The Manehattan Project

Chapters

Prologue: An Ordinary Day
Chapter 1: Saddle Row
Chapter 2: Manehattan Stadium
Chapter 3: Manehattan Art Museum
Chapter 4: Stranded
Chapter 5: Worse than the Paparazzi
Chapter 6: Down the Street
Chapter 7: The Cop Car
Chapter 8: The Gun Store
Chapter 9: The Radio
Chapter 10: Connie Stables
Chapter 11: The Police Station
Chapter 12: Laughter
Chapter 13: The Apartment
Chapter 14: Ten Days Later part 1
Chapter 15: Ten Days Later part 2
Chapter 16: Ten Days Later part 3
Chapter 17: Where Did She Go?

Prologue: An Ordinary Day

Manehattan, Day Zero, 11:59am.

The stallion walked down the sidewalk at a brisk pace, moving faster than he usually would on his commute to work. He glanced down at his watch, a minute to noon.

"I'm gonna be late." he muttered to himself as he stopped at a crosswalk next to a few other on-hoof commuters. He began to regret not getting a car, as he watched them all zoom by on the street.

"Maybe I should hail a cab." He thought to himself after seeing a yellow taxi speed by.

Suddenly, from an unknown point in the city, a red aura spread from down the street, passed by the stallion and the others on the crosswalk, and continued down the street and beyond.

The stallion was slightly confused for a second, before looking back at his watch, which now read 12:00 noon.

"What was that?" he heard a pony next to him ask. He then noticed that most of the cars on the road stopped moving, and several ponies were getting out of their cars or honking their horns.

Then, the stallion heard a horrible sound, a splat and a crunch from behind him, he turned with the rest of the crowd and saw a pegasus lying on the sidewalk, a puddle of red forming around their head, from when they fell.

"Sweet Celestia!" one pony cried out, rushing to the aid of the pegasus. Then another pegasus fell on the street, breaking a leg or two and howling in pain. The stallion looked up and saw more and more pegasi plummeting down to the ground, landing on the street, on cars, and some on buildings around him.

The stallion also noticed that some of the unicorns around him were trying to use their magic, but no matter how hard they strained, no magic could be used.

Panic began to set in among the crowd as pegasi continued to fall, and cars continued to stop from traffic.

The stallion felt a bit disoriented as he looked around at the ponies trying to help the fallen pegasi. He looked back over to the one that cracked their head open, he saw a cream colored earth pony mare with a light blue main and tail trying to help them.

"Sir, are you okay, just stay with me." She said to try to save the stallion. The stallion began to inch over to the mare trying to help the pegasus, when the seemingly dead pegasus sat up and bit the mare in the shoulder, making her give out a loud shriek as she tried to shove the pegasus off her.

The stallion finally snapped out of his disorientation and rushed over an kicked the pegasus off of her. The mare fell to the ground, clutching the now furiously bleeding bite wound in her shoulder. The stallion joined her in trying to stop the bleeding. He glanced over to the pegasus and gasped.

The thought to be dead pegasus was now getting back on his hooves, his head was still cracked open, but something was wrong with him, his eyes were sunken in, and looked emotionless, his coat had become darker and he was chewing the chunk of fur and flesh he ripped from the mare's shoulder.

"What's wrong with you?" the stallion shouted at the pegasus. It gave no response other than a groan.

A panic had set in now, and several ponies were now running by, one of whom ran into the pegasus, knocking them both over.

The stallion turned back to the mare, still holding her wound.

"You're going to make it, just hang in their miss...." The stallion started, waiting for her to say her name.

"Pommel, Coco Pommel." The mare sputtered out, as she cried from the pain.

"Somepony get an ambulance, PLEASE!" the stallion shouted, trying to get Coco some help.

He then heard sirens, and saw a MPD police cruiser stop in the middle of the intersection, and two police officers got out and started to try to get the panicking ponies to calm down.

The stallion heard more screams and turned and nearly screamed himself, coming down the street, was what looked like a big group of whatever happened to the pegasus.

The police officers now had their guns out and when one of the weird, dead-eyed ponies started to attack one of the panicking ponies, they opened fire. The bullets didn't do much, until one of them was hit in the head, after that, it fell lifeless to the ground.

The stallion noticed that the horde of the dead-eyed ones was getting closer to where he and Coco were, so he started to drag her off to a side alley that was nearby.

Once in the alley, the stallion then focused back on trying to keeping pressure on Coco's wound. But he started to lose hope when Coco began to shut her eyes.

"Come on, stay with me." the stallion said as Coco slipped from consciousness. The stallion then heard a groan from behind him, he quickly stood up and turned around, and he saw 5 dead-eyed ponies stumbling towards him down the alley. Some of them were earth ponies and unicorns, one was the pegasus that bit Coco, and some were mares and some were stallions, so it wasn't just the pegasi.

"Stay back!" the stallion shouted. They all didn't even flinch, they just kept coming towards him.

As he began to move back he saw Coco begin to stand up, but she was also gone, her fur had darkened, and her eyes were dead, and the bite wound on her shoulder looked like it was festering.

The stallion backed up, fear clouding his mind, knowing that he was most likely about to die. He ten backed all the way up into a wall at the end of the alley. The stallion began to look around for anything to defend himself, and he spotted a pipe.

He picked the pipe off the ground and readied himself. When the pegasus got close, he swung the pipe, hitting it on the side of the head, which knocked it to the ground, where it stopped moving.

The stallion kept swinging, aiming for the heads, which brought down another 2 of them.

After hitting another one, he turned and was knocked over by Coco. He fell onto his back and struggled to keep her from biting him. His struggle was short lived, as when he felt another one bite his leg, he yelped in pain and Coco bit into his neck.

The stallion's screams were drowned out by the screams of ponies all over the city.

The pony looked out the window of the building into the street below, watching as the infected started to flood into the streets and start to infect the other ponies on the street. They then saw an explosion further into the city.

"Has it started?" a voice asked through their radio on their belt. The pony picked it up from their belt and held it to their mouth.

"Yes sir, it has begun just as planned......"

Author's Note

Here it is, the beginning of what I plan on being a very long fic, and hopefully more original than The Discovery, stay tuned for more!

Chapter 1: Saddle Row

Saddle Row, Manehattan, Day Zero, 11:50am

Applejack felt overwhelmed as she walked down the sidewalk through Saddle Row. No matter how many times she came back to Manehattan, she always felt so "out of her element" being in such a big city where everypony moves so fast, and most citizens weren't the friendliest.

But, despite all her uncomfortable feelings towards the city, she was there for her friends. Rainbow Dash was taking part in a Wonderbolts show in Manehattan that weekend, and all of her close friends got tickets for the show, considering it would be Rainbow Dash's first time performing in Manehattan with the Wonderbolts.

Applejack looked over her shoulder at the ponies accompanying her to Rarity's boutique. Applebloom and Scootaloo were idly chatting a few feet behind her, and her brother Big Mac was practically connected with his marefriend Sugar Belle at the hip. She loved how cute they looked.

They were heading to the boutique to see if Rarity and Sweetie Bell wanted to get some lunch with them before the Wonderbolts show. Fluttershy had gone with Rainbow Dash to practice at Manehattan Stadium, and Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Starlight, and Spike had gone to the Manehattan Museum of Modern Art. They had all agreed to meet back at the stadium for the show at 4pm.

"Are we there yet?" Applebloom asked walking up next to Applejack.

"Just a bit further Sugarcube, it's that building over there." Applejack said, pointing at the building that held "Rarity For You."

"I can't wait to see Rarity For You, I still haven't been there yet." Applebloom said excitedly.

Eventually, the group made it to Rarity for You, and stepped inside. There were a few ponies browsing the boutique's varied collection of clothes. Rarity was standing behind the checkout counter, while Sweetie Bell stood over by one of the displays admiring it.

Rarity finished ringing the customer up, when she noticed Applejack and the others.

"Looks like business is going well Sugarcube." Applejack said.

"Darlings, I didn't expect to see you all until the show, what brings you all in?" Rarity asked, walking around the counter.

"We were gonna go grab some food before the show, and we were wondering if you and Sweetie wanted to join us." Applejack explained. Rarity sighed and gave a sad look.

"Oh I'd love to darling, but right now, I'm down 2 employees, myself and Blue Bobbin are the only ones in right now, and Coco Pommel doesn't come in until 12:30. But I'm sure Sweetie would love to accompany you to lunch." Rarity said.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were now all over by the display, talking and laughing.

"Applejack, I was wondering if we could stay in here for a few more minutes, I'd like to browse some of the dresses if that's okay." Sugar Belle asked.

"Of course, we have pretty much all afternoon." Applejack said. Sugar Belle smiled and pulled Big Mac over to a wall of dresses.

"Your brother certainly has good tastes in mares." Rarity said jokingly. Applejack gave her a slight bump on the shoulder and chuckled.

"I can't wait for the Wonderbolts show tonight, Rainbow Dash is gonna be awesome!" Scootaloo could be heard saying.

Just then, a cloud-like mist of red aura passed seemingly through the boutique.

Several customers, who were unicorns, suddenly dropped the merchandise they were inspecting, Especially Sugar Belle, who tried to use her magic to pick the dress back up, but couldn't.

"What's wrong Sugar Belle?" Rarity asked as she walked over to her and Big Mac.

"I.....I..I don't know, I can't use my magic." Sugar Belle said.

"I don't think any of them can." Applejack said, pointing at the other customers who tried to use their magic. Rarity tried to pick up the dress with her magic, but found herself unable to as well.

"What in tarnation?" Big Mac said.

Several of the customers began to leave, leaving the store empty of customers. Suddenly, the sound of a loud crunch came from just outside the boutique. Applejack walked over to the door and peered through the window, she could see several ponies running away from the boutique, and the form of a pegasus mare laying on the sidewalk, with a puddle of blood forming around her.

Applejack jumped back from the door in shock, startling Rarity.

"What is it?" Rarity asked.

"Get the girls away from the window, and call an ambulance, there's a pegasus laying in a puddle of blood outside." Applejack explained.

Rarity nearly fainted upon hearing this, but quickly regained her composure as she walked over to the phone behind the desk and attempted to dial the number. But when she picked up the receiver, there was no noise, not even a dial up tone.

"I think the phone is broken." Rarity said as she put the receiver down.

Suddenly, the door to the boutique opened and an earth pony wandered in, only, something was off about this pony. They seemed "out of it", and his coat looked very dull and shaggy, and his eyes looked glazed over and emotionless.

Blue Bobbin approached the earth pony stallion and attempted to talk to them.

"Hello sir, may I help you find anyth-" was all Blue Bobbin was able to say before the customer lunged at her and began to bite at her face and neck.

Big Mac immediately jumped into action, rushing over to the stallion and kicking him off of Bobbin. The dead-eyed earth pony stood back up and started to trudge towards Big Mac. Bobbin scrambled to her hooves and sprinted into the back room.

Applejack rushed over to the CMC and ushered them behind the counter.

"What's happening?!" Sweetie Bell cried out in fear.

"I don't know, but stay back here until it's safe, okay?" Applejack asked with a serious expression. The trio nodded and Rarity joined them behind the counter. Rarity went over to a filing cabinet and began rummaging around in it as Big Mac kept trying to fight off the crazy stallion.

Suddenly, more dead-eyed ponies walked into the boutique through the open door.

"There's more of them!" Sugar Belle shouted as she also moved behind the counter. Rarity finally finished rummaging through the cabinet and pulled out a revolver hoofgun.

"What in tarnation do ya have that for!?" Applejack shouted, throwing herself in front of the CMC.

"This is Manehattan Darling, I'm always prepared." Rarity said before walking out from behind the counter, aiming the gun, and shooting the stallion trying to get Big Mac directly in the head, killing it dead.

"Big Mac, I'll cover you, get to the door and barricade it with something." Rarity said before shooting another dead-eyed pony, this time, hitting it in the shoulder, which it barely flinched from. Rarity then deduced that these things must be put down with headshots only.

"Typical." Rarity thought as she shot another.

Eventually, Rarity manged to put down each crazy pony in the boutique, and Big Mac was able to make it to the door and close it, and barricading it by pushing a table in front of it. He looked out of the window and saw chaos in the street. Saddle Row was overrun by the crazy ponies, and the ponies not yet crazy were being eaten by the crazy ones. Big Mac stumbled away from the door to check on the others.

"Is everypony alright?" Rarity asked as she put the gun down and checked on the ponies hiding behind the counter.

"I think we're all good, just a bit shaken, what in tartarus was that all about?" Applejack asked as she looked over Applebloom and the other girls. Big Mac moved behind the counter and embraced Sugar Belle, who was on the verge of tears.

"What happened to those ponies to make them do that?" Sugar Belle asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have a hunch that it has somethin' to do with that red aura that passed through here earlier." Applejack deduced.

"Well, considering what just happened, I think we should hold up in here for a while, at least until the police and the military sort this out, if we barricade this place up, we should be safe." Rarity said as she reloaded the revolver.

"Do you have any more of those?" Big Mac asked.

"Sorry Darling, only one." Rarity said.

Sweetie Bell then let out a scream and pointed to the back of the store. The other followed her pointed hoof and saw Blue Bobbin slowly moving towards them, with the same dead eyes, darkened coat, and groans that the others had. The bites on her face looked already swollen, and festering.

Rarity raised the gun again, this time with regretful tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry about this Miss Bobbin." Rarity said quietly before shooting her dead.

After Blue Bobbin fell to the floor dead, Rarity turned to the others and let out a sigh.

"Well, let's get this place locked down." She said.

Author's Note

This story will be split into 3 subplots, this one following Rarity and Applejack, one following Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the Wonderbolts, and one Following Twilight, Starlight, and Pinkie Pie. Also, don't expect updates to be as frequent as today, I am a very busy person.

Chapter 2: Manehattan Stadium

Manehattan Stadium, Day Zero, 11:45am.

Rainbow Dash flew through the series of rings set up around the field of Manehattan Stadium, attempting to break her previous record for speed. She moved swiftly and smoothly through each hoop, which felt very satisfying to her. Eventually she passed through the final hoop with a small sonic boom and landed on the ground by the rest of the team.

"Nice job crash, you beat your record by 3 seconds." Fleetfoot said, looking down at the stopwatch.

"Woo Hoo, go Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said from the sidelines in a semi-quiet tone. Rainbow scoffed.

"Yeah, I beat the record, but I bet I could beat it by 10 seconds if I try again." Rainbow said cockily.

"Well you'll have to wait your turn." Spitfire said, "You're up Clipper!" she said, turning to Soarin who immediately took off and started flying through the rings.

Rainbow stretched and walked over to Fluttershy and sat down next to her.

"Thanks for coming to practice with me Fluttershy, I hope you're okay just sitting back and watching us until the show." Rainbow said.

"Oh it's fine, you know I'm a better cheerer than a participant." Fluttershy said.

The two looked back at the field and saw Soarin complete the course with a bit of a stumbled landing.

"You good Clipper?" Spitfire asked.

"Yep, just clipped my wing, again." Soarin said with a groan as he walked over to the sideline.

The rest of the Wonderbolts eventually got to go through the course. After Soarin, Misty Fly went, then Fleetfoot, then Spitfire, and finally Thunderlane took off into the course.

He started off fine enough as he moved skillfully through the hoops. Then, a strange red mist passed through the stadium as he was in the middle of the course. When the mist hit Thunderlane, his wings locked up and he crashed into the AstroTurf of the stadium.

The rest of the Wonderbolts as well as Fluttershy immediately rushed to his aid.

"What happened Thunder?" Spitfire asked as he helped Thunderlane back to his hooves.

"I don't know, my wings just stopped when that weird mist hit me." Thunderlane said, wincing as he stood up.

The others then attempted to get off the ground, but none of them could use their wings.

"What's happening?" Misty Fly asked, frustrated that she couldn't fly.

"To be blunt, I've got no fucking clue." Spitfire said, making Fluttershy gasp slightly at the profanity.

The group finally decided to move Thunderlane over to the sidelines so he can sit down. While trying to wrap their heads around this bizarre turn of events, they heard screams from the interior of the Stadium. They all ran towards the screams.

They ran through the concession area and approached the entrance, where several stadium staff members were gathered around. When they got close enough they could see what the screaming was about.

At the front entrance to the stadium, was several glass doors, and on the other side of the doors, was a large group of ponies, pressed up against the glass, trying to get in, thankfully, the doors were locked.

All of the ponies against the doors looked horrible, they all had dead, sunken in eyes, darkened coats, and blood coming from their mouths. Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow Dash when she saw them.

"What's wrong with them?" Fluttershy asked.

Nopony answered her, they were all still trying to comprehend the horrifying sight before them. Spitfire took a step forward, and one of the ponies growled and began to beat against the glass. Spitfire jumped back in fright.

"Are they under some sort of spell?" Fleetfoot speculated.

"I've never seen a spell like that." Rainbow Dash said, trying to think back to any spell that Twilight used that looked like this.

Before anyone else could say anything, some of the glass began to crack as the ponies continued to pound against the glass.

"Lower the gate!" one of the staff ponies shouted to another. The pony attempted to go to lower the gate, but before he could, the glass shattered and several of the ponies crawled through the doors and started to move towards the staff.

"I think we should run." Soarin said. The Wonderbolts, as well as the staff then began to run away from the entrance as more of the dead-eyed ponies began to crawl in. The staff member finally hit the button to lower the gate, and it shut, crushing one of the dead-eyed ponies trying to get in.

There was still quite a few of the crazy ponies that had got in and were still pursuing the staff and the Wonderbolts. One of the security officers opened up the door to a stairwell and called the Wonderbolts over.

"Head up to the commentator office and barricade the door, we'll handle the situation from here." The security officer said. Spifire nodded and led the rest up the stairwell and into the office. Thunderlane, who was the last one up, shut the door behind him while Soarin and Fleetfoot pushed a table in front of the door.

"So, what now?" Misty Fly asked.

"Now, we wait up here until the situation down there is taken care of." Spitfire said.

"Great, we're flightless, everypony's a zombie, and were trapped up her. I'm getting reminded of that rainbow mouthed zombie prank Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said as she sat down next to the timid pegasus to try to comfort her.

"Yeah, but, I have a feeling this isn't a prank." Fluttershy said quietly.

Suddenly, the ground was shook and an explosion could be heard in the distance.

"Something tells me, this isn't going to be handled easily." Fleetfoot said.

Chapter 3: Manehattan Art Museum

Manehattan Museum of Fine Art, Day Zero, 12:50am

Starlight Glimmer studied the painting in front of her closely. She could see the attention to detail and the interesting method the painter used. "Pointillism" it was called, where a painting consisting of hundreds of thousands of tiny little dots of color mix together to form what looks like a solid image.

"A Sunday Afternoon of the Island of La Grande Jatte." Starlight read the plaque under the painting aloud. She looked back up at the painting. It was quite well done, depicting a lovely looking park next to the water with several ponies wearing old timey clothes.

Starlight was so interested in the painting that she didn't notice Pinkie Pie next to her, looking at the painting with a magnifying glass.

"Wow, those are a lot of dots, how did he paint every single one?" Pinkie asked Starlight.

"Patience and way too much time on his hooves." Starlight responded before turning away to look at the other works of art around the gallery. She noticed Twilight and Spike standing in the center of the gallery next to a large sculpture of a Pony sitting on a rock with his head resting on his hoof.

"What's this one called?" Starlight asked as she and Pinkie joined Twilight by the sculpture.

"It's called "The Thinker." Twilight said.

"Wow! I never would have guessed!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in a voice that sounded anything but sarcastic.

"You know, I never took you for an art lover Twilight." Starlight said.

"Usually I'm not, but Shining Armor and Cadance told be about how much they enjoyed visiting this museum one their last trip here, so I just had to see it for myself." Twilight explained.

"I wish Maud was here, she would have loved the sculptures." Pinkie Pie said. Spike chuckled.

"Yeah, she would probably list all the different types of rocks in each sculpture." He said. Twilight rolled her eyes at Spikes comment.

"So, which exhibit should we go to next?" Starlight asked. Twilight then unfolded the map from her saddlebag and looked it over.

"There's a clay pottery exhibit just across the hall." Twilight suggested. The others nodded and started to walk over.

The Museum was fairly empty that day, with only a few other ponies seen browsing around the gallery at the art. The Museum offered several different kinds of art from surrealistic, to abstract, to still life, to realism.

As the group entered the clay pottery room, a red mist came from down the hall, passed through them, and disappeared. As soon as it did, Twilight dropped the map she was holding, as her magic failed.

"What the-" Twilight said after dropping it, she tried to use her magic to pick it back up, but couldn't no matter how hard she strained.

"What's happening?" Starlight asked, also trying to use her magic.

"I'm not sure, but I think we should find out." Twilight said before turning back to head back to the front desk.

The group passed a few other ponies, some of them also unicorns struggling to use their magic. They eventually entered the entrance hall and reached the front desk.

"Excuse me, is there a magical dampener in here, we can't use our magic anymore in the gallery." Twilight said. The front desk clerk, who was a unicorn mare shrugged.

"No, we don't magically dampen the gallery. I don't know what's happening, I can't use my magic either." She said before trying her magic again.

"Think there's something strange going on." Starlight said.

Suddenly, the front doors to the museum burst open and a few ponies ran inside, followed by several more ponies moving very slowly. They had darkened coats, and dead, sunken in eyes. One of these dead-eyed ponies tackled a patron to the ground and began to bite into his neck, tearing out a chunk of flesh, killing him.

The other patrons began to scream and panic, one patron even jumping out of a window, shattering it.

"Okay, something is definitely happening, and it looks worse than just no magic." Starlight said.

"Run for it!" Spike shouted. The group then turned and ran back into the gallery, where several other ponies were running, trying to find an alternative way out, like an emergency exit. Eventually the group did find one that was being opened by another patron, but when they opened the door, one of the dead-eyed ponies lunged at him through the open door, letting several more in.

The 4 turned again and ended up hitting a dead end, in one of the galleries with only an employees only door in it.

They turned back to where they came in and saw several zombie ponies trudging towards them.

"I can't believe it, Zombies do exist!" Spike said as he hid behind Twilight. Twilight tried to use her magic again to get rid of them, but again, she couldn't.

The zombies closed in on them, and it looked like the end, but suddenly, the employees only door flung open, and an earth pony stallion emerged, he was wearing a museum security uniform. He had jet black hair with a brown coat. He had a gun in his hoof, which he raised and shot one of the zombies closest to the girls and spike.

"Hurry, this way." He shouted and motioned for them to enter the employees only door. The 4 wasted no time and quickly ran in as the guard shot a few more zombies before heading back into the employees only area and locking the door behind him.

"That door should hold them, follow me." The guard said, leading the 4 down a hallway.

"Thank you so much, I thought we were goners for sure." Twilight said as she walked next to the guard.

"Don't mention it, the name's Silent Watch, Museum Security, protecting the patrons is my job." He said as he turned a corner to another hallway.

"Well Mister Watch, do you know what's happening?" Pinkie asked.

"To be honest, I have no clue, but when I saw that horde burst in on the cameras, I knew I had to do something, to bad I was so late, I opened up about 3 other doors besides yours, and you were the only ponies I saw that weren't zombified or being eaten." Silent Watch said. Twilight shuddered when he said "eaten" and she thought back to that one patron who had a chunk of his neck.

The group finally made it to the end of the hall and entered a security office. It had a gun locker, table, vending machine, and a wall of monitors all showing live feed from security cameras. Twilight looked into them, and saw that the museum was now overrun by the zombies, there was not a single living pony left in the building that they could see.

"I think we need a plan, because judging by the looks of this, it's gonna take a while for this to be sorted out." Starlight said as they all looked at the monitors.

Suddenly, in the monitor showing the front desk, a large truck could be seen driving towards the open doors. When it crashed, the camera went out, and the ground beneath them shook as they heard the explosion.

"Yeah, we're gonna need a plan before the museum burns down." Pinkie Pie suggested.

Author's Note

There we go, the introductions to each story is now done, the story is now set up and ready to continue. Also, big thanks to Lovecraftia and SamuelK28 for their suggestions for OC names. Lovecraftia suggested Silent Watch, thank you.

Chapter 4: Stranded

Saddle Row, Day One, 3:00pm

The boutique had grown quiet and still as the day went on. The windows were covered with fabric and the doors in the front and back of the store had been barricaded, and the bodies of the dead ponies had been put out in the alley out back.

Everypony involved managed to retain their composure for most of the clean up process, especially Rarity. The crusaders however, were scared the second it all started, and now were still cowering behind the counter. After removing the bodies, Rarity entered the back room and could be heard crying, finally losing her composure.

Big Mac and Sugar Belle sat down in one corner of the boutique and snuggled next to eachother. While Applejack kept watch at the front door.

For the first hour or so, there was a lot of panic and screaming in the streets, as well as gunshots. Now, it was almost entirely silent, apart from faraway gunshots and some sounds of sirens.

Applejack eventually stepped away from the door to check on everyone else. She saw Big Mac and Sugar Belle, who were now asleep next to eachother on the floor, the crusaders were still behind the counter, also asleep, and Rarity was now standing next to the counter, staring at the gun in her hooves, she looked up when Applejack walked over.

"Anything happening out there?" Rarity asked in a quiet voice.

"Nope, it's rather quiet right now, but there's still some of those zombies walking around out there." Applejack responded. She looked at the gun again. "You're a pretty good shot with that, I didn't think you were."

"Oh, thank you darling, I took some lessons a few months ago when one of the shops down the street here was robbed." Rarity explained. "I'll never get used to it though." she said, shedding a tear.

Applejack thought back to Blue Bobbin, and how quickly she became one of them after she was bitten.

"It's okay sugarcube, we'll get through this, we just gotta keep our heads up." Applejack said reassuringly. Rarity wiped the tears from her eyes and gave Applejack a small smile.

Suddenly, several loud bangs emitted through the boutique, startling the sleeping ponies from their sleep. Then a voice echoed from the back door.

"Hello, anypony in there? Help!" the voice shouted from the alley behind the boutique. Rarity and Applejack quickly ran to see what was happening, followed by Big Mac.

Rarity was about to open the door for the pony, when Applejack stopped her. Applejack stepped forward towards the door and shouted through it.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Applejack asked.

"Please, let me in, these things out here are gonna kill me!" the voice said frantically. The ponies inside could hear the voice as being masculine, so they were probably a stallion.

"Are you bitten?" Rarity asked.

"What? No, no I'm not, I promise, just please let me in, they're getting closer!" the stallion shouted.

Applejack and Rarity exchanged glances, Rarity readied her gun while Applejack prepared to open the door.

"One, Two, Three!" Applejack counted before flinging open the door, letting the stallion fall in. He quickly stood up and got all the way inside. There were zombies following him closely, but Applejack and Big Mac managed to barricade the door again before the zombies could get too close.

After barricading the door, Applejack turned to the stallion, who was facing Rarity, who was aiming the gun at him.

"Listen ma'am, please just calm down and lower the gun, I'm not trying to hurt any of you." the stallion pleaded. Rarity kept aiming at him.

"Applejack, Big Mac, check him for bites, then we can see if he's trustworthy." Rarity said.

Applejack looked over the stallion, he was a pegasus with a blonde mane and a grey colored coat, he wore a navy blue police uniform, had a holster with a gun in it and a crowbar hung across his back.

"I think he's trustworthy enough Rarity, I think he's a cop." Applejack said.

"Yes, I am." the stallion said.

"That may be the case sir, but I still want my friends to check you for bites before I let you anywhere near me or my sister and her friends." Rarity argued.

Applejack sighed as she stepped over to the stallion and began to check him over, looking at his legs, neck, back, chest, and she saw no bites, though he looked disheveled and dirty.

"I don't see any bites Rarity, he's good." Applejack said. Rarity sighed and lowered the gun.

"I'm so sorry officer, but with what's happening out there right now, we can never be too careful." Rarity said apologetically.

"It's fine, it's nice to see other survivors out here, I haven't seen many others." the officer said as they all walked into the main room of the boutique.

Sugar Belle and the Crusaders emerged from behind the counter with confused looks on their faces.

"Who's this guy Applejack?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah, what's your name officer?" Applejack asked.

"The names Swift Justice, deputy in the Manehattan Police Department, I was one of the first respondents after everything started to happen. Me and my partner, Connie Stable, were on Bridle Way when we were separated by a horde of them. I ended up getting lost, and ended up here in saddle row, but I ran out of ammo and tried to find help. Luckily you guys were here, or I'd probably be dead right now, thank you." Swift Justice explained.

"So, is the city overrun?" Rarity asked.

"It seems that way, from what I saw, Saddle Row and Bridle Way are overrun, and when I last had access to the police radio channel, I heard that the infected were crossing the bridges leading in and out of the city." Swift explained.

"So, Manehattan's Overrun? Is outside help coming?" Applejack asked.

"As far as I know, no, but I pray that somepony got word out to the Equestrian guard." Swift Justice said.

"So, what should we do?" Sugar Belle asked.

"My best suggestion, we should either hold up in someplace safe, or try to escape the city, and both options are risky." Applejack said.

"Well, either way, we need supplies, food, and weapons to defend ourselves." Swift Justice said as he walked toward the front door. He peered outside, he saw several zombies wandering in the street, abandoned cars, and even one of the buildings on fire. Eventually, he spotted something perfect.

"You see that police cruiser there?" He asked the others who were standing next to him. They all nodded in response. "If we can get to it, we can get some guns, ammo, and a map of Manehattan from it.

"Well, that's easier said than done." Rarity said as she looked at the infected wandering the street.

"I have a police car skeleton key, so I can open it, I just need somepony to come with me to watch my back." Swift Justice said. Big Mac stepped forward.

"I'll go." he said. Sugar Belle gave him a pleading look. "I'll be fine, I know how to defend myself." he said, trying to calm Sugar Belle.

"If you're goin, so am I." Applejack said. Big Mac was about to protest, but when he saw Sugar Belle's relief, he simply nodded.

"Okay, here, take this, Big Mac is it?" Swift said as he took the crowbar off his back and gave it to Big Mac.

"Eeeyup!" Big Mac said. Swift then turned to Applejack.

"I'd give you my gun, but I have no more ammo." Swift said. Rarity then stepped over to Applejack and offered her the gun.

"You better take this with you darling, you'll need it out there." Rarity said. Applejack nodded and took the gun.

"Alright, now, before we head out there, word of advice, let's try to keep the gunshots to a minimum, noise attracts the infected like a moth to a flame, okay?" Swift said. Applejack and Big Mac nodded.

"Okay, let's do this..." Swift said as he moved the table blocking the door out of the way.

To be continued in chapter 7...

Author's Note

Yeah, I know some people might not like how i'm splitting it up, but I'm doing this so that I can get chapters out faster and more frequent, rather than being one of those writers that only posts a chapter like once a month. :)

Chapter 5: Worse than the Paparazzi

Author's Note

Happy Easter! Here's a new chapter! If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get chapter 6 out one Tuesday, I've got a lot going on this week between Easter and School.

Also, Don't worry Lovecraftia, Silent Watch will be just fine....*Maniacal Laughter* *Lightning and Thunder Effect*

Chapter 5: Worse than the Paparazzi

Manehattan Stadium, Day One, 1:30pm

Things had been relatively quiet inside the commentator booth at Manehattan stadium. The 7 ponies inside had been trying to be patient as they waited for any update on the situation downstairs.

It turned out Thunderlane's injury was a bit worse than just a simple crash, his front right hoof was sprained. He was now sleeping on the couch.

The office was fairly big, it had two rooms, the back room had a few desks, a couch, a water cooler, and few other places to relax. The front room had the window that looked over the field and the desk where the commentators would sit at when events were held.

Spitfire was sitting on the floor next to the door, waiting to hear what would hopefully be the sound of the staff coming up the stairs. Misty Fly was next to the couch, keeping an eye on Thunderlane. Fluttershy was passed out in a chair next to the couch. Soarin and Fleetfoot were in the front room, watching the field for movement, but saw none, the field was barren.

Rainbow Dash was in the back room, pacing back and forth, very impatiently. It began to get of Misty's nerves.

"Can you stop pacing for like, 5 seconds crash." Misty said annoyed. Rainbow Dash gave her a death glare.

"I can't! We should be doing something, not just sitting up here like cowards, We're the Wonderbolts! we're supposed to go in first in times like these!" Rainbow Dash said, trying once again to hover into the air, only for her wings to not even move.

"While I like your enthusiasm crash, I'm pretty sure the staff can handle it, can be much longer." Spitfire said. Rainbow scoffed.

"It's been an hour and a half, things are probably much worse, and if we don't do something now, we're doomed!" Rainbow argued.

"She's gotta point Spitfire." Soarin said as he and Fleetfoot walked back into the room.

"Anything happening on the field?" Misty Fly asked. Soarin and Fleetfoot shook their heads no.

"I really think we should check downstairs, see if everything's alright." Fleetfoot suggested. Soarin and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

"No, we should stay here until we hear something from the staff." Spitfire said.

"Really Spits? I didn't take you for a coward." Rainbow Dash said. Spitfire jumped up from her seated position.

"Did you see the horde of zombies? It's better to let the security and law enforcement handle it, we gotta show to perform." Spitfire argued. Soarin stepped forward.

"Spitfire, it's been too long, if they could handle it, it would've been handled by now, so just face it, they didn't handle it!" Soarin shouted. Spitfire was taken aback by Soarin's sudden outburst, as was the now awake Fluttershy.

"Is it over?" Fluttershy asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry Fluttershy, we haven't heard anything in almost 2 hours." Rainbow Dash said.

"So, what do we do now?" Misty asked. Spitfire thought for a second before coming up with a plan.

"Okay, I have an idea. In my locker, I have a map of the city and the keys to the team van, if we could get my bag, then get to the parking garage, then we could drive out of here and get help." Spitfire explained.

"Who's gonna go get the map and keys?" Fleetfoot asked.

"I will." Rainbow Dash volunteered. Soarin and Misty also stepped forward.

"Okay, you three will get the stuff from the locker, it should be open. The rest of us will head over to the parking garage and meet you over there." Spitfire explained.

"We're gonna need some weapons to defend ourselves." Misty said. Soarin then walked back into the front room and returned with 3 bats.

"I think we can borrow these." Soarin said as he gave one each to Misty and Rainbow.

"Alright, you three head down to get the stuff, the rest of you, follow me out, I know a shortcut to the parking garage." Spitfire said. The others nodded. Fleetfoot assisted Thunderlane off the couch and onto his hooves. Fluttershy gave Dash a quick hug.

"Be safe." she whispered.

"You too." Rainbow whispered back. She then turned back to Misty and Soarin, who were now moving the table from in front of the door.

They opened the door and saw that the stairwell was empty. Soarin went out first, then Misty, and finally Dash.

The three of them moved quickly and quietly down the stairs until they got to the door to the main floor.

"Moment of truth." Soarin said as he slowly opened the door a crack and peeked out. He had to stifle back a gasp.

There were several zombies wandering around the entrance. Some were wearing the staff uniforms, and there were a few devouring a corpse over by the entrance. The gate that had been dropped was now pretty much destroyed, allowing more of the infected to climb through.

"Sweet Celestia." Misty muttered upon seeing the the state of the entrance area.

"Looks like we're on our own." Rainbow Dash said. Soarin closed the door carefully and turned to the other two.

"Okay, so we head out the door, take a right, go back to the field, and get to the girls locker room, we get Spitfire's stuff and we escape like a bat out of tartarus, okay?" Soarin explained to the girls. They both nodded and Soarin turned back to the door.

"One.....two.....three." Soarin counted before opening the door and heading for the field with the other 2 close behind. They attracted some attention from the roaming ones who began to slowly follow them. They turned a corner and saw one blocking the way, so Soarin swung his bat as he passed him, hearing a loud crack as he fell to the ground.

"Nice one Clipper." Misty complimented.

"Thanks." Soarin said.

They finally made it to one of the archways that led to the field and ran through it. The field was still empty, aside from the obstacle course that was still up. They rushed down to where the team would rest until being called in and came across the doors leading to the locker rooms. They quickly entered the one with the symbol of a mare on it.

As soon as they entered, they stopped to catch their breath.

"I don't....think....I've ever.....ran that fast......in my life." Misty said, panting.

"Now let's just get Spitfire's stuff and get outta here." Rainbow Dash said as she started to walk over to where the lockers were. Rainbow immediately recognized Spitfire's and opened it, grabbed the bag and started to head out, but she and Soarin noticed Misty opening and rummaging around in Fleetfoot's.

"Uh Misty, what are you doing?" Soarin asked.

"I know Fleetfoot, she doesn't usually travel without packing heat." Misty said before pulling a small pistol out of Fleetfoot's locker. It was very small, and thus easily concealable.

"Alright, now you're talkin'" Rainbow Dash said as they left the locker room. The reemerged onto the field, although this time, not as barren. The infected from inside had followed them onto the field.

"This way." Soarin said, as he started to lead the other two towards the side of the stadium where the parking garage was located. They managed to outrun several infected, though some had to be put down by either Soarin and Dash with their bats, or Misty with Fleet's gun.

Eventually, they made it to the interior of the stadium and followed the signs that led them to the Garage. They entered the garage and saw the others waiting by the van. It was a big van, it was blue with a yellow lighting bolt going down both sides.

"About time, did you get the stuff?" Spitfire asked. Rainbow responded by tossing her the bag. Spitfire took the keys out and unlocked the van.

"Everypony get in." Spitfire said as she ran around to the driver seat and got in. The others quickly followed, all getting in quickly, as the infected began to enter the garage. Spitfire started the van and started to drive down to the exit of the garage.

"Is that my gun?" Fleetfoot asked Misty angrily.

"Yeah." Misty responded nonchalantly

"Give me that." Fleetfoot said as she snatched the gun form Misty.

"Soarin, look at the map, we need to figure out where to go." Spitfire said to Soarin, who was in the passenger seat next to her. Soarin opened up the backpack, pulled out and unfolded the map. He looked it over to find a place.

"There's a gun store nearby, judging by what we saw getting you're stuff, we're gonna need weapons." Soarin suggested.

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Rainbow said. Misty and Fleetfoot nodded their heads. Spitfire sighed.

"Okay, show me the way." Spitfire said as she drove the van onto the street. It was strangely empty, apart from a few infected roaming around.

"Straight ahead and take a right." Soarin said as he started to give directions to Spitfire.

Chapter 6: Down the Street

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7: The Cop Car

Saddle Row, Day one, 3:20pm

Applebloom rushed over to each of her siblings and hugged them as Swift Justice moved the table blocking the door to the boutique.

"Please be careful." Applebloom said as she hugged Applejack tightly.

"Don't you fret sugarcube, me and Mac will be back in no time, just make sure you're safe while we're out there, okay?" Applejack said as she hugged her little sister back.

"I will." Applebloom said as she let go and went back over to Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo.

Applejack turned back to Swift Justice and Big Mac and nodded to them. Swift Justice then slowly opened up the door and stepped outside, scanning all directions for infected. He signaled for the other 2 to follow once he saw that the coast was clear. Eventually, Applejack stepped out into the now gloomy weather that descended upon Manehattan.

The street was so quiet, it made their hoofsteps seem so loud as they slowly moved towards the cop car parked in the middle of the street. As they approached, Applejack saw a few infected wandering around down the street from where they were. There was no doubt about it, these things were stupid, they might be strong, but they ain't bright.

Suddenly, Swift Justice stopped dead in his tracks, making Big Mac and Applejack also halt. They were now only a few feet from the car, and they could hear the sounds of something chewing, and wet tearing noises. Swift Justice turned to Big Mac.

"There's one next to the car, sneak up on it and give a crack on the head." Swift Justice whispered. Big Mac nodded and began to inch his way over to the infected, who had its back to him. As Big Mac got closer he could make out more. The zombie was most likely a Manehattan shopper judging by the way they were dressed, and they were devouring a corpse that was dressed in the same uniform Swift Justice was wearing.

Big Mac was now directly behind the zombie now. Big Mac slowly rose up the crowbar and swung down with all his might.

*crunch*

The sound was quick and a bit louder than he had hoped, but the job was done, as blood flowed from the now cracked skull and the zombie fell over dead. Swift Justice and Applejack then made it over to the car and peeked inside. The driver side door was wide open, so no need for the keys.

Swift Justice got in and started rummaging around. He grabbed the shotgun that was in the passenger seat first.

"Here," he said, giving the shotgun to Applejack, "There should be some shells in the trunk." Swift said as he pulled the lever on the drivers side to pop open the trunk.

Applejack walked around to the back of the trunk and saw the box of shells and grabbed them. She looked back over to see Swift Justice taking the small radio out of the car.

"Is that everything?" Applejack asked. Swift Justice nodded, but before Applejack could do anything, she was suddenly pounced on by an infected that she didn't even hear approach. She managed to keep the zombie off of her until Big Mac rushed in and smacked the zombie across the head with the crowbar.

The infected stumbled back a bit, but looked back up and started to trudge forward again. Big Mac hit it again, and again, and again, driving it further back, until finally finishing it with another head crunch. But, when the body fell back after being hit with the crowbar, it fell into a car, and the passenger side window smashed.....

.....and the car alarm began to ring.

"Well shit." Big Mac muttered.

"Back to the boutique NOW!" Swift Justice shouted.

It didn't take long for the infected from down the street to start making their way towards the sound. The three rushed back into the boutique, carrying the shotgun, ammo, and radio that they went for, but now they were in for the worst.

They immediately shut the boutique door behind them when they ran in and Big Mac pushed the table in front of the door. The others waiting for them all came to the door with looks of worry on their faces.

"What happened?" Rarity asked.

"We've got good news and bad news. The good news is, we've got guns, ammo, and a radio, bad news is we just activated a dinner bell." Swift Justice explained.

"So what now?" Sugar Belle asked as she clung to Big Mac.

"Now, we prepare to fight, or run, probably both." Applejack suggested. She then turned her head to the entrance, and she could hear infected coming their way.

"Celestia help me." Applejack said quietly.

Author's Note

2nd chapter out today, probably will be last one til Thursday unless I'm lucky. I pray to lady luck. Also thanks for the comments and support guys, you're the best! :)

Chapter 8: The Gun Store

Author's Note

Hello! I'm not dead, I'm very much alive. I just had to deal with life, because it sucks, then you die. But enough about my personal life, here's the next chapter, after about 4 days.

Chapter 8: The Gun Store

The Streets of Manehattan, Day One, 2:00pm.

The occupants of the Wonderbolts van shifted in their seats with each swerve and evasive maneuver that Spitfire had to make to avoid the infected wandering the streets aimlessly. They were heading for a gun store that Soarin had identified on the map from Spitfire's locker.

Eventually, Spitfire slowed down as they reached the storefront. There were dozens of bodies around the front door of the gun shop. The reactions among the ponies in the van ranged from simple gasps of shock to Fluttershy, who cowered with her hooves over her eyes.

Spitfire pulled the van into an alley next to the gun store and shut it off.

"Okay, who's gonna stay and watch the van while we go in?" Spitfire said as she turned to the rest of the vans occupants.

"I guess I'll stay." Thunderlane said from the very back seat.

"Okay, Fleetfoot, give Thunderlane your gun just in case." Spitfire said to Fleetfoot. She nodded and gave the gun to Thunderlane.

"Anypony else gonna stay?" Thunderlane asked.

"I'll stay here too." Fluttershy said. Spitfire nodded.

"Okay, we shouldn't be to long, we'll go in, grab the guns, and get out." Spitfire explained. The others beside Fluttershy and Thunderlane nodded and started to get out of the van.

"Be careful." Fluttershy said to Rainbow Dash as she got out of the van.

"Don't worry, we'll be back in no time." Rainbow Dash reassured Fluttershy before shutting the door.

After the rest of the group left the van and went to enter the gun store through the back way, Fluttershy and Thunderland sat in awkward silence in the back of the van. Fluttershy simply stared down at the floor, with all kinds of thoughts running through her head, thinking back to all the bodies she saw, the dead looks in the eyes of those infected ponies, it was starting to get to her.

She then thought about the rest of her friends, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Starlight, Applejack, Spike. They were probably still in the city, trapped like she was, or, maybe even worse.

"Are you okay Fluttershy?" Thunderlane asked sitting up, noticing that Fluttershy had a tear running down her cheek. Fluttershy looked over to Thunderlane, who had a concerned look on his face.

"No, no I'm not, I'm so scared." Fluttershy said in a soft, shaky voice.

"I'm scared too." Thunderlane said. This made Fluttershy look up at him again. Fluttershy knew Thunderlane since he lived in Ponyville, but she knew that he was like Rainbow Dash in a few ways, he acted fearless, tough and full of himself, so Fluttershy had a hard time believing him now.

"You're Scared?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, I'm a pegasus who's trapped on the ground, I have a sprained hoof so I'm a liability to the group, and I just can't stop thinking about what's going on outside of the city. If Manehattan is the only city affected, or if all of Equestria is being attacked by the infected now." Thunderlane said as he looked out of the van's back window.

Fluttershy hadn't thought of that until now. Were the zombies only in Manehattan, or if Equestria was now in danger. Fluttershy started to think about Ponyville now. What if it was also overrun? What if they got to Sweet Feathers Sanctuary? These thoughts began to cloud Fluttershy's mind even further, making more tears pool in her eyes. Thunderlane noticed how Fluttershy looked even more distraught than before and felt guilty.

"I'm not helping am I? I sorry Fluttershy." He said. Fluttershy wiped the tears from her eyes.

"No, it's fine Thunderlane, I was just thinking about Ponyville. I hope everyone there is okay." she said softly, calming down a bit. Thunderlane nodded.

"The thing I'm worried about most is my brother Rumble. I hope he's okay." Thunderlane said. This made Fluttershy think of her own little brother Zephyr. Though he was often irritating and slightly narcissistic, he was still her brother, and she knew that neither her nor the rest of her family would make it far in a world like the one currently absorbing Manehattan.

"Don't worry Thunderlane, you're a strong Pegasus, just like the rest of the Wonderbolts, I'm sure you'll get back to Ponyville to see Rumble again." Fluttershy said. Thunderlane smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks Fluttershy." Thunderlane said.

"I know I probably won't make it out of this city." Fluttershy said glumly. This caught Thunderlane slightly off guard with how she said it, like she was considering giving up.

"Don't say that Fluttershy, you'll make it, we'll all make it." Thunderlane said trying to lift her spirits.

"It's nice of you to say, but I just can't, I can hardly comprehend what's happening now. I've never even held a gun, I've never intentionally hurt another creature, even one that looked mean, and after seeing all the infected ponies, I don't think I'll be able to just talk them down. And even though I don't have an injury, I'm more of a liability than you because at least you have the will and determination to carry on. I'll be gone within a few days." Fluttershy said, getting more and more sad and depressed as she continued. She suddenly felt Thunderlane place a hoof on her shoulder.

"That's not what I think of you Fluttershy, I think you're a very strong Pegasus." He said reassuringly.

"Yeah right." Fluttershy said dismissively.

"Remember when Ponyville had to create the waterspout to send water up to Cloudsdale? And a bunch of Pegasi including me came down with the Feather Flu?" Thunderlane asked.

"Yes." Fluttershy responded softly, remembering that day she tried her hardest and nearly got over her stage fright.

"Well, when I heard that you were one of the Pegasi that stepped up and got us enough wing power to get the water up to Cloudsdale, I thought that was very cool and strong of you." Thunderlane said. This made Fluttershy slightly grin.

"So, I think you can make it through with the rest of us, and remember that you're not alone, you have us." Thunderlane said. Fluttershy then smiled and hugged Thunderlane.

"Thank You." she said.

"No problem." Thunderlane said as he hugged her back.

Their hug was suddenly cut short when the sound of a gunshot came from inside the gun store. They both looked at eachother for a second before moving to get out of the car and check on the others.

A Few Minutes Earlier.....

Spitfire, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Misty Fly, and Fleetfoot walked toward the rear door to the gun store from the van. Spitfire reached the door first and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Shit, how do we get in?" Spitfire asked, turning to the others behind her. Fleetfoot stepped forward.

"I got this." she said before taking a bobby pin out of her mane and kneeling down to pick the lock.

"You can lockpick?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep, I spent my teenage years here in Manehattan, so I picked up an a few nasty habits." Fleetfoot explained.

"Does that explain the gun?" Misty asked. The lock on the door then made a click noise and Fleetfoot opened up the door before turning to the others.

"Yep." she said before gesturing the others inside like an usher at a theater.

"Nice job Flatflip." Spifire complemented as she walked in, followed by the rest.

The group entered into an office first, that led into the main part of the store. It was disheveled. The front of the store was boarded up and there were two more bodies laying inside on the floor by the door. They all had bullet wounds in their heads. On the other side of the office was another locked door.

"Alright, One gun per pony, and don't forget holsters and ammo." Spitfire said as she immediately walked over to the counter where the glass case was shattered. Spitfire picked up a Magnum .44 Revolver, a box of .44 ammo and a holster of the wall almost instantly .

"I'll be waiting just outside." Spitfire said before walking back through the office.

The others began to browse through the selection of firearms. A large number of guns were still in the store despite several display places being devoid of guns, probably taken when the infected first started showing up.

"This rifle is mine." Fleetfoot said as she took a bolt action sniper rifle of the wall behind the counter.

"I didn't think you were a long range type of pony Fleet." Rainbow said as she browsed the small number of shotguns still available.

"Are you kidding, I'm the best sharpshooter in the Wonderbolts! A few years ago we went to a firing range, and I got a bulls eye from 100 Meters." Fleetfoot bragged.

"Really?" Dash asked as she picked up a pump action shotgun.

"She's telling the truth.....unfortunately." Misty Fly said as she browsed the pistols that sat in a display case by the door to the office. Fleetfoot snickered at Misty's tone.

"What's wrong Misty? Still salty that I made more bulls eyes that you?" Fleetfoot said in a cocky tone. Misty simply groaned in response.

"I can't decide." Soarin said referring to the two pistols he held by the opposite wall. Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash walked over to help. Soarin held an M9 Pistol and a 1911 Pistol.

"I think you should take the 1911, it looks neat." Fleetfoot suggested.

"But the M9 looks more badass." Dash argued. Soarin looked between the two guns before ultimately choosing the M9.

"Good choice." Dash complemented. They were about to finish up everything when a noise rang through the store that none of them were ready for.

*Slam*

Fleetfoot, Soarin and Rainbow Dash turned to where the noise emanated from. Over by the office door, stood an earth pony stallion with a shotgun. Lying on the ground behind the counter was Misty, who must have been hit with the stock of the shotgun that the earth pony held. He aimed the gun at the three.

"Put The Guns Down NOW!" the pony shouted. The three complied and dropped the guns to the floor.

"We're sorry sir, we jus-" Rainbow Dash started.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" the stallion shouted. Rainbow Dash slightly flinched from the sudden scream. Misty started to stir and tried to get up, only for the stallion to kick her down.

"Stop that you bastard!" Fleetfoot shouted.

"What did I FUCKING SAY!" the stallion shouted back before stepping over Misty and towards the others.

"You think you can just come in here and steal my SHIT? You Fuckers are just like the ones out there, you think that I'm just going to roll over and give you my guns!?" The stallion shouted as he stepped closer to the three.

The three were now stunned silent, either this pony was severely mentally unstable, or very angry at what was happening in the city. The stallion then pumped the shotgun and aimed it dead-centered at Soarin.

"I'm going to kill you, you fu-" *Bang*

The stallion didn't finish his sentence before suddenly the sound of a gun firing was heard and a spray of blood coated the three cornered ponies. The stallion fell to the ground dead, a bullet wound in the back of his head. And standing by the door to the office was Spitfire with the magnum she took.

"Are you guys okay?" Spitfire asked as she knelt down next to Misty to check on her. The three nodded as they picked up their guns.

"Is Misty okay?" Fleetfoot asked, rushing over. Before Spitfire could respond, from the office, came Fluttershy and a limping Thunderlane.

"Is everything okay?" Thunderlane asked.

"We just ran into a crazy guy, but Misty's hurt." Spitfire explained as she and Fleetfoot lifted up the unconscious Misty Fly.

"Okay, we have guns, what now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"There's a police station nearby, maybe we can get actual help there." Soarin suggested, remembering the map.

"Well, looks like Misty could use some, let's go." Spitfire said. With that, they all exited the gun store through the office and back into the alley where the van was parked. They all got back in and Spitfire drove back into the street with Soarin navigating.

Chapter 9: The Radio

Antique Shop, Day One, 1:10pm.

Twilight and Silent Watch grunted as they struggled to lift up and quietly move the desk in front of the door to the antique shop. The front windows had been blocked with curtains.

Starlight looked through one of the openings between the curtains at the large number of infected out in the street, they were going to be stuck for a while. Starlight looked back over at Twilight and Silent, who had now successfully barricaded the door.

"Okay, we should be safe, as long as we stay quiet." Silent said as he wiped sweat off his forehead. The two other ponies and the dragon still in the room exhaled in relief before Twilight noticed that they were missing somepony.

"Where's Pinkie?" Twilight asked quietly.

"Right here." Pinkie said as she entered the room from the back area. She looked sad, not like herself at all. Her coat was slightly paler and her normally poofy mane was deflated.

"Pinkie? What's wrong?" Starlight asked walking over to her. Pinkie Pie said nothing before raising up her hoof and showing Starlight the bite. Starlight gasped, followed by further gasps from the rest.

"No..." Twilight said quietly after seeing the bite.

"So, what happens to me now?" Pinkie asked. She looked at each occupant. Starlight opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out, she had no plans. With no magic, she couldn't heal it, and after seeing what happened with those bitten in the museum, she feared the worst.

Twilight was on the verge of tears. Already thinking about what was going to happen in the near future to one of her closest friends.

Spike slouched down against the counter, his hands covering his mouth. He looked like he had just seen a ghost, or something worse, like he had just been hit with terrible news.

Silent stepped forward and drew his gun. Twilight noticed this and it snapped her out of her sadness.

"What are you doing!?" Twilight said at a more elevated tone than normal. Silent Watch lowered his gun back to his hip.

"Look, I know this looks bad, but you saw the ponies in the museum, how quickly they turned, if we don't do something, she's going to kill us!" Silent argued. Twilight took out her own gun.

"We aren't killing her." Twilight said sternly before turning to Starlight. "Starlight, take Pinkie into the back room, Pinkie, lie down, I'll think of something, I promise." Twilight explained.

Starlight nodded and guided Pinkie back into the shop's office. Twilight then turned to Silent, who had now holstered his gun and she smacked him, making him let out a startled and whiny "OW!"

"That's for even considering shooting my friend!" Twilight scolded.

"Well, do you have any better idea Princess?" Silent asked sarcastically. Twilight managed to resist the urge to smack him again and went over to the counter, where she sat down next to Spike and draped a foreleg over his shoulder and pulled him close to try to comfort him.

Silent sat down as well, with his back against a shelf. They stayed in awkward silence for a while before Silent spoke up.

"I'm sorry okay, I just feel more stressed more than I've ever felt in my entire life." Silent said.

Twilight stayed quiet, she just nodded slightly. Her mind was racing, with thoughts about everything they needed to do, they needed to somehow save Pinkie, get to the others, and get out of the city while avoiding getting eaten or turned into one of them. Twilight then decided to try to make small talk.

"So, Silent Watch, tell me a little about yourself, since we didn't get any chance to back at the museum." Twilight said. Silent scoffed slightly.

"I'm just a boring old security officer who works at a museum, there's nothing interesting or special about me." he said. This made Twilight frown.

"Everypony is special in their own way Silent." Twilight said. This made Silent chuckle a little.

"Don't say that, that sounds so cheesy and cliche." Silent said.

"It's true though." Spike said, finally speaking up after being remaining quiet.

"Well, if you insist. I'm from Fillydelphia, I'm from a big family. My father was a Unicorn and my mother was an Earth pony. I have 3 older brothers, they're all unicorns, while I got the short end of the stick as you can see."

Twilight silently listened.

"When I was 18, I joined the police academy in Canterlot, but I never really pursued it, so I just drifted from job to job around Equestria until I joined the Museum Security team about a year ago. I saw one of my coworkers get eaten right in front of me when I was looking around the Museum for survivors." Silent continued, standing up and walking around the counter as he kept talking.

"Sounds like you had it rough." Twilight said. Silent merely chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe, but let me tell ya, it's actually great to be the only Earth pony among 3 unicorn brothers. I'm the strongest guy in the family!" Silent boasted as he rummaged around behind the counter. "Aha!" he said suddenly. This made Twilight and Spike stand up to see what he was doing. Silent then dropped a radio onto the counter.

"How did you know that was back there?" Twilight asked.

"I knew a guy who worked here, sometimes he would play music during his shift." Silent explained as he plugged the radio in and began to tune it. Twilight joined him behind the counter and began to help by moving the antenna before they eventually found a signal.

"This is an emergency broadcast from the Equestrian Military-" the announcer through the radio started to speak.

"We did it!" Twilight said, happily clapping her hooves together. Then, Starlight emerged from the back room.

"Did what?" Starlight asked.

"We go this radio fixed, maybe now we can figure out what's happening." Silent explained.

"How's Pinkie?" Twilight asked. Starlight then gave her a sad look.

"She's asleep now, on the couch in the office. She's getting paler and she coughed up blood when she laid down." Starlight explained sadly. This made Twilight's heart skip a beat. Pinkie wasn't getting out of this, was she? Twilight tried to shake this from her mind when the announcer spoke again.

"This is an emergency broadcast for anypony still trapped from this mysterious event. This is all we know. At precisely 12:00 noon today, a large red mist emitted from somewhere starting in Manehattan, and spread across nearly the entire Eastern half of Equestria, the mist has dampened Unicorn magic, and Pegasus flight. And not long after, several ponies of pale complexion and hollow eyes began to appear, and attack other ponies, turning them pale and dead-eyed. The cities affected by this event are Manehattan, Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and Horston among others. If you are still in any of these cities, listen. Avoid contact with the infected, the way one becomes infected is through bites. Find a place to hold up, preferably with food and water, and await further instructions, the Military is doing all it can in this time of crisis. We will keep you posted through frequent updates."

With that, the radio went silent. The ponies and dragon all just stared at eachother before Twilight eventually spoke.

"Well, now we know this isn't just in Manehattan."

Chapter 10: Connie Stables

Saddle Row, Day One, 3:45pm.

Things had grown silent inside the boutique at this point, shortly after the cop car was looted. Since the car alarm went off in the street, it began to draw many infected into Saddle Row. Now the street was flooded with infected, but luckily, they didn't know that there was a group hiding in "Rarity for You" yet.

Applejack and Rarity were now sitting near the back of the store with the CMC and Sugar Belle while Swift Justice and Big Mac set up the CB radio taken from the police car. Sweetie Bell Snuggled close to Rarity, while Applebloom and Scootaloo were close to Applejack. Sugar Belle sat near Applejack, looking over at Big Mac by the counter.

"Applejack?" Applebloom whispered, breaking the silence. Applejack looked down at the filly next to her, she could see fear in Appleblooms eyes.

"Yes Sugarcube?" Applejack whispered, petting Appleblooms head.

"I'm scared." Applebloom said with a sniffle. Applejack pulled Applebloom closer into her embrace.

"Me too Sugarcube, but we'll make it, I'm sure of it." Applejack said reassuringly.

"Yeah Applebloom, we'll make it. We just gotta be brave, like Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo piped in. This made Rarity realize something.

"Oh, I hope our friends are okay." Rarity said.

"I'm sure they found a safe place by now, or made it out of the city hopefully." Applejack said.

Before they could carry the conversation any further, the CB radio crackled to life and the boys beckoned them over to the counter. Swift Justice began to tune the radio before grabbing the microphone and speaking into it.

"Hello, this is officer Swift Justice, badge number A234, I'm attempting to reach any other officer, or dispatch, can anypony copy? Over." Swift Justice said. He then waited for a response, but just got white noise. Swift Justice sighed and tuned the radio again before repeating his message into the radio again. This time though, a response came through.

"H....Hello.......thi.........Sta.........ver." A voice crackled through the radio.

"Yes, hello? Do you copy? Over." Swift said.

"Hello, this is Officer Connie Stables, badge number C435, Identify yourself. Over." the voice said, obviously a mare.

"Connie? This is Swift Justice. I'm trapped in Saddle Row with a group of survivors, where are you? Over." Swift said.

"Swift? Thank Celestia you're okay. I'm stuck on Bridle Way. I'm in the Afterglow Theater with a group of 5 other survivors. We've barricaded ourselves in. I've been trying to reach dispatch for the last few hours, but I've been unable to. Over." Connie said.

"I just retrieved a CB radio from a police cruiser, your the first Officer I've talked to since the event at noon. Over." Swift said.

"The radio station was broadcasting for the first hour or so after the event. Apparently,the entire eastern coast of Equestria was affected by this infection, and Canterlot is trying to find a way to solve this problem." Connie started saying, but started to fade out. Swift immediately tried to maintain the signal.

"Connie? Connie, I'm losing you. Over." Swift said as he tried to tune the radio. Suddenly, when he tuned into another signal, a loud blaring noise emitted from the radio. The ponies in the store all covered their ears and cringed at the noise. Swift tried to stop the noise, but couldn't tune away from it. Eventually, he turned the radio off completely, getting the noise to finally stop.

"What was that?!" Sugar Belle asked, still covering her ears. Swift shrugged.

"I have no clue, must've been some kind of interference." Swift said as he looked over the radio. Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass rang throughout the boutique, and all the occupants froze and looked toward the front of the store.

There was a group of infected gathered around the front of the boutique, trying desperately to get in, smashing the windows and attempting to break open the door.

"No!" Sugar Belle cried as she hugged Big Mac. Swift leaped over the counter and took out his gun, now loaded with ammo.

"Help me." Swift said as he looked toward Big Mac, Applejack, and Rarity. Big Mac nodded and left Sugar Belle's side to try to drive the infected back. Rarity grabbed her gun and Applejack grabbed the shotgun.

Big Mac held the front door closed while Swift and Rarity took shots at the infected attempting to break through the barricaded windows. Applejack stayed back a bit and turned to Sugar Belle.

"Watch the girls, and stay behind the counter." Applejack said. Sugar Belle nodded and guided the fillies behind the counter. Applejack turned back to the front where Big Mac was now starting to struggle to keep the door shut. Applejack rushed over and helped him keep the door closed.

Rarity screamed as the window broke completely and Infected began to climb into the boutique. Rarity quickly put down 2 infected before stopping in her tracks from fear.

There, climbing through the window, with dead eyes and blood around her mouth, was Coco Pommel. Rarity took a few steps back, unable to do anything from the shock of seeing her friend like this. Applejack looked over at the broken window and then to Rarity, stepping further away from the window. She then looked over at Swift Justice, who was still occupied by the window. Applejack quickly left the door and ran over to Rarity and used the shotgun to push Coco away.

"Rarity, snap outta it!" Applejack shouted. Rarity gasped as she snapped out of her trance and nodded to Applejack. They both turned to the infected climbing through the window, including Coco. Applejack pumped the shotgun and aimed it at Coco, who was still stumbling towards them.

"I'm sorry Ms. Pommel." Applejack said before pulling the trigger. The kickback knocked her back a little, and the shot blew away most of Coco's head, and her body fell to the ground, lifeless.

Swift Justice then backed away as his window was broken, and Big Mac stumbled back from the door as he was unable to hold it closed, and infected began to climb through the openings.

"We need to get out of here!" Swift shouted.

"The back door, now!" Applejack shouted as she ran behind the counter to get the others. Rarity and Swift tried to hold off the advancing infected as Applejack and Big Mac got the others to the back door.

"Come on!" Applejack shouted as Big Mac, Sugar Belle and the fillies left out the back. Swift Justice and Rarity quickly ran back to the door and were about to leave, but Rarity lingered for a moment.

She looked back into her boutique. It was dark, dirty, and now flooding with infected. And just a few hours ago, it was business as usual. Hopefully one day, she could come back and try again, she thought before shutting the back door.

The group was now in the alley behind the boutique. There was still infected back there, and some from the street were even starting to move into it.

"Where can we go?" Sugar Belle asked. Applejack looked down the alley before spotting a fire escape attached to an apartment building.

"Over there!" Applejack shouted and pointed to the apartment building. The group quickly moved down the alley, occasionally shooting an infected or in Big Mac's case, hitting a few with his crowbar. They managed to make it to the fire escape without anyone getting hurt. But the fire escape was unreachable without the ladder, which was locked in the up position.

"Boost me." Rarity said to Big Mac. Big Mac nodded and allowed Rarity to climb into his back and climb up onto the fire escape. She first tried to unlock the ladder, but there was no time, so she turned to the others below.

"Bring up the girls, quick!" Rarity said referring to the CMC. Big Mac then began to lift the fillies, up. Once they were all on the fire escape, Sugar Belle and Applejack were hoisted up to it. Once they were all up, Swift Justice and Big Mac looked at eachother, then to the infected.

"Up you go!" Big Mac said. Swift nodded and let Big Mac hoist him up to the fire escape. Once on the fire escape, Swift tried to get Big Mac up, but couldn't through a mixture of being too high, and Big Mac's weight. The infected were closing in fast.

"No!" Applejack and Sugar Belle said in unison while Applebloom covered her eyes.

Seeing all of this, Rarity thought fast. She took her gun and aimed it at the lock for the ladder.

"Stand back Swift!" Rarity shouted. Swift moved back and shot the lock, destroying it and dropping the ladder down. Big Mac quickly ascended the ladder and joined the others. The infected finally made it to the bottom of the ladder, but luckily for the survivors, they seemed to be unable to climb.

"Is everypony alright?" Swift asked. Everyone nodded.

"Okay, now lets get inside." Swift Justice said as he began to ascend the fire escape.

Chapter 11: The Police Station

The Streets of Manehattan, Day One, 2:30pm.

Spitfire swerved the van violently to make a sharp turn down another street, causing the rest of the passengers to be knocked around inside. Rainbow Dash and Fleetfoot tried their best to maintain balance, as they took turns applying pressure to Misty Fly's head wound.

"How much further Soarin?" Spitfire asked. Soarin glanced at the map again before pointing towards a building down the road.

"There it is, on the corner there!" Soarin shouted. Spitfire rapidly approached the building before slamming on the van's brakes and causing Thunderlane to fly face first into the seat in front of him.

"Watch the brakes Spitfire! Misty's gonna bleed even more!" Fleetfoot shouted angrily.

"Shut up and get out! Let's get inside!" Spitfire shouted back as she unbuckled herself.

The others quickly did as she was told, with Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash carrying Misty, and Thunderlane balancing on Fluttershy for support. The group immediately rushed to the front door, and miraculously, not only was it not barricaded, there were no infected around, and the door wasn't locked. So they all hurriedly rushed inside, and Soarin closed the door behind them.

(ambience :raritywink: )

The police station was eerily silent, and seemingly deserted. The floor was cluttered and dried blood was seen on a few walls.

The group walked into the police station's lobby and over to the front desk, where they all sat down to take a little breather after everything that had happened. Just as Rainbow and Fleetfoot set Misty down, she started to grunt and open her eyes slowly.

"Uh...wha.....a.....wha..." Misty stuttered, barely being able to move. Fleetfoot knelt beside her.

"Misty! Are you okay? Say something." Fleetfoot begged. Misty groaned again.

"Fl...a...Fleet?" Misty managed to mumble out.

"We need to get her something for her head and fast!" Fleetfoot said.

"Alright, Fleetfoot, you stay here with Misty and Thunderlane.." Spitfire began, only to be interrupted by Thunderlane.

"Hey, I'm just fine, I can help." Thunderlane argued, before trying to stand up straight, only to wince at the pain in his ankle.

"Like I said, Fleet, stay here with the injured, and make sure they don't get more hurt." Spitfire said.

"I'll stay here too, I'll help in any way I can." Fluttershy said. Spitfire nodded before turning to Soarin and Rainbow Dash.

"You two, you're gonna help me find some help. Hopefully there's more ponies in here than monsters." Spitfire said. Soarin and Rainbow Dash nodded. Spitfire then looked around the lobby, seeing only 2 ways to go, a door to the left of the entrance marked offices, or a door to the right of the entrance marked cells. Spitfire looked back and forth between the two doors before just choosing the cells one and walking towards it.

"You two, go check the offices!" Spitfire said, waving for Soarin and Dash to go the other way.

"Stay safe you guys." Rainbow said to the four ponies staying behind before following Soarin into the offices.

After the others left, Fleetfoot immediately began to search the lobby frantically. Fluttershy and Thunderlane both were a bit confused.

"Uh, Fleetfoot, what are you doing?" Thunderlane asked.

"I'm looking for something to bandage Misty's head. Why don't you make yourself useful and hold her wound until I find something to bandage it!" Fleetfoot responded with a mixture of anger and desperation in her voice. Fluttershy and Thunderlane then quickly moved closer to Misty and both applied pressure to her slit head.

"This isn't good, she's gonna need stitches." Fluttershy said, getting a good look at Misty's injury.

"I wish I could've killed the bastard who did this." Thunderlane said angrily.

"Don't worry Thunder, Spitfire took care of em." Fleetfoot said as she frantically searched behind the desk. She had searched through almost all of it apart from under the desk. She lowered her head to peek under the desk when she was immediately struck in the face by a hoof. Fleetfoot cried out in pain as she fell backwards after the hit. She looked up to see an infected wearing a police uniform begin to crawl out from under the desk.

"Fleetfoot? What's wrong?" Thunderlane asked after hearing Fleetfoot's grunt. Fleetfoot's only response was a scream as she tried to back away from the infected. She tried to stand up and get away, but her head was still spinning from the first hit. The infected then grabbed her and attempted to bite her arm, but Fleetfoot used all her strength to push the infected away.

"HELP ME!" Fleetfoot screamed as she barley kept the infected from biting her. Thunderlane and Fluttershy exchanged glances. Fluttershy began to shake with fear, and tears formed in her eyes. Thunderlane nodded in an attempt to calm her down and stood up.

"I'm coming Fleet!" Thunderlane said as he limped to the other side of the desk. He saw the infected on top of Fleetfoot and began to look for something to use, luckily a swivel chair was still near the desk. Thunderlane picked up the chair and struck the infected in the side, knocking it of of Fleetfoot. She then crawled away over to the other side of the desk. The infected looked back over at Thunderlane and started to shamble towards him. Thunderlane rose the chair again and this time, slammed it directly on top of the infected's head.

There was a crunch sound and the infected fell over, dead. Thunderlane dropped the chair, panting and and cringing at the pain in his hoof. He then made his way back over to the girls.

"You alright Fleet?" Thunderlane asked. Fleetfoot, who was being comforted by Fluttershy, gave Thunderlane a slight nod. Thunderlane looked over to Misty, who still had no bandage for her wound. He then got an idea to help her. He limped back over to the other side of the desk and examined the corpse of the infected. It had a bite wound in it's leg, but luckily the police shirt they were wearing was clean enough. Thunderlane ripped the shirt off the corpse and went back over to the others and rapped the ripped shirt around Misty Fly's head.

"Nice thinking." Fluttershy complemented. Thunderlane simply nodded before sitting down next to the others and resting his back against the desk.

"Let's hope the others have a better time..."

Rainbow Dash peered around the corner to the next stretch of hallway, seeing only a few windows, but nothing else littering the hallway.

"This way's clear." she whispered to Soarin, who was right behind her. The two then began to move further down the hallway. Eventually, the pair came to a door marked "offices." Rainbow Dash very carefully opened the door and peered inside. The light was still on, and luckily no one was inside either. Rainbow then opened the door all the way and stepped into the room.

The offices was less like the stereotypical offices one sees in movies with cubicles, water coolers, and douchey bosses. This office was very open. It had several desks, all labeled with the names of the officers, and one room in the back reserved for the Police Chief.

"Check the desks, they might have some useful stuff left in them." Soarin suggested. Rainbow nodded and made her way over to one of the desks. She looked at the name label, signifying the owner of that particular desk.

"Swift Justice" Rainbow read aloud. Soarin chuckled slightly. "Heh, perfect name." He said as he rummaged through another desk, finding a few rounds of ammo for his pistol. Rainbow also searched through her desk, finding some pain relief medicine, a few bandages, and some ammo.

"Jackpot." Rainbow said to herself.

"You know something kinda funny?" Soarin asked as he rummaged through another desk.

"What?" Rainbow asked.

"Just a few hours ago, we were training for a show. Just an average Wonderbolt show. We were gonna perform, receive praise from the crowd as usual, and then go to an afterparty to get shifaced. But instead, zombie ponies invade Manehattan, and now we're looting stuff from the police." Soarin explained, slowly loosing himself to chuckles as he did. Rainbow also chuckled with him.

"Yeah, crazy day huh." Rainbow said, a little less enthused. She then turned to face Soarin with a bit of a sad look on her face. "You know, in the back of my mind, I keep praying that this is all just one big prank. A while ago, my friends pulled a similar prank on me in Ponyville, where everypony pretended to be a rainbow mouthed zombie.." Rainbow explained, Soarin chuckled a little.

"...But, it was just to get back at me for being so inconsiderate with my pranks. But this.....after seeing what happened in the gun store and out on the street, I know this is real, but I still pray that at some point, everypony will get up, rub the stuff off their face and scream gotcha!" Rainbow said sadly. Soarin then walked around the desks and over to Rainbow and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"It'll be okay Rainbow, I have hope that everything will turn out fine in the end, that the royal guard will take care of everything, but until then, we have to be strong, for the team, and for out friends." Soarin said, looking into Rainbow's eyes. Rainbow smiled.

"Thanks Soarin." Rainbow said, wiping a small tear from her eye. Soarin then looked at the things they had found.

"You think we found enough stuff for Misty?" Soarin asked. Rainbow nodded, and the two made their way back to the lobby.

Rainbow and Soarin made their way back to the lobby, where everyone else was waiting for them, including Spitfire, who had a large medical kit with her, and was using the contents to treat Misty.

"I found the medical supplies, did you two find anything else?" Spitfire asked,

"Some ammo, some pain pills, and some clean bandages." Rainbow said as she unloaded her bag.

"Alright, so we've got the stuff for Misty, now what?" Fleetfoor asked. Everyone looked at eachother, exchanging glances none of them knew what to do next, until Spitfire spoke up.

"I have a plan. We stay here, until this thing blows over." Spitfire said very matter-of-factually.

"Here? Until it blows over? How do you know it'll blow over?" Fleetfoot argued.

"I just know, the Equestrian military will sort this out in a week, until then we stay here in the station, we'll fortify it and gather up any supplies we need." Spitfire explained.

"Yeah, but why stay here, why don't we actually get out of the city?" Fleetfoot asked. Spitfire frowned and motioned to Misty and Thunderlane.

"We have wounded, who aren't able to move at this time, so our best course now is to bunker down and wait, understand?" Spitfire asked. Everypony nodded.

"Okay, then it's settled, we stay here in the station." Spitfire said as she continued tending to Misty, cleaning out her wound and redressing it.

Rainbow Dash walked over to Fluttershy and sat next to her. Fluttershy then tapped Rainbow's shoulder.

"Um, are you sure Spitfire's right in staying here? What about our friends?" Fluttershy asked. Rainbow placed a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.

"Don't worry, if anypony can make it through a thing like this, it's our friends. They'll be fine, I'm sure of it." Rainbow said reassuringly to Fluttershy. Fluttershy nodded and rested her head on Rainbow's shoulder.

"Does this remind you of the prank?" Fluttershy asked with a little smile. Rainbow groaned.

"Yep, it does."

Chapter 12: Laughter

Antique Shop, 1:50pm, Day One.

Numb....

If there were any words in existence that Pinkie could use to describe the way she felt at this moment in time, it was numb.

Pinkie laid on a couch located in the back room of the antique shop, in the employee area. The bite wound didn't get better with rest, in fact, the wound only got worse as time went on. It began to fester and began to darken the coat around it. Pinkie felt numb all over, except for the wound, which burned like tartarus.

Pinkie knew that the end was coming, but she refused to allow a frown or look of pain to spread across her face. She powered through the pain she felt from the bite and kept smiling. She could only keep chanting the same thing in her head.

"Giggle at the ghosties, giggle at the ghosties..." and so on in her head. Eventually, the others rushed into the back room and locked the door to the main area behind them.

"We need to get out of here." Silent Watch said, panicked. Pinkie tried to sit up, but she couldn't, and she let out a pained grunt. Twilight noticed and rushed to her side.

"Pinkie, are you okay? How are you feeling?" Twilight asked, tears already pooling back in her eyes. Pinkie coughed before responding in a voice the complete opposite of her usual cheery and bright voice.

"To be honest Twilight, I'm not feeling great." Pinkie said sadly. "What's happening up front?" Pinkie asked. Her question was conveniently answered by the sound of glass being smashed in the other room.

"They're coming, and we need to get out of here." Silent Watch explained. Pinkie then tried to stand up, but ended up falling off the couch. Twilight tried to help Pinkie up, but Pinkie swatted her hoof away and rolled over, to look up at the others.

"Guys, I don't think she's gonna make it." Silent Watch said very matter-of-factly. Twilight turned to Silent Watch with a frown, but before she could give Silent Watch a very angry response to his statement, Pinkie spoke up in her coarse voice.

"Twilight..."

Twilight turned back to Pinkie, giving her a serious expression.

"..I know you're angry, but we should face it, I'm not gonna make it." Pinkie said. Twilight then got down next to Pinkie and hugged her, the tears starting to flow freely. Even Starlight and Spike began to lightly cry as the two friends embraced. Pinkie then let out a little giggle. Twilight lifter her head off Pinkie's shoulder and raised her eyebrow.

"Remember Twilight, giggle at the ghosties." Pinkie said with a smile. Twilight let out a sniff and wiped away her tears.

"Please, just go, don't let me kill you." Pinkie said with a serious face. Twilight slightly nodded and stood back up. Suddenly, several loud bangs emitted from the door to the main room.

"We need to go! There's an alley out the back door, if we go right after leaving we can make it back to the street and make a break for the hotel you guys were talking about." Silent Watch explained as he moved towards the door.

Starlight walked over to Pinkie and hugged her, Spike also did the same. Twilight hugged Pinkie again, holding her tight.

"Twilight, please don't forget me." Pinkie said quietly. Twilight nodded. "How could anypony forget you?" Twilight said rhetorically. Twilight finally released Pinkie from the hug and moved back to the back door to join the others.

"Guys?" Pinkie croaked out before they were about to head out. Twilight turned to listen one last time.

"Take care of Maud and Gummy for me." Pinkie said. Twilight sincerely nodded. Suddenly, the infected banging on the door finally broke the door down and began to enter the room. Silent Watch opened the door and quickly ushered Starlight and Spike out into the Alley. Twilight though, lingered, staring at Pinkie, who was smiling, and mouthing the word "go" to her. Silent Watch quickly grabbed Twilight and pulled her out of the room.

Pinkie saw the others exit out the back door and began to lose all feeling. It started in her legs, then moved throughout her body. Now only her face had feeling. She saw the infected pooling into the room, all of them not even acknowledging her.

Her vision began to fade away, and the sounds she heard began to mute, all until she closed her eyes and breathed her last breath...

Chapter 13: The Apartment

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 14: Ten Days Later part 1

Manehattan, 10 days after the incident....

One ordinary day in Manehattan, a mysterious event believed to be the cause of magic occurred. Pegasi fell from the sky to their deaths, Unicorns lost their ability to use their horns for magic, and worst of all, the citizens of the city began to become diseased by some strange infection.

It wasn't any normal disease however, it changed those afflicted into flesh eating monsters who've lost their ability to communicate and to reason.

For 10 days, the Equestrian military has tried their hardest to handle the situation growing along Equestria's Eastern coast, as Manehattan was not the soul city affected. But, progresses has slowed, and the military has tried their hardest to communicate their progress to the survivors still in the city. They've even begun to use balloons to airdrop supplies into the city for the survivors to use. But now, the survivors were getting impatient.

One such group was held up in one of the cities many police stations.

After arriving there on the first day, the group of Pegasi had fortified the station, as well as cleared it out of any infected that may have still been lingering there. They've also began to go out scavenging the nearby buildings for supplies, since it's always beneficial to have a surplus.

The heavy duty stuff was mainly handled by Spitfire, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, or Fleetfoot, as the others were either injured or to timid to go out. Despite their injuries, Misty Fly and Thunderlane still managed to help out around the station, usually preparing meals or counting supplies for Spitfire.

Spitfire had bluntly taken the role of leader in their group, running a tight ship as they'd say. Always making sure that supplies were counted, mouths were fed, and defenses stayed up, to keep the infected and the bandits out.

Another inevitability that Spitfire saw coming was looters. Several times while scavenging, the group sometimes had to deal with other scavengers looting the area. Sometimes it was peaceful, where each pony grabbed what they needed before leaving, or in one of Fleetfoot's cases, shooting the scavenger and looting their corpse.

The bandits were also frequently seen around the police station, since a place like that would probably have some good stuff in it, which it did. But, the bandits came frequently. So frequently that Spitfire enlisted Rainbow Dash and Soarin to take turns on lookout duty on the roof with a rifle.

Things were running smoothly enough though, and the group and plenty of supplies, but luck runs out, and Spitfire was reaching the end of her rope, as the anxiety and the stress started getting to her. But, the others remained positive, or as positive as they could.

Day 10, 2:30pm

Spitfire sat behind the desk in the lobby, fiddling with the radio as she tuned it back to the emergency military frequency that usually was on to update survivors on the progress.

Spitfire jolted up as Fleetfoot entered the building through the door. Sweat dripped off her forehead and her saddlebags were bulging.

"Good news, there was a lot of stuff still in that gunstore." Fleetfoot said, panting as she trudged over to one of the makeshift beds in the lobby.

"That's good, what did you find?" Spitfire asked as she sat back in the chair and tuned the radio. Fleetfoot began to rummage around in her bag and began to pull out a few pistols, boxes of ammo, small items of food, a few canned goods.

"A small jackpot, but not nearly as much stuff that Soarin got when he went out last time." Spitfire teased. Fleetfoot frowned in response.

Earlier that week, Soarin had gone out scavenging and ended up stumbling across a few infected Soldiers from the Equestrian military. Soarin managed to take out the soldiers and looted their gear, so now they had 2 military grade rifles, grenades, holsters, and armor.

"Hey, I still got a lot of stuff, I've even got some canned food, that should count for something!" Fleetfoot argued. Spitfire chuckled at Fleetfoot's anger. Spitfire then finally tuned to the emergency station and leaned back as she listened to the familiar announcer.

"-are contained within the city, and we are making sure that they do not wander out past the city limits. Many units have reached several neighborhoods inside Manehattan, but some have not responded. We are trying all that we can to resolve this issue, and we will update you all soon." The announcer explained. Spitfire slammed her hoof on the table and stood up from the chair.

"Lying son of a bitch!" Spitfire shouted. Fleetfoot didn't look up from her saddlebag, she knew that Spitfire was livid, since she had similar angry outbursts like that for the past few days now. Unfortunately, Fluttershy entered the room.

"What's wrong Spitfire?" Fluttershy asked, worried that someone was hurt.

"We're all fucked because the military can't do shit, that's what's wrong!" Spitfire shouted, causing Fluttershy to retreat slightly in fear.

"Hey, Spits, lighten up, will ya?" Fleetfoot said, knowing that Fluttershy was still very sensitive, and if she started crying now, it wouldn't be the first time Spitfire made her cry.

"Oh, I'm sorry Fleetfoot, do I not have enough Faith in our leaders? I'm sorry, but fuck them if they can't take care of some braindead ponies and save us. If I don't get our van ready soon, we won't leave this city alive!" Spitfire ranted before storming out towards the garage. Spitfire had begun to make modifications to her van to make it more resistant, so that they could just plow through infected without worrying out the integrity of the vehicle.

Fleetfoot and Fluttershy stood silent for a few seconds after Spitfire left. Fluttershy let out a few sniffles, and Fleetfoot waved her hoof for Fluttershy to come over. Fluttershy nodded and walked over and sat down next to Fleetfoot, who put a comforting arm around her.

"It's okay Flutters, Spits just needs to cool off." Fleetfoot said.

"Why has she been so mad lately?" Fluttershy asked. Fleetfoot shrugged.

"She's stressed, she's angry, she just wants to go home, and she probably wants to fly again, and since we don't know what caused any of this, she most of all confused." Fleetfoot explained. Fluttershy rubbed her eyes and offered Fleetfoot a smile.

"Thanks Fleet." Fluttershy said sweetly.

"No problem." Fleetfoot said before picking up the rifle ammo. "Could you take this to Soarin and Dash, it's more sniper ammo." Fleetfoot explained. Fluttershy nodded and took the ammo and left.

Rainbow Dash scanned the street below her as she peered through the scope of her rifle. The street was fairly empty, with very few infected on either side, but Dash was always prepared for bandits.

"Anything?" Soarin asked as he sat down, messing with the zoom of his rifle.

"Nope, still no bandits." Rainbow responded. Soarin let out a groan.

"Isn't no bandits a good thing?" Rainbow asked as she turned to Soarin.

"Yeah, of course, but, it's very boring today, nothing's happening." Soarin pouted. Rainbow Dash frowned.

"Oh, it may not be the best thing in the world, but what's happening isn't boring, also, please take this a little more seriously." Rainbow ordered. Soarin sat up straight and nodded.

"Okay Dash, you talked be into it." Soarin said. Suddenly, the roof door opened and Fluttershy walked out. Rainbow smiled.

"Fluttershy! Finally ready to watch me pull of a headshot?" Rainbow asked. Fluttershy cringed at the thought.

"Nope. Fleetfoot just got back from her scavenging, and she found some ammo for you two." Fluttershy said as she set the box on the table between them.

"Neat, tell her we said thanks." Soarin said as Fluttershy walked back to the door. Fluttershy nodded and walked back inside.

"Well, we've got some extra ammo, let's get back to watch." Rainbow said as she looked back into the scope of her rifle.

She scanned back and forth between the buildings along the road in front of the station, seeing only infected as they wandered around the streets. Rainbow saw two infected bump into eachother and fall over, which she found amusing.

As she scanned though, she rested on something familiar as it made its way down the street. It was pink, though its coat was slightly darkened, and it's mane was still poofy, though not as poofy as it could be and finally, the thing that sealed it, was the three balloons on its flank.

Rainbow Dash gasped and jerked away from the scope and Soarin immediately noticed her sudden move.

"What is it? Bandits?" Soarin asked as he looked back into his scope and looked around.

Rainbow Dash looked back into her scope and found it again. There was no doubt in her mind anymore.

It was Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash leaned back from her scope as tears pooled in her eyes, more tears than she was used to, which was slim to none. Dash then lifted her hoof and pointed to show Soarin.

"You see that pink infected down there?" Rainbow asked. Soarin leaned back from his scope and followed Dash's pointing, and sure enough he noticed the pink pony.

"Is...is that...?" Soarin asked, not knowing if he should say the name.

"Yep, it's Pinkie." Rainbow croaked out, nodding.

Soarin's expression saddened as he saw Rainbow loose her usual toughness and began to break, especially when seeing her friends fate.

"I can't just leave her like that, can I?" Rainbow asked. Soarin didn't know how to respond. He stayed silent as Rainbow bolted her rifle and peered back through the scope. Rainbow was shaking, and the rifle was shaking too.

Soarin felt like he couldn't just stand there, he had to do something, say something, anything.

Author's Note

What should Soarin do/say?

A.Don't say anything and let Dash take the shot.

B. Offer to do it for her.

C. Convince her to let it be.

D. Hold the rifle steady as Dash shoots.

Chapter 15: Ten Days Later part 2

Soarin stepped towards Dash and hooked his hoof around the barrel of the rifle. Dash looked up at Soarin, with tears in her eyes and a confused look on her face.

"What are you...?" Dash started to ask.

"You're shaking, you might miss, or hit something else. She shouldn't suffer anymore than she has." Soarin said as softly and compassionately as possible. Rainbow nodded slightly before looking back into her scope.

Pinkie looked, confused, like she was looking for something. Her expression was confused, yet her eyes were blank, and she had blood around her muzzle. Dash tried to imagine the blood as the rainbow color, but couldn't bring herself to. Dash sucked in a lungful before lining the sight up directly.

"I love you Pinkie." Dash said softly before pulling the trigger. The sound rang out and Dash felt the harsh recoil.

It was a direct hit.

Pinkie fell to the ground, the strange grayish red blood beginning to pool around her.

Dash put down the rifle and immediately turned and embraced Soarin, and began to let it all out. Soarin returned the embrace, stroking Dash's head and whispering to her.

"It's okay, she's in a better place now, you'll be okay." Soarin said softly. Rainbow buried her muzzle into Soarin's shoulder and sobbed.

Nothing was going to be the same without her...

Elsewhere in the city, at an Apartment building by Saddle Row, Applejack and Sugar Belle sat on the fire escape waiting patiently for somepony to return.

Sugar Belle smugly slammed a card down in front of her.

"Go Fish." Sugar Belle said happily, finally securing a win for the first time that day. Applejack was a little bummed, but put on a small smile for Sugar Belle.

"Nice job." Applejack praised as Sugar Belle used her magic to restock and reshuffle the cards. Before they could start a new game however, the window beside them opened and Swift Justice stepped out onto the fire escape.

"Hey, is Big Mac and Rarity back yet?" Swift asked. Applejack looked back at the alley beneath them and saw nothing.

"Nope, still out scavenging I presume." Applejack said.

"Well, when they get back, I've got something everypony needs to hear." Swift explained before climbing back inside and shutting the window. Applejack and Sugar Belle went back to their game.

"What do you think he wants to show us?" Sugar Belle asked as she dealt the cards. Applejack chuckled.

"He'll probably tell us about the conversations he's been having with Connie, I've heard him talking to her through the radio lately." Applejack said. Sugar Belle smiled.

"I think he likes her." Sugar Belle added.

"Well, yeah, I figured that much, with them being partners and all.." Applejack started.

"I mean in a romantic way, like special someponies." Sugar Belle specified. Applejack nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he does seem that way, I know I'd probably be giddy for any chance to talk to a special somepony if we were separated." Applejack said. Sugar Belle's smile suddenly faded.

"Yeah, I'm glad I decided to join you guys for the trip, because if I was still in Ponyville while Big Mac and the rest of you were stuck here, I don't know what I would do." Sugar Belle said. Applejack put a reassuring hoof on Sugar Belle's shoulder.

"Well, thank you for lookin out for him. Big Mac's really found himself a great special somepony." Applejack said with a smile. Sugar Belle leaned forward and gave Applejack a small hug, and she hugged back.

Just before they could get back to the game of cards, they heard the sound of hooves approaching. They turned and saw Big Mac and Rarity rushing into the alley with saddlebags full of supplies.

Applejack and Sugar Belle worked together to lower the makeshift ladder down to the other two so they could climb up to the fire escape. After the two reached the balcony and withdrew the ladder, Big Mac and Sugar Belle shared a hug.

"Looks like you two hit the jackpot." Applejack commented, noticing how bulgy their saddlebags were.

"Eeeyup." Big Mac said as he and Sugar Belle opened the window and stepped into the apartment.

"We traveled a few blocks north and found the Breadbasket Supermart, it still had some food and supplies that weren't taken." Rarity explained as she followed Applejack in.

The apartment was a little messier than it was when the group got there, but the group made an effort to make it feel like home, despite the circumstances. As the ponies from outside made their way in, Swift Justice peaked his head out of the doorway to the kitchen.

"Good, you guys are back, and it looks like you got the motherlode." Swift said as he stepped into the living room. Rarity and Big Mac quickly took off their saddlebags and began to unload their contents onto the floor. The supplies they scavenged ranged from food, to toiletries, to even ammunition.

"With all this, we should be able to hold out another week, or at least until the military roll in." Sugar Belle said. The others agreed, but Swift Justice's smile faded.

"Yeah, about that, I have some bad news." Swift said as he moved to the kitchen to get the radio. As he did so, the door to one of the bedrooms opened and the CMC ran down the hallway to greet the others.

"Rarity! You made it back!" Sweetie exclaimed as she embraced her sister.

"You cam out just in time girls, Swift Justice has some bad news." Applejack said. The CMC's smiles quickly faded as Swift re-entered the room with the radio. He placed it down and tuned it to the emergency radio. The radio then turned on the tail end of the announcers words.

"-vacuation. I repeat, for those of you still in Manehattan, if you can, make your way to the Manehattan bridge for evacuation. We are sorry, we have taken too many casualties and must retreat to help smaller towns and cities that have been infected. Both Whinneapolis and Detrot have both been infected. I repeat, come to Manehattan bridge and cross it, a small military force is remaining on the other side to evacuate any survivors."

Each pony in the room was dead silent as the announcer repeated the statement again. Afterwards, Swift turned off the radio and let out a long sigh.

"So, looks like we can't just wait for the Military to do its thing." Swift said.

"So, what do we do now?" Sugar Belle asked.

"Now, we need a new plan, if we stay here we'll eventually run out of supplies, we need to do what he says, we need to go to the bridge." Rarity said.

"But, what about everypony else? Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie? We can't just leave without finding them, can we?" Applejack asked.

"They could be anywhere in this massive city, IF they're even alive." Swift Justice said. Applejack frowned at his pessimistic statement.

"Don't say things like that! My friends and I have helped Equestria many times, and if there's anypony in this world that could make it through a crisis like this, it's them!" Applejack said angrily. Rarity nodded, giving Swift an equally angry look.

"Well, if you want to waste your time finding them, then be my guest. I already have a plan. My partner, Connie is over in Bridleway and the group she's with managed to get a bus. All they need is fuel, and I'm going to help them. You can all come with me, but if you have a better plan with you, then make the choice now, because that's all I got." Swift said as he went into the kitchen and started to gather his things.

Applejack turned to the others, each of them with a dumbfounded look on their faces.

"He's really gonna abandon us, just like that?" Rarity whispered.

"Well, he's going to help his friend, so I can see why, but what do we do?" Applejack asked.

"We need to choose, like he said, either go with him, or find some other plan." Rarity said.

"What do you think Big Mac?" Sugar Belle asked. Big Mac furrowed his brow as he thought, then turned to Applejack.

"whatever you think is best sis." Big Mac said. Applejack felt a little anxious. She turned to Rarity with a questioning look.

"I don't know darling. Either choice could be good. Bridle Way is over by the Stadium where the Wonderbolts were supposed to play, and also not too far from the hotel we were staying at, so our friends could be over in that area." Rarity explained. Applejack nodded.

"I think we should go with him." Sweetie Bell suddenly added.

"Me too." Scootaloo added. Applejack smiled.

"Swift?" Applejack called.

"Yeah?" Swift responded from the kitchen.

"We're coming with you." Applejack said, the others all nodded.

Swift Justice walked back into the living room with an apologetic look.

"Sorry I was so, insensitive. I'm just so pissed that the military is just turning their backs on us." Swift said. Applejack stood up and walked over to Swift and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"It's okay Swift, we know you just want to see Connie again." Applejack said with a wink. Swift immediately blushed.

"So, when are we heading out?" Rarity asked. It was still midday.

"We can either pack up and leave while it's still daylight, or we can leave tonight, I'm good with either." Swift said. Applejack turned to Rarity, who had now stood up.

"When do you think we should leave darling?" Rarity asked. Applejack thought for a moment...

Author's Note

As Applejack, choose....

A. Leave now.

B. Leave at night.

Chapter 16: Ten Days Later part 3

Author's Note

Please read this before the rest of the chapter please!
Hey....
So, a month had passed and I'm finally getting back on track. I just want to apologize for the quality of my last few chapters, I really do feel ashamed. I just feel like they were so rushed and bad and I feel guilty even though nobody's said anything terrible about them yet.
I would still like to thank each and every one of you who's supporting me and this story, thank you so much.

Also, I'm thinking of starting a new story. It's gonna be a sort of sci-fi horror focused story with the CMCs, Button Mash, Rumble, and a few others. Would you guys be interested in reading something like that?

Chapter 16: Ten Days Later part 3

"We should leave as soon as we can, if we leave after dark, we'll probably be more vulnerable than in the daylight." Applejack said, answering Swift Justice's question. Swift nodded and began to gather more supplies.

"Okay, then everypony, start packing a bag. Pack what you can carry and don't forget ammo and weapons, we leave in one hour, okay?" Swift explained. Everyone else nodded and began to move about the apartment, gathering up their supplies.

As Applejack packed, she began to have doubts about the plan. Sure, the it was probably a better idea to get themselves out of the city in the first place, but there were only a few options to get out. Either using one of the two bridges back to the mainland, or taking a boat up or down the coast from the harbor.

But, Applejack wasn't ready to give up now, far from it. They survived ten days already, and after all that they'd gone through while staying at the apartment, they could handle a trip...

...hopefully...

Elsewhere in the city...

Starlight Glimmer trotted down the hallway of the hotel, balancing a tray on her back, consisting of 3 cans and a bowl of gems. Starlight began to slow her pace as she approached the specific room she was looking for.

Room 304. The room that would've just been another hotel room to stay in and leave after a few days if their vacation hadn't turned into a nightmare.

Starlight stopped in front of the door and rose her hoof and knocked a few times.

"Who is it?" Spike's voice responded from inside.

"It's Starlight, I've got dinner!" Starlight said back. She heard the sound of something moving towards the door before it opened and Starlight stepped inside. She and Spike walked from the door into the main area of the room and Starlight saw a familiar sight.

Twilight Sparkle was sitting upright on the bed closest to the window. She was wrapped in a blanket and she stared out the window with a blank expression and bags under her eyes. Twilight glanced over at Starlight briefly before turning back to look out the window.

"Come on Twilight, Starlight's got food, you need to eat something." Spike said as he walked over to Twilight and tugged on the blanket she was wrapped in. Twilight sighed and turned around to face Starlight. Now starlight could see the red in her eyes and the dried tears on her face. Starlight placed the tray on the small table next to the TV and sat on the bed to to Twilight and wrapped an arm around her to comfort her.

The past ten days haven't been pleasant to say the least. After they escaped the antique store, tragically leaving Pinkie behind, they managed to make their way up the street and to the hotel, where a group of fellow survivors let them in. They then got to work helping this group fortify the hotel to keep the horde of infected out. After the first day the leader of the group, the owner of the hotel named All Expense, began to separate ponies into different jobs so that they could remain safe. Silent Watch was obviously put on security duty. Starlight was put on scavenging and food prep, while Twilight and Spike helped All Expense out with whatever they could. However, Twilight had a rough time.

She could easily put on a smile and could act confident when helping the rest of the group, but whenever she was not being observed, she couldn't hold back the floodgates anymore and she cried. Ever since they lost Pinkie, it was like Twilight was broken. While Starlight, Spike, and Silent Watch tried to help her out whenever they could, the most they could offer was comfort.

Starlight said nothing as she comforted Twilight, knowing that trying to get Twilight over the death of a close friend was impossible. After spending a few minutes like that, Starlight grabbed one of the cans and tilted her head to face Twilight.

"Are you hungry?" Starlight asked. Twilight turned to face her and nodded slightly, even forming a small smile.

"mmhmm" Twilight said as she nodded. Starlight grabbed one of the other cans off the tray and noticed that Spike had already began eating the gems.

"Really Spike?" Starlight asked, giving him a slight look of disapproval.

"Hey, I'm hungry." Spike responded before continuing to eat.

Starlight opened both cans and gave one to Twilight, who quickly began to eat. It wasn't much, considering the rationing rules that the group had, but they took what they could get, which in this case, was canned beans.

Just as they began digging in, another pony appeared in the doorway and strolled into the room. Silent Watch smiled and quickly grabbed the last can off the tray and opened it before starting to scarf it down quickly.

"Woah, don't eat it too quick, you'll get sick." Starlight said sarcastically as Silent ate. He swallowed what was in his mouth before responding.

"Hey, I've been starving for something other than granola bars, to me this is a five star meal." Silent Watch said before eating more.

"How's guard duty coming along for you?" Twilight suddenly asked. Silent sat down in the chair next to the table and groaned.

"It's more interesting than guarding a museum, I'll tell you that. But more dangerous at the same time." Silent said before taking another spoonful of beans.

"Any more horde attacks lately?" Starlight asked. Silent shook his head.

"No more hordes, just stragglers aimlessly wandering the streets. Though me and the other guards have seen a few non-infected ponies down the street, probably scavengers, and hopefully not hostile." Silent explained.

"Has All Expense said anything about the military coming through?" Starlight asked. Silent's neutral look then turned to one of sadness upon hearing the military.

"He says they've given up." Silent responded sadly. Twilight, Starlight, and Spike all audibly gasped.

"He says that the emergency broadcast said the military have taken too many casualties and are urging any survivors to try to leave the city themselves. Apparently the infected have also been spotted in other Equestrian cities, including Fillydelhpia." Silent explained, his voice getting shaky as he mentioned his hometown.

"Has he mentioned anything about the Princesses?" Twilight quickly asked worryingly.

"I'm pretty sure that if the Princesses could do anything, they would've done it by now. Whatever is happening, it's something not even they can handle." Silent said sadly. The four of them all glanced at eachother, each of them worried about what would happen next, now that the "sit still and wait for rescue" plan had fallen through.

"So, what now?" Starlight asked.

"Expense says that everypony should be ready for the worst. In the event that the hotel is overrun, we need to run, and try to find a way out of the city." Silent said.

"But we're almost in the middle of the city, the harbor is to far east and the bridges back to the mainland are to far west." Starlight said.

"That may be true Starlight..." Starlight turned to see Twilight placing a hoof on her shoulder, "...but if something else happens and we need to run, then we need to be strong....and I'm sorry if I haven't been the best example of a strong pony the past few days." Twilight said sadly to the others.

"Twilight, it's okay. You haven't been weak, you've been mourning and grieving. We all have in some way, but you had a special bond with Pinkie, and therefore, we completely understand why you've been like this." Starlight said, placing her hoof over Twilight's before pulling her into a hug. The two embraced for a while, eventually, Spike joined them and even Silent got up and placed a hoof on Twilight's back.

"Whatever happens next, I promise we will get through this together, for Pinkie..." Twilight said as they all embraced.

Chapter 17: Where Did She Go?

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