Fluttershy put her ear to the door. Her stomach rumbled. It had been so long since she'd eaten, she was so hungry. But here maybe she could find something. Maybe it was clear. Maybe... scratch, scratch, scratch. She sighed, she was hungry, but she didn't dare go into an occupied house. If only she a hadn't been separated from the others. She turned away, starting towards the next house.
BANG! BANG!
Fluttershy jumped. Two shots from inside the house. Two shots. That was all it took to kill one of them, most ponies knew that, but most ponies also knew that even the undead have ears. Fluttershy wanted to flea, the sound of the gunshots echoing in her mind. But she knew that whoever just fired them was about to be in a world of trouble.
"Grahh."
"Rghehh."
"Awghh."
The creatures were already approaching. An undead unicorn emerged from the bushes. Fluttershy backed away, squealing. The creature had enough sense to drag her closer with it's magic. Fluttershy hated dealing with the unicorns the most. She grabbed her baseball bat from under her wing and with all her might brought it down on the unicorns head. She sighed, still a little unnerved by killing them. She then saw an earth pony with one of it's legs falling off coming towards her. Finding the sky to be clear for now she flew up to avoid it. More zombies were coming towards the house fluttershy flew towards the upper window. Just a few seconds before pegasus zombies would show up. She looked in the window and gasped. Apple Bloom was there breathing heavily, covered in blood, and next to a dead stallion, but still alive. Fluttershy frantically tapped on the the window. Apple Bloom jumped. Then saw her. She moved to open the window.
"Fluttershy?" She looked shocked.
"May I please come in?" Fluttershy asked.
Apple Bloom nodded and backed out of the way. Fluttershy slithered and apple bloom closed the window just before a pegasus zombie hit it.
"What's goin' on? Where are the others!?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I don't know." Fluttershy said. She was still famished and wasn't keen on waiting any longer for zombies to break in, but she knew she couldn't leave Apple Bloom alone. "Come with me." She trotted out of the room and looked around. She found a stair case at the end of a hallway and trotted towards it. She heard hoof beats behind her of whom she hoped were Apple Bloom's. She started down the stairs.
KA-THUNK! KA-THUNK! Zombies started pounding at the house, trying to get in.
"Where are we going?" asked Apple Bloom.
THUMP!
"Is there any food in this house?"
KA-THUNK!
"I think there's some, why?"
KA-THUMP!
"Grab any of it you can. We need to get out of here fast. Those gunshots alerted the entire neighborhood that there's fresh meat here and I don't think any of them plan to tear off our limbs gently."
"I already know that."
"Then, What were you thinking!?" Fluttershy snapped, the hunger getting to her. "By firing that gun you put us both at risk! Was your quick solution worth it!?"
"He was right on top of me! AppleJack told me that this gun was only for emergencies and I couldn't move! He almost bit me Fluttershy! I think that qualifies as an emergency! So I brought all these zombies closer, but at least mah chances of survival are higher now!"
Fluttershy was a little taken aback, from this, but she understood. She nodded. "Oka-"
She was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.
"GRRAAAAHHH!!" Someone had made it in.
THUMP! GA-THUNK!
"Grab the food!" She ordered Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom saluted and went to work putting all the food she could find into a bag. Fluttershy looked around for a way out.
Doors and windows, would be blocked off. No way they could break through a wall or find a convenient secret passage way out of there in time to get out. Not unless... There! Fluttershy found a mouse- hole. She rushed over and looked inside. "Um, excuse me friends, but you're in grave danger. Do you know any way we could-"
-CRASH! Another broken window.
Apple Bloom trotted over with a bag of food. Zombies were now coming in more abundantly by the minute.
"Doyouknowanywaywecouldgetoutofherealive?" Fluttershy blurted at the mice. A mouse came out and surveyed the situation, he scurried back in, leaving Fluttershy and Apple Bloom with no answer. They backed into the wall away from the zombies. They started to feel unicorns pulling at them. Starting with the hair, then moving to the flesh. Pegasi hovered above them. Coming closer. The zombies wanted flesh and the magic just did what their instincts told them.
"If this is how I die, at least I'm not alone like I thought I'd be." Apple Bloom said amongst the babbling of zombies.
"And here I thought I would die of starvation." Fluttershy said, her hope in the mice diminishing. Wincing as one of her hairs got pulled out, she closed her eyes and raised her bat, preparing to fight to a painful end when-
"squeak." She opened her eyes. The mice flooded out and climbed into her tail, then onto her back. The one they saw previously squeaked instructions at her.
"If you say so." She replied
"Say what?" Apple Bloom asked.
"We're going to run through the wall." Fluttershy said.
"What?!" Apple Bloom yelled.
"It's what he said to do."
Apple Bloom looked at the wall of enclosing zombies. Then turned back. "It's not like the alternative is much better." The two nodded and CRASHED through the wall. They came out on the other side covered in debris, but mostly unscathed. The noise that ensued was definitely louder than that of a couple gunshots. Behind them, the house crumbled. The two ponies watched it fall in on itself as dust and debris went everywhere. The zombies inside must have been crushed. It was deafening for what must have seemed like forever. Then silence.
A series of squeaks broke the silence "The mice had been preparing the inner structure of the house for an emergency like this since the outbreak." Fluttershy translated.
"They were?" Apple Bloom replied.
Fluttershy turned to look at Apple Blooms bag.
"May I please have that banana?"
The two of them ran. Fluttershy felt a new energy from eating the banana, she had eaten it as quickly as possible with the knowledge that more zombies would show up after hearing the house collapse. So they ran away from there as quickly as possible, taking refuge in a forest where zombies weren't likely to be and animal friends were numerous. They only stopped when they didn't have enough energy to move forward and they collapsed.
"Thanks for saving me Fluttershy." Apple Bloom said between breaths.
Fluttershy nodded, deciding not to mention that she had thought of abandoning whomever was inside that house, though glad she hadn't.
"Can you answer my questions now?"
Fluttershy sat up against a tree, the mice had long since jumped off of her back during their run through the forest. She took her water bottle out of her saddle bag and took a long drink. Fluttershy just wanted to let her exhaustion take over and sleep for a long time, but Apple Bloom deserved answers.
"Yes, I think we're safe enough now." She sat up.
"Where is everypony? Are they safe? Why aren't you with them? What happened? Wh-"
Fluttershy held up a hoof and Apple Bloom fell silent. "I don't know the answer to most of those, but I do know why I'm not with them. It was about a week after you were declared dead-"
"I've been declared dead?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Oh, yes and your family was so sad. We need to let them know your okay. They'll be so relieved."
"Won't they be worried about you too?"
"Yes, but they think your dead, oh, we have to tell them-"
"-We'll tell them that we're both okay, but first, tell me how you got separated."
"Right, well, Twilight was talking about the best way to get to Zecora's without being tracked by zombies and I saw that Angel was getting anxious cooped up inside all the time and I figured it couldn't hurt to let him get some exercise, so we went outside and walked around for what didn't seem like a long time and when we got back, everypony was gone, I think the base had been compromised, because it was surrounded by zombies." She choked.
"How did you know everypony was gone?"
"I looked inside."
"So where's Angel bunny now?"
Fluttershy looked away. "I don't know," she answered. But she did. She blinked back tears and took a few breaths. She turned back to Apple Bloom. "And how did you get separated?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Well, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and I were on look out and we saw something, and I sent Scootaloo to go warn Twilight and Sweetie Belle went to tell Rarity and I guess after that I must have fallen, because next thing I remember I was waking up under the lookout deck and everypony was gone." Apple Bloom answered.
"We heeded the warning and left, it's always so hurried, we thought you were accounted for, your siblings were furious that we left so quickly, but we didn't dare go back, though Rainbow Dash was convinced we should've. I guess she was right. Anyway, you were on your own all this time?"
"Well, yah, it certainly isn't as easy to survive on your own as it is with a group, but I've managed, up until you came, of course." Apple Bloom answered again, "So what should we do now?"
"Tomorrow, I guess we should try to get to Zecora's in one piece and hope the others are in one piece too. For now, though, we should sleep. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."
"That's one of the best ideas I've heard in a while." Apple Bloom said as she stretched and yawned.
And so the two ponies collapsed amidst the dirt and grass and leaves of the forest floor, closed their eyes, and fell fast asleep.
