The room became engulfed in silence as the humanized alicorn's eyes gazed at her friend for the first time in months. The infected person laying on the floor was indeed Flash Sentry. She'd recognize that hairstyle anywhere. Soon, tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at what the disease had done to him. Just like the others that she had encountered, cuts, sores, and blisters covered with areas of skin she could see.

"Uhh.... you okay, Twilight?" Bull asked while still keeping his gun aimed at Flash's head.

"Please." She said before wiping a tear away. "Don't kill him."

"Twilight." Sunset said as she walked over. "I know it must be hard for you to see him like this. But once he wakes up, he won't hesitate when it comes to attacking one of us again. He almost got Bull for Celestia's sake."

"I know." She said. "But he doesn't deserve to be killed this way. He doesn't even deserve to be killed at all."

"None of them did, Twi." Applejack said before joining the rest of them. "I know it's hard. When I found Granny after she became infected, I couldn't bear the thought of having to kill her. But she posed a threat to me, Big Mac, Applebloom, and anyone else that would've encountered her." She then put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "I'm sorry to say this, Twi. But this needs to happen."

"No it doesn't!" Twilight snapped with tears now streaming down her face before she stepped in front of Bull, shielding Flash from the end of the shotgun. "I won't let it happen!"

"Twilight! You're letting your emotions get the better of you! You're not thinking straight!" Sunset said. "Flash is going to wake up any minute and attack us if we don't kill him now!"

"She's right, Twi." Bull said before moving to where she wasn't in his line of fire anymore. But she only moved again to where she was blocking his shot.

"I'm sorry." She said. "But I just can't let you kill him."

"What would you want us to do with him then?" Sunset asked, now getting frustrated by her friend's actions. This made Twilight turn to look at Flash for a moment.

"What if we.... bring him to Equestria?" She replied. "I'm sure that there's a spell that would cure him. I just know there is."

"Twilight. That does sound nice and all, but the portal is closed and the journal is back at Base." Sunset said. "If we were to do this, we'd have to take him back with us, then bring him back here before sending him through the portal."

"We'd be putting everyone at the factory at risk if we brought him there." Bull said as he tried moving again, only for Twilight to follow once again.

"We wouldn't have to bring him there." Twilight said. "Some of us could stay and watch him while the rest go back. We'd just have to make sure that he wouldn't be able to attack us when he wakes up."

Sunset let a sigh escape her lips. She knew that Twilight wasn't going to let this happen, no matter what she or the others said. "Alright Twi, we'll do it your way then." She then motioned for Bull to put his gun away, to which he begrudgingly obliged. "But the moment he tries to attack any one of us, he's getting shot, no matter how much you beg. Got it?"

"Okay."

"Now we're gonna need a chair, lots of duct tape, and a cloth to put over his mouth." Sunset said as she turned to look toward the other two people in the room. "Bull. You and Applejack go see if the shop room has anything left like what we need."

"Alright." He replied before turning to walk out of the room, muttering something that neither Sunset nor Twilight could pick up.

"I hope ya'll know what you're doin'." Applejack said before turning to follow him, leaving the two humanized ponies alone with the unconscious infected. Once they disappeared, Sunset turned and looked at Twilight as she knelt down beside Flash before gently running her hand through his hair. Seeing this made her pull out her AK and aim it at him just in case he woke up.

"Sunset!" Twilight said after seeing what her friend was doing. "What are you doing? Put that away!"

"No can do, Twi." She replied while steadying her aim. "I'm keeping this out and ready just in case he wakes up before the others get back."

"I can't believe we're actually saving that infected." Bull said as he and Applejack walked through a hallway. "Has she lost her mind?"

"I know, Bull." Applejack replied. "I can't say that I agree with this either, but Twi has a thing for him. Honestly, this isn't surprising me one bit that she wants to save him."

"I guess...."

"I'm sure Adagio would probably be the same way if you ever become infected." She went on to say. "By the way. How you feeling?"

"Pretty good." He replied. "Don't worry. Flash didn't bite me or anything, so I'm not infected."

"Good." She said. "Now lets just hurry and find what Sunset had asked for."

"Agreed."

As the two walked through the dimly lit hallway, Bull reached into his pocket to see how many shells he had left for his shotgun. But thanks to Bulk, his pocket was practically empty aside from a few shells left.

"How much ammo you got left for your rifle?" He asked, prompting Applejack to check her pocket.

"Not much." She replied. "Only a couple rounds left. You?"

"Same." He replied. "I'm down to four shells, not including what's already loaded."

"Too bad you gave Twi your sword." She said. "Otherwise you'd have a backup."

"You got anything else?"

"Just these two pistols." She replied before pulling up her jacket to show the two grips sticking out of her pants. "But I only use them for when I run out of ammo for the rifle."

"You practice with them?" He asked as Applejack lowered her jacket again.

"Course I do." She replied. "Gotta keep myself ready for situations like these."

"That's good." He said as the two continued down the hallway. Soon, they came up to the door that led into the shop room. The two of them looked at each other for a bit before nodding simultaneously as Bull opened the door and walked in with AJ close behind. Once inside, both of them were immediately greeted by an unusual sound.

"You hear that?" Applejack asked as both of them stopped so they could hear the sound better.

"Sounds like...... crying." Bull replied.

"The... horror....." A fourth voice said, making both of them jump. They looked at each other again before Bull looked over toward the wall and saw a shadow slowly moving back and forth. He then motioned for Applejack to look at it as well.

"Over there." He whispered while pointing over toward the southeast corner of the room. She nodded before pulling out her gun and loading it with the limited amount of ammo she had left. Bull got his gun out and ready as well as both of them closed in on where the sound was coming from.

"The... horror....." The voice said again as Bull and AJ finally came across who was making that noise. Seated in a corner of the room were three girls, each one of them only having a bra and some panties to cover themselves with. Their respective hairs were all messy while their fingernails were extraordinarily long, the longest either one of them had ever seen.

"Are those the.... flower trio?" Bull whispered as he looked on at the three girls.

"Looks like 'em." Applejack replied.

"Should we....." Bull asked before motioning with his gun.

"Nah." She replied. "They ain't buggin' us, plus we don't have much ammo left."

Bull sighed a bit before nodding in agreement. Soon, they both started walking away but they also kept an eye on the three infected girls. Once on the other side of the room, the search began for duct tape and a cloth. Bull started looking in each of the small drawers while Applejack checked the toolboxes. But as they looked, the continuous sound of crying coming from across the room was beginning to get annoying.

"Find any yet?" Bull asked.

"Not yet." Applejack replied before turning to look in a different tool box. But as she turned, her ass bumped a wrench that was halfway off the workbench she was by, making it fall to the concrete floor, resulting in a loud clanging sound that echoed around the room. As soon as that happened, the crying stopped. "Uh.... oh....." She said before quickly turning her attention back toward the girls. Each one of them was now standing, looking right at the two of them before they all cried out and started sprinting at them.

"Fuck!" Bull cried out before opening up on them with his gun. Applejack did the same. But unfortunately like Bulk, the flower trio didn't go down after one hit. "Applejack! Run!" He called out as he started running as fast as he could. Applejack didn't need to be told twice as she immediately started running as well. But soon, both she and Bull ran out of ammo, leaving only Applejack and her two pistols for defense while Bull had nothing left to defend himself with.

"Applejack!" He called out. "I'm out of shells!"

"Then use your gun like a club and hit them with it!" She called back before pulling out her two pistols. Hearing this, Bull stopped, turned around, and held his gun like a baseball bat.

"You know." He said as one of them, Roseluck, came charging at him. "I usually don't even think about hitting women. But in this case, I'll make an exception!" He then swung the end of his shotgun as hard as he could at her. But Roseluck managed to duck underneath his swing and nail him in the chin with a strong uppercut, stronger than he had thought she was even capable of, that sent him flying across the room before smashing through a door that led into a storage closet.

"Bull!" Applejack cried out after she watched her friend go through the wooden door. She wanted to go help him, but the other two girls had decided to team up and take her out together. Applejack kept shooting at them with her two pistols while running, but the bullets didn't seem to affect them at all. Soon, her eyes caught sight of a staircase leading to an upstairs storage room and a small chain-link gate that separated the room from the stairs.

"Better than nothing." She thought before racing up the steps with the two infected not far behind. Once at the top, Applejack immediately closed the gate and latched it shut. But she soon realized that it wouldn't be able to hold the two back for long as both Lily and Daisy started pounding on the fence with Roseluck eventually joining them. "Well...." She thought while backing away as the gate started to give way. "At least I'll be going down fighting."

But just as the latch looked like it was about to break, a small noise coming from the lower floor made the three of them stop what they were doing and turn to look at where the sound was coming from. Applejack did the same before she saw Bull slowly step over the remains of the door he got sent through with a chainsaw in his grasp. Looking closer, she could see that he had safety goggles over his eyes and a devious smirk on his face as he revved the small engine.

"So ya'll wanna play rough, eh?" He said before spitting something, most likely a tooth, out of his mouth. "Well then. Say hello to my little friend!"

As all this was happening, the three members of Scavenger One were becoming impatient as they sat in the main lobby of the school, waiting for the Lifeboat to come and pick them up.

"I hope that those guys are doing alright." Rainbow said while leaning against one of the few intact panels of glass on the main doors. "They've been gone for a long time."

"This is a big school, Dash." Spitfire replied. "You know that as well as I do. I'm sure that they're just busy gathering supplies."

"I suppose so." She said. "I just wish that whoever's driving the Lifeboat would hurry up and get here already. I can't just sit around here forever."

"Well maybe if you didn't leave your gun in the car, you wouldn't need to be sitting here in the first place."

"Hey!" Rainbow said in defense. "You left yours in there too. And have you ever tried carrying armloads of food while also holding an assault rifle? It's pretty hard!"

"Would both of you knock it off?" Soarin asked, making both Spitfire and Rainbow Dash hush up before they looked at him. "Look. What's done is done. I don't like sitting around as much as you both do. But right now, it's our job to contact the others as soon as the bus gets here. So can we please just stop this arguing and get back to watching for our ride to come?"

Both Rainbow and Spitfire sighed before looking back at each other.

"Sorry." Rainbow said. "I didn't mean to yell at you."

"Yeah." Spitfire replied. "Likewise."

"Good." Soarin said as Rainbow and Spitfire gave each other a quick hug before joining him back by the doors.

"Wished we at least could've eaten some of the food we got though." Rainbow said as her stomach started to growl. "I'm getting hungry."

"Same here." Spitfire replied.

"Me too." Soarin added.

"How long has it been since Sunset called Base?" Rainbow asked as the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon.

"Not sure." Soarin replied. "I don't really have anything on me that can tell time at the moment."

"Me neither. But if I had to guess, I'd say it has to be at least 8:00." Spitfire added before something caught her attention. "Woah! You guys see that?" She asked while pointing toward the Wondercolt statue.

"See what?" Rainbow asked as both she and Soarin both looked at it. "I'm not seeing anything."

"Me neither."

"Huh." Spitfire said. "Guess I must be seeing things then." But soon enough, the same thing happened. This time though, all three of them watched as a little purple dog suddenly came out of the statue. "What the......"

"Is that...... Spike?" Rainbow asked before pushing open her door.

"You know that dog?" Soarin asked before Rainbow could step outside.

"Yeah." She replied. "He belongs to Twilight." With that said, she stepped out onto the concrete steps. "Spike? Is that you?"

The little dog looked at her for a moment as she walked down the steps toward him. Her eyes looked toward the left and right repeatedly, keeping an eye out for any infected. But as she got closer, the dog soon had a smile appear on his face.

"Oh! Hey Rainbow. I didn't recognize you for a second with that outfit you got on." He said before looking around. "Woah...... What happened here?"

"It's a long story, Spike." She replied before kneeling down and petting him on the head. "But what exactly are you doing here?"

"Well Twilight's friends back in Equestria got extremely worried when I told them that she came here, especially after I told them about the infected pony that came through the portal. So they made me write a letter to Princess Celestia about the situation and well....." Soon after he said that, a woman appeared through the portal on her hands and knees. Rainbow's eyes widened as she instantly recognized the multi-colored hair that she knew only one other person had. "Rainbow Dash." Spike said before motioning with his paw toward the woman as she slowly rose to her feet before falling backwards into a seated position. "Allow me to introduce you to the ruler of all of Equestria, Princess Celestia."

Rainbow's eyes widened as Princess Celestia slowly managed to get back to her feet. She easily towered over her, just as much as this world's Celestia did. But rather than the attire that Principal Celestia once wore, this Celestia only had a plain yellow t-shirt along with some blue jeans that covered her long legs.

"So you're the Princess that Sunset's gone on and on about?"

"Yes." She replied in a tone that exactly matched her former Principal. "I'm pleased to know that she hasn't forgotten about me after all these years. Twilight has mentioned that she had seen the error of her ways and has now fully embraced the magic of friendship. But as much as I would like to have a much desired reunion with her, unfortunately I'm here for a different reason. I'm here for Twilight."

"Well, both of them are in there." Rainbow replied before pointing at the school. "We should probably go inside though. It isn't really safe out here."

"Indeed." She replied. "Spike has told me about these infected people that are roaming around in this world now. That is why I have instructed Twilight's pupil to put up a magical barrier that would separate the area of the room that the mirror portal is on from the rest. I have also stationed a decent sized squadron comprising of my best Royal Guards there as well in case one comes through while I'm here and the barrier doesn't hold."

"Nice." Rainbow replied in an impressed tone. "Sounds like you got this well planned out."

Celestia simply nodded her head in response. "I had already written to Sunset via the journal, asking to speak with Twilight face to face about this situation." She continued. "Seeing as how you're here, she must have received my message."

"Actually..... we just got here a little while ago after running from a horde of infected." Rainbow sheepishly replied. "I highly doubt that either Sunset or Twilight knows that you're here. But like I said, it's kinda dangerous to be out here in the dark. So let's get inside." After saying that, she turned and started to walk back toward the building with Spike by her side. But a grunt from behind made her look back to see that Princess Celestia had fallen flat on her stomach. "You okay?" She asked before turning back and helping her up.

"Yes. I'm fine." She replied. "Though it will take me a while to get used to walking on two legs rather than four."

"Hey. If Twilight can do it, then you should have no problem." Rainbow said before moving back toward the school, this time helping Princess Celestia as she tried to get used to this new body of hers.

Author's Note

What's up ya'll?

I hope that you guys are still enjoying the story so far, despite a character with a certain level of hatred in the community now being involved. If you aren't because of him, then I apologize. But this has all been part of my plan since I first started writing this story.

Anyways, if you are enjoying the story and haven't done so already, a like and fave is very much appreciated.

Full steam ahead, my fellow bronies and pegasisters.
- Harms Way