The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse

I woke up abruptly after hearing gunfire. I was in a dark room with no lights now. I wasn't lying down anymore. This can't be a hospital.

The pains were back. I felt bandages wrapped around my chest. There was no beeping. No wires. No IV. The window behind me let in a few rays of light. There was no bed in the room. I looked on the desk to the left of me to see something amazing. I saw Beretta shining in the dark, reflecting the sun's few rays.

Am I back in Equestria? I wondered.

I got up. My legs hurt as they had before I was shot. I managed to keep my balance picking up Beretta and checking it over. I was a little light headed as I walked to the door, and the pain didn't hide itself. I opened the door to reveal a narrow hallway, which was lit dimly.

There was a window at the right end letting in specks of light. I hurried down the stairs on the left. The walls weren't painted white; they were painted a shade of tan. I reached the bottom to find a door and another narrow hallway. This place wasn't very big, whatever it was.

Before I pushed the handle to get out, I overheard people outside. There were two boy voices talking to each other. I leaned against the door to hear what they were saying.

"We've finally arrived. But don't worry, Trixie. The joyride isn't over."

Trixie???

I stepped back. Somebody had Trixie. They had hostility wrapped in their voice. They were passing by the door. I gripped my Beretta. Twi and Dash had helped me unjam it after the zombie attack that killed Rarity. So much had happened in such a small timeframe. That seemed like an eternity ago.

The door looked heavy and possibly loud, so instead of being sneaky and risking squeaks, I burst through it and quickly picked out two bodies walking with Trixie. They weren't stallions either. They were boys like me, but a bit taller.

Before they got a chance to lash out at me, I pulled up Beretta and fired. There could be no blind shots in this situation. Trixie was there, and I wouldn't allow myself to mistakenly hit her.

She ducked as I saw blood explode out of one of the boys. The other one threw up his arm before falling back. I half-sprinted, half-limped my way to Trixie, who looked relieved to see me. There was something black strapped on her horn, which worried me.

"Trixie!"

"Devan!"

The boys weren't moving, so I united with her, unable to dodge a hug. The last time I had seen Trixie was weeks ago doing card tricks in a cafe out of town.

"What's that on your horn?" I asked after we disconnected.

"It's a lock. Those boys strapped on to prevent my magic."

"Magic?!"

"Yes."

"You have magic?"

"I did," she gestured to the lock.

This was great. Trixie had the magic to end the apocalypse. After so many days had gone by, I was afraid there was no magic left in anyone.

"Devan ..." she nudged her horn at me.

"Oh ... sorry."

I grabbed the lock and pulled. It was on tighter than I thought. I pulled harder this time. "Ow!"

"Sorry ... this thing is on tight."

I yanked, feeling it move slightly. "Pull away and it should come off," I suggested. We both pulled together now. It slipped halfway off, but the base of it tightened as we pulled. I witnessed her horn glow a light blue before the lock burst. It broke into many little pieces and threw me back on my unstable legs.

She really did have magic.

"Sorry. You were hurting me too much."

"No, that's fine. Sorry for that." I got up slowly, pain building in my stomach.

"Did you follow the train here?"

I looked up at her. "No ... I was unconscious and just woke up here."

The story sounded hard to believe, but she nodded after only a few seconds of speculation. "Did you come here with anyone?" she asked.

"Twi and the others."

"Where are they?"

Yeah ... where are they?

"I'm not sure. I was with them when I was shot."

She thought some more. The sun was falling steadily over the horizon. I looked up to see towers with spiraled tops, finally realizing that I was in Canterlot.

"Is this the gate?" I asked.

"Yeah ... I'm pretty sure. Should we go in and find the others?" she asked.

"Yeah. Guess there's no real choice."

"Well, technically we could take the train back to Ponyville ... but that would go against my plan to get Celestia to show me the spell."

"Yeah ... alright ... so are we gonna find Twi first?"

"Let's go."