The Dead City

Part 3: THUNDER

The sewers are not as treacherous as they seem. They reek of refuse and are darker than night, but I feel much more comfortable now that at least one of us has a weapon. I still cannot shake the feeling that I am like a rat in a maze, being led by strangers, one of whom has a crossbow. My careful suspicion of Rocky and Lakota is beginning to outweigh my gratitude toward their kindness. I can do little about it, though, except wait and see what happens.

Within the hour the four of us make it through to the ruins of South Hoofshire Station without encountering a single bonewalker or Corrupt. Taking Lakota’s advice, we avoid the water, which has become so black it is like oil. The station is a mess. Train cars are overturned. Small fires are burning in debris-filled corners. Thick fog mixed with smoke clouds the station. Lakota stays in front. She’s been guiding us this entire time, and I’m still amazed how well she is able to navigate. Now she is on point, crossbow at the ready, eyes never wavering.

A sound. Clattering. Fluttershy ducks behind me. Lakota assumes a firing stance as Rocky crouches behind a piece of fallen rubble that barely conceals his form. A bonewalker stumbles into sight, clattering and growling, searching for flesh. Lakota takes aim, but Rocky stops her. I eye him quizzically, but she nods her head. Grunting, the minotaur abandons his cover and approaches the bonewalker, which is now bathed in dusty sunlight that streams through the broken station window.

The bonewalker growls. Rocky doesn’t appear to be fazed. Not that he should be. It's just a bonewalker, and he's a minotaur. Walking casually, the minotaur cracks his knuckles. It looks as though he is going to punch the bonewalker into the ground.

He raises his fist and makes an O with his fingers, then releases his finger in a flicking motion.

Thunk.

The simple motion sends the walker’s head shooting down the station floor, bouncing and clattering. The rest of it collapses into itself, turning to dust.

“Now why would you waste a bolt when a good finger flick will do the trick?” Rocky says with fake admonishment.

Lakota rolls her eyes. Fluttershy calms and I release my hoof from her mouth.

“That can’t be the only one,” the minotaur says. “We’d best be getting out of here.”

Everypony nods. Lakota points out a derelict staircase that leads up to the raised platform above the tracks. We are halfway up the steps when the Corrupt appears. This time it makes no sound, and though I can’t tell one Corrupt from another, I get a feeling that this is the same one from the apartment. I see its red eyes through the train station haze.

“Fluttershy…Lakota…Rocky…”

I try to make my voice less than a whisper, but they manage to hear me, stopping and turning around.

“Get down,” I gasp. “A Corrupt is here.”

“What?” Rocky says loudly. “Speak up, mate, I can’t…”

“Shut up!” I scream softly, knocking Fluttershy to the ground. The Corrupt’s eyes are unwavering in the darkness. At any moment it could swoop in and kill all of us.

“Move slowly,” I whisper as Lakota and Rocky got down with confused looks on their faces. “Don’t make any loud noises.”

“Why?” Fluttershy whispers. “What’s the matter?”

“Can’t you see the Corrupt?” I breathe, pointing my shaking hoof at the red eyes. Lakota and Rocky sneak a peek.

“I don’t see anything.”

“Me neither.”

“But I…”

The red eyes are gone. Where they were, only blackness remains. I hear nothing but the creaking of broken wood and metal. I breathe.

“It’s gone. Thank Celestia.”

“What in the hoof was that all about?”

“Can we get topside first? Then I can explain.”

She looks at me oddly, then shares the look with her minotaur. I feel as though I am being mocked, so I snort and drag Fluttershy with me as we proceed up the steps.

A hop, skip and a jump later, we are outside. The sun is beginning to break through the clouds, but even the afternoon light is not enough to beautify the destruction on South Hoofshire Street. Lakota and Rocky follow me up, and from their hunched backs and secretive expressions, I know they have just been talking about me behind my back.

“Uhm…Mr. Shining Armor, sir…”

“Yeah? What is it, Fluttershy?”

She looks at me with huge eyes. “I’m a bit tired. Can we stop here for a bit?”

I look around. No bonewalkers. No Corrupt. I shrug. “Sure. I could use a rest, too.”

So we set ourselves down on a fallen piece of building, careful not to impale ourselves on the many broken beams and supports that poke out of the wreckage. Rocky takes something out of his bag and passes it around.

“Lump cake. Got enough for everypony.”

Food. I begin to drool. Thanking the minotaur profusely, I take my piece of lump cake and shove it down my throat. It is the blandest thing I have ever consumed, but I don’t care. My hunger is quelled for the moment.

Fluttershy and Rocky begin to chat, and I sit closer to Lakota as she inspects her crossbow.

“Where’d you get that, if you don’t mind my asking?”

She smiles mirthlessly. “My dad was in Baltimare Peace Guard. He got this one when they were hot off the shelves. We’d been vacationing here, Dad, Sera and me. My mother passed away a few years ago.”

She stops momentarily, as if to wonder why she is giving me so much personal information, then continues, holding up a beautiful purple pendant around her neck. “This was hers. She put a spell on it when the Cataclysm struck. If we ever got separated, this would light up when she was close. But…it hasn’t lit up since we lost her…”

I am about to say how much I miss my own sister, how much I can relate to her, when there is a sound like thunder. Fluttershy screams and points to the sky. I look up.

Amid the clouds are three minute forms flanked by two gigantic ones. Three pegasi and two dragons. Two of the pegasi are trailing smoke, but the center one, who I can see is black rather than the other two, who are blue, is trailing multiple colors. They are all carrying things in their hooves and talons.

Oh no.

A bombing run.

“GET TO COVER! GO! GO!”

The dragons release their bombs, and the ground shakes under my hooves. They are getting closer. Rocky and Lakota act with surprising speed, but Fluttershy is motionless, petrified with fear. I have to drag her by the mane in order to get her out of the street.

We see a hotel to our right as the bombing barrels up the street. All of us duck in with barely a second to spare. As soon as we collapse through the broken revolving door, explosions decimate the street as the dragons roar overhead and the sound of superfast pegasi rings in our ears.

Then silence. Smoke. Fire.

“Is everypony alright?”

Nopony seems to be injured, and Rocky hasn’t even been shaken. But the bombing had entombed us. A huge chunk of concrete has blocked the entranceway.

We are trapped.

Then a voice pipes up behind us.

“Hiya. Do you have any muffins?”