ooo000---000ooo

The Lifeguard Tower; a beacon of hope for the survivors of Banoi Island.

It was fortified even before the outbreak with decent sized walls surrounding it on all sides, a metal gate for entry into the small parking lot, and even the building itself could be locked down with a steel shutter over the garage. The only other doors leading inside could be hastily barricaded and blocked off should the need arise, all of which were made of hollow metal.

The storms that plagued the island had calmed down over the following days and the infected monsters hadn’t yet found their way to the tower, allowing the survivors who gathered for safety a manner of peace and quiet, as well as the time to recuperate and lick their wounds until the next inevitable shitstorm started.

Being stranded on a tropical island with monsters was a surefire way to lose energy, Rainbow reflected.

It was more peaceful than earlier in the week, that was for damn certain.

The previous week, Dee, Rainbow Dash and the others had finally reunited at the Lifeguard Tower alongside some new additions that made it safe and sound, like Derpy and the Pie Sisters.

Of course, Rainbow couldn’t forget the lifeguard, unfortunately. Liam and his family, alongside his burly mechanic friend, George had managed to make it to the tower safe and sound it seemed.

Things were supposed to be so simple for them all, just a little vacation to a tropical island resort where they would all have fun, get drunk and party hard, maybe even have a nice fuck late into the night or on the many dozens of beaches, but instead they had gotten nothing but pain and misery.

And for a single mother, nothing but never ending heartbreak and fear for her child.

It was only a matter of time until Derpy had learned of Dinky’s fate and it took only scant minutes before news of the nature of her injury began spreading around the Tower like wildfire. Couple that with the fears of infection and how the virus was spread from infected to survivor, and everyone was suddenly wary and on guard, even hostile.

Worst of all, aside from the beatdown Liam was given, the infection also gave him the perfect ammunition to use against them, which he was using to try and get them thrown out.

Rainbow had been holding in her anger for the whole week into next. Kicking his ass was one way of relieving the stress she was holding in, but she didn’t want to start anymore fights, knowing it was only likely to get them evicted and definitely not while several of their party was injured and unable to move. It didn’t stop her from sending the lifeguard glares whenever she could.

The pegasus mare had taken to standing sentry outside of the infirmary alongside Vinyl and Limestone, the two — aside from Marble and Derpy — were the only ones able to keep moving one hundred percent, so they opted to stay on guard around their friends while they healed.

Thankfully, they had someone with medical knowledge within the group who was helping take care of the injured, including their own, much to Rainbow’s relief and Liam’s vexation.

It took a bit of coaxing from them and the group Rainbow fought alongside with to get the doctor to help, but they were getting the much needed aid they needed.

Nevertheless, she was under no illusions that their fate still hung very much in the balance. It had been a painful week for all of them and the new week had just started. From the looks of things, despite the lack of infected activity, there was no sign anyone coming to help them, at least not immediately. And Rainbow found herself starting to go stir-crazy, grounded partially by necessity and partially by choice as she was afraid to leave her friends behind, especially their new human one, Dee.

After some time standing watch, Rainbow nodded to the two mares next to her and went into the infirmary, where she went over to where her injured friends were laid up in beds.

Due to the size of the room, there wasn’t much space for everyone who was hurt, so a lot had to be placed on the floor. Only the most injured were given the few beds available, That was the decision of the exhausted and bedraggled human doctor, who had been put under a great deal of stress and pain trying to treat the injured with his increasingly meager supplies. Thankfully, one of the beds had been spared for Dee, and one for Derpy’s daughter, Dinky, who was bandaged up heavily around her shoulders and neck where she had a chunk of her neck torn free; the smell of alcohol prominent as they kept the wound bandage soaked in it in a desperate attempt to forestall infection.

From what Rainbow learned from Lyra and Vinyl during their time at the hotel, Dee had risked his life not once, but several times to try and get aid, venturing deep into the hotel to find medicine for her wounds and getting severely hurt in the process. It was a surprise he hadn’t gotten killed, and yet, he hadn’t hesitated to put himself in danger either--completely unlike so many stallions of her own world.

She shook his head as she stared down at him, wishing there was something more she could do for him after all he’d done for her friends. Dee remained covered in bandages from the whole ordeal of last week; bruises marred his pale skin alongside cuts and scrapes, and his clothing was all but ruined from blood and rips in the cloth. His breathing was shallow, his chest barely rising and falling...

A sigh and a silent prayer for the brave human later, Rainbow went over to Derpy, who was still sitting next to Dinky with that heartbroken look etched into her face. Her eyes had bags under them and her wings sagged behind her, her mane was unkempt and exhaustion threatened to overtake her.

Rainbow could only imagine what it was like being a mother in a horrible situation like this.

Constantly worrying about the safety of your only child.

Upon arriving at the bed the latter lay in, she put a hand on her Derpy’s shoulder as she stood vigil over her daughter.. “Hey...”

After a single sniffle, the pegasus mare managed to reply. “H-hey...”

“So, um, how… how’re you holdin’ up?” Probably not the best question to ask, Rainbow knew that much, but what else could she say to her?

Derpy swallowed hard and murmured, “I’m f-fine.” No she wasn’t, the crack at the end of her her voice told Rainbow that much. “I don’t c-care what happens to me; I j-just want Dinky to be okay,” she added in a trembling voice.

Rainbow rubbed her fellow pegasus on the back gently., “She’ll pull through. She’s a tough kid, you know. Tough just like her mom, in fact. And you heard the doc.”

“That s-she’ll pull t-through...” That got a dry chuckle out of the older mare, who wiped her eyes. “I h-hope so...” Another sniffle and Derpy adjusted the blanket atop Dinky’s form. “L-last week was her birthday. I wanted to take her someplace n-nice for a present, and l-look what happened...” Her lip began to quiver.

A birthday surprise gone horribly wrong.

What could Rainbow say to that?

“You can’t blame yourself. Be sure and get some sleep for yourself, okay?” She wasn’t sure what else to say or do past that, so she ended up giving Derpy a small squeeze of the shoulder, before backing away and going over to where Dee was laid up.

Looking over at the chair next to Dee, she saw Lyra was sitting there watching him rest, keeping vigil over him much like Derpy and had done for Dinky.

Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at that. She knew Lyra hadn’t left his side since he was brought in here, even going so far as to chew out Liam and buy them some time to convince the head lifeguard, Sinamoi, to let them stay. Which he had, to this point, appreciating their combat abilities and various talents even if he kept a wary eye on them along with the rest.

“Hey, Ly.” Rainbow stopped and crouched next to the unicorn, her eyes glancing over to Dee.

Lyra’s eyes flicked over to Rainbow and she gave a weak smile, one that almost seemed forced. “Dash...”

“Doing any better?” Rainbow nodded to Lyra’s chest, curious.

“Yeah,” Lyra sniffled and lifted up her shirt, revealing some bandages wrapped underneath her bust. “Turned out my ribs were just bruised from the fall. No break, thank Celestia. They’re healing properly now that I can rest,” She gestured to the desk behind Rainbow, where the doctor of the group was looking through the cabinants. “He gave me some more medicine to deal with the pain. Humans may not have magic, but they’ve got some nice analgesics and painkiller pills, anyway. So I should be good to go in a little bit.”

Another nod from the prismatic mare and she stood up to look at Dee, who was still knocked out on the bed. “How’s he doing?”

“He was badly hurt,” The doctor, Jack, spoke up and glanced over to them. “Bruised ribs, a gunshot wound to his leg, bruises and lacerations, a mild concussion and a fever.” He explained and slammed another of the cabinet doors shut. “He’s one tough bugger, though. He’ll live, he just needs some time to heal up properly… and some decent medical supplies...” his voice trailed off uncertainly.

“We don’t have any?” Lyra questioned, sounding a little on edge, maybe even worried.

Jack sighed and looked back at them. “We did, but we’re running out. After a week, this place has been cleaned out of anything really useful. At this point, we got q-tips and cotton balls but barely anything else left. We need more substantial medical supplies if we’re going to last here… least until help arrives.” Left unspoken in his final statement was the silent if on the last two words.

That didn’t sit well with Rainbow, whose eyes glanced over Dee’s injured form. She shuffled her wings and rolled her shoulder with a grimace, an old pain in it still trying to crop up as she tested its mobility. “Do you know what all we need?” She asked Jack after a moment, maybe she could go find it.

“Well… we could do with more bandages, painkillers, antibiotics and the like,” He opened up most of the medical storage and revealed they had little left of anything useful; even the large glass pill bottle was down to a few broken stragglers and a small layer of dust at the bottom. “We’re completely out of everything we need to heal those still injured.”

Standing up and moving over to him - prompting him to move back slightly - she looked at the cabinets, wondering again if they’d ever fully accept or trust them. “Okay. And do you know where we could find any of that stuff?”

Though still wary of her, he thought about it and answered. “Maybe. When we were heading here from the beach, I happened to see a crashed paramedic truck nearby, further up the road.” Jack told her and with that, Rainbow started to get a brave or potentially stupid idea. “It seemed intact, so it should have a decent amount of medical supplies in the back.”

The mare crossed her arms and put a hand to her chin in thought. Maybe that was the ticket to greater trust while simultaneously helping her friends, she thought She could go get it, it would only be a quick flight there and back—oh, wait, , she abruptly remembered. It’s not that easy here!

Since they landed on this island, or perhaps in the greater world, all of their abilities had been sapped somehow. Neither Lyra or Vinyl could use their magic very well, only managing to get off a few sparks for a spell as any actual attempt at spellmaking gave both intense headaches and nosebleeds.

As for Derpy and her, they couldn’t fly as well, only able to do cover infuriatingly short distances at a time - though Derpy could manage a bit more, seeing how she was an endurance flyer unlike Rainbow. The latter sincerely doubted the former would be willing to leave Dinky’s side though.

Marble and Limestone, on the other hand, apparently didn’t suffer much except for a slight decrease in their natural earth pony strength and stamina. Aside from the muscles they had, they were at least marginally weaker than before, though the pair could still move heavy supply boxes and Limestone was not at all averse to throwing her weight around, having nearly broken the wrist of one drunken human who’d found a liquor stash and tried to grope her, ending up flinging him ten feet away.

He could hardly blame them, given she’d had trouble keeping her eyes off them in the past; it gave Rainbow the thought of how strong they were even without their impressive physiques.

A shake of her head followed — she would think about ogling her best friend’s sisters’ bodies later. If there even is a later, she tried not to think, deciding that if they did get out of this, the first thing she’d want to do is have a celebratory sex romp with them. Hey, a filly’s gotta dream, right? “Okay, then. I’ll go get those supplies...” She told everyone in the room, gaining some surprised and suspicious looks, “And I’ll see if I can’t find anything else useful while I’m out there.”

“You’re going out there?” Jack questioned her, raising an eyebrow.

“Will anyone else?” Rainbow turned to him and frowned, “Sam B and the others already left to hunt down supplies for the place and they haven’t been back in a couple of days. Everyone else is scared out of their minds right now; no way is anyone else going outside.” Rainbow clenched her fists and glanced down at them. “Least of all for us...”

She never would have thought she’d be in a situation where she would be fighting for her life, but she was glad she at least learned how to defend herself. Shame it had to involve killing things though. Or were the infected technically already dead?

She didn’t know the answer and wasn’t sure she wanted to know, given both solutions presented their own separate issues. “I’m strong enough to fight those things off, besides...” She turned to glance at Dee, who was sickly and pale looking on the bed - where every breath sounded like a pained wheeze. “I owe him this. Dee would do the same for any of us.”

She really believed that, and she knew Lyra and Vinyl did after what she learned Dee had done for the two of them.

Lyra was the resident ‘human’ lover back in their small-town home of Ponyville - eccentric at times and obsessed with the mythological creatures known as humans, even going so far as to pursue it as a field in her archaeology studies despite it being constantly derided by the more ‘reputable’ members of her community as just myth and hoax. So it was a surprise she wasn’t acting crazy about the humans all around her, and given how she simply refused to leave his side, Rainbow knew Lyra had to be telling the truth, they were best friends, after all.

He almost died in the hotel doing what he did… we owe him this much, she shook her head again at that, part of her starting to think that for all her heroics and constantly saving her friends, she owed him more than that!

But such things lay in the very uncertain future. After getting some rough directions from Jack, she didn’t waste anymore time then she had to before leaving the room and heading out into the garage of the Tower, where she found one of the other humans messing around with the red pickup truck. Rainbow glanced around the inside of the room and saw the workbench off to the side, a few boxes of supplies sitting opposite of that, and outside of the garage itself she spotted the bank truck Dee and them drove up in - which was sitting and ready to be used alongside the other pickup.

The whole tower was turned into a safe haven from the undead hordes on the island - with the walls surrounding it, the gate, and the people on guard, it would be hard for any of the monsters to make it inside.

So far it had worked. Their defenses were holding up nicely, despite everyone being armed with whatever improvised weapons they had found inside of the building: rowing paddles, wrenches, pipes; whatever that wasn’t bolted down. It was a horribly inadequate means of defense, but it was all they had at the moment.

Save for the human handguns Dee and Vinyl brought with them, as well as the one Derpy had on her, which from a brief recap, she had gotten from a soldier she met a while back.

Vinyl and Lyra gave her a quick rundown of how they worked. They were similar to flintlocks in a way and yet… so much more advanced than what they had back home, enough to the point that their far-more potent firepower visibly made Derpy look even more frightened.

They didn’t have much ammo left for them, however and a quick comment from Lyra about the lifeguard - Liam - had them unanimously decide to hide the weapons from him. He was violent, hateful, and was looking for any reason to get them thrown out; failing that he might well decide to attempt an ambush of them again. .

Rainbow didn’t want to give him any means to hurt her friends.

She went over to the workbench with a cautious ear raised, listening to the conversations that rolled around from the people around her — both above and outside next to the trucks. As she listened, she looked around for something she could use for a weapon.

“Those horses or whatever, man, I don’t know… they freak me out.” She heard from above, the muffled voices of the other survivors barely piercing the ceiling.

There was a brief pause before his companion answered. “We’re surrounding by fucking zombies, and they freak you out?”

“I’m serious! You saw how those two kicked that lifeguard’s ass! How long until we’re next?!”

“Oh, come off it. You saying he didn’t deserve it? He keeps trying to cause shit and stir up trouble. And whatever they are, we can use their wings and muscle,” Rainbow was gratified to hear at least one human say.

“Yeah, well, I still don’t trust ‘em. I mean, where’d they even come from? Some kind of mutation?” Another wondered, sounding suspicious.

“Might be aliens. This whole thing might’ve been caused by aliens!” Yet another voice spoke up.

Aliens? Pssh. She rolled her eyes. Does it ever occur to you guys that to us, YOU’RE the aliens? She didn’t dart up there to ask despite the temptation.

Rainbow shook her head and rummaged around before coming across a paddle. It was worn down and beaten, but for a temporary weapon, it would have to do for now until she found something else.

Thus armed, she turned and stepped out towards the garage exit and out into the sunny tropical weather. Her eyes flicked down to the paddle she was holding with a grimace; to think she would have to fight and kill made her sick to her stomach, but it was necessary to do if she wanted to survive another day.

Just thinking about the fight for the Tower she and the others had last week made her stomach churn. Everything she knew about life had been shattered and ruined over the course of the week — murder was slowly becoming a normal thing, even if the things they were killing were, in fact, already dead to begin with.

So is this what it’s like to fight a war? she wondered. Killing becomes as normal and as natural as breathing? It was almost too much, but somehow she was able to stomach the feeling of dread bubbling up in her and force her nerves back. It was kill or be killed, she learned the hard way that there was no talking to those things and making them stop.

The others knew it too, she could tell…

Force was the only way, even if her mind and deeply-ingrained morals of Friendship and Harmony told her that was the wrong way.

She made her way over to the gate and was about to prepare herself to head out and find those medical supplies they needed, only to stop when she heard, “Hey Rainbow. I heard from Lyra that you decided to make a supply run. You going out there alone?”

Looking back she saw the form of Limestone approaching her, having changed her clothes to something a little bit more protective than her previous attire - that being a hoodie and some pants. She still had her hatchet as well, the weapon tucked into her belt and ready for instant use.

Rainbow looked at the resort and sighed, she was planning on going alone, but she couldn’t fly away if things got too bad. With her flight magic stunted, she would be grounded quickly and have to run for it and hope she could get away!

“I was gonna,” Rainbow admitted and rubbed the back of her head, chuckling a little.

Limestone walked over to the pegasus, standing next to her. “Where’re you going anyway?” Limestone rose an eyebrow at Rainbow, crossing her arms and frowning.

Rainbow turned to look back at the lifeguard tower and she thought about the injured inside, mostly focusing on Dee and Dinky. “To some medical vehicle the doc said was wrecked not far up the road. We need more medical supplies for everyone here, we don’t have much to spare...” If things ended up getting too bad, she figured, they might get kicked out.

Rainbow frowned when she looked up at the tower, spotting the lifeguard Liam talking with someone. She couldn’t hear anything they were saying, but the expression the human had on his face was one Rainbow was all too familiar with, especially when he turned to look in their direction.

Disdain.

She had never hated anyone in her life, but that man got on her nerves the whole week. It seemed like—no, they were always at each other’s throats anytime they were in the same room. Whether it was in passing or just a chance encounter, they always found some reason to try and start a fight.

The others were able to hold back, but Rainbow?

She always got verbal with him anytime they ran into one another and with how small the lifeguard tower was, that was almost a constant. It was beginning to get on the others nerves, that much was obvious with how they looked at them.

A shake of her head and she turned to face Limestone with a hard look of her own. She wasn’t going to waste any more time thinking about that asshole. “Even if everyone didn’t need the supplies right now, I’m getting sick of being stared at like I’m some kind of monster that needs to be kicked out,” She growled out and she knew Limestone had to know what she meant, that damn lifeguard. “Besides… getting some medical supplies for the tower might help us out in the long run.”

Limestone just kept her arms crossed and snorted hard, and it wasn’t long till she was glaring up at the lifeguard, Liem, who had turned and walked off somewhere. “Stupid male,” She grumbled hard and turned back to Rainbow. “Do you have any idea where to look?”

What Jack said came to mind and Rainbow nodded her head. “There’s a paramedic truck further up the road that Jack mentioned, it might have what we need in the back.” It was worth a shot, and considering they were at a resort, the odds of finding a hospital were slim. She didn’t figure there was one nearby, let alone any other kind of medical facility.

Rainbow saw Limestone stare past her and up the cliffside and jungle flora, up towards the hotel. A wrinkle of her grey snout and she rolled her shoulders, which produced a loud crack noise. “Think you need help getting shit?”

Did she need help doing this? It would be a fairly quick trip up the road, but thinking about it, she honestly didn’t know where exactly the crashed vehicle was or what it looked like. The only thing she did know was that it was a paramedic truck. Just another one of those weird human vehicles, but baring the star of life like some carriages back home.

On top of that, the undead were everywhere and only growing in size. The chaos of earlier in the week had diminished when people got more and more used to the sightings of the creatures that plagued the island, hunting them at seemingly every turn. And while they were decently protected inside of the lifeguard tower, they had to go outside to scavenge for supplies.

Lifeguard Towers weren’t exactly know for their abundance of supplies in situations such as this one.

“Are you cool with coming along?” Rainbow turned to regard Limestone with a curious gaze. “He just said the truck or whatever was somewhere down the road, but I don’t know how far it is from here.”

She had a paddle for rowing as a way to defend herself! She didn’t like it, but it was all she had. Limestone was probably the only one within the survivor group who had a proper weapon, aside from Sam B and the others.

“Beats sitting here on my ass doing nothing.” Limestone grumbled out and pulled out her hatchet before giving it an experimental twirl.

Rainbow noticed her doing that a lot, sitting around and spinning the weapon she had found. The mare was deft with her movements, spinning and twirling it the whole time they were here. It would appear the mare had started to get used to using it.

“Might as well, besides...” Limestone looked off towards the other buildings and the jungle foliage beyond the Tower. “We gotta do something, and I don’t plan on letting that kid die… not if I can do anything about it.”

Rainbow couldn’t agree more.

“Alright, then let’s go, it should be up the road somewhere, we just have to find it.”

With their goal in mind, they set out.

ooo000---000ooo

Vinyl was worried, and it was for all of the wrong reasons.

Standing watch outside a small space where her friends were was worrisome. The other humans gave her looks when they came in asking the doctor for something, only to be turned away. She was grateful that damned lifeguard hadn’t entered the room at any point, it was fortunate too, as she wasn’t sure she could fight very well in such a cramped space.

Kickboxing was how she handled rowdy fans of hers or a back alley hustler, self defense she learned after a rough night in a Manehattan night club outing with her friends. So naturally, with her long legs, she needed plenty of room to move around and she couldn’t do that in here, what with everything in her way.

Lyra was the closest to her, and while she wasn’t hurting nearly as bad as she was before, she still had to take it easy until her ribs healed. Derpy was in no shape, physically or emotionally, to fight anyone, nor were Dee or Dinky.

Speaking of the latter.

Vinyl chanced a look back at Derpy and her daughter, the latter of whom was bandaged up heavily around her neck and shoulder, where she had suffered a near fatal wound from one of those monsters outside their walls. It took nearly all of the medical supplies they had in the infirmary just to keep her from bleeding out, and no one was happy about that.

She could see it in their eyes when they were told, she was outside when it happened.

The anger, the shock, the fear.

She understood it, but at the same time… they needed it.

She was naturally worried what was going to come from this. It’s been a solid week since Dinky was brought in and fixed up, since everyone regrouped and settled down in the building, and all of this time, they’ve been living off of the supplies that had been stocked up inside the whole time.

Nothing new had been brought in, and they were running low on a little bit of everything, the one thing being medical supplies, which they desperately needed.

Dinky wasn’t the only one who had been hurt badly.

How long would it be until someone who was more desperate tried something? Would she be able to keep her friends safe?

A familiar weight made itself known in the back of her - purposefully - ripped up pants, the pistol she had found in the hotel. The other two had been hidden in Derpy’s bag, which she was keeping next to her. Vinyl made sure to keep the pistol hidden from view, if only to keep the lifeguard from spotting it, thus, she made sure to keep her hoodie over her pants.

If things did go south for them, she could use it. From what she remembered, the ‘beretta’ held fifteen bullets, so that meant she could fire it that many times before she had to reload it. While she had a vague idea on how to do that, she didn’t have an extra ‘magazine’ to carry on her.

She only had fifteen bullets, and if they had to fight, she had to make every shot count.

I hate this.

Everyone did, she knew that much.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned, and she saw Lyra behind her. Her hand rose up, and the unicorn quickly signed something. “Hey Vinyl, were you heading to a show or something on the airship?” She asked.

She forgot, she hadn’t told anyone why she was on the airship to begin with. Vinyl looked back and thought for a moment.

It had been a few months since her last gig in Las Pegasus, and she had just gotten home to her place in the upper-west side of Manehattan.

The door slammed open when she hit it and she walked in and tossed her jacket to the side; it landed somewhere and she locked the door behind her. She didn’t waste much time before going over to the fridge and pulling out one of the hard ciders and immediately moving over to plop down on her couch.

Today had been a long day, no — the entire week had been long.

Ugh, so many fans were there… begging for me to sign their shirts or album covers, or somewhere on their body… then you had the mares who wanted me to sign their tits; least they were cute!

The one upside of the whole experience during the end of her gig was a couple of romps with a few overly excited fans of hers, a few mares, hyped to meet their number one DJ. They were something to let her blow off a lot of pent up steam and frustration.

Now she was home, safe and sound, free to do the same thing she always did.

Listen to the nothingness around her, a constant ever since she was born.

A gentle sigh left her and she unscrewed the cap on her bottle and immediately began chugging it. She was done with tonight before it even began, she just wanted nothing more than to sleep away the rest of it and wake up somewhere else.

Fame was beginning to take its toll on her.

She looked around her room and saw the posters that had been hung up, the albums and platinum records she had amassed during her career. Symbols of fame and prosperity throughout her decade or so of spinning turntables and gathering a following to rival that of old world cults of Celestia and Luna combined.

And yet, for all of the money she had in her bank, the fame she was known for, the amount of sex and booze and drugs she could have any time round the clock…

She felt empty, unfulfilled.

Even the cider she was drinking felt bland and tasteless, flat like a soda left out in the sun. Or maybe it was because she remembered she hadn’t bought any new booze in well over a few months.

In fact, when was the last time she had even seen the inside of her bedroom?

Putting the flat booze aside, she stood up and made her way to the hall leading to her bedroom. The penthouse had a lot of rooms in it, and naturally she took the master as her own room. The other rooms were empty, barren, save for the one she turned into a recording room to test new tracks she made and such.

It had been a while… maybe she should sleep in her own bed for once.

She stood up and kept the cider bottle in hand as she made her way to her room.

Vinyl passed by something on her counter, and it gave her pause enough to glance at it. A pile of envelopes and newspapers, with a small note sitting next to them. She blinked and took off her trademark glasses before going over to them, and she picked up the note.

‘Hello V, saw you left your mailbox to rot again and it was piling up. You’re lucky I stop by every now and then to tidy things up while you’re gone on your trips! Anyway, I decided to take some of your mail and bundle it up for you; bills and other things like that.

You know… you barely write me anymore since you moved to the big city. I miss you, and I wish you would come visit sometime. It gets lonely in this cottage.

Goddess above, I might even say I miss that dreadful music of yours.

Please, come visit me sometime, we’ll have tea. Well. I’ll have tea, and you can drink one of those atrocious energy drinks you love so much.

With love, Octavia Melody.’

A small smile grew on her face as she laid the letter down. She sighed and looked at the bundle of mail.

Damn it, Octy...

A pang of something hit Vinyl’s chest and it tightened, and she adjusted the necklace around her neck. She shook her head and looked at the bundle before untying it and sifting through it. Most of it, to little surprise, was junk mail; a lot of it was stuff for magazine subscriptions or something that didn’t really peak her interest. She saw some letters from family she had grown distant from, a couple from partners she’d had in the past who somehow remembered her address. She wondered how many were interested in her and how many were interested in her fame and money.

But one of them stood out, it was an envelope with a plain looking label on it with her name. She plucked it out and tore it open, and out fell…

An airship ticket?

ooo000---000ooo

Rainbow continued walking up the road with her paddle in hand. Behind her, she knew Limestone was still following, if only from the heavy bootsteps of hers. The earthmare wasn’t the calm sort, especially not in this situation; every step she took was tense and heavy.

Then again, couldn’t she say the same about herself? Rainbow knew she had her reckless moments, but even so…

That mare behind her was angry.

The road ahead of them was quiet, thankfully. Some still-smoking trucks and cars, a bloodstain here or there on the road, and some garbage was the most they saw during their walk. And the bodies…

The bodies.

Rainbow had to swallow hard when she saw them littering the road. It was one or two here and there, completely torn apart in whatever place they’d finally been run down or cornered. It was apparent a few had fought back to no avail judging by some discarded and broken weapons that were even less usable than her paddle. It was beyond her how these humans could be capable of something like this, tearing into their own kind like wild animals and leaving nothing but bone and sinew.

“Can’t believe a virus is making them do this.” Rainbow muttered, her eyes lingering on one of the bodies. It had no clothing, nothing to give her any indication it was a male or female, just… that it was once a person at some point.

Limestone grunted and Rainbow felt her brush by her folded up wings. “It’s all fucked up.” The mare said and continued walking, only to slow down and glance at another one of the bodies. “How can a fucking… virus do this kind of shit?” she asked, her tone one of disgust.

Rainbow wondered that herself. She knew about diseases like the Feather Flu and Cutie Pox, and even magical ailments like that caused by Poison Joke, but that was about it, she didn’t have much knowledge about anything else. And the last was because of a flower, while the first was a seasonal illness that was annoying but not much more. The second was just something silly that could happen to foals but easily curable with the right now medicine.

Now this? This was something else entirely.

“I don’t know, but it freaks me out.” Rainbow swallowed again and tried to ignore the smell, but it was hard not to notice it.

Death was in the air and following their every movement.

Rainbow followed after Limestone and nudged her, so they could keep moving. “How far do we have to go again?” Limestone looked back, a questioning look in her eye.

“I… I don’t know; that guy just said it was up the road. He said they passed it, so we shouldn’t have to go too far.” Rainbow looked up ahead and she saw a dozen vehicles clogging up parts of the road, but there was enough room for a car or two to maneuver through, carefully.

“And you really trust him?” Limestone was skeptical, but that in itself was hardly unusual. She didn’t trust anybody outside of her own sisters as a rule.

“He patched up Lyra and is caring for Dinky. I don’t think he fully trusts us, but I don’t think he’d just send us out to get killed after all that, either,” she noted quietly as she studied the human carriages more closely.

Plenty of them had been smashed and knocked aside, it was clear to see; from what Lyra told her, that was thanks in part to Dee and them stealing the large blocky vehicle and using it as a battering ram.

He was desperate, she noted again. But for her sake than for his…? She found the thought of him--a stallion--protecting a mare strangely heady. If he wasn’t human, I might just—

“I don’t like being out here.” Limestone broke into her thoughts again, twirling her hatchet as she kept her ears perked and eyes open. The mare was hard and stoned face most of the time, but now was a time that would get on anyone’s nerves, knowing they could get attacked at any moment.

“Me neither, but we need to get those medical supplies.” Rainbow hated it, especially considering she could barely fly. Maybe for a few minutes, tops before exhaustion set in, and she wasn’t even sure why that was happening.

It made her think about the clouds, which drew her eyes for a moment.

They floated lazily across the sky from one end of the horizon to the other, fluffy and white as she was used to. Yet, they were different in subtle ways, giving her a sense that they were almost like Everfree clouds, yet they lacked the chaotic flare--and propensity for breaking into sudden, violent squalls--that those possessed.

But these? These were just… lacking.

She ended bumping into Limestone in front of her, the latter making no noise. Rainbow glanced down to ask her what was up, only to freeze upon what was ahead of them.

The road leading up and curving around the bungalows around them had been relatively deserted, some bodies and vehicle wreckage here and there, but up ahead that suddenly changed. The road was completely clogged up with twitching and hissing bodies, currently surrounding a couple of SUVs and cars.

Rainbow gripped her paddle hard and her eyes went wide. Her wings twitched behind her back as she had a strong and instinctive urge to jump into the air and fly, but with everything that happened recently, she’d be lucky if she could stay aloft before crashing down somewhere. On top of that, Limestone would be stuck on the ground.

Limestone stayed silent and was slowly stepping back, and Rainbow quietly did the same.

There’re so many of them! She didn’t see anything like that in the whole week they’ve been there, any of the monsters they had encountered were usually on their lonesome, wandering off somewhere out of sight, out of mind. But now?

But now, there was an entire crowd right in front of them!

And it seemed luck was not in their favor, as Rainbow felt some minor resistance on the heel of her shoe, and she felt her heart leap into her chest when she heard a loud crunch noise. She could feel her heart stop as dozens of the monsters up ahead of them slowly turned their heads to look, and vicious red eyes locked on her and Limestone.

“...Fuck.”

A loud scream emanated from the crowd, and both mares turned tail and sprinted away as the crowd slowly formed on them and gave chase.

“Crap crap crap!” Rainbow didn’t dare glance behind her, and she had to fight the urge to spread her wings and fly away. She knew she wouldn’t get far, and on top of that, she wouldn’t be able to lift Limestone up and carry her away to safety.

She hated feeling so weak!

“We can’t go back, but we can’t get through them!” Rainbow cursed, and looked up towards the right, where the resorts various pathways leading up to bungalows, pools, and small bars led. “Up there!”

“What’s that gonna do!?” Limestone argued, “We’ll get cornered!”

“We can’t go back, we need to get those supplies!” Rainbow countered and darted to the right, sprinting up the steps. “We’ll lose them up here and go around! Maybe there’s a shortcut!”

Limestone cast a look behind her with a grimace, where the horde was growing in size and chasing after them. She honestly didn’t have any other choice but to follow Rainbow, and hope they lost the monsters.

She was strong; as strong as an earth pony could physically be. Given proper preparation, she could beat a dozen of the monsters down with her bare hands...

But even she couldn’t take on hundreds of them with just her hatchet and fists.

So she relented and followed Rainbow, heading up and into the bungalows, hopefully on a shorter path to both lose the pursuers and find the supplies.

They had to… if not for themselves, then for their human and pony friends back at the tower.

Author's Note

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the absolute legend that is Firesight and his editing skills? Because holy crap, he's making this story so much better than ever before.

Give this boy some mad props, and thanks for reading everyone!