When The Dead Start To Trot

“Help!”

“I'm coming!” Stellar Eclipse yelled back to the pony he heard now for the ninth time shouting for help. He tried getting to her as fast as he could which wasn't as hard as he had expected since the streets were completely empty with pretty much nothing to fall over.

As he approached the only pony he had heard until now, he began hearing others as well.

“Just stop! You're attracting even more of them!” some other pony seemed to shout at the other pony who had just yelled for help again.

“Somepony has to be there outside!” another pony responded shouting.

Stellar Eclipse has then arrived at the scene and saw what happened. There were five ponies, all trying not to fall off a dumpster standing at the back wall of a house, completely surrounded by walkers who all tried to grab them. A lot of walkers.

“I'll help you!” Stellar shouted, immediately attracting some of the walkers to him. He stuck his knife in the head of the first one he met. The mare with apple greenish gray fur and the blue and light fuchsia mane who had tried to kill the walkers before already then went back doing it to help Stellar Eclipse.

The other four ponies were a light aquamarine coated unicorn mare with a pale, light greyish cyan mane, a red coated, big earth pony stallion with an orange mane, an earth pony stallion with light amber coat and a grayish tangelo mane and a unicorn stallion with gray coat and a gray and brown mane.

The gray stallion had a small pistol he hasn't used until now since it's really loud but he thought that this would be a good chance of using to quickly get rid of all the walkers. Now, that there are three ponies who could help and that this unknown stallion had already lured them away a bit, they could get away from there before the new walkers could get them.

Already having slayed some of the walkers, the stallion began shooting some walkers. Killing the walkers together, they managed to get rid of them pretty quickly.

Stellar had some problems though as he noticed that his knife sometimes got stuck in the heads of the walkers as he rushed. It didn't make it easier for him that many more came approaching him slowly because of the gunshots.

Eventually, the three of them killed off all the walkers without any further problems. But a whole herd was already coming towards them.

“Come with me!” Stellar shouted at them and lead the way back to his new farm house home. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea but he had searched for help for such a long time. Now he had the chance of getting it and joining a group.

“Who the hay are you?" the mare with the apple greenish gray coat asked Stellar, panting while running next to him. Stellar couldn't go much faster and that this mare seemed to be a pretty fast runner didn't make it easier for him leading the way to the farm house those ponies probably couldn't know of.

“Up the hill and then northwest!” Stellar told the mare who was obviously really holding back to not pass him. She nodded. He didn't answer her question but she knew that this wasn't something that had to be told right now.

“In this direction!” she shouted over her shoulder to the other four ponies following the two of them who then began to quicken the pace.

“But do not leave him behind!”

As Stellar arrived at the farm, the others were already there and also had started looking around and investigating the outside of the house.

“Hey!” he snarled at them. “That's my home, okay? I just saved you!”

“Helped,” the gray stallion grumbled back, continuing investigating without even looking to Stellar who didn't hear his mumbling.

“We gotta make sure everythin's safe,” the big, red stallion answered before the leader mare could. “Don't wanna die immediately.”

“You think I would've cared about y'all if it would've been a trap?” Stellar countered annoyedly.

“Why not?” the stallion quietly answered, almost sounding aggressively.

“Thanks for helping us out, by the way,” the leader mare interrupted Stellar and the stallion before they would really start fighting. Stellar Eclipse may not have looked like it but he really would have fought this stallion if he would have continued.

Stellar didn't answer but kept staring at the stallion who still hasn't turned away from him and has kept staring at him as well.

“So, what's your name again?”

He figured it wouldn't be good to start a fight with a member of the group he could have had a chance of joining. With that, he then fully turned his body towards the mare, gaining a quick look of what the others were doing. The other two stallions were still investigating, the stallion he had just argued with has been going to the unicorn mare with the cyan coat who was sitting on a bench and simply looking around.

“The name's Stellar Eclipse,” he responded, already sounding way calmer. “And who are you ponies? How did you even get here? There's pretty much nothing here in the area.”

She looked away for a short while, obviously thinking about what to say. The awkward silence stayed for a while as the mare still thought about her answer.

After finally returning her gaze, she said something to break the silence, not to answer his question, however.

“I'm Bon Bon and these are-”

“You didn't answer my question,” Stellar interrupted, seeing that there was something she didn't want to tell him.

Bon Bon looked at him for a few seconds silently.

“I'm Bon Bon,” she repeated. Stellar realized it wouldn't do anything asking her again. She didn't want to answer his question and so she wouldn't.

“The unicorn is Lyra Heartstrings, the stallion with the amber coat there is Caramel, the gray stallion is Charming Blade and the stallion you already almost started a fight with - I’m sorry, it's just the way he is - is Big Macintosh.”

Stellar repeated the names in his head while looking to the respective pony in order to remember the names for later.

“You didn't see a pony named Sassaflash, did you?” Caramel suddenly asked Stellar, walking in his direction.

“No, I'd probably remember. I mean, it was hard enough finding somepony here as it was,” he responded, confused at the sudden question.

“Just give up,” the gray stallion whose name was Charming Blade told Caramel, still investigating and once again not even looking to the pony he was talking to. “You won't find her.”

“I won't give up!” Caramel suddenly said angrily. “She's my marefriend!”

Stellar was surprised hearing something like that. It wasn't the fact he seemed to have tried to find Sassaflash for a seemingly really long time but he didn't expect hearing about love again, in a world like this.

“Marefriend?”

“Yeah, why?” Caramel asked back.

“Nothing, nevermind,” he cancelled his question. He didn't want to talk about this topic now, although he wasn't sure why himself.

“So, why are you here? Or more interesting, how long you've been here?” Bon Bon then asked Stellar.

“I'm not sure how long it's been. Around three months, I guess,” he answered. He had a list where he had counted the days of him being on that farm but eventually he had lost track of it and didn't care about it anymore.

“That long?” she said surprised. “So you've been plundering those houses over there, right?” she concluded all of the sudden and pointed with a hoof to the houses where he had met her and her companions.

“Yeah,” Stellar quietly admitted. Then, there was another awkward moment of silence.

“Could we stay here for a while, maybe?” the unicorn mare Lyra Heartstrings then asked, feeling as uncomfortable as Stellar during the silence.

“Well,-” he began, only to be interrupted by Charming Blade.

“No need to. The walkers are gonna be gone soon, then we can move on.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh shared his opinion. “We ain't knowin’ him.”

“And I don't know you,” Stellar began snarling again, “and I'd still let you in for a while.”

“Why would anypony leave a place like this?” Caramel asked shocked but also kinda happy, eyes opened wide. “This place isn't just huge but also safe!”

“But it's a lot of work,” Stellar admitted as he entered the house. “You've gotta make sure everything stays safe like the doors and the windows, the fence must stay in shape, and more.”

“For a place like that, it's so much worth the price!” Caramel simply said. It seemed like he didn't even really listen to Stellar.

“Where we're stayin’ at?” Big Macintosh asked in an unfriendly tone. Stellar wasn't sure if he had actually changed his mind about staying here for now or if he felt pressured by Bon Bon. She seems like a master of manipulating ponies, the way she had talked with him about staying here before they had entered the house.

“Well, two of you can grab themselves the couches, two others can get the guest bedroom, but I'm afraid it ain't really big. Could become pretty tight,” Stellar told them, knowing that whoever was getting the bedroom, they probably would have problems fitting in that one, small bed.

“The couches are big enough for you two, Big Mac and Charming. Would you take them?” Bon Bon said in a tone that made clear she didn't want to discuss it.

“Why should we take’em?” Big Mac asked slightly angry, again.

“You heard him, the bed upstairs is small. Caramel and Lyra would have the best chance of fitting in together,” she responded in the same tone as Big Macintosh had asked her.

Neither he nor Charming Blade answered.

“I'll take this one here,” Charming Blade then exclaimed and threw himself on the couch.

“Show some manners,” Bon Bon mumbled to him quietly, but seriously.

Charming Blade pretty much completely ignored it. He just leaned back onto the sofa, crossing his forehoofs behind his head.

“Do you have an idea where I could sleep?” she then asked and turned around to Stellar.

“You could sleep in the guest room. No problem, you deserve it, I-” Lyra began. She sounded like she would be feeling completely uncomfortable sleeping in a bed with Caramel. Stellar had no idea why, however, as Caramel seemed like a really nice guy.

“And you do too,” Bon Bon interrupted her and looked over her shoulder to Lyra. Stellar couldn't help himself but notice how often she'd interrupt others while speaking. “You take the bed.”

She then turned her head back around.

“Maybe you still have some place in your room?” she asked Stellar. It sounded completely neutral, but he still didn't like the question.

“I'm not sure,” he stuttered out.

“Come on! You know you've got some place left.” She then grabbed him and tucked him upstairs with her, giving him time to get up the stairs, though.

After seeing that arguing with Bon Bon wouldn't get him anywhere, he gave up and let her in his room. Night time's already begun.

Before going in, she quickly wished her 'friends’ a good night and then quickly closed the door.

“She always knows how to get to them,” Charming Blade quietly told Big Macintosh, still laying on the couch, having his eyes closed.

Lyra and Caramel didn't say anything and rather just walked upstairs to the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

“Eeyup!”

“Why exactly do you want to sleep in my room now and not with Caramel?” Stellar asked Bon Bon once they got to bed. “That 'deserving’ thing isn't all, I know that.”

“You’re right, Stellar,” Bon Bon sighed. She tucked the pillow a bit. “It's just that Lyra is really not good with strangers. She’d simply freak out.”

Stellar felt like he didn't need to answer that.

“Now,” she quietly said, “I think you can guess the other reason.” She turned around to him slowly, eyes half lidded.

The feeling he had felt earlier when she had asked if she could sleep in his room came back.

“Oh no! I'm not doing that!” Stellar quickly exclaimed, eyes wide opened. He slid to the edge of the bed, nearly falling off.

“Come on, Stelly,” she said in that exact same tone again. “The world is dying and you could die tomorrow. I could die tomorrow. Anypony can die anytime.”

She blinked at him mischievously. “Or do you wanna say you're still a virgin?”

“No, I'm not!” he exclaimed. “But I don't have a marefriend currently,” he added before she could ask him about that.

“You're still holding on to the old morals, aren't you?” she now asked neutrally, sounding a bit disappointed.

“It's not that, but,” he began stuttering out nervously, “it just feels wrong.”

Bon Bon looked at the ground, Stellar avoiding her gaze as well.

“Well,” she then broke the silence, “I guess I'll better sleep on the floor, then.” She hopped off the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her slowly and quietly, not wanting to possibly wake up Big Macintosh or Charming Blade.

Stellar didn't stop her, thinking it would be better after what just happened.

He tried to forget it and go to sleep.

But first, he made sure to lock the door properly. After getting out of his wheelchair kart he had put on again of course.

He stepped back to his bed and put the wheelchair kart off again.

“She's right,” he mumbled to himself before closing his eyes. “Everypony dies.”

“Ah'm hungry.”

“Kitchen, Big Macintosh,” Stellar, tiredly since he didn't sleep well last night, told the red earth pony stallion.

Charming Blade, Lyra and Caramel already were in the kitchen, eating breakfast. He already felt anger swelling up inside of him because they didn't even ask him. But they didn't eat as much as Stellar would've expected, not close as much.

Bon Bon wasn't with them. He just wanted to look around where she was but he only had to turn his head to the right and saw her looking through a bookshelf.

“Not hungry?”

She grabbed one of the books on the shelf with her mouth and put it down on a little table in front of a red, comfortable armchair in the living room that was right next to the kitchen.

“'My Little Dashie'. A classic.” She sat down in the armchair. She then returned to his question. “I didn't ask you, so I didn't take anything.” She pulled out a chocolate bar. “Except maybe that. Sorry.”

“No problem,” he smiled at her. Then, he quickly looked back in the kitchen. Lyra poked around in her cornflakes.

“I didn't even know I still had some.”

“Why are they eating so little anyway?” he asked curiously. He had thought they'd be as hungry as a timberwolf. Except Big Macintosh, they didn't really seem to be hungry.

Bon Bon, who had opened the book and already begun reading, didn't answer immediately. Like the last day, when he had asked her about where they came from, she first thought about her answer.

“We had a good meal a while ago already.” She snickered. “Or what a 'good’ meal is nowadays.”

This time, Stellar didn't believe her at all. Her response sounded way too faked to him.

“Okay, I guess,” he then said, trying to sound like he'd actually believe her. To lighten the mood, he thought adding something humorously would be a good idea.

“Well, you didn't ask me about the book as well.”

She giggled a bit. “Well, I suppose you wouldn't need a book to survive.”

Stellar sat down in the armchair next to her.

“Hey,” she seeked his attention. Stellar turned his head to her fully. “I just want to apologise for yesterday. It,... it just kinda came over me.” She looked at the ground.

“No need for apologising, I get it,” he accepted her apology.

“Thanks,” she quietly mumbled, smiling. Stellar noticed her turning her head towards the opposite side. Did she just blush?

“But now, what are we gonna do today, Stellar?” she now asked him more seriously, no blush to be seen.

“Well, I don't know. Plundering, I guess,” he told her unprepared. “I kinda had to break up my round yesterday. But the lurkers are still out there, probably.”

“Lurkers? That's how you call them?” Bon Bon asked amused.

“How do you call them?”

“Geeks. And Charming calls them 'roamers'.”

“If there'd be an official name for them, it'd would be a bit easier. But it's not like anypony would care,” Stellar said, adding the last part to prevent Bon Bon from saying anything about it.

“Right.” She then stood up without actually even having read much more than one sentence of the book and placed it back on the shelf. “Okay then, let's go!”

“Now immediately? Why?” he asked, caught off-guard.

“The early bird catches the worm,” she responded quickly, grinning.

“I doubt we'll get many competitors out there,” he countered, smiling back. He liked her. She was a serious, kind of harsh leader but she could be a rather nice friend as well.

“Caramel!” she then suddenly shouted to the kitchen. It didn't take long for him to arrive since he had finished breakfast already a while ago.

“Yeah?”

“You're coming with Stellar and me, plundering,” Bon Bon now said in a much more serious and leading tone.

“You know I'm useless when it comes to this. I couldn't even really shoot the… the things there,” Caramel tried to change her mind, although he sounded really hopeless but also scared. He knew he couldn't change her mind.

“Then get a gun and we'll teach you everything. Right, Stellar?” She turned around to face him. “I mean, you know how to use a gun, don't you?”

“Of course I do!” he quickly confirmed. “It's just that I lost mine a while ago when a few lurkers sneaked up on me from behind and I had to flee.”

Without hesitation, she shouted again to the kitchen, “Give Stellar your gun, Big Mac!”

Stellar could see and basically feel his need to protest but it seemed like he knew that arguing with her was useless too, so he just threw his weapon to her.

“All the way over here without a problem? Damn, this guy sure is strong.”

“You already want to give me a gun? We basically just met,” he said surprised.

“You let us keep our guns as well, remember?” Bon Bon then told him. He was too afraid to admit but he actually just forgot about that part of making sure everything's safe.

Because he didn't say anything else and didn't respond, she exclaimed, “Let's go, then!”

“Don't forget it, Caramel: You gotta destroy the brain.”

Bon Bon handed him the knife Stellar had given her earlier when she wanted to practice.

Caramel carefully and nervously took it and walked towards the trapped walker. A tree had crushed down on him and had destroyed his hind legs and half of his body.

“I have to, don't I?” he asked again, hopelessly.

Bon Bon didn't even waste energy answering his rhetorical question. He sighed.

When he stood in front of the walker, he held the knife over its head. He turned his head away and closed his eyes, but Bon Bon stopped him before he could stab the walker.

“No! You gotta see where you're stabbing. You can't shoot if you don't look either. That's the only way to learn it.”

She pushed his head back into position, making sure he'd look. She hated doing that since she knew how hard it was learning it. She had to learn it all by herself, in the middle of a fight with a few walkers.

Caramel looked at the walker trying to grab and devour him. Then, he stabbed it in the head, killing it instantly.

“Good, Caramel! Good!” Stellar cheered. It felt weird but he felt like it could maybe help.

“See? I mean, it's not like you've never done this before!” she admitted with a smile.

“Yeah, but I had to.” Caramel avoided her and Stellar’s gazes. “I don't wanna die.”

“That's a thing a real survivor needs these days,” Stellar then told him. “The will to survive.”

“You think I don't know that?” Caramel then suddenly asked angrily which surprised both Stellar and Bon Bon.

He walked a few hoofsteps away from them.

“I hate living in this world. It's just an endless nightmare.”

He turned back around and faced the two other ponies with a determined look on his face.

“But I can't give up like that! I want to survive! I want to live!”

He then became more quiet again.

Quietly, he mumbled, “And I need to find Sassaflash.”

Stellar felt a sudden flash of sadness running through him. He didn't really have anypony to find since he had know clue of where his parents could be and he knew better than to just run around searching without any clues of their whereabouts.

Stellar trotted to him and patted him on his right shoulder while saying, “ Hey. I understand you. And don't worry, you'll find her. We’ll help you, all of us.”

He knew it contained a risk that the others wouldn't want to help looking for her but he needed Caramel to calm down for now.

A walker came approaching them in the distance.

“Can I try shooting now?” Caramel asked for a gun.

“I don't know,” Stellar told him unsurely. “We can't waste bullets and I doubt the walker herd from yesterday's already gone.”

“But they can't be really near us, now. We'd have heard them by now if they would be,” Bon Bon added.

“Yeah!” Caramel quickly confirmed. “No problem! Just taking a few shots and that's it. We'll be gone for long before they could even smell us.”

“And we really smell,” Stellar thought, smiling.

“Okay then,” Bon Bon ended the discussion. “Let's do it. But let's go in this house here first. We could use a pillow to silence the shots.” She pointed to a house nearby.

“Great idea!” Stellar said. “That's one of the few houses I haven't checked yet.”

“Why?” Caramel asked shortly.

“The food inside the farm house lasted long enough so that I only had to start plundering a while ago,” he explained.

“You lucky bastard, you,” Bon Bon said ironically, grinning at Stellar who could only return the grin.

As they opened the door which luckily wasn't locked, they split up and looked through all rooms first. Bon Bon also quickly found a bedroom with more than enough pillows for the training.

“Pillows!” she tried to quietly shout.

“Let's check upstairs first as well,” Stellar told her as he came past her room.

“I can do that,” she quickly said before he could get out of her hear range. “Can you show Caramel how to shoot with the pillow? I think you can do that stuff better than me.”

“Okay,” he simply said. He had his problems doing that as well but he would do it. Caramel was a good guy. A bit too 'shy’ for this world, but he could do it. He was strong enough.

Not long after preparing a sort of shooting stand at the window with the pistol he had received earlier before they had left the farm house, Caramel arrived.

“You ready, Caramel? Just remember, they're not living. They're not ponies. And if you don't kill them, they'll kill you.”

Stellar immediately noticed how childish that must have sounded to Caramel and he didn't mean to say it that way but at least Caramel would definitely understand what exactly he meant.

“Sure.” Caramel trotted over to the window and grabbed the gun with his hooves, shakingly holding it.

“Try that walker over there.” Stellar pointed at a walker not far away from the house entrance.

“Okay then,” Caramel said, panting slightly.

“He's nervous as hell.”

He shot. And he missed. But at least the walker didn't notice.

“Dang,” Caramel whispered angrily.

“Try again. But use another place on the pillow,” Stellar advised him.

He put the pistol on another part and lined up again.

Another shot. But the walker still wasn't down.

“Did you seriously just shoot without lining up properly?” Stellar asked, now also a bit angry.

“I didn't even shoot at all!” Caramel defended himself.

He then heard crashingupstairs.

Without waiting for Caramel, he grabbed his gun and ran upstairs as fast as his wheelchair kart would allow him. Caramel followed shortly after.

Upstair, he found an open door which lead to a bedroom. As he came inside, Bon Bon said in a corner, panting.

“You're alright, Bon Bon?” Stellar asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I'm fine. A geek just surprised me, that's all,” she scoffed, but sounded like she was lying.

“That's not all, is it?” he asked back.

Just then, he realized that there was a pretty big injury on her chest. A walker had bit her.

“The geek,” she put it off and pointed at the dead body of the geek laying on a bed.

Neither Stellar nor Caramel even knew what a bite wound from a walker meant because they didn't have to deal with it before.

“Come on! Let's get you to the farm house first!” Stellar quickly added.

He wanted to help her getting up but she denied.

“I may be injured but I can still walk.”

Caramel who had tried his best not to vomitbut had failed and Stellar went as fast as they could back to the farm house.

“How ironic,” Bon Bon suddenly said after they've been silent the whole way back, before she entered the door to the house.

“Just yesterday, I told you everypony could die anytime, that I could die tomorrow.” She turned around to a puzzled Stellar Eclipse who didn't quite follow her.

She then lowered her voice.

“How ironic.”