The C̸̞̙̭̽̌̀̈́̽̕̕ȗ̵̧̨̢̻̩̞̘͙̉̋̊͂͘ŕ̷͖̦̍͝s̵̫̪̋̍͂̆̆͆̄é̶̡̧̺͖d̸͎͒̒̿̈̀ Apocalypse

The tiny cell had almost no light at all. There was just a bit of white light coming in from ceiling lights down the hall. He laid there, injured but alive. A cracking noise from one of the dim lights caused it to flicker. This woke him up.

Blaze observed his surroundings. Even though he hadn't moved, there was an excruciating burning sensation in his side. He noticed that whoever put him here had laid him on his burnt side.

Painfully, he moaned as he rolled over. The stinging from touching the floor peaked before veining. He struggled breathing. He opened his eyes to notice Drift laying next to him.

"D - D ... Dr ... D ... Drift ..." he struggled with his words.

There was no response. Drift was bleeding out from his chest. Blaze didn't know how long he'd been out, but he tried helping Drift regardless.

"Drift ... please ..." he cried, crawling towards him and struggling immensely to turn him face up. Eventually through this intense pain, he managed to get Drift on his back.

Now what?

"Brother ..."

He fought his pain to slowly get up on all hooves. He checked Drift's pulse with no avail.

"Drift ... no ..."

There were no bandages around that he could see. The sheets on the bed were taken away. His saddlebag was gone. There was nothing he could do.

He couldn't even perform CPR, because that would cause more blood to come out of his chest. Drift still had on his armor, but that wouldn't help anything.

Blaze laid next to drift, wishing things could be different. He wished they could go back to one month ago. He spent the time allowing his burns to heal. They looked very deep, and the ones on his side burned right through some of his fur.

He couldn't find anything useful in the room. The boys must have cleared it so that he wouldn't escape. Or perhaps they thought he had died. He had thought so too. But now he knew he didn't. He felt like crap, but he was still breathing.

Unlike his brother.

"I'm sorry, Drift." He got up. "I'll find a way to get you back."

He patted Drift's shoulders. His hooves still ached horribly, but he managed to pick up Drift and his armor, setting him down on the bed.

He limped over to the bars. They shone in the dim light. He observed the lock, which looked unscathed. Pushing the lock caused the entire cell door to open. They hadn't locked them in. He turned back to Drift. "I'll be back."

He hurried out the cell door, shut it, then ran clumsily to the front doors. He had to run down a set of metal stairs and through the main dining room. He kept watch for even a little glimpse of the boys. The lobby didn't have any apparently.

It was difficult to see outside because Celestia's bright setting sun was shining through the glass doors and windows. He ran for the glass doors, and just as he reached it, he heard a huge collection of dreadful moans. He backed away.

Then he saw them through the plexiglass. There was a horde of them as well as ... Trixie! But she was herding them right towards him with a shiny blue force field. She had magic? She saw him through the glass and stopped.

The sun made it hard to see. He squinted to see her better. She pointed to the zombie pony herd slapping at the force field, then to the prison. She pointed to him, then to a clear spot off to his right. He quickly caught onto her plan. He frowned and shook his head. Drift was inside. If he let her in, they'd rip Drift apart. She, again, pointed to him and then the side. He shook his head and pointed behind him, where he thought Drift might be. He waited for a response as the blue force field glowed bright white and exploded, throwing the nearby zombie ponies back.

His vision of the outside returned moments later, revealing her running fast to the doors. Some members of the herd adjusted and continued following her. She burst through the door and slammed it shut.

"I need you to leave. This zombie herd needs to go in those cells."

"No ... I can't let you do that ... my brother is in one of them."

"Oh ... crap. Sorry ..."

"What do we do?"

She thought quickly. "Do you have him locked up?"

"No. I don't have the key."

"Then let's find it!"

She grabbed a steel sword from her saddlebag and stuck it in the door handles. "Come on. That should hold them."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Come on."

He followed her to the main lobby's office and searched for all the keys he could find. They collected many of them from the drawers, desk, and cabinets. He led her up to where Drift laid.

"Aww ... I'm sorry to see your brother like this," she said, before cramming in key after key. He held the bad pile as she went through the stack one by one. He was impressed that she still had magic, but now wasn't the time to ask how she did.

The stack was getting short when one finally fit and turned. She tried to open the door unsuccessfully.

"Good." She looked back at him. "Oh ..."

"What?"

"Maybe it'd be best if you went in there? For safety reasons."

"I don't know. If you can give me stuff to cover his wounds in the meantime, I'll go."

"Okay. What are his wounds?"

"Bullet in his chest."

"Oh crap ..."

She pulled out a first aid kit as well as more medical supplies. He grabbed them and waited as she unlocked the door to let him in.

"I promise I'll be right by your side the moment I get all these zombie ponies settled."

They heard the lobby's door burst open. Moans filled the halls.

"I gotta go," she said, quickly shutting and locking the cell door.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Can you give him a shock spell?"

"A shock spell? W- why?"

"He isn't breathing!"

"He isn't breathing?!"

"No!"

"Okay. Okay. Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

She warmed up the spell quickly and shot it through the bars at Drift. His body shook as white lightning flickered around him for a second. The lights in the hall dimmed before she stopped.

"Thank you!" he screamed. She let out the blue burst of her force field as the zombie ponies piled over the top of the stairs. It would be hard ignoring the unappealing zombie moans, but he'd have to do it now. He turned his attention to Drift and got to work.

"You're going to make it ..."