turned around to look at the strange colt that I was speaking to, but, as mysteriously as he came, he was gone. "I... Don't know. Um, what are you doing here, little boy?" I asked as I turned to face him again. "Nothing, really, I just like to come up here and think every once and a while. What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice soft with shyness.

"I got lost. Can you point me in the right direction?"

"Where are you wanting to go?"

"The showers. You know where they are?"

"If you can find your way back to the main hall, you should just be able to continue down that until you reach the last door on the right, from there, keep going straight until you see a thick wooden door. Open that, and you're in the showers."

"Thanks, um... What's your name?"

"Jeromia. And yours?"

"Skywing. Well, thanks for the help, Jeromia." I said as I began to leave. He replied with a simple nod of the head before turning around.

I followed the directions Jeromia gave me and before long, I finally reached my destination. I couldn't stop thinking about the strange stallion I met in, where ever the hell that place was, and the things the nurse had told me. Caught up in my thoughts, I hadn't realized how hot the water had become and it began to burn my skin. "Ow, fuck!" I yelled in pain. I looked at moon for a second and said "Sorry, that just hurt a lot. It's been a while sense I've felt hot water."

Suddenly, the ground shook and the lights flickered. I turned of the water and looked around to see if anypony was in the room with me. After a short quarter minute, I got dressed and threw Moon onto my back before making my way outside. When I got to the main hallway, there was an army of ponies rushing outside, covered in body armor and armed with riot shotguns. I stepped into the hall and one of the solders ran into me, almost knocking me down. He looked back at me, while I had his attention, I asked him what was going on. "The infection got into the colony, we're being sent over to contain it." He said before returning to his sprint.

I looked back at Moon for a second than ran back to where they were coming from. If they cannot hold back the infection, this place will turn to a living hell before those things are through killing everypony. I traced them back to the armory, which still had plenty of guns and armor. The armor was bulky and looked like juggernaut gear, knowing that such heavy armor would just slow me down and make my more vulnerable, I only grabbed a shotgun and a bandolier for ammo.

When I opened the door to exit the armory, I was almost instantly hit in the face by the but of a rifle. The force was enough to knock me to the ground and before I could react, I was hit again, this time the force knocking me out.