When Thorax had that plan in his head, he looked back down at the young princess in his hooves.

"Do you think you can stand? Jump?" He asked her.

"I'd better try and see." She replied.

Thorax lowered her to her hooves, and Twilight stood cautiously rubbing her badly bruised neck and took a small step towards him.

Immediately, she hissed in pain and she clutched her bloody hoof and sat down on the rooftop, in front of him.

"Holy sweet Celestia! That hurts!", She muttered painfully.

Thorax stared down at her and said "I'll need to get that fixed up when we get across." He informed her, and he had another idea of getting the two of them to the other apartment "This means you can't jump. Very well, we'll do it my way."

"Oh? What way is that?" She asked.

Thorax reached out a gloved hoof for her. She took it, and he pulled her upright to her feet again. He turned suddenly to face away from her.

"Climb onto my back." He told her.

Twilight's eyes widened as she ignored the pain throbbing in her back hoof.

"Why?" She asked with a small blush.

"You're too weak to cross on your own..obviously." He explained to her, still looking at the scaffold. "Yet, you're also light, and I can get us across. Unless, of course you want those things breaking through the door and eat you?"

"And what if it can't support our combined weight?" Twilight asked with a worried look "It wouldn't be much better then those zombies.. It's a long way down!" She protested.

Thorax said nothing for a moment, then turned his head slowly so the red eye pieces stared firmly into her own wide purple eyes.

Twilight then braced herself for another cold insult from him.

"Trust me." Was all he said, and simply turned back away.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, listening as the rooftop door far behind them began to splinter and threaten to break under the horde of creatures.

"He saved me when he could have left me.. I need to trust him." Twilight thought to herself.

"I..I Trust you." She replied slowly and nervously.

Twilight wrapped her hooves around the back of his neck. She hopped on her good hoof slightly and began pulling herself up onto his armoured back.

Thorax then grabbed onto both of her bare hooves and helped her up.

Twilight locked both of her hooves around his waist firmly, and held onto his neck, her chest buried into his back and her head resting against his left shoulder strap.

"This must be pretty heavy, Thorax...are you sure?" She asked quietly behind him. "I don't mean to sound negative, but what if you miss?" She asked again with another worried look.

Thorax said nothing, turned away from the edge of the roof and walked away several meters for a running jump.

Behind them, the door burst open and several zombies fell onto the roof moaning hungrily. Then they began crossing the roof towards the survivors.

Thorax turned back on the heel of his boot and faced the scaffolding again.

"I won't." He replied to her with some confident in his voice.

Thorax burst into movement, running towards the edge of the building at a surprising speed, even under the combined weight of Twilight and his equipment.

His muffled breaths were heavier now and stronger.

Twilight then held onto him even closer as he reached the edge, and he leaped over the side of the building.

Twilight then felt her heart seize in fear, as she and Thorax tumbled off the side of the building, towards the metal railing scaffold.

There was a horribly long moment of free fall as the town around her slowed down and she took in all the details.

She could see Thorax's outstretched hooves before him, his gloved hooves reaching towards the rail that they were rapidly closing in on.

For a split second, she was sure that his hooves would miss the railing they would tumble down into the alley below.

At the very last moment, Thorax's hooves latched roughly onto the iron railing, his front crashed into the side of the scaffold, but he kept his hooves firmly grasping onto it, the entire scaffold shook and sawyed slightly under the weight.

Twilight's head buckled back from the impact and she adjusted her grip on Thorax and closed her eyes slightly.

"Are you sure that you can pull us up?" She asked desperately, opening her eyes slightly. "We probably weigh too much together."

"Of course I can. As I said nothing stops me." Thorax replied with confident in his voice.

Thorax's hooves muscles strained as he began lifting them slowly up the rail with an incredible strength which amazed Twilight.

Thorax brought themselves higher by lifting one boot up and looped it over the railing, next he swung his other leg over and dropped to the scaffold floor, he then turned his head and looked back at the roof they had came from.

The zombies were still staggering towards them, ignoring the gap in between the buildings. The low hungry moans still filled the air. Twilight followed his gaze and watched them from over Thorax's shoulder.

The lead zombies stepped over to the roof' s edge, they attempted to continue on but their hooves only touched the air and they went tumbling helplessly down over the side and into the empty alley seven stories below.

Thorax watched as the rest of the horde fell off the side of the building, crashing face first into the pavement. The zombies below lay squirming and writhing in a pile on the alley.

"Stupid zombies." Thorax commented to himself with a cold amusement. "Now we head up to this roof." He turned them both over to the control panel and examining the multiple coloured buttons.

"Hmm..." Thorax muttered to himself, considering them.

"Try that one." Twilight told him, extending a hoof at a larger red button.

Thorax pressed it firmly with his gloved hoof and the scaffold creaked, shifted and began a slow yet steady ascension to the roof.

Thorax took a deep muffled breath, and Twilight rested her head comfortably on his shoulder again.

The scaffold finally reached the top, nine floors from the pavement of the street. In the middle of the roof there was a section with a closed metal door, leading down into the apartment building.

"We can find an empty apartment to get your wound healed." Thorax informed Twilight.

"Are we going to stay until morning?" She asked hopefully "I'm completely exhausted."

"I know you are." He replied naturally. "And to answer your question. Yes, we're staying here. It isn't safe to move tonight plus I'd have to carry you everywhere if we did."

Thorax then activated his horn and leveled it at the door, he then grasped the door handle cautiously and slowly opened it.

There was a creak in the door frame as Thorax opened it filly and stepped into the dark staircase and he began observing his surroundings with his horn still activated and the place was all clear and he deactivated his horn.

Thorax then descended down the steps carefully, when he reached the bottom of the stairs and walked to the corner leading to the 8th floor hallway, he stopped.

Thorax then peaked his head around the corner carefully, then nodded to himself pulling his head back.

"Trouble?" Twilight asked from behind him quietly.

"No. The whole floor looks empty." Thorax replied calmly.

He then stepped outside one door and looked at it and it was labeled boldy:8H

"Well... this one is as good as anywhere." Thorax muttered to himself quietly.

Then he reached his left hoof and grasped the doorknob, slowly turning it.

Thorax silently pushed the door open, flicked on the light switch beside the door. The lights flickered on and they were fairly dim. He then scanned the room observantly.

It was completely empty. The front room of the apartment appeared bare. There was no carpeting, wallpaper or picture frames and the walls were painted dull white.

"Somepony must have moved out or something." Twilight suggested "And it's just as cold in here as it is outside!"

"Or they didn't get to move in. It makes no difference to me if it's empty or cold. This place will still serve it's purpose." Thorax told her.

"Besides it's not about which apartment is the most comfortable." He finished.

"Fine with me." Twilight replied, shaking her head as Thorax carefully moved them down the hall, towards the living room.

Once they were in Thorax moved over to the wall, just beside one of the windows. Thankfully, it was lined up with the hallway, so he could still watch the door, just in case.

"Alright, princess Sparkle. Get off me." Thorax told her neutrally "I need to fix your hoof."

Author's Note

Hope all of you enjoyed this chapter.