Flash Sentry sat in his desk, staring blankly at the empty page in front of him. He'd rather be doing anything else right now. Like playing some sports, or playing his guitar with the boys, or hanging out with Sunset and the rest of the girls. But no, he was stuck here in detention writing the essay that he was supposed to have had done today, his paper just sitting there untouched of the pencil he was twirling in his hand. How the hell was he supposed to write anything about the country of Russia? He wished he had studied a bit about the country he wanted to do instead of just picking one at random. If he had just done that, he wouldn't be where he was right now.

It was something like this, he had the brilliant idea of just not showing up to class that day, then maybe he could spend the day actually studying so that he could present tomorrow. He had no idea how that idea had popped into his head, but it seemed like a good one at the time. The problem was that he decided to go to the coffee shop to study, and it just so happened that Mister Cranky happened to be there for his lunch break. It didn't take him long to find him in the crowd and assign him a week's worth of detention. So much for extra time to study. Well, truth be told, his plan had worked in a weird way. He now had all the time he needed to study. Just an empty room with him, Mr. Cranky, and anyone else who happened to have detention at the time.

Currently, he was sharing the room with two other students, a boy and a girl around his age. The girl had yellow striped hair with orange eyes, the boy had long, bushy green hair with blue eyes. They both looked like troublemakers, like they definitely deserved to be here. He kinda wished that they would make something happen, you know, spice things up a little bit.

Mister Cranky also seemed to share his boredom, because after he checked his watch for about the tenth time, he finally got up from his chair and declared: "I'm heading out to check on the other teachers. If I see anything or anyone out of place by the time I get back, that's another week's worth of detention for all of you." With that open, Cranky left the room, locking the door behind him for good measure. Flash sighed, Cranky got to go fight his boredom while he was stuck here writing about Russia. It just wasn't fair.

"Psst, hey you."

Flash looked up from his paper, was the girl calling to him? He figured that it wasn't likely. She most likely was talking to the other kid. He was just about to go back to his essay, when a ball of crumpled paper hit him square in the back of the head.

"Hey, dude with the blue spiky hair. Look over here, I wanna talk to you."

A little annoyed, Flash turned around to address the girl, "What do you want?" The girl threw her hands up, mocking defense, "Woah dude, chill out. I just wanna know what you're in for, that's all."

"What I'm... in for?" Flash asked, a little confused.

The boy on the other side of the class laughed out loud, a thick Irish accent coming out of it, "Looks like we got ourselves a newbie here. Look buddy, what my eccentric friend over here wants to know, is what did you do to land yourself in this shit hole?"

"Oh," Flash realized, feeling a little stupid, "I decided that it was a good idea to skip school for more time to study."

The girl laughed a little bit, "Ha, you ditch school and you use it to study? Ah well, it must've been your first time, so I'll let it slide."

Flash gave her a look of disgust, was she actually giving him notes about ditching school? What was up with this woman? She leaned forward and introduced herself, "The name's Lightning Dust, and the handsome Irish bastard next to me is Clover Pot."

"Friends call me Clover," Clover added, "Not as handsome as she says I am, but I'm deadly smart, I am."

Flash was a little weary of these two, everything about them spelled trouble. However, they were the only people he could talk to, and that beat trying to make stuff up about Russia, "I'm Flash. So, what are you guys in for, anyway?" The two burst into laughter, he couldn't tell if he had said anything funny.

Lightning Dust was the first to answer, "Set fire to the school sports field. I found some leftover stuff from the Friendship Games awhile back, figured I'd make another stunt show for the Washouts."

"The Washouts?" Flash questioned, "Never heard of them."

"They're my people," Lightning explained, "We're a team of misfits who ended up not making it as a Wondercolt here. So as payback, we go around trying to do more awesome and dangerous stunts than the Wondercolts could ever dream to do!" She spoke these last words like someone would patriotically salute the American flag, "So anyway, I was on my bike, ready to start the stunt, when Vice Principal Luna comes out the door and yells at me to stop. She scared me and I accidentally started the bike. I had the right mind to jump off before it hit the oil drums. BOOM, the whole track ends up in flames! I'll tell you, my folks weren't happy about that one."

"Well, yeah!" Flash sarcastically agreed, "You put yourself and other people at risk! You're lucky that you didn't land in jail!"

"Ha!" Lightning laughed, like the idea of jail was hilarious to her, "Going to jail would be totally worth it if I got to show up the Wondercolts!"

Flash simply shook his head, "I swear, you're gonna get yourself killed one of these days. What about you, Clover? What did you do?"

Clover gave a chuckle, "You really wanna know? It ain't pretty."

Flash shrugged, "Why not? It can't be worse than setting the school sports field on fire."

"Well, if you insist. I...," Clover paused for affect, "I kissed Miss Cheerilee."

Flash almost threw up, that was the most disgraceful thing he had ever heard, "What the hell did you do that for?!"

"Well," Clover explained, sounding like he was gonna tell a campfire story, "I saw this movie, can't remember what it was called, three o'clock- no four o'clock... something. Whatever, so in the movie, the kid has to fight this bully after school, so he tries to land himself in detention by seducing his teacher. But, his plan ended up backfiring and she fell in love with him. So I figured I'd try the same thing, see if it would work. Unfortunately, the plan went like it was supposed to in the movie, and I ended up here."

"You are one sick bastard, you know that?" Flash accused. Clover simply bowed, as if Flash was praising him for his perverted action.

Lightning Dust leaned forward, "But enough about us, what about you? I know you play in the school band, but I bet you could give us the more juicy details. You can't be entirely a goody-two shoes, can you? Do you have some kinda secret mafia family that you're distantly related to? You got some kind of weird rash somewhere? Oh, do you have a boyfriend?"

Flash was just about to answer, to tell her that none of her outlandish suspicions were true, when he simply froze. He knew why, the question she asked him had opened an old wound in his heart. But it wasn't about a boyfriend, rather about a girlfriend. He used to date Sunset, back when she was still the underground ruler of CHS, but he soon saw through her cute facade and dumped her. Then there was Twilight.

Clover seemed to notice his sadness, as he leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder, "Look, I'm sorry if Lightning hurt you in anyway, she just doesn't know when to..."

"No, it's okay, I don't mind," Flash insisted, brushing his hand off. His eyes tearing up a little bit, he kept this within him for so long. Why he was opening up to these people after all this time, he didn't know. He had just met them and already they seemed like the type of psychopaths that would make fun of him for his troubles. But he couldn't do it anymore, he had to tell someone about how he felt deep inside. Even if the only people listening were assholes like Lightning and Clover, "No boyfriend, I don't swing that way. But I did have a girlfriend once. Her name was Twilight Sparkle. She was smart, funny and had a heart bigger than this school. She was literally out of this world."

Lightning mockingly cooed, "Oooooh, she seems like a good catch."

Flash didn't really care if he was being mocked, he just needed someone to listen to him, "Yeah, she was. But then, something happened. Something was going on through my head, and I suddenly shut her out. And it was for a reason that was so stupid when I thought back to it. I hurt her, and I paid the price for it. When my head was clear, I tried to approach her again, and she told me that she had forgiven me, that she understood that I wasn't thinking straight. But, I could see it in her eyes, I had left a scar on her. What used to be between us, that was over. After that, she... she went back home to her friends. I never saw her again."

Flash paused for breath, not quite done with his emotional trip, "After that, I tried getting back together again with Sunset Shimmer, but she was just indifferent to me, like me being there with her was not important to her at all. The worst part is, everyday whenever I look at Sunset and Tw-... and her other friends, I'm just reminded of Twilight, and how I lost her! It's like their constantly torturing me by living the life that I could've had but threw away! It's like reaching for something, only for it to be pulled away at the last minute! Sure, they talk to me, and address me when I'm in the room! But when they do, it doesn't feel genuine, their words are empty and indifferent towards me. Whenever I try to help them, or cheer them on, they never acknowledge me or they just push me away! I'M CONSTANTLY TREATED LIKE I DON'T EXIST!!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!"

Flash suddenly realized he was yelling, as Lightning and Clover had backed away from him a little bit, while keeping their eyes on the door in case Cranky came back. Flash no longer had the strength to say anymore, or even cry anymore. So he just went back to staring at his blank page, the only thing that seemed to give him bliss right now. Suddenly, he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder, it was Lightning this time, "Look, I'm not really good at things like this. All I can say is that this Sunrise Shitter or whatever is bad news, she and her friends are not the girls you thought they were. Take my advice: If you ever run into someone who isn't what they appear, ditch 'em and move on with your life."

"Lightning's right, Flashy my boy," Clover agreed, "So you lost Twilight, chasing after Sunset and the others ain't gonna bring her back. The right thing to do is move on and find somebody new. Love isn't a match, my boy, it's a cigarette lighter. There are plenty of other logs out in the world to catch your fire."

Flash couldn't believe what he was hearing, these two psychos were giving him advice about relationships?! But then again, he was a little grateful for it, and what they were telling him was making a little bit of sense. Wiping his tears away, he thanked them for their kind words, "You know, you guys aren't all that bad as you seemed before. You make great company."

Lightning smirked, "Then you should hang around with us more often. In fact, a few members of the Washouts are on their way to break us out of here. They should be here right about..."

Tap! Tap! Tap!

"Ah, right on time," Lightning declared, "A good thing too, I was just getting antsy."

Flash looked out the window next to him. In front of him were two teens that had to have been Lightning's friends. There was a girl, tall with cloud-like hair, and a scar over her left eye. The other one was a guy, a bit shorter, with flame-like hair, and looked like his temper could explode at any minute. The girl had a tool box with her and got to work removing the window from it's frame. The short tempered one was handing the tools whenever the girl asked him to, he didn't seem to have the mindset or calmness to do anything else. Clover celebrated, "Woohoo! Time to blow this Popsicle stand wide open! Hey Flash, you coming?"

It didn't take Flash long to make a decision. Everything that he was brought up to believe in screamed, "Hell no, stay away from me, freaks!" But that wasn't the decision he made, he was done following around Sunset and Twilight, trying to kindle a spark that wasn't there. He was moving on with his life, for better or worse, "You know what, I think I will."

With those words, Flash went up to the window, and did his best to help the two teens outside to loosen the windows. This was the beginning of an exciting new life for him.

Well, it was technically, but not in the way that he had pictured it. For suddenly, he heard the muffled sound of screaming from outside the room. It sounded like a mob of people trying to run away from something! Flash got a little worried, "Guys, do you hear that? Something's wrong."

"I hear it too," Clover added, "Is there a fire?"

"Whatever it is, it's all the more reason to get the fuck outta here," Lightning simply clarified, "Rolling Thunder, Short Fuse, pick up the pace with the window!"

Flash pushed at the window as hard as he could, anything to loosen it for Rolling Thunder to get it undone. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something truly nightmarish. A little girl was getting eaten alive, by something that looked like it didn't belong in the living world. The monster looked like a person, except that it had rotting gray skin, and blank empty eyes. In other words, it looked dead. Once it was done, it got up and moved on, looking for another person to devour. But the scariest part was that the girl got right back up, and sank her teeth into the leg of a teacher who happened to be nearby. Then it was rinse and repeat, whatever this was, it was turning people into monsters! They had to get out fast!

Unfortunately, both Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse had seen what had happened behind them, and they were slowly backing away from the window. Lightning banged on the window, "Rolling, don't you dare! Fuse, get back here and let me out, god dammit!" But Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse had made up their minds, they dropped their tools and took off as fast as their legs could take them. Lightning was banging on the window with all her might, "GET BACK HERE, GET BACK HERE AND LET ME OUT! DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU BOTH! I HOPE YOU GET EATEN ALIVE, YOU BASTARDS!"

Clover looked panicked, their only way out had taken off at top speed, "Fuck! Well, that's just great! What do we do now?!"

Lightning was screaming, "I don't know, check the door! Maybe that fuckface Cranky didn't lock it properly!"

With finding a way to escape the only thing going on in his head, Flash ran for the door and tried the handle: Locked. He tried bashing the door open, ramming into it with his shoulder five times before giving up, "It's no use, the door's locked tight!"

Clover tried his best to think, which was nigh impossible under these circumstances, "Maybe try the window again?! Maybe they loosened it enough to where we just open it with force!"

"That's no good!" Lightning panicked, "I tried busting it open while Flash tried the door, there's no popping that thing off!"

"Have you tried breaking the window?!" Flash suggested at the top of his lungs, lacking any better ideas.

"No way it's gonna happen!" Lightning yelled, "Do you have any idea how thick they make these windows?! It'll be impossible for us to break them!"

Flash was too stressed to accept that answer, "Well, there's only two ways out of this room, and the door isn't opening anytime soon! Unless you have some kinda secret backup exit that we could use?!"

Lightning didn't answer, her face clearly showing him she didn't. Flash snapped his head toward Clover, almost daring him to have his own way of escaping. But like Lightning, he had nothing. Satisfied, Flash answered. "I didn't think so. So get off your asses and grab the heaviest thing you can find. We're gonna break the window open or we're gonna die here!"

Flash grabbed a microscope from a nearby closet and began to bang onto the window. Lightning managed to find a hammer in another closet, while Clover just picked up a chair. They continued to bang on the window for five minutes before they heard banging on the door, accompanied by low snarling and gurgling.

"The monsters are trying to get in!" Flash screamed, "Bang harder!"

They banged as hard as they could, but the window was no closer to being shattered. To make matters worse, the collective force of the monsters outside had caused the door lock to bust open, effectively allowing the monsters inside the room. Clover, who noticed that the door was opening, quickly abandoned his chair and slammed himself into the door, acting as a barricade to keep them outside, "Keep going, I got this!"

Another few minutes went by before both Flash and Lightning heard the joyful sound of the window cracking. They could see it too, a tiny crack had appeared from where Lightning had swung her hammer into. With newfound hope, and adrenaline pumping through them, they continued to swing into that spot, anything to increase the chances of the window shattering open for them.

"Hurry up!" Clover shouted, the monsters beginning to reach through the crack, "I can't hold them for much longer!"

"Just a little longer!" Flash bellowed, banging into the crack as hard as he could.

SMASH!

"We did it, let's get out of here!" Lightning announced, climbing out of the window as fast as she could. Upon hearing that the window was open, Clover threw himself from the door and jumped through the window as fast as he could. When he was certain both of his new friends had safely left the building, Flash began to climb out the window himself, not really caring if the glass slightly cut him. Anything to get away from the monsters that were now swarming the room.

Once he was outside, he ran away from Canterlot High School as fast as he could. It wasn't until he hit the streets that it began to dawn on him how serious this was. People of all ages were running everywhere, he could hear sirens and gunshots all over the place. The most scary of all was seeing the monsters, as they stumbled around and sank their teeth into the throats of whoever was closest to them. This had to be a dream, some kind of crazy horrendous nightmare! But unfortunately, this was very real, and life was about to change forever for Flash.

"Hey Flash, get over here!" He heard Lightning call out, "My truck is only a few blocks away! If we make it there, we'll be able to get out of the city!"

"I'm coming!" Flash answered back, trying to find a way over to Lightning and Clover. But the gap between him and the crowd had closed, and now he was being zoned in by three different monsters. It was hard for him to think, how was he gonna get out of this?!

Suddenly, his eyes caught hold of a dead policeman, his pistol still lying on the floor. Flash was saved, diving for the gun he quickly loaded it and unleashed three rounds into the chest of the nearest monster. It didn't do anything, the monster continued to stumble towards him like the gunshot didn't happen. If Flash didn't believe that these things were dead, he did now. Could someone who was alive take that many bullets? Why was it still coming?!

Flash tried again, this time shooting for its heart and lungs. Again, the monster kept coming like nothing happened. Why was it still coming?! Flash kept unloading rounds into the walker like there was no tomorrow, none of them halting or slowing down the monster that aimed to eat him. Not knowing what else to do, Flash shot once more, accidentally aiming for the head. BANG! The monster finally dropped dead, no longer making any attempts to eat him.

"So that's how you kill these things?" Flash wondered aloud. But now was not the time to think about this, he still had to catch up to Lightning and Clover. Pausing to grab the remaining clips of bullets from the policeman's corpse, he began to slowly walk forward through the crowd, pumping a bullet into a monster's skull whenever one got too close. He had a little system going: "Walk, Stop, Shoot, Walk, Repeat. Repeating that in his head was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment. This was working, he was almost there to the alleyway Lightning and Clover were hunkered down in.

BAM!

Just like that, someone had ran into him, almost knocking him off of his feet. He quickly brought up his gun, in case he had bumped into a monster. What he actually ran into was much worse. The person he ran into... was Twilight Sparkle!

"Flash, is that you?!" Twilight asked, putting back on her glasses, "Sunset and the others were... Oh my god, you have a gun!"

"Well, yeah?!" Flash sarcastically stated, "There are people-eating monsters roaming the streets! What the hell is happening here?!"

Twilight shook her head, "I don't know!"

"What do you mean, you don't know?!" Flash asked quite rudely, "You and your friends are the experts on Equestrian Magic! Are you saying that this isn't Equestrian Magic?!"

"We have no idea what this is!" Twilight explained, "We tried using our magic to cure them, but without Applejack we can't use it to its full capacity.

"Applejack?" Flash worriedly asked, "What's wrong with Applejack, is she in trouble?!"

Twilight tensely shrugged, "I don't know! She and her family took off to visit some relatives a few days ago! We tried contacting her, but the cellular service is down! Without her, we can't use the Magic of Friendship to fix this mess! We're using the powers we do have to keep them at bay until we can make it to the safe zone!"

"Wait a minute," Flash backed up, "Safe zone?!"

Twilight nodded, "That's right! We're rounding up as many people as we can and turning the school into a safe zone! Some of the members of the CPD are clearing out the monsters inside it for us to use! You should come with us, Sunset and the others will be there! Come on!"

With those words, she made a grab for Flash's hand and attempted to lead him back to the school. Flash slowly began to follow when he heard Lightning Dust call for him, "Hey Flash, we're this way! Where are you going?!" As soon as he heard those words, Flash stopped dead in his tracks, his hand slipping out of Twilight's.

Twilight looked back at Flash, a little confused, "Flash, what are you doing? We have to get there before they close the doors."

Flash looked behind him, where Lightning and Clover were. He then looked in front of him, where Twilight and the school was. Looking into her face, he was reminded once again of Princess Twilight. How they used to bump into each other, how they'd tell jokes with each other, how she would tell him everything about her world. Everything that they ever shared, and he threw it all away because he was so focused on that stupid Battle of the Bands. He was then back in Camp Everfree, where he talked to Sunset Shimmer about letting her go and moving on, how he tried to start over with her, and how she brushed him off and walked away.

Did he really want to go back to that? Chasing Sunset around for her recognition, being reminded of Twilight whenever her human counterpart would walk by? Would he even make it if he stayed with Lightning and Clover?

The time was now to make a decision. Taking a deep breath, he faced Twilight and told her...

"No Twilight."

Twilight suddenly stopped in her tracks, looking shocked. What Flash had told her did not register with her at all, "Flash?"

Flash stood his ground, "No Twilight, I'm not going with you to the safe zone."

Confusion painted Twilight's face like a canvas, she couldn't understand why Flash was acting like this, "Flash, it's safe there. We'll be able to find a solution to this mess, and the rest of the girls..."

"Are you deaf?! I said no!" Flash screamed, "I've had it with Sunset and I've had it with you!"

Twilight was becoming a little afraid now, "Please Flash, you're not thinking clearly!"

"Quite the opposite actually," Flash laughed, "For the first time since I met you, I am thinking clearly. I've always chased you and Sunset around, trying to be a part of the group, trying to fill the void in my heart that's been there since Twilight left! Well, I've finally realized that trying to add myself to your story is gonna make the void hurt even more, instead of making it go away! I'm done being the annoying stalker that keeps following his ex-girlfriend's clone and her friends around! I'd rather take my chances with the monsters! So I'd suggest that you start walking to the safe zone now, because I'm not going anywhere with you, or Sunset, or any other of your friends!"

Twilight was now crying, Flash's emphasis on "Clone" had left a scar on her heart, just like he had left a scar on Princess Twilight. Twilight whimpered, almost begged, "Flash, please don't do this. We're friends."

Flash sighed, "I'm not so sure anymore. I'm not sure we ever truly were." And with those words, he began to walk through the crowd towards his new life.

Twilight reached out to him, begging for him to come back, "Flash, please don't do this. Sunset cares about you, I care about you. We can't do this without you, is that what you want me to say?"

But Flash had already disappeared, vanished through the crowd of people and monsters that were all around her.

"Flash?" Twilight whispered, losing strength to call out. She then fell to her knees, crying over the loss of her friend, not realizing that would be the last time she would ever see him again.

Flash finally caught up to Lightning and Clover, the alleyway being the safest place for them at the moment.

"There you are, Flash. We were worried about you," Clover greeted, only to realize that Flash was crying to himself, "Hey buddy, are you alright?"

Flash wiped away his tears, suppressing the pain of what he did, "I'm fine, so what do we do now?"

Lightning spoke up, "Wanna hear the good news or the bad news first?"

Flash shrugged, "Good first."

The good news is that we're only a few blocks away from my truck. Once we're there, we can put miles between us and the city," Lightning explained.

"What about the bad news?" Flash asked.

Lightning slumped a little, "There's no way we can make it there through the main road, it's too cluttered with panicked people and monsters. We're gonna have to go through the alleyways, which is like a goddamn labyrinth."

"Pardon me," Clover interrupted, "I hate to break up the staff meeting but... they're here! Flesh Chompers at three o'clock!"

Both Flash and Lightning instantly turned around, towards the school. A large group of monsters had begun to notice them and were now stumbling their way towards them. Now was the time to move!

Lightning was the one to take charge, "Alright everyone, into the alleyways, quickly!"

Neither of them being stupid enough to disobey her, they ran after her through the dark alley. Lightning Dust was right, it was like a goddamn maze in there. There were twists and turns everywhere, and the sound of monsters all around them wasn't fading at all. Even then, when they had finally reached an exit, they had found their path blocked by a wire fence, the top laced with spikes to prevent them from climbing over.

"Another dead end, let's try the other way," Flash suggested. Unfortunately, there was no turning back. The herd of monsters from before had finally caught up with them. Slowly shambling their way towards them, there was no other way for them to run. They were trapped!

Clover was panicking, "We're dead! We're very very dead!"

"Not yet, we're not!" Lightning insisted, trying to keep hope, "We'll have to climb over the fence! Once we're out of the alleyway, it's a straight shot to the lane my truck's parked on!"

"Are you crazy?!" Flash bewilderingly asked, "Those spikes at the top will slice our hands off! We'll die of blood loss before we make it, if the monsters don't get us first!"

Lightning put a hand to her chin, trying to figure something out. There had to be a way out of this predicament. She noticed the fence spikes, the monsters getting closer to them. How were they gonna get out of this mess?

"Wait a minute," Lightning spoke up, having an idea, "Flash, your jacket! What material is it made of?!"

Flash shrugged, "Leather, but what the hell does that matter?!"

"Shut the hell up for a second, I have an idea that will get us out of this," Lightning explained, "Leather is thick and can cover up a lot without being severely pierced. If we take your jacket and cover the spikes with it, we should have a safe path to climb over the fence."

"That's brilliant!" Clover applauded, "Quick Flash, give me your jacket!"

"No way!" Lightning butted in, "It was my idea, so I'm the one that's going first! Also, give me your gun!"

Flash put his hand on his pocket, where he was currently keeping his gun. He trusted these people, but he wasn't about to hand them his only means of protection, "What?! Why the hell would I do that? I'll need it to keep the monsters at bay!"

Look behind you, idiot!" Lightning motioned, "Look how slow they are, we've got about an entire fifteen minutes before they get here! But on the other side of the fence, we have no idea what's waiting for us! Whoever's going first has to have the gun!"

"Then it's settled," Clover agreed, "Flash, hand the gun to me! I'll keep the creepy crawlies on the other side off our back while you and Lightning crawl after me!"

"The hell we are!" Lightning once again interjected, "I'm getting that gun!"

Lightning and Clover continued to argue among each other over who should go first. Flash was smart enough not to join the fray, because if he started arguing they would probably lose track of the monsters behind them. The gun was of no use to them if they were dead, after all.

Once again, Flash was put in a position where he had to make a decision, and fast. But who did he trust to give the gun to? Quickly doing a coin flip in his own head, he took a breath and chose...

"Lightning Dust, take the gun!"

"I knew you'd see reason, Flash," Lightning said as she grabbed the gun and bullet clips from his hands.

Clover looked dumbstruck, "Flash, what the fuck man?!"

"We'll argue about this later," Flash interrupted, "Lightning, take my jacket and create a safe way for us to cross! Clover and I will hold them off the best we can! Clover, find anything we can use as a weapon!"

With the plan in mind, everyone got to work. Lighting threw Flash's jacket at the fence, making sure that it fell on the spikes. Both Flash and Clover found some lead pipes that were sturdy enough to be used as a baseball bat, and whacked at the heads of any monsters that got too close. However, the plan was going too slow. Lightning was still struggling with the jacket, and no matter how many monsters Flash and Clover killed, many more seemed to take their place. They were running out of breathing room.

"Lightning, there's too many!" Clover shouted, "Hurry up with the jacket!" Lightning didn't respond, Clover tried again, "Lightning?" Once again, nothing. Both of the boys turned around to see that Lightning was gone.

"Fuck! That fucking bitch ditched us!" Clover snapped, "What do we do now?!"

Flash dropped his lead pipe, "She still left the jacket! Climb!"

Both of them made a run for the fence, climbing as fast as they could. Flash was the first to make it over the fence, using the jacket to carefully avoid the spikes. Clover was close behind him, using his feet to kick away the monsters at the head of the pack. They were both almost over the fence when...

"Ahh!" Clover screamed, "It's got me! It's got my leg!"

"Hold on, Clover!" Flash yelled, "We're almost there!"

But it was already too late. Soon afterward, Flash heard the grotesque sound of teeth meeting flesh, and the painful screams as Clover's leg became monster chow. Flash was just about to meet the same fate when his jacket suddenly ripped in two, causing him to lose his grip and fall head first onto the cement on the other side of the fence. He winced as both his head and his hands were bleeding, having cut them on the spikes. He turned around just in time for Clover to be surrounded by the monsters and devoured alive.

"No! No! Stay back! Stay away! Flash! Anybody! Help! HELP ME! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Flash could only stare in terror as he watched the horrific sight that befell him. A million different jaws sank themselves into Clover's skin, it's yellow hue being replaced with the color of his own blood. Hundreds of rotting hands clutched onto his head and stomach, pulling out his intestines to feast on, Clover's screams echoing through Flash's mind as he watched them split his face in two, chomping on the gooey insides.

Flash wanted to scream out to him, help him somehow or at least put him out of his misery. But he didn't do any of those things. His head became a blur as he ran away from the alleyway and the fence! The noises of people and monsters drowned all thought as he ran for his life. He didn't know where he was running or who was around him, he didn't care. All that mattered was getting away from the area where his friend was getting ripped apart piece by piece.

When he found himself being grabbed by someone, he struggled with all his might. He wasn't thinking clearly at all, he could hear noises and see blurry shapes, but that was it. It was only when he received a hard slap to the face that everything came back into focus. The person who had grabbed him was Lightning Dust.

"Hey Flash, get your head in the game! We gotta go, now!"

She started dragging him over to her truck, quickly shoving him into the passenger seat as she climbed behind the wheel. Just like that, they took off at 40 miles per hour. They bumped into a lot of shapes. Were they monsters, were they people trying to flag them down? Flash didn't know, all he knew was that he saw Clover Pot get eaten alive right in front of his face, his unnatural screaming still fresh in his mind. And that he was sitting next to the bitch who was responsible for it.

"Where... were... you?" Flash asked in a dangerously low voice, once they were away from all the noise and the death.

"Hmm?" Lightning asked innocently, "I can't hear you, what did you say?"

"Where the hell were you?" Flash spoke up, not yelling but still carrying a dangerous tone, "We needed your help and you ditched us. What the hell were you doing?"

"Oh that," Lightning realized, treating this like she had taken his toy, "I happened to spot my truck a few yards away from the alleyway, so I made a beeline for it so I could get out of here."

"Really?" Flash asked sarcastically, "Did you, by any chance, think about coming back for me and Clover?"

Lightning laughed nervously, "What? Oh, yeah yeah, totally. I wouldn't leave you losers behind."

Flash didn't buy that bullshit for one second, "Uh huh, sure you wouldn't. You know, you could've helped us? We could have made it out of those alleyways together. But you left me and Clover to be eaten alive by those monsters, you selfish bitch!"

"Hey, watch your tone, you asshole!" Lightning snapped, now carrying her own set of fangs in her words.

"Clover is dead! Do you understand that?!" Flash snapped back, "Clover is dead because of what you did!"

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Lightning pointed out.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Flash accused, now yelling at the top of his lungs, "MURDERER!"

With those words, Lighting shot her foot onto the brakes. The car swerved from side to side as she braked at high speed, miraculously not tipping the truck over as it came to a complete stop. It was quiet, too quiet. No snarling monsters, no screaming people. Just the empty street, the truck, and the two people in it.

Lightning snapped her head towards Flash, speaking to him in a threatening tone, "Now you listen here pal, and you listen good: I will not be treated that way in my own truck. What you are feeling right now is nothing more than petty survivor's guilt. If you're gonna survive out here, you have to toss all that aside and look out for numero uno. I did not come back for you out of the kindness of my heart, you are only here because you are of use to me. Now drill this through your weak and gullible head. I'm the one in charge here, and you will do exactly what I say, how I say it, and when I say it. Unless you'd like to leave right now."

Flash was frozen in place. Grunting, Lightning reached over and pushed his door open, "Go ahead, there's the door. I won't stop you, let's see how far you make it! I'm sure the monsters back there would love to have a chat with you!"

Flash didn't move, the advice she had given him before playing over and over in his head: "If you ever run into someone who isn't what they appear, ditch 'em and move on with your life." Those words to him just seemed empty and devoid of meaning to him now. The confidence that he had when he stood up to Twilight had washed away, like gold flecks in a river. Everything that Lightning had told him had left him weak and defenseless. He stayed in his seat, not moving an inch away from where he sat.

"Really, no takers? Fine," She said, reaching over him and closing the door, "But if you stay, you're gonna stick with me and you're gonna agree with every goddamn thing I say! This isn't a democracy anymore, do I make myself clear?!"

Flash simply nodded, rather weak and pathetically. Lightning seemed satisfied, "I thought so, now take these bandages and clean yourself up, you're no use to me if you die of blood loss.

Flash simply looked at the bandages that Lightning threw towards him. Slowly, he began to wrap up his hands, making sure that they were tight enough to stop the bleeding. Once he was done with his hands, he took the rest of the wrap and slowly wrapped around his head, closing up the wound that would have surely taken his life. Lightning smiled, like watching a dog walk up to their master and licking their hand. With that out of the way, she started the car back up, and drove them out of the city.

Clover had died because of this monster, she had left him to die and would've left Flash to die if he hadn't shown up. Flash spent the next few hours in regret, he would spend most of his days filled with regret. He wished he had just gone with Twilight when he had the chance. Or at least he hoped that it was Clover that would've lived instead of him. Never before had someone felt so useless and weak, even more so than before he had met them.

"Twilight, what have I done?" he thought to himself as they sped off into the unknown.

Author's Note

Flash Sentry's Choices:

Did Flash go with Twilight Sparkle or Lightning Dust?
You and 53.4% of readers stood up to Twilight and moved on with your life

Did you give your gun to Lightning Dust or Clover Pot?
You and 24.7% of readers gave the gun to Lightning Dust and got Clover Pot killed