Virus

By Wubster2015

***

A/N: Sorry about the late update, writers block got me good.

Day 2

Love note mumbled incoherently as she woke to an unusual hissing, crackling, noise to her left. The strange noise kept on and she soon began to toss and turn in annoyance, after a few minuets her eyelids fluttered open. Her vision was fuzzy as her pupils adjusted to the dimly lit room she lay in. When her vision became focused she half expected to be laying down on the kitchen floor, but instead she was lying in bed in someone's bedroom. Pellucid white curtains fluttered gently in the breeze that managed to whiffle past the open window, and sunlight streamed through the clear glass illuminating the small room. Drawers and closets sat adjacent to each other all painted dark teal. Sitting up slowly Love note yawned tiredly, rubbing her sore eyes she smacked her lips as her mouth suddenly felt dry and she had a raging need for liquid, sighing her ear twitched twice as she heard the familiar crackling again but this time it had a indistinct voice. Turning her head she spotted that an old radio set sitting on a dresser was the source of the crackling noise, the external walls of the radio were rutted and dusty making it seem as if it weren't used for years, edging closer to the radio Love note listened.

It was the voice of a mare on the radio, her voice was static-like and slightly disoriented but Love note could tell out what she was saying and could hear the urgency and fear in the mare's voice as well, " Warning for all those listening, a horrible virus has befallen Equestria wiping out many towns and killing hundreds of innocent lives! There has been more than 917,050 deaths in total. So please if you are listening lock your doors, stay inside at all times, and avoid all contact with ANY infected. As of right now we still do not know how or why this virus has come before us, and sadly epidemiologist still haven't figured out a possible cure this raging disease. Celestial and Lunar guards will be sent to each and every town to collect survivors and take them to the crystal empire, it is the safest place for now until we find out what has happened to our nation." those were the last words Love note heard before the radio went back to static, the cyan filly blinked a couple of times as she digested all the information she just heard, her heart thumped in her chest and she nearly jumped as she heard the door creak open slowly and entered the same orange, stetson wearing, mare from yesterday.

She was balancing a small metal tray on her back that had a bowl and a cup of orange juice on it, "So ah see yer up already." she said with a small smile as she began walking to the bed, Love note watched the mare as she sat on the foot of the bed and answered "Yep..." she said and then mumbled "Woke up from a pretty interesting night." luckily the mare didn't hear as she passed Love note the tray of food.

Taking the tray with her hooves Love note tilted her head as she said "Thank you miss..." she trailed off quietly before tittering nervously "Seems I didn't catch your name yesterday." Love note said tapping her hooves together, "Oh, Applejack!'' the mare exclaimed quite proudly, "Um...Excuse me?" the mare chuckled softly "No, the name's Applejack sugarcube." "Oh..." Love note said in realization "So you must be that Love note filly Applebloom was talkin' about last night." Applejack said and Love note raised a brow as she picked up her glass of orange juice and downed it like it was no tomorrow, "She was talking about me?" Love note asked after licking her lips, clearly intrigued.

"Eeyup." Applejack said with a small laugh "She was talkin' about how you 'n' the other unicorn foals helped em' get outta the school before them muties' found you." "Muties?" Love note asked her, Applejack shrugged "Well that's what we decided ta call those things, but anyways ah owe you and apology and a thank you as well." Applejack said with a small sigh and Love note rose a brow, "What for?" she asked while putting a piece of hay bacon to her lips.

"Fer makin' Big macIntosh hit c'ha like that yesterday, ah don't know what was goin' on through our heads ta make us do somethin' like that to a small filly, and also thankin' you fer savin' that class and especially Applebloom, it takes guts ta do that kinda stuff, but you seem like a strong smart girl." Applejack stated, "Apology accepted and thank you." Love note said before pushing the tray off her lap and to her side.

"Though I wouldn't say scattering little foals around Ponyville is something to be thanked about..."

" s'cuse me?"

"Nothing..." Love note responded quietly making Applejack raise a curious brow, but she decided to shrug it off.

Looking back up at Applejack Love note asked a question that had been burning in the back of her mind for a while, "So...How did Applebloom get here? Did we like, well teleport her inside the barn or something?" she asked folding her hooves, Applejack looked back at her and said with a stolid expression "Not exactly, see me and Big macIntosh were out runnin' trying ta find her when she suddenly just popped up in the middle of the road half conscious, so we jus' took her back in the barn and stayed in until she told us about the other foals. So then we left, you came, and we came back, and etcetera you know the rest." Applejack finished with a wave of her hoof. "I...Guess that makes sense." Love note said watching as the apple mare stood up and stretched, looking back at the small filly Applejack chuckled lightly and said "Well ah'm gonna head back downstairs, you should come too once yer done. That colt Lightnin' is worried 'bout you." and with that she walked out

As Applejack left Love note sighed softly as she finished her breakfast quickly and hopped out of bed as she collected her dishes and placed them onto the tray before walking to the door, placing the tray on her back she opened the door with her magic and walked into the poorly lit hallway, chewing her lip casually the cyan filly made her way down stairs and saw Applejack sitting on the couch were Riptide lay, while Applebloom and Lightning sat on the rug doing nothing.

Applebloom was the first to acknowledge Love note's presence"Oh hey Love note, ah see yer outta bed already." Love note simply nodded in response before making her way into the kitchen and levitated the tray off her back, and placed them into the sink which was half way full with other dishes.

"How is Riptide doing?" Love note asked as she trotted out of the kitchen and towards the three, "His welts are going down, and we flushed out his cuts last night." Lightning said as he placed his hooves in front of himself.
Love note sighed gently as she approached the couch the Riptide lay on, her expression was brooding as she saw her friend still laying on the couch lifelessly.

His cuts and bruises were bandaged and hopefully cleaned thoroughly, he was still unconscious as he rested peacefully on the worn out couch, looking up at Applejack Love note asked "Has he began to move at least?" Applejack sighed gently as she placed a hoof on Riptide's untidy mane and said "Yeah, he's been mumblin' and shiftin' around but nothin more." "Well...That's good, I guess." Love note said her eyes still fixated on Riptide who lay unresponsive to Applejack's touch.

The four of them stayed in silence before they heard a few loud bangs on the barn door, all their ears, not including Riptide's, perked as their heads turned to the source, "Is anypony inside!? We are the celestial guards, we're searching for any survivors!" a gruff voice said from outside, Applejack rose a brow as she turned to Lightning and whispered something to him, Love note didn't really hear what she said but it didn't matter as Lightning ran off somewhere, followed by Applebloom.

Applejack then walked quickly towards the front door and opened it up just a little so she could see outside, Love note jumped onto the couch with Riptide and blinked as she watched three celestial guards walk inside, one was a earth stallion, and the other was a unicorn stallion, while the last was a pegasus mare, all three looked identical in color none of them stood out from each other.

Their golden armor was dented and bore many scrapes and blemishes, their faces were covered in dirt and scrapes, and even though they looked liked they've been through hell their facial expressions were impassive as they spoke with Applejack.

"Ma'am we have been sent here, to the town of Ponyville, to evacuate any uninfected survivors and transport them immediately to the crystal empire." the unicorn stallion said in a deep gruff voice, the pegasus mare then added in "We have a train waiting at the station for us, and we really don't have much time." her voice was young and a bit on the raspy side, which made Love note think twice on her actual age.

Applejack nodded "Ah understand that completely, so jus' let us pack up our things and-" she was interrupted by the earth stallion, "I'm sorry ma'am but we don't have any time for that, we have to go immediately before the infected get into our course." he said shaking his head, he had a young husky voice that almost sounded...soothing.

Just then Lightning, along with the other two apple's came down one of the halls, "Whats with all the ruckus?!" Granny Smith said squinting her eyes at the celestial guards, "Nothin' granny, we jus' need ta move out before them muties get 'ere and eat our hide." Applejack said looking back at the elderly mare.
The unicorn stallion snorted as he said "Please, we need to get going before the train leaves the station." Applejack then turned back to the three guards and said "Ah understand that sir, but ah just need ta make sure mah family knows what the hell is goin' on." Applebloom then ran up to her older sister and tilted her head "So we're leavin? Where are we even gonna go?" she asked, "Somewhere safe." Applejack answered putting a hoof over her younger sister's shoulder before looking back up at the guards.

"Alright we're goin', but we have a wounded colt with us." Applejack said addressing Riptide who lay near Love note, the guards rose their eyebrows as the pegasus mare asked "Was he bitten?" Applejack shook her head quickly as she responded "Oh no no no no no, he wasn't bitten, he was jus' messed up by some dim witted little rascals." the earth stallion nodded "We'll take your word for it ma'am." "Please just call me Applejack." Applejack said with a deadpan expression, the stallion then cleared his throat as he corrected himself "Applejack." he said before trotting towards Riptide and placing him gently on his back.

Love note watched as the armor wearing stallion took the unconscious colt away and she hesitantly followed as he waved a hoof for her to do so, "Alright let's head out now." the stallion holding Riptide said and his team members nodded as they all exited the barn.

As the group headed outside they shielded their eyes away from the bright sun, the leaves of the apple trees rustled softly in the wind, and the tender strips of green grass tickled their hooves, "Celestia be damned, another beautiful day ruined, its a shame." Applejack snickered, shaking her head.

"Alright let's form a barrier, if there are any infected in our way we need to have the guards around the defenseless, so I need you survivors to form a circle!" the unicorn stallion shouted, and almost immediately the most vulnerable got in the middle while the three guards went on the outside, to act as the defense. Looking around the stallion holding Riptide walked in front of the group as he said "Alright let's get moving." and with that they began trailing down the seemingly empty streets of Ponyville.

The only sound that could be heard echoing through the deserted streets of Ponyville was the thundering clash of the group's hooves as they collided with the stone ground. Everyone was running quickly down the road following every sharp twist and turn the leading stallion made. They suddenly stopped ,though, as a low groan was heard coming from behind a overturned food cart, the three guards drew their weapons, their eyes narrowed.

Just then a bloody head poked up from behind the cart, blood trickled down slowly from the deep wounds in its flesh, its mane was ripped out of its head showing the eroded scalp, and rows of yellow blood stained, snapping teeth that could rend pony flesh,were showing as it let out a small gurgling-like growling noise. The stench of rotting flesh hit the group like a bag of bricks causing, even the guards, to gag at the horrific smell.

The reanimated corpse didn't move as it stared at the group, just then a few other ones came out of their hiding spots, like alleyways, or open houses. Before the group knew it they were surrounded by infected. Love note whimpered as she squared her shoulders and backed up a bit, the guards however seemed unfazed as they eyed each one of the infected, they weren't about to let anything get in the way of their objective.

The pegasus mare's head shot back as she heard a scream-like roar come from behind her, once she turned she was met with a bloody corpse lunging at her, hunger filled its fiery orange eyes as it snarled at her, but she quickly ended it with a swift jab to the jugular with her spear. The point had lacerated its neck, and warm blood spurted out of it like a water fall .

And just like a lever had been pulled the other corpses began jumping left and right at them, seeming to never run out of energy.

The stallion holding Riptide quickly killed any infected within arms reach with grace and power, he stabbed one in its chest and tore through it like it was a sheet of paper, he killed another one with a kick and as it fell he smashed in its face with the hilt of his sword.

Grunts and screeches was all that could be heard as the battle went on, the unicorn stallion let out angry yell as more came his way and he was forced to back up closer to the group just for more fighting space, as one tried to throw itself at him he quickly brought his sword to it's stomach gutting it and swiftly sliced off its head for good measurement. Looking around the pegasus mare noticed more of the infected were coming, and quickly at that, looking back at her teammates she yelled out.

"We need to get out of here! They're advancing on us, and quickly! If we keep this up we'll be buried in infected!'' she could hear two loud grunts before one of the stallions yelled.

"Fall back, we need to keep moving!"

As they began running again they had to find different routes now that the infected were 'awake', the lead stallion grunted as he sliced up any unlucky infected member that got in their way.

By the time they made it to the train station a large pack of infected were already giving chase, looking back the earth stallion could see that the group was loosing energy and stamina and the infected were catching up very quickly, "C'mon you guys we have to speed it up!" He shouted over the hurricane of groans and screeches coming from the band of infected chasing after them.
His words didn't seem to help for they were still tired, looking back in front of him he saw the conductor waving at them with one of the box car door's open for them, "Hurry, Hurry!" he could hear him shout as they got closer.

Just as they were half way there he heard a small scream, immediately he stopped and turned, and to his very clear horror he watched as Love note tripped and the infected gained on her. Looking back at the rest of the group he gave Riptide to the pegasus mare before he yelled out "Keep moving!" before unsheathing his blood spattered sword again and racing towards her.

Love note had never experienced something so horrifying in her life, a whole group of infected ponies charging at her fangs bared and ready to rip right through her, the stench of death was overwhelming her senses and made her vision blurry as she gagged.
Looking back up she saw a blurry figure standing over her and could tell it was one of the infected, her eyes widened in terror as it opened it's mouth showing its rows of sharp teeth. Though she had seen it many times before it still didn't make it any less scary then what it was, as it began shooting down at her Love note's life flashed before her eyes.

Just as the undead pony was only a few moments from chewing off her face she watched as one of the guards practically body slammed it into the ground and stabbed it in the neck, standing back up he readied his sword and swung striking one from the underbelly and going all the way through.

After he killed off another one close to her he sheathed his swords and ran back to her, she let out a small yelp as he ducked his head under her torso and lifted her onto his neck and she immediately wrapped her hooves around him trying to hold on as he ran back to the train at break-neck speed.

Looking back she found that the infected were literally on his tail, constantly snapping their jaws at it, seeing this her grip only tightened around him but he didn't seem to mind. As he ran Love note could hear his heavy breathing along with the mixture of snarls and gurgling sounds from the infected, looking up she saw that the other guards were beginning to close the train door half way and noticed that the guard she rode on began to speed up.

Before she even realized what he was doing Love note found herself along with the royal guard gliding through the air as he jumped, her eyes widened as they flew inside the train landing roughly on the rugged floor of the box car, climbing off his back Love note watched as the other two guards immediately shut the door behind them and locked it with the metal latch.

"Are you guys alright?" the pegasus asked as she help Love note and the guard stand up, "Yes, I believe we're alright." he looked down at Love note a if to ask if she was alright and she nodded yes. Just as he got up and began to walk towards the other guards he stopped as he felt something grip his hind leg, and on instinct he looked back. Love note was standing on her hind legs, with her front hooves wrapped around his back leg, "Thank you." she said while letting go, and to her surprise the guard turned around and hugged her back. It kinda hurt because he was practically crushing her with his muscular arm, but at the same time it felt good. It felt nice to see something in this world hadn't changed.

At least not yet...

Letting go of her he said "Your very welcome." before trotting back towards his teammates

Love note nearly yelped as she felt something grabbed her from behind, craning her neck she saw that Lightning was hugging her alongside with Applebloom "Oh thank goodness your alright!" Lightning said letting her go. "Yeah for a second we thought we had lost you, and the guard!" Applebloom said, as she made the weirdest gestures with her hooves, then Lightning added, "But now we know your safe, so we don't have to worry anymore!"

As the train's horn blew and they heard the engine start the three went off to go find Applejack and the others, as they went from car to car they found that many other ponies were there too. Most had bandages on various parts of their bodies and others sat in corners crying their eyes out, they barely saw any foals which made them feel a bit worried. After making it through four passenger cars the trio finally found the apple family sitting in a passenger car that had beds luckily, the apple farmers sat on the side talking as the three came inside.

Hearing the door open and shut Applejack turned her head and smiled as she saw the three foals, they smiled back as they trotted up to them and jumped onto a chair of their own. Looking out the window Love note watched as the scenery outside began to change, first it was slow but as the train sped up the the outside world was just a blur, looking back at the rest if the group she sighed as she saw them talking to each other, smiles on their faces.

Yawning she decided it would be best to take a nap, it would probably take hours before they actually made it the the crystal empire, so climbing off her chair and walked to one of the beds and wrapped herself into the covers.

As Love note opened her eyes all she could hear was screaming and loud popping noises, like metal on metal, as the world around her twisted and contorted. she couldn't understand what was going on, only that her vision was slowly fading back to black as she lost consciousness.

When Love note opened her eyes again she felt extremely nauseous and dizzy, her vision was still blurry as her hooves hung lifelessly near her head, letting her head fall limp she let out a quivering breath.

Whatever room she was in it was dark, way too dark for her to really tell out anything for the moment. Grunting she squirmed around finding that she was somehow suspended upside down in the air. She could feel something wrapped around her left hind hoof and no matter how hard she tugged on whatever it was it wouldn't budge. Though her vision was still blurred she used all her upper body strength to lift herself up. Straining herself, she fiddled with whatever was holding onto her hoof until she heard a soft *click* and the thing holding her hoof suddenly let go letting her land on her neck. She yelled out in agony and slammed her front hoof onto the floor multiple times while biting her lip.

Tears stung the corners of her eyes but they did not fall, once the pain subsided Love note hissed as she rolled onto her shaky hooves, when she stood up straight she immediately felt vertigo set in and it didn't help that she couldn't see anything correctly.
As she began walking her movements were clumsy and off balance, and she began crashing into things as she made her way through the dark. A ray of light suddenly came from her right shattering the darkness surrounding her.

Looking towards the lights source Love note squinted her eyes at the intensity of it. Standing in the light was a tall dark figure, she couldn't really tell if it were a zombie or a regular pony "Hello? Is anypony in here?!" Love note heard the figure say while it began to cluelessly stumble around, she couldn't decide whether or not to answer or just keep quiet.

The figure continued to walk around obviously searching for something, almost desperately. Seeing the pony get closer Love note dropped onto her stomach and hid behind a overturned train table, her breath caught in her throat as the figure walked closer to where she hid and stopped. She could hear their heavy breathing as they loomed over her, they stood there for a few more minutes before turning around. Love note sighed gently and began to stand up again, but her front hooves lost balance and she fell back down with a loud thud.

The figure stopped, its ears perked as it turned its head towards the noise. Love note shook with trepidation as the figure's hoof steps were heard coming closer and closer to her hiding spot, looking around frantically Love note grabbed the closet thing next to her with her magic and when the figure stood over her she flipped onto her hooves and swung.

The pony cried out in pain as whatever Love note held struck them in the face, a sickly crunch was heard along with the clash of iron on iron.

"CELESTIA DAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL?!" the figure yelled out in pain as it rolled on the ground clutching its muzzle, Love note's eyes widened in surprise and she dropped the object being held within her magic. Running towards the figure she saw its golden armor and recognized the owner's voice "Oh man..." she mumbled.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! I am sooooo sorry!" Love note said while going to the guards side, the guard stopped yelling suddenly and stood up before Love note even realized it.

"Oh good your still alive." the guard said as if the whole situation that happened only a few seconds ago never happened, "Yeah, but where are the others at? And what happened here?!" Love note exclaimed looking up at the pegasus guard, the guard straightened herself up before answering "The others were evacuated from the train after it got derailed and tumbled down hill, we couldn't find everyone but I can assure you all of your group is fine." Love note let out a sigh of relief, "We do have to go though, its only a few hours before night fall, and the infected will be waiting if we don't hurry." the the guard said while putting a hoof towards her bloody nose.

"I think... I might have broke it." Love said sheepishly and the guard growled, "So I've noticed..." she uttered resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

Walking out the train Love note surveyed her surroundings. All it was, was a vast land of arid dirt. There was not a sign of any other significant life forms except for them.

It made her feel a bit...Uncomfortable, and she visibly shivered. Not because she was uneasy, but because the temperature was much colder than in the train, and the wind was heavy. Her mane blew against her face as she and the guard began trotting away from the wrecked train "Come on, this way." the guard said walking towards the north where the wind was blowing from, catching up with the guard Love note trudged through the harsh wind, the barren soil they walked on was hard crunching under them each time.

The guard snorted in annoyance and squinted her eyes as dirt and dust blew towards them "If we keep at this pace night will come before we even get half way to the safe house!" she shouted over the wind, Love note looked up at her and asked "So? what're we gonna do about it?" the guard stopped and said "Get on my back if we fly there we could get there within half the time."

Love note didn't hesitate to do what she said and quickly climbed onto her back holding onto her neck, "Not so tight kid." the guard said in a visibly strained voice. Loosening her grip Love note gave her a hangdog expression but the guard only ruffled her feather and spread them to full span. Taking off she could hear Love note let out a small ''Eep!'' and she tightened her grip around her neck again. Sighing gently the guard asked "So...What's your name?" wanting to start conversation, Love note clenched her eyes shut, too afraid to look at the ground and said in a shaky voice "I-I-I'm L-l-l-l-love n~ote..." the guard smirked, rolling her eyes playfully. "...Nice name, I'm Azure clouds. But everyone just calls me Azure for short." the guard said as she began surveying the ground below, "I like it." Love note said with a small, shivering sigh.

After a few minutes of silence Azure said "I see it just down there." she pointed a hoof downwards and Love note looked down from the side only to catch a glimpse of a dome shaped iron building with no doors. Azure slowed her flapping to almost a flutter as they began to descend towards the earth, landing she helped Love note off her back and the two began to trot briskly towards the safe house.

Once they got there Azure had Love note take a step back before she knocked a few times rhythmically. Nothing happened for a couple of minutes but soon enough a lavender aurora surrounded a small segment of the dome's front making it look as if it were a door, "C'mon." Azure said waving a hoof for Love note to follow.

Walking closer towards the aurora lit area Azure walked inside right through the metal, Love note's eyes widened but even through her disbelief she followed the pegasus mare inside. Once they were in Love note spotted a lavender mare with a indigo mane, streaked with one stripe of purple and one stripe of pink , standing next to the door a lavender aurora surrounding her horn. "Good your back, and I see you found somepony." she said looking at Love note, looking back up at Azure she asked "Were there anymore survivors that may have made the wreck?"

Azure shook her head remorsefully, "No. There weren't anymore, I searched every part of the train that wasn't caved in, but all I found was either nothing or crumpled bodies crushed under something." she said. And she,and the mare, sighed simultaneously.

"Well anyways the others are in the lounge trying to devise a plan for us to get to the Crystal Empire." the mare said turning on her heels, ''Also Azure, some volunteers are going to go out and search the place to see if its alright. And maybe see if it may have any weapons and/or food and water, and I would really appreciate it if you went along. They should be in room Fa which is down the hall to the left." Azure nodded and then saluted "Yes princess, right away!" she said before trotting off at a brisk pace.

The mare then looked down at Love note and smiled as she asked "So... What's your name little one?" Love note's concentration was elsewhere but her ears perked as she heard the mare's voice turn a little bit sweeter and knew she was talking to her.

She was at least fast enough to hear the word 'name' and immediately said "Oh, um... I'm Love note." she said while pawing at the cold steel ground nervously, "Oh, well I'm Twilight Sparkle." the lavender mare said, "You mean like 'Princess Twilight Sparkle'?" Love note asked quirking an eyebrow, "Yes, but if you start squealing I'll explain it plainly to you right now. Not. In.The.Mood." Twilight said, annoyance creeping onto her features.

Love note knew that she wasn't about to squeal over a princess she just met in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. She had a little more dignity than that, and also it really wouldn't be the right timing, and nor did she care to meet a princess anyways. Prestige didn't matter anymore in this cold hearted world, but Love note understood where the whole concept came from anyways. So nodding she said "I completely understand, but I wasn't about to scream over you anyways. It is already a bad time, and I'm pretty sure you have a lot of tasks at hoof and don't need another fan-filly squealing over you and trying to get your attention every second of the minute."

Twilight looked surprised at the filly's remark yet satisfied "So what Applebloom tells me is true, you are very smart." "Applebloom said something about me? again?'' Love note uttered and Twilight answered "Well yes, she has spoken of you. She told us that you and some other foals helped safe your class, and that you were still stuck on the train. Really if it weren't for her and that colt she's with, we wouldn't have checked the train again for any survivors!"

Love note had a shocked expression on her face after she heard Twilight's comment, "Really if it weren't for those two I would probably still be on that train?" Love note thought putting a hoof to her chin, "Well Love note, I think we should head back to the group." Twilight said as she began walking, Love note followed in close pursuit.

"So...Um, how did you do that spell back there? You know with the door?" Love note asked curiously, and Twilight chuckled softly at the filly's interest. "Well.. I learned it back when I was just a little filly, its really easy actually. Its a temporary intangibility spell, you can use it on almost any inanimate object, and even animate objects as well! I had a great time learning it with Princess Celestia." Twilight exclaimed happily, "Wait, you were Princess Celestia's student?" Love note asked raising both eyebrows.
Twilight looked a bit surprised that Love note would ask that question, but answered."Well yeah I was. But um, didn't you learn about that in school already? You know about the elements of harmony, and what not?''

"Well yeah of course I learned about the elements of harmony, they were five ancient stones that princess Celestia used to banish Nightmare Moon, who is her sister Luna. They kept saying on the news that six mares are now the new elements of harmony, because they're the ones that managed to cast out evil from princess Luna, and even found a sixth element as well.'' Love note said with an unimpressed tone, "Well did you know that me and my friend are those six elements?" Twilight asked with a sly smile.
"Possibly." Love note said with a smile of her own, "Applebloom always talks about how her sister and her friends go out on adventures all the time, and saved equestria from destruction. But anyways, what does this have to do with you being princess Celestia's student."

"Nothing." Twilight said. Love note had a mixture of expressions on her face as she looked at Twilight.
Twilight laughed softly and shook her head as they continued walking.

As the two kept walking down the seemingly endless corridors an awkward silence hovered over them, So Love note decided to strike conversation again. "Sooo, how did you find our group?" Love note asked Twilight as they sayshayed down a dimly lit hallway. The lights flickered on and off and a small draft passed by them every few seconds, "Well actually your group found me. See, my friend Fluttershy and I were on a train like you guys, but we ran into a horde of the infected and the conductor fled on us. We managed to escape and found this place here, that's when your group found us a couple hours later. We let them stay because Applejack promised that you guys were good and could even help us get back to the Crystal empire, of course I trusted her. She is the element of honesty anyways, and one of my closest friends." Twilight explained as they reached the end of the hall, they faced a large steel door that had a number and a letter over it that read "R1" Twilight knocked on it a few times before someone opened it.

It was a young pegasus stallion with a messy head of chocolate brown hair, his body was a brownish tan color and the tips of his wind were smudged with brown. His eyes though were off putting, they were a beautiful azure color but near the pupil spirals of bright orange surrounded it and became white at the rings of the iris. His cutie mark was a black eye inside of a circle, it had no pupils only an iris that had spirals of his eye color.

He wore various bandages over one of his wings, head, and fore hooves, "Oh p-princess, y-you brought someone with you. Uh, p-please come in.'' he stuttered, Twilight smiled as she and Love note walked inside, "Thank you uhm..." Twilight started waiting for the stallion to say his name so she could finish her sentence.

The stallion looked at her then, at Love note, then back to her before talking "Oh I'm sorry, I'm uh...I am Bright eyes." he stuttered again rubbing his mane roughly, he looked extremely sleep deprived and acted like it as well.
"Oh well, um... Thank you, Bright eyes." Twilight said hesitantly before adding in "You know I think they have beds in the upper levels maybe you could get some rest with some of the others." Bright eyes seemed to shake at the suggestion but nodded quickly and walked out into the hallway.

Love note looked up at Twilight with her eyebrows raised, the purple alicorn shrugged before walking towards the group that was huddled in the center of the room. Most sat on the outsides away from the two guards and extra few ponies who were sitting down discussing something among each other.

"Just look at what I'm saying here." One said in a whispering voice, "The infected roam around mostly at night so we would need to leave as soon as the sun rises, we have the map right here so we could run to the Crystal empire within at least three to four days." the same voice said, "Yeah we could do that but there is one problem to your plan. We have other ponies that are to wounded to get around, let alone walk all the way to the crystal empire! How do you expect us to even get one mile past here without having problems?!" another voice complained, "I agree, seeing that fact we wouldn't even get there within a week!"

"And look here, according to the map that's all of the infected territory!" a younger voice said.

"Everywhere is the fucking infected's territory! They'll roam anywhere at any fucking time they want!" a gruff voice cursed.

"Alright everypony, what seems to be the problem here?!" Twilight asked budding into their group conversation after telling Love note where Appljeack was. A dark grey almost black looking unicorn stallion, with piercing yellow eyes, and a navy blue mane answered "These dimwits can't find out a plan for how to get outta here!" his remark caused an uproar of swears from the group.
Twilight grunted, "Look you guys." she said, they ignored her and continued to argue again, "You guys..." she said this time a bit louder, they still ignored her. "You guys, quit arguing and shut up!" she yelled, anger booming in her voice.

That got everyone's attention... Eveyone's.

Clearing her throat Twilight straightened herself and said in a slightly calm demeanor, "Alright. So let me ask again, what seems to be the problem here?" the stallions were deathly quiet as they continued to stare at the purple alicorn, but a younger stallion with a bright blue coat and a flurry of ash blonde hair spoke up, his expression was stolid as he spoke "Well princess we were just discussing on how to get the hell outta here.", Twilight looked at him with a raised eyebrow as her expression went from angry to mild as she asked "Alright, and have you devised one yet?"
"No princess, we were unable to figure out one." the unicorn guard said shaking his head, Twilight sighed in response "Well why not?" "Well see here princess if you look at the map, all of our courses are now blocked by infected. And even if we did somehow get around them, we would lack in supplies to carry the wounded.'' a white stallion with a brushed back brown mane said with a grave expression.

Twilight grunted at this comment, This is not good Twilight, this is not good! Everypony is expecting me to help come up with a plan to get us to the Crystal Empire, but we don't have one! Oooooh, I wish princess Celestia was here. Twilight thought as a cold sweat began to form on the ridge of her brow. She shook her head quickly though as she began using that breathing technique Cadance taught her last time she and her friends visited the Crystal empire, looking back the group she said with a dead serious tone, "Let me see the map." the royal guard immediately handed it to her and she held it in front of her with her magic.

It was a yellowed and coffee stained map of Equestria, near Ponyville, Canterlot, the railroad, and the Everfree forest, were red circles. They were all different sizes and shapes, and Twilight suggested that the red stood for infected territory, looking on she saw that there were from three to ten small black circles standing dangerously close to the infected. She squinted her eyes at them, not exactly sure of what the were so without even moving the map away from her view she asked "What do these small black dots stand for?" a stallion quickly answered, "Those are other guards, they went out to see exactly how many infected there were, and how close they were towards here." Twilight hummed curiously as she asked "How long have they been gone now?" the same voice answered, "Umm, not to long ago. They came and drew the markings on the map before leaving again."

Exhaling through her nostrils Twilight looked over the map again before asking another question "Are there no working radios here? Have you not tried to radio the Crystal Empire?" this time the unicorn guard answered "Negative princess, all the radios are dead." Twilight huffed "Thought so." she mumbled quietly as she lowered the map and handed it back to the stallions.

"Well then...How're we gonna do this?" she asked raising a brow. The stallions seemed to pause for a moment before their faces became deeply inscrutable, making it hard for Twilight to read their expressions. It was at least twenty minutes before the stallions began discussing among each other again, "There's no possible way for us to get through the infected." a soft voice spoke, "As if we all don't see that." a slightly annoyed voice said, "I think we should go in small groups, meet up at one point and then get on the road." another voice said.

Twilight sighed gently as she rubbed her temples, looking towards the window to her right she watched as the sun speckled the sky with orange and soft red as it began to set. Quietly she made her way towards it and rested her elbows on it as she watched the sun gradually go down minute after minute, and as it went down she saw that the surrounding land was scarcely visible in the twilight. Just then Azure along with four other ponies trotted inside, Twilight raised a curious brow as she saw sweat dripping down their faces and could hear their heavy pants, "What's going on?" she asked as she confronted them, and Azure immediately stood at attention, her nose was now bandaged making her sound a bit nasally.

"We've just returned from the lower levels and there is some news, do you want the good news or the bad news?" Azure asked while trying to calm her breathing, "Good news first." Twilight said and Azure nodded, "The good news is, is that we've found supplies and weaponry, that could last us for a while." Twilight rose a brow as she put a hoof to her chin and said "Alright then, so what's the bad news?" Azure sighed heavily "Bad news is, is that most likely infected staff have crowded the supplies room, blocking our way." "WHAT?!" Twilight screamed in alarm but Azure seemed unfazed by it as she continued "We managed to keep them all in one spot so that they don't get up here, but I'm not sure it'll hold up for long."

"Well, umm... You couldn't have taken them out?" Twilight asked. Some bits of hope shimmered in her eyes, but it all was flushed out like a tidal wave as Azure shook her head "Negative, there's about hundreds of them in there. Those poor souls."
Now Twilight was really nervous, though she had faced many life or death situations, this one was different. She didn't even have the elements of harmony to help, nor did she even know where half of her friends were at through all this madness. The alicorn stomped her hoof on the ground in anger, annoyance, and fear, "Dammit! It hasn't even been two whole days since this outbreak happened, and we're already in critical condition." she thought while gritting her teeth.

"So, you weren't able to find any weapons?" Twilight asked, her expression brooding. Azure shook her head 'no' "Actually princess we were able to find a few things lying around that could be used as weapons, but I wouldn't say it'd be enough for the whole groups protection." Twilight shrugged, "It'll have to do, so lets see them." Azure nodded, and on cue the four other ponies began digging through their saddle packs taking out different makeshift weapons.
They set them all in front of Twilight, as Twilight looked through the pile she found that a particular weapon happened to catch her eye. It was a shiny metal object with a handle and something that looked like a muzzle, levitating it she asked "What is this?" an older unicorn stallion with a dark crimson coat and steamy yellow eyes answered "Its a gun, specifically a double-action revolver." "A gun?" Twilight asked now intrigued, he nodded "Yes, most likely you haven't seen one in person because they were taken off market after too many accidents with them, that almost always ended with death."

"How come you know so much about this?" Twilight asked while still examining the gun, "I'ma retired police officer." he said, and Twilight looked up at him "I though they didn't have those anymore." she said with a quizzical expression, "They don't, that's why I'm retired." he deadpanned, Twilight rolled her eyes in a playful manner. "So anyways, how does this thing work?" Twilight asked while lowering the gun, the stallion then took the gun with his own magic and placed it in his hooves.

"Alright then, revolvers operate with a revolving cylinder-" he pointed at the cylinder which was in the middle of the gun "For a magazine, in which you load ammunition and from which you must remove the empty shell casings." he then took out the cylinder and inside of it were six round bullets, he spun it with his hoof before locking it back place and continuing. "After each bullet is fired, the cylinder rotates to line up with the next shell with the firing pin.These guns are primed to be fired when the hammer-" he pointed at a small metal piece sticking up behind the aim, "Is cocked back into firing position." he pointed at the trigger then, which about half the size of his hoof and said "And lastly, pulling the trigger activates the firing pin, discharging the weapon. A release pin opens the cylinder and rotates the bullet out of from the barrel."

After he finished it seemed that really only Twilight was listening, but that didn't matter he was explaining it to her anyways. "So you understand right?" he asked tilting his head, Twilight brought a hoof to her chin as she answered "I suppose, but I don't think anypony else would use one of those anyways, so you can just keep it." the stallion nodded, and soon after Twilight dismissed them, but kept Azure for a while longer.

"Azure, we need to establish who gets weapons and what not." Twilight said with a mild expression, "Like who princess?" Azure asked while looking down at the medium sized pile of tools and weapons, most of them that they found were either tools from a tool box or damaged pipes, and even a few fire hatchets. "Most likely ones that have experience with weapons." Twilight responded and Azure saluted before grabbing a few weapons and trotting off.

Love note sighed as she lay uncomfortably on her side, Lightning was laying in front of her already sound asleep. He was facing in her direction and since there was nothing else to do she just stared at him, she could hear every inhale and exhale he made and occasionally he would snore and make a weird gurgling noise. Love note couldn't help but giggle every time he did, it was weird and somehow fascinating. Sighing gently she turned her back to him and closed her eyes, but before she could fall under sleep's spell something nudged her in the back and her eyes popped open.
Craning her torso she looked behind her to see, to her surprise, Lightning who was standing behind her rubbing his eyes and yawning, grunting she asked him with a lazy yawn "What do you want?" stretching out his hind leg Lightning said with a tired raspy voice "I wanted to give you something, but then I forgot and fell asleep." Love note grit her teeth as she asked "You woke up in the middle of the night to get me up, just to give me something? What's so important here that you would do that?" Lighting looked at her, his blue eyes making contact with her red ones "It's your mom's knives, you left them back at the barn but I managed to get them." he said, and Love note sighed gently as she stood up. Not everyone was asleep, matter a fact majority of them were still wide awake talking amongst each other.

The two foals walked over or around the sleeping bodies of their group until they reached a corner that held all kinds of bags, purses, and satchels. Lightning dug through it until he found his yellow saddle pack, pulling it out of the pile he sat firmly on his haunches and dug through it searching for Love note's knives. "Ah, here they are." Lightning said pulling out the twin strap-on's, just as he was handing it to her one of the guards confronted them "What're you to doing?" he asked in his usual gruff voice, and almost immediately Lightning stuffed the two weapons back in his pack and stuffed it behind him before stuttering out "Umm...N-n-n-nothing s-sir!" Love note shook her head vigorously and added in, "Ah-um, yep. Nothing at all." the guard could obviously tell they were lying but he shrugged it off thinking it couldn't have been anything dangerous, "Alright then, I'll let you off with a warning." both Love note and Lightning sighed simultaneously "Okay, now get on outta here." the guard said in a seemingly playful voice, but Love note thought otherwise as she and Lightning briskly walked back.

Keeping her head down Love note angrily shouted in a whispering voice "Next time just keep it in the bag." Lightning only looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she sighed gently.

As the two made it back to were the other three were at they saw both Applejack and Applebloom were sleeping, Applebloom was sleeping peacefully on her sister's lap while Applejack slept sitting up, with one hoof over her sister's back. Looking around they found that Big macIntosh and granny smith were resting on the other side of the room. Sighing gently Love note took spot next to Lightning as they laid down a bit further away from the apple sisters. Again Lightning went to sleep facing her but Love note didn't mind, yawning gently she closed her fatigue ridden eyes and fell asleep.

Author's Note

Sorry about not having a longer chapter, I thought I could make it longer but obviously I can't. Also sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, punctuation, anything like that, I seriously had to type this all on my fucking shitty-ass phone (Sorry for that language in my note, but that's just how I feel.) and it has no-spell check or anything (Which is some crap.), but now I'm getting my computer back from the shop, and more chapters should be coming out wwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy sooner than this.