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.