In the safe house made from a trailer...

"Oh man. Oooh man, oh man, oh man, oh man." Ellis repeatedly said, applying pressure to his cuts on his arms.

"Do you have somethin' to use on it?" Applejack asked.

"No...wait, yeah! My first aid kit!"

Ellis pulled the health bag off of his back and removed the contents. First, he used alcohol dabs to cleanse the wounds. (Which you could imagine to be pretty painful.) Then, he applied bandages to his arms.

"Oh, yeah." Ellis said blissfully.

"That witch got you pretty good." Applejack acknowledged.

"Yeah, but I'm still alive."

"Thank Celestia." Applejack whispered to herself.

"You say somethin'?"

"Oh, uhh...yeah, erm...what do we do next?"

"Well, the best option would be...oh man, check it out, AJ! That's the Midnight Riders!" Ellis said, pointing at a poster.

"Are they any good?"

"Uhh, yeah. They are a pretty big deal alright. They also got the best firework show in the business. I remember the best seat I got: front row, center! Lost my eyebrows."

That last sentence made Applejack giggle a little. She started to imagine the scenario until creepy sounds were heard outside the door.

"Perhaps we should just get goin'." Applejack said.

"Right, right. Ready?" Ellis asked, hand on the door.

"Let's go kick some flank!"

Ellis then kicks the door and they exit the safe room. As they stroll through the abandoned carnival, they look at the abandoned games, food stands, and benches. Ellis was going through mixed feelings of nostalgia from his childhood, and horror from what this once happy location became. Applejack was just listening to the crickets and the occasional blowing of the wind. In a way, it was kind of peaceful. Anyways, after a while of walking, they discovered a storage room with plush animals on top of boxes and shelves.

"Heh, I remember whenever I played a game, I never won a single one of them." Ellis said, remembering his childhood.

"My friend Fluttershy loved animals." Applejack said, remembering the good old days back in Ponyville.

"I as well like animals. Especially horses. I love horses." Ellis said.

That last sentence made Applejack get a fluttery feeling in her stomach. Then she realized: he said horse, not pony. "But, horses are similar to ponies, right?" Applejack thought to herself. The reason why she was thinking like this was beyond her.

"Wait, you said that your friend, um, what's her name? Fluttershy, right? You said she liked animals, right?" Ellis asked.

Applejack snapped back into reality and responded, "Oh, uh, yeah. Why?"

"Well, do you think we should take one of these plushies with us? You know, in cas- erm, I mean, when you get back home?"

"I think she'd like that."

"Alright. Which one should we take? The elephant, or the giraffe?"

"How bout...the elephant!"

"I'll get it."

Ellis climbed onto a stack of boxes and grabbed an elephant plush. When he did, he strapped it onto his back (below the first aid kit) and jumped down. When he landed, a growl was heard. Suddenly, a hunter out of nowhere pounced on Applejack, just thrashing and ripping at her fur. Ellis, not wanting to lose his only friend, ran behind the hunter and pulled it off of her. He pistol-whipped the monster in the face with his desert eagle and turned it into Swiss cheese.

"You okay?" Ellis asked Applejack as he helped her up.

"Yeah, fine. Thanks. OW!" Applejack yelled as she fell back onto the ground.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like that hunter pulled my muscles the wrong way."

"I'd imagine so. Here, take these pills." Ellis said as he handed the medication to his four-legged friend.

"Well, if you say so." Applejack said as she slammed the entire bottle down her throat.

"Woah! Don't you think that was a bit much?"

"I dunno, but I'm feelin' good!"

"Alright, well, let's keep movin'."

They exit the storage room and re-enter the main area of the carnival. After a bit of walking, they find a cotton candy booth with a table laden with ammo. While Ellis grabbed the precious 5.56 ammunition, he noticed what the booth used to sell.

"Hey, can we stop to make some cotton candy? Seriously." Ellis asked.

"Cotton candy. Heh, that reminds me of my friend, Pinkie Pie. Ponies always said her mane looked and smelled like cotton candy." Applejack remembered the fond memories she shared with her happy-go-lucky friend.

"You had a lot a' friends, didn't you?"

"Well...uh...yeah."

When they left, Ellis spotted a banner hanging above them. After reading it, Ellis' nostalgia meter exploded twice.

"Holy shit, AJ! Kiddieland! I wanna ride one! Just one! Let me ride the Screaming Oak just once. Man, when will we ever be here again?" Ellis said while his inner child broke loose from it's shackles.

To Ellis' disappointment, all the rides were non-functional. Yes, he tried working every single one of them with no success. While Ellis was goofing around with broken controls, Applejack was hearing noises. Horrifying noises. Whatever it was, It sounded like it had thick vocal cords. Like a really muscular man who got a six pack abs, and THEN decided to take steroids.

"Ellis..." Applejack tapped the shoulder of her friend.

"Yes?" Ellis responded.

"I really think we should get movin'."

"Why's that?"

"I hear somethin'."

"What is it? Spitter? Hunter? Jockey?"

"No...I think it's a tank."

Ellis stopped fiddling with the control panel of a ride and got up.

"Okay, then. Let's keep movin'."

They continue their way through Kiddieland until they spot an alley. Inside, there was a picture of a house with a cross in it made out of orange spray paint. Next to it was an arrow pointing to the other side of the alley. As they walked through the alley and into another storage building, the sound of a tank's growl creeped closer. Adding to Applejack's anxiety. They found a ladder leading to the roof, and due to it's steepness and lack of steps, Ellis had to climb first.

"Take my hand." Ellis said as he reached his arm down to Applejack.

She held her hoof out towards him and he grabbed it. As he pulled her up, a crazed laugh was heard in the distance.

"Hate them things." Ellis grunted as he pulled Applejack up.

"That's a...what's it called...a jockey, right?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, and let me tell you: I'd much rather NOT have my face humped by a zombie again."

After exploring the roof, they see that they are above a giant slide, amongst a few booths that used to sell food.

"Man, it's like we lucked out and bought every ride in this place for ourselves. You know, that was gonna be the first thing I did if I ever won the lottery." Ellis said, fantasizing.

Applejack was too concerned about the tank's noises than anything else. None of the zombies really scared her, but the witch and the tank, ESPECIALLY the tank, horrified her. Anyways, they continued walking through the carnival until finding a dead end at a carousel.

"We aint gettin' through here unless we activate the carousel." Ellis said.

"Well, turn on the carousel." Applejack responded.

"Well, you see, it's gonna make noises that might attract more zombies."

"Do we really have much of a choice?"

"Fraid not. I'm startin it!"

Ellis flipped the switch, and then the gate opened. While it was doing that, the carousel was playing incredibly obnoxious and annoying circus music. To make things worse, the tank that was heard earlier noticed our two heroes and decided to chase them.

"Shit! Run, man! Run!" Ellis yelled.

"I'm tryin' to go as fast as I can!" Applejack yelled back.

The tank may have a small distance away, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't catch up to them.

"Hey, there's a safe room in the Tunnel of Love!" Ellis yelled.

"Oh, great." Applejack mumbled.

The jockey from earlier was very close. Applejack didn't even notice it...until it decided to take her for a ride. Of course, it jumped on her head. However, due to her strength, she usually could save herself from situations like this. This was no exception. Ellis tried to shoot the jockey, but his gun started to jam. Applejack used her hind legs to give the head-humper a kick so hard, she head his ribs crack. Ellis was too distracted with grabbing his sidearm (that he already accidentally dropped while panicking) to see that AJ already finished the job.

"Woah, you got that little spud?" Ellis asked Applejack while looking at the Jockey's corpse.

"Mashed potatas, now." Applejack Joked.

"Uh-oh. Quick! Into the safe house!" Ellis yelled once more, seeing the tank advance closer.

They finally entered the safe room, and Ellis locked the door. Right when he did, he heard something pound against it one time and that was it. Total silence like it never happened. Ellis then said:

"Woo, man! I'm thinkin' we can take on anything!"

Author's Note

And our two heroes escape the fairground!

PS: Leave a comment if you think Ellis should've taken the giraffe instead of the elephant.