But We Can't Eat Meat!

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.