Equestria of The Dead

Previously, on Equestria of The Dead...

After listening to the message, Berry snarled at the radio. She then raised her right hoof and slammed it down onto the radio, smashing it into pieces. She lifted her hoof up to her face to observe it. There was glass dug deep into the hoof, with blood running down her foreleg. However, she felt no pain, therefore, it didn't matter to her. She began to set her hoof down back onto the ground, causing the glass to dig deeper. Still, it did not matter.

She then slowly began to turn around, then looked down to see a pothole in the road. Slowly, she shambled towards it, reached to it, and began to pull. Surprisingly, even in death, she still managed to lift it up. She then threw it next to her.

She then growled and snarled loudly, trying to get the attention of the Walkers. She then motioned her left hoof to the pothole.

Finally, Berry slowly began to climb down the hole...and the rest followed...

Equestria of The Dead

Created by: Thunder Ice

Episode 3: Sewer

It had now been almost 15 minutes since we made our way downward into the sewers, hoping to find our way out of the overrun city of Baltimare. Wind was with his wife and daughter, his wife supporting him. His daughter was on his back, sleeping. Rain was with Star Burst at the front of the group, the young filly I had saved from before sitting on his back. The mother was walking along near the side, her son on her back, and her face showing deep thought. She must be trying to take this all in, even after a month. I'm just glad I wasn't awake to see this...

Rainbow Dash and I were walking together, side by side, at the very end of the group, just talking and catching up. Sometimes, I would ask her some things about my past, and sometimes, I'd ask her about hers. She told me about those Wonderbolt ponies. Apparently, they were the famous fliers of Equestria, and Rainbow's idols. They even had an academy and selected a number of ponies to go to said academy to prove whether or not they were Wonderbolt material.

Apparently, while Cloudsdale was being overrun, they evacuated remaining survivors to here, including the Wonderbolts. However, they were one of the lucky ones to make it out...well, maybe.

"So," Rainbow began, "Applejack's okay?"

Everytime I hear her name, I felt so...warm inside. And I barely know Applejack. For now, that is.

"Yeah, she's okay. Holed up at the barn with Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom," I replied.

"They're all okay?"

"Yeah, thank Celestia."

"So...what happened after you woke up?"

"In the hospital?"

"Well, duh," Rainbow jokingly replied, giggling a bit.

Although the events happened only yesterday, it was a little fuzzy, but I could still remember it.

"When I woke up, the first thing I did was get up. That was when I was greeted with this thing," I pointed to my wound.

"When I woke up, I got off my bed and stood up for the first time in a month, only to fall flat on my face. It hurt a lot, but it went away. Once it did, I got back up and headed to the bathroom, only to find out the lights and sink didn't work. I gave up after a few tries, then went back out. That was when I saw the cards and pictures. I read them, looked at the pictures, then put them in here." I pointed to the satchel, still on my back.

"By the way, thanks for the card," I decided to say. Rainbow chuckled slightly, putting a smile on my face. I continued the story after her chuckling stopped.

"After checking the whole room, I went out into the hall, which was completely torn apart, like a tornado came through. I wandered through it for about a minute. That was when I saw this pony. They were on the ground, laying with their face away from me...I...I didn't know if this pony was hurt or dead or what. But when I turned him around..."

The vision of the stallion's face haunted my mind. Just the sight almost made me vomit, but I held it back. Rainbow could already tell what the sight might've been like.

"I kept on going until I reached the double doors to the cafeteria. But...they were chained up. At the time, I didn't know why they were chained up, so I called out and asked if anyone was in there, and told them I needed help. The only thing they did was reach their arms out through the opening, like they wanted me. Fear taking over, I quickly turned around and headed down another hallway."

I closed my eyes for a moment, picturing the Walkers reaching out to me. It only lasted for a second before I opened my eyes again, and continued.

"I kept on walking, not stopping, until I reached an exit door. When I went through, I was in a stairwell. Surprisingly, some lights still worked. I eventually found my way outside. It was, I believe, the loading dock behind the hospital. All over the place... there were just...bodies, some of...children..." I'll never forget those images. Those heartbreaking images...

"After a few minutes, I got over the hill and saw Ponyville. But the sign that said welcome replaced the population number with 0. Ignoring it, I just went into town anyway. And...it looked worse than the hospital. I just searched the place for...I don't know how long I searched. Eventually, I found a bike and started to leave...that was when I saw this mare. She looked like she'd been dead for a while...yet she was crawling at me. I didn't know any of the ponies I saw were dead. I just let fear take over, and I rode away. Once I got to the barn, I started to check out the inside. That was when Big Mac hit me with a wooden bat, thinking I was a Walker. That was when I met Applejack and the others."

I stopped for a minute, catching my breath before continuing.

"We ate, talked, washed the dishes, and talked again. Then that Twilight mare-"

"Twilight Sparkle?" Rainbow interrupted.

"Yeah. She called Applejack, trying to say something, but the radio had such a bad transmission, we couldn't hear what she said. I only heard the word 'Baltimare'. I told AJ I had to check it out. She didn't want me to, but I told her we wouldn't know unless we checked. She eventually agreed, and I told her I'd be alright...I am alright. Well, thanks to that bandit."

"You mean the same bandit that shot me?" Rainbow asked, a bit annoyed.

My eyes widened, forgetting the incident.

"Y-Yeah. Hehe..." I chuckled awkwardly. Rainbow then asked a question, changing the subject completely.

"Star Burst said before that you and AJ were...in a relationship?"

I quickly blushed for a moment, stammering for a second. "U-Uh, y-yeah, I guess. Before we went to bed last night, we...uh..."

Rainbow quickly understood what I was getting at, and deeply blushed just thinking about it.

"O-Oh...that..."

"Yeah..."

I decided to change the subject quickly to avoid this from getting anymore awkward.

"So, how did the outbreak happen? Here, I mean, at the refuge center."

Rainbow slowly lifted her head and looked to me, answering the question after a second.

"Somepony ended up getting bit. And they did a hell of a good job hiding it from everyone. Unfortunately, that ended up getting him killed. His wife went to check up on him. Before she knew it, her neck was being torn open by her own husband. That's when all hell just broke loose..."

Rainbow took a minute to compose herself before continuing.

"It...it all happened so fast. Ponies by the hundreds became Walkers within less than an hour. The remaining Royal Guard soldiers tried to hold them back. They managed to hold a number of them back. One of them allowed a few of us to get away. He didn't make it. Eventually, the rest of the guards were overwhelmed...pretty soon...the whole center was overrun..."

Rainbow stopped again, and I thought she tried to compose herself again. But then I saw a tear slowly falling down her face.

"Many ponies I knew...died right before my eyes...my mom...my dad...my sister..."

After she said that, my heart shattered. Rainbow...lost her parents. Just saying it caused tears to quickly flood Rainbow's eyes.

"...and I...d-didn't...help them..."

The news caused her very innocence to shatter. She broke down into tears, and collapsed onto the ground, crying as hard as she could. The others were close enough to hear her, and they turned around to see what the problem was.

"What happened?" Rain asked.

I opened my mouth to reply to him, but Rainbow started yelling, beginning to blame herself for her family's demise.

"They're dead! My mom! My dad! My sister! They're all dead! My family's dead! And it's all my fa-a-a-ult!"

Tears fell down my face as I began to feel Rainbow's pain. I sank down to Rainbow's side and hugged her tightly in my forelegs, trying to calm her down, and whispering into her ear that everything will be okay.

"Shhhhh Dashie...shhhh..." I did my best to calm her down, and it worked. Over the course of a few minutes, Rainbow's crying began to cease slowly, as she let all of her sadness out. Minutes continued to pass onward, but they felt like hours. Soon enough, the cyan pony slowly fell asleep in my lap. To be honest, however, she looked absolutely adorable when sleeping. She looked like a foal.

A couple of minutes after she passed out, the group sat down, waiting patiently, but also resting. When they heard her stop crying, Rain asked, "She okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, "She's asleep."

"Poor Rainbow," Star Burst added. "It's hard...losing someone you're close to, or in her case, three of them..."

It became silent for a moment, and I heard Rainbow's gentle and adorable snoring.

"So, what were you two talkin' about that caused her to break down like that?" Star asked me.

"Well...I asked her how the city got overrun so quickly, how it started and all...then she started talkin' about her parents and her sister...what happened to them...She said it was her fault they died...I guess it was a little too early to be asking that question..."

"It ain't your fault, Lightning. You didn't know how she'd react...you didn't know she lost her family...you were curious and you asked...it's in the past now...and we can't change that."

It became silent for a moment, before I began to hear mumbling. I looked to see Rainbow mumbling in her sleep. I listened to what she was saying.

"N-No...Mommy...don't leave me...please...D-Daddy...N-No...Leave my s-sister alone...stop...please..."

Rainbow's forelegs and hindlegs wiggled adorably, but my heart was shattering from just hearing those words. At this point, tears were falling down Rainbow's face again. With my hoof, I wiped them away, and whispered into Rainbow's ear, hoping she would hear.

"It's okay, Dashie. You're safe."

Slowly, Rainbow's scared look turned to a faint smile, and she snuggled up again in my lap. I hugged her back, whispering again that everything would be okay. She felt so fuzzy and warm. It made it impossible to stop hugging.

"So...what should we do right now?" Rain asked, "We stay right here 'till she wakes up, or do we keep on going?"

"Pick the latter, we've got company!" Wind suddenly responded, and he pointed with his remaining hoof in the direction we walked from. My eyes widened in horror. Numerous Walkers were shambling towards us at a fast speed. However, one of them looked oddly familiar, until Wind called out its name.

"...Berry...Shake...?"

Berry Shake was among the army of Walkers roaming towards us, pieces of intestines hanging from her ripped open stomach, blood dripping from her left hoof, with glass dug deep into it. She snarled and screamed at us.

"C'mon, let's go!" Rain yelled. We all got up, I grabbed Rainbow Dash and made sure she was tightly secure on my back, and we ran in the other direction, trying to outrun the Walkers.

We ran and ran through the long tunnel, trying to get away. However, we could not break free from their sight. Also, these Walkers seemed a bit...faster than the other ones I have encountered in the past day and a half. Had these ones gone through Rigor Mortis yet?

Unfortunately, I was paying more attention to my thoughts more than my hoofing, and I ended up tripping on a hoof, falling to the dirty ground of the tunnel, causing Rainbow Dash to fall next to me. I then felt a pain in my hindleg. I looked to see it had broken from the fall. I tried as quick as I could to get up, but pain in the hindleg made it impossible. It was no use.

A Walker quickly pounced on me, trying to claw at me. But I quickly grabbed its shoulders with my hooves and tried to push it off. However, this one was a little stronger than me, like it still had strength left in its rotting body. I was slowly losing the battle.

That was when I felt a pain in my right hindleg. I looked down to a shocking sight: a Walker was biting deep into my leg, and this quickly threw off my concentration against the pouncing Walker. Losing my strength, the Walker bit hard and deep into my neck, causing me to scream out in pain, only for it to come out as a gurgle. The pain caused me to scream even more, but still, they only came out as gurgles.

I was choking on my own blood.

I slowly looked to my left to see the Walkers begin to pounce on Rainbow, who had awakened when they began to claw and bite into her. Her loud, ear shattering screams quickly began to fade away as I started to black out from the immense blood loss.

It wasn't long before I blacked out for the last time, welcoming death...I wasn't ready to go...

"Lightning!" A voice yelled to me, and my eyes flashed open in an instant.

"Huh?! What?!" I asked fairly quick, and began to look around the location I was in. I was shocked to find myself back in our previous location, just minutes after Rainbow had fallen asleep. I looked down to see Rainbow back in my lap, slumbering as she was before.

"I was dreaming the whole thing?" I asked, unknowingly, out loud.

"Dreaming what?" Star's voice called out to me, chuckling a bit, and I looked at him.

"Oh. Nothing. Just a bit of a nightmare, I guess," I simply replied, still shaken up from the dream. I could still feel a bit of pain in my neck and leg.

I then looked back down to Rainbow to see her snuggling up against me again, almost starting to hug me. A tear fell down my face as the vision of the Walkers clawing at her came back to my mind and burned into my brain.

"...Lightning? You alright, dude?" Star asked me.

I was silent for a moment, looking intently at Rainbow, seeing her smiling, bundled up like a kitten. Slowly, the nightmarish vision perished from my mind. For now, at least.

"Yeah...I'm okay," I replied quietly, leaning down to kiss Rainbow on the forehead. I then began to hug her again, taking in the warm, fuzzy feeling of her fur, but being careful not to fall asleep again. I may not know Rainbow much for now, but right now, she is important to me. I don't want her to end up like the rest of the ponies of Baltimare...or her family.

"So...what should we do right now?" Rain asked, "We stay right here 'till she wakes up, or do we keep on going?"

That question sparked instant Deja Vu in my mind, and in a split second, I raised my head, my ears twitched, and I quickly turned my head to the left, fearing to see the massive army of Walkers shambling their way towards us. But, when I looked down the tunnel, I saw nothing but the dark void, going onward. However, it wasn't entirely dark. There were occasionally potholes that shone light through the tiny holes. They acted as artificial lights that shone down upon us until the sun would set. Good thing it was only 3:30.

"Lightning, what's going on? Seriously, you're creeping me the hell out," Star asked with a bit of worry in his voice.

"What's going on?" Rain asked, a curious look on his face.

I looked at the son and father, silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say in response. I was gonna tell them about the dream, but depending on the location we're in, I guess it'd be best until we're out of the sewer. Better yet, out of the city. I looked upward to see through a metal sewer grate above us to see some buildings, meaning we were still in the city. 15 minutes, and we were still here. I kinda had a feeling we've been walking in circles the entire time, yet the tunnel didn't curve at all. It stayed straight the whole time.

I looked back down to the two, still waiting for an answer.

"Nothing," I simply replied, "Just had a feeling, I guess. Let's keep going. I just don't want to be down here when it gets dark."

"He's right," Wind replied, "The sewers are huge. Plus, we just need to get far enough from the city and the Walkers."

Rain and Star looked at each other for a few moments. Then back to me.

"Alright," Star then responded, "Let's go then."

Star got up from his sitting position and began to walk down the path, his father following him. I looked over to Wind, where his wife and daughter helped lift him up from the ground.

"Gentle now, hon," his wife said to him.

"Be careful, daddy," his daughter added. Wind looked down to his daughter and chuckled.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Daddy's not going anywhere," he responded, smiling. The daughter smiled back.

After the brief scene, I placed Rainbow onto the ledge I was sitting on, allowing me to get up onto the ground on all fours. Once doing that, the pain in my wound finally returned after a day. It caused me to twitch a bit, but I tried my best to ignore the pain. Luckily, it went away after a moment. Once the pain was gone, I picked Rainbow back up and placed her on my back, where her head rested next to mine. Luckily, her ear was close to me, allowing me to whisper in it.

"Hang on tight, Dashie," I said her nickname again.

It took a moment or two, but Rainbow listened in her slumber and wrapped her forelegs around my neck, securing herself onto me. Once she was secure, I started following the rest of the group, who was only about 10 feet ahead.

"Hey, wait up!" I called out, but not too loud to avoid waking Rainbow. Luckily, she still slept. She's been fairly happy since I told her she was safe. Obviously, she is safe.

I caught up with the group after at least a minute, and we were on our way again through the tunnel, hoping to find our way out of what remained of Baltimare. The continuation of the walk showed the same thing we'd seen for the 15 minutes we'd been down here. The occasional pipes, grates, potholes, and other holes that led to other parts of the sewer. However, these holes were so small, only the occasionally spotted rats could go through them.

But as we continued throughout the tunnel, something caught our eyes.

"Hey, check it out," Star said, pointing to the wall on the right. What we saw was a dark red substance, flowing down to the floor.

Blood was splattered on the wall.

Star approached the wall, eyeing the blood, like he was inspecting it. He took a good look at it for a couple of seconds before he looked back to us.

"This blood's fresh. Maybe 'bout half an hour," he said to us.

"So that means there's someone down here with us. Took out a Walker in their path," Wind replied.

"Well if that's the case..." Star paused before looking around on the ground.

"...Where's the body?"

Just a moment after asking that question, a pair of hooves appeared out of the darkness of a small tunnel and grabbed Star, pulling him back. A moment later, he screamed, and we heard a ripping noise.

"Star?!" Rain yelled as he saw his son being pulled back. He quickly ran towards him and grabbed him with both hooves. After a few seconds, Star was successfully pulled out of the dark, and the son and father fell to the ground. At first, we were glad Star was okay, but then a shocking sight caught our eyes. A chunk of Star's shoulder was torn off, and blood was slowly leaking out from it.

Star was bitten.

"No...N-No..." Rain said, his voice cracking up. His son was bitten...meaning...he would soon be one of them.

Suddenly, Rain's face turned from shock and horror, to anger and rage. Quickly, he illuminated a small light from his coat collar towards the area where Star had been just seconds ago. As if answering Star's question, there was a Walker, feasting on the chunk of Star's shoulder.

In anger, Rain took the hatchet from his satchel, got up from the ground, and charge towards the Walker. With enough force, he slammed the Walker against the wall, pinning his neck with his foreleg. The Walker snarled at Rain, trying to get him. Suddenly, the Walker's screams went silent, and blood squirted on the wall and at us, and we had to cover our faces, seeming how we were so close to the two.

We managed to open our eyes at the sight to see the hatchet dug deep into the Walker's skull, killing it for good. However, Rain didn't stop there. He pulled the hatchet from its resting spot, then a second later, dove it again into the head. Then back out, then back in. This process continued for about 15 seconds, with Rain grunting in anger, before he finally stopped. By the time he was done, the hatchet had gone deep enough to possibly split the head in two.

I then looked over to Rain. His face had been covered with Walker blood. However, through the blood, I saw a tear slowly falling down his face. After a few seconds, he finally pulled the hatchet out of the remains of the head, and removed his foreleg, allowing the limp body to fall to the ground with a heavy thud, then a splash.

Rain just stood there, his back turned to us, before he turned back to his son. He quickly headed to him, and kneeled down. He then began to inspect the wound. When he looked, horror filled his old face. A chunk of his shoulder up to his neck was torn off, and blood was quickly leaking out. Star was infected, but he was also quickly dying. Although he was one of the most skilled doctors in Baltimare, Rain knew Star would not be saved. He would die no matter what he did.

Rain began to feel tears fill his eyes. This would be the last time he would see his son. He closed his eyes, shutting them tight, hoping this was just a dream, and he would open his eyes, and Star would be fine and healthy. Suddenly, he felt a hoof on his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw the same sight. But Star's eyes were open, and he was looking at his father.

"D...Dad...D...Don't feel bad...Don't feel s-sorry...You...tried...It's ok-kay...I...I love you, Dad." He said weakly.

"Don't you say that. Don't you say your goodbyes," Rain quickly replied, feeling a tiny bit of hope flowing through him. "We'll get you fixed up. You'll be okay. I lost your mother, I'm not gonna lose you!" Tears began to stream down Rain's bloody face.

"D-Dad...Look...Look at me...I...got...bit. It ain't gonna matter what you d-do...in a few hours...I'm gonna be one of them...You...can't stop it..." Star began to look a bit pale as he lost more and more blood by the second.

Rain felt the hope quickly slipping away from Star's response. He felt a pain in his chest, his head hurt. He felt lost, with nowhere to go. He had to admit it. Star would die. No matter what, Star...would...die...

"I...I'm s-sorry if...if I w-wasn't a g...good enough s-son al...all those y-years..."

Rain's tear filled face showed a slight state of confusion.

"You were never a bad son....You...You were the greatest thing that happened...to your mom and I. We loved you all those years...and we still love you. I love you, son."

After hearing those words, Star began to smile. However, it was only a weak smile. He didn't know how long he had been smiling, but he enjoyed the warm feeling. Suddenly, Star's weak smiling face started to turn blank, and his eyes closed slightly. His pupils started to enlarge slightly, and they began to look dull...lifeless. Finally, Star exhaled. But the expected inhale never came.

"...Star?" Rain asked. No response.

"STAR?"

No response.

Rain knew what just happened. He just saw his son pass away in front of him. Right before his eyes...

It took a few moments for the events he just witnessed to flow through his mind.

No...it couldn't be true. He can't be dead. He was just playing. In a few moments, he'd take in a deep breath, blink his eyes, and he'd still be alive...right?

No matter how many times he tried to deny it, the truth always came back. Star was dead. He was dead...and he was never coming back. That was when the tears came flowing from Rain's eyes. Slowly, he leaned over his deceased son, wrapping his forelegs around him, and hugged him tightly, crying in his un-bitten shoulder.

He couldn't believe it. No matter how many times it stared him in the face, he couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. But it was true. His son was dead. He was dead and he was never going to come back.

Rain didn't know how long he sat there. It felt like hours, but it hasn't even been more than a minute. The rest of us just stood there, dazed and shocked at what happened. Out of all of us who were surprised and horrified, I must've been the most, possibly even more than Star's own father. Star saved my life by letting me into that storage area. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't even be here right now. I would've never seen Rainbow, and that little filly probably wouldn't be here either.

Speaking of Rainbow, I looked on my back to see her. Surprisingly, she was still asleep, even after the screaming and crying that occured in just these 2 minutes alone. She was definitely a heavy sleeper. But there's one problem...what am I gonna tell her when she wakes up? The question haunted my mind. Rainbow and Star became best friends during their stay at the refuge center. Rainbow having to deal with the news of her best friend's terrible demise...I couldn't imagine it. It was too horrific, but not as horrific as the sight before me.

Only 3 minutes had passed, before Rain finally got up.

"...Rain..." Wind slowly said, breaking the silence. Rain, however, didn't respond. He just continued to look down at his son's lifeless body, the eyes dull.

"...You know what will happen next...right?" Wind added, remembering what will occur. We all knew what would happen. Star would come back...but not as him. He will be one of them. No longer a citizen of the living, but a citizen of the walking dead.

"Yes..." Rain finally spoke up, pausing for a moment to compose himself, before continuing, "...I just can't...he's my son. I can't do that to my own son..."

Tears began to once again form in Rain's eyes. No one could blame him. If you had a son who died and could come back as a walking corpse that does nothing but roam around and eat the living, would you want to stab him in the head?

"But he'll tur-" Wind was quickly cut off when Rain yelled back at him.

"I KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN, DAMMIT!"

The place went dead silent, other than Rain's yells echoing down the tunnels. This was the first time we heard him yell. Well the first time I've heard him yell. I'm pretty sure he's yelled in previous times. Rain just stood there, looking at the three hoofed stallion, pondering on the ongoing situation.

Slowly, his gaze turned away from Wind and to his lifeless son. He stared at him, trying to take hold of the reality that was slapping him in the face. It was difficult. He just couldn't believe it. But it was true. Star was dead. And if he died...then he'd turn.

He just stared at the body for a few more moments before he slowly began to raise his hatchet at his son, ready to do what needed to be done.

"Rain...you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Wind said.

"...If I don't do it..." Rain paused for a brief moment. "...he'll come back."

"Let someone else do it." After that, the whole group looked at each other. This gave Wind and Rain the indication that none of us would be able to do it without possibly breaking down. Rain then turned his head towards Star's lifeless body.

"...He's my son. I'll do it."

This sentence was enough to cause Wind to slowly back away. Rain then slowly turned his head back to his son. Slowly, he raised his hatchet again, giving him a bit of Deja Vu, from the previous event just nearly 40 minutes ago. He held his hatchet in the air for a couple of seconds, like he wasn't sure if he should do this or not. Finally, he dove the hatchet down, jamming it deep into Star's skull, preventing the future event of being reanimated.

He kept the blade lodged in the skull for several moments, before pulling it back out, causing a tiny bit of blood to splash, but none of it got on us. Rain slowly took out what looked like a towel or napkin, and slowly wiped the blood from the sword. However, instead of just tossing the napkin onto the ground, he placed it back into the satchel, along with the hatchet.

"Why are you keeping that?" Wind wanted to know, as he felt confused, but mostly a bit disgusted at why he was keeping a bloody napkin. Not to forget the blood is from his own son.

However, Rain didn't respond to the question. Instead, he turned his head to us with an emotionless face.

"Let's go. We're losing light."

After that, he immediately began to walk forward. It took a few seconds for us before we began to follow him. The whole time, it was completely silent, other than our breathing and echoing hoofsteps, as well as splashes when we stepped in the water. The young filly I saved more than an hour and a half ago was still asleep, lying not on Rain's back, but this time, on Wind's back. Seeing the current state he was in, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for him to have a filly on his back.

Rainbow Dash still was asleep. I assume she was a heavy one in the past? During the whole time, from after that...nightmare to now Rainbow's forelegs have been wrapped quite tight around my neck. However, I didn't pay mind to it. I'd be here when she needs me. If I was one of her best friends before the coma, I'm one of her best friends now.

Soon enough, it had been 10 minutes since we started walking again. Above us, we expected to hear the moaning and snarls of the Walkers as they endlessly limped with no current objective, until they found a living soul to brutally rip to shreds. Instead, we heard nothing but the muffled chirping of birds.

"Rain," Wind said to the stallion, but he did not seem to hear him. He just kept on walking.

"Rain! I think we're out of the city!" Wind yelled, hoping to get his attention. And it did. Rain stopped, not turning around. Just staring off into the fading darkness ahead.

"...What makes you say that?" Rain asked for the first time in at least 10 minutes.

"Listen." It became silent once more, other than the chirping from above. "I don't hear any Walkers up there."

Rain finally and slowly turned around to us in order to hear above better. Turns out, Wind was right. He did not hear any Walkers. Rain looked up, through a sewer grate. Expecting to see buildings, he saw nothing but the sky, mostly blue, but starting to get a tiny bit orange.

"We need to check for sure." Rain then began to find a ladder that would lead to the surface. After a few seconds, he turned around, and saw one just a few hooves away. He headed to it. Once he reached it, he held on, then slowly began to make his way up the ladder. The pothole was at least 13 hooves above them, so it wasn't very far up. Once Rain reached the top, he carefully, but quietly, pushed the lid out of the way, pushing it to the side, causing sunlight to nearly blind him. Slowly, the light became dim enough for him to see.

He observed the area around him. They were indeed above a road, but also near a small bridge, with a river streaming under. Behind him was just a path that led to Baltimare, just at least 500 hooves in front of them. We were still pretty close, but far enough. Slowly, but carefully, Rain began to make his way out of the hole, crawling out onto the ground, laying for a few seconds before getting up on all fours. He then walked over to the whole and yelled down to them.

"It's all clear up here. C'mon up."

One by one, we each started to make our way up the ladder. The first one to go was obviously Wind, considering his current condition. Slowly and carefully, he began to make his way up the ladder, having to grip each bar quickly in order to avoid falling off. After about 30 seconds, he finally made it out and stood alongside Rain, then told his wife to awaken the kids. Once the kids were awake, they began to climb the ladder, the daughter's mother following behind the two fillies, one of which who has been very quiet since we were at the storage. There were only four now down here: Rainbow, me, and the mother and son. I decided to let them go first.

"Alright, Banana Cream. Wake up your son and you two go next. Lightning, you wake up Ra-" Rain suddenly stopped speaking in mid sentence. His face turned to the right, towards Baltimare. His eyes widened. I wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. But when I began to hear the very distant moans and snarls, then I knew.

"Change of plans. Get your asses up here NOW!" He yelled. In just a few seconds, Banana's son was awake, but rather than letting him climb the ladder, she carried him in one foreleg, and climbed with the other. Within a few seconds, Banana and her son were out of the sewer, leaving only me and Rainbow, still sleeping in here.

"Lightning, wake her ass up now, or we're leaving you in here!" Rain yelled, and he sounded pretty damn serious. Quickly thinking, I gripped Rainbow's forelegs, and pulled her off of me. I then started to shake her.

"Rainbow, Rainbow! Come on, wake up! Rainbow, wake up, now!"

This wasn't seeming to have any effect on her. No matter how hard I shook her, she did not wake up. How heavy of a sleeper was she?! I tried all I could to wake Rainbow, but to no avail. I shook her, yelled in her ear, anything I could do. Still, she didn't wake up. I knew the Walkers would be here any second. I then had a sudden idea that could wake her up. I just hope she doesn't get too pissed.

I quickly raised my hoof...and slapped it right across Rainbow's cyan colored face, causing a red hoof mark to appear, and causing Rainbow to awaken, yelling in pain in the process.

"Ow!" She rubbed her face with her hoof to ease the pain, then quickly looked to see who the attacker was.

"Lightning?! What was that fo-"

"No time! Walkers! Up the ladder! Now!" I said fairly quickly, but slow enough for her to understand. She looked behind me to see a ladder, and within a few moments, she was climbing. She couldn't fly for two reasons: The hole was too small, and one of her wings had a bullet hole in it.

Once she was a fair enough height up the ladder, I began to climb up after her. The sound of the Walkers were getting louder and louder by the second. Once Rainbow was out, I increased my climbing speed, and was literally "running" up the ladder. In a few seconds, I was, for the first time in almost an hour, back on the surface. I nearly sat down for a moment and wanted to enjoy some relaxation, but then I realized there was a horde of dead ponies shambling our way.

"Let's go, let's go!" Rain yelled to us. Within seconds, we were pretty much sprinting the opposite direction of the horde. As I ran, I turned around to see the horde of what appeared to be about 30 Walkers. Some of them had fallen into the open pothole, one of them becoming decapitated from hitting their head on the concrete. In disgust, I turned back around to focus more on the path in front of me. Seeming how we were much faster than the Walkers, it was fairly easy to get away.

Once we were at a far enough distance, Rain checked behind us to make sure we were out of the Walkers' line of sight. Sure enough, we were. However, to insure they wouldn't end up spotting us again, we followed Rain under a small bridge that was big enough for us to hide.

"Well, now that that's sort of out of the way, which way did they say the camp was?" Wind then asked. I was a bit confused at who they were, as well as what camp they were talking about.

"What camp?" I asked, like I thought, curious.

"The survivor camp," Rain replied. "About a mile or two from the city. Another group, 'bout 12-13, escaped in this tiny as hell RV wagon. Luckily, it was large enough to fit them all in there. Stationed it up in the mountains. In fact..."

Rain paused as he turned around and began to look in his satchel for something. After a few seconds, he took out what appeared to be binoculars. After taking them out, he immediately began to walk out of the bridge, immediately exposing him to the outside. Luckily, there were no Walkers in the area, except for the horde, which was pretty far away, so we weren't in any immediate danger. For now, at least. Rain took the binoculars, put them up to his eyes, and began to look in the direction of a distant mountain area, according to Rain, a mile or two away from our current location. He looked for a few moments, not saying a word, focusing only on a particular area.

"Ah ha." He then said, sounding a bit excited for the first time in...well, that's it. He hasn't exactly been excited since I've met him. Scratch that. Who would want to be excited when it's the end of the world? Well, actually, being alive would be one reason, and finding survivors would also. Forget what I said.

"Found 'em." Rain then took the binoculars from his eyes, looked to me, then motioned me to come to him. When I was near enough, he handed me the binoculars and pointed to the far mountainous area, then told me to look in that direction. I did as he told and put the binoculars up to my eyes, looking in the direction he told me. It took a few seconds, but I finally managed to focus on the location Rain saw. What I saw was, as Rain said before, an RV wagon. I did agree with Rain, it looked fairly small, but that's probably because of the fact that I'm 2 miles away. I continued to look at the location, then suddenly, what looked like a small dot appeared on the top of the RV. I wasn't sure what it was at first. But since I realized I'm extremely far, it was most likely one of the survivors of the group, patrolling the area for any dangers.

"You see something else?" Rain asked me.

"Someone. But I can't see who." I continued looking for a few more seconds before Rain finally took the binoculars back, then put it back into his satchel.

"I guess we'll see when we get there."

Just after he stopped speaking, we began to hear distant snarls once more. We looked behind us to where the city was to see the horde from before still walking in the same direction.

"Shit! Down!" Rain half yelled, and we quickly crouched down. We then quickly began to crawl under the bridge to avoid being exposed even more than we were. Once we were under, we began to hear the sounds of the Walkers passing right over us. Suddenly, the shuffling of their hooves stopped, as if they were no longer moving on their original path. Turns out, that's exactly what they were doing. We just sat here, under this bridge, waiting for them to move again. Had they discovered our scent? Were they trying to find us?

"What do we do? There's more than before, and we can't go anywhere unless we wanna end up swarmed," Wind then explained. I realized he was pretty much right. When I saw the Walkers a moment ago, it looked like the number had increased. I couldn't tell how many were together, but it was definitely more than before.

That was when Rainbow suddenly asked a question. However, it was not of our current situation.

"...Where's Star?"

My blood ran cold. I forgot, she was asleep when that happened. I wondered why she didn't ask it sooner. Once she asked that, everyone's eyes widened, and they started to look at each other. Banana, however, as well as her son, were looking away from us, as if they didn't want to see Rainbow when she found out.

I looked at everyone and realized no one would have the strength to tell her. Not even Rain. That left me as the only one. I looked to Rainbow, then slowly began to walk to her. I looked at her with pain showing in my eyes.

"Rainbow...I'm-"

*BOOM!*

A loud boom and powerful vibration shook me slightly, and a loud high pitched noise rang in my ears. I wasn't quite sure what just happened, but when I looked to my right, a small mushroom-like cloud appeared from about 30 hooves away. My vision was blurred for a moment. I couldn't hear anything except the slightly painful ringing.

Suddenly, I heard a muffled scream. It sounded familiar. It also sounded like it was saying 'come on!', but quietly. A few seconds later, the ringing noise faded away, and I could hear perfectly. I looked back to my right, but the mushroom-like cloud was gone. That was when I began to see Walkers from both sides of the bridge beginning to walk down the hill, and I was about to gasp in shock, but a hoof covered my mouth before I could make a sound.

"Let's go while they're distracted," I heard Rain's voice whisper to me. I then realized. Walkers are attracted to sound. Obviously, because of the little incident in the city. Slowly and quietly, I began to crawl in the other direction, away from the Walkers, following Rain back onto the path, where the others had been. Once Rain and I were back, the whole group began to run as fast as we could, stopping about a minute later, out of breath once more, but far enough and, hopefully, safe from danger.

"What the hell was that?" Wind asked in surprise, not knowing what happened.

"I threw a grenade," Rain replied. The whole group, except me, looked in complete surprise, eyes widened. I wasn't because I had no damn clue what a grenade was. I guess it was what that was back there? Something that explodes?

"You mean to tell me this entire time, you had a grenade in your satchel, and you didn't tell us?" Wind nearly yelled.

"I kept it for emergency purposes."

Wind suddenly stopped. His eye then twitched. His eyes then closed. He squeezed them.

"OUR WHOLE FUCKING SITUATION IN THE CITY WAS AN EMERGENCY!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, causing all of us to cover our ears in slight pain. I looked into the sky to see what looked like birds flying, possibly frightened from the scream.

"Hey, keep it down! You're gonna alert-" Rain was quickly cut off.

"No, I will not keep it down! We wasted almost a fucking hour in that sewer, when we could've used that damn grenade to distract those dead fuckers and get out a lot damn quicker! The fucking outcome could've been different! I wouldn't have lost my damn hoof, and your son would still be alive right now, not sitting down there in the sewer with a chunk of his shoulder torn off and a hole in his head!"

After that, it went completely silent. No one spoke or moved. I didn't really hear anyone breathe.

Suddenly, I began to hear crying. I looked behind me to see Rainbow, fallen to the ground, hooves covering her face, and crying. She knew now what happened to her friend. I didn't expect her to hear it like that.

In a slight bit of anger, I turned around to Wind, and went, "Nice going, asshole," without even thinking it.

I then turned back around and started walking to Rainbow. I got down to her and started hugging her, instantly triggering Deja Vu in my mind. I wrapped my forelegs around Rainbow to comfort her, and she immediately wrapped hers around me. I didn't speak, I didn't say anything in fear of making the matter worse. I just decided to let her let it out. This went on for about a minute before Rainbow's cries slowly began to become sniffles, and she cried less and less.

"You okay, Dashie?" I asked after a moment of silence.

Rainbow sniffed before she replied, "Y-Yeah. I'm fine...now. I guess..."

I just continued to hug her for a few more seconds before she slowly began to gently push herself off me to allow her to get up from the ground. I got up with her, wrapping a foreleg around her shoulder to let her know I was there for her.

"T-Thank you." She smiled with a tear in her eye. I gently wiped it away. I then looked to Wind with a bit of an angry look.

"We should go now if we wanna get up there by nightfall," I said before turning my head to the path that led to the mountains, and I started walking, my foreleg still wrapped around Rainbow's shoulder.

The group just sat there for a moment, kind of just watching us walk past them, before they began to follow us. As they started following us, Rainbow once again placed her head on my shoulder. It will be a little bit difficult to explain this to Applejack, but I'll think of an explanation. Besides, Rainbow's my friend. And friends are there for each other in the hardest of times...

As we walked, I looked up to the mountain again, up to the survivor camp. Up there, right now, are the rest of my friends, not knowing they're going to be seeing an old face. It will be worth the wait to see them, for me, for the first time.

I made a promise to Applejack I would be okay. Thanks to Star, I am okay. I made a promise to Rainbow Dash that I'd be there for her when she needed me. She needs me now more than ever.

I made promises to my friends...and I'm going to keep them, no matter what.

A promise should always stay a promise.
END OF EPISODE 3.