Lapis groaned. The trek was hard, and arduous. Lapis was soaked, and kept leaving hair as he walked along. It had become apparent to him that whatever the cloud was that he had been exposed to in Canterlot, was not something natural, or healthy. He kept walking, ignoring the itching and aching his hooves were doing. He had to see his family again, and know if they were alright. He had made good progress over several days, but he couldn't quite figure out why the Zebras would attack. It was mutually assured destruction, as both the zebras and the equestrian nation exchanged bomb payloads on each other.

Lapis sighed, stopping at what appeared to be an office building. Good enough place to camp, I suppose. Lapis thought, and looked around for a way in after finding the door locked. He saw a window, and shrugged, pulling out his shotgun and used the butt end of it to smash the window in, then climbed in after knocking glass away so that he didn’t cut himself. He looked around slowly, not sure what to expect. For all he knew this office building could have turrets in it, like some of the buildings he had heard about in Manehatten. That could go very badly for him, if this were the case here. Fortunately, he found none, and set up in some of the cubicles spaces, laying there, and sighed. He wasn’t tired just yet, but he did notice one of the terminals was on, so he shrugged and got up, walking over to it. He saw however, that it was locked, and didn’t fuss with it. He explored, finding some health potions in a Med-box in the bathroom, and smiled. “These should be useful… Hopefully I won’t have to use these for awhile.” He went back to the area he was setting up camp, and moved some furniture around, quickly working up a sweat as he always had the help of his horn.

Eventually, he tired himself out, and lay down on the floor. As he was about to fall asleep though, Lapis thought he heard the sound of hoofsteps in the hallway outside the office room he was camping in. He frowned, getting up quietly, well, as quietly as he could with cement hooves, and walked out into the hallway. “H-hello? Is anyone in here?” Lapis gulped nervously. There was no response, so he went back to his cubicle. However, shortly after that, and Lapis was on the floor again, an energy gun barrel was stuck through the doorway. “Don’t move an inch, buddy.” Lapis froze, staying still on the floor with his back to the door. “Look… I don’t want any trouble.” Lapis spoke softly as he heard hoofsteps getting closer and closer to him. “Just take whatever you want, and d~” There was a sharp crack, and things went black for Lapis.

When Lapis woke up, he was tied to a chair, and there was a campfire going. He groaned, shifting in the chair as much as he could, everything a blur for him as he tried to see what was going on. “Ugh… What the hell.” Lapis soon caught sight of a shape moving towards him, one that came with a noise as it dragged a chair over to be in front of lapis, and sat down in said chair. Then, once everything got clearer for him, the voice spoke. “So… Who are you?”

Lapis groaned, muttering to himself. “Just can’t catch a break, can I? First the arrest, then the Cloud, now this…” Lapis sighed, and after considering his options, then spoke again. “My name is Lapis Star. I came from Canterlot, or whatever’s left of it. The moment the shield broke, I ran my ass out of there, considering I was choking on some sort of cloud. Found m~” “Look. I asked for your name, not your life story.” Lapis scowled, not like being talked down to. “Then what’s your name, wise guy?”

The Unicorn stallion, as he could see that now, was holding an energy weapon which was being pointed at Lapis. “Well, considering you can’t do much, I’m Lieutenant Lance Ire of the Equestrian Army. Or I was, at least, until this happened. Now, well… I honestly don’t know what to do. I’m not sure if you heard, but Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Manehattan, Maripony and Splendid Valley were hit. There were also reports of Whitetail Woods having been heavily irradiated, but I do not know for sure.”

Lapis gulped, his eyes widening when he heard that Manehatten had been hit. “I really need to get home now. My house is on the edge of the city, in the outlying neighborhoods. My wife and kid are there! You have to untie me! I have to get to them!” Lapis began to struggle in his restraints, frenzied by this new key piece of information. Lance, however, remained calm. “I am not releasing you until you calm down. If you go out now, you will probably not live to see them. Radiation is everywhere. Unless you have the clothes to ward it off, you won’t last a day. And I encountered a few ponies that seemed to be looting. They were taking advantage of the situation, and decided they wanted my stuff. So, not only do you have environmental hazards, you have other ponies that have devolved to raiding. With your limited knowledge of that shotgun, which I don’t think is yours to begin with, you won’t last very long.”

Lapis growled, but sighed, relaxing. The stallion was right. He wouldn’t do well if he didn’t have a clear head. Lapis didn’t respond for a bit, and then sighed. “Fine. I guess I have nothing better to do. But you have to understand, they are the only thing I have left.” Lance sighed, and nodded. “I understand your need, but you must look after yourself if you wish to see them again.” Lance leaned forward, looking lapis in his dark grey eyes, looking for any sign of betrayal. “I will release you, but you have to promise to not attack me. Got it? If you do, I will shoot to kill. It’ll get messy, very quickly.”

Lapis nodded, waiting for Lance to release him. When he was untied, he got up. “Want anything to eat? The cafeteria was limited, but it has something to eat, at least.” Lance smiled. “Yes please. I’ve been moving ever since the bombs fell and I was released from duty at my military base. Now everything’s gone quiet on my radio, but that’s probably because of the balefire radiation producing interference. But, anyways, please. I would love something to eat.” Lapis smiled, nodding, and walked off to the cafeteria, to get some cans of food. Coming back, he used one of the jagged pieces of cement to open the cans, wincing as it caused his hooves to itch again. After that, began to dish out the food, putting it on plates and putting the plates near the fire to heat them up. Soon, the food was properly heated, and Lapis gave Lance his plate, and sat down, and began to eat.

They ate in silence, mainly focused on eating. Lapis hadn’t realized how hungry he was, considering he hadn’t eaten in days. He had forgotten to pack food, and because of that, he hadn’t had anything to eat while travelling until he found the office building. He wolfed down his food, sighing when his plate was empty. “Oh… that’s it? I Thought I had more food.” Lance chuckled at hearing this, and smiled. “You ate faster than a new private after beginning training. When’s the last time you ate?”

Lapis’s cheeks were soon dusted with red, and he grinned sheepishly. “Well… a few days ago? After I left Canterlot, I have been moving except for at nights, when I would just sleep after stopping.” Lapis sighed. “I just want to make sure my family is alive. I can’t stand the thought of knowing that they are dying and that I cannot do anything about it! So, I will not stop until I am either in my house, or dead.”

Lance frowned. “I guess that sounds good enough. You really should learn how to use that gun though… Get some rest, and if you are willing to stick around, I’ll show you how to shoot that thing. I will take the first shift for watch.” Lapis frowned. “What makes you think you can order me around?” “Well. For starters, I could easily kill you and not give a damn. Second, I am military and you are merely a civilian. Third, I know how to use the guns I carry.” Lapis sighed. “Fine, I guess I will listen to you… For now I will, at least. And if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be having that gun. I own most of the gem mines in Equestria. The gem stone in your energy rifle probably came from one of my mines.” Lapis flopped down, laying next to the fire, and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep.

Lapis woke up feeling somewhat off, and got up. He noticed that Lance had fallen asleep in a cubicle, his finished weapons still on the desk, and walked towards the bathrooms. When he looked in a mirror, however, he yelped, backing up. What he looked like, was something that might have come from a horror novel. Almost all of his fur was gone, and his hair was only a few strands left. His skin was in a bad state. He groaned, and went to the sink, washing his face. “Whelp… This just keeps getting better and better. Why is it always me that gets the weird stuff?” Lapis washed his face, groaning, and went back out to the work area. He began to heat up some food, muttering to himself.

Lance woke up to the smell of food, and groaned, sitting up straight, and looked around. He noticed lapis sitting there, and he sighed, brushing away some of the hair that lapis had dropped in his sleep, and he sat down next to him. “How are you feeling? You don’t look so good.” Lapis, looking up after rubbing his eyes nodded. “Hmm? Yeah, I feel fine. I must not have gotten enough sleep. I feel tired, but I slept soundly… Maybe it’s just everything I have gone through during the past week…”

Lapis nodded, and finished his food while Lance made and ate his own food. Lapis scratched at his hooves, and looked around, bored and not feeling so well. Lance finished his breakfast, and got up. “Ok, come with me. I will show you how to properly shoot that weapon, and how to care for it.” Lapis, after giving this some thought, nodded, getting up and following him.

After teaching him how to use the shotgun properly, and how to clean it, they packed up their stuff, and began to travel towards Manehatten. The walk there was overwhelmingly silent. No birds, or animals could be heard, and the only sounds they could hear was the sound of their own hoof steps. Every now and then lapis would have to stop, getting sick, but he absolutely refused to just give up. He had a family to take care of, and he wasn’t going to abandon them just because of an apocalypse! Even as his skin began to peel and his fur coat began to fall out, he kept walking, ignoring the looks he got from Lance. When night fell, he kept walking until not even Lance could continue.

They stopped for the night, Lance tearing into a few Rad-Away packets while Lapis got a fire going. When Lapis asked for one, Lance shook his head. “With the way you look, I would say you have merely a few days to live. You must have absorbed an ungodly amount of radiation.” Lapis, blinked, just sat down numbly as he received this news. Lance had never told him that he was dying, but Lapis could feel it. Deep inside, something felt off. But, it didn’t feel right either, like what could be perceived as dying, but… Something else was there, something Lapis might not like. But, ignoring those feelings, he sat down and pulled out a bottle of water, drinking it down. Lapis sighed. “Lance? Do you think there is a life after death?”

Lance frowned, not sure how to respond. “Well… I wish for it, but I do not know if it actually exists. I lost a lot of friends in this war, so I sure hope so, so that they didn’t die in vain.” Lapis, a slight smile crossing his face, sighed. “Well… I sure hope so. Because I can only hope my family is there, if they are…. If…” Lapis blinked, gulping, and Lance shook his head. “Lapis… They are fine, I am sure of it. We just have to get there. You’ll see! Now, let me check my map…” Lance pulled his saddlebags in front of him, pulling out his map, and reading it by firelight; he began to determine their location. “Well… Judging from our surroundings, and from the map is telling me… It looks like we are near Junction R-7. So, that means we are about half way to Manehatten, so within the next couple of days, even a day if we push hard enough, we will be getting to the outskirts of Manehatten, and to your house. So, you are in luck. You might just see your family again before you die.” Lance sighed. “Let’s get some sleep, it’ll be a long walk tomorrow.”

As they fell asleep, and the fire died down, off in the distance, there was the soft pops of gunfire, to which Lance sat up at. Lapis remained asleep, his weakened body not caring about the noise, and Lance stood up, looking around. It would appear that he would not be getting a lot of sleep tonight. He picked up his gun, an assault rifle, and sat down on a rock, keeping guard.

Author's Note

Once again, I am looking for feedback on this. if you have any suggestions as to what i should do, send me a private message and i will be more than willing to communicate with you.