The Outbreak

"METALSMITH!!!!" Lilac screams, terror shooting through her as the ground is closing in fast.

Smith stares at the body of his son.

"METALSMITH!!!" She screams again, this time getting him to hear her. He looks down at her. Realizing what's happening, dives down after her. She's getting closer to the ground. 30 meters.

20 meters.

Almost there!

10 meters.

He feels his hoof brush against her mane.

THUD!

To prevent himself from meeting the same fate, he angles his wings and flys close to the ground. Flying up and back, he slows down. Landing and tucking his wings, he walks over to the body of Lilac.

"Lilac?" He asks, walking up to her. He shakes her. "Lilac?" He says again. She's dead. He killed her...

Falling into his flank, he starts breaking down. First his son, and now he's just committed murder. She was a nice mare too.

He hasn't been out here for more then two days and the world's already thrown him into hell.

That snarl. One is close.

"No... I can't. Not n-" he looks up, and sees Lilac starting to get up.

"Thank Celestia! Your not d-" he stops when he sees her eyes. Their clouded and sunk in. Then, he notices the front of her head is smashed in where she hit the ground.

It tries to get up, but the limbs are broken at the joints, causing it to fall back over.

"Dear Celestia... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Smith says, tears falling free mindedly. Feeling extremely guilty, he slowly grabs the machete. Walking over to her, he places the blade above her head.

Below him, she's snarling and snapping at air. The broken, compressed muzzle causing blood to fly when she snaps. Reaching for him with her broken limbs. Smith holds the machete just above her head, tears running down his muzzle.

Thunk.

CRACK!

The bullet hits before he heard the shot. Flinching and jumping back, Smith looks for where the shot came from.

"It must be that s-"

WIZZ!

CRACK!

The bullet wizzes by his head, causing him to yell. Jumping up and putting the machete away, he jumps into the air. Grabbing the body of Lilac, he flys towards where he entered the building.

Reaching it, he sets down Lilac, then lands himself. Rapping on the glass door, hoping to get somepony's attention.

SMASH!

CRACK!

The bullet wizzes by his head again, smashing the glass enough for Smith the break it the rest of the way. Throwing Lilac's body on his back, he enters the building, heading towards the stairwell. Opening the door, he runs up the stairwell, heading for floor five.

He makes it and bursts through.

"Doc!" Smith shouts, running through the different rooms until he makes it to the doc's room. Seeing the doctor in the chair, he slows down. "I'm so sorry..."

The doctor turns around to look at him.

"What do you..... Lilac!" He shouts, jumping up and running over to him. "What the hell happened!?" He yells, taking her off Smith's back.

"S-she fell... Off the fifteenth floor." Metal struggles to lie.

"That doesn't explain the bullet." The doctor says, pulling out the slug with his magic.

"It was the.... S-sniper... She was already a.... A..."

"Trotter?" The doctor finishes. Smith nods. The doctor sighs.

"I'm going to ask you to leave. Camo won't be as forgiving."

Smith looks at him.

"What!?"

"Go! Leave! Camo WILL kill you!" The doctor yells. Smith starts to panic, turning around, he runs out. Making it to the room with the dining table.

"Hey!" Somepony yells, making Smith stop. Turning back around to look where he came from, In the doorway stood Camo.

Camo reaches his head down and grabs the mouthgun in the holster.

Not wanting to get shot, MetalSmith twists around and bolts for the stairway door.

CRACK!

Camo fires off the gun, barely missing Smith.

Metal opens the doorway, runs through, then closes the door.

crack!

Although muffled, he could still hear it.

Rip!

The bullet broke through the door and hit Smith in the leg, causing him to stumble and fall down the stairs. Hitting his head on the way down.

---------FLASHBACK---------

"It's not everyday you get a promotion! You're going to be the head welder at the train yard! Don't tell me your not excited!" Swift says, gently pushing on MetalSmith with a hoof. Sighing, he stands up from the couch and walks over to the window, looking out in the direction his shop is.

"I am happy. I am excited. My pay will double. It's just that..." He stops with a sigh, then turns back to his wife. "I'll have to stay there on weekdays. I'll have to sleep in their dormitory. And besides, you'll only see me on weekends instead of everyday." He tells her.

"That's fine! I promise, after a few months, we'll be able to afford something way better than this little apartment in a crowded city. We'll be able to move out into the country and be frontier ponies." Swift says, punctuating her statement with a giggle. Smith sighs, walking over to her.

"Sorry honey, but you still can't use a can opener. I doubt you could survive out there." He says, finishing their debate with a kiss.

-------PRESENT DAY-------

Gasping for air, Smith wakes up with a jerk, sitting up in the alleyway. Looking over himself, he takes note of the bullet wound in his hind left leg. No other injuries except, probably, a concussion.

Looking at his gun, he wonders why the others didn't take it. Shrugging to himself, he stands up and shakes off. Pain needling up his shot leg.

Wincing, he walks out the alley, knowing he needs to get the leg taken care of.

'the Griffons!' he thinks to himself, taking to the sky. But he can't get to far with a wound like that. The flying well pump the blood right out of him. He needs to make it quick. Without exerting himself.

While still in the air, he takes off the holster and places it over the wound, wincing. Then, he tightens it down, making the holster keep continued pressure on the wound.

Flying higher, he looks out where the Griffon's cabin is.

Smith lands in front of the cabin door, staggering once hitting the ground.

Even with that makeshift tourniquet the he lost quite a bit of blood.

Doing his best, he leans against the door and knocks. With no response, be knocks harder. Knowing that if he waited any longer that he would be dead for sure, he opened the door, falling into the cabin. Waking Gabby.

"Who's t- MetalSmith!" She shouts, jumping up from the cot and sprinting over. Using a clawed hand, she lifts him up onto her back and brings him over to the cot.

He falls into it with an 'oof'. Gabby removes the holster to see the bleeding wound. She tsks at the unconscious stallion.

"Let's get you fixed up."

------FLASHBACK------

"Jack." Smith says, knocking on son's door. "Jack, come on. I'll see you this Saturday." Hearing nothing from his son, he opens the door. "Jack?"

"What, dad?" Jack responds, looking up from a book.

"Did you hear anything I said?" Smith asks, walking in and reshutting the door.

"Yeah, you'll be gone this week but back on the weekend only to leave again. I got it." He responds coldly, looking back to his book. Smith walks over.

"I have to. Soon we'll be able to get out of this little apartment. We can get our own house. We won't have to move ever again!" Smith says, trying to get his son to join in his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, we won't move again. Until the world ends."

----------PRESENT DAY----------

MetalSmith groans, turning over to the direction of the heat source, struggling to opened his eyes. Once his eyes open, they go from cross-eyed and blurry, to normal and clear.

"We've really got to stop meeting like this, MetalSmith." Gabby says, sitting by the fire. She smiles as Smith gets out of the cot.

Placing his hooves on the floor, he attempts to stand up. But once the weight is on his hooves he falls down.

"Dammit!" Gabby curses, standing up and running over to him, picking him up off the floor. "Careful, you lost a lot of blood. It's a miracle you made it here."

"W-what happened?" Smith asks, laying back into the cot.

"Well, as far as I can tell, you were shot. Almost died from blood loss. And just now fell on your face." She says, laughing slightly. Smith looks away embarrassedly. Recalling that there are supposed to be two more Griffons, he looks back at her.

"What happened to the other two?" He asks, she walks back over to the hearth.

"They're dead..." She says solemnly. Smith sighs.

"When?"

"Soon after you left yesterday. They went out to hunt, left me to watch the cabin. They found a nice deer in the woods not to far from here. Soon after shooting it, the Trotters moved in, hearing the shot. They were caught off guard. The Trotters got them." Gabby says, sniffling. She hangs her head and the sizzling of tears hitting flame is audible.

Feeling bad for her, Smith struggles to get up. Climbing off the cot and straining to stand, Smith wobbles over to Gabby. Placing his left foreleg over her neck, she jumps. Lifting her head out of her talons she looks at him. Tears streaking her feathered face.

"Have you had to kill one yet?" She asks, he shakes his head. "I haven't either. Griffons can't turn like ponies do."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But that doesn't mean they can't be eaten. A unicorn made it into my home and started to eat my sister. Tristan managed to be flying by and killed it. But my sister already had her.... Her.... She was going to die anyway. But I didn't want to have her suffer. So I took a kitchen knife and..."

"It's alright." Smith says, hugging her.

"Thanks MetalSmith." She says, the smile audible in her voice.

"Of coarse." He tells her, pulling away from the hug. She wipes her face with a talon and throws a piece of wood on the fire.

MetalSmith walks back over to the cot and sits on it.

"You hear about what's happening in Canterlot?" Smith asks. Gabby turns around and shakes her head.

"No, what's happening?" She inquires.

"The princesses are sheltering survivers in the castle. Taking in anypony they can." Smith says. Gabby's eyes widen.

"Really!?" She asks.

"Yeah! My wife left me a note saying she's heading there. Mabey we can meet her!" Smith says, excitedly. Gabby nods. "You are going, right?"

"Yeah. No reason for me to stay here now." She says. "Leave in the morning?"

"Yes." Smith says, nodding. Then laying back onto the cot. "In the morning."

"MetalSmith." Gabby says, shaking him awake. He opens his eyes to look at her. "I think it best if we leave now." She tells him. He nods. Leaving him to get up, Gabby walks over to the fire to put it out.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning, Smith rolls over off the cot and lands on his hooves. Once his weight is on the shot leg, he falls.

"Oh, Smith!" Gabby exclaims, starting to head over to help him. Metal waves her off. Planting his three good legs onto the floor, he pushes up. Eventually standing upright, his wounded leg held up.

"Ok. Gabby." He starts, looking over to the Griffon.

"What?" She asks, successfully putting out the fire.

"Where's my gun?" He asks, hopping over to her. Thinking for a second, then sticking a claw in the air.

"Ah! Your jerry-rigged bandage?" She asks, smirking. He looks at her sternly.

"It's all I had."

"Yeah yeah. Over here." She says, getting up and walking over to a chest. Taking a key from under the rug next to it, she unlocks the chest, swinging open the lid.

"We stored all valuables in this chest here. So I stuck your weapon here too. For safe keeping." She tells him, grabbing a holster caked in blood.

"Thanks." He tells her, grabbing it with his right wing.

"Y'know, I have a spare one that should hold your Calibre." She informs him, grabbing another leg holster from the chest. Yanking Smith's out of his wing grasp, a she removes his gun and places it in the clean one.

"Oh. Thank you!" He happily says. Taking the holster, he places it on his left forearm. "It's nice! A lot more comfortable than my last one." He tells her, getting a happy smile In return.

"That's good, because I have a hunch that that holster will make it's home on your leg." She says to him. "So... Off to Canterlot?" She asks.

Smith nods walking over to the door.

"Off to Canterlot!"