One Week Later

Cooper's eyes slowly drifted across the surrounding buildings. He scanned every nook, cranny, and crevice he could see from his vantage point atop the supermarket. Eventually, he finally breathed a small sigh of relief and turned around to Twilight and gave her a small nod. She smiled in return, and slowly trotted out onto the rooftop to him.

Once they were together, she made a small gallop and unfurled her wings, giving them several flaps to gain altitude. Just as she ran out of rooftop, she gave one more solid flap, and took to the sky. Her wings powered through the frigid air, and she slowly flew higher toward the clouds. However, just as she reached the other side of the street, she quickly banked back and glided toward the supermarket, finding Cooper watching her from afar. As she reached the roof, she slowed her descent by flaring her wings, and came to a slow glide over the snowy air conditioning units. Her hooves touched the roof, and she stumbled slightly, before righting herself and transitioning into a slow trot right up to Cooper.

He gave her a small nod, while the tiniest trace of a grin formed on his lips.

"Not bad... Landing could still use some work though." He said, shrugging slightly.

Twilight huffed.

"Well it's not like snow is easy to land on with hooves... If I had some skiies, then I could just slide in." She rebutted.

"I'll be sure to let you know if we find any skiies any time soon." Cooper replied, sarcastically.

"Oh har har... but honestly, was it that bad?" She asked, a small pout on her face.

Cooper rolled his eyes.

"You were great. A lot better than the last couple days." He relented.

Twilight positively beamed.

"Heh, come on, let's get back inside. We'll pick this back up in a few hours." Cooper chuckled.

Still smiling, Twilight followed his lead as Cooper headed down the stairs and back into the supermarket. Quickly enough, they found themselves at their designated sleeping room, and took to sitting or laying down on the blankets they'd found.

"So, how's the leg doing? Didn't seem like you were limping as much today." Cooper mentioned as he pulled out a box of crackers and absentmindedly ate a few.

"It's getting better every day. Still hurts to put a lot of weight on it, but it's definitely getting stronger and healing. Being able to focus my magic on mending the tissue instead of just staying alive is helping a lot." Twilight happily replied.

"I figured as much. How much longer do you think before you'll be decently healed up enough to move around like normal?"

"Probably just another couple of days. Honestly, it's not too much of a problem to move around now. Just a little painful if I put all my weight on it." She explained.

"Alright. Sounds good. I think we have enough food left for-" Cooper began, before a sound caught his ear, and he quickly turned to look out the window to the store below.

"What is-"

"Get down. Now." He whispered.

Twilight complied, and slowly crawled over to the window beside Cooper to look down onto the store with him. Quick enough, she heard the reason for his sudden change in behavior.

"Over here! I found something!" A masculine voice called out, making her ears splay back against her skull in fear.

Cooper quietly grabbed his rifle from its position next to the computer monitors and shouldered it. He took aim at the aisles as the foreign voices grew closer, and slowly migrated his finger to the trigger.

"I think there's still some food in here! Looks like a bunch of canned shit that's been just sitting here all this time." Another voice spoke out.

"How the fuck'd that happen? Did people not raid this place or something after the bombs fell?" The first voice responded.

As Cooper and Twilight watched the aisles, the two men finally came into their sight. They both looked to be in similar states of raggedness as Cooper, with their clothing being just a mish-mash of whatever torn up jackets they could find in the city. They were armed with a crossbow and a longbow, respectively, although their weapons were slung on their backs as they searched through the shelves for food.

"I think one of them hit just a few miles away. Not close enough to bury this place in radiation, but close enough to kill almost everything and convince whatever survived to run the other way." The first man shrugged.

"Well I guess it's our lucky day then. You go ahead and search the rest of the building. I'll bag as much of this stuff as I can." The second man replied.

Cooper tensed and aligned his sights on the first man. His finger quickly tensed on the trigger, but just as he was about to squeeze, the feeling of a hoof on his leg pulled his attention for a moment. He glanced down to see Twilight giving him a pleading look.

"They're just looking for food... Maybe... Maybe we should just let them go..." She suggested, her voice just a whisper.

"They're going to take our food and kill us if they get the chance. I'm not risking it." He bitterly replied, quickly re-reacquiring his sight picture.

"Cooper... They don't know we're here. We might be able to just wait them out." She pressed, placing her hoof on his forearm.

"Didn't you hear them? The other one's going to search the building. Guess what happens when he finds us, Twilight." He deadpanned, barely sparing her a glance as he followed the first man with his rifle.

"You don't know that... Listen, I know you don't trust anyone, and I'm not asking you to... but please don't kill them... I've already seen enough death here..." Twilight pleaded, placing both hooves on Cooper's firing arm.

Cooper turned his head to give a harsh glare and stern warning to the lavender alicorn, but froze as he saw her eyes, and the tears forming in the corners of those eyes. She had a look of pleading on her face that made him pause, and slowly tear his eyes away, if only to look down at the floor.

"Twilight... it's either them... or us." He said, his voice just a whisper.

"It doesn't have to be. I know that things are different here than they are back home... but maybe what this world needs isn't more killing... maybe it needs just a little bit of kindness." She offered, a trace of a smile forming on her lips.

Cooper's eyes flicked back up to his sights and the man they were trained on. For several seconds of intense, deliberate thought, he held his finger against the trigger and tensed every muscle in his body. However, as the man walked further and further into the store, the shot became harder, and more difficult to take, until it was gone, and Cooper let out a long, quiet sigh. He pulled the rifle out of his shoulder and sat down against the wall, finding a positively beaming Twilight smiling down at him.

"For what it's worth, I think you made the right decision." She said, gently placing her hoof on his hand.

"What about our food? They're not gonna leave much of anything... This might just be the worst idea I've ever followed through with." He shook his head and sighed.

"Sometimes you just need to take a bit of a leap of faith on these things... Just like when you decided to take care of me instead of eating me." She chuckled lightly.

Cooper gave a small nod before taking his rifle and aiming it at the door.

"Alright... but if he comes through that door, I'm shooting him. Nothing you can say will change my mind on that."

"Fair enough... but thanks for listening to me." She gave a warm smile.

The minutes slowly passed by until Cooper heard the sounds of people speaking once more.

"Find anything?" The first man said.

"Nah. Nothing else. You got the stuff?" The second man replied.

"Yeah, let's go. It's gonna get dark in a few hours and I want to have this shit stocked up."

With that, the two men left, leaving Cooper and Twilight alone in the supermarket once more. For almost another hour, they stayed in their sleeping room, before Cooper finally made his way downstairs, his rifle at the ready and Twilight at his side. They soon found their way into the aisles and searched for food. As expected, there was nothing on any of the shelves, save for long expired bread and other perishables.

Eventually they found themselves at the soup aisle, finding that only a spare few cans were left on the shelves. Cooper suppressed a growl at the situation while Twilight felt a small pit form in her stomach.

"W-well... I'm sure we'll be able to find food somewhere else... Besides, there's still some food that can get us through the next couple of days." She spoke up after some time, her voice just a little shaky.

"Yeah... sure." Cooper muttered, grabbing up the cans and throwing them into his pockets.

Twilight cringed at his tone, but quickly used her magic to help give Cooper as many cans as possible. Immediately, it became apparent that he didn't quite have enough room for them all.

"Uh... h-here, I'll find something to carry these in." She offered, hastily trotting off further into the store.

Cooper sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. He looked down at the can of soup in his hand and let out a mirthless chuckle.

"Campbell's tomato soup... her favorite..." He whispered.

As Twilight trotted further into the store, a growing pit of dread found its way into her heart.

What was I thinking!? They took ALL our food! Celestia, what is wrong with me? This isn't Equestria! Creatures don't care if you show them kindness here, they just want to survive! This is like the Everfree but the whole planet! Ugh!

She passed several aisles before arriving at what appeared to be a clothing aisle. She quickly made her way through the aisle, looking high and low for any kind of bag that would hold their supplies.

And what must Cooper be thinking!? I probably just convinced him to starve because of my stupid ideas!

She shook her head in anger and shame before a sight caught her eyes. She paused mid step and looked curiously at what appeared to be a row of saddlebags lined up on the wall. She hesitantly stepped toward the lowest row and grabbed the bag with her hoof, feeling it's cold texture in the still frigid air.

"Hmm..." She murmured to herself.

Just as she pulled the bag to the side, a faint sound caught her ear. A sound she could only relate to a branch bending. Instantly, her blood froze in her veins, and she turned her head to see one of the men aiming his bow at her from just twenty feet away. Her instincts took over and she immediately jumped back, away from the wall, just as the arrow was let loose. It soared through the air with a distinctive *twang, and embedded itself right in her left foreleg. The arrow pierced both sides of the leg, sending blood splattering down to the floor below.

Twilight cried out in pain as she stumbled back, nearly falling over in the process. Blood trickled out of the wound and onto the floor below as the sharp, stinging pain wracked her mind. Before she even had time to think, she heard the sound of a blade being unsheathed. She looked up at her assailant to see him rushing toward her. Her ears picked up on the faint sound of boots on cool tile as her senses heightened, and adrenaline filled her veins.

"COOPER!!!!!!" She cried, her voice a mix of fear and pain.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEp9Kh0M4f0

I'll bet you expected things to go just peachy this chapter, huh? Too bad... Maybe next chapter?