But We Can't Eat Meat!

Chapters

Chapter 1: Leaving Baltimare
Chapter 2: Hunkering Down
Chapter 3: Chance to Relax
Chapter 4: New Friends and New Information
Prologue

Chapter 1: Leaving Baltimare

“They’re swarming in again.” A gruff stallion’s voice causes four sets of ears to perk up. “We need to move.”

The owner of the voice steps away from the cracked window he had been looking out of. His dark gray coat and black mane had caused him to almost camouflage against the similarly dull-coloured wall. His eyes are a deep brown, continuing his apparent theme of looking like the environment around him; the only bright colours on him are in his cutie mark, which is of a pair of bright yellow saddlebags.

“Gather up our supplies and see what you can scavenge. We head west in half an hour.” The earth stallion walks past the other ponies in the room over to a set of saddlebags that almost mirror his cutie mark, except for the fact that these ones seem to have suffered much more wear and tear.

For the past several months since the country was attacked, these ponies had been doing their best to survive. Their group had started out larger, but for a variety of reasons, over half of them were now gone. Some ran away; some tried to betray them; some went out on a scouting mission and never came back. But the five that remain are determined to stick together until they reach their goal.

They had first met in Dodge City, having come together from wherever they lived previously all over the map. The clones apparently didn’t consider the place worthy of attacking a second time, so it was a fine place to stay until resources ran low and they had to move. That was when they began planning their route to the Crystal Empire.

The gray stallion, Baggage, had been the one to come up with the idea. The way he saw it, the empire couldn’t have just vanished; it was just being protected. If they could get to it, they might be let in, where they could be safe from the attacking clones. However, this was a long trip, and they hadn’t even gotten halfway there yet. They were just getting ready to leave Baltimare.

The group consists of three stallions and two mares; two earth ponies, two pegasi, one unicorn. Baggage had more or less named himself the leader, and the others didn’t bother protesting; the title didn’t amount to much anyway, aside from allowing him to decide the path they travelled and when they left each location. He rarely spoke of his own past, only telling the others that he came from Ponyville and worked as a mailstallion.

The other earth pony, Trifecta, is a light green filly with a darker green mane and tail. She had just earned her cutie mark, a silver triangle with a red dot at each point, before the clones attacked; as such, its significance has been mostly lost, to the point where she doesn’t even remember what she got it for. She and her older sister had been living in Canterlot when the clones attacked, and they just kept running until they stumbled across Dodge City and found Baggage.

Her sister, Celosia, is a violet unicorn with dark blue hair, and her cutie mark is a potted plant. Being the only unicorn remaining in the group has made her a top priority to protect; Baggage believes that the Crystal Empire is being protected by a large magical shield, similar to when it was being attacked by King Sombra, and so they would need help from another unicorn’s magic to get through.

The two pegasi are both stallions, but aside from that, they’re different in just about every possible way. Savage is dark red with an orange mane and tail, a quick flyer, and typically very boisterous; Virus is off-white with light blue hair, prefers to walk, and is not afraid to admit to being a coward. Savage often ends up trying to fight incoming clones rather than running, which has caused him to build up a wide assortment of scars all over his body, rendering his broken bone cutie mark almost invisible. Virus, meanwhile, is more content with letting the others handle the hard work, only stepping in when medical expertise is needed. Both of them came from Cloudsdale, which had since been crashed into the ground beneath where it once floated.

Celosia is the first one to approach Baggage after he had given his orders. “Didn’t we just come from the west?”

“If you want to get nitpicky, yes,” he grunts. “Southwest, specifically. But we needed supplies, and this was the closest city we could get to. Everywhere else is too small to have much of use to us.”

“Then where are we headed now?” she asks. “I’m assuming we’re not going back to Dodge City?”

“You’d be right. We’re going to Ponyville.” Pulling a large, battered map out of his bags, Baggage unrolls it on the floor and points to the aforementioned village. “Accounting for hiding and/or running from clones, trying to avoid encountering them in the first place, and assuming we stick to our current rest stop schedule… we should arrive there in two weeks.”

Savage trots over. “Sorry, what? Two weeks to get to Ponyville? I could fly there and back in less than a day!”

Baggage shakes his head, chuckling grimly. “I’d give you three days at least just to get there, if you even survived. Keep in mind the clones can fly too, and you’d be pretty easy to spot flying through the air.”

The pegasus growls, muttering to himself as the other winged pony steps up. “I do agree, though… two weeks seems like an awfully long time just to get to another town.”

“Give or take a couple days.” The earth pony shrugs. “If we’re lucky, we can shave off a whole week just by not running into any clones. Or any other dangers. But that’s highly unlikely.”

Savage raises an eyebrow. “You think we’d need an extra week just from dealing with clones?”

Baggage nods. “Based on past experience… if we so much as get noticed, we’ll get chased. If we get chased, ignoring the fact that at least one of us will likely die, that whole day will be spent getting lost and trying to shake them off. Then we’ll spend the next day trying to get back on course, if not two days. So I’m allowing for anywhere from two to four clone encounters.”

“...you’ve really thought this through, huh?” Celosia asks.

“One of us has to.” He starts rolling the map up.

“Why Ponyville, though?” Virus questions. “If we just need more supplies, Fillydelphia is just north of here, and Manehatten just above that. I’m certain we could reach both of those places in less time than it would take to-”

“No.” He shakes his head. “We need to go to Ponyville.”

“I refer you to my original question, then. Why?”

Baggage slips the map back into his bags. “That’s where the Elements of Harmony all lived. There might be some sort of clue there to help us find them.”

“Aren’t they at the Crystal Empire?” Celosia points out. “You know, where we’re going?”

“It doesn’t hurt to double check. Besides, there might be something to help us get into the empire ourselves.” He glances over to the window and the dim rays of sunlight coming through it. “Fifteen minutes before we go. Hurry up and get your stuff.”

A short while later, the group of five are making their way just out of the city, having been lucky enough to avoid all clone encounters so far. Baggage stays at the front, leading the crew and looking around anxiously to make sure no clones sneak up on them; thanks to the daylight, a black pegasus pony is very easy to spot, but it pays to be careful. The other four just travel in a rough line behind him, side by side.

“Stay close,” Celosia whispers to Trifecta for the umpteenth time. She glances around. “So good so far...”

Baggage nods. “Nothing yet. But keep your eyes peeled and your voices low.”

“Already on it,” Savage declares, flying upside-down and not bothering with the second of those instructions.

The filly of the group tries to balance sticking next to her sister and not getting under her legs. At the same time, her head seems to be on a swivel as she constantly looks around.

Virus looks worriedly at the single flying one of their group. “Savage, seriously, you’ll attract attention!”

“I can do better.” He flips upright and takes a deep breath, but the lone unicorn just magically grabs his muzzle and yanks him back down. “...I was joking.”

She rolls her eyes and lets him go. “And stop flying, too. They’ll see us easier.”

“I’m two feet off the ground!” he protests, though he still lowers both his voice and his body, soon trotting on all fours like the others, but not without some grumbling.

The other pegasus looks to Celosia. “Thank you. He had me worried.”

“Had me ready to rip his wings off,” she mutters in reply.

“Sis…” Trifecta leans against the unicorn, a worried look on her face after that comment.

Celosia sighs and nuzzles her. “Figuratively, Tri.”

“If you ‘figuratively’ touch my wings, I’ll ‘metaphorically’ snap your horn off,” Savage hisses.

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Who cares?” He snorts and moves a few feet away.

“Guys, can we not fight?” Virus asks, shying away from both of them a little. “Talking about ripping limbs off isn’t helping anything.”

“It’s cathartic.” Celosia smirks, bumping him lightly. “Try it sometime. You’re always so nervous about everything.”

He smiles, noticing Trifecta looking at him too as he chuckles sheepishly. “I don’t think I could joke about that… I’m more into making sure they don’t lose them.”

“An important job,” Baggage points out from his spot at the front. “Now keep it down. I think there might be something up ahead.”

The others quickly go quiet, looking forward. “Clones?” Savage asks in a stage whisper.

“Possibly. But there’s a structure up ahead.” Baggage gestures forward, where a metal roof can barely be seen in the distance over a hill. “We can scavenge for supplies and then get back to it. We have food and water, but you never know what could be useful.”

“Should I check it out?” Before a response comes, Savage has already flown off, staying only a few feet above the ground but still moving quickly.

“Sa-” Celosia starts, but cuts herself off before she can yell, just growling. “He’s going to get us all killed...”

“Isn’t it better to stay in a group?” Trifecta asks, frowning.

“That’s debatable,” Baggage grunts, getting close to the ground. “Don’t move. Wait for him to get back, or scream in pain. We either go to the building or far away from it depending on which one happens.”

Virus swallows as he crouches as well. Celosia glances at him, opting to sit down instead, though still leaning close to the ground. “Virus? Can you promise me something?”

He looks to her, curious. “Umm… sure, what?”

“If he does scream in pain...” She puts a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Grab Tri, and fly off with her. Get her somewhere safe.”

Hearing the seriousness in her voice, he nods. "I will."

Trifecta, however, looks up at her sister with confusion. "Why can't I stay with you?"

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch up.” She leans down and gently nuzzles her. “I just need to set off a little light show to distract them first.”

Baggage nods. “Good thinki-”

“Shiiiiit!” A scream cuts him off, and next thing they know, Savage is back in front of them, wings flapping rapidly despite him staying still. “...there’s some clones.”

The filly's eyes shrink to pinpricks as she clamps onto her sister's leg. Celosia just raises an eyebrow at Savage. “And your first thought was to lead them over to us?”

“...not exactly like that?” He shrugs a little sheepishly.

“How many?” Baggage demands.

Savage shrugs again. “There were about ten flying after me, but there might be more hiding someplace.”

“They saw you?!”

“Uh, did you not hear me scream ‘shit’?” He rolls his eyes. “Because they certainly did.”

"Then why are we standing here?!" Virus demands.

The other pegasus blinks. “I dunno. Why are you?”

Behind him, the rest of the group sees the clones rising up over the hill before flying towards them. As Savage said, there are at least ten. Virus makes a motion for Trifecta to come to him as his wide eyes are locked onto the crowd in fear. Unfortunately, the filly reflexively hides next to her sibling, not wanting to move.

Baggage growls. “Savage, do your job. We’ll try to sneak into that building.”

“Can he take on that many at once?” Celosia asks, worried.

Savage rolls his eyes as he turns back to the clones. “Duh.” With that, he flies off towards the small swarm.

Baggage turns to the others. “Celosia, get ready to distract them if you need to. Virus, stay near the kid. Let’s go.” Turning back around, he starts to practically crawl forward, keeping a careful eye on the battle going on above them.

Celosia blinks. “He looks like he’s having trouble...” Sure enough, the clones are easily outnumbering and outmatching him, keeping him darting away for brief reprieves of safety more often than he’s actually fighting back.

Virus reaches a hoof out toward the filly. "Come on Tri, we have to be ready to go."

Her ears pinned to her head, she nods, crawling towards him but looking back at her sister. She just nods to her. “Go on. You’ll be-”

A loud cracking sound, followed by a bloodcurdling scream, cuts her off. All eyes go to the pegasi in the sky, and widen when they see Savage plummeting from the fight down to the ground. The clones, one with a familiar dark red wing in its mouth, all fly down after him. His screams continue even after he hits the ground and the clones begin ripping him apart, using tooth and hoof to literally tear into him.

Soon, his screaming abruptly stops, but the clones continue to rip pieces off of him, apparently eating him.

Trifecta's eyes widen in horror as she whimpers quietly, shuffling along quickly between Celosia and Virus. Her older sister has a hoof over her mouth, ears flattened. “Oh dear Luna...”

Baggage, after a second of silence, looks back at them. “Mourn later. For now, we have to get to that building while they’re distracted.” He resumes moving ahead, keeping a careful eye on the feasting clones.

Virus does the same, but with horrified confusion and terror. As far as he's concerned, they can't get away fast enough.

Celosia squints her eyes, starting to look a little pale. “Th-they’re… eating him...”

A horrified shudder goes through the remaining pegasus. "That makes no sense..."

“Even clones need to eat.” Baggage sighs. “We all know food isn’t very common now… they just decided they found ponies frequently enough to rely on them for survival. Why do you think we barely see any bodies, but plenty of clones?”

The unicorn whimpers and holds her sister closer. Trifecta holds her just as tightly, speaking with a whisper. "Ponies don't eat meat... Ponies don't eat ponies..."

“These ones do.” The stallion grunts, looking at the building ahead of them. “Seems like a warehouse of sorts… Virus, go see if the door’s locked before we get our hopes up.”

Nodding, the other stallion quickly heads over to the door, testing the knob. His eyes widen as he feels it turn the barest of amounts. "No..." He tries again with the same results. In desperation, he pulls and surprisingly, the door shifts, part of the frame splintering.

Baggage notices this as the others catch up. “Well, better than nothing...” He glances behind them. “Celosia, see if you can carefully pull that door off. We’ll attract their attention if we make too much noise. Virus, try to help her.”

Nodding, Virus looks as Celosia comes forward, her sister almost literally right on her tail. "How should we do this?"

“Do you have anything to remove the screws on the hinges?” she asks.

He shakes his head. "Nothing even close."

“Damn.” She bites her lip, looking at the door. “...grab the knob again and try jiggling the door around. See if that loosens anything. I’ll try to pull one of the hinges off.”

Nodding this time, he does as she asks. Trying to do so quietly, he pulls the knob it different directions, splintering the frame as much as he can. Celosia, meanwhile, takes the top hinge in her magic and begins wiggling it around as well, trying to get it off.

Watching them both, Trifecta stays quiet for a bit before piping up. "Is there a way I can help?"

“Just help Baggage keep an eye on the clones,” Celosia hisses, trying to concentrate. “And stay quiet.”

Ears folded, the filly nods and goes back to lookout, a little sigh coming from her.

After a moment, Celosia grins as the combination of her wriggling the hinge and Virus working the door causes the top hinge to pop off, quietly dropping to the ground. She starts working on the bottom one next. “What are they doing now?”

“T-They’re still eating…” Trifecta says in a small voice.

“Sad when that’s the best thing that could be happening...” Celosia sighs, focusing on the hinge again. Finally, she gets it off. “Now pull the door out… carefully.”

Bracing his other forelegs against it, Virus pulls once more, wincing in preparation for more splintering, but none comes. The door practically lifts off the frame with no sound as he has to suddenly brace himself to keep from falling over.

Celosia grabs the door with her magic, lifting it away from him and off to the side. She looks back at Baggage and Trifecta. “In, now!” The filly zips in before another second passes, Baggage following in shortly after. Virus and Celosia bring up the rear, the unicorn turning and setting the door somewhat back into place. “It won’t hold anything out, but maybe they won’t think we came in here...”

As if she was waiting for a cue, Trifecta takes this opportunity to let it all come crashing out. She sniffs loudly as she hugs her sister, a few tears leaking out. “Why do they keep killing ponies? Mister Savage wasn’t that mean…”

Celosia hugs back, trying to comfort her the best she can. “It’s all they care about… good or bad, nice or mean, all they want is to kill ponies.”

“And they’re damn good at it,” Baggage grunts, pacing back and forth as he looks over what little of the warehouse they can see in the darkness. “Buncha fuckin’ cannibalistic bastards...”

“Language,” Celosia snips, looking a little irritated.

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” Virus leans up against a wall, a hoof on his chest. “I kept thinking they were only a second away from lifting up their heads and seeing us…”

“They were. All it would’ve taken is a cough, or one of us tripping, or… just about anything.” Baggage grumbles. “We got lucky.”

The lone unicorn raises her head, glaring at him. “Savage is dead and we’re trapped in a warehouse! How are we lucky?!”

“Comparatively,” he says simply before walking off. “I’m going scavenging. You three cry it out.”

As he leaves, the filly looks up at her sister with shimmering eyes. “Why isn’t he sad? It’s supposed to be sad when ponies die…”

Celosia sighs. “He’s… different.” She idly pets her sister’s mane. “I’m sure he’s sad. He just… he cares more about our survival than somepony else’s death… do you understand?”

“If she does, she knows more than I do,” Virus mumbles.

Trifecta shrugs her shoulders, leaning against the mare. “I guess… he’s focusing on the numbers.”

“That’s a good way of putting it.” She sits down, grumbling just loud enough for the others to hear. “Dammit, Savage… whole mess could’ve been avoided if he didn’t fly ahead in the first place...”

Virus shakes his head, sitting down as well. “Just… doing his part for the group I guess. In his own way.”

“He killed himself and almost killed us!” she snaps. “He would’ve done just as well by slitting his own throat.”

“Sis…”

The pegasus narrows his eyes at the mare. “Well excuse me for trying to think the best of him! He’s not the only one that screws up, but at least he saved us after he did it!” He slumps a bit. “I hope I can do the same...”

Celosia sighs. “...we’re both right, I guess… he was stupid, but he got us in here, at least...” She moves over to pat his shoulder. “As for you, don’t think about that. We don’t plan on letting you get yourself killed anytime soon, and I hope you don’t plan on screwing up.”

“Does not fighting count as screwing up?” he asks seriously.

Surprisingly, Trifecta answers sternly. “No. If everypony fights, then everypony can die.”

“And if nopony fights, everypony will die,” Celosia adds, directed at her sister, before turning to Virus. “As for your question, no. Your job is to heal us, not defend us. I’m sure Baggage or I can take over what Savage did. You stick with what you know best.”

“Well, I can do that.” He nods. “Yeah, can definitely do that. Would be great if I actually had supplies besides bandages and rusty tools, though.”

“Maybe Baggage will find something.” She lies down on her belly between the other two ponies. “For now, let’s just wait… and keep an eye on the door.”

He looks at the portal as Trifecta snuggles up against Celosia. “Do you think we can block it somehow?”

“Maybe… let’s wait for Baggage, though.” She sighs, nuzzling her sister. “Shouldn’t be too long…”

Chapter 2: Hunkering Down

Even though the warehouse lacks windows, the group can tell when night starts to fall. Their scavenging turned up little more than some expired food and minimal medical supplies, both presumably from other survivors who had made shelter here before leaving or being caught. Everything else in the warehouse had either been taken, destroyed, or was simply of no use to them.

Baggage decided they would leave the next morning, and so they prepared for a restless sleep on the wooden floor. Plastic wrap found here and there is all the bedding they have, but none of them complain. Virus volunteers to take first watch, and so while the others sleep away, he sits on his bedding just watching the door, lost in his thoughts.

He sighs both mentally and physically. Another day of this hell, another pony dead. You’d think with just how many it’s happened to, it’d get easier… but it never does. This time it was a friend, maybe not a best friend, but still… Damn it… Is it bad that I’m grateful it wasn’t one of the rest of us? Without Baggage, we wouldn’t have nearly as good plans… I doubt any of us could bear to see little Trifecta gone… Celosia? Well, she’s important in more ways than one. Me? I… I don’t know if we’d be better off if it was me. I don’t want it to have been me… and it wasn’t. Should I be grateful for that?

He sighs again. Probably should stop thinking about that. This place seems safe for now, but for how long? Is there no place really safe beyond a vanished empire that we only hope to find? What if we can’t? He looks to the others, the two girls longer than Baggage. Just have to do what we can, I guess. They say cowards live to fight another day… well, maybe I have enough cowardice to keep others alive too.

A few more minutes pass before Celosia’s leg twitches a bit. Slowly, she opens her eyes, pushing herself up onto all fours as quietly as she can and slowly trotting over to the pegasus. “How’d watch go?”

He looks to her with a smile. “Boring and uneventful, which is the best way it can go I think.”

“True enough.” She cracks her neck. “How are you holding up?”

His smile shrinks a little as he sighs, but he maintains eye contact. “Well, pretty well I guess. I’m not breaking down, just thinking.”

She sits down beside him. “There was nothing we could’ve done… was there?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t think so. When that many clones spotted us, even if we split up there’d be plenty to follow us. Taking out that many would have been difficult for even you, Savage, and Baggage. Even then, they got him in the air.”

“Maybe...” She looks down at the ground. “Still… after something like that, I can’t help but think about everything that could’ve gone differently… we could’ve stopped him, or distracted them, or something… if we just went in a slightly different direction, we wouldn’t have found this warehouse and had that happen in the first place...” Sighing, she glances back up at him. “You knew him the best… what was he like?”

“Honestly? Probably exactly what you think he was like.” Virus gives a bitter chuckle. “I met him after this all started, but the guy never seemed one to put on a face. ‘What you see is what you get’ is how he liked to put it. Kind of an ass, loud, brash, but he still stuck by me with all my flaws.”

“Hm...” She smirks a bit. “And despite all that, we still mourn him… funny how that works, huh?”

“Nopony’s perfect, and I still think of him as a friend.” He looks to her, matching a grateful smile to her smirk. “I’m trying to focus on who’s left instead of who’s gone.”

She chuckles. “A stallion who leads despite wanting to be alone, a unicorn whose only purpose is to possibly open a shield around a city that might not exist, and a filly who has no clue what to do. All we need is a bar to walk into.”

“What about me?” he asks.

“You don’t seem like the type who’s into drinking.” She shrugs. “In all seriousness? I don’t know how to describe you. You’re our medic. Aside from that, you’re kind of an enigma. We all are.”

“We could change that,” he offers as he motions a hoof from himself to her. “Nothing wrong with getting to know each other.”

Celosia blinks, then smiles. “Well then, Mr. Social, what’s your story?”

“Well, nothing too exciting…” He settles comfortably. “I grew up and lived in Cloudsdale; call me a typical pegasus but I could never get enough of clouds. I got my cutie mark,” he gestures to the syringe on his flank, “from a bout of feather flu that went around my school one time. I had it too, but I still kept helping the school nurse with everyone else. I never went and became a full doctor; I actually worked as a nurse, but was thinking about going back to school for the doctorate.” His ears fold a bit. “Of course, other things took priority when ponies started flying back into town with first news of the clones… not much else to the story. Everything went to Tartarus, I ran from hordes with others, got separated, saw ponies die, and eventually ended up in this group.”

She nods slowly, having been listening attentively. “Were you around when the city fell?”

He shakes his head. “Thankfully, no. I imagine it was horrible to see…” His feathers seem to droop as he thinks of that. “I left when our numbers were starting to dwindle. Not much point in hiding in a cloud city when the clones are pegasi.”

“I imagine not...” Hesitating a bit, she leans in and gently nuzzles him. “I’m sorry all that happened...”

He blinks at the nuzzle, but returns it. “Thanks. I’m sorry for what I can only imagine happened to you and little Tri.”

She winces, her ears drooping. “...i-it wasn’t too bad...”

He leans forward and nuzzles her again. “I won’t press you to talk about it, but I’m here if you want to. Or if you just want the company.”

“Company’s nice...” She scoots closer to him. “I don’t know… the short version is that the clones struck, our parents… got killed… and I grabbed Tri and ran. Nothing really… out of the ordinary...”

“Hmm…” He moves closer to her so that they are touching, their warmth being shared. “The fact that something horrible like that is ordinary is terrible in and of itself.”

She blushes from the contact, but doesn’t move away. “It all just happened so fast… one day I’m arranging to meet up with friends at a little cafe down the street, and the next I’m watching the city get torn apart...” Her eyes wander over to her sleeping little sister. “I don’t even know how she’s taking it… sometimes she used to ask when we could go home again, see mom and dad… I dodged the subject as long as I could...”

“She doesn’t ask anymore.” It isn’t a question.

She looks away. “I couldn’t hide it anymore.”

He puts a foreleg around her withers. “She seems to be doing well, if understandably scared. I think you’re doing the right things with her.”

“The way I see it, I’m not doing it right until I get her somewhere safe.” She leans her head against him. “...do you think things will ever be normal again? The clones… they can’t live forever, right? They’re just ponies.”

He nods. “That’s what I like to think. That bastard may try to kill us all, but we can wait him out by keeping the foals safe and continuing to live.” He nuzzles the top of her head. “Maybe that’s why Celestia did what she and Cadance did; to wait him out.”

A familiar gruff voice intervenes. “Sorry to burst your bubble, lovebirds, but it won’t work like that.” A recently-awakened Baggage steps up beside Virus. “The Mirror Pool wasn’t just a way of making more ponies. It was a way of making armies. Clones that come out of it were stronger, faster… lived longer.” He sits down. “This guy makes clones. Say they get about another year to live. But then those clones make clones, and those make clones, and those make clones...” He trails off, letting them piece it together themselves.

Virus sinks from the bit of hope he had. “Damn… of course it wouldn’t be so easy…” Celosia similarly slumps against him.

“It’s all about the present now. Survive today, worry about tomorrow when it comes.” Baggage sighs, looking away. “I wish things could be normal again, too. But unless we can plug the pool again - this time for good - and kill every single clone out there, we’re fucked.”

“And if the princesses couldn’t do that...” Celosia mutters. “...no way can four random survivors do it.”

Their leader nods. “Exactly. So we just have to hope the Crystal Empire is still taking ponies in. We have to save ourselves, not the world.”

Still holding Celosia to him, Virus sighs. “I guess so… for our sakes.”

For a moment, all of them are silent. The pegasus and unicorn continue to stay close, the earth stallion a couple feet away but still keeping near. Finally, he speaks. “You two get some sleep. Or go look around, or whatever you want. I’ll keep watch.”

Celosia blinks. “Isn’t it my shift now, though?”

“Yeah, but you two woke me up and I doubt I’ll get back to sleep anytime soon.” Despite the accusatory tone, he chuckles hollowly a second later. “Just try to hold off on repopulating the world. Don’t want to wake the kid up.”

Virus blushes, but smiles as he stands up, nuzzling the mare to do the same. She gets up, a little wobbly, but nuzzles back. Noticing the wobble, he tilts his head. “Everything okay?”

The unicorn nods. “Think my legs just fell asleep… a little walking should take care of that.” She smiles. “Want to come with?”

He nods, tail wagging a bit. “That sounds nice.”

As Baggage had proven earlier, there isn’t much to look at around the warehouse. However, the two don’t seem to pay that much attention to it anyway; Celosia continues to lean on the pegasus, both of them either thinking or making idle conversation.

“...what do you think of Tri?” Celosia asks, almost out of nowhere.

“Tri?” he asks reflexively to buy himself time to think for such a random question. “Well, I think she’s a cute foal. A good one too considering she keeps wanting to help. I think it’s a shame she has her mark only to not know what to do with it because of everything that happened… I’m honoured you gave me the job of keeping her safe earlier.”

She sighs. “Somepony has to...”

“Hey,” he nudges her, “you’re doing a good job. Especially considering you’re pulling the shifts of both a mom and sister.”

“I guess… but if a clone grabbed her, what could I do?” she asks.

He thinks before nodding to her horn. “Yank her out of their hooves with magic? Crush them them with said magic? It is a big thing you have over the pegasus clones.”

“My magic isn’t that strong, Virus.” She pokes her horn. “My special talent is gardening. If it’s not plant-related, my magic isn’t going to do much. I can’t even crack an egg with it. I can levitate small objects and make bursts of light. So helpful.”

“I don’t suppose you can make vines come out of the ground to do your bidding?” he asks, half-joking and half-serious.

“...do roses count?” she responds, smirking. “That’ll sure teach them. Prickly thorns on a three-inch-high flower. Never bother us again.”

He smirks back. “Maybe you'll sweet talk them with your offering. It’d probably work on me.”

She blushes and giggles. “Well, find me a healthy patch of grass, and I-” She gets cut off by a small clanking noise as her hoof collides with something metallic, causing her to wince and stop walking. “Ow!”

“What is it?” He sets a hoof on her back to steady her. “Is that a floor safe?”

She looks down, squinting her eyes. “...I think so? How did Baggage miss this?” Kneeling down, she lights her horn to get a better look. “Locked… of course… and I doubt the combination’s anywhere around here.”

“Well, no harm in trying a few things while we think of a better idea, right?” His wing bends down next to her head, already twisting.

“Good luck with that.” She watches. “There probably isn’t even anything in there… just money, which isn’t exactly useful now...”

“Maybe, but we won’t know unless we get it open.” He tries the handle. “Well, that one didn’t work.” He starts again.

She looks at him curiously. “What combination did you try?”

“Honestly I didn’t even look the first time.” His wing continues manipulating the lock. “Trying 15-30-10 now.”

Celosia rolls her eyes. “If not for the noise it’d cause, we could just look for a way to bash it open...”

“Yeah, noise makes it not worth it. Tri would wake up.” He grunts as it doesn’t work again. “Okay… let’s try something stupid this time. 1-2-3.”

“...you aren’t even trying anymore.”

“Well, aside from that I think you are doing admirably well in your role of morale booster,” he snarks slightly back with a chuckle just before the handle clicks open when he tries it. “No way…”

Her hoof collides gently with her face. “I hope whoever locked that safe got fired.”

“Be nice, or at least suspend your judgment of them until we see what they left us, hmm?” He looks to her as he opens the safe, the door opening towards him so she gets first glimpse.

Slowly, her eyes widen. “...oh wow...”

Inside the safe are a large amount of supplies, apparently left for emergencies such as these but not collected. Several cans of food, two flasks of water, a first-aid kit, a compass, a map of the country, a machete, and a book. As theorized, several pouches and stacks of bits also litter the bottom of the safe, though they don’t seem nearly as tempting as the rest of its contents.

He grins as he looks back up to her. “Jackpot. This should help lighten spirits a bit. What book is that?”

Picking it up, she glances at the front, only to find no words or pictures; just a simple brown cover. Opening it up, she starts skimming the pages. “I’ll see what it’s about. Go get Baggage.”

As he starts to head back, he looks over his shoulder. “Should I bring Tri too? I can do it without waking her.”

“Bring both of them. This is big news.” She nods, before looking a little nervous. “And… please be quick? I don’t really like the dark...”

Walking back over to her, he nuzzles her affectionately. “I’ll be right back. You won’t be lonely long.”

She smiles, nuzzling back. “Alright… thank you.”

Virus returns shortly, now with stallion in tow and still-snoozing filly on his back. They also seem to have brought the few bags they all had. “Any luck?”

Celosia, still sitting directly beside the safe, looks up from the book. “This might actually be useful too. It’s a documentation about the Mirror Pool. Princess Twilight Sparkle must’ve written it for publication a while ago, but this all happened before it went out.” She sighs. “Nothing so far about getting rid of the clones, though. Aside from a rather specific spell that would require finding each individual clone anyway.”

“Better than nothing,” Baggage remarks, trotting over. “What else is there?”

“Lots of supplies in the safe. Food and water, medical kit, machete...” She gestures. “Take a look.”

Nodding, the stallion starts to dig stuff out of the safe. “Not sure how much use this’ll be, but it’s something. Frankly, that book might be the most valuable thing here.”

“We’ll see.” She looks to the pegasus. “She’s still asleep?”

“I did tell you I wouldn’t wake her up.” He smiles at her, flinching a moment later as he suddenly looks to his back. The filly has yanked one of his wings back a little farther than is comfortable and is now snuggling the feathery appendage to herself.

She giggles. “There’s pros and cons to that. For now, hope you’re happy being a substitute for her teddy bear.”

“I can live with being resident teddy bear,” he says with a strange amount of pride.

“Good, because I doubt she’ll give you up that easily.” She goes back to looking through the book. “If she starts pulling too hard, let me know, and I’ll take her.”

Virus lays down slowly on the floor. “So, if it’s information on the clones, anything we can use so far? Weaknesses, tells, things they’re blind to?”

She shrugs. “Well… it says here that, as clones make clones, their similarities to the original deteriorate. They still look the same, and have the same overall desires, but they lose memories and skills. They’re practically whole new ponies, just forced to do what the original would have done.”

“So?” Baggage asks, having finished emptying the safe.

“So, if the pony who first cloned himself just wanted to kill, then that’s all these things know.” She puts the book down. “If we hide behind a wall, they’ll try to break it down rather than walk around it.” A pause. “...metaphorically. I don’t suggest we try that.”

“Are they stupid, then?” the pegasus asks bluntly. “They haven’t seemed like it.”

Celosia sighs. “Not ‘stupid’, per se. They just want the direct route to tearing us apart. They won’t try to outsmart us, or corner us, or set traps… they’ll just wander, and if they see us, they’ll fly after us until we tire out. Or until we lose them.”

“Hmm… I wonder if we could hide from them easily then…” He looks down in thought.

“Well, sooner or later, they’d go searching,” Baggage points out. “Or we’d just run out of supplies, like in Dodge City, and have to go somewhere dangerous for more. Better to keep on the move.”

“I suppose…” He still looks thoughtful, but drops the subject.

The earth stallion nods. “And speaking of which, we might as well get going now. We’re all awake, besides the kid, and the sun’s gonna be up in a couple hours.” He nods to the supplies. “Virus, throw that first-aid kit into your bags. Celosia, keep the book - and the map, I already have one. I’ll take the rest.” He starts to pack the stuff away before noticing the machete. “...shit!”

Celosia blinks. “What?”

He sighs, rubbing his temple. “...which one of you wants to loot a friend’s corpse?”

Virus squirms in place. “You can’t do it?”

“I’m already carrying half our shit, Virus,” he deadpans. “Savage had some things on him. Things that could help us, at least a little. We might as well grab them on our way out, and you three are the only ones with enough space in your bags. And I doubt you want the kid doing it.”

“Right. Fuck that.” Celosia nods firmly.

“One of you, grab his bags when we leave and empty them into yours. The rest of us will keep lookout, and then we’ll get going.” The earth stallion stands up. “I’ll let you decide for yourselves. We leave in an hour, whether or not you’re ready. Keep the making out to a minimal.”

Nodding, Virus waits until the earth stallion is out of hearing range. “Blunt about things… isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but might’ve been a good thing he warned us.” She smirks.

“True, plus there’s no telling how Tri would react.” He motions to the filly who has buried her muzzle in the wing she snuggles.

Celosia smiles, then picks the book back up. “So… you or me?”

Grimacing at thoughts of what Savage could look like, the stallion is quiet. “I don’t… I could… I’ll do it. You’ll have to watch the little one though, she shouldn’t see it.”

She nods. “I will… you’ll be okay, right?”

“I don’t know…” He shakes his head. “Just… pull me out of my head if I go too quiet afterwards, alright?”

“Understood.” She smiles, nuzzling him. “This is a brave thing to do, you know...”

He nuzzles back shakily. “Is it? Because I’m almost as scared of this as I was the clones…”

“Yes, it is.” She puts a foreleg over him, avoiding her sister. “Being brave and not being scared are very different things.”

“I know…” He leans against her, sighing. “It just doesn’t feel brave when you feel like puking during your ‘brave’ action.”

Finally, deciding it’s safe enough, the group poke their heads out of the warehouse. Seeing no clones around, they make their way all the way out, looking around for whatever may remain of their fallen friend.

“I’ll keep an eye out for clones,” Baggage states. “You three do whatever you have to do.”

Celosia nods, sighing. She turns to Virus as the other stallion walks away. “Where do you think he landed? I can’t remember...”

He nods his head in a direction. "Over there..." He frowns as his gaze goes over the ground in that area, not particularly keen on finding what he seeks.

She looks, wrinkling her face up a bit. “...you can do it on your own, right?”

"I think so..." He starts to veer towards it. "Better I get it over with quickly."

“Good idea...” Unsure what else to say, she just waits behind with her sister, keeping her away from whatever the body could look like by now.

The pegasus heads out, trudging ever onward as his eyes scan the ground in front of him. Out of almost nowhere, his eyes lock onto an all-too familiar corpse. Torn apart, bleeding everywhere, almost half his flesh missing… Savage’s name was all too fitting for how he died.

No amount of hospital work could prepare a pony for this. Virus gags, trying to hold himself together as he half shuts his eyes, gathering what he can. As he shoulders the pack, he casts one last look at the fallen pony, saying a single word before heading back to the others. “Goodbye...”

As he approaches, he sees the two females of the group just sitting and waiting, trying to have some semblance of a conversation. Baggage is nowhere to be seen. Celosia perks up at the pegasus’s arrival and stands. “...how was it? Are you okay?”

He shakes his head slightly, an answer to both questions. “I got the things we needed.”

She slowly pulls him into a hug. “I’m sorry...”

“It’s… not okay, but better me than either of you.” He softly hugs her back, but his mind is clearly still distracted. “Where’s Baggage?”

“Making sure we’re safe… as far as I know.” She breaks the hug, looking down at the ground. “We need to go as soon as he gets back.”

“Yeah… I have no problem with getting away from here.” He adjusts the new bags on himself. “Maybe travel will take my mind off things.”

As if on cue, the earth pony comes back over, huffing. “We’re gonna have to take a long route around. There’s practically an army of those things gathering right in our path.”

Celosia sighs. “So what’s the ‘long route’?”

“We head north for a bit, rather than straight west. Probably stumble across Fillydelphia, but we won’t stay long. We go west from there, and hopefully avoid them.”

Tri leans against her sister while Virus nods. Celosia just sighs again. “I can’t help but notice the ‘hopefully’ there.”

Baggage doesn’t respond. He just shrugs and starts leading the way. Everypony follows.

Chapter 3: Chance to Relax

For once, luck seems to be on the side of the four survivors. Not only do they get to Fillydelphia with minimal incident, they arrive to find the city more or less free of clones. Almost completely cleaned out of any supplies they could scavenge, but safe to stay in for a night or two.

Some exploration turns up a relatively intact hotel with several rooms left unlocked, and they are quick to claim one of the larger rooms as a campsite. While Baggage heads out to check the other rooms for anything worth taking, the three remaining ponies are once again left with little to do.

Virus starts clearing a space in the middle of the room, scooting furniture against the walls and sweeping debris away so nopony sits on a nail or something. Tri sits near the bags, trying to think of something useful to do besides stay out of the way. Celosia, lastly, just finds herself lying beside her sister and flipping through the Mirror Pool documentation they had found.

Eventually, she sighs, having reached the back cover. “Well, those last few chapters were just a waste of time.” She slams the book shut and pushes it to the side.

“What were they about, if not the pool?” The filly looks to her curiously.

The mare puts a foreleg around her. “They were about the pool, but nothing was useful. Mostly just experiments with inanimate objects, its history and past uses, and a map to its location.” She pauses before scowling. “...why would she seal it away forever and then make a map leading to its location to be published freely to the world?”

Her little sister nuzzles her as she tucks herself against the mare. “Maybe she didn’t think ponies would do anything bad?”

Biting back a few choice remarks at the disappeared alicorn’s expense, Celosia simply nuzzles back as she speaks. “Maybe. Still, at the very least, we know where to avoid.” She glances over at the stallion in the room and smirks. “I think you’ve made enough space, Virus. Come on, join the snugglefest.”

The pegasus smiles and does so, laying on the other side of Tri and putting a wing over both of them. Leaning over the filly, he gives Celosia a quick kiss while Tri watches. “You two comfortable?”

“Very,” the unicorn replies with a smile, giving him a nuzzle in return. She looks down at her sister and smiles sheepishly. “Sorry for doing this in front of you.”

“Do what?” She looks between the two of them. “Ponies who do that love each other and become Mommies and Daddies right? That’s not a bad thing.”

Celosia’s face goes red, and she almost chokes on her words for a moment. “W-Well… no, it’s not a bad thing, but...” She glances to Virus, her eyes begging for help.

The pegasus seems to swish his tongue around for a moment before looking down to the filly. “Mommies and Daddies, huh?”

“Yeah!” Tri’s tail swishes happily as she looks between the two of them. “Ponies who love each other have foals. Foals make everypony happy.” Her words show the strength of her confidence in this logic.

“Erm...” Celosia tries to think of a way to word what she wants to say. “Well… I suppose some of that makes sense… but, well, not all ponies who love each other have foals...”

Both Virus and Tri watch her, though the filly is the one who speaks first. “I think you’d be a good Mom.”

Virus debates chiming in, but goes for it in the end. “You have done well with the one filly you’ve been taking care of.”

The red-faced mare lowers her head to the floor, looking embarrassed. “There’s a difference between caring for a child and caring for a sister...”

“You still make a great sister-mom.” Tri hugs the mare’s head, nuzzling her ears.

Virus just chuckles at this, leaning down and nuzzling the two of them. “From the mouths of foals… though I don’t think this is where you meant for this to go.”

Celosia finally lets out a giggle, nuzzling them back only slightly awkwardly due to the positioning. “Thanks, you two… still, I think I’d rather wait before thinking of having foals of my own.” She looks to Virus with a small smirk. “Assuming that’s okay with you.”

He smiles and nods. “I’m fine with that.” Still, he looks to Tri before leaning down next to Celosia’s ear, whispering almost silently. “But I wouldn’t say no to practice.”

The mare responds with a bright blush and a kiss on his cheek before any words come out, these ones serving as a way of diverting attention away from herself. “What about you, Tri? Any hopes of becoming a Mommy yourself one day?”

The filly nods happily. “Yeah, eventually! But… I guess I need to find a colt first. Hmm…” She looks down in thought before shaking her head. “I’m sure there’ll be one eventually. We’ll find each other, then we’ll get all smoochy like you two, then we get foals, right?”

“...that’s about all you need to know at this point in life,” Celosia says simply before nuzzling her. “So, what kind of a colt are you looking for?”

“Hmm… maybe someone like Virus?” She looks up at the stallion in question. “He’s nice and seems like a good Daddy.” The pegasus smiles proudly at this.

“Does he?” Celosia tilts her head, a teasing tone coming to her voice and a similarly teasing smile to her muzzle. “I feel like he’d spoil his kids a bit too much.”

He smirks back at her. “I’d spoil my wife too.”

Tri butts in. “That’s you, right sis?”

“...well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she says tentatively.

Virus pats the two of them with his wing. “We’re trying not to rush things, Tri.”

“What’s there to rush?” She tilts her head at them. “You like each other, you’re both nice, you’re smoochy, so now you get married. It’s not hard.”

“Well...” Celosia blushes again. “We’ve only been together for a couple weeks now… and, well...” She stops to think of how to phrase this next bit. “...there isn’t really a place we can go to for getting married.”

“Oh yeah… you need a pony to marry you…” Ears poking up, she gets up and trots over to their bags, digging in one, her back half sticking out as she almost falls in.

Virus scoots until he and Celosia’s sides are touching, nuzzling her. “I haven’t seen her this perky in a bit. I like it.”

“Me too.” She smiles, keeping her voice low. “She was always like this before… everything. It’s good to see her revert back every now and then.”

After a minute, Tri comes back, an almost too big black traveling cloak draped over her shoulders. Sitting in front of them, she clears her throat and raises a hoof, only to pause with her mouth open. It closes and she thinks, shaking her head and trying again after a minute. “Blah blah blah, something something. You two love each other, so I now pronounce you… mare and stallion!” She gestures two both of them. “You can now kiss and have foals that call me Aunty Tri.”

The unicorn blinks before turning to Virus and smiling. She pulls him into a kiss, her tail wagging behind her. Virus leans into it, closing his eyes as he pulls Celosia close. The two of them can hear Tri’s own tail swishing across the floor quickly as she giggles quietly behind her hooves.

Eventually, Celosia pulls back, giggling. “That’s that, then.”

Virus chuckles. “I don’t have a necklace or a ring, but I can make it up to you in other ways, right?”

“We can worry about that at a later time.” She kisses him again before looking to Tri with a smile. “Thank you.”

The filly smiles back and nods before throwing the cloak back onto the bags. “You’re welcome!” Trottin over, she jumps into the small space between them, squirming down into the crevice and sighing contently. “For that, I get dual snuggles whenever I want. Well, unless you two are doing smoochy stuff, then I’ll leave you to it.”

“I suppose it’s better than paying with bits,” Celosia muses, happily allowing her into the cuddling.

“She got to the good parts quickly, too.” Virus chuckles. “Didn’t take hours either.”

“She’s efficient like that.” She gives her sister a nuzzle.

The stallion looks over the two of them softly, his gaze lingering on the mare with a small silent smile. She smiles back before resting her head, content to just enjoy this for a while.

A few minutes pass in relaxed silence before the smallest form starts wriggling, the filly reluctantly pulling herself from between them. With her tail tucked between her legs, she looks back at them sheepishly. “I’ll be right back, I umm… need the little filly’s room…”

Celosia giggles and waves her off. “Don’t take too long.” She nods, quickly trotting into the hall.

Virus just chuckles, resting his head on the mare’s neck. “Foals will be foals…”

“Yes, they will.” She nuzzles him. “They grow up fast, though.”

“I don’t know.” He kisses her cheek. “Tri seems to be at that nice point of a little grown up, but not too much. I’m not sure I can see her beyond that yet.”

“She will be, eventually… but you’re right about one thing.” She kisses back. “She’s definitely not too grown up yet.” Her tail wags a bit. “What were you like as a foal?”

“Hmm…” He chuckles as he remembers. “Playful, nerdy, and from what my mother used to tell me… I had a tendency to stick clouds to myself until I was a cloud with mane and tail so I could make myself bigger.”

Celosia can’t help but laugh at that, nuzzling him. “R-Really? You wanted to be a cloud?”

He blushes a bit, nuzzling back. “To be fair, wouldn’t it be nice to nuzzle a cloud?”

“I don’t know… they’re all wet on the inside. And I much prefer nuzzling warm fur.” She smiles.

“As do I, though I should point out both warm and wet at the same time isn’t a bad thing.” He chuckles, giving her a kiss on the lips.

“I never said it was.” She giggles. “But I like you the way you are. Not as a ball of white fluff.”

He smiles. “What were you like when you were little? I bet you were adorable.”

She blushes a bit as she thinks. “I was pretty outgoing, I think… loud, energetic, friendly; probably where Tri gets it from. Rather out of place for a Canterlot pony, to be frank.” She grumbles a bit at nothing in particular. “When I got my cutie mark, our parents started getting on my case to be more ‘proper’. Tri had just been born, and they didn’t want me ‘setting a poor example’. It still took a few years before they finally hammered it into my head how I was supposed to act.” She blushes further. “S-Sorry… got off track… um, what was the original question?”

Virus just blinks before drawing her into an embrace. “Are you okay after a childhood like that? Most pegasi are told to try and be outgoing; it’s what we feel in the sky. Even with a job indoors, I can’t imagine being restrained like most Canterlot ponies were.”

She hugs back, letting out a content sigh. “I’m fine now… they never got to Tri in that way, and I didn’t exactly spend too long being all prim before everything happened. So you could say I was set free of the ‘corruption’.” She can’t help but smirk.

He chuckles, kissing her neck. “That’s good… I’d hate to see you forced to do something you didn’t want to.” He looks over her, then himself, then back over her as a blush comes to his cheeks, showing a hint of where his mind is.

Her smirk just widens. “Getting some… thoughts, are we?”

“Maybe…” He blushes harder, rubbing her back. “All this talk of foals just got me thinking about… what yours and mine may look and be like.”

The unicorn starts blushing as well, her smirk becoming a soft smile as she nuzzles him. “Well, aren’t you the forward one? What’s come to mind so far?”

He nuzzles her back. “I’m thinking of a little pink filly, maybe a little purple colt too. It doesn’t matter to me if they’re pegasi or unicorns… but the beautiful thing I see is us all together.” After a moment he adds. “Maybe you’re a little round with the next one.” His tail flicks her flank.

Celosia giggles, giving him a peck on the cheek. “I like it… you’re getting me excited just thinking about it.” Her tail wags. “And, well, we are married now, I suppose...”

His tail does the same, even laying across hers as he touches his muzzle to hers. “Well, if I’ve got the time of year right, we’ve still got a little bit of time to be sure…” Their lips meet in another kiss.

She happily keeps the kiss going, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. She hums into his mouth, tail flicking around in excitement.

As the stallion pulls her close and starts to press against her, the door opens and Tri walks back in. As she sees the two of them, she smiles. “I knew you two would get all smoochy and make foals when I was gone.”

Celosia pulls away, blushing madly. “W-We didn’t make foals!”

Chuckling mischievously, Virus whispers into her ear. “Yet.” Her blush only deepens in response.

Fortunately, she is saved from further embarrassment when a certain gray stallion returns to the room. Without even a greeting or a question, he just nods his head towards the door. “Grab your things, you three.”

Celosia slowly lifts her head, confused. “We’re leaving already?”

“Not exactly.” He heads back out into the hall without another word.

“...always explains things so well, doesn’t he?” Virus deadpans.

The unicorn sighs, standing up and stretching. “Well, a picture’s worth a thousand words...”

Chapter 4: New Friends and New Information

To the group’s surprise, the hotel elevator actually remains fully functional, allowing them an easy way to travel up to the top floor. Baggage leads the way from there down the halls, past various doors that remain locked, to one with the lock completely torn off and the door itself left open slightly.

Inside is a surprisingly intact suite; while nothing that isn’t either oversized or nailed down actually remains, the size itself is inviting enough. And not just to them; inside already are three other ponies, two of whom look to have been waiting for the group. The third, a dark purple unicorn colt, with a short blue mane and tail and no cutie mark, just sits in the corner sorting through saddlebags without even looking up at the newcomers.

The two pegasus mares in the middle of the room, however, are quick to stand up. The first one, with a dark green coat and braided light brown mane and tail, steps forward with an unsure smile. A picture of a piece of white chalk is visible on her flank. “So… these are your friends?”

“These are my companions,” Baggage replies, either as a correction or a clarification. He gestures to them one by one. “Virus. Celosia. Trifecta.”

The pegasus mare smiles at the three of them. “Well… hi there. I’m Chalkboard.”

The other mare, a dark almost-black grey pegasus with a neon pink mane and tail, both wavy, looks over all of them before speaking with a neutral expression. “My name is Pixie.”

Celosia smiles back, trying to be friendly. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

Chalkboard nods before her eyes land on Tri. Her smile widens as she crouches down to the filly’s level. “Hello there, you cute little thing! How are you?”

“I’m fine, Miss Chalkboard!” She looks around the room. “Is this where you guys live?”

“Oh, more or less.” The mare giggles. “Until our supplies run low and we have to move on, this is where we stay. It’ll be a long while before the clones come by to check this place again.”

Baggage simply nods. “We agreed it would be best for us to stick together as long as we’re in the city for the sake of protection.”

Virus nods. “More pairs of eyes are always good.” Seeing the colt, he continues. “And maybe Tri here can meet a new friend.”

Chalkboard turns to the colt and laughs sheepishly. “I don’t know… Nitrogen isn’t very social...” She glances to the filly and smiles. “If you want to try, though, go ahead. He won’t bite.”

Looking to her group members for a moment, Tri walks over near the colt, waiting to see if he’ll come out of the bags. After a second, he does, stuffing various objects scattered around him back into the bag before he looks to the filly, curiosity and confusion on his face. “...hi?”

“Hi!” She smiles at him, taking a few steps closer. “I’m Trifecta, but my friends call me Tri.”

He tilts his head before smiling, extending a hoof. “I’m Nitrogen! Everypony calls me Nitro, though!”

She takes his hoof, shaking it. “That’s a cool name. So what are you doing over here?”

“Looking through the things I scavenged.” He wags his tail. “Want to see?”

“Sure!” Her tail wags as well as she walks forward, getting next to him.

Chalkboard looks on in surprise. “Wow… usually he’s never that open… I think he’s said more words to her in the last ten seconds than he’s ever said to the two of us.”

Virus looks to Celosia a moment with a smile before looking at the little ones himself. “Tri has a way of making everypony cheerful.”

The unicorn mare smiles herself. “That’s one way to put it.” A thought occurs to her. “So, are you two related?”

The dark green pegasus shakes her head. “The three of us never even knew each other until all this went down. We just met coincidentally right in this city.”

Pixie nods, still laying down in the same spot she had been when they entered. “I’m surprised all of us survived on our own, but none of us are eager to tempt fate again.”

Celosia blinks. “Wait… was Nitro with anypony?”

Chalkboard shakes her head again. “From what we could tell and what he told us, he’s been surviving on his own since the clones first attacked his home.”

“...did he live here in Fillydelphia?”

Another shake of the head. “Vanhoover.”

Virus blinks. “Wow…” Looking back toward the foals, he speaks quietly. “That’s the other side of Equestria… tough kid…”

“Yeah...” Chalkboard sighs. “It’s almost scary how quickly he adapted...”

“I think he may have a talent for it, but he doesn’t have a mark to prove me wrong or right yet,” the other pegasus mare comments.

“With a name like Nitrogen, I doubt something as simple as adaptability would be his talent,” Baggage remarks.

Virus shrugs. “I guess we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, Nitro has finished putting everything back into the first of his bags after showing it to Tri, and has set to sorting through the second bag as he tries to strike up conversation. “So where are you guys going?”

“Well, I think we’re headed to Ponyville eventually.” She watches him sorting items, not recognizing some, but he puts them away before she can ask.

He tilts his head as he brings out the first item from his second saddlebag; a metal crossbow, currently not loaded. “Ponyville? Isn’t that place deserted?”

She shrugs. “I dunno. Baggage says we’re going there to see if we can find information on the Elements of Harmony.”

“Oh.” He shrugs and leaves it at that before putting the crossbow down, but not away. The next thing he pulls out is a battered lunchbox. “I was there before, but there were clones everywhere...”

“Oh…” She looks down for a moment. “But… you got through okay, right? So maybe we have a chance.”

He giggles a bit. “Yeah… I didn’t stay long, though. They might have left anyway.” He thinks for a moment as he opens the lunchbox, only to immediately shut it before she can see inside. “Um… do you want me to come with you?”

“Huh? To where?” She tilts her head at him and the lunchbox he hid.

“Ponyville,” he clarifies, sliding the box to the side with the crossbow. “Or just, well… wherever you go.” He glances at the two pegasus mares to make sure they aren’t listening before he leans in close and whispers, “They’re kind of weird...”

She giggles quietly. “Weird how? We might be the same.”

“They think staying here is a good idea, even though the clones are probably going to come back through a lot sooner than we think. And our supplies are a lot lower than we think. But they don’t listen when I try to tell them.” He pauses. “...also, Chalkboard keeps calling me cute and I don’t really like that.”

Looking at him, the filly thinks for a bit. “Well… I mean I guess I understand ponies wanting to try and settle down in a place where they can be safe for a while. Still, ignoring your good points isn’t right…” She sits down as she taps her chin. “I know sometimes adults don’t listen, and I think it’d be kind of neat if you came with us… but wouldn’t it make them sad if you left?”

The unicorn colt frowns. “I didn’t think of that… but still, I’d be leaving in a couple days on my own anyway.” He looks to his bags again, taking out a map and unrolling it on the floor. Unlike the plain one Tri’s group carries, his has various markings and numbers around it. “I’ve paid attention to the clones’ patterns. They’re going to be nearing this place the day after tomorrow, and unless we hide really well, they’ll find us a day after that. Then they’ll fly in the direction of Neighagra Falls, meaning going north is a bad idea. I was going to go south, but...” He taps an odd scribble just a bit to the west of Baltimare. “They’re starting to gather around here, for some reason. Lots of them. Going straight west is the only option.” He sighs. “And, unlike you, those two have always interrupted me one sentence into my explanation to say I was overreacting. If they’re going to just sit here and let themselves be put in danger, I don’t want to stick with them and die just so they don’t feel bad.”

The filly blinks, ears folded slightly back after his words, unsure what to address first. “Wow… you’re really smart about these things, aren’t you?”

He grins. “Well, somepony has to think about ways to avoid them besides ‘run in one direction’.” He rolls the map back up. “Mom always said I was good at figuring things out.”

“You sure are!” She smiles at him before her ears fold down once more. “But… wouldn’t you rather try to convince them a little more rather than just leave them to face the clones? I don’t like the thought of more ponies dying…”

He loses his grin, poking the ground. “...I can try… I still don’t think they’ll listen, though...”

“Then I’ll help you.” Her eyes narrow in determination. “My sis and the other adults I travel with listen to me, so if we get help from them and keep yours quiet, I think we can do this.”

Nitro smiles after a moment. “Thanks, Tri.”

“You’re welcome!” Her smile returns as she brings him into a hug.

His eyes widen as he is taken by surprise, going stiff before he tentatively hugs back. “...er… okay...”

She giggles, letting him go and looking him in the eyes. “Come on, I’m the one with the plan now… and it involves feathers.”

He can only blink at this. “Feathers?”

“You’ll see.” She grins.

“So, Baggage said you four are headed to Ponyville,” Chalkboard comments, the adults having settled themselves down on and around the bed. “Any reason why? It’s not exactly a safe haven.”

Virus is the one to answer. “It’s on our way north, and we thought we might look around a little while we’re there.

“North…? Oh, don’t tell me.” She rolls her eyes. “You think you can get into the Crystal Empire.”

“Is that… a problem?” Celosia asks, looking confused.

Pixie speaks up. “Getting there is hard enough with how far it is, but whatever they’re doing to keep the clones out will keep you out too. Considering how they hid, I doubt they’re taking in refugees.” Her voice is noticeably bitter at the end.

“Not to mention the permanent winter for miles around it. If you’re stubborn enough to keep going there, at least half of you would die of frostbite before you finally come to terms with the fact that the Empire is gone. And the rest would die trying to leave.” Chalkboard shakes her head. “There’s a reason a place like that sounds too good to be true. It is.”

“Do you know for a fact it’s gone?” the pegasus stallion ask after a minute.

Chalkboard sighs. “It’s not so much ‘gone’ as it is ‘hidden’. Some sort of illusion and repulsion magic mixed together. You’ll wander close to it without seeing it, and before you’re even aware of what you’re doing, you’ll have turned around and started walking away.”

“How do you know all this?” Baggage inquires.

“My brother and sister tried going there a while back. My sister was a unicorn, and analyzing types of magic was her specialty. That’s how she realized what was going on.” She lowers her head onto her forelegs. “Almost didn’t make it back out of there.”

“Oh…” Virus’s ears and wings droop.

Celosia decides to change the topic quickly. “So, um… where did you two come from? What did you do before all this happened?”

The dark green pegasus seems to perk up. “I was an elementary school teacher up in Cloudsdale. Been doing it for well over ten years now.” She smirks at Virus. “I probably taught you one year and you don’t even remember.”

He clears his throat. “Any, uh, tendencies as a teacher?”

“Nothing too special, I don’t think. I didn’t have very memorable classes.” She shrugs with a sigh. “Sometimes I brought in my tamed parasprite Kirby, but that was about it.”

“Oh, that was you!” His wings flare as he laughs. “I remember that little puffball… cute thing.”

She smiles again, but a bit sadly. “Unfortunate how our reunion is under these circumstances...”

“And you?” Celosia asks Pixie.

The dark mare looks down sadly. “I used to help make auroras… I helped the colourful lights of the night dance.”

“That sounds interesting.” The unicorn smiles, hoping her cheerfulness would be contagious.

A small smile grows on the mare’s face. “I was in charge of the pink one, the one that was cheery and loved by couples. I liked sneaking heart shapes into it.”

“Really? You sound very talented.” Pleased at her success, Celosia presses on. “My family always liked seeing the auroras in the sky.”

“Thank you.” Her pink tail wags happily. “Glad to know ponies appreciate it.”

The unicorn grins, putting a foreleg over the other mare’s shoulders. “Once this country is back on its hooves, I’m sure you’ll be able to keep making couples happy.”

“If it ever gets that way again...” Baggage mutters, ignored or unheard by the others. He glances over at the kids, only to blink when he sees them walking out the door. “Should somepony go after them?”

“Hm?” Chalkboard glances up, realizing what he means, and shakes her head. “The hotel’s perfectly safe, and Nitro’s probably a better protector for the girl than any of you.” She flinches from the glare she receives from the unicorn. “What? What did I say?!”

“Nothing will happen to Tri.” Virus leans over and nuzzles his marefriend, or wife if you ask a certain filly which neither of them argue against. “See? They’re right over there, playing in the bags… well, they were…”

“They’ll be fine,” the dark green mare assures them, still looking a little unsettled. “Let’s get back onto peaceful conversation, if we could? Are any of you hungry?”

“Perhaps a little something. You sure you want to share?” In a world like this, nopony can really blame anyone for hogging food or supplies if they need them.

Chalkboard nods, standing up and hopping off the bed. “Nitro carries his own supplies, so he doesn’t drain any of our resources. We can afford to spare some food, especially after we found this place’s kitchen only half-scavenged.” She heads over to the bags. “Can’t cook any of it, though. Hope you don’t mind cold food.”

He nods. “As long as it doesn’t make us sick.”

“We’ve been eating it for days and we’re still fine, aren’t we?” She smirks as she pulls out a few random cans of food; tomatoes, peaches, soup, and other things definitely past their expiration date, but not quite enough to be worrisome.

As the food gets passed out and opened, Celosia decides to speak up again. “I’m a little surprised you two are holding out for so long… this place doesn’t seem like there’s much left to scavenge.”

Pixie motions to the food. “I’m sure there are a few more places like the kitchen that haven’t been scavenged. Better to be here in comfort while we look than somewhere else where we don’t know the situation.”

“You’ll have to branch out eventually,” Baggage says simply as he takes his opened can.

“Maybe, but that’s eventually, not now.” Chalkboard picks up her can and, no longer having regard for table manners, just starts chugging the soup right from the can.

Seeing the looks a couple of the others give, Pixie shrugs. “Sometimes speed eating is needed.”

Before anyone can reply, the two smallest forms reenter the room. They don’t say anything as they walk over to the ring of adults, but Trifecta looks rather pleased with herself. Nitro deposits his saddlebags off by the door, but pulls out his map and gives the filly a strange black feather they had found.

“...welcome back,” Celosia offers, confused. “Are you two hungry?”

The filly looks to the colt. “I’ll save yours for after if you want.”

He smiles at her. “Thanks.” Nodding, he sits down, starting to unroll the map.

Chalkboard sighs. “Not this again...”

“What’s going on?” Baggage asks, an eyebrow raised.

Trifecta narrows her eyes at all the adults present, picking up the feather in her mouth. This prompts a look from her sister. “‘Mysterious’ doesn’t suit you, Tri. Mind telling us what’s going on?”

“I’m going to say things and you’re going to listen,” Nitro speaks up plainly.

“Or else,” the filly adds.

“...are you threatening us?” Celosia’s look becomes a glare, before seeming to put the pieces together in her head, and quickly changes to an amused but curious expression. “Oh.”

“Just hear him out. He’s trying to help.” Her eyes go pleading before narrowing again.

Chalkboard rolls her eyes. “If it’s what I think it is, we’ve already told him it isn’t-” Before she finishes, Tri leaps over and starts tickling her ribs with the feather. The mare yelps as she falls over, giggling and laughing like mad. “S-Stop! Help!”

Her oppressor soon relents, pointing a hoof at her. “Shush until he’s done, please.”

By now, the group is all looking at Trifecta in fear or amusement, before their attention - Chalkboard’s included - is grabbed by Nitro clearing his throat. Pointing down at his map, he starts off bluntly. “If we don’t leave, we’ll be dead in three days.”

“...what?” Even Baggage looks surprised.

“The clones don’t just fly around Equestria randomly. They have a pattern, almost like they’re patrolling the country.” He moves his hoof to Vanhoover. “When I left here, the clones were just arriving. I hid outside the city limits, watching and waiting. Then I followed them.”

“But why-” Virus quickly shuts up as Trifecta presses the tip of the feather to his snout.

Nitro ignores the brief interruption. “I kept track of their speed, when they rested, and how their patterns changed depending on location or weather. I marked down the time it would take them to travel from each city to the next, depending on circumstances. I didn’t finally head off on my own until we had looped around to the ruins of Cloudsdale.” He turns the map to show them, although the various lines and scrawlings practically make the whole thing illegible. “And unless we get a sudden rainstorm or blizzard, based on previous speeds, they’ll be entering this city the day after tomorrow. And with how many of them there are, they’ll find us within a day.”

There’s a silence before Celosia slowly raises her hoof, glancing to her sister. “...can I ask a question without being tickled?”

She, in turn, looks to the colt. “Is it time for questions?”

He nods, and the unicorn mare takes that as a signal to speak. “If I’m understanding this map right, the clones are apparently… gathering?” She pokes a rather large scribble west of Baltimare. “Is that a meeting spot, or something?”

“I don’t know. It might be.” He shrugs. “There were too many for me to check it out. It’s definitely still dangerous, though.”

“I see...” She nods, seeming to understand. “Where are they headed after Fillydelphia?”

“Neighagra Falls. Then they split up, some going to Manehatten and some going back to Canterlot.” He traces the paths with his hooves as he speaks. “The ones in Manehatten go to the north after they’ve finished, so apparently even they aren’t giving up on the Crystal Empire.”

Virus looks as though he doesn’t know whether to be encouraged or worried by this. Baggage has a similar expression on his face as he speaks up. “If we’re going to move, we need to plan around them. If what you’re saying is true, going west to Ponyville is our best bet.”

Nitro shakes his head. “They’re always going back to Ponyville. I don’t know why, but all of their paths lead back to it shortly. Ponyville is the one place here that’s never empty.”

Trifecta’s ears fold back. “But… we were going there…”

Baggage grumbles. “We still can… there can’t be more than a few there at once, right?”

“There were maybe a couple dozen last time I was there.” Nitro taps the forest just by Ponyville. “They stayed around this place a lot. Only a few went on patrols at a time. If you stay away from the forest, and are good at hiding or fighting, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

The pegasus stallion nods and muses. “I wonder why they guard there that much…”

“The Mirror Pool.” Baggage sighs. “Apparently they make trips back there constantly to make more of themselves.”

“That makes sense.” Nitro finally rolls his map back up. “The point is we need to leave Fillydelphia as soon as possible before the clones get here.”

Pixie sighs heavily, looking to Chalkboard. “So much for settling down…”

The green pegasus, who had remained silent for so long, can only nod. “Nitro… I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you before… we - or I, at least - didn’t realize just how much thought you’d put in to everything...”

He shrugs. “At least you know now.”

“So we need to head west, unless we can tread water in the east for a week or so,” Celosia summarizes. “Trying to go north will get us cornered, going south will send us right into the gathering… and we’re going to Ponyville anyway, but we need to be careful there.” She looks at the two mares and the colt. “I guess you three will be sticking with us for a while longer, then. We’re going the same direction anyway.”

Pixie nods. “Meeting you has apparently saved us, so I won’t object to a little longer.”

“Right!” Chalkboard smiles, then blinks. “...where are you going after Ponyville?”

“That depends on if we find anything of use,” Baggage replies. “If we’re just back to square one, we’ll be going to the Cloudsdale ruins, more as a landmark than anything.”

“Still going for the Empire?” The teacher just shakes her head. “If you insist...”

He ignores her. “We should leave in the morning, make sure we have a good headstart. When we get to Ponyville, we’ll stick together and search every house we can. If the clones keep converging there, it’s unlikely the town’s been properly scavenged.” He thinks. “Just stay away from the forest. I don’t know why they’re guarding it, but we don’t want to try asking them to find out.”

Trifecta speaks up, sounding confused. “Why do they need to guard it anyway? If it’s some magic thing they all keep coming out of, what pony would go there?”

“Somepony with a death wish?” Chalkboard remarks. “But you’re right… you’d think they’d decide it’s safe enough just from their constant returns.” She looks to Nitro. “Any ideas?”

He shrugs. “I had the common sense to just stay away.”

Virus’s wings shuffle as he thinks. “The only reason to guard something is to protect it… if it needs protecting, it could have weaknesses…”

“...meaning it can be destroyed?” Celosia finishes, looking surprised. “How do you destroy a pool of water? Especially a magical one?”

“We don’t know, but apparently, there’s a way.” Baggage stands up. “But we’re not going to.”

“Why not?” The other stallion stands as well, his eyes narrowed.

“Look, if you want to wander right into clone territory with nothing to fight with but a machete, be my guest.” The earth pony shakes his head. “But I’m having no part in that. We’re survivors, not heroes. We’re going to Ponyville to look for information, and then we’re moving on.”

The pegasus slowly wilts as he sighs, looking to Celosia and Trifecta. “... you’re right. It won’t do anypony any good if we failed.” The filly walks over and hugs his leg.

“Then we stick to the plan.” Baggage nods. “Now, I suggest we get some rest. This room seems a little cramped for seven, so I’ll go bust open another suite or two. The rest of you can talk or whatever. We’ll split up when night falls to sleep, and we’ll meet back here in the morning. Everyone got that?”

They nod, and they all split up into their own groups - or, in Baggage’s case, on his own - to chat or take care of business.

Prologue

Once upon a time, before Princess Twilight Sparkle had ascended to such a status, she learned of a magic pond in the Everfree Forest called the Mirror Pool. This pond had the ability to clone whoever stepped into it after reciting a magical rhyme, but both the pond’s location and the rhyme itself were unknown to most of the world.

Twilight Sparkle’s friend, Pinkie Pie, remembered hearing about the Mirror Pool as a filly, and sought it out for reasons lost to time. After her attempt to clone herself swiftly got out of hoof, Twilight Sparkle undid the spell and blocked the Mirror Pool off, hoping it would remain untouched for the rest of time.

This was not the case.

The circumstances are unknown, but somehow, the Mirror Pool was uncovered again. A pegasus pony had been searching for it, hoping to use it for his own twisted gain. And when he found it, he began to clone himself, with only one thing on his mind:

Death.

His number of clones began to multiply and overrun Equestria. Towns were torn apart, their populations slaughtered or forced into hiding. The Elements of Harmony were stolen, their bearers unable to retrieve them from the masses of murderous multiples. They had no choice but to run.

The princesses Celestia and Luna attempted to intervene, but for every clone they sent back, more continued to attack. They found themselves overwhelmed, and in the struggle, Princess Luna was killed. Princess Celestia knew she would not last, and so she fled to the Crystal Empire; the only civilization in Equestria that had not been attacked.

When the clones reached the empire, they saw they had travelled the distance for nothing; it had vanished. Nopony knows exactly how, but Princess Celestia must have worked with her adopted niece, Princess Cadance, to hide the empire from the clones. Its location, along with that of the bearers of the Elements, is still unknown to this day.

Outside, the clones continue to run rampant through the world, but their search has grown slower. Most of Equestria’s population has been slaughtered, and so now their only purpose is to scavenge for the few remaining pieces of civilization.

The ponies who survived the initial attack struggle to survive, hiding from the clones and trying their best to adapt to the new circumstances. Some try to make it on their own, while others work in groups; but in the end, it comes down to survival of the fittest.

The Elements are lost, their bearers missing. One princess is dead, the rest in hiding.

Hope is lost.