Appletine

Learning the Basics

Clementine held onto the pistol tightly with the Crusaders in tow, sneaking through an opening in the picket fence. “Get down,” she whispered silently to the three fillies as she peered over the fence.  They came through in the back yard, hoping to get into the house through the back door.  But, blocking their path were three fetid ponies.

         The one closest to them, the one blocking the door most was a horrid display.  One eye had rotted out of its skull, where they could see fragments of its brain.  It’s jaw was hanging loosely on one side, the other side had been scraped along a hard surface.  The other two were in similar conditions, one with its lower jaw completely broken, but attached, and the other with a missing arm and an oozing wound in its chest.

        They crouched down on their forelegs, moving slowly past the zombie ponies wandering around outside. Clementine moved stealthily behind one of the three zombies in front of the sliding door that lead to the backyard. Unbeknownst to the the rotting mare, Clementine pulled a knife from her saddlebag.  She wrapped the knife around its neck, and pulled the struggling zombie close to her as it flailed its arms. She jabbed the knife into the creature’s neck as it attempted to gnaw at her, a river of crimson blood flowed from the neck, and Clementine pulled the knife out.

“Oh my gosh, you just killed her!” Sweetie Belle screamed in terror, her mouth hung agape, staring at the display of absolute gore before her.

Turning their heads to the source of the noise, the rotting corpses walked slowly over to Clementine and the three companions. They rushed into the house behind the sliding door and closed it from the inside, Clementine grabbed the door handle of the door and locked the door to prevent them from breaking in. “Those fuckers never learn to leave well enough alone.”

“What did she just say?” Scootaloo asked, her curiosity piqued.

“I think she said, ‘fucker.’" Sweetie Belle repeated, Apple Bloom cupped her hoof over her mouth.

“What does fucker mean anyway?”

“It means someone who fucks, I guess.”

“What does fuck mean?”

“It sounds like buck. So I’m going to assume it’s the same thing. Those zombies must be good at kicking things.” Apple Bloom joked, her two friends giggled silently at the joke.

They walked into the kitchen, the wooden cabinets that used to stock cans of food and water were now left empty. Clementine reached into the refrigerator and swung the refrigerator door open, a can of beans was the only morsel that remained untouched. She clutched the can with her hoof and placed the can in Apple Bloom’s purple bag. Clementine kneeled down on one knee and said to them, “The key to surviving in an apocalypse is to scavenge as many items as possible, and know how to shoot a gun or use a weapon. I’m going to teach you those skills.”

“Sounds easy enough, let’s go you fuckers!” Scootaloo exclaimed, raising her forelegs up in the air.

“Scoots, language!” Sweetie and Apple Bloom said together, glaring at Scootaloo.

“We’re going to wash your mouth with soap later,” Apple Bloom added, poking Scootaloo in the side with her hoof.

“Let’s find a place to practice, follow me.”

A shooting range came into their view behind a tall, metal fence with the top wrapped in barbwire and practice dummies to shoot at. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Clementine walked around the fence, where they found a metal lock that locked the door.

A sign on the door read:

Closed for the day, do not enter.

 “How are we going to get in?” Sweetie asked.

Clementine looked down at the bullets on the ground, picking up the bullets, and placing them in her bag. “Only way to get in there,” She popped the bullets into her pistol, reloading the bullets and taking a step back from the door. With a loud pop, the bullet exploded from the barrel of the pistol and quickly made contact with the metal lock. The bullet left a hole straight through the lock, and Clementine pushed the door open walking into the shooting range.

The Crusaders gazed in awe at the huge assortment of guns on the wall: handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, and submachine guns. “Take your pick, girls.”

Scootaloo jumped on top of a display case that was well lit by the light inside. A green moss covered the display case. It stuck to the bottom of her hooves before she attempted to jump and reach one of the shotguns, falling back down onto the green moss. “AB, Sweetie, give me a boost.”

“Ya got it, Scoots. Sweetie, jump on my back,” Apple Bloom jumped on top of Scootaloo as Sweetie Belle planted her hooves on Apple Bloom’s back; she winced while Sweetie made the trip up to the shotgun. Sweetie slid the shotgun from the two hooks that were keeping it in place, and they fell down to the floor with the shotgun. The shotgun came crashing down to the moss-covered wooden floors. As it hit the floor with a loud thud, a bullet shot out of the barrel and crashed through one of the glass bottles perched on the shooting range’s counter.

“For a second there, I thought we alerted the fucking zombies.” Scootaloo climbed up to her hooves and grabbed the shotgun on the floor.

Apple Bloom trotted over to the shooting range targets before she tripped over a baseball bat on the floor. “Ah! What in the hay is this?” the southern filly opened her mouth and clenched the bat with her teeth.

“Sweetie, ya coming?”

“In a minute,” Sweetie Belle’s eyes peered down at the floor, a loose floorboard with a nail sticking out caught her eye.

Sweetie Belle walked up to the loose floorboard with her hooves out, grabbing the loose floorboard and tugging on it. The squeaky filly held on the floorboard tightly with her hind legs spread out to wrench it back, and she grunted as she yanked the floorboard out with ease. “Nailed it.  Coming girls.” she bounced away on her hooves to the shooting range targets.

Apple Bloom ran out to one of the shooting targets, held the bat firmly in her teeth and swung the bat forward as pieces of the target flew into the air. “You’re outta here!”

Scootaloo slid on her knees across to the reclined shooting target as she tilted her head up. Cocking the butt of her shotgun back, she pulled the trigger and the bullets grazed the head of the target as the head was blown to bits along the grass. A small line of smoke rose from the front of the gun as Scootaloo blew some air from her mouth, the smoke faded away soon after. “Nothing to it.”

Sweetie leaped up in the air wielding her nailboard, spiking the weapon into the wooden part of the target’s head and yanked the head clean off. She landed on her hooves gracefully, bouncing happily in victory from the target’s demise before tossing the head off of her weapon. “I did it, I did it!”

Clementine watched as her bullet tore a hole through her target, leaving the red spiral in the middle completely demolished. “This can’t be right, shooting range targets can’t be taken down so easily.”

“Quit your worrying, Clementine. This is pretty fun!” All three of the Crusaders said together, before approaching Clementine.

Apple Bloom heard an audible growl coming from her stomach. “Hold that thought, we should find a place to warm up those beans. We’re hungry, Clem.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded their heads in agreement. “Us too, Clem.”

“Alright then, let’s head out to the forest and make a fire.” Clementine assured them, walking out to the forest across from the long patches of grass.

Cold winds whistled through the night, the group sat around in a circle on wooden logs as small flames flickered around them. They found the most convenient spot near a flowing river to feel safe and content away from the zombies. Scootaloo scooped some water from the river.  While she slurped the water up, she laid her head propped up against her forehooves.

“You add a whole new definition to leading a horse to water, Scoots.” Apple Bloom fell off her log, kicking her hooves up in laughter.

“It wasn’t that funny, Apple Bloom.”

“To each their own, time to dig in.”

The can of beans opened with a pop above the campfire, the Crusaders and Clementine poked holes through the beans using their sticks. Inching the sticks closer to their mouths and extracting the beans slowly with their teeth, they felt the warmth of the beans making their way down their throats.

“I’ve got to admit, Clementine, I didn’t trust ya at first but you’re slowly starting to gain ma’ trust. Got to thank you for saving Scootaloo, and teaching us how to use these weapons.” Apple Bloom said, rubbing her warm belly.

“That means a lot, Apple Bloom. I hope that I continue to earn all of your trust.” Clementine smiled gleefully, munching on the rest of her bean.

“This day was really awesome, if only Rainbow Dash was here though.” Scootaloo sighed before rubbing her now-full belly.

“Ditto for me too, minus the Rainbow Dash part though. Anypony get the strange feeling that we’re being watched?” Sweetie Belle looked around the quiet forest, owls perched up on the top branches of the oak trees.

A shooting star flashed past the quiet night sky, leaving behind bright, white sparkles in its path. “Ooh, a shooting star time to make a wish!”

They closed their eyes and thought quietly to themselves.

“I wish for Rainbow Dash to be here.”

“I wish that I had a soft teddy bear to snuggle.”

”I wish to knock some zombie’s head off with my baseball bat.”

”I wish I knew what happened to my parents. They left me with a babysitter and never came back.”