Last September

I couldn’t believe it.

Princess Twilight was dead.

I shielded my face in Firefang’s chest; somehow I felt it all too horrible to be true. Like this was all a dream, and I hadn’t woken up from my nap yet. Even still, everything happened way too fast for me to digest. So much violence, so much anarchy all at once. Firefang hugged me closer, with a sore cough. It could’ve been the cloudy black smoke pluming into the air from the burning buildings, however it somehow wasn’t thick enough to make me start coughing as it was for Flamey. Maybe changelings just had weak lungs?

“Steel, you listen to me…” he barked through another hack, lifting my head up. “On the count of three, we’re gonna turn the corner and get into that convenience store. Then, I want you to hide behind the counter while I run a quick check for resources. And you bet your ass that if you ever come from behind that counter, I will hurt you. Do not, under any circum-cisions come from behind that counter unless I give you the all clear, okay?”

I was a bit too fearful to raise a brow at Firefang’s awful vocabulary, so I nodded, heart palpitating just at the sight of his fiery gaze piercing through my own. And even then I was surprised, thinking that my own heart stopped for a second. At this point I felt it drop to my stomach as Firefang snatched me up once again.

I forced myself to try and match his stamina, legs galloping faster than I think they ever had before.

Tlot, tlot, tlot, tlot, tlot, tlot…

Every single hoofstep was beating against the concrete faster than my heart could race. We reached the entrance of the store.

It was pretty quaint compared to the other structures, which were at this point smoldering and falling apart. But the store stood strong, evidently- its large, rectangular windows reflected just as perfectly as they had before in the apocalyptic orange limelight, bouncing the flaming hue off the smudge-proof glass and leaving the both of us starstruck.

As we both hurried on inside, I dove behind the counter. Though it wasn’t a clean hit in the slightest bit.

Thump!

I scraped my hind hoof on the edge of the patterned countertop on my way over. On my landing I fell over and ended up snagging down a glass bottle.

Crash!

I slapped my hooves over my mouth. I knew that if I let out even the tiniest cry, someone would hear, especially other than Firefang. Although I already dealt some damage with the glass bottle, I didn’t want to be the entire reason we got caught.

My rough, bated breath couldn’t be helped, however. I stared at the spilled soda, pooling around the shattered pieces of glass, a few drops of my blood bleeding into the mix and creating an ugly scarlet to the soda’s clear color. And my own child-like curiosity didn’t fare any better, as I slowly and cautiously peeked my head around the corner. There, I finally caught a good glimpse of the healthily stocked shelves, looking fresh and ready to be stolen from.

Firefang, there he was. Zipping around like a common moth around a thousand watt lightbulb. And if you were there with me, you’d see that it was quite evident he was at least trying to be smart. And even in the horrid moment of panic and fear I was in, clamping my mouth shut, biting my tongue in hesitation, I smiled a bit. I was proud to see Flamey, the studd-y meathead actually strategizing.

He looked up at the counter. I somehow managed to keep myself from gasping in fear, and swiftly turned my back to him and scurried back behind the counter. Something in his eyes when I caught my last glimpse, panic, regret- something was obviously getting to him.

My ears shot up, as I heard a brief clicking to my far left, somewhere in the further corner of the store.

“Damn thing doesn’t have a lock…” I heard Firefang mutter. His struggling grunts followed shortly, accompanied by the scathing sound of something dragging against the floor. Even then, with an exasperated sigh, he didn’t sound satisfied. At this point I realized he was probably trying to barricade the door- and I mentally kicked myself for not being smart enough to realize that’s exactly what he’s been doing.

How the hell did I let Flamey be smarter than me? I questioned myself in my head.

For some reason, I found myself daring enough to take another peek, this time peering my head over the counter for a quick and easy drawback if I felt he was about to check me once again. Firefang wasn’t at the door anymore- at this point he had probably given up. I looked over to see a busted up ice cream cooler in front of the glass door. It opened from the inside, with an apparent “pull, not push” handle made for, well, pulling. Luckily for us, it was “push” on the outside. But the cooler couldn’t have weighed that much for someone strong enough. And if I knew the apocalypse as it was, I knew that only the strongest would survive. That, and the smartest.

My heart rate sped up with adrenaline fed anticipation as I saw Firefang trudge back into the picture. He was hoisting five or six wooden planks on his back, with a hammer in his mouth. Heh, I knew what this was. From the few zombie games we would play on his console;

The main goal was to survive while simultaneously keeping the undead at bay by barricading the areas they spawned from with wooden planks, nailed to the walls and obstructing the spaces they could crawl or jump through. The only con was, they could tear them down in a matter of seconds. Point is, although it may not have been the most sturdy strategy you’ve ever seen, you bet your boots it was reliable at the very least.

So, that was what Firefang was about to do. Granted, he didn’t bring with him any nails, so he hog-tailed it to the back once again in search for the so-desired nails. And I decided since I knew what he was going to use them for, I didn’t really have to watch any longer.

Thump...thump...thump…

Thud!

I can’t lie, I snuck in one audibly sharp inhale, and with my eyes widened with fear and turmoil, I found myself completely petrified; that thumping noise was coming from the far left corner of the shop.

The door.

Glass rattling violently, the door shaking and pounding up against the soiled ice cream cooler echoed in my mind, sinking into my brain and causing my blood to run cold. Although I was trembling, I was completely petrified.

Thud! Thud! Bang!

The noises wouldn’t stop. Again, and again:

Thud! Thud! Bang!

Shivers shot up my spine like I was just laid in a bed of frigid snow. As if I couldn’t grip my hoof any tighter, I kept it locked up against my muzzle as a result of my own lack of self trust. I couldn’t trust myself not to make a noise. I couldn’t weep, I couldn’t cry. All these thoughts, racing through my head.

Don’t gasp, don’t weep, don’t cry…
Don’t gasp, don’t weep, don’t cry…

Bang! Bang!

The noises only got louder.

Overlapped by the sound of beating hooves up against the tiled floor only echoed once more through the empty store, but even then, with Firefang’s quick-spirited four legged gait, I felt so alone. I felt pins and needles sink into my hoof- I bit it. Hard. So hard that the rich, deep red liquid ran slowly down my lip. But I couldn’t cry.

Don’t gasp…
Don’t weep…
Don’t gasp…
Don’t weep…

Everything went quiet.

Everything, except for one.

Scrr….scr….

Scraping. Something was scraping against the floor, like someone was pulling something heavy.

My heart stopped.

The ice cream cooler.

Now, my entire mind was filled to the brim with dread- so much that if it were physical it’d be leaking out of my ears by now. But that wasn’t the point- something was about to make way into the store. Because if the cooler was moving, then something was definitely going to get in here. My breath grew shaky, and hesitant. I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t cry... right now, all I could do was wait.

Scrrr...scrrr…

The cooler, once again. It was moving even more than it was before. Especially after the door clicked.

“...hey, are you alright?”

Flamey.

I didn’t dare look over the counter once again, not until I knew for sure everything was going to be alright. But...then, someone else spoke.

“I’m okay...but...thank you. I could’ve died out there…”

What?

I was so confused.

“Steel, you can come out now. It’s safe, bud.”

Then, and only then did I tentatively peek my head around the corner. Firefang was standing there- and not surprisingly, so was someone else. Another changeling, specifically. He was unreformed, like Flamey- charcoal chitin with holes in the hooves. I was always afraid of changelings like most foals were raised to be, until Firefang came around- so it’s not exactly like I’m not familiar with being around them, even now.

But this one, he was different. He had a short, yet messy brown mane, crowned with an old, slightly damp newspaper hat, shaped like one of those origami boats. It was kiddie, yet cute to say the least. He had scarlet red eyes and a few red marks on his flat stomach, almost like scars, but, you know, not scars exactly. He was a lot shorter than Firefang, and judging by the higher pitched voice I heard when I was hiding behind the counter, he was clearly younger.

In a spurt of awkward kindness, he flashed a small smile at me. He was missing a tooth- one out of his two front teeth. And yet he didn’t have any fangs, like unreformed changelings usually did.

I could almost relate to him- I, myself, have a goofily sized gap between my two front teeth. It becomes very, very apparent whenever I smile wide enough. And I don’t even do a lot of that so I guess it’s fine.

As I finally stepped out, I hesitantly trotted over. Firefang wrapped a hoof around me, smiling softly at the changeling boy. “Daedalus, this is Steel. Steel, meet Daedalus.”

Both of us just awkwardly waved at each other.

Yeah, this was definitely new.