Death Unbound: Days Gone By

Rainbow and Applebloom walked out of the building. Applebloom was the first to see the cloud, and she simply froze in fear. Rainbow used her colorful vocabulary to express her own fear, however they all had the same reaction.

“RUN” they screamed as they bolted the opposite direction from the cloud of death.

“Hurry! Get to the cave, let's get our stuff and get out of here!” Twilight screamed as they reached the forest separating them from the cave they had called home.

As they reached the cave the cloud of particles over took the small town. Scrambling to pick up as much as they could fly with, they were forced to leave much of their supplies.

“Here sweetie, I gotcha,” Rainbow said as she picked Applebloom up in her arms. “You ready Twi?”

“Yeah, you comfortable Applebloom?”

“I-I guess” Applebloom whimpered as she saw the particles reaching the forest.

Twilight and Rainbow zoomed away, leaving the prisoner they took, to be infected. As they flew they left a trail of their mane colors behind. They flew above the height the expanding cloud of infected larvae and took off in the opposite direction. Twilight looked back at the cave, especially thinking of their prisoner. They had just left him to die, to be infected with a fate worse than death.

“Dammit! I'm going back for him!” Twilight said before zooming back to the cave.

“No! Twilight leave him, he'll only slow us down!” Rainbow screamed at Twilight, who was too far away to hear her.

Twilight flew back into the cave and lifted the still unconscious unicorn on her back, before fastening him with magic created ropes. She then realized how close the particles were. She took off, having to turn sideways to avoid breathing in the deadly clouds. She flew as fast as she could with him on her back and back to Rainbow and Applebloom.

“What are you doing! You should've let him turn! You could've died Twi!” Rainbow, whose anger was now through the roof, screamed at her friend

“I couldn't just leave him to turn! Besides, you KNOW what breathing in that stuff does! Also, we said we would keep him alive until he tries something.. So until he does, he stays alive!” Twilight’s eyes narrowed and gazed into Rainbow Dash’s soul.

Rainbow opened her mouth as if going to argue, but quickly realized this was an argument she was going to lose, “Alright, let's go. I want to get away as far away as possible from that cloud, alright honey?”

The fire crackled as numerous bits of paper and wood logs were thrown in. The three ponies around it cuddled around it, trying to take in as much warmth as they could, all the while, snow rained from the sky above, and gently gathering on the ground they lay on.

The captive unicorn woke up with scream, trying to escape from the magic ropes that held him, “Where the hell am I!”

The three friends eyes widened as they all simultaneously swung their heads around. The feeling of dread passed over them as they heard the grunts and moans in the distance. Twilight quickly covered Applebloom with her wing while Rainbow stood up

“Shut the hell up!” Rainbow hissed as loud as she dared at the unicorn. She quickly looked back up and around, she couldn't see anything coming after them. Sighing a breath of relief, “You could've gotten us killed,” Rainbow whispered as she collapsed back onto the ground with the two other ponies.

“*Sigh* I'm sorry.. Where the hell am I though?” The unicorn asked as his heart slowed down, the adrenaline rush he had slowing down, “and how long have I been out?”

“We're right behind Foal Mountains, look,” Twilight pointed to the snow capped mountain behind her, “Also, it's been a few days. What's your name?”

“Blue Field, you?”

“Well.. I'm Twilight Sparkle”

Blue Field’s eyes widened as he realized who she was, “You're the princess of friendship!” A million thoughts raced through his mind as he realized that him and his friends almost killed her, “Ah shit.” He whispered under his breath

“Yes, I am. For the record I don't appreciate nearly getting my head nearly blown off…” She waited a few moments, trying to conceal her anger, before continuing, “That,” she pointed to Rainbow, “Is Rainbow Dash, I'm sure you remember her.”

“Just a warning, if you try anything at all I will personally rip your throat out and shove it up your ass!” Rainbow glared at Blue Field as she said it. Her glare quickly returned to a smile as she turned to Twilight, “Continue Twi.”

“and this little one, is Applebloom” She looked down at Applebloom, who was nestled into Twilight’s chest, trying to keep as far as possible from the unicorn who nearly took her life. “Now, why did you attack us?”

“Well… We heard you and the kid and we thought we could just rob you for supplies. But when we saw you weren't paying attention we'd thought it'd be easier to just take one shot and kill you both at once, save us the trouble. Although, I missed and it just went to hell right afterwards,” he looked down in apparent shame, still trembling from knowing how bad of a situation he was in.

“Why did you resort to killing us so fast? How can you bring yourselves to take a life, it wasn't even for protection! You tried because you thought it'd be easier!” Twilight said, avoiding the eyes of her captive.

“We do it because we have to! I'm surprised you've survived this long if you still believe you can make it without hurting somepony. Since this began I've killed 12 ponies, all of which had a direct improvement on our lives after they died! Tell me, disregarding people who were bit, how many ponies have you killed?”

Twilight just stared at him, she hadn't killed a single pony, at least directly. She couldn't answer him, however Rainbow could, “Seven ponies have died to our group. The difference though, is that they would have killed us if we hadn't. You can't compare us to you, the difference is that we still have humanity in us!”

“Ha! Humanity? That all ended once the dead started to come back and eat us! Most of Equestria is dead, society has collapsed, and there is NO chance of coming back! You have to be able to do what it takes to survive, if you can't you WILL die!”

The words hit Twilight like a cart. The entire time she's avoided kill others, she's avoided causing possible harm to herself, but to what cost? Big Macintosh and Fluttershy both were killed in an attempt to save the group. Her eyes started to produce tears as she realized that the deaths that have happened were her fault, that her friends have died in vain.

“Uh, Twilight you alright?” Rainbow gently nuzzled her marefriend, “Sweetie, answer me,” She booped Twilight.

Twilight snapped out of her trance and automatically bursted into tears. Rainbow and Applebloom automatically ran to Twilight and attempted to comfort her.

“Twiligh’ what's wrong?” Applebloom asked, who herself was starting to tear up.

“It was my fault, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh. They knew what they had to do, and I just hoped and prayed that we would make it out alive. It's my fault for never going back for them. My fault they died..” Twilight continued to sob as her world slowly fell apart more than it already was. She was a princess, it was her job to protect her subjects, and she's failed more than once.

Rainbow couldn't say anything to comfort Twilight, out of everyone Rainbow was the most unstable of the group. The constant loss of life around her had made her loss nearly all drive. The only thing keeping her going was the survival of her marefriend and her best friends sister. Twilight had kept a steady grip on reality but was starting slip. Applebloom was by far the strongest of the group. The world hasn't affected her as much as it did Twilight and Rainbow.

As Rainbow looked back on the conversation they had just had her mind stuck on one that Blue spoke. Rainbow loosened her grasp on Twilight, however still holding her, and looked at Blue Field, “What do you mean by “us”. You sounded like you were implying that there is more of you,” Rainbow asked accusingly.

Blue’s eyes widened as he realized the mistake he made, “What, no it was just the four of us! It's just me now.”

“It better be!” Rainbow snapped at him. She then affectionately nipped Twilight’s cheek, “We should get to bed, I'll keep watch on him.”

Twilight composed herself as much as she could be before answering with a simple, “Okay,” and laid down before drifting off to sleep.