The Few That Lived

“Damn... killing trotters is one thing, but live ponies...” Pyro said, a little shocked.

Butterscotch was just now coming to her senses, “What happened?” she asked, still resting on Pyro’s back.

“Not anything good, a comrade was shot.” Pyro said to ‘sleeping beauty,’

“Um... why am I on your back?” She asked,

“Because you fell asleep and we needed to leave and get to the hospital.” Pyro said as he started to walk towards the building that held their prize.

“How long was I asleep?” She asked,

“About two minutes.” Pyro said, not looking up.

“Do you mind if I go back to sleep?” She asked,

“If you snore I do.” Pyro said, chuckling.

Butterscotch gave a weak laugh, “Don’t worry, I don’t” She said, burrowing back down into his fur.

“H-hey! That tickles!” Pyro said, jerking slightly to the side.

She finally settled in and fell asleep quickly, Shining Armor secured her to Pyro’s back with some rope so she wouldn’t fall off if they had to move quickly.

“You sure we can trust her?” Cinnamon asked,

“I’m not sure of anything anymore, Cinnabon.” Pyro sighed, “But she needs treatment for some of the wounds she got from the... exercise.”

“What kind of ‘exercise’ do you mean?” Cinnamon asked,

“I think you know.” Pyro said flatly.

Cinnamon raised an eyebrow and looked at the banner on the house, his eyes suddenly widened. “By Luna’s mane...” he said, looking at the pony, “You serious?”

“Very. Can we get going?” Pyro asked, “I don’t want to run into anymore trotters.”

“Yeah, lets go” He said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder, “They probably heard the shot.”

The party of four continued towards the hospital, a little slower because of the sleeping mare. There wasn't much of anything else on the way to the hospital, more houses and an occasional tree. Pyro stopped at the front door of the big white building and looked at it closely. it wasn’t very much better than the other houses, but it still qualified as the safest.

“Should we knock?” Pyro said as he turned towards the two unicorns behind him.

“Seriously?” Shining asked as he kicked the door down and trotted in with his gun raised,

“Or we could just barge on in uninvited.” Pyro said as he frowned upon the actions of the white pony,

The four ponies stepped through the hospital slowly and quietly, kicking it in reverse each time they spotted a trotter.

“Do you even know which room they’re in?” Cinnamon asked,

“Yes, it’s 13-B” he said, “We need to go up.”

“How does this place NOT have a map on every corner?”  Pyro said as he squinted to see down the hallway, “It’s ginormous.”

“Who knows, maybe they had all been taken down” Shining said flatly,

“Why? it’s not like trotters are smart enough to read.” Pyro said,

“No, but Thieves are.” Cinnamon finished,

“Whatever. I think I see the stairs the end the hallway.” Pyro said as he stopped squinting and looked back at the group.

“Let’s go then” Shining said anxiously, picking up the pace.

Pyro went into a slow trot to keep up with Shining, making sure that the mare was still comfortable on his back.

“What are you going so slow for?” Cinnamon asked impatiently,

“You can’t ever be too cautious.” Pyro said as he increased speed, just a little,

The corridor that led to 13-B was familiar to Shining Armor, he had remembered coming here to kill off some of the ponies, which he regretted highly. The walls were stained with their blood, a single nurse laid out over the counter, her body had begun to decompose and rot, it was an awful sight, Shining silently gave a prayer to all of the ponies in the hall.

The four ponies moved along the corridor with ease, not running into anything, or anypony unwanted. Shining watched as the room numbers passed his view,

9-B.

10-B.

11-B

12-B...

Finally they reached their destination, room 13-B, it was a good sign to Shining when he saw the large medicine cabinet blocking the entrance.

“Okay, how do we go about doing this without getting shot?” Cinnamon asked,

“Knocking?” Pyro suggested, “I know I’ve said that, but is seems to work.”

“Well, I didn’t leave them a gun, but I don’t know if they went scavenging,” Shining said, “Knocking might actually be reasonable here.”

“Good, but for the record, I could burn down the door.” Pyro said smugly.

“Let’s not” Cinnamon said, navigating his hoof through the cabinet and to the door,

Knock Knock Knock!

Rainbow Dash was startled by the sudden noise, she slowly got to her hooves and looked at the door quizzically, like it hadn’t actually made the sound.

Knock Knock Knock!

Now she was sure somepony had actually knocked on the door, she quickly moved to the door, put her ear on it and spoke,

“Who’s there?”

“The pizzamare.” Pyro said flatly,

Shining Armor was relieved to hear one of her friends speak, but was irritated by Pyro’s joke, this was no laughing matter, at least he still had a sense of humor though, something that he had lost when he saw his wife get devoured before his eyes.

“Rainbow Dash!” He suddenly blurted out, “Are you alright?”

Rainbow Dash took a few seconds to respond, “Yeah, we’re fine.” she said,

“So you’re all in there?” Shining asked, hopefully.

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond this time, Shining didn’t particularly care though, he wanted to see his sister.

“Cinnamon, help me get this out of the way!” Shining practically shouted with excitement,

Cinnamon and Shining pushed the heavy cabinet away from the door easily, it felt like it had lost weight since he last moved it, which took extreme effort.

Shining barged in immediately after he moved it out of the way, smile on his face and hope in his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” was all he received,

Shining’s knees felt weak, his throat ran dry and his smile faded, it felt like somepony had added hundreds of pounds to his armor.

“Oh great, the only reason we came here for is gone.” Pyro said as he looked around the room for the famous Twilight Sparkle.

“Not entirely” Cinnamon said, seeing the three mares, “Can’t they help?”

Shining Armor still stood, frozen in place. Not speaking, not crying, not doing anything.

His horn suddenly glowed brightly.

His revolver slowly floated from its holster, he pointed it towards Rainbow Dash.

“Where is she?” He asked, pain laced his words.

Rainbow Dash was shocked by the sudden threat, and question,

“Shining?” Pyro warned, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I-I don’t know” She said,

“Where is she?” he repeated, the hammer on the gun slowly clicked into place.

“She said she was going to Canterlot, same with the others.” Rainbow answered, sweat was beading on her forehead,

“Canterlot is gone, she wouldn’t go there,” Shining said, snatching the gun out of the air and jamming the gun to the bottom of her chin, “You’re lying”

“Shining don’t do it.” Pyro growled, “Or I’ll take your hoof off with it.”

“Shining, she’s telling the truth” Pinkie said, “No matter how much of a smarty pants that pony was, she thought she could find you there”

Shining Armor seemed to consider this for a moment, but still kept the weapon in its place. His hoof started to tremble, his eyes started to tear up. He slowly brought the gun down and began to cry.

“BUCK.” Shining said as he slammed his other hoof into the ground.

“What now?” Butterscotch whispered to Pyro, “Wait... is that Pinkie Pie?”

“Wahhh!” Pyro yelled as he reared back, “Butterscotch, I hadn’t realized you were awake.”

The mare tried to move but was unable to because of the ropes, her breathing suddenly quickened, “W-why am I tied down?” she asked in a panicked voice.

“Sorry, it was to prevent you from slipping if we had to run.” Pyro said as he undid the ropes that laced around him and the mare.

The mare moved off of him and stood up, “I think I’ll wait ‘till tonight to sleep” she said, a lack of trust was in her tone.

“That’s okay.” Pyro said as he started to move around because of the weight that was taken of him.

Shining Armor was still sobbing, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Cinnamon were trying to comfort him, Butterscotch and Pyro just stood there,

“You never answered my question” The mare said,

“Yes, that is Pinkie Pie... I think.” Pyro said scratching his head. “I’ve never seen her up close before.”

“We spoke at the Grand Galloping Gala last year, she had asked me about the desserts when she saw my chefs hat.” She said, “She was really... bouncy?”

“I think that’s an appropriate way to put it.” Pyro said as he smiled at Butterscotch,

Butterscotch looked in his direction but quickly looked away, trying to hide her blush.

“Um, anyways, did we find the elements of harmony?” Butterscotch asked, still not showing her face to Pyro.

“Alas, we have only found three... I think.” Pyro said sheepishly, “I haven’t actually seen any of them before.”

“Well, I think that’s Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie talked about her alot” She said, “And I reckon that’s Apple...” Butterscotch stumbled for words,

“Jack” Applejack finished, she was suddenly in front of the two,

“Pleasure to meet you Applejack, my name is Pyro.” Pyro said,

“Pleased ta meetcha both” She said, “Where’d y’all come from?”

“Well, I’m originally from... Fillydelphia.” Pyro said,

Applejack turned to Butterscotch,

“Las Pegasus...” She said, grinning sheepishly.

Shining Armor cut her off by pushing past the three and walking towards the stairwell, like he was trying to leave,

“Where do ya think you’re goin?” Applejack asked,

Shining Armor stopped and looked back, a mixture of fear and determination was in his eyes.

“Canterlot.”