"Oi! What do you see!?''

Swift Blade called up to Trickshot, which was returned with a glare.

''Shush! What the buck are you trying to do? Alert every being that can walk or fly to our location?!''

''No...'' The warrior muttered, ''Just asking if you can see anything! Celestia...'' The two stallions were scouting out the path they would take, and Trickshot had decided to take the high route, and spot from on top of the buildings.

Despite wanting to join him, Swift figured it would be best to have one pony still on the ground.

Luckily enough, they had only seen one zombie so far, and it had quickly been dispatched. If things stayed this way, the path they took would have no large problems to deal with. Hopefully.

''Hey! Guys!'' Vinyl's voice was a welcome sound. Swift quickly spun around, and smiled.

''What's up?''

The DJ shuffled her hooves, before speaking in the bluntest way possible, ''Look, me and the others are impatient, so can we just forget about scouting and charge right in, a pony's missing, and we're wasting bucking time.''

Grinning, Swift nodded, ''You have a point, lets round up the others and check out that place Shimmer mentioned.'' Swift's tone changed to a grim one, ''Something tells me that whatever lurks in that place might find Nights before we do.''

''Good Celestia would you two tell me what the hell your talking about!?'' Trickshot yelled, irritated that he was being ignored.

''Change of plans! We're gonna live a little more dangerous.'' Swift grinned.

The gunner scoffed, before signaling he got the message. The ponies grouped up, Applejack, Swift, Vinyl, Trickshot, Shimmerlight, and Dusk Star. Pinkie and Dusky had decided to stay behind, watch Scootaloo and keep an eye on the base. It still needed buffing up or even one undead pony could break in with little trouble.

''Alright, we're going straight in, I like that, you jackasses are finally doing something I agree with.'' Dusk sneered.

Shimmer shook her head. ''This doesn't seem safe.'' Her ears drooped, as if she was silently begging her fellow survivors to change their minds about not taking a safer approach to their destination.

''Look here sugarcube, we may be taking the faster route, but we still need ta be careful. Celestia knows what lurks through these alleys.'' Applejack cautioned, her eyes darting around, ready for anything to sneak up on them.

Vinyl's smile was a boost for Swift, and her words added to that. ''We'll be fine, lets hit the jams and hurry up.'' Her horn glowed, and her spear levitated from out of her saddlebag straps and to her side. She was ready to go.

''Either way, y'all need to be on guard.'' Applejack said grimly.

''Alright, can we go already?'' Trickshot moaned, his patience reaching it's limit.

''Yep. Let's move.'' Swift said. ''We can't waste any time, once we reach the walls of their stronghold, we'll slow down to come up with a plan on getting in, for now, move out!'' Swift pointed a hoof in the direction they were headed, and the group returned to their journey.

However, as they followed Shimmer's directions, Swift couldn't help but wonder:

''What will we find in that place, who exactly are these ponies? And who's leading this group of ponies we're joined with? I would've assumed Dusky or maybe Nights, but they said their leader was still in the house, recovering.''

The thoughts ran through the swordstallions mind, what kind of wounds or sickness did the unknown pony have? Had they been bitten? Had they been attacked by the ponies they now ran towards? Or were they already dead? Then another thought sliced through his thoughts; What had truly happened to him back in the basement of Twilights castle? Would that happen again? What about that nightmare he had? What did it mean?

Swift's thoughts had consumed him so much he didn't even notice what was happening until Vinyl yanked on his saddlebags, suddenly pulling the blue stallion back with enough force to cause him to land on his rear.

''Ow! Wha-'' He cut himself off when he saw he had nearly run into two shambling unicorns. Both were mares, but one of them was missing her lower jaw, and the other had several bullet holes through her torso. Both monsters seemed almost dormant, almost as if they were on autopilot, but when they sensed the presence of living ponies, they suddenly lurched to a freakish form of life, quacking their pace towards the group of uninfected ponies.

Swift stood up, his mind returning to the physical plane, there were other things to worry about right now, like these monstrosities before him and his friends.

However, before he could step forward to take care of them, Dusk Star shoved past him, his horning glowing with energy.

''Normally I wouldn't use my magic on such trivial enemies, but you want us to move silently right?'' The unicorn glared at the two zombies quickly approaching, and his horn flared, sending a spiral of pure energy into both of the creatures, vaporizing them both in an instant.

He cackled, watching the ashy remains of the two walking corpses fall to the ground, and turned back to the rest. His smile was anything but cheerful, in fact, it looked downright malicious. ''Don't get in my way.'' He sneered, before trotting around the corner, not waiting for the others to get over their shock.

Shimmer and Trickshot were forced to shake the newcomers to their senses. ''Come on! We gotta move! You'll get used to it!'' Trickshot snapped, before chasing after the unicorn.

The race resumed, but Swift was left to wonder: If Dusk was so powerful, why had he surrendered to him?

Swift shook his head, and continued running. They had to find Nights.

Nails thudded against boards, and a pink hoof swung the hammer it clutched with a sort of rhythm, as a cheerful humming broke the silence of the house. Pinkie Pie was having herself some fun. Barricading the windows of the entire mansion was like a big game, and it was a lot of fun for her.

After the others had left, she had decided to keep herself busy and began reinforcing their new home base. It would be a big surprise for the others when they got back with Nights.

She took a second to glance behind her back, watching Dusky play with Scootaloo. The two were playing a really fun looking game Dusky was teaching to the little filly. As much as she would have loved to join in, she still had a job to finish up. Pinkamena Diane Pie never left a job unfinished!

Her hoof reached down for another nail, but she was interrupted by a soft sound. So soft most ponies wouldn't pick up on it. However, Pinkie had trained herself to respond to any noise of another living being, be it hunger or pain, Pinkie would pick up on it.

Her eyes narrowed, and she quickly nailed the board into place faster than anypony had ever nailed a plank into a window frame, and quickly began sneaking her way upstairs, towards the sound.

Her hoof reached into her mane, pulling free the cleaver it hid. If a monster pony had somehow gotten in, she would deal with it for her friends, and if it was an intruder who wished harm...

Pinkie's frown curled into the smile of a madmare. ''If anypony wants to hurt my friends and get away with it, they have another thing coming...'' She reached her destination. A door at the end of the hall.

The pink pony reached out a foreleg and opened the door, her cleaver raised above her head to bring it down on whatever lunged out at her. Nothing did.

The room she stood in was rather plain, except for the large bed that took up a third of the room. It was rather comfy looking, with curls and a design that would have made Rarity faint. However, the bed wasn't empty.

The bed contained a rather ragged looking griffon, covered in bandages, and holding a spear like it was a pistol.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments, before both of them lowered their weapons, Pinkie's sliding back into her mane, and the griffon's being placed next to her bed.

She was female, Pinkie could tell that much, and the eye not wrapped up in bandages was brown like a chocolate. It wasn't until the griffon let out a little cough that Pinkie broke the silence.

''Hi. Who are you? Do you like parties? Because I love parties, parties are my life...''

The wall was large, and intimidating. It was made out of knocked over carriages and vendor's stands, and was lined with the bodies of ponies and the undead alike. Makeshift spears jutted out of the crude wall, working as a skewer for any undead monster stupid enough to walk close to the wall.

The undead were brainless, so many had impaled themselves trying to get at whatever lay behind the barricade.

Vinyl was the first to speak: ''First off, the sickos who built this thing knew what they were doing, second, how the hell are we supposed to get over that thing?''

''No way to climb over it, that's for sure.'' Shimmerlight commented.

Trickshot glanced over at the buildings around the wall, scanning for some way to climb them and jump over the wall. ''Damn it, those buckers thought of that, they put those pokers on the buildings too, and it'd take to long to try and pull them out!'' The earthpony stomped a hoof in frustration.

''Which means there's two options left.'' Swift said grimly, his eyes narrowing, and his gaze sweeping the ponies around him.

''Let me guess,'' Applejack put a hoof to her chin in thought, ''Full on assault...''

''Or going through the damn sewers...'' Vinyl finished, her eyes downcast, and the others felt the same way.

''If the sewers are the best bet, then we might as well hurry up! Come pheasants!'' Dusk said commandingly, before trotting off towards the nearest manhole cover, his eyes filled with burning hatred and annoyance for the ones who had suggested the idea.

Swift felt fear, he had never liked being underground, he wasn't claustrophobic, but the sewers had always contained horrifying creatures, just as bad if not worse then what lurked out here now.

Vinyl pecked him on the cheek, urging him forward, and they followed, preparing themselves for whatever awaited underneath Canterlot.

However, a voice crept into the blue stallion's mind, sending a jolt of fear up his spine.

''Your time is running out...and then you will all be dead...''

Author's Note

It took a long time to get here, but here we are.

Nights is still trapped, and now the others must go underground to get to him, and who knows what lurks down there?

And who is this griffon Pinkie has just met?