The trotting dead

     Twilight sprung to action. The pain, her thoughts, they were all pushed away. Only one thought remained in her head. Survive. She tried to simplify her situation. What was the problem? A herd of walkers were coming in. How to solve it? No quick solution. Long term solution? Go back in the basement. That block room should slow them down a bit. She grabbed mini and sprinted to the door that lead to the basement. Any variables? Opening the door and the stairs. Very unnoticeable variables. She locked the door behind her and went down the stairs. Twilight then tried to think of a new plan given her current circumstance. To mini, Twilight was moving like a blur, but to Twilight time was slowed down and her thoughts were crystal clear. This was the state of Twilight when she needed to be at her best. With the information that she knew about the walkers, and given the limited resources they had...but they didn't have limited resources. Twilight looked over to the tipped over washing machine, where the pile of weapons were. There were a variety of different guns, knifes, and explosives. Only a hand grenade and some dynamite explosive wise.

     Twilight knew that the walkers were attracted to sound, but given the fact that animals are more attracted to food then random stimuli, she knew that just throwing a big explosion wouldn't really avert there attention towards here. She asked herself the properties in which these creatures had attention wise. Asking questions won't get her anywhere she thought. She could just throw the grenade at the mob, but the size of the explosion was undeterminable, she couldn't risk that, she was too scared of the consequences. Perhaps if she were to get on the roof some how, then she could throw it down at the herd and destroy most of them, then they could just shoot the rest. But how was she to get on the roof? The plans she conquered were getting her nowhere and time was running out. Perhaps Mini had some ideas of her own.

     "Now what do we do?" Asked Twilight. Mini was scared, panting loudly.

     "Beats the buck out of me." Time well wasted Twilight thought.

     It was hopeless, the chances of getting out of here was next to zero, but that didn't mean it was zero. She thought that since they were underground, she could use her digging spell and they could drill out of here.

     "I've got a plan, follow me." Said Twilight. Mini did so. Twilight went over to the wall and was about to cast her spell. It didn't work.

     "Of course it wouldn't work! God I'm so stupid and forgetful!" Time was running out, and little mistakes like these were going to be the cost of her life. The door was starting to give way, time was of the essence. She thought and thought until her head was about to burst. She thought about a way out, a way that wouldn't involve risk, or immanent death. Through the ceiling? Can't break through. It was like a cage. The stone cold laundry room that once filled the sounds of noisy machinery, is now going to be filled with the sounds of dead ponies and terrifying screams. Twilight didn't understand it. It was usually moments like these that she would always pull through and find a solution. Why didn't that happen? Things were supposed to get better now. Twilight started to cry once more.

     "I...I...I'm so sorry..." Twilight looked to Mini.

     "It's all my fault. You saved my life, and this is what you get. You should have just left me there. They tell you to treat other ponies well and be nice. I would have just been better off if you just left me there!" Twilight cried and cried. She just couldn't believe that her last act would be the one to kill an innocent young girl, after surviving all this time, a good deed is what kills Mini.

     "Oh my...you are so whiny you know that?" Twilight looked at Mini confused.

     "P...pardon?" Mini said a slight tsk.

     "You sound like this the end of it all. But I have learned now that it never ends. And it's ponies like me who survive. The ponies that hate it here, the ponies who don't want to survive the most, the ponies who survive while they see everypony die. If we truly die here then I'm more then glad that I brought you here. Living.....this way...is just...not cut out for me. The ones who die are the lucky ones, but those who live must see the world burn alone and miserable. I'm tired of it." Twilight looked up at Mini.

     "But..." Mini slapped her across the face.

     "You idiot, the reason I helped you wasn't out of pity, not because I felt bad for you, but because I was tired of it all. I was tired of being alone, I was tired of being miserable, I was tired of living like this. I'm not going to let you die. And even if you want to or not, ponies like me...ponies like you, are going to survive. Not because they want to, not because they need to, but because this thing is like a phsyco path. It needs to have somepony see its work. And it's ponies like you and me who are usually picked. I don't know why, or how, or even if there's a driving force behind it. But you are going to live, and suffer. But the good news is you're going to suffer it with somepony."

     Twilight took in those words. They felt comforting in a morbid way. But that wasn't enough to get her to start moving again.

      Mini herself tried to think of a way to get out of here. There was no back door or anything. Next to the laundry room there was a hallway that led to six different rooms. Mini was only living here for a week or so, so she didn't really know the architecture to well. Perhaps there was some way out, but the door was just about to break so she couldn't check all the rooms in time. She thought in her head, retracing her steps when rummaging through the rooms inside her head.

     "Bingo," she said outloud.

     "Grab everything you can! Food, tents, weapons, anything you can." Twilight got up, and proceeded to do so. It was unclear as to where she got her motivation from. It was a feeling that was a cross between the need to be alive, and to simply continue existing because there is not really much you can do other then that. As she was rummaging through the various things she acquired to put in her big saddle bag, she looked to the ground and found a button. The same button that was used as the eyes of the doll she found from the first time she got out of the hospital earlier that day. She decided to keep it. Perhaps as a reminder. For what she wasn't quite sure.

     "Alright c'mon follow me!" They ran into one of the rooms. There were boxes piled on top of each other that lead up to a small window that lead outside to the back of the house. Mini hopped from box to box and was at the top.

     "Hurry! Oh my fu...just hurry girl! Your so slow!" Twilight was doing the best she could but it was one of the greatest fitness struggles she has ever had to endure. Her willpower was fading and the pain from her many injuries were not helping. She heard the door crack, finally giving way to the flood of zombies that would devour the ponies like savage animals. Twilight had to hurry. She quickened her climbing to the best of her ability, but she was advancing towards the window at a considerably slow rate. Finally she was in hoofs reach of Mini's hoof and they clung on to each other.

     As she was being pulled up, unfortunately for them, Twilight had forgoten to close the door that lead to this room. They barged in hungry for pony flesh. Mini eventaully hoisted Twilight up just fast enough so that the walkers couldn't get to her. The walkers were bumping into the boxes about to make the tower fall.

     "Go through the window," Mini demanded. Twilight was hesitant.

     "Now!" Twilight finally obliged and jumped through the window. She looked behind her to see Mini take out her bow and arrow and shoot the walkers below as if it was rapid fire. Using a combination of her wings and hoofs, to make the firing and loading 5x more efficient. Twilight looked out and saw a swarm of them entering the house. It was terrifying. A lot of walkers were also coming back towards the house from behind. Mini finally got out and told Twilight, "Run."

     They ran off into the forest, not going on any path, just going straight and trying to avoid any walkers. There were many walkers ahead but Mini easily took them down with her arrows. Shooting them and doing her best to retrieve them again. They ran, and kept going. Twilight had no true goal in mind, she was just following Mini. They finally rested and settled down when no walkers were in sight. They threw themselves on the ground. And rested for a while. About a few minutes went by of simply just resting in silence.

     "Alright the, let's see what you got." Mini asked Twilight wondering how many things Twilight had grabbed.

     "Oh wow, you carried a lot of stuff, I mean for a babby old princess." As Mini went on to count all the things that they had, Twilight came across some intriguing thoughts. She asked herself, where is princess Celestia and Luna? Are they gone? Have they turned? Why hadn't they made an evacuation? She looked up to the sky, it was almost dark out now. If the princesses truly were gone, then who is raising the sun and the moon? Quite Intresting questions, that really, nopony could answer.

     Another thought popped into her head, what about Equestria's allies? Surely the other kingdoms would have came to rescue Equestria, unless...has it plagued the entire earth? No...it's only been a year, that's impossible...but it could have been a possibility, but it was too absurd. Her train of thought was interrupted by Mini. She was now announcing the various items that they now had to live off.

     "Alright, by combining the resources we both picked up, we have, loads of food. And I mean loads. We have sadly, only one tent, lots of knifes, three flash lights, and...ohh yah. Lots of arrows. Thirty seven baby. A medical kit, six bottles of water, some...I dunno what that is, and...oh man we got a lot of guns. Now I'm no gun expert, but I would say that we have some pretty good guns. We have, a rifle, a rapid fire thingy, two handguns, and some ammo, I dunno which goes into which, but, we'll figure to out later." It was a bit scary, how a little filly was so enthusiastic about dangerous things like arrows, and guns. When she said that she wasn't really like the other girls, she really meant it.

     "So, how come you got so many guns and knifes? An army camp I presume, because there all army coloured." Mini nodded.

     "Me and some....uh...others, went to a camp and got loads of stuff." Predictable Twilight thought. Twilight had gone through so many different emotions and felt so much pain in one day. It was nice to now finally be able to relax. The constant running and the pushing of her limits made her wounds worse and made her feel terrible. But it wasn't enough to keep her awake. Twilight laid back down, spacing out. Mini was now setting up the tent. It was pitch black now. She wasn't happy nor sad, or even really feeling any emotions as of now. She was just extremely tired. There was however one emotion that went through her system and was a constant. Fear. Who wouldn't be scared at a time like this? She decided that she just wanted sleep, not to think of anything, just sleep.

     The tent was set up. "I'll go set up the perimeter, you stay in the tent until I come back ok?" Twilight didn't even try to go with her. She knew that she could take care of herself, and that she would just be another pony to take care of. Twilight then nodded. Twilight brought the stuff inside the tent. She looked back to see that Mini only had a bow and some arrows.

     "Why aren't you bringing any guns?" Asked Twilight. Mini took a look at her bow and smiled.

     "It's the best weapon I've got. Besides we don't want to waste any bullets. Now rest, and I'll be there shortly." It was so weird. The relationship between Twilight and Mini was off putting. In a normal zombie apocalypse, it would have been Twilight's job to take care of Mini, but it would seem that the roles have some how been reversed. Not that it was a problem to Twilight, but it sort of felt wrong. It should be Twilight caring for Mini. But then again, in Twilight's current state, she wasn't even able to help herself. Twilight set her sleeping bag down. She also prepared one for Mini. She was about to put the pillows down, when suddenly a scream echoed through the forest. It wasn't much of a scream, but more like a loud sound that would indicate struggle.

     Twilight got out of her tent, trying to find the source of the sound. She tripped while turning around on her own tail, making her wounds open up even more. She wasnt even in walking condition, but she managed to get up, pick up a sub machine gun and walked into the direction of the struggle. She went as fast as she could in her condition. When she finally arrived at the scene, sh had thought that she was too late. She heard a cry for help from right behind her. She saw a hord of walkers surrounding Mini. Even Mini's rapid fire arrow movements weren't enough to stop the herd from getting closer.

     Twilight then proceeded to shout," Duck!" Some of the walkers turned to her direction. She then proceeded to shoot them all rather carelessly, just barely managing to even shoot straight. She eventually ran out of bullets and the walkers were in biting distance of Mini. One could simply just reload it, but Twilight didn't want to have to go through the trouble of figuring it out herself right now. She grabbed what seemed to be a machete from her bag and used it to stab the walkers. They did not die.

     "Why isn't it...." Mini then Interrupted her and screamed in frustration.

     "Oh my fu...old hag you have to get there heads!" Twilight then tried to chop there heads. She killed at least 4 of them before having the blade get stuck, but this was enough to allow mini to get the rest of the walkers. The herd was then eventually exterminated.

     "Are you okay?" Twilight asked Mini.

     "I guess." Mini answered.

     "Let's head back to home base then." Said Twilight only having sleep in her mind.

     "Fine you go back, I'll continue to set up the perimeter." Twilight looked back her and gave her a suprised glance.

     "Are you serious? After what just happened, your just going to go out alone again? C'mon we'll do it tomorrow, for now we should get some sleep." Mini refused to give up.

     "I agree that you should go back,  your usless unless you heal up." Twilight in turn reacted in retaliation also.

     "I'm not going unless your coming with me. It's dangerous out here." Mini rolled her eyes and just proceeded to walk. Twilight was frustrated but still went and followed Mini.

     It appereared that Mini was setting up some sort of indicator by tying a string from tree to tree. Perhaps to show where there base started and where it ended, and to help show where the base was when they went out searching for supplies. Twilight stared at Mini and decided to finally thank her for saving her life and apologizing for making her lose her home.

     "Hey Mini, I'm sorry that...you know, I made you lose your house... It must be a pain to have to take..." Mini interupted but still kept walking.

     "You don't really have to apologize. It wasn't a matter of how I was going to have to get going again, but when." Twilight sighed. She thought about how it must have been so hard for Mini to survive out here by herself for a considerable amount of time, and how the effects of an apocalypse could traumatize a little girl. She probably got seperated from her family a while ago. But it was amazing how this girl had built herself up so much to the point where she just shrugs things off and just keeps going. All on her own nonetheless.

     "Hey I also just want to say, thank you for..." Before Twilight could finish a walker that was from behind Twilight came up and pulled her to the ground. Mini looked around shocked and scared half to death. She tried to help, but couldn't move.

     "No, no, no, not again, not again! Please no! No!" Mini tried to go and help Twilight, but memories of an almost uncanny similar occurrence that happened long ago flushed into her mind. These memories petrified her and wouldn't allow her to move. Only to stare and watch as Twilightt was to be devoured by the walker.

     The walker's teeth kept on biting and biting, trying to grip onto Twilight's face. Twilight met the monster eye to eye. The walker showed no emotion. It only stared back at her. It was only hungry. Any signs of the pony it used to be was gone. A battle between Twilight's hoofs and the walkers mouth was like the most intense game of some sort of reverse tug of war. She was losing. Twilight had to go and get her knife from her saddle bag, but if she did that then there would be less strength to keep the face away, she wasn't going to take that risk. It was just a constant battle. Twilight it seemed was losing her stamina, her energy and her will to fight. The walker it appeared was using an incredible amount of force and seemed to not even show any signs of slowing down. It was a fight that was already predetermined for Twilight to lose. In her last moments of having any energy, she noticed how the body had degraded and decomposed. She then put her hoofs in between the walkers mouth and rip open the jaw in opposite directions. The results as Twilight predicted was that the mouth easily gave way and ripped apart more easily then if you were to do it on a pony that was alive. She kept on pushing and pushing until finally the lower half of the jaw snapped off. Twilight didn't what would happen after. Would the walker continue to try and eat Twilight? Even though it didn't have a jaw to do so?

     The results were astonishing. It turned out that the walker didn't even try to eat Twilight. It seemed that it no longer had the urge to consume anymore now having removed the ability to eat. Twilight got out her knife and repeatedly stabbed the walker. Over and over and over again trying to make sure that the thing was dead for real.

     Twilight looked over to see Mini. She was frozen. She was crying so much that her face almost flooded. She then just ran towards Twilight and hugged her as hard as she could, making sure that she was still intact.

     "Please don't go..." Twilight looked down at Mini and smiled. Perhaps the little girl wasn't so built up as she thought she was. In the end, she was still just a fragile little girl just trying to act tough.

      "Don't you ever go, ever. Please? I don't want to be alone, I don't want to cry alone, I want somebody to....just please!" Twilight then hugged Mini closely and said to her in a soft voice.

     "I will never leave you. We are going to be the ones who survive. I will protect you, and care for you, and make sure everything will be alright. You said it yourself didn't you? It's the ponies like us who survive. Whether we want to or not. We will survive. We may suffer, but we will suffer together." Mini looked up at Twilight and smiled. It was the first time in a long time that Mini was truly happy.

     "C'mon, we have to get up early tomorrow." Mini nodded. Then they went off to there tent, and Mini decided that perhaps it was a good thing that they shared a tent. It was good to be with sompony. It was nice not being alone anymore.