No-one could breathe.

One of their best friends; a pony who they had not seen for almost four months now, constantly making them worry if she was out there or not, day in and day out, was now in front of them finally, giving them the answer they had refused to believe all this time.

The group just stared at the lifeless body hanging from a rope, unable to speak, seeing the once cheerful and happy pony, with the life just drained out of her face, it was unclear into how long she was there.

“It...can’t be..” Rainbow said, fear in her voice. Her usual confidence was gone right now, Spike had never seen her so frightened, so broken. Seeing Pinkie hanging dead right there made things too real for her, the reality of this world. Despite them always saying that Pinkie and Fluttershy were most likely dead in the first days of this when they couldn’t find them, she never truly believed it. Part of her always thought her friend somehow escaped the chaos, that they were surviving somewhere out there, just waiting to be reunited with…

In front of them was a living fact that it could never happen now.

They had forgotten completely now of the previous events of that evening; the Hunters, Sweetie almost getting captured, even Mac’s desertion was forgotten. When looking back on this day, the main thing that would come to mind for them now was the confirmation of Pinkie Pie’s death, the fact that they would never see her again after today.

“She...she has bites.” Spike observed, struggling not to break down. “She...must have...ended it herself.”

Rarity and Rainbow looked and saw that what Spike said was true. Her hooves and other parts of her hanging body had traces of dried blood plastered all around, and when truly looked it was clear this was due to bite marks, meaning she didn’t have long anyway.

The fear she must had experienced throughout that time must had been unbearable, Spike thought. The idea that she was alone, scared and with so little hope that she actually chose to end things on her terms made Spike feel sick, sorry that while he was in camp, she was here.

Spike heard the sounds of faint cries coming from Rarity, and turned to see her and Sweetie, grief-stricken in each others arms, tears pouring down their faces.

He knew they couldn’t leave her like this; they had to at least get her down before leaving this place for good. Slowly, he unsheathed his machete, walking towards the rope tied from the floor to the support beam she was on, the only thing keeping her up, preparing to cut her loose, only to be stopped by a mournful Rainbow Dash.

“No…” she whimpered. “Let me. Please…”

Spike looked into her eyes with the same grief, the same torture she was feeling. They both wanted things to be they were in the past again more than anything in the world at that moment.. They wanted no deaths, no responsibilities to deal with that could maintain their future, they just wanted to be with their friends, safe and happy. But from what was happening right now, it couldn’t be further from that, and they felt like it could never be again.

Any hope, no matter how far away it was, that the seven of them could someday be together again, was dead now.

Spike saw how broken down Rainbow was, she had always been regretful that she couldn’t find Pinkie and Fluttershy on the first day, and Spike couldn’t help think that she was blaming herself for her death.

He eventually handed his machete to her; she needed to carry out this final kindness a lot more than he did. No matter how small a gesture it felt like, it had to be done, Rainbow wanted to do anything to help her friend at that time.

She walked slowly to the tied rope attached to the floor, her legs trembling along the way, making Spike have the assumption she was going to collapse, and with one strong swoop of the machete, the rope was cut and Pinkie’s body fell to the floor like a ragdoll.

She didn’t let them see, but Spike could had sworn he had seen a tear run down Rainbow’s face.

He left the others there and walked over to Rainbow, placing his hand on her shoulder, mournful for Pinkie’s fate as she was.

“Rainbow, I’m so so-”

“Fluttershy’s not out there, is she?” Rainbow interrupted with sorrow, her eyes not looking away from Pinkie’s corpse.

Spike turned and looked at Rarity, seeing her tears fall on Sweetie’s head as she held her, and without speaking, knew that no matter how much it hurt, what Rainbow said was true. They had to stop pretending.

He looked back to Rainbow wiping tears from his own eyes, and after a few seconds, he finally had to accept it.

“No.” he spoke. “She’s not.”

Rainbow didn’t react to him, her eyes were fixed on Pinkie, measuring every detail of the torn down pony. The dried blood, her now pale complexion, even the faded traces of tear stains running down her face…

Spike knelt down to her body and closed her eyelids, not just because it was the proper thing to do, but also because he couldn’t bear seeing her stare at him like with those lifeless, scared eyes anymore. Even though he did this, it was still far to say she seemed like she was sleeping, the way she was, closing her eyes just didn’t do it, but at least she looked slightly more peaceful, and that was all he could do.

It seemed as if the rope had cut into her throat after some time, meaning the blood had been either drained or completely cut off from the brain, explaining why she hadn’t turned, the brain was as dead as it would be if she was shot in the head like a normal walker.

Spike had the overcoming fear whether or not Pinkie became a walker or not before she finally died. It was a question on how long it took for her brain to die, too long and it would had meant she turnt beforehand.

Spike didn’t want to think of his friend that way.

“I… should have saved her.” Rainbow finally uttered. “I failed her.”

It was Rarity’s turn to speak. She approached Rainbow with Spike and looked in her eyes.

“Darling, no…” she whimpered. “You didn’t fail her. That day, you did all you could to find the others while escaping, we all did. But if you stayed out there any longer, you would have died, and we needed you. You had no choice.”

It looked as if Rainbow was opening her mouth to argue, only to hear the sound of ponies voices coming from outside.

“Shit.” Mac called from the window. “It’s those guys from before. We must have been followed.”

“Fuck...not now…no...” Spike muttered. They must had heard Mac’s calling from before, the very thing Spike feared would attract enemies. They couldn’t deal with them now, this was the worst time to be put in a situation like this. His group was too fragile to be put in a fight at that time.

“I heard yelling from over here. Some guys tried to get the slip on us.”
“Fuckers tried to mess with us, they’re gonna pay when we find them.”
“Spread out. They must be close.”

“Spike…” Sweetie said, scared. “What do we do now? Do we hide?”

Spike looked around to his comrades. Mac was at the boarded up window, looking through, It looked like Rainbow could barely stand next to Rarity, and Sweetie’s eyes were fixed on Spikes, eager to hear what he had to say.

With careful thought, he nodded in agreement. “Same plan as before. We hide. We can’t fight right now.”

The group got up, ready to leave, all except Rainbow, she didn’t move a muscle from where she was sitting, she was too transfixed at Pinkie, just staring at her with sorrowful eyes.

“Rainbow.” Rarity said. “We got to go now. We can’t stay here.”

She didn’t respond. She didn’t even react. She just kept looking at her, something was keeping her attention.

“Dammit Rainbow, snap out of it!” Spike said. “We need you right now.”

Rainbow slowly turned at Spikes face. She was shocked, not even paying attention to anything else but the matter at hand.

“She’s…. holding a note….” she finally managed to say.

Spike and the group suddenly looked down to her, and was shocked into what he saw down at her body, clenched in her hoof.

It was true. Pinkie was holding a note, something she must have wrote before she… did it.

Curiosity overcame Rainbow over all things at that moment, even over the present danger that was outside right now. She had to know what Pinkie said.

What was she feeling before she did it? Was she angry at her? Did she blame her?

The Hunters were still out there, their voices growing closer, and angrier than before. It had seemed like they weren’t happy someone tried to fool them, and Spike didn’t want to know what they would do if they were especially angry.

“Screw the note, we have to get outta here!” Mac called out from the window. “The voices are getting closer!”

As much as Spike hated Mac right now for not being as sensitive of his friends death as he was, he knew he was right. Now wasn’t the time to read the note, they could do it later, right now they had to lose these guys.

“Rainbow, Mac’s right we-” Spike said turning back to Rainbow only to be lost in his own speech. He was seeing the note gripped firmly in Rainbows hooves, read fully by her, tears forming in her eyes. She had read it while he was turned, and it looked like it hit her hard.

Spike’s curiosity was overcoming himself now. He too was eager to know his friend’s final thoughts, and if she considered them to be responsible for her death.
He was about to walk over to read the note himself, only to be snapped back into reality to the present situation by Sweeties calling to him.

“Spike come on! I need you to focus!”

Spike’s mind went back into gear and was thinking of what to do, realising only now of the voices being closer and closer, only awaring now of how little time they had left to get his group back in tow.

“Where are these fuckers? It’s like they just vanished!”
“Don’t be an idiot. They’re here somewhere just keep looking.”
“Shut up. Keep talking and I’ll-”

The voices stopped abruptly, much to the groups confusion. They couldn’t have walked far enough not to be heard, they were as clear as a whistle a few seconds ago.

They stopped talking on their own accord for some reason.

“What’s happening? Mac?” Spike called to Mac facing the window.

“I don’t know, I can’t see anything from here,” he replied. “Try that other window, I’m getting nothing here.”

Spike silently tiptoed to the other end of the room to one of the opposite windows from Mac, with Sweetie following closely behind, also eager to find out what was happening.

He peeked through the openings of the wooden boards to try and spot the Hunters, with no avail. At first he couldn’t see anything, just an abandoned, and empty street, but before he was about to look away he finally spotted movement.

It was the Hunters. They were running in a direction far away from Sugarcube Corner. Spike considered that they must have gotten lucky at that moment, possibly they heard something that wasn’t us and they went to investigate it hoping it was.

This distraction was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for them, they could escape while their backs were turned to whatever hoax they were seeking, much to Spike’s glee.

Except something wasn’t right.

They stopped hearing the voices not because they ran away, but because they stopped talking altogether, meaning they stopped talking at first, and then ran afterwards. This wasn’t adding up.

The situation around Spike was beginning to dawn on him, placing one observation above all others much to his fear.

“Maybe they weren’t running…” Spike muttered to himself. “Maybe they were fleeing…”

Spike was beginning to find out to his horror that although the voices of the Hunters went quiet, the area wasn’t silent. All of them were so focused on hearing what they said that they blocked out anything else.

The sounds of birds chirping, tree leaves moving in the wind, or the faint sound of moaning growing closer…

“What are the talking about?” Mac said impatiently, wanting to know what Spike was seeing from his window. “Tell me what is going on right no-AHHHHHH!”

The group turned quickly hearing the sounds of broken wood and screaming from Mac to see a walker suddenly bursting in through the window Mac was at, with a several close behind, and attacked him while his back turned. The walker bited through Mac’s neck, spraying blood all around him, and leaving him utterly defenceless against the walker who proceeded to carry on biting through his flesh.

The group went to life, becoming aware of what was happening, a horde of walkers had went by their path while they were in here without them knowing, and because of this they were breaking through due to their lack of silence, and they had to escape.

“Spike! Sweetie!” yelled Rainbow, standing up with Rarity and talking in her usual voice. “Get over here quickly! We got to go!”

Spike reached for his holster for his machete, only to realise Rainbow still had it, leaving him with only his fire and his claws to defend himself with, that and what ever Sweetie had to help him with.

The two moved forward as more walkers piled inside, attracted by Mac’s screaming, the horde of what seemed like dozens were slowly breaking inside, they had to leave now, but before they could rejoin Rainbow and Rarity at the other side of the room, the broken window was flooded with intruders, forming slowly a wall of them, making it harder to get to them, the only option was fight or die at the current moment.

“Sweetie!” called Rarity, arming herself with her knife, as she became less visible through the countless walkers that stood between them.

Spike dug his claws into a walkers head, instantly killing it, while Sweetie, realising now wasn’t the time for silent killing, fired several shots of magic through her horn and taking out a number of them.

While doing this, Spike noticed more windows were breaking, allowing more of them inside, hearing to his horror the sounds of Mac utterly defenseless, being killed and eaten slowly by the walkers that surrounded him, until finally he could no longer be seen anymore.

“Spike! Catch!” Rainbow called out while she still could seen, throwing Spike’s machete through the air into a walkers skull, much to Spike’s relief not only because he really needed a weapon right now, but also because he hadn’t seen that walker, any longer he would had been done for.

He pulled the machete out of the walkers skull to quickly use it to cut another one down. He had his trusty weapon back again.

The group tried taking down as many walkers as they could, but although they managed to take out any that came close, more walkers came pouring in, rendering their efforts to be useless.

With every walker each of them killed with either magic, fire or a blade, more poured in through different entrances formed, making it almost impossible for the two pairs to even see each other, let alone get past to be reunited.

“Fuck…” Spike realised what had to be done, while charging his machete through a walker. “Guys! Just get out of here! We’ll find each other soon I promise!”

“What? No! Sweetie!” Rarity cried out. “Keep fighting we’ll be fine!”

“Don’t argue with me, I’ll take care of your sister, Rarity! But you have to trust me!” Spike replied while walkers were pushing them back all the further. “We stay here and we die! Rainbow! Get her outta here, that’s an order!”

He looked at Sweetie and saw her desperate eyes wanting to see her sister, but even she understood they had to split up, as much as it pained her.

“Dammit Spike!” Rainbow cursed hopelessly, hitting a walker with her crossbow. “You better survive out there you stubborn ass!”.

With all Spike and Sweetie could see anymore, they thought they could see one of the remaining windows broken by Rainbow, serving as an exit for the two, and indicating that they perhaps managed to make their way out the building.

Now it was their turn.

“Sweetie, cover me and I’ll break us through an exit!” Spike commanded to Sweetie.

He scanned quickly what remained of the building, trying to spot the most suitable way out, by that meaning, the one with the less walkers charging through.

He spotted his target and took out any walkers that were close by, Sweetie right behind him firing shots to anything behind him.
“This way Sweetie!” Spike said, climbing through the window. “You keep running by me no matter what. Got it?”

“Yeah.” Sweetie affirmed quickly.

“Good. Now let’s get the hell outta here.”

They were outside now, and it wasn’t much better than inside, the only advantage being a bit more free space to escape. Spike couldn’t believe how many walkers were around them, the town was practically empty a few hours ago, now it filled by with Spike’s estimate, around fifty or sixty, but he wasn’t planning on sticking around to do the precise math. They had to go.

They moved quickly through any spaces or openings in the horde, not slowing down for any reason, taking out walkers with their blades that came too close while they ran.

Spike and Sweetie charged through the crowd almost endlessly, not turning back to what remained of Sugarcube Corner, what it was inhabited with now.

They were lucky these walkers couldn’t walk fast, giving them a small advantage in escaping, it was the numbers that presented a real issue. Spike realised staying on the main street was a bad idea. They had to get out of sight from these walkers, and figure out a plan to advance from that.

While running with Sweetie close behind, Spike spotted his opportunity to escape, an alleyway, free of walkers with a fence they could climb over to secure their safety.

“Through here!” he gestured to Sweetie. They moved out of the road away from the horde to the alleyway, with a group of five or six in pursuit, the rest just moved on forward through the road, not having had spotted the pair run through.

The alleyway was narrow, and the fence was tall, but it was their best bet at escaping, they couldn’t keep this up for long and they needed to get off the street, away from any attention.

“Quickly, over the fence now!” Spike said while putting his claws together to give Sweetie a help up. She placed her hooves on his claw and with a swift push, he managed to get her over, much to his relief, but now was the harder part, the remaining walkers were right behind him and he had a tall fence to get over in seconds with no help, or he’d be done for, and he couldn’t let that happen and leave Sweetie alone.

“Spike, come on let’s go!” Sweetie called from the other end.

Spike didn’t have time for any screw ups right now, he had to get this right the first time, so with a short back up, he charged towards the fence and lunged his claws to the top, now he had to push with all his might to make the final way across to safety, and with the walkers edging closer and closer he couldn’t give up now no matter how hard the challenge was right now.

He pushed and pushed himself higher and with literally the walkers just about to grab his foot and pull him back down, he made and collapsed at the other side with Sweetie, not really taking into notice or even caring that he didn’t stick the landing very well.

But that didn’t matter right now, what mattered was they were safe right now, away from the streets and the walkers and inside an enclosed alleyway with the only exits being through that gateway that had walkers now clawing their way through the edges, and a doorway leading someway they weren’t sure, but it was their only choice right now, so he took it.

He regained his breath and looked over to Sweetie who was looked to be hyperventilating.

“You okay?” he asked, concerned.

“Mac’s dead….” she replied, still heavily breathing. “They got him… he didn’t even see it coming.”

“Sweetie…Sweetie.” he said, coming up close to her and looking into her eyes, trying to reassure her and calm her down. “It’s okay… we’re safe now, they can’t get us in here.”

“What about the others? Rainbow...Rarity...” she realised, worrying more. “We have to go look for them, they could be hurt right now. We need to go!”

Spike looked to the sky and knew that wasn’t an option; the sun was setting and there was no way they could find them in the dark, let alone without all the walkers on the streets.

“Sweetie, we can’t right now. It’s getting too dark. We’ll look for them tomorrow I promise, then we’re leaving.” he said, worrying himself of their fate.

“But…but-”

Spike stopped her talking by closing his arms around Sweetie into a hug; something they both needed right now, after the ordeal that was today. They only had each other to look out for at that moment, so Spike needed to let her know everything was going to be okay.

“I know it’s hard, I’m worried about them too.” he said. “But they’re strong. They’ll be okay, and even they know they can’t go searching for us in the middle of the night, they would be killed.”

Sweetie winced at the mention of anyone else being killed, but Spike continued.

“Look… back there I gave my word I would take care of you, and I mean to keep that promise, but to do that I need you to be strong too, for both of our sakes. I promise I’ll get us back to your sister, and Rainbow, and all of our friends, but you have to trust me, okay?”

They parted the hug and Spike looked back into Sweetie’s scared eyes, waiting for her response.

“Okay…” she finally confirmed. “I’ll try…”

“Good, I’ll try to as well.”

Slowly, they got up and turned their attention to the doorway opposite the fence in the alleyway, with a swift kick from Spike, the doorway budged open to reveal it was some kind of maintenance room of the business that ran in the building attached.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was indoors, quiet, with only one entrance being the one they came in, and most of all, it was secure with the fence and the doorway, leaving them undetectable by any other trouble, as long as they stayed quiet.

This was where they would stay the night before setting off tomorrow.

They slowly walked inside inspecting the contents of the room, and with Spike closing the door behind them he noticed a soft, sponge type platform lying on the ground, he wasn’t quite sure what for, but it seemed the most suitable to sleep on, based on what was left in the small room.

Him and Sweetie sat down on the platform, backs against the wall, exhausted of the work they went through today, they were happy to find something soft to rest on, seeing as they were expecting to be having to sleep on a cold, dusty floor tonight.

“Spike?” Sweetie asked, nexted to him, her eyes wearing heavy.

“Yeah?”, himself feeling tired.

“I’m glad you’re here. I mean, I’m glad I’m not alone here.” she replied, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I’m glad you’re here too.” he said with a faint smile.

The two began to drift off into sleep, the last thing Spike thinking while Sweetie was leaning against him, serving as a source of warmth, was the worrying of what the next few days were going to bring him, with dangers and complications coming from every corner, he chose to just focus on the now, being to stay by Sweetie till morning.

He didn’t see any of this coming.

Author's Note

I like to think I am raising a lot of questions so far, hopefully as a way to draw the reader in, always working as a good tactic in my opinion to make readers enjoy it more. For example:

Where is Rarity and Rainbow? How is Spike going to tell the Apples about Mac? What was in Pinkie's note?

And so on, but anyway, as usual, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and please feel free to leave a comment, and favorite and like if you are enjoying where this Fic is proceeding.
Till next time, Goodbye!