Rubble

    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.